MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Devices

Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) is the Windows XP of the mobile world
I read Extremetech’s article about…

Canonical reveals Ubuntu for Android

…with great interest as someone who has used the G1, Droid, and Nexus One as a primary phone at one time or another. The phrase that caught my eye was this one: the developers have melded together the Ubuntu architecture with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). So, while Google is trying to push 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and with information about 5.0 (code name Jelly Bean), a chunk of the world has standardized on the aging 2.3 release.
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February 21, 2012
ProClip car dashboard mounting hardware for iPhone 4 & HTC HD7 – Is it as easy to install as they claim?
My Griffin iTrip Auto for the iPhone, which had been flaky for about a year, became even flakier and lost its inline remote control function a few weeks ago. So, I replaced it with the Griffin iTrip Auto Universal Plus which does not have an inline remote control but has the advantage of working with other phones like my HTC HD7. The new problem was that I now needed some kind of car mount so I could touch the screen without holding the device (against the law where I live). So, I sent email to a bunch of friends asking for advice. It turns out that one of those friends works for ProClip which sells mounts for all kinds of gadgets. So, (Full Disclosure), my friend offered to send me the mount compotents to deal with my problem. ProClip claims that their dashboard mounts can be assembled and attached in minutes. Here’s what I found…
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February 17, 2012
Facebook 2.3 for Windows Phone: Nice update. But, only necessary for 10% of activities
Facebook 2.3 for Windows Phone appeared earlier today and looks great. It seems to run faster, has a cleaner look and feel, and a very nice Metro UI design that moves the user from an overview page to news feed to notifications to photos use the familar (to Windows Phone users) sidewards sliding gestures. The optional background images look good too. I initially considered not turning it on. However, I found it really adds a personal touch and will leave it on now that I’ve seen it. I wonder, though, if there is away to choose which images appear in the top banner.

The irony is that while it is nice to see a big update for the Facebook app, it is almost unnecessary on Windows Phone since 90% (or in my case nearly 99%) of Facebook activity can be handled from the Me hub (posts and notifications) and People hub (status updates).
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February 14, 2012
FYI to CNN: Here’s why Kindles are not sought after on the secondary market
CNN’s breathless story about how the iPad is doing better on the secondary market (resale) than Amazon’s Kindle makes me wonder if no on there considered the obvious reasons:
1. Kindle prices drop with each new model (including subsidized models)
2. Kindle prices have been so low starting with the third generation (summer/fall 2010) that there it makes more sense to buy a new model with better features at the same or lower price.
Hence, little or no resale value.

iPad retains value longer than Kindle, research finds (CNN)
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February 9, 2012
Closing in on 6 million steps logged by my Fitbit activity monitor
Personal note: Just noticed that I’m closing in on 6 million steps logged by my Fitbit activity monitor. I hope to reach the milestone sometime in the next 7 to 10 days.
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February 7, 2012
Microsoft OneNote for Android available. Nice app. But, here’s why I had to remove it
Microsoft released an Android version of its once groundbreaking notetaking app.

OneNote Mobile for Android is now available worldwide

This app is available for free in the Android Market. It sync with Microsoft’s free SkyDrive cloud storage service too (refer to my BYTE article to learn more about SkyDrive). This lets you sync between devices without the need for a PC in between.

As nice as it is, I had to uninstall the app. Here’s why…
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February 7, 2012