So after seeing the price of the latest iPhone, I decided to look into android smartphones (since the appstore is part of my love of the IOS devices). And i came across a serious set-back that makes me wonder if it is worth getting an android phone. The phones all have a fairly small ROM size (built in storage for OS+apps) you would think this wouldn't be a problem, you could just save your stuff on an sd card slot. But no, you can't save the apps on an sd card due to linux permissions. Fine you say, they probably have enough storage for a fair few apps. But with some of the leading devices (HTC desire/nexus one/motorola milestone) have only 512mb roms. I have 2.1gb of apps on my ipod touch which leaves me wondering if i wouldn't be better off putting the money up for an iPhone 4? What are your thoughts on this guys?
Android 2.2 allows you to install apps to the SD card. Problem solved. Now forget the iPhone, get a decent Android phone. Desire is a good one.
This is a non-issue as of Android 2.2 (Froyo) which allows you to save apps onto the SD card. I believe the Nexus One is the only phone that currently runs 2.2 officially. For all other phones it's a DIY job to upgrade to 2.2 by rooting.
speaking of android (and this is a thread hi-jack so STICK EM UP!) im having issues accessing these forums from my HTC hero over orange, every other website in the world is fine, this one just gets a "server unavailable" message. any ideas?
Wait for Android 2.2 phones. Or if you are like me Stuck on a 2 year deal until April next year, I'll wait until I can get the HTC Desire for £10 pay monthly contract. While on the subject of Android phones. How come US gets lots of cool HTC phones. HTC Evo 4g, Droid Incredible 2. Seems that the only HTC phones here are Desire, Legend, Wildfire (latest phones-not including hero, hd2 etc2). Even if you go to HTC's website. The US version website has a lot more phones compared to the UK market. What is holding HTC off here?
You can get the Droid in Europe, it's called Milestone. 4G, well there are little to no 4G networks in Europe, so why bother as of yet? Incredible 2 is currently a CDMA based rather then the standard we use in Europe which is GSM. That answer your question?
Thanks for info. Cleared everything. Milestone, as in motorola milestone? http://mobdeal.com/show.asp?hs=milestone Looks a bit different?
2.1gb of apps, wow! I didn't even realise there was this limitation, i'm not exactly app mad but neither am i running vanilla. How to check please?
Its only a limitation if you download all the crap in the universe, my liquid has half the app storage of the HTC phones, not found it an issue yet, I've got plenty of apps installed only used half my app storage, just delete what you don't need, or download one of the many aplications the will store your apps you want to keep hold of but not use for some time on SDCard.
If you only install what you actually use it's not really a problem. I've got a couple of Android devices on 1.6 and haven't come up against the limit (138MB AFAIK?) for apps yet. As of 2.2, or rooting your device and using Apps2SD, this limit is raised to the capacity of your SD card.
Milestone is basically no different to Droid apart from branding (I've got a Milestone) and possibly the EU vs US wavebands. Also, the Milestone gets updates slower (they're from Motorola rather than being pushed by Verizon) and doesn't have an unlocked bootloader, so no custom ROMs (apparently, not sure on that). Also, so long as you aren't downloading games, I don't think the app storage limitation is a massive problem, as not many apps are big. And as the others mention, 2.2 allows apps to be installed on the SD card. HTC make more phones with US wavelengths because that's the biggest market. While the phones are all quad-band (I think) so do all work in the UK, it's not ideal. Not to mention, some operators in the US have built-in SIMs or something (or don't use a standard SIM system, not counting micro-SIM as non-standard).
Right, a HTC Desire or Google Nexus One then. Do i want the sense ui (Desire) or the ability to manually upgrade without rooting(Nexus one)? EDIT: Or a Samsung Galaxy S with its big screen and built in memory (comes with 2.1 with 2.2 coming in a later update, supposedly).
Waiting on HTC is the only thing which has soured the whole android thing even slightly. Not sure what other UI's are available but i'm tempted to root it and start playing even though i've only just settled on the lay out.
If you get the Nexus One you get Google's baby, with all the updates that entails. Also, a modder patched in the (hidden) ability for it to take 720p video and use wireless-N. And there's nothing wrong with vanilla Android (as is on the Milestone/Droid), it's only really worth going for an extra skin (e.g. Sense, MotoBlur, Samsung TouchWiz) if the phone is really, really good or you want a bit more (e.g. more social widgets).
