Database Users

How Quick Will This Device be Superceded?

OK, so like nearly everyone else on this forum, I'll be first in line for an EVO. This is a beast of a phone, nothing like it (state-side anyway). How long do you think this will last?
What device will leave the EVO in the dust? How long will it's reign last?
Because of the required spec's, I would think that Windows Phone 7 devices will likely be the first to smoke it, specs-wise. However, it seems MS went all Apple-walled-garden with 7, so I don't see WP7 beating this anytime soon. Considering the state of the Windows Marketplace vs Android, I say no competition.
Apple's new iPhone will surely be amazing, software-wise. But again, the walled-garden approach will leave it behind.
Finally, AT&T and Verizon seem at least one year behind Sprint in 4g deployments.
Ideas?

khov07 said:
OK, so like nearly everyone else on this forum, I'll be first in line for an EVO. This is a beast of a phone, nothing like it (state-side anyway). How long do you think this will last?
What device will leave the EVO in the dust? How long will it's reign last?
Because of the required spec's, I would think that Windows Phone 7 devices will likely be the first to smoke it, specs-wise. However, it seems MS went all Apple-walled-garden with 7, so I don't see WP7 beating this anytime soon. Considering the state of the Windows Marketplace vs Android, I say no competition.
Apple's new iPhone will surely be amazing, software-wise. But again, the walled-garden approach will leave it behind.
Finally, AT&T and Verizon seem at least one year behind Sprint in 4g deployments.
Ideas?
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I say 6 months? At least before a significant development, like dualcore processors.

mrono said:
I say 6 months? At least before a significant development, like dualcore processors.
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Dual core processors are extremely unlikely for at least a year or two. Not only would it make phones that much more expensive to produce, but today's battery technology simply hasn't caught up to the major advances in processor technology. Batteries are struggling to power a single core processor to this very day; said batteries couldn't dream of powering a dual-core phone for any reasonable length of time.
In any case, if the Evo is going to be beaten by another phone, it won't be for a while. The only things that could take it over are the new Snapdragon 1.5 Ghz and Intel Moorestown 1.5 Ghz processors coming later this year. There's absolutely no way a bigger screen size could be even considered, since the Evo is pushing it already. A 4.3 inch AMOLED screen would be quite nice, but not enough on its own to replace the Evo.

Mecha2142 said:
Dual core processors are extremely unlikely for at least a year or two. Not only would it make phones that much more expensive to produce, but today's battery technology simply hasn't caught up to the major advances in processor technology. Batteries are struggling to power a single core processor to this very day; said batteries couldn't dream of powering a dual-core phone for any reasonable length of time.
In any case, if the Evo is going to be beaten by another phone, it won't be for a while. The only things that could take it over are the new Snapdragon 1.5 Ghz and Intel Moorestown 1.5 Ghz processors coming later this year. There's absolutely no way a bigger screen size could be even considered, since the Evo is pushing it already. A 4.3 inch AMOLED screen would be quite nice, but not enough on its own to replace the Evo.
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its actually a 4.3 TFT screen.

80s_kid said:
its actually a 4.3 TFT screen.
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Which is why he wasn't talking about the EVO

mrono said:
Which is why he wasn't talking about the EVO
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yep. very true. my mistake lol, i havent slept today yet.

nope, not CPU's
I agree with the above comments, dual-core CPU's won't become prevalent in mobile devices until batteries improve significantly.
My guess is devices with discrete graphics boards, like the iPhone (has had for years now!), will trump EVO, though only for gaming purposes. I'll stick with a PSP for mobile gaming.
Besides, a 1Ghz+ processor should easily handle any video you can toss at it. My TP2 with a 526 Mhz processor + CorePlayer handles movies saved on my SD card just fine, full-screen.
Maybe truly integrated video calling? Not through a third-party app like Qik, or even Skype (though Skype on the EVO would be awesome), but an actual native function/app on the device. Instead of dialing a username, just dial a number, and if the device is video-capable, you get an option on the screen to answer with voice or video.

It will depend on far to many factors to quantify.
Doo you dig the big display? For those that do perhaps the only devices they will look for in the future will be 4 inch plus in size. Depending on how the evo and hd2 sell we may see many more our we may see less.
Those that want a physical keyboard may not even feel the evo is a contender and may wait for a galaxy s pro to fill their super phone.
The integrated graphics are inferior to the ipwn so those that want 3d gaming will feel the draw of that device or wait for the rumored psp phone.
Processor speed will be trumped probably by the iphone hd and if not then shortly after. The difference will be miniscule but it will get trumped.
storage? Android had lagged most other device for a long time with it's reliance on sd cards hopefully froyo will get more onboard memory like the iphone.
So it will depend on peoples needs as to when the evo gets trumped. For many the evo is far from the best device for them. For many it is totally drool worthy.

Hardware wise, this phone will be hard to beat in the immediate future. From what I understand is that Sprint allows users to upgrade after 1 year (if applicable) so that could be nice.
Only thing I am worried about is getting root or getting 2.2 in a timely fashion. Being a G1 user I haven't had to worry about it since rooting came pretty fast which has allowed me to install pretty much any ROM out there, not having to worry about when I am going to get 1.5 or 1.6 or whatever. I have read on how the Droid or Hero took a couple of months to get 2.1, they get it and then 2.2 is announced. Gingerbread is confirmed to be released sometime Q4 2010, I would hate to get 2.2 right when Gingerbread is announced. I will rage.
/rant
edit: I don't believe the A4 is faster than Snapdragon. I think the test results that are out there is due to the fact that Apple OS is a closed system, it also doesn't multitask. Because it can load pages faster, doesn't mean it is better technically. Until it can be tested on a neutral OS (which won't ever happen), it will never be a good benchmark to compare the two.

christmas some one will release a phone for the holiday rush. its gotta happen. my guess is at&t its probably there turn for the xmas phone of the year.

khov07 said:
I agree with the above comments, dual-core CPU's won't become prevalent in mobile devices until batteries improve significantly.
My guess is devices with discrete graphics boards, like the iPhone (has had for years now!), will trump EVO, though only for gaming purposes. I'll stick with a PSP for mobile gaming.
Besides, a 1Ghz+ processor should easily handle any video you can toss at it. My TP2 with a 526 Mhz processor + CorePlayer handles movies saved on my SD card just fine, full-screen.
Maybe truly integrated video calling? Not through a third-party app like Qik, or even Skype (though Skype on the EVO would be awesome), but an actual native function/app on the device. Instead of dialing a username, just dial a number, and if the device is video-capable, you get an option on the screen to answer with voice or video.
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the SnapDragon dual core processors are more efficient then their single core variants we use now since they use a smaller manufacturing process. find the source yourself, i'm not working that hard.

