This new Android G1 is a bit of a culture shock, but it is just old enough to have drifted past shiny and into normal. I am much better at the basic interactions, relying most heavily on the drag-tap screen touches and typing. While nothing about the phone has had a red pill effect on my life, I have become more aware of how the Android does and does not fit into my routine.
Phone home
The best feature of this smartphone may be the phone. On past phones, I preferred the simplest and least intrusive alert. The Android doesn’t come with that option, so I chose the least offensive (“Flutey Phone”). I don’t get many incoming calls, so the ones that do arrive surprise me with the ringtone. For the calls I do get, the quality of the sound is surprisingly clear. The screen-based interface for the numeric keypad offers large buttons that help prevent against mis-dialing. The pricetag is a bit high to use an Android only as a phone, but the experience making and receiving calls is first-rate.
Tweet on the go
I am a big consumer of Twitter, the microblogging channel that has grown to more than 6 million users in two years. If there was any feature I was looking forward to using, it was the ability to download an application to allow me to stay connected to the status updates provided by my friends. Without the smartphone, I often left my laptop open to allow the wireless connection to continue to search for tweets while I was away. I would make a habit of checking the recent tweets as the first activity after signing in. The Android, I had hoped, would allow me to change some of that by offloading those activities to the smartphone.
It is true that my biggest use of the Android is to check for Twitter updates. Even following almost 600 people—a number that has increased by about 150 since getting the phone—this is not a time-consuming activity. I pay most attention to my smartphone on the 20-minute bus ride to and from campus, and it only takes a few minutes to catch up on Twitter. The keypad hidden behind the screen is larger than other smartphones and much easier to use than a numeric keypad when typing tweets.
There is an issue of disconnected experiences, though, when shifting between devices. It is great that I can catch up on tweets with my Android, but my laptop doesn’t know this. It continues to collect or retrieve the same information, as if I didn’t have mobile access. This creates a redundant action of clearing tweets, now a little more difficult since I have to mentally match up where I left off on the phone with what is considered new by the laptop. The tools on the Android (I have used twindroid, twitta, AndTweet, and TwitterRide) are also not as sophisticated as Twitterrific, my desktop client, in providing cues about replies and context.
Web for questions
The mobile web experience has been underwhelming. Not simply because of the speed issues with a slower network (truthfully, it’s not that bad) or because of the limitations smartphones experience surfing to the “normal” web (it appears impossible to follow someone on Twitter using the mobile web). The mobile web has been underwhelming because there just isn’t much cause to use it.
When I am sitting on a bus, I may have access to the Web but not to the supporting documents and applications I use with most of my web searches. I am unlikely to initiate a research session, for example, nor will I make use of cloud computing applications, like Google Docs, that rely on a lot of typing (the smartphone keypad is nice, but no keyboard). That leaves me with three primary uses of the Web:
- Visit the Bookmarks—I installed Opera’s mini browser, based on the recommendations of others. It took a while to get to a page, after logging into one of my frequently visited communities, and bookmark it. Once I did, I realized how dependent that site was on javascript and pop-up windows, two things that don’t work well/at all on the mobile web browser. The number of daily-routine web sites I visit all suffer from this malady, rendering the bookmarking a bit worthless without a useful mobile site to back it up.
- Respond to Link Prompt—I receive most of my new link information through Twitter, as well as email notifications from Facebook, Twine and some google groups. I also make use of SocialBrowse, a Firefox browser plug-in that allows me to recommend and visit interesting web pages. I have found that I instinctively click on some links from Twindroid, which quite easily opens up a new mobile web browser window. The reading experience, however, is often lacking, especially when the links lead to Flash or other media. Besides, most of the links I would be inclined to click are ones that might be of interest to bookmark or process on my desktop. I’m becoming aware of a disincentive to click on them through the phone, if only to keep me interested in them later (which of course means reviewing the same tweets I just read).
- Answer a Question—This is the one use of mobile web that is consistently vital. There are many times throughout a given day when I am encountered with a question that needs or even demands a quick response. Without access to web searches, the only way to get the answers is through proxy, by asking nearby people or using the phone to request information retrieval. The times when the mobile web has been most valuable, regardless of the quality of the search experience, has been when these questions have popped up without access to a laptop.
Revisiting old routines
I don’t use Facebook much anymore. My use was always limited to the email notifications my once active and connected profile page prompts from others. When I started synchronizing Twitter with Facebook status updates, a new level of activity was prompted, again by others. I was only responding to things other people did. Since my Twitter consumption doesn’t consume much time on the bus, I downloaded a mediocre Facebook application to help me get connected. Although the quality of the application continues to be a barrier, I am using my down time on the bus looking at the recent activities of others.
I can see a similar change occurring with my use of Google Reader, one of the pre-installed apps on the Android. I primarily use Snackr, an excellent scrolling desktop application, to keep track of RSS articles, all but abandoning Reader several months ago. With NewsRob, a Google Reader proxy, I now have access to the recent articles that surface. Particularly because this is a different channel than Twitter, I might be more inclined to spend my time reading these interesting posts during my ride home.
Recharging
I have been amazed by how long the battery lasts on the Android. Granted, the more I use the device, for phone calls or data, the shorter the life. It has enough juice, though, to last the day after an overnight charging. Because it has to live at night outside of the backpack I carry as a mobile office, there is also a greater chance it will be left behind. With my previous phone, charging happened once every few days, sometimes just once a week. It was always with me.
Tags: Android G1, Google, Mobile Web, new, routines, smartphone, texting, Twitter