Help May switch back to Android - Q's before I do

[CPR]

I'm very intrigued by the Droid X2 and I'm tempted to switch from my iPhone when it comes out. I have a few questions that are nagging me about Android and would like your help before making a decision. I'm used to the Apple OS - had a 3G, 3GS and now the iPhone 4. I owned an HTC Evo for the 30 day trial period before getting the iP4 and wasn't too thrilled over the package. The hardware wasn't up to the quality I was used to and the OS seemed less intuitive than iOS. I'm thinking I just didn't give it a fair shake and am being tempted back.

1. Is the native Google Nav app resident in the Android OS memory like Navigon on the iPhone, or are all the POI's/maps downloaded on the fly?
2. Is there a media player similar to the iPhone's for Android?
3. Have they gotten the camera software issues figured out yet? The Evo apparently had some older codecs that provided sub-optimal video recording. Unsure about the Droid X/X2.
4. Music/movies - what's the easiest/most efficient source for these for Android and is there an "iTunes" for Android that makes organizing my media fairly straightforward?
5. Rooting/custom ROMs - all I want is to get rid of bloatware. What is needed on the Droid X/X2 (assuming they will be similar)? I want everything else to be as it came from the factory, except the Verizon crap.
6. The Cloud. I'm not a fan of sharing all my personal stuff for the sake of having an easy back-up. I had no clue I had to sign up for a gmail account when I bought the Evo. Is there a way to prevent all of my data from being sent to the cloud with Android?
7. OS updates. If I get a Droid X2, how long does Android usually support a phone with OS updates? I think iPhones are good for a couple of years.
8. Can you still zoom in on a web page and the browser re-formats the page with larger text? I really liked that feature.

I know I'll have more questions and greatly appreciate any input provided.

 

[n8_cmt]

Hey, I just caught your post while checking in here for information on the DX^2. I will try to answer some of these questions as best I can. I currently have a rooted DX with the latest Gingerbread OS.
1. Google maps is currently taking up 9.78 MB of space on my phone which would lead me to believe that the maps are downloaded on the fly. However, this is extremely fast.
2. Itunes is what it is. The native music player for this phone is fairly straight forward and simple to use. There are plenty of others in the market as well.
3. I believe the video recording on the DX is 720p at 30fps. I have always had fantastic video and with the three microphones in the DX I get crystal clear audio as well. I assume this will be the same for the DX2.
4. "Itunes" for video media is called the Gallery. I think that Motorola did a fine job with this app, others may disagree. There is also the 3D Gallery which is more of a google native app. From what I can tell, pictures and video are organized by date within the app.
5. Rooting your phone and installing a custom Rom is truly what separates Android from the iOS. This is a very difficult question to answer though and I would recommend looking in the "All things root" section and reading a step by step guide. Once you have the basics on what it is and how to properly restore your phone if you mess up, the possibilities are endless. This is how I have Gingerbread OS on my phone before the OTA (over the air) that everyone with a DX will get when motorola is ready to release. By the way, I know you said you wanted to keep it stock, but look in these pages, there are devs that do fantastic work with themes and custom roms. Flashing new and different roms is great, just make a back up of what you like so you can always go back.
6. I believe that you can uncheck the option to share data when you first activate or within the settings menu. Honestly, I have nothing to hide so I don't really care. I consider it the same as Backup Assistant from Verizon.
7. This is not a question of whether or not Google will support, but whether the manufacturer will support further updates for their own phones. Google is responsible for the Android Source code which is released as an open source project to manufacturers and anyone who wants it. Motorola has been one of the fastest to release updates, but each manufacturer puts their own spin on Android. This is where you get Motorola's "motoblur", HTC'S "Sense", and Samsungs "Touchwiz" all using android with their own "skin" on top of it. Product differentiation in a nutshell. The Google Nexus one, and Nexus S run just plain old android and have consistently gotten the fastest updates, we're talking days.
8. Last answer, you can still zoom in on web pages using the pinch-zoom gesture and if you want a page to automatically reformat to fit the screen simply double tap it and its done.

Hope some of this helps.

By the way, I've played with the iphone and the whole operating system is just one big app drawer. Android is all about customization and really making your device personal to you and once you understand how Android can really multitask I think you will begin to see the difference.

And now I'm off the soap box.