More things that Android does better than the iPhone 3GS

This list is in addition to the list compiled by Pocketnow.

Text-reflow in the browser
With the low-resolution screen on the iPhone, I find I have to zoom in to the text more to be able to read it. But then I have to scroll horizontally as well as vertically. That's shameful.

Home screen customizations
You'll be able to get at-a-glance info if that's what you want. And your phone won't look like everyone else's.

Multi-tasking
Very well-documented flaw of the iPhone OS. No explanation required.

Removable battery
Self-explanatory. This isn't something that just Android has over Apple's product. It's what every mobile phone has!

Non-obstructive notifications
With the iPhone OS, notifications such as those for new messages or appointments pop up and force you to deal with them right away. What happens if you just so happened to be busy? If you tap "Dismiss", you'll likely just forget it a couple minutes later. Android organizes your notifications on the top bar and you deal with it when you choose.

Smart-dialing
Without smart-dialing, that means you have to drill into a list (be it your contacts, favorites, or call history) every time you want to make a call.

Standardized plug for charging and syncing
Self-explanatory.

Accessing the SIM card slot doesn't require a dedicated tool
Some phones have SIM Card slots that are poorly designed. But the iPhone takes the prize here. You actually need to poke at a hole with a stick to access the SIM slot. It's similar to getting your computer's optical drive to eject the tray without turning on your PC.

Looking forward to the announcement of the 4th-gen iPhone

I'm not an iPhone fan. I don't even have the device. I've been using Windows Mobile for several years and will soon be switching to Android (pre-ordered the HTC Desire). So why do I care about the upcoming 4th-gen iPhone? 2 reasons...

1. Innovation. The 1st-gen iPhone was the one that reshaped the whole smartphone landscape. Capacitive multi-touch, smooth OS animations, and fingerfriendly navigation. We've never seen anything like it before. Every other smartphone manufacturer were suddenly now playing catch-up. Because of this, everybody else started making much better devices. If it were not for the iPhone, we would not have superphones like the HTC HD2, Nexus One, Desire, Legend, X10, etc. It's been quite a long time since we've had something truly innovative in the iPhone world. (I would say the last time was when they introduced the App Store). If Apple is able to bring something truly new and awesome to the smartphone arena, their fanboys would rejoice. But better yet, every other manufacturer will once again try to one-up Apple and as a result, we'll all benefit with even better devices in the future.
2. To watch Apple crash & burn and see how their fans defend their device's mediocrity. Apple has some tough competition in the Motorola Droid and HTC Desire. They also have to be wary of the imminent launch of Windows Phone 7 Series devices. They have to come up with something better than (or at least on par with) the devices that are already out. It would be unacceptable to have a margin of improvement similar to the difference between the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. Imagine if the only new features were a 5MP cam with LED flash, more storage, and a longer-lasting battery that's still non-removable. Apple-haters would be having a parade over this.
   

As much fun as I would like to see Apple fail, I would much prefer if Apple got their act together and delivered something truely awesome for everyone come this summer.


For Apple not to fail, they need to improve the following at a minimum!

• Low resolution screen. The 480x320 screen that was introduced back in 2007 needs to be upgraded to WVGA (800x480) at least)
• Multi-tasking. The most well-documented glaring flaw of the iPhone OS. We all know it can be done because of jailbreakers. So why isn't it being implemented natively?
• Wouldn't hurt to allow some sort of customizations. Except for the wallpaper on the lockscreen, every iPhone looks exactly the same.
• It needs to be able to do something that has that wow factor. (I'd argue that HTC achieved this with their HTC Sense interface in the Legend and the Desire).

HTC responds to Apple's patent lawsuit

HTC finally released a statement to Apple's patent lawsuit.

Seems like HTC has got some fight in them. They even got in a couple of shots in the press release by stating that they've been around since 1997 and that they released the first gesture-based smartphone in June 2007. They are of course referring to the original HTC Touch which was released right before Apple's 1st-gen iPhone.

Related blog post: My take on the Apple versus HTC lawsuit

My take on the Apple versus HTC lawsuit

Certainly, most people have heard of Apple's lawsuit against HTC. If not, see here for details.

I'm not going to give my opinion on who I think will win because I read through the patents that Apple claims HTC infringed on and I think the whole case is just ridiculous.

Here's a couple of thoughts that I take away from reading about this lawsuit:

1. Apple sees HTC as a threat. Congratulations are in order for HTC. A couple years ago, nobody has even heard of them even though they've been making handsets for a number of years. Their marketing strategy over the past few years has been to boost their name brand. This lawsuit plays right into HTC's hand. More people will now be aware of HTC because of this lawsuit.

2. Apple is expected to announce the 5th-gen iPhone this summer. I think after what Apple saw at the recent Mobile World Conference, they've realized that their 5th-gen iPhone is just not adequate enough for the competition. Therefore, we have this lawsuit as an act of desperation. Certainly, Apple has not thought this through. Going against HTC means going against Google and Microsoft. Not smart at all.

3. Something is seriously wrong with the US patenting system. Some of those approved patents are just mind-boggling.

Update: HTC responds...

Reasons I'm leaving Windows Mobile for Android

Interface
Everything is outdated (ie, dropdown boxes, check boxes, radio buttons, tabs, etc). I've owned a Compaq iPaq 3760 Pocket PC back in 2001. I haven't owned another Windows Mobile device until the HTC Touch Dual in 2007. Yet, everything feels strangely familiar. WinMo 6.5 helps a bit but not enough.

