Boarding the Android Express

Today I took possession of my shiny new Samsung Galaxy Note II.

My previous daily device was the Samsung Omnia 7 which was one of the debut devices of the Windows Phone 7 range. It was a close run race between the Note II and the flagship Windows Phone 8 device the Nokia Lumia 920.

I mentioned before that it was a close race with the Lumia phone. Both are large, flagship devices with the Lumia being widely lauded as having one of the best cameras on a mobile phone, the best in low light. The party trick of the Note II, like its predecessor, is the Wacom digitiser powering the S-pen stylus.

In the end the Lumia’s fate was sealed through its exclusivity deal with EE which, for those that don’t know, is the umbrella corporation created through the merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK. My previous contract was with Orange and, with the exception of the mid contract price rise that seems to have been common to all networks, I have been satisfied with them. When it came to ‘upgrade’ time however they did not even come close to the deal that I got through Phones4U on Vodafone. So one PAC code later and I have jumped ship, both network and mobile OS.

In some ways this has been a shame since I have loved the Windows Phone interface (seen above). It is very intuitive and easy to use and the consistent design is excellent. In the photo above it actually shows the Windows Phone 7.8 (unofficial) update that I recently flashed to it courtesy of the XDA-Developers.

I am not that familiar with the Android interface, which seems a little awkward, but I am sure that I will get used to it.