Google obsoletes YouTube app | ZDNet
One of the most interesting things about the original iPhone was that it came with a dedicated YouTube app that allowed you to view your favorite videos in the palm of your hand. Steve Jobs said at the time:
iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far… Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are—on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV.
While this may have been true in 2007, it’s no longer the case in 2010. Google has released a major update to its mobile YouTube experience (m.youtube.com) that beats all of the discrete YouTube apps out there — including the iPhone variety.
A video demo of the new YouTube Web app is embedded below, complete with dramatic music:
For starters, the new Web app is completely based in HTML5, it has a slick UI and it loads fast. But the defining difference is the quality, the Web app simply looks better and will soon feature more content than the dedicated iPhone app.
The ante in the game goes up!
Mashable: Google Employees Explain What It’s Like Working at Google
There’s an interesting thread today over at social news site Reddit, in which Google employees are asked to describe their experiences working for the Internet giant.
The replies are anonymous, and should thus be taken with a grain of salt. But some seem genuine, revealing some fascinating tidbits about Google’s () corporate culture, strategy and the day-to-day life of a Google employee. The experiences are vastly positive, but some of them describe the downsides of being a Googler, too.
Here are some interesting snippets from the thread:
CinoBoo: “I’ve been there for about 5 years. You can read about the good parts anywhere, so I’ll try to offer a counterpoint based on having worked at other software companies.
A common problem is that it’s easy to become spoiled by all the perks. Several offices have developed distinct cultures of entitlement, and people whine about the quality of the fudge on the free brownies. It’s embarrassing to be around people who’ve become like spoiled children.
An engineering-specific problem there is that there’s a lot of support for operations — that is, lots of people whose job it is to keep the systems running. Engineers don’t habitually carry pagers and are on-call relatively infrequently. The plus side is that they can focus on development, get adequate sleep, and be more productive. The downside is that they can easily lose touch with what’s really going on in the data centers and sometimes even their customers. It’s a trade-off. Google is at least aware of it and uses incentive programs to entice engineers to spend time in ops roles.
Last, the company is big into ‘generating luck,’ which means trying a whole bunch of stuff in the hopes that a few efforts will pay off.”
GoogleEmployee22k: “Google is a great place to work. These are the things I like about my job:
1) Everyone is super smart
2) 18 different cafes
3) Free Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
4) The food is gourmet quality (e.g. omelet bar, chefs that make custom sandwiches for you, sashimi, free drinks 24/7, free snacks of all sorts 24/7.
5) The 7 person conference bicycles
6) Every Friday, Larry, Sergei, or Eric takes questions from us (in person), and we get free beer (e.g. Downtown Brown)”solyanik: “Management institute is awful. A typical manager has 50-100 employees, so even if they meet with their reports once a month for 30 minutes, that’s about 2 weeks worth of almost constant 1:1s per month (allowing just a bit of time for stretching in between
). That’s not a lot of time for interaction. As a result, managers aren’t empwered [sic] to participate in technical decision, they don’t have very much vote in performance reviews (these are done by committee), and not even hiring (which is also done by committee). I’ve asked older Googlers what the managers did there, and they universally said “I don’t know”. Almost all managerial decisions that I witnessed at Google (mostly around resourcing the new projects) were not great, and the only way I could explain them was by some sort of internal political struggles between different players in the management game. The good thing was that, as I said above, they don’t have very much role in day to day operations of the company. But if you LIKE being a technical manager, if that’s how you see your career, Google is definitely not for you.”
[via Google Blogoscoped]
A day in the life at Google...Wow!
Google Makes First Direct Investment in Utility-Scale Clean Energy | Fast Company
Another investment for Google in energy. This move reinforces the importance of planning DataCenter solutions with energy consumption in mind (power, cooling, carbon footprint, etc.).
HP Slate: First Look at New Tablet
The HP Slate — Hewlett-Packard’s answer to Apple’s iPad tablet — has made it into the wild. There isn’t too much back story, but basically, a Mexican website named Conecti.ca got hold of an HP Slate before the rest of us and gave it a look over. Here’s the full story…
The verdict from Conecti.ca? “Meh” — the internet colloquialism used frequently in English to describe general disinterest or apathy.
We’ve already discussed the details of the device, so we’ll cut to the bottom line.
