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Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

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Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#11

Post by etfb »

I had a Nokia N70 before I got my N95, and the N95 is definitely must faster (less "laggy") but still not perfect. The quality is fine, and I can't think of many features it doesn't have. If you want a good, solid, reliable phone, the N95 is the best thing I've ever seen from Nokia, and I place Nokia at the top of the list for mobiles.

As for something you can hack -- I don't know. I gather there are options for the Nokias, but I've never got around to trying them. I'd avoid MS and Apple on principle (the totalitarianism, as you say, is a deal breaker) and Palm is a bit overpriced and underpowered; they're really stuck in the 1990s, the poor dears. What does that leave? Not much.

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#12

Post by paulgb »

alnayyir wrote: post #9
martythemaniak wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20 for an encryption key which allows you to digitally sign your app and get to the more interesting parts of the API - system event listeners, background processes, auto-startups, system modules etc. For the iPhone you need a $99 key to do anything, and I don't know what the situation is with WinMO. BB's have been tetherable for years, though I don't know about unauthorized ways to do this. The browser is decent, a…

Android effectively doesn't exist yet and is as good as vaporware to me until I see some phones on sale. Hm. So far I'm leaning towards a jailbroken iphone, but! What particular blackberry model would you recommend?

The blackberry bold is coming out soon, maybe you should hold off until then.

Symbian is being open-sourced, and Nokia is known for being developer friendly as far as I know.

iPhones are cool, but don't seem to be particularly developer friendly. Also, FYI, I think you need a mac to develop for them.

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#13

Post by nailer »

martythemaniak wrote: post #2

As I've posted elsewhere, I think the Blackberry if vastly underestimated by people around these parts, which I don't really understand. The OS is rock solid, they have very durable hardware construction, a huge number of features compared to the iPhone and a $20 API key will get you access to APIs which iPhone users only dream about (regular APIs require no key). I don't know what you mean by hackability. The iPhone…

> The OS is rock solid > I used about 12 different BBs for a year and half

I've used a Blackberry, an iPhone, Nokia N95, and Windows Mobile 2005/6 in the last 4 years.

Blackberry was by far the most stable. Mine never ever crashed, after about a year and a half of daily use.

Is there a BB with a gecko / webkit / opera browser?

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#15

Post by orib »

alnayyir wrote: post #9
martythemaniak wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20 for an encryption key which allows you to digitally sign your app and get to the more interesting parts of the API - system event listeners, background processes, auto-startups, system modules etc. For the iPhone you need a $99 key to do anything, and I don't know what the situation is with WinMO. BB's have been tetherable for years, though I don't know about unauthorized ways to do this. The browser is decent, a…

Android effectively doesn't exist yet and is as good as vaporware to me until I see some phones on sale. Hm. So far I'm leaning towards a jailbroken iphone, but! What particular blackberry model would you recommend?

I second waiting for the bold. It's quite capable, and has a screen with double the pixel density (screen has the same resolution, but is smaller to make room for the keyboard) of the IPhone. It's beautifully sharp, and I'd have to say that the tactile keyboard leaves any touchscreen in the dust when it comes to actually doing input to the device.

Disclaimer: I'm a co-op student at RIM for the summer. This means that I've gotten to play with the Bold, but it also means I'm a bit biased =P

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#16

Post by tsuraan »

I have a blackberry pearl with t-mobile, and it's not bad. The data rate is slow (200k if you're lucky, usually much lower than that), but it lets you use the DUN bluetooth profile when connected with OSX, so it's an acceptable wireless modem, and a decent phone. The DUN profile only seems to work with my powerbook though; I've tried using the phone as a bluetooth modem with my nokia 770, and the blackberry won't advertise that profile in that situation. I don't understand how that works, but it's a limitation to be aware of.

I'm personally holding out for an Android device, mostly because the pearl thing in the blackberry gets crap in it and then you can't really use the UI until you manage to work the dust particles out.

Also, what is this excellent data plan you're speaking of? Is it just the $40/month unlimited internet plan on their 2G network, or is there an actual 3G data plan somewhere that I haven't been able to find?

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#17

Post by alnayyir »

tsuraan wrote: post #16

I have a blackberry pearl with t-mobile, and it's not bad. The data rate is slow (200k if you're lucky, usually much lower than that), but it lets you use the DUN bluetooth profile when connected with OSX, so it's an acceptable wireless modem, and a decent phone. The DUN profile only seems to work with my powerbook though; I've tried using the phone as a bluetooth modem with my nokia 770, and the blackberry won't adv…

non blackberry devices get unlimited data for $20, this is why I'm trying to avoid blackberry devices, or at least avoid letting them know I have one.

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#18

Post by smhinsey »

nailer wrote: post #13
martythemaniak wrote: post #2

As I've posted elsewhere, I think the Blackberry if vastly underestimated by people around these parts, which I don't really understand. The OS is rock solid, they have very durable hardware construction, a huge number of features compared to the iPhone and a $20 API key will get you access to APIs which iPhone users only dream about (regular APIs require no key). I don't know what you mean by hackability. The iPhone…

> The OS is rock solid > I used about 12 different BBs for a year and half I've used a Blackberry, an iPhone, Nokia N95, and Windows Mobile 2005/6 in the last 4 years. Blackberry was by far the most stable. Mine never ever crashed, after about a year and a half of daily use. Is there a BB with a gecko / webkit / opera browser?

You can download Opera for the BB (at leas the Curve, whatever model that is) but I honestly found that I preferred the built-in Browser app over it, and I am a long-time Opera user. Trying to use the mobile Opera is when you really start to feel constrained by the BB's UI.

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#19

Post by christefano »

It doesn't meet your criteria, but I recommend the Palm Centro without hesitation. The ecosystem of developers and applications (freeware, shareware and commercial) is enormous.

Say what you will about the operating system being old (not to mention the sad, backwards ways of Palm, the company), but my Centro is running brand new programs alongside 8 year old applications without a problem. Oh, and the Centro has real copy and paste.

The GSM version of the Centro also has the lowest SAR radiation levels of any phone I've seen (it's something like 0.74).

I share my Centro's data plan over Bluetooth with my Nokia N810 tablet all the time. Ironically, all my Palm software also runs on the N810 with the Garnet VM from Access.

Re: Smartphone Decision for Young Programmer?

#20

Post by alnayyir »

christefano wrote: post #19

It doesn't meet your criteria, but I recommend the Palm Centro without hesitation. The ecosystem of developers and applications (freeware, shareware and commercial) is enormous. Say what you will about the operating system being old (not to mention the sad, backwards ways of Palm, the company), but my Centro is running brand new programs alongside 8 year old applications without a problem. Oh, and the Centro has real…

I'll definitely look into it, I did consider a Palm in general in lieu of that Treo I mentioned. If it's price competitive and it has some of the features I'm looking for, I'll strongly consider it. Thanks for the heads up.

Personally not concerned with the radiation levels though. Power output of a cellphone is a couple orders of magnitude below anything I see causing cancer or non-trival DNA damage.

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