Browsing articles tagged with " android"
COMPANIES
Feb 10, 2011
Gabi Boaca
2 Comments

NOKIA are o sansa

Am citit astazi despre memo-ul noului CEO NOKIA, memo care a “rasuflat” si prin presa. Lasand la o parte faptul ca este clar ca incearca sa creeze tensiune/interes mie mi se pare ca mesajul este 100% corect in ceea ce priveste compania finlandeza. Omul este venit din afara, este un profesionist si nu cred ca i-a fost greu sa inteleaga ce se intampla in interiorul NOKIA.

N-am fost niciodata un fan NOKIA. Am avut un 5110 si un 6230 de care am fost mega-multumit (mai ales de al doilea, incepea era telefoanelor cu ecrane color, sunete polifonice si ulterior cu acces la internet – din pacate NOKIA pe-acolo a ramas, n-a evoluat cu piata). M-am intersectat destul de putin cu acest brand. DAR… senzatia de produs de calitate sau cu raport pret/calitate f bun mi-a ramas. Mult timp. Pana a aparut iPhone-ul si a inceput sa se dezvolte piata de smartphones. Punct.

Din acel moment NOKIA a inceput sa scada in ochii mei ca brand, ca inovator in mobile area, ca producator de telefoane, ca player competitiv si cu produse interesante. Sigur, respectul a ramas, respect generat pe bune in urma cu ceva ani. Dar, sa fim seriosi, si pe dinozauri ii respectam pentru ceea ce au insemnat. Asta nu inseamna ca a mai vazut cineva vreunul de f f f mult timp :)

Apropo de terminale: incerca cineva sa ma convinga de curand ca N8ul lui este la fel ca orice Android sau iPhone, ca arata la fel si se misca la fel. Dude, NU este la fel. Pentru ca si daca se misca la fel si arata la fel si scoate aceleasi sunete, cu siguranta la zona de interactiune/software/display este MULT  sub ce poate piata acum.

Apropo de software: AppStore-ul rullz in continuare si lumea prefera sa faca aplicatii mai intai pentru iPhone si after pentru ceilalti (chiar si Androidul are problema asta). Si are un mare atu: CENZURA. Desi e un termen neplacut, faptul ca Apple nu aproba toate aplicatiile create de programatori ii da AppStore un plus de calitate fata de Android Market (unde gasesti toate prostiile de aplicatii facute in 3 minute de un geek), asta pe langa plusul de volum de aplicatii disponibile.

Anyways, ca sa nu ma mai intind: din ce vad in memo-ul trimis angajatilor NOKIA este posibila o schimbare drastica de directia in Finlanda, ceea ce reprezinta primul pas dintr-un maraton care a inceput acum cativa ani. Asta inseamna ca NOKIA are o sansa sa ma aiba de client pe viitor. Chiar daca faptul ca vor pune Win7 Mobile pe telefoanele lor nu este neaparat cheia iesirii din impas.

Mai jos memo-ul integral, asa cum a fost publicat de Engadget:

“Hello there,

There is a pertinent story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform’s edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.

As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a “burning platform,” and he needed to make a choice.

He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times – his platform was on fire. The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a “burning platform” caused a radical change in his behaviour.

We too, are standing on a “burning platform,” and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.

Over the past few months, I’ve shared with you what I’ve heard from our shareholders, operators, developers, suppliers and from you. Today, I’m going to share what I’ve learned and what I have come to believe.

I have learned that we are standing on a burning platform.

And, we have more than one explosion – we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us.

For example, there is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected. Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem.

In 2008, Apple’s market share in the $300+ price range was 25 percent; by 2010 it escalated to 61 percent. They are enjoying a tremendous growth trajectory with a 78 percent earnings growth year over year in Q4 2010. Apple demonstrated that if designed well, consumers would buy a high-priced phone with a great experience and developers would build applications. They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range.

And then, there is Android. In about two years, Android created a platform that attracts application developers, service providers and hardware manufacturers. Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry’s innovation to its core.

Let’s not forget about the low-end price range. In 2008, MediaTek supplied complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones sold globally – taking share from us in emerging markets.

While competitors poured flames on our market share, what happened at Nokia? We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves years behind.

The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.

We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market.

At the midrange, we have Symbian. It has proven to be non-competitive in leading markets like North America. Additionally, Symbian is proving to be an increasingly difficult environment in which to develop to meet the continuously expanding consumer requirements, leading to slowness in product development and also creating a disadvantage when we seek to take advantage of new hardware platforms. As a result, if we continue like before, we will get further and further behind, while our competitors advance further and further ahead.

