Let’s start with the interface.  How in the heck is that a homescreen?  Or at least something you’d want to use?  A bunch of colored rectangles?  How is that nice to look at?  I saw where they were going with it, making it more Zune HD like, but seriously, they couldn’t have done something better than this?  What if I want my applications on the homescreen?  What if I really like “DoodleJump” and want it on my homescreen so I can play it any time I want?  Well, based on what I’ve seen so far, there’s none of that.  Outside of the homescreen, the interface is just as basic, with only text and some animations.  Is this really what I want in a phone?  Because I could easily go back to my Nokia 3360 from nine years ago if I just wanted text.  I’m not saying this thing has to be the prettiest at the ball, but come on, don’t step up to the plate thinking you’re a 10 when you’re a 3 at best.  Microsoft also said that they’re not allowing any sort of “themes”, so that really nice TouchFlo they made to make WM better, is nixed.  Based on this, I’m stuck with the same boring homescreen, and same boring everything.  It just goes to show that Microsoft really knows absolutely nothing about design and aesthetics.  We already have the iPhone, Android and WebOS that are all really nice on the UI end, and then we end up with *this* from Microsoft.  I’d rather use Symbian than this crap.

Microsoft did do one thing right, they made the hardware specs pretty damn high.  This means that the minimum screen res is 800×480, 8GB of storage and something about CPU speed, which I can’t recall right now.  See, that’s what we need, minimum specs so we can get rid of the crap QVGA, 320×480 resolutions we’re still seeing in phones.  I’d also be incredibly grateful when we start to make 1Ghz processors the standard in phones, as 500Mhz just isn’t enough anymore.  Being a hardware person myself, I welcome better specs, and praise MS for making these “minimum” specs!

Back to the fail.  One of the things that was really good about Windows Mobile, was that you could side-load applications.  Meaning, you didn’t need to use any special software or program to install software, and could download them from the manufacturer’s website, or elsewhere.  Well, with WP7S, the only way you can install applications are through it’s “App Store”.  So that means that any developer who wants to make an app, can only do so if it’s part of the App Store.  I know that this is how the iPhone is, but there are ways around that .  Who knows, maybe someone will figure out how to get around this.  Lastly, Microsoft has stated that they’re not going to include any form of copy and paste to WP7S.  Why not?  WM has always had copy and paste, hell even the iPhone has copy and paste.  Why omit this feature?  It’s incredibly useful, especially if you wanted to copy something someone sent in a text, to someone else.  Or copy the entire webpage, and paste that in an email…I mean, who wouldn’t want that?  Just stupid of Microsoft to not include this.  The other lacking things are no multitasking (man, people REALLY need to this worked on, because multitasking is KEY in a smartphone), no Flash, no upgrades from previous hardware…come one Microsoft.

If you take a step back and look at Windows Phone 7 Series as a whole, you can easily tell it’s lacking.  It does have some nice features, like nice menu animations, integrating Xbox Live (though I hate achievement whores); but when you compare it to the iPhone, Android, and even WebOS, it just doesn’t stand up at all.  Microsoft needs to hire some better UI designers as they just don’t have a clue.  I fully expect WP7S will be an utter failure until they can get something more usable; until then, I do not want these phones, period.

The iPad was unveiled by Apple on January 27th 2010 after years of speculation that Apple would release a tablet.  I waited patently at Engadget as the keynote went on, viewing every update as it came, but I was ultimate disappointed in the device as a whole.  The first thing that upset me, was the bezel was too large, I mean look at all that black there, they could have done a little better on that aspect.  I like to have as much screen as I can.  Next, they decided to use iPhone OS 3.2 instead of skipping to 4.0.  While this is ok in the fact that they used 3.2 instead of 4.0, they however didn’t really do anything to the interface except adding the ability to use your own wallpaper on the homescreen (something jailbreakers have been doing for ages).  They still have the same 4×4 icon set, they still use the same icons, though they did update the dock to look more the Leopard/Snow Leopard.  They didn’t do anything revolutionary to the homescreen.  I guess I just expect more out of a new device, especially when iPhone OS is becoming a little stale in comparison to Android/WebOS.  They did however make some nice changes to the interface of everything else.  Settings has an all new look, as well as Mail, Calendar, YouTube, Photos, etc…  The software aspect is pretty nice (except the lackluster homescreen).  Hardware wise they decided to use a 9.7″ IPS LCD screen, coupled with a 1Ghz “Apple A4 chip”, which is nothing more than an ARM Cortex-A8 chip, no word on actual memory of the device yet, but I’d hoped it’d be at least 512MB since the iPhone 3GS already  has 256.  There is a 3G version of the iPad, but comes at a higher price AND you had to pay an additional $30 for the Unlimited (read: 5GB) data plan.  Since this is still iPhone OS, it still has the same gripes I talked about in my previous post (no Flash, no multitasking, etc…), so I’m not going to get into that at all.  Let’s get into why I’m really excited about it.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a netbook as my only computer right now, a netbook I use to watch video on, which causes the crappy Atom processor to choke on and heat up.  Since my iPhone screen is way too small to enjoy a TV episode/movie, I can’t wait to watch a show/movie on this screen.  yeah it’s only 1024×768 resolution, but it’s so much better than the iPhone’s 480×320, and definitely better than my netbook’s 1024×600.  This also means that I can watch a movie/show on the iPad and be able to browse the web at the same time.  If I tried to do that on my netbook, I wouldn’t be able to, the movie would freeze and the CPU would jump to 100% (which it seems to do no matter what I do).  That means I can watch my 720p TV shows and movies on a 9.7″ screen and not worry about overheating my notebook.  I’m also incredibly excited about web browsing on this screen; the iPhone’s screen is just too small to be able to do any real web browsing, without scrolling for days.  Since the iPad will run most, if not all of the iPhone’s apps, this means that games will be so much better, it’ll also make SSH applications actually worthwhile, thanks to the bigger screen.  Though it makes me wonder if games designed for the iPad will run worse on the iPad than on the iPhone, since the iPad uses the same graphics processor as the iPhone, or will the extra horsepower from the “A4″ pick up the slack?  One thing that I don’t get is, why would anyone want to put their music on this thing?  Isn’t that what your iPhone/iPod is for?  I’d rather have that space available for apps/movies.  I guess if you’re lazy and don’t want to get your iPhone/iPod out.

