Androids and iPods and bears (oh, my!)
-
Android dev phone[^] I'll bet you can't guess the search term I used to find that link. :-D
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
:confused: I'm confused. I kept trying that on Bing and all they would show me were Windows phones. You mean there are other search engines?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, there are no bears. I lied. I claim poetic license. As for the other two, per my previous thread I've been kicking around options for real world testing as I scrap and revamp my website to be a) less ugly b) mobile friendly and c) more focused on my core business of small business marketing advice. Here's my current thinking. Feel free to invite a bear to join you as you follow along. But hide the honey. I'm not interested in having an iPhone as my primary mobile voice communications device. The Blackberry works just fine as a phone, and I do love the tactile keyboard. What I am interested in is catching up to the rest of the pack in terms of Apple's App Store experience and viewing the web & video from a phone (the primary motivator). Seems to me that an iPod Touch 32, updated to run iOS 4, will do pretty much everything I care about. And if Apple releases the 4th gen in September as rumor has it, I suspect I can pick up an iPod Touch 3 on the cheap. Facetime, if supported on the new model, might be fun, but otherwise a 3 running iOS4 should do the job. By the way, per a conversation with the Death Star, you can swap SIMs easily between Android and Blackberry. But not Apple. They use a "mini SIM." Why am I not surprised? Then there's the Android. Quite pricey without a service contract, but may be a necessary evil. However, the Android poses a much greater dilemma than the iPhone / iPod choice. Which freakin' model do I choose? Choices are good, but for testing how my stuff looks on an Android (rather than using it as a phone), I'm not sure how much of the various feature sets I care about. I do want access to their apps, which I assume I can do via wireless since I won't have a carrier, but beyond web / video, that's about it. And I feel bad about the lack of bears. Really i do. However, we aim to please. Will a :baaaa!: do? After all, I am considering joining the flock. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesLove the DroidX. iphones need 110MB+ updates that take for ever everyother day. Go Droid. updates happen over 3G network instead of USB etc.
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
-
The dev phone is only 50 bucks more than the Motorola. What are the advantages of loading your own android images? [edit] Just did a little reading on it, and since my inner geek is a control freak, it would probably be the way to go. [/edit]
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesChristopher Duncan wrote:
it would probably be the way to go.
As long as you do not post your rants here about how you bricked your phone, I am ok with it :).
-
Christopher Duncan wrote:
it would probably be the way to go.
As long as you do not post your rants here about how you bricked your phone, I am ok with it :).
Sounds like the voice of experience. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Love the DroidX. iphones need 110MB+ updates that take for ever everyother day. Go Droid. updates happen over 3G network instead of USB etc.
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
So this is the Droid I'm looking for?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
So this is the Droid I'm looking for?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesI have the DroidX and I recommend it. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/motorola-droid-x-droid-2-comparison[^]
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
-
Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, there are no bears. I lied. I claim poetic license. As for the other two, per my previous thread I've been kicking around options for real world testing as I scrap and revamp my website to be a) less ugly b) mobile friendly and c) more focused on my core business of small business marketing advice. Here's my current thinking. Feel free to invite a bear to join you as you follow along. But hide the honey. I'm not interested in having an iPhone as my primary mobile voice communications device. The Blackberry works just fine as a phone, and I do love the tactile keyboard. What I am interested in is catching up to the rest of the pack in terms of Apple's App Store experience and viewing the web & video from a phone (the primary motivator). Seems to me that an iPod Touch 32, updated to run iOS 4, will do pretty much everything I care about. And if Apple releases the 4th gen in September as rumor has it, I suspect I can pick up an iPod Touch 3 on the cheap. Facetime, if supported on the new model, might be fun, but otherwise a 3 running iOS4 should do the job. By the way, per a conversation with the Death Star, you can swap SIMs easily between Android and Blackberry. But not Apple. They use a "mini SIM." Why am I not surprised? Then there's the Android. Quite pricey without a service contract, but may be a necessary evil. However, the Android poses a much greater dilemma than the iPhone / iPod choice. Which freakin' model do I choose? Choices are good, but for testing how my stuff looks on an Android (rather than using it as a phone), I'm not sure how much of the various feature sets I care about. I do want access to their apps, which I assume I can do via wireless since I won't have a carrier, but beyond web / video, that's about it. And I feel bad about the lack of bears. Really i do. However, we aim to please. Will a :baaaa!: do? After all, I am considering joining the flock. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesI have this exact same issue, except with the need to support allot of different devices. Here's my suggestions (take them for what you paid for them. :) ) Some money method: 1) iPod Touch - the browser is the same as on the iPhone 2) Android - Archos 5 Internet Tablet. About $250, can be had for less if you look around. Has the same basic screen resolution as many Android phones (800x480) and a very similar form factor. No ongoing costs. Device is good, but not great. You can also get an aPad tablet from Amazon for about $150, and occasionally others for less. These tables aren't iPads, so don't expect iPad goodness, just Android browser. No money method: 1) Use Safari (Chrome works too) 2) Obtain a JPG of the devices you want to test on 3) Size the JPGs so that the inside area is the same as the pixel resolution of the device. If you want, I can send you some that I use. 4) Setup a test HTML page that positions the JPGs on it and then position an iFrame inside of the image so that it sits where the user would see it. 5) Point your iframe to the pages you want to test. 6) Adjust the zoom on the browser so that the size on screen of the JPG matches the physical size of the device 7) Adjust user agent to match desired test device Alternative no money method: 1) Install Google Android SDK/Eclippse 2) Create a dummy app that contains the WebView control 3) Test your website in the emulator. NOTE: The Android emulator takes a long time to load, so be patient. Once it loads, everything is fine. The no money method actually works amazingly well for most website stuff. Not so well for actual apps with much interaction, but websites, it's fine.
