Phones, phones, phones

I've always been quite happy with having a phone that could be used to place and receive calls. The closest thing to a smartphone I have had before was a Nokia C3-01 and there was very little that was "smart" about it.

I recently bought an Android phone, however, because I absolutely love my iPod touch, and wanted something that could do what it does, but also be used for calls and interwebbing - but without the iPhone price tag. Samsung Galaxy Ace struck a very nice medium between specs and price, and now a week later I am absolutely in love with it. Needless to say, my attitude toward smartphones has changed dramatically.

What kinds of phones do y'all use, are you happy with it, etc.? Anyone else a new Android convert?

I've been deep in the Android market since it launched with the T-Mobile G1 many years ago. I could probably tell you at least a little bit about every Android phone that has ever reached the North American market, and probably some about those that haven't, too.

Android is my go-to platform for any smartphone, because it can quite literally do everything an iPhone can do, and then some. It's a fully customizable experience, just like the PC, and I won't accept anything less of the computer in my pocket. Don't get me wrong, though--the iPhone is a very nice product, but it has a curated set of features that you cannot expand. I love Android because its open source heart allows you to make fundamental changes about the way the phone looks and works. Do you not like the desktop? Change it. There are hundreds of thousands of possible layouts. Do you not like applications like the picture gallery, or a core function like the phone number dialer? You can change both of them to suit your taste. In every sense, Android is an enthusiast's dream, because it's a polished product that you can tailor 100% to you with a little time and research. How cool is that?

Lord knows how many Android phones I've updated for people, loaded apps onto, hacked new firmware onto, etc. etc.

Over at my "home" forum, I keep a running list of the big upcoming smartphones for Android and iOS. I've written step-by-step guides about loading Android onto the Nook Color and I maintain FAQs on popular devices.

I'm a smartphone junkie in all the same ways I'm a PC junkie. The race to build newer, bigger, faster hardware in the smartphone market is as hot as the PC market was back during the gigahertz war of 1999/2000. In no other field are the capabilities of a computing device evolving so rapidly and so dramatically, and Android is leading that charge.

I love smartphones, and I love Android.

This is my latest HTC Sensation and I love it

I'm a smartphone junkie, over the past 12 months, I've had 3 phones. Here's the progression:

iPhone 3GS
Motorola Droid
HTC TouchPro2