Hmmm...a source link for that info?
Doesn't matter though - most apps on PC's don't make very good use of multiple cores, and we've had those on desktops for many years now. Will mobile app developers make better use of them, once multi-core mobile devices become prevalent? Some might, others will ignore.
Think about it: what kind of cpu-intensive apps will we run on a mobile platform, that will benefit from multiple cores? No doubt mobile processors will continue to get faster, more cores, more cache, etc., but how much will we really do on a mobile device?
Question: why wouldn't mobile processors top-out the way desktop processors have? Folks can run the same basic apps on today's desktops (word processing, web browsing, email, etc.) as they can on desktops four years old.
Perhaps, as crazytalk states, the real developments in mobile processors will be focus more on efficiency than raw speed.
What say you?

Actually, I would say October, not Christmas. Christmas is usually too hectic for companies to release brand new flagship devices which is what would be needed to supercede the Evo. And I do see a dual core phone coming out around October. I think something is going to surprise everyone in October but that's expected. 6 months is sadly the shelf life for phones these days.

Someone convince me not to get the Epic and stick with the EVO

I am thinking about switching teams to the Epic from the EVO. I love the development on the EVO, Cyanogen is just amazing. It's so lite and fast I love it.
The Epic calls because of features like S-AMOLED, physical keyboard!!!!, similar size, 45nm hummingbird and better battery life have me itching for this phone. The only think that would keep me in the EVO camp is that there is an uncertain path for development.
I have heard that in the past Samsung did not release open source drivers for their phones, but that in the case of the Galaxy S the drivers are out there(at least the international version)
What do people think? Will we see development for this phone? Cyanogen? What would you do?

I wouldn't mind the epic once it was able to be rooted and get that horrible launcher the heck off there.
I actually don't like physical keyboard...feels too much like a prepaid texter phone I guess =x just a matter of taste.
I'm absolutely satisfied with the EVO even if I do wish I could change several things about it. For me, I wouldn't change because I would have to pay full price, if I had an upgrade then maybe. I would possibly change to a phone that would get Android updates faster because as we know with the Hero/2.1 debacle, Sense UI makes things rough and even when the hero did get 2.1 ...it was a dumbed down version. I seriously hope our EVOs get better treatment.
Ultimately, I guess you have to maybe play with one and see how it feels to you.

One word...Samsung. Maybe Samsung will finally redeem themselves to me with this phone, but they have always given their phones poor support after release and in general been really crappy for hardcore enthusiasts. If this phone develops a large user development crowd, you will be safer. Either way your going to have monster hardware, what will the community and the support after the sale be like?

Have you tried swype? If not try it first and give it a few weeks to get used to it.
After using it I feel it makes physical keyboards obsolete.

Wasn't this topic beat to death like last week when someone was crying about leaving for an iphone?
Wrong word choice and misspelling courtesy of swype.

Slide-out hardware keyboards are crap in my experience. I will take Swype ANY DAY.
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Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk Pro.

who would ever want a physical keyboard again when we have Swype? no way you can type faster on a physical not to mention the extra bulk. with the evo's big screen there is no longer need for a physical keyboard - and this comes from someone who loved the tp2 keyboard.

herbthehammer said:
Wasn't this topic beat to death like last week when someone was crying about leaving for an iphone?
Wrong word choice and misspelling courtesy of swype.
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I was thinking the same thing. Just didn't want to say it and get the whole "don't be so mean" response
Sorry OP, but I wouldn't touch a phone with a physical keyboard anymore. No need when you have a freaking 4.3 inch screen

Get a second battery,u should get about 8 hours from each at the least. i get at least 10 hours. 1500mhz batteries just arent enough for a 4.3 inch android phone.blame htc for givin us this battery dont blame the phone plz. right now im on 7 hours and 40 minutes with 50% battery left

b1indsided said:
Get a second battery,u should get about 8 hours from each at the least. i get at least 10 hours. 1500mhz batteries just arent enough for a 4.3 inch android phone.blame htc for givin us this battery dont blame the phone plz
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The Droid X apparently has much better battery life than the Evo, and it has a 4.3 display. Then again, that might be due to its 45nm processor vs the 65nm found on the Evo.

and ive been using a live wallpaper this whole time

See
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

b1indsided said:
See
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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don't use your phone much as a phone eh?

The things I wouldn't want to give up on the Evo are:
The extra .3" of screen size -- it doesn't sound like much, but when you see the two side by side, the Evo screen isn't a little bigger, it's just flat out bigger.
I like Sense, and the home screen and app screen layouts are more my style.
The GPS on the Galaxy phones are reportedly poor. They lock on fewer satellites than the Evo does and are slow to do so.
I had a slider on the TP2, and I rarely used it. The keyboard on the 4.3" screen makes a physical keyboard only helpful in specific situations, and even RDP is fully functional and usable even without a physical keyboard. So I'd rather not have it and save on the bulk.
I also have zero interest in 3d gaming on the phone, so the 3d capabilities of the Hummingbird hold little interest for me. YMMV.

not today been sittin at home just texting mostly and some pandora and a homerun challenge orcourse and a few auto syncs

It really is up to you. Both are great phones. Personally I would go with the Evo. I wouldn't mind having the Samsung either though.
AFAIK all the Galaxy phones have been rooted no? Rooting the Epic shouldn't be much harder. Since the Evo has had such good development and a little experience with WiMax, should be easy to port over that development.

