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Posts Tagged Mobile

iPhone - Smart Enough?

Alright, I finally managed to buy myself (and my wife) the mighty phone - the iPhone. It was a long wait, but Singtel and my ABN AMRO credit card worked hard to get me the much-awaited phone.

Much has already been written about the capabilities & quirks of the phone - whether its the elegant multi-touch screen or the lag-free user interface or the average 3G performance or the restrictions imposed by the ‘closed’ operating system. I quite like the phone. But, given that I use mobile phones extensively for much more than making calls, I do feel that the iPhone needs to grow up - just a little bit:

My basic expectation from a smartphone is ability to multi-task. For the uninitiated - simply put I must be able to listen to music, browse the web, view a spreadsheet and chat via IM at the same time. I loved my Nokia E series devices for this. Unfortunately, the iPhone just can’t do it! You can work on one application at a time.
Secondly, to customize a phone so that one is able to ‘power-use’ it, there has to be a lot of applications available. Sure, we have the Apps Store from Apple, and some of the apps are great, but the I didn’t find the assortment complete.
Again, a smartphone without VoIP capabilities is difficult to digest for me. Sadly, it is not possible to talk to people over Gtalk / Skype etc. at the moment. Hoping that Fring comes up with something soon.
Finally, I still share the gripes of so many other iPhone owners about the usual things - no SMS forwarding, no Video recording (despite being Youtube capable), no Business Cards, average PIM capabilities etc.

Really hope that we get around some of these in the not-so-far future.

Update: I am quite unhappy with the battery performance even after the 2.0.2 update. I am just getting about 2 hours on 3g data connection and about 3 hours on EDGE. To put things into perspective, my nokia E51 could be on EDGE on push mail all day on a single charge!

1 comment September 1, 2008

What I Want from Google

Google is becoming an increasingly integral part of our lives. At first, it was pure-play search and targeted ads, then came along a whole bunch of communication services like Gmail, Gtalk, Orkut, Blogger etc.. We got Youtube, Picasa, Desktop Search, Reader etc.Then, they started offering hosted services like Docs, Google Apps etc. Finally, as the mobile web took off, they got busy in bringing Google services on mobile devices. I personally spend lot of time using the Google Mobile App and the Google Mobile webpage. As Google continues to touch our lives in more and more ways, I really feel they could do a bit more for us consumers, so that we stay hooked (and click on more ads!!). Here’s a short wishlist:

First things first - let’s talk about Gmail - the killer email service that gave Yahoo and Hotmail the jitters of their lives. Now, Google provides its Gmail users complete access through POP3 / IMAP, so that they can access their mails from a desktop client like Outlook or from mobile devices. They also have a neat application for mobile phones, that brings the real Gmail experience on the small screen. But, this application misses something which is the “in-thing” today - push email or the ability to fetch email as soon as it arrives, without having to manually check mails. I think this should be an important addition to the product.
Gtalk was “love at first sight” for me. The neat, simple interface was a great relief from that of Yahoo Messenger. I got hooked. And then I wanted it on my mobile phone as well. Apparently, Google does offer a Gtalk client for Blackberry phones, but not for others. What sin has Symbian or Windows Mobile committed? I agree that there are tons of companies offering Gtalk clients like Talkonaut, EQO, Nimbuzz, Fring, Morange etc., but I really don’t feel very comfortable keying in my password on these applications. After all, I use my Gmail for receiving statements from my bank account.
Google has a wonderful collection of essential softwares which it bundles and offers as Google Pack. Can we have something like that for mobile devices? A single download that offers essential communications, productivity, entertainment and security tools.
And, how about a Google Mobile Suite - a collection of apps that provide close to full-blown (with all the limitations of mobile devices) experience of all Google services.
Currently Google allows its mobile users to access Google Docs on their devices. But, users can just view their documents and not edit them. There are so many smartphones out there in the market which suffer from the same handicap - their devices come installed with Office-like software that enables them to view, but not edit documents. How about Google removing this handicap and getting more eyeballs on Google Docs!
Google acquired Jaiku, a micro-blogging service, sometime back. Google - can you please give us some information on what are you doing with this? Twitter and other micro-blogging platforms are going to eat you for breakfast. It would be great to have a Google micro-blogging platform which is well integrated with Gtalk, Gmail, Orkut, Reader etc.
Finally, I know you have a great SMS search service. India has one of the largest number of mobile users in the world and SMS as a service is quite cheap. People do not hesitate to pay premium charges for SMS to vote for their Indian Idols or participate in a game show. I am sure that Google’s SMS service can take off in a big way. Most mobile users in India still don’t use GPRS/Internet on their phones, so SMS can play a big role in bridging the information divide. But, there are two stumbling blocks - awareness and localization. How many people know of this service? A miniscule proportion. First of all, Google should popularize the SMS-based search service. In doing so, they need to push mobile operators as well, since they pocket the lion’s share of the SMS revenues. Secondly, if they succeed in providing the service in local languages, the potential simply doubles or maybe even more. Instead of going to ITC’s E-Choupal centers to get weather information or commodity prices, farmers would get the information in their fields, in their palms, whenever they want. That’s going to be huge!

