Technology Android

[ARon]

2.1 is clean as fuck, real nice upgrade to my G1, battery life sucks now though. Hopefully once Cyan releases a stable one it'll be better. He's been getting a lot of heat lately but he's like the MJ of this ROM shit so whatever

 

[dedbrd]

I got 2.1 on my Moment last night, it's a great upgrade and the phone is smooth as shit now...should hold me over till November when I am eligable for an upgrade and can get the 4g Evo...Sprint Premier with their yearly upgrade makes it worth having a phone from a company that has 1 tower in your town.

 

[Casey]

T-Mobile giving "Sidekick" brand name to Android? WOW, I didn't see this coming!

T-Mobile + HTC + Android + Snapdragon + QWERTY = Sidekick Twist – Android and Me

New details have emerged about T-Mobile’s “Project Emerald”. Initially said to be a “Nexus One-like device”, we now learn that T-Mobile is passing the Sidekick torch to HTC for their next high-end Android phone. T-Mobile customers have long been waiting for a true high-end successor to the G1 and it sounds like this could be the device they were hoping for.

TmoNews is reporting a tip that claims the Sidekick “Twist” will boast “Android 2.1, a 1 GHz Processor (Snapdragon?), with a front facing Camera, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, and 16 GB onboard storage“. I’m quoting their rumored specs exactly so we can break them down.

For the operating system, Android 2.1 with Sense UI is likely. We know Android 2.2 is coming soon, but it might be a couple of months before HTC updates their custom Sense UI. T-Mobile has invested a lot in their own version of Sense (called Espresso) and we already know it’s coming to other devices like the MT3G and Slide.

A 1 GHz processor is no surprise. Every Android phone from HTC with a 1 GHz CPU is using the Qualcomm Snapdragon and that is the best bet. However, T-Mobile is releasing an Android phone with full HSPA+ support sometime this year and that could feature the newer Qualcomm MSM8260. That 1.2 GHz chipset started sampling in late 2009 and was expected to arrive in smartphones this year, but it might be too early for this device.

Front facing cameras are the new trend for high-end Android phones. We finally have the faster networks to support video chat and it’s going to be in a lot of new phones like the Sprint EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy S.

The 4.3 inch display is the new standard for high-end HTC smartphones. We have seen this on the HD2 and upcoming EVO 4G. Both those devices had TFT displays, but new HTC phones like the Nexus One, Desire, and Legend are now using AMOLED displays. “Super AMOLED” is a marketing term being used by Samsung and they have only gone up to 4 inches, so I’m not sure how that was included with this rumor.

Finally, the 16 GB of onboard storage is sorely needed for high-end Android devices. We finally saw the HTC Incredible ship with 8 GB, but that is still pretty far behind the industry leader iPhone 3G S which offers a 32 GB version.

Overall I would say the rumor is fairly believable. T-Mobile has been late to launch an Android superphone, but no one expected them to just ignore their high-end customers. Speculation suggest the Sidekick Twist will launch this summer, which is the same time AT&T and Sprint will have their 1 GHz offerings.

It almost sounds to good to be true if you are a T-Mobile customer. Are you satisfied with these rumored specs or are they leaving off some extra feature you had hoped for?

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S Can Be Yours on June 10th | Android Community

If you stay in the UK or any neighboring country that this will ship to, you need to be all over this. Play.com now has the Samsung Galaxy S for sale, this device will cost you £449 and will be in your hands on June 10th or sometime around then. And there will be no extra charge for shipping.

Specifications:
# 5 megapixel camera with geo-tagging, face and smile detection
# Video capture
# Android 2.1 OS
# 1GHz processor
# WLAN enabled
# 4″ Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
# microSD slot (up to 32GB)
# Specs:
# Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
# Browser: HTML
# Radio: Stereo FM radio with RDS
# GPS with A-GPS support
# Java: Via third party application
# Digital compass
# MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
# MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
# Organizer
# Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
# Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
# YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
# Voice memo
# T9
Your phone will ship sim free and unlocked. Not only is this device powerful but it has a great 4 inch screen and dual cameras. This is easily one of the hottest Android phones to be released anytime soon.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Google Voice Invites For Students | Android Community

Here’s another good reason to stay in school. Google is giving away Google Voice Invites for everyone with an .edu address. So all you college students and subsequently teachers can head over to Google Voice Student page now and get started.
Google Voice for Students

Usually when you receive a Google Voice invite you can then turn around and invite others, there is no mention of that on the page. This service allows you to receive visual and transcribed voicemail and you can send and receive text messages. It also gives you a new number that you can use right from your Android handset, now you can have a business and a personal line.
Some users have even figured out how to use this service together with other apps to get free calls via their Android handset. This is a really sweet deal, if you’re unfamiliar with Google Voice and its features, here’s a short video on how it works:

 

[THEV1LL4N]

HTC EVO 4G packaging leaks | Android Community

Check link for pictures.

A few lucky Sprint employees managed to get their hands on the HTC EVO 4G, luckily for us they was kind enough to show us the packaging. I would’ve preferred an unboxing but we’ll settle for this (for now). As good as the phone looks both internal and externally, we can’t say the same about this choice in packaging.

If you’ve ever eaten a microwave dinner then you’ll be familiar with this packaging scheme. This Swanson dinner knockoff has a nice picture of the EVO proudly displaying its micro USB and HDMI ports. You can also see the QIK logo, QIK is Sprint’s partner that allows the EVO to use the front facing camera for video calls.

