
Ask HN: What's a good Android phone for casual development? - mattlong
I unfortunately just ran my Samsung Eternity through the washing machine and it appears to be dead (unless anyone knows any tricks). I'm looking at this as an excuse to upgrade to Android. In addition to using it as an actual phone, I'd want to tinker with developing apps for it as well. Any recommendations?
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mbrubeck
I've been working on Android software for the last 14 months. I'm currently
using a jailbroken T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream / Android Dev Phone 1). I've tried
out most of the available Android phones.

If I were buying a phone today, I would get one of the Android Dev Phones
(which come with root access and the development bootloader) or the Nexus One
(which allows you to unlock the bootloader with a user command "fastboot oem
unlock"). Then you have full access to the phone, including the ability to
install new system images. The Nexus One has much better hardware than the dev
phones and doesn't cost much more, so I'd go with that unless you really want
a hardware keyboard.

You don't _need_ root access or bootloader access just to develop Android
applications, but it's good to have. It means that you can install different
versions of Android, including the latest open-source release. (Official
updates often lag many months behind the open source releases or the various
modded images.)

These are all GSM phones that work with T-Mobile's 3G network; I think all of
them will get EDGE-only service on AT&T.

It's also possible to jailbreak most non-developer phones to get root access,
but it's not supported and most of the carriers/manufacturers at least try to
close jailbreaking vulnerabilities after they are discovered.

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dminor
I'd say it depends on your tastes and circumstances - do you care what
carrier? Do you care about the price? Do you want a physical keyboard?

~~~
mattlong
Carrier: whatever works well/best in The Valley (just moved here, so I don't
know what's good yet) Price: up to $200ish Keyboard: doesn't matter

