The Brooks Review

Month: February 2011

  • Engadget’s Motorola Xoom Review

    Joshua Topolsky reviewing the Moto Xoom:

    One other big note: a lot of the new software feels like it isn’t quite out of beta (surprise surprise). We had our fair share of force closes and bizarre freezes, particularly in the Market app and Movie Studio. Most applications were fine, but there definitely some moments where we felt like the whole device was teetering on the brink of a total crash.

    He later says:

    Is the Xoom a real competitor to the iPad? Absolutely. In fact, it outclasses the iPad in many ways.

    Only to later follow that up in the same paragraph saying:

    Honeycomb and the Xoom are spectacular — unfortunately they’re a spectacular work in progress.

    I am not knocking Topolsky here, but honestly you can’t say that something that is full of bugs and crashes with new apps even designed for it is a true iPad competitor at this point. A more accurate description would be that it has everything it needs to be a great competitor, but needs more stable software and more third party apps.

    Because who wants to drop $800 on a “work in progress”?

  • Using Your iPad as a Business Productivity Tool

    Dave Caolo has written a book on using your iPad as a business tool. If you don’t buy this I will be sad and Dave will be sad — so in effect buying this book makes the world a touch happier. Here’s what Dave has to say about the book:

    I’ll then wrap the whole thing up with my best tips and tricks.

    That alone is worth it.

  • The Droid is Dead

    “Droid Does”

    Remember seeing that tag line everywhere? I do, I used to see it on the same billboard everyday on my way into work. It was the anti-iPhone, anti-Apple statement made by the biggest U.S. wireless carrier (you know the one that just got the iPhone). It wasn’t about Android or Google — it was about Droid and Droid was and is Verizon.((Verizon licensed the term Droid from Lucas.)) It is a play on Star Wars — a term that all geeks know means business.

    “Droid does apps.”

    “Rule the Air”

    Verizon was in PR heaven with monthly rumors of when the iPhone would finally come to Verizon — hell they were made the best wireless network in the U.S. specifically because they didn’t offer the iPhone. That is what you call a win for your company — when you don’t sell the hottest phone on the market, yet your brand recognition and strength only improves — impressive. They kept rolling out tagline after tagline in a PR blitz.

    Then…

    The inevitable finally happened and Apple announced a Verizon iPhone in front of a limitedly excited crowd — after all it wasn’t anything that new, just something we could all say “finally” about. February 10th was the day that Verizon stores around the country were preparing for lines like we have seen for previous iPhone launches. Many people predicted massive lines… then nothing. There were more tumbleweeds blowing by then people in line for the Verizon iPhone.

    Don’t get me wrong, the Verizon iPhone is certainly a hit and a welcomed addition to the family, but it didn’t spark mass hysteria. Verizon now bombards us with commercials playing to the perceived strength of their network over rival AT&T’s.

    Which only leaves me to wonder if Droid still — well — ‘does’.

    The current Verizon homepage says it all, they lead with this iPhone 4 banner:

    They follow with this one about some silly looking device from 1995:

    Then they follow with this Android banner — that amazingly doesn’t promote the Droid line:

    Finally they get to the Droid phones, but only showing them as pre-owned devices:

    That is a telling tale: Droid’s are the 4th item on the rotating banner and are seen only under the basement title of “pre-owned”. It would seem that Droid has been sent to a beautiful farm land where it can run free…

    “Droid is dead” — is basically what I am saying here.

    I don’t mean that Verizon won’t ship or sell any more Droid phones, but they aren’t interested in wasting anymore money advertising the brand. I think this is done for a very good and logical reason:

    1. The iPhone is more desired and well known than the Droid brand — why waste money on a losing cause.
    2. It’s the iPhone versus the non-iPhones — consumers don’t care if it is an HTC Whatever or Droid, they just want to know if it is a smartphone or an iPhone.
    3. If you aren’t an iPhone then you better be cheap — that’s the message Verizon is sending in the above banners. You pay big bucks for the iPhone or you can buy lesser, iPhone clones, for a lower price.

    Those are not meant to be knocks against Android, but it is what I glean to be the thought process of non-geek consumers. The same consumers that walk into a Verizon store not knowing what they want already. Verizon knows that the only phone these customers are likely to know about is the iPhone and that matters. That explains why the Droid is basically dead as a heavily promoted brand.

    With that said, Droid, welcome to the category known as “not an iPhone”.

