A little review...
I have a MacBook (mid 2008) and a HTC Wildfire with Android 2.1, upgraded to 2.2, and bought just a few months ago. I also have an iPod Touch 2Gen, jailbroken with iPhone OS 3.1.3 (it's called iOS from version 4 and further, remember?).
I can tell, my second gen iPod is waayy faster than my new Android phone. My android phone lags even at the simplest command, like scrolling through the Application list and returning to the home screen. It could take up to 7-8 seconds, no kidding. Well, sometimes, it responds directly, but that's not often.
The only thing that doesn't lag is the standby button, and to a lesser degree, the volume buttons (0.5 sec delay). You can't use the volume keys when the phone is in standby and the volume keys serve two different volume controls; Phone volume and Media volume. If you're in a Music application and your phone volume is on quiet/rumble, you can't change the ringtone volume. If you press the volume keys, you set your music volume harder or softer, but not your ringtone volume. Your phone keeps on quiet/rumble. You first have to pause your music, quit your music application, change the setting of your phone volume, go back to the music application, and continue playing your music.
* Tested with Winamp for Android.
But then what possessed me to buy a Wildfire?
1. Firstly, I didn't know how fast the phone was, when I entered the shop. I assumed it got pretty fast, since it's a modern phone, probably newer than the second gen iPod Touch, and that one seemed pretty fast (aka not sluggish).
2. I wanted a cheap phone from a well-known, well-reputated brand that could do two things: Calling and Tethering. However most mobile phone shop keepers don't even know the slightest bit what tethering is, with some research I found out only Android phones and iPhones could tether.
I have my Macbook for a long time already, but started to miss the ability to have internet everywhere, like in busses, trains or cafes, without having to look for an unsecured WiFi router in the neighborhood.
The iPhones are pretty expensive, at 640 euros for the 16 GB iPhone 4, and 579 euros for the 16 GB iPhone 3GS, both simlockfree (Belgian prices).
The cheapest Android phone sounded way too cheap (around 100-and-something euros) and was from a company I never heard before. The whole phone looked like it was a Nokia dumbphone (opposite of smartphone) with the Android OS. I didn't trust it and looked a bit further.
The HTC Wildfire seemed believable, and in the shop where I bought it, there was even a testing example available, to look around on it a bit, like Macs in the Apple stores.
Of course, it can't be used to run benchmarks or download something, but it's good to have a quick look-around. There was the scrolling through different home screens and some standard apps like the Music app with 5 songs, etc... Not much of a deal anyway.
It cost 260 euros. About the rest of the story, you can read that above.
Now, I'm using my Wildfire to make calls, tether the EDGE signal (no 3G here yet) to my MacBook and iPod Touch (to access the App Store, etc...), and the built-in SD-card for transferring data if I don't have an USB stick near me. I use my iPod Touch to listen to music and do all other stuff, as I do with my MacBook.
I asked for a phone that is able to call (obviously) and tether. And that's what I get. I'm a happy costumer, as they say. But the next phone (within a couple of years), I'll have more experience and don't let me be caught a second time.
Oh, well, at least I have a contract-free mobile phone provider that allows me to pay 15 euros/month for 2 GB mobile internet and 1000 free SMS'es, without forcing me to pay if I don't want to. (I can get to another provider any time, without any extra costs!) At least that's something many others don't have...
