iPhone 6 - One Week In

Are we are interested in the wrong stuff? The big iPhone bends and it's not an LG Flex.. OK. Friends in love with Samsung are waiting for the EDGE/Note 4. Great! Moto X goes on sale today which has been declared the best Android phone ever by more sites than I can count (or was it one guy and then a bunch of copycats?). Ever try to use StreamBoard these days to monitor  the tweets associated with a popular event? Impossible. Everyone's got an opinion. Haters hate etc. But the proof is in the using..

I've been using the iPhone 6 as my sole device for a week now and I like the form. No case for me. Haven't come close to dropping it once. It's the right size for my hand (no reason not to try it out). I like the power button on the right side of the phone instead of the top though I'm still getting used to it. Moto X (first gen) taught me where all the buttons should be and that's on the right side of the phone (for a righty!). One hand operation is dramatically improved with the volume rocker and power buttons on the right.  I updated to iOS 8.0.2 this morning. Luckily I missed the fun with the first update yesterday morning. Seems most of the notable tech sites referenced this article if you are interested in more details and sixcolors.com is a great place to keep up with Apple and other tech news that's not tuned to advertisers. The site is written by a former lead editor at Macworld.

My experience: It is easier to enter passwords on Android with  Lastpass as your password manager. It is also easier to share/save/clip articles and interesting stuff you find to Pocket, Instapaper, Facebook, Twitter, G+, Evernote etc. It's improved on Safari for  iPhone but I'm a Firefox/Chrome sync fan. Memories of MobileMe still haunt me. I'll get over it. I really like the ability iPhone now has to respond to messages via the home screen alert and appreciate the frequent contacts that are easily accessible with the double click of the home button. The "Tips" app has taught me some nice tricks as well. Check it out. Waze works great. As does Glympse. Strava, gMail and various go-to apps are super. Screen is bright and beautiful. Like the new wallpapers...

The Android lovers are out in force saying that the new iPhone is 2 years behind Android and there is a bit of evidence to support that. So not much has changed really. I like wireless charging which seems to not be a priority these days. The new iPhone's battery, despite comments in the press to the contrary (which are maybe based on specs and not experience), has been great and I really like a Laptop/Phone/Tablet that can stay unplugged for a day without making adjustments to my performance settings. BTW the iPhone will charge faster if you use the adapter for an iPad (pro trick safe for use at home).

The iPhone is great in it's simplicity and the only glitch I've encountered has been the accelerometer is sometimes slow to adjust the screen from portrait to landscape and back. That and the inevitable issue which is that I use lots Google products (Keep for Notes, Picasa, Finance, Voice, Calendar, Maps, Mail and my default document manager is Google Docs. Rarely do I start a document with Word anymore.)  Love Google Now. Google apps integrate seamlessly with one password for all apps on Android. Google now can be used on the iPhone but not as an integrated feature. It's getting better everyday.
The issue of Apple allowing 3rd party keyboards has been noted. SwiftKey for Android was a favorite of mine and I loaded it onto the iPhone. It has limited functionality compared to it's Android sibling. The stock iPhone keyboard has been improved. It still has a way to go.

There are  a couple of great reasons to get the new iPhone. It's by far the best one yet. The camera is great. Click here for a wonderful demonstration of the iPhone 6 Plus in Iceland by Austin Mann. It has Facetime and so do your relatives. Apple will keep it simple and you don't have to fuss with it. Makes great calls, has a super messaging app now with some cool new features. Messaging has become very fragmented. I prefer Hangouts. What do you use? I get a lot of replies like, "yes. sure. who is this?" Onward.

Enjoy it and let the gang at XDA Developers and Google+ communities say whatever they want. If you are adventurous take the plunge. There are a number of great Android phones to choose from and there will be a new Nexus shortly! Got my eye on the MotoX.. Its the right size!
This new iPhone is super. Thumbs up!

Phablets: Time for a Larger Phone... Note 3 vs LG G-Flex

Went shopping today for a bit and I was pleasantly surprised to find two LG G-Flex devices on display today at the new Main St ATT store in Salinas, CA. Thought I'd love the curved screen. I do.  Got 3 reps to join in the fun and get after this beast and here's the conclusion: the software is confusing and while there are some cool features we all liked (like tapping the screen to turn it on/off) none of us could figure out how to do things that are simple and intuitive on the Note 3 (including doing split screen). I was ready to take this phone home as I want to get a larger device and am overdue for an upgrade (currently using a Nexus 5 for most of my mobile communications).  Soo we played and played and the more we did the more we said things like , "the icons sure are ugly". "better root that baby", "I'm confused".. all the while one of the reps was pulling up videos on how to use this phone.. Looks like I'm ready to go with the Note 3 on this one.. any thoughts? Seems the Note 3 was snappier, better looking (1080p) and more intuitive.

