[T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide] eismcsquare:
Hi all,

(I just joined today - hope you would go easy on me as I am still learning the xda etiquette.)

Just received my T-mobile HTC myTouch 4G slide and activated it on Sunday.

(Now before I jump onto my first impression of the phone, let me be clear - Till Sunday, I was proud owner of Nokia N900. I still love that phone. But I had to jump onto the Android bangwagor sooner or later since Nokia decided to to WinMo way. N900 was a solid phone with an unpolished/unfinished OS. Nokia never gave it a chance to mature.)

So, please keep in mind that I am new to Android as well as HTC and the phone itself.

Here is what I liked in my one full day of playing with the hardware and the OS/Software:

1. Android is fast, stable and polished, and enough apps to install one every day for rest of my life.

2. Phone is fast, not much stutter, has not crashed yet. Data connection is stable and voice quality is good.

3. UI looks, er, shiny (I do not give much weight to this, but apparently, a lot of people do, given popularity of 'certain' phones).

4. Keyboard is good. (one of the main reasons to buy the phone, as querty keyboard is a must for me )

Now onto negatives:

1. Lack of user control - though I have flexibility in controlling a lot of things on Android, there are a lot of other things which I really want to control but can not - i.e. uninstall t-mo / HCT bloatware (see my next point).

2. Bloatware - this was a shock to me. N900 is a clean device with no crap installed. T-Mo and HTC made sure I start hating my phone on day one by giving me pre-installed uninstallable crap. Not only I do not want them, it actually confuses me. I do not have a dedicated media player - but I have a 'Media Room' with T-Mobile TV and Slacker Radio (and none of them are complete versions). Bejeweled 2, T-mo backup, Highlight, Friend Stream - the list goes on, and I can not remove any of the app.

3. Android - no default file manager. Are you kidding me?

4. Contact - multiple entries from multiple sources (i.e. 411 & more is listed 4 times - one from google, one from tmo backup, one from phone and one from sd card). I know I can link them, or disable view of some of them, but god damn it - it's confusing as hell.

5. Camera - now don't get me wrong. The camera on this phone may be one of the best among Android/iphone phones, but where it gives you a lot of megapixels, the lens (and hence the quality) does not hold water against N900. Software can not make up for hardware limitations.

6. Battery - I almost ran out of juice before I even reached home from work in the evening - and that too from very limited use. Yes, I used phone for quite a bit, but without wireless/gps. I understand the display eats battery, but come on - shouldn't a smartphone be up on batter for one full day?

I will add more as I come across.

Please note that this is not a rant - there is some genuine disappointment with my first real hands on with Android/HTC. With the bloatware on this phone, I feel like I am being take advantage off, and I hate that feeling.

I am a linux user for 12 years (personally and professionally - as a programmer) and I consider myself a power-user (though not anywhere near Guru level), and so far, the phone has not given me even a default file browser.

I really hope to find more positive things to say, as I am committed to Android now that there is hardly any other linux-y OS out there.

Thanks

E