You don’t need an iPad. If you have one, it is very likely that you have at least one full PC or Mac in your house that you use on a regular basis in addition to your iPad. There has been a craze as of late that was started by the original iPad last year, for a large flat smart phones. Of course, that is all the iPad and its closes Google rivals are. They take the basis of the smart phone you carry in your pocket, and they make it physically larger. It is easier to use the touchscreen interface when the screen is so much larger. My friend who loves his iPad, often tells me that he loves being able to sit on his couch and pick up his iPad and browse the web or look at email – not that I have ever had any trouble doing that with my laptop. He will begrudgingly admit that it wasn’t that much of a pain to do that with his laptop either. It is just ever so slightly more convenient to do on an iPad.

I am not beating up on the iPad, far from it, it is a very cool little electronic gizmo. However, it does not take long to see some problems with the iPad and its Google counterparts that haven’t been addressed with the latest releases of either platforms. Spend some time crunching numbers, comparing documents, typing, or anything else that requires a lot of interaction and the lack of both a keyboard and multi-tasking become serious issues. I understand Google supports multi-tasking, but moving between running apps is cumbersome and comparing two apps side by side is nearly impossible. That doesn’t even touch on things like printing and file sharing, which aren’t done well natively on either device.

What has happened is that Apple has found a way of separating you from at least $600 for a device that can do nothing more than your laptop. The Google tablets are just as expensive. We are quite quick to forgive the obvious shortcomings of these tablets but we give no leeway to our old business and pleasure partner, the laptop.  The laptop that you can get in a touchscreen, get in Mac, Linux, Windows, and very shortly a Google operating system or any combination of those with the right virtualization software. A laptop that can play, edit, and create music. A computer that is capable of running new and legacy software as well as print from both. A computer that can run 5 different types of browsers that are freely available. A computer that will let you compare a website, an excel document, and your email side by side. A computer that has a keyboard and a mouse. A computer than can do many different things at once and do them all intelligently. I can’t remember the last time that I thought “I wish my laptop was capable of doing xyz” because it can do practically anything that modern computing has to offer. The same cannot be said for any of the current tablet offerings.

If you must know there is a tablet in my household. I bought a $270 Barnes and Noble Nook Color for my wife over the Christmas holiday. She uses it to read books and magazines, browse the web, and play sodoku. Which is very similar to what I have heard people do with the iPad. I like being able to pick up the 7 inch Nook Color to look something up on the Web while I am watching TV. I wish it had an email client, but I can log into Google and my corporate email through the browser. Oddly enough facebook also works in a browser, so I can even update my status on the Nook. Eventually the Nook may be compatible with apps from the google store, under the skin in runs Android 2.1 and there have been rumors of app support coming this summer.

So there it is, I like and use tablets, but I use the regular old computer for most of my needs. I am going to guess most people use the iPad in a similar fashion. I don’t pay a monthly fee (I am looking at you Verizon and ATT) for either my computer or the Nook. The Nook is less than half of most iPads and does 80% of what they can do. For everything else I crack open my still pretty convenient laptop computing machine.

I’d had enough…dropped calls and lack of coverage finally pushed me over the edge (AT&T pun intended and if you got that, color yourself a true geek).
After all, Stonetree Networks is an IT consulting firm and communication and accessibility is ESSENTIAL in our business. Back when we had decided
to move from Verizon to AT&T it was because of the iPhone. At that time there was NOTHING on the market like it. Undeniably, it was truly innovative and it shook up the mobile market. We jumped at the chance to use this new tool in the AT&T toolbox to better do our job.

Fast forward all most 4 years and now that innovation has resulted in a revolution in the mobile market. Google has gotten in on the action with the addition of the Android platform. Combine Android with Verizon’s network and, so far, it’s pretty hard to beat. However, with Verizon only having Android phones since 2009 (the original Droid) and the major hardware manufactures not much longer than that, to say it’s as elegant of an operating system as Apple’s IOS would be a GROSS misrepresentation.

