[avt123]

Android. I can do more on my Nexus than I can on my Z10.

[qcbarry25]

What do I need 17 apps crowding my taskswitcher for, most of which are paused and don't run anyway? I have no clue really. BB10 is superior to me.

Posted via CB10

does it matter if it is showing 17 or 200? it is just a list from most recent to oldest. you see about 3 -4 per a screen, so how can you say crowded? if you really want you can stop scrolling after the 8th app. at least i want the option to go past that, not like bb10 where there is no option. so how can you complaint or make it seems like its an disadvantage? some users here make up any excuse for BB disadvantage and try to make it seems like its an advantage.

next you goin to talk about how bb10 is superior in app also because there are less selections?

[pick1eberry]

For me its more useability and functionality then apps. I now use my phone exactly the same way and do the same things on it as I do my laptop or desktop. For me Blackberry 10 is the clear winner!.

[--TommesJay--]

does it matter if it is showing 17 or 200? it is just a list from most recent to oldest. you see about 3 -4 per a screen, so how can you say crowded? if you really want you can stop scrolling after the 8th app. at least i want the option to go past that, not like bb10 where there is no option. so how can you complaint or make it seems like its an disadvantage? some users here make up any excuse for BB disadvantage and try to make it seems like its an advantage.

next you goin to talk about how bb10 is superior in app also because there are less selections?

Because it IS a disadvantage. I used an Android device. As you stated yourself, you only see 3-4 per screen, with one or two of them being likely redundant (if you changed a setting or made an update via Google Play for example). So instead of scrolling up and down that list all the time I just found me reopening the apps via their app menu icons! Meh. Yes, on BB10 I too see only 4 at once, yes, App World or settings are still open as I leave them. BUT it's an unconcious and fast process to perform an upswipe and hit the little X of the top left Active Frame, I need 1 second for these two steps. Moreover, as said, many apps you would need a muktitasking frame for on Android are managed through the HUB on BB10 and don't crowd the muktitasking at all.

I did multitask on Android, I did multitask on BB10 and I find BB10 much more faster, efficient and convenient in this department than Android and I never ran into trouble with the 8 limited AFs. In fact, I barely go beyond 4. Even the swipe-away of apps on Android is awkward when using the phone one handed with the right. The power of BB10 lies in the fact that the homescreen itself is the muktitasking screen at the same time. It's my opinion, deal with it, this has nothing to do with excuses.

Posted via CB10

[Saiga]

To answer the question asked by the thread title, I think Android is much closer to being a pocket PC for many reasons. The most important one to me is USB OTG host mode.




That is my Nexus 4, a phone that doesn't even come with USB OTG, being used with a USB hub to transfer GPX files to and from two different Garmin GPS units.

I used to turn a PC on just to load GPX files on my GPS units, now I just use my phone. I can download the zip from a website or a email, unzip the files and transfer them to where they need to go all in a matter of a few minutes and all using my phone. I used to hate turning on a PC using it for a few minutes and then turning back off, now I don't have to do that.

I can of course use the same feature with my Canon DSLR. If the memory card in my camera gets full, no big deal, just plug the camera into my phone and use the phone's wifi connection to upload the pics directly from the camera to drop box. If I'm not on wifi, I just transfer the pics to my phone's internal storage and upload them later.

Another nice trick with cameras, is I can control the entire camera using my phone's screen. Just like I can do with a PC.

With that hub connected, I can plug in any keyboard and mouse, a external harddrive of any size and use the Nexus 4's Miracast feature to make a desktop computer out of my phone. I don't do that, but I could if I wanted too.

I don't know what everyone's definition of pocket PC is, but mine personally involves USB OTG host mode. Would you buy a PC that didn't have USB host mode? Of course not! At this point, it is kinda obvious that Android is closer to being a full on pocket PC than BB10 is.



Typed on my Dev Alpha C, Posted Via CB10

[Saiga]

The power of BB10 lies in the fact that the homescreen itself is the muktitasking screen at the same time. It's my opinion, deal with it, this has nothing to do with excuses.

Posted via CB10

That is actually one of the things I dislike most about BlackBerry 10. There is no homescreen on BlackBerry 10 at all. You just get the active panels screen and the applist.

The applist's order can be changed and folders can be added, but it is still just an app list. Try this, make the top row of the first app list page have 4 icons, than put 2 icons in each corner of the second row and then put 4 icons in the third row. Basically make a box with two blank spots in the middle.

