Ampers & Dot

Android, the Google-developed/Linux-based mobile OS, debuted last fall as yet-another platform in the ever fragmenting war over smartphones. Going up against Apple, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, and now Palm’s WebOS - Android was positioned last year as an “open source” operating system that could run on almost any hardware.

Unlike Apple, that has one OS and one device, or Windows Mobile, with multiple OSes for various devices, the promise behind Android was that it was a flexible, lightweight, and robust platform (seems like an contradictory adjective list, no?), that could run on barebones dumbphones as well as super-powered, touchscreen, smartphones. The surprise however, is that for the first 10 months of Android’s existence, it was only available on a single device: the TMobile G1 (warning, that link has annoying music playing in the background).

The G1 (or HTC-manufactured “Dream”) landed on TMobile late 2008 and introduced Android to the masses. Now this is tough for me to say, because I’m potentially one of the biggest HTC fans out there, but the G1 is actually a pretty flawed piece of hardware. I previously documented the problems with the hardware design (hint: it has to do with buttons), but beyond the lacking functionality, the G1 just doesn’t feel that great in the hand. It’s a bit clunky and big, but not very sturdy feeling. Its sliding screen feels a little cheap and the keyboard is just junky.

So what does this mean for Android? The answer should be: “Nothing”. But as this was the only piece of hardware out for Android’s first ten months, it means that Android became associated with the G1 - and not in a totally great way.

Now I’m not saying that Android has a bad image - most gadgeteers are quite fond of Android - but what I’ve seen for the better part of this year, is constant speculation on Android’s future. The common statement I’ve heard is that “it’ll be great to see what happens when Android makes it onto more devices”. And I agree. Android has loads of potential, but we won’t really know how it will pan out until more phones run Android.

Fortunately, that time is fast approaching.

Last month TMobile released a second Android handset, the MyTouch 3G (also manufactured by HTC, named Magic) - a device similar to the G1, but lacking a keyboard (argh! I’m not getting into this today). And now, a few weeks later, the floodgates have opened. Before the year’s end, there will likely be a dozen available Android handsets. That’s a big increase from ONE.

So what does this mean? Here’s my take:

This is good for Android because:

• More devices means more consumer adoption. Not everyone wanted a G1, but now there are choices. Really, something for everyone.
• More carriers means more consumer adoption. Not everyone wants TMobile. With Sprint selling the Hero this fall and Verizon and AT&T playing up rumors of new devices, there will be an Android device available to all big US carriers.
• More consumer adoption means more developer adoption. The more Android devices out there, the more desirable it will be for developers to build great apps - making the phones that much better for consumers. It’s cyclically awesome.
• Android is no longer just for geeks. Yes, I said it. I work in Kendall Square in Cambridge, arguably one of the geekiest places in the world - I see more G1s here than anywhere else. Correlation may not be causation - but I’m just saying - the G1 is geeky. New Android handsets are slick and more appealing to the mass market.

But also bad for Android because:

• Fragmenting the platform makes development difficult. Developers constantly complain that Windows Mobile is tough to develop for, because there are many different screen sizes, processors, hardware specs, etc. With each change, developers have to build/tweak to get their apps to work correctly.
• More devices means more confusion. If you have an iPhone, you know it’s an Apple iPhone. There’s no mistaking that. But the more varied devices that run Android, the less consistent the brand recognition. The less brand recognition, the less brand loyalty. Ultimately, more devices dilutes Android.
• Android isn’t geeky anymore. It’s the “Google Phone” or “Linux Phone” - over the last year, I’ve always loved talking to G1 owners who have built their own apps, customized their interface, or hacked it to play Doom - but as Android makes its way to the masses, it looses its geek-cred.

Well in the end that’s 4-3 in favor of this being a great thing for Android and I’m excited about that. I think it’s a great platform and at very least is driving the smartphone market to become ever stronger. Is Android ready to take down Apple? No. But is it going to be fun to watch the platform expand? Absolutely.

Since posting my thoughts on sponsored conversations last week, I’ve had a number of fun discussions around the topic. During my last post, I asked readers to write me to make a case for why they deserved the free W2353 Smart Series monitor that LG sent me - and I’d ship it off to whoever was in greatest need of an upgrade. I expected to hear a number of good stories about 16bit color screens, 10″ panels, and ginormous CRTs (yes, I heard about each of these - and we’ll get to that), but I also expected to hear some backlash on my sponsored post.

