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2010년 1월 26일 화요일
Review of Google's Nexus One Android-powered touchscreen smartphone
 Google Nexus One |
 Google Nexus One |
 Google Nexus One |
The Google Nexus One is the first real "Google Phone." It is being sold directly by Google, it is branded a Google device (in spite of being built by HTC), and you won't find it listed on a carrier's site. The first version of the Nexus One was designed to work with T-Mobile's GSM and 3G networks, and can be purchased with T-Mobile service, but can also work at GSM EDGE speeds on AT&T. Versions built for Verizon's network in the U.S. and Vodafone's network elsewhere are set to become available in the Spring.
The phone features some cutting edge hardware, like a large
Physical Aspects
When it comes to the hardware design of the Google Nexus One, Google and partner HTC nearly knocked it out of the park. The device, which measures 120mm x 60mm x 11.5mm (4.7in x 2.4in x .5in) in size, is made up of nice textures and smooth, softly curved lines. The soft touch paint on its back cover only improves the feel of the 136.2g (4.8oz) device as it lays flat in your hand.
Controls on the Nexus One are pretty minimal. There is a lightable trackball that resides below a gorgeous, bright and colorful 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen display. Both the trackball and the
There are no controls on the right edge of the phone, not even a camera shutter button, but the top of the left edge and left of the top edge are home to very low profile controls for volume and power, respectively. They look good, and work well enough. A 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the top of the phone as well, and a micro-USB power/data connector can be found on the bottom of the phone, along with contacts that appear to be intended for a cradle of some sort.
The 5 megapixel camera, with its LED flash, sit on the back cover of the Nexus One, which can be slid off easily enough to gain access to the SIM card and
Overall, the Nexus One's hardware should appeal to people that like the touchscreen slab form factor. It is a fine example of the type. Those that seek more hardware-centric text input methods will have to hold out for the rumored "enterprise" focused device that Google has alluded to in the past.
 Google Nexus One |
 Google Nexus One |
 Google Nexus One |
 Google Nexus One |
Core Functions
Like much of the rest of Google's Nexus One, there are a number of high points that sit right next to low points. For example, the phone offers superb audio clarity on calls - possibly the best we've heard - but it also has a pretty poor performing speakerphone and questionable signal reception. On my desk is a Motorola CLIQ with 3 bars of 3G signal while the Nexus One offers only EDGE, though 5 bars of it (something the CLIQ could easily do if I turned off 3G). In general I have found that the Nexus One spends far more of its day without signal than the CLIQ does, and the CLIQ is not even the best performing T-Mobile 3G phone we have. This impacts the life of the battery, which is going to be charged daily as a forgone conclusion.
Turning off 3G data in the phone's settings will greatly improve battery life, especially in weak signal areas like my house since the phone's GSM reception is pretty good. Turning on WiFi on the Nexus One will certainly help make up for a lack of 3G data, but it, too, adds a drain to the phone's battery, though it seems to be decently optimized.
The Nexus One does a great job with contacts. The Android 2.1 OS allows for 3rd party developers to integrate directly into the main contacts system, and Google includes a nice Facebook app that demonstrates that well. Multiple Gmail accounts can be added to the device for contacts or email (but only one for the calendar), and the same is true for Microsoft Exchange accounts. New 3rd party apps are likely to be available in the future to add support for other sites like MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn, if they don't already exist.
Contacts on the phone are managed in two main lists, the full contact list (which can be configured to show contacts from all sources or only one), and the favorites list, which shows only starred contacts. Long pressing on a contact photo (or photo placeholder) will bring up a list of icons that represent the various ways that contact can be reached (call, SMS, Facebook, etc). All imaginable details can be stored in a contact, and there is first and last name searching as well as a slider control that can be used to index through long lists. Shortcuts to contacts can also be placed on a homescreen panel for even more convenient access.
In terms of functionality, the Google Nexus One does very well with messaging tasks. It has great support for IMAP, POP, and Exchange email systems in addition to Google's home grown Gmail. The Exchange support is pretty simple, lacking even out of office notices, but it works well for bringing your messages and contacts (though not calendar appointments). The setup process for email is simple, and everything works pretty much as one would hope for. Text and multimedia messaging work through a separate system and are shown in an IM-like threaded fashion. IM support on the Nexus One is limited to Google's own Gtalk system, though there are 3rd party apps that can provide access to other systems.
The Nexus One's 3G data is hampered by its poor reception, but even when the phone showed but one bar of 3G signal, I still managed to get 1000kbps or faster downloads on DSLReports's mspeed test, which is great. WiFi data speeds were much faster still, and the phone's speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, running at 1GHz, is fully capable of gobbling up the data. Bluetooth is also supported on the phone, as is USB.
Rumor Has It: iPhone OS 4.0 Details Leaked Early
I’m pretty sure that late January is traditionally that time of the year when the Apple rumor mill starts heating-up in anticipation of the impending iPhone OS update. A young tradition, to be sure, but a tradition nonetheless.
This year, however, the media frenzy around the mythical-but-completely-certainly-probably-real Tablet seems to be getting all the attention — rather like a new born baby stealing the limelight from its three year old sibling.
At least BoyGeniusReport — in the past a reasonably accurate source of information on upcoming iPhone OS updates — hasn’t forgotten the tradition and, even though no one is paying the least bit of attention, they resolutely committed to web-page what they think they now know about iPhone 4.0.
