After seeing so many people with Smartphones, HTCs and iPhones, and after letting my own cherished pinkie Samsung fall and dissentegrate, I think it is time to join the revolution and get me something that does maps, takes pics and sends them by mail, and of course, allows me to read the 'mosa on the go. After looking at the available stuff, I liked the looks of the Sony Xperia better because it has the largest screen but it doesn’t feel like it is going to fall apart any minute. One of my closest friends is a big Sony Erickson fan, but she’s got an older model. The apps are free, too, it does Google stuff, etc. To a newbie like me it seems all right.
The price is a bit steep, though. With CHT, it is 15K plus monthly almost 3K, but it is 24 hour all you can use Internet access, which can be pretty useful, me thinks. smartphone.emome.net/page_se_x10.aspx
To the advanced users: what questions should I be asking when approaching this kind of purchase? What technical features define that the functions I am looking for -maps, pics, website access- will work fine? What else do I have to check for?
I’ve read some reviews but in English, so focused on issues like carriers and such, which are not a problem here on The Island.
[quote=“Icon”]The price is a bit steep, though. With CHT, it is 15K plus monthly almost 3K, but it is 24 hour all you can use Internet access, which can be pretty useful, me thinks. smartphone.emome.net/page_se_x10.aspx[/quote]
The S-E X10 is definitely a bit steep for what it does. However it has a very unique customization skin over the Android layer, so if you like it you may have little choice but to pay the S-E ‘tax’. By the way, the deal is NT$2900 for the phone up front if you sign up for 589 plan + mpro950 (total monthly tariff NT$1549). I would prefer to just pay the full cost of the phone up front (possibly buy from some other source) and then go with the CHT 850 plan, but the choice is up to you.
It is a full fledged Android device, so it should be able to do all those things just fine. One caveat-- the X10 is currently held up at Android 1.6 at the moment, so you might have to wait until S-E pushes out the 2.1 update later this year to use some of the newer software that requires 2.x+. (more on this below)
Personally, I would tilt toward the Desire or wait for the new Desire Z or Desire HD. The main reason is that Sony Ericsson seems to be slow in pushing out system software updates. Case in point, the X10 is currently still at Android 1.6. This is problematic because the Android 2.0 source code was released almost a year ago, and all currently shipping HTC devices are at 2.1 or 2.2.
The way Android works is that you cannot simply take the source code at source.android.com and update your device-- the manufacturer of the device must take this code, add in their device customizations and push out an update. The more complex the customization layer is, the longer this process will take. Therefore, some manufacturers are more timely than others at pushing out updates, and so far Sony Ericsson has had the worst track history. A planned 2.1 update is scheduled for the X10 in a few months, but by then Android will possibly already be at 2.5 or 3.0. Hopefully S-E will be better about this in 2011 and going forward, since they have publicly announced that they are stopping all Symbian development in preference for Android.
Personally I prefer Android devices that run the original Android experience. If you like the Sense UI that HTC puts on their own-branded devices, then you have no problem. If you want an original Android UI device, the best option at this point would be to try to get a hold of a registered Android developer in Taiwan who can buy a Nexus One for you from the developer site (unsubsidized, of course).
There is a treasure trove of information about Android devices and Taiwan in the [url=Android Phones sold in Taiwan thread but it’s rather disorganized.
I’m going to have to agree with jashsu on the points he mentions, especially on how slow Sony-Ericsson is to offer an authorized mobile OS update (technically, if you knew how you could attempt a ROM hack, but it’s a lot of effort!) What makes Android a popular alternative to say an Apple, is it’s “open” software in partnership with say HTC’s hardware. If I was in your situation, and truly wasn’t interested in an Apple, then I’d wait for the Desire HD or the Desire Z (if the HD was too physically large). These two models at least come with Google’s Android OS version 2.2 aka Froyo pre-loaded. A lot of people buy into the “Sony” part of the Sony-Ericsson name, including myself in the past, but from personal experience/ownership of SE products, they really lack the back end support required to keep their android line up as competitive with say HTC or Motorola. In fact, google for the SE Xperia reviews and you’ll see they are kinda lackluster, because of the really old v1.6 OS.
Of course, despite playing with Android devices and Blackberries and Nokias and Sony-Ericcsons, I personally use the Apple (jailbroken of course, so it’s just as “open” as an android)
Thanks, Jahsu, for the data. Funny you mention updates as a deal breaker, as an acquaintance was explaining to me why iPhone was better in speed and amount of updates and software because other devices used Microsoft and were too slow to update.
Merrick, I would have expected Sony to have good service, too, especially since you are paying top dollar for the stuff. I usuaally buy my phones right from the start, simply because sometimes as a foreigner they give me the runaround when it comes to the best deals so I prefer to have my own phone I can change anytime and a separate call plan. This case is a bit more complicated, as 3G plans are.
I’ll see when and if the Samsung comes out of the hospital if I have to rush to buy a new one or if I can wait for the new Desire. Another pet peeve: they had no HTC test phone at both CHT locations I went, and I was attracted to the Sony because the clerk used it to demostrate what the HTC looked like and how it worked.
HTC has many branch and affiliate stores around tw. If you have some time it shouldn’t be hard to visit the local electronics shopping district in your city and try all of the smartphones hands-on. I find that in Taiwan, particularly with the smaller stores, there is often no display model and you might have a hard time convincing the clerk to open a box up to let you play with something unless you have basically promised to buy it. :s