Android rising with the Nexus 4 and HTC One – a bigger iPhone next?

In the last few months, I’ve played a lot with leading smartphones from the market leaders. And I’ve focused not only on my go-to device in the form of the iPhone 5, but also spent real time with the Nokia Lumia 920, the Blackberry Z10, and the Microsoft Surface RT in terms of innovative tablets. It’s a good thing to do, as it increases my knowledge and experience of both the innovation goals and dilemmas of the device makers as well as how those design choices in hardware and software marry up in terms of consumer experience. In my day-job, this is a constant point of debate in terms of embracing the BYOD approaches for MDM platforms and determining which ones can work for the enterprise stack and which ones still require roadmap updates in order to work. It also matters in having an opinion which is unique and allows you to cut through the business bullshit crap which fills most large enterprises. What I haven’t said is that in all this time, I’ve also been using the LG Nexus 4 as another premium Android device which comes at a medium price point in UK and international markets.

So overall then, like many of you readers who collect smartphones and tablets, it places us in a great position to understand the markets and take punts in predicting the next wave of innovation and who may hold the keys to dominance.  Up to now from a handsets makers point of view there are 2 key players – Apple and Samsung in terms of smartphones, however, this post concentrates more on how much I think Android is closing the gap on Apple hardware and iOS.

LG Nexus 4

Over and above it’s predecessor the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 4 reverts to an quad-core Snapdragon chip, a 320ppi IPS LCD screen at 4.7 inches meaning its slightly taller and wider. The largest capacity version comes with comes with 16Gb flash storage, 2Gb RAM and only HSDPA 3G and Wireless N at typically up to 100Mbps link speed. 

With GeekBench scores which demonstrate its twice as fast as the Galaxy Nexus and on a par with the iPhone 5 – it suggested to me that Apple’s strategy of premium phones which are now half of its the revenue and profit annually, could increasingly come under threat from the sheer scale of Android via lower end manufacturer devices (e.g ZTE, Huawei, LG, Sony, etc) which can largely replicate the form and function of the iPhone to more markets and more people who can’t afford iPhones. The Nexus 4 is a good example of this.  The SIM free version costs just £239 for the 16Gb version. Yes, it doesn’t have LTE, but there are other ways to achieve that cheaply.  It’s a solid replacement for the Galaxy Nexus, which as you know a I really liked and has been my preferred device for running, owing to the better audio sonics compared to iPhones (in my opinion).

So high end features smartphone, sold at a medium to lower end price point in the market. Not withstanding the supply issues Google and LG had with the Nexus 4, we’ve also seen that this approach has been taken by other handset makers married up with telco’s provides s a route for device makers to enter the market and see what share of revenue and profits can be made. The reality is that if your not Apple or Samsung, this is a largely futile exercise.  Apple’s execution of its premium and high margin approach commands 60% of handset profits, with the other 20-30% going out to Samsung.

However, times are changing and innovation is being applied across the board.  It’s easy to say Android has been closing the gap to a large degree on the innovation Apple continues with the iPhone hardware and iOS software.  And within that, there are many parts of Android (v4.x) in terms of features which we all know and would like to see executed in some iOS like way when v7 comes out.  Added to that, while the hardware on Android devices is good to excellent, it still falls short of the smooth overall polish and great user experience you find with the iOS range of devices (and of course iOS apps). 

The reported profiles of iOS and Android users are said to be different.  iOS users are said to be more loyal and Android users more price sensitive and responsive to device offers on plans.  If you’re an iOS like me, then it’s difficult to move away due to your lock-in to the Apple ecosystem based on a level of dependence on OS X versions of the products which combine with cloud (Dropbox 90% of the time) and social media (namely Twitter and Facebook), all of which might night be on Android or any other mobile platform.

But then, just like serial innovation and the ability to create breakthrough products – something comes out of the gate and you just say – wow.

The HTC One

You can read many of the web’s best reviews on the One when you have a moment and like many product launches its easier to read the first few paragraphs and say “meh, big deal”.  But it’s when you get one in your hand and add the optional HTC case on it, do you start to marvel at this feat of engineering.

Combined with the optional case, for me this is the best handset made to date. Gorgeous 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD display, 2Gb RAM, 32Gb storage, driven by a quad-core Qualcomm snapdragon brains.  It rounds off including 4G LTE and Wireless AC (link speed on N is already 150Mbps) and for throwing your content around devices around your home, it’s one of the first few to support Miracast streaming capabilities.

