Linux versus Windows

Long time Linux user, first time Android user's perspective I picked up one of these and bought my wife a Google Nexus S in January of 2011. The screen is roughly half the size on this one & there is a very noticeable difference while trying to run games or failing to run 480p+ video content, but it works just fine for me. Bought it as a Sansa Clip+ replacement, and I'm extremely happy with it. No comments on voice quality, 3G/EDGE or GSM connection quality – I have yet to test the device with a SIM card, and am using it solely as a personal media player. (I.e. I got tired of waiting for a market enabled iPod Touch competitor)

What it can do

* Angry Birds – Some lagginess when a media player is cranking MP3s out in the background, but no major issues. Occasionally hangs up & has to be killed in lengthy sessions.

* Voice search – Requires installing the speech-to-text synthesizer, but

impressive accuracy & works fine on this limited hardware.

* Froyo – The Latin America firmware seems to work. Not accessible through Samsung's provided Keis software, but available from third parties.

* Speaker – Respectable music playback & spoken word playback for its price range

* Camera – Take decent stills for its price range.

* Unplug/Plug-in pause/resume – Addictive feature, but likely common to many Android devices.

* Decent battery life – I've been charging it every two days or so, with regular use of the Wi-Fi in the evening and 3-4 hours of daily use as a media player with the screen turned off. Otherwise always kept in standby. (Again, this is SIM-free, no GSM radio usage.)

* Wi-Fi – WPA2 Wi-Fi support. Tethering seems to be an option in the Froyo firmware. Didn't check the stock.

* MicroSDHC – No issues & good solid seating for my 16gb MicroSDHC card. Located behind the snap-on/snap-off battery cover, but the battery does not have to be removed to get to it. A 1 or 2GB card was included with the phone.

* Video – Converting to a lower bitrate seems to be necessary for most of my videos, but no complaints. Small enough screen that there's nothing to be gained from sticking with higher resolutions.

What it does poorly:

* Wi-Fi disconnections – With both with stock firmware and the official Froyo build, my experience has shown the device to be prone to dropping the Wi-Fi connection when in use by certain apps, or more commonly when leaving.

* Volume levels – I frequently find myself wishing there was some sort of equalizer or system-level volume boosting functions I could use to compensate for low volume levels in certain audio tracks. Fine for normal music, but often inadequate with soft-spoken announcers in audio books and podcasts with heavy traffic

noise. I will definitely have to buy amplified headphones prior to taking flying with this device.

* VPN connections – The Froyo VPN tool looks nice enough, but is extremely finnicky.

* FM Radio – Depends on a wired set of headphones for the FM antenna. A common problem, but slightly annoying.

* Apps-to-SD – This Froyo feature seems to be somewhat overrated. Frequent problems with apps that say they support the move, but then disappear from the application menu afterwards. Still, even after giving up, with some 30 apps installed, I have 30.8Mb of the 170Mb of internal flash available. Apparently this just isn't that big a deal.

What it won't do:

* Multitouch – Unfortunate, but made up for in large part by the numerous buttons & the D-pad.

* Flash (bulb) – It doesn't have one, not that many do in this price range.

* Flash (Adobe) – The processor seems to be incompatible with the current builds of Adobe Flash. Haven't personally tested it, but it's not all that likely to work. There may be other workarounds.

Notes for battery hoardin' folks:

* Uses MicroUSB chargers – Tested with BlackBerry charger & a solar charger without problems.

* 3.7v, 4.44wh, 1200mAh li-ion battery. M/N: AB474350BU

A few quick 5500-tested App recommendations: MortPlayer Audiobooks/Music, BeyondPod, Pulse, Aldiko, Comixology, Droid Comic Viewer, Angry Birds, and File Expert (That last gives integrated FTP & HTTP file management – I basically never use a USB connection for data transfers.)

Market glitches from use overseas, in Chile (not yet in the paid-app country white-list):

* I don't know whether this is because of the firmware or my physical location, but it was impossible to obtain numerous free apps and ANY paid apps out of the box or after updating to Froyo. Using the

new web-based app market, I can see paid apps, but none will allow me to install and many apps that ARE available through the normal market refuse to install due to “carrier restrictions” on this unlocked, SIM-free phone.

* Free apps I was unable to install included: Amazon's Kindle & MP3 stores, Google Books, the voice-to-text synthesizer, and Google Listen. Free apps loaded on the phone that I was unable to update included Gmail, YouTube, and Google Search.

* The issues above can be wholly resolved using Market Enabler, but that requires rooting the phone. I would be very interested to hear if a VPN to the US or simply being present in the US or another country with paid-app access has these same issues.

[Aug 2011] A couple quick updates, six months in:

* Wifi disconnections – This proved to be largely an issue of signal strength. This device has a perfectly usable wireless range, but it's still not quite as good as some other devices in my appartment. A second router and setting the wifi sleep mode to “never” or “never when plugged in” was enough to resolve this issue.

[...]

* GSM use – Took the device home to the US on vacation and picked up a prepaid TMo SIM. Worked just fine, but only EDGE (at least using the i5500L Froyo ROM). That was enough to eliminate the need for the Market Enabler. Allows purchase of paid apps even after my return to Chile.

* Battery life update – Massive change in battery life when I was stateside. With heavy use of the browser & Google Maps and occasional use as a phone, I found myself needing to change batteries at mid day every day while on vacation. Fine for tooling about town, although it still drained much quicker than w/o a SIM, but constant Maps use while playing the tourist in NYC absolutely killed the battery life.

Tags: price range, free apps, Angry Birds, media player

Posted: Sunday, January 15th, 2012 @ 02:03
Categories: Uncategorized.
Tags: Angry Birds, free apps, media player, price range.
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