Nexus 4

Just got my Nexus 4 a couple of days ago. I am in love with the device. The screen is beautiful and the speed is awesome!

I got the 16GB version, but think that was actually overkill!

Love the idea of a relatively cheap phone that isn't bound to any stupid carrier. Expect to get onto one of the prepaid plans when I get back from India - pay around $45 per month for effectively unlimited voice, text and data. Expect that I will go with one of the MVNOs, but if TMo get's it's act together might get a plan from them - I do like their customer service (unlike AT&T or Verizon).

Back to my Nexus 4. I have been using it as a wifi-only device right now, because I don't have a micro-SIM that I can use. Will have more of an opinion on the battery life, data speeds when I get to play with that part of things.....

YotaPhone

Just saw a video of the YotaPhone. Had originally been excited about the e-Ink screen, but I think they have done it wrong.

What I have been hoping/waiting for, is for someone to create a phone with a Pixel Qi screen. Haven't actually played with the screen, but like the idea of a screen that can act as either an LCD or an eInk display.

Getting the latest version of Android on your device

I just saw a post, which talks about why most people won't ever get the latest version of Android on their phones.

All the observations made are correct. However, when you check out the folks at Cyanogenmod, you see guys supporting all kinds of devices - for free.

Wonder if phone manufacturers should just outsource their device OS support business to Cyanogenmod and let them take care of the porting. Give CM a bunch of free devices and pay them around $10K per major release of Android ported within 1 month of the sources being released....

Yikes! What's up with Passbook!

Just read an article about the adoption rate of Passbook!

Don't know if this is another thing that Apple figured out that people hadn't realized they needed or whether it is being adopted by people because Apple created it....

Wow again!

Why does Apple hate T-Mobile?

Just read the following post, which talks about iPhone being available for a bunch of the regional carriers. However, T-Mo still doesn't offer the iPhone. Anybody know what is going on?

Microsoft Surface

Never thought I would be impressed by a Microsoft offerring in the mobile space, but this review makes it sound quite interesting: 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/19/tech/microsoft-surface-ipad/index.html

Also, think MS could break into the enterprise market with a tablet that acts as a laptop replacement. Big problem for them is getting enough software on their platform.

The Popularity of iPads

This is how popular iPads are. The poor woman just can't keep her hands off them.....

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Shoplifter-stealing-dozens-of-iPads-across-North-Texas-150086105.html

Was Google automatically putting ads in my blog posts when distributing?

I use Google Blogger to write my blog. I also use Google Reader to subscribe to my feed.

I was a little surprised to see ads inserted by Google in my blog RSS/Atom feed.

Ofcourse, since they are going to do it anyway, I signed up to let them pay me for it :-(

Cross posting between Google+ and Facebook

Used to use a Chrome extension to cross post between G+ and FB. However, they stopped working, so I had to figure another way out....

Thanks to Google search, it wasn't too hard, but documenting it anyway, for friends and family....

1. Find out the email address that FB allows you to use to post status updates via email. I found that info that from this URL/query:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=210153612350847#What-is-my-personal-publishing-address?

2. Add this email address to your G+ circles as a dummy user (I chose a user name like "Me on Facebook". Create a circle that only contains that user

3. When you post on G+, add that circle to the set of people the post goes to.....


Update (12/4/12): This doesn't work anymore :-(. And even when it did, it stripped out all HTML links.

Just became an Amazon Affiliate

Not quite sure how the Amazon Affiliate program works - anyway, just became one....

Thinking of breaking down and buying a Macbook Air.

Any thoughts?

What Google should do with Android

Just read a post, where the author talks about what he thinks Google should do with Android to make profits. In brief, he wanted Google to close Android and license it to companies for $10-$20....

God, what a terribly dumb idea :-(.

Reasons:

1. Android is based on Linux which has GPL license restrictions
2. It would be horrible publicity for Google - the PR losses will be real in $ terms
3. Samsung would be pissed enough to look more seriously at Windows Phone 7.x/Bada as its preferred platform. Other vendors who had a choice would, too. It would actually give an open source OS a real break!

Fortunately, Larry Page has better things to do than listen to him. Hopefully he will use his copious free time to take a look at these suggestions ;-).

What I would do if I were Larry Page and about to own Motorola (till I could sell it off):

• Insist that Motorola run stock Android and commit to supporting upgrades to whatever the latest version of Android is for 3 years from the date of manufacture of the device.
• Upgrade to the latest version within 1 month of a new version being available to it (subject to carrier restrictions in the US).
• Allow Motorola to license software to improve Android functionality (e.g. to improve Outlook integration, enterprise capabilities), but only if that software doesn't require any weird changes to core Android. This might also be customized for carriers ie. let the carrier license third party software.
• At the high end, require them to ship with better hardware than Apple (not sure if this will always be possible, just because of Apple's volumes).
• Let the bootloader be easily unlocked by the user
• Use Motorola to ship non-phone/tablet devices based on Android - e.g. Google TV, thermostats, etc.

Anyway, I do believe that in the phone market, if there is a first rate vendor who commits to shipping with and supporting the latest version of Android, this will force other manufacturers to do the same. This will allow users to choose the best device when they are buying a phone without needing to worry about upgradability. It would be completely in keeping with Android's open philosophy and Google's commitments to phone manufacturers.

One other thing Larry might want to use Motorola to do, is to design a reference phone that is also open sourced - this will let manufacturers in Taiwan/China make knock-offs at really, really cheap prices to flood the market. Will kill Nokia in developing countries and make Android the largest market for app developers - both for paid, ad supported or free apps - win the numbers game against Apple.

Personally, I think Google is taking a way longer view of things than Apple. They want to own the mobile OS platform - Apple wants to make as much money as it can now.

Any thoughts?