Life with Me in the middle
mobile
Does RIM have a future with you?
Aug 30th
RIM has had a strong hold of the business market for some time now. In the recent years a surge has been made to push BlackBerry into the consumers way of life. Most would agree that email on the BlackBerry platform remains to be the standard by which all other platforms live up to. The fact is consumers, as well as business users, want more when using smartphones than just push email. Does “is there an app for that” ring a bell?
The new comers to the smartphone world including iOS (iPhone), Android, and even WebOS changed the perception of what a smartphone should look like in most users eyes. Suddenly having a small 480×360 resolution screen with a full qwerty didn’t seem so appealing anymore. When faced with the decision to purchase a personal phone would you choose based on needs or based on what you want?
In the case of RIM I have been noticing a trend of users moving away to more modern devices. When asked why the typical answer is “look at the application selection on this platform”. To me RIM is like a Ducati motorcycle, the colors change and minor fixes are introduced but the general product remains the same. Does RIM have enough dedicated users to remain a contender? In my opinion without a doubt. Your tale may vary.
What are you thoughts? The gates are open
Amplify’d from www.intomobile.com
An article by Dan Frommer on Business Insider prompted me to write this post. In its piece, Dan argues that RIM is the next Palm, pointing out similarities between the two companies. Palm used to sell tons of Treo devices just like RIM does today, but it failed eventually (and was acquired by HP). The big difference between the two is that in addition to devices, RIM is also focused on services and has been acquiring companies left and right to further strengthen its position. However, tough times are ahead of RIM…
First, it’s important to note that RIM doesn’t own patents for GSM or CDMA communications and has to buy those licences for each product it ships. Major handset makers (Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson) do have those patents or at least take advantage of cross-licensing agreements; whereas some other companies like Apple and HTC don’t [own licences]. These two, however, are known for their high-end and mid-range devices (HTC) which bear higher margins (and higher profits).
Second, analysts (and myself) believe BlackBerry devices are slated for the mid-range of the market and that could disrupt RIM’s earning potential. We did hear some rumors about the BlackBerry tablet (which could be a higher-end product), but at the moment it’s unclear who would want such a device — though we still have to see it in action. Moreover, BlackBerry Torch isn’t selling like crazy…
And, third – increased competition, not only from the iPhone but from an array of Android handset makers.
So what should RIM do to save its ass? Switching to Android is one of the options, and that’s probably their best bet. On the other hand, they invested tons of cash in their own platform, so I doubt that will happen… at least not that fast.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/9g48
Nokia makes the 5250 a reality
Aug 24th
Love it or hate it a Symbian^1 phone at this price point will easily become an instant hit. At $150 unlocked you are not going to find a much better phone. What do you think, will this be a success for Nokia?
Amplify’d from www.boygeniusreport.com
Today, Nokia made the music-centric, full touch-screen 5250 handset official. The device will include a 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen with 640 x 360 resolution (16:9 aspect ratio), 512 MB of RAM, quad-band GSM, 2 megapixel camera, micro-SD card slot (expandable up to 16 GB), FM radio, and will be powered by Symbian^1. As an added bonus, your 5250 will come pre-loaded with Guitar Hero 5 Mobile. The device will be available in Q4 and will retail for 115€ (~ $150 U.S.). Hit the read link for the full press announcement.
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/9yxXka
At what point will dumb-phones no longer be considered dumb
Aug 24th
Every day more and more consumers are upgrading to “smartphones”. Some knowingly, others because their friend’s friend has one just like it and they feel compelled to fit in. Will the time come when dumb-phones no longer exist? Even today if we evaluated the usage of the so called feature phones you would easily see that the majority of them can handle social feeds, email and more. So one has to question where is the line drawn when it comes to defining the categorization of mobile phones.
In the past these notions were always based on what operating system the phone was running. Now that this line has been blurred is there really a difference?
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cnh4qS
Updating your firmware on Vodafone can potentially void your warranty
Aug 23rd
If you want to upset several of your account holders the best way to do it is to hold them back from something that people on other services can freely have. There are of course two sides of every story, this instance is no different.
Android in many carriers eyes is a cash cow. Users are standing in line to purchase the new handsets because of the new flashy operating system. The problem is that with the growth of the mobile market carriers are having a hard time keeping up with the massive growth in required resources. To help manage this carriers typically have their own “approved” versions of firmware for each device on their network. By doing so they can limit the impact an open firmware might have on their network. Wrong or right they have every legal right to do this. Sure, you might have to wait out a firmware update but this is the price you pay for a locked phone.
