Anyone apart from Rattle and BobbyG interested in Android phones. e.g. why I got one instead of an iPhone? What I like about the Samsung Galaxy S - not all Android phones are identical in the UI department with some minor differences. Also about some good apps I've come across, using the beta version of Google Navigation (it does not use as much data as you'd think so must have cached the route before I started)....
The Samsung Galaxy S is also very light. But with dual core 1GHz CPU it can eat the battery. I've found it better on GSM/GPRS and not hunting for 3G and also letting it always connect to wifi at home instead of turning off wifi. GPS can eat battery too but I can use an external Bluetooth GPS which is more sensitive too (there's an app for that).
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And Google's Goggles is a little fun - I took a few pictures on holiday to try it out and it worked out what the pictures were!
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Just going through this getting SWMBO first smartphone.
She looked at the Galaxy S and, while a good phone it its own right, didn't like it.
Why ? She doesn't like my iPhone either, too slippery.
She has opted for, no, I did not dare interrupt female logic, an LG 540GT (sounds like something Nissan would make). Totally inferior in every respect from what I could see as a "bloke".
Female logic ? It "felt" right...
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But an iPhone or an Android phone is not just a phone. Some females might not get that either. The phone part is a small piece of functionality ;-) She obviously liked Android though.
The Samsung Galaxy S is not as slippery as my old iPod Touch (first generation) though... and the display is so much better too. It's nearly as good IMO as the Retina display of the iPhone 4. And bigger screen too. The new iPod touch does not have the same display as an iPhone 4 although it is the same resolution.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 10 Oct 10 at 22:05
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Tell that to the female hand :)
>> The phone part is a small piece of functionality ;-) She
>> obviously liked Android though.
Never make assumptions where the female brain is involved, it could have a ZX80 OS as far as she is concerned. It's a piece of kit to us that enables us (men) to keep in touch via email, SMS or phone plus a billion aps., to a woman...is there such a thing as a female Swiss Toni?
My iPhone was provided by work. It was that or a Blackberry and I don't have Blackberry fingers like I don't have a Shoei head for bike helmets.
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My question stands though... I pondered whether to go iPhone or Android and went for a particular Android phone too. And wondered if anyone was interested. I know someone else used to do Nokia phone reviews/musings ;-)
Talking of Sinclair computers (ZX80).... I've got a Spectrum emulator but wanted a BBC one. There was only a week of playing before I went to Greece for two weeks though.
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I've got a BBC Model B with 96K Sideways RAM (pure luxury in't days of 32, 48 and 64k) tucked away somewhere in the loft at my mother's.
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 10 Oct 10 at 22:26
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I had a BBC Master 128 but sold it many many years ago. The main developer of the original BBC Model B emulator was a friend at Uni (Dave Gilbert). He did it as a hobby and it took him very little time to do a full BBC emulator. Smart.
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>> ...is there such a thing as a female Swiss Toni?
>>
Oi!!!!!
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I have an LG GW520 for my business phone, its a touch screen with a proper QWERTY keyboard. It is by far the worst phone I've ever owned, who ever designed the GUI couldn't have used a phone before. You need to use the touch screen to scroll down and when viewing the list of callers it results in making the wrong phone calls by accident. When I get my Galaxy I will replace it with my current personal phone the Nokia N97 mini.
The Galaxy S has an LED screen so it should be pretty good. Hopefully it will come some time this week and I look forward to using it. The Nokia N97 is great as a phone and is great as a web surfer but that is really the limits. It is not really a hand held computer as its not powerful enough, the Galaxy S however is similar to spec to many PCs were 5 years ago.
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The LG 540GT is an Android phone though.
The AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S is very good. Black is black etc.
>> the Galaxy S however is similar to spec to many PCs were 5 years ago.
No it's not. The Cortex A8 CPU may run at 1GHz and be dual core but it's not that powerful.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 10 Oct 10 at 22:17
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I was meaning that five years ago, many people were still using PIIIs and AMD Durons etc. My parents in 2005 had a Duron 1Ghz with 512MB DDR RAM.
It would be interesting to compare the two processors but as they are designed for completly different things and are not even compatable it would be impossible. I suppose you could measure it by MIPs.
From a developer point of view I can imagine Android might be a bit tricky because of all the millionns of different specs, but I have not looked at the SDK yet.
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>> I was meaning that five years ago, many people were still using PIIIs and AMD
>> Durons etc. My parents in 2005 had a Duron 1Ghz with 512MB DDR RAM.
>>
Five years ago ? Until July or August 2008 I was on a Dell Dimension L600r. Only a lightning strike took the damned thing out so I could justify a new machine. It just kept on going with a bit of tuning here and there.
I'm looking forward to SWMBO's new phone just to see how it compares with the iPhone. So far I've been less than impressed with the 3GS. Yes it has a shed loads of functionality but it needs plugging in every few hours (constantly on roaming with 3G as I need access to emails while making phone calls while abroad).
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 10 Oct 10 at 22:32
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Battery life will be an issue, my Nokia N97 mini usually lasts 36 hours if I do some web surfing on 3G and make some calls but it can last less than a day if I use sat nav and wifi.
I have a tomtom but I find mobile phone sat nav handy if I am in London or I don't have my tomtom with me. Is the sat nav on the galaxy s free like it is in the Nokia?
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>> Is the sat nav on the galaxy s free like it is in the Nokia?
It's Google so yes.... but you need a good data plan.
