Cool mobile

[Ch3tan]

The 5800 has a god awful touchscreen though, it's hardly fair to judge touchscreen phones by that standard.

 

[Lakih]

I have a hTc tattoo, i like the size of it and it's cheap, but the touchscreen is awful, wouldnt recommend it to anyone unless they are very short on cash...

The hTc desire is awesome but too large, even larger then an iPhone (if not by much, but still).

 

[soze]

You need a HTC Legend similar in size to the tatoo but with a screen as good as the desire. Just has a slower processor.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I have a hTc tattoo, i like the size of it and it's cheap, but the touchscreen is awful, wouldnt recommend it to anyone unless they are very short on cash...

The hTc desire is awesome but too large, even larger then an iPhone (if not by much, but still).

Better not look at this then.
Dell Streak - O2

5" screen, Android, Snapdragon 1GHz. It's a technical copy of the Desire, but BIGGER.

 

[liloe]

Ofc we have HSDPA here, but if you use more than 200 MB, you get capped to EDGE speed

I guess that falls under "fair use" then =) Thanks for the explanation =)

 

[old.Tohtori]

The 5800 has a god awful touchscreen though, it's hardly fair to judge touchscreen phones by that standard.

I've tested almost every touch phone on the market and the problem comes from finger vs screen. In typing it's not accurate and also(especially in games) your hand blocks most of the action.

Imagine that you'd have to move your whole palm across your monitor screen to make it work.

Touch screens are a step in the wrong direction on advancement in my opinion, much like trying to change the "left stick for moving, right for looking" in consoles, but they are easy to make into a "fashionable thing to have and therefor are as popular as they are now. There comes a point when it's as good as it gets and touch controls, especially those with no alternative, are a step out of path and step into poo.

 

[soze]

Touch screens are a step in the wrong direction on advancement in my opinion, much like trying to change the "left stick for moving, right for looking" in consoles, but they are easy to make into a "fashionable thing to have and therefor are as popular as they are now. There comes a point when it's as good as it gets and touch controls, especially those with no alternative, are a step out of path and step into poo.

No sure i agree with that you go to a menu screen in android that has 20 options instead of a swipe of the finger a one press you would have to scroll down and press the touch screen is much quicker then. I think once you get used to the touch screen its a massive improvement over a d pad.

Saying that i get the chance to play with just about every "business" phone going and the 5800 did have a shocking screen. But i think that has some thing to do with it not having one but many touch panels which is why it fells funny when you run your finger down the screen.

 

[Ch3tan]

Yep, I've had a few touch screen phones now, and I don't think I'll ever go back to a keypad. You simply don't need one with screens as good as those on the desire and iphone. Swype and voice input mean that text input is faster than that on traditional keypads.

Zenith: The Dell device is only running 1.6.

 

[Ch3tan]

I'm waiting for a slider with a huge reflective screen, full qwerty and proper HD video recording, nothing around yet

x10 mini and x10 mini pro?

 

[ST^]

Touch screens are not just for show. There are huge benefits to having a much bigger screen, which is only possible if you're using a touch-screen for input (or a qwerty slider, which results in a bulky phone).

 

[old.Tohtori]

No sure i agree with that you go to a menu screen in android that has 20 options instead of a swipe of the finger a one press you would have to scroll down and press the touch screen is much quicker then. I think once you get used to the touch screen its a massive improvement over a d pad.

Some improvements to areas don't always mean that they are such improvements to the whole that abandoning older tech simply for it being older becomes viable.

Yes, swiping the screen to switch between 20 menu icons would be an improvement, but that could easily be achieved with a better UI.

It's jsut a personal(well a professional too i guess) opinion that the technology is good for some things, but it shouldn't be used solely in a phone.

Touch screens on slider phones are good, because they give you an option, and that is what touch screens should be; a bonus.

Imagione playing an fps(or even typing) with a touch keyboard, with no feel for the buttons. It just wouldn't work as well, even if it might have advantages. That's where this tech is going if it's not limited by reason, instead of letting fashion dictate its progression.

 

[soze]

I agree i would not want a touch screen keyboard for my desk top.

Touch screens your right are personal preference but on the Android OS and Iphone OS which were both built from scratch around using a touch screen real buttons will never compare. That said i do not want touch screens to go any further we have both touch screen pc's and tablets in house and both lose novelty value after a while and become impractical. But i have never felt that way about my phone.

 

[GReaper]

There needs to be a decent mix of phones and hardware capabilities.

At the moment there are far too many touchscreen phones with just a few control buttons. It would be nice to see a variety of options for different people. Whilst I love the touch screen on my HTC Hero, I've know come to realise that I'd love to have a flip out qwerty keyboard. I hate having half my screen being blocked with a virtual keyboard!

It's obviously not for everyone, some people aren't going to like having the slightly bulky phone. But at the moment with the current touch screen rage it almost feels like certain manufacturers have forgotten about any alternatives.

