Orphaned Androids And You

This morning I came across this blog post describing the state of affairs for owners of Android devices and the updates to their operating system.  Or lack of updates.

The post is an informative read and one that I will be recommending to anyone who asks me about whether they should buy an Android phone or not.  As someone who has owned two seperate Android devices, along with a whole slew of other smart phone devices, I can say that it's a real eye opener.

Now before someone starts getting on my case for being an Apple fan boy let me say up front that while I love my iPhone I'm not married to the thing.  There are a lot of things about Android that I liked, and miss.  There are some things about my iPhone I don't like.  In fact, except for my one brief two month stint as a BlackBerry user there are things I like and miss about all the smart phones I've used.  As for BlackBerry the only thing I miss is nothing.

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The Problem With Android

After using an iPhone for almost two months and having used two separate Android based phones for over a year I have come to a few conclusions about the overall problem with the Android platform.  This is not to say that I do not like Android, I do.  Rather this is based on my overall experiences using several different platforms over a period of years.  In other words I'm not out to "bash" anything, just point out some problems and shortcomings

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CDMA iPhone (Verizon/Sprint)

Recently I had to explain to a couple of people why the iPhone was only on AT&T here in the United States and why rumors of an impending release of a "CDMA iPhone" on Verizon was so hard to do.  Simply put, AT&T (and T-Mobile) uses a standard called GSM while Verizon (and Sprint) use a standard called CDMA.  Both are not compatible with each other.  This is just for "3G" type service at the moment and I will not even get into the hodgepodge that is "4G", at least not right now.

Look back about five years.

Reading the various tech blogs and rumor sites I've come across many entries talking about Apple producing a CDMA version of the iPhone for both the US and overseas markets.  I had one other Apple fan tell me it just wasn't possible and then I reminded him that back when Apple was first developing the iPhone they approached Verizon first.  Verizon did not want to meet the demands of Apple for so much revenue sharing and loss of control so Steve Jobs and company took the show to what was then called Cingular (later purchased by AT&T).  This means that at some point Apple either had CDMA prototypes or plans for a CDMA version of the iPhone back then and shelved them when they found a GSM carrier that would meet their demands.

I'll take this moment to also point out that back in 2005 when Steve Jobs first announced the transition of the Mac computer line to Intel chips he stated that since the VERY FIRST version of MacOS X there had been versions of the software written and developed at Apple HQ for Intel (x86) based CPUs as a hedge against the PowerPC CPU architecture.  In other words Jobs and Apple have a history of having black projects under wraps for those sort of "just in case we need it" moments.  I personally would not be surprised to find out one day that just such a CDMA iPhone program had been underway at Apple from the very beginning. 

Fast forward to 2010.

Currently GSM is pretty much the standard for most of the world, but not all.  Many developing markets such as India, Asia, as well as Latin and South America use the CDMA (or a variant) standard.  I'd be willing to make a bet that if Verizon had originally agreed to the demands of Jobs and Apple that we would have seen CDMA iPhones around the world and not GSM versions. 

In a few of the European countries that carry the iPhone there have started to be more than one carrier for the device (the UK, Germany, and France so far).  Ditto for Canada.  Just about anyone who follows tech news knows that this is the last year of AT&T exclusivity for the iPhone here in the US which means that come 2011 we can expect to have such carrier diversity here in the states.

What's so profitable about this thing?

Let's go back a few years again to right before the announcement of the iPhone.

Back then Apple was making a name for itself in the digital music and video download world with its iPod line of players and the iTunes music store.  The iTunes store laid the ground work for everything that Apple did after that as far as delivered content.  It was a proven working model of how digital delivery could be done and for a considerable profit.  This is important later.

Also remember that for the first year after the iPhone was released there was no such thing as an App Store (I know, hard to believe now).  Instead Jobs and Apple pushed the idea of web based apps.  That really didn't pan out and a year later both the second generation iPhone was launched along with the new App Store and that's when the profits really started rolling in for Apple.  All those users buying apps every single day adds up after a while and Apple got a 30% cut of the take.