I drove to Nottingham two weeks ago and it took about 2-3Mb using Google Navigator Beta. Not too bad.
I also cached some maps (Google ones mainly) for when I was in Greece to play with in RMaps but that was not for navigation (bit map only).
I also found on the trip to Nottingham that the in built GPS was not brilliant. It would switch (I think) to using the GSM network to triangulate location at times. But the size of this phone without battery is very small so the GPS antenna must also be small.
When in Greece on the transfers the GPS also struggled. With a Bluetooth GPS it picked up location faster. The free app worked but I'd need to pay I think £1.74 for the full one... so will.
Also when driving to Nottingham the phone was plugged in to the car charger and was full at the start of the journey. When I got there it was not fully charged so it must have been using more power than my charger provided! That will be the GPS for you.
But I think Android 2.2 (Froyo) improves GPS on the Samsung Galaxy S.
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Swype is very good feature too.... you can write emails/texts as fast as you could type.
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Is Swype similar (or the same) as what is on HTC hardware ?
Pretty clever stuff what I've seen on HTC.
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I guess Swype might be on the HTC Android phones and others.
swypeinc.com/
It is very quick to type. Very clever.
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>> >> Is the sat nav on the galaxy s free like it is in the
>> Nokia?
>>
>> It's Google so yes.... but you need a good data plan.
>>
Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that a data plan means you have to pay for the data.
Nokia Ovi maps satnav feature is completely free as it can be used with the free Ovi maps resident on your phone - you do not have to use your data connection although you can opt to use it if you wish. For example if surrounded by tall buildings blocking access to the satellites, you may find it useful to use the data connection. Nokia Ovi maps are available as a free download for many parts of the world. You do not need to be within range of a mobile signal for the satnav to work. You can be in the Sahara Desert and the satnav will work - provided of course that your built in gps can lock on to satellites.
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>> Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that a data plan means you have to pay for the data.
No you're right. You do pay for data and so having a good plan that includes a lot of data is a good idea for a smartphone. Otherwise you either pay a lot as you use it or just don't have Internet access when out and about.
When the iPhone first came out the data allowance was said to be unlimited (subject to fair use policy) but these days you're likely to get either 500Mb or 1Gb per month on your contract (UK data use only).
When I used Google Navigation (comparing to TomTom 720 as I drove) I worked out the route before I left and thus it must have pre-cached some of the maps. Even fiddling with using satellite images near my destination (so increased data use!) and some street view type images (double click on map to see a junction photo).... it used about 3Mb. So for emergencies not bad.
I found my GPS solution for using a Bluetooth receiver initially had problems with Google Navigation (it wanted to turn on GPS)... but I tinkered and got it working with the BT GPS. It's more accurate and uses less battery. The inbuilt one is of course fine for normal use.
I wanted to see if I could get a BT GPS working because when out walking I can keep the phone with the OS maps (ViewRanger) in my pocket... where it would not get much line of sight of GPS satellites!
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>> Battery life will be an issue, my Nokia N97 mini usually lasts 36 hours if
>> I do some web surfing on 3G and make some calls but it can last
>> less than a day if I use sat nav and wifi.
>>
My backup is a Nokia 6230i. I charge it on Sunday eve. to 7 bars and it still has four bars on Friday eve.
Admittedly it's not doing anything remotely like the iPhone does but it still works after 5 days away switched on all the time, used as an alarm clock too as, at the moment, I'm not sure if the iPhone will make it through the night. It's given up the ghost a couple of times now.
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Like any phone (not only a smartphone), 3G takes more battery power. Switch to GSM only (so GPRS for data) and battery life will be much better.
I find my Nokia e51 and the new Samsung Galaxy S both switch to 3G when there is a much stronger GSM signal. And because the 3G signal is weak they will therefore boost power to the antenna.... might try to get a free Vodafone SureSignal for home. But then at home I'd be using wifi.
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Thanks, I will still have the satnav I can use on the Nokia too and if I am driving some where maze like e.g SK4! I always take my sat nav with me.
Sometimes I do get caught out though thinking I know the way so leave the sat nav at home and that is when the phones come in handy. I really do need to buy a simple A-Z though.
What I will be using the Galaxy mainly for is surfing, music (offline), phone calls/txts and apps.
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Guys, keep the info coming, my renewal is due in December so can pick in November I think.
Pug, what did you finally settle for?
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Any feedback on the HTC smartphones? I'm up for renewal november and have looked at the HTC Desire.
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>> Any feedback on the HTC smartphones? I'm up for renewal november and have looked at
>> the HTC Desire.
Presumably you've seen reviews like this:
www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/htc-desire.htm
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The HTC Desire and soon to be available Desire HD (4.3" screen) both use the HTC Sense UI which runs on top of Android. I've not used it but it's meant to be very good. I'd pop into a shop to try some out - I like the Samsung UI that complements the standard Android UI.
One reason I didn't get the Desire was the phone has only 512Mb storage in built. That won't matter so much with Android 2.2 when apps can be installed on the SD card. The Samsung Galaxy S 8Gb has about 1.8Gb for apps etc plus another 5.8Gb of inbuilt storage for other things like music etc (plus an micro SD card slot).
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Get a phone with big screen - it will enhance your web experience.
Most smartphoens are lame without data plan - so make sure your web usage is covered under the tariff.
Android is likely to be dominant smart phone OS in future - so it is a good bet.
These phones are as good as apps your are running on them - so be up to date with useful apps coming out to the market.
Remember, these devices are mini computers which also have a phone function.
