And the Great Android Fragmentation continues . . .
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
And the app store? cmon. Everyone knows the vast majority of the apps are garbage. At least with android you can change the e-mail client, and browser, and hell- you can even download an app to make android look and act like an iPhone if you're too dumb to use a real smartphone.
Do you think apple apps are some mystical thing? it's just code. And that can be fairly easily ported over to another platform. Google can inspire developers far easier than apple. And just consider the freedom they'll have over apple's "our way or the highway" approach.
And something that doesn't require iTunes- thank jeebus. I rather not have a cellphone at all than load that POS software on my machine.
iPhone marketshare has nowhere to go but down unless they get on another carrier. Even then, it'll peak for a short while and then get chewed away at. Enjoy yourselves, macbots, this is as good as it's going to get.
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
It's completely different. Newer iPhone models have built upon a standardized feature set, improving performance and adding a few new capabilities. But the GUI, screen, and other essential items remain standardized so that almost any app written today will work on the 1st generation iPhone.
With Android, developers have a hard time creating apps that work properly across the CURRENT variations of phones, not to mention the variations that would emerge in the coming years. This is precisely the problem that Apple has avoided by locking down the iPhone and preventing mobile carriers and rogue developers from screwing up what they worked so hard to perfect.
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Originally Posted by AppleSux
And the app store? cmon. Everyone knows the vast majority of the apps are garbage. At least with android you can change the e-mail client, and browser, and hell- you can even download an app to make android look and act like an iPhone if you're too dumb to use a real smartphone.
Riiiiight. And that's why Apple and developers are making a killing on the App Store. The quality of apps available for the iPhone is light years beyond the shit selection of mobile apps that existed previously, or even currently, from competing platforms. And there is little need to replace the iPhone's basic apps since they're so well crafted to begin with. Is the iPhone's calendar lacking in features? Sure, maybe. But the ease of use and level of integration and synchronization between apps and with desktop software provides an overall user experience that is unparalleled and a key reason behind the iPhone's overwhelming success.
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Originally Posted by AppleSux
Do you think apple apps are some mystical thing? it's just code. And that can be fairly easily ported over to another platform. Google can inspire developers far easier than apple. And just consider the freedom they'll have over apple's "our way or the highway" approach.
Yeah, which is why so many competitors have been so successful in copying the iPhone so far... This comment would be merely shortsighted and wrong if it were uttered two years ago. But to say that Apple isn't doing anything special in today's environment just smacks of stupidity. Who's writing your talking points? Steve Balmer?
I can tell you why he POSTED that, but I dont agree... 2 or 3 people (probably paid by <insert other wireless carrier>) who are utterly clueless, wrote factless articles about what they THINK is going to happen, and then lemmings go and read it as fact.
Kinda like you saying that carriers (probably) paid them to write the articles?
Lets not make a conspiracy where there isn't one okay? Given the plethora of fanboys for any given technology product nobody needs to be paying anyone anything to have a negative 'article' appear somewhere on the net.
WTF, who thought that Nexus video was worth releasing. It was like it was being filmed by a 4 year old on crack. Tripod people. The phone was moving, the camera was moving, it was rarely in focus. Was that filmed with a flashlight under the covers in your bed? I really wanted to check it out, but I couldn't get through it.
iTunes - it's function has outgrown it's name. Even on the mac, it's a big bloated POS. Why am I going to iTUNES to sync, when I've got iSync? Why am I going to iTunes to manage applications, movies, and TV shows? I want iTunes to be small light and fast and do music, not syncing, not movies, not purchases, not browse an online store. Just manage and play my music and when iSync asks for the music, point to it. How hard is that? iTunes has turned into the sort of counterintuitive crud that apple used to be really good at avoiding. It's the palm desktop all over again.
Why can't everyone just get along? How about this: they DON'T market it as an iPhone-killer and let the consumers decide whether to buy it or not. Stop getting caught up in the market-share game like the PC makers and start making great products with great integration. Apple seems to be the only one following this strategy, however. Too many phone makers decided to skimp on software R&D to please their shareholders, I guess.
