5 ms·

Android gaining momentum in smart phone race

21 points by gibsonf1 17y ago

Zak 17y ago
The only advertising I've seen[0] for Android phones has been from T-mobile for the G1 and MyTouch. There is zero Android branding in these ads. The only indication that the two run the same software is a mention of "with Google" at the end of the ad. I see this as a major branding fail. [0] I don't really watch TV, so I haven't seen as much as most people.
- joeyo 17y ago
  Why does google need to advertise to end users? Most of the savvy ones already know about Android and the rest probably don't care what their phone runs as long as it can do email, get map directions, etc. If they are spending money on marketing, they are spending it on the handset manufacturers.
  - Mark_B 17y ago
    Exactly. I don't care what went into making my hot dog. I only care that it tastes good!!
  - joezydeco 17y ago
    Also, no carrier is going to advertise that their phones run the exact same system as another carrier's phone. Why give customers an easy reason to switch? There are half a billion Nokia users that have no idea what Symbian is.
    - Zak 17y ago
      If I'm Verizon and I'm selling the Motorola Sholes, I want my potential customers to know that the cool app they saw their friend using on a G1 last week also runs on the Sholes. The ads I've seen so far have been T-mobile, so maybe others will try to do that.
- jan_g 17y ago
  I think that Android doesn't need advertising. It's something that people mostly don't care about. However, they do care about quality, which Android may provide for handset producers. So maybe, Google is not even trying to put effort in Android advertising (for masses), but lets thi job to specific device manufacturers. For example, HTC Hero is advertised quite a lot.
  - Zak 17y ago
    I think Android is something people will care about, not because of the OS itself but because of application compatibility.
- RK 17y ago
  If anything, the money needs to go to advertising Android Market, which can attract both users and developers. Wireless company money will of course try to get people to buy the specific phones, which makes sense.
- maudineormsby 17y ago
  Well I think calling it the "MyTouch 3G with Google" is the best T-Mobile can do. I bet most of the people who are shopping for a phone don't even know what android is. They know there is iphone, blackberry, (maybe) palm, WinMo, and now there's this phone with Google. Android is not the brand - Google is the brand. Also, TFA fails to mention that the HTC Hero launches on Sprint on Oct. 11.
davidw 17y ago
I think it's nearly time to get one - maybe an HTC, as they're well into their second generation of phones. Hecl needs more attention on Android, and real live device is the surest way to accomplish that:-)
- thismat 17y ago
  I'm still loving my first generation HTC G1. it's a little bulky and can be slow at times (unless I kill the processes left from applications running the background, then it's snappy), but I really enjoy it. I've heard really good things about the HTC Hero though, and would love to try one out.
  - bockris 17y ago
    I was a bit underwhelmed by my 'donut' update. More fit and finish than new features. I really can't wait for Verizon's offerings because I need better network coverage than T-Mobile. My phone doesn't work at my parents house or my in-laws house. :-(
    - thismat 17y ago
      Ah that's a shame, I have pretty good coverage in Texas, but the speeds are a serious drawback. Do you know if Verizon has a "tether" restriction? If you tether with your G1 and go over a 10gb transfer quota, they will reduce you to edge speed for the rest of the billing cycle. I mainly stick with T-Mobile because my entire family uses it, so we all get to call each other for free, but I'm not against moving to a new carrier if I can get better speeds and be allowed to tether. EDIT: I thought the donut release was pretty good overall, I saw huge performance gains and also the UI has been cleaned up a lot. Though not much else seems terribly different.
      - dannyr 17y ago
        How do you tether using your G1?
nek4life 17y ago
I need to learn Java for work and I'm looking for an interesting project to learn it with. Any thoughts on building an Android app for my first project? Would this be a good way to become familiar with the language?
- kylemathews 17y ago
  I'd say so. I never ended up building an app but was planning on it and looked around the APIs enough to feel familiar. It's a very sensible development platform and is sufficiently Java-ish that you'll pick up good habits.
- joezydeco 17y ago
  Download Eclipse and the SDK (all free), get it all running, then build the "API Demos" project from the samples directory and run it on the emulator. This program lets you play with every single part of the Android system and UI. Tinker with this for a week or so and you'll have a great introduction to the platform.
- davidw 17y ago
  Yeah, it would indeed. There's something cool about seeing something you wrote run on a device, too. For that matter, J2ME is fun too, because it's a fairly small platform, and there isn't a lot of Java blahBlahBlahFactory() type of stuff.
- nek4life 17y ago
  Sounds like a good (interesting) way to get started. Thanks for all the replies.
- dminor 17y ago
  Just be aware that Android operates in a resource constrained environment, so that some practices (such as avoiding garbage collection through resource pools) aren't typical in desktop or server-side Java applications. Also, if you're going to be doing desktop UI stuff at work, Android's UI APIs are very different from Swing et al.
  - 17y ago
AndrewDucker 17y ago
You can add INQ to the list of companies producing Android Phones - they produce custom phones designed for social networking/IM and are very popular in Europe. They used to use their own custom OS but announced that they were moving to Android last month: http://www.gsmarena.com/inq_to_also_use_android_os_soon_do_some_cool_stuff_with_it-news-1117.php http://www.gsmarena.com/inq_to_also_use_android_os_soon_do_s...
callahad 17y ago
Aside from the ADP1, are there any Android devices available that allow root access per default?
- mbrubeck 17y ago
  The Creative Zii Egg is another full-access developer device: http://www.zii.com/ http://www.zii.com/ Note: It's a multimedia tablet like the iPod Touch, not a phone.

