Basic Feature Improvements to the Android Phone

The Android phones on the market now are, for the most part, quality smart-phones, but as the future marches on with an army of new Android-phones.  As first-generation devices, they’ve served their purpose well – sketching out the turf for second and third-generation Android phones to shine. Listed are some of the features that Google should fix as soon as possible, to ensure that.

With the unveiling of Android 2.0 in Motorola’s new DROID phone, we see that some of these have already been promised. As for the rest…we can only hope that Google understands the needs of its user base.

When your own programs like Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Earth work better on your main competitor’s OS than on yours, you can tell there’s a problem. The iPhone has full Google Earth functionality, while Android phones on the market now are lacking in this department. Gmail on the Android phones, similarly, only allows one mail account per phone. With many people holding multiple accounts for business, personal, or sites that you know will send spam, functionality for multiple Gmail accounts seems essential. Likewise, Google Maps should be completely pimped out on the new Android 2.0. Rumor has it that the DROID lets you use your phone like a turn-by-turn GPS system – this is what we’re talking about.

AIM that works! Real-time chat programs are somewhat lacking in current incarnations of Android, and we need more than one window open at a time. We need to be able to set away messages. The point of AIM is that we can easily chat with lots of different people at once. With that in mind, we should also be able to sync our contacts together between AIM, our contacts list, Facebook, and any other site. It’s been said that DROID does that, so we’ll have to see how it works.

If the Android phone is marketed as a tool to browse the web, then it should be able to browse the entire web. The Android OS needs to have Flash and PDF support built in. Naysayers may say that there are apps for that, but apps shouldn’t be a crutch or an excuse for a bad OS. Apps should be optional elements – the Android OS should contain everything essential to browse the web, and Flash and PDF are essential.

While this is a long shot, we would all love to see multitouch functionality on Android phones. You know, the sexy double-fingered zoom feature that is all the rage on the iPhone? It’s been said that the new Android 2.0 OS supports multitouch, as does the screen of Motorola’s DROID, but due to pending copyright issues, the phone itself isn’t equipped to use it.

We want a phone that we can use to record video, then connect to our TVs and play! Smart phones are becoming more and more like digital cameras, so why not go all the way? Video out functionality and corresponding abilities to shoot video would only help Android.

These feature improvements are only a fraction of what passionate users of Android phones have on their wish lists this Christmas. The DROID is the latest attempt by Google to fulfill these expectations. Its aggressive “Droid Does” campaign tapped Android users’ desire for a great alternative to the iPhone, and if all measures are correct, it’s definitely succeeded. The processor speed is equivalent to all the best phones on the market, syncing functionality is improved, and the software aesthetic is much more polished and modern. One of the most exciting software updates has to do with the turn-by-turn directional functionality, which single-handedly sent leading GPS manufacturers’ stocks plummeting. All reviews suggest that the DROID is easily the best Android phone yet, and time will tell how well it sells.

Whether you’re an avid Android user who loves your phone so much you want it to be perfect, or you’re on the sidelines holding out Google to improve Android enough for you to buy it, one thing is for sure. Android provides some of the best customization options out there. With Motorola’s DROID phone offering improved features, even if it doesn’t prove to be an “iPhone killer,” it is definitely a serious competitor, and what’s more, it’s a great phone. Android users will be pleased, and the DROID may just win you over to Google’s side of the mobile phone market.

Which features are on your wishlist this Christmas ?

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