All this talk about the leaked Moto X specs and it’s “Mid-Range” Specs made me think about this whole spec battle in general. We all know the the Nexus line of phones are considered Mid Range devices based on their specs, but 9/10 provide a much more smoother enjoyable experience than the High End devices like the GS4 or HTC One.

I guess my point here is that just because a phone is a mid-range device does not mean it will perform worse than the so called high end device. I mean the iPhone based on specs would be considered a mid rang device, however most people considered it, arguably here, a premium high end device. So what exactly is the difference?

I think in the end the focus should be experience…not specs. For the new Moto X, you probably are not going to need some crazy specs to run Stockish Android. The real reason the GS4 and One need those specs is because they have to account for the skin layer on top of Android which the phone runs.

For me I predict the cheaper “Mid Range” Moto X will out perform the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One in regards to smoothness, polish, and more enjoyable user experience. In my mind that is what makes a premium phone, high end phone. Sure it might lose in the benchmarks….but that doesn’t matter.

I think Apple’s marketing team has always been geniuses at pushing the message that the iPhone is about experience not specs. I think this is why the new “Cotton Candy” look of iOS 7 gets so much flack. It messes with the users experience.

Google/Motorola needs to change the conversation in Android and start focusing on the experience…not the specs. IMO Stock Android’s design language is a much cleaner, more gender neutral look than any of the other OS. With Google services in tow, there is really no reason the phone should not be a hit.

At this years Google I/O we saw Google TV boxes all over the place with various skins and designs raging from stock to cubes. It kind of reminded me of Android Smartphones, with every OEM coming out with their version of what they think Google TV should be, some which suck…and some which seem like they have promise.

Google TV reminds me of what Android was right before Gingerbread, still trying to figure itself out and work out the kinks in the platform, and not a major player on the field. So Google should learn from their own history to make Google TV a strong platform…..

1. More updates, it is like the Google TV team took a long vacation. Android was getting major updates almost every 6 months, making it more stable and adding more and more features. For Google TV, it is not the case and probably gets updated once a year.

2. A Nexus Google TV. Yes, some thought we were going to see one at CES, but lets not forget Google does not present Nexus devices at CES…I’m not sure if they ever have. If we see a Nexus Google TV it will be shown at Google I/O along with all the other Nexus paraphernalia. This Google TV should probably be built by ASUS or LG which seems to be it’s strongest partner in this area.

3. Features. The Google TV already has a great feature set, but this is what it needs.

1. A Tuner. The Google TV needs an Tuner for all those folks who are cord cutters. Yes, this will bump up the price, but Google could solve this by making two options. A Cable/Sat add on box, and a Stand Alone Box meant for cord cutters which use broadcast HD. All this for 99.99. What would be the better solution would be one box that offers both.
2. Local Media. Yes the Google TV needs to do a much better job of organizing local media, it should be able to connect to a SMB or DLNA share and scrape the movie info similar to a Boxee Box. In addition, the search feature should be able to additionally pull up local media when you are searching for a TV show or movie to watch.
3. Content. This is probably the more complicated issue but for people like me who still suscribes to digital cable…all I really want is better DVR integration. If Google could negotiate that, as a cable subscriber I would be happy. For those who are cord cutters, most shows and movies are already being added in a la carte. With a tuner for live TV, 90% of needs should be met.

Anyway what do you all think

I’m an Android user so I will speak on this from the outside looking in. I am a heavy Windows Desktop user as I never really saw the point of using a Mac for my needs so desktop runs Windows while the mobile stuff is Android. Now unlike many folks I don’t think Windows Phone had a feature or hardware problem…I think the problem was more of a problem with the Windows Phone ecosystem. Windows Phone represented a move from the standard icon grid many people were sick of and most of the issues which I hear are built around the ecosystem.

First, Microsoft should of done a better job with the integration with their cloud services. People should have to automatically use their Outlook.com to sign in to the phone, if they don’t have one make them create one. Just like Amazon, Apple and Google force you to create some account for Kindle, iOS and Android. Using this account should enable services you have turned on across the board with single sign-on to each.

Which brings me to my next point. Windows Phone has a poor streamlined cloud services experience among all product lines. Microsoft already has majority of it’s services on the web to all users, something Apple does not have, but everything looks disjointed. Why does the calendar still look like crap. In addition I should be able to log into Outlook.com access all connected services, So I should be able to go to Bing Maps, Music, the Market Place, Office 365, and all other content offered under that umbrella. This will help to promote the Windows ecosystem because it is all available in one place.

Next is marketing…..bad job on marketing. People’s experience is more geared toward the ecosystem that they use. Android is all about Google….Apple is all about iCloud. Microsoft focused more on the feature set and forget to market their ecosystem. If you don’t want users to depend on something else you have to give them a way out. For example Google Music gave users a way out of iTunes by providing syncing directly from iTunes making the switch simple. Apple dropped Google Maps and provided their own offering (Even though it kind of sucked). The key here they where marketed heavy to get users on board.

