Impressions on Android

(Note: I actually started writing this over a week ago. I can probably
rewrite some of it at this point, but I'm going to keep it written with
the feel that I just got the phone a day or two ago.)

Before I became an iPhone user in early 2008, I was rocking the Treo for
years. From the first day that I fixed a client's problem via email
while out to dinner, I was hooked on the idea of a Smartphone. This is
obviously not a great thing for everyone, but in my particular line of
work, it was indispensable. Not that the Treo was very smart.

The iPhone 1

The iPhone 1 was an amazing device, even in it's terribly locked up
state. This was the dark ages of no apps. If you wanted to do anything
outside of the 10 standard applications on the phone, you had to
jailbreak it, and install apps via Cydia. Being technical, this wasn't
a huge deal to me, but it was still pretty amazing when the App Store
was released.

I had the iPhone 1 for about 18 months before the 3GS was released,
which I got that week. I'm not a sucker to sit out in line on day 1
normally, so I went to a random AT&T store about two days after it was
released and got it no problem. The iPhone 3GS has done well, but by the
end of it's life, it started showing it's age and I was ready to move on
again -- especially after my two year contract was up.

The Trusty 3GS

In February, I posted "Should I Go Android?", which was basically saying
that I was getting fed up with recent Apple changes to the iOS ecosystem
and was looking for a change. The only reason I didn't do it then is
because the Atrix didn't come out until later and the reviews were mixed
at best.

I said that I would basically wait until a premiere phone was released
or the iPhone 5 (well, 4S), and wait I did. I decided to hold out for
the Galaxy S2 to be released in the states. Little did I know it was
going to take 6 months... but I was determined.

About two weeks ago, my trusty 3GS started acting up. It wouldn't pause
correctly, and was doing some other weird things. Then it just stopped
working all together. At this point, the S2 release date was live and
the Apple date was announced, so I decided to wait another couple of
weeks and slum it with wife's old 3G that was sitting in a drawer.

AT&T released the Galaxy S2 two days before the iPhone 4S was announced.
Initially, I was going to wait and see what was announced, but as the
rumors about the 4S being a minor upgrade became more apparent, it
became clear that it wasn't worth waiting for. That Sunday morning, I
ran up to the mall and took the plunge (after asking if I had time to
return it -- 30 days, apparently).

The Samsung Galaxy S2

Hardware

The Galaxy S2 is beautiful. The size is bordering on being a little too
big, but it's not detremental to the device. It still fits fine in my
pocket. The thinness of it is just amazing... I'm really impressed how
much they can get into such a small package.

The AMOLED+ screen is really bright -- insanely so. In fact, I almost
think it's a little too colorful. When I take a picture, all the images
look SO saturated. It's totally unnatural looking and throws me off.
It's only until I get the picture online and look at it from a regular
computer that I realize that it's the screen playing tricks on me. It
took me a day or two to get over it.

Speaking of the camera, I'm not that impressed with it. I'm not sure if
it's the camera itself, or Samsung's camera application. There's a well
known pink spot problem that I do see, and any images that use the flash
are just flat out ugly. The white balance is all wrong, as well, and any
image taken indoors is entirely too warm. Since the camera is something
I use a lot, I'll definitely be messing with it more until I figure it
out.

Battery life is pretty great. The first day I got it, I was a bit
concerned as it seemed to be dying quickly, but it must've been because
I was constantly fiddling with it. If I charge it overnight (I bought a
dock for my bed), and with regular use (several hours of podcasts, some
phone and SMS), it's only at about 40% by the time I go to bed. I think
that's more than acceptable -- as I knew I was going to have to do a
charge nightly once I went to an Android phone. It's just the way it is.

User Experience

I listen to a lot of pundits on various podcasts that tell me about how
bad Android is to use, and how anything coming out of Cupertino is the
best thing since sliced bread. Honestly, except for fixing something on
my dad's phone once, I never touched Android in any depth before I had
already given them my credit card. Without a clue how to use it, I left
the store. Talk about a leap of faith.

The way it was getting talked up, I was expecting this big learning
curve with switching to a new operating system. And it's not true. Yes,
Android works differently than iOS. The home screens and the application
list are separate, and some things interact differently than you intiall
expect. But when it comes down to it, it's not any more difficult to
use. It's just like the differences beween Windows and Mac ..It works,
and it's intuitive -- it's just different.

It does have some advantages, though. Widgets are amazing to use, and
it's still something that iOS still doesn't have. The notification
improvements are awesome too, though I know iOS 5 has something similar
now. I love the fact that you can turn on/off Bluetooth, GPS and Wifi
right from the notification pulldown -- this was something that I had on
my jailbroken 3GS and I'm glad it exists here.

It does have some downsides, of course. Relying on the back button is
kind of a pain, though it is nice that it's ubiquitous to the device.
You also have to get used to the idea of the Settings menu and thinking
of it as sort of a "right click". There is a lot of inconsistency in
what shows up there, but you get used to it after awhile. It also means
a lot less cluttered interfaces as compared to some iOS apps (GoodReader,
I'm looking at you). It also took me awile to figure out the "hold down
home to switch apps" thing -- that wasn't obvious at all.

GoodReader. Great app, but yikes!

Apps / Marketplace

Yes, Apple still has a leg up in this case. The fact of the matter is
that the Android Marketplace is the Wild West. Pretty much anything
goes, just like the regular internet. And just like the internet, you
have to be careful what you download and what you agree to. I can see
that being a big issue for the "normals", but for a nerd like myself, I
don't mind it. I just watch what I'm doing, check reviews, make sure I
know who is actually releasing the app, etc. It's not difficult, but it
is a lot to ask of the general populace. It's in this case that I
totally get why Apple does what it does... for the most part. I still
don't get things like not being able to release a Gmail app because
people will "get confused" -- that's still anti-competitive bullshit.

Just like my initial research on Android, I'm only missing one
application in my switch -- Instagram. Now understand that any iOS games I play are
on my iPad, so I'm a bit of a rare case in that I didn't have a lot of
iPhone games. As far as all the other apps I normally use, mainly
Foursquare, Twitter, Google+, etc., I'm finding perfect parity.

Now, as a card carrying member of the Google Experience, I'm finding
Android to totally shine over iOS. The GMail app is incredible. The
Google Voice integration (it's my main phone # for work) is fantastic
and I could only wish that it could work like that in iOS. It's
something that Apple wouldn't let fly... oh well.

I also find the ability to replace the default app for different
functions incredible. Don't like the default Android camera (actually Samsung replaced it, but either way I don't), totally
replace it. Default calendar crappy (hint: it is)? Then replace it.
Again, I can see where Apple is coming from a customer service and
controlling the experience aspect, but I'm not a child and I can take
it. I know that I can change it back if I don't like my new default --
no big deal.

Did I mention I'm missing Instagram? No, Picplz is not as good. Can't
they get on that already? I'm dying here.

Where to from here?

I had 30 days to decide if I was keeping this phone. I basically asked
just in case the iPhone 4S turned out to be something that I absolutely
had to have. When it was announced, I was feeling a little better about
my decision. While it seems like a nice phone, it's not a huge step, and
it's allowing me to see how the other side lives for awhile.

Ice Cream sandwich is coming, and since my phone is new enough, I'll
actually get to see and enjoy it. For the moment, though, I'm looking to
root, unlock, and put Cyanogenmod on this thing (edit: I've done them
all already) and enjoy the idea of controlling my phone's destiny for
awhile.

We'll see where things lie in the iOS/Android war in another two years
when my contract is up. Until then, I'm digging my decision.