What are your thoughts? The gates are open
Amplify’d from www.unwiredview.com
Samsung Galaxy S official firmware update can void your Vodafone warrantyRead more at www.unwiredview.com
Being a Vodafone customer sometimes sucks. After delaying the Android 2.2 Froyo update for the HTC Desire (the update should finally arrive today), Vodafone UK is now doing another thing that upsets some users.
Talking about a recent Galaxy S firmware update, the carrier says, on its official forum, that “any firmware that hasn’t been released by us does invalidate the warranty directly with Vodafone.”
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/93j7
AT&T Announces new data plans
Jun 2nd
In effort to lower data pricing AT&T has announced new lower data plan rates. Along with the lower pricing model comes choice, which for many will be a relief. In the past if you wanted a smartphone data plan you had one option. With the newly tiered structure you have a choice of 2 tiers with a option to use as much as you want, for a fee of course.
| Plan | Price | Overage | Options |
| DataPlus | $15 | $15 per 200MB | Unlimited WiFi |
| DataPro | $25 | $10 per 1GB | Unlimited WiFi |
| Tethering | {Plan} + $20 | Not disclosed | Unlimited WiFi |
Now that we have the numbers in front us let us do a little math to see if we are actually saving money with these new data plans. Each equation will be calculated based on average users, which AT&T claims is 98% of its user base.
Average Joe with smartphone
Imagine you are an average person that currently uses their phone for email and to browses occasionally to look for movie show times, Facebook, Twitter etc. . With normal usage you would typically stay well under 200 MB of data. Even with a couple of attachments via email you would easily stay safely in this threshold. With the new data plans you you would save an estimated $15 a month, before tax and fees of course.
Now let’s take into account that you go on vacation and snap pictures left and right. You are excited and want to start posting them to your favorite publishing services. During this trip you also find yourself browsing and using Geo applications more often to find out what is going on around you in this unfamiliar territory. Before you know it you have reached that 200 MB threshold and an additional $15 is appended to the end of your bill. You are now looking at $30 worth of data fees for the month versus $15.
In this instance you pay slightly more for the month you need it but once you get back home you return to your lower tier at $15 a month. Sounds like a great deal to me.
| Plan | Estimated Yearly Cost | Usage in MB |
| DataPlus | $180.00 + tax | 2400 MB |
Social Network Junky/Road Warrior/Business User
The first thing this user will scoff at is the fact that they go through 200 MB during breakfast while streaming video, music, and uploading the picture of their breakfast to their favorite sites. In reality they aren’t using near as much data as they think they are. Last month with T-Mobile and AT&T combined I used under 1GB of data. I consider myself in the above category yet look at my numbers. I stream Last.FM while I walk and upload pictures almost daily. My twitter and Facebook feeds are running 24/7 and I get well over 200+ emails daily. Still think you need unlimited data?
Lets assume you average 1.5 GB a month which is heavy usage by most standards. With the new DataPro data plan you would be paying $25 a month versus the current $30 a month. I admit the savings are modest and you lose over 3GB of usage however with this new model you pay for what you need. With the new data plans you will have to be more responsible with how you use and monitor your usage. To me this isn’t a bad thing. The trouble comes in when you do a direct comparison to what your accustomed to having available. If you are a user that uses every last MB of their current 5GB capped “unlimited” plan you would be looking at the following: $25 base price + $10 (1GB) + $10 (1GB) + $10 (1GB) = $55 a month in data charges. Suddenly the feeling of saving money is a thing of the past.
For a user that typically uses less than $2GB a month the overall savings a year will be a $60 ($5 *12 months). If you use on average more than 2GB a month you are going to significantly raise your data cost per year with these news plans.
| Plan | Estimated Yearly Cost | Usage in MB |
| DataPro | $300 | 24576 |
Blackberry Roots Grow Deep
May 3rd
For many of us the first smartphone we owned was either a S60 or Blackberry. For the business users that demanded real time email there was no other option than the Blackberry. For those that demanded a more fully rounded operating system that excelled in media production and full web browsing on a mobile you were a S60 user. Times have changed and so have preferences towards how we setup and use our phones.
I was a an avid Blackberry fan for close to 5 years before I dropped my crackberry habit and moved to S60/Symbian and now that has been combined with iPhone as well as Android. You could call me well rounded, others may think I don’t know what really works for me. Personally I know exactly what works for me and currently no one phone can offer me that. My ideal setup allows me to mix my personal and business requirements into one device and still be productive with both. I had all but given up on Blackberry as a platform of choice but felt the need to give it one more try to see if has matured over the years of my absence.
