The official Android thread (discuss Android OS and supporting phones here)

[Drakus]

[x-scon]

Wow, that looks really cool.
My Tattoo is so far behind with 1.6
Maybe I should go ahead and just root it already...

[Drakus]

Wow, that looks really cool.
My Tattoo is so far behind with 1.6
Maybe I should go ahead and just root it already...

Try xda forums. They have step by step guides. Best way not to brick your phone.

[vii]

In amazingly epic awesome news: Turns out that you don't need to give a months notice to cancel your old contract(if its past the initial 24 months) if you're porting your number.

This awesome news means I'm getting my new Phone from Red Bull Mobile on Saturday(barring any kind of horrid disaster).

I just need to decide between the Defy and Ideos X5. I'm still leaning towards the Defy seeing as it's rugged. But it's a bit bulkier than the X5. The X5 is quite slim. I need opinions so I don't have to make my own decision!

[Wesley]

In amazingly epic awesome news: Turns out that you don't need to give a months notice to cancel your old contract(if its past the initial 24 months) if you're porting your number.

This awesome news means I'm getting my new Phone from Red Bull Mobile on Saturday(barring any kind of horrid disaster).

I just need to decide between the Defy and Ideos X5. I'm still leaning towards the Defy seeing as it's rugged. But it's a bit bulkier than the X5. The X5 is quite slim. I need opinions so I don't have to make my own decision!

I'd honestly rather go for the X5. Since the Defy sports Motorola's Motoblur UI there'll be a delay in device updates, whereas the X5 won't because its running a reference chipset and stock-standard Android operating system. On the whole though the Defy will be in good nick a lot longer than a cheap Chinese knock-off, and durability might be the thing that floats your boat.

[vii]

The Defy seems to be just below the X5 in terms of speed/speccs but the rugged element is really alluring. The only draw back is Motoblur :/

Quick history of recent mobile devices:
Samsung U700 : Screen cracked in 5 places after a drop 3 months after getting it.
HTC Tytn II: Currently purple after a drop.

I won't be financially able to buy any new phone during the 24 month contract time. I'm just afraid of dropping the X5 or cracking the screen and spending 15 months on an old backup phone.

[Wesley]

The Defy seems to be just below the X5 in terms of speed/speccs but the rugged element is really alluring. The only draw back is Motoblur :/

Quick history of recent mobile devices:
Samsung U700 : Screen cracked in 5 places after a drop 3 months after getting it.
HTC Tytn II: Currently purple after a drop.

I won't be financially able to buy any new phone during the 24 month contract time. I'm just afraid of dropping the X5 or cracking the screen and spending 15 months on an old backup phone.

Good point. Well, gorilla glass will help your case, and the many Motorola phones my friends and family have owned go through as much abuse and misuse as Nokia phones, and still work to this day. I'm also looking at a Defy because I work outside a lot, but waiting for my current contract to end so that I can go somewhere better. either that, or the N8 will be my next handset.

[x-scon]

Last night I got this rather fascinating video. It shows the growth of Android from October 2008 to January 2011. The video was uploaded and created by Android Developers and shows global activations through the months.

Things remain pretty smooth until the latter half of 2009 when all hell seems to break loose. Enjoy?
Via CoolSmartPhone.com

One commenter from youtube has the right idea.
He says: "Looks like Skynet becoming self-aware... awesome."

It's time to jump on this bandwagon guys, you won't regret it! ;)

[Jodez]

Android = Skynet? haha droids are the new terminators

[x-scon]

Android = Skynet? haha droids are the new terminators

Google already knows everything about everyone and as soon as all people with mobile phones have Android devices they will know where we are at all times too. It's scary but true.
Android is even used for military devices and in cars, so the Skynet comparison isn't too far fetched :P

[vii]

People keep jokingly say that Google will take over the world. Am I the only one hoping this happens for real? I love Google and everything they do, from their products to the way they run their business(Doing research/work on what interrests you is a mandatory 30% of your work hours).

I for one welcome our new Googly overlords.

(My dream is to one day work for Google)

[x-scon]

This relates to the previous video I posted indicating global Android activations for the last year and a bit.