Last edited by: movilogo on Mon 11 Oct 10 at 10:25
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I've had an HTC Desire since the spring and i am very happy with it. I know Zero will probably be along to slag off the battery life but I only have to re-charge every other night (which is ok in smartphone terms) but normally plug it in every night anyway.
I would recommend Swift Key as an alternative keyboard as it learns and predicts the words you want to type. Google Navigation is pretty good for a free App although the voice is a bit annoying. I prefer Co Pilot live but that is a paid item.
I have never had an iPhone as I'm not prepared to pay the silly prices. I understand it is better for games/gaming (no interest to me) but other than that Android is equally as good especially if you like fiddling around with the set up. If you want to root the device there are all sorts of different ROMs to change the look and feel and in some cases performance.
A Gmail account is a must as the Mail/Contacts synchronization is excellent. I now rarely use my home computer for email.
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It is the gosling around to get it how you like that I like but for some that is a big disadvantage.
Swipe is excellent on the Samsung Galaxy S. I can europe very quickly and accurately.
I await the delayed android 2.2 upgrade later this month.
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"It is the gosling around to get it how you like that I like but for some that is a big disadvantage."
Me too.......although I cant get on with Swype - my fingers keep getting in the way !
I have 2.2 on the Desire and to be honest I didnt notice much difference other than being able to store Apps on the SD card. Some of the forums suggest the SGS was a bit laggy initially but i believe there is a fix now.
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I'm beginning to feel more and more like the chap asking for "a needle for my gramophone" in some 80s comedy sketch show.
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>> I'm beginning to feel more and more like the chap asking for "a needle for
>> my gramophone" in some 80s comedy sketch show.
>>
It is the "gosling around" that has me completely foxed. Is it by any chance a Manc expression named after the Granada television presenter who allegedly admitted making up a confession that he killed a lover dying of Aids by smothering him.
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I'd be interested. I decided to go for an iPhone4 rather than a Galaxy S when I had a choice a few weeks ago. My decision was based around having several iPod specific interfaces I'd like to continue to use, and also a perception of better battery life.
A friend has, and loves, a Galaxy S, and my impression is that I was right about the relative battery life. Using 3G data, with three exchange accounts set to 15 minute retrieval, and with a fair amount of use, I have about 40% left at the end of a work day. The GPS is excellent, though thirsty on the battery (I've seen a figure of about 1% / minute somewhere), and the wifi is excellent. Everything 'just works'.
One feature I've only just discovered is that the wifi will run in the background when the phone is on standby. I'm in the US at the moment with cellular data turned off, but if I leave the wifi on then I can receive skype calls in the background with very little hit on the battery. I'm not sure how this works, but I'm pleased to have it. As a result I'm using the laptop far less in the evenings.
Tomtom was relatively expensive but works beautifully, and is very nicely integrated with the iPod app. The Kindle app is nice - good to have an option to read on the plane / train for an hour or two, and the screen is good enough for this to be acceptable, albeit not something any sane person would chose if a real kindle or a book was available.
Overall, I've no idea if it's better than a Samsung, but they are certainly comparable as far as I can tell. I'd be interested in hearing impressions from the other side..
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Looking at the hardware specs they are both about the same. Both have 512MB RAM and both have the Cortex A8 processor. I think it is amazing that all these new super phones have one thing in common, they are all powered by a British designed processor.
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>> they are all powered by a British designed processor.
...as is the Vodafone SureSignal mentioned earlier, which is an fantastic product. And if enough of you buy one, I might be able to trade in my Y reg Focus for a younger model :)
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I might get one. I'd prefer to keep my phone set to 3G for when out and about. When at home it will use broadband for data. But if I have a SureSignal then I'll get max strength signal and therefore max battery life for the phones ;-)
I wonder if I can get one via Vodafone corporate for free?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 11 Oct 10 at 16:07
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>> I wonder if I can get one via Vodafone corporate for free?
(If you're asking me, 'fraid I don't know - I only work for the people who make the boxes who supply them to the company who supplies them to Vodafone.)
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Focus, I was thinking out loud - I know you work for the company that created them and you wrote some of the software for it.
My work phone is with Vodafone Corporate and we probably have at least 5000 mobile phones... we must be good customers because we get free Vodafone to Vodafone calls.
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>> My work phone is with Vodafone Corporate and we probably have at least 5000 mobile
>> phones...
...so if you can persuade your employer that you all need SureSignals, I'll definitely add you to my Christmas card list :)
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After painstaking umming and ahiing upgraded to an iPhone4 today..
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Sounds like the Desire will be a sound choice. I've never bothered with internet/email on a phone - mainly because so far the screens were too small and the functionality 'clunky' at best. But more and more of my work is now email based so being able to access and respond on the go without powering up the laptop would be very useful.
One thing, how easy is it to use an ntl/virgin email setup with one of these? It's the only email I use.
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Pete, setting up pretty much any email account will be trivial with any Android or Apple device. If your account will support IMAP then so much the better..
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Not quite sure why I would need a suresignal as my 3G signal in my house is already very good.
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But the Android phone will need a Google mail account... you won't login to the Google app store without it for instance. You can use other email accounts. I use the Yahoo Mail client on mine - but it's a bit slow.
Web browser is very fast as is the phone.
