Android: General Chat

[TheDon]

My issue with the Desire Z is the 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 rather than the 1Ghz snapdragon.

[Tegis]

My issue with the Desire Z is the 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 rather than the 1Ghz snapdragon.

So its not like a 3ghz Pentium 4 vs 1.5ghz core2duo (excluding the 2 core factor)? Newer is faster and all that?

[TheDon]

My issue with the Desire Z is the 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 rather than the 1Ghz snapdragon.

So its not like a 3ghz Pentium 4 vs 1.5ghz core2duo (excluding the 2 core factor)? Newer is faster and all that?

Sorry my post is a bit ambiguous as they're all snapdragons.

Yes it's newer than the QSD8250 1ghz snapdragon found in the normal desire and a ton of other devices, and has a better gpu, so it might be better, especially as it's 45nm rather than 65nm in the Desire.

I actually meant the new MSM8255 1Ghz snapdragon which is in the Desire HD, which has the same improved chipset at a higher clock speed.

[Chindie]

Those new HTC releases (ok they're not really that new but never mind ) inspired me to have a mooch at the next releases, particularly Nokia given their announcements of their next flagship. Nice looking bit of kit but sticking with Symbian. Unless Symbians latest release is a massive departure from the older versions, I can't see it holding a candle to the best of what Android offers.

A shame really because otherwise it looks a really nice bit of kit.

EDIT - I know Nokia bought out Symbian a couple of years back so they've a major vested interest in keeping it going but... well, it's been outdone. Even on my N97, Symbian was looking old hat, and given the strides made by Android, surely it's worthwhile them at least having a good look at Android based handsets?

[limpid]

You can have two phones on the same number on some high end business tariffs, but if you are on those you wouldn't care about how the cost is allocated.

It's all just marketing.

I don't think you can do what you are describing in the UK.

[CVByrne]

Yeah I only came across it when reading about how the galaxy tab can be put on the same contract with same number in europe but that isn't available in britain.

[darrenm]

I know Nokia bought out Symbian a couple of years back so they've a major vested interest in keeping it going but... well, it's been outdone. Even on my N97, Symbian was looking old hat, and given the strides made by Android, surely it's worthwhile them at least having a good look at Android based handsets?

My thoughts on this:

I said about 6 months ago that if Nokia didn't either just try to get themselves with as much of a say as possible in Android or make a really good go of Meego that they're dead and buried. They've kept with trying to flog the dead horse that is Symbian and not really made any great strides with Meego so they've completely lost the smartphone market.

I understand Nokia are still massive globally but the momentum away from them is even bigger. People get Nokia phones because they're cheap and simple or because that's what they know. Unfortunately for them, what people know is now how an iPhone or Android phone works, the slick touchscreen interface with popular viral apps. The only thing Nokia will have to rely on is their patents which should at least keep them afloat for years to come and allow them to survive to be able to innovate the next major thing in mobile, if they are able to.

RIM is a slightly different one. They have the corporate mobile exchange market all sewn up at the moment. But they've reason to be worried about cloud mail. Corporate gmail is being used more and more so their usp of push mail with native exchange support is not the draw it used to be. Once the techies start showing off their next-gen smartphones to the execs with activesync / cloud mail and far better mail client / calendar / contacts sharing and sync etc. RIM will really have a job on their hands. Added to this the fact that Blackberry's really are incredibly crap means there's only one thing RIM can do now - use Android and put their exchange support on top. They would get all the stuff Android provides such as tethering, best web browsing experience, apps, hardware drivers plus their proprietary stuff and corporate image. The result would be a mobile exec's wet dream and mean they wouldn't have to carry the 2 phones anymore - the BB for work email and the smartphone as the useful, nice to use phone. If they don't do it now they'll fade into obscurity within 18 months and have nothing to fall back on like Nokia do. If they take it on right now and release a really good Android based corporate BB within 6 months they'll save it and remain relevant.

[Chindie]

I just can't see why Nokia don't even test the water with an Android phone. Symbian has no weight behind it, arguably it never really did as it's heyday was a time smartphones remained new and quite niche. It's now been blown out of the water. I mean, I go back to the N97. It's a good phone, has a lot of capability and an arseload of flaws... but for its OS, it's completely wiped over the floor by the HTC Hero, which is of a similar age. It's old hat, not pretty, not terribly robust... etc etc.

