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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?

#131

Post by amackera »

mahipal wrote: post #31
old-gregg wrote: post #20

Nexus One. I'm surprised you're even asking. Fully Linux-friendly, hackable, powerful and doesn't have any crapware from carriers or hardware manufacturers. Buy it at full price and sign up for a $59/mo month-to-month plan from T-Mobile. Enjoy built-in tethering and guaranteed upgrade to the latest version of Android. I own N1 and iPhone 4 and I believe that N1 is a superior phone. It doesn't need to be plugged to a…

The choice of Java is one of the most mind-boggling things to me. There must be so many developers turned off of the platform because of it. Luckily, you can now distribute Python scripts as APKs ( http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/wiki/SharingScrip... ).

Garbage collection, (now) JIT compilation, combined with Dalvik, plus lots of developers know the syntax. Not to mention you can use native code with the NDK.

Java was a good choice in my opinion. I've done enough development for Android to love it, hate it, then love it all over again.

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

#132

Post by tjstankus »

jonknee wrote: post #45
tjstankus wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Java is popular in the broad sense, but it doesn't seem to be very popular with the developers I know that are creating and interested in creating mobile apps.

Is that because they are iPhone users or because Objective-C is a better language for mobile development?

I think it's general sentiment against Java, the language. Many I know, including me, have been there and don't want to go back. At the same time the JVM is a pretty interesting space for language runtime.

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

#134

Post by TGJ »

ergo98 wrote: post #112
lzw wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can do a lot better and explain yourself instead of name calling which it is. You are not pointing out a fact, you are stroking your ego.

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

#135

Post by pkulak »

old-gregg wrote: post #20

Nexus One. I'm surprised you're even asking. Fully Linux-friendly, hackable, powerful and doesn't have any crapware from carriers or hardware manufacturers. Buy it at full price and sign up for a $59/mo month-to-month plan from T-Mobile. Enjoy built-in tethering and guaranteed upgrade to the latest version of Android. I own N1 and iPhone 4 and I believe that N1 is a superior phone. It doesn't need to be plugged to a…

The one thing that really sucks about all Android phones is how they scroll. It's _really_ distracting and makes reading long content pretty unsatisfying.

Here's how it works: when you put your finger down on the screen it could be either a tap or the start of a scroll. The phone doesn't know at that instant which. It has to wait to make the call until there's been some amount of motion, about 1 or 2 cm, and until that time, the screen can't move (you don't want the screen bouncing around when you tap on things). So, when you start a scroll, when the phone actually knows it's a scroll, your finger has moved a couple cm but the screen hasn't. Android, for some damn reason, takes that instant to "catch up" to your finger, so that every time you scroll, the screen jerks up a line or two. No animation or anything. One frame it's down there, and the next it's up here. Try keeping your place when that happens, it's really annoying.

There is another way to do it too. The iPhone just doesn't bother to catch up. It works great and seems like no more difficult to implement.

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

#136

Post by heed »

ratsbane wrote: post #129
heed wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Individual Plan is $59/mo and the family plan you're on is $79/mo.

No, the Individual Plan with "Even More Plus (No Annual Contract)" is $79.99.: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?cat... The "Family Talk + Text + Web" with unlimited minutes and no contract is $139.99: http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/Cell-Phone-Plans.aspx?cat... At least, that's what I'm paying and that's what T-Mobile's site shows. If they're showing different prices in your part of the cou…

Oh, you are quite correct, I was mistaken.

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

#138

Post by timinman »

konad wrote: post #26
victorbstan wrote: post #15

I wonder what people think about the non-screened applications for Android, and that many applications have (retro-actively) been pulled because they send private information to douchebags? I'm imagining with Androids popularity, it's going to end up being a world similar to the PC world, where you have Windows cheezoid OS with some antivirus/antiphishig app having to overlook all your applications and make sure they…

[citation needed]

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news/sec/blog/sec...

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

#139

Post by konad »

timinman wrote: post #138
konad wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news/sec/blog/sec...

Be careful who you trust

http://mobiputing.com/tag/jackeey-wallpaper/

Update 2: Google temporarily banned the developer’s apps, but has since decided that they’re safe. You can now download them from the Android Market again. But the bigger point is that you should look closely at the permissions required by some apps to determine whether you’re comfortable with the type of information they’re collecting.

http://www.androidtapp.com/android-wallpaper-apps-falsely-ac...

The worse part about all of this is no one, I mean no one fact checked accurately. VentureBeat, The Wall Street Journal, CNET, Fast Company, Fortune, PC World, Computerworld, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, etc. the list goes on and on and everybody jumped the gun in reporting the issue. No one asked the developer about it nor really looked into the methods Lookout used in building it’s report called the App Genome Project.

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

#140

Post by arzvi »

got an iPhone to test it for a week, and the first thing I did was to msg my friends, got some replies, and some SPAM. If I needed to delete the spam, I had to press the msg line to get into the msg, then 'Edit' to edit the conversation, then touch the msg then 'delete' button below. Still the conversation albeit empty, stood there. Usability sucks.... I did all these with two clicks in my N72 Nokia, and the Nexus or HTC Evo is far better for me to use than iPhone. I love the way iPhone handles things, its fonts, its colorfulness, and the easier input (size and accuracy of touch space) but I would give it to a girl who needs them to be 'cute' pets rather than a work horse and easy to manage organizer/'get your work done fast' device a nerd like me would need. Android anyday, but then iPhone is the mother of all smartphones since they were the reason the smartphones entered mainstream, and we are having this conversation. Apple is the best for 'cute/beautiful' UI, usability?? - nah
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