Richard Freeman on 5 Nov 2009 10:53:04 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Android?


jeff wrote:
> Elizabeth Krumbach wrote:
>> The phone uses the Google account to store some of the phone's data,
>> so it's required
> 
> Wow, that failed to make any of the documentation or reviews I read.
> It's precisely the kind of thing that turns me off.  If I want to play 
> Cloud, I'll get a Pre. [do I sound open sourcey picky enough yet?]
> 

Keep in mind that google != android - there are android-based phones 
that don't have the google integration.

You can of course just make up a gmail account just for your phone and 
not use it for anything.  The phone will still work just fine for 
3rd-party apps.  As Elizabeth said, though, you lose quite a bit of 
polish on the google builds if you don't use google.

Personally, I use gmail for the contacts (as well as google voice), and 
google calendar.  However, for mail I use my own IMAP server and k9-mail 
(pick your favorite 3rd-party mail app).  I use google reader, but I 
access it using a 3rd-party app.  For that matter I access Google voice 
using a 3rd-party app as well.

Android is just an OS - you can use any number of applications on top of 
it and they all have differing capabilities.  There are plenty of apps 
that do exchange, for example.  Google, however, has done a good job of 
putting together a set of apps that have fairly seamless integration 
with their services.
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