This year Apple purchased a mobile advertising company and there are now more free apps that have embedded advertising to generate profit.  I'd be willing to bet there is some kind take for Apple in this as well (I've not been able to find it yet).  People love free apps and in a lot of cases are willing to overlook that small little ad thingy in one corner or another.

Also consider that Apple announced last week that Mac sales make up 33% of their profits now.  The other 66% come from iOS devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.  Opening up to more networks opens up more profit margins.

Enter the iPad.

Earlier this year Apple launched the iPad and it has since gone on to become the fastest selling piece of consumer electronics, ever, even surpassing the iPhone and iPod in adoption by people.  Hell, I swore I wouldn't buy one and then after having a few minutes with a demo unit at the local Apple store had one the very next week!  People who had maybe never had or used an iPod or iPhone got to see this new ecosystem for the first time and that can create a new demand for Apple products.  I can remember when the Mac commanded a measly 5% market share of PC sales in the US.  This past week Apple announced they now command 20% of the market share for PC sold in the US.  That's a huge jump in just a little over a decade.

And the key is the two versions of the iPad that were released.  There was the 3G enabled one that worked with AT&T's network and the WiFi only version (which I own).  It's not tied to any one particular cellular network in other words.  This shows that if it's available people will buy it, network agnostic.

Why add CDMA now?

It's pretty clear that Apple sees Google (Android) and RIM (BlackBerry) as it's main competitors in the growing mobile space and while it's true that there are literally tens of millions of iPhone users in the US who are AT&T customers the one weakness that Apple has against its competitors is the lack of multi-carrier agreements.  Android and BlackBerry handsets are literally available from every single cell phone service provider in the United States, even the pre-paid carriers such as Boost, Cricket, Virgin Mobile US, and others.  That's literally hundreds of millions of potential customers right there.  It would be insane for a Fortune 100 company like Apple to turn their backs on such potential buyers!  I don't think you'll see an iPhone on one of the smaller regional or pre-pay carriers, at least not yet, but I can see Apple looking to hook into the four top dogs of the cellular market here in the US if they want to seriously compete.

At some point Apple is going to hit a wall that it will not be able to break through by staying with AT&T as the only carrier for the iPhone in the United States.  At some point the amount of people will to sign up with that particular carrier will plateau, and possible even begin to decline when people become dissatisfied with the service provided by AT&T.  There are so many stories on the internet about AT&T frustration that all you have to do is do a Google search for that phrase, "AT&T Frustration", to see how many there are.  There is a limit to how much profit a company can generate from exclusive agreements.

The bottom line.

If Apple is truly serious about wanting to take on Android and BlackBerry in the mobile space they have to diversify their availability.  Speaking from personal experience the only reason I never purchased an iPhone when they first came out was how much I dislike AT&T.  I had a few too many bad experiences with that company.  I know many others personally who say similar things.

From a purely business standpoint it makes more since to the bottom line to make your product available to more people to get more sales.

HTC Hero (Week Four: Software/OS/Sense)

I've been using the HTC Hero on Sprint for right at one month now and after the hardware review of a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd share my impressions of the Android operating system (v1.5), some of the software on the phone and apps I've downloaded, and the HTC Sense user interface experience.

HTC Sense

I'm starting with the HTC Sense interface as it's the way you interact with the phone.  HTC probably has a lead on other manufacturers when it comes to "skinning" a phone operating system, having first cut their teeth covering up the mess that has been Windows Mobile for some years now.  Essentially Sense is an outgrowth from the original Touch Flo and Touch Flow 3D that first showed up on the scene almost two years ago as a short of "shell" that ran on top of Windows Mobile 6 (and later versions) adding functionality and capabilities that were better than those found on the "stock" Windows Mobile OS.  I used Touch Flow 3D on my old HTC Touch Diamond and found it to be head and shoulders above the standard Windows Mobile experience.

