[Discussion] Phonebloks - A phone worth keeping...or not? - General Topics

Hi there xda,
You can also click the picture to get redirected to their website.
I recently found out a nice "wannabe" project called Phonebloks, what's your opinion about that?
I think it's a good thing to promote it on xda too. Feel free to comment about this.​
Or you can access their website > http://www.phonebloks.com/
If the website is down for some reason, you can show your support here > https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/2931-phonebloks
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Now i'll state my opinion:
I believe this is a very good ideea, takes customisation to whole new levels and if it could be packed with an [bold]Android OS[/bold], it would be the whole new level of customisation, both hardware and software on the same platform.
Anyways, i believe this ideea should be promoted, even if we will never see it come to life, the ideea is pretty darn good. In other words, let's spread the word and at least give it a chance to start or become a trend.
There should be considered some serious stuff here. Not too many people would like to carry around a bulky device, it could be customisable from hardware to software, but it should be made a little more slim, maybe this could be done in time, or who knows, there is only an ideea for now, we can speculate here and dream about it and promote it.
Yeah, there could be a few more things to be talked about, but i'm a little tired now, so i'll be around

This is, by far, the greatest innovation for mobile devices in years. Have you seen the rate the video views are going up for their YouTube video? It's amazing that the general public is interested in something like this. As for the bulky form factor, I'd take this bulky, 100 percent customizable phone over every phone on the market to date. This is insane!
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Love it! I would buy one in a heartbeat.
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This definitely looks incredible, and I would buy one if I could. My biggest concern is the price. I can't see something like this being particularly cheap. The kind of engineering and technology that would have to go into this is staggering, and for the amount of time and effort being put into this to make it simple and user friendly, if it were sold at normal phone prices, it would be an incredible risk for the developing company.

Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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KayxGee1 said:
Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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Well, considering the bulky form factor, there could not be too much impact on the market because:
- People would like slim phones with bigger or smaller form factors.
- Companies can still get revenue from this project by investing in bloks.
- Price could be a problem.
- Fiability could be a problem.
All in all, the project is good, first of all we should see what happens with it, if it will ever be developed or something like that. Only time will tell

Engineers first day;
Step 1 - Advil
Step 2 - cry
I like the idea. The engineering side of things is going to be quite intense.
I give them my support though

As an engineer, this would be cool. It would also be essentially impossible to create. If the CPU, RAM, and memory were soldered in then it would be much easier, but then the project loses most of its appeal.

This is an incredible idea, I've shared as much as I can without being excessive. I know this most likely will never happen but I've had a few talks with people who hate having phones that being obsolete after a year or two. I'd love to see this produced and would most defiantly support them with their endeavor. :good:

Well, surely there would be a need of some serious engineering, but hey, at least the ideea is good, people can brainstorm on getting it up and running. The ideea is good, people are interested, now, we need companies and engineers to devote to this and we'll see wat happens

KayxGee1 said:
Something like this is revolutionary and has been thought of for years. The problem is hasn't come into effect is because it will destroy the market. Manufacturers release new devices every few months. If this was available, there would be no need to buy a whole new device to get the latest and greatest.
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And that would be great.
I think people is realising that is worth having something that will last. I'm in photography and the market is just crazy, new cameras every year and so much time needed to get confident with a model that becomes obsolete even if it could work for years.
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Related

