Android doesn’t work this way. Every three months we get a new device, on a different carrier, with a dated version of the OS, and limited accessories. Think about this from an average consumer standpoint. Would YOU buy a device that is likely to be outdated in a matter of weeks with little/no carrier support or goodies to buy?

Scotty does mention that Android 4.0 and the Galaxy Nexus can go a long way toward fixing these issues.

Despite the previous, I fully believe that the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich present an opportunity to make Android better. I believe that it gives everyone mentioned above a chance to hit the  reset button and do it right. Android (collectively, not just the OS) has come a very long way in the past three years. Now is the time for us all to step it up to the next level and really concentrate on what the future of Android holds.

Scotty's article is a great read, and if you haven't checked out Android Activist, you really should - it's a great site with different perspectives on all things Android.

With the release of the Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, and the impending release of the Galaxy Nexus (these are just the latest Verizon phones), we're seeing three high-end Android devices released within several weeks of each other. Motorola also has the Droid Bionic, Droid 3, Droid X2, and we're already seeing leaks of the Droid 4 (again, just on Verizon). HTC and Samsung, while a little less crazy, still have several mainstream devices available. When you add in Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile, there are dozens of Android phones launched in the last couple months.

While many may see the variety as a good thing - giving customers a wide variety of devices to choose from, it means less support for every device out there. This goes for both the community developers who create mods and custom ROMs for devices as well as the phone manufacturers themselves. With new versions of Android coming out every 6-9 months, these companies have to build updates for as many as a dozen devices. Rather than having just a couple devices to maintain, they've gone to flooding the market, and then having to fight off the questions of "when/will my device will be updated to the next dessert?" Since Ice Cream Sandwich just launched, everyone is asking those questions - in fact many current devices may never see the update - or we may see 5.0 before they get 4.0. If each manufacturer only had a couple devices to update, we'd know what to expect, and we'd see everything updated much faster. Of course I also wonder just how hard these companies are working on the updates. I would about guarantee we'll see stable versions of ICS built by the community long before we see official updates. I know there is more testing and QA required for an official build, but full-time paid developers should move faster than volunteers working in their spare time.

As an enthusiast who runs a custom ROM, I have to watch what devices the top developers are buying in order to decide what I will use. Buying a phone that isn't well supported is a frustrating experience. With so many new phones, the developers are jumping to new devices almost monthly, so very few devices are actually well supported. I know the manufacturers think they could care less about this, but. If they looked at it more closely, they'd see that a device that's well supported by developers means more sales. The original Motorola Droid was a huge seller, even almost a year after it launched - this had a lot to do with the development community support.

For everyone else, when they hear rumors of the next "gotta have" device, it makes it harder to pull the trigger on one that's already out there. Manufuacturers need to slow down and space out their launches to no more than 3 per year to give their current devices a chance to grab market hold. HTC did this with the original EVO 4G - leaving it as the flagship device on Sprint for quite awhile, and it's still a big seller. People tend to buy what their friends/family already have, so if devices stayed as "new" for longer, carriers and manufacturers would make more money, rather than discounting the device mere weeks after launch.

Don't get me wrong, I like the flexibility that comes with choosing an Android device, rather than being limited to one form-factor that changes once per year. I just wish the companies would wise up and slow down a bit - it would be better for everyone involved.

Anyway, I wanted to make all the Eris users aware that this update will wipe the phone completely.  They’re unable to make such a significant upgrade without wiping all of the data.  Items on the SD card will not be affected, so all of your pictures/music/etc. will be safe.  I would encourage all users to back up their data in one of a couple ways.

First, check your Google account that your contacts are synced to in order to make sure all of your contacts are properly stored in the cloud.  You can also use HTC Sync to synchronize them to your computer.

