Answers inline... On Feb 5, 12:04 pm, Reinier Zwitserloot <[email protected]> wrote: > I'll list some of the things you got entirely wrong. > > 1. iPhones are exactly as locked out as android phones. You can solve > this by jailbreaking them, which works for either one. iPhones DO NOT > BOOT without a sim in there UNLESS you unlocked it first, which > requires a sim card. Okay, sorry, you are right. I just didn't notice that because my iPhone is also unlocked. So both suck :)
> > 2. Both the iPhone and the android phone are for sale pre-unlocked and > activated. For iPhones, you're out 676 dollars and a lot of hassle > (import from belgium or italy, where the law dictates that phones must > be sold unlocked). However, the G1 comes straight from google and > costs only 400. Big Win for Android. The G1 is also legally > reflashable and all that, and google sells them just so you can do > this. Contrast to Apple, who officially doesn't support any sort of > hacking whatsoever, and has some fairly serious NDAs involved in > getting a developer licence. Okay, good points. But the G1 dev phone is quite expensive for Germany (shipping and tax) so we might just go and buy a phone fro the local dealer here (which is around 420€). The reflash thing is also new to me, but then one more point for G1. > > 3. A dev licence for an iPhone is $100. For android, there is no dev > licence. Anyone can get into it. Okay, next point I just discovered today. So again, Apple sucks, Android rocks :) > > 4. "Phone only works with google account" is an asinine con. Well, not if you share the phone with other developers in your institute (Universities do not have much money...). But still a fake account may do the trick. > > 5. Android Market isn't the only market. You can roll your own (quite > unlike iPhones). Nice! That's cool! > > But, to get to the real crux of the issue: Windows Mobile -BLOOOOWS-. > Nobody uses it, and therein lies all the proof you need. Whatever the > iPhone and android are doing that is cramping your 'get developing for > a device I bought off a retailer right away' style, is part of what > makes WM suck. Evidently you can't have it both ways. You could try to > use WM in your class, but the skills are useless. We all know WM is > going to be ancient history by this time in 2011. The only game that > matters now is the iPhone, Android, and whatever platform knows that's > the competition to beat, and is built to beat it. Like, just maybe, > the Palm Pre. Which, by the way, seems to be very open, though I > haven't read up on the Pre too much. The amont of predevcamp's around > the world is staggering though, so there's your rapidly growing > community all taken care of (which WM, by the way, has absolutely > nothing for. No communities at all). I do not agree here. If you look at the market you will find only from HTC like 95% windows mobile and only 5% (the G1 and maybe G2) with Android. Still the WM devices offer a lot more for business people than the other two platforms. But this is not the deal here. I also argee that the UI of WM sucks. But I do not beliefe that it will die that fast. And there are also communities around it, even open source and free software (e.g. http://www.opennetcf.com/). > > If you really want to set up a course at your university, I strongly > suggest you get in touch with google. I'm sure they can help you out. Okay, good idea. Maybe they can support us with some devices. Thanks for your comments, helped me alot towards Android! > > On Feb 5, 10:51 am, "Adam G." <[email protected]> wrote: > > > (Warning: long post, but please take your time to read this!) > > > We use to develop mobile applications since some years at our > > university. We have started years back with the HP iPaq and some Nokia > > mobile phones and JavaME (Java is the main language at our > > University). The problem with the iPaqs was the poor Java support and > > for the Nokias (3310 or so) the small screen. But we got some > > applications running. Later we decided to move to the Sharp Zaurus, as > > a linux powered "open" device. But it turned out that the Java support > > was not as good as we though, so we started to build new distributions > > (based on some meta packaging system, do not remember the name any > > more) with a better Java support and some addition features. But the > > next problem came with the connectivity. No wifi on board, only with > > extra cards. Finally we bought some Dell x50v and started to develop > > in Java for that with the help of different open Java VMs for Windows > > Mobile. But again this turned out to have poor performance and other > > problems. So finally we decided to go native, i.e. .net on Windows > > Mobile. We started to develop C# (almost Java) for these devices and > > it turned out to work and perform very well. After some experience > > with WM and .net we finally found the problem with that platform. It > > is hardly to find free libraries for development in a University > > environment (e.g. graph libs cost a lot). After three applications and > > these problems I would like to start a new era here: I personally ow > > an iPhone (and yes I love it). But as we want our students to > > participate in this development, it would be the best to stay in the > > Java world. So the best candidate is Android. So what is the problem > > with Android, or better say with the G1, which is currently the only > > hardware available? > > > Android (G1) > > Pros: > > * Open Source platform > > * Development based on Java & Eclipse > > * Quickly emerging community > > * Development on Win/Mac/Linux > > Cons: > > * Hardware closed, to direct deployment without dev phone or > > "jailbreak" > > * Phone only works with Google account > > * Phone only runs with a sim card and a data plan > > * 25$ to register for Android Market as developer > > > Compared to the iPhone it seams to me that the G1 is more closed, even > > if it is based an open source platform. You need the sim card, you > > need a data plan, every thing not needed on an iPhone nor on a WM > > device. > > > What sucks about the iPhone is the new language (Objective-C and > > Cocoa) and that the SDK is only available for Macs (which we do not > > have here at the University). Here Android is the only platform that > > is available for "all" OS. Windows Mobile is also limited to Windows, > > but you just build your app, package it to a cab file and install it > > on your phone. You don't need to subscribe somewhere as a developer, > > you do not have to "break" your phone, you can just do what ever you > > want. BUT: The UI of WM sucks so much that I really want to change to > > a UI that you can really use with your finger and not a stylus. > > > Overall I really would love to use Android and the G1 for our next > > project, but it is really not that easy and open as it looks in the > > beginning. > > > Any experience with Android development so far? > > > Cheers and sorry for the long post! > > Adam --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" 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 at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
