All Articles Tagged The competition

Updated with iPhone friendly video from WMExperts (irony!).

Would you watch un-skippable ads on your mobile device in exchange for free apps and games? That’s the question we’re pondering in light of Zune HD doing just that. You pay your hundreds of dollars for the device, and Microsoft provides a few extra games/apps, but sometimes an ad will play before the app launches, and you can’t skip them. See the video above for an example (apologies to those on the iPhone, we didn’t make the video, so have no control over the iPhone-unfriendly format).

We first heard about this from Matt Miller, editor of NokiaExperts.com and last night during iPhone Live! We discussed it with special guest, Phil Nickinson of WMExperts. At first Phil said he’d never seen one, but then lo and behold, right there live, one of those Kia car commercials began to play when he tried to launch and app.

Of course, watching commercials in exchange for free content is how broadcast TV works, but does that model translate to mobile devices?

Personally, I’m okay with it as long as I know about it up front and I have the option of paying something to get a commercial-free version in case my time (and, frankly, tolerance for seeing the same commercials over and over every time I launch an app) is worth more to me than a few dollars.

iPhone apps, since the beginning with Twitterrific have provided free (ad supported) and paid (no ads) versions, though even then the ads were far less intrusive than full screen video, un-skippable TV style commercials.

What do you think? More free apps the better, or can commercial monetization go too far? And is it more acceptable to put a commercial before a game than it would be, say, to put it before something more vital like the music player, web browser, or email client?

Google’s next iteration of their mobile OS, Android 1.6 Donut, is set to give sugar highs again in October, with support for CDMA radios, QVGA and WVGA resolutions, and to quote from sibling site, Android Central:

Android 1.6 ‘Donut’ also brings Quick Search Box for Android which is basically universal search that searches locally on your phone and through the internet at the same time, new text-to-speech APIs, and the beautiful new Android Market we leaked a few weeks ago. There’s also updates to the camera’s interface, improvement to the camera’s loading time (39% faster), and a neat battery usage indicator that details which applications are using the most power.

CDMA support will now doubt make all those longing for an iPhone on Verizon lose their minds just a little bit more. Support for different screen sizes is more of a mixed bag, however. It means device manufacturers will have more form-factor freedom, but it also means developers will have to deal with Windows Mobile- and BlackBerry-style platform fragmentation (either working harder to support all the different screens, or choosing not to support some and increasing confusion for users). iPhone, graphics power aside, hasn’t had to worry about this… yet.

Quick Search, like Palm’s webOS search, going beyond the device to bring back answers from the cloud isn’t something iPhone supports, but is something we hope Apple’s looking into.

Still, it’s great to see Google keeping up with the updates. Anything in there that makes Android more compelling to you?

Our equal and opposite, Phil Nickinson over at WMExperts, has just provided the equal and opposite to our just-posted iPod touch G3 hardware review — a hands-on with the Microsoft Zune HD.

It’s my first foray into the Zune ecosystem, so I have a bit of a learning curve, and bear with me. But without giving away the farm, I’ll say this: If this is the direction in which Windows Mobile is moving, we all have much to look forward to.

Part 1 covers the desktop software, Quickplay (think genius), the apps, Zune marketplace, what’s in the box, the hardware, the screen, and teases Part 2 (of course).

Check it out, then remember to join us for iPhone Live! tonight, as Phil will be our special guest, and we’ll take the Zune HD one on one with the great one — the iPod touch.

So, today’s the day. Everyone who works for Microsoft is up bright and early, on their way to lineup at their local Microsoft Store for a chance to scoop up a brand new, shiny Zune HD before they sell out. If you’re in line, shoot our sibling site WMExperts a pic and let them know if you manage to snag one of Ballmer’s new beauties.

Speaking of sarcasm, for an even harsher look at the Zune HD, check out AppleInsider, who we’re not sure have had a hands on yet, but certainly give it a pounding. (Even we said, “ouch!”)

And then join us back here tomorrow night at 8pm ET for iPhone Live! where WMExperts own news editor, Phil Nickinson will be joining us for a special edition smackdown, Zune HD vs. iPod touch G3.

Will OLED blind our iSight, or will 64GB prove size does matter? Get to the chat room early tomorrow, the place might just burn down!

Yes, Palm just announced the Pixi, rocking EVDO Rev A on Sprint. We knew Palm would be announcing what’s basically the Centro to the Pre’s Treo — a lower end device based on their new webOS platform. We just didn’t think they’d be gutsy — or crazy, depending on your read — to go head-to head with another Apple event.

Our sibling site, PreCentral.net, has all the details, videos, and first opinions you can shake an incredibly thin budget smartphone at, so head on over and check it out. We’re not sure about the lack of center button, tiny keyboard, why it didn’t go GSM on AT&T, or why they yanked the Wi-Fi out of the platform (Verizon snuck into the design committee?!) The latter may be especially irksome since EVDO Rev A doesn’t allow simultaneous voice and data, and unlike the Pre, the Pixi won’t have Wi-Fi to fall back on in a pinch.

