[Long post ahead]
My reasons for sticking with Windows Phone (at least at the present time - I want to see how Windows 10 plays out) stem both from pluses in the ecosystem and some opposition to the primary two alternatives.
First, what I find better about Windows Phone includes:
- Live tiles: this has saved me lots of time over the past four plus years on WP. Android has upped their widget game to provide live info, but I find them less attractive and quite dissonant with regards to style and appearance. WP has everything together, smooth and sleek, and my calendar, weather report, emails and a host of other things are there as soon as I enter my phone PIN. My girlfriend, a longtime Apple user (on the 5S right now) often asks me to check things like the weather because I can get it done much faster on WP 8.1.
- Balance between high walls and free-for-all playground: for me, WP strikes the right balance between being too restrictive in terms of customization and openness (iOS) and being way too open, (Android). I recently picked up an LG G Pad tablet as a small travel tablet for reading and movies, so I've been getting to know Android recently. One thing that kills me is how inefficient the operating system is. Apps aren't auto-killed - the run indefinitely in the background even if you use the app switcher window and swipe them away. Other apps launch on their own and run in the background (why is Spotify running tasks on my tablet if I haven't launched the app since power-on?). All this contributes to an OS that needs a lot more care when using, including restarting the device periodically to free memory and kill useless background tasks.
- Togetherness of the experience: iOS accomplishes this too, but I feel that iOS 8.x is still just new wallpaper on top of the same mechanics that debuted on the first iPhone. It's too static and dead, and it's UX still feels a few years outdated, despite the much better looking color palette and the death of Jobsian skeumorphism. Android, on the other hand, is way too disjointed for my taste. There is a great disparity in the interface and operation of many apps. Some have a gear sign for settings. Others just require you to click a dropdown bar. Some apps have a back button up top, others require you to use the Android back button, and still others have both but will dump you from the app entirely if you use the Android one depending on what section of the app you're in. Widgets do not have a common appearance, so some are flat styled and others more three dimensional.
Now for my more "moral" arguments.
I am not a fan of Google for two principle reasons:
1. They show contempt for Windows Phone users (and sometimes Microsoft product users more broadly). Dropping support for apps on Windows Phone after Google buys them or becomes a backer (Waze being the biggest example), changing calendar sync technology to exclude Windows users and then dragging their feet for ages as to whether they'll let Microsoft add support, etc etc. I do not like this behavior. There is a way to compete without being a jerk about it.
2. Google exists solely to make money off of your data. Despite their claims to the contrary and all of the "good" they're working to do for humanity with their "moon shot" projects and Google X, Google makes money by selling you. Every time I add an app or take action on my Android tablet, I can practically feel my data being parceled up and sent away to some bidder. Do Apple and Microsoft take your data? Yes they do, but it is almost always for their internal uses.
I am not a fan of Apple for two principle reasons:
1. Though it's toned down a bit since Android leapt ahead of iOS in market share and since Samsung's "Next Big Thing" campaign has blunted a little of Apple's technological superiority claims, I still find Apple fans to in general be an annoying and ill-informed bunch. Product loyalty is fine, so I don't begrudge them that, but unlike Android, WP, BB or other tech users, Apple fans are a herd of devoted, crusade-like people who engage in fingers-in-ears shouting match "discussions" when one talks about technology and fails to properly revere Apple or offers any critique. This is a generalization about the most polarizing of users, of course; the vast majority of users of any OS are normal people. I just find Apple's most fervent fans to be the least informed, least well-reasoned, and most annoying.
2. Tied to that, I still find Apple to be an incredibly self-absorbed company. Disclaimer: my first smartphone was an iPhone 3G, which I enjoyed for two years before switching to a Samsung running WP7. At the start, I didn't mind being associated with Apple and the coolest tech. But as that time wore on, I grew increasingly tired of the posture that Apple, and Jobs in particular, took as being a wonderful gift to mankind from the gods, beyond blemish, fault, or reproach. The treat user complaints as though the user is always at fault and is of lesser intelligence. That attitude permeates the company and continues to this day, despite more recent appeals from Cook that they make decisions based on what's best for humanity. As if. Tell that to your $100b+ cash pile.
Really long post, but I wanted to take a break from work and decided to go ahead and chip in with my 22 cents.
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