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Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: gpw11 on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 12:11:17 AM
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Smartphones. I can't stop reading about them. I'd love to go back to a cheap ass dial and text PCS phone, but I needed a smartphone for work/school email access and customizing it got me hooked. Now I check sites multiple times a day. Fuck me.
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I got a Samsung Innov8 a month ago on my birthday. I love it, but I haven't totally utilized it. Any suggestions?
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The Innov8 is great but since it's SymbianOS you're pretty much limited to Java apps. Which is not very limiting :P There are plenty out there!
I've been on Windows Mobile since I got my Samsung Omnia. I love that phone. I've been using custom firmware with for a while now. I get most of my apps from FreewarePPC (http://freewareppc.com/). They might have some stuff for Symbian but I'm not sure.
I recently wound up with a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. It's got much higher resolution than the Omnia but it's lacking in other aspects. So far it's greatest feature is the physical slide keyboard. So much easier and more comfortable to use than any on-screen soft keyboards.
I'm pretty hooked on mobile devices now too. While I'm not a fan of Windows Mobile in and of itself, the customizeability and the 3rd-party stuff you can get for it are treasure.
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ah yes, i've been waiting for a thread like this...
i recently got the htc hero (known as the "G2 touch" on t-mobile). it's the latest phone based on google's android os and is now my favourite toy.
the interface is fantastic, with a modified version of the standard android ui. customisable widgets such as rss feeds, music players, weather, clocks, contacts, etc. the customisation available on this device is pretty great.
some of my other favourite bits are:
- google maps (including street view), with gps.
- facebook integration with phone contacts, which gives you status updates, album viewer and loads of other bits.
- last.fm and shoutcast radio, so virtually unlimited music via 3g access
- 5mp camera
- bbc iplayer - live and recorded bbc tv
- one touch facebook and twitter (uurgh) uploads, so you can stick embarrassing pictures and vids up before you think better of it. this also works with "geotagging", which means it can automatically put in location information via gps.
- msn, aim, google talk and skype
- gmail integration
- web browser with flash support
- layers - an app that uses the camera and overlays various pieces of information about your surrounding area, such as bars, restaurants, shops and local points of interest.
- android marketplace - since android is open source, there are hundreds of completely free apps that cover pretty much anything you can do on a pc - including scummvm, snes, gameboy and megadrive emulators.
the only real downside of it is the processor could be a bit more powerful, so the device is subject to a tiny amount of lag if you try and do too many things at once.
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How much do these things cost? I shudder to think.
I actually have decided to get back to the world of cell phones. I sort of need one for stuff now, and it's probably best to just stop avoiding the inevitable. But laziness and not wanting to research phones has thus far halted my progress entirely.
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How much do these things cost? I shudder to think.
as with most phones over here, mine was free on an 18 month contract. i understand that you're looking at around $200 plus a 2 year contract for most smart phones in north america, however.
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I don't do contracts.
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I've had a Blackberry Storm for work for a few months now and I already want to punt it long distances. Not because it's a Blackberry Storm, but because it's a fucking work phone. I had a work phone for around a year before this but at least i didn't get email on it.
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The Innov8 is great but since it's SymbianOS you're pretty much limited to Java apps. Which is not very limiting :P There are plenty out there!
I've been on Windows Mobile since I got my Samsung Omnia. I love that phone. I've been using custom firmware with for a while now. I get most of my apps from FreewarePPC (http://freewareppc.com/). They might have some stuff for Symbian but I'm not sure.
I'm rocking an Omnia as well, although I can't load up custom firmware with it because there aren't any custom roms that will work with Telus' CDMA towers yet for some reason. I'd like to get WM 6.5 on that bitch, but for the time being it all works out simply because Windows Mobile is so customizable if you're willing to put a bit of work in.
Originally I really wasn't a fan of WM6.1, and as a result, the phone but having learned more I'm really liking it. Blackberry for me wasn't really an option because of the specific retention deal I got and the fact that I doubt I could renegotiate to a new BB data plan for anywhere near the same price as what I pay now for unlimited. The iPhone is a similar deal because I'd have to switch carriers and lose what little leverage you can have with these fuckers. Besides, iPhone isn't really a productivity device and this came with MS office included (great for viewing, horrible for editing anything but Excel) and far better email support. The 5 MP camera is alright, but LED flashes suck balls and I just bought a 10MP pocket cam that this doesn't really compare to.
All in all, I really like it and it's the best option I could go with at the time (no HERO yet and the Touch Pro 2 wasn't out yet). Still, I think I'll probably upgrade far before my contract ends. How are the slide out qwerty keyboards? Touch screen is kind of a bitch, but to be honest, I can't really see those tiny tiny keys being all that much better.
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Sweet. I wasn't a fan a of WM6.1 either but, as you said, with a little bit of effort the customisation pays off. So far my favourite part is the comprehensive and universal contact list. Speaking of which, if you get a chance grab PIM Backup (http://www.dotfred.net/), it's the best and most reliable contact/sms/note backup utility I've seen yet on WM. Saved my ass a few times.
The Omnia's camera is decent but, as with all phone cameras, they don't compare to an actual dedicated camera. They're great for "Oh, I wish I brought a camera!" situations.
It's too bad about the Telus CDMA incompatibility. Honestly, you're not missing too much; WM6.5 is a tiny bit more finger-friendly and the custom jobs have refined some of the WM woes, but in the end it's essentially the same.
The slide keyboard on the Xperia is pretty good actually. It took a bit of getting used to at first and now I'm comfortable with it. It matches a compact laptop keyboard, even sporting a FN (function) key to use a numpad or certain symbols. I have small hands so I'm not having any trouble with it but I can see how people with big hands might have a bit of a challenge with it, at least until they get the hang of it.
My Xperia is black, but this shot will give a good look at the keyboard:
(http://images.dailymobile.se/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-4.jpg)
One other thing I like about the Xperia is that it's metal. It feels nice and solid, and it can take a hit.
Btw, I've installed Skype on both phones and it works really well! It's pretty handy and can save a bit of cash when you can connect.
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Yeah, it does kind of suck about the ROM incompatibility, but it's not a huge deal. Custom skins, themes, and mods make minmo 6.1 far more touch and user friendly so that helps quite a bit. My only major complaint about anything is that WinMO was built for PocketPCs, not phones. The standard GUI is not finger friendly at all, and once you start getting into the depths of some of the windows menus it can really get noticable. Beyond that, Telus is upgrading their network right now and is supposed to launch an HSPA network in the coming months. I may end up getting one of the first WinMo7 devices on the new network once they start hitting, probably a year or so for now.
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I didn't get the innov8 because it was a smart phone specifically, but because it had an excellent 8.1MP camera on it. This is the first phone I have had where I can say the camera compares to a cheap digital camera. I did some research before buying, and pretty much bought it because of the camera reviews. I travel a lot during my work day, and come across lots of interesting things to take pics of. My K850i was pretty crap for taking pics, so I am pleased with this.
For anyone interested, here it is:
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/samsung-innov8/4505-6454_7-33232668.html
I also love how it looks; I think it looks quite smart.
It has all the other stuff like gtalk, msn, facebook, cnn player, google maps etc... but I am not really interested in that unless I am traveling far. :P
Hey, anyone know where I can download games? Would love to play Quake etc. on it.
One thing I do like is that it has a little touch sensitive square that functions as a mouse touch thing, like you find on laptops.
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http://www.nokiasymbianthemes.com/free-mobile-games/quake-3-arena-nokia-game
I think you'd have to just kind of google around until you find a good place that hosts .jar apps and games for Symbian. It's popular, so it should be easy.
The omnia also has a little "optical pad" but it's not great. Basically, instead of a laptop like trackpad, it's a piece of glass or plastic with an optical mouse behind it. It's not bad by any means, but it's kind of too small to be fully accurate as a mouse and because of the design it doesn't make a good directional pad. This is the way the technology seems to be going, and it'll probably get better but for right now a trackball is probably more accurate.
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I can play solitaire and breakout on my nearly 3-year-old phone. Woohoo! Don't need extensions to my fingers to hold it either.
Actually, that's my iPod. Never mind my brain farts.
But I still like the size and shape of my phone much better than all these smart ones'.
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The convenience of the smart phone is that it has everything you need and you don't need to carry additional devices. I remember that before the advent of smart phones, I had to carry a normal cell phone, mp3 player, and PDA with me. That's just too much crap to be carrying sometimes.
I'm still using a normal cell phone, but luckily it has mp3 playing capabilities and I just live with that.
The data plans in Canada are ridiculous and require 3 year contracts so I have refused to purchase a smart phone yet. I'm still undecided as the market has become flooded with them.
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To be honest, I do like the smaller form factor of regular phones more. Ippi does have a point though (even though I don't use it for music at all). For me it's mainly the PDA functions and access to email/the internet/exchange whenever and wherever. Well, that and I like to play around with stuff like this faaaar too much.
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I am thinking of either going for the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD or the Samsung M8910 Pixon12...
Omnia II is also an option, but as best as Samsung tried to cover it on the phone, Windows Mobile is still a sluggish nightmare.
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Thought about Android at all?
I haven't noticed Windows Mobile being all that sluggish, but I believe that's more of a 6.5 problem. Either way, it isn't finger friendly at all until skinned and I'd personally stay away from it until we see what Windows Mobile 7 brings us.
I'd hold off on a phone until after the big Mobile World Congress (or something like that) show this month.
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Yea come to think of it the Windows Mobile phone I tried was 6.5
So far the Omnia HD is looking brilliant...
Yea I may just hold off.
As for Android, it is still early days yet, though I am interested.
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Should be said that Sony Ericsson have really dropped the ball. I used to buy only SE, but it seems they decided that rehashing old products was a great idea. I had the k700, the k750 and then the w800... that's when their phones started going to hell. The 3mp K800i was an embarrassment with its terrible camera censor actually on the same level as the 2mp K7 and W8 series. It only looked good on the camera, but the image quality was pretty poor on screen.
Then there is the build quality, where every SE phone I've had has developed some fault or another. A lot of SE phones were squeaky and felt like toys. SE started developing a bad rep even on their fansites.
Nowadays SE seems to be in deep deep trouble, and I am not surprised. There are rumors that SE may close within the year, which would be well deserved.
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I was under the impression that Sony Ericsson was kind of coming back with the X10 (or something like that). No idea though, the phones usually aren't offered here so I don't really know anything about them.
I didn't realize the Omnia HD is running Symbian. I don't have any experience with that, but it seems like it may be a good way to get around the WinMo problem. Besides that, the screen and camera seem to be some of the best on the market - although it is rocking a resistive touchscreen (I think) unlike, say, The iPhone or Android devices. But yeah, I'd imagine a good phone either way. I can attest to the build quality of the Omnia series as I put my Omnia through a lot. My only gripe is that the TouchWiz interface doesn't do nearly enough to cover up Windows Mobile, but that wouldn't matter on Symbian and may have been fixed with the Omnia 2.
But yeah, either way, I'd just wait to see. I mean, you could play the waiting game forevet, but it always sucks to buy something and then see something far more awesome announced the next week.
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The SE X10 looks nice. I am actually considering getting the X1 though, since it's cheaper now in Canada. That said, smartphone selection in Canada leaves a lot to be desired.
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Yea the Xperia X10 might be really sweet. It might be the Android phone we are waiting for...
Overall, SE seems to be in trouble. From what I read they have made some big losses, and have had overall revenue drop to half.
They pretty much revolutionized the camera phone market, but for some reason started doing incremental camera sensor technology upgrades when they went further from 2MP phones, and basically started using the "megapixel" tagline only for marketing. Some of their 3MP phones ended up producing poorer shots than their 2MP counterparts. It wasn't long before the consumers caught on.
Compared to them Nokia kept improving in terms of quality. The build quality for SE phones was quite terrible and I read that they were surveyed to be the worst in the K750 era. Then LG, Samsung etc suddenly started putting out quality products and SE suffered even more.
It is sad because at one point SE revolutionized the mobile market, with their cybershot line very profitable.
Yea the X series looks really good, but the vast majority of the profits seem to come from the mid range phones.
BTW, my sister bought a Nokia 5230 yesterday.
It is an great set at $160.
The camera is pretty standard, but it is a touchscreen smart phone that looks good and is an amazing buy at that price. It would have been unheard of, to buy such a good new Nokia phone for less than $200 a few years ago. A sign of the times I guess.
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Looking at the Xperia specs, considering that it is rumored to be priced so high, it is disappointing that its screen is a 65 000 color TFT. You'd think it would be AMOLED.
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I don't know what the deal is with it, but I think we're right in the phase in period of AMOLED. It seems that a lot of big phones don't have it, which is really weird. I'd imagine it's all depended of when the phone was first starting to be designed or something.
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In somewhat related news, Google is either about to or just did release an over-the-air update for the Nexus One allowing multi-touch functions in all native programs. I'd imagine this will be present in all future Android releases and will probably be backrolled onto older phones like the Droid/Milestone and Hero. Notably, these phones all have multi-touch out of the box in every other region (and possibly Canada).
People had been wondering why American releases never had multi-touch gestures, but it looks like it's mostly been sorted out. It seems like Apple and Google had a gentleman's agreement regarding multi-touch on Android - something that's disappeared now that their relationship is turning sour fast. I believe Apple does claim to hold some patents, but that hasn't stopped anyone else and they still haven't touched RIM or Palm over it. Microsoft will probably also be walking all over that with Windows Mobile 7 (I think there's a software limitation preventing it in WM6.X even if the hardware is there). Looks like another "Fuck You" from Google.
Adobe is also piping up, saying that Flash 10.1 for smartphones is almost ready - allowing for complete in-browser flash support (huge deal). Expect full platform support for everyone....except Apple because those two are still in a pissing match. Apparently Apple won't let Flash anywhere near the iPhone because you could launch applications and games without having to go through the app store. Not only would Apple never approve of such a service in the App Store, the entire program would be against the TOS of the iPhone/app store. Adobe has been pretty vocal about this, which is probably wise because....well, everyone wants flash on their iPhones. Apple's side of the story is that Flash is too buggy (probably true), and Adobe is lazy (I don't know where that comes in).
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I have a question. Why the hell would any company want to name their phone HTC "hero"?
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yeah, htc do choose some notoriously stupid names for their android phones. most carriers usually have the common sense to rename them before sticking them on the shelves.
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I guess they thought there was going to be some overlap between the Guitar Hero and Smartphone user crowd. :P
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http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-to-show-off-a-new-phone-with-new-better-amoled-touchscreen-at-the-mwc/
Can't wait to see what gets released on Feb 15.
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Yeah, that's awesome. Wonder if it's resistive or capacitive. I'm looking forward to what is going to be shown as well. I've been putting a bit of money aside because I think I'm going to need to upgrade SOON. I don't know what the fuck is going on with my Omnia, but that motherfucker has just been draining the battery while in standby, which could eventually be a problem. I usually keep it in my car over the work day (since I started going to school full time again, I no longer get paid a phone allowance...which is totally cool, but don't expect me to use my minutes for work), and most times it can drop from anywhere between 30-40% of the battery just sitting there over 8 hours. I have no idea what the fuck is doing it. I've replaced the battery (no go, but at least I have two now), soft reset the phone, uninstalled everything and ran it clean, and for the most part it seems like nothing helps. I don't know if it's normal or if it's something to do with my providers ROM but I'm throwing down a three strikes rule - the third time I need my phone and it's dead I'm just deep-sixing it and getting a new one. Luckily, I haven't hit the first strike yet. Thank god for car chargers.
Do smartphone batteries just die very fast like that? I mean, I expect to have to charge daily with a smart phone, but for the battery to drop so substantially while it just sits there seems strange.
Anyways, it'll be interesting to see what comes at the MWC. I'm torn on what OS to go with. WinMo 6.x is great in that it's customizable and there are free apps for absolutely everything, but the stock UI blows hard and it is very very dated at this point. Not finger friendly at all. The rumours of WM7 sound mixed. On one hand, apparently the new UI will be great and it'll be a very good mobile operating system...on the other there are rumours of no backwards compatibility and possibly no multitasking. BC is a must with Windows Mobile since most of it's functionality comes from the fact that you can open, edit, and pretty much do anything on it.
Android seems great, but I'm going to wait and see. If WM7 doesn't do what I need, I'll probably go with this.
The iPhone; wicked multimedia phone, not so great smartphone. I already have two iPods, and it just doesn't seem to have the same level of organizational and productivity software I need. No editing office documents? I'm out. No flash at all, probably ever? I'm out. That and it's not nearly customizable enough for me.
Blackberry. Very tempted, except I'm hard on my phones and they don't put up with that well. A lot better now that they don't use the actual trackball anymore, but I'd still worry a bit about build quality. I already know of a few people who are having problems with their new Bolds (although they are fucking awesome).
So we'll see. I'd also like to get something with a hardware keyboard....just, you know, not too big.
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I think something may be up with the phone. They shouldn't die lie that. You don't leave a lot of apps running in the background, do you?
Anyway, here is some info on Win7mobile...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8515915.stm
edit:
This Bing push is getting lame. Bing sucks.
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Wow check out the Samsung Wave:
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/samsung-wave-s8500-en.shtml
What the hell is BADA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bada_%28operating_system%29
Here is a coverage of the phones Samsung launched:
http://www.gsmarena.com/mwc_2010_samsung-review-452.php
Windows 7 mobile impressions:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/windows-phone-7-series-hands-on-and-impressions/
Here is a video review of the wave:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/14/samsung-wave-first-hands-on-bada-packed-and-super-fast/
Like the comments said... it looks like a mashup of the android and iphone OS.
BTW, just learned that yes Windows Mobile 7 will not have Flash, which is disappointing...
OK what the hell... this is the Samsung Beam:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/samsung-beam-halo-hands-on/
It has a projector, 8MP camera, SuperAMOLED display... and Android 2.1
Sold yet?
Here is the Windows 7 mobile press preview:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/videoGallery.aspx
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Nope usually nothing running in the background. It could be because I have the phone skinned...and then have the skin skinned on top of that so it looks roughly like this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=604146
(http://pocketnow.com/html/portal/news/0000008941//s1.jpeg)
Some people have complained of battery drain on some phones using the skinning program, but after removing pretty much everything and testing it running clean, there wasn't really any difference. What could be doing it, that I just thought of, is it's constantly connected to the internet. Like, my data connection is connected from the second the phone boots up until whenever I shut it down or reset it. That could very well have something to do with it I imagine. I'm going to look for a setting to only connect when it gets a request from a program and see if that helps. As for the rest of it, I'm going to go through the links in your post and reply again. Just got back in town and there is too much info I've missed.
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Okay, checked out a bunch of stuff:
The Samsung Wave looks sweet. BADA turned out very nice, which I'm kind of surprised about. I was under the impression that it was something that was going to be on their low and mid-low end devices, but apparently not. I could see there being some downfalls associated with it, but for what it is, it looks awesome and it kicks the pants off of Touchwiz as it is now. Samsung's biggest drawback on their current phones is that their custom OS layer over Winmo/Adroid isn't up to par with, say, HTC and I'm not sure if BADA even has the ability to run over something, but it looks like it could work as a fully functional smartphone OS of it's own. I don't think it would be as open as Adroid/Winmo, but I doubt it will be any more limited than the iPhone OS (although it wouldn't have the same level of support). Interesting for sure.
Samsung's hardware continues to impress with both the Wave and the Beam. Kind of dissapointed that there wasn't an announcement of anything with a keyboard like the Omnia Pro (which also had the best standard homescreen of any winmo device), but the interesting thing about cellphones is that even with huge trade shows like this, new stuff is announced and released soon after all year long.
Windows Mobile 7. The interface looks awesome, but I don't know if it's for me. I'll have to see what happens as more and more is released, but it looks like it's being targeted for mainstream consumer use rather than business/productivity. IE competing with the iPhone rather than Blackberry. Nothing wrong with that, and probably the smart direction to take. What might kill it for me is that it doesn't seem to be as customizable or open as Winmo 6.x is. New skins, homemade apps, that kind of thing. We'll see what happens, but the design...wow. Probably the best interface design I've seen in the smartphone market.
One thing I've found interesting is that SPB Mobile shell...a very popular and awesome skin for Winmo 6.x (what I used for the the screenshots above) is now going official. It's preloaded on Toshiba phones and SPB MS 5.0 is going to work on Android and Symbian as well as Winmo. Kind of cool and I can't wait to see what they can do with the dollars to put some more polish in.
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Yea, the Samsung hardware looks amazing. The Beam seems quite impressive, though the projector looks gimmicky.
I like the look of WM7, but if they are going to be offering a consistent experience, I can't imagine it being very open as you say.
The interface is pretty amazing, I agree. I'd like to see a Samsung phone running that OS. The hardware of Samsung matched with that would make a great phone.
There is something about Samsung phones UI that always feel a little off... I don't know.
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Yea, the Samsung hardware looks amazing. The Beam seems quite impressive, though the projector looks gimmicky.
I like the look of WM7, but if they are going to be offering a consistent experience, I can't imagine it being very open as you say.
The interface is pretty amazing, I agree. I'd like to see a Samsung phone running that OS. The hardware of Samsung matched with that would make a great phone.
There is something about Samsung phones UI that always feel a little off... I don't know.
I agree completely. All of my personal phones have been Samsung because they make durable and Quality hardware. That said, their custom UI's and smartphone interface overlays are always a bit off as you say. The biggest disappointment with my Omnia (apart from whatever the fuck has started going on with my battery) has been the TouchWiz widget interface. I don't use it ever. BADA seems like a huge step up.
I can't figure out what the deal is with BADA though. I know it can be run as it's own OS as in the Wave (and open-source as well), but it's hard to say if it can be used as an overlay. The Beam looks to be running something very similar over Android, but all I can find on it is that it's called "Touchwiz 3.0". Same thing? No idea.
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Yea I was confused about the Beam because its interface looked almost exactly the same as the wave. I thought it was the Bada running on top, but it turns out they configured and customized the Android 2.1 to look as similar to the Bada on Wave as possible.
I am not sure why they did that, because it confused other people as well and seems a bit weird in terms of product positioning.
Essentially it seems the Wave is the Samsung Jet, except with a better interface/OS.
More on BADA:
http://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2010/bada-strategy-en.shtml
What Samsung have going for them is bucket loads of money. They are a very rich company so it looks like they are investing a lot in the hardware. I am glad they are investing a bit more now in the software.
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I think that article explained it...I think. BADA isn't an operating system, it's a platform. That still didn't make sense to me, but I guess what they're saying is that they can run BADA on all their phones, regardless of the operating system. So, it could be on Android phones, Winmo phones (well...not 7 I guess), and Symbian. They can also run it as an OS on their own phones, but that's not really the point. The point is to unify the interface across all Samsung phones regardless of the operating system...I guess to promote brand familiarity? I don't know, I'm still confused.
What I did find interesting, though, is that apparently with BADA, apps can be developed across operating systems, so any BADA app can run on any BADA phone regardless of the OS.
What the fuck? I'm still confused.
But yeah, Samsung has a shit ton of money. I believe they are the largest electronics company in the world now and one of the largest companies in the world (not sure if that's by market cap or by revenue or both). They've been pushing out great hardware for a while now, but, like you said, if they start pouring resources into getting the software up to par this could really be something.
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Didn't know this was a possibility
(http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8522/1021008.th.jpg) (http://img40.imageshack.us/i/1021008.jpg/)
Of course, it doesn't play great considering games have to be made specifically for touch screens, but with the right game I think it could work well.
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Canada Trust. The only bank that gave my a credit card despite being an international student, having applied to like 50 banks.
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Awesome..
I tried out a SNES emulator on my Omnia that basically put a touch SNES pad on the screen. It was ok but not ideal.
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Awesome..
I tried out a SNES emulator on my Omnia that basically put a touch SNES pad on the screen. It was ok but not ideal.
Yeah, honestly, apart from the DS, I've always found touch screen gaming sucks. The DS works very well because of the dual screens, stylus, hardware controls and the amount of time and effort that goes into the design of the games. I've found that games which rely on the touch screen in other devices generally blow because there aren't hardware buttons, and using your finger often blocks an unacceptably large portion of the screen. Even the iPhone, with it's amazing screen just doesn't work right.
Do you still have your Omnia? Does your battery last more than a goddamn day?
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i've been a big supporter of android since it's inception, but looking at the new version of windows mobile (or windows phone 7) is making me a little bit moist.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/17/windows-phone-7-series-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know/
if you look halfway down the page, you can see how each section gives a sliding view of a much larger landscape screen. i'd love to see this in motion, as it's unashamedly shits with great force all over the iphone's UI.
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Yeah, it is enticing, but I'm still a bit uncertain. I like where they're going with this, but I wonder how closed it will be...obviously less than the iPhone, but Android? Who knows.
As for the UI, I actually think iPhone is the worst currently. Well, apart from the stock Windows Mobile one, but I don't think anyone actually rocks the stock interface - skinning is one of the main benefits of going Windows Mobile (or at least it makes your phone usable).
Many of the stock applications on the iPhone are designed wonderfully, but the UI of the system as a whole just doesn't do it for me.
Honestly, I think I'm leaning more and more toword Androd every day, but I will probably wait and see how Windows Mobile 7 turns out.
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Honestly, I think I'm leaning more and more toword Androd every day, but I will probably wait and see how Windows Mobile 7 turns out.
Same, but it seems like it may at least be another 6 months for WM7 phones to be out.
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Yeah, honestly, apart from the DS, I've always found touch screen gaming sucks. The DS works very well because of the dual screens, stylus, hardware controls and the amount of time and effort that goes into the design of the games. I've found that games which rely on the touch screen in other devices generally blow because there aren't hardware buttons, and using your finger often blocks an unacceptably large portion of the screen. Even the iPhone, with it's amazing screen just doesn't work right.
Do you still have your Omnia? Does your battery last more than a goddamn day?
Oh yeah, sorry GPW, I forgot to mention the battery thing! When I first bought it (back in 2008) the battery was crap! It also had a flaw which caused it to drain instead of charge when it was hooked to PC via USB. Apparently this was a commn issue and was addressed in a firmware update. However, I did have to override my phone's OEM settings and make it think it was a Singapore phone before I could install the Singapore-exclusive firmware which addressed the problem.
After that the phone generally lasts a good 3 days (average use) it needss recharging.
Later I ran into another unrelated problem which bricked my phone. It can be repaired but it will cost me about $150. I'll take care of it when I get back to Abu Dhabi. For now I'm on my Xperia X1, which is hi-res but has a much weaker processor and lower RAM (animations are not quite as fluid, loading times can be a bit longer).
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Pretty good article on Windows 7 mobile by anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3749
It is worth a read. I like the minimum requirements from MS (Amoled likely!). The article also does a good job of covering why WM has been a bit of a miss up till now.
I have a feeling that WM7 will finally allow MS to go past Symbian. MS seem to have realized that cramming the complete functionality of Windows on a small mobile is not the right approach.
All devices will have, at minimum:
* Qualcomm SoC (Snapdragon platform is a likely choice)
* WVGA Screen (AMOLED or LED, but likely AMOLED will be favored for reasons noted later)
* 4 point capacitive multitouch digitizer
* 3 Buttons (Windows (Start), Search, and Back)
* 5 Megapixel Camera (assumably rear-facing)
* FM Radio
* AGPS and Accelerometer
* WiFi
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Oh yeah, sorry GPW, I forgot to mention the battery thing! When I first bought it (back in 2008) the battery was crap! It also had a flaw which caused it to drain instead of charge when it was hooked to PC via USB. Apparently this was a commn issue and was addressed in a firmware update. However, I did have to override my phone's OEM settings and make it think it was a Singapore phone before I could install the Singapore-exclusive firmware which addressed the problem.
After that the phone generally lasts a good 3 days (average use) it needss recharging.
Later I ran into another unrelated problem which bricked my phone. It can be repaired but it will cost me about $150. I'll take care of it when I get back to Abu Dhabi. For now I'm on my Xperia X1, which is hi-res but has a much weaker processor and lower RAM (animations are not quite as fluid, loading times can be a bit longer).
Interesting. I guess I'm just going to have to live with it. I have the newest official firmware, but my carrier's alternations to the ROM probably had a negative effect. Oh well. I certainly can't get 3 days, but a lot of it could be all the custom shit I've got on there (too lazy to test again).
As for that Anandtech article, it seems that consumer and press impressions of Windows 7 Phone Series is overwhelmingly positive at this point. It'll be interesting to see how it will turn out. I think gaming on touch phones is played up way too much right now, or at least headed in the wrong direction. Fun little distractions? Yes. Full fledged games the like of PSP or DS games? No...at least not any that require anymore than pointing controls. For all the hype that Halo-clone on the iPhone got, I've never played something so awkward in my life.
The required hardware specs is a very good idea on Microsoft's part and like I said before, I'm excited to see what may come out of this. Sad to see all the customization go, but as long as it still remains to be a better platform for productivity software than Android (?) and the iPhone (!!), I'll probably be sold.
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Aparently, word has come out that there will only be three chassis designs for WM7.
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/02/windows-phone-7-series-to-have-three-chassis.ars
I imagine there must be a fair ammount of variation allowable within each category.
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Windows Phone 7 certainly looks interesting however it has two major deterrents for me: it won't be backwards compatible (not that big a deal) and there's a possibility it won't be open, software-wise (locked down like an iPhone).
I think that would be a bad move from Microsoft since people will just hang on to their WM6 devices or hop to Google Android.
My mind is already quite open to the idea of switching to Android. What's the general impression on the HTC Legend (http://htc.com/www/product/legend/specification.html)? (as I understand it's the successor to the HTC Hero)
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Oh boy:
http://gizmodo.com/5483632/apple-files-lawsuit-against-htc-for-infringing-on-20-iphone-patents
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Oh boy:
http://gizmodo.com/5483632/apple-files-lawsuit-against-htc-for-infringing-on-20-iphone-patents
Man, fuck Apple. I don't care how "cool" the iPhone is I'm not getting one. I'm gonna have to seriously consider walking into all the Apple stores I know and trashing them. Or I could just distribute flyers and posters that illustrate Apple corporate misbehaviour in 3rd world countries.
