|
Offical TOTA Android Thread (pg. 15)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| jester |
Thats one thing I wont use my phone for... video games. If I want to play games. I'll stick to my PS3. Honestly you need a big screen and surround sound to enjoy video games.
Android vs. iOS. This should be interesting to watch. |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
Yeah, I have no desire whatsoever to play "video games" on my Milestone.
I dont even generally like playing "time wasting games" as many ppl do.
I essentially play Connect4 on my Android and thats it.
I also have Euchre installed, which I'd actually prolly play a good deal if I liked its interface better.
EDIT:
I want to DL Angry Birds for my Android actually... keep hearing iPhone users tell me how ing addictive this game is... wanna see what all the hype is about :D |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jem_hadar
EDIT:
I want to DL Angry Birds for my Android actually... keep hearing iPhone users tell me how ing addictive this game is... wanna see what all the hype is about :D |
Angry Birds Begin Hatching On Android
01/9-10 at 17.23 by: Ville Heijari
This week, we were planning to run a closed beta test of Angry Birds Lite for Android. Due to the massive response and demand from the Android community, we have decided to make Angry Birds Lite Beta available for everybody through the Android Market this Friday.
Please note that this will be the beta version of the application which is still undergoing final testing before official release. Angry Birds Lite Beta is presented on an "as is" basis, and we cannot guarantee its functionality on every Android device.
Angry Birds Lite Beta will run on second generation Android devices and upwards.
We have tested the game on a number of Android devices, and we would love to hear your feedback on how the game is performing on your personal device. Should you have any problems running Angry Birds Lite Beta, you can simply click the report a bug button in the main menu of the game to provide us with direct feedback.
We want to ensure that we will publish the best game ever released on Android, and we hope that this beta version will prove to our Android fans that Angry Birds has been worth the wait!
More information on Friday when we have the game available on Android Market.
To get all the latest information about Angry Birds on Android, sign up to the mailing list at android.angrybirds.com.
http://www.rovio.com/index.php?mact=Blogs,cntnt01,showentry,0&cntnt01entryid=35&cntnt01returnid=58 |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
First Fido Android Phone Now Available, The Acer Liquid E
September 29th, 2010
Yet another Canadian carrier has officially joined the Android game. The Acer Liquid E is the first Android phone for Fido and this is very exciting news. While not a total surprise, but that’s the downside of following these handsets so closely I suppose.
It’s gonna cost you $30 on a 3-year term, pretty good deal if you ask me. That gets you a 3.5-inch display, Android 2.1, 5MP camera and standard Wifi, GPS, 3G and Bluetooth. That makes it one of Fido’s top smartphones and certainly a high-end Android phone on any carrier.
So no more complaining that your carrier doesn’t carry an Android phone! Go out and get one right now. And please, do let us know what you think of it.
--
http://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/Android&lang=en
http://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/Smartphones |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
Nexus One Now Offered Via Mobilicity, The Google Phone Lives On!
September 30th, 2010
Oh sure, Google may have killed the HTC Nexus One on their end. But they did say that they’re gonna work with retailers globally and keep selling it. Now Mobilicity isn’t the first Canadian carrier to pull the Nexus out of the grave, Vidéotron Mobile actually beat them to that. $549 is the price Mobilicity is asking for it.
The Nexus One isn’t that old of a phone but with newer phones from various manufacturers that have better features emerging, you might be asking why you’d buy this. Well, let’s see. We’ve yet to see a phone get Android 2.2 Froyo in Canada, the latest version of the Android operating system.
The Nexus One remains that phone that runs what Google thinks the phone should run. Vanilla Android with no custom skins or apps, just pure Android. Some poeple really like that and it’s definitely a great phone to develop on as nothing extra gets in the way.
Now the downside, Mobilicity only operates in Toronto right now but fear not! Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa are all on the list of cities that Mobilicity will work in with future expansion. |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
The Numbers Are In: You Guys Love Android
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 3:38 PM PST
ChangeWave study shows that Android is still very much on the rise with consumer demand increasing. Additionally, customer satisfaction is equally high. Between June and September, the number of respondents surveyed who wanted Android on their new smartphone grew from 30% to 37%, pretty evident that the iPhone 4 didn’t do much to slow it down.
According to Investor Place:
| quote: | | Among consumers planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days, 37% say they prefer to have the Android OS on their new phone — a 7-pt jump since our previous survey and a new all-time high for the Google operating system. |
As you can see in the image above, it’s been a pretty steep climb for Android starting some time between September and December 2009 — or when the Motorola Droid was launched. Since then it’s been a pretty steady increase for the number of customers wanting Android on their next smartphone thanks to an army of Google-based handsets from HTC, Motorola and Samsung.
What’s more interesting is how much the demand for iOS devices and Android devices changed over the course of just three months. Clearly, the iPhone 4 and its antenna issues didn’t help the public view of Apple and its smartphone. Meanwhile, Android devices like the HTC EVO 4G and Droid X during that time were so popular that they remained sold out.