You can't do it! Because BlackBerry 10 doesn't have a home screen. It just has a list of up to eight opened apps and the remaining closed apps.

My 9530 Storm could do the challenge I just I typed out. But let me geuss, BlackBerry 10's total lack of meaningful customization options is another advantage correct?



Typed on my Dev Alpha C, Posted Via CB10

[kbz1960]

Thank you for you effort but I don't need your help. I have my verdict - I use android as my media/entertaining device, I use my Q10 as mobile PC (work phone). I have lowered the use of my laptop since I got the Q10 (my first BlackBerry) significantly.

I don't want a developer to decide when the app closes or stays in the backgroung - I am smart enought to make these choices my self!

Posted via CB10

So what you're saying is that so far BBRY has failed to make that phone that does it all so you no longer have to carry 2 phones with you. It's still the same old thing. I have a BBRY I use for work and a ............. I use for fun. So in essence they still haven't created a consumer phone but still have a business phone consumers are not interested in.

As for the OP. They are all computers in your pocket and like others have said it depends on what you want to do with it.

[pantlesspenguin]

That is actually one of the things I dislike most about BlackBerry 10. There is no homescreen on BlackBerry 10 at all. You just get the active panels screen and the applist.

I had the exact same complaint. I like having a set homescreen where my top used widgets and apps are static and I always know where to find them. It was annoying having to keep opening up my Z10 active frames just to close them again so I could get things in the order I'd like. Maybe I'm just OCD? But I like having easy access to my weather widget, clock/alarm widget, mail, maps, whatsapp, hangouts, foursquare, catch notes, soundhound...and now a chromecast folder (thanks again!!). Then in the bottom dock I have phone, camera, texts, and browser. I have my other home screens pretty much set up the same way I've always had them since I started using Android.

[qcbarry25]

For me its more useability and functionality then apps. I now use my phone exactly the same way and do the same things on it as I do my laptop or desktop. For me Blackberry 10 is the clear winner!.

give us some example?

[Saiga]

I had the exact same complaint. I like having a set homescreen where my top used widgets and apps are static and I always know where to find them. It was annoying having to keep opening up my Z10 active frames just to close them again so I could get things in the order I'd like. Maybe I'm just OCD? But I like having easy access to my weather widget, clock/alarm widget, mail, maps, whatsapp, hangouts, foursquare, catch notes, soundhound...and now a chromecast folder (thanks again!!). Then in the bottom dock I have phone, camera, texts, and browser. I have my other home screens pretty much set up the same way I've always had them since I started using Android.

I am very OCD about my smartphones app layouts. I remember in the old BlackBerry days a software update would sometimes mess up the lay out of app icons, so before each update I'd take screenshots of everything so if I needed too, I could use it to help me put everything back where it should me.

Now that OCD behavior has passed on to Android as well. All of the home screens on every Android I've owned looks pretty much the same as the previous one. Because I found the layout that worked best for me and I keep it that. So I definetly know where you're coming from.

BTW, I'm glad you're still enjoying the Chromecast! Thanks again for buying it from me

[notfanboy]

Saiga brought up an interesting point. The more a phone is like a PC, the less you would need an real PC. Here are a some things that BB10 owners still need a PC for.

The DSLR camera and GPS example was already noted above.

You're travelling on a plane with a colleague, and he hands over a USB stick with some files I want to review for the upcoming presentation. BB10 owner will have to pull out their PC or look for a PC to borrow.

BB10 owner needs a PC to sideload apps.

BB10 owner needs a PC to use the installed BB link software. For whatever that (awful) BB link program does, Android owner can do it all on device.

There's an upgraded app in the Play Store. If it's an essential app, I back it up to my SD card just in case the new version is defective. If I don't like the new version, I simply restore the backup. BB10 owner will need a PC to do this.

[--TommesJay--]

That is actually one of the things I dislike most about BlackBerry 10. There is no homescreen on BlackBerry 10 at all. You just get the active panels screen and the applist.

The applist's order can be changed and folders can be added, but it is still just an app list. Try this, make the top row of the first app list page have 4 icons, than put 2 icons in each corner of the second row and then put 4 icons in the third row. Basically make a box with two blank spots in the middle.

You can't do it! Because BlackBerry 10 doesn't have a home screen. It just has a list of up to eight opened apps and the remaining closed apps.

My 9530 Storm could do the challenge I just I typed out. But let me geuss, BlackBerry 10's total lack of meaningful customization options is another advantage correct?