Conecti.ca says they only had the device for a short amount of time, but Google Translate quotes them as saying “the problem [is that it's] a whole PC.” The general feeling was that, in response as an iPad killer, the Slate is not.
The article states “You have Flash, but unfortunately this means you have a long and annoying load time…” and state that the only device that will be competing against it is other netbooks, not tablets.
It comes with a fancy HDMI / USB dock for your enjoyment, along with an apparently brighter screen than the iPad. Plus it includes a custom media management suite. The plastic design feels “dense and tough,” though the review concludes that Slate is the “smallest complete netbook” they could find.
Despite all the general malaise regarding the product, Gizmodo seems upbeat, noting that “it’s way too early to dismiss its chances against the iPad and its upcoming wave of challengers.” They also dismissed the ‘netbook without a keyboard’ observation with “well…yeah…[duh].”
On paper, there’s a lot of devices that are ‘technically superior’ to the iPad, iPhone, etc… but if they don’t do something spectacular or offer something different, unique, easy etc… the way Apple does, then it doesn’t stack up.
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Could it challenge the iPad? Not in my opinion. It still winmo!
TechCrunchIT: CouchPad by Steve Gillmor
It’s taken this long to attempt to write something on the iPad. I took some notes at Google’s Atmosphere event just to try out the system, but quickly discovered that the newly realtimed Google Docs were only available in read only mode. A Google PR guy told me they were waiting on a “real browser” before rolling the tool out to iPad users sometime later this year. I ended up in gmail draft mode.
By now I’ve gotten the fundamental message, which is that Apple is rebuilding the Mac from the ground, or rather the pocket, up. The AppStore debuted with iPhone and iPad apps mushed together; now they are segregated as the iPad specific tools build out. The iPhone OS 4 announcements made clear that multitasking was the bedrock of the new OS, with the concurrent processes opening the door to sharing data between various services in realtime i.e. the network. Micromessages, popups, alerts, some kind of cross-app communication that makes realtime aware applications possible.
I’d be more frustrated if I didn’t have so much fun with the damn thing. I figured typing would be slower and more prone to mistakes, but it turns out that my pseudo touch typing “skills”, a hybrid of hunt and peck and awkward work-arounds, are somewhat easier to use in virtual mode than expected. Granted, reaching for the apostrophe involves going to the number screen and then annoyingly having to click back to the qwerty screen. I can only hope the billions of complaints will reach Cupertino ears before the next update.q
But we have a little secret as iPadders that will carry us through: we are part of a process that will get us to some oddly shared consensus complete with learned gestures that reboot our approach to the task of creating ideas. So much has been made of the focus on consuming that we miss the speed with which the new metaphors are taking root. Replacing a word, for example. I tap the word ignore in the previous sentence and type miss. Tap again and I’m back. I can’t quite remember what the old way was, but this new way is fast, fun, and a promotion for new tools in the pipeline.
In fact, it may be sooner than we think. If the OS was built to learn about these quirks or repeated fumbles we make such as the afore-mentioned apostrophe tap dance, couldn’t the software learn to go to some plan b where it offers a sort of learned macro that can be ratified by use. Or a macro that capitalizes Plan B for that matter.
Of course, I’ll still get the keyboard dock peripheral because it helps speed the transition to the atomization of the MacBook Air into its component parts. Already I’ve seen iPads pop up in corporate settings (it doesn’t hurt that my new Boss is over the iPad moon) and why not have a more enterprise mode that is engaged when these new peripherals are plugged in to the dock bus. A secret club of iPadders who’ve crossed over into the world of virtual touch on steroids. Isn’t that the Apple model anyway? Prescient elitism?
Google of course is doing everything it can to play along, keeping the pressure on Flash with YouTube while hand waving about ChromeOS and then validating the iPhone/iPad model by committing to Android as its tablet OS. Chrome the browser is busy destabilizing Firefox just in time for Mozilla antipathy toward H.264 not to mean a damn thing. It all couldn’t look more coordinated if we didn’t know better, which of course we don’t.
That’s because the lure of reinventing our tools is the same thing that causes my daughter to rearrange her room every month or so when she needs an excuse to not clean it up or do her homework. But it goes deeper than simple diversion; we’re really looking to step back and find the place where our intuition and what I assume meditation or yoga brings us. A place where we can find our center and look beyond the momentary and into the reasons why we work where and with whom we do.
