Android users usually say it’s the openness of the platform why they went for Android over iOS (iPhone in most cases). I can somewhat understand the argument but would always emphasize something else instead of openness. The way I see it, as long as the phone (and its software) does the job for me, I don’t care whether it’s open or not. That said, my number one reason for preferring Android smartphones over iPhone is support for home screen widgets.
The ability to see my appointments and tasks without actually starting the application makes me (slightly) more productive. Likewise I like my top contacts linked on the homepage so I can quickly call or text them.
Back in my iPhone days, I used to rely on IntelliScreen to see upcoming appointments on the lock screen. As you can imagine, IntelliScreen requires jailbroken devices to work, since Apple hasn’t provided the appropriate API for developers.
However, IntelliScreen won’t show your upcoming tasks, only appointments. During that time I used to schedule my tasks at the end of the list. If someone had to go through my calendar then, they would see a lot going on between 10 and 11:59 pm. Unfortunately, I had no other option to make things work for me, and as I said, I refused to open a dedicated application every time I wanted to check my schedule.
All said I can only hope that the forthcoming iOS 5 will come with the home screen widget support when some of us, Android converts, may actually grab an iPhone again. Steve, are you listening? Why not allow us to use all those wonderful widgets from Mac OS on the iOS-based devices?