My Life With The Nexus One (or, How I Became a Rabid Android Fanboy)
It was almost like Christmas, and I was an 8 year old boy again. Only it wasn't Christmas and this wasn't a puppy I had found under the tree. It was just after Valentines Day and this was a brown cardboard box in my hands. This brown box was a gift from The Greatest Girlfriend In The World, and it was my drug of choice... a brand new gadget. But it wasn't just any new gadget; it was a Nexus One. My HTC Dream had served me well for over the past 12 months, but like any gadget geek I was attracted to the latest and greatest new toy. Faster processors, better screens, more features... this is what keeps me up late at night reading blogs about the next big rumor just a split second before anyone else. For being over a year old, my Dream was in remarkably good shape. It still had the original screen protector on it and there wasn't a single scratch on it's surface. The cover for the mini-usb port was still dutifully attached, and there wasn't a spot of dirt anywhere to be found on it's pristine white surface. However none of this had mattered since I had heard the first whispers of the Nexus One... the rumored "Google Phone". The device that would pack the kind of hardware that could finally utilize Android to it's fullest extent. And now it was mine. My Nexus One has usurped my Dreams position in my pocket and become more useful than any other device I've ever owned. My constant companion, it has replaced my many other gadgets. No longer do I carry a PSP, an iPod, a phone, and a book in my backpack during my morning commute. I simply slip my Nexus One into my pocket and head out the door. If this device would dispense beer, I'd have no other needs. I originally purchased my Dream because of Android. I wanted something different and unique. I've owned smart phones for years (from my old Blackberry on through an MDA and a Wing) but Android offered something new to me: a truly multimedia experience that I could carry in my pocket and connect my social life while on the go. But even then, it was still lacking. The UI wasn't quite what I wanted, it was slow, and it didn't have enough internal memory to really be very useful. Don't get me wrong, I still dearly love my Dream. But it comes as no surprise to me that Android didn't hit mainstream attention with the kind of hardware that the Dream had when it launched. Sure, I rooted it and installed different ROMS trying to make it what I wanted it to be. But even then, the Dream still didn't have the "OMGWTFBBQ" that I wanted it to have. That's all changed due to my Nexus One. This machine is equivalent to a Cadillac XLR: pure beauty with a mean ass monster living under the hood. I feel as though I have joined a club... When encountering another Nexus One owner, we both readily whip out our phones to share any tips or tricks (did you know that speech to text recognizes supercalifragilisticexpialodocious?). I don't see this camaraderie with any other type of device. Sure, while some would say that Apple/iPhone users share a bond, I'd go so far as to say that it's more like a cult with His Holiness Jobs looking down from on high instructing his minions on what to do. I have made friends with people in other cities, states, and even nations... simply because of our shared ownership of this handset. Have I become what I loathe most? Am I the anti-thesis to the iPhone fanboys? The answer is a resounding "YES!" Thanks to the Nexus One, I will resoundingly defend Android on any blog, in any conversation, and during any circumstance. When I run into an iPhone fanboy it's light versus dark, good versus evil, Jedi versus Sith. My pupils dilate, I begin to sweat, and the arguments move to the tip of my tongue. The only way I could become any worse is if I turned green, grew seven feet tall, and my clothes started to rip (Android SMASH!!). Thanks to the Nexus One (my Precious!!) my transformation is complete. Sure, it has it's (few) flaws. But I will say, that no matter what I am doing (outside of a few activities *ahem* with The Greatest Girlfriend In The World) my Nexus One enhances it. A bastion of entertainment and knowledge at my fingertips, this is my constant companion. Now to figure out how to affix a keg of my favorite brew to it... Might We Suggest... Did Google Shoot itself in the Foot with Nexus One? Microsoft sure thinks so. In a quote from Microsoft's Robbie Bach taken from Bloomberg, it seems the software giant thinks that Google may have bitten off more than it can chew. The Bach Quote fr...
