SmartPhones

[Scott Campbell]

People I trust told me that HTC knows what they are doing and are very prompt with fixes.

I like HTC and am using one of their phones, but wouldn't necessarily agree with that. They're not any better or worse than any of the others. The people providing the real fixes and updates are the user community. Like many consumer electronics devices, manufacturers get products close enough to be able to do a release without getting sued. Then the user community finishes them off. Eventually. Hopefully.

Even Partial did the jailbreak to his iPhone.

[Patler]

By far, the single most important program for you to get and master is Google Voice Search. It can transform the non techie user into a power user without them having to learn much at all. Watch the video here, and enjoy!

http://www.google.com/mobile/voice-search/

That...is...AWESOME!!!!
I downloaded "Voice Search" and tried a couple. It was flawless.

Thanks Scott. I very much appreciate it.

[Scott Campbell]

That...is...AWESOME!!!!
I downloaded "Voice Search" and tried a couple. It was flawless.

Thanks Scott. I very much appreciate it.

For people wondering what the big deal is about smartphones, that app usually answers the question pretty definitively.

[MJZiggy]

Nutz, I still love my droid.

Patler, getting to know your phone is pretty much a matter of playing and looking for the things you like. As you're quickly finding out, there are apps that do everything. My sweetie's into movies, so we have movie apps on our phones that tell us what's playing where. We have an app that helps us find each other if we get separated. There are apps that can identify music, that can do e-mail and chat, I have one that works as a bubble lever, countdown timer, stopwatch and voice recorder. I have a kindle on my phone, and, of course, I couldn't live without Angry Birds!

[Freak Out]

I'm still using my unlocked Nexus One (HTC) and it still works great. The screen leaves A LOT to be desired in the sun but overall it's been a great phone. The new screens make them much more usable in direct sunlight so I will probably upgrade soon...kind of waiting for the Galaxy S 2. The one accessory you need Patler is the car dock (Well....I need it). Google navigation works fantastic and you will never pay for maps again. There are some limitations with using a smartphone for navigation but you wont encounter them often.

A desktop dock is nice...if the price is right.

[HowardRoark]

That...is...AWESOME!!!!
I downloaded "Voice Search" and tried a couple. It was flawless.

Thanks Scott. I very much appreciate it.

Never use 411 again....and it's a lot easier too; and it listens better those 411 operators.
That among many other things.......

[MJZiggy]

I'm still using my unlocked Nexus One (HTC) and it still works great. The screen leaves A LOT to be desired in the sun but overall it's been a great phone. The new screens make them much more usable in direct sunlight so I will probably upgrade soon...kind of waiting for the Galaxy S 2. The one accessory you need Patler is the car dock (Well....I need it). Google navigation works fantastic and you will never pay for maps again. There are some limitations with using a smartphone for navigation but you wont encounter them often.

A desktop dock is nice...if the price is right.

I drive an older car that has no bluetooth, so I love the FM car dock. It plays my phone through the FM tuner. Just be careful you're paying attention when choosing your navigation destination. There was one time, we were trying to go to Harper's Ferry WV, and learned that there is also a Harper's Ferry in Ohio. Good thing I basically knew where I was going...

[Patler]

Patler, getting to know your phone is pretty much a matter of playing and looking for the things you like. As you're quickly finding out, there are apps that do everything. My sweetie's into movies, so we have movie apps on our phones that tell us what's playing where. We have an app that helps us find each other if we get separated. There are apps that can identify music, that can do e-mail and chat, I have one that works as a bubble lever, countdown timer, stopwatch and voice recorder. I have a kindle on my phone, and, of course, I couldn't live without Angry Birds!

See, that's the problem for me. Aimlessly "playing" on it is not my thing.

Much of what you mentioned has come pre-installed on my phone. For texting, the keyboard has a mic feature that allows me to dictate the text message. That's part of Androids standard keyboard, apparently. It had the bubble level, timer, stopwatch and voice recorder.

A couple others sound interesting.

Games? Mine isn't likely to ever have one used by me!

[Scott Campbell]

There are some limitations with using a smartphone for navigation but you wont encounter them often.

The chief one being that if you're out of coverage, you're out of luck. I'd imagine you would encounter that more in AK than the rest of us would.

[Scott Campbell]

See, that's the problem for me. Aimlessly "playing" on it is not my thing.

Much of what you mentioned has come pre-installed on my phone. For texting, the keyboard has a mic feature that allows me to dictate the text message. That's part of Androids standard keyboard, apparently. It had the bubble level, timer, stopwatch and voice recorder.

