May 2012
3 posts
Nexus S + Android 4.0.4
I’ve been using ICS on my Nexus S off and on for a few weeks, and while I said I would write about it, it’s really not worth it. The performance is terrible compared to the Galaxy Nexus. This is unsurprising: the hardware is ancient, comparatively. I really can’t give ICS a fair shake on this dumb phone.
I will say that a there are definitely some niceties thrown in there, and...
Anonymous asked: Curious: is your overall sentiment on the platforms still the same? 6 months ago I was ready to ditch Android at first opportunity (late this year). I'm surprised that my opinion is shifting a bit. I've slowly tweaked lots of things and realize I'm using a fair bit of Android-specific stuff. When I use my iPod touch running the latest iOS, it feels old, or at least not custom like...
April 2012
2 posts
Anonymous asked: I take that as a don't do it? I didn't think it was a ad idea just because I own an iPod touch and an iPad as well.
Anonymous asked: I have a 4s 32gb, I have a guy that wants to trade me a galaxy s || skyrocket and an iPhone 4. I was going to give the 4 to my girlfriend since she has a 3G and I have an iPod touch 4th gen as well and an iPad 2. What should I do?
March 2012
1 post
February 2012
1 post
Verizon: closing a door that Google propped open...
thisistheverge:
Verizon Galaxy Nexus booted from Google’s developer support pages, Google Wallet support likely to blame
Google has seemingly eliminated the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus from the company’s internally-supported “Nexus” program — a series of devices designed to showcase new versions of stock Android and give developers access to pure, stable, unmodified platforms.
So the...
January 2012
9 posts
"On par", but with a huge handicap
Make That Two
Analyst Ed Zabitsky sees AAPL shares falling to $270:
The reason for his bearish view of the company is that Zabitsky believes the competing Android mobile operating system from Google “will change the playing field entirely” with its latest 4.0 update, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. He says the experience on the updated platform is on par with Apple’s iOS.
(via Daring...
Anonymous asked: When you're using iOS, what do you miss from Android? Having just switched back to an iPhone I really miss background sync'ing. Having to open apps manually to make sure everything is up to date (podcasts, rss feeds, music on Spotify) is tedious to say the least. Oh and the share menu too.
Anonymous asked: Do you find that Bluetooths drain a lot of additional battery? I use it with my iPhone for my car's bluetooth, and I don't find it to drain much battery unless it's actively being used, kind of similarly to Location Services being "on" but not active unless an app is using it. In other words, I don't miss the radio switches from Android (I'm a convert) because I...
Anonymous asked: To quickly turn on/off bluetooth in iOS, make a custom homescreen button using the Icon Project app by FMPROJECT. OMG, what a G-send. Jonathan Jackel (@jjackel)
Growing. As a person.
The only thing I miss from Android is the ability to quickly turn on and off radios, and that’s only because I recently got a Jawbone Jambox1 and turn Bluetooth on and off once or twice a day.
Other than that, iOS is a much happier world.
1. You guys, it’s the best.
Loaded
If there are any Android fans left reading this site, I have a question:
Considering all of the phones being announced this week at CES, and considering that none of the carrier specific devices are running stock Android, and considering that none of these devices are running 4.0 and all you can get out of companies is that they’re “evaluating upgrade paths” or “looking at...
Anonymous asked: The BS Android upgrade situation is the only reason I've seriously considered switching to iPhone.
We Are The 0.6% →
parislemon:
Hard to pick the most ridiculous element of these updated numbers.
Is it that just 0.6% of Android users have Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) three months after it launched?
…
My unlocked GSM Nexus S (GT-I9020A) has not received the ICS update, and Google hasn’t said anything since they “paused” rolling out the updates.
But according to Google:
With this device, users will...
December 2011
3 posts
Under the Fuzzy Green Hat: Statement on Ice Cream... →
lucas:
It’s been no secret that one of the most popular requests I get is for me to eat an Ice Cream Sandwich. With the amount of buzz flying around Ice Cream Sandwich lately, and many of my partners and competitors both talking about and eating Ice Cream Sandwiches, it’s no secret that bringing an Ice…
No one is getting Ice Cream Sandwich.
