If the price is right, I'll probably end up getting either the Veer or the Pre 3. Both of these look like really nice devices, and the OS is the nicest of the recent-generation ones I've used.
I think the long-term success of the platform really depends on how soon HP gets these out the door - "early spring" and "summer" are vague terms. If they wait until August for the Pre 3 and the TouchPad, I think they really lose an opportunity. If the Veer is out in March and the Pre 3 and TouchPad follow in June, HP's in good shape. The hardware's looking great and the OS is superior to almost anything out there right now; they just have to make it happen.
The quick and easy version: Android "screens" are called Activities. Each is a distinct class. Only one can be in the foreground at any time. When you use the back button, the current activity's onDestroy() function is called, and the activity is deallocated. However, when you move from one activity to another at any point in the OS (whether you switch to another application, or if your own moves to a different "screen") the current activity is not destroyed, but instead paused. The default behavior is to keep running, but most applications override onPause() to pause everything in the UI to avoid confusing the hell out of users - for instance, going to Netflix's settings should not allow the movie to continue playing offscreen at the same time.
A few years ago, UnixWare and OpenServer actually had pretty impressive marketshare. SCO's increasing insanity, and total neglect of those products after ~2006, caused almost all of their customers to jump ship. It's sad, really... those weren't bad operating systems at all.
It seems that the Tegra 2 continues the Tegra's fine tradition of shit CPU performance. I wish the various hardware manufacturers would wait for a decent Cortex A9 to come out, like an OMAP4 or Samsung Orion, but it seems like that's too much to hope for.
ARM's aren't fast on FP, but are pretty similar to a P4 or low-clocked Intel Core at integer workloads. They do okay on vector-heavy stuff too, if your compiler is good enough to optimize for NEON and VFP. The Marvell chip in the DreamPlug is a known slow processor - moderate clock, but no FPU, an older microarchitecture, no NEON, and in-order. Yuck.
I agree. I also have to question whether any of these Android fans have ever developed or used it. The API's suck, performance sucks, and almost any Android implementation shipped has bizarre shortcomings and bugs. I don't like Symbian, but I'd pick it over Android any day.
I develop for Android professionally, but replaced an Android phone (a Milestone) with a Samsung bada one (Samsung Wave) without ever looking back. I'd use an HTC HD2 without hesitation if the models with support for AT&T bands were remotely affordable.
I'm sure that will happen around when Red Hat's acquisition of Microsoft gets past the regulators, and when Dell is in negotiations for the purchase of IBM.
You realize HP makes WebOS, right? And that so far it only runs on Palm/HP hardware? And that HP has basically totally killed off its plans for Windows tablet hardware in favor of WebOS? Your comment makes no sense...
Windows Phone 7 (not "the Windows 7 Phone") is doing just fine. It hasn't been a runaway success, but its done reasonably well on all carriers its been released on and is coming to both Verizon and Sprint soon.
Don't let me get in the way of your trolling, or wishful thinking, or whatever it is though.
Exactly. They give Kadyrov money, weaponry, and legitimacy, and let him do things like continuing the massive-scale genocide begun in the 90s and assassinating federal GRU/Spetsnaz commanders without fear of reprisal. He takes care of the dirty work of preventing the entire North Caucasus from burning.
Of course, I increasingly think such a scenario is likely, simply because it's not just about Chechnya anymore. Twenty years ago, Ingushetia and Dagestan were relatively pro-Russian. That has changed...
Actually, there has been an increasing reliance on foreign fighters in the North Caucasus, simply because the Chechen and Ingush secular nationalists died in huge numbers during the First Chechen War and the symmetric phase of the Second. When almost the entire country's military-age male population is dead or in refugee camps abroad, it becomes harder to source their revolution from local elements. This is the reason for the political narrative becoming increasingly Islamist; it's not that the people in charge are fundamentalists themselves, but they rely on support from Arabs to continue the war.
If the US had supported the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during and after the First Chechen War, there would be a pro-West republic there right now.
-LINQ
-Singularity (a managed-code operating system, designed for high reliability)
-Photosynth
-Work on robotics
-Work on application acceleration with FPGA's
-The F# programming language
Whether or not you like Microsoft, or qualify these as "breakthroughs," MSR does more public R&D than just about anyone else in the industry with the possible exception of IBM.
Lintel/Wintel are not normally used to refer to Itanium, which is what your first link refers to. The third link appears to be some ancient crap that hasn't been updated in years, given the references to the Spec2000 benchmark and Sun, and the frequent file-not-found errors.
HP is already the (somewhat distant) #2 player in high-end UNIX and proprietary systems, after IBM. I don't think they have that much interest in scale-out commodity Lintel/Wintel crap.
Pre-2.2, Dalvik is purely a bytecode interpreter. After 2.2, performance is still pretty crappy, since its designed for a tiny memory footprint and to work effectively on processors with very little cache. I find the idea of running Dalvik as the main JVM to be frightening.
Er, no, they aren't. They are proprietary GPL'd Sun Java code files that got an Apache license (illegally) pasted on them, and then distributed as part of the Android source tree.
Slashdot Mirror
If the price is right, I'll probably end up getting either the Veer or the Pre 3. Both of these look like really nice devices, and the OS is the nicest of the recent-generation ones I've used.
I think the long-term success of the platform really depends on how soon HP gets these out the door - "early spring" and "summer" are vague terms. If they wait until August for the Pre 3 and the TouchPad, I think they really lose an opportunity. If the Veer is out in March and the Pre 3 and TouchPad follow in June, HP's in good shape. The hardware's looking great and the OS is superior to almost anything out there right now; they just have to make it happen.
