The Amazon Appstore for Android OS smartphones has opened, and they are offering new free apps every day to promote it. Yesterday’s app was Angry Birds Rio (still free)… Wednesday was World Series of Poker: Hold ’em Legend (not free anymore), Thursday is Doodle Jump.
Even though I don’t really play games, I really should upgrade to an iOS or Android phone when my contract ends in August. Some of the apps out there nowadays are really useful.
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These new smartphones are great. I’ve had a couple generations of the iphone now, and love them. I do like the new 4″ android phones, though. I think that may be my next direction.
Good luck… You’ll love it.
And Angry Birds is a great time killer waiting for a table at CAKE on Friday nights..
Careful though, for every useful app there are 5 addicting games that will try to take over your schedule!
Iphone locks down all their phones, you can’t install something a developer created and put on his website like you can with android. There are so many limitations with iphone.
1) Do you want a keyboard, or virtual keyboard (android gives you a choice)
2) Do you want sprint, t-mobile, verizon, AT&T, virgin mobile, metropcs (android is the only one)
3) Do you want a tiny phone, thin phone, large screen, small screen?
Android is truly the operating system for smartphones as windows is for computers.
I’ve had a blackberry, iphone and android phone and by far android is the best. More free apps, more flexiblity and a great navigation system with android. I sold my garmin navigation, because of the free built in one that google provides is better.
Also do some research, most android apps are free, while they cost money in iphone, mostly because there’s a tiny banner on the app. But if you research between blackberry, iphone and android. There’s been reports all over that the exact same app is the most expensive on blackberry, then iphone and android the app is generally the least expensive.
I don’t really keep track, but they should have a site that shows iPhone apps that are unavailable on Android, and vice versa. There seems to usually be a lag time before some apps go on Android.
ive had the Virgin-Moblie Samsung intercept Android phone for 3 months now…happy with it…ONLY $25 per month for 300 mintues and unlimited data…(web,text,email…etc)…by far the best deal out there…they have other plans too…(im not doing a commercial for them…just a happy customer..spreading the word…i have converted a few friends of mine too)…
do your research..one of the downsides is VMobile does not ‘roam’ so if you are off their network…you get no signal..you dont roam to another provider’s tower…if you are in major metro cities..should not be issue…they utilize the Sprint network..and are owned by Sprint….i have great customer service myself..but, some have complaints.
Man, are you still kicking around on your TP2? Spend the extra $10 a month and get SERO Premium with an Android phone. Worth every penny. After a month you won’t be able to imagine life without it!
Haha, the TP2 does the job for now, it’s a great WiFi hotspot while traveling. I’m waiting to see what new iPhone features come out in July, and then will decide for either Android in SERO or iPhone on Verizon with corporate discount.
The problem with SERO Premium is that all the best phones are 4G and thus cost $50 a month, only $10 less than a similar plan for iPhone after available discounts.
I find it hilarious that people are flocking to smartphones. I’ve been stuck carrying a blackberry for work for years. My companies have always paid for my phones and in exchange the phones are always around. 24/7/365. I would be delighted to give up email and web access on my phone. It’s not going to happen.
I’m apparently in the minority though as so many think they “need” a smartphone. Jobs convinced the world they should want to throw away $20-30 extra per month on phones they don’t really have a need for. And after he proved people would gladly fork over an extra $400 a year for cell service, Google hopped on board with their half-baked, still-feels-like-it-was-made-in-a-garage Android. End result smart phones are all the rage.
Everybody in my department carries a smartphone, yet not a single one is asked to carry one for work. They do so willingly. This is like someone purposely tying an anchor around his neck and then bragging that he pays extra to have that anchor on his neck daily. When talk of finances or 401ks pops up people have the gall to say they’re out of money. Um…yeah…get rid of the stupid, smartphone and you’ll have at least $500 more to put into your savings.
As for the quality of the various types. Blackberry is great if you have multiple email accounts. Android still can’t process 5-6-7 email accounts smoothly and its notifications still are pretty awful. Quick, clean and easy = BB and its software.