But, to my surprise, I didn’t actually get one bit of negative feedback. I expected to hear from readers about the moral and ethical boundaries in blogging, what I owe my readers, how writing a sponsored post is “selling out” - but I guess that was really just my own insecurities about talking up a product that a company sent me, because no one really seemed all that worried about it.

In fact, I ended up hearing from a lot of readers and most of you found it pretty cool.

I heard from a number of readers who I didn’t know were out there - because normally I only hear from the small percentage of you that comment - and it was refreshing and awesome. Mainly, because a) it reassured me that I have really great readers and b) each of you that reached out said great things about my sponsored post (sure, maybe you were sucking up so you could get a chance at the free monitor… but I don’t mind!). I also heard from a number of regular commenters too, the loyal few that I know are there, and they seemed to like the sponsored post too - which was helpful because knowing I didn’t rock the boat with my active readers was critical.

Basically, everyone liked the post, enjoyed my take on the topic, and thought that I was giving something away was pretty sweet. So first of all, thanks! Because I couldn’t do it without you. No, seriously.

If it weren’t for readers, this would just be a diary (and an embarrassingly lame one). The reason I blog, is to share my thoughts and opinions with people who have similar interests. And now that enough people who share my interests have found me, I can share even cooler things, like free monitors. This makes my blog more interesting and readers more interested. So seriously, thanks!

So anyway, onto the contest winner:

Some of you wrote in with very funny stories and solid reasoning for your candidacy for the free monitor, but the winner in my book (which, as the sole judge, is all that matters) is David from California with his broken Dell laptop!

David’s story goes:

I could really use this monitor because for the last 10 months I have been using an old Dell laptop with a busted screen. I got the computer free from my friend, and doesn’t have a warranty. But it only works with the screen is folded almost all the way open, at about 165 degrees. This is especially frustrating because if it goes past 165 degrees then the whole computer shuts off so I have to keep it perfectly propped open at the right angle. After 10 months of this, my neck is killing me from hunching over and I’m ready to quit using a computer all together.

Now, while I was tempted to tell David that there is probably a pretty easy way to fix it by tinkering in the screen’s hinge housing, there’s one main reason this is a winner in my book: David’s apparently been uncomfortably adjusting himself to a broken computer, instead of adjusting his broken computer to him. And that just sounds awful and totally deserving of the “Smart” comfort features in the LG W2353. David can dock his broken laptop right into the monitor and never have to look at the open-face madness he’s grown accustomed to. So David, email me your address and I’ll ship it off to you this week.

So thus ends a sponsored conversation: LG got me to plug its monitors, I got two post ideas out of it, you guys wrote me with some awesome stories, and David got a free neck-saving upgrade.

Now even though I don’t see myself letting this blog get overrun by product contests anytime soon, I’m glad I experimented with the concept, and I fully understand the benefits. In short, the reason this worked out so well? I disclosed the sponsored nature of the post and was completely honest about my opinion of the product (seriously, I still wish the thing had real buttons…).

Today I’m going to cover two topics: the place of sponsored blog posts in social media and pretty kickass widescreen computer monitors. Spoiler alert: these two topics are actually directly related… although I’m hoping you saw that coming.

Well I want to start with a full transparency disclaimer: this post idea comes courtesy of the great people at LG, who have donated me two brand new W2353V SMART series computer monitors - one to review (*UPDATE - see my “Freebies” disclaimer at the bottom of this post*) and one to give away to one of my lucky readers. (Side note: how cool is that?) That’s right, keep reading to the end, there’s a chance for you to win one of these (Sierra Nevada not included)!

So before I get to the review, let’s talk about sponsored conversations. This is an area I know pretty well, mainly through my day job researching the subject (link for Forrester clients only, but for a free recap, check out my colleague Sean Corcoran’s blog post covering the topic here). So when this opportunity came up, I thought it would be a good chance to evaluate the concept of sponsored conversations from a more hands-on perspective.

The idea behind sponsored conversations is that the company gives a blogger something for free and in return the blogger writes up a review, igniting earned social media for the product. It’s cheap for the company (inventory cost in relation to media buys) and is incredibly well targeted - I was approached because I write about technology products, therefore my readers (you!) expect to come here to read about technology products. Chances are that if you’re a reader then you trust my opinion - and if I say good things about this product, then it’s good press - and either way I have an extra to give away to readers (which might help boost my readership/engagement) and then it’s good for everyone.

