When I get an Android for Christmas

Well, in fact the title should be “if I get an Android for Christmas”. Hope you understand the nuance.

The following paragraphs contain what you may expect, for better and for worse, when you switch an Android on first time. Although it can be obvious to every actual smartphone user, I’ve tried to get into the skin of one of those ten million users who will switch on an Android for first time this Christmas. In particular, I’ve unboxed a brand new Nexus One, well aware that it’s neither a too expensive nor too new smartphone and that are not the size of the box nor the fanciness of the wrapping which determines the value of the gift. Don’t lose your Christmas spirit, ho ho ho!

OK, let’s get this started. Nexus One takes long to load and I don’t like that. Eventually the green bot appears welcoming in my first day. There they go the settings (Google location, Data & Time) which I do not want to go through just now, but fortunately they’re short and easy to set. First part is over and I’m very glad to be thinking that my mother would understood it as well. Perhaps I’m being too obvious, but someone has to explain it plainly, don’t you think?

Green bot continues messaging me, this time it talks about placing applications over the deserted desktop. “Drag your apps to your home screen!”, it says. Its wishes are my command so that’s what I do next. I tap on the bottom grid button and I see what’s in there. I might have not done anything yet, but the device already comes with several default apps, some of which are useful and some others which are not. Browser, Camera, Calendar, Clock, Contacts… those are the typical ones. I also have Books, Gmail, Facebook, Google Search, Gogle Maps, GTalk, Twitter and Youtube among others. I select the ones that I use most (that is Facebook, Twitter and Gmail) and I press on them until I sense the vibration, which means that they’re now on my homescreen menu. I drag and move them around until I have them right where I want them.

Then I swipe left to the other screen and start adding other apps like the camera and the calendar there. When I’m done, I simply tap on the green bot widget and drag it to the bin, it served its purpose. I want to connect my Nexus to the Wi-fi and after some failed attempts (password too long, why are 0 and O so similar?) I finally manage to do it. And then the adventure starts.

I sign in with my Google account and decide it’s already time to start exploring the market, already installed in my Nexus because I overwhelmed the seller about it when I bought it. It’s true that I could also visit AndroidZoom and read some reviews by the way, but as they are the typical apps I could not live without I prefer to go ahead: Whatsapp, IMDb and, why not, Angry Birds. There’ll be time to get lost out in the midst of the Androidverse and then I know I’ll appreciate my colleagues’ reviews in order to get some other casual game that may help me not to sleep during class. After that, it’s all about customization and appearance so I start setting my pictures and ringtones, which is quick and simple to do. You have to invest a while playing around with your newest toy, though, so in this regard isn’t different from any other smartphone I’ve had on my hands before.

And that’s about it, I think. I have everything I need.

Far from the truth. Because then, in that moment of apparent self-satisfaction, I think of my colleague Emmanuel, who is always changing the settings of his phone and doing incredibly strange things to it. I was always curious and now I want that, so I turn to him and ask him if he can help me turn my simple Android device into something more. But that, AndroidZoomers, is another story…that will be told tomorrow.

Despite her youth Ms. Grace is one of our oldest contributors