Lets Find out Which is the best? There are many phones around the world which run on Android. But there are only some which are
Read more: http://www.goandroid.co.in/#ixzz1td0E6eCQ
With the launch of the much awaited Android 4.0 Ice cream sandwich operating environment for smartphones, the top mobile companies are cashing in on its hype by releasing their phones in the beaming market.
How many times have you wanted to transfer something like a picture, webpage, or contact information between your phone and another device only to find that the process often requires multiple steps and isn’t very quick at all. Sure, things like Chrome to Phone and apps like Bump have made the process easier, but in the latest release of Android Gingerbread, version 2.3.3, APIs are now available that combine NFC and Bluetooth technology to create instant sharing simply by tapping devices together. It works by avoiding the normal pairing process associated with Bluetooth and setting up a temporary socket between devices by sharing the pertinent information quickly via NFC. In a world where this tech is fully realized, tapping your phone to another enabled device such as a laptop or tablet could pop open the whatever you are currently browsing on your phone on a larger device, a trick that hasn’t been touted nearly as much as the payment solution that NFC provides. NFC technology is just starting to come into its own, and really won’t break out until it becomes more prevalent in our every day lives as a means of payment and sharing information, but we are glad that Google is staying ahead of the curve on this one.
Blink and you’d miss this one. Or maybe it should be ‘go about using Android Market as usual and you will probably still miss this one.’ And that’s a good thing. The Android Market has gotten a slight tweak to better its appearance on higher-res displays with the change of font for display text. Compare the old on the left to the new on the right.
Again, nothing major, but it is looking a bit more crisp and clear, if a bit smaller. But as a big aesthetics nut I will take anything that has a final aim of making the OS I use look prettier.
Wirefly has published their presale plans for T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S 4G, an HSPA+ enabled follow-up to the Samsung Vibrant You can get the phone a bit cheaper than you would get it from T-Mobile, and it should be on your doorstep sometime next week. Click on through to Wirefly to check it out. [Update] And now Wal-Mart is starting to get their devices in, though they aren’t allowed to put it up for sale until February 23rd – just like Wirefly. Awesome. Let us know if any of you are planning to grab this up.
In fact, we think he’s got a point. In tending only to the public that includes early adopters, Android has only accessed a relatively small cross-section of people where if they just tweaked a little bit, they could have the whole pie. How? Bring on the love. Meehan continued “Android manufacturers are all just focused utterly on the tech, because they’re all hardware guys. They don’t get software. They’ve tried to outdo Apple with hardware, but the problem is the customer doesn’t care.” Doesn’t care about specs? That’s crazy! Who would be so heartless? Of course this isn’t the easiest thing to do in the world, or everyone would have an iPhone-like device that’s selling as well as Apple’s phone has. But what is it? Meehan believes it’s quite simple, and that Samsung is a good place to start explaining his position specifically: “The Samsung Galaxy has done pretty well, but it’s just price-driven. It’s not desire-driven. There are no lines out the door to get a Galaxy. They’ve done all this work on branding, but the name doesn’t mean anything to consumers. It’s like calling a phone ‘Alpha Centauri’ or ‘Uranus’.” We like the last one in particular, and think it’d get everyone lining up real quick. We recommend naming a new phone “Pretty Puppy Cupcake” in order to appeal to the crowd Meehan is speaking about. On the other hand, the new phones coming out from INQ are called Cloud Q and Cloud Touch – are these the names that will attract women seeking to enhance their love for their devices? Will pretty women all over the earth want to speak and type on an INQ Cloud? — thanks for the tip, AC!
This also looks a little like the story about the NOOKcolor getting Honeycomb we told you about back in January. Like we mentioned above this is very much a WIP so things will likely change and improve over time. So far many things are working like the Capacitive buttons, menu’s, widgets, & more. The still doesn’t work list is a little longer with bigger things like SD Card, radio’s, camera, & 4G. We at AC have faith that the XDA developers working on it will get it running smooth in no time. If you’d like to try this venture on your HTC Evo 4G here is the port’s thread.
