Thoughts on Android So Far

[rarisgod]

Recently acquired an Android phone when I switched to a new phone plan, and I'm loving it so far. The customisability when compared to my iPod makes it quite fun to just tinker around with the appearance of your home screens and the organization of your device. I'm also really enjoying the texting interface (coming from a "dumb phone", the threaded/conversation view is new to me and I love it) and everything has been fairly smooth so far.
That being said, I have some other thoughts.

1. App Install Location
Now while I am really enjoying the phone I bought, it's not the highest end Android phone. As such, it doesn't have the most onboard capacity. So why does Android limit users to installing apps on the device itself rather than allowing them to be installed on the SD card? I know 2.2 will allow apps to be moved, but I've heard this doesn't apply to all apps. Why is this restriction in place? It seems like an odd restriction for such an "open" platform.

2. Messy Market/App Selection
The Market is a mess. I agree that Apple's app store has it's share of fail-apps, but why is the Android Market such a mess? The search is awful (which is odd being as Android is made by Google) and it's difficult to find an app unless you know the exact name. Not only that, but why do live wallpapers, regular wallpapers, icons, widgets, apps, and more all show up in the same store? Couldn't there be different categories and areas for wallpapers, apps, home screen modifications, etc each? Just makes sense to me. I shouldn't see a hundred live wallpapers pop up when I'm trying to find an app, it just crowds everything up and makes a mess of my app searching experience.

3. App Drawer Organization
Luckily in the LG modified home screen and drawer, things are a bit more organized for me, but in the default Android view, why in the drawer are the apps (downloaded and default) all bunched together? In the LG mod, the apps I download are divided from the default ones. Why can't this area be managed somehow?

Other than that, and the last one isn't a big deal, I'm enjoying Android quite much!

[rarisgod]

Also can anyone recommend some good useful apps (not games)?

[colcifer]

Just got a droid x. On the drawer, id hazard a guess they were trying to keep you from having to click too much to get to the app you wanted.

Gtuner is a great app. I also like virtual recorder. The metronomes are all pretty similar. And than there's the talkbass app I'm using right now!

[James Hart]

I use a "LauncherPro" as a home screen replacement.
"Subsonic" to interface with home media server.
"Tweetdeck" for social networking
"Handcent" for texting
"K-9 Mail" for domain email
"gString+" tuner
"Craignotifica" craigs list
I also use the TB, a New York Times and Amazon apps too.

[superbassman2000]

My girlfriend has a droid, and I've gotten to play around with it a lot...I really like it. She has google maps, an app that you can scan the bar code of a product and it will do a local price search...pretty cool stuff. The interface is pretty smooth to me, and it's got a few minutes of a learning curve, but once ou are there, it's pretty cool. I plan on getting a droid for my next phone, as soon as the droid pro drops in price.

[rarisgod]

Good stuff so far. I briefly used handcent, but I ended up preferring the simplicity of the default messaging app. ALl I miss is the quick reply.
I just started using K-9 email today, much better than the default email app (not gmail, gmail works nicely)

Mainly loving the Google integration, made my initial setup a breeze.

[Yerf Dog]

Originally Posted by rarisgod

Also can anyone recommend some good useful apps (not games)?

doubleTwist (for iPod users).

[Pilgrim]

I have a Droid HTC Evo - great phone.

My daughter's boyfriend is a real tech geek - gave her his iPhone and got a Droid. THAT is an endorsement!

[MJ5150]

I like my Droid better than my iPad. If someone made an Android tablet with more than four hours of battery life, I would have bought it.

I've never had any of the issues you have in the market, but I also know what I am looking for.

Like James, I use Launcher Pro. Great home screen replacement.

You should go ahead and root it, then put on a custom ROM.

-Mike

[NateS]

on my 4th android device so far, the mytouch 4g. I've had:
2 G1s
MyTouch 3g
MyTouch 4g

i love android, everything about it.