Don’t get the Tattoo. It has android 1.6 alright but:
Camera has no auto focus
Many apps will have trouble to run or not show up in the app market cause of the smaller screen size.
(Hero has 1.5 until the 2.0 update is officially out).
Me, I wait until mid February to buy the next new thing of HTC (not to mention if its bad you could still buy a cheaper HTC Hero then which should have 2.0 then and also drop in price).
He, I was looking at the Hero as well (as I could have it for free on a contract with CHT) but figured the same as you, better wait and see what’s coming next, as something new will surely launch in the new year that will be better all around.
I’m taking a closer look to this as it’s 800 MHz versus the typical 500 MHz, and it’s getting the 2.1 update! However my eye is still focused on the HTC Passion/Bravo.
It’s a US only handset afaik, as it’s exclusive to Sprint which isn’t using the GSM/3G standards that most of the world outside of the US relies on. The Behold II will work here though, but it’s not available here afaik.
I have a few questions for any Android users in Taiwan. Have you successfully purchased any Android apps? I ask because my understanding is that paid apps are only allowed to US users? Canadians for example only have access to free apps. Is this true?
In iTunes, you’re limited to a particular country’s app store, based on where your credit card is registered. Is this the same for Android?
Lastly, my understanding is that there are no categories for apps in Android - just one long list of apps separated into paid and free. Wouldn’t this make it excruciatingly hard to find anything in there, unless you know in advance what you’re searching for? (especially considering they have just passed 20000 apps available now).
Obviously I expect them to fix all these issues over time, but I was just curious about the current state of things. I currently develop apps for the iPhone, and would love to invest in the Android once they have fixed these issues.
[quote=“Adam_CLO”]I have a few questions for any Android users in Taiwan. Have you successfully purchased any Android apps? I ask because my understanding is that paid apps are only allowed to US users? Canadians for example only have access to free apps. Is this true?
In iTunes, you’re limited to a particular country’s app store, based on where your credit card is registered. Is this the same for Android?[/quote]
iTunes localizes based on your credit card origination country. Android localizes by performing a country lookup of the carrier you are connected to (read out of SIM on bootup). If no cell network is present then it will perform a lookup based on your IP address.
There are categories. Even with categories of course it can still be hard to find something in a category list without knowing its particular name. The structure of the Android Market is like this:
Main Menu (a short list of trending/spotlight apps is also displayed here)
—Apps
------All applications (show all apps regardless of category)
---------Top free
---------Top paid
---------Just in
------Comics (start of category listing…
---------Top free
---------Top paid
---------Just in
------Communication
------[…]
—Games
------(same as Apps)
—Downloads (a list of apps you have installed and/or paid for in the past)
There are three categories a country can fall in WRT Google’s Android Market.
Those with no Market (usually correlates to no carriers in the country selling Android devices)
Those with a Market that cannot support paid apps
Those with a Market with paid apps*
*There is a subset of the third category in which a specific carrier may also cooperate with Google to set up carrier billing, which means a user can have Market purchases billed to their phone bill. Obviously this would only work for post-paid users.
Taiwan is currently in the second category. Hopefully Google Taiwan will step up and bring paid access soon. It’s one of the things that the nascent Chinese Android community has been asking for.
Support is present in 1.6 and newer versions. Currently there are four modes: PPTP, L2TP, IPSec PSK, IPSec CRT. With root access (the Android equivalent of “jailbreak”), one can also install OpenVPN binaries and use that as well.
Support is present in 1.6 and newer versions. Currently there are four modes: PPTP, L2TP, IPSec PSK, IPSec CRT. With root access (the Android equivalent of “jailbreak”), one can also install OpenVPN binaries and use that as well.[/quote]
How involved is that? HTC Tattoo’s can be found for $9000 on ruten.com.tw and if it drops another grand or so I might pick one up for fun.
Edit: found a couple of store willing to sell the Tattoo for $9500 brand new with 1 year warranty from Taiwan Mobile. However I am hesitating to switch over because of 3 issues:
HTC has confirmed that Hero will get Android 2.0 upgrade, but so far no words on the Tattoo.
I don’t find the touchscreen on the Tattoo to be as responsive as the iPhone. This could be because I was playing around with a relatively worn out demo unit at Taiwan Mobile, but it’s a bit worrisome.
Zhuyin input only. Apparently Google pinyin input is availble for the Android, but only in Simplified Chinese and so far no one ported it to the Tattoo.
Might wait a bit until Motorla Milestone makes its way to this side of the strait before I make a decision switching to Android.
I just want to say that stay away from Samsung as much as possible. If there is a brand to buy, it is HTC, and not because of HTC, but because of xda-developers.
As for the reason why not to buy Samsung try this: The Galaxy comes with a software that doesn’t support it, leaving people to wonder why the hell they give the software… as for costumer service, well, let us say that the only service they provide is to take your money away… more than that it is a pure joke. Just go around the internet and find out about how much Samsung cares about it’s costumers (specially on androidforums…)
The process varies from device to device, although it’s certainly something reserved for the computer saavy.
[quote]Edit: found a couple of store willing to sell the Tattoo for $9500 brand new with 1 year warranty from Taiwan Mobile. However I am hesitating to switch over because of 3 issues:
Might wait a bit until Motorla Milestone makes its way to this side of the strait before I make a decision switching to Android.[/quote]
I would pass on the Tattoo on the basis of the QVGA resolution, which precludes it from running most of the currently available apps (HVGA is the “standard” resolution. Apps written prior to 1.6 will have to have QVGA explicitly enabled and rebuilt by the dev to run on Tattoo). Of course if you don’t plan on running anything other than the stock PIM apps then that’s not a problem.
As for Milestone, you can already buy an unlocked European unit from Expansys right now and run it on Taiwan’s 2100MHz UMTS networks. Of course then there’s still the issue of Chinese input.
Nexus One should be dropping any day now and it’s a good bet Taiwan is one of the international shipping destinations. That might also mean being offered as a subsidized phone in Taiwan. We’ll see…
The Milestone is available in HK and while it has only English interface (which is actually awesome IMO) it does have pinyin Chinese available. I am itching for an imported one though if the TW version takes away the English interface (unlikely) or pinyin (eek…this is pretty likely).
Chunghwa Telecom also has a CHT8000 (manufactured by Huawei, a Chinese company) which is branded T-Mobile Pulse for the EU market. Has anyone had any experience with those? They seem to be pretty barebone and do not stray far from the reference model, and very few customizations to Android 1.5.
[quote=“catfish13”]Zhonghua Telecom also has a CHT8000 (manufactured by Huawei, a Chinese company) which is branded T-Mobile Pulse for the EU market. Has anyone had any experience with those? They seem to be pretty barebone and do not stray far from the reference model, and very few customizations to Android 1.5.
Well it has root access. The most vibrant and robust communities still spring up around the mainstream U.S. models. That means Dream, Magic, and to some extent Droid. If you want options in Taiwan, you’d be looking at Hero or Magic.
If you can shell out a bit more, the Milestone certainly is nice (and rooted) and of course in an hour or so Google should be unveiling the Nexus One. 570 clams unlocked.