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Android Hardware Thread - 2009 Edition

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mosaic said:
I wonder if Verizon will have a deal for those of us in the middle of 2 year contracts (reupped last Sept after being month-to-month for two years after last 2 year contract). The droid looks nice. Like the full keyboard.
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They offer 1-year upgrades, but don't expect anything close to new customer/2 year upgrade pricing.
 
I watched the commercial debut while watching the ALCS last night. What an F'N night. Great commercial, the tech websites are buzzing. Mission Accomplished.
 
AHH HTC DRAGON

mgt4o.jpg

GkDjv.jpg

320bM.jpg


http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2009/10/it-that-the-htc-dragon/

It's GSM...soooo I will not be getting it. Looks pretty nice but it lost all the edge of the HD2 imo. I literally wanted a HD2 with Android like many others, but this is basically a Hero with a bigger screen.
 
I'd say no chance what so ever as this appears to be GSM, but that's aside from the fact that Verizon already showed their HTC Hero and Moto Droid at their Android announcement. Sure, it could switch to CDMA when it comes to America, the Hero did, but even then the HTC Hero is coming next for Verizon.

It kinda seems like this would be on Sprint, it has the styling that HTC made for Sprint and not the styling they use for T-Mobile. Unless they've officially dropped the chin and will be using the Sprint Hero styling from here on out.
 
The Dragon really does look like the Sprint Hero, or even the Moment. Kinda plasticky too.

Can't tell if it's WVGA though.
 
El Papa said:
Wait, wouldn't 2.0 be in the AOSP branch when it's final? If 2.0 is in Droid that means it's almost done, right? So it should be in AOSP soon, no? Which means I'd be able to flash it on my G1. What am I missing?
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Google deliberately withholds the code they contribute to Android from the AOSP until they feel it's time to release it; they only updated most of the Donut code a couple weeks before 1.6 went final. Because of the open source nature of Android, it's OK for them (or anyone else) to do that, it just not might be ideal.
 
jonnybryce said:
AHH HTC DRAGON
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I don't like the roundish design of HTC phones, looks like a lower/middle end phone with a snapdragon processor, but then again Hero was made into that ugly form too. No interest from me.

I see it has 4 soft keys on the button too, I suppose that's characteristic of 2.0?
 
HTC's phones always come in GSM first since they release in Europe first. It doesn't really tell us anything about the potential carriers except that it's probably not going to be a world phone.
 
Totakeke said:
I don't like the roundish design of HTC phones, looks like a lower/middle end phone with a snapdragon processor, but then again Hero was made into that ugly form too. No interest from me.

I see it has 4 soft keys on the button too, I suppose that's characteristic of 2.0?
Click to expand...

Not a characteristic of 2.0, just hardware makers finding a good balance between the G1's five major keys and no keys.
 
mosaic said:
I wonder if Verizon will have a deal for those of us in the middle of 2 year contracts (reupped last Sept after being month-to-month for two years after last 2 year contract). The droid looks nice. Like the full keyboard.
Click to expand...
i would fucking hope!!


but its not likely :lol
 
I switched to handcent sms. OMG. Soooo much better than the messenger that comes with the hero. The texts popup in a little window that you can make a reply right there. You can also do speech to text sms or have the text read to you. :D :D :D .Alot of customization.

If you just got a hero download handcent sms. Then turn off autodownload and notifications in the messaging program. Handcent will handle all your texts. You can thank me later.
 
MThanded said:
I switched to handcent sms. OMG. Soooo much better than the messenger that comes with the hero. The texts popup in a little window that you can make a reply right there. You can also do speech to text sms or have the text read to you. :D :D :D .Alot of customization.

If you just got a hero download handcent sms. Then turn off autodownload and notifications in the messaging program. Handcent will handle all your texts. You can thank me later.
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That's what I'm using but I find it laggier than the built in HTC Messaging app. The only reason I'm using Handcent is to prevent the 100% awake time bug caused by the built in messaging app...once that's fixed I'll probably go back. I think all the extra features it offers are nice, but I really wish I could ditch the iphone bubbles for the messages, I changed the themes but it doesn't seem to change the fact that it uses bubbles.
 
