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Smart Magazine Is my6sense’s Flipboard With Digital Intuition

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 04:55 AM PST

my6sense

Back in May, my6sense raised another $1.1 million to continue pushing its digital intuition technology to market.

Today, the company is releasing a brand new product called ‘Smart Magazine’ which can be best described as a Flipboard for iPhone with added digital intuition that helps brings relevant content to its users ‘automagically’.

Except that the company elected to forgo iOS and launch on Android and Windows Phone instead. Both versions are free and can be downloaded, here. One thing to note is that the Android version is exclusive to all Samsung Galaxy models. In three months, it’ll be free available in the Android Market store.

In terms of usage, setting-up Smart Magazine is easy as pie. All the user has to do is select ‘Streams’ which can range from pre-set categories such as Business and Gossip, to the user’s own Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader feeds. That’s really all there is to it.

My6sense figures out everything else without requiring the user’s implicit feedback. There’s even a digital intuition meter that indicates how well my6sense has you figured out.

What’s quite evident is that my6sense can sure separate the signal from the noise. I have pretty active Twitter & Facebook feeds but was only presented content that I honestly did feel was quite relevant and personalized for me. It won hands-down compared to the stories Twitter offers me in its new ‘Discover’ tab.

Smart Magazine is a major jump forward for my6sense in terms of the overall user experience. The app is simple and intuitive to use. I also found it to be very aesthetically pleasing (see screenshots below).

The big question is whether my6sense can survive as an independent consumer play or whether it needs to license, or even sell the entire IP lock-stock-and-barrel to a company with a massive userbase.

One thing’s for sure, my Flipboard and Twitter experiences would be that much better were they to have some of my6sense’s digital intuition inside. Just saying.

In Mobile Advertising, Does Size Matter?

Posted: 15 Dec 2011 03:33 AM PST

Screen shot 2011-12-15 at 2.42.57 AM

It’s the motion in the ocean that counts, right? Wrong. Well, at least that’s how it looks when it comes to mobile advertising. (Look out, inneractive infographic below!) If you take Google at its word, then 2011 has been the year of the tablet. Or in their words, this year tablets “went mainstream”. Sure, Google would say that, as the creator of a rapidly-propagating mobile OS, right? Well, with total number of tablets sold expected to get close to 60 million by the end of the year, I think we may be able to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, when it comes to advertisers and developers considering mobile platforms, the question of where revenue is going to come from — and just how much — is crucial. In terms of mobile apps, freemium is certainly here to stay, but mobile advertising, as you’ve heard, is growing like gangbusters, with U.S. advertisers expected to spend upwards of $1.23 billion on mobile advertising in 2011, a number that’s projected to increase to around $4.4 billion by 2014.

And, perhaps more importantly, the numbers show that nearly 80 percent of consumers are comfortable with or neutral towards mobile advertising. Of course, as adoption of smartphones and tablets continues at a record pace, for that comfort level with mobile advertising to remain high, Google’s research shows that users are increasingly expecting more interactive and touch-friendly ads on their mobile devices. That’s why, last week, Google launched new tablet-specific ad formats that “make it easy for advertisers to create rich media ads for tablets using existing assets (photos, logos, etc.)” and fire them out across mobile platforms.

This is great, yes, but advertisers and mobile developers want to know which platforms, OSes, and devices have the highest average click-through-rates, because high CTRs lead to monetization, and monetization leads to, well, happy developers, better ads, and hopefully happier consumers. As we saw in Sarah’s recent coverage, Apple has topped Android in mobile ad performance, but Windows is still leading the pack in Q3 mobile CTRs. And with Windows leading, while Mango “rolled out without the promised in-app purchasing support”, again, it’s all about ad monetization — especially for budding Windows developers.

So, as CTRs have become increasingly important for developers looking to monetize on mobile platforms, an interesting supplemental question has become: When it comes to the performance (CTRs) of mobile advertising, does size of the device matter? Or, in other words, should developers be turning their focus for this (and other) reason(s) to tablets?

Google holds that the audience is certainly there for tablets, and they (among others) are trying to walk the walk by developing optimized formats for advertising on all those tablet-y devices. In support of this, inneractive, a mobile app monetization exchange, has created an infographic to address whether or not mobile CTRs are higher for larger devices. Their research shows that advertisers (and developers) have a clear advantage when offering optimized ads for larger formats.

Thus, it seems that size does indeed matter when it comes to click-through-rates — and that we have yet another confirmation that tablets will be leading the way in 2012. In more ways than one.

In the end, we’d like to see results for more devices, but this is a great start. Check it out:

Smule’s Newest Musical Brainchild: Magic Guitar for iOS

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 11:38 PM PST

Magic Guitar

Just when I was beginning to think that MadPad would be the only brand new product we saw come out of mobile musical masterminds Smule in 2011, they’ve just squeaked one out in the final round. Not that only launching one product in a year would be a bad thing, mind you — especially since they’ve been busying themselves raising 12 million dollar rounds and snatching up others in their space.

Following up on the success of Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle , Smule’s bumping their Magic duet up to a trio with Magic Guitar.

