Wife wants Android phone: CHALLENGE - OP is a n00b!

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

it doesn't back up app data, my angry birds progression was all gone, none of my texts were restored and numerous other things. And restoring all system data when you flash to a new rom is a big problem just waiting to happen.

It backs up App Data guaranteed.

We used to use Nandroid backups as ROMs for the Milestone before 2nd-init was complete. I used to restore those with nothing left and then restore my apps.

Later I went to CM using finally update.zips and the first install is always one that requires you to restore your apps because you had to do a full wipe.

Titanium Backup definitely got it all. If Market Backup somehow reinstalls Angry Birds for you, you then have to use Titanium Backup to restore App Data only. I've wiped my Milestone at least 20 times in a week last month to check out new ROMs now that it's just my testing phone. My Angry Birds levels have stayed with me that's for sure.

The same applies to my Nexus S. Titanium Backup is a damn awesome app to me and it's a painless process for me. It's powerful with the scheduler too. If anything I'm more worried everytime with my iPod Touch and how to install new JBed iOS revisions without losing my game data, and if there were a TB equivalent on iOS I'd be all over it.


BTW OP, you shouldn't have to use a data plan as long as you bring your own phone right? Even if you buy a phone from them, you don't have to get a data plan if you pay regular price. Is data ever going to be an option though? If you *may* activate it someday later, pay attention to the frequencies. You want UMTS 850/1900 for AT&T and 1700 for T-mobile. While every phone is quadband 2G now, you need to watch for the 3G bands. Not all phones (actually very few) are quadband 3G or have AT&T frequencies. This is why many of us AT&T folk often have to wait for Canadian imports.

 

[pm]

So I was thinking about asking my brother to pick up this little guy from China for ~$390:

Meizu M9

It looks like it's a fairly well-put together phone. Is it a good deal? And how does using apps for it work since there's so many different Android phones using different processors on different displays? Is it as simple as using a PC program, or do I have to make sure it's compatible?

You can order one of those from DealExtreme.
http://s.dealextreme.com/search/meizu

$300 for the 8GB version with free shipping. Dealextreme is mostly reliable as a vendor - shipping is a bit slow using the free shipping option, I'd advise stepping up the shipping... you'll get it faster and there's better tracking.

I personally would be scared off by the foreigness of the phone - it's not widely used in the US and that would make it harder for me personally to get answers to questions. I can't read Chinese... I'd be scared to drop $300 on something that the support model is pretty limited. But the price is right, the screen looks great, the reviews are good...

As far as apps, as far as I understand it, usually the way Android and Java works, you can use any program on any processor if the SOC/OEM guys did their jobs. Theoretically, it's like the PC model, and you can run it on whichever phone but it might not run very quickly. That said, I've seen issues with my Asus Transformer tablet where it says that certain apps aren't compatible... but then I install them anyway and they run fine. But I don't understand why Amazon would be flagging compatbility issues... except maybe to screen customers from potentially unusably slow apps for their phone.

 

[ultimatebob]

This might be getting resolved. Looks like Moto is unlocking the bootloader with the Gingerbread update slated for the 1st week of July.

If the Atrix update is anything like the Droid X 2.3 update, the interface will be greatly improved as well.

 

[Schadenfreude]

You can order one of those from DealExtreme.
http://s.dealextreme.com/search/meizu

$300 for the 8GB version with free shipping. Dealextreme is mostly reliable as a vendor - shipping is a bit slow using the free shipping option, I'd advise stepping up the shipping... you'll get it faster and there's better tracking.

. . ..

I believe the $300 one is the M8, a precursor that runs a modified Windows CE 6.0 OS.

 

[pm]

I believe the $300 one is the M8, a precursor that runs a modified Windows CE 6.0 OS.

Yeah. My mistake - reading too quickly. Sounds like your idea is better.