Electronics tech needs to do catchup with Android... suggest a cost effect Smartphone please.

Forums › Android › Electronics tech needs to do catchup with Android... suggest a cost effect Smartphone please.

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

Master Geek

#91902 22-Oct-2011 11:19

Ok, quick background. I'm a tech/engineer and a right fussy bloke so have an iPhone4 and iPad2 but recently i've found i really need to play catchup with things Android. Sure, i've dabbled hacking a Barns & Noble Nook Color to run HoneyComb but i need to become 'dirty' with mobile phone offerings.

My problem is i will probably go for the HTC Nexus Prime once the hooplah dies down a bit but for the interim is there a general good performance mobile which will give me a full upfront honest experience of what Android is able to offer at minimum Android 2.x ???

My main 'project' is to install App AMARINO and delve into Arduino projects interacting with the mobile.... http://www.amarino-toolkit.net/index.php/home.html

So far i have seen the HTC Sensation which would be overkill down to the unbranded things on TradeMe from China.

Any help appreciated..... Pete

Jaxson

7116 posts

Uber Geek

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#536420 22-Oct-2011 13:16

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/gadget-reviews/5833755/Review-Huawei-X1-on-Telecom-XT-network

As discussed here, these are $150 at the warehouse now on Vodafone, Telecom or 2 degrees.

Might be of help?

lokhor

2816 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#536456 22-Oct-2011 15:03

Do you mean the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?

as for a good midrange phone what price range are you looking at?

Solution Architect @Firstgas Group
All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

TENKAN

282 posts

Ultimate Geek

#537648 26-Oct-2011 11:03

hey you should try the lg black p970, or even the lg p500, both of these would be a great start to android.

tenkan

KFB

11 posts

Geek

#537929 26-Oct-2011 20:05

I recently purchased a HUAWEI X1 from the Warehouse. I think it was $168. I did a bit of a comparison and read some reviews before I got it. For the money spent, it exceeded all my expectations.
Some reviews gave it the best bang for your buck and I would have to agree.
It did start to get dust between the face plate and the LCD in one corner after 3 weeks and was away another two weeks to be cleaned (under warranty).
Unfortunately the repair notes were of the cut and paste variety and I don't know whether there was a seal failure or if indeed, there is a seal. I work in a pretty clean environment, so the dust must have been of the pocket variety. It has been a week now without any reocurrence.

Because I have been using it as a WiFi signal strength meter, Satellite predictor, GPS, Compass, level, movie player, MP3 player and goodness knows what else except a phone, the battery has required recharging more often than would be normal. I have a USB charger in the car and spare USB cables to fit it plugged in my office and workshop PCs, so here is no excuse for a flat battery.

It is an art to type text on the small screen keypad, but there is a speech to text feature that sometime saves time, often not. I'm not sure if a stylus is available for these. I have tried a couple of stylii for other touch screens which did not work. while trying to figure out how one could be made, I tried using a piece of conductive foam which looked promising, I expect a stylus with a thick or flat conductive tip may work.

Check one of these out before purchasing anything else, you might be suprised.
Keith

TENKAN

282 posts

Ultimate Geek

#537960 26-Oct-2011 20:56

hi there, as your new to android i bet you like the huawei x1, but over time you will see its really got some bad habits for a start it lags like a old woman, its just to slow!thats because of the 528 MHz processor,its still on v2.2 (Froyo)it cant read PDF files(and a lot of others) and as you say its hard to text because of the small screen,and yes you will be for ever charging it with just a Li-Ion 1200 mAh battery,for your next model i still think the lg p500 for $250 from vodafone is the way to go,its way quicker,bigger screen,v2.3 gingerbread os,and a Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery.oh and you cant use a stylus pen on these phones because they have a capacitive touchscreen,cheers

tenkan

stevenz

2788 posts

Uber Geek

#538238 27-Oct-2011 17:13

Samsung Galaxy S. There's some reasonable deals to be had.

@KnightNZ

Ragnor

8035 posts

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#538446 28-Oct-2011 01:38

If you are fussy like you say and are used to a mid-high end device like the iphone 4 you definitely want to avoid the advice to look at budget androids and be looking at the $400+ price range.

I would say Huawei X5 minimum.

Do you want to use 2degrees/vodafone ie: UTMS 900/2100 or Telecom XT UTMS 850/2100 as this does determine what phone models you can use.

