Over the last couple of months, I’ve been lucky enough to have a few different Android handsets for review. This started late last year with the LG Eve handset (running an older version of Android)
followed by the Motorola Milestone (aka Droid) running 2.0.1 version of Android:
I’ve made a few serious attempts at using these handsets as my primary phone for a few days here and there, followed by a few full weekends and while I was in Austin for SXSW, I used the Milestone full time for a week. For a diehard iPhone user like me, at first it was tough but I figured it was the only way to give these devices a true test. Austin was probably the best test since I had no choice but to use it since turning on my Rogers iPhone would have killed me thanks to their expensive roaming/data plans.
I have to say after giving them the ‘college’ try, I’m actually rather impressed. There are plenty of shortcomings when compared to my beloved iPhone but at the same time, a lot of positives that I wish the iPhone had. Like Homer Simpson designing his own car, I realize that a hybrid phone that incorporates the features of both types of devices would be a frankenphone but some of the differences are undeniably attractive.
Take for instance the Android notifications. While nothing new as I had similar notifications on my old Treo, but this implementation is quite possibly one of the biggest time savers and single most useful thing I noticed while using the Milestone daily. Without even having to touch the device, I can see via a single LED light that I have new email, a new mention/direct message on Twitter or both – possibly more types of notifications if I installed more apps. In contrast, on the iPhone, I’d have to unlock the phone, launch the applicable app in order to see if there is anything new (assuming you have inbox:zero and/or only one email account, this may not be as big of an issue). Even when using multiple email accounts though, the notifications keep me updated on which account has new mail. I liked being able to pull down the notifications tab and get a preview of the updates from within any app. I could then choose to got back to the app I was using or click on the appropriate notification and be taken to that app for the full story.
One thing that I thought was behind us is the useless error messages like this that tend to pop up while launching an app:
The iPhone has app related crashes as well, it just seems to handle things better than this – especially for less tech savy users. Either the app will work or it won’t…a simple reboot usually fixes things. On the Android devices, there were a few apps that I could never get running no matter what I tried. This could be due to a number of variables but I’m leaning towards blaming the issues on the fragmented Android Marketplace where there are lots of apps with little or no quality control not to mention confusing requirements for usage based on the handset, carrier and version of Android you happen to be running. I’m also pretty sure the fact that I tried a few of these apps from Canada (via two different carriers) also caused some strange behaviour.
Performance
The LG Eve was running Android version 1.5 and it seemed a little sluggish to me. The Milestone on the other hand, running 2.0.1 of Android, seemed just as fast or faster than my iPhone 3GS. Apps loaded quickly and using various internet related functions were very fast. I also think Telus’ network contributed to the spryness of the device since it was running at 3.5G speeds. Even in my notoriously bad living room where one end of my couch is typically a Rogers deadzone (the other end is fine), Telus gave me full bars throughout the room.
The Camera
The Milestone has, on paper, a better camera than the iPhone (5 vs 3 megapixels). It also has a flash and an autofocus lens. I’m a camera geek and was flat out frustrated by the camera on the Milestone. So much so that I stopped bothering to try to take a decent photo with it. It was slow, had brutal shutter lag and inconsistent flash performance. It had a number of scene modes for things like macro and portrait (like a point and shoot) but simply navigating these options was slow enough to ‘ruin the moment’. Often the photos I’d take would end up looking like webcam stills, complete with raster lines. The iPhone camera may be lesser appointed, but at least it works. I also tried a number of the 3rd party apps and was still disappointed.
Battery life
The Milestone appeared to be pretty comparable to my 3GS. I had pretty much everything turned on for both devices (GPS, notifications, etc) and both devices would last a typical day after my moderate usage.
Keyboards
Both of the Android devices I used had a slide out keyboard. I still find these to be useless to me. Both the Milestone and the Eve had solid keyboards but both took up a fair amount of space and using the keyboard was still just awkward no matter how much I tried to get used to them. I actually preferred the Milestone’s onscreen portrait keyboard with its type ahead spellchecker function that would display all the possible words as you were typing. Like the iPhones spellcheck function, the Android system had some interesting replacement words that weren’t what I was trying to type…but at least I could see it on screen (along with other spellings and suggested words) and click directly on the correct one. It’s pretty unobtrusive but I did find a few times that I typed a long passage and realized that I had been auto-corrected incorrectly a few words ago. Correcting these was more clunky as being able to target a specific letter in a word was often an exercise in frustration trying to tap on it but not so hard that the useless context menu would pop up.
