So you've decided you want to buy a smartphone but don't know anything about them? Well you've come to the right place, especially if you want to buy an Android smartphone. This guide was written for first time buyers to describe what Android smartphones do and what you should be looking for when buying one. I've broken the article into sections with Budget, Mid-range and High-end handsets with some options for each price range along with a recommendation.
For our foreign readership, all prices are quoted in NZD and include 15% GST. Handset pricing was found using PriceSpy.
If you are buying your first smartphone, or even just your next smartphone then read on!
Strep throat sucks. Especially man-strep throat. I couldn't get to sleep because of a fever, so I thought I would post something. Fingers crossed what follows is coherent, and not just febrile raving.
I know this piece is really only peripherally Android related, but I thought a guide on how to circumvent US shipping restrictions by online retailers might be appreciated by our readership, given that those restrictions most often apply to electronics.
I tend to do this quite a bit, for example it's how I got my Sandisk 64GB micro SDXC card from their US online store. It's also how I made a tidy profit selling an N900 that I'd purchased from Amazon at a crazily cheap pre-order price. Bottom line: sometimes it's cheaper to get things from the States, and sometimes you can only get things from the States. When either of these circumstances is the case, it's nice to have the option.
This is definitely one for the emulator gaming fans out there - N64oid has updated to version 2.4. In addition to adding 0.1 to the version number, it also added support for multiple bluetooth gamepad connections, and true analog support (FWIW I'm not actually knocking arbitrarily adding 0.1, at least it makes more sense than most handset naming conventions - right Samsung?).
What does that mean? It means multiplayer Nintendo 64 gaming sessions. If you ever indulged in some 2-4 player Mario Kart or Goldeneye back in the day you'll know just how good this news is. If you missed that era in multiplayer gaming, you've just been thrown a retro gaming lifeline.
Adding extra controllers is easy - pair as normal with Bluez IME and then add them in N64oid and map the keys
To get the most from this you'll ideally need two or more bluetooth controllers, and some way to output your devices display to an external monitor or television (although a tablet with a stand might do pretty good stand-in duty at a push). If you own an Android tablet with either Honeycomb 3.1 or 3.2, and any current games console, your chances of meeting all these requirements are pretty good. Most of these tablets have a method for outputting to HDMI, and in addition will support PS3, Xbox, and Wii controllers. Similarly if you own a stock Android handset, or flash a Cyanogenmod or MIUI ROM, then your chance at achieving emulator gaming nirvana are very reasonable.
The big question of course is whether the experience is good enough to make all of this worthwhile? Can your phone even run a two player splitscreen at more than two frames per second?
The answer? It's all in the YouTube video above...
N64oid can be purchased from an Slideme here (Slideme is an alternative to the Android Market).
...and here is my very own video demonstrating how to pair a Phonejoy with Bluez IME, the process is essentially the same for Zeemotes, BGP100, and iControlPad controllers also:
