Rapid Reactions: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus

The Facts:

• Google and Samsung announced the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which will be the first device running the new Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" OS.
• No pricing or carriers were announced, but LTE and HSPA+ versions were confirmed and it is widely accepted that at least Verizon will carry the device in the US, with global launch coming in November.
• Hardware highlights include a curved 4.7 inch 1280x720 Super AMOLED screen and NFC.
• New software features include facial-recognition device unlocking, improved notifications, improved camera app, better speech-to-text, and Android Beam sharing.

Initial Reaction:

Hardware wise, the specs are not surprising given the current crop of high-end Android phones and the iPhone 4S. This is not some revolutionary quad-core monster; rather, it seems a small but noticeable step up from devices like the Bionic, Galaxy S 2, and Sensation. As such, the main selling point for this phone will be Android 4.0.

Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) has been presented as the update to reunite the current phone (Gingerbread) and tablet (Honeycomb) "forks" in the Android OS. As if that wasn't enough, ICS needed to bring enough new features to the table to combat Apple's Siri-laced iOS 5. Time will tell if all devices can play nice under the ICS tent from here on out, but I am not sure Google added any single feature that has the "wow" factor Siri seems to have. 

Still, Android took a significant step towards usability and unified vision today, but the iPhone remains the current master in those categories. ICS is by far the largest feature update to Android in a long time, perhaps ever, and that is a good thing. However, Google still needs to step up their game and offer a unified, easy-to-use music purchasing service in the Android Market alongside apps, books, and movies.

In the end, Android remains the best fit for my needs and wants in a smartphone OS. Google has shown a willingness to drastically change how their software works (remember the navigation ball on the Nexus 1?) by making significant updates to the UI and even going so far as to removed the need for any physical buttons other than power and volume from phones. They have shown willingness to throw out the old and start fresh if they had a better idea, and I approve of and support that position.

Apple, meanwhile, apparently remains convinced that the "icons-on-a-screen" UI they came up with four-and-a-half years ago is the best UI for mobile devices. They have had to figure out ways to put new features in without changing the core UI, which hasn't always yielded the best results. For a huge number of people, Apple's approach works just fine, but I am not one of them. If anything, ICS and iOS 5 show that there is still a great future ahead for phone software as hardware seems to be slowly diminishing in importance. 

Questions moving forward:

• Will the GN be available on more carriers than just Verizon in the USA?
• Which current Android phones/tablets will get updated, and when?
• How will manufactures adapt their skins to the new UI, especially HTC and Sense?
• What ever happened to Google's 18-month update plan? We haven't heard anything about it since I/O.
• Will ICS actually help end "fragmentation" moving forward?
• When will we start seeing new devices launching with ICS out of the door? 
• Most importantly: was this enough for Molly Wood?!?

Rapid Reactions: iPhone 4S

Note: Rapid Reactions is a new series of posts I will try to do with a consistent format that presents the basic facts, my initial opinions, and some questions for the future of various tech announcements. Please let me know in the comments how you like the style of the post!

The Facts:

• Apple today announced the new CDMA/GSM iPhone 4S starting at $199, with the old iPhone 4 and 3GS now costing $99 and free (on 2 year contract) respectfully. 
• New hardware features include an A5 processor and improved camera.
• Software improvements are headed by Android-style notifications, Twitter integration, and Siri voice action software.
• Available Oct. 14 on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon in the US & around the world.
• No significant hardware design changes, contrary to rumors. 

Initial Reaction:

What is Apple thinking? During a time of 4+ inch, LTE-equipped Android phones, Apple seems to be playing catch-up, especially in software. By and large, nearly every new feature in iOS from this and last year's update seems to be features Android has had for years. Unified notifications, desktop folders, custom backgrounds, fast-app switching, voice commands, etc. Even iCloud is merely a collection of services that have been available on other platforms and from other companies for months, and in some cases, years. Sure, no one has put them all under one hood until now, but that is really the only part of the service that Apple can claim to be leaders on.