Form factor
I really liked the size/shape of the LG Eve…even with the unneeded keyboard, it was comfortable in my hand and slightly more comfortable than the iPhone. The Milestone on the otherhand, is bigger, thicker and heavier than the others. It’s also quite boxy. It’s not very comfortable in the hand due to its odd placement of the micro usb port and square lines. This is really too bad because it is a stunning device to look at, it’s just not great to hold onto for long periods of time. I’ve (briefly) played with a Google Nexus One and it seems to hit the sweet spot in Android land as far as form factor goes.
Conclusion
So like I said at the beginning of this post, I am impressed with what Google has done with Android, even more than I was expecting to be. There are still a number of rough edges but it has come a far ways in even the last couple of iterations. First time smartphone buyers owe it to themselves to at least check out devices like the Milestone before deciding on the iPhone.
Tonight I updated the Milestone to version 2.1 of Android and will be exploring those changes soon. Its also been interesting to see what the different manufacturers have done with their handsets running Android. Unlike Apple, there are a number of different form factors for people to choose from so while none have won me over like the iPhone, at least there are options out there that will only get better in time.
Unfortunately, Canada still gets the shaft as far as the delayed timing of the handset and firmware releases (and even the device names across the border) but perhaps that will change with the advent of Google selling the Nexus One handset directly (and factory unlocked) – others like Motorola and LG will hopefully follow suit. Nokia has been selling unlocked handsets directly for awhile now so it’s a trend I hope grows.
I’m also glad that Android is truly becoming a competitor for Apple…competition is great and only makes these devices better for consumers.
A few months ago, I was contacted about doing an interview with the Georgia Straight which is the local weekly entertainment newspaper in Vancouver. It has finally made it to print (you can read it online here) and I think it turned out pretty good (thanks Chris!).
I was worried that some (or all) of what I said at the time may not be relevant anymore (we talked alot about the SDK and other things that have changed since the interview) but for the most part it all still holds true.
I do come across a little more excited about iPhone gaming than I probably am though. Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone isn’t that amazing.
Thanks to Peter for taking the photo of me to go with the article. Unfortunately, they didn’t attribute him in the print version.
Sadly, Cheech & Chong (who appear on the cover) weren’t available for my photoshoot.
The iPhone 3G and the Apple App Store has been out for a few weeks now so I figured it would be a good time to talk about what I’ve got on my iPhone and hopefully show you a few things you might want to check out yourself.
First though, an annoyance I have about the App Store and it’s downloads: the icons keep moving around!
I prefer to organize my iPhone’s homescreen(s) around either tasks or app type. So I have a couple of pages reserved for web shortcuts/favorites, one just for social media stuff (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and one for games. Unfortunately, every time you download a new app or upgrade an existing one, it shuffles the deck which I find really annoying. Scrolling through six pages of apps just isn’t the kind of experience we’re used to getting from Apple so I’m hopeful they will tweak this in an upcoming firmware release.
Anyways, on to the apps! There are simply too many to cover them all off so here’s three apps that I actually seem to be using:
Urban Spoon
This is an app based on a restaurant review website. It has a couple of clever features that really benefit from the iPhone. Unfortunately, at least right now, it’s also probably the crashiest app I have and seems to cause a full reboot one out of every three launches. Hopefully this will be addressed soon.
First thing that happens when you launch it, it checks to see where you are using the GPS function or you can simply choose your city from the list. They have a fairly comprehensive list of cities supported. In the case below, I chose Vancouver. It then gives you a more localized list of areas within that city, type of food and cost of food using multiple dollar signs. This is presented just like a slot machine. You can choose to lock in a specific ‘reel’ like I did with Gastown and then if you shake the iPhone (or press the shake button) it will actually choose a random location, food type or cost and then display the resulting restaurant below. The slot machine reel spinning animation is a nice touch.
If you click on that chosen restaurant, it will give you more information about the place including a clickable phone number that will actually dial the restaurant for you, a clickable address that will launch Google Maps and a ‘More Info’ button with reviews for that place from the website.
Exposure
A decent app for directly viewing you and your friend’s Flickr photos. I just have the free one so I get ads and they don’t bother me. It can be a little slow but that could just be the 3G network and not the app.
