The Moto X (image from Eurodroid)
Smarter Smartphones
by @adamskikne
Over the past few years, most smartphone manufacturers have been engaged in a specs war in an effort to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market. With each new launch, smartphones has become thinner, lighter and faster. But while smartphones have become more powerful, they haven’t necessarily become smarter.
Until now.
Two weeks ago, Motorola officially unveiled the Moto X, the first new smartphone that the company has developed since being acquired by Google in 2011. And while some have criticised the Moto X for shipping with what they consider to be “mid range” specs, Motorola is betting their success on providing customers with a smarter user experience.
This smarter experience is powered by the Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System, an 8 core processor that has two cores dedicated to natural language and contextual computing. This allows the Moto X to always be listening for a specific phrase (in this case, the incredibly catchy “Ok Google Now”) that activates Touchless Control.
Through Touchless Control, the Moto X benefits from deep integration with Google Now – one of the smartest and most useful of Google’s services that will soon be baked into the Chrome browser and Google Glass. Without even touching the phone, Moto X owners will be able to make phone calls, send messages, ask questions, perform web searches, navigate and so much more.
The Moto X (image from The Verge)
Like most smartphones, the Moto X also features a number of contextual sensors. It will know when it’s in your pocket and when you might be able to see the screen so that it can show you subtle notifications. It knows when you are driving and will automatically alert you to incoming calls and read new messages – all through Touchless Control.
What makes the Moto X so special is that it is able to power these various sensors and processes in a highly efficient way. Motorola claims the Moto X offers 24 hours of battery life…which is pretty impressive if these claims are true.
Another aspect of the Moto X that Motorola has focused on is customisation. Consumers will be able to customise their Moto X by choosing from a wide range of colours for the back plates and accents of the phone. Later in the year, Motorola will even be offering a variety wooden options to choose from.
Many have seen this focus on customisation as a move to appeal to average consumers and not just spec-obsessed Android nerds. This is actually pretty ironic, as Touchless Control is probably geekier than anything you’ll find on other Android phones like the Samsung S4 and the HTC One.
While the Moto X is not a perfect phone, I’m incredibly excited to see how Motorola will progress with their future products. Personally, I’ll be shocked if the next Nexus smartphone isn’t a Motorola device that sports similar features to the Moto X.
Specs will always be important, but currently there is no shortage of great smartphones on the market. Manufacturers might use software to differentiate their products but this will be harder than it sounds. For example, the majority of the added software features on the Samsung Galaxy S4 clutter up the phone, while the software features on the Moto X are minimal and could be genuinely useful.
The smartest bet for manufacturers moving forward might just be focusing on building smarter smartphones.
Would you donate your old Smartphone to charity
How to Get Rid of Second-Hand Smartphones
by @adamskikne
A few weeks back, I wrote about The New Digital Age, a book that tries to predict what will happen as the world becomes increasingly connected. One of the predictions in the book is that 5 billion new people will connect to the Internet for the first time in the next decade. Most of these new Internet users will come from the third word and many will be connecting to the Internet for the first time through smartphones.
This shift is going to radically improve the lives of these 5 billion people. So… What are some of the ways to speed up this process?
It’s almost been two years since I bought my last phone which means that is almost time for me to upgrade. And while I’ve been going back and forward trying to decide between the latest offerings from Samsung and HTC, I’ve also been struggling with another decision: what to do with my old phone.
Besides needing a new battery (R600 on Amazon.com), my old HTC Sensation is still going strong. And since there is no second hand market for smartphones in South Africa, I’ll be lucky to get R1000 for a phone with a reasonable camera and that can run thousands of Android apps like Google Chrome, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter.
I’m sure I could give my old phone to a family member or keep it as a spare, but I’m sure that my old smartphone could be doing more good. And while I’ve never seen anyone else with an HTC Sensation, I have seen plenty of other people rocking Samsung Galaxy SIIs or iPhone 4s who are in exactly the same position.
And that’s when it hit me. Why isn’t there a local corporate or NGO who has tried to encourage people to donate their old smartphones to charity? This would be a perfect initiative for local operators. I would gladly sign up to a new cellphone network if I could give them my old phone which would then go to a school or some other worthy organisation. If others need more of an incentive, they could easily be bribed with mobile data (5 Gigs seems fair), which would be a cost that could be easily absorbed by a cellphone network.
I really think that this would be a great way to do good and bring more South Africans onto the Internet. If given the option, wouldn’t you donate your old smartphone to charity?
A Game of Phones
by @adamskikne
Last week, Facebook unveiled Facebook Home, a brand new approach to mobile that is designed around people instead of apps. Facebook Home is not a “Facebook Phone”, at least not in the same way that the iPhone is an “Apple Phone”. Instead, Facebook home is a launcher – which is essentially an app capable of customising the look and feel of any Android device.
The thinking behind Facebook Home is brilliant. Through Facebook Home, Facebook is extending its reach beyond its traditional mobile app and integrating its services directly into the UI of potentially millions of Android phones around the world. All without ever having to design ship or sell a single mobile device.
Ironically, this feat is only possible on Android, a mobile operating system owned by one of Facebook’s main rivals, Google. In addition to this, Android is also the world’s most popular mobile operating system and continues to sell well in both developing and developed markets alike.