I am mulling over the same decision right now...
The big drawback for me is the display on the Epic... while it is true it is S-AMOLED and should provide more vibrant colors and such, the display itself is subject to burn in (not as much as AMOLED but still there) and the tech they use in the display makes it like half the effective resolution of what it really is... I can't remember the name of it right now... Its somewhere on the forums. I have seen a Galaxy S screen next to my Evo and its vibrant and bright but my Evo (Epson panel) is easier to see outdoors and text is much crisper on it.
Second, its a Samsung. I have never liked a single Samsung product I've tried from their TVs to their cell phones. While I would like to have a physical keyboard, the lack of support Samsung gives to their products sucks.
Third, yes the hummingbird and SGX540 absolutely spank everything else on the market right now... but dual-core snapdragons are coming and so is Tegra2. I would rather wait and see what happens than just jump from a phone that's working perfectly fine to another one with better specs... Only to kick myself in the balls come Christmas time.
Lastly, Sprint chopped the 16GB of storage to 2GB in their version which kills a main selling point for me. Internal storage tends to be much faster than a microSD card of ANY size.

The cyanogenmod will never be on the Galaxy S.
The Galaxy S will never be as snappy as the Evo.
And yes the hummingbird processor is much better than snapdragon and yes it does do graphics much better, but I'm running PSX4Droid right now FF7 maxed out what else more do you want from a phone lol...
Have fun supporting PS2 graphics...too bad nobody is developing anything and good luck when the phone comes out rooting / flashing custom roms.
But hey the phone is great you wouldn't be wrong getting it either but currently the evo looks better.

amirborna said:
The cyanogenmod will never be on the Galaxy S.
The Galaxy S will never be as snappy as the Evo.
And yes the hummingbird processor is much better than snapdragon and yes it does do graphics much better, but I'm running PSX4Droid right now FF7 maxed out what else more do you want from a phone lol...
Have fun supporting PS2 graphics...too bad nobody is developing anything and good luck when the phone comes out rooting / flashing custom roms.
But hey the phone is great you wouldn't be wrong getting it either but currently the evo looks better.
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When did Cyanogen say he won't release for the Galaxy S? Its a HUGE market base for Android since EVERY carrier will have a variant...
EDIT: Looking at the various Galaxy forums it looks like a community FroYo isn't going to be easy since the hardware info won't even boot in the emulator... Guess you're right.
But one more reason to get the Epic - it supports a crap ton of codecs out of the box and won't require most video files to be converted unlike the Evo.

Samsung is notorious for not supporting their devices after launch. Just look at Behold II users, Samsung promised 2.0/2.1 on video, then later pulled the video to remove any evidence of them saying that.
It's a great phone, just don't expect it to be supported down the road.

rumors of nexus S dual core

http://androidandme.com/2010/11/new...ped-new-dual-core-version-already-in-testing/
talks about tech crunches report on "serious hardware issues."
here's hoping!
Sent from my sexy nexy

Dual core?
Now we're talking.

Hooray! Another thread on the same subject!

Rusty! said:
Hooray! Another thread on the same subject!
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Chill.
The other thread is locked now.
But on the subject....I could live with this phone.
Make sure its HSPA+ compatable though !

According to tmonews, it only supports up to 7.2/5.76 HSPA (not plus, sorry).
http://www.tmonews.com/2010/11/nexus-s-specs-leaked/

mingkee said:
According to tmonews, it only supports up to 7.2/5.76 HSPA (not plus, sorry).
http://www.tmonews.com/2010/11/nexus-s-specs-leaked/
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looks like you missed the main topic of this thread... there's a new Nexus S in the works with a newer cpu.. supposedly the dual core Orion from samsung. You are still talking about the old specs on the single core CPU. Maybe the change to Orion the radios will change also.

And maybe also the Nexus S will be able to transform into a transmitting device that can place cellular connections with other people that are scattered throughout the United States of America for the provider cost that is paid monthly and also be able to look up various information on the world wide web and display a H on the top of the taskbar which people will still assume is stock on all phones!!!!

I agree the specs of the original Nexus S made me really sad. The original Nexus set the standards for the year to come. Phones are still coming out with the same specs as the N1 even now! So I expect a Dual Core Processor with 32 gig internal running Tmo 4g 10mega pixel camera capable of 1080p 4'3 or bigger display ....have I left anything else out?....oh yeah Angry Birds comes standard

wondercoolguy said:
I agree the specs of the original Nexus S made me really sad. The original Nexus set the standards for the year to come. Phones are still coming out with the same specs as the N1 even now! So I expect a Dual Core Processor with 32 gig internal running Tmo 4g 10mega pixel camera capable of 1080p 4'3 or bigger display ....have I left anything else out?....oh yeah Angry Birds comes standard
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as long as its not 10mp of ****... id rather have 5 of quality than 10 of ****...
1080p recording is just obnoxious...
4.3inch screen is just obnoxious... if there is one thing samsung got right it was the 4inch screen

Nexus S - First Samsung Orion Smartphone?
http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/cell-phones/nexus-s/11523.html
By Sindre Lia, Friday 12 November 2010
The Nexus S is destined to become the first Samsung Orion smartphone, as in the first smartphone to make Hummingbird look old.
The Nexus One was a failure at all but one account: It brought new Android features to smartphone influencers and developers early throughout 2010. Having a star in your fleet of this kind is crucial, and nobody knows it better than Google. The days when you got straight answers from Google executives are long gone - they play ball like OS makers play ball now. We all get confused and then surprised. It's PR at its best and it makes smartphone influencers pay even more attention to what you're really up to.
The Nexus S by Samsung and Google will likely be the most powerful smartphone you've ever seen, as it'll likely be powered by the new Samsung Orion application processor. Its specs pretty much speaks for itself, and we guess the Nexus S will instantly be regarded as the new Android smartphone to be had amongst smartphone influencers and developers looking to get an early taste of new Android features throughout 2011 - and a lot should go wrong if they don't like it. Check out what the processor brings to the table here:
Designed using Samsung's 45 nanometer low-power process technology, Orion features a pair of 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 cores, each comes with a 32KB data cache and a 32KB instruction cache. Samsung also included a 1MB L2 cache to optimize CPU processing performance and provide fast context switching in a multi-tasking environment. In addition, the memory interface and bus architecture of Orion supports data intensive multimedia applications including full HD video playback and high speed 3D action games.
Samsung's new application processor incorporates a rich portfolio of advanced multimedia features implemented by hardware accelerators, such as video encoder/decoder that supports 30fps video playback and recording at 1080p full HD resolution. Using an enhanced graphics processing unit (GPU), the new processors are capable of delivering 5 times the 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung.
The Orion processor will let customers use different types of storage, including NAND flash, moviNAND, SSD or HDD providing both SATA, and eMMC interfaces. Customers can also choose their appropriate memory options including low power LPDDR2 or DDR3, which is commonly used for high performance. In addition, a GPS receiver baseband processor is embedded in the processor to seamlessly support location based services.
A mobile device using the Orion processor can simultaneously support two on-device display screens, while driving a third external display such as a TV or monitor, via an on-chip HDMI 1.3a interface.
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going_home said:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/cell-phones/nexus-s/11523.html
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Damn that sounds awesome. SetCPU better get working on a dual CPU version