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"Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor"
See, just no. Most of those patents should not have been granted in the first place. Patent laws are good and you need them, but the patent system (especially in the states) needs to be reformed. Majorly. I don't know when it went wrong or if it was ever executed properly, but now more than anything they have the ability (mainly through technology) to actually deal with patents in a reasonable manner. Not all of the shit could be avoided, but enough of it.
Invented the radio? You can patent it. No, you may not patent "box that receives signals over the air" but you can patent exactly how you made that happen. EXACTLY. For a while. First person to put a radio in the car? No, you can't patent that...EVER. Cobra's example? No, you may not patent that in any way or form. So on and so forth.
Anyways, Jobs seems a bit of a Tyrant, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's hitting his Waterloo moment soon (well, actually I would...they still make some great shit). In the last six months or so, Apple has been losing a lot of the people they've been winning over in certain market segments. Namely people that spend a lot of money on tech and look at the internet a lot.
And, found this to be sublime at the moment:
Steve Jobs: Good Artists Steal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU)
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Invented the radio? You can patent it. No, you may not patent "box that receives signals over the air" but you can patent exactly how you made that happen. EXACTLY. For a while. First person to put a radio in the car? No, you can't patent that...EVER. Cobra's example? No, you may not patent that in any way or form. So on and so forth.
That's spot on. I have a hard time describing a boundary of what's sensible and what isn't. It seems obvious, but when I try to put it in words, I fail. For one thing, I would invalidate all software patents and all business-process patents--right now. That's not hard for me to spell out.
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Interesting:
http://kotaku.com/5485826/report-sony-to-launch-new-playstation-smart-phone-in-2010
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That would be really cool, but they really need to adapt to use Android or something. Does SE have a smartphone OS?
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Well the Xperia X1 has WinMo 6.1 and I believe the X2 uses 6.5 (I could be mistaken about the X2, just can't be bothered to check right now). I do know that the Xperia X10 will sport Android.
I know some of the other Pocket PCs had a proprietary OS and some had Symbian OS (Satio and Vivaz).
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Interesting. Well, MS recently verified that there will not be any backwards compatibility at all. The shitty thing for me is that WM 6.x is the only OS with Microsoft Project apps on it right now.
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Holy Shit! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQv_3fwopo8)
If it's not apparent from the video, what's happening here is a guy is demoing how easy it is to develop games for the Xbox360, Windows, and Windows Phone 7 Series all at once (I assume using XNA or some other MS development platform). 90% of shared code, but the cool thing is he's showing that he starts playing a game at work on the PC, finishes work, gets on the bus, continues where he left off on his phone (same level and everything), and then when he gets home he finishes playing on his Xbox. It's like Steam Cloud, but across actual platforms (and hence useful).
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Awesome! This has definitely climbed on top of my list.
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April fools? (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361377,00.asp)
*Checks calendar*
Oh.
The new Windows Phone 7 platform will avoid multitasking third-party apps, nix support for user-replaceable memory cards, and demand that all apps be installed from Windows Phone Marketplace, a Microsoft executive said Monday.
Remind you of anything?
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wtf
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Applesoft!
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More reason to switch to Android.
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Yeah, WTF? No cross application cutting and pasting either. Looks like I'm pulling the trigger on either an Android phone or a Blackberry next time.
I get what they're doing and think they'll do a good job of it, but they're also leaving all the features people liked on the cutting room floor. The Windows Mobile OS has only lasted this long because people have looked to it for multi-tasking, cut and paste, and backwards compatibility with pretty much every mobile productivity app ever. The shitty UI and instability were a bitch, but in fixing that they're also taking away a lot of what makes the OS viable.
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This just in on the Windows Mobile chopping board: Skype Mobile is no longer available for WinMo!!!
Unfortunately, Skype Lite – a version of Skype for your mobile phone – and Skype for Windows Mobile are no longer available for download from our site.
We’ve chosen to withdraw Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile because we want to offer our new customers an improved mobile experience – much like the version that has proved so popular on the iPhone, and which is now available on Symbian phones. Our focus is on providing a rich user experience that allows you to enjoy free Skype-to-Skype and low cost calls as easily on the move as you do at your desktop.
We felt that Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Mobile were not offering the best possible Skype experience.
Sure, it wasn't ideal but it was an option!!
The good news is that if you already have it you will still be able to use it. Thankfully I have an OCD compulsion to backup all programs I download and use so I still have the most recent cab installer. Skype can also still be found on various 3rd-party WinMo sites and servers.
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Soooooo....instead of updating it, they pull it? I find this kinda suspicious. Does anyone have Skype for the iPhone? I know when it was initially released, you could only use it on wifi, not cellular data (3g). I don't know about Skype-Lite for Android, but the winmo version was fully usable over any data connection. The one limitation was that by default you had to have it on speakerphone or through a headset (wired or bluetooth). For some reason, voice through the ear piece was locked ( a lot of finger pointing that didn't make much sense...MS's fault, the carrier's fault, Skype's fault). There were ways around on most phones though.
That said, it was a polished program so I wonder what actually brings this about. Something tells me it's getting pulled because it doesn't have the wifi limitation.
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The news that Skype Beta has also disappeared from the Android Market makes the above excuses ring pretty hollow, and the news that Skype intends to continue delivering their software on Windows Mobile and other platforms if they have deals with carriers such as on China Unicom and Verizon reveals the truth rather clearly.
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=13728
I don't know if that's reliable or not, but it does kind of make sense. Licence to the telecoms companies and cook it into the Roms. Only accecable by subscription or if you have a high tier data plan (like Verizon used to do with GPS). Greeeat.
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Fackin' Hell man. That would effectively defeat the purpose of Skype. It won't be too long before they realize why people use Skype to begin with.
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New iPhone leaked...maybe (http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone)
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http://www.anandtech.com/show/3697/intel-alleges-windows-phone-7-not-optimized-for-high-performance-wont-support-it
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New iPhone leaked...maybe (http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone)
That whole affair was really entertaining. Even the Daily Show got into it.
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http://www.anandtech.com/show/3697/intel-alleges-windows-phone-7-not-optimized-for-high-performance-wont-support-it
Now why would Intel do that? From my understanding, this is a cpu targeting smartphones rather than devices like netbooks. The OS isn't demanding enough? Batteries love that. The performance is there to scale to the needs of applications. Seems weird.
And by cutting out Symbian and Windows Mobile, they are left with Android and the iPhone. If they can land the Apple contract that's huge, but if they don't they are pretty much fucked.
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Basically it is because MS isn't promising them long term benefits. This is a different Intel from the P4 days. They have roadmaps planned for two years from now, that are publicly announced etc. It is actually how I knew that Intel was going to release a 6 core i7 processor twelve months ago.
It is their new policy. It helps the consumers because they are constantly innovating, and it helps them because they have new products to sell at all times. They are apparently only working with those companies that work with their roadmaps.
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Very cool news article on Android going past iPhone
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/cashmore.iphone.cool/index.html
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I've got an Android smartphone now -- a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 -- I'm really liking Android. The drawback of the SE is that it is currently running an older version of Android - 1.6. Sony is planning on releasing an upgrade to 2.1 by Q4 this year and include HD video recording. I'm hoping they will upgrade to 2.2 as well, as report on Android 2.2 are pretty impressive (3-5x faster than 2.1, integrated Flash support, and more).
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Nice, iPPi! I've already decided that my next phone will be have Android but I'm still undecided as to which make and model. I'm leaning toward HTC so far.
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I can upgrade my phone in July, and Sprint is releasing this HTC EVO Android phone (http://now.sprint.com/evo/?INTCID=AB:UEU:HERO:041110:EvoPL:960x320) next month. I'm thinking about buying it.
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I've got an Android smartphone now -- a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 -- I'm really liking Android. The drawback of the SE is that it is currently running an older version of Android - 1.6. Sony is planning on releasing an upgrade to 2.1 by Q4 this year and include HD video recording. I'm hoping they will upgrade to 2.2 as well, as report on Android 2.2 are pretty impressive (3-5x faster than 2.1, integrated Flash support, and more).
The X10 seems like a sweet phone. How are you liking the custom Sony interface?
I've also pretty much settled on Android UNLESS my provider has a wicked data plan promotion with the new iPhone coming out. The iPhone is sweet, but locked down pretty heavily and it would suck to buy one and find out it couldn't be jailbroken later for whatever reason. That and I already have two working iPods that I have different uses for. As long as Android continues to get good/great developer support, I can't see it going wrong. I think the only major problem with Android at the moment is fragmentation of the operating system, but as long as that doesn't effect developers, I don't know how much it matters in the overall scheme of things.
Window 7 is slowly becoming more and more something I'm not interested in. A little too iPhone-like, not open enough. It's not about the custom interfaces, it's more that it already seems like the little apps like Microsoft Project compatible programs won't be making it....and the old ones won't be compatible. I'm holding off as long as I can because I'm probably going to be paying full price, but as soon as a 2.2+ device with a GOOD slider (none of this Milestone/Droid shit), I'll probably be hooked.
How is Google Calender/Task integration? I use Outlook for all my scheduling stuff, can that still be done on Android?
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OK I am pretty sure this is my next phone:
&feature=player_embedded
I have a question. Google keeps firing new updates for its Android OS. How good are the phone companies at keeping up to date?
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Wow, that's pretty badass. I'm getting more and more tempted to ditch the Omnia every day now, although I still think I'm going to be needing a hardware keyboard on whatever phone I choose.
As far as the updates, it really depends on the phone and the carrier. It really seems to vary, so I'd make sure you're at least willing to stick with the version it ships with. An update on popular phones is likely, but there are no guarantees. For instance, Samsung has recently come under fire not not providing an update to the Behold (I think), which is rocking 1.6. apparently part of their marketing campaign was that it would be upgraded to 2.0 in the future and that isn't happening.
The phone hardware market is moving very quickly these days, but they're still a very big investment. If there's a phone out there that you want and having updates available is an important feature to you, it might be best to wait until it's out for a few months and see what the environment is like as far as official or user provided updates. The shitty thing with that is that by that time there's probably two more phones around the corner that interest you.
I should note that I only really know about the update situation in North America...where telecoms companies seem to have more dick-head policies and shit like that.
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The phone hardware market is moving very quickly these days, but they're still a very big investment. If there's a phone out there that you want and having updates available is an important feature to you, it might be best to wait until it's out for a few months and see what the environment is like as far as official or user provided updates. The shitty thing with that is that by that time there's probably two more phones around the corner that interest you.
I agree with all of that.
What about Google's Nexus phone? I am sure that updates with the patches?
The Samsung Galaxy looks really powerful with the great new Super AMOLED screen, but will be released with the 2.1 OS, and I think 2.3 is already out, and Google looks to be releasing an update per month. Really, like a PC, you should be able to upgrade every time.
I have an Innov8, which while good, lacks any support.
That's one areas where Samsung really need to work. They need to support their damn products! There website is crap for downloading apps etc.
It is definitely one area where Sony does shine more.
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Don't get me started on Samsung and the Windows Mobile 6.5 update. For a lot of these companies, they won't do it because they see a new operating system on a phone as a reason to buy one I guess. If you can keep on getting updates for 3-4 years, the hardware itself probably won't convince you to switch.
But Google isn't releasing updates nearly that fast. They do release a few a year, but that's about it (with some exceptions). 1.5 and 1.6 came out in 2009, and it skipped to 2.0 which also came out in 2009. I don't know where 2.1 falls in there, but I don't think it was a major update in any way at all. Most things you read consider 2.0 and 2.1 to be the same release. 2.2 was just released a few days/weeks ago and is a pretty big update, bringing native Flash support. 2.3 has been announced, but I don't think it's expected until the end of the year (or maybe fall?).
The Nexus One probably has decent upgrade support. It was the first phone to launch with 2.1 (I believe) and the first to update to 2.2...but there's a catch to that. Updates for Android (and Windows Mobile traditionally) are a bit more complicated than for, say, the iPhone in that the software and hardware is much more customized to individual phones. Apart from hardware differences (and carrier settings...obviously), manufacturers tend to customize the OS skins with things like HTC Sense, MotoBlur, and Samsung's Touchwiz (and maybe Bada?). So instead of just having Apple saying "Here's an update" and sending it out over the air regardless of carrier, Google has to release the update, HTC has to infuse it with their UI (which is far better than the default, by the way), and the carriers have to do ....something...I guess. Actually, I'm not sure if the carrier always has to release it or the manufacturer can themselves. For some reason, though, they are involved sometimes. Could be a technical network thing or they're usually just the ones to host it in a specific region because of exclusivity agreements. With the Nexus One, Google had the luxury of not having to release to manufacturers or deal with carriers. The downside is it had a very bland interface compaired to other Android phones (a reason a lot of people prefer the HTC varient, the Desire).
Either way, I checked and the Galaxy S (i9000) either ships with or is upgradeable to 2.2, which will remain the best for quite a while. Beyond that, I wouldn't bank on 2.3, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was offered as an upgrade either. Just keep in mind, that "Galaxy" is a series of different Samsung Android phones, so make sure you get the model number right so you get the newest one you want. The fragmentation of the OS is one of the major criticisms of Android, so I wouldn't be suprised if Google started heavily pushing for manufacturers to release updates in the future in order to make their market share a bit more cohesive.
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Yup, I knew about the older Galaxy phones.
Thanks though, that was quite helpful. And what you say does make sense. I guess it is a bit like the console vs PC or Mac vs PC argument. With so many different PCs sporting different hardware, maintaining uniformity can be a bit tricky, and does result in more bugs.
I read somewhere (Gizmondo or Engadget) that Android was releasing updates every month, which was probably someone exaggerating I guess.
Anyway if I can upgrade this new Galaxy phone, than this is what I am getting. The apps for Android are just so awesome.
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Aaaaand right on time, it was announced today (or at least reported on many sites today) that Google plans to decrease the frequency of Android updates (I'd imagine just those that are not critical or bug fixes). It looks like they'll be aiming for yearly updates.
As for the once a month thing, no idea where that would have come from. A new Android phone once a month on average? Perhaps there are critical updates everyone gets that I don't know anything about. I'm sure it made sense in some context, but the numbered updates that everyone talks about certainly come out less frequently than that.
I'm also a big fan of the OS....and the openness of it. I'm constantly flip-flopping over which phone route to take with my next upgrade though.
Also, I ordered a new screen/digitizer for my Omnia in order to try to make it more usable. The thing has been through a lot (as I've mentioned....hard on my phones because of work and, well, drinking I guess). The main drawback is the touch screen has become a bit unresponsive and scratched to shit. Installation looks like a nightmare and a fair number of people have fucked their phones up doing it. It'll at least let me hold off until I can get an upgrade...which comes after some dental work that neither of my healthcare providers covers...fuckers*.
*Out of spite I decided to get my wisdom teeth removed...which they pay for fully. SEE ASSHOLES, COULD HAVE SAVED SOME MONEY IF ONLY YOU COVERED NECCESARY PROCEDURES SUCH AS CROWNS.
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I know this is really a smartphone thread, but I don't feel like making a whole thread for this.
Man, phone stuff gets complicated. I'm looking at prepaid options since I'm all poor and it seems like something I can handle. Some new plans have become available that I'm interested in...but theres always a catch.
Originally I was going to go with Virgin Mobile. Its what my brother and mom have and they work well enough. Drop $20 every 3 months into the account to keep it active, and then its $0.20/minute to talk. Thats pretty high per minute, but they don't use their phones much at all. For me, I'd be more likely to text. So out of that $20 I could but one of their 200/1000 text packages for $5/10.
Now they have a pretty nice plan, $25/mo gets you 300 minutes and unlimited text/email/im/web/data/blah blah. Pretty groovy, and I could probably use the data and web and stuff to look things up when I'm away from the computer...but I don't think I can justify $25/mo. I use cell phones quite a bit when I'm visiting family or at the meet, but the rest of the year I won't use it much at all.
So that was my plan. Get the $20 every 3 months things and then buy texting packages as I need them out of that money. $80/yr isn't bad. Plus I could get the phone I wanted with the slide out QWERTY keyboard. Though now I'm reading that QWERTY phone can only be used on the $25/mo plan. Plus VM doesn't do roaming, so when we were up north visiting family unless you were in town you didn't get any signal. Shit.
Then I was reading about T-Mobiles prepaid stuff. I might switch my mom and bro over to them. Their cheapest option has you buying minutes, lowest price is $0.10/min if you buy the $100 card. The nice part is once you have $100 in the account you get "gold status" and no matter the amount you put in the minutes don't expire for a year. So put $100 right from the start and after that you can put $10 and still have service for a year only buying what you need. And they allow roaming so coverage should be better.
The plan I was looking at is $15/mo, talk is $0.10/min but you get unlimited text and picture messaging. Seems pretty much perfect for me. Except...I don't think they have a QWERTY phone. FUCK!
So yeah...just venting and getting this out of my head. If I could get that VM phone and use the Tmobile plan there would be no problem. *sigh*
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Don't even get me started on cell companies.
Oh, and I just bought a Droid/Milestone to replace my broken Omnia. Fuck me, that was expensive.
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Fuck cell phone companies. Fuck them more for being complete assholes and fucking everyone over. Fuck fuck fuck I hate cell phone companies.
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Looks like 4G is here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/04/wired.4g.wireless.explained/index.html?hpt=C2
Regarding what Idol posted, it just reminded me of the clusterfuck that is cell phone coverage in North America. In Europe, Asia, The Middle East, it is really cheap and uncomplicated to use a cellphone.
Again the problem just comes down to landmass. Canada and USA are HUGE, and Canada is still technically an underpopulated country, so yea that's why I guess.
I just remember it was so frustrating when I was in Canada.
The thing is that when you come from countries where scams and corruption are the norm, you go to places like Canada off your guard. Because corruption is so low in North America, you don't expect it anywhere... but some big companies are corrupt... they just play within the rules.
I remember when I was shopping for a cellphone, the guy at the AT&T booth basically convinced me to pay $300 for a cell with $199 promised to me in mail in rebate.
I was told to mail in a photocopy of my receipt by the guy at the booth, which I did. Later when I got mail from AT&T, I didn't get the check, but a letter stating that I had to send in the original receipt (contrary to what the dude at the booth told me, and what was written on the forms).
When I sent in the originals, I got a letter from AT&T telling me the deadline had passed.
Trust me, $200 for an international student is a lot of money.
I was really ticked, and I was stuck on a contract.
Screw cellphone contracts.
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I know this is really a smartphone thread, but I don't feel like making a whole thread for this.
Man, phone stuff gets complicated. I'm looking at prepaid options since I'm all poor and it seems like something I can handle. Some new plans have become available that I'm interested in...but theres always a catch.
Originally I was going to go with Virgin Mobile. Its what my brother and mom have and they work well enough. Drop $20 every 3 months into the account to keep it active, and then its $0.20/minute to talk. Thats pretty high per minute, but they don't use their phones much at all. For me, I'd be more likely to text. So out of that $20 I could but one of their 200/1000 text packages for $5/10.
Now they have a pretty nice plan, $25/mo gets you 300 minutes and unlimited text/email/im/web/data/blah blah. Pretty groovy, and I could probably use the data and web and stuff to look things up when I'm away from the computer...but I don't think I can justify $25/mo. I use cell phones quite a bit when I'm visiting family or at the meet, but the rest of the year I won't use it much at all.
So that was my plan. Get the $20 every 3 months things and then buy texting packages as I need them out of that money. $80/yr isn't bad. Plus I could get the phone I wanted with the slide out QWERTY keyboard. Though now I'm reading that QWERTY phone can only be used on the $25/mo plan. Plus VM doesn't do roaming, so when we were up north visiting family unless you were in town you didn't get any signal. Shit.
Then I was reading about T-Mobiles prepaid stuff. I might switch my mom and bro over to them. Their cheapest option has you buying minutes, lowest price is $0.10/min if you buy the $100 card. The nice part is once you have $100 in the account you get "gold status" and no matter the amount you put in the minutes don't expire for a year. So put $100 right from the start and after that you can put $10 and still have service for a year only buying what you need. And they allow roaming so coverage should be better.
The plan I was looking at is $15/mo, talk is $0.10/min but you get unlimited text and picture messaging. Seems pretty much perfect for me. Except...I don't think they have a QWERTY phone. FUCK!
So yeah...just venting and getting this out of my head. If I could get that VM phone and use the Tmobile plan there would be no problem. *sigh*
$20 every 3 months plus $0.20/min. seems ridiculous to me. I guess I'm spoiled though because I got smartphones + free (to me) service through my last two employers.
I have a BlackBerry Tour now, but I really want a Droid or Droid Incredible. Trouble is, our company gets BlackBerry Curves and Tours for free, but there is no discount on anything else. So I'd have to fork over $540 myself or try to expense it.
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Yeah, the $0.20/min thing does suck. But for as little as I would actually talk on the phone it wouldn't be too bad. They have monthly minute packs to buy but honestly even the smallest one I would never use on any particular month.
Though Im seriously considering tmobile if I can get a phone with a keyboard. There is just no way I'm going to be texting without it.
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I
$20 every 3 months plus $0.20/min. seems ridiculous to me. I guess I'm spoiled though because I got smartphones + free (to me) service through my last two employers.
I have a BlackBerry Tour now, but I really want a Droid or Droid Incredible. Trouble is, our company gets BlackBerry Curves and Tours for free, but there is no discount on anything else. So I'd have to fork over $540 myself or try to expense it.
I'm really impressed with the Milestone/Droid so far....almost like its worth what I paid (don't ask). Vanilla Android is slightly bland, but I'm sure I can fix that and the hardware is awesome. Keyboard not as bad as I thought it would be.
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Well, I'll probably post more in-depth tomorrow, but still really impeessed with the Droid/Milestone and Android.
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What is Milestone?
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(http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00288/Motorola_Milestone_288002b.jpg)
Motorola Milestone = Moto Droid anywhere outside of the USA. Exact same hardware.
Like I said, really impressed. The hardware seems solid and it has a nice hard glass screen (sadly, LCD instead of OLED....but probably the nicest LCD screen I've seen). It is very touch responsive and features a capacitive screen, so is fully multi-touch enabled (of course the iPhone screen is still more responsive than any other phone). Slider is good, has a 2.5mm jack on the top and a pretty solid volume rocker/camera buttons. The touch buttons are something I'm not a huge fan of, but I'm the kind of person who likes things to be as tactile as possible.
It ran Android 2.0 out of the box, upgradeable to 2.1 through a download PC-side. Not a huge difference between the two (that I noticed), but 2.1 does have some nice little extras like live wallpapers and stuff like that. Sadly, live wallpapers are NOT optimized and they do slow things down a bit....which is a shame as some of them look very nice.
All in all, Android is a huge improvement over WinMo and better for me than the iOS. It is very customizable (home screens, skins, widgets, etc) and you're not locked to the app store for programs. Case in point, I was playing Quake 2 on the bitch the other day - somehting which can't be offered through the app store because Id doesn't like people redistributing their open source products through retail channels (or something). Android is pretty snappy and has some great features and widgets; everything you'd probably want from the iphone and more home-brew like apps and programs. Pandora, Slacker Radio, it's all there.
Games seem to be pretty good, although there aren't as many as on the iPhone...but that seems to be changing. The Droid seems to be the best to run many of the higher powered games because, although the CPU is slower than some recent offerings, it apparently has the best dedicated GPU of any phone. That said, even though the graphics on some games blow DS games out of the water, the gameplay just really isn't up to the same level of quality. I probably won't be gaming on it much, aside from some occasional distractions.
Office is present and can be edited through a paid app (*cough*), although Android phones (or most I believe) do come with a stock viewer. The Milestone doesn't run a skin but rather the pure "Google Experience" which isn't as nice as HTC's Sense, but still very configurable with up to 9 panels and various widgets, etc. The Android media player pales in comparison with that of the iPhone, but it does the job and I'd imagine we'll get a new one soon. Google apps integration is great but there are some serious flaws. No hotmail push at all (WTF?) but that will probably be solved soon through a new third party app. Google Tasks doesn't integrate with the calender, nor is there a specified Google Tasks app as of yet. Google Navigator is good, but still pales compared to dedicated ones (iGo on Android still isn't as good as the Winmo variant either...but both blow the iPhone Nav options out of the water).
Overall, I'd say that for anyone with the level of technical profiency likely to be found on these forums, Android would hands down be the way to go (unless you want PURE ease of use with little options for customization or tinkering...then iPhone all the way). With 2.2 on the way and bringing native DivX/Xvid support, Flash, installing apps on the SD card (wtf Google?) among other needed features , you can't really go wrong.
There are some things missing that should just be there, but overall I'm really pumped on Android now. I'm just hoping I don't get shafted out of the 2.2 update. It's been announced for the Droid though, so it looks VERY likely for the Milestone.
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Well I think I was going to go for that 4G Evo that sprint released this month which runs Android, but then I saw the iPhone 4 stuff... I may finally bite and get an iPhone, the app store is hard to ignore.
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Yeah, if you really don't mind a physical keyboard and have no problem going through iTunes, and don't like to mess around with stuff, the new iPhone is probably the way to go. ESPECIALLY if you want to use your phone as a music/multimedia player on a regular basis. If my phone had broke a bit closer to the release date, I would have gone that way as I like the new design and the screen is really nice. That said, I did need the keyboard and some productivity software (Project is on Android now) that isn't on the iPhone. But damn, that new screen is nice.
Also, the iPhone is pretty closed off, but I believe Jailbreaking it gives you control of everything. Oh, and the battery life is top-notch, unlike with the 4G Evo (apparently the big flaw there).
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Yea, I contantly use my iPod and bring it everywhere, downloading podcasts on that through iTunes on it is convenient and haven't been interested in jailbreaking it. It's just dealing with iTunes on me PC is a bitch, whenever connecting my iPod to the PC with iTunes I constantly get an error saying my iTunes library can't be saved, I dont have access privileges yadda yadda. That and all my podcasts get reset. I've done a little bit of digging but from what I could tell theres a file apparently that's not where it should be or something but I never could figure out where. I may just have to reinstall it altogether. Then there's the no flash problem, but Apple's battle against Adobe is proving to be interesting, I've seen some flash sites totally go non-flash, and even the ones where they are browser and information intensive have made available their own app for their website on the app store like Amazon.
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Here's a nice summary on all the Android phones. (http://www.tested.com/news/htc-vs-the-world-four-android-alternatives-to-the-evo-4g/416/)
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Yea, I contantly use my iPod and bring it everywhere, downloading podcasts on that through iTunes on it is convenient and haven't been interested in jailbreaking it. It's just dealing with iTunes on me PC is a bitch, whenever connecting my iPod to the PC with iTunes I constantly get an error saying my iTunes library can't be saved, I dont have access privileges yadda yadda. That and all my podcasts get reset. I've done a little bit of digging but from what I could tell theres a file apparently that's not where it should be or something but I never could figure out where. I may just have to reinstall it altogether. Then there's the no flash problem, but Apple's battle against Adobe is proving to be interesting, I've seen some flash sites totally go non-flash, and even the ones where they are browser and information intensive have made available their own app for their website on the app store like Amazon.
Yes, iTunes is very good for podcasts. By all means it really sounds like you should go iPhone. One of the main benefits is that it doubles as an iPod, and if I didn't already have two iPods (a classic which acts as a hard drive for my car stereo and for parties and shit and a nano I use for the gym/running) I probably would have gone that route. It certainly has more apps, and even though a lot of them are crap, you'll at least know that every single good third party app will hit the platform simply because it's the most popular. Like Cobra said before, there are many benefits in choosing the market leader. No flash is kind of a bitch, but it's been dealt with well. All the BIG flash sites (youtube, justin.tv) have provided apps and I can't see that stopping. Of course, no porn but really, who cares?
Cool article on Android. HTC really needs to launch an android Device with the Touch Pro 2 keyboard...that shit runs circles around my Milestone's keyboard.
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Cnet UK reviews the iphone 4:
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39030106,49305853,00.htm
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The new iPhone is sweet. I will say, however, that no matter how blown out of proportion the "can't hold the phone without losing signal" problem is, apple handled the PR aspect of it horribly.
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I am actually thinking it may have been blown out of proportion? Or is it really that bad?
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Well, I guess that depends on how you want to look at it. Reception apparently is better than thw previous versions, or at least it doesn't drop as many calls (keep in mind that that's not really saying all that much). Thing is, the loss of signal while holding the phone is happening to everyone. Granted, it doesn't SEEM to affect voice calls at this point, so I don't even know if it diminishes the actual utility of the phone.
That aside, its a massive design flaw either way you look at it and Apple's response was ridiculous. "Hold it differently or buy one of our cases". Any other company would be run through the mud for such a retarded damage control statement.
That said, android doesn't have a built-in spell checker...on a mobile device. Google, WHAT THE FUCK?!
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I am actually thinking it may have been blown out of proportion? Or is it really that bad?
It's been suggested that there are ways to fix the antenna issue. Putting a piece of tape over the antenna area in the lower left corner of the phone, or buying a rubber case, as Apple has suggested. But it's certainly not very customer friendly to suggest that after paying $199 or $299 for a phone that you also need to pay $30 to fix a possible design flaw.
cnet (http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20008898-260.html)
I have to laugh, really.
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Videos of this are insane. Like a guy holds a phone and you just watch the bars drop. I'd think it was fake, but enough people are reporting it. I don't believe people are actually losing reception to the point of dropping calls, but I imagine it really fucks with your data if you drop below the 3g threshold.
Apple Statement:
Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.
