Archives For android

Google Hangouts

20 May 2013

It’s fair to say that Google has been fairly fragmented in the messaging space before Google I/O 2013. Google+ Messenger, GTalk, GChat, Google Voice and Google Hangouts were just some of the company’s messaging/communications products and even Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering admitted at the Google I/O keynote that it wasn’t ideal. Wasn’t ideal was an understatement. It was horrible. If you started a chat with someone in gmail chat, there’s no way to continue the same chat on my mobile.

So it was no surprise that Google had to rethink their messaging strategy from a scratch and the resulting product is Google Hangouts. It fixes most but not all of the issues. Instead of different versions of chat, video chat and calling across Google products, Hangouts gives me one consistent way to message people that has a…… you guessed it, a Google account.

Google is definitely moving towards the right direction with messaging but when Vic Gundotra was lamenting that messaging should be cross platform, ubiquitous and easy, everything goes out of the window if I didn’t have a Google account.

It’s not easy to try and convince my mother who has been using Yahoo mail for ages to switch to Gmail so I can message her with Hangouts. My family and friends are mostly iPhone users and Messages (iMessages is a protocol, not the app) is seamless, works with your phone number, integrates with SMS and if you have a Mac, you can message someone on their iPhones. But of course, the huge downside to Apple’s Messages is it’s locked down to Apple’s ecosystem.

In a sense, even Facebook Chat is a lot better than Hangouts when it comes to ubiquity. People that I (almost) care about are on Facebook and it’s easier to get them to respond to messages. I tried getting a few friends to respond to my Hangouts invites or groups chats and I get no responses. Friends that have used Android mobiles for years still prefer texting, Whatsapp and Facebook Chat.

Google has already committed to adding SMS integration and voice calling to Hangouts so things will certainly get better. Don’t get me wrong, the group video chat feature is very cool. I can see myself using that in many ways, just not with many friends.

PS: It’s just really with Jason Teen and no one else.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Reviews

28 April 2013

Reviews for Samsung’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4 are popping up on the internet and the feeling from tech enthusiasts are that this is a gradual upgrade to the S3 with a ton of new features to bait you in buying the phone, but useless during your day to day usage. I’m sure it’s a capable smartphone and it will sell in the millions but according to many, it’s a cheap looking device compared to the HTC One or iPhone 5.

David Pearce from The Verge sums it up:

The GS4 just flat out doesn’t feel like a premium device. It’s still made of slimy, slippery white plastic with silver edges and feels gross to hold. The device itself is relative ergonomic and relatively comfortable to hold. But I found myself constantly wiping my hands off thinking they were sweaty.

Samsung justifies the cheap material for a removable back cover which allows you the option to travel with an extra battery for a longer battery life experience. I don’t know if Samsung knows this but battery packs like these does exactly the same thing.

I’m not all sour grapes about the S4 though. I admit modes available on the S4′s camera app are pretty awesome and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more options in the settings of the iOS camera app.

I wonder if Samsung fanboys will have the “Who would know I’m holding an S4 because it looks too similar to the S3″ attitude when it comes to purchasing the phone. Don’t worry, we’ll all know when you’re doing the air swipe on the trains like an idiot.

Facebook Home

5 April 2013

I like it. The UI is clean and it shows you photos your friends have posted right on the lockscreen of your Android mobile. And the fact that you can chat with your friends on Facebook Messages even when you’re in another app is awesome because the friends I chat with most are all on Facebook chat. Obviously Facebook Home is going to be available only for Android mobiles for now (and not even all Android mobiles can support it) and I doubt that Apple will allow Facebook Home to exist in the same form on the iOS.

The only thing that worries me is that the photos/status updates on the lock screen would only look good if you have friends that do exciting stuff and take photos like a pro photographer. My friends? They prefer to flood my news feed with articles of dead baby elephants.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

24 February 2013

News out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona indicates that Samsung is set to announce their mid size tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0. Seems like the photocopying machines have truly been moved out of Redmond to Samsung Town.

I know I know, it’s not the first time Samsung has released a 7-8inch sized tablet but it’s the first time Samsung is announcing a tablet in that size under the Note moniker, unifying their Note line with the Galaxy Note 2 and previously released Galaxy Note 10.1. Samsung must have seen that their competitors are having relative success with the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini, taken note (no pun intended) of it and it was a no brainer to manufacture and announce the Note 8.0 to compete and grab a share of the mid size tablet market.

And guess what? Apparently the international version of the Note 8.0 can be used as a phone for phone calls. Would love to see people on the streets talking into 8 inch tablets pressed against their ears.

No pricing, no ship date, no confirmed specifications, no idea why they’re announcing this now and making customers who are genuinely interested wait for months.

HTC One Annoucement

20 February 2013

I’ve just read the previews and saw photos of the newly announced HTC One but couldn’t help but notice that it looks exactly like the Blackberry Z10 at a quick glance. Maybe it’s just me but I noticed that the distinct two toned, top and bottom bar look of both devices resembles the rear of the Apple’s iPhone 5.

