Clutching onto my Nokia E71 (one of the 3 cell-phones I use on a daily basis) I just read on Mashable how Nokia announced the slow phasing out of S60 for the iPhone / Android competing opensource-asized Maemo. The phase out is expecting to occur on all Nokia Smart Phones by 2012.
Could Symbian really not shape up and build a killer touch phone OS the way Palm did? I mean if Palm could do it… maybe Maemo is the hiatus they will need.
Stan at Mashable was a bit bold indeed when he said S60 is not good enough. For what it is it is very good. I often feel a sense of ease when using it on my E71. But he is right, it is no flashy Android iPhone killer. If Stan is right in reporting that Symbian will remain the main platform for E-Series devices that makes sense. I have friends that work in regular corporate jobs who runaway screaming when it comes to using an Android or iPhone like device for work… its just to much, to distracting and not capable of dealing with the fast blackberry like pace of business as usual.
But Stan also makes a good point. “While we’re thrilled to see more Nokias on the powerful Maemo platform, running two mobile smarpthone OSs and two separate app stores will definitely cause confusion to the customers.” From a branding perspective he is correct.
Nokia can lessen the confusion a bit if they market it well. Symbian as a business like device, Maemo for everything else.
But the larger question here in the US is, does anyone care. I mean, I am a Nokia fan boy that for the most part does not use a Nokia (my main phone is still the iPhone). I am still convinced that as far as phones go, Nokia builds the best of them…I mean a majority of the world cell phone users cannot be wrong. But the question remains, will Americans pick up the Maemo lingo like they have picked up “Android” and “Windows” and “Palm” and “iPhone.” Or will these just remain fancy and expensive Nokia’s. It seems these days the Operating System is king, so they better hope not.
It’s interesting how married to Operating Systems people can become. My first computer was an Apple IIGS, but then we swiftly moved to Windows. I used to join in deriding Macs, then I got one. Mac OS, especially 10 and up, became my OS of choice. However, I still used Windows (and occasionally Linux) on a daily basis. I’m basically platform agnostic. A platform is a tool, and the one that works best for you is the best… for you. There is no perfect platform for everyone, for computer or phone.
I mention this because of discussions I’ve been having with some fellow techies. This week I finally broke down and bought a Pre. The reactions from my iPhone, WindowsMobile and Blackberry using friends (Sort of sad, but I don’t personally know a single Android user – no I’ve never met Justin) were almost comical in their predictability. I even got complaints about the Pre from a fellow Pre owner… because he’s really a Blackberry user. I’m not saying they’re wrong – I’m just saying the Pre is closer to my “ideal” phone than most of those other options (In fact, I recalled a doodle I drew ten years ago and it resembles the Pre to the point of scariness).
Every phone does its job in one way or another and every phone does it for someone. The cell market is really big enough for everyone. So how about we all just calm down and let people find the right solution?
So, why is the Pre my “perfect phone” (so far, anyway?)? Click the read link and find out.
[Warning – this thing is a fricking essay. I clearly have no life.] (more…)
Holy cow, what a week. Every time Mordy or I sat down to write a post, something else happened. I’m going to try to condense it all into one week, going by topic. Bear with me: (more…)
Here are some interesting things from DigitalLook, but not exactly interesting enough to be their own article (no offense to the vendors, who were all awesome)
Note that I do have photos, but I seems to be mangling the photo functions of the blog, so I will be holding off on adding them. (more…)
What would our mobile devices be without power? Not much, right? Energizer has a booth with some cool products, announced that very day. Their Energi To Go products are like the big brother of those “quick charge” devices we see all the time at Staples and the like. You know the one – you put 4 AA batteries in and plug the other end into your phone. The catch with these is their not rechargeable themselves and they tend to be for just one product; if you’re someone who carries around a cell, pda, and MP3 player, you have to carry three packs. Not with the Energi to Go line. (more…)
In a rather shocking announcement, the upcoming Palm Pre is not only capable of being a music player (that standard 3.5mm headphone jack sure is handy), but it will in fact also pretend to be an iPod when connected to iTunes, sucessfully syncing all your music and photos as if it were a ‘pod itself.