I’ve never been a fan of HTC Sense from my annoying days with the Desire HD, but HTC have re-skinned it and you can read up what others think about it.  I don’t use it myself, and prefer gaining the near 100% replica of the stock Nexus experience by using Nova as my launcher, combined with Holo locker for the unlock screen and SwiftType for my keyboard.

You may say so what to all that – and you’d be right.  But beyond the marvellous size of screen, its feel, the quality case, the Nexus experience – you then get the sound with the Beat audio engine built in for stereo speaker grills at the top and bottom of the screen which work beautifully in landscape mode when watching Netflix movies or just listening to Spotify tracks.  From an Apple-centric view, this is what the HTC One excels at, the basic things like picture and sound – done really well.  Does that sound familiar?

With a GeekBench score now in the higher echelons of smartphones and a quality variety of apps, it’s no surprise to read that this rate of developing maturity in the smartphone market, encouraged by innovations in user experience is prompting some prominent bloggers to switch to Android as their main go-to device.  And I’m not surprised.

So yes, my favourite Android phone is a slight back, but it’s great combination.  If there were all the Android counterpart apps to what I use on iOS and OS X, then this would be my go-to device right now.

The next iPhone

With investors continuing to expect insane quarterly numbers from Apple backed off by an enormous expectations of new products, I firmly think Apple has a battle on its hand to retain the top end of the smartphone market. The fusion of iOS and custom engineered hardware makes Apple special.  But the company’s challenge and core strategy it to bring to market innovations in the smartphone market which every generation or so, make a jump in innovation and customer value – to enable Apple to control the top end. 

iPhone 5S with quad-core chips, wireless AC, 1080p display, a further optimised camera is expected. And of course, it will be their normal twice as fast (GeekBench score in the 3000-4000 range) as its predecessor and it will launch in the autumn. Unfortunately, any which way you look at it, the 4.7 inch screen is what many of us experienced consumers want (despite the design rules Apple applied for the iPhone). With the Beats Audio built in, HTC One has now demonstrated that great audio could now be a now a standard for any premium smartphone.

For me, the HTC One is the best hardware on the market – (I can’t stand the Samsung Galaxy S3 or S4 due to the plastic back). I wish the One could could get the best of Android JellyBean and the forthcoming iOS 7 with it too. Kudos to HTC as you’re well an truly back in the game.  I wish you only could apply the sales and marketing muscle of Samsung to get everyone to know what a great phone you’ve released.

And now over to you Apple. With analysis suggesting that iPhone growth may be topping out, they need need to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.  And yes, let it please have a 4.7 inch screen.  Apparently it can be done without screwing up the ecosystem.

Applications in use across different mobile platforms

The table below shows the applications I use across iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 RT:

As at March 2013

	iOS (iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPad 3rd gen)	Android (Nexus 4)	WP8 (Lumia 920)	W8RT (Surface RT)	Blackberry OS (Blackberry Z10)
News and RSS	BBC News Reeder The Times The Guardian Sky Sports Football Soccer Saturday FT Instapaper The Economist	BBC News gReader Pro Times Guardian Sky Sports Football Soccer Saturday Instapaper	BBC News Mobile The Times The Guardian Sky Sports News Nextgen Reader Stacks for Instapaper	BBC News Mobile Microsoft News Sky News FT The Economist ESPN FC	BBC News BBC Sport The Times The Guardian The Independent The Economist gNewsReader
Browser bookmarks	iCloud XMarks	Xmarks	Xmarks	Xmarks	no Xmarks
Books	iBooks Kindle	Kindle	Kindle	Kindle	no Kindle
Productivity	Dropbox Evernote Due OmniFocus	Dropbox Evernote	Evernote SkyDrive	Dropbox Evernote Touch SkyDrive	ConnectToDropbox
Communication	Skype Bria	Skype Bria	Skype	Skype	X-Phone Pro
Social	TweetBot LinkedIn Fancy Pinterest	UberSocial LinkedIn Fancy Pinterest	MeTweets LinkedIn	Tweetro+	Tweetings
Music	Music Spotify Sonos Shazam	Play Music Spotify Sonos Shazam	Music Spotify Shazam	Music	Music
Entertainment	IMDB, Sky+ SkyGo TVCatchup YouTube BBC iPlayer Netflix iTunes TED	IMDB BBC iPlayer Netflix TED	IMDB Netflix YouTube TVCatchUp	Movie Guide Netflix TVCatchup TED	BBC iPlayer
Shopping	Amazon eBay	Amazon eBay	Amazon Mobile eBay	Amazon eBay	no Amazon no eBay
Utilities	Speed Test LogMeIn Ignition 1Password mSecure Airport Utility WeatherPro HD	Speed Test LogMeIn Ignition mSecure	Speed Test The Weather Channel	Speed Test Pro mSecure	AccuWeather
Travel	Trainline.com FlightBoard TripIt	Train Times UK TripIt	Trainline.com	National Rail Enquiries	Skyscanner Train Times UK
Photography	iPhoto Snapseed	Snapseed	Photosynth Camera Effects	Nothing available	Photo Studio
Finance	High St Bank app PayPal Moneywise	High St Bank app Paypal	High St Bank app Paypal Account Tracker	All About Money	Nothing available

