Tag: android

Shaking off Some of the Apple Fussiness
John Gruber has a running joke he used to tell on his podcasts, his Rules for Success on the Internet, meant to poke fun at himself and the folks in his circle. The rules were, paraphrased:
1. Have a clicky keyboard
2. Be fussy about coffee
3. Own a Sodastream
It’s so amusing to me and his audience because it’s an acknowlegdement that he and his ilk have the luxury of having quirky predelictions about certain trivial things that, in their lives, seem so important. The coffee, for example, has to be made just so, with just such a convoluted method, with very particular beans, and never any sweeteners or cream of course.

Having now had more than a few trips outside of the Apple walled garden, the fussiness of the elite Apple consumer has become more and more apparent to me. In my own experience, based on my immersion in the various websites and podcasts and other media generated by various folks in and around the tech world, there seems to be a very strong correlation between the Apple user of at least moderate affluence and what I’ll carefully call a fetishization of fussiness, having all things just so.

Let me elaborate on what I mean by that, and make clear that I don’t mean this pejoratively. Take a look at websites like Minimal Mac or Tools & Toys, or the kinds of things promoted by Gruber, Marco Arment, Craig Mod, Sean Blanc, and others (all of which I like very much!). To varying degrees they exhibit high levels of fussiness in things like design, tech products, office products, clothing, food, typesets, and so on. You’ll see images of nearly-empty desks, save for a single computer (a Mac), perhaps a keyboard, perhaps an iPad carefully propped up, an iPhone (not in a case) docked, and probably a moleskine notebook. There are likely wood tones surrounding the technology. Everything is just so. Each object has been embued with preciousness. Android phones are not to be spoken of.

I halfheartedly aspired to this kind of Cult of the Minimalist that many of these Apple fans seem to achieve and then relentlessly hone. For good reason: this demand for a level of quality and polish from the objects we use and the things we consume is, I think, a healthy thing. Fewer distractions, less noise, less disorder – these are all things worth pursuing. Toys can’t make happiness, but the things with which you surround yourself (and choose not to) can be steps on the way to peace. (Sometimes not, of course.)

But being a little more on the outside of the Apple universe (or, at least, travelling between it and other worlds), it becomes clear that the desire for this kind of peace-through-objects can itself be a source of stress. For one thing, one can’t possibly achieve the level of minimalist artisanal nirvana seen on many of these sites without a significant outlay of cash. Beautiful, well-made, precicely crafted objects, be they phones or desks or pens, are expensive. (So are good clacky keyboards and fuss-worthy coffee and its paraphernalia, though not really Sodastreams.) Living this life of pricy simplicity also takes time, effort, and discipline to achieve. Not everyone has the luxury, nor does everyone share those priorities.

Immersing myself in the Android world has been an awakening of sorts. As beautifully designed as many Android devices are these days, and as excellent an operating system Lollipop is (and it really is), the Android world is full of noise. Websites devoted to Android, or at least in that universe, are cacophonous, frequented not by minimalists, but by tinkerers and augmenters and reconstituters. Hardware is valued more for its potential for modification and raw power rather than its ability to place one in a zen state. It’s overwhelming to newcomers from Apple-land, but it’s also fun and daring and, frankly, a bit of a relief from all the fussiness.

After playing with a bunch of different Android devices, I had occasion to handle a few friends’ iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. They are gorgeous, no question; really solid, smooth, platonic ideals of future-looking objects. I was a little envious.

But not as much as I once would have been, because as much as I admire the iPhones 6, they now also seem a little too precious. I have a red Nexus 5, a phone that came out in the fall of 2013, and it’s all plastic with visible seams and sharp corners and an ugly micro-USB port, and I just adore it. And the wide variety of shapes and sizes and even design philosophies coming from different manufacturers is fun to explore and examine and experiment with. In comparison, the Apple/iOS world feels a little staid, stationary, and a touch stuffy.

And at the same time it seems smooth and peaceful and free of the need for superfluous futzing. Most of the decisions have been made for you, and that’s a nice thing a lot of the time.

But not all of the time!

I like both worlds. I like the world of disorder and cobbling and staggering variety, the world that made it seem like a good idea for me to cobble this horrible-looking and probably very temporary phone dock out of an old broken iPhone dock, a USB cable, some wire tape, a small cardboard box, and some rocks (for weight). I also like the world of simplicity and focus and refinement, where only things made by Twelve South are allowed to touch your precious glass-and-aluminum talisman. I like the mess and the fuss. Neither is The Way it Ought to Be, they’re just both ways-to-be whenever it suits you. How great is that?
December 15, 2014

android, design, ios, iphone, mac, minimalism, nexus
Trying to Be a Phablet Guy, with Little Hands

Is it time to jump on board the phablet bandwagon? I’ve never owned one of these large phones before, being cursed with wee mitts, but I’ve always been a little googly-eyed at the idea of a portable large-screen device. I was one of the few who, when the first Samsung Galaxy Note was unveiled, didn’t think it was ridiculous like many (most?) people did, but instead found it very tempting. It’s a few short years later, and now we have the iPhone 6 Plus and the Nexus 6, and something the size of the original Note is now considered medium-sized. The times are changing, and the benefits of a bigger screen are, for many, outweighing the ergonomic costs, but I still had yet to really get some time with one of these behemoths. I’d gotten to play with phablets a bit in carrier stores, but they’re always clapped in irons as it were, laden with bulky anti-theft locks, making their true usability entirely unknowable.

But this week I got to play for about a day with an elusive OnePlus One, the mysterious phone that usually requires an invite procured by someone else. I got to use it for about a day (don’t worry about how – no one was hurt), and I was very ready to be totally bowled over by my first substantial use of a phone that more or less qualifies as a phablet, having a 5.5-inch display.

And it is a lovely piece of hardware. The “sandstone” back is comfortable and reassuring in its grippiness, the display is big, bright, and sharp, and the overall design of the device is really a departure from the svelte, featureless black, gold, or grey slabs we’re used to. It has recognizable “segments” to its chassis, the display is in a way “mounted” to the body of the phone, and it looks and feels almost like a classy, retro-futuristic appliance. And I mean that as a high compliment.

The phone is also very fast and responsive (it’s also rather affordable if you’re in the market and can manage to get an “in” with them), and the Cyanogen build of Android that it runs is full of useful and subtle features that never get in the way of the core Android experience. It’s a magnificent device in almost every way.

Except it is too damn big. For me.

The OnePlus One is comparable in size to the iPhone 6 Plus, with a genuine heft, which is fine. And really, one gets a phone like this presuming that one-handed use will be extremely limited. You know you’ll mostly be using it two-handed, and you just accept it. But with the OnePlus One, with my little hands, I could do almost nothing with it one-handed, depsite all the help that CyanogenMod and the device provide with extra gestures and customizable buttons. Given its size and its weight, with one hand I was effectively limited to one of which ever lower quadrant of the display was closer to my thumb, depending on which hand I’m holding it in. I could barely use the keyboard, and mostly I could scroll, and that was about it. I didn’t need more than a day to realize this would never work long-term.

It was a little disappointing, to say the least, because I thought I’d really take to the whole phablet thing, and that I’d whittle down the number of devices I’d want to have in my life, with the phablet obviating the need for something like an iPad. But there’s something particular about having something that’s a phone. If it’s a phone, I simply have to be able to do at least a few core things with one hand (especially since I’m a parent and I’m often wrangling tetchy toddlers), such as type or access a search text field. Otherwise, it’s not a large phone, but a too-small tablet.

