Reply to: Nice new phone

[Peoplesoft bloke]

How are my fellow HTC desire chums finding text editing? Mostly it's fine but I sometimes struggle to move about in text using the trackball thingy - it keeps dropping unwanted letters in.

[mudskipper]

I'm not sure, but I thought she was saying that Android's browser (which seems to have inherited Microsoft's mistake in describing the Web as "the Internet" after the manner of somebody describing the motorway network as "the Tarmac") was unable to cope with the Blogger user interface.

WHS. I did try Opera, but it was rubbish. (To be fair, it's still Beta).

Blogger Droid is what I've gone with - it does the basics, i.e. you can post text and a photo.
The normal browser is happy enough to read blogs, so I should be fine. It was just a bit disappointing to find it didn't work out the tin.

[NickFitz]

Alternatively, there is something on the phone called "Internet". It's some piece of software that allows you to surf the web, and you could use that instead??

I'm not sure, but I thought she was saying that Android's browser (which seems to have inherited Microsoft's mistake in describing the Web as "the Internet" after the manner of somebody describing the motorway network as "the Tarmac") was unable to cope with the Blogger user interface.

I was playing with the Android 2.1 SDK yesterday. I appreciate that an emulator isn't the same as the real thing (and it's a really shoddy emulator compared to the iPhone emulator, almost as bad as some of the emulators Nokia have inflicted on developers over the years), but even so the browser seemed to have some problems with some pretty basic JS stuff of the ilk now described as "Ajax". I'm not sure about this though; ppk reckons that Android is much better than most other mobile platforms at JS, but a lot of the testing he's published has been directed more towards the rendering engine (WebKit) and towards basic UI-related event handling.

As things like the reputation system apparently aren't working for some other Android users, I'm thinking of devising some tests that will help me narrow these problems down if only from the perspective of CUK's interface, although the results will hopefully be of general value. I'd be grateful if Android users like yourself could give them a go, as it would help me to work out where such bits of CUK (and almost certainly other places) are going up the creek.

I'll post a link once I've got an idea from the Android emulator and the vBulletin code of where I ought to be looking - yes, I know, confirmation bias, but that can be the way to a quick fix when debugging platforms you don't have direct access to. If that doesn't pay off, expect slightly more heavy-duty tests

P.S. If vBulletin and Blogger had used the techniques of progressive enhancement and feature detection, this wouldn't be a problem. Blogger having the might of Google behind it and still fscking up doesn't really excuse vBulletin's webdevs, but everything I see (including reading through their bug-tracking database) leads me to the conclusion that the vBulletin devs were wrongly pushed to a release date that was too early by managers who thought they had to get something shipping even if it was broken. That further suggests that, as usual, senior management is at the root of the problem. Why on earth do we let those bozos run things so badly, and pay them so much for it? Bunch of idiots

[TheFaQQer]

Found out today it won't do blogger. A bit of a pain as I wanted to use it to blog my way from Land's End to John O' Groats next month. Have found a blog app which will at least let you post and upload a photo, but it's not ideal. Disappointing.

Well, there's an App in the Market called "Blogger-Droid" that might do what you want.

Real bloggers use WordPress anyway, and there is a great App for that.

Alternatively, there is something on the phone called "Internet". It's some piece of software that allows you to surf the web, and you could use that instead??

[Spacecadet]

That's a bit weird, given that Google own Blogger

What capabilities do you need beyond posting and uploading photos? There's a Blogger API, so it should be possible to create an app that can do the needful, including things like updating existing posts, viewing and posting comments, and what have you.

And they say linux/andriod isn't for geeks

[mudskipper]

That's a bit weird, given that Google own Blogger

What capabilities do you need beyond posting and uploading photos? There's a Blogger API, so it should be possible to create an app that can do the needful, including things like updating existing posts, viewing and posting comments, and what have you.

Yes, it's editing posts I was thinking of. Still, my cycling buddy has an iPhone!

