• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Android Hardware Thread - 2010 Edition

Status
Not open for further replies.
Freyjadour said:
You can't upgrade to that as far as I know, you have to be a new customer to AT&T. Not sure if any other strings be attached, but usually I'm wary of buying from anyone other than AT&T directly.

Could try calling AT&T, but I doubt you get a straight answer.
Click to expand...

Hmm, when I go through the checkout process it gives me the option to upgrade my current line.

*edit*

Ah, I see. That $89 price is for new customers only. To upgrade as part of my family plan I'd have to pay $165.

Still, beats the pants off of $199. :)
 
peppermints said:
Still, beats the pants off of $199. :)
Click to expand...

Like I said though, be careful. Not saying it applies, but I've had family members buy phone contracts from kiosks and get nailed with extra fees and what not. Not likely to happen with Amazon, but something to keep an eye open for.

Got my Captivate tonight! Put LauncherPro on and have been playing with the phone in general. Gonna see how my battery life and general usage pan out before rooting the phone and going further down the path of customization. Unfortunately, first model Captivates and batteries seem to have small issues.
 
just got a DROID/MILESTONE had a quick question.On some review videos that i saw,the home screen lock slider was different.On some it unlocked via a curving moving.Mine has a side to side straight motion.Is there an app for that?
 
I'm looking for a new phone and that's when I heard about android a few weeks ago (I'm really tech blind about this kind of things). it looks cool, and I've been lurking in this and the software thread for a while.

any recommendation which phone to get? I like to use my phone as multimedia device and internet browsing (for Gaf) and overall playing around to kill some time. I have a lot of time to kill in between stuff, which is why I was thinking about getting Samsung Galaxy S, because the screens looks like it'd be great for videos, I was dismissing HTC desire because I heard the screen is very reflective outdoor that it's really hard to see the screen, which to my understanding, Galaxy is better in that field.

then as I read around looking for reviews and comparison between those two, I found out the fanboy wars between Apple, HTC and Samsung, each side is trolling the other side. I've heard discouraging stuff like Samsung will stop support for Galaxy S, or that Galaxy S have a shitload of software problem. the thing is, I'm not sure if that's true or not.

so, I turn to gaf, as far as I know, gaf is pretty civil and knowledgeable with a lot of stuff.

any help is appreciated
 
Callibretto said:
I'm looking for a new phone and that's when I heard about android a few weeks ago (I'm really tech blind about this kind of things). it looks cool, and I've been lurking in this and the software thread for a while.

any recommendation which phone to get? I like to use my phone as multimedia device and internet browsing (for Gaf) and overall playing around to kill some time. I have a lot of time to kill in between stuff, which is why I was thinking about getting Samsung Galaxy S, because the screens looks like it'd be great for videos, I was dismissing HTC desire because I heard the screen is very reflective outdoor that it's really hard to see the screen, which to my understanding, Galaxy is better in that field.

then as I read around looking for reviews and comparison between those two, I found out the fanboy wars between Apple, HTC and Samsung, each side is trolling the other side. I've heard discouraging stuff like Samsung will stop support for Galaxy S, or that Galaxy S have a shitload of software problem. the thing is, I'm not sure if that's true or not.

so, I turn to gaf, as far as I know, gaf is pretty civil and knowledgeable with a lot of stuff.

any help is appreciated
Click to expand...

Not so sure about the bolded. :lol You'll need to provide what service provider you have so someone knowledgeable about that specific provider can help you.

I'll start you off with something, however. A lot of the bad blood regarding Samsung comes from its treatment of their Behold II, which was their last big android phone. There were no updates and the user experience was absolutely abysmal. Basically, it felt like they took your money and ran.

With the Galaxy S series, Samsung is at least outwardly pushing for a better experience. From the business perspective, this seems to be their signature flagship phone, released around the world on every major carrier, and thus you can likely expect a much better support and community since they've tied a considerable amount of their reputation on it. In fact, if I'm not mistaken there's been a lot of communication and SDK releases. The big problem with the phone so far has been some nagging GPS problem, which I'm not sure if its a deal breaker for you. A fix is on the way though, so says Samsung.

