Last summer, after my mobile contract with AT&T ended, I switched to T-Mobile because they have slightly better pricing on their plans. Initially, I tried to use my lovely, pretty, shiny LG Shine on the T-Mobile network. This did not go so well, as this model of LG Shine was built to work best on AT&T’s network.
Given this turn of events, I took this opportunity upgrade to a fancy new smartphone, the stupidly-named, T-Mobile myTouch 3G (also known as the HTC Magic). There’s an abundance of extremely detailed reviews for the myTouch 3G available online, so I’ll just focus on my personal impressions.
Pluses
- I can use it to check my work emails. This is one of the reasons I chose the myTouch 3G over the T-Mobile G1, which doesn’t have the ability to connect to an Exchange server as standard (though it’s obtainable by downloading apps).
- There are tons of useful applications on the Android Market.
- One of my favourites is Locale, which will change your phone settings based upon a number of different conditions, such as geographical location and time. When I go to work or to the library, I don’t have to concern myself with remembering to put my phone on vibrate. Locale does it for me.
- Another favourite app is Twidroid, which is what I use to update Twitter from my phone.
- It looks good. I like the physical design of the phone. It’s not as hot at the LG Shine, but I’m still happy with the design of the myTouch 3G.
- The desktop area, where you keep widgets and frequently-used apps, is nicely designed. I like the application drawer feature. You pull out the app drawer to access all your apps, and close it to keep the desktop uncluttered.
- It’s very user-friendly. It didn’t come with an instruction manual. Most users will probably never need one, but it’s available on the web in a PDF document if they do.
- It synchs easily and seamlessly with a ton of Google services: GMail, Google Calendar, Google Voice, Google Talk, Google Maps, and so on. I’m not a Google fangirl, but I do use a lot of Google services because they’re user-friendly for me and convenient. Having them linked to my mobile is helpful.
Minuses
- The on screen keyboard is occasionally fiddly. Either that, or my fingers are made of sausages.
- Sometimes navigating between applications and the desktop is a little slow.
I’ve used this phone for several months now, and I am completely satisfied with it. I absolutely love this phone. I really can’t think of any other drawbacks. It’s proven so handy for professional purposes, and useful for staying connected in my personal life through email, Twitter, and reading blogs on the go. I suppose there are other mobiles that can do the same or similar things as the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, but I’m perfectly happy with this one.
[Thanks, Twyst, for helping me out with Android phone advice!]
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I’ve been tempted to find one of the Ion dev phones, which is the Magic that they handed out at Google I/O, but I like having real keys too much. Now I’m tempted again…
Locale is great, but it’s always been a bit heavyweight for me. One of my favorite applications as a supplement is something called “Silent Time” that lets you mute the phone for a couple of hours, then it’ll automatically unmute it. Great for going to plays or something where you don’t already have a Locale rule.
It is a nice phone, though a physical keyboard would probably solve my typing issues.
Ooh, thanks for the recommendation. I’ll check that one out.