To the true nerds

[Nickswitz]

For all of us who are really nerds, just to talk about anything electronic related.

And to clear up the latest in people's lives thread from Reliant and I.

[Reliant121]

Whoops. Sorry.

I forgot about the technophilia attack on the thread...

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, so to continue the convo, haha.

The Ally is pretty crappy because of the fact that LG is just recently getting into the full-fledged smartphone marketplace, they have been known for their feature phones and messaging phones, but are just getting into setting up their own hardware on a smartphone. It isn't bad in itself, it has fairly sturdy construction, but the overlays they try to implement just make it hassle-some. And hey, I wanna go use a Motorola, which is like a world coming to an end scenario, ever since the RAZR I have hated Motorola, but they may be coming around a good bit.

[Reliant121]

I dunno, the GW520 isnt half bad and it has LG's cover stuff. That being said, the LG cookie i had when I first got a touch screen was awful.

Android has literally saved Motorola from certain death so its gotta count for something.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, and sadly is killing HTC, they used to lead in smartphone sales outside of Blackberry, and now are below most because they have begun to skimp on hardware and build quality. The WinMo phones were the last really good HTC phones, such as the touchPro 2 and the Touch Diamond. But now that everyone can use Android, they all are, and since it's cheap to implement it, they get high sales because it's fairly cheap. I don't mind it, but it means that real companies like HTC begin skimping to sell cheaper to make enough profit to get ahead.

[Reliant121]

Depends on the model. We have an HTC legend in the house and I'd rate Build quality up there with the iPhone. Admittedly, its inferior in some areas but still good.

thats the thing. Course they are gonna be cheaper. They are trying to get consumers. They are trying to stop the elitism trend of everyone wanting an iPhone. Everyone's jumping on the Android wagon cause anyone can do anything with it. Except for nokia cause they are stuck in their ways.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, forever I will say this, people with iPhones are nerd wannabes. Droid users are Nerds, no offence Ian.

iPhones are simple to use and can't be tinkered with all that much.

Droid require a good deal of knowledge, but you can do anything with it, which is why I want one, because I can learn quickly to code and can write my own apps, and distribute them freely.

[Reliant121]

Exactly. iPhones just...work. No fuss, no messing, it just works. Its simple, elegant and very very powerful. Android is equally, if not more powerful in some ways (apart from Applications perhaps) but its much more complicated. It is literally like Macintosh to Linux. The power + simplicity combo is what you pay for, and pay what is IMO rather extortionate prices. But thats cause I'm both a nerd and I'm a scrooge with money.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, I am very stingy, but I will pay for the good quality, and I love my iPod for music, and therefore continue to update it yearly, I don't mind paying $300 for it, because I use it to organize my life, which works well.

However, I would love an Android phone for the ability to mess around with it.

[Reliant121]

I'd recommend a Droid without any software added then like HTC sense or Motorblur. Makes it a lot easier, and there is less to go wrong.

[Nickswitz]

Yeah, I plan on getting the Droid X when it comes out, and then going in and getting rid of MotoBlur myself. Unless I really like it, which I may... but if it makes it too slow then I'll just get rid of it, I know what code to get rid of to disable it completely.

[Mikey]

OK, my young friendly experts/nerds: bear in mind I have none of your in-depth knowledge of the various types of mobile OS. My battery is going on my steam-powered antique LG Dare, and I can get a real smartphone (depending on what I choose) for < $50. I'm not switching from VZW, so my OS options are Android, Palm OS, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. I do not use my phone for business. What I do with it/want to do with it are browsing/surfing, txt and pix messaging, music player, e-mail, a decent camera, and even the occasional phone call. What is the erudite opinion of our resident nerds as to which OS to go with?

BTW, my personal, uneducated opinion is leaning towards Windows Phone - apps are not a big deal for me, there's more selection of devices, and I'm really not interested in changing my e-mail account just to use an Android phone.

[Reliant121]

Depends on the phone. Don't touch a Windows unless its HTC. I'd say The Imagio or Touch Pro 2. the main differences are that WinMo is rather boring and the original interface is really confusing underneath HTC's stuff. But its powerful.

Androids are just...simple. You can add non google accounts depending on their protocol and they are much easier than winmo still. But music is a pain, cause you cant sync music without 3rd party software. Personally I'd go with the Imagio or Touch Pro 2. I've had A GSM Touch Pro 2 and miss it greatly.

This being said, I will claim that the Android browser without a doubt trounces the IE mobile 6, and probably Opera Mobile for a Winmo as well. The biggest drawback of a winmo is they are normally horrifically slow. The HTC Incredible will be MUCH faster and MUCH smoother.

[kostmayer]

I've got an HTC Touch Pro 2 running Windows Mobile. They take a bit of tweaking to get em how you like em, but I like Windows mainly because I can tweak it.

I haven't used an other type of smartphone then Winmo HTC, but I will say the build quality of HTC phones is top notch.

[Mikey]

You can add non google accounts depending on their protocol and they are much easier than winmo still.

Hmm. VZW's wwebsite notes that synced e-mail accounts for Android need to be gmail.

The other thing is that I want to be able to sync Outlook, Excel, etc. between my phone and PC. Common sense would dictate that this is much easier twith Windows Phone than anything else... but common sense often fails where Windows is concerned. For WinPhone I can get a Samsung Saga for free (my favorite price,) or a Touch Pro 2 for cheap.