Android has…um…lots of product choices and tons of random apps but overall the GUI is still pretty shoddy and there’s no real QA on any app for it. So trusting Android for work, to me, isn’t an option when I’m dealing with minutes to respond. It’s a great toy, but it has no polish and is not a viable work solution. Additionally, I found in my month trying an Android phone its nigh impossible to go several days between charges and no Android app still allows the easy of deleting/responding to emails like a blackberry. One button press on a BB and an email is gone. You can’t nuke an email with a simple button press yet on Android. Really, it’s not designed for email. It’s designed to play YouTube videos and scan barcodes for the cheapest place to buy a wine online.
iPhone’s just smooth as a consumer device. Apple knows how to make good consumer products – like Porsche knows how to build cars. It’s not at all a work phone but on an iPhone everything works and it looks right, reacts correctly and the apps are vetted in some manner. Still wouldn’t use one for work but at least with an Apple product you’re getting something designed by people who understand good software development principles.
Seems AT&T, Sprint and Verizon are the biggest winners in the inane popularity of smartphones. Joe Average…yeah, he’s just tugged into the fray thinking he must have it (like cable tv).
@bgdc The majority of my technical savvy friends and including myself are using the Android platform because we have the knowledge to fully utilize the OS properly and can take full advantage of it.
Apple knows how to make a phone for simple people who like a simple OS without needing to customize it or do not need the ability to do more than what is on the phone+apps you download. If you fall into the category of a person needing basic functions, then the iPhone is the right phone for you.
However, there is no need to bash the Android platform. Do you know why people who are experts in the technological field get frustrated with the general population concerning technology ? It is because the general population is filled with people who do not have the correct knowledge to use the technology in the correct manner and then complain about it.
Just because you don’t understand the Android platform, doesn’t give you an excuse to give it such a negative review.
29.95 / month (no contract, use your old verizon phone)
1200 minutes
2000 text
100 mb data
verizon coverage
http://www.pagepluscellular.com
been there 8 months could not imagine paying more for phone coverage now. If verizon is good in your area then switch. I tell everyone I can, but people get so loyal to at&t or verizon and they are always in a contract.
@Jonathan
There are a couple OK Android phones for Sprint that don’t require the 4G premium, plus a few more in the pipeline due by summer. Plus, Sprint has one thing that the other guys don’t: UNLIMITED DATA. If you use your phone as a hotspot, you really need this. Plus, you can roam for free on Verizon’s network, so you’re never without service. Oh, one other thing – you can’t use data+voice simultaneously on Verizon’s network.
$40+ tax is pretty hard to beat, and only Virgin Mobile is in the same neighborhood. I’m curious though, what kind of deals can you get with Verizon that would make you consider them?
@isheep – the idea of Android is so intoxicating that I think many in the tech world are willing to overlook the fact that it’s got some serious problems.
Tell me how to reliably retrieve email from multiple accounts on Android. The software should sound distinct alerts and pulse the LED/vibrate based on which account and sender or subject arrives.
Now, point to an android email account that allows you to use 1 program to handle the above, send emails from 1 program but seamlessly switch among your email accounts and when it comes time to delete the email from your phone (not the server), you can do so with 1 button press.
Further, the apps are not vetted. There is no QA. There is no consistency in UI from app to app. It’s just a hodge-podge of programming and really this goes for Android devices from one manu to another as they reskin with their own flavors…motoblur, samsung, etc.
I love the idea of an open source, ever growing software package. XMBC/Plex is a great entertainment HTPC software package. Serviio does a wonderful job too for delivering video from one box to all in a house. But android…no. It’s not quite there for business use.
Using a smartphone for anything beyond business, to me, is pissing away money. It’s not cool to be tethered to a phone 24/7/365.
Thanks for sharing this information. I’m about the get an android phone (hopefully this week) and will definitely be checking out the Amazon store. Maybe not for games though…
James – Android applications are really poor quality. it is an absolute mess. For example, there is like 30 Disney titles, none of them actually come from Disney. All made by some shady developers in Nigeria and China. Very few respectable developers support Android. There is no Hulu or Netflix application for Android for example that would let you to stream (although there is a “Netflix” Android application developed by some guy called “Jeremy” – obviously it has nothing to do with Netflix, but you get there idea). Android really became a fertile ground for malware and spammers. A lot of these “free” applications are just a means to collect data about you. See this for exampe, http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/28/android-wallpaper-app-that-steals-your-data-was-downloaded-by-millions/
Also, Android is not one system but rather collection of 15 – 20 completely incompatible systems. In china, for example, there is an independent and completely incompatible application ecosystem, called OPhone. The platform has its very own application store and entirely eschews any kind of Google tie-in. Android’s hardware manufacture also don’t like to update their software (they want you to buy a new phone ASAP, instead of prolonging the life cycle of the product).
I would stay away from Android at all costs.