Google Pixel XL2 - evolutionary

I really liked the very natural shift from the Nexus line to the Google Pixel range. I really liked the Google Pixel XL, and thought it would be a hard act to follow up.

But Google had to as the annual relentless march of the device treadmill continues, and the Google Pixel XL2, despite the almost non-existent lack of changes in the physical appearance, have managed to do something that feels evolutionary and natural as a successor. The screen seems more natural to the eye, although that seems to have been rather controversial.

Its faster, the screen is better, the battery life seems longer, and there are just overall some nice software changes. The always-on nature of the screen is pretty awesome. The squeeze-to-summon Google Assistant is gimmicky, good for a single-show party trick. I admittedly haven’t used the camera much, being one of the highlights of the phone. Overall, a good device. Good enough to change from a Pixel XL ? Nope.

2017 Tech updates

Its been a while since I posted updates. I'm going to post in short form what changed / what I played with as an update.

• I was debating changing my MacBook 12" for a 13" Pro with Touch bar. I did. It was not transformative. The Touch Bar, while cool, is a gimmick. You don't actually use it that much. About the only thing that is useful is the TouchID fingerprint scanner, which I do use often. The is useful. Other than that, the notebook resolved my main gripes with the 12", namely speed/grunt, and ports. The new Pro has plenty of both.

• I upgraded my Bose QC3's to QC35's. If the QC3's were good, the QC35's are simply sublime. And I don't experience the bass issues that seem to be widely discussed. Good battery life, extremely comfortable; my absolute go-to on flights and when I want uninterrupted listening. I did contemplate the Sony equivalents, but the Bose just seemed to have better build quality and class sound. Boo to the disparagers!
  
• I ended up buying a single discreet Bluetooth headset, for ad-hoc listening. The Rowkin Mini Plus headphone is absolutely discreet, well built and a good purchase for the price. Solves a gap for that "something to do while my kids/wife are busy and I have 5 minutes to kill"
  
• A massive win in terms of WiFi gear that I've been playing with is GL-Inet. Its like a Swiss-army knife of AP's. It can be a bridge, repeater, router, AP, OpenVPN client-termination device, can use a phone as a modem and solves the hotel "captive portal" / multiple device problem. A definite winner!
  

I’ve played with a lot of gear, devices and software. Nothing so impressive as to merit a review.

Google Pixel XL

I have always had a soft spot for Android phones. It caters to the inner geek in me, or if I have to be totally honest, the geek I used to be. Massively customizable, almost every aspect tweakable, and you can get to a command line prompt within a few seconds.

I always preferred Google's own interpretation of Android, through their Nexus line. The last Nexus device, the 6P made by Huawei, alongside the excellent 5X made by LG, were great devices.

But, their hardware was clearly from a 3rd party, and while Google had influence in the software, they only had heavy influence and not absolute control of what you held in your hands. With the Pixel range, Google clearly aims to change that. I am currently using an XL, which as it claims, is the bigger of two devices.

The hardware manufacturer is not highlighted, and this is first and foremost a Google device. What are the key differentiators from Nexus devices ? Frankly, little to nothing other than 24/7 support directly (ostensibly) from Google. No self-respecting Android user would go for Android support to anything other than xda forums. It is also the first phone to ship with the Google Assistant, which is theoretically a context-aware AI that is meant to be a personal assistant in your pocket.

My experience is that Google Assistant is good as a product for techies; I think its got a year or three before usage becomes even remotely mainstream. What is clear is that by adding it into a phone, and making it available in Google Home (which I have ordered and funnily enough is the first device that has my wife's attention i.e. she wants it), we should see the AI engine improving exponentially.

Its a good device; is it good enough to replace your Nexus ? No. Is it better than a Samsung ? Much harder question. I'd say the S7/S7 Edge only have the advantage due to waterproofing and SD card. But, because I don't store much on phones and am generally always well connected (and have lived without a water proof phone this long), its not a big swing for me. Getting software updates and releases first, is.

Nexus 6

It was logical when Motorola was bought by Google that they would be heavily influenced (both entities) by design, and the pinnacle of that would be in the Nexus line. Rumors of the Nexus line being replaced seem to be on hold for now; we don’t see anything other than Nexus devices, and maybe Sudar Pichai is a bit busy and doesn’t have time to review this just yet.

