The Android thread

I can't really make your decision for you obviously, but it's a hard one I agree. The browser on Honeycomb is so nice but what's the point if you can't type into text boxes? Other than that it's brilliant though, basically a desktop-class browser.

If it didn't lag so much with the stock browser, the on-screen keyboard would be fine. Asus has put their own keyboard on there which kind of acts like Swype, but doesn't work half as well. I don't use that though, it has ugly white buttons and includes a number row which is a waste of space.

Up until literally ten minutes ago I was using the stock Honeycomb keyboard which works fine, my only complaint is I'd like more long-press capability for things like numbers. But just now I signed up for and installed the new Swype 3.0 beta that finally adds HC support so I'm going to be testing that.

Everyone was saying Swype would be useless on a 10" device since you'd have to be moving your fingers around like crazy, but it seems like Swype have found a clever workaround to that - you tap a button and the keyboard shrinks and becomes detached from the bottom, allowing you to pin it anywhere on the screen. Not sure how well this will work in practice, but it's awesome in theory.

Thanks for the inputs. i guess there's nothing left to do but go out and try them first hand after reading and watching all the reviews. :)

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you - I don't have a huge need for a tablet, and as much as I dislike iTunes the pricing at the moment + apps selection favors the iPad 2 if you can find one in stores.

If my sister's original iPad is anything to go by, typing on the keyboard is a pretty average experience but its tolerable.

Where do you plan on getting your tablet? Everything's so expensive here in australia!
 
After my exam I dropped by my local computer store (it's on my way home with my bicycle, NOT good for my wallet) and they had an iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 on display.

The iPad 2: I love the smoothness and responsiveness it delivers, it's very fast for both browsing and gaming, the keyboard is nothing spectacular but I don't think I could live without the flash content enabled since so many websites use it. Also, after 5 minutes of playing with it I had my thoughts about the homescreens, there isn't really much you can do with them, but the multitasking is a nice addition and works well (last iOS device I had was a 2nd gen iPod touch).

Galaxy Tab 10.1: First impression was: "My goodness why would anyone pay ?599 for this?" but apart from that I loved the form factor, just like most Honeycomb tablets it's widescreen. It felt really nice to hold and use but although it wasn't slow or laggy it somehow felt less fluent than the iPad 2 (which was really apparent because I had just used one for about 5 minutes). Feature-wise it beats the iPad 2 hands down, I need this kind of customisable homescreen, especially with the email widgets etc.
Played Angry Birds on it, just like I did with the iPad 2 and there was no real difference in speed. The speed of the browser was also roughly the same (maybe the iPad loaded a bit faster but then again it didn't need to display the flash content) and I preferred the keyboard in Honeycomb.

So all in all it's pretty clear to me that iOS is not for me, at least in tablet form. Though I couldn't blame anyone for going with an iPad, especially at that price point.

I'm going to take a gamble and get the Transformer... But first I need to get my Xbox 360 sold :p
 
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is already out over there, huh? ?599 is a huge sum of money though, I hope that was for 32GB at least.

What about it made you immediately think it wasn't worth the price? Not saying it is, just wondering what specifically gave you that impression.

Out of curiosity, how much is a 16GB Transformer over there? Just to put the Tab 10.1 price in perspective for me since it's not even announced here.
 
Hell no, it was for the 16GB model (yeah we get screwed over here with prices)

The main reason I felt it wasn't worth that price was because I had just held a ?479 iPad 2 (16GB), that was really well built and very solid. While the Galaxy felt very good as well, and had a nice finish on the back, I couldn't believe that it cost ?120 more than an equivalent iPad. That's just madness, I can't see them selling a lot of them with that price over here.
 
I used an iPad 2 yesterday and the browser lagged immensly. The scrolling is smooth, yeah, but there's a lot of checkerboarding still, after all these years. Otherwise... erm... nice animations, I guess. That's the only nice thing I could find. :dunno:
 
Hell no, it was for the 16GB model (yeah we get screwed over here with prices)

The main reason I felt it wasn't worth that price was because I had just held a ?479 iPad 2 (16GB), that was really well built and very solid. While the Galaxy felt very good as well, and had a nice finish on the back, I couldn't believe that it cost ?120 more than an equivalent iPad. That's just madness, I can't see them selling a lot of them with that price over here.

We also get screwed over here. 16gb wifi Asus transformer: AU$599 = GBP389 = US$637. and no, this doesn't include the dock :|
 
Can anybody tell me what frequency Bell Canada's mobile network uses? I'd like to know if the version of the HTC Sensation they will be getting would work with the Telstra NextG network here in Australia. NextG is UMTS 850 if I remember correctly.
 
Can anybody tell me what frequency Bell Canada's mobile network uses? I'd like to know if the version of the HTC Sensation they will be getting would work with the Telstra NextG network here in Australia. NextG is UMTS 850 if I remember correctly.

Bell uses 850 and 1900 for their HSPA+ network.
 
Last edited:
Agreed, my Hero's tiny amount of RAM (I believe it's around 256 MB) handles Cyanogenmod's Gingerbread ok.
 
Google should force manufacturers that decide to drop older devices to at least release stable builds of clean android until the device's hardware meets the minimum requirements of the new version. Otherwise a phone's actual life cycle will soon be greatly reduced.
 
Google should force manufacturers that decide to drop older devices to at least release stable builds of clean android until the device's hardware meets the minimum requirements of the new version. Otherwise a phone's actual life cycle will soon be greatly reduced.

That would go against the manufacturer's desire that we change phones every 8 months.
 
And yet, they only offer 2-year contracts :rolleyes:

Fuck them, I'm rocking my Hero for another year (most of one anyway).
 
And yet, they only offer 2-year contracts :rolleyes:

Fuck them, I'm rocking my Hero for another year (most of one anyway).

I was going by the local laws, that prohibit contracts longer than 12 months.

:mrgreen:
 
That would go against the manufacturer's desire that we change phones every 8 months.

It wouldn't. This will not decrease their sales by any considerable amount. Those who want the shiny new will buy it the minute it is available regardless of the current phone's support and software availability.

Just because Tmo and o2 around here are full of shit and charge insane money for barely functioning 3g network, I will keep my SGS for at least a year. I'll go out of my way to not give those two any money.
 
I picked up a HTC Incredible S yesterday afternoon, does anyone have any good apps that I should have to start me off? I'm also kinda worried about the battery life. I charged it for 12 hours last night from 7 in the evening to 7 this morning (didn't unplug it or anything during the charge). I turned it off (I think, I held the button down and it shut down but when I turned it back on it didn't flash the Optus screen that it does after a full shutdown) during school and when I turned it back on at 3, it had around 80% battery left, right now it's showing about 60% left. Did I screw up the first charge, did I not turn it off fully at school or is the phone supposed to drain this fast?
 
I picked up a HTC Incredible S yesterday afternoon, does anyone have any good apps that I should have to start me off?

Yeah, the Market app. :cool:

How can people recommend apps if you don't say what you are looking for? If you just want something cool or interesting just go to the Market, pick a category and look at the top free or paid apps.
 
Easier to go to http://market.android.com. More comprehensive search (you could even use google search if you wanted) and apps automagically install on your phone when you click install.

But yeah, there's hundreds of thousands of apps and countless uses. Be specific, please.
 
Top