Never Thought I'd see the Day.. My Main Phone is an Android

Have read a few of these posts lately.. a simple search will pull them up. Try: Android has left iOS behind. I've switched from iPhone to Android. Thinking different? You're using Android, says the Guru. Hardware matters and the specs are what they are, but specs are only part of the story. That's a good thing for Apple, cause the specs on this Android phone I've switched to are untouchable today. 1080p. 1.5 Quad-core, 2 Gigs of RAM...etc. etc. OK. Specs are never the whole story. Onward.

I have been using the iPhone for years... it finally knocked a Blackberry out of my pocket for good around the time the 3G was introduced and I got the latest iPhone 5 the day it was available (1/2hr wait at the local Verizon store). Love it (used the 4 and 4s and loved them too)... Love 'em still. In fairness, the 3G didn't "sell" me. My friends referred to it as the "iphoney" adding, "any real businessman has a Blackberry". Right! The iPhone had apps and did everything  the Blackberry did and  RIMM/Blackberry ignored the beauty and simplicity of the iPhone and it's app ecosystem. 
I was chatting recently with a technology (and car) loving CTO from England who shares a deep respect for the excitement  trails the tribulations  of Formula 1 racing with me. We communicate through the racing season as the  spirit moves us. When we met we were fanboys. I remember when he went to Android.. He's a Nexus guy now for his good reasons and wrote me a nice explanation of why after I asked him if he owned anything apple now.. We both have Apple TVs and laptop's...  no more iPad for him.. He has a Nexus 7 which is the "perfect device to sit in front of the TV with". He was looking forward to getting a Nexus 4  but there is a technical problem that even the best technologists have very little defense/strategy for and that's sales forecasting as best I can tell.. I assume you know that story too and again, a search will reveal all the ins and outs of LG vs Google as it applies to the availability of the Nexus 4. So I heard the pitch and my friend knows I tried a couple of Samsung Android phones 3 years ago. A lot has changed. Then Android showed promise but was not integrated and developed like it is today. Then there was no Google Now (how great is Google Now? It can give you info so you can redirect your commute based on traffic, handle the ticketing for most flights, along with keeping up with many things that matter to you before you think about them..). 3 years ago you still had to do things over and over like you do on iPhone. Android wasn't intuitive like it is now. Then Android was trying to catch iOS... man how things have really changed. Chrome sync's with all other devices using it (simple) and it's fast and easy, but the Google/Android integration is now no less than (sorry Steve) magical. Put your credentials in ONCE (you are using dual auth right?) and within seconds  gMail, Tasks, Google Voice, Calendar and your inflated (thanks to Google +) contacts list are all there ready for you to arrange  anyway you like... with widgets and apps (yeah the developers still work on the iOS apps first it seems and some are a bit cleaner on iPhone. So what?)...  They are all here... Weather and Surf apps. Evernote, Waze, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, Instagram, Pulse, Flipboard... you get the picture. ScoreMobile.. and Maps... Yup.. do that search if you haven't heard enough about Maps and Apple (what the hell were they thinking?). And that's the point... Googlers have really used Android. A Lot! And it shows.. things are faster and more intuitive. Lots of folks have talked about the sharing capabilities (a long list and you enter credentials once for nearly ALL programs) and other capabilities. All good and Android has a few tech celebrity endorsers claiming a new mobile dawn has arrived. But here's the Ace for me. For years I carried a Walkman and a cell phone. Then an iPod and a cell phone and I hoped for one device that would do it all... it came.... But this Android phone is an HTC.. it has Beats Audio.  I have good ears... I grew up listening to and then playing music. I know what sounds good... digital compression is lousy but portability wins while lossless helps the quality. I loaded doubleTwist  and sync'd up (wirelessly!  The cliche of our time is there is an app for that right?) Went for a drive.. first I sync'd the new Phone with the car and then I heard things in the music I only hear on the made for a desert island system that powers up the Man Cave. The system that cost the same as the nice Automobile. As I understand it, Beats uses a "2.5 volt Headset Amp for bigger and better sound". It works... It Works Great... connected over Bluetooth in the car of all things... Do I really care how it works? It sounds absolutely great. I love it. 

