Consumer Reports:
“In the newest satisfaction survey of Consumer Reports online subscribers, a provider called Consumer Cellular topped the Ratings—and AT&T found itself at the bottom of the Ratings for the second year in a row.”
Poor AT&T. It doesn’t look like they’re going to get that big merger with T-Mobile to go through, and they’re still grasping at air when it comes consumer satisfaction. Can you guess which one of their problems they really care about?
Today, Verizon announced the the Droid Xyboard tablets, the latest foray into Android tablet realm. The Xyboard comes in the 8.2- and 10.1-inch varieties, LTE connectivity, Gorilla Glass display, dual-core 1.2 GHz processors, front and rear cameras, and mobile hotspot. The Xyboard tablets are shipping with Android 3.2, but Verizon is promising a 4.0 upgrade later on with not much of a committal on a time frame.
Ok, let’s talk about pricing. Spoiler: it’s not good. The tablets start at $429.99. Not only is that more pricey than the WiFi-only models available elsewhere, Verizon requires a 2-year contract. You know, there’s another 3G tablet on the market you can buy that it doesn’t require a contract. Call it luck, but I think it’s sold more than a few units.
1. CD9 – code 9 parents are around
2. P911 – parent alert
3. PIR – parent in room
4. 8 – oral sex (or ate)
5. GYPO – get your pants off
6. GNRN – get naked right now
7. RUH – are you horny
8. CU46 – see you for sex
9. IWSN – I want sex now
10. GNOC – get naked on camera (webcam)
Ostensibly, only one percent of minors sext. I thought it would be higher than that, but I guess not. According to the study by the Pediatrics journal:
“Only 1 percent of kids aged 10 to 17 have shared images of themselves or others that involve explicit nudity, a nationally representative study found. Roughly the same number said they’d shared suggestive but less graphic photos”
Also, they use just the worst text language.
According to the analysts at Evercore:
“While Amazon’s Kindle Fire has come out of the gates strong, as expected, we see Apple maintaining its competitive lead, if anything accentuated by what now looks like the only tablet to so far mount any credible iPad challenge apparently needing to do so by selling at cost; not to mention Amazon’s success may just vaporize other “for profit” Android tablet OEM roadmaps (e.g., we est Amazon 50% of all Android tablets in CY12).”
I don’t think it’s any surprise that, barring any groundbreaking move from Google and its partners, that the Amazon Kindle Fire could be dominant Android tablet.
A few days ago, the tech blogosphere more or less blew up after learning that software company Carrier IQ sent a rather nasty cease-and-desist letter to an XDA developers member. The grounds ? The XDA member in question, Trevor Eckhart, had discovered and exposed Carrier IQ’s tracking software residing in Android handsets. If you have never heard of Carrier IQ, it’s quite all right, few have. The pre-loaded code is ostensibly able to track everything that happens on your device, without the user being able to opt in or out, remove or disable. If you were curious of what it can track, here’s a quick list: keyboard keystrokes, receiving / sending a text message, button presses, whether your screen is on or off, and calls. Scary, isn’t it?
Carrier IQ later retracted their cease and desist letter and put out the following statement:
“Our action was misguided and we are deeply sorry for any concern or trouble that our letter may have caused Mr. Eckhart.”
Now, I made that distinction above that it “can” do all those things for an important reason: the software has the capability to indiscriminately track and log what one does, but it doesn’t, according to the company. They stressed that their software “does not record keystrokes” and “does not provide tracking tools.” Fair enough. Even more interesting is the wording in this line:
“[Our software] does not inspect or report on the content of your communications, such as the content of emails and SMSs”
Notice that Carrier IQ doesn’t refute the fact that their software handles a user’s text message; only that it “doesn’t report on the content.” That could very well be the case, but we now know that the Carrier IQ software does, in fact, know what the contents of the text messages are. (Jump to 12:27 http://youtu.be/T17XQI_AYNo)
Since the whole kerfuffle, carriers have come out left and right, revealing their association with Carrier IQ. Nokia, Verizon, RIM, Microsoft, and HP have all denied any affiliation with Carrier IQ. Meanwhile, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, HTC, Samsung, and Apple all admit to have it installed touting maintaining good network performance as their basis. Apple, however, stated that they stopped supporting Carrier IQ pre-iOS 5 and “will remove it completely in a future software update.”
As far as Android goes, the tracking software is found on many of the handsets, but Google has put out an official statement and said that they have “no affiliation with the company” — none of the “pure Google devices like the Motorola Xoom and Nexus devices ship with the software pre-loaded.
According to HTC:
“Carrier IQ is required on devices by a number of U.S carriers.”
So at least one among Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T require their devices to ship with Carrier IQ.
And if things couldn’t get any more gripping, a class-action lawsuit was filed on Friday against the likes of Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Carrier IQ in the Delaware Federal Court. Of course, it’s way too early to tell which way this case will swing — or even if it’ll advance past this preliminary stage — but I’ll certainly keep an eye on it.
The bigger question her is how much does it track? At first blush, it seems like a lot, but the carriers are standing their ground and saying it’s only tracking data for “network performance.” Grab your popcorn, folks, because this will only get more interesting. Just ask Sony.
This post originally appeared on TheDailyGetUp on June 10, 2010.
Google tried to sell the Nexus One through their own website, which seemed a little too ambitious for its time, and it didn’t exactly work out as planned. Verizon later scrapped the Nexus One in favor of another HTC-built Android device. Enter stage left, the HTC Droid Incredible, the latest to bear the Droid monicker. It has a faster processor than the formidable Motorola Droid, a better camera, and possibly a better virtual keyboard than the Droid’s physical one. And with that, the Incredible assumes the role as the usurper of the Motorola device as top dog on Big Red in one felled swoop.
