Google Nexus One – First Impressions Matter

Written by: Matt Hartley on 1/02/10  |  Filed Under Mobile  |  Share    ShareThis

It looks like Engadget managed to get their hands on a real live Nexus One from Google. They are reporting that the Nexus One is using Android 2.1 atop a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7-inch, 480 x 800 display. The article goes on to say that the overall feel is very HTC in design. Sadly for Google, however, is that the Nexus One is no iPhone killer. Rather, a better Android offering than the DROID.

What does this mean to you?

Google knows search, but sadly, it seems to end there. Sorry Google fans, but it looks like we have yet another bust. No way this Android phone is better than the iPhone with the exception of it being unlocked. Still same old OS, lacking apps and of course my favorite – where the hell are my movies? Get something going with video and more apps, or forget it. Another clever design is simply not going to cover it.


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Ex-Googler Lee sees Apple tablet debut in January

Sure, every blogger worth his salt has weighed in on the long-rumored Apple tablet that may or may not be--its possible size, shape, specs, debut date, and on and on. Now offering up a perspective on the matter is a high-profile tech industry executive, Kai-fu Lee, who until recently was the head of Google's China operations.
It seems that Lee, who's now working to foster entrepreneurship in China, wrote on his Chinese language blog earlier this week that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be releasing a tablet PC in January, and expects to produce a voluminous 10 million in the first year, according to the IDG News Service and other media outlets.

Kai-fu Lee

(Credit: Google)

The tablet, according to Lee's post, will have a 10.1-inch touch screen and will look like an oversize iPhone. Other features are said to include a virtual keyboard, 3D graphics, and support for videoconferencing and e-books. The price reportedly will be below $1,000.
Coincidentally, reports have emerged in recent days that Apple may have an event planned for January 26 in San Francisco, with a focus on mobile offerings, and that Apple has told software developers to conjure up versions of their iPhone apps suitable for a larger-than-iPhone screen.
How would Lee, who hasn't worked at Apple in more than a decade, know all this? He said on his blog that he got the information from a friend (unnamed, of course) who's familiar with the project.
But it's not as if Lee is lacking for contacts in the tech industry. Until September 2009, he was the president of Google's Greater China operation. Before that, he spent seven years at Microsoft working on, among other things, speech, natural language, and assistance technologies, and founding Microsoft Research Asia. It was his move from Microsoft to Google, first announced in the middle of 2005, that brought him a wave of notoriety, as the two tech giants squabbled inside and outside the courtroom over his hiring, before settling in December of that year.
From 1996 to 1998, he was a vice president at Silicon Graphics, where he oversaw a group that developed a line of Web servers.
Before that, Lee spent six years at Apple, eventually serving as vice president of the company's Interactive Media Group, according to the biography on the Web site of his latest undertaking.
Lee's current venture, which launched in September, is the Beijing-based Innovation Works, which aims to nurture Chinese high-tech companies and entrepreneurs. Focusing on the Internet, the mobile Internet, and cloud computing, Innovation Works says on its Web site that it plans each year to "prototype some 20 new ideas, aiming to spin off 3-5 independent companies."
Innovation Works says it has $115 million in funding from "an elite group of venture capital groups and investors" that includes YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, Legend Group, and Foxconn Technology Group--the same Foxconn whose operations include the manufacture of the Apple iPhone.
But Lee told the Bloomberg news agency Thursday that his information on the purported Apple tablet didn't come directly from Foxconn, or from Apple for that matter.
"I have never discussed Apple's tablet products with anyone at Foxconn, or anyone at Apple," Lee said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.


