More Flavors, More Fragments

I was invited by a friend to accompany him and his family on a Thanksgiving vacation out of the country.  He and his oldest son have the Droid Razor family, while the rest of his family all live in the iWorld (phones, pads, etc.)

The first thing was his problem of accessing the networks in the foreign land.  He had a world phone that he was assured could get the service he was paying for.  So I tinkered with the settings for a while and got everything working.  Again the Moto skin was a bit disconcerting, but once into the settings, I knew my way around.

However, as the vacation progressed, he saw more and more of my Nexus 7 and G Nex and the capabilities of Jelly Bean, especially the Google Now features (I was using both on Wi-Fi).  He was impressed, he liked them, and he wanted them on his phone.  I wish I could have given him the straight up answer that 'soon with a software update all this will be yours.'  But I couldn't.  He just bought the phones, and was kind of upset that he didn't have the latest and greatest, and no sure upgrade path.  He is a businessman, and while he understands the vagaries of contracts and services between providers and manufacturers, he was still laying this at the feet of Google.  He figures they produce Android, so they *should* control the implementation across the platforms.  He sees the rest of his iFamily with a standard software package on all their phones and pads, and wonders why his Google based devices can't say the same.  He and his wife liked the Nexus 7, but if they get one, he has to mentally reconcile that his phone and his tablet, both using Android, are going to be significantly different, and growing further apart with each update.

I, too, understand the philosophy behind the Google Android licencing.  But I am a geek.  I understand the differences in approaches, but it is geek philosophy.  He just wants the best experience from his devices.  I did show him the 4.2 "No December" bug as a way of saying that being on the bleeding edge sometimes hurts.  It helped a little, but he still wanted the Google Now features, and we just don't know when or if that is coming to his phone.

I'm agreeing with him more and more, and I think we're seeing that with all the folks who are trying to order the Nexus 4 phone right now.  The demand is swamping the system.  Is anyone noticing?

I'm also wondering about the new Microsoft WinPhone 8's.  Which path are they taking?  Microsoft is silent on this issue.

Android flavors and fragments. Oh My!

For a while now I've been really enjoying my Android Galaxy Nexus and my Nexus 7 tablet.  I wish Verizon would release the updates to the Galaxy Nexus sooner, but it does get updates in a more timely manner than most other Android phones.  So I was really wondering what the hullabaloo was about in folks talking about fragmentation of the Android platform.

Until today.

One of my brothers and his wife came by for me to help them finally move from a feature phone to a smartphone since his work would now pay for them.  Someone at work had convinced them Android was the way to go.  No problem.  So I showed off a bit with my phone and tablet - both running Jelly Bean - and we set out for the Verizon store.  (His account was already there, it was the path he wanted to take).

The CSR was very helpful, probably the most helpful I've ever run across in such a store.  But my brother & sister-in-law eventually chose the HTC Incredible 4G for themselves.  It is running Ice Cream Sandwich, and uses the HTC Sense UI 'skin' for the phone.  I let the CSR help them set it up and outside of the store I started to try give some tutorials.

Wow, I had no idea.  Since I've been running stock Android with the G Nexus and Nexus 7, I didn't know how much a UI 'skin' could change the whole experience.  Also I can't believe how much I've come to depend on some of the Jelly Bean features.  It was almost like an unrecognizable phone to me.  This isn't just hyperbole.  I was having trouble getting around on their brand new phones.  They also wanted to see some of the cool things I had demoed to them earlier, but alas those things were mostly Jelly Bean features.

Yes they have Android phones, but those phones work quite differently than mine.  The fragmentation is real between the older ICS software, and the Sense UI.  I also checked online to see what rumors exist about the Incredible 4G getting Jelly Bean.  Of course it is all rumors.  HTC won't come right out and say, and who knows how long Verizon will have to test it before releasing it, if ever.  So I know my brother will be using the older software and strange UI.  Yes I know about custom ROMs, but I just won't take that chance with my brother's phone.  If all else fails, I can tell him to call Verizon.  He's also bigger, stronger, and younger than me.

I had previously made a decision when my contract is up with Verizon to go with the Nexus 4 (or whatever exists then) from the Google Play store, and run a pure stock experience.  I'm also going to recommend that to anyone else I help find a phone.  The problem is that now I'm going to be looked at for user support from my brother (who lives over 100 miles away) and I'll have no idea what his phone is doing or how it looks when he calls me for help.

Let's not even talk about one of my sisters who is using some phone still running FroYo on the Cricket network and service.