I really wanted Apple to come out with some insane new hardware and make major changes to their software to move past the "gird of icons on a screen" UI layout to force innovation from their competitors, but it looks like Tim Cook and company had no such plans. The problem for Apple is that if they only want to release a new iPhone once a year, they need to make sure that it will be competitive for an entire year following it's release. And, for the first time, I can't say that the 4S will be competitive in 9 months.

Just look at this comparison chart whipped up by Engadget and you will see a lot more green (indicating "best" in that particular category) under the Droid Bionic than under the iPhone 4S, and anyone who is a fan of iOS should see that as a huge problem. Yes, hardware isn't everything, but there was a time that Apple had unquestionably the best hardware and software in the smartphone industry, and I don't think you could argue that with the same vigor today. 

Yesterday, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, and everyone else were playing catch-up to Apple and the iPhone. Today, they may no longer have to.

Questions moving forward:

• Will Apple release an "iPhone 5" early next year or will we wait another year?
• How many Sprint customers will flock to the phone? And will it be enough to "save" the carrier from the much larger AT&T and Verizon?
• What new hardware and software improvements will we see when the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich are (likely) announced next week?
• Will WP7 really start being competitive this fall? And what effect would that have on iOS and Android?
• If Apple waits another year to add LTE to the iPhone, how will consumers react in the meantime?
• And most importantly, is today the day we will look back on as the beginning of the decline of the iPhone as the "Jesus phone" brand?

Why I love Android

Look, all these arguments over "open" versus "closed" and "polish" versus "customization" are, quite frankly, all bull shit. The only question you as either a first-time smartphone buyer or someone considering jumping platforms should consider is this one: On which platform will my needs be met and will I be most productive and happy?

For me, the choice is Android. For you, maybe it is iOS, or BlackBerry OS, or even Windows Phone 7. Heck, you might be a-OK with that RAZR you have had since 2005. As long as it suites your needs and makes you happy, don't listen to all this chatter from the fanboys and tech elite trying to convince you that one company or another is "good" or "evil." They have their heads too far up in the clouds to see that not everyone down below agrees with their opinion. Shocking, I know, but some people actually have different likes and interests!

Personally, I like flexibility. I like tinkering. I like making things do stuff that they probably shouldn't be doing. And, probably most of all, I don't like wasting time. I hate going through a million menus to find the button to turn off my WiFi (iOS and to a lesser extent Windows, that's looking at you). I hate being told my desktop or home screen must look a certain way. I cannot stand being told I can't do something on a device I purchased because it might "confuse" other users. Android lets me have complete control over my device and I love it.

With widgets (as shown in my super easy-to-get screen capture from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1), I can access the information I used most often - what is the time, what is the weather, and what is my schedule - without opening a single app. In 2 seconds I have all the information I need 80% of the time. Sure, I probably trade some battery life and perhaps get occasional lag, but overall I save a ton of time and I am happier because of it. With my WiFi on/off widget, it is literally ONE CLICK to toggle my WiFi. And you can do that for nearly any system setting - mobile data, Bluetooth, GPS, brightness.

Those are the kinds of things that are important to me as a user. Not having the sleekest transitions or the most mind-blowingly creative UI. But hey, you might disagree. Good thing not one company (*cough*Apple*cough*) dominates the smartphone market anymore so there is real choice for consumer. You don't like widgets, guess what, buy something else. I promise I won't flame you for it.

Half a million Android devices activated daily

Or, 3.5 million per week or 15 million per month. Absolute insanity when a year ago we were at 100,000 per day. 

Just wait until Android tablets (and maybe iPod Touch competitors?) hit their stride. 

[Twitter]

Half a million Android devices activated daily

Or, 3.5 million per week or 15 million per month. Absolute insanity when a year ago we were at 100,000 per day. 

Just wait until Android tablets (and maybe iPod Touch competitors?) hit their stride. 

