Here at Continuity we have always had a bit of a thing about remaining impartial.  This has led to us turning down some lucrative 'deals' to recommend suppliers products and is a key reason that we haven't travelled the road to Microsoft partnership.

The issue arises again when looking at smartphone platforms.

For those of you who remember the days of video recorders: that was a prime example of the best technology losing out.  The ultimate victor in that platform war was of course VHS, yet many, better qualified than I, would argue that it was far from the best technical solution.

There seems little doubt in this commentators mind that Android is the best technical solution for the smartphone.  Doubtless many of you will now cry out and argue that clearly the iphone is the superior solution or else why would it be so popular.  I say popularity is no measure of quality - see Simon Cowell.

Sure the availability of apps is more limited for Android than iphone but that's not down to the quality of the OS but simply the power of the Apple marketing machine.  Anyway, I'm getting away from the point I was trying to make and getting pulled down into the mire of an argument with no end.

The point I was trying to get to is that the best technical solution is not always the one I would recommend.  When my beloved's phone contract came up for renewal recently I was keen to bring her into the smartphone community.  This was as much about my own convenience as anything - I longed for shared diaries and the final removal of the paper based one into which she would copy everyone's birthday as part of an annual ritual carried out between xmas and new year. 

I could see the benefits of an Android handset but I could also see that it wasn't the best solution here. 

What I realised was that Android is for geeks, people who enjoy multi-tasking, people who want to get the most from their hardware just because they can.  My wife is not a geek and thus an iphone was purchased.  It pained me but I knew it was the right decision.

The decision has proven to be correct.  The iphone is loved by its new owner and my consolation is at least the diary migration has occured.  There have been a few moments when I've had to bite my tongue in response to the swearing and general cursing of the iphone's foibles but for the most part they are happy together.

Me, well I'm just waiting for my new HTC Desire to turn up.