If you’ve played either of the aforementioned predecessors, you’ll be in familiar territory here. You hold the iPhone like the neck of a guitar (at least, as much like the neck of a guitar as you could ever possibly hold an iPhone), and the notes (in the form of little balls of light) stream down toward your fingers. Tap the balls of light as they near the timing line, and the note will play. The closer you tap to the note’s on screen position, the better it sounds. It’s similar to Rock Band in some ways, albeit with a heavier focus on flexibility and creativity over predetermined precision.

Mixing things up a bit, Magic Guitar also allows players to “bend” notes by dragging your fingers up the notes as you play, and to tweak the vibrato a bit by shaking the device. Once you’re done, your performance can be shared (for better or worse) on Twitter, Facebook, or with the world at large on Smule’s signature Sonic Network.

As with the more recent releases of Magic Piano (which Smule transitioned to a freemium model earlier this year), Magic Guitar is a free product with unlockable tunes. New songs are unlocked by way of “Shred” points, which can be earned through in-game achievements, partner offers (Who wants a credit card? You get a credit card! And you get a credit card!) — or if you’ve got a bit of change, purchased outright.

While it’s not my favorite app in Smule’s armory, it’s cute, it’s fun, and it’s free. Find it in the app store here and give it a spin.



Come On, Microsoft: Siri Is Making You Look Terrible

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 03:37 PM PST

annes fan

Last week, Microsoft overhauled the Xbox 360. The update brought dozens of new features, but there was one I was particularly excited about: when paired with a Kinect, the new interface was said to pack voice recognition support pretty much everywhere.

As I noted in my initial Kinect review well over a year ago, the Kinect’s voice system was the one bit I found particularly disappointing. After finally seeing someone do something right with voice with Siri, the idea that the 360 might be getting a wonderful voice interface had me beyond excited.

Alas, it still sucks.

Now, lets get one thing clear: I really, really like the Xbox 360. It’s one of very, very few devices I consider a personal favorite. If I had to up and sell everything I owned, the 360 would be one of the last things to go. I’ve owned one since launch day, and have ran three of them into the ground since. Suggesting I have a bias against the 360 (as commenters are wont to do whenever we criticize anything) would be like saying Google execs have a bias against private jets.

But this new voice crap… yikes.

If Siri’s greatest strength is that it (generally) allows users to speak naturally, the 360′s newfound greatest weakness is the exact opposite: it requires people to speak like robots. Very dumb, slow-speaking robots who have no idea what they want until presented with a finely groomed list of options.

Take my battle last night, for example. I wanted to watch the TV show Grimm, which is available on Hulu.

How might I do this? “Xbox, play Grimm on Hulu,” right? Hellll no.

Without searching on Bing (we’ll get into that later), the process was: Turn on Xbox. Wait 15 seconds for the Kinect to start up. “Xbox, Quickplay” (only because I’d loaded Hulu recently. Otherwise it’d be a few more commands.), “Xbox, Hulu Plus.”, “TV.”, “Title A-Z.”, “View All”, “G.” (It hears “J”), “Go Back”, “G.”, “Next Page”, “Next Page”, “Next Page”, and finally: “Grimm”, “Resume Show”. 13 commands to do one action.

Why not just search in Hulu with my voice and be done with it? Because you can’t. You can bring up the search interface… which promptly tells you to grab your controller, because voice isn’t supported here. Because that process totally makes sense.

So, why not just search via Bing on the homescreen, as you now can? I tried. Oh, how I tried.

“Xbox, Bing Grimm”. Results: Anne Graham.

“Xbox, Bing Grimm”. Results: Andy Grammar.

“Xbox, Bing G-R-I-M-M”. Results: C’est ne ma’am. What the hell?

Now, that’s just an example of the interface’s failings; it’s not to say that Siri would handle this specific goal any better. While it turns up some third-party results (Yelp, for example) Siri can’t actually search for content within third-party apps at all. With Siri, however, I’m constantly being surprised with what I can do. With the 360, I’m constantly surprised by what I can’t. Siri can set my alarms, send my texts, find nearby businesses — and heck, it’ll tell me a joke. The 360 can’t even do the things it outright says it can.

To put it another way: in the 10 days since the new UI rolled out, I haven’t been pleasantly surprised by a voice interaction once. I have, however, given up on voice and reached for the controller more times than I can count.

Think of the Kinect’s advantages: it has access (in most cases) to a constant Internet connection with relatively massive bandwidth. It has constant power, rather than working around battery drainage. It’s running on an exponentially more powerful device, with (stand-alone!) listening hardware that essentially never has to move. The 360 never has to figure out what I’m saying in a crowded bar, while driving, or at a ball game; it just sits in my living room, with an absurd amount of power behind it.

The 360′s new voice interface should be twice as smart, twice as fast, and twice as surprisingly wonderful as Siri. Instead, it just makes me want to break my TV.

It’s Official: Verizon Galaxy Nexus To Launch On December 15 For $299

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 02:31 PM PST

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Well it’s about time — after months of breathless waiting, Verizon has finally confirmed that the LTE-capable Galaxy Nexus will indeed launch on December 15 (i.e. tomorrow). The word comes courtesy of 9to5Google, who received a release from Big Red themselves celebrating the device’s long-awaited release.

As expected the device sticks to Verizon’s new standard pricing model for top-tier 4G smartphones, and people looking to nab at Nexus at the $299 price point will have to sign up for (or extend) a two-year contract. If the thought of slogging to a Verizon store or third-party retailer tomorrow fills you with dread, you’ll also have a shot a snagging one when the online sales begin at 1AM EST.

