• Things You Should Know About Android

    Things You Should Know About Android

    Rohan Naravane, Aug 03, 2010 1320 hrs IST

    A few points to keep in mind before you go and get an Android phone

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When the iPhone was launched, there was nothing quite like it. More than its finger-friendly capacitive screen, it was Apple's genius User Interface that complimented it so well. Other manufacturers clearly did not have such polished software that could match the iPhone's UI. They started slapping similar big touchscreens in their phones to compete with the iPhone, but didn't really manage to get the UI right. Remember the case of the LG KM990 Arena back then or even the recent Nokia X6? It clearly showed that simply slapping a capacitive screen doesn't really do the trick.



The iPhone was released in 2007 but even until early 2009 no other mobile OS makers were anywhere close to making a touch-optimized UI. Microsoft was just releasing paltry updates to their stylus-driven Windows Mobile 6 that made no major improvement with UI. The same was the case with Nokia and their Symbian Series 60 5th Edition, which initially seemed nothing more than a ported version from their non-touch devices. Palm was busy making the Web OS, but everybody was doubtful whether its scale or reach would be big as Apple's. Ultimately they released the Palm Pre, a CDMA phone in the US but its GSM version didn't reach Indian shore-at least not officially.

At the same time (i.e. the beginning of 2009), Internet search giant Google also made an entry into the mobile space. Known as Android, they wanted to play their game differently. Following their "Don't be Evil" corporate slogan, they made their Linux-based mobile OS Open Source. This meant anybody was free to download the source code from Google and change it to their liking, and put it in the device of their choice. But its not like you can download Android and install it on your Nokia in a few clicks, the way you would download and install Linux on your PC. It meant manufacturers, big or small, could easily take Google's OS and put it in their hardware.

Android was just that key piece of the puzzle that manufacturers needed. Instead of creating a fragmented market by spending time and money in developing an in-house OS, companies could now take this potent OS, and concentrate on building the hardware around it. Initially, Android phones were perceived for geeks and DIYers, but not anymore. If you use any recent Android 2.1 laden phone, you'll realize that the OS has matured well. Of late, we're seeing a lot of people rooting on for Android. Every opinion poll that we ran in the last few months, the numbers were on Google's side. Check them here, here and here. But it is important that you be informed with the key aspects of Android, before you pledge your support for it. So, here are 7 things you should know about Android.