Categories: Android Tags: christmas, cities, Clothes, dream, gadgets, google-shoot, iphone, microsoft, nexus, Nexus one, phone, pocket, social, tree
Bei Motorola hats Bing gemacht
Was viele für kaum möglich gehalten haben, wird jetzt bei Motorola Wirklichkeit. Der Gerätehersteller wird auf dem chinesischen Markt, seine Android Telefone standardmässig mit der Microsoft Bing Suchmaschine und Bing Maps ausrüsten und nicht mit den Pendants von Google. Dass die Google Suchmaschine nicht verwendet wird, hängt damit zusammen, dass sich Google aus dem chinesischen Markt zurückgezogen hat, weil sie nicht mit der chinesischen Zensur einverstanden waren. Doch die wenigsten hätten gedacht, dass Motorola eine Allianz mit Microsoft eingehen würde, nach dem Motorola erst kürzlich das Motorola Milestone auf den Markt gebracht hat. Ist dies vielleicht ein Indikator dafür, dass Motorola auch ein Windows Phone 7 Gerät plant? Man darf gespannt sein. Ebenfalls spannend bleibt die Frage, ob Motorola auch in anderen Ländern ihre Geräte in Zukunft mit Bing anstatt mit Google ausstatten wird. Dazu wollte Motorola noch keine Stellung nehmen. Lest die ganze Story hier (Englisch) oder hier (Englisch). Quelle: engadget , wmpoweruser Angehängte Grafiken
Categories: Android Tags: ckgezogen-hat, die-wenigsten, dies-vielleicht, glich-gehalten, microsoft, microsoft-bing, motorola, nicht-verwendet, tten-gedacht
Categories: Android Tags: comscore, fiel-der, geht-aus, googles, immer-mehr, marktanteil, microsoft, prozent, usa, weiter-auf, windows-mobile
Cina; Android perde Google e inserisce Bing
Piccola rivoluzione nel mondo Android Google. Motorola e Microsoft hanno raggiunto un accordo per il solo mercato Cinese. Da questa partnership Motorola eliminerà a partire dalla prossima primavera Google come motore di ricerca predefinito in Android e anche Google Maps per la navigazione. Al loro posto saranno inseriti i servizi Microsoft Bing sia per la
Categories: Android Tags: accordo-per, google-maps, hanno-raggiunto, loro-posto, microsoft, microsoft-bing, motorola, nel-mondo, partire-dalla, saranno-inseriti, sia-per
Motorola putting Bing on some Chinese Android phones in lieu of Google
This is another one of those deals that's likely to raise a few eyebrows, or at least produce some unwarranted exclamation points. The long and short of it is that Microsoft and Motorola have come to a deal that will make Bing the default search engine on Android devices released in China in the first quarter. Here's another way to write that headline: "Manufacturer does what it wants with its own phones." While it's the first time we can think of Bing being put onto an Android device by default, it's still in the same ballpark as AT&T going with Yahoo on the Backflip . And far be it from Microsoft to put its product on every platform imaginable, right? Besides, this may just be payback for all those Windows Phones that are seeing Android ported onto them. [ PR
Categories: Android Tags: backflip, china, default, every-platform, few-eyebrows, least-produce, microsoft, motorola, search-engine, the-first, windows, windows-phones, yahoo
Google Admob Deal Might Get Blocked
We haven’t heard a peep about the monumental acquisition of Admob by Google that would give the search/mobile giant unprecedented market share in the mobile ad space. Or should we say “hopeful aquisition”? According to Bloomberg the chances that the deal is completed are ominious. Bloomberg says US Regulators are “seeking sworn declarations from Google competitors and advertisers as part of their probe of the Internet company’s bid to buy AdMob, indicating the government may challenge the deal.” After purchasing AdMob for $750 million dollars, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Google will have an unfair advantage and decrease competition in the mobile advertising market. There are a couple recent events Google can mention that should easily prove their points and allow them to prevail: Look at what AT&T did with the Backflip Look at what Motorola and Microsoft are doing with Bing Seems like plenty of competition to me – and that’s on an operating system which GOOGLE created which is probably a key element of the opposition. To be honest, I understand why the government wants to prevent monopolies but seriously – especially in the highly evolving world of technology you should be irreversibly convinced before the FTC takes action. Company’s spend their entire lives trying to go from being the little guy to creating some leverage and opportunities from their success and momentum. Once they get to a certain point they are so successful that you say WAIT – you’re not allowed to continue attempting to be successful? The crazy thing about the mobile industry in general is that there is SO much room for innovation. A company with incredibly innovative ideas, good implementation and great timing could dethrone Google under the right circumstances. They are the same types of circumstances which helped Google dethrone their competitors. When MySpace reached its peak did anyone think Facebook would come along, swoop up its users and lead the way within a matter of years? Not at all. Don’t get me wrong, if Google becomes a mobile monopoly then I’m all for creating some buffers to allow for healthy competition. But right now the mobile advertising industry is in its infancy… it is MUCH too early to decide if Google is reducing competition. Not only that, Google is the primary innovator in the mobile space right now – again, during its infancy. Do you really want to suffocate innovation because you think that maybe, at some point in the future, Google will have so much power that the competition doesn’t stand a fighting chance even in the perfect situation? Let the Google AdMob deal go through and addres this issue when and if it actually becomes a problem. [Image via IntoMobile ]
Categories: Android Tags: backflip, competition, competitors, deal, facebook, federal-trade, government, highly-evolving, image, industry-news, internet, microsoft, motorola, search, under-the-right