However, it’s not all bad for iPhone owners as nearly two-thirds of those surveyed were very satisfied with their current device. Android isn’t too far behind with 65%, but do note that this is a survey for those very satisfied, and we all know that Android is still improving.
Unfortunately for webOS, RIM and Windows Mobile users, the same can’t be said. It’s also very possible that even improved future iterations of the software on better hardware might be tarnished with the image that customers currently have on those brands.
What does this trend tell us? Well, for one thing Android isn’t just some underdog looking for acceptance – it’s a major and serious player in the mobile OS game now. Even Apple seems to have difficulty fending it off, and very soon Android will swallow up the majority of the OS market. Not only is it available on several pieces of hardware across every single carrier in the U.S., but it turns out people really want it and turn out to be satisfied with it when they end up using the platform. |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
Samsung Continuum to be a dual-screen Galaxy S phone for Verizon?
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 3:20 PM PST
Some spy shots of an upcoming Galaxy S variant have surfaced – a variant known as the Samsung Continuum – and it’s looking mighty fine with its dual displays. The Samsung Continuum standout feature is that it sports a second display below the much larger screen.
So what’s this second display for, you ask? The second, smaller display is called the Ticker, and it will show you notifications, as well as RSS feeds along with the time and date. Awesome? One cool feature of the ticker is that it will automatically turn itself on when the bottom portion of the phone is grasped, eliminating the need to unlock the phone when all you need is the time or check your notifications. Of course, to reply to a message you’ll have to use the larger screen. But since it’s likely another Super AMOLED-toting device, we have no qualms with that.
The Samsung Fascinate may no longer be the go-to Galaxy S device for Big Red when the Continuum arrives. We’re curious to see if the Continuum still sport the 4 inch main display, or if it will be shrunken in size to make way for the Ticker. The device also comes with a hot-swappable MicroSD card slot (something the Fascinate also has) and a dedicated camera button – both of which are very welcomed additions to the Galaxy S line up.
As far as looks go, the Continuum has edges that are much more round than the Fascinate, more so than even the Vibrant. The back of the device looks like a bar of soap almost, and judging from the looks of the back’s finish, it may be just as slippery. That certainly shouldn’t turn you away from the phone, as it’s looking to be quite a killer device.
If the Continuum ends up having a smaller main display, would that sway you to get the Fascinate over the Continuum?
Couple of more pictures below!
  |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
For those ppl cool with a cheaper, midrange Android phone that's more like a standard cellphone (smartphone light?), le voila...
Motorola iDEN i886 – Dual keyboard toting Android phone
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 2:00 PM PST
Motorola has been on an obscure design rampage since the Backflip, continuing that tradition with the Flipout, and now with the Motorola iDEN i886 Android phone. The Motorola iDEN i886 is quite toned down from the previous iterations, but sports two keyboards. Nothing crazy, but this is what seems to be a first for an Android device.
The iDEN i886 is a mid-ranged Android phone that comes with Push-to-talk, GPS, accelerometer, web browser, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera, and a MicroSD card slot. It looks similar to the Pantech Matrix, only with its alphanumeric keyboard on the front of the phone. The phone has just hit up the FCC, but since it’s yet to be announced, we’re not sure when we’ll actually be seeing this thing hit the shelves. The i886 could hit Sprint/Boost Mobile, or possibly some other regional carrier when it launches.
As far as user experience goes, we’re not sure if the i886 will deliver a good one. Sure, we know it’s no Motorola Droid or X, but the very small screen will likely hinder the web browsing experience at best, but not everyone is looking for incredible web browsing, we suppose. We also are unsure of the version of Android that the phone will be using. The device looks like a feature phone, with some of the innards from a smartphone, but we think it’ll stay at a low price range. We’d find it hard to believe if this particular handset cost upwards toward $200, but anything is possible.
So if you’re looking for a smarter feature phone, or you’d love to revel in the dual keyboard possibilities, whatever they may be, you may want to wait it out for this device to hit the streets. Also, if you weren’t in love with the i1, and crave the Push-To-Talk functionality of Nextel, the iDEN i886 may be right up your alley.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one, even if it won’t be replacing any of our current devices anytime soon.
 |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
Samsung: Galaxy Tab will be available November 1st in the UK
Friday, October 1st, 2010 at 11:41 AM PST
Samsung confirmed today that the Galaxy Tab will be available on November 1st in the UK. The Galaxy Tab carries on the tradition of the Galaxy S-series of smartphones with a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, 7-inch LCD with 1024×600 resolution, 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for vide calling, 16/32GB internal storage, microSD expansion (up tp 32GB), a 4000 mAh battery, and Android 2.2. The Galaxy Tab is the first real competitor to the iPad and was the darling of the tech world until RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet hit the scene earlier this week.