So why the mini review as opposed to a full blowout? For one, it shares a lot of similarities with Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G. It’s been out for a few months, but we absolutely adored the Incredible and have gotten a few requests. So here you go guys, this is for you.
Hardware
If you can’t tell from the unboxing pictures, the design DNA of the HTC Incredible is fairly slick and to-the-point, keeping true to the Verizon Droid monicker. In it’s own way, the Incredible is incredibly sexy. It just looks like an expensive device. Not by sheer force of will like the HTC EVO 4G, bur rather in the same way that the iPhone is, by being simplistic and not a device that screams audacity, yet is of a superb build quality.
Check out our full hands-on with the HTC Droid Incredible
It even borrows a little bit from the iPhone’s single piece of glass as the front panel, broken only by a single circular button under the screen. That button also houses the optical track pad in its center. Because there’s no tactile feel to the trackpad, that was something we had to get used to. We would have preferred a trackball but we understand the design choice, as the trackpad isn’t susceptible to tight hipster pant pockets, and we could hang with that.
Otherwise, there isn’t much to physically note on the Incredible. On the whole device, there are a total of three well-placed physical buttons — the volume rocker on the left, the On / Off button up top, and the select button / optical trackpad on the front surface. The volume rocker and On / Off buttons are protruding just enough to find without looking and are placed to feel natural in either hand. There are also the four non-physical capacitive buttons that we have come to find on recent Android devices under the screen.
You pick it up and realize how super thin it feels. We have a Nexus One and the Incredible is ever so slightly thicker, by half a millimeter, but the Incredible feels so much more thinner. It’s all about perception and illusions. The back is tapered along the edges and ridged, making it seem thinner than what it really is.
And on that back panel, there’s an 8 MP camera with a dual-LED flash. In what is becoming a theme, the camera bulges outward, much to our chagrin. Why that is becoming a staple in HTC-designed Android phones, we don’t know. We’d love to be the fly on the wall in one of those design meetings. Our guess is that it can probably be attributed to the interior being so tightly packed for slimness, but don’t hold us to that.
We loved the attention that was given to every part of the phone. There was personality injected into the device, even down to under the battery cover.
Battery life was actually not much different than the EVO’s as it touts a smaller capacity battery. We managed to get through a full day’s use clinging on for precious battery juice.
Screen
The screen on this baby is gorgeous. It’s got the same resolution as HTC’s EVO 4G and text is sharper by virtue of having a smaller screen (at 3.7-inches as opposed to 4.3-inches on the EVO) and thus a higher pixel density. Like the Nexus One, it touts an AMOLED screen and colors are saturated — very saturated. Depending on preference, you may or may not like it. We thought it a tad on the saturated side, but couldn’t knock it because the screen was just that gorgeous. Though that wasn’t without drawback.
Like most AMOLED screens, it suffers from outdoor readability. It’s a touch better than its Google Phone counterpart, but not by much. We still had to do some serious cupping of the screen on bright days.
Camera
There weren’t many weak points with the phone’s camera. Picture sharpness was similar to the EVO 4G, so we’re not complaining. Colors weren’t as saturated on the Incredible, but if you never compared the two, you’d think picture quality to be superb, which it is. On a computer monitor, pictures look really great.
Video recording was inconsistent at times depending on lighting conditions. Overall quality was about average, lackluster at times and superb at other times.
Video Test 1
Video Test 2
Network
Need we tell you about how good Verizon is? There is a reason why everyone wants an iPhone on Big Red. As usual, Verizon didn’t disappoint. Call quality was above average to our extremely sensitive ears. We did, however, get a dropped call once — yeah, we were as surprised as you are.
Software
What makes the Incredible such a good phone is in the software. It’s nearly identical to the EVO 4G, but there’s one major difference: the responsiveness.
The Incredible feels oh, so fast. Swiping from home screen to home screen feels effortless and the slightest swipe will send you along your way. There is little, if any perceptible lag anywhere. Compared to Sprint’s recent halo device, Verizon doesn’t load a bunch of custom apps onto the device, thus minimizing the judder and slow downs.
For some reason, software on the HTC Incredible is extremely tight, with little Verizon interference. There is some integration with Verizon services. For example, under the built-in messaging app, you’ll be able to see all the text messages, picture messages, and the voicemails.
Wrap up
What can we say? We loved this device and felt it came nowhere short of its name. The smaller form factor sat particularly well with us. Sure, it doesn’t offer a 4G network, video calling, or an awesome kickstand, but the Verizon-faithful have themselves a fine device. For $199 on a 2-year contract, there are only a handful of devices worth consideration, this certainly being one of them.
Android is free. Android is a platform. Anyone can use it.
Ever since its genesis in 2007, Google has gone out of its way to drive that point home. That strategy is a good way to — by sheer force — increase marketshare and, by translation, mindshare. So it’s a bit ironic when it looks like the most interesting Android tablet on the market is working very hard to not identify itself as a tablet running Android.
Yes, the Amazon Kindle Fire is indeed an Android tablet at its core, but it’s more or less treating that factoid like a red-headed step child. If you head to the Kindle Fire product page and do a quick Splat-F (or Control-F for you Windows people) search, there is but one mention of Android on that entire page.
Interesting.
The only visible tie to the Android platform that the consumer will ever see is Amazon Appstore “for Android.” And even that is something rolled out by Amazon themselves and not something directly from Google. Anything beyond that is all Amazon, all the time.
And the Amazon tablet couldn’t be further from its Android brethren (and iPad, too) in philosophical approach.
The Kindle Fire does not market itself as an iPad competitor. Amazon is intelligently carving out a niche for the Kindle fire, which lies at a price point far below that of the iPad and with an ecosystem that is focused on consuming content (e.g., movies, books, and making purchases from Amazon that much simpler). It isn’t a computing device. It’s a consuming device.