Typed on my Dev Alpha C, Posted Via CB10

Nope, I think it's just a matter of taste. BB10 is for fast and effective use, it's multitasking centric. Android opposed to that is like a desktop PC, where you customize multiple homescreens like the furniture in your appartment, settle and create a digital 'home'. Two different approaches if you will. The first thing I did with my Android phone was deleting all preinstalled widgets and the second was to place all my most important apps on page one and two. I don't even see any sense in arranging an icon 'circle' on a homescreen (the use task you stated). The approach BBRY took is oppositional to multiple homescreens, widgets and free movable icons. The less customization options you see as a disadvantage were basically the goal here and I don't see any reason to change that into a more Android-like direction. It wouldn't make sense, it would defeat the purpose it was originally aimed at. The same goes for "pinable" Active Frames. I don't know why I would ever use such an option.

Posted via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

Saiga brought up an interesting point. The more a phone is like a PC, the less you would need an real PC. Here are a some things that BB10 owners still need a PC for.

The DSLR camera and GPS example was already noted above.

You're travelling on a plane with a colleague, and he hands over a USB stick with some files I want to review for the upcoming presentation. BB10 owner will have to pull out their PC or look for a PC to borrow.

BB10 owner needs a PC to sideload apps.

BB10 owner needs a PC to use the installed BB link software. For whatever that (awful) BB link program does, Android owner can do it all on device.

There's an upgraded app in the Play Store. If it's an essential app, I back it up to my SD card just in case the new version is defective. If I don't like the new version, I simply restore the backup. BB10 owner will need a PC to do this.

Very true. But I think if BBRY survives up to a certain point, all of this will be possible on BB10 as well in the future (installing BARs right from the phone itself is possible today with a few preparing tweaks if I remember correctly). And isn't USB OTG support for upcoming versions already announced or leaked?

Posted via CB10

[kbz1960]

Very true. But I think if BBRY survives up to a certain point, all of this will be possible on BB10 as well in the future (installing BARs right from the phone itself is possible today with a few preparing tweaks if I remember correctly). And isn't USB OTG support for upcoming versions already announced or leaked?

Posted via CB10

Don't count on USB OTG. It was leaked or announced for the PB too.

[--TommesJay--]

Don't count on USB OTG. It was leaked or announced for the PB too.

Maybe it was announced/leaked for the PlayBook because the PB was supposed to get some version of BB10 that just the phones get

Posted via CB10

[Saiga]

Maybe it was announced/leaked for the PlayBook because the PB was supposed to get some version of BB10 that just the phones get

Posted via CB10

It seems unlikely that the current BlackBerry 10 devices will ever get USB OTG. The PlayBook has the required hardware to use the feature, yet never got the official software to support it. The BlackBerry 10 smartphones so far don't even have the correct hardware.

With all of that said, the missing hardware doesn't mean it is impossible. Look at my Nexus 4. It didn't come with the hardware to support USB OTG, but I still manage to use it everyday.

The only difference is the Nexus 4 has a massive development community. They made the feature possible on my phone, not Google. Just like how the PlayBook community was able to prove USB OTG could work on rooted PlayBooks.

If hobbyists working in their spare time can bring USB OTG to the Nexus 4 and PlayBook, than surely BlackBerry could figure out how to bring it to the Z10, Q10, and Q5. The only thing is I doubt they will go to the trouble and invest the resources required.

Typed on my Dev Alpha C, Posted Via CB10

[--TommesJay--]

It seems unlikely that the current BlackBerry 10 devices will ever get USB OTG. The PlayBook has the required hardware to use the feature, yet never got the official software to support it. The BlackBerry 10 smartphones so far don't even have the correct hardware.

With all of that said, the missing hardware doesn't mean it is impossible. Look at my Nexus 4. It didn't come with the hardware to support USB OTG, but I still manage to use it everyday.

The only difference is the Nexus 4 has a massive development community. They made the feature possible on my phone, not Google. Just like how the PlayBook community was able to prove USB OTG could work on rooted PlayBooks.

If hobbyists working in their spare time can bring USB OTG to the Nexus 4 and PlayBook, than surely BlackBerry could figure out how to bring it to the Z10, Q10, and Q5. The only thing is I doubt they will go to the trouble and invest the resources required.

Typed on my Dev Alpha C, Posted Via CB10

Yes, definitely it's the community I thought of first concerning these features (I mean where did I get the leaked OSs, converting and sideloading software from? ).