Smartphones

This is just...For the fun of it. I can enjoy a bit of philosophising once in a while. I was playing around with devices of almost every manufacturer (except Motorola, sorry), and thought about the particular quirks and advantages of smartphones.
It might be nice for me first to zoom out to the platform level. There are a few platforms used right now. WP7, Android, BB, iOS come to mind as the main ones. Most smartphones developed and sold are tailored towards a particular operating system. This defines their capabilities, their limitations, and their general goal during their lifespan.
I will address each briefly:
WP7: With the latest Mango, these phones are tailored to social networking. The Lumia 800, for example, is certainly an impressive device in that capacity.
Android: These phones tend to be for people who want to play around with their OS. They generally offer large touchscreens and fast dual-core processors (the latest phones do, at least). One of the dogmas seems to be multimedia ease. I will ask a question about such phones that I will get back to later: "Is there such a thing as too large?".
BB: These phones and the operating system they run on were designed with security in mind. They offer physical keyboards which are unrivalled. RIM also have the best data technology on the market. I like to think of BBs as having the functionality of bricks, but being as hard to take down as bricks as well. These phones are far behind everyone else, but I would state that they are very stable. They also are, potentially, the best phones. I use "phones" in the forgotten capacity: for making calls. They possess the best radios.
iOS: BE UNIQUE! Well, it somewhat worked until everyone and his grandmother had an iPhone. I, personally, despise lowercase "i"s, so have never been tempted that way. What do they offer? Apps. Many, many, many apps. Need I say more? Apple started out with a brilliant idea of how to sell products to the masses (yes, I am quite fond of The Affluent Society), but they have not improved much upon that idea since its inception.
These are obviously non-exhaustive notes. The general purpose of the information written above is to determine the role of smartphones.
Addressing Android, you have speed and power. But is it necessary? The Galaxy Note is awkward. The Galaxy SII is also reasonably so. These devices try to provide a Web and gaming experience, combined with all-around functionality. Sure, they have large screens in order to provide that experience, but a tablet can perform the same things better (refer to Asus Transformer Prime). Is there a point to those functions on a phone? I want to stress "phone" again, since it seems we have strayed so far from the functions of a phone.
Nokia have been producing quality plain handsets for a long time. They sell many of these to developing countries. Their place and their existence is, I believe, justified. Whether they are needed with WP7 is another matter.
Blackberry have always targeted businesses and sought to provide fast text inputs on their phones. Their devices are built like bricks, as I said previously. The BB infrastructure is more impressive than BB phones, in my opinion. Especially the Data compression.
Apple, well...Apple is Apple.
I can only peg down three categories: BB for infrastructure, Nokia for supplying the world with phones, Apple and Android for experimentation and multimedia aspects.
So what is the role of smartphones? Are they too developed for their own good? Typing on a 4.5'' screen in landscape mode will never fail to annoy me. Apple's watchful gaze is creepy. RIM's antipathy towards progress is strange.
This is actually quite well done and addresses the various brands and OS' without being extremely biased that i would be use to=D Bravo and I agree they all have their place
Dark lord me said:
This is actually quite well done and addresses the various brands and OS' without being extremely biased that i would be use to=D Bravo and I agree they all have their place
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Yay! My freestyle writing is appreciated! =)
Thanks!
Hoping that a few people will want to post their opinions and discuss. After all, we are passionate about smartphones. Otherwise we would not be on here.
Thought I would add something on my "brick" line of thinking. I and a friend got two different phones at approximately the same time in 2008. I got the BlackBerry Storm 9530. He got the HTC Dream (or G1, whichever you prefer to call it). Mine looks, feels, functions as if brand new. His is in a sorry state.
Yeah , I understand your pain of large phones , but some people just don't like tablets and want phones to have tablet-like functionality .
Don't bash me please ! *prones*
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EmoBoiix3 said:
Yeah , I understand your pain of large phones , but some people just don't like tablets and want phones to have tablet-like functionality .
Don't bash me please ! *prones*
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For site about smartphones, I would have thought more people would be interested in this topic. But I suppose I am targeting obsessions...Try telling an iPhone user that iPhones are not the best, or that they are not particularly unique.
What is a phone??? Lol but seriously I do agree we have strayed far away from the cellphone era. We have entered a new age that began in 2005, which I like to refer to as the connected age. With the growing number of smartphone users it is easy to track down anyone you want. Everyone is connected to everyone. Our phones grow larger in size every 6months. I remember when I wanted the smallest most compact flip phone. The bigger it was the uglier it was. Now.... anything under 4.3 inches I cant even use lol. I predict in ten years smartphones will be non existing. It will be converted to tabs. U can buy a tablet for half the price of a brand new sgs2.