Will the Fire sell like hot cakes? Yea, probably. At $199, it costs far less than every other decent Android tablet on the market. Not only that, it’s Amazon. The number of eyes and customers that this will be exposed to is unimaginable. At $269, the 6-inch Kindle was a mega seller. So how do you think a cheaper and more functional tablet will do when it hits the market? All signs point to the answer to that question being “very well.”
If the Kindle Fire becomes one of the most popular (undercover-)Android tablets we’re going to be looking at a duopoly of tablets: one catering to the premium high-end (the iPad), and the other occupying the lower price point (the Kindle Fire). The secret? Think different.
The title pretty much explains it all. I’m really not sure what’s going on with HP as a company. I’ve seen them go from a pretty good company to one similar to a giant chicken with its head chopped off. They’re floundering around with little direction and functioning like like a company with their mind on the money and money on their mind, and not like one who wants to do something interesting.
Since April 2010, HP has done the following:
So in 17-odd months, HP has gone through three CEOs, and a few Lassie-styled euthanasias. Quite the track record, huh?
This shift is blamed solely on themselves. Of course, they were struck by an unfortunate turn of events, but the bulk of the problems can be laid right on them. And the first domino to fall was the resignation of Mark Hurd.
To me, Hurd was a pretty darn good CEO. During his tenure, HP did extremely well as a company. They were profitable, they came fresh off of the Palm acquisition, and they looked like they were a forward-thinking company.
And then came the scandal. I’m not going to dive too much into it (read: not at all), but you’re welcome to read the stories on it. So with that, he had to take the boot. Unfortunate, really, but that’s how the cookie crumbles in the executive role.
Of course, there had to be a successor, which is where this gets really interesting. If this New York Times story is to be believed — and I don’t doubt it as there have been whispers of issues within HP — the problems within HP are so deeply entrenched, it’s troubling. “It has got to be the worst board in the history of business,” said Tom Perkins, a former HP director, to NYT.
Among their revelations: when the search committee of four directors narrowed the candidates to three finalists, no one else on the board was willing to interview them. And when the committee finally chose Mr. Apotheker and again suggested that other directors meet him, no one did. Remarkably, when the 12-member board voted to name Mr. Apotheker as the successor to the recently ousted chief executive, Mark Hurd, most board members had never met Mr. Apotheker.
“I admit it was highly unusual,” one board member who hadn’t met Mr. Apotheker told me. “But we were just too exhausted from all the infighting.” During Mr. Apotheker’s brief tenure, once-proud H.P. has become a laughingstock in Silicon Valley. Its results have weakened, its stock has plummeted and his strategy shifts have puzzled people inside and outside the company. Hewlett-Packard did not respond to an email seeking comment.
So HP chose a new CEO without meeting the man. It doesn’t take much to realize how much of a bone-headed move that was, which was set off by the “infighting” among the board members. And if you consult the Official Cookbook for Disaster, infighting is a common ingredient.
And now, we went from “HP may choose a CEO” to “HP’s CEO may be Meg Whitman” to “HP’s will announce Meg Whitman as the new CEO” to “HP announces Meg Whitman as new CEO” — all in one day! Nuts, isn’t it?
Where does HP go from here? The company is going to go through some changes like a kid entering puberty. There’s a new CEO (Whitman) and a new executive chairman, and “focus” is the buzzword, as noted in their letter to the company:
A top priority for us will be to refocus the energy of the organization on our mission and on the performance necessary to accomplish it. We need you to be the ambassadors of HP and work both collaboratively and effectively to usher HP into the future. To reach that goal, we need your best work and a focus on execution.
Maybe Whitman and her new executive chairman have the answers to guide this company. Maybe they don’t. The proof is in the pudding. What we know is that they have an uphill battle. The pretty much lost webOS, the only thing differentiating them from every other PC manufacturer, and they’re looking to bail out of the consumer PC market. The latter isn’t as bad as it seems. HP realized that the consumer PC market is a race to the bottom — ostensibly the quest to make the best computer for the cheapest amount of money, and with the downward pricing pressure from other companies, they’re sold with little to no margin. (Remember the boom of netbooks? Yea, that.)
That being said, it’s looking like HP will only cater to the enterprise side. But they’re getting a lot of resistance now that companies are aware of that little factoid.
“The company is coming apart at the seams,” said one person familiar with H.P.’s operations. “Because they may or may not be selling the PC business, the enterprise side is completely frozen. The business customers who buy tens of thousands of these machines along with support contracts are shutting them out. Dell and Lenovo are all over these accounts. They’re having a field day. H.P. is self-destructing.”
So the company just can’t win. What a sad state of affairs.
A great man (a cartoon character, if I recall) once said, “one must look within before one looks without.” Hey, HP, take care of your board first. They’re tearing you apart, and before you know it, there’s going to be a mass exodus. I hear the Apple campus isn’t far from your offices.
No. What’s a “scoope”?
When Sprint announced the HTC EVO 4G back in March, it was apparent that they were coming full guns a blazing to shake up the smartphone market. What better partner than HTC to bring this device to the masses? Everybody and their cousin knows about the EVO. Sprint did well to beat the next iPhone to a launch. Since the iPhone announcement, people have actually mentioned both it and the EVO in the same breath. And that’s a major win, if we knew one, for Sprint. What really makes it compelling is that it’s the first 4G device in the United States and the first dual 3G / 4G device ever.
Hardware and Industrial Design
Like most HTC unboxing experiences, the EVO 4G is something else. The packaging is incredibly small and made from recycled materials. Smaller than most packages and not as diminutive as the HTC Incredible’s, it resembes a microwavable dinner. We opened it up and sadly found no spoon to ingest the deliciousness that is the EVO 4G.
