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Posts: 21 | Thanked: 22 times | Joined on May 2010
#130
Originally Posted by danramos View Post
Personally, I like having the hardware keys like the back button. To that end, doesn't the N900 have hardware zoom and maximize keys? By your argument, isn't that handled well in Android where the N900 fails? Just seems more of a matter of personal preference (as you rightfully pointed out at the end) and a misguided rant than a genuine critique or comparison of the two on that element.



They BOTH have a full desktop web experience. If you keep getting websites that are formatting their sites for a phone, it's because they coded a specific experience for your user agent's string--which you can easily change. The only reason why you think the N900 is a desktop experience is because websites have NO idea what an N900 is and so they fall back on whatever their default happens to be for unknown client types (usually a desktop layout). If you go to your desktop and change your user agent string to iPhone or Android, you'll also get mobile website layouts from lots of websites.

I would argue that the advantage here is in the Android side. Not because you get BOTH a mobile-friendly layout, if you want it, and a desktop layout, if you prefer that--because, really, both the Android and the N900 can do this (you can also change the user agent on the N900 and get mobile layout websites too), but because it has Flash 10.1 (unlike the N900 and some other mobiles with an orphaned older Flash or a Flash Lite).
How is it a "misguided rant"? I have clearly stated that it is my opinion. The hardware buttons on the N900 seem to be implemented due to the lack of multitouch. Also, the only application that actually made use of the rocker keys and was dependent on them was the gallery, which I agree was a bad idea. The web browser did just fine with the double tap feature. The volume rocker were a bonus. Therefore to say that the user experience of the N900 depended on the volume rockers or any hardware buttons is redundant and clearly, Android is more depended on hardware/soft keys outside the touchscreen real estate, which again, is pretty pointless and isn't intuitive at all.

Btw, I do understand the difference between the mobile and desktop pages and how the user agent effects what you see. I made that comparison keeping all of that in mind. The Vibrant still hasn't received the 2.2 update, so no. They are really on par. I tried to download an mp3 file today from a website, that worked on the N900 but didn't work on the Eclair brower. The N900 browser still has some advantages over Eclair.