This is useful, because it means I can take the Nexus 6 off my Amazon wish list, and more or less write off devices in the 5.5-inch range. Even my Nexus 5, which I adore, is a touch too big for me, but not so big that I can’t manage. That ergonomic trade-off is worth it.

But I still pine for the paradox of a giant display on a tiny device. I’m already more or less ruined for the old 4-inch iPhone-size display, and I think I might even find a 4.7-inch screen, such as on a first generation Moto X, an Xperia Z3 Compact, or an iPhone 6, a bit too cramped. 5 inches seems now to be a good middle-ground between ease of use for my little hands and the blessings of extra screen space.

I wanted to be a phablet guy, though. Maybe when the kids move out.

December 6, 2014

android, gadgets, iphone, nexus, phablets, smartphones
Reunion at the Nexus: A (Smartphone) Love Story

It was both a rebound relationship, and a practical one. Cynical? No, but not heartfelt. I had abandoned my beloved iPhone back in 2013 in order to remove myself from my cellular carrier, and the only economically feasible alternative that the new carrier offered was the Nexus 5. Black, matte, fast, solid. It wasn’t love, but it would do.

I couldn’t commit, though. I was distracted, I thought too much about the other phones I might have had. The camera was poor. I couldn’t get used to the width of the screen with my tiny hands, and I felt the colors of the display were too washed out, too, well, real. I couldn’t handle it. I left the Nexus 5 relatively quickly, and went instead for a first-generation Moto X.

The Moto and I were happy for a little while. It matched me in so many ways: it was cute, spunky, and just the right size, without being overbearing with bloatware or unnecessary extras or demands. It was good for a while.

But I really wasn’t ready. I see that now. I was still too attached to iOS and Apple, still in the thrall of the spell that Steve Jobs cast on me years ago. The novelty of change having worn off, I longed to return to the comfort and familiarity of iPhone. So I came crawling back, like I always had before.

And things were fine. We got along, we worked more or less in sync. But though I’d never say so, I was getting bored again. The new iPhones 6 were announced, and they didn’t have the undeniable gravitational tug on me all previous models had. They were beautiful, powerful, that was all clear, but I couldn’t become interested.

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, Lollipop appeared. A new look and feel to Android, more unified, cleaner, more, well, delightful. I was intrigued.

At the same time, iPhone and I started fighting more and more often. Its new operating system, iOS 8, was lovely, but buggy. Things that it promised it could do, it wouldn’t. It would offer up new features, and then fail to make them work, or not well enough. The problems themselves weren’t insurmountable, but they exacerbated what was an existing ennui, a worsening indifference, a deepening chasm.

One day, I felt it. I had moved on. Whatever iPhone and I had once had was over. It wasn’t its fault, and it wasn’t mine. But we had grown apart, and it was time to admit it.

But I didn’t know where I’d go next. I knew I wanted to be using Android for my phone (not my tablet, that’s still an iPad mini 2), but not what device I should use, nor what I could afford to get, as it would certainly have to be used or refurbished.

Though, aren’t we all both used and refurbished?

I eventually connected with an HTC One M8, which was beautiful and well-regarded. It wasn’t easy to make that connection, though, as the first three (yes, three) units I ordered were all damaged in different ways. Finally, I found a refurb that was in like-new condition for the right price (I was sent the wrong color, but I had given up at that point). Surely this would work! But as I’ve recounted in a previous post, it was not to be. There were far too many incompatibilities.

While this latest relationship was deteriorating, I began to think back. Remember that phone that handled things so well? It was a different size, sure, but better than other devices. It was well built, certainly. It was fast, and reports from other users said that it remained so a year after its initial release, as it was still being sold and marketed as a current-generation flagship device. And it would also be certain to get the update to Android, Lollipop, sooner than almost anything else. And that OS update would have positive effects on things like the camera, the battery life, and how much overall effort it took to fiddle and futz.

Of course, I was thinking about the Nexus 5, the phone I had abandoned so long ago. I was older, I had matured. So had the phone. Perhaps now we were ready to try again.

I found one at the right price and in the right condition. It arrived, and we got to know each other again, and it was great. It was a revelation.

The phone wasn’t just fast, but faster than I remembered. The camera was workable, better than I gave it credit for (though still not great). The phone felt good to hold, the screen looked gorgeous, and the expanded display size was a relief to my eyes. The OS was now familiar and fun, not a slog through new territory. And then Lollipop came over the airwaves, and made it even better. It was a beautiful thing.

But one important thing was very different this time. This time, it was red.

Very red. Bright-orange-pink red. Obnoxiously red. It was perfect.

Now, I still live in the iOS world with my iPad, and it’s a good friendship, one that suits me for its particular purposes. But it’s fun to also be in the Android world, to be experiencing both development arcs of these dominant platforms. Particularly for the purposes of this blog, but also my own enthusiasms and curiosities, I can be part of both ecosystems’ conversations.

How long will the Nexus 5 stick around? I can’t say, of course. Undeniably fascinating devices, current and future, await. The Nexus 5 is the right device right now, even though it’s a little older, catching up with the times, and trying its best. Just like me.

November 18, 2014

android, apple, gadgets, google, htc, iphone, motorola, nexus, smartphones
HTC One M8: Fast to be Dropped, Slow to Respond

In the midst of my enthusiasm/disorder of gadgeteering on the cheap, I managed to have possession for a couple weeks of an HTC One M8, the phone that upon its release was more or less universally hailed for its build quality and performance.

Guess what. I didn’t really like it. And I really, really thought I would.

I assumed it’d be a good phone for me because of the rave reviews, of course, but also because it was the Android device that seemed to have been designed with the same degree of thought and care that Apple products are. The metal, the curves, the heft. It wasn’t a mimic of an iPhone, as it was clearly designed with different priorities in mind. iPhones get generally thinner and more svelte as they iterate, while the M8 looks more like it’s been designed to be felt, with noticeable weight, a striking metallic sheen, and a substantial footprint. It looks absolutely lovely.

But I liked almost nothing else about it.

I’ve passed the point where total one-handed use is a necessity. The industry is clearly moving away from it, and that being the case, it becomes more a matter of degrees and trade-offs. How much one-handed use are you willing to trade for the benefits of having a bigger screen or battery? That kind of thing.

But even with my change in perspective and expectations, the HTC One M8 fails in some basic areas of one-handed usability. Most notably, it’s just too damned slippery. Without using glass or plastic for the chassis, and with the metal polished to an extreme degree of smoothness, the phone is just far, far too easy to drop. Without immediately applying an unnaturally firm grip, the thing just slides right out of my hand.

Making this worse is how sensitive the volume rocker on the side is. The slightest tap against the rocker activates it, which always gets in the way of whatever it was you actually intended to do with the phone. And it’s all the easier to accidentally hit the volume rocker because, again, you need to grip the damn thing so firmly in order to not destroy it. It is a feedback loop of frustration.

I needed to put it into a case just to hold it. Not protect it, just hold it.