WTF, who thought that Nexus video was worth releasing. It was like it was being filmed by a 4 year old on crack. Tripod people. The phone was moving, the camera was moving, it was rarely in focus. Was that filmed with a flashlight under the covers in your bed? I really wanted to check it out, but I couldn't get through it.
iTunes - it's function has outgrown it's name. Even on the mac, it's a big bloated POS. Why am I going to iTUNES to sync, when I've got iSync? Why am I going to iTunes to manage applications, movies, and TV shows? I want iTunes to be small light and fast and do music, not syncing, not movies, not purchases, not browse an online store. Just manage and play my music and when iSync asks for the music, point to it. How hard is that? iTunes has turned into the sort of counterintuitive crud that apple used to be really good at avoiding. It's the palm desktop all over again.
Sheldon
If you could watch that boring thing, you have more patience than me. Watching a guy flick his finger didn't tell me much of anything.
I would actually consider this one a serious threat. About the only thing I see wrong with it is the lack of multi-touch. Browsing the web is so much easier without having to hunt for zoom buttons and to wrangle the screen into the right spot before zooming.
Unfortunately for them, the browsing is a big piece of the iPhone, given current mobile browser numbers being reported.
You'd think they would put some sort of multitouch to compete on a level playing field. Without it, they are still playing catch-up.
If I were into shopping for new phone now, I'd consider it gladly. It looks good to me. Zooming is awkward, but if phone supports flash (I missed that part), that would more than compensate for ugly zooming. I guess it boils down to one's browsing habits, but much as this one is concerned, I did have number of web searches that ended with that ugly missing plug-in screen so flash support definitely bothers me.
I think that Android platform is maturing nicely. I haven't checked on gossips regarding next iPhone, but if it turns out to be just another evolutionary step (more megapixel camera and such minor improvements), I can see Android platform actually overtaking iPhone feature wise before iPhone 5 comes out.
Luckily I just got my iPhone 2 months ago so I'm more than at peace for the next 2 years, I presume. By then, a lot of things will be clearer regarding all mobile platform developments.
I can tell you why he POSTED that, but I dont agree... 2 or 3 people (probably paid by <insert other wireless carrier>) who are utterly clueless, wrote factless articles about what they ARE PAID TO THINK is going to happen, and then lemmings go and read it as fact.
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
That makes perfect sense. A single, incremental HW and OS foundation change equates to multiple HW versions with multiple interfaace sizes and types, using disparate HW types all coming out at the same time and using varying OS updates with even more discrepancies on ?updatablity? and UIs.
The 2010 4th generation iPhone with iPhone OS v4.0 will still play all the games that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation iPhones will. It?s pretty damn simple since it?s linear, not fragmented OSes from a quickly spidering HW platform from multiple vendors with multiple device I/O types.
Here is a simple test to know which one has a broken system. Can all iPhones get the same iPhone v3.0 OS? Yes. Did they all get access to the OS update the same day? Yes. Do all Android phones have access to v2.0? No, at least not officially and without some major caveats. Did all Android phones that have access to v2.0 the same day? Not even close. Do phone functions like multi-touch and input methods work identically across all models? I wish. Can I pick up any Android phone and know exactly how it works from using a different model? Hell no.
Have you tested or even played with a 3GS? I thought it to be just a minor upgrade myself, until I actually had a chance to play with one for about 20 minutes. This thing is a screamer compared with my 3G, not to speak of Voice Control, the improved camera. The 256MB RAM also eliminated the need to use "Free Memory" apps before launching a game. The coating on the screen itself is a great feature, much easier to slide your finger over the surface and doesn't smudge as much. I know the next version is going to be even more awesome, but this is a HUGE improvement over the 3G in almost every way for me, well worth the upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
I guess things like this are a bit relative.
My colleague had 3G, gave it to his girlfriend and got 3Gs for him. He's happy about generally smoother operation and more storage... but that is about it.
We both agree on following things:
Camera is improvement but still not good enough, so sort of pointless improvement... for us; he just purchased my old P&S camera from me, and likewise I've purchased new P&S to have around regardless my 3Gs.
Voice control is good idea but for us it doesn't work. We had new law regarding mobile phone use in cars and NZ police is very proactive regarding that at present, but voice calling simply does not work reliably enough in noisy environments such as car is.
It still is brilliant phone, I just wonder if Apple is not holding back a bit regarding it's development - keeping good ideas for later, when/if competition catch up. We'll see.
Another way to say it is..."Next to the Droid and iPhone, the Nexus One seems garish and over saturated."
I keep the brghtness at about half on my iPhone. Anything more is too much.
It's even more critical to be careful with brightness settings on large displays (like 24-inches), otherwise you'll be setting yourself up for headaches and eyestrain. Computer displays aren't like TVs. You sit far from TVs, bu you need to be up close to a computer display.