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EP, you will need a GMail account to access the Market (Android version of the app Store) . I am with Virgin as well and I have set up a forwarding arrangement from VM to Gmail which works flawlessly. You can sync direct if you want but I have never bothered as obviously the Google bit just works. (Plus it means you have a built in back up if you want it)
I dont know if other phones do this - but the Desire's pinch zoom and resulting text re-flow to fit the screen is superb on the stock browser and some of the free alternatives which are available.
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I am looking forward to do creating some simple apps for it. I haven't bothered doing any real hobby programming for years so it is a great excuse to get into it.
It will be a challange writing tighter code rather than being sloppy like you can do with the PC.
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For anyone with or getting a Samsung Galaxy S before the Froyo Android 2.2 update.... the GPS is poor. I've made a change in a hidden menu and it's just picked up 5-6 satellites quickly from within the house. It seems to have made a difference. I'll let you know how I get on over time.
It probably means a simple firmware upgrade is all that is needed. This fix just changes how GPS is configured.
No doubt iPhone 4 users will be along to say how crap this phone is because it can struggle to pick up a GPS signal.... ;-) But it seems okay now and at least it keeps the phone signal.
And Zero, when you're back... clue to my house is in a Domino Pizza advert someone is filming on our street tonight.... the BT Internet cabinet is not in view because it's round a few corners. No idea why someone picked this street... someone must have volunteered to get pizzas delivered and they are still filming 2.5 hours later!
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 11 Oct 10 at 21:28
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That's interesting, the only problem my friend has had with his Galaxy S was the GPS. As he'd not restarted it in the 2 months he'd had it, we assumed that the GPS software had crashed. Perhaps not? He'd not noticed any problems with it when using Google Maps, but this was the first time he'd tried to use Co-Pilot. I'll find out how he's got on.
I can't understand the rivalry really, I didn't have an iPhone on principle, but I realised I had no idea what that principle was, and the iPhone seemed to fit my needs marginally better at the time.
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When using Google Maps it can use both wifi hotspots (via SkyHook) and the mobile network masts to also work out a rough location. For more accurate position GPS is needed. So maybe he's not really noticed. You would if you tried using it for navigation.
On the transfer to resort on holiday the Samsung Galaxy S would not get a GPS fix. The BT GPS receiver I have got a position within seconds. But that will have a much larger GPS antenna - it's a battery, GPS and a little memory for logging way points.
There is going to be a lot more rivalry between Apple and Google sooner than later. Hence the Google chap resigning from the Apple board for one.
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I've just got an HTC Desire after having a Nokia 5800 and I'm chuffed to bits with it. It's a cracking piece of kit and looks superb. I'm looking forward to playing around with it to find out what exactly it does!
Incidentally, what is it with women? Mrs B just looked at it witheringly and said something like 'can you use it as a phone?'. They just don't get it, do they...? ;-)
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I got mine just before a two week holiday... it's a gadget apparently. Because I've read ebooks, surfed the net and watched a film etc.
But I kept being asked to check online daily for the weather forecast where we were :-)
I think this is a very nice phone and UI.... it will be better again with the Froyo 2.2 update as will your phone.
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I downloaded the main SDK last night but not installed yet. I did think of dabbling on the iPod but maybe the Android is the one to try so to speak. Not thought of what I'd want to write yet.
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>> Anyone apart from Rattle and BobbyG interested in Android phones. e.g. why I got one
>> instead of an iPhone? What I like about the Samsung Galaxy S
Nope. I've got more interesting things to do.
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Stuffed, stumbled and completely Hollocked here. Do any of you do any work or produce anything? How did you manage before the chuffing Martians took over? Will I still be able to make a meagre living in The Building trade. Beam me up (somewhere) Scottie or whatever your bleeding name is..... 0:-)
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Smart phones enable to people to get more work done. No excuse for ignoring that email when now even it is 3:00am in the morning :p.
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There is an exactly opposite view, which is that smart phones (well, any mobile phone) is a constant source of interruption to the working day and gives workers the ability to carry out their own agenda all day (which may be work, or more likely social networking) without their employers having any control.
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>> Nope. I've got more interesting things to do.
I know where you're coming from, FT.
Sadly, many of the 'smart' phone owners I've met have turned out to be the most ignorant of people.
These 'devices' seem to appeal to the 'inner child', with their baubles and beeps - but perhaps we should seek to develop the 'inner adult' for a richer appreciation of life.
The American high school system has a 'sophomore' year - the derivation of that word always brings a smile to my face, particularly in relation to 'information technology'.
Edit - not my line spacing!
Last edited by: Old Sock on Wed 13 Oct 10 at 09:42
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I've got my new Samsung now. I have been playing with it a bit. Will take some time to get used to but should be a bit of fun. The best bit is I have to be a geek and since most idiots have smart phones now owning one is no longer a geeky thing. For this reason I need to develop some of my own applications then in the pub it won't be hey look out my new phone, it will be hey look at my new program, it tells you where to get the cheapest hookers from.
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I have an HTC Hero running Android 2.1 which I've had for about seven months. The 2.1 OS upgrade went on back in August (it was previously 1.5).
I can't see me moving away from Android for the foreseeable future. It works really well, and HTC's 'SenseUI' front end is lovely to use.
The only thing I would say is that my phone is now a portable entertainment console and media device first and foremost. And a phone second.
The Android SDK and supporting documentation are also free to download.
Last edited by: DP on Wed 13 Oct 10 at 14:19
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I am going to try the free tutorials first, I have my Java books too which will be handy as a reference.
I was going to write a free dope wars clone but it seems its already been done but I could write a twist into it.
