Android – The Alternative Phone OS

I have been playing with the iPad for a couple of weeks now and will have lots to say about it in next months article – hopefully as the device is released here. Suffice to say it is all I had hoped for and more!

One thing I did find was that the iPhone started to seem a little wanting – it became an iPad Nano and it has never seemed to me very good as just a phone. It was a good opportunity to test the grass on the other side of the fence and try a phone based on Google’s Android operating system.

Not being sure that I would stray to far from my familiar Apple I wasn’t willing to spend too much and ended up buying an HTC Tattoo and am surprised to say that I quite like it.

It is quite compact in comparison to the iPhone and has a cheaper resistive rather than capacitive touch screen. This is noticeable in slower touch response – but ultimately you can plonk down twice the dollars and walk away with an HTC Desire with all the bells and whistles if you so choose.

Across all of these devices though the operating system is the same – Google’s Android with a “pretty” layer over the top called HTC Sense. While it is nowhere near as polished as iPhone OS there is plenty to like – and fiddle with if you are a bit of a geek.

One fine feature is the ability to put information widgets across multiple home screens. Thus it becomes a simple swipe to check Twitter and Facebook, or access other application shortcuts. Multitasking is functional and I had not realised how much I missed it on the iPhone.

One of the core features of Android is its ability to integrate and sync social networks very well. After entering my Gmail credentials I suddenly found that my Calendar and Address Book were populated. Once logged into Facebook its started to suggest linking Facebook friends with Address Book entries. Now in the Address Book I can see Facebook status updates!

So there are lots of toys to play with in Android. Im not yet convinced they add greatly to the experience – but so far Im having fun and that is what tech should be about!