When it comes to HTC, you can always expect high quality hardware and the HTC EVO 4G is no let down. It’s bold from every angle and it looks like a lot of thought went into the design to make it as close to perfect as humanly possible. It’s a little heavy, but pocketable nonetheless, though probably getting dangerously close to the limits of pocketability. For a phone of that size, it’s incredibly thin. It’s about as thick as the iPhones (save for the iPhone 4) so there’s no problem there. The back is tapered at the edges, making it seem even thinner.
Along the front of the device, it’s a flush and continuous piece of glass, which we find to be très chic. By the ear piece, you’ll find a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a front-facing camera — all of which you can only see in the right light at the right angle. The capacitive buttons under the screen work as any capacitive buttons should. Checking out the top of the EVO will yield the power button and the headphone jack. The power button is in an awkward place, slightly tilted forward and difficult to find without looking. Nothing major, and it’s by no means a deal-breaker. On the right side of the phone, you’ll find the volume rocker which also suffers a little from the awkward inward tilting angle. Turn to the bottom, you’ll find the micro USB slot for charging, mini HDMI-out for HD video viewing, and the microphone. And call quality was superb on the EVO. Voice calls were rich and extremely clear. No doubt a sign of Sprint’s improving network, we’re also going to attribute that in part to the earpiece.
On the back is the 8 MP camera with a dual-LED flash, speaker and the popular kick stand. Everyone who has held our EVO immediately had fun playing with the mechanism, which we believe to be magnetic. The chrome HTC logo on the back only reminds you of the high-end nature of the device. Like the Nexus One, the camera is protruding and isn’t flush with the rear surface, making us cognizant of placing it screen-up on a rough surface. We found ourselves using anything available to protect the lens, from napkins to sheets of paper. It’ll be interesting to see how the lens and picture quality hold up after a few months of use. Our Nexus One is still holding up.
HTC have taken the time to flesh out the hardware and show care even in places that most of us rarely see. The masterful design continues under the battery cover, which is uncommon to say the least. Taking off the battery cover will have you seeing red — not in the figurative sense, but literally. Down to the battery. Not many companies will do that.
Speaking of the battery, with a relatively high-capacity 1500 mAh battery in tow, battery life isn’t a strong point. It isn’t bad either. We managed on an average of 8-9 hours of regular use. Some are reporting abysmal battery life and we should comment a little bit on that. Battery life is partially dependent of network coverage and type, more prominent on this type of device. If you’re blanketed in 4G WiMAX and you leave 4G on, battery life will be average. That holds true when you’re not in a 4G market (or even if you are) and just leave 4G off outright. Though that would get you better life out of the phone. The main battery life vampire is when you’re in a spotty 4G and leave the 4G mode activated on your device. Being in spotty coverage will force your phone to constantly cycle between 3G, 4G, and even the sub-3G network and that drains the battery quicker than a greased up piglet running from an eager 5 year old.
We ran our battery life tests in Washington D.C., Baltimore (both 4G markets) and in between where 4G coverage was less than optimal. With 4G left activated, battery life was nothing to write home about. At the end of a full work day, you’ll be close to your last stretch if it isn’t dead already. You might want to carry a charger along with you or an extra batter. With the 4G mode off, battery life was long enough to power through a full work day and have some extra juice if you forget to charge up overnight.
Screen
For a phone, it’s got one of the, if not the, largest displays available at 4.3-inches. The resolution is a nice 800×480 pixels, though a double-edged sword. Even though the resolution is high, it suffers ever so slightly from a low pixel density. There are phones with screens as small as 3-inches with the same resolution. We wish it had a higher pixel count for sharper text and images. Some of us are picky. Don’t judge.
If you remember on our Nexus One review, we complained about outdoor readability in direct sunlight due to the AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic LED) display. Unlike the Nexus One, it utilizes a TFT LCD display that is actually legible outdoors. Thumbs up from us.
Camera
With that massive screen, HTC managed to squeeze an 8 megapixel camera in there. Any camera nerd will tell you, megapixels do little for picture quality if the camera is already bad. With the EVO, picture quality is as good as it gets on a phone — with 720p HD recording (huzza!). We didn’t have any gripes about the camera when we tested it. It was an overcast day but colors were pretty saturated and lines were sharp. As we always say, the best camera is the one you have with you, and this one is no let down — especially when shutter lag is minimal.
The HD video recording is really nothing more than a check mark on the spec sheet. It isn’t something you’d really want to watch on your television, but it’s perfect for those YouTube videos.
Software
Not only does HTC do the hardware, they also dabble into the world of software. The EVO runs Android 2.1, but HTC adds the polish that it desperately needs by overlaying it with their HTC Sense UI. Having Sense UI makes sense, pardon the pun. The custom UI bumps the number of home screens to seven, custom HTC-built widgets, a custom keyboard, their own Twitter client called Peep, and a plethora of visual enhancements.
Sense UI integrates your social networks (Facebook, Flickr and Twitter) to you contacts about as well as you want it. It will find matches and automatically link your phone contacts to their Facebook and Twitter accounts if the info lines up. If contacts don’t match up all the way, it’ll suggest possible links. Let’s say you’re friends with Joe Randomguy. In his contact page, you’ll not only see all the info available about them (name, number, email, screen names, etc.), you’ll also see all the exchanged text messages, emails, social status updates and photos.
Keyboard
Many people are sometimes reluctant of making the jump to a touchscreen-only device for fear of the keyboard. We assure you, you will not miss that physical keyboard. With all that real estate, mistakes are far and few in between. And if you’re a fast typer, there is little chance that the keyboard will lag and get behind with all that internal horsepower. Like any keyboard, physical or virtual, there is a learning curve.
