Get ready for Microsoft’s big re-entry into mobile phones. With a new operating system dubbed Windows Phone 7, the software giant hopes to make a dent against the growing Android and iPhone market share.
Microsoft’s track record with smartphones has been dubious of late. Earlier this year, if you recall, it introduced the Kin smartphones, two products that were intended to be social-media powerhouses for tech savvy 20-somethings. But after just two months on the market, Microsoft killed the Kin due to slow sales.
I talked to WGN-AM 720′s Greg Jarrett about Microsoft’s prospects with Windows Phone 7, which will hit AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile stores in November. Click here to listen. Let’s hope Microsoft gives this product more time than it did the Kin, as early reviews appear favorable.
Congratulations to Appolicious.com and its crack management team, @AlanWarms and Chicago’s own @Spirrison. They let me play in their sandbox, which continues to grow and garner notable attention. If you’re not familiar with Appolicious, it’s a site for finding apps (iPhone, iPad and Android) based on a combination of user input and professional reviews.
I was a founding editor and content strategist for Appolicious; preparing the site for its debut was one of my more rewarding work experiences. Launching a start-up is crazy, hectic and unpredictable work. And you never know how it will all play out.
Google introduced a tool so useful and so obvious, that anyone who owns or is considering an Android phone should check it out. Called the Google Phone Gallery, it’s a display of Android phones you can buy today.
The phones can be sorted by availability from wireless carriers, phone manufacturers, newest models, alphabetical order and country. As of this writing, there were 22 Android phones offered by U.S. wireless carriers. More will be added as they are introduced. You can even select several phones to compare features side-by-side.
The complete story, including a critique on what’s missing from Groogle Phone Gallery, can be read at Appolicious.com.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is expected to be the iPad’s most serious competitor — at least this holiday season. The touch-screen tablet will be sold be at all four major U.S. wireless carriers. As of this writing, pricing and availability have not been released.
But at least we have a better idea of what it can do. Samsung just released an “official” video for the tab, and it looks pretty sweet.
The 7-inch Galaxy tab will be smaller than the iPad and it will run on the Android operating system. The Samsung Galaxy Tab could have slightly different versions depending on the wireless carrier, much like the Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones have different versions. Here’s my take on the Samsung Vibrant, available at T-Mobile.
The Nike + GPS app is not as innovative as Nike's pre-iPhone product.
This story first appeared in Vegas Seven
Did you ever take a run down the Las Vegas Strip (dodging cars and strollers, of course) and discover a new hotel or restaurant you never noticed before? (Yes, that might have happened more frequently a few years ago.) Well, finding things already there is common in the digital world, particularly when it comes to iPhone apps.
It happened to me a few weeks ago after Nike introduced an app for runners, called Nike+ GPS. Nike was once an innovator in the digital workout space, creating a unique running product for the iPod to track your mileage.
The product was developed before the App Store existed and required a sensor to be inserted into specially designed Nike shoes to track how far and how long you ran. It was a great marketing play for Nike and Apple because you needed new shoes and an iPod to make it work. Plus, the iPod tracked and displayed your mileage, creating a nice digital record of your achievements.
Gmail is my preferred email service. It’s free, provides more storage than I think I’ll ever need and has been simple to access from every mobile phone I’ve tried.
Lately, I’ve been using two Gmail tools that have made the experience even better. The first is a Gmail update called Priority Inbox, a service that sorts your inbox based on messages deemed most important (see video after the jump).
The second service is Rapportive and it is a browser plug-in you use alongside Gmail. If you’re heavily into social media — or want to know the social networks your contacts have joined — you’ll love this tool.
One of the most confounding aspects of our gadget-loving society is managing the chargers that keep our gadgets running. We need to charge our mobile phones, our music players, our Bluetooth earpieces and our cameras.
If your house is like mine, there’s a counter in the kitchen where each outlet holds a charger. I have an organizer to keep the cords under control and the gadgets in the same place, but that doesn’t decrease the need for outlets. And there is an energy drain called “vampire energy” or “vampire draw,” a reference to the power wasted by leaving chargers plugged in when they are not being used.
I’ve been testing a universal charging device that elegantly solves both problems—outlet clutter and vampire draw. It’s called the IDAPT i4, and it sells for $60. The device can charge four gadgets at once through a single outlet.
Rabbi Naomi Levy leads an online Yom Kippur service
Traditions are best spent with family, but sometimes you can’t be with family to honor those traditions. For the past two years, I’ve been unable to attend Yom Kippur services with my family and friends.
I found a wonderful substitute, however, by watching the Kol Nidre services led by Rabbi Naomi Levy, broadcast online from Los Angeles.
