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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?

#11

Post by matwood »

rpledge wrote: post #9
matwood wrote: post #7

I 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 don't know about Linux since I quit using it on the desktop years ago. Someone responded to me a couple weeks ago in another iPhone related thread and said linux works fine with the iPhone - YMMV though.

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

#12

Post by Zak »

yanw wrote: post #3

You 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.

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

#13

Post by tzury »

What a coincidence, today, several years after using several high end, cutting edge smart phones of many kinds (Symbian/RIM/Android), I simply took my SIM card and insert it into an old Nokia 3110c ( http://www.google.com/images?q=nokia%203110 ), I have found in my drawer.

It just a lightweight phone which easy to use as a phone (dial, read/write text messages).

Let us face it. Anywhere I am (home or office) I have at least 4 different ways to connect to the web and waste my time over there [;-)].

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

#14

Post by spicyj »

matwood wrote: post #7

I 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…

I have an iPhone 4 too and would definitely recommend it.

I know you can use Rhythmbox to sync music and videos to the device. Not sure about apps, but you can definitely just download apps on the device itself. Also, I hear iTunes runs fine in Wine, so that's also an option.

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

#15

Post by victorbstan »

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 behave properly. Personally I still think the Apple way of pre screening is healthier, as long as it doesn't get draconian. Which poison do you pick?

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

#16

Post by risotto »

rpledge wrote: post #9
matwood wrote: post #7

I 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?

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.

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

#17

Post by Samuel_Michon »

Given that you're satisfied with AT&T, I'd recommend the iPhone 4. However, Linux support is non-existent. You can use iTunes via WINE, but experiences have been varied.

Luckily, you don't really need iTunes all that much. You only really need iTunes for activation, and that can be done for you at the Apple Store. Media and app purchases can all be done on the phone itself. As for synchronization of data: I recommend Google's services, which integrate nicely with the iPhone --- Apple's MobileMe works best on Mac and Windows.

If you decide to go for Android, I'd recommend the Samsung Galaxy S, which on AT&T is called Samsung Captivate. It's the closest thing out there to an iPhone 4.

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

#18

Post by jacquesm »

yanw wrote: post #3

You 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.

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

#20

Post by old-gregg »

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 computer for everything and as a phone it works much better on TMobile than iPhone does on AT&T: the reception is worse on the iPhone, it wouldn't accept MMS or SMS with non-English characters in 2010. WTF. The software (Android) is totally in a different league too: integration with Google calendars, maps and contacts is truly amazing, and you quickly get used to your phone automatically recognizing phone numbers and addresses in arbitrary text.

Another huge thing is Google Voice: you can dial any number straight from your address book without even worrying which country you're calling to, that's mind blowing to me (and I use it daily).

I bought both because we're doing software development for both, but I'm not proficient enough to comment on their APIs and programming environments. I do prefer Objective-C to Java though

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