New smartphone (bye bye Apple)

After too many struggles with my iPhone 3 (running the iPhone 4 OS), I decided it was time for a change. I'm not sure what the cause of the issues are, but here's the problems with the iPhone that I want to avoid with my new smartphone:

• Dropped calls. After all the hoopla around the signal strength bars being misleading on the iPhone 4, I have to wonder... is there an issue with the signal strength bars that are displayed on older gen iPhones as well? How is that when I have full strength and the other caller has full strength, the call mysteriously drops? Could it be AT&T? Apple would like you to think so. Could it be Apple? Nooooooo, come on! Report: so far not one dropped call in 10 days using my new smartphone on AT&T.
• Sluggish response when opening an app. What is frustrating is that I'm not trying to open Tiger Woods golf. I'm talking about waiting 15 seconds to see what text message I just got. Report: no sluggishness on my new smartphone that is running Android 2.1.
• Apps that once worked now always crash: I'm not sure who to blame here but it is especially frustrating when something once worked great and now it will never open. Report: can't say that I won't experience this on the new phone. So far, one crash was experienced (the browser) but I think I can blame that on the site I was trying to visit.
• No Adobe flash support. Report: Android OS supports Adobe Flash "light". 

What I like about my new smartphone:

• The Android OS is a better user experience than the iPhone.
• The search feature is integrated everywhere, accessible from almost every app. 
• The processor in the phone is 1 ghz. This makes a huge difference.
• Better integration with Google Voice, contacts, email and other G services.
• The music player is better that the player on the iPhone.
• The Bluetooth seems to be much stronger.
• Camera videos and picks are nice and sharp 
• The "SWYPE" technology for composing texts.
• Google Navigation! Like having a Tom Tom built right in.

So what phone did I pick? The Samsung Galaxy S or Captivate from AT&T. Some of the differences are to be expected, as I went from one generation of cell phone technology to another. If you're using an iPhone 3 or 3GS, this is something to think about.

Cons

• Battery life. If you frequently browse the Internet using the 3G network, stream content over bluetooth, synch often, use GPS often, the battery life is short like any other comparable smartphone device. However, there are ways to get around this, like widgets to quickly and easily manage the apps that suck up juice. Try the Android power control widget. It comes pre-installed and is a quick way to toggle wi-fi, bluetooth, GPS, sync and led display brightness.
• Marketplace adoption. Seems that app developers are still ramping up on rolling out Android versions of popular apps find in the Apple App Store. Patience is probably required here.