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I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
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negrobembon said:
I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
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+1
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OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
The only argument I have is that in which you seem to feel that Blackberry devices are superior in terms of security. I disagree, and also feel that a SPoF has finally shown blackberry devices to be vastly inferior in terms of both security and content delivery.
Food for thought: the US Gov't has finally decided to branch out from the bricks of yesteryear, and now are starting to allow iOS, W*, and A* devices on the AEN with server side security policy implementation. That's saying a lot since they've previously only allowed a BBD on the AEN as all other devices "couldn't be secured". Kinda hard to secure a RIM server in Canada...
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inv3stment said:
OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
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That's like, just his opinion, man. Why you have to flame home for it, man
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inv3stment said:
OP: you don't seem to understand that people in this era want more than just a phone, if you are complaining that smartphones these days are too advanced to be a phone, then go and get a nokia from 1998 and stop posting on XDA.
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+1000000000000000000000000
Pipsqueak approved this message
thisisbrian said:
What is a phone??? Lol but seriously I do agree we have strayed far away from the cellphone era. We have entered a new age that began in 2005, which I like to refer to as the connected age. With the growing number of smartphone users it is easy to track down anyone you want. Everyone is connected to everyone. Our phones grow larger in size every 6months. I remember when I wanted the smallest most compact flip phone. The bigger it was the uglier it was. Now.... anything under 4.3 inches I cant even use lol. I predict in ten years smartphones will be non existing. It will be converted to tabs. U can buy a tablet for half the price of a brand new sgs2.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
negrobembon said:
I disagree with tablets being "better" that smartphones or smartphones being replaced by tablets, not everyone can or want to travel with a tab everywhere
A phones portability will trump most of times(a quick pic, quick vid, listening to music, browsing in the crapper,etc)
What i mean is that your not always able to go with a carrying bag(well girls can) or a notebook sized thing in your hands, thats when the mini tab in ur pocket comes to use
Might not be as good as a tablet for somethings but its still performs ok and makes calls, and its very easy to carry around
On the other hand, if the tablets are to replace something, is the laptop
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Click to collapse
It is not that I am a great fan of BlackBerry. It is just that I am very uneasy about Androids. What is to say you will not be charged $1,000 on your next bill due to an exploit allowing premium text messages to be sent from your device without your knowledge?
Yes, I have a bias towards security. We have Facebook and Twitter, which are used as breeding grounds for all sorts of mayhem...Obviously all they have done is displayed all our private information to the whole world. That is really going to be regretted by everyone using those services...Sooner or later. We have the multimedia Androids which ignore fundamental issues and have grown too large to comfortably use. HAVE YOU NEVER HAD TO REALLY STRETCH YOUR FINGER TO REACH AN ICON, OR USE ANOTHER HAND?
Regarding tablets, are we really suggesting that they can beat laptops at anything important? If the general stream is towards mass procrastination, tablets have helped us achieve that. But I do not see the next 10 years seeing tablets replacing laptops.
Well, i still think the future of the laptop and notebook is the tablet
And blackberrys are not as safe as you think they are
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smartphones - of any kind - are the functional equivalent of the light bulb. game changer. amazing tech advance.
RickMckc said:
smartphones - of any kind - are the functional equivalent of the light bulb. game changer. amazing tech advance.
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Some of the biggest advances are as simple as a dung when analized deeply but still revolutionary
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I've been a fan of Smartphones for a while. I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace, mainly because I couldnt afford the SII at the time. I like the Bigger phones cause i can use it for reading, watching media, surfing the web, looking at pictures, etc...
Personally I'm hoping to get a galaxy note for my birthday next year as its perfect for everything I like to do with my phone.
For me, smartphone is a universal device which is computer replacement anywhere, where there are no computers.

