I'm from the PHP world. Recently I'm trying to learn about Java. Because simply I'm a bit interested in Android development. Learning about Java gives more control about my cellphone. Say I could fine tune some applications to fit my personal requirements or even make my own ones. Still Java is a new world to me. I guess I'm already too comfortable with weak typed languages such as PHP. Honestly I think application development of no matter which kind wouldn't make too much difference. Because just as web development mostly framework based, what the developer do is to fill the blanks meaning to follow the protocols the given by the framework. Most of the code is still about business logic, that's what application development all about, right?

The big difference seems to lie on the programming languages. Comparing to PHP, Java holds a whole package of constraints and practices. At this point, what are the benefits to learn programming in it?