Amazon is laying the foundation to own content distribution on Android

Amazon just launched the duo of Cloud Drive and Cloud Player on to an unsuspecting world, and it is just the latest volley as they are looking to unify digital content buying under their banner. They now have all the functionality that Apple provides with iTunes and are unlikely to stop here. Lets do a quick rundown:

• Books, newspapers, and magazines through Kindle
• Android Apps through the Amazon App Store
• Videos through video downloads or streaming
• Music purchasing through the MP3 Store
• Music playing and streaming through Cloud Player

Amazon needs to offer better organization and unification between these services, especially on the mobile front. But they have beaten both Google and Apple to the music streaming game and are even rumored to be working on hardware running Android. Personally, I think they could be the first company to offer a real competitor to the iPod Touch rather than entering the smartphone or tablet market. [Amazon] 

How Samsung can beat Apple at their own game in the tablet market

Samsung dropped quite the little megaton on attendees of their press conference at CTIA today - the redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9. Taken together, they personify Android's core philosophy that openness drives down cost and drives up quality due to competition. Samsung knew back in the early part of this month that anything over $499 wasn't going to cut it for their entry-level device, and boy have they delivered. 

Rather than going over the specs, which can be read in full here straight from Samsung, let me compare the Galaxy Tab 10.1's specs to the iPad 2's-

• Same price
• Comparable processor (as Samsung makes the iPad 2's and iPhone 4's chips)
• Same memory (16GB for $499 model)
• microSD slot lets you add more memory for cheaper (16GB micoSD card costs ~$25)
• Thinner
• Lighter
• Higher-resolution screen. (Apparently screen resolution only matters to Apple when its the iPhone 4)
• Better front and rear cameras
• Full Flash support allows experiencing the full web as currently constructed (HTML 5 is the future, not the present)

Samsung is acutally one of the largest chip and memory manufacturers on the planet. And that isn't all, they also make the screens used in tons of mobile products. They can compete (and perhaps best) Apple on component price thanks to their vertically-integrated supply chain. Apple, for all of their engineering and design wizardry, still largely has to buy their components from 3rd parties (as do other competitors like RIM, HP, and Motorola). So, in a sense, Samsung wins no matter if you by an iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab or even an iPhone or a Nexus S. 

So, hardware is on the side of Samsung. But what about software? Well, for now the iPad 2 is the unquestioned winner in number of tablet-centric apps, but that will even out in time as more and more Android tablets hit the market and they start making a dent in Apple's marketshare. By this time next year I would expect Android tablets to be ahead in overall marketshare. Just look how far Android on phones has come since the launch of the OG DROID back in November 2009 and it doesn't sound so crazy. 

I've said how I was interested in the Xoom but for the mass consumer market, the iPad 2 was simply a much better value considering its $499 price point. But the Galaxy Tab 10.1, upon launch, will be the best tablet on the market in terms of specs and pricing. You simply get more for the same amount of money on the hardware side. Software is still in Apple's favor, but that lead will erode quickly. It is no longer a matter of "if" Android will become the dominant tablet OS, it is a question of "when." 

Oh, and if you do the math a 48GB Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB model plus 32GB microSD card) ends up being less than a 32GB iPad 2. So, so much win. 

The best feature of the iPad 2 is the most obvious - price

Apple today reviled the upcoming iPad 2, and it manages to improve in all the areas the average consumer cares about while ignoring the areas they don't. Front and rear cameras are both in, along with a dual-core processor all packed into a device 33% thinner than its predecessor. But the most impressive feature is that they managed all of these while keeping the $499 price point on the low end. Sure, you can drop $800 on a fully tricked out iPad 2 with 3G and tons of memory. but most people are just fine with the 16GB WiFi model. 

While thought by many at the original iPad's launch to be too high, $499 is a price point no competitor has been able to match in the 10-inch tablet space. And the fact that the device will be shipping to stores around the world on March 11th (just over a week away!) again shows that Apple is the best in the business with regards to their supply chain. So, what are their competitors left to do?

