Okay so a few weeks ago, Mid December, I bought myself the HTC Droid Eris for Verizon Wireless as per my every two year upgrade. The HTC Droid Eris comes with Android 1.5 firmware, and comes packed with HTC's Sense UI skin built over the Android OS. And that right there, is the one reason why I disliked the Eris. Sense UI is cool because there are different widgets available and you can have up to 7 customizable home screens. That's cool, I agree, but the reason that I wanted an Android device was not for the skins and all the home screens that you can customize on the Eris, but I don't want that. I want the look and feel of the Android system. I prefer the menu layout on the Android OS rather than the way the Sense UI has it. It just feels right to me.
Another reason why I dislike having a skin over my OS, is that unless that skin has been updated to match the upgraded OS, there won't be a firmware upgrade to the phone. Right now the highest Android OS on the market is 2.1 with the Nexus One, and no one is saying that the Eris can handle the upgrade because I know there are certain hardware limitations, but I would like to have at least Android 2.0 like the Motorola Droid. The Droid has a much better and cleaner interface I must say. I was truly awestruck at the features the 2.0 firmware brought out, such as Google Maps turn by turn navigation. I also really liked the lock-screen interface on the Droid, allowing you to swipe left for silence mode and then swipe right for unlocking. I just like the 2.0 firmware as it brings out more of the phones potential.
Android marketplace is nothing like the Iphones appstore. There aren't nearly as many apps on the Android marketplace that are a must have like there is for the App Store on the Iphone. When I had an IPhone and an Ipod Touch, I found myself with 5-6 pages of apps downloaded from the App Store, which ranged from games to apps for productivity and social networking. More companies are making applications for the App Store, such as Aol, which made their own AIM app for the app store but have yet to make one for the Android platform, with user relying on 3rd part apps for access. That's one thing however, that the Android Marketplace has over the App Store. The supreme censorship that Apple maintains over the App Store, not allowing apps into the App Store for the most mundane of reasons, sometimes not even elaborating as to why they haven't allowed it access, coughcough google voice coughcough, is not on the Android marketplace. Pretty much any application that a user makes that can change anything on the phone with complete access to most functionality on the phone can be downloaded via the marketplace.
I have applications that allow me to change the functionality of my phone, like the homescreens, one app to control the ringers, one app to control the web browsing experience, another app to change phone calls. You can have applications that take place over the stock apps such as another application for sending sms and mms, another applications to browse the web, and another applications to place phone calls. Android is an open platform, not like the IPhone. I think this is why I love the Android OS more than the IPhone. Its more open source, and the possibilities of the applications are endless.