Whats Your Opinion? - Do you think that makers release incomplete devices on PURPOSE?

Hi all,
I have been a member of XDA since 2009 starting with a WM6.1 Samsung Omnia and then becoming a HUGE Android fan. I have much respect for all of the great DEV's here and for the community in general and as such but I would like to see your opinions on the following...
After being here for so long and seeing so many different issues with so many different devices...
Do you think that Manufacturers release devices that are "sub par" or "incomplete" (per say) on purpose because they know that there are MANY Developers out here and on other forums that will essentially fix these "shortcomings" for almost nothing?
What do you think? Please vote AND leave a reply for discussion.
Thanks...
I think they do so they can bang phones phones out quickly to increase their revenues faster.
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cornishronson said:
I think they do so they can bang phones phones out quickly to increase their revenues faster.
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I agree with this
cornishronson said:
I think they do so they can bang phones phones out quickly to increase their revenues faster.
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I agree with this also. That was my point to this thread. It does not seem very professional to me however especially since these Manufaturers are now essentially sitting back and waiting for DEV's to finish or fix their software, etc...
There's nothing wrong with the devices, at least not all the time.
On Verizon the majority of issues are a result of all the bloatware and unnecessary processes that they set up the phones to run. Certainly Blur and Touchwhiz and what not don't help, but I don't think they're the major culprits. Roms sitting on top of them often run with few to no issues.
It's the carriers, not the manufacturers.
MissionImprobable said:
There's nothing wrong with the devices, at least not all the time.
On Verizon the majority of issues are a result of all the bloatware and unnecessary processes that they set up the phones to run. Certainly Blur and Touchwhiz and what not don't help, but I don't think they're the major culprits. Roms sitting on top of them often run with few to no issues.
It's the carriers, not the manufacturers.
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I agree with you on that but what about things like "the volume is too low", or "bad screen colour" and other defects like that? There are DEV's (Supercurio for example) who essentially take these types of issues and "fix" them essentially for free. Why cant the Manufacturers (Samsung in this particular example) just ensure that these issues are caught in the QA/QC stages before they ship their devices?
Dont get me wrong... I as a USER think its FANTASTIC that we have devoted DEV's that will do this for us but I also feel that it is the Manufacturers responsibility to ensure their products meet specific quality standards before they put their devices up for sale.
Well the case doesn't really apply to the sgs 2.
But I do wish we could get full sources.
$1 gets you a reply
Well, things like screen color issues definitely seem to be symptoms of a rush job. I don't understand how so many RAZRs could have green screens on low brightness and problems getting stuck in landscape and it was never noticed unless it got rushed out. Things like that should definitely be caught and corrected in the testing phase.
Fewer devices, more focus for the win.
yiannisthegreek said:
I agree with this also. That was my point to this thread. It does not seem very professional to me however especially since these Manufaturers are now essentially sitting back and waiting for DEV's to finish or fix their software, etc...
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Yes I agree, they sit back raking it in and put all there work into marketing more than the product while leaving the real work to the volunteers to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together.
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I feel the manufacturers leave issues so they can push their new phones as "fixes".
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OF Course! they just want to make quick money and most dont support their phone after a while.
I strongly believe they do! I can only imagine the amount of money they save not having to worry about the little things.
"Ohh you have problem XYZ with this device, well here we are three months later with a newer version with a fix for that. Now I know that it takes a lot longer then three months to get a phone ready and out the door but just take it from us we we able to do it..."
I see some people definitely agree with me on this. Keep the opinions coming...
I don't think they release incomplete devices. I feel as if they need to just push the device out on schedule, and if its complete great, if not, of well.
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KayxGee1 said:
I don't think they release incomplete devices. I feel as if they need to just push the device out on schedule, and if its complete great, if not, of well.
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Doesn't that seem a bit "shady" though? And why do we as consumers keep on gobbling up these "defective" (some yes, some no) items and never do anything about it?
Ill be the first to admit it... When there is a new device out and I want it... I GET IT on impulse but still... for upwards of $600.00 per device that has ANY KIND of deficiency seems completely wrong for the manufacturers to be selling...