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Bluffs plastic surgeon launches iPhone app

Does your list of new year’s resolutions include changing your appearance? A facial plastic surgeon in Omaha/Council Bluffs claims he’s one of the first in the country to develop an i-Phone application, or app, for his industry.
Dr. Steven Denenberg says his app is very user-friendly. “That not only allows someone to see a plastic surgeon’s before-and-after pictures, and lots of them, but also much more conveniently than browsing around a website.”
As i-Phones are growing in popularity, Dr. Denenberg says so is self-improvement surgery. The app allows people to send in their photo via the i-Phone and attach any questions about a potential procedure.
Denenberg says, “Someone browses around the before-and-after pictures and says, ‘I want to get an opinion from this doctor,’ so they just turn the phone around, snap some pictures of themselves, press a button or two, and then the photos get sent off to me, if it’s my app.”
He says one of the most popular requests he’s getting for surgery have to do with the nose. “Rhinoplasty, changing what the nose looks like,” Denenberg says. “Also revision rhinoplasty, which is a large part of my practice, which is where you re-operate on a nose after a previous unsuccessful rhinoplasty.”
Denenberg says the i-Phone is bringing him business and he’s also developing apps for the medical field, including cosmetic dentists and other plastic surgeons. “People who use the i-Phone and use it a lot, they’re looking for interesting apps,” he says. “They’re looking for something fun to do and this app provides yet another new way of using the i-Phone.”


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Android vs. iPhone: Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Smartphone fans, prepare the ring: Some new research released this week is sure to send the Android-iPhone rivalry into overdrive.

With the Droid's debut, followed by the buzz surrounding Tuesday's expected revelation of the Nexus One, the Android mobile OS has certainly been basking in the spotlight lately. Now, a study by independent analysis firm ChangeWave Research finds the number of people planning to buy an Android phone is skyrocketing -- while the crowd eyeing the iPhone is slowly starting to slip.

Android and iPhone Interest

The study, based on a survey of about 4,000 consumers, shows interest in Android nearly tripling from September to December of 2009. In September, about 6 percent of respondents said an Android phone was in their future. By December, that number was up to 21 percent.

In the span of three months, Android shot ahead of BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm when it comes to consumer preference. The only platform still ahead of it: the iPhone.

The rate of change, however, may be where the numbers speak the loudest. In the same time period that Android saw a 250 percent growth in buyer interest, the iPhone experienced a 12.5 percent drop. To be sure, the iPhone still holds a healthy overall lead -- about 28 percent of people expressed interest in buying Apple's mobile device in December, compared to the 21 percent gunning for Android -- but the shifting trend is tough to ignore.

Smartphone Shifts

ChangeWave's research isn't alone; other recent analyses have shown similar shifts in the smartphone market. In December, ComScore found consumer interest in the Android platform had more than doubled since the summer. ComScore's numbers placed Android and iPhone nearly neck-and-neck: Seventeen percent of people surveyed by the company said they were headed to Android, while 20 percent were planning to make new iPhone purchases.

Android has also shown impressive growth in mobile ad impressions while the iPhone has stagnated, according to AdMob -- and even in the often criticized realm of apps, the platform is widely predicted to be on the brink of a massive explosion.

Hang on, though: Before you start digging a virtual grave (and incurring the ire of Apple fans worldwide), you should also look at the big picture. Yes, some expect Android to outpace the iPhone in sales within a matter of years. But does that mean the iPhone is facing certain doom? Don't count on it. Apple earned the honor of most profitable handset vendor in the world just a couple of months ago, according to Strategy Analytics. Even if Android steals a few pieces of its pie, Apple's pride and joy isn't going to shrivel up and die anytime soon.

Still, for what it's worth, the trends increasingly seem to suggest a changing of the guard is on the way. It may not be as dramatic as the always-popular "this-or-that killer" kind of scenario, but in this ring, it's where the real odds lie.

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Tablet wars: Blame that damn iPhone

The iPhone has kicked off a technological revolution, and the world has grabbed hold with both hands and is embracing as if it’s the Holy Grail of the industry. The touch revolution has even turned this young blogger into a FarmVille player on steroids, and we will no doubt see the world succumb once the computing Pandora’s box is opened.

