Buying an Android/Linux smartphone

Well folks, my shitty old Nokia's battery no longer lasts a full day and I'm in the market for something new and fresh. In particular, I'm looking at getting one of the brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S II smartphones, running Linux.

My concerns are, in decreasing order of importance:

- I want to be able to (read: will not buy if I can't) root the device. I have found several sets of instructions online for doing this, but they all assume (and don't actually tell you this until you get to that step) that you have a computer running Microsoft Windows available. I do not have such a computer, and have no desire to arrange one.
- I have heard that the audio on the Samsung Galaxy S II is considered by some to be inferior to the audio on the original Samsung Galaxy S. While audio is important to me, it is not critical because I intend to buy a separate music player at some point. I can sacrifice a bit of audio quality for improvement in other features.

Do we have any FESers with one of these devices, or who knows anything about them? Any advice you can give me? I will probably be making my purchase sometime within the next two months or so.

Well folks, my shitty old Nokia's battery no longer lasts a full day and I'm in the market for something new and fresh. In particular, I'm looking at getting one of the brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S II smartphones, running Linux.

My concerns are, in decreasing order of importance:

- I want to be able to (read: will not buy if I can't) root the device. I have found several sets of instructions online for doing this, but they all assume (and don't actually tell you this until you get to that step) that you have a computer running Microsoft Windows available. I do not have such a computer, and have no desire to arrange one.
Do we have any FESers with one of these devices, or who knows anything about them? Any advice you can give me? I will probably be making my purchase sometime within the next two months or so.

iPhone.

Also:

- I have heard that the audio on the Samsung Galaxy S II is considered by some to be inferior to the audio on the original Samsung Galaxy S. While audio is important to me, it is not critical because I intend to buy a separate music player at some point. I can sacrifice a bit of audio quality for improvement in other features.

Do you have a fanny pack to carry around all your various devices?

iPhone.

No.

Do you have a fanny pack to carry around all your various devices?

Irrelevant.

Quote from: Lorddave on July 20, 2011, 08:41:03 AM

iPhone.

No.

Why?

HTC has recently made a point of making it especially easy to root their devices, they seem to be the friendliest towards modification. Go to www.xda-developers.com for information about rooting various phones, that's where I get all my information.

Here's an article on rooting an HTC Hero using Linux:
http://larstobi.blogspot.com/2009/08/rooting-htc-hero.html

Why?

I want an Android phone, not an iPhone. As such, discussions of iPhones are off-topic in this thread. If you would like to discuss the pros and cons of purchasing an iPhone, please create a new one.

HTC has recently made a point of making it especially easy to root their devices, they seem to be the friendliest towards modification. Go to www.xda-developers.com for information about rooting various phones, that's where I get all my information.

Here's an article on rooting an HTC Hero using Linux:
http://larstobi.blogspot.com/2009/08/rooting-htc-hero.html

Oh, nice. I'll look into it, thanks.

Here's a quote from the HTC CEO from Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/HTC/posts/10150307320018084

"There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened. Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC

If that makes your decision any easier on what kind of phone you want.

Android sucks.

Dude why would you want a phone like that? You have a computer at home, you don't need the fucking internet wherever you go.

Quote from: Lorddave on July 20, 2011, 08:49:11 AM

Why?

I want an Android phone, not an iPhone. As such, discussions of iPhones are off-topic in this thread. If you would like to discuss the pros and cons of purchasing an iPhone, please create a new one.

My apologizes, I misread your thread.

Android sucks.

Hipster doofus.

HTC are fantastic. Go with one of their models.

Here's a quote from the HTC CEO from Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/HTC/posts/10150307320018084

Quote

"There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened. Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC

If that makes your decision any easier on what kind of phone you want.

It certainly does. I'm always more willing to support businesses who are willing to support my freedom of choice in how I use their products, which is the reason why Google Android/Linux is my smartphone OS of choice to begin with.

Edit: Reading through the comments on that announcement, it sounds like it may have been an empty promise. I will investigate further before committing to a purchase.

Android sucks.

Feel free to not buy the same model smartphone that I do. Better yet, feel free to not open this thread again if it bothers you so much.

Dude why would you want a phone like that? You have a computer at home, you don't need the fucking internet wherever you go.

Irrelevant.

HTC are fantastic. Go with one of their models.

That's two recommendations for HTC on the first page of the thread. They must be doing something good.

Thanks guys, I'll be looking into buying an HTC phone -- probably next month, perhaps not until September.

After some consideration, I think the HTC Sensation is best suited to my needs, looking only at the tech specs. I will investigate the feasibility of rooting this device.

Go to www.xda-developers.com for information about rooting various phones, that's where I get all my information.

I am enjoying the abundance of options which default to "Irrelevant" on this page: http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdamaster

I am enjoying the abundance of options which default to "Irrelevant" on this page: http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdamaster

It's like they designed it just for you. Also, from what I've found, all new phones produced by HTC have unlocked bootloaders. The complains by people on facebook were probably people who didn't realize that any phone that had been produced, or was in the actual production process before the announcement, wouldn't be unlocked. That could be an awful lot of phone models. It seems that any brand new phones coming out now by HTC are unlocked.

If you'd like an Android phone, go for the HTC.
If you'd like a Linux phone, I dunno.

It's like they designed it just for you. Also, from what I've found, all new phones produced by HTC have unlocked bootloaders. The complains by people on facebook were probably people who didn't realize that any phone that had been produced, or was in the actual production process before the announcement, wouldn't be unlocked. That could be an awful lot of phone models. It seems that any brand new phones coming out now by HTC are unlocked.