Computing has always been a personal thing for me, in many respects taking the baton from the role music played at an earlier time in our history. It’s thrilling precisely because the boundaries can suddenly give way to unexpected delights, power, opportunity, and yes, the fleeting concept of a future we can invest in. As I sit here on the couch typing these virtual notes, something about the rhythm and even the orchestration of technologies — the sound of the virtual key clicking, the effortless autocorrect of spelling, even the fact that for a little while I’m not being interrupted by the relentless realtime alerts that multitasking allows all of this renders a feeling of purposeful calm that feels new and valuable. All the more because it’s unexpected.
And as it unfolds, I file away notes about improvements and ticket items for the kind of learning smarts that must come next. Where Google pushes forward, with its server side tools building one on another to create ever more compelling scenarios, that’s where the iPad needs to go. It will be OK for Jobs’ insistence on the apps being the platform, because once multitasking is enabled the strategy will be seamless and invisible to the user. That is, except for the superior battery and performance wins that it will then be Google’s turn to clone. And back and forth it will go.
Editor’s note: This is my first weekly (or so) column on TechCrunch(IT) since I started my new job at salesforce.com.
Great perspective and insight.
Mary Meeker's Internet Trends: The Future is Mobile - ReadWriteStart
Mary Meeker's Internet Trends: The Future is Mobile
Written by Audrey Watters / April 13, 2010 7:00 PM / 5 Comments
This post is part of our ReadWriteStart channel, which is a resource and guide for first-time entrepreneurs and startups. The channel is sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark. To sign up for BizSpark, click here.
Internet analyst Mary Meeker from Morgan Stanley presented a report on Internet trends at Events@Google yesterday. Echoing those trends identified in her 2009 presentation, the report focuses on the rapid and continued growth of the mobile internet and social networking. Claiming that the world has entered the fifth major technology cycle, Meeker predicts that this cycle will be marked by the adoption of mobile Internet technologies, as the trends of "3G + Social Networking + Video + VoIP + Impressive Mobile Devices" converge. Meeker predicts the mobile Internet will be bigger than desktop in five years, noting that by comparing iPhone and iPod touch versus AOL and Netscape users, that mobile Internet is ramping up at a rate far faster than desktop did. Furthermore, she argues that 3G coverage has reached a global inflection point, meaning it is available to at least 20% of the world's cellphone users.
While the trends Meeker identifies in her report will be familiar to ReadWriteWeb readers, it is worth considering how some of what she observes might impact startups, providing opportunities for new business ventures.
Mobile E-Commerce: Not only is mobile increasingly the method by which users are accessing the Internet, Meeker contends that mobile will revolutionize e-commerce, forcing both innovations for both online and brick-and-mortar companies. She identifies location-based services, push notifications, transparent pricing, and instant mobile delivery as four potential areas this will occur.
Virtual Goods: The success of Tencent, with over $2 billion in sales of virtual goods in China, demonstrates the potential for this area, Meeker argues
Applications: Noting the success of both Facebook and Apple in the app market, what Meeker labels as "vibrant developer / application platform ecosystems, " she suggests that companies will continue to leverage social networks for fans and for revenue.
Video: Meeker's research points to video as outpacing VoIP and other resources people seek to access with their mobile devices.
Look to Japan: Meeker points to the Japanese social networking site Mixi, who has seen its mobile page views increase from 17% of total views three years ago to 72% today.
It is clear that social networks and mobile Internet will continue to play a huge role in shaping the future of technology and business development.
The full version of Meeker's presentation is available on Scribd, thanks to Mathew Ingram from GigaOm.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it. Register now »
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Voip in general is becoming the talk of the future. They are so many companies talking voip. I stumbled upon a small company with intersting voip application that allows for free international calls on any mobile device. it is http://www.callarc.com
Posted by: rickardLee | April 14, 2010 6:48 AM
Is this for real?
Posted by: ipad user | April 14, 2010 1:24 PM
i'm pretty sure i saw this presentation almost exactly 10 years ago
Posted by: gleek | April 14, 2010 7:23 PM
VOIP sound good.I heard its cheaper.Unfortunatly at my place isnt many companies with good servis.http://mobily-ostrava.blogspot.com/.Im from Czech Republic
Posted by: Jirka | April 15, 2010 6:26 AM
I agree that MOBILE is the future. From those whom I know few do not really check their emails from their mobile.