At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, “the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation.” They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.

And the truly perplexing aspect is that we’re not even fighting with the right weapons. We are still too often trying to approach each price range on a device-to-device basis.

The battle of devices has now become a war of ecosystems, where ecosystems include not only the hardware and software of the device, but developers, applications, ecommerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications and many other things. Our competitors aren’t taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem. This means we’re going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem.

This is one of the decisions we need to make. In the meantime, we’ve lost market share, we’ve lost mind share and we’ve lost time.

On Tuesday, Standard & Poor’s informed that they will put our A long term and A-1 short term ratings on negative credit watch. This is a similar rating action to the one that Moody’s took last week. Basically it means that during the next few weeks they will make an analysis of Nokia, and decide on a possible credit rating downgrade. Why are these credit agencies contemplating these changes? Because they are concerned about our competitiveness.

Consumer preference for Nokia declined worldwide. In the UK, our brand preference has slipped to 20 percent, which is 8 percent lower than last year. That means only 1 out of 5 people in the UK prefer Nokia to other brands. It’s also down in the other markets, which are traditionally our strongholds: Russia, Germany, Indonesia, UAE, and on and on and on.

How did we get to this point? Why did we fall behind when the world around us evolved?

This is what I have been trying to understand. I believe at least some of it has been due to our attitude inside Nokia. We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally.

Nokia, our platform is burning.

We are working on a path forward — a path to rebuild our market leadership. When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company. But, I believe that together, we can face the challenges ahead of us. Together, we can choose to define our future.

The burning platform, upon which the man found himself, caused the man to shift his behaviour, and take a bold and brave step into an uncertain future. He was able to tell his story. Now, we have a great opportunity to do the same.

Stephen.“

BOACA RECOMANDA
Feb 1, 2011
Gabi Boaca
4 Comments

BUSINESS: RememberTheMilk – un task manager genial

Nu stiu voi cum sunteti, dar eu de felul meu sunt dezorganizat. Asta este, mama natura nu doreste sa ne faca perfecti, mai lasa cate una-alta de imbunatatit pe cont propriu pt fiecare dintre noi… : )

Anyway, de ceva timp am inceput sa folosesc RememberTheMilk (RTM) pe post de task manager, ca sa ma ordonez si sa ma “eficientizez” si ca sa pot rezolva mai bine chestiile importante. Si incet-incet am ajuns dependent de acest tool fantastic! Cum asa?! Pai simplu: chiar reuseste sa ma ordoneze si sa ma ajute in munca de zi cu zi!
Si ca sa nu crezi ca “i’m bulshitting” you, cred ca RTM este primul software de task management la care imi cumpar licenta. Nu e chiar licenta, este un PRO Account care permite accesul la facilitati suplimentare.

Ce imi place f tare la el:
- este f f simplu
- in contrast cu punctul anterior: este f f  customizabil (ceva mai complicat) daca doresti: poti seta liste de cautari dupa taskuri, etc
- ai acces pe web / ca desktop app (foloseste Chrome ca suport) / pe mobil
- are facilitati de a adauga taskuri prin trimiterea unui email la o adresa speciala sau a unui tweet la un ID dedicat
- ma anunta pe mail/telefon/twitter cand setez o alerta
- se sincronizeaza cu Gmail/GCal si imi apar automat taskuri in GCal (cand este cazul)
- pot sa setez mailuri ca taskuri doar aplicandu-le un tag in Gmail (!!!) lucru care mi se pare cel putin demential; nu functioneaza intotdeauna, dar daca petreci 20 de minute pe pagina de suport si trimiti un request se rezolva in cateva zile…
- se integreaza cu Gmail si am intotdeauna task list-urile in fata cand lucrez
- am aplicatie dedicata de Android care se sincronizeaza automat (de fapt asta a fost unul dintre  motivele pentru care am trecut la versiunea PRO; a, da, si suportul! :D )
- ai posibilitate de task sharing cu alte persoane
- se poate folosi si in OFFLINE MODE prin Google GEARS
- in general, un feeling placut ca este un tool UTIL si ma AJUTA, plus ca echipa din spatele lui este foarte web 2.0 friendly (blog, twitter, facebook, etc)

In concluzie, am pus mai jos cateva poze din aplicatie si iti recomand cu caldura RTM in cazul in care nu ai o solutie optima de task management! : )

PS: nu stiu in ce masura isi pastreaza avantajele daca lucrezi cu Outlook, dar daca folosesti Gmail / GApps atunci RTM este pentru tine!


