Comments on: The HTC Magic and Google Android: a Real World test

By: Steve Nutt

Steve Nutt — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:45:15 +0000

I’ve got a G1 and although the hardware is a little limited the OS more than makes up for it, especially as I was already a big google user (Gmail, calendar, Picasa, Docs)…

Some of my most used apps are:
Nav4All – free sat nav, also tried AndNav 2, both free and not bad.
gTraffic, Listen, BlueRSS, GDocs, FBReader & Meridian.

By: neOphyte

neOphyte — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:06:25 +0000

Mugen power is making extenede batteries for HTC Magic, check it out here; http://www.mugen-power-batteries.com/htc/htc-magic-g2.html

By: Dan Roddy

Dan Roddy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:30:42 +0000

I got a Samsung last year and found it so hopeless I’d almost forgotten how useful a good phone is. A couple of weeks using an old K750i reminded me – then I got a Magic.
It is fantastic. For me, the syncing, without having to physically do anything about it, makes the thing something more than a phone. GPS hammers battery life too, but the market place makes it easy to get widgets to get a handle on this. By far the most irritating feature is that Bluetooth is limited to devices only – not phones or PCs – so sharing images and contacts is slightly more awkward.

By: AdamB

AdamB — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:08:11 +0000

I was also disappointed with the battery life of my Android Magic. I found that just turning off the auto-sync made a huge difference – my battery now lasts 3 to 4 days between charges. Personally I don’t want to be notified when an email arrives so this works well for me.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:31:44 +0000

Richard, if I could be convinced that the battery life would be any better then perhaps the wait might have been worthwhile! I think it’s largely in the nature of the OS and it’ll take a while for battery tech to catch up.
Kevin

By: Richard Melville

Richard Melville — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:17:23 +0000

You still appear to miss your Sony Ericsson to some degree. Perhaps you should have waited until January when the Sony Ericsson Android is due to appear.

By: Maddog UK

Maddog UK — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:26:58 +0000

Best phone I have ever owned. Love the simplicity and Android is just going from strength to strength. Shame HTC crippled the “with Google” phones.

Got rid of an iPhone because of the crap reception and awful updates.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:42:44 +0000

I also went from my Sony to this beauty last month, and although have been once or twice been caught out by a low battery, I haven’t looked back. The calendar sync with Outlook is fantastic, as are the You Tube and BBC iPlayer apps. I can only see it improving as more and more apps are developed. Oh, and the phone on it is ok too!

By: Olivier

Olivier — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:15:11 +0000

Same here, it’s probably the most useful device I have owned, not because it does much more than say my E71 did but it is so much more fluid it suddenly makes sense to have a notepad on a phone.

The over the air sync of calendars is another killer feature for me and I bought beyond podcasts to automagically have a fresh supply of music programs.

The OS will be updated OTA too and that’s controlled by Google, not vodafone and it should be this month.

By: Tim_Wn

Tim_Wn — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:52:31 +0000

I completely agree with the article. Its so slick you can’t help but think of ways of making more use of its features. Battery life is a downside but if you do charge it once a day it will work fine. I like the fact that I don’t have to install itunes to get it working and that it isn’t an iphone. I can’t say if its better than a iphone but it has to be an alternative.