Rajesh Prabhu Blogs!

This list doesn’t include any of the excellent hardware features found in most Android handsets like an expansion memory card slot, removable battery or the home/back/menu/search soft buttons because Apple will probably never implement these. Apple will most likely improve the iPhone’s screen resolution in the 4.0 hardware, as the Nexus One’s 800 x 480 AMOLED display has 2.5 times the pixels of iPhone’s 480 x 320 panel.

Here are the 10 ways the Nexus One slays the iPhone…

1. Google Voice – There’s something compelling about having a phone number for life that you can forward to any phone. What makes Google Voice cool is that voicemail are transcribed into email so that you can preview them with a glance, imagine your voicemail in a Gmail interface. GV is cost-effective because SMS is and MMS are (update: MMS is coming) free and international calls are cheap. When GV allows number porting, I’m converting and never looking back. GV’s allows you to receive your calls on any phone and poses a serious threat to the mobile carrier’s business model. AT&T doesn’t want GV as a native iPhone app because it would cut into its lucrative SMS and long distance charges. Unfortunately the GV Web app is no replacement for the real thing.
2. Google Maps Navigation – The Maps app on Android alone has 10 features that aren’t in the lame version of Maps on the iPhone. Take navigation for example, the Android version of ‘Maps comes with full-blown, turn-by-turn, voice navigation that rivals anything from Garmin or TomTom. The free crowd-sourced traffic another bonus, plus it’s permanent Internet connection mean less incorrect POIs. Maps for Android also has a bunch of cool features hidden in the Labs menu, like layers for Terrain, Buzz and Latitude.
3. Voice Text – I used my Nexus One for an entire week without typing. I replied to email, SMS and Twitter all without ever touching the keyboard. That’s because Android has system-wide speech-recognition. Anywhere there’s a virtual keyboard you can touch a microphone icon and dictate your text. Although its experimental and requires a data connection it’s a major time saver.



4. Status Bar/Notifications – Ironically Android’s status bar is more Apple-like than Apple’s status bar. iPhone notifications are displayed as a model dialog box, but multiple notifications get truncated and answering a call or unlocking the phone dismisses them. Android notifications are persistent and live in the status bar. Why doesn’t Apple have something like this?
5. Widgets/Better home screen – Android allows you to have small apps for news, weather, twitter and flight info, called widgets that can run on the home screen displaying valuable information without having to launch an app. Apple updates the date on Calendar app icon, but that’s about it.
6. Background apps/multi-tasking – When streaming music from Pandora or podcasts from Listen on Android I can switch over to email, Twitter or the Web browser without the music stopping. Apple only allows a select few app (its own) to run in the background. Enough said.
7. Combined email inbox – If you have multiple email accounts, switching between them requires several touches on an iPhone making it easy to miss emails. Android’s Email and Gmail apps both have a combined inbox that allows you to view all of your email messages in one centralized inbox. This is a feature that Apple must implement.
8. OTA software updates and syncing – It’s embarrassing that Apple requires a cable to install software updates, Android does this over the air. Syncing contacts and calendars costs $100 per year [update: unless you're using Exchange/ActiveSync]. It’s time for Apple to make syncing cable- (and cost) free.
9. Amazing, free apps – Google’s Listen, Shopper, Goggles and SkyMap are powerful, free apps. Contrast that with Apple’s Weather, Stocks and Notes apps, which are junk and can’t be removed.
10. Free access to the music library, an open app store and installing apps from any source

Source : http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=6328

1. Versions 1.0 is always buggy.
The first version of any Apple product will be outdated soon. It’s the First Commandment of Apple consumers: Thou shalt not buy the rookie products.

2. NO Support for Flash
Oh! Are you serious? Apple iPad is designed to give you a better browsing, gaming and rich graphical experience but it doesn’t allow video streaming? You’re offering something that will replace netbooks and laptops and that something can NOT run videos and flash based graphics? And what is the use of unlimited data packages then?

3. NO Multitasking
Well, again! Apple iPad is replacement to Netbook and it cannot support multitasking? It makes iPad just another iPod.

4. NO Webcam, NO Video Calls
There’s no webcam in iPad, neither on back nor on front. So, you can’t have a video chat and can’t make a video call with iPad. You talk about photos and videos and there’s no camera?

