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Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

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Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#111

Post by sandipc »

rimantas wrote: post #77
ergo98 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Droid 2 on verizon (out in about a month I believe) if you have philosophical objections to Apple ...or if you want a professionally functional notification system, or widgets, or strong universal voice support, or... Seriously, whenever someone starts in with "philosophical objection" they're propping up a garbage strawman. I choose Android because, in a hundred and one ways, it provides me a more usable, more powe…

And in other hundred and one way iPhone is more useable, powerful and useful. Which set of ways one chooses sometimes boils down to "philosophy".

that would be a person's philosophy regarding smartphones and how that person uses them, not with respect to an entire company (Apple)

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#112

Post by ergo98 »

lzw wrote: post #92
ergo98 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Personally I still think the Apple way of pre screening is healthier That's because you're stunningly ignorant, not only about Android's security model, but also about Apple's inability to catch anything but the superficial.

Shame on anyone who upmods a comment like yours which consists of nothing but calling someone a name and then telling two lies.

It isn't "calling someone a name". It's pointing out a fact. They are clearly ignorant about the Android security model, and they're ignorant about the checks that Apple does.

Your claim that they are lies is humorous, however. Ignorance casts a wide shadow.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#113

Post by tshtf »

losvedir wrote: post #101
tshtf wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The N900 is an interesting beast. If my father called, and asked me what smartphone to get, I'd suggest an Android device. If an old friend called, who happened to be familiar with Linux, I'd advise the N900 with no reservations. The N900 is more open than Android in that it uses the traditional APIs used on the Linux desktop. You can install pidgin, irssi, otr, asterisk, and just about everything else that is popula…

> Both Skype and SIP work very well over 3G on T-Mobile US. Interesting, where? I have an N900 on T-Mobile in Boston and it's been very disappointing. I had visions of a "data only" relationship with the phone, but neither Skype nor SIP over 3G are of acceptable quality. Over wifi, works pretty well, though. How have you set yours up? I tried Google Voice -> Gizmo5, buying a skype number, and some other things and no…

I'm currently in Northwest Arkansas. Skype calls work just about as well as SIP calls over 3G, which is to say the same quality as regular calls over GSM. I've used my old Gizmo account with SIP, as well as Callcentric and Skype. No issues.

With respect to maps and email, you have a point. The N900 is not up to speed there.

It's a good geek phone, but not something I'd recommend to my parents.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#114

Post by ergo98 »

scott_s wrote: post #88
ergo98 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Having used both in real life and for development my OPINION is that iPhone if far and away the best device on the market. And, having used both devices in real life and for development, the Nexus One is the best device on the market (if the Galaxy S Pro had 2.2, I'd easily choose it as the market leader). In fact after using an Android device for a while, and trying to go back to an iPhone 4 for a while, the comple…

You called the original poster out on making an absolute statement, and he clarified it was his experience, gathered from the people he knew. The first sentence in your final paragraph seems to deliberately disregard what he said to maintain outrage.

>You called the original poster out on making an absolute statement

No, I didn't. I called them out for stereotyping why someone would choose something other than the iPhone.

It's akin to saying "The Nexus One is the best device, but I can understand that if you're gay, a follower, or strongly susceptible to marketing pressure, the iPhone might be a better device for you". (You know, instead of finding it to be the right device for them)

The outrage is about the strawman.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#115

Post by frossie »

awolf wrote: post #28

iPhone 4, if like me, you think user experience and ease of use are the most important factors in a device you use 20-30 time a day while on the go. Droid 2 on verizon (out in about a month I believe) if you have philosophical objections to Apple or want freedom from syncing with your laptop. The original droid is still a great phone and was pretty well designed. Droid 2 will have better hardware and battery life tha…

OP mentioned being a Linux user. The iPhone, lovely as it may be, is a non-starter without access to a Windows or MacOS machine, at least to set it up. If you are willing to forego backups and your stuff lives in the cloud, you can make do after the intial startup.