I’ve already pre-ordered the WiFi version as a birthday present to myself, as I did not want to wait for the 3G version, nor did I want to pay an additional $30 to AT&T when I already do that for my iPhone.  Another reason for not getting the 3G version is that where am I going to take the iPad?  I have WiFi at home, and I’m sure as hell not going to take this device anywhere only to have it stolen, so I’m going to keep this baby at home thank you!  Since the iPad runs on iPhone OS, it’ll only be a matter of time until it’s jailbroken.  I really can’t wait until this thing is jailbroken as that will truly open up everything, themes, additional programs.  As excited as I am for the iPad, being a hardware enthusiast, I want more.  I want a 10″ HD screen, 1.5Ghz processor, 512MB/1GB of RAM, front facing camera for Skype, and a dedicated GPS for the WiFi version.  Hey, a guy can dream can’t he? .  All I know is that I’m going to be extremely happy with the device, but I will certainly write up a review after I get it in less than 3 weeks.

Let’s give you some examples as to how the Atom processor simply fails (and netbooks in general).  As I mentioned earlier, people love watching YouTube/Hulu/Vimeo/etc…which uses Flash.  As most of you know, Flash is an incredible resource hog and since it’s a bloated piece of software, it runs everything in software mode (read: uses CPU).  Just running a basic 360p video from YouTube causes the CPU to jump to 50-60% if not more.  Why?  Why should I have such a high CPU usage just for watching a simple 360p video?  That’s not even counting the CPU usage from the OS itself, any programs you have open, etc…So just watching that video, could tax your CPU to 100%.  Great, stuttery video.  Don’t even think about watching a 720p video on YouTube, it just won’t play properly.  This is just video alone!  Imagine trying to play Farmville, or CafeWorld on Facebook, you’re going to get 100% CPU no doubt.  So while you were able to play these games on your desktop or even your latop, you’re shit out of luck on a netbook, mostly because of the shit CPU inside.  There are HD accelerators available for netbooks, one being the Broadcom Crystal HD miniPCI-e card.  However, inside the Mini9, there’s only one miniPCI-e slot, so you have to lose WiFi (ugh…).  This card only allows acceleration of Flash for video (not the card’s fault, pure on Adobe), so if you wanted to play those Flash games, good luck, this card won’t help.  This card WILL help if you wanted to watch 720p HD mkv videos, but beware of Windows sucking up CPU usage randomly, causing your HD video to stutter like crazy.  So there’s another thing that your netbook can’t do.

So is there really anything a netbook is good for?  Not really.  Unless you only view google.com or sites that aren’t graphically intensive, or doesn’t use any Flash, you’re going to have a horrible experience.  I love how small the netbook is, I love how convenient it is, but each time I use it, it makes me cry as to how lacking it is.  Why do I have a netbook instead of a desktop/laptop?  I had to consolidate (read: needed money) things and sold my laptop, so I’m stuck with the netbook for now.  I need power, and this thing just doesn’t cut it at all.

First off, the Symbian OS is far, far from user friendly.  It’s clunky, requires a lot of button presses just to get to certain parts of the OS, it doesn’t even give me a live call timer (for when I’m on a call), it doesn’t have a touch screen, and the screen is limited to 2.4″ and a resolution of 240×320 (which is QVGA).  What’s good about it is, that it’s very slim, it’s shiny, and it has a QWERTY keyboard for typing, which helps a lot with texts or IM.  While I do have an upgrade available on my at&t account, I could just get another iPhone 3GS; however, come June, there’s going to be a new iPhone, which is supposed to be much better than the 3GS.  But what really has me jonesin’ is Android.

