Android phone information

October 27, 2010 9:49 AM

Where can I read about Android phones?

I have a Motorola Milestone/Droid. I am frustrated by Motorola dragging their feet on the Android 2.2 update which is now due at the end of this year. I'm also experiencing random reboots/sim restarts and I'd like to see if an upgrade helps.

I'm looking for a website where I can:
* Compare different Android phones
* View which phone has which version of Android

I'd also like a single place to look at Android phones and see which phones have just come out or are due to come out. All of the blogs I have sound so far have parts of all of this but are not up-to-date or have too much noise and other content (tablets, etc).

Are there any phones which can be installed with Android directly from the code that Google provides? Since this phone holds some of my most personal information I'd like to avoid the r00tyourphone scene.

Thanks.

posted by devnull to technology (11 answers total)

Lifehacker has been doing a lot of stuff about androids lately.

Also Google Phone Gallery

and

DroidThing for comparisons.
posted by bardophile at 9:56 AM on October 27, 2010

If you're willing to filter through the nonsense, I've found that Android Forums are filled with helpful info.
posted by rockstar at 10:17 AM on October 27, 2010

As a recently-new owner of an Android phone who tried to shop as much as possible for at least a couple of months beforehand, what you ask for doesn't exist. The simple truth is that phones are pretty much locked to carriers, so I found the smart money was in either picking a carrier, or picking a price point, which is generally a simple choice between ~$50 and $200.

devnull: "Are there any phones which can be installed with Android directly from the code that Google provides? "

Currently in the USA, probably only the G2.
posted by rhizome at 10:17 AM on October 27, 2010

Whoops, forgot to mention a decent time-toilet: Android and Me is OK for news, but it has the same problem all of these phone blogs do: "Here's a phone that is coming out somewhere in the world (maybe). Isn't it sweet?"
posted by rhizome at 10:19 AM on October 27, 2010

Are there any phones which can be installed with Android directly from the code that Google provides?

That'd be the Nexus One which I thought was no longer available but wiki says it sort of still is. I'm not up to date on a lot, but one of its selling points was that it was unbranded, unlocked, and got software updates direct from Google w/o waiting for Verizon/AT&T to muck about with them.
posted by K.P. at 12:18 PM on October 27, 2010

If you're unwilling to root your phone (which really isn't that big a deal) then the only phone which gets you the latest Google Android releases as they come out is the Nexus One.

Personally, I've been very happy with CyanogenMod on my G1.
posted by pharm at 1:59 PM on October 27, 2010

Rooting is a *huge* deal for me. I have no comeback if the rooted image has a backdoor.
posted by devnull at 2:12 PM on October 27, 2010

I am frustrated by Motorola dragging their feet on the Android 2.2 update which is now due at the end of this year.

Verizon pushed 2.2 to my original Droid months ago. It might not matter in terms of your question, since the end result is still that you don't have control over whether your software is up to date, but in this case it's probably the carrier who should be the target of your ire and not Motorola.
posted by contraption at 4:55 PM on October 27, 2010

Honestly, I've yet to find a single website that handles all of my android needs.

I use the following.

Phandroid.com
androidguys.com
an.droid-life.com (an expansion of the www.droid-life.com community)
androidcentral.com
androidandme.com
engadget.com and gizmodo.com (general tech news which can be searched for android material

I don't use http://www.androphones.com/ but it may be something closer to what you are looking for.

Currently, there are no blank phones sold in the US in which you can install android to. However you can install roms you build from the android source to many android and a few WM handsets currently (most current android phones, save the G2, have been fully rooted), though each phone may need some hacking because of differences in kernels, cpu speed, etc. You can also install it on the iphone 3gs apparently.

Hope that helps a bit.
posted by gryftir at 10:25 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

it's probably the carrier who should be the target of your ire and not Motorola.

Motorola have not released a final version of 2.2 for the Motorola Milestone. So Motorola get my ire :)
posted by devnull at 2:03 PM on November 11, 2010

According to Phandroid and other sources, a follow-up to the Nexus is on the way.
posted by K.P. at 12:50 PM on November 15, 2010