And then there was the software. Reviews and anecdotes reported the M8 to be incredibly fast and smooth in performance. This was not my experience. Now, as a gadgeteer-on-the-cheap, my phone was a refurbished unit, so I suppose it’s possible I had just gotten a lemon, but I found the phone to be incredibly laggy and jittery in almost everything, particularly in multitasking, camera, and photo gallery. I kept researching ways to mitigate the problem, thinking it must somehow be my own fault, but nothing helped, beyond the occasional cache-clearing. And that, only a touch.

The HTC skinning of Android, Sense, is not awful. On the whole it adds features and mostly stays out of the way of the “pure” Android experience, but what it does add is mostly pointless, and in the end adds up to needless additional complexity.

One night, desperate for a change, I considered attempting a rooting and flashing of stock Android, but at the last moment I chickened out, afraid to screw something up and brick the device.

Instead, I unloaded it.

I should say, though, that I did like the camera, when it worked. Most reviews are lukewarm on the camera for being gimmicky and insufficiently stuffed with megapixels, but I found that I was getting some lovely shots with it. (See below for a couple of examples.) The editing tools were mostly useful and interesting, and so I actually consider the phone’s camera a big plus for it. But, alas.

I might have had a bum unit, but even if I did, the M8 was a big disappointment. But there is a silver (but not a “Glacial Silver”) lining to this story, as I have settled on what now feels like the phone of my dreams, and it’s a kind of reunification story, and not a reunification with iPhone like you might expect. But that’s for another post.

November 17, 2014

android, gadgets, htc, phones, photo, review, smartphones
Do You Swipe Your Thumb at Me, Sir? (The Big iPhone vs. Android Problem)

I miss my iPhone, but there’s a few small things and one big thing keeping me from going back.

To recap, I had traded in my iPhone to T-Mobile to get out of my AT&T contract and lower my monthly payments substantially, and switched to a cheaper, unsubsidized Android device, which is now a Moto X. (I’m actually back on AT&T now because they offered far better coverage, an even lower rate thanks to a new discount, and I’m still not on contract.)

The Moto X is a great phone. It’s as thoughtfully designed as an iPhone, free of the crapware that plagues the Android universe, and full of genuinely useful, subtle features.

But I really miss having an iPhone, and I’m considering seeking out a cheap, used one I can just drop into my existing plan (meaning no new contract). There are two big reasons: one being ergonomic (even being a smaller phone for an Android, the Moto X is still not quite small enough for my wee paws), and the other being access to my music library. No matter what I try to do, I can’t get my music listening experience on Android to come anywhere close to the way it was on iOS. And that wasn’t even all that great, but it was a dream compared to the hacky kludge-fest I’ve been living through with Android. No, I won’t subscribe to Spotify.

But! On my Moto, I have an app that disables the PIN code lock screen when I’m on preapproved WiFi networks. I can activate its voice commands without ever touching the phone (“Okay, Google Now…”). I can share data from any app to any app. Those are quite nice, and would be sorely missed if I were back in iPhoneland.

The big thing, though, is the keyboard. Here’s an explanation from Andy Ihnatko from when he made the iPhone-to-Android switch:

[T]he real Win of an Android keyboard is its enhancements to the classic “tap and type” mechanism.

Android offers Swype-style typing as a built-in option. By sliding my finger from key to key instead of lifting and tapping, I’m sending more information about my intentions to the OS. It makes this mechanism faster and more accurate than tap-tap-tap. Swipe-style typing also makes the phone easier to manage one-handed. I can search for a name in my contacts without even slowing down my walking.

And if you don’t like any of the keyboards that ship with Android, you can install one of your own. My add-on keyboard of choice is SwiftKey. It’s doubleplus-brilliant and costs just four damn dollars. …

I find that typing on an Android device is faster and much less annoying than typing on my iPhone. It’s not even close.

This example also points out some of the philosophical differences that often allow Android to create a better experience for the user. Why is the iOS keyboard so stripped-down? Why can’t the user customize the experience? Because Apple’s gun-shy about adding features at the cost of simplicity and clarity. They’re not wrong; it’s a perfectly valid philosophy, and usually an effective one.

But sometimes, an Apple product’s feature lands at the wrong side of the line that divides “simple” from “stripped down.” The iPhone keyboard is stripped-down.

This is huge, and it’s by far the biggest thing keeping me from running back to Apple. The difference between tap-typing and swipe-typing on a phone is night and day. Swipe-typing is much faster, much more accurate, and even a little fun. It’s perplexing to me that the folks who work at Apple don’t want this functionality for themselves. This is not some geeks-only niche add-on, it’s a fundamentally superior way of inputting text on a smartphone. And guess what one does a whole hell of a lot on a smartphone.

The wisest thing for me to do is wait, see what Apple comes up with for iOS 8, or hope some developer at least makes a quality standalone word-processing iPhone app that uses swipe-typing. I don’t expect it, though. It’s not like this is a new idea. Apple’s had plenty of time to add this feature, and if they haven’t yet, there’s no reason to suspect they will.

I still think the overall experience of using an iPhone is a superior one to Android, with less friction, more general enjoyablilty, and with a nicer class of apps. But goddamn that “tap-tap-FUCK-taptaptap” keyboard. Goddamn it.

April 27, 2014

android, apple, technology
What I Learned While Browsing Best Buy Without My Damn Kids
There is no way to browse in a retail store for personal enjoyment with a small child in one’s orbit. Double that, with one toddler and one self-mobile baby, and it becomes not only impossible, but it approaches a war crime committed against oneself. Today, thanks to the mercy of my wife, I got to wander thoughtfully around a Best Buy, with no children, and familiarize myself with some of the current generation of gadgets, which I usually only read about.

Here are some of the things I learned while browsing around Best Buy without my kids:
- Retina iPad minis are not way better than iPad Airs. Yeah they’re adorable and light, but side by side it was clear I’d made the right call: iPad mini was still just too cramped and squat, and the iPad Air far more immersive. And screen typing was a nightmare on the Mini, whereas I’m typing this right now on my Air’s screen without trouble.
- In relation to the above, I need to stop listening to tech pundits and allowing their opinions to color my own considerable gadget lust. I can trust my own avaricious instincts.
- As for tablet size and weight, I found the LG G Pad 8.3 quite compelling. The screen (at 8.3 inches, of course) is only a fraction of an inch bigger than the iPad mini’s, but it felt much bigger, and I could see it being a very good compromise between the Mini and a full-size iPad or other tablet. Something like that might be where I go for my text tablet, whenever that happens, in upcoming millennia.
- In the context of 7.9, 8.3, and 9.7-inch screen sizes, the Nexus 7 seemed a little ridiculous, like an oversize phone. While I once really liked this line of devices, now it just seems redundant.
- Speaking of big phones, I had gotten curious about “phablets” lately, and now my curiosity has ended. In comparison to my existing 5-inch Nexus 5, phablets’ displays aren’t so much bigger that they make a meaningful difference, particularly with the trade-off of pocketability. I believe I will pass.
- On the opposite end, I’m coming to realize what many have already, that the Moto X might just be the best Android device. As Joanna Stern was just saying on The Talk Show, the Moto X may actually be the perfect smartphone size: a medium-sized 4.7-inch display, but with a sufficiently reduced bezel so that it fits the hand as nicely as an iPhone. That, or an iteration of it, is likely my next phone.
- I’ve been bullish on Chromebooks, and I continue to be optimistic about what they may become in the increasingly-commoditized PC market, but holy crap, the displays on the current crop look like absolute garbage (the Pixel obviously excepted, and not for sale in Best Buy). I felt like I was looking at the screen through a haze of crud.
- On the flip side were Lenovo’s laptops. I haven’t even looked at a PC laptop other than by accident in a very long time, and I had no idea how good Lenovo’s looked, easily rivaling Apple’s hardware aesthetically. It’s just that they were all running Windows 8, and damn what a shame that is.
- Checking out the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina Display side by side was informative, if for no other reason than to see how much they overlap — to the point where it almost seems silly to buy the Air when the Pro is at such a similar price point, weighs not much more (and the 13-inch Air is not so weightless as to make it a deal-maker), and has a far superior display. I’ve always presumed a 13-inch Air would be my next laptop (again, in ages to come), but now that seems like a dumb move.
All in all, I came away from my first chance to browse electronics without my kids screaming at me with a renewed sense of being “all set,” that the things I have now, old and new, high-end and low-end, are really just fine, and that I’m not missing out on any crazy-great experiences. There are certainly many things to be wished for, without a doubt, but surprisingly to me, there is little to gnash one’s teeth in lust and envy over. Some, but not that much. And that’s good!
March 3, 2014

