Let's Roku!

It's been a while I have written something (actually useful :P). I have been waiting to come across something that is so useful that it can't be avoided. Yes, Roku definitely fits in that category.

For someone who has never heard the word Roku, it is a internet video streaming set-top box. In short, it let's you watch your favorite internet videos on your TV without having to connect your desktop or laptop and fighting with resolution settings. The whole process is so effortless and worthwhile that you would be shocked why you hadn't got this earlier.

Roku achieves this by a WiFi modem embedded in that tiny box which connects to your WiFi network and is ready to go. The whole interface is flawless and the navigation is so efficient with a remote that can't be simpler to use. Like most devices now, Roku too works around the concept of apps. There is an app for most Internet video streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Cnet, etc. There are apps even for international TV channels with free and subscription services.

For $49, it is a steal. There are other variants of Roku which let you stream 1080p HD channels and also allow you to play games like Angry Birds with a motion-sensitive controller like the Wii. This one costs $99 and is totally worth the buck. Although Apple TV pretty much does the same job, so do many other streaming players, the amount of content available, ease of use and the price point make Roku the winner.

To sum it up, Roku is THE REASON to get a TV if you didn't already. The best part is, it works with absolutely any TV as it comes with the conventional composite AV cable.

iAnalyze iPhone 4S!

After a day filled with speculation, anticipation, suspense, revelation, disappointment and retrospection, here I am with my final thoughts and analysis of the iPhone 4S.

Before I get into iPhone stuff, let's evaluate everything else they presented at the keynote. 

• Cards: Neat concept. Right price point. You may not use it (or claim not to use it) but trust me, most people would love to use a service like this. Make custom greeting cards on your iDevice and send it to your loved ones just by a tap.
• iCloud: This was revealed during the WWDC in the summer. Pretty awesome stuff. Though it is difficult to implement a cloud service with 100% reliability, we have to see what Apple has to offer in this segment.
• iOS 5: Again, this was revealed at WWDC 2011. New notification system, volume button to be used as camera dedicated button, twitter integration, iMessages and 200 other features.
• iPod: Nothing really new here. Very disappointing! No new hardware absolutely. And they still keep the iPod Classic. And there is the white iPod Touch and new price points for the entire product line. That's it, nothing revolutionary here.

Next the iPhone. After months of wait for the iPhone 5, I officially declare disappointment here. Why?? Read on..

• The name sucks: iPhone 4S? Come on iPhone 5 would have sounded way cooler and would be in tune with iOS 5.
• No design revamp: This is the biggest disappointment of all for sure. Apple devices are purchased by some (Okay all! Whom am I kidding?) just for the oomph factor and appeal. No redesign would discourage many people from getting the next iPhone even though 'it's all new in the inside'.
• Absence of a larger screen: Yeah, many people expected Apple to come up with an iPhone to match up the Sensations, Infuses, Evo 3Ds in the screen size category. But nah. Nothing's bigger here. Same old (beautiful) 3.5 inch retina display with the same resolution. Again, as I said no design changes absolutely. This is sticking to Apple's philosophy of the right form factor and they always believed 3.5" was the right screen size for a smart phone and 10" for a tablet.
• Same front-facing camera: FaceTime is an amazing app, no doubt. But a VGA camera never gave justice to the brilliant retina display. An upgrade to the front-facing camera was very much required.
• Larger battery: No change in the size of the device implies that the battery is of the same size. iPhone does have some significant battery life but when it comes to battery life nothing can be sufficient.

Now after a day full of Apple, Tim Cook and iPhone 4S bashing, it's time to analyze and understand why Apple did what they did and I believe it is normal and justified to some extent. Let me explain. 

Apple has always crippled its devices to ensure regular product updates. Read more about this here. Now every iPhone too lagged behind other phones in the industry in some aspect or the other, be it camera, display size or 3G/4G speeds (Apple prefers not to comment on what is 3G or 4G). But still they were successful devices and sold millions given their productivity and because sex sells (Apple devices are darn sexy!!). Apple kept away the disappointment by its amazing design. This time that is missing though and that is the source for all the Apple hatred and reduction in stock prices today.