SO NICE DESIGN !
plastic....but, lighter, never get "over-hit",safer from falls....

going_home said:
http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/cell-phones/nexus-s/11523.html
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Meh.
It isnt too exciting really. The things I want are a better physical design, improved build quality, vastly better battery life, at least iPhone 4 camera quality, proper multitouch, wireless inductive charging, 5ghz N wifi, HSPA+, higher resolution screen etc
Having a dual core processor doesnt do a thing for those issues (except the higher res screen, and even there a dual 1ghz processor is way overkill).

I thought i'd throw my 2cents is as a newb to the phone. I have probably wrestled with keeping it or selling it more than anyone these past two weeks of owning it. (in fact I actually advertised it with all accessories for sale, like stuff I bought thats on its way..but I've been having second thoughts).
Ok. For one, I was in awe of the Galaxy S, even though i hadn't seen one powered on in person. (Plus the girl I like mentioned it when we were talking about my "new phone" and asked if it was a Galaxy )
In all seriousness though, the discussions that got me leaning to the N1 noted:
- Form factor, form factor, form factor. Whether I like the specs or not, I have to like the bling (dare i say), or form factor in general. This phone just fits sweet in the pocket.
- In the other Nexus S thread, guys mentioned how they came back to their N1 after the Galaxy, and one chap mentioned how he's had his N1 for a year and it has no scratches without babying it. (I know from other HTC plastic phones that this can happen, and it does save you money in the long run by not wanting to buy "fresher" fones after 6 months, just based on the looks factor).
- Touchscreen. Yes it may not be as responsive as the Galaxy S, but I can live with it. And the more I think about it, I don't want to relearn how to flash and root a new device, and how to apply all the fixes. (i seriously spent a full week learning stuff for the N1 and thats a lot of investment).
And more applicably to the Nexus S. The first thing that struck me when I looked at it was it looked too bulgy. I gotta like the way my phone looks man and I gotta say after two weeks of owning this it is timeless and slim. AND i'm not just saying this, because I have a buyer already waiting ..who i've been procrastinating turning down. NEway, later for that ;P (I'll help him find a nice one on ebay tho)
one thing i realized without thinking about it too, is there is brand loyalty involved too. I never really realized this before until I saw you guys' sigs, and looked back. i have been an htc fan and never really noticed it. now I know why.
peace out, and have a good night.
PS: be careful when SMSing tonight! TGIFers! heh! Use your Winmo device like I do ;P and heed the SMS Random Selection fairy! ;P

Oh and whoever said the N1 is not good at gaming, might be right BUT i was highly impressed by quake3demo on the nexus one the other night, and really: im not much of a gamer (on my phones).

I play psx emu on there all the time. Its sweet!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

ROM_Guest said:
I thought i'd throw my 2cents is as a newb to the phone. I have probably wrestled with keeping it or selling it more than anyone these past two weeks of owning it. (in fact I actually advertised it with all accessories for sale, like stuff I bought thats on its way..but I've been having second thoughts).
Ok. For one, I was in awe of the Galaxy S, even though i hadn't seen one powered on in person. (Plus the girl I like mentioned it when we were talking about my "new phone" and asked if it was a Galaxy )
In all seriousness though, the discussions that got me leaning to the N1 noted:
- Form factor, form factor, form factor. Whether I like the specs or not, I have to like the bling (dare i say), or form factor in general. This phone just fits sweet in the pocket.
- In the other Nexus S thread, guys mentioned how they came back to their N1 after the Galaxy, and one chap mentioned how he's had his N1 for a year and it has no scratches without babying it. (I know from other HTC plastic phones that this can happen, and it does save you money in the long run by not wanting to buy "fresher" fones after 6 months, just based on the looks factor).
- Touchscreen. Yes it may not be as responsive as the Galaxy S, but I can live with it. And the more I think about it, I don't want to relearn how to flash and root a new device, and how to apply all the fixes. (i seriously spent a full week learning stuff for the N1 and thats a lot of investment).
And more applicably to the Nexus S. The first thing that struck me when I looked at it was it looked too bulgy. I gotta like the way my phone looks man and I gotta say after two weeks of owning this it is timeless and slim. AND i'm not just saying this, because I have a buyer already waiting ..who i've been procrastinating turning down. NEway, later for that ;P (I'll help him find a nice one on ebay tho)
one thing i realized without thinking about it too, is there is brand loyalty involved too. I never really realized this before until I saw you guys' sigs, and looked back. i have been an htc fan and never really noticed it. now I know why.
peace out, and have a good night.
PS: be careful when SMSing tonight! TGIFers! heh! Use your Winmo device like I do ;P and heed the SMS Random Selection fairy! ;P
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Keep in mind that any software related issues with the galaxy series would be non existant on a samsung made nexus phone.

jivemaster said:
Keep in mind that any software related issues with the galaxy series would be non existant on a samsung made nexus phone.
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Granted.
I would still wait, personally, for a nexus phone with the same form factor as this one. Too slim!

If it is really an orion cpu and can work on the same tzones/web2go plan then i would switch and give up the superior design of the nexus.

