Gadgets Blog » android

In the world of Apple and Android smartphones, Nokia’s latest entry into the market is a bit of a misfit. Back inFebruary, Nokia first made headlines with the introduction of their N8, a phone boasting impressive hardware that has been on the market overseas for a while. Now the N8 arrives on American soil, prompting a lot of questions for Nokia, a firm that has done well on European markets without ever permeating into the United States with the same amount of success. Is the device worth checking out? That depends on your preferences, but the N8 does have a lot to offer.

As alluded to in the previous paragraph, the N8′s more intriguing feature is its operating system. It runs the Symbian^3 system, which has been a stable of Nokia gadgets for some time. While the operating system lacks the name recognition of its main competitors, it still boasts an intuitive interface that makes the phone a solid choice. Three side-by-side panels display information determined by the user, from three up to six widgets. The flexibility is convenient and should stand as one of the main draws to the system, although users will have to learn the OS when they first pick up the N8.

Count this as the most recent development in the smartphone wars. With the world taking on Apple’s beloved iPhone, other phone manufacturers are faced with a steep challenge. Ever since its release, the iPhone has been the definitive smartphone, bringing a wide variety of features not previously known to casual phone users.

Recently, however, the battle has intensified. Apple, who for so long seemed invincible, appears to have stumbled during the course of this iPhone antenna debacle. The iPhone, it seems, is no longer perfect as we once thought.

Therefore, today’s news story is perhaps no surprise. According to an article at BBC News, shipments of Android-equipped phones shot through the roof in the 2nd quarter of 2010. The numbers, compared to the same period of 2008, show a staggering 886 percent increase in shipments. The number can be attributed to a number of factors.

First and foremost, Google’s operating system has resonated with developers. Companies from HTC to Samsung have been developing phones with Android, providing a solid opportunity for an operating system that isn’t Apple’s. Google’s reputation as a computing giant is perhaps exactly the type of name-recognition needed to combat Apple.

The bane of procrastination and provider of an infinite number of worthless video clips, YouTube has forged an Internet empire by providing a means for virtually anyone to feed their crafted video to an online audience. When the company was originally bought by Google, there was much speculation as to its future.

However, time has proven that the company has kept their successful formula relatively unchanged. Apart from some advertisements both on the videos and on the margins of the website, Google has maintained the same look and feel of YouTube that it initially had in its inception.

In the ongoing battle between these two computing titans, there’s been a great deal of buzz lately about the rivalry. First of all, the release of the iPhone 4 brought the attention of the media onto Apple, but Google has a strain of independently developed smartphones boasting Android as an operating system slated for release this summer as well.

While Apple might retain the edge over Google in the world of gadgets and electronics, Google remains an Internet giant, and today’s news story only works to further highlight this status.

Google Chrome, the company’s entry into the world of web browsers, was announced to have overtaken Apple’s Safari browser in terms of market share. Safari, which comes standard on Apple computers, was reported in Geek Juice to have a market share of 8.88 percent, with Chrome holding a slight edge at 8.92 percent.

Mobile technology has the capacity to greatly improve your life, and our interactions with our cell phones seem to drive this point home. By having a mobile phone, we can easily stay in contact with our friends, make plans, and contact loved ones – no matter where we happen to be.

The advent of smartphones has only increased the role of mobile technology in our daily lives. Earlier on the Smarter Gadgets Blog, I wrote about applications for the iPad and iPhone that provided useful services to those who downloaded them.

While the iPad was the media darling of the technology world long before its actual release, consumers have perhaps been less willing to jump on board the Apple bandwagon than the company might have hoped. The iPad, for all its flaws, is certainly a unique gadget with the capability to really shake up the computing industry.

At the same time, it also presents consumers with a bit of a quandary: what are we supposed to do with something that walks and talks like an iPhone, but can’t make phone calls? Add in complaints regarding the tablet’s inability to multitask and the scenario seems ripe for competitors to step in.

On that note, Dell officially unveiled what could be a legitimate contender in not only the tablet market, but also the realm of smartphones. Unveiled yesterday and dubbed the “Streak,” Dell’s tablet is noticeably smaller than the iPad, and boasts several features that could make it an attractive alternative.