 

It is indeed a pity that Googlerola as a corporate entity seems short-lived, as Motorola were then re-sold (to Lenovo), but the reasons seem fairly sound.

 

But enter the king and the fruits of this (brief) affair - the Nexus 6.

 

Google tends to use the Nexus line as a platform to explore their new ideas, and the overriding idea here seems to be expansive real estate. This device is big.

 

Its very well made; battery life seems decent for a screen this size, and its a pleasure to hold in the hand. Lollipop is a great update, and Material design is actually quite pleasing to the eye. I can say that the gap between iOS and Android is narrowing incredibly quickly. The differences between the two are starting to distill into how flexible, and crucially, predictable you want the experience to be. Android, as you’d expect, is like a teenager wanting to be flexible, free and able to change their look as they see fit, while iOS feels more like a 33 year old hipster trying to stay cool.

 

Both have their place, and I haven’t yet decided which of the two I prefer more. Thats why, as I have done for the last 5 years or so, I’ll carry both. And if you’re wondering which platform to have in your car, have both - buy a head unit from Parrot.

Q4 2014 review - reality

I had mentioned previously that I was quite excited about the new technology we were going to see in Q4 2014. While we’re not through Q4, enough has happened that its worth summarising things thus far.

 

• The successors to the Moto X and G were released; other than bigger screens, very little else has changed. Understandable, but slightly underwhelming. The Moto360 broke out too, and its distinguishing feature is that its round, and needs to be charged every evening. Hmmm. Again, underwhelming. Am I the only one who doesn’t really get this smart watch category ?
• The Nexus 6, which looks like its being made by Motorola, hasn’t broken cover yet - but its tipped to be even bigger. Yikes!
• The new iPad’s haven’t broken ground, but the iPhone 6’s have, and all the rumours were basically correct. Bravo to Apple on the Apple Watch, rumours of which have been floating but no leaks until release date, which is very impressive. Not as impressive as the watch itself, IMHO. I don’t see the point. It will be the best of a pointless category.
• We had the iOS 8 reboot; and boy oh boy, are we still rebooting. It feels like a series of Microsoft Windows updates. Unreliable, buggy and borked several peoples devices (at least, 8.0.1 did)
• We’re still waiting for Intel to hurry up and release those Broadwell chips. Come on guys, lets hustle a bit. The buzz around the 14nm production process had better yield some damn good results in terms of battery life.

 

Overall, thoroughly underwhelming.

Q4 2014

The last quarter of 2014 (which we’re effectively heading into now) should be interesting from a technology perspective! Its weird, but you get the sense that manufacturers keep all their thunder for Q3/Q4 in order to capitalise on the Thanksgiving/December rush. I would have expected them to shift it earlier to let the market settle and allow smart buyers to plan (these things cumulatively are not cheap after all). But living in the US, I can now see that most of it is catering to the impulsive (and generally misinformed public), and no human impulse is quite so strong as the good feeling you get from perceived savings from a sale - even if its completely artificial. I am expecting to see;

• a follow up to the Moto X and Moto G, both really solid handsets which seem to indicate to me, along with the Moto360 smart watch at least, that Motorola’s mobility division got its groove back (before Google decided to flog them off to Lenovo - lets hope this wasn’t a few hit wonder rush). I doubt I’ll order either (simply because there is nothing wrong with the ones I have), but if you’re looking for a solid Android device, these are pretty awesome; well priced, decent specs and solid build quality! Also relatively unmolested from the manufacturer
• a Nexus 6 running the rebooted Android L. Loads of rumours, no facts. So not going to speculate
• the iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini with Retina 2 and two versions of the iPhone. Again, too many rumours so not going to speculate. To be honest, Apple’s announcements have become pretty stale in this arena and frankly uninspiring. I’m not expecting this to change with this slew; faster, more RAM (maybe) and bigger. Not inspiring
• an Apple Watch - for such a giant in the personal consumer electronics space to not have a wearable is insane; these rumours have been running for more than a year now, and given that all of their rivals have launched, the Cupertino behemoth would be insane to not deliver something to the market - but its going to have to be rather special for me to consider it (thats not to say it won’t sell millions; it will even if its garbage, because it’ll be the “best garbage you’ve ever seen”)
• reboots of the OS X and iOS for computing and mobile devices respectively
• Mass production of Broadwell-based Intel processors. Its time for a new notebook for me (run through the 3 year cycle), and its requiring all of my restraint to wait for the new processor architecture to hit Apple’s devices. Broadwell-based Retina 13” Pro, here we come. While I like the profile of an Air, it just simply does’t have the juice I would like, even though it only gets booted up when not at the office - and with the new architecture, it should comfortably whip the Air for battery life compared to what I’m using now