Husker86 said:
That's what I'm using but I find it laggier than the built in HTC Messaging app. The only reason I'm using Handcent is to prevent the 100% awake time bug caused by the built in messaging app...once that's fixed I'll probably go back. I think all the extra features it offers are nice, but I really wish I could ditch the iphone bubbles for the messages, I changed the themes but it doesn't seem to change the fact that it uses bubbles.
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you can change all that in the settings. i ditched the iphone bubbles. You can pretty much customize everything about it
 
I have to start reading this thread more often. Lots of exciting news every day it seems.

tokkun said:
Yeah, Engadget's CLIQ review was not so glowing. They said that its vibration was so loud that you would need to turn it off when in class/meetings/movies. That's a dealbreaker right there.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTW6gFQUlg

Pimpwerx said:
Same here, though I think I might have fallen for the Rachael UI. The contacts list is so damn cool, I made sure I updated my contacts with pics this week. As long as it's not laggy or a resource hog, I think I'd prefer that one. PEACE.
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The big question is if it would stay that smooth once you start multitasking...

The obvious reality is that there will always be a phone on the horizon that is better. But I'm going to have to settle on one at some point. I'm in no rush here so I can afford to wait a bit more for the latest and greatest Android phone.

And I think if I get a few core features in the phone I pick up I won't be choked when a better phone comes out a few months later.

For me the core features are:
-physical keyboard
-responsive and quick UI/OS that rarely gets bogged down. ie. decently fast processor
-Sense UI
-trackball


The "it would be nice to have features" are:
-AMOLED screen
-moderately sized screen

Stuff I don't really care about:
-storage capacity
-camera and flash
-headphone jack
-d-pad with keyboard
-super large screen

So as you can see the rumoured HTC Memphis would have done it for me.

Once HTC comes out with another physical keyboard model that is available in Canada I'll be on it.
 
MThanded said:
you can change all that in the settings. i ditched the iphone bubbles. You can pretty much customize everything about it
Click to expand...
I've been using SMS Popup since I got my G1. It's lightweight and has some great notification options I like. I might try handcent to see how it compares.
 
Andrex said:
Google deliberately withholds the code they contribute to Android from the AOSP until they feel it's time to release it; they only updated most of the Donut code a couple weeks before 1.6 went final. Because of the open source nature of Android, it's OK for them (or anyone else) to do that, it just not might be ideal.
Click to expand...
Right, they do they're private branch stuff. What I meant to get at was would they deliberately hold back merging 2.0 to the public branch to give the Droid some kind of "exclusivity" period? Wouldn't that be totally against the spirit of the AOSP? Maybe I'm just confused and misunderstood your post on the subject?
 
MThanded said:
you can change all that in the settings. i ditched the iphone bubbles. You can pretty much customize everything about it
Click to expand...

Ohh yeah, I knew that...I remember I went back to the bubbles because I thought the android style was ugly, looks dated, I liked HTC's conversation style.

Oh well, I'll probably stick with it but I still hope they get an update out soon that fixes the awake issue with the stock messaging app.
 
I actually like the look of the red Acer. It's all nice and congruent, with some nice curves and nothing really jutting out. Don't see how you could have a problem with the design, let alone call it "hideous."

El Papa said:
Right, they do they're private branch stuff. What I meant to get at was would they deliberately hold back merging 2.0 to the public branch to give the Droid some kind of "exclusivity" period? Wouldn't that be totally against the spirit of the AOSP? Maybe I'm just confused and misunderstood your post on the subject?
Click to expand...

Something tells me they worked so closely with Motorola on 2.0 just for the Droid that a lot of the code is 2.0-specific, e.g. most of the OS isn't meant to run on slower processors or lower-res screens just yet, so they'll probably withhold it until they patch those things in, then release it to manufacturers and AOSP.
 
I don't think it's hideous either -- just a lot of wasted bezel space.

edit: to clarify, If they moved the "Acer" logo to the top left of the device, they could easily gain .1 or .2 (or even .3) centimeters of screen. Right now, the huge ACER logo just makes the device look awkward to me.
 
DrFunk said:
I don't think it's hideous either -- just a lot of wasted bezel space.
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The bezel space doesn't bother me as they're not sacrificing screen size for it, 3.5" is a nice deal paired with the Snapdragon processor.

I don't particularly like its "Kinda stock Android, kinda Acer-ish" style of Android though. Would much rather just have pure stock Android.
 
