Having tested several devices, I am believe that Android OS is a pretty impressive OS that will win in the long run. I've tested out several devices, like the Droid, the Magic, Hero, Nexus One, and the iPhone 3GS. Being a university student, I'd rather not own a contract locked device, as the $60 a month is just two much debt for me. I probably won't own a smartphone (even though I do program for iPhone and am transitioning towards Android), due to costs. Plans in Canada and the US are ripoffs. Interestingly enough, phone plans are cheapest in the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. Why the last 2 though? Population density is not an excuse that the telecoms can retreat to - they're like Canada, low population, mostly concentrated in the southern parts of the nation with harsh winters. The only way I'd get a smart phone is through Google's seeding program.
I'd say that the iPhone still wins in terms of user-friendliness, but Android is catching up fast. Lets be honest here, we're making apps for are not of very high technical proficiency. That's why the iPhone caught such a large user base. With each update though, I've seen more with Android than I have with iPhone OS. I'd say that in the long run, Android's will dominate in market share. They have more carriers, more phones, and are at heart, an open platform. That means that more programmers are going to be willing to work for Android. Apple knows this quite well, which is why they've sued HTC (a prominent maker of Android phones). I wonder, what would make the perfect Android phone, though? On Apr 3, 3:56 pm, Incognito <[email protected]> wrote: > Did not get what you are shocked about. > Didn't know the droid's screen is made of glass. Need to verify. > Yes, I keep saying to myself that were it not for Android, Motorola cell > phone division would be dead. The Droid is truly an awesome device. I just > hope they don't loose focus by trying to churn out a million different > devices every year. Like Nokia that has a bunch of crappy useless throw away > phones. > On Apr 3, 2010, at 8:54 AM, Matt Kanninen <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm just a little shocked. I guess I've been a professional mobile > developer for too long. I spend a significant percentage of my > earnings on small devices. Trying to debug without the real hardware > wastes a lot of time. > > Bugs can be, specific to a phone carrier, a phone manufacturer, a > phone model, a firmware version, a specific users configuration of > software, specific user data/settings client side, specific user data/ > settings server side, and the specific state of the server. > > The fun part is figuring out where. It is very hard to do this from > an emulator. Emulators make it easy to develop applications that do > not work. > > OF COURSE THE DROID IS THE BEST HANDSET! Verizon has had by far the > most users, and strongest network, in aggregate, for a very long > time. They were also tightly controlled, and that wasn't a > coincidence. They didn't follow the GSM standard, but it's the best > standard that wins, not the one everyone chooses to adopt at first. > > I've long been a Verizon user for my personal phone, because I like to > be able to make phone calls, and pull and push data over a high speed > network. I was frustrated because my Verizon device was locked down, > and I was really excited about how T-Mobile was pushing UMA which > basically treated WiFi as another cell tower, giving you near total > coverage where you care about, but with VOIP level call quality. So I > canceled my contract with Verizon, and bought a T-Mobile curve, which > I still use to this day for some random tasks, wifi only. I love it's > UI, a keyboard and trackball you can use one handed. It was > frighteningly easy to use while doing another task. > > And then in the maiI I got an offer from Verizon to get the best phone > of the time, free, if I switched back. It was clearly a letter that > was generated because something about my user profile triggered their > sales/marketing engine, and they wanted to keep my business. I > couldn't afford it well otherwise, it cost as much as a cell phone not > made by Nokia or SE could at the time. And more then most of those > companies models. > > IMHO that best phone of the time was Verizon's most open handset at > the time, the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition. The one where Verizon > would give you Verizon sim card, to use abroad, it had both a GSM and > a CDMA radio, and it had a heavy Verizon color scheme because it was > the best. I used that device past it's death, I had to pop the > battery out to charge it, but I could do virtually any task, pretty > well, and could communicate better then any other communication device > at the time. It was also huge, by the standards of the day. It was > clearly for power users. > > At that time, Blackberry was the OEM that had the strongest product > across the carriers. You could code in java, and somewhat easily > create an application. It was basicaly J2ME, and it still is. So the > 8830 on Verizon was a no brainer for me. You had a near uniform > experience across the carriers, but could still pick the Blackberry > you wanted. The product was improved by the servers Blackberry ran, > to optimize the data being sent to the device, which needed to > conserve battery, etc. > > And then I waited. I was a real fan of Motorola, even though I knew > how sucky some of their phones were to developer for. But they were > making all the right moves. The RAZR 2 was a powerful feature phone, > running linux, IIRC. Motorola embraced linux early, and they were the > perfect candidate for Android. They were just ahead of the market. > Honestly it felt to me like Google created Android to save Motorola :) > > Verizon needed an iPhone competitor, and the other devices couldn't go > toe to toe the way the Droid clearly does. > > I don't like the shape o the D-Pad, but it does help keep the phone > slim. I wish the 4 soft keys for the Android buttons were real keys, > and I wish the center of the D-Pad was a trackball you could push down > to select. > > Thats it, otherwise the device is perfect. > > P.S. the screen might be gorilla glass, but if you repeatedly drop it > onto concrete you may develop a hairline crack. Don't stress, my > device continues to function fine. It's a little glitchy, especially > the GPS, but I can't tell whether that has anything to do with how > hard I am on my devices. > > Enjoy your Droids. I'm playing Uniwar these days, it's a cool turn > based strat that reminds me of Avatar or Starcraft. You standard > aliens, humans and bugs theme. > > -MK > > On Apr 1, 5:49 pm, Incognito <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry, no nexus one. > > On Apr 1, 2010, at 8:04 PM, CB <[email protected]> wrote: > > Incognito: > > Do you have a Nexus One? How would you compare it? > > Incognito wrote: > > You probably already figured it out but in case not, you can > disable flash in the menu. You must be in the camera app when you > open the menu. > > On Mar 30, 2010, at 2:50 PM, "Maps.Huge.Info (Maps API Guru)" > <[email protected] > wrote: > > I just received a DROID today (Device Seeding Program) and am > similarly impressed. My other Android device, the HTC Google ION, is > also a very nice phone but the soft keyboard just was very difficult > to use. The DROID soft keyboard is amazingly better. At first, I was > happy to have the pull out keyboard but after using the soft one a > number of times, I would say it will be just as easy to use the soft > one. For entering passwords or web addresses that require numbers and > letters, the pull out keyboard will be much better though. > > The speaker is very clear and much higher quality than the ION as > well. Another really nice feature (this may be 2.0.1 vs 1.6) is when > using the phone, if you take it away from your ear, the screen lights > up. This is great for using a phone tree. With the ION (1.6?), the > keyboard requires unlocking before the dial pad can be used. The > DROID > method is far better and easier to use. > > The flash is a great addition to the camera. Often, I've been in > situations where the light was too low to take a good picture with > the > ION. The DROID flash will be quite useful in those situations. The > flash isn't that bright but certainly is far better than no flash. > Time will tell just how useful it is. I would like to see a way to > disable the flash, perhaps there is but I didn't see it. There are > times when the flash is less valuable, like reading QR codes from a > screen. > > On the negative side, I find the DROID to be very heavy and it > feels a > bit delicate. I fear that dropping the thing will render it inop. The > ION feels a lot sturdier. I've dropped the ION several times and it > bounces very well. I think the DROID will dent or just break if > dropped. I could be wrong, not going to test that! > > I'd love to compare the Nexus to this device, I'm hoping for a chance > at the end of May when I check in for Google IO 2010! > > -John Coryat, USNaviguide LLC > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to android- > [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > . > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > . > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Android Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. 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