Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Android

avc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 196 posts

Re: Android

#131

Post by waterlesscloud »

tomjen3 wrote: post #125
waterlesscloud wrote: post #41

I keep putting off doing anything on android because of java. I don't know java, and I don't really want to learn it. I suppose I will give in eventually, for android, but it will be grudgingly.

If you don't know Java, what do you have against it?

To some extent it's aesthetic. Java seems bureaucratic and verbose and just...clunky.

Part of this is just where I'm coming from. I started programming as a kid with basic, then assembly, like most programmers my age. Then pascal and C in college, got a job doing C++ and did that for a number of years. Dabbled in a working in php at the end of that, seemed a little sloppy as a language.

Then I just stopped programming for a long while. Did other things for a living, other things for hobbies. I'd burned out on programming because I wasn't doing the sorts of things I wanted to be doing with it.

Now I'm getting back into it and I just don't have any interest in Java. It feels like it's designed for slow, plodding steps, and writing code in it feels like I'm doing a lot of favors for the language rather than working on something interesting.

Right now I'm building small stuff in Python and dabbling in Clojure. Python lets me feel like the language is not at all a source of friction. I write the code as fast as I know what the code should be doing. Java does not feel like that at all. It's got its limitations, and there's certain things I'd drop back into C for if I wanted to do them, but Python is a language I can almost ignore while I'm using it, if that makes sense.

Clojure is a whole different animal, and I'm mostly using it to stretch my brain a bit. Get some concepts I'd like to learn.

Re: Android

#132

Post by nextparadigms »

potatolicious wrote: post #86
orangecat wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google hasn't managed the fragmentation problem very well, they haven't done enough to control the quality the Android OS between carriers and manufacturers, and they've utterly mismanaged the Android Market. All true, and still they've had great success. (I'm actually surprised, given how bad the Market is and how blatantly the carriers are screwing up the phones). Which just means they can do even better if they ca…

> "All true, and still they've had great success." I'd argue they haven't. The success would've been the adoption of the platform - but as far as I can see none of the major Android phone vendors actually support the platform - they see it more as a way to skimp on software development costs, and offload it onto Google instead. There's little to no interest in even updating the phones, or supporting the platform as a…

But they do invest in the platform. All the customization stuff means they have something invested in the platform.

Re: Android

#133

Post by tomjen3 »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #131
tomjen3 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't know Java, what do you have against it?

To some extent it's aesthetic. Java seems bureaucratic and verbose and just...clunky. Part of this is just where I'm coming from. I started programming as a kid with basic, then assembly, like most programmers my age. Then pascal and C in college, got a job doing C++ and did that for a number of years. Dabbled in a working in php at the end of that, seemed a little sloppy as a language. Then I just stopped programmin…

Hmm I had that feeling for a long, long while with Java, but if you take the time to learn the shortcuts in Eclipse, really learn them so they are on the back of your mind and you don't have to think about it, Java stops being a language that you have to force, and it becomes a language that flows a lot freer from your fingers.

In addition, Android development uses Java, but it has replaced almost all of the apis, so there are less warts.

Re: Android

#134

Post by irons »

arst wrote: post #104
GHFigs wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

e.g. I asked him if he'd pay $199 for an Android tablet. He said "where can I get one"? The punchline is "Nowhere."

Sub-$200 Android tablets: http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_020W023705190001P?v... http://www.amazon.com/Archos-Home-Tablet-Android-Black/dp/B0...

Neither of those even works out of the box with the Android Market. Even with wishing and hoping and squinting, it's not credible to put them in the same product category as the iPad. A some-assembly-required golf cart can't substitute for a two-seater sedan.

Re: Android

#135

Post by irons »

guyjin wrote: post #118
GHFigs wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

e.g. I asked him if he'd pay $199 for an Android tablet. He said "where can I get one"? The punchline is "Nowhere."

isn't the nook an android tablet? (albeit a very specialized one.)

