Thursday, November 6, 2014

2014 Q4 Mobile Thoughts

You know it is a slow day when I'm going back and watching old videos on YouTube. I seem to have missed this particular Colbert Report.

After watching it, I realized that there are sheeple in all of the camps.

Apple has their faithful followers who will buy anything that Tim Cook says is "magical," or "thinner," or "easier." Pioneering, I wouldn't say that. Maybe repackaging existing technology and making it look pretty with the Apple logo or something along those lines. iOS? Android did most of what it does now about 2-3 years ago.

Google has some of the same kind of followers, but they are usually a bit geekier or more concerned about making their device actually belong to them. I've determined that the Nexus line of products is really just a shortened name that really means "next us." This goes in line that they will turn the mobile device world upside down every time there's a new Nexus device released. Come on. That's like saying that with a new release of Ubuntu that we will finally have the "year of the Linux desktop."

Microsoft... Are they really a thing to worry about, other than them extorting royalties from hardware manufacturers that use Android on their devices? Nokia, Microsoft's right hand at pushing the new features for Windows Phone, has really lost their touch over the years. Just by looking over various statistics from some big sources, Nokia's market share has severely plummeted, which takes the base Windows Phone share with it. Every once in a while, there's unofficial rumors that Nokia will be making a new device that will run Android. I think this is to boost the hopes of would-be Nokia customers and to get the Nokia name back in the spotlight. Since Microsoft owns Nokia, I highly doubt they would ever let Nokia put Android on any of their devices happen. Needless to say, I don't believe that Windows Phone will be making any big splashes to awe the mobile device OEMs or the community in general to drop their iPhones or Droids to get that new Windows Phone device. When I think Nokia, I think of the old brick/candybar phones that break the sidewalk or used as weapons to battle the Zombie Apocalypse. This needs to make a comeback!

RIM and their BlackBerry line has all but fallen off the face of the Earth. They are pretty much on their last leg and fighting to stay above water. It's a fierce battle for them, since their devices are primarily marketed towards business people. Their Playbook 10 was mostly a last ditch effort to stay useful in a media based niche. The Q10... Let's not go there. This last line of BlackBerry phones from RIM are tacky at best and tried to make it look like an iPhone with a hardware keyboard attached. You're doing it wrong!

Viva la SideKick! That was one of the best devices I ever owned...until I got my hands on the new HTC G1. If only HTC would hear my constant pleas to reinvent the G1 with a 5.5" or so screen, modern under the hood specs that we all expect in devices of today, a decent battery life and gotta have that flipout 5 row keyboard like the original G1 had. Other requirements I would have on such a device is that it must be a world phone and must have a radio capable of utilizing the bands of modern carrier's 2G/3G/4G/LTE based on the SIM card that is in the device. Also, there needs to be a microSD port capable of sdHC/sdXC. Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. Bluetooth 4.0 LE or whatever the latest standard is at the time. NFC. GPS. A multitude of sensors. As a bonus, it would be nice to have 2 very good stereo face front firing speakers that doesn't clip the audio when it gets too loud. I'm saying quality media and social hub here. Navigation buttons on screen from the Android OS, not hardware soft buttons. I can imagine that this device would carry a fairly hefty price tag on it, but if it met my standards to what I want in a device, I would gladly buy it. Imagine if this design was one of the near future Nexus devices. Yes, that would mean unlocked, no Sense UI, no added bloat from carriers. Just a pure AOSP based Android experience as it was meant to be. I'm sure I'm dreaming. Heh heh, "dream" ... That is what the original G1 device codename was called.

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