Tag: Mobile Tech

Fake Steve Jobs Tells You How to Combat Android Fanboys

Between all the excellent FroYo (Android 2.2) announcements at Google I/O and hot phones like the HTC Evo 4G, Android has been getting a lot of attention lately. While I love the Android platform and am very excited about FroYo’s features, some tech writers and enthusiasts are going way too far with the excitement. Thankfully Fake Steve Jobs is here to keep it real. Earlier in the week I read his article on how to combat Android fanboys and it’s so good that I keep coming back to it. Check out this snippet from the intro:

Remember how cool and special and powerful you felt when you whipped it out in public and everyone around you was like, Whoa, is that the new iPhone? Are you some kind of wizard? Do you have magic powers?

That’s just awesome. But wait! There’s more! On Android being better for power-users:

Fair enough, you’re a super techie and can handle Android. Apple is designed for regular people who don’t want to worry about technology. By adopting Android, and helping Google succeed, you are hurting the regular folks who want to use Apple. Somehow.

On multitasking:

You don’t need it. It’s a total red herring. When was the last time you did more than one thing on a phone? Also: Apple will have multitasking soon, so the point is moot.

On the various versions of Android floating around:

I’m trying to remember, how many versions of Android are there? Like sixty? And each one has a different user interface, and they’re always updating and changing and you have to go look up to see if your phone will run the new OS and it’s just so confusing and you’ll be tearing your hair out. With Apple, just one system. Simple. Ahhh.

On the “inferiority” of AT&T:

AT&T actually much better than Verizon. Faster 3G. Talk and surf Web at same time. As for dropped calls, all I can tell you is it has never happened to me or anyone I know, and the media has blown that issue way out of proportion.

On Android spyware and viruses:

You won’t get it on Apple. Android is crawling with it. Also, viruses. You’ll get viruses just by turning on your phone. If you’re on your home network, the virus could jump from your phone to every device on your network, even your WiFi router, and you will never get it out. The virus will spy on you and take pictures of you as you’re working and post those pictures on Facebook along with your credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and a list of everything you’ve ever bought online. So, good luck with that.

This is just brilliant stuff. Some of his points are actually valid and some of them are hilariously ridiculous. There’s a ton more in the original post and I highly recommend reading it. Fake Steve Jobs ftw!!!

Source

(Not a Review of the) HTC Evo 4G Part III: The Drunk Test

The first and second parts of my HTC Evo 4G (not a) review were mostly serious. Now things are going to get super serious! Today I’m going to tell you how well the phone works in drunken situations. Last night I went to a Prince of Persia party in Hollywood and had quite a few drinks. While I was tipsy, I snapped several photos and did some live video streaming (this feature will surely get me in trouble one day).

While I’ve been generally satisfied with the phone’s camera, it was important for me to see what kind of images it can capture when I’m…not quite sober. Here are the results of my hugely important “drunk test” of the HTC Evo 4G.

AT&T Launches Free WiFi in Times Square NYC

In an interesting move that’s part cool and part “our network sure sucks in this town”, AT&T has launched a free WiFi program in New York City’s Times Square. AT&T customers with a WiFi capable smartphone or high-speed Internet device will be able to access the WiFi free of charge. It’s similar to how current customers can use the AT&T WiFi at Starbucks for free, but now they can get run over while they’re browsing on their iPhone while crossing 47th and 8th. Here’s a clip from the press release:

AT&T has installed Wi-Fi service in the north central part of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street, to provide a large outdoor hotspot zone that AT&T users can access using any Wi-Fi enabled device. The AT&T Wi-Fi hotzone at Times Square is available at no additional charge for nearly 32 million AT&T customers with qualifying smartphone, 3G LaptopConnect and AT&T High Speed Internet plans.

The Times Square WiFi program will serve as a pilot. If it takes off then AT&T will deploy it in other cities. I know loads of San Francisco iPhone users that would love network congestion moved off of the mobile network and onto WiFi. While I take a fair share of shots at AT&T, I have to admit that this program is very cool.

HTC Evo 4G Part II: Battery Life, WiFi Hotspot, Kickstand, and More

After three full days (going on four) with the Evo 4G, here are more thoughts on this excellent HTC phone. This time around I’m covering battery life, the kickstand, more thoughts on the screen, streaming video using Qik, and how the phone works as a WiFi hotspot. If you haven’t read my initial impressions yet, please do so. Now let’s get to it!

