Be Excellent To Each Other

Yeah, I know. That's some proper grunt.

So it has a touchscreen and a trackball?

Those piddly little trackballs are just a complete fucking pain.

Yep.

Nexus = want.

I hope the touch screen is a spiffy smooth as the iPhone.

Got mine already, losers!

http://twitpic.com/ww42a

Damn, and I was trying to find an image of the box for the C64 game of the same name.

Me too!

The Nexus One, nice as it is, ain't about Google selling phones. It's about Google having a phone out there that people are aware of, so people are aware that Google are in the mobile sector. Your average non-techy pleb on the street, following the high-profile mainstream news coverage of the Nexus One, will now go "Oh, Google do mobile phones", and so they'll walk into Carphones'R'Us4U Warehouse and go "Can I have a look at one of those Google phones?" and they'll get shown an HTC Hero or a Moto Droid or one of a billion* other Android phones. And Google won't care, because all they want is people using Android, because people using Android will be people seeing Google-delivered adverts, and that is what Android, and the Nexus One, is ultimately all about.

That's exactly what it's about, as Gaywood and I are discussing right now IN PRIVATECLEEQ.
But you're right about the fact the Nexus One not being that important - it's the fact that Google now sell unlocked phones direct. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/201 ... -a-url.ars has more information.

Apple need to start selling the iPhone unlocked out of the box, and sharpish.

I wouldn't be that surprised if they start selling it unlocked via the Google phone store.

[edit]Except they are still under contract to AT&T, I think.

They are under a lock-in exclusive contract everywhere except the UK. I would imagine we will see unlocked iPhones in time, direct from Apple -- but not until at least most of their regions have no exclusive carrier.

The nexus thing looks quite good at first glance - amazingly it even gets the ports right (3.5mm headphone socket *and* a micro-USB socket). That has to be a first.
The home screen looks pants compared to the iPhone one, but it's how well the software works and what's available that counts.

And battery life of course. 1Ghz processor eh?

I did a big thread about that not being the case at all, quite recently.

(And the Droid has a 3.5mm jack and USB charging, I'm pretty sure. Let me have a quick look - yes, it does)

The standby times look impressive at a first glance, though they're always a bit on the optimistic side. The actual usage figures look a bit low, though: 6.5 hours of Wi-Fi?

My Touch won't last more than a few hours if I'm using the WiFi a lot, be it buying from iTunes or browsing.

Yeah, I think that's 6.5 hours of data usage over wifi, not 6.5 hours with the wifi on.

When I lived out in the States no one I ever met had AT&T as their mobile provider. And I mean, no one.

Everyone either had Verizon or T Mobile. Some (usually builder types) had one that came with a two way radio that worked no matter where you are for free (well, as part of the contract of course). Forget what that was called now but it was brought out by someone. Sprint IIRC.

Any way, yeah, no one had AT&T on account of it being shit and a complete rip off. So it's kind of odd Apple decided to go with them exclusively in the U.S.

Indeed, but my 3GS boasts 9 hours and that's quite optimistic, too. Saying that, it says up to 300 hours of standby which, not only have I never come close (through using it too much, obviously) but is more than the Nexus claims.

Hmmm according to Kotaku:



What? That can't be true can it? Even the Wii has worked out how stupid that is.

EDIT: Long term I would like to have an 'open' Android phone by the way. Open platforms for the win etc.
EDIT EDIT: Battery life on the iPhone is terrible so based on that 6.5 hours for browsing seems quite likely.

It has occured to me that I could order an unlocked Nexus One for delivery to sistaflapjack's house for £330, then pick it up when I am in the States next week. Hmmm.

Push to talk.

You have it backwards. Apple demanded several unusual things from anyone who would sell the iPhone, such as a share of the monthly line rentals and that the operator couldn't install anything into the phone image. In return, Apple offered the cell operator a timed exclusivity deal, and even so, they still found it difficult to agree terms. I suspect AT&T were simply the network most willing to play ball with Apple. It's not like Apple went out and chose them on purpose; as you say, their reputation for customer care and network reliability is not great.

Yes, it's true. Android phones can only install apps on the core flash memory, which I think is 512Mb on all current models (can anyone confirm that?).

