I recently switched from an iPhone 3GS to a Samsung Nexus S Andoid phone when my 2 year contract with AT&T ended. I am now with T-Mobile (so probably back to AT&T next year) and their customer service is as bad as the others (the price of my plan on the website is “wrong” according to two customer service reps but I will only find out for sure after my first bill if I am overcharged or not). But that is a different story.

Why I am much happier with Android over IOS (in order of descreasing importance to me):

- it is open. I rooted my phone (almost bricking it due to some bad instructions from the net) and was happy to see that apps for rooted phones are in the “official” Android market. I check the Amazon app store every day for their free apps and just got my first free app from GetJar. This was the primary reason that I switched and am happy with the freedom from Apple’s locked down store with its capricious rules.

- I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts (hours a day) and had used an iPod then the iPod app on the iPhone for years so was very used to it. However, I found an app (BeyondPod) that has a player that I like ever better. Besides just a jump “back” control it also has a jump forward and unlike the iPod app they are both user configurable. This helps me jump over commercials and other “stuff” I am not interested in. Setting up the podcasts is not as easy as iTunes but that is a one time effort.

- better gmail integration: I read my email through gmail and have 2 personal accounts which I can easily switch between in Android but not on the iPhone. It also does an excellent job of merging my contacts.

- better Google Voice integration – I use Google Voice and after going for over a year without an official iPhone app it is great to have it properly integrated with the phone and not an addon.

- Google navigation – free turn-by-turn navigation, now including off-line map storage

- notifications – nothing more to say except Apple will probably try to catch up with IOS 5

- voice input – both text input and voice commands work really well

- multiple keyboards – I have already tried SwiftKey and now Swype. I haven’t decided on which I prefer but I like the choice (and innovation).

- customized Home screen – widgets and other features make it much easier to navigate (and personalize)