What will it take to make android #1? Voice your opinion here

Hello after hearing about apple reaching 500 billion dollar, my question is what does android need to do to become a serious competitor to apple so that people would rather buy android then an iphone? What does apple have in the iPhone and ipad that android dosent? I would like to see some opinions of what you all think thanks
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Apple has always been the underdog lol Android is still new so it will be at the top in due time.
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reaper24 said:
Apple has always been the underdog lol Android is still new so it will be at the top in due time.
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Well in phones I meant ever since the iPhone came out and iPad everyone is going crazy about there products, I'm not sure why when they have no where near the selection of android
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Android users need Watson, that would literally kick the $*it out of siri. I mean that would be amazing- doctors, researchers in the field, really just anyone in the sciences could use it and the average person could enjoy it as well as learn from it. Android is the perfect channel to reach all sectors and the general public with such a new and really amazing technology.
MunkinDrunky said:
Android users need Watson, that would literally kick the $*it out of siri. I mean that would be amazing- doctors, researchers in the field, really just anyone in the sciences could use it and the average person could enjoy it as well as learn from it. Android is the perfect channel to reach all sectors and the general public with such a new and really amazing technology.
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Click to collapse
Yes the technology is far past apple, in my opinion android will be the future, I try to write what I imagine in the future of technology but I can't put it in words
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I see Android the same way I do Linux. It will attract the true techies but but for the average user it will not appeal to theme as it takes to much work to get it just right and most people are just to lazy
IMHO is the main difference between android and iOS, that android is more customizable and, with that, its more complicated. So, most people who only want to have a working phone which is looking good and don't want to learn anything bout software will buy an iPhone. Because its simpler.
I think android will be catshing up with apple, because it's only getting better, it is open source, the phones is cheaper and more options to change the apperence of the phone!
Why, isn't it the number one OS yet?
Hey thank you all for your replies, I was at best buy couple week ago and a person was looking to buy a android tablet or an ipad 2, I was next to the person when I was playing with a tablet and he asked me do you no what is better? Ipad 2 or this tablet? (He was looking at the Asus transformer) I told him Asus was, but he end up buying the ipad because his Droid phone always get a virus, freezes and so now he thinks all android are like that....if he only knew
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Android311 said:
Hello after hearing about apple reaching 500 billion dollar, my question is what does android need to do to become a serious competitor to apple so that people would rather buy android then an iphone? What does apple have in the iPhone and ipad that android dosent? I would like to see some opinions of what you all think thanks
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Click to collapse
You can't entirely confuse profits with marketshare (which Android has 51% of, I think they were saying). Apple is able to get away with a higher price markup for lesser specs because
0) low price elasticity - iSheep will continue to buy and to rationalize their mother company no matter what
1) they're facing no competition from other, similar iPhone makers, unlike android makers who compete with each other in both specs and price
2) they slice down anything that even vaguely resembles competition with lawsuits (even where they're clearly not making iPhones)
3) the brand itself has become so hyped that it's able to continue to get new users - I guess you could count this as marketing
They still have a much greater stranglehold on the pad market, so a lot of the profits probably come from that.
Finally, if you believe this post at least, Apple is able to squeeze more profits from the way our carriers and subsidies work. Nowadays, it's standard for the carrier to bundle phones along with their services, in a dual-pay system (the carrier "subsidizes" part of the phone cost in exchange for a contract). Because of Apple's particular market power (users might switch to another carrier if the other has iPhone and they don't), they are able to demand that carriers subsidize more while taking away the profits. That way, they make more money without directly charging the buyers. Indirectly, of course, the carriers probably pay for this through increased fees in general, which means that everyone ends up sponsoring the iPhone.
In other words, they've successfully managed to implement an "iPhone tax". Isn't bundling the greatest thing ever?
As for how to make Android better, updates and better phone compatibility is definitely an issue. ICS, for example, needed to be available quickly for multiple devices as soon as it's released. There really is no way to do this, except.. release it earlier. Have a completely open beta, like the Linux kernel, so that everyone can get compatibility working from day -100 onwards. If flashiness (and non-copying by Apple) is an issue, at least give the manufacturers early access to it, so that they're able to start working on device compatibility right away.
Meanwhile, unfettered by bureaucracy, custom roms are churning out faster than any manufacturer ever could. You could have updates and features faster than you ever thought possible; the average user, however, doesn't know enough, or isn't confident enough to go through the installation process. Google should include an easy ROM installer/backup utility by default. That way, the users get a full taste of the speed and power of openness, which really is so intoxicating that they'll never go back to a closed system ever again.
(They could even put start posting up their own custom ROMs! Imagine what their developers could do, unhindered by the megacompany issues. We would have updates, the like of which we've never seen before.)
If Android was optimized to run perfectly on one core just like Windows Phone 7 than I can see a lot of people using it. When I talk to Android users who don't know anything about custom roms/root they complain about force closes and applications not working. Also how there phone slows down.
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Yeah, agree with two posts above... The slow spread of Android 4.0 is only good for Apple, the big companies should realize that they're depending on the users liking android, and you will not get them to like Android with refusing to give them updates. Sometimes I think they are not able to look into the nearer future to see what's necessary for them...
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great info everyone yes I do notice a bit of a slow down on android 4.0 but I'm on a single core device, hopefully by summer they can find a solution to make android 4.0 more stable and better performance, I feel that the android team is working fast to come up with a software that would bring iPhone users to android, but when iPhone 5 comes out I hope some android phone company's have something up there sleeve that will be able to compete with apple
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*bumping up
Right now there on the right path to becoming number one in the market, what i think they need to do to become number one.
all official releases of android to be the same across all phones, things like TouchWiz to be scraped altogether
moderation on the market to stop useless buggy apps from making the market look bad
an android OS for desktops/laptops that will run consumer products
[\LIST]
Better hardware acceleration on all applications.
I think that iPhone as an advantage : there is only one model.
So you can find dock for desktop, car, audio, ...
Android is only the softwar and each constructor have to make is own accessories and so on.
In my opinion, one major problem of Android devices is about fragmentation.. I hope that Android OEMs can release updates for all devices faster.
mikebzh44 said:
I think that iPhone as an advantage : there is only one model.
So you can find dock for desktop, car, audio, ...
Android is only the softwar and each constructor have to make is own accessories and so on.
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Click to collapse
Yes that's true but there is more money to be made in the android market rather then the iPhone. There are ALOT of brands and generics that make the same accessorizes for the iPhone and each brand is struggling to make money when they all make the same product, unlike android. Verity is better