 

So overall, an exciting time!

Nexus 5

Android 4.4 (or KitKat), is a subtle pack of changes (which in the IT world is the equivalent of a Service Pack), that was too impactful to make it less than a point release, but in my mind not large enough for a version bump.

 

To highlight these changes, Google commissioned LG again to develop the Nexus 5. I didn’t have the previous generation (Nexus 4), so cannot make a direct comparison. I did have a Galaxy Nexus, which is effectively the Nexus 3. And from that device to this one, the significant changes are;

1. speed (smartphone processor technology is just moving in leaps and bounds) 
2. screen size (I used to think the Galaxy Nexus was big)
3. LTE support (not a huge deal for me, but a big deal that could improve according to some)

 

Unlike some other similarly sized devices I’ve physically handled, this device feels well balanced in the hand, is extremely light and pocketable. Battery life is still miserable, but understandable given the screen size. And for the price ($350), its a great deal.

 

I will always have a special place for Google and its Nexus line; this phone doesn’t disappoint.

Asus Nexus 7

I've always been a fan of Google's Nexus line; hardware purpose built to highlight features in the latest version of Android, usually in a skunkworks configuration with hardware and software teams working relatively close together (same building at any rate).

 

I've had the Nexus One, Xoom, the Galaxy Nexus (I skipped the Nexus S because I thought it wasn't frankly that interesting) and most recently the Nexus 7. I picked it up in Dubai for R3000, in Duty Free. First impression is that its a solid device, with a nice rubber feel at the back. Jellybean on this device is extremely responsive, and renders graphics at lightning speed.

 

The 7" form factor is interesting; I personally like it, but Android still suffers from a severe lack of tablet-optimised applications, which makes me think that while this device is blazing fast and a pleasure to use for what I need it to do (Chrome and Google Reader), the iPad Mini is going to dominate this sector. At the time I bought, there was no 3G version; that has been rectified and I think with a 3G radio, this is definitely a very interesting device, especially if its price holds at roughly half that of its competitors. For the money, its unbeatable.

 

PS It does have the capability to make media available via USB, which is a big winner for me.

Android 4.1 - Jelly Bean

I had written before about the Galaxy Nexus; I've upgraded it to Android Jelly Bean, and so far loving the new notification framework, and the overall smoothness and perceived speed jump in usage.

 

The ability to mass dismiss notifications is also quite cool. Not cool is the auto-resizing / scaling of widgets. Sometimes, you want widgets to stay just where they are dammit, and this sometimes gets in the way. Pity there is no way to "lock" a widget / home screen.

 

Time to go play and discover more :-)

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I normally write these posts while the content is still fresh in my head, as I feel my initial impression is the most faithful. With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I wasn't sure how I felt. The fact that its the first Android phone to run Ice Cream Sandwhich is very exciting on its own; combine that with the hardware talents of Samsung, and this promises to be a ground breaking device.

 

I used the device for a week while overseas on holiday, in a more intense use-case mode than normal - not comfortable office based, but in and out of taxi's, public transport, planes, on the beach, by the pool side, etc. And specifically where connectivity was rubbish at best.

 

And so the verdict I'm happy to provide after more than a week of fairly intense testing is that while the operating system is excellent, the hardware its mated to is just too damn big (and soft) to be comfortable carrying around.