What an odd thread. Who cares what Google are doing, I'm sure they'll have great phones running Android. iPhone basically has three things that Android doesn't, and maybe never will have.
1) Apps. Loads of them. More than 100,000 available and 2 billion downloaded. Some companies are making up to $1 million a month in sales, something that Google won't get overnight
Apps alone are not enough. Windows Mobile had huge library of apps, likewise PalmOS. I had couple of Tungstens and Treos in my house and I can tell many apps were really good and useful. iPhone was way behind when they introduced Apps store and they also didn't reach today's numbers overnight, however simple fact that someone else had more software available at the time didn't slow them much. Will Android repeat same success story, remains to be seen... but if they do, they will not be the first one. It happened before. It will happen again.
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2) iTunes/iPod. Love it or hate it, iTunes is the defacto music manager and this is the one single thing that would keep me, even if all other things didn't count. I don't want to carry a $300 phone and a $300 iPod around with me. It's just not plausible for me to move over 800GBs of music and video to another format or manager, I think a lot of other people are the same
Hm... thinking of it, I can't recall of a single Windows user I know who would not replace iTunes with WMP or something else for syncing iPhone/iPod... if they only could. It might be just my specific surrounding, but I believe that is very common among Windows users. I don't know what sort of media player capabilities new Android has, but if/when they do get good media playing software and option to sync phone with different desktop media programs, I can see that becoming big deal.
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3) Standards. There are 3 iPhone models and aside of speed, they can all pretty much do the same thing. The problem with the many different versions of Android is that apps will have a hard time staying compatible or being performant on each. OK, so Command and Conquer is slow on the 1st and 2nd gen iPhones, but it works. Some games will be 3GS only, but as a developer, you know everyone who bought an iPhone since July has the same model. You only have to look at the state of WinMo to see what eventually happens when you have 20 different OEMs using different implementations of your OS. Even RIM has a relatively stable OS release/look and feel, which is why they've been so successful.
But what if that is holding back future development of iPhone - like Windows legacy support..? How many good ideas have Apple engineers deserted simply because they could not apply them to older iPhones? Sooner or later, Apple will have to turn the page and scrap older devices - there is only that much you can do within compatibility boundaries.
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When all is said and done, Apple and Google may end up owning more than 50% of the market between them before too long (at least in the US and EU), and some people will always want to multi-task regardless of battery life or ease-of-use, which is fine. But the terms "iPhone killer" or even "Droid-killer" are nonsense. These phones are here to stay for a very long time.
I agree with you on that - killer remarks are not coming from Google or Apple but from sensation-seeking article writers. Term is really wearing thin by now.
Hm... thinking of it, I can't recall of a single Windows user I know who would not replace iTunes with WMP or something else for syncing iPhone/iPod... if they only could. It might be just my specific surrounding, but I believe that is very common among Windows users. I don't know what sort of media player capabilities new Android has, but if/when they do get good media playing software and option to sync phone with different desktop media programs, I can see that becoming big deal.
I dunno why all the people complain about android fragmentation. Yes it is hard to keep everyone on the latest version, when you don't get updates every time you sinc your music library to the PC, like iTunes. But people who know about updates will update and those who don't know or don't care will get a new OS through a phone upgrade.
Anyway I think that Nexus One is fast and snappy on the pics and video, only what is up with the browser crashing every time they try to load the site on the video. It would go away and reappear? I am sure that this will compete well with Droid, as far as iPhone, I think it can compete well with the current gen (3GS) but not so much with whatever apple cooks up early 2010, which I predict will mean biggerr/higher res screen, faster processor, built in FM transmitter and radio, better camera and more memory. Maybe even mobile safari update to speed it up or even offer flash (though that is unlikely).
There has been little attention to WinMo, and I myself have dismissed it, but some recent phones don't look half bad, so looking forward to MS coming back into the market as well.
I dunno why all the people complain about android fragmentation. Yes it is hard to keep everyone on the latest version, when you don't get updates every time you sinc your music library to the PC, like iTunes.
It?s not just the software updates, it the lack of all Android devices within a set time frame getting the same update at the same time AND the lack of consistency between HW types, UIs and the way different HW and areas of the OS interact differently despite providing the same essential functionality as other features.