From smartphones to tablets

With more of us consuming our content on smartphones and tablets, our requirements for computing on the go are coming more refined. And our preferences are shifting all the time.

What started as uniform acceptance of 3.5 to 4 inch smartphones is changing. With the success of the Samsung Galaxy range, culminating in the extremely successful S3 and Galaxy Note, it seems Apple has responded competitively and is due to announce a 4inch (16:9) device this September according to trusted bloggers such as iMore and TheLoop. What's interesting for me, is less about the 4S to whatever the new model is going to be called, but seeing if there will be another opportunity to use a more immersive and more portable device to take around with me everywhere.

Like most of us my iPhone or Galaxy Nexus is my primary carry around device largely because driven by the occasional need to make and receive calls. I carry the iPad around for preferred consuming on the train, on flights, in the hotel or even at my desk in the office. It ends up being a strange problem, in that the the the iPad is perfect for web browsing, book reading, RSS feeds and video playback — however, it's not as portable as I'd like it to be. It's too heavy. As such, while suited to the hotel, couch or on your desk in the office, it's not the preferred experience when on the train or when needing to drop something lighter into the bag when you're on the move.

While smartphones by Samsung, Motorola and HTC have been increasing in size, it's the tablet space which I see is going to be more interesting. Many of us have developed tastes and preferences for different types of portable devices when we are on the move, dependent of course on where we will be.  The iPad has redefined what we do on the couch, but it's not ideal for the key things we want to do when on the move, largely due to its current mass and weight. And what is it we are doing when on the move in the main? Our access to the web has been redefined by apps, with the occasional visit to the web. Really you say? Think of mail, RSS feeds, tweets, eBay, video chatting, SIP calls, book reading, movies, TV shows and games. This is where I can see the 7-8" tablet is being readily accepted as the middle of the ground tablet device where another option of portability is required.

Nexus 7 by Asus. Great price, nice features
but lack of 3G is a poor decision

I spent thirty minutes just the other day with the Galaxy Nexus 7. Initial impressions were quite good. It held nicely in one hand, the screen was sharp and bright (although not taking on the Super AMOLED colour vibrancy which I really like on the Galaxy Nexus phone) and it was quick.  It packs some good processor power for the stuff I'm talking about. Of course, optimised tablet apps on Android are sparse, but in time this should change for the better. What struck me as how I think I would prefer to slip a tablet into may bag for my every day commute. I'm suggesting I'd carry this around more than my iPad.

Back to the Nexus 7, the let down was for two fundamental things. Wifi only specification — an odd decision when you think about it. When you want to catch your feeds on the the commute, you can't until you reach the internet. This is a seriously poor decision which will have put off many buyers since access to your cloud data and the web everywhere is where we're at. The second let down was more minor, but yet important — the lack of rear side camera. A glaring miss when we all now expect it.   Some commentators will say these features are reflected in the trade offs for manufacturing cost. It seems to me that v1.0 of this product has a couple of key improvements ahead of v2.

Of course, being heavily invested in iOS and OS X reduces the chances of accessing the data or applications I would want to use on Android, but the shortcomings of the Nexus 7 rule this out for me anyway. This  paves the way for a £200-250 iPad mini (or whatever it's going to be called) in September.

@TrojanKitten beautifully mocks up the expected dimensions of the
forthcoming iPad mini

So believing the rumours for a moment, the 7-8" tablet is going to to be redefined and at a price point which will sell by the proverbial bucket load. However, therein lies the delicate challenge. If you have a device which is portable enough, what happens to the use case for the smartphone itself?

