Android in mobile phones

[Tiago]

Hi,
i will get a new mobile phone and i think it will be the Sansung Galaxy Ace,
in my local vodafone it will be 125 euros + 3000 points

Do you have experience with Android (this one is 2.2) ?
what can i emulate with it?
Spectrum?
Amiga/Atari?

i whent to Scumm page, and they have a version for Android, that will be very very good
What else? Is it possible to run DOSBOX ?

[Demon Cleaner]

Don't know exactly, but wouldn't it be better if it's able to run Android 2.3 and above?

[coze]

2.2 is good enough to emulate Amiga and c64, but your experience varies greatly on the quality of your phones screen (must be true capacitative multitouch. And not just two finger pinch, ) and CPU (1 GHz CPU recommended)
2.3 doesn't add much in the sense of emulation AFAIK.
stay away from 2.1 at all costs as its slow.

[Harrison]

The Galaxy Ace will be too under powered for emulation. The screen is also too low res for gaming and to show how underpowered the phone is, it can't handle flash video.

Make sure you get an Android phone that is running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). All of the newest phones released in the past 2 months are now running it. Also the first of the Dual Core CPU phones are just starting to finally be released and in the coming year you will see more and more Android market software taking advantage of the much faster CPU power available.

Currently there are 3 phones I would recommend:

Samsung Galaxy S 2
Sony Xperia Arc
Sony Xperia Play

The new Samsung Galaxy S 2 has only just been released. This has scored highly in all reviews, with many saying it is finally the phone that has beaten the iPhone 4 and is now the phone to buy instead. It runs 2.3, has a huge 4.3" screen that is brilliant for gaming, browsing and general App use (and when compared against the iPhone screen has been said to be as good, if not better in many regards), has dual core 1.2GHz processor (much faster than anything else), and as importantly 1GB of ram, which is far more than most others. It also has an 8MP camera that in review testing gave very good results, and can also record FullHD video. Therefore at the moment this is the best phone on the market.

For the 2 Sony phones, as an Android phone they both work and feel very much identical. Both use 2.3, but with a Sony customised frontend. Both have the same CPU specs. The Arc has a better 8MP camera, whereas the Play only 5MP. The Arc is one of the thinnest phones on the market, only beaten by the Samsung. And as an Android phone it should be considered alongside the Samsung, with the differences in interface and included Apps really the only reasons to pick one over the other. One call feature the Xperia phones have is an HDMI port that mirrors the phone phone display to an HDTV, and with the Sony TV allows control of the phone from the TV remove. It also displays FullHD video to the TV perfectly.

Something I forgot to mention about the Samsung is a new wireless feature. With the original Galaxy you had to connect it to a PC via USB, as with most phones, to transfer video and images, and upload music and updates etc. With the Galaxy S 2 you can now just join it into your WiFi and it will assign an IP and be accessible via your LAN to share files both ways. Quite a cool new feature.

Finally the Sony Xperia Play. Very similar to the Arc in terms of Android. Both phones function the same way, but with the Play's lower 5MP camera. The difference however, and for any gamers the big selling point, is the slide out Playstation gaming control. It isn't a PSP so can't run PSP games, but developers are porting PSP games and PS1 games to the platform quickly, and the Play has a second CPU for gaming, so doesn't rely solely on the Android CPU for this. Play specific games I've seen have looked great and just as good as PSP versions. IN addition it directly supports Playstation 1 (PSX games), but these need to be directly ported to the system, much like the PSP versions we already see for download on PSN. However you can also run PSX games from ISOs under third party emulation.

Emulation

And regarding this, there is an emulator for Android called PSX4Droid that is best suited to the Play. It can emulate PSX and PSP games. Google did pull this emulator from the Android Marketplace at the request of Sony just before the Play's launch, but you can still download it elsewhere.

For other emulation there are many appearing. SNesoid for SNES, Gensoid for Genesis/Megadrive, Nesoid, GBAoid, Marvin for ZX Spectrum, Mobile C64, UAE4droid for Amiga!!!, Atardroid for the Atari 2600... the list goes one and the number of emulators continues to grow.

What to buy

For Emulation and gaming you can't beat the Sony Xperia Play, due to its dedicate real gaming controls, but it is only a single core Android Phone and a smaller 5MP camera, so there is a slight compromise.

For a smartphone you currently can't beat the Samsung Galaxy S II, but for gaming you would be limited to the onscreen touch controls. With emulators you can often move and customise the touch screen control location to suit your style, but it is never going to be as good. You can buy a bluetooth controller called the Game Gripper that is supported by most of the emulators directly, and some even allow you to use a Wiimote!

It is worth going into a store and playing around with them to see which you like. Obviously however there is also the limiting factor of price. How much you are prepared to pay per month, and if anything you are willing to pay up front in addition.

Future releases

Saying that though, HTC and LG are due to release new phones that could be a rival for this. There is the HTC Sensation and the LG Optimus 3D. Both are looking good, but we won't know how good until we see them for real. The LG has unique feature of 3D video and images, allowing you to record in 3D to show on a supporting 3DTV. Bit of a gimmick but also cool.

[Tiago]

Thanks for the big info.

Well,
i saw a lot of phones much better then this one, but i dont want to pay more then a laptop... 125 euros is my limit, and i have to give 3000 points to Vodafone. (points = money from calls).

For 125 euros (here in PT) i can't get much better then this.
My girlfriend will get the Sony Ericsson X8 with 1.6 android, but it's upgradable to 2.1 with official firmware from S.E.

If the Galaxy Ace is not enogh to run emulation... i have to pla other stuff, maybe SCUMM will run... but i don't really want to go higher then 125 euros

[Harrison]

What about the original Samsung Galaxy S? It's been around for some time now and here in the UK it can be found for free on a £25 per month contract. It normally comes with Android 2.2 and can be upgraded to 2.3 and it still one of the fastest phones on the market, if not quite up there with the new ones I mentioned above. The Galaxy S can run all current emulators well, including the Playstation emulator so is a good choice on a lower budget.

[Tiago]

i could get it for +/- 370 euros with no points system.
I dont have a contract/mounth. I only have to "load" 20 euros of calls every 30 days in the ATM machine. but those 20 euros are for use as calls.
So i dont pay anything for having the phone. The system you're talking, is like a ocntract/loan ? those 25 pounds you pay, are 25 pounds of money to spent as phone calls, or a part of it is to pay the phone?


But yes, the Galaxy S is a great one, big screen. But, a lot of money

[Harrison]

In the UK we have 2 systems. Pay as you go and Contract. With Pay as you go you buy the phone up front and get a sim card. You then top up credit on the phone as and when you need it and use that credit for calls, internet, texts etc until it is used up. With a contract you sign up to a monthly contract and receive a free phone, or for the most expensive phones you might have to pay something towards it, then you have to pay so much per month for the contract, which can be for 12, 18 or 24 months. All calls, internet and texts are included in this monthly price, and when the contract ends you get to keep the phone and can then pick another new free phone and continue paying the monthly contract.

[Tiago]

Got it last fridat,
Sansung Galaxy Ace. So far.. so good.

i am very happy with it, it's my first android, so i dont have a previous one to compare.

I got Scummvr and try it with "Lure". cool !!!!

anyone with android?
can anyone tell me where to get emulators?

[Harrison]

You can find most of them in the Android Marketplace. Just do a search for the emulators I mentioned above.

The only one you won't find is the PSX emulator as Android pulled it from the market at the request of Sony before the Play was launched. But you can download that one from the developers site: http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2011/04/psx...elf-published/