Otherwise, iPhone 4S is truly the 'Most amazing iPhone yet'. It is definitely one of the best smart-phones out there and a worthy upgrade to the iPhone 4. The following is what makes it worth the buck:-

• Dual core proprietary Apple A5 processor (Yeah, the iPad 2 already has it), they claim 7x faster performance to A4
• New camera system with 5 lenses, back illumination, 1080p HD video recording
• Siri (I hate the name BTW), although a beta software demo, was pretty impressive and promising
• The whole package of iOS 5 and iCloud

Final Verdict: If you already own an iPhone 4 and give a damn about the design of the smart phone you carry and want a change from the iOS ecosystem, go get an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S II please!) and if you never owned an iPhone or any other scenario, get your iPhone 4S, what are you even thinking!!

P.S. To read what I earlier expected from the next iPhone, please read my earlier blog post on The next iPhone Unicorn. 

5 reasons why WebOS doesn't make the cut (Published on Rediff.com)

Read on Rediff.com

WebOS is one of the  innovative mobile OS platforms out there with a very unique interface. In fact it's card UI concepts have been adapted ( copied ) by other companies ( cough.. RIM) too. Palm's proprietary OS which is now HP's hasn't been very revenue generating though.

After what Apple did in 2007 with the iPhone, yeah they snatched market share from every other smart-phone manufacturer, all the mobile phone companies went crazy. Palm was one of them. Palm has seen some tremendous success in its time with Palm OS and devices like the Treo and Centro. However, the introduction of new devices to compete with the iPhone in 2009, viz. Palm Pre and then Palm Pixi later could hardly make a statement, irrespective of their aggressive yet unappealing marketing. HP saw use in WebOS and wanted to revive its mobile phone business and went on to acquire Palm to lead to one of the major acquisitions in the tech industry. HP now plans to embed WebOS into printers and PCs too.

Sure, there is tremendous potential in WebOS. In fact, its SDK is rated as one of the best platforms to develop for, on par with iOS SDK. Yet, most WebOS devices are still sitting in stores waiting for consumers to grab them. Following are the reasons why WebOS could not make it:-

1.  Attracting developers / Mediocre App Content

As earlier mentioned, WebOS does have a developer-friendly SDK. But it has certainly failed to attract many developers. The success of any mobile OS platform is directly proportional, to say the least, to the quality and quantity of the apps on it. The success of iOS and Android has always been directly linked to its App Store and App Market, respectively. On the other hand, WebOS has a mediocre ( Mediocre?? You kidding me? I was just being polite!) app store. It's in the news that HP is now gearing up by attracting developers to develop apps equivalent of the other platforms.

2.  Operator Collaboration

Mobile phones in the US and most European countries are sold with the concept of subsidy. There is a contract involved thus discounting on the price of the device which the operator charges indirectly over a period of say two years. This might look irrelevant to the readers from India and other countries but trust me it is not. Only the success of a device in it's primary and initial target markets will compel the manufacturers to foray into other markets or countries if you will. The reason Palm Pres and Pixis have not seen the light of day ( or even the darkness of night) in India is because it was a disaster in the North American market. Palm stuck to Sprint for a very long time, which itself was a sinking ship ( nah, it was a paper boat and still is). Apple on the other hand first approached Verizon and then Cingular (now AT&T) and was exclusive to AT&T for almost 4 years. That was a wise choice and the rest is history. Though WebOS devices are now offered on almost all operators in the US now, it will take a while to recover from the Sprint exclusivity debacle.

3.  Appeal / Form Factor of devices

Sure they are cute. But that is the problem. Palm's devices have always been uni-sexual in their appeal. I am not saying the Palm Pre is entirely feminine, but honestly the device appealed more to the fairer sex. Also, the size and unnecessary inclusion (many would think otherwise) of a physical qwerty keyboard could have reduced the overall appeal of WebOS devices.