Battery Life: Let’s get the negative part out of the way first. After three full days of what I’ll dub “moderate nerd use”, battery life has been merely okay. I’ve been using the phone mostly for web activities — browsing, Twitter updates, checking Facebook, etc. Every now and then I’ll use the GPS functions in Google Maps and Foursquare. I’ve snapped a few pictures and videos too. Keeping in mind that batteries need to be conditioned, the battery results (from completely charged to totally drained) of my first three days were 12, 12, and 14 hours. [Update: After 10 days of use, I’ve been getting approximately 12 hours a day from the standard battery.]

The results aren’t surprising considering the phone’s speedy processor and huge screen, but I can easily see myself in situations — E3 2010, for example — where a single battery isn’t going to cut it. The good news is that unlike the iPhone, you can simply buy a second battery and carry that in your bag. There’s a rumor that HTC will release a 2,500mAh battery for the Evo 4G next month (the stock battery is 1,500mAh), which would be a brilliant accessory. Either way, I will get another battery for this phone should I choose to keep it.

Kickstand: This little addition has been incredibly useful…and I didn’t think it would be. Obviously having a kickstand is nice for watching videos, but I like leaving the phone out and just propping it up on my desk, coffee table, kitchen, etc. while I’m doing…whatever it is I happen to be doing. Part of it that I’m still afraid to damage the phone — particularly the completely uncovered camera that I’m not about the place on a hard surface — and part of it is that there aren’t any good cases available for it yet.

Screen: I didn’t mention it in my initial impressions, but as wonderful as the Evo 4G’s 4.3-inch screen is, it still uses old technology. While a lot of new phones use newer OLED screens, the Evo 4G uses older TFT LCD technology. OLED offers better battery life, wider viewing angles, deeper blacks, and higher contrast ratios. However, some people do not like the color reproduction of OLED screens and feel that they over-pronounce reds (I’ve never had this issue. I think OLED rocks.). The big disadvantage is that the current generation of OLED screens are extremely difficult to see in daylight. This is one area where TFT LCD is clearly better. The bottom line is that even though the screen uses older tech, I’m totally loving its size and output.

Streaming Video: I shot a quick test video (embedded above) on the Evo 4G using Qik.com, which allows you to stream live videos from your phone. I signed up for an account on my laptop, logged in on my phone, and shot a video. It’s really that simple. Obviously you can’t stream HD video, but the camera, signal, and service worked like a charm. I’m probably going to try and do some impromptu E3 interviews using the phone and Qik.

WiFi Hotspot: As mentioned in the video, I tested out the phone’s WiFi hotspot feature. For an additional $30 a month, you can use the phone as a hotspot that can support up to eight devices under optimal conditions. The results were pretty good considering that we’re talking about a WiFi signal transmitted from a phone pulling in a 3G CDMA signal. Using my friend’s iPad and iPhone, I was getting upload speeds around 580kbps and download speeds around 245kbps. Web browsing on both devices was snappy, even on complex web sites. If you want to connect a device like an iPad or PSP on the go, the WiFi hotspot option is worth considering. If you’re primarily concerned with connecting a laptop, you’ll get faster speeds connecting the Evo 4G to your PC via USB and using a tethering program like Mobile Stream’s EasyTether.

Call Quality: I still have to do more testing in this area since I’ve only made about 60 minutes worth of calls. So far I’ve been pleased with how the Evo 4G works as a phone. The quality is comparable to my T-Mobile BlackBerry 8900 using UMA (still need to think this one through) and markedly clearer than the 8900 using Edge (the mobile signal, not the WWE wrestler or the guitar player). The Evo 4G beats the crap out of the iPhone 3GS as a phone. Remember, call quality is subjective so I can only share my experience using the Evo 4G on Sprint’s 3G network in Los Angeles with you. It could be better or worse depending on where you live.

That’s it for now. I’m going to focus more on call quality over the next few days. If there are any other aspects of the phone you want me to explore, just let me know. As always, shoot away any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Google’s Chris Pruett Speaks on Developing Android Games

Here are several photos from Google developer advocate Chris Pruett’s Google I/O 2010 panel on developing games for Android. Looking at the slides will give you a better understand of the challenges Android developers face. In addition to developing for a relatively new platform, Android developers have to contend with multiple versions of the operating system floating around on different hardware (various screen resolutions, trackballs, d-pads, keyboards, etc). Optimizing for the latest and greatest version is all well and good, but considering that a large portion of the phones are running older versions of Android and the input options differ from phone to phone, games have to be scaled to work for all kinds of users.