The smartphone wars have been all over the news this week, and for good reason. Close on the heels of our Tuesday article about Google’s Android operating system overtaking Apple’s mobile OS in total market share, Sprint has unveiled the release date for its very first 4G phone, a gadget that could make some significant waves in the realm of mobile computing.

Called the HTC EVO 4G and sporting the latest version of Android, Engadget reports that the device will be filled with a host of features making it the most advanced smartphone on the market. Seeing as Sprint (and Android) will be beating Apple to the punch with a 4G phone, it’s entirely possible this could be a game-changer for Sprint as a mobile carrier. Engadget reports the following:

In some surprising news this week, sales reports from the first quarter of 2010 revealed quite the interesting trend: Google’s Android operating system might slowly be gaining some ground upon their competitor, Apple. An article published in PC Magazine Online announced the news, which was quite surprising for the future of the smartphone market. While the Apple mobile OS runs exclusively on the iPhone, Android has the advantage of being available on several different models of phone, including Motorola’s Droid. The article itself provided some insight into the new market break-down.

Android phones climbed to 28 percent, above Apple at 21 percent. The numbers are somewhat unexpected, given that other research firms, such as comScore, have placed Android phones, which has placed the Android OS at 10 percent for February.

On Friday, IDC released its first-quarter market share data, placing Nokia and RIM atop the worldwide market, with 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent of the market, respectively. Apple finished third, with 16.1 percent, and HTC was fourth at 4.8 percent. IDC did not reveal its share breakdown for the various OS flavors, however.

Likewise, for the first quarter within the U.S., comScore said that Samsung, Motorola, and LG finished in a virtual dead heat, with 21.9, 21.9, and 21.8 percent of the market. Again, comScore did not break out first-quarter market share for the various Android flavors.

The news is certainly exciting for Google, but should be expected due simply to the varying number of phones available running each OS. What once was regarded as a strength for Apple, brand integrity, appears to be harming them over time. By only having a single phone in the market, Apple has the potential to lose customers who want something slightly less than the expensive iPhone. By using their operating system for a wide variety of phones, Google can gain market share more effectively, a great option for the company as it tries to catch up.

I was reading CNET this morning, and rumor has it that Dell will be releasing two tablets that will compete very closely with the iPad. According to the news floating around the blogosphere, dell will be releasing a 7-inch and a 10-inch tablet as part of the Streak series. Dell announced the Streak 5 a little while ago (featured right), which competes with hand held Android devices. The Streak 7 and Streak 10 will compete with Apple’s iPad and cater to consumers who need more power, viewing room, and functionality while on the go. If you look at the Streak 7 and Streak 10 head-on, you’ll notice that it looks exactly like an iPad.

The Streak 7 will be available later in 2010, and the Streak 10 will be available in early 2011. Looks like the tablet market is going to get more competitive. I’m excited to see how tablet technology evolves!

Read the story, and see photos here.

It’s quite possible that my interest in gadgets is genetic. My father, despite growing up in a world entirely devoid of computers, has become quite competent with them, and is fueled by an interest in what makes them tick. Growing up, we took apart desktops, learned how to run programs in MS Dos and upgraded monitors together. Lately he’s taken a great affinity to handhelds, and I must say, his prowess with his old Blackberry likely rivaled users far his junior. And while the Blackberry held a special place in his heart for a good long while, such a love compares naught to his love of his new Motorola Droid smartphone.

It’s more than just the device itself: it’s the implementation of perhaps the most important newcomer to the world of computing: Google’s Android OS. Google, a company displaying mastery of cloud computing, delved into territory previously occupied by titans Apple and Microsoft (and yes, there are other operating systems like Linux and Ubuntu out there for people who enjoy being pretentious about this sort of thing). Android operates bearing all the trademarks of a Google product: compatibility, ease of use, and an intuitive design plan with virtually limitless applications.

While announcements of a Google Tablet bearing the Android OS are exciting, this is really the tip of the iceberg for what Android is capable of doing to the electronics market. And with that in mind, a showdown seems brewing in the electronics world between differing schools of thought for the future of personel electronics. Microsoft represents an older era of computing. Windows still makes up the vast majority of the market share on operating systems, and while their iteration of Windows 7 has proven to be successful (and a huge improvement from Vista), Windows Mobile still lags behind other mobile operating systems in ease of use and compatibility.