In terms of user experience, nothing will explain better than hands on. Try to play with the galaxy or iphone or whatever else you're interested in in a store or through friends; it's the only way to be sure.
 
Kraftwerk said:
just got a DROID/MILESTONE had a quick question.On some review videos that i saw,the home screen lock slider was different.On some it unlocked via a curving moving.Mine has a side to side straight motion.Is there an app for that?
Click to expand...

That lock screen was the old one - before the 2.1 update.
 
Kraftwerk said:
Ahh...thank you kind sir.
p.s so with froyo it has/will change?
Click to expand...

I haven't used Froyo yet, but I hear that they did make some improvements to the lock screen (password instead of lock pattern, etc). Not sure if the standard screen has changed or not.
 
Kraftwerk said:
just got a DROID/MILESTONE had a quick question.On some review videos that i saw,the home screen lock slider was different.On some it unlocked via a curving moving.Mine has a side to side straight motion.Is there an app for that?
Click to expand...
As stated, this was the 2.0 lock screen. Froyo does not bring it back.
 
Milestone on PAYG - £399.95
Galaxy S on PAYG - £399.95

Drop the price on the Milestone dammit!
 
God I'm debating, Evo 4G or Epic 4G? Keyboard doesn't bother me much. I mean it's cool that there is a hardware keyboard, but that doesn't make or break anything for me. I've never owned a Samsung phone so I'm not sure how well they (Samsung) support their phones.
 
WIND getting the Huawei U8100

b3m1C.jpg


WIND can do better than this... :/
 
UltimaPooh said:
Anyone have an HTC Aria here? I just ordered one from AT&T.
Click to expand...

I am also possibly eyeing one of these. I want to move into the smart phone world but I need a phone that is not too large. I played with a friend's Aria and its a good size, though I wish there was less dead space on the bottom.

Any feedback?

Also, I can wait til about the beginning of 2011, any Aria 2 or other similar smaller phones in the pipe that I can wait for? Is the Aria strong enough to get 2.2 eventually? Can it be unlocked for international use if need be (I travel sometimes and its nice to just throw in a new prepaid sim card).
 
AndyD said:
I am also possibly eyeing one of these. I want to move into the smart phone world but I need a phone that is not too large. I played with a friend's Aria and its a good size, though I wish there was less dead space on the bottom.

Any feedback?
Click to expand...


I had an Aria for a week, but ended up returning it and getting a Captivate. I too had been attracted to the smaller size of the Aria, but the awesome screen and the better overall specs on the Captivate was just too attractive. Once you get hooked on android, you realize that having more screen real estate is worth dealing with a larger phone. That said, it would be nice if AT&T offered an android handset sized between the Captivate and the Aria.

My observations from a week with the Aria:

+ Good build quality and materials
+ HTC Sense UI is clean looking and lag free
+ Very smooth operation considering the specs aren't very high
+ Pocket friendly, smaller than the blackberry bold that it replaced
- Mediocre battery life considering the specs
- Small screen makes for a small keyboard which didn't agree with the size of my fingers
- Low resolution screen makes web browsing and other activities less than ideal

Overall, the Aria is a nice phone, but once you start exploring Android, you'll probably want something more like the Captivate.
 
Apparently, a T-Mobile engineer named Mike Bibik has been testing a phone called the HTC Glacier, which Phandroid speculates may be HTC's internal name for the Project Emerald phone.

Here's how the Glacier scored in benchmark tests against the iPhone 4, HTC Evo, and Samsung Galaxy S:

tmobileprojectemeraldgla_thumb.png


In short, it trumps them all -- vanilla SnapDragon, Hummingbird and A4.

Older rumors suggested that Project Emerald could be the first dual-core Snapdragon processor.

Looks like they may be true.

Sadly, it's not due until November.
 
Vyse The Legend said:
Apparently, a T-Mobile engineer named Mike Bibik has been testing a phone called the HTC Glacier, which Phandroid speculates may be HTC's internal name for the Project Emerald phone.