As Sean points out in the report (and blog post linked above) sponsored conversations work, but their success is contingent on two main contingents:

1) Sponsorship transparency

2) Blogger authenticity

So I think I’ve covered #1 pretty well so far. So now I’ll cover #2: I promise that the following review is 100% my opinion and in no way (or as much as I can control) related to the fact that I got the product for free. But having said that - I cannot guarantee that my review won’t be influenced by my main basis of computer-monitor-comparison, a 17″ dell from five years ago…

I think I was due for an upgrade...

Let’s dive into the review of the LG W2353 Smart Series

First impression: wow.

Second impression: seriously, wow.

The W53 (as I’ll call it from now on for brevity and convenience) is beautiful, both in its external looks and its screen clarity. It has a sleek glassy finish that I’ve come to expect from LG. Let’s put it this way, I’m married to an interior designer- and she approved of its looks matching up to our decor- believe me, that’s an accomplishment. The 23″ screen is pretty thin and super wide - with a maximum resolution of an HD 1920 by 1080 (which makes my old Dell monitor look as embarrassingly outdated as a CRT and Google look like it has an eating disorder).

Now I don’t want to bore you with specs (for that, check out this page), but the cooler aspects of the W53 sit beyond the numbers. The “Smart” features in the “Smart” series are a fairly nifty proximity sensing technology around the buttons - so when you wave your hand near the bottom panel, which contains hidden buttons, they light up (I’ll come back to this “feature” in a minute) - and an auto brightness feature that automatically adjusts the screen’s lighting to the surroundings, in an attempt to reduce eye-strain (which me and my rapidly aging eyes seriously need).

It also has this “Smart” feature, which allows you to set a timer to remind you to take a break… and to be honest, I just don’t really get that part. Seems a little hokey to me. I mean, I get that I shouldn’t spend hours on end staring at a computer screen, but the three problems with this are a) it’s 2009, we all sit in front of computers all day, b) if you need a timer to tell you to stop working, you problem having bigger issues to deal with, and c) if you want to afford cool electronics like this, you’d probably be better off not taking breaks as often as your monitor tells you…

Anyway, what can’t really be put into words is the ridiculous clarity of the full HD screen. I’ll put it this way: hooking up the W53 to my cable box via HDMI input makes my LCD TV self conscious (or, to project less, it makes me feel self-conscious about my LCD TV…). 1920 by 1080 resolution is an amazing sight and after a few straight days working of my 9″ netbook, I must say that it’s borderline ridiculous. Truly crisp, clear, and impressively fun to use.

I only see two downsides to the W53: first, the stand has limited adjustment options and is also a little weak - it feels a little flimsy and makes me nervous as the its only function is to support the fancy monitor - it’s like putting a new BMW on bicycle wheels. The second downside, as hinted at earlier, are the buttons - or should I say “lack of” buttons.

The buttons aren’t really there, they’re built into the flat panel on the button. The proximity light-up thing is great, just really gadgetastically cool and fun to show off, but problematically underneath the cool lighting part, there just aren’t buttons behind the light. This makes navigating the panel’s menus very difficult. But if you wanted to hear me bitch about buttons, you could read one of my other dozens of posts on the subject. This isn’t a big deal as I don’t foresee a need to actually use these buttons, I just personally find it annoying.

All in all I can honestly say this is the best monitor I’ve ever used. Do I have a huge basis for comparison? No. But that doesn’t change how cool this monitor is.

So that’s my honest and open product review for LG’s W53. Was I fair?

CONTEST!
Now let’s move on to the part you’re likely waiting for: the contest to win a 23″ LG Smart Series Monitor of your own!

I’m going to send the extra monitor LG gave me to the reader who sends in the best story for why you need the upgrade. Sure, I complained about my five year old 17″ Dell monitor, but I bet there are readers out there far more deserving with far worse monitors. So write me an email (my contact info is appropriately placed on my Contact Page) with your story - and I’ll send the most deserving reader a brand new one. I’ll write up a short post announcing the winner early next week.

Here are the restrictions: 1) All submissions must be in by Wednesday, July 29th and 2) this contest is only available to readers over 18 in the continental 48 states - I’m paying the shipping to get this out and just can’t swing sending a 15lb package over seas.

So let’s use the comments for this: what do you think of sponsored conversations? How did I handle it?