Many use google maps, and twitter...
They do that as they carry out their usual life, which means this behaviour got integrated in their everyday sequence of tasks pattern.www.feelsimple.com will soon release a mobile version.
FeelSimple is the easiest way to chat, no download, no registration, no login. Just follow the link and start chatting.
Posted by: Andy | April 16, 2010 4:55 PM
Given the rapid adoption of mobile use over desktop use, how will business mobile users be impacted? Will they prefer mobile over laptop/notebook? Will the line move separating which applications have preferred access over mobile?
What are your opinions?
Official Google Blog: Google Follow Finder: Find some sweet tweeps
This morning we announced a replay feature in real-time search that helps you search the public archive of updates from Twitter. Now, we have more Twitter news from today’s Chirp Conference. We’ve just released a new experimental service in Google Labs called Google Follow Finder to help you expand your Twitter network. With Google Follow Finder, simply enter your Twitter account name and you’ll see a list of people you might be interested in following. You can also get interesting suggestions by entering other Twitter user names.
Full story http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/google-follow-finder-find-some-sweet.h...
Chromium Blog: A New Approach to Printing
When we demonstrated Google Chrome OS last Fall, a few folks asked us how it would handle printing. Today we wanted to give developers a little more insight into our approach for printing from Chrome OS and other web-connected platforms.
While the emergence of cloud and mobile computing has provided users with access to information and personal documents from virtually any device, today’s printers still require installing drivers which makes printing impossible from most of these new devices. Developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system-- from desktops to netbooks to mobile devices -- simply isn't feasible.
Check out the rest of the story here http://blog.chromium.org/2010/04/new-approach-to-printing.html
Why Apple and Google Need Each Other
In the world of technology, drama is a valuable commodity. Disruptive change may happen in the minutiae of software code or the gradual execution of a business plan, but we see its effects in the dramatic narratives of companies rising and falling, or getting locked in combat with each other. Which is why the rivalry between Google and Apple is such a compelling story.
It’s so tempting to get drawn into the ego battles between Steve Jobs and the Google triumvirate while placing bets on who will win that it’s easy to forget a deeper truth about this rivalry: Google and Apple need each other.
They both have a deep desire to stake out claims on the mobile web, but the mobile web is in a nascent stage. In order to develop, it needs to have both rigid structure and a sometimes reckless creativity. Structure is necessary to provide a strong foundation and a set of standards everyone can understand. And creativity is essential to bringing the innovative potential of the mobile web into full bloom.
This dichotomy was present when the Internet began to develop in the early 90s. Many people who came online then did so through America Online’s walled gardens, a safe little enclave where consumers and content providers alike could create the rules of a new medium. Then the web itself took off and sites like Yahoo and GeoCities offered a much more creative environment to explore what else could be done.
Now it’s happening again, only with Apple and Google. Apple’s stern and unforgiving approach to the iPhone offers the structure this new medium needs to succeed. Cupertino’s control-freak tendencies stretch from enforcing adherence to ever-changing app guidelines to banishing plastic screen protectors from its retail stores.
Google’s approach is nearly the opposite, much more open and free-wheeling. Its Android OS, based on the Linux kernel, has so many versions available the company is struggling to consolidate them. The Android Market is such an unregulated affair that it’s hard for anyone to count the number of apps on sale.
Google’s culture has built into it a tolerance for the failures that come with creative experiments. Its 70-20-10 rule seems rooted on that spirit of tolerance — how many companies require employees to spend time on something that may never fly? — and Google has floated so many failed ideas it’s hard to keep track of them all. Apple, by contrast, starts with an instinctive idea of how consumers will experience its products and fits everything, even the ecosystem of apps that extends beyond its corporate walls, into making it work.
It’s in the tension between these two companies and their respective cultures that the mobile web is being forged. But as America Online found out, the walls eventually come down as consumers grow more comfortable with the new medium and desert the walled garden. That would suggest the balance will tip in favor of Google.
But I would be surprised if Apple isn’t anticipating this evolution. Right now, iPhone owners are experiencing the mobile web through the 150,000 or so apps it offers through the App Store. But Apple has also backed HTML5, which allows a smartphone browser to have rich app-like features without requiring any new software to be downloaded. Just as people stopped downloading AOL’s software and switched to browsers, we may well abandon most of the apps on our phones today.