android, apple, personal, technology
“Up to One Thing on Screen at Once”

Samsung makes many, many terrible ads.

This is not terrible at all.

February 20, 2014

android, apple, ipad, technology, video
A 5 for a 5: From iPhone 5 and AT&T to Nexus 5 and T-Mobile

I now have a Nexus 5 and have traded in my iPhone, and it’s not because I was desirous of a change from the Land of Apple (I’ve done that once already), but because it was my best option in taking advantage of a great money-saving opportunity by switching from AT&T’s onerous subjugation, to being a free-range T-Mobile customer. I could have gotten an iPhone or more fancy-pants Android device like an HTC One when I switched, but their cost would have negated the whole point of the switch. Luckily, Google has priced its own flagship phone so that it’s affordable without a contract. And so a couple of days ago, I came home with a Nexus 5.

There are two big changes, then, to document: the device/OS change and the mobile service change. One, obviously, is more interesting than the other. So let me get the carrier difference out of the way. I admit, I felt a bit of enthusiasm for joining T-Mobile’s “revolution” and getting my service from a company whose CEO is obviously a little nuts. I’m still happy to be free of AT&T and free of a contract, but it must be said that T-Mobile’s coverage in my area of Maine is acceptable, but a big step down. I get good-enough “4G” coverage in the main residential and commercial areas of my town, but in places a little on the outskirts, like my kids’ daycare, I get no data coverage at all (technically a “1G” connection, meaning calls can go through, but very little else). LTE is now a happy memory until I enter a larger metro area, or until T-Mobile expands.

It’ll do for now. And after my AT&T early termination fee is paid and I’ve been on T-Mobile for a fair-shake’s bit of time, I can always unlock the phone and switch to something else if I must. But I miss those LTE speeds. On the plus side, it’s unlimited data, like, for reals. Just on principle, I feel like I should suck down as much of it as possible.

Two embarrassing notes: It took over a full day to port my number to T-Mobile, which turned out to be my fault, as I had given the T-Mobile guys my AT&T pin to do the port, and wouldn’t you know it, I don’t have an AT&T pin, and that confused the system. When my number did move over, I got no data reception at all, which I assumed to be because T-Mobile’s coverage was worse than advertised. Turned out it was because I didn’t restart the phone when the port was complete, as I was instructed. So yes, it wasn’t working because I didn’t turn it off and turn it back on again. Yep.

Okay, let’s talk about this device.

The Nexus 5 is a very nice phone. Its screen is flat-out gorgeous, and beautifully high-resolution. I didn’t think I’d notice the difference between this display and the iPhone’s Retina, but I do. Pixels aren’t just hard to see on this screen, they’re, for me, impossible. I’ve been trying. The display is bright, colors pop, and it’s just a joy to look at. One could conceivably use this phone with its 5″ screen as a suitable Kindle alternative for long-form reading.

But it’s also bigger than the iPhone’s, which means my tiny thumbs can’t reach a good deal of the screen in one-handed use. And the more I struggle with this, the more I appreciate Apple’s decision to stick so stubbornly to the iPhone’s relatively small size. Given this, I almost think it would make more sense to just take it as given that these larger devices can’t be used with one hand, and just get a big-ass phablet type device. I mean, why not go all the way?

Structurally, the Nexus feels like a quality piece of plastic, but chitzy if you’re coming from the iPhone 5. It’s very thin, very light, and with a nice matte finish. For its price, I can’t complain. It doesn’t feel cheap, but nor is it premium.

The camera, though bursting with megapixels, is noticably slower than the iPhone’s in snapping photos (a big annoyance when you have adorable kids), and so far the indoor photos have been acceptable but not great. The iPhone 5’s camera was much better, but this one will do.

As for actually just using the Nexus as a smartphone, there’s very little not to like. The Android lag I have experienced with every single Android device I’ve ever used is not to be found here. In fact, the Nexus 5 feels weirdly smooth and fluid, but still very different from iOS. It’s difficult to put my finger on it (no pun intended), but I think the difference is that the Nexus 5/Android fluidity in scrolling and moving elements around is super-specific, where things go exactly where your finger puts them, in near-real time. It’s great. iOS feels more “liquid” or maybe bouncier, like the interface is ready to zip on ahead of you until you get there. Both are excellent, but feel quite different.

And there are two elements of Android that really set it apart. First is the fact that apps can share information with each other, and no apps are excluded from being able to partake in sharing menus and the like. Apple generally only allows interface with Facebook and Twitter throughout the OS.

But even better is swipe typing. I’m telling you, being able to just “draw” across the keyboard is about 1000 times more efficient for typing on a small screen than tap-tap-tapping. That in itself could almost cause one to switch by choice.

From the last time I owned an Android device (a first-generation Nexus 7 tablet), “Google Now” has come a long way, from being an experimental whiz-bang gimmicky thing to being the center of the OS’s artificial intelligence. It’s cool, no doubt, when looking for things of a more informational nature, and very responsive. But it’s crap so far when it comes to controlling your device. In that, Siri beats the pants off of Now. For example, several attempts to get the phone to play my Toad the Wet Sprocket songs by voice command failed until I just gave up. Siri would have no trouble with that kind of thing.

And Google Now has no sense of humor. It won’t tell you jokes, it won’t sing to you. I miss Siri. (Luckily she still lives in my iPad, so I see her from time to time, but it’s just not the same. And I think she’s mad at me.)

Overall, my feeling is that this will be just fine. As I keep saying, “It’ll do.” In many ways, the Nexus 5 is an excellent phone, besting the iPhone in some important ways. But iPhone, inside and out, still posesses a simplicity and a fit-and-finish that, taken as a whole, make for a superior overall experience. But this’ll be fine. It’ll do.

A lot of it, I know, is just unfamiliarity. I’ve been using an iPhone since its first generation, which I got in 2008. It’s what I know. Often, I find myself frustrated by “how much worse” something is on Android, only to realize it’s just different. Case in point: Unlocking the phone. I was under the impression that it was easier with iPhone, where I slide to unlock, and pop in my 4-digit pin, which opens the phone. Easy! Meanwhile, using a 4-digit pin with Android, it seemed like there was more business. But there’s not, there’s just no slide, but there is an “enter” key to hit after the pin.