If you want to back up your applications so you don’t have to go back to the market to re-download them, there are a couple ways do do that.  If you don’t mind setting up your application preferences again, you can use the AppBrain app to sync a list of all your applications.  After the update, you can install AppBrain and it will give you a link to all of the apps you previously had installed.  If you want to save all of your settings (this could lead to application crashes when re-installing), you can install Astro File Manager (a free app) and use it to back up all of your applications to your SD card (After opening Astro, press Menu –> tools –> Application Manager/Backup).  Note: some paid applications cannot be backed up, but will need to be re-downloaded from the market at no charge.

If you want to keep your text messages, you’ll need to back them up separately as well.  I’ve seen several recommendations for SMS Backup & Restore, so that might be a good way to do that.  There are other apps on the market with similar functionality as well.

While I can’t say for sure if the Eris 2.1 update is coming, I will still recommend you get prepared for it. Being prepared will save you a big headache if you do receive the update.

The application gives you the option of logging in using your standard e-mail and password.  Once you’ve logged in, you can setup a 4-digit PIN that allows for quicker access (at the cost of some security). 

The home-screen provides a quick snapshot of your situation, with an account summary, monthly budget progress, monthly cash flow, and alerts.  Clicking on any of these takes you into further detail.  The account summary takes you into a full list of all your accounts with balances.  You can go into any account from there and see the latest transactions.

The app also allows you to grant permission to create a live folder on your homescreen that shows your recent transactions.  There is also a widget, but it doesn’t seem that useful and takes up a lot of space.

The application isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t support landscape orientation, but it’s definitely a great start and a great supplement to the Mint.com website.  Hopefully this app will continue to get better, and will be a must-have for any Mint.com user.

Enter HelixLauncher.  The developer pulled the styling from the launcher that's on the HTC Nexus One and modified it to work on other Android devices.  He then went a step further and added some great features.  First, you can select between 3, 5, and 7 home screens.  You can also now put 4 apps into slots at the bottom of the screen - these apps will show on all of your screens.  This is a great place to put your phone, messaging, and browser shortcuts so you can pull them up anywhere.  

After you install it, when you press the home button, it will ask you which launcher you wish to use.  I recommend not selecting one as default until you're sure HelixLauncher will work without force closing.  This will also give you a chance to re-setup your home screens and remove everything from the original.  You'll definitely want to remove all your widgets from the old launcher so they're not running twice.  Once you're setup and things are stable, you can select HelixLauncher as your default.

I've been using HelixLauncher for several weeks now, and have really enjoyed it.  Some users have experienced force closes, but I have not had any.  I've found it to be a smooth, stable replacement for the stock launcher.  HelixLauncher is available for free on the Android Market.

Fortunately, several users have figured out where the update file is hosted and posted it on the internet.  If you can't wait to get the update, you can download it and apply it yourself.  The first location is the exact same location your phone pulls the update from - the official Google site; the second is a mirror in case the first is bogged down.

1. Download the update from any of these links. [Official Location 1 | Location 2 ] (Note to Mac users: Don't use Safari as it may try to extract the files rather than just download them.)
2. Rename the file to "update.zip" if it isn't already. 
3. Put the file in the root (aka main folder) of your microSD card. 
4. With your Droid turned off, hold down the letter "x" on the keyboard and then hold down the power button. You should soon see a triangle with an exclamation point inside.
5. Now for the tricky part. Press the volume up button and the camera button at the same time. It may also work by holding the volume up button and then pressing the camera button.
6. You should now be in the bootloader. Use the D-pad to choose "update from .zip file" and choose the update. Let things run their course.

That's it!  After your phone reboots, you'll be running Android 2.1!  Android 2.1 includes many under-the-hood updates, as well as some nice features like pinch-to-zoom browser and live wallpapers.  For the full details of the update, here's the official Verizon posting.

Enjoy Android 2.1 and happy Droiding!

My now one-and-only Twitter app is Touiteur Premium!  Developed by LevelUp Studio, Touiteur is a relatively new application, but Tama has been working like crazy to make it the best one out there for Android.  In a few short weeks, he's added conversation history, reply-all, and even a mini-browser! My last hold-out was TwitPic support, and that's now available as well.

