In which I upgrade.

I have retired my old clamshell phone finally, and joined the legions who carry smartphones shaped like bricks.

I am now the proud owner of an LG Optimus S, a mid-range Android phone. I love it. It’s fast, responsive, and replaces two devices completely. (My old phone and my iPod Touch are both going on eBay this weekend.) It looks cool. Google Voice is awesome. Google Sky is awesome. It runs KeePass with a Dropbox db without being a pain in the ass.

In short, all the Droid converts I know were right: it does everything the iPod Touch did, and some things even better.

Things like the APOD app that changes your wallpaper every day. Like AppBrain, which will help recover from a catastrophic loss or failure quickly by keeping a list of all your installed apps. Like the fact that there are multiple app stores, and no iTunes monstrosity to deal with. Like this awsome Tricorder app that actually does stuff.

To be honest, I was expecting something less sophisticated than iOS – and boy, was I wrong. I’d say the two platforms are equal but different, with different areas of win and fail. Android is much more elegant than I’d expected, and it does the stuff I want much more easily than my beloved iPod Touch ever did.

I bought this obnoxious case and I adore it.

Although many reviews complained about the camera, I think it takes kick-ass pictures:

Complaints:

~ No native screenshot functionality?!?!
~ I always get notified twice for incoming emails, but that’s probably something I did.
~ The native keyboard sucked, and the replacement I’m using also sucks but not as much.
~ Battery life sucks so far, but Jayrob says it takes awhile to condition a new battery.