The reason I am replacing my iPhone with an Android smartphone

Google, of course.

photo credit: iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone 5S via photopin (license)

Don't get me wrong. I really like the iPhone. Last year I upgraded from the 4S to the 5S, and I was seriously considering purchasing an iPhone 6. The plethora of apps that allow you to create and share original content is impressive. Being able to take a picture and have it synced with iCloud, available both on my iPad and my MacBook Air is very nice. And it is not like I will be giving up my iPhone. I'll still use my 5S like an iPod Touch when wireless is available, which is helpful when controlling our Apple TV at home, or as a remote for a Keynote presentation at a conference.

But Google has become such a part of my professional life. Our district adopted Google Apps for Education about five years ago. The Apple versions of their apps work fairly well on iOS, but the experience is much better within the Android operating system. I will be getting the Motorola Droid MAXX. Playing with it at a local cell phone location, the navigation and transitions between Drive, Google+, Gmail, and Chrome are very efficient.

A lot of communication and collaboration that occurs for me as an administrator is now housed within Google Apps. For example, our elementary level administrative team houses all of our minutes, spreadsheets, and schedules in Google Drive. Sometimes I need to bring certain documents up quickly. The native environment provided by an Android phone is certainly a plus in these situations.

I've also gotten better about saving images in Google Photo. These pictures become much more accessible when I want to write and share a post on our school blog, housed on Blogger. These images are also accessible within Google+, a social media platform I am finding more helpful to me as a professional every time I use it. Beyond the Community I formed for my book last year, I am a part of a number of other Google+ Communities focused on digital tools, as well as local and global educational organizations. These more focused spaces for learning have become communities of practice for me.

Another benefit is Google Calendar. The iPhone worked fine for the functionality, as it connected well between both platforms. But again, it comes down to practicalities. By choosing to use an iPhone because I love the content and creativity it provides for me, am I giving up time and organization as I try to get things done efficiently using Google products on a platform that is not optimized for that product?

I am sure other professionals have (and may be currently dealing with) this dilemma, which probably seems minor if I were to gain more perspective. Nevertheless, here it is. What are your thoughts on this topic? Please share in the comments.