Looking For a Good Smart Phone

[Jacob Roman]

I'm looking for a smart phone that's 4G and is capable of playing some decent 3D games. I remember a friend of mine having one with an awesome first person shooter but I forgot what it was even called and lost contact with him. If someone has knowledge on whats out there let me know.

Also I wanna develop apps on a phone but the only thing I'm aware of is Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition For Windows Phone. Are there any others? Thanks in advance.

[abhijit]

Both the iPhone as well as the android phones have the capability to play games in 3D. If you're interested in a windows phone, you should consider the Nokia Lumia.

[d_glienna]

Nokia has a new Win8 phone, probably in March. $99

[Jacob Roman]

Only I wasn't wanting a windows phone lol. I said that I was only aware of one program that was capable of making apps. It would suck if its just limited to just windows phones. Was wondering if there were other programming software I can use to make apps for the android or iPhone. I might end up buying a nice Android just havent decided on which one.

[abhijit]

For building andriod apps, you should download the android development kit and eclipse. Eclipse is an IDE (not as good as VS 2010) that can be used to develop android applications. You need to install a plugin to do that. A lot of people at our shop are building applications with it. (None of them are building any games though).

[d_glienna]

Azure Cloud has an SDK for Android and iOS devices as well...

[abhijit]

Azure Cloud has an SDK for Android and iOS devices as well...

You still need the Eclipse IDE to work with Azure Cloud if you plan to build an Android app.

[dilettante]

But of the remaining platforms Android almost wins by default. Phone 7 pretty much killed Microsoft's CE-based platform and "Phone 8" doesn't seem compatible, meaning another round of platform churn.

Or I suppose one can pay the Apple vanity tax and go with iOS.

[kregg]

I have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I often play Minecraft, World of Goo, and GTA 3 on it.

As for app development, the Android route is Eclipse + Android SDK or Apple's Xcode, which is only available (for free) with Mac OS X Lion.

[Icyculyr]

I'm looking for a smart phone that's 4G and is capable of playing some decent 3D games. I remember a friend of mine having one with an awesome first person shooter but I forgot what it was even called and lost contact with him. If someone has knowledge on whats out there let me know.

Also I wanna develop apps on a phone but the only thing I'm aware of is Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition For Windows Phone. Are there any others? Thanks in advance.

You'll need a Mac to work with XCode, you might be able to pick up an older (intel) Mac Mini cheap if you wanted that.

The iPhone 4S has some pretty top notch 3D games but it isn't a 4G phone which might be a deal breaker. It's got good battery life, good reception, it's fast, and has a great camera. These are some of the top games (in my opinion) on the App Store. The first three are also the most impressive graphically. They're all a bit pricy, too. (You can scroll down on the link for pictures.)

Infinity Blade 2
Galaxy On Fire 2 HD
Rage HD
Epoch
Order & Chaos Online (subscription based -- it's kinda like WoW for the iPhone)
Modern Combat 3
ShadowGun
Gangstar Rio
Grand Theft Auto III
Dead Space
Solomon's Keep (free)

[Jacob Roman]

Can I use a Virtual Machine to run a mac OS on windows 7 and use XCode then?

[dilettante]

There are other answers besides XCode too, depending on your requirements. Multitargeting both Android and iOS has benefits if you are coding for cash.

[dilettante]

Spooky: Who is rooting your Android?

[abhijit]

Spooky: Who is rooting your Android?

I recently rooted my phone and I can assure you that none of the things mentioned in that article have happened to me.

[dilettante]

Er, the article is about malware. Malware using an unfortunate back door.

[abhijit]

Can I use a Virtual Machine to run a mac OS on windows 7 and use XCode then?

EDIT: Turns out I am wrong. Here's a more informed source:
http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Mac-O...our-Windows-PC

[Icyculyr]

Can I use a Virtual Machine to run a mac OS on windows 7 and use XCode then?

No virtual machines support any Mac OS X on Windows. Whether or not it can be hacked on or not, is another thing.

[dilettante]

Funny article about Apple knowing their market and putting a single duhhhh button on things.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/201...-mystique.html

At least he's generous enough to point out that others aren't perfect either.

[penagate]

I recently rooted my phone and I can assure you that none of the things mentioned in that article have happened to me.

Er, the article is about malware. Malware using an unfortunate back door.

Always knew rooting using the back door was riskier...

[penagate]

Funny article about Apple knowing their market and putting a single duhhhh button on things.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/201...-mystique.html

At least he's generous enough to point out that others aren't perfect either.

I think he and I must use our phones quite differently. I find the single button on the iPhone quite easy to use: if you're lost, just press it once or twice and you'll be back on the home screen. By contrast, Android's Back button is hopeless: sometimes it means 'go back where you came from', sometimes it means 'go back somewhere else where you might have come from', sometimes it means 'go up', and sometimes it means 'exit'. At least the Home button is predictable.

[dilettante]

Though Android reference models vary, Gingerbread for example has a Home button for Home as well as Back and Menu buttons.

[Jacob Roman]

Well I got a new phone. It's an LG Esteem which is 4G and 720p. It's got everything but the kitchen sink and its huge in size:



Creating apps for it is gonna be fun. I also managed to score some emulators for it so now I can play Gameboy, NES, SNES, and Genesis games on here. Starfox on there is my personal fav