First Impressions of Android


Backflip Homescreen, originally uploaded by lulugirl896.


After a couple of hours of playing with my new Motorola Backflip I've come away reasonably impressed, even considering that its running the older version 1.5 of Android. A few notes I have so far:

1. Homescreen- I seem to have a love-hate relationship with the homescreen. On one hand, its nice to have 5 screens to spread information over, but on the other hand, the widgets restrict how much I can see "at a glance".

2. Notifications- I prefer the notifications bar to the one on the WebOS because it doesn't shrink your workable area when they come in. The pane that can roll down is nothing short of brilliant.

3. Task switching- I know apps are running in the background, but I can't seem to find them! In a way, its no better than the iPhone because I have to access them via the launcher.

4. Clock Mode- I really like the clock mode and it was one of the deciding factors that broke the tie between the Cliq and the Backflip. My husband saw it on the table and said "Cool clock!" and picked it right up. Had he thought it was a phone, he'd probably have been less inclined to jump right in.

5. So far it seems pretty snappy to me. I read a lot of reviews citing the Backflip as 'sluggish' but I'm not noticing that issue.

If there was a QWERTYbar Android device, I'd give it a dedicated try and see if its an OS I could live on from day to day. For now, I intend to hang on to my Backflip as a way to have access to apps and developments on the platform.

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