Android is now the new Apple

Some may be wondering why have I used an Android phone up to now compared to, say, Apple iPhone? In the beginning, it was for the following four reasons — a headphone jack, a removable battery, the ability to insert an SD card for storage and the ability to load a program into the computer.

- JAMES HEIN

That last part may sound alittle strange but a 12GB device with 1TB of storage and a graphics unit built in is a computer now. The “program” loading here means you can put your own operating system on the device and install applications, bypassing the Play Store. So where are we now? No headphone jack, no SSD support, no removable battery and based on a recent announcement, no ability to “side-load” programs any more. In other words, Google phones have now or will soon be turned into iPhones.

Yes, iPhones are more expensive but at least Apple has been consistent with them for years now. As usual it all comes down to control and power over consumers. I'm hoping Elon Musk really does release a phone soon because that’s what'll be buying for my next upgrade. The solution for Android users, ifand when this eventuates, will be to replace the operating system with a more open version or wait a few days for the jailbreaking process similar to the one used on Apple phones.