But really, Uncle Steve needs to give us the ability to use an iPhone without an iTunes computer.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#116

Post by mirkules »

jordanmessina wrote: post #44

I've been an iPhone fanboy (I admit it) since the first generation. I even waited in line for 13 hours for the iPhone 3g. I've spent over $1000 on iPhones and accessories now (I've probably made most of it back considering I sell the old one when I get a new one). I was completely dedicated to Apple and its magical phone. But one day I got a little curious. A friend of mine got the Droid and was in love with it. I fi…

I second your opinion - I switched from 3GS to Samsung Galaxy S. Completely correct that it's not polished like the iPhone, but being able to mount the phone as your choice of device is just, as you said, liberating. Have an AVI movie? No problem, just drop it on the device, it plays. Oh, it's in MPEG? No problem.

Swype is cool too, I now can't live without it -- in fact, I stopped using my native tongue in SMS form because it's THAT much easier to type in English.

Oh, now I also have an SFTP client, an SSH client, turn-by-turn navigation, WiFi analyzer -- all for free. Pretty soon, I will get tethering. The only downside to my particular phone is the AT&T crapware you can't get rid of, and it infuriates me that I have to root the phone to delete it. But even that is better than having to deal with iTunes.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#117

Post by boyter »

karimyaghmour wrote: post #69

Get an N900. I've had an iPod touch for close to a year and a BB curve 8900 for 1.5 year. I still use the former for music, but no longer for browsing or apps and I've entirely replaced the latter. As a developer there are just layers and layers of goodies to be found. Hint: forget about the Ovi and Maemo Select pointers pre-packaged on the phone and go straight to maemo.org for apps, that's where the interesting stu…

I have an N900 and I love it, but I don't know if I would recommend it.

Firstly its quite large (not an issue for me) and doesn't work in portrait mode very well. Its not really a phone per say its more of a tablet that can make phone calls. The screen while fine is not as sharp or nice looking as either a HTC Desire or iPhone 4. Lastly its resistive which can be a plus or minus depending on your point of view.

Now that said, it plays fine with Linux since it just mounts as another drive. You don't really need to connect it to anything since you can sync podcasts and the like over wifi or your data connection. You can run almost any software you want on it. Development using Python is a breeze. You can ssh in and use it as a mobile workstation. The browser is a real browser and websites display as would on your desktop pc.

I think the real test for the N900 will be if MeeGo works out to be any good for it. I have high hopes though :)

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#118

Post by scott_s »

ergo98 wrote: post #114
scott_s wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You called the original poster out on making an absolute statement, and he clarified it was his experience, gathered from the people he knew. The first sentence in your final paragraph seems to deliberately disregard what he said to maintain outrage.

>You called the original poster out on making an absolute statement No, I didn't. I called them out for stereotyping why someone would choose something other than the iPhone. It's akin to saying "The Nexus One is the best device, but I can understand that if you're gay, a follower, or strongly susceptible to marketing pressure, the iPhone might be a better device for you". (You know, instead of finding it to be the r…

In this context, I don't see how "making an absolute statement" is significantly different from stereotyping someone. He owned up to it and clarified where he felt his point applied.

I now understand that he meant to say that among the people he knows, they consider the iPhone the better choice objectively, but some choose Android for ethical reasons. I don't see why you don't see that as well.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#119

Post by boyter »

omrisiri wrote: post #93

I was in the exact situation about four month ago and i decided to go with the N900, my considerations were: 1. I wanted a phone that is not Completely closed 2. I don't care about the eye candy 3. I run Linux - Anything that is not 100% compatible is out of the question 4. I Wanted a real keyboard - i just can't get used to those on-screen keyboards 5. I wanted Skype support out of the box 6. REAL multitasking So I…

All good points and the same reason I went with the N900. My only complaints being the screen isn't the best (res is fine but brightness and saturation aren't as nice as htc desire or iphone)

It really is the ultimate geek phone.

Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?

#120

Post by technomancy »

jacoblyles wrote: post #104
technomancy wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Java is popular, featureful (have fun allocating memory with objective-c while working on iOS apps!) and fast. More importantly, it's the most popular VM to target for new language implementations. You can use Rhino, Python, Lua, Scala, Scheme, Clojure, Fantom, Frink, and others on it.

With a substantial speed penalty on Dalvik.

True in cases where code relies on Hotspot's server JIT and GC, but the fidelity of the JVM->Dalvik bytecode conversion is remarkable.
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