sorted by: recent | see : popular

Content Tagged with Hardware + mobile

It’s here: the Google Phone. After years of speculation and months of waiting, the first Google Android OS-based smartphone has finally been released by T-Mobile USA. The device formally known as the G-1 and made by HTC has started to ship and will be made available to those who have pre-ordered the phone sometime today.

T-Mobile USA sent me a pre-release review unit, and after playing around with it for a few days, I have some observations, which might help you make a buying decision about this device. I am eschewing the traditional review format because there are dozens of very smart people who have reviewed the G-1 after putting it through its paces. Here are my major takeaways:

This isn’t an iPhone competitor. If you look at it, you can very quickly see that the G-1 is a Honda to iPhone’s BMW. After a few days of usage I have become increasingly convinced that people who like the Apple iPhone will find Google-based G-1 aesthetically lacking.

Maybe it’s because I have been so conditioned by the iPhone’s touch screen, but I don’t care for too much buttons on a phone that has touch-screen ability, though it makes navigating through a complex array of features relatively easy. I like the trackball, which makes flipping through features very easy as well.

The device is very easy to use overall. It took me less than an hour to figure out how to use the phone — most of its features including touch-screen abilities, surfing and setting up the network — without as much as referring to the accompanying handbook even once. Most people who use Windows XP or Vista for their daily computing will find the Google Android user interface remarkably familiar and find comfort using this device. In other words, it will sell a lot of units. And yes it is going to become a thorn in Windows Mobile’s side.

What I like about the G-1 Phone.

• It has the width of a normal phone, and still packs a big enough screen to make web browsing via a great Webkit-based browser a meaningful experience. (iPhone still has a better, bigger, crisper screen.)
• The keyboard makes it easier to sift through a lot of emails, whether they are coming to your Gmail account or from your IMAP account.
• Seamless instant messaging with Google Talk, Windows Live, AOL and Yahoo Messenger, and the cutest, funniest smiley icons based on the Android logo. This has to be the best Mobile IM client on the planet!
• Google Apps and Search are so tightly integrated into the phone that you often wonder why you don’t use these services more often.
• Amazingly robust operating system with little or no lag time. It makes Windows Mobile feel like a retiree; even the iPhone feels like a middle-aged person compared to Android OS.
• A simple, easy and comfortable keyboard designed with real people in mind. The keys are small but well spaced and comfortable to type with thumbs.
• Music player supports MP3, M4A (iTunes AAC, DRM-free), AMR, WMA, MIDI, WAV, OGG Vorbis.
• Phone part of this smartphone actually works like a phone, something I can’t unfortunately say about the iPhone.
• Multitasking of apps is the best amongst all mobile platforms. 

What I hate about the G-1.

• G-1 feels bulky in hand, even though it has svelte dimensions. It is heavier than the iPhone: 5.6 ounces vs. the iPhone 3G, which weighs in at 4.7 ounces.
• Despite the heft, the battery life isn’t superior to the iPhone if you have all networks (including Wi-Fi) turned on
• Google Maps on G-1 feels like a poor cousin of the iPhone-based Google Maps and Microsoft Maps on Windows Mobile. Though I do like this feature, which uses the built-in compass on the phone to allow users to view locations and navigate 360 degrees by simply moving the phone with their hand. G-1 also lacks  turn-by-turn directions.
• Not enough built-in storage – the device comes with a puny 1GB MicroSD memory storage.
• The AppStore when compared to the iPhone lacks in user experience, and reminds me of the carrier decks, which are awkward and non-intuitive.
• And lastly, I hate the dialer on this phone. It just isn’t good enough.

So what is my verdict? Will I recommend this phone to anyone out there looking for a smartphone? The answer is yes, especially if you don’t much care for either Windows Mobile or Apple’s iPhone device.

Many of us who live in Silicon Valley pay no heed to decidedly unsexy materials such as aluminum. Of course, they’ve long been integral to our economy — just look at the world’s largest aluminum company, Alcoa. It turned 120 years old on Oct. 1.

