If you’re following me on Twitter you might know that I’m extremely excited about upgrading my cell phone in a couple of months to the iPhone. I currently have an army of gadgets I carry around with me most places I go: my dumb-phone (Sony Ericsson S500i unlocked on Rogers GSM), my work cell phone (BlackBerry 8830 World Edition) and my MP3 player (16GB iPod Touch 1st Gen). Recently, however, Rogers brought the G1 (an HTC Dream running the Google Android Mobile OS) to Canada and this has made me rethink the iPhone.

Gadget Army

So let’s look at my major concerns when upgrading my cellphone to a smartphone in the coming months:

1. I do NOT want to change my number. Sticking with Rogers as my personal cell phone provider seems to make the most sense in this regard. Asking family and friends to update my contact info seems like too much of a hassle.
2. Phone as primary MP3 Player?. Should they remain separate or should the smartphone I choose have a functional MP3 player?
3. Last.fm scrobbling. This might seem insignificant but I’ve been using the Last.fm service for 4+ years to track my listening habits. If I decide to use my phone as my primary MP3 player I will need this capability.
4. Good social networking apps. From what I’ve seen both Android and obviously the iPhone have great Facebook and Twitter apps. TwitterBerry on my BlackBerry does a decent job but the Facebook for BlackBerry app left something to be desired.
5. Google account integration. It’s a no-brainer that the Android will be well integrated with my Google account. I’ve also successfully integrated the big three (Gmail, GCal, Contacts) to my iPod Touch so it’s a matter of which is easier to use.

Photo courtesy obsessable.com

So where do the iPhone and Android G1 stand on these concerns?

Changing numbers: This is a non-issue for the iPhone and Android G1 since both are only available from Rogers and my work BlackBerry is on Bell. Setting up the Call Forwarding on the BlackBerry is easy enough so that any calls that go it (<2 per month at this point) are rerouted to my personal cell. The only feature I'll probably miss from the BlackBerry is the BlackBerry Messenger for talking to other friends with BlackBerrys. Back to plain old texting them I guess.

Phone/MP3 Player & Last.fm scrobbling: By all accounts the G1 is a serviceable music player with an app available for scrobbling my plays to Last.fm. Unfortunately it would require me buying a 8 or 16GB microSD card (up to an extra $120) to fit as much music on it as my Touch. The iPhone will be the same as my Touch which is the easiest MP3 player to use and has scrobbling support upon syncing with iTunes. I’m undecided on whether or not my phone as my primary MP3 player is an issue or not, however the iPhone would make my Touch dispensable.

Facebook/Twitter, etc apps The iPhone has a great Facebook app and 2 great Twitter clients (Twitterific and Tweetie). It also IM apps however the problem with the iPhone is that apps are not allowed to run in the background meaning that you physically have to go into an app and allow it to refresh to get updates. This is apparently something that’s being looked into for a firmware upgrade in the future. The Android G1 however allows background apps which means you can be notified of @replies and direct messages, etc.

The Big G: It’s no secret that I’ve given almost my entire online life to Google. Scary. But I use Google because it’s the best at what it does. Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts are seamlessly integrated into the Android G1. Google has also made their webapps for Mobile Safari on the iPhone for their services very easy to use, as well as using Microsoft Exchange to sync Google Calendar and Google Contacts to the native Calendar and Contacts apps is fairly easy to set up and works well. The Google Maps street view on the G1 looks amazing.

Through this process, and looking at prices for each unit, I’ve basically decided to go with the HTC Dream Android G1. This was actually surprising to me as I figured this process would most likely confirm that the iPhone is the way to go. I’ve always thought of myself as the early-adopter-who-just-can’t-afford-it-right-away, and despite the prospect of an iPhone 4G coming this summer, it’s still going to be $299 for a 16GB iPhone with a 3yr contract. Might as well just keep rocking out the 16GB iPod Touch and dish out $149 for the HTC Dream on a 3yr contract and if I keep my BlackBerry at home to deal with work emails etc after hours I’ll have my gadget army down to two.

After looking up even MORE information on Android and the HTC Dream and the HTC Magic (the G2) it’s looking more like I’ll grab the HTC Magic G2 as it’s faster, smaller and lighter. I won’t miss the physical keyboard on the G1.