I’ll be honest, I miss my iPhone, in a lot of ways but it’s best summed up in the work elegance. Elegance can be defined as a quality of neatness and ingenious simplicity in the solution of a problem. Android is anything BUT elegant. However, it IS functional, powerful AND customizable. It’s both Android’s strength and weakness. I always like to end on a positive note so I’ll start with what I DON’T like. Let me first start by saying I have a Samsung Fascinate running the 2.1 Android OS. First and foremost: Email on this device using the native client is ATROCIOUS. I have 5 different email addresses for various purposes, Exchange, two MSN accounts, a Gmail account and a third POP account. The native email client on the Android platform handles NONE of them well. At least not for me. My Exchange account would not allow me to browse my sub folders or move items from my inbox into said subfolders, MSN accounts NEVER updated appropriately, Gmail was the only account that worked OK, go figure with Android coming from Google, and my other POP account…same as my MSN account, nada. So, I stand corrected, ONE of my 5 email accounts worked as expected. However, in light of that their are other email clients that I can choose from, which I did. That’s one of Android’s strengths, customization. So I use TWO email clients. Touchdown for Exchange and K9 for my other accounts. Great! But hardly elegant. Oh and did I mention the Exchange client costs 19.99! The iPhone mail client well, it just works. For ALL my accounts. Including sub folders. FOR FREE! The only other gripe I will mention at this time is the myth that the Android operating system is an OPEN platform. There’s a great article about this over at ZDNet by Jason Hiner. Suffice it to say that the OS IS open…to the CARRIERS (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, & Sprint). THEY get to decide what parts of Android you get to use and what functionality they will cripple. They’ll even try and charge you extra for that functionality that was originally intened to be free in Android. Google Maps and Navigation anyone?!?!

Now for what I DO like with Android, text input. The keyboard on the Android system is fantastic, at least on the Samsung Fascinate. It comes with SWYPE AND a microphone for speech to text. LOVE IT! Also, if I press and hold a key that has a letter as well as a number or symbol on it, it will input the number or symbol. No having to press another button to go to the number/symbol keyboard and then press that button to get back to the letters. It’s there if you have a lot of numbers or symbols that you need to enter, but if you only need to enter a number or symbol or two, it’s much more efficient. I’m all about efficient! Also, FREE turn by turn navigation, Verizon is counting on the fact that you won’t know any better and will use their 2.99 a month paid service. Highway robbery! Download Google maps and navigation also gets installed and your off to turn by turn navigation for free. FANTASTIC! Finally, but MOST importantly…call quality and coverage…this has less to do with Android vs. iPhone and more to do with Verizon vs. AT&T. So far, only one dropped call on Verizon, on AT&T…1,347,492 or thereabouts. Seriously…it was terrible. It’s still early but so far, I’m very pleased with the coverage and quality of Verizon.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. For me, it’s the connectivity toolbox of Verizon that is the most important thing and now that Verizon has a worthy tool in that toolbox, i.e., Android, I’m confident that Stonetree will be able to better build our relationships with our clients.

As Dan noted we, as a company, have given up our iPhones for the Samsung Captivate on the Verizon network. If you are contemplating such a move, I have learned from watching my colleagues, how to do a successful migration from one platform to another.

Here it is:

Don’t compare every detail of one to another. ‘That’s an impossible standard. My friends may be thinking “Why did I switch” from the iPhone, meanwhile they get service in all of Denver and a lot of the surrounding mountain areas. Something the iPhone NEVER could do.

Learn the interface. The Android is similar but not the same as the iPhone. The soft buttons have a menu key, one step back, home, and search. Those buttons (besides the home key) are not present in iPhone, they are integral to the Android platform. No matter what screen your on, the pull down menu still functions as well, a useful shortcut to other features of the phone if you don’t want to completely leave the app you are in.

Use Google. Sure other platforms are supported in one way or another, but Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Voice are seamless on the Android platform. If there is left any doubt, using Google Talk is much nicer than text messaging, people on the other end can be on a PC, Mac, OR an Android phone and you can chat with them WITHOUT using precious texts. Google voice can replace VM through Verizon. The speech to text translations can be so wrong that they are silly. However, being able to access them from within a browser at your computer is very nice.

Find things that you can use. Turn by turn NAV, not an essential feature but handy and has saved my butt on a few occasions. Wireless tethering, I am rarely without access to the internet, but when I was (and on the iPhone) it burned me that I could not use my phone as a modem, something Blackberries have been supporting for years. Also, you can have more than one MS Exchange email account, not something most people need but it has come up a few times for me and my clients. The swipe keyboard is pretty interesting, I find myself using the traditional keyboard about half the time.

