Linux/Android on CDMA Touch Pro -- Now working on Verizon! And with GPS!

[tom6433]

makk do you ever get tired of answering the same questions (camera, gps, battery)? i mean they get asked on what seems like a daily basis. i see you answer them time and time, and time again and i think to myself, that you have to be one of the most patient people i have seen on this site. you are a one of a kind, so i want to say thanks for all of us for sticking with the project and not getting frustrated.

altho i do have to say that i will be ditching my TP the day the EVO is made available to me. without trying android on my TP i might have not switched from WM.

[stellar19]

Per Chrialex, getting the latest RootFS allowed 3G data to work for me as well with no extra steps. Been nice to actually use it on a more regular basis. Have found that music programs like Slacker or Pandora do not play nicely with going to sleep.

[makkonen]

Originally Posted by tom6433

makk do you ever get tired of answering the same questions (camera, gps, battery)? i mean they get asked on what seems like a daily basis. i see you answer them time and time, and time again and i think to myself, that you have to be one of the most patient people i have seen on this site. you are a one of a kind, so i want to say thanks for all of us for sticking with the project and not getting frustrated.

altho i do have to say that i will be ditching my TP the day the EVO is made available to me. without trying android on my TP i might have not switched from WM.

The upside of forums -- it's easy to not post if I'm not in a good mood -- in fact, it's easier to not post than it is to post something mean. If this were real time, I'd probably come off as less nice. Also, I'm glad I'm not responsible for the TP2 threads -- if I had to deal with that volume and repetition, I'd DEFINITELY come off as less nice.

I've been dreaming of the Evo/Supersonic for months already... now I'm trying to figure out a way to get it on my SERO plan when it comes out -- but I doubt I'll come up with a way to do that. On paper, it looks like just about the perfect phone. (And I finally got a get a HD2 in my hands at a T-Mobile store this week, and it feels like just about the perfect phone, too.)

Originally Posted by stellar19

Per Chrialex, getting the latest RootFS allowed 3G data to work for me as well with no extra steps. Been nice to actually use it on a more regular basis. Have found that music programs like Slacker or Pandora do not play nicely with going to sleep.

Great to hear that USCC just plain works -- though I am totally baffled as to how that is the case.

Probably in the future there could be a wakelock added to speaker access, to keep the system from sleeping when music is playing. I imagine making it work well is a somewhat tricky proposition, since it's done in a very weird way in Windows Mobile, and they got paid to make that work.

[ButtaKnife]

I'm also looking forward to the EVO, even if it lacks a physical keyboard. (That's the reason I got the TP originally.) If a Moment2 is announced before the EVO comes out... well, I'm not sure what I'll do. :P

[makkonen]

Eh. The TP hard keyboard is so freaking slow, it taught me that I could use a soft keyboard (Touchpal in WinMo... unfortunately, it doesn't work in Android, but BetterKeyboard is alright). And with a huge screen, the soft keyboard would be even more usable.

I can't believe I'm saying that. I used to rail on soft keyboards with unrestrained fury.

[arrrghhh]

Originally Posted by makkonen

I can't believe I'm saying that. I used to rail on soft keyboards with unrestrained fury.

I'm still not convinced I'd like a soft keyboard. I *know* that eventually I would get used to it, and I probably could type just about as quickly - but the feedback from pressing a real button... I guess I'm old school, I just don't like not having a physical button to press. Heck, I even hate dialing with the keypad on the touchscreen, because I can't feel what I'm pressing.

The Evo looks like a fantastic product - but why no physical keyboard? I think manufacturers are trying to save money here, and I'm sure they're doing a great job at it - making a device with just a virtual keyboard probably saves a TON in hardware costs, plus they still charge the same for the device. Brilliant, same revenue, less cost, higher profits.

Just doesn't seem like they're designing phones for the enthusiast anymore. The Droid is a pretty good attempt, but it's pretty much the only one that comes to mind that's a) an Android phone and b) has hardware that's even remotely worth the sticker price.

/rant.

[makkonen]

I agree with you -- I'd rather have a keyboard and the extra heft than vice versa. And typing URLs and random characters with a soft keyboard is pretty awful, no matter how clever the keyboard is. But I haven't had a soft keyboard I've truly ENJOYED using since the sidekick. Treo (600/650) -- too small. Apache -- rotation too slow. Raphael -- rotation and entry too slow. All that said, when I had a Vogue, the lack of keyboard drove me crazy. It wasn't until I had the TP with the choice of agonizing hard keyboard or flawed soft keyboard that I started to get used to it.

And now with Android I'm getting pushed back in the other direction. With the touchscreen weirdness making the soft keyboards unusable until recently (and still less than perfect), and the much faster hard keyboard response, I find myself flipping the phone open more in a couple months than I did in a year with WinMo.

Anyway, I think the Evo is a phone for enthusiasts -- the front-camera, the snapdragon proc, the WiMax hotspot all put it at the top of the high end, more a pocket computer than a phone. It's just that the industry is, as you said, pushing away from hard keyboards; not necessarily for penurious reasons, but just because a sleeker, sexier phone will sell to more people. I'll put up with no keyboard, for all the other stuff. My girlfriend won't put up with a brick in her pocket.

I'm just rambling here. I'd love something like the Evo but with a decadent, expansive hard keyboard. Or the TP2 form factor with the Evo internals. Or the Evo internals (or a WiMax HD2) with Windows Mobile as the OS (so I could activate it on my SERO account and then dual boot). But given the realities, the Evo looks like the best option around.

[ButtaKnife]

I'm sure the EVO is just designed as a bigger, badder iPhone, thus the lack of a hardware keyboard. I'd love to see an EVO with a hardware keyboard. I'd gladly take the heft; can you imagine a keyboard of that size? It would be a dream to use. Maybe the Moment2 will be a Galaxy with a hardware keyboard...

Never the less, I'll probably end up getting the EVO, and I'm glad it's an Android phone. I can't go back to WinMo, except to switch kernels and reboot.

[Roguefoxx]

Does it make any difference what WinMo rom you run with this? If so are there any recommendations?

[makkonen]

It should not make any difference.