This alone may make the Pre the most compelling iPhone rival yet.
And to think, some tech bloggers such as CruchGear had the audacity to call the Pre an “Also Ran” today (click the link for more info).
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the Pre now fellas…
Folks, this is the end of an Era. Palm’s Operating System has been around since the term PDA entered the vernacular (and for a change, didn’t have anything to do with public displays of affection).
With everyone all excited about the Palm Pre’s new WebOS, and the high-end business minded Palm devices already running Windows Mobile, the last nail on the Palm OS’s coffin appears to have been unceremoniously nailed in.
Unceremoniously, that is, until the Hong Kong PDA Users Group (HKPUG) decided to throw a little farewell party of their own.
The group members met up recently, and gathered up as many different Palm OS devices as they could find for a truly unique photo shoot. I’d (tastelessly) compare it to an open-casket funeral, however surprisingly the devices on display were still completely functional- including some Pilot 1000 devices. Many of these are reportedly still in use by their owners, so Palm OS may be out of production, however it is quietly being kept alive by those few, those faithful, those brave… Palm loyalists.
With all the news coming out of Mobile World Congress recently, I almost missed this one.
Apparently Microsoft was not only showing off their new WM6.5 OS, but also “dog-fooding” it (which is geek speak for product testing that aims to spot bugs before software hits the market).
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo was handed one such device to test, and according to The Daily Telegraph, an unnamed Telstra executive was handed the device and proceeded to get pick-pocketed shortly thereafter.
This is more than just embarrassing for the parties involved, “What if news of those bugs is released early before a final version goes on sale. Those sorts of things could affect the shares of Microsoft,” industrial espionage expert Les Goldsmith said.
In a rare saves-the-day moment, Microsoft staff reported to APC that “the entire operating system and all the user data on the handset were remotely erased as soon as the theft was reported.“.
This raises some pretty interesting questions about what kind of power MS has over the new OS. Is this a “big brother” situation? Or is this whole thing just misquoted, or some sort of scare tactic since its a pretty unlikely feature to spend time to develop and include in an OS? I’ve written up some conspiracy theories on my personal blog, and I’m curious to hear what the public thinks…
C|Net has an interesting article about the President-Elect’s desire to hold on to his Blackberry, even after the inauguration. It does a good job of presenting all the cons (basically, a security nightmare). You can see some more detailed specs here.
Specs (and insanely high price) aside, the idea of a connected President is a very cool one, regardless of politics.
Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave (and in all honesty, why would you do that?), you’ve probably heard about Google’s mobile OS, Android.
Last week, the tech media world was on the edge of their seats as Google hosted a press conference to introduce the first Android-powered production unit, the T-Mobile G1, to the world. The announcement and demonstration of the device, by smartphone veteran HTC, had geeks all over the world watching, blogging and salivating.
The OS looks impressive, and much more polished than the hacked version ported over to current HTC devices we mentioned earlier. Initial impressions by the media are also overwhelmingly positive, and many bloggers are already comparing the UI to the Apple’s.
However, I wish I felt the same way about the aesthetics of the hardware.
I’ll be blunt, the G1 looks like its about a decade behind in design styling.
Granted, the G1 is only the first Android powered phone, however there are still a few things I think could have been done differently.
What keeps the G1 from being perfect:
Design. Since the release of the iPhone, consumers are more interested in sleek polished designs than ever before. HTC’s own recent models, such as the Touch Diamond, are considered sleek and sexy, so why did HTC release the G1 which looks like a remote control from the 80’s? Word on the street is because HTC has been developing their prototype model, the “Dream”, since Google announced the Open Handset Alliance and got HTC in on it. Supposedly, this design was considered “cool” when they came up with it, long before Apple’s iPhone was released. Instead of creating a whole new device, HTC just released the Dream as the G1, with its body design as-is.