I am also going to write a very simple Manchester Rocks application so people can check what rock nights are on a specific day. My idea would be to create a central database that facebook can also link it, but then I not got the faintest clue how to use the Facebook apis.
When I was at university XML and web services were in just coming in thing and it was supposed to be for websites, now for purpose and use of XML has completly changed and I have not caught up with the times.
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>> The American high school system has a 'sophomore' year - the derivation of that word
>> always brings a smile to my face, particularly in relation to 'information technology'.
>>
T'internet says "Lots of wise fools have fallen for the false etymology.
Though the first part does come from the Greek word sophos ("wise"), there is no direct relation to the Greek word for "foolish" as is commonly believed. In truth, sophomore is a variation of sophist, a word that has a long and twisted history in itself.
Greek sophisma ("sophism") seems to have entered English two ways, first from the Old French sophime (or soffime), and later from that word's source, the Latin sophisma (or perhaps from a different Old French form, sophisme, which is also the modern French form.) So English had both sophume and sophism as synonyms, and also had the synonymous pair sophumer and sophister for what we would now call a "sophist."
By 1726 sophumer had become sophomore in America, the modern spelling probably being influenced by the false etymology from Greek moros ("foolish"). The upperclassmen's "sophister" designation was gradually dropped, disappearing by about 1850. That leaves us with the familiar freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors we have today. High school students had to wait a bit longer. These designations weren't applied to them until about the turn of the twentieth century. "
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Ah, John - but etymology can also change to suit the whim of common usage:
The word 'homophobic', for example, might upset many an etymological purist :-)
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I took the phone out last night and quite a few people commented on it. A few people said how amazing the screen looked. I have never really had any comments like that before about any of my previous phones. It seems it has got the cool factor.
I am getting used to phone now and managing to conserve the battery. After I have got used to its much more user friendly than Symbian.
Not started any develop yet as I have been too busy but have an idea for an app.
I am very impressed with the video performance. Watched an old eposide of OFAH on it and it performed better than my Atom based Netbook.
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>> performed better than my Atom based Netbook.
Probably got a better GPU mind.
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Well, all i can say is, my son who works for Vodaphone, and is an phone geek, dumped his HTC desire and went Iphone.
Only the iphone is cool, and only the iphone is the ultimate in useability.
Use the others and you *need* to develop apps to find paid for ladies of the night, because cool girls wont come anywhere near you.
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When I went to the States I figured internet access was vital these days. We toyed with the idea of packing Nicoles Eze Netbook, but I decided to rely on the Iphone. I loaded up the Iphone with the apps i needed, and the maps required for walking the streets of San Francisco and Las vegas.
It did everything required of it. Picked up every wifi hotspot asked of it, and accessed every web page perfectly. Email was a breeze. The sceen was readable in any light, and I used it as my primary video camera (720 HD). The iphone is a perfect hoiday companion in a way that the androids never come close to.
I really canot praise the iphone high enough. (and this from an apple and Steve Jobs hater)
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...(and this from an apple and Steve Jobs hater)...
I think lots of people don't realise how good Apple stuff is to use until they try it.
I still miss my old office iMac, even though its Dell PC flat screen replacement is, in theory, superior in every respect.
Money no object?
Apple every time.
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>> Apple every time.
Alas, I am being dragged, kicking and screaming, to admire some of the Apple stuff.
We bought Nicole an Ipod Nano G6 in Las Vegas (from the Apple Store). It is a very smart cute little piece of kit.
Damn them.
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The thing you have to credit Apple for since Steve Job's return are how things work. For the Macs, it's more to do with the software and the hardware. Same for the iPhone. And then there's been various iPod's to admire. They didn't even invent the MP3 player or anything like that - Compaq had one my years before Apple.
... they just seem to do things the right way all to often. And charge a premium for their products.
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My iphone 4 32Gig arrived less than 24 hours after I stuck the deal with O2 - it looks like the sexiest slnkiest thing ever in the brief period it was naked, now encased in its matt black Otterbox Defender (which even has a window for the Apple logo) - it looks a little meaner but nonetheless is dead cool.
Functionality is light years ahead of the Blackberry Bold it replaces and battery life is far superior.
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>> My iphone 4 32Gig arrived less than 24 hours after I stuck the deal with
>> O2 - it looks like the sexiest slnkiest thing ever in the brief period it
>> was naked,
PU
Some apps you should consider,
HA traffic info, AroundMe, BBC news, HiDef radio or Last FM, BBC radio, BBC Iplayer, Met Office weather (the standard included one is crap) Office2, drop Box, and finally
Motion X GPS. So good I paid for the full version.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 18 Oct 10 at 09:11
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Thanks Zero - will have a look at them I had the BBC ones loaded onto my iPod - an that is pretty good. The only app. I've loaded is the Motorcycle News journey logger - having used it the other day I may uninstall it, lest it be used against me in Court !
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Zero, what you describe of the iPhone 4 I'd say the same about the Samsung Galaxy S. And it has infinitely more memory available - i.e. you can add an SD card ;-)
What I am realising about Android is you can customise it a lot more than an iPhone - and if you don't then get an iPhone.
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Have you updated it to 2.2 yet? Friends with Android universally love it, but have all commented that it feels like it's not yet finished. Maybe that will change with Froyo?
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The 2.2 Froyo iplaye for the Samsung Galaxy S was delayed. Rolled out to Nordic region the end of last week. Coming to the rest of Europe soon.
