Looking for my next phone? - General Questions and Answers

So My Vibrant finally got CM7.1 running on it! Most everything works and it runs pretty smooth. But honestly, I feel burned. I was thinking this whole process would take a month or two, it took almost a year. And while I don't fault the crazy hard working guys at CMSGS(who seriously worked their butts off getting me this far), I've learned that community development can be unexpected.
So this time around, I am not going to jump ship without know that the phone I am about to buy runs CM7. I am eyeing a dual core phone, a qHD display, support for the 1700Mhz band, and, of course, support for CM7.1.
Hell of a tall order isn't it? The closest thing I can think of is the G2x which only has an unofficial CM7.1 port and no qHD display. There is also the Sensation, but, with the whole locked bootloader, the CM team does not seem too hot on getting a Sensation port for Cm7 out any time soon.
I am willing to pay sticker and order out of country if I have to, but first I need to find a phone! So any suggestions, something under the radar that I have missed?

AlphaRevX isn't far away for the Sensation for S-OFF, I believe. I'm sure someone will port CM7 to it

That was sorta what I was hoping for, but I am not sure how it will take. Community support for the evo3d/sensation has not really grown like it did for the SGS lines and definitely not like some of the more big name htc phones (like the desire Z and HD2)
I worry that someone will start an unofficial port and when they get bored, just give up on it. Unlike devices that have official CM support, which see continued support long after the device stopped being exciting (Like the droid1).
In any case, it looks like I am just going to have to wait it out and get a phone after it stops being cutting edge.

This is why T-Mo needs the SGS II...

Easy Choice
Its very easy choice there is only one Phone = Galaxy S2

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Best out?

Hi I am looking at getting a new phone currently I have a htc desire and it made me fall in love with android because with my desire I rooted and flashed custom roms.
Which phone would you suggest I go for that is either out at the min or is soon to be released.
It must be android in order to compete with my desire
Thanks for your opinions
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I too am currently looking for an android phone.
I was pretty much sure I was going to get the Thunderbolt or Evo depending on if Verizon would match Sprint's current bonus minutes offer. But now I've been reading about other phones (LG G2x, EVO 3D coming soon...) and new developments such as dual core processors, etc... and I'm thinking maybe I should wait.
Depends what your budget is. Galaxy S II seems a favorite.
I think it'd be a good idea to think of what you want and then we could make some suggestions... I'm hoping for the Droid Pro II (eventually) but that's because I like keys and don't mind the smaller screen.
sephriam said:
I think it'd be a good idea to think of what you want and then we could make some suggestions... I'm hoping for the Droid Pro II (eventually) but that's because I like keys and don't mind the smaller screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the OP hasn't been back I won't feel bad hijacking this thread.
Looks like now I'm deciding between the Galaxy S II and the Evo 3D.
Since the GS2 is going to be open source, does that mean we will probably be able to put HTC Sense 3.0 on the GS2? I really wanted an HTC and I like their UI but I think I'd rather have the better camera than 3D.
Is there another HTC phone that will compare with the GS2? Also, I read Samsung is bad about updating, but if I'm rooting and flashing a new ROM that is moot, right? The devs will update ROMS here and I can grab those, right?
It's really more phone than I think I need but I've had mine for almost a year past my contract expiring so I'm not someone who needs to replace my phone asap, I will probably live with new phone for 3-4 years. And I don't mind waiting a few more months for price drop and devs to do their thing. So I'd like to future proof it a little bit even if it costs a bit more right now, I think.
Or I get the Thunderbolt right now but it seems like I should go to dual processors and 1gb ram for future OS updates but that is kind of guessing on my part based on what I've been reading the past few days.
I'm going to use it mostly for phone, texts, email, music and internet browsing. Then once I learn more about the android apps I'd like to integrate it with my home AV system as much as possible. I'm coming from a dumbphone that I dropped my data plan for so it's just calls and texts and casual pic taking right now. Kind of excited to get a smartphone.

A Whole New World!