Both companies will continue to play a major role on the mobile web, but I doubt either will ever gain the upper hand. This dramatic tension between Apple and Google may be around for a long time. So executives at both might as well get used to it.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):
Coke and Pepsi...? Really?
Hey, GoogleTV: I Want My HBO
I'm sure Google was reading my last post and decided it was time to come clean about their intentions to enter the living room via GoogleTV. Kidding aside, that's what was reported recently. In a nutshell, Google is extending its reach into your living room and inviting Sony, Intel, and Logitech to the party. Couple this news with Google's Fiber to Home trial initiative offering 500,000 people a Google high-speed network, and you've got the makings for an epic battle with TV service providers.
Right now everyone is considering the short term implications. How will GoogleTV impact Apple TV's business line? Will Google use the Chrome OS? How will Google TV play with Android? Yet there are two questions I haven't heard: How will the GoogleTV experience differ from current TV viewing experiences? And--perhaps most importantly--which major media companies are willing to play with Google to provide premium content?
In the experience realm, Google's ability to potentially allow for content portability will trounce anyone who attempts to compete. If I start to read about portable TV/DVR content via Android, not only will I be giddy, but in one swoop Microsoft will have to quietly put its tail between its legs and rethink how Windows Mobile 7's sling functionality with Netflix will actually matter. Apple will also have to seriously consider Apple TV and its role in my living room moving forward.
Advertising is another place GoogleTV might have an advantage. Some have mentioned Google's ultimate goal of placing advertising on everything--think Google's pervasive AdSense, but for television. This could have benefits for advertisers but be problematic for viewers. I might be forgiving if you place that ad at the beginning of my YouTube video, but if it pops up in the middle of my favorite show, I'll freak out.
So, assuming Google can lock down the hardware, overcome a bandwidth hurdle, and provide a portable experience, they're still missing a crucial component: content. Judging from today's release of the documentation in the Viacom-YouTube case, this might prove to be a bigger challenge than we think. But to adopt a larger audience beyond designers, developers, and nerds such as myself, Google will have to push harder to provide content beyond YouTube videos and social interaction on TV. Hulu is nice but more of an aperitif rather than the meal. My kids want Disney. My wife wants ABC. I want HBO.
The mere mention of Google's interest in the living room is fascinating. But wake me when I can flip on my Google TV and catch the latest episode of The Pacific.
Read Giovanni Calabro's blog Design Pragmatist
Browse blogs by other Expert DesignersGiovanni Calabro has over 13 years of experience leading interactive research and design efforts for a wide range of business sectors. At Siteworx, Giovanni leads the design team responsible for user experience strategy, brand analysis, search engine optimization (SEO), search and analytics integration and social media strategy. With clients as diverse as MTV Networks, USATODAY.com, NPR, and JPMorgan Chase, Giovanni provides expert strategy and advice in the areas of stakeholder and staff alignment and new publishing models for emerging platforms such as social media and mobile channels.
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Technology, Design, Design Pragmatist, Giovanni Calabro, Siteworx, google, , Google Inc., YouTube LLC, Google Android, Apple TV, Internet Broadcasting
Google TV...Huh? check it out! The battle for content serve up continues to heat up!
Google's Tablet versus Apple's iPad: Open versus Closed?
A very interesting next few months will be filled with hands on use of the iPad as well as more information (rumored) regarding Google's HTC built tablet. Wow! Technology (R)evolution is heating up in my humble opinion.
An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Nexus One
Last week, I attended the Google Android “Nexus One” event. As you may have heard, they gave many of us in the audience the device to try out. I decided that before I wrote anything about it (other than saying on television that it’s a “nice little device“), I would give it a real shot. So here I am, a week later, with my thoughts on it. To be clear, this isn’t meant to be a full review or overview, for that, see our review here. Instead, I’m going to come at this from the perspective of a pretty hardcore iPhone user of the past two-plus years.
And to start off, I’ll come right out and say what everyone will want to know: Do I think the Nexus One is better than the iPhone? No. There are certain things it does better (I’ll get to that), but overall, if I had choose one, I would still choose the iPhone — specifically, the iPhone 3GS. Is that my bias talking as someone who has used the device on a daily basis for over two years? Maybe a bit, but overall I do believe that while the Android phones are rapidly catching up to the iPhone, they are still not quite up to that device’s quality.
