iPad Release Day

This is a nerd post.  Feel free to skip it if you’re not interested.  Not that you needed my permission.  Hah.

This morning, I got the notice that an update was available for my phone.  There were apparently some problems with the initial release of Android 2.1 on the Droid, so it took longer than expected to get it out to everyone.  I was getting a bit impatient, but found a couple of things to tide me over.

1. The Google Maps update from a few weeks ago turned on pinch and spread zoom functionality
2. Dolphin Browser has a lot better functionality compared to the default browser, including pinch and spread zoom, better tabbed browsing, things like that

Still, I was really excited about the update.  Why?  I’m not entirely sure.  I don’t even know what all is involved in the upgrade.  So I’m going to look it up on the web and detail my findings here.

Initial Reaction

The update notification was on my phone when I checked it this morning.  It installed really quickly (which is good, because we were getting ready to leave the house).  I setup a couple of live wallpapers and played with them.  They’re neat, but some can be really distracting and make the desktop a little hard to read.  Typing also seemed a bit easier.  More on this later, but I’m really excited about the possibilities that opens up.

Live Wallpapers

This is one of only 2 updates I could recall were part of 2.1.  The zen pond-and-leaf one is not touch-sensitive.  I thought touching it would create ripples.  The ripples happen automatically.  Maybe that was just a Nexus One feature?  Either way, I don’t really care.  I went through a couple of them and am currently on Maps.  It shows a google map in the background (map, satellite, terrain, with or without traffic, your choice).

Soft Keyboard / Typing

This is one thing I wasn’t expecting, but was desperately hoping for.  When I first got the phone, typing two or three letters would often bring up a suggested word that was 6 or 8 characters long.  This, to me, was mental, and it made typing very difficult.  So I turned it off.  The only thing it would correct after that change was contractions.  Cant would change to Can’t.  Canr would not change to anything.  Ok.  That sucks, but I can deal with it for now.

The update, though, has brought a new brightness to my day, though.  Simple typos, on words of the same length (canr = can’t) happen.  It doesn’t try to change it to cameraphone or something equally unlikely.  It’s actually SMARTER.  So it did turn autocorrect back on, but with the improved logic, I don’t object.  I will have to play with this more, but I think it’s probably the best of all the upgrades.

Gallery

The new Gallery app is prettier… and slower… and has pinch-spread zooming.  It has also integrated with Picasa web albums, so my online photos show up on in the gallery.  I presume it’s easier to upload albums as well, then.

Duds

• The Droid has 3 home screens.  Android 2.1 supports 5.  Android 2.1 for Droid supports 3.  That’s ok; more screens will just mean more places to lose things
• New App Drawer (the thing at the bottom) didn’t change at all.  The old one doesn’t bother me, though
• News and Weather app has gadgets, but they take up too much space.  Weatherbug is better.  The app itself features only tragic, horrifying news stories (probably not by design, hah) and has few options to customize it.  Stick with a URL shortcut to google reader and the weatherbug app.  BOOM
• Voice dialing is not mentioned anywhere that I can find.  This leads me to believe that it still isn’t possible.  Since third party apps (paid apps) can enable this functionality (which requires a hack to the Android OS itself, wtf), AND since CONSIDERABLY cheaper phones also have this functionality … I’m pissed.  Motorola … you suck.

So there you have it.  My upgrade experience in a nutshell.  Now go back to playing with your iPad.