I know these stories are common, but I know when I did the research to arrive here, I would have loved to find more of these. From the user's perspective, not endgadget's, lifehacker's, etc. Forgive the length. Ignore if you want.
UPDATED: I added a "What I miss Most" section below as I have been using the phone for two weeks now. Hyperlinked my apps to make it easier if you are curious. Updated some of the review to account for some of the comments below. Might as well not mislead others.
--How I Got Here:
So -- I've been an iPhone user for about 2.5 years. I was a big believer in the phone -- I mean, say what you will -- it changed the face of phones forever. And my 3G was no different. I had found a newfound respect for Apple. i still despise iTunes and in general (as a linux user at home), I hate closed systems. But back then, android was intriguing, but there wasn't anything that was going to pull me away from my iPhone. It was stable, it had an appstore with some pretty useful apps, there were even some good games. And, it was a hell of a long way from my iPod -- click wheel and all.
Recently though I had a problem with the microphone not working ONLY in the headset. So, I did what you do. I went to the store. Then they sent me to the help-desk (sorry -- genius bar) where when they determined that, in fact, the microphone was not working through the headset (smug look included) he told me (no joke):
So I left the fruit-worshipping cult to join the robot-worshipping one.
I needed to stay on AT&T, which made the research easy. The Atrix seemed the only way to go and it was coming out in a few days from my help-desk escapade. On paper, hell, this was the phone to get. I wasn't in it for the webtop dock or the multimedia dock or any of the medicore reviewed accessories. I applaud innovation. Hell, I still have my Newton and my 3DO system somewhere around here. Execution can lack, but if we don't support good ideas, we'll never have amazing toys. I hate closed systems and while the Motorolas seem to be more on the closed side, the specs of the phone was what interested me the most. And let's face it -- guys like designgears and the army of other smart folks will find a way. They rooted the phone before it was even out.
My android friends, I was sold.
--First Impressions
Fit and Finish
The phone itself is basically identical in size and weight to what I was used to with my 3G. I'm sure we can debate the finer details, but it's close enough not to matter. The screen is beautiful, the gorilla glass is going to work well considering I have 2 small children who will put it through it's paces.
I would have preferred they use some more substantial materials than plastic. Metal rockers on the volume, or a metal backing would be nice. I'm not a fan at all of the backplate, I feel like I am going to crack it everytime I remove it. While I think the fingerprint sensor is a great idea, it's oddly placed for me and I was expecting the home button to double as the power button, not the indiscriminate fingerprint reader. Minor complaints really.
Most worrysome is how slippery I find the phone. I mean, I'm a self-proclaimed nerd, but my hands aren't greasy or anything. Promise. I've almost dropped the phone twice already. For whatever reason, it wants to fly out of my hands...
OS/MotoBlur
I read that people hate MotoBlur, but since this is my first android phone, I'm not sure where Froyo starts and Motoblur stops. It doesn't really bug me all that much. The biggest change was figuring out how to make the phone do things I knew how to do with my iPhone. I wanted to be able to group my apps. But the area I knew Apple got right was the options menu. It is ABSOLUTELY overwhelming at first. (Like when new Ubuntu users open Synaptic for the first time). Apple absolutely understands how to simplify things down. Almost to a fault, but hey, credit where credit is due. My dad could NEVER be able to pickup the Droid phones the way he can his iPhone. (Cue debate). Well, at least not THIS droid phone.
I adore the voice command features -- I thought it would be a gimmick, but I am happily surprised with how well it works. My last name is a mess of letters and it gets that right for God's sake. I think the notification tray is a great idea. Widgets? Apple, are you taking notes yet? (And if this stuff exists on the iPhone 4, I wouldn't know). Needless to say, I was impressed. But overwhelmed with my options.
Software
I did what you all do -- uninstalled the default apps. As mentioned, I was mightily impressed with the voice commands, the speediness of the app loading. Not a huge fan of the app drawer -- I had grown used to grouped apps via my iPhone. But man -- one thing was clear. This phone was quick. I loved the integration with linked in and last.fm. Using the profile pictures for the contacts is a genius idea (Apple?). I hate the desktop sync application - MotoBloat or whatever it is called. I wasn't impressed with the default layouts and twitter/facebookified desktops. I don't and won't ever use that stuff. Yeah, I'm old. So what.
The turn by turn GPS navigation puts my iPhone to absolute shame. The compass for when I am walking somewhere using the navigation app pointing me in the right direction is brilliant too.
I love the Swype interface. Brilliant stuff.
The toggle widgets in particular are a fantastic idea.
--Where to Start
1) Try not to get overwhelmed by the Marketplace. It has ALL THE SAME PROBLEMS of the AppStore. I desperately want more ways to filter search results. The only way to find something is to seemingly know exactly what you're looking for. However, almost every major app I used on the iPhone has an Android equivalent. I don't find myself lacking anything in my transition.
