Now that everything online has been integrated so heavily, you pretty much just need to have everything in one device and you’re set.

With Android, not only will you be able to take a reasonably high-resolution photo on your Android phone, you’ll also be able to edit it, and then upload it to Flickr, Facebook, or whatever social network takes your fancy.

Of course, if you’re more private about your photos, your main interest is going to be which Android phone is going to take the highest quality photo with the best quality Android phone camera, so let’s take a look:

1. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

This phone hasn’t received all that much press attention yet, and at the time of writing it’s not available in the US, which probably explains why.

You could unlock it of course, which you might want to do given that it boasts a fantastic 8 megapixel camera.

This is the highest spec camera on the Android phone market right now, and although there might be some other offerings coming out soon that can rival it, this is your best choice if you’re looking for a top quality camera inside an Android phone.

That being said, it runs Android 1.6 (Donut) and could probably do with more software capability in order to help with editing and uploading the pictures.

2. The Nexus One

Most of the other Android phones on the market are very similar in terms of camera quality.

5 Megapixels seems to be the standard with some sort of image stabilization thrown in, so it’s hard to really say that there are any “Standouts” from the chasing pack.

However, the Nexus One is much more powerful than the rest of the pack, and so offers you a faster way to upload your photos and edit them to your liking.

The camera is decent, and certainly good enough for most people.

3. The Motorola Droid

With an exciting feature set and a hell of a lot of hype, the Droid had a lot to live up to.

In the camera department, it very nearly lives up to that hype, but is still a little bit off from being the “perfect camera phone”.

With a 5MP camera, dual LED flash, image stabilization and 4X digital zoom the Droid certainly boasts some of the best features for any android phone with a camera.

It also comes with a completely revamped editing interface and a huge number of editing settings.

The problem is that this can sometimes feel like the phone is trying to do “too much” – most of these editing settings aren’t particularly useful for example, and the interface isn’t as good as it could have been.

Still, this is a great camera on an already great Android phone, so is definitely worth a look.

The Android market still has a little way to go in terms of hardware to make cameras a “killer feature”.

However, those changes are coming thick and fast, with higher quality cameras being released almost every month on the latest Android Phones.

At the moment my advice would be not to buy an Android phone based on the camera.  The 8 Megapixels on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 are good, but is it worth buying a phone off the back of it having a good camera?  Probably not.

Smartphone cameras will sort themslves out in time.  They’re going to be better quality.  At the moment they are on phones becasuse the phone has to have one.

In time a manufacturer will make the camera a unique selling point on a phone that is high quality in every department.  At the moment, going for the phone with the best camera means you’re probably sacrificing haing the phone with the best quality in other areas.

No related posts.

2009 will be remembered for phone companies bringing lots of Android phones onto the market.


It looks like 2010 will be the year when the same companies really up their game and start to release Android phones that take what a smartphone can do and look like to the next level.

There’s such a high quality of development going on at the moment on Android.

Each manufacturer is pushing it’s competitors to go one better every time it brings out something new and revolutionary.

If you’re one of those people who wants to be ahead of other people and have the latest phone with the latest technology,  you’re going to have to get an Android phone, no excuses.

I’ve listed the top 3 Android phones that have been announced in 2010.  These phones aren’t in our Guide To Every Major Android Phone because as I write this they aren’t actually released yet everywhere.

1) The HTC Legend

I’ve reviewed the HTC Legend Android phone before and I don’t mind talking about it again either.  This still sits at the top as the best Android phone to date in my opinion.

It’s released on April 7th in the UK on Vodafone, no word yet on when it’s going to be released in the US.

It has everything.  Sleek design with a metallic finish.  Instead of a trackball you get an optical trackpad.

It has a 3.2 inch OLED screen with 320×480 pixels.  It uses Android 2.1 along with HTC’s Sense UI.

Using the phone is fantastic, it’s touch screen responsiveness is superb and the keyboard is possibly the best you can get on any smartphone.

No question that so far this is 2010′s number one Android phone for me.

2) HTC Desire

Another phone from HTC, they  really are producing the best at the moment.  This is in reality just a Nexus One but better and cheaper in my opinion.

That’s right, the same phone but better and cheaper.

Google must have been pretty annoyed when HTC decided to release this.

Why is it better?

It has the HTC Sense UI which let’s you customize the phone’s screens to however you use the phone.  Those screens look fantastic too, and with the Desire’s 3.7 inch OLED screen you get a nice amount of screen area to work with.

It has replaced the Nexus One’s trackball with a trackpad like the HTC Legend.  This is good because sometimes trackpads can break or get stuck, plus it does look more advanced.  It might take you a bit of time to get used to though, if you’re used to using a trackball.

The Nexus One has some touch sensitive buttons which are a bit annoyingly difficult to use.  These have been replaced on the Desire with actual physical buttons which are quite discreet.  These are just so much more straight forward to use.

The Desire doesn’t have voice cancellation like the Nexus One, or the ability to type using your voice.  They say this is to keep the price of the phone down.

Again it looks like the UK is getting this phone first.  T-Mobile have it for sale on their website right now, and if you order it you’ll get it in within 7 days.  It’s free on T-Mobile, for £35 a month or $53.

3) Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro

I’m cheating a bit here and putting 2 phones into my final pick for the top Android phones so far in 2010.

These are virtually the same phone, it’s just that the Mini Pro has an actual QWERTY keyboard in the hardware.

I expect this is because the Mini had complaints from people with large fingers having problems using the small touch screen keyboard.

These are small, compact phones that take the idea of having a smatphone and making it very friendly to your pocket a reality.  The fact that the Mini Pro has a decent keyboard too makes the innovation really superb.

These phones aren’t going to be avialiable until the second quarter of 2010, not too long, but there’s a bit of a wait.

Android Phones in 2010

There are about 100 Android phones we know about that are due for release in 2010.  HTC seems to be leading the way in terms of innovation and bringing out the best phones right now.

First they had the G1, the first Android phone.  Now they have the Desire, the Legend and the Nexus One, among others.

Luckily for us, as the phones get better, the prices get cheaper, so it’s going to be quite easy to get a phone running on Android 2.1 that is high quality and has all the features you want on an Android phone at an affordable price.

No related posts.

Could this be the best Android phone to date?

The phone is a relative of the HTC Hero, a handset which has been extremely popular.

Many people are talking about this as being the Android phone that can really take some significant market share from the iPhone.

Design and Display

The deisgn in my opinion looks Apple like.  That’s not a bad thing and it will make the phone more popular.

Too many Android phones seem to be trying to do something different from what Apple have been so successful with in their designs.

It looks like HTC have gone with what is popluar with the Legend.

The display is amazingly colorful and vibrant.  It’s not an LCD screen, but a 3.2 inch OLED, which is 320×480 pixels.  This gives great quality.  It’s something that stands out when you look at the phone.

There’s an optical track pad on the phone which seems to be an improvement on the trackball, especially in the design sense.  It’s modern looking and adds yet another dimension to the futuristic nature of this phone.

Everything about the design seems to have been done with attention to detail.  You won’t find ports just put in a certain place because it’s easy, it seems like the designers have given consideration about where to place necessary parts of the phone to integrate with the great design.

The headphone slot is nicely placed at the top of the phone and integrates really well.  There’s also an LED light on the back of the phone which tells you when you’ve got new messages and other alerts.

It’s future proof too.  It has a miniUSB slot which will allow universal chargers to work with it.  These are becoming more common and will eventually be everywhere.