Apps include games, I guess? Monkey Island alone was bigger than that.

Yes. All user installable software and its data, as far as I am aware. Myst for iPhone is 1Gb+, and TomTom is 200-400Mb depending on map pack choice.

Crikey. That's a big negative point against Android phones for me then.

Google "are working on it". It came up at the post-Nexus press conference Q&A.

Good to hear. But until they sort it, I won't even consider swapping. The Android phones are the only serious competitor to the iPhone I've seen so far, but such a low limit on storage is a real disappointment.

Points and laughs.

"Doesn't allow multiple Apps" indeed

I've just checked, and I've used up 559MB on apps so far, and that's without bothering to do a proper sync after the Apple store wiped my phone.

560Mb? I'm on 1.4Gb after a few weeks. Although 700Mb of that is settlers.

Thats awful, but in the long term, assuming it does get fixed, microSD cards for memory is vastly better than what the iPhones doing. Thats really going to be holding the google marketplace back.

I strongly suspect that most normal people buy one large card and never change it. In practical terms, for most buyers, I don't think the fixed memory of the iPhone is a big deal.

I don't know if it is really. I've never got on with memory cards for phones, for some reason.

The only advantage seemed to be to make transfer of stuff easier, but that problem shouldn't exist any more. And who carries around "spare" cards with things on them? It's hard enough keeping track of USB sticks.

Using it as a replacement for built-in memory doesn't seem too clever either - access time to an SD interface card can't be as good as a chip on the board, surely?

I was talking bout me though! :)

Being a mac laptop user for the foreseeable (and a lover of 2D games), I'll most likely stick with iPhones, but my hearts with android.

Heh. Like I said, though, that's only installing a select few applications; the rest is backed up in iTunes for when I can be arsed re-syncing it properly.

I'm not a fan of SD cards in general as I'm very wary of their failure rate. It's nice being able to cheaply upgrade your phone's storage, but I'm not sure SD is the way to go.

Ooh I hadn't thought of slower transfer speeds compared to onboard. I assumed the memory in the iPhone was basically the same stuff. Not the case?

And it's not about carrying around spare cards, it's about doubling your memory in 6 months time for a tenner innit? Though saying that, I guess micro only goes up to 32Gb anyhow...

Either way the 512Mb for apps is mental.



Can you download stuff you've already downloaded for free straight from the iPhone (or itunes for that matter)? I thought you had to resink from your back up, or purchase again.

Yes, you can. It asks for your iTunes password anyway to shit you up, but then says "this purchase is free". App data doesn't come down with that though -- like savegames, for example.

Awesome cheers. So if it also lists a price when you look it up again thats just to shit you as well I guess too?

Thanks!

Yep, the App Store gives you absolutely no indication that you've bought something already until you've tried to buy it again. It's a bit daft.

Well thats stupid, but at least they offer it, so all is good.

They really need to sort out the save game thing though. I wonder if the Google phone will at least allow you to put your saves on the SD card, saving space and allowing easy backups? (See how I brought us back on topic there?)

All the 'big' apps (which are games, mainly) I've got on my G1 allow you to save the media (sounds, textures, etc) off onto your SD card, so space isn't really as big an issue as everyone is (suddenly) making out.

I'm glad you chipped in there Grim... because I was just about to faint!

Umm. Look everyone, it's snowing again! To the barricades!

It is odd that this has suddenly become such an issue - it's always been the way with Android phones.

To be honest, it does sound bad to me and because someone mentioned the Wii, I'm likening it to that but since you've put us straight... I'm not that concerned. I've never used an Android phone but you have and I for one, trust you!

I can confirm this for musics. Somehow, I started downloading the same album twice before christmas, and it showed me being charged each time. However, 5 minutes later, both purchases had disappeared from my account and I have never been charged for either (but have paid for other things). I think the cock up created some form of itunes paradox which meant I paid nothing or something.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather it didn't work that way. It wouldn't surprise me if they fix it fairly quickly.

Android phone is a very misleading title.

These aren't the droids I'm looking for.

As is Champion of Cyrodiil.... I demand to see credentials!!