The #1 Reason “Carrier Choice†is a little out of date, as he still has AT&T as the only iPhone carrier, but 2-5 are some really good points for Android.
Category Archives: android
Tablet Evolution by Motorola
I really like this teaser video by Motorola in anticipation of tablet announcements they will be making at CES in January 2011
Verizon Thanks and No Thanks for the Android Upgrade
This morning I was prompted to upgrade my Droid X from 2.3.15.MB810.Verizon.en.us to 2.3.340.MB810.Verizon.USIBP_C_01.09.07P (not sure who is responsible for their version numbering scheme). Don’t let the 2.3 in the version fool you, that is Verizon’s numbering this is still Android 2.2 (Froyo) not Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
While it is always nice to receive an upgrade, and Android upgrades are so much easier then iOS upgrades, the upgrade downloads over the air, and installs in less then 5 minutes, and while there are some enhancements in this upgrade, lets take a look at what Verizon thinks the important ones are.
So Verizon believes the number one enhancement is that they “preloaded Madden NFL Footballâ€, while last on the list is “Improved Android OS Froyo Stabilityâ€, while clearly a lower priority to Verizon, I hope this fixes the random reboot issue I have seen. I think all of you who know me I am a huge football fan, but I could care less about the Madden NFL Game which I will never use, and really don’t need it installed on my device.
In addition to the Enhancements there is a list of Improvements, nothing really earth shattering in the list for me.
So Verizon, thanks for the upgrade, but in the future maybe OS Stability should rank higher then a bloat ware game I didn’t want in the first place! This might just be the straw that drives me to Rooting my device.
Droid X First Impressions
Yesterday I received my new Droid X after a slight delay due to an ESN problem, this morning I finally got it up and running. The Droid X is replacing the Original Droid, The form factors are completely different, with the Droid X not having a physical keyboard (something I rarely used on the Droid). The X while larger then the Droid is about 1/2 oz. lighter, and is much easier to hold. I was a little concerned about the Camera bump on top of the device but it does not seem to be a factor at all in using it. The Droid X was delivered with Android 2.2 and there is a rumored 2.2.1 update due out soon for the X, Flash 10.1 for Android was also pre-installed. The biggest change is a design change in the function keys on the device itself, Android phones tend to have four physical keys, Home, Settings, Back, and Search, they relocated some of the keys from the original Droid to the X (the good news is this is really not X specific, and they do appear to be consistent now across all the Android phones hitting the market). This image is the X laid on top of the original Droid where you can see how the keys have shifted. 
This will definitely take some getting used to. The X ships with the default Android keyboard, as well as Swype pre-installed. I have been using Swype for a while now, but have also been using Swiftkey as well. I also use the voice input quite a bit which is very accurate. I have not had a chance to play with the camera much yet, but it definitely seems to be a major improvement over the Droid (well it could hardly be any worse) the camera loads much faster, and seems to shoot faster as well. The X also shoots 720P HD video. It also has an HDMI out port. Moving from one android phone to another is really simple, after activating the phone and logging in to my google account I was ready to go, and when opening up the Android Market I automatically had the option to reinstall the few applications that I had purchased. Lotus Traveler (currently in beta) took about 30 seconds to configure, and restore my mail, calendar, and contacts on the device, this process could truly not get any simpler. One of my biggest complaints about the X is I think one of the Android platforms biggest problems, that the manufacturers and carriers are insisting on adding bloatware to the devices, leaving me with applications that I will never use installed (Blockbuster Video for example) but the only way to remove them would be to root the device. My other complaint also not X specific is that Android still needs a (non-root) solution to be able to capture a screen on the device without the need to connect to a computer and use the SDK – seriously even Steve Jobs allows that on iOS! Battery life is always one of my bigger concerns the X did very well in batter life tests compared to other devices, I will have to use it a few days to assess if it is really able to get through a busy day with out recharging. I have also used applications like Juice Defender, and Tasker to try to automate some battery savings which has proven effective. So my first impressions are positive, really have to finish configuring it and get used to it which will take a few days. Motorola Droid Specs Motorola Droid X Specs Just for fun: My first impressions of the Motorola Droid (December 2009)
Recap of the Verizon and Mashable Demo Event
Last night a colleague and I were lucky enough to snag tickets to a demo event held by Mashable and Verizon. Not really knowing what to expect from the event, it seemed like it was worth a trip in to NYC for. 