Interestingly, Verizon has yet to put an end to their double data promotion, so potential Galaxy Nexus buyers should also be able to lock in a 4GB monthly data plan instead of the 2GB plan for $29 — not a bad bonus when you’re buying one of the most-anticipated smartphones of the year.

There isn’t much else to say at this point: we’ve reported tirelessly about the device’s specs, and we’ve taken in-depth looks at Ice Cream Sandwich’s features over the past few months, so really all that’s left is to breathe a sigh of relief as we wait for sales channels to open.

Oh, and here’s the full release, in case you were planning to celebrate the occasion by poring over every word:

GALAXY™ NEXUS™ BY SAMSUNG NOW AVAILABLE ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS 4G LTE NETWORK

First Smartphone to Combine Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Power of America's Fastest, Most Reliable 4G Network

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) and Google™ announced Galaxy™ Nexus™ is available starting today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

Customers can browse the Web, stream music and more at blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. Galaxy Nexus customers can enjoy access to the 4G LTE network in 190 markets covering over 200 million people across the United States, and fly through the Web with fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within the 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage area.

Galaxy Nexus runs Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Galaxy Nexus offers customers a redesigned user experience with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Near Field Communications (NFC) sharing with Android Beam™ and a full Web-browsing experience. The lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between have been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful and useful. Galaxy Nexus also features an ultra-thin 9.47mm design with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED™ Contour Display to watch movies, view pictures and play games that come to life in 720p (1280×720) resolution.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) features:

· Redesigned user interface – software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multi-tasking easy

· Face Unlock – use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock Galaxy Nexus

· Android Beam™ – quickly share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube™ videos with friends by simply tapping two compatible phones together

· Redesigned Camera – introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, and effects such as silly faces and background replacement

· People Application – browse friends, family and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks

· Cloud Services – keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data

· Google Music – upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, discover and buy new music from Android Market™, and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free

· Google+ – Create a Google+ account right from the phone and check status updates, manage circles, quickly share updates and photos, video chat with up to ten friends with Mobile Hangouts, and chat with groups of friends with Google+ Messenger

· Support for Google Mobile™ Services – Gmail™, Google Maps™ with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar™, a redesigned Google+ app and access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent, and millions of songs available to download from Android Market

Additional features:

· Dual-core 1.2 GHz application processor and HTML5 Web browser – optimized dual-core processing with Android 4.0 combined with lightning fast 4G LTE connectivity for fast downloading of graphics, applications processing and Web browsing

· Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G LTE or 3G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices

· 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, autofocus and LED flash with full 1080p recording

· Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat

· Textured soft-touch back cover – enhances the ergonomic feel and makes the phone slip-resistant

· Bluetooth® 3.0 technology – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, human interface device (HID) and object push for vCard and vCalendar

· 1 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board memory (actual formatted capacity will be less)

Pricing and data packages:

· Galaxy Nexus is available now in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

· Customers that purchase a Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus for more information on the Galaxy Nexus. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.


Developing…

An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Galaxy Nexus

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST

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You have to hand it to Google. They know that I prefer Apple products and have been generally critical of many Google moves in the past couple of years. And yet, they’re unafraid to give me their newest products to test out. To be honest, I’m not sure Apple would do the same. But I think this is a smart move on Google’s part. On one hand, they may get a negative review but they know that many will discount the negativity coming from me. On the flip side, if it’s positive: gravy train time.

Thus: my thoughts on the Galaxy Nexus. But before I begin…

Rather than do a full-on review — you’ve probably already seen plenty of those — and given that I now write an Apple-centric column for TechCrunch, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to continue my “An iPhone Lover’s Take…” series. For some background, here are my previous stories from the same angle on the Nexus One, the HTC EVO 4G, the Nexus S, a Windows Phone, and even the iPhone 4.

My colleague Jason Kincaid took a similar approach for a post a few weeks back, but did it from a slightly different angle — call it: An Original iPhone Lover Who Learned To Love Android Until Switching Back To The iPhone… Reviews The Galaxy Nexus. Oddly, he just had just switched back to the iPhone after years of Android use — but he says the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich in particular may get him to switch back yet again. Meanwhile, GigaOm’s Darrell Etherington also looked at the Galaxy Nexus from an iPhone user’s perspective and ultimately decided the iPhone 4S was still the device for him. So I’m here to break the tie.

I’ve been using an iPhone since the day the first one launched in 2007. It is without question my favorite and most-used gadget of all time. Over that same span, I’ve tried about a dozen different Android devices ranging from the G1 to the Nexus S — the results have been decidedly mixed. I pretty much hated the G1, generally liked the Nexus One, thought the EVO 4G was more or less crap, and basically enjoyed the Nexus S. But none, in my mind, could touch the iPhone.

So what about the Galaxy Nexus?

I was given the device shortly before I took off for Europe a couple weeks ago. Given that it’s unlocked and I got a 3G SIM, I’ve been using it a lot — just as much as I’ve used any of the other Android devices listed above. For a few nights, it has been my primary device when I’ve been out and about. Unfortunately, I have not been able to test any sort of 4G network with it, so consider all of this a Galaxy Nexus 3G review.