Performance

The legend has Android 2.1 as well as HTC’s Sense UI.  If you don’t know what HTC Sense is, it adds what you could call customized widgets to the phone which allow you to use the phone in the way that you want.  You can essentially customize the phone to how you most frequently use it.

HTC Sense allows you to integrate social media that you use most into one screen along with email, contacts and the other things that you find most useful.  On the Legend you get 7 homescreens to customize.

You can use HTC Leap with these 7 screens which lets you pinch the screen and see all the screens at once.  A nice feature.

The phone has a 600MHz processor, which isn’t as large as some of the other Android phones out there, but the Legend shows it doesn’t need to be larger.  It’s very fast and efficient.

Since the bar was raised with the iPhone in terms of sensitivity to touch and quality of use there hasn’t really been any phone that can stand up against it.  The HTC Legend does.

The sensitivity when using it’s screens are superb.  There are no glitches or issues that you can find on other Android phones.  All this built on top of the Android platform really does make for something pretty special.

It’s absolutely fantastic for people who want to be able to change layouts, customize things and make the phone their own.  Other Android phones have tried to do this but haven’t really pulled it off with the effectiveness that the HTC Legend does.

The HTC Legend on the Internet

Using the internet is great too.  You can pinch the phone to zoom in on specific text and also get an overall view of the whole webpage before you zoom in.  When you zoom in the phone keeps on working with you so the words that you’re viewing always fit the screen perfectly.  It’s touches like this that make the phone stand out.

Browsing the internet is fast too.  There aren’t ridiculously slow loading times, it’s actually very fast.  You feel comfortable using the internet on it, rather than a bit awkward.

The word quality springs to mind with this phone in just about every department.

The Keyboard

As I have said in numerous other articles, in my opinion smartphones could do better with keyboards.  They often aren’t easy to use and take a while to get used to.

Guess what, the Legends keyboard is superb, you’re not surprised are you?

The predictive messaging is brilliant.  It knows what you’re going to say, so you can type so much easier.  It’s better than other predictive keyboards because it really does seem to know what you’re going to say.  HTC have done a fantastic job.

Smartphones aren’t going to get around the fact that they’re small, and so typing is difficult, but if you have a keyboard that corrects you with the precision that the HTC legend does, then the issue goes away.  Well done HTC, this has always been the most annoying apect of using a smartphone for me.

The Camera

It’s a 5 megapixel camera.  If you’re still reading this far into the review you’d probably be surprised if it was anything less, given the quality that the Legend has put into just about every other part of the phone.

The camera works well.  It’s not the best smartphone camera out there but it’s good.

The camera has auto focus which let’s you tap the screen and focus on certain points.

Summary

This is just about the best Android phone that’s out there.  It has quality in every department.  You can see that HTC have really decided to take this phone to the next level.

HTC have jumped heavily into Android and up until now haven’t been able to produce something that will persuade iPhone users to move away from Apple to Android.

I think this phone could be the device that does that.  Would I buy this phone? absolutely, I think it’s the best Android phone so far.

Related posts:

1. HTC Droid Eris Review – An Android Phone from HTC

Sections of the Guide

• Nexus One
• Acer Liquid
• Samsung Moment
• Samsung Behold II
• Motorola Droid
• Motorola Cliq
• Samsung Spica
• T-Mobile Pulse
• HTC Tattoo
• HTC Hero
• Samsung Galaxy
• HTC Magic
• G1
• Conclusion

Introduction

Android phones have only recently become a reality, and they are rapidly gaining in popularity, to the point where approximately 60,000 of them are being shipped every day.

That means that Android phones represent a significant and ever-growing portion of the overall market, so it’s time to sit up and take notice if you haven’t already.

The Android platform was released by Google not too long ago, and is championed by the companies that have formed the Open Handset Alliance.

This Alliance is now 34 companies strong, and holds some of the biggest players in the market, including T-Mobile, Motorola and Sprint-Nextel.

Android basically consists of a complete operating system, along with some core applications. These include mail, web-browsing, a calendar, maps, contacts, among others, and give a solid base for any smartphone.

A platform for incredibly powerful phones

It is a completely open platform that is incredibly customizable, which means that any company can start building on it to create more and more powerful phones.

The Android Market offers applications to any phone running Android, much in the same vein as the iPhone App Store.

The Android Market, however, is far more open and easy to access for developers, meaning that it is receiving significant growth.

Ultimately the success of the Android Market will depend on the number of Android phones being shipped; while it continues to grow, more and more developers are being attracted to it.

The apps range from social games to more business-orientated options and this range will continue to increase in the coming months.

This guide will take a look at all of the Android Phones that are currently available and being shipped. There are not that many, but the number is constantly increasing and soon it will be impossible to keep up, as dozens of phones become available.

We are seeing constant improvements in both hardware and software when it comes to Android phones, and this has meant a number of phones have been left behind and replaced by their much more powerful counterparts.

Similar phones under different names

Perhaps one of the most confusing parts about the Android phone market is the myriad of very similar phones under different names.

Although this is much the same as in the normal phone market, it becomes even more difficult when there are only a few Android phones.

So whilst the HTC Hero has been very popular, it’s almost identical to the HTC Eris, except with a couple of minor changes and on a different carrier.

We’ll try to look at the major iterations of phones, rather than every single possible model of each phone, because that would run into the hundreds.

Phones are always changing so there’s no such thing as a definitive Android phone list

It’s also important to remember that Android phones are at the cutting edge right now, and so these phones may well change very quickly in minor, yet important, ways.

The Android phone market is filled with phones that are not currently available in particular countries, or are little more than a rumour, and so it becomes very difficult to produce a definitive list of “every” Android phone.

With so many new phones coming out, and with such fast-paced development from the community, the market for android phones is flourishing and is receiving an increasing amount of press attention.

Phones like the Motorola Droid and Google’s Nexus One have proved extremely popular, and as these major companies release Android phones, the overall popularity of the market will continue to increase.

Are Android phones competing with the iPhone?

It would be easy to say that Android phones are in direct competition with the iPhone, and this is true in some ways.

On the other hand, Android is not about one phone or one piece of software, it is a basis upon which a whole market has been created, and so comparisons are difficult to make.

Comparisons should be made between the iPhone and one particular phone, rather than trying to compare a whole market with the iPhone.

Let’s take a look at the phones on offer at the moment, and try to find out as much as we can about the market as a whole.

Nexus One

The Nexus One is easily one of the most powerful and impressive Android phones to date.  It is, quite frankly, incredible.

Google executives have said that this phone is not just a smartphone, but a “superphone” and they have told anyone who would listen that this is the future of the mobile market.

Google are masters at creating web services, and they’ve been able to successfully integrate that mastery into the phone market and produce the finely honed Nexus One.

A lot has been written about the phone, and you’ll probably find dozens of videos, hundreds of reviews, and much more, just by taking a quick look online.  At the time of writing, this phone is sold exclusively by Google, and was even advertised on the Google Homepage for a short time.

Putting all this together, you’d think that the Nexus One would sell millions of products and become a genuine contender to the iPhone, but that hasn’t quite been the case.

Whilst the phone has achieved moderate success, it hasn’t become a bestseller yet, even with the priceless marketing on the Google homepage.

The question remains, what more can Google do?  Well realistically there’s not much, at least not much they can do with the Nexus One.  The phone is perhaps just waiting for the Android Market to really take off so that thousands of applications are at your fingertips.

The Nexus One Display

The display on the Nexus One (AMOLED) is absolutely fabulous. It is vibrant and colourful, giving you solid video playback and some nice eye-candy.

