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The Android Opportunity

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Re: The Android Opportunity

#121

Post by inklesspen »

dkokelley wrote: post #49
ruslan wrote: post #28

I guess the only reason why ppl think "iPhone is cool" is just because of slick multi-touch GUI, there's nothing else superior in iPhone per se. I have been programming for both platforms for quite a while and, you know, I find Android's Java less evil than all that iPhone's Obj-C stuff randomly mixed with tons of C wrappers (CoreFoundation) for regular POSIX. I find Android SDK more advanced because, 1) less code do…

The G1's hardware does support multi-touch, but Apple requested that it be disabled. http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/02/09/apple-asked-google... The Palm Pre supports and uses multi-touch in the same manner as the iPhone. It would seem that multi-touch isn't Apple's sole intellectual property, though they have IMO implemented it the best.

I've heard that Pre's implementation of multi-touch is the source of one of the legal battles between Apple and Palm.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#122

Post by BillGoatse »

jacobian wrote: post #19
jrockway wrote: post #8

As a recent Android convert, I am confused by all the "issues" that people keep mentioning. Everything on my phone Just Works. When I change the color of a calendar on Google Calendar, the color on my phone's calendar widget changes. When I change a contact on my phone, GMail and Google Voice update almost instantly. When I dial a number on the normal dialpad, my call is automatically routed through Google Voice. Whe…

Since you've got no problems with Android, maybe you can solve mine: - Why does the phone crash when I try to pair with my bluetooth headset? - Why do all eleventy-billion of my contacts show up in the dialer instead of the relatively small handful who've got phone numbers? - Why the *@#$% doesn't this thing have a proper headphone jack? - How do I sync music between my computer and my G1? - How about podcasts? - How…

I'm guessing you're on the G1?

I picked up an HTC Hero (More or less the G3, but I don't think out in the US yet) yesterday. The way it's going, I think I may love this phone more than my child.

Most of your problems are gone with this generation. It even has a standard headphone jack.

Android is catching up, fast.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#123

Post by nailer »

kalid wrote: post #107
nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Why do all eleventy-billion of my contacts show up in the dialer instead of the relatively small handful who've got phone numbers? Because the Dialer app is listing all of your contacts, because it serves as both the Dialer and the Contacts app all rolled into one. - Why the @#$% doesn't this thing have a proper headphone jack? Yell at HTC, not Android. - How do I sync music between my computer and my G1? Plug the…

Not to pick on you, but this is a great example of why open source usability languishes. Customers don't want to get into the nitty gritty on anything. A stock iPhone "just works" (syncing, videos, etc) without needing anything extra. It's hard to overvalue this. Second, people love to do feature-by-feature comparisons. I liken this to having a choice between 1) a sandwich and 2) the same ingredients in a blender. "O…

"A stock iPhone "just works" (syncing, videos, etc) without needing anything extra. "

Depends on what you're trying to do. Syncing with my iPhone required plugging in a cable and doing a manual sync. Syncing with Android doesn't really exist: it's just always up to date, and doesn't need syncing.

The default Android video player could support more formats out of the box could be better. Then again, there are about 50 useful, everyday things I can do with Android that I couldn't with my iPhone - see my contacts on the map, not lose data when closing apps, publically stream video direct from my phone to the web, copy files to the device.

Also iPhone Safari crashed constantly when reading large engadget articles on every iPhone firmware from 1.01 to 3.00. Android's browser is far more reliable.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#124

Post by nailer »

thwarted wrote: post #56
potatolicious wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've told us why these things are the way they are, but I get the feeling you feel that this alone justifies these gigantic UI holes. - because it serves as both the Dialer and the Contacts app all rolled into one. Is this a good idea? When I'm in my Dialer, presumably I only want to call people. Surely the system should sense context (likewise, if I'm in the email app, it should show contacts for whom I have no em…

Is [it serving as both the Dialer and the Contacts app all rolled into one] a good idea? When I'm in my Dialer, presumably I only want to call people. Surely the system should sense context (likewise, if I'm in the email app, it should show contacts for whom I have no email!). There is a "dialer" app that shows the phone pad. There is a contacts app tha shows all your contacts. While the device has phone functionalit…

The 'People' app in the Hero also dolves a long running prob I had with my iPhone.

Say I know Jeff sent me a website to look at. I can't remember whether this was via SMS or email.

* On iPhone, I had to open SMS, find messages, close SMS, open email.

* On Android, I just find Jeff's entry in people and look at everything he sent me - SMS, email, and calls.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#125

Post by nailer »

mrshoe wrote: post #38
jrockway wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno. I get Google Docs just fine. Google for "Google Docs", tap the first result, and there they all are. I sync my music with a Perl script that looks at my xmms2 playlist and copies the music in there to the phone. (Not possible with the iPhone, BTW.) What you consider major flaws are things I have never had a problem with. I do have a few contacts with no phone numbers, but I can also tap them to chat with them…

I sync my music with a Perl script that looks at my xmms2 playlist and copies the music in there to the phone. For some reason I don't think this is exactly what Gruber had in mind when he said, "The goal should be to make a phone that is better than the iPhone. Better ."