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Guys, interesting discussion, keep it up! My renewal with O2 is due up in Dec and starting to look around and will probably ask more specific questions nearer the time.
However quickly looking just now, the Galaxy S seems to get very good reviews and available on a good deal through T Mobile. Although I have had Nokias through O2 for a good number of years I am willing to change phone and provider this time!
I will start drafting my thread shortly so you have been warned!
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The Galaxy S will be on Android 2.2 when you get it in December. It's only a minor update such as some performance improvements, improved battery life, full Flash 10.1 (the one Apple won't let you have)... it's probably available in the UK sometime this week.
But if you don't want to tweak a lot then an iPhone might be better. But they are more expensive and the hardware is about the same. The display on the Samsung Galaxy S is easily as good as the iPhone 4 although slightly lower resolution but also a bigger screen.
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>> Although I have had Nokias
Dump them. Rapidly falling far behind, time to jump ship me old fruit.
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Symbian just hasn;t caught up. On my Samsung if I want to switch between WIFI and 3g it its just one press. On my Nokia the process took over a minute. I still like my Nokia N97 Mini though and use it for my business phone.
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>>Dump them. Rapidly falling far behind, time to jump ship me old fruit.
Its certainly looking that way though as you guys know by now, I am not the most techy of folk, I won't be writing my own Apps etc.
In fact the reality may well be that the free Nokia maps would get used more than Apps will on an iphone / Android.
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I don't need to switch between wifi and 3g at home.the phone switches to wifi automatically when there is a known access point. I leave wifi on mind. To switch it on takes seconds though using the icon in the notify area.
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I just turn the WIFI off at home if I am not using the net on it to save battery life, otherwise its connected for no reason. On my Nokia it was a pain to turn WIFI off.
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Rattle, I think you'll find leaving wifi on at home saves the battery. The alternative is it tries using the 3G or GPRS network for data. I suppose you could turn off background sync etc. It also saves your data allowance a little.
Basically, WiFi can take less power than 3G for data.
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Yeah I have stopped the syncing that has made a big difference to battery life.
I found my Nokia drained the battery like mad if the wireless was left on.
So far I have not been able to get more than 24 hours out of the battery but then it hasn't really been typical use. It has taken 6 hours on wifi to sync spotify for a start.
I am going to buy a cheap router for upstairs though as the downstairs Netgear N struggles due to the vast WIFI congestion and cordless phones. I have ethernet in my room so it makes sense just to add a cheap £15 TPLINK to it, so the phone gets a very good signal strength under WIFI.
Am I also right in thinking that the Galaxy dosn't have support for N so its in G mode anyway?
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>> Am I also right in thinking that the Galaxy dosn't have support for N so its in G mode anyway?
No it's wireless N capable. So using Wireless G might slow you down. Download something like WiFi analyser to select a better channel for your Netgear N router? Adding another might make it all worse if it's heavily congested.
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N or G really dont matter when your ADSL link is 10 max....
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I just leave mine to sort it out.
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Zero, I've been doing exactly the same. So at home it would use wifi and therefore have a faster connection. I don't see the point of turning wifi on and off all the time. GPS the same. So far finding battery life fine. Not as good as a Nokia e51 but that didn't have a 4.0" screen or dual core 1GHz CPU. It did have wifi but remained off most of the time.
Still charge the Samsung nightly.
What I've found where I live though is that the Nokia and also now the Samsung if on 3G can run a battery down very quick.... it's because the base station Vodafone have you use is not the nearest and so the power output for the antenna gets ramped up.
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you have a fast link, why not get a vodaphone femtocell?
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I mentioned this in another thread when you were off. I might but will try to get Vodafone to give one. The logic being when at home why not use WiFi for data so the phone link is voice only. But when away from home using 3G makes sense and switching to/from UMTS and GSM networks would be a pain.
Now because my work mobile is also affected on 3G I wonder if Vodafone corporate might help??? We do have thousands of phones as a company - they don't even charge us for Vodafone to Vodafone calls anymore.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 18 Oct 10 at 22:48
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Apple boss Steve Jobs reckons Android will ultimately fail because it's 'fragmented'.
The following is taken from the New York Times report of Apple's results:
Just as a variety of Windows-based PCs held Apple computers to a tiny market share for decades, a variety of Android phones may one day make iPhones a bit player, some analysts have said.
Mr. Jobs waved off suggestions that Google’s strategy would win, casting its approach as fragmented because of the variations of Android that he said are used by different phone carriers.
"With iPhone, every handset works the same,” Mr. Jobs said. He added, “We think Android is very fragmented and more fragmented every day.”
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I cant make my mind up if Jobs is a despotic idiot or genius. He seems to embrace both philosophies with alarming regularity.
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A sort of Richard Brunstrom of the telephony world !
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...A sort of Richard Brunstrom of the telephony world !...
Maybe, except Brunstrom's got a bigger pension.
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>> I cant make my mind up if Jobs is a despotic idiot or genius. He
>> seems to embrace both philosophies with alarming regularity.
Me too, but that dismissive statement about Android, as with most he comes out with, show that he is unfailingly arrogant.
This 'superior', sneering attitude to anything outside the Apple world is one of the most frustrating things about this company IMHO.
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>> This 'superior', sneering attitude to anything outside the Apple world is one of the most
>> frustrating things about this company IMHO.