I'm all in with Google. The best reasons are security through dual auth, simple design and functionality... not always pretty but getting better all the time.... I really like this new phone and when I pick up the iPhone it seems small and cumbersome somehow.. no longer elegant (it is I know..but not as much). I have to provide the same information again and again to apps. It is NOT different. It's tired. No NFC. No going in and saying "yes" to updates for all apps when they are available (automatic for the people on Android. Just check the box and be done with it). My only complaint is that somehow the carrier (Verizon in this case) has conspired with the phone manufacturers to delay the distribution of the latest OS.. for security reasons? I don't know. Time for another search perhaps. I like to understand these things. This is why my friend Marc loves the Nexus... everything including Android is up to date. We have LTE here.. 25 Mbps on the phone is where it's at.... even put the Verizon Home Fusion Broadband in to use occasionally with the old ATT DSL at 6 Mbps. I still use the iPhone of course... Waze renders better (they'll fix that) and the Apple Remote app controls a lot of the media streaming we do here at the Treehouse. But I'm sold. It's like mobile has been reinvented. Out with the Old and in with the New.
The Phone? Its an HTC Droid DNA. Bought it from Amazon. Got a great deal...  Here's the link: 

Apple just announced earnings and at this point in time their stock is down about $25 after-hours having peaked at just over $700 a few months ago. It will likely be more than $200 a share less tomorrow. Join the revolution. Time for Apple to listen to some of it's old marketing. Or maybe Steve Jobs just cannot be replaced.

From iPhone to ... Android? Windows Phone? It's the Browser.

This instantly reminds me of the Mac vs PC flame wars in the forums on Engadget or Verge or Gizmodo(!). What do you use?  Have an opinion? Today I have an old Dell laptop running Ubuntu. A year old mbp running OSX. An xps laptop running Windows 8 and a big custom, multiscreen powerhouse of a desktop that is happily doing business on the web running Windows 8. I had no problems installing it and running it is great. I discover new, useful capabilities almost everyday. Highly recommended. But, here's the deal. Having got on-line in the early/mid 90's on a dial up 4800 connection with HookedNet, Compuserve, Newsgroups, mosaic etc. the browser has been and remains the critical piece of my digital life. Apps are getting close, but it was about the time that I knew everything except our music (3 servers. nearly 400 Gigs of mostly lossless stuff) would be moving online that the browser became the most critical app/program I used. I spent at least a year using Opera and 5+ with Firefox and have come to the conclusion that across multiple machines Chrome does the best job of syncing things up. Along with being super fast, I now know it well. When the iPhone 4s came out, I loved that device so much I tried to use Safari to keeps things "together" and it just never worked out right. So without getting into a whole endless discussion about this platform and that handset, I want to be able to move as seamlessly as possible from desktop to tablet to iPhone/Android/WinPhone. Chrome will help me get closer to my ideal. It's my answer. I have thought about a Windows Phone. Does it run Chrome? A rep in an ATT store today told me they are selling a lot of Lumina's and 'Droids. "No one cares about specs and customers are "tired" of the same old iPhone". Is he right? Another opinion. Windows Phone? The price is right. Are the apps there (yet)?. I would never count Microsoft out. They have resources as a friend likes to repeat over and over again. And the enterprise uses Office. There are synergies. Mark Cuban recently said the new Lumina "crushes iPhone. Not even close"  Every CTO I know except one is "on Android" and wouldn't think of going back to iPhone or (in one case) Blackberry. Kevin Rose tweeted he is now "100% Android". Kawasaki thinks differently as well...now.  Really? And then there is Music. "A Phone, an Internet device and an iPod" Who said that?... Remember that day? Steve's crowning achievement  Here's the big surprise according to my testing.. Beats Audio on the HTC Droid DNA... best sounding digital music these old, tuned musician ears have heard yet.. Hope Neil Young is reading (is Pono gonna happen?)... give a listen... Doubletwist is the app I used.. sounded great. All the specs lead to a great experience. 1080p screen is spectacular. Now about that keyboard...Chrome is the browser.. gMail, Drive.. Android. Is it waterproof?  maybe the new Sony..