So what’s the latest? From BGR:
“There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense […] as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
I’m not sure I understand what this means if I’m honest with you. I mean, the few multi-touch gestures we get now in apps like Photos and Safari are sensible enough, (double-tap and pinch zooming are useful in those apps) but do we need multi-touch everywhere? How will the addition of OS-wide gestures make the OS more elegant, more intuitive and easier to use? Now, I’m not suggesting any sort of major calamity; I’m just experiencing something of an imagination-failure here.
“A few new ways” to run applications in the background — multitasking.”
So, the elusive Multitasking is coming to iPhone? I’m not convinced. Speaking from my many years of experience using Windows Mobile, it seems to me that Apple’s approach to memory management on the iPhone is pretty much perfect. Sure, it doesn’t multitask — but in almost three years of iPhone ownership, that has never presented an insurmountable problem for me. And the (ahem- late) introduction of Push Notification Services was a very welcome compromise.
I have since discovered, however, that I don’t need Facebook to notify me about every poke or thrown sheep, and I especially don’t want to be notified of every tweet from my Twitter stream. No thank you.
Perhaps the “few new ways” refers to a sandboxed memory “space” that runs in the background, sort of like an app for keeping-alive portions of other apps, even when they’re not currently front-and-center. Maybe. Whatever it is, you can be sure there won’t be a task manager.
“Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.”
What do you think? A new, refreshed UI style, perhaps? Or an iPhone version of Exposé? The latter sounds horrid, but still, Soptlight can’t be the only solution to quickly navigating through 10 pages of apps.
“The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
Makes sense. The 3G and 3GS have more memory than the venerable first generation iPhone. Consider how sluggish the latest build of the iPhone OS (3.1.2) can be on first generation iPhones. Apple is so concerned with guaranteeing a consistent, elegant user experience they kept cut & paste out of the OS for years before they felt the solution was good-enough to publish. So they’re hardly going to support their latest and greatest OS on the ageing first-generation iPhone because the experience will be terrible.
I would wager, too, that core location services have been greatly expanded and even more tightly integrated with the entire OS, making the original location-ignorant iPhone a bit of a silly platform for 4.0. (Don’t forget that patent for a location-aware home screen…)
“The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.”
Since I’m one of the five or six people in this world who pays for a MobileMe subscription I never really think about contacts/calendar syncing. It just happens for me, quietly, no fuss. I’ve never synced any other way, so I have no experience of the perils and pitfalls of syncing via different methods. I’ll leave you to tell me what you think this means and why I should care.
And Then There’s That Tablet (Again)
Don’t forget that the established wisdom of the Rumor Mill has it that iPhone OS 4.0 and the Tablet’s operating system are pretty much built upon the same core code — hence the reason for Apple’s delay in seeding the 4.0 build to developers. (Since the code is so similar it’s pretty likely that tablet functionality will be easily discovered by a few minutes spent digging through iPhone OS 4.0’s bundled APIs. Apple has held-back on seeding the next major iPhone OS build for this very reason — they don’t want to give away clues as to what’s in store with the Tablet — that sort of information will leak fast.)
So while the world’s press salivates over the upcoming tablet and forgets completely about Apple’s other major products, spare a thought for iPhone OS 4.0. It’s likely to be the most important — and impressive — update in the iPhone’s history. And, unless you have your money ready to splash on the Tablet, iPhone OS 4.0 is the most likely next “new thing” you’re going to get from Cupertino.
http://theappleblog.com/2010/01/21/rumor-has-it-iphone-os-4-0-details-leaked-early/
Using Your Mobile Phone as a Proximity Sensor
In the latest in our series exploring the integration of mobile phones with Internet of Things, we look at what kinds of things you can do using your phone as a proximity sensor. Right now most of the use cases are social - for example, your phone lets you see who else is in the same location as you. But what will emerge when we add data from sensors to the mix? It becomes much more than a social platform then, because it adds billions of 'things' to the equation.
RWW's Mobile Web Meets Internet of Things Series:
As Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote earlier, "where you are" has became a platform to build added value on top of - just as "who you know" has on Facebook and "what you're doing" on Twitter. Marshall outlined some current use cases for location data - showing nearby restaurants and ratings, advertising, local news, events, Wikipedia data about local buildings.
All of that functionality can be achieved right now using geo-location data from your iPhone or Android device, data from local places (e.g. address data), metadata from businesses (e.g. pricing from local shops) and people data (e.g. user check-ins from Foursquare or Brightkite).
As impressive as that is, it's really just the beginning. Imagine the possibilities when you add data from sensors.
DecaWave's ScenSor uses wireless radio chips to enable "precision RTLS (Real Time Location Systems) applications."
In the concept video, distance measurements are used to determine proximity and do things such as enable/disable a laptop, find a lost teddy bear, enable access in a hospital room for a doctor, identify nearby patient info and then download the correct records to the doctor, and advise of approaching friends. Other concepts shown in the video include an in-store location application guide for shoppers, proximity of tagged clothing, and information transfer capability with patient data.
The functionality shown by DecWave is still emerging. Probably the most likely place we'll see sensor data make an impact in the short-term is on our roads. Using your mobile phone, you could get a real-time update of traffic conditions via sensors embedded in the road. This possibility excites even those who don't currently use the Mobile Internet. In a recent report on mobile internet usage, checking real time travel updates was listed by 33% of respondents as "the most interesting to those that don't currently use mobile internet."
Over the next few years, expect to see sensor-driven data add to the functionality and breadth of mobile phone location platforms. Let us know your thoughts.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/using_your_mobile_phone_as_a_proximity_sensor.php
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