Entertainment For Lively Minds
Make me buy a new smartphone
So we all pretty much know what an iPhone can do for us (if not, then there are numerous threads here to help!) we can even buy a cut down version as an iPod Touch to get to grips with it's capabilities but what of the Android phones. Are they as much better than the iPhone as they seem or do their inevitable restrictions become as annoying as those from the apple machine?
One of the rubbish things about the iphone/ipod touch is the diary that has such limited search facilities as to make them less than useless (I have about 15 years worth of diary on there and it only searches the last few months!). Are Android phones any better?
When I had a Palm PDAs or Windows Mobile, when I wanted to synchonise with a PC or MAc I had to press one button and everything would be synced. When I want to get any data such as a newspaper, spreadsheet, notes or diary entry onto my iPod touch I have to do them all manually and seperately. I prefer to use my Mac as the master machine so I expect to have to get a copy of MissingSync for Android, but will that do everything, preferably wirelessly?
I'm really after a new PDA, the phone bit is an add-on as far as I'm concerned so I'm not too fussed about it's performance.
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I love my BlackBerry Bold
no frills, no whistles and bells, but its calendar syncs to my google calendar faultlessly, my multiple gmail accounts run on it, I can read pdfs, read and edit word/excel docs...
...but having said that, I am due an upgrade and am teetering on the verge of switching to the (Android-based) HTC Desire. A small but increasing number of friends swear by them.
I love my desire,
but if you want "always on" syncs you'll be charging your phone twice a day, and the phone can't take more than its current 1400mAh battery.
The only other problem with HTC is that their interface on top of Android means that you have to wait forever for upgrades. If the HTC Hero is anything to go by, your phone will have a "firmware" life half as long as its warranty or your contract, and you could find most apps on Android Marketplace won't run on your phone.
EDIT: forgot to mention that the GPS receiver is as sharp as a satnav, and that Google Navigation is an app of rare beauty.
Blackberry "feature"
I discovered my Blackberry Curve has a "feature" which is that it deletes calender information older than 3 months. You can't stop this and if you're not careful it deletes all your Outlook calender history too. As it did to me - I foolishly didn't notice till too late. It's a well known problem in netland and none of the fixes I've seen actually work. Pants, in short. My Palm V was perfection in its time.
HTC Hero
HTC G2 Touch Hero, I've mentioned it here before - a brilliant phone. You can run multiple applications, very intuitive operating system and calendar, Word and Google docs all sync very easily.
I would strongly recommend one, although battery is an issue.
Desire
I'm veering towards the Desire but it's not just ease of syncing that I want it's one button syncing I want, can your Android manage that? I want all my files (notes, spreadsheets etc), my calendar and my contacts to sync at a single click.
The only thing I can find about Android calendars is that you can't search old calendar entries, is that really true because even the ipod touch isn't that bad.
I love love love my HTC phone
It's a Magic, (which is a bit outdated now) but I still find the whole Android and Google experience thoroughly pleasing.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
I have never been so disappointed with a gadget. I received this as a free upgrade on Orange. I returned the first one because it didn't always ring on an incoming call, and the battery lasted an average of 6 hours even without doing anything. The second one had better battery life, but random, so sometimes it lasted 6 days of moderate usage, other times less than an hour.
Orange would not replace it with a grown-up phone, since I never paid for it.
Plus points were that Android is very nice if you use Google stuff a lot. But honestly, phones are supposed to be about making and receiving calls and this was not its primary function. It's actually very hard to make a call on an Android phone.
I am now on a cheap Nokia. It is quad band, 3g, has no fancy features, but the battery lasts 2 weeks on medium usage.
I also have a Blackberry Curve for work, and that's brilliant. It just works.
Agreed
That's a good point. It's unnecessarily difficult to find a contact and make a phone call.
Shortcuts
You can make shortcuts to frequently used numbers on the home screen. But other than that, it's a faff.
Really?
I don't find it faffy at all on my HTC... just press the green receiver button on the handset, and there's my dialpad. I have my most frequently called numbers on the favourites tab, so they're right there. Accessing numbers I only call once in a blue moon is a bit tricky, granted, but I've just downloaded gesture search and really like it.