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Discussion Board
(47) Comments
Sunil
,Mumbai, on Feb 17, 2011 07:26 PM
I have Samsung Galaxy i5801 Apollo. Its really good, being the toned down, pimped down version of the Galaxy S and all. I'm unable to download apps like Yelp, Places Directory, Shazam and Pandora and a few games..and now I guess its because I have an inferior screen resolution. You failed to mention the battery life and that you can't "close" apps unless you download the app killer from the market. MY BATTERY LIFE SUCKS!! My phone dies atleast once everyday man!! Apart from that it is really good. I'm waiting to get the HTC Desire sometime later...becoz personally i think thats the best Android phone around. Good article.
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dhruv manan
,Dehradun, on Nov 08, 2010 08:44 PM
hey rohan, gr8 work!!! i really want to buy an android phone.. my budget is 15k...which one should i buy?? i read about the wildfire, x 10, x8, etc etc,...presently using nokie e 63...so any of these would be a considerable upgrade from my present phone...shud i be too bothered about the screen res of wild fire?? also one big prob...i use an ipod touch...so u know my sub conscious will try to compare the UI n res etc etc of the android wid the itouch . pls advise!!!
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Spariant
,New Delhi, on Oct 24, 2010 08:41 PM
Hi Rohan, Nice article. you must be aware of the nokia's current announcement of getting rid of symbian fragmentation and versions and continue development under the name of just symbian so that phones like N8 are a little future safe. What dya think has better future in india as far as future safety of a handset bought in near future. i mean safer to go with symbian phones like N8/meego or android phones? willthe phones currently on Froyo/eclair 2.1 be upgradeable to versions 2.3/3/4? considering google has roadmap for releasing 3 new versions over the next 6 months wont one be left far behind if an android handset is bought now? is there a restriction as to how many version updates ones android handset can avail? phew too many quesions! please give a detailed answer if possi.thanks
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Ganesh
,Banglore, on Aug 28, 2010 12:43 AM
Hi Rohan, I'm currently using HTC Legend which runs on Android 2.1...how do i upgrade to 2.2 OR abe in future? will i be able to do it???? Thanks!
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 31, 2010 09:06 AM
You would be able to upgrade to 2.2 only when HTC releases it for the Legend. You'll just have to wait.
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Omi
,nagpur, on Aug 28, 2010 04:36 PM
Hey gud informative article. Is Xperia X8 is good in android... I am plannig to buy a phone with some business tools in it.
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sasidhar
,hyderabad, on Aug 24, 2010 07:14 PM
Hi rohan, excellent article,i am planning to by an andriod and my budget is 15. among htc wildfire,samsung i5700 and samsung i 5800 which one you suggest?
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Abhi
,New Delhi, on Aug 26, 2010 10:50 PM
Go for Wildfire... its an amazing android... fully loaded... best value for money... i've been using it for last 15 days and just love it.
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sai charan sing
,hyderabad, on Aug 19, 2010 09:18 AM
Superb article..very nice..:-)
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Gautam
,Jalgaon, on Aug 05, 2010 12:23 PM
Does Andorid is coming in nontouch phones? It will be a good option in simple T9 and QWERTY phones. I m eaglry waiting for that, as I personaly feels buttoned phone over touchscreen.
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 05, 2010 04:51 PM
Since the world seems to be moving towards touch-screen phones, I doubt whether we'll see any num-pad based Android phones. Motorola has a Nokia E series-like phone (called Charm) in the US. No news about when it'll be coming here. It still has a touch-screen too...much like Sony Ericsson's Aspen
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modifii
,dmn, on Aug 05, 2010 06:17 PM
I think Acer is working over such phone, will release soon hopefully.
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Anuj
,Delhi, on Aug 10, 2010 12:58 PM
yes it is Samsung Epic 4G its US bound as of now, but HTC Desire will also come with keyboard soon. @Rohan you did not talk about rooting, u can buy paid apps after rooting or using market enabler on non rooted phones...
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Neeraj
,Bangalore, on Aug 06, 2010 04:29 PM
great article rohan!..keep it up..
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modifii
,dmn, on Aug 05, 2010 06:20 PM
Good work Rohan, keep writing such informative articles.
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Gautam
,Jalgaon, on Aug 05, 2010 12:15 PM
Hello and thanks for this informative article. I m currently using se x10 mini. Overall good gadget. But can I restore original android theme (as seen in htc g1) on it. I think it is more impressive than se own theme. Also can I bring Live Wallpapers like Nexus One had? Pls help.
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prasanth
,chennai, on Aug 05, 2010 01:16 AM
Ver Very informative article...
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Pranay
,Del/Hyd, on Aug 04, 2010 05:19 PM
OK... i think its now time i get myself an andriod phone... my heart goes for HTC Legend.. but at over 20K.. it doesnt really appeal to my wallet :( Is there a nice option availible for around 15K... m kinda biased to HTC and SE.. not a Samsung/LG fan... Music quality matters for me... so does application support (i.e screen resolution is imp). Any clue if Nokia is coming up wid a good mid-range android set? Or, HTC dropping prices of the Legend??!!!
