When I wrote about the new Droid RAZR this morning I hadn’t seen one in person. A few hours later, I visited with representatives of Motorola and Verizon and got a demo and a bit of hands-on time.
Tag Archives | Smartphones
Hey, There’s a New RAZR!
The first thing I noticed about Motorola and Verizon Wireless’s new Android phone was the name. The Droid RAZR is a neat nod to one of the most iconic phones of the pre-iPhone era. (What’s next–the Droid Star-Tac?)’
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iPhone 4S: Over Four Million Sold
Is the iPhone 4S the fastest-selling consumer electronics device ever?
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Fake Battery Apps Invade Androidland
More evidence that Android is the Windows of mobile operating systems: It’s under attack by sleazeware. PCWorld’s Tom Spring reports:
Brandt says that one Android battery app, called both Battery Doctor and Battery Upgrade, is particularly problematic: Not only does it not upgrade a battery or extend a charge, but when it’s installed and unlocked, it harvests the phone’s address book, the phone number, the user’s name and email address, and the phone’s unique identifying IMEI number. With a phone user’s name, IMEI, and wireless account information, an attacker could clone the phone and intercept calls and SMS messages, or siphon money from a user by initiating premium calls and SMS services. Once the battery app is installed the program sends the phone ads that appear in the drop down status bar of the phone at all times – whether the app is running or not. Lastly it periodically transmits changes to the user’s private information and phone-hardware details to its servers.
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RIM Tries to Make Amends for BlackBerry Outage With Free Apps
After the worst BlackBerry outage ever–it affected customers around the world last week for up to three days–RIM is trying to make amends. It’s decided to let customers download a bunch of apps, worth more than $100, for free from the BlackBerry App World store.
They include:
- SIMS 3 – Electronic Arts
- Bejeweled – Electronic Arts
- N.O.V.A. – Gameloft
- Texas Hold’em Poker 2 – Gameloft
- Bubble Bash 2 – Gameloft
- Photo Editor Ultimate – Ice Cold Apps
- DriveSafe.ly Pro – iSpeech.org
- iSpeech Translator Pro – iSpeech.org
- Drive Safe.ly Enterprise – iSpeech.org
- Nobex Radio™ Premium – Nobex
- Shazam Encore – Shazam
- Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant – Vlingo
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Putting the iPhone 4S Camera to the Test
My pals at PCWorld Labs compared the iPhone 4S camera to those on a bunch of Android phones, plus a Nikon point-and-shoot. The results? The 4S and the best Androids were basically tied, and just a hair behind the Nikon. (The iPhone 4S rated Good for video, but the best Androids did even better.)
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The iPhone 5: Jobs’ Last Product?
Brooke Crothers of Cnet is reporting that analyst Ashok Kumar says that the iPhone 5 that some people thought Apple would announce this month–the thinner one with a bigger screen–is real, and will be announced at Apple’s WWDC conference next year. He also says that it’ll be an LTEC device and that he expects it to be a blockbuster based on the fact that it will be the last major product to bear Steve Jobs’ personal imprint.
Kumar has, um, a spotty track record when it comes to rumors. Sometimes they pan out; quite often they don’t. But there’s nothing inherently implausible about this one, and it’s presumably true that we haven’t yet seen the last Apple stuff that Steve Jobs worked on.
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The iPhone 4, Only More So
Over at Techland, I’ve reviewed the iPhone 4S. Executive summary: It’s not the one right phone for everybody, but I do think it’s the single best smartphone on the market, in part because of the features it offers, but just as much because Apple’s level of polish and efficiency beats Android so handily, and because the App Store is such a huge asset.
As the 4S’s very name tells you, it’s not a big advance on the 4. But the faster processor is noticeable and welcome, the camera is much better, and Siri is both useful and fascinating.
One question I touched on in the review but want to write about at greater length soon: Is the 4S’s small screen compared to Android and Windows phone handsets a pro, a con, or something else? I’m still figuring out my take on that, and am curious what you think.
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Hey, Let’s Start Planning iOS 6
In a strange way, there’s something exciting about the fact that mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android are relatively immature, and still lacking some features that people really want. If nothing else, it certainly allows their makers to release upgrades that are a big deal, since there’s no lack of worthwhile stuff to add. (With Windows and OS X, there are far fewer obvious holes; a cynic, in fact, might contend that those OSes would benefit from having fewer features.)
I’m enjoying iOS 5 on both both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2. But as I use it, I’m also reflecting on the missing features I still crave. (One example: More serious font support, such as the ability to add my own typefaces.) And over on Twitter, I asked my pals for their iOS 6 wish lists, and got lots of nifty nominations–most of which sounded like things that Apple might plausibly add, and only a few of which were (coughcoughFlash) painfully obvious.
After the jump, a few dozen of them–thanks to all who participated in this brainstorming exercise.
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iOS 5 is Great. Don’t Rush to Get It!
One of the top two or three advantages that the iPhone has over Android handsets has nothing to do with new handsets. It’s the fact that when a new iPhone is imminent, owners of old iPhones can upgrade to the new version of iOS as soon as they like. Lack of fragmentation is a wonderful thing.
Apple released iOS 5 on Wednesday. It’s excellent–and Dan Moren’s Macworld review is an excellent summary of what’s new and worthwhile. If you have a recent iPhone and/or an iPad, get it–the new notification features alone are a huge deal, and they’re just the beginning. But taking your time about the upgrade is a perfectly rational strategy.