For instance, the lack of multi-touch in the included apps for the Droid, but available in 3rd-party apps and the EU version of the device. Also, the way the virtual keyboard in the Droid inputs data differently than the HW keyboard. (those two may have changes with the v2.0.1 update) Also, the fact that the HTC G1 cannot get Android v2.0 without a hack that it wasn?t available at the same time as the other devices.
None of that is user friendly and easy for the average consumer to understand which may explain why the Droid ads seem to be focusing on a young, insecure, male demographic.
You either don't know what you are talking about, trolling, or both.
1st you don't get what Google fragmentation is about or how google branches, vendor branches, and varying hardware are the cause of a serious fragmentation problem.
The iPhone is hardly "lax on features". It has far more than any version of Android and implements them better.
Apple has treated the iPhone as a tool to make money? Well I would hope Apple treats all of its products as a means to make money. That is the business they are in after all. Are you naive enough to believe Google doesn't do the same? Of course they do it by collecting as much of your personal information as possible, without your permission, and monetize it. Also by ads to eyeballs. I'l take Apples approach of making the best possible product any day.
The iPhone is hardly locked down. Certainly not any more than any other smartphone. You have to hack all of them for end users to modify them and thats as it should be.
How you think Apple has abandoned their current products and users is beyond me but then I don't much care how you came up with that foolish statement.
Competition is good so i am glad Android is around. The Pre, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile are hardly competition. But Android has some show stopper issues.
1st you can only use 256MB of space for apps. Yes thats it. Hard to believe but thats the case in 2009. You can hack Android and supposedly run apps on a card but thats theoretical. So until this is fixed, and don'y expect it anytime soon, Android users will not be able to run apps like iPhone users and many versions of apps that are on the iPhone will have severely limited Android versions. Thats already happening and software vendors are not happy about it. Several high profile software developers have already announced they are abandoning Android to focus on the iPhone because Android is just not worth their time and trouble.
Android is slow. Dog slow. You can't even scroll the home screen without lag.
The onscreen keyboard is near unusable.
Multi-touch, where it exists, is a pale imitation of the iPhones.
Handling of various media and syncing is awful unless you only want core Google apps.
The UI needs lots of work in many places.
If Android was as good as the iPhone I would consider it but it's not even close.
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Originally Posted by ronnyej
Wow can we say read and regurgitate?
Thats kinda what happens when you have an OS thats completely open... people like htc come along and build their own little launch bars etc. Keep in mind here.. Google is the end all be all for android... their code branches are whats official.
I for one am happy there are competitors... I'd admit to being somewhat of an apple fanboy in the past, but lets face it, apple has treated the iphone as a tool to make money, and not anything else. I beleive its handling of software releases, or lack thereof has quite frankly been apalling.
"Let's release a phone thats really lax on features, and have the os locked down so end users cant fill in the gaps. Next lets abandon our current users, and current software so we can build some other new idevice that we can ream people for. "
I always thought having something like android around to keep apple in check was a fantastic thing... if apple thinks they are on top of the game, they wont do a damn thing to improve iphone or iphone software. IMO I think apple has dropped the ball big time with the iphone (specifically the iphone 3gs), and I hope they get schooled so that perhaps they will try and shed a bit of the arrogance going forward.
None of that is user friendly and easy for the average consumer to understand which may explain why the Droid ads seem to be focusing on a young, insecure, male demographic.
Multi-touch, where it exists, is an imitation like the imitation Apple used in the iPhone of the original multi-touch devices which existed long before the iPhone.
Because its not just the OS and most people aren't even referring to the OS when they talk about fragmentation. They are talking about apps.
But lets take the OS first. There are various versions of the OS with added functionality, on different hardware. They run on different carriers and the carriers themselves ahave to test all updates too.
Thats a pain in the ass but much more importantly are apps. Developers will have to push out a version of their apps for each of these different possibilities write and test them, and work with the hardware manufactures and carriers to write and test. That is a heck of a lot of trouble and is one of the reasons why Windows Mobile apps have not done well. That and Windows Mobile has always sucked as an OS.
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Originally Posted by sheff
I dunno why all the people complain about android fragmentation. Yes it is hard to keep everyone on the latest version, when you don't get updates every time you sinc your music library to the PC, like iTunes. But people who know about updates will update and those who don't know or don't care will get a new OS through a phone upgrade.
