[Jim]

except your tied into that contract for 18months+ and in my experience phones don't really last that long

[Paul B]

My head hurts after looking at this for too long, my contract is running out, hers has and my darn Dad has decided he wants a smartphone (nightmare!) all three have very different expectations.

Can anyone enlighten me as to which phones are suitable for syncing with Lotus notes? or if there's a way to sync Lotus notes to Google calendar so that Nat could get something HTC make?

[dave]

except your tied into that contract for 18months+ and in my experience phones don't really last that long

Dunno about that, i've never had a phone not complete the distance. Maybe different if you're buying em second hand.

[slackline]

Can anyone enlighten me as to which phones are suitable for syncing with Lotus notes? or if there's a way to sync Lotus notes to Google calendar so that Nat could get something HTC make?

Never used it, but a quick search suggests Lotus notes is now supported by Lotus Notes Traveller (with caveats about versions).

Its nothing to do with the phone, but the version of Android the phone is running (but you already know that).

If you're bothered about 2.1 and not 2.2 coming on the phone you can always root the phone and install a ROM from Cyanognemod (although if you go with HTC, their SenseUI is pretty good and annoying/crap stuff can easily be removed, but there are modified ROMs that still include it).

[Jaspersharpe]

New Android phones will all have 2.2 on em now shirley?

[slackline]

Maybe, depends how long it takes each phone company to modify the ROM.

Reading an interesting article on the "openness" of Android and its modification by carriers.  The points made within more than the "its cheaper" argument would sway me to purchase my own phone and go SIM only when I'm next in the market.

except your tied into that contract for 18months+ and in my experience phones don't really last that long

Guess it depends on the contract, but mine replaces the phone next day if it breaks.  But like dave I've not had a phone that hasn't lasted the distance.  My previous (Nokia N95) I gave to a mate and its still running fine more than a year after its 18month contract expired.

[dave]

To be honest if the phone company doesn't supply a phone that is fit for purpose for the duration of that contract then i'd be getting medieval on their asses with some serious supply-of-goods-and-services-act shit.

[Jaspersharpe]

Dunno about others but O2 always offer free warranty for the duration of the contract so if it fucks up you just send it to them and they fix / replace it.

Haven't had to do so with any of my previous phones (generally Nokias) but the Mrs' shite Samsungs have been fixed or replaced (in a matter of days) on quite a few occasions.

[Paul B]

New Android phones will all have 2.2 on em now shirley?

doesn't seem that way, especially on the Samsungs.

[tomtom]

This is a straight question - not a iphone is better than android thing - but being an Iphone user... from the outside the whole Android updating process does seem rather confusing - and a bit wanky. There seem to be all these different android versions and how the updates seem to have to wait for the manutfacturer to sort out their own version etc..

Then there also seem to be home baked versions that work on whatever platform etc.. some versions wiping contact data etc.. How straightforward is it? because for the Ifern when a new version is out you just plug in and it does it all for you etc..

[slackline]

My update process (on T-Mobile) was piss, it came Firmware Over The Air (FOTA), one day I got a message saying there was an update available, did I want to install it (with the caveat about abusing a 3G connection and perhaps waiting till on a wireless network).  Installed fine (this was a minor update to the flash-player/YouTube and something that prepped the phone for a major update from 1.5 to 2.1).

Month or so later got a second FOTA notification, accepted it, all downloaded and installed fine, updated to 2.1

Conversely my wife's on Orange and they seem to be utter shite.  Nothing has come FOTA, the first update has been achieved over a USB connection, can't get the phone to stay synced to the computer long enough to do the final upgrade.  I attribute this to Orange being shite as another friend with exact same phone (HTC Hero) had the same ballache, and Jasper (on O2) has, from what I remember, had the same hassle free experience I have.

The main problem is that there are multiple layers for updates.  Google release the base code, phone manufacturers then tweak and add to this (e.g. HTC's Sense UI which you don't get on Samsung phones), and then carriers (T-Mobile/3/O2/Orange) modify these.  See the article I link to above for some info on the downside to this openness.

I've not tried flashing mine with a custom ROM from Cyanogenmod (the home baked versions you refer to) as I waste spend enough time tinkering with my desktop, laptop, NAS and PS3 and as there haven't been any problems with the phone I've been happy, but the process sounds like a piece of piss to do having read the documentation (enough people seem to manage it so it can't be that hard).

Its actually quite useful having small incremental updates as it means small bugs/security problems (eg. calendar problem/no alarm when 2011 rolled in on iPhones) get updated/resolved quickly and you don't have to wait ages for a monolithic OS upgrade cycle.

[Jaspersharpe]

Yeah mine was no bother at all. Got a message, downloaded something and the phone restarted. Checked and it was a minor update (like yours) then next day got the full 2.2 download. Restarted automatically again and that was it.

I suppose the reason it might seem confusing in comparison to the iphone is that talking about it is taking into account lots of slightly different versions of an OS on loads of different makes / models of phone instead of one OS on one phone.

Taken one phone at a time, it's no different.

[magpie]

My phone tells me when it wants updated, which seems to be quite often, then I just click 'ok' and it does stuff and I have all the newest versions.  It's quite clever, although I suspect it might be too clever and is actually plotting to take ove the world or summthingr.  It's an HTC Desire HD.

[Paul B]

I've not tried flashing mine with a custom ROM from Cyanogenmod (the home baked versions you refer to) as I waste spend enough time tinkering with my desktop, netbook, 550d and iceberg

I'd rather not add a phone to that list. A friend in the office isn't happy with 2.2 on the Wildfire.

[Jaspersharpe]

Has he tried switching it off and on again?

I'm not actually making a shit joke as my phone started running really slowly a few days after I'd updated to 2.2. Switched it off and on and it's been spot on since.

[slackline]

Oh yes, installed apps check for updates automagically and tell you when they want installing, you can also set them to automagically updated when available all on their own.

[dave]

Any of you wegros got any awesome fucking opinions on the Samsung Galaxy Apollo speechtool?

Bump. One of you muthas must have one or know someone with one. Did I mention its for a mate in prison?

[Jaspersharpe]

Think Bubba's got a Samsung smartphone innit.

[peewee]

If anyone has a Blackberry Bold 9700 heres a guide to update it to the new OS6, makes it a lot nicer phone to use and the browser is a lot quicker than the old one.

http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/11/04/blackberry-bold-9700-os-6-0-0-344-installation-guide/

[Jim]

this another advantage of buying the phone yourself is that it isn't branded to your phone company and therefore its on generic firmware and easier to upgrade and you don't have all the branded crap they but on the phone as well. Orange are the worst I've seen for this.
Obviously most phones can be debranded fairly easily

[slackline]

Not much of an advantage though, because as you say its pretty easy to debrand them these days.

[magpie]

My last phone was a Samsung, dave, but I changed it to an HTC as I didn't think it coped very well with the online stuff and that was what I most wanted to do with it.  Saying that, it wasn't top of the range Internet compatible so maybe the newer ones are better, it wasn't good enough for me to stick with Samsung and see though.

[Jaspersharpe]

I got my HTC as an O2 upgrade but through a third party and it came without any branding.

[tomtom]

Not read this but it may help

http://www.reghardware.com/2010/11/16/ten_essential_budget_android_smartphones/

[iain_cbr]

I'm in the market for a new phone and I have to admit, I have no idea what the hell I'm looking at and the people in the shops seem either retarded or too techy for my luddite brain. I'm still none the wiser and still have no new phone!
I was thinking of getting the HTC desire but my mrs has one on orange and it's a bit tempramental. Judging on some of these previous posts though it may just be because it's on orange.
Bugger.