In a move that all you Anime superfans should be ultra happy about, the creators of such fantastically popular series as Voltron and Dragonball Z, Toei Animation has announced their plans for bringing games based on their shows to the Android mobile OS platform! This animation group has been active since 1954, before time started as far as animated shows and movies are concerned, and certainly before the beginning of the fabulous world of video games. We look forward to a Fist of the Northstar game, of course. Maybe a mini-game featuring the Toei cat you see above with an Android body.
Toei has confirmed that they’ll be releasing games within 2011 based on their multi-nation popular television shows. We must hope that these games will be out soon, but then also hope that these games will have been in development for quite a while, as games based on shows made by Toei have one heck of a lot of potential. Games such as Dragon Ball Z Super Butouden 2 have never really had massive success on consoles, but have certainly retained a cult status amongst hardcore fans and players of odd games. More recent games created in part by Toei Animation have fighters flying across the sky in all directions shooting energy lasers and blasting enemies back and forth across planets. These games are also DragonBall related, but we can hope for similar functionality in a “One Piece” game, can’t we? Just think of what we could accomplish with a touch-based tablet game of these shows! Toei apparently hasn’t gone into too much specific info on what titles will be made soon or deep into the future, but they have mentioned that all titles will be released cross-platform (that being for mobile phones and tablets, Androids all.) RPGs, fighters, and turn-based war games are what we’re destined to see coming here, greatness on the horizon. Take a peek at one of the better DragonBall Z games in the past, Budokai 3:
We know you love these little guys. Even if you wont admit it, even if you say you’re an adult, a grown man or woman, for gosh sake, you’d never have such a little kid object sitting on your desk! But we know better. We love em, and you love em, and the one thing you like better than happening upon them in the store available for purchase is happening upon them here, not only before they’re technically available to the public, but here free for the winning! It’s an Android Community weekend contest!
The contest is easy, the rules quite simple, even though they look daunting. HOW TO ENTER All you’ve got to do is one of the following: first, you can follow our [Twitter profile] and prove it, next, you could follow our brand spankin’ new [Facebook page] and prove it, finally, you could prove your love of Android with a timestamped photo of yourself proving it! What constitutes proof? If you’re following us on Twitter, take a screenshot of us showing up in your “Following” list. If you’re a fan of us on our brand new Facebook page, take a screenshot of a comment you’ve made on our page’s wall (this works because if you weren’t a fan, you’d be unable to comment in the first place!) If you’d alternatively like to show your fanhood with a photo, you can take a photo of yourself holding a timestamped piece of paper with a profession of your love (in any way you wish) for Android (or more specifically, Android Community.) The alligator here is almost doing it right – if he had a piece of paper with the time and date written on it, he’d be entered! Each entry must be sent in via Twitter. Tweet the following:
– with a link to whichever entry you chose to make a screenshot or a photo hosted on any number of photo hosting sites – just make sure its not set to private! *Proving your fanhood is not the same as proving your manhood. If you prove your manhood to us via Twitter, you will automatically be disqualified… forever. This contest begins when you see this post posted, and ends at midnight CST between Sunday the 20th of February and Monday the 21st of February 2011. That’s this weekend, starting now! WINNERS CHOSEN THUSLY The way the winner will be chosen is: each entry will be recorded connected to your Twitter screenname. You can enter up to three times, one each of the three different methods of delivery of proof of fanhood. Each time your name is recorded (up to three times,) it’ll be printed out and placed into a hat. When the contest entry time is over, two names will be chosen. These two names will be listed here and blasted forth from OUR Twitter, that of course being @Androids. If your name is shouted but you do not contact us via email within 24 hours, we’ll choose again. This email must be sent to yours truly: chris@androidcommunity.com, and no other. Failure to respond to the call by emailing me within 24 hours will result in your name being tossed out. If you are chosen from the hat and DO respond within the allotted timeframe, we’ll grab your physical address (no PO boxes!) and will have your prize (ONE Android Series 2 toy, unopened, per person, per household,) sent to your mailbox, completely free of charge. Rules are subject to change and we do hold the right to refuse any entries based on official affiliations (Vince can’t win) or perceived misconduct. Make sense? Any questions about this contest should be posted in the comments of this post so everyone can know of any confusions. The prize for each person is a sealed box, but here’s a gallery of both sealed boxes and opened toys to get you revved up about what you might be getting:
It’s a strange thing to say to those who have no idea what we’re talking about, but we definitely love dumps. A dump is essentially all of the information on a phone or an update, or both, including everything you need to virtualize the environment and/or create that environment inside whichever phone you can jam it in. In this case, its an HTC HuaShan’s update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread with the latest installment of Sense. These elements are unavailable in so very many phones at the moment that this situation is exciting for people looking to upgrade their phones to a wacky new higher level.