The user’s guide looks pretty thick and it appears to be constructed out of better stuff than the box. So far this is Sprint’s first stumble in marketing this device but I’m sure it won’t prevent many people from buying this awesome device. Look on the bright side, when you take your phone out you can heat up some noodles to eat while you play with your new toy.

 

[masta247]

That Samsung Galaxy S looks super-awesome to me (imo the best Android phone). It has the most unbelievable screen ever (Super Amoled which is exclusive to Samsung).

And Google Voice is US-Only unfortunately.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

wow the graphics on that are brilliant!! so vibrant!

 

[THEV1LL4N]

LOL i tried to get inside knowledge about vodaphone pricing haha:

You are about to be connected to a new connection sales adviser for Vodafone UK. Please note they do not have access to existing customer details and cannot process orders or upgrades. If you have a query of this nature please contact customer services.

You are now connected with George.

George: Hello, you're chatting with George, one of Vodafone's online sales specialists. May I take your name please?
You: hi, where can i see details about the samsung galaxy s?
George: Let me check that for you with my manager
You: thanks. i know its not out yet, bu heard it was featured on this site
You: ah, ive found it. any word on the pricing?
George: Just checked and there is no update on the price plan of this phone please register for updates by going to coming soon section
You: thank you

 

[Casey]

Defo a nice looking device.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

and games like these will be available on android (better on newer devices with better specs of course):

 

[ARon]

Damn... those look good. I'm thinking someone needs to reinvent the battery as ar as cell phones go, cus thos games will kill it for sure. Even without those games they dont last long enough

 

[masta247]

Damn... those look good. I'm thinking someone needs to reinvent the battery as ar as cell phones go, cus thos games will kill it for sure. Even without those games they dont last long enough

It depends. My phone works longer than my last phone which was not a smartphone. I can charge it every 3-4 days and I use it a lot. I was worried about battery life before I bought it too but now I'm satisfied. Sure a longer battery life wouldn't bother me but it's not terrible now either. However I have a 1500mAh battery while most other smartphones have these 1000-1100 ones.
However the battery life is still a good enough reason we should be rather happy about our Android phones as opposed to WinMo or Iphone.
Windows Mobile can drain your battery like crazy in literally 4-5 hours.
There are better battery cell technologies but they are too expensive for a commercial market at the moment.


And about these games - I'm really glad that Gameloft didn't abandon their Android project. At some point there were some news on the net that they are about to cut funding for their Android games but the CEO was quick to say that it wasn't true. So now they had to prove it
And I'm glad because Gameloft creates the best mobile games imo.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

^^ i think so too..

about the battery, masta, dont samsung have some of the best batteries amongst the mobile phone market?
my battery lasts 1½-2 days with average use.

since ive updated to the experimental android 2.1 rom on the htc dream, my battery lasts 1 day max, with very light usage. due to a bug i have to switch my bluetooth on to preserve battery life, which still drains at a rapid rate. im just waiting for the stable release now. hopefully any day soon.

 

[S O F I]

My phone can't last a day with minimal usage after I rooted to 2.1. I charged it till 7:30am today and it died at 4pm.

 

[ARon]

My phone wasnt lasting when I had 1.6, 2.1 is just ridic. And yes I use spare parts and turn pretty much everything off, with 1.6 and this new 2.1

 

[masta247]

@SandeepWell, it depends. Most Samsungs have just above average battery lives but some are particularly good at it. Spica has a 650h stand-by time and 11h talk time declared with its 1500mAh battery. It's faaaar from achieving it (and sometimes I wonder if they even turn the phone on during these tests) but I think it does better than probably all other smartphones on the market at the moment. And GsmArena.com seems to back up my claim with theory Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica - Full phone specifications

I know that HTC phones aren't really great if it comes to battery life. Rather low capacity batteries they tend to use certainly don't help it.

Philips was known for definitely the best battery life considering they had some phones that would last a month without charging. I once bought a Philips phone and I would charge it every 2 weeks or so with moderate use.
Now since some Chinese company develops Philips phones they suck. They do have some not very known Android phones but mostly released for the Chinese market.
Philips back then (I had a similar model but with a bit bigger display):
Philips Xenium 9@9a - Full phone specifications

Stand-by Up to 1000 h
Talk time Up to 10 h

Other than that Sony Ericsson is known for great battery life.
On average I think Samsung is probably somewhere after them on par with Nokias and followed by Motorola (at least those I had because there are models that suck balls in this matter).

Most of all Samsung develops best screens and offers great value for money even though they are not famous for great quality. Well, it's usually average but not bad and gets better with each generation.
Samsung used to suck with quality in the past.
But it's hard to say about companies as a general as there are different models that would act differently too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ARon & Sofi: I'm very surprised about these results. To me it would be a good enough reason to buy a new phone
Do you guys use task killers? I once had an app that would work in the background that stole half of my battery during the night. Killing it with a task killer would do.

 

[Flipmo]

Like Masta said, get task killers. All applications that you open, keep running the background - so by using task killers it stops them from being a drain on your battery.

 

[S O F I]

Masta, while I am seriously considering buying an HTC Evo 4G, the issue is not battery life, but the instability of the cyanogen mod that I installed.

 

[ARon]

Of course I use a task killer, advanced task killer to be exact. I'm on my phone a lot so I expect to have to charge it every night, I think most people do that anyway...but sometimes i barely make it through the day. sucks.

Sofi there is a stable Cyan ROM you can use, it's based off of 1.6 but it's at least stable. I'm thinking of downgrading but I'm not really having any problems that I didn't have before so I'm just waiting til this 2.1 build is stable.