Google Android first impressions, from an iPhone fan

Sprint was nice enough to loan me an HTC EVO 4G running Android for a few weeks, so I could compare it to the iPhone 4. I put aside my iPhone, which has been my faithful companion for three years, to give the new kid a try.

I spent a few hours with it, here are some first impressions:

Taking it out of the box, my first thought was, man, this thing is huge. You don't want a holster to hang this from your belt, you'll need to drag it around in a wheelbarrow.

However, when you pick the EVO up it endears itself to you. I'm a big believer that choosing a mobile device isn't just a rational choice -- a matter of speeds and feeds. The choice is also emotional. Do you like using the device? Does it feel good? Do you enjoy using it? And the answer to those questions with EVO is: Yes. It's a nice piece of kit.

And it's really not all that big. But it's startling at first.

Getting started

When you start up the EVO for the first time, a nice wizard walks you through configuration. Right away, you're asked to log you in to your Google account, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter. This is a phone designed for social media addicts. As a social media addict myself, I love it.

I use Google for my primary e-mail, and many other services, so of course I love the Google integration.

I use Google Voice as my primary phone number, so EVO's Google Voice integration is great for me. You can configure EVO so that, when you dial a call from the phone, it uses your Google Voice number to dial. That's much better than the Voice integration on the iPhone. Apple blocked the Google Voice app from the iPhone, so Google instead came out with a Web-based version of Google Voice. The Web app is pretty slick, but not as clean as the native implementation on the EVO.

The startup screen has too many applications pre-installed, the volume of choice is overwhelming and confusing. It's like buying a Windows PC, with a whole lot of crap pre-installed. There's a PDF Viewer, QuickOffice, something called Friend Stream. It's too much clutter. I prefer the iPhone way -- give me a few, basic apps to start, and let me download the rest as I need them.

Despite the clutter, I found myself having to run to the app store (it's called the "Marketplace" on EVO) to download a couple of essential apps. Google Voice isn't pre-installed by default, which I found a bit confusing at first because EVO advocates praise Google Voice integration as one of its virtues. But it was easy enough to download. I had some problems getting it configured correctly at first -- I accidentally logged it into the wrong Google account -- but I got that straightened out soon enough, and got Google voice up and running.

Lovely home screen

I love the home screen, with its big clock, weather report, and the little box for most-used apps. When I started the phone up on Saturday, a field of wispy clouds onscreen parted to show me the home display. Nice!

Web browsing seemed inferior to the iPhone I'm used to. I need to look into that more.

Likewise, text input seemed clumsier on the EVO than on the iPhone. But that's using the native keyboard. You can choose your own text input method on the EVO -- something you can't do on the iPhone -- and I really like Swype a lot. (Sign up for the Android Swype beta here.)

Voice recognition is integrated everywhere into Android. You can use it to dictate anywhere you type text, such as Web forms or tweets. I found voice recognition to be mediocre at best.

Battery woes

Battery life is a problem. On Saturday, it ran down after a few hours of heavy use. Even my iPhone does better than that and iPhones have notoriously poor battery life.

I gave the EVO a full charge overnight, then unplugged it and left it sitting on my desk unused all day. It was dead in less than nine hours. That means if you put it in your pocket with a full charge at 7:30 in the morning, it will be dead by 4:30 pm, even if you never use it. That's pretty bad.

On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities to recharge a phone during the day -- using your car's cigarette lighter, or at your desk -- so the battery problem is something that most EVO users will be able to work around. And I think (though I'm not sure) that EVO has a replaceable battery, so you can carry a couple of batteries in your pocket, something that the iPhone doesn't allow.

Overall, I'm liking the EVO. I considered switching to Android permanently a few weeks ago, but ultimately decided to stick with the iPhone and upgrade to the iPhone 4.

Still, I'm enjoying the opportunity to learn about Android, and expect to have more to say about it in coming weeks. Thanks to Sprint for the loaner.

What are you favorite EVO features and apps?

Mitch Wagner is a freelance technology journalist and social media strategist.