 

[Job]

I'd have to agree with Toht, your fingers do get in the way and playing games is almost impossible unless the game uses the accelerometer.
The 5800 has kinda killed all my megadrive/sms/snes emulators cos you need buttons and using the onscreen virtual pad is just totally shite.
I was a diehard symbian follower, but am being tempted to the dark side as more of my favourite apps get ported to android...but I'll never-ever buy a shitbox i-f*ckinanything.
I love Apple's user interfaces but I won't buy anything as nailed to the floor as the whole Apple experience.
Oh and everything they make is 2 years out of date.
The i-pad FFS!
Nothing you couldn't get 15 years ago! Just hyped to f*ck and a few eyecatching apps and everyone thinks it's the cutting edge!

 

[Lamp]

surely its not beyond the capabilities of manufacturers to make crystal scratch-proof screens these days is it?

 

[Ch3tan]

This is funny, all the rants and yet from no one who has actually used a good touch screen. Games are made for the touchscreen, hence the have interfaces that work on touchscreens....

 

[old.Tohtori]

This is funny, all the rants and yet from no one who has actually used a good touch screen. Games are made for the touchscreen, hence the have interfaces that work on touchscreens....

Hmm. This IS funny, especially considering i worked better part of two years in mobile game testing/development, with our games supporting 1400+ platforms.

 

[Zenith.UK]

This is funny, all the rants and yet from no one who has actually used a good touch screen. Games are made for the touchscreen, hence the have interfaces that work on touchscreens....

Oh I've used good touchscreens. I've also used a number of bad ones as well.

SE P800 > Mitac Mio 168 > XDA Exec > XDA Orbit 2 > SE Xperia X1 (sold) > wife's SE X10

Good ones were Mio168 and XDA Exec. The screen on those was resistive but insanely sensitive. The X10 capacitive screen strikes a nice balance between accuracy and sensitivity, but I'm used to using the lightest of touches with my phones.

Also include the touchscreens that I deal with for work and the worst to best are:
PreH screens are resistive and not very responsive.
DigiPOS screens are resistive and pretty responsive.
Wincor BA72 screens are capacitive and damn good.

 

[liloe]

Tbh I can't say much about games on the touchscreen, as I use my phone for normal purposes only.

What I can say is that I agree with both sides. On the one hand touchscreens are awesome because they speed up the control a lot. If you want a certain symbol, you just touch it and there you go, whereas on a conventional phone you'd have to go there by navigating some cursor stuff. Overall a huge improvement.

On the other hand I like the slidable keyboard because typing on a screen is nothing for me I wouldn't say my phone is bulky, though.

When it comes to desktop PCs, touchscreens have their value if you just need to control stuff and don't need a real input. For instance our congress network stuff is equipped with touchscreens, as you only need to switch cabins, start records etc.

 

[ST^]

On the other hand I like the slidable keyboard because typing on a screen is nothing for me I wouldn't say my phone is bulky, though.

At 17mm, your phone is pretty bulky compared to touch-only alternatives.

To be honest, I've never known anyone who actually wants to use their phone as a gaming platform. Not since snake was all the rage.

 

[old.Tohtori]

To be honest, I've never known anyone who actually wants to use their phone as a gaming platform. Not since snake was all the rage.

It's actually a huge market and bet if you tried some of the better mobile games, you'd get some for your swipearsey phone too

 

[ST^]

I really doubt it. But if someone would like to tell me what the best games are for Android then sure, I'll check them out.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Pocket gamer should have almost everything.

Tropical towers(or tiki towers) is one of the good ones out there.

 

[ST^]

Tiki Towers (demo) is better than I expected it to be, but I'm not sure I'd actually play more than a couple of sessions before getting bored.

Going to try out Zenonia but as it happens, I think that touch-screen dpad imitation is fucking awful.

 

[CorNokZ]

fuck your touchscreen phones! I have a 23.6" touchscreen computer! Pretty awesome, but I never use it.. Only when I am tired of my mouse and I feel like browsing with my finger..

This messages took ages to type! Thank you 23.6" touchscreen!

 

[old.Tohtori]

Tiki Towers (demo) is better than I expected it to be, but I'm not sure I'd actually play more than a couple of sessions before getting bored.

Going to try out Zenonia but as it happens, I think that touch-screen dpad imitation is fucking awful.

Yeah any dpad on games will make you want to throw the phone away.

It all depends on the taste really, kinda like with console/PC games. These days mobiel games are at the same point(ish) as amiga 500 games, except that they are cursed with the casual brand.

 

[ST^]

Tried Traffic Jam. It was a nice way to kill time for a while, but soon you start to notice patterns and the answer is almost always obvious (I even cranked it up to the highest difficulty).

Tiki Towers doesn't seem very well optimised for touch screens. If you connect 4 points together (two triangles), you end up with something like:

 _
|\|
 ¯

If you want to strengthen it in the middle with an extra stick:

 _
|X|
 ¯

More often than not, you can't, you just end up deleting the other sticks on accident. Though it's definitely possible, it takes some patience and a very light touch on the screen.

 

[Job]

It's not how good the touchscreen is, I 've used good and bad, starting with a Casio EM500 (ooold) to probably the best as in the iphone.
It's just not quite right on such a small screen, just like laptop mousepad will never match a mouse.
There a million ways in which the touchscreen is brilliant, I just don't think
it suits small screens.
My satnav works great, but viewranger is worse for a touchscreen.
Swiping around a screen seems cool and novel at first but quickly becomes
tiresome.