To all Developers + Users; ROM, App, Mod, etc

Hi guys, so apparently I've given the impression that I'm a conceited **** on these boards. I like to think that I'm not, so first off I'd like to just apologize for the way I've come across, and now that my ban is removed I'll be using these boards with the intention that they were given; to discuss Android, Skyrocket, and all things related. No more flaming. You'll just have to see if I follow through.
So, that aside I'd like to ask for your help developers/users. I'm writing my final paper on XDA-Developers (we have to analyze a digital public sphere, Google Habermas public sphere for more information, and write a paper on a specific line of inquiry about a commons based peer production) and my line of inquiry is essentially, how this massive community falls together without the guidance of Google.
They essentially just release Android code to public, and all of this happened. No one at Google told CM to exist, or any of the wonderful ROM creators/porters that exist on this board, and no one told us users to install these ROMs. So if you could write up WHY you guys do it, it'd be incredibly helpful. I'm talking about anything from a 800 word speech about open-source and the message behind it, to just being bored, to just liking the looks of your phone, to just being part of the community.
Thanks, and again I'm sorry for previous interactions.
I do it because I like the freedom allowed on custom ROMs. There is much more customizability on a custom ROM than on a stock one. Performance is another huge plus. It allows my device to work at a higher level than normal.
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Thanks! Do you mind if I quote you in the paper?
Many, many Att upgrades ago, I was researching new phone options to grow beyond BlackBerry. Came down to iPhone and the captivate. When I came across XDA, the decision was easy -once I understood what Android had to offer a geek like me, iPhone was out of the question.
Soft-bricked the cappy the first night I had it. Never looked back
dac1227 said:
Many, many Att upgrades ago, I was researching new phone options to grow beyond BlackBerry. Came down to iPhone and the captivate. When I came across XDA, the decision was easy -once I understood what Android had to offer a geek like me, iPhone was out of the question.
Soft-bricked the cappy the first night I had it. Never looked back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I have a section on the risk involved and why people would continue with it; would you say you had enough confidence in your computer-literate abilities that you weren't overtly worried about a hard-brick or that you really had no idea but you were aware of the benefits and wanted them no matter what.
whosgotlag said:
Actually, I have a section on the risk involved and why people would continue with it; would you say you had enough confidence in your computer-literate abilities that you weren't overtly worried about a hard-brick or that you really had no idea but you were aware of the benefits and wanted them no matter what.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nail on the head. I understood what benefits came with the territory, but had no prior experience with Android or Linux. Although I am very literate in Android now, it's really just a hobby. Although fun, I see no considerable gain from my flashing and modding activities (aside from a performance perspective, usability and reliability at par, or less than oem)
dac1227 said:
Nail on the head. I understood what benefits came with the territory, but had no prior experience with Android or Linux. Although I am very literate in Android now, it's really just a hobby. Although fun, I see no considerable gain from my flashing and modding activities (aside from a performance perspective, usability and reliability at par, or less than oem)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same question as the first guy; mind if I quote you?
Don't mind at all.
I do it for the chance to prove myself wrong there are many things that I am not familiar with however on Xda has giving me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and I understand that every new person newcomer new developer anybody starts off starts Step 1 and in this community it makes it possible to be a level 1 and still be great I flash ROM to flash ROM I like the uniqueness I like the capabilities I like the ability to know that I have no boundaries.
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Quote away.
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I first flashed because i was bored with the stock rom. Sense then it's become addictive, if i twick tjis or that will i get better performance or better battery. What roms run smoothly. Gets my heart racing every time because i know one little screw up and the phone is dead.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
I started flashing and rooting because I love to tinker and modify, I've done cars, computers, etc. I started porting and playing with source because of my inherent need to learn to know what makes things tick and because I wanted to give back to the community that taught me.
As far as when I started I wasn't ever worried I have a strong IT background and I did tons upon tons of research in understanding the processes, the risks, and the rewards. I'm of the do it right the first time or don't bother mindset so anything I do I understand.
Yes I allow quoting
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Thanks guys. This is actually really helpful. If there's any interest I'll post my final paper.
Probably shouldn't be interest. Its a 500 level English course so you know the drill, heightened language and poignancy out of nothing
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
Well I look at the same way. I love to know why things work like they do. Btw I'm using the liquid smooth Rom jb 2.0 RC 7. On the skyrocket. It's awesome. Everything good so far. 3 days
Sent from my SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
dac1227 said:
Many, many Att upgrades ago, I was researching new phone options to grow beyond BlackBerry. Came down to iPhone and the captivate. When I came across XDA, the decision was easy -once I understood what Android had to offer a geek like me, iPhone was out of the question.
