Which Phone to Buy Right Now - May 2012

Welcome to my monthly round of eligible bachelors in the phone world. Let's begin with the basics.

1) DIRT-CHEAP, CALLS AND TEXT ONLY: NOKIA X2 02
 


No, my prediction didn't pan out - X2-02 is STILL my budget phone of choice. See, after all, Nokia is Nokia - you can't beat an offering from a reputable company with one from the b-grade manufacturers. The phone has stabilized somewhat but that might be solely because I use it mostly as my wireless music transmitter in the car. That, along with the general 'tick all boxes' nature of the S40 interface, remain strong points in favor of this little guy. 


2) CHEAP SMARTPHONE: HTC EXPLORER


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This phone is facing stiff competition in desirability stakes from Samsung Galaxy Y/Duos/Pro as well as HTC's own Wildfire S which has now become quite cheap. However, at Rs12k this feature set is unbeatable. The Galaxy Y series does have the better processor but it suffers from the very limiting QVGA display. But wait...there's ANOTHER new player in town. Behold the HTC Cha Cha.

At Rs15k, Cha Cha is one hell of a phone. It has an excellent QWERTY keyboard and a good-ish screen. I have used it and found that it performs all basic functions quite admirably. 

3) MID PRICED SMARTPHONE: HTC ONE V AND HTC RADAR
 


This month I am dropping HTC Radar from the, er, Radar of prospective buyers because One V's price has come down to Rs26k and it truly is an excellent package for that price.  Why not Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V? Because Neo slows down over time. It still remains a good bargain, but there should be no compromise on the speed of a set at any price. Neo V has received it's ICS update and it makes it a very compelling solution but I have discovered that the problem of slowness of contacts and messaging apps remains. 

OR


 

At Rs 25k, HTC Radar is an excellent Windows Phone 7 set. As I mentioned in a previous post, WP7 doesn't have the power or flexibility of Android, but it is noticeably ahead of iOS in those aspects. Arguably, WP7 is the best-looking interface on phones today. The phone is fluid, fast, and has good specs. The only drawback I can think of is that since WP7's future is far from certain, this set's resale might be questionable.

4) HIGH END SMARTPHONE: SAMSUNG GALAXY NEXUS
 


So the Nexus retains its perch. In the intervening time, I have had the chance to use the HTC One X which is being billed as the best Android handset on the planet right now. However, I cannot recommend a set with hard physical buttons and tiny, non-user-replaceable battery despite all its other merits. Additionally, I will take vanilla Android 4.0 any day over HTC's Sense, but that's a personal preference and nothing else, since Sense has its own advantages. 

Right now I am also not recommending the Galaxy S 3 since at launch it is too expensive. Over time it MIGHT conquer the Nexus but that will take a few weeks. You cannot argue with the power of quad-core processors found in One X and Galaxy S3, or with their superior cameras and multimedia capabilities. However, we are after the best mobile phone in terms of value of money, since last month, the set's price has fallen to Rs35k. It is astounding to see the local market's gross underestimation of the handset's capabilities, and their perceptions are dictated by the 5 MP camera. However, this ignorance means that the Galaxy Nexus has now become a bargain. Let them be fooled. 

5) FOR THE ADVENTUROUS

The hottest phone in local market at the moment. I recently traded it in for my Galaxy Nexus and flashed Android 4.0 on it, and with that software there is no other phone on the PLANET that comes close to the Note. It's price has also fallen to Rs45k, at which it is a downright bargain. 

Please see my post: http://lessapple.blogspot.com/2012/05/theres-no-perfect-phone-so-i-made-one.html

Note is the SAME as Galaxy S2, with three differences: 5-inch screen with an HD resolution (same as Galaxy Nexus), larger battery and stylus capability. The only negative points I can think of are debatable pocketability, Samsung's horrible TouchWiz UI over Android 2.3 (though an Android 4.0 update is due in a month or so) and difficulty in reaching the corners of the screen due to large size. If you can live with these shortcomings, get ready to be blown away by the games and movies on this device as nothing else comes close to in those respects (except to some extent, the Galaxy Nexus). 

The only reason it still inhabits the 'adventurous' category is because (a) it is humongous in size and (b) you have to hack it in order to flash Android 4.0, in order to make it useful. With Samsung's TouchWiz skin, the attraction of the set reduces slightly. However, it remains an excellent device. 

Note to Apple: Shut up and Compete

It's time to live up to the 'Less Apple' portion of my blog.