 

This device is bigger than a Samsung Galaxy S2; and thats a big phone. So you can't imagine how big this thing is. Sure, its light, and its thin, and that screen is gorgeous, but its uncomfortable to go into your pocket easily or retrieve in a hurry (like when its ringing). And you definitely shouldn't sit with it - highly unrecommended! And its even worse if you're a man ;-)

 

More detailed impressions;

 

• Hardware

1. The speaker is terribly soft - for ringing, audio calls, music, etc.
2. The screen is gorgeous - colors stand out, depth looks amazing, and vibrancy of the screen is crazy. But its not Gorilla Glass - so how long will it last and how hardy will it be is questionable
3. As mentioned, the dimensions of the phone are just uncomfortable to hold in one hand (unless you're a freakishly large person) and you need two hands to text, browse, etc - forget thumb-based texting with this, ain't going to be possible unless you're a yeti
4. Because its so big, you're constantly scared you'll drop it

 

My overall impression is that this is the wrong hardware for this device. The screen real-estate space race needs to end.

 

• Software

1. Slick, polished, and lightning fast - transitions, the cool effect when you reach your home screen ends, etc - this is truly world class and eliminates the one argument all iPhone users have, which is around the speed of interacting with Android devices. Its finally fixed!
2. App compatibility so far seems great, and I have yet to find an app that misbehaves
3. The entire UI is obviously completely customisable, widgets galore and gorgeous yet subtle effects

 

The overall impression is that the software is amazing, and I find it hard to see how the traditional hardware manufacturers will differentiate now that Google has made the decision to reduce fragmentation based on UI.

 

PS. I will admit that this large estate makes this a wonderful smart device to carry around (note, I didn't say smartphone). So, my modus operandi now is to use an iPhone 4S to make/receive calls, and this device for everything else (social media, e-mail, etc). Seems to be a winning combo. In retrospect, that sounds like the girl taking a different phone with based on the handbag she's carrying. But bigger isn't always better, and walking around with this device over the smaller iPhone only exaggerates the size.

Hacking your Android phone

So if you read the previous post I wrote on Android, you'll know that I managed to get hold of a Nexus One, which is unfortunately not available except through Vodafone. The device came with Android 2.1, which I was pleasantly able to upgrade to 2.2 with an OTA upgrade by doing a "Check for Updates". Android 2.2 is blazingly fast, introduces some new features and is generally pretty stable and robust.

 

But, I was bored with it - it felt like there was much more tweaking that was possible, and I wasn't seeing it. My device was rooted, by following this post. That was required primarily to buy paid apps from the market (in retrospect, if that was the only reason, I should have used appbrain.com, which allows you to buy apps). I had heard about Cyanogenmod before, but frankly didn't have the cajones to try it.

 

Well, I've tried it, and it is the best OS to mate to amazing hardware. It is supremely flexible, and allows me to customise almost every aspect of the device. I'd highly, highly recommend it! Note to HTC users, there is a lot of goodness in the Sense UI which is now available on almost all their devices. Be warned, naked Android is not as pretty as what you have. Check the Cyanogenmod Wiki for a how-to relevant to your device.

 

If you own a HTC Desire (which frankly I would leave with Sense, and just root), you're in trouble if you updated to 2.2; you won't be able to root, and hence, no custom recovery and therefore no new mod. Downgrade to 2.1 and use the unrevoked method.

 

PS. If you're new to Android and don't like the battery life you're getting, download Screebl Lite (and then reduce your screen timeout to the lowest you can) and JuiceDefender from the Market. They'll do wonders. When you root your device, get SetCPU and change the CPU clock speed to underclock when the screen is off, and overclock when on. Works great!

 

PPS. I'm not going to paste links to apps, they change too often.

 

PPPS. The full list of apps that I have on my device as "must have's" are;