If it is licensed thru tmo, you will likely need a full data plan...
Afaik only the dev phones can pull this off as tmo has no record of the imei
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

The future of the Nexus S

Every day new smartphones come out. Faster phones. Better phones. Slicker phones. Especially since Google introduced Android, the smartphone market has got a big boost. Before you know it, your o so special phone isn't so special anymore. You are getting more and more jealous, and then you can't resist anymore. After using phone 1.0 for half a year, you decide to buy phone 2.0, which is faster, better and slicker.
This is probably a recognizable story for some people. Still having the same phone after two years is not done. Besides, getting jealous is inevitable. The trick as a manufacturer is to create a smartphone that is special enough to last even if there are other phones that are faster, better and slicker. Inventing such feature is very hard. If you bring a phone on the market with a dual-core processor today, you can't expect it to be special after a year.
Remaining special is a very common problem for smartphones. You can't prevent phones from getting more advanced technology, but you can try to delay the 'aging' for as long as possible. People will always be complaining though. And within this forum, I've seen this attitude more than ever. For the Nexus S, the 'aging' seems to begin even before the phone is for sale. A 1Ghz processor isn't very special when dual-core's are lurking around the corner. Therefore, the most common question on this forum is 'which phone is better, the Nexus S or ...?' The snag is to buy a smartphone that will last as long as possible. This topic is about the question how long the Nexus S will last.
Faster
Speed is the most important feature of a smartphone. We don't want lag. We want fluent animations, fast multi-touching and smooth browsing. The 1Ghz processor in the Nexus S is certainly not new. In fact, the Nexus One even had a 1Ghz processor, although that was a Snapdragon, and not a Hummingbird. Where the processor in the Nexus One was something new, in the Nexus S it is not so special anymore. Yet the Nexus S is very fast, certainly faster than the Nexus One. It is the fastest device on the market, for the moment at least.
This year will bring us a lot of dual-core phones. Will the Nexus S be outrunned? I don't think so. It is already fast. There is no feature that really needs a stronger processor. Maybe battery-life will be improved with dual-core, but regarding speed, I am not worried. The only thing you need a better processor for, is games. It is going the same way as it did with computers. You don't need quad-core to browse on the web, use Google Maps or edit a Word document. The only reason computers are getting faster and faster is because of the gaming industry. It will go the same way with smartphones. I personally don't need to play big games on my phone. Why would I want that? The screen is too small, and a touchscreen isn't very gaming-friendly. Besides, I have a Xbox 360 at home. I only want to play games like Angry Birds, and Worms on my smartphone. Games you can play in the bus, train or while waiting.
I would rather see every single flash game on the internet playable on my smartphone, then better processors to be able to play games that are more fun to play on my Xbox 360. At the moment there are no features that need a dual-core processor, at least not for me.
Better
You can't be special with speed. If you bring out a 2Ghz dual-core device, you can be sure that within a couple of months somebody else will also bring a 2Ghz dual-core smartphone on the market. An option is to invent your own screen. Samsung has got his 'Super AMOLED', for example, and Apple got the 'Retina' display.
The Super AMOLED on the Nexus S is pretty good. Vibrant, high-contrast colours appeal to a lot of people. Sure, there are some (including me) who like the sharper and more realistic LCD, but you can't say Super AMOLED isn't beautiful. The Nexus S has actually two versions, also one with Super Clear LCD. This is nothing more than a pimped S-LCD, but it's pretty nice, looking at the Samsung Wave II.
But new displays continue to be invented. Super AMOLED plus is coming, as is Sony's 'Reality Display' with Bravia technology, and LG comes with the crystal clear (at least, that is what they claim)
NOVIA display. Whether these displays are really that nice remains to be seen. You can name it whatever you want, in most technologies I don't see much difference.
Is there any threat for the Nexus S regarding the display? Not more than for any other device. The Super AMOLED and the Super Clear LCD are both very good displays, and I don't see anything special enough invented in the next two years that makes the display of the Nexus S look rubbish.
Nexus
As already mentioned, more than ever people seem to complain about the Nexus S. Complaining stems from dissapointment. Dissapointment stems from expectations. And the expectations of the Nexus S were pretty high. This was mostly due to the fact that it's a Nexus, an Android's flagship. The Nexus One had the same expectations. At that time, the whole Nexus-line was unknown, but it was known that the Nexus One would be a 'Google phone'. It was assumed that this possible iPhone Killer would have top-notch hardware and would be very special. The Nexus One was a good device indeed, but not so special as previously thought. There is, of course, a small group who loves the Nexus One, and I may be one of them. But it didn't have the kind of specialty that people where hoping for.
Being special doesn't seem to be the point for a Nexus. I think it's supposed to draw a line. A Nexus shows what Android is capable of at the moment of sale, but that doesn't mean that it got to have the latest hardware.
Anyway, the same mistake people made with the Nexus One, is now made with the Nexus S. The expectations where just to high. I don't think you need the latest hardware to make a good device, but if you don't come up with something special, people will be dissapointed.
P.S. I'll finish this topic later

I think you're missing a key point: if you're a device manufacturer, you prefer that people buy your new products every six months rather than every two years. They only make money when you buy a device. Not that I think there's some massive conspiracy to keep phones behind the cutting edge, but if there were some way they could make a phone so fantastic that you'd never want another phone again, I doubt they would want to sell it.

for what i use a phone for, the ns hardware should be fine for quite a while. android software is what i don't want to be outdated on. shouldn't be an issue with the ns.

you forget that those dual core phones wont be out for 3 or 4 months

To me, it seems like you wrote that whole essay trying to justify your purchase.

zorak950 said:
I think you're missing a key point: if you're a device manufacturer, you prefer that people buy your new products every six months rather than every two years. They only make money when you buy a device. Not that I think there's some massive conspiracy to keep phones behind the cutting edge, but if there were some way they could make a phone so fantastic that you'd never want another phone again, I doubt they would want to sell it.
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Click to collapse
It's not a conspiracy, it's called business sense. There's little money in making and selling a perfect, everlasting product. That is the reason incandescent light bulbs last only 1000 hours and inkjet printers screech to a halt after exactly 5000 pages. It's planned obsolescence.
It's also the reason I went for the Nexus S. It doesn't come with planned obsolescence. Google will keep the updates coming much longer than any manufacturer or carrier. If Samsung had updated my I5700 Spica to Android 2.2, I wouldn't have bought the Nexus S. I would even have been willing to pay for the OS update.
Mokurex said:
To me, it seems like you wrote that whole essay trying to justify your purchase.
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Click to collapse
To me, it seems like you're trolling.

shrivelfig said:
To me, it seems like you're trolling.
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Click to collapse
How so? All he does was saying, "Oh there will be phone with better processor & display than the nexus s but i don't need it." You might not want a quad core processor in your pc, but is it better than a dual core? Yes. So what's the point of this?