Hey there folks!
I'm a MotoMan myself (mostly by fate, not choice). I had a Droid 1 which I loved dearly, and now I'm rocking a Droid X that feels like a new phone every day thanks to CyanogenMod nightlies.
Now, thanks to Motorola's dickery, the Droid X only recently received CyanogenMod (bootloaders are awful). But as I said now that it's around, things are like night and day. Not quite as awesome as my Droid 1 since there are still no custom kernels, however I'm still a happy camper.
A few days ago however my sister bought herself a Droid Charge to lock in a 2-yr contract of $30/month LTE. Naturally, I immediately snatched it and began ROM'ing the sucker into oblivion. It's great! I love how easy it is to flash this puppy. You either use Odin, which is relatively painless... CWR, which I already spend most of my time in on my DX/Nook Color.... or the Samsung utility, which is no different than RSDlite for Motorola phones! All familiar, painless territory. And it seems like you can get some pretty customized ROMs rockin'!
So, uh... why no CyanogenMod? It seems like a lot of Samsung phones are lacking the CyanogenModz. Is there a piece of the puzzle I'm missing? Has Samsung installed something devious like a bootloader preventing it? What's going on here?
thank!
Cyanogen mods are mostly RUU mods. HTC in fact. I coming from TMO have used dozens and release a few Cyanogen custom roms. Realistically, the team releases code for phones that they can easily acquire. HTC phones are GSM phones and can be bought anywhere for about 100 bucks. VZW and Sprint phones are CDMA phones that are a lil harder to obtain and need a contract with the company. Easier to get GSM phones because you can unlock them for whatever global service you want to use them on.
The team is easy to get in touch with, but you will probably need to get a fan base together on a certain device and send to them, to get them to be able to write the code for. Hope this makes sense.
Barny Style.
GSM = Easy to get, easy to sale, no company crap to deal with
CDMA = Company needs to turn on, hard for resale since you need a clean esn. Harder to acquire.
I'm not a dev, but I think CyanogenMod uses AOSP as a base, not RUUs. It certainly looks a lot more like stock Android on my HTC Incredible than it does Sense.
That said, the point about CDMA phones being less widely available and used than GSM phones is probably a valid one, as CDMA is primarily a US thing. There is a CM port for a few Samsung Galaxy S phones.
The issue is that Samsung uses stuff that is not compatible with most of the stock CM code, and a lot of hacking needs to be done to get anything simple working. I know that there are a few Samsung phones in the pipeline for CM7 support now, but it took months of work, and there are still several bugs that need worked out. The biggest issue is primarily just that Samsung releases as little source as they have to, and trying to reverse engineer their binary files that are needed is difficult to do as well. However, I do think that there will be AOSP based ROMs for the Charge after r2doesinc starts working on it.
As far as I know they could be working on a Droid Charge port:
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?631-WIP-CM7-for-Droid-Charge
Plus there's more than a few posts in that thread of people saying they'd send in phones for them to dev on. I've never used CM (just got my charge after a first-generation iPhone), but it looks slick as all getout. GummyCHARGED is the closest rom to it as far as I can tell.

[Q] Noob question - NS right for me?