Since 2010, Apple has been suing companies left, right and center for patents. It would be pertinent to mention here that most things claimed to be invented by Apple, are, in fact, NOT invented by Apple. That includes the mouse, the windows-based graphical user interface of a PC, the all-touchscreen phone - in fact pretty much everything you find within Apple products. Voice recognition technology, or 'Siri', is but a version of the same kind of facilities present on the Symbian operating system for years.

Yet, this morning there is a news that US Customs has halted at least some shipments of the HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE (presumably at the Port of Los Angeles), as a result of an earlier ITC order won by Apple over a patent lawsuit for "data tapping" (context-sensitive text-based actions) in the browser and messaging apps on some HTC phones.

Earlier, Apple got various courts in Germany, Australia and the US to actually ban the sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab in those countries. In those countries, Apple has also patented 'big-screen with a single hard button' design and therefore saw fit to make the claim that the Galaxy S2 infringed on its designs. 

I agree that the Galaxy S2 follows some of the same design principles as the iPhone. But Apple itself launched the iPhone after LG Cookie and various other phones which had a large touchscreen up front. No one in their right mind can mistake a Galaxy S2 for an iPhone. The similarities in design claimed to be infringements on patents is like claiming that Audi copies BMW by providing 4 wheels with its cars. Or Sony copies Philips by providing a big screen on its TVs. If you don't believe me just look up the details on the internet. Interestingly, on mainstream tech blogs, no one seems to question the sanity or integrity of these claims. 

This kind of lawsuits are all the rage within the tech industry. However, the difference with Apple is that judges all over the world seem too eager to grant relevant stays and injunctions favoring Apple with such astounding speed that the mind reels. It seems that in the entire world only Apple's claims are worthy of being heard and granted speedy decisions. 

I don't claim to be a legal expert. However, the disturbing frequency with which these patent claims are arising suggests that a conspiracy is at play here. I won't refrain from suggesting that Apple is bribing a host of legal personalities and media outlets to get its way. There is no other explanation. This makes even more sense given how the late Saint Steve Jobs publicly committed to annihilate Google and its Android OS, implying that the vastly superior OS was a copy of its own iOS. 

In a larger context, these lawsuits are making cowards out of rival manufacturers. HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc, are now too anxious not to face legal battles and are removing features or modifying them in their products. In other words, this phenomenon is stifling progress. This is a sorry situation and the biggest losers are consumers like you and I. 

The FUNNIEST and the MOST USEFUL review I have ever read

Guys and gals, you know HTC  have skinned Android 4.0 with their own skin called Sense 4.0. Normally tech websites are all gaga over it - this guy from (aptly titled) Android Police rips into Sense and leaves it a shivering, sobbing mess.

The highlight of this article is not the sarcasm though - it is how closely many things strike home. Perfect for midweek blues, and of course, food for thought before buying your next gadget.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/14/htc-evo-4g-lte-review-sometimes-the-ugly-ones-try-the-hardest/

NOTE: This article applies to HTC Evo 4G LTE, which is the US version of HTC One X. The software is guaranteed to be all but identical. 

Worldwide Mobile OS: Android and iOS dominate

Guys and gals, here is an extract from the Gartner report detailing worldwide market share of various mobile operating systems. Android rules, but the achievement of iOS cannot be ignored, as Apple makes only two devices and those are the most expensive on the market.

You see, on Less Apple, we give the devil his due, unlike the company this blog claims to cater less to. Go figure :-)

Operating System	4Q11  Units	4Q11 Market Share (%)	4Q10  Units	4Q10 Market Share (%)
Android	75,906.1	50.9	30,801.2	30.5
iOS	35,456.0	23.8	16,011.1	15.8
Symbian	17,458.4	11.7	32,642.1	32.3
Research In Motion	13,184.5	8.8	14,762.0	14.6
Bada	3,111.3	2.1	2,026.8	2.0
Microsoft	2,759.0	1.9	3,419.3	3.4
Others	1,166.5	0.8	1,487.9	1.5
Total	149,041.8	100.0	101,150.3	100.0

Source: Gartner (February 2012)

There are other interesting observations. Symbian shrinks to 1/3rd of its former market share and that is a stunning achievement by Nokia as well: seldom has a company messed up as badly in so short a time. 

Microsoft loses half its miniscule market. This can only point to bleak prospects ahead for Windows Phone 7; what makes it worse is that WP7 is a fairly good OS. 