Apps on iPhone also on Android that I was used to:
I ended up installing and using the following apps to get closer to my iPhone habits:
--What I Miss Most:
Visual Voicemail: Oh my, I didn't realize how much I liked the visual voicemail on the iPhone. I was quite STUNNED when I had to dial into a voicemail. I had gotten SO used to doing it the iPhone way.
iTunes: I cannot even believe I had to write this -- I hate iTunes, but I had the most incredible time getting music onto the 32GB SDHC card I bought. It quite literally took me 5 days. I am still unsure what I was doing wrong, but I couldn't get the music apps to recognize that I had the card in, they couldn't recognize music when it was on the card. Ugh. iTunes is pretty painless in hindsight.
--Conclusions
It's simple: I'm never going back. It is for my phone what Linux Mint is for my home PC. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this little phone and I am SURE I have an immense amount to figure out about it still, but if you're an iPhone user looking to make the switch, take it from me. You can do it if you've ever built your own PC, ever used DOS or any CLI interface. Hell, if you ran Win95, you could do this. I just wouldn't give it to my Dad yet. I don't think it's as ready for someone like him -- for him the iPhone will suffice and be fine.
Would love any other thoughts or app suggestions from the long-timers.
Cheers.
UPDATED: I added a "What I miss Most" section below as I have been using the phone for two weeks now. Hyperlinked my apps to make it easier if you are curious. Updated some of the review to account for some of the comments below. Might as well not mislead others.
--How I Got Here:
So -- I've been an iPhone user for about 2.5 years. I was a big believer in the phone -- I mean, say what you will -- it changed the face of phones forever. And my 3G was no different. I had found a newfound respect for Apple. i still despise iTunes and in general (as a linux user at home), I hate closed systems. But back then, android was intriguing, but there wasn't anything that was going to pull me away from my iPhone. It was stable, it had an appstore with some pretty useful apps, there were even some good games. And, it was a hell of a long way from my iPod -- click wheel and all.
Recently though I had a problem with the microphone not working ONLY in the headset. So, I did what you do. I went to the store. Then they sent me to the help-desk (sorry -- genius bar) where when they determined that, in fact, the microphone was not working through the headset (smug look included) he told me (no joke):
Let me get this straight. If I walked in off the street and was a new customer, you'd give me the same deal? "Yes." I know this 20 something ironic hipster probably went to a sales class and learned these advanced techniques. Is it bad I wanted to punch him? So, I calmly stated that I would check out my android options. He told me: "You could do that.""I have good news and bad news. Bad news is that your phone is out of warranty (expired Jan 4). The good news is that if you spend 200 dollars, we'll give you a brand new phone."
So I left the fruit-worshipping cult to join the robot-worshipping one.
I needed to stay on AT&T, which made the research easy. The Atrix seemed the only way to go and it was coming out in a few days from my help-desk escapade. On paper, hell, this was the phone to get. I wasn't in it for the webtop dock or the multimedia dock or any of the medicore reviewed accessories. I applaud innovation. Hell, I still have my Newton and my 3DO system somewhere around here. Execution can lack, but if we don't support good ideas, we'll never have amazing toys. I hate closed systems and while the Motorolas seem to be more on the closed side, the specs of the phone was what interested me the most. And let's face it -- guys like designgears and the army of other smart folks will find a way. They rooted the phone before it was even out.
My android friends, I was sold.
--First Impressions
Fit and Finish
The phone itself is basically identical in size and weight to what I was used to with my 3G. I'm sure we can debate the finer details, but it's close enough not to matter. The screen is beautiful, the gorilla glass is going to work well considering I have 2 small children who will put it through it's paces.
I would have preferred they use some more substantial materials than plastic. Metal rockers on the volume, or a metal backing would be nice. I'm not a fan at all of the backplate, I feel like I am going to crack it everytime I remove it. While I think the fingerprint sensor is a great idea, it's oddly placed for me and I was expecting the home button to double as the power button, not the indiscriminate fingerprint reader. Minor complaints really.
Most worrysome is how slippery I find the phone. I mean, I'm a self-proclaimed nerd, but my hands aren't greasy or anything. Promise. I've almost dropped the phone twice already. For whatever reason, it wants to fly out of my hands...
OS/MotoBlur
I read that people hate MotoBlur, but since this is my first android phone, I'm not sure where Froyo starts and Motoblur stops. It doesn't really bug me all that much. The biggest change was figuring out how to make the phone do things I knew how to do with my iPhone. I wanted to be able to group my apps. But the area I knew Apple got right was the options menu. It is ABSOLUTELY overwhelming at first. (Like when new Ubuntu users open Synaptic for the first time). Apple absolutely understands how to simplify things down. Almost to a fault, but hey, credit where credit is due. My dad could NEVER be able to pickup the Droid phones the way he can his iPhone. (Cue debate). Well, at least not THIS droid phone.
I adore the voice command features -- I thought it would be a gimmick, but I am happily surprised with how well it works. My last name is a mess of letters and it gets that right for God's sake. I think the notification tray is a great idea. Widgets? Apple, are you taking notes yet? (And if this stuff exists on the iPhone 4, I wouldn't know). Needless to say, I was impressed. But overwhelmed with my options.