Lest you think I’m a complete newbie to the Android platform, I’ve actually had and used a number of Android devices over the past year or so. I still have a G1 unit, as well as the myTouch3G. I’ve also used the Droid quite a bit since its release. Each of those devices is solid in their own regard when compared to 99% of the phones on the market. And the Nexus One is the best yet. But none are the iPhone.
I’m going to focus on the three biggest things that stand out in my mind about the Nexus One as compared to the iPhone (both good and bad).
Google Apps
Praise of the iPhone aside, there is no question what the Nexus One does better: Google apps. Every single Google app is better on the Nexus One (and all Android phones, for that matter, but on the Nexus One it’s more obvious because this device is the fastest). Gmail, Maps, and Google Voice in particular absolutely blow away their counterparts on the iPhone (of which only Maps is a native application, and Google Voice, famously, isn’t available).
It’s hard to describe just how great Google Voice is on Android. When I set it up, I had to confirm maybe three or four things, and I was all ready to go. In two minutes, my Google Voice number completely took over my Nexus One. This included getting not only getting all Google Voice incoming calls and voicemails, but doing outbound calls with my Google Voice number as well. This is absolutely the future of number portability, and that no doubt has the carriers — and likely even Apple – spooked.
Gmail is also ridiculously better on Android because it includes things like native support for starring messages, labels, and threading. Again, this is true of all Android phones, but the Nexus One showcases how much better Gmail is on Android than on the iPhone because it’s the fastest. If there is one thing that makes me want to use Android every day, it’s Gmail. And that won’t change unless Google ever (or ever is allowed to) build a native Gmail app for the iPhone.
Maps offers a number of features on the Nexus One that aren’t on the iPhone native version. This includes Latitude (which can run in the background), and Navigation. Other Google apps, like Google Sky Map and Google Goggles are also pretty cool, and useful to varying degrees, and again, only available for Android.
Third Party Apps
Maybe the hardest thing (or Apple’s greatest strength, depending how you’re looking at it) in using an Android device after being accustomed to the iPhone is the app difference. Simply put, iPhone apps, as a whole, are much, much better than Android apps. Maybe that’s because Android apps aren’t quite as mature yet. But I don’t know. The Android Market has been around for over a year now, and the fact that there still isn’t a Twitter app that’s as good as the top five iPhone Twitter apps is a bit odd to me. Seesmic for Android is the closest yet, but it still gets blown away by the polish of apps like Tweetie on the iPhone.
Likewise, none of the games are nearly as good on Android as they are on the iPhone. It’s not even close. On the iPhone, some of the 3D games rival the console versions, or at the very least, the handheld console versions. On Android, we might as well be playing Pong.
All that said, there are a number of apps that are useful on the Nexus One in ways they couldn’t be on the iPhone. That includes the instant messaging apps (again, Google’s own seems to be the best), and Pandora. Pandora on the iPhone is great, but you have to it open at all times. On the Nexus One, it’s brilliant because it can play music in the background while you do other things. Obviously, this issue (background apps) has been talked about in the past ad-naseum, so I won’t dwell on it here.
Again, it’s worth repeating that the best Android apps are all Google-made. That’s not true on the iPhone where most of the best apps aren’t Apple-made. To me, that speaks to the power of Apple’s platform. Android’s platform will continue to mature no doubt, but so will the iPhone’s. It has to be worrisome for Google that the divide is still this wide.
Hardware
The Nexus One hardware is in some ways superior to the iPhone. For example, I’ve never been a fan of the iPhone’s plastic backing, which it received after the first generation (which had an aluminum back). The Nexus One has more of a solid rubber and aluminum back that feels nicer. HTC, which makes the device, has also finally managed to get a removable battery backing that isn’t awful or ugly.
The front of the Nexus One leaves something to be desired in my opinion. It’s the closest yet to the iPhone in terms of sleekness, but whereas the iPhone is almost one smooth surface except for the one button indent, the Nexus One has a face that is broken up by its frame and the silly trackball that Google keeps insisting manufacturers include. I have never once used the trackball, nor do I intend to. It’s a waste of space, and makes the device look and feel cheaper.