This is probably one of the best, if not the best screens of any Android phone on the market today.  It offers you the very latest version of Android (2.1) which proves that there have been significant improvements in a very short time.

The interface is easy to use, visually excellent, and overall exactly what you would want from a smartphone of this kind.

Drawbacks

There are a few minor drawbacks that have been highlighted by some critics. As is standard with Android phones, there is no way of storing the applications on anything but internal memory.

It has also been noted that the media player lacks features and doesn’t particularly impress. At the time of writing, there’s no way of syncing your Outlook Calendar to the phone, but this will almost certainly become a possibility in the near future.

So, whilst this phone does lack a few things, it is overall very impressive.  The only things it lacks are not even considered drawbacks on most other Android phones, simply because there are bigger problems.

You won’t find much better bang for your buck than with the Nexus One, which is sold completely unlocked.  This is a great example of an Android phone done right.

It stands up against other smartphones with pride, and shows exactly why the whole concept of Android is so powerful in the first place.

Once the Android Market becomes more widely used, and developers begin seeing the potential in the application area of Android, this phone will come into its own.

It’s powerful enough to satisfy even the most demanding user, and yet simple enough for anyone to use it without any real problems.

Acer Liquid

This is Acer’s first attempt at making an Android phone, and they’ve done surprisingly well.

Whilst the market is largely dominated by Motorola, Samsung, and HTC, this phone shows that there is room for other players, and that Android can turn almost any phone into a very functional smartphone.

On the other hand, this isn’t as powerful as some of the competition, and you may find it a bit slow at times, so it really depends what you’re planning to do with it.

Acer Liquid Design

The main reason people will buy this phone is probably because of the design.  It really is stunning and incredibly stylish, with a completely flat front-panel and a vibrant screen.

It’s sleek and looks as good as pretty much any other smartphone on the market; it’s easy to see why so many people are falling in love with it.

Acer have clearly spent a great deal of time on this phone, trying to make it as useful and simple as possible. They’ve done this by adding a bunch of extra applications on top of Android that help with handling multimedia.

These are great for playing around with photos, video and music, but ultimately, you can download these for yourself on any Android phone you want.

This is really a case of Acer marketing the device to people looking for a fun, stylish, phone that can also help them keep track of everything that’s going on in the online world.

The phone isn’t officially available in the US, and apparently it’s unlikely that it ever will be available there. You can buy an unlocked version of the phone for around $400 in the US, but that’s a fairly hefty price to pay.

You’d have to really love the design to spend that sort of money on this phone, since it’s really no more powerful than some of the cheaper competition.

The Liquid is sluggish when performing more intensive tasks, and really isn’t one for the power-users among you. It’s going to be a constant burden if you’re someone who uses your phone all the time for various different tasks.

To sum up the Acer Liquid

Overall, this is a solid effort, but it’s nothing to write home about. Its best feature is probably the design, and it’s not going to amaze you once you start using it as a genuine smartphone.

This is a good try from Acer to bring something different to the table, and it will probably do well in Europe among teenagers who are looking for a fun, sporty, smartphone.

However, it’s never going to be a big hit among the demanding masses in the US, or even in Europe.

The screen is nice to look at, but the interface is not going to blow your mind; Acer have clearly tried to make the phone easier to use and more useful by adding the extra applications, but this won’t really interest anyone looking for a powerful smartphone.

Samsung Moment

The Samsung Moment is a solid Android phone which is offered by Sprint, and is much better because of it. It’s got a solid feature set that will please pretty much all customers, and is well designed.

However, there’s not a huge amount here that’s new, and you won’t find yourself saying “wow”, but it’s definitely got some very good features.

The Moment is also well priced and offers you a cheaper alternative to some of the other Android phones with similar feature lists, and so overall is definitely one to consider.

It’s gained a great deal of traction in the US Market, although still hasn’t received the kind of attention that the Motorola Droid or the Nexus One have been able to get.

Samsung Moment Design

The screen on the Samsung Moment is vibrant, responsive, and easy to use. It’s well sized and so it doesn’t feel like things have been cramped onto the screen.

You won’t be using the screen to type, as there’s a full QWERTY keyboard, so overall you can’t complain about the screen, which offers good video playback also. The colors are excellent and overall the interface is easy to use.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of the Moment is the fact that it comes with Sprint’s Everything Plan, which gives you a great calling plan for a good price.

This means the Moment is an excellent option for those looking for all the functionality of a smartphone, but one that does the basics well and doesn’t break the bank.

Performance of the Samsung Moment

There are, as always, a few drawbacks.  There is no photo editing, as is so often the case with Android phones, and call quality isn’t great, especially when using speakerphone.

So while the Moment has been marketed to those looking to do the basics, the phone itself perhaps lacks quality in that area.

Although the touch screen is responsive, the processor on this phone seems to struggle at times and every so often can be quite sluggish when performing tasks.

Although this isn’t a major problem, it does ruin some of the fluidity that most people love about smartphones of this type.

The phone is well designed and reasonably sleek.  It’s not exactly “fabulous”, and it looks much the same as you’d probably expect if you just read a review without seeing any pictures.

What perhaps lets it down the most in terms of design is the interface, which just isn’t particularly pretty.

The verdict on the Samsung Moment

Overall, this is a solid effort and is saved by Sprint.  If you’re looking for an Android phone that doesn’t break the bank, then this could be the one for you.

It’s got an impressive set of features, is well designed, and is fairly stable, so is definitely worth your consideration.

On the other hand, it’s definitely being marketed to those people looking for an entry level smartphone, and it can sometimes feel sluggish when you’re trying to perform more intensive tasks.

Samsung Behold II

The Samsung Behold II available onT-Mobile has basically made the original version of the phone completely redundant, which is no great loss.

It is a massive improvement on the Behold I mainly because it makes it into an Android phone, which is why it’s on this list.  It’s received some good reviews but the biggest problem most people have argued is the price.

The Behold II is very expensive for what you get and doesn’t really give you anything more than some of the other powerhouses in the Android phone market.

You’re realistically going to have to look very hard indeed to find reasons to buy this phone ahead of, for example, the Motorola Droid or the Nexus One.

Although it’s got a decent interface, the TouchWiz UI doesn’t seem to really add that much to Android.  It hasn’t got any “killer” features and just doesn’t seem particularly useful, apart from adding a different design.

The phone has been available for about 4 months at the time of writing, and hasn’t really picked up a great deal of traction, which isn’t surprising given the price.

The phone also runs Android 1.5, and whilst this is the same as a few other phones on the market, it can be slightly unstable and has a number of reported bugs.

Whilst this probably won’t become an issue,  for the price you are paying, you really need to be getting an extremely stable device.

Behold II Design

The excellent AMOLED touch screen is capacitive and highly responsive.  This definitely one of the best screens on the Android Phone Market right now, and you’d be hard pushed to find something that offers better color and video playback.

Perhaps the best parts of the phone are its multimedia capabilities that make it a powerful option for playing video, music, and taking photos.  The 5 megapixel camera is head and shoulders above most of the competition, and can take some excellent photos.

Overall, the phone is well designed and reasonably sleek. The buttons are solid and the feel of the phone is good.  It’s not too heavy, and feels robust enough to withstand some pretty intense use.

Any phone would look good with this screen, and Samsung have always done well in terms of design, so this is definitely one that you’ll enjoy using and having in your pocket.

Summary of the Behold II

Clearly the Behold II is an excellent Android phone.  It has plenty of features, with a great camera and powerful hardware.  Even the most intensive user will struggle to bring down the Behold, but ultimately, the biggest problem is its price.