Use shortcuts. If you know the name of the contact you need, simply dial the numbers that correspond with the first 2 to 3 letters of the name, and you will be greeted by a list of contacts (normally the one you need at the top) to select from. The pull down menu gives you the ability to switch on and off WIFI, GPS, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode. For example, turning off GPS when not needed will effectively double your battey life.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. White have a bluish tint in the Kindle app? Its barely perceivable, and from where I sat not really a drawback. Realistically speaking we are not setting the white balance on a Digital SLR. In fact, one of my screens here has a bluish tint, I notice now that I am paying attention to it. Calendar Apps in Active Sync phones are traditionally not very good. That was one of the top complaints with the iPhone as a matter of fact. The best calendering, in my opinion, is on Blackberries. However, does the calendar function properly? Yes it does.

Forget about iTunes. If you must, you probably also have an iPod, use that instead. If you want to put music on your Android you can just drag and drop music files onto it, which is what we used to do before (yes there were MP3 players BEFORE the iPod) we were introduced to “syncing”. Which is good for me because mysteriously I have used up all 5 of my available computers in iTunes and can’t sync my tunes anymore anyway. Dragging and dropping, or doing the old “click sync” works surprisingly well. If you need to buy music, use Amazon instead. Its less expensive, easy to buy from, and has a HUGE library of tunes available.

Use apps. For example, the Wifi Analyzer for Android (http://sites.google.com/site/farproc/wifi-analyzer) can measure the signal strength of your WIFI access point using a handy meter that works real time, so you can see exactly where signal drops off. This app was mysteriously removed from the Apple App store. I challenge you to find a popular iPhone app that has not been ported to the Android platform.

Remember why you switched. If you didn’t have real problems with the iPhone, you would not have switched. I have had zero reception problems with my Verizon phone. The data is just as quick in Coors Field even IF there were more subscribers than usual in the area, as it is in my home or work.

I don’t have the time and patience to be starry eyed with a product that fails me in basic ways, like making and receiving phone calls.  On that same token, the Fascinate is not perfect. If you are NAV’ing, and you receive a phone call, your phone may or may not lock up completely. That’s something they need to work out soon. Verizon filled my phone with garbage programs I don’t want and worse, can’t uninstall. Sort of like if you bought a Dell from 2002-2005. They need to stop that practice now.

Even though I have complaints, the Fascinate has not failed to make or receive phone calls, and its data coverage is excellent. Its a great phone in most respects, its good enough that I can overlook its shortcomings…for now.

Well, I’ve finally done it. I’m in process of switching everyone at Stonetree from an “all  AT&T/iPhone” based company into a “embracing the new Samsung Fascinate” Android based company.  My reasoning? First, and foremost… cost.  It seems that the folks at AT&T are really proud of their service… if that’s what you call it.

…and second, my personal experience has been that the iPhone 4 is more of an iPod touch that comes with a phone App that “sometimes” makes phone calls… with no guarantee as to who will actually end the call… the caller or AT&T.  I actually do love the iPhone 4 iOS… and the Retina Display is, IMHO, second to none, including a comparison to the new AMOLED screens of the Samsung Fascinate devices we just purchased…

I’m really not sure I have the time to learn a new interface right now… however, I’m excited to realize the benefit of being able to make, hold, and manually terminate my own phone calls without random help from my wireless provider. I’m anxious to see how the switchover goes and will keep everyone updated on any “bumps in the road” I experience… I expect that there may be a few…

The iPhone 4 has a fantastic display. It is sharper and brighter than any previous iPhone and outclasses all other smartphones except for one. I blogged about the silly marketing gimmick Samsung engaged in wherein when one tweeted about iPhone 4 problems, they offered a free Samsung Galaxy S to the disgruntled wireless user. Shortly after hearing about that the Galaxy S was released in the US under the name Captivate. Taking advantage of our growing discontent with the iPhone’s performance, I offered to trade my iPhone for a new Samsung Captivate. Oddly, even thought the box said ‘Captivate’, the actual phone said ‘Galaxy S’. The forward facing camera that is available on the UK and European models is still present, albeit disabled.

Oddities aside I opened up the box, traded the SIM cards out and turned on the phone. Had I been standing I would have been knocked down. The super AMOLED (Active-Matrix organic light emitting diode) display was other worldly. You might think “Well of course, the display of your iPhone 3 was cartoonish” but I reply “No, my bosses have been using the iPhone 4 for weeks” and my comparison is based on the iPhone 4. Super AMOLED technology is similar to the fancy new super thin LED TVs that are all the rage in the market right now. The kinship is obvious. When Verizon releases their version this September, named Fascinate, the memory chip comes pre-loaded with Avatar so that you can be immediately introduced to the AMOLED’s awesomeness. It is hard to describe in words, in short, you have to see it to believe it.

