First off, the touch screen interface is gorgeous! There are several themes, but the default screen offers animations for the current weather and a large digital clock. This phone by Google runs the Android 2.o operating system. This version offers quick processing and quick graphics. Like the iPhone, it offers multi-touch screen navigations. In other words you can "pinch" the screen to zoom in or spread your fingers apart to zoom out. There are other gesture that allow users to navigate other features and screens.
The voice recognition for search and even entering text is extremely accurate - perfect for use in the car. Speaking of the car, there's a Car Panel app that provides the top six most useful apps for your car, including maps, voice search and navigation.
The Android market offers a wide variety of free and inexpensive apps that download and install probably 10 times faster than on my old T-Mobile G1. Some of my favorites include GPS Essentials (speed, altitude, lat/long and bearing to destination), UrbanSpoon (easily find local restaurants using a variety of criteria) and Key Ring which scans all the barcodes on those little plastic tabs on your key ring. Retailers can then scan the code from your phone.
So far, this rates way up there. I think it surpasses the third generation iPhone and will most likely hold its own agains the fourth generation iPhone.
More to come! We'll look at upload/download speeds around town, signal strength and more.
