A Week with Android: Day 2
At this point I have removed most of the Motorola widgets from my home screen of my Droid X. I have customized my home screen with weatherbug, something I could not do on the iPhone. I have downloaded Android Task Killer.
I have figured out my way around the interface. It is just not as elegantly or meticulously designed as the iPhone.
But having said all that, the phone is entirely reliable. It never drops a call. Really. Never. And to be honest, I had forgotten how satisfying it is to carry a phone that can hold a phone call though whatever (I was on Verizon for 11 years before switching to ATT for the iPhone). The Droid X works in my house, even when I am on the first floor. Also, the phone never misses an incoming call.
I can read my email, in some ways more efficiently than I read it on the iPhone, it has a workable web browser, and google reader works through the browser, which is my main distraction when not reading email.
My calendar is synched with the cloud. My contacts are too. I have found that my most favorite apps are available: Kindle, NY Times, Open Table, Yelp, Facebook (just got a new release, still not perfect but getting better), and DropBox.
I could use this phone. My biggest issue? I don’t love the Droid X form factor. The phone it too large and too thick on the top. I am wondering whether I should swap it for a Droid 2 in 15 days. I can’t type on the Android keyboard all that well (although maybe I will get better) and maybe the physical keyboard will be useful for longer emails.
I know why Android is getting traction in the US. It’s because by 2007, 90% of folks in the US with a brain who were middle income or better had switched to Verizon. And for many folks, Android works well enough. That is, they are happier with an Android phone on Verizon than they would be with an iPhone on ATT.
I truly believe that if you subjectively compare the iPhone 4 to the currently shipping Android phones, the iPhone comes out on top. I don’t see many people choosing the Droid X phone I have running Android 2.1 over the iPhone 4 on the same carrier. But I can totally see why people would choose a Verizon Android phone over an ATT iPhone in the US.
If you are not the type of person who gets excited over phones, the Android experience on Moto is completely adequate. It’s head and shoulders above any feature phone you have ever owned. It is also superior to the Blackberry experience if you value web browsing and you use Google services. No, Android does not sing. The integration of the hardware and software does not border on the sublime. it’s a workhorse.
So for Apple, it’s do or die with Verizon. They have to get the device on the Verizon network soon because every day wasted helps Android get traction.