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 04, 2010 06:17 PM
I doubt it'll fall below 20k anytime soon. Nokia will definitely not be releasing an Android phone any time soon, since they already have put their hands deep into two of their own OSes (Symbian and Meego/Maemo). You could only hope for the HTC Hero's price to fall to 15k in the coming few months, before it gets axed off the assembly line (or possibly is already). And most of the current generation Android phones for 15k have QVGA resolution. But that's a temporary problem, once the developers start making it compatible with that resolution. Popular apps like Facebook 1.3 are compatible with QVGA. So its pretty much a wait and watch game for now.
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Pranay
,Del/Hyd, on Aug 04, 2010 06:42 PM
Thanks Rohan for the response! I think I'll wait for SE X8... that should be out in another 1 month i guess... it should atleast excel in music dept.. fingers crossed! would you recommend HTC Wildfire? I dont really like its looks.. and it again has QVGA resolution.. And i think i'm more of a power user... social networking, office mails, browsing, GPS, music... i think i'll use em all! Any bank loans availible for HTC Legend? ;)
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 04, 2010 10:14 PM
Kudos to X8 for keeping the HVGA res. And yeah, one could trust SE with their audio quality; lets just hope they keep the same in-ear ones that have been bundled with the X10 mini. But why a 3.2 mpx camera, i don't understand. When an x10 mini has such a good 5 megapixel one. Anyway, the main trump-card wildfire has over it is Android 2.1. Lets hope SE is on track with their OS updates that SE fanboys keep harping about on and on. Then it could be a worthy mid-range Android phone. PS: Try your luck at eBay India -- some sellers have a 3 to 6 month EMI option on some phones.
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Pranay
,Del/Hyd, on Aug 04, 2010 11:03 PM
True... 5mp on X8 does not make much sense... but i'm not much concerned about the cam... 3.2 is good enough for me on a mobile... so i guess i'll wait for X8... (hope they also launch a black/silver color variant)... And, i'll be on the lookout for the Legend too! Thanks dude for the comments... looking forward to more great articles from you!
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Shan
,TVM, on Aug 03, 2010 02:49 PM
Whenever you mention about Android, mentioning Samsung Spica i5700 But the hand set is not available anywhere (atleast in South India!) Really that handset is available?
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Abhishek
,Pune, on Aug 03, 2010 09:10 PM
Samsung pulled it off the shelf , as it was selling for much lower price than it could sell for according to company (thats what the dealer told me) ... now it'll be replaced with i5800 (i feel its degraded version) which would sell for ~ 15k ... PS: I got the spica after searching for almost 2 months in my city , for 12.5k :D
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Rishi
,Pune, on Aug 03, 2010 11:52 PM
Yes, i5700 is not available anywhere! @Abhishek : I am also searching for Samsung Spica i5700 in Pune. Could you let me know where you got it from ?
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AndroidDEV
,Mumbai, on Aug 04, 2010 03:24 PM
Don't even bother with a samsung product. If you are lucky then you will not have to worry about aftersales services, but if you are not, a chinese OEM would be a better option.
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Sandeep Srikant
,Delhi, on Aug 04, 2010 12:30 PM
wat do u say about bada OS (samsung) when compared to android, i have sam wave
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 04, 2010 01:43 PM
While I haven't used Bada extensively, my initial impression about the OS is quite positive. Samsung has pulled off a decent job with Bada, now let us hope app developers adopt the platform as well. Let's wait for my colleague to fill you in with his thoughts. Prasad?
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Prasad Naik
,Mumbai, on Aug 04, 2010 02:11 PM
There are two things that decide how good a software platform is, first being the actual operating system itself and second being the support from developers. As far as the former is concerned, Samsung has done a commendable job and overall bada felt very polished and promising. It does not do anything new and many of the UI elements are lifted from the iOS, Android OS and Samsung's own TouchWIZ, which in a way is good as there isn't much of a learning curve for a new user. It's pretty slick overall and I would like to see it grow, but that would only happen when it gets full support from developers. That's the advantage that Android and iOS have over bada right now. But when it comes to overall user friendliness, design and functionality, bada is just as good as Android.
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AndroidDEV
,Mumbai, on Aug 04, 2010 03:21 PM
You code in C with bada. So programmers will not have a problem developing for it. But android on the other hand has API's like none before... A lot of them too... So though bada may develop (fingers crossed even though samsung offers horrid sercives in india, personal experience with the galaxy), it will never be as big as IOS or android, mainly because of its niche user base (samsung fans)...
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H@CKER
,Chennai, on Aug 03, 2010 06:03 PM
A Nice and informative Article. A must read for those who wish to own an Android System. I hava a N900 and am pretty much Happy with it. Its an awesome phone with an Awesome OS. Would love to hear you guys take on it.
