Atrix 4G Bell Mobility GingerBread OTA Update!

It's possible we may have a new BELL ATRIX 4G GingerBread OTA update!!!

Jump to the XDA Dev forums where I found this out here : http://bit.ly/r0asnv

I am a little giddy with excitement!

The only letdown could be, it's evidently not being pushed to all users yet.

I wish!

I am still working on the ultimate game-changing, subversive and disruptive technology idea to brain me in the head, sleepless at 3:27 am, allowing me to afford the lifestyle of buying any new technological goodies that come out, LIKE THIS ONE YOU LUCKY CHUMS AT REGHARDWARE. *ahem*.

Here's hoping I continue to blather loud enough about my complete love of all things tech, and somebody out there decides I'd make a decent reviewer, and sends me a box of techy delights to ooh and ahh over and gush on the internets about!

To the Magicians at Motorola:

Wow guys! Well done!

Some interesting things happening in the mobility industry today! I know Motorola is a bastion of the industry, but Google may have paid a bit too much, a bit too late to add much to its IP arsenal in the two front war they're presently embroiled in with Apple and Oracle.

My guess: they're trying to shore up LARGE gaps in their Android platform, prior to having to disclose (more) messy details in court.

Meanwhile, Motorola does not appear to be resting on its laurels, with the launch of a new handest Defy+ (The Inquirer) they seem firmly rooted (pardon the pun) into Android, and now with a potentially preferred development pipeline, who can compete with them?

Timeline Time!

October 2010: Moto sued by Micro$oft over mobile synch patents for mail and calendar, et cetera, Moto responds: Hey M$, we should still be buddies! We are still willing to entertain WinPhone whenever you get around to making a decent product! (paraphrasing The Inquirer article) So Moto basically said, M$ you left us out in the cold, and Android was our only hope to make some money.

Novenber 2010: Moto fires back in court at M$, claiming 16 patent infringements, and M$ goes back to court to complain Moto refuses to play nice (ie: cheap) in licensing negotiations. Looks like M$ and Moto are ready to spill plenty of money in retainer fees here. (sources: here & here, thanks to The Register)

December 2010: Moto and Google folks talk tablet, while Moto remains stuffed shirt about details, Goog whips one out, and shows some functionality with a(an un-named Xoom) running Android 3.0 (The Inquirer) So I get that Google was working closely with tablet makers, but Google's Andy Rubin did not demo any other tablet devices while presenting at D.

Skip ahead a few months, Moto has launched the Atrix (My current smartphone), and the Xoom, both of which do okay at launch. {Related side-note here: I am completing the Atrix review, and it'll be going up soon!}

April 2011: Google announces that if manufacturers want early access to Android, they will need to divulge more of their roadmap to Google (The Inquirer). This looks like a legitimate request, and Google stated this was part of the ongoing push to address the fragmentation of Android versions and specialized builds that left several early Android devices out in the cold regarding adding additional functionality, and updates. I think this is where Google may have begun digging further into Motorola's Mobility business, perhaps beginning to more seriously commit to an acquisition internally.

May 2011: As a result of an ongoing court case, an internal Goog mail was revealed indicating that though Goog markets itself, and to a great extent their mobile OS as "Open-Source", the reality is they can (& have, it's implied) used their ability to pull Android support from handsets, leaving manufacturers in the lurch without key applications like Google Maps/Voice & Android market access. Not a very open thing to do, yet, within their reach into the handset marketplace, after all, if you want to play in my yard, I get to make up the rules as I go too. But keep changing them too often, and you may find an empty playground (The Register, Skyhook vs Google).