What in the world is a HuaShan, you ask? It’s essentially the Chinese version of the HTC HD2, a phone of some note. This update is a move toward Gingerbread, an update not available to more than a few models of phones in the entire world today (at least officially, that is,) is one that lets us know that HTC might be pushing Gingerbread to additional devices around the world soon. If you do decided to take this dump and attempt to flash your device with it, it will brick. DO NOT try to take this set of files and flash your device with it. Instead, this ROM is only for developers to port, thusly unless you know what you’re doing, don’t do much of anything. If you DO know what you’re doing, feel free to help the folks working on this project, TMartin03 and 911sniper, XDA developers the both of them, working to move it forward and upward. You can find the entire dump as well as a place to let the duo know you’d love to offer your assistance over at XDA Developer Forums.
About this time last week, I first started playing with our Inspire 4G review unit. And at first blush, I admittedly found myself enamored with this phone. Unfortunately, it was a love that started to splinter as the days went on, and the more I used it, the more I noticed just how unfinished some parts of this phone can feel. Overall, the Inspire is a good phone with the potential to be great, and I’ll talk about what’s holding it back (software, connectivity) further on in the review. Don’t let that statement deter you from considering purchasing it, though, because at $99 (or $60 on Amazon), the Inspire 4G is a steal of a deal if you’re looking for a reasonably priced 4G smartphone.
At A Glance
The Inspire 4G packs an impressive spec sheet, even if the single core and WVGA display don’t wow quite like they did a few months ago:
4.3" WVGA SLCD (800×480)
1GHz Snapdragon MSM 8255 processor
Adreno 205 GPU
Android 2.2 Froyo with HTC Sense
768MB RAM
4GB Internal storage (1.55GB usable)
8GB SDHC card included
HSPA+ connectivity
8MP rear camera with dual-LED flash
1230mAh battery
DLNA compatible
Figures aren’t everything, of course, and so I’ve taken the liberty of breaking down the Inspire’s strengths and weaknesses in a couple of handy lists:
The Good:
Large 4.3" display is bright and vivid with great viewing angles.
Fantastic build quality, metal frame, rubberized plastic battery/card covers, and very solid feel overall.
Great battery life – I get two days of moderate use no problem.
A hardware accelerated browser makes using the web that much better on a smartphone, I’m in love here.
Generally snappy performance, homescreens swipe smoothly, though apps can be another story.
The Not So Good:
Not really a "4G" phone yet (ahem, AT&T) – at least I couldn’t find any HSPA+ speeds in Los Angeles.
WiFi / cell data connection switching and upload issues (see: Connection Problems) – going back and forth off and on WiFi can cause annoying behavior. Upload speeds on mobile connection are ungodly slow.
AT&T bloatware onboard. It’s not very annoying, but you can’t take it off.
No sideloading apps. This means you’ll have to fork over at least $45 a month for your DataPro plus tethering plan if you want to WiFi hotspot this thing.
Still running Froyo.
In a sentence: The Inspire 4G is a great piece of hardware at a great price, but also a staunch reminder of the double-edged blade that is the UI overlay. You should buy it if: You want to spend a little less on your smartphone, having 4G and Gingerbread right now aren’t major concerns for you, and you trust HTC and AT&T to make good on providing those features down the road. Still curious? Read on. There’s pictures, I promise.
