Rather than a long, ranting post you can view some pix and screen captures of my new HTC Incredible over on Flickr.

Some reasons for the switch:

• iPhone OS 4.0. This new OS disenfranchises 1G iPhone users completely and proves Apple under-designed hardware for 3G users. If It truly needs a 3GS or a 4G to gain most of the functionality of their iPhone 4.0 OS (I have been running the betas on my 3G), then there is little point of continuing to buy into their product stream. It's only a matter of time before new apps no longer run on these older phones (but it will still be illegal for you to jailbreak them and continue to get use out of them).
  
  
  
  
• The Apple App Store. I'm really disliking the "gatekeeper" model that many companies are trying to have burned into the minds of the masses. I can load any Android app I want to on my Incredible and have the option to continue to use the Android Marketplace. The disdain for the App Store has been further seeded by the new iBookstore where - if I had an iPad - I could go to buy even more DRM'd books than I already own (a different rant post coming on that at some point as well).
  
  
  
  
• iTunes. Complete bloatware that is slow, buggy and in need of as much (or more) of an overhaul as the OS X Finder.
  
  
  
  
• AT&T. Wretched coverage here in upper New England and very poor customer service. Verizon has actually been much better (so far)

I've only had my Incredible for a few days, but it's very cool having control over my device again and having options. As you'll see in the Flickr set, I use both doubleTwist and the Missing Sync for Android from mark/space to manage my device on my Mac (I also use the built-in OS X Image Capture app). I didn't need to use these apps, but I did not want to have be pigeonholed into using iCal & Address Book sync to Google and manual copying of files to & from SD card & built-in phone storage. I could have used just Missing Sync, but I liked the fact that doubleTwist includes separate app & music stores.

Current "pros" include: speed (which I suspect would be experience if I used a 3GS or the upcoming 4G), enhanced functionality such as multi-tasking, location-triggered events & quick-access widgets (again, some of which I expect Apple to catch up on in the 4G/4.0 OS). I also gain much in the way of security since I am told up-front what the apps I'm loading want to be able to do and can make a conscious choice to be as restrictive or as "vulnerable" as  my risk appetite would have me be. I can sync wirelessly over my 802.11g network and finally take decent pictures and fairly decent video in a pinch. I haven't watched mobile video since having been forced to abandon my bus ride (alas, no mass transit commuting to work between Berwick & Portsmouth), so this has virtually no impact on me.

There are definitely "cons". A portion of my library is still DRM'd and it will take a burning/ripping effort to truly get out of that hole I put myself in since many of the albums & tracks have no iTunes Plus counterparts yet. I'm also out all mobile video I've purchased from Apple, but any DRM'd video will be proprietary and one can get by with ripping or transcoding from other sources. (Here's a handy Incredible preset for Handbrake that you can import if you remove the ".txt").

Android apps exist for everything I rely on, including Google Mail, Evernote, Dropbox, Twitter & Flickr. There is no loss of functionality and there is even more inter-operatibilty across apps (again, Apple will be catching up soon).

Something that is part of the freedom of the Android world - but is also a detriment - is the lack of UI standardization. The major factor in making the Incredible "incredible" is the HTC components that smooth out the quirks in the interface & apps. Not all apps take advantage of this and many just buck all implementation guidelines and community standards and present some of the worst interfaces I've ever seen, but I've also seen my share of horrible iPhone apps as well.

If you would like to know any of the details that the gadget blogs have left out of their standard device reviews or have specific questions on the migration from iPhone to Android, drop a note in the comments or find me on Twitter (@hrbrmstr). Tweeting is sparse these days as work and home eat up much of my energy, but I'll be glad to carve out some time to reply to Android questions.