Here's how the Glacier scored in benchmark tests against the iPhone 4, HTC Evo, and Samsung Galaxy S:

tmobileprojectemeraldht.png


In short, it trumps them all -- vanilla SnapDragon, Hummingbird and A4.

Older rumors suggested that Project Emerald could be the first dual-core Snapdragon processor.

Looks like they may be true.

Sadly, it's not due until November.
Click to expand...

The Evo 4G doesn't have Froyo yet, right? Its score would probably go up with the JIT compiler.
 
Not sure if it's been posted yet, but those of us, probably really few on gaf, that have the T-Mobile Mytouch Slide get an update this week. It isn't Froyo, but it's good anyway.


Beginning August 4, T-Mobile will send an over-the-air (OTA) update to myTouch 3G Slide customers, which will provide a number of benefits, including increased battery performance and enhancements to software features such as Faves Gallery and Genius Button. This is not an update to the Android operating system (i.e. This is not Froyo/Android version 2.2).

The update will be sent to customers beginning August 4 and we anticipate all customers will receive it by August 19. Customers will be notified of the OTA via a free SMS text message from T-Mobile.


The timeline for receiving the OTA cannot be expedited. T-Mobile will be unable to manually push the software to customers who ask to receive it before August 19.


Improvements included with this update are as follows:

1. Battery Life:
* Updates to the T-Mobile online contact backup connection, which will improve battery life.
2. Wi-Fi:
* Ability to send MMS messages when connected to Wi-Fi.
3. Genius Button improvements:
* Ability to turn GPS on and off using your voice, such as “Turn GPS on.”
* Will announce Caller ID for incoming voice calls and allow you to “Answer” or “Ignore” using your voice.
* Will announce incoming text messages and allow you to “reply” with dictation.
4. Faves Gallery improvements:
* The Faves icon will be displayed beside notifications that appear while the device is locked to indicate that the communication is coming from one of your Faves.
* Fave photo display speed will be enhanced.
* General stability will be improved, including more seamless scrolling and consistent display of photos.
Click to expand...

Also.
SUP3A34607-small.png

Kickstand Case is nice, but the phones keyboard doesn't have that snap to it when it closes like the G1 had and this case makes it a little worse.

Software findings.
FlashApp = Uses the low powered flash as a flashlight
Akari = Uses the high powered flash as a flashlight
Still haven't found one that keeps the light on while video recording
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
So after reading your guys' replies I went into the verizon store to check it out. Its rather large, but I figure I wont need to be hauling around my ipod, phone AND camera. Just one device. I just gotta call tmobile today and see if my contract is up, which i believe it is. Switching to verizon sounds good to me especially with the five favorites.
Click to expand...


If you came from the G1 why not pick up the Slide. It's really fast, beats the Nexus 1 in benchmarks, and has fantastic sound quality and a keyboard and is getting Froyo soon.

Or get the Galaxy.

Or wait for Emerald.

I mean yeah, the Droids are awesome, but I just can't see paying 2x as much for the exact same service I get with T-Mobile. I guess it all depends on where you live and if you get good 3G service with T-mobile or not.
 
crumbs said:
I had an Aria for a week, but ended up returning it and getting a Captivate. I too had been attracted to the smaller size of the Aria, but the awesome screen and the better overall specs on the Captivate was just too attractive. Once you get hooked on android, you realize that having more screen real estate is worth dealing with a larger phone. That said, it would be nice if AT&T offered an android handset sized between the Captivate and the Aria.

My observations from a week with the Aria:

+ Good build quality and materials
+ HTC Sense UI is clean looking and lag free
+ Very smooth operation considering the specs aren't very high
+ Pocket friendly, smaller than the blackberry bold that it replaced
- Mediocre battery life considering the specs
- Small screen makes for a small keyboard which didn't agree with the size of my fingers
- Low resolution screen makes web browsing and other activities less than ideal

Overall, the Aria is a nice phone, but once you start exploring Android, you'll probably want something more like the Captivate.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I figured since this is my first jump into Android, and I have the chance to get one of these for $50 with a 1 year contract from my work, it would be a good way to prime myself into the market. Then I would know what I want in a year's time and get something bigger if I want it.