First and foremost, the Galaxy Nexus is way too big. The 4.65-inch screen is nice when I’m sitting on my couch, but out and about it feels like I’m Zack Morris holding his Gordon Gekko phone. I’d consider myself to have average sized hands for an adult male, and the screen is so large that it killed several one-handed operations for me (especially since many Android apps use a top nav system). I’ll admit that for some apps, like Gmail, having a screen larger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch variety is very nice. But 4.3-inch may be better. This is just too big.

While the screen is too big, I am happy that Google has finally decided to get rid of hardware menu buttons and go all-in on the screen. Previous Android hardware was always made worse by the decision to include fixed nav buttons along the button. With Ice Cream Sandwich, all these buttons can now be software-based. There isn’t even a home hardware button like the iPhone has anymore — it’s all software.

I like this. The iPhone home button wears down over time and it makes noise when you click it. (Of course, the Galaxy Nexus still has a wake/power button of the right side.) I hope Apple does something more inventive with the button if they choose to keep it in future iPhone hardware iterations. Perhaps a multi-touch top on the button that allows you to swipe between open iOS apps would make the continuation of the physical button worth it.

I also like the inclusion of an indicator light on the Galaxy Nexus. Both the Galaxy Nexus and iPhone have options to vibrate or give you audio cues to alert you to new messages, but if the phone isn’t on me, I often miss those. The light allows you to see if you have new message waiting without having to turn the screen on. This is one of the few things BlackBerry got right that Apple for whatever reason hasn’t bothered to mimic.

The rest of the Galaxy Nexus hardware leaves something to be desired. The iPhone feels like a completely and thoughtfully designed object. By comparison, the Galaxy Nexus still feels rather cheap and plastic-y. It’s not awful, but you’d think Samsung could do better at this point. Some people will like having the option to remove to the back to get at the battery, but the method for doing so remains a joke. You essentially have to rip it off. I feel like I’m peeling a nail away from a finger every time I do it — it’s that unpleasant.

The battery life itself on the device is very good. I felt like the Galaxy Nexus was lasting at least as long as the iPhone 4S on a fully charged battery, perhaps even a bit longer if some cases. Again, I didn’t try it on a 4G network, which is known to drain battery quicker. (I also haven’t had the battery discharge issues that some iPhone 4S users have been reporting since the launch.) But fear not, this is not the EVO with its temper-melting 30-minute battery.

The camera on the Galaxy Nexus is definitely worse than the iPhone 4S, both in megapixels (8 vs. 5), and in image quality. But the iPhone 4S is also a ridiculously good camera. The Galaxy Nexus is still a fine point-and-shoot replacement, in my opinion. The camera seems better than any other Android device I’ve used. One nit is that while there is a method to go right into the camera from the lock screen (just like iOS 5 has), it’s too slow if the camera isn’t previously running. You’ll hit the camera button and watch as the Android main screen loads and then the camera apps loads. This feels like more of a macro than a feature.

And let’s talk about Ice Cream Sandwich. The artist also known as Android 4.0 is very solid. There is no question that the software is much improved over previous iterations in terms of speed, but mainly usability. I really like things like the multi-task tray and some of the new widgets.

Unfortunately, the system still lacks much of the fine polish that iOS users enjoy. The majority of Android users will probably think such criticism is bullshit, but that has always been the case. I imagine it’s probably hard for a Mercedes owner to describe to a Honda owner how attention to detail makes their driving experience better when both machines get them from point A to point B. As a Honda owner myself, I’m not sure I would buy it — I’d have to experience it to understand it, I imagine. And most Android lovers are not going to spend enough time with iOS to fully appreciate the differences.

Still, if the Android team ever wants to convert (or at least convince) most iOS users, they still have quite a bit of work to do here. Then again, they probably don’t (or shouldn’t) care too much about converting iOS users over to Android. All the non-smartphone users out there remain the much bigger prize to go after (for both Google and Apple).

Other things that will sound like nits but drove me crazy with ICS included the constant focusing on text fields only to have to click again to get the keyboard to pop up. If I’m in a text field, I clearly want to type something. Why should I have to click again? This doesn’t always happen, but it happens a lot — particularly in third-party apps.

Another: why is there a separate app for Messaging and Google+ Messenger? Apple baked iMessage into their SMS app, why didn’t Google? If they’re worried about anti-competitive concerns, why would they bundle all the Google+ stuff into ICS to begin with? Similarly, why do Gmail and Email continue to be two separate apps? And why on Earth is the web browser not Chrome yet!?

The new People app social unification is nice — I love the big pictures. But my god Google needs help with their duplication/merging detection. One of my friends has four separate entries — one for his phone number, one for his Gmail/Google+, one for Twitter, and one for another email. Several others had three different entries. Most had at least two. Also, Google provides an option to link your Facebook account in Accounts & sync, but it does nothing. I’m sure this is due to the Google/Facebook fracas, but why include something in your OS that is completely broken?

Ice Cream Sandwich’s voice command functionality is a joke compared to Siri — but that may be changing soon, we’ll see.

