First of all, I promise you, I’m the biggest Android fan on the planet. You only have to look at the other stuff I’ve written, and my Twitter feed to see how much I love the platform and the handsets.

When it comes to stability, I stand by my comments. I use a full production Magic – I’ve had about three or four different handsets since it launched. All, as far as I know, have been regular production models. On the Magic, I have a LOT of app crashes, and quite a few problems with Android services. I know ChompSMS is causing some problems, Twidroid is a resource hog and Google Listen causes a fair share of problems.

On the subject of speed, I use a task manager, and I can see that a lot of the time, the processor is maxed out with just a few apps open. I do use things like Roadsync, which runs all the time, but even so, there is a lot of lag. I should also point out that, on the Hero I have at the moment, there are NO problems with speed. I still think the Magic is an under-speced phone, especially the UK variant.

The lack of uniformity is a problem, mostly with the way that different apps handle certain events. For example, how do you exit a Google app? Backing out to the home screen will usually shut an application down, but not always. Sometimes apps don’t exit, and Google REFUSES to add an “exit” button to the menu. Email access is good, but look at how the Palm Pre handles it, you get one app that can merge your separate accounts into an easy-to-manage app. It’s slick. The Pre also has sub-folder support in Exchange, which the HTC and Roadsync apps DON’T in Android — not sure why, I do realise it’s not Android’s fault though.

The too geeky/not geeky enough points are, I admit, contradictory. But, that said, I’d argue that if it’s a geek phone, then it should be open to allow root access. If it’s a phone for normal folk, then I think it should be easier to use, with less weird error messages and more unified support for email and stuff like that.

Loved reading your response, thanks for taking the time to put your rational thoughts down on your blog.

No white headphones and birckenstocks for me, just give me location aware notifications and always availability.