Personal Jobs email:
(http://images.intomobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jobs-death-grip-email-reply-iphone-4.jpg)
Seriously. I do get what apple is saying, and it could be true for every phone....to a point. I've never seen one drop all their bars and down to EDGE before losing signal completely though. And the case thing? I don't want to be a conspiracy nut here, but perhaps this might have something to do with why they're now offering a first party case.
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Also, never-mind about people not dropping calls because of this. Apparently a lot of people ARE dropping calls - especially lefties. I guess word is that overall reception is better...as long as you don't "hold it wrong" and bridge the gap between two antennae.
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I'm right-handed but my phone always goes in my left hand. I developed the habit that telecom always goes through my left ear. If a phone refuses to function simply because I'm holding in my left hand, which may cover an antenna placed there, I'm just not going to use the phone and instead find an alternative that will work for me.
Regardless of the technical issues with the phone, Apple are handling this terribly; one could even say they're rude.
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Apple people are instructed to lie (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/30/leaked.apple.docs.mashable/index.html?iref=NS1), based on a leaked document.
These statements are dead ringers for CEO Steve Jobs' own assertions that the iPhone 4 antenna and reception issues do not, in fact, exist. "There is no reception issue," he told one user. But the very fact that this document exists suggests that Apple execs know there is indeed a widespread hardware flaw, even if they're unwilling to address it publicly at this time.
Class-action lawsuit is coming.
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The most 'effed up thing is that they are selling the fixes.
The fix is some shielding case, which Apple are making money off of.
Crazy.
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But since Apple lovers spend more money than necessary, it's par for the course.
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Oh Apple is the epitome of the evil corporation. Seriously, even Microsoft doesn't come remotely close. I could literally go on for a couple of hours about all the Apple bullshit I have to deal with at work because they either never fix ongoing problems, decide to feud with other companies to the complete detriment of their users, or force you into ridiculous upgrades.
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Yeah, it's pretty funny how they can get away with so much.
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The fanboy attitude would explain how Apple gets away with so much. They let it happen.
I get a strange vibe from Apple fanboys.. The same vibe I get from cultists. Y'know that insincere joy you see in their blank eyes? "We're on a journey to a better place. Master Jobs will take us there." Usually followed by unnerving hysterical chuckles. Creepy.
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The sad thing is that even 50 year old designers are hardcore Apple fanboys and display all the behavior of teenage videogame fanboys. It's sad.
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apple lies to it's customers and insults their intelligence at the same time. (http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/02/apple-iphone-4-reception-problems-a-software-issue-fix-coming/)
considering the problem in question is when the two antennas are bridged with your hand, how the fuck can a software patch fix this? ok, so the phone now tells you the truth about how you're getting a poor signal, but this doesn't stop the signal dropping even further when you hold it "wrong".
utter clusterfuck.
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bAntennasBridgedByUserHand = GetCapacitanceTest();
if( bAntennasBridgedByUserHand )
nDisplayBars = nTrueSignalStrength;
else
nDisplayBars = nTrueSignalStrength - 2;
DisplayBars( nDisplayBars );
There. I wrote their patch for them.
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What Apple must do to stop the iPhone 4 bleeding. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/07/14/apple.iphone4.problems/index.html?iref=NS1)
. . . we believe that the software fix was meant to be a decoy to the real hardware issue . . .
Yeah, no shit. That's the point of my little program above.
Now Consumer Reports is on their case too. Awesome!
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bAntennasBridgedByUserHand = GetCapacitanceTest();
if( bAntennasBridgedByUserHand )
nDisplayBars = nTrueSignalStrength;
else
nDisplayBars = nTrueSignalStrength - 2;
DisplayBars( nDisplayBars );
There. I wrote their patch for them.
I have no idea what that means but I found it very funny. Probably the "There." bit.
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In English: If the antennas are bridged by the user's hand, then report the signal strength accurately. Otherwise, display 2 bars less than actual strength. This way, the signal strength won't appear to drop so much when the user holds the phone "wrong".
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Apple gets all defensive, free iPhone 4 cases for everyone (http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_gets_all_defensive_free_iphone_4_cases_for_everyone-news-1817.php).
Apple just finished off its press conference dedicated on the iPhone 4 reception issues leaving us quite puzzled, to say the least. At one point Steve Jobs was saying that every phone has a weak spot, then he claimed everybody makes mistakes but Apple is quick to fix theirs so that's why they have loyal users. Apple wants its users happy and since everyone cries for free cases, they will give away free cases. But not because they've messed up, but only because "they loves their users".
How about that? Apparently the problem with the iPhone 4 antenna had been blown way out of proportion by the "bad press". The iPhone 4 reputation obviously has been ruined by its incorrect signal representation (now fixed in today's 4.0.1 update) and the easily accessible weak spot.
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I saw that. Must be nice to be so high up that your shit doesn't stink. At least they're giving out the cases at their expense.
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God I hate Apple.
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Giving out the cases had to happen and not something that should have really avoided from a PR standpoint once there was no question regarding the existence of the design flaw. How they handled the whole thing still blows my fucking mind though.
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Yeah, they are stubborn pricks.
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In other news, the Milestone may not be getting the 2.2 update....which would be a huge kick in the pants. Motorolla has given official confirmation of an update for the Droid so the Milestone would seem like a given (literally the exact same phone), but Moto Europe has released a statement saying that they're "evaluating" it at this time.
Considering the huge improvements in speed with 2.2, this could be something that would kill the phone for me and make me want to upgrade to an Android 3.0 phone when they are released.
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I've been considering a Droid X, but I was reading some reviews and they all describe a lack of polish in Android. I'll hold out until 2.2 is more prevalent.
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I'd wait for 2.2 or 3.0 (the next update, due near the end of the year). 3.0 is supposed to really focus on improving the UI.
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Asians have the best news programs ever. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNk)
Also, this just won't go away for Apple....but they're doing it to themselves. Know how they basically singled out a few other manufacturers in their press conference? Big mistake. Not only has each of those manufacturers released public statements and test results, but tech journalists have been investigating as well and have pretty much unanimously decided that although some of those phones do have problems with losing signal strength when held a certain way (usually in a manner no one would ever hold a phone, hence why people only started noticing with the iPhone 4), none of them loose nearly as much of their signal strength as the iPhone 4.
You know, if they had just made the announcement without bringing the competition into it this story would have been dead a week ago.
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Bahahaha, I couldn't stop laughing at that, that was amazing.
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I just rooted my Android. Pretty easy and kind of awesome. I did it so I could install. Some custom versions of the OS, but don't really have time to get into that tonight. I did, however, get a chance to overclock it and try out some psx emulation.....AWESOME!
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Well my whole plan was to switch to AT&T and go for an iPhone 4... but I found out switching over I would have to pay and fucking ridiculous deposit, so I decided to upgrade the phone I had. The new line of iPod touches should be coming up next month and rumor has that it will have a camera and upgraded specs, the same one the iPhone 4 has, so I figured I'd pick that up. However, the phone I upgraded to is a Samsung Moment, wasn't too expensive to upgrade and its a droid. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, I was pretty hooked on Apple's iOS and never messed with Droid. After spending some time with it I can say it's much better than I expected. I don't think its probably as slick as iOS, but it does some things I am coming to appreciate. The way the browser auto formats to the screen when I zoom in to read is really nice, the texting system is well organized and it always shows your history with whom you are texting with, and there's even an app to download podcasts from. The music player is a little rough and not as nice as how the iPod displays info but still works. But right now I'm thinking I may totally ditch getting a new iPod and perhaps looking into something better phone wise, but I think I'm happy with this one till next year.
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you know there's somewhere in the region of half a billion different music apps available for free on the android marketplace? i personally like tunewiki best out of the ones i've tried.
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Yeah, that is one of the advantages of Android...they don't have that whole "provides a feature already included in iOS" rule to keep different media players and shit out of the market (not even completely sure if Apple still does that).
There are a shit ton of different music, texting, dialer, whatever apps in the market. I don't know if anything has as good of an interface as the iOS music player but, as Beo pointed out, there are a lot of options you can try. Just google "best free android media player" or something.
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Daaaamn, check this shit out (http://www.tested.com/quick-look-at-xbox-live-games-on-windows-phone-7/47-127/), its a quicklook at Windows Phone 7 and a bunch of games and best of all, its got Zombies! the board game as one of the games, fuck yes!
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That looks pretty sweet!
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OK so android users, post some thoughts on the apps you use.
I'd like to say that advanced task killer sucks.
It is one of the most downloaded app on the android store, yet a lot of people report that problems can result, which can be only fixed with a full reset.
I am here to tell you that I had a massive problem, where ATK tried to kill some BBC app which didn't want to shutdown, and it basically slowed my phone to a crawl. Restarting didn't help either, and I had to do a full reset of my phone.
I was looking at some apps, and they have been updated to work with task managers, which suggests to me that this is a compatibility issue, and not all apps like being shut down instantly while running in the background.
and there's even an app to download podcasts from.
Hey, what app is that?
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After having looked into it, it's a giant myth that you ever need to use a task killer on Android. I used one at first as they seemed to be recommended, but apparently all they do is actually drain your battery and cause stability problems. Android was built around seamless multi-tasking, and (unlike windows or winmo) should never need a task to be killed. Basically, all the recently used apps and processes are kept suspended in memory, and they get pushed out if they haven't been used recently. Where task killers fuck things up is by killing shared processes or trying to kill processes which causes a reactivation loop (which kind of sounds like what was happening with you). If you ever come across an app that seems to be poorly coded enough to require a task killer, it's probably just better to unistall it and find an alternative. I'll see if I can find one of the articles which talks about this.
As for useful apps; everyone needs Astro. It's a file explorer which makes navigating your SD card a thousand times easier.
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I will give Astro a shot.
I wish I had known about this before using ATK. The funny thing is that ATK is the no1. app downloaded on Android.
The reason I was using ATK was because some programs were accessing the internet even when WiFi was turned off, resulting in data usage, which is expensive. Turns out, I just had to adjust their level of access.
Anyway, no more task killers for me.
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Widgets in Android drain the battery quickly because if you have them set up to sync and update on a regular basis, it will use 3G or wireless.
I use Advanced Task Killer and it does help the battery out. You have to set it to aggressively kill apps though... like every time the screen is turned off it will kill apps.
The problem with not killing tasks is that the phone slows down a bit -- some apps are a memory hog and with no way to kill them they can totally bog the phone down.
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It was similar with Windows Mobile 6. It's nice to have some useful apps and widgets open but they can occasionally come at a heavy cost. There are some utilities that help clear up the RAM and close things are just lingering in memory i.e. CleanRAM, I'm sure there will be some available for Android too (if there aren't any already).
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I just turn off "background sync" when I am not using the phone, and it seems to work much better than using ATK.
Another example is I was looking at the Weather Channel app on the android store, and its latest updated said something along the lines of, 'NO LONGER CRASHES WHEN FORCED TO SHUTDOWN.'
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Widgets in Android drain the battery quickly because if you have them set up to sync and update on a regular basis, it will use 3G or wireless.
I use Advanced Task Killer and it does help the battery out. You have to set it to aggressively kill apps though... like every time the screen is turned off it will kill apps.
The problem with not killing tasks is that the phone slows down a bit -- some apps are a memory hog and with no way to kill them they can totally bog the phone down.
I need to find the article I referred to earlier, but THIS (http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html) will have to do for now.
The gist of it all is that Android isn't Windows and it isn't Windows Mobile. "Running" processes aren't actually using any cpu cycles and are killed by the OS as memory is needed (notice how you've never come across a WinMo-esque "Not enough RAM" error). Besides that, it doesn't have the same memory-leak problems that has plagued Windows mobile. I haven't really looked into all that much myself, but I haven't noticed any decrease in performance since I stopped using a task killer, and I have far less forced closes.
As for the battery life, what I read is that the task killer will actually cause a quicker drain since programs which are often used (browser, for example) have to start up from scratch every time they're launched rather than just resumed from suspension. I don't know if this is true or not though, and it certainly doesn't account for poorly coded apps that may run in the backround due to some error.
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I'd just like to add, that on my Galaxy S, battery has remained at around 85% for the past 48 hours, in which I haven't been using the phone, even though it is still on.
I actually use my sister's old Sony Ericssion as well, and have two SIMS (one for work, and one for personal), -- one on each phone. When I haven't been using the Galaxy S, the battery drain has been minimal, which is incredible, considering that all phones will drain as long as they are on. Again, credit to Android.
What I don't get is why Google hasn't been more vocal, if these task killer programs are ineffective. Many of the top 10 downloaded apps on the marketplace are some sort of task managers/killers.
I think as long as you have "background sync" on off, these programs will have little need to run.
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Skype is now readily available for Android 2.1 or higher. You can download it on PC here (http://blogs.skype.com/en/2010/10/android.html), or directly on your Android device here (http://skype.com/m).
Awesome.
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Man, I had been waiting for this. I use Skype a lot to talk to clients etc., and was really excited.
I think I went to download the moment the news hit...
>:(
Guess what is the only Android phone Skype is incompatible with?
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Hahaha oh my God! What are the odds? Why doesn't it work? Have they explained?
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hehe no. All of the Galaxy S variants are having problems. They are saying that once Galaxy S has the Froyo update, it should be OK.
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Yeah, that's too bad. I tested it a bit last night and will repost with some comments after testing the 3G quality. I do imagine that the Galaxy S problem will be solved ASAP though.
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New Yahoo App for iPhone and Android to Support Mobile to PC Video Calls (http://mashable.com/2010/10/08/yahoo-mobile-video-calls/)
It'll be great if that comes through!
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i now have the desire hd. it is the best phone ever and all your phones smell like poo.
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Haha That was the push I needed! You've just swayed me and now I'm going to but it too!
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i now have the desire hd. it is the best phone ever and all your phones smell like poo.
Nice, looks like an awesome phone. The Desire Z kind of tempted me due to the qwerty but I still have no complaints about my droid/milestone especially since Froyo is right around the corner (and leaked roms have already been released).
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Every week I'm hoping to hear some news about the software update for the X10. The Sony Ericsson team have released some videos showing off a pre-release version of the software update and it looks good. I'm anxiously waiting for it.
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Awesome! Congrats Beo. Should be here soon as well. Will check it out.
The Froyo update has come out for some regions for the Galaxy S. Still waiting for Middle East though. :(
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The place I work at is 60% Mac, 40% Windows. And these designers are all the typical Apple zealots you would expect. Hell, even the CEO is one. But, since we have a corporate Verizon contract we have been able to keep the iPhone out of our environment and stick with just BlackBerries. It is nice because there were only a few different phone models to support and a single e-mail delivery mechanism. Every once in awhile someone would request an ActiveSync phone, but we would just say we don't supply or support them.
But with the Verizon iPhone rumors, I was able to convince my boss that we need to start testing an ActiveSync phone because it's only a matter of time before we have at least that ActiveSync device in our network and are required to support it. So he let me order a HTC Droid Incredible and I got it on Friday.
I love the thing. It blows my BlackBerry Tour out of the water. I also bought a car mount for it so I can use it as a GPS and told Jennie not to get me one of those for Christmas. It seems to be a decent GPS, but there is distortion at most of the higher volume levels. If I had any complaints, it would be that certain screens are not rotatable and that the battery life is very poor. I really don't get why the car mode screen doesn't have a horizontal mode, especially since you are more likely to use it horizontally if using it as a GPS. And while my battery in my Tour would last 3-4 days, it is clear I'll be able to get a day at most out of the Incredible.
Still, despite these complaints I am loving the phone.
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Droid's market share is growing extremely quickly. I think the Galaxy S sold 6 mil., and is targeting 10.
You know, the fact that some many people are moving to Android, restores my faith in mankind somewhat. :P
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I can pick between an iPhone 4, HTC Legend (Andriod 2.1), Blackberry Bold and nothing else. Any thoughts? I'm leaning towards the iPhone because the Legend has an old version of Android and the lack of multimedia features lower my interest in the Blackberry.
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Will Legend not get 2.2?
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Try to break it down in terms of your priorities. The iPhone 4 is the most technically superior of the bunch, so if you're into media and portable games go with that. If you're more drawn to people have Blackberries and you're crazy about Push Mail and general business connectivity then the Bold is your pick. If you're too awesome for an iPhone and not douchey enough for a Blackberry, the Legend will cover your angles in with Android's sleek interface and nearly limitless functionality (helps when you have an opensource-savvy community to back you up).
I really like the look of the HTC Legend but if you can choose between it and the HTC Desire go for the Desire; it's technically superior and the price difference is relatively small ($30~$50). According to several forums the Legend is expected to get an update to Froyo but there's been no official word as of yet (at least I haven't read it yet).
GSMArena's review (http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_legend-review-462.php) sums up the Legend quite well, here's their Pros/Cons list:
Key features
-Aluminum unibody design
-Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
-3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
-Android OS v2.1 with latest Sense UI
-3.2" capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution
-Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM
-5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
-Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
-Digital compass
-Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
-Proximity sensor for automatic screen locking during calls
-Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP); File transfer over Bluetooth
-Standard microUSB port for charging and data
-Standard 3.5mm audio jack
-FM Radio with RDS
-microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards (2GB one included)
-USB tethering support right out-of-the-box
-Social networking integration with Facebook and Twitter
-Web browser comes with Flash support
-Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser
-Direct access to the official Android application repository
Main disadvantages
-No video-call camera (or videocalling whatsoever)
-No dedicated shutter key or lens cover
-No TV-out port
-No voice dialing
-No DivX or XviD video support out of the box
-Dodgy flash video support
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Google implies that the Legend will be upgradable to 2.2 sometime this year so that's good. I'm not sure if there's a big difference between 2.1 and 2.2 but I don't like the idea of buying something that's already outdated.
Touch-screen and apps take the blackberry out. Like english-chinese dictionaries/translation tools taking advantage of the touch-screen would save me so much time. As much as I'd prefer push-email and bbm, the blackberry doesn't have enough other stuff going for it to justify the purchase.
How's the Legend/Android for music? I'll probably be using this primarily for music and I already know that an iPhone will be good for that because of the iPod.
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the legend is a very nice phone, and while i certainly prefer it, i'd be torn about recommending it over the iphone based on hardware specs. the cpu is fast enough to handle the interface and the vast majority of apps without any lag, but it's behind the higher end phones in terms of raw power. in it's particular price range, however, it's most definitely one of the best phones available.
as far as music goes i've mentioned before in this thread that there are hundreds of music apps available for android, so you're bound to find something that meets your needs. tunewiki and winamp are two of my favourites, although i'm currently using the stock htc player because the widget looks nicer :P. i used my htc hero as my primary portable music player for 18 months and am now doing the same with my desire hd. no quibbles here.
also, everyone with an android phone should check out apktor for access to android's black market...
(http://apktor.gotoinit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/apktor.qr_.png)
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To be fair, I don't really think Android quite competes with the iphone as far as multimedia...yet. Sure, there are a ton of apps, but the iphone interface is probably the best I've come across.
And checking out apktor now, thanks.
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Going for the Android. The price relative to the iPhone was almost enough to sell me but using micro-SD pushed me the rest of the way.
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I didn't realize how powerful Android was in terms of customization up until earlier this week. I'd been using my X10 fairly lightly and running nearly all stock software and only downloaded some apps from the Market such as games and stuff.
Sony recently released the 2.1 update and I enjoyed my phone a lot more and started looking into some more widgets and stuff and found some really amazing stuff.
You can customize your home screens with themes and stuff with something like ADW Launcher or LauncherPro. This replaces the stock home screens and you can put a different skin and it looks impressive. ADW is free but many of the themes are not. There are some that are free though and they look decent. I'm using York's White and really like the clean look of it.
I was using Sony's media solution, Mediascape. It looks beautiful but in terms of usability it's a piece of shit. I was using it for several months but I finally got tired of it. There are some impressive music players on the market, including Winamp, PowerAmp (not free), Mixzing (free but there is a paid upgrade). These players have the ability to add a widget to the home screen so you can control the music without going into the application itself. Since I use my phone as my music player when I work out, I didn't want to have to always take my phone out, unlock it, go to the application, etc. just to change a song. I found a really cool app called WidgetLocker. It essentially puts a lockscreen in front of your normal wake up screens and allows you to put widgets on it. That way, I can just wake my phone up and change the tracks without needing to unlock my phone. The problem with WidgetLocker though is that it cannot get rid of your old lock screen, so you will have to brave three screens (if you have pin lock set up) in order to get to your phone.
In terms of calendar solutions, I've found Jorte, which is a free calendar/task app with a decent, if a little ugly widget. The nice widget I'm using is called Pure Calendar and Pure Grid (both are not free). They are just widgets so you need to have a backend calendar app, either Google or Jorte will suffice, and then you can use those widgets to provide an agenda and or calendar right on your home screens. A must have if you are using your phone for business/school purposes.
In terms of clock/weather widgets, Beautiful Widgets is really nice as well, with lots of different skins for you to choose from.
I've found a battery indicator called Battstatt that I really like as well. It puts out in a literal string your battery percentage. It's simple and doesn't have a graphic, so it's a clean solution. If you prefer to have your time like that as well, there's something call Tajm as well. I don't like my clock displayed as "Five minutes after six" though.
If I have some time I'll figure out how to post screenshots of my phone's desktop.
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I customized my X10 out of the gate, I hated mediascape. I use MixZing. What browser are you using?
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I have a HTC Droid Incredible and so I have the HTC Sense UI, which I understand makes a lot of improvements to the default Android UI and widgets. Therefore I don't mess with widgets too much but I had to give a second thumbs up to PowerAmp. It's a great portable media player. It is pretty terrible at picking out the right cover art, but that's a minor complaint. I plan on paying for it when my trial is up. The price is a little stiff though: $6. But it's much better than the stock app my phone has (not sure if it's Android or HTC).
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I customized my X10 out of the gate, I hated mediascape. I use MixZing. What browser are you using?
I just use the default browser. I think the default browser does a good enough job rendering pages. Are there better alternatives?
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My Milestone is the exact same as the original Droid; so a "Google Experience" phone...which basically means stock everything. As such, I've had to customize it quite a bit from the start and am really liking the way it is now.
As for playing music from the lock screen, Poweramp has the option to put a widget on the lockscreen itself, which is only active when Poweramp is running. Might want to check that out.
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I just use the default browser. I think the default browser does a good enough job rendering pages. Are there better alternatives?
I use the default browser as well. I tried Opera Mini, but I didn't like it.
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I use the default in conjunction with Opera Mini. There's really no reason I have to do this, but there are a couple of websites that I will only really go through in mini just because I don't have unlimited data and there's a shit load of pictures (and mini is generally faster on these sites...as well as renders them better for whatever reason). I have, however, tried a few others just messing around:
1.) Some people swear by Dolphin HD. It seems like a neat browser, but there's a whole lot of unnecessary "bling" going on there. I didn't really think it was better at anything than the default, but some people love some of it's features.
2.) Firefox. Don't bother. At least not yet. Huge footprint and kind of sucks.
3.) Opera Mobile. Much better than Opera mini...on Windows Mobile. Stay away from it on Android until they get a whole shitload of kinks worked out.
4.) Skyfire. You should at least check this out because it's pretty cool. It's a browser a bit like the Blackberry one/Opera Mini in that it renders pages to a server and then just sends you the compressed data. In theory this should be faster and use way less data. The cool thing about Skyfire is it also makes it so that MOST flash video will work on your Android phone, although in a limited way (It has to convert it and stream it to you). If you're not on flash-capable 2.2, you might as well check it out.
Has anyone found a good media gallery replacement? I've been having all sorts of problems with both the 2.1 stock one and the 2.2 3D version...like they render both pretty much unusable. I found JustPics does a really good job for pictures (And even lets you sync to Picasa/facebook/whatever else), but it doesn't show videos I've taken, which is a bit of a pain. I've even switched roms up to 2.2 and done a phone wipe to no avail. I'm thinking it may be the Class 2 SD card giving me problems.
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WoW on Android! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwaPxBz2jk&feature=player_embedded)
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I imagine that's going to eat up some people's lives.
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That's pretty cool, but I imagine it's impossible as far as complex gameplay, unless the controls are more advanced than what they show there.
Still, stuff like the auction house and other trivial bullshit would be awesome on a phone.
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I think Blizzard released an auction house app already so you could manage auctions while on the go.
Anyway, it's kind of a neat idea but then you'd see addicts playing WoW everywhere they go like in school or at work.
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WoW on Android! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwaPxBz2jk&feature=player_embedded)
So it's like that OnLive thing. The lag here looks much worse.
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So it's like that OnLive thing. The lag here looks much worse.
Yep, they ran WoW on GoogleTV using the same streaming technology. Conceptually it could work but I don't think it's an ideal solution.
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I'm trying to decide if PowerAmp is worth the $5 or not at the moment. Can't decide yet.
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I decided not to get a smartphone because I can't justify/afford spending over $25/month on a phone plan.
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I don't have a monthly plan personally. I'm on pay as you go, with a prepaid $100 card. I just use wifi internet when it's available. If I really need internet, I can just pay $2 for 1 day of internet, or $7 for 1 week.
Talk time is $0.25 per minute, text message is $0.15 per message. There are text message packages available with pay as you go though.
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I decided not to get a smartphone because I can't justify/afford spending over $25/month on a phone plan.
Stick to this for as long as you can hold out. I pay roughly $100 a month and can't go back.
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I think I should add that the $100 lasts an entire year for me.
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To be fair, if I was paying by text, I'd be drunk texting and sexting my way to $100 in two months easy.
Also, I hate you and your much more financially rational lifestyle.
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$100 a month is a lot. I do about 400 minutes and 400 texts a month and $25 covers that due to unlimited evenings and texting. With data the best plan I've seen is Virgin's $55/month student plan but that only gives you a gig.
I can't wait for the new providers to go nation-wide. Mobilicity has a deal right now: Unlimited North America Calling, Unlimited Global Text, Call Display, Voice Mail and Unlimited Data for $35 a month. It's insane.
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$100 a month? WTF?
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To break this down:
Voice Plan: 350 Min, unlimited evenings and weekends starting at 5pm = $32 down from $40
Data: 1 GB = $30 (I used to pay $20 for unlimited but they cut that when they upgraded their data network and no one can get it back)
Device Protection = $7. I should cut this, but taking the hit from destroying my last phone sucked balls.
Unlimited Texting = $8, down from $15
Voicemail Ten = free
Caller Id = Free
Motherfucking Fees = ~$8
Tax: ~$10
To be fair, my voice usage during the day has dropped dramatically since I stopped using my phone at work (in response to them cutting off our phone allowances). I only used like roughly 90 min last month before 5pm. And then like 400 after 5pm. Texts were in the range of 700.
Now, I'd reduce my voice plan, BUT there aren't really any other viable options at the moment. I can cut down the minutes by like half and have evenings and weekends start at 9pm (or 6pm if I'm willing to pay), but I'd only save like $5 or so since I already have a reduced rate on that plan. I can cut data down to 500mb, but I may go over and it only saves me $5. I really just need some shit subsidized again.
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holy crap! you guys get totally ass raped on mobile plans. i get 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 750mb of data for around $60 (USD), plus a free desire hd. i actually pay half that, because i work for the phone company, but anyway...
you could get the plan gpw posted above with a regular desire included for less than $40 (USD).
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Jeez. I pay like $70 for 450 mins, free mobile-to-mobile, free nights/weekends after 7pm, unlimited text, unlimited data. I get it a little cheaper because of an employee discount with the county (don't tell anyone I quit... I wonder if they'll ask when I move to TX).
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Gang raped more like it.
I pay a max of $30 a month and it includes unlimited everything.
Again, the problem is that North America is huge in terms of landmass and coverage is expensive for companies themselves.
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Yeah, in the U.S. if you want a phone + data plan, you're going to play close to $100/mo. and nothing is unlimited.
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I read that Canada is apparently the most expensive in the world. I do get the giant landmass thing for north America and do understand that Canada has a drastically smaller population to recoup those costs from, but the presence of those reasons also create the excuse for increased markup. These companies consistantly turn ridiculous profits and its increasingly obvious that there's some form of price setting going on. Probably not to the levels where it would be deemed illegal, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were towing that line.
The shitty thing is that before I had data, my standard bill would be around $70 because I was getting charged for features like voicemail and call display. That was with fewer min. As well...and I went over all the time and would get hit with MASSIVE bills.
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I was paying $40/mo. for 900 minutes with voicemail, caller ID, and unlimited texting back in the day. The advent of the smartphone changed all that. Text messaging plans are the worst, especially when it costs the providers virtually nothing to provide the service. Verizon charges like $5/mo. for 200 texts but you can get 5000 for $15/mo. They basically make it so you have to pay for the larger plan. However, if you have a data plan it usually has some sort of texting attached and besides you can always do Google Voice for free texting.
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Gang raped more like it.
I pay a max of $30 a month and it includes unlimited everything.
Again, the problem is that North America is huge in terms of landmass and coverage is expensive for companies themselves.
The new wireless companies are pretty much avoiding the whole giant landmass issue by only offering service in dense cities and then giving unlimited everything at European level prices. It's great, several companies have offered unlimited everything plans for under $40 which is about half the old prices. The only downside is that coverage sucks outside of cities but for a lot of people that's really not a big deal.
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I read that Canada is apparently the most expensive in the world. I do get the giant landmass thing for north America and do understand that Canada has a drastically smaller population to recoup those costs from, but the presence of those reasons also create the excuse for increased markup. These companies consistantly turn ridiculous profits and its increasingly obvious that there's some form of price setting going on. Probably not to the levels where it would be deemed illegal, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were towing that line.
The shitty thing is that before I had data, my standard bill would be around $70 because I was getting charged for features like voicemail and call display. That was with fewer min. As well...and I went over all the time and would get hit with MASSIVE bills.
How long have you been a paying customer with Rogers (that's the company I assume you are with)? If you've been with them for a while, give them a call and bitch and complain that your plan is too expensive and they will lower the price. My dad was regularly paying $150-$200 per month for his cell phone because he would always go over his allotted minutes since it's a business phone, and he finally got Rogers to give him truly unlimited minutes Canada-wide (before it was like 500 minutes Canada-wide). I don't remember what he pays now though.