At least it has a dial button
The Xperia doesn't. All done through the touch screen. Considering that I am a massive geek, go to Linux user groups, an IT professional, etc. etc., a gadget has to be pretty unforgivingly difficult and generally rubbish to annoy me this much.
It's my fault for being talked into it in the shop, my N95 was much better until I wore out the '4' key.
oh, I loved my N95.
Great phone. I do prefer my Magic though...
Whereas my hubbie went from an N95 to an N900 and really doesn't like it.
Wow, I didn't know the Xperia doesn't have a dial button. What a pain.
More Xperia woes
The camera might be 8mp but it doesn't have a flash. No use at all. The wonderful N95 had a flash, and a superb camera with a great lens.
There is apparently no way to set the phone to just vibrate, it seems to want to ring at the same time. The vibration is so slight it might as well not bother anyway. Whereas a Nokia (any of them) could be measured on the Richter scale.
YOYOYOY
Why Oh Why Oh Why? One of my main requirements for a phone that's going to be in my pocket is that I know it's ringing without anyone else knowing. It's now something that I would just assume would be there these days. Presumably, the smaller the phone, the less space there is for a motor to cause the vibration. Smart phones cost in the region of £400 so I don't understand why whatever I get (and I'm beginning to go off the idea altogether) I'm going to have to make quite big compromises.
The phone bit is least important
As a PDA owner for about 8 years now, I consider a smartphone to be a PDA with a phone function and, as I don't use my phone very much (a couple of texts a day and possibly a phone call), I don't consider the phone bit to be important at all. To me, the important thing is to have the right applications and to be able to synchonise my data so that I have everything I need in my pocket at all times. If I could get an Android powered PDA at a sensible price I think I would. I'm still not convinced that I want everything in one box, my phone stays in my pocket all the time just in case but my PDA (currently an ipod touch) is mainly on my desk or lying around the house ready to go. I think what I really want is something that has the functionality of one of my old Palms, coupled with the interface of a desire/iphone with the application choice and cost of an iphone. I'm still amazed that my ipod touch will happily store 15 years worth of diary data but it only allows be to search the last year, it staggers me now that I realise that it's not the worst one!
Having got my old Treo 680 going again and
found it v useful in current travel chaos even with its now primitive internet access (free on giffgaff payg until end of feb); and having bottled out of buying a Touch recently in US (I have a 120Gb classic, full to the brim); I'd really be curious as to where you and other posters are "at", smartphonewise, 6 months or so on ?
All wisdom, esp re cheap deals and long-term usability, would be most welcome.
I like my Desire
I decided to go for an HTC Desire in the end because (assuming I get all the redemption payouts) I got a very very good deal that will cost me £15 a month for 2 years. Given that I've been spending more than an average of £80 a year on PDAs over the last 8 or 9 years I reckon I've got it on the cheap.
I've probably already saved a few pounds worth of petrol by avoiding traffic queues on my way home from work.
The 3G coverage with Orange can be a little patchy but having used an ipod touch for a year I'm appreciating the increased flexibility of Android. I should point out that I don't often use it for listening to music because I prefer a small nano in my pocket for that.
Having had a phone and a PDA for all these years it can be a bit frustrating at times when I'm on the phone and I want to make notes but I'm getting used to it now.
...oh yes.... and Angry Birds!
Data
Thanks---what does the data cost work out as ? Main reason I am not on Orange PAYG for now is that I found that £2/day is essentially both max and min data cost--but I assume the bundled data amount when you go for a contract is much better-what is it ?
I also noticed that the Orange iPad data prices seem much more attractive-so they can clearly do it when they want to.
The bundle is plenty
I'm on a 50M a month deal which was a worry for me as I thought I'd use more but even on holiday when I was out and about using it I only used a tiny fraction of that. The orange website (and android app) tell you how much of your allowance you've used. I guess if I was to download a daily podcast out of sight of the wifi then things would be different but I don't. The (free unoficial) Guardian app is great as it grabs everything overnight so that's less data to download than I otherwise would as well.