For me, the next piece is then to work out how I don't need an iPhone anymore and can cost effectively manage the low number of voice calls in a neat and subtle on-person microphone sort of way. I can't imagine the major telco's or Apple or any other the hardware vendors looking forward to this.

A Jelly Bean surprise

A couple of weeks ago I got a welcome surprise on my unlocked Galaxy Nexus. The over-the-air Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 OS) update had come through. At 144Mb in size, it had already downloaded on the home network and was ready to install.

It was all very straightforward and within 5-10 minutes it had installed and checked through the 100 or so apps installed on the Nexus for optimisation to get up and running.

Jelly Bean add some nice polish
to the Android mobile OS

As I've previously posted, I rather liked the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). In fact, I like it a lot and use it daily. With Jelly Bean, it's not so much about new functionality, it's a smoother and faster experience overall.  The 'Project Butter' set of enhancements have definitely improved the scrolling, sharper imagery, orientation changing and general polish of the device and software. The damn thing just feels nicer and perceptibly quicker — a good example where Chrome is loading pages from links.

The more apps you install, the more you notice the number of updates coming through. A number of them have been Jelly Bean optimisations to resolve minor glitches which you may notice on the odd application.

Wi-fi performance in terms of signal bar strength and consistency is also improved, given a volume of feedback on the Android support forums and my own experience which lead me to set it up on a 5Ghz network.  I now consistently get 50-65Mbps performance around the house. The feature I've yet to explore in any depth is Google Now, but the basic testing voice based searching is accurate and fast. A post on that will follow in due course.

The morale of the story for me, is purchasing a pure Google stock device, not tied to any telco.  How long will Samsung or HTC skinned Android models need to wait before Jelly Bean come to these devices?  If you want to get into Android and not stuck to an old OS, this is the way to go.

I'm looking forward to the new iPhone — as the competition has really caught up and has made innovative strides in areas which are better than iOS (think task manager).

Galaxy Nexus — Android Reloaded

Galaxy Nexus home screen

Up to recently, my only foray into owning an Android based smartphone had been the 2010 launched HTC Desire HD. This phone competed with both the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S2. Beyond the original must tinker and personalise the device exactly as I want it mode, I found Android experience a relatively poor one. The screen was LCD and did not have the AMOLED sharpness and colour saturation so that video streams looked poor.  The battery was poor out of the box and required lots of notifications and tasks turned off just to get it through the day. It had 3 firmware update for Gingerbread, which made is progressively faster and more stable. This was important since HTCs add their UI in the form of HTC Sense, which is okay, but not great. Since 2010, it seems telling that from going from a large scale manufacturer of Android and Windows mobile devices, HTC are on a downward spiral.

Overall, with very few apps I really liked and could sync data easily with the Macs, performance which got slower over time (especially as I upgraded from iPhone 4 to 4S), I felt I had made the wrong call with Android. To that end, when the pure Ice Cream Sandwich Galaxy Nexus from Google came out in late 2011, I got interested in taking another look. This post is talking about what's broadly happened since I got it.

Light phone, good screen
The phone is surprisingly light and retains a good feel at 135g.  Build quality is affected by use of plastic for the outer case, but nothing that a thin, lightweight and grippable case cannot enhance. The screen is bigger at 4.65 inches diagonal, and resolution is at 1280 x 720 pixels with a PPI of  316. So not Retina, but not too far off either. The AMOLED screen type shows up warmer and more deeper colours and for me, more preferable images than the iPhone 4S (I did a side by side comparison using apps such as Fancy and Instagram). The iPhone 4S are whiter and in terms of contrast, but the overal image of the Nexus seems deeper and more natural. The battery has greater capacity than my previous HTC, and lasts through the day on a single charge while tinkering with it a lot throughout the day (this is not the same as playing videos, games or making lots of calls). And that's without changing anything out of the box. Lastly, with no actual hardware buttons this seems a shrewd move by Google as the back, home and task switcher buttons are now touch operated and change also with the screen orientation. Usability wise, I liked this, nice touch.

It's better in ICS
Using the Nexus from a software standpoint, dare I say it, is pleasant and quite enjoyable. I won't go into all the features in ICS, but of the notable things:

• Design and polish of ICS is markedly better in an Android way
• Animations and user experience is a lot smoother (for example, switching between home screens, task switching). In fact, it makes iOS look cumbersome and it need of an overhaul.
• Much better keyboard, has better spacing for fast typing - feels as good as iPhone
• Creating and editing groups on the home pages is easy, in fact changing them is easier than iOS
• You can integrate your VoIP number into the main phone app, thereby choosing between a mobile call and an internet call - actually useful!
• Chrome is now on Android (download from the Store) - quick and you already know how to use it.  Most importantly, it brings across your Bookmarks from your gmail set up
• You can now easily take screenshots - through an iOS-like 2-button combination

Overall, this is a more mature version of Android. iOS has a real rival if we do without the Sense's or Touchwiz's of this world.

