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Prevailing Thoughts On The Nexus 5

I have two prevailing thoughts on the next Nexus phone.

  1. The Nexus 4, despite being a year old, is still great. A lot of Normal People would love to have a Nexus 4. The sign of that is in the 2013 Nexus 7: its processor is almost the same, the memory is almost the same and the screen quality might as well be the same. The Nexus 7 of this year was the Nexus 4 of last year. When the Nexus 5 launches later this fall, the Nexus 4 will be kept on the line with a lower price point while at the same time the Nexus 5 will have a higher initial price point to compensate for its specs and features.
  2. The Nexus 4 was an aberration in price versus specs and features. Google’s aggressive price point with the Nexus 4 could have sucked enough of us into the Nexus Experience that regardless of the price (around $500 or so), we would probably be willing to buy to get that experience again1.

There are rumors that the LG G2 is a candidate for the Nexus 5. And while it is great, it seems a little obscure hardware wise2. There are rumors of a Motorola built phone becoming the next Nexus too. Undercutting the Moto X with a $400 phone with similar features and extremely better hardware will destroy its edge and render the entire Moto X branding and purpose moot3.

  1. I don’t want this to be the case, I don’t think it is the case, but it is a possibility ↩
  2. Buttons on the back, really? ↩
  3. While Google is in a position to do something destructive to its own branding, as it owns Motorola, it would look bad from a don’t be evil perspective ↩

Google Now on iOS and Android∝

Owen Williams:

This morning, an update for the Google Search application on iOS was released by Google and along with it came Google Now. The predictive search feature has been available on Android for just under a year, but in that time, it’s only been able to reach a peak of 25% of all Android devices.

Unfortunately for Google they’ve had a fragmentation problem since the beginning of time with Android, making it hard to reach users when a new service is only available for Jellybean (4.1+). By releasing on iOS, they’ve effectively made the service available for up to 500 Million devices on day one.

My mom asked me yesterday if her phone (my hand-me-down Evo V 4G on Virgin Mobile) could ask Google questions like I can on my phone (Nexus 4). I had to explain that Google Now was not available on phones running 4.0 and earlier. She wasn’t that disapointed, but she really likes just asking questions instead of having to use the crappy stock HTC keyboard. It’s neat and it’s fast. But she can’t use it.

Google really needs to mandate updates. If Apple can do it, Google can do it too, surely.

Google Now on the homepage∝

Google Now makes perfect sense as an iGoogle replacement. When Chrome came out (and even more so when I started carrying a phone with me every day), I stopped using iGoogle. Google Now just needs to do more than stocks and weather.

If they integrate into Chrome on the desktop, I’ll still never sign in.

The Glass Teleporter∝

Dustin Curtis on Google Glass:

When I see the Google Glass UI sitting in the upper right hand corner of my vision, I think of it as potentially being one of the greatest tools man has ever come up with. It’s the true bicycle for our minds. It’ll make everyone smarter, faster, and better connected. It takes away the clunky interface of the computer, and it brings the world’s information directly to your mind.

Sure. Computers are a bicycle for the mind, it’s a great metaphor for computers, from the 80’s to today. Computers still require too much of people. Recall learning how to ride a bike, recall the effort of pedaling up hills, recall being all sweaty despite getting to work, recall maintenance and recall so many particulars of riding on a bike. Right, it’s a metaphor, but the extension is suitable, because computers have their learning curve too.

The difference between Wikipedia twenty seconds away in your pocket and the answer to your question instantly and unobtrusively in your vision is enormous.

Bicycles, and by metaphorical extension, computers, require some intervention to get information out of them (through a browser, through an app or just through some document sitting on the desktop), it all requires you. It requires an non-zero expendable effort.

Google Glass is all about instantaneous information. It’s cutting into the effort curve so steeply that it’s basically zero. It’s not a mode of transport where you expend energy to get there anymore, it’s not a bicycle. It’s a teleporter.

Chrome’s Design Problems∝

Here’s a sample:

The trouble is, with the tabs on top, the application window’s title bar height is reduced to a bare minimum, making it difficult to click on the app or move it around. Tabs on top also causes the page title to be displayed within the tab (rather than in the title bar), so we can abandon any chance of knowing the entire page title, even for those sites that set this HTML tag to some meaningful value.

And why on earth are the tab close buttons on the right?

Ahren has more comments about Chrome’s design and over all Google product design, and I left my response there too.

Google and passwords∝

This is the second story about this Google research into non-typed passwords. Their solution: a flash drive with a really long password (e.g. a flash drive with a password, the password, and as such, the only place it exists is on that drive)

No, I don’t want my passwords on my ring, someone will mug me and take it. No, I don’t really want to have my passwords tied to my phone; I should be able to lose it and not reset absolutely everything. No, I don’t want a flash drive to contain my super secret password of epic doom, I’ll lose it for sure.

I’m waiting for Google Sesame. Please, give it to me now. Please.

How Google Uses Math∝

I regret to inform you that I lost the proper attribution to this amazing content. This is a short presentation on how Google uses math you might be learning in college courses on Linear Algebra and Discrete mathematics to create the experiences you find Google offering.

It’s really cool to see some real world application on a massive scale.

Living in the shadow of a monopoly∝

So the government is focusing on life in Google’s world for the sprawling economic ecosystem of Web sites that depend on their ranking in search results. What is it like to live this way, in a giant’s shadow? The experience of its inhabitants is nuanced and complex, a blend of admiration and fear.

It’s the shadow of the statue we erected — we wanted a great search tool ten years ago and we gave our attention, our market share, and here’s what we suffer with. It’s sad, but even the most beautiful statues, if they are tall enough, can block out the sun.

Hurricane cancelled Google Event∝

Hurricane Sandy is going to hit the East coast. Hopefully they’ll just move the event to Friday or to next Monday at another venue.

Good luck to those in the hurricane area. I can’t even imagine.

Pirate Bay won’t autocomplete anymore∝

I assumed this was a bug. Apparently it was intentional.

It’s not as if this will stop anyone from finding Pirate Bay. Basically, this makes someone happy that’s battling Google, and Google is carefree.

Chrome is 4∝

I remember Tuesday, September 9th, 2008.

I was sitting in my cool basement computer class learning a mixture of self taught PHP, JavaScript and class taught Java. I remember sitting there and the news being that Google released a browser. It just happened. Until that day, it was Firefox that reigned supreme. Now, I can’t even Firefox more than a couple minutes a day in the form a backup browser. Chrome welcomed the masses into the new age of browsers: constantly updating, fast and minimal interface distractions.

But it’s funny. Chrome is so prevelant. When Firefox was the browser, most people had no clue. Now people understand browsers to some degree, at least better than they ever did when Firefox was displacing Internet Explorer. Chrome even comes preinstalled on many PC laptops. That’s impressive right there.

So, thanks Chrome, and thanks Google, for making the Internet take a leap.

Google & Apple in “secret” patent talks∝

I want Google to continue with Android, and I want Apple to continue with the iPhone. Neither has to lose for the other to win — except maybe Samsung, but then, that’s an entirely different story.

I hope this goes well.

Octane∝

Google picks great names for projects. Octane, to me, is a spiritual successor to my beloved SunSpider benchmarking tools.

Here are some Octane benchmark results:

  • 2011 MBA (Chrome 21): 10229
  • HTC Evo V 4G (ICS browser): 921 (incomplete)
  • HTC Evo V 4G (Chrome browser): 849

So if higher is better, what’s going on with Chrome on my phone?

Google Maps Car

Matthew alerted me Tuesday afternoon to the Google Maps Car in the local park’s parking lot.