Official Google Blog: Celebrating Android

Official Google Blog: Celebrating Android

Today Google announced that they were celebrating Android by releasing the source code to the public. Hooray! Of course, Google could continue the celebration by also releasing the OTA update to it's flagship phone the Nexus One.

Us Nexus One owners have been teased by the OTA release for over a month now with nothing to go by in terms of expected release dates (except for a token "next couple of weeks") or status. Hopefully, this source code availability will herald an update for our phones shortly. I'm not holding my breath though.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. The N1 is an amazing phone - probably the best that I've used so far. My frustration lies from two conceptions that I had.

The first, that Google was the beta company - release often and early to keep the people excited and happy. Why the seemingly endless wait for Froyo (Android 2.2)? Shortly after the Google I/O conference, there was an OTA update that was given to a small few. I haven't heard of any major bugs from anybody that received that update. So what on earth is delaying the general release? If there were some minor bugs just send out another update.

The second, that the Nexus One was Google's flagship phone and that it would get special treatment. I wanted a nexus one because I wanted these updates direct from Google without waiting for carriers and manufacturers to bless the latest and greatest release. Beginning with Google ending the Nexus One web store and continuing with the reluctant OTA update, it is starting to feel like Google is leaving the N1 (and us customers behind). That's a real shame because the N1 was supposed to be a different sort of phone. I don't want to go back to carrier controlled hardware but it looks like Google's abandonment may leave me with no choice. Shame

To Be Fair

Perhaps I was a bissel harsh on Apple and the iPhone in my last post. I did not mean to imply that the iPhone was not a good product (it's just less capable and more restrictive). In fact, it has many great qualities  one real advantage for most people (and the iPhone 4 has a great screen). It is so simple that anybody - from baby to bubby - can use it. Think about it. There's essentially ONE button (plus power and volume). That's it. One button. No complicated choices to make. Simplicity!

The simplification goes beyond the single button approach too. The only things on the screen are apps. Need to launch an app? There it is! The interface is designed so intuitively that you can just scroll, click, done. The screen is spared from other distractions as well. There are no widgets to confuse the user with app-lite functions. Notifications are kept as uninformative as possible. They either pop up on the screen with a message and then disappear forever or sit on top of the app icon as a nondescript number. Also, no need to worry about apps running in the background like some gonif in the night. There are only a few pre-selected, Steve-approved services that can run in the background and developers must make special calls and rewrite code to use them. No need to worry about whether limiting the capabilities of the platform will stifle innovation. Innovation often comes at the cost of simplicity.

Need to connect to your computer? No problem. Only one way to do that too - iTunes. For most people, it doesn't matter that iTunes has become a bloated monster program. All that matters is that it simplifies moving pictures, music, movies, books, and apps onto the phone. Most people also don't care that apps only come from one source and that all those apps have to be carefully and arbitrarily vetted first. To them, quick updates and bug fixes are not important. No big deal if the latest fart-app doesn't work properly there are hundreds more in the app store.

This formula, while entirely too simple and restrictive for me, works amazingly, magically, well. When somebody buys an iPhone they know exactly what kind of experience they can expect. It may not be the best product out there but it is easily the most popular. It offers a seamless integration with the desktop computer. The term "iPhone" is almost synonymous with smartphone. It doesn't encroach upon one's curiosity or sense of independence. Most of all, Apple's massive market share will guarantee that these tchachtkes will be the standard for a long, long time.

To finish off this post of praise, I tried to come up with something to compare the iPhone's amazing success to. I needed a product that owned the market despite vastly superior alternatives. Could be used by any shlob whose VCR still blinked 12:00, was regarded with a growing sense of disdain by the technologically elite, and allowed its parent company to partake in near-monopolistic thuggery. The only real comparison that I can draw is to say that the iPhone is the Internet Explorer (or the giant "E" that represented the internet to so many people) of phones!

Ok. I admit it. I'm an Android Snob

My second generation iPod Touch is currently getting the iOS 4 treatment. Despite its name, I haven't touched it in months. I haven't had any reason to. In fact, the only reason that I'm upgrading it now is to make it just a little more like my sheyne Android (after all, Apple did go out of their way to copy as much of Android as they could - it's the least I could do as a long-time fan). Those of you who have undergone an iOS update know just how long it takes. (Nu, Apple, I'm not getting any younger here.) So I've had some time for personal reflection and, in that time, I've determined that I have become an Android snob.

