Android not quite ready for business users

BlackBerry Perl Flip seems to be at End of Life status (discontinued). It had an elegant compact ergonomic design but was compromised by a tiny screen (WWW challenged). It was easy to carry in a cycling jersey or suit jacket. Well...2 years later, like all fancy cell phones, mine died.

After (3) BlackBerry devices, I decided to try a touch-screen Android phone - the Motorola Cliq XT. I use POP email and Microsoft Outlook (no Exchange server). Here are my trials & tribulations:

• Android phones are meant to be integrated with a Google account, and there is no 'out of the box' method to integrate it with Microsoft Outlook running on your Windows PC. Most in the business world live in Outlook.
• Social Media: device integrates with Facebook, Twitter and MySpace but not LinkedIn. I thought MySpace was mostly for artists to promote their music; not sure that is useful to be tightly integrated with my smartphone contacts. There is already LinkedIn and Facebook integration on BlackBerry.
• Sync with Outlook? Search for a 3rd party application was an eerily fruitless search. I figured there had to be an easy solution for this. The most basic one involves syncing your desktop Outlook with Google (very limited in functionaliy). The most highly regarded option is a product suite by CompanionLink: applications need to be installed both on PC and smartphone. The sync process takes a very long time (compared to a desktop sync of a BlackBerry), and the process requires you to disconnect the USB cable at a certain stage every time (awkward and manual). Outlook data (Calendar, Contacts, Notes and Tasks) does not sync up with the native Android Calendar/Contacts/Notes applications. Instead it syncs up with another set of applications. That means that you cannot utilize your synched address book to call/ email/ text on the phone. There is no native Tasks application on Android or Google, so if you are a "Getting Things Done" fan of context based lists, you have to find a work-around solution for working your system on an Android phone.

There is no provision for working with meeting invites; it is not possible for one to respond to, create or see any details (invitees/organizer) on Android.
I figured out within a couple days that Android phones are clearly not ready for prime time business use.
For the time being I've resurrected a 2 year old Curve: OEM battery on ebay for ~$2, wiped device then installed latest software...copasetic. And, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is the best instant messaging platform.