Apple blows. Like, really, really hard. They're great at ripping you off for tech that's outdated and cheaper than they're charging you for. With that said, you don't have to question why I'm in favor of the Android OS and all the Android phones that are have been coming out lately. I just needed to get that out there before anything else was said. Apple blows harder than a 26 year old sexually repressed virgin nun who has come to "see the light". I actually think that might have been a porn flick. If it hasn't been done, I should probably get copyrighting that idea.

Okay, I wanted to write up a little informative blurb of some sort detailing the Android OS and what that's all about. I've wanted to do this to for the longest time since I got my G1 from T-Mobile a little over a year ago. I thought I would wait and see how Android turned out. With the release of Verizon's Droid phone, I think Android is at the point where anyone and everyone should have it. Here I go.

What is Android?

The Android OS is the brainchild of a company called Android Inc, which was later bought by Google who has largely taken over the project. Back in 2007, a bunch of hardware, software, and cell phone companies got together in order to create and advance anything and everything involving cell phone technology. Since Google began working on Android, it's become the "Think Tank's" number one priority.

Android is basically an operating system just like Mac OS or Windows. It's a Linux based OS which means two things; it's completely customizable (it's an open source platform) and it's free. Anyone can get their hands on the Android OS and develop for it. New games, Apps, themes, features, and optimization is possible by anyone who knows what they're doing.

Now because Android is open source, it's easier for Android devices to get updates with new features and bug fixes on a regular basis. When the first Android phone, T-Mobile's G1, came out in October '08, it was very much a bare bones phone with a really nice web browser. Today, thanks to all the updates and customizations done by those in the development communities (aka the hackers and modders), the G1 was the best investment I've ever made.

Why should I buy an Android phone?

You can't think of an Android phone as just a phone. It's very much a "Pocket PC". It has all the basic features a regular cell phone would have, alarm, calender, contacts, camera, etc. In addition to all the basics it has things like GPS navigation, full working web browser with support for flash coming early next year, support for Microsoft Exchange (for all you Black Berry and Palm users out there). and a crap load more.

One of the great things about the Android OS is how you can use multiple programs at once, no matter what. For example, browse the internet while on a call, or responding to a text message. Say you're on the way to meet up with a friend at a restaurant and you're lost. While on the phone trying to explain to your friend your situation, you could look up the restaurant's address on their website and then map it out on Google Maps without having to hang up on your friend.

Another great thing about the Android phones is the Android Market. Over your phone, you can look around for Apps, either free or paid, for what ever you need. Say you're on foot heading to that restaurant and you need to take the subway or bus to get there. On the spot, you can go into the Android Market and download the App for train schedules in your area. Or an App to look at all the bus routes and make sure the bus you just got on isn't going to drop you off in the wrong part of town.

The Android OS has become more of a tool than anything else. For example, while working on some shelves in my room, I wanted to make sure they were level. Surprisingly, there was an App exactly for that. While at Best Buy, I saw a movie and wondered if they had it on Netflix. There was an App for that, too. When my two year old nephew get's his hands on my phone, he isn't going to randomly call every one of my contacts because of the App that locks all the buttons and turns the touch screen into a kind of virtual white board for him to draw on with sounds whenever he hits any button. Really creative things like this that make the phone a tool you will definitely use are mostly free of charge. Personally, I like free things. I've probably paid for maybe three Apps? There's so much free content, you could spend days searching through it all.

The web browser has to be it's strongest point. Giving you the option to surf in either mobile mode (a simplistic version of the web) or a full desktop mode, you can do anything you'd be able to do on a desktop. The browser is fast to load, can do tabbed browsing, scrolls smoother than a bald pimp who only wears imported silk, has integrated YouTube support, and can handle photo heavy sites like a dream. It's only set back (if you even want to call it a set back) is it's lack of flash support. Personally, I think it's nice to surf the web again without stupid advertisements all over a website. Flash is coming to Android very soon, though.

The OS also uses Widgets. These are programs that run on the desktop of your phone. You can place them anywhere on your desktop to display updates, the time, a calender, email, text messages, news, weather, etc. It's a quick way to get to the updates and information you need to access on the fly without having to actually open the program you're using.