Simply brilliant.
Judging from a variety of hands-on videos, Facebook Home seems to be a highly polished product. It is beautifully designed, fun to play with and even a little whimsical. But despite everything it has going for it, Facebook Home will need to accomplish some pretty big things if it is going to be considered a successful product.
The first thing it will need to do is help make Facebook more money off of mobile. Over the past few years, Facebook have had to aggressively transform itself into a mobile first company. Over 50% of users access Facebook from mobile devices but only 23% of Facebook’s ad revenue comes from mobile ads.
Facebook Home is expected to eventually incorporate some form of advertising which may put some people off. If done correctly, these ads might even add value and make Facebook Home an even more compelling product. But until we actually see these ads, all we can do is speculate.
Another challenge Facebook needs to overcome is that, for some, Facebook is becoming less relevant. This is particularly true amongst younger users who have recently been switching to other services like Twitter, Tumblr and Snap Chat. It’s no secret that there is also a large group of people who are only on Facebook because everyone they know is on Facebook. They use the service begrudgingly and more exposure to Facebook would probably do more harm than good.
Another problem Facebook has is data. This may come as a shock as Facebook probably knows more about you than any other company in the world. As pointed out by The Verge in their early review of Graph Search, Facebook’s other new product from earlier this year, the data collected by Facebook is great for targeting ads but offers very little value for users in the real world. In order to fix this, Facebook needs to change the way we use their social network, which may be more effort than it’s worth.
But despite the challenges it has to overcome, Facebook Home is exciting. Whether it succeeds or fails, it is part of a massive shift that is taking place in mobile. In the past, mobile was all about apps. With Facebook Home, Facebook is going beyond the app. Google will no doubt try take this one step further later this year as they try go beyond the phone with Project Glass. Apple and just about every other tech company are reportedly working on smart watches and other forms of wearable computers.
Make no mistake about it. 2013 will be an exciting year for mobile.
Prototyping Glass
by @adamskikne
Project Glass is a product designed to make you think that you’re living in the future. But how are revolutionary products like Project Glass created? In this great 8 minuteTEDEd Talk, Experience Designer Tom Chi speaks about the role of rapid prototyping in the creation of the first version of Project Glass. After watching the video, you’ll probably be surprised at how quickly the initial few prototypes of Project Glass were created and agree that doing is the best kind of thinking.
Google Glass
What Glass Means for Google
by @adamskikne
Project Glass is a perfect example of what Google calls “Moonshot Thinking” – the type of thinking required to take on global-scale problems, define radical solutions to those problems, and succeed in solving those problems through the development of breakthrough technology.
For Google, Glass is a device that could potentially change the way we search, the way we share and the way we interact with the world around us. Make no mistake. Project Glass is extremely ambitious which is part of the reason that it is so exciting. And if Glass succeeds, it could change the way the world sees Google. And no one should be more worried about this than Apple.
Apple is widely regarded as one of the most innovative companies in the world and rightfully so. No one can argue that Apple has continually changed the world by consistently releasing a number of revolutionary products such as the original iPod, the iPhone and iPad. Of course, Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player, the smartphone or the tablet computer. Apple was merely the first company to get these products “right” and have been considered market leaders ever since.
It doesn’t matter that both Google and Apple have been responsible for a huge amount of innovation in the mobile space, Apple is still seen by many as the more innovative company because it introduced the devices that defined the modern smartphone and tablet computer. This is exactly why Glass is so important for Google because for the first time since the introduction of the iPhone, Google has a chance to drive the mass adoption of a completely new form factor for a mobile device.
In 2013, it will no longer be just about smartphones and tablets. It will be about wearable computers and other smart devices. In typical Apple fashion, almost nothing is known about their new iWatch while Google has gone out of its way to make sure you know they are working on Glass. The question we should be asking is: “Why?”
A recent article on Read Write Web praised Google for not only the innovative thinking behind Project Glass, but also for the highly transparent and inclusive way that Google has documented the development of the product. Some examples of the way Google has done this include:
- Google’s initial concept video for Project Glass that was released on Google+ before a finished prototype was completed
- Sergey Brin’s highly elaborate product demo of Glass involving a team of skydivers at last year’s Google I/O
- Google releasing another video to give the world its first glimpse of a more refined user interface for Glass a few weeks ago
- Google opening up its “Explorer Program” to the public through its #ifihadglass campaign
It could be said that this approach allows Google to better tap into the wants and needs of users and get feedback that can help shape the development of Glass. This is typical of Google’s approach to product development and could help make the launch of Glass a successful one. But more importantly, this highly public approach is another way that Google can disrupt Apple.
The level of secrecy surrounding the development of any new Apple product usually results in unparalleled levels of anticipation. But Glass is a product with so much potential that it could change the feelings associated with the iWatch from anticipation to expectation. Google is telling us that Glass could be a product that changes the world. If they succeed, they win big. If they don’t, at least they can say they took a shot at the moon. But what about Apple? What will they need to deliver with the iWatch in order to exceed our wildest expectations? Because if they deliver anything less, they will have seen to have failed.
Does Apple have everything to lose and does Google have everything to gain?
