Monthly Archive:: April 2013

"The first Google-influenced Motorola phones will start to appear in the second half of 2013, Wicks said, and if you like smaller form-factor devices or stock Android, you're going to be excited." This is exactly what the market needs, to be honest. Stock Android phones straight from Google that aren't Nexus devices. Nexus devices are nice, but are available in a limited set of countries only, and the Nexus 4 is continuously out of stock. Hopefully Motorola will do a better job on the availability front.

Microsoft's Terry Myerson, corporate vice president of Windows Phone, talks about the competition. "With iPhone, I sense that it's running out of steam. With iOS, just added a fifth row of icons. Android is... kind of a mess. Look at Samsung - there's clearly mutiny going on. The only OEM making money off of Android is Samsung." There's truth to all these statements, which makes it all the more surprising that Microsoft appears to be unable to properly capitalise on them. Sure, WP appears to be doing well in a few select markets, but by no means the kind of success Microsoft and (Nokia) was banking on. Microsoft will pull through. Nokia on the other hand...

This is interesting. "Microsoft is planning to change the way its Start Screen operates with the release of Windows 8.1. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed to The Verge that the company is currently testing builds of Windows 8.1, known as codename Windows Blue, that include an option to boot directly to the traditional desktop. We're told that the option is disabled by default, allowing users to simply turn on the functionality should they want to avoid the 'Metro' Start Screen at initial boot or login." This won't disable Metro; the hot corners, task switching, and everything else that makes up Metro is still there. All this does is load up the classic desktop as the first application upon boot. Update: The Start button might be returning too.

The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.

"In the past five years, flash memory has progressed from a promising accelerator, whose place in the data center was still uncertain, to an established enterprise component for storing performance-critical data. It's rise to prominence followed its proliferation in the consumer world and the volume economics that followed. With SSDs, flash arrived in a form optimized for compatibility - just replace a hard drive with an SSD for radically better performance. But the properties of the NAND flash memory used by SSDs differ significantly from those of the magnetic media in the hard drives they often displace. While SSDs have become more pervasive in a variety of uses, the industry has only just started to design storage systems that embrace the nuances of flash memory. As it escapes the confines of compatibility, significant improvements in performance, reliability, and cost are possible."

You can say what you will about Windows Phone and Windows 8's Metro interface (I refuse to drop that name) - it's inefficient, unpopular, cumbersome, beautiful, ugly, organised, clean, limiting - but there's one thing we can all agree on: it's unique and distinctive. CNet has published a profile of Microsoft's Albert Shum, the man behind Metro, and he highlights what I think is at the very core of Microsoft's problems in mobile right now.

"The OFT has launched an investigation into whether children are being unfairly pressured or encouraged to pay for additional content in 'free' web and app-based games, including upgraded membership or virtual currency such as coins, gems or fruit. Typically, players can access only portions of these games for free, with new levels or features, such as faster game play, costing money." Instances of this may be illegal, especially when it targets children. As for me - I just find it incredibly annoying.

As I'm working on a long and detailed article about Psion and Symbian (similar in setup to the Palm article), I need to dive into a number of devices that I have never personally owned. One of the devices that was atop my list was what I think is the ultimate Symbian device: the Nokia E7 - the last of the long line of Communicators, released in early 2011. While more detailed information about it will find its way into the Psion/Symbian article, I figured it'd be interesting to give a few first impressions.

"Beneath the sheen of do-gooder ideology, FairSearch can be most charitably described as a Google watchdog. It seeks to fan the flames of disapproval where they've started organically, originate them where they haven't, and generally disseminate negativity toward the Google brand. Think of it as a PR firm working to destroy rather than create goodwill." To make matters worse, FairSearch' work isn't even very good.

"A trade association that represents Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Oracle has come out in support of a controversial cybersecurity bill that is slated to be voted on in the House next week. In a letter sent to the leaders of the House Intelligence panel on Wednesday, TechNet CEO Rey Ramsey said the cybersecurity bill addresses the need for industry and government to be able to send and receive information about cyber threats to one another in real time." As I've said before - legal or no, stuff like this is corruption.

"The parties have no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute; they instead are using this and similar litigation worldwide as a business strategy that appears to have no end," US District Judge Robert Scola said, "That is not a proper use of this court." Judge Scola knows what's up. "Without a hint of irony, the parties now ask the court to mop up a mess they made by holding a hearing to reduce the size and complexity of the case," he adds, "The court declines this invitation." Always fun to see stuff like this. Oh, one more? He calls their conduct "obstreperous and cantankerous conduct".

"A recent poll by MKM Partners reveals that an overwhelming 83% of Americans do not know that BlackBerry has launched their new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone or new Blackberry 10 platform. The company's trouble does not just include marketing woes. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 50% of customers have returned their BlackBerry smartphones after trying out the platform. That is not to say that BlackBerry hasn't reached the top of any list. We learned today that BlackBerry is the most undesirable smart phone, learning that 71% of people would not consider the BlackBerry under any circumstances." BlackBerry denies the return rate figures, but that still leaves the others. This is devastating.

"Google announced an update to its Google Play mobile app on Android - its online store for apps, music, books, magazines, movies and TV shows - today, one that is aimed at cleaning up the UI and optimizing it for different device types. It's a model of clarity and discoverability, not to mention scalability, features that are sorely lacking in Microsoft's Windows Store." As a Surface RT owner, I couldn't agree more with Paul Thurrott.

After Microsoft's extortion racket has failed to stop Android, and after Oracle's crazy baseless lawsuit failed to stop Android, and after Nokia adopting Windows Phone failed to stop Android, Microsoft, Nokia, and Oracle are now grasping the next straw in their fruitless efforts to stop Android: they've filed an antitrust complaint with the EU, claiming Google unfairly bundles applications with Android.