The updates! You can get instant updates to almost anything on an Android phone. Email, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Tumbler, news, weather, Ebay, Craigslist, WHATEVER! Any kind of site you can think of that involved updates, there's an App to cover it. I, for example, have my Xanga email updates sent to my phone, which update instantly. Anytime I get a message (gotta love those mass messages), am tagged to a post (we tend to miss out on those without the email updates), get a comment, or am sent a friend request, I'm updated instantly. Throw in the fact that I can easily support my Xanga addiction using my phone's web browser, I'm probably in need of some rehab.

Are the phones any good?

All this talk about the software probably has you wondering if the phones are any good. Because of the flexibility of the OS, everyone's making a phone with Android on it. By the end of this year, Motorola, Samsung, HTC,  and LG will have a phone or series of phones running Android. HTC, in my opinion, has been leading the pack as far as the hardware goes. Their phones are very well built. Comfort and durability were obviously taken into consideration when they came up with the designs for their phones. Ascetically, they're kinda lame. When it comes to pleasing the eye, Motorola really knows how to do it. The above mentioned Droid is probably one of the freshest phones I've seen in a while. Samsung and LG are still trying to emulate the iPhone's look and feel, which is kind of outdated as far as I'm concerned.

One big advantage to the Android phones are the physical keyboards that most come with. It makes texting and web browsing 100 times easier. I personally find the virtual keyboards on most touchscreens to be a pain in the ass because of two common factors. The phone is either too slow to processes at the speed you're texting or the keyboard is too small because of a small screen. The physical keyboards eliminate both of those problems and also make it easier to input text without looking at your phone. Touch screens are great and all, but you can't beat having some kind of identifiable physical button.

As far as connectivity, all Android phones run on 3G networks (fastest kind of connection for internet enabled phones). They also utilize GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (just in case there's no 3G in the area).

This sounds great and all, but are you trying to swindle me 'cause you think Apple blows harder than a $2 hooker with no teeth and three lungs?

Android does have it's cons. Thing is, there are very few. The main one would have to be the speed of the software. Android is definitely still in it's infancy. The first Android phone only came out about a year ago. All the current generation phones use the same processing chip set, which means they all have the same lagging problem when too many Apps are used at once. It can get to the point where the phone will take a minute or two to catch up with all the "thinking" it has to do. This does depend on the Apps you're using at the same time. For example, if you're listening to a podcast using a podcast streaming App while surfing the web and then want to take a photo of something, your phone will almost freeze up or automatically shut down all those programs.

Another one of the Android phone's faults is the poor quality of the camera. If you've seen any of my Cell Phone Photography posts, you'll see what I'm talking about. The video capture is laughable, but I never use it, so it's not big deal to me. There are updates and fixes for the camera and video that have vastly improved it from what it was capable of when the first Android phone came out a year ago, but it's a hardware issue. You can only squeeze so much out of hardware using software upgrades and patches. I think it's one of the things that most manufacturers have skipped out on to keep the price of the phones down, but you would think the camera on a cell phone would be a priority nowadays.

Lastly, the battery on most of these phones are still a big problem. Not as much as they used to be, but enough to annoy the hell out of you. Because of all the different types of radios (Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth) integrated into the phone, you can lose a lot of battery life just turning these devices on and off. Having a touch screen also doesn't help. I've only ever owned one Android phone, so whether or not this is an issue with the most recent phones, I'm not exactly sure.

Due to the small internal memory built into the phone, you are limited to the number of Apps you can download to your phone. You can always delete Apps and to make room and download them again later, but it's annoying to do. Also, because the phone splits the internal memory usage of Apps and processing, the more Apps you have, the slower your phone will go.

One of my own personal grievances is the lack of style to the OS. It's a bit of an eyesore. There are tons of custom themes, skins, and icons out there to choose from, but I think the stock OS just lacks visual appeal. If you don't have a good eye when it comes to creating color palettes or themes, and a nice wallpaper for your desktop, you're kind of stuck with a crappy looking OS on your phone.

Anything else?

Yes.

What?