Anyway I think that Nexus One is fast and snappy on the pics and video, only what is up with the browser crashing every time they try to load the site on the video. It would go away and reappear? I am sure that this will compete well with Droid, as far as iPhone, I think it can compete well with the current gen (3GS) but not so much with whatever apple cooks up early 2010, which I predict will mean biggerr/higher res screen, faster processor, built in FM transmitter and radio, better camera and more memory. Maybe even mobile safari update to speed it up or even offer flash (though that is unlikely).
There has been little attention to WinMo, and I myself have dismissed it, but some recent phones don't look half bad, so looking forward to MS coming back into the market as well.
Comments
And the Great Android Fragmentation continues . . .
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
And the app store? cmon. Everyone knows the vast majority of the apps are garbage. At least with android you can change the e-mail client, and browser, and hell- you can even download an app to make android look and act like an iPhone if you're too dumb to use a real smartphone.
Do you think apple apps are some mystical thing? it's just code. And that can be fairly easily ported over to another platform. Google can inspire developers far easier than apple. And just consider the freedom they'll have over apple's "our way or the highway" approach.
And something that doesn't require iTunes- thank jeebus. I rather not have a cellphone at all than load that POS software on my machine.
iPhone marketshare has nowhere to go but down unless they get on another carrier. Even then, it'll peak for a short while and then get chewed away at. Enjoy yourselves, macbots, this is as good as it's going to get.
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
It's completely different. Newer iPhone models have built upon a standardized feature set, improving performance and adding a few new capabilities. But the GUI, screen, and other essential items remain standardized so that almost any app written today will work on the 1st generation iPhone.
With Android, developers have a hard time creating apps that work properly across the CURRENT variations of phones, not to mention the variations that would emerge in the coming years. This is precisely the problem that Apple has avoided by locking down the iPhone and preventing mobile carriers and rogue developers from screwing up what they worked so hard to perfect.
And the app store? cmon. Everyone knows the vast majority of the apps are garbage. At least with android you can change the e-mail client, and browser, and hell- you can even download an app to make android look and act like an iPhone if you're too dumb to use a real smartphone.
Riiiiight. And that's why Apple and developers are making a killing on the App Store. The quality of apps available for the iPhone is light years beyond the shit selection of mobile apps that existed previously, or even currently, from competing platforms. And there is little need to replace the iPhone's basic apps since they're so well crafted to begin with. Is the iPhone's calendar lacking in features? Sure, maybe. But the ease of use and level of integration and synchronization between apps and with desktop software provides an overall user experience that is unparalleled and a key reason behind the iPhone's overwhelming success.
Do you think apple apps are some mystical thing? it's just code. And that can be fairly easily ported over to another platform. Google can inspire developers far easier than apple. And just consider the freedom they'll have over apple's "our way or the highway" approach.
Yeah, which is why so many competitors have been so successful in copying the iPhone so far... This comment would be merely shortsighted and wrong if it were uttered two years ago. But to say that Apple isn't doing anything special in today's environment just smacks of stupidity. Who's writing your talking points? Steve Balmer?
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I can tell you why he POSTED that, but I dont agree... 2 or 3 people (probably paid by <insert other wireless carrier>) who are utterly clueless, wrote factless articles about what they THINK is going to happen, and then lemmings go and read it as fact.
Kinda like you saying that carriers (probably) paid them to write the articles?
Lets not make a conspiracy where there isn't one okay? Given the plethora of fanboys for any given technology product nobody needs to be paying anyone anything to have a negative 'article' appear somewhere on the net.
iTunes - it's function has outgrown it's name. Even on the mac, it's a big bloated POS. Why am I going to iTUNES to sync, when I've got iSync? Why am I going to iTunes to manage applications, movies, and TV shows? I want iTunes to be small light and fast and do music, not syncing, not movies, not purchases, not browse an online store. Just manage and play my music and when iSync asks for the music, point to it. How hard is that? iTunes has turned into the sort of counterintuitive crud that apple used to be really good at avoiding. It's the palm desktop all over again.
Sheldon
WTF, who thought that Nexus video was worth releasing. It was like it was being filmed by a 4 year old on crack. Tripod people. The phone was moving, the camera was moving, it was rarely in focus. Was that filmed with a flashlight under the covers in your bed? I really wanted to check it out, but I couldn't get through it.
iTunes - it's function has outgrown it's name. Even on the mac, it's a big bloated POS. Why am I going to iTUNES to sync, when I've got iSync? Why am I going to iTunes to manage applications, movies, and TV shows? I want iTunes to be small light and fast and do music, not syncing, not movies, not purchases, not browse an online store. Just manage and play my music and when iSync asks for the music, point to it. How hard is that? iTunes has turned into the sort of counterintuitive crud that apple used to be really good at avoiding. It's the palm desktop all over again.