BOACA RECOMANDA EVERYTHING ELSE
Aug 2, 2010
Gabi Boaca
2 Comments

Boaca fata cu Androidul

android
Image courtesy of Androidguys.com

Asa cum ziceam zilele trecute am intrat in lumea atat de aprig comentata/discutata a Android-ului, chiar daca cu o experienta mai putin placuta, care imi aduce aminte de vremile de trista amintire cand foloseam Windows Mobile. Foarte misto sistemul de operare al celor de la Google, se misca foarte bine si arata f bine – chiar daca o parte dintre facilitati sunt similare celor de pe iPhone (pozitionare icons, mai multe desktopuri configurabile, etc).

Ce imi place la Android (versiunea 2.1, care exista acum pe HTC Desire):

  • ca se misca foarte bine (este adevarat ca il ajuta si procesorul la 1GHz al smartphone-ului si cei 576MB de RAM)
  • ca este configurabil in mare masura si ca am scapat de majoritatea tampeniilor lui nenea Jobs (gen sincronizare pe bluetooth imposibila, fara copy/paste, etc)
  • ca seamana din punct de vedere usability cu iPhone, care la momentul actual consider ca are cel mai bun software din tot ce exista pe piata – m-am obisnuit repede cu task-urile de baza
  • ca exista aplicatii gratuite care acopera o gama mare de facilitati suplimentare (lanterna pe telefon, scurtaturi pentru programe, file browser, etc)

Ce NU imi place la Android:

  • numarul inca mic de aplicatii existent in baza de date
  • “reminiscente” pe care inca le mai are din “modul de gandire Windows Mobile”, gen “tre’ sa apas 5 butoane ca sa execut o operatiune”
  • calitatea slaba a aplicatiilor din GMarket (atat din punct de vedere design, cat si functionalitate aplicatiile sunt inca mult sub ceea ce are Apple in AppStore)
  • ca nu am acces la aplicatiile platite din Romania (ma duce cu gandul la vremurile cand eram frustrat ca PayPal si alti furnizori importanti din afara nu acceptau Romania)
  • faptul ca se sincronizeaza automat la contul de mail/twitter/etc fara sa imi dea voie intr-un mod SIMPLU sa imi aleg ce aplicatii vreau sa stea conectate permanent la net (serviciile PUSH sunt stresante atunci cand folosesti o aplicatie gen Twitter)
  • mai toti clientii de Twitter sunt mai slabi decat ce aveam pe iPhone
  • ca jocurile au grafica si “jucabilitate” mult mai slaba decat cele de pe iPhone (dar aici sunt convins ca va recupera in timp, pentru ca exista potential mare)
  • ca, din punctul meu de vedere, nu a reusit sa isi gaseasca un hardware impecabil care sa il ajute sa concureze cu iPhone (m-a suparat deja HTC-ul cu problema de la Desire)

Una peste alta am gasit ceva aplicatii care mi-au placut si pe care le folosesc cu placere si pe care vi le recomand (vezi mai jos).

APPLE BOACA RECOMANDA EVERYTHING ELSE
Jul 31, 2010
Gabi Boaca
10 Comments

Apple rullz VS HTC fail

htc-desire
Image courtesy of Webpr

Asa cum unii dintre voi stiti de ceva timp (~2 ani) am un iPhone din prima generatie de care am fost foarte incantat si care a devenit de-a lungul timpului un termen de comparatie pentru orice benchmark am facut in zona de telefonie mobila si smartphones. Singurele motive de nemultumire vizavi de ceea ce stie si poate iPhone-ul au venit de la cele cateva idei tampite ale lui Jobs (lipsa interconectare bluetooth, copy/paste, etc) – dar pe care le-am acoperit prin alternativele existente pe piata “gri” (jailbreak, Cydia, etc) si de la faptul ca deja este un device usor depasit tehnologic de modelele actuale (iPhone 3G, 3GS si 4G sunt mult mai cpabile dpdv viteza pe net, procesor, etc). In schimb nu m-a dezamagit in rest mai deloc, dimpotriva: am devenit usor-usor Apple fanboy.