There's more. If you do happen to buy an Android phone, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not learning about all the customized versions of the stock OS. These are called Mods. A lot of the big issues have been either resolved or improved by the people who create these Mods. It take some computer savvy and know-how when it comes to modding your phone. There are tons of tutorials out there for people who don't know what they're doing. The modding community online is also one of the most helpful I've ever seen on the internet. If you hit up the forums with a question, not only will they come back with an answer, they'll throw in links, videos, and on occasion offer up help personally via AIM or email.

As far as the advantages to modding your phone, they're almost limitless. One of the more useful mods is the internet tethering feature. This means I can plug my phone into any computer or laptop via USB that has zero internet connectivity and gain internet access using the phone's data network (which is what I'm doing right now 'cause instead of paying my internet bill, I bought a new 32 inch flat screen for my room). With T-Mobile upgrading their data network from 3G to 4G before the end of the year, I might actually cancel my internet entirely and stick with my tethered internet.

Because of the mods, security can be enhanced ten fold. If I misplace my phone at home or in my car, I can send a text message to my phone with a secret word or phrase and have it ring or beep until I find it. If I lose my phone or someone steals it, I just send a text again and in minutes, I'll get an email with my phone's exact location using Google Maps. If someone gets a hold of my phone and switches out the SIM card before I can send out the text, the phone will send the email using the other person's SIM card.

Another big advantage to modding your phone is the support of Apps on your SD card, which in turn frees up memory for more processing power. With cards up to 32GB being supported by the Android OS, you'll have plenty of room for your music collection, Apps, photos, video, etc.

Lastly, the modders who've developed their own version of the Android OS have done so much optimizing to the OS to the point where there is no lag whatsoever. Also, because of the optimization, there's less processing power used to run multiple Apps at once. This means better battery life.

Now is there anything else? Are you all done?

That's about it. I'm curious as to how many people here on Xanga have an Android phone. If there's enough, I might go a little deeper and post about specific Apps and features. I may even review some of the better phones too. I just figured there are a lot of people still running around with one of those lame Samsung flip phones, or a Motorola Razor. If that's the case, you really need to upgrade. You're missing out.

Hope you enjoyed this barely amusing introduction to Android. Any questions, let me know.

"Hey. Are you still waiting on your ride?"

"Yeah."

"I can give you one if you want. You've been here for like an hour."

"It's okay. I don't want my dad to come pick me up and I'm not here. He doesn't have a cell phone or anything. Plus, I'm not supposed to take rides from strangers."

"Ha, I'm hardly a stranger. I hang out with your sister enough to offer you a ride. You're my friends' little sister, I'm obligated to look out for you. Mind if I wait with you?"

"Nope. Have a seat."

"So, how long have you and your sister been sisters?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Just trying to break the silence. My mom always said that I'd make a horrible journalist."

"I hope that's not what you're going to study in college because your mom is right."

"We'll see if I even go to college next year. I'm still convinced it's a waste of time."

"How's it a waste of time? It's college."

"I don't like the idea of going to high school to prepare for college. Then go to college to prepare for a job. Then go to that job and want to shoot myself every day because I hate my job. I want a little more meaning in my life. I can't stand to think there's a really great chance I'm just gonna end up miserable for the rest of my life as soon as I graduate high school because of the way society works."

"Wow. That answer was a little more honest than I excpected."

"That's what's wrong with our society, we expect so much bull shit from each other to the point that we just don't care anymore. You've got, what, two years left in high school? You'll figure this all out by the end of your senior year next year."

"Hey Captian Optimism, you're a pretty angry guy. I wonder why my sister likes hanging out with you?"

"All I'm saying is that when I get older and am actually living my life out in the real world, I don't want to be miserable. I want to be happy. Most want to be rich 'cause we're programmed to think money makes us happy. As kids, we're told we can be anything we want when we grow up. As we get older we're told to be something completely different because you have to make money in order to be part of society. Those childhood dreams are thrown out the window and we end up miserable for the rest of our lives bull shitting each other, telling one another we're happy."

"I just want to be a hair stylist and open my own salon. Start my own business"

"What'd you want to be when you were a kid?"

"An Astronaut."

"I rest my case."