Android Backflip summary

[David Kramer]

I said the other day I would summarize my findings on the Backflip.
Please note that I fully realize most, if not all, of these things would
not concern the average user, or even geeks like us.  But they're issues
to me.  Maybe I'm placing too much importance on them, but this is a
device you're locked into for two years, so if it's an annoyance, it's
going to be an annoyance for a very long time.

The overall message from me, though, is when I envision a phone built on
open source software, this is about as far as you can get from this vision.

I would have let this go, but... my Windows Mobile phone has pissed me
off for the last time and now I'm searching for a replacement.  It
locked up so bad a soft boot wouldn't fix it and I had to hard reset
back to factory settings.  Since I'm stuck with AT&T, I have the
Backflip, the iPhone, and the Tilt II to choose between.

I would be interested in any corrections or additions to these, but
please don't tell me that they're non-issues unless you can explain why.
 Most (but not all) of these are significant to me.

Here are some sources I used:
http://www.backflipforums.com/
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-to-fix-googles-busted-android-app-market-2010-1
http://gigaom.com/2010/03/13/android-this-week-android-passes-palm-backflip-crippled-sense-to-nexus-one/
http://www.waxworlds.org/edam/software/android/import-contacts
http://jkontherun.com/2010/03/10/when-open-platforms-get-closed-att-cripples-backflip/
http://jkontherun.com/2010/03/02/att-introduces-the-first-yahoo-phone/
http://androidandme.com/2009/12/phones/att-ready-to-backflip-for-android/
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/motorola-backflip-platinum-silver/4505-6452_7-33943838.html
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=3bd34a531c5f284c&hl=en
http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/android-kernel-problems.html
http://www.cyrket.com/

------- Backflip-specific
1) AT&T modified the software install process so users can only install
software from Android Market.  This is one of the biggest issues I have
with this phone.  While there's a lot of software there (though not
nearly as much as in the Apple store), that means I can't write my own
and install it, nor can my friends.

2) AT&T has replaced a bunch of the built-in apps with their own, which
some think are not as good.  But in conjunction with (1), they've
eliminated the ability to remove these applications.  That comes in a
close second to (1).  It's akin to a Linux distribution saying "I know
you like vi, but we're going to force you to permanently install Emacs
and make it the default editor and turnip twaddler (that plugin also
installs automatically)

3) The screen is considerably smaller than the iPhone or the Tilt II,
its major competitors on AT&T.  And the keyboard is nowhere as easy to
use as my AT&T 8525's keyboard.  The keys are much smaller and harder to
press on the Backflip, partly because the camera, flash, and some
mystery buton with the AT&T logo on it hog pretty much a whole column.

4) They removed Google search and replaced it with Yahoo.  Again, you
cannot change this.

5) I have read many reviews saying it runs sluggishly at times.  Too
many to be whiners.  Of course it's subjective, though

6) It's running an older version of Android.  Supposedly users will be
able to upgrade.  OTOH, there were some comments theorizing it was
running the older version because it wasn't powerful enough to run the
latest version.

7) If you use all of the phone's push features (facebook, IM, twitter,
mail, etc) turned on all the time, the battery lasts about 4.5 hours.
This isn't typical usage, but they put all those push features in there
for a reason.  When not using all of these features, the battery life is
typical for smartphones.


------- Android-specific
8) Android does not sync directly with ANY operating system or software.
 No import, no export.  You can sync with GMail and Google Calendar, but
I don't like handing over every piece of private data I have about
myself and my friends to a company known to hold onto data about you
you've asked them to delete.  The funny part about this for me is that
the iPhone, created by the Kings of Closed, syncs with CalDAV and LDAP
(calendar and contacts respectively).

9) The lax return policy in the Android Market means all those tiny fun
little 99 cent programs developed for the iPhone won't be developed for
Android, because users can just return them after playing with them for
a few minutes then getting tired of the joke.

10) Google doesn't feed the majority of their kernel patches back to the
kernel team.  That's not the Open Source way, but it also means that
they will have to verify, update, and apply all those patches every time
they move to a new kernel.  That's bound to slow releases down quite a bit.