Microsoft should have marketed the features of Bing Maps and how it does what Google Maps does but better. They should have of marketed their content offerings much better, and maybe use deeper skype integration as a leverage for customers.

I think MS went about this all the wrong way and should have never went negative with Google or anyone else, regardless of what Google did or didn’t do, MS should have focused on their product and showing how great their product is. Windows Phone is a great phone being managed by the wrong people, and that is unfortunate because they had a strong chance of wiping blackberry away.

So there has been all the talk of Amazon stepping up their game and there has been rumors in the air of them releasing a smartphone. Well, I think that is grand but I also think it will crash and burn..and here is why.

You Can’t Win by Riding the Back of Another OS

If Amazon releases a phone, it will most likely be a forked version of Android just like the tablet is.  Which is where the problem begins.  When you fork a OS it means you always have to wait for the code to be released before actually updating your own.  This is why the Kindle Fire HD is running on Android 4.0 not 4.1 and definitely not 4.2.  Now it probably does not matter to much since Amazon completely changed almost everything about the OS, but there is still that point…that at any give time your OS will always be running one major version behind the rest.

Ecosystem is Everything

Android’s claim to fame is that it is the ecosystem that works well with other ecosystems.  So If you are a Amazon person you can pull in MP3s, Books, and hopefully Video onto any Android Phone.  We see this done with the Droid DNA, and I feel this might start to become a trend.  However, because Amazon is forked, they have no access to Google Apps…which is one of the perks for being in the OHA.  In addtion you can’t even market it as an Android phone even thoug it runs Android Apps, so you now have to really market your App Store, to people who already have the same App in the Play Store.  Anyway, all those Googleytes out there that need their Google apps like Search, GMail, Maps, and the like are out of luck.  Oh plus, if you have moved content over to Google that also means no access to Play Store or Google Music, Drive, Currents…etc.  Again this matters, because most of Google Apps are available for iOS and Android which account for over 80% of the smartphone market.  With Amazon services being available as a simple app download you get the best of both worlds by just getting an Android or iOS phone.  While you will miss out on services by moving to an Amazon phone.  This aspect matters more on your primary device than on a tablet which is more of a secondary media consumption device.

The Field is Getting Serious about their Stuff

With Blackberry 10 on the horizon and Windows Phone 8 trying to make their mark, what can Amazon bring to the table as an innovative smartphone for users?  Price?  Sorry the Nexus 4 already did that.  Services? By Using a forked version of Android it will be gimped from the start.  Cloud Services? Well Amazon is chasing behind everyone else here as MS, Apple, and Google…have cemented a robust offering of cloud services both for entertainment and productivity.  Amazon is only focusing on the entertainment side, which is great for Tablets, but you need both for SmartPhones.

Final Thoughts..

In the end I think it will be great for competition, and in turn great for consumers as everyone will really have to start thinking outside the box.  However, Amazon becoming a major player?  I just don’t think it will happen.  Now I could be wrong and Amazon takes a different approach to this maybe making an Amazon experience Android phone through HTC, like the Droid DNA, but even more Amazon’d out.  There could be some sort of exclusive to it, like 5% off any Amazon prime purchase through some special Amazon app on the phone. That would be major. But hey I guess we will have to wait and see.

Everyone is always releasing these best of 2012 post which some I agree with and some is pure garbage so I figured I will release my own, as it doesn’t take a genius to to make a list of the best in tech.

SmartPhones

First off lets talk about phones.  Just toss the whole Fanboy  Android vs iPhone deal out the Window, and tell your little whiny Windows phone friend to be quiet.  There was no best phone of 2012, in my opinion there were 3.  Yes of course there was the iPhone 5, Apple’s iconic phone which honestly had some major updates this cycle.  It has a better, bigger screen and 4G LTE.  Yes I know some of you will say it is so much more, but lets face it the majority of people see 2 things a bigger screen and 4G LTE, which for all intensive purposes might be, “Meh” to others, but it is major for those iOS users.  In addition, add the Galaxy S3 to your list.  As much as I hate touchwiz, it is a pretty nice device with some nifty little features, and everyone I know has that damn phone.  Finally of course the Nexus 4, yes I know it does not have LTE, but yo, that thing is $300 unlocked, who ever heard of that.  Not to mention, it is finally putting the Nexus line on the map, something Google has had a hard time doing.