Mokurex said:
How so? All he does was saying, "Oh there will be phone with better processor & display than the nexus s but i don't need it." You might not want a quad core processor in your pc, but is it better than a dual core? Yes. So what's the point of this?
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Of course it's better, but more important is how MUCH better it is. Where do you need it for?
Oh and by the way, I do not own a Nexus S

I agree that this is a great phone and will be for quite a while. The things that I will be looking for in my next phone, which will likely replace my G2 before this, is a better camera, 5mp is good, but not great, especially once theyre on a computer. I know some people will say well if you want a better camera buy one, and I do have an SLR for real picture taking, but the technology is there to put better cameras in smartphones and Im glad Sony is trying to incorperate that.
Aside from the camera im not sure what else could really make me think 'this phone isnt good enough'. Of course I'll still probably buy 3 more phones this year because I really enjoy trying the latest and greatest in phones but for the average person I think this phone is more than good enough to last the 2 years of their contract.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Androyed said:
Of course it's better, but more important is how MUCH better it is. Where do you need it for?
Oh and by the way, I do not own a Nexus S
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Click to collapse
You said yourself that technology is moving at a very fast pace. Even though android right now doesn't take advantage of the these dual core processor, how would you know that google wouldn't optimize future version of android to fully take advantage of the dual core. This would render device with these newer processor, a faster and smoother experience. With that in mind, saying that dual core processor is not needed isn't exactly a future-proof way of thinking.
ps. I apologize for saying that you're trying to justify the purchase if you didn't own one in the first place.

Mokurex said:
You said yourself that technology is moving at a very fast pace. Even though android right now doesn't take advantage of the these dual core processor, how would you know that google wouldn't optimize future version of android to fully take advantage of the dual core. This would render device with these newer processor, a faster and smoother experience. With that in mind, saying that dual core processor is not needed isn't exactly a future-proof way of thinking.
ps. I apologize for saying that you're trying to justify the purchase if you didn't own one in the first place.
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You are right, of course they will optimize it for dual-core. But the question is, do you need it? If your device is already super fast, will there really be a big difference with dual-core? What is faster than super fast? So, untill they bring out a feature that really needs it (except for games), I don't need dual-core. Because the Nexus S with 1Ghz is already amazingly fast, with virtually no lag.

One thing I see people overlook is that the nexus s is indeed a Google phone with updates straight from Google,all of Google's mobile division is behind this phone aswell as the nexus one. I dont know about you but I'd rather have the support of Google making updates for my phone first and having their Dev teams useing the phone I currently have (nexus s) than having a shiny new LG 2x with the oh so great tegra 2 which is the fist iteratation of dual core tegras and with that a little unproven and android isn't really optimized for it yet so it really has no ground apart from Smoother gaming,video play back and web browsing. In the end I would love a dual core nexus but you have in your hand I phone that can do almost everything your p.c can is that something to complain about?

Androyed said:
You are right, of course they will optimize it for dual-core. But the question is, do you need it? If your device is already super fast, will there really be a big difference with dual-core? What is faster than super fast? So, untill they bring out a feature that really needs it (except for games), I don't need dual-core. Because the Nexus S with 1Ghz is already amazingly fast, with virtually no lag.
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Click to collapse
If the nexus s will always be on 2.3 then yes the hummingbird processor will be plentiful. Did you see the new honeycomb ui that google demoed at CES? That fluid looking ui seems to use more processing power than even the live wallpaper on stock 2.3 launcher. When the nexus s gets honeycomb, will if still be super fast? What about ice cream? If let's say android 4.0 implements more eye candy, im sure it won't be as smooth anymore compare to these new dual core.
This is assuming you won't change phones when these newer version of android comes out.

Mokurex said:
If the nexus s will always be on 2.3 then yes the hummingbird processor will be plentiful. Did you see the new honeycomb ui that google demoed at CES? That fluid looking ui seems to use more processing power than even the live wallpaper on stock 2.3 launcher. When the nexus s gets honeycomb, will if still be super fast? What about ice cream? If let's say android 4.0 implements more eye candy, im sure it won't be as smooth anymore compare to these new dual core.
This is assuming you won't change phones when these newer version of android comes out.
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Click to collapse
You think upgrades only make things more processor intensive? Check out Windows 7 compared to Vista plz.
Jeez guys.
First off. Tegra2 is barely better than the Hummingbird. These aren't super phones. They're just great. Wait for the dual core snap dragon and dual core orion. Then Hummingbird and Tegra2 will both be "weak".

Yes, upgrade from vista to 7 isn't more processor intensive, but we're not talking windows are we? I'm sure all of us here can agree that from the video that google posted, honeycomb will use more cpu than gingerbread.
Btw, we're not arguing, it's called constructive argument =)

Mokurex said:
If the nexus s will always be on 2.3 then yes the hummingbird processor will be plentiful. Did you see the new honeycomb ui that google demoed at CES? That fluid looking ui seems to use more processing power than even the live wallpaper on stock 2.3 launcher. When the nexus s gets honeycomb, will if still be super fast? What about ice cream? If let's say android 4.0 implements more eye candy, im sure it won't be as smooth anymore compare to these new dual core.
This is assuming you won't change phones when these newer version of android comes out.
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Click to collapse
Um that was the tablet version of Honeycomb I am pretty sure the phone version will be different. And I am pretty sure that google is testing all of their future updates on the Nexus S until a new Nexus device is released so all future updates will be optimized for the S...

yea dual-core phones are coming out but so what. I'm good with my nexus S which will do jussst fine. I can guarantee you the next nexus device will pack a dual core processor. Until then, i'll keep nexus S and purchase the G-slate.

