Android phone, new users and rooting.

Last night I went to my daughters flute recital. It was a pleasure to hear. The students are almost all college age or older and they are all competent players. Their instructor is a professor at a state university and a member of the Seattle Philharmonic.

Between numbers I noticed man about my age (40-49), sitting next to my wife, pull out his Android cell phone. Finally an ally I can visit with face to face! I was anxious to compare notes with him about his experience.

It turns out that he has had his Droid for two weeks. He came from a Blackberry, which he, “Hated!”

I asked him for his impression of the Droid. He said that he was still not convinced it is the phone for him. I asked hm if he had ‘rooted‘ it yet. He replied that he had not. He had a couple of issues with his phone not offering some features that he really wanted. Speed dialing, etc.

We talked for a minute and I told him that my phone was even better after I rooted it. I have much more control and even more software available for it. I suggested that he try it. He seemed hesitant and the conversation ended.

Now, he is not what I would call a noob to the cell phone experience. But he is a noob to the Linux experience.

This got me to thinking about the phone, the buying public, and the phone experience.

I concluded that the Droid is NOT for everyone. It is for power users who do not mind tinkering with their phones. It is for people who do not accept that it must have limitations. Phones have limitations built into them based upon the service level the vendor is willing to offer. Blackberry is a fine phone for what it does. There is very little software available for it. There is a very small ‘underground’ of people who really want to explore it and push it to it’s limit’s.

The iPhone, in spite of it’s apparent myriad software packages, is severely limited because Apple has a VERY heavy hand in what is allowed to be done to it. Apple discourages innovation.

The Droid is more open so that there is more innovation being done. There is no fear that you are going to get a cease and desist letter from the maker. The development community has a much better understanding of the technology behind the phone. The community is much more self-supporting than any other cell phone market.
Was I happy with my phone out of the box? For the most part. I missed some features and I was satisfied that some talented developer would see the same needs and address them. For the most part they have. Did I feel the phone could be better? Absolutely! Like every other phone I have ever had (and I include PDAs) none have them have satisfied my criteria as the perfect device. Most make it about 80-90% of the way there. After exploring the world of Droid users I found some options that were being developed by the community, without the onerous oversight of Big Brother (Apple in this case) that allowed me to do things with my phone that moved it up to the 95% level.

It may be at the 100% level but I have not found the perfect app for my podcasts that I listen to, yet. Did you notice I said yet? I am confident that an application for my needs/wants will be delivered shortly. The same apps may never be delivered for the iPhone because of Apple’s heavy hand. However, the same options may not be available to non-rooted phones. Rooting simply allows you to have more flexibility, options and control. And control is what it is all about. You have control of your computer why not your cell phone?

Understand that you do not get complete access to everything. None of the rooting being done is for nefarious purposes. In fact, I am yet to find a single instance where piracy is being discussed or is an issue. Whicvh is a lot more than I can say about the iPhone. There have been estimates that as much as 80% of the software being used on iPhones is pirated. Why? Because people cannot afford to pay for all of the add-on software that is needed to bring the iPhone to the 100% level. It is true that the apps are inexpensive. But with the Droid Market having a 24 hour no questions asked policy I can try any software I want and return it if I don’t like it. If that option was available to the iPhone users they would not feel the need to pirate software to get the same try before you buy experience.

The Droid is not for everyone, but for those who are technically inclined it is a blast!

Response to Ebook vendors blame consumers for ‘unrealistic expectations’

Ebook Publishers defended their raised prices for ebooks today. Please read this article.

On my first read I accepted that they MIGHT have a legitimate complaint. Then I did the math. The publisher is getting the largest single share for the sale of the book. Higher than the author! If you accept that the books grosses $9.09 they still make AT LEAST $4.53 per book. That is a whopping 35% margin!

If the publisher sells the book direct, and some do, they make more than that. My wife has a book that she authored. I am fully aware of what the costs are associated with producing a book and the commissions involved. Her book does not have the $.78 of marketing overhead because the publisher is not offering any marketing. Yet, done correctly, the marketing money spent results in higher sales. Thus, more income. By the way, her cost to buy the book is much higher than the $.50 quoted. and we did all of the layout and artwork.