In his write-up, Jason noted that iOS is still far behind Android when it comes to notifications, I have to disagree. I find Android’s notification tray to be far less useful than it is on iOS. For example, if I get three new emails, with Android, I just see that I have three new emails all grouped together. With iOS I can see at least some of the context. Same with Tweets. The size of the alerts in this tray also isn’t uniform in Android, so Facebook alerts seem more important with their huge logo.

I do like the ability to “clear all” in Android’s notification tray though. The iOS micro clear button remains a joke that badly needs to be fixed.

When it comes to web browsers, arguably the most important feature on any of these devices, there is no question that iOS still has a big edge here. I’ve seen arguments on both sides for why one is faster than the other — most recently, data today favors iOS — but just doing a simple use case test, mobile Safari kicks the ass of Google’s don’t-call-it-Chrome mobile web browser across the board. Some pages still refuse to render correctly on Android’s browser. And the ones that do cannot seem to get the simplest feature right: double-tap to zoom. You do it on Android and there’s a good chance you could end up looking at the middle of a random paragraph.

You’ll also still see a bit of lag in ICS when you do seemingly simple things like this. It’s still not as smooth as it should be. For the most part, ICS fixes many of Android’s performance issues, but there are plenty of times that you’ll still see stutters here and there.

And then there are the apps.

To be fair to Google, Ice Cream Sandwich is currently only on the Galaxy Nexus and it still hasn’t even officially launched in the U.S. But there’s a lot of work to do here. One app that I had on my Nexus S constantly crashes now on the Galaxy Nexus. And rather than quietly closing in the background, I get a nice big Windows-style pop-up that it has stopped running. Many other apps look fairly bad on the larger screen simply because they’re not optimized for it — again, something a wider release of ICS will hopefully fix.

The main problem I have with Android apps on the Galaxy Nexus/ICS remains the ones that are also available on iOS. When the apps exist on both platforms, it’s easy to compare them and the iOS version almost always wins — and often by a landslide. Take the latest version of Twitter, for example. It was just updated to run on both. On iOS it’s smooth, on ICS, there is noticeable stutter when scrolling. It’s much worse on Facebook Messenger and Facebook itself — no big deal, only the biggest app on both platforms.

The reason for the app differences between the two platforms remains a hot topic of debate. Again, all I know is what I see: app to app, iOS still easily beats Android in most cases. One counter-example, which I talked about on stage at LeWeb last week, is SoundTracking. I actually think their app is better on Android. But that has less to do with performance, and more to do with the fact that it can access hooks that iOS doesn’t offer, like background Spotify integration. Android developers should focus more on these benefits of Android and less on making their apps exact ports of their iOS ones. Something always seems to get lost in translation — often badly lost.

Now it just sounds like I’m focusing on the negative. It’s important to emphasize the fact that the Galaxy Nexus is without a doubt the best phone I’ve ever used that’s not an iPhone. And there is no question that it does certain things better than an iPhone — namely all of the Google apps and any third-party background/OS integration beyond Twitter, which is now baked into iOS 5. Google has also managed to just about match Apple in app quantity. This is all good — competition is good.

The next step that Google needs to take (or to help third party developers take) involves around app quality. Put simply: they need to create better tools for developers to use in order to take advantage of the strengths ICS offers. This won’t happen in 6 months, but it can happen if Google works at it.

After that, it’s the intangibles where iOS holds the huge advantage. And just like in sports, it’s not clear how well you can “teach” those. At some point, Google may simply have to acknowledge that iOS looks and feels better than Android because Apple’s entire fabric is woven with design, tight integration, and attention to detail. Google’s strengths are elsewhere; they should embrace that.

Google has done some very nice work here. Both the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich are a new pinnacle of the Android platform. But in the end, it still comes down to something very simple: which device do I want to use day-to-day? Which phone do I reach for when I’m not doing a review? It’s still the iPhone. Without question.

Keep at it, Google.

Credit Sesame Brings Your Credit Score To The iPhone. For Free.

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 11:14 AM PST

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Personal finance service (and TechCrunch Disrupt alum) Credit Sesame is launching its first mobile application today which gives users instant access to their current financial standing and their credit score. For free. And I don’t mean “free” as in free, but if you don’t read the fine print we’ll sign you up for our monthly service.

I mean free as in free.

For those of you unfamiliar with Credit Sesame, the young startup helps users better understand their personal finances. But unlike Mint, which looks at a person’s bank accounts, investments, budget, goals and loans, Credit Sesame is primarily focused on credit and loans. Using the same technology as banks, the company is able to analyze a user’s complete debt situation and then recommend various loan and credit options that can save them money .

However, Credit Sesame isn’t paid for lead generation, so it doesn’t just hand over customers’ information to banks and lenders in order to generate revenue. Instead, it only receives payment when a customer signs up for one of its recommendations.

With the new mobile application, customers will be able to do much of what you could previously do only via the website, including sign up for an account, access your financial information, check your credit score, view your available credit and debt payments and more. It’s important to note that when you check your credit score via the app, it doesn’t ding your credit, as it would when a company runs a credit check for you to determine whether you qualify for a new credit card, store card or loan, for example. The score comes from Experian.

For now, consumers can use this information to get a general idea as to their financial health, but in the future, Credit Sesame will provide more specific guidance. (“Can I get a Macy’s card?”, “Can I buy this car?” are some example that come to mind).

