Android Phones

One thing I'm not clear on is why people just accept that in order to do anything cool with an Android phone you have to jailbreak it first.

Among my friends there's about a 25/75 split between Android users and iPhone users (disclaimer: I've got an iPhone). Honestly, I don't really get the fanboy fuelled 'hate-dom' that seems to flare up whenever we get into a debate about the respective merits of our devices, especially because we're arguing about the superior brand of telephone. Really...?

I do find it strange, though, that despite Android phones having superior cameras, consumer-friendly features including the ability to replace your battery, better and faster processors, more ram and physical keyboards (in all ways, physically, superior to iPhones), whenever a debate comes... it's inevitable that one of the main arguments (usually the first one) that's bought out by the Android users is "It's open and it's free as in freedom", usually said with this smug grin, as though the iPhone is not. They're right, of course, but...

But then I ask something like, "Can I replace the 'telephone' app freely then?" and they nod eagerly and say, "Yep, you totally can, you just jailbreak it like this and-" ...

I can accept that Android has a great deal many superior features to the iPhone, but I eventually went with iPhone because it had the best user interface, painless upgrade process, everything about it 'just works' (unless it doesn't, such as 3GS wifi-access-point-mode), and the app-store is by far the best. Some people say, "If you're not willing to tinker with your devices you're not a real geek", at which point I tell them that it's just a telephone and I expect it, and its apps, to just work, all the time. It should not need to be tinkered with.

I just don't understand why when the inevitable fanboy war comes, that the very first feature that seems to be produced is "It's open if you jailbreak!". I mean, isn't that the very definition of jailbreaking? Making something closed open? (and yes, iPhones can do it to...)