And the new Apple TV is an iOS device. Who cares? The OS in both cases is an implementation detail. Neither the ATV or the Nook remotely exemplify the features people associate with "iOS device" or "Android tablet".

Re: Android

#136

Post by jscore »

jwr wrote: post #34

I find it interesting that most people who like Android like it in the future tense. Android is always great, but in that next version, that is just around the corner. That upcoming tablet, that upcoming phone, that upcoming software.

Amen.

Honestly, I don't see Google EVER making a product like iPad/iPhone. Come on, they're an advertising company after all - one that can't just stick their software on some phone from a Taiwanese company, it'll work but you know...

Apple's products operate completely on another level.

Re: Android

#137

Post by adambyrtek »

_delirium wrote: post #99
DougWebb wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an effort to provide tools for Android development in a bunch of scripting languages. It's not ready for prime time yet and it wasn't clear to me how well you'll be able to access the libraries, but it's a promising alternative.

Is this the one you had in mind? http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/

ASE doesn't allow you to build fully featured applications, only simple scripts that can interact with the Android APIs.

On the other hand Ruboto[1] looks very promising, it's a project that brings JRuby to Android application development.

[1] http://ruboto.org/

Re: Android

#138

Post by nextparadigms »

tlrobinson wrote: post #5

"When he told me his primary uses of the tablet will be Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar, I told him he'll be better off with Android." Or Chrome OS, if it ever ships.

They said last year in November that Chrome OS will launch 1 year from then. Why were you expecting it earlier?

Re: Android

#139

Post by ergo98 »

jscore wrote: post #9

I use a Nexus One as my daily phone since it came out in January, and it's hard to say whether Android software/hardware experience will ever catch up to Apple's standard. The touchscreen on the iPhone is state of the art, with my N1, I need to touch something once or twice, which never happens with iPhone. Same for keyboard on the iPhone, it's light years better than any of the dozens implementations for Android. I…

"The touchscreen on the iPhone is state of the art, with my N1, I need to touch something once or twice, which never happens with iPhone."

Apple didn't design their touchscreen (nor do they design their processor, RAM, display, wireless chipset, etc.). The Nexus One, it is very well known, has a weak capacitive touchscreen that is outclassed by any number of competing Android phones. This has nothing to do with Android versus the iPhone.

"Same for keyboard on the iPhone, it's light years better than any of the dozens implementations for Android"

Disagree entirely, but I suppose that's subjective. Then again, I can't stand touchscreens keyboards altogether. My preference is strongly weighted towards sliders.

"Also compare the Facebook app on both phones. Android's is not there yet."

But it's getting there. Quickly.

I've been using Android phones since the G1. The quality improvements over the last 6 months have been incredible. Over the last 3 months has been exhilarating. Over the last 1 month has been unfathomable.

Apps for Androids used to be an afterthought. Now anyone who thinks they're an afterthought is a fool -- they are now front and center (and, as a sidenote, it leveled the ground for competitors like Blackberry as well. Being an "iPhone only" mobile solution is a loser's game now, smelling as ignorant and backwards as being an IE-only website). They are rapidly evolving into a decent platform.

Yeah, a year from now Android will easily match any fit and finish of the iPhone.

Re: Android

#140

Post by glhaynes »

megablast wrote: post #110
orangecat wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google hasn't managed the fragmentation problem very well, they haven't done enough to control the quality the Android OS between carriers and manufacturers, and they've utterly mismanaged the Android Market. All true, and still they've had great success. (I'm actually surprised, given how bad the Market is and how blatantly the carriers are screwing up the phones). Which just means they can do even better if they ca…

"All true, and still they've had great success." Google has had great success, which is good to see. "Which just means they can do even better if they can address those obvious problems." Not necessarily. If all these people are just buying android phones because they can not get an iPhone, then nothing Google does will change that. The real test will be when the iPhone is available on more carriers, and when people…

In many non-US countries, iPhone is available on multiple carriers. My understanding (though I don't have numbers readily available) is that it's quite successful in many of them.
Post reply on HN