Husker86 said:
They offer 1-year upgrades, but don't expect anything close to new customer/2 year upgrade pricing.
Click to expand...
VZW lets you upgrade after 1 year if your plan is over 60$ a month (so only the primary line if you have a family plan). Its the same as the new customer price but you have to pay a 25$ early upgrade fee(if you're not vip which you most likely are if your plan is over 60$).
 
normal_MotorolaDroid-4.jpg


* It’s running Android 2.0. Duh.
* It’s thin. Just slightly thicker than an iPhone 3GS and the thinnest QWERTY-slider we’ve ever seen.
* It is the fastest Android device we’ve ever used. (It’s running a TI OMAP3430 processor)
* The feel of the device is very reminiscent of the OQO 02 model computer. Just smaller. It’s metal with a non-spring-assisted slide, very sturdy, and half soft-touch plastic.
* Awesome capacitive display. Plus it’s huge. Easily the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android handset, and an amazing screen overall.
* The QWERTY keyboard is actually pretty usable and has a soft-touch rubberized finish. We’ve been told the keyboard design isn’t final on this unit, thus the two no-shows.
* Have we mentioned this phone flies? It’s the Android device to beat, and easily the most impressive. From what we’ve been told, Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone. Interesting, huh?
* There’s a desktop cradle/charger that will ship with the Motorola Droid that we’ve been playing around with. It turns your Droid into a “multimedia station” and displays local weather, the time, etc.
* No one wants to listen, but it makes the CLIQ looks like a child’s toy (partly because it is, and partly because the Droid, even in its non-final form, is the most impressive phone we’ve used since the iPhone. It’s positively amazing).
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Source [text]
Picture Gallery

A+
The keyboard does look pretty flat though.
 
Gold d-pad. O_O Verizon must have had an NDA on this thing.

I called the "Meet the..." thread, remember!
 
alternade said:
No dedicated number row :(
Click to expand...

And it's odd on the bottom row they have two empty spots. I was iffy on the leaked photos showing one empty spot, and this has two... Should have put the standard Android buttons there just for quick access in landscape, or widened the space bar. Edit- "The QWERTY keyboard is actually pretty usable and has a soft-touch rubberized finish. We’ve been told the keyboard design isn’t final on this unit, thus the two no-shows." NICE if true. Hope they do something useful with those spots!

I don't know if I'll post the thread right now, I would really like an official PR for the go-ahead.

PS- Anyone know that the Alt+A, →| does?
 
if i was a vzw customer id be all over it. i got sprint loyalties though lol. aand a contract. Id love to hear about the fucking samsung moment lol
 
Andrex said:
And it's odd on the bottom row they have two empty spots. I was iffy on the leaked photos showing one empty spot, and this has two... Should have put the standard Android buttons there just for quick access in landscape, or widened the space bar. Edit- "The QWERTY keyboard is actually pretty usable and has a soft-touch rubberized finish. We’ve been told the keyboard design isn’t final on this unit, thus the two no-shows." NICE if true. Hope they do something useful with those spots!

I don't know if I'll post the thread right now, I would really like an official PR for the go-ahead.

PS- Anyone know that the Alt+A, →| does?
Click to expand...

Alt+A looks to be a dedicated indent key. o_0

like the "tab" key
 
Shouldnt we be hearing about the moment? Its release date is right around the corner and everything has been quiet.
 
DrFunk said:
Alt+A looks to be a dedicated indent key. o_0

like the "tab" key
Click to expand...

Hrm, I'd like that a lot.

Skittleguy said:
Endkey?
Click to expand...

I'd like that less.

MThanded said:
Shouldnt we be hearing about the moment? Its release date is right around the corner and everything has been quiet.
Click to expand...

We'll probably get a couple video reviews when it launches. Though unfortunately these days it's hard to make headlines if you're running stock Android, even if your hardware delivers all the goods in a neat little package.
 
That keyboard looks cheap. I hope it works well. :(

Edit: Also, it's good to see Verizon finally getting serious with their phones. They always had the best service (which is why I stuck with them), but their phones were the worst.
 
normal_MotorolaDroid-7.jpg


It seems in this shot, all of the icons have been updated to use the new "front facing" guidelines for Android 2.0. The below shot is what they originally posted:

android-2.jpg


Seems Amazon's had a heads-up on the new icon look, but the other third-parties haven't (and even Google's Finance app too, for that matter.) It also seems like BGR either took the Android 2.0 walkthrough pictures before posting this hands-on, or they removed apps for it.
 
Just noticed the Menu button on the keyboard. :) Would rather have a dedicated back button like on the Cliq, but small steps.

Wouldn't hurt to have a Home button either, come to think of it...
 
Andrex said:
Just noticed the Menu button on the keyboard. :) Would rather have a dedicated back button like on the Cliq, but small steps.

Wouldn't hurt to have a Home button either, come to think of it...
Click to expand...

Isn't that what the far left key is? A back button? midpost edit: Oh, on the keyboard. Meh, you can reach up a little, lazy =p

The Droid looks hot but seeing how much room it has left to slide they definitely could have fit a dedicated number row...oh well.
 
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