Was sitting next to someone using an iPad on the way home on the train this evening. I'm not a gadget freak, or an Apple user, but I must admit it did look quite nice. She was just using it to browse - might have been stuff on the device rather than online, not sure. I was working on my laptop, and felt very old fashioned :)
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He makes some good points, especially interesting about tablets and how the 7" tablets are flawed as they are not sufficiently better than phones to make them worth carrying.
I personally don't see the problem with iPhone vs Android. Both are very competent products, and they have different slants on the same problem. iPhone is for people who need something that 'just works', Android offers more choice and flexibility, and is constantly evolving to niche needs. My guess is that there will remain a market for both.
The Guardian has good coverage of Jobs' comments:
tinyurl.com/37k6zfk
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Having considered an iPad - they are too big unless I take to carrying a man-bag which is unlikely.
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The Ipad is too big and offers nothing over an iphone except size and obsolutely nothing over a netbook
Have you seen people trying to use them? Its ergonomics are horid.
Its a fashion statement, and like most of them it will pass.
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Dye is cast now - 14 day cooling off period on the iPhone - just wiped the Blackberry before I sell it on....so iPhone for the next 18 months then.
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Zero you're spot on about the ergonomics of the iPad. It's too heavy and too slippery to hold for any length of time. I was surprised how heavy it was. So you'd have to sit somehow with it resting on your knees.... that's why laptops work ergonomic wise.
When we went on holidays my wife told someone I was taking an eReader. The exclaimed I'd never be able to use that in the sun... they've obviously never heard of eInk screens. The brighter the light the clearer it gets. An iPad would have struggled somewhat and needed to boost brightness to cope thus sapping battery power.
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Kindle works fine in all light conditions - certainly was happy to be used taking the rays in Florida - an added benefit is that it provides rudimentary net access - not quick and graphically challenged but it proved its worth in the ash crisis as it had a bigger screen than the iPod Touch. For me the Kindle size and keyboard with a colour screen would be close to the ideal portable "thing"...
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They say colour eInk displays are on the way. It cannot be an LCD type display because of the need to work in bright light and to be low power. eInk screens only use power when changing pages basically.
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I was viewing some photos taken on an Android phone yesterday using an app called Camera 360.
The title is a bit confusing as, basically, it's image stabilisation, but very effective; the photos are the best I've ever seen taken with a mobile phone.
See:
hubpages.com/hub/Review-of-3-free-Droid-camera-apps (for some details of free version's features).
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Thank God I don't need a mobile 'phone - horrible things - I DO have one, for emergency use only, but 99% of the time it sits quietly in my bedroom cupboard.
Everyone here in Spain thinks that everyone has a mobile 'phone. Some websites refuse to accept a completed web form without an entry in the mobile number box.
Now my bank wants to send me a PIN by text message for "unusual" transfers.
Well - stuff 'em - I don't, for all practical purposes have a mobile, nor do I have the slightest desire to keep one on my person.
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I would be lost without it. I would be lost without the tiny map in my pocket, a phone for emergencies and the web for research etc when on a job.
I too hated then back in 2000 when I got my Philips Savy but they have slowly improved my life for the better.
Of course my Galaxy cannot be described as a mobile phone, it is a tiny computer which has a phone function.
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" I DO have one, for emergency use only, but 99% of the time it sits quietly in my bedroom cupboard."
As long as emergency occurs in the bedroom cupboard you will be OK then! :-)
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>>Thank God I don't need a mobile 'phone - horrible things - I DO have one, for emergency use only, but 99% of the time it sits quietly in my bedroom cupboard.
Everyone here in Spain thinks that everyone has a mobile 'phone. Some websites refuse to accept a completed web form without an entry in the mobile number box.
Now my bank wants to send me a PIN by text message for "unusual" transfers.
Well - stuff 'em - I don't, for all practical purposes have a mobile, nor do I have the slightest desire to keep one on my person.
Do you know we now have colour television?? :)
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>> Do you know we now have colour television?? :)
2 less in our household since the CRTs went to the tip ;o)
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Yep - got an LG flat screen thingy!
We also have two laptops, one running Linux from time to time. I love playing with mine - SWMBO goes ballistic if I mess with hers!
Mobile 'phones are grotesquely expensive to use and I resent every centimo with which I have to load her indoors' unit.
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Not really expensive is it? £20 a month, 600 minutes, 3000 text messages, 500mb of data, I wonder how much BT would charge for all that on a landline? Oh and they gave me a £400 phone.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 19 Oct 10 at 20:42
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>> I wonder how much BT would charge for all that on a landline?
Unlimited minutes calls domestic, unlimited calls abroad, no txt messages, 30gbs of data faster than 3g, wifi,
£22 a month.
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>>Oh and they gave me a £400 phone<<
No-one ever gives you anything in business, you pay for it one way or another.
I always negotiate a very reduced rate on my contract with Vodafone at upgrade time and go and buy the phone I want.
But in my case that is a Nokia 3110c:)
Phones are for phone calls....
Pat
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...Phones are for phone calls...
Spot on, and Nokias are cheap, reliable and have good battery life.
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>> Phones are for phone calls....
Indeed they are.
However I don't want a phone. I want email, internet access, streaming media, useful tools, a GPS and a phone.
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....and shiny kit Zero - don't forget that - just found an app that powers up the climate on the X1 remotely...
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Pity you cant find an app to hide it with a paper bag........
Sorry
cruel I know.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 20 Oct 10 at 17:37
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>> Pity you cant find an app to hide it with a paper bag........
Does that work for the Lancer then or does it all fall off when it rains ?
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Humph Humph Humph....
