Blackberry or Galaxy or Iphone or Palm for doing everything?

[S.Taylor]

Obviously I'm very ignorant and have not been following developements over the past 3-4 years.
Therefore, I'm thinking that if i want to jump into it now, I would like the best of what time has produced till now.

I am interested in onew which does everything, so i don't need a camera or recording appliance or a fast palm for chess, or even a computer all the time, with interenet etc. I would like to know if there is a user-friendly all-in-one.

IS there one, which seems clearly the best choice that i would not regret (not having got something else)?

Also, are there different versions which would make a big difference to the final answer?

[royb]

It's a very subjective thing, so it's difficult to say for sure which is right for you. I use a Droid and absolutely love it. Is it perfect for everyone? Of course not... It does email, internet access with a real web browser, runs thousands of apps (the vast majority of them free), has a camera that does stills or video, and of course it's a call phone.

What is right for you depends on what you need from the device, how often you need it, where you need it (being off the cellular network makes these devices more limited in their usefulness of course), etc.

[shiv]

I second Roy's opinion. However, I can make the selection a little easier. Forget the palm, it is dead. The blackberry is not a good device for running 3rd party apps or even chess apps. The choice is really between the galaxy (android) and the iphone.

If you value freedom/customization and more features in your apps, such as variation support in chess and wireless tethering, get the android. If you want a more polished graphical experience at the cost of some features, then go with the iphone. For user friendiness, the iphone is better. However, there are far more free apps on the android when compared to the iphone.

I currently have an android (switched over from the iphone first generation) and can vouch for it as well.

[Tom Barrister]

I'm assuming that you want a phone that you can play chess on.

Blackberry's operating system really isn't built for development of chess software. Most of the chess software I've seen for Blackberry is somewhat limited.

As for the phone, many professional people use Blackberry because of it's email capabilities. Blackberry's also get a lot of mileage between battery charges. They have the downside of often freezing, about once a week, and needing a "battery pull" (pulling the battery out to reset the phone). The internet (re: browser) isn't the greatest, either. If you aren't a power email user, then Blackberry probably isn't what you want.

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I can't comment on the IPhone, because I've never used one.

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The Android, being Linux-based, lends itself better to decent chess software (albeit on a relatively slow processor, compared to PC's). Aart Bik has a chess application for Android that's supposed to be able to use engines in a limited way. I would imagine that more capability will eventually be built into the program. Also, Shredder already has a version for Android. I own it, and it's not bad at all, and it plays well and at a decent speed, considering. Also, I understand that DroidFish runs a version of Stockfish on it.

As for the phone itself, Androids are very versatile and can handle the internet, email, social networking, messaging, etc. well, and of course phone calls. One downside is that battery life is on the low side. If you buy an Android phone, you would do well to make sure it comes with at least Android 2.1.

[Albert Silver]

Obviously I'm very ignorant and have not been following developements over the past 3-4 years.
Therefore, I'm thinking that if i want to jump into it now, I would like the best of what time has produced till now.

I am interested in onew which does everything, so i don't need a camera or recording appliance or a fast palm for chess, or even a computer all the time, with interenet etc. I would like to know if there is a user-friendly all-in-one.

IS there one, which seems clearly the best choice that i would not regret (not having got something else)?

Also, are there different versions which would make a big difference to the final answer?

Here is what I did. I wanted a nice phone with Android or other, but that would not cost me an arm or leg, so the first thing I figured is that as this is no longer brand new technology, there are a lot of people buying the newest and most expensive, and selling excellent phones in excellent condition, quite cheap on places like eBay. I ended up buying a very nice HTC Touch Pro2 for about $130, which has a high resolution screen (480x800), quite decent-sized (3.6 in.), etc. One of the reasons it was going cheaper than others with similar specs, is that it is normally a Windows Mobile OS, but as is common ... some fans have already fitted Android 2.2, fully functional, on it.

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi there,

I am using an 1 3/4 years old Samsung Omnia Handy with 624Mhz and I am very happy with all the available and nice GUIs I installed.

- Pocket Grandmaster 4 with Naum 4.2, Anaconda, Ruffian 1.04, Fruit & Toga versions and SOS 1.0 ... my DGT board works fine.

- Pocket Fritz 4 with Hiarcs 13.0 / 13.1 and Crafty 23.0

- Pocket Shredder

- Chess Genius 2.2

All are excellent interfaces, most I like Chess Genius but the others are absolutly great too.

At the moment I am thinking to buy an android handy. Not sure which one I should buy.

Perhaps a reader can add a list of programs / engines which works fine under Android handys.

Albert wrote about the HTC Touch Pro2.
I know it, very nice too.

But in this time most interesting seems to be the Android systems.

Best
Frank

[Lion]

Hi !

Well, I am not sure about that but to my knowledge the number of chess programs are also more limited on Android than Windows right ?

Pocket Fritz 4 is not supported by Android.

And Pocket Fritz 4 is really a must for handeled !

I use both : HTC HD2 & iPhone 3GS

For a day to day, iPhone is more convienient but for chess, the HTC HD2 is far better.

regards

[M ANSARI]

The Iphone is really an amazing gadget. I have been using a 3Gs and recently upgraded to a 4G. I really don't see much of a difference between both phones except maybe the 4G has slightly more battery life (or maybe my 3Gs needs a battery change). Today I got a Samsung Galaxy as a gift and will give it a shot. I must admit it is really nice and much lighter than the Iphone. It will have to perform incredibly well for me to give up my Iphone. For chess it seems to have a very fast processor, but to be honest even the slower chips have been kicking my butt quite soundly.

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Albert,

I have much problems to closed programs (still in RAM if I started) under Windows Mobile 6.1.

Very nice is the freeware t-man 0.9.11. This little freeware tool solved my problem. I installed the programs total commander and resinfo too. ResInfo is a very helpfull tool.

Wisbar is a great programm too, but for myself ...
t-man and resinfo are good enough!

Perhaps you have a nice tip for myself
Yesterday I installed all the actual pocket pc programs, I posted before.

Best
Frank

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi,

a friend buyed a Samsung Galaxy, used in the time before a 3g. He tell me that he is much more happy with Samsung, but I never asked him why. I should do that

Thanks for your information!

Best
Frank