This is a big deal for me. Almost every computing device in my home is made by Apple - 3 MacBooks, 2 iPhones, 2 iPods (where are they?), an iPad and a Mac Mini. I really love Apple products and, although the closed Apple ecosystem annoys me intellectually, it has served me very well in practice.
In addition, I've tried Android before and been unimpressed (I lasted about a day on the G1 back in Cupcake days...) So what changed? Why stick with Android now? The answer comes in 3 parts: two amazing differentiated features; the fundamental shift to cloud services; the continued iteration on the OS to close the gap in user experience.
(1) Two amazing features:
I live several thousand miles away from my extended family in the UK. TO be able to call them on Google Voice for a reasonable rate is amazing. Using the service on the iPhone is
hard work - you have to open a browser, your call log is littered with these calls to random Google numbers that you can't identify with a person. On Android, it is a dream. Use your phone as normal and get Google Voice. It uses all the power of the OS to be almost completely invisible. One of the best designed, built and integrated products from soup to nuts that I have ever used...
Google Maps Navigation
Our TomTom died last week. We're not buying a new one. Navigation on Android is amazing.It's a first class GPS hooked up to Google Maps so you can search just like you would on the internet. No more of this 'city', 'street', 'number' crap, just type (or even speak!) the address and you're away. Don't know the address? Just say the name of the place. Hook your phone into the line-in on your car stereo and it'll even pause the music you're listening to (from rdio - see below) to tell you when to turn. I've always been sceptical about 'convergence'. Not anymore.
(2) Cloud services
I was really worried about using a device that wasn't designed to just work when it came to syncing with my Macs. But then I thought about it. Where does my data live? It lives in the cloud. I use Gmail, Calendar, Twitter, Facebook. They're all in the cloud. I just hook up the apps and let the syncing begin (wirelessly, as they say).
But my big concerns were music, podcasts, books. I am pretty invested in iTunes. What am I going to do. well, again it was cloud (and a bit of good timing) to the rescue. We're finally at the stage with all of this stuff that cloud based data, wireless syncing and live streaming can solve all ills. I went ahead and replaced my Apple products as follows:
Rdio scans my iTunes collection and makes it available via the cloud from a nice little app. That app can also sync tracks offline so that I can use it while I'm out of coverage. Listen syncs my podcasts (and even suggests new ones) without a cable. And Kindle is, well exactly the same as iBooks. Only it works on every device I do or would own. And the books are cheaper...
(3) The growing maturity and polish of the whole platform
Froyo feels good. It's more responsive, it's better behaved and it has a cared-for look about it that was missing from previous revs of Android. This matters. I spend a lot of time with my phone and so little aggravations add up to big time-syncs or major frustrations.
There is still a gap to iPhone on this one. Scrolling and transitions just aren't as smooth.The interaction model (certainly when coming from an iPhone) feels a little more clumsy. Applications make highly inconsistent design decisions. But you know, after a week of using it, I adjusted to the new interaction model (and would concede that it is certainly more extensible than the iPhone); I got used to the new look and feel of key applications; and I stopped looking out for the little glitches in scrolling.
In addition this feels like an area that has just gotten better and better with every OS release and flagship phone launch. The feel of the Nexus One is not at all far from the iPhone (at least the 3GS) nowadays. I am really confident that my Android will feel even more plush in 6 months and in a year.
The feedback
Our TomTom died last week. We're not buying a new one. Navigation on Android is amazing.It's a first class GPS hooked up to Google Maps so you can search just like you would on the internet. No more of this 'city', 'street', 'number' crap, just type (or even speak!) the address and you're away. Don't know the address? Just say the name of the place. Hook your phone into the line-in on your car stereo and it'll even pause the music you're listening to (from rdio - see below) to tell you when to turn. I've always been sceptical about 'convergence'. Not anymore.
(2) Cloud services
I was really worried about using a device that wasn't designed to just work when it came to syncing with my Macs. But then I thought about it. Where does my data live? It lives in the cloud. I use Gmail, Calendar, Twitter, Facebook. They're all in the cloud. I just hook up the apps and let the syncing begin (wirelessly, as they say).
But my big concerns were music, podcasts, books. I am pretty invested in iTunes. What am I going to do. well, again it was cloud (and a bit of good timing) to the rescue. We're finally at the stage with all of this stuff that cloud based data, wireless syncing and live streaming can solve all ills. I went ahead and replaced my Apple products as follows:
- iTunes Music -> Rdio
- iTunes Podcasts -> Google Listen
- iBooks -> Amazon Kindle (this works on my iPad too - tell me why I was using iBooks again?)
