my mobile computing history
TL;DR I'm long winded on this topic
I was initially really excited about smartphones. I was working at OfficeMax in the early/mid 2000s and we were selling MP3 players, cell phones, and Palm/Handspring/Windows CE PDAs. As the PDAs started to have cellular modems I realized that we weren't too far from these things starting to really come together. I had no idea at the time that they would revolutionize computing, much less society as a whole, but that is the world we find ourselves in now.
Windows CE/Pocket PC
The first connected mobile computing for me was a second hand (I think Compaq) Pocket PC. I don't remember if I got it from a friend or somewhere like eBay, but it was pretty much like every other Pocket PC. The interesting part was I had it at a time I also had an LG flip phone with an IR port. This meant I could sit at a coffee shop, put both devices on the table right beside each other, and send email and AOL IM, with a stylus at pre-edge cellular speeds. One of the most amazing parts was this was only 4-5 years before the iPhone came out.I also had no idea of the privacy implications they would have. I was so excited to just carry one device that would not only let me listen to my music, but also check my email, that I didn't realize it would soon be used to feed advertising companies information on what we do, who we talk to, how long, when we do, or where we are.
As a long time Apple fan, I started with an iPhone, but pretty early on I switched to Android with an HTC Evo 4G (2010). This was mostly because Android finally had most of the usability of the iPhone, but was also open to hacking in a way the iPhone wasn't. I'm also a big supporter of open source, and at the time Android was mostly open source. After a few years, 2 big reasons sent me back to the iPhone. One was I got tired of dealing with hacks, I specifically remember my bluetooth headset failing in embarrassing ways in the middle of a work conference call with upper level management. The other was I started to lose faith in Google. For years I had been a Google fanboy and jumped on most things they put out. But after the Snowden revelations I started to realize the idea that if you aren't paying for something, you are the product.
In the meantime Apple has really pushed to be privacy oriented, and I've appreciated the iPhone for that. However I've become more interested in avoiding the cloud for my personal data and started to become more actively concerned with privacy. A big change for me was listening to a podcast episode that showed just how much data Apple is collecting. I'm quite happy that Apple at least seems to not be actively selling this data or using it for advertising, but it means if there ever was a security breech or Apple sold some part of it's business, all that information would become available. And it's just plain creepy.