The online Yom Kippur service launched in 2008 and I first wrote about it for the Chicago Tribune’s Eric 2.0 blog. Kol Nidre is the evening service of Yom Kippur, the most important holiday of the Jewish year. I was a bit cheeky when I previewed the services, noting that it was being led by “Oprah’s Rabbi.” A few readers, rightfully, called me on that. (Rabbi Levy, an author, has appeared on Oprah to discuss spirituality. I’ve included a plug for her new book at the end of this post.)
Yet I wrote about the online Yom Kippur services because Rabbi Levy believes in reaching out to “unaffiliated Jews and those that have become disconnected from the religion, for whatever reason,” she told me then.
The T-Mobile G2, made by HTC, goes on sale at the end of September. It is the successor to the first Android phone.
This story is excerpted from Wednesday’s App Industry Report on Appolicous.com.
The wireless carrier that introduced the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, is gearing up for a big holiday season. T-Mobile has already said it will start selling the Android-operated G2, made by HTC, in late September to existing customers while new buyers get a shot at the phone in October.
The G1, originally nicknamed the Google phone before Google starting selling its own phone (the now defunct Nexus One), will be two years old in October. That’s almost hard to believe, considering that 2010 is the year that the Android operating system exploded in popularity.
T-Mobile, of course, has lost its exclusive grip on Android phones, but the carrier remains a major player in the Android market. (Continued)
Apple’s loosening of its developer guidelines for creating apps has largely been seen as a nod to the increasing competition it faces from Android-based smartphones and the coming crop of tablets that will run the Google-backed OS.
But I had another thought: It is a step by Apple to alleviate the problems it faced in the 1980s, after it refused to license its computer operating system to outside hardware makers.
I need a new mobile phone and the choice has become increasingly perplexing.
In my view, unless you must have an iPhone, you can now pick a smartphone based on the wireless carrier with the best arrangement for your needs. That includes cost, coverage and, of course, product. With the introduction of quality Android phones this year at each of the major carriers, this process has eased significantly.
The iPhone, still, is only at AT&T (that will change within two years, not in January) so if you don’t want AT&T for whatever reason and lust for an iPhone, here’s what you do:
Sometimes, it’s unclear if a new product is innovative or just better than its predecessors. In the case of new music-making “toys” from WowWee Robotics, a better approach to a familiar product resulted in something that delivers a lot of fun.
Paper Jamz is a series of faux instruments—guitar, drums and amps—that lets kids pretend they are rock stars. We’ve all seen such electronic instruments; if you have kids, you probably own one. But what’s innovative here is the presentation. The Paper Jamz products are remarkably thin, portable and a joy for kids to play loudly—much to the chagrin of Mom and Dad.
My opinion piece for Appolicious on the iPod classic, which did not get a face lift like other iPods, hit Yahoo's front page.
It constantly amazes me how much we pay attention to Apple when the company announces a new product. Apple has earned our respect when it comes to innovation and cool gadgets, as it has been at the forefront of what hand-held devices can do for consumers.
Yet the amount of coverage given to an infomercial orchestrated by a master pitchman continues to amaze me. But I will say this: not only is it good for Apple, it’s good for me.
There are currently four annual media events for Apple:
If there’s a bugaboo that drives every smartphone owner nuts, it’s battery life. No smartphone holds a charge for very long, particularly when compared to mobile phones designed primarily to, gasp, just make calls.
Still, if battery life is a key consideration when buying a new smartphone (and it should be), how do various models stack up? Laptop Magazine tested a crop of the latest Android smartphones and determined that the Motorola Droid X is the best. The worst: the HTC Incredible, while the superior-screened line-up of new Samsung phones were close to the bottom.
The BlackBerry Torch can be controlled by touch or keyboard
Is there a smartphone less interesting than the BlackBerry these days? No. Research in Motion, BlackBerry’s maker, is desperately trying to change that perception but it hasn’t been easy.
RIM is losing market share at an alarming rate, as Android phones and the iPhone continue to attract new users. So can the BlackBerry Torch, RIM’s latest offering, stop the carnage? The Torch is the first BlackBerry to use a combination of touch-screen and keyboard — a nod to RIM’s traditional user base — to navigate the phone, while also offering an overdue upgrade to its operating system, dubbed BlackBerry 6.
So, is the Torch exciting enough to draw new users to the BlackBerry operating system? Perhaps more important: is it good enough to keep existing users from departing?
Welcome to Bendable Gadgets, a Bendable Media blog devoted to personal technology. I offer original pieces on popular gadgets and also re-post select stories I've written for other publications (properly attributed). Sometimes I write about parenthood, as I work toward coveted "Daddy Blogger" status. Like life, this blog is a work in progress.
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A journalist for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and several business magazines, Benderoff's personal technology column has been published in newspapers and on Web sites across the country. He regularly discusses personal technology on Chicago's WGN-AM 720 as well as the nationally syndicated First Business television program.