Rdio scans my iTunes collection and makes it available via the cloud from a nice little app. That app can also sync tracks offline so that I can use it while I'm out of coverage. Listen syncs my podcasts (and even suggests new ones) without a cable. And Kindle is, well exactly the same as iBooks. Only it works on every device I do or would own. And the books are cheaper...
(3) The growing maturity and polish of the whole platform
Froyo feels good. It's more responsive, it's better behaved and it has a cared-for look about it that was missing from previous revs of Android. This matters. I spend a lot of time with my phone and so little aggravations add up to big time-syncs or major frustrations.
There is still a gap to iPhone on this one. Scrolling and transitions just aren't as smooth.The interaction model (certainly when coming from an iPhone) feels a little more clumsy. Applications make highly inconsistent design decisions. But you know, after a week of using it, I adjusted to the new interaction model (and would concede that it is certainly more extensible than the iPhone); I got used to the new look and feel of key applications; and I stopped looking out for the little glitches in scrolling.
In addition this feels like an area that has just gotten better and better with every OS release and flagship phone launch. The feel of the Nexus One is not at all far from the iPhone (at least the 3GS) nowadays. I am really confident that my Android will feel even more plush in 6 months and in a year.
The feedback
So, the Android ecosystem is really motoring and I am excited to be a part of it going forward. That said, I do want to call out the areas that I think still need a lot of work, especially now that iPhone has closed the multi-tasking gap. Here's my list of gripes listed somewhat in priority order...
The cool thing is, that I know that the Android team, the open-source community and hardware manufacturers are going to solve all these problems. We're starting to see the sort of competitive handset development in the Android ecosystem that will lead to some amazing devices (HTC, Motorola, Samsung et al all want to be the best Android experience). I also know that the competition from Apple's iOS will keep the core Android team keenly focused on continued innovation and that's got be a good thing...
Here's the clincher. The benefits of Android now significantly outweigh the drawbacks. And both the Android team and the whole ecosystem has demonstrated with their progress over the last 6 months that the drawbacks won't remain that way for long. I'm on Android, and I'm staying put.
- Browser - the Android browser is still in pretty bad shape when compared to Mobile Safari (which is by no means a perfect browser). It may have a new super-fast V8 Javascript engine, but I think it needs more focus on layout and rendering. In particular, the rendering of standard web pages is clunky and the 'tap to zoom' functionality seems highly inferior to its Cupertino-based cousin. It also seems to have much less support and hardware acceleration for the new CSS animations framework that a lot of new mobile sites are starting to use.
- Tap response - Perhaps I'm doin' it wrong, but I have trouble tapping on links in applications (in particular Twitter). I have no idea if this is the Nexus One screen, the OS or my stupid fat fingers, but I regularly have to jab the screen 4 or 5 times to get an anchor tag to do its thing. It feels a little as though the tap target is slightly above where I expect it to be, but it also feels like some good proportion of the taps just aren't registered anywhere. The larger the tap target, the smaller the problem, so buttons seem to be fine...
- Battery life - Generally battery usage is good. Especially given how much I am asking the phone to do (sync work and hone email, calendar, Facebook, twitter, latitude etc), but I have noticed that it fails the overnight test much more often than the iPhone. In fact, unless the phone is fully charged before I go to bed I will invariably wake up to a phone that has shut down in the morning. In contrast, the iPhone would normally be on <20% battery, but capable of checking email or making a call before a charge. Now, I know I can solve this with a dock by my bed, but it feels like a software optimization could help a little too. Certainly, I'd be happy if the phone aggressively culled background processes after it had been idle for more than 60 mins. Maybe it already does, but either way it needs a little more.
- Android Market - This is a big deal. The Market is one of the most important apps on the phone and it is not good. The market has one cool differentiated feature (auto-updates) and a whole host for opportunities for improvement. Part of the issue is to do with volume and quality of apps (and I know this is changing fast), but a big part is the Market application itself. I love the idea of the Market being open, but if that's the case, then you need to provide a powerful, persuasive user experience so that I can both find and judge applications I might want to download. For now it is too hard to sort the wheat from the chaff and whilst on the iPhone I would regularly waste a couple of minutes perusing the App Store for new apps, on Android, I only go when I know exactly what I want.
Here's the clincher. The benefits of Android now significantly outweigh the drawbacks. And both the Android team and the whole ecosystem has demonstrated with their progress over the last 6 months that the drawbacks won't remain that way for long. I'm on Android, and I'm staying put.