*UPDATE: after further consideration, and discussion with others about accepting freebies, I won’t be keeping the review monitor. As part of my day job of thinking impartially while comparing vendors and analyzing companies in the technology and marketing sectors, accepting anything of this scale from a company could potentially come of as trying to bias me. So my new policy, which I’ll update on my “About” page, is that I do not keep any items and will give-away any review items companies send me. Yeah, this isn’t awesome for me, but it keeps me honest and lets me do my job better - plus, it’s awesome for you because it means more give-aways on this blog! I’ll write more about this on my follow up post. Thanks!

Although I don’t use a BlackBerry on a daily basis, I understand them and the people that swear by them. They are fast, simple, and functional devices that easily empower business use with a sturdy feel in a stylish package. BlackBerries are great.

Maybe this is why I had such a difficult time understanding the touchscreen focused BlackBerry Storm. For those that don’t want to go back and read that post, mainly I argued that the touch-centric device took away from what makes a BlackBerry so great - pure functionality. By forcing the user experience to be entirely touchscreen, it makes even the simplest task - like checking email - a hassle.

My biggest gripe was that BlackBerry scrapped the clickwheel/ball, in favor of the poorly implemented finger dragging mechanism - meaning that if you wanted to navigate between two emails you’d have to click, hold, drag down, wait, and hope you didn’t overshoot. Considerably more difficult (and annoying) than rolling a little ball a little bit.

So I gave BlackBerry the advice that they should have started the move towards touch devices a little safer - testing the waters by adding a touch screen to their already popular devices - as opposed to the Storm, which was a full on belly flop into the murky drudges of Lake Touch. Now, only a few months later, a new device leaks into Rumorville (related note: Lake Touch is actually the main tourist attraction of Rumorville, millions flock there every year).

Courtesy of CrackBerry.com (who speculates this is likely a fake) we have  a leaked image of the BlackBerry 9900 for Rogers (oh, Canada…).

The 9900 is basically a Bold, but with a touchscreen… and without a clickball. Dammit BlackBerry, you missed my point. This is a perfect opportunity to trial touch capabilities within the BlackBerry OS - figure out the kinks and work on the the numerous bugs - but retain the full functionality of why people love BlackBerries. But I think this misses the point, again.

The Storm was a big overstep also because of its lack of a physical keyboard, so I guess the 9900 is at least a step towards sanity. But forcing users to still use the finger drag scrolling, clickable screen, and dysfunctional touch OS just seems cruel.

I guess all I’m saying is that I’m all about innovation, but it should come more gradually through an evolution. To me, it seems like BlackBerry is forcing evolution by skipping generations - which ultimately leaves the newer models missing the fundamental core of what makes a BlackBerry so cool.

Or maybe I’m just sad that we continue to lose out in the War on Buttons.

Seeing as how this blog has slowly evolved into being entirely focused on gadget hardware analysis, it seems only fitting that I cover today’s Apple news.

That’s right folks: we have another iPod to drool over - the new and “improved” iPod Shuffle, seen here:

The new iPod has the following features:

• It’s tiny, about the size of a AA battery.
• Comes in fancy matte black or lame-o silver
• Holds 4gb of music
• Costs more than the old one
• Has Text to Speech technology that reads you what song you’re listening to (this one is so ridiculous that I don’t even know where to begin)
• Has NO buttons.

Ugh. No buttons.

Ok, so there are buttons… they’re just on the headphones - meaning that there are no buttons on the device. What’s so wrong with buttons!? Nothing. Buttons are great - especially for something small like this. But I know what you’re thinking: buttons on the headphones - that’s ok! Well you’re wrong.

Having buttons on the headphones means that you’ll either have to use Apple’s headphones or buy an adapter to use any others (including any old iPhone earbuds you might have around). It also means that when your Apple headphones break (and they will, I mean - those things will never stay in your ears and the cord will get tangled and frayed in a few months) you’re going to have to buy the expensive Apple-branded ones just so that you can change the song on your mp3 player. Are you serious?!

And let’s look at the price: first, it’s $70 - which is more expensive than Apple’s previous shuffle. Sure, it holds a bit more, but in this economy more expensive is almost unheard of. But what if you want to use other headphones? Or what if your pod-controlling headphones break? Well you’ll need that adapter… and that’ll probably cost you an Apple-tax of $20-30 (just a guess). Ultimately this thing will set you back MORE than almost any comparably spec’d mp3 players.

