If I needed a new phone now…

Which options are available if I needed to replace my Nexus-One. ...

Actually I am not currently looking for a new Phone. But I do sometimes ask myself the question which Phone I would buy when my Nexus-One has an “accident”. And while the market for Android based smart phones seems large it smaller then it seems.

Let's have a look at the 4 largest manufactures:

Motorola

Motorola adds a security chip to there Android phones which prevents the installation of custom firmware. For me as a developer a no go. But even normal users put them self completely at the mercy of Motorola for system updates.

It also means that Network providers can restrict there subsidized phones — for example they could restrict application and music purchases to there own on-line shops.

You might still be able to root the phone — but it will be more difficult.

Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson has a bad track record for software in general and firmware updates in particular. I first noted this with my P990i. My PRS-505 too has a sub standard software/firmware for an eBook reader. Sony certainly lost it's edge.

And there is no sign that Sony tries to regain that edge. The Xperia X10 is still on Android 1.6. And update for 2.1 was announced in spring when 2.2 was already available and has recently moved back for a month. Chances are now that 3.0 is out before the 2.1 for Xperia X10.

But then Sony Ericsson aims to be world's largest android phone supplier — I wonder how they are going to do that with crappy software.

Samsung

While not quite off the list Samsung has lost appeal when I found out that updates are only available through Samsung's PC Studio. And PC in this case means MS-Windows-PC.

Sure I can use Bootcamp or maybe VMWare but I did not need to for my Nexus-One. The Nexus-One gets the updates OTA (Over the air) or by copying a file called update.zip onto the SD-card.

So why is it the additional software the manufactures create for Android make things worse and not better? A question not only asked for Samsung but all Android manufactures.

LG

Apart from the fact that the largest screen LG offers is 8.9cm (3.5"), which is to small these days, LG is not known for generous firmware updates either.

HTC

Yes, it seems that HTC is the only viable Android manufacturer. HTC phones get there updates in a timly manner and OTA. HTC does have powerful large screen phones on offer. That's it, from 5 manufactures only one made it.

Underdogs

Yes, I did look at the underdogs (Acer, Dell, etc) as well. But I did not see anything appealing either.