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More Android is Good Android

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16 pointschacha10214 comments

Something like Android or the iPhone with an App Store is what non technical end-users really want. What these users really want is to be taken care of. To use an automotive metaphor, they don't want to check their own oil and tweak their own ignition, they want to take the car back to the dealer and get their maintenance sticker. (At the same time, they like picking their own trim, color accents, stereo options, etc, but they also don't want to be bothered with doing the wiring themselves.)

And with Android, you are still allowed to muck around under the hood, because it's open source. That counts for a lot in the long run.

I'm curious to know how this counts in the long run, specially given the fact that basically all 'open source mobiles' (openmoko being the latest example) have been extincted or never lasted long, so far...

The 'long run' is a lot longer than the short time mobile phones have been very hackable at all.

I'm not sure if you're staying that Android is or isn't what non-technical users really want, but Android also has an App Store.

Unlike the iPhone AppStore, users can also install applications that don't come from the Android AppStore if they want to though.

Android is also like what non-techy users really want. But the iPhone in its present form is even more so!

I've been using the HTC Dream for a couple of weeks now, and it's been pretty good so far. I haven't had to break out any hacker-fu to get anything working. Mostly I just had to download apps to do stuff. The only complaints I have are that battery life is too short, especially when 3G is on, and I can't find an app allowing me to transfer files with bluetooth. If anyone can point me in that direction, I would be much obliged.

I've been holding off for a few months, waiting for other Android devices to come out. The way I see it, Apple just has the iPhone. Android can run on anything else.

True, but the upcoming devices (only the HTC Magic as far as I can see) don't seem that much more appealing than the G1.

I like that the G1 has a physical keyboard, that's pretty much the main reason I bought mine (as opposed to waiting for the HTC Magic).

I believe that bluetooth support on Android is currently limited to headsets.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-informat...

So bluetooth file transfer at 28kbps with some old school modem hackery, awesome :)

Someone could write an App that pretends to be an old Hayes modem.

Turn off location services, that added about one day to my battery.

Also, if you have rooted phone, you can try scp (or samba) over wifi. I know, it is not obex over bluetooth, but should be faster.

Anyone knows what the Android install base is?

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