Touiteur started with the best looking interface of any Twitter app on the market.  The pull-down bar at the top is an easy way to post a new tweet, and the minimal "white space" in the app allows for a lot of tweets on the screen.  The bottom bar bar is functional, but small enough to be out of the way.

Clicking on a tweet brings up the options for replying/retweeting that tweet.  If the tweet is part of a conversation, it shows the previous few replies right below. You can view the full conversation with the link at the bottom.  

If you click to reply to a tweet with multiple users, you have the option to reply to any/all of them.  This saves typing in usernames in the box.  

The retweet button is dual-purpose: you can set the short-press/long-press to alternate between the new native retweet and the old-school RT.  I love the flexibility of this option!

A "hidden" tip: Long-pressing on a tweet will open up the link (if there's only one in the tweet).  If there are multiple links, you get an option of which link to open. 

Tama just added the CuiCui Browser to Touiteur.  This option is only available to Touiteur Premium users, but it's a great option!  Pictures from the major picture services open with just the picture - no annoying full page and ads.  Website links open within this browser as well - I find it much quicker than the stock browser for a quick link review.

While it would be nice to have the option to just use CuiCui for pictures only, I'm still thoroughly impressed with what Tama has put together in such a short time.  

I encourage you to try Touiteur if you haven't.  If you haven't seen it in the past few weeks, I recommend you give it another try.  This app is only getting better, and in my opinion, it's already the best.  

Touiteur is available in the Android Market.

TouiteurTouiteur Premium

I've got 5 screens with the current ROM I'm running on my Droid. I do use quite a few widgets, a couple of which take up whole screens.  I keep a lot of my apps in FolderOrganizer folders, with only my mainstays on my main homescreen.

My question to you is, how do you you homescreen?  

Are you a big widget user, or do you have your apps covering your screens in a grid format?

Do you group your programs together, or are your icons random?

Do you use all of your screens?

Androlib has been around for a long time and is a good option for finding and browsing Android apps from your computer.  It links to the screenshots and reviews from the Android Market so you can see everything you'd see there.  It also gives you a barcode that you can scan with your phone to open the app in the Market.  Androlib's main weakness is that it doesn't really search any better than the Market, and doesn't have any way to flag apps to look at later.

 AppAware is a new entry that takes a different approach.  Users can install the AppAware app and then when they install/update/remove an application, AppAware notates it.  You can then open the app (or go to the website) to see what apps people are popular right now.  This is helpful for finding out about new big-name applications (like Google Earth), but not so helpful for smaller-name apps.  It can sync with Twitter to post what you are adding/updating/removing, but there's no way to tell it to only tweet selected updates, so this becomes annoying very quickly.

My new favorite Market helper is called AppBrain.  AppBrain is similar to Androlib in that it pulls screenshots/comments from the Market, but it provides more search and filtering options to find new and great apps.  AppBrain also has an Android app that allows you to upload the list of apps you have installed on your phone.  This makes for an easy way to share your apps and see what your friends are using on their phones.   You can also create a "wishlist" of apps that you want to try on your phone by marking them on the website.  This syncs with the phone, so you can open up your phone and use that list to see the apps you've tagged.  

I've added my AppBrain list to the right side sidebar - go check it out to see what I'm using!  If you're on AppBrain, post your app list in the comments.  This is a great way to find useful apps!

I understand the desire to get things completely right before rolling the update out to the masses, but this is the second time Motorola has announced the update would be coming, only to have it delayed.  The Droid has put Motorola back into the spotlight by being a great device, but this continued failure to deliver can't be doing them any favors.  Had they not made a public announcement, I don't think this would be a big deal, but here they are backtracking again.  This is really something companies need to get right if they expect to compete with Apple.

Using GPS and Google Maps, My Tracks maps out your route, and provides you exact details about speed, distance traveled, and elevation change.  They say the elevation data isn't completely accurate, but it does a very good job of tracking speed and distance.  

The maps page - see where you've been!The information page - Lots of great details!