Sheldon
If you could watch that boring thing, you have more patience than me. Watching a guy flick his finger didn't tell me much of anything.
I wonder if he gets good 3g coverage under the bridge? The name alone says he only wants to annoy.
I would actually consider this one a serious threat. About the only thing I see wrong with it is the lack of multi-touch. Browsing the web is so much easier without having to hunt for zoom buttons and to wrangle the screen into the right spot before zooming.
Unfortunately for them, the browsing is a big piece of the iPhone, given current mobile browser numbers being reported.
You'd think they would put some sort of multitouch to compete on a level playing field. Without it, they are still playing catch-up.
If I were into shopping for new phone now, I'd consider it gladly. It looks good to me. Zooming is awkward, but if phone supports flash (I missed that part), that would more than compensate for ugly zooming. I guess it boils down to one's browsing habits, but much as this one is concerned, I did have number of web searches that ended with that ugly missing plug-in screen so flash support definitely bothers me.
I think that Android platform is maturing nicely. I haven't checked on gossips regarding next iPhone, but if it turns out to be just another evolutionary step (more megapixel camera and such minor improvements), I can see Android platform actually overtaking iPhone feature wise before iPhone 5 comes out.
Luckily I just got my iPhone 2 months ago so I'm more than at peace for the next 2 years, I presume. By then, a lot of things will be clearer regarding all mobile platform developments.
I can tell you why he POSTED that, but I dont agree... 2 or 3 people (probably paid by <insert other wireless carrier>) who are utterly clueless, wrote factless articles about what they ARE PAID TO THINK is going to happen, and then lemmings go and read it as fact.
I think this sounds better
And the supposed iPhone 4 won't do essentially the same thing? New hardware and capabilities that may differentiate it from other iPhones in the wild? That's no different than multiple flavors of Android.
That makes perfect sense.
The 2010 4th generation iPhone with iPhone OS v4.0 will still play all the games that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation iPhones will. It?s pretty damn simple since it?s linear, not fragmented OSes from a quickly spidering HW platform from multiple vendors with multiple device I/O types.
Here is a simple test to know which one has a broken system. Can all iPhones get the same iPhone v3.0 OS? Yes. Did they all get access to the OS update the same day? Yes. Do all Android phones have access to v2.0? No, at least not officially and without some major caveats. Did all Android phones that have access to v2.0 the same day? Not even close. Do phone functions like multi-touch and input methods work identically across all models? I wish. Can I pick up any Android phone and know exactly how it works from using a different model? Hell no.
Have you tested or even played with a 3GS? I thought it to be just a minor upgrade myself, until I actually had a chance to play with one for about 20 minutes. This thing is a screamer compared with my 3G, not to speak of Voice Control, the improved camera. The 256MB RAM also eliminated the need to use "Free Memory" apps before launching a game. The coating on the screen itself is a great feature, much easier to slide your finger over the surface and doesn't smudge as much. I know the next version is going to be even more awesome, but this is a HUGE improvement over the 3G in almost every way for me, well worth the upgrade.
Just my 2 cents.
I guess things like this are a bit relative.
My colleague had 3G, gave it to his girlfriend and got 3Gs for him. He's happy about generally smoother operation and more storage... but that is about it.
We both agree on following things:
Camera is improvement but still not good enough, so sort of pointless improvement... for us; he just purchased my old P&S camera from me, and likewise I've purchased new P&S to have around regardless my 3Gs.
Voice control is good idea but for us it doesn't work. We had new law regarding mobile phone use in cars and NZ police is very proactive regarding that at present, but voice calling simply does not work reliably enough in noisy environments such as car is.
It still is brilliant phone, I just wonder if Apple is not holding back a bit regarding it's development - keeping good ideas for later, when/if competition catch up. We'll see.
Another way to say it is..."Next to the Droid and iPhone, the Nexus One seems garish and over saturated."
I keep the brghtness at about half on my iPhone. Anything more is too much.
It's even more critical to be careful with brightness settings on large displays (like 24-inches), otherwise you'll be setting yourself up for headaches and eyestrain. Computer displays aren't like TVs. You sit far from TVs, bu you need to be up close to a computer display.
