It seems every week there is another "Oh Nos! Android is infested with malware!" article extolling the virtues of Apple and claiming all Android phones MUST install some A/V app or else your hair is going to fall out, your dog will get pregnant and your lawn will turn brown. Every one of these articles can be traced back to one of the major A/V vendors (who just happen to have a convenient Android A/V app for sale) or Apple. It is all FUD and BULLSH*T. Are there malware out there for Android? Yes. Is it widespread in the US? No. I've worked with Android phones for years, work with several administrators in corporate environments who service hundreds of Android phones, know dozens of friends with Android phones. I have NEVER encountered a single bit of malware. Not once. The few bits of malware that have gotten into the system in the US were quickly taken care of by Google. Tell me, have any of you EVER seen this "widespread malware" out in the field?

Riiiiiiiiight..... you're so believable and use so many shocking but well-documented facts to support your arguments. Now, I must assume that what you do for a living is shine the Koch brother's shoes?

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

+1! The Netflix UI on the WDTV Live Plus just plain sucks, it is slow and unresponsive in the extreme. Other interfaces, like HuluPlus, run very well comparatively.

You don't have to root an Android phone in order to sideload applications (unless you bought it from AT&T, but that's your carrier's fault, not Android)

If you're having those kinds of problems, you've either done something really stupid to the hardware or OS, or it is just your bad luck to get a defective piece of hardware. Those kinds of issues are not common. I suspect USER ERROR.

My Android phone (also HTC) is my only phone. I've had no issues, it works for me every time, night and day, home or away. I have no tethering problems (wired or Wi-Fi), no network stack crashes, no general failures. And it is more than just a screen full of app icons, I have very useful widgets that give me valuable info at a glance of the screen. Can't do that on IOS.

How many soldiers have gotten court-martialed for getting a blowjob, ever?

Of course I've seen the bizarre and depraved on Chatroulette, but I've also met and chatted with a couple of people that have turned out to be very nice guys. We've added each other to our Live Messenger friends and now chat on a daily basis, sharing pictures of our hometowns (Lisbon, Istanbul, Atlanta) and learning about each other's cultures and daily lives. What a great way to spend a few minutes each day.

I'm also running a WinMo 6.5 build on my old HTC Excaliber (T-Mobile DASH). It is faster than the stock T-Mobile WinMo 6.0, has better battery life, looks great, and works without crashing. Using Bing to retrieve maps and info via voice command is a great ap, even Google Maps triangulates locations on this thing with pretty good accuracy. I have a 8GB SD card chock full of music and can even watch a few movies using TCPMP full-screen and a stereo Bluetooth headset. YouTube plays without stuttering. And this is on a 2 year old unlocked phone I bought on Ebay for $70 and purchased two new batteries and a desktop charger for $15. And with T-Mobile giving me unlimited anytime calling, unlimited text/mms, and unlimited data for $75/month, I can't complain. Now even have the new Windows Mobile Marketplace with a lot of new aps available.

My feeling exactly. The Kindle2 was finally capturing my attention and I was seriously considering it. However, I just lost all interest. I'll continue to read my ebooks that I download from the net on my Zodiac1 using eReader or Mobipocket.

The only time my computers have ever been infected with malware was when I was relying upon Symantec's Corporate AV software for protection. The only way I could clean my computers was to download the FREE AVG which detected the malware that Symantec couldn't during the AVG installation. It cleaned it right then. Symantec tech support denied any knowledge of the malware I found, blaming me for not configuring their software correctly. However, 2 weeks after I sent them the malware file, they issued an update to add that malware to their database. So much for their great support. I've depended on the FREE AV solutions ever since and have not been disappointed.

or its like iPhone for a cellphone. :-) Popularity depends on the gullibility of the buyer.

Who's god?

Are you kidding? Have you been in a cave for the last 20 years? Right now many public libraries are forced to use "net-nanny" software on all computers. Some do-nothing congressmen have proposed legislation many times to require such software on all computers. You act as if that's something that has never happened and that just points to your failure to know or understand the world around you. The Western world is not immune to the underhanded and totally ridiculous. Look at the filtering attempted in the UK and Australia already. Right now even US based usenet services have had entire blocks of totally legitimate groups deleted simply because they are on a blacklist for "potential" abuses... not that there have even been abuses discovered, just that they have the potential. So, don't get all uber-patriotic and say it doesn't happen here... it does. Wake up.

What about local and state governments right here in the USA that have required the same thing on computers used by "the children" ("Think of the children!")? How about even attempts by federal legislators to do the same thing? People who spout off the typical "those horrible Chinese!" lines usually neglect to see the very similar tactics used right here in the good ol' USA. And the US media typically fails to report what happens here, but readily paints a negative picture of life in China.

Apple is becoming like the CCP (that's the Chinese PRC gov't for the great uneducated), with the App Store like the Great Firewall. Both seem to be run rather arbitrarily and reactionary. While Apple has some nice hardware and software, their practices and the drooling fanboys completely turn me cold. I'd rather buy something, anything, else even if it has less functionality overall.