As to battery, with minimal or no internet, would it last me a couple of days without charging? I am not looking necessarily for browsing the internet large scale on my phone, but being able to pull it out and look at google maps if im lost. Basic stuff like that. At first :).

Tell me more about the captivate. I have never seen it before.
 
I don't know how many Canadian Gaffers are planning on getting the Galaxy S, but this is pretty good news.

Got a peak at next weeks flyer, Galaxy S at Best Buys will go for 100 bucks on a 3 year plan (w/ $75 gift card thrown in). Ridonk, absolutely no reason to get any other phone, Xperia and Legend put to shame. It's only on Bell right now though =p.

I actually don't know if the internet knows about this yet, but they probably do - still ZOMBIEJESUS, WAIT UP AND GET THE GALAXY, DON'T GET THE LEGEEEEEEND.
 
Kinitari said:
I don't know how many Canadian Gaffers are planning on getting the Galaxy S, but this is pretty good news.

Got a peak at next weeks flyer, Galaxy S at Best Buys will go for 100 bucks on a 3 year plan (w/ $75 gift card thrown in). Ridonk, absolutely no reason to get any other phone, Xperia and Legend put to shame. It's only on Bell right now though =p.

I actually don't know if the internet knows about this yet, but they probably do - still ZOMBIEJESUS, WAIT UP AND GET THE GALAXY, DON'T GET THE LEGEEEEEEND.
Click to expand...

A couple of problems:

- I refuse to be locked into a 3-year contract, with Bell or anyone else.
- Bell's plans suck.

I wouldn't mind paying more for a Galaxy S (about $150 more) normally, i'm just trying to be smart with my money while I look for a new job and the Legend does what I want a phone to do at a relatively low price.
 
It's probably for the better =p, I just talked to some people and it looks like that price might be an error - they'll prolly honour it for the first week, but after that the price will probably change to something else.

Now I don't know what to do :(. I can grab it for what is (my guess) 100 dollars off, or I can wait around for the Rogers one. *sigh* Hopefully tonights Samsung/Metric concert will help me decide.
 
Kinitari said:
I don't know how many Canadian Gaffers are planning on getting the Galaxy S, but this is pretty good news.

Got a peak at next weeks flyer, Galaxy S at Best Buys will go for 100 bucks on a 3 year plan (w/ $75 gift card thrown in). Ridonk, absolutely no reason to get any other phone, Xperia and Legend put to shame. It's only on Bell right now though =p.

I actually don't know if the internet knows about this yet, but they probably do - still ZOMBIEJESUS, WAIT UP AND GET THE GALAXY, DON'T GET THE LEGEEEEEEND.
Click to expand...
damn, maybe if I call and bother rogers they will match this.
 
I find ridiculous the price for Milestone in Europe, in some places its still in the 400's€. Also que US prices are definetely much lower and get the phones first. Why in the world there hasnt been a EURO date for Droid X beats me......at least HTC isnt sleeping, both Deside HD and Vision are already in the Vodafone phone database as coming soon.
 
Kinitari said:
Yeah that's probably the accurate price, you'll just see a misprint in the Best Buy flyer, and as far as I understand they're going to honour it for the first week.
Click to expand...

Will most likely pick it up at BB then.
I wonder if Bell has anything better than the 5 year old federal government plan I'm on now. I'll need to add data at the very least.
 
Picked up a Samsung Vibrant yesterday. Coming from Windows mobile, I'm loving Android. The Super AMOLED screen is just amazing. Only complaint so far is battery life, though I'm not being too frugal leaving GPS on and what not.
 
So my wife decided to drop iPhone and jump to Android, against my wishes. She picked up a Samsung Captivate. Gorgeous phone, best screen I've ever seen, fast, responsive, it's really top notch.