Soft-bricked the cappy the first night I had it. Never looked back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
From the first day I got my first android phone I started to root it and find ways of better the performance since I noticed battery was really bad on stock. Xda educate me starting from the simple things to more complex like modding, installing all kind of custom roms, fixing softbricks on my skyrocket. I was even induced to learn some Linux coding. I install as triboot Ubuntu, win 7 and wind 8. My wife and mi daughter have iPhone each. Mi wife has an iPad and mi son has an iPod and with all the pressure at home I stick to my android because of the versatility.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
I was a hard core BlackBerry user until it seemed like they stop making the effort to keep up with Apple/Android so I jumped ship. I didn't like the Apple interface and Android looked interesting. The Skyrocket was my first Android phone and my only up to this day(played with many others).
I was on stock GB for a long time before I even knew rooting existed. I looked into root, read many post on xda and other forums, and soft bricked my phone 4 times over the weekend until I got it right. Since then I'm slowly becoming a flashaholic. I mostly flash for the endless customizations and performance tweaks. Flashing roms is also a great way to stay up to date without spending $200-600 on the latest phones.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
whosgotlag said:
Thanks guys. This is actually really helpful. If there's any interest I'll post my final paper.
Probably shouldn't be interest. Its a 500 level English course so you know the drill, heightened language and poignancy out of nothing
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please post it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
The reason I chose Android was, ironically, choice. I had spent two years using apple iPhones, and it had left a bitter taste in my mouth, in that you had what you had. As a rebellious soul, I felt hindered. The "take what we give you" principal began to anger me. After my iPhone 4 crapped out, I called AT&T and ordered my Skyrocket. Two days later, my electronic world changed. Root, roms, and the developers behind them continually creating new and more useful modifications at a pace that was hard to beleive. The devs commitment to the community, in addition to a global company (Google) that was actually encouraging these things was akin to watching the wheel being invented. A complete difference in night and day. How could it get better? Well, three months ago, it did. I ordered a Nexus 7. Out of nowhere, providers and the regular and sometimes driver restrictive device makers were out of the picture as well. It was now Google, myself and xda. I can now decide how my device will be used. I alone will determine how my experience will unfold, with the blessing of the company who created it. I work very hard for my money. And for the first time, I actually feel that I fully own the devices that I purchased. You rent an iPhone. You own an Android.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
whosgotlag said:
Hi guys, so apparently I've given the impression that I'm a conceited **** on these boards. I like to think that I'm not, so first off I'd like to just apologize for the way I've come across, and now that my ban is removed I'll be using these boards with the intention that they were given; to discuss Android, Skyrocket, and all things related. No more flaming. You'll just have to see if I follow through.
So, that aside I'd like to ask for your help developers/users. I'm writing my final paper on XDA-Developers (we have to analyze a digital public sphere, Google Habermas public sphere for more information, and write a paper on a specific line of inquiry about a commons based peer production) and my line of inquiry is essentially, how this massive community falls together without the guidance of Google.
They essentially just release Android code to public, and all of this happened. No one at Google told CM to exist, or any of the wonderful ROM creators/porters that exist on this board, and no one told us users to install these ROMs. So if you could write up WHY you guys do it, it'd be incredibly helpful. I'm talking about anything from a 800 word speech about open-source and the message behind it, to just being bored, to just liking the looks of your phone, to just being part of the community.
Thanks, and again I'm sorry for previous interactions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm an old computer guy... It's always been about 'bigger, better, faster'. When the 'smart phones' came out, I figured I could reprogram them. They seemed to be tiny, Linux based computers. While researching my project, I found XDA... A whole bunch of folks with the same idea.
I'm now retired, (which is really cool but you can get incredibly bored)... SO, I tweak my phones for fun. My son broke his HTC OneX so we had to take it to AT&T to get a replacement. The sales person saw my Skyrocket with JB on it when I answered a text from my bud (JellyBean is not officially available for the skyrocket yet)... EVERY person in the store HAD to see my phone. Even the manager came out to look. Rather than tell me my warranty was void, they all loved it. The only question the manager asked is if I know how to return it to stock (in case I needed warranty work done) THAT'S why I do it... Bigger, better, faster... & the 'WOW' factor. On a side note, I've made several new friends AND I've learned a LOT about coding and such. I've always been cursed with not only needing to know HOW something works but also the need to know WHY it's got to be that way.
As far as the 'flaming' & 'bashing' goes, that's all part of the camaraderie & tomfoolery that goes on in any group. For those who do it in a non constructive manner, no offense is ever taken on my part. Karma WILL take its toll... LOL
Good luck with the paper. I'd love to read the finished product.
There's an old adage among us old 'bikers' that also applies to this question: "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand"