One nice feature of the old Blazer browser on Palms
is that it shows the data usage in the top bar as you go-I am using the m. sites such as m.guardian but find that anything else goes into hundreds of k quite quickly-so it was essentially impossible not to spend £2 on payg every day that you used it. The Treo 680 I have is GPRS only-no wifi or 3G. I am still mystified by what "free internet" was supposed to mean in this context-have gone on to giffgaff as a holding strategy to get the unlimited web until I have sussed my options. I only left Vodafone originally because we thought we could get Orange coverage at the FPO's but it was spottier than I expected-I am glad I did though as the Internet coverage spurred me to get the Treo going again.
Amused to see that we are already having the "sports team from my area is better than the sports team from your area" discussion [(c) The Onion] below, mainly on the iPhone vs HTC with the Blackberry as a contender. I would have been surprised a few years ago to see Windows and Symbian so far "behind"-less so for Palm, which is a shame as I loved almost all aspects of my various Palms, and would be a natural customer for the Pre.
[edit: Also interested to see that Symbian are in a somewhat stronger sales position http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1466313
than their relative visibility might suggest-but future not good I'd have thought ?]
I bought an HTC Desire as well
A terrific phone. As someone who uses Google services a lot (Gmail, Calendar, Reader), the synchronisation is terrific. My favourite feature is Google Listen, which wirelessly downloads all your podcasts when you're in range of wifi.
But no phone is without its downsides:
* Battery life -- will last the day, but you need to charge it every night (and remember to turn off the wifi if you don't need it). However, at least you can change the battery
* Firmware -- still waiting for the 2.2 update
* App installation. From what I understand, Android only installs apps on internal memory (not on the microSD card). This is a pain, as the internal memory isn't great. I believe this gets fixed in 2.2, but I'm not totally sure.
Desire
*I'm very far from an expert but from what I've read elsewhere, firmware updates seem to be network provider/phone model-specific, in some cases.
I keep hearing tales of providers and manufacturers who have their own proprietory interfaces and block the 2.2 update because their interface won't work with it. My O2 Desire came at the end of November with v2.2 already installed and I've had a couple of automatic minor update downloads to it since in just a month.
*While browsing there, I noticed there is an app in the Android Market which will let you run other apps from the SD card after you install it.
You're right
You're right, it's network dependent. My Desire came from Orange with 2.1 and I was offered (and accepted) 2.2. There was another update last week but we haven't been offered 2.3 yet and it's by no means certain that we will.
The ability to move apps (if the app will allow it) is built into 2.2. Is there an app that allows you to move even recalcitrant apps over? The last two OS updates I've done have required me to delete apps to give me enough room in memory to do the update and put them back on afterwards.
The boss (no, not that one) wonders...
Well, this is very interesting for me, as I'd been promising myself an iPhone (my first) as soon as the new model came out.
I'm a tech pro, so to not have a good smartphone is a bit of an oddity in this modern world - and as I run my own wee company which would cover the costs and claim back the dreaded VAT, it's all the stranger.
However, even though the money's there, I just baulk at the idea of spending £499 for what is essentially no more than an iPod Touch with phone functionality. Which is to say, it ought to cost no more than maybe £200 or £250 tops. I've no real interest in being royally shafted by signing myself into a two year, almost-as-big-as-my-mortgage-payment contract (I mean, who *really* uses 1000 minutes a month?) so pay-as-you-go seems so much neater.
Anyway, that's why I'm looking at alternatives. My home: all Mac. My business: predominanly Mac. Obvious choice would be: iPhone.
Would an Android phone be any cheaper? IS anyone offering unrestricted internet with one? Should have bought an iPhone before they did away with the unlimited internet - 500Mb doesn't really seem enough in this day and age (I can eat that amount of bandwidth in a day if I'm going to watch any videocasts).
So, massive, whaddyathink?
john (who came _this_ close to buying, but then decided a posh lounge chair and ottoman was far more important for his new office - I am, after all, the boss, even if I don't technically have anyone to, um, boss...)
If you run your own company
The most important thing is to be able to make and receive calls at all times, I would bet. Therefore, think carefully about buying a smartphone because the battery life is going to be a problem regardless of the manufacturer and model. Every non-call feature you use takes time away from calls.
Well...