I have about $500 to buy a new unlocked phone and I'm looking at the Nexus S. Until recently I'd just choose the cheapest phone the phone plan offered, so I'm really overwhelmed with this choice. Any advice is appreciated!
I need:
A fast phone (I HATE waiting on apps to open, waiting for screens to change, etc.)
A camera of some kind
Android OS
Ability to root and (probably) install Cyanogen
Good battery life
I don't need:
Music player
Super wonderful camera
HD whatever (I don't even totally get what that whole deal is lol)
I'd also like fast internet... but I have a 3g phone now and rarely even see it say 3g in the data icon. It doesn't seem to make a difference anyway because it takes a million years to load a web site no matter what. I've had it in two different states with supposed 3g coverage so I know it's available. In short, 4g would be nice but it's not a dealbreaker.
So... should I take the plunge on the Nexus S? Or look at another phone or wait for a new release? I've been looking at all kinds of phones for a couple days and I'm just confused. Thanks!
why not wait until Galaxy S II comes out in Aug/Sept
Your first 4 needs are pretty much standard in any high-end Android phone these days. Battery life is subjective on how you use the phone so it's a bit hard to narrow it down for you in that regard as well.
If you gave a more specific criteria, then maybe we could help you further but so far the Nexus S does fit the bill for what you need (but so do many other phones).
As usual, as soon as I post I find the answer... Nexus Prime coming out later this year. 4g and dual-core processor so it sounds like what I want now basically. I guess I'll have to suffer my chipped up old mytouch 3g snail for a little longer.
Thanks!
Hello,
When I consider your expectations, I can say that "yes Nexus S is right for you"
Because I have Nexus S since 10 days, i can not explain taste of pure Android
so fast, stability and reliable.
Absolutely when the nexus series is released, i will buy it
The Nexus S is a great phone for a variety of reasons. As someone who started as a complete novice and has since been bitten by the Android bug pretty hard, I'll try to give you some pros and cons.
The big "con," at least on first examination, is the hardware. Yeah, there are more powerful phones out there; but don't let specs fool you. I went from a Galaxy S to the Atrix because I was lured in by the dual core processor, gb of RAM, etc. Specs don't tell the whole story. The Nexus S is smoother, faster, and more stable than the Atrix, by FAR. I figured I could solve any problems with the Atrix by running CM7 as I had on my Galaxy S...but ROMs are in short supply for the Atrix. The Nexus S, on the other hand, is pretty much perfect straight out of the box (well, once you set it up to your liking).
The elephant in the room when it comes to choosing a new phone these days is Ice Cream Sandwich. No matter what, when ICS comes out, it's going to take time to make it onto most devices, even through unofficial channels. The Nexus S, on the other hand, will get an official update asap. As someone who also uses Honeycomb (3.2), I can tell you the ICS update is probably going to be fantastic.
So, you can get a phone with superior hardware and then jump through hoops to make it smooth, stable, and fast, or you can get a Nexus S. You'll have a great phone as soon as you power it on, and you'll have ICS as soon as it's available.
I've had a Galaxy S, two Atrix 4Gs, a Nook Color with Gingerbread, a Xoom with 3.0/3.1/3.2, and a Nexus S 4G- I can honestly tell you that nothing is better than pure Google. You will have official updates as soon as they're available, and you'll have those updates incorporated into custom ROMs sooner as a result. Everyone else will be jumping through hoops and dealing with buggy ROMs to get the same features.
I been thinking about picking up a Nexus S 4G but the only thing that's stopping me is fear of it not being dual core. not sure how smooth Icecream sandwich would be on it since it's not a dual core phone and the last thing on my mind would the next Nexus phone coming out... the thing is that there's been a lot of speculation that it's going to come out with a 4.3 inch screen which i don't really like in phones.... I like phones that can actually fit in skinny jeans -.-

Phone broken recomendations on a new one?

Well, I WAS the proud owner of an HTC HD2 running android, but today, out of anywhere, the digitalizer stopped working. I have read a little and found out this is a common issue.
Apparently puching the button hard didnt work.
So I considering getting a new phone, so Im asking for recomendations.
I would really like a phone as capable of being modded as the HD2, although hard, the community and roms I saw there were almost daily, where as in other phones ive seen they could take weeks/months for an update to appear.
Obviously a more powerful phone would be better, though I dont want a powerhouse (not a lot of money).
and last thing it should have a screen as big as the htc hd2. I just got used to it.
So.... any recomendations?
I'd recommend an int sgs 2 for the best in fluidity, performance and smoothness of android (apart from the galaxy nexus)
You're probably lusting for sense so go with a sensation I guess or similar.
Okay so thats a vote for samsung
lets see what other contendants appear.
And talking about the Sense thingy, I actually hate it, clutters the phone a lot with things I dont use.
The first thing im gonna do with ANY phone is most likely root it and install something cyanogen or vanilla (yeah cyanogen puts a lot of stuff, but its stuff I DO use )
Galaxy Nexus is a horrible* phone. The only thing somewhat saving it is ICS.
* "Horrible" is defined by modern standards.
I would shove the LG Optimus LTE in, but it does not match what you are looking for in price. Nor are people likely to give it much attention.
You can count this as another vote for Samsung.
Well I would REALLY want the edge.
Thing is IDK if I could get this to work (pushing the end call button seems to be kinda working now and then) ...
Still so far is samsung 2, htc 1, others 0

[Q] Why isn't this phone getting any development?