[NickFitz]

Found out today it won't do blogger. A bit of a pain as I wanted to use it to blog my way from Land's End to John O' Groats next month. Have found a blog app which will at least let you post and upload a photo, but it's not ideal. Disappointing.

That's a bit weird, given that Google own Blogger

What capabilities do you need beyond posting and uploading photos? There's a Blogger API, so it should be possible to create an app that can do the needful, including things like updating existing posts, viewing and posting comments, and what have you.

[mudskipper]

Found out today it won't do blogger. A bit of a pain as I wanted to use it to blog my way from Land's End to John O' Groats next month. Have found a blog app which will at least let you post and upload a photo, but it's not ideal. Disappointing.

[TheFaQQer]

Does the HTC Desire allow file system access ?

I use Linda File Manager from the Marketplace for file system access. In the 24 months I've had an Android phone, I think I've needed / wanted file system access five times now.

[Spacecadet]

I had a WM phone before and it was rubbish in comparison to the Desire.

What was your old WM phone? (and define rubbish)
Smart phones have moved on so much in the past couple of years that yours could look rubbish compared to anything currently on the market.

To put it into context my Experia X1 running WM is a bit on the slow side but stable and hasn't needed a reboot in months.
Even though it's only 18 months old, the processor speeds on new smartphones are running twice as fast
500mhz for the X1 vs 1ghz for the desire

[Drewster]

PS: Take some rep for the reply.

<Brown Nose Detector> Thats outrageous!!! If I had any spare rep to play with I would de-rep you for that obvious botty-licking!

Admin would know/could find out who Rep-ed him easy enough..... we don't need (or want) to know....

I am ashamed of you!!!!!

Unless of course you are double-bluffing.... in which case "Admin would know/could find out who Rep-ed him easy enough"

[fullyautomatix]

I had a WM phone before and it was rubbish in comparison to the Desire. You do have file system access with the desire but not a root account. It has not been an issue so far. Interface is superb, a learning curve from WM but so much better. Looked at the old phone last night to clean it up to sell and it felt ancient! Not nice to use in comparison.

Battery life is not brilliant but have bought a couple of spare batteries and a desktop cradle so you can charge phone and spare battery. Battery usually lasts a day / day and a half. A battery is about a tenner so no big deal.

Thanks! So I take it the migration from a WM phone to an Andriod HTC is pretty painless ? I presume the day to day aspects of a modern smartphone like syncing contacts, calendar etc works out of the box ?

PS: Take some rep for the reply.

[Spacecadet]

In Germany you can get monthly PAYG data packs that compare favourably to the contract ones. They usually have the same 3GB or 5GB at full speed then throttling to GPRS speeds for the rest of your "unlimited" allowance.

I think o2 offer something similar in the UK, but I don't think vodafone do.

Cheapest at the moment is giffgaff (Part of O2)
£10 per month minimum topup and includes unlimited internet

http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing

[doodab]

Doesn't prepay get a bit expensive on a smartphone thats always connecting to t'internet?

In Germany you can get monthly PAYG data packs that compare favourably to the contract ones. They usually have the same 3GB or 5GB at full speed then throttling to GPRS speeds for the rest of your "unlimited" allowance.

I think o2 offer something similar in the UK, but I don't think vodafone do.

[administrator]

My XDA has gone bust after 3 years and shows a white screen of death. Mobiles only last a year these days it seems.

Anyway, my Windows mobile phone allowed me to access it's file system. But the interface was clunky and I am looking to move away from WM phone.

Does the HTC Desire allow file system access ? How is the battery life ?

I had a WM phone before and it was rubbish in comparison to the Desire. You do have file system access with the desire but not a root account. It has not been an issue so far. Interface is superb, a learning curve from WM but so much better. Looked at the old phone last night to clean it up to sell and it felt ancient! Not nice to use in comparison.

Battery life is not brilliant but have bought a couple of spare batteries and a desktop cradle so you can charge phone and spare battery. Battery usually lasts a day / day and a half. A battery is about a tenner so no big deal.