Android is the Google mobile Operating System based on Linux.  While it took a little while for Android to get on it’s feet, there have been several Android handsets that have come out recently, that have really piqued my interest.  One major handset that I’d really love to have, is the Motorola Droid.  It boasts a 550Mhz processor, 3.7″ capacitive display, 854×400 resolution, etc…  The only problem here is, it’s only on Verizon.  While there is a GSM version called the Milestone, it doesn’t have the US 3G frequencies required by at&t, so I’d be stuck with EDGE.  The second handset, is the “Google Phone”, or otherwise known as the Nexus One.  This bad boy boasts a 3.7″ AMOLED screen, a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 800×480 resolution, 720×480 (or DVD resolution) video capture and 512MB of RAM.  Only problem here?  It’s only available on T-Mobile, meaning it’s 3G frequencies only work on T-Mobile, or in Europe.  So where are at&t’s Android handsets you ask?  There aren’t any.  Verizon has two, T-Mobile has three, Sprint has two, but where is at&t?  at&t have been extremely closed lip regarding Android handsets, however at CES, they’ve announced that Motorola, HTC and Dell are all bringing Android phones to at&t.  So far, Motorola has announced the “Backflip”, which if you can tell by this link, it’s ugly as sin, not to mention, horrible specs:

http://gizmodo.com/5428379/leaked-att-android-phone-looks-unexpectedly-like-a-crappier-motorola-cliq

If that doesn’t frighten you, I don’t know what will.  With Dell’s “Mini3″ phone, that doesn’t have a keyboard, or any exciting specs, that only leaves HTC to bring home the gold, and wow us with a desirable Android phone.  at&t also announced that it will bring two Palm webOS phones some time in 2010.  They don’t mention which phones they’re bringing, or anything else.  So it could be a rehash of the Palm Pre (which, imo, would be very nice), or of the Pixi, or it could be an entirely new device.  Some of you may have used an Android phone and hated it, and gone back to the iPhone; while that’s very tempting, I do like the ability to have open access to my phone whenever I want.  “Why don’t you just jailbreak the iPhone” you say?  I could, but jailbreaking it has the potential of being unstable and slow, especially in the iPhone 2G, and 3G.  The ability to multitask is another major thing with Android.  Say you’re in an IM conversation with a friend, and BAM, an SMS message pops up.  What do you do?  With iPhone OS, you only have two options, go to the message, or close the popup.  Say it’s an important message and you choose to go to the message.  What happens to your IM app?  Because of the lack of multitasking, that IM app is closed, and you’re logged out.  Now certain IM apps now feature push notifications, which is nice, but you still have to essentially log back in to your IM app when you go back into it.  With Android, you don’t get an annoying pop up, and if the message is important, you can go to the message without worrying about closing the IM app, it’s running in the background.  Very nice if you ask me.

Seeing as how it’s that time of year when Apple unveils it’s latest iPhone OS, there have been some rumors as to what iPhone OS 4.0 is going to bring.  Thanks to Gizmodo and The Boy Genius Report, the rumors that are spreading around, are the following:

• There will be multi-touch gestures OS-wide. (Would make sense for that as the rumored OS for the iTablet is close if not the same as the iPhone)
• “A few new ways” to run applications in the background – multitasking.
• Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient. We haven’t had this broken down, but we can only hope for improved notifications, a refreshed homescreen, etc.
• The update will supposedly be available for only the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but will “put them ahead in the smartphone market because it will make them more like full-fledged computers” more than any other phone to date. Everyone is “really excited.”
• The last piece of information is the most vague, but apparently there will be some brand new syncing ability for the contacts and calendar applications.

This is copied verbatim from Gizmodo, so thanks!  Apple’s event is on the 27th, so I hope any of these things would make it into the new OS.  But that brings us to the possibility of what’s going to be included in the new iPhone.  Some people are saying an OLED screen, some are saying a 5MP camera (which doesn’t help if the senor in the phone is crap), better resolution, different casing.  Who knows?  Honestly, they do need to bump up the screen size, most definitely the resolution, (as the iPhone only has a resolution of 360×480), a better sensor in the camera, completely different case (i.e. go back to metal instead of plastic), and more RAM (as honestly, more RAM doesn’t hurt anything).  I honestly can’t think of anything else to go into the new iPhone, unless they want to copy HTC’s HD2 (4.3″ screen, 480×800 resolution, 488MB RAM, 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, 5MP camera), I wouldn’t argue that at all.

When it comes down to it, Nokia is no longer in the smartphone game, even with their N97 or 5800 Xpress Music.  Symbian OS just is not consumer friendly enough to be a major player here.  I mean, I’d rather use a Windows Mobile phone, than a Nokia. (yeah, I know, I’m using a Nokia now…)  Apple has to really step up it’s game if it wants to remain on top of the smartphone business, and not lose ground to Android.  Better hardware, better software, that’s all I want, and right now, Android has both!