I Sense a disturbance in the Force

When the iPhone came out, there was a gigantic sigh of relief from mobilephiles the world over. It blended a smartphone with an entertainment device and slapped a sexy Apple user interface on top of it all. I played with the iPhone (pre-3G) and enjoyed the experience. The hardware was certainly slick too. However, it wasn't my cup of tea (yet).

I also tried the Sidekick and a plethora of Windows Mobile devices before settling on the Helio Ocean. It had what I was looking for: A QWERTY keyboard, a strong following on the interwebz (including modders), and all of the instant message and email apps built right in.

Fast forward a year or so, and here comes a new contender: Android (and the T-Mobile G1 with Google).

Sure there were a lot of touchscreen/entertainment/smartphone devices released in the last year. In my opinion, Android and the G1 gave the iPhone some real competition.

Touchscreen - Check
QWERTY keyboard - Check
App Market - Check
Exchange Support - BUZZ! (sorry, nope)

While it had a lot going for it, there were some initial bugs, some of which would allow the user to have root access to and potentiall brick the device. Also the hardware isn't quite up to snuff. It's underpowered to the point where simple games and apps hang up. It has a slightly smaller screen, which affects the virtual keyboard directly. In my opinion, it's a little chubby. The second Android device (T-Mobile MyTouch 3G) is a bit slimmer, but drops the keyboard. Same specs otherwise.

Fast forward another half year and there are rumors floating around about a new HTC device...and a new Android...named Rosie?

"Rosie" was officially announced as HTC SenseUI and is available (or will be shortly) on the HTC Hero.

I've watched tons of videos on the net and have been tracking the Hero and SenseUI since it was announced. THIS is what android should have been all along.

I'll leave you with this video. I think it speaks for itself.

(more videos here)