[IDEA] Kickstarter project: The XDA Phone

Hello
I thought up of a intresting idea here and I want everyone to bare with me as it may have been suggested.
Now I know there are alot of talented developers onhere but how about hardware engineers? If we have hardware engineers, I think XDA could produce a (mainly technically and oriented towards a XDA audience) phone using Kickstarter. For me, this idea is based off Ouya; The Android gaming console. That project raised 8 million dollars and is being preordered at 99 dollars. A XDA phone would be a lot more expensive (as there is no way in hell it would raise 8 million and the phone has touchscreen) but would just be so complete. I imagine XDA completly wanting every single function inside the phone.
The only catch would be that this is a phone "as-is". Meaning the only tech support you get is from the forums and there is no quality control to make sure all batches are 100%. Think of it as those chinese knockoffs but with a real good site/forum behind it.
What do you guys think?
I cant believe that noone is even remotely intrested in this....
Compared to Ouya, designing a smartphone is way more complicated process -> you need to spend more resources on development -> price goes up -> you'll end up with product much more expensive than high end phones.
Also Ouya is let's say "universal". In case of smathphone you have to make choices between different screen sizes, battery life vs dimensions/weight etc. In the end, you won't be able to satisfy everyone needs. So, even though there are a lot of great projects funded by Kickstarter, I think this one wouldn't be successful, but that's just my opinion.
qubas said:
Compared to Ouya, designing a smartphone is way more complicated process -> you need to spend more resources on development -> price goes up -> you'll end up with product much more expensive than high end phones.
Also Ouya is let's say "universal". In case of smathphone you have to make choices between different screen sizes, battery life vs dimensions/weight etc. In the end, you won't be able to satisfy everyone needs. So, even though there are a lot of great projects funded by Kickstarter, I think this one wouldn't be successful, but that's just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree with some of your first points. I think indeed its more complicated and expensive but, if there is enough demand and preorders, I dont think the product will end up being more expensive than a high end phone (granted around with a S3 and/or a iPhone, the initial batches)
Obviously the choice would be made by the majority of the XDA memberbase; Priotories, 3.7 vs 4.3 screens, battery size, etc would be decided by its memberbase. This would take time of course Im not saying lets just do it and in a month have the phone: No. A ideal poll: "Choose: 3.7 with 2500mAh or 4.3 with 1800mAh" And thats it. And we see what the majority of XDA members perfer (since we cannot have both, for realistic and budget proposes).
I think what XDA should do is research it first: Research is free as it is putting polls on websites and listening to feedback. If there is not enough feedback, thats it; Nothing spent except time. Now if there is enough intresting, well........
Another thing that would be intresting (and also dividing costs) is to work with the Cyanogenmod team. They are argueably the biggest ROM making team currently and would really help out on the software side.
XDA should at least try it.....If it fails, hey thats it....
Like I mentioned I am surprised there isnt even a min of intrest in this at all........
The main problem is getting agreement as to what will be built. Another forum I'm on is wanting to do a project like this but it is a much smaller community so it will be far easier to get a consensus. If this isn't done correctly it could end up getting drawn out forever with nothing ever coming of it.
in china you can buy an MTK "package" for peanuts and put up your brand of phones in days, without basically any work other than designing the shell - and they are pretty sweet phones, 6577 onew are nice and 6589 are nearing top-class phones at bargaining price.
I dont think you can trumph that without huge resources.
It's not as easy as picking out a cpu, a gpu, storage rom etc. and just connecting them to a board. You're going to end up with a piece of crap because no two people can agree on the same things in a forum. This has never been done, and for good reason. Let's leave the hardware up to the billion dollar companies who know what they're doing, not some kid who runs a vBulletin forum and has eclipse installed on his ubuntu computer.
All the engineers on xda live far away from each other, so every developer needs to get a protype and that is going to be expensive as hell
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NixZero said:
in china you can buy an MTK "package" for peanuts and put up your brand of phones in days, without basically any work other than designing the shell - and they are pretty sweet phones, 6577 onew are nice and 6589 are nearing top-class phones at bargaining price.
I dont think you can trumph that without huge resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A search would have told you that this has already been talked about before.
As for the post above. If it was to happen it would not be with parts from china. If anything came of it we would use a trusted sources. While the the budget parts are cheap. With tech you get what you pay for. A good phone is not cheap and a cheap phone is no good.
As for working with CM. That is not out of the question but I don't think we would use anything more then pure AOSP code. CM edits too much for it to be the base.
Wayne Tech S-III
Yeah I have to agree. Xda phone is not a good idea.
Something that represents xda would be great like the cases they did with cruzerlite.
Edit: I don't know if you can kick start software stuff but how about xda software that its compatible with alot of android phones. This way the site still gets traffic from different Samsung and Motorola,etc users and only true fans can run it. Since android runs off Linux maybe someone can make XdaMod that runs off the new Ubuntu. Only thing is that these devs would need to be very generous because no one would pay for a ROM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
lukyjay said:
It's not as easy as picking out a cpu, a gpu, storage rom etc. and just connecting them to a board. You're going to end up with a piece of crap because no two people can agree on the same things in a forum. This has never been done, and for good reason. Let's leave the hardware up to the billion dollar companies who know what they're doing, not some kid who runs a vBulletin forum and has eclipse installed on his ubuntu computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, a poll would be made and the mayority would choose. Its not about two or three people deciding.
zelendel said:
A search would have told you that this has already been talked about before.
As for the post above. If it was to happen it would not be with parts from china. If anything came of it we would use a trusted sources. While the the budget parts are cheap. With tech you get what you pay for. A good phone is not cheap and a cheap phone is no good.
As for working with CM. That is not out of the question but I don't think we would use anything more then pure AOSP code. CM edits too much for it to be the base.
Wayne Tech S-III
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if it has been talked about and working with CM is not out of the question, why not just make a actual thread and front page about it and see how much intrest it generates? Maybe there is a market for it...
If there isnt intent, its obvious that we will never see even if it generates intrest.
Just my 2c - In order to satisfy all the people you would need a line of products
Some like big screens, some not.
Some require hardware keyboards, some not.
Some like huge internal memory, some not.
Some like powerful quad processors, some not.
Some like bigger battery traded for bigger phone, some not.
Compromise would be unappealing to majority.
No excuses now:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2666

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