Apple are supposedly working on the ‘iSlate’, HTC and Google are working together on a tablet suited for Chrome OS, and no doubt Microsoft will throw something together to try and combat the competition.

But I can’t see it taking off in the academic community. If anything, I see at this point a device which would be smaller than a tablet PC, much larger than the iPhone but around medium-sized to that of the Kindle. So it may be large enough to browse on, but probably too small to hammer away on the on-screen keyboard without feeling like you’re going to break the damn thing.

Ergonomically, it’ll be a disaster. Just think for a moment, how would you type? Would you need to raise your knees and balance it as you tap the on-screen keyboard? Would it have something in the back to hold it at an angle to reduce RSI or even make it viewable? Will it be too heavy, or more realistically, will the weight distribution be way off?

The tablet is a stupid, stupid idea; I don’t even need to use one to know how I’d feel. The Kindle can get away with it as it is predominantly a reading device. You hold with two hands and you read with your eyes. The iSlate or any competing pure-tablet computer will have to be held with two hands and then somehow be typed on with the remaining hands of Shiva.

I can’t see academics using it, but students could buy it but only because it’s the “fashionable thing to do” while they slash away their money into technology they will barely use. We already know that students will buy anything they can get their hands on.

While personally I agree with Siegler when he says, “if Joe Wilcox ran the computer industry, we’d still be using typewriters”, but Wilcox makes a set of rare points I agree with about the tablet industry.

Off on a tangent for a second: could Apple be creating a tablet, something that we haven’t really seen before in mass production, just to prove a point that it can? There is no answer to this hypothesis, but it would add another notch to the bedpost of Apple to be “the first” at something else as well.

The tablet isn’t designed at anybody specifically and while Apple is convinced (and convincing others) that the future of computing is touch-based, I wholeheartedly disagree and will fight it to the last dying breath.

Frankly on this ending thought, a tablet without a keyboard - limiting the user to one awful method of input - is stupid, and it simply annoys the hell out of me.

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BMW launches free M Power iPhone application

BMW's M Power app is actually quite useful.

(Credit: BMW)

BMW has launched the M Power iPhone app, the Bavarian automaker's second free application to promote its brand. However, unlike its previous offering, this app is actually sort of useful.

The M Power app measures vehicle acceleration using your iPhone's (or iPod Touch's) built-in accelerometer. After securing the iPhone (via a windshield mount or just tossing it in a cup holder), the app will measure 0-60 mph times other user-customizable speeds in mph or kph. The app will also measure forward and lateral G-forces for users who want to take a spin on a skidpad. Users can also unlock different skins on BMW's Web site to customize the look and feel of the app.

Although branded with the BMW M badge, the M Power app will work for any car that you can fit an iPhone into. Unlike my favorite paid iPhone accelerometer-based speed computer, Dynolicious, BMW's app doesn't look like it will calculate your vehicle's horsepower or torque. But at the low cost of "free," the M Power app is a hard bargain to turn down.

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Apple wins Chinese iPhone trademark, Google Nexus One compared

By Katie Marsal

Published: 04:00 PM EST

Apple has obtained the trademark for "i-phone" from a Chinese company that applied for ownership of the name in 2004, and a hands-on with Google's Nexus One phone concludes it isn't an "iPhone killer."

Apple obtains Chinese iPhone trademark

Hanwang Technology, a Chinese company that makes e-readers, applied for the trademark for "i-phone" in 2004. The i-phone was a handset the company no longer sells.

According to IDG News Service, the new owner of the trademark application has changed to Apple. A Hangwang official reportedly said that the Chinese company reached an agreement with Apple over the trademark to the iPhone name. Details of the agreement were not provided.

When China Unicom launched the iPhone last October, it was said the similarity between the i-phone and iPhone names could have made the sale of Apple's handset illegal.