June 2011: Motorola gets up on their soapbox about Android apps, claims 70% of their handset returns are due to third-party applications hogging resources (The Register). Sanjay Jha (CEO of Moto) went on to say he hopes Motorola users feel like Moto customers, not Android or Carrier customers, which is what the MotoBlur experience is meant to deliver. Personally, my experience on MotoBlur has been less than stellar, and the social integration on my Atrix seems to lag the handset frequently, less so since the Bell update though. June is also notable for a little Google self-promotion: (The Inquirer) citing 500,000 Android device activations daily, Google has made huge inroads into the mobile OS marketplace with the folks that count : CUSTOMERS. It is looking good for them to consider getting into the handset business with their 33% marketshare as of April 2011, Gartner was convinced Android will account for nearly half of the mobile OS marketplace by end of 2012.

August 2011: On the 9th - Moto comes out of the gate in early stating they would be interested in M$ Win Phone, but at present all of their development efforts have been focused on Android. After the recent sweetheart deal M$ made with Nokia, this made a convenient cover-up on what must have been frantic 11th hour perparations to close acquisition loopholes - interesting to note, Moto took this opportunity to state their marketplace differentiation will stem from their significant IP portfolio, and they will be pushing an agressive European rollout of global-enabled handests. Moto furthered this position by slagging the other entries in the mobile marketplace : HP's WebOS(which they paid too much for from Palm) & RIM's BB7 OS, I guess that makes WinPhone 7 the first choice of the benched players.


This brings us to today's awesome announcement! Again, I would like to congratulate Motorola on a stunning achievement in getting bought by one of the few companies that has that kind of balance sheet, and is not Apple. Speaking of Cupertino, I'd be releasing as many leaks about the upcoming iPhone 5 as possible right now, to get the media off this topic , if I were them. Seriously though, Apple is most likely rubbing thir gleeful hands together, having already spotted the weakenss in what appears to be an otherwise decent acquisition:

BUYING A HARDWARE MANUFACTURER HAS ALIENATED ANY OTHER COMPANY THAT MAKES OR WAS CONSIGERING MAKING ANDROID DEVICES.

Crap guys, we're not talking small potatoes here either Samsung and HTC have to be mad as hell! And what about tablets? Android was supposed to lead the charge against Apple's basically unchallenged market dominance, but that was generally predicated on having several hardware flavors for consumers to choose from to erode the CupertinoColussus' massive head start.

Plenty of conclusions to draw here:
1. Google realized not being more serious in those Nortel patent bids was a dumb idea.
2. Teaming up with Moto means taking on more litigation in process, but may offer some protection in other ways, from IP acquisitions to other lawsuits Motorola is waging in the industry.
3. Microsoft and Nokia are DOOMED? Could this be true? I think if M$ and Nokia get a variety of handest form factors into the market, and at a reasonable cost, they could get lucky!
4. Motorola hit a HOME RUN here, and investors must be silly with excitement.

We're a ways away from this being approved, and actually underway, then there's the SEC fine tooth comb that has yet to be passed. I wish them both good luck with the gauntlet ahead, they'll need a fair bit to make it out the other end as planned.

Though, I personally have to agree with my favorite Tech pundit John C. Dvorak, this fight is just getting interesting!

Hey Nintendo! I want a phone!

Let's talk mobile entertainment here for a few minutes. I have had a go at each new breed of mobile gaming device (original and still ownner of a first-gen monochrome green Game Boy) and I have always been fascinated with cellular and the technology evolution in that industry, long and short: I want a Nintendo phone.

Reading that Sony is likely to miss a critical pre-christmas launch date for the new Playstation Vita handheld, which may offer Nintendo 3DS units still in the supply chain to do relatively well (mind you, at ~40% of the original unit price in most markets) made me wonder where the Nintendo phone was? I've been getting innundated with ads for the new Sony Experia Play, http://bit.ly/f14ztp

the only thing it looks like that rig does not feature is a physical keyboard for teenage text-addicts(which I think could be easily integrated with a dual direction slider, and a silghtly thicker body).

