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diff --git a/_posts/first-comparison-between-nexus-s-and-n900.rst b/_posts/first-comparison-between-nexus-s-and-n900.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21f00e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/first-comparison-between-nexus-s-and-n900.rst @@ -0,0 +1,143 @@ +title: My first hand-on comparison between Nexus S and N900 +categories: + - android + - computer +date: 2011-09-29T18:12:08 +tags: +--- + +I was for a year more or less happy owner of the Nokia N900. Then a week +or more ago, it suddenly stopped charging the phone. One day it was +running on battery although the cable was plugged in and in the evening +it just went down because the battery was completely depleted. I took +the phone to the shop only to find out that they will ask me over 1800 +CZK (over $100) for the repair. + +In this situation I started to think. I had some complaints about N900 +already and I started to think about jumping the boat anyway. The +biggest one being that the hardware was apparently not powerful enough +to run applications I wanted to run. 256MB is just not enough for Python +applications (e.g., an excellent gpodder which I sorely miss now) not +mentioning Firefox (which is for many reasons *condition sine qua non* +for me). When I run these two together, whole machine changed into +something unbelievable. Of course, I was also worried about the future +of the platform, now when the mission of Nokia is to sacrifice itself on +the altar of saving Microsoft phone OS (or whole Microsoft?). + +So, I have asked my contact person with my phone carrier and I was +offered subsidised Samsung Nexus S for around 4,000 CZK ($225). I have +agreed and week later I got it by mail. The first impression was great … +comparing to the N900’s brick-like design (and weight ;)), I got a slim +gorgeous curved beauty. Given my FLOSS fascism I was decided to put +CyanogenMod on it asap, which I managed to do in less than an hour or +two. Which given I had absolutely no knowledge about unlocking, rooting +etc. of phones (a witty remark about honest phones having nothing to +hide to be inserted here), and some troubles between udev and USB cable +seems like pretty decent time to me. + +Whole phone and Android seem comparing with N900 like a finished +end-user product, comparing to sometimes hairy and hackish N900. There +are no obvious gaps in the basic applications (who in the world thought +that the Maemo calendar is supposed to be taken seriously?) and I was +nicely surprised that the lock-in to Google Apps could be avoided and +connecting to my own server (Zarafa 7.0.1 via Activesync) was completely +painless (switching to open protocols, i.e., IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV, +to be resolved later, but currently I have a working setup). + +Also, Firefox on my phone works quite well and I can happily use it as +my default browser (so far, I am on Aurora, and contemplating switch to +Nightly). + +So, that's a good part. Now for the bad. It is like going through the +beautiful meadows and from time to time fall into deep whole with mud +and other junk. I heard in the past couple of years many complaints +about Pulseaudio. Well, I have to say there are worse things than +Pulseaudio. For example, not having Pulseaudio at all, which is the case +with Android. So, suddenly instead of the integrated experience, I had +to learn about HFP and HSP, A2DP and similar magic (and see bugs like +`this one`_, or `another one`_; I am encouraged that these are most +likely duplicates, because apparently bug triage at the Android issue +tracker is even worse than in the Red Hat bugzilla ;)). So, now I have +to battle with silly applications like BTmono_ while with N900 whole +listening over BT headset Just Worked™ (needless to say, that free +BTmono is just a crippleware made to induce users to buy a better one; +those things didn’t happen with my Maemo repos either). And even BTmono +doesn’t work correctly, so when I listen to the podcast, I cannot +telephone. + +Second thing where N900 is clearly better than Android is the core +function of the phone. Telepathy just rocks. Apparently Gingerbread made +a breakthrough and it integrates at least a SIP client, however, +surprisingly Google’s phone doesn’t include native support for Jingle +over GTalk. I won’t mention for friends of free software native support +for Skype at N900. Whenever I heard on some TWiT podcast how they +discussed whether it would be possible to add Skype application to +iPhone/Android/something I was amused because of course it was always +included and well integrated in my previous phone (it is just a bit in +the Maemo’s Addressbook which decides which protocol is used). The same +goes for instant messages, and after a year of using N900 you will have +a hard time to explain me why in the world I should I care about the +difference between ICQ messages, IRC, Jabber, or even SMS message. + +The third sad story are FLOSS programs for Android. I thought that given +the huge number of users and developers working on Android the situation +should be same or better as on almost abandoned (or actually completely +abandoned) Maemo. And yet, it is not so. Relation between free software +and Android seems to me like a hopeless effort to reinvent the wheel. +Software repositories, packaging community, isue trackers are in the +Linux world all invented, working, and boring. I am not sure if I found +everything but it seems to me that the biggest free Android repository +f-droid_ is just a Wordpress blog. Feels embarrassing. There is no +community of package managers, no issue tracker, nothing. I guess +backtraces from the apps also go to nowhere, right? + +Moreover, I have a deep suspicion about the quality of FLOSS apps for +Android. The second most important activity for me to do with my phone +(or even the most important one, measured by the time I spend with it) +is listening to podcasts. I know there are some paid-for apps which are +probably pretty good, there is Google Listen (which is non-free and even +more binding to the advertising agency, aka AA, ecosystem) which seems +to work pretty well, and there are … as far as I was able to find so far +two FLOSS apps (I don’t count `PonyExpress`_, because AFAIK it is just +one-producer tool; LazyWeb, can you suggest me other application?): +`SwallowCatcher`_ and `Car Cast`_. Testing of the second one was fast … +podcatcher which doesn’t support import of OPML file with my current +podcasts is out. So, now I have SwallowCatcher and I hate every moment I +have to deal with it. I have to be fair, this is quite obviously +pre-alpha release thing, so I shouldn’t be too harsh on its author, but +given it is the only app I found, it makes me really sad. Is it just +problem of the underlying libraries or the author’s problem it is not +able to restart interrupted download? Combined with the fact that +exactly during the download the app crashes constantly (so I have to try +download of one show three times on average)? And yes, my wi-fi +connection is quite crappy on my home network, but that’t probably just +because Nokia can do much better hardware than Samsung, which was +expected, and I won’t hold it against Android. + +I understand that multitasking on Android is +broken\ :sup:`H`\ H\ :sup:`H`\ Hlimited, but playing of the long podcast +just to happen in background. When I send SwallowCatcher to background +(by pressing Home key) playback stops. Fortunately it stores the +downloaded files so that Google’s Music is able to find them, and that +works correctly, but I shouldn’t have to do it manually (e.g., gpodder +just doesn’t pretend and uses a system music player for the actual +playback). + +Talking about an embarrassment, this post is way too long and I should +stop it, and it structure is awful. Oh well. I will rather send it out +now and not keep it in the Drafts folder anymore. + +.. _`this one`: + https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=7906 +.. _`another one`: + https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5527 +.. _BTmono: + https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bedoig.BTmono +.. _f-droid: + http://f-droid.org +.. _PonyExpress: + http://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.sixgun.ponyexpress +.. _SwallowCatcher: + http://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.webworxshop.swallowcatcher +.. _Car Cast: + http://jadn.com/carcast/ |