In other words, it’s 5 steps each. iPhone is slide-tap-tap-tap-tap, and Android is tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. One is not easier than the other, they’re just different. But because it was new, I took the Android approach as unneccesarily more difficult.

But there’s also no doubt that Android is far more fiddly than iOS, and it’s already been a problem, as I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to keep Twitter notifications from making the phone vibrate. Layers and layers of settings menus revealed nothing to me, and Googling around showed me that I was not alone in this. This should not be this hard.

Most of it’s not hard, of course. I think I’ll enjoy the Nexus 5 a lot for the most part, but I definitely feel a twinge for the iPhone. One day I shall return. But in the meantime, I’m free of AT&T, and I saved my family a good deal of money. It’s worth it, and it’ll do.

January 31, 2014

android, apple, google, personal, review, technology
A 5 for a 5 (Prologue)

There’s a new thingy in my life.

Rather than some new dreamy-eyed dalliance with Android, this is me trying to save a boatload of money by moving from AT&T to T-Mobile. Doing so, though, meant jumping through T-Mobile’s hoops to get out of my AT&T contract and get a device I could afford. Thus, the Nexus 5 you see here has moved in.

The phone is fine, some things about it are great, like the display, but I already miss my iPhone 5. The T-Mobile coverage here leaves much to be desired, something you can’t really grasp until you take the phone to the places you normally go. So, if it really isn’t working out, I can just leave T-Mobile (no contracts) and use someone else. But as I said, I’m saving a boatload this way, enough to make a big difference to my family’s bottom line, so I want to make it work.

Much to your horror, I’ll be blogging aaaaaaalllllllllll about it.

What have I done?

January 29, 2014

android, apple, google, personal, technology
Skipping the 5S, in Praise of Mobile Maturity
I will not be getting an iPhone 5S, and unlike the time I thought there was no way I was going to upgrade from the 4S to the 5, I mean it this time. It’s not because there’s anything wrong with the 5S, but as I expected might be the case, the technology behind mobile computing has begun to mature to the point that an upgrade to next year’s device is not life-changing or really necessary to stay relevant.

Remember previous iPhone iterations? The iPhone 3G had, well, 3G, and that was huge. The 3GS was way faster, and could record video, and those were huge (especially since I’d just had my first kid). The 4 had that freaking Retina display, absolutely mind-blowing at the time, and that was huge. The 4S was way faster than that (like, in a revelatory way), had a way better camera, and had Siri, and that shit was Huge Hugerson.

Now, the 5 had LTE and a little extra screen real estate. Honestly, I could have done without it. I wrote about this when I first got the 5, and it remains true; I miss being able to reach all parts of the screen with my thumb. My tiny hands simply can’t do it, and with a case on, well, forget it, it’s a two-handed device at that point. So the extra speed, the extra space, the better camera, the faster network connection, they’re all great, but I probably could have happily remained with the 4S all the way to now and not missed much at all.

So now there’s the 5S (the 5C simply being a 5 with a colorful case), and while its upgrades are great, they’re not compelling enough to make me subjugate myself to AT&T for another two years.

Specifically:
- The new processor is supposed to make the thing twice as fast, which is awesome, but I’m having zero problems with the speed of the 5.
- The additional “M7” processor seems designed mainly for movement tracking and the like, and as fitness is something I’m not dying to quantify, this is not compelling.
- The thumbprint scanner looks like it’s a genuinely useful took, particularly for iTunes/App Store purchases, but, again, not worth it.
- I’d sure love to have a camera that took better low light pictures, or with a crazy burst mode, but again, I don’t want it $850-bad.
And the addition of iOS 7 to the iPhone 5 makes it feel like a new device anyway. So I’m happy to stick, for real this time. And none of this is a reflection of how good the new phone is. It looks fabulous, and exactly the kinds of improvements the line needs. But now that the previous-generation hardware is still so good, much like with desktop computers, there is little reason to continue jogging on what Jeff Bezos called the “upgrade treadmill.” And that’s good! Mobile computers like smartphones and tablets are now ready for primetime, and don’t immediately become obsolete. Hooray!

But given that I’m not jumping to the next iPhone immediately like I usually do (or usually try to do eventually), it’s interesting to think about what else might compel one to jump off the Apple ship.

Dan Frommer has an interesting post up about the lure of Android that rings true. (He’s a devotee of the iPad mini, which I simply can’t be in its current incarnation, but that’s neither here nor there, or not entirely.) He, too, is skipping this iPhone generation for many of the same reasons, and muses about a potential dalliance on Google Island:

When I hear a Samsung Galaxy Note owner rave about having a bigger screen with them all the time, I start to wonder. And to a certain degree, I just craved something really new. A few afternoons, I was ready to pop into the Verizon store and check out an HTC One or Moto X.

But then he tries a Nexus 7 he has lying around, it doesn’t even work, and he remembers all he doesn’t like about the Google ecosystem and whatnot. I’m sympathetic, though I don’t think he gives Google/Android quite enough credit.

While Apple seems to recognize and accept that mobile hardware is maturing, the manufacturers of Android devices run in one of two directions: They either resist taking advantage of that maturity and continue to crank out cheap junk, or they reveal a hint of desperation to stand out, or at least insecurity, and pack their phones with whiz-bang features that are useful to no one.

But Google itself resists this (mostly, anyway — I’m still waiting for Google Now to tell me more than the weather and how far it is to Starbucks). I often come back to the fact that I like how Apple “makes the decisions for me,” where the trade-off between customization and integrity of user experience is a net win. From what I’ve seen, the current “openness” of the Android hardware world is a net-loss, but not necessarily so with Google-branded, “pure” Android devices.

Now, I did decide that with the first-generation Nexus 7 that it was, if not a net-loss, a loss in points to iOS and iPad, and I came back to the Apple fold. But this is getting to be a tougher race to call. Like Frommer, I would resist a carrier-based HTC One, but I’m sorely tempted by a vanilla-Android version. The new Nexus 7 has a higher screen resolution than an top-of-the-line iPad, and the overall user experience of pure Android is improving all the time.

That said, I’m still happier to leave my mobile technology fate in Apple’s hands. But I’m very, very interested in who might woo me with a better offer. You know, I hear the folks who do Cyanogen Mod are going to build their own stand-alone consumer version of their Android ROM. Imagine a company that was staffed with folks who had exquisite taste for user experience did the same thing, build an Android that would delight those who follow the Path of the Steve (peace be upon him) and his prophet Jony Ive. Pack that onto a next-generation HTC One or Nexus device, and you may have your worthy suitor at last.
September 22, 2013

android, apple, google, technology
A Phone for Squares (in a Good Way)

The Moto X bills itself as a super-customizable device. This is actually pretty hilarious, because really you’re talking about having a wide choice of colors for the back, and maybe a few other cosmetic thing. It’s not like going old-school Dell and piecing together your PC online from a huge array of options on every conceivable aspect of the machine (except, now that I think about it, the cosmetic).

Well, I saw Mike Daisey link to this new project (is it a project? or is it more of a concept?) for a phone that really is customizable to a staggering degree, and more importantly, it’s staggeringly practical.