Motorola, Microsoft, team up for Bing on smartphones
Motorola and Microsoft have announced a new deal today that will make Bing search and maps the default for the smartphone maker's Android -based phones. The phones will now come with a search widget pre-loaded. The company signed a similar deal with Baidu last week, to make Baidu the default Web search engine for Android phones sold in China. The moves come as Google continues its dispute with China over censorship, a fight that has yet to be resolved, and one in which Google threatened to pull its search engine service from the country entirely. Permalink | Comments
Categories: Android Tags: article, baidu, china, continues-its, country, default, microsoft, over-censorship, search-engine, smartphone, the-smartphone
Multitasking Headed to iPhone 4.0 [RUMOR]
With iPad preorders officially starting tomorrow, attention has shifted to iPhone 4.0 software and what features it might bring to both the iPad and future iPhone models. Apple Insider is now adding fuel to the long-standing rumors that the next big update to Apple’s iPhone OS will feature support for multitasking — that is, the ability for third-party apps to run in the background. As anyone with a jailbroken iPhone knows, the multitasking limitation for third-party applications in the iPhone OS is purely artificial. Whether it is for security purposes, performance or battery life, Apple has chosen not to allow third-party developers (or even third-party Apple created apps) to run concurrently in the background. This means that if you want to listen to Pandora while surfing the web in Mobile Safari, well, too bad. Of all the complaints levied against the iPhone, this is probably the one that impacts consumers the most. It doesn’t help that you can, for instance, use the iPod application while surfing the web or using other apps. Push notifications have mitigated some of the need for many use cases for multitasking — but it’s not a true solution. Multitasking in iPhone 4.0? Even a year ago, the multitasking issue with the iPhone 3.0 OS wasn’t as problematic as it is now, in part because while competing mobile platforms did offer support for running third-party apps in the background, the competition from those platforms wasn’t as strong. A year later, we have Palm’s webOS , the BlackBerry , Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series , and of course, what many see as the iPhone’s biggest competition: Google’s Android platform . For the iPhone to remain as enticing to developers as it is now (and in turn, as attractive to users), future versions of the software will need to support multitasking by third-party applications in some capacity. AppleInsider says that its sources say Apple has developed a “full-on-solution,” but details about how that solution will be implemented and what rules applications will need to follow to address multitasking was not revealed. Steve Jobs is famous for taking features out of a product if they don’t meet his standards. As a long-time smart phone user who has used devices on almost every major smartphone platform, I can attest to some of the very real problems that multitasking or excessive backgrounding can cause for those devices. They include, but are not limited to: Decreased Battery Life — More apps running at once means more CPU usage, which means battery life can be reduced. Slowdowns, freezes, crashes — As a long-time BlackBerry user before I migrated to the iPhone, I remember the “three finger salute” reboot mechanism far too well. At least once a day (more often if I happened to open up my RSS reader or my e-mail was particularly heavy) I had to reboot my Berry in order to reset the memory cache and allow the device to work at a pace that didn’t resemble molasses. Android devices I’ve used have had this same problem (although not to the extent as my BlackBerry Curve) and homebrew Palm Pre developers have even written a tool that schedules phone reboots to handle the issue. Switching apps can be awkward — This is probably one of the biggest challenges Apple will have to face — beyond just the technical tricks for implementing better resource handling and allocation — the mechanism used to switch between open applications can be cumbersome, depending on the type of application. With it’s one-button design, the iPhone will likely have to employ some sort of gesture for opening or accessing other apps — if indeed it implements multitasking the same way that BlackBerry and Android do. Rumors about multitasking coming to the iPhone in a supported form have been swirling for literally years, so any report on whether or not it will be a reality in iPhone 4.0 is pure speculation. That said, if Apple doesn’t address multitasking with its next big release, it risks falling behind other players moving forward. Reviews: Android , BlackBerry Rocks! , Google , Pandora , iPhone Tags: apple , iphone , iPhone 4.0 , iphone os , multitasking
Categories: Android Tags: apple, apple-insider, apps, background, black, insider, iphone, ipod, memory, microsoft, mobile, pandora, phone, surfing-the-web
Microsoft-Suche Bing kommt auf Motorola-Smartphones mit Google Android
Der Elektronikriese Motorola und der Software-Konzern Microsoft machen gemeinsame Sache. [ mehr ]
Categories: Android Tags: elektronikriese, google-android, kommt-auf, konzern-microsoft, machen-gemeinsame, microsoft, suche-bing, und-der
Microsoft invades Android as search and maps provider on Motorola’s Chinese phones
Motorola has announced a new partnership with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine and map provider on all Android devices released in China. Motorola’s soon-to-release Android phones will use Bing for the Android search widget and browser, as well as Bing Maps for directions in China. The Bing-Motorola partnership is the second instance of
Categories: Android Tags: china-motorola, default, microsoft, new-partnership, search-engine, the-default, the-second, well-as-bing