Engadget Podcast 189 - 03.27.2010
By Trent Wolbe 
posted March 28th 2010 7:11PM
posted March 28th 2010 7:11PM
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Sultans of Swing
Hear the podcast
02:45 - HTC EVO 4G is Sprint's Android-powered knight in superphone armor, we go hands-on
21:00 - MetroPCS bringing LTE to Las Vegas this year, Samsung doing infrastructure and first LTE handset: the SCH-r900
21:15 - Verizon talks commercial LTE deployment details: data devices first, smartphones in '1H 2011'
21:38 - AT&T says Verizon's first LTE phone is 'going to be a fat brick'
25:55 - Samsung announces Galaxy S Android smartphone
27:00 - Samsung Galaxy S hands-on with video
28:05 - Samsung's Galaxy S has four times the polygon power of Snapdragon
30:52 - Dell Aero is 'the lightest' Android phone yet, poses for pictures
31:38 - Nintendo announces 3DS -- the glasses-free 3D successor to the DS
36:10 - Microsoft Courier existence confirmed on the company's JobsBlog?
42:38 - LG X300's slack-jawed hands-on
43:02 - TiVo Premiere review
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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @zpower @engadget
Is it just me or is the play button EXTREMELY small?
@badtzwang It's just you.
@badtzwang it's not just you. We are working on it. In the meantime look at this as a unique chance to practice your precise mousing skills! Or switch to Chrome. Thanks for bearing with us.
@badtzwang
it's not just you.
Switch to Chrome, are you nuts?! I use like 30 different Firefox add-ons, any one of which is enough to enhance my browsing experience so much that I can't stand to use any other browser. Besides, Chrome's big attraction (aside from its Google-ness) seems to be its speed, but it seems no faster to me, so....
Patiently waiting for a fix to the podcast player.
its just you... I'm so glad I just checked engadget before I left... good listening for the road! Wish release times would be more definate for those that don't have the opportunity to listen to it live.
Finally mayn, been waiting for the podcast.
@Vakarian
Waiting for soooooooooo long for my weekly fix...
It's weird to hear comments about fragmentation of android one second, and then complaints about lack of differentiation among android phones 10 seconds later. Which one is the problem?
@ferank +1, case of wanting you cake and eating it too. Also, this will seem like flame bait, but what if the original iPhone upgrade was a bit small (somewhat different with 3GS, but not completely)? Is that what we want? Something with small incremental upgrades? And honestly, maybe next iPhone will make this part of the comment irrelevant.
We don't want small upgrades, we want cutting edge and mainstream value to please all segments. Once we hit critical mass developers will put in the extra effort and deal with the headaches because the $ is there.
@juanvaldez I think here's the thing, we have an option, choice or all bland devices. If they mandate specs, it will have to be non-cutting edge, affordable but still nice (e.g. snapdragon, 512 Ram, 1GB internal, etc.). But what's the problem with having better hardware? They say the same thing with WP7S, the only way to differentiate yourself is with better hardware, nicer form or price.
We can waste a couple bucks on better hardware if we want, developers can develop for the droid and we can deal with that. Are we better off having droid specs? Not if we don't want them.
Also, one reason the Droid has so many users is because it's essentially the best phone on Verizon. That doesn't mean that the best game a team like Gameloft can put out would sell best going for those specs. Developers will get a feel for if the TIE ratio is good with the Droid or not, if it's not, then they will develop with better hardware in mind and let Droid users suffer relatively a bit.
I don't think that'll be the case, but I'll make an argument for it anyway. 2 best ways a developer can get a good name. 1) make the best game that people want (whether they can actually have the specs for it or not) 2) make a game you can get into the hands of as many consumers as possible (or 3, combine the 2 like Real Racing did IIRC). Now, if Android gamers want to displace the Droid as the default gaming specs, then they have to be willing to buy in mass or pay a premium. For example, 10% of Droid users pay $5 for a game that's $500,000, big bucks. But if a group of phones with higher specs, say N1 with 150,000 users + the other devices 100,000, they need to pay and consumer 4X as much: 40% of users @ $5, 20% @ $10, 10% @ $20...plus the developer would just show how class they are. Or just develop a premium version.
The Android developers will figure out what is best for them over time, but sometimes too big a deal is made out of it and you don't always have to play down to the least common denominator. You have to look at how many customers you will lose and how you can market your studio as well, and/or make 2 versions. I'm not worried.
its really sad without nilay...we were all crying in the ustream and joanna kept having to shut us up. It was short but sweet and Paul made my day by saying "where's my JooJoo?"
Sprint isn't that bad. I mean in terms of coverage area, their 3G network is way larger than AT&T, second only to Verizon.
@Paul Miller, did you say 1GB is the most for Android? I think the Galaxy S is coming with 8/16 GB of internal storage. Neither are released, so it's fair to make the comparison.
@juanvaldez
Forget the Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy (i7500) has 8 GB of internal memory.
@Techno1q I think it's coming in 2 flavors, 8 or 16, as far as I know it's unannounced if that will be two versions with different prices or dependent on other things (market, other):
http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=16348&news=Google+Android+OS+Samsung+Galaxy+S+Super+AMOLED
I call foul, "we heard a rumor" we couldn't report it because "It's just a rumor and not much meat to it", C'MON! That's not the case with Apple (and I do like reading those articles for the most part) I want the same for my Google love!
Don't bother they r talking about apple products. Lol.
Only 46 minutes? this is the shortest podcast in a while.
Great podcast! I can't wait until I can have an evo type of device come to other networks with led screens
Where's my JooJoo?!
I completely agree. If the Courier is gonna be like what those concept videos, that needs to happen; now.
Posted 48 hours after it aired live.
Fail.
Our experience with developing an app in parallel for Android and iPhone was 180 degrees from yours. The Android app was shipped and completed in half the time with the same amount of developer resources. The SDK was easy to use and very quick to develop for. the iPhone SDK was a hideous nightmare.
can i take a hit of your femtocell? lol
Good to hear more of Paul
Already listened, but I forgot something...
What was the program that you guys recommended for syncing your google account and OS X?