That's reassuring, thanks. I think I'll go for the HTC Sensation, it looks pretty powerful while having a lesser quantity of pointless, patronising features than some other models I looked at.

If you'd like an Android phone, go for the HTC.
If you'd like a Linux phone, I dunno.

Every Android phone uses Linux as its kernel. The operating system is more accurately described as Android/Linux, by analogy with the name GNU/Linux for GNU systems that use Linux as their kernel, such as Ubuntu.

In Android/Linux, the user interacts directly with Android, while Linux is managing the hardware resources behind the scenes.
In GNU/Linux, the user interacts directly with various GNU utilities, while Linux is managing the hardware resources behind the scenes.

This also means that, at least in theory, it should be feasible to install GNU/Linux on an Android phone.

Every Android phone uses Linux as its kernel. The operating system is more accurately described as Android/Linux, by analogy with the name GNU/Linux for GNU systems that use Linux as their kernel, such as Ubuntu.

In Android/Linux, the user interacts directly with Android, while Linux is managing the hardware resources behind the scenes.
In GNU/Linux, the user interacts directly with various GNU utilities, while Linux is managing the hardware resources behind the scenes.

This also means that, at least in theory, it should be feasible to install GNU/Linux on an Android phone.

Irrelevant.

- I want to be able to root the device. Any advice you can give me?

Buy a fleshlight instead.

After some further investigation, I believe the Samsung Galaxy S II has the edge over the HTC Sensation. It has many times greater internal storage capacity, and seems not to be so heavily designed around shit I don't want, such as Facebook.

I have a HTC G2, I am satisfied with the phone, but my battery has a problem and the phone will sometimes cut off even with power. This seems to be a small problem with this phone, I probably just have defective battery.

First off, once you root your phone you will probably want to flash a custom rom. Some custom roms are built from the android open source project, so you get the minimum amount of proprietary crap on your phone (probably the kernel is still proprietary).

HTC phones are relatively easy to root. To root my phone I pushed an executable to my phone using android platform tools. This executable rooted my phone. HTC however does pay licensing fees to microsoft for software patents though. Furthermore HTC sense, HTC's laucher/extensive theme is proprietary. Not all HTC phones have sense.

Don't look at the included ROM when deciding to pick a phone, you will just end up changing it anyway.

The best android phone right now is the Google Nexus S.

I have a HTC G2, I am satisfied with the phone, but my battery has a problem and the phone will sometimes cut off even with power. This seems to be a small problem with this phone, I probably just have defective battery.

Irrelevant.

First off, once you root your phone you will probably want to flash a custom rom. Some custom roms are built from the android open source project, so you get the minimum amount of proprietary crap on your phone (probably the kernel is still proprietary).

The kernel is Linux. It is not proprietary.

HTC phones are relatively easy to root. To root my phone I pushed an executable to my phone using android platform tools. This executable rooted my phone. HTC however does pay licensing fees to microsoft for software patents though. Furthermore HTC sense, HTC's laucher/extensive theme is proprietary. Not all HTC phones have sense.

Quite.

Don't look at the included ROM when deciding to pick a phone, you will just end up changing it anyway.

The best android phone right now is the Google Nexus S.

Sounds terrible.

The only problem I have with my Desire is its battery. If I decide to track an hours bike ride, the use of GPS and Wireless internet in addition to music will kill the battery extremely fast. Although, I've never had an iPhone to see how its battery goes under the same pressures.

It's rarely an issue as I always have access to the charger.

Google Nexus S is crap compared to the original.

And now to lighten the mood:
Nokia 3310 hehehehehehehe

I remember when I considered the 3210 such a cool gadget to own.

I had a Motorola V2288 with a Harry Potter ringtone. I did.

My Samsung Galaxy S II was shipped yesterday, and should be here next week. If anyone else is looking to purchase one, I strongly recommend HandTec -- they have great prices and great email support.

My Samsung Galaxy S II was shipped yesterday, and should be here next week. If anyone else is looking to purchase one, I strongly recommend HandTec -- they have great prices and great email support.

You don't even know if they shipped you the phone (as opposed to, say, a brick) and yet you readily recommend them? You trust people too easily.

Well folks, my shitty old Nokia's battery no longer lasts a full day and I'm in the market for something new and fresh. In particular, I'm looking at getting one of the brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S II smartphones, running Linux.

My concerns are, in decreasing order of importance:

- I want to be able to (read: will not buy if I can't) root the device. I have found several sets of instructions online for doing this, but they all assume (and don't actually tell you this until you get to that step) that you have a computer running Microsoft Windows available. I do not have such a computer, and have no desire to arrange one.
- I have heard that the audio on the Samsung Galaxy S II is considered by some to be inferior to the audio on the original Samsung Galaxy S. While audio is important to me, it is not critical because I intend to buy a separate music player at some point. I can sacrifice a bit of audio quality for improvement in other features.

I want to buy a car, but I dont want a car made out of metal. I want it made out of cardboard if possible, or failing that, latex. I believe there are cars made out of fibregalss available but I dont want one of those, because they require petrol, and I have no desire to visit a petrol station. I want my car to run on burning feathers.
Also I want the tyres to be made out of woven twigs and I want to be able to (read: will not buy if I cant) dig up roots with the wing mirrors, which must not be made of glass.
Its not too much to ask, surely?
 

Parsifal's phone will be faster than his new laptop. It will.