The magical HTC Magic
by Stii
We recently released our first Gatorpeeps Android application. It is one we based on an Open Source Twitter app. We needed to expand on the app to cater for more than just the normal Twitter-like functionality, so the HTC Leaf dudes were so kind as to give me a phone for a couple of weeks to test and experiment with. I have to say, I’m in love…
I love the usability of the user interface. It is both friendly and practical. It is slick looking and very sexy. It should be simple to write applications for it if you are proficient in JAVA (I’m still learning). It seamlessly integrates with Google services like Gmail, GTalk and Google Calendar. Seamlessly.
The ONLY downside to it is that we in South Africa will not have access to the Android Marketplace. Although this is a bit of an annoyance, it certainly is not the end of the world! You can find PLENTY of applications on the web which you can simply download and install. They will have the Open Marketplace here in SA, which will be the Android Marketplace equivalent and I’m sure they will pack a pretty bunch of apps in there before the phone become available!
Apps of note:
Gatorpeeps – Africa’s microblogging platform powered by Afrigator (Download here)
The Grid – Location based mobile social network from Vodacom (Download here)
Planetariax – a very cool star map application which highlights constellations. (Download here)
The Software Directory – An app that links to a lot of Android apps that you can download via the web. (Download here)
This is really a cool phone. It is iPhone cool if not cooler! No, in fact, it is cooler since Android is Open Source and a Linux based operating system! More to come soon…
Did the phone have access to the official android marketplace? I think we’re being excluded in South Africa!
Hey Yusuf, as I said, we won’t have access to the marketplace, no. There will be a different marketplace for Africa though!
I like the phone because of seamless Google intergration – should be #1 selling point… apart from the obvious OS. How’s the battery life on yours? The one i’m playing with lasts only a day and a half… and its not compatible with Opera Mini.
Have to admit, battery life is not great. Takes long to charge it again too! The rest are simply awesome.
this phone looks cool but its usability is limited in many African countries. I hope this changes soon so that we also enjoy what the developed countries enjoy
I think it will take a while before it is properly adopted throughout Africa. It should happen though!
Android marketplace is now available…simple download and firmware upgrade