Sol Young » Android

Apple’s tablet will change the mobile device developer ecosystem

Sol Young — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:37:40 +0000

Apple’s tablet is about to change the software development ecosystem and we mobile developers are rethinking existing and future projects. The tablet becomes the next app gold rush.

The App Store and the iPhone command a monstrous market share for mobile apps. There are a limited number of mobile app developers (20 million’ish) and a limited amount of devices any developer or team can target at one time. The first OS to target for any mobile product is logically the iPhone OS. That’s where the money is. After that, maybe Android or Blackberry or Pre. Maybe.

With Apple releasing a new device with new capabilities and resolution, the ecosystem changes. Teams who had completed an iPhone app and were planning to move on to an Android or Blackberry version would likely be more successful returning to the iPhone and optimizing for the tablet first.

Just as the first developers releasing apps on the iPhone had the least competition and greatest chance of success, the first optimized tablet apps will have the greatest odds. Competition amongst 10,000 apps is much lighter than 100,000.

There have been a growing number of Android starts and popularity of Android devices has steadily increased. Many of these app starts are by developers who completed an iPhone version and are now porting to Android.

The tablet changes one’s priority. Android starts will continue to grow because of handset market share growth, but will also take a hit due to the tablet. The priority of OS’s for developers to to target will likely be iPhone -> tablet optimization -> Android / Blackberry / Pre.

Related thoughts:

Who wants to build Apple tablet apps? Not just game developers (survey) (venturebeat.com)
If Apple Releases It, Will Developers Come? (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)

Could somebody please make Mike Arrington a Web App?

Sol Young — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:20:11 +0000

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch claims he is quitting his iPhone as soon as he can port his number to Google Voice. I don’t think he realizes someone could have a web app that solves the Google Voice and iPhone interaction within days.

We don’t need a full blown Google Voice application on the iPhone. A simple web app would do. In fact, it would probably be better for overall adoption because only a small percentage of people update their apps religiously.

Given Google’s API for GV, and the speed at which the native apps were developed, this isn’t a stretch. A couple decent web developers could get this launched by Monday… In time to save Arrington and the world from an unnecessary rant on the failings of Android.

Parting with the Google Phone T-Mobile G1 – The Verdict – Top 10

Sol Young — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:12:43 +0000

After a week of using the T-Mobile G1 – the Google Phone – today I give it back. I knew before trying it that it was junk. Playing with it was still fun. There are great features on this phone, but for the most part it’s a phone to leave behind.

During the week I used the phone as my primary personal cell phone. Usually I carry an iPhone for work and a Nokia N82 for photography and personal calls. Having the iPhone and G1 on me for a week made for some great comparisons and a little benchmarking.

I do not recommend this phone. You should probably not buy this phone. BlackBerry and the iPhone are both superior in almost every aspect.

The Good

Great (for plastic) screen. Bright, smooth movement, and fairly durable. The Flashlight application is bright.
Terrific email client (see remarks about keypad below)
Market (aka Android App Store) describes exactly what systems (GPS, PIM, 3G, etc) an application requires before one installs it
Excellent USB implementation – The G1 reports as a removable drive when plugged in to a computer, and charges from the USB
3G beats the heck out of EDGE – It’s about 75% of the speed of AT&T’s 3G here in Philadelphia, but it’s 4x faster than EDGE
Amazon MP3 store integration
3 megapixel camera has better resolution than the iPhone or current BlackBerry units, but is still antiquated enough to generate smile fatigue
Hardware keypad is useful for customers who aren’t willing to type more quickly on a virtual keypad
“Chin” section reminds us of the 1995 Motorola phones – Great way to reminisce
Google logo on the back

The Bad

Not stylish
Twice as thick as it needs to be – Slide-out screen reveals unfriendly QWERTY keypad, the culprit of this waste
“Chin” section is unnecessary and uses up an inch of length
“Chin” section gets in the way in landscape orientation while typing
Lack of multi-touch, poor trackball
Can only type with keypad, requires sliding out.
T-Mobile data plan is slower than AT&T (arguably this will change, but for now it’s 75% as fast as AT&T)
Too many buttons – Looks like a repurposed Windows Mobile device from 2002
Weak initial application offerings – lack of apparent payment system for developer compensation
Android isn’t ready for commercial release – this OS has great potential but its lack of a svelt, smooth, and exciting experience exudes a lack of design

The Verdict – skip this phone – it’s a 1st generation device that is botched by poor hardware design and a pre-release operating system. A G2 or G3 version with a slim multi-touch interface and polished UI will be worthy of your attention.

Writing a Post From the Google Phone

Sol Young — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:26:49 +0000

This post will be written entirely from a Google Phone (aka T-Mobile G1) while in transit on a train to Philadelphia. I’ve mostly expressed a dislike for the G1, for mostly good reasons, but so far this post has been uneventful.

An impressive bit about this post is that I’m using the web version of WordPress. There are no apps as of yet for blogging on a G1. This is the first time I’ve been able to use the web based rev of WordPress on a mobile device, so this has been farely impressive. The image inserted above is via a Flickr feed plugin. It worked, but not seamlessly.

Today’s impression of the G1, soley from the power of its web browser, is less negative. I will say however that I plugged the G1 in to the official Device Success Wife-o-Meter and the needle barely lifted. I didn’t tell her it was the Google Phone before asking her to check it out. Here’s how that went (continued after the updates…):

UPDATE: T-Mobile botched up my Internet plan somewhere between the time of getting 1/2 way done with this post and the time of clicking the “Publish” button. When I finally published I received a message about not having the appropriate data plan for the G1. You can probably imagine the color tones of my face turning bright reddish-purple with rage.

UPDATE 2: Wasn’t able to recover the text from the post, but the following is close, re-written…

Seems a little fragile. Kind of blocky and big.

She played with it for a little while, trying the flip screen and browsing to different sites. YouTube popped up automatically for her. Still, the result was a definite ho-hum run.

Ok, so what about the Google Phone? I thought you were going to be reviewing it.

“That is the Google Phone…”

I thought the Google Phone would have more colors.

UPDATE 3: I’ve cancelled my second line on T-Mobile and upgraded to the G1’s official data plan on my primary line. The failure with the post was a case of terrible timing, where T-Mobile took 2 days to determine I was on the wrong data plan (I had no idea I needed to be on a special G1 plan). The T-Mobile network shut my line off at the worst possible time for a blogger – moments before publishing.