Why I’m Starting to Miss Android

Image Courtesy of Android Community

This week marks the release of one of the highest profile phones in recent memory – Motorola’s revival tool (much like the Palm’s Pre), the DROID.  It is one of the first phones to walk the retail runway outfitted in Android 2.0, the Open Handset Alliance’s latest mobile operating system.  And despite my love for my iPhone and my glaringly obvious Apple fanboy-ism, I am really really starting to miss my old Android phone.  Here are the reasons why:

1. Android is [finally] starting to look beautiful
   When Android first was revealed to the world, it was one of the most hideous mobile operating systems to date – something that critics were fast to point out.  When the first public release came out, we were treated to a very different looking operating system, but….it was still hideous.  Google obviously has never been strong in their graphic design/user interface department, and Android was no exception.  However, with the 2.0 release it is finally looking like Android might have something stronger to offer, with the  Open Handset Alliance realizing that they will not surmount iPhone sales without paying close attention to the iPhone — the phone whose graphic presentation has stubbornly not been revamped since the first generation (save for a few teensy icons).
2. Cloud Computing, For Free
   One of Android’s strong points has always been that your data (contacts, calendars, gmail, etc.) is always synced with google’s world-dominating cloud, essentially meaning that you’re never without your data, even if you lose/break your phone.  Apple charges for this service – $100/year to be exact – MobileMe, however, forgoes google’s wonky contact management system (which can be livable with some minor tweaks).  Android 2.0 marks the release of universal Exchange support for Android phones, which is a big plus as well.
3. Google Apps!
   Google develops a lot of high quality apps for many platforms, including BlackBerry, Symbian, Mobile OS X, and of course, Android.  You probably have experienced some of them – google maps, google sync, gmail, and YouTube.  But what most people don’t know if all of the mobile apps are crippled versions of the real deal, which exists exclusively on Android.  If you have a gmail account, you should probably already have an Android based on its ability to handle gmail alone.  Push gmail, fully threaded conversations, label support, archiving and more exist on the Android version — and nowhere else.  Google Talk also outclasses all other mobile communicators as well, including BBM and mobile AIM.
4. MULTITASKING
   Listen up Apple, and listen closely.  What I miss most about my Android phone, and what makes me loathe my iPhone, is the ability to multitask.  Recently, I had to go through the hassle of jailbreaking my iPhone, only to lose all my contacts and photos in the process – all so I can respond to a text message without interrupting Pandora.  On my G1, I could do this with aplomb – whizzing in and out of Pandora, text messages, e-mails, browsing, etc. mostly with ease…maybe an occasional stuttering of a webpage (hello TI OMAP 3430!) but a sacrifice I would make 100% of the time.  The iPhone 3GS’ processor clocks at 600MHz as well, but Apple STUPIDLY refuses to take advantage of the processors abilities because apparently they don’t believe in sacrifice (only hypocrisy).
5. Network Freedom
   You can find an Android phone to work on any carrier today, with the exception of AT&T (which will be remedied soon by Dell’s Android submission as well as the HTC Fiesta). I’m looking at you, Verizon (the first carrier to upgrade to 4G LTE networks), with your big and bold blanketing 3G network and aggressive cell tower upgrades (not to mention DROID tethering!).  Even T-Mobile wasn’t so bad, now featuring their dirt cheap unlimited talk plans.  AT&T sucks.  The teensiest 3G network.  A crappy edge network (it’s nearly 2010 – why am I even writing about edge?) to fall back on.  Horribly delayed features (MMS on the iPhone was not released as you promised, and tethering still isn’t here).  And spotty/slow service!  I recently found out that I don’t get AT&T service where I live – when I DO manage to snag 1 bar, apparently it belongs to T-mo.  Because they sent me a letter saying I draw too much data from other carriers and they were going to boot me off of their pathetic network because they have spotty coverage.  Are you kidding me?  They also remotely activated something on my iPhone which now tells me when I’m off their network.  Suckers.  If I was employed, I would’ve been all too quick to jump over to Verizon (who might I mention, I am surprised by: I can’t believe they haven’t crippled their Android phones with their ugly finesse as they so often like to do).  When and if another carrier gets the infamous iPhone contract, people will be jumping ship from AT&T faster than the swine flu has been traveling.

Of course, Android is not without it’s issues too, but they are issues that I can start to reconcile with over the oft-too-coveted iPhone:

1. The App Marketplace (thankfully now out of Beta) has gotten sexier, but still is nowhere near as robust as Apple’s.  You might find a Facebook app, or a Shazam app or the likes, but the apps still aren’t even as nearly polished as they were to pass Apple’s ridiculous app-approval process.  And the games, well they suck.
2. Media Playback is horrible.  For videos, you might as well download a third party program.  And Amazon’s mp3 is nowhere as nice as iTunes.  And it’s still ugly, but hopefully that will come around.  Sony’s first Android phone has done a beautiful job taking care of that.
3. No central synchronization.  It’s time we moved past rudimentary dragging-and-dropping…come up with a program like iTunes that does it all.  My mom could never switch from her iPhone to an Android for this simple reason.  I don’t care who does it (google should step up to the plate) from the Open Handset Alliance, but it’s a glaring omission that needs to be tackled ASAP.
4. No multi-touch.  ’Nuff said.
5. How is it the whole alliance can’t make a good keyboard? Really? The onscreen one has gotten better, but it still doesn’t match the iPhones multi-touch keyboard.  So tackle the physical keyboard hard, will you?  The one on the G1 was horrid, and it seems as though Motorola (who is perfectly capable: you made a sidekick!) didn’t take that into consideration, pushing out a keyboard on a much celebrated device that probably took them at most about 5 minutes of design.

So what about you, readers? Please share your experiences and preferences – especially those of you who have double-dipped like me!

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