While the Nexus One does have a nicer screen than the iPhone, it has a downside too. The OLED screen is much harder to see in daylight when compared to the iPhone’s screen. This is the same problem the new Zune HD has, and it really is a problem. In the dark, these screens look beautiful, better than the iPhone’s — but it’s not always dark. And when outside during the day at time, it’s almost unusable.
Instead of the one button that the iPhone employs, the Nexus One sticks with the standard 4-button (not including the scroll ball) Android approach. These buttons take a little getting used to, but can be powerful if used correctly. That said, I’m still not sure Android’s hardware wouldn’t be better served if these were software-based. There are a number of ways to get to Search via these buttons, for example. And while I get that this is Google’s thing, I find this repetitive, and in some cases confusing. One method to do that would be fine.
The Nexus One’s 5 megapixel camera does seem to take significantly nicer pictures than the iPhone’s 3 megapixel variety. But the biggest advantage of the camera pay be its LED flash, which is pretty powerful (though not fantastic for taking pictures in dark rooms still). I’d be shocked if the next version of the iPhone didn’t gain both of these upgrades.
The single biggest problem I have with the Nexus One hardware is likely a combination of hardware and software. I mis-click on things way too often on the Nexus One. While the device’s touch screen is obviously a huge improvement over the original G1’s, it’s still nowhere near as accurate as the iPhone’s. I’m not the only one who has noticed this. I often find myself mis-hitting icons, mis-typing letters, and the touchscreen mixed with the Nexus One web browser is simply not very good at all (try the menu system on espn.com to see what I mean). Apple is great at nailing the little things, and I’m not really sure why the touchscreen mechanics are so much better on the iPhone. But they are.
Speaking of the touchscreen, whereas before it was just odd that Google wouldn’t include multi-touch support in its apps, now it’s just annoying. The little “+/-” magnifying glass that shows up when you should just be able to pinch to zoom is beyond lame. And it may be even worse when viewing/manipulating pictures on the Nexus One. I’m not sure if Google still has their gentlemen’s agreement with Apple not to use the multi-touch gestures, but Palm seems to be using them just fine.
One Device To Rule Them All
If you were to ask me to describe in general terms why I like the iPhone more than the Nexus One, it would be hard to do. On paper, Nexus One seems to have a lot going for it, including a nicer screen, a better camera, a faster processor, etc. But using them side by side, when it comes to regular, everyday use, the iPhone (again, the iPhone 3GS) still wins.
Perhaps the single biggest reason that I like Apple products, and their software, in particular, is the attention to detail the company puts in. In my mind, that’s exactly what still separates the iPhone from all the Android phones. It’s the little things. The things that are almost too small for you to even notice, but the make the experience subtly better.
Android is like a very nice painting done entirely with broad strokes. The iPhone is more like a masterpiece in which every little detail has been meticulously defined. Just as people have different tastes in art, people will have different tastes when it comes to the iPhone versus the Nexus One. But that doesn’t change the fact that some pieces of artwork are considered to be a masterpieces, while some are considered to be merely very good.
If you’re an iPhone user who is sick of AT&T or just looking for a new device, I’m not sure that the Nexus One will be enough to satisfy you. Both Jason and Mike of TechCrunch have successfully switched from the iPhone to the Android platform, but both will admit that there were speed bumps (well, Jason will anyway — while Mike will privately, then deny saying such things).
Jason made some compelling arguments a few days ago about that switch, and how it takes time to get used to Android. I definitely agree with that. And think I could get pretty comfortable with Android. But the point is, I don’t really want to. In my mind, the iPhone is still the better device. Not better in every regard, but better overall. The Nexus One comes close, closer than any Android phone yet, but it cannot snatch the iPhone’s cigar.
Further, the problem with switching to something like the Nexus One now is that even if you think it’s better than an iPhone, a new iPhone is inevitably coming in another 6 months or so that will be much better than the Nexus One. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see it on Verizon this year, which would negate at least half of the complaints about the device.
And, of course, there will be better Android phones coming down the pipeline as well. So if I were an iPhone user thinking about switching (which again, I’m not), I’d probably wait to see what Apple announces in June and then see what Android phone is available by then if the next iPhone doesn’t blow you away.
