Haven’t yet tried to root my phone (though I am sure would try it out sooner or later). However, I can share some experiences from a regular user POV.
• The variety of apps in market is astounding. Enough to drown in. it is a must to do proper research, check in forums before downloading the apps. Else the data limit can quickly get exhausted
• It is advisable to have a data plan with higher limit – at least 1 GB if you want to fully enjoy the android experience. So many apps depend on data usage (not to mention android ads) that this much of data usage will happen. A very useful widget to track data usage is “Data Counter Widget”
• Install SWYPE as the first download in any new Android phone. It is a MUST HAVE. I can actually type faster with SWYPE than with a regular keypad.
• I have tried out the alternate messaging applications CHOMPSMS, GOSMS, and HANDCENT. However, all of them had one deal breaker for me – hence had to come back to the stock messaging app (not to say it is bad). The dealbreakers for me were
o Chomp: too Obtrusive ads
o Go : Delivery report shows only number and not contact name
o Handcent: it is slow. Also does not show proper delivery report
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If none of these deal breakers matter to you, please do go ahead with these. They each add lots of features to the stock app.
• Also tried out some alternate launchers – ZEAM, ADW, LauncherPro, Go launcher. Have found Go launcher to be the best “Free” launcher and am currently using that in place of the stock LG launcher
• I have tried out few of the alternative browsers – however am back to the stock android browser as the alternates each had one deal breaker or two for me:
o Opera: Very Fast but text reflow is not too good. Also hated the poor image quality even at best quality setting.
o Skyfire: It is SLOW. Of all the browsers used, this was the slowest
o Dolphin: Did not like the interface very much – it was too cluttered.
All in all, in my experience, Stock browser renders the web pages best, excellent image quality, decent speed and a very clean interface. Hence, it remains the browser of choice to me.
• One useful widget is “Battery left” which provides a nice visual representation of the battery statistics.
Will keep on posting further experiences