A week later, however, the Pittsburgh-based company slashed its growth forecast and suspended its stock repurchasing program, battening down the hatches as the global credit crunch continues to hurt demand. As CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said:

Given the sharp decline in metal prices and increasingly soft demand in our key markets, we are stopping all non-critical capital projects, making targeted reductions to match market conditions, and are adjusting our manufacturing capacity to meet demand in rapidly changing upstream and downstream markets. We are halting production at our smelter in Rockdale, Texas, adjusting alumina capacity accordingly, and are continually reviewing under-performing assets throughout our portfolio. And, we are suspending our share buy-back program.

Why does this matter to Silicon Valley? After all, aluminum is used to make things like airplanes and cars. True, but that’s not all. As a quick visit to Alcoa’s web site will reveal, aluminum is also used to make displays, mobile phones, notebook computers and whole slew of tech-related things. Alcoa even sets up a booth at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.

And now the company says demand in North America is going to decline 10 percent this year. Meanwhile, it expects growth in China to only rise 15 percent compared with an earlier forecast for a 22-percent rise.

And guess where major electronics items are made? China, after which they are sold in North America. My feeling is that aluminum is the canary in the coal mine and is foretelling tough times ahead for both the consumer electronics and computer hardware sectors. We’re already seeing a slowdown in the sales of LCDs TVs — the makers of which are big buyers of aluminum.

There is a good chance the tech malaise is going to spread to the likes of Apple, which uses a ton of aluminum to make their products. Aluminum is also a key ingredient in mobile phones, another area where demand for devices is going to slump, especially for the more profitable, high-end devices. Keep an eye on Nokia and listen for its forecasts.

The automobile industry – a major consumer of aluminum – is already in a deep abyss, with monthly sales plummeting. Automakers are big consumers of technology and have put a whole lot of electronics (including chips) — $113 billion in 2008 — from companies that include chip makers like Freescale, Infineon and STMicroelectronics into cars to power everything from the GPS to the powertrain.

Any slowdown there is going to eventually move up the food chain and hurt these chipmakers. Strategy Analytics recently forecast a $1.1 billion decline in sales of automotive chips for engines in the U.S. alone.

Whichever way you look at it, the credit crunch is going to crimp consumer demand, which will in turn lead to a clampdown on ad spending, including on the web.

And you thought aluminum was boring!

The German magazine Die Welt has scored an exclusive interview with Howard Stringer, the CEO of Sony. Maybe you have PlayStation 3 sitting in your living room or recall that Sony won the high-definition DVD format war with its Blu-Ray technology? In this interview Stringer sets his sights higher, on the domination of home networking. He says,

I set the target, to be achieved by March 2011, of a product portfolio in which 90 percent of the devices will be capable of networking and connecting wirelessly. It’s a tall order. Our engineers have to work across all our divisions in order to develop standards. This includes the consumer electronics division as well as the film and music production units.

Looks like Sony hopes to follow in Apple’s footsteps with a proprietary standards-based home entertainment platform. Stringer also points out that Apple, with its interests in Pixar, are pursuing a hardware-plus-content strategy like Sony is, albeit on a smaller scale. However, for anyone who has had to deal with Sony’s cumbersome software, the idea of that company pursuing such a strategy is both laughable and scary. You laugh because getting stuck on Sony software (and its DRM) is so terrible, but at the same time it’s frightening because many consumers will be eager to embrace any end-to-end home networking solution. Plus, Sony does make great hardware.

Stringer also expresses his dissatisfaction with the joint venture his firm has with Ericsson. The mobile equipment company makes several platforms for use in Sony mobile devices, but Stringer is apparently unhappy with the cooperation between the two partners. He told the magazine, “It’s certainly been a difficult year, but, buying out a partner is never an easy thing.”

If this story interests you, check out our upcoming conference:
Mobilize — The Next Generation Mobile Conference