With the popularity of Google's AndroidTM 2 operating system for smart phones and handheld computing devices, and the upcoming release of Verizon's Droid on Friday which is creating quite a buzz due to the marketing that Verizon has thrown at the little device (check out the promo site they have up at http://www.droiddoes.com/), my own personal excited peaked in anticipation of these events and I went out and registered a domain name and another blog.
I have always been enamoured with the iPhone, but it just didn't seem practicle even if there was AT&T coverage available in my state (more bars in more places: My butt!). But I am more of an open source fan. Enter the Android 2 OS.
I have always wanted a good camera phone, but quite honestly the crap that is available nowadays isn't worthy of viewing on a computer or HDTV monitor. It all stinks, and as an artist and an amateur photographer, it just doesn't merit being called a camera.
As a graphic designer for the web I see all my old digital photographs look small and unimportant in the old 640x480 and 800x600 resolutions we were bound to in the days that technology was just emerging.
This is a typical problem with camera phones, they are not just poor quality with low resolutions, but are so highly compressed that the resulting images are mere mosaics of the image they represent. Still, I don't bring my good camera everywhere I go, and there are many times that I wish I had it, like after the Sioux Falls Storm won the United Indoor Football championship in 2008 and the whole team posed for photos afterwards. Or when my son was awarded his trophy for being the Defensive Rookie Player of the Year for his division champion Pee-Wee football team "The Warriors".
These are priceless moments, but it seems to be an insult to save them with a small resolution 1.2 megapixel camera that doesn't even come close to being serious about the images it takes.
After all, my cell phone does almost everything. It is my alarm clock and timer. My calendar and reminder. My phone book as well as my phone.
Heck, one of these days phones will become our wallets.
Anyway, I grabbed the domain name WidgetDroid.com. This should be a great name to recomend and sell AndroidTM 2 widget and application downloads. I then went and announced that I registered the domain name on my Domainating blog on WordPress. When I came back here to Blogger I also wound-up grabbing the WidgetDroid blog name on Blogger because I used the wrong name to access this blog.
Perhaps I will prefer to use the WidgetDroid.Blogspot.com address now that I have that domain name, too. Maybe I will even start a new blog at WordPress if the name is still available over there, as well.
Go AndroidTM!
-Doug
Widget Bot is a little blog about my adventure with my DroidX and its tools. I hope it will turn into much more.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Android 2 Growing in Popularity
With the relase of Android 2 and all the great media exposure that Verizon is giving the Droid (to be released on Friday, 11/6/2009), the open source Android OS for smart phones and gadgets is growing in popularity.
The last time my best friend Bill and I got together he was still showing off his new Apple gizmo. It isn't an iPhone, but is a PDA with all sorts of extra features, including the ability to do same very cool games. However, as we discussed all of what is going on in the small device technology circle, he pointed out every single reason that he didn't like certain things about it. These are the very same reasons that Verizon has jumped on the wagon with their new Droid model, as pointed out very handily in their commercials...
iDon't...
...have a keyboard.
...run apps simultaneously (multitask).
...take 5 megapixel photos.
...take night shots.
...allow open development.
...allow customization.
...run widgets.
...have interchangeable batteries.
Droid Does
It's a very simple, matter-of-fact, tech-oriented commercial that hit on every one of Bill's complaints (although he was complaining that it didn't have a camera, not about the photo resolution or the inability to take night shots).
Of course, one has to remember that there is no AT&T access anywhere in our area. I don't think there are any bars available anywhere in our state of South Dakota. Which is why Bill chose the PDA. But Sprint, Verizon and Alltel are all available throughout the state. Which is why grabbing an iPhone will really be a huge hassle anywhere in this area until AT&T takes possesion of the Alltel cell towers (this is a whole 'nother story, but when Verison bout Alltel, AT&T won the cell towers by getting Verison declared a monopoly).
Funny as it is, the popularity of Google's Android powered gadgets, as well as the Blackberry, seem to be driven by the popularity of the iPhone we can't buy or even use if we had one. These things appear to be headed to take over the technology sector soon, just as I understand that they already have in Asia and Europe.
I have ben drooling since I saw the iPhone. The fact is, I can't buy one in this area, yet. But according to Bill, you would have to jail-break the unit in order to use different software for it. Apple acts as a clearing house for everything using the Apple App Store.
As I am really into using well programmed open source software, I find this appalling. Apple has to have their hand in the pocket of every single development, which only increases development costs.
Well, the Android apparently has over 100,000 software applications and utilities on it already. Comparatively, I just hear Apple claiming to have 85,000 applications available. There are plenty more, but they are awaiting licensing approval from Apple.
So even though Apple is making money hand over fist on the iPhone and all of its proprietary little gadgets, it is also creating its own little bottleneck so that the device can't be as versatile.
Apple engineered its little devices with a proprietary battery replacement system, too. They require that you bring the unit into the shop so that they can service it and charge a premium for the service. In a way, this is like that old tale about how industry used to engineer their components to break once off of warranty. It's just plain evil to not allow the consumer to change the battery on these things.
