El Papa already answered some of your questions, but I'll try to finish filling in any gaps.
omg rite said:
Good lord, Andrex. This is literally the best "official thread" I've ever seen on GAF. Good job.
Thanks man.
Though, you'll notice there's no "official" in the title or OP. I think that philosophically, locking out other people from making their own Android threads by having one "official" one goes against Android's own philosophy.
But I tend to over-think these kinds of things.
omg rite said:
- That brings me to the myTouch and the Cliq, as far as T-Mobile goes. I'm curious as to which you would recommend (based on what you know of the Cliq, obviously, as it isn't out yet).
I personally would go for the Cliq because of its keyboard. Plus, while mostly the same, the Cliq does have slightly higher RAM and storage space, a key point if you're going to download tons of apps. And also, not to downplay the Cliq by saying it has "just" a keyboard, but apparently one of the best on a smartphone.
omg rite said:
I'm watching a video of the Motoblur UI and it looks neat. What UI does the myTouch use? I assume these are all brand-based? As in, Motoblur is Motorola's UI, Sense is HTC's UI, and so on.
MyTouch uses "stock Android", or "Google Experience Android"; that is, the compiled code from the Android Open Source Project with Google's own apps like YouTube, Maps, Calendar, and the Android Market injected. Not to say the other UIs don't have these apps though, but they're licensed from Google for that specific UI.
omg rite said:
- Looking at the
Cliq demo here, it looks like Motoblur makes your homepage status updates and that's the main feature of it? I guess I'm curious as to why myTouch or Droid might have better UIs in your opinion.
From what I've seen, the two system's are the same, except for two points: many normal elements in Android have been "brushed over" with a distinct style (while remaining functionally the same), and it includes Motorola's social networking widgets. These widgets are normal Android widgets (using some proprietary APIs Motorola built into Motoblur), and their focus is indeed to update and track the various social networks and services you have joined.
omg rite said:
- ... But damn, the Sholes/Droid looks sexy. What UI would that be using, a current or new one?
The Sholes is rumored to have "Google Experience" or stock Android, at WVGA resolution (see the above screens on the Acer phone for what the OS will probably look like.) It is rumored to also be Android 2.0, which is unreleased (current version still being pushed out now is 1.6.)
omg rite said:
- What do you mean by the "best notification system out there" exactly? How so?
Right, as El Papa explained, Android has a "tray" of all your updates that is accessible from anywhere in the system. You know the standard "bar with the 3G/Wi-Fi/cellphone signal statuses next to a clock" on most phones? On Android, you swipe that down with your finger to reveal various notifications from MMS/SMS/chats/email/assorted apps. It's very well thought-out and designed. See below:
Swipe down the white bar at the top, and...
Then tap on the actual notification to open that app and address whatever the app is trying to tell you about.
omg rite said:
- iPhone still doesn't have the ability to multitask? I know my friend hated not being able to stay online on his AIM app while moving to another app. You're saying you can do that with Android? Something like that is a HUGE selling point for me.
Yeah, any apps can be ran in-tandem, not just the music player. Not only that, widgets are always active on the homescreen for little bites of info or functionality, but as El Papa mentioned, too many apps and widgets can slow down the system. If you get the Sholes it probably won't be a problem, and all reports of the Cliq have been it's even faster than "stock Android" on similar hardware despite all the widgets running.
omg rite said:
I'm sure I have a bunch of other ranting crap I could type, but I'm getting tired. Thanks for any help though.
No problem, hope El Papa and I helped.
Jacobi said:
Does android have flash support?
Officially, it will have "full" Flash 10.1 in 2010, and a beta is coming earlier that year. HTC Sense devices have Flash Lite already.