Thread: The N900 is a mobile computer, ok, now how i convince other people?
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danramos is offline danramos
2010-09-16 , 11:15
Posts: 4,672 | Thanked: 5,455 times | Joined on Jul 2008 @ Springfield, MA, USA
#65
Originally Posted by terryowen View Post
Don't get me wrong, I like a lot about Android (I have a G1 and even Nitdroid installed) but as recently as a few months back, not logging in to a Google account made your system less stable. Perhaps that has changed post-Donut.

But you can't buy apps from the Android Market unless you have a Google account. I have one, obviously (and a lot of apps that make me happy on Nitdroid) I'm not saying that I don't buy stuff - I do - but I also had an unlocked G1 a year ago that was unusable until I figured out a way to log in with a non-T Mobile account. That didn't endear Android to me. I gather that iPhone is similar when you go the jailbreak path.

That's kind of my point, though. Both Google and Apple have backdoors into devices that make them vulnerable and I don't like that on principle. If I paid for it, I want to use it the way I want to. That (the freedom) doesn't make the N900 a good phone (my G1 still beats every other for reception in my area) but it makes sense to me.

But I had a Beta-Max vcr. ;-) I know that quality never wins in the long run.

Terry
I'm not sure I entirely follow you. If I format the data and cache on my phone (basically, reformat the phone's NVRAM containing my info) and then install a clean OS on it (say, Android 2.2), if I avoid logging into Google, I can run it just fine and it works as expected. I even install a bunch of apps without the Android market just fine (I just can't install purchased apps, but that obviously goes without saying). I've actually done this and let it stay that way for a good half a day to see what it's like--and it worked just fine without ANY Google interaction whatsoever. Stability was the least of my any problems I could have even considered.

If you intend to use paid apps, you DO need to log in to authorize those purchases, but if you intend to use purely open-sourced apps (like the one I linked to in my last reply to you) or free apps, you don't need the Android Market at all.

If I'm misunderstanding the situation, please let me know. I'll definitely agree that life is much easier if you agree to use Google and the Android Market, though, but you aren't forced to use it to have a usable phone with applications.