Going Android

I’ve been weighing up switching over to Android for some months now. I really like my iPhone 3G (running 3.1.3; iOS4 was soooo terrible on it I had to downgrade firmware), but after playing with my brother’s iPhone 4 I didn’t feel it offered anything significantly different from what I already had (or at least new features I was really interested in).

So, I’ve opted for a HTC Desire Z. I was initially swayed by the HTC Desire HD due to its larger RAM and faster processor, but in the end opted for the Z for the following reasons:

• Size of screen (less power consumption, useable in one hand unlike the larger HD where you can’t use one hand/thumb to press all the icons)
• Screen has better contrast than the slightly washed-out HD
• With a keyboard you’re regaining a lot of screen real estate (due to lack of needing an onscreen keyboard)
• QWERTY backlit keyboard and Microsoft Office on the phone (don’t think the HD comes with Office)
• More pocketable than the HD
• Larger capacity battery than the HD (along with the slightly slower processor it should mean better battery life)
• Browser tests I’ve viewed on YouTube show it at least as fast as the HD
• If it feels slow (which is unlikely given tests and videos I’ve watched) I can always root it and overclock the processor
• The camera on the HD didn’t impress me whereas the Z one did a bit more with its videos and photos (think the 8MP on the HD is too much for the size of device)
• Will be able to develop Flash and native Android apps which test against a range of touchscreen and physical keyboard inputs

Roll on Monday 1st…