Maybe examples are appropriate. Super AMOLED displays have no backlight. The pixels (I will explain that later) themselves emit the necessary light for the eye to see. On the red eye between Denver and Washington DC I took a couple of weeks ago, I had to hide the display with a blanket so as not to disturb the other passengers. My apple-head bosses, who stood in line for both the iPad (3G and non-3G) and iPhone 4 said nothing when they played with the device. I could tell they were impressed because instead of instantaneously putting the Samsung down and saying “Look what my iPhone 4 can do” they played with the device for 30 minutes before I had to tear it out of their hands, leaving them to the “retina display” on their iPhone 4.

When geeks like myself talk about resolution, we have a specific concept in mind. In light microscopy, resolution is defined as the ability to differentiate between two separate objects. Think about zooming into a picture on your computer, at some point the photo blurs. On screens what we are seeing is pixels, or very tiny dots that form the shapes we see on the screen. The higher the pixel density (Measured in dots-per-inch or DPI) the higher resolution. The iPhone 4 actually has a higher resolution than the Samsung super AMOLED. The iPhone 4 display is extremely sharp, but the shapes appear smaller and more confusing than on the Samsung super AMOLED. Resolution has nothing to do with the ability of the eye to easily recognize two separate objects. This is where the super AMOLED shines, the shapes are not only sharp, but they are relaxing to look at. The iPhone 4 causes my eyes to focus hard to read the screen. Over the long run I would prefer to look at the super AMOLED day in and and day out.

Thats not to say the Samsung is perfect. The GPS on early models (including mine) is defective and we are waiting for a software update to correct the problem. The 5 mega pixel camera underexposes and does not have a flash. This is unacceptable when its main competitor, the iPhone 4, has a flash and forward facing web cam.

I will, soon, have to hand my beautiful phone back in. In a later post I will explain why, but we are ditching ATT for Verizon and since ATT and Verizon use different chipsets, we will be getting all new phones. Luckily for me, the Samsung Fascinate will be available soon, leaving me no doubt about the phone I will have.

According to a report from wired, if you are tired of your iPhone 4′s problems, you are eligible for a free Samsung Galaxy S. What is not clear is whether this is a UK only deal. This is important because in Europe and the UK the iPhone runs on all major networks, not just ATT. If you are a frustrated iPhone 4 user, it may be worth a call to Samsung or ATT to find out if this deal is good for North America as well.

The Galaxy S was first released in the UK and the only comprehensive review I could find is based on the UK version. In March Samsung stated they would be selling the Galaxy S in the United States starting in summer of 2010, which is now. It seems that the Galazy is one of the newer “super” droids like the HTC Incredible (or 4G on Sprint) and Motorola X which have sold by the boatload since their introduction and are generally considered iPhone contenders.

Would you switch to the Android platform from the iPhone if it were free?

*UPDATE*

This phone is available on the US ATT network under the name Samsung Captivate. It is slightly different than the European models, most notably it lacks a forward looking web-cam. The price is quite good at USD 199 with a contract, USD 499 without a contract. Details here.

Recently I have been carrying around two phones. As most of you know, once you marry a cell phone carrier it is like trying to divorce a celebrity, messy, costly, and you have no rights. I was elated when I was given a shiny new iPhone from work, but that did not mean that I was off the hook with Verizon, no sir. After a while I got an offer I could not refuse and I purchased an HTC ERIS phone on the Verizon Network.

Background

Droid software is not limited to one phone like Blackberry is to RIM or Apple is to iPhone. Google quietly released its operating system on HTC phones on the T-Mobile network about two years ago, with almost nobody noticing. Fast forward two years and a huge marketing campaign by Motorola, and droid is now a household name. Soon you will be able to carry a droid programmed phone on any network you wish, eliminating the need to switch networks if you want a smooth smart-phone.

Review – Features

The Droid has a pleasing touchscreen, keyboard, and eraser head compatible interface with motions that mimic Apple’s iPhone, which, for anyone who has ever had an iPhone will attest, is not a bad thing. Droid eliminates the need to learn to use the touchscreen, if you dont like it, buy a phone with a full keyboard. The HTC ERIS has is touchscreen only and it’s accuracy is about on par with Apple’s iPhone and far and away better than anything Blackberry or Microsoft has ever produced.