Look, I want to rationalize Apple’s decision saying that the lack of buttons is to support the tiny size - but watching Apple design gadgets with fewer and fewer buttons - I really see this as a continued push to over-simplify, which in turn continues to complicate user experience.

Simply put: fewer buttons is NOT better. Take it away, The Onion:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

I’ve long argued the need for buttons but also respect the unique value that touch centric devices bring to user experience. It’s a confusing paradox where I’ve vowed to never own another phone without a touchscreen - but still rely quite heavily on hardware buttons to drive the experience.

Well, over the last week gadget blogs have been buzzing about two new toys coming to market: the LG Versa phone and the Touch Book computer. The beauty and innovation behind these eye-catching devices being that the keyboard detaches leaving a touchscreen slate.

The detachable form factor gives consumers the best of both worlds: a rich touch experience in lightweight and portable hardware, but an optional keyboard for typing/messaging/whatnot. This makes perfect sense to me because touchscreen keyboards just aren’t good enough for real work. They aren’t. But often times all you’ll need is a pretty screen with easy scrolling options and the inherent fun in navigating with your finger.

Personally, I would really appreciate this form factor. On my cellphone I don’t find the need to use the keyboard often - when browsing the mobile web it’s easy to pull up the onscreen keyboard to search things like “John Cusack films” in a few seconds - to learn that he had 18 years of awesomeness (and eight recent years of embarrassment). But when I need to write an email or even a longer text message - I desperately need keys. Whenever I try to write an email with my onscreen keyboard I find myself being short and snippy - and never as coherent as I should be. And I totally blame the onscreen keyboard for that!

Similarly, when browsing the web on a laptop - I don’t really need the keyboard - it just gets in the way (related note: have you ever browsed through Google reader with a touchscreen? It’s delightful, I promise you). But as soon as I’m ready to actually do something functional - I simply must have tactile reinforcement.

So think that the detachable form factor will gain popularity over the next few years and will become more common in both phones and computers. A bright clean touch surface combined with a hardware keyboard makes a great device - plus, you give the two an option to separate and you have two perfect devices in one.

If you’ve stopped by here before you likely know that I’m a bit of a Windows Mobile enthusiast. I have the ability to refute nearly any argument of the iPhone’s superiority and counter it with a robust list of things that WinMo can do that other devices still cannot (copy and paste is the least of the problems).

One argument I find myself in often is about the iPhone App Store, because on one hand - it’s amazing. You just tap a button on your device and you find yourself an almost limitless list of programs and games. On the other hand - it is indeed limited and overly regulated and seemingly overrun by stupid fart applications (seriously: if you’ve downloaded one of those then you should be ashamed… and chances are that you have downloaded one).

Well, although Windows Mobile is working on its own App Store (Skymarket anyone?) I’ve still had the last five years of WinMo use during which I’ve been forced to download applications the old fashioned way. This has been great because there are almost no limitations to what can be built, but also leaves a bit to be desired when trying to actually find new games. The problem with no central repository is that you’ve got to hunt them out.

Over the last half decade of Windows Mobile use I’ve played dozens and dozens of games - some have been awful, some have been great. So as part of my good Windows Mobile Evangelistic dead of the day - here’s a list of games I actually play on my phone. I’ve weeded it down to a manageable list - and please not that none of these involve any type of farting application (seriously iPhone… you should be ashamed). Let’s do it:

(Please note: although every game listed below also has a Windows Mobile standard version (non-touch) - the links to .cabs are for Windows Mobile Professional 6.0+ and please use at your own risk)

Crosswords (aka xWords — aka Scrabble)

Crosswords is an almost perfect recreation of Scrabble. You can play against a computer (with multiple difficulty settings) or against others locally (no online play… but that’s ok). It’s really truly a great game - my ONLY complaint is that the dictionary isn’t OSPD4 and doesn’t recognize a lot of fancy Scrabble words. You can override the dictionary to still play these words, but there is no option to “Add to dictionary”. Otherwise it’s a perfect game. Direct link to .cab here

Astraware Casino

I have played every casino game made for Windows Mobile and absolutely none compare to Astraware Casino. There are 11 games all built into the casino (Blackjack, Texas Hold ‘Em Limit and No Limit Poker, Video Poker, Video Derby, 3 Card Poker, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, Slots, and Video Keno) as well as rewards for different achievements (like “First blackjack” or “Win $50,000 on a single bet!”) that keep this game fun and engaging for a long time. It’s not free… it’s $15 - but there is a free demo period built into the game (.cab available here). Play the demo and then happily hand over your money. Also - this game is beautiful on VGA screens.

