Android

I'm still looking for an Android based phone to buy so I can cover that platform here. Despite the -0.5 score I've assigned to the HTC Droid (scheduled to be available for sale starting this Friday from Verizon), it is probably still the best Android phone currently available. Despite its relatively affordable $199 price (after a mail-in rebate and a two-year contract), I don't want to be locked into paying a minimum of $70 per month for two years $1680).

The large early termination charge reported by The Boy Genius Report will probably apply to the Droid making an early termination unpalatable.

Confirmed: Verizon Wireless to charge up to $350 early termination on "advanced devices"

There are, however, what looks like two other options. Both were tweeted by Verizon's @DroidDoes Twitter account...

1. $559.99 for a Droid with no contract restrictions
2. $269.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a one-year contract

So, let's see how this works out for some hypothetical scenarios for me. I'm going to round up to even numbers to make it easier to read...

1. $1,880 = $200 for the Droid + 2 years at $70 per month
2. $1,110 = $270 for the Droid + 1 year at $70 per month
3. $980 = $560 for the Droid + 6 months at $70 per month
4. $1,400 = $560 for the Droid + 1 year at $70 per month
5. $2,240 = $560 for the Droid + 2 years at $70 per month
6. $970 = $200 for the Droid + 6 months at $70 per month + $350 early termination fee
7. $1,390 = $200 for the Droid + 12 months at $70 per month + $350 early termination fee

So, if I just want to try the Droid with Verizon service for 6 months, the least expensive route is to get the full discount and pay the early termination fee.

However, if I plan to use the phone for a full year, the one-year contract option makes more sense.

YouTube video courtesy of sonyericsson

Engadget was able to play with a pre-release version of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10...

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands-on

Unlike the X1 and X2 Windows Mobile based models, the X10 is based on Google Android and is Sony Ericsson's first Android phone. And, unlike the X1 and X2, the X10 is yet another keyboardless iPhone copy cat.

The X10 does have a its distinquishing features though:

- 8.1 megapixel digital camera (um, wow!)
- Custom Android skin codenamed "Rachael" (I wonder if it has its own SDK like the X1/X2 Panels UI?)
- Sony Ericsson developed Timescape social network app (see video embedded above)

For me, however, without a physical keyboard, it is a non-starter. I'm sure it will have appeal to many people. But, unless Sony Ericsson can cut a deal with a major U.S. cellphone carrier, don't expect to see it in this country in 2010.

Those of who live in the U.S. seem destined to suffer a continuous string of feature crippled smartphones. The Apple iPhone, for example, is able to tether other devices to its 3G network everywhere except the U.S. The European T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 has a front facing second camera for video conferencing. The model T-Mobile USA sells doesn't have this second camera. And, now we learn from Engadget that the Motorola Droid provide multitouch gestures like pinch-to-zoom in Europe but not the U.S.

GSM DROID with multitouch pinch-to-zoom demoed on video hating America

This reminds me of a recent Apple commercial for the Mac where the "premium PC" tells a Mac buyer to call him when she is ready for a compromise (see video embedded below). In the U.S., we are forced to compromise for feature-crippled smartphones. Boo...

Web image courtesy of Verizon Wireless

The countdown continues on Verizon's...

Droid Does

...website. It countdown timer has just a bit over 4 days to go as I write this. I'm still debating whether to buy the Motorola Droid or not. The Droid's relatively reasonable $199.99 price is the issue, of course. The problem is whether I'm willing to pay $1,680 (plus incidental fees and taxes) over the course of a mandatory two-year Verizon Wireless contract. So, I'm reading previews and reviews of the Droid as they emerge. Engadget has provided a bunch of previews, photos, and videos of the Droid. So, it is no surprise they have an in-depth review of it too...

Motorola DROID review

Here's a couple of their pros and cons that interested me the most...

- Speed is better than other Android devices but not blindingly fast (con)
- No multi-touch (semi-con)
- Keyboard (based on a photo) does not have dedicated numeric row. Layout looks a bit quirky (cons)
- Navigation pad looks usable. Would have preferred the little trackball that the G1 has (pro)
- Camera performance is so-so (con)
- Video recording is at 720x480 resolution. This is an odd size. It is larger than the more conventional VGA-resolution of 640x480. I didn't note much of the "rubberband" effect seen in the iPhone 3GS and Touch Pro2 videos I made. (pro)
- Standard 3.5mm headphone jack (pro)

Adding up the pros (+1) and cons (-1), I end up with a -0.5 (the no multi-touch semi-con was the tie breaker). And, Android's limitation of only being able to install apps in its limited system memory gives it another con (-1) for me bringing the score down to -1.5.

It is staring to look like I should just continue to look for an unlocked GSM-based Android phone. But, I'll continue to read pre-release reviews until the Droid launches at the end of this week.

PhoneArena.com has photos and specs for the upcoming HTC-built Droid Eris Android 2 based phone that will be sold through Verizon Wireless in the U.S.