Its an elegant estate remember......
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Apologies, I forgot, it's forgiven.
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Here in sunny Spain my 10MB ADSL + line rental + VAT, but with no calls (all our very few go by VOIP or through a prefix dialler) is 65 euros a month. (Around 56 quid)
There is little direct competition here: there is no unbundling and greedy, grasping,incompetent Telefonica de España own all the lines.
Try complaining if the ADSL goes down and learn the true meaning of frustration.
There are some cheaper deals, but not for 10MB.
I have no compunction ,at these gross prices, for using a serious amount of bandwidth for torrent downloads of films and TV series.
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Red Laser app for iPhone - shinyyyy kit drool !
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I have been using mine to watch old eposides of Top Gear on youtube when I am about to fall asleep. I still find the web a little difficult to use compared to my netbook and I still much prefer my PC with my 22" screen but the Galaxy S is good enough for me to warrant leaving my netbook at home next time I go away.
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I decided to upgrade my old Samsung last week - went for a brand new LG GS101, nice little thing, cost nearly £4 from Carphone Warehouse. Not sure whether it's Android 2.1 or 2.2 though.
:)
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Wow that is nearly good enough to rival my dads swish phone :). But then if all you want to do is make calls.... :).
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OK Guys, tell me about the new range of Mobiles running Windows Mobiles apparently released today......
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Too little too late and not complete, with much of the function arriving in MS updates maybe sometime next year.
Move on, MS will be out of the smartphone market within two years.
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Not as good as an iPhone or Android. As zero says, too little too late.
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Microsoft have a poor history of the mobile market and really the internet. Linux still dominates the server market.
I had an old Windows CE phone many years ago, it was my first smart phone. It was made by a Canadian company called Sirera Wireless but it was a bit of a flop as it had no 802.11b or even at the time the latest G and was 2G only. It was crap as it kept crashing all the time and it was the size of a brick.
Microsoft have no loyalty in the mobile phone market and pretty much anybody who has ever owned a windows Mobile will probably never go back.
Microsoft know this is a major problem as the mobile market is the future rather than desktop operating systems Microsoft have made most their money from.
Being late in the market is Microsofts habbit really, I remember a key speach by MS In 1995 and I think it was Gates who said the world wide web is a fab and will never really take off. Just six months later they realised htey had got it wrong and rushed Internet Explorer so it could be released with Windows 95 R2.
When we got the internet at home in early 1997 the only browser of choice was Netscape Navigator and even IE was considered to be weaker.
Its a shame Symbian has lot the plot and I think Nokia really need to invest in Android as people now want common platforms. Like in the 80's developers are getting sick of havign to write different apps for different operating systems.
Just having Android and the Iphone OS will simplify this a lot.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Fri 22 Oct 10 at 16:06
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Nokia will use Symbian for bottom end phones only and their true smartphones will use Linux (the Meego platform). They wasted what was and still is a very good OS. They assumed they had a better OS than others and didn't move forward.
Symbian for example is a lot better at real-time stuff. It was designed for this sort of thing by Psion in the first place. So the way phone features are handled in Symbian is simpler and more elegant than what is done in Android or iOS.
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I would agree with that, I love my now business phone Nokia N97 mini because it just works so well as a phone. Its great for emails too as it has a real qwerty keyboard.
I think as a basic business smart phone Symbian is perfect but I found it pretty useless at media applications.
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>> To switch
>> it on takes seconds though using the icon in the notify area.
>>
Rob, I found an app on the Android Market that pops a cute little button on your home screen so that you can switch wi-fi on or off immediately. I do like the Desire - I'd like to try a direct comparison with an IPhone but I do think that the Desire is better.
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Thanks Badwolf... on the Samsung Galaxy S they have incorporate Wifi/GPS/BT on and off in the notification area which is easy to use.
I am now convinced for me the Android phones are better. But for a lot of people the very well designed iPhone will be better.
I might dabble in some programming soon.... I might setup the phone to turn off Wifi (and GPS on) when I leave home. Should be fairly easy and an app probably already exists for this anyway.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 22 Oct 10 at 18:41
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Some might not know that the origin of Symbian was PSION (did enjoy their tennis game on the Spectrum) and it was called EPOC. But until tonight I did not realise that it allegedly stood for 'Electronic Piece Of Cheese'. It came from EPOCH of course. Cool/funny it that was what it really stood for. I can imagine PSION doing that frankly.
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>> PSION (did enjoy their tennis game on the Spectrum)
Yes! And their Flight Simulator - much better than the MS thing where you need to be a professional pilot (or perhaps just have a bit of patience) to get it off the ground.
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Badwolf, I agree I think the Desire is great. There is the Power Control widget which is part of the HTC/Sense setup which does this as well as Bluetooth, GPS and a couple of other things too. Although like you I am using standalone items for WiFi/B'tooth/GPS plus a nice little lock widget to close the screen without using the power button.
Motoring Link: I have just found an app called Traffic Eye, which allows you to check the CCTV cameras on major roads/junctions to see if the Traffic is built up. I havent used it in anger yet but a nice idea.
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On my HTC Hero (Android 2.1) I have a widget on my home screen to turn wireless on and off (similar for GPS and mobile network), and another to instantly bring up the wireless network configuration for quick connection to new networks.
HTC Sense is a lovely user interface, and for me would be a big draw back to HTC rather than Samsung or another Android handset, when I come to replace this phone.
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Android Phones - Any Interest in Opinions etc - rtj70