5. NO Extension Ports/Adapters, NO Expandable Memory
If you wanted to plug your digital cameras, your external HDD or even a card reader, there’s no way you could do this with iPad. There’s even NO USB port in iPad that even an average Netbook or a cell phone would have. This means you will NOT be able to expand your Apple iPad memory, now that is huge deal breaker to me.

6. NO HD Video Out
Apple iPad could be wonderful tool for presentations provided there was HD video out support. This could also enable users to watch videos in HD on bigger screens.

7. NO Calls and NO SMS
NO! You will not be able to make phone calls and send/receive SMS with Apple iPad. Even in 3G, its data only tablet that doesn’t support phone calls and have no support for SMS either.

8. NO Handwriting Recognition
It would have been nice to have handwriting recognition for Apple iPad. Emphasis has been on artists and students, both would have loved the handwriting recognition in iPad but …

9. NO Fit
I have an iPhone and a Laptop, why should I buy an iPad? Is there a single reason for spending $500+ on that “revolutionary” device?

10. An E-Book Reader for $500
So, iBook seems to be the good reason to buy an iPad. But for whopping $500, why shouldn’t you rather go for Amazon Kindle then.

Apple iPad seems to be just another iPod, the bigger one that can’t multitask, doesn’t support flash, have no room for expandable memory, doesn’t let you attach your devices to it and list goes on. All this comes with an “unbelievable” price of minimum $500, doesn’t sound like a good deal.
I am not going for it…

Courtesy: comments, views from a lot of tech bloggers.

You get unlimited movies for $9.00/month and its coming in spring. Not in HD though and if u read the disclaimer thoroughly, not all new movies comes thru instant streaming…

Google’s new phone based on Andriod is provided with T-mobile for $79.99 per month. Looks promising but still not better than iphone in visual look. I will wait for some  more time before I upgrade my existing Tmobile blackberry to the nexus.

They set the drive on fire, dumped it in water, dropped it from 20 feet, and then drove over it. And then it still worked.

Magic Jack is a little USB device, which you can hook it up to your computer’s USB port to make calls to any home telephones. To use it, connect Magic Jack to your computer’s USB port, plug a home phone to the RJ11 port (phone jack) of Magic Jack and the software on it will load automatically to let you dial your numbers for making calls.

Magic Jack costs you only $39.95 for the first year and $19.95 for subsequent years. It’s a complete phone service that comes with a phone number, that you can make local and long distance calls. Besides, it includes free voicemail service for receiving messages whether you’re offline or online. Some other common services seen in phone services such as caller ID, call waiting, free directory assistance, call forwarding, free three way calling, and 911 are also included with Magic Jack.

The magic jack will work anywhere in the world. The only caveat is you can only receive a US number. It is NO DIFFERENT than having a home phone, you just have to be home to use it. Hook up a corldless phone if you don’t want to be next to the computer.

There are a couple of problems:
1. The computer has to be on at all times to receive live calls (although the magic jack works while the HD is in hibernation) – if the computer is turned off, the magic jack server will send all incoming calls to your voicemail
2. You MUST have a broadband connection or better
3. You cannot be uploading or downloading anything while on a call (sound breaks apart), so this is not good for families with kids on the computer all the time
4. The new firmware has vastly improved the quality of calls, but it is still flawed, generally because it relies on the quality of your broadband connection (i.e. sometimes cracks and breaks up)
5. You can’t port your existing telephone number YET, you CAN get a new number in your area code (at least if you live in a city)

There is a solution right now if you want a magic jack AND you want to keep your existing phone number and be able to receive incoming calls from your current number:

You can “PARK” your existing telephone number at https://www.phonenumberbank.com . When people call your telephone number, the call will be forwarded to your magic jack, so you get to keep your number and still receive calls.
This is a great temporary solution until magic jack receives their license to port your number.

Here is how I got unlimited anytime minutes from my normal $39.99 tmobile plan. Secret is you need a wi-fi capable phone and you can make/receive unlimited long distance US calls over wi-fi (ur normal home router) for a nominal extra $9.99/month fee. This works on any wifi connection. This is also a solution when you dont have proper tower coverage inside ur home/office. Start savings!!!