Acuma, pentru ca omul este supus greselii (si eu sunt om, prin urmare gresesc si eu :D ) am decis la un moment dat in acest an ca vreau un telefon din zona terminalelor noi, cu Android (despre care am auzit atatea si care mi-a placut de fiecare data cand am interactionat cu el). In urma unui research am ajuns la concluzia ca HTC Desire (in USA ii zice Incredible, sic!) este modelul cel mai potrivit pentru mine atat ca performante cat si ca design. Si uite asa am facut un abonament la Orange (rusine, Vodafone, pentru ca nu sunteti in stare sa faceti competitie Orange pe zona de oferte la terminale!). Toate bune si frumoase, l-am achizitionat, am trecut peste cele cateva zile de acomodare cu noul sistem de operare, cu butoanele in plus fata de iPhone.

Si iata ca se face o luna de cand am minunatul device HTC pe mana si pot sa zic ca este un aparat minunat, cu o putere de procesare incredibila si cu un sistem de operare extrem de atractiv si ergonomic. Dar HTC Desire are o MICA problema: NU FUNCTIONEAZA! Cum asa? Pai simplu: la cateva saptamani de la achizitie, fara o utilizare intensiva (nu il folosesc ca telefon pt ca nu l-am putut debloca; este pe post de punct de acces la internet) HTC Desire se restarteaza in momentul in care accesez internetul pe 3G sau wireless, dar si cand executa task-uri ce necesita intreaga putere de procesare (video, etc).
Am zis ca sunt cel mai ghinionist nou posesor de HTC si/sau Android, dar facand un mic research am observat ca aceeasi problema o au mai multi posesori de Desire atat din RO cat si din afara. Niste baieti mult mai destepti ca mine au ajuns la concluzia ca este o problema hardware si ca placa de baza trebuie inlocuita. Nu stiu cum va suna voua, dar mie, dupa o luna si ceva de utilizare a unui device imi cam suna a HTC fail! (big time!!!)
Acum, am sa incerc o reparatie la service-ul autorizat si o sa sper ca poate noua versiune de Android (2.2 aka Froyo) imi va da voie sa folosesc la capacitate maxima acest device. Cross your fingers, dudes!

APPLE BOACA RECOMANDA VIDEO / VOD
Apr 23, 2010
Gabi Boaca
No Comments

Doua “grele”despre iPhone

Saptamana asta a fost plina de vesti cu greutate vizavi de cel mai popular telefon mobil la acest moment, Apple iPhone. Si pentru ca sunt intr-adevar noutati importante m-am gandit ca merita sa le impartasesc cu voi. So, desprece este vorba?

IPHONE POATE RULA ANDROID
Unul dintre membrii DevTeam, pe numele sau de “scena” PlanetBeing, a reusit implementarea de Android OS (sistemul de operare pentru telefoane mobile lansat de Google) pe un iPhone 2G. Astea sunt vesti bune, sau asa cum spunea cineva pe net: Steve Jobs isi baga unghia-n gat la momentul asta :) )
Videoclipul este mai jos, mi se pare fenomenal sa putem beneficia de Android pe iPhone si va asigur ca il voi instala imediat ce apare o varianta care ofera functionalitate completa si siguranta cat de cat. Partea cea mai tare este ca iPhone poate rula in acelasi timp ambele sisteme de operare, iPhone OS si Android OS si userul are posibilitatea sa le schimbe doar restartand telefonul. Awesome!

AU APARUT PRIMELE INFORMATII SI POZE CU NOUL IPHONE (4G)
O stire cu la fel de multa greutate ca si prima este ca primele imagini, videoclipuri si teste cu noul iPhone au aparut pe net gratie Gizmodo, care zice ca telefonul a fost uitat de cineva intr-un bar din SUA (damn! :D ). Din ce imi dau seama Apple s-a decis sa tina cat de cat seama de userii care racneau dupa diverse feature-uri:

  • se pare ca noul iPhone va avea doua camere video pentru video call,
  • o camera foto mult mai buna si cu flash,
  • va fi plat (spatele nu va mai fi curbat),
  • doua microfoane (al doilea pentru controlul zgomotului),
  • afisaj cu rezolutie mai buna, dar mai mic ca dimensiune decat la 3GS
  • butoane metalice (home, power, volume)
  • totul este mai patratos
  • baterie mai mare (16%)
  • este mai greu (3 grame)

Pentru detalii complete cititi povestea de pe Gizmodo.

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