Android 1.5 is now looking outdated and isn’t as stable as recent releases, while the phone doesn’t really offer anything more than other competitors, that are at lower prices.

If you really want to own a Samsung phone, and you love the TouchWiz UI, then you’ll love it, but swallow hard when you start paying for it.

Motorola Droid

The Motorola Droid was the first ever Android phone to be released on Verizon, and received a huge amount of hype.  It is probably the first phone that received attention from the masses, rather than just from the technology crowd.

It has arguably the most complete feature set of any Android phone on the market, and it really is a very impressive product overall.

The Motorola Droid Design

The phone provides you with a sliding QWERTY keyboard that’s easy to type on, if not visually particularly creative.

This phone has been built with the power-user in mind, and so they’ve really tried to make it as easy as possible to send lengthy e-mails and browse the web with speed.

The screen is colourful and vibrant.  Although perhaps not as “stunning” as some other products, it is certainly very well equipped and is responsive to touch in a precise manner.

The body is fully metal and overall it is an extremely sturdy phone that will put up with some fairly heavy use.   It’s only very slightly thicker than the iPhone, and overall is extremely sleek, so it transcends towards more stylish boundaries.

The real power lies in the processor, which is powerful enough to handle intense tasks smoothly and quickly.  This is probably one of the most powerful Android phones around right now, and is definitely worth looking at if you want to use it for hours on end.

The Droid comes loaded with Android 2.0, which is a solid and impressive version that is greatly improved from old versions.  This means it’s got a much faster web browser, excellent contact management facilities, and much more.

On a more basic level, the Droid offers excellent call quality that you simply don’t get from a lot of Android phones.  Once again, it proves that you can create a phone that does the complicated stuff well, and does the basics excellently.

The Downsides

The downsides are few and far between.  Some critics have said that the keyboard isn’t tactile enough and is difficult to type on.

This is more personal preference really, but if you like keyboards that aren’t so flat, then this might be an annoyance for you.  Others have said, quite rightly, that the multimedia capabilities of the phone are lacking somewhat, whilst Bluetooth voice dialing is not available.

Summary of the Motorola Droid

The Droid is a fantastic smartphone that will please almost anyone that comes to use it.  The design is good and under the hood it’s probably as powerful as current technology allows.

On the other hand, the Droid does have some faults, but it’s up to you whether they are enough to turn you away. Every phone has faults, and the Droid is no exception, but it’s definitely one of the most impressive Android phones that you’re going to find.

Motorola CLIQ

The Motorola CLIQ is definitely one of the best and most powerful Android phones on the market right now.

It boasts a highly impressive feature set and is incredibly easy to use, making it great for both power users and average consumers. It’s available on T-Mobile.

This is where the true power of Android is unleashed, because you can get a phone that is completely customizable and can give you extraordinary power once you add applications, but is initially just a very powerful smartphone that anyone can use.

The CLIQ will attract a wide range of customers, from teenagers looking to keep track of their online-lives, to business people looking to constantly stay connected.

Motorola Cliq Design

The CLIQ is brilliantly designed and has one of the nicest displays that you’re going to find on an Android phone. Motorola have spent a great deal of time tweaking this phone and the attention to detail is there for all to see; straight out the box, this is a very stable and visually stunning phone.

The pull-out QWERTY keyboard is easy to use and fast to type on.  It’s not as cramped as other Android phones sometimes are, and is fine for sending lengthy e-mails.

Of course, if you’re not a fan of the pull-out keyboard style of phones, then you may not be too happy with this, but it has to be said that it is not only very practical, but it also looks great.

Sometimes the keyboards on phones like this can ruin the overall design and feel of a phone, but the CLIQ isn’t like that at all.

Drawbacks

The drawbacks are few and far between, but they are noticeable depending on the way that you want to use the phone.  Its handling of files isn’t all that great; there is no built-in file manager for example.

It also doesn’t seem to be particularly good at organization, and you’re probably going to need to get some apps to help you out on that front.

Elsewhere, there is no flash on the camera, and the interface can sometimes feel quite sluggish.  Another problem is the fact that you can’t store apps in external memory; they have to be stored internally, which limits the amount you can use.

The interface is solid but not fantastic; it can sometimes be a bit confusing once you start piling on apps and features, and it doesn’t seem to handle every task equally, but it’s not too much of a problem.

As usual, the interface doesn’t match up to HTC’s Sense, but it’s good enough and reasonably flexible.

Summary of the Motorola Cliq

Overall the CLIQ is an excellent device that rivals nearly all of the other Android phones on the market.  It allows you to use the Android operating system in any way you want, up to pretty high levels of usage.

Originally it was thought that this phone was just going to be an entry-level device designed to entice teenagers into the Android market, but Motorola have upped their game and produced a powerful device that will keep everyone happy.

There are some performance issues, and it’s not the perfect device by any means, but overall it’s a solid offering.

Samsung Spica

The Samsung Spica was always supposed to be a smaller, more lightweight version of Samsung’s first Android phone, the Galaxy.  However, this didn’t turn out to be the case.

It’s actually slightly larger overall than the Galaxy, but it does look like it’s been made for a slightly younger crowd.

It’s got a sleek design and won’t look too bad when up against some of the other competitors in the market; on the other hand, the buttons are a little bit crazy and the camera isn’t exactly powerful.

This is probably a great phone for those looking for their first crack at Android, or even just a smartphone in general, but it’s probably not one for the power users among you.

Samsung Spica Design

The Spica has a 3.2 inch touch screen that is capacitive and highly responsive.  It’s nice to use and you definitely don’t have to be too rough with it to get stuff done,  it’s comfortable to use.

One of the drawbacks to the Spica is the 3 megapixel camera.  It’s a 2 megapixel step down from the Galaxy, and isn’t exactly a generous offering when you compare it to other competitors.

On the other hand, the chances are that you’re not going to be looking to take too many high quality pictures with your Spica.

The virtual QWERTY keyboard is, naturally, quite cramped, and not particularly easy to type on.  Again though, this is an Android phone that’s primarily for texting and short e-mails, not long correspondences.

The internal memory on the phone is low, very low.  It’s just 180MB, so don’t expect to start uploading your music to it any time soon.  However, if you want to spend the money, you can increase the external storage up to 32 GB with a Micro SD.

One particular plus this phone brings to the table is a strong battery life that will keep you going for around 3 days.  This is something smartphones aren’t particularly renowned for, and if you’re looking for something that won’t need charging all the time, the Spica might be perfect for you.

It has to be said the major advantages of this phone are the way it handles media.  It has full support for DivX and Xvid.  The Spica will play your Divx files with a resolution of up to 720×480, the same is true for Xvid files.

The videos are high quality and the phone delivers bright, vivid colors.  This is something that Android phones overall have struggled with because it has never been part of the operating system, and so Samsung have done a great job to get this functionality into their phone.

Summary of the Samsung Spica

Overall the Spica is a solid effort that will keep most users happy.  It’s been well designed and marketed towards a younger crowd, and whilst you won’t get much joy out of the camera, its multimedia capabilities are definitely impressive.

If you’re looking for a more visually pleasing interface, your only better option is probably an HTC with the Sense UI.

T-Mobile Pulse

The T-Mobile Pulse is actually a branded version of the Huawei U8220, and is currently only available in Europe. It’s seen limited distribution, but it’s early days yet and it will almost certainly hit the US market before the end of 2010.

