Since January I’ve been rockin’ the HTC Evo 4g after being a long term iPhone user thanks to a ludicrous encounter with AT&T’s braindead customer service team.  In that time, I’ve found the Android experience to be a great one, and in many ways, it’s an improvement over the old iPhone.  I finally pinned down the primary reason the other day:  widgets.

You see widgets on the Android phone allow me to put the information I want to see right there on my phone’s display.  I don’t need to load an app to get at the info.  I can get a feed of what’s happening with my friends on Facebook, or from Twitter, or from all my social media.  Or perhaps I want to see, at a glance, what’s happening with the Red Sox.  My MLB At Bat app has a widget that lets me see the score of the game without loading the app.

That’s it: the information I want where I want it, vs. having to load an app to get at it.  Instead of looking like every other phone, my phone now has the information I want, where I want it, vs. having it locked up inside an app.  The information comes to me rather than me having to go and get it…

Strange that Apple hasn’t seen fit to provide this level of customization for it’s users…