It’s impressive how far these Android devices have come in a year. But the software/hardware combination still lacks the refinement of the iPhone. Maybe by this time next year, with Google now taking a more hands-on approach, they’ll have a device that can match Apple’s. But they’ll still likely lack the apps. And the iPhone will still likely lack the best Google apps. But it’s good to have competition. And it’s good to have two companies that can play off each other and push innovation — while at the same time, changing the industry. It’s becoming very clear that Google and Apple will be those two.
Company: Launch Date: December 11, 2009 The Nexus One is the Google Phone launched on January 5th, 2010. The Phone is sold at google.com/phone and it will be soon available at T-Mobile.
The phone runs on a Qualcomm 1 GHz Snapdragon chip, has a super… Learn More
Company: Apple Website: apple.com/iphone Launch Date: January 1, 2007 Apple’s iPhone was introduced at MacWorld in January 2007 and officially went on sale June 29, 2007, selling 146,000 units within the first weekend of launch. The phone (as well as its newer self, the… Learn More
Website: google.com Location: Mountain View, California, United States Founded: September 7, 1998 IPO: August 19, 2004 Google primarily provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of tools and platforms including its more popular… Learn More
Website: apple.com Location: Cupertino, California, United States Founded: April 1, 1976 IPO: 1980 Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computer maker to include consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from… Learn More
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Google: Five Initiatives to Watch in 2010 | The VAR Guy
Google had a heck of a 2009, kicking off with the launch of their authorized reseller program and wrapping up with the announcement that the City of Los Angeles was going to Google Apps. Last year also marked the launch of several new technologies under the Google banner, including Voice, Chrome — the browser and the OS — and Wave. Later today, I’m speaking with Jeff Ragusa, the Google Apps channel manager to get some perspective on what these technologies meant for resellers in 2009, and what VARs can expect in the year ahead. Here’s some of what I want to know more about.
Google Voice – When I reviewed Google Voice back in December, I noted that while its call-forwarding, voicemail transcription functionality is all there, it couldn’t stand up to a real enterprise VoIP solution. Google’s acquisition of Gizmo5 could change that, since it may very well transition Google Voice to a full VoIP service with potential application in the SMB workspace.
Google Wave - This hybrid instant message/e-mail service was easily the most talked about and least understood Google offering of late 2009. The collaborative aspect holds a lot of appeal, but it’s still in closed beta. It remains to be seen how, if at all, resellers will be able to leverage Wave.
Google Gears – When Offline Gmail first came to the reseller program late last year, facilitated by the Google Gears Firefox and IE extension, there was a chorus of “about time!” in my inbox. I have to wonder if Google has any more plans to integrate Gears with other applications.
Google Chrome OS – Right now, Google has no plans to release their cloud-facilitated operating system on anything but netbooks, but it’s easy to see how an ultra-lightweight, network-connected desktop might be appealing to an enterprise. Besides,
Google Docs – Formerly the golden child of cloud applications, the Google Docs word processing and spreadsheet suite is going to face a lot of competition from all sides in 2010. Microsoft’s Office Web is going to bring its considerable name recognition and desktop integration to bear, while Zoho and HyperOffice can’t seem to stop upgrading or adding features for a second. Does Google have a game plan? Where do resellers fit in?
And yes, I know about Google Nexus One.
More thoughts potentially later this week — after I speak with Google’s Ragusa. In the meantime I wonder: Which Google technologies will gain the channel truly embrace? Hmmm…
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Google Tablet: Google and HTC To Launch Apple iSlate Rival [RUMOR]
Google is working on a tablet computer with HTC, the company that built the hardware for the Nexus One “Google Phone“, according to a report.
The report claims that HTC has “been working closely with Google (
) for the past 18 months” on “several working models of a touch tablet”.
Are Google and HTC about to challenge both the iPhone and the Apple tablet, rumored to be called iSlate?
Australian news site SmartHouse, which first published the story, pits the Google/HTC offering as a direct rival to Apple’s tablet ambitions. But the device might equally prove a threat to Microsoft: getting Google Chrome OS into consumer’s hands is key to the operating system’s success.
Skeptics might argue that Google will never promote a tablet computer of its own: that would endanger its relationships with other hardware makers. And yet the Nexus One proves that Google very much will tread on toes if the move makes strategic sense.
What do you think: could a Google Tablet rival the iSlate? Or will this rumored device never see the light of day?
[image for illustration only, courtesy Gizmodo]
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