I sync music to my Hero with iTunes using DoubleTwist on my Mac, since I came from iPhone and have my playlists in iTunes.

My wife syncs music her G1 using Windows Media Player, because she's used it for years and likes it.

People who use Linux plug in their phone and Banshee syncs to it.

I don't think iPhone does WMP or Banshee. Sure, it's made by Apple, but my wife doesn't really care: she just want's it to work with her computer, without having to change all her software.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#126

Post by nailer »

runinit wrote: post #16
jrockway wrote: post #8

As a recent Android convert, I am confused by all the "issues" that people keep mentioning. Everything on my phone Just Works. When I change the color of a calendar on Google Calendar, the color on my phone's calendar widget changes. When I change a contact on my phone, GMail and Google Voice update almost instantly. When I dial a number on the normal dialpad, my call is automatically routed through Google Voice. Whe…

They probably mean "it doesnt' work with itunes"

Sure it does - get DoubleTwist. It also works with WMP and Banshee out of the box.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#127

Post by nailer »

BillGoatse wrote: post #122
jacobian wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you've got no problems with Android, maybe you can solve mine: - Why does the phone crash when I try to pair with my bluetooth headset? - Why do all eleventy-billion of my contacts show up in the dialer instead of the relatively small handful who've got phone numbers? - Why the *@#$% doesn't this thing have a proper headphone jack? - How do I sync music between my computer and my G1? - How about podcasts? - How…

I'm guessing you're on the G1? I picked up an HTC Hero (More or less the G3, but I don't think out in the US yet) yesterday. The way it's going, I think I may love this phone more than my child. Most of your problems are gone with this generation. It even has a standard headphone jack. Android is catching up, fast.

Same here - iPhone user for two years, got my Hero a couple of weeks ago. I'm in love.

Tip: make sure you get a Class 6 SDHC card if you're going to use a lot of apps at once.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#128

Post by nailer »

hedgehog wrote: post #17
jrockway wrote: post #8

As a recent Android convert, I am confused by all the "issues" that people keep mentioning. Everything on my phone Just Works. When I change the color of a calendar on Google Calendar, the color on my phone's calendar widget changes. When I change a contact on my phone, GMail and Google Voice update almost instantly. When I dial a number on the normal dialpad, my call is automatically routed through Google Voice. Whe…

Which handset is this on? How's your battery life? I have an iPhone but I'm thinking about making the switch for two main reasons: first that things like VOIP apps and Google voice won't happen on the iPhone, and second that Android's security model is vastly better. The thing is, I've spent some time with the myTouch at the T-mobile store and performance was terrible (app launching, returning to launcher screen, scr…

Battery life on HTC Hero is about the same as a first gen iPhone: one day with my usage (heavy web browsing and games).

Re: The Android Opportunity

#129

Post by BillGoatse »

nailer wrote: post #127
BillGoatse wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you're on the G1? I picked up an HTC Hero (More or less the G3, but I don't think out in the US yet) yesterday. The way it's going, I think I may love this phone more than my child. Most of your problems are gone with this generation. It even has a standard headphone jack. Android is catching up, fast.

Same here - iPhone user for two years, got my Hero a couple of weeks ago. I'm in love. Tip: make sure you get a Class 6 SDHC card if you're going to use a lot of apps at once.

Thanks! I haven't updated my SD yet.

Re: The Android Opportunity

#130

Post by cpr »

ruslan wrote: post #28

I guess the only reason why ppl think "iPhone is cool" is just because of slick multi-touch GUI, there's nothing else superior in iPhone per se. I have been programming for both platforms for quite a while and, you know, I find Android's Java less evil than all that iPhone's Obj-C stuff randomly mixed with tons of C wrappers (CoreFoundation) for regular POSIX. I find Android SDK more advanced because, 1) less code do…

Why do you say "mind explosive mix"--it's just Objective-C++ (yes, which includes C and C++ by definition--not a mix), which I find mind-explodingly good for what it is. (Being a grizzled old hacker with Smalltalk & Lisp roots way back.)

The Cocoa Touch libraries are excellent, as far as they go, drawing on a couple of decades of experience with Smalltalk-style UI code (NeXT and Cocoa); and, you're free to innovate on your own UI as far as you want to take it. Nothing in the way.

The OpenGL implementation (hardware itself & the software interface) is excellent, and just got much better with the 3GS.

Seems like they're moving from strength to strength, and I'm pretty cynical about these things.

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