Did HTC really add in all these extras??

[wmtoandroid]

Reading these forums, it occurred to me that that a lot of people are asking for features that my phone already has built-in. I'm using an HTC phone and I know they have their own improvements, but why are other phones so "stripped down"?

For example, I've seen people ask for apps that:

- silence the phone shutter (mine has this feature right in the phone settings).
- have the screen turn off when the phone is near your face (this is an automatic feature on my phone).
- have a widget that turns mobile data on/off (my phone has lots of built in widgets that do this)
- disable the lock screen (I can turn mine on or off without problems)

There are way more, but these come up all the time. So, is the regular android OS really lacking these features out of the box?

 

[jdbower]

What version and what phone?

- silence the phone shutter (mine has this feature right in the phone settings).

This is a tricky one - some manufacturers view this as a privacy concern and they want to ensure people know (reasonably well) that their picture is being taken. I feel that this feature is intentionally omitted by some manufacturers, but third party camera apps kind of defeat this.

- have the screen turn off when the phone is near your face (this is an automatic feature on my phone).

My X does this just fine, but it's possible that some of the other models or Android 1.5/1.6 devices don't.

- have a widget that turns mobile data on/off (my phone has lots of built in widgets that do this)

I've never looked, all I care about is turning off Wifi, the phone radio entirely, and configuring roaming - all of which are built into Motorola's UI.

- disable the lock screen (I can turn mine on or off without problems)

Again, built into Motorola's UI but perhaps not Android 1.5/1.6 devices.

Some people just don't look for the settings and assume they need an app. Others may have older phones that don't support it. And some manufacturers may just not be great at including useful widgets out of the box. HTC apparently has done a good job creating a user experience that works well out of the box, but the nice thing about Android is there's plenty of ways to customize things in case you're like me and prefer a simpler look than HTC's.

 

[wmtoandroid]

I've got an HTC Legend running stock OS 2.1 w/ Sense.

My default camera app has an option to turn the shutter sound on and off.

I'm just amazed that so many people don't have, what I would consider, basic features, but you are correct in suggesting that perhaps they are running an older OS.

 

[jdbower]

My default camera app has an option to turn the shutter sound on and off.

Remember, HTC is a Taiwanese company that builds nice phones. Motorola builds nice phones too, as well as satellites for the US Military and a slew of other functions that are pretty high security so their mindset is a bit different. Requiring a shutter sound so it's a little harder to take a covert picture may be a feature to them, allowing the user to easily turn off the shutter sound would be the bug. Frankly I'm a bit surprised they haven't come out with cameraless versions of their superphones (especially the Droid 2), not having a camera is a very important feature for people who work in secure facilities.

I've learned that one person's basic feature is just another's useless bloat.

 

[wmtoandroid]

...allowing the user to easily turn off the shutter sound would be the bug.

How so in a consumer camera? Have you tried taking pictures of sleeping babies or pets with a loud shutter? Have you tried taking pictures of products that you want to remember when you get home (I'm a huge Evernote fan) and having the shutter sound break the silence of a store? How about snapping pictures of work notes in a quiet office?

If adding a shutter sound protects our national security, then I would say that there are much better ways to steal intelligence data (via. smaller cameras with wireless tech built in, etc.) and punishing ordinary consumers would be wrong.

Yes, if a phone is to be used for some top-secret government intel operation, then perhaps a camera should not be included... but then again, the phone itself would be the greatest liability anyways, not the camera...

 

[jdbower]

I'm not disagreeing and there are ways around it, but Blackberries have the same "feature" for the reasons I mentioned. The mentality of HTC seems to be sleeping babies and upskirt shots, the mentality of Motorola is about security and corporate espionage (quiet offices are why the sound exists). Neither philosophy is all that wrong, I'm used to my DSLR so even the stock shutter noise is mild compared to that.

BTW, having been in secure facilities they don't mind phones (because they can always block them if they wanted), it's cameras they screen for.

 

[wmtoandroid]

BTW, having been in secure facilities they don't mind phones (because they can always block them if they wanted), it's cameras they screen for.

I'm curious, isn't a great deal of espionage performed using audio recording devices? I'm sure that a hidden personal recorder (or the audio app on our phones) can be more damaging for a CEO who's admitting to a fraud or other crime.

I hope for consumers sake, they don't cripple our loud camera phones into devices that have no audio recording capabilities.

I think limiting a devices features on the possibility that it could be used for "bad" would be a terrible idea. I've seen toy's made into horrible explosive devices... we can't ban everything.

 

[jdbower]

Espionage isn't about fraud or recording conversations or about the victim doing anything illegal, the chances that you can get one of those on tape is remote. Espionage is about taking a high res pictures of circuit boards and prototypes that can be analyzed at a later time by a competitor or released to the media. You see spy photos released all the time on this very site about new phones and software, but I've never seen a spy audio recording of a Verizon employee stating something about the current Froyo status getting leaked.

Even camera phones are really more about opportunity. A real spy can smuggle in something much more concealable, the people who use camera phones are the ones who don't necessarily intend to steal data but come across it and can't help themselves. This is why even just mandating that the stock camera app has a shutter sound is useful, someone who preplans could always replace the app or bring in better spy equipment and these people are much harder to keep out.

Here's a real-life example, I was at the trade show that year:
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=55172&site=supercomm

 

[mikestorm]

The mentality of HTC seems to be...upskirt shots

I knew there was a reason I loved my HTC phone so much.

BTW, having been in secure facilities they don't mind phones (because they can always block them if they wanted), it's cameras they screen for.

Agreed. That's why RIM frequently makes a 'camera free' version of some of their devices. The 9630 Tour had a no camera version, as did the 9000 Bold.