Have a cupcake? Don't mind if I do!

I've been longing for this update to my HTC G1 and now I finally have it.  No, TMobile didn't push it to me, I decided to go ahead and force the upgrade myself.  You know what?  I can't believe I waited this long!

The upgrade was painless.  It took about 30 minutes, a few reboots of the phone and about 100 MB of downloads to get it all set but now I'm golden.  The only -- and I mean only -- downside is that I had to wipe my phone's data.  Not to worry though, emails, contacts, favorites and calendars are all store at Google so they came right back down.  Now I'm left with a phone that's speedier, prettier and can do oh-so-much-more!

I've only been running the software for about 15 hours, 3 minutes and 18 seconds and here are some of my inital thoughts (think of it as a top 10 list of reasons to upgrade to Cupcake.):

1. It's way faster than before. Menus pop up quicker and my home screen doesn't lag nearly as much.  In all fairness only time will tell if this is truly true as it could also have to do with erasing all of the apps that I had installed previously and the 400+ photos that were stored on my SD card.


2. An onscreen keyboard is the way to go. When I decided to get the G1 instead of an iPhone I loved the idea of a physical keyboard.  In retrospect, I still love it but I needed an OSK as well to help me send those quick, "Oh hey!" or "I'll see you at 5." text messages.  Sure ChompSMS and Steel helped me out quite a bit but it made for an inconsistent user experience.  And I learned at the last Refresh Philly that that's a no-no.


3. I love root (not celery). While this isn't really an Android Cupcake feature, it was a benefit to doing the upgrade myself.  After the upgrade, I had full access to the phone's OS.  This means, among other things, that I am able to run wifi tethering so that I can use my phone as a modem while on the go.  That's pretty cool.


4. The browser is wicked fast. The updated browser software is not only fast but since it now has an OSK (see #2) I don't need to use Steel.  While I loved that browser, there were a few sites that would sometimes load very strangely or crash the browser in Steel (namely Gmail mobile).  No more will I have to suffer this terrible problem.  Multi-touch is pretty cool to have as well.  I can zoom in and out just like an iPhone.


5. Widgets are pretty cool. I can finally have my calendar on my home screen.  With the new widget functionality (and API) developers can make all sorts of neat things to post directly to the desktop.    I've tested a few of the widgets and have some things to grow and fix (the weather one for sure) but it's a great addition to the "team".


6. They finally fixed the dial pad while on the phone. One of the biggest headaches while dialing an automated system was that the keypad disappeared after a few seconds.  You'd then need to press the menu button once or twice and hope that screen came back on before the automated system gave you the boot.


7. Video recording AND uploading will make for some interesting nights. Google released the ability to record video right from the camera app.  In addition, when you're done recording you're offered to share it via MMS, email or an upload right to YouTube.


8. Auto screen rotation makes the UX really nice. One thing that Google added was auto screen rotation.  This means when you turn the phone on its side the screen flips.  This is nice for web browsing and checking out pictures online and off.


9. The Gmail application has been upgrade to be much faster and cleaner. Not only does it load emails much quicker but they've added the ability to multi-select emails.  This means it's easier to label, archive, delete and mark messages as spam.


10. Finally, I have a renewed faith in the Android OS. It seemed that Google stalled on much of the software upgrades.  Many branches of Android were being formed but none that came directly from Google and HTC.  Now I know that they're working hard on making this OS the operating system of choice for all smart phones.

I'm really excited to see where the OS goes next.  Netbooks, other phones and new applications are just the tip of the iceberg.  I'm happy that I'm along for the ride.

If you'd like to upgrade your device (warning: I'm not responsible if you blow it up) you can check out the directions over on Android And Me.