Credit Sesame secures your information using bank-grade security approved by VeriSign and McAfee, protects mobile users’ data behind a PIN and enables you to switch off mobile access if your phone is lost or stolen. In addition, although the service requires your Social Security Number upon sign-up, this information is not stored on the phone.

According to founder Adrian Nazari, the startup helps two out of three people find “substantial” savings, even if not everyone chooses to act on its recommendations. He won’t disclose the size of the user base yet, but hints that it’s now in the six digits. The company raised $6.15 million from Menlo Ventures this March, and has been growing steadily since.

The mobile app is first available for the iPhone, but an Android app will follow shortly. You can download the new app from here on iTunes.

Netflix 2.0 For iOS Sports Awesome Revamped Interface

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 11:12 AM PST

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Android tablet owners have been rocking the new Netflix app design for nearly a month now, and with today’s update, iPad users can finally join in on the fun.

The 2.0 update squeezes more movies onto a single page by trimming out most of the excess white space that made the original version feel a tad ill-suited for such a large screen. It’s a huge improvement over the original if only because you don’t have to squint to see a movie’s image anymore — they’ve blown up the images and folded most of the text and ratings info into a movie or show’s individual entry.

The new update isn’t all about revamped visuals: it also packs a few stability fixes, and it marks the first time Netflix for iOS has been made available in Latin America. ¡Fantástico!

Itching to see the new app in action? That’s where things may get a little dicey. The update is live in the App Store, but it may take a few tries to get things going — it took a handful of reinstalls and restarts before the new UI finally kicked in for me. At least one other reviewer mentioned the same problem, but hopefully not too many of you are running into issues (and if you are, I’m sure you’ll let us know).

What Will Happen If Verizon Fails To Launch The Galaxy Nexus Tomorrow?

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 10:47 AM PST

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It seems as though Verizon and Google have really screwed the pooch when it comes to the Galaxy Nexus launch. As of this very moment, we’re on our eighth rumored release date: tomorrow, December 15. The first was all the way back on November 3. In fact, these delays and the vague availability information provided by Verizon has led some to create a site entirely dedicated to whether or not Verizon has released the Galaxy Nexus.

It’s ridiculous.

But will all these delays make a huge difference in the popularity of the device? After a chat with Forrester Research’s Charles Golvin, I’m comfortable saying probably not. But even with the blogosphere’s extensive coverage of the device, it probably won’t be a blow-out success, either.

Here’s why:

To start, the Nexus line has never made a huge splash upon launch. The Nexus One, released on January 5, 2010, only sold about 20,000 units in its first week of availability. For some perspective, the iPhone 3GS sold more than 1 million units in its first three days on the market after launching on June 19, 2009.

The Nexus S did better, though official sales numbers are hard to find (not really a great sign). Based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread market share statistics, some speculate that as of February 2, 2010 (about 6 weeks after launch), the Nexus S had sold around 500,000 units. On June 24, 2010, Apple released the iPhone 4 which sold 1.7 million units in its first weekend.

While half a million units sold in the first few weeks shouldn’t be considered a flop, the Nexus S wasn’t a runaway success by any means. And many of the users most excited about it, Nexus One owners, seemed disappointed by the new features in Gingerbread.

If we learn from history, and common sense, the Nexus line is for geeks, not a mainstream audience.

Let me put it this way. Since I work with phones every day, I often ask people what phone they own. About half the time they tell me their carrier: “Oh, I have a T-Mobile.” If I’m lucky, they know the brand. In fact, I’d venture to say that 98 percent of the people I come into contact with (who don’t own an iPhone or work in my industry) don’t know the name of their phone. Trying to talk about the OS version is a waste of time.

Which brings me to my next point: Most of the world doesn’t give a damn about Ice Cream Sandwich. To the blogosphere, current Nexus owners, and all-around gadget geeks, Ice Cream Sandwich is one of the most exciting things to happen since… well, Gingerbread. But the rest of the human race doesn’t care. In other words, the Galaxy Nexus will appeal to the same market that was excited about Android 2.3, but the excitement won’t extend beyond that in terms of pulling in new customers.

But there were some core features that might have made a dent in consumer enthusiasm. Even though NFC ubiquity is still months (if not years) away, Google Wallet is still a feature that in-store shoppers would at least want to learn more about. But now it looks like Google and Verizon are duking it out over whether or not Google Wallet functionality will even be included in the device.

Golvin chimed in on this matter, explaining that Google Wallet isn’t a deal-making feature. “Consumers don’t have trouble paying today. [Google] isn’t satisfying some unmet need of the consumer,” he said. “How often does it happen where you think what a pain in the butt it is that you have to pull out your wallet? Payment isn’t a problem for anyone today.”

Then, of course, there’s the issue of carrier support. Golvin explained that typically there is only one (sometimes two) devices that get a primary slot from operators to support their launch. According to Golvin, Verizon is betting heavily on the HTC Rezound. This is because, like I mentioned before, the Galaxy Nexus is a niche device. Phone geeks will learn about the phone they want from us, or other various tech sites, whereas the mainstream consumer will decide on a phone based on TV commercials and massive ad campaigns. Right now, the Galaxy Nexus is lacking in that department.

