Which Android phone would I recommend?
by Volker Weber
I received this question:
Welches Smartphone mit Android OS kannst du empfehlen - mit und ohne Hardware-Tastatur?
And it requires a longer answer. For those who can only speak English, the question is which Android smartphone I would recommend, with and without a physical keyboard.
The answer is: none.
This space is in rapid development, and each phone is trumped by a better one within weeks. Hang on in there for a couple of months. It has been a year since the original Android Dev Phone 1 (G1), an unlocked HTC Dream, came out. Since then it has been updated to 1.1, 1.5, and 1.6 of Android. While I like the phone, its design is somewhere stuck in 2006. Then came a bunch of similar devices without keyboards, starting with the HTC Magic. The best device in this range is the HTC Hero. I played with one just briefly and would have liked one to keep, but that never happened.
The latest and greatest currently is the Droid/Milestone, with a superior screen, and dreadful battery performance. While I know it is powerful, I don't like the design at all. The technology plays in the same league as the N900, while being uglier and thinner. Where the N900 has class, the Milestone feels cheap though.
What I expect is that HTC will come out with a competitor real soon now, in 1Q2010. On the scale of the HD2, but with Android instead of WiMo. And that's what you want.
Comments
Danke für die schnelle Beantwortung meiner Frage.
I think you didn't go too far out on a limb with the prediction of a new device from HTC with all the picture of the Nexus One out there. :-)
I'd have to disagree about the Milestone. Although the battery life stinks (I believe that's largely fixed in the 2.0.1 firmware upgrade) the rest of the phone is superior in every way to the HTC Hero. It feels snappier, the build quality is much, much better. And of course with Android 2.0 the whole interface is just a lot more polished.
I'd basically say that at the moment Android is for geeks, but over the next year I expect it to solidify and become ready for general prime time users. So, maybe if the question were first asked, "What type of user are you?" first then you could say whether or not they want an Android phone. As a geek, I'm enjoying the Milestone more than my old iPhone, just because I can "play" with it.
Matt, you don't disagree with me on the Milestone in respect to "better than the Hero". It is a second generation device, Dream through Hero are first gen.
Rachael is kind of tempting...
i had the htc tattoo and I liked it. Ok, it's Android 1.6 but I like it :)
I am using the HTC Hero. A great device that, if anything, has convinced me to follow the Android route for future devices (providing the good start continues).
As an introductory Android device, it is perfect for my requirements.
Just noticed that this post was a Milestone itself: # 11111
