It has been a while since I’ve replaced my HTC Dream (also known outside Canada as G1) with an iPhone 3GS. I actually would have stayed with the Dream for a longer while, if only the battery life would have gone all the way as well. Luckily as I’ve found out I wasn’t the only one with that problem. I know there was a couple ways to get around that, but I just wanted a smart-phone right out of the box, without tinkering or modding.

Since the iPhone 3GS just hit the shelves at the time, I basically switched away and grabbed me one and never looked back. Although since then, I really haven’t stopped keeping an eye on the Android Market.

So, if there is anything other than battery life that I wish to see improved in 2010, it should be an overhaul of the Android Market experience.

“Let’s get sh*t done”

In that one month of owning the Dream with Android baked in, I actually wasn’t interested in getting me the few games that were available. I immediately gravitated to all the lifehacks, to-do lists, instant messengers, you name it. For some odd reason it was a natural move staying away from their games. I guess that’s the feel the phone comes with, almost like “let’s get sh*t done”. I even had it tracking my jogging distances and all that for free and no extra gizmos to pay for and tack on to it!

All the free applications were brilliant and great to use, some may have had slight to major usability issues or a mildly confusing UI but I’m guessing that could easily be fixed once more interface folks jump on.

Purchase could be more fun

From my experience, the process of buying a paid application is by far not as quick and easy as that of the iPhone. For instance, I had a free promo application that would deadlink me to the location of the paid version. So, there I was standing in front if an empty page willing to pay. Since I was a little bit under time pressure that day, I decided to take care of it later, but as it was I completely forgot about it.

Also, I really haven’t figured out if I was able to have one master account that I can purchase with (i.e. like on the App Store), or would I have to make individual purchases every time? Purchasing can’t be easier through Google Checkout…

One thing for me is definite, the experience of the Android Market needs a lot more spit & polish, therefore it still has ways to go to capture the attention of Jane and Joe Average. There is a reason why the App purchases on iTunes are soaring – it’s fast, simple, and safe. If I see one of my friends using a crazy app, I just jump on to the App Store and get it. We shouldn’t really be surprised about the amount of iFart apps that are being downloaded on a daily basis. It’s easy grab hold of and widely available.

Having said that, I loved the applications I got from the Android Market, albeit 99.6% were free or sharewares and mainly consisted of lifehacks and work related tools. In comparison to my iPhone collection, I’ve got 4 game/entertainment apps to every 1 work related app.

As a general user – and possibly even a future Android owner, again – I’m hoping they’ll clean up and improve the experience and make it easier to purchase applications, if they want to put a dent and make an impact on the App Store.

But then again, who says that is the goal of the Android Market? The folks who generally buy an Android phone, already know how to code their own applications on it.

The Market is fairly young and as it seems it’s got a lot of room to grow, let’s see the future has in store for us…