Googaphone Thoughts

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I've had my new phone now for about three weeks, I figured it was time to post my thoughts so far on the device. As you know, I purchased the MyTouch 3G or the G2 as I much prefer to call it, so when you hear G2 for now on, I'm talking about my phone and not Gatorade.

I have to say overall I'm really pleased with the phone. The features fit the phone and have the advantage of an open platform to allow me to customize the phone as I want it. The service has also been excellent so far which was one of my biggest expectations in choosing T Mobile as my carrier. So here's my thoughts:

  • Battery - This was my biggest concern about the handset itself. People when talking about the shortcomings of the predecessor, the G1, constantly talked about how the battery barely kept a charge. I learned quickly they are right if you keep your wifi, your GPS, your brightness on full high, and you constantly put the phone to sleep only to wake it up again seconds later. With good common sense use, turning off the GPS and wifi when not needed, I am yet to run out of battery. In fact, I can go almost 2 full days without a charge. So I consider the charges that the battery life is not good to be bogus and ill informed. 
  • Keyboard - Another drawback to most with this phone is the lack of the qwerty keyboard. This is a valid concern to people that cannot master the use of a virtual keyboard, but in my case, owning an iPod Touch for over a year, I got proficient at using their on-screen keyboard with little problems. With that said, this is my biggest drawback with this phone. The standard keyboard is harder to use than the iPhone, the spell correction is nowhere near as good, and it's less responsive. I was able to download the Better Keyboard application to skin and improve that interface, and it works fine for me, but there's room for improvement. 
  • Applications - There are no where near as many applications in the Android store as there are in the Apple store. I don't see that as a weakness, but I see that as having quality apps vs quantity of apps. All of my favorite apps from the iPhone platform are already in the Android store, there are more free options vs the iPhone, and I've had less problems dealing with crashes and constant updates. The apps that are available make this phone better and the open platform make it easier in the long run to develop. In a few years, the Android store will be far superior, I'm convinced.
  • Android itself - What an amazing little OS. I am constantly learning all of the neat things that I can do and I feel I haven't scratched the surface. Not only that, it's easy to gain root access vs other phones to install ROM's and other open source platforms. I've noticed some glitchyness, but overall I am really enjoying the Cupcake!
This is a good phone and worth the price. I'd even suggest the G1 to people that like the physical keyboard, either way, I recommend people join the Android community. It's less crowded over here.Since you'll hear me talking about Android a lot more in the future, here's their intro video:

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