Re: Aggravated with iOS /Android back and forth
To the OP:
I can definitely relate, and I think a lot of people can. There are fanboys who yes sir their platform no matter what, and here are the comfortable ignorant who happened upon a platform they're comfortable with and just stick with it. And yes, there are people who are not fanboys and who are not ignorant who just truly are sold on a tech and stick with it. But when you factor out the fanboys and factor out the comfortable laity, I can't help but suspect there amay we'll be more people like us than the informed commiters.
This may be a tad oversimplified, but here is my take on the two platforms in a nutshell:
1) I really like iOS, and I really like Android. I find them both at least basically trustworthy (security, yes, but I'm talking more stability and dependability). I think they both make perfectly decent toys, and I also think they both make perfectly decent tools. They both loom large in my heart, as well as in my head.
2) Now, all the above standing as said, the comparatives: I like Android better. I trust iOS more. I think iOS make the better tool, and Android makes the better toy. My head is more with iOS, and my heart is more with Android. I guess you could say I "left brain" iOS more, and "right brain" Android more.
3) It doesn't matter which platform it is, when I first get a new phone, I'm in love, and am in love with whichever ecosystem it's running. It also doesn't matter which one it is, over time, the honeymoon wears off. However, where the post-honeymoon leaves me is different between the two. I tend to get frustrated with Android and I tend to get bored with iOS, while conversely, I don't tend to get too frustrated with iOS, nor very bored with Android. Again, the left brain/right brain thing.
One area where I differ with you, at least for now is that I'm not trying to pick a platform to stick with, to simplify my life as you put it, but I'm actually trying to diversify my life, and go multiplatform. I am with you that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. But instead of trying to pick a patch of grass, I want to take out the fence.
For me this is even more complicated as in addition to being an Android and iOS fan, I'm also a big fan of Windows. So for me, multi-format is tri-format, maybe quad-format if I want to make a distinction between 1st and 3rd party Android (which I almost certainly will not do).
As it stands, I STRONGLY prefer 1st party (I.e Nexus/Pixel devices) over any and all 3rd party phones and tablets, but there are a handful of 3rd party devices that don't really have a meaningful 1st party parallels that I would really want, like nVidia Shield TV/handheld, and JiDe Remix mini. What's that? It's a basically Roku-sized Android desktop out of Beijing, with Remix OS, a specialized version of Android to run like a desktop, with start menu, task bar, file explorer, and truly desktop-style resizable, movable "windows" for each.
I'm already doubled down on Apple more or less with a Mac, an iPad Air2, and this iPhone6+. This tax time I plan on doubling down on Android by getting a Nexus 6p, a Pixel C, and if there is money left over, a Nexus TV (will probably get an Apple TV too). I also have the aforementioned JiDe Remix minis on the way.
After all this, I'll probably spend the next year and probably next year's tax return turning my attention to pursuing Windows: a serious Windows 10 gaming PC, a REAL Surface, rather than the cheapie Nextbook Flexx 11 I'm currently using to "approximate" one, and [assuming Windows and Verizon are playing nice by then], the crown jewel, a Windows phone (probably a "Surface Phone" by the time that happens).
Now, to be clear, I think I'd get totally overwhelmed really quick if I tried to use all three ecosystems equally AT THE SAME TIME, so what my plan would be would be to have all three but alternate at [TBD] intervals between more or less "all-in"/exclusivism and really get to know the ecosystems that way. Other than major updates, and/or urgent app grabs, whichever ones I'm not using at the time I'd just completely ignore until it's their turn. But since I'd have all three, I wouldn't have to wait out contracts or anything. I could switch at any time with the pop of a SIM card from one device to another.
But, to your situation, I don't think there's any shame in the back and forth. They're both great platforms and great devices, and you're either gonna get both, go back and forth, or put down stakes in one and miss what made the other great. That's all there is to it. I can tell you that if I were going to bind myself to one at a time, and only Apple and Android, I know exactly how it'd go down: I'd get myself into a perpetual cycle of frustration with Android, boredom with iOS, frustration with Android, boredom with iOS and so on.
On the other hand, I think there's no shame in picking one to settle on, but as much as you like the two systems, you're going to be settling, make no mistake. And the grass will still be greener on the other side. Maybe what you could do if you're absolutely committed to just one platform at a time is use your phone upgrade cycles to dictate the timing, and when you switch phones, switch platforms - and pick up a new tablet in the given ecosystem as well and just immerse yourself.
To be sure, that doesn't resolve your original self-gripe, but it will still give you the best of both worlds, on a regimented schedule so you won't be stressing out about what to do, and panicking on day 13. If over time you organically come to favor the one or the other and decide to settle down, that's gravy. But I think you'll be unhappy if you try to force yourself into the one or the other inorganically because by necessity, you'll be forcing yourself out of the other.
Wishing you the best!
Cheers from a kindred spirit!
-J
p.s. I had a "day 13" situation as well, only mine was day 7, and was a little more measured and "long view strategy". Coming from a Note 3 on Sprint, I returned to Verizon, initially with a Nexus 6. However, multiplatformism was in view, with tax time being the time frame and I figured I'd probably be happier with a last year's model iPhone6+ and a brand new Nexus 6p than I would be with a brand new iPhone 6s+ and last year's model Nexus 6. So that's why I traded. As to the question of which I prefer between the Nexy 6 and the 6+, let's just say "left brain / right brain." ;-)
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