It’s not been a hugely popular phone in the European market, but it’s possible they’re still working out some kinks and trying to put together a proper marketing plan to start selling it in large volumes.

Design

The Pulse is a nice looking phone with rounded edges that make it look a little more “friendly” but slightly less professional, at least that’s what some people might say.

It’s definitely not going to be one for the power users, as this phone doesn’t have a huge feature set, but it’s low priced and reasonably stable, so will probably be popular with the lower end market.

The problem it perhaps has right now is that it’s not being seen as a significant entry into the Android market.  T-Mobile themselves aren’t making a big deal out of the fact that the phone is built with Android, and it’s hard to say why.

We’ll probably find out more about their plans for the phone in the future when it is released to the US Market, which has a much larger customer base for Android phones.

The large screen is vibrant and responsive, giving you good control over the keyboard and precise scrolling.

On the other hand, the keyboard isn’t always fast enough to handle quick typing; it feels sluggish at times and this can be frustrating when you’re trying to quickly send off an e-mail or text.

It’s reasonably spacious though, and so is definitely easier to type on than some other Android phones.

Drawbacks of the T-Mobile Pulse

One other slight drawback is the time it takes the phone to get going when you turn it on.  It’s unlikely you’re going to be turning it off that often, but when you do, be prepared to wait a minute or two for your phone to be ready to use.

Another problem that some have had is with the trackball that can be a little bit loose, and certainly doesn’t feel as stable as it could be.

Perhaps worst of all though, is that many users have complained of poor call quality.  Although smartphones offer you a great deal of functionality, if they can’t get the basics right, then they simply aren’t worth the expense.

Hopefully T-Mobile will look at this and get if fixed before the phone receives a wider release.

The Pulse is definitely a great alternative to buying a standard phone.  It’s clearly not being targeted at smartphone users, but those who are content with the capabilities from their current mobile, but are interested in Android.

It’s offered at an excellent price and provides a great deal of functionality for those on a low budget, so it should sell reasonably well.

It won’t, however, create a huge amount of hype, primarily because it’s just a low budget smartphone with almost nothing new to bring to the Android table.

HTC Tattoo

The HTC Tattoo is this company’s 4th effort and is yet another solid offering.  It runs the HTC Sense UI, as you would expect by now, and has an impressive feature set.

It’s got a great design, a well-sized screen, and has been given quite affordable pricing plans, so is set to be very popular among mid-level consumers.

On the other hand, it’s probably not going to keep you satisfied if you’re planning on spending hours a day using your phone to upload video, photos, and maintaining your online-life.

It’s definitely one for the more casual user, and that’s fine, just don’t moan when you realise that you’ve had to sacrifice some functionality for the lower price.

The phone provides you with a 3.2 megapixel camera, the option for expansion through Micro SD, and a 3.5mm headset jack.

The camera is hardly going to have you running for the hills, but this phone is currently free on a 2-year contract, so what do you expect? Apart from that, you get everything you expect from an android phone from HTC.

Design

The interface is stunning and highly customizable, and so is the phone, with interchangeable covers allowing you to style it how you wish.

The battery life is fantastic and will keep you going for days on end, but this probably has as much to do with the smaller display as anything else.  The QVGA display is just 2.8 inches and the portrait-mode QWERTY keyboard is very difficult to use for anything longer than a text message or very short e-mail.

The keyboard is also a little bit slow at times, which further increases the frustration when you’re trying to type.

The screen isn’t too much of a problem initially, but many of the Android apps that have been tested on it have not been suited to being used on such a low-resolution, so if you’re looking to download hundreds of different apps, this might not be the Android phone for you.

Drawbacks of the HTC Tattoo

The Tattoo gives you the option of designing your own covers, something that might interest younger consumers, but ultimately there is very little “new” about this offering.

The best part about it is probably the price, which will allows you test an Android phone and see if you want to move onto a bigger and better version for very little cash.

It’s small, which is a bonus, but there’s only so small a Smartphone can be before it’s no longer particularly useful as a Smartphone, and the Tattoo definitely pushes that boundary.
This is essentially a low budget offering that HTC have pushed out the door to try and attract a different type of customer.  Many people are sceptical about Android phones (especially those produced by HTC) because they can be somewhat pricey, and they simply don’t know that much about them.

HTC is trying to attract people who are just looking for a normal phone with a little bit more capability, and then trying to show them the true power of Android, which this phone can give you, but only in short bursts.

HTC Hero

Although HTC’s Hero is almost exactly the same as its Magic offering in terms of hardware, it is the operating system that makes it stand out.

One of the first phones to take on board HTC’s Sense operating system, the Hero has become a widely popular option for those looking for a mid-range Android phone.

The Sense OS allows for much smoother and natural use of the phone, allowing your contacts to be integrated with the apps you use.  It is also highly customizable, not to mention visually stunning. Noticeable improvements upon past Android offerings include full e-mail and calendar integration.

The Hero also boasts a 5 megapixel camera that sets it ahead of some of its competitors.

HTC Hero Design

In terms of design, it’s definitely far sleeker than HTC’s other Android offerings like the Dream and Magic.  Offering a beautiful touch screen and, at last, a 3.5mm headphone jack for music lovers, that will become even more important as music apps take centre stage in the near future.

Drawbacks

There are few downsides to this phone, but it definitely seems to be lacking some of the power that recent products have been able to give us.  The phone can sometimes be quite sluggish, whilst the web browser isn’t as stable as it perhaps could be.

Other criticisms levelled against the Hero include the fact that there is no built-in file manager or software media syncing.

The full QWERTY keyboard on the hero is pretty good, but given the size of the phone, can be somewhat cramped, especially when using it in portrait mode.  However, the people buying this phone probably aren’t going to be spending hours typing up e-mails on it.

One of the best things about the Hero is its ability to follow multitouch gestures.  Much in the same way as the iPhone, or the Palm Pre, you can use multitouch to zoom in and out of pages in the web browser, or any images on the phone.

The screen is capacititive, which essentially means it only responds to the touch of your finger, and not that of a stylus or other random material.

It’s a fairly responsive screen that does the job well, allowing you to scroll through long lists with just one flick of your finger, whilst the more precise method would be to stroke your finger along the screen instead.

It has to be said that build quality of the Hero is top-class, and it should withstand some pretty heavy use.  It’s fairly small and is just 4.46 inches tall, with a width of just 2.2 inches, so if you’re looking for a highly-compact smart phone, this may be the one for you.

It’s also nice to hold, finding that nice balance between slick and rubbery, allowing you to use the phone very comfortably.

Although there are definitely more powerful Android phones out there on the market, this remains a great option if you’re looking for a mid-range yet stylish option that includes HTC’s Sense Operating System.

Samsung Galaxy

Everyone got somewhat excited when Samsung initially joined the Open Handset Alliance.  Here was a company renowned for making very stylish and functional phones such as the Omnia or the Instinct, and finally they were going to be playing with Android.

The potential was hyped to massive levels, and it’s easy to see why, were we finally going to see the iPhone killer that everyone was waiting for? Samsung announced on April 27th 2009 that they would be releasing the i7500, or the Galaxy.

The Galaxy is impressive, that’s for sure, but it’s perhaps not seen the kind of popularity that many had predicted.  It’s a very sleek and well designed phone, but it doesn’t really have that “wow” factor that some phones give you, and this has perhaps turned it into “just another Android phone” to many.

It has to be said, however, that Samsung have clearly spent a great deal of time on this product, which bodes well for future offerings.