A quick browse on the internet dug up an interesting tale:

06/30/2008 - MobileMag.com (http://bit.ly/orA4fV) asks Where is the Nintendo phone? A fellow Nintendo fanatic laments the lack of a Nintendo device capable of calling people & being the HOMER CAR of the mobile industry, I get where he is coming from here, but in 2008? integrating that wishlist into one handest would have been excruciating for any team of engineers, even the innovative, and creative folks from Nintendo. Points to this article for tugging violently on my Geek heartstrings, but I'm a little too technically-minded to dream that far in advance of where current hardware advancements will allow.

08/10/2010 - PocketGamer.co.uk (http://bit.ly/r7gfEH) drops a big juicy story about a proposed Nintendo/Nokia gaming phone in 2000!

Hell, Nokia obviously kept kicking that hobby horse after Nintendo's board shuttered the idea early in its infancy. The article goes on to say Nintendo likely rejected this idea due to its focus and development of the DS platform, not finding any need to compete in a new device space at that time, furthermore, have you heard what's new on the N-Gage lately?

Riiiiiiight, Nokia got taken to the cleaners on that one, whereas Nintendo made 4 hardware redesigns and had over 12 million units sold by mid-2010, ten short years later?

I think Nintendo's approach is caution, caution, test for marketplace reaction, followed by proceed cautiously. I can respect a company that understands their industry, and like John C. Dvorak, I think the Wii really was exactly what the gaming indusrty needed to prevent another "Atari Crash", so do I blame them for killing an interesting proposition that was likely a decade ahead of its time? Nope.

...But the times they-are-a-changin' and now there are more handset manufacturers in the marketplace, sure they mostly shop out of the same - or similar parts bins. Today's Nintendo is in a different place in its business, riding a great, if unexpectedly larger than anticipated surge in both popularity, and profitability, which makes this a good place to drop the last find on my internet ramblings :

07/07/2011 - SiliconEra.com - (http://bit.ly/omZqFI) Details about shareholder questions to Satoru Iwata, regarding either development of a gaming phone, or integrating cellular capability into the existing 3DS platform. {Side Note: I like Iwata, having dogged his words on the internet for years, I have to admit I respect both his poise and demeanor, he would have made a phenomenal politician, imo... but back to the narrative!}
Let's address his reply to upgrading the current generation of 3DS for cellular capability, Iwata addressed this by saying (paraphrasing here) we've already got a mature, successful product, with an existing long tail of revenue, we have designed this device to be intentionally diferent from anything potentially competing in the same technology space, and we're focused on maximizing the key differentiators about our platform, that can't be duplicated by our (sort-of) competition. Iwata, again is one sharp dude.

Iwata replied to the new device question with (paraphrasing, for direct quotes, hit the link above) we would be remiss in our duty to our company and shareholders if we did not consider that potential marketplace. He goes on to say that there are obvious challenges to their traditional target market demographic, Modern Mobility typically requires a contract AND monthly paments. Add to that the global hodgepodge of cellular networks, regulations, and standards, and he is completely right: It's a big kettle of fish as a package deal.

Okay. Now that we have set this stage, sit back and watch the third act amaze you with simple solutions to what appears to be a complicated issue.

1. Nintendo is already a hardware manufacturer. After all, who better to make a device that integrates modern smartphone/pda functionality and connectivity with a portable gaming system that already has a huge back catalog of cherished games I would LOVE dearly to play again, but can only find time in bits and pieces here and there - I typically whip out my cell in those minutes where there's no conversation or reading around to while away some time, these minutes are GREAT stress relief, and I look forward to launching some Angry Birds as much as the next guy! ... But Angry Birds does not any Mario title make.

I get that Nintendo might not want to undergo the direct manufacturing costs though I see them developing, vetting, and shaking out bugs internally as a crucial part of competing with Apple's current marketplace advantages, Nintendo can look at the current best-in-sales leader and copy most of their playbook, don't want to underwrite the development costs, you can bid that out and every cell maker will be your new best friend. Since the marketplacee has never received a Nintendo phone, we do not have any preconceptions of such a device, giving Nintendo the advantage of complete flexibility to design a MUST-Have device for casual and obsessed gamers alike.

