The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

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
4" Super AMOLED w/ Gorilla Glass @800x480
1650 mAH Li-Ion Battery
8MP Camera w/ 720p @30fps video capture
Front 1.3MP Camera
Unlocked Bootloader
4 Row QWERTY Keyboard
All other goodies: WiFi, BT, A-GPS, Voice Cancellation, Face Detection...
350 EUR

Wow! I'm glad Samsung still knows the keyboard, it is simply brilliant!

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUw5...layer_embedded

It is frickin' beautiful, lag free, just like any other Nvidia Dual Core device you could imagine. It's Super AMOLED touchscreen is brilliant, I can say it is the best Tegra II device available.

Don't forget the shmexy price as well!

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

The Motorola Droid/Milestone 3

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Sweet hardware...gay OS. <Sigh>

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

thats it, am sold, thats my next device. actually only if it gets ICS. then ill spend days and nights trying to boot nemo mer :D

damn not available in UK :(

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

i bought a xperia pro. it may be not be as powerful as glide nor got a better screen but the not so generic design unlike most sammy and the best looking slide-out hardware keyboard w/ android sealed the deal for me. i don't have to worry about the ICS update as it's already included in the list...

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Is there an Official announcement from Samsung??

Edit:

Found it: Samsung Captivate™ Glide
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cel...SGH-I927ZKAATT

Found a review too:
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Sa..._id2908/page/1

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Looks good, seems like my next phone too:)

Once there a little cross available on Android to close the apps I am surely gonna buy this.

I was looking at Galaxy Nexus but there aren't many good reviews about it but this looks good, it has h/w kbd another +++

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

about the glide?

i think that it's at&t who should post an announcement as the phone is exclusively under their line-up. samsung has the right if there's an unlocked/global counterpart like the s and s II...

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

What about <3 Droid 4 <3 ... ? coming in 2012 Feb

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

I think that actually makes Android look good. Still hate it though. Great H/W.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Damn....

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3...&idPhone2=2917

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

It has only 3-Band 3G. 900 MHz missing.

Not suitable if you travel a lot. Modern Nokias all support 5-Band.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

I hate the Droid 3, it only supports 4g. Plus, only 512MB RAM, and a locked bootloader.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

It actually supports 900MHz

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

It also has NFC, w00t! Didn't see that one!

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

there is also the mytouch 4g slide which I have considered before

http://www.gsmarena.com/t_mobile_myt...slide-4018.php

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

i would prefer Galaxy Note with a BT Keyboard.. :)

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Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Often there are variants with either 850 or 900 MHz. But you need both when you travel, not either.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Dude that's QUALCOMM, yuck!!!

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

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

EDIT: Yep, QUALCOMM again.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

i don't understand, did you buy a n900 just for hardware spec ? Because, the most inportant thing for me is the linux system. I'm surprized to read that some of you just want a hardware keyboard...(blackberry? muahahah).
For now, i can't move to another phone, because i love maemo too much, even if i'd like to have a biggerscreen.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

I bought my N900... because my iPhone broke.
^Ironic, I know :)

That was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

As long as Mer doesn't run on it using 100% of hardware potential, it isn't and alternative for me, even if they pack 10GB of RAM and dual core @ 3GHz :(

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

It has to be considered essential to create a working adaptation of Mer to this one, it's hardware is actually Impressive!
(Or Fremantle/Harmatan?)

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

On the train I was pondering today, do we really need the linux kernel on mobileOS ?!?!?

I mean its wicked cool and all, but lets say if we could get full support for native/C++/Qt on Android wouldn't that work just as well?

Because it seems no matter what, traditional nix programs would still need porting (ARM architecture and all).

I dunno, just asking, what do you guys think?

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

With ICS devices just coming out now, it seems like an awful time to buy a 2.x android device with a hw keyboard, hoping it gets upgraded. ICS has virtual on screen buttons that reorient themselves with the screen, making hardware buttons on the screen an ugly and pointless waste of screen real-estate.

Though I haven't seen anything announced, if you are going to go android with a hw keyboard, I think it's worth waiting for the next generation which may also include the tegra III chip. There may not be a hw keyboard in the next batch, but it sounds like flagship devices are going tegra III (quad core) to boot.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

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.

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

almost all linux apps are compiled for arm(el) already...check debian reps

Re: The N900's Best Android Alternative
 

Samsung Galaxy Note is the bestt. I am just waiting for the Tmobile to get it. Once Samsung Galaxy Note supports AWS Spectrum or someone recompiles the modem drivers, I will buy the unlocked version. Hardware wise the Samsung Galaxy Note supports AWS. Only software need to be tweaked.

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
 

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
 

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

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
 

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

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
 

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
 

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.