Droid so far

I’ve had the Droid for a few days now. Here are my emerging opinions.

Things I like

• Background processes – push email, IM, and notifications in general provide a superior communication experience.
• Surprisingly long battery life. Despite running all those background applications, the phone’s battery is still at half full after 12 hours.
• The LED on the front bezel blinks when you have something waiting for your attention – no need to turn on the screen.
• It’s fast. Most applications seem to have almost no load time.
• The slide out keyboard lights up in the dark.
• Facebook and Google sync everything in the background. When a new contact appears in Gmail, it’s automatically on the phone.
• The screen is extremely readable. Font rendering is especially good compared to the iPhone.

Things I do not like

• The camera takes horrible pictures and does not focus properly.
• Scrolling the home screen is rough.
• The virtual keyboard does not automatically appear when a text input field is highlighted. You have to tap the field to summon the keyboard.
• There is a limit of 3 home screens.
• Some of the applications that I enjoyed on my iPhone do not yet have an Android equivalent. Amazon Kindle is the one I miss the most.
• They layout algorithm for the home screen truncates application names longer than one line, even when there is obviously plenty of space.
• The interface aesthetic needs a lot of work. For starters, the black background featured in some parts of the interface is mismatched with the gray gradient background found in other parts. There needs to be a universal design tying all the components together. This would also help unify the appearance of third party applications as their developers take cues from the standard UI and widget set.
• The volume rocker and camera button have too much play, which makes them feel cheap.