Hotspot
We couldn’t be more delighted with the hotspot feature. It allows to connect up to eight devices to share the EVO’s network connection. Setup is about as simple as it gets. If you’d like you can dabble in the type of network security settings (you’d want to use WPA2, most secure), change the network name and supply your own password. We’re not sure how long you’d want to use that “1234567890” password, most people can guess that in their sleep.
We had everything imaginable connected to it at once, from an iPad, to two laptops, to another phone, to a Nintendo DS and nary a hiccup. You can connect up to eight devices — and we tried — but most people aren’t ever going to do that, without charging others for service. At least that’s what we’d do.
Video calling
Yes, you can video call on the EVO. While quality wasn’t bad, we weren’t particularly impressed with the integration into the system (read: no integration). The program used to run video chat is called Qik. You can video chat on Qik, after signing up. We didn’t find it particularly useful and mainly left it alone. It won’t be free for long, so enjoy it while you can.
4G
While all of the aforementioned features are good and all, arguably the most important of them is the ability of the EVO to connect to Sprint’s rather nascent 4G network. Being the first 3G / 4G device, it’s a monumental step forward in the world of smartphones.
So, this whole 4G deal, how important is it? Well, depending on where you actually live, the importance will vary. As of this writing, 4G is available in about 40 markets across the country, with plenty more being added as we speak. To be clear, the HTC EVO 4G only uses the 4G network for data consumption (can you say simultaneous web browsing and talking on the phone?) and the 3G network for voice as well as data when 4G is unavailable. When you do get 4G, it is something else, magical even. Speeds were super fast and even outside the city, we could still cling on to the 4G network. Luckily for users, the EVO’s use is independent on whether you can get 4G. It works just fine on Sprint’s 3G network.
Average download speeds on Sprint’s 4G network were 1.64 Mbps on our Baltimore / Washington D.C. tests. With T-Mobile, on a Nexus One, we actually averaged 1.8 Mbps, which can be attributed to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network rollout. On a Verizon HTC Incredible, we managed 1.29 Mbps down. Sprint’s 4G network was more consistent at those speeds, but we saw the fastest speeds on T-Mobile. These results all come with a caveat, of course. Depending on your area, your mileage may vary.
Pricing
Ok, say you wanted to buy one. Out of the gate, the phone is $199 on a 2-year contract. Depending on where you get it, you may have a mail-in-rebate to send in. Best Buy and Radio Shack are a few places with no MIR.
Monthly fees for your plan will start at $69.99 for unlimited data, unlimited text and 450 minutes, all the way up to $99.99 for unlimited everything. There is also a mandatory $10 Advanced data surcharge on the device, supposedly for 4G access. Even if you don’t get 4G in your area, you’d still have to shell that out. With that mandatory fee, Sprint will take the liberty and enable YouTube HQ on your device. If you’d like the ability to use the hotspot feature, that’ll be an extra $29.99 out of your pocket.
Conclusion
For what is arguably one of the best Android phones — and smartphone — on the market, the HTC EVO 4G is almost a no-brainer. If you’re on Sprint and you’re looking for a new phone, is there another choice? We’d recommend the EVO to most people looking for a phone. Though check to see if your area is expecting 4G anytime soon, which unfortunately isn’t fast enough to be a definitive alternative to 3G, or enough to switch from other improving carriers (hello, T-Mobile). Sprint and HTC marry a maturing operating system, in the form of Android, to seriously contend in the smartphone market. A great device no matter which way you look at it.
The confirmation that the Microsoft Courier tablet project was scrapped broke my heart, as I’m sure it did for most people. It looked so promising, so refreshing, so… good. While I may be saddened that the product never came to fruition, I’m still optimistic.
We were so graciously privileged to actually get leaks of an R&D (Research and Development) project, from Microsoft of all people. Most of the R&D stuff never gets leaked, let alone from a big company. That’s exactly why we’re complaining: we actually got a leak. Had we not have gotten a leak, we would not have been any the wiser to the Courier’s birth and demise. Every company (and I mean every) has wild R&D projects that they conduct. That’s how Sony’s Playstation Move motion-controller came to be, and I could go on and on with the examples. Companies give their engineers some money and let them go nuts and that’s how they concoct the products you hold in your hands this very second and the future ones you’ll aspire to own. If the projects don’t ever see the light of day, and most of them never do, you’ll get bits and pieces of that idea / concept that’ll live on in a future product.
So why am I optimistic? Well, Microsoft seems to get it with the Courier. The ideas are brilliant, absolutely brilliant. A mix of pen computing and touch input, a tight ecosystem, and a user-interface / user experience innovative on so many levels is reason enough for anyone to get excited. When the Courier was first leaked by Gizmodo, we knew nothing more than it being an R&D project, so I (and everyone else) had their reservations. The second time it leaked through Engadget, and this time it was stated that it would be coming to the market and that it was very real. Minds were blown. Entertaining the thought of myself being able to buy one was more than enough to cause, what we nerds call, nerd-boners. Everyday I would think about it replacing my Moleskine notebooks for note-taking, managing my calendar, reading books, and just an awesome way to keep organized.
Those ideas aren’t going anywhere. Microsoft probably spent millions of dollars funding this project and there’s absolutely no way that this project is going to waste. Something you might see in future devices: improved writing recognition, devices / software that support both pen and finger input, and possibly a tighter calendar / email / document integration in software. I’m just riffin’ on ideas, here. Microsoft and Bill Gates have been active protagonists for pen-computing for as long as I could remember, and this was a way to explore the possibilities of what you can bring to the tablet market, which is still very young and very much consists of “consuming” devices (the iPad) as opposed to “content-creation” devices (the Courier).