Pruett used his experience creating Replica Island to give developers insights on different approaches to take in creating Android games. One of the coolings ways he took advantage of the mobile platform was tracking difficulty and updating the game accordingly. His game sends back data on where players are dying. He sees the results on level maps containing heat spots that indicated where players were dying the most. With updates, he adjusts levels to be less frustrating and more fun.

Pictures of the map and more can be found below!

(Not a Review of the) HTC Evo 4G: Part I — The First 24 Hours

I’ve been using the HTC Evo 4G for a little over a day and I want to share my initial impressions with all of you. This is going to be the first entry in a multi-part series that (not) reviews the phone. While some sites would serve up a review of a phone based on a day’s use, I think that’s remarkably stupid. How useful is a review based on 24 hours with a consumer electronics product?!? I’m going to approach this series — as much as I can — from a “normal” user’s perspective and not a “reviewer’s” point of view. Remember, these impressions are all from my first day using the phone and my thoughts will probably change after further use. Let’s get to it!

My HTC Evo 4G was ready to go minutes after it was opened. Like all Android phones, you simply type in your Google login information and your email, contacts, and calendar are synced to the phone. Keep in mind that I already organize my contacts on my primary Gmail account (I highly recommend this since you can sync to multiple phone platforms). If you don’t store your contacts in the cloud, basic setup will take longer.

If you’re a light social networker then you’ll probably dig HTC’s Friend Stream application. Also part of the initial setup process, this little app aggregates your Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr friend feeds. It’s a clean and handsome program, but it’s too simple for my purposes. I like to use Facebook and Twitter in different ways and prefer having separate apps for each service. I also follow too many people, which can make Friend Stream a bit overwhelming to look at. That said, I think a lot of you would like it for being a simple all-in-one solution.

The Evo 4G’s 4.3-inch screen is awesome, but it can also be problematic. It’s gorgeous to look at. High-resolution movies look fantastic on it. The problems I had (in the first 24 hours) stemmed from its impressive resolution — 800 x 480. I’ll use YouTube as an example. Videos with the “HQ” label looked brilliant and took advantage of the screen’s size and phone’s horsepower. Older videos and ones from low-res sources look terrible. Low-res movies that look good on a iPhone (480 x 320 screen) can look nasty and pixelated on the Evo 4G. This is absolutely not HTC’s fault and don’t think I’m dinging the phone for having a beautiful high-res screen. My point is that for common usage, the high resolution can sometimes be a curse.

As for touching the screen, I had no problems with the Evo 4G. Some people greatly prefer the iPhone’s touch sensitivity. Several tests have shown that the iPhone’s touchscreen is superior to most screens on competing phones in terms of responsiveness. While I fully admit that the Evo 4G’s screen is slightly less responsive than the iPhone 3GS’s, I was able to to do everything I wanted to with it. Typing, navigating, and using pinch-to-zoom were totally fine for me. This is one area where I recommend trying it for yourself. Some of you will have no problems with the touchscreen. Some of you — particularly longtime iPhone users — will have issues with it.

For web browsing, the Evo 4G uses a modified version of Android’s WebKit-based browser. It’s a fantastic browser that will let you enjoy most web sites to their fullest. By default, Flash (you know that Adobe thing Apple hates?) is turned on and JavaScript is turned off. After changing the latter setting, I enjoyed all the sites I visit on a daily basis. Using pinch-to-zoom to enlarge certain areas of a site was a breeze. During my first day with the phone, I did more web browsing than anything else. Having a great browser and beautiful screen made web surfing a pleasure.

While the Evo 4G can do a ton out of the box, I had to raid the Android Market to make it a fully functional Raymondtron 9000 (I’ve dubbed this phone the Raymondtron 9000 Mark IV). Here’s what I’ve downloaded so far: NYTimes, Barcode Scanner, Foursquare, Pandora Radio, Amazon.com, AIM, Advanced Task Killer, Google Voice, Google Goggles, Yelp, and WordPress. Everything works great so far and I can’t say enough about Android’s ability to multitask. While the iPhone App Store has way more applications than the Android Market, I’ve found everything I need to confidently call it a Raymondtron 9000.

