So I’ve changed browser from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome. This is a big deal for me – I’ve been a Mozilla user for years now, and I still think they do great work. However, there are a few big advantages in Chrome for me:
1. It’s quicker.
2. It’s Webkit based, so it helps when working a lot with mobile Webkit stuff
3. My phone runs Webkit
4. The release of 2.2 includes some cool stuff for “cloud-to-device” work, and I suspect a chunk of that will be in Chrome in the near future.
5. The developer stuff is just a bit smoother and neater than firebug
I’m now pretty much a Google boy – I use Google Mail and Calendar, and I have a Google phone, which integrates everything nicely together. Talking of the Desire, I picked up a nasty bug (not sure of the source) which caused the HTC Sense Launcher to repeatedly die, which required a complete wipe of the phone. Luckily, all the magic backup stuff kicked in, and the only stuff I really lost was the connections between my phone, google and facebook contacts, which only took about 30 minutes to restore. (I do really need to sort through my contacts and cut them down – a lot of them are horribly duplicated, and my first phone couldn’t store multiple numbers for a single person, so I have loads of entries for all the different numbers and stuff).
Other than that problem, the Desire is a fantastic phone. I’m enjoying having a “smart phone”, and I suspect that by not having previously had an iPhone is a bit of an advantage. I don’t particularly feel any iPhone envy, and while I appreciate the appeal of an iPhone and the way that Apple handles it, I’m still a big fan of the open nature of Android. While it leads to a proliferation of crap available for the phone, I do believe in the long run it will increase the potential and quality. (Much like the internet). And the price was right.
Oh, and I can’t wait for 2.2 to arrive for my phone – latest news slates it for June 23rd.
mrBen