HTC has since brought this new interface to their latest Windows Mobile offering, the HTC HD2, and their line of latest Android handsets starting with the global version of the Hero and the US versions (HTC Hero on Sprint and Droid Eris on Verizon).  Recently announced handsets will include a newer, enhanced version of Sense and when the Hero and Eris get the Android 2.1 update in another month they'll receive something similar.

Sense on the Hero I'm using is pretty darn impressive!  Instead of the standard three screens that plain Android has you get six screens with Sense.  This is very handy if you find that you like to use those numerous Android widgets for stuff like social networking updates, news updates, or to have quick access to items such as your calender, contacts, frequently used apps, music player, and many more.  In fact, I'm not even using all the screens!  I have my main "home" screen (seen in the above pic), a screen with frequently used apps, a screen with the music player, one with a couple of widgets for search, weather, and news, and one for my calender.  Those are the things I use the most and it is very handy to have quick access to them.  I use the two unused screens for when I want to test out various other widgets.

Another feature of Sense, and one that I have not really found a use for personally, is Scenes.  You can have the phone set up for a "work" scene that brings to the forefront all your business related information and apps, a "vacation" scene that is customized for one on vacation, a "social" scene that is heavy on the social networking side of things, the standard scene that is default and the one I use, or you can create your own.  As I said, I've not used this feature other than to look at them, but I can see where it could come in handy for some.

When you first start up the Hero it goes through various set up routines including linking to social networks Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter (which happen to be the three I use the most).  This has come in very, very handy indeed!

A few other features that HTC brings to the mix is their own version of the on-screen keyboards for landscape and portrait modes that works pretty well and is responsive as well as true multi-touch for the first time to the Android platform (which played a part in the recent lawsuit by Apple).

Android 1.5

Android is the open source operating system originally intended for cell phones that Google gives away freely to device manufacturers and has been in use for almost two years now.  It's in the last six or seven months though that it's really started to take off and become a serious competitor in the mobile landscape. 

After coming from the Palm Pre and it's most excellent multi-tasking capabilities I was worried that it would not be very well implemented with Android.  It's a good thing/bad thing sort of deal.  The good part is that it DOES multi-task multiple applications.  The bad part is in the implementation.  You do not "quit" an application when you stop using it, rather it sits in the background still running.  Android keeps your six most recent applications available to you by holding down the Home key.  You then switch back to that application, which in most cases is in the same state you left it.  For example, I can have an ebook open in Aldiko and then switch to the browser and then switch to the music application, or any other apps I have installed.  When I go back to Aldiko it will be on the same page that I left off on, ditto for the web browser being on the last viewed page.  However, if I end up using more than six apps I have to relaunch any that I had been using before, most times not at the same state I left them in.

There are a few downsides to this approach.  The first is memory and battery usage.  Open applications use memory that is then not available to other programs and also tend to slow the phone down a bit as well as to continually pull juice from the battery.  Daily reboots of the phone then become necessary, sometimes more than one reboot.  Via the Android Marketplace there are various task managers one can download, many for free, that will "kill" open programs, thus freeing up memory and battery drain.  My experiences with those programs leave much to be desired though and I do not use them.  That should tell most who know me something about the state of those apps.

With that being said though, I have to say I do like Android.  I can see the promise that the platform has and based on what I have been reading about the updated Android 2.1 that is coming out on more devices, and to older devices via software updates, this platform is set to take off.  The thing that will make it a successful mobile operating system goes to the heart of the concept.  Manufacturers can use the "plain" Android experience or create their own such as Sense by HTC or Motoblur by Motorola which enhance the end user experience.

The one thing about Android that I find the most useful is the tight integration with the various services offered by Google (Gmail, contact management, Google Maps, Google Calender, etc).  It just works, and works well.  I've been using Gmail for my email of choice since 2004 and having a phone that just "gets the job done" with that is a huge plus in my book.  Other phone operating systems can do it but out of the ones I've used none do it as well.