There is NO WAY that is costs less than $.50 to edit, print, and ship a paperback book. We already know that the cost to edit and layout the book is about $.50. So the bookseller automatically has lowered their costs on selling a book. Now, unless they are making money on Shipping and Handling (Which I am sure they are) they have no reason to compain. The price for an ebook should be much less because the cost is much less. If the seller does not want to pay Apple 30% then don’t sell it through them. Very simple. Set up your own sales portal.

My expectations for lower priced ebooks is not unrealistic. You will never convince me that a paperback book that sells for $5.95 costs less to produce than an ebook.

I will simply refuse to pay more than $9.99 for an ebook and I will NOT pay the same price as either a hardbound or paperback book.

One dirty little secret these publishers will not tell you is that they love to sell these books as ebooks because the profit IS higher (unless you deal with Apple) It is usually up to the author as to whether or not the books are made available as ebooks.

Phone Adventures II

In November I decided that it was time to change from AT&T to Verizon. It was a more difficult choice than I thought it would be. I really like my iPhone but the poor service, poor coverage and expense were more than I could afford. When Verizon announced that their Early Termination Fee (ETF) would increase from $175 to $350 I was pushed to make a decision. I bought a Motorola Droid smartphone.

My brother has had an Android based phone for at least a year and he had lots of good things to say about it.

After having owned it for 2 months now I will offer my views.

Plus

Multitasking. It is SO nice to have programs that keep running in the background.

Open System. There is no need to ‘jailbreak’ the phone since most of the features are available and there is very little reason to dig that deeply.

Off of AT&T.

LED flash for the camera.

Much easier to develop for. Uses Java with free SDK.

Google Maps

Google App integration.

Removable/replaceable/upgradeable battery.

It is really a computer.

Over the air updates.

Minus

The graphics in the available software are not as polished.

There is no good ebook reader available. That should change as the market matures.

There is no integration with Podcasts and the desktop like there is with an iPhone and iTunes.

The lack of an Audible.com client for audiobooks. There are some pretty good audio players but it is necessary to remove the DRM from the audio files.

There are no good cases available because of the sliding keyboard. One thing I liked about my old Ipaq 4705 was the selection of nice leather cases.

The physical appearance is not as stylish.

Overall Impression:

I am very pleased with the Android. The keyboard is a flat keyboard that is difficult to use with my big fingers. I don’t miss iTunes Store as much as I thought I would. Don’t let the claim of 100,000 applications on the iTune store fool you. There is a lot of clutter, chaff and redundancy in the store. For example, at last count there are 156 flatulence programs available. The Android marketplace lacks a solid web interface to their market. There are several sites that act as front ends but none offer a good search capability.

One interesting feature of the Android is that when you find software that you want to download while browsing the web on your PC you can simply scan a barcode on the screen and the link for the download is fed to the phone. Very slick!

The maps and application integration are without peer. I have gone from being a heavy user of Outlook to an infrequent user.

You may see the AT&T commercial claiming that the Android does not allow you to surf the web and talk at the same time. This is sort of true. If you have a wifi connection you will still be able to surf the web while chatting. The reality is that I have only found one time when that was an issue. I was on hold with a call so I put it on speaker phone and opened up my IM program (did I mention that I love the multi-tasking?) I replied to a message but I could not send it without a wifi connection or when I hung up the call. So in 2.5 months of use I have had exactly one time that AT&T had the advantage.

The Over The Air (OTA) updates deserve special mention. When an update is available to the operating system you receive a notification and it is downloaded and installed. You do not need a PC to complete this. When there are updates to your applications the Market Application will check daily and inform you of their availability. again, without the need to have a connection to a PC.

The best analogy that I can offer about the iPhone versus the Android is that the iPhone is a TV dinner and the Android is a fully-stocked pantry. One is ready to go and is fine if you like the predetermined flavor. The other has unlimited possibilities. There is room for both in the world. I still keep my iPhone around for managing the podcasts that I listen to. But as soon as an application appears that integrates the Android with the desktop it will become available on eBay.

Overall grade: A-