Whether Microsoft will ever decide to bring this device to market is unlikely. It’s possible (and very much more likely) that we’ll see the ideas we see here recycled and reborn or spliced into something that Microsoft wants to make better. Consider yourself lucky that we don’t see many R&D project leaks, or we’ll be feeling like this much more often. The Courier will live on, mark my words, I just don’t know in what form. But if this is where Microsoft is taking tablet computing and this is how they’re looking at the market, there’s reason to celebrate in that.
This post originally appeared on Thedailygetup.com on Apr 30, 2010 02:02am
The iPad. Called magical, revolutionary, even a game changer, there hasn’t been such a product in recent history that has caused such a polarizing reaction from the general public: anything from utter disgust to orgasmic excitement from the Apple faithful. Around the industry, it is remembered that the original iPod received similar sentiments at launch, and look how that turned out.
This device has entered the market where other tablets have failed miserably, stepping away from the desktop paradigm to introduce a brand new way of computing. Has it done so? Is the iPad the future of computing? How about you continue reading after the break to find out.
Hardware
When you pick up the iPad for the first time, you’ll immediately notice it’s surprising heft. It isn’t as light as its size would lead you to believe. We’re pretty sure that most of that weight is battery, with over 11 hours (yes, you read that right) of continuous battery life. Another thing that’ll stand out is its (perhaps overly) simplistic design. There really isn’t much to note, there are a total of four buttons on the iPad: the requisite “home” button, the on / off button on the top, and both the screen rotate lock and volume rocker on the right. Along the bottom, you’ll find the standard Apple 30-pin connector and the not-so-great built-in speakers. There aren’t many use cases for those speakers so we’re not complaining, and Apple would rather you to buy their headphones anyway. Why a pair wasn’t included eludes us.
When you don’t get much more than a curved aluminum body with a beautiful 9.7-inch LED-backlit capacitive touchscreen, there isn’t much to complain about. And it’s clear that a lot of thought went in the industrial design and it’s a deceivingly attractive device, not unlike most Apple products. It borrows from the Macbook Pros with an aluminum unibody chassis and the iPhone / iPod touch in overall aesthetics.
Back to the screen; if the iPad were an amusement park, the display would be the main attraction. With the display being the center of attention, the overall design strikes you as being as much “out of the way” as possible. It’s an IPS (In-Plane Switching) display, allowing for impressive viewing angles and for curious glances on the metro. If we had to complain about the screen, it would be that it’s a major fingerprint magnet. Extensive use and touching — you know, like what you’re supposed to do with a tablet — yields fingerprints all willy nilly. Maybe it’s the size that makes it more noticeable, though a quick wipe of the oleophobic screen will rid you of those unpleasant marks.
There has been talk here and there about using the iPad as a reading device and the subsequent eyestrain. Most people nowadays spend countless hours on-end looking at a back-lit screen, so as a whole we’ve grown accustomed to what the iPad brings to the market.
Ergonomics
We already carry at least one phone with us, in addition to a laptop, and that’s usually where it ends. A third device is a difficult concept to grasp for most people. It’s too big to fit into a pocket — unless you’re Stephen Colbert — and it’s stuck in that awkward space in between your smartphone and your laptop. There isn’t much else you can do but sticking it inside of your bag and go. But would you choose your iPad over your laptop?
Software
Let’s face it, chances are that you’re not going to buy an iPad solely because of its physical design. It’ll be the software that’ll make you at least $500 poorer and if you’re not sold on buying one, you’ve got to look no further than the App Store to help you decide.
The majority of the software remains unchanged from what’s in the iPhone / iPod touch — it is running a version of iPhone OS. With that, you get the well-oiled operating user experience, but on the flipside you still get the most boring unlock screen ever. Really, Apple? With enough room to fit an elephant in, you would think that they would have done something to not have a big waste of space, but no. There is a button that’ll turn your iPad into a digital photo frame, and who doesn’t want that?
The most obvious way this device sets itself apart from its smaller siblings is by taking advantage the larger screen real estate. Apple has included new UI elements, such as drop-down menus, pop overs, and context-sensitive long presses to further expand the software and UI. It doesn’t go far enough, but we’ll hold judgement until we see iPhone OS 4.0.
There are instances when the software is so brilliant, it makes you want to cry. Then there are the times when it seems rushed and unfinished, tempting you to tear your hair out. That holds true with first and third party apps alike.
First Party Apps
iBooks
When it comes to reading books on the iPad, there’s iBooks and there’s the Kindle app (which we’ll cover later). iBooks is so well done, you’ll find yourself wanting to download books and take it for a spin. There’s just something about the visual feedback of seeing the page fold in the corner that people enjoy. We certainly did.
But it isn’t just about wowing you with slick visuals, the iPad ends up winning browny points in our book for usability. Readily available at your fingertips are the table of contents, bookmarks, search box, text size, and, most importantly, the brightness controls. Don’t know what a word means? Long pressing on it will bring up the option to look it up in the built-in dictionary.
The in-built mail app remains mainly unchanged from its iPhone counterpart. With the bigger screen, however, you have the ability to view your inbox and simultaneously view the message in its entirety via the magic of split screen. Drop-down menus are well and accounted for here, as well.
Safari
Mobile Safari is, hands down, one of the best applications on the device. For the longest time, the iPhone has had the best mobile browser (and still does), and this iteration knocked it out of the park. Multitouch zooming and scrolling are silky smooth with nary a hiccup. But the lack of Flash really hinders the browser.
Flash, as we know it, is a web standard. Sans Flash, you’re not fully experiencing the web, which is a far cry from what Steve Jobs wants you to believe. If you’ve used an iPhone or iPod touch, you had some sort of indication as to when there was Flash content that wasn’t being displayed. On the iPad, that’s been taken away and you get nothing, just a blank space. Other than that, web browsing on the iPad is as close as you can get to an actual computer.