4.  Touch feedback

WebOS devices have a very unique haptic feedback. Let me explain. When you click on an app or just any empty space on the screen, the screen responds by making few concentric circles at the point of contact. Feedback is very essential in devices especially the ones with touch-screens because we humans have seen some horrible touch-screens in our times ( also read as resistive touch-screens), but this feedback is unsatisfying and inconsistent.

5.  Marketing

Remember that Palm Pre commercial with that cute lady. Yeah I know, how can you forget that, and that too for all the bad reasons. The ads were irrelevant and did not portray what the device can actually do. Also, the mention of Sprint itself is a deal breaker,now that is going back to point 2. Well, Palm, that is not the way you introduce a revolutionary product ( at least they thought so ). HP has to learn a lesson or two from Apple in terms of marketing (and millions of lessons in other categories). Apple's commercials are subtle and to the point and there are no beautiful ladies to distract your attention. The device is the only form of beauty and elegance on the screen.

I know there are many Palm / HP fans out their waiting for the right WebOS device to be launched and released in their respective countries. Let's hope the next iteration of WebOS devices strikes gold. I don't see any success for HP with the TouchPad or the Pre 3 or the Veer.

P.S. : Please bear with my parenthesized sarcastic humor.

Must-have Android smartphone apps ( Published on Rediff.com)

Read on Rediff.com

Android is now a Mobile OS platform which cannot be neglected however skeptic you are about the whole openness of Android. It certainly has benefits over other OSs and it's business model is helping to gain and grab market share from it's competitors.

Android is the second biggest App store, second to Apple's. Though I would claim it has an app equivalent to most apps on other platforms, getting the right app can be a little cumbersome since Android does not have a very unified / organised App market. Also, it's openness has been criticized ( appreciated too by many) to attract independent developers which might lead to security loop holes. 

Okay, so let me cut the crap and get to some awesome apps you should have on your Android device. I am covering only smartphone apps for now ( the Android tablet app market is still very naive to comment on), and only the ones which are not on the build already, like Maps, Gmail, etc. Also, I am refraining from mentioning about games. The apps are not in the order of quality, rather in the order of frequency of use.

Launcher Pro

Android is open, fine! But most device manufacturers misuse this. We have the Touch Sense UIs, the Motoblurs, the Touch Wiz interfaces and so on sitting on top of the default Android UI and they suck big time. Launcher pro gives you  a ton of options for UI customization.

Facebook

Okay, the Facebook app for Android is far from perfect but is definitely the most used ( not useful, FB itself is such a waste of your precious productive time) app. The iOS counterpart is better in many ways but as there is not a very good alternative to this, Android users spend most of their smartphone time on this app. Certain features like sharing Facebook albums' photographs, etc are present on other platforms yet though. The Google + app is pretty cool too.

Advanced Task Killer Free

Android's true multi-tasking can be a little tricky sometimes. This gives rise to the need of manually managing the memory resources just like in our good old Windows. Of all the task managers out there, including the in-stock one, the Advanced Task Killer Free is the cheapest ( $0, can't get cheaper than that) and easiest to use.

Rock Player

This is probably the best video player out there for Android which supports most formats. The lite version has ads which do not interrupt the video substantially. The video is smooth and clear and satisfactory on a mobile phone.

Chrome to Phone

Register your phone and Chrome browser with this app and you are granted the power of sending any web link from your browser to phone instantly. It's more like Read-It-Later functionality, but on your phone.

Dropbox

This is the best productivity app out there. The option to view, download and share documents or any file for that matter makes it very appealing and a must-have. Documents are viewed using QuickOffice and the built-in pdf reader by default, which can be changed if alternate document viewers are installed.

Brightest Flashlight Free

Most Android phones have a camera and an LED flash too. The OS does not allow the flash to be continuously on and hence this app. I found this app easy to use and very simplistic. It makes a funny noise when launched though.

Google Music

Google Music Beta is an online music storing service where you can save your purchased ( or stolen for piracy sites) music in the cloud and play it from any device. There is an app for this on Android which plays your saved music both from your device and the cloud. The UI is impressive but a little laggy / buggy I must say.