  • Mac OS X Lion

    And now, the most important announcement today: Lion. Here are some key highlights of Lion:

    • Mail 5: “Just like Mail on iPad, Mail 5 in Mac OS X Lion features a new layout that takes advantage of the widescreen display on your Mac.” Finally.
    • AirDrop: “With AirDrop in Mac OS X Lion, you can send files to anyone around you — wirelessly.” Sounds an awful lot like DropCopy, but I am happy to see this kind of tech make its way to the Mac.
    • OS X Server is also bundled in and comes with this gem: “Lion Server delivers wireless file sharing for iPad. Enabling WebDAV in Lion Server gives iPad users the ability to access, copy, and share documents on the server from applications such as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.” That is sweet and makes a killer reason to have a little Mac server around for your company. ((I say little because a Mac mini should be perfectly suited.))

    The best part: Apple usually saves some juicy stuff for launch day, can’t wait.

  • New MacBook Pros

    Thunderbolt is real and should clearly be showing Apple’s hand in regard to USB 3.0 — meaning I bet the stay with Thunderbolt + USB 2.0 for a while. If Thunderbolt takes off they will never have a need for USB 3. The new Pros also feature the new FaceTime HD camera, touting 3 times the resolution and better low-light performance — two areas that really needed improvement.

    Also: everything else is touch faster.

  • FaceTime for Mac

    Apple has released FaceTime for $0.99 in the Mac App Store. It has the additional support of HD video calling, which means FaceTime cameras should be getting a bit better. (Personally I would like to see some software side stabilization on iPhones during FaceTime calls — feels like the Blair Witch Project with all that shakiness.)

  • Leaked Windows Phone 7 ads challenge your phone head-to-head

    Now this is closer to what I was talking about.

  • Gruber on Why In-App Subscriptions Are a Good Thing

    John Gruber:

    Again, if this subscription policy knocks a bunch of good apps out of the store, sure, that’ll be bad for iOS users. But that hasn’t happened, and clearly, Apple thinks it isn’t going to happen.

    That’s what I have been saying.

  • A good demonstration of Light Peak/Thunderbolt

    Now that is cool.

    [via DF]

  • An interview with Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo

    Great stuff.

  • “OmniFocus Barriers to Entry”

    J. Eddie Smith, IV on why you should and shouldn’t buy OmniFocus:

    Like any power tool, OmniFocus’s features are best appreciated if you come to OmniFocus with a real need for those features. It will probably fail in utility if you try to fit your workflow to the features. Don’t buy bandaids so you can cut your arm.

    I think he is dead wrong here. One of the greatest assets of OmniFocus is the fact that it is an incredibly flexible piece of software that can — and will — adapt to most user’s workflows. You don’t need to understand action versus project, or even know what a context is, you just need to understand how those parts of the app work together with each other.

    I can guarantee you that I don’t use OmniFocus in the same way that someone like Merlin Mann uses it and that he uses it differently than the next guy — that is precisely why I an unequivocally recommend the app to anyone. I know that OmniFocus will transform into what any user needs it to be in order to get work done.

    Beyond price, the real barrier to entry for OmniFocus is not a lack of GTD understanding — it is a lack of OmniFocus understanding. You absolutely must take time and use the app, once you do that you will begin to see just how you can slot it right into your workflow.

    (I buy bandaids in case of a cut on my arm, because I know that I will need them at some point.)

  • Three Reasons I Don’t Use Twitterrific

    Dave Caolo lists three reasons that he uses Twitterrific on the Mac, which is funny because I think they are three reasons why you shouldn’t use Twitterrific.

  • Sprint & T-Mobile’s Fate

    A quick visit to both Sprint and T-Mobile’s websites will show you two companies that are hocking cheap Android phones — no exclusive brands that are set to entice anybody born in the last 40 years. The last big “win” for T-Mobile was getting the first “Google” phone, the G1, way back when. The last win for Sprint was the EVO — and that was only because it was hilariously large, with a power hungry 4G antenna in it.

    Fast forward to right now and both companies provoke a contagious *YAWN* effect on me. Before they could team up with Verizon and berate AT&T for crappy coverage and push Android phones on to unsuspecting consumers, but now they are relegated to being two smaller carriers with no iPhone.

    Not a comfortable position to be in.

    Sprint has a ton of corporate customers that stem back to the days when they had the best mobile coverage in D.C. and when they merged with Nextel (you know the original push to talk guys). T-Mobile has a bunch of fans of Catherine Zeta-Jones and magenta lovers. ((Not really, please don’t email me about this.))

