philomyth.us

the truth is out there, so where is the “joy”

Joining the Android Revolution

September 1, 2010 by Emmanuel | 3 Comments

I can’t remember how long I’ve been using a Windows Mobile device as my daily communicator. It was even before I made the switch to GSM. And before that, I was using Pocket PC as my pre-phone PDA. Well, the wait for Android is over and the time has come to embrace my Google overlords (J/K).

For all the time that I was with Microsoft’s mobile platform, although it was not really an open platform, a fringe developer community (centered around xda-developers) filled the gap to make modifications and “improve” the user experience. However, as Google has pushed Android to be a viable mobile operating system and a more open development platform, it was time to make the jump.

In a nod to HTC smartphone success, I was originally trying to maintain my loyalty, but they were taking too long to come out with a high-end Android device on ATT. So after seeing the Samsung Captivate in action, and hearing Samsung’s announcement that they would be limiting their Super AMOLED screen to their own devices (i.e. no AMOLED for HTC), I made my choice.

The Samsung Captivate is a part of Samsung’s Galaxy S family which is a big push using the Android operating system into mobile communication and multimedia devices across multiple carriers. In addition to the awesome 4-inch screen, the Captivate with Android has some other cool features that I like:

  • native Gmail, Contacts, Calendar support (push, stars, labels), including Google Apps accounts.
  • strong apps and widget development and support via Android Market.
  • open user development environment (xda-developers, still my favorite)
  • Gorilla Glass for screen protection
  • nice hardware touches: sliding USB port door, clever and secure access to battery and rear slots

However, there’s no such thing as perfection. So here are some gripes and dislikes, some are Android-related which have workarounds and eventual solutions while others are hardware-specific limitations:

  • fail to filter My Contacts (stupid Samsung customization) [xda-dev]
  • no default select of Google Calendars for new events [xda-dev]
  • no native Google Docs support (come on, Google)
  • no camera flash (limited indoor and night shooting)
  • no front-facing camera (do I really need video calls)
  • camera rotation tagging (annoying landscape/portrait fail)
  • slow GPS lock (supposed fix coming)
  • [update 9/14/2010] no way to designate default gmail account on sharing intent

After using the Captivate for almost a  month, I’ve pretty much settled on my current installed apps which are listed on AppBrain. Here is a highlight of those that I use more regularly:

For some of the apps that are more web-based, it will be interesting how they come up with offline support when you are off the grid. Another wishlist app is something that can do automatic background cloud-storage syncing, whether for photos, docs or any other files.

A note on tablets. When Apple first came out with the iPad, I bought into the idea that tablets were going to be a new viable form factor. At the time, I was thinking that Android would be a great platform, and there are quite a few Android tablets launching in the coming months, including one from Samsung. But after using Android on the phone, it seems that any tablet based on Android would still feel like a big phone. This is not a dig on Android, but more like a recognition of how well Android works in the smartphone form factor. And just as the iPad is limited by iOS, I think the right platform for tablets would be a full-fledged operating system like Google’s Chrome OS. Regardless, it’ll be cool to see how this plays out in the coming year.