Bad experience with Android, should I give it another shot?

Posted by TomHaverford on August 6, 2012 10:08 am 47

I got my first smartphone (besides a Palm Centro), the Motorola Droid (A855) on Verizon when it came out a couple years ago. I had heard and seen that Android was the up and coming OS. I was amazed that everything, even the home screen, could be adjusted to taste. And the apps were good, and I liked having the QWERTY (though I'm over that now). But one thing I couldn't get over, was how dreadfully slow it was. Every action - touching an icon, toggling a menu item, opening the SW keyboard - took at least a couple seconds. Even unlocking the phone was unresponsive. Trying to open an app? Go grab a beer, you'll be here a while.

Now, granted, this was at 600 MHz running Eclair, but after a couple months I couldn't take it, and it was too late to take it back. I tried the most stock custom ROMs, from Eclair to Gingerbread, even though the one shipped with the Droid was already close to stock. I tried overclocking, from which the gain was negligible, considering the hit to battery life and heat output.

So I suffered for two years, and a few months ago got an iPhone 4S. One thing you can't dispute, is that it's fluid. Now Android, especially with PB, might be even better on this front, but I didn't give it half a look.

Thing is, now I'm bored with the iPhone. Despite it's one fatal flaw, I miss the tinkering and have-it-your-way mantra of Android. Also, and this is the kicker, I'm in a position right now where I can get a new phone for close to the price of an upgrade without having to renew my contract. I'm with Sprint, so I don't get Exynos on the SIII, but it still looks like a great phone. And with the report out on a 1080p HTC phone, and presumably others on the verge (hehe), I'm really wondering how much Android, with more processing power, has progressed. So what do you guys think? Should I give Android another chance?