Buyer of the blaze here, after i turned in my Amaze 4g due to battery problems (even with a custom rom, it was literally dead after 5pm, with nothing but heavy talking and minor web use), i honestly love this phone. It's snappier, has an AMAZING battery for a smartphone, and basically easier to hold in my hand.
The question i do have, though, is why isn't this phone getting any development compared to similar phones like the S2 and the blaze? like the others, its pretty futureproof, and as fast, if not faster than them. Does it have a locked bootloader? Did samsung do something to make it hard to root? Does the recovery not work? seriously whats up with this lack of dev support?
Basically i just want an ICS rom to remove the damn bloatware and make the battery last even longer. I know samsung is coming out with ICS, but knowing their track record, it could take months before we get it, and even worse, contain the same bloat as it has now.
tl;dr why are there no roms or devs working on this phone?
No Samsung phone comes with a locked bootloader, and root has already been achieved. This phone is considered mid range even though it's a baby sgs2 that's why I think most devs aren't knocking at our door because there are higher end phones out now and in a couple weeks. We should be seeing ports or something. The phone is relatively still new as well.
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Here's a thought, maybe because they aren't paid to?
I gotta say, the android community clashing with the traditional linux OSS community is an interesting thing to watch. In the linux world you wouldn't see so much sense of entitlement as you see with android devices. I guess that's because with a linux install, the community is still more full of tech minded people than it is of novices. With android, it's been thrust into the hands of the unsuspecting consumers.
The sad fact is that this is a being treated like a middle-of-the-road phone. Devs do like their sexy and sadly this device isn't as sexy as a SGS2 or the upcoming SGS3. Therefore interest is low. With the multitude of phones growing at such a rapid pace, there isn't enough talent out there to cover them all. If you want rom development, you gotta go for the phones the developers will want. And you also shouldn't buy something that has just come out.
From a tech side, even though this seems to have the specs of an SGS2, it seems internally to be wildly different from an SGS2. It is named in the SGS family and it'd not similar to anything there either. It's all ext4 (fairly different).
I've been working on this phone in my spare time trying to get a build that would run. I am not a programmer but thought that my skills were enough to hobble together a working CM7 device profile. I thought I could look at similar devices and come up with a working hybrid of other devices. Here's the thing.... there don't really seem to be any (or many) other msm8660 in the official repos. It's hard to find other devices that are similar to this one.
With ICS coming out for this phone at some point, I'm not even sure I want to spend that much time focusing on CM7 anymore since presumably we'll be able to get native drivers for the cameras at that point.
If you want to help, then offer to take up a collection to commission a dev's time or send someone a phone. It's difficult to do this process from a distance. I spent money on my own hardware and I'm deathly afraid of damaging my flash memory with constant flashes and what not.
dr4stic giving you a thanks just wasnt enough
dont forget man your always welcome in teh irc channel, may not know a whole lot but whatever i do know i happily share
oh and official no, but for the msm8660 you might wanna look here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1230
the evo 3d has that cpu and is gsm as well
lol
Yeah, I imagine that first line in my post is what did it too ;-)
Thanks so much dude for all you've done. I know I'm welcome. It's just that after my day job (and some of my night job), the last thing I wanna do is look at a computer. And I got told this week I've got a 90 day deadline to complete 2-3 of the biggest projects and migrations I've ever had to do for my work.
As for the evo 3d, I actually did look at it, as well as the skyrocket. There are just too many quirks. Plus I believe the msm8660 handles part of the camera interface and the Evo 3D has a very funky implementation in that space. It ended up just looking more confusing to me than helpful :-(
From the way things are looking, I'm REALLY starting to look forward more to doing this for ICS. I get the sense that I might have an easier time there. I do, however, plan to keep moving forward ;-)

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