HTC Inspire users?
 

We're starting a development project at work that will incorporate Android tablets (mostly likely Galaxy 10.1). I have considered mucking around with an Android phone as part of the mix. Anyone using the HTC Inspire? I played with one today and was impressed with some aspects, less thrilled about some of the UI bits. Seemed better than the Infuse or Thrill (mostly due to HTC's skin being better behaved). I'm not looking to head into phone geekery - just interested in being able to run some of our training systems and look as possibilities beyond iOS.

I don't have an Inspire, but I have had a couple of Android phones. If you're going to play with one, you may want to get one that doesn't have a fancy front end added on. The common front end that kids seem to like is called "Sense" but some of the other manuf have their own.

I like the plain jane Android front end, or maybe with the addition of "ADW Launcher" which just adds a few options to customize things.

HTC generally has the best phones out there for either WP or Android.

I expect I'm going Blackberry before long...I need a physical keyboard.

HTC has HTC Sense, Moto has Blur, etc. I don't know how far I want to go down the phonephreak rabbit hole into rooting, etc. One thing I have liked about the iPhone is that it just pretty much works out of the box. I want my phone to work as a phone, and beyond that I need map and email. The Inspire was pretty responsive though despite the bloatware. There also is the Thrill which has a 3D screen and camera. We've done some messing around with 3D apps on iOS with a cheap viewer and the Thrill uses a lenticular display. I couldn't use it a lot due to the distortion bugging me but it is pretty cool.

These days, unless your provider cripples the phone, most of the stuff that you'd need to root for is available without root. I'm able to wirelessly tether for the past year on the phone for free through T-mobile (though that may cost before too long, we'll see).

The only 3 things that I would want root for on my phone is Cisco VPN capability (built into iOS), ability to block ads via hosts file, hmm, forgot the third thing, so I guess just 2 things.

There is also built in wifi calling if you have wifi, but no cell access which is nice sometimes.

There are phones with physical keyboards besides BB, aren't there? My G2 has a keyboard, and I thought there are/were usually at least 2 or 3 options.

Todd I have one & it generally works well. Just get rid of the junk on the phone. My biggest gripe is that somewhere along the system update line the automatic local time weather update doesnt work anymore

sadly, the thing I like most is the default flip display clock on the main desktop :D

I have one. Love it. Just AT&T Gingerbread upgraded it. Feel free to PM me with any questions. I am at a DE this weekend but will try to reply in a timely fashion.

Nothing past Android 2.1, that I could find...

Android is "growing" like iOS. Would you want to go back to the original iOS?

Most newish phones have been upgraded by now. My G2 was running 2.2 and is now running 2.3.4.

Well, took the plunge and got the boy an LG thrill and myself an inspire. Still finding my way around but nice phone. Hard toparse what is me being used to iPhone vs real UI issues but it is quicker.than my old 3g. Trying to figure out how to get.some of.the.text to display larger. And evidently the space bar could be.longer. I have 30 days to check it outback figure new iPhone will be out by then so I'll figure what to do.

Well, a couple of days with the phone and some random impressions:

- it is physically bigger than my iPhone3G. Too big? Not sure about that, but significant difference in your hand and pocket.

- some inelegant UI bits. Some iPhone apps have used the UI to their advantage. For instance you pull down the window to refresh the screen.

- menu button. No menus on an iPhone. Your configuration is elsewhere (within the settings window). So that limits what you can do within the app, but it also makes for a cleaner experience. It is part of the gestalt of the two camps - Apple is clean/easy but limits what you can tweak. Android gives you 3 or 4 different ways to do the same thing but sometimes it takes a few more taps.

- battery life. People complain about the Inspire's batter and while I can't complain it definitely doesn't last as long under typical use as my iPhone. I find that I have to be more proactive about power management, shutting BT and wifi on/off as needed. With the iPhone I just left BT on all the time though I rarely used wifi.

- performance. The HTC is fast. I haven't done any speed tests but the "4G" seems faster than 3G, and on wifi the apps are much more responsive than on my iPhone. To be fair, I have an iPhone 3G which is about to be 3 generations old so I'd expect it to be slower

- screen. HTC has a nice big screen. Unfortunately with higher rez you often get smaller fonts and I can't find a way to change default font size other than in texting/email apps. Pinch does work in some of the apps so that helps (old eyes). Apple actually shows less text and uses bold font in some places and that helps with readability. Plus the newer iOS (I'm running the old one) has good "accessibility" controls for font size and magnifying. The HTC screen with a protector is harder to read in sunlight than the iPhone.

There may be apps to tweak the default system font size/appearance. I'm trying to avoid rooting as I am not a fan of messing too deeply with my phone as I need it to actually work.

As for apps, big advantage to iPhone on that especially on the music/sound front.

Jury is still out. I may end up returning it before the next iPhone comes out as I think that Apple will nail this release but until it ships it is still a bunch of rumors.

Todd, quickest way to change font size is double tap the screen. Goes to a default larger size. If you want exact change in size still have to do the finger slide.