Productivity Suite
If you’re a Mac user and you are into the iWork productivity suite, then there may be a reason to drop 500 big ones on an iPad. When the iPad was announced, Apple made it a big deal to convince us that work can actually be done on their tablet. And it looks like they’ve got themselves a case. The entire iWork suite (Numbers, Pages, and Keynote) are available for $10 a pop in the App Store and are fully optimized for the iPad.
We spent some time with Pages, and we’ve got to say that we were impressed. It’s as full-featured as desktop Pages with full formatting, templates, spell check, document importing, image embedding, and pretty much everything else you’d expect from a word processor. And the ability to export as a Word document for Microsoft Office users more than sealed the deal for us. Curiously missing from the software is the ability to print. It’s a computer, right? We hope to see that feature come to the iPad in a future update. Can you do that for us, Apple?
Third Party Apps
Where the iPad really shines is with the third party apps. For the most part, they’re pretty sweet. You’ll encounter some pretty buggy apps, but that’s to be expected. Most developers weren’t given an iPad to test their app on in advance.
Marvel comics
You don’t have to be a comic book nerd to appreciate the brilliance of this app. It looks extremely slick and it’s a pretty cool way to get your nerd on. Where are you DC comics?
Kindle
The other iPad reading app. The Kindle app has way too much content to overlook, even though it isn’t as polished as the iBooks app. Plus, a book you read on your iPad can be continued on your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC by means of their respective Kindle application.
Netflix
Wait. What? Yes you read that correctly. The iPad has a Netflix app. As a business model, it’s a win for all parties. But most importantly, it’s a win for the end-user, allowing them to stream videos to their iPad by way of WiFi — or 3G, when the 3G iPad is released.
Newspaper / Magazine apps
Apparently, people are taking reading on the iPad seriously. At the time of writing, plenty of major newspapers and magazines are available. You’ve got a choice of The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Time Magazine, GQ, and Popular Science, just to name a few. Content providers are seeing the iPad as a cash cow, which can be good and bad for us end-users. Honestly, paying $18 a month for WSJ on the iPad is absurd. It’s similar decisions that are hampering the newspaper industry, but that’s a totally different conversation.
Drawing apps
The iPad, very fortunately, is not all about reading and working. Content creation is pushed as being very compelling. You’ve got plenty of apps to choose from. We’ve got a free app called Adobe Ideas above, but with tens and tens of similar apps, you’ll be entertained to no end. If you don’t mind dropping a few pennies, Sketchbook Pro is a darned good choice for $7.99.
Conclusion
Whether you want to admit it or not, the iPad is a computing device, albeit a different breed. Yes, it lacks the ability to multitask, having widgets and printing, but it is still a computer. Steve Jobs calls it revolutionary, and that description isn’t too far off from being accurate. There is no doubt that the iPad will change the way we interact with computers today and in the future.
Should you get one? That answer will vary from person to person. Some people got it simply because of gadget lust. Others, because they’re rampant Apple fanboys and fangirls. Some bought it because of its potential. We talked about it before; you’re going to buy one because of the apps. For the undecided, we suggest you take a serious look at what you plan on doing with it and where. If you talk to a tech journalist, they’ll talk about the “killer app” for the iPad, referring to how the consumer will end up using it. Ask yourself how you plan to use it and you have your answer.
We’re going to put in our two cents in and say that you’re not going to be replacing anything with the iPad anytime soon. It seems to work better as a supplement, much like the netbook to your regular laptop. If you’d like to go online but do not want to bust out ye old work machine, you’ve found yourself a use case. How about reading? You might not want to read on your smartphone and your laptop is overkill. There you go.
The common consensus is that the iPad is a luxury device. It isn’t necessarily needed in the same way that we needed a phone when the iPhone came out. The iPad doesn’t do anything that you can’t do anywhere else, but it does a lot of things better than your other devices. Welcome to the future of computing.
This post originally appeared on Thedailygetup.com on Apr 8, 2010 04:19pm
So I wrote a review on Mac OS X Lion, Apple’s latest operating system. I can’t really condense 2300 words, but, in short, it’s good. While Lion is part of the transition of the current computing metaphors to future ones, it does a pretty good job straddling the two ideas.
My conscious introduction to Mac OS happened in the summer of 2009 with my then-new MacBook Pro. I say “conscious” because I did have a run-in with Mac OS 9 on those colorful iMacs back in middle school; for all intents and purposes, let’s say that my journey into the world of Mac started in 2009, OK? And with Leopard, and Snow Leopard shortly thereafter, I began my life as a Mac user.
It was unlike anything I have ever used.
I found the Snow Leopard (10.6) trackpad gestures to be borderline mind-blowing. Swiping with two, three, or four fingers made things happen that I have never seen in Windows before: Exposé, show desktop, pinch-to-zoom and backward/forward, just to name a few. What’s more, the trackpad had more functionality than the mouse metaphor we’ve all been accustomed to.
Now, with the introduction of Lion, the importance of gestures are more prominent than ever; possibly signaling a change in Apple’s definition of computing. How is the trackpad — and by translation, touch — becoming the cornerstone of computing? How much better is Lion over Snow Leopard? Make the jump after the break, and all questions will be answered. I promise.
I am still alive. I don’t remember your question. What was it?
If you like this photo, you can email Anna H. She’s great and did an awesome job. Picking this one wasn’t the easiest decision.
I had a set of old Dell Venue Pro photos I took for a review that I was writing. Sadly, that review never saw the light of day, for one reason or another — mainly due to the fact that the phone crapped out on me. And that was the case for a few other people who attempted to review the device. The devices shipped by Dell had a high number of defects, ranging from WiFi problems to poor build qualities and screen defects — the latter of which happened to me.