Yes and no. Not that sort of company, to be honest, but I agree that a phone of any sort has to be utterly dependable and the battery life of these smartphones certainly gives me pause. My current clunker is 'almost' a smartphone. By definition it is (runs Symbian, you can install apps, has 3G and GPS - it's a Nokia 6110 Navigator) but the reality is that it's a very poor smartphone and a rather indifferent phone. It is, however, excellent as a handheld GPS (and is loaded up with the full GB 1:50,000 OS maps, courtesy of Viewranger) but that's not exactly relevant to my business either :)
Ah, what to do, what to do....
Get a demo
Most phone shops will give you a demo of the phones on display. Look at a few different classes of phone:
1. High end whizzy smartphones - iPhone, HTC Desire, etc.
2. Practical smartphones - Blackberry
3. Bog standard phones - Nokia 2730 etc.
Also have a look at other forms of portable IT gear, like the iPad, the Sony Vaio M, and so on, and work out if that gives you a different spin on the problem.
Three have just taken the internet limit off their
One plan which is designed for smartphones. I am on a standard one month rolling contract with them with 1gb per month and haven't gotten anywhere near using that much yet.
Other providers are available.
That's what I got for an outboard wifi/gsm dongle from 3
has been great-will certainly look at them for smartphone options.
[edit:Looking again I see that actually it was a "pay 70 quid for the wifi portable hub and get first 3 Gb over 3 months" deal so effectively a 40 quid dongle and 30 quids worth of the 10 pound deal. If possible I may be interested in adding this device and a smartphone onto some sort of 3 combined contract as they seem to be fair for data as you say.]
This in an interesting option
but I can't see a "one month rolling" One plan here
http://threestore.three.co.uk/TheOnePlan.aspx
, just a 24 month contract. Where should I be looking ?
Small Print
All these Unlimited Data deals are "subject to fair usage" and if you look in the small print, "fair usage" means there's not one will allow you more than 1GB before they throttle your connection to death.
I don't know how they get away with saying "Unlimited" when it so obviously isn't.
My contract is for 500MB and this past month I've not come close to using that much, but it still annoys that they can advertise something that you can't have.
I have a couple of month's grace as
am on giffgaff, who seem to have a genuine free unlimited [*] internet deal at the moment.
After end of Feb it gets a little more complicated though, and there may well be better deals than this:
though I am not sure that I can do better on PAYG ?
[* though I can't judge if speed is being throttled-I use a Palm Treo so not a really heavy user yet].
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i gaze enviously
....At my mates' iPhones and HTCs. The funny thing is that 3 months ago, TMobile promised me an iPhone for my upgrade (with them 10 yrs, had threatened to leave 'em) In the end though I stuck with Blackberry and got a 9700. The reason? Emails. Have to do a lot of them in my job and I can get work done whenever and wherever I want..
Downside is that the browsing experience is staggered and unsatisfactory, hence my envy of my mates calling stuff up on YouTube and downloading Apps like Brian Eno's Bloom (In itself a great reason to go iPhone). In fairness though, I am typing this with ease on my BB's qwerty keypad.
But, when all's said and done, I wouldn't change. Bkackberrys are solid, dependable and dinky for document editing.
BTW for all you iPhone owners in the Massive, I must repeat my recommendation of the Eno Bloom app. It's zen, it's magical, it's fucking gorgeous.
As the proud owner
of a new THC Desire and a map nerd I am wetting myself. Not only can you get an OS map w/GPS but Google Maps w/live traffic. As my previous phone was archaic I am in hog heaven. Can't help with diary though.
Does the THC Desire
have a GPS function to locate the nearest cannabis dealer?
Why not?
It could have and there's nothing that Apple can do about it!
I'm on my 3rd Blackberry
Not including a Storm which was crap. They've all been excellent apart from the Storm, did I mention it was crap? I use it for phone and email with a bit of essential web (google an address or phone number. Screen is too small for anything else). Battery is pretty good, charge every 2 or 3 days. Email is bullet Proof, the main reason I went Blackberry in the first place but it will take a 16gb micro sd card for media. Finally, it backs up and restores properly, the first phone I have ever been able to do this with.
pro- iPhone
I'm on my second iPhone now (had the first a couple of years, and upgraded to the new version), and I absolutely love it - I genuinely can't fault it.
From what I've seen of Android phones, the software has some whizzy extra features, and some of the phones are better spec - but they just don't work nearly as well as iphones - the touchscreens, the responsiveness - etc...
As I think Fraser has mentioned before...
