Saturday, December 06, 2008 10:12 AM | rahel luethy | 14 comment(s)

android dev phone 1

now that these are available, the option of my se m600i going into strike after a difficult life in constant drooling and dropping pain, is not so scary anymore (no, i'm not interested in an iphone, thanks).

11:58 AM |  Anonymous said...

Why not consider Nokia E71 for its beauty - and video recording capabilities? And: why on iPhone?

10:37 AM |  Anonymous said...

If you manage to get a Dev Phone 1 to Switzerland without paying the USD 210 shipping fee, I'd be interested as well :)

Unfortunately, we can't even pool orders, since every single one costs 210.00 for shipping :(

Jonas: The E71 is excellent as well, for me personally the lack of decent IMAP client, the small keys, the lack of touchscreen and the forced use of Windows as PC OS if you want to use some of the features (e.g. install maps) are a downside. Android/G1/Dev Phone 1 is cross-platform.

Though I hear that Nokia Maps is better suited for pedestrians, Google Maps on Android isn't quite up to the task. Hearsay, that! ;)

9:45 AM |  rahel luethy said...

oops, i wasn't expecting the shipping to be that costly, thanks for the info, ramon -- luckily i have a few friends in the US who would hopefully jump in as "routers" -- i'll let you know before i order mine :)

9:41 PM |  Anonymous said...

Actually Google Maps in its latest release does also provide walking instructions (as well as public transport, which Nokia Maps doesn't), and even street maps. I never use Nokia Maps, but I also don't need Nokia Map's car navigation system. Thus another point against E71.

10:34 AM |  Anonymous said...

Good point, Jonas.

Do you know if there is a way to cache Google Maps map data on the phone (e.g. from a WLAN spot)? Roaming data charges are MASSIVE with Swiss providers, and often you need maps while you're out of the country, so being able to pre-cache maps before you leave for some place would be fantastic.

3:13 PM |  Anonymous said...

Apparently, shipping to Switzerland is "only" USD 130 now. USD 30 of it is VAT, the rest is shipping.

This makes it MUCH cheaper than buying e.g. a SIM-unlocked T-Mobile G1 at Digitec: CHF 584.00 for the Dev Phone 1 vs. CHF 849.00 for the G1. It's good that the US dollar is so weak at the moment.

I'll first try to write a PDF viewer for Android since that's a killer criterion for me. It'll be 2012 before I finish :P

10:26 AM |  rahel luethy said...

looks as if there are already a ton of java pdf libraries out there -- wrapping any of them in a simple android app hopefully won't take 3 years. bet you'll get help from the android community, too -- good luck! (if you don't succeed by 2012 let me know -- my kids will hopefully allow for some spare time by then, so i may be able to help you :))

4:25 PM |  Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pointer :) I think I've found that page before and of all the libraries, pdf-renderer seems to be best. Right now I'm trying to render to an ImageView (first rasterizing to PNG). This is not ideal, but I don't think we can use the Graphics2D primitives since Dalvik doesn't have the whole Graphics2D package?

It would be better to draw directly to Graphics2D of course.

This is my first attempt at Java, I think your kids themselves have a good chance of finishing this before me :)

4:43 PM |  rahel luethy said...

nope, Graphics2D is not part of android. it contains its own 2D API (with Canvas, Bitmap, Rect, Paint, etc) -- so if your ImageView approach wont work out, you might want to give this a try... i will keep training my kids in the meantime :)

10:34 PM |  Anonymous said...

@Ramon: To cache google maps data you need a different application, which then lacks the routing features. check out this link (german):

http://www.symbian60.mobi/2008/03/17/google-maps-karten-offline-benutzen/

or (for offline use) switch back to nokia maps since it's not _that_ bad either ;-)

or get a decent roaming contract/package.

9:59 AM |  Anonymous said...

@Jonas: Thanks for the hint :)

About roaming contracts: What I've seen is between CHF 15.60 per MB and CHF 4.40 per MB. But the 4.40 offer (at Sunrise) is only available if you get the Global option as well, which costs 9.00/month.

What package deals do you know? :)

4:04 PM |  Anonymous said...

You probably get the cheapest data roaming with icqsim.com.

Within switzerland: Swisscom easy liberty uno is ok, CHF 1.- per MB but: max CHF 5.- per day - ideal for streaming or other data intensive applications.

12:14 PM |  Anonymous said...

Google/Brightstarcorp have MASSIVELY reduced their shipping fees! I just ordered a Dev Phone 1 to Switzerland and shipping is now only USD 47. This is fantastic :)

1:12 PM |  rahel luethy said...

ich habe in letzter zeit etwas den android-faden verloren (und meine spaerliche freizeit javafx "gewidmet") -- gibt's nicht unterdessen das htc magic? gibt's das wohl naechstens als dev phone 2? pros/cons?