2. OH SNAP! - did you know parents bought their kids PS3's when they first launched? Despite the original sticker price, Sony did manage to move units, albeit slowly. They knew to make the powerhouse with unbeatable raw specifications, they had to eat a loss on every unit for the first few years, until marketplace adoption and engineering refinements finally began to see a profit per unit instead of losses on the books.

Wait - where am I going with this? Riiiight, everybody and their dog is takling about Apple sitting on platinum thrones and swimming in their Scrooge McDuck / Apple-themed money bin, but surely Nintendo has GOT TO BE sitting on a little excess capital right now? Go ahead, cut a cheque out of the cash-on-hand reserve, and take a swing Nintendo! Commit $5 Billion, out of this year's fiscal profits, and go for it, calculate what exact loss you are willing to take on each unit, then reverse engineer the unit capability, price, development budget for R&D, marketing and do all of that out of the original $5 Billion.

Please?

I'll buy two!

But seriously, you launched the Virtual Boy, and survived that, surely we can make this phone thing happen? Give me a ring Nintendo! I am happy to collaborate and share consumer friendly ideas!

-Oh, one last thing - Iwata's second reservation regarding cellular & contracts being inaccessible to their target demographic? Ask any parent when their children started pestering them to have their very OWN cell phone? (recent verbal survey on this one by me: average age : 7 - seven!) Even with the widespread adoption of "Family plans" from most major mobile carriers, the simplest solution here? Pay as you go model, using existing Wii points cards to "load" minutes/data direct to the account, either through the device via WiFi, or an online web portal.

There it is folks, Nintendo has all the right cards up their sleeve, has allowed the market to mature through growing pains their company, but more importantly their brand did not have to suffer through and now the marketplace is ready for a new kind of mobile entertainment device. I've tasted almost every North American flavor of cell phone, CDMA/TDMA/Tri-Band/GSM et ctera, but I would ditch any Apple offering, and any Android to get my geeky little paws on a Nintendo phone.

Did I mention I'll buy two?

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Atrix Functionality Review

Atrix - as a handset.

Motorola has clamped their own interface onto Android, and the handset does well relatively speaking in the confines of the software limitations.

Notably good: screen resolution and resizing which happens nicely through a "fuzzy" in motion snapping crisply to clear image and text when released, also good: connectivity to HSPA+/WiFi/BT is relatively quick, painless, and sticks when stuck.

Needs improvement: Onboard music application will skip to new tracks randomly at any point during playback. All music is thus far stored in internal memory, as I have not yet been able to locate a nice 32GB MicroSD locally (Though, I have my eye on a few online retailers, yes you ncix and tigerdirect!). Ditching the built-in Android app for Winamp did not fix this issue, even post-update.

Overall, the Atrix responds quickly with the exception of a few kinks that still need ironing out, keyboard sensitivity highest amongst them. Easily navigated GUI, and tight socialmedia integration with MOTOBlur, I am looking forward to the next round of the nitty-gritty of measurable down and up data rates.

#Apple #iPhone5 #Mobile #Android

So, I've had Apple iOS and Motorola Android user experience, in addition to Blackberry. (We'll leave Noklia, and symbian/other attempts alone for the moment.)

Device comparison stacks up simply in my opinion:

iPhone = Emminently intuitive. Walled Garden makes non-tech savvy feel comfortable.

Android = Emminently customizable. OS open architecture, catered to power users, tinkerers and hackers..

Blackberry = Corporate clientele. BES environment security, BBM simplicity, Market Innovator and clumsy hardware.

The tale of the tape here seems to be if you're a tech junkie, get a Droid, newbs ought to prefer iPhones, and I think BlackBerry is writing their last gasp, without a complete interface and handset innovation.

Personal $0.02, I hope Research In Motion figures it our in time, before they are forced into the same position Nokia is in, once a bastion of the indusrty, now stagnant, the first Xerox of the mobility wars.