Is it fair to say that mobile phone manufacturers have resorted to not copy Apple directly but instead use the design on the back design of Apple’s iPhone as the front design of their own.

Steve Jobs famously once said when announcing Apple’s first iMac in 1998 that the back of Apple’s computer looks better than the front of anyone else’s. Seems like that quote still stands (for me personally) 15 years later.

Other interesting things I’ve picked up after reading The Verge’s hands on with the HTC One.

  • Google Now is hidden and requires a long press on the home button to activate it.
  • The physical multitasking key has been removed and replaced with a double tap on the home button.
  • The antennas are built into the aluminium chassis of the device.

Luckily Apple and HTC have a licensing agreement with each other because if not, we’ll probably be seeing another long and drawn out case in the courts ala Samsung.

Your Name Is Guy Kawasaki and You Are A Douche

7 January 2013

A couple of days back, I was going through my RSS feeds via Google as usual, skimming through stories my as fast as my beady eyes could keep up with.

And then I saw this article by Lifehacker - I’m Guy Kawasaki, and This Is How I Work

I asked Jeremy when I was writing this post if he knew who Guy Kawasaki was and Jeremy mentioned something about motorcycles before changing the topic to why the Ministry of Education in Singapore deemed that the recorder was the only instrument required in music lessons. That shows how much fuck he gives about Kawasaki.

Alright back on track.

Guy Kawasaki is somewhat of a weird one. He used to work for Apple and old school Apple fanboys will remember him as the chief tech evangelist for Apple in the 80s.

He’s since gone on to create a few startups and made a name for himself after he left Apple and in recent times, have been vocal about his preference for Android over iOS.

The writer of the article I’ve linked to interviewed Guy and one of the questions she asked was what his current mobile device was.

This were his exact words:

Samsung Galaxy SIII. That’s right, I don’t use an iPhone. Real men use Android.

Firstly, did anyone even expect the guy (no pun intended) to use an iPhone. Yes he might have been the chief evangelist for the company 30 years ago but it’s been 20 years since he worked for Apple so why does everyone still associate whatever this douchebag do or say with Apple?

I certainly don’t.

Secondly, I am pretty sure most people who are fond of Apple products who are familiar with the company’s personnel like Steve Jobs and Tim Cook wouldn’t know who the fuck Guy Kawasaki is. He left Apple in 1987 so none of the success Apple is enjoying right now has got anything to do with this man so Lifehacker and every tech blog out there should stop placing Guy on a fucking pedestal like he’s some Apple guru

Thirdly, if Guy had any respect for the company he once worked for, even though he doesn’t necessarily think much of iOS, was it really necessary to trash talk and say that only real men use Android.

What the fuck does that even mean?

So you can customize your lock screen and you can use widgets. Wooooooh big fucking deal.

I’ve always maintain my stance that both Android and iOS are extremely polished mobile platforms and that even though Android is not for me, I truly believe that there’s nothing wrong with choosing Android over iOS. If you love tinkering and customizing your device to suit your needs, Android’s the platform for you.

No need to bash others just because they like something different from you do.

You would think that someone in the tech industry would speak with more sense and justify their choices for technology in a more logical manner but I guess when it comes to fanboyism, it truly shows a douchebag’s true colours.

10 Steps To A Successful Keynote Event: Motorola Style

6 September 2012

1. Bands Are Cool Right?

Make a crappy band that no one knows play for 20 minutes non-stop (Seriously?!). After the band stopped, Motorola’s keynote after that was just a little over 30 minutes

2. Make Everyone Sing! Or Not.

Make the crappy band force the journalists in the room to sing along with them when it’s obvious no one wants to sing.

3. Awkward Start.

Have your emcee not know when to start introducing your parent company’s executive chairman. It’s after the hip introduction music. Don’t you guys rehearse?!

4. Quantity Over Quality?

Get Eric Schmidt to spend 10 minutes going on a self congratulatory speech on how betting on Android has paid off. I do like the part about the numbers from ComScore though. No doubt Android is bigger than iOS in market share in the the US but I’ll always stick to the rule of quality over quantity.

5. Cringeworthy & Then Poke Fun of Samsung.

Make sure to include bad promotional video with Carpenters’ We’ve Only Just Begun as the background track to show how Google and Motorola are a couple now. The video doesn’t show what Google, Motorola or the phones they’re going to announce can do but I get phrases like “Only we last longer” or “It’ll melt your brain” thrown in my face. #seemslegit

Make sure to go on by making fun of your largest OEM manufacturer Samsung by saying that even though you wanted magic and shit (magic was a main theme in Samsung’s Mobile Unpacked IFA keynote a couple of days earlier), you prefer your shitty promotional video. Google, what the fuck are you smoking?!