Apps

The Android Market has many thousands upon thousands of apps available for download, which is falls into that good thing/bad thing again.

The good thing is that there are a large selection of apps to browse through, many of which are free or offer limited free versions to try out.  The bad thing is that there are a LOT of crappy apps one has to dig through to find the few gems that are out there.  I'll limit this to my usage as to cover the whole thing would take too much space.

As a smartphone user for some time now I have a few niche application needs and wants for my daily use and lifestyle.  A few "must haves"...

• A good ebook reader application that supports ePub, Mobipocket, and others
• A good weather app
• Some good social networking apps, specifically for Twitter and Facebook

I like to read.  A lot.  I just do not like to lug around a bunch of books with me everywhere I go.  If I can get away with not having to take a single book with me then that is a plus.  This is where a good ebook reading application comes into play.  On my first three smartphones I was able to use Mobipocket Reader which is an excellent solution.  However, starting with the Pre I realized that Mobipocket is coming to a dead end with no recent development taking place on that front.  After much time a few decent ePub capable readers came out so I converted all my ebooks that didn't have any sort of DRM attached to ePub.  The Aldiko reader for Android is just about the best experience with ebooks I have had to date, and it's FREE!  At the moment I have around 40 books on my SD card in the Hero and I'm always adding to the collection.  It's nice to be able to bring up something to read at a moments notice, and have a variety of choice to pick from!  I have a few ebooks that I purchased from the former Shortcovers (now Kobo) and I have that app installed for those titles as well.

A good weather app is a must have in my case.  I'm a user of public transit which means I spend a lot of time outside so I like to be able to quickly pull up the local weather and radar picture.  I started using Weather Bug on the Pre and it was the first thing I downloaded to the Hero, opting to pay for the "Elite" version that offers a lot of features I use almost daily.  My favorite has to be the radar that locks onto my GPS location and centers on it.  Nice.  Sense includes a home screen weather app but it's often out of sync with what's happening "now" so I rely on Weather Bug more.

Twidroid Pro is my Twitter client of choice so far with Android and it gets the job done well enough for now.  It's a bit more laggy than I'd like but I think that is a limitation of the Hero hardware more than anything else as quite a few other programs suffer the same symptoms.

Conclusions So Far

The HTC Hero is by far not the best smartphone I've ever used, that title still belongs to the Palm Pre.  Do I regret selling my Pre and getting the Hero in its place?  Not really.  Why?

Android is still a young OS and manufacturers are still figuring out all the things they can do with the platform.  A look at some of the more recent handset announcements from Mobile World Congress and CTIA show that a whole new crop of more powerful and more capable phones are coming within weeks.  I've got my eyes set on the HTC Evo 4G (the formerly known HTC Supersonic).  I purchased the Hero to get my feet wet with Android and figure out if it's something that I could use daily and it is.  My complaints are more with the limited hardware that the Hero is packing more than the operating system and apps.  The Hero essentially has the same hardware that shipped with the first ever Android phone, the G1, almost two years ago.  In fact the memory and CPU are identical to what was in the HTC Touch Diamond that launch about the same time.

With the newer crop of phones running Android will come all new hardware.  Just look at the stats on the Evo 4G, 1Ghz CPU, more than twice the memory of the Hero, 8MP camera, front facing 1.3MP camera, WiMax 4G radio, and a 4.3 inch screen!  That will be one rocking phone!  I've watched various "hands on" videos from CTIA this past week of the Evo 4G and if that is how the phone is running with "unfinished" software on board then I cannot wait until the final product ships this summer.  There is a rumored release date of June 26 and I'm already planning to put in for that day off from work so I can go buy that phone.

When I look at just why I bought the Hero then I have to say I'm happy with the purchase decision.  I'm learning Android, I'm getting an idea of the app ecosystem, and this is something that will translate over to a new device later this summer.

