I’m frustrated. I really love my iphone. I’ve had one since the beginning, but I am feeling a bit of device envy for some of those “other” phones out there. I really like that I am basically carrying a unix box around in my pocket, and that I can install apps and sync calendars and contacts and send and receive email…..and that it all works seamlessly from my mac.
Many of those things are actually pretty straightforward and widely available…..if you have a PC. Now, RIM has released the new mac Blackberry app, and it works pretty well…it’s like 2002 for mac users with blackberries!
This is the niche that the iPhone filled.
Unfortunately, all of the politics and apple-ness has also come with that nice package. They want to control the user experience, and for the most part they do a fantastic job of it. I’ve always been a big apple fan, even when their OS sucked (and how; remember OS7?), but I’m also a control freak. I want to be able to tweak….without violating some arbitrary user agreement.
I want to be able to run the apps that I want to run, not what some carrier or some hardware company wants me to run. So, to that end, I will be considering all other devices that can perform similarly when the time is here to upgrade.

Lets go over a few things.

Here are the things that I am looking for:

Media support of mp3, video, audiobook
Full mac support for adding media (music, video, audiobooks)
Support for secure syncing of contacts (via either mac or OTA)
Support for secure syncing calendar OTA.
Secure email support of more than 2 accounts (activesync or imap).
Ability to install all available apps [easily, without a hack].
Unix based operating system
802.11g wifi
3g cellular support
>=2.0mp camera
ability to lock screen with code
video recording capability

Extra points for:
Supporting my existing provider (AT&T)
expandable memory
user replaceable battery
*not* having to jailbreak or hack device to unsupported state to accomplish all requirements

So far the contenders are:
Nokia n900
Motorola Droid
Palm pre
LG eve(?)
SE Xperia X10(?)

Does anyone else have any suggestions?