Dopewars

Yes, the popular Graphing Calculator game has been ported to other mobile platforms… and the graphics haven’t changed much. Fortunately neither has the game play - it’s still fun! Let’s first put the drug thing aside - and look at this game as a classic buy low/sell high day trading game. It’s just fun. This version also has the ability to edit names, values, and descriptions of “items” - so if you’re uncomfortable with the seedy underbelly concept - you can change everything into stocks (or is that even sleazier these days…?). Anyway, it’s 100% free - download the .cab here.

Kevtris - The only Tetris clone you’ll ever need

There are many, many Tetris like games out there. Kevtris is by far and away the best. And the free-est - which is a great treat. I don’t play it much anymore (now that I have a Touch Pro which crippled the arrow buttons…) but this game plays well and looks great on every phone I’ve owned. Download the .cab here.

Now I know I already put in Astraware Casino, which is $15 bucks… but this list wouldn’t be complete without the other games that are actually worth paying for:

Bejeweled 2

100% everything you’d expect to be in Bejeweled 2. The full game. Unfortunately comes at the full price of $15 - but well worth it if you like the gem-swapping gameplay. There’s a free, but limited, demo - available here.

TextTwist

I played this game so often on my last phone that I permanently dented a few spots on the screen from tapping the letters so often. I’m a bit of a word-game nut, so this one might not be your cup of tea- but I just can’t get enough of it. Download the (unlimited…!) demo here. Or pay $15 for it… your choice.

And that’s pretty much it.

I’m not saying there aren’t better games out there - I’ve paid for a handful of others that really disappointed me and downloaded a few dozen free ones that REALLY REALLY disappointed me - but the ones listed above are what I play. What else should I play?

Anyway- once Skymarket is alive we’ll have a better repository of these things (that will hopefully be free and unregulated… but there’s no way in hell that will happen). So in the meantime - go crazy - download everything - play them all. And Enjoy!

It takes a lot to get me talking about a dumb-phone (a non-smart-phone phone), but Motorola’s newly announced AURA twisted my arm just enough to get me to post.

Quick introduction: the AURA (I’m not sure why it’s capitalized, maybe it’s an acronym for “Amazingly Unaffordable Ringing Atrocity?) is Moto’s follow up to the wildly unsuccessful V70, a 2002 device that was really awesome looking, but very bad at functioning. So the AURA takes the V70’s swivel-sliding form factor and spruces it up a bit. Take a look at the AURA’s crazy flash site to learn more.

So why am I talking about the AURA? I mean, there’s no touch screen, it runs a fairly basic OS, there’s no QWERTY pad, and it’s outrageously expensive… actually- those are all the reasons I’m talking about it. The AURA is the exact opposite of everything that is successful in the market right now.

Let’s start with the form factor. I’ll concede this point: the phone looks awesome. BUT- as I’ve recently written - everyone is making touch devices. Big, beautiful, touchable screens are popping up everywhere, and the AURA comes in with a tiny, non-touchable, round screen. Yes, it does have a bazillion colors, but when the screen is that small, does it really matter? And a 2mp camera? Again, the market is moving in an entirely different direction. Secondly, its imput method: I mean, T9… really? Thirdly, it boasts that it’s composed of over 700 different components. Is this a good thing? It just sounds like it would be very easy to break and even more expensive to fix.

Speaking of expensive… the AURA will cost $2,000. Ten 3G iPhones. Or hell, one MacBook Air. NO phone should cost $2k, that’s just absurd. I recently heard some mumblings about our economy not being too awesome… I’m not sure if this is true or not… but really, a $2,000 phone? In a time where Apple can drop the price of the market’s most innovative device to $200 (or potentially $99?!) competitors should drop prices, not raise them.

Ok, fine. I get it. There are a number of companies that make insanely “higher end” phones (Vertu, being the most ridiculous) because some people like to spend money, just so people know that they have spent money. I guess all I’m saying is that I think a phone’s features and functions should increase proportionally to its pricetag and the AURA has the same features of a RAZR at almost 40x the price.