I'm careful to use the term snob and not fanboy. A fanboy tends to live in an odd world where the object of their affections can do no wrong. We all know the type. I'm not like that. I like Android a lot but I can clearly see room for improvement and compliment the competition when they are due.

No, I am more of a snob. When I see people using their iPhones, I just kinda smugly smile at them with the same expression one usually reserves for small children when they proudly displayed the arts and crafts project that they've been working on. A kind of "Oh, you genuinely believe that you're using a big-boy phone. How cute!" smile. I patiently listen to people kvetch about all the things that Steve won't let their phones/pads do with the same bemused tolerance that one who drives a fine imported car listens to his friends complain about their domestic's constant need of repair. Sometimes, in a moment of snobbery, I will forget myself and innocently suggest things to my iPhone friends like "you should just use the free Google turn by turn navigation", "Don't bother typing use Swype or your voice", or "if you can't understand it, just use Google goggles to translate it for you". I forget myself and accidentally point out something or other that reminds them of just how antiquated their little iPhone is. I know, I'm not being much of a mensh and I'll probably have some extra slichot  to say come Yom Kippur. It's just so hard to remember that most people aren't sophisticated enough to "get" Android and would rather have a dumb smartphone that limits their experience to only the safe and easy. Shame but true.

That isn't to say that Android is perfect. Far from it. There are many improvements that I would love to see in it. All I'm saying is that, for now, it's easily the best of the bunch. So I apologize if I have belittled you and your choice of phone in any way. Forgive me for my chutzpah. Please feel free to continue using whatever platform appeals most to you. Hopefully, the competition in the mobile OS space will continue to lead to improvements in all platforms. Until then, why don't you take your phone (whatever platform it may run) and call your mother!

I'm Supporting the Diaspora Project

If you're like me and you are concerned about Facebook's privacy problems, you might want to take a look at this new project. Nu, what are you waiting for? Be a mench toss 'em some cash if you can :)

Who Says You Can't Tether an iPad? - Or Why I want a nexusPad

I have an iPad and it's pretty good. I use it a lot at work. The iPad is really great for schlepping into meetings. It's very portable and I have easy access to my calendar, email, notes, and web browser. The on-screen keyboard is more than adequate for quick notes or emails and I can hook it up to a bluetooth keyboard for more intense typing sessions. I also like to use it for web browsing on the couch and as an ebook reader. All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with it.
Here's the one thing that really bugs me about it: Tethering. It seems like I have to be constantly tethered to my desktop in order to do anything useful. Now, I may have been spoiled by the excellent Nexus One experience. I bought the phone, put in the SIM card and battery, turned it on, entered my gmail id and password. Done! All my email started syncing, my picasa web albums were imported the the gallery app, my purchased apps were available, Google Listen started downloading my podcasts (that can be managed via Google Reader). The nexus one was immediate usable.
Not so with my iPad. I bought it and rushed back. Opened the box. Plugged it into the wall charger. Turned it on...

OY! Apple decided that my "magical" iPad would only work if I connected it to iTunes first. WTF? Steve Jobs proclaimed that this device was going to slay the evil netbook. It will not work until I connect it to a 2nd computer first! Meshuge! I connected to iTunes and got started. 

Next I decided to subscribe to a few podcasts and video podcasts. I went onto the iTunes app and looked for podcasts. Odd, I can download but can't subscribe. On iTunes on my computer, I can. So now, I have to constantly run the CPU/RAM khazer that is iTunes to keep my podcasts updated. Of course, that only keeps them updated on my desktop. I still have to tether my iPad in order to move them over. 

Same thing for iWork. I can create a document on both my desktop and my iPad. I have iwork.com to collaborate but I can't seem to get changes made on one device to sync with the other. Once again, I have to tether my iPad to my desktop and move documents through iTunes. 

Pictures and videos too. I bought a subscription to mobile me - Apple's cloud offering. I had hoped that my mobile me galleries would magically appear on my magical device. There's even a mobile me gallery app available for the iPod and iPhone. No problems right? Wrong. Again, in order to bring my photos and videos onto my iPad, I have to plug in and sync via iPhoto and iTunes.

They say that you can't tether an iPad. I say you can but not for the one thing that you'd actually want to tether for. That's why I'm waiting for a nexusPad. Google seems to get that people don't want to be tied to their computers all the time.