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OMG that is ridiculous.
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How long have you been a paying customer with Rogers (that's the company I assume you are with)? If you've been with them for a while, give them a call and bitch and complain that your plan is too expensive and they will lower the price. My dad was regularly paying $150-$200 per month for his cell phone because he would always go over his allotted minutes since it's a business phone, and he finally got Rogers to give him truly unlimited minutes Canada-wide (before it was like 500 minutes Canada-wide). I don't remember what he pays now though.
Telus, but they're really all exactly the same. in both pricing and how they do this. Whenever I call now, I go straight to Loyalty and Retentions. I have done this before, (keep in mind that I am getting about $30-35 dollars/month in discounts...sort of) and it worked well - my non market voice plan at the time was good for on contract, and the original data plan I got was unlimited at a pretty decent discount...which they removed when I replaced my phone and moved to the new, highspeed network.
I do plan on recalling in the near future but understand I have somewhat less leverage now than I would were I off contract (I think I have about 18 months less). The good news is that competition with the new guys has made things improve a bit. Loyalty and Retentions are apparently now offering 1gb for $20 or 6 gb for $30 (which I pay for 1gb). There are also some new loyalty and market plans which COULD be cheaper, especially now that you factor in that most don't have some of the unnecessary fees attached. My concern would be having to pay for caller id, voice mail, and possibly having later evenings and weekends. I'm looking into it currently, but am sort of leaning towards holding out in hopes that shit heats up further and I can walk away with something that's a bit less of a toss up and is a guaranteed good deal.
That said, howardforums.com is a great place to go and get plan and hardware advice for whatever your carrier may be.
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So I went to get my Omnia i900 repaired and apparently it'll cost $300, which is ridiculous to say the least, especially considering last January they told me it would only cost $160 (the main reason I didn't get it done then was because I was travelling in 5 days and the repairs would take 2 weeks, talk about procrastination).
I'm basically in the market for a new phone. I'm leaning toward the Samsung Galaxy S (http://galaxys.samsungmobile.com/) (Pug's posts got me so hot for it) though I'm wondering if I should hold out for the Nexus S (http://www.google.com/nexus).
Alternatively, any other suggestions are welcome i.e. HTC.
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Galaxy S Middle East just got the 2.2 update too, and Samsung India tweeted that 2.3 will be on the cards.
The HTC Desire HD is pretty awesome as well. You should hold both to see what you like. The Galaxy S has the Super AMOLED screen, and a faster GPU and CPU. It beats the Desire HD in benchmarks. Its camera sensor is also excellent. It also has great battery life. I think it also has more internal storage? Not sure. One cool thing is that it has a Gorilla glass, which makes it almost impossible to get scratched.
At the same time the Desire HD's screen is slightly bigger, and it has the the far better HTC interface. Its camera has a flash as well. Both are sporting Android 2.2
Here is an excellent discussion on the two:
http://androidforums.com/htc-desire-hd/177848-desire-hd-vs-galaxy-s.html
Galaxy S Pros:
Slightly Faster (mainly GPU I believe) (though with lag bugs atm but set to be fixed)
FFC
Probably better Sound Quality (the HD SQ is unknown but I have heard the Galaxy S SQ is excellent the HD has a lot to live up to).
Super AMOLED display.
Lighter
Potentialy massive aftermarket community (released on all 4 major carriers in the US and selling incredibly well elsewhere).
Headphone slot on the top
Potential for extended battery is higher with a removeable back
Higher internal Memory.
Available now
Swype Pre-loaded
Gorilla glass screen.
More pocketable (not by a lot, but it is smaller).
Better Video quality (some Desire HD video captures have been uploaded on XDA, general consensus is that they are not that great).
Desire HD pros
Probably better camera (mexapixels don't mean everything so we can't be sure)
Bigger screen
Regular pixel config not pentile matrix like on SAmoled.
Sense = better than Touchwiz
New sense features on top of this.
Nicer build quality.
Boot time
Made by a more reliable company.
Better GPS (presumably)
Extra Ram
Notification light (I think).
Camera Flash.
Potentially faster Data (14.4 Mbps down 5.76 up)
You should play with both if you can before deciding.
As for the Nexus S, it is also a Samsung phone. A piece of warning. Some Nexus S phones in Eastern Europe and Asia -- unlike UK and USA --are coming with clear LCD screens rather than Super AMOLED because of screen shortage. Super AMOLED is in a class of its own, so if you are going with the Nexus S, make sure your cell has it.
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Thanks for the info, Pug :)
I'll keep your tips in consideration when touring the market.
My heart is definitely swaying toward Android but I'm also keeping the iPhone 4 (32GB) option on the table since it's available here for ~$230 with a 1-year contract, which seems too good of an offer to pass up.
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Yea the only reason I am so anti Apple is because they are overpriced. A good deal can't be overlooked though.
No phone can still measure up to the excellent responsiveness of an Apple phone. It is amazing how huge the gap is.
The iPhone 4 isn't super AMOLED, but it's sporting a really really high resolution. Looks really hot.
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No notification light on the Galaxy S phones? That's one of the selling points for Android for me (silly, I know).
If one were to go Android now, I'd probably lean towards the Nexus S (assuming you don't care about a keyboard). Apart from the hardware, the Nexus S is a stock android phone (no custom GUI), but as a Nexus phone, it's also Google's personal flagship. This means it's probably guaranteed updates quicker and for longer than most other comparable phones (if the Nexus One is anything to go off of). The first to get new version rollouts and so on. I think it also ships with Gingerbread, which is a pretty big advantage.
I don't think the Nexus S is rocking Gorilla Glass, however, which is a pretty big disadvantage if you're hard on your phone. Also, no dedicated camera button (I think).
Tough to say. A lot of people love Sense, but a fair amount like to just rock the stock OS with a custom launcher from the market as well. It's kind of a personal thing. I'd suggest you play around for a bit and see what you like.
But really, either way; Apple or Android, you'll be amazed at the improvement over your Omnia. I was.
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Can you recommend a good custom launcher?
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Thanks GPW.
I'l have weigh my options to see what really fits into my needs and budget (although they're all around the same price range).
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Can you recommend a good custom launcher?
Launcher Pro seems to be the most popular at the moment, with ADW launcher in a close second. Both are minimal modifications with some really good enhancements and fully skinable/themeable...I think.
I've used Launcher Pro a fair bit. There is a free version and a pay one (best to find a way around that). The free version is good, has a nice elastic scrolling effect, a much better dock bar at the bottom of the screen, and some other nice features. The paid version includes all kinds of shortcuts (gestures and such) as well as some very Sense-like widgets. Also, you can resize most widgets in the paid version and enable scrollable widgets (great for calendars, etc) in both versions.
ADW I haven't really messed around with so I can't say much but I think it's pretty similar. I've been rocking custom roms for a while now and plan on going back to an old 2.1 rom sometime soon as the custom Froyo ones just kill my battery. I'll give ADW a test run when I do.
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I use ADW and really like it. With the proper themes and some customization it's amazing and runs really well too. I haven't tried Launcher Pro though.
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I have an Android phone and this is the first I have heard of "launchers". Is that like HTC Sense?
I haven't bothered with any custom UI because it seems that Sense is viewed pretty favorably.
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Yep a launcher is basically a customization of the front end UI. If you run stock android customization is a must. Other brands redo their frontend as well but it is usually still not as good as Launcher Pro or ADW.
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Yeah. I believe people refer to them as launchers rather than UIs because they only really affect the look/feel of the homescreen/desktop rather than the entire UI of the phone itself. Sense does this as well, but adds a keyboard, lockscreen, and overall reskin. with Launcher Pro and ADW, the only thing affected is the actual home screen(s).
That said, Sense certainly is the cream of the crop. There are sense-infused roms for pretty much every phone out there, but no one bothers to port Touchwiz or Motoblur. This is certainly HTCs strong-point, and something they've leveraged over from their WinMo days.
I do kind of like the spartan feel of the stock Google launcher though. From 2.1 (can't speak of 2.0) up, there's not all that much of a difference between that and the Launcher Pro/ADW. Well, not much that many would notice anyways. It is, however, something they really need to focus on upgrading for 3.0/Honeycomb if they want to remain as competitive as they have been. I had no problem with it, and there's a lot of utility there, but there's also a lot of missed potential considering the resources they have.
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I posted about that small, work related crack in the Gorilla Glass screen of my Milestone. It actually held up pretty well, but the thing about glass is once you have a stress fracture in there, the structural integrity of the entire light/pane is shot. Was walking on this bank today and slipped on some mud, fully landing with my full weight on my phone. The result is a completely smashed screen. It's usable, but dangerous, and only slightly so. There's also some internal damage I believe because some of the side buttons are fucked.
So, I'm looking at options. These include iPhone, Galaxy S Fascinate, and actually downgrading to a dumb phone and rocking that for a while. The iPhone and Galaxy options are tempting, but I wouldn't mind cutting the cost on my (previously discussed) massive bill for a few months in order to recoup from some hits recently. I'm also not entirely sure as to what I'd have to pay to get either of these and won't know until I speak with a representative. Beyond that, nothing available on my carrier really interests me.
Cutting costs would certainly be the best option, but fuck, I'd miss gps and internet access quite a bit.
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I recently updated my phone to 2.2/Froyo. Apparently, the official release wasn't so hot, so I loaded the highest recommended custom ROM. Honestly, the Froyo improvements are great (I have dabbled in Cyanogen before), but there seems to be many downsides on my phone. I guess Froyo just wasn't made with 256mb RAM in mind, which I should have known from people's complaints with the original Droid's Froyo update.
I think I may roll back to a custom Eclair Rom and ride that out until a good phone to update to is out...say, in a year or so. I mean, in browser flash isn't so great.
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Well, I got myself an HTC HD7, with Windows Phone 7. My options were iPhone for $950, HTC Desire HD for $650, or the HD7 on special offer for $320. I gotta say it is smooth although just as locked down as an iPhone.
Allow me to vent my frustration at Microsoft's asinine region crap. Now, when I logged in with my Windows Live ID I expected the devices services would be readily available to me, little did I know that ALL of Microsoft's services are now tied indirectly to Xbox LIVE. I linked my phone with my xessive@hotmail and it beautifully synced my e-mail and contacts, directly from my Hotmail account. Everything seemed perfect until I tried to visit the Marketplace: Bzzzz "Marketplace is not available in your region." May as well have had a big "fuck you" at the bottom.
At this point I'm confused, why would this product be available in my country if its services are not? So I try to log into the Xbox LIVE service and of course that doesn't work either because apparently back in 2005 I created an Xbox LIVE account which was set to a region that the service is not available in, of course it is to this day non-functioning, can't even log into it. Which naturally begs the question "Why the F would the Xbox LIVE sign-up process list locations in which it does not exist?" Logic aside, I contacted Microsoft in an effort to resolve the issue and their answer is basically "just create a new account, asshole." I asked them nicely if they could simply unlink the useless and completely unused gamertag from my Windows Live ID and they have yet to reply.
Moral of the story is: don't get any Microsoft devices if you have doubts about your "Windows Live ID" or any of their stupidly unified crap.
How did I get around the current issue to get a my phone functioning? Remember my Xbox Live gamertag that I created with a Gmail address? Yeah, that works.. So Now if I have to log into my Hotmail, Marketplace, Games for Windows Live, Xbox Live, I have to use my Gmail address, which is tied to a Windows Live ID that is basically blank.. There is actually a Hotmail inbox that I log into with my Gmail that just sits there doing nothing in cyber space. Why? Because Microbitch won't migrate or unlink my xessive@hotmail from that defunct gamertag. Anyway, after that I had to manually create a separate Windows Live login on the phone for my xessive@hotmail in order to get e-mails from it alongside the useless xessive@gmail@hotmail.. Then I also had to create a third login to actually get the e-mails from my Gmail account. Go figure.
Is the source of the problem the device? No, it just really highlights how big of a clusterfuck Microsoft have made with their ridiculous policies and permanent region restrictions. DO they not acknowledge the fact that people move?!!
Sorry guys, I'm just really pissed and venting out this crap.. I fucking hate this illogical crap they're giving me.
So, was it worth the $300 price drop? yeah.. I have an awesome device that's basically an equivalent of an iPhone with much of the same functionality for less than a 1/3 of the price.
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That's completely ridiculous. I'm glad you found a workaround. But I'm thinking it's probably best for me to stay away from that cell-phone infrastructure. It would give one big company too much power over my life.
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Wow, that's total crap Xessive. Jennie has a Windows Phone 7 phone, I think a Samsung Focus or something like that. It's actually pretty cool. Color me impressed by Microsoft's latest mobile OS.
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Yeah, I hope Microsoft can solve my hotmail issue, if not I may consider migrating all my e-mail to Gmail or create a fresh Hotmail with an Xbox LIVE that's based in Canada; that would also mean losing access to Bulletstorm (its CD key is permanently bound to my current UK-based Xbox LIVE gamertag).
In terms of the OS and its performance I am impressed too. Its simplicity makes the minimalist in me giggle uncontrollably! :D
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if not I may consider migrating all my e-mail to Gmail
I ended up having to do this when switching from Windows Mobile to Android, simply because there is no push support for Hotmail at all on Android (well, there sorta is now, but nothing great). That and the Gmail app is so much better. It's actually a breeze. You can set your Hotmail account to forward to one other email; in my case gmail. All my messages that aren't spam go straight into my Gmail, with a "xxxxx@hotmail.com" Label (you can turn that off or on). Furthermore, you can always choose to send certain emails from gmail with the hotmail return address. It was actually pretty painless.
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I ended up having to do this when switching from Windows Mobile to Android, simply because there is no push support for Hotmail at all on Android (well, there sorta is now, but nothing great).
I would disagree with the bolded statement. You can connect to Hotmail via ActiveSync. That gives you the same basic experience you get with the Gmail app, the Google Calendar, and the People.
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I would disagree with the bolded statement. You can connect to Hotmail via ActiveSync. That gives you the same basic experience you get with the Gmail app, the Google Calendar, and the People.
Interesting. After reading this, I did a google search to see how I missed this when switching over. Seems I didn't, it's just Hotmail itself didn't have push ActiveSync support for non-WinMo devices until August 2010, after I switched. Well, no going back now.
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I solved my Outlook issues by using Google Apps Sync, which basically instructs Outlook to use the Gmail server rather than Microsoft Exchange: synced my old phone with Outlook, then synced Outlook with Gmail, finally synced my HD7 with Gmail.
My primary reason for going that route is that Outlook turns into a whiny little bitch when I try to set it up for my Hotmail inbox. Plus it incessantly nags that it needs the "Windows Live Connector" in order to do it but even after I did that it would take forever to sync with Hotmail.
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Well, I just made a stark discovery about Windows Phone 7: there is no way to make a phone backup i.e. save state and restore later.
Zune will only back up videos, music, and photos. Contacts are synced online but there's no hard backup option at all, not even via Outlook. SMS texts are not backed-up and lost irrevocably. Apps are gone and you'll have to re-download.
I don't mind re-configuring settings but not having a hard-backup option is a major downside. In the case of SMS messages, being forced to lose data completely is just inexcusable.
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I have to say that the Galaxy S has honestly changed my life in a positive way.
Smartphones... one of the inventions of the century.
Honestly, Symbian was just a piece of crap.
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I dropped the fuck out of my Milestone into some water. Luckily, I had a protection plan in place and got a replacement a day later. The thing is that the replacement seems to have some weird antenna problem or something and I am currently going through the steps to get ANOTHER replacement sent out....but I expect something to go south and Asurion (the company the telecoms use for handset insurance) to try to back charge me SOMETHING.
That aside, I am looking at an upgrade soon. I don`t know if the Galaxy S II or anything up to spec will be out here by then, with the latest being the Nexus S. In that case, I may make the switch to iPhone. Yay/nay?
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Galaxy SII is out and apparently it's awesome.
Check out Engadget's review here (http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/28/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review/).
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i still don't like the interface nearly as much as htc's, but the speed is far superior to htc's dual-core, the "sensation" (not that you can actually tell in real world use). despite it being a total beast, the galaxy s II is actually one of the best android phones for battery life. the device is unbelievably light and thin, also the screen quality is the best i've ever seen from a phone.
if you are going to make the switch to the iphone, it's worth bearing in mind that the current buzz is that the iphone 5 is coming out in september.
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Yeah, the Galaxy S2 would be my go-to (although I really wish they had a qwerty slider variant), but it's not out here quite yet.
This is what I'm dealing with on my new replacement unit. Assuming they want to be fucking idiots about it, I may have to jump on something in the meantime.
(http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/3493/1001283a.jpg)
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They kept on sending me refurb units and I kept on having problems. The last one worked for about a month and then all of a sudden couldn't get a signal on my carrier or see any others which used the same bands. It could have been a network problem (with my account specifically) or a hardware problem, but I was sick of dealing with the shit so I said "Fuck it", ported my number out and got an HTC Desire Z for $0 on a one year contract.
(http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/09/htc-desire-z-hero-september-15-2010-1284550160.jpg)
It was a huge toss up. There weren't any Android devices I wanted on my carrier (Telus), and I didn't really want to make the jump to iPhone or BB. So, end of the day, the cheapest option which would lead to a usable phone ended up being switching carriers, buying out my contract, and signing on for a year. I had considered doing the same and getting a GalaxyS2, BUT it would have cost substantially more and I'd be locked into pretty much a three year contract in order to get any sort of reasonable discount on the phone. Outright was like $600, and on a three year it cost $165 or something PLUS the $200 odd to get out of the contract, or full price and unlock. Outright for the Desire Z was $499. It made the most sense and gives me an upgrade option ion 6-9 months.
That said, reasonable upgrade over the Droid/Milestone. Waaaay better keyboard, quite a bit faster, and far fewer bugs. The difference between first and second gen Android phones is amazing. The build quality is very good, but it doesn't have that same awesome feel as my old phone. The Droid/Milestone felt like you were holding a fucking gun: perfect weight, all metal and hard edges. Gorilla Glass and durable as hell. This still has a good weight to it, soft touch rubberized texture and brushed aluminum, but the rounded edges and such make it feel a bit plastic like and cheap coming off the Milestone. And I don't believe it has Gorilla glass.
Sense is great, and I may not even root/custom rom this bitch. It seems thats where a lot of bugs come in. Well, I'll probably root just to get the carrier-specific apps off there, but it seems a fair bit more complicated than on my last phone.
Oh, and the thing boots in like 5 seconds.
All in all, good deal. Kind of sad I had to switch carriers and give up around 10 years of loyalty and the bonuses that come with it, but since smartphones blew up, carriers had really been cutting back on the deals for their loyalty customers. I had about $35-40 of free features on my old account, but more min. than I really used since data plans and unlimited texts, and it was looking like a lot of those features would not be renewed for free. I pay slightly less now, with the sacrifice being later free periods by a few hours and roughly 100 min a month less. I think I can deal with that. Worst case, I upgrade the plan and get work to start paying for some of my bill.
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When the plans start to lose value there's no point in staying with a carrier.
At least they had some loyalty rewards, here there's not much of a choice.. We're forcibly loyal to the one and only telecom provider. It's not loyalty if you don't have a choice :P
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Haha. Good point. Although, as I'm sure you know, in Canada the big three carriers might as well be a single entity. There are newer, smaller, and far cheaper carriers that have come out in the last 12 months or so, but they have the back woods of spectrum and no penetration outside of major cities. Which wouldn't be such a big deal to me except for the fact that they don't have the market share or leverage to get some of the top of the line devices.
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Haha. Good point. Although, as I'm sure you know, in Canada the big three carriers might as well be a single entity. There are newer, smaller, and far cheaper carriers that have come out in the last 12 months or so, but they have the back woods of spectrum and no penetration outside of major cities. Which wouldn't be such a big deal to me except for the fact that they don't have the market share or leverage to get some of the top of the line devices.
Oh you just reminded me, frickin' Rogers! They swallowed Fido whole!
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Out of curiosity, how many of you on Android are rooted? I always was on my Milestone, but it seems a lot more of a pain in the ass for my new phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_Vision_.28G2.2FDZ.29_and_DHD
That sounds like an hour or so of work.
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on the desire hd and rooted (also rooted my hero). not the easiest thing in the world, but i'm now running a hacked of version of sense 3.0 which is all kinds of snazzy.
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Out of curiosity, how many of you on Android are rooted? I always was on my Milestone, but it seems a lot more of a pain in the ass for my new phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_Vision_.28G2.2FDZ.29_and_DHD
That sounds like an hour or so of work.
When you say "root it", do you mean just get root access or to install a custom ROM? I got root access and then put CyanogenMod 7.1.0 RC1 on my Incredible, but I regret it. I now always worry if my phone is going to freeze during conversations or the dialer will just crash outright. It reboots far more frequently now, and Gmail syncing is a constant problem.
I was just tired of Verizon/HTC dragging their feet with Gingerbread.
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Well, kind of one and the same a bit. You need root access to get the custom ROM. Specifically, I suppose I was talking about actually getting root access though. This is the most complex I've seen the instructions for it (same as Beo's Desire HD, I believe). My last phone was a bit of a bitch, but only actually three or four steps once you knew what you were doing. This seems a lot more intimidating.
I guess the main reason for root access is custom ROMs. Apart from that, I guess there are a few low-level options you can fuck around with, a few more apps you can run, and some things to flash (different basebands/radios). Now that you mention it, I don't know if I would root if I didn't flash a custom rom. Most are pretty sweet and have a lot more features (I was looking at that Sense 3.0 one for my Desire Z), but are at least slightly less reliable in some form or another.
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So I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a windows mobile 7 phone. My android phone is really dated and extremely slow with lots of issues, but all I use it for is texting and maybe maps every so often, I use my iPod for browsing and gaming. Sprint has the HTC Arrive which doesn't have the biggest or best screen but I read the battery life is decent and the I think it will work nicely for a smart phone where I just use it for the basics.
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In my experience WP7 is not bad. I do have to say it is on the same business model as iPhone: it's locked down, Marketplace = Apple Store (in function not variety), Zune = iTunes, and no card slots. It's basically an iPhone for people who don't like Apple. My HTC HD7 is pretty good, very simple to use though still leaves some features to be desirable which will hopefully be addressed in the upcoming Mango update: WP7.1.
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It does really sound like WP or iPhone would suit you best. Both seem to just work better than Android and I considered both before realizing I was hooked by widgets, Google integratio, and free turn by turn. I do believe, though, that if you don't utilize those and don't want to Fuck around with a device a lot, any of the other options is better as a communications device.
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I ended up going with an iPhone after a year of the Xperia X10. While I really liked the customization options on Android, performance and battery life was poor, and the on screen keyboard wasn't that great. I was very impressed with the keyboard on iPhone and made the switch. There are some eccentricities that I'm not entirely fond of on iOS, but iOS 5 should remedy some of those problems.
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New iPhone 4S is coming to AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. (http://www.tested.com/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-apple-iphone-4s-hardware/2961/) Its going to have a dual core processor and a better camera.
Glad I held off on my upgrade. Was waiting for a new Win 7 phone or a new Android Nexus but I totally didn't expect the iPhone to come to Sprint. Its going to be a nice upgrade.
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New iPhone 4S is coming to AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. (http://www.tested.com/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-apple-iphone-4s-hardware/2961/) Its going to have a dual core processor and a better camera.
Glad I held off on my upgrade. Was waiting for a new Win 7 phone or a new Android Nexus but I totally didn't expect the iPhone to come to Sprint. Its going to be a nice upgrade.
Is a new Google Nexus coming? I was getting ready to buy the Nexus S 4G from Sprint.
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I'd hold off a week or so. It looks like the next Nexus, the Nexus Prime may be announced Oct. 11 at some trade show. Might as well see what's in the pipeline and what the release date is before you drop the coin.
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You know, smartphone updates suck. I'm still on Android 2.2 (Froyo), even though Google released 2.3 (Gingerbread) almost a year ago. HTC and Verizon rolled out a 2.3 update briefly for my phone in early September, but it was a total disaster so they recalled it. Supposedly they are re-releasing it in late October. We'll see. This is why I want a Nexus phone.
Meanwhile, Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) has been released. Yet Jennie's Samsung Focus v1.3 is still on 7.0.7008.0, which is one patch above the original release of Windows Phone 7 (7.0.7004.0). Somehow she missed the "NoDo" update and an update after that. Not to mention the Mango update itself which was supposedly released on September 27. Yet her phone happily quips "No update available." I don't get it.
There are reports of people calling AT&T about this, who then refer the caller to Samsung, who then refers the caller to Microsoft, who then refers the caller to AT&T.
What a mess this whole situation is. It's mass confusion and frustration.
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Yeah, mine never got the NoDo update either, there was one minor update that allowed copy/paste, and now Mango.
Apparently there are a few Samsung and HTC models that didn't get the Mango update yet.
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7.0.7008.0 is not the copy-and-past update. It's an update that supposedly makes the update process work better. It's the first update to WP7.
Someone at work told me that if she didn't get NoDo, she isn't going to get Mango either. True or false?
I've read conflicting things. I feel like I saw somewhere that NoDo was a disaster and they pulled it. I also saw lots of people saying they were still on 7.0.7008.0.
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NoDo apparently had some flaws with some devices and so it was pulled. It was readily available to devs though.
I can't remember what the copy/paste version number was but I know I didn't get the NoDo update and jumped right up to Mango v7.1 (7720).
The Windows Phone 7 updates are meant to be universal with all devices directly from Microsoft, without having to wait for the manufacturer to release a firmware update, but I guess there are a few exceptions.
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Updates are one of the real weaknesses with Android (and it sounds like it may be the case with Windows Phone 7 as well). Google has tried to address this to a certain point by making manufacturers agree to support devices with updates for 18 months after release....which helps, but doesn't solve the slow roll out problem.
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The slow roll out problem with Android is caused by both the manufacturers and the carriers. Even if the manufacturers support the update and make the latest update available, the wait for the carrier to release it tends to be excessively lengthy as well (sometimes a week to well over six months).
One solution is not to rely on the official manufacturer builds. Root and unlock the bootloader so you can load custom firmware on it (or the generic one released by the manufacturer, non-carrier specific version) and that helps by removing one of the roadblocks. That said, there does tend to be some issues related to custom firmware and not everything on the phone will work perfectly.
It's one of the problems with Android. The lack of control and the ability to fully customize the OS can be seen as both a benefit (to the people who want to spend their time customizing their phone) or a drawback (slow and buggy releases, etc.)
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I can vouch for the Android update situation being a clusterfuck. After being annoyed that I was still on Froyo well after Gingerbread was released, I installed CyanogenMod 7.1.0 RC1. I liked it a lot, but it was completely unstable. I was getting application crashes and total lockups very often. Then I read that HTC and Verizon were going to finally release a Gingerbread update for my Incredible, so I went back to the stock ROM.
But I'm still on Froyo. They have not released a fixed update and at this point I'm not sure they will. The phone is almost two years old.
That's what pisses me off about the state of the Android market. Carriers and manufacturers are using the OS updates as reasons to get a new phone by severely delaying the updates or not releasing them at all.
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Yea, what Scottws said.
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iOS5 is out today. The download is terribly slow. It's been going for about 2 hours and it's still got another hour remaining.
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It actually sounds like a pretty sweet update. Notifications finally done right.
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Good read on some of the cooler features of Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich":
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-everything-you-need-to-know-954464
Google Samsung Nexus Galaxy (or whatever it is called), here I come!
Btw, someone should change this thread title to be make it more obvious that it is about smartphones in case we get a visitor or something. Hey, you never know.
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Done. And ICS looks fucking sweet. I doubt my Desire Z will be getting it (although, it should be able to run unofficial roms of it since it's already on GB with Sense, so hardware shouldn't be an issue), but my next phone sure as hell will. I just hope that there's something with a QWERTY rocking it by net summer.
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I really like the changes related to the spell checker and the voice input. For the voice input, I like how you can easily change words after the dictation and for the spell checker I like how it just underlines misspelled words and allows you to fix them after rather than making you worry about them as you type. I hate when it changes an intentionally misspelled word (or just a word it doesn't know) and you end up fighting the interface to get the results you want.
Regarding visitors, I just did a Google search for our site and the only stuff that comes up is links to the threads in WAP format. Not sure why that is, but I think I heard that SMF's URL format is not search engine friendly.
Wonder if that's been improved in SMF 2, which has been released BTW (*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*).
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I've got a couple questions for anyone that might know, though not all specific to smart phones.
My family wants to add me to their Verizon plan so they can cut off the land line, and adding a phone would only be $10/mo more. BUT... they want to give me my mother's old phone, which is a few year old pink flip phone. (the interface confuses her)
So if I want to switch to another phone (or if my mother did, for that matter), is there a way to do that without signing a new contract? Moving contacts and such over isn't an issue, just getting the new phone setup to work on that number. I know if you were to go to a Verizon store and tell them you want a new phone, they'd make you sign a new contract, extending the length of your plan. Is that mandatory, or just a salesman pressure tactic to keep you signed up? What if I go out and buy a phone they support, but not from them? (like buying an iPhone at an Apple store, then wanting to use it with an existing Verizon plan)
Similarly, I've heard Verizon requires a data plan with smart phones. Is this on a per phone basis? Maybe a per account basis? My father's phone is an iPhone, and he already has a data plan. I'm not that interested in having one if I do go with a smartphone.
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You can get a new phone whenever you want, and you don't have to sign a new contract to use it. But there are a few things to keep in mind:
- The phone has to be a Verizon or unlocked CDMA phone.
- For a new phone, you will pay the unsubsidized price. That's the big number. For a higher-end smartphone you can expect to pay $400-750 (for instance the HTC Droid Incredible 2 is $510 while the new HTC Rezound and Motorola Droid RAZR are $710).
