Android!

[Quinton]

I'm pretty sure they finally got the message.  To the best of my knowledge, all their post-Magic Android devices have a 3.5mm headphone jack.  Wish they had done that for Magic though.  That's my only gripe with the device.  I miss the hard keyboard, but it's a great phone.

The multifunction USB port is *awesome* because it exposes a TTL level serial port which is just about the best thing evar for kernel debugging.  They just need to stop using it for the headphone interface.

[Trippy]

HTC Magic (aka "T-Mobile myTouch 3G") coming to T-Mobile USA end of July/August:

T-Mobile USA Unveils the T-Mobile myTouch 3G aka HTC Magic
T-Mobile to sell new Google phone in August
T-Mobile's Second Android Phone Won't Come With Keyboard

[Stewie]

I just got the HTC dream(same as teh t-mobile g1) on Saturday.
I get to work this morning and see that t-mobile has announced a new phone. I figured this is typical as you can never seem to keep up with technology, but in my case it it always seems like the next fucking day is when they announce these things.

To my relief though I see that T-Mobiles new phone is just the HTC Magic here in Canada which we already had. So I'm happy I'm not behind the technology curve again :)

That being said I love my new Dream. It was a toss up between that and the new iphone3g s but I don't feel any regret at all for going for this and it has all been good so far.
My only niggling complaint is that the apps are stored on the phones memory and not the SD card. I know that I can root the os and correct that myself but that should really not be necessary.

Overall though I'm a pretty happy camper.

[Yegolev]

Apparently I will need to try each.

[KallDrexx]

Pre > all

*ducks*

[TripleDES]

Got a Magic, the thing owns.

Am considering rooting it, but every custom ROM claims to be Baby Jesus and implements that silly Hero theme, so fuck it.

[Stewie]

If you do Root it, let me know how it goes as I am thinking of doing this.

[stray]

Interface vid for (unannounced) Sony Xperia


All I want is nice camera phone like this mixed with the slick walkman phone features... But I figured it's worth mentioning. It's android, 8 mp cam, with 3d acceleration.

[schild]

Ah shit, the Xperia is Android now? When the X1 was announced it was WinMo. Well, this is interesting.

[Trippy]

The look of those stacked cards needs a lot more work.

[stray]

HTC's Hero has a nicer interface (the weather raindrops... nice touch!), but the Sony hardware is nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCodXvFrz5E

[edit] I said "nice" 3 times..  Sorry about that.

[Draegan]

I like those widgets on the Hero.  Not sure which would be better, the G1 or the mytouch.  Hrmrmrm.

[TripleDES]

What I want from SE is their hardware, the standard Android interface, the HTC keyboard (unless SE comes up with something equivalent) and maybe dialer, and some XMB alike media player.

 

--edit: Also, haven't rooted my Magic yet. Every ROM seems to have issues I don't want to deal with, especially those battery runtime related ones.

[Quinton]

I like those widgets on the Hero.  Not sure which would be better, the G1 or the mytouch.  Hrmrmrm.

I personally prefer sapphire (aka Magic, aka MyTouch), as a better phone (smaller, fits better in my hand, larger battery, more flash for installable apps), but if you're a heavy email/im/messaging user, the lack of a hard keyboard may be a deal breaker.

[schild]

I suppose the question becomes, since we know the G1 has been simply hacked for multitouch (afaik), will the HERO Rom net multitouch on the G1 and beyond (for phones that didn't ship with it)?

[Falconeer]

Question:

I am coming to the US of A with my brand new HTC Magic. Of course, my internet connection, unless I find open wirelesses, will be unsuable as there's no roaming for my lousy Italian 2gb/month contract.

GPS will then be pretty useless.

Is there any way (hacks, cracks, tricks) to pre-download maps I am interested in and have the GPS work without internet access? I mean, the locator is always on, if I understand the technology right, so the problem is only to see yourself on maps (that you are supposed to download on the go), right?

Sorry for sounding as technological as my grandmother, but I really know nothing about telephones.

[Quinton]

Sadly, the maps app does not have a way to pre-cache map tiles.  I believe this is partially due to limitations in how the map data can be used (since it is provided by third parties under license).  I'm not aware of anyone hacking the maps app to cache or building a competing app which does, though it's not impossible that somebody is doing that.

As we're pretty backwards in terms of cellular network options here in the states, I don't think you can buy a prepaid SIM or anything like that (but maybe I'm wrong!).

[Trippy]

As we're pretty backwards in terms of cellular network options here in the states, I don't think you can buy a prepaid SIM or anything like that (but maybe I'm wrong!).

T-Mobile used to sell these. Dunno if they do anymore.

[Falconeer]

Thanks a lot. Turns out it's very expensive for me to use internet access while in the US but apparently I can, so I will probably use it as a final emergency solution. Like login, locate myself, logout. My fee, while abroad, will be 10 euros for 5mb of traffic. Harsh.