But hey, the AURA is definitely not targeted at a consumer like me, so it doesn’t matter if I don’t like it. And jeez, The Boy Genius likes it, so it can’t be all bad. I just think that in these times of “dude, where’s my economy”, Motorola could save money by making cheaper phones… not the alternative.

Yesterday I read BGR’s impressively in depth review of the upcoming TMobile G1 (aka the GooglePhone (aka the HTC Dream)), which noted a few surprising hardware flaws. I mean, I always thought HTC was infallible, but apparently the device feels and acts like a prototype.

The two biggest surprises to me were a) the weakly implemented row of buttons on the front of the device, that are apparently so flush to the body that they are almost impossible to push. And conversely b) there is NO onscreen keyboard, requiring the user to pull out the QWERTY pad for even the slightest amount of input.

Here’s why these things seem strange to me: everyone is dropping buttons right now in favor of touchscreen-focused devices. Sure, Apple may have started the trend, but it’s not just the iPhone I’m talking about- recently Samsung launched its relatively buttonless Omnia, HTC’s Touch HD is almost entirely buttonless, Blackberry is heavily promoting its all-touchscreen Storm, and even Nokia’s new XpressMusic opts for touchscreen focused use (not sure how well that’s going to work with Symbian though…). HTC opted for buttons on the G1, but failed in making them truly useful. It forces the use of buttons sometimes, but then offers buttons that aren’t easy to use…

But on to the bigger point: why are we getting rid of buttons? Because the iPhone did it? If the iPhone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? Ok, yeah, probably… but still- this is no reason to scrap the concept of buttons on phones.

As completely awesome as touch-focused user interfaces have become, buttons are still a simpler, quicker, and a more accurate navigation tool, and it’s frustrating to see that go away. Swiping your finger around to navigate is fun and easy, but it’s just not that practical. Blackberry hit the jackpot when it introduced the click-wheel (then again with its rollerball thingy) because it made navigating easier. Moving away from buttons makes it all seem only more difficult.

Flick through emails with your thumb?! Cool! Oh, whoops, I just flicked too slowly and now opened the wrong message… oops and now I flicked too far and have to go back… and now I just launched a that application that makes your phone look like it’s filled with beer… crap.

And look: I don’t care how fast you’ve gotten at typing on your keyboardless device, it’s not as fast or remotely as accurate as an actual keyboard. I’m sure that anyone can get pretty good at typing with onscreen keyboards - but I have NEVER seen anyone touchtype without a physical button underneath. You’re still required to look at every virtual key before sliding your finger to it. This might be fine for short text messages, but I cannot imagine a business device that will be used primarily for email have someone hunting and pecking for every letter (yes, I’m looking at you, Blackberry Storm).

Think about your TV remote. When you grab it to change the channel, do you need to look at where the “Guide” button is? Or to turn the volume down, do you first look and stare at it for a second (if “yes”, are you under 73 years old?). No. You can feel with your fingers where buttons are and you have tactile memory of button placement. This simply does not exist without phyiscal buttons. It’s incredibly difficult (impossible?) to slide your finger to the exact spot on a phone without looking, making it necessary to constantly stare at your device.

Alright, Yes. This is a heavily biased personal opinion: I prefer buttons. I want MORE buttons. My current device has a QWERTY pad, a click wheel, two multifunction buttons, a 4-way d-pad, 11 other hardware buttons… and a touchscreen. I use them all (plus, one opens a shortcut menu containing 12 onscreen quick launch apps). I also change songs while the phone is in my pocket, turn the volume down on loud calls without looking, type without staring at my fingers, and play games with buttons that don’t take up screen space.

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that buttons - for lack of a better word - are good. Buttons are right. Buttons work. And buttons - you mark my words - will not only save mobile devices, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

First off: yes, this is yet another iPhone post and YES, I’m sorry.  But this one has a fun twist, I promise.  And after this post I’ll be back on track with more social media-ish posts for a while… or at least until I can think of another iPhone post!

Anyway, last night I hosted the monthly Gadgetry MeetUp here in Boston and sure enough, someone brought a new iPhone 3G to play with.  This was unavoidable really, I mean, it’s a gadget club… gimme a break.

But what I found most interesting was the conversation shift from the cool things the iPhone can do, to the bigger scale impact the device has on the market.  The bulk of discussion (lead by my Windows Mobile optimistic enthusiasm) stemmed around the iPhone changing the game for everyone else.

