Linked by robojerk on Thu 30th Dec 2010 00:09 UTC
I have often wondered why there wasn't a flood of Android portable media players - now the WSJ Reports: "With the move, Samsung will round out a series of Galaxy-named gadgets that matches product for product with Apple Inc.'s line of iPods, iPad and iPhone. Samsung will have the Galaxy Player, Galaxy Tab and Galaxy smartphone. All use a variation of Google Inc.'s Android operating system and work with apps developed for it."
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Member since:2005-07-06
As it happens I used to own an iPhone, and have a touch, but now use a Galaxy Phone, and while I agree about Archos, I have to say that some of your critical points may be a little off here:
1. Mass Storage Class - I'm not completely familiar with this one. I use drag and drop to put media on the phone. I use winamp, which I understand will sync over wifi/usb without any issues. Also Double Twist is available. So there are lots of choices here.
1. Mass Storage Class - I'm not completely familiar with this one. I use drag and drop to put media on the phone. I use winamp, which I understand will sync over wifi/usb without any issues. Also Double Twist is available. So there are lots of choices here.
MSC means dragging and dropping like you do - as soon as you transfer more than say around 20gb worth of music the reboot and subsequent indexing takes for ages and due to the inefficient way the indexing managed the whole device slows to a crawl because the whole thing is loaded into the physical memory. I've yet to see a company develop a device that doesn't have all the draw backs of MSC - it is simple but it is only useful for people who quite frankly have bugger all music and stuff to sync with it.
Now if they said, "ok lets go MTP" then I'll be happy, as long as they work with the libmtp and Songbird developers to make synchronisation happen both on Mac OS X and Windows without any problems.
2. AAC - supported along with:
Media support
The Galaxy S comes with support for many multimedia file formats, including audio codecs (FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MID, AC3, XMF), video codecs (mpeg4, H.264, H.263, Sorenson codec, DivX HD/ XviD, VC-1) and video formats (3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (Advanced Systems Format), AVI (divx), MKV, FLV).
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Media_support
Media support
The Galaxy S comes with support for many multimedia file formats, including audio codecs (FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MID, AC3, XMF), video codecs (mpeg4, H.264, H.263, Sorenson codec, DivX HD/ XviD, VC-1) and video formats (3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (Advanced Systems Format), AVI (divx), MKV, FLV).
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Media_support
Good to see they support AAC, so that is already putting them in a good position as a replacement for my iPod Classic.
3. Size and Price - This will be the killer. Although, we know that the Galaxy device will be expandable through micro-SD cards. The 16 Gb Phone is listed at $550 (no Term) from Rogers.ca Considering that the 16G iPhone 4 runs at $660 (apple.ca), and the 32G iTouch is $310, I think we would be estimating a cost of about $300 give or take.
So, I think we would see something very close to the Apple price point. The key here is that with android, the sky is the limit. You don't like the core functionality of the OS, you just change it. The real question here is, can Samsung get out of the box approval to run the Google Android Market. If this is the case, then I think Apple will have a fight on its hands.
So, I think we would see something very close to the Apple price point. The key here is that with android, the sky is the limit. You don't like the core functionality of the OS, you just change it. The real question here is, can Samsung get out of the box approval to run the Google Android Market. If this is the case, then I think Apple will have a fight on its hands.
But will it be abandoned within 6 months? Android 2.3 is released and no update provided only to be told you've got to upgrade your hardware, then 3.0 is just around the corner, will Galaxy sit in obscurity as Samsung tells its customers of a few months that they should throw away their old devices because they can't be bothered providing firmware upgrades? We've already seen the racket being run by phone vendors who refuse to provide updates even though they can well and truly run Android 2.2. Sorry but when you compare the situation in the Android market on phones to the Apple world - at least when you purchase an Apple i-device 1 year ago you're at least assured you're going to receive a iOS update compared to all the Android vendors who have told their customers to go fuck themselves when it comes to Android 2.2/2.3 upgrades.
RE[3]: Comment by kaiwai
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Thu 30th Dec 2010 21:57
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by kaiwai"
Member since:2006-07-14
Well, the abandonment issue is pretty misleading.
There are two different issues with abandonment:
OS updates:
It runs android, an open source operating system for mobile devices. There are third party providers of updates that can be installed in the most popular devices to keep them up to date. Relying on the carrier or manufacturer of the devices for updates is not always necessary.
Applications:
You can write your own! No third party approval. If switching to a third party OS is too much for you, you can improve the device itself through writing apps for it, or finding apps online and installing them. Screw the App store review!
RE[3]: Comment by kaiwai
by JAlexoid on Fri 31st Dec 2010 02:00
in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by kaiwai"
Member since:2009-05-19
Apple i-device 1 year ago you're at least assured you're going to receive a iOS update compared to all the Android vendors who have told their customers to go f--k themselves when it comes to Android 2.2/2.3 upgrades.
Yeah... So since you actually need an iPod Classic, why would you care for iOS updates?
This BTW sounds like the top-of-the-line device, witch usually do get updates.
And those updates is not as big an issue as some claim it to be.
Edited 2010-12-31 02:00 UTC
Member since:2005-08-09
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Member since:
2010-12-30
As it happens I used to own an iPhone, and have a touch, but now use a Galaxy Phone, and while I agree about Archos, I have to say that some of your critical points may be a little off here:
1. Mass Storage Class - I'm not completely familiar with this one. I use drag and drop to put media on the phone. I use winamp, which I understand will sync over wifi/usb without any issues. Also Double Twist is available. So there are lots of choices here.
2. AAC - supported along with:
Media support
The Galaxy S comes with support for many multimedia file formats, including audio codecs (FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MID, AC3, XMF), video codecs (mpeg4, H.264, H.263, Sorenson codec, DivX HD/ XviD, VC-1) and video formats (3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (Advanced Systems Format), AVI (divx), MKV, FLV).<P>
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S#Media_support
3. Size and Price - This will be the killer. Although, we know that the Galaxy device will be expandable through micro-SD cards. The 16 Gb Phone is listed at $550 (no Term) from Rogers.ca Considering that the 16G iPhone 4 runs at $660 (apple.ca), and the 32G iTouch is $310, I think we would be estimating a cost of about $300 give or take.
So, I think we would see something very close to the Apple price point. The key here is that with android, the sky is the limit. You don't like the core functionality of the OS, you just change it. The real question here is, can Samsung get out of the box approval to run the Google Android Market. If this is the case, then I think Apple will have a fight on its hands.
For your consideration.
Dave