1. 1Password - popular Mac password manager port for Android
2. 3G Watchdog - check your data usage and whinge when you hit particular limits
3. Adobe Flash Player 10.1 - self explanatory
4. Adobe Reader - self explantory
5. AK Notepad - to take notes :-)
6. AndFTP - ftp client
7. Antennas - check to see how rubbish the mobile networks are
8. Apps Organiser - best way to organise apps, I would die without this; organise and then create category shortcuts on your home screen(s)
9. Astro File Manager - self explanatory
10. Autostarts - tells you what apps are being called on which system event hooks
11. Battery Left widget - nicest looking battery life estimator I could find
12. Beautiful Widgets - nice looking clock and weather widgets
13. Better Keyboard - stock Android keyboard is rubbish
14. Bluetooth File Transfer - should be in the base OS, but isn't - go figure
15. ConnectBot - ssh client
16. Documents to Go - view Microsoft docs on your mobile
17. DroidStats - analyse your SMS and calls
18. Earth - self explanatory
19. Factbook - CIA-backed DB on various cities and countries
20. Feedr - RSS reader
21. FeedSquares - another RSS reader (but pretty)
22. Fring - used to be useful, now only as a sip client
23. Goggles - Google's LBS demo app
24. Google Sky Map - pretty nifty, lets you know what's up!
25. Google Translate - self explanatory
26. Handcent SMS - much better than the stock messaging / SMS app
27. Here I Am 2 - tells your mates your exact GPS co-ordinates
28. IM+ - multi-IM server client
29. IMDB - because looking up movie information is important on a Friday/Saturday night
30. InstaFetch - Instapaper client
31. JED - I have new shareholders :-)
32. JuiceDefender - monitors and optimises battery by cutting features (e.g. 3g radio)
33. LauncherPro - MUCH better than the stock launcher, very customisable and fast
34. Linkpack for Android - to compare sizes
35. Brut Navigation (Maps and Navigation) - enable Navigation outside the US and UK - get from here
36. MarketEnabler - allow you to buy apps from anywhere
37. MyBackup Pro - self explanatory
38. NubDial - T9-style predictive dialler
39. ONN - for kicks, fun client
40. Paypal - nothing really useful
41. Phonalyzer - similar to DroidStats, but with graphs
42. Places Directory - tell you where to go close by
43. Pure Calendar widget - allows you to see your calendar in a variety of forms
44. Quadrant Standard - to compare sizes
45. RealCalc - for when the stock calculator doesn't hack it
46. ROM Manager Premium - because you never know when you want to try another ROM ;-)
47. Root Explorer - similar to Astro, nothing that I need more, not sure why I bought it
48. Route Recorder Free - tells you where you've been (Zen!)
49. Screebl Pro - Pro version of the screen saving tool mentioned earlier
50. SDMove - move apps to the SD card
51. SendContact - send business cards to people
52. Shazam - tells you what music is playing
53. Ookla Speed Test - to compare sizes
54. SystemPanel Lite - quick system-wide info tool
55. TaskManager - tells you what is running
56. Titanium Backup - best backup tool ever
57. Trackball Alert Pro - flash different colours LED / trackball on particular system events
58. Vibrate During Meetings - self explanatory
59. Visual Task Switcher - pretty, not essential or important
60. WaveSecure - great tool, gives you the ability to remote wipe and manage your device
61. Wifi Analyzer - lets you feel like you have a very expensive spectrum analyser (when you don't)
62. XE Currency - again, I have shares in foreign currency :-)

The best phone I've ever used - period.

I mentioned previously my experiences with an iPhone; in essence, I hated it. I had played around with Android on a Motorola Milestone, and thought that was pretty awesome - although the Milestone had its own issues. I got my hands on a Google Nexus One - fortuitously it appears, as Google is no longer selling them.

 

Its only been two days, but this is, without a doubt, the best phone I've ever used.

 

• Its blazingly fast
• It gets its updates directly from Google
• You can unlock the bootloader

 

Mine is already rooted (because I want to run market-enabler, the tool that allows me to buy apps outside of the US), running Froyo, aka Android 2.2. Major highlights for me include the ability to run Flash and the fact that its so much faster than Eclair, aka 2.1. The battery life for a phone with this type of screen isn't bad (it lasts me one full business day), but thats not enough, so I have ordered an extended battery.

 

Useful links;

How to root your 2.2 Nexus One

Make sure your Amonra recovery doesn't get destroyed on every reboot

Hello Nexus One

I really, really hated using an iPhone. So much so that I begged and pleaded, and will be getting my hands on a Google Nexus One shortly. Details to follow shortly :-)

 

Major plus in its favour is that it gets its Android updates straight from Google. So no lengthy delays in OS updates, and I avoid the deadly Android fragmentation. Now that is a good thing.

 

I may still end up buying an HTC Desire, which is the non-Google version of the Nexus. But I'll avoid that for as long as I can, and buy a device on contract when I have to return this one.