The iPhone has already played a large role in changing the way we look at gadgets, what we expect from gadgets, how we shop for gadgets, and what we pay for gadgets.  And all of these changes will improve the gadget market.

Gadget Design
Believe it or not, there were very, very few buttonless PDA Phones before the iPhone.  HTC (the largest Windows Mobile device manufacturer) had a few contenders without keyboards, but even those had a handful of hardware buttons.  A year ago everyone mocked the original iPhone’s lack of hard buttons.  And now every PDA Phone manufacturer makes one or has one in the pipeline (even the “all business” Blackberry is working on a buttonless device).

When the first iPhone came out, HTC was still pushing almost 75% of its devices as “smartphones” (non touchscreen).  Now, only a year later it sounds ridiculous to have a PDA Phone without a touchscreen.

And there’s no denying the beauty of the iPhone.  I’ve tried.  And failed.  The thing is just slick.  And you know what?  It’s forcing the competition to think slick too.  No one is coming close yet, (no, not even you, Diamond, but good effort!) but we’ll start seeing some viably pretty contenders soon.

Mobile Browsing
One thing I keep hearing is that “Mobile browsing is going to be dominant by 2012″.  Well you know what?  Mobile browsing is dead.  The iPhone killed it.  As faster and more capable devices continue to pop up, the mobile web won’t exist.  There will be no need for miniaturized webpages when we can scale full sized ones onto smaller screens.  In theory Windows Mobile and Palm have done this for years.  In practice the iPhone made it work.

Since the release of the iPhone there have been a number of viable competitors in the mobile browsing space (Opera, Skyfire, Netfront), and they all work pretty well.  Yes, it will be a long time before this technology makes it into the bulk of devices, but it’s only a matter of time.  If I were a mobile advertiser I’d stop worrying about how to get my ad to work on a little screen, and instead start thinking about how to optimize regular ads to be viewed on slicker devices.

Gadget Spending
The new iPhone is $200 with a plan.  That’s awesome and new and I like it.  As I’ve argued before, the iPhone 3G’s low price forced the market to drop down to compete.  I’m completely fine with that.  What this decreased spending does on a larger scale is allows for greater and broader adoption into the market.

PDA Phones are no longer reserved for business execs with a thousand bucks sitting around to throw at a new phone.  PDA Phones are now for everyone and this is going to blow the market wide open for more devices, better competition, and a broader array of toys (plus, I think there will have to be some super devices built to satisfy that top end gadget spender, and I can only imagine how cool those will be!).

Further, the iPhone has tricked everyone into paying for data plans.  AT&T is making a killing right now because any iPhone it sells also comes with a data package.  Not many people had this before, but now it’s a necessity!  I do not remotely support the extortionesque pricing of additional text messages… but the iPhone data package makes it “normal” to have a data plan.  Again, this opens up the market making mobile gadgets mainstream.

Gadget Usability
Perhaps the most important fact of all, the iPhone makes gadgets cool and easy to use.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a die hard Windows Mobile nerd and I pride myself on the ability to flash custom roms, but sometimes I just want the damn thing to work… and you know what: the iPhone works.  I can say without a doubt that with enough tweaks, third-party apps, and custom registry edits, Windows Mobile can do more than the iPhone can.  But out of the box? Sadly, no.

In all fairness, this is why I love Windows Mobile: its insane customization ability.  I can tweak, edit, hack, alter, mess up, anything in the Operating System.  I’m the type of person who always wants more from my device and Windows Mobile always gives me that option.  I’m a constant tinkerer.  The first thing I’ve done with every new Windows Mobile device is take it out of the box- and reflash it to a custom build.  And that’s awesome.  But the problem is that there are very few people like me.

Most people want a device that works right out of the box.  The iPhone does that.  And it makes it very, very simple for anyone to pickup and feel smart.  The user interface is intuitive and simple.  Its simplicity is going to inspire a new generation of PDA Phone users who demand ease of use.  This is a good thing, as long as I can still tinker.

In the end of all this I have two conclusions: 1) the iPhone is a revolutionary device that will open up the market and make PDA Phone sales growth shoot through the roof in the next few years.  2) I’m a little jealous and have written an entire post rationalizing why I’m still an avid Windows Mobile person.

So Microsoft- get on your horse and start working.  If you want some advice send me an email- I have a few hundred bullet points of how to fix the OS.  And it would probably be more useful to your developers than it would be to the readers here in an upcoming blog post…