[Noisebridge-discuss] Seeking advice -- new Android phone with good physical attributes?

[Rubin Abdi]

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Consider this the Current State of Android Keyboard Devices...

So when I broke my femur over Sunday, I actually landed my hip right
on top of my G2. The battery cover is mangled but some how the screen
didn't crack and the thing works just fine (though I was scrambling
through pain to get the battery back into the device to call for
help). I'm kinda surprised this single device has lasted me for about
1.5 years now.

If you're looking for a GSM Adnroid with a keyboard in the states, G2
and the MyTouch 4G Slide are pretty much about it. I have both and
they're currently running various versions of ICS. The MyTouch is my
loaner currently out to Christopher with Soup.io visiting SF.

So a note about ICS. It offers more stuff, which might sound like
it'll slow down whatever device you're loading it onto. But ICS also
utilizes the on board GPU, which speeds up screen rendering. So some
parts of Android are slower, while other parts are faster, which more
or less balances out on the G2 and most other devices.

There's also the Samsung Sidekick, which doesn't seem to have as big
of a dev/hack community and not as easy to root and do neat things
with. Still stuck on Android 2.x.x. The keyboard on that has a numrow,
but personally I don't like the feel of it at all. Others on the other
hand love it to death.

HTC has publicly stated they have no plans on creating any more
Android devices with physical keyboards. That more or less leaves
folks to import Motorola devices from Europe, and last I checked the
hack communities behind those also suck.

My G2 is still a great device, a little slow but functional with ICS.
I bought a set of HTC EVO 2000 mAh batteries for it (shaved off some
plastic to make it fit) and just carry a spare in my wallet. I imagine
when I break my G2 a little more I'll either order a used one through
ebay or switch over to the MyTouch 4G Slide.

The MyTouch is a faster device, offers a nicer rear camera and a front
facing camera over the G2. The current ICS builds suffer from some
battery and Bluetooth issues, but other than that functions just fine.
The keyboard feels a little less up to snuff when compared to the G2,
but I think that's mostly because my G2 is more worn in.

Both the G2 and MyTouch have notification lights (though their usage
is entirely dependent on how fucked the build of CM is), tethering
through Cyanogen, and of course have some alpha/beta build of CM9 in
the works.

There's a part of me that really wants to get one of these Motorola
world/travel phones from Sprint or Verizon, that offer dual CDMA/GSM
radios, but it seems like hardly anyone is hacking them. And importing
a Motorola Europe GSM phone is going to cost me an arm and a leg (and
I've only got 1 good one left).

I'd list out these Motorola devices but it's been a while since I've
done that research, and am currently not planning on doing so until
I'm either on a little bit less pain medication or actually looking
for a new device.

If I had to buy a new Android right this minute (as in my life
depended on it, and literally this minute), I would go with an
unlocked Galaxy Nexus. The only caveats I currently see with keeping
them from being the "perfect pocket computer" is a lack of a keyboard,
and storage issues (lack of MicroSD support, and unable to mount
internal storage as a removable device via USB). It's my goto device
when recommending something for friends who are about to go traveling,
or visiting the states.

Other factors that I'm going to take into consideration when making my
next pocket computer purchase would be Ubuntu's work towards getting a
full desktop running off of them, front facing camera, NFC, and
surprisingly, a nicer camera.

Hope this advice is helpful.

- -- 
Rubin
rubin at starset.net
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