The attention to detail is great and it’s got an impressive feature set.  With a 5 megapixel camera and 40 GB of combined internal and external storage, this phone is definitely one that even the biggest power user will be able to enjoy.

The Galaxy was the first Android phone to give you a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which has now been adopted by a few others.  If you’re the type of person who wants to use their phone for music, this is almost a necessity.

Combine that with the impressive storage capacity of this phone, and carrying around large amounts of music becomes more of a possibility.

The battery power was supposed to be far better than it actually is.  Everyone was looking forward to something that would allow you more freedom when it comes to using the Galaxy for things like video or music, but this never materialized.

Instead it seems that Samsung was giving slightly stretched figures for battery life, probably based on minimal usage.

Ultimately, you’re going to need to charge your battery fairly frequently, but it shouldn’t become too much of an issue if you’re used to typical smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy Design

For such a powerful device, the Galaxy is fairly compact, at just 11.9mm thick.  It’s reasonably lightweight and the 3.2 inch AMOLED touch screen gives you great colours and good response.

Drawbacks of the Samsung Galaxy

The Galaxy isn’t unstoppable.  It has a fantastic feature set that would get anyone excited, but it also has some annoying bugs.  The phone runs Android 1.5, which hasn’t been 100% stable recently, while the headphone jack has been prone to be temperamental.

It’s definitely a good looking phone, but it’s also quite run-of-the-mill in terms of design.  It’s hard to distinguish the Galaxy from other Samsung phones for instance.

If you’re prepared to put up with a couple of annoyances then this phone is fantastic.  The screen is vibrant and responsive, while it offers you all of the features that Android can provide on top of a powerful processor.

At the time of writing, the Galaxy is only available in the UK, but will hopefully be released in the US some time soon.

HTC Magic

The HTC Magic was the second Android Phone to be released, and was initially launched on Vodafone in May 2009.

The phone was not that much different from the G1 under the hood, but made dramatic improvements in terms of design and visuals, which gave Android a real boost when many had consigned it to the realms of “only for geeks” technology.

Design

They’ve lost the QWERTY keyboard from the G1, which a few have said make it less useful for typing, but by now this is not a concern.  If you want a QWERTY keyboard on an Android phone, there are plenty of options.

If you don’t really care, then the HTC Magic remains a solid option.

Although the Magic has been taken over by a number of more powerful, more impressive, Android phones, it still remains a good option for those looking for a simple and stylish smartphone, with all the power of Android to back it up.

The Magic ushered in a number of new features to the Android phone market, including video recording and, of course, being completely touch-screen.

So whilst these features were excellent when initially released, they have now been superseded by more impressive, powerful, offerings from other brands, and HTC itself.

With phones like the Hero, Nexus One, and the Motorola Droid around, it’s hard to see why anyone would choose the Magic, but it’s still selling, and so people obviously are.

It’s a reasonably priced option that is primarily being bought by teenagers or young adults who are looking for some social networking capabilities on their phone.

The Magic was initially marketed heavily to those who wanted to use Twitter and Facebook, and it appears people are still buying it because of that capability.

Drawbacks of the HTC Magic

The Magic deserves credit for being a major iteration and showing once again the true power of Android.  However, it’s become slightly outdated already, and there are better options out there.

It removed many of the problems that the G1 had, and so if you were enticed by that, then you are probably better off buying the Magic instead.

A major drawback is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which has now become much more popular among Android phones.

If you want to listen to your tunes on the go, and you don’t want to have to fiddle around with annoying adaptors, then you don’t want to be going anywhere near the Magic.

This phone received great reviews when it was first released, and deservedly so. It offered people everything they were looking for out of an Android phone, and to an extent still does.

It’s really not that old at the time of writing, it’s just that the market has moved on so quickly that there are now far more impressive products on offer.

Buying the HTC Magic would not, however, be a bad decision.  It’s an excellent phone; it’s just not an excellent Android phone, simply because there are better options.

G1

The G1 is the original Android phone, and whilst it’s beginning to look a bit dated, it is still highly popular.

It caused quite a storm when it was first released, and had a lot of people turning their heads and wondering what Android was, so for that, it will always be a legend.

The G1 Design

The design isn’t exactly stunning, which is why it has dated so fast, and it is only running Android 1.5 (Cupcake), but it’s definitely worth a look.

The G1 does suffer from not having particularly great battery power, much in the same way as the iPhone used to have, and in a way still has.

If you want to make it last a whole day, you’re not going to want to use it a great deal on the web or for video, photos, etc.  Of course, the interface is incredibly customizable and you can throw as many apps onto it as you want, and it will still hold up reasonably well.

It is actually much less sluggish than other Android phones on the market today, despite its relative age.

The G1 is produced by HTC, and is reasonably sturdy.  The biggest problem it has in terms of exterior is probably the “chin” which sticks out at the bottom for the buttons.  It’s not particularly attractive and makes the phone look quite plasticky.

Don’t be put off by this though.  It’s still a far better phone than most you’ll see on the market, and it proves why Android is the future.  Whilst the phone may age, Android allows you to do some incredible things in terms of applications and multimedia, and so you can still stay reasonably up-to-date.

This was the first foray into the Android phone market by anyone, and it was a very good effort.  The fact that people are still buying this phone today shows just how good it was and continues to be.

It’s got a powerful processor, the screen is reasonably vibrant, and having Android makes it potentially a very powerful smartphone.

Whilst this probably won’t be one that you consider if you’re looking for the latest cutting edge technology and visuals, if you’re just looking for a solid effort that won’t break the bank, the G1 could be perfect for you.

Drawbacks

The biggest problems still remain the design and the fact that Android 1.5 is now a little bit outdated.  This phone was created primarily to show what Android could do, and it achieved that goal admirably.

It will forever hold a small piece of history and is well loved by many Android phone lovers.  The fact that the phone is only 2 years old at the time of writing shows just how much progression there has been in the market.

Conclusion

The Android phone market is finally coming to the masses.  Whether that’s because of the improvements in hardware, or just because there is now an increasing number of applications available, remains to be seen.

One suspects that it is the latter, because while improvements have been made, most of the applications could be run on any of the phones listed above reasonably well.

In the very near future it is likely that application growth will explode, and we’ll see just how far Android growth will continue.

It is likely that other phone manufacturers will start exploring the opportunities that Android is presenting, because it will allow them to focus almost solely on hardware and design, which will be an attractive option for some companies that are struggling under the weight of maintaining their own operating systems.

Android will flourish if the applications continue to improve along with the hardware.

For now, the hardware is racing ahead of the demands of the applications, and as long as it remains that way, which it almost certainly will, there shouldn’t be any major problems for the growth of the Android phone market.

If you’re looking for an Android phone, there are now more choices than ever before, and all of the phones listed above give you genuine options.  They come in a variety of different price ranges and with any number of customizations, so there will be something to suit your needs.

Whether you’re just looking for a cheap and cheerful phone that also has the capability of high-quality web browsing, or if you’re looking for a serious contender to the iPhone, there will be an Android phone to suit you.

This whole range of possibilities gives the Android phone market a nice round structure, and allows almost any consumer to enter it with ease.

As long as they maintain this balance between simplicity and power, more and more people will be tempted to move towards Android.

The great thing about Android so far is that improvements have been so dramatic.

It’s only been a couple of years but the phones currently being released are massively more powerful and stylish, while the Android operating system will continue to improve at a fast pace, primarily because it is so open.

If it continues to grow at this pace, the demand for Android phones will quickly outstrip that for the iPhone, and the market will be much better for it.