Verizon used to have a "new every 2" upgrade plan where you could get a new phone every two years at the subsidized price, but they did away with it. Even if they didn't, I'm not sure whether it restarted your contract or not. Now that upgrade plan is gone, I have no idea how upgrades work. I don't know if you are basically screwed and have to go unsubsidized, can upgrade but have to renew, or basically have to switch carriers to get a subsidized phone. You'd want to ask someone at the carrier about that.
And yes, I'm pretty sure Verizon requires a data plan. As far as limiting the data to certain phones on a Verizon account, I'm pretty sure you can do that. For voice you can get family plans where your family has a pool of minutes but I don't think there is anything like that for data with Verizon.
Regarding the iPhone, I have no idea about how you get one or where you get one. I'm guessing Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint have them in their stores along with Apple, but I don't know what carrier you get if you get one from the Apple store.
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The data will be the big factor probably. I was looking at their site, and Verizon's cheapest data plan is 2GB for $30/mo. If getting a smartphone forces me into a data plan, I won't be upgrading to one.
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I can't imagine having a smartphone without a data plan. There would be no point IMO.
Yeah, Verizon is the most expensive carrier. Their service is really good, but wow do you pay for it. Sprint and T-Mobile are the cheapest. I'd like to go with either one, but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is coming out on Verizon and I really want that phone. Supposedly it's supposed to come to other carriers eventually, but nothing has been announced. I just don't know how long I can hold out because I'm still using a phone and service from my previous employer, which I left almost three months ago. Just a matter of time before they turn off service.
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I guess I'd want the smartphone to mess with games and stuff, and just transfer things to it while at home. I really don't want to make a $30/mo commitment right now.
Also, Verizon is my only choice right now. First, because I'm being added to my family's existing plan. Second, because it's the only provider that has coverage where I live, and I'm going to be using this as my only phone. (not sure exactly how much money will be saved by adding a $10/mo phone to the plan and dropping the land line, but it can't be much)
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If I were you I would check out the iPod Touch if you want to mess with the iOS app games and stuff and that's it. You can do any browsing or app downloads you want as long as you have a wireless connection.
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Maybe you can use a smartphone on a plan without data. I just looked at the settings in my HTC Droid Incredible and I have the ability to turn mobile data (3G) off but leave Wi-Fi on and it works like you would expect: data works when connected to a wi-fi access point but not the cellular network. I'm not sure if the iPhone has similar settings.
That said, just because the functionality exists in the OS and on the hardware does not mean that Verizon will allow it.
Edit: Just looked and basically every carrier requires a data plan if you attach a smartphone to the line. Their reasoning for it is that far too many people signed up for voice-only plans, used mobile data on their phone, incurred the large cost associated with the per MB fees, and then refused to pay. I suppose they could implement some sort of data blocking mechanism for users without data plans, but they'd rather try to collect the money I guess. Or give a somewhat valid excuse for forcing data plans.
It's kind of the same as texting. I'd rather text with something like Google Voice, which is free over the data network. But if someone sends my real phone number a text, I don't want to be charged $0.25 every time that happens and if you try to get a pay-per-text plan you can't call the carrier and tell them you don't want to be able to send or receive texts. They just won't do it.
It's basically a scam, but it is what it is. These sorts of industry practices is exactly why I hope the AT&T and T-Mobile merger never goes through, because crazy prices and requirements will just get worse.
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It seems like the easiest solution for what I'm looking at, would be a shared data plan across multiple devices, and then turn off my data in the OS. (since my father's phone has data already) Verizon doesn't offer shared data plans yet, but I found a news article somewhere earlier saying that they were considering it.
I'll probably just end up sticking with the pink basic phone I'll be getting as a hand-me-down for now. I could get something better (even if not a smartphone) for cheap or free, but it might not be worth messing with until I've got the money to get what I really want.
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Verizon keeps delaying the Galaxy Nexus in the U.S. It's pissing me off. They are giving it zero advertising support as well, but I'm guessing that's because HTC and Motorola have been more forthcoming with installing Verizon's crapware on their phones.
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I posted this at the old temp board, but apparently everyone moved again? Thanks for the tip pyro.
I was mere inches away from winning a Galaxy Nexus today. Howardforums.com (if you ever need to know anything about a phone or carrier, go there. Also, if you're about to renegotiate a contract) had a contest based on a question: What new features would you be interested in Bell (my sp) implementing. Ten best answers are selected and put into a draw and the winner is randomly pulled to receive a Galaxy Nexus. I made the top ten and the message I was sent stated that if it wasn't random it would have been between me and some other guy, leaning towards my answer. Damn it. So, I got a really small t-shirt as a prize.
But seriously, people are retarded. The thread this was in was pretty much fourteen pages of "no contracts!!!" and "Lower prices!!!!". C'mon you morons, this isn't a vote for which feature is going to be implemented: You're wasting your time. Also, about 600 clowns before you said the exact same thing.
Anyways, ever since my brush with almost getting free shit, my Desire Z is feeling slow (although I still love the physical keyboard). I think I may buy out my contract pretty soon, switch over to my mom's corporate account (which is cheap as hell as it's the block plan for all the medical doctors and medical administrators in the province) and upgrade to something with ICS ....as soon as more new phones are coming out with it. I'd kinda like something more compact than the Galaxy Nexus and ideally with a qwerty, but I'm not going to hold my breath here.
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No kidding. I'm not sure why, but the trend with Android devices is taller and taller and wider and wider. The Galaxy Nexus is huge, but I still want it.
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Have you seen the T-mobile/Telus variant of the Galaxy S2? It has a 4.5 inch screen. A girl I know whipped it out and it's like a tiny tablet, although she loved it.
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The Galaxy Nexus is 4.65", but part of that is the buttons since the standard Android hardware buttons are on the way out and aren't present on this device. Still... massive.
http://phone-size.com/
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The Galaxy Nexus is 4.65", but part of that is the buttons since the standard Android hardware buttons are on the way out and aren't present on this device. Still... massive.
http://phone-size.com/
That site is pretty sweet! If you enter your correct screen size at the top the phone images adjust to actual size! Awesome.
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I can upgrade my phone in a few months. I was hoping the new BBX Blackberrys would be out by then but since they're now supposed to come out at the end of 2012, I'm looking to Windows Phone 7. Anyone play with the new Nokia phones?
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the lumia 800 is pretty nice. great screen - other than that it's much the same as any other windows 7 phone.
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Got the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Loving it so far. As a 1 year Android Froyo and Gingerbread user, Ice Cream Sandwich is familiar but there are some nice updates. Overall the basic look and functionality is mostly unchanged, but you can tell Google is pulling Android away from being overly similar to iOS visually (I can't speak for what future ICS phones will look like that run Motoblur, Touchwiz, or Sense). It seems simpler in a way, like it was inspired by Tron or lasers.
One welcome change is how folders work. I never used them before because they were clumsy and you could not rearrange them, but they are really easy to use now.
Loving the phone overall. It is a lot bigger than my Incredible was, but I am glad it isn't as wide as a Droid RAZR. That thing just does not sit comfortably in the hand.
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Awesome. How's the battery life on it? And do you find it a bit big to fit in a pocket?
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The battery life is an improvement over my Incredible, but that isn't saying much because battery life on that thing was really bad. I havent really pushed the battery too hard, so I can't really make a good judgement yet.
It is a big phone. I believe it is the tallest out there but it isnt as wide as the Droid RAZR, which I found way too wide and uncomfortable in the hand. It fits in my front pocket but it isn't comfortable in the tighter jeans. I usually keep it in my back pocket now.
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Attn Canadians. Fantastic 72 hour sale by Telus: http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/promotions/sale72.shtml?INTCMP=HomeBANC472HourSale
HTC Surround 7
HTC Desire
LG Optimus 7
Blackberry 9800
All for $0 on a one year contract.
Lg Optimus 7 has now been ordered. I was planning on waiting for the Lumia 800 or 900 but I can't say no to a one-year contract at $0.
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No, you can't say no to that at all. A similar sale Bell had (HTC Desire Z/G2 for $0 on 1-year) caused me to switch over from Telus last year. A one year contract with a free phone is seriously nothing to scoff at. I may make the jump back onto a Telus corporate plan through a family member soon, but I kind of like the way this trend is going as they start to push smartphones harder.
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Update: Did not get the phone. Telus won't ship it to me until they can verify my identity on the phone number associated with my credit card. All of my billing information is associated with my parent's house and the next time I'll be there is in April. I explained all this to them and asked if there was any other way I could verify my identity and they basically said no and that I have to wait until April before they ship it. So order cancelled.
Congratulations Telus on failing to take my money for no reason at all.
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I somehow missed that before. How retarded.
On to a very important question: What do you guys use, app-wise, to play music on your Android phones? My old Nano just took a spin in the wash, and while it looks like it's going to recover, the screen is severely washed out (to the point of not being able to navigate menus. I cracked it open, and it's the actual LCD that has the issue, not condensation inside the unit). I use it primarily for working out/tracking runs with Nike+, but I'll probably just use my phone and Run-tracker or something like that to cover it in the meantime.
Any good suggestions? Poweramp? Winamp?
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Poweramp was awesome. I'm not sure how it is now though since I've been on an iPhone for the last 6 months. Get the trial version and test it for yourself.
Winamp was also a good free music player, but it was kind of ugly and the feature set wasn't great/buggy. Again, it's been a while since I've used it so if you don't feel like paying money go for it.
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I had Winamp on my phone already, and remember why I wasn't a huge fain. Ugly ui. Poweramp is quite a bit better than when I last used it a year or so ago, so I'll be sticking with that. If this run tracking works out well, I'll probably buy the full version and go with that instead of replacing the iPod.
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yeah, i use power amp - love it. the level of control that app gives you is unsurpassed, and one of the reasons why i'm such a fan of android's flexibility.
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I bought PowerAmp a long time ago. It is great and totally woth the price. Nothing else comes close.
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Well, Poweramp is the shit, thanks. It actually seems to improve sound quality at default settings as well....which is weird. I had a little bit of an adjustment as I made a loyalist ,loaded it and started to run only to find out that it was shuffling to songs outside of the playlist, but I'll look into that - probably just a different setting than I'm used to from iPods.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering: Track my Run is way waaay more accurate than Nike+ (I think). At least the old school foot sensor one - for me. Nike+ was reporting my runs as about 15% shorter distance wise than they actually are - which I had suspected but now have confirmed. Dramatic effect on my recorded pace.
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Oh thanks for that gpw, I have been using Nike+ and I have been wondering that myself and it does feel like its been tracking a little off, shorter like yours, though I'm not using the sensor. I may try Runkeeper or this Track my Run if its on iOS.
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Hey nerds,
I have a Droid Incredible that I am now eligible for an upgrade on. I am not in a huge rush to replace it, but would like to in the coming months. I have Verizon.
I put in my info on the website and it comes up with LOADS of phones, none of which I am familiar with. Most of the androids seem to have good user reviews. In terms of what I am looking for, I like how slim and light my Droid Incredible is. It's also pretty fast and has a decent camera. For price, I am also going to be signing another 2 year contract and I don't mind dropping about $200-$300 on the new phone.
Any thoughts or models to check out? I guess I should get a 4g one, right?
Perusing around a bit, I kind of like the Droid Razr. Looks like a more powerful, smaller version of my current phone.
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Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Or wait a little for a Samsung Galaxy S III. I found the Droid RAZR too be too wide and I didn't find it comfortable to hold in my hand, but of course your experience may differ.
One thing to keep in mind is that Android phones have grown in size a lot since the Incredible. An Incredible is close to the size of an iPhone 4; it is actually a little more narrow. When I had the Incredible, I liked the smaller size and was worried about the transition to the big phones but I've gotten used to the Galaxy Nexus pretty quickly.
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I'm guessing you're using the GPS Nike+? I imagine it would have better tracking than the pedometer one but who knows? Their software kind of blows so there could be something up.
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Thanks a lot, Scott. I've got that on my radar. Looks a lot better than the RAZR.
I think I may hold out a little longer with my Droid. I have a tendency to break these things, and it is already having memory problems. I'm thinking it would be a shame to get a new Galaxy Nexus, then accidentally drop it in the toilet and be out $300 and get stuck with my Incredible for another year.
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Maybe check the news sites: The Mobile World Congress was this week/weekend (maybe still going) and that seems to be where most manufacturers announce their big devices (well, the ones for the next 3-6 months anyways). There could have been something there.
I don't know how I feel about this whole larger trend with Android phones lately. Personally, I like the 3.5-3.7 range that high-end phones just aren't being released in anymore. Also, I haven't seen anything with a keyboard that was decent since the Droid 4...and nothing before that since the Droid 3. I kind of like the 40wpm I can hit on a slide-out qwerty these days while everyone else uses retarded slang. I guess Swype helps a lot though?
Anyway, I can't believe how much I didn't really utilize my phone before. Calls, texts, emails, browsing, occasional games (once, maybe twice a week). Since I deep six'd my iPod nano though (Classic is still rolling in my glove box, acting as my car stereo), my Desire Z has been on double time: music at work, music at the gym, music and gps while running. Hell, my car was running rough yesterday and the check engine light went on, so I pulled out my bluetooth OBDII dongle, plugged that bitch it, fired up Torque on my phone, read the code (cylinder 4 misfire), cleared it, and kept on driving. Now, I don't know WHY cylinder 4 was misfiring, but it stopped and if I didn't clear that code my light would probably still be on. I'll worry about my spark plugs later (ITS ALWAYS THE SPARK PLUGS).
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this phone is getting me wet with anticipation: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/26/htc-one-x-announced-at-mwc-2012/
i'm a big fan of htc, but their last generation were somewhat lacking - this device looks like it's going to sort that out.
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It's weird how HTC went from being the phones to have to completely tired. Personally, I initially liked Sense UI overall, but eventually I really hated their thing at the bottom of the screen. The Phone button took up three spots, and then they either had a themes button or an add-app-to-desktop button to the right, both of which were completely worthless. I ended up going with Go Launcher EX.
Now I've got the Google experience on the GNex and I like it.
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It's weird how HTC went from being the phones to have to completely tired. Personally, I initially liked Sense UI overall, but eventually I really hated their thing at the bottom of the screen. The Phone button took up three spots, and then they either had a themes button or an add-app-to-desktop button to the right, both of which were completely worthless. I ended up going with Go Launcher EX.
Now I've got the Google experience on the GNex and I like it.
Yeah, this. The thing on the bottom was hugely popular in the Windows Mobile days and when Android just came out but was pretty useless overall. I think I only ever hit the phone button. I didn't have an add-to-desktop button but an add contact button...which could have been useful if I realized what it did right before switching to Go Launcher.
It's good that they're toning it down now. Really, the new sense lockscreen, widgets, and contact management is what people like, good move keeping it at that. I also kinda miss the Google Experience from my Droid/Milestone. Kind of boring (at the time at least), but really smooth...and with less crashes (fuck you, Sense).
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Looks like the phone Beo linked is only coming out to AT&T. And the States are getting an underpowered version. Harumph.
Looks like I'm still waiting for the Galaxy SIII.
My Droid has continued its downfall, though. Now it is saying I have no SD card inserted for no apparent reason. A fair number of apps don't work because of this (Dropbox, anything else that uses storage basically). Oh well. Most still work. Can hopefully hold out for another few months...
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I also had trouble with the SD card on my Incredible after the Gingerbread update, and it seems like a lot of others did too. It must be a software thing.
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Welp, I'm an idiot. I had my Incredible on my lap when I was getting out of my car and forgot it was there. I got out of the car and sent the phone flying to the pavement. I've actually done this quite a few times before, but one time too many: the screen cracked pretty horrifically. That said, the touchscreen still works just fine.
The Rezound got price dropped to $179 with a 2 year contract and the Galaxy Nexus is $229 price tag with a 2 year contract. These prices are less than the ones on the Verizon site by a bit at least.
CHOICES
My screen is operable. I just wish I knew when the next price drop was coming..
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Think I'm pretty set on the Rezound. I can expand the storage up to 48gb, which is enough to hold all of my music. If I do that, I can sell my iPod for about $150 and this thing will almost pay for itself. I LIKE
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Nice, just make sure you get a high quality (and fast) microSD.
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Welp, I'm an idiot. I had my Incredible on my lap when I was getting out of my car and forgot it was there. I got out of the car and sent the phone flying to the pavement. I've actually done this quite a few times before,
haha I've done this as well.
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Edit: went ahead and ordered this one
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G60AD6/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details
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Sweet. Class 4 seems to be the sweet spot for phones. Most ship with a class 2 (at least if they're 16gb) which is kind of a minimum. You can buy class 10 cards, but from what I've read you a.) won't really see gains unless you're recording a lot of HD video, and even then it's questionable. Plus, a lot of them seem to be more prone to faults from what people have said (I don't know if that makes sense or not).
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i always pick up class 6 cards. Class 10 is for digital photography.
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after using our store's demo model of the one x for a few days, i crumbled and got it myself. the thing is absolutely gorgeous - easily the best screen i've seen, surprisingly lightweight and robust (it's made out of the same material they use to make riot shields). it supports apt-x which means i can get proper cd quality sound out of my bluetooth sennheiser's and the camera quality is fantastic. sense feels more like a light dressing to the android ui and is totally unobtrusive. if you can't tell, i love this thing, the only downside is the lack of external memory support - but with 32gb on board, it's not something i'm genuinely concerned about.
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I smashed the screen of my Desire Z a few weeks ago and can't get a free replacement as the DZ/G2 are out of production. They tried to give me a Dext or something like that and I just told them to fuck right off and give me a refund on the insurance I'd been subscribing to. That said, it looks like I'm in the market for a new phone sooner rather than later (thank god for 1 year contracts).
I was planning on holding off until the Galaxy S III hit, but that might not be an option and I may be stuck with one provider (assuming I sign onto this badass corporate plan I have the option of taking)....but they kind of have a shit phone selection at the moment...basically a Galaxy Nexus is the only one I'd really consider taking (I really wish there was a good slider out at the moment). Any real cons to it?
I'd rather opt for the One X, but they won't be carrying it...rather the One V, which isn't really going to do it for me.
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So, I just finally got a smart phone.
Samsung Exhibit 2. With the monthly 4g plan from T-mobile. $30 a month, 5gb at 4g speeds a month, unlimited text, and 100min of talk. I'm loving it so far.
And if you guys are interested. Awesome portal ringtones...
http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php (http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php)
Halls of Science for a ringtone is dope!
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after using our store's demo model of the one x for a few days, i crumbled and got it myself. the thing is absolutely gorgeous - easily the best screen i've seen, surprisingly lightweight and robust (it's made out of the same material they use to make riot shields). it supports apt-x which means i can get proper cd quality sound out of my bluetooth sennheiser's and the camera quality is fantastic. sense feels more like a light dressing to the android ui and is totally unobtrusive. if you can't tell, i love this thing, the only downside is the lack of external memory support - but with 32gb on board, it's not something i'm genuinely concerned about.
What do you think of the HTC One S? It seems it's pretty comparable to a Galaxy Nexus, but with a smaller form factor, a bit faster, and a less impressive screen. Have you seen one hands on? Sadly, my carrier won't be getting the X, so I may have to grab the S.
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It's a great handset - very fast, high end camera, lightweight, slim and robust. The qhd amoled screen is nowhere near the quality of the one x's, and is a step below the nexus's as well. If the camera is more important, go for the one s, if screen quality, go for the galaxy. I do think, however that the one s looks a lot nicer, but obviously that's down to personal preference.
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Is the screen actually bad, or just not quite as good? I don't think i'd really notice the difference coming from my Desire Z unless the Entire Matrix is really making things blurry/whatever.
Aside from that, looking at my room mate's Galaxy Nexus, i think I'm sold on the One S. The form factor is just a lot nicer and more compact. How's the Audi with Beats on the One series? Getting close to Apple quality?
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well the beats thing is a gimmick - it's just an equalizer setting. the audio quality on the phone seems pretty decent, though. as far as the screen goes - no, it's not bad at all. it uses a pentile amoled display, which doesn't quite have the clarity of the lcd ips screen of the one x, but it's very bright and vibrant. it might not be hd, but it still looks pretty great.
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Google and Samsung have really mishandled the Galaxy Nexus. That was a great opportunity to say this is the best handset on the market today but it has seen virtually no ad support and Samsung is and even was clearly looking ahead to the Galaxy S3. Verizon didn't like it much in the U.S. because it didn't have a bunch of their crapware built into it and as such it gets put in the back of the store.
Accessory support has been really bad. The device has three pins on the side (they call them "pogo pins" on XDA-Developers), but no accessories have come out in support of it. Supposedly there was a bug that was fixed in Android 4.0.4 where the device couldn't detect that it was connected via the pins, but I'm still on 4.0.2. Also 4.0.4 just released to a few European Galaxy Nexus devices and had to be pulled because it had some major problem with signal loss in sleep mode. I'm supposed to get 4.0.5 this month or next, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Still, it is a great phone and I love it. It's just a shame to see all the players involved to mishandle it so badly.
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According to a Samsung rep I spoke to a little while back, the nexus was never intended to be a flagship product. Like every nexus before it, it's a reference device aimed at appealing to devs and early adopters who want to get their hands on the latest version of android as soon as possible. While a *very* capable handset, the CPU is no great leap from the older s2 and the camera is 5mp (where 8 is the standard of all hero devices at present).
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A 5 MP camera is perfectly capable. There is more to digital cameras than megapixels.
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Yea even 2.1 is perfectly capable. It is about the sensor. And most cameraphones have crappy sensors.
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Yeah, I kinda wish hardware companies would stop focusing on the camera and put a little more r&d into battery life. I mean, better cameras are great, but we're pretty much at the point where we're just hitting a wall.
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Yea there are a couple of new cellphones which can shoot as well as a $150 digital camera, but these phones cost $650+... so... yea.... more economical to carry two devices.
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Can they though? I imagine that if you throw enough money at the problem you can get a good sensor in a small form factor (keep in mind that I know nothing about cameras here), but without some form of optical zoom, you're going to want a separate camera anyways if you ever really take any type of quality pictures.
And I'm pretty much set on the One S now. Shame about the lack of SD cards and non-removable battery, but I think I can live with it.
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A 5 MP camera is perfectly capable. There is more to digital cameras than megapixels.
absolutely, but from a marketing perspective - the higher the better.
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So, apart from the broken screen on my Desire Z, I've been having trouble charging the thing. Like, the pins are worn away or something and everything has to be at just the right angle and level of force for the right connection to be made (coincidentally, the wrong angle and force can sometimes lead to all kinds of cool features and hidden aps for accessories I don't own). Huge bitch, right? Well, not a problem because I figured out how to make it work perfectly in my car every time and also have a spare battery/slot charger for the spare. Charge in my car, always keep the spare topped up, and good to go.
Except now this shitty Chinese slot charger broke. I opened it up to see what the problem is and the smallest piece of plastic that holds one of the connector pins in place seems to have sheered off or something...which is weird because nothing in there should move ever. Honestly, considering how cheap this thing is, it probably just got brittle, crumbled apart, and I should be happy my house didn't burn down. But now I have to deal with charging this broken bitch in really weird ways. Like setting up a pillow on my bed, arranging the comforter as a cradle and getting the right angle/pressure that way.
Luckily, I still have my old milestone which works (I think...maybe. It might have had a reception problem at the end there). The One S isn't out quite yet, but goddamn it better hit here soon because this is going to be a major problem soon. Or maybe it'll be therapeutic to keep my phone off/in airplane mode for most of the day.
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The Samsung Galaxy S III was announced yesterday, and it seems pretty ... Well, not that impressive. Quad core or dual core with LTE depending on where you live and a 4.8" screen. 4.8"! Okay, that's way too big for me but whatever.
The build quality looks to be right in line with Samsung's other devices recently (plastic and cheap looking), and TouchWiz is still TouchWiz. Apart from the removable battery and micro SD card slot, it looks like HTC wins this round.
Samsung does have some pretty cool software features that they showed off. A siri-like app (easily replaceable by various market apps), a cool nfc beaming app, and some pretty useless looking features that are either just kind of silly (screen won't dim when front camera detects your eyes open) or just plain annoying (reading a text? Put the phone up to your ear to call the contact. Avoid going anywhere near the proximity sensor at all other times). The software is getting the most attention here. While kind of neat, most of the features are not that exciting.
Apple can get away with this because they're really fucking good at what they do, Samsung not so much. I have little faith in their ability to release polished and user friendly software that's going to draw the masses in.
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Wow, and I thought the 4.65" on my GNex was massive...
Samsung does have some pretty cool software features that they showed off. A siri-like app (easily replaceable by various market apps), a cool nfc beaming app, and some pretty useless looking features that are either just kind of silly (screen won't dim when front camera detects your eyes open) or just plain annoying (reading a text? Put the phone up to your ear to call the contact. Avoid going anywhere near the proximity sensor at all other times).
If executed well, that could be pretty good actually. I frequently get annoyed when my phone dims too fast while I'm using it.
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True. I never really notice it, but I guess my screen isn't set to dim until 30 seconds or so and maybe shut off at 45. I guess. Or I probably just subconsciously scroll between the dim and the shut off.
Actually, it might not be as silly as I originally thought. I imagine the impact on battery life would be pretty low, it is just really running the front camera, and if not, it's not like there won't be an option to shut it off.
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Quick question: NFC - does it matter at all?
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I'm pretty sure I have never used it.
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Okay, that was one of my main hangups on the One S. Also, the non-removable battery. I don't think I'll be too affected by the lack of SD expansion or the non-hd screen though.
I did play with the One X today a bit in a store, and I think it sold me on the One S. I mean, I'd like the One X, but the only financially responsible choice would be to go with this sweet corporate plan I have access to and the carrier doesn't have the One X. I figure, at worst, the money I save will more than pay for an early upgrade if it's necessary (three year contracts blow). And also, the One X might be a bit too big for me.
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Cost aside, the One X is certainly appealing but I'm concerned about the One S screen quality.
Check out this Engadget comparison article (http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/05/htc-one-x-vs-one-s/).
They have links to their reviews of each One on there too.
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God ,they make the screen sound pretty horrible but Beo alleviated my fears a bit and I've been browsing threads on XDA where people seem happy about it. All in, I don't know if I'd notice coming from a desire Z and even then, cost and size are probably going to be the deciding factors here.
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God ,they make the screen sound pretty horrible but Beo alleviated my fears a bit and I've been browsing threads on XDA where people seem happy about it. All in, I don't know if I'd notice coming from a desire Z and even then, cost and size are probably going to be the deciding factors here.
Yeah, they really ripped on the One S' screen. According to Engadget that seemed to be the only downside, which based on user reports is not that bad, making the One S a pretty damn good phone overall.
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Yeah, people seem pretty happy with it. I'll probably go with it and iI can always switch it within 30 days or something. Although, I'd still be carrier limited. People on the internet seem really happy with it at least. Too bad we can't get that sweet ceramic black version in North America at the moment.
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I think I'm going to pick up the LG Optimus Black One. It's pretty cheap so I can have the subsidy paid off in a year and be ready to get the next year-old midrange phone. Ye Olde Blackberry Curve is getting a bit dated and I don't want to wait until October for Blackberry 10.
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I've never owned an LG but I really like the look of that phone.
I think my Desire Z usb charging port finally bit it, so I transferred everything back over to my spare Milestone. Sure, it's slow as fuck, has no app storage, and a slew of other problems, but the phone just feels right. All metal and hard corners. I think I likened it to holding a gun here before and I still stand by that.
Droid/Milestone for life.
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I went and checked out a demo unit of the One S in the store yesterday. Now, I may be blind or something, but Plentile doesn't seem like such a big deal at all. The screen looked great and I couldn't even tell until I got like an inch away...and then the phone crashed. That aside, is this just one of those things people bitch about on the internet for no reason (because I've yet to see anyone who owns the phone bitching about the screen).
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I went all the way to the store and then chickened out and stayed with my blackberry. I'll probably end up sticking with it until something that feels like a must-have hits my provider (Koodo). I'm guessing that'll either be a Windows Phone or Blackberry 10. I just wasn't excited enough about Android to make a two-year commitment to it.
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You know, if your phone is working fine, that's probably the best call. I'm a big Android fan, but it's not for everyone and if I was in your shoes I'd wait to see what Windows Phone 8 and Blackberry 10 have to offer. Both seem pretty cool...and hell, if you still use BBM a lot you can't beat it.
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After going back to my Milestone (OG Droid for you Americans) while waiting for my corporate account to get this whole HTC One S thing going I've come to the conclusion that Motorolla are a bunch of fuckups and Apple is on top of their shit. How/why? Apple finds a form factor and design that works and stays with it. Motorolla, on the other hand (and every other manufacturer out there really) spastically try to change things and the results have pretty much turned it all to shit.
The build quality, durability, and screen on the Milestone are still pretty amazing by today's standards. I haven't come across anything else with the same feel (The follow up droids are all more plastic feeling and not quite as impressive), the screen is bright great resolution for the screen size and has pretty impressive ppi (not quite Apple levels, but close), and is still fully visible in direct sunlight. The keyboard kinda blows, but they solved that in later versions, even if everything else was somewhat of a step down.
Honestly, I don't know why they didn't go with the Apple model and just release the Droid with small refinements - fix the keyboard, bump up the processor and ram, increase the ppi of the screen, on a yearly basis. I mean, they kind of did that, but with every new version they've also fucked it up by addressing issues no one had problems with and decreasing the overall quality. Poorer (but bigger) screens, cheaper materials for a lighter feel, etc.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the poor specs (the slow processor isn't really a problem but the low ram/lack of internal storage is) I'd probably just go back to rocking this for a few years.
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I dont get the lighter feel thing. I associate heft with quality when it comes to phones.