Netflix

Netflix is finally out on most Android devices after having several hardware acceleration issues especially with NVIDIA processors. This is a must have for Netflix on-the-go users who watch Instant-Play videos on Netflix.

Browsers

The built-in browser is pretty slick and quick but lacks features like tabbed browsing, private browsing, etc. There are several browser replacements on the Android platform, viz. Skyfire, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, etc, etc. Dolphin browser's interface is neat and includes tabbed browsing. InBrowser can be used for private browsing.

Pulse

Pulse is a content aggregator with a beautiful interface. Several websites, blogs, RSS feeds can be added to this app for a one-stop access. You can also log into this app using Facebook connect to see the links and videos posted in your network.

QR Droid / Red Laser

These two apps are content directors. Use your phone's camera to point to a barcode or QR code and the app will direct you to a web page, app, give you contact details, product page with pricing and reviews, etc

Team Viewer

After a long wait i got Team Viewer installed on my Atrix without having to root the device. Team Viewer is the best fre VNC client. You can control your computer, share your desktop, etc using this VNC client. Another option is LogMe In Ignition, which is not free.

HeyWire

Heywire is a text/tweet/chat client. As it's tagline says " Text, tweet and chat like crazy", it certainly allows you to do that. The latest updates made this app fast and responsive. Facebook chat and twitter are integrated right into this app. This can be used to send free SMSs. The app issues you with an alternate phone number with which you can send SMSs. Pretty useful in the US where incoming and outgoing messages are charged $0.20.

Tango

Tango allows users to make cross-platform ( Andoid to iOS and vice versaFaceTime. Other services like Fring and Skype can also be used.

Sound Hound

Sound Hound works on an algorithm which identifies a song based on a recording a part of the song and checking it across it's own database. The app is almost accurate when you play the song. Might not work as expected when you sing into the app. Shazam is an alternative.

Zedge

Zedge is a one-stop shop for ringtones and wallpapers, all for free. The app is easy to use and has ton of options to personalize your phone.

Queue Tube

This app lets you play Youtube video's audio. Let me rephrase. You can queue youtube videos into this app so that only the audio from the video is played. This facilitates multi-tasking when trying to listen to a song on Youtube. 

Ustream

Ustream is for the amateur journalist out there who would like to stream live videos from their phone over 3G. The video quality is mediocre, yet will suffice.

Miscellaneous

Following is the list of apps I found useful and whose name is self-explanatory, hence no description is required.

Battery Status ( On Notification bar)

Auto Rotate Switch

CNN

Engadget

Cnet TV

Google Goggles

The list can go on and on. The more you use your device, the more interesting apps you ought to discover. 

FaceTime on iPhone 3GS

Okay, I know this has been already done, blah, blah, blah, but trust me the idea came to me before I actually did a Google search for 'Facetime on iPhone 3GS'. Basically, the concept here is to utilize the rear camera of an iPhone 3GS to perform video calls. Apple has excluded the iPhone 3GS from having FaceTime functionality simply because it has no front-facing camera. Although, this is very sensible, the option to have it wouldn't hurt.

Now, how would you use a phone without a front-facing camera to make video calls. The answer is you would be just able to view the person on the other end, or show he what your rear camera is capturing and here comes the best one; use a mirror. Yes, you heard me! Use a mirror. You could very well stand in front of a mirror for the rear camera to stream what the mirror has, i.e. YOU. This way the iPhone 3GS can be used to make video calls without multiple cameras. I know the idea is a bit lame, but trust me it's still useful.

FaceTime can be installed only on Jailbroken iPhone 3GSs. An app called FaceIt-3GS is available on the Cydia store which can be installed by adding the source http://apps.iphoneislam.com. 

There is another interesting iPhone accessory called iSeeU that helps you make video calls on an obsolete iOS device.

P.S. : Please bear with the image, had to use own picture to avoid copyright issues. ;)