Thoughts on Google Android/Nexus One...

[suryad]

I am not sure where to put the thread so I decided to put it here. Well the big announcement was what yesterday about the N1 phone? Anyone getting/got one? My brother has a G1 and it is running 1.6 or cupcake and I like it but the hardware seemed a bit too Fisher Price for me. Same problem with the N1 though. It looks rather nasty. Droid also looks rather tacky. I just wish HTC HD2 was being released in android format but that is wishful thinking. So the next best thing I see is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and that looks quite nice though I am not sure about that Minority Report style UI

 

[Ike Turner]

Well there's nothing wrong with the HTC HD2 (besides some bugs that HTC has yet to fix). Windows Mobile 6.5 is fast as hell (ans table) on it and the Sense UI awesome. The icing on the cake would be full upgrade to WM7 when its out (HTC russia confirmed it then denied it, there are some sign of WM7 in the latest Sense UI build etc..). The Nexus One is the perfect device if you are really into Google's Skynet...err services (like Gmail/maps.). The HD2 will be out on T-mobile just like the Nexus One BTW.

 

[suryad]

Well there's nothing wrong with the HTC HD2 (besides some bugs that HTC has yet to fix). Windows Mobile 6.5 is fast as hell (ans table) on it and the Sense UI awesome. The icing on the cake would be full upgrade to WM7 when its out (HTC russia confirmed it then denied it, there are some sign of WM7 in the latest Sense UI build etc..). The Nexus One is the perfect device if you are really into Google's Skynet...err services (like Gmail/maps.). The HD2 will be out on T-mobile just like the Nexus One BTW.

Yeah I saw the announcement I think LG made the announcement at CES about W7 coming out this year or something like that. What I like about Skynet...err Google is the fact that the OS is so open and I have worked on the SDK a little bit and its very easy to work with it and create your own apps. I have seen WM 6 in action and it just was a bit ugly. Also I read a review in Gizmodo where they hated WM 6.5 running in the HD2. Seeing that I have used Android it just feels a little bit more comfortable choosing that platform hence my inclination towards the Xperia X10, N1 etc.

 

[Tim Murray]

Friend works at Google, so I played with a N1 for a while a few weeks back. Hardware's good, but the UI remains (unsurprisingly) really messy. Some menus are buttons, some are sliders, some options are at the bottom of a page, some are at the top, some are buried under the menu button. It has a lovely touch screen... and a trackball.

Basically, it feels really inconsistent (even just from the Android side, not counting any third party apps). It seems perfectly reasonable as a phone, but it's not making me go "OH MAN I need to get rid of my iPhone 3G" in any way, shape, or form.

 

[flynn]

I've had this device for 3 weeks or so and used it for 3-4 days before deciding it was not for me. I've had a G1 in the past as well that it also collecting dust.

The interface is nice in Android 2.1 but I don't really understand why they waste CPU resources with stuff like animated wallpapers. Considering the CPU's speed (1GHz!) it's fast but not impressive. I've also recently got an Ipod Touch and could see where most ideas for the Android UI came from

Some of the applications are very nice like maps and the new e-mail client. Unlike 1.6, this version let's you log into several accounts to check e-mail and sync calendars.

Form factor is nice but if I wanted one of these smartphones I'd go with one with a keyboard. Battery life is a joke, as expected from the hardware specs.

My only real interest was doing some 3D programming on it, but OpenGL ES 2.0 is not exposed in Android yet, you need to use the NDK for that. That's not necessarily bad as I think the Dalvik VM is a very bad idea to begin with.

Lack of root access and custom firmware was also a sort of deal breaker for me as well. If I was going to get a phone running Linux I'd go for the Nokia N900.

So, in conclusion, I started porting my 3D engine to the iPod and the N1 is now collecting dust. I honestly don't think it's a very good phone. Very cool gadget though.

 

[Sxotty]

The lack of multitouch on these devices is extremely annoying. Why are they so damned afraid of apple suing them anyway? It isn't as if apple invented multi-touch.

 

[Ike Turner]

Yeah I saw the announcement I think LG made the announcement at CES about W7 coming out this year or something like that. What I like about Skynet...err Google is the fact that the OS is so open and I have worked on the SDK a little bit and its very easy to work with it and create your own apps. I have seen WM 6 in action and it just was a bit ugly. Also I read a review in Gizmodo where they hated WM 6.5 running in the HD2. Seeing that I have used Android it just feels a little bit more comfortable choosing that platform hence my inclination towards the Xperia X10, N1 etc.

WM6 on any previous devices can't be compared to WM6.5 with Sense on the HD2. And Gizmodo/Engadget are the worst sites if you to read phone reviews (especially WinMo ones). Right now WM6.5 (with HTC UI) is on part , if not better than Android 2.1 on the HTC Nexus One (WinMo is still more feature rich than Android). here's a n HD2 review: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/12/18/htc-hd2-review-the-best-smartphone-ever/

 

[suryad]

WM6 on any previous devices can't be compared to WM6.5 with Sense on the HD2. And Gizmodo/Engadget are the worst sites if you to read phone reviews (especially WinMo ones). Right now WM6.5 (with HTC UI) is on part , if not better than Android 2.1 on the HTC Nexus One (WinMo is still more feature rich than Android). here's a n HD2 review: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/12/18/htc-hd2-review-the-best-smartphone-ever/

Thanks for the review. It will definitely make me a bit less confused as to which weapon I intend to select during spring this year.

I keep reading that people with HD2s are using cooked ROMs because they offer a lot more performance and so on so forth than what comes stock with the phone. Now I have an idea what a 'cooked ROM' means but seems like I have quite a lot of reading to do to catch up to all the lingo, and all the technology and stuff surrounding these machines. Thats the thing though nowadays with technology...its not enough to choose and buy one...its also the modding that is quite appealing to me as well after you buy it!

*goes off to read the review.

Thanks again Ike.