I was fortunate enough to be given a Nexus One at a Google developer day and really love it (not just because it was free). My wife now uses my iPhone 3G and, playing with that handset from time to time, I wouldn't go back to it. If you're in the UK, I know Vodafone supply them. Or, if you're in the US, you can just buy one as an unlocked developer phone: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/08/nexus-one-dev...
Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
21–30 of 146 posts
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
If he's running Linux I'd be hesitant to recommend an iPhone 4, but I've never tried. I suspect lack of iTunes would be annoying. Is there a good iTunes substitute on Linux now?
Between Google Sync (over the air email/contact/calendar sync ActiveSync), Pandora and Rdio (streaming music services), and the App Store updates, I almost never sync to iTunes. I'm not sure how it would be if I couldn't as every so often i do sync some music or movies. But cloud services are making iTunes and the USB cable more and more irrelevant. It's a shame Apple is so bad at cloud services itself.
If rumours are true, there should be some iTunes cloud support soon.
Software upgrades require iTunes, but I guess as long as you have access to an iTunes equipped box sometimes. As you point out, if you're dependant on adding Music and Movies frequently it would become a pain in the ass.
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#23I have had excellent luck with my Nokia E72. It does not have iphone app capabilities, nor android, but it makes an excellent smartphone, and I love the hardware.
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#24I just got an iPhone4 so obviously that would be my recommendation. I don't think you could go wrong with it or one of the new Android phones. Since you're already on AT&T and don't mind staying I wonder if you could buy one phone and try it out for a couple weeks and then take it back and try another. That's the only way to really find out about each (Android vs. iOS) since most discussion on the internet about them…
If he's running Linux I'd be hesitant to recommend an iPhone 4, but I've never tried. I suspect lack of iTunes would be annoying. Is there a good iTunes substitute on Linux now?
I'm an iPhone user & Linux-only person for the last 2 years and my experience with the iPhone has been great.
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#25Get an iPhone 4. You're already on AT&T, and you'd like to stay there.
I love my iPhone 4. Nothing out there is nearly as good, especially when you're looking at the screen on this thing!
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#26I 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…
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Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#27nokia n900
I even used the SIM card from my iPhone in my N900, it doesnt get 3G (only 2.5G, due to At&t's lame network) but that doesn't matter to me since I use bandwidth intensive programs on WiFi anyway.
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#28iPhone 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 than the original while keeping the same design.
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#29You should take a look at the Samsung Captivate which is a Galaxy S Android phone for AT&T, if you want to move to Verizon the Droid 2 should be released later this month (I'm planning on getting the European version of that, Milestone 2 I assume they'll call it)
I am concerned, based on a friend's experience with a Behold II that Samsung will abandon the device and not provide software updates. In the case of the Behold II, Samsung promised an update to Android 2.0 when it became available. After it did, Samsung claimed that it wasn't compatible with the device. Third-party developers succeeded in running 2.1 on it, but, lacking drivers, many hardware features did not work.
In this case there is already an early beta firmware of Android 2.2 floating around to prove that they are working on it, plus they've open sourced the drivers:
http://www.androidguys.com/2010/07/30/samsung-open-sources-c...
Re: Ask HN: What smartphone to get right now?
#30You should take a look at the Samsung Captivate which is a Galaxy S Android phone for AT&T, if you want to move to Verizon the Droid 2 should be released later this month (I'm planning on getting the European version of that, Milestone 2 I assume they'll call it)
Has samsung stopped more or less requiring that you also own a windows PC? I had one of their slides for a very short while and almost every operation that involved putting data on the phone or taking it off required a Windows only program to communicate with the phone.
It's Android, you don't have to attach it to anything, windows or otherwise :)