Lack of standard audio jack. Ok, plenty of phones don’t have 3.5mm jacks, but at least the smaller headset 2.5mm jack is considered standard too. HTC used to embrace the 2.5mm stereo + mic standard (which allowed a plethora of standard adapters and headphones available), however later switched all their devices to a single multi-use proprietary USB jack. The G1 is no different, and although it includes headphones in the retail package, you’ll need to buy an HTC-to-3.5mm dongle adapter to use those fancy Sennheiser earbuds or connect to your home stereo. Apple got this one right: if you’re encouraging people to use their phones for media, use a standard plug.
Lack of stereo Bluetooth. Ok, if you’re not going to have a 3.5mm audio jack, at least include A2DP wireless stereo in the software stack. One of the things that still bugs me about the iPhone is that Apple still doesn’t consider wireless stereo important. Meanwhile, even the free-with-contract phones that have lousy music applications have this feature. Sure, its not as commonly used as it should be, but its something I personally use an awful lot which makes me wonder why Apple chose to leave it out as well. At least Apple included a standard headphone jack… HTC/Google, this is a bad move. The good news? Since Android is open source, this should be hopefully corrected soon.
Lack of MS Exchange support. Once again, something that could be corrected soon with some third party developments. However, many people use Exchange to keep all of their information in sync, and this must be recognized if you want to convert users from other platforms. The upside is that at least Google introduced their Apps sync (see below).
No Video Recording. This is something that people complained about lacking in the iPhone as well. Once again, open development community = new added features always being added, but this is just another thing that should have been included at launch.
Now, many of these missing features are software related, and due to the evolving nature of the Android product, I truly believe them to be temporary. However, the fact that they are missing means that its not ready for people who currently use Windows Mobile or Blackberry devices, and regularly use features such as Exchange sync and music playback.
Now, in its defense, here’s what Google did RIGHT:
Full Push Sync with Google Apps. Yes, what they lack in Exchange sync is made up for with a push/sync for the rest of us. If you use Google Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, etc), your Android phone will sync automatically with it. This is essentially what Apple tried to charge $99 a year for with MobileMe before that service was considered somewhat of a failure.
Multi-Tasking OS. Based on a Linux 2.6 core, the Android platform can run preemptive multitasking. Like the Windows Mobile platform (and unlike Apple, Blackberry, and Palm), this opens up many doors for developers to write software that operates unseen in the background, such as GPS paper-trailing and file-server apps, not to mention the obvious benefits of having multiple things open and running at once.
Open Source. Perhaps the biggest selling point of the platform is that they are not locking it down, and making all aspects of the system and SDK open and available to encourage new and amazing applications. Yes, open source mobile platforms already exist, but Google is the first to do it who has the marketing strength to really build a working development community out of it.
Personally, I’m excited for Android. Its got a lot of potential, a smooth user interface, and an open development community. I’m currently using Windows Mobile simply because it has a large development community and a wealth of 3rd party apps, but don’t care much for the UI. Apple clearly has the smoothest UI on the market, however its limitations and closed development model make it absolutely useless to me. Android could be that perfect blend of form and function…. but until it supports at least Exchange and A2DP, I’m not knocking on T-mobile’s door.
Clutching onto my Nokia E71 (one of the 3 cell-phones I use on a daily basis) I just read on Mashable how Nokia announced the slow phasing out of S60 for the iPhone / Android competing opensource-asized Maemo. The phase out is expecting to occur on all Nokia Smart Phones by 2012.
In a rather shocking announcement, the upcoming Palm Pre is not only capable of being a music player (that standard 3.5mm headphone jack sure is handy), but it will in fact also 
With all the news coming out of Mobile World Congress recently, I almost missed this one.
Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave (and in all honesty, why would you do that?), you’ve probably heard about Google’s mobile OS, 