Video Review
4G***
We’ll start our full review with part of the Inspire’s namesake: 4G. AT&T’s first 4G phone supposedly runs on the first of AT&T’s two 4G networks to be deployed this year: HSPA+. I’d tell you how fast that HSPA+ network was – if I could find it. And let’s be clear, I’m not out in the boonies. I’ve run network speed tests up and down West LA, Hollywood and parts of downtown LA. Why, you ask, would I run speed tests instead of just looking at the connection status in the notification bar for a handy "4G" symbol? Because AT&T is very clever, that’s why. The Inspire 4G will display an "H+" (presumably, HSPA+) as its connection type any time you are covered by AT&T’s HSDPA 3G. This is because AT&T plans (key word: plans) to backhaul their entire HSDPA 3G network to support HSPA+ 4G, so the device gives you signal information operating under the assumption that said backhaul is complete. News flash: it isn’t. Kind of a reality distortion field going on there. So far as I can tell, AT&T has yet to provide any HSPA+ 4G coverage in the LA area, and that’s not exactly a small market.
Oh Yeah, It’s a Phone, Too
I made some calls on the Inspire 4G – none of them dropped (though my AT&T calls in LA rarely do). The audio was good, even better than my Nexus One, probably owing to the Inspire’s large speaker bar. The large 4.3" screen means the phone sits closer to your talk-hole compared to a smaller phone, so people generally hear you better, too. Blinking notifications for missed calls and e-mails are extremely difficult to see. The Inspire’s silver speaker grille along the top of the phone impedes much of the contrast and brightness coming from the small notification/charging light underneath it, making it almost impossible to see unless you’re staring straight down at the phone. The brightness and blink frequency are non-adjustable. I suggest keeping the device on vibrate, because you’ll probably never notice that pale green notification light blinking.
Connection Problems
Now, back to smartphone things. Unfortunately, AT&T’s currently non-existent 4G network isn’t the only connectivity "issue" this phone has. I’ve noticed consistently that when switching from a mobile data connection to WiFi that many apps don’t recognize the change. Twitter, Words With Friends, the browser, and the Market will all repeatedly give me connection errors until I turn WiFi back off, then on again. This may be something specific to me, but I’ve noticed it on two different WiFi networks so far, and it is extremely frustrating. Another oddity I’ve come across is the Inspire’s upload speeds while on a 3G connection – they are extremely low. I’m using the Speed Test app as the benchmark tool here, but I don’t see any reason why it would have a measurement bias against the Inspire. The issue doesn’t seem to occur on WiFi, so I’m guessing it’s some kind of radio firmware bug. To quantify, my AT&T Nexus One gets about 1-1.2Mbps on a 3G upload speed test. The Inspire is lucky to get 0.25 with the exact same signal strength. The Inspire also just seems to get worse data speeds in general, side by side with my N1, it consistently scores 10-20% lower on the download.
Build Quality
In my hands-on, you may recall my passing statement about loving the hand-feel of the Inspire 4G. I still do – it’s an extremely solid phone to hold, and the metal casing gives you that hard-to-pin-down feeling that it’s well-built and durable. However, it’s not perfect (what phone is?). I’ll say now that these imperfections on the Inspire 4G are minor and don’t diminish my regard for this device’s quality significantly, but there’s a couple worth noting.
The battery and SD/SIM slot covers are made of rubberized plastic, and the card slot cover bows up a little bit on the review unit I’m using, taking away from the fit and finish of the phone. The screen bezel is bordered by the phone’s metal frame. If your fingers run up against the frame, it’s a bit sharp and since the frame sits slightly above the bezel, this may be annoying to some.
Those little design quirks aside, using the phone from the hardware standpoint has been great. The power button and volume rocker both have an easy action, aside from the fact that they might be hard to find in your pocket. The capacitive touch buttons work even better than those on my Nexus One, and I think for all but the most tactile among us, are just plain better than hardware buttons. The Inspire 4G is a testament to the fact that HTC’s build quality and materials choices are just getting better and better, and this phone may just be their best yet in that regard.