I'm going with a pure Google experience in the future, but for those who don't, and stick with the special UI's from the phone manufacturers, I feel your pain.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I downloaded both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the Consumer Preview from my Technet account.

By the way, if you have a serious IT addiction like I have, and need access to Microsoft Products, the Technet subscription is the way to go.

I decided to install the 64 bit version as a dual boot with Windows 7 on my main hobby system, and the 32 bit version on an Acer W500 Tablet PC.

So after downloading, I copied the 64 bit ISO to my USB flash drive, for a quick setup on the hobby machine. I used Microsoft's own tool for writing the USB stick.  You can find the tool at:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool.
(It will also write a DVD, but so will Windows 7).

I didn't get immediate joy on the hobby system since for some reason, telling it to boot from the USB didn't work.  Instead, it saw the stick as another hard drive, and I had to reset it for that.

At first, for the Acer Tablet, I tried using the web based install routine, but after it finally downloaded Windows 8, it needed 16 GB of storage in order to work, and the 32 GB SSD on the Acer was too full for me to get that much room.  So I decided to do a clean install on the tablet since I didn't have much stuff there anyway.  So I wrote another USB stick with the 32 bit ISO and went to work.

I attached the keyboard base for the tablet, got into the BIOS and reset for the USB boot and away we went.  The install went quickly.  Oh, as a side note, if you have any extra memory cards in the tablet, like as SD card, remove it before trying to boot from the USB.  For some reason, you can't unless you remove the SD card.

After the install and several reboots, Windows 8 came right up.  Even in the install setup process, it was reading the screen touches, and I have to say Windows 8 seems to fly on this little machine.  It has a dual core 1GHz processor, and I haven't seen real slowdowns or stutters, except what I consider to be network congestion.

One of my major concerns was all the rumors around whether or not Media Center would survive into Windows 8.  Not many people seem to use it, but those of us who do, really like it.  My whole digital media life revolves around it, and is stored on my Windows Home Server.  I record some TV and definitely have a movie collection, and Media Center was my portal to that.  But I discovered something that gives me greater hope for the future.  The move to the live tile/Metro interface has tiles for Music, Videos and Photos.  When I had connected through Media Center (and therefore through Media Player) my libraries of data on the server, lo and behold, the data showed up through the tiles.  There was all my music.  I switched over to Photos, and there lived all my Photos.

So I went hunting for my movies, and some of them were in the Video tile.  Those movies which I had transcoded from DVD to another format, showed up under the Other part of the Video tile.  Now, it they could just add a DVD and Recorded TV part to the tile, I'd be all set and ready to go.  So I see a path for the Media Center components to migrate to the Tiles, and probably become more familiar to people since they will then see them on the main screen.  I can't tell you how many family members and friends only use what they find in an icon on the main screen.  Maybe if Microsoft had put it in separate pieces on the main screen all along, it would have garnered more users.

I finally got the dual boot working on my hobby system, and I'm learning the differences in the touch vs. mouse uses.  But Windows 8 has really impressed me, and I see a bright future ahead for tablets with Windows.

Nook Tablet/Color Price Drop

Today Barnes and Noble announced a price drop for the Nook Color to $169, and a new Nook Tablet at $199.  There is still a Nook Tablet at $249, with double the internal storage (16 GB) of the new $199 model (8 GB).

I own a Nook Color, which I purchased back when it cost $249.  At $169, it is really one of the best tablets out there at a terrific price.  I've had my Nook Color for a couple of years and it does the job of a basic color tablet very well.  I've purchased a few books for it, as well as sideloaded quite a few free ebooks.  If you're a Science Fiction fan like I am, the Baen Free Library (www.baen.com/library) is a great way to start.  Of course Project Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.org is a source for almost 40,000 free ebooks.

The nice thing about the Nook Color is that you're not limited to just reading books, but can surf the web and even get your Angry Birds fix for the day (or hourly as some of us require).  If you want to take a little break with a cup of Starbucks, a Barnes and Noble Cafe in the bookstores is a good way to spend some time.  The Nook Color attaches to the Wi-Fi hotspot, and you can even get an hour's worth of reading for many current books for free.

The other reason I like the Nook Color (versus the Tablet) is that it is still easily rooted, and with a little time and an SD card, you can have it dual boot, either to the stock B&N software, or a custom ROM.

Chrome for Android

Since my last post saying that I miss a 'grown up' browser on my tablet, Google has released Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4).  Recently the Chrome browser was made available for ICS, and I have to say I'm happier.  I use it on my Galaxy Nexus and I've very pleased, especially having access to my desktop bookmarks.

Now, if something can just happen to get ICS faster to my tablet(s) I'll be even happier.