It boggles my mind since the iPhone came out first, controls its own hardware, and has such a large and vocal user base. Android sputtered out of the gate, and has to deal with wildly different hardware specs and had a lot of catching up to do.

Is it the iPhone’s Kryptonite?

So exactly why should you be looking at Droid phones when the iPhone 4.0 is just around the corner? From Gizmodo on yesterday’s announcement (excerpts). It’s all about the Android 2.2 software, also known as Froyo.

- Froyo lets you turn your phone into a hotspot—which means it can be your wireless internet for your wi-fi devices, including friends around you, your iPad, or even your laptop.

- 5X faster processing than the previous version of Android (2.1..what’s on phones now) and the fastest mobile web browser in existence. iPhone is lucky to double their speed with each new release.

- it runs Flash. Whether or not it runs it well is TBD (supposedly pretty decent) but Apple has decided the internet will be filled with little question mark boxes. (as Google put it “We discovered something cool: It’s called the internet.”)

- Downloading music or apps on your computer, then synching with a cable. Nope. Over the Air (OTA) synching to your phone. Want long time.

- A variety of other tweaks and fixes meshing your browser and other native apps (like camera) and more usability settings, etc.

- If you have a Droid phone (at least most newer ones) you’ll just upgrade and get all these features in a few weeks or a few months.

- full details at Gizmodo. also check out Google is Leapfrogging Apple

Hey, iPhone’s got multitasking, wallpaper, and folders coming. Oh wait, those were in Google’s last version already.

Sigh. We’ll see. I hope all those new features brick everyone’s phone

At the end of the day when I played with the Android phones, though, something just didn’t seem as good. At first it was hard to put my finger on it, then I realized that’s exactly what it was….putting my finger on it.

Today, a product development firm tested the touchscreen capabilities of all these devices and found the iPhone interface to still be the most responsive and superior of them all. Jump to the link to read the methodology, but it’s a very simple test of trying to draw a series of straight lines on the phone.

In other news, the launch of Nexus One has been a major headache for users, who flooded the Google forums with problems related to phone software/3G connection, and found themselves receiving pretty poor service.

Google’s Nexus One (on T-Mobile) support forums have been flooded with anecdotes about the phone’s poor 3G connectivity, so one user decided to follow up with some reasonably scientific tests. The conclusion? The Nexus One is kind of terrible at basic cellphonery! – Read the full article at Gizmodo

First, a few answers to the basics since this thing was rumored a bit, but sorta just popped up out of nowhere. Early hands-on reviews later in the post.

1) Where can I buy it?

Google’s got a new online store to purchase directly. You can buy it today on T-Mobile for $180 with a 2-year contract. Or you can buy it unlocked, without any service, for $530.

2) T-Mobile? Don’t they suck? What about Verizon?

Yes, T-Mobile sucks if you live anywhere you can’t see an 8 story building on the horizon. Verizon is getting one in a few months, so it’d be worth comparing to the Motorola Droid, their other Android phone, if you’re in the market. They are a bit different.

And you’ll be able to get it to use on AT&T. One minor issue though – it won’t work with their 3G signal, just the EDGE 2G. No biggie, my iPhone hardly works with 3G either most of the time.

Does it have a slide out keyboard like Motorola Droid? Please?!

Nope. And even though it’s all touch screen, it still doesn’t offer multi-touch.

So tell me a little about Android 2.1 WTF is .1 about it?

It’s like the operating system on the Moto Droid on Red Bull (not the sugar-free kind). From Gizmodo.

You have things like five screens for homescreen panels and Live Wallpapers, which are basically backgrounds you can interact with.

A 3D photogallery, which pulls visual tricks like having photos zoom out when you tap an album, and load on a 3D plane when you move the phone around. And, galleries are now background-synced to Picasa.

Voice is the key feature. Every text field is voice enabled, so you basically never have to type anything.

Other than that, the whole 3D framework is faster and fancier..better app launchers, backgrounds, faster games and most importantly — a lag-free performance.

Updated: Why is there a Trackball? Isn’t it touch screen?
When I first wrote this post, I couldn’t find anything on what the purpose of the trackball on this was. I recently found my answer, still doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The trackball is basically useless—you’ll only use it for its color-based notifications that tell you that you have a new email, text message or missed call without having to turn on the screen. As for using it as a scrolling device, the fact that scrolling around the OS or a webpage gives you inconsistent results depending on what “element” of the screen you land on means the ball is essentially useless for navigation. However, you will have to use it for text selection, because you can’t hold your finger down to move the cursor—you have to use the ball to navigate to exactly where you want.