    I think T-Mobile will be fine in the long run, they have a small but loyal following and a network that is already compatible with the iPhone. It would be simple for Apple to get the iPhone on T-Mobile and my guess would be that the next version of the iPhone will be available on T-Mobile — it just makes sense at this point. ((Not to mention that once people started unlocking their iPhones they began using them on T-Mobile and, surprisingly, T-Mobile has always embraced this practice.))

    Sprint’s story is a different one though. They are making a hard push for 4G devices and they run on a CDMA network. While the Verizon version of the iPhone should be able to work on Sprint, it isn’t as simple of an argument for Sprint to get the iPhone. For one Sprint seems like a stodgy antiquated company ((Their CEO walks around in B&W on the commercials for crying out loud.)) and I am not sure that they see an immediate need to get the iPhone. Perhaps they wait until a 4G one comes out, perhaps not. While I am not saying that there won’t be a Sprint iPhone, I am saying that it doesn’t seem to match the feature set the company has been pushing for quite a while now. Sprint likes to tout 4G speed (they own part of Clear that provides a lot of that speed) and they like to tout rugged construction type phones and lastly at the opposite end they like to show smart business savvy phones. What they don’t ever show is fun — and fun is what the iPhone is all about.

    Carrying the iPhone would go against what both companies seem to be marketing right now: faster phones on faster networks. They aren’t marketing reliability or snazzy phones, but they are dinging AT&T and Verizon on network speeds. All of the major U.S. carriers are trying to roll out their version of “4G” networks as fast as they can, but it is T-Mobile that has now really gone on the offensive against AT&T about network speed.

    How can T-Mobile go back on this now if they were to offer the iPhone that only does 3G speeds? Their 3G network is, in use, slower than AT&T’s. It seems funny that a industry that used to be everyone versus AT&T and the iPhone has now become one that is the little guys versus AT&T and Verizon.

    The way I see it Sprint and T-Mobile have two options:

    1. Continue this silly fight the way it is right now, where you attack the slower competitors networks, to only fold eventually when Apple grants you access to the iPhone. Then hope that the iPhone keeps your customer base intact for the next five years.
    2. Accept that customers don’t care about anything you have to offer and figure out what to give them that they actually care about. I would start with pricing and customer service. From there I would call Microsoft and start to get some sweet Windows Phone 7 exclusives on my network. Then I would call HP and get some hot ass WebOS devices too. The iPhone only wins if everyone decides it’s not worth fighting against.

    Choose option 2 — please.

  • More on iPad Usage in Meetings

    David Sparks weighs in on how he uses the iPad in meetings:

    Instead, I use it to make me look brilliant. I’m okay with that.

  • Matt Drance on the Subscription Mess

    Matt Drance:

    Are Apple staffers seriously going to check every vendor website for sale prices on a regular basis?

    A great question. The short answer: no way.

  • Quick Response (QR) Codes on Permits

    Mayor (of New York) Mike Bloomberg’s Blog:

    By scanning the QR code on these documents, New Yorkers will learn more information about who is performing this work, including the addresses and telephone numbers of property owners and job applicants, which is typically a licensed architect or engineer or general contractor on the project.

    That’s a clever use.

  • Getting Out of a Speeding Ticket With a Smartphone

    A clever use of GPS tracking data.

  • “It’s a Matter Of Power”

    Randy Murray recalling a conversation with a traveler on a plane who had a dead laptop battery:

    “I had a full charge when I sat down in the terminal.”

    iPad FTW.

  • “I Will Check My Phone At Dinner And You Will Deal With It”

    MG Siegler hits on a point of contention in my life. My wife doesn’t like it when I check my phone at dinner, or while we are out. I try to limit it to just checking in and reading @replies and the like. I don’t find it rude when someone does it — I do find it rude when I do it to my wife (e.g. it is just the two of us out to dinner).

    I think the line is drawn somewhere between enhancing the conversation and tuning it out. Meaning go bonanza with your phone if you are adding information to the conversation, but put it away if you are just trying to escape the conversation. The real problem is that it is hard to tell the two apart.

  • Quote of the Day: James Shelley

    “Productivity, as an isolated concept, can be the greatest red herring on the horizon.”

    As a side note you really should be reading James Shelley’s blog, it is full of great prose and high level thinking. I love it.