A Mobile Dessert I’m Anxiously Awaiting

June 4th, 2010 by Jon Garcia | located in SME Trends, mobility | trackback

My summer resolution is to replace my Blackberry RIM 8320 mobile phone.  I’ve had this phone for a couple of years, and it’s done a respectable job of handling my corporate Outlook email, calendar, and address book needs.  Despite this device’s solid messaging abilities, I’m looking for a replacement because I’m tired of its “Flintstone”-like Internet browser and its limitations.  Recent smartphone browsing developments make my Blackberry’s tiny screen, sluggish browser speed, and miniscule application market replacement-worthy.

Replacement Criteria

Here’s what I’m looking for:

• A device that handles integrated voice, email, calendaring, and address book at least as well as my old Blackberry.
• A smartphone with the largest possible screen that will fit into my pocket.  It should also support Internet browsing at or close to broadband speeds via WiFi or a carrier’s mobile network.
• A smartphone brand that supports more than 10,000 third party applications — a healthy, growing number of third party apps bolsters my confidence in the platform’s functionality.

Given these criteria, my decision boils down to a smartphone that’s either on the iPhone or Android platform. While iPhone is compelling because competitors have had to perform more than a few iterations to even approach its functionality, and the new 4G IPhone is due to be released soon,  there’s good reason to consider Android in my selection process.

Top five reasons I’m considering the newest Google Android Platform smartphone:

Google is releasing FroYo (Android version 2.2 – with a code name short for frozen yogurt) this summer on phones and carrier networks yet to be determined.  In addition to meeting all my criteria above, FroYo is a significant upgrade for the Android platform, offering speed and phone capabilities that exceed or equal those of the iPhone.   My list of top FroYo capabilities includes:

1. Ability to store Android apps in SD memory. Storing apps outside core memory frees the device to easily add apps that constrained earlier versions of Android, which required them to be stored in core memory.
2. Access to 50k applications in Android’s app market. The platform also has automatic upgrade capabilities.
3. Speeds of 2x-5x faster than Android v2.1 with a  browser that’s 2x-3x faster. Speed improvements enable Google to claim FroYo will be the fastest mobile browser in the market when it is released.
4. Support for Flash 10.1 and AIR from Adobe. FroYo users will be able to access video clips in the most common video format on the Internet (unlike iPhone, which refuses to support the Flash format).
5. Tethering. FroYo users can connect their phones to their PCs/Macs to access WiFi or the carrier’s network − try that with an iPhone.

Looking forward to tasting some FroYo this summer!

No related posts.

Comments are closed.