NYCPHP Meetup

[Ajai Khattri]

Ive spent years following developments in the mobile space (Im a refugee 
from the Psion / Symbian world :-)

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009, Peter Sawczynec wrote:

> T-Mobile HTC "myTouch" w/ google Android OS (brand new, Aug 5 09)

I just pulled the trigger and ordered this last week. Ill explain why a 
bit later.
 
> Sprint Palm Pre (new, mid-Jun 09) 

Pre is great if you dont mind being on Sprint's US-only network (or maybe 
you dont mind paying the exorbitant amount to acquire the UK GSM version 
unlocked! Has gotten greta reviews and I like the whole embrace-the-cloud 
concept and universal search concept.

>From a development standpoint, Pre is nice. Any web developer can write 
Pre apps (Basically, you've got a Javascript engine embedded in the 
frontend running on top of a Linux kernel, so unlike the iPhone you can 
access acclerometer, GPS and app data from JavaScript). You use HTML and 
CSS to build the GUI. If I had the choice I would probably buy a Pre, but 
I hate Sprint so Im waiting for a GSM version to come to the US, but that 
might not happen until late 2010...

> AT&T iPhone 3G S 

Very nice and pretty good value at $199. Im not a big fan of Obfuscated-C 
:-) so as a developer its got a steeper learning curve. There are a 
bazillion apps for it and its hard sorting the wheat from the chaff. But 
being locked on AT&T's network is a drag for me. That said, it is a nice 
phone.

> T-Mobile RIM Blackberry Curve 8900

I like the haptic feedback of the Storm more than the Curve. Development 
environment is (like Android) Java-based. More business-oriented, so I 
never think of them as 'sexy'.
 
> T-Mobile Samsung Comeback SGH-T559 

Did not (along with the envy) make my smartphone "A" list :-)


So why did I order the Ion / Magic / G2 / myTouch ?

Pre was actually my top choice but Im never going back to Sprint. While Im 
waiting (hoping?) for a GSM Pre (or some other webOS device like the Eos) 
I decided I needed a smartphone now even if I only get a year of usage out 
of it.

Im a T-Mobile customer and I didn't want to switch carrier and T-Mobile 
have plenty of roaming coverage in Europe which was important to me. Also 
when deciding between Android and iPhone, the fact that Android is open 
source was a major factor in my decision to look at the myTouch over the 
iPhone. The G2 is quad-band and has gotten good reviews. T-Mobile are 
running a pre-sale for existing customers so we get it first for $199. I 
should get mine the first week of August.

(You might also consider the HTC Hero which runs Android and has a 
stunning UI, BUT the reviews I read said the hardware was not quite up to 
the task. The last I heard, the FCC had approved a version that looks like 
it could run on Sprint's network. Finally, a T-Mobile exec mentioned they 
had no plan to offer the Hero on their network, so that was that).



-- 
Aj.