Striderhayasa

@kimagurealex well, robust would be any phone that has at least a 1ghz cpu and 512mbs of RAM running Android 2.1 at least (Incredible, Droid X, EVO, Nexus One, HTC Legend...) these phones all have the specs to run pretty good under intense circumstances, meaning you can run a lot of apps at the same time while other services are running and the phone won't slow to a crawl." UI" in Android doesn't really mean much when you take the phone out of the box for the first time unless it's Sense UI (more on that later). The reason for this is because you can customize the UI to your liking. It's very extensive regardless of which Android phone you buy or which region you're in. From custom icons, themes, backgrounds, as well as live wallpapers, widgets, shortcuts, different screen layouts (depending on your launcher app) you can change these to whatever you see fit. Apps like BetterCut allow you to create custom shortcuts for almost any function and it allows you to customize the icon for those shortcuts. There's not much you can't do.

If you're the type that doesn't want to screw around with the default UI of your phone then I would recommend a high end HTC phone that has the later version of Sense UI. It's the best skin that's currently available for Android. It can be seen on the HTC EVO, HTC Incredible, the Mytouch 3g Slide and the Droid Eris.Of course the availability of these devices depends on your region and carrier but I'm sure you could find something to suit your needs. Hope this helps.

capacitive screen

1ghz processor as standard

1GB of RAM

Native Google apps support

better battery

face buttons

I have to disagree with some commenters about the Archos skin though, Native Android has pathetic video codec support. The Archos media center on the A5 and A7 plays a ridiculous number of codecs. I would change the Archos skin to make it as robust and polished as Sense UI.

@MikeUK how so when iphone 4 is the first version that allows for multitasking outside of running music while checking email?

@Spac3Invad3r agreed. I read "Tmobiles first legit high end Android devices..." and thought "WTF?" The Vibrant isn't high end now?

We'll just chalk up that statement in the article as "suspect" and move on.

@miroslavv yeah? What does that say when Android still handles multitasking far better than the Iphone 4? When a user can talk on the phone, download from the web or market and run an app at the same time on an Iphone, then I'll be impressed. I was able to do just that on Android phones before Android 2.2

A few seconds difference in browser speed is all well and good. But having the smooth navigation that 2.2 provides with real multitasking and flash 10 is a sweeter deal for me.

@EggoEspada ok, you must not have read my earlier posts.

So, the first leaked versions of 2.2 were buggy etc...correct? Yet the FRF50 version was the same version that Google supposedly pushed to staff/reviewers/bloggers/press after Google I/O this year. Now, if this version was good enough for these lucky few, and it "found" its way into the grubby hands of Nexus One owners across the interwebs, why would that NOT count as an update? Official/Unoffical...who in their right minds wouldn't update their Android phones when they could get 2.2 without root? Ask Droid owners or Incredible owners would they update their phones right now if they could under the same circumstances. I'd bet damn near every owner would do it, unofficial release be damned. How does that not could as an update? Considering it's the same version Google pushed themselves?

The point is, Google made it available. It was great press for the release, it took away some of Apple's thunder with the new Iphone and it gives the Nexus One new legs after the debacle that was the "online store." I'm happy to have the option to update my phone in such a way, but if you read my earlier posts, my other concern was for the Droid release of 2.2 which my gf has and the proposed solution to fragmentation of releasing updates in the marketplace, which Google hasn't said anything about for awhile.

5x, as I said.

@HelghanSuperSniper my bad, the update TO FRF50 was the first. But still, that's a lot of updates for one phone in a sea of Androids over four weeks.

@Dafrety FRF50 to FRF72 is one update. FRF72 to FRF83 is the second, FRF 83 to FRF 85 is the third. Then I got a OTA after that and I just got another OTA 20 minutes ago.

Unoffical, Offical. call it what you want. That's still 5 updates no matter how you slice it. Now about that fragmentation issue?

@coitis1 I understand that and I understand the situation with Android updates across carriers, but come on, FIVE updates in a month including the manual updates and the two over the air strictly for N1 owners. Where's the solution to the fragmentation issue Google was talking about?