So yeah! I hope you’ve enjoyed my initial thoughts. I still have a ton to go over, including battery life, camera quality, gaming, and more. Those aspects of the Evo 4G will be covered in future installments of this “not a review”. For now, fire away any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them. Also, if there are any aspects of the phone you want me to examine, please let me know.

Google I/O 2010 Keynote Live Blog: Android and Google TV

Hey guys! I’m live blogging from Google’s big Android keynote today. The Internet in the convention center’s Internet is fixed, so let’s go for it! Keep refreshing for the latest updates (please).

Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra is running the show. The jabs at Apple are numerous. He rants about us not wanting “one man from one company with one phone on one carrier”. Ha.

– I’m skipping the “Android is awesome — look at our stats” part.

– Android 2.2 (FroYo) is official! Here are the highlights.

  • Speed — The new JIT compiler speeds up Android two to five times. The benefits can be seen on all hardware. This should make users of the HTC G1 happy.
  • Enterprise — FroYo has 29 new enterprise features. Out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange has been okay at best. Google is addressing things will improved syncing, remote wipes, etc. Depending on how good and easy-to-implement these features are, RIM and its BlackBerry phones could be in trouble.
  • Tethering and Portable Hotspots — Most of you knew this was coming. It’s still awesome though. Google is showing an iPad tethering off a Nexus One. Ha!
  • Web Browser is Two to Three Times Faster — The company has implemented tech from the Google Chrome browser (V8) in Android. It’s a browser speed contest: iPad vs. Nexus One.  The Nexus One trounces the iPad, despite the latter having a much faster processor. Of course this is Google’s test, so what else was it going to show?

– Voice recognition will be a big part of Android going forward. The demo is pretty slick. I’m sure the effectiveness will depend on the clarity of your voice. Complex voice searches were made. Phones calls were made too, but that’s been done before. Saying a long, complex search term is much faster than typing it (especially on a virtual keyboard).

– Big cheers for the Adobe and Flash logos. Vic says, “It turns out, on the Internet…people use Flash!” Flash is shown running

– Applications can now be stored on SD cards. This was a huge flaw in the Android ecosystem. It needed to be addressed.

– App updates can now be turned off or run automated in the background.

– The Android Marketplace has been greatly improved for desktop browsers. Users can look at apps, read reviews, purchase apps, and have them beamed to the phone from the browser. That last feature is cool. I would use something like that — explore apps on my PC, make an impulse purchase, and enjoy it on my phone seconds later without syncing.

– Music on your desktop can now be streamed to your Android phone. The music has to be DRM free. That’s pretty cool too.

– It’s the advertising portion of the keynote. I’m not interested in this part. I’m sure you’re not either. I’m going to zone out for a few seconds and catch up on site comments.

– Vic is totally selling the HTC Evo 4G. He better give me one. Developers are getting it today. I want it too!

– Google TV is official! The goal is to bring the best of the web and TV together. The slogan is “TV meets web. Web meets TV.” Here are the four goals for Google TV:

  1. Less time finding, more time watching
  2. Control and personalize what you watch
  3. Make your existing TV content much more interesting
  4. Mark your TV more than a TV

– A demo of Google TV starts with the interface of a traditional cable/satellite box. Yes, it’s sucky and archaic. The Google part of the demo isn’t working at the moment (oops!). Thankfully Old School is on the screen. Will Ferrell is funny. Ah, it’s working again. It’s being controlled by a Bluetooth keyboard. Google TV has a simple search box at the top of the screen. You’ll get results from TV and the Internet. If you click on a TV search result, it goes to the channel.

– Ha! The demo is failing, but a funny Nic Cage quote entertains the audience. There’s too much nerd interference and it’s messing with the Bluetooth keyboard. They’re actually asking everyone to turn off their phones to cut the interference.

– Another example uses a search for the show House. The TV results give you the option to record an upcoming episode. The Internet results show where you can buy episodes. One result leads to Amazon.com’s online offerings of house. Jumping back and forth from live TV, TV results, and Internet results is seamless.

– Google TV has Amazon and Netflix integration for streaming video fun. Naturally, YouTube works perfectly on the service.

– The speaker’s son loves Elmo but hates all the other characters on Sesame Street. A Google TV search leads to Sesame Street clips that only feature Elmo.

– Searching for specific news clips and sports highlights can be done on Google TV just like you would on a PC. The difference is that you’re watching it on your HDTV and sitting on your couch.