But it goes further than that, with regards to the carrier. Operators invest heavy marketing dollars into devices like, say the HTC Rezound, because they want differentiations that drive their own experience. Google products are not led by the carrier. “By definition, [Google phones] are intended to be the sine qua non of what the Android platform can do at that particular moment,” explains Golvin. In that way, Verizon (or any other carrier) doesn’t have reason to put a ton of money behind the Nexus launch.

“Anything that is more Google-centric than it is Verizon-centric in that device is somewhat problematic,” said Golvin.

And even if Verizon were 100 percent committed to the Galaxy Nexus launch, the whole thing has been a complete mess. We’ve gone through seven launch dates thus far, and I assume that tomorrow’s rumored launch won’t become a reality either. I put it to Golvin to see whether or not repeated delays on a phone dwindle consumer interest, bringing the Droid Bionic and the iPhone 4S in as examples.

The iPhone 4S was expected this summer, but didn’t make its way to shelves until October 14. Still, Apple managed to break records topping 1 million pre-orders in the first day. The Bionic, on the other hand, took nine months to make its way from the podium to shelves and certainly didn’t make the splash everyone originally expected. I asked Golvin whether or not pushing back the Galaxy Nexus (over and over again) would have the iPhone effect, or the Bionic effect.

According to Golvin the Nexus won’t do either. The Bionic was exciting to people because it was supposed to be one of the first LTE-capable handsets on the market. It got beat by the Thunderbolt, and subsequently launched as the first dual-core LTE handset on Verizon’s network. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to get the ball rolling. The Galaxy Nexus will still be the first phone with Ice Cream Sandwich, and thus, not run into the same trouble that plagued the Bionic.

“All these geeks and phone watchers out there who are eagerly anticipating this first Ice Cream Sandwich device will buy it,” said Golvin. “People who would’ve bought it six weeks ago will buy it. If it comes out in January and is still the first ICS device, those people will buy it.”

He went on to say that the Galaxy Nexus will “lose sales it might have picked up with late shoppers looking for Christmas gifts, but I don’t think it was going to be that big of a hit beyond that early geek crowd anyways.”

“It won’t be a competitor to a Samsung Galaxy S II or the iPhone.”



Microsoft And Nokia Team Up To Take Back The Low End

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 09:01 AM PST

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Say a prayer for Android. Nokia’s new Lumia 710 Windows Phone, a $49 smartphone aimed at the feature-phone set, is about to change the way carriers sell – and customers see – cellphones. Forget LTE, dual cores, and all that flummery. Microsoft and Nokia are essentially buying a few million people stuck in the 20th century a new cellphone and they’re doing it in a way only the world’s two finest proprietors of technology to the masses could.

On the surface, the Lumia 710 is redolent of the bargain basement. The amateurish (but rugged) protruding buttons and a rubberized back are a direct attack against the carbon-fiber power slabs that most carriers are flogging while the OS is all animation and pop, aimed at a market that’s used to constantly moving images associated with ad-clogged web pages and Xbox dashboards. It is, to quote Ren and Stimpy, a jolly candy phone, priced to move and ready for the anything but iPhone crowd who, whether by dint of economics or aesthetics, don’t go much for Nexii or RAZRii either.

If you’re thinking that I’m suggesting the Lumia 710 is in any way bad or too “mainstream,” think again. Nokia and Microsoft were – and, to an extent, still are – on the ropes. Convinced for too long that their vaunted N-series was still lounging in high Olympus while it was really playing-second fiddle. It took Elop and his “sell-out” to Microsoft – whose money is helping subsidize this handset – to remake the brand.

The 710 is what Nokia does best: solid, acceptably-specced hardware at a price that’s approaching free. I would equate these phones with the long-dead Wing and Shadow, two “feature-smartphones” Microsoft belatedly tried to foist on a public salivating for the iPhone and the Nokia 5310, a music phone that circulated for a few years in the wake of the app phone revolution. Those were phones aimed at the low end at a time when the low end was looking up.

These past few years have changed the way we think about phones and, although there are cheap Android and iOS phones to be had for under $100, Nokia is really aiming at parents who may be buying their kids a new cellphone (the Xbox Live app is a huge deal) and out-of-work folks who are looking for a real smartphone experience for not a lot of money. Microsoft and Nokia excel at this.

I won’t estimate sales in the millions for this model, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slow and steady trickle of phones like the 710 in the next few years. If Microsoft knows anything it’s that low-end, commodity hardware is just fine to showcase their software and if Nokia knows anything it’s low-end, commodity hardware is a great base on which to build a business. Nokia didn’t get huge by selling the Nokia N810. They got rich selling Neo’s 7110.

That said I also feel that this is a real and credible threat to Android. A single OS provider the size of Microsoft sending out updates to an entire line, from low to high, is increasingly seeming more credible than newcomer Google pumping out Ice Cream Sandwiches and other updates to the older phones that they clearly consider dross. Microsoft, through the execrable Windows Mobile platform, learned how to code to the lowest common denominator.

Claim chowder or not, 2012 is the year of WinPho.



Nokia’s First U.S. Windows Phone Is The $50 Lumia 710 On T-Mobile

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 08:33 AM PST

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Nokia will be officially pulling back the curtains later on tonight, but the cat’s out of the bag: the company’s first U.S. Windows Phone is the Lumia 710, which will debut on T-Mobile with a $50 price tag on January 11.

