Hello, Phandroid…goodbye, iPhone!

• Rob Renk
• 12 years ago

Rob has loyally covered iOS topics for several years at iSource.com, but with the HTC One in hand and a smile on his face, he is welcomed to Phandroid as a brand new Android enthusiast.

Hey, Phandroid nation, allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Rob Renk, and I have been writing over at iSource for almost three years now.  I have been a loyal Apple consumer for 20 years.  My first Apple computer was the LC ii, and I have never looked back.  I always appreciated Apple’s attention to detail.  I still have my Apple G3 tower from 1994, and the thing still works–so I don’t mind paying a premium for products that stand the test of time.

My interest in Apple products peaked, though, when the iPhone was first introduced at Macworld in 2007.  It was like no other phone I had ever seen or used.  I managed to talk my wife into using our tax returns for the ridiculously expensive phone that wasn’t even subsidized by AT&T at the time.

Since then, I have owned every version of the iPhone.  Our household has several phone lines, so there was always one available for a fully subsidized upgrade.  I eagerly anticipated the next release, more each year then the previous year.  I was that guy who got up at 3 am for the chance to pre-order my iPhone and have it delivered the day it went on sale.

But I grew tired of the incremental iPhone hardware releases.  For the previous two hardware upgrades,  Apple maintained the exact same physical appearance of the iPhone, and only made internal and OS changes.  For the average iPhone owner this isn’t a big deal.  Most consumers don’t buy a new phone every year, and the carriers have most of us locked into two-year upgrade eligibility cycles anyway.

For me, it hasn’t been enough. Is the grass really greener on the other side?

• I wanted a bigger display, one that was not only taller, but wider as well.
• I wanted to be able to personalize my interaction with my phone a little more.
• I have always been a fan of jailbreaking my iPhone, and have recently written several articles on iSource to that end.  Although jailbreaking has filled part of the void I have felt, it wasn’t the complete package–not yet.

So when the HTC One was announced, and I saw the attention to detail that went into creating this phone, and the larger, beautiful screen, I decided this was my chance to give Android a try.  Apple hasn’t announced the next version of the iPhone yet, but it is expected by many to be the iPhone 5S. In other words, same exterior, upgraded iOS and whatever else they happen to include in the upgrade.

Still not enough.

So I sold my 7 month old 16 GB iPhone 5 for $300 and bought a shiny new 32 GB Glacier Silver HTC One.  Over the next several months, I’ll be blogging frequently for Phandroid, sharing my experiences with Android in general and more specifically, the HTC One. Stay tuned for a variety of coverage as I learn the ropes of my favorite new operating system

Thanks in advance  for the warm welcome (please?) and I look forward to your comments!