Having used the NS for the last 3 weeks, it clearly is a step up from the N1 in terms of performance. The screen is absolutely great and the extra real estate is nice to text on, but my biggest beef with the phone is the build quality.
Clearly, Samsung and Google could have done more. I would have been happy using the NS for the next year if Samsung would have used the material of their new phone, the Infuse, on the NS.

SupaDupaFly24 said:
Um that was the tablet version of Honeycomb I am pretty sure the phone version will be different. And I am pretty sure that google is testing all of their future updates on the Nexus S until a new Nexus device is released so all future updates will be optimized for the S...
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Exactly. And untill then, the Nexus S will be just as good as those dual-core phones, at least for me. Of course, when a new Nexus is released, it will be a lot faster. I think even after a new Nexus is released, the old ones will still get updates for so long they actually 'update' something, and don't make the device slower.
Not only you should buy a Nexus because you get updates fast, or 'normal', as I prefer to say, but also because it just works well. The Nexus S has the same processor as most Android phones, but yet it manages to be a lot faster? It's not magic. It just works well.

Until an android pure phone comes out I don't even look at any of them. I would rather buy a WP7 then a UI and bloatware.

[Q] Potential !

Hey guys,
The setting:
So lets say hypothetically, the boot loader is cracked and we have custom Roms along with custom Kernels.
Now:
What is the potential of this phone?
...More specifically, do you guys think the Atrix will be at the top of the mobile world for years to come and be able to match up against newer dual core phones such as the HTC Pyramid, EVO 3D or the new Samsung and LG phones?
Would it be a worthwhile investment?
I'm curious as to whether this phone, if unlocked, will be the standard phone to compete against. Will all other phones coming out still be playing catchup?
I understand the specs, and understand that phones evolve rather quickly.... just curious as to others opinions and their view of the potential the Atrix has.
Thanks,
And lets hope the boot loader gets cracked soon

Tech moves so quick that by the time the HTC evo 3D and pyramid is released, there are going to be better phones then that.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

That's irrelevant. With your logic, we should never get any phone because there will always be better phones.
I'm asking how long this phone could be considered one of the best if its unlocked.
It has a great battery, and specs that no phone has matched, even phones that are soon to come out.

veshio said:
That's irrelevant. With your logic, we should never get any phone because there will always be better phones.
I'm asking how long this phone could be considered one of the best if its unlocked.
It has a great battery, and specs that no phone has matched, even phones that are soon to come out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will be just like any other high end phone. old after 6-10 months.

neer2005 said:
Tech moves so quick that by the time the HTC evo 3D and pyramid is released, there are going to be better phones then that.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm completely with you on that
veshio said:
That's irrelevant. With your logic, we should never get any phone because there will always be better phones.
I'm asking how long this phone could be considered one of the best if its unlocked.
It has a great battery, and specs that no phone has matched, even phones that are soon to come out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stuff gets more advanced. Theres no stopping it, theres no way to jump ahead. And theres already stuff about the quad core cortex a9 saying it could come as soon as Q3.
I think the Atrix could be a decent on top phone until 2012 max. Then it's most likely to be murdered by another really awesome phone.

Like other have said tech advances so fast now. with in 10 months there will be something as good if not better along. For example check this out
http://www.thebesthandphone.com/new-quad-core-processors-from-qualcomm.html
some time next year we will most likely see quad core phones on the market.

Yea i understand that. I mean it relatively... as in if the phones is on top for a good couple of years, i consider that very good.

veshio said:
Yea i understand that. I mean it relatively... as in if the phones is on top for a good couple of years, i consider that very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well from what I know and I could be totally wrong. The next phone that will be on par spec wise with the atrix is the samsung galaxy s2. It will have 1gig ram also and run the same dual core the atrix has. Not sure the resolution of the screen. The camera is 8mp vs the atrix 5mp and the screen is 4.3 vs 4.0 inches. So I guess you can say the atrix will be king of the hill for another month or so. I'm not sure when the s2 comes out but I have heard it might be in april or may.

I think the Atrix is a good platform for "potential" simply because it has everything everyone else is working towards PLUS a big 1930 MAH battery. We can learn to tweak things down the road, but that is one big battery considering how slim the phone is.

Quad core? If you ask me that's unnecessary. A mobile OS doesn't need that much power, just slim it down. That's the problem with the Atrix, it has MotoBlur which handicaps it. What we really need are better batteries, more memory, and a better NETWORK. The Inspire runs just as quick as the Atrix with a single core and less RAM because Sense doesn't cripple it. I had an Inspire and Atrix side by side and I could hardly tell a difference.
And all this hype about what these processors can do for gaming, that's just senseless. We're talking about 4 inch screens and it's still a phone.

live4nyy said:
Quad core? If you ask me that's unnecessary. A mobile OS doesn't need that much power, just slim it down. That's the problem with the Atrix, it has MotoBlur which handicaps it. What we really need are better batteries, more memory, and a better NETWORK. The Inspire runs just as quick as the Atrix with a single core and less RAM because Sense doesn't cripple it. I had an Inspire and Atrix side by side and I could hardly tell a difference.
And all this hype about what these processors can do for gaming, that's just senseless. We're talking about 4 inch screens and it's still a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your forgeting one big factor. There is not a OS that supports dual core yet. Once one comes that that utilizes both cores you will see a huge difference. The way I see it cell phones are only about 5-6 years behind PC's. With the popularity of them its only going to get closer. Look at the atrix with some rooting you can use it as a pc once its plugged into a tv/monitor. You are going to see more and more things like this until their is no difference between the two. Who knows 5 years from now in stead of having a pc at home we will have our phones. Just plug it into a tv grab a key board and mouse and do everything we do now on them.

aszrael1266 said:
Your forgeting one big factor. There is not a OS that supports dual core yet. Once one comes that that utilizes both cores you will see a huge difference. The way I see it cell phones are only about 5-6 years behind PC's. With the popularity of them its only going to get closer. Look at the atrix with some rooting you can use it as a pc once its plugged into a tv/monitor. You are going to see more and more things like this until their is no difference between the two. Who knows 5 years from now in stead of having a pc at home we will have our phones. Just plug it into a tv grab a key board and mouse and do everything we do now on them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. I forgot GB is optimized for dual core phones. I just don't see those split second differences being a deal breaker for me. I would rather my data over the network move faster (without a tiered plan as well). I'm not much of a gamer either so I'm a little biased in that respect as well.
When it comes down to it, I just want a phone that works and I can use it heavily without worrying about charging the battery. Is that too much to ask? I'm also afraid that all of these fads like 3D is going to convolute what is really important in a phone.