You can view all your photos, comments and details just like you can on Flickr. Sometimes I want to see things at the source so I use Mobile Flickr as it’s very fast on the iPhone.
You can view images at full screen and it also works nicely in landscape mode too which not all apps do.
There is also a somewhat cool/creepy ‘nearby’ option that will find photos taken near your current location.
Solitaire Top 3
Everybody needs a decent Solitaire game and there are a bunch on the App Store. This one is a game you have to buy (for only $3.99) but is one of the few worth paying for. It’s an updated version to one I used on Installer before and is a very solid version not unlike what ships with Windows – except you can use your fingers to move the cards around.
It features three different games: Klondike, Freecell and Spider. I’m an old school Klondike player so can’t really speak to the other games…I’ll try them at some point but I keep going back to Klondike when I’ve got some time to kill.
Apps I’m waiting for:
a decent Flickr uploader (maybe even one from Flickr themselves!): I really miss SendPics from Erica Sudan. I haven’t come across any app that properly sends iPhone images to Flickr with the EXIF data intact and the image size correct – GPS location data would be great too. Hopefully Erica already has an official version in the App Store approval queue
a video app that lets you record video with the iPhone. A number of these were available on Installer before…where are they now?
PhotoBooth – Apple should port this to the iPhone
There are probably more but I can’t think of any at the moment….post in the comments what you’d like to see on the App Store.
Bonus Video review: Shazam
Shazam is similar to an app that was on Installer before that was kind of cool called Listen but takes it to the next level with the built in iTunes purchase links. Very slick. Here’s Buzz showing how Shazam works:
One last annoyance
I wish the App Store application on the iPhone had a better mechanism for browsing/sorting through the apps. Sure there is a RSS feed of new releases (although not officially from Apple), but I prefer to browse and grab in the same place while on the go. I go through the store at least every other day looking for new apps to check out and it’s a pain to do it on the phone itself since they keep ‘featuring’ the same apps and there isn’t a ‘sort by release date’ option like in iTunes. Again – this is an inconsistent experience from Apple that I’m hopeful they will rectify.
One thing I didn’t touch on in my earlier posts about the WWDC Keynote today was the App Store and the addition of the Enterprise features to the iPhone.
First the App Store.
This is something that’s been in the works for awhile and is shaping up to be a very important part of Apple’s strategy. The App Store will allow developers to offer software applications to iPhone/Touch users with installation as simple as buying a song from iTunes. Judging from the demos of a few games and apps today, there are some pretty polished products waiting in the wings to be unleashed. Games from companies like Sega, with Super Monkey Ball (watch the demo linked in the middle of this page) prove that the iPhone could be a worthy contender against other handheld devices like the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP.
Dedicated apps like the auction browsing one demoed from Ebay and the music making app, Band were impressive as well….although these kinds of apps have been available on Installer for jailbroken iPhones for months, albeit not necessarily from the source company as in the Ebay case. A location based social networking app, Loopt was also demoed but reminds me of Twinkle that I covered previously which is arguably better since it’s using Twitter as the base social network. I’ll reserve judgement until I play with it myself though.
It’ll be interesting to see how stable and reliable these will become when they are legitimately available via Apple although some will be at a cost, like Monkey Ball which will be $9.99. I guess that price is okay considering a DS game would be triple that but it makes impulse purchases less likely than if it was priced in the $5 range. It’s unknown if demos will be available to download before purchase which may clinch the sale.
A very welcome feature of the App Store, unlike the iTunes Wifi Store is that as long as the app is under 10mb, you’ll be able to download it over Edge (or 3G) instead of having to use the desktop iTunes/sync method or Wifi. So if you’re on the go and want to check out that new app that came out, most likely you’ll be able to do it no matter where you are. The update notification will be nice too.
Okay. On to the Enterprise stuff.
One of the biggest things that needs to be done in order to help the iPhone penetrate the corporate world is offering integration with Microsoft Exchange Activesync servers which Apple will soon be offering. Corporate (push!) email on the iPhone will be a dream for many Blackberry toting people although I can understand the reluctance to give up the tactile keyboard for some of the people. When I had my Treo I thought there is nothing that could replace a physical keyboard for me but I’ve adapted to the touch keyboard quite well so they shouldn’t fear it. I wouldn’t hold my breath either for a bluetooth keyboard add-on. Apple doesn’t roll that way and neither should you.