Check out the full gallery of pics!
Quality issues aside, the phone was actually very, very good. I loved the month or so I had with it. The Dell Venue Pro is a 4.1-inch smartphone with a vertical QWERTY sliding keyboard. Phones of that size don’t really use physical keyboards, so you can imagine the surprise that some people may exhibit when realizing that. And the addition of the keyboard makes it significantly more chunky than phones of its size. You’ll notice the recent trend of thinner and thinner smartphones — especially larger 4-inch-plus devices — to be thin enough for the user not to really notice that their holding a small brick up to their face.
Of course, the Venue Pro felt thick, but not too thick. Going back to the brick metaphor, this phone felt like a brick in that you knew said brick can do some serious damage; the phone felt like it had substance.
The spring-loaded sliding mechanism was firm, smooth and incredibly satisfying. Companies should take note at how Dell build the sliding mechanism, because it was just that good. And the same could be said for the keyboard. I find most vertical sliding keyboards to be a bit cramped. That could be caused by two things: one, the keys are small and placed far apart for supposed better tactile feel and two, the device just isn’t wide enough. This device had neither of that. The keys were large enough and close together with a nice dome to each one of them to make typing easy. In addition, each key was clicky enough to type quickly without wondering if that last key actually depressed and registered.
Typing on the display wan’t bad either.
Speaking of which, the Venue Pro sported a curved display and photos really don’t do it justice. Going from left to right, the glass would curve up in the middle and back down on the edges. It was an odd choice, at first blush, but I grew to like it. It did mean that viewing angles were not so good when you would try and see it at an extreme angle — but then again, how many of us use a smartphone severely off-center? Very few, I would imagine. Another thing to note is that the display is constructed from Gorilla Glass, which is meant to withhold a substantial amount of abuse and not show. That isn’t to say that I mishandle my phones but I did take a few keys to the screen and the screen took it like a champ with no war injuries. So go ahead, throw the phone in that pocket or bag with some loose change and a set of keys. It’ll be just fine.
If you were worried about battery life use (and we all are), the Venue Pro had excellent battery life. Although, that can be partly due to Windows Phone 7’s OS being more like iOS and not constantly pulling data.
Aesthetically, it was easy on the eyes and very good looking. The only problem I had with it was the chrome bezel along the sides. Seriously, can companies throw out every design document that has anything to do with chrome bezels? It’s not 2006, it’s 2011 (the phone came out in 2010, very late in 2010 but I digress), can we not use chrome bezels anymore? It’s tacky, played out and an abomination to design. Please. Stop.
That form factor is perfect — a large display, a vertical QWERTY slider and very good specs. — and the world needs more phones like this. Hey Dell? Can you rerelease this phone but with updated internals (newer CPU) and without the quality issues? I would still be a proud owner had there been a higher quality of devices manufactured. Also, the whole hoopla of the device shipping with half of the purported amount of RAM is a big no no.
(People say that the latest Windows Phone 7 update shows that there actually was 512 MB of RAM instead of the 256 MB the previous version of the OS incorrectly displayed. I, personally, haven’t been able to verify that. You know, because my device crapped out.)
The Dell Venue Pros is available on Dell’s website for $99 on contract for the 8 GB version and $149 on contract for the 16 GB model, both for T-Mobile’s network. Sans contract, they run $449 and $499, respectively.
Recently, I went to go watch a movie with a good friend of mine — it was “Gnomeo and Juliet” and you should see it — and, as usual, we got bombarded with advertisement before the movie started. I saw a Coca Cola ad and I commented saying I wanted a Coke. Now, I wasn’t being serious, but it made me wonder whether someone else in the theater thought to themselves, “crap, I should have bought a Coke!”
Rewind a few weeks to Super Bowl Sunday, arguably the biggest marketing day of the year. Many people watch just for the commercial, and I admit that I was doing just that. I was primarily looking for the Motorola Xoom ad because that’s what techies do. I originally stated that I thought it was a good ad, but then realized that my original sentiments weren’t all that accurate. The reason why I thought it was well put together lied with the fact that I understood the message — Motorola was likening 2011 to 1984 in that people who use Apple products are automatous robots. (I don’t believe that, by the way. I’m a proud iPhone, Mac and iPad user. But I also own a Nexus One, a Dell Venue Pro, and a Zune HD so you can stop the Apple fanboy nonsense right there.)
The minute-long ad showed a twentysomething year-old male using his Motorola Xoom to help him get flowers for his romantic interest. The problem with this ad was that only people “in the know” or “in the industry” would get the message. You had to “get it” to fully appreciate the ad. Believe it or not, not everyone is familiar with George Orwell’s 1984.
While the commercial did show, albet very subtly, that the Xoom has a cellular connection, maps, GPS and a camera, it didn’t do a good job making sure that those features made an impression. If you saw the commercial only once, would you be able to remember any of that? Probably not.
Furthermore, the angle was totally wrong. Yes, Apple leads in the tablet market space but to sell your own tablet you need to spend time talking about it, not poopoo-ing the competition.
Ok, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about what makes an ad bad. So what makes a good one?
The answer is simple: a story.
I’m not going to delve too deep into this, as I already wrote something about this, but a story is great for advertisement. What can I do with this? How can I use it? What can this do for me? If those questions and others similar to those are answered, you’ve got yourself a good ad.
Coming back to the Coca Cola ad, it’s approach is more in your face. I have become desensitized to such ads but they work. (Ever heard of “head on, apply directly to the forehead”?) Its picture alone with the condensation dripping down the sides is enough to tell you that it’s cool and refreshing, answering the “what can it do for me?” question. That’s something many, many tech companies can’t get right.
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