Review of New Android Phone
NEW PHONE
I have had my new Android phone for around a week now and I know some of you including Veritable Virgo wanted me to write a review of what I thought of the phone, especially when comparing it to the iPhone so here it is.
Now to be clear from the outset I do not currently have an iPhone and the last one I did have was a 2G but I do have a latest modeller iPod touch so I feel the speed is likely to be similar for this comparison.
The phone I have is an HTC Hero or the G2 Touch as it is marketed here in the UhK and it came in a very small box which is obviously an environmental plus.
INSIDE THE BOX
Inside the box was a tiny charger with a slot in UK mains plug, the US version would come with the same adaptor and a slot-in US mains plug. Also included was a pair of headphones with remote control and microphone, these are 3.5mm and also work on the iPod Touch even for the remote which was a surprise though I have an in-line microphone adaptor and a nice pair of Sennheiser headphones for the iPod which of course now work on the HTC. A USB to mini USB was included but this was keyed so it ONLY works on this phone. Where the normal mini USB tapers in at the sides only one side tapers in, the other is squared off, unusual at the phone itself does accept and charges fine with a normal mini USB lead.
There were no driver disks but a manual and a quick start guide sheet was included. If you plug in the phone to your PC or Mac there is also a built in PDF version of both of these which was a nice touch and if your on a PC there is some sync software. The phone does not currently sync to a mac….though you don’t need it to sync to anything anyway, more on that one later! 
VERSIONS OF ANDROID
The phone comes with Android 1.5 (Cupcake) all the Android versions are named after cakes or desserts Cupcake, Doughnut, Eclair, etc. which is kind of fun This is a very old version as they are on 2.1 with the Nexus One and Sony is promising a 2.2 later in the year. The good news is that I was in touch with HTC, whom I must say replied at a amazing speed to me to tell me an update is due out early in April to bring the phone up to 2.1, good news. I think this is something that Google is trying to stress to handset manufacturers that they need to provide upgrades in a timely manner going forward. Remember this is open source, even if Google provides an update there is no guarantee your phone manufacturer will do likewise. Again as it is open source many people build versions that you can install yourself via a process called Rooting which is not unlike Jailbreaking on the iPhone but without big brother breathing down your neck!
OK, as I say this phone is on 1.5 which is slow, so compared to an iPhone it does run slowly when browsing or moving to a new application, this is fixed in 2.1 and it’s only a few weeks away so I will be kind in my review about the speed, it’s not horribly slow, just not as nippy as the iPhone with 1.5 installed. Do not let that put you off though.
My phone comes with HTC Sense which is basically a menu that overlays the screen and gives direct access to the total list of apps installed, the phone and the ability to add shortcuts to the main screen.
SOME LIMITATIONS
There are two major limitations on Android right now and I feel these will be dropped such are the cries of the Android users, you are limited to 1-7 screens of program shortcuts, not that unusual as the original iPhone was limited to 10 I think and I expect that to change and to beat the iPhone. The second limitation you can only install apps to the phones built in memory which is not that large 256Mb in my case, doesn’t sound much does it but so far I have installed tons of apps and I mean tons of them and never run out of space so the apps seem to be less memory hungry to begin with. Again I expect that to change and remember this phone has SDHC card slot, mine has a 2Gb one and I could put in much more so it is expandable and it is expected that you will be able to pop apps in there soon, in fact there are apps that let you do that now, it’s just not an official feature yet, so it is possible.
Those things aside and as I say none of them has limited me in any way yet, so I am ok with this.
MUCH LESS LIMITED THAN THE IPHONE
I have possibly made the Android seem hobbled by some early mistakes in the planning of the operating system but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Take for example the iPhone, don’t like the browser, tough, don’t like the SMS, tough, don’t like buying the high priced iTunes music when you know Amazon has those same MP3′s cheaper, tough. Not so on the Android and this IS the killer thing about these phones, it’s all open source, nothing is barred!
I love the HTC SMS app but there is a better one….so I replaced it, simple as installing an app, easy. There is no standard music store so I installed Amazon, and there are others, just an app, easy. I wanted to try the new keyboard called Swype (swype.com) so I just installed the app, easy! Are you getting my point here, it’s YOUR phone and you do it YOUR way, not the way someone at the top of the corporation thinks you should be doing it, no, YOUR way that fits YOUR life and likes and desires. No apps being pulled here, want that Wi-Fi scanner, you got it!
I HAVE AN UNUSUAL PROBLEM
In fact I have an unusual problem (I listen to Big Fatty! LOL OK I have two unusual problems then hahaha) I cannot receive my WiFi signal in half of the house due to a couple of thick walls. I installed an ethernet over mains pair of adaptors to ship the signal from one end of the house where the router lives to the other where I installed a wireless access point. In effect I now have two wireless networks in my home. Great wireless everywhere but the signal from both never totally dies when you move to the other end of the house, so the iPod never drops it and picks the other up, in fact the Android doesn’t either. So I installed an app that finds the strongest signal and automatically switches to it, so very useful for me. It also finds free WiFi near me when I am out and about and automatically connects to it if I am in range, how cool is that. Does the iPhone do that? Is it ever likely to now they pulled the WiFi apps?
APPS, APPS, APPS AND MORE APPS!
But your probably saying, yes but I like the apps on the iPhone, I worried about that also and was surprised to find most of them are already on the Android platform, in fact things like Seesmic Twitter is getting rave reviews is only on the Android platform at present.
Lets see what kinds of apps I have, first off is Barcode which scans barcodes and can tell you what a product is, but it also scans those square barcodes you often see on UPS boxes and they are used a lot in the Android world, you can scan a barcode on your computer screen or in a magazine and you will be taken to the app store so you can install an app, or to a website and even to download contacts, amazing and so very useful!
I have a BBC News app, Huffington Post app, News reader that syncs with Google Reader (remember I said you never have to sync, it does it all through google!), Facebook which integrates with my contacts list and even imports facebook profile pics as your contacts photos!
Google Maps, which has a very cool mode on the Android called Compass mode, you hold your Android up and do a street view and the view follows your movements with the phone, its like the phone screen is a view into this virtual world, amazing! A similar app is Layar which gives you a 3D world, you hold the phone up and say look for restaurants near me, it shows you them in front of you, you just walk towards the marker and if you keep turning to follow those markers you will end up at the restaurant! OR you can view 3D objects and walk around them again your phone screen a view into this virtual world that is overlaid onto the real world pic from your camera. Mind blowing!
I have an internet radio app, a BBC iPlayer app (think Hulu for the UhK), XE Currency app, DropBox, Fring to do Skype and Voip, Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Translate (which can speak too!), Podcast app called Google Listen that syncs with Google Reader, Mail app, GPS Tracker app to record where you have been, PDF viewer, Twitter clients galore, Photoshop, Shazam, Office, SMS backup app that backs up my SMS conversations to Google Mail, I can watch or listen to TWiT via their app, If I loose or get my phone stolen I can do all those MobileMe things like lock it or wipe it, password protect it, send messages to it, find where it is (oh and this is all free!!!), Voice recorder and Wikipedia and YouTube and I will stop there because I am boring you but you get the picture.
FINAL WORDS
This phone is not limited, it’s far more unlimited than the iPhone and it keeps getting better!
If anyone has any questions i’d be happy to answer them, fire them over to my email address or use the contact form on the website and I will get back to you and maybe post them here if people send a few in.
TELL ME YOU LOVE ME!
Hope you like my review, there are more things to tell but I will have to wait and see what battery life is like, so far it looks fine, comparable to the iPhone certainly.
