Category: Android

A New Phone – Galaxy S4, but not really by choice

I finally upgraded my phone last week, having given up my previous phone when I switched employers at the end of June. My previous phone was a Windows phone (a LG Optimus Quantum), which I really liked, but it was 2 and a half years old, showing its age, and stuck on Windows 7.8.

I struggled for quite a while trying to decide what phone to get. A big challenge is that I do not really use a phone as a phone very much. Almost all of my communications is email, sms, Facebook, Twitter, etc., all which I could do as well or better on a small tablet (except SMS). Still, I do need a phone sometimes, just not very often.

My first choice was to get a new Windows 8 phone, because I love the whole Windows Phone user experience. Unfortunately, there a number of obstacles to getting a Windows Phone:

  • All of the Windows phones on the market here in Canada are almost a year old, which is pretty old in this market. The only new activity is with the Lumia line, which unfortunately only available from Rogers in Canada (and I absolutely, positively will NOT do business to Rogers).
  • The carrier I deal with primarily is Bell, and Bell’s interest in Windows phone has always been marginal at best. There is one device listed on their web site, and none available locally at their retail outlets.
  • Microsoft’s whole story on Windows Phone scares the crap out of me. I have no confidence in their commitment to the platform, and no confidence that if I buy a Windows Phone 8 device now that I won’t be orphaned in 6 months.

So, Windows Phone was pretty much a non-starter this time around.

So, I started looking at Android devices (I am not quite crazy enough to drink the Apple koolaid yet!). I was primarily considering three devices:

  1. Galaxy Note 2
  2. Galaxy Note 8
  3. Galaxy S4

As most who know me know really well, I love devices that I can write on. Hence my interest in the Galaxy Note products.

I was really excited in late June and early July when I read that the LTE version of the Note 8 was coming to Canada, and that it supports phone calls. Yes, I know, it would be a big-ass phone, but for the amount I use it as a phone, it would be fine (with a bluetooth headset, or in hands-free mode in the car). Unfortunately, the version released in Canada does not support phone calls (we are screwed once again – not sure if this is Samsung’s decision, or Canada’s carriers, or the CRTC, but it really pisses me off!) So my dream of having a single device covering all of my needs was dashed.

I also gave serious consideration to the Note 2. While it does support handwriting, it is a little too small to really be useful for document review, note-taking, etc. In addition, the Note 2 is approaching obsolescence with the Note 3 rumoured to be due out in a few months. Again, not crazy about the idea of being stranded on last-generation hardware. Finally, it is a little big as a phone. In a way, it is a “worst of all worlds” device, being too small to be a good tablet and too big to be a good phone.

So in the end, I went ahead with the S4 (despite the fact that Canada got screwed on the processor). I have had it for a few days now, and while the user experience does not come close to Windows Phone, it is adequate. The camera is a huge leap from my previous phone, especially the low-light performance. I am just discovering the apps that I like (beyond the basics that I found right away). One thing that is annoying (though I knew about it before buying) is the amount of storage taken up by the OS + Samsung bloatware. On a 16 gb device, to have over half of it taken up by the OS and vendor components that cannot be uninstalled is just sick. I immediately picked up a memory card, and that alleviates the problem somewhat, but it is still annoying.

I may post a more thorough review once I know better how I feel about the device.

 

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Windows 8 Adoption: My Predictions

With Windows 8 rumoured to go RTM near mid-year, and released before year end, I thought I would hazard a few predictions about its acceptance/adoption:

The new Windows 8 Start Screen, making use of ...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  1. Apple users will hate it. Why? Because it is not from Apple, and nothing cool can from from anyone but Apple.
  2. Linux users will hate it. Why? Because it is from Microsoft, and Microsoft is the root of all that is evil in the universe. Oh, and it has a GUI.
  3. Android users will hate it. Again, because it comes from Microsoft.
  4. Many Microsoft fans will love it, but will be afraid to admit it in front of their “cool” Apple and Android friends.
  5. Microsoft Marketing will fail. I hope this is not the case, but the last half dozen years or so leads me to believe that Microsoft cannot communicate with consumers (except XBox consumers, and gamers are a little different anyway)
  6. Other than on a tablet or other touch device, no one will upgrade to Windows 8 until they absolutely have to (unless I am wrong and Microsoft marketing hits it out of the park).

I don’t think these are particularly high risk predictions!

P.S. – I personally really like Windows 8 and the Metro UI (not crazy about the HTML5 + JavaScript development model, though).

Windows 8 tablets secret weapon: OneNote and inking | ZDNet

Windows 8 tablets secret weapon: OneNote and inking | ZDNet.

