China is basically an Android country. While 26.8 percent of the nation's citizens can only afford your basic mobile phone and either live in the country or have just migrated to the city, the rest are on smartphones. About 86 percent of them are on Android because they are practical, provide value for money and the system is easily localized because it is open source. It's estimated there will be 300 million Android users by the end of the year.

So while Android is the people's platform, Apple appeals to the 12 percent who are rich, or aspire to prosperity, and media types. They want to look good and iPhone has cachet, like a foreign fashion brand.

I've changed with the times and consequently gone through more mobile phones than most. As a playboy in the 1990s I irradiated my brain with a clunky Motorola that was really only mobile because it was in the car. I could only make 20 minutes of calls before it needed to be recharged.

Nokia defined my yuppiedom, after which I was loyal to Sony Ericsson, when small was considered beautiful. One model was so tiny it only covered my ear and whoever I was calling would comment, "You seem a long way away," because the mic was so far from my mouth. Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, HTC - I've done them all and shed them all, like skins.

Now that 87 percent of the world's populace has a phone, or two, choosing a smartphone is increasingly like deciding on a brand of jeans. They are all pretty much the same (multi-tasking or not), so it's not about what they do, but what they say about you. I'm going to be like Eric and choose what fits, and my advice is for you to do the same.

Contact the writer at julesquartly@chinadaily.com.cn.

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