Tablets

Nexus 7, no not the iPad Mini, or Kindle Fire….the Nexus 7.  This tablet had Apple fans dropping their iPads and buying 2.  When has an Android tablet ever done that.  Kindle Fire was just too….well…Amazonish, and no Google Apps, we all know how we love our Google Apps.  The iPad mini, was basically Apple forcing themselves to make a tablet so they don’t lose market share.  I mean no retina display, no GPS, and 329.00 for that thing….I think not.  I don’t care how beautiful that thing is, people don’t buy tablets to adorn like a work of art.

Finally the real best of 2012 is Project Glass..this is what tech companies should be doing, thinking outside of the box, not iterating their smartphones and calling it, some new innovation.  I still watch this YouTube video and I’m like can’t wait till this is live.  Yeah I know most have seen it but I will show it again, because it is just that cool.

 

With Google announcing their Scan and match service for Play Music and the recent addition of the Warner catalog a couple months back, Google’s Play Music can actually flex some muscle. For us Android user music management is always that thing which could easily drive you bonkers. This is just my perspective on the 3 major services from an Android user.

iTunes has the most content then any of the other 2 services, with most artist making it a priority to add their music to iTunes before any other digital store. In addition there are a lot more “iTunes Exclusive” content here than anywhere else. iTunes offers a match service to ease the hassle of uploading music, however there is a cost of 24.99 a year, which in the grand scheme of things is not bad. With iTunes 11 everything is completely integrated into the cloud (iCloud) and brings the ability to stream music to iOS devices without downloading it. iTunes additionally gives users AirPlay capabilities to stream music Wireless in your home.

My big issues with iTunes are that all these great features are utterly useless for someone who uses another platform outside of iOS. Yes, there are some apps which try their best to replicate those features, but it is never the same. With using iTunes with Windows or Android you will still be required to sync your music, either by syncing it to another service or syncing it directly to your phone. In addition with no native app, you have to use 3rd party apps like DoubleTwist and the like, if you want to setup some sort of wireless syncing to your phone. Even with that it still requires you to be at home or by the computer/laptop in which you are downloading the music to. These apps are great, but the one thing they do not offer is the ability to purchase music right from my phone. Actually you have to be on a computer that you installed iTunes on to purchase music, you can’t even purchase music from a web interface, so it is really limiting. Yes, there is iCloud, but unless you have an Apple device you basically cannot use the service. In addition, for those of us with huge libraries, there is no way to stream your iTunes library to an Android phone which also makes it annoying if your out of town and in the mood to play something that is not currently synced to your phone.

Amazon MP3 is actually a really nice service. For starters it’s catalog is not as big as iTunes, but they carry all of the major labels, so there is a 90% chance most people will always find what they are looking for. In addition there is a native app for Android users, which allows you to purchase and play music directly from your phone. Music could be downloaded or streamed from the Amazon cloud player, and you could always just go to Amazon.com and purchase music there which can be dropped into the cloud player and then accessed from your phone. Like iTunes there is also a match service for up to 250k songs compared to iTunes 25k for 24.99 a year.

My only real big issues with the Cloud Player are that the Android App leaves a lot to be desired..namely being the way it handles offline music…it just downloads everything to the device. Now some people might think that is great, but there is no way of managing what you want on the device and what you don’t unless you start browsing directories and deleting stuff. Also because it does it this way it makes there is no way to just download a playlist for offline play. In addition the you have to use their weird software for downloading music on your desktop which is the buggiest thing I have ever used.

Finally we come to Google Play which is technically supposed to be the standard music app for Android users. The main issue with Google Play their library and who actually has access to it. Even with the expansion of Google Play in Europe and other countries and the addition of the Warner music library, Google Play still does not have as much content as it’s rivals. For the average type of listener this may not be an issue, but for folks constantly looking for new artist and new music, there may be some artist that are not there. I have a friend you has 2 albums on iTunes and not one on the Play Store. However many of these issues are solved with Google Play’s ability to sync outside libraries (Window Media Player, iTunes, etc..) to Google Play. For me the majority of my stuff I find and if not I buy from Amazon and upload it to Google Play. Google play now additionally offers a match service for up to 20k (This kinda sucks) songs for free, so that is a big plus for many folks.

Google Play pretty much does the same things as Amazon MP3, but I feel it does it a tad bit better. For the most part syncing of your music between devices is effortless. The minute you purchase music on the web or device, it will be synced and show up on your tablet or phone. There is no telling the player to sync music as everything happens in the background. In addition Google Play handles offline playback by caching music to your device, by simply “Pinning” a song, album, playlist or even an artist. If you are running out of space you can simply unpin something to add something else. I usually keep just playlist cached to my device, so whenever I add a new song to the playlist, the app knows to also save the song to my device since it is in a playlist that is set for offline playback (Amazon MP3s does not do this). In addition downloading music to your computer is just downloading a compressed file, unlike Amazon or iTunes which is not as straight forward.

In the end everyone has their preference and what they are used to, but I think for those of us on Android, we are finally seeing some good things happening with Google Play.