kmand

I know this gets asked from time to time, just thought I would ask to see if anything has changed.

Is there a current or an announced future of hardware similar in size and price to the Ipod Touch that supports Android 2.X?

My guess is that the answer is no. Apple can sell it at low margin because of the Itunes store lock in, which is not applicable to sellers of Android hardware.

Isthmus

Do you mean an android based hand held media device (as in no phone component)? I think there are a number of small tablets with 5" screens being worked on by different manufacturers. IIRC the Dell Mini 5 is one such device coming out at the end of summer:



That said, these are much more than just MP3 players.

kmand

The mini5/streak has a G3 radio and will be tied to a cellular vendor, apparently AT&T in the US. Its basically an oversized phone that is more of A MID.

The pricing details haven't been released but I would guess that if its sold without a contract that it will cost $500+ in the same range as iphone/ipad/nexus.

So in comparison to an Ipod touch, it's bound to cost 3 times as much if its even available without a contract. It's form factor like a MID makes it questionable as a device that you would uniformly keep in your pocket.

The Ipod touch is an Iphone without the phone that starts below $200. Will we ever see an Android competitor? I still think the odds are against it. The evidence is it either takes a cell contract subsidy or a music store lock in to get to that price point.

Eugene

I'm waiting myself, wife wants somehting but can't really justify the contract. We bought a Nintendo DSi thinking she could connect to wifi but the messed up ATT Wifi at starbucks doesn't want to play nice with it (thats where she works)

Eugene

Someone posted this on another forum Search Results : Babiken-shop, One-stop Consumer Electronics from China - China quadband triband dual sim TV FM MP3 MP4 bluetooth WIFI 3G Mobile Cell Phones-Wholesale Price Electronics

opticalshadow

idk, personally i couldnt justify having both a phone and a handheld device like a ipod type, when the phone already does everything the other will...

Eugene

Its not for me, for my kids.

opticalshadow

i wish i got flashy things to play with when i was a kid...your a great dad...i got play dough IF i was lucky.

mrspeedmaster

samsung is coming out with a Galaxy "mp3" PMP device. This is their version of the iPod Touch (without cell radio). It has been on the Gadget/Android Blogs.

Eugene

My son seems to need things more interactive to keep out of mischief. He seems to pick up tech stuff pretty fast, able to get around me old WM phone pretty well except when WM does stupid things that even I have problems figuring out. Somehting with a more stable OS/consistant interface would be nice.

takeshi

My Droid doesn't work with the iPod interfaces in my cars and it doesn't have anywhere near the capacity of my iPod.

kmand

If you mean the YP-MB2

Yepp, Samsung's working on another PMP -- but this one's a four-inch Android with AMOLED -- Engadget

Engadget thinks it won't come to the US.

Eugene

what capability does the ipod have that the droid doesn;t, I've yet to find any.

Isthmus

I think he means memoy on the Ipod (not Iphone), which, especially on the classic models, is drastically higher than the 40 GB max currently available to the biggest Android phone (8gb on board and 32gb SD).

opticalshadow

idk thats 40 max on at once, when you could just have multiple sd cards, i know iknow not same thing but technically droid has more space in that regaurds. but personally having 40 gbs of music at once is more of a hassle to me since its more to sort though.

as far as it not as well wth the interfacing with things. im not sure what head unit you have in your car, if its stock meh, i run higher end head units and they kinda work with anything.