Apple Sues HTC

This week Apple filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HTC over some twenty patents that are aimed at the line of Android phones the company makes.  Apple has yet to sue Google, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Asus, Dell, or any of the other Android device developers but one gets the idea that at the moment Apple is more concerned with slowing down Android than anything else.  Here's a link to a Google News feed of all the news stories on this so far.

Over the past few years Apple, and probably Steve Jobs, have taken a more "strident" tone in the competitive tech space that seems counter to the image that the company was founded upon.  I know that it has started to turn me off to the company and their products.  Based on a reading of various tech news and blog sites I'm not the only feeling this way.  Something that Apple needs to be worried about is the world of public perception.

For over a decade Apple enjoyed an almost mythical fan base that practically worshiped their products.  For a long time I counted myself as an Apple "Fanboy" for the simple reason they were innovative and offered a better computing experience compared to that from Microsoft.  Their hardware was top notch and Mac OS X was the best personal computing platform since it came out in 2000 making the premium one paid for Apple hardware worth it.  Further many people rooted for Apple as they took on the Microsoft giant!  Always hovering in the single digit PC user base they were the classic underdog, and we Americans always love the underdog.

Over the last ten years though some things started to change.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod in October 2001 it singled a change in Apple that would turn out to be bigger than the introduction of the iMac in 1998.  Traditionally a computer and OS company Apple was entering into the consumer electronic space in a game changing way.  Once the iTunes music store launched with its 99 cent music downloads they began to cement their position as THE go to place for digital music downloads.  Everyone can probably agree that it took everyone else the better part of ten years to offer compelling and competitive products.  The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 was yet another iconic launch into the consumer electronic space quickly coming to dominate the nascent smartphone space with everyone else looking to bring to market the "iPhone Killer".

Along the way Apple seems to have lost itself in the process.  Once the company that railed against such large monolithic entities, with Microsoft being the main culprit, they now find themselves in a reverse role being the first to drag out the lawyers.  This HTC lawsuit is just the latest, and most visible, example of this new mentality.

Here's the problem for Apple.

Unlike in the past there are now compelling products from other companies that can fill the space that Apple currently enjoys.  The recently launched Windows 7 PC operating system is the best thing to come out of Redmond, Washington.  Ever.  This OS is probably the most stable, feature filled OS out there next to Mac OS X.  It's not perfect but it does get the job done.  Another innovation from Microsoft is their line of Zune portable media players and the Zune Marketplace.  Sure, it took three generations for Microsoft to "get it right" but there is no doubt that at this point the Zune has become a compelling product/ecosystem, especially the $14.95 "all you can listen to" subscription service that also gives you three free DRM free tracks per month.  The recently announced Windows Phone 7 that completely revamps the Windows Mobile nightmare of past also includes Zune capabilities.  Indeed, Microsoft has stated that every single Windows Phone 7 device will also be a Zune device.  That right there is a pretty darn compelling lure!

Throw in the Android phone operating system from Google and how they are continuing to find ways to innovate this platform and we have what many consider to be the main threat to iPhone dominance over the next five years.  Apple is putting the iPhone OS into the iPad for tablet computing.  Well, Android has been showing up in tablet computers for two years now and their are some pretty compelling products coming down the pipeline. 

Will it work for Apple?  Probably not.  Google also sits on a nice, tidy little cash war chest and has already stated that they are standing behind their hardware partners in this coming fight.  And Google has much deeper pockets than Apple for something like this.  Instead of Apple versus Microsoft it looks to be Apple versus Google through their proxies.  And lets not forget Microsoft in all this.  This is a company that is undergoing a very significant change in the post Bill Gates era in that they are developing some nice products in a timely fashion and no longer seem to be the slow behemoth of past.  Apple and Microsoft seem to be both out to bring Google down a few pegs and if the two of them working together doesn't make your hair stand on end I don't know what would in the tech sector.  No doubt about it, this is a big mess waiting to unfold over the next couple of years.

My guess is that the HTC lawsuit is more designed about publicity AND scaring other device manufacturers in to second guessing their support of Android and that makes it a sad day for Apple and fans of the company.