Sure, it isn’t as svelte or as colorful as its brother the Lumia 800, but the Mango-powered 710 does share the same internals. The Lumia 710 sports a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage — nothing that sounds super-impressive, but we’ve seen before that Mango doesn’t need the latest and greatest hardware in order to run like butter.

The Lumia’s 3.7-inch ClearBack LCD display and the 5-megapixel rear-mounted camera aren’t too shabby either, and the customers can pick up the entire package in black or white. We’ve seen the 710 sport some funky-colored backplates in the past too, so I wouldn’t expect the chromatically choosy to suffer without some color for long.

With the 710, Nokia and T-Mobile have set their sights on first-time smartphone owners (a Nokia data sheet calls them “smartphone intenders”), and T-Mobile customers could do far worse for $50. Going after beginner smartphone users is a solid strategy for Nokia (and Microsoft by extension) — if they can get first-timers hooked on the simple, elegant functionality that Windows Phone is known for, they may be able to lock down those users for the long haul.

Samsung, Please Don’t Ruin Ice Cream Sandwich With TouchWiz

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 07:57 AM PST

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If you’re anything like me and you’ve fallen in love with Ice Cream Sandwich’s looks, then seeing what Samsung has done to it may be a bit of a heartbreaker. SamMobile managed to get their hands on what seems to be an developer build of Android 4.0 with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI running on top of it, and have loaded it up on a Galaxy S II to play with.

Frankly, I think TouchWiz just ruined everything.

On the one hand, I can’t blame Samsung for wanting to bring TouchWiz to Ice Cream Sandwich. The UI has, for better or worse, appeared on nearly all of the company’s flagship smartphones and one could argue that it has become part of a Samsung device’s identity.

But here’s the problem: Ice Cream Sandwich doesn’t really look anything like the Android versions of the past, and that’s part of what makes it so appealing. It oozes a sense of freshness that I as a long-time Android user find reinvigorating, and Samsung wants to cover it up with an updated version of the same UI we’ve seen for years.

Let it breathe, guys! I’m not saying that TouchWiz needs to die, but Samsung should poke a few holes in it and let some of Ice Cream Sandwich’s style show through.

Now in fairness, TouchWiz doesn’t seem to rid the device of ICS’s design flair entirely. The Roboto typeface is still there, as are a few tinges of neon blue scattered throughout the device. And yes, all of ICS’s lauded improvements haven’t been messed with — the fast app switcher and Face Unlock are present and accounted for.

For all I know, I could be in the minority. Maybe most people would rather have bright friendly icons rather than a vaguely Tron-inspired design. But visually, Ice Cream Sandwich is a pretty bold step for Google — why not add to it instead of just covering it up wholesale?

SamMobile notes that the build that they played with is dated December 7 — there’s really no way to tell how far along Samsung is in the process, although a few force close issues means it’s not quite ready for primetime yet. Motorola and Sony Ericsson have outlined the amount of sheer work that goes into preparing an Ice Cream Sandwich update for their devices, and it’s likely that some things will change before Samsung’s update is pushed out. I’m not holding my breath for a massive redesign, but nevertheless, a nerd like me can dream.

If you’ve got a Galaxy S II and nothing to lose, SamMobile has made the ROM available for you adventurous users to download and install. Be careful though: it’s not meant to be a daily driver, and not everything works the way it should.

Microsoft Debuts SkyDrive App On Windows Phone And iOS

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 06:38 AM PST

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Microsoft doesn’t seem to have much in the way of cross-platform animosity any more. Case in point, the company’s SkyDrive team recently launched both a Windows Phone and iOS version of their SkyDrive online file storage application.

SkyDrive is the latest in a line of Microsoft applications that have made an appearance on iOS, with others including the (rather nice) Xbox Live app and Kinectimals.

Aside from the obvious stylistic changes, the WP7 and iOS versions pack the same functionality. Setup is dead simple: if you have a Windows Live account, then you also have a SkyDrive account just waiting to be filled with documents and silly photos. All it takes is a quick log-in to be able to start storing and sharing your myriad files online.

Users can upload files, organize them into folders, and share them with friends and colleagues. Navigating through SkyDrive is pretty straightforward too, so even the most stubborn file sharers should have an easy time getting into the swing of things.

SkyDrive is a pretty notable addition to the Windows Phone marketplace, as similar online file storage services like Dropbox and Box.net haven’t yet found their way to Microsoft’s mobile OS. The iOS version is a tougher sell considering all of the available alternatives, but it could be a great solution for certain use cases. If you’re constantly juggling multiple phones for example, having SkyDrive installed could be one of the quickest ways to get files from a Windows Phone to an iPhone. Sadly, Android hasn’t yet felt the SkyDrive love, so people looking for a more comprehensive solution should choose their cloud-based file dump carefully.

Former AOL Exec David Eun Lands EVP Gig At Samsung

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 06:14 AM PST

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Ex-Googler and previously head of AOL Media and Studios – and I guess you could say the former boss of my boss’s boss – David Eun has been appointed Executive Vice President at consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics.

At Samsung, Eun will be helping the company develop a ‘global media strategy’ for its array of digital TVs, smartphones, tablets and other connected devices.

Eun left – or was forced to leave – AOL in February 2011 after the company’s Media Group was restructured around Huffington Post after the latter’s $315 million acquisition by AOL.