This has always been my view of Microsoft’s tablet strength, and the competitors’ glaring weakness. For me, without a viable input method (and the onscreen keyboard is not a viable input method for anything more than 140 characters), existing tablets are nothing more than one-way consumption devices.

I, too, used slate tablets + OneNote for all of my note-taking. Not just in meetings, but when I was brainstorming, researching new ideas, collecting and annotating content from the Web, etc.

I have OneNote notebooks with every note I took from 2003 through 2008, all searchable, and all with me all the time. The only reason I stopped was because my slate tablet died a slow death, and all of the newer Tablet PCs I have tried are complete crap for handwriting (mostly because of the introduction of and focus on touch).

However, this is just me, and the way I work. As I discussed in a previous post, this is not the case for millennials (or however you want to label the up-and-coming generation). For my kids, handwriting is awkward and slow. They would much rather type things, even on smartphone keyboards, or onscreen keyboards. Writing is an absolute last resort. Look also at the fact that a number of education departments are now removing cursive writing from the curriculum. For better or worse, in the next generation, handwriting may become almost unknown.

So for Microsoft, Windows 8, tablets, and handwriting, it will ultimately come down to (as it almost always does) answering the question who is your target market?. If Microsoft is going after the same people who buy iPads, and Android slates, then handwriting may not be much of an advantage at all.

In fact, it may just make those people think “more old fashioned stuff from Microsoft”.

Microsoft is evil, lame, and sucks, right?

WRONG!

Give me a freaking break!

I was just reading a post over on TechCrunch. I do not know why I allow myself to get drawn into reading this drivel, but I always seem to.

When are the anti-Microsoft crowd going to grow up and realize that this is a business, and we are all in it to make money and increase the value of that business.

(including, of course, Google and Apple – but it is somehow ok for them)

For those who do not want to waste time and bandwidth reading the actual post, I will summarize a bit:

  • Microsoft participated in the consortium which purchased the “Nortel Patents”, even though MS apparently did not need to
  • Microsoft is pursuing licensing agreements with Android phone vendors based on other IP which MS already had
  • Microsoft stands to make a lot of money from these agreements
  • Microsoft is obviously “lame” for doing this (seriously, who actually uses the term “lame” anymore?)
  • Microsoft is doing this (obviously) because they cannot compete with Android by being innovative.
  • It would be OK if Apple were doing this, since Apple can do no wrong

So lets take a look at this from a more realistic point of view.

  • Microsoft is a business. It is in business to make money, and increase shareholder value. Period.
  • Microsoft owns certain patents. A lot of them. It owned this IP before participating in the Nortel deal.
  • Microsoft felt that participating in the consortium to buy the Nortel patents was valuable in terms of protecting its IP position.

So far so good. Lets look at the Android situation.

  • Android (apparently) infringes upon a number of patents which Microsoft owns. I am not in a position to assess this, but I would suspect there is some validity to the claim or Android phone vendors would not be signing agreements with MS without fighting.
  • If this is the case, Google is making money selling something for which they do not have clear intellectual property rights. And this is somehow Microsoft’s fault?

The statement is made that Android is winning because Google “out-innovates” Microsoft. Lets compare the two:

  • Google has a mobile phone OS named Android, based on an existing open-source OS, using a programming model which some believe they do not have valid IP rights to, and using a UI paradigm which clearly borrows heavily from another famous mobile phone (though I do think Android improves on it).
  • Microsoft, after lagging for a long time, has introduced a new mobile phone OS, written from the ground up, using a unique UI model which is clearly theirs, and with a development environment to which they own the IP, and which is also highly innovative.

Whether WP7 succeeds or fails, and whether you happen to like it or not, from an innovation perspective it is clearly well beyond Android.

So what is Microsoft’s strategy? Well, it appears to be two-pronged.

Having invested heavily in innovation, they are clearly focused on the future of WP7. They intend it to be a success. Whether or not they are successful is more a question of their timing and marketing ability than their level of innovation.

At the same time, Microsoft has quite rightly taken action to preserve the value of its intellectual property. They have also leveraged their ownership of this IP to make money and increase shareholder value.

It seems to me like Microsoft is doing exactly what a business is supposed to do, and doing it well in this case.

Finally, I just have to comment on this little snippet form the post:

“When Apple takes these agressive (sic) approaches on patents, it’s no more right, but at least they can argue that they have a winning product (the iPhone) that they’re trying to protect. Their goal isn’t to get other companies licensing their patents, it’s to run those guys out of the market”

At least he acknowledges that Apple is “no more right” than anyone else in this process. It is the final statement that gets me. So, it is more admirable to crush your competitors and drive them out of business than to license technology to them, allowing both parties to survive and make money?

Of course it is, since we all know it is better to only have one choice in the market, as long as that choice is Apple!

(in case that was too subtle for any of you, that was sarcasm )