21 points by gibsonf1 17y ago

Zak 17y ago

The only advertising I've seen[0] for Android phones has been from T-mobile for the G1 and MyTouch. There is zero Android branding in these ads. The only indication that the two run the same software is a mention of "with Google" at the end of the ad. I see this as a major branding fail. [0] I don't really watch TV, so I haven't seen as much as most people.

joeyo 17y ago
Why does google need to advertise to end users? Most of the savvy ones already know about Android and the rest probably don't care what their phone runs as long as it can do email, get map directions, etc. If they are spending money on marketing, they are spending it on the handset manufacturers.
- Mark_B 17y ago
  Exactly. I don't care what went into making my hot dog. I only care that it tastes good!!
- joezydeco 17y ago
  Also, no carrier is going to advertise that their phones run the exact same system as another carrier's phone. Why give customers an easy reason to switch? There are half a billion Nokia users that have no idea what Symbian is.
  - Zak 17y ago
    If I'm Verizon and I'm selling the Motorola Sholes, I want my potential customers to know that the cool app they saw their friend using on a G1 last week also runs on the Sholes. The ads I've seen so far have been T-mobile, so maybe others will try to do that.
jan_g 17y ago
I think that Android doesn't need advertising. It's something that people mostly don't care about. However, they do care about quality, which Android may provide for handset producers. So maybe, Google is not even trying to put effort in Android advertising (for masses), but lets thi job to specific device manufacturers. For example, HTC Hero is advertised quite a lot.
- Zak 17y ago
  I think Android is something people will care about, not because of the OS itself but because of application compatibility.
RK 17y ago
If anything, the money needs to go to advertising Android Market, which can attract both users and developers. Wireless company money will of course try to get people to buy the specific phones, which makes sense.
maudineormsby 17y ago
Well I think calling it the "MyTouch 3G with Google" is the best T-Mobile can do. I bet most of the people who are shopping for a phone don't even know what android is. They know there is iphone, blackberry, (maybe) palm, WinMo, and now there's this phone with Google. Android is not the brand - Google is the brand. Also, TFA fails to mention that the HTC Hero launches on Sprint on Oct. 11.

davidw 17y ago

I think it's nearly time to get one - maybe an HTC, as they're well into their second generation of phones. Hecl needs more attention on Android, and real live device is the surest way to accomplish that:-)

thismat 17y ago
I'm still loving my first generation HTC G1. it's a little bulky and can be slow at times (unless I kill the processes left from applications running the background, then it's snappy), but I really enjoy it. I've heard really good things about the HTC Hero though, and would love to try one out.
- bockris 17y ago
  I was a bit underwhelmed by my 'donut' update. More fit and finish than new features. I really can't wait for Verizon's offerings because I need better network coverage than T-Mobile. My phone doesn't work at my parents house or my in-laws house. :-(
  - thismat 17y ago
    Ah that's a shame, I have pretty good coverage in Texas, but the speeds are a serious drawback. Do you know if Verizon has a "tether" restriction? If you tether with your G1 and go over a 10gb transfer quota, they will reduce you to edge speed for the rest of the billing cycle. I mainly stick with T-Mobile because my entire family uses it, so we all get to call each other for free, but I'm not against moving to a new carrier if I can get better speeds and be allowed to tether. EDIT: I thought the donut release was pretty good overall, I saw huge performance gains and also the UI has been cleaned up a lot. Though not much else seems terribly different.
    - dannyr 17y ago
      How do you tether using your G1?

nek4life 17y ago

I need to learn Java for work and I'm looking for an interesting project to learn it with. Any thoughts on building an Android app for my first project? Would this be a good way to become familiar with the language?

kylemathews 17y ago
I'd say so. I never ended up building an app but was planning on it and looked around the APIs enough to feel familiar. It's a very sensible development platform and is sufficiently Java-ish that you'll pick up good habits.
joezydeco 17y ago
Download Eclipse and the SDK (all free), get it all running, then build the "API Demos" project from the samples directory and run it on the emulator. This program lets you play with every single part of the Android system and UI. Tinker with this for a week or so and you'll have a great introduction to the platform.
davidw 17y ago
Yeah, it would indeed. There's something cool about seeing something you wrote run on a device, too. For that matter, J2ME is fun too, because it's a fairly small platform, and there isn't a lot of Java blahBlahBlahFactory() type of stuff.
nek4life 17y ago
Sounds like a good (interesting) way to get started. Thanks for all the replies.
dminor 17y ago
Just be aware that Android operates in a resource constrained environment, so that some practices (such as avoiding garbage collection through resource pools) aren't typical in desktop or server-side Java applications. Also, if you're going to be doing desktop UI stuff at work, Android's UI APIs are very different from Swing et al.
- 17y ago

AndrewDucker 17y ago

You can add INQ to the list of companies producing Android Phones - they produce custom phones designed for social networking/IM and are very popular in Europe. They used to use their own custom OS but announced that they were moving to Android last month: http://www.gsmarena.com/inq_to_also_use_android_os_soon_do_some_cool_stuff_with_it-news-1117.php http://www.gsmarena.com/inq_to_also_use_android_os_soon_do_s...

callahad 17y ago

Aside from the ADP1, are there any Android devices available that allow root access per default?

mbrubeck 17y ago
The Creative Zii Egg is another full-access developer device: http://www.zii.com/ http://www.zii.com/ Note: It's a multimedia tablet like the iPod Touch, not a phone.