Android 2.1

Android 2.1 has been out for 4 months and is already old-news (Since 2.2 is quickly popping up in leaks and rumored releases). For those on 1.6 though, a 2.1 update can't come fast enough. Since the Nexus One was the first device with 2.1, and since I had spent considerable time with Android 1.0, 1.5, and 1.6 on my G1, I wanted to highlight some of the improvements in 2.1, such as 5 Today Screen panels vs. 3, and substantial upgrades to the Gallery application.

Figure 9: The Gallery Application shows folders on my SD card (such as the ShootMe folder) and albums on Google's PicasaWeb Albums service)

Upon firing up the Gallery application, a pretty bland affair in 1.x, you may find you suddenly have albums even on a new phone with no pictures taken. These are pulled from your PicasaWeb Albums account, seamlessly (except for lag downloading high-res versions), and make for a great experience. You can also select photos from the phone and easily upload them to Picasa. Not only is this useful to get your phone-taken photos off the phone and onto your computer, it's also great for pictures you've downloaded to the phone (to take them to the desktop) and a myriad of other uses. One I found particularly useful was in conjunction with a program called ShootMe, which allows you to take screenshots by shaking your phone for a few seconds. These screenshots were saved to the ShootMe folder on my SD card, and I could easily upload them to Picasa using the Gallery application - and then drop them right into my reviews! If you were one of those who took Google up on an offer last year to expand your storage (for $50) and get a free Eye-Fi card (like I was), then you now have fairly unlimited photo storage accessible from your phone. Makes it easy to show off recent photos while on the go.

Another new feature in 2.x is the ability to sync multiple accounts together. We started to see this in 1.x, but 2.x shows off how flexible and extensible this synchronization can be. For starters, your Facebook contact information and photos can be easily sync'ed with your Google Contacts, keeping your friends' information up to date whenever they change it online. You can also sync a Microsoft Exchange account (selectively choosing mail, contacts, calendar, or all of the above). About the only improvement missing from 2.1 (which is rumored to be in 2.2) is an "Update All" button for marketplace updates. If you're a heavy app user, it's not uncommon to have 2-3 updates per day. Miss a few days and suddenly 15 apps need updating, and you're spending serious time tapping on each one. Hopefully though this will appear in 2.2 and save us all a lot of frustration!

GPS, WIFI, & Bluetooth

The wireless radios in the device are nothing too special - they work as expected. A few caveats though. First, the GPS acquire time is normally pretty fast, however, on occasion I've had to close an app that just won't get a signal lock and re-open it, only to have it acquire lightening fast. The WIFI radio works well, however, the network stack doesn't respond well to dropped packets. I found this out while visiting my in-laws: My Android phone and Macbook Pro were unable to use the wireless network most of the time, while Windows machines in the house seemed to have no problem. Finally figured out that the wireless router was dropping every 4-5th packet, and while this wasn't a big deal for the Windows networking stack (it apparently is more forgiving when it has to wait for the complete message), the Unix style stacks on the Android phone and the Macbook choked on it. So beware that the problems you may see with WIFI may not be your phone - it may be the router!

Lastly, the Bluetooth stack and software built into the OS work flawlessly 95% of the time. On rare occasions, I've found the Bluetooth settings for the car kit don't always pick up correctly when I dock, resulting in phone audio not going to the kit but remaining through the speaker. The docks (both car and desk) are great for streaming Bluetooth audio too, however, it is quite frustrating that if the device is streaming audio to the desktop dock, and is then removed from the dock (but still within range, 3-5 feet), the Bluetooth disconnects. You can manually connect it back (to be able to play music over the air), but in my mind, it should stay connected until it's out of signal range!

Marketplace Selections, Backup, & Recommendations

The Android Marketplace has a few special goodies for those running a Nexus One or other Android 2.1 OS (much to the chagrin of some of the other editors here that are on Android 1.6 as of this writing). Apps like Urbanspoon and the announced Sirius-XM App seemingly require the more recent libraries in 2.x. However, most apps you had on your old phone (if it was an Android, of course) will still be there on the Nexus One. Any Purchased apps can be re-downloaded without a problem, and apps can always be backed up using a program like ASTRO file manager or though a command-line script using the android debug bridge. In general, a few apps I'd recommend through the Marketplace would be BeyondPod (for podcast downloading) or Listen, CallTrack (to track your incoming and outgoing calls on a google calendar), Evernote, Connectbot (to connect to Unix servers), Key Ring (for loyalty cards), Last.fm, LastPass, PicSay, and for any Star Trek geeks, the Tricorder app is pretty neat!