This is how it's done
Apple, Blackberry, Nokia and any other phone OS player needs to pay attention here.
For completeness: I have an HTC HD2 smartphone. I have run a variety of Android ROMs on it, all thanks to the hard work of the devs over at XDA. Most recently I've had a Nexus One version of FroYo 2.2.1 and have been loving the vanilla-ness of it.
Last night, I downloaded a Gingerbread 2.3.1 build (also based on a Nexus One OTA updated image, so vanilla again), formatted an 8GB micro SD card, copied the build across and booted the phone. Everything worked great. Wi-Fi connected immediately. Schweet. I posted on Twitter:
"First impressions of Gingerbread. Faster, smoother, less stutters. Like the orange accents and glow."
However, when I tried to install a couple of apps, the Market seemed broken. I'd select an app, and instead of offering to install, the only option would be to cancel the download. Hmmm. It was late, I was tired, so I left it that.
Woke up this morning to a notification that 23 applications had been re-synced to my phone....and the penny dropped. So, here's how it goes. You essentially get a new blank Android phone, you boot it, supply your Google, Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter credentials, and after a short while (depending on your Internet connection speed), all your contacts, apps, bookmarks etc automagically appear on your phone.
This really is how it should be, everywhere, on all platforms, no?
Hell yes.
[15 Jan: Re-reading this, I just had an tiny apostrophe. That's how Google's Chrome OS works, no? Derp.]