The atrix has the best battery of any phone I've had so far. With a good amount of use. Net surfing texting emails I still get 18+ hours out of it with 20% still showing. I'm at 13 hours since I unplugged my charger and I'm still at 40%

aszrael1266 said:
The atrix has the best battery of any phone I've had so far. With a good amount of use. Net surfing texting emails I still get 18+ hours out of it with 20% still showing. I'm at 13 hours since I unplugged my charger and I'm still at 40%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd be careful of the update. I was getting similar battery life as you with 5-6 hours of display but now I struggle to get 24 hours with 2 hours of display (and I had to remove some apps like Beautiful Widgets and had to turn off my syncing).
My point on the battery life is no one (other than Apple) is trying to improve battery tech. I had the iPhone 4 before the Atrix and I was easily getting 40-50 hours of use and it only had a 1420mAh battery

aszrael1266 said:
well from what I know and I could be totally wrong. The next phone that will be on par spec wise with the atrix is the samsung galaxy s2. It will have 1gig ram also and run the same dual core the atrix has. Not sure the resolution of the screen. The camera is 8mp vs the atrix 5mp and the screen is 4.3 vs 4.0 inches. So I guess you can say the atrix will be king of the hill for another month or so. I'm not sure when the s2 comes out but I have heard it might be in april or may.
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i gotta disagree, i seriously doubt the samsung galaxy S2 will even be able to compete with the Atrix, for one, it's Super thin so i doubt that battery will even come close to the Atrix(correct me it i'm wrong), another reason which a lot of people don't like.........Samsung. Now i've never owned a samsung phone, but i've read a lot of reviews of Samsung galaxy S owners, and 95% of them weren't good at all, i also have a few friends that own Samsung galaxy S phones and none of them kept them over a month. So as far as the Atrix being old news, i really doubt it anytime this year and may still have some hype 1st quarter of 2012(look at the Evo, so it's definitly possible)

Its the software that can make a device great (40% hardware- 60% software). What good the specs are if the os can't utilize its full potential. One big example is motorola xoom and atrix. Im a bit sad that the mobile phone market is becomming more of a specs/hardware race. And the software is getting left behind. This has been a problem of android. Hope google and its hardware partners(samsung, htc, lg) would put great money into developing better updates for android so it can utilize the whole potential of the hardware rather than continously releasing new phones with premature softwares.
And yeah they should improve battery technoogy too...

G1-8701 said:
i gotta disagree, i seriously doubt the samsung galaxy S2 will even be able to compete with the Atrix, for one, it's Super thin so i doubt that battery will even come close to the Atrix(correct me it i'm wrong), another reason which a lot of people don't like.........Samsung. Now i've never owned a samsung phone, but i've read a lot of reviews of Samsung galaxy S owners, and 95% of them weren't good at all, i also have a few friends that own Samsung galaxy S phones and none of them kept them over a month. So as far as the Atrix being old news, i really doubt it anytime this year and may still have some hype 1st quarter of 2012(look at the Evo, so it's definitly possible)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
and some, like me, think the 4" screen is the perfect size while the 4.3" screen is too big. However, with all future phones, it just comes down to personal preference.

aszrael1266 said:
Your forgeting one big factor. There is not a OS that supports dual core yet. Once one comes that that utilizes both cores you will see a huge difference. The way I see it cell phones are only about 5-6 years behind PC's. With the popularity of them its only going to get closer. Look at the atrix with some rooting you can use it as a pc once its plugged into a tv/monitor. You are going to see more and more things like this until their is no difference between the two. Who knows 5 years from now in stead of having a pc at home we will have our phones. Just plug it into a tv grab a key board and mouse and do everything we do now on them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
live4nyy said:
Good point. I forgot GB is optimized for dual core phones. I just don't see those split second differences being a deal breaker for me. I would rather my data over the network move faster (without a tiered plan as well). I'm not much of a gamer either so I'm a little biased in that respect as well.
When it comes down to it, I just want a phone that works and I can use it heavily without worrying about charging the battery. Is that too much to ask? I'm also afraid that all of these fads like 3D is going to convolute what is really important in a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong, wrong and wrong. Where do you get your information? The build of Froyo running on the Atrix has dual core support.

I see no faster on Atrix running Froyo at the moment. The speed is on par with SS GS and NS. But i rely on Motorola because i have had a few SS phones and all of them had hardware/build issues.

I think the phone will be relevant (to us anyway) for around 3 years, same as with last generations top tier phones.
What I think a lot of people here are confusing is, for the most part, relevance aslnd aactual pole position.
You have to talked into consideration how much better tthe next generation phone is, and whether or not that makes the previous generation actually obsolete or just dated.
For instance, I have the Nexus 1 right now and iI got it after I got the Captivate and Atrix. Yes the Atrix is a better phone on paper but it isn't THAT much better to make me want to get rid of my current phone.
I think, logically, that it will be the 2nd generation up that makes the former irrelevant (at this point). The Atrix and dual core phones announced aalready make the first first Gen smartphones (iPhone 1, HTC hero) extremely dated but the latter half (nexus 1, galaxy s, etc) are still relevant ttoday.
Of course you also have to factor in the applications that are being used and the network the phones are on. Right now, this instant, dual core phones aren't needed because of the speed of the network, light usage for CPU for browsing, and widespread video codecs.
Next year that might change.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App