I gotta say, any desire for the Magic has been washed cleanly away with the official announcement of the I7500. HTC didn't do anything with the Magic to differ it from the G1 aside from glue the screen shut. Honestly, internal memory...honestly. I wait an extra month or two to get 10x the phone.
I gotta say, any desire for the Magic has been washed cleanly away with the official announcement of the I7500. HTC didn't do anything with the Magic to differ it from the G1 aside from glue the screen shut. Honestly, internal memory...honestly. I wait an extra month or two to get 10x the phone.
I have to agree. And if the Samsung had a keyboard (even a 4 row keyboard), I'd be sorely tempted. I mean... it has a Dpad!! no more trackball!! That alone is with a few dozen points. Even though I actually love the G1 quite a bit, a G1 with more memory, more battery, and a Dpad would be a dream.
But, I need the physical keyboard. So no Sammy yet. Maybe their second Android will be the same thing, but with a keyboard.
I personally much prefer the trackball over a d-pad. I find it much faster and easier for navigating.
Everyone is suddenly being a bit harsh on the Magic
It's still got double the memory ofthe G1 and according to early reviews is a very solidly built bit of kit... and it is rather stylish IMO.
I'm not saying the Samsung isn't very tasty (although I agree, I'd rather have trackball and you can't really fill 8gb with apps surely?) but the Magic was the darling of the show only a few weeks ago and extra memory and a flash isn't THAT revolutionary is it? And I'll bet you half a pint of weak lager an even better specced phone will be announced the second the Samsung hits the market.
Also, we're the sort of people that hang around on forums scrutinizing every little thing. A sexy little number like the Magic should sell very well off the shelf to less techy users IMO. Loadsa features in a cute little box... that's what the masses want.
And it's all good news for Android... that's the important bit
Well yes that's true but you can do that on the G1/Magic with a memory card. I think it's the number of apps a device can hold that's the issue.And you may not be able to fill up 8GB with apps... But you could easily fill it up with apps, music and images and probably still have space left over...
Yes indeed I think you'll be right there.Chances are anyway...that Samsung phone will come out and will cost quite a bit of money compared to the HTC Magic...so people would still buy the HTC Magic at first, I think...
Well yes that's true but you can do that on the G1/Magic with a memory card. I think it's the number of apps a device can hold that's the issue.
Yes indeed I think you'll be right there.
Sorry, I wasn't having ago, there just seems to be a vibe around (other forums/press) that the Magic has had it's day and it's not even out yet and I just think it's a bit OTT. But as you say, not everyone feels that way so I aplogise if that's how it came across.
I personally much prefer the trackball over a d-pad. I find it much faster and easier for navigating.
I find it to be awkward and inaccurate for navigating. I'm always over-shooting my target with it, often multiple times. For example, trying to hit some of the smaller widgets in Google Reader ("keep unread" for example), it's incredibly easy to overshoot the check box both horizontally and vertically, and thus hit the wrong thing (like select the next article, or a url at the bottom of hte current article, due to a last minute shift of the trackball as you press it; or even just difficulty selecting the item before you press it).
Small subtle moves just don't work well with it, where they work pretty flawlessly with a dpad -- you always move one increment. For larger moves, where a trackball can be much faster than a dpad, I can just finger-scroll on the touch screen.
It's also directionally inaccurate. Sometimes, on the home screen for example, if I need to vertically scroll with the trackball among icons along a screen edge, the G1 will get confused by the slightest horizontal movement of the trackball (like, if I am not perfectly vertical in the trackball movement, but am off by just 5 degrees in my angle of motion). When that happens, the screen shifts over to the next screen instead of scrolling down an icon. And it will keep doing it as I try to re-adjust.
The discrete directional and incremental movements of a dpad all overcome this. And, as I pointed out, the limitations of a dpad are completely overcome by using the touch screen itself. The touch screen, IMO, has the same problems as the trackball: both are best for large movements, not fine detail movements (the touch screen is that way due to fingers that are fatter than the links/widgets you're touching, and the trackball is that way due to over-sensitivity). Using them together means they're duplicate each other's weaknesses without complimenting each other's strengths (because they have the exact same strengths and weaknesses). The dpad, however, has the opposite strength/weakness as the touch screen (for scrolling), and thus compliments it perfectly.
Now, this would be different if Android had a control for adjusting the sensitivity of the trackball. If you could give it accelleration or something, such that slight movements as you press it are completely ignored, or so that short rolls produce almost no movement on the screen, but long rolls produce much faster movement ... that might fix the problem. But, I haven't seen, nor found, any such control for the trackball.
Personally, I really like the G1, both software and hardware.