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Anyone have any knowledge/experience with buying cell phones from Amazon? (wireless.amazon.com (http://wireless.amazon.com))
I'm wanting to get a phone and Amazon has it for 1 penny (with contract). I'll be adding the phone to an existing Verizon family plan as a new line, which Amazon allows you to do during checkout. The only catch I can find anyone talking about is that there's a fee paid to Amazon if you break the contract within the first 6 months. There's also the standard $35 activation fee which gets added to your Verizon bill.
The phone would normally cost $100 (looking at verizonwireless.com (http://www.verizonwireless.com)).
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I haven't heard anything about it (you know, Canada), but I have come across at least one horror story online about a retailer charging a fee for early cancellation (RadioShack in this case). That said, six months is nothing and I can't see it being that big of a deal. Plus, taking the internet into account, if that's the only complaint you're probably golden.
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I went ahead and ordered it. The thing you agree to says that they give you the $250 savings and if you cancel your service before the end of the first 6 months you owe them the $250. It also had free 2 day shipping, so I'll have it on Thursday.
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Yeah, I don't really see how you could go wrong with that.
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Bought the HTC One S. It's completely amazing. I can see how pentile would be a huge issue for some, but I'm fine with it and the colour saturation and contrast on this screen are worth it (for me). I'm also finding it the sweet spot for size (for me at least, both in screen and overall unit. And it's thin enough to make throwing an Otterbox Commuter on there and never taking it off a viable option (not so sure about the defender).
But most of all, it's hella fast and the battery life is pretty stellar.
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Awesome! Congrats, man.
Btw, Nyko announces Android Bluetooth Gamepad at E3 2012 (http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nyko-unveils-android-bluetooth-gamepad-at-e3-2012-1083962). Cool or not cool? I like the idea but it'll almost exclusively appeal to gamers rather than casual players.
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Thanks man, the thing is amazing. The screen isn't as nice as the Galaxy Nexus, but I like the size and form factor more. And it's fast as hell. Amazingly fast. I don't know what I'm going to do with that since mobile games are about on par with PS1 right now, but it's fast.
As for the Bluetooth gamepad, I think they've been out for a while, but probably nowhere near that level of support or quality. It's an idea, and would be good for emulation, but besides that, most mobile games don't really lend themselves to a separate pad (or at least don't need one). Sonic CD, however, sure as hell could have used one.
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I got my phone from Amazon. It activated just fine and I've been using it for a week now. I did run into an issue with my bank rejecting the $0.01 charge, so the support guy changed the charge to $1.01 and then refunded me $1. The number was added to the existing family plan just fine, and so far the Amazon deal seems to be exactly what it says, and I indeed got a new phone for 1 penny (plus $35 activation fee for the new line, Verizon standard).
As for the phone itself, it's not actually a smart phone (but this is THE phone thread on here). It's a Samsung Brightside, which is a feature phone with capacitive touch. If sort of gives the impression that it wants to be a smartphone, but with its proprietary OS and lack of apps, it does sort of fall short. It's got a web browser and email, but the whole reason I got this instead of a smartphone was to avoid a data package, so I won't be using those. I've been using the hell out of texting though.
My one real complaint about the whole thing is that it's not completely clear what uses data and what doesn't. (this may just be due to my inexperience with cell phones) When I check the account on the Verizon site, it lists texts with images under texting, not under data. However, the "data call" icon shows up when sending or recieving one. Also, if I turn off data on the phone or on the website, I can't send or recieve sms with images. I also don't think the data usage on the site is changing when I send/recieve one (tested by sending one and recieving one, then checking online the next day).
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Speaking of data, I need to call Verizon. I checked out their little app the other day and I noticed the 4GB plan was the same price as my 2GB one, which I have. I need to see what that's about and see if I can go to the 4GB plan. If it's a plan that will automatically go up after a year or something I won't do it because the most I've used in a month is 1.2 GB and usually I'm under 1 GB.
In other news, my Galaxy Nexus finally got Android 4.0.4 this week.
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Stay away from smartphones as long as you can. Once you get into them you can't go back. But picture texts fall under texting here at least and I'd be surprisedif it was different anywhere else but you could always call Verizon to double check.
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Speaking of data, I need to call Verizon. I checked out their little app the other day and I noticed the 4GB plan was the same price as my 2GB one, which I have. I need to see what that's about and see if I can go to the 4GB plan. If it's a plan that will automatically go up after a year or something I won't do it because the most I've used in a month is 1.2 GB and usually I'm under 1 GB.
In other news, my Galaxy Nexus finally got Android 4.0.4 this week.
What are the upgrades in 4.0.4? I'm amazed.at how much better ICS actually is.
And we really get the shaft with contract length and pricing ok n everything cellular related in Canada.
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So Koodo had the HTC One S on sale which made it almost free with the tab so I caved and got it. I'm really loving the screen and the overall interface but having no keyboard is painful right now. I'm assuming I'll get used to it with time. Until then, it's interesting to note how differently I use phones. With the blackberry, I'd usually sit down for a few minutes a day and go through all of my messages and write replies. It was faster than loading up my crappy computer and I can type basically as fast on the blackberry keyboard as a regular keyboard. With a touch screen this practice has immediately stopped meaning I have to use a computer which is really making me want to upgrade. I'm waiting to see how all these new ultrabooks and Windows 8 pan out though.
Android is weird. I was completely lost for the first hour or so but I've started to get over the learning curve. The blackberry button was essentially a right-click so it was very easy to figure out everything the phone could do. Holding down on an icon or sliding it to different areas of the screen isn't something that came naturally to me, I had to figure it out.
A couple of questions on Android.
1 - How do I quickly change between profiles? Going from silent to vibrate to normal is something I do dozens of times a day and I haven't found a faster way than to go into the settings menu, go down to sound and manually select. Doing this with one or two clicks (or swipes) from the home screen would be ideal.
2 - What are some good apps? So far I've gotten Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Rdio, Barcode Scanner, IMDB and Netflix. Oh, also all the Google ones. Google Goggles is pretty much the coolest thing ever and got rid of any second-thoughts I had about upgrading.
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If you do a long press on a free space on one of your homescreens, choose shortcuts, settings and then sound, that'll speed up switching to silent and back.
edit - scratch that. much better way to do it is add the "profile" widget to the homescreen - it's under settings (htc) in the widgets menu.
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I found an even better way. Apparently I can just use the volume rocker. Lowering the volume to mute puts the phone on silent and one more push puts it on vibrate.
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So Koodo had the HTC One S on sale which made it almost free with the tab so I caved and got it. I'm really loving the screen and the overall interface but having no keyboard is painful right now. I'm assuming I'll get used to it with time. Until then, it's interesting to note how differently I use phones. With the blackberry, I'd usually sit down for a few minutes a day and go through all of my messages and write replies. It was faster than loading up my crappy computer and I can type basically as fast on the blackberry keyboard as a regular keyboard. With a touch screen this practice has immediately stopped meaning I have to use a computer which is really making me want to upgrade. I'm waiting to see how all these new ultrabooks and Windows 8 pan out though.
Android is weird. I was completely lost for the first hour or so but I've started to get over the learning curve. The blackberry button was essentially a right-click so it was very easy to figure out everything the phone could do. Holding down on an icon or sliding it to different areas of the screen isn't something that came naturally to me, I had to figure it out.
A couple of questions on Android.
1 - How do I quickly change between profiles? Going from silent to vibrate to normal is something I do dozens of times a day and I haven't found a faster way than to go into the settings menu, go down to sound and manually select. Doing this with one or two clicks (or swipes) from the home screen would be ideal.
2 - What are some good apps? So far I've gotten Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Rdio, Barcode Scanner, IMDB and Netflix. Oh, also all the Google ones. Google Goggles is pretty much the coolest thing ever and got rid of any second-thoughts I had about upgrading.
Did you get the One V or One S? I know Kodoo has the One V (smaller, with chin), but didn't know that they had the One S yet. The reason I ask is because if you're rocking the One V, you could always check Swype out to see if you like typing on that better (a ton of people do). It's not currently compatible with the One S at the moment though due to a resolution problem.
And I'll get back to you about apps. Probably when I'm not starving to death.
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What are the upgrades in 4.0.4? I'm amazed.at how much better ICS actually is.
The most obvious changes in 4.0.4 are that the recent apps button and auto rotation are much quicker. I also
Noticed the sound menu was changed around. I was hoping the issue I am having setting a ringtone to a specific contact would be resolved but it was not. I still hear the default ringtone.
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A couple of questions on Android.
1 - How do I quickly change between profiles? Going from silent to vibrate to normal is something I do dozens of times a day and I haven't found a faster way than to go into the settings menu, go down to sound and manually select. Doing this with one or two clicks (or swipes) from the home screen would be ideal.
On my phone (a Galaxy Nexus), I can hold the power button. I get a dialog box that gives me the option to power off, turn on airplane mode, or to choose a sound profile (on, vibrate, or silent). But I have base Android. I'm not sure if that functionality exists in the manufacturer versions.
2 - What are some good apps? So far I've gotten Facebook,! Twitter, WhatsApp, Rdio, Barcode Scanner, IMDB and Netflix. Oh, also all the Google ones. Google Goggles is pretty much the coolest thing ever and got rid of any second-thoughts I had about upgrading.
Pandora, Any.Do, Astro, Tapatalk, CamCard, Gas Buddy.
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On my phone (a Galaxy Nexus), I can hold the power button. I get a dialog box that gives me the option to power off, turn on airplane mode, or to choose a sound profile (on, vibrate, or silent). But I have base Android. I'm not sure if that functionality exists in the manufacturer versions.
Pandora, Any.Do, Astro, Tapatalk, CamCard, Gas Buddy.
Doesn't fly in Sense. You get: Power Off, Airplane Mode, Restart. You either have to hit the volume rocker or use a widget. I find it interesting that the don't do it on the lockscreen anymore. One of the handier "features" of my Milestone was the ability to just swipe into silent without actually unlocking the phone. Probably strictly because I was in school. Is it still an option on the Google Experience devices?
As for Apps, what are you looking for? Entertainment? Productivity? Games? All of them? The App enviroment on Android is a million times better than when I got my first phone, and it's to the point that if it's on iOS or you can think of it, you can find it pretty much.
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Well I use the pattern unlock, but before I enabled that I had the option to unlock to the home screen or unlock to the camera. With the pattern unlock I just can unlock to the home screen or emergency dial. No sound profile changes from what I can tell, though I can silence a ring by pressing the volume rocker.
I don't recall my HTC Incredible having such an option either.
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Yeah, HTC One V, not S, sorry about that. I keep thinking of HTC One V as One 5, not One Vee and then 5 and S look kind of similar so I keep using them interchangeably.
As for Apps, I'm not looking for anything in particular, just anything useful that you'd think would be useful. One thing that I am looking for is a replacement to Blackberry Protect. It would let you locate your phone by GPS if you lose it, leave a message on the screen remotely (Please call ____ if found), wipe the phone as well and make it emit a loud noise so you can find it when you leave it in the house.
I've started using Swype or whatever the HTC Sense equivalent is and it's working pretty well. Now my only gripe with the phone is the reception. While the Blackberry got full bars everywhere, this phone goes down to one or two bars quite often and even loses reception entirely. It's kind of annoying but I think I can live with it. I have 14 days to return it no questions asked though so if it gets bad enough I may do that.
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Where's My Droid.
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Yeah, honestly (and sadly) the only thing that can compete with a Blackberry on reception is another BlackBerry. I believe the common conception is that Motorola and Nokia come next, followed up by everything. I know people with the One S have been complaining about the reception, saying it's sub par, but it's about the same for me as my last couple of phones. Might be something with the entire series that they will update through software, but there's never a guarantee on that.
And I hear you. No reception is maybe the most annoying thing ever.
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Where's My Droid.
Awesome, thanks.
Yeah, honestly (and sadly) the only thing that can compete with a Blackberry on reception is another BlackBerry. I believe the common conception is that Motorola and Nokia come next, followed up by everything. I know people with the One S have been complaining about the reception, saying it's sub par, but it's about the same for me as my last couple of phones. Might be something with the entire series that they will update through software, but there's never a guarantee on that.
And I hear you. No reception is maybe the most annoying thing ever.
Oh really? Interesting, I hadn't heard that before. That's good to know that it's standard and not just my phone.
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Yeah, that's what some people say on the internet. Take it with a grain of salt.
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The One V with Sense has a lot of built in apps that remove the need to download quite of a few (not taking, clock widgets, Calender widgets), etc. but here are some Android apps that I use a fair bit.
Games
-Words with Friends (Scrabble online)
-Draw Something (Kinda like pictionary)
-Cut the Rope
-Game Dev Story (only pay app I'll probably have on here)
-Home Run Battle 3D/Home Run Battle 2
-Mega Jump
-7 Words
Gameboid - may not be in the app store anymore, but who doesn't want to play GBA games on their phone?
*Note: I don't play a ton of games on my phone, these are just ones I've enjoyed at some point.
Productivity
-Astrid (much like Scott's mentioned Any.do. Not sure which is better, but a task manager app that can link with Google tasks and has a widget. I just noticed that HTC has a native app, so maybe use that)
-ColorNote. Not sure if this is redundant with HTC's Notes app, but a simple note taking app where you can post "notes" as widgets - like post-it-notes
-Dropbox. Use it. Also, you may have gotten some free storage with your one series phone. Use it.
-Evernote. I know this is integrated into HTC's Notes app, but haven't played around with it. I've been using the standard app for years. Take any note, picture, voice note and it will upload to the server so you can access it wherever. It's been handy a ton of times.
-Habit Streak. Like a task app but for reocurring tasks you want to do daily. Keeps track of how many days in a row you've done them.
-Realcalc scientific calculator. Maybe not neccesarily this one, but depending on what you can do, you can find a calculator with more usefull functions for yourself than the very simple stock one. From graphing to construction calculators, they'll have something handy in the Market.
Media
-MX Player - Best video player I've found.
-Quikpic - Best Photoviewer I've found. I use it out of habit, but HTC's Gallery app is pretty good as well.
-Poweramp - Great music player. Free trial and then pay.
-Winamp - Free
Skifta - If you have a media server/shared media stored on PCs, you can access it through this. You can also access it through HTC's media player, but I find that this is a bit faster in browsing the server.
Communication
Skype
WhatsApp - Multiplatform messaging service. Uses data. Might be the closest thing you find to BBM (Note, the second "checkmark" on a message doesn't mean that it's been read, just that the server has delivered the message to the recipient's device.
GoSMS - If you ever decide you want a change from the standard HTC messaging app, use this.
System
Astro - File Browser, etc.
Swype - Not in the appstore, but probably the best keyboard replacement out there. The HTC equivilent is close, but not quite. Have to sign up for beta on their site to download
News
-Reader. People like this. I'm torn, I find the web app just as good, maybe better.
-Flipboard Like Swype, you need to sign up for Beta on their webpage (for now). Pretty cool.
-Chive Everyone likes entertaining low-brow pictures
I'll add more as I come up with them, but there are a TON of apps out there for pretty much everything. Don't like the camera app? Get a new one, etc. If I was new to android, I'd check some Android news sites, they seem to have lists all the time.
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Awesome, thanks a lot. I haven't gone through them yet but I appreciate you writing that up.
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I got SwiftKey 3 because I hear it's the new hotness and it's half price right now. It's certainly impressive but I'm not sure that I prefer it to swiping.
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I've owned SwiftKey 3 since the $0.10 Christmas deals, but never tried it out. I just enabled it. We'll see how it goes. I don't mind the default keyboard in ICS all that much.
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I got SwiftKey 3 because I hear it's the new hotness and it's half price right now. It's certainly impressive but I'm not sure that I prefer it to swiping.
I've never used it myself but have heard good things. All the 3.5-3.7" phones I've owned have had physical qwerty's. I've adjusted reasonably well to pure touch typing on my (awesome as hell) One S, but I think I'd have way more a problem with a smaller screen.
You guys should let me know what you think about SwiftKey.
Also, Nike+ was just released for Android. It's purely gps based (as opposed to iOS version's compatibility with the pedometer foot sensor), but I still prefer the service to competitors. That might just be me, but it looks like it's also been improved upon a bit with the interface and tracking.
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I tried out a MHL-HDMI adapter for my Galaxy Nexus. This let's you mirror your phone screen to a HDMI display such as a TV or monitor. My phone is aware of the connection as it rotates the desktop to a horizontal arrangement and gets rid of the Google search box. I also bought a mini Bluetooth keyboard with trackpad.
The experience was horrible. The interface would frequently freeze, and sleep the screen, and video was beyond choppy. It was completely unstable as a light duty desktop replacement.
I did some research and some people are saying it is a problem with the Texas Instruments CPU in the Galaxy Nexus. Others said it is a problem with Android 4.0.4 and that certain custom ROMs don't have the problem. Others said that they had trouble with the cheapest MHL adapters but the official Samsung one was better. Others said the Samsung one didn't work right either. Still others said it worked great for them.
I decided to return the cheap Menotek adapter I bought and get the Samsung one.
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How much do they generally cost? I might look into this.
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Been using a cheap mhl adapter that I got off of eBay with no problems on my one x. Very handy.
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The Menotek one I got was $18. The Samsung one is $27.
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Using Swype now. swiftkey3 is definitely faster but Swype is better with one hand. Not sure which one I'll end up sticking with. both are much better than the default keyboard though, that one almost made me want to go back to BlackBerry.
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I'm using SwiftKey now. I like it but I've had to adjust my typing a bit. I am an old school double-spacer after sentences. When I do that with SwiftKey it automatically puts an "I". I'm also not used to the placement of numbers and symbols yet. But it is a lot more forgiving than the default keyboard related to near misses of the correct keys.
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So my new Samsung MHL adapter came today and I am using it now. It fixed all the issues I was having with the Menotek one. it works great. I'll have to try watching some HD videos to see how they come out.
i would only use something like this as a light duty desktop only in emergency situations or as a novelty. The current Android UI doesn't lend itself very well to navigation with a mouse. Right now I am using a mini keyboard with trackpad. it is about the size of a small remote control. Perhaps a full size keyboard and mouse would be better.
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I would just like to reiterate that my HTC One S is, by far, the best phone I've ever owned. The build quality is amazing ( anodized gradient blue version), form factor perfect (I was worried about touch only at first, but thank God for Swype), and its thin enough to fit in an OtterBox commuter and still be a reasonable size. Oh, and Ics finally makes Android/sense worth using.
That is all.
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I'm torn between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X. They're both selling for the same price, each with its sets of pros and cons. I'mm leaning towards the S3 but honestly I just do not like its appearance, it's too curvy and the back panel is actually pretty flimsy; that said, it is the technically superior phone plus SD card slot.
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That's the toughest call out there at the moment. My problem with both is that they're HUGE, but if you're cool with that, you really couldn't go wrong with either. Out of the box, I like HTC's interface more and (I think) it has the better screen/camera, but the GSIII is faster and probably will get better support....although nothing to match a Nexus. That said, if you're not dying, the next Nexus phone should probably match the GSIII.
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Jelly Bean arrived on my Galaxy Nexus on Sunday. I do notice a bit more smoothness but the biggest improvement is Google Now. That is really neat.
In other news I got a replacement phone yesterday because my phone kept having weird issues where it wouldn't know whether or not it was connected to a charger, even when it was definitely not. This was causing screen wake issues. I dropped it recently and I'm pretty sure that's why it started happening.
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Yeah, they're both pretty massive! haha
I was really tempted to grab the Galaxy Nexus, but its price hasn't dropped significantly here (it's only like $30 less than a Galaxy SIII). I wouldn't mind waiting for the next Nexus phone assuming it's coming withing the next 3-4 months. The goinng rumour is that a new "superior" Galaxy Nexus is coming this Fall. Nothing concrete yet though.
Btw, I hooked up a Blackberry charger to my HTC HD7 (Windows Phone 7); since they both have the miniUSB slots and voltage I figured I could just use the same charger, and to my surprise my phone went nuts! haha Without touching the screen it kept randomly sliding though tiles, pages, opening apps, dialing people, it just went berserk! haha Awesome, horrible, but amusing ;D
Its battery got charged too, mission amusingly accomplished.
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Ha. That's crazy. I end up using all kinds of chargers with my HTC - Motorolla, Blackberry, OEM HTC, and haven't had a problem. I had assumed that they had finally come to the point where the agreement the manufacturers made to standardize chargers had come into full effect. Apparently not.
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X, there's also the One X+ which is just about to come out - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/htc-one-x-shows-up-in-brochure-packs-17ghz-quad-core-jelly-bean-273250
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X, there's also the One X+ which is just about to come out - http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/htc-one-x-shows-up-in-brochure-packs-17ghz-quad-core-jelly-bean-273250
Thanks for the heads-up, Beo!
GITEX (Gulf IT Exhibition) is starting tomorrow and I'm expecting some competitive pricing and discounts.
UPDATE:
Yep, no price drops at all for Samsung. Zip, nada. The Galaxy SIII is still going for around USD $650.
HTC on the other hand did offer a heft discount on the HTC One X, bringing it's price down from USD ~$650 to ~$540 but (and here's the catch) on for the white model, The dark grey model is still at around $650. What's the reasoning behind it? No idea and no excuse.
I was actually curious to see what offer I could get for a Galaxy Nexus at this point in time and oddly enough it's selling for the same price as the Galaxy SIII.
Some shops have been offering the iPhone 5 and you won't belive the prices. The 16GB model is going for USD $1,630. Yep. This is the same item you can buy in the US without a contract for around $650.
So yeah, tough season, I'm gonna hold out for a more interesting phone to hit the market.
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What do we know about the next Nexus? (http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/what-do-we-know-about-the-next-nexus-20120928/)
Unlike previous years, there are more than a couple of rumors that Google isn’t bringing just one Nexus device to market. In fact it looks like Google is looking to fill their Play Store with multiple devices, each from a different manufacturer. We’ve put together all of the bits and pieces to see just what it looks like each company could bring to market.
Interesting speculation on the possibilities of the next Nexus phone.
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If anyone in the U.S. is considering a Nexus device, I suggest buying the unlocked GSM phone directly from Google Play and going with T-Mobile or AT&T for the true Nexus experience. Verizon and Sprint both deliver updates later than they should and Verizon blocks Google Wallet.
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Damn it, man. I cannot make this decision between the Galaxy S3 and the One X.
I was able to find the SIII for $550 and the One X for $475. Relatively small difference in price. Here's a list of my pros and cons so far:
HTC One X:
Pros: Looks sleek, high quality build with matte finish, Sense UI blends seamlessly with native Android interface, and on board 32GB.
Cons: Battery is built-in (not replaceable), no MicroSD card slot, face buttons are touch-sensitive and not actual buttons.
Samsung Galaxy SIII:
Pros: MicroSD card slot, replaceable battery, noticeably better battery life, physical button on the front, supposedly superior software features.
Cons: Glossy finish, flimsy build quality (especially the back panel), overall not an appealing look (for me anyway), TouchWiz is a little wonky, and UI experience is not ideal (tries to hide Android).
Summary:
Basically, my main issue with the SIII is I think it looks fuckin' ugly (even when compared to its predecessor, the SII) but it has a major advantage by being a more modular phone with the MicroSD card slot as well as have a removable battery; a year or two down the road if the battery is not holding a charge, buy a new one. The SIII's battery life is a huge advantage as well.
The One X, on the other hand, looks much more elegant but is restricted by not having a card slot or a replaceable battery. Both phones have a decent UI experience with the One X having the edge of a much cleaner interface. The SIII though has some (perhaps gimicky) software features such as gestures (swipe hand on screen to take screenshot) and facial/eye recognition technology where it basically recognizes when you're looking at the phone, and of course some NFC and back-to-back phone transfer options. Funky, but not the hard selling points for me.
I'm not trying to rush this decision but the marked down prices I found are on a limited time offer (3 days), after which they both go back to $650 each.
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The Galaxy Nexus doesn't have a microSD card slot either. I thought I would miss it, but I have found that I don't.
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Yeah, I was really worried about the lack of SD card and removable battery in my phone, but it hasn't really bothered me at all. You should, however keep in mind that Sense 4.0 has some weird multi-tasking. It's more like the iOS version where it just freezes an app and keeps it open. So, if you switch out of a browser or game you may have problems re-entering. Your game may restart and/or your browser may reload the page you were on.
Again, hasn't really bothered me much, but many complain about it.
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After much deliberation I have made a decision.
I realized that my issues with the SIII were purely cosmetic, whereas with the One X they are more substantial. The store also had the rare "black" SIII so I bit the bullet, went ahead and ordered it. It should be arriving in about 3 days or so.
I'll give my conclusive impressions when I unbox it ;)
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Awesome!
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Yes! I have finally joined the Android bandwagon! My S3 is here and it is, as Pug put it so eloquently, awesome.
I'm typing from it right now. It's certainly the best browsing experience on a phone yet. I'm gonna play with it some more :)
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I don't need a new phone but the unlocked Nexus 4 is so cheap it's tempting. I hope this is the start of a new trend where there are real options for those who don't want to be in a contract.
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So my iPhone 4S is pretty much toast. It fell in some water (fully submerged), I wiped it off and it was still working with some issues (audio going on and off), I thought it was getting better but then by the time I got back home from work it went dead. The battery stopped holding a charge. I have it in a container full of rice to get all the moisture out but I think the damage maybe already done. I got it in 2011 so its out of warranty, sprint doesn't offer insurance on iPhones so I guess I'm screwed? Can a third party repair shop do anything with it and is it worth the cost? I reverted back to my old old android phone for now. Any advice?
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If you're back on an old phone leave it in the rice for as long as possible - at least 48 hours. It's amazing how some electronics can come back.
As for a repair shop, it depends on what the damage is. If it works when plugged in and it's just the battery that's shot you're looking at a really cheap fix. Hell, you can probably even buy new batteries off of ebay with instructions on how to open up and install. New Screens are generally in the $50 installed range....generally. But, with water damage, it's hard to say. If it doesn't boot back up at all it could be that the motherboard is shot...probably not worth the fix (although look into it - I have no ideas about iPhones...there's enough out there that they could be repairable for pretty cheap).
The general rule for dumping anything in water though is to pull the battery or shut it off right away, and get it in rice/whatever as soon as you can without trying to turn it on or use it for a few days. It's usually that trying to use them wet is what fucks them up.
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Yeah, if you left it on all day after the exposure you could already be fucked. But like gpw said, definitely leave it in the rice to dry for 48 hours at least. I managed to salvage a phone I dropped in a hot tub by pulling the battery right away and keeping it off several days, but it wasn't a touch screen and the keys eventually got enough damage I had to get a new one. Some stuff can be pretty resilient, but you just never know exactly what's happened.
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Well, can't pull the battery in the iPhone. But yeah anytime an electronic device hits water it is important to kill power (and, if possible, remove the battery) immediately and then throw it in a bag of rice or those little packets that sometimes come with things and say "Do not eat." You have to get all moisture out.
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Well I removed it from the rice today, which has been two days now. I'm still getting a low battery indicator on the screen and when I plug it in, and it attempts to boot up but fails and the battery indicator comes back up and it keeps repeating this, so I guess the battery is borked, which I hope is the only problem. I ordered a new one off ebay and it comes with tools to install it yourself, came out to $12. I wish I could open it up now so I could at least try to visually check how bad the damage is if thats possible, but I don't have anything thats tiny enough to unscrew the two bottom screws that allows you to get in. So now I wait... and hope.
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I don't know how it works with an iPhone, but does it work plugged in?
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Yea, even when it dead it comes on when its plugged it to a wall socket.
Well I did manage to get it open. My dad had some small tools that I could use. Everything looked intact and fine except for one spot on the empty panel on the inside, there was a little area where some moisture had dried up (which is exactly where the battery sits). I cleaned it off with an alcohol swab and swabbed both sides of the battery. Put it back in and put the iphone back together. It still won't hold a charge but I'm a little more confident that it's just the battery now.
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Awesome! Definitely sounds like just the battery. Leave it alone until the replacement gets there. The majority of times I've fucked up electronics it's been because I've gotten impatient and tried to MacGyver some stupid solution.
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This is the best phone I've ever used:
(http://www.htc.com/managed-assets/shared/desktop/smartphones/htc-one-s/marquee-v3/slide-1-gradient.png)
It's fast as hell, the camera is sweet, the build quality is great (unibody aluminum), the size is perfect and I really like the AMOLED screen...pentile or no.
That said, it has one moving part (the power button) and it's breaking/not registering (I'm blaming fine dust), so I'm getting a replacement.
(https://lh6.ggpht.com/BRwwUg2CF-LxX03xY18AqSnRu9XbzTiGTNDTZPnXO-VvowiyvG5lF-CYOUt4K7El4dY)
Nexus 4's are insanely cheap off contract right now direct from Google. If anyone is in the market for a phone, check it out.
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I have had my eye on the Nexus 4 but I am still on contract with Verizon and have the phone's predecessor. The Galaxy Nexus is pretty slow ever since they put 4.2.2 on it though. 4.3 should speed it up a bit if Verizon ever decides to release it if my Nexus 10 experience says anything.
Right now I like the HTC One and Moto X more, but those aren't Nexus phones. The Nexus 5 is probably around the corner but the leaked Nexus that is floating around looks massive and I don't like that.
I'm pretty undecided but I have 6 months to think about it. I do want to go Euro-style and buy an unlocked phone outright with no contract. It just sucks that if you do that you only have two carriers to choose from in the U.S.
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Really? I figured the Nexus would cover all bands.
New iPhones announced today. 5s is 64 bit and has a fingerprint scanner
5c is basically an iPhone 5 in a plastic case.
The 64 bit thing is confusing. Like, there's still not enough RAM for it to matter, so why?
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Weird. That's unlike Apple to tout specs like that (except for something truly interesting like resolution and DPI).
Regarding the Nexus 4, it is GSM and HSPA+. That's just T-Mobile and AT&T. Verizon is CDMA and LTE. Sprint is CDMA, WiMax, and LTE. And even though Verizon and Sprint have CDMA and LTE, I am not aware of any phones that come factory unlocked and without carrier bloatware that use those radios.