So USB OTG isn't supported on Android devices out of the box? And what hardware beside an USB port do you mean? If the Nexus is lacking this hardware but it got somehow managed to work anyways, doesn't this prove that there's no hardware requirement at all?

Posted via CB10

[castano22]

Eh I'll say both are in their own right.

If you like to show off your custom build computer and all the fancy cap you did to it then that's where Android comes in.

If you're more of the type of person to use their computer to get things done then BlackBerry is where it's at.

Android is more of a playground for me and will always be. I can never really take Android seriously like I can with BlackBerry

Posted via CB10

[axeman1000]

You need anti virus for android so i guess android, although I get by for what I need with my BlackBerry. Kinda useless to use a 16 GB phone for a ftp web sever. Can't beat a Linux box for that! Way more stable!

Posted via CB10

[notfanboy]

So USB OTG isn't supported on Android devices out of the box? And what hardware beside an USB port do you mean? If the Nexus is lacking this hardware but it got somehow managed to work anyways, doesn't this prove that there's no hardware requirement at all?

It works on Samsung devices out of the box. Not sure about other brands.

And there definitely is a hardware requirement.

[bradu1]

Wouldn't the answer be NO? You would require an Application for that functionality, am I correct?

Then Android would be considered a media consumption OS on a device.
It would be like buying a laptop that you can power on and get onto the internet to acquire applications to make it function like a computer.

Did you just describe a chrome book?

Posted via CB10

[notfanboy]

You need anti virus for android so i guess android, although I get by for what I need with my BlackBerry. Kinda useless to use a 16 GB phone for a ftp web sever. Can't beat a Linux box for that! Way more stable!

The point is that you can. I have an old phone that would otherwise be gathering dust that I'm using as a home security cam. It saved me the $150 that a dedicated web cam would have cost.

Others are using Android devices as media servers. They're hooked up to TVs and they run XMBC, Netflix, etc. You can use your other phone as a remote.

[Saiga]

Yes, definitely it's the community I thought of first concerning these features (I mean where did I get the leaked OSs, converting and sideloading software from? ).

So USB OTG isn't supported on Android devices out of the box? And what hardware beside an USB port do you mean? If the Nexus is lacking this hardware but it got somehow managed to work anyways, doesn't this prove that there's no hardware requirement at all?

Posted via CB10

Sadly, BlackBerry is closed up as tight as iOS. Just think about what the community could do if BlackBerry was open source. I know one thing, a lot of dusty PlayBooks would be running Android right now. Maybe even BlackBerry 10.

About USB OTG - Android devices have had USB OTG host mode out of the box for years now. Every since Gingerbread. One of the first Android-based devices that I heard about with the feature was the Motorola Atrix. The Motorola Xoom also had it. The feature isn't new at all and even budget Android-based phones have it.

All of the recent Nexus devices (except the Nexus 4) has had the feature working out of the box.

The issue with the Nexus 4 is the same issue that the Optimus G has. The battery's power cannot be used to redirect power to a USB device. That is simply because the phone doesn't have the required hardware.The thing of it is, with a modified kernel, you can use a USB OTG Y cable and a phone charger to supply power for the USB device. The modified kernel is required for handling the redirecting of power from the cable, and a phone charger is required for supplying power to the USB device while charging your phone at the same time. In the case of the Nexus 4, the hardware limitation is being fixed by using a powered USB cable. The patch and cable completely bypasses the fact that the phone's battery can't be used to power a USB device.

So no, it is still a hardware limitation and requirement. The phone requires something to power the USB device. The phone doesn't have that required hardware, so the phone has to use an external power source to make USB OTG work. Other Nexus devices don't require any special cables or a phone charger.

Now, if you look at BlackBerry 10 phones and then look at the PlayBook, you'll notice that the USB ports are completely different. That probably isn't something that will be fixed with a new software patch or a powered USB cable, but who knows.

[sigint99]

The OP's question doesn't make much sense.

The PocketPC was a bulky unresponsive PDA with a sylus that ran a lethargic version of Windows Mobile. I had an O2 XDA II for years and got sick of its terrible performance and inability to handle basic phone calls after a while. It was a good idea but poorly implemented - which seems to be the motto of Microsoft all over.

As for today I thankfully can't see any products on the market that are as poorly conceived as the PocketPC although many of the cheap and nasty Android tablets come close. Many of these yum-cha tablets and phones are so bad I wouldn't give them to my worst enemy.

[djsvet]

Question for the ppl using USB OTG on Android :
Can you read NTFS or exFAT already?

Posted via CB10