Between the 'walled garden' of iOS and the 'fragmentation' of Android, competitors look for a middle ground

With Symbian all but dead and RIM loosing market share hand over fist, Apple's iOS and Google Android platforms look poised to become the dominate mobile operating systems for the near future. But the two companies have taken radically different approaches to the use of their software. Google has often described their mission as "creating the best version of Android we can and then giving it away" while Apple strictly controls every aspect of iOS. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and neither solution is "perfect" for everyone. In fact, there is a gap between the strategies of the two companies that several competitors are already fighting to occupy.

Epic Fail - Motorola Xoom's $800 price tag

Ok, let's get something clear here: Any competitor to the iPad needs to launch with a low-end, WiFi only model at or below the WiFi iPad's $500. In the mind of the consumer, the iPad is the best (and maybe even only) tablet on the market and you have to both undercut it on price and beat it in specs to convince them to get anything else.

So what do you do if you are Motorola? Well, you price your competitor (and the standard-barer for Android 3.0 I might add) at an astronomical $800, which only undercuts the most expensive iPad you can buy (3G 64 GB model) by $30.  On top of that, you apparently force customers to sign up for at least one month of Verizon data service ($20 for 1GB) probably in the hope that most will forget about the charge and never bother to cancel.

I write over at Android Central, and to say the feedback has been less than positive would be and understatement. Here are some choice quotes from said freedback from the AC article on this news and from the Facebook page:

• "FAIL! Overpriced. Good luck with that Motorola."
• "Xoom = Kin"
• "Wow, are they for real?"
• "That price is ridiculous. I'm out."
• "Lol what a joke. I really shouldn't even be laughing because it's not funny. This is not even acceptable. Not that I was getting one anyway, I'm waiting to see what comes of the G Slate, but this concerns me."

Like that last commentator, this concerns me as well. I'm concerned that the carriers have got the manufacturers convinced that they need 3G in their device to compete with the iPad. I'm concerned that manufacturers look at impressive sales numbers of Android phones and take similar sales of Android tablets for granted. I'm concerned that the passiveness of Google when carriers and manufactures twist Android to serve their own greed will cause restrictions like this to become the expected, not the exception. And I'm concerned that all the mindshare gains that Android has made over the past year will start becoming undone thanks to unabashed corporate greed and stupidity. 

That all being said, Motorola did not officially announce any price yet. What we know so far is based on pricing from a leaked Best Buy flyer obtained by Engadget. So, Motorola, you still have a chance to make this right. Price the 3G version at or under $700 and get a WiFi only version at that $499 price point. You've already seen what the reactions from the Android fanboys are, do you really think the average consumer will react any better?

And if all of this ends up being true, I might take my tablet purchasing dollars elsewhere. Namely, HP and Palm, who by all indications actually know what they are doing. 

Android 3.0 Honeycomb impressions

Google has finally shown off their tablet-centric version of Android, and it is quite a looker. As opposed to what we have seen from Apple or even Microsoft in the tablet space, Honeycomb represents a complete UI overhaul of Android. Not only that, it may change what image people associate in their mind with the word "tablet."

While we are still waiting on HP and Palm to show off what they are doing to webOS for tablets, it is clear that Honeycomb will be far better at multitasking than anything else on the market. Honeycomb one of the best features of OS X - the menu bar across the top of the screen that updates dynamically based on what program you are using - and put an Android twist on it. Now you will see things like copy & paste options or share links at the top of the screen, rather than hidden past a menu button press. You also have buttons for your apps and homescreen customization along the top-right.

Along the bottom there are back, home, and multitasking buttons. The multitasking button is similar to the "preview" feature in Windows 7 when you hover over an active application in the taskbar. It also is somewhat similar to what RIM is doing with the PlayBook, but seems much quicker and more useful as it only takes up one side of the screen and can be accessed at any time without leaving an app. This feature finally brings quick and easy multitasking to mobile devices.

Also completely redone are notifications. Again, Google seems to have taken a couple cues from the Growl notification service in OS X but expanded it significantly. Notification pop up in a manner similar to phone versions of Android but are now located in the bottom left. They also allow larger previews than before and can even allow direct user interaction. Google showed the notification for the music player bringing up a set of controls for quick play/pause or fast-forwarding.