But of course, customization is actually the happy byproduct of its first aim, sustainability. Phonebloks proposes a device that allows for the swapping in and out of components for the purposes of repair, upgrading, and changing needs. And these components all take the form of “bloks.” Check the video:

Now, I’m the guy who ditched a Nexus 7 (1st generation) because I became weary of Android’s customization options — I felt overwhelmed by all I could do, and thereby felt compelled to tweak in a Sisyphean effort to uttery optimize the device. I came back to an all-iOS universe because Apple makes all the choices for you, and they happen to be really, really good at it.

But this is a little different. Because even though I opted out of Android, it’s not because it wasn’t good enough. At this point, mobile devices and their software have matured to the point that any device of a certain quality is going to be more than capable, and sufficiently awesome. So in, say, two years, if this Phoneblok concept becomes reality, it will presumably have as options all the bells and whistles we know and rely on today, assuming you value them: a high-resolution screen, a first-tier operating system (one assumes Android), and the requisite guts to run fluidly.

It will almost certainly not be as sublimely cool as the iPhone 6S, the Nexus 5-Mark-III, or whatever the hell else comes about at that time, but it will be more than cool enough. And more importantly, it will be sustainable, resonsible, and easy to maintain and improve over time. It may even be more fun to own.

I’m excited by this idea. I hope it takes off, and I’ll be participating in its little social network upvote-bomb to help get it some attention.

September 12, 2013

android, apple, technology
There and Back Again: Returning to iPad’s Cold Embrace

It’s hard to explain. At the beginning of the year, I was pretty sure that the way I consumed content and worked pointed pretty strongly toward a tablet smaller and lighter than a traditional iPad. I had also determined that an iPad mini would not suffice because of its screen, which looks atrocious compared to a Retina display. I would have to explore, then, the world of Android. I bought a Nexus 7, and as my many blog posts on the device will tell you, I was very happy with it.

But over the months, the limitations of the Android platform made themselves more and more apparent. The overall user interface, while miles ahead of where it had been years ago, was still not as fluid as iOS. Though things had simplified a great deal on Android, it was still too noisy and almost demanding of heavy tweaking. Most importantly, the app selection remains woeful. Yes, many, if not most, of the major apps and services are there, but they are almost universally inferior to their iOS counterparts, with many not even designed for use on a tablet versus a phone.

And this was the just the problem with Android. I began to find the size of the device itself limiting. Though I used the Nexus primarily for leisure, the small screen meant that using the device for work purposes would be difficult, if not out of the question — a fact that weighed more heavily on me as my job would be sending me to various conferences over the next few months at which my tablet would get quite a workout.

And I missed that Retina display. I began to envy my wife’s iPad 3, even as I had once considered it unwieldy.

So I plotted. I won’t go into the details, but I managed to get my hands on an iPad mini for a couple of weeks just to make sure I wasn’t crazy for dismissing it. After all, it’s currently the darling product of the tech press, most of whom seem to swear that it’s the superior device to its larger, higher-res sibling. And yes, while I can attest that its size, weight, and build quality are all exquisitely good, I just don’t agree with the reviewers and reporters: the screen is a deal-breaker. Not just in terms of resolution (which really did make my eyeballs hurt during extended reading), but yes, also in terms of size. The full-size iPad gives apps room to breathe, room for one’s fingers to work, room to fully drink in images and video…room to work. (Which is actually something I’ve argued against before. Awkward!)

So through various commercial machinations involving selling and exchanging things on Amazon,eBay, and Craigslist, I was able to get back to a Retina iPad. And I’m thrilled that I did.

So why did I feel this need to wander in the first place? Well, the biggest reason was size and weight. Due to repetitive stress injuries and damage taken during a violent assault, my wrists and hands are not the strong and nimble appendages they once were during the height of my guitar playing days. The iPad felt too heavy during extended use (and if I can help it, my iPad always gets extended use). And on a different subject, I was also becoming more and more curious and fascinated by what Google was doing with its OS and its devices. The thrill of the new, etc.

And the Nexus 7 really is a great device, particularly for the money, and even now that I am fully confirmed in my iOS partisanship, I’d be hard pressed to recommend an iPad mini over the Nexus to someone who wanted a simple reading-and-dicking-around device. (Here’s how I’d probably advise someone: get a Nexus now, and save the extra $130 for a future upgrade on either platform.) And truly, Google Now and recent advances in Google’s core services make the Android platform more and more compelling all the time.

But now that I’m back on the full-size iPad, I’m back in business, as it were. I’m writing this on my iPad right now, so I’m blogging more from the device (and doing so from the Nexus was an unpleasant chore). I’m playing with more music in Garageband. I’m drawing more with Paper. I’m reading more because the high-resolution screen is so much more inviting, particularly with text. And I’m able to do more for work even when away from the computer, because the device gives me the space and functionality to do it.

And I’m accepting the weight as a given. It’s the one big compromise for me, but it’s worth it, and I try to hold it less with my hands, and prop it up somewhere more often. I make do.

The one big thing I’ll miss is swipe-style typing. I’d installed the Swype keyboard on the Nexus, and it was a revelation. It made typing on a smaller keyboard a breeze, and it was the only thing that made blogging from the Nexus bearable. I’m hoping that Tim Cook’s recent hints that the iOS APIs will open up somewhat means that this kind of thing will come to iPhone and iPad in a hurry.

It was kind of odd to realize that, as much as the rest of the industry has caught up in terms of tablets and mobile operating systems, Apple is still clearly superior. There are lots of high points to the other products, many of which outdo Apple, but the overall experience of using one of these devices still hands Apple a definitive win. (Kindle Fires are cheap but slow and clunky, Samsung tablets feel like Fisher-Price toys, Windows Surface is a mess, etc., etc.)

And I believe The Steve (peace be upon him) is not unhappy with me, as he surveys the Universe from his White Heaven of Perfect Industrial Design. I believe he appreciates one that has wandered through the wilderness, wandering to find answers, to understand different ways of thinking, only to come back wiser, to come back home.

Or not. But whatever. I’m going to go play Dots.

May 31, 2013

android, apple, ipad, technology
Samsung: Pedestrian Pageantry, No Stereos Left Untyped

Samsung apparently put on a bizarre, community-theatre extravaganza for its Galaxy S4 introduction last night, and in doing so seems to have staked its claim as the electronics company that is everything Apple isn’t. Cult of Android‘s John Brownlee:

. . . tonight, what Samsung showed off was gimmick after gimmick. Features no one will use except in very specific circumstances… so specific, that Samsung actually felt the need to put on small miniature plays illustrating the use of each one . . .

What followed a pageantry of pedestrianism, in which the finest of New York’s under-employed off-Broadway up-and-comers came out and earnestly squirted out lines written for them by marketers and PR drones, all centered around a pervasive theme: “That seems like it could be useful.”

And that’s the opposite of Apple. At an Apple keynote, particularly in the good ol’ days of The Steve (peace be upon him), Steve or some other Apple guy would plop themselves down on a chair, and show you how a human being would make use of their stuff.

I’ve noted before how different companies approach these big product unveilings. In my example, Google (with Glass) and Microsoft (with Surface) only showed their products in the most extreme and bizarre conditions or characterizations, being used by skydivers or giving them the qualities of some over-testosteroned monster. And these are two devices that seem actually rather practical! Apple, on the other hand, introducing the MacBook Air, showed how the damn thing fit in a space as small as an envelope. That’s real.