While Samsung has revealed both the specifications for the Galaxy Tab and now its launch date, the pricing for this highly anticipated tablet remains elusive. Samsung has hinted at a $200-$300 price tag for the Android tablet, but that price is for a carrier subsidized version that offers a lower up front cost in exchange for a monthly fee and 2 or 3-year contract. The pricing for the Galaxy Tab without a contract is unknown but estimates from online retailers place it as high as $1000.
While I am interested in the Galaxy Tab as an alternative to Apple’s iPad, the off-contract pricing has me concerned. Unlike Archos which has plastered the sub-$300 price tag of its 7-inch tablet all over the place, Samsung has not been as forthcoming with the pricing on the Galaxy Tab. Samsung’s reluctance to disclose the pricing makes it seem that Samsung is trying to hide the possibility that its Galaxy Tab may land at the higher-end of the pricing spectrum. I will give the Korean manufacturer the benefit of the doubt and theorize that Samsung is merely gauging public opinion to find out where that best price point lies.
For me, that optimal price hovers around $500, which not so coincidentally is the price tag for the entry-level WiFi iPad. No matter how good it is, I would be hard pressed to pay more than $600 for an occasional-use tablet. I have been down that road before with the Viliv X70, a Windows XP-based tablet, and could not justify keeping the tablet for that price. While some may prefer the lower cost Galaxy Tab with a contract, I am not one of those people. I already have enough contracts and prefer not to sign up for another one, especially for a dedicated device that will be outdated in four months and replaced in six. Enough about me, what about you? What would you pay for the Galaxy Tab?
Oh, and if you are looking for something to do, check out hands-on review of the Galaxy Tab here. (Spoiler: it’s awesome!)
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/09/0...ablet-goodness/ |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
HTC updates Sense for Android with new location and cloud computing services
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 at 7:27 AM PST
As part of its London launch event, HTC announced the Desire HD and the Desire Z, two Android handsets that powered by Android 2.2 and HTC’s latest version of Sense. For better of for worse, this new Sense significantly increases the role of this alternative Android interface. Disclaimer: proponents of the pure Android experience may experience adverse effects and moments of repulsion while reading the rest of this post.
Multimedia is central to a current generation smartphone and the new Sense adds in HD video recording support and a variety of camera effects to enhance the stock Android camera interface. Taking on the Nook and Kindle application, HTC’s latest version of Sense offers an e-bookstore powered by Kobo and compatible e-reader software pre-installed on the handset. The new Sense also adds in a mapping application called HTC Locations. HTC Locations offers customized, instant mapping without the need to download mapping data. It supplements, maybe even supplants, the default Google Maps.
The Taiwanese manufacturer is also capitalizing on the big push into cloud computing by offering its own cloud services, specifically designed for HTC handsets. The HTCSense.com service will allow owners of HTC handsets to manage and backup their handset through a web interface. Owners can archive contacts, text messages, and call history; all of which can be saved and used to set up a new HTC handset. If you are into customizing your handset, HTC will also offer free wallpapers, scenes, sounds, and plug-ins as part of this cloud service.
Owners can also use HTCSense.com to find their lost or stolen phone by pinpointing its location on a map or by ringing the handset remotely. Even if the ringer set to silent, the remote service will turn it on to ring loudly. Similar to the other mobile services, HTCSense.com will allow owners of stolen or lost handsets to lock their handsets remotely, send all calls and texts to an alternative number, and send a text message to the stolen/lost phone with instructions for return. When all hope is lost, owners can remotely wipe their handset from the web interface.
This new Sense interface and HTCSense.com cloud services are expected to debut this October when the Desire HD and Desire Z launch in Europe, Asia, and North America (as the T-Mobile G2). |
|
|
| Jem_hadar |
Google Phone Gallery Helps You Compare Android Phones
October 1st, 2010
Back when Google was still selling the Nexus One themselves and not through carrier partners, they used the domain www.google.com/phone. It almost made the Nexus One that much better when you could direct someone to that URL and have them see it. But this was back when Google sold this phone themselves.
Now they couldn’t let that link go to waste could they? As they promised, they’ve now turned it into what they’re calling Google Phone Gallery. They list various countries including Canada and have the various carriers and manufacturers, letting you compare phones.
Phone Gallery is new so the phone list is definitely not complete yet, At least as far as Canada goes. But eventually this will be a great database to showcase Android phones. This will make it easy to see which Android phones are on which carrier and help the buying decision for many that are interested.
They also have a section reserved for “Phone with Google.” This is the definition Google gives for those phones:
“with Google phones have been optimized for use of Google Mobile Services, providing easy access to Search, Voice Search, Google Talk, Google Maps, Gmail, Sync, Youtube and Android Market (where available).”
This list has been changing over the past few days but currently, they have the Motorola Milestone [:D:D] as the only phone in there. If I understand it correctly, this might be phones that don’t run a custom UI and run Android 2.0+? I believe that requirement would make the Milestone fit perfectly in that category. The HTC Magic should be in there as well but Google stil lists it as running 1.6 even though the 2.1 update is already out for Rogers customers.
Let’s hope they keep improving on this. Check it out! |
|
|
|
|