Who is any of this good for?
I’ve been patiently waiting for Android 4.0 to be released for my Nexus S before I wrote anything else here, but a few things have happened recently that have forced me to comment on a serious problem I see with Android.
Who is it good for that one flagship device is announced the same day as a second flagship device that makes the first one inconsequential? And that they’re on the...
November 2011
1 post
ICE CREAM SAMMICH!
I got to use it tonight for the first time.
Sat around the diddled with a Bell employee’s Galaxy Nexus for almost an hour at a party, because I’m the cool guy at parties who sits alone in corners with a stranger’s phone and a bottle of Makers. I gotta say, the core OS is a huge improvement. There’s actually some cohesive thought there.
There are still two big problems,...
October 2011
14 posts
SHAMELESS PROMOTION FOR A PAL — My Research...
This has nothing to do with Android, and is totally shameless. Sorry if it upsets you, but please read on.
My pal Scott is working on a research project for university about why we use “Like” buttons on social networks. You can read his spiel quoted below.
Scott is rad, and we worked on another “like” related project with our friend Lucas called TweetBoner. *groan*
Since there are...
Some addenda
First, thanks to everyone who followed the blog, asked meaningful questions and shared their own experiences. In hindsight, this was pretty fun, and that’s probably because there were so many of you along for the ride.
A few things to read
Peter Rojas over at gdgt notes why he chooses Android over iOS. This is about the most cogent, meaningful thing I’ve ever seen written in favour...
Four months with Android: reflections, grievances...
OR, The longest, most awkward dinner of my life
tl;dr version: I’m really glad to have an iPhone 4S.
(Note: this was written over multiple days, spaced weeks apart.)
I approached this experiment with a lot of questions, the primary of which was quite simple: why do people use Android? I had my own preconceived answers — they dislike Apple or couldn’t get an iPhone for one reason...
Anonymous asked: Is IOS5's performance on the 3GS decent? When I upgraded it from IOS3 to IOS4 the performance got terrible.
lowlevelninja asked: Just wanted to say kudos for sharing your experiment with us. I'm firmly entrenched in the Android camp but "too old for this shit" - "shit" being the fanboy troll wars carried out on the internet. You gave it a shot, shared your informed opinion, and now you're heading back to your preferred platform. That's more than most people would do. Maybe you should do...
Many of the material things we foolishly hold dear — repressing to the back of our minds that the modern comfort they provide is fleeting through fragility or obsoleteness, and that with or without them, life will continue to press forward — wouldn’t exist without Steve Jobs.
A human is not a material thing. Though they share the similar qualities of fragility and obsoleteness, a human is...
Anonymous asked: You hate Android with the vim and vigor of, sorry to say, a zealot. I use Android, Linux, MacOSX and Windows *daily*, and I've used iOS in the past. They are all, well, fine. They all have their quirks, but I could never muster the hate that you muster about any of them. So my question is: you talk like Android is as good as waxing your balls with sandpaper: why exactly? What makes it *so*...
Our national nightmare is over
Last night I swapped my SIM back into my 3GS, updated the shit out of it, and installed the iOS 5 GM. I’m getting ready for the iCloud transition and need to get everything on my iPhone back in shape after months of neglect.
So with that, the end is nigh for this blog, at least for the time being.
I’m starting to piece together a final post to reflect on the last 4+ months using...
“Siri! Write me a post telling Android to hit the goddamn road!”
– Me, being a douchebag in my office.
6 tags
“I believe that every company has its strengths, as well as its weaknesses....”
– paper mail: What’s wrong with Android
A good read, and I agree on many of the points.
Anonymous asked: Which Android tablets have you used? In particular have you used a ASUS Transformer (with or without the keyboard dock)?
Anonymous asked: I wouldn't say 3.0 is trash. I have quibbles with it, but it's better thought out for tablets than iOS is in a lot of ways (at least until 5 comes out). Yes 3.0 was a stop gap, and was not open sourced for that very reason, but the biggest knocks on android tablets right now is apps and price. ICS will solve the apps problem since every app will work on phones or tablets. Price is a...