But.....it's an Android phone, and this shit is still rough around the edges. So everything is going swimmingly until I decide to hook it up to my PC to transfer over pics, music, and video for her. No go. All my 3 machines are Win 7 64 bit, and I don't know if the phone has issues with that or what, but it just won't work. Fuck this shit. I google, download some drivers, drivers don't install. Now I'm downloading some 136 mb "kies" program that is nowhere in the documentation that came with this shit in the hopes that it will finally allow me to hook up her phone to our computer so I can transfer files. What a clusterfuck Android is. Dammit, I love my Nexus One, but this shit just isn't for our wives, moms, and sisters. I've had to restart this shit three times already because every time I try and fail to connect, it says "not enough memory" on the camera app. Three restarts.....on the first day. Fuck, I hope I can convince her to turn this in within 30 days so I can play with a Windows Phone 7 device later this year. I can deal with the headaches on my N1, but I'm not going to be babysitting her phone too. I had no issues when she owned an iphone except when I had to plug in her phone to install a new firmware.
 
Andrex said:
Same.

Still, all the recent activity is encouraging after that loooong dry spell without any news.
Click to expand...
We had a chat with the Notion CEO a while back and it seems they've had quite the uphill task taking the Adam to fruition (and continue to do so). From issues inherent to the Indian ecosystem, to NVIDIA --

Everyone says, India needs to manufacture, but when it actually comes to it, they back off. Manufacturing is too costly, too expensive, and too risky. It’s extremely difficult for a start-up to raise funds in consumer electronics space. Consumer electronics move very fast, if one has idea, the time to implement and gain market is so very small, and all the time in Indian environment would be spent in conveying the differentiation, which is again tough given the awareness for quality products and a decade of delay in technology adoption...
Click to expand...

here's the article/interviewl in its entirety, if anyone is interested.
 
Zombie James said:
Uhh, can't you just move content over through USB? Mass Storage?
Click to expand...
That's what I was doing, plugging it in. Six restarts later, I realized that Samsung's default usb profile is "kies", which I guess refers to that 136 mb software that is not in the documentation I read, didn't come in a disc with the phone, and wasn't mentioned by the phone when I plugged it in. My wife literally would have never figured to go under applications in the settings, then usb, then switch profiles to mass storage. Even having used an android phone for months I'd never gone to that menu, and even then, those options are not in my Nexus. It is set to mass storage by default. Ugh.
 
antispin said:
We had a chat with the Notion CEO a while back and it seems they've had quite the uphill task taking the Adam to fruition (and continue to do so). From issues inherent to the Indian ecosystem, to NVIDIA --



here's the article/interviewl in its entirety, if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...

I knew it would be hard for them, if they were legit. There's always that niggling doubt that they're not for real, that they're faking everything. The prototypes were amazing, but there's still the doubt they just made it for investor money. It's just a natural untrusting I almost wish I didn't have. That's why all the news is so encouraging. I've been subscribed to their blog for many months now an eagerly eat up every new post.

Oh and thanks for the article/interview, will be sure to read it later.
 
VanMardigan said:
That's what I was doing, plugging it in. Six restarts later, I realized that Samsung's default usb profile is "kies", which I guess refers to that 136 mb software that is not in the documentation I read, didn't come in a disc with the phone, and wasn't mentioned by the phone when I plugged it in. My wife literally would have never figured to go under applications in the settings, then usb, then switch profiles to mass storage. Even having used an android phone for months I'd never gone to that menu, and even then, those options are not in my Nexus. It is set to mass storage by default. Ugh.
Click to expand...

Sounds more like it's Samsung's fault then, not Android's.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
You guys broke the site on Android with desktop view
5
254
Dacvak replied
The cancer thread. Yes the CANCER thread!
2
93
721
John Marston replied
Steroid fuelled spider battles - Pokemon: Philippines Edition
27
571
tamago84 replied
  • Poll
Sailor moon Thread
2
86
969
uncreativename replied
Should I get Android tablet vs iPad?
14
1K
Meicyn replied
Top Bottom