-
Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, there are no bears. I lied. I claim poetic license. As for the other two, per my previous thread I've been kicking around options for real world testing as I scrap and revamp my website to be a) less ugly b) mobile friendly and c) more focused on my core business of small business marketing advice. Here's my current thinking. Feel free to invite a bear to join you as you follow along. But hide the honey. I'm not interested in having an iPhone as my primary mobile voice communications device. The Blackberry works just fine as a phone, and I do love the tactile keyboard. What I am interested in is catching up to the rest of the pack in terms of Apple's App Store experience and viewing the web & video from a phone (the primary motivator). Seems to me that an iPod Touch 32, updated to run iOS 4, will do pretty much everything I care about. And if Apple releases the 4th gen in September as rumor has it, I suspect I can pick up an iPod Touch 3 on the cheap. Facetime, if supported on the new model, might be fun, but otherwise a 3 running iOS4 should do the job. By the way, per a conversation with the Death Star, you can swap SIMs easily between Android and Blackberry. But not Apple. They use a "mini SIM." Why am I not surprised? Then there's the Android. Quite pricey without a service contract, but may be a necessary evil. However, the Android poses a much greater dilemma than the iPhone / iPod choice. Which freakin' model do I choose? Choices are good, but for testing how my stuff looks on an Android (rather than using it as a phone), I'm not sure how much of the various feature sets I care about. I do want access to their apps, which I assume I can do via wireless since I won't have a carrier, but beyond web / video, that's about it. And I feel bad about the lack of bears. Really i do. However, we aim to please. Will a :baaaa!: do? After all, I am considering joining the flock. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
The dev phone is only 50 bucks more than the Motorola. What are the advantages of loading your own android images? [edit] Just did a little reading on it, and since my inner geek is a control freak, it would probably be the way to go. [/edit]
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesI think the nexus one will give you just as much control along with significantly faster hardware. YMMV but futureproofing yourself somewhat more might be a good idea if you ever need to do something CPU intensive on the phone.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
-
Love the DroidX. iphones need 110MB+ updates that take for ever everyother day. Go Droid. updates happen over 3G network instead of USB etc.
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
I update my iPhone once a week at the most. And I use the wireless network to do it. Doing the stuff on iTunes is only necessary for the occasional back up. While the Droid is a good system (I wish the Nexus 1 had taken off instead of the carriers treating it like the plague to insure its quick demise,) there's no need to misinform someone as to the iPhone.
If I have accidentally said something witty, smart, or correct, it is purely by mistake and I apologize for it.
-
I update my iPhone once a week at the most. And I use the wireless network to do it. Doing the stuff on iTunes is only necessary for the occasional back up. While the Droid is a good system (I wish the Nexus 1 had taken off instead of the carriers treating it like the plague to insure its quick demise,) there's no need to misinform someone as to the iPhone.
If I have accidentally said something witty, smart, or correct, it is purely by mistake and I apologize for it.
ragnaroknrol wrote:
I update my iPhone once a week at the most. And I use the wireless network to do it. Doing the stuff on iTunes is only necessary for the occasional back up.
I wish all of my network users were as knowledgeable as you in regards to iPhone maintenance.
ragnaroknrol wrote:
there's no need to misinform someone as to the iPhone.
All opinions are subjective, including yours. My opinion is based from observing the several iPhone users her at work. I forgot to mention that I never owned an iPhone but have used OS X and iTunes and Quicktime. If there are security updates on the phone I would want to apply them as they come out. Is that once a week or more?
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
-
So this is the Droid I'm looking for?
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesI so badly wanted to walk up behind some people in the cell phone store the other day and say, "These are not the Droids you are looking for." :laugh:
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
-
If you just want to see how it looks why not just use a VM of Android?[^]
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
Interesting stuff, thanks.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
I have this exact same issue, except with the need to support allot of different devices. Here's my suggestions (take them for what you paid for them. :) ) Some money method: 1) iPod Touch - the browser is the same as on the iPhone 2) Android - Archos 5 Internet Tablet. About $250, can be had for less if you look around. Has the same basic screen resolution as many Android phones (800x480) and a very similar form factor. No ongoing costs. Device is good, but not great. You can also get an aPad tablet from Amazon for about $150, and occasionally others for less. These tables aren't iPads, so don't expect iPad goodness, just Android browser. No money method: 1) Use Safari (Chrome works too) 2) Obtain a JPG of the devices you want to test on 3) Size the JPGs so that the inside area is the same as the pixel resolution of the device. If you want, I can send you some that I use. 4) Setup a test HTML page that positions the JPGs on it and then position an iFrame inside of the image so that it sits where the user would see it. 5) Point your iframe to the pages you want to test. 6) Adjust the zoom on the browser so that the size on screen of the JPG matches the physical size of the device 7) Adjust user agent to match desired test device Alternative no money method: 1) Install Google Android SDK/Eclippse 2) Create a dummy app that contains the WebView control 3) Test your website in the emulator. NOTE: The Android emulator takes a long time to load, so be patient. Once it loads, everything is fine. The no money method actually works amazingly well for most website stuff. Not so well for actual apps with much interaction, but websites, it's fine.
Thanks for all the pointers, man. No money alternatives are always good. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
I have the DroidX and I recommend it. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/motorola-droid-x-droid-2-comparison[^]
Later, JoeSox CPMCv1.0 - Last.fm - MyFriendfeed - Joesox.com
Looks cool, but without a contract it's pushing 600 bucks. Ouch.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services