What an odd thread. Who cares what Google are doing, I'm sure they'll have great phones running Android. iPhone basically has three things that Android doesn't, and maybe never will have.
1) Apps. Loads of them. More than 100,000 available and 2 billion downloaded. Some companies are making up to $1 million a month in sales, something that Google won't get overnight
Apps alone are not enough. Windows Mobile had huge library of apps, likewise PalmOS. I had couple of Tungstens and Treos in my house and I can tell many apps were really good and useful. iPhone was way behind when they introduced Apps store and they also didn't reach today's numbers overnight, however simple fact that someone else had more software available at the time didn't slow them much. Will Android repeat same success story, remains to be seen... but if they do, they will not be the first one. It happened before. It will happen again.
2) iTunes/iPod. Love it or hate it, iTunes is the defacto music manager and this is the one single thing that would keep me, even if all other things didn't count. I don't want to carry a $300 phone and a $300 iPod around with me. It's just not plausible for me to move over 800GBs of music and video to another format or manager, I think a lot of other people are the same
Hm... thinking of it, I can't recall of a single Windows user I know who would not replace iTunes with WMP or something else for syncing iPhone/iPod... if they only could. It might be just my specific surrounding, but I believe that is very common among Windows users. I don't know what sort of media player capabilities new Android has, but if/when they do get good media playing software and option to sync phone with different desktop media programs, I can see that becoming big deal.
3) Standards. There are 3 iPhone models and aside of speed, they can all pretty much do the same thing. The problem with the many different versions of Android is that apps will have a hard time staying compatible or being performant on each. OK, so Command and Conquer is slow on the 1st and 2nd gen iPhones, but it works. Some games will be 3GS only, but as a developer, you know everyone who bought an iPhone since July has the same model. You only have to look at the state of WinMo to see what eventually happens when you have 20 different OEMs using different implementations of your OS. Even RIM has a relatively stable OS release/look and feel, which is why they've been so successful.
But what if that is holding back future development of iPhone - like Windows legacy support..? How many good ideas have Apple engineers deserted simply because they could not apply them to older iPhones? Sooner or later, Apple will have to turn the page and scrap older devices - there is only that much you can do within compatibility boundaries.
When all is said and done, Apple and Google may end up owning more than 50% of the market between them before too long (at least in the US and EU), and some people will always want to multi-task regardless of battery life or ease-of-use, which is fine. But the terms "iPhone killer" or even "Droid-killer" are nonsense. These phones are here to stay for a very long time.
I agree with you on that - killer remarks are not coming from Google or Apple but from sensation-seeking article writers. Term is really wearing thin by now.
Hm... thinking of it, I can't recall of a single Windows user I know who would not replace iTunes with WMP or something else for syncing iPhone/iPod... if they only could. It might be just my specific surrounding, but I believe that is very common among Windows users. I don't know what sort of media player capabilities new Android has, but if/when they do get good media playing software and option to sync phone with different desktop media programs, I can see that becoming big deal.
itunes for windows. biggest POS ever.
Anyway I think that Nexus One is fast and snappy on the pics and video, only what is up with the browser crashing every time they try to load the site on the video. It would go away and reappear? I am sure that this will compete well with Droid, as far as iPhone, I think it can compete well with the current gen (3GS) but not so much with whatever apple cooks up early 2010, which I predict will mean biggerr/higher res screen, faster processor, built in FM transmitter and radio, better camera and more memory. Maybe even mobile safari update to speed it up or even offer flash (though that is unlikely).
There has been little attention to WinMo, and I myself have dismissed it, but some recent phones don't look half bad, so looking forward to MS coming back into the market as well.
I dunno why all the people complain about android fragmentation. Yes it is hard to keep everyone on the latest version, when you don't get updates every time you sinc your music library to the PC, like iTunes.
It?s not just the software updates, it the lack of all Android devices within a set time frame getting the same update at the same time AND the lack of consistency between HW types, UIs and the way different HW and areas of the OS interact differently despite providing the same essential functionality as other features.
For instance, the lack of multi-touch in the included apps for the Droid, but available in 3rd-party apps and the EU version of the device. Also, the way the virtual keyboard in the Droid inputs data differently than the HW keyboard. (those two may have changes with the v2.0.1 update) Also, the fact that the HTC G1 cannot get Android v2.0 without a hack that it wasn?t available at the same time as the other devices.