Display and Battery Life
It’s an SLCD. There isn’t much to say about the Inspire’s screen aside from the fact that the capacitive panel’s grid markers are more visible than on the average phone. I’d show you a picture, but the amount of light required to get them to show up would make such a camera glare that you wouldn’t be able to see them anyway. All capacitive touch panels have these markers, they’re just of varying visibility. They’re much harder to see on my Nexus One, for example.
The Inspire’s display gets nice and bright, and the viewing angle is only slightly narrower than that of an AMOLED. The 4.3" screen’s resolution is standard WVGA, which honestly looks a little lacking in the DPI department when you compare it side by side with a WVGA device that has a smaller screen, but it’s by no means subpar.
Battery life on the Inspire 4G is outstanding, and that’s not an exaggeration. I easily get two full days (eg, have to charge it on night two) of moderate to heavy use out of it with battery to spare. And if you forget to charge up, HTC’s battery saver tool ensures you get the most time possible out of your remaining juice. Why such great battery life in a big-screen device packing a tiny 1230mAh battery? It’s the processor – the MSM 8255 is the big brother to the power-sipping chipset you’ll find in the G2, which is notorious for its longevity.
Software
HTC has tried to make the new Sense UI as smooth as possible, and they’ve succeeded – mostly. The homescreens bounce back and forth easily with a flick of your finger, and this is generally where you’re most concerned with the "smoothness" of Android. Oh, and as always, HTC’s widgets are very pretty. That’s the good stuff. HTC’s apps are another story. The first time I launched HTC Likes (its purpose is something I’m still sort of unclear on), it slowed the whole phone to a grinding halt. It wasn’t until I force closed it from the app management menu that its reign of terror over my processor ended. Safe to say, I haven’t opened it again. FriendStream, Hub, Likes, Stocks, People, Reader – they all have noticeable problems in terms of responsiveness. Switching from pane to pane or scrolling inside these apps can be annoyingly slow – though not enough to make them unusable. HTC’s widgets can be even worse offenders in this regard, with presses taking just long enough that you can notice the unnatural latency between your finger and the resulting action. There is an exception here: the browser, which appears to have hardware acceleration built-in. It’s downright fast compared to the stock Android browser, and scrolling is an order of magnitude smoother. On the carrier side, there’s AT&T’s set of bloatware, and while it’s not removable, it’s not intrusive either. AT&T has made at least one substantially annoying change that on the Inspire, though – they’ve disabled the ability to sideload apps. That means no free tethering, unless you root your device. AT&T’s DataPro plan with tethering starts at $45 a month for 4GB, so take that for what you will. Despite some issues, the software doesn’t stop me from liking this phone – the imperfections don’t interfere with your use of the device too much, generally speaking. Not that I would mind an upgrade to Gingerbread, something HTC will hopefully deliver in a reasonable time frame.
Camera
The examples can do the talking in terms of image quality, but I’ll do a quick blurb on the software: it’s good. Nothing crazy or revolutionary, but in my opinion the camera UI is superior to (and better looking than) what you get in stock Android. That may change with Honeybread (or whatever you want to call it), of course.
Not shabby, right? Here’s a little 720p video recording action – keep in mind this is in direct sunlight, though. I suggest going to the YouTube page to actually view it in 720p, because it looks like garbage at the default YouTube resolution.
Conclusion
The Inspire 4G, again, has the potential to be great. What does it need to meet that potential? Working 4G and Gingerbread. This phone would have been a real competitor a few months ago, but even as a "cutting edge" 4G device, it’s a Desire HD in an AT&T hoodie. Smartphones don’t age like wine, and while the Desire HD is a truly wonderful hardware platform, AT&T and HTC need to keep up their ends of the bargain (network rollout and software updates, respectively) if they want this to be a competitive product.
1:23 PM
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