But all three of the aforementioned companies did their unveilings without being complete backward assholes about it. Rene Ritchie at iMore:

. . . the show itself was cheesy and sexist to the point of misogyny in places. There were, indeed, few stereos left untyped by the end. Samsung is still awkward in approaching modern, mainstream marketing, and it’s something they desperately need to work on.

Maybe this video’s jaw-dropping racial insensitivity was no fluke.

So yeah, the S4 looks like a nice enough phone, but my stomach is turned. I’ve become very Android-curious thanks to my Nexus 7, but I think I’ll be looking almost anywhere other than Samsung when I next consider an Android device.

Update: Molly Wood at CNET seems to have claimed the crown as the best critic of this shitshow:

I started my journalism career as a sports writer. I’ve been in the tech industry for 14 years. I’m pretty good and used to being one of a few women in the room, and it generally suits me just fine because there’s never a line for the restroom and I can take it. But once in a while, once in a very rare while, something comes along that I just absolutely can’t ignore. And this show was one of those things.

Because yes, it is frequently kind of sucky to be a woman in tech. I do a great job of telling myself not to read the YouTube comments and of ignoring or blocking the caveman trolls that make it hard to even want to do this job sometimes, and yes, of pretending that I don’t know I make less than men who do less than I do. But don’t mistake any of those coping skills for some kind of obliviousness to the fact that the number of booth babes hasn’t declined all that much since my first MacWorld and we just keep having these same conversations and troll attacks over and over and over.

So you know what, Samsung? You’re not helping. Shut up and make me a phone.

March 15, 2013

android, apple, culture, technology
From iPad to Nexus 7: The App Transition

Now that I’m settling in with my Nexus 7, after my hefty deliberations which resulted in my recent hocking of my once-beloved iPad 3, I am now focused more on the day-to-day tasks for which this tablet is used. Some apps I became accustomed to on iOS/iPad have versions for Android/Nexus, but there can still be huge differences between platforms. And sometimes, there is no direct analog for me, and I have to hunt for a replacement. I thought it might be useful to look at some of the ways in which I’ve not had to adjust my habits, the ways in which some ports from iOS to Android do and do not work, and some options that differ entirely from iPad life.
I definitely consider the Nexus 7 more of a casual consumption device than a work machine, and that’s exactly what I wanted when I got it (in some ways, the iPad felt like “work” with it’s weight and bulk). So you’ll notice that a lot of this is about reading stuff, be it web content or books. If I wanted the Nexus to be more of a creative tool, well, I’d have bought the wrong toy — the iPad is the far better choice for getting shit done. This is to say that the concentration here is primarily on the Nexus 7 as a way to read and interact rather than as a tool for creation or work.

I’ll start with apps that I used regularly on iOS/iPad (and probably still do since I continue to use an iPhone 5 as well) and have versions on Android.

Flipboard: Easily the most successful like-for-like situation I’m having with the iOS to Android tablet transition. The Android and iOS versions of Flipboard are nearly indistinguishable in the best sense. Functionality is identical, they look exactly the same, and are even comparable in terms of smoothness of performance. Flipboard is an inspired bit of software, bringing the benefits of both curation and standalone publications into a gorgeous and highly readable package. Having it work so well on Android, and on a comfortable 7″ device no less, is great.

Instapaper: This is a very mixed situation. I absolutely prefer reading on the Nexus 7 over the 10″ iPad, regardless of the app I’m using. The Android version of Instapaper suffices, but coming from the iOS version, it feels very antiquated, like it’s several versions old. It looks like the Instapaper you know from iPad, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Here’s an example: Only yesterday the Android version gained pagination (as opposed to only being able to scroll), which for me was huge. I find scrolling to be a pain in the ass, and far less of a clean experience than paging through an article, be those page-turns animated to look like a book or not (and I kind of like that, too, for reasons I guess I have to chalk up to the comfort of familiarity). So when it was added to the Android Instapaper I was thrilled, but then found that it was very slow; a tap or swipe to turn the page would mean a delay and then a half-assed fading of one page into the next. It was actually more of a pain to have pagination enabled than not.
Oh, and you have to enable it within each individual article. There’s no global setting.

So while I prefer Instapaper as a service, the problems with its Android app are making me look elsewhere. I am trying out a couple of Instapaper clients (Instafetch Pro is the best I’ve seen, but even that is a bit sloppy), and even looking at alternate services like Readability and Pocket. Alas, the Readability Android app likewise lacks some of the polish of its iOS kin, though Pocket actually looks quite good on Android, and it even does a decent job of pagination. So perhaps I’ll migrate.

Facebook: I’ve grown to hate Facebook, but because of the social ties it allows me to maintain, and because of the nature of my job, I feel kind of stuck using it on a regular basis. Fine. The iPad version’s recent retooling was pretty successful; while not as powerful as the desktop version of the site, the app was powerful and smooth.

The Android version ought to be. I mean, it is, when it works. But for some reason the app is constantly under the impression that I have no Internet connection, and craps out. I don’t know if this is a problem with the app, with the Nexus, or what, but it’s become a real headache, and I find myself using the website more often when on the Nexus just to make sure it’s going to actually work. When it does work, however, it’s almost exactly the same as the iOS app, save for some tiny UI elements that don’t much matter.

Twitter: I miss Tweetbot, but the official Twitter app is fine. It works well, it has all necessary functionality for basic use, and it even kind of works that the app is pretty clearly designed for a phone. The Nexus 7 screen is small and narrow enough that having a phone-type interface for Twitter is not jarring.

Now, I’d really like to find a better Twitter client for this device, something akin to Tweetbot, but famously, for some reason, the options simply aren’t there. I had been mucking about with TweetCaster, but it’s clunky with UI elements that use up far too much screen real estate for a device this small.

Kindle: Mostly a disappointment. Kindle for iOS is pretty strong, though not perfect, but takes full advantage of what iOS can allow. Kindle for Android feels bare-bones, something that would allow Amazon to say, well, technically we’re on Android (which is odd considering they have an Android app store all their own, which, I know, is really for other Kindle devices). The app seems to be confused by some books’ formatting, while the iOS version seems to have no trouble with the same books, and the typeface options are nonexistent. A shame, but I also have a Kindle e-reader, so it’s not a huge deal.

Gmail: Very strong. The iOS version of the Gmail app is very nice looking, but the Android version is zippy and functional — utilitarian, but in the best sense. I enjoy doing email on my Nexus thanks to this app. (Although both iOS and Android versions have this weird quirk where a forwarded email does not include the email address of the original sender. What the hell is up with that?)

Replacement Apps

Not all the iOS apps I rely on are available on Android, so here are some of the apps I’m trying out to fill in the gaps.

RSS: On iOS and Mac I adore Reeder. Its look and its functionality are best in class. But there’s no Reeder for Android. Luckily, there are some good options. Honorable mentions go to gReader (a spartan but strong Google Reader client) and Feedly (very stylish), but right now I’m using an app called Press. Like Reeder, it has a simple and classy aesthetic, and it doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary bells and whistles. It’s just about as good as Reeder, so I’m pretty happy here. This is important, too, because I spend a lot of time reading in my RSS client.

