Second 'Google phone' is unveiled | Hacker News Reader

Second 'Google phone' is unveiled

news.bbc.co.uk

29 pointspierrefar19 comments

Mobile phones were a solved problem. You can buy a almost indestructible low-end Nokia or SonyErricson that's small, will make clear phone calls, pair with a bluetooth headset, has a keypad sufficiently good for sms, and a battery that lasts the better part of a week - all for less that $100. Remember when phones used to be big, fragile... we waited so long for them to get better! And the did, eventually, then it was hard to imagine what more we'd want in a phone. We had it all!

It seems to me that the revolution of the iphone and it's ilk, is that it has inspired the manufacturers and users to see the promise of the next generation of devices.

Unfortunately even the best of existing technology isn't able to deliver on that promise - mobile internet speeds aren't as fast as we'd like them to be (Apple had to speed it up in the adverts), the keyboards range from passable to intolerable, and the battery life - well, the best way to make any of this generation of devices last all day, is to not use them as much as you'd like.

How long does HN think it'll take until this generation of devices is mature again? How long before we don't have to make a tradeoff to get everything? 1 year? 5 years? More? GSM mobile phones have been around for 15 years now.

And yes, I know there's the next next big thing waiting around the corner, once smart phones and mobile internet devices are a solved problem.

But if I wasn't excited about that, I woudn't be on HN.

Idk I'm very happy with T-Mobile's G1, and I'm not even in 3g coverage. Regardless the speeds I get are at least 2times faster then the '3g' I had with Sprint. Very happy with T-Mobile.

Video here: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/17/htc-magic-first-eyes-on/

Although the phone does not have the most impressive hardware specs, it's nice to see a powerful company like Vodafone show support for Android. (FWIW, Vodafone has a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, but Verizon, which owns the other 55%, is not part of Google's Open Handset Alliance.)

I really want Google and Android to succeed, esp. against the iPhone, but I'm just not seeing it in these devices - the scrolling isn't instantaneously responsive as it is on the iPhone, the keyboard and drop down styling is a cheap ripoff of the iPhone... this just isn't going to cut it. And a proprietary headset? Really?

I am really interested to see where Andriod devices go in the marketplace. I really like my iPhone but would happily consider an Android phone if it offered the same level of hardware/software integration and polish of operating system I enjoy with the iPhone. I think the biggest struggle for Google may be providing that experience since they do not manufacture the hardware.

If Mac, Windows and Linux are anything to go by, no one else will really make something quite as nice as the iPhone. What they will do is make things that are good enough looking, open enough, and diverse enough, that they will grab segments of the market that Apple will never even go after. That's my hope at least, I'm just not interested in being locked into Apple's world. And the fact that Android is open source is seriously cool for people who want to really do interesting things.

It's a non-standard port, but you can use standard headsets with an adapter (which T-Mobile is now distributing with the phone). It's an HTC thing, not an Android thing; HTC did the same on their Windows Mobile devices.

I'm not sure what to make of "the keyboard and drop down styling is a cheap ripoff of the iPhone"... Is the problem that it's too similar to the iPhone or that it's not similar enough?

  And a proprietary headset? Really?

These sorts of silly limitations will drop away as manufacturers other that HTC start to make Android devices.

As far as Android "succeeding" against the iPhone, I am not sure that it will in the near term-- and I am not even sure that it matters. However, I think it will succeed against every other phone OS, and rapidly at that.

>> The touchscreen HTC Magic will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS, but no slide-out keyboard

Is there any further information on what technology they'll be using for their keyboard? I'm hoping someone will use the Swype stuff.

I thought it was the Cupcake's update soft keyboard. There were a couple of leaked videos about this I think...

Yep, the cupcake update should be coming for the G1 soon. The nice thing about android is that I can look at the change sets and see whats coming for my phone. :)

It was, but there is no reason you can't swap out the keyboard, the os supports it. Some carriers will want alternative IMEs, after all.

Yes, from http://source.android.com/roadmap :

  Q1 2009
 
  Input method framework (IMF)
 
  This feature will enable support for input methods other than physical
  keyboards, for example soft keyboards. IMF will also enable application
  developers to provide IME (see below) applications based on the framework.
 
  Input method engines (IME)
 
  IME will support soft keyboards, a dictionary of suggestions, and a
  suggestion algorithm. The Android platform may contain a few reference IMEs,
  and developers can provide IME applications through the Android Market.

Personally, I'm looking forward to something like Palm's old Graffiti for quickly entering a bit of text without having to pop open the keyboard.

Any idea why they wouldn't let customers use the headsets they already have?

A comment on HN a while back suggested that Apple had asked Google not to use a standard jack for controlling the phone. Apparently one of the google execs is connected to apple. It's fuzzy but I think it's at least plausible that they didn't do it to lock customers down or out.

I'm not sure if this is why, but this way, the headphone jack is the same as the recharging jack, so there is one less hole in the device.

Will Google phones catch up with iPhones in popularity?

They may not be able to "beat" Apple, but I think they have a good chance of moving forward rapidly in the phone OS market.

N amount of phones released for a variety of demographics and lifestyles from different carriers. Their chances don't seem that bad

I don't own an Android based phone, but I can see myself owning one in the next 1-2 years because of this exact reason.

Doesn't look as nice as the Palm Pre.

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