Thursday, October 8, 2009

A New Android Phone from Samsung / Sprint

I've done significant research on iPhone programming over the past year--I have a shelf of pretty much every book put out on the subject.  I love my iPhone, the apps are great, but eventually one comes to accept that not everything will be using an iPhone--especially in the United States with it (currently) stuck on the AT&T network.

For those who are looking for something else, there are a whole bunch of phones coming out based on technology created by Google ( http://www.android.com/ ) that will be available on multiple wireless carriers, not just stuck on one network.  So if you are content with your current wireless company, you might easily be able to grab one of these phones and keep your (hopefully) great service.

Why is this Android stuff significant?  Because the app store is rather compatible between phones.  iPhone developers have one outlet:  Apple's App Store.  As a mobile developer, it can be useful to have more choices.  For example, the Samsung Moment, a phone coming from Sprint around November 1, has a relatively fast processor, and spots a physical keyboard (leaving more room on the screen for apps, great if your app requires text entry.)  On an iPhone, if you enter text, pretty much half of your screen is eaten by the virtual keyboard.

The other thing that is potentially useful about Sprint's new phone is that the plan including text can start around $70 a month, and you look into $90-$100 a month for a text/data plan for the iPhone.

So, consider the iPhone with serious competition now (not just the Moment, but all Android-based phones in general).  iPhone developers--you might want to pick up the Android SDK for fun, brush up on your Java and have a little fun.

I'd enjoy playing some games on my iPhone against some Android users.

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