New member here- Hi everyone.
I've had my MyTouch4G for a little over a week. I've had two BB 8700's and one BB Curve 8320 that this phone replaced. This was one of very few purchases I did NOT do my homework on before buying. T-Mobile had a slammin deal, my BB was 3 yrs old, and so I jumped in the android pool totally green to this format.
What a rude awakening. Some for the better, some for the worse. I've had quite a steep learning curve since the day I bought it. I didn't have to do that with my BB- just use it.
Plusses:
1. Processing power & speed
2. great phone formfactor
3. gobs of memory installed
4. fairly beautiful display
5. stable OS
6. great voice recognition software installed
7. NOT A WINDOWS-BASED system
8. Android has awesome potential
9. Real, useful mobile web-surfing, complete with FLASH!
Minuses:
1. Immature platform
2. unrefined apps
3. certain items I expect in a smart phone either not installed or not available AT ALL
4. Linux-based OS
5. battery hog
6. where's my bundled Mac support/drivers/etc?
They took the time to give me windows crap I don't need or want, and a simple iTunes alternative for getting my songs into the device- which I could care less about
no bundled or available sync/backup software for mac.
7. Not many accessories available yet. (docks, external keyboard, etc)
8. Touch screen keyboard- yuck. Can I get rid of the ES (espanol) key? It's useless and always in my way.
9. Horizontal mode for keyboard is not available in all apps ( and the size of the keys are better for me in horizontal mode) I could absolutely fly on my BB's querty keyboards with few if any errors. Not this thing.
10. Too much bloatware installed
I'm not even going to directly address the amt of apps that are not ready for prime time, or have not been updated to run on 2.2... and can cause problems...
Now before the dander is raised around here, remember this thread is for opinions on user satisfaction, so I'm giving as unbiased opinion as I can. This is not a hater rant, just my observations over the last 9 days of ownership.
For starters: for all the Beauty & stability of Linux it is also a minus for me. WHY? Because when I made the jump from Windows to Mac 6 years ago, (and had piddled around with Red Hat for a bit some years prior) I was sick and tired of doting over my computers. I got tired of babysitting them. Tired of the hours wasted that I could have been doing other things. OSX was a huge blessing for me. Zero crashes in 6 years on either one of my macs (iMac G5 PwrPC, MacBookPro Intel Santa Rosa)
Furthermore, for all the configuration options & tweaks of Android and Linux, it forces you more or less to serve the system to try and obtain what you want, instead of the system serving YOU, and ready to go right off the bat.
I got away from Windows for that very reason- especially the maintenance issues. I want to turn on the device, use it for what I require of it, and live my life. I know many Linux heads just love their computers and messing with them- well, those days are long gone for me. That just isn't in my blood anymore.
I don't get a spell-checker imbedded in my Android apps (and email programs); I don't get any MS office compatibility without 3rd-party downloads (and purchases for full-functionality); I don't get decent utilites included for simple tasks like making my own wallpapers, not to mention the bloatware that I can't get rid of, without being "rooted". Rooted my eye, I want to use the thing and be done with it until the next time I require its use. Nothing more. Not dote over it.
My BB's always could at least read MS OFFICE apps without 3rd party app nonsense; had a built-in spell check that interfaced well in my email accts that I imported and sync'd...
ah viva la differance!
THAT, to me is how my experience should be going. and it's not. Unless Android gets a serious shot in the arm AND SOON, I will buy an unlocked iPhone 4G and use it on my T-Mobile system, and probably do so far before my eligibility for replacement comes around.
If they want to truly mkt this phone, and more importantly, market ANDROID as a competitive rival to either BB or the iPhone (and in the business world), they better poop or get off the pot. The upshot is, I don't think they are far off; but why the foot dragging? Android has been out for awhile, so I find no real excuse here.
There also seems to be much argument about Android apps and, more specifically, apps killers to save battery life. Some say OS 2.2 is intelligent enough to manage apps, but other developers are saying otherwise. Why on earth is there disagreement? Surely something definitive can be said at this stage of Android's maturation. Somebody must have the final, factual word on this. I understand there are some apps with an "exit" button (and I use them). Others apps do not.
Other upshots- the MyTouch4G's camera is real good. One report listed it as just under the quality of the new iPhone, yet gave the 4G the nod because there was a more robust interface to tweak your photos. I'd have to agree. Amazingly great pictures can be taken with this thing. I also like the video conferencing of Tangle.
But it's still so unrefined, overall... and at this price point and its competition I find it inexcusable.
C'mon. Somebody PLEASE make these simple changes/improvements to make me totally embrace the Android platform. Right now it's too much of a free-for-all with it being such an open-source community. For all the plusses there are some glaring minuses, sad to say. People gripe all day about how tight-fisted Steve Jobs is with source code; but at least Apple has definitive consistence, and rock solid stability... and that is precisely the reason that Apple is so tight-fisted with it. There must be some baseline guidlines for Android, or somebody needs to get a consortium together to decide these issues once and for all.
I'm honestly hoping for improvements, but I'm not holding my breath to see it before my device gets replaced, sad to say. Too many caught up in the me-too apps & games; and not enough focus on sorting out some specific things and defining others; that could make Android an otherwise FANTASTIC OS for the avg casual or biz user who just wants the device to serve them.
These are my perceptions and experience thus far with my phone. No disrespect or flame wars intended to anyone here. I'm too old for that crap.
I'm all ears for tips and ideas. Thanks.