It has no notification LED.

It's a decent if unexceptional device. I can live without a real keyboard. I can live without a microSD slot (especially given the broken way that Android uses external storage). NFC is neat if extremely premature and consumer-only at this point.

The lack of a notification LED on Google's flagship device, however, is deadly.

The iPhonification of Android

I don't want to endlessly turn the screen on or suffer disruptive notification sounds (that I miss if I'm not nearby at that moment) just to know that an email dropped.

Hence why I like devices to have a notification LED. Preferrably one that is easily visible when it's in a case (beside the power connector would be perfect).

The Nexus One has such a notification behind the trackball. It's suboptimal given that it suffers from a very slow cycling rate by default (meaning you have to stop and look at the device for 10 seconds to see if it pulses), and the fact that it's hidden when the phone is in a case, yet it's far better than nothing.

Purportedly there are some fixes conceived to use several of the OLED pixels as a hacked out notification LED. Aside from the poor positioning and minimal visibility of the low brightness screen, my big concern there is OLED fade. Like plasma OLED has a finite lifespan, and the pixels that shine the brightest live the shortest, so you may end up with a notification burn in pattern on your screen.

On The Value of The Negative

My LED notification is just as valuable when it isn't blinking. It communicates with accuracy and reliability (meaning I'm assuming the battery hasn't run dry) that there is nothing demanding a response.

This "negative notification" concept eludes many, yet it's incredibly valuable.

Tracks in snow tell a lot, but snow without tracks tells just as much. A dog barking at an intruder tells you plenty. A dog quietly sleeping tells you as much.

While a number of beta releases of Android 2.2 (AKA Froyo) have made the rounds since the Google I/O public unveiling over a month ago, all of the prior releases targeted the T-Mobile variants, leaving my EPE54b-based "AT&T" model on the outside longingly looking in.

Sure, there are methods of rooting and rolling back and then forward to get it working, but I wasn't interested in them simply because this phone is too useful for me to bother: It is already a very decent phone, and I was willing to bide my time until Google refined the final bits and pushed it officially, at least when the alternative started with rooting.

Alas, a version has finally been unviled for my version of Android. I downloaded it, did the manual update, and initial impressions are incredibly positive.

I've complained numerous times before about the stuttering, seemingly overwhelmed feel of the platform, at least relative to the buttery smoothness of an iPhone, and I can happily say that most of those complaints are no longer true.

One possible facet of the Froyo update that has been debated back and forth as myth has been support for 802.11n. I can gladly say that FRF85b does indeed enable 802.11n on my handset.

Taken after switching the WAP to 802.11n only, though it establishes the same connection in mixed g/n. Yes, I named my WAP "dlink", even though it isn't a dlink.

While much has been made about 802.11n's higher theoretical speed, how often is greater than 54Mbps really needed on a smartphone? Is the max 54Mbps of 802.11g just too constrained?

Hardly. The increased max theoretical throughput is a non-issue for this usage.

Instead the real benefit of 802.11n is that it maintains a decent throughput at the edges of the connection, where 802.11g would stutter and disconnect. I can already say that testing this throughout the house and the yard has demonstrated a more consistent, more usable experience. With the WAP in the basement, connectivity in the bedroom was often more hit and miss, whereas now it appears to be rock solid and ever so speedy.