Thoughts on Android - from a former Windows Mobile supporter

It has been about 3 weeks since I made the switch from Windows Mobile to Android. I've previously used the HTC Touch Dual, Touch Diamond, and Touch Pro2. I've now finally made the leap to Android on the HTC Desire.

I was previously reluctant to make the jump to Android because of fear that the OS is just not mature enough. I loved the capabilities and freedom of Windows Mobile, but I was getting increasingly frustrated with always having to worry about RAM usage and random lags and lockups.

Once I realized that I was spending more time tweaking my device in order to use it properly rather than actually using it, I knew it was time to let go of Windows Mobile.

After a single day of using the Desire, I came to one conclusion. I should have given up on Windows Mobile long ago. Android is actually very similar to Windows Mobile in terms of usage and capabilities. But it's so much smoother and more beautiful to look at.

Things I'm no longer bothered with since using the Desire:
1. RAM usage, closing applications, and task managers. The Android OS does a wonderful job managing multitasking and memory, so I don't have to.
2. Disabling browser features. I used to disable images and javascript to load web pages faster. I no longer feel this is necessary. (Although, this does speed things up even more!)
3. In the browser, I no longer have to zoom and then pan. Multitouch zooming allows me to zoom in exactly where I want to. Much better than using the scrollring on the Diamond and the zoombar on the Touch Pro2.
4. Registry edits and ROM flashing to boost the performance. I may install custom ROMs when they're available but I'm not in a rush to do so. The device is quite fast enough.
5. Soft-resets and RAM cleaners. The device doesn't slow down even if it's powered on for weeks.
6. GPS lock. The device gets a good lock within 10 secs from a cold boot. My Touch Pro2 used to take about 2 minutes from a cold boot. I can actually use the HTC Footprints application now. Previously, just waiting for the GPS to lock took the fun out of everything.

HTC Legend Review

Worthy successor to last year's most talked about smartphone

The HTC Hero was one of the better smartphones released last year and arguably the best Android device. The HTC Legend improves upon the Hero in many ways.

Specs here.

The retail box contains the following:

• The device itself
• 2GB Class 2 microSD memory card
• USB to microUSB cable
• Wall charger (USB output to the above mentioned cable)
• Stereo handsfree set (Uses the 3.5mm audio jack, contains mic, and buttons to answer calls and control your music playback)
• Manuals, Warranty info, and other literature.

Just looking at specs, there's really not much difference. There's a 72 Mhz improvement in CPU clock speed and 96 MB improvement in RAM. The trackball has been replaced by an optical trackpad. The camera is still 5MP but is now accompanied by an LED flash.

Despite the minor hardware improvements, the Legend feels significantly faster than the Hero. No lags in animations and screen transitions. Pinch-to-zoom (in either browser or photos) feels much smoother than on the Hero.

The main difference from the Hero (and other devices available now) is the design of the Legend. It's has an aluminum unibody design. This makes the device thinner and feels very sturdy in hand. The brushed finish makes it less slippery to hold. It's compact size makes it very pocketable. The chin from the Hero is still here but it's more subtle.

Consider swapping out the 2GB microSD card for something at least 8GB. It would have been ideal if HTC had included a couple of GB of internal storage. But it's a minor issue since 8GB cards are pretty inexpensive these days.

The device does not come with screen protectors or a pouch. So you may want to invest in one or the other or both. The screen is glass so it won't scratch easily. But having a screen protector won't hurt. Plus, it'll greatly improve the resale value if you decide to sell it in a year or two.

The screen is HVGA resolution which you would think pales in comparison to WVGA devices. In reality, it doesn't. There's a difference obviously but it's not like everything is fuzzy in HVGA.

Please see my Desire review for my comments regarding the browser, keyboard, and negatives about the device. The same applies here.

(Unlike the HTC Desire, the Legend allows you to attach a lanyard.)

A couple more differences between the Legend and Desire:

• Less options available in email retrieval scheduling compared to the HTC Desire.
• You can have seperate wallpapers for the lockscreen and homescreen on the Legend while you can't on the Desire.
• The Desire supports live-wallpaper (animated) while the Legend doesn't.

