LG InTouch Max - I assume it's the same as LG GW620 which I've heard somewhere that it is a good phone.
From those other phones Spica (portal) is the best hands down. That another LG phone is a low end compared to Spica. The I5800 (galaxy apollo) is also inferior - it has a very strange and small screen resolution and touchwiz instead of the generic Android UI. Also a slower processor and inferior build quality.
So GW620 = a pretty decent phone with a QWERTY keyboard.
Spica/Portal = Much better community support, newest software versions and countless new roms from Samsung and Samdroid community, Samdroid Kitchen, better screen and a faster processor.
If you're not going to play with it much then I guess LG wins it with the Qwerty keyboard. Otherwise Spica wins with pretty much everything else. I'm very satisfied with it, despite the fact that sometimes these new high-ends make me a bit jealous of huge Super Amoled screens or better cameras.
As far as performance goes the Samsung 800mhz chip is fast enough. After all it was "a prequel to Hummingbird". It also has an awesome GPU but there is a problem with it - 3D drivers or lack of proper ones. Because of that the CPU renders graphics (and it does very good job at it, for a CPU).
However new GPU drivers are under development by the community and are said to be built in a final build of Samdroid's Android 2.2.
They already made great multi-touch drivers as well as a lot of other fixes.
And that kitchen thing - you have to download a program called Odin, plug in your phone via usb in recovery mode, install any of those new Android 2.1 roms and then "cook your kitchen" online and download it, place it on your sd card, enter phone's recovery mode again and install it from there. You're done - you have the newest Android version, any Kernel you wish, any rom with everything you want and rooted.
Everything is described in bigger detail on Samdroid.net
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Moving away from phones and tablets, what about ereaders, especially the nook? Has anyone had any experience with the Kindle either?
I did not know that they came with free 3G where it was available. I haven't looked too deep into it, but web browsing on that thing would be pretty cool and it's almost like a pseudo-tablet.....for $150 for the WiFi model.
thanks. this post was very useful. but why do people change their android kernels. what benefits lie with changing, modifying or updating? does it improve compatibility, stability?
New Kernels for Spica are usually faster and bring good improvements that already get integrated in them. Whenever there's a new fix or improvement it gets integrated in the next kernel so you don't have to load all of them separately.
In case of Spica these were for example things like multitouch, improving loudspeaker volume or modifying some minor things like some icons that didn't display as they should in some cases etc.
am i right in saying updating the custom rom doesnt update the kernel, the kernel is the base for the rom to be flashed over?
So it seems as if the new Droid 2 WE (World Edition) has dual GSM/CDMA radios, a different color scheme to the original D2, and 1.2GhZ processor as opposed to the 1GhZ in the original D2. Pretty cool.
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What would be the point of it being released in the US (rumor has it, it will replace the D2) if it can't get on the two GSM carriers?
How long are you going for? Don't expect to get a data plan there without a contract. If you have wifi where you're staying/working you should be alright though.