Technology Android

[Casey]

There is no reason to focus on T-Mobile or Sprint as much as they should on VZW, the largest. It's gonna get good.

It depends how you look at the situation. With that much competition between devices on the same network, it wouldn't be good business sense to leave gaps on other carriers. I predict there'll be a slew of great devices for both T-Mob and Sprint also.

Not to mention there's still whispers of a T-Mobile/Sprint merger, which would put the combined company neck and neck with both VZW and AT&T, all at around 90million subscribers, give or take a few million.

Frankly what Verizon really need to do right now is hurry up and start getting their LTE network deployed. They have pledged to have it available in up to 30 cities by the end of the year though. - Leaked Documents and LTE SIM Show Verizon 4G Launch Is Imminent

They are definitely losing a significant amount of people in certain areas to Sprint, due to Sprint's 4G network having been live for a while already and the fact that they're about to launch their second 4G Android device. I believe the Evo has already become the biggest selling device in their history and 4G obviously plays a big part in that.

 

[Casey]

And it's officially the G2...

T-Mobile announces the G2 as their first HSDPA+ phone

 

[Synful*Luv]

Sprint's service is so awful.. I'm really worried about a merger between the two companies. I can't deal with the dropped calls that Sprint constantly has. Maybe I need to start pondering a switch back to VZW.

 

[dilla]

Most people I know with T-Mobile hate it and complain of dropped calls, regardless of what phone they have. I don't know many people with Sprint.

For them to merge would give the subscriber base they may need, but if VZW maintains the better network after their upgrade, then we're back to square one. Except with two of the big three carriers being extremely shitty.

I don't see the need for 4G. The price isn't justified for me. I'm sure I'll get a phone with it sometime later, but now, I'm fine with 3G. I'm sure you could do more on your phone with 4G, but I have a laptop and for someone that is always within reach of my phone, iPod, and laptop, I don't need one device that does all of that but at a cost of quality.

Someone might though. But I'm a fan of waiting on technology. This HSPA, 4G, LTE, all that jazz. I'll wait until it's more affordable and reliable. And then the same for the phone with the features. I see businessmen and gadget geeks making use of these speeds but not for casual users like me.

 

[dilla]

Where did you go to find the names of upcoming devices, Casey?

 

[Casey]

I don't remember. All the major tech sites leaked those names (along with the specs) a few days back.

Today there were more leaks: HTC Spade, HTC Speedy, HTC Blitz and HTC Mecha. Some of those might be WP7 phones though. Nobody knows yet.

 

[dilla]

Well, I got to the bottom of my Reader, and sure enough they were all there. Hmm..


Is it worth getting excited about phones with less than 1Ghz CPUs?

 

[Casey]

Well, this is odd. Engadget are reporting that the Droid Pro and the World Edition Droid 2 are one and the same.

This doesn't seem to match up with the things the Motorola insiders have been reporting about the DroidPro for the last 6 months. For one thing, the Droid 2 has a 3.7" screen and it had been reported that the DroidPro would have a 4" screen.

Also, this leak indicates that they are different devices:

http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Screen-shot-2010-08-18-at-7.31.57-AM1.png

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Exclusive: Droid Pro is the global version of the Droid 2, LG enV Touch 2 will be Android-powered -- Engadget

 

[dilla]

^^ Yeah, I just read that too. Weird.

 

[Casey]

Wow, the slider mechanism of the Vision/G2 looks AWESOME!

T-Mobile G2 again, this time with less Mr. Blurrycam -- Engadget

I'm digging this phone....a LOT.

 

[dilla]

Looks complex. Hope it doesn't fuck up after six months.

 

[Flipmo]

The G2 is looking great. Love the style.

 

[Casey]

Looks complex. Hope it doesn't fuck up after six months.

Doubt it. HTC are reknowned for their build quality. Had my G1 for nearly 2 years now and it's as solid as the day I got it.

As far as Android's with QWERTY keyboards, HTC are leading the market with build quality. One of my few criticisms of the Droid and Droid-2 (and I'm not alone) is that Moto cheaped out a little bit by not spring-loading the screen.

 

[Flipmo]

^^^ Same

I've dropped my G1 a few times stumbling home drunk, including a lovely puddle just a couple of months ago. It still rocks out with it's cock out.

Fingers crossed that it heads out here to Canada asap. If not, I've been putting cash aside to get an unsubsidized one

 

[ARon]

I like the G2 and all but I think I'm still going to wait for something better. I want to be wow'd completely before I move on from the G1. I wish the G2 ha a 4" screen, even though I doubt I'll be able to tell that much of a difference between a 4" and 3.7". 1ghz is cool but when more is right around the corner I'm thinking it's best to wait. I really want to take advantage of video calls cus that shit just seems cool and no front facing cam makes me go meh. It's a good phone but I want more

 

[Casey]

/\ It's a new scenario for us G1 users, I think. Since when we got them there were no other Android phones available. Now we're kinda spoiled for choice in some ways.

If we could literally pick and choose the features we wanted that would be great.... I'd make a 5-Row QWERTY-slider spring-loaded HTC device with a 4.3" screen and a front-facing camera

I know what you mean though. Still, the 3.7" screens on the Desire and Droid seem pretty big to me in comparison to the G1.

Having said that, I have yet to see an Evo or Droid-X in person. Going to the US soon so I'll defo be checking them out in stores.

Right now the phone that is the closest to what I want feature wise is the Epic 4G. It's not out here though, plus the TouchWiz UI pisses me off.

Seems like there's gonna be a lot of new Android devices coming out in the next 4-6 months though, so I'll probably wait and see what happens too. Altho as soon as I see a G2 in stores here I know I'm gonna be tempted.

 

[dilla]

That's something manufacturers need to work on. Custom-building phones. We can do them with computers and slightly with tablets. Why not phones? You'd pay a premium, but if you could get a 1.1Ghz phone with a 4" screen and 1 GB of RAM, etc., I think most people would pay that premium so they could keep their phones longer if they're worried about becoming obsolete and not always worrying when their phone will become obsolete.

HTC seems like someone that would implement that first.

 

[Casey]

the difficulty there is that most phone manufacturers are not manufacturing direct to consumers, but to the wireless carriers.

i would imagine that dell would consider this first as they have the most experience in that field, and will have 5-10 new Android devices coming out in the next 12 months.

 

[Pittsey]

Is the golfshot app available on android. It's a wicked app, and can only find it on iphone.

 

[Casey]

This doesn't appear to be exactly the same but similar.

Golf Shot Tracker - Android app on AppBrain

Also if you look to the right of the page, there's a list of related apps which all appear to be golf-related, so perhaps one of those may work for you too.