Some specs please.

A very speedy 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (faster than iPhone), with a 3.7-inch, 480×800 AMOLED screen and a super-slim overall design. Slightly thinner and lighter than the iPhone. Not as smooth as the iPhone.

5 megapixel camera with an LED flash—it also shoots MPEG-4 video with one-click YouTube upload. Also has Wireless N Wi-Fi (that’s the faster one).

The trackball’s got a multicolor LED for different notifications, and of course it’s got a compass, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, two mics for “active noise suppression,” light and proximity sensors, and an accelerometer onboard.

The 1400mAH battery promises 5 hours of 3G browsing and 7 hours of 3G talk time.

The Reviews

The Good (check out Gizmodo’s very positive hands-on review)

Check out Engadget’s mostly enthusiastic and overly long review here.

….the Nexus One is astonishingly faster than the Droid. The speed dominance was most evident when we compared the loading of webpages, but even when you’re just scrolling around, launching apps and moving about the OS, you could tell that there’s a beefier brain inside the N1.

….The 5-megapixel camera is nice, and the flash works well enough for a flash on a phone, but it’s not spectacular,

….There’s no multitouch in the browser or in the map, but I think at this point that’s more of a legal consideration than a technical one,

…..If Google’s planning on releasing this phone as their official Google phone, it’ll certify them as the premium Android phone brand out there right now. Even though it doesn’t have a hardware keyboard, it basically beats the hell out of the Droid in every single task that we threw at it.

More? Google and Adobe bringing Flash 10 to the Android. Here’s a demo.

The Bad (see the review over at Fox News hands on).

……Yet despite the hype, the Nexus One is hardly as ground-breaking as the iPhone. Apple’s entry in turned the the cell phone market on its ear, highlighting how intuitive and visually dynamic a cell phone can be. Apple later announced the App Store, transforming the cell phone from a communication device into a do-everything portable computer.

So is it an iPhone killer? Seems like every time this question is asked it’s an almost yes..but never does. Time will tell..but they better hurry because I am thinking this summer’s iPhone may kill whatever that ends up being.

Update – Check out the Best Smartphones on any network post at Gizmodo. Has the iPhone as the tops of all, and Droid comes in second of any smartphone on any network.

Only got to test for about half an hour, but there were a few key functions I was curious about:

1) Hardware – the Droid hardware is pretty solid, and sized well. The slide out keyboard (a big benefit for me) seemed a little hard to use, though. Also, it was noted that there are some quirks with using the screen keyboard vs. the physical keyboard that were aggravating. At the end of the day, it’s Motorola quality (a bit better though than usual) and the iPhone is Apple quality and precision.

2) Touchscreen – The Touchscreen wasn’t as smooth as the iPhone, but it generally did the trick. It didn’t feature multi-touch, though it did have a way around that. Overall the iPhone 3GS runs a lot smoother navigating.

3) OS – the interface on the Droid is much rougher than the iPhones. This means a lot more options (like your own backgrounds and settings), but also a more rough user experience. The icons don’t look good, and the responsiveness is a little slower. The iPhone is much sleeker, but in options the Android OS wins out. A draw here.

4) Browser – the Droid browser in some quick tests was much slower and didn’t render pages as well. Much prefer Safari.

5) Music – Not wanting to give up iTunes, I checked out the Droid music player. Overall not as smooth as iTunes, but passable. Also, Amazon Mp3 buying is pretty good, though not the experience of the mobile iTunes store.

6) Other – The cell service was clearly better on the Droid, the battery seemed pretty good, and multitasking was very cool. The App store left a lot to be desired, but it is young and will probably improve. Google Navigation for the Droid is a major feature, and gives awesome turn-by-turn direction, even using voice, and puts to shame the Google Maps for the iPhone. Android Apps are open and will become awesome (pick your own touch keyboard style)…though currently iPhone is the leader here.

Multitasking is the main feature that would turn me to the Droid side, but today I read that the iPhone does it just fine, they just don’t let you. Like MMS was.

So my verdict – the Droid is no iPhone killer, but Verizon is an AT&T killer, and surprisingly, Apple holds back the iPhone almost as much as AT&T with their restrictive app features and restricted use of the phone hardware. If you have the iPhone, don’t switch yet, if you are in the middle of choosing, take a long hard look at Droid.

This video demonstrates a Jailbroken iPhone app that backgrounds apps. First is the iPhone 3G, then the 3GS. He backgrounds like 10 apps without noticeable slowdown.