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Ahhh. I don't even think you can buy unlocked CDMA, can you? They don't operate on SIM, so phones are naturally linked to carrier, aren't they?
At least that's how it was with my old CDMA. That's too bad.
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This (http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/11/phonebloks/) is what I would love to see become reality.
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Nexus 5 and Kitkat announced today. 5" screen, quad core something over 2 ghz, and 2gb of RAM.
Made by LG again. The real news is that they're selling it for $349 16GB or $399 32 GB in white or black. Pretty awesome and really shows that Google is sticking by their strategy of selling high spec phones unlocked for low prices in order to boost Android. I imagine it'll follow the Nexus 4 in having an adequate screen (the Nexus 4 screen is actually really good, but the colour setup is off) and passable camera (although this time with OIS and some new HDR feature), but hey: You're getting a fast as hell phone for like $200 less than other brands.
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Anything new in Kitkat I should be excited about? The only thing that stood out to me is better Hangouts integration but that seems pretty minor.
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Anything new in Kitkat I should be excited about? The only thing that stood out to me is better Hangouts integration but that seems pretty minor.
Better memory management seems to be the biggest one for me.
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It's honestly not the most exciting update. The main things are better performance across the board and improved Google Now functions. Also, cloud print, which I've been missing (HTC has it on their phones and I actually used it a fair amount).
Although one of the bigger changes that no one seems to really mention is that the Google Experience launcher is now separated from the system itself, meaning that updates can now be delivered over the Market instead of through system updates. I think there's a bunch of small changes like this that lay the groundwork for Google solving the fragmentation/slow update problem.
OR I could be wrong about that. I don't know, I read it somewhere and can't find any mention of it now.
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Ordered a Moto X. I was one of the lucky ones that got one of those $150-off promotional codes last Monday. I went with the T-Mobile version because it is carrier-unlocked and not carrier branded. I'm going to go with a StraightTalk plan using a AT&T SIM card. StriaghtTalk doesn't do nano SIM, so I will have to cut it down to size.
I was trying to decide between the Moto X and the Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 has way better specs but comparison reviews said either you can't go wrong either way or favored the Moto X because of its battery life, feel in the hand, and features. Plus I thought the N5 was too big.
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Awesome. That's a great deal for the Moto X, and I personally would go with that over the Nexus 5.
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I'm always tempted by Nexus devices and the Nexus 5 is a great contender. The Moto X is a great choice though for the reasons you mentioned. I haven't tried it myself but the reviews are raving about it; it's being touted as the all-round ideal Android phone.
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Youhave to have Location Reporting turned on and an Android device, but this is pretty interesting (https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0)
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So I've been eligible for an upgrade for a while now and I've been playing with the idea of jumping ship on apple because iTunes on PC (I just can't deal with that anymore). But I honestly have no idea where to start with Droid phones which is holding me back. I'm at a point now with phones where I don't care about watching video or playing games, I'm just looking at basic functionality (maps, browsing, music) so the bleeding edge tech of phones isn't necessary for me, plus more cost effective. Thing is most of the cheaper Droid phones are $99, but the iphone 5c is $49 (I currently have a 4S). Would it be worth it to make the jump to a Droid phone?
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So I've been eligible for an upgrade for a while now and I've been playing with the idea of jumping ship on apple because iTunes on PC (I just can't deal with that anymore). But I honestly have no idea where to start with Droid phones which is holding me back. I'm at a point now with phones where I don't care about watching video or playing games, I'm just looking at basic functionality (maps, browsing, music) so the bleeding edge tech of phones isn't necessary for me, plus more cost effective. Thing is most of the cheaper Droid phones are $99, but the iphone 5c is $49 (I currently have a 4S). Would it be worth it to make the jump to a Droid phone?
Definitely. At least for some like me, moving to Android was the best thing I did.
Have you looked into the Moto X or the Moto G?
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So I've been eligible for an upgrade for a while now and I've been playing with the idea of jumping ship on apple because iTunes on PC (I just can't deal with that anymore). But I honestly have no idea where to start with Droid phones which is holding me back. I'm at a point now with phones where I don't care about watching video or playing games, I'm just looking at basic functionality (maps, browsing, music) so the bleeding edge tech of phones isn't necessary for me, plus more cost effective. Thing is most of the cheaper Droid phones are $99, but the iphone 5c is $49 (I currently have a 4S). Would it be worth it to make the jump to a Droid phone?
I'm at least slightly biased here since I've been on Android since the begining and never have actually owned an iPhone, but from what I've used in iOS and iPhones in general, I'd say it'd definitely be worth it to make the switch if you're sick of dealing with iTunes/the Apple ecosystem (or any aspect of it).
Android has come a long way since I first got on it and could tell people "Android is sweet...but you should probably be tech savvy if you want to get on board". Modern Android "Just works" just as well as iOS. In fact, if you're used to a PC you're probably better off with Android, period - dragging and dropping is pretty much the most intuitive way of transferring files ever.
Anyway, if you're looking for an Android phone go either Nexus 5 (maybe Nexus 4 if you can get one dirt cheap), Moto X or Moto G. They're currently the best options for low/mid tier (which is really pretty much the same these days) and cut out a lot of the bad parts about Android.
That said, wait a couple days, Google has their I/O conference on Weds and have been known to make "This phone is available today!" announcements which could push prices down.
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+1 for Moto X.
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Yea so I looked at the Moto X and I think Im gonna go for it unless anyone else has any other recommendations.
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The Moto X is an excellent choice.
One more phone that's getting a lot of attention is the OnePlus One (http://oneplus.net/) (strange name, I know). It's a decent flagship killer especially for its price. Although it is worth noting that several reviews and users have commented that despite the device's performance being great its functions as a phone are actually less than stellar, with call quality being sub par and call connectivity is questionable at times.
All things considered I'd still go with the Moto X. Its reliability and overall performance are commendable.
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Well if you are coming from iPhone, the Moto X at least won't shock you with the size like most other Android phones. It is about the same height as an iPhone 5 but wider.
I still love my Moto X.
The only places I think that the iPhone is better is as a status symbol, the accessory ecosystem, and mobile gaming. I think Android is better in every other way (and especially the Moto X version of Android).
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I believe the 1+1 has had quality issues, especially with the screen.
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I've been looking for something I can use with my tmobile prepaid. I just have a crappy flip phone now but it would be nice if I could have some apps and such, even if I just use it on wifi. Hard part is finding something thats not going to run me broke just for the phone. The Nokia Lumia 521 seems like it might be ok, but I dont know if I want a Windows phone. But if it works for my basic needs it probably wont matter if the app selection isnt there. Probably only going to use twitter and FB on it, and maybe the GPS for geocaching (I read it can cache the map for offline use so that would work just fine). I dunno, havent decided.
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Don't go Windows Phone. Just don't. Especially don't go low end Windows Phone.
The only reason to go with Windows Phone is to go for the higher end Nokia hardware. Want a phone with an awesome camera, sure, there's a Nokia for that. The rest of Windows Phone is sub par compared to Apple or Android. Sure, the Windows Phone OS itself is pretty nice, and the UI design is swell. It's always snappy, and I don't have any real complaints about it....BUT the app situation WILL piss you off even if you don't think it will.
Want to listen to some NPR? Good luck, MAYBE they'll get an app out there in a few months. Google apps? No guarantees ever. Maybe you can deal with that, but what's going to get you is when you check out some geocaching forum and everyone is talking about some awesome new app that does this or that....and you'll never get.
Windows Phone is perfectly functional, but you're giving up widespread support and not getting anything in return. Also, keep in mind that the Lumia you're looking at doesn't have a flash - that's going to make you angry at some point - not just with pictures, flashlight apps are extremely handy.
If you want a low cost phone with excellent app support and functionality go Moto G, Nexus 4, or Nexus 5. Just do it.
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Ok, Ill look at those.
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I just browsed through some info on the Apple announcement today. I haven't gone too in depth, but it really looks like Apple is floundering a bit.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they're doing poorly or that they're doomed, but it looks like fears of stagnation after the departure of Steve Jobs were pretty close to the mark and I've seen a lot of backlash towards the products announced. Probably more than I've ever seen from Apple fans themselves.
The design of the new phones is not up to Apple standards. The general consensus seems to be that the front is fine (obviously), but the back is terrible. To me it looks like an HTC design from 2007-2008. That said, I don't think the back is really a big deal - 90% of people use some sort of case. Personally, I'm just suprised because it seems like for the last five years or so Apple was the one to beat when it came to design aesthetics, and in a single year they were overtaken by LG, Sony, Nokia, HTC, hell...pretty much everyone except for those Chinese companies and Samsung (god, Samsung's designs are terrible).
It's also kind of apparent that their design team has been living in a bit of a bubble. They upped the size of the phone and offer an even bigger option now. Great, people wanted that I guess. But the thing is that they just took an iPhone and pretty much made the whole thing bigger rather than redesigning it. They didn't take any of the design improvements made over the last three years in extra large phones and implement them - the bezel is fucking huge too. The end result is that the phone is bigger than it needs to be, which to a lot of people is a big deal when you're talking about 4.7-5.5 inch screens. You have a way smaller margin to play with before it just becomes dumb, and I think they tripped into that. The Note 4 has a bigger screen and a smaller form factor. The new Moto X, criticized for being too big has a screen size that's far closer to the Plus, but a form factor that's only a hair bigger than the standard iPhone 6. It's just surprising because it's Apple and they usually design things waaaay better than this.
I think there's a reason though - they're obsessed with keeping the phone's thin. Thing is like a razor, which is great for cases, etc. But, going from my own opinions and things I've read, I think we've hit the saturation point on thin phones. They're small enough that no one cares anymore, and I couldn't be happier about that. Lets hope that designers take this to heart and they start focusing on improving battery life, even if it means an extra couple mm here or there in depth.
the iPhone 4 and 5 were both very striking phones, and this just isn't. Rounded glass edges are awesome, I love them on my Nexus 4, but the rest of it just looks like ....well, blah.
And it's kind of alarming, or should be, for Apple. This is the area they excel in. Sure, their other products for the most part still look really good; Apple TV is brilliant in it's simplicity, Imacs are great, Macbooks are pretty much the nicest looking laptops you can buy, and Mac Pros...well, they look fucking weird, but whatever. But the iPhone is their bread and butter in the design department. It's their showcase. Everyone knows a MacBook looks good, but they don't really care - it's kind of a given in the computer world that if you spend more you get something made from better materials and probably designed a little better. Of course the HP Envy doesn't look quite as good - it costs half as much. But for some reason it's different with smartphones. And now the HTC One M8 looks better than the new iPhone, costs half as much on contract, and gives you twice as much storage out of the box. Performance wise, I'm sure the iPhone is quite a bit better, but we've hit the point where real world usage is affected so little that design and features are pretty much everything.
And then the fucking watch....I think it's ugly, but not as ugly as everyone claims. The crown could be brilliant or terrible, and ....well, I'm not sure about it. What I do know is that it's too expensive. And I think this is where Apple is going to have all their problems in mobile in the next year or so. Apple's continued success during the rise of Android was because they still were untouchable in the high end of the market. If you had the money and were already invested in the ecosystem, why not get the phone that "just works", uses the best materials, has excellent performance, looks good, and has three year support? And now Android has slowly creeped up there with them. Android's high end phones are arguably more aesthetically pleasing, offer more features, use high end materials (save Samsung), and are just as snappy even if the iPhone is technically more powerful. Why not save yourself $100 and get a smaller phone with a bigger screen, more storage, front facing speakers, all the software features Apple will incorporate into iOS in a year or two, and now "just works" as well?
Apple will be fine. It's just surprising to see these two products which rely so heavily on their strengths - great aesthetics and utility design be so lackluster. Hopefully it's just a bad year because Apple really is a lot better for a lot of people and it's good to have them at the top, or close to it.
One headline I read that was pretty funny went something like "Apple Announcement Conference: The one they should have had in 2012 if they wanted to hold Android at bay". I liked that.
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Agreed on all points, except the Watch. That thing is terrible.
Hardcore Apple fans, the ones that aren't disappointed by this conference (or deny that it was lackluster) are excites about things like NFC payments and custom keyboards. I find that sad. Android has had these things for 3+ years.
I saw people posting a fake marketing image that showed the iPhone 6 compared to a Google Nexus 4. Basically it showed that the Nexus 4 had all of the new iPhone's features in 2012. Heck the Galaxy Nexus had all of them except the screen size earlier than that.
I feel bad for them that for all this waiting all they have to show for it is basically like a worse version of a HTC One M8 and a horrible smart watch.
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It's amazing how Android has overtaken iOS. I jumped off of Windows Mobile and into Android pretty early - Droid/Milestone. While the build quality of the Milestone was great, Android just wasn't quite there yet in 2.1 . The extra features were great and the customization cool, but if it weren't for the QWERTY phones at the time I probably would have jumped ship - the OS was buggy, lagged at times, and updates were an absolute pain. I got a Desire Z/G2 after that and although it was slightly faster on Gingerbread, it still wasn't quite up there with iOS when it came to ease of use or stability. And then ICS hit. My HTC One S was all of a sudden better than any iOS device I had touched. Interface was better and more powerful, easier to use and do what you wanted, the build quality was great and it was fast as hell. This is when Android started to "Just Work". We didn't really see it at the time, but Android completely overtook iOS in one release and all of a sudden, instead of playing catch up, Android was leading the charge. Apple was forced to add features Android had for years and Android just kept getting better.
I'm rocking a Nexus 4 now, a 2012 phone I bought brand new in 2013 for $200. My only complaint at all is that the battery life could be better, which isn't really much at all when you think about how quickly Android phones used to age. I couldn't imagine switching over to iOS now - every time I do anything on an iOS device I feel so limited and really notice how bare bones it is. This is partially part of their strength, but it really goes beyond that.
You look at the features of iOS 8 now and they're all something Android offered for quite a while. Predictive typing, iCloud Drive, Spotlight search features, device sync, pop up and status bar notification interaction, stock camera editing, a share button. All of these have been on Android for at least 18 months, some go all the way back to my first Android phone.
There are definitely iOS features that Android doesn't have (easy to use Do Not Disturb Mode, etc) and there are comparable features that are a toss up between them now, but whereas a year ago I may have said that I still thought iOS was the more developed OS, I don't think I can say that anymore.
The thing about this launch was it's a whole new model refresh...these are usually the Apple events that wow people, and it really didn't. Maybe the market is at the point where it's a lot harder to actually impress (I am sure this is part of it), but it also does seem like Apple is losing it a bit.
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Its really just proof that Steve Jobs was the Apple that many fell in love with, not Jony Ive as many were hoping.
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There was something there that was probably more than a sum of it's parts.
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(http://i.imgur.com/c9mqhyi.jpg)
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Could be because the iPhone 6 is slimmer and easier to access with the thumb in one hand.
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The Verge is extremely pro-Apple. Just read their Apple Watch review. Even though the Moto 360 can use standard watch bands, no credit is given while the author basically ejaculates onto his keyboard while writing about the Apple Watch's band options.
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I have notoriously small hands and I can use my Galaxy Note 3 (SGN3) with one hand. Seriously, my hands are freakishly small for a guy. With normal operation the SGN3 require a bit of stretching to get my thumb across but it actually "one-handed operation mode" in the settings, allowing you to choose a preferred side for any onscreen keypads and even some of the apps. Not to mention the SGN3 also has the "draw app window" feature which allows you to draw the location and size you want a certain app to appear in e.g. calculator, and it appears in that size in the designated location of the screen; granted this feature only works with certain apps.
Either way, the SGN3 is designed to work with a a stylus, the traditional usage of such formats defines it as a device that's meant for two hands.
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I'm guessing those are two different writers to be honest. But it's a good reason to keep in mind that you actually have to see most phones in person before buying now.
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Alright, so would most of you still recommend the Moto X at this point?
Edit: Looks like this years new model isnt coming to Sprint, bummer.
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I'm still very happy with my 2013/1st generation Moto X. The 2nd generation one looks good and has had some great early reviews, but I'm not thrilled at all they went me-too with the size. One of the things I like the most about the 1st generation is the smaller size.
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Missed this but big announcement last week for Google. A few products that are coming in the next month or so:
-Nexus 6. Big ass phone. Some cool features, but I can't think of any. Too big. People were hoping that Nexus would split into a phablet and more traditional line (note the blowback against big phones I mentioned earlier). That didn't happen, but Google isn't completely dumb and they've decided to keep the Nexus 5 around as a smaller/budget model. Oh, and about that - The Nexus 6 isn't cheap at all, which is a bit disappointing as both the N4 and N5 were seen as top end hardware with mid tier prices.
-Nexus 9. HTC full size tablet in the iPad screen ratio. Apparently it's amazing and very high end. Seems really cool, but again, people were hoping for another nexus 7 variant as well. Instead, Google is no longer selling any Nexus 7 models.
-Nexus Player. Think Apple TV or Roku more than Chromecast. Media center unit that has it's own interface and is completely functional without having to connect to a phone, tablet, or PC. That said, I believe it also has Chromecast completely built it, if you want to roll that way. The advantage over Apple is that it fully supports the Play Store, meaning you can download all sorts of apps to it. You can control it with the remote, an Android device, or a Gamepad that they sell....you know, because of Play Store games. Honestly, it would be worth it over the Apple TV just because of emulators.
-Android 5.0 Lollipop. Apparently this is the biggest jump in Android releases ever. I have a hard time buying that because Gingerbread to ICS was like Windows 98 to Windows 7 in my mind, but sure. Completely new UI, huge performance boost, new runtime, and most importantly - a big focus on increasing battery life. Sounds pretty bad-ass
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I have a Chromecast, but I might consider getting a Nexus Player. We'll see. I find it odd that Google came out with it so soon after the Chromecast, which was a pretty huge hit, and they haven't had good success in this space with past efforts (Google TV and Nexus Q) and abandoned the projects.
I've also considered upgrading my Roku 2 XS to a Roku 3. They just added Miracast support to the Roku 3 and Roku Streaming Stick. I love my Roku 2, so this seems like almost a no brainer except that the Nexus Player does have me intrigued. One thing I like about the Roku is that it is one of the few streaming boxes that has Amazon Instant Video. I'm a Prime member and not a Netflix subscriber, so I use it quite a bit.
I could care less about the Nexus 6. I hate big phones. That's why I got a (2013/Generation 1) Moto X. Sad to see that it didn't sell that well and Motorola joined the crowd with the 2014/Generation 2 Moto X.
I'm excited to see what Android 5.0 brings to my Moto X. The battery life took a huge hit after I turned on encryption (and probably because it's almost a year old now), so I'm hoping ART and the battery life improvements right the ship. By the way, ART has been around for awhile but I believe it was only available on Nexus devices and only as an option. Dalvik was (and still is as of 4.4.4) the default.
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Yup, I ran ART on my Nexus 4 for a while and noticed zero difference compared to Dalvik. I don't know if they've just improved it since the beta on KitKat or if it's just because the os is built around it now, but people claim a huge difference with 5.0 . But really, who the fuck knows, phone tech is lame in that people always make these claims (I did this and get 7 hours of screen on time....oh, something must be wrong with your battery) that never seem to work out.
As for the chromecast/play thing, I think it makes sense to an extent. $30 Dongle that lets you cast your phone/tablet/desktop or $99 set top box that lets you do more.
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So, I got rid of the Nexus 4. Well, I still have it and it works fine - just not as a phone. I don't know if it was a software issue or a hardware issue but half the time people wouldn't be able to hear me unless I was on speaker phone, which is annoying as shit since I partake in an insane amount of phone calls for work. The gps was also super slow to lock, which again, is a bitch because I drive to new addresses all the time in parts of the city I don't know well. Even when it would lock, I'd get off track and it would take forever to re-route.
I was going to just do a factory reset and see how that did it but a deal crossed my path and I took it. I was looking at picking up a Moto X Play soon, as I like the stock software, moto features, huge battery (a big flaw with the Nexus 4), expandable memory, and price ($400). Two things worried me - the size of the phone and the processor being from a budget model. As I was contemplating this, I came across an Ebay sale for a Moto X 2014 for $199.98, including shipping. That transfered to about $275 for me (holy shit the dollar is bad). So I took the risk and went for it.
I got a bamboo and white model. It's a Verizon overstock or refurbish, so that was the risk for me, but it worked. It even shipped with 5.0 instead of 5.1 so I could unlock the bootloader and load a clean rom without all the Verizon bloatware. The downside is that it's 16GB, which is the same as my Nexus 4 but still slim. I only have some music on my phone, some podcasts, and that's about it so it works, although I'd love more just to never worry about it.
That said, this is probably the best phone I've ever owned. It feels amazingly premium. The shape of it makes it feel great in the hand, with the metal frame and dimple on the back. The bamboo is a bit slippery but again feels great. I also love the Amoled screen. I was slightly worried about it being too big as well, but it's perfect (I find I worry about the size of ever new phone and then love it). The Nexus 4 is hailed for feeling great in the hand, being all black with the rounded bezel, but this feels so much better - it takes me back to the One S (which was miles above the N4 in the hand, in my unpopular opinion).
The Moto Software is amazing as well. Stock android with just a few features tacked on. The "Active Display" is really handy, showing me a preview of notifications without having to turn the phone on - I almost never touch the power button now - just take the phone out of my pocket and look at the display, or wave my hand over it if it's on a desk. The "chop to turn on the flashlight" and "Twist for instant camera" are both actually really handy (I didn't think they would be). And Moto Voice is great, a bit slower than Google Now, but better in ever other way, especially since it's always on.
Oh, and fast charge - never discount fast charge. It's great. I got one for my car and it'll top up amazingly quickly or go from almost dead to over half full in a quick car ride.
The only downside is that Moto recently announced that they won't be updating the carrier versions of this phone to Marshmallow. I'm one of the lucky ones with an unlocked bootloader so I could always load a custom rom, but it's a bit of a bummer as it'd probably lose the moto features. Fingers crossed some enterprising individual figures a way out to flash the Pure edition (which is getting support) to the carrier versions.
Seems like updates (one of Moto's big draws) are still a huge problem for Android. Here's hoping that gets worked out in the near future
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I was thinking of getting a 2015 Moto X Pure as my next phone (I believe you'll know it as the Moto X Style, gpw), but I don't like the direction of Motorola under Lenovo, don't like the size, and am disappointed they went with an LCD screen instead of AMOLED. I was kind of torn between riding my 2013 Moto X another year and going ahead and getting the 2015 Moto X Pure anyway, but then the Nexus 5X (and, to a lesser extent, the 6P as well) caught my eye.
I have a feeling I'm going to end up with a 5X but I will wait for MKBHD's review.
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Holy shit
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I'm actually in the market to replace my 2013 Moto X. Motorola is done updating the device to new versions of Android and I'm starting to really notice reduced battery life and some sluggishness as it copes with modern apps.
I was eagerly anticipating the 2015 refresh to the Moto X, but it seems that Motorola lost their minds and what once was a very small phone by modern standards is now a huge phablet beast. On top of that, they replaced the AMOLED screen with an LCD one, a move that makes no sense when considering the Active Display feature. To add insult to injury, it looks like Lenovo is gutting Motorola Mobility and making it a shadow of what it was under Google's stewardship. Plus, I'm just not sure I trust Lenovo given the crazy stuff they've been caught doing with their consumer PCs in the last year.
As an alternative, I had my eye on the Sony Xperia Z5, but it uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. While it's basically Qualcomm's flagship ARM SoC right now, in reality it's a subpar design prone to overheating. So you get great performance for a very short while until thermal throttling slows it down below the performance of SoCs just below it in the product line. It would have been better if Sony used the 808. Plus, Sony Android phones don't seem to be real common in the U.S.A., so I don't know anyone I could talk to about their experience with their Sony Xperia.
Then I started looking at the new Google Nexus phones. I don't love the design of either the 5X or 6P, but at least there is a non-phablet version this year (the 5X). Unfortunately, the Nexus 5X is all plastic. I wish it had a more premium build. Other than that, it seems pretty good. The Nexus 6P is a non-factor for me because 1) it's a Huawei, 2) it's really ugly, and 3) it's a phablet.
It's funny that gpw posted about the BlackBerry Priv, because I just heard about it for the first time today and I started reading about it and watching videos and it looks interesting. I actually could see myself with it. But the jury is definitely out. BlackBerry is really struggling and it would suck to get this phone and then have the company die, relegating me to no further updates. Plus, who knows that they'll even keep the phone up-to-date even if they don't die as a company.
Someone also mentioned the LG G4 or LG V10 to me. The V10 seems pretty gimmicky, but I guess the G4 is alright.
I've found choosing a phone this time around to be so difficult that I actually have contemplated getting an iPhone 6S instead. I'm not sure I could deal with that though. I send Google Hangouts messages to people with iOS and they never seem to get them. When I ask them about it, they say they have Hangouts on a different screen and didn't see the little notification on the app icon. That would drive me nuts: notifications on Android are a major feature and are always front-and-center. It's very difficult to miss something coming in from an app on Android unless you explicitly turn notifications for that app off. I would absolutely miss that.
Why is this so hard?!
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With regards to Sony phones, I've been using the Xperia series on and off for a while. I'm currently using the Xperia Z3 Compact as my daily driver. It's honestly been a delight.
To set the stage, I have been using the Nexus 6 for several months, so coming from that massive 5.9" screen to the Z3 Compact's 4.6" screen took some getting used to. The screen quality and resolution are vastly different as well. Bear in mind this is the Xperia Z3 Compact, which pales when compared to the full-sized Xperia Z3 with its gorgeous 1080p display.
What initially drew me to Sony was the style of their phones. I love it. The next thing that pulled me in was their approach to the software. It is pretty damn close to stock Android with some minor adjustments and enhancements to match the hardware. Plus Sony have been great with their support and keeping up-to-date. They're also pretty good at releasing relatively fast OS updates, for example, when Lollipop was released they updated the entire Xperia Z series, not just the Z3, and they were among the first to release Lollipop 5.1 after Google Nexus devices.
In terms of the internal hardware, I recall reading something about Qualcomm revising the 810 and actually making a second generation without changing its name or branding. According to www.sonymobile.com the chip in the Xperia Z5 Premium, the Xperia Z5, and the Xperia Z5 Compact is in fact the revised Snapdragon 810 MSM8994. The claim is that it does not have the same overheating issues as its predecessor. I was actually expecting Sony to go for the new Snapdragon 820 at least on the Xperia Z5 Premium.
Coming from the Z3 Compact, I am also considering upgrading the Xperia Z5 but I'm waiting for more in-depth reviews of the hardware. So far it looks promising and I really like the new forsted back as opposed to the old glossy fingerprint-magnet.
UPDATE:
The Verge have reviewed the Z5 and Z5 Compact. (http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/16/9549247/sony-xperia-z5-review-compact-android)
UPDATE 2:
Yikes! The price of the Xperia Z5 is pretty ridiculous over here, going for 550 GBP, which is about $850 USD!!
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I want the Blackberry Priv.
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I ended up going with the Nexus 5X. Google had it for $80 off in the U.S. between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and I guess that's what I needed in order to pull the trigger. I had previously been leaning towards the Sony Xperia Z5 or Z5 Compact, but I was a little worried about Sony's long term support and timely updates and I'd read that even though it was a specs powerhouse, Sony's version of Android didn't perform very well. The price of the device didn't help either.
The Nexus 5X is a delight so far. The fingerprint reader is amazingly fast, quicker than my girlfriend's iPhone 5S. For an all plastic phone, it feels pretty premium, though I wish it had some metal around the edge or the back or something to take it to the next level. This is my first LCD screen since my HTC Incredible, so I'm getting used to the more muted colors and less contrast but it's an amazing display otherwise. Even though the device is encrypted by default, the performance blows the doors off my unencrypted 2013 Moto X, but we'll see how the performance is after a few months. Android devices are always very snappy right after a factory reset and seem to get more sluggish over time.
It's the first device I've seen that uses the USB type C connector. It's a little bigger than micro USB type B, but the fact that it is reversible really makes up for that. The cable it came with is USB type C on both ends, so I have to get one that has a USB type A connection on one end so I can use it in my existing car charger and power outlet at home that has two type A connectors on it.
I'm pretty happy with it so far, but I'm still going through the ever so fun process of logging in to each of my apps.
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I ended up going with the Nexus 5X. Google had it for $80 off in the U.S. between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and I guess that's what I needed in order to pull the trigger. I had previously been leaning towards the Sony Xperia Z5 or Z5 Compact, but I was a little worried about Sony's long term support and timely updates and I'd read that even though it was a specs powerhouse, Sony's version of Android didn't perform very well. The price of the device didn't help either.
The Nexus 5X is a delight so far. The fingerprint reader is amazingly fast, quicker than my girlfriend's iPhone 5S. For an all plastic phone, it feels pretty premium, though I wish it had some metal around the edge or the back or something to take it to the next level. This is my first LCD screen since my HTC Incredible, so I'm getting used to the more muted colors and less contrast but it's an amazing display otherwise. Even though the device is encrypted by default, the performance blows the doors off my unencrypted 2013 Moto X, but we'll see how the performance is after a few months. Android devices are always very snappy right after a factory reset and seem to get more sluggish over time.
It's the first device I've seen that uses the USB type C connector. It's a little bigger than micro USB type B, but the fact that it is reversible really makes up for that. The cable it came with is USB type C on both ends, so I have to get one that has a USB type A connection on one end so I can use it in my existing car charger and power outlet at home that has two type A connectors on it.
I'm pretty happy with it so far, but I'm still going through the ever so fun process of logging in to each of my apps.
How are you feeling about the 5x now? I'm not in the market as my Moto X 2014 is still going strong but I'm curious.
