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If you were waiting for today’s iOS 5 announcement to decide on whether you should make the jump to the iPhone, you might still be waiting. While the improvements are welcome–we’re keen on the Camera app shortcuts, for example–many of them are features that Android users have been enjoying for some time. They include notifications, over-the-air updates, and the ability to search within e-mail messages. It appears as if a lot of the improvements are incremental, with the aim of reaching parity with competing smartphones.
So if you’re already a happy Android user, we’ll be blunt: there’s no reason for you to switch yet. We’ll admit that some of the features are more compelling than others–Newsstand as a central subscription store that will download new issues in the background sounds neat, and the ability to launch the Camera app right from the lock screen is great–but they aren’t enough to woo new customers.
If you’re an iPhone owner, there appears to be more reasons for you to jump ship. If you just can’t wait for an iPhone 5, Android does offer phones with newer technologies like 4G speeds, NFC, and fancier AMOLED screens–no need to wait until fall to get one.
However, we can’t recommend you switch just yet. We’ve only seen 10 of the 200 or so new features of iOS 5, with many more to be uncovered over the coming months. And of course, there is the ever-elusive iPhone 5 (or potentially iPhone 4S). We simply don’t know what new features that phone will bring, if any. If you’re already married to the iPhone, why not wait a few more months to see if you even want to file the divorce papers?
Meanwhile, we’ll point you to our recent chart that compares iOS 5’s new features with those of Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry to see if you do want to switch. And of course, we welcome your comments as to whether you’re willing to make the jump to something else.