I have been very hesitant to jump on the tablet bandwagon because I have seen them as merely a content consumption device rather than a content creation device. But I think that the changes and improvements made to the Honeycomb UI open the door for it to become the first true tablet OS capable of content creation. All I need is for someone to make a robust text document editing program so I can write on the fly while being able to switch back to my browser or other apps in no more time than it would take me to alt-Tab in Windows or command-Tab in OS X.

So, Google, how about that native Google Docs app?

Check out the full video of Google's Honeycomb event here.

Fanboy time: a list of iOS features Android had first

So, the Verizon iPhone is all kinds of official. And without a doubt it will be a huge success with millions of people buying it and being satisfied while using it. And it is a great phone by any metric. When the iPhone came out in 2007 it was easily the best phone on the market and has only gotten better with time.

That being said, Apple gets a lot of undo credit for innovation these days. Android -- and other mobile operating systems -- has had numerous features that took years in many cases for Apple to get around to adding to their mobile OS. Here is a quick rundown:

• Copy and paste
• Custom wallpapers (seriously, even dumb phones have had this for years)
• Quick global search
• Folders
• Fast app switching
• Multi-tasking
• Front-facing camera for video calling (Evo 4G came out ~20 days before the iPhone 4)
• WiFi hotspot 
• Voice commands (still not implemented to the best of my knowledge)

What Apple does, they do very well. I doubt you would ever find someone that says and Apple product isn't easy to use the first time you lay your hands on it. Well, maybe not for long-time Windows users who can't comprehend the close, minimize, and expand buttons being on the left and not the ride side of a window. That said, Apple products are overall elegantly designed and easy to use. But that is only because Apple picks and chooses exactly what features you will have on your device. Apple does not innovate so much as simplify what others have already done in many cases. They go for ease of use over functionality.

And lets not forget Android still has numerous other software advantages such as widgets, custom launchers, open software development, live wallpapers, and deep integration with gmail and other Google services. Top that off with hardware innovation like 4G radios, larger screens, multiple form factors, microSD card support, and replaceable batteries.

And that's why I'm more than happy to keep using my Droid Incredible and throw down widgets on my 3.7 inch screen to my heart's content. 

Why 2011 will decide the 'winners' and 'losers' in mobile

I'll just come out and say it: 2011 will probably be the most important year in the history of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). Let's run down the list of why:

• Verizon iPhone : The largest carrier in the US gets the most popular phone in the world. Once this happens, Apple will have few remaining places to expand but will get ~100 million potential new customers. 
• Gingerbread and beyond : Android is closing the gap in UI thanks to Matias Duarte (interview with Engadget from CES). In addition, OEMs continue to push the limit of hardware with larger screens, 4G radios, and dual-core processors. 
• Palm is back : HP and Palm are set to announce a wide array of new devices in early February. People have been clamoring for over a year for new hardware from Palm, and they are finally ready to deliver now that they are flush with HP's cash. 
• Microsoft is alive : Despite a slow start, WP7 mixes the best of Android (many form factors) with the best of iOS (unified UI experience across all devices). Plus, Microsoft has the cash to make WP7 work.
• RIM wakes up : The Playbook is a step in the right direction - towards consumers and away from business. Now, they just need to start pushing phones with the new QNX OS. If they don't act soon, many of their users will jump ship.
• Nokia's last chance : The European giant has been floundering in the high-end market for years. Now is time for them to put out or shut up. Losing means being regulated to the low-end (and low-profitability) market. 
• The tablet is cometh : I was wrong -- I didn't think the iPad would be a big success outside the nerd rings. But with tablets coming from every side (Android, webOS, QNX), expect to see them become the new netbook. 

In addition, the smartphone market as a whole is set to explode in 2011. Android alone is activating 300k devices per day and it is not hard to imagine that number reaching 500k or more by this time next year. Add in Apple, Palm, and all the other manufacturers and it is not unreasonable to imagine north of 1 million smartphones being activated around the world ever day. Toss in tablets and PMPs like the iPod Touch and we could be there sooner than anyone thinks.