Email content is delivered via standard POP and IMAP connectors with quick set-up available for Microsoft’s Exchange server and Google’s own gmail platform. Quick shortcut menus allow you to divide all your email accounts in one area so you can pick which e-mail account you want to access from the home screen. Generally I found email to be very reliable, only having to reboot a handful of times when the sync failed for no apparent reason. Emails are easy to read and it underline addresses and phone numbers for quick use, similar to Blackberries.

The browser is the most fully featured mobile browser I have seen. It supports flash smoothly and loads most web-pages as if you were sitting at your computer, forgoing the stripped down “mobile” sites designed for first generation smart-phones. One small widget in the browser automatically senses your location (via cell towers or GPS) and delivers Google search results with local hits first. This was a feature I didn’t know I needed until I had it.

Phone call quality on the HTC (and the Moto Droid, which a friend let me review) was fine to superior. It functioned just fine as a phone and has not yet run into some of the smart-phone bugs I have become used to. For example, the iPhone will often be unable to complete a phone call; I had a Moto-Q running Windows that quite literally would refuse to hang up, making me pull the battery out just to terminate a call. I tried several bluetooth headsets and was able to connect each with no problem.

Apps are delivered via the Google Marketplace which is a gem in the rough for the droid operating system. Almost every conceivable iPhone app has a droid equivalent. Many apps that have been mysteriously purged from Apple’s app store are still available for the droid. Downloading and installing is easy and you are informed of updated via a notification icon, which you can ignore by clearing your notification window. Droid OS 1.6 and higher support Google’s turn by turn GPS which has been 100% accurate in my tests and on occasion even gives me a Google street-view image of my final destination, to make sure I arrived at the proper destination.

The batter life is average to sub-par. I can normally get a whole day out of one charge but if I had a long conversation during the day I find myself frantically looking for my car charger by late afternoon. The Motorola Droid gets better battery life than my HTC, and Samsung claims to have superior battery life on their models. The battery in the HTC and the Motorola is removable, in case you want to carry around a spare.

The HTC ERIS and the Motorola Droid sport a 5 megapixel camera. The HTC does not have flash but the Motorola does. The camera auto focuses and takes surprisingly good photos in automatic mode. Dig in the menu a little bit and you are greeted with things you expect in a real camera, zoom,white balance, focus priority, JPEG quality, and shutter and aperture settings. This phone has completely replaced my iPhone as a mobile camera.

Media is handled differently than in the iPhone. Plug your Droid in and install the appropriate software, your phone will notify you that you need to “mount” the flash drive. Once you agree to that you can copy your mp3 collection to the aptly named “music” folder. The droid will recognize playlists made in Windows Media Player or iTunes and automatically load them into the “playlists” option of the media player.

All droid phones support tethering. I downloaded a free app which successfully tethered my computer to Verizon’s 3G network when I was “in between” internet service providers. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

The Idiosyncracies

Like a lot of Google products, they are brilliant but flawed. The interface can become slow and will sometimes simply not do what you commanded. The touchscreen may need to be calibrated for accurate typing, and I have noticed people who have trouble seeing close up have a doubly difficult time navigating the touch screen. For some reason the email interface in the corporate email (powered my Microsoft’s Active-Sync) is slightly different than the gmail interface, which can be confusing. This is unlike the iPhone which serves a uniform interface no matter the e-mail account. While its nice to have multi-tasking, some software simply does not know when to quit, running the background until the phone is rebooted, no doubt this has a negative impact on battery performance. You can tell Google is run by geeks-at-heart, only they would think that “mounting” the flash drive so your computer can access the file system is a self explanatory process. They should have spent a couple of more minutes in making that automatic.

Pros

- Nice interface

- Good browser

- Business features (Microsoft Exchange, VPN)

- Multi-network

- Google voice integrated

- Best camera on a phone that I have seen

- TETHERING!

- Cool turn by turn navigation

Cons

- Battery life is rubbish

- Interface can slow and stop completely

- Some menus are not very intuitive

- Extra fee for data (Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile)

- Some phones are not sexy at all

- Screen not as large and bright as iPhone

Verdict

The droid operating system is a viable business and personal platform and is a must consider if you are planning on upgrading your smartphone. Its multi-network capability will remove any need to change networks, and its business features (Active-Sync, mobile VPN) are becoming de facto standards for business phones. It automatically syncs to facebook and twitter, making it friendly to the young and socially active.

In case you were wondering, the Motorola droid has been overwhelmingly popular, outselling the iPhone in the first ninety days on sale by a wide margin. This insures that this platform will remain relevant for at least the life of any phone with this software loaded on it.