Smartphones a-go-go

[Lemur]

I got smartphones on the brain. Ars Technica just did a three-month perspective (http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/reviews/2011/01/windows-phone-7-three-months-on-a-retrospective.ars) on using the Windows 7 phone; the iPhone just moved (in a crippled CDMA form (http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/0121/iPhone-on-Verizon-Big-trouble-for-Android)) to Verizon; and we should be seeing Android 3 (http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/google-shows-off-android-3-0-the-entirely-for-tablet-honeycom/) sometime this year (which is mostly for tablets, but still). Much motion and commotion. Oh, and I hear there's another major phone OS called Elderberry or Cranberry or something.

Anyway, here's my thoughts:

My brother (bona fide geek) and several friends are on iPhone and loving it. No complaints.
Several geek buddies are on Android and loving it. A non-techie neighbor, however, has an Android and "can't figure it out." Hmmm.
I don't know anybody with a Windows 7 phone, and I'd be curious to hear how non-geeks are taking to it.

What's your experience, your thoughts? Where is this headed? I'm kind of Google's catamite, so I'm very pro-Android, but I'm interested to hear where Orgahs stand.

I also believe today is the two-year anniversary of an Orgah who shall remain unnamed (couhg whacker cough) declaring in this forum that netbooks would never find a niche because they serve no purpose, and the one-year anniversary of another Orgah declaring that nobody would want a tablet. You know who you are, both of you. I would like to take this moment to say, in my most authoritative voice, "Nanny-nanny boo-boo."

-edit-

And for the record, I do not own a fancy phone. I use whatever they can spare from work. I loves me them phones, but I can't stomach the monthly plans. Now if someone would invent a portable wifi Skype phone that would do everything I like for free, that would be a different kettle of silicon.

[CBR]

I think WP7 still needs some updates to get anywhere near Android and iOS, but I guess it could have some potential later on.

With Android you get a lot of choice in size and cost of phone.

iOS has a great advantage because of a whole family of devices, iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Plus they come with an enormous App Store.

I don't know what my geek level is (I don't do Linux, I don't solder stuff on mobo's for better overclocking nor do I program) but I quite like my Iphone: easy to use and lots of apps to pick from, including universal apps that works on my iPad too.


portable wifi Skype phone
Hmm you mean like an iPod Touch? The latest even got a front camera just like the Iphone 4. And mobile Skype can handle video too.

[Xiahou]

My company cell phone is Windows Mobile.
6.something though, not 7. It integrates very well with Exchange and I can make calls on it. That's really all I want- in a work phone at least.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Doing IT support with exchange integration, iPhones are more reliable than Androids in terms of being able to integrate without issue. But they're both better than blackberries.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I got a smartphone through Virgin Mobile and it's $25/month for 300 mins, unlimited texting, web, and data. It's awesome; even cheaper than my old basic sprint plan.

CR

[Husar]

I had an iPhone, and it was awesome.

If you just want to use Skype via WLAN then CBR is spot on, the iPod touch costs what? 200 or 250$? No real phone/data capabilities beyond the WLAN but otherwise it's pretty much the same as the iPhone 4.

Never touched an Android phone, they're the geek do it yourself things for the linux fanatics, from what I read in news and comments the updates can be slow though, meaning there isn't just one Android but all the different Android phones use a slightly adjusted custom version and some manufacturers are slow to update theirs to a new kernel, some phones won't get a new update etc.

I'm not sure about these berries but possible that they're variants or versions of Bada OD from Samsung. Apparently it's a nice idea but also a bit niche, so lacks Apps, haven't read a lot about it though.

Windows phone 7 for some reason started out similar to iOS, lacking a few features that are now standard.
Seems a bit backwards at this point, may become a lot better later, apparently MS wants to give a phone to this guy who jailbreaks iPhones and hacked the PS3, supposedly to figure out how to allow homebrews without doing away with copy protection or something. Not sure what to make of it.

[Furunculus]

i have an n900 and i love it, but it is not cutting edge any more.

this is the era of the dual core smartphone with powerful OpenGL ES2.0 gpu's, which is what the apps and games will target as a baseline in the near future.

whatever you do do not get an old android smartphone with an Arm11 core sporting an OpenGL ES 1.1 gpu.

my ideal smartphone:
3.7" to 4.3" screen
840x480 to 960x640 res
Samsung hummingbird (!GHz Arm A8 + SGX540) to Tegra 2 (dual Arm A9 + nvidia)
Android 2.3 / Meego / Ios
512MB mem to 1GB mem

don't go below those lower end (feature-phone with a touch-screen), but feel free to try and exceed upper end (depending on how long you are willing to wait).

[Vladimir]

Real Men Use Android (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/special-forces-want-android-apps-for-warzone-john-maddens/comment-page-2/)

[Husar]

Real Men Use Android (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/special-forces-want-android-apps-for-warzone-john-maddens/comment-page-2/)

Duh, that's because they can pay 20 elite programmers to make custom apps for them and change the whole OS around to suit them.
Normal men don't have the money for that anyway.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I find android to be strait forward - not like running a linux OS. You can, I think, get real deep into how it works with various apps but it runs easily right out of the box.

CR