Resistive screen
The screen is quite nice on my Touch Pro2, but it's just time to switch everything over to capacitive. Because of the nature of resistive screens, it feels mushy and it's prone to scratches. Plus, capacitive multi-touch screens allow for full-speed typing with 2 thumbs on the soft keyboard.
(Sure, the HD2 and the HD Mini have capacitive screens. But since the WinMo 6.x platform development is dead, I doubt we're going to see any more such devices.)

Web browsing
IE Mobile is horrible so I won't even go into details. Opera Mobile is pretty good but pales in comparison to what you can do on Android. The Android browser renders faster and more accurately. Opera Mini is fast but doesn't render accurately.

Performance
The performance just doesn't scale very well with upgraded hardware and I think a lot of it has to do with the OS holding it back. The iPaq 3760 had a 206mhz CPU with 64MB RAM. You would think the Touch Dual with a 400mhz CPU and 128MB RAM would be twice as fast. But it's not. Even my Touch Pro2 with 528mhz CPU and 288MB RAM isn't that much faster than the 10 year old iPaq.

LG KM555E Review

A sleek looking feature phone that will fit under anybody’s budget

I’ll begin by saying the LG KM555E looks very sleek. It almost begs to be picked up. It’s very thin and light. At first glance, it would seem that the device’s build quality is surprisingly good for a budget device. But once you pick it up, you’ll realize that the chrome border is actually just chrome painted plastic. The back battery cover looks like its brushed metal but it’s really also just plastic. That being said, the build quality is not bad. It certainly looks and feels more expensive than it really is.

The 3” resistive touch screen dominates the front face of the device. There are 3 buttons along the bottom of the screen. They neither are physical buttons nor are they capacitive buttons. They appear to be an extension of the resistive touch screen, so they do require pressure to be applied. The buttons are for call, end, and one that brings up a task manager/favorites popup.
On the side there’s a volume rocker and a flap that covers the microUSB slot for charging.
On the other side, there’s a camera button and a button that takes you do the media player.
On the back is a 3MP fixed focus camera with no flash.
Nothing on the bottom other than the mic.
On top, there’s the power/standby button and a 3.5mm audio jack (a very welcomed addition).
LG includes a stylus, but there’s no way to store it in the device nor is there a way to dangle it externally. This is an odd decision. Does LG want you to carry it around in your pocket where it’s bound to get lost? Luckily, you won’t be needing the stylus much unless you use Asian text recognition.

The UI is simple and finger friendly. The home screen has 3 “sides”. One is for widgets such as a notification manager, clock, calendar, music player, etc. It’s possible to download more. One is for your favorite contacts which you can arrange as if they’re tiles. The last “side” is interesting but a bit gimmicky. At first it appears to be empty. But once you start making or receiving calls, this particular “side” gets populated by your recent call history entries. They are shown as cartoon animals or people (depending on the settings you specified). If you tap on them, you can choose to call or text them.

The programs menu is organized by categories. You swipe the rows to see more of each category. Alternatively, you can flip your device to landscape to view all of them at once.

The camera is unimpressive. But since it is fixed-focus, it takes very quick pictures.

Text entry is done via a T9 style soft-keypad. Alternatively, you can switch to landscape and type using a Qwerty style keyboard. It works well, but the resistive screen means you can’t type at full speed with 2 thumbs.

Conclusion: If you have a bit more to spend, the LG KM900 is a better device. It has a capacitive screen, 4GB internal memory, and auto-focus camera with flash. But if budget is tight and you are willing to overlook those 3 things, this is a decent choice.

Positives:
+3.5mm audio jack
+compact
+looks great
+inexpensive
+WiFi

Negatives:
-resistive touch screen
-occasional minor lags in the UI

Motorola MOTOROKR S605 Review

Small and stylish, yet functional

The Motorola ROCKR S605 is categorized as a Bluetooth headset but it’s not one of those you wear on one of your ears. It’s more of a Bluetooth receiver that you can plug headphones into. As such, it’s not recommended for driving unless you wear only 1 of your ear-buds. This device is designed to be used by music listeners.

The device is rectangular shaped. It’s small and light, about the size of a 2nd-gen iPod Shuffle.
-5 buttons on the front (ie, radio, call, play/pause, forward, and back)
-volume rocker on one side
-power/hold switch on the other side
-micro-USB port for charging on the bottom
-3.5mm audio jack and indicator light on top
-clip on the back

The front face and the back have a polished glossy finish and will attract grease and fingerprints. The sides have a matte finish to it. The buttons have a good tactile feedback to them and they’re very well thought out. The hold switch is particularly important because it’s quite easy to accidentally press the buttons when you’re adjusting the clip. I find the clip to be very well designed. It should be strong enough for most. For those who prefer to wear the device, there’s a hole for you to attach a neck-strap. There are also a couple of notches on the clip for wire management. Very nice touch. I should also point out that the Motorola and the ROKR logos are on the back. So you don’t have to worry about looking like a Moto spokesperson if you wear the device.

I’ve tested it with my HTC Touch Pro2. Calls were clear for both me and the other party. Music playback worked perfect. Audio quality was good. There was no noticeable hissing as I’ve experienced with other similar products. Range and battery life were acceptable in my testing.

Music controls were easy, thanks to the excellent button choice and placement by Motorola. Basic phone call controls were easy enough. Just press the phone button to answer calls and press it again to end the call. More advanced phone functions require reading the manual.

A display would have helped. But then you’ll be giving up size, battery life, and the cheap price tag.

Positives:
+excellent price
+standard micro-USB port for charging
+easy setup
+intuitive music controls
+aesthetically pleasing
+built-in wire management design
+good sound quality

Negatives:
-grease and finger-print magnet
-no display