This was originally posted around June 5th.
So, my Rogers 3 year contact on my older phone has expired. I’ve been watching the latest phones over the last few months to see which one I should get.
Back in April when I started looking, there were really only two phones available in Canada that interested me. The HTC Touch Pro and the Samsung Omnia. The Omnia however was still on the way though and not for sale yet. Both of these phones were based on Windows Mobile 6.1. And both were supplied by Telus and Bell, not Rogers. Rogers didn’t seem to have anything as good. Blackberry is not an option for me. Telus and Bell’s data plans
The other choice was to wait and see if Apple was going to release a new iPhone this year. There were rumors posted about a new phone and what features it might have. The new OS 3.0 was just announced and it sounded like it was going to bring some nice options to the system. I decided to wait until at least June to see what was coming. The last iPhone came out in June.
Then May came and the Omnia was released. I’ve been watching the conversations on Howard Forums. Some people liked them, some didn’t. The Omnia has a 5mp camera, FM radio, WM 6.1, and a variety of other things. The HTC Touch Pro has a physical keyboard and a 3.2mp camera. Other than that, it’s comparable to the Omnia.
But something also happened in May. Rogers all of a sudden announced they were going to release two new smart phones on June 2nd. The HTC Dream and HTC Magic. Both of these phones are based on Google’s Android operating system. The Dream has been out in the US for about 6 months already and has quite a following. Google has updated Android to the next version (1.5) and Rogers is releasing both phones with the new OS. So the only real difference is that the Dream has a physical keyboard whereas the Magic has a software keyboard.
The rumors were getting clearer on the iPhone though so waiting was still the logical choice. The rumors were a 3mp camera, 32gb memory, os 3.0, better battery life, stereo Bluetooth, glowing apple icon on the back.
At this point, I’ve already decided against the Touch Pro and Omnia. I was comparing the iPhone to the Windows Mobile platforms. The big difference I found was that iPhone apps are between free and $9.99 on average. Whereas Windows Mobile apps are usually $19.99 and up at most stores. That’s a big price difference!
Now that Android is in the picture, I was interested in what apps the Android platform would bring to the table. The online site didn’t list many more than about 50 apps. Though advertisements stated more than 4000 available.
Now, I already own an iPod Touch 32GB. I’ve been using this excellent device for just over a year. Given the excellent battery life on it and the ability to run all the same apps as the iPhone ties into the decision. If I get an iPhone, then I’d have two devices that had the exact same features. Obviously, the Touch would sit in the drawer instead of being used. The only reason to use the Touch would be for the longer battery life if I went into the office and didn’t want to drain the phone itself.
I think it was this last point that helped me make my decision on June 3. I went into Rogers and bought myself an HTC Magic. I looked at the Dream and didn’t like the bulk that the physical keyboard added to the phone. Upon using the Magic though for some time, I think it might have been useful.
One really nice thing Rogers did though was they brought back the 6GB for $30 data plan that they came out with last year with the iPhone. That’s actually better than the Telus and Bell unlimited plans since those actually cap at 5GB. Roger’s normal data plan was for 500MB and 200 minutes of voice for $45. I’m paying more for this data plan but I do have a lower voice plan that suits me.
First thing I found was that the Android did have thousands of applications. And every single one of them was free! I guess I don’t have access to the paid applications yet. I’ll have to figure that out some day. I have signed up with Google Checkout.
I turned on the Wi-Fi and connected it flawlessly to my home network. I then downloaded a whole bunch of applications directly on the phone to play with. It was working very well!
Then, the announcement came out that Apple was going to talk about some new hardware on June 8! That was sooner than everyone was expecting. Did I make a bad choice? June 8th finally came and after 40 minutes of blathering about the 3.0 OS, they finally got to the new phone. Most rumors were true. 3.0mp camera, compass, video recording, 32GB memory, twice as fast, stereo Bluetooth support. Plus some voice control support for many parts of the phone.
Funny thing though as they listed off the features, I compared them to my Magic and was basically saying check, check, check, …
My phone has a 3.2mp camera, compass, video recording, fast enough, Bluetooth support. Everything the iPhone just got was already in my phone! That made me feel a lot better!
There are many advantages to my phone though I think.
- Google integration is complete. GMail, Contacts, and Calendar sync directly over the internet to my accounts on Google. I don’t have to use ActiveSync or go through the iTunes software to sync the calendar and contacts. Having contacts sync up is a huge benefit. I can keep all my personal contacts on the web and the phone will use them to email or phone them.
- Google Maps works very well and I can locate myself via cell tower or GPS.
- Apps that I paid for on the Touch had free equivalents on Android.
- Twitter clients linked in well with the notifications
Some disadvantages though.
- Battery life is very short. I have to charge it daily. I have found though that if I keep WIFI disabled, the battery life extends to 3 or more days.
- The soft keyboard is not as easy to type on as the iPod Touch keyboard.
- The headphone jack requires a special mini USB connector but the sound is awesome.
I found one nifty application that counts how much data usage I’ve been using. I turned off the WIFI and watched how much data usage I was using over the Rogers network. SHOCK! About 1.25MB a day just doing background updates of email and Twitter. There’s no way in hell that I’ll ever use 6GB in a month, let alone the 500MB that Rogers was going to give me. I think my most active day only added up to about 4MB. I’ve only used 23MB in the last two weeks. What’s very odd, is that Rogers went from the worst plan to the best plan…
Some other things I like are the integration. I used the browser to load up canada411.com to look up a name. Then I just selected the displayed phone number and I was sent directly to the phone dialer with the number displayed. Very cool!
So, I am happy with the Magic. I’m not mad that I didn’t wait for the iPhone. The Magic is slightly smaller and easier to fit in the hand. I have the selection of all the Android applications on the Magic, and all the iPhone apps on my iPod Touch. Best of both worlds. I can use the Touch with all its music, videos, podcasts, and games, and keep my phone with a full battery.
More on the phone later.