6 months ago I decided to depart from my usual 'feature phone' upgrade path with Vodafone, and upgrade to a smartphone - in this case an HTC Magic running Google's Android OS. Having got to know my phone over the last half year, I though I'd write a quick review - not only of the phone itself, but about the impact of having a smartphone over a 'bog standard' feature phone.
I'd been considering upgrading to a smartphone for a couple of years, but as a deskbound IT developer/consultant/jack-of-all trades with no commute to speak of, it was hard to justify the cost when I was always near a PC. In addition the only real options had been to stick with Vodafone and go for a Windows Mobile based phone or move to O2 and buy an iPhone. The former did not fill me with joy, as my brief experiences with Windows Mobile had not been pleasant, and the few people I knew with a WM phone hated them! The latter was tempting, and while I lusted after an iPhone from a purely technical point of view - I really didn't want to be tied into the Apple ecosystem... in addition I have nothing but loathing for iTunes which has caused me all sorts of miseries when used with my wife's Nano.
In May this year Vodafone introduced the HTC Magic into their range, and after a brief read of the reviews I became convinced that this was the phone to push me over the smartphone edge. It looked good, it ran the new (and importantly open) Android OS from Google, it had capacitive touch screen (like the iPhone) and had close integration with Google Apps (which I use for private email).
From the moment the phone arrived I was hooked... Android was an good looking, slick, easy and fast OS and the integration of the Google apps were nothing short of brilliant. In addition I surfed the Android Marketplace and soon had 'Newsrob' syncing with Google Reader, 'Locale' changing my settings depending on my location, 'Twidroid' allowing me to watch my tweetstream and 'FBReader' loaded up with my favourite ebooks. During the last 6 months I have added a few more key apps (and played with many more), and been upgraded to the improved Android 1.6 (Donut)... and I still absolutely love this phone! It's not perfect - the web browser can be slow, the camera is poor and there is still the occasional lag when going back to the home screen after using a resource hungry app, but overall it is a wonderful piece of kit and a joy to use.
So would I feel the same about any smartphone? I'm not sure about Windows Mobile (or Blackberry) but I can safely say that I'd have loved having an iPhone too. But given the choice now, I'd rather have my Magic anyday... the iPhone has a marvellous UI and a wealth of good apps. But I prefer the smaller profile of my Magic, the freedom to install the software I want (without Apple having to approve it for me), the background services and the joy of not having to install iTunes on my PC!
As for going back to a smartphone... never! I love having the world in my pocket. I'll never get lost again, I can see where my Android toting friends are (thanks to Latitude), I track my running via GPS, I can fire off a quick email or message (I hated texting on my old Nokia) and best of all, I always have a good ebook on me so I'll never get bored!
