Uh, nowhere, really.

Looks like this should be doable now once your account is transitioned.


And not to stir this old pot too much, but had I kept the Captivate, I'd still be running 2.1 today had I chosen to stay within the supported bounds of the device. Samsung is starting to upset a lot of Android owners with a nearly non existent update cycle for their US bound products. T-Mobile's variant, the Vibrant is supposed to start seeing Froyo updates today. All during a time when the Nexus S (A slightly tweaked Galaxy S) is shipping with 2.3 Gingerbread.

Unfortunately I'm tagged by this: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1050693

Looks like my Analytics and Voice accounts are holding me back.

Most manufacturers seem to be getting little better in regards to updates, but over-all you're not going to see the same type of upgradeability as general-purpose computers and a certain other brand of phones.

These companies just come from a different background and their business methodologies are completely different, based on high product churn. They're trying to apply the same principles to smart phones as they always have to feature and dumb phones.

Google isn't interested in the slightest either because their OS is geared toward one thing and one thing only, delivering ad impressions. Android will get better and even more wide spread than it is now, but I think 2 or even 5 years from now, the same complaints will exist.

Interesting to note that the Nexus One has been updated to Android 2.2.2.

Interesting because 2.3 has been out for a month on the Nexus S.

Loving the Desire HD I have had for a week now. (Needed to get something that would happily do Active Sync with my exchange server) - Froyo with the Go Launcher is fast, and I like some of the GPS/compass tools

I would still far rather have buttons, but where this wins hands down over the iPhone is I just throw my fingers at the screen keyboard and 99% of the time it figures it out even if I hit the wrong buttons!

It's pretty damn whizzy :-)

Battery life isn't good - need to charge it every couple of days, so I've had to get used to not just charging it on a Saturday, but I'll cope I guess

A couple of days! I had/have the battery draining problem with mine, it will drain it in under 12 hours unless I have USB Debugging enabled. With it enabled it will easily do over 24hrs, but the only things syncing are GMail/Yahoo Mail and eBay.

Jeez - well, second day I got it I got a full set of toggle widgets, so my default is nothing connecting except phone and my Exchange mail. I have gmail connect hourly.

Everything else I toggle on when I need it (magnetics, GPS, wifi etc) with one touch. Although I haven't looked at USB debugging - it only ever comes on briefly when I connect to my laptop but then is disabled as soon as sync starts.

Yeah, a couple days amazes me.

Fortunately, I have a dock for my phone that sits on my nightstand. I've always used my phone as an alarm clock anyway, so I just set it on that dock (it has contact charging) and it charges every night.

Rory, you might be interested in "Power Control Plus." It costs a couple bucks, but gives you the best, most customizable power control widget I've seen. Definitely blows away the stock Android power widget.

Also, while I haven't seen the Go Launcher, my launcher of choice these days is called Zeam. I've attached a photo of the home screen I've created using it, and I like how clean it is. I've had it remove the text from my shortcuts, I've added 1 row and 1 column, the menu bar is hidden, and the dock at the bottom only has some shortcuts I use a lot on it. I launch the dialer by swiping up, I bring notification shade down by swiping down, and I launch the master list of apps by double tapping on the screen (these are all customizable).

The power widget you see there isn't the one I was talking about, it's just the standard one. The power widget I have now has the following buttons (that I chose): auto rotate on/off, bluetooth on/off, wifi on/off, brightness toggle (w/ four levels), mute on/off, and a flashlight button that turns the LED on for a surprisingly bright light.

Anyway, I'm glad you're liking your Android phone. What keyboard is on there? The way you talk about it, it sounds like non-stock, but I can't tell what it is...

Whilst I don't know how you'd do better since all smartphones have loads of icons, I don't see how thats "clean". Its just a mass of icons and widgets. You not use the multiple screens?

I just use Launcher Pro along with some widgets like the calendar and Google Voice. All the random items which I don't use all the time get stuck on one of the extra screens which I just swipe left/right to get to.

Meh. Your opinion. I think it looks better than when it has the text under the icons. Fine, I'll say it's "Cleaner." I've also tweaked it since then, taking some of it off.

And no, I have a single home screen. IMO, if you have more than two screens that you have to swipe between, it takes far longer to get to an icon you need by swiping. The three icons on the top right (the ones with text) are actually widgets that act like folders (they don't let me take the text off). Those apps are two taps away, and I find that quicker than even one swipe and a tap.

Anyway, I have pretty quick access to everything on my phone - that I use - with my current setup. Nothing is more than one screen press away.


Sorry, you added this after I started my reply. I was using Launcher Pro, but from what I've seen, Zeam is faster. I also wanted to minimize the widgets I use, as those can slow things down and clutter up the screen. I'm down to three widgets: Tweetdeck, which posts to Twitter and Facebook in one widget; Power Control Plus, which lets me toggle almost anything on my phone; and App Organizer for organizing the remaining apps that I don't have on my home screen.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/revie...-on-a-leash.ars

For future reference if I try Android again. The Samsung modified mail client was one of my biggest issues, though it sounds like the stock Android one is also pretty bad.

