HTC Droid Eris and Android in General

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.

Modern Warfare 2?

Why yes I bought the much anticipated sequel to Call of Duty Modern Warfare. And yes I already spent my entire weekend playing it! In my opinion, the game is really good. It's a well deserved sequel, providing an amazing gaming experience. Online multi-player mode is one of the best that you can have out there. I have it for the 360, so playing it on live is fantastic! I've also had plenty of time playing it for the ps3 last week and have to say the online multi-player and co-op special ops game is pretty amazing as well. The story mode on the game is also pretty interesting to say, so you don't feel like all you are really doing is shooting those shooting at you. You feel more of the game play and the story. I am still nowhere near completing campaign mode, instead I have been playing special ops with random people online and also with my friends. There is no better way to play FPS' than with your best friends or other people online. As long as you are not playing by yourself. For the PC however, MW2 is best played through LAN seeing as there are no dedicated servers as there are for the ps3 and the 360. So, in the end I give Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 a 5/5 stars when played on consoles, and 3/5 when played on the PC for lack of server stability for online multi-player gaming.

Update on Google Wave

Okay guys, so Google Wave. Lets discuss. Google Wave is as said by Google "email made in the 21st century". I enjoy it. I love using it. It's a great way to collaborate about anything with anyone connected with Google Wave. Well, at the moment Google Wave is in private beta, and mainly the people who have Google Wave accounts are tech enthusiasts or someone in that general field. Basically what I am trying to say is that mostly it has smart people with similar interests. The general public does not have access to it yet, therefore spammers and trollers don't have access to mess it up right now. Now, that aside i'll tell you some of my experiences of using Google Wave.

When I first used Wave, I searched for a public wave that was discussing the tv show Heroes. We literally spent the whole episode with out side commentary. We asked questions about the show, answered each others questions, made predictions about the episode. We did it all. And it pretty much reminded me as if we were talking in a forums about the show. Only we did it in real time. We made a new wave for the next episode and low and behold when the next episode came out we all discussed there again. Already I liked Wave. Next I used Wave to find other people who use the Steam game client for PC games. I found a whole list of waves but found one where everyone was sharing Steam ID's. Let's just say I have a whole new list of friends on Steam to play games with. I've used Wave to talk to classmates about project assignments, sharing images across multiple computers, threading whole conversations and sharing it with others, even comparing school schedules.

I used Wave most recently to set up dates with my friends who are coming back for thanksgiving vacation from college. We set up what we are going to do, what places, shared links to things happening that day, and even added other people to the wave that we knew who we thought would be interesting if they came along.

Google Wave is going to be a sure big hit when it finally opens to the public. My only concerns is how spammers will attack it, and also how it would be once its flooded by other users. Only time will tell but I know this, I love Google Wave and how easy it makes communicating. Have I mentioned that Google is actually listening to the developers? We wanted an easier way to view public waves without being placed in it automatically, and look at what they did, they added a follow/unfollow button. Thanks Google!

Sorry!! :[

I know i've been negectful, and I know that since getting Google Wave I haven't posted anything new, but in my defense, I finished installing Borderlands and have been hooked for a few days :] So I WILL be updating, with news about Google Wave as soon as I can, tomorrow morning I have Economics so I should do a quick review then :] It seems I do most of my blogging during my economics class, but I can't help it if it's boring.

Google Wave

Guess who JUST got an account? :D