New images of the HTC Droid Eris

HTC Droid Eris specifications

I guess Verizon is going to brand their Android based phones as "Droid" regardless of the manufacturer (makes sense to me). I am a little curious about the "Eris" part of the name though. A quick check of Wikipedia reveals that Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and that the Latin version of the name is Discordia. The Wikipedia notes that Eris is possibly best known for starting the mythological Trojan War. So, who or what is the Droid Eris going to cause strife?

The device's specs looks decent. But, as a keyboard-less device, I don't find it personally interesting. The phone itself seems to be, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer might say, the new normal: 320x480 display, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, microSD slot, WiFi, and, something a bit different for an HTC phone, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack instead of HTC's usual proprietary microUSB combo jack.

OK, we have a launch date - Nov. 6 (next week Friday) - and price - $199.99 with a 2-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate - for the Motorola Droid from Verizon...

Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week

We also have a minimum MRC (monthly recurring cost) - $69.98 - for voice and data. So, the Droid from Verizon doesn't offer any purchase price or MRC advantage over the iPhone from AT&T. It does offer, of course, the promise of a larger and faster voice and data network (Verizon vs. AT&T). Android doesn't have the enormous app eco-system that's been built for the iPhone over the past 15 months. So, what does it offer if not price or apps? Droid the Verizon network as I mentioned earlier. It has the promise of a potential huge build-up of apps. And, it has a physical keyboard. But, that keyboard may be its biggest weakness. Earlier, I wrote about the Boy Genius Report's less than impressed take of the Droid's keyboard...

BGR's Take on the Motorola Droid - Mostly Good Except for the Keyboard

And, here's what Engadget says about the Droid keyboard in this blog entry...

Motorola DROID first hands-on! (update: video, impressions, more pics)

The keyboard takes some getting used to, and it suffers from a similar hand-position issue as the G1, but it's fairly usable. We think it'll be second nature once we spend some time with it. This is not exactly a glowing review of the keyboard. It should have been one of the Droid's most attractive features. Instead, it is, at best, maybe ok.

Some people have been surprisingly adept at using the iPhone's virtual keyboard. Even, I've been more comfortable with it since the availability of landscape keyboard access in apps like Mail. Moto should have take more care in designing the Droid's physical keyboard.

YouTube video courtesy of Google

If there was any doubt that Google is taking direct aim at the iPhone, wonder no more...

Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

Google Maps Navigation aims at one of the few iPhone app categories that can command truly premium prices. Navigon's MobileNavigator for the iPhone is priced at $89.99. TomTom is $99.99. Google's turn-by-turn app for Android 2.0 is free. There is one huge difference between the iPhone's premium navigation apps an Google's though: Navigon and TomTom's apps load their map libraries on the iPhone. This means you still have maps available when you are out of AT&T's EDGE/3G network. Google's app requires access to Verizon's network to get that data. Still, this is probably just fine for 90% of users. And, it could be just the kind of killer app to draw customers away from the iPhone.

YouTube video courtesy of recombu

First, don't laugh at this cardboard creation. Except for the fact that I had hoped he had built some kind of 3D stereo google system using dual phones, this project is clever, inexpensive, and accessible to people with minimal constructions skills...

View-Master 2009: Make your own virtual reality goggles

It is essentially a set of people-blinders to remove extraneous visual information and lets a person focus solely on the VR/augmented reality video stream provided by Google Street View on an HTC Magic (Android phone). So, get past the cheap cardboard construction project and enjoy. I did. I always enjoy seeing fast low-cost prototyping at work :-)

I was going to comment on this interesting mobile platform comparison article...

Comparing Freedom on Maemo and Android

...but switched gears after noting that both Maemo and Android are based on Linux. This means that four important mobile platforms are Linux or UNIX based: Maemo, Android, webOS, and iPhone OS. Of the three other important OSes, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Symbian S60, only BlackBerry seems to be keeping up with the pack sales-wise (Nokia still sells the most phones but looks to be in a decline).

UNIX/Linux fans will probably never seen their favorite platform dominate the desktop. But, with the iPhone steadily gaining market share and Android apparently ready to be in a breakout mode, it looks like UNIX/Linux may be the future of mobile computing for years to come.

YouTube video courtesy of androiddevelopers

Android 2.0 is on its way to end-users in the form of the Motorola Droid that will be available through Verizon Wireless. So, Google got around to...

Announcing Android 2.0 support in the SDK!

A list of new features and technologies for the 2.0 release is available here...

Android 2.0 Platform Highlights

It looks like Android 2.0 can support more than one Exchange Server sync. This is interesting since Microsoft's own Windows Mobile is limited to a syncing with a single Exchange Server. Note, however, that according to Google hardware manufacturers can elect to leave out Exchange support (boo!). The new Quick Contact feature lets an Android user choose which mode (voice, email, SMS) to use to contact someone.

Camera features includes support for a built-in flash, digital zoom, scene mode selection, white balance, color effects and macro focus.

The dictionary can now learn from word usage and automatically includes contact names as word suggestions.

Android's web browser games double-tap zoom (like the iPhone), bookmarks with web page thumbnails, and support for HTML5 (like Google's Chrome browser).

And, oh yes, if you look closely at the video, it looks like part of it was demoed using the Motorola Droid (see the screenshot above) on Verizon's network.