July 4th, 2010
Google announced, on June 28th, 2010, that the Nexus One would begin to get Android 2.2 as an over-the-air update. Well, this morning I finally got the update!
Android 2.2 fixes everything that was becoming a bit frustrating on my Nexus One. The home screen has been slightly redesigned… now, instead of only one permanent icon (to open the application launcher), there are three permanent shortcuts to the Phone application, Application Launcher, and Browser application. The AM/PM marker on the notification bar clock has been slightly shrunk, and the home screen pages are much more responsive and have a slight bounce to them. This increased home screen speed is extremely welcomed and makes the Nexus One much more competitive with the iPhone 4 processing speed.
Of course, the long awaited Adobe Flash is now available. It does not come as an automatic install with 2.2, but instead must be installed separately through the Market. I loaded up www.2advanced.com (a full Flash site) and everything worked perfectly, just as I would expect on my desktop. The concerns about interacting with Flash hover-states opposed to clicks was not at all a problem; tap to interact. I then loaded the www.sho.com video page. This page utilizes a standard Brightcove video player. I was able to watch the video in page; the same as my desktop experience. Multitouch still functions properly in the browser window, and double-tapping the video player area instantly zoomed in to the page to watch the video at the full width of my Nexus One screen.
Now, with all the Flash discussion aside, the main reason I was waiting for this 2.2 update was the feature to move applications to my SD card. This feature has to be enabled by the application developers, rather than simply on the core OS itself, and so out of the 70 + apps that I have on my Nexus One, it was only available on a few. A simple time-waster game called Toss It can be moved to the SD card, but most others that I have installed can not. I’m really surprised that Google hasn’t updated all of their apps before releasing 2.2, but it seems that only Google Sky Map and Places Directory have the new feature. Google Browser, Calendar, Earth, Finance, Gesture Search, Gmail, Googles, Listen, Maps, My Maps Editor, Panoramio Uploader, Search, Shopper, Translate, Voice, and the Market itself still do not. This isn’t a full list of Google’s applications, but definitely more can not yet use the feature than those that can.
There are a few other updates on Android 2.2, Froyo. The Phone application has been slightly tweaked. The Call log now groups consecutive calls with the same contact. The Messaging app has a very nice facelift, changing to a more readable white background for the message list as well as a few new settings. The Gmail application also has a slight facelift; I don’t notice any significant new features, but the design and menu system are slightly updated, and now there is a button in the upper left that allows for much easier switching between multiple accounts (but still no way to change the ‘send as’ address; a feature that is very useful for productivity in Gmail). The Keyboard has also been updated with an easier way to add words to the user dictionary.
Overall, Android 2.2 is an excellent update, mainly for the speed and responsiveness of the operating system. It’s nice to see Google releasing this update just after the iPhone 4 hit the streets (and after the EVO and new Droids have been released).
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June 7th, 2010
Today Apple launched the iPhone 4 and marked the day where Android officially took over as the leader in mobile devices… I’m sure we all remember Apple throwing a bunch of patents around, saying that HTC has been copying their iPhone, but now Apple is following HTC.
On June 4th, Sprint officially launched their new phone, the Sprint EVO 4G by HTC with Google, which immediately broke Sprint’s one-day sales record. The EVO is the newest and best Android on the market. It has a 4.3 inch, 800×480 pixel display, 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for video conferencing and an 8.0 megapixel primary camera, support for a micro SD card of up to 32 GB of space, stereo Bluetooth, as well as the ability to share its Internet connection through Sprint 4G and Wi-Fi; not to mention GPS Navigation and other Google services.
Flash forward three days… and Apple is launching their iPhone 4 on AT&T with a slogan of “This changes everything. Again.” What does it change? This is three days after everything’s already been changed! Front-facing camera for video conferencing? We’ve already seen that, Apple. Multitasking? We have definitely seen that for a while now.
So what new technology did Apple actually announce with the iPhone 4? Retina Display… FaceTime… hardly valid reasons to upgrade your 3GS. Retina Display is definitely an advancement that we can give to Apple’s credit. The iPhone 4 will have a display that has a higher pixel density than the human eye can perceive (although with a little bit of controversy); 960×640 resolution that makes “text and graphics look unbelievably crisp and sharp.” FaceTime, a new Apple video conferencing app that borrows a lot from iChat Video Calls, is a great new Apple app. But we’ve had video conferencing apps for a long time… Skype is still the leader in that market and Verizon’s Droids have had Skype for months. Is a nice, new screen and clean, new video conferencing app enough of a reason to upgrade your iPhone? Is it a valid enough reason to stick to Apple instead of moving to the open source Google Android?
I think the most shocking part of Apple’s launch today is that they have finally integrated ‘Categories‘ and some of the other “Bests of Cydia.” So not only is Apple falling behind in hardware, they are officially copying the coders who they have shunned from their AppStore. How does this follow the company slogan “Think Different”? It looks more like Apple is playing catch up, rather than leading the pack. But this should be expected… we’ve seen the release of at least three powerhouse Androids this year and only this one new iPhone.
UPDATE: just wanted to include a few links and images.
- iPhone 4 vs Droid Incredible vs Android Evo 4G vs Nexus One tech specs
- Apple iOS 4 vs. Google Android 2.2: How Do They Stack Up?
- Apple vs. Android: Which OS Outpaces the Other?
- Jobs: iPhone sales spank Android ‘You will read this survey. And only this survey’
- Android Steals Market Share from iPhone
Are you kidding me, Apple?
Even your marketing is ripping off Android now?
By the way… does eyeOS break a trademark on iOS? Uh Oh… but wait, does Apple iOS break a trademark on Cisco iOS? (apparently Cisco has given the OK). Has the tech world run out of creativity and reverted to just stealing each others project names?
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Google throws PAC-MAN a 30th birthday!
May 21st, 2010
Google continues to bring things to the next level. Today’s Google Doodle is a great example…
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