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Frankly? It sucks. I have tons of problems with performance of the device itself and especially the camera. Sometimes the device is nice and snappy, and sometimes it lags like crazy for no apparent reason. There are tons of threads on the Internet about it. Here's one (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/VDpAhli9X3c;context-place=forum/nexus). Supposedly, Google just released an update with their normal monthly security updates (yes, Google actually started doing this for the Nexus devices) that goes a long way towards fixing the performance issues on the 5X, but I haven't received the OTA update notification yet.
If it doesn't fix the problems well enough, I'm going to sell it and look at something like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5, HTC M10, or *gasp* iPhone 7.
About that last bit: I never thought it would happen, but I'm seriously considering switching to iPhone. I am just completely disappointed at the state of Android. I absolutely love the features and design of Android, but I am beyond tired of the poor performance and underwhelming reliability/stability. I've had a bunch of Android devices. Other than the first one I used, the HTC Incredible, I've had problems with all of them:
Google/Samsung Galaxy Nexus
When I first got the device, it was okay. But over time as Google updated Android, the performance got worse and worse. By the time I had it for two years, I couldn't wait to get a newer device. The interface and opening apps was extremely sluggish by the end of the two years. I tried using a version of CyanogenMod, but it would just freeze the phone frequently so I had to go back to stock Android. The battery life was miserable by the end. I couldn't even make it through my 9-hour work shift without having to plug it in.
Google/Samsung Nexus 10
This device was a problem from the start. The screen would display a weird, flickering, bright line on the screen briefly occasionally. It would randomly reboot constantly and updates to 4.2.1 and then 4.2.2 only reduced the frequency of that issue. It wasn't until 4.3 finally came out that the reboot problem was resolved. The device sold poorly and seemed to be quickly forgotten by Google. They did release updates to Android for the Nexus 10 until recently, but anything after 4.3 seemed to introduce new bugs that never got fixed. After 5.0, the WiFi performance has been atrocious and it can't seem to even keep the launcher in memory after opening a single app. It can't even seem to handle Firefox with a page open that has a lot of ads. It will close it out due to the memory pressure. I've loaded CyanogenMod 12.1 on it (equivalent to 5.0.1), and it's very sluggish and the battery is basically shot. Sometimes it will just power off at 50% battery. Sometimes after charging overnight it will say the battery is at 0% still. Sometimes it will charge to 100% but then never reduce from that until it suddenly powers off. The screen flickers randomly. Absolutely horrible experience overall.
I've thought about buying a Pixel C to replace my Nexus 10 since Google has a 25% discount on it now but I'm wondering what I'll be getting into, especially since I've seen reviews that say it has a real bad problem with touch input. Plus, as many say, the Android tablet experience isn't all that great. Google basically made the tablet and phone UI the same as of Lollipop and none of their own apps really do a good job of taking advantage of the large screen space. Since Android tablets don't really sell that well, other developers follow Google's lead and don't really support tablets all that well. I'm not sure it's worth bothering with.
Motorola Moto X (2013)
At first, this device was great. Awesome battery life and performance, plus a great form factor and great, unique features. But over time, it became more flaky and more sluggish. Google made changes to Google Now Voice Search at one point (after they sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo) and it broke Motorola's implementation of the "OK Google Now" always on voice search system and it took them months for them to fix it. The result while it was broken was that you would just get a force close when trying to use it. Apps would force close all the time. The UI became quite slow and opening apps seemed to take forever. After two years, I was ready to move on. It wasn't as bad as the Galaxy Nexus after two years, but it didn't age very gracefully either.
Google/LG Nexus 5X
My experience the first few days was good. It was a huge performance upgrade from my Moto X, even though its storage was encrypted. But I quickly started noticing problems after that. The camera was extremely slow to open. Sometimes, pushing the shutter button did nothing at all. Other times, I would see a thumbnail of a picture I tried to take appear in the little last picture box, but later I wouldn't find the photo in the Photos app or in any other gallery, as if the picture didn't actually save to the storage. Sometimes when taking a photo with HDR+, the "HDR+ Processing" notification would get stuck at 100% in the notification shade and there was literally no way to remove it other than reboot. Sometimes I'd unlock the phone and find that it doesn't respond to touch at all. I'd have to lock it again and unlock it for it to work. Other times, I would find that the phone appeared to be frozen, except it really wasn't. I would be able to press the on-screen soft keys and would feel haptic feedback and see the button "light up", but normally the button highlight quickly goes away but in this case it would just stay there. If I pushed anything else, nothing would happen but then about 30 seconds later the phone would start responding and perform all my taps in extremely quick succession, usually resulting in some unwanted thing happening. I basically have to reboot my phone every two or three days to get out from under the performance lags that always seem to appear at about that time.
I really want to like Android, I really do. But I'm so frustrated with the day-to-day experience. Then I mess with my girlfriend's iPhone 5S running iOS 9 and it runs like it's brand new. Nothing crashes. There are no slowdowns of any kind. It's very quick to respond to any touch input with zero lag. I'm not a fan of the one-button experience, the launcher, or the completely horrible notification system compared to Android, but there is something to be said for the overall experience when using an iPhone vs. even top-of-the-line Android phones. They just seem to get the finer details right whereas Google doesn't seem to want to be bothered. Even when the other OEMs try, they just have Google's Android under the hood to work with.
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In the March 2016 security updates for Android, Google included some bug fixes for the Nexus 5X. It is definitely a lot better, but still not where I think it should be.
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A friend had an old iPhone 5 lying around that he meant to sell a year or two ago, so he sent it to me. I'm having trouble getting it to work though. I want to set it up without activating it, so I can use it as a WiFi only device, like you would an iPad or iPod touch. Is there really no way to do it without a SIM card? I read that I can just hook it up to my PC and iTunes will allow me to do the rest, but iTunes just tells me it can't be activated because it has no SIM card.
It's the CDMA version of model A1429, and I believe I've read that CDMA doesn't use SIM cards. It does have a SIM card slot, but it sounds like that's basically so it can be used on GSM networks outside the US. Or I could be completely wrong, I don't know.
This phone was originally used with Verizon Wireless. I already have a line with Verizon, but if I try to switch from my basic phone to this smart phone, they're going to insist I pay for a data plan, so I just want to use it as a WiFi only device.
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Since no one with good knowledge of smartphones has replied to you, I did a bit of searching. I found this (http://www.techradar.com/us/how-to/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ask-how-to-use-an-iphone-without-sim-card-like-an-ipod-1305631), which is not encouraging because you still need a sim card temporarily while you set it up the way you want. I got there through this thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5315099?tstart=0).
My Google search string is "iphone 5 as wifi device without sim card".
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Yeah, I basically figured out there's no way around it, I need a sim card. I guess they have no problem giving them out for free at Apple stores and possibly even if I went to Verizon. I'm sure Verizon would try to rope me into using the phone on my plan or something, and the closest Apple store is 60+ miles away. The guy who sent me the phone said it was supposed to have a sim card in it, and he's going to look for it or get a new one and send it to me.
I read in one or two places that if for some reason iTunes decides there's a problem and you have to reformat the storage (which I've had happen on my iPod Shuffle), that you'll need a sim card again. So I'm just going to get one to avoid needing to borrow one again should such a situation arise.
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Alright then. Looks like you're on the way. I've been thinking a bit more about smartphones, but I keep putting off getting one for real. It would probably be part of a Verizon plan, which is what I have right now, using an old LG clamshell. My eyes have gotten so bad for reading up close, but I still pass driver's tests without glasses. So I don't walk around with glasses hanging on my nose, which I'd have to do to use a smartphone. The short of it is that I keep putting the things off, even though they've gotten so powerful and interesting to geeks like me. Sandy has 2, an Android and a recent iPhone. She never uses the laptop to browse the web anymore. The iPhone is huge, and all screen. I could get used to that.
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I find I don't really care about smartphones anymore because they all look the same, have the same functionality and are just ubiquitous.
I now view it the same way as any household appliance or consumer electronic; it's a somewhat involved purchase but in the end as long as it works it's fine. I don't go crazy over what fridge to buy or what tv to purchase and now my phone is in that realm too.
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I find I don't really care about smartphones anymore because they all look the same, have the same functionality and are just ubiquitous.
I now view it the same way as any household appliance or consumer electronic; it's a somewhat involved purchase but in the end as long as it works it's fine. I don't go crazy over what fridge to buy or what tv to purchase and now my phone is in that realm too.
I concur
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Oh man, I obsess over the functionality, noise, and energy usage of my fridge! :P
I still have my doubts about getting a "SmartFridge" though. If I need a fridge to tell me what's missing or what needs refilling then I've clearly got bigger problems in life.
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Haha, makes sense. Phones were boring for decades before they got exciting again. Maybe fridges are next.
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I think if you are an iPhone user, there isn't much to be excited about any more. They are pretty much the same release to release. Sometimes you get a pixel density change, a different screen size, or a somewhat different form factor. But they really haven't changed all that much since the iPhone 4 came out.
For Android users choosing a new phone is more... well I wouldn't say "exciting" is the word. Maybe "challenging". You have several manufacturers, each of which have their own design ideas and tiered models, and they are constantly releasing new products. For me, it's about trying to finding a phone that meets the following characteristics:
- Modern, quality design and materials that I personally find attractive.
- Excellent performance today and expected good-to-excellent performance in two years.
- Receives (relatively) long-term support from the manufacturer, including updates to the latest Android OS and regular security updates.
- Carrier unlocked.
- Can be purchased without a contract.
- Supports all in-use bands for at least two U.S. cellular carriers, one of which is AT&T.
- OLED-type screen.
- Stock or near-stock Android experience without having to install a custom ROM.
- NFC.
- Fingerprint sensor.
- USB type-C port.
- Good-to-excellent camera in good light.
- 3.5mm headphone jack.
- Non-proprietary fast charging.
- microSD (or UFS) support.
- Wireless charging.
- No stupid gimmicks (looking at you, Nexbit Robin).
Unfortunately, I don't believe an Android phone has ever existed that meets those requirements and I haven't heard one announced either. So every time I go to get a new phone, I'm left with trying to decide which features are most important to me and giving up a lot of what I want. The Google Nexus devices tend to come closest, but some of the models have had poor performance or mediocre design and materials and none of them support microSD, UFS, or wireless charging.
I've also considered going over to the dark side and getting an iPhone. That said, iPhones don't support that full list of features either, but I can count on good hardware design, excellent performance throughout the life of the device, and excellent support from the manufacturer.
But there are a few things I really do not like about iOS relative to Android:
- No back button!
- Notifications. Android has a far better notification system and I live and die by my notifications.
- Home screen/launcher vs. app drawer. Android has a user-configurable home screen where you place your apps (and widgets) however you want. But, unlike the iPhone, it doesn't have to contain every app installed on your phone. You only place the applications that you want rather than every single app just randomly strewn about. Instead, Android offers the app drawer: a separate location for apps accessible at the touch of an icon that has the full list of installed applications sorted alphabetically and with a very fast search feature.
- I've noticed that the iOS versions of some apps don't support Chromecast whereas their Android counterpart does and I consume most of my media via Chromecast connected to my 50" and 60" TVs.
- Proprietary, Apple-only screen mirroring technology (AirPlay) vs standards-based technology (Miracast) and/or Chromecast.
- Google Now is light years better than Siri. It's not even close. I know you get access to Google Now via the Google Search app, but I like how it is built in on many Android devices.
- Ability to chose my own default apps rather than being forced to select the Apple-defaults.
- Did Apple ever implement a method to share content between apps akin to how it works on Android?
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How old is Ren now? 14?
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I hate how you had to put headphone jack list. I hope any phone that tries to remove the headphone jack completely bombs.
And no back button on iphones is a dealbreaker for me. There's a lot I don't like about apple products but that's the only one I don't think I'll ever get used to.
As much as I love the progression of technology and how companies try to push new boundaries with yearly releases, the tech industry has done an abysmal job on reducing the environmental impact of all that production. I've been trying to buy all my electronics used to minimize that on a personal level but doing so isn't always practical.
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And nope, still 12.
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Bought a Nexus 5X to replace the MotoX 2014 that I smashed the shit out of. Actually, I didn't buy it but got it for free when I changed corp service providers. I don't know if they fixed a lot of the problems Scott had before or if I'm just lucky but I've been really liking it for the last two weeks or so. I mean, I'd love a better battery and SD expansion but I can live without it. I also like the feel of the thing, coming from the premium bar of soap of my aluminum and bamboo Moto X.
I'm surprised how much better a fingerprint reader makes everything.
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Yesterday I spent time wiping my Nexus 5X, installing the Android 7.0 (Nougat) factory image, and getting it all set up again. I do have to say that, so far, I haven't had any of the issues I was complaining about before. But I've been down this road before. Android phones always feel snappy right after a factory reset and then slow down after a few days. I'll report back in a week or so.
And yes, the fingerprint reader is amazing.
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My iphone bricked the other day, should I make the switch to android? I've had a iphone 6 plus for 2 years now, during that time I've barely used the app store, avoided itunes at all cost because its horrible on windows and its near impossible to put anything onto my PC from it without doing something unnecessarily over complicated. What do you use to sync an android phone to a PC, and it is not shit?
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My iphone bricked the other day, should I make the switch to android? I've had a iphone 6 plus for 2 years now, during that time I've barely used the app store, avoided itunes at all cost because its horrible on windows and its near impossible to put anything onto my PC from it without doing something unnecessarily over complicated. What do you use to sync an android phone to a PC, and it is not shit?
This was one of the major reasons I switched to Android in the first place. You can access the android storage file system straight through windows explorer. Plug in your phone, open the drive, drag and drop music over into the appropriate folder, drag all your pictures off to back them up, etc. Easy.
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That sounds amazing.
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With Android it's really easy to access your files; it's practically plug & play.
I haven't plugged my phone directly to my PC in a while. I usually just plug in the MicroSD card, load it up with content, then slip it back into my phone.
Alternatively, I've been trying out wireless sync software and some cloud drives (OneDrive and Google Drive) and that seems to work really well too since I get them to sync only when I'm on WiFi.
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I've invested some in the Apple platform over the last number of years just because of the two iPod Touches I've had, but having an Android phone now, there's no comparison. It wins in every conceivable category. More than probably I'll continue down that path and abandon Apple entirely after the next cycle, though I'm still glad to have my current iPod for a few platform-exclusive apps.
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I've been spending a bit of time with Windows 10 Mobile on a Lumia 950 and it's a bittersweet experience.
Functionally, it gives me the same liberties as Android; instant drag & drop, MicroSD card slot, etc. It's simple and works as you would expect.
The UI of Windows 10 Mobile is superb. I love its simplicity and minimal approach to visual design. The tiles are an elegant solution to the home screen space. It all blends seamlessly with the Windows 10 design principles. Of course, if you're not a fan of it then your shit out of luck because customization is extremely limited, you can pretty much only modify the wallpaper and make your choice of accent colour on white or black base.
The "App Gap" will be most common term you'll hear/read when addressing the Windows Store, and what a gap it is. The Store is barren. A lot of the basic social apps are there but many are not updated or are in limbo. Note: there are zero Google apps. ZERO.
On the bright side, Edge is such a fantastic mobile browser that I can use web versions of many of my favourite apps/tools. For example, Microsoft Maps is just awful but I can use Google Maps in Edge relatively well.
It just aches my insides because there's so much potential for it to be one of the best mobile platforms out there. Sadly, Windows 10 Mobile feels experimental, which is great for tech heads but absolutely unacceptable for a "final" product that is currently being sold.
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Windows 10 Mobile is basically dead. I would definitely never consider switching to it.
Oh and my Nexus 5X is a lot better than it used to be before I reinstalled it from scratch. It has slowed down some since the reinstall, but I'm not dealing with the horrible performance issues I was previously.
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Oh and my Nexus 5X is a lot better than it used to be before I reinstalled it from scratch. It has slowed down some since the reinstall, but I'm not dealing with the horrible performance issues I was previously.
Must have been one of the earlier builds or something? My performance has been pretty good, which would make sense since I jumped in almost a year later. I mean, a little more ram would be cool but it's only ever been a problem when switching out of Lara Croft Go to multitask and switching back in requiring the level to reload. I can live with that considering how rarely I play games on my phone.
For comparison, my Moto X 2014 would often force close either Pocketcasts or Maps if they were both running, which is a huge pain.
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Google announced it's new phone today by the name of Pixel (https://madeby.google.com/phone/). Sadly looks like it's only going to be available for Verizon, so I'll have to go with a Galaxy phone.
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Google announced it's new phone today by the name of Pixel (https://madeby.google.com/phone/). Sadly looks like it's only going to be available for Verizon, so I'll have to go with a Galaxy phone.
It's just a matter of time before the unlocked version comes around.
In terms of specs it's certainly recent but I'm curious to see how it's real performance and usage turns out.
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It's just a matter of time before the unlocked version comes around.
In terms of specs it's certainly recent but I'm curious to see how it's real performance and usage turns out.
Verizon is just the only carrier that will offer it (in the states). You can still buy unlocked from Google or Bestbuy.
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Apparently ISIS ordered a whole shipment of Galaxy Note 7s today.
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I hope that debacle brings back removable batteries.
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Regarding the Google Pixel and Pixel XL, I just read today that Verizon won't get in the way of Google's updates to it (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/psa-if-you-like-updates-dont-buy-the-google-pixel-phone-from-verizon/). Meaning that whether or not you buy the Verizon version or the version from Google or Best Buy, the updates will be released to all Pixel (XL) phones at the same time. The Verizon version is also carrier unlocked apparently. Perhaps Verizon is turning over a new leaf? Too early to be certain.
I'm interested in the Pixel, but not at the price offered. Frankly, I think the price is ludicrous. Google is trying to say to the market that their phone is as good as or better than an iPhone. But Google doesn't have the luxury brand cachet that Apple does and they never really had the same sort of very large, rabid fanbase that will just buy every new product they release regardless of price or utility. In fact, they are starting to lose the trust of even their most ardent fans what with them having a history of abandoning (or showing signs that they will abandon in the near future) products that people use and like such as Orkut, Wave, Google TV, Reader, Voice, Nexus Q, Nexus Player, OnHub Router, Hangouts, and even the Pixel C and ChromeOS. Or having situations like the Nexus 10 where the Lollipop update resulted in extremely poor networking reliability and performance and was never fixed (most people with a Nexus 10 have either ditched the device or gone back to Kit Kat). I mean look at Allo and Duo... no one has really bothered with them because they've already put people in an out of like four instant messaging services and apps already. People are just done with it and are too embarrassed to try to recommend a Google messaging app to anyone at this point.
I think the Pixel is going to be a very poor seller. It's a direction that they should have gone with around the Nexus 5 era, when they still had an extremely loyal and trusting fanbase. In order to succeed in this strategy, they will need to do these major things:
1. Accept that the Pixel gen 1 isn't going to remotely be a market sensation and they are going to lose a lot of money on it, but stick with it anyway for at least two years.
2. Cure their horrible case of corporate ADHD. Stop releasing products to market that they aren't 100% committed to and support any that they do release for longer than one release or two years. No more Google OnHub Routers or Nexus Qs. Follow through with them or just kill them in the lab.
3. Continue with the Pixel phones for a 2nd and a 3rd generation and ensure that they are on par with or even exceed the fit, finish, and industrial design of Apple's iPhones and the OS is completely reliable and performs well on the devices even as time passes. If you pick up an iPhone 5S today, the device feels as fast as it did the day it was released. You can't say that about virtually any Android device.
If Google does those things, they can probably reasonably expect to have a reasonably popular smartphone on their hands in the 3rd generation. If they don't and they just start acting like the Pixel phones never even existed, they are going to absolutely destroy what remains of their consumer trust in them. At that point, they are going to see basically zero adoption in any of their new products or services and will just have to get by on Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube until they get obsoleted or disrupted out of the market entirely.
In any case, my Nexus 5X is good enough to go another year at least and the only feature it is missing is the Google Assistant and I can access that via Allo if I want in any case.
An update to my Nexus 5X woes: Performance still remains better than what I was going through before the fresh Marshmallow install, but I do have some sort of issue with the item labeled "Android OS" using tons of battery when Bluetooth is enabled. Since I just got a new car that has Bluetooth and my old one didn't, frequent Bluetooth use is a new thing for me. I get 10 hrs. max with Bluetooth on all day, but it easily went all day before when I had it disabled all the time. It seems like a common issue and I've tried some of the suggested remedies. Resetting all app preferences helped a little -- it got me to the aforementioned 10 hrs. from 8 -- but it's still a problem. Some say that factory resetting helped, but I just did that recently and I hate the all-day project that results from doing it.
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Whenever I end up at a cellphone store here I see someone asking about the Pixel. You are right, price is a bit high though.
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I finally made the move to Android, got a Pixel XL. Cracked my iphone screen up good the other week, I've wanted to switch for a while and I got a decent raise from my job not long ago so I decided to make the jump. It came in the mail the other day, just needed to get a new sim card from sprint to get it switched over. I've been setting everything for a bit now but I really really really like it. The OS is really snappy and getting everything the way I want it feels super easy. I still don't know the in and outs of everything but its been a pretty positive experience so far.
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I finally made the move to Android, got a Pixel XL. Cracked my iphone screen up good the other week, I've wanted to switch for a while and I got a decent raise from my job not long ago so I decided to make the jump. It came in the mail the other day, just needed to get a new sim card from sprint to get it switched over. I've been setting everything for a bit now but I really really really like it. The OS is really snappy and getting everything the way I want it feels super easy. I still don't know the in and outs of everything but its been a pretty positive experience so far.
Sweet! Glad you're enjoying it. If you ever need any tips or have questions, just holler! :D
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Oops, it's been over a year since I last posted asking for info for the iPhone I was given.
I got a friend to send me a dummy SIM card and I got through the initial setup with that. I carried 2 phones for a while, which was annoying. (feature phone for calls/texting, iPhone for apps/games over WiFi) I recently got my dad to let me share a data plan between his phone and mine, so now I've got full service on the iPhone, and it's much more convenient. Someday I'd like to replace it, since it's an iPhone 5 running iOS 10 and doesn't always handle it well. I won't even be able to upgrade to iOS 11 when that comes out. It's a hell of a lot more convenient than just having a feature phone though. I use this thing constantly.
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My Nexus 5X died and I got a Google Pixel. That was a bitter pill to swallow due to the exorbitant cost and the fact that the Pixel 2 is coming out in a few months. This thing is expensive! But I didn't really have a choice other than pay $400 for another Nexus 5X, which was more than I paid almost two years ago, or go ahead and get the Pixel since I'm using Project Fi. It only works on Google phones.
It's a nice phone so far. Great screen and build quality. I don't understand the huge chin bezel though.
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My Nexus 5x died as well. Actually, all Nexus 5x's are dying apparently. I don't know how the fuck they get away with that but whatever. I bought a Moto G5 Plus because it has wicked battery life and basically stock android. Happy so far but fuck Google, get your shit together.
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I want the Note 8.
I also don't have money.
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Also, it might kill you.
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The Galaxy Note 8 is gorgeous.
I came to Android after having been a Windows Mobile user, so using a stylus was native to me. Oddly enough, with all the people that I've seen using Galaxy Note phones I've never seen anyone but myself using the S Pen. I loved it on my Galaxy Note 3. Maybe it's time I got back on the Galaxy Note wagon.
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Got a Google Pixel (1) XL. 128 GB storage. 4 GB RAM. Unlocked. Works fine as a pocket computer with WiFi. Compatible with Verizon, so I'll be visiting their store in search of a SIM card and transfer of my phone number to the new phone. It's new, but the model is 3 years old now. It's also $200 instead of $800+ for newest flagship phones.
Following Scott's useful list of desirable features in phones:
- Modern, quality design and materials that I personally find attractive. - Check
- Excellent performance today and expected good-to-excellent performance in two years. - Check--everything snappy
- Receives (relatively) long-term support from the manufacturer, including updates to the latest Android OS and regular security updates. - Check--getting prompted to update from Android 8 to 9
- Carrier unlocked. - Check
- Can be purchased without a contract. - Check
- Supports all in-use bands for at least two U.S. cellular carriers, one of which is AT&T. - Check
- OLED-type screen. - Check--AMOLED
- Stock or near-stock Android experience without having to install a custom ROM. - Check
- NFC. - Check
- Fingerprint sensor. - Check--my index fingers printed and stored for unlocking
- USB type-C port. - Check--USB C to USB A 3.0 cable too
- Good-to-excellent camera in good light. - Check--great camera and stabilized video
- 3.5mm headphone jack. - Check
- Non-proprietary fast charging. - Check, I think (on the proprietary)
- microSD (or UFS) support. - No! 128 GB internal + USB file transfers will have to do
- Wireless charging. - Don't know--haven't seen a thing about it; so maybe No
- No stupid gimmicks (looking at you, Nexbit Robin). - Check!
Working well. Seems very intuitive, with some exceptions. Shutting down apps fully took over a week to figure out.
This phone was $670-870 in October 2016. Some reviews from that time call it the best Android phone. I really had no idea. I've been entirely out of the loop on smartphones. My 12-year-old LG Verizon flip phone lasted me all this time, and I just didn't even think about replacing it until I read that Verizon is going to shut down the legacy stuff at the end of the year. My daughter suggested I look at the Pixel 2 when I asked her what was a good, but affordable phone. I had $200 in mind as a cap. The Pixel 2 is way above that, with the cheapest I've found being near $400 and used.
This also has the best resolution of any screen I own--QHD (1440p), which is rather ironic, given its small size. I was surprised by how open the phone is. Useful apps included VLC Media Player and a PSP emulator, both from the Google Play store. VLC is notable in that it brings its own comprehensive codecs; so it plays anything that also plays on the PC, and media files can be copied in without restrictions, through USB (as can PSP ISOs). Then there's the whole sideloading thing that I have yet to look into. All-in-all, an open pocket computer.
After a trip to the Verizon store, it's now working fully. SIM card in, plan changed, same phone numbers, old LG flip phones disconnected. (They die at the end of this year anyway.) Got a cheap basic Kyocera phone there to replace my mother's. She never used hers anyway. (I think I can count on one hand the number of times she used it over the last decade.) And she kept it off otherwise, so no one could call her on it.
So, I've joined the 2010s at last.
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I'm still rocking the OG Pixel. It's fine I guess, though the bezels are kind of embarrassing. It's also a bit sluggish these days. Still has a great camera though and free storage on Google Photos (which is an amazing product btw). Not sure if it'll get the Android 10 update, though I don't really care as long as it continues to receive security updates.
I'm going to try to hold out until next year on it.
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I have a Note 9. It replaced my cracked Galaxy S7Edge that was in poor shape. Last year, on Black Friday, I had finished my contract and decided to go with another company that was offering a brilliant monthly deal just for wireless usage. When I told my own company (Rogers) they gave me an incredible deal for the Note 9. Not only did I get an awesome Lenovo Google Home Display for free, the Note 9 was offered at a great deal. Essentially, the 24 monthly payments totalled were less than discounted retail price by a few hundred dollars. Apparently, it was a loyalty deal.
I am sure they did some automatic calculations on the cost of losing me as a customer.
Anyway, the Note 9 is an incredible phone. Gorgeous screen, awesome real estate, powerful, interesting pen gimmicks, and just looks stunning. The camera is something else, too.
The only thing is that I'll probably keep it till it craps out till my last phone. There was a time when nothing excited me like a new phone. But times have changed. There's just not enough in a new phone to justify upgrading regularly. And market trends are relfective of this. Sales are dropping. The new folding phone by Samsung is desperation.
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Nice!
I think there are a few factors at play here in the phone hardware market:
-Like 10 years ago everything was new and excited with smartphones. Huge tech advancements from model year to model year aside, there was some really cool stuff going on. Screens making massive leaps in resolution and OLED technology, cool designs and finishes, slide out keyboards, flip out keyboards, 3d screens, 3d cameras, projectors built in, etc. Form factors and finishes were more varied, and OS skins were more and more unique as all the manufacturers were trying to figure out what worked. Over time the same basic design just took hold and completely dominated (not really a bad thing at all) and now almost all phones more or less look and function the exact same way. Same with Android OS skins (again, not a bad thing as Android is so much better these days). No one is buying the newest HTC phone because the new Sense is amazing. So upgrading your 3 year old phone now comes down to it's a bit faster maybe, the camera is slightly better, and the screen might be better. You used to get those kind of jumps month to month basically.
-Phones cost way more, inflation taken into account. I used to kind of want to buy a new phone every year or so (obviously didn't unless I broke it -which happened) and it was at least feasible, if not entirely responsible or a good use of money. But if you were a gadget guy you could at least justify it. The Nexus 5, even with inflation would be quite a bit under $500. Pixel 3 is twice that I think. Even the Pixel 3a is at least $100 more. On the main/high end it's far more pronounced as well. The Galaxy S10 is like twice the price that the S2/3/4 would have launched at, accounting for inflation. Shit yeah, it's a lot nicer but you're only buying one when you absolutely have to. I think the flip side of this is that the low end lines like the Moto G etc are now very cheap and way more functional than they used to be. But those aren't the lines that ever excited people.
-The marginal difference in upgrades is way smaller than it used to be. Designs and price aside, if you upgraded a 2009 phone to a 2011 phone you were probably blown away. Dual core CPUs running at least twice as fast, way way more RAM, GPU, etc. All that is so well advanced now that the steps don't feel at all exciting. They ARE faster, but unless you're looking to play Fortnite, etc you're probably never going to notice. Instead most people are probably just looking for more storage when they upgrade and the base model storage is so slow to increase because the higher storage upgrades are so profitable.
Along with the novelty of Smartphones being common for a decade plus its combined to make it a market where sales have definitely slowed. There are way less shitty phones flooding the market but it's also far far less exciting or enticing for consumers. If you look at Android news sites, reddit, or forums all the buzz is around "teardrops" and bezels - terribly boring.
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You nailed it.
Never liked Apple but the new triple camera phone looks interesting.