Browser: Where iOS stocks Safari, the Nexus stocks Chrome. Its big plus is its synchronization of bookmarks across devices (like my Mac), but weirdly does not allow bookmarklets to work, which often do in Safari. This means in particular that for any functions that I prefer using bookmarklets for (like saving to Instapaper or Pinboard or sharing to Facebook or Twitter), I’m stuck with the stock Android sharing function, which overlays a huge menu of apps to which I could send content, and which takes a few seconds to pop up. It also allows for no customization, so, for example, I can’t tell it to always include an article’s title when posting a link to Twitter. You only get the URL, and have to add anything else manually.

Beyond that, though, Chrome on Android is solid.

Word Processing: I juggled between many different options when using iOS, such as Drafts for short bits of writing, Pages for longer material that might need some formatting, QuickOffice for things that required tight Word compatibility, etc. What I like about Android on the Nexus 7 is that I almost always turn to Google Drive (aka Google Docs) for all of it. It runs more smoothly than almost any app I’ve used on Android, and it has just about all the features you’d need in a mobile document editor (other than the ability to embed links, which baffles me — come on, guys!). I don’t usually trade in presentations or spreadsheets outside of work, so I can’t speak to those, but for word processing, Google Drive is great. I’m using it right now!

Blogging: On iOS, I used a great app called Blogsy to post to whatever blog I was working on, and it was great. Not perfect, but the closest I’d found to a true WYSIWYG experience in a blog client. Not only is there no Blogsy for Android, but I’ve yet to find any blogging client worth a good god damn. There is the official WordPress client from which I can post, but it’s crappy. It only allows editing in plain text, and it has a weird way of forcing user perspective on whatever text field has the cursor. So for now, I do almost all my composing in Google Drive, but I can’t embed links there, so I have to either move it over to the WordPress app, or into the browser-based editor, which is clusterfuck on a touchscreen tablet. I need a better solution — blogging on my iPhone (using the WordPress app) is easier, and it shouldn’t be.

To read this post, it’d be understandable if you though, “Well it sounds like you liked the ipad better!” And you know, the iPad remains in many senses a superior product generally. But what I wanted was, again, something to read and browse on. For that, the Nexus 7 is still a better choice than the iPad for me (and that includes the iPad mini due to its atrocious screen). But there’s no doubt, there’s a huge gap of app quality between these two platforms.

Unless, of course, I’m missing something. If you know what I’m missing, please, do tell.

January 15, 2013

android, apple, technology
One Slab to Rule Them All

The day I did not think I would see has come. Today I sold my iPad 3 (WiFi + LTE 16GB) in favor of my Nexus 7. I never did pick up my iPad again after purchasing the Nexus (and only handled my wife’s iPad to set up games and books for Toby to use, and he frankly doesn’t need my help). There are many ways in which the iPad is vastly superior to the Nexus, but in the end, the size and weight of the Nexus, factored with a screen that while inferior to the iPad-regular is miles ahead of the iPad mini, made it a surprisingly easy win. (See my previous posts on the Nexus 7 here and here.)
Niggles remain. I will miss the liquid-like smoothness of the iPad interface, as well as that gorgeous display, but not enough to choose it over this little gem. (And you know, a Retina iPad mini will exist eventually, I assume.) The app market for Android is still a shitshow, whereas it may be that there are as many great and powerful apps for this system as for iOS, boy, it sure doesn’t seem like it. Nonetheless, the Nexus 7, where it does not best the iPad, comes close enough, and in many ways that I’ve already written about, exceeds it. No regrets.

But I’m not wholly converted. I’d never want to leave the iOS ecosystem entirely, and I won’t have to, of course, as I retain my iPhone 5.

But here’s the bit that’s a new discovery for me since this change, and it’s one I did not really expect. Not only did I stop using my iPad once the Nexus 7 came into the picture, but I used my iPhone far less. Really, the reasons for this are quickly apparent. Obviously, when out and about or simply looking for a quick bit of information, the iPhone is the easy choice of the two devices. But now the Nexus not only fills in for the iPad in long-form reading and browsing, as well as writing and other work, but it’s small enough that it also suits a lot of the off-the-cuff, super-casual stuff that was once the exclusive provenance of the iPhone. In fact, most of the time I prefer to use the Nexus, if only because it’s a larger palate to work from or read on, but not so large as to be inconvenient or obtrusive. (It’s newness to me and this honeymoon period are also, no doubt, part of that.)

And what feeds into that, I think, is not just the Nexus 7’s larger size, but the fact the iPhone isn’t smaller than it is. This sounds a little counter-intuitive, I know, but bear with me. As you might know, the iPhone 5 was a big departure from previous models because it added a bit of height to the display, making it the first time the iPhone’s screen had ever gotten bigger. One of the things that was perfect about previous models of iPhone was that despite the fact that larger screens look cooler and are easier to read and work off of, the diminutive size of the classic iPhone screen meant that most folks could reach every spot on the display with their thumb, comfortably.

Now, I have pretty small hands for a guy, so this was something I really appreciated. The iPhone 5 changes this for me. Not everyone, but for me. As I noted in my first-impressions post about the phone, while I can just barely reach all the points on the screen with my thumb, it’s a stretch, and it often means repositioning the phone in my hand. A small thing, sure, but one you really, really notice when you’re just trying to make simple things happen like clicking a “back” button or what have you. If nothing else, it’s unfamiliar to me for any aspect of an iPhone to be physically uncomfortable. It almost makes me pine for my iPhone 4S, which remains a fantastic device, though appreciate the 5’s lightness, speed, and LTE connectivity enough to make it an upgrade worth the mild inconvenience to my thumbs.

John Gruber, on his podcast, speculated that Apple may very well have tested even a 5-inch or larger iPhone, but decided that if consumers had the choice between a 3.5/4 and a 5-inch phone, they’d always go for the 5, since it’s bigger, and Apple would rather you went for the phone size they think provides a better physical experience, the smaller one. So they make the choice for you. But it almost feels like with the size of the iPhone 5, they let other folks do a little more of the deciding for Apple, and I’m not so sure they should have.

I have no such expectations of thumb-access with a tablet, so when I pick up my Nexus 7, I know I’m going to have to use two hands to operate it. It doesn’t “fail” because that’s not what it’s trying to do. It instead exceeds expectations by being a tablet that is both powerful and very light and comfortable.

With the Nexus 7 encroaching now on territory once owned by the phone, it makes it pretty clear to me where this whole genre of computing is going, at least for many people. Take this anecdotal evidence and the growing popularity of 5-inch-plus phones (or “phablets”), and it sure looks like that for a lot of folks, and maybe me included, there will eventually be no reason to have both a phone and a tablet. Instead, you’ll have a 6 or 7-inch tablet with phone connectivity, either with a traditional carrier or through a service like Google Voice, which you’ll use mostly through headphones, and that’s it. No 10-inch slates for these folks, no pocketable phones, just one slab to rule them all. (Jason Howell on the TWiT network predicted as much for 2013, and his prophesying spurred me to this contemplation.)

This is a neat time, isn’t it? I know all this gadget-talk is very consumerist, as though I’m drunk on shiny objects, and perhaps I am, but I’m also sincerely enthusiastic about how this kind of technology is developing and what it can enable in me and others. It’s probably similar for you, too, if you’ve read this far. So, again: Neat, huh?

January 13, 2013

android, apple, technology