The quick and easy version: Android "screens" are called Activities. Each is a distinct class. Only one can be in the foreground at any time. When you use the back button, the current activity's onDestroy() function is called, and the activity is deallocated. However, when you move from one activity to another at any point in the OS (whether you switch to another application, or if your own moves to a different "screen") the current activity is not destroyed, but instead paused. The default behavior is to keep running, but most applications override onPause() to pause everything in the UI to avoid confusing the hell out of users - for instance, going to Netflix's settings should not allow the movie to continue playing offscreen at the same time.
A few years ago, UnixWare and OpenServer actually had pretty impressive marketshare. SCO's increasing insanity, and total neglect of those products after ~2006, caused almost all of their customers to jump ship. It's sad, really... those weren't bad operating systems at all.
It seems that the Tegra 2 continues the Tegra's fine tradition of shit CPU performance. I wish the various hardware manufacturers would wait for a decent Cortex A9 to come out, like an OMAP4 or Samsung Orion, but it seems like that's too much to hope for.
ARM's aren't fast on FP, but are pretty similar to a P4 or low-clocked Intel Core at integer workloads. They do okay on vector-heavy stuff too, if your compiler is good enough to optimize for NEON and VFP. The Marvell chip in the DreamPlug is a known slow processor - moderate clock, but no FPU, an older microarchitecture, no NEON, and in-order. Yuck.
What do you mean they don't have any choice? Android has 30% market share. That's far from dominant.
I agree. I also have to question whether any of these Android fans have ever developed or used it. The API's suck, performance sucks, and almost any Android implementation shipped has bizarre shortcomings and bugs. I don't like Symbian, but I'd pick it over Android any day.
I develop for Android professionally, but replaced an Android phone (a Milestone) with a Samsung bada one (Samsung Wave) without ever looking back. I'd use an HTC HD2 without hesitation if the models with support for AT&T bands were remotely affordable.
GP is trolling, but calling India a "black country" is some serious wtf.
I'm sure that will happen around when Red Hat's acquisition of Microsoft gets past the regulators, and when Dell is in negotiations for the purchase of IBM.
Non-existent, at the moment.
You realize HP makes WebOS, right? And that so far it only runs on Palm/HP hardware? And that HP has basically totally killed off its plans for Windows tablet hardware in favor of WebOS? Your comment makes no sense...
Windows Phone 7 (not "the Windows 7 Phone") is doing just fine. It hasn't been a runaway success, but its done reasonably well on all carriers its been released on and is coming to both Verizon and Sprint soon.
Don't let me get in the way of your trolling, or wishful thinking, or whatever it is though.
"Here we have a Russian city, bombed to bits by Russian planes, paid for by Russian taxpayers, who will now have to pay a second time to rebuild it."
--Alexander Lebed, referring to Grozny
Exactly. They give Kadyrov money, weaponry, and legitimacy, and let him do things like continuing the massive-scale genocide begun in the 90s and assassinating federal GRU/Spetsnaz commanders without fear of reprisal. He takes care of the dirty work of preventing the entire North Caucasus from burning.
Of course, I increasingly think such a scenario is likely, simply because it's not just about Chechnya anymore. Twenty years ago, Ingushetia and Dagestan were relatively pro-Russian. That has changed...
Actually, there has been an increasing reliance on foreign fighters in the North Caucasus, simply because the Chechen and Ingush secular nationalists died in huge numbers during the First Chechen War and the symmetric phase of the Second. When almost the entire country's military-age male population is dead or in refugee camps abroad, it becomes harder to source their revolution from local elements. This is the reason for the political narrative becoming increasingly Islamist; it's not that the people in charge are fundamentalists themselves, but they rely on support from Arabs to continue the war.
If the US had supported the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during and after the First Chechen War, there would be a pro-West republic there right now.
A couple off the top of my head -
-LINQ
-Singularity (a managed-code operating system, designed for high reliability)
-Photosynth
-Work on robotics
-Work on application acceleration with FPGA's
-The F# programming language
Whether or not you like Microsoft, or qualify these as "breakthroughs," MSR does more public R&D than just about anyone else in the industry with the possible exception of IBM.
Lintel/Wintel are not normally used to refer to Itanium, which is what your first link refers to. The third link appears to be some ancient crap that hasn't been updated in years, given the references to the Spec2000 benchmark and Sun, and the frequent file-not-found errors.
HP is already the (somewhat distant) #2 player in high-end UNIX and proprietary systems, after IBM. I don't think they have that much interest in scale-out commodity Lintel/Wintel crap.
Pre-2.2, Dalvik is purely a bytecode interpreter. After 2.2, performance is still pretty crappy, since its designed for a tiny memory footprint and to work effectively on processors with very little cache. I find the idea of running Dalvik as the main JVM to be frightening.
Pasting an Apache license on GPL'd code falls spectacularly into the "not legal" category.
Er, no, they aren't. They are proprietary GPL'd Sun Java code files that got an Apache license (illegally) pasted on them, and then distributed as part of the Android source tree.
If Google distributed the source at any point, it's a copyright violation, whether or not it shipped in a handset.
So you'd be fine with it if he had said "nigger," "raghead," or "kike"?
"Real females" vs "trannies." How tactful.
HTC currently makes a few different Windows Phone 7 devices. I'd really say the only manufacturer that's betting hard on Android is Motorola.