Anonymous asked: Not sure why you think 3.0 tablets will be abandonware. ICS is the unification the OSes. It will run on tablets and phones, and solve a lot of the App problems for tablets. As for the hardware, the galaxy tab 10.1 is a wonderful piece of hardware (better than the ipad2 and I own both), and really it's the OS that needs a little more catchup.
Slash-and-burn redux
The general response to my last post is that the Kindle Fire either doesn’t impact Android or it’s positive for the platform. More devices using the web means more eyeballs for Google, and that people figure (probably correctly) that they’ll be able to put some flavour of stock Android on this thing. The latter is a fringe case, and I still can’t understand why you’d...
September 2011
20 posts
Anonymous asked: Will you also take a look at the next Nexus device with Ice Cream Sandwich that Samsung and Google are announcing on October 11th?
Slash-and-burn tactics
Serious question to true-blue Android users.
How do you feel about Amazon (and too a much lesser extent Fusion Garage) forking Android, stripping out basically everything that makes it what it’s supposed to be, and locking down the systems?
Sure, these companies are totally allowed to do this. “Open”, right? But what if these non-Android Android tablets eat the lunch of...
Anonymous asked: [Re: quality of Android apps] It's the "skinniest kid at fat camp" analogy. The Android owner is looking at competing Android apps and picking the best one. It might suck compared to its iOS counterpart, but that's irrelevant as he gets ready to complete his Android Market purchase.
Anonymous asked: Have you ever tried to preview a PDF email attachment in Android? What do you use? It's built-in to iOS but I never have any luck with Android. The fact that it's been weeks with me looking on and off is annoying. I've tried Docs To Go (they want money for this feature), ThinkFreeOffice (which also wants money to fully view PDF attachments), and then I just poop out getting worried...
Anonymous asked: actually it was going to be familiarity bias. I too am curious about why certain websites screw up the android browser. I wonder how firefox for mobile reacts. But I imagine site admins are more sensitive to iOS performance. Also, I think complaining about apps not being the same is a complaint aimed at the developers not the platform. Instapaper's Marco doesn't want to do Android based...
Anonymous asked: I am curious about your statement "But lately I’ve passed my breaking point for trying to accomplish certain things on a daily basis with the phone." What exactly can’t you do on a daily basis that is that you could on iOS? And how does that measure to what you can do easily on Android that is a pain on iOS? I had an iPhone for a year and half and switched to a Nexus One,...
Anonymous asked: Why do people buy not-android's again? Why do they like Apple? Remind me plz.
Anonymous asked: “Read: all other tablets are complete shit.” “I hope Windows 8 changes this. I really like Metro,“ What’s the total amount of time you’ve spent using all other tablets? How much time have you spent using Metro?
marktherippr asked: Do you think, looking at the current tablet market where its about the devices functionality as a device and not as a phone, the iPad is killing everything else (android/touchpad/playbook) because customers realize that iOS works well, has apps, and is run on a great piece of hardware?
Anonymous asked: I used an iPhone for 3 years and switched to Android because the Android was cheaper. The iPhone was $80 a month through AT&T for just the iPhone. I used Cincinnati Bell for my ISP, landline home phone, and 3 cell phones for my wife and kids. Cinci Bell said that after buying a Samsung Galaxy S that the additional cost for the Android was $40 a month. So I dropped the iPhone. Here's one...
brokentrinkets asked: Do you think that the people who enjoy Android are also the people who are more likely to participate in app ecosystems where apps are more paid for via advertising than with money?
dtothen asked: Oh, and I've introduced a lot of people to Android from the iPhone and most, if not all, have enjoyed it far more. Probably due to the extra money in their pockets, but enjoyed it nonetheless. These were, admittedly not tech savvy people and clearly don't use their phones to the max like you, I, and many others do on a professional basis.
Anonymous asked: Or maybe you're just getting a bit bored of smartphones? It's possible. I am, a bit. I think it's partially over saturation, what with just about every technical venue covering smartphones or tablets almost exclusively. But we've also been exposed to so many apps for a years now, it can become numbing. Are you constantly excited at the wealth of new apps that are always...
