Up until last Friday, I had been an iPhone user. Got the original iPhone, and upgraded to the 3GS when renewal time came. However, this time round, I've decided to sample the waters of the other side instead of blindly upgrading.

I got myself a shiny new Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc on Vodafone (UK), meaning a change in handset manufacturer, OS and service provider. These are my experiences so far.

This is NOT a direct comparison of iPhone vs Android (though there are comparisons to make). I'm not fanboy baiting and not picking sides. Just calling what I see.

The device

First thing, the build quality isn't that great. My old 3GS felt bulletproof enough that dropping it yielded only a passing "bugger". The Xperia, due to it's frankly obscene thinness, feels like a mistimed twist would snap the thing clean in half.

However, the HUGE screen makes a welcome change, the camera is a bajillion times better and the battery is no worse than the 3GS (certainly no better though).

What I love

• The screen is amazing. Clear, bright and gorgeous.

• The notification bar. Seriously, this thing is a revelation and I can see why Apple have shamelessly copied it wholesale in iOS 5.

• Contacts, calendars, Apps, settings, EVERYTHING synced. My iMac, Macbook Pro, GMail and phone now all share the same database of contacts. And Android's way of linking a contact against their Twitter / Facebook account is just sexy.

• Freedom. Freedom to put whatever I want on here. No need to pay for ringtones.

• Over the air updates. Android 2.3.2 hit my device today, a 45MB download and update which the phone handled all on its own without intervention from a computer.

What I dislike

• Typing. The Android default keyboard tries to do waaay too much. Far too many buttons, I frequently miss keys and end up having to undo large portions. That said, the ability to see multiple choices of word to autocorrect my hamfisted typing to is very welcome.

• Syncing from a Mac your photos / music etc is a bit of a pain. There is a utility from Sony Ericsson, but it's not great, and Photos need to be done manually using the phone as a disk drive.

• The default skin that Sony Ericsson have on the device isn't the prettiest. But that can (and will) be changed with rooting the device.

What I hate

• Nothing so far!

Ultimately, I'm loving the change to Android. It still does everything my iPhone could as well as some extra bells and whistles. Ultimately, this makes me feel much better about making the decision based almost as much on the philosophy of the OS manufacturer as the device itself.

Right tool for the job, and for me, my little Android is doing everything I could want! Let's see what tempts me in 18 months time.

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Just as an afterword, if only the carriers could catch up! I ported my number from O2, and when the number transferred, Vodafone sent me the new internet settings via SMS. The only problem was that they didn't work! They set the default data network as GPRS and not my contract WAP, meaning I had no data services for days until I figured it out.