Windows Phone 7 a 'Colossal Failure'

This guy, Eldar Murtazin, knows his stuff, and most of his predictions come true. Here in the linked article he terms Windows Phone 7 a 'colossal failure' - but didn't we know that already?




http://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2012/wp7-1-en.shtml

Galaxy S3: The Other Side

People, I think you know I am not a great fan of Galaxy S3 right now. However, the more reviews I read, the more I become convinced that my earlier impressions might be a little too pessimistic. Also, the device is scheduled to launch at a VERY reasonable price of Rs65,000, and it will only go downhill from there.

Of course, my final impressions will only come when I have had some time with the device, but in the meantime, here is a link to an excellent article on the hype and expectations of GS3 by Alex Dobie. Here's a link:

http://www.androidcentral.com/hype-expectation-and-samsung-galaxy-s-iii

There's no perfect phone, so I made one!

Galaxy Note was born to run Android 4.0. Don't believe me? Witness the difference below!

BEFORE:                                                                      AFTER:

Tech review sites these days are, to put it mildly, chicken shit. They review phones and other gadgets, yet shy away from conclusions. Is this phone/tablet/computer perfect for me? "It depends", "Yes, but ALSO consider these other options [insert relevant iGadget here]", "No single answer is possible", "Not easy to conclude" - those are the weasel words reviewers typically employ. Result? More confusion for the consumer.

It is no secret that my all-time favorite phone is Samsung Galaxy Nexus. While using it for several months, I kept finding myself wishing, "Oh, I wish it had a better GPU, a larger battery, and external storage". I loved the software, but the hardware left something to be desired.

A few days back a friend brought me his Galaxy Note and asked me to flash Ice Cream Sandwich on it. The Note, in case you didn't know, is a phone/tablet hybrid with 5.3 inches HD screen, 2500 mAh battery, 1.4 Ghz dual core processor and an extremely fast graphics processor. The trouble is, it runs Android 2.3, made uglier by Samsung's TouchWiz interface.

So I took his phone and performed an open-brain surgery. Rooted (hacked) it and installed an Android 4.0 ROM on it, and viola! Suddenly his phone had all the goodies of Android 4.0 with all the hardware goodness of the Note. In effect, his phone had become a Galaxy Nexus with a better screen, battery, storage and processor. Behold:




I went out the next day and exchanged my Nexus for the Note.

"Rooting" is the word for "hacking" or "jailbreaking" in Android parlance. In layman terms, rooting opens the phone's file system for editing. Here are the steps I took:

1) Installed a software called "Odin" on my PC and also downloaded something called a ' rooted kernel'
2) Made sure that it had all the required Samsung drivers
3) Rebooted the phone into 'download mode' (a mode which connects phone's internal NAND memory to the PC directly)
4) Fired up Odin and made it copy the rooted kernel onto the phone
5) Rebooted the phone into 'Clockwork Mod Recovery' (a Recovery can be thought of as broadly similar to the BIOS interface of a PC)
6) Made a backup of my existing data
7) Installed the ROM called ICS Stunner (search XDA Developers for http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552554&page=859)
8) Rebooted

Magically, my new phone had dropped all the ugliness and become the ultimate cutting edge device, running the latest software.

The next thing I did was enable tablet mode on the phone. Android 4.0 has both phone and tablet interfaces built in. In fact they are not separate interfaces at all - most things are shared, the main points of difference being some apps having multi-pane split view and the desktop, which combines the notification bar and the navigation bar. The only step that needs to be taken to do this is to edit a file in system to change the 'virtual resolution'. In this case, the magic number is 213 pixels per inch. Anything above, the OS assumes it's running on a phone. Anything below, and it sees the device as a tablet.

The rest, they say, is history. While Samsung sit on their ass making users wait for the much-needed upgrade to Android 4.0, the amazingly talented guys at XDA-Developers actually went out and prepared the necessary ROMs and hacks to make the Note infinitely more elegant and useful.

There are risks to this process, and some users have reported 'bricking' of their devices as a result. A 'brick' is a device that is dead - doesn't turn on, doesn't do anything. However, that is a tiny proportion of users and a vast majority has upgraded their device without spending a penny.

Here are the advantages I have seen upgrading from my Galaxy Nexus:
1) Perfectly usable tablet mode thanks to the larger screen
2) Extra, expandable storage
3) Better battery life
4) Amazing graphics performance. Live wallpapers run perfectly on this thing, and they don't slow rest of the phone down. I haven't seen this in ANY other Android set I have used, including Galaxy S2
5) The screen is amazing for all computing tasks

The biggest advantage of Android, in my humble opinion, is that it has got the best development community of any damned platform. Don't believe me? Check out www.xda-developers.com.