SOMM Soapbox

The success and popularity of iOS and Android powered mobile devices are having an impact on traditional computing. From Microsoft’s focus on making Windows 8 mobile friendly to Apple’s iOS-like makeover of its upcoming OS X Mountain Lion, the mobilization of computing is here to stay. The question is will the advantages of this mobilization outweigh its disadvantages?

I am a strong advocate of Google’s Android mobile operating system, but I assure you I’m not a totally blind zealot. Android has matured but still features its fair share of problems. Some of these problems are nerve wracking and could have caused me to leave the Android ecosystem if there were any viable alternatives (in my eyes).  From bugs to security, Google has a lot of issues to solve and here’s hoping that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) does that. Until I get ICS in hand, here are five things I hate about Android.

Apple, Inc has more ammo to use against Android in the mobile war and it’s a feature almost all smartphone users are familiar with, ‘Slide-to-Unlock”.

With Google apparently showing interest in video games and now based off a report by Engadget that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will support USB gamepads and HDMI, you might be able to turn your future Android phone and tablet into a nifty game console!

Apple is set to reveal the next iPhone today at 10:00AM PST, but rumors and reports persist that the “next” iPhone is nothing more than a minor hardware upgrade from the iPhone 4. The minor upgrade is said to be the Apple A5 processor (same processor in the iPad 2) and more RAM, noting there is nothing about a radical change in neither the phone’s screen size nor its resolution over the iPhone 4. What does this all mean?

With the introduction of Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire, the already flooded tablet market is looking like a dam on the verge of collapse. Although, the Kindle Fire is set to break away, using something out of Apple’s own playbook. I’m speaking of services, which Toshiba, Samsung, RIM, Motorola and other Android OEM tablet makers can’t match. On paper, Amazon has the clout and services to potentially take the hearts and minds of the mainstream consumer.

How many features can someone put into a product before they come off as superfluous bullet points? In a new series I am dubbing the Superfluous Tech Top Five, I take a look at tech categories, single products and everything in between to find product “features” that are overwhelmingly superfluous fluff.

The product I am examining today is produced by a company that has a history of overzealously placing superfluous bullet points to “features” that are most of the time common in their competitors’ products. If you haven’t guessed the name of the company by now, it is no other than Apple Inc and the product is iOS 5.

Google’s music service joins a new wave of cloud-based offerings that have the ability and leverage to turn the music industry’s business model upside down on its head…again. Not since the dawn of the MP3 and file sharing has the music industry faced such a major threat and this time, it’s legal (for now).

Imagine purchasing an album one time and with a few clicks, have that album be made available to you on any computer and/or device at anytime. This scenario while possible now isn’t quite legal due to the restrictions imposed by modern digital music services like iTunes. Sure, music downloads don’t have the Digital Rights Management (DRM) embedded into their files but the terms and conditions you agree upon when you download still place restrictions on how and where you can use your music. This is set to change with services like Music Beta by Google.

Stop! Everyone about to purchase or thinking about purchasing a new PC, just STOP! A PC is so yesterday according to Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. Never mind that iDevices like the iPad will never offer the same precision control as a keyboard/mouse combo in most applications. Never mind that there are hundreds of millions of smartphone users who STILL purchase and rely on notebooks and desktop computers for their everyday computing needs. Yes, stop all of your purchases of PC’s because iOS 5 with all of its revolutionary features has finally cut the need of wired connections (never mind that most phones – even featured phones – already have most of what iOS 5 offers).