6. Drums Up LTE, Doesn’t Use It.

Demos how fast browsing the web on the phone is with the awesome Chrome browser and then runs into problems because you’re connected to the freaking Wifi that everyone else is connected to in the room. Why not demo it on LTE since the phone is a mobile device and you’re going to be on the go a lot? I’m not a genius and I know that demo-ing on LTE would surely show how wonderful Verizon’s network is.

7. No One Knows When The Fuck They Will Get JB.

Tells audience that your phones will have Jelly Bean…………. by the end of the year. That’s 6 months before the next Google I/O where you demo the next version of Android, Key Lime Pie.

8. Would a *VicRoads Executive Attend A **Commodore Unveiling?

Invite a carrier excutive (Verizon) that offers no new information or value to the keynote at all but just blabbering on PR crap that no one cares about.

* state road and traffic authority in the state of Victoria, Australia
** manufactured since 1978 by the Holden subsidiary of General Motors (GM) in Australia 

9. Free Phones! Yeahhhhh!

Give everyone a free phone hoping they’ll forgive you for the worst keynote they’ve ever seen from a tech giant.

10. I Just Wanna GTFO.

Get audience excited at the end of the keynote by shouting, “Welcome to the new Motorola Mobility!” and pointing to the crowd hoping they’ll cheer or respond. A few claps ensue. Make sure you have more crappy music at the end of the keynote.

In Contrast…..

In contrast to the piece of diabolical crap of a keynote that Google/Motorola has presented in the YouTube video I linked above, I present to you a keynote event that truly changed the landscape of mobile devices.

One that has competitors scrabbling to copy because they have a “crisis of design” and funnily enough, Eric Schmidt was in this keynote as well.

I Think I Just Got Trolled On Twitter By An Android Fan.

31 August 2012

 

So I was minding my own business this morning, going through my RSS feeds quickly and chance upon this article about Samsung preparing to sue Apple if their next iPhone has LTE on it. It does seem a little hypocritical to me that Samsung released a press statement after their lost to Apple in their patent infringement trial stating that Apple’s win was a huge loss to consumers.

Samsung goes on to say that this will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices.

So sueing Apple over LTE patents is good for consumers? Will it bring down prices for consumers? Or does Samsung just want to get into a pissing match with Apple just for the sake of it?

What a bunch of fucken oxymoron hypocrites.

I thought I’d share that article with my followers on Twitter and sent out this tweet.

One of my followers, @toiletduck, obviously not happy with Apple’s win and probably uses an Android devices replies me with this tweet which doesn’t even make sense to me. I was talking about Samsung getting childish and suing Apple back but he seems fixated that Apple shouldn’t be awarded some patents in the first place.

Entirely two different issues in my opinion.

Not wanting to leave him hanging, I thought I’ll reply what he said to make my point about why I’m unhappy with Samsung.

I know I was a little long winded, but I just wanted to be clear on my points and was waiting to see what @toiletduck thinks. Instead, all he did was send these two tweets back.

So this guy trolls me by luring me into a discussion and decides to diss what I just said by nonchalantly saying I can continue to be an Apple fanboy and says he’s going to continue his freedom on an Android device?

What the fuck? It further proves to me that people can’t justify Samsung’s blatant copying with valid points and all they can do is just mock people who are in support of Apple and joke about Apple trying to patent everything.

The tweet below was the last one I sent out to end the conversation.

Someone call me an ambulance, I think I need to be hospitalized.

I Probably Shouldn’t Have Bought The Nexus 7

22 August 2012

Let’s face it. I’m not a fan of Android devices and probably will never be one. On Monday, Sonti, Anthony and I were talking about installing tablets into the dashboard of their cars, the Nexus 7 came up and all of us agree that it was selling at a very attractive price point. We wouldn’t mind getting our hands on one and having a play with it because of all the good reviews on various tech blogs.

This probably set the mood for the rest of the day because we were looking up reviews and videos about the tablet online. It wasn’t openly admitted but we could feel it in the air that for some reason, we wanted one badly. I stupidly dared everyone and said that if both of them bought one, I’d join them and get one too despite the fact that I bought and sold a Samsung Galaxy Nexus in a week because I didn’t enjoy the whole Android experience.

And guess what? I didn’t enjoy the experience on the Nexus 7 as well.

We drove down to an Officeworks at Ferntree Gully after lunch and bought 3 of them. The novelty of purchasing, setting up and pretty much laying my hands on a new gadget wears off over a period of time but the problem with Android devices is the novelty wears off much faster than any products I’ve used.

The Nexus 7 was very light, feels good in my hands and felt really well built. Its form factor and size was really cool but the the iPad has spoiled me with its retina display and the Nexus 7′s display was just not up to par. Colours on the display looked washed out, browsing on Chrome was laggy and apps still look terrible.

I’ve only owned it for 3 days but at the back of my head, I knew that I was going to either return it or sell it off second hand. It wasn’t a hard decision but I’ll probably steer clear of Android products for a while(or forever) and wait patiently for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

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