In this six-part series, entrepreneur and iPhone user Andy Milliorn has made the switch to Android for 30 days, and is writing about the experience. Follow this link to start with Part 1.
I’m at the one-week mark of my Android experiment, and I can honestly admit to being pleasantly surprised with the experience so far. I’m not ready to toss my iPhone just yet, but I am beginning to understand the Android appeal. Admittedly, the first couple of days with the Galaxy SII Skyrocket were very fun. I had a new toy to play with. But, in recent days, the “new” has started to wear off and I’m starting to see what it’s like to live with Android.
Hardware
I didn’t intend for my 30 day experiment to be about the hardware. After all, I could have picked from any number of devices to evaluate the Android platform. And that’s what I really wanted to look at – the platform. But, with the limited number of iPhone models available, and singular form-factor, Apple has made it about the hardware. No comparison of Android to the iPhone would be complete if it didn’t factor in the many hardware choices that come along with the Android platform.
Let’s get the technical specs out of the way. The Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket is exclusively available from AT&T and takes advantage of their 4G LTE network. It has a 4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus display running the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS. It has a 1.5GHz dual core processor, removable battery, 8 megapixel main camera and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. The Skyrocket has 16GB of on-board storage, with up to 32GB of additional storage via the microSD slot. It also had an NFC (near-field communication) chip, but I have yet to find a use for it. On paper, this is an impressive assembly of specifications. But, how is the phone in real life?
Coming from an iPhone, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was immediately impressed with the Skyrocket. The first thing you notice is the massive screen. It makes my iPhone screen look like a postage stamp. It’s big and it’s bright. Resolution looks good, and had I never seen the iPhone’s retina display, I would be extremely pleased with it. But, side-by-side with an iPhone 4, the retina display is clearly better. But, that’s not to say the Skyrocket’s display is bad.
Another thing that struck me almost immediately was how light the Skyrocket is. This may be more of an optical illusion given the phone’s size, but it feels much lighter than my iPhone 4. In reality, at 4.6 ounces, it is only .23 ounces lighter than the iPhone 4.
I initially thought that the Skyrocket felt a little cheap and plastic compared to my iPhone 4. Having carried the phone for a week now, I no longer think that is the case. I don’t think the Skyrocket has under-achieved when it comes to materials and feel, I think the iPhone 4 has over-achieved. The Skyrocket feels like a phone should, as the iPhone 4 is more like a piece of design art – a piece of art that almost universally gets hidden under plastic and rubber cases. I don’t feel as though the Skyrocket will shatter should it slip from my pocket as I do with my iPhone.
While also not the focus of this 30 day experiment, call quality, signal strength and data speeds have all been great during my test so far as well.
Initial Impressions
Once behind the wheel, Android does require some learning. The phone has the familiar volume rocker and sleep/power button, with the sleep button located on the side as opposed to the top of the phone. Instead of the lone, physical Home button on the iPhone, the Skyrocket has the usual 4 capacitive-touch buttons found on Android phones: Menu, Home, Back and Search. Navigating the phone is pretty intuitive and I picked it up quickly.
The Home Screen is made up of a series of full-screen panels. These panels are highly customizable with app widgets, app icons, contacts or folders. I was able to quickly organize my Android into 5 panels: one for my most commonly used apps (similar to my iPhone setup), one for social media with Facebook and Twitter widgets, one for the Evernote widget, one with a full screen calendar widget, and one with my commonly dialed contacts with a weather widget. The result is that I can easily swipe from panel to panel and access most of the info and functions I use most often, without ever tapping an app icon. Rarely do I find myself swiping through rows and folders of apps looking for what I need. Android allows for a more useful presentation of information without having to dig for it.
Setting up email, calendars and contacts were all very easy as most of my accounts are Exchange based. I’m using the default mail app, which easily connected and has been serving me well. But, there are 5 or 6 other well established email clients for me to choose from in the Android Market. This highlights one of the strengths of Android: choices.
As I set out to load all of my apps, I quickly discovered two app stores; the Android Marketplace from Google and the Amazon Appstore for Android. Imagine that – competition. For some reason, I’ve gravitated towards Amazon as the center of my Android universe.
So far, I’ve pretty much succeeded in replicating my iPhone’s functionality on the Android. There aren’t any real glaring omissions, and I’m getting work done without missing a beat. I’m getting used to the long-press gesture, and have almost stopped swiping on emails to delete them. The Swype keyboard is one of my favorite features, and the speeds achieved on the LTE network are nothing short of amazing.
I’ve had a few annoyances too. This phone is a battery hog. I’m not sure if that is more a factor of the hardware or something inherent to Android. I suspect the large screen is mostly to blame, and I can’t go all day on a single charge like my iPhone. To compound matters, there appears to be a bug that keeps the battery icon in the status bar at 100% all day. Restarting the phone clears it, but it’s annoying. I’m also having a little trouble determining the difference between what is real Android, and what has been layered on top of it by AT&T. There appears to be a fair amount of bloatware pre-loaded on the phone.
In concluding my initial impressions, I can say that, not surprisingly, the Android is a powerful platform that is able to fulfill the same functions as my iPhone. Many of the differences come down to personal preference. So far, I’ve focused on getting my iPhone replaced. Mission accomplished. Next, I want to start exploring Android further to see what else it can do.
Follow Andy’s 30 day Android experiment on Twitter: #androidfor30
