The iPhone Fenceboy Chronicles – HTC Incredible 2?
As an almost iPhone fanboy who likes to keep his options open (a fenceboy, I might be referred to as) more news today in the growing confusion on what to buy and when to buy it. Was pretty warm to the HTC Thunderbolt, now with 3G, 4G, dual core, iPhone 5…it’s almost too much for such wonderfully stupid thing.
Answer – don’t buy anything ever. Re-activate my Motorola Razr.
From Droid Life:
- DROID X2 is rumored to be a Tegra 2 dual-core device. We had heard it was going to be clocked at 1GHz and were initially a little disappointed, but after hearing from one of our guys that it could be dual-core, that speed no longer bothered us and actually made sense. It also will not be 4G just as we figured. A current Verizon timeline has it slated for a May release.
- The Incredible 2 could wind up as a global device. I’m not hearing any signs that it will just be a re-hashed version of the supposedly-cancelled Merge, but another bigger-screened Incredible (4?) with a new radio. Current Verizon timeline suggests a March release date. Seems early? I thought so too.
- And lastly, we’re hearing May for the DROID BIONIC.
Did Google Android Just KO Apple’s iPhone?
Based on the iPhone 4.0 sneak preview and yesterday’s Google Android 2.2 demo, I for the first time want to have a full cover on my iPhone to not let people know I don’t have a Droid. Time will tell if this stands, but right now it’s looking like Android 1, iPhone 0.
It boggles my mind since the iPhone came out first, controls its own hardware, and has such a large and vocal user base. Android sputtered out of the gate, and has to deal with wildly different hardware specs and had a lot of catching up to do.
Is it the iPhone’s Kryptonite?
So exactly why should you be looking at Droid phones when the iPhone 4.0 is just around the corner? From Gizmodo on yesterday’s announcement (excerpts). It’s all about the Android 2.2 software, also known as Froyo.
- Froyo lets you turn your phone into a hotspot—which means it can be your wireless internet for your wi-fi devices, including friends around you, your iPad, or even your laptop.
- 5X faster processing than the previous version of Android (2.1..what’s on phones now) and the fastest mobile web browser in existence. iPhone is lucky to double their speed with each new release.
- it runs Flash. Whether or not it runs it well is TBD (supposedly pretty decent) but Apple has decided the internet will be filled with little question mark boxes. (as Google put it “We discovered something cool: It’s called the internet.”)
- Downloading music or apps on your computer, then synching with a cable. Nope. Over the Air (OTA) synching to your phone. Want long time.
- A variety of other tweaks and fixes meshing your browser and other native apps (like camera) and more usability settings, etc.
- If you have a Droid phone (at least most newer ones) you’ll just upgrade and get all these features in a few weeks or a few months.
- full details at Gizmodo. also check out Google is Leapfrogging Apple
Hey, iPhone’s got multitasking, wallpaper, and folders coming. Oh wait, those were in Google’s last version already.
Sigh. We’ll see. I hope all those new features brick everyone’s phone 
The Most Awesome Phone Ever of the Year
With technology changing so fast, who knows what will exist by the time this phone hits for Spring in the summer. But for now, it’s pretty much the coolest phone I’ve ever seen. The first 4G phone, the HTC Evo, is on Sprint, so that sucks, but then again Sprint’s 4G and WiMax turn it into a speed powerhouse unlike any other.
It has a list of features I didn’t even know were being considered for cell phones, only have heard of them in a “boy it’d be awesome if” conversation with my friends.
My iPhone’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t even come close to matching the specs of this beast.
Here are just a few of the head turners that I’d swap out my iPhone for if I didn’t have to switch networks.
- Android operating system
- 4G and 3G download speeds (apparently way faster).
- 1GHz Snapdragon processor
- 8MP camera
- 1GB of built-in storage, along with 512MB of RAM. (iPhone has 256 RAM)
- Runs Flash seamlessly
- The HTC Evo will work as a hotspot for up to eight devices. This means your friends can jump onto a wi-fi connection using the phone. Apparently they tested it and streamed a movie on another device through it perfectly.
- HD Video Recording, and HDMI Output
- A built in Kickstand. Sounds dumb, but I want one quite often on my phone as long as it’s built solidly into the structure.
Will I become a Sprint Customer. Probably not. If the iPhone doesn’t take a big leap this summer…probably will.
Read the hands-on review over at Gizmodo.
iPhone Retains Edge Over Droid, Nexus One So Far
The Android operating system, and its two newest devices, the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, have put the first true challenge to the iPhone since its inception. As an iPhone owner, my eyebrows were raised at these open-source devices that were jam packed with missing iPhone features.
At the end of the day when I played with the Android phones, though, something just didn’t seem as good. At first it was hard to put my finger on it, then I realized that’s exactly what it was….putting my finger on it.
Today, a product development firm tested the touchscreen capabilities of all these devices and found the iPhone interface to still be the most responsive and superior of them all. Jump to the link to read the methodology, but it’s a very simple test of trying to draw a series of straight lines on the phone.
In other news, the launch of Nexus One has been a major headache for users, who flooded the Google forums with problems related to phone software/3G connection, and found themselves receiving pretty poor service.
Google’s Nexus One (on T-Mobile) support forums have been flooded with anecdotes about the phone’s poor 3G connectivity, so one user decided to follow up with some reasonably scientific tests. The conclusion? The Nexus One is kind of terrible at basic cellphonery! – Read the full article at Gizmodo
