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"Troubleshooting" only matters if you're installing ROM Manager yourself. More typically, folks get it bundled in preinstalled (in a version tested against their handset) the first (and only) time they install Cyanogen by hand. From that point on, it Just Works.

Personally, I get more value from an open ecosystem (where, for instance, I can install applications like Swype which change the user experience system-wide -- something Jobs would never allow on the iPhone) than I would from not having that one-time manual install overhead every time I get a new phone. YMMV.

I agree 100%. CharlyFoxtrot is making completely uninformed statements (not surprising from an iPhone owner discussing Android, really) and should stop or educate himself. What difficulties there are stem from manufacturers trying to prevent users from gaining root access to their own pocket computers. Apple, by the way, is just as guilty as anyone of promoting that drain-bamaged idea. The original Android releases were shipped rooted: it was a perceived need to protect apps from copying that led to later versions being locked.

Matter of fact, once you've achieved root, flashing Cyanogenmod is so painless nowadays that it's easier and safer than your typical provider's OTA updates (if it screws up for any reason, you can easily reflash it) and I get the latest OS and new features far faster than waiting for my carrier to deliver them. Plus which, as I'm sure you know, Cyanogen's group takes things quite a bit further than the stock firmware in many ways, stability and performance being a big priority. A lot of his stuff ends up back in the main AOSP tree, so actually even those still stuck with the stock ROM benefit in the long run. Isn't that what open source is supposed to be all about?

"Troubleshooting" only matters if you're installing ROM Manager yourself. More typically, folks get it bundled in preinstalled (in a version tested against their handset) the first (and only) time they install Cyanogen by hand. From that point on, it Just Works.

Personally, I get more value from an open ecosystem (where, for instance, I can install applications like Swype which change the user experience system-wide -- something Jobs would never allow on the iPhone) than I would from not having that one-time manual install overhead every time I get a new phone. YMMV.

Do you have a smart phone? You'd love Swype. It's basically what you describe but for the soft-keyboard on a touchscreen. You put your finger down somewhere near the letter your word starts with, drag it around in the general direction and neighborhood of the rest of the letters in the word, and then lift it up. Swype calculates a probability of what word you were trying to type based on the shape, even if you didn't quite touch all the letters in the word. If it's confident enough, it inserts the word into the text field... otherwise it displays a list of words in order of confidence for you to pick from. (If you wanted the top word in the list you can just start typing your next word and it will insert it.) And of course it automatically learns any new words you type.

At first I thought it was just a gimmick but I've been VERY impressed by it on my Galaxy S phone... I specifically got a phone with a slide-out keyboard because I didn't like the idea of a soft-keyboard, but now I use both in different situations. The hardware keyboard is still nicer for entering symbols and other non-words conveniently (e.g. an SSH session or a web password), but for regular writing Swype is actually faster!

He's not talking about software keyboards a la iPhone.

He's talking about Swype. It's from the same guy who invented T9.

You don't peck the softkeys. You just trace a motion through the letters of a word. E.g., "sad" would be s, left to a, right to d, without taking your finger off the screen. You don't even have to be precise; it has a dictionary, and you can add your own words. Lift your finger for a space.

Watch a video demo. Other cool stuff. It's owned by Nokia, but available for Android as well.

He's not talking about software keyboards a la iPhone.

He's talking about Swype. It's from the same guy who invented T9.

You don't peck the softkeys. You just trace a motion through the letters of a word. E.g., "sad" would be s, left to a, right to d, without taking your finger off the screen. You don't even have to be precise; it has a dictionary, and you can add your own words. Lift your finger for a space.

Watch a video demo. Other cool stuff. It's owned by Nokia, but available for Android as well.

Reminds me a bit of Swype though watching the video, it seems like it would be slower than Swype.

I'll probably try it out though. My anticipation is that I would need to learn the positions of all the letters to know how many sectors to cover for each. Counting them on the fly would really slow it down. And then there would be those words I'd hate because they involved lots of swirls. Like how we hated people with 9s in their phone numbers during the days of rotary phones.

Actually I can probably "Swype" faster than I can type on a phone keyboard these days. I always thought the google password lock was more of a fun feature than serious security, anyway - kind of like those diaries kids get with the chunky plastic locks, they wouldn't stand up to a serious attack but they'd stop the casual intrusion. There are plenty of alternative security solutions for Android phones if it's a real consideration (including buying an Android phone with a physical keyboad if you're really worried about smudge readers).

I use Swype on the Desire I'm testing. I'm absolutely gobsmacked by how accurate and intuitive it is to use. After 2 days use I was hitting 40 wpm with a keyboard 2" wide (use it in portrait), using only my thumb. You can type out words if you wish (spinning 90 degrees still brings up the landscape keyboard) but that's slower for me. One handed typing has become faster than two.

It's from the guy who designed T9. That man is a genius.

I've been trialling this since friday (HTC Desire) and I have to say I am incredibly impressed so far (and I'm not generally easily impressed). As you say, it's making predictions of what you intended to type, but it does so with - so far for me - an incredibly high hit-rate. It seems even if your trail misses a few letters, it still almost always suggest the correct word (and where it doesn't, it prompts you with a list like the standard predictive keyboard on the Desire, even then it's much faster to "swype" and correct than to type and correct). Punctuation seems to be my sticking point right now as it breaks the natural flow that lets you build up some incredible typing speeds (I'm sure this is my failing rather than the software's, there are some tips to help but I've yet to learn them instinctively). Overall it took me around 5 or 6 text messages to go from "what the hell is happening" to as fast as my previous (admittedly not massively quick being new to touch-screen keyboards on phones) typing speed.

Have you tried Swype or one of the other similar "finger sliding" keyboards like SlideIT, ShapeWriter?

Until I got my Nexus One I had the same opinion as you wrt texting and touch-screen keyboards. It was one of the major reasons I had resisted buying a phone with only a software keyboard. I eventually bit the bullet after speaking to plenty of people who said they got used to the on-screen keyboard quickly enough. It still felt like a big step backwards for me though and I never really felt comfortable with any of the 3-4 different touch keyboards I'd tried until I found Swype (note that's a HUGE plus in favour of Android - you can replace virtually any part of the system 3rd party software, keyboard included).

For those of you who aren't aware of these types of keyboards, they work as follows: Rather than pressing each key one at a time like a normal keyboard, you just slide your finger across all the letters in the word you want to write. Once you've slid out the word, you lift your finger then start sliding the next word. The software figures out what word you intended and inserts that plus a space automatically. It's uncannily accurate, it only takes a few minutes to get the hang of, and it doesn't take a lot of practice until you're "typing" words at 40WPM with just one thumb.

Almost everyone I've shown it to has been blown away by it, including plenty of distinctly envious looking iPhone owners.

I'm in the market for a new phone and, although I prefer simplicity, it would be nice to have an easier way to write text messages. My coworker recently showed me a video demonstrating this new technology that was developed by a guy who helped invent T9. It's unique because it doesn't require you to lift your stylus or finger to type.

I'm not a fan of the on-screen keyboard, especially if it covers the entire screen, but I could definitely deal with this slick input method.