Yeah, from what I've seen of it it's not very good. Fortunately I live in GMail, and that client works beautifully.

Sprint announces dual-screen Android phone

It's hideously ugly.

It's made by Kyocera.

The dual screens are completely unnecessary.

Using the few applications that can take advantage of the two screens sounds like a complicated mess.


But damn, I just find it interesting There's not a chance I would buy it, and it will fail miserably on the market, but I'd love to check it out.

Hopefully it might be one of those things that fails and is availed used quite cheaply. The problem would be that it will never get upgrades, and if it's unloved by the community there won't be any unofficial ROMs

Hallelujah! If you have a Nexus One (I know there are a couple people here), you can now run Gingerbread!

It might just because it's new, but there seem to be some speed and stability improvements.

My current favorite new feature (aside from the darker theme) is the standby animation. I took a video of it:



*edit* if you need a guide on the installation, here

Woohoo!

Bitt, I have to ask if you ever see this on your N1:

Sometimes, when I press the power button to turn the phone on from standby, for some reason the lock screen won't respond to my touch. Mostly, it just seems frozen. I'm then led on this journey of frustration:

• I press the power button again, and it doesn't turn off the phone, it just dims the screen like it does when it starts timing out
• I press the power button again, and the screen returns to full brightness - I'm still unable to get it to react to my touch
• I press the button again, and sometimes the screen will turn off or it will repeat steps 1 and 2
• If it goes off, I press it again and sometimes only the "hard" buttons will come on, but pressing any of them doesn't do anything, and I don't get that haptic feedback I usually get from them

All this stuff will repeat in various orders for about two minutes or until I leave the phone alone or (what I've resorted to recently) until I pop the battery out.

So far I haven't had the experience in 2.3, and in fact I haven't noticed any little weirdness at all that I can think of. This was the only really bad bug I was having before the upgrade (and it was only happening one out of every 30-60 or so times I'd try to use the phone).

In fact, another bug that I've been trying to get Google to listen to for almost a year now seems to have been fixed! Thank goodness for Gingerbread!

...now I want some cookies...

Nope, never seen that. Occasionally it'll be slow to respond, but that's usually when the CPU is maxed out doing something else. But I don't think I've had a pull-the-battery situation more than once or twice ever.

I think I've seen something similar a couple of times, but I don't run plain Android. I use Kang-o-rama 1.1 SP1 ROM. Just waiting for 1.2 to be released...

Stig

Interesting. I'm guessing it's some app I've installed. Wish I knew which one so I could write the developer an angry letter. I bet it's this one awful app called "SD Move" or something...



ps- just kidding, everyone should download SD Move. I use it every time I download a new app or see old apps get updates.

I'm curious, what made you pick that one over the Cyanogen ROM?

No other reason than that it had several programs bundled in, so most of them were put in the more write-protected flash than if you installed them yourself, giving you more space for other programs. At least, I think that was the reason why I installed it. I was running CM first. KoR is basically CM with extra programs added.

Stig

You know about my SDWatch, right? It's even better for maintenance.

No I did not! But I just went to the Market website and installed it! Thanks!

Ps- have you guys used the Market site? I love being able to install applications directly from the web...

I'm using both, and they work very good. Unless, of course, they're causing the problem Matt reported...


Haven't even heard of it. I take it you're browsing a certain address using the phone? What's the difference from the regular market?

Stig

Nope! I'm talking about a site I browse to on my PC. If you go here, you can browse the entire market, and when you click "Install" on any app, it automatically installs on your device.

The general idea is that while using an app repository to download a specific app is fine on the phone, it's not the greatest browsing experience. A full desktop or laptop might be better for that.

I think it's also a nice way for people interested in Android to see the apps available.

The iOS side has had both options from the start, and I'd say about 80% of the apps I have came from iTunes on the desktop. The remaining 20% or so were downloaded on the phone or iPad directly, usually when someone recommends me an app while out and about. It's a nice upgrade for Android, and even has the benefit of doing the install directly on the phone when you click buy, instead of having to then run a manual sync.

But that's it, it's not quite the same thing. There's no syncing, and there's no software you have to install on your computer. I can just browse around, and in two clicks the app is installed one my phone.

*edit*
It's been possible to do this on Android for quite a while now. There's a site/app called AppBrain that did the same thing and added social features. I've uninstalled it now because this does the same thing and is from Google.

One thing: are you certain iOS has had that "from the start?" I seem to recall that apps weren't part of iTunes at first... I know it had that feature before Android has this one, but I didn't think it was right out of the gate like you're saying...

I meant to say it's the same general idea, the concept of on phone or on computer browsing. With both options, it meets peoples needs well, no matter their situation. From my experience, I do prefer browsing on a larger screen. The on phone method tends to only be used when I'm going for a specific app and I'm away from a computer. Since AppBrain wasn't built in, fewer people would know and use it, so this is a good thing for Google to host themselves.


Yes, the apps were in iTunes before the phone could even use them (by a day). I remember browsing and grabbing a few before updating my iPhone to the 2.0 release.


Prior to 2.0, Apple did add an iTunes store to the phone, for music and podcast downloading only.