This is too funny!!!

Sarah Palin’s Facebook page

I can’t wait to get this!

I watched the Sarah Palin interview last night, and my first reaction was that her’s and Charlie Gibson’s feet were too close to one another. It made me feel uncomfortable. Have you ever been in a meeting and your foot and the foot of the person sitting across from you are almost touching? And you realize that and then kind of pull back a little, and for the next few minutes are bending your ankle awkwardly so as to not make contact? That’s what I was thinking about.

A few of my friends have an iPhone, and they all really like it. I think it’s a really cool phone. If the iPhone were available on T-Mobile (the carrier we use) I would have probably gotten it. But, switching to AT&T is a hassle since we’d have to get out of our contract. Plus, we are on a family plan with four phones. Well, when I heard about Google’s Android initiative last year, I was really excited. It’s an open-source platform for mobile devices. I don’t know much about the technical details, but I am thinking (hoping) that it is highly customizable. I guess it would have to be, since Android will be used on many different kinds of phones with differing hardware and design. I want Android to be so versatile that you, as a user, can easily install (and uninstall) small hacks and fun apps. I was intrigued by the OpenMoko project as well, which seems to be a similar idea, but that appears to not have as much backing behind it. What’s neat about OpenMoko is that the entire platform is open. That includes hardware. I guess that means you can add hardware modules as well as software.

Some critics of the Android platform have said that the market is lukewarm towards it, and while this may be true, I doubt it will stay like that for long. Google is of course a powerhouse, so I’d expect developers to start churning out apps and utilities quickly after more devices are available. I think a lot of developers are attracted to the open aspect of it, sort of like how the Linux community (I’m assuming) has become strong and active. I’d love to see a vid player with DivX support so I can watch dorama over our home WiFi network. That would be awesome!

I watched a couple Android demos on YouTube, and it looks very cool. I’m not sure if it is better than the iPhone interface, but it’s definitely not far behind. The interface style looks pretty slick and attractive. The icons are well-designed and colorful. I guess a lot has to do with the quality of the screen on the device, but that is part of the attraction of Android. There will be many choices of phones that will be using it, so you can take your pick on what looks good to you. I like the customizable desktop(s), where you can drag things like browser shortcuts, individual contacts, a photo, etc. I can see myself making a “My Desktop” which has a couple phone numbers I call regularly, a notes shortcut, and some Internet shortcuts. The Google maps look really nice, and the integrated “street-view” is really sweet. The touchscreen on the demo unit didn’t seem to be multi-touch, like the iPhone, so it’s not as neat, but the way they handle zooming into webpages looks easy to use. I can see Android having multi-touch support for phones that have the hardware.

As far as release date, it looks like the first Android-based phone will be out either this month or next, and the first carrier will be T-Mobile! The model that will be running Android is the HTC “Dream”, and it has a nice, wide touchscreen. It’s rumored to have an intro price of $150 for the first week. From the photos that I’ve seen I think it looks pretty cool. It can’t match the iPhone in its elegance or simplicity, but it seems like it might be easier to use because the screen can slide up to reveal a real keyboard. The specs look pretty impressive too. In addition to the features you’d expect, it’s also got WiFi, GPS, a micro-sd memory card slot (I’d love to add a big card for music!) and can play back video in H.264. I think the camera is 3MP, which is not bad.

Like I mentioned before, I am hoping a lot of extra functionality and add-ons will be available for it, like Divx support, local network browsing support, cool apps to post to Twitter/Plurk, and nice interfaces for the built-in IM protocols (Adium for Android, please!). There’s been talk that the new Chrome browser will be integrated into Android, which would seem natural. I am hoping that accessing Google Docs will be easy to do.

There isn’t any news yet about any special pricing for an Android-specific data plan. The normal T-Mobile unlimited Internet plan is something like $20 extra tacked onto whatever voice plan you have. Also, the phone is supposed to run at 3G speeds, but I read that T-Mobile’s 3G network coverage is not so extensive. I guess we will find out!

I am a little apprehensive about buying a phone that is the first model, since I am sure there are going to be tons of bugs and quirks. But I am hoping that the open nature of the OS will make it easy to apply updates, sort of like how my Linux (Ubuntu) laptop gets updated a few times a week. That brings up the question of updates. I am hoping that I won’t have to go through T-mobile to do this. Some kind of basic syncing software would be preferred. Will this be provided by HTC? Will apps be added from the computer or directly over the network? It’s going to be interesting to see how this works.

The HTC “Dream” that has been shown in some photos looks ok. It’s white and is very simple, but I think I’d rather have a black version. Hopefully they will intro with a few different colors. I know Mariko want’s a pink phone! The Dream is a little longer than the iPhone, and thicker too. That’s a little lame because I am so used to a small phone that can fit in the coin pocket of my jeans. I’m not sure how I will carry this phone around, but I guess just put it in my front pocket while out and about, and then keep it on the desk while at work.

Pic above from AndroidCommunity.com

Got a new (refurb) Sansa Clip 2GB for $29 the other day. It’s a pretty good mp3 player. I am planning to use it when I go running. I really like it because the sound quality is excellent. I think it sounds better than my 30GB iPod. The FM tuner is pretty cool too, in fact I am listening to NPR on it right now. I just wish it had an AM tuner as well.

Pros: Small, clip for exercise, sharp and bright display, excellent sound quality, FM radio, voice recording

Cons: Syncing with WMP is sucky, auto-playlists don’t show up in menu (regular playlists do), no AM radio

Yes, it’s an older clip, but I just love it, especially the last three seconds.