Comments on: Australian Samsung Galaxy In September, Android Omnia Inevitable?

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:12:31 +0000

If Samsung doesn’t release and an official Omnia with Android (a.k.a. Andromnia), people are working on porting it over http://www.androidomnia.com/

By: ndg

ndg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:35:49 +0000

Warning: HTC magic on vodafone is a no go. I’ve had this underpowered POS for a month now, and its horrible! 192 Mb RAM means there’s only 30-35 Mb to run programs after the Is loads. Its slow, crashes constantly and multitasking? As good as the iphone. I would have loved this phone if vodafone hadn’t castrated it. Buy the 288 Mb version outright from an online specialist store or ebay. I truly am angry at vodafone for making me hate my android phone. Want to sell it and buy anything at all else instead.

@Craig: 8c per min? In Australia? You sure this is the same continent I’m on? The vodafone deal would have been ok (if the phone was) since its their standard plan and comparable to call/data plans for other providers – even taking the call cost vs included spending. Of course, if i could get 8c/min plus good data rates on a reliable telco, I’d be there so fast that spacetime would distort in my passing. But somehow I’m not sure you’re this side of the pac osh. If you are in oz, pls – where do I get that rate?

By: Spencer

Spencer — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:51:50 +0000

@Craig

Your comments are fair, however, the only other option for getting this phone is to purchase out right, which I cannot afford currently.

It beats optus’ plan for the G1 though @ $99/month…

By: nom

nom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:10:24 +0000

best-looking android so far not to mention awesome specs – 8G mem, 3.5mm jack – perfect except for that 3rd nipple, err 5th/menu button. we’ve seen this anomaly with the magic prototype and i said it before and i’m gonna shout it out this time – MULTIPLEX that thing with the home button!

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:32:39 +0000

@Spencer
$69 x 24 months = $1656! And if you look at the detail on this plan they give you $400/month however, the call rate is 80c/min!!! My current call rate is 1/10 of that (8c/min).

To put that in perspective, you get about 8 hours of calls per month. If you went over your allowance by just 1 hour, you’d double the cost of the phone.

…and the cost of SMS/MMS/Data is even more terrifying!

(Sorry for the rant. I’ve just seen too many people not read the fine print on these contracts!)

By: Spencer

Spencer — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:14:00 +0000

correction: HTC Magic not Dream is on Vodafone in Oz…

By: Spencer

Spencer — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:11:03 +0000

HTC Dream is available in Australia on Vodafone for free on a $69/month cap plan over 24 months. I consider this a decent price point and could contest with iPhone 3Gs if the networks bothered promoting it…

By: Anonymous Coward

Anonymous Coward — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:17:33 +0000

I picked up a Dream from Optus a few months ago. Yes, it is way too expensive compared to iPhone plans. I didn’t like signing up for a 2 year contract either. The process to sign up and get the phone required me to stand around in the Optus shop for over two hours. Then there is no paid apps in the market, no technical support as such, no word on when the cupcake update is coming down the wire. It feels like they launched the phone and then cut it adrift.

By: Madstylzz

Madstylzz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:03:56 +0000

The HTC Dream is fantastic and the market is definately available in Australia but I agree with the others here. The problem was never the phone, the OS or the concept, the problem was the Network.

Optus will never have my services ever again!

Good to see some more great Android products becoming available.

By: User

User — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:30:47 +0000

(and most importantly not a resistive screen!!!)

By: User

User — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:29:18 +0000

Omnia HD with Android in Australia equals Buying Time…

By: pete

pete — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:41:03 +0000

the pricing for the magic doesn’t look too flash for new zealand, but about the same as the iphone so not all bad.

vodaphone nz hasn’t officially released it here yet (theres a release party on the 24th), theres a few promos for it but theres a web page up with the prices:

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/mobileDetails.jsp?skuId=sku5550077&hardwareSkuId=&menuKey=mnit1500019&selectedView=&selectedTab=&selectedPlanSkuId=sku5550071

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:05:20 +0000

Forgot to mention. Vodafone sell the Magic in Australia, however, their contacts are so complicated, I have no clue what you actually end up paying for the phone over the life of the contract: http://store.vodafone.com.au/handset-htc-magic.aspx

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:58:01 +0000

Optus don’t promote the Android phone here at all.

Also, they are not looking after their current Android customers, so I imagine the word of mouth is not great. We still don’t have paid apps (even though they have been enabled in Australia) and no ota updates yet. Calls to Optus support reveal they have no training at all on the HTC Dream or Android.

By: Jolt

Jolt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:52:31 +0000

I agree with Sherbo & Craig. I also went to an Optus store in the first few weeks the HTC Dream had been released but they couldn’t show me a demo as it hadn’t been charged for four days – so they showed me how the keyboard slid out – impressive not :) Then around the same time rumour was that the HTC Magic was on the horizon, so who would bother with the clunky Dream when a sleeker model was close. I’m flat out keen to get one of these Android phones, but the pricing is just nuts – and there is just no way I’d get an iPhone as its not open like the Android platform! I’d also rather buy a phone outright rather than on some expensive plan! So I’ll patiently wait a few months until the price comes down.