[Trippy]

Make sure you turn of Internet access before coming over. If you leave it on accidentally and there are background Internet apps that "poll" regularly (email is usually the culprit) you may end up with thousands of Euros in charges as people with iPhones have found out when traveling with their phones.

[Falconeer]

Thanks Trippy. That has been my main concern since I got the Magic, cause I am not even sure how to turn that off. Better, I know how to switch ALL connections off, but I would like to keep the wireless on to pick up open hotspots while at the same time being supersure it won't ever use the pay-to-connect built in function. And I am still not feeling comfortable about it.

[Quinton]

Thanks Trippy. That has been my main concern since I got the Magic, cause I am not even sure how to turn that off. Better, I know how to switch ALL connections off, but I would like to keep the wireless on to pick up open hotspots while at the same time being supersure it won't ever use the pay-to-connect built in function. And I am still not feeling comfortable about it.

I've been bugging people about adding a feature where you can keep wifi on when in "airplane mode" (GSM/UMTS radio disabled).  Maybe in an upcoming version of the platform.

What you might try is dialing *#*#INFO#*#* then selecting the Phone Info panel, MENU, More Options, Disable Data and Disable Data On Boot.  I think that should be in production Magic builds -- you'll have to go back through the same sequence again to turn things back on, but I believe if you turn data off that way it is not possible for apps to re-enable it behind your back.  Be sure to test first, YMMV, etc.

[Falconeer]

Mmmmm if I got it right, Apndroid is what I am looking for. It prevents the phone from roaming for "data" while keeping the "voice" signal active. Says it bluntly modifies APN names preventing the phone from using them, without cutting out the normal signal.

EDIT: This too.

Does it make sense?

[Quinton]

Mmmmm if I got it right, Apndroid is what I am looking for. It prevents the phone from roaming for "data" while keeping the "voice" signal active. Says it bluntly modifies APN names preventing the phone from using them, without cutting out the normal signal.

EDIT: This too.

Does it make sense?

Yup.  If the device has no matching APN info in its local database, it won't be able to initiate a data connection.  Voice will not be affected.

[TripleDES]

There's a simple setting called Wireless > Mobile Network > Data Roaming, which you uncheck. There.

I live in Belgium near the German border and go back and forth quite often. When on foreign networks, the phone refuses to do data.

[fuser]

Anyone using Google voice on their android? If so how well it does it snap in to the existing phone? (In Canada and unable to use it)

[Falconeer]

There's a simple setting called Wireless > Mobile Network > Data Roaming, which you uncheck. There.

From the info I gathered from Italians in the US with my same Italian provider, unchecking that option prevents them from talking, too. Don't ask me why, just field experience  

[stray]

Ah shit, the Xperia is Android now? When the X1 was announced it was WinMo. Well, this is interesting.

Ah shit my bad. It's definitely Windows Mobile. I thought I should correct myself here...

Still nice though.. and X2 as well. Too bad North America sucks.

[schild]

Ah shit, the Xperia is Android now? When the X1 was announced it was WinMo. Well, this is interesting.

Ah shit my bad. It's definitely Windows Mobile. I thought I should correct myself here...

Still nice though.. and X2 as well. Too bad North America sucks.

Uh, no. That video you linked here is definitely XPERIA (right screen shape) running Android. The current Xperia is of course WinMo. Not like they can go back in time and change that.

[stray]

doh! i correct myself on the correction then. i'd like to get it, but it's just too much. i don't mind windows mobile (or windows now, for that matter).

[schild]

I fully intend on getting the XPERIA any way I can once it's released with Android. Hopefully an unlocked one.

[TripleDES]

I finally slapped a custom ROM on my HTC Magic. It's actually pretty nice, it let me get rid of the HTC stuff, which unbroke various things. And it seems faster alreay without overclocking the CPU.

As far as the Android Xperia goes, I wish these Sony Ericsson faggots would release some more information. Right now it ain't clear what OS it'll run. That UI video could be very well a fake. One reason I believe this is because what was shown was even more gimmicky than HTC's TouchFlo. That's not usable, that's just shit. Plus that button on the phone strangely resembling the Windows logo...

[Yegolev]

I seem to have sold myself on an Andriod phone somehow, trouble is that my options seem limited to the G1 at the moment.  Considering I likely won't have this BB Curve after October 15 and I'd like to do a transfer of my rather large address book, I don't have a lot of time to wait for the X2 to arrive, or the rumored HTC Desire, or anything not a G1 or myTouch.

G1 seems like a winner due to hard keyboard, but I'm not at all sure how much a OSKB will piss me off.

[Quinton]

Ah, the fall Android device announcements have started:
http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/MOTOBLUR/Meet-MOTOBLUR

[schild]

Motorola blurs something alright, the line between ugly and uglier.