Apps still are my gripe
Of course, combine the hardware and the base software and in this case, you have a very capable smartphone. However, developer ecosystems are what really drive the platform in terms of its range, value and maturity. If you're like me, you've probably invested  considerable time, money and emotion on apps in the OSX and iOS world, some of which are simply not available in Android. Based on my own requirements, apps like Reeder, TweetBot, OmniFocus, Due, Jumsoft Money, MoneyWiz and Due are some of the ones I cannot do without if I was ever considering a switch. There are others which are available and make the thinking of a switch more of a margin call.  They include include Evernote, Instapaper, The Times, The Guardian, Amazon, Ebay.

When I first started writing this section, I was convinced that rather like my HTC and Gingerbread experience, I'd be bemoaning both the range and quality of such key apps. I expected to moan about the design, UI and overall experience.  The problem is, I've been forced to re-evaluate this position. In many cases, running the iOS5 and ICS versions in a side by side comparison, revealed how the quality of Android apps have improved to the point of being consistently comparable to their iOS counterpart.  Take Facebook, Google+, Zite, ZeeBox and Fancy examples.  Sure, in some cases and I'm looking at Amazon and eBay, they appear like cheap cousins of the iOS brethren, but in the main, I was surprised how much Google and Developer effort has improved the overall Android app experience, especially on this handset.  Of course, for those apps which are not on Android, you get to look up and find good alternatives. gReader Pro, TweetCaster as very usable counterparts to Reeder and TweetBot. Not as good, but certainly a solid experience.

Wifi oddities
One thing stood out, which I did need to do some checking on. Connecting to my Billion router access point, was for unexplained reasons, poor. The first sign was Speedtest.net would drop out ('Communication Failures') from time to time, which would happen even if I was beside the router. Given this is a 55mbit fibre line, picking up 6mbit is kinda suspect. You can do some digging around the various forums to find similarly reported experience from other Nexus users. It seems some sort of issue between the Broadcom chip and ICS where the signal dependent on the access point being used, is prone to drop out. Having said that, it seems to perform better on the Airport Extreme access point at 2.4Ghz, registering 25-30mbit download speeds consistently. The 5Ghz access point did not picking up, even through the Broadcom chip should pick up the 5Ghz as a preference.

Other bits
Apps and Wifi  aside, other things I picked up were minor. For example, text height is taller on the Nexus, probably because of the screen size and aspect ratio. Given the growing evidence of a 4 inch iPhone screen in the forthcoming iPhone 5, I hope Apple do not also fall into the trap of the taller text to accommodate screen sizes and aspect ratios, as I like its overall appearance. There are other UI idiosyncrasies with ICS, like the inconsistent appearance of the settings/options panel, but as I said these are minor to be fair, do not detract from the overall positive impression I've had using the Nexus and ICS.

ICS is a real step up
I really like the Nexus and ICS. I've been reaching for it a lot. It's easy to pick up and easy to use if you are familiar with Android. It's fast, and is directly comparable to iPhone 4S snappiness in use. I really like the screen and surprised as I am in saying this, I prefer the colour tones to the 4S. The 4.65inch screen is too large to do everything in one hand, but while it's not perfect, I'm find it useful to have the larger screen estate when using specific apps.

I hope apps continue to improve in UI and overall polish. If they can continue to bridge more popular iOS apps such as Flipboard (which is currently an exclusive for the Galaxy S3, but will be on general release soon), then this brings iOS devotees like me, closer to having a harder choice. And did I say using this phone and software is seriously quick?

I think is that it's important to understand that Google while copying Apple and iOS, seems to be on its own path in terms of design and the Google brand. This is good to see, and I'm looking forward to the next software release. Especially as a pure Google handset, as I'm free of the shackles of telco's, and their add-on interfaces.

Would I recommend this Galaxy Nexus? Absolutely. An iPhone 4S replacement? Not for me, but I like the fact that the gap is closing. We just need to see more support for Android from the major developers on iOS. Of course, the drivers and reasons for this to happen is a whole other discussion.