Another interesting item as part of the Enterprise rollout is that the supported email attachments has expanded to include Keynote presentations. This means you can email your presentation to the phone (would be nice if you could sync or retrieve via browser) and then plug in the av cable to the iPhone and then plug that into a projector to display your presentation. Will be interested to see how that functions and if you lose anything in the process like transitions or video playback if they are included in the presentation.
Good for the Enterprise but sad for the employee will also be the ability to lock down the apps on a company deployed iPhone. I understand that this is a necessary evil but still don’t like it. I guess a locked down iPhone is still better than a Blackberry. Custom application downloads will also be available to the Enterprise via their intranet.
I wonder how Rogers will try to entice companies away from their competition using the iPhone now that it can compete against the Blackberry.
While the 3G iPhone was the ‘big deal’ announced at the World Wide Developer’s Conference today, Apple also announced some other things. One of those things was ‘Mobile Me’ which is basically a rebranded and upgraded .Mac service offering using the cute me.com domain. This time it includes a lot more features for iPhone/Touch users.
Upon checking my .Mac email after the keynote, I got this:
Dear .Mac member:
Today Apple announced a new Internet service called MobileMe – taking the best of .Mac and adding a host of new features. As a current .Mac member, your account will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe in July. For a closer look, watch the MobileMe Guided Tour and read below for an overview of your new service.
Mac integration you know and love. With MobileMe, you’ll continue to enjoy features that take advantage of seamless integration with Mac OS X and iLife – Back to My Mac; access to your iDisk in the Finder; Mac-to-Mac syncing of Dock items, preferences, and more; iWeb site publishing; and photo and movie sharing directly from iPhoto ’08 and iMovie ’08.
New web applications for when you’re away from your Mac. MobileMe features a suite of web applications at www.me.com that have the familiar look and feel of the applications on your Mac. Because these web applications stay in sync with your Mac and other devices, you’ll have the same information wherever you go. Here’s what you’ll find at me.com:
Mail, the anchor of the new suite, is even better with a refined interface.
Contacts has a new three-pane interface, contact groups, maps integration, search, and photo support.
Calendar is a brand-new web application that feels just like iCal, featuring multiple calendars, click-and-drag event creation, and more.
Gallery lets you manage your collection of shared photos and movies from anywhere. You can now upload photos, rearrange their order, and set sharing preferences, all from a browser.
iDisk now has the familiar look of the Mac OS X Finder. It features drag-and-drop filing and an easy new way to share large documents, by sending an email with a link for downloading the file.
Account lets you manage settings such as storage allocation.
To use the new web applications, make sure you have one of these browsers: Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7, or Firefox 2 or later.
Push email. Push contacts. Push calendar. In addition to Mac-to-Mac syncing, MobileMe now keeps your iPhone, your iPod touch, and even a PC in sync. MobileMe pushes new contacts, calendar items, and bookmarks to your Mac or PC, and over the air to your iPhone or iPod touch. For example, if you add a calendar event on the web, the change will automatically be pushed to your Mac and iPhone. New email will be pushed to your iPhone in seconds, eliminating the need to check for messages manually.
As a MobileMe subscriber, you can continue to use your mac.com address for email. You will also be issued a me.com address with the same user name that you can use if you prefer. The choice is yours.
Double the online storage. To give you plenty of space for your email, photos, and other files, MobileMe doubles your storage from 10GB to 20GB for an individual subscription.
We’ll be sure to update you when the new service goes live. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the upcoming transition from .Mac to MobileMe, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.
Sincerely,
The MobileMe Team
I only have a .Mac account because I got it dirt cheap…otherwise, I wouldn’t have it because it’s very overpriced for what you (currently) get. I have been using it to sync my MacBook Air and my iMac address book and calendars which then update my iPhone when I dock it.
One big thing that Mobile Me is offering me is the ability to sync this wirelessly. I’m still not sure it’s worth the $99US price tag as that feature should have shipped with the 1.0 iPhone. It remains to be seen if you can ‘roll your own’ server setup and do this yourself as many people have with the .Mac type services.
The other parts of Mobile Me look nice but I’ll have to wait and see once I’m upgraded in July to see how compelling they are to my normal usage. The fact that they are integrated into almost everything Apple makes might make it harder to not renew next year. Push email adoption will also depend on the data plan pricing for the iPhone in Canada as well.
