Ok I want one already. I’m not a techie blogger or anything, but I already totally love google and love their business model and everything that they do online. Think for a minute about how different things would be if Google had never come around. They are the ones who have literally tied the internet together, made it real and user friendly for everyone. And they’ve done it by taking money from big company advertisers and not from me.
Today they announced that they are releasing the Nexus One Phone. HTC manufactured it, which is awesome because they have been the up and coming manufacturer under their own brand for a while now.
The internet is buzzing on news sites and blogs everywhere that he Google Phone is the Iphone killer. I wanted to say something quickly about iphone killers. It seems every 6 months a new iphone killer comes out and doesn’t kill anything. The Blackberry Storm 1 and 2, the Blackberry Tour, The T1 android phone, the Droid and several others including htc devices have come out under this type of hype and have not lived up to the hopes.
Whether you like or hate apple, one thing is clear. They are at the top of the pack. I have the iphone 3gs and it is amazing. It exceeded all of my expectations and in many ways, I depend on it. Maybe I am impatient, or maybe I kind of still cheer for the underdog, but I would love to see phones whose hardware and usability eclipse the iphone. It would make the next gens of the iphone better as well as stepping up the market.
But I do feel like I am taking crazy pills because none of these new killer phones have done anything close to what it takes to step up to the bat and take on the iphone. I feel like the answer that would make things better is not a big secret, I just don’t get why developers aren’t understanding the problem.
Here is the recipe to kill the iphone.
1. Get on a better network than AT&T. I don’t care what at&t says, their network is awful. Kim dropped a dozen of my calls when she was driving from Phoenix to Seattle this week. I drop calls in my house all over the place, while AT&T claims that I should have no such problem and won’t fix their terrible service. Verizon has the network, but they limit things by making you have to purchase the VNavigator and Vcast to do anything. They don’t seem all that willing to relinquish enough control to allow the freedom that an iphone would provide.
2. Allow your calls to go over wifi. Why doesn’t AT&T figure this out. Though their network should cover me, if they allowed my phone to make calls over my wifi, I could have great reception anytime I connect to wifi. This would take pressure off of their network.
3. Make sure that your hardware is as good as the iphone. The technology is easily in reach for everyone, but why does Blackberry think that I need to click through the screen. I have yet to meet one person who actually prefers to click away on the storm over the iphone.
So far the Nexus One has let people know that you can not do a two finger touch. I don’t know if this is hardware, software, or a patent issue, but if you can, you should.
4. Make the entertainment, exactly as accessible as the iphone. The iphone has a leg up because you manage everything through itunes. Did you know that you can add music through rhapsody as well? Why doesn’t Rhapsody link up with phones? They have the music, the user friendly store and an easy interface. I would gladly use Rhapsody over Itunes. I’d use the Zune stuff too.
4b. Make the entertainment as accessible on the phone as it is on on ipod. Other companies actually have a leg up here. If I were manufacturing a phone, I would make sure it can play every kind of music and video file. I’d have an easy batch converter if apple wouldn’t let me play their music or videos on my phone. Make me one quick click away from my music, just like iphone. You can add little things like the genius playlist or whatever, but no one buys a phone for that stuff. Make it easy to get to and fast to play. Why in the world did most phones even in the last year need a special adapter to plug in headphones or plug into your car? Put a regular ear phone jack in it!
When I owned the Blackberry Storm, I was ticked at how awesome of technology was in the unit, but at how limited I was by the hardware and platform on the device.
5. I know that this is very difficult to do, because the american phone carriers are so messed up. But if a Phone can make itself available and transferable to different carriers, it would be huge. Right now, if I could switch my iphone to a different network without breaking my contract and disabling some features in my phone, I would. I think I could argue at&t out of our contract, but if I did, I would have to switch to an inferior phone and I don’t want that either.
Right now I will tell you this. I would trade my 3gs for a Nexus One in an instant. I think the Android platform is going to have more options for apps, wifi calls, and processing power than the iphone will. I also really like Google and would rather own and support a google endeavor than an Apple one. I am becoming a huge fan of Open Source software on the computer and think that open source phones are going to be the future.
That’s just my .02.
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