While unmatched as a multi-purpose gadget, as a simple telephone the iPhone is, frankly, a piece of crap. I actually avoid making calls on mine (a 3GS) if a landline is within reasonably easy reach.
Unmatched?
Not really wanting to enter a debate, but rather in the interests of balance, I would challenge the idea of the iPhone being unmatched.
There is very little that the iPhone does that my Desire won't do and in some areas Android is better. It's very much horses for courses. I'm very glad I went for an Android phone but I can see that some people wouldn't be willing to put the time and effort into setting it up to be a powerful tool so an iPhone is probably best for them because it does more out of the box but reaches its limits sooner.
Massively pro-iPhone too.
On my third now. Recently upgraded to a 4, and I can't fault it. If I was nitpicking, I'd want clearer telephony, but phone calls, at a guess, account for about 5% of my usage of it. Something seismic would have to happen to make me go anywhere else.
Aye, bit of a non-argument
* If you use your smartphone for business and are a heavy emailer, you're probably better off with a Blackberry
* iPhones are the easiest to use and have the most polish (physically and in terms of the OS). And the best apps
* Android phones offer the most flexibility and are generally cheaper.
I have an HTC Desire myself, but I like the iPhone.
Best Apps?
The Iphone has the most apps, that is beyond dispute but the two that I use most on my Desire are DocsToGo and MissingSync. I've previously bought these and used them on an ipod touch and the Android versions are much better (especially when it comes to entering data into a spreadsheet). While I was using my ipod Touch as a PDA I failed to find an App that allowed me to keep (and search) all my past calendar entries but the android version of missingSync does the job and brings me back to where I was 8 years ago with my Palm.
Again, I'm not trying to start a fight/argument but some people will doubtless use this thread to help form an opinion so a counter viewpoint is important.
In fact, which iphone apps do you think are better than those available for Android?
Not worth arguing about
As I said, none of the phones I listed are bad phones; you just need to make a decision based on what's important to you. There are more and better games for the iPhone, for instance, but that's only useful if you play games. Ditto some of the DJ apps, analogue synth emulators and the iMovie app that some of my friends have.
The Apple marketplace is simply bigger, more mature and has more active developers at the moment. This may change over time.
(Odd that as someone with a reputation for Apple bashing, I'm now defending Apple.)
HTC Desire
I have one since a month ago. Still getting to grips, since it's the first smartphone I've used ever, but so far I'm very pleased with my new toy.
Battery life is an issue, my old non-interweb/app-running phone would go for a couple of days at least on a charge, but this one needs charging every night without fail. Ffrom what I hear it's pretty much the same with the iPhone.
Battery technology hasn't really caught up with what people expect phones to do these days, it seems to me. If you still want your phone to be all-singing-and-dancing-in-high-definition-colour yet reasonably small, don't expect any great advances in what else you'll be able to do with a phone until the batteries get -much- more efficient. The live streaming iPhone incident at the blog awards was a case in point.
Is it the technology or is it us?
A smartphone is basically a PDA with a phone in it. I've never had a PDA with battery life of more than a couple of days and the more things that broadcast that you switch on (Wifi, Bluetooth etc) the less time it lasts. That's always been the way. It's our expectations (or more accurately forlorn hopes) that make us think it should last longer. The amount that the PDA/Smartphone has increased immensely over the years (HD video recording would have been laughed at when I got my first monochrome, cameraless PDA) and the batteries have improved to allow us to use al these facilities for the same length of time. If you put the battery frommy first Palm in a Desire, it would probably only last a few hours.
Having said all that, I think battery life on the Desire is a little worse than I would have liked but I make sure I don't have 3G or Wifi switched on when I don't need it (putting a widget to switch them on and off on the home screen is the most convenient way) and never forget to switch GPS off when not in use. Have you spotted the built in app that tells you what it is that's using the battery power? IIt may help in working out what you want to stop running.
Technology or Us?
I suppose it's 50/50. We are, led by the manufacturers, the techy journals and the network providers, beginning to expect to do everything on our pocket devices that we can do on mains-powered kit at home, but the "next great breakthrough" required to meet our ever-expanding expectations isn't there yet. There are other technologies than Lithium cells in development, but it's looking like it'll be a while before they arrive.