My Android review

Well the Android arrived today. First off, I noticed that someone at Google is taking box design cues from Apple. As soon as you open it up, there is a little spot for the phone and you can yank it right out. Check it out:



This was a nice touch, and I'm glad someone was paying attention. The phone is not featured because it is taking the photo itself!

Setting up was a breeze. I moved my tmo sim from my old iPhone to the Android device, then it asked me to enter my Google address. A few minutes later and it was all done. Next step is syncing my address book entries (from the iPhone), I'll let you know how that goes.

Instead of a big blob of blog text, I'm going to list the things I really love so far about the Android:

• Physical buttons = maximizing of screen real estate.
  
• Unlock screen is cool and fun.
• The GPS is really awesome and really accurate when you drive around.
  
• The notification system with the slide-down status bar is a fantastic UI system
• Push GMail rules
• Oh the GMail client is as great as the web client
• Instant Messaging - it's as integrated as SMS
• MMS again - that was tiresome iPhone

One interesting thing about the Android OS is they are trying to break down the wall between applications and move towards activities/screens. For example, in the maps application you can change some system settings (GPS receiver on/off) - but instead of opening up the settings app, it looks seamless and when you hit the 'back' button you end where you were. In the iPhone you would have to remember to switch back to the maps application after changing the setting.

Overall, the Android is not as shiny-slick as the iPhone, but it is slick in it's own way, and very very fast which is a huge plus. It also feels like using a portable computer again, not just a pre-defined gadget (the iPhone).