Would it not be better for them to, at the very least, look to bring out a decent crack at an Android phone. I daresay Android would embrace having another big hitter on board, and it's undeniable that Nokia can whack out a good, well designed, well featured phone, and they've that weight of respect behind them that not only would probably let them get that say in Android, but would probably grab them a considerable customer interest as well. I'd certainly be interested, very interested.

As for Meego... well... I try to keep abreast of tech news and I've barely heard of it. In a market that has Android booming, and the iPhone remaining a phenomenon, can you really come into the market with a new OS that isn't likely to do anything Android can't and is starting about 4 steps behind with no publicity or weight of public interest behind it?

It just seems foolish to me. Even more bizarrely, Nokia appear to practivally competing with themselves, or simply accepting that Symbian isn't good enough. They've said that Symbian will start to take a much greater background role and their top of the range handsets will support Meego in the future. Surely it would make more sense to just cut the losses on Symbian full stop, and probably Meego as well, and just put the weight behind Android - have top of the range featured phones having top of the Android range software rather than the Meegi punt, and reign Androids abilities for the lower spec stuff they were intending for Symbians future.

They'd be giving up on an investment but, imo at least, that investment is toxic.

[leviramsey]

I know Nokia bought out Symbian a couple of years back so they've a major vested interest in keeping it going but... well, it's been outdone. Even on my N97, Symbian was looking old hat, and given the strides made by Android, surely it's worthwhile them at least having a good look at Android based handsets?

My thoughts on this:

I said about 6 months ago that if Nokia didn't either just try to get themselves with as much of a say as possible in Android or make a really good go of Meego that they're dead and buried. They've kept with trying to flog the dead horse that is Symbian and not really made any great strides with Meego so they've completely lost the smartphone market.

I understand Nokia are still massive globally but the momentum away from them is even bigger. People get Nokia phones because they're cheap and simple or because that's what they know. Unfortunately for them, what people know is now how an iPhone or Android phone works, the slick touchscreen interface with popular viral apps. The only thing Nokia will have to rely on is their patents which should at least keep them afloat for years to come and allow them to survive to be able to innovate the next major thing in mobile, if they are able to.

RIM is a slightly different one. They have the corporate mobile exchange market all sewn up at the moment. But they've reason to be worried about cloud mail. Corporate gmail is being used more and more so their usp of push mail with native exchange support is not the draw it used to be. Once the techies start showing off their next-gen smartphones to the execs with activesync / cloud mail and far better mail client / calendar / contacts sharing and sync etc. RIM will really have a job on their hands. Added to this the fact that Blackberry's really are incredibly crap means there's only one thing RIM can do now - use Android and put their exchange support on top. They would get all the stuff Android provides such as tethering, best web browsing experience, apps, hardware drivers plus their proprietary stuff and corporate image. The result would be a mobile exec's wet dream and mean they wouldn't have to carry the 2 phones anymore - the BB for work email and the smartphone as the useful, nice to use phone. If they don't do it now they'll fade into obscurity within 18 months and have nothing to fall back on like Nokia do. If they take it on right now and release a really good Android based corporate BB within 6 months they'll save it and remain relevant.

I wouldn't count Palm WebOS out in the corporate market, now that HP owns them. HP is a strong enough corporate IT brand to be able to convince big companies to switch from BlackBerry.

Nokia's big problem is that they never really cracked North America, at least as far as desirable phones go... I think I've only seen one or two Nokia phones in the flesh in the past decade, all of which were cheap pieces of crap (freebies on the lowest contract). I don't think I'm alone in being a fairly technically well-informed person who when they hear Nokia thinks "CRT monitors" and it takes a moment before I think, "oh yeah, they make phones, too." I don't know why, probably they didn't understand that it's the carriers that sell the phones or they weren't interested in playing that game.

There's room long-term for three smartphone platforms. iPhone and Android are the Coke and Pepsi (whichever one, probably Android, that dominates and the one for people who want to be different (how very Apple?)) and then a third one that finds a decent niche. In North America, I see WebOS and BlackBerry fighting that one out and I think Symbian might be able to maintain its installed base in Europe and elsewhere to think about holding down the #3 position for a long time.