None of that is user friendly and easy for the average consumer to understand which may explain why the Droid ads seem to be focusing on a young, insecure, male demographic.
1st you don't get what Google fragmentation is about or how google branches, vendor branches, and varying hardware are the cause of a serious fragmentation problem.
The iPhone is hardly "lax on features". It has far more than any version of Android and implements them better.
Apple has treated the iPhone as a tool to make money? Well I would hope Apple treats all of its products as a means to make money. That is the business they are in after all. Are you naive enough to believe Google doesn't do the same? Of course they do it by collecting as much of your personal information as possible, without your permission, and monetize it. Also by ads to eyeballs. I'l take Apples approach of making the best possible product any day.
The iPhone is hardly locked down. Certainly not any more than any other smartphone. You have to hack all of them for end users to modify them and thats as it should be.
How you think Apple has abandoned their current products and users is beyond me but then I don't much care how you came up with that foolish statement.
Competition is good so i am glad Android is around. The Pre, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile are hardly competition. But Android has some show stopper issues.
1st you can only use 256MB of space for apps. Yes thats it. Hard to believe but thats the case in 2009. You can hack Android and supposedly run apps on a card but thats theoretical. So until this is fixed, and don'y expect it anytime soon, Android users will not be able to run apps like iPhone users and many versions of apps that are on the iPhone will have severely limited Android versions. Thats already happening and software vendors are not happy about it. Several high profile software developers have already announced they are abandoning Android to focus on the iPhone because Android is just not worth their time and trouble.
Android is slow. Dog slow. You can't even scroll the home screen without lag.
The onscreen keyboard is near unusable.
Multi-touch, where it exists, is a pale imitation of the iPhones.
Handling of various media and syncing is awful unless you only want core Google apps.
The UI needs lots of work in many places.
If Android was as good as the iPhone I would consider it but it's not even close.
Wow can we say read and regurgitate?
Thats kinda what happens when you have an OS thats completely open... people like htc come along and build their own little launch bars etc. Keep in mind here.. Google is the end all be all for android... their code branches are whats official.
I for one am happy there are competitors... I'd admit to being somewhat of an apple fanboy in the past, but lets face it, apple has treated the iphone as a tool to make money, and not anything else. I beleive its handling of software releases, or lack thereof has quite frankly been apalling.
"Let's release a phone thats really lax on features, and have the os locked down so end users cant fill in the gaps. Next lets abandon our current users, and current software so we can build some other new idevice that we can ream people for. "
I always thought having something like android around to keep apple in check was a fantastic thing... if apple thinks they are on top of the game, they wont do a damn thing to improve iphone or iphone software. IMO I think apple has dropped the ball big time with the iphone (specifically the iphone 3gs), and I hope they get schooled so that perhaps they will try and shed a bit of the arrogance going forward.
None of that is user friendly and easy for the average consumer to understand which may explain why the Droid ads seem to be focusing on a young, insecure, male demographic.
Exactly.
Multi-touch, where it exists, is an imitation like the imitation Apple used in the iPhone of the original multi-touch devices which existed long before the iPhone.
There, fixed that for you.
But lets take the OS first. There are various versions of the OS with added functionality, on different hardware. They run on different carriers and the carriers themselves ahave to test all updates too.
Thats a pain in the ass but much more importantly are apps. Developers will have to push out a version of their apps for each of these different possibilities write and test them, and work with the hardware manufactures and carriers to write and test. That is a heck of a lot of trouble and is one of the reasons why Windows Mobile apps have not done well. That and Windows Mobile has always sucked as an OS.
I dunno why all the people complain about android fragmentation. Yes it is hard to keep everyone on the latest version, when you don't get updates every time you sinc your music library to the PC, like iTunes. But people who know about updates will update and those who don't know or don't care will get a new OS through a phone upgrade.
Anyway I think that Nexus One is fast and snappy on the pics and video, only what is up with the browser crashing every time they try to load the site on the video. It would go away and reappear? I am sure that this will compete well with Droid, as far as iPhone, I think it can compete well with the current gen (3GS) but not so much with whatever apple cooks up early 2010, which I predict will mean biggerr/higher res screen, faster processor, built in FM transmitter and radio, better camera and more memory. Maybe even mobile safari update to speed it up or even offer flash (though that is unlikely).
There has been little attention to WinMo, and I myself have dismissed it, but some recent phones don't look half bad, so looking forward to MS coming back into the market as well.