There was no formal presentation, they just had stations set up around room showing some of the newer models that are shipping now or soon. The Samsung Galaxt Tablet was on prominent display, it was amusing to listen to the Samsung representative sell the virtues of the Galaxy Tablet over the iPad, while Verizon was demoing their iPad/Mifi bundles at other tables (and every Verizon employee seemed to have an iPad). The Galaxy S and Fascinate were also on display. I asked the Verizon folks, though none of them really wanted to comment if they though they were pricing the Galaxy Tablet correctly for the market, I personally think at $599, they are a little high especially since they are now selling 16G Wifi iPads for $499. I am definitely a fan of Android over iOS, but Apple has been in the market longer, I don’t know how the 7 inch Galaxy is going to draw people over the 10″ iPad display at a cost of $599 (the Galaxy does have front and rear facing cameras, though it does not seem to have any software that takes advantage of the front facing camera yet). No one from Verizon would comment on the often rumored Verizon iPhone either, and while that seems to happening sooner rather then later, Verizon is obviously not backing off from the Android platform at all. The Droid Pro was also on display, while there is no ship date yet, this is the first Verizon Droid that GSM capability and will work outside the US, and with it’s physical keyboard and blackberry like form factor, might be the Android phone that can win over some long time Blackberry users. We also got a look at the ultimate geek phone, the R2-D2 Droid 2 
They raffled off a Droid 2, Samsung Fascinate, Droix X (which my colleague walked off with), and an R2-D2 Droid 2. Thanks to Verizon and Mashable for the event .
Traveler Beta for Android Announced
Ibm announces beta of Lotus Notes Traveler for Android – press release on the wire, link soon
Ed Brill
edbrill
Press Release: IBM Collaboration Software to Support the Android Platform Bilal Jaffrey: Sneak Preview: Check your Lotus Notes email on the Android!
LotusLive Meetings on the iPhone and Android is Coming Soon
You might have caught yesterdays announcement about the new iPhone App for LotusLive meetings. Today IBM is announcing that mobile access to LotusLive meetings will be extended to iPad and Android soon.
More than ever, businesses are embracing the model of a mobile enterprise — employees working wherever, whenever. In fact, according to analyst firm IDC, there will be more than one billion mobile workers worldwide by year end 2010. The United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 72.2 percent of the workforce mobile in 2008. Further, the U.S. will remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers with 75.5 percent of the workforce, or 119.7 million workers, being mobile in 2013. Considering this established trend, IBM announced cloud computing technology aimed at businesses to provide the mobile enterprise with the right tools to do business on the go. As enterprises increasingly go mobile, accessing cloud computing resources will help users have a richer mobile experience. With the immediate availability of a free iTunes download of LotusLive Meetings, users can now access cloud-enabled LotusLive web meetings on the iPhone from anywhere, at anytime.
And here is the relevant portion for iPad and Android
And soon, LotusLive users will be able to access LotusLive Meetings from the Android smart phone and the iPad notebook.
The press release also reminds iPhone users to keep up with LotusLive Labs for alpha releases
iPhone users can also read up on the newest services available in LotusLive, including three pre-alpha applications in LotusLive Labs. LotusLive Labs is a proving ground for advances in business-driven collaboration in the cloud from IBM Research and Lotus, unveiled in January 2010. These new applications, Slide Library, Collaborative Recorded Meetings and Event Maps, present LotusLive users with even more tools to do business more effectively.
I was happy to see the iPhone application released yesterday, even happier to see the Android announcement today. Lotus Live iPhone App