My G1 is my baby!
I figured out how the trackball works after like...a few minutes..
Perhaps, then, it's not a matter of "figuring it out" / "getting used to it". Perhaps it genuinely has the limitations I'm talking about. Imagine that, intelligent people having diametrically opposed experiences/opinions. Who'da thunk?
(just because I disagree with you trackball lovers doesn't mean I'm just not experienced enough with it, or I haven't figured it out, or I haven't gotten used to it; different people have different preferences, and for me, the trackball is crap)
Perhaps, then, it's not a matter of "figuring it out" / "getting used to it". Perhaps it genuinely has the limitations I'm talking about. Imagine that, intelligent people having diametrically opposed experiences/opinions. Who'da thunk?
(just because I disagree with you trackball lovers doesn't mean I'm just not experienced enough with it, or I haven't figured it out, or I haven't gotten used to it; different people have different preferences, and for me, the trackball is crap)
while i previously disagreed, i have just spent about 1minute trying to reply to your post due to trackball issues, haha i fail! hopefully i will learn to use it. i am still getting used to the whole os anyway since i only just got this thing today.
plus, i think your trackball idea is great...its like a variable pitch steering rack but for trackballs
Just because you disagree with us it doesn't mean the trackball is crap either...
At the end of the day...whether something is perfect or whether its filled with flaws and problems...the fact of the matter is....you just gotta get used to it....
Because you say the trackball is flawed...does it make it a fact?
At the end of the day...I've probably had LESS practice with the trackball than you have...and it seems I've gotten used to it more than you have....
I'm saying...that I'm used to it and it works fine for me....
I have no experience with another phone that has a trackball so I have nothing to compare it against....maybe you do...
I said "for me" right before I said it's crap. So, yes, because I disagree, then that does mean that FOR ME the trackball is crap. My statement stands as completely valid.
Then don't you think it would be a lot easier to just buy that "oh so perfect for you" phone rather than complain about your current phone's supposed shortcomings?No, you don't. No, I don't. No amount of eating liver will make me a fan of liver. I do not have to be a lemming and "get used to it", and just keep eating it in some vain hopes that I can blend in with the crowd and eventually like it. I can, instead, make a choice and eat foods that fit my personal tastes.
Similarly, I can advocate for, and purchase, devices that have interfaces that suit my individual tastes and preferences. Such as advocating for an Android phone that has both a physical keyboard and Dpad. Or pointing out the manner in which a touch screen and dpad compliment each other in a way that a touch screen and trackball don't, and thus giving kudos to a device that embraces a Dpad and eschews a trackball.
You're just undermining my intelligence here...so I'm even going to waste my time with replying to this....Is English your first langauge? because, clearly, you need to go back to school and learn how to read.
"for me" makes it a relative statement, based upon personal preferences.
Relative statements and statements of personal preference don't need to be factually backed up. They are statements of opinion. They can be correlated to factual data, people can try to support them with factual data, but ultimately opinions are not themselves factual.
You should have learned that in grade school.
Actually....that's just you being stubborn and not making do with what you have...OR ... you took to it quickly because it suits your behaviors, applications, etc. better than it suits mine, and no amount of "getting used to it" will fix it.
Again...undermining my intelligence...you're no better than I am so don't talk to me like you are...I just addressed that in a previous post. Really, "Reading is Fundamental". You should look into it.
Everyone is suddenly being a bit harsh on the Magic
It's still got double the memory ofthe G1 and according to early reviews is a very solidly built bit of kit... and it is rather stylish IMO.
I'm not saying the Samsung isn't very tasty (although I agree, I'd rather have trackball and you can't really fill 8gb with apps surely?) but the Magic was the darling of the show only a few weeks ago and extra memory and a flash isn't THAT revolutionary is it? And I'll bet you half a pint of weak lager an even better specced phone will be announced the second the Samsung hits the market.
Also, we're the sort of people that hang around on forums scrutinizing every little thing. A sexy little number like the Magic should sell very well off the shelf to less techy users IMO. Loadsa features in a cute little box... that's what the masses want.
And it's all good news for Android... that's the important bit
It doesn't take years, like I explained in my post before. Blackberries use the trackball as its main source of navigation.I've been using the trackball as much as I can since early October when I got my G1. It doesn't get any better. Fine detail movement is just for crap on it.
(now, I will give you that it's my first trackball phone, so maybe it takes years of trackball use, and some of you are used to blackberry phones so you've got that ... but I don't see why I should have to spend years getting used to it, when I can solve the problem more more easily with a dpad, and not lose anything in the process (since, as I said, the touch screen provides the same scrolling/movement strengths as the trackball))
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