With a new Blackberry Bold 9700 in hand and zero time to spend learning the new features I jumped right in to see how it fit my lifestyle. Like S60/Symbian and Windows Mobile, Blackberry is often criticized for its clunky old school user interface. The Bold 9700 runs Blackberry OS 5.0 which offers significant improvements over the last Blackberry I used as my daily device, however it is still far from what users are used to using in the modern high resolution touch screen world we live in now. The question I had to ask myself is do I really need that in device aimed at high productivity, rapid real time communication, and balance of personal and business interest? My answer was no. Like most of you I love the eye candy but does it actually distract from what the entire idea of a smartphone should be?
After about 10 minutes I had all of my email accounts setup and being pushed to my device. The initial feel of the device was strange because I kept finding myself wanting to touch the screen. Once you acclimate yourself to touch screens going back to full qwerty feels strange yet oddly comfortable. The first thing I noticed about this particular Blackberry was that it was fast, very fast. I was able to switch between applications faster than any other platform period. The multitask interface is simple, painless, and just works. There is no fancy transitions or push technology under the hood it all runs at the same time and performs very well.
The emails started flooding in and that surreal feeling of oh man I’m on a Blackberry began to hit me. I was instantly more on top of email than I had been in a long time on a mobile platform. In my opinion the only thing that comes close is Nokia Messaging which also offers a great way to keep on top of your email. Both the iPhone and Android have excellent email viewers but lack when it comes to actually performing daily management of email. With the iPhone in particular the emails looked fantastic but I constantly found myself behind and missing emails due to its lack of good notification and painfully over simplified email experience. Some love it but I can’t stand it. With the addition of a unified inbox in iPhone OS 4 maybe my opinion will change but as for now I leave the email off on my iPhone.
Most of us are so far addicted to being in the now that we are constantly loading Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and more, looking for the latest news. Checking the “status” of all of our friends and posting the most random bits of information that we can find. The problem with this is we are left with a dead phone come 8PM or earlier on busy days. With Blackberry I have 6 email accounts setup and running, Facebook and twitter running in the background and still couldn’t manage to eat through the battery on this thing. I was working until 3AM Friday night and I still had 2 bars remaining on the phone. That alone put a huge smile on my face. You may be thinking well you didn’t touch the phone but if you know me you would instantly realize that isn’t a possibility. I was tweeting all day, answering emails, replying to Facebook comments and even snapped about 5 pictures with the decent camera. Impressed yet? Bottom line is the battery life on this phone is incredible. For the first time I can head to work and not have to worry about carrying a charger in my backpack.
IPhone user? Think you have the best platform for social media? Think again, with the iPhone you have to open and close applications all day long to stay in touch. Yes there is the push technology but if you were to be honest you would have to admit that very few applications implement this properly. Even with push you have to stop what you are doing and open the application, perform the task, then flip through your apps, or search, and open the previous application you were working on. That seem like a good workflow to you? It sure as heck isn’t for me. Again this should be resolved with iPhone OS 4 but at the sacrifice of battery no doubt. With Blackberry you can set majority of the Blackberry social applications to push all important social information right into your messages application. With this level of integration you will easily stay on top of your social addictions without sacrificing workflow flaws. When I get a reply or direct message on twitter it shows up as a message in my messages application and you will see a notification icon on the top of the screen. This also means if you have indicator lights setup properly that will see a blinking indicator letting you know somebody has attempted to communicate with you. Seems productive doesn’t it.
The number one reason I still carry around my iPhone 3GS these days is not to be cool but for some of the best applications that no one else has. Android is catching up fast but still only has a fraction of what can be had on the iPhone platform. Symbian has so many wonderful applications however for those that are in the U.S. you will find that most applications aren’t yet available including banking apps from your bank, insurance, or things like Fandango that you can use to buy tickets on the way to a possibly sold out movie. With Blackberry I have found that there isn’t the selection like on the iPhone or even Android but there are plenty of great applications to meet almost any business or personal taste. Sure they aren’t as flashy but they work and in most cases are very efficient.
Blackberry has been a pleasant surprise for me as I wasn’t expected to be very impressed. Some consider Blackberry behind the times. If you base your decision on smartphones based on user interface you would more than likely look right over Blackberry. If you want a high performance, extremely efficient platform that will allow you to stay in touch both socially and on the business side I think you should give Blackberry another try. I am impressed and it takes a lot to impress me.
