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Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Tegra II processor, typical Samsung cheap plastic build, and worst of all friggin' Touchwiz UI. I'll pass. No support for T-Mobile data anyway.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

OEM modifications to Android really affect the end-user (mixed-bag) and from my experience the worst to best tends to be:
-Blur
-Sense
-Stage UI
-TouchWizz
-Pure Stock Unadulterated Google Android
-CyanogenMod
-MIUI

And despite my distate to Samsung's cheap-plastic experience, I think its much better than LG/Dell/etc and HTC's wishy-washy soft metal uniody-thats-not-unibody. It's also the thinnest of them all.
Motorola gets top scores for physical sex appeal though!

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by Copernicus (Post 1144176)

Well, Android has a Linux kernel, they just don't allow users to see it. (For that matter, iOS is built on top of the Mach kernel, so it has a Unix heart as well.)

The manufacturers (other than Nokia) have all seen fit to lock down their devices, that's the only reason traditional Unix distributions have taken so long to get established on them.

I am not going to thank you.
At this time you have exactly 222 posts, and have 222 thanks.
Can't tilt the balance can we?

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammyt (Post 1143418)

Finally, something that is worth a look. The Sammy Captivate Glide makes the best Android alternative to the N900.
Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i927...glide-4071.php
Briefly:
Tegra II Dual Core @ 1GHz (overclock-able to 1.8GHz)
1 GB Ram LPDDR2
...
Wow! I'm glad Samsung still knows the keyboard, it is simply brilliant!

erhmmm, well,
at least one slashdotter said something a tad different:

Quote:

I recently left the n900 world for an Android phone - my first - the Samsung Captivate Glide (SGH-I927).

I expected to root it easily; I hadn't realized how hostile manufacturers are becoming towards their customers. Indeed, as I write this, I still haven't succeeded. It actually feels like I may be the only person in the world who bought this device, which, to me, is utterly confounding.

It is still Android, unfortunately,
but the moment will come when we get something
that is not locked - it is only a matter of time now...:D

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammyt (Post 1143776)

I dunno about that but I guess it packs a QUALCOMM chip right?

EDIT: Yep, QUALCOMM again.

i'm not a fan of qualcomm chips either. i just bought it because i want to know what's the fuss with android. nitdroid gave me the idea but because it's not yet finish, i don't see it's true potential. it's just to get the experience without having a generic design like majority of android devices in the wild.

i chose xperia pro because the seller offered a 2nd chance for this brand new for $288. it passed my requirements too...

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by Copernicus (Post 1144176)

Although I would never buy an Android machine to use as Android,
(after having to hack the ones owned by family)

I did see this glimmer of light today:

ASUS seems to be considering their community.
and this could be a game-changing event:

Asus US: Transformer Prime getting ICS January 12th, unlocked bootloader later

Quote:

Regarding the bootloader, the reason we chose to lock it is due to content providers' requirement for DRM client devices to be as secure as possible. ASUS supports Google DRM in order to provide users with a high quality video rental experience. Also, based on our experience, users who choose to root their devices risk breaking the system completely. However, we know there is demand in the modding community to have an unlocked bootloader. Therefore, ASUS is developing an unlock tool for that community. Please do note that if you choose to unlock your device, the ASUS warranty will be void, and Google video rental will also be unavailable because the device will be no longer protected by security mechanism.

As someone else noted,
they stand to reap a fortune in abandoned warrantees
if the bootloader unlocker turns out to be popular.

Assuming of course, it actually happens.

If this were a Nokia PR announcement we would know better
than to pay any attention, but this is ASUS.
Different? I hope so...

If only the bootloader would come out,
and the machine be able to wipe Android off and install
a real linux distro.

If only it had GSM, but thats an easy fix as it has a USB port.
and a battery that makes our n900 battery look like roadkill.
old roadkill, at that.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

UPDATE:
The captivate glide actually comes with 724MB of RAM, not 1GB:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGym1...eature=related

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

What do you think about this very cheap Android device?

UbiSlate 7+ (~60$)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D3XhHp-HCS...en-android.jpg

Ok it's bigger and a tablet without keyboard but has some identical hardware:

- Android OS 2.3
- Cortex A8, 700 Mhz Process with HD Video Co Processor
- 256 MB RAM
- Storage: (Internal) 2GB Flash / (External) 2GB to 32GB Supported
- Peripherals: 2 Standard USB Ports (Ver. 2.0)
- Audio Out: 3.5mm jack
- Display and Resolution: 7" Display with 800x480 pixels
- Supported Document Formats: All Version Office Document formats and many more
- High Quality Video Streaming & HD Quality Video Playback
- Input Devices: Resistive Touch Screen
- Connectivity with GPRS & WiFi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g
- Battery: Upto 180 minutes of battery, AC adaptor 200.240 volts

http://www.ubislate.com/index.html
http://www.aakashstore.in/

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by eight (Post 1146181)

Sorry man, but these things suck dick real hard. I bought the same tablet from this same family, the processor was an ARM11 opposed to the description, the screen felt like no touchscreen, really hard to use, and the battery life was even worse than the N900.
Software wise, there are only two custom ROMs available for these tablets, I installed HcH's Uberoid ROM, the device surely sucked a lot, but that ROM made it a lil snappier.

Anyways, I was glad I got rid of it for 50 bucks.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that there is no GPU in this unit, so expect to play solitaire at the most @ 15 fps.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative

Quote:

Originally Posted by ammyt (Post 1146199)

EDIT: Forgot to mention that there is no GPU in this unit, so expect to play solitaire at the most @ 15 fps.

Good point, forgot that.
Thanks for the background information, doesn't sound good.
The newer 7+ device will have a Cortex A8 at 700 Mhz which should perform much better.

Don't know if it's comparable to the Cortex A8 of the n900, but on the ti.com website it says:

The first device in TI's OMAP™ 3 architecture, the OMAP3430 multimedia applications processor delivers up to 3x gain in performance over ARM11-based processors.
http://www.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/...er+OT+omap3430

Running Debian or Ubuntu and with a keyboard it could be a nice toy to play.