Recently we saw a video based around Android activations in a map with loads of lights counting as activations and this video soon spread around the internet.
This number has now been put into different content in this new video which makes you truly realise how big Android really is now!.

A very well put together video I am sure you will agree. This year could really be the year of Android!
Via Coolsmartphone.com

[Cranky]

Good point. Well, gorilla glass will help your case, and the many Motorola phones my friends and family have owned go through as much abuse and misuse as Nokia phones, and still work to this day. I'm also looking at a Defy because I work outside a lot, but waiting for my current contract to end so that I can go somewhere better. either that, or the N8 will be my next handset.

Or you pay R50 - R100 a month extra insure the phone and when you F it up you can get it replaced ?

Had N97 i fell on it ( slipped on stairs and my phone broke my fall while my GF came close to having a stroke laughing at me bouncing down the stairs ) and i was max insured so i could choose any handset between 8 - 12K and went for the HTC Desire HD and had to pay in R500 for the new phone so dont see the reason why you would not insure it

[Legion]

Epic news SE replaced my X10's motherboard with a more stable revision.
It now preforms as it should.

I did a full update from SE thru Seus.
Enabling Dual touch.

I then Rooted the device and deleted all the blog down apps,
like Timescape and Mediascape along with loads of other junk.

I disabled some of the services "face recognition"

+35% speed gained

I increased a few parameters
VM-chace from 24 to 32 "increases virtual memory slice"
VM-actions from 35 to 40 "increases actions that can be taken per VM cycle"

+26% speed gained

This severely boosted the reactivity without affecting battery life.

Using some tools i found on XDA
I applied JIT "just in time compiler optimization" this adds a much needed optimizations
I flashed a custom dual touch driver "much smoother and more accurate"

+51% speed gained

-For those of you not keeping count

35
+26
+51
----
=112


Wow thats a +112% boost without sacrificing any stability, features, battery life, heat build up...
Needless to say i feel mad at myself for so deeply criticizing SE, the hardware is really brilliant.
But it seems SE just needs to get the whole software side figured.

[Cpt.Monde]

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play review.

In the end, we have to give Sony Ericsson Xperia Play the benefit of the doubt. Many of us expected it will feature a multicore chipset with scorching GPU to take our mind away, but Sony seems to have reserved that for the PSP2, dubbed Next Generation Portable. It also shies away from a unorthodox exterior, in order to keep in line with Sony Ericsson’s Xperia line fresh looks, curves and materials.

Yet there is something about it for being the first dedicated handset for Android gaming that makes us dismiss the notion that Sony is just milking the PlayStation mojo with the Xperia Play. We came to the conclusion that it is a very capable first effort for a game-centric Android device, the green robot’s first “console”.

Here's the full review

[Drakus]

Herp derp derp

[Cpt.Monde]

^^ That's a home screen replacement app called SPB Shell (methinks) if anyone wanted to know.

Didn't work so well on my Galaxy S. :\

[Drakus]

Yep SPB Shell.

Works great on my HTC desire which has a custom ROM(Gingerbread - Cyanogen mod 7)

EDIT I pm'd you the solution. Live long and prosper.

[Legion]

Sweet just finished tweaking my x10 to hell.
Spent 5 weeks perfecting every corner of the internal OS.
The rom i based this on was CM6.13 "froyo" alot of parameters were adjusted and updated.
I prefer to use my droid in landscape mode.
CPU undervolted and overclocked via kernel.
Ports allowed "droid wall"






Night filter













Speed is up.
Battery life is insane.
Reliability is perfection.

I'm busy with a extra security feature.
We have to wear small GPS locator's at work.
If SET if the phone lost. i can just ping it and pick it up on google maps..
"at this point the phone locks and encrypts itself, all high priority data dumped to a second server"
If it's completely out of my reach..
It will go on to completely destroy the nand and scramble the sd and rom memory.

I was gona try over-volting the cpu but thats really hard to test..
Phone's don't grow on money trees.

[Drakus]

You just gotta love the ability of the android phones to be customized. It makes you realize what an overpriced trinket the Iphones are.