Still, there’s lots to like here, including the mind-bogglingly slim form factor, artistic back panels (iPhone users need to shell out for a Gelaskin to match that splash), and especially the amazing pace Palm is setting by releasing a second form-factor of a brand new OS so rapidly. Available before the holidays at a rumored $99 price point, it could bring some hurt to the BlackBerry Pearls and low-end WinMo’s of the world. How it fares against a $99 iPhone 3G, however, remains to be seen.

As does the Pixi’s position in the news cycle once Apple starts “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it” and makes with the iPod and iTunes announcements while they’re at it…

It’s official — the HTC Hero, currently the most drool-inducing handset the Android platform has to offer, hits Sprint October 11. Sibling site AndroidCentral has all the details, and PreCentral.net has the concern that Spring might be loving the Palm Pre just a tad less when the droid everyone’s looking for hits the Now (and then) Network.

So how competitive will the Sense UI on Sprint at $179.99 be with the iPhone 3GS on AT&T at $199? (We’ll leave the iPhone 3G at $99 off the table for now). As functionality gets closer and closer, Android apps picks up, and ease of use improves, it will likely be the network that’s the deciding factor — who gets more bars in the most places they need to be. [Note: the video above shows the Sense UI, but the form factor above is the original Hero, not Sprint' chinless version]

Oh, oh…

Jokes aside, we’ve seen Nokia N900 upping their UI game, and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 distressingly still not, should Apple be most worried about the increasingly competitive Google and its increasing army of droideka?

Or is this really — and mostly — just a problem for Palm right? Apple’s enemy’s enemy’s carrier enemy is… what now?

Nokia’s latest latest and greatest, the N900, is being shown off at Nokia World, and it again has our own NokiaExpert, Matt Miller, all shades of excited.

While some have complained about it’s meager 3 rows of keys (3 rows too many for me, but I know many others like physical keyboards…) most are really excited about it’s Maemo (Linux-based) operating system, and it’s new user interface.

In fact, antonioj, who sent the link our way, thinks it might be enough to pressure Apple into refreshing the 2007-era iPhone UI…

Microsoft has officially announced that the next skin point release for their handheld operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, will launch on Oct. 6 and include App Store Windows Marketplace for Mobile (catchy!) and MobileMe MyPhone services. WMExperts asks the impertinent question:

Will Windows Mobile 6.5 be available for any phones on that date? Will we see new phones released with WinMo 6.5?

We shrug in sympathy. Typically it takes a while to go from release to manufacturers to release to consumers. What benefits the split platform strategy has in consumer choice, it lacks in speed to consumer market.

When it does arrive, WinMo 6.5 will support both physical and virtual keyboards, no-touch and touch screens (resistive only?!), GPS, accelerometer, high res cameras, and likely spinning, multihued beechball wheels of wait (our Macs sympathize).

That the same company can ship the Zune HD before Windows Mobile 6.5, however, still puzzles us. That they’re arguably shipping both years too late to be competitive… well, that just frustrates us no end.

Throw a couple billion at Windows Mobile 7, would you please, and get her out asap?

Nokia has announced a new, Maemo-powered N900 which our good friend Matt Miller of NokiaExperts.com is beaming about in an iPhone and Palm Pre competitive sort of way:

I have to say I have not been this excited about a Nokia product for quite some time and with the T-Mobile USA 3G support I will definitely be picking one up as soon as I can. The N900 fixes all that is wrong with the N97 and then throws on a slick Maemo UI and feature set that should have most any geek drooling.

32GB, OpenGL 2.0, ARM Cortex A8, 800×600 screen, 5mp camera… Pretty clear that Nokia is doing their usual hardware magic, many specs closely mirroring the iPhone 3GS, in fact (though what’s up with 1GB of application memory?!) And Maemo 5 UI…

Does this mean Nokia is abandoning Symbian on the high end for this hot new Debian Linux-based OS? Will they be able to really come up with a user experience that can take mind share away from the iPhone and Palm Pre? And will this device finally give them some sort of presence in the North American market?

CrackBerry.com is reporting that RIM has acquired Torch Mobile, makers of the WebKit-powered Iris mobile browser.

Apple-backed WebKit is the open-source rendering engine behind Mac Safari and Google Chrome, which isn’t a very large segment, all told. Mobile WebKit, however, powers the portable world with the iPhone (and iPod touch) Safari, Google Android Chrome Lite, the Palm Pre/webOS browser, and some Nokia devices. Add BlackBerry to the mix and it pretty much looks like the mobile world vs. IE6 on Windows Phone — strangely inverse the desktop landscape where IE dominates and Firefox brings up the rear. (FireFox’s mobile Fennec browser is still in development).

It was just a couple weeks ago that RIM promised an iPhone-class browser from BlackBerry by next summer, and it looks like this might just give them one heckuva jumpstart in getting there.