First, a general feeling: the buttons still feel good, and the trackball feels even better. Navigating in a text, even small, on the iPod Touch is painful, and I hate to have to put my big finger on top of the editable area, waiting for the magnifier to (eventually) show up. With the trackball, no problem any more: you navigate with the ball, which happens to be just below the virtual keyboard. It even reminds me of my PC setup.

Now, about the contacts application. It is synchronized with my Google contacts, which is quite good, because this provides me with a good place to put my main contact list. However, as of today, my Google contacts include a lot of trash. Their interface is not very sexy, and the phone interface is not ideal either. Plaxo is not working either. This does not sound really good. Final bad touch: my contacts are sorted by first name, and I can’t change it. Now, thigs are really bad, and it’s annoying.

Let’s switch to the browser. In the first experiences, it’s not bad, although it is not as good as the Touch’s. I don’t really like the multitouch interface on the browser, because it lacks precision, but the more traditional interface on the Magic is not really good either. Same feeling about the default view. The Magic keeps the text readable, even if that means that the page doesn’t fit on the screen, where the Touch displays the entire page. More zooming in one case, more moving in the other.

In terms of browsing, the iPhone has a major advantage, though: its fame. Many Web sites (including this one) automatically switch to a mobile-optimized mode when browsed from an iPhone, but not when browsed from an Android device. I guess that this will improve as Android becomes more popular.

Finally, let’s move to the application store. I haven’t spent a lot of time, so I guess that there will be more posting on this.

The first application I looked for was a Twitter client. The first ones suggested by the basic search were far from optimal. I ended up searching for the good client on Google, and found one quite fast, which happened to be Twidroid. It seems to be extremely popular, and I wonder why I did not get it in the first suggestions in Android Market.

Next, I just browsed through a few applications, and ended up downloaded four:

• A Compass, which works well, and which is one of the few features that I have and iPhone owners don’t have.
• A barcode scanner, which works great and also finds my English books. Too bad that it does not seem very aware of French products. I will look for a more local one. It also looks like a great way to exchange contacts and URLs through QR codes (Yes, I hate Bluetooth for doing that).
• A weather application, Weatherbug. Not bad, but I will quite likely change it in the future.
• An application that uses local information, Qype Radar. Seems to work, but more testing to come during my vacations.

Overall, my feeling is not bad at all. All the applications are free, useful, and even those that I don’t like completely don’t crash and give a good feeling of quality. I have had worse experiences with iPod Touch applications. However, let’s wait a little before to draw conclusions.

To finish, a few goods and bads:

• I have a better control of the accelerometer on the Magic; in particular, I have the feeling that it knows when I want it to change from portrait to landscape.
• I have said it already, but the buttons and trackball feel quite good, mostly because they provide a good level of consistence between the applications.
• I have not started to use the agenda. I don’t really like the Google sync, and the UI doesn’t feel as good as the Touch’s UI. I will wait a bit for that one.

Of course, there are going to be comparisons. To my old phone, of course; but since it happens to be a 5-year old Windows Mobile device, the comparison shall be quite easy. And also to my iPod Touch, which basically offers an iPhone experience (minus the phone part).

In the first minutes, the Magic is a loser to the iPod, because of the way the touchscreen feels: there is no inertia on the Magic; when you stop swiping your finger, it just stops, instead of merely decelerating. After a few months of iPod Touch experience, this is a bit disappointing.

Then, things start getting a bit better, and I find a few advantages to the Magic:

• First, the buttons; I love touchscreens, but for some easy tasks, I prefer a button, and the Magic has six of them. It also has a ball, but I haven’t used it much yet, so I can’t tell much.
• Then, the logical keyboard. It works quite well. In landscape mode, I can type much faster than on the Touch. The best part of it is the word suggestion engine. I instantly adapted to it, and I loathe Apple’s choice to correct me by default. Definitely a good point.
• Third, in order to unlock the phone, I have the option to use a path on the touch screen, which is great. I love it (others complain that this is the only option; quite likely, I will).

However, globally, the Magic’s UI is not as polished as the iPhone’s. Just to continue on the method to unblock the screen, there is a small issue.On the Touch, there is the possibility to define a delay before authentication is required, which can range from 1 minute to 1 day. This is just nice to have, especially as the device has a tendency to easy turn its screen off quite fast.

Next, a first look at the app store. Once again, a few comparisons with “the” reference:

• It is smaller, so small that there even isn’t a localized French app store. And I am a bit afraid that some apps that I am being offered wouldn’t work well outside of the USA.
• No image preview, or well hidden images. This is bad, because preview is really interesting.
• Lots of utilities, including some that modify the basic behavior of the phone. Now, this is really nice. For instance, it is possible to modify the unlock method to password, and also to add a delay. It seems that real customization is possible here.
• Not that easy to find applications. Finding a good Twitter application is not as simple as it a simple search, and a look on Internet gives a much better selection.

OK. I am going back on the Magic. More news tomorrow.