In the meantime, smart phones and PDAs are more popular than ever. Android, Blackberry and Palm are offering systems that seem to make the iPhone look old and dated, now.
So now I can't wait to get my own Android 2 based smartphone. I just love the fact that I might be able to write my own games or widgets for it, because its open source. I also just need it to design web stuff for phones.
Part of the problem I am running into though, is that I pay for internet access at home, and I have another little Redwood Wireless USB modem that I use for my laptop when I am out and about (possibly showing potential web design clients some of my work or taking photographs of Sioux Falls). I just can't see spending another couple hundred bucks on a smartphone and having to pay a ridiculous monthly contract to get it working with internet access. On top of that I won't not be able to access the internet through my computer by using the phone? And if I have to buy some other device to log onto the net wirelessly anywhere outside of Sioux Falls are they going to make me setup a separate account for each device (it appears so when you look at this stuff at Best Buy).
So yes, Android 2 and other smart phones are growing in popularity. But I have no idea when I might be able to get one of my own. It seems that my pay-as-you-go Tracfone is all I can afford, and that only costs me about $120.00/year.
I sure wish this economy would turn around, though. This is the time businesses need to advertise and market themselves. Unfortunately, no one seems to need me to put up a new website or design a new logo/ad for them.
The last time my best friend Bill and I got together he was still showing off his new Apple gizmo. It isn't an iPhone, but is a PDA with all sorts of extra features, including the ability to do same very cool games. However, as we discussed all of what is going on in the small device technology circle, he pointed out every single reason that he didn't like certain things about it. These are the very same reasons that Verizon has jumped on the wagon with their new Droid model, as pointed out very handily in their commercials...
iDon't...
...have a keyboard.
...run apps simultaneously (multitask).
...take 5 megapixel photos.
...take night shots.
...allow open development.
...allow customization.
...run widgets.
...have interchangeable batteries.
Droid Does
It's a very simple, matter-of-fact, tech-oriented commercial that hit on every one of Bill's complaints (although he was complaining that it didn't have a camera, not about the photo resolution or the inability to take night shots).
Of course, one has to remember that there is no AT&T access anywhere in our area. I don't think there are any bars available anywhere in our state of South Dakota. Which is why Bill chose the PDA. But Sprint, Verizon and Alltel are all available throughout the state. Which is why grabbing an iPhone will really be a huge hassle anywhere in this area until AT&T takes possesion of the Alltel cell towers (this is a whole 'nother story, but when Verison bout Alltel, AT&T won the cell towers by getting Verison declared a monopoly).
Funny as it is, the popularity of Google's Android powered gadgets, as well as the Blackberry, seem to be driven by the popularity of the iPhone we can't buy or even use if we had one. These things appear to be headed to take over the technology sector soon, just as I understand that they already have in Asia and Europe.
I have ben drooling since I saw the iPhone. The fact is, I can't buy one in this area, yet. But according to Bill, you would have to jail-break the unit in order to use different software for it. Apple acts as a clearing house for everything using the Apple App Store.
As I am really into using well programmed open source software, I find this appalling. Apple has to have their hand in the pocket of every single development, which only increases development costs.
Well, the Android apparently has over 100,000 software applications and utilities on it already. Comparatively, I just hear Apple claiming to have 85,000 applications available. There are plenty more, but they are awaiting licensing approval from Apple.
So even though Apple is making money hand over fist on the iPhone and all of its proprietary little gadgets, it is also creating its own little bottleneck so that the device can't be as versatile.
Apple engineered its little devices with a proprietary battery replacement system, too. They require that you bring the unit into the shop so that they can service it and charge a premium for the service. In a way, this is like that old tale about how industry used to engineer their components to break once off of warranty. It's just plain evil to not allow the consumer to change the battery on these things.
In the meantime, smart phones and PDAs are more popular than ever. Android, Blackberry and Palm are offering systems that seem to make the iPhone look old and dated, now.
So now I can't wait to get my own Android 2 based smartphone. I just love the fact that I might be able to write my own games or widgets for it, because its open source. I also just need it to design web stuff for phones.
Part of the problem I am running into though, is that I pay for internet access at home, and I have another little Redwood Wireless USB modem that I use for my laptop when I am out and about (possibly showing potential web design clients some of my work or taking photographs of Sioux Falls). I just can't see spending another couple hundred bucks on a smartphone and having to pay a ridiculous monthly contract to get it working with internet access. On top of that I won't not be able to access the internet through my computer by using the phone? And if I have to buy some other device to log onto the net wirelessly anywhere outside of Sioux Falls are they going to make me setup a separate account for each device (it appears so when you look at this stuff at Best Buy).
So yes, Android 2 and other smart phones are growing in popularity. But I have no idea when I might be able to get one of my own. It seems that my pay-as-you-go Tracfone is all I can afford, and that only costs me about $120.00/year.
I sure wish this economy would turn around, though. This is the time businesses need to advertise and market themselves. Unfortunately, no one seems to need me to put up a new website or design a new logo/ad for them.
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