Conclusion:
The Legend is perfect for someone who wants something compact and sturdy. The unibody design makes it look super sleek. It's got both style and substance. If you choose it over the HTC Desire, you're not missing out on anything other than screen size.

HTC Desire Review

Truly deserving of the name "Superphone"

The HTC Desire is the ultimate do-everything device. It has everything that can ever want from a smartphone, except a hardware qwerty keyboard. But then once you try HTC's on-screen keyboard, you'll realize you don't need physical keys. More on that later.

Check out the specs here.

The retail box contains the following:

• The device itself
• 4GB Class 2 microSD memory card
• USB to microUSB cable
• Wall charger (USB output to the above mentioned cable)
• Stereo handsfree set (Uses the 3.5mm audio jack, contains mic, and buttons to answer calls and control your music playback)
• Manuals, Warranty info, and other literature.

A couple of things to consider after getting the Desire.
You should swap out that 4GB microSD for something at least 8GB. It would have been ideal if HTC had included a couple of GB of internal storage. But it's a minor issue since 8GB cards are pretty inexpensive these days.

The device does not come with screen protectors or a pouch. So you may want to invest in one or the other or both. The screen is glass so it won't scratch easily. But having a screen protector won't hurt. Plus, it'll greatly improve the resale value if you decide to sell it in a year or two.

(Not sure if anyone finds this significant, but the Desire does not have a place for you to attach a lanyard.)

I'll start with aesthetics.

The back and the chin (Yes it has a chin but it's so subtle that you'll barely notice it) of the device is covered in a black rubbery finish. This coating is soft to the touch and has good grip, making the device feel very good in hand. The round edges, light weight, and thin form-factor means it doesn't feel bulky at all.

The screen is just excellent. Colors really pop and blacks are really black because of the AMOLED technology. Photos and videos look amazing. Many people are saying that there's a flaw in the display because some shades of gray appear in a pink tint. I can verify that this issue exists but it doesn't deserve the amount of attention it's getting. The pink tint is extremely subtle, only visible in certain rare instances, and really doesn't interfere with anything. That is, you really have to look for the pink just to barely see it.

The software of Android and HTC Sense has been covered extensively by other reviewers so I'll try not to repeat what everyone knows already.

Performance is spectacular. Screen animations are smooth. GPS locks in 10 seconds from cold start.

The browser deserves praise. It is the fastest I've used on a portable device. It probably rivals some desktops. It renders swiftly and accurately. Flash content appears in their full glory. (Personal tip: try disabling JavaScript via the browser settings. Most sites will work with it disabled. You browser will feel even faster than it already is!). You can of course use pinch-to-zoom. The text will re-flow so that you don't have to scroll horizontally. Try flick scrolling rapidly on another device and you'll notice the checkerboard pattern as the screen refreshes to display the content. This doesn't happen on the Desire.

It's been mentioned by other reviewers that HTC's on-screen keyboard is excellent. I think it's so great that it deserves mentioning again. It is indeed excellent. The portrait keyboard is fine for short phrases. But turn it sideways to switch to landscape and you'll be able to type full speed with 2 thumbs. The word recognition software works great. You don't have to be even remotely accurate and it'll be able to guess correctly. Try keeping your eyes on the keyboard as you bang away at the keys and you'll be amazed at how accurate your message turns out.

A couple of minor gripes about the device:

Can't edit Microsoft Office documents. Coming from Windows Mobile, I've gotten used to being able to view, create, and edit Office documents. Natively, you can only view Office documents with the Desire. But there are paid applications in the Android Market that will enable this functionality and it is well worth the price.

HTC Mail widget doesn't pull info from Gmail application. The Mail widget only feeds from the Mail application. So, if you want to use the Mail widget to display your Gmail account, you'll need to set up your Gmail account via IMAP4, POP3, or Exchange.

Can't select and copy text from Gmail application. Again, you'll need to use IMAP4, POP3, or Exchange. (Edit: This has since been fixed since Google started releasing updates to their Google applications through the Market)

The OS should be re-skinned to use more blacks to fully utilize the AMOLED screen. This might help with battery life which isn't very impressive. It'll last at least a day but it really depends on what widgets and applications you use and how often they are refreshed/updated.