The improvements and popularity of Android surely won’t stop any time soon, and it can truly be said that Android is one of the best things to happen to mobile-consumers in a very long time.

We’ve now got more choice, more quality, and better prices – how can you argue with that?

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Virgin have said that they are going to be diving right into Android and releasing two more Android phones.

The Xperia X10 and the HTC Desire will both be released by Virgin Media in April.

Virgin already has the Samsung Galaxy Portal and the LG inTouch Max and is now going to offer these two new phones on top of that.

It’s quite a surprise that Virgin are getting so heavily involved in Android and just further proof of the phenomenal growth rate of Android. The number of networks launching Android phones now is huge. Pretty much all the major ones.

The reason why Virgin launching an Android phone is so significant is that they never seemed to be a company that embraced the top end phone models and weren’t known for going for cutting edge technology. Virgin Media obviously feel that they need to be where the action is so they don’t miss out on what’s become an Android phone revolution.

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At noon yesterday, the 18th March, the Android 2.1 update for the Droid began. Not all users will get the update straight away.

This is how Verizon will roll out the update.

At noon EDT yesterday in the US, 1000 users should have been notified of the update. Then at 11:59pm EDT another 9000 users will be notified. These will be the first 10,000.

Then there will be a period of 24 hours where there are no updates at all.

On the 20th March 200,000 users will get the notification from Verizon at 11:59PM EDT. The updates will go on like this until every user has been updated.

There will be exceptions though. If your Droid isn’t connected to an external power supply you’ll need at least 40% of the power to be available on the phone. If the phone is connected when the update happens you’ll only need 20% available power. Over The Air Transmissions are like this, so not everyone is going to know about it and be ready.

If you’re roaming at the time of the upgrade you won’t get it either.

It’ll be exciting to see what the update is like and how it all goes.

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Google has been denied the trademark for it’s Nexus One Android phone.

A Portland based newspaper reported that the name is too similar to a trademark held by Portland based company Integra Telecom.

It’ll be interesting to see what Google does now. 

Will they have to change the name of the Nexus One?  I doubt that, surely they will come to some sort of agreement with Integra Telecom for rights to the name.

It’s surprising that this sort of thing can happen to such a large organization like Google.  You would have thought they would do their research into the likelihood of getting the trademark before launching their first Android phone and something that was so anticipated.  Maybe it just points to the slowness of the Patent and Trademark Office.

Integra has said

“”We appreciate that the PTO is protecting our trademark rights.  Integra has over $60 Million in annual revenue associated with our Nexus brand and it represents millions of new revenue for the company each year.  Google hasn’t contacted us since the PTO issued its objection but we hope we can work together to achieve our respective business goals.”

It’s timely news as on Tuesday the Nexus One became available on AT&T, putting it in direct competition with the iPhone which also runs with AT&T.

AT&T aren’t heavily involved with the Nexus One though.  You won’t be able to buy it subsidized like you can with T-Mobile which sells the phone for $179 with a 2 year contract.  To get the Nexus One on AT&T you’ll have to pay the full price from Google of $529.  There are no contracts with this, you just get the ability to use the phone on the AT&T network.

The Nexus One will be on sale with Vodafone in Europe and the UK in the spring and it will also be available on Verizon very soon.

Will it still be called the Nexus One after courts ruled that it wasn’t allowed to use the name?  Who knows, watch this space.

Related posts:

1. Google Nexus One Phone Review – Google’s Android Phone
2. AT&T Open, Android Open, Verizon Open, a Pattern is Emerging…

The Droid Eris from HTC is a lower priced Android phone from HTC and Verizon.  It’s Verizon’s second phone running on Android after the Motorola Droid.

This is a popular Android phone and that is probably down to it’s price of $100.

The Droid Eris was first released as the HTC Hero in Europe and then the Sprint HTC Hero in the US.  In essence it’s been remodelled as the Droid Eris.

Design

The Droid Eris has a simple design that is modern and attractive.  It’s rounded edges along with chrome finish makes it look quite stylish.  It’s simplicity is what attracts me to the way it looks.

The phone has a 3.2 inch HVGA screen which really does stand out and looks great with the 320 x 480 pixel resolution.  The colors are vibrant and stand out impressively.

Like the iPhone you can use the Droid Eris either landscape or portrait in certain applications like email or when your brosing the web.  It has what’s called an accelerometer, which changes the screen aspect.

The Keyboard

HTC have their own keyboard in the phone.  It’s not the standard Android keyboard which has had mixed reviews.  I’d say this keyboard is easier to use with more space and responsiveness.  Of course there’s always the choice of downloading a keyboard app if you don’t like the one built in here, but it is an improvement on the standard Android version.

Software

This Android phone is responsive when you use it’s touchscreen and there are no problems using it.  At the bottom of the screen you get four buttons or soft keys – home, menu, back and zoom.

It’s debateable as to what’s better, soft keys like the Droid Eris has or hardkeys built in to the hardware.  I tend to go with the opinion that hardkeys are better because it’s normally easier to feel them out and press them.  When you’re in the dark and can’t see, it’s useful to be able to feel what you’re pressing.

With that said, I like the design of the HTC Droid Eris and I don’t think hard keys would be in keeping with the simplicity of the design.

When this Android phone was first released it was running on Android 1.5.  It has 2.0 now and is due to get Android version 2.1 in the very near future.  Very good news because having a phone that’s as inexpensive as this one at $100 is a great way to get a fast Android phone cheaply.  Android needed this, to open the market up to more people.

Customizable

HTC likes making it’s phones customizable and it runs with what’s called HTC Sense.  Instead of having the standard Android home screen interface you actually get 7 options which can be customized to whatever you want.

You just flick through the 7 different screens by sweeping your finger across the display.  On each new screen you can customize it as much as you want by adding shortcuts and applications.

HTC also gives you Scenes, which is a feature that lets you customize your phone according to what you’re doing on a particular day or part of the day.  You can have a social, work, play, travel or HTC scene and create your own as well.

I like this feature because you can change your phone to set it up for whatever applications you would use more when you’re at work, or at home, or wherever you are.  It saves time.

You just need to be aware that it does take a bit of time to set up in the beginning.  When you first get the phone you might think it’s information overload but it actually makes things simpler in the long run.

The phone has a 528 MHz processor and 288MB of RAM.  It’s probably fast enough and everything seems responsive, so there arent any complaints here.

The Camera and Video

The Camera is better than the Motorola Droid, which isn’t hard, but even then it’s still not much better than that.  It has 5 Megapixels but pictures seem a bit lifeless and there’s no flash, which strangely isn’t unusual with Android phones (the Nexus One has a flash and is one of the exceptions).  You also need decent light to get a good picture with the Droid Eris, but then again that’s the same with a lot of smartphone cameras.

The video isn’t great quality either and needs a lot of light too, pretty average as far as video goes.

Summary

This phone is a very good buy.  A good qulaity phone with Verizon for $100 that will have Android version 2.1 running on it.  This Android phone has everything most people need.  Good design, decent speed, it’s responsive, customizable, has the latest version of Android, and it runs on Verizon, a reliable carrier with good coverage.

What Others are Saying
Gizmodo “The cheapest Android phone you can buy—and the best, for the money.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
CNET “The HTC Droid Eris is a satisfying Android device that offers a nice contrast to the Motorola Droid. And you can’t beat the price.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
PC World “The HTC Droid Eris is an affordable and feature-packed alternative to the Motorola Droid.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The much talked about Google phone became the Nexus One.

Is this the best Android phone on the market right now?

