There’s a warning sign on the Internet that reads: “Please don’t feed the trolls.”

So I’m really, really sorry about what I’m going to write.

There are no trolls like Apple AAPL, +1.57% trolls. None. And yet here I am, about to toss a huge bag of peanuts into their cage.

Sorry.

I recently bought an iPhone for the first time. I finally gave in to the hype. I heard so many bug-eyed fanatics say they were the best thing since the wheel was invented. (Maybe even better, because how many wheels have Snapchat, huh?)

After all, 50 million hipsters can’t be wrong. Right?

And I was excited. Oh, boy, was I excited. At last I was joining the fun. At last I was joining the party. I was going to have an iPhone like every other cool person on the planet.

Oh, dear.

After a short, but heroic, stint as an iPhone user, I’m dumping it.

In favor of a Windows Phone made by Microsoft/Nokia instead.

Yes, really. How uncool is that? I must be the only person on the planet who’d do such a crazy thing.

But the Microsoft MSFT, +2.40% phone crushes the iPhone, at least for me.

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I should make a few things clear at the outset. My experience surely wouldn’t be typical, even if more people actually picked up a Windows Phone and tried it. (Very few do, and their market share is tiny.)

I’m not a power user. I don’t spend hours walking around hunched over, looking at my smartphone. If it weren’t for work demands, I probably wouldn’t even want one. I’m not a gamer, I’m not running videos or using Snapchat, and I’m probably not doing half the things with a smartphone that all the hipsters are doing.

Oh, and I’m not comparing the latest, most high-end models either. I’m not talking about the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, nor about the latest Windows alternative.

I wanted a solid smartphone for work, including email and various online, social media and professional applications, and a few other things.

At this point, the rate of evolution is such that even basic smartphones would be considered amazingly advanced pocket computers by the standards of a couple of years ago. I didn’t need the absolute latest so I went for the entry level.

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I bought a brand-new iPhone 5c on eBay EBAY, +1.55% as soon as Apple discontinued their regular sales last month. The price dropped about 50% overnight. I chose the 5c because it basically does about the same as the 5s for about half the cost, and because the plastic body means it’ll cope better if I drop it. (The 5s looks really beautiful — until you enclose it one of those big, ugly plastic cases.)

Meanwhile, by happenstance I also found myself simultaneously the owner of a Nokia Lumia 635, which costs just $70, compared with around $250 for my discounted 5c, and $450 for a 5s from Apple.

And to my surprise, it’s the iPhone, not the Lumia, that I’m dumping.

The screen is much bigger. The phone is lighter. The keyboard works better for my fingers.

I can add all the memory I want through SD cards. The Windows Phone does absolutely everything I want, just as well as the iPhone or better — for a fraction of the cost. It also comes with Microsoft Office. And it will be updated to Windows Phone 10 later this year.

Oh, and it’s a minor point, but I don’t need to buy a special iPhone cable to charge it. The Nokia uses standard micro-USB. Apple must be the only phone company that still pulls that annoying proprietary-cable crap. Even Sony SNE, +0.54% has given in.

I appreciate that Apple fanatics are absolutely, er, fanatical.

And I reiterate that my experience is surely not typical. If you love your iPhone, good for you.

Maybe if I had spent $549 on an iPhone 6 (with 16 gigabytes of memory), I’d have been happier.

But that’s eight times as much as the phone in my hand now. And maybe the new iPhone 6s crushes every other high-end smartphone. But I didn’t want to spend $649.

And, yes, maybe Windows Phone will end up being discontinued, and in a couple of years when I replace my phone, I’ll have to buy something running something else. Big deal.

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But this isn’t just about Windows. Tech experts argue that there are now really good Android smartphones, such as the Motorola G, that sell for a fraction of the cost of comparable Apple products.

If Apple is still better than the alternatives, how much better? Twice as good? Three times? Six?

It remains an open question as to how long Apple can continue to command massive price premiums over its competition. Maybe indefinitely. Stranger things have happened.

Personally, I don’t understand why so many people cheerfully waste so much money on their cellular service anyway, including phones and plans. People I know are spending $1,000 a year. They think their new smartphone is “free” when, of course, the true cost is bundled into the monthly expense of the service. My unlocked phone cost $70, and my mobile service — with 3G instead of 4G, I’ll admit — is only $30 a month. If I wanted 4G, I’d have to pay $40 a month.

A couple of my friends work in the fashion and luxury-goods industries, and they are deep admirers of Apple’s marketing. Few companies do it better. Apple’s devotees will stand in line for six hours to buy a new phone that’s only slightly better than the one in their hand. But as marketing leaves me cold, I just can’t feel the joy. Poor me. All I’m left with is a decent smartphone that does everything I want and a bunch of extra money clogging my bank account.