Voice-to-text is not included. You'll need to install it separately. (Edit: Voice-to-text has since been included in the official Froyo update.)

Conclusion:
I wonder how Google feels about the HTC Desire. Google asked HTC to build the Nexus One, which they did admirably. Then HTC goes and builds their own version with better hardware and design plus their own superior software.
When I went from the HTC Touch Diamond to the Touch Pro2, the experience and performance benefits were like night and day. Now, from Touch Pro2 to the Desire, again, it's like night and day.

Is the HTC Desire the best smartphone available today? I think I can claim it to be better than the following devices:
Apple iPhone 3GS
HTC HD2
Google Nexus One
Motorola Droid/Milestone
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

This is now the phone to beat. Look out...

iPhone OS 4.0 - What's new?

This isn't the 4th-gen iPhone. I'm sure Apple has got some more things that they've not shown us yet. But here's my recap of what's new from the latest Apple event. This is from the perspective of someone who thinks the iPhone OS platform is a bit inadequate compared to Android and Windows Mobile.

Multitasking
Great! Everyone saw this one coming since it long overdue. It's not multitasking in the traditional sense (as with Windows Mobile 6.x or desktop OS's). I may be wrong but it seems to be that applications can now instruct the OS to run specific services that are allowed to run in the background without the application itself being active. These services are the following:

Background audio
Nothing new here. This just means you can play music in the background which you can do since the 1st-gen of the OS.

VOIP
This is useful. You can make and receive calls in the background with applications like Skype.

Location services
I'm guessing this means you can keep your navigation application in the background while still keeping your connection to GPS. But if so, I can foresee a lot of people forgetting to exit the application and the GPS will quickly drain the battery. I'll need more information on this...

Notifications (push and local)
Push notifications are nothing new. I'm guessing local notifications are just notifications that originate from your applications. For example, a popup for a calendar reminder. I'm sure there's more to this so we'll see how applications can utilize this service.

Task Completion
Applications can now complete what they're doing even when you leave them prematurely. I guess this is similiar to what happens after you tap "install" in the App Store. The application continues to be downloaded and installed even when you do other things.

Fast app switching
It actually sounds very much like the technique used by Windows Phone 7 or Android. Applications don't actually close when you go away from them. They just stay in a suspended state that doesn't use up system resources. When you navigate back to the suspended application, the OS reallocates the system resources back to it and you resume where you left off.

Spell check
Self explanatory. It's a feature that's good to have but it's not going to raise any eyebrows.

Bluetooth keyboard support
Ported from iPad.

Tap to focus when recording video
I'm surprised it wasn't there in the first place.

Folders
You can now organize your application icons into folders. Perhaps you can have one for games, one for productivity, etc. You won't have to swipe through pages and pages of icons just to find the one you need. Nothing revolutionary here. Android has this functionality. Windows Mobile has had it since the beginning.

Wallpaper
Up to now, you can only change the iPhone OS's lockscreen wallpaper. Now you can customize the background of your application launcher screen. Again, nothing extraordinary since this feature is one of those should-have-been-there-in-the-first-place things.

Unified inbox
Apple deserves credit for this. All your emails from multiple inboxes are consolidated into one. No doubt usefule for those who manage multiple accounts.

iBooks
Ported from iPad.

Enterprise
Features remote device management and wireless application distribution. Should be good for businesses. Probably a nonfactor for regular consumers.

GameKit
Since the iPhone OS is a pretty significant gaming platform, this is a good idea. You can now have leaderboards and match-making. We'll need to see how this gets implemented.

iAd
Tapping on advertisements no longer will kick you out of the active application and open the browser.


Personally, out of all that, the only thing that impresses me is the multitasking and the unified inbox. Even so, Engadget has pointed out a major omission. There's no background service for managing a conversation like IM or Twitter. This is actually my main purpose for using multitasking on my smartphone! But then perhaps this is where the "local notifications" service comes into play.

We'll need to see what else Steve Jobs have up his sleeve come this summer at the 4th-gen iPhone launch and how everything gels together. It's going to get interesting...