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Rohan
,TechTree, on Aug 04, 2010 01:45 PM
My friend Prasad is doing his work on the N900 as we speak. Keep tuned in for his detailed review soon.
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K Rao
,Bangalore, on Aug 04, 2010 09:38 AM
Extremely informative article, nicely done by the author! I agree with you that there are going to be new handsets released in between 10,000rs to 15,000 rs. Personally, I'm waiting for the perfect android phone in that range with the one thing thats missing out on a lot of phones - Secondary Camera for videocalling. But I presume that since 3G services haven't launched in India yet (apart from BSNL which I think not many ppl use) manufacturers are waiting release handsets catering to all the services which will be provided. Atleast that's what I hope they'll do!!
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tina
,coimbatore, on Aug 03, 2010 09:05 PM
the problem with android is it is difficult to covince that google is not prying on us. if google wants to know whatever we do, it is a sad thing. i'll rather go for an iphone and guard my privacy than allow me to be tracked constantly by google.
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K Rao
,Bangalore, on Aug 04, 2010 09:34 AM
The IPhone might not be as safe as you think, with the discovery of the IPhone Kill Switch, there are worries about how deep Apple has its control hooks in all IPhones
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SID
,Bhubaneswar, on Aug 04, 2010 12:03 AM
Interesting article. But it seems that, the author is looking at the UI only. SYMBIAN and ANDROID both share the same WEBKIT based browser and we buy a smart phone to use the browser more effectively than a dumb one. I'm not worried about the camera, music player, scheduler abilities on a phone since a Rs.1500/- phone has got these features. The basic problem is , all the OS and apps developers are sharing apps across platforms and fooling us bigtime. Google is accumulating data out of everything and in whichever way they like to. Remember ? Nothing comes for free. Neither GMAIL nor ANDROID. GOOGLE is SPYING ON US.
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sachin
,goa, on Aug 03, 2010 10:43 PM
that was a very useful article.rohan rocks!!
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Kshitiz Gupta
,Udaipur, on Aug 03, 2010 08:19 PM
@Pranay... I really agree with you..This is absolutely what i wanted to say..I was reading the article unaware of the writer and halfway down i realized it must Rohan.. Thanks mate for writing quality articles.. Need more from you...I recently purchased a HTC Wildfire for 15.7K and am really happy with Andriod.. Andriod is the future..SYMBIAN sucks big time.. As ppl may know there is nothing new in symbian3 in Nokia N8 apart from the hardware.
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Pranay
,Hyd/Del, on Aug 03, 2010 07:20 PM
Despite the ever degrading quality of UI and write-ups at Techtree, Rohan's articles offer a unique crispness and quality of content. Good going dude... and a very informative article indeed!
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Amar
,gurgaon, on Aug 03, 2010 05:59 PM
Linux based cell phones have always been there e.g. Motorola A1200,A1600, Motorokr but Google is a big name their Linux based OS will be big hit. Good to see open source growing.We can expect cheaper smart phones + no virus.
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dude
,kochi, on Aug 03, 2010 05:37 PM
Nice one- quite informative... I wasn't aware that you couldn;'t buy them paid apps in India.....
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monty jayaka
,jalgaonna, on Aug 03, 2010 04:39 PM
nice article...very usefull..
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smokes
,italy, on Aug 03, 2010 03:03 PM
rofl, people wont buy and old Android phone now.. there are not phones with 1.5 anymore.. people will buy Droids or Samsung galaxy S or HTC ones.... so all are new devices..
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Ravi Shanker
,Coimbatore, on Aug 03, 2010 02:54 PM
HTC didn't gimp the Android UI with Sense,in fact Sense added much more features than what was available during that period(Cupcake).It was only from Donut that google started adding all the missing features(like the facebook & twitter integration in contacts)With Gingerbread they're going for the kill although manufacturers are being told they can offer their own UIs.An option to switch back to the default UI is mandatory though
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Subash
,Bangalore, on Aug 03, 2010 02:46 PM
I think the rate at which Google is releasing Android variants, its very aggressive. I myself have held the plans of buying an Android phone for sometime now. In that terms Apple is good. They have existing users an option to upgrade at a premium. My knowledge goes that many in the Linux kernel community do not like the way Android is going. For Google, its another business arm. But for others who take it, integrate with their hardware and sell a moulded case, there will be huge affect, due to aggressive marketing strategies.
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linuxamp
,Tokyo, on Aug 03, 2010 02:12 PM
Google didn't choose to make an open source mobile OS in 2009, it was already Linux based when they acquired Android in 2005.
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rajat verma
,delhi, on Aug 03, 2010 02:03 PM
An interesting article, worth a read for people looking forward to buying an Android. Good job! You have discussed a very valid point of so many android versions in the market and what it means to end user in terms of slow interface and non compatible apps.
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