Most Androids are not quad band like the iphone 4.

kiwijunglist

2890 posts

Uber Geek

#538453 28-Oct-2011 02:34

^ agree with above post.

Galaxy S i9000, - $480 @ Bond n bond / Huawei X5 - $350 @ Warehouse. Don't go any cheaper as it doesn't really give you the full experience of what android can do.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

Master Geek

#538469 28-Oct-2011 06:38

Thanks the helpful as input everyone. Have settled on a Hauwei X5 on special over Labour weekend from my 'mates' (we won't recall the massive issue i had over an iPad) Dick Smith. Certainly a bit flakey at times but that might just me with my huge fat fingers!

So i've been downloading the Eclipse Java 'environment' and all of the Andriod SDKs and managed to interact with the phone so it displayed some text from me on the PC... Cool and it works, but writing that killer App is a long way off.

I do like the fact that there's no cost as it's Open Source unlike the Mac environment for iPad/iPhone App creating which is why i still have not sprung the $ to buy their SDK just yet.

What gets me that's really neat is the fact that Android phone can now be so easily used to interface with the Arduino modules to do anything... for the cost of them which work out cheaper prebuilt than me messing round and using veropboard and a soldering iron to hookup a microcontroller as we used to have to do (and program it at a machine or assembler language level)...

I should now put my iPone4 up on TradeMe but there could be some some soul searching as it remains a truly neat machine and boy that Samung Nexus Prime just keeps looking better....

Wade

2218 posts

Uber Geek

#538474 28-Oct-2011 07:01

Good choice! The X5 was my first android experience and they are a very good device for their price point. I would thoroughly recommend looking at the miui rom, it is based on gingerbread, pretty much bugfree and coming from an apple it has a lot of apple theming in it.

In short the X5's biggest shortfall is its os being on Froyo out of the box

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

Master Geek

#538938 29-Oct-2011 06:42

Agreed. Froyo is falling short on the compatibility with latest provided Android USB options do i can do Android SDK (backed to 2.3.4 only they say while clearly the phone is on 2.2.2. With a few more hours of 'playing' and experimenting i will have the X5 doing stuff that really is useful (i hope)....

smileynz

60 posts

Master Geek

#540889 3-Nov-2011 20:39

The X5 with the francisco Kernal and Miui rom. The phone rocks the house. So much faster than stock!!

You probably now about XDA forums but here's a link anyways

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1123

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

Master Geek

#540893 3-Nov-2011 20:58

smileynz: The X5 with the francisco Kernal and Miui rom. The phone rocks the house. So much faster than stock!!

You probably now about XDA forums but here's a link anyways

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1123

Yes thanks for that. Have been soaking up the info on XDA. Everyone wants Huawei to release their Android update they murmured they'd do but which appears to have be put back for now.

Had my 1st major failure today. The battery ran out totally even though i'd been recharding daily off it's wee 5Volt USB charger... Sadly i hadn't bothered to confirm charging to be actually happening.

After a few tests with multimeter i confirmed the +ve supply volts wasn't passing through. Under a bifocal head magnifier i couldn't see any damage to the teeny wee phone plug so, back to DSE and yes, a new cable ($20) and we're back in business....

One of those things i guess and hmmmm questiionable why a cable fails so quickly and if it's a warranty thing.... (i don't believe it to be containing any smarts as some USB cables do)....

As to Android, i think i'll keep the X5 standard for now. I want to have a shot at interfacing with it and the USBdroid Arduino board.

Should be fun but i'm already wondering if Froyo is too short for the new Arduino USB ADK....

MorrisTheCat

84 posts

Master Geek

#552239 1-Dec-2011 12:55

Well i began to hate the X5 with it running Froyo. Plenty (was) being talked about an eventual release of Gingerbread but constantly Huawei kept putting the date until last night it would seem (1st Dec 2011)...

I officially now have Android 2.3.5 from Huawei and the unit has finally become a joy. I could have done the 'hack' thing and installed a different ROM but i need to be able to do real-world compatible things with it so i didn't like the chance some little bug would see it hung or crashed...

So yes, X5 is way nice, even moreso than my iPhone4 (but don't tell anyone).... ;-)

Wade

2218 posts

Uber Geek

#552387 1-Dec-2011 19:45

Just switched from Oxygen 2.3.7 to Huawei 2.3.5, Oxygen was more AOSP'd, the Huawei rom seems a bit colourful themewise but all good, quirks with either rom but lockscreen on Huawei is cool.

Phone is for sale on TM if anyone is keen