[cheltenham_villa]

I know Nokia bought out Symbian a couple of years back so they've a major vested interest in keeping it going but... well, it's been outdone. Even on my N97, Symbian was looking old hat, and given the strides made by Android, surely it's worthwhile them at least having a good look at Android based handsets?

My thoughts on this:

I said about 6 months ago that if Nokia didn't either just try to get themselves with as much of a say as possible in Android or make a really good go of Meego that they're dead and buried. They've kept with trying to flog the dead horse that is Symbian and not really made any great strides with Meego so they've completely lost the smartphone market.

I understand Nokia are still massive globally but the momentum away from them is even bigger. People get Nokia phones because they're cheap and simple or because that's what they know. Unfortunately for them, what people know is now how an iPhone or Android phone works, the slick touchscreen interface with popular viral apps. The only thing Nokia will have to rely on is their patents which should at least keep them afloat for years to come and allow them to survive to be able to innovate the next major thing in mobile, if they are able to.

RIM is a slightly different one. They have the corporate mobile exchange market all sewn up at the moment. But they've reason to be worried about cloud mail. Corporate gmail is being used more and more so their usp of push mail with native exchange support is not the draw it used to be. Once the techies start showing off their next-gen smartphones to the execs with activesync / cloud mail and far better mail client / calendar / contacts sharing and sync etc. RIM will really have a job on their hands. Added to this the fact that Blackberry's really are incredibly crap means there's only one thing RIM can do now - use Android and put their exchange support on top. They would get all the stuff Android provides such as tethering, best web browsing experience, apps, hardware drivers plus their proprietary stuff and corporate image. The result would be a mobile exec's wet dream and mean they wouldn't have to carry the 2 phones anymore - the BB for work email and the smartphone as the useful, nice to use phone. If they don't do it now they'll fade into obscurity within 18 months and have nothing to fall back on like Nokia do. If they take it on right now and release a really good Android based corporate BB within 6 months they'll save it and remain relevant.

You make some good points but fail to recognise the whole of the mobile phone market. My dad for instance cant even send a text message and 15 of the 25 mobile contracts i manage for my company have just been upgraded. They all asked for the easiest Nokia to use despite demonstrating the benefits of many different phones.

[TheDon]

You make some good points but fail to recognise the whole of the mobile phone market. My dad for instance cant even send a text message and 15 of the 25 mobile contracts i manage for my company have just been upgraded. They all asked for the easiest Nokia to use despite demonstrating the benefits of many different phones.

That's just because that's the mindset they have, that Nokia make good easy to use phones. Once they have exposure to other devices that are just as easy to use then Nokia will lose being the de facto standard phone for most people.

Nokia in the instance you've described is surviving solely on the basis of being a brand leader when people first got mobiles. The likes of the 5110 and the 3210 introduced many people to the mobile phone and have given people brand loyalty to Nokia despite their offerings being substandard for many years now.

Sadly for Nokia the sort of people with that mindset and loyalty are only buying the low end handsets, which are low margin.

There's no doubt Nokia will continue to have a decent market share in the EU for a while, but that market share is not gong to translate in to profit, and the company is going to continue to be in decline unless it does something drastic.

[CVByrne]

Ah the 5110 and 3210 my first and second phones respectively. Express on covers, oh the memories.

[LJRM050389]

How do I change to predictive text on Samsung Galaxy? I've not chnaged any settings.

[darrenm]

Settings > Locale and Text > Input Method then choose Swype if that's what you want.

[CVByrne]

Is there gonna be an update for swype on the galaxy s dirk? Will it be when they're finished beta testing?

[Gringo]

My swype has expired - are there any packages out there to replace it?

[darrenm]

Oh Android I love thee

[darrenm]

Is there gonna be an update for swype on the galaxy s dirk? Will it be when they're finished beta testing?

No idea sorry mate. I'm sure they put later versions in every firmware as the one I'm using now (JPH) is much better than the one on JM1 but more laggy.

My swype has expired - are there any packages out there to replace it?

New Beta? http://beta.swype.com/

[Gringo]

My swype has expired - are there any packages out there to replace it?

New Beta? http://beta.swype.com/

The Swype Beta is CLOSED

[limpid]

Did you read the page? It's a closed beta, but anyone can apply.