Eames

Nokia + WP7

Nokia showed off their first Windows Phone 7 phones on October 26. Nokia introduced several models but most notably is the Nokia Lumia 800 which is basically the N9 with WP7 slapped on it. I tweeted a few months ago when Nokia announced the deal with Microsoft that this might help both companies to boost their sales in the U.S. and Europe. WP7 might get more exposure in Europe by being on a Nokia phone and Nokia might get more exposure in the U.S. because of WP7. I still believe in that statement, but unfortunately there are still some unknowns.

The Lumia 800 features a 3.7" AMOLED screen, 1.4GHz cpu, 8 Mega-pixel camera with Carl Zeist lens and 16GB of storage. So specs wise the phone is not bad. The biggest missing feature is the lack of the front facing camera. This is somewhat of a curious decision by Nokia because the N9 did have it and Microsoft just purchased Skype, which I assume will be baked in WP7 at some point. I have never used the fron-facing camera on my phone but I understand if that will be a dealbreaker for some people.

There are no release dates yet announced of when we will see the new Nolkia phones in the USA. But Nokia did mention LTE and CDMA phones so I am assuming it will come to at least Verizon. Verizon needs it since they only have WP7 in their lineup and although not a bad phone it's not the best WP7 you can get at this moment. Hopefully there are more carriers in the USA that will pick up these Nokia phones. Nokia has never had a strong presence in the US unlike in Europe. But hopefully Microsoft will be able to push some of these wireless carriers to sell their phones.

I don't think Nokia is the one that will save WP7. I think it will boost the platform by bringing some nice looking smart phones to the WP7 lineup. Hopefully other phone manafacturers will follow the design queues. Microsoft is in the mobile space for the long haul, unlike HP and their WebOS. Trust me when I say that Microsoft wants all their future products to all gel together and in a sense look like a unified product line. This will create a halo effect, which means that people that have one Microsoft product are inclined to buy another one product based on that product. Xbox users will lean towards a WP7 device, WP7 users will lean towards an Xbox for their home entertainment etc. Windows users will also not feel left out with the upcoming Windows 8 which will have elements found in WP7 and the new, not yet available, Xbox dashboard.

Microsoft got the better end of the deal with Nokia. This Nokia deal will in no way hurt Microsoft. But this might hurt Nokia since they are putting all their eggs in one basket. Hopefully Nokia has other means to survive because I am not sure if Nokia has the means to be as patient with WP7 as Microsoft is.

Source: Nokia press release

The Future According to Microsoft

The Problem With Android Part 2

I said my thing in part 1 but wanted to visualize the problem for you. This is a nice chart from the understatement.com. Enjoy!

source

The Problem With Android

Google, 6 days ago, revealed Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). This is Google's next major update for the Android platform and the source code will be released soon. Everything I have seen so far of ICS I like. Google did a great job with this update and focused on redesigning the user interface and making Android more consistent across the board. Google for the first time is focusing on the user experience and it shows.

So where is the problem you might ask? The problem is not with ICS. In fact ICS is the first Android version that I would not have a problem with having as my main OS. But I would still not give up iOS for Android and here is why. 

Apple designs the OS with consumers in mind and gives that OS directly to the consumers. Google designs the OS with manufacturers, developers and consumers in mind and does not give the OS directly to the consumers. In fact Google makes Android 4.0 and gives it to HTC, Motorola, Samsung etc. and the phone carriers, who in turn put their own skins, widgets and apps on it before giving it to the consumer. The consumer, in all practicality, can not get a stock ICS phone and is stuck with all the extra stuff on their phones. The Galaxy Nexus is the only exception and will be the only Android phone in the next 12 months that comes with stock ICS.

But if you don't buy the Galaxy Nexus then your guess is as good as mine when you will get the official 4.0 update for your phone, sometimes it's not a matter of when but if you will even get the update. For example ,the Droid Razr, was never guaranteed to get the 4.0 update and who knows about 5.0. In fact I know some Android users who still have not received the Android 3.0 update and that update has been out for almost a year now. Imagine buying a phone and six months later there is a new OS update out for it, but you can't update your phone for another year after the update is available. That is ridiculous and to be fair to Google they can't at this moment do anything about that.

And that's the problem with Android. Google created an open OS and gives hardware manufacturers, carriers and developers freedom to do whatever they want with it. That means that Android will be successful because it will be used on lots of handsets, which Side note Side note good for Google. But that also means that consumers will get an average phone experience because hardware manufacturers will put their junk on it, carriers will put their junk on it and developers can make their apps look like whatever they want because there are no strict guide lines for the user interface in apps.

So my advise is counter-intuitive to the whole Android ethos. Google needs to tighten up Android. Google needs to be picky what happens with their Android OS. At minimum, Google should force hardware manufacturers and carriers to put an "uninstall all extras and make it stock Android" option on their phones. Apple and Microsoft both take the locked approach and deliver overal, in my opinion, a better experience for the consumer, at least an experience that Apple and Microsoft control. Google does not have that same control and is at the mercy of hardware manufacturers and phone carriers. I trust Google to give me a good experience but you are not trusting Google when buying an Android handset, you are trusting the manufacturer and phone carrier for your experience, and so far that has not been a good one.

Side note: Rooting your phone and putting a stock version of Android on it can be done most of the time. But to say that's the norm or even a good user experience is a false statement. 

Update on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 4:24PM by PvR

21-Month-Old Nexus one is too old for ICS update.

This is just one example I am talking about in my post. As Gruber points on his blog:

The Nexus One was released in the U.S. in January 2010, and in Europe in May 2010. (The iPhone 3GS was released in June 2009, and just got an upgrade to iOS 5.)