A couple others sound interesting.

Games? Mine isn't likely to ever have one used by me!

Google Goggles. It does a bunch of other things, but what I like most is that it scans business cards and dumps them into your contacts. Sweet.

[MJZiggy]

Google Goggles. It does a bunch of other things, but what I like most is that it scans business cards and dumps them into your contacts. Sweet.

That I could use right now. I've never really paid attention to Goggles. Oh, and make sure you have a QR scanner.

[Partial]

The chief one being that if you're out of coverage, you're out of luck. I'd imagine you would encounter that more in AK than the rest of us would.

HTC caches maps so this isn't an issue (I don't think). Which is awesome.

I like HTC and am using one of their phones, but wouldn't necessarily agree with that. They're not any better or worse than any of the others. The people providing the real fixes and updates are the user community. Like many consumer electronics devices, manufacturers get products close enough to be able to do a release without getting sued. Then the user community finishes them off. Eventually. Hopefully.

Even Partial did the jailbreak to his iPhone.

Don't have an iPhone. With iOs 5 I don't see a need to jailbreak. HTC makes good stuff. They're about the only brand on phone I would consider beyond Apple because their industrial design is good.

Try not to use push apps. You'll be charging twice a day.

Push should give you the exact opposite effect. Would you rather be polling for new data every 10 seconds or take advantage of the 'always on persistant connection to the server' to push messages as needed?

Nuts, why are you opposed to an iPhone? If you're not going to get an iPhone, get a microsoft phone. I think Metro UI is the best thing to come out of Redmond in a very, very long time. Windows Mobile Mango sounds absolutely awesome. It has navigation, too, which is the only thing that Android beats anyone at.

Eerily similar to the 80's Mac/Windows battle for marketshare.

Android outsells the iPhone. More manufactures for the Android means not only more choices, but also quicker refreshes. We've seen this movie before, and we know how it ends.

I love what Apple is doing, but I don't see them dominating the space. One of them will be 1a, and one will be 1b.

There are Steve Jobs quotes floating about how he was vehemently against going for margin when they should have gone for market share. He says he will not let that mistake happen again.

I would bet my bottom dollar that Apple beats Google in market share for the Sep-Dec quarter this year. I don't see it swinging over again after that.

This link is from today and about how for both Verizon and ATT the iPhone is the best selling phone. You don't think Apple will win back the market share battle if they are the best selling phone on US Cell, ATT, Verizon, Sprint, TMobile, etc? Also, they are making huge grounds in China and investigating the prepaid market. I think they're just getting started and will beat out Android long term for sure.

http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/22/and-the-best-selling-smartphone-at-att-and-verizon-stores-is/

We've already seen how Apple dominates the handheld market when carrier isn't an issue. They have the tablet market by a complete strangler hold and have little chance of being beaten here. I've played with Honeycomb and it's a freaking tron disaster UI wise. No thanks!

This phone is a year old and still outselling the latest and greatest stuff. LTE phones are making too many sacrifices right now. They're all huge because the chips run hot, and the battery life is garbage. Even the normally design conscious HTC's Thunderbolt is hideous!

Interesting, because I know several. All were frustrated with the slow fixes on their iPhones for known problems. They convinced me to go with an HTC Inspire just recently. (Which, by the way, will be the subject for a new thread I am starting!)

I'm sure they're some. The death grip reception issue is a load of crap. The AT&T network issue is a result of AT&T and too many iPhones, not a technical issue with the phone. iPhone is the best selling phone for a reason. It's also the best reviewed smart phone by most major sites/companies.

http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/22/and-the-best-selling-smartphone-at-att-and-verizon-stores-is/

[Freak Out]

The chief one being that if you're out of coverage, you're out of luck. I'd imagine you would encounter that more in AK than the rest of us would.

Most phones use a combination of both but yes.....I have no need of it here really....just not that many roads. But down in America.....different story. Last week in San Diego my son used the Garmin that came with his rental and I used my phone. The phone was much easier to use (voice search) and gave better directions. The graphics were better and the turn by turn was just as good if not better.

[Freak Out]

My wife loves here iPhone....but they keep croaking on her. The 3g...now the 3gs is starting to go. She can get an upgrade in July....but I'm telling her to hold on until the 5 in September.

[Scott Campbell]

Nuts, why are you opposed to an iPhone? If you're not going to get an iPhone, get a microsoft phone.

Holy crap. Why not just tell him to go get a Palm while you're at it.

Microsoft tortures me enough on my desktop and my laptop. I'm not giving those bastards the opportunity to torture me with one of their phones.