After you're done with your walk, you can upload your path to Google Maps or upload your stats (distance, speed, etc.) to Google Docs!  This is a great way to keep track of your exercise progress and track distances for different routes. 

There are also many other ways to use My Tracks.  You could drive a route in your car then send the details of that route to someone via e-mail/Twitter.  You can track your average speed for your commute to see if different days/times change the commute time.

My Tracks was written by a team at Google and is available for FREE on the Android Market.  If you're looking for a way to track your walking/running progress, this is a great way to do it.

Click on the code from your phone to see it in the Market.

If you have a different app you use to map your exercise, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.  This is the first one I've tried, and have found it to work well for me.

• Barcode Scanner - This app does exactly that: scan barcodes.  It scans both the typical UPC barcodes, as well as QR codes (like you see below) that can be used to link to just about anything (including apps on the market).  You just open the app, point the camera at a barcode, and the app will focus and read the code.  It will then pop up the detail of the code and provide you an option to open the link, share it, or even search for it on Google.  Not only is this a good way to go directly to apps on the Android Market, but you can use the app to scan barcodes of regular items and then Google them to find better prices!  Here's the QR code for Barcode Scanner.
• Our Groceries - If you make a list every time you go to the store, Our Groceries can make that task easier and paperless.  It's a very simple shopping list application that does its job very well.  The best part about Our Groceries is that you can sync the shopping lists between multiple phones!  We love this app because one of us can add an item to the list, and if the other person goes shopping, that item is on the list.  Our Groceries also has an iPhone app, and the lists do sync across platforms.
• Ringdroid - Wish you could make ringtones out of your mp3's? With Ringdroid you can - completely free!  Just put an mp3 file on your SD card, open Ringdroid, and you can pick out which portion of the song you would like as your ringtone, notification, or alarm.  It's a great way to get your favorite part of any song as your ringtone.
• WordUp! - Like Boggle?  WordUp is a single-player version of a word game that is very similar to Boggle.  You get a grid of letters that you have to string together to make words and score points.  There are varying board sizes, and it keeps track of high scores.  It's very addictive!
• Evernote - If you use Evernote.com, the Android app is a must have.  If you don't use Evernote.com, I recommend you check it out.  It's a site that allows you to remember things you see on the web/email.  You can upload screenshots, notes, photographs, and more to the site, and Evernote will keep it for easy access anytime.  The Android app allows you to view your previous notes as well as upload new notes right from your phone.  It works great, and basic accounts are free.

I have many more apps on my phone that I'm sure I'll cover in the future, but this is a good variety of less obvious apps that I find quite useful.  Hope you like the QR codes - they should make it easy to go right to the app in the market.

There are several applications in the Android Market that are designed to kill these background applications, either on a regular interval or manually.  Many users claim that these applications keep Android running fresh and fast.  From my experience, these apps cause more headache than benefit.  

Obviously, there are some applications that need to be running in the background in order for certain things to work.  For example, if you kill the Gmail app, you'll stop receiving push e-mail.  If you kill an app with a widget, the widget may stop working.  Also, with the several apps I tried, I had a significant amount of random app crashes that disappeared when the apps were uninstalled.

From my experience, Android does a very good job of managing applications running in memory.  I very rarely run into situations where my phone feels slower than usual.  When I do, a quick reboot brings things back to normal, although I probably don't do this more than once a week or so.  I do help out the system when I can by exiting the applications that have proper exit buttons (like Pandora), but for the most part, I let the system run the show.

I won't say that you absolutely shouldn't run a Task Killer app, but I found they're more work than they're worth.  I spent too much time making sure I had excluded every app that needed to stay open, and found I wasn't actually accomplishing much beyond killing one or two apps at a time anyway.  I also found my system to be much more stable without them.

One thing to watch out for is to see if the sales rep where you bought the phone installed one for you.  I've heard of several occasions where the sales rep recommended one or even installed one without telling the customer. If you're having issues with your phone, check to see if you have something installed like this.  Removing it just might make all the difference.