Though Apple only sold 5,000 iPhones at launch with China Unicom, sales continued at a steady pace through the end of the year. In early December, it was revealed that Apple had sold 100,000 handsets in the nation of over 1 billion. It is believed that gray market sales far exceed those numbers, however.

Google Nexus One compared to iPhone

Engadget got its hands on Google's forthcoming Nexus One handset, which runs the Android mobile operating system and is expected to be available through carrier T-Mobile very soon. The HTC-built device has a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7-inch display, 512MB of ROM and 512MB of RAM.

Joshua Topolsky said the phone is a little thinner than the iPhone and feels good in the hand, but aside from its superior design and form factor, it is not significantly different from the Motorola Droid. The improved user interface was also welcomed.

"Throughout the phone there are also new animations and flourishes which make Android 2.1 feel way more polished than previous iterations (including the Droid's 2.0.1), though it's still got a ways to go to matching something like the iPhone or even Pre in terms of fit and finish," Topolsky said. "Regardless, it's clear Google has started thinking about not just function but form as well, and that's very good news for Android aficionados."

The review was not as favorable as an earlier comparison that said the Nexus One might be more of a "Droid killer" than an "iPhone killer." Google has planned a special event to formally announce the Nexus One Tuesday morning. The GSM-based handset will reportedly be sold direct from Google for $530 unlocked, or $180 under contract with T-Mobile.

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Swiping it on the iPhone

Third-party app manufacturer for iPhone, Morphie will be uncovering its credit card reader for the cult-device iPhone at the upcoming 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. This app would mark the add-on manufacter’s foray into the high-potential market of mobile payment systems. Morphie, has already developed accessories for the iPhone and iPhone along with battery add-ons.

Named as the “Credit Card Reader”, the application will be complemented with a processing application from a third party and would facilitate in credit card payments for iPhone users. Though the details of the app are yet to be known, industry watchers opine that the success of it would depend on its pricing and design. Additional details about the application will be unearthed at the CES 2010, which will be kicked off in Las Vegas, US.

The application would be pitched right against its competing app Square. Square, which is being developed by Jack Dorsey, who also co-founded Twitter, was the first known mobile phone payment system for iPhone and devices running on the Android Platform.

The credit card reader from Morphie would be making use of wireless connectivity of the iPhone device to help users to manage their credit card sales from any connected place. The app will be cased into a special casing developed for the iPhone.

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HTC and Google Making a Tablet

January starts off 2010 with much excitement and anticipation. January 7th is the start of the Computer Electronics Show (CES). This is where vendors like Nikon will present their products like the CoolPix S1000pj. January 26th Apple will be making a significant product announcement. It has been greatly speculated that Jobs will be announcing the long anticipated Apple "iSlate." Lastly, it has just been reported by ComputerWorld that on January 5th, Google will be holding an Android, invitation-only, event at the Googleplex in Mountain View. The event will consist of a press conference, presentations and question and answer sessions.

Although January starts off the new year with much fan-fare -- it's 2010 that the industry will be watching very closely. The speculation is that 2010 will be the year of the tablet. We seem to have more speculation than facts these days. The rumor mill is producing four distinct tablet stories. We are looking at the Microsoft Courier, the Apple "iSlate," HP might be in tablet development and it was just reported in Gizmodo that Google and HTC are supposedly working on a tablet.

Some in the industry are speculating if Schmidt is purposely holding the Google conference right before CES. This is a similar move to what Jobs did in 2007 -- when he announced the iPhone right before CES. In essence, the iPhone became all the talk at CES 2007. I think that Schmidt is a smart man. This very well calculated move worked for Jobs and Schmidt is hoping it will do the same for Google.

In a post first reported by David Richards of Smarthouse, he confirms that HTC has a product that will compete with the Apple tablet. It appears that Schmidt is going to pull a "one more thing" on January 5th.

HTC, who has been working closely with Google for the past 18 months have several working models of a touch tablet including one model, is based on the new Google Chrome Operating System say sources. An Android based device which is set to be shown privately to core HTC customers at the CES Show is set to incorporate new Qualcomm processors, touch technology and new software from Adobe.

