It often is said that even if Android would be best operating system in the world, that wouldn’t matter much if nobody is developing applications for it. If I remember correctly iPhone’s application count is around 160,000 and Android’s is around 40,000 (although I wasn’t able to find the source on this). But of course, it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.
After [only](http://zef.me/3153/nexus-one-day-1-multi-tasking-and-notifications) [a few](http://zef.me/3176/nexus-one-day-2-discoverability-and-text-input) [days](http://zef.me/3188/nexus-one-day-3-web-apps) of using the Nexus One, I cannot really draw any definite conclusions whether Android applications are better or worse than iPhone applications, but these are my impressions after trying a few of them out.
The first thing I noticed is that it’s painfully clear that there are no Android user interface guidelines, or if there are, that developers are ignoring them. Note that Apple has rejected applications because they do not behave like iPhone applications ought to, which is a bit extreme, but it does result in a roughly uniform set of applications on the platform. Android is more like Windows in this sense, every application looks different. Some use super colorful interfaces. Others are all black and white (like many of the applications that come with Android by default). Even Google does not stick to one UI style. The messaging, Gmail and calendar applications are simple, black and white apps that look kind of boring. But its application menu, clock and photo gallery applications are super fancy looking.
Compare and contrast:
GMail:
Camera and gallery:
It is also clear that different Android devices have different screen resolutions. I downloaded a few applications where buttons were stretched and awkward looking. Rather ugly.
But looks aside — if you care about style and looks, Android at this point is not the platform for you — most applications are pretty functional. Especially the set of applications that does stuff you will never be able to do on the iPhone.
* [Handsent SMS](http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-handcent-sms-zpx.aspx) is an acceptable replacement for the rather sparse SMS texting application that comes with Android. Yes, on Android you can build an _alternative_ SMS application, that is in fact a first-class citizen.
* [CallTrack](http://www.androlib.com/android.application.app-calltrack-wjpD.aspx) is an application that can automatically put all your incoming, missed and outgoing calls on a (Google) calendar. Useful if you want to keep track of who you called when.
* [Shapewriter](http://www.shapewriter.com/android.html) is a keyboard replacement that allows you to write text by sliding your fingers over the keyboard, rather than tapping. It works quite well. There’s also a ShapeWriter iPhone application, the difference is that ShapeWriter for Android can function as an input device in _any application_. Even if you don’t like the shape writer app itself, it’s cool that it’s possible. Right? Here’s a demo:
There’s also some applications that I use often that are very specific to the Netherlands. It turns out they almost all have Android equivalents, like an application to plan train trips (“OV: Trein”), a Dutch TV guide (“TV Gids.tv”), checking rainfall (“buienradar”), Dutch news (“Nu.nl”). I was surprised to find these applications in the Android Market.
As far as games go Android is far, far behind. Games like Robo Defense are fun, but hardly impressive. Maybe it’s because of the choice to develop applications in Java?
Either way, if you’re not a die-hard gamer. Android has quite a few nice applications. But the extreme niche applications you won’t find there for a while.
