Android: General Chat

[NICKTHEFISH]

I previously owned The Hero, which was a nice phone but the Desire is something else. I went into the orange shop prior to getting it and tried out the X10. Although it does look nice, found the touch screen very laggy.

[The_Rev]

Have the figured out the multi touch on the X10 yet though? Without that, its a dealbreaker instantly for me.

How on earth could multi touch be a deal breaker. What on earth is it for other than zooming? Dealbreaker??? Madness. Your smartphone priorities are crazy.

Not at all. If I am considering two similarly specced phones but there is one without (the X10) and one with (Desire) then I'll be taking the one with the multi touch.

[limpid]

I like the Desire a lot. Very impressed so far.

[Kalim_a]

Android is fantastic. I have HTC Hero and Motorola Milestone (Droid in America).

I released a game last Tuesday, a paid version and a free version. Only sold a few of the paid version but the free version has been downloaded 2700 times so far.

What annoys me is some people who have left stupid feedback on the game (free version). See http://tinyurl.com/36uw3ff

Someone wrote "THIS GAME SUCK DO NOT INSTALL". I mean WTF?! Its not a bad game at all, breakout games may be a bit boring for someone but comments like that are not fair. It could be an author of a similar game trying to put people off my game for all I know. Other comments I can accept, I have updated the game and up vibrate option as requested by someone.

The other thing that is annoying is people can only buy through Google checkout. I wish they would introduce carrier billing so you can get it on your phone bill. Think they have done it for T Mobile in America but nothing here in UK or elsewhere

Anyone here can download my free version and give it a go. Would appreciate of someone can give me a good star ranking in the market and some comments! Game is called "Brick n' Ball- Dragon Wars". If you search for "dragon wars" you will find it.

[The_Rev]

Someone wrote "THIS GAME SUCK DO NOT INSTALL". I mean WTF?! Its not a bad game at all, breakout games may be a bit boring for someone but comments like that are not fair.

That was me.

Actually, it wasnt. Im downloading your game at the moment, I'll let you know what I think. I wouldnt worry about the comments though, its the internet and everything is the best thing ever or its shit. If you have a negative comment at the top of the page, cant you just bump it with a positive one of your own? AFAIK people can only see the last three comments unless they specifically search for every comment.

[leviramsey]

Re: internet comments =>

[Gringo]

Re: internet comments =>

Very goooooooooooood.

[TheDon]

If you haven't already tried it, get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRUoWUhcRlE, it's pure awesome and way better than tap typing.

It's still beta so not on the marketplace, but it's available here with the default theme:

or here with the HTC_IME theme:

(Did I mention how much I love being able to use barcode reader to QR codes to go to web addresses?)

[The_Rev]

Its like living in the future, isnt it?

[darrenm]

If you haven't already tried it, get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRUoWUhcRlE, it's pure awesome and way better than tap typing.

It's still beta so not on the marketplace, but it's available here with the default theme:

or here with the HTC_IME theme:

(Did I mention how much I love being able to use barcode reader to QR codes to go to web addresses?)

But I've got a real keyboard

[The_Rev]

Do you have one of those barcodes that links to the installer for swype 320*480?

[TheDon]

Yep.

HVGA versions:

Normal

HTC_IME theme

And Droid version:

Normal

HTC_IME theme

[TheDon]

Was about to complain that swype doesn't support multi-touch so no pinch to zoom, but the phone just needs a restart after installing to bring it back.

I can't believe how easy it is to type on this thing. How it works I don't know, it might be witchcraft, but it's awesome.

[The_Rev]

I cannot figure it out.

It appears to be out of calibration and I'll be buggered if I can find a way to recalibrate.

[TheDon]

It shouldn't need calibrating.

Have you tried the tutorial?

[The_Rev]

Yep. It appears to be borked, if you are supposed to be tracing a line through the letters in the word then it isnt showing it. When it shows the line on how to type "swype" the blue line starts on X, passes through D, then R then goes off the screen before running from E along to P and back to R.

"QUICK" just shows a blue line that runs the full length of qwertyuiop before disappearing of the screen then coming back down through L, M and the Space Bar.

I r confused.

[CVByrne]

How on earth could multi touch be a deal breaker. What on earth is it for other than zooming? Dealbreaker??? Madness. Your smartphone priorities are crazy.

Not at all. If I am considering two similarly specced phones but there is one without (the X10) and one with (Desire) then I'll be taking the one with the multi touch.

8.1mp Camera and bigger screen outweight software limitations. 2.1 will be out in a few months for X10 which will solve your multi touch problems. So it was the X10 that was going to win the battle between the two for me, signing up for 18 months contract hardware limitations are permanent software is not.

Both are the standout Android phones on the market though imo, hence it was between the two for me.

[TheDon]

Bigger but inferior screen. If you use your phone outside a lot you'll be cursing the TFT and begging for an AMOLED screen, which also uses less power and has a far superior refresh rate. Bigger isn't always better.

The X10 also has less ram, which could be an issue if you like running loads of applications.

[CVByrne]

I think the screen is lovely, really love it. Can't see why I'd be using my phone outside all the time. Indoors it looked better than the Desire.

Also spent awhile reading reviews for both phones and the X10's screen is one of the strong points mentioned by all reviews. Techradar, who have the Desire as the best phone you can get point out that all the problems they have with the X10 is software related, something Sony can resolve.

The 8.1mp camera is a huge plus for me, I always liked camera phones and ones with good cameras. So it was probably the decider for me. Android 1.6 wasn't that much of a problem for me as it is only temporary as an update to 2.1 will be out this year.

The more memory in the Desire is a big plus for it, even if it is rarely used. I love high specs from my days building my own dream machine pc's over a decade ago. So it was a plus for the Desire. But then we have how it looks, the Nexus One is without doubt the ugliest thing I've ever seen, the Desire is far nicer but it's hardly a nice either. The X10 is by a distance the nicer phone to looks at.

So the pro's and cons list came down to

Desire has more memory and was running Android 2.1.

X10 has a bigger screen, better camera, looks nicer.

So accepting there will be 2.1 for X10 soon enough, we're left with bigger memory as the selling point for Desire, which can't outweight the Camera for me. If the X10 had a 5mp camera the Desire may well have been my choice.

It's all about what your priorities are. Camera was the big one for me.

[The_Rev]

Why are you bothered about the number of megapixels in a camera though? It really doesnt matter when you are picking between 5 & 8 unless you are printing out gigantic pictures on an industrial printer.