Although the competitive landscape of the tablet is young it would appear that Apple and Google have a significant lead. Of the two, I do believe that Apple has the advantage. Leaving technology behind for a moment. The tablets will succeed based on two factors -- price point and content.

Apple is rumored to be coming in between $700 - $900. The price is rather steep and may keep many from buying the iSlate. The high price maybe justified since the iSlate is apparently content rich. Apart from what is already offered in iTunes the story is that CBS and Disney are very interested in providing TV subscription services. Additionally, Apple has been rumored to be speaking with publishers, broadcasters and movie studios to bring subscription based services to iTunes. These services may come in the form of news papers, text books, magazines all updated in real time, living stories and Internet TV -- all operating on a 3G or 4G network; even white-space is a strong possibility. This makes the iSlate sound more like a media tablet, than a big iPhone.

As far as the Google - HTC tablet, I have not heard of price or content packages. According to PCWorld the Google Chrome OS-based netbook "will come pre-installed with Google apps such as Google Map, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calender, and Google Search by Voice." I am making the assumption that the tablet would at bare minimum have this set of applications -- since it's running the Google Chrome OS.

With all these speculations and some facts, there is still a level of uncertainty on what Google will be presenting on January 5th. The speculation runs their entire portfolio. Whatever happens on the 5th one thing is certain -- it will be all the talk at CES 2010.

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Apple pulls iPhone app that upset Hollywood

I am sure honest Hollywood agents do exist. It's just that they don't seem to employ the finest PR firms to proselytize their honesty.
This might explain why Oisin Hanrahan, the Irish creator of an iPhone app called SuperAgent, decided that the main character in his game might be a few scruples short of Mother Teresa.
SuperAgent seems to have been well received, a reception that might have led to its being noticed by, well, Hollywood super agents.
According to the Independent, one super agent may have enjoyed a particular interest in this app. His name is Ari Emanuel. He is the agent for so many important acting citizens such as Robert De Niro and Sacha Baron Cohen as well as directors such as Spike Lee. He is even thought to be the person upon whom the character of Ari Gold is based in the delightfully fluffy "Entourage" on HBO.
What is important for today's story, however, is that he has reportedly set his more toothsome legal dogs upon Oisin Hanrahan and his company, Factory Six. You see, the slightly less than honest agent in the SuperAgent game is called Ari.

(Credit: CC JorgeMir/Flickr)

While I leave you to gather your breath for a moment, let me just whisper that it is not the mere mention of Emanuel's first name that appears to have ruffled his hairline.
The Independent kindly offers details of the cease-and-desist letter that has caused Apple to remove SuperAgent from the App Store.
"The game uses the name 'Ari' for the main character, which clearly is a reference to Mr Emanuel, the co-chief executive officer of WME, one of the world's premier talent agencies," begins the forceful cease-and-desist letter.
It continues as forcefully it began: "[It] clearly intends to capitalize on using Mr Emanuel's and WME's names for the game and possibly mislead the public into thinking that Mr Emanuel and/or WME endorse the game - effectively trading off the goodwill, reputation and fame established by our clients."
Hanrahan deftly told the Independent that because of the "Entourage" series, "Ari" is a name that symbolizes Hollywood in general, not one person in particular. He added: "We're a very small firm, of just three people, and since Apple pulled it we have had no income."
I feel sure that many of you will sympathize with Hanrahan's plight. His arguments appear plausible. His game, just as the "Entourage" show, seems but an amusing diversion from the pains of everyday existence.
But perhaps others might consider that while saying truth to power is an often alluring concept, one should always think carefully before saying jokes to power. Power is a sensitive soul, one that isn't always comfortable with japes. Somehow, for some powerful souls, taking a joke is like Samson admitting he'd always wondered what it would like to be bald.

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