Undulations

The Android vs. iPhone wars have always been colourful.

Now more than ever, the launch of Galaxy Nexus pitted things a lot more even - what Android lacked so much in terms of UI polish and fluidity, Android 4.0 covers up in huge bounds. In many ways, Android seem to excel iOS while in many other, iOS rules champ. Obviously, loyal fans of either platform will disagree, arguing why the factor they think is important makes their platform a huge winner and the other platform a joke.

Disclosure: In this game, I have a pro-Android stance. I hold that the customization and inter-app interoperability is more important than fluid UI and visual polish.

That, however, doesn’t stop me from reading and evaluating comments from people from the other side, trying to find out what they are passionate about, and not trying not to get enraged when they sometimes obviously miss the point (or, like I see on under-dog blogs that are extremely pro-Apple, ignore it altogether) - which is why the blogs of MG Siegler (parislemon) and John Gruber (Daring Fireball) are on my daily reading list.

So, as part of usual thoroughfare associated with a new Nexus/iPhone launch, MG Siegler yesterday wrote this post, his review of the acclaimed Galaxy Nexus from an iPhone-lover’s perspective. This review, was far from thorough or complete, but was certainly from a biased perspective and there was quite a bit of nit-picking - but that was understandable. Being used to Siegler’s attitude, I think the article credifies that the Galaxy Nexus is actually a great phone. So I commented this, as saying anything else would fire up a meaningless Fanboi-war:

What I was trying to say is, I’ve never been reading these blogs with a pro-Android perspective - that would be meaningless, as nearly every post will deal with some sort of nit-picking, and my response/opinion will again be nit-picking on the post. That’s not saying that I always approve what these guys write - no. As I said earlier, I had gotten used to it, the criticisms no longer enraged me, they often made me laugh, rather.

All that, until, this morning Joshua Topolsky tweeted this:

This was unusual from a man like Joshua - but here, he clearly seemed to have a point. Joshua voiced the concern that most readers out there (excluding heavily Apple-biased people) had in mind - both these bloggers (with due respect), unfortunately have lately turned to too much pointless nit-picking - which was, truth to be told, affecting the overall quality of their blogs. The concern, which has been long there, has finally been raised by an authoritive voice. (Joshua Topolsky has promised a follow-up on his comment, which will certainly be worth looking out to.)

Will this make Siegler or Gruber rethink their attitude? Unlikely. But I hope they (and everybody else) finally notice that the people who actually criticize their blogs needn’t necessarily be blind Android fanatics.