Dear Google, a little more is all we want!!

3 comments May 17, 2008

My Very Own, Personal Jesus Christ!

I had read this piece recently where I discovered a new term “micro-boredom”. Its is basically about extremely small slices of life where one is ‘bored’ or has nothing to do. The article also goes on to talk about how technology provides a much needed escape route from micro-boredom, by filling in those small slices. If you think of it, a mobile phone offers you the privacy equivalent of being in a locked room. There is just very little distance between you and the screen of the phone to allow for intrusion. I have always thought that Indian youth are just so hooked on to their cell phones (always checking SMS, checking for missed calls, doing ‘nothing’ with the phone in a CCD) because of the sheer absence of privacy and personal space in our ‘other’ social life. Personal space is now the screen.

I have my own bouts of micro-boredom and when I think of it, I love the way various companies are tapping into my ‘nothing-to-do’ space. And, it’s far from being intrusive, but is actually quite helpful at times.

I use a Nokia E62 with Symbian O/S. It helps me check my company’s emails (MS-Exchange) with Mail for Exchange and sync my phone calendar/tasks/contacts to my Outlook. Google went on to create a suite of service for the hand phone. So, I can check my Gmail, add reminders to the calendar, watch Youtube videos suited for mobile phones, catch up on Google News, check out my Google Docs and catch up with my favourite feeds using Google Reader. They even created a handy application for Google Maps, which you can download to your cell phone. It is really useful - so when I have to find out where my hotel is located in Mumbai, I know where to look for it! Then, somebody realized that there has to be a better way to browse the net on a small screen and we got Opera Mini. Ideal for browsing, Opera Mini optimizes the internet for your cell phone. I use it to update my Twitter status; send private messages over Jaiku and connect with people on LinkedIn. It also has a feed aggregator and easy management of favourites. Yahoo Go puts in a host of Yahoo services in your palms - push email, weather updates, news, calendar and of course, Flickr. I browse through my albums, catch up on old times and share a laugh with myself at times. Then there is WidSets. It allows me to add tons of widgets to my application window - Twitter, Gmail, Jaiku, Feed Reader, Weather, Sudoku and tons of other time-killing games. I also micro-blog at Tumblr. So, you have this cool application called Tumbla, which lets you post text, quotes and pictures to Tumblr. In the evening, when I get a message that I need to be in Delhi for an urgent client meeting, I use applications from Jet Airways and Yatra.com to book my flight tickets on the go. Did I mention that I like to track the stock markets? I use Markets on Mobile from Moneycontrol to get updtes on my portfolio and the markets in general. Sometimes, when I get up in the night, I even use it to see how the US markets are doing! Whenever I feel the urge to chat up with a friend, I log onto my Gtalk / Yahoo Messenger. There are tons of options for this like Talkonaut, Morange among others. Though multiplex movie tickets are pretty steep these days, whenever I feel like I use the application from Book My Show to book movie tickets. What’s more, it even allows me to choose the seats of my preference. Oh yes! I swear I use my phone to talk as well.

So the other day, someone asked me “Don’t you get bored staying by yourself?” Nah! No way! Micro-boredom has evaporated into thin air! My phone is my saviour - my very own, personal Jesus Christ.

Salvation lies in your hands!

Add comment March 22, 2008