Android phones

[Shachar Shemesh]

On 23/02/11 12:53, David Suna wrote:
> Hopefully this is not to off topic.  My daughter is interested in 
> getting a new phone (specifically a touch phone).  We have narrowed 
> down the choice to Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Wave S8500, and LG 
> Optimus One.
>
>
> 1. Does anyone have recommendations for or against any of these models 
> (or a particular other phone they would recommend)?
>
> 2. The Galaxy phone has a significantly lower SAR rating than the 
> others.  The information I have found online has been rather unclear 
> whether this is something significant that would recommend this phone 
> over the others.  Can anyone point me to reliable definitive 
> information about this?
>
> 3. If I were to purchase one of these (unlocked) phones online and 
> have it brought to Israel how easy is it to add Hebrew support?
>
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
I'll try to set the record straight.

First - the fonts. As of Android version 2.1, the OS arrives with Hebrew 
fonts out of the box (unless the carrier you bought it from REMOVED them 
to save space, that is). This is not perfect, as the font is an external 
font, and only covers the basic font type - no bold nor italics in 
Hebrew unless you install your own fonts.

Installing a new font requires root access. This is not so much because 
of the fonts directory permissions as it is because the system file 
system is mounted read only, and you need to be root to remount it. Bear 
in mind that many Motorola phones are notoriously hard to get root on.

As far as radiation goes, it is my belief that this is bollocks. There 
is no theoretical basis to the claim that non-ionizing radiation causes 
cancer, and no empirical data showing why the theory might be lacking. 
The entire EM scare seems rooted on the fact that it is called "radiation".

I have held the Galaxy S, and I have to agree with Micha - it is too 
big. The nexus one is much more friendly, in that regard. I have never 
held the Nexus S, but it was my understanding that it is the exact same 
hardware as the Galaxy S, except with an unlocked boot loader. People 
here seem to be of a different opinion, and that is based on actual 
observation, then take their word over mine. Either way, unlocking a 
Galaxy is not as easy as unlocking a Nexus. The Nexsus phones were 
specifically designed to be easily unlocked.

As far as BiDi goes - there's the rub. I'll start out with the good news 
- Honeycomb (3.0) has much much much better BiDi. This helps you not a 
bit, as no phone will run Honeycomb. Samsung phones bought in Israel 
have a Samsung developed BiDi which may or may not be better than the 
stock Android BiDi. I have not tested the Galaxy S' BiDi too deeply 
(might do so tomorrow and let you know). The stock BiDi for Gingerbread 
(2.3) and down is extremely partial. Some applications do not enjoy it 
at all. Some have BiDi, but not proper alignment of the paragraph. Some 
texts simply don't appear correctly. The most annoying, if not downright 
dangerous, problem is that numbers after Hebrew text appear from right 
to left. The stock BiDi is simply unworkable.

There are third party BiDi supports for phones you import yourself. 
Assuming you have root, there are some very detailed instructions on the 
iandroid.co.il forums. They patch the binary of the system files, but 
work fairly reliably. They fix the most obvious problems with the stock 
Android BiDi, though still leave something to be desired in my taste.

Lastly, there is the matter of localization. At least as far as the 
Galaxy S is concerned, in one word - don't. The interface is left 
aligned, and the translations themselves leave more than a little to be 
desired. I actually stared at some of the texts the system was 
producing, trying to figure out what the phone was trying to tell me. 
Just stick to the English interface.

Hope this helps,

Shachar

-- 
Shachar Shemesh
Lingnu Open Source Consulting Ltd.
http://www.lingnu.com