– Integrating TV and Internet can lead to new ways to enjoy traditional content with picture-in-picture mode. The big screen shows TV and the small screen shows Internet content. Examples of watching gold with a live leader board, watching basketball and seeing the live impact on your fantasy team, watching American Idol and following AI tweets are given.

– Google TV as a photo viewer is shown. This part isn’t really impressive or too interesting to me.

– My initial reaction is that some of these features are cool, but some of them are just a glorified version of Web TV.

– Ohhhh, gaming implication — playing an HTML5 game through Google TV. I need to think about that one for a bit. That could be huge.

– Google TV will be initially offered on separate boxes that connect to your cable or satellite box through HDMI. They’ll all have keyboards and pointing devices.

– Google TV can be controlled with Android phones via WiFi. It’s like the future! You can speak into your phone and get search results on your TV. Wow…it is the future!

– Google TV is built on Android 2.1, uses Google Chrome, and has a full Flash plug-in.

– Android apps will work on Google TV as long as phone-specific hardware isn’t required. In addition to web applications — which Google is going large on with HTML5 — users can enjoy Android apps. That’s very interesting.

Pawing the Samsung Galaxy S + Pictures

While the HTC Evo 4G is all set for a June release in America, Samsung has been mum about the arrival of its super sexy Google Android-powered Galaxy S. A Samsung marketing rep would only confirm that it is coming to America in 2010; no specific date or carrier partner has been confirmed. Like the Evo 4G, the thing that stands out most about this phone is its screen. It’s not as big as the Evo 4G’s, but it uses “super” AMOLED technology. And yes, it’s super…thanks for asking. The picture is noticeably crisper and it supposedly doesn’t suffer from the poor outdoor viewing problems of OLED screens.

The form factor is straight out of Apple’s playbook. It’s smooth and curvy in all the right places (sorry, I just wanted to throw that line in). It looks like a slightly longer and thinner version of the iPhone 3GS. However, it’s feels lighter, despite having a beefy 1,500 mAh battery. I love the way the phone looks and greatly prefer its style to the Evo 4G’s.

The interface has some interesting features. There’s a social network hub, similar to the one featured on Motorola’s Blur interface, that collects your Facebook and Twitter messages. There’s a “daily briefing” app that collects local news and weather reports. In general, the interface isn’t as smooth as HTC Sense or Motorola Blur. I am not a fan of Samsung’s TouchWhiz interface, but the Galaxy S’ implementation of Android seems better than prior efforts. It’s just not as good as what HTC and Motorola are doing.

Although the Galaxy S’ 5MP camera is a lower resolution than the Evo 4G’s, I think it offers better images (at least from a totally scientific three-minute test). Samsung has a strong record with camera phones while HTC has been mediocre in this department.

If I had to choose between the Evo 4G and the Galaxy S, I’d lean towards the Galaxy S. The big “if” is the carrier it ends up on. I’ve been burned by Sprint in the past, as has RPadholic thejedirevan. I really don’t like AT&T. There’s a rumor that T-Mobile will be getting this phone, which would make me incredibly happy. Verizon, which has the HTC Incredible, doesn’t seem to need it. Where will it end up? I have no idea, but I wanna know now!!!

Feeling Up Sprint’s HTC Evo 4G + Pictures

I spent a little time with HTC’s Android-powered Evo 4G, which is coming to Sprint next month. The first thing that jumped out at me was the screen — it’s frickin’ huge! I enjoyed the 3.7-inch screen on the HTC Nexus One when I spent a few days with it, but the 4.3-incher on the Evo 4G makes it look ordinary.

The shape isn’t as unusual as the HTC Incredible’s, but it’s still on the boxy side. If you dig the curves of the Apple iPhone of Palm Pre then you might not like the aesthetics of the Evo 4G. Looking past the surface, the phone uses HTC Sense, which is much friendlier than stock Android. I really like what the company has done with Sense; the downside is that you’ll have to wait a little longer for Android updates due to the customizations.

The camera took decent videos and pictures. I wasn’t expecting too much in this department. HTC hasn’t been the best when it comes to image quality and there doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement (keep in mind that I only played with the device for a few minutes).

Compared to Samsung Galaxy S — which I’ll be writing about in a few minutes — I preferred the Evo 4G’s screen size and interface. The company also has a strong track record with Android, whereas Samsung does not. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the photos!