Android

[risket]

What's everything think of Android?

I'm planning on getting the Samsumg Moment in a couple weeks. It's pretty awesome.

 

[shan564]

I'm a big fan. It paves the way for all OS's to be open source, which will finally allow proper integration with everything else.

 

[risket]

I agree. Google does an amazing job integrating their services. I use Google Search and a Google Calendar on a daily basis to keep track of all my bills and appointments. To be able to access my Calendar alone is awesome.

Plus I feel that open source is the future.

 

[drakonisch]

Android is open source, however, Google still controls what you can do with it. Maemo however, is completely open to whatever you want to do with it. You can even open a terminal and use it as if you were at your home PC. You can download and run any app that will run on Linux. The only real drawback right now is that the phone application Nokia includes to make calls on a GSM network is limited. But to me, that's ok. Android is pretty awesome, and it offers some really cool features. But I personally am rooting for Maemo. I'll be getting a Nokia n900 when my sprint plan expires and I can move to T-Mobile. Just my 2 cents.

P.S. The two aren't really competing, as Maemo is meant more for an internet tablet, not just a phone. The n900 is marketed as a mini computer with phone capabilities.

 

[risket]

That's pretty cool. I've never heard of Maemo. Sounds kinda cool.

 

[drakonisch]

Yeah it is very cool. Only thing I didn't mention that might matter is that the n900 I think runs on a snapdragon cpu. So any app you want to use on the n900 will have to be compatible with that architecture. I didn't mention this because I was talking about Maemo itself, and not the n900. I felt I should mention this though because I did mention that the n900 runs maemo.

 

[risket]

I just Googled the n900. It's a pretty snazzy looking device (yes I use the word "snazzy" quite often, haha). Looks very powerful. 1GB of memory, 800x480 display, 32GB of storage.

The only thing I would have a problem with is that there is not dedicated number row. I often use numbers in passwords or usernames and it's such a pain to have to press a function key to access the numbers. Especially if I don't hit the function key hard enough and I press a "P" instead of a "0" or something and then I have to do it all over again because the login failed.

In a couple weeks I'm getting the Samsung Moment and, even though a physical keyboard isn't THAT important to me, I really love how it has a dedicated number row. It also allows for more symbols when you DO need to use the function key.

It looks like it uses GSM and CDMA? Or "WCDMA". Is that similar? If it is it could be used on Sprint's Everything Data plan. I just love the deal with that plan. I don't use many minutes, and even less now with the Any Mobile Any Time. So I pay $69 for 450 minutes and everything else in unlimited. It's the perfect data plan for me.

 

[risket]

Android 2.1 out on the Nexus One and it looks pretty amazing.

I really love how the photo/video gallery is layed out. If you've ever used Cooliris for searching videos or images you will recognize it.

 

[dbojan]

If you haven't seen Android yet, you can test it on your computer using live-android. Download the .iso file and test it on some virtual machine like VMware or the free VirtualBox.