Smartphones

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Smartphones
« on: July 09, 2010, 10:20:50 PM »
If you never go online with your phone, would you ever need a smartphone?

See, at some point in the next 12 months I'll buy a new phone and I'll either go simple and stylish and get a Nokia 6700 or I'll go balls out technogeek and get a HTC Desire.  Probably I'll get a black 6700 because I already have a silver 6300, but I am wondering about these touchscreen smartphones.

Opinions?
« Last Edit: July 09, 2010, 10:26:32 PM by Calach Pfeffer »
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Monkey King

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2010, 12:03:23 AM »
I got a HTC Touch Viva which comes in at the budget end of the market at around 2000RMB a year and a half ago.

I pretty much only got it so I could have Pleco, the bestest Chinese learning tool of all time.  Of all time!  For this function it has performed brilliantly.

I haven't really explored too many of the other functions and applications I could use or add to any great extent.

I do go online sometimes (it has 3G and wireless) but to be honest the tiny screen on my particular model makes this a highly frustrating experience, so I only use it when I have no alternative.

One handy thing is to be able to open Microsoft Office files on your phone so if you get sent something important you can read it immediately.  Again, though, tiny screen.

« Last Edit: July 10, 2010, 12:33:17 AM by MK »

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2010, 01:33:40 AM »
Hmmm... Pleco.

A quick look around the Pleco forums says Pleco won't be running on Android for some time to come.  Bummer.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Damballah

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2010, 04:23:39 AM »
I have the HTC Desire and although I haven't used the on-line function a lot, it is useful for picking up emails when you are travelling.
"At your worst, at your best...who cares? They really aren't that much different anyway, and neither are particularly missed or wanted here anyway." - Marilyn Manson

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2010, 06:24:51 AM »
Pleco is great on the iPhone and even better on the iPad

The iPhone 3GS can be had for good prices now that iPhone 4 is out

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El Macho

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2010, 08:33:48 AM »
What does an iPhone 3GS cost now in China?

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2010, 11:49:02 PM »
I did once maybe for past life sins own, and not for long, a Motorola SLVR L7.  The phone before and the phone after were Nokia candybars, about as long as the SLVR but definitely slimmer on the horizontal.  And both the iphone and the new HTCs are wider still.  Since the SLVR pretty much never stopped feeling like holding a dinner plate to my ear, I'd also like to know what these smartphones are like as phones ergonomically?

Not hating, just wondering.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2010, 03:41:13 AM »
Apparently there's a beta for a handwriting recognition program to run on Android: 

http://sites.google.com/site/hanwritingime/home


And iPhone 3GS costs (or did cost) about 3500 yuan. 
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2010, 03:47:46 AM »
The iPhone feels pretty good in the hand and doesn't seem too big but I think you get used to what ever your using. I spend more time on the phone as a computer than a phone anyway. An email is barely different than a text message to me. Translation, digital books, RSS feeders. It cut down how often it was necessary to take a laptop with me by a lot. Once I picked up an iPad, I didn't need the laptop at all and sold it.

I'm not sure how much the official 3Gs iPhone is from Unicom because I was never interested in them (no WIFI). You can get the Hong Kong one for just under 5000 and the American version for a fair bit less.

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2010, 03:51:31 AM »
if you get the 3500 one then you'll need to jailbreak it. I don't see the point in that. You might as well get an Android phone then. The beauty of Apple's walled garden is how seamlessly the software and hardware work together. Jailbreaking loses that advantage so might as well go to the open Android.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2010, 06:09:20 AM »
How much for an iPad?



(Freakin learning curves.  Apple products are intimidating with all the proprietary this and restrictive that, and it seems like you have to join the cult before you can truly appreciate how much you've been saved......  I suppose, however, that's true of all tech stuff--if you weren't into it before, it gets harder to get into it later.  But what's up with Pleco hitching themselves to Apple's star, huh?  If touchscreens are what's the new wave of everything mobile, then.... jeez, I dunno, who's the biggest coming touchscreen tech brand, what's their operating system, and are Apple products going to continue being a cult item?  Come to think of it, are touchscreens more or less irritating than a navigation rocker and a few buttons?  Waving your hands around that much seems like hard work.)

*sigh*  \o/
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2010, 06:50:39 AM »
Right now an iPad 16Gig 3G is going for around 6000, but they will be released in Hong Kong in a couple of weeks, so price should come down.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2010, 05:43:38 PM »
So this walled garden... do you have to be on the inside to love it?

The more I read about smartphones, the less I like... App Stores?  Freakin App Stores.  To buy a phone is to buy an app, and buy another app, and buy some other app.  You can't pirate?  There isn't free?  Whatever.  Android is going to win.

So-o-o-o... the other bothersome thing is it looks like a lot of people buying Android phones in China are ending up with really inferior knockoffs.  Is this so?  What does it take to find a real HTC in amongst all the thieving commie knockoffs?
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2010, 09:45:05 PM »
I don't know how anyone ends up getting burned by knock-off phones anymore than than they get burned by knock off LV bags or Rolex watches. Have these people even asked if the product is fake or not?

Calach, have you used an iPhone and/or an Android phone before? For some it's the idea of Apple's walled garden that's a problem but they have never compared using them.

The usability of the iPhone over any Android phone right now is huge. There's just an ease of use, a familiarity that all the apps share. The hardware feels solid and quality. The Android phones are often more powerful but feel cheaper and the apps do the same things in different ways from each other making each app have it's own sometimes steep learning curve. Of course the Android OS must operate on different hardware so they can't be as seamless as iOS on the iPhone. Android apps can do more but you have to pay attention to how it's doing it. If you like to tinker and change things then Android is the way to go. If you just want the fucking thing to work like an appliance then Apple is the way to go.

It's really not any different than using a Mac or a PC. PC's are more powerful, cheaper, have many more forms to choose from, more apps that can do more things but try and get most MacBook Pro users to switch to a Thinkpad. they won't do it. Thinkpads are great computers but .....

I may dumb down my phone in the future though. It's the iPad that I really love. First time I can remember a gadget changing my lifestyle. The killer app on the iPad?

The battery life. Always on, do anything you want, never even have to check the battery life. Unbelievable. An appliance.


Re: Smartphones
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2010, 10:29:12 PM »
If you like to tinker and change things then Android is the way to go. If you just want the fucking thing to work like an appliance then Apple is the way to go.

I think that may be it.  I like to tinker.  Neat way of explaining it too.

Tinkering is actually what makes any touchscreen smartphone appealing currently: I haven't ever used one and it would be fun to find out what they can do.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0