There has been so much buzz about the launch of a Google phone that Google didn’t have to worry too much about promoting this Android phone, the hype and speculation did that all by itself.

A lot of the hype was because we thought a Google phone might have been game changing and signal a different direction for mobile phones.

With the relsease of the Google Nexus One Android phone this didn’t happen.  The phone is very good and a worthy addition to Android, but it’s not revolutionary.

At the moment the phone is available on T-Mobile in the US with a 2 year contract and $179.00 for the phone.  It’s also available to buy without a carrier for $529.00.

The Nexus One on Verizon is due to be avialiable very soon.  Spring 2010 is the date expected, together with a spring 2010 release for the Nexus One on Vodafone in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Design

The phone was built by HTC who have a history with Android phones.  They built the first, the G1 and they’ve since built a few more.

The design looks like it takes something from the iphone, something from the Palm Pre and a bit of the G1.  It’s somewhere in between all of these devices.

There are different ways of looking at it.  It either takes the best of all these phones or it’s not different enough to any of them.  I’m inclined to say that it takes the best of all the other phones.

It’s a nice looking phone and can compete with the iPhone in terms of looks.  I’m sure that was important to Google.

It has a 3.7 inch display and is just 11.5mm thick.  They managed to make the phone compact and stylish as well as nice to hold.  For a powerful phone that’s not something very easy, so it’s impressive.

Like the Motorola Droid it has the four buttons at the front of the display, back, menu, home, and search.  These must be for ease of use with Android, as Google seems to like them on it’s Android phones.

Display

This is probably the best bit.  It’s an incredibly good quality display that has great color resolution and quality.

It has an 800 x 400 pixel resolution with 16.7 million colors.  Photos and graphics really stand out brilliantly.

Software

The phone runs on Android version 2.1 which is the latest version of Android.

The phone has what they call live wallpapers which are backgrounds you can interact with.  It’s not an essential part of the phone but adds a touch of something different to it.

When you press the apps button, the apps come up in 3D, a nice little feature which adds to the uniquness of the phone.  One of the problems with that is that it does slow it down slightly, not something everyone will be happy with.

The Nexus One also has voice recognition, or the “speech-to-text engine”.  With this you can speak into any text field and it will supposedly write what you’re saying.

If you’ve used speech recognition on a PC or Mac you’ll know how it can be frustrating (although it’s getting better).  The Nexus One’s speech recognition works fairly well, not 100% of the time, but most of the time.  Would you actually want to use this? is it a feature that most people won’t use? It’s up to you.

Of course you get the Android vitual keyboard on the Nexus One.  If you’ve used other Android phones you’ll know that it’s fairly easy to use, but some people have problems.  You can always download an app with another version that you might like better, so don’t think you have to stick with the default Android keyboard.

Camera

The camera has 5 megapixels, the same as the Motorola Droid.  But it beats the Droid in speed of use.  It’s quick to load and takes sharp photos.

The camera has a flash too, which isn’t that common on Android phones and is a welcome addition in my opinion.

Speed

The great thing about the Nexus One is the speed.  Personally I like my phones to be fast, and the Nexus One delivers on that.

It has Android 2.1 installed and that’s definitely faster than previous Android versions, but it also has a 1GHz processor which is probably the main reason for it’s speed.

You’ll probably find yourself charging the phone daily if you use the phone fairly normally.  This is similar to other Android Phones out there, so no real change.

Summary

The Nexus One is up there with the best Android phones for sale at the moment.  It competes well with the Motorola Droid for the crown of the most powerful Android phone.

As Google’s first foray into a mobile hanset it does a very good job.  There will definitely be more to come from Google.  Other handsets are surely on the cards.

Google most probably wants to drive forward innovation on Android, and by pushing things forward themselves they are keeping the ball rolling, which is only a good thing for the mobile market.

The only place to buy the Nexus One is directly from Google at http://www.google.com/phone.

What Others are Saying
Gizmodo “Google’s Nexus One is the best Android phone available right now”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
CNET “It doesn’t have all the features we’d like, but the Nexus One greatly enhances the Google Android family with a fast processor, good call quality, and improved voice control features.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Engadget “It’s a good Android phone, but not the last word — in fact, if we had to choose between this phone or the Droid right now, we would lean towards the latter.”
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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1. Google Doesn’t Have The Trademark for the Nexus One Phone

The Motorola Droid is the most Powerful Android phone to date and you could say a real challenger to the iPhone.

Many people will say, if you’re looking to buy a smartphone you have two choices. The iPhone or the Motorola Droid.

But if you go with that philosophy you might not be buying the right phone for you because Android now has some good phones that are designed for users who want different things.

The Droid is on Verizon and at the moment you can get the phone on a 2 year contract for $199.99.

Design

There’s something practical and functional about the Droid.  You get the feeling when you hold it that it’s an Android phone that’s powerful.

With a pretty phone you can admire how nice it looks but you sometimes wonder if you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.  Pretty phones often look good but don’t back that up with substance.

The Motorola Droid doesn’t go for pretty, but it does look good.  It’s got an angular look with sharp edges which make it look solid.  It’s following an unusual path compared to other smartphones which are often more rounded and sleek.

It has a 3.7 inch screen and a resolution of 440×854 pixels which is very good.  The colors are rich and this is one of the best parts of the phone, the screen and display are top quality.

The Keypad

Keypads are always tricky on smartphones and the Droid’s isn’t an exception.

The keys are squashed together and that makes it difficult to type quickly.  You don’t get a good feel for the keys either, so instead of getting quicker with your typing as you get used to the phone you actually don’t seem to speed up at all because you’re constantly wondering where your fingers are on the keypad.

Display

As on other Android phones the Droid has four buttons, back, menu, home and search.  These aren’t actually physical buttons but they are vital to the use of the phone and you’ll always be using them.  Pehaps they should be more prominant as physical buttons as they’re such an important part of Android.

Apart from the keypad it’s a very responsive phone to use and the screen as we’ve said is large with a very good, rich resolution.  With Android 2.1 on the phone it’s a lot quicker than previous versions too.

The Camera

One of the great things about cameras on phones is that you can whip it out and quickly take a picture on the move.

You’re not going to be able to do that with the Droid at all.  It’s annoyingly slow to start up and then to get it in focus and actually take a picture is slow as well.

It’s a 5 megapixel camera which is great to have but I’d rather have a camera that loaded faster and had less pixels, if there’s any correlation there, which I expect there actually isn’t.

Video

Video can work at a 720×480 resolution and performs well.  It’s better to use than the camera, so if you get a Droid, just use the video rather than taking pictures, it’s quicker and pretty good quality.

Software

The Droid started on Android version 2.0 but has now moved to 2.1 which makes it faster.  It performs much better than 2.0 overall and is a definite improvement.

Summary

The Droid is a very good Android phone.  It’s the most powerful Android phone yet and is the biggest contender to the iPhone.

Despite problems with the camera being slow and the keyboard not being as good as it could have been it’s an excellent choice if you’re going to buy an Android powered device.

If you’re looking to fully embrace Android and use all of it’s functions, then buying a Motorola Droid would be your best bet.  With it’s update to Android 2.1 it’s speeded up from the original 2.0 it was running on, so now you really can use Android to the best of it’s ability.

What Others are Saying
Engadget “It’s easily the best Android phone to date.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
PC World “The first Android 2.0 phone impresses with a strong suite of Web features and a stunning 3.7-inch display, but some users might have trouble with the shallow keyboard.”
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gizmodo “It’s this simple: If you don’t buy an iPhone, buy a Droid.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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