Software
I did what you all do -- uninstalled the default apps. As mentioned, I was mightily impressed with the voice commands, the speediness of the app loading. Not a huge fan of the app drawer -- I had grown used to grouped apps via my iPhone. But man -- one thing was clear. This phone was quick. I loved the integration with linked in and last.fm. Using the profile pictures for the contacts is a genius idea (Apple?). I hate the desktop sync application - MotoBloat or whatever it is called. I wasn't impressed with the default layouts and twitter/facebookified desktops. I don't and won't ever use that stuff. Yeah, I'm old. So what.
The turn by turn GPS navigation puts my iPhone to absolute shame. The compass for when I am walking somewhere using the navigation app pointing me in the right direction is brilliant too.
I love the Swype interface. Brilliant stuff.
The toggle widgets in particular are a fantastic idea.
--Where to Start
1) Try not to get overwhelmed by the Marketplace. It has ALL THE SAME PROBLEMS of the AppStore. I desperately want more ways to filter search results. The only way to find something is to seemingly know exactly what you're looking for. However, almost every major app I used on the iPhone has an Android equivalent. I don't find myself lacking anything in my transition.
Apps on iPhone also on Android that I was used to:
- Angry Birds (and free to boot, my kids love you!)
- Pandora
- YouTube
- DirecTV
- Amazon
- Dropbox
- Google Reader
- Epicurious
- Yelp
I ended up installing and using the following apps to get closer to my iPhone habits:
- Go Launcher EX: I used this to make application groups, nearly identical to the iPhone. Other people use LauncherPro I've found to replace Blur, but Go Launcher does both things for me, hence, I went with that one. Also installed the notification plugin.
- Beautiful Widgets: Read alot about this one -- seemed popular. Put the weather on my desktop like I wanted.
- PocketCloud: It's probably more the phone than the app, but this thing is screaming fast on the phone. Great VNC client.
- Goggles: This is awesome, I can't wait to dig into it more. Probably exists on the AppStore, but this is what makes technology cool.
- Where's My Droid: Another great idea. I can text my phone if I lose it and have it report it's GPS coordinates.
- Tasker: If there is ONE app that is going to change everything for you, it's this one. It is REALLY hard to wrap your head around at first and is truly the power-user app for power-users. But man, I've configured it to: auto-silence the phone when the phone is oriented face down, not bother me at night when I am sleeping, powers down wifi, bluetooth, etc. in the middle of the night to conserve battery, autoconnects when near my house for wifi and activates GPS based on apps that need it. All of these things add up to a longer battery life. Tasker is what sealed the beauty of android for me. It is something Apple would never allow, but has created an environment to let my phone be what I want my phone to be. Not what Cupertino thinks my phone should be.
- Amazon MP3: This is totally awesome. I use their service over iTunes as I don't want to convert AAC to MP3.
- AppBrain App Market: Solves SOME of my issues with the market store.
- BBC+Sky Sports: I'm an Arsenal fan, so, I need a way to track the team.
- Dolphin Browser HD: Not sure I need it, but I've been exploring some other browsers.
- FlickrFree: To show off my awesome kids.
- Ghost Commander: Use this to get to my Samba shares. Needed that plugin too.
- Handcent: A MUCH better SMS solution than the phone comes with.
- MixZing Basic: Going to upgrade in a week or so, after I've used EVERY audio player app in the marketplace.
- Overlook Fing: Cool network mapping utility.
- PowerAmp: Yet another music player -- this one is pretty damned powerful thus far though.
- SwitchPro Widget: I think this is the best widget for the system toggles that I could find. Transparent setting makes my desktop look the way I want/
- SXSW Go: Have I mentioned how much of a music nerd I am?
- WoW Remote Auction House: Uh. Right. I'm a nerd.
--What I Miss Most:
Visual Voicemail: Oh my, I didn't realize how much I liked the visual voicemail on the iPhone. I was quite STUNNED when I had to dial into a voicemail. I had gotten SO used to doing it the iPhone way.
iTunes: I cannot even believe I had to write this -- I hate iTunes, but I had the most incredible time getting music onto the 32GB SDHC card I bought. It quite literally took me 5 days. I am still unsure what I was doing wrong, but I couldn't get the music apps to recognize that I had the card in, they couldn't recognize music when it was on the card. Ugh. iTunes is pretty painless in hindsight.
--Conclusions
It's simple: I'm never going back. It is for my phone what Linux Mint is for my home PC. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this little phone and I am SURE I have an immense amount to figure out about it still, but if you're an iPhone user looking to make the switch, take it from me. You can do it if you've ever built your own PC, ever used DOS or any CLI interface. Hell, if you ran Win95, you could do this. I just wouldn't give it to my Dad yet. I don't think it's as ready for someone like him -- for him the iPhone will suffice and be fine.
Would love any other thoughts or app suggestions from the long-timers.
Cheers.