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When I first started using a smartphone, the choice between Android and iOS felt like an easy one. Sure, Apple had an attractive UI, and an early lead on third-party software support, but going the iPhone route meant living in Apple’s walled garden. And while there are absolutely benefits to that kind of approach, it just fundamentally felt wrong to me: I viewed smartphones as the next phase of general-purpose computers, and wasn’t interested in a platform locked down like a gaming console.
For a while, Android felt like getting the best of both worlds. If you wanted an iPhone-like experience, you were welcome to get your apps from the Play Store (well, Android Market in those days), and if you didn’t, you were free to take matters into your own hands and install whatever software you wanted, no matter what sketchy corner of the internet it crawled out of.
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