BTW this post was typed 100% on the phone I’m describing. The gates are open let me know your thoughts.
Blackberry OS gets a slight facelift with v.6
Apr 27th
Blackberry hears its users and moves towards an “all new” user interface. It has a hint of old school Blackberry look and feel to it with a dabble of salt and pepper but I wouldn’t call it an all new look and feel. To me this is more of an enhancement but either way it’s a very welcome addition to the Blackberry platform. What do you think? Is this what you have been waiting for or are you disappointed?
The gates are open.
What is your definition of a smartphone?
Apr 14th
The term smartphone is used very loosely these days. Just a couple of years a go a smartphone was defined by a phone that has an operating system that allowed you to develop and run third party applications through a standard interface. Today carriers label a phone as a smartphone if it contains a qwerty keyboard of any sort including an on screen touch keyboard. From a carrier’s standpoint this is the perfect way to provide a tool to convince the consumer that a full data plan is required to use the phone. In all reality what a carrier defines as a smartphone should have no bearing on what a real smartphone is.
I’m sure you noticed I never mentioned multitasking in the above definition of a smartphone. One definition of smart is “showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness” which I’m sure you agree the majority of phones on the market in 2010 fulfill at least to some degree. Does a platform need to multitask to be classified as a smartphone? While obviously it is not an ideal solution for heavy users it is unfair to state that something isn’t smart just because it doesn’t have a feature set you don’t like or that doesn’t meet your needs. After all another definition of smart is “ache: be the source of pain” and by the definition we can easily classify most phones.
Ask your self these questions:
- What is your definition of a smartphone?
- What features are required to fit in this overly used stamp on phone technology?
- Are you biased based on your needs?
- Does a phone require a certain type of hardware to be classified as “smart”?
The flood gates are open, let us hear it.
Intuitive User Interfaces introduces a learning UI for Android
Feb 9th
Android has its fair share of custom user interface front ends, each customized by different manufacturers to tailor to its targeted audience. Today Intuitive User Interfaces released a new interface they claim is “based on understanding and predicting which actions users want to perform in various situation, and enabling those actions with one touch”. The entire interface is based on predicting what the user wants to see and displaying it in a new 3D design.
The new innovative interface was written to provide three major aspects:
- Personal – The phone understands which features and actions are important to different users, as each individual user utilizes the phone differently.
- Relevant – Users perform different actions in different scenarios. By identifying these associations, a set of the most relevant actions for a specific situation is presented to the user.
- Intuitive – The activation of these actions is easy, simple and instantaneous.
Having a user interface that knows what I’m thinking based on actions and locations seems like a great idea. However combined with the fragmentation that Android already faces I can’t see this being a big success. Had this been the interface that shipped with Android from conception things might be a bit different. What are you thoughts?
image provided by androidcommunity.com
via Intuitive User Interfaces Introduces One Touch User Experience for Mobile Phones.
Mobile application stores need a personality
Feb 8th
Image provided by nowsourcing.com
As I move from phone to phone exploring all the different choices we have in the application stores (Ovi, Apple App Store, Android Marketplace) there is one thing that they all share in common. Each lacks personalization and personality. Some could argue that having the ability to have applications suggested to you based on what you browse or purchase is a form of personalization but this is not enough to make it a compelling experience for most.
How many times have you found an application you would like to try but don’t have the time or resources to do so? What if the application store gave you the ability to add the application to a want list so you can follow up at a later date. If you chose to be notified with reminders one would be sent out at a predefined time to remind you to review the items. Currently if you browse away from that application the chances that you will come back to it and buy it in the future are slim to none.
Apple attempts to capture your likes and dislikes through the use of their Genius engine but if you have ever used it before you know that it is about as helpful as a sled without snow. Why not add the ability to like and dislike application types prior to actually buying the applications. With this in place a better suggestive engine could be built and custom tailored for each user. If you are anything like me you don’t want to spend your hard earned money just to rate something. Obviously the like/dislike system wouldn’t be public to other users and would be used primarily to make your experience a better one on the store itself. The existing rating (5 star) system would remain in place for public ratings for the applications themselves.
Last on my list is a developer/consumer communication channel. Every application store fails thus far with binding the consumer with an easy to use developer support channel. Because all application stores are not made equal, the developers are having a hard time keeping up with demand and support with their applications. What if a normalized developer support channel was setup for all mobile application stores? Not only would we see more cross platform development but the user experience would be much more friendly and consistent.
If you could change your favorite mobile application store to be have more personality with higher levels of personalization what would you suggest? The gates are open….