Android phones

SGS III is just a rumour, though there is some "leaked" info floating around.

Completely agree - and also remember that the S2 took >6 months to hit the US after international launch ... so if it DOES come in April, it could be October again before we see it here ...
 
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Am I the only one who thinks the Windows Phone UI is INCREDIBLY ugly?
 
No. We're at least two.
 
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Am I the only one who thinks the Windows Phone UI is INCREDIBLY ugly?

No. We're at least two.

I was very unimpressed with it - and still have things I don't like - until I actually USED it for a significant time. A lot depends on how you use your phone - if you are like most and social elements (text, tweet, Facebook) and some games, music and apps dominate ... it is incredibly light, quick and efficient.
 
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I bought a Samsung note at launch and it's been solid. I love the bigger screen and stylus. Only gripes would be poor battery life and it could use a faster processor. It has a 1.5ghz but doesn't feel as snappy as my old atrix phone did. Im guessing its because the atrix had an nvidia chip and a lower resolution. As far as usability goes though this is by far the best phone I've owned. Now if we could just get the ICS update.
 
I'm still using the HTC Nexus One I got a bit over 2 years ago. Its still working well. Running the Cyanogen 7.1 ROM.

I'm out of contract so have been looking around also but I'm gonna wait and see how the new S3 will be plus the new HTC One stuff coming out.

I'm on T-Mobile so their price is very good plus free hotspot so I would prefer to stay with them IF they actually get anything decent. Verizon is just expensive.
 
Not officially. Theres rumors everywhere so I expect something will be announced in the next month or two.

Since my current phone is still working well I don't mind waiting.

Worst case I'll break down and get a Galaxy Nexus.
 
And finally they announced the S3. Any thoughts on this?

Also, I would be interested in a good dungeon crawler for my Galaxy S. I get really bored sometimes at courses ^.^
 
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This is getting a bit ridicules soon our smartphones will be faster than our computers.... it's all about the money. If they had improved the speed of PC's that much every release we'd be in 16 cores and 4 GHZ as the standard.....
 
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The S3 looks good. Theres a version of the HTC X that is coming out with an sdcard slot and I may pick that up as I like the way it looks a bit more. The S3 is a close second choice tho.
 
TIf they had improved the speed of PC's that much every release we'd be in 16 cores and 4 GHZ as the standard…..

Um ... they DID. What is happening is with shrinks and efficient pipelines they are bringing more power to smaller packages.

BUT ... just like the most powerful laptop lags the most powerful desktop, so does the most powerful tablet lag the laptop, and the smartphone lags the tablet.

Also, the 'core myth' is like the 'megahertz myth' - it was shown last year how many dual-core processors at higher clocks were slower than a single core like in the HTC Titan, and this year we are seeing dual cores faster than quad cores. Also, since Android is the least efficient mobile OS (proven, not opinion - the price of 'options'), and the apps almost universally use battery and processor wasting ads and geo-tracking to sell your info, it NEEDS the power ...
 
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Also, since Android is the least efficient mobile OS (proven, not opinion - the price of 'options')


Please provide both proof and an objective definition of "efficient mobile OS".
 
Please provide both proof and an objective definition of "efficient mobile OS".

*ding*ding* Ladies and gents, Round 1!!!

sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

I am curious to see the evidence too though - we're teaching a mobile dev course and our students can choose either Android or iOS...so I'd like to know if one is innately worse (well, I know Android is 'bad' in the sense that its not homogenous like Apple which controls the hardware too, but beyond that).
 
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Please provide both proof and an objective definition of "efficient mobile OS".

Efficiency as in the number of CPU cycles and resident memory needed to accomplish a task. A great example is the scrolling, in which the heavy use of Javascript for user interfaces on Android - bytecode will ALWAYS be slower than native compiled code. Always. Period.

Here is the classic example:
https://plus.google.com/100838276097451809262/posts/VDkV9XaJRGS

What I am NOT talking about is the subjective 'user experience'. I personally love Android and use it as my main phone. BTW ... the Galaxy S2 is growing on me in spite of the quirks remaining ... but I still would choose the Droid 4 ten times out of ten ;)
 
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Um … they DID. What is happening is with shrinks and efficient pipelines they are bringing more power to smaller packages.

BUT … just like the most powerful laptop lags the most powerful desktop, so does the most powerful tablet lag the laptop, and the smartphone lags the tablet.

Also, the 'core myth' is like the 'megahertz myth' - it was shown last year how many dual-core processors at higher clocks were slower than a single core like in the HTC Titan, and this year we are seeing dual cores faster than quad cores. Also, since Android is the least efficient mobile OS (proven, not opinion - the price of 'options'), and the apps almost universally use battery and processor wasting ads and geo-tracking to sell your info, it NEEDS the power …

You mean they went from one core 500 MHZ, to 4 cores 1.4 GHZ in 3 years?

As far as the myth goes, it has taken forever in the PC market to make efficient use of multiple CPU's and they are still not doing it.
 
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Efficiency as in the number of CPU cycles and resident memory needed to accomplish a task. A great example is the scrolling, in which the heavy use of Javascript for user interfaces on Android - bytecode will ALWAYS be slower than native compiled code. Always. Period.

Here is the classic example:
https://plus.google.com/100838276097451809262/posts/VDkV9XaJRGS

What I am NOT talking about is the subjective 'user experience'. I personally love Android and use it as my main phone. BTW … the Galaxy S2 is growing on me in spite of the quirks remaining … but I still would choose the Droid 4 ten times out of ten ;)

What use is a specific efficiency test if the "user experience" is so different?

For the record, I think scrolling is pretty great on my HTC Sensation - and I would put it equal to my iPod Touch. The default browser is somewhat too sensitive though, but that's hardly about poor efficiency.

As for the "phone experience" - my immediate impression is that Android is a lot more flexible and powerful than the iPhone - but somewhat less accessible and idiot-proof.
 
imo battery life of the current smart phones is ridiculously low. They should stop upgrading the cpu/gpu and focus on battery first (at least one week of occasional texting and calling is a must for me...).

My last phone lasted a week on battery, now it is barely 3 days for my shiny smart-phone (after careful tweaking). Current smartphones don't even last a day.
 
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My last phone lasted a week on battery, now it is barely 3 days for my shiny smart-phone (after careful tweaking). Current smartphones don't even last a day.

Nonsense. My iPhone 4 can last three days easily with your "occasional texting and calling" scenario. It's all the extra stuff that drains the battery. The screen drains in a lot. 3G, 3D graphics, CPU intensive stuff, GPS, etc. If I disable all the modern fancy stuff, standby time is a week easy. Heavy use and gaming? Less than a day indeed.
 
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