APPLE ON LAWSUIT RAMPAGE AGAIN, BUT WILL IT HELP THEIR CAUSE?

In recent news, Apple has decided to sue Samsung in Germany again (yawn) over the “slide-to-unlock” feature of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, because it infringes on an intellectual property right called a “utility model”. The Boy Genius Report blog originally reported this story.

As stated on the BGR website, Apple apparently registered this “feature” in 2006. You can read the details in the link above. The German court could make a ruling on March 16th, 2012.

This is just another episode in a string of patent wars raging back and forth between Apple and Samsung. Whether or not it is valid, I don’t know. However, nobody seems to be talking about the practicality of this at all.

Samsung may very well have infringed upon this “idea”, and Apple has a right to fight this in court. But does it really make a difference in the overall scheme of things? I think not. Let me explain…

I think that Apple’s main beef is that their sales have possibly been adversely affected by the similarities between their iOS operating system and the Android operating system. It is a known fact that several programmers, design engineers, and people in leadership positions with the Apple corporation have defected over the years, taking their knowledge to the chief competitor. It’s probably due to the inflexibility of the company’s business practices.

Suing over infringement is the natural reaction on the part of Apple, but I don’t think it makes a real difference. Apple has sued over everything down to the rectangular shape of their iPad down to the basic functionality of their operating system. But the problem is, a large percentage of the population simply doesn’t want to own their devices.

I owned an iPhone for 2 years and ended my frustration in October of 2011 when I bought my current Samsung Galaxy S2. Apple may sue their competitors over many issues, but the fact is, none of their efforts will bring me back to owning their devices. For a string of reasons that I have made hideously obvious over the past couple of years, I simply don’t want to own an iPhone.

At the current time, there are twice as many Android devices being sold as compared to iOS devices. That percentage may continue to grow in the coming years. In my opinion, the reason just happens to be that Android developers have won the battle of innovation over Apple. Rather than continuing to stay on the bleeding edge of breakthrough, Apple has shifted its focus to controlling their market share by forcing out their competitors.

Instead of suing over the “slide-to-unlock” feature on the European version of the Galaxy Nexus, why not elevate the game and move on to developing the next great feature? Fussing over such a trivial intellectual idea won’t bring back customers like myself who have decided to defect. It will only cause people like me to view Apple as the “Evil Empire” that prevents us from getting the features that we want.

I think Apple should “steal back” some of the features of the Android operating system that are not offered on iDevices, and then raise the bar. Move on to something better, place the focus on continuing development, and bring back customers like myself with the next greatest idea.

Apple still has the capability to compete and vault themselves ahead of the competition, no matter how many of their own team members have defected. But staying on this current track of fighting the legal battles will not bring the desired result, no matter what level of success they have in the courts.

If they do happen to have a degree of success suing away their competitors, as the late Steve Jobs vowed he would do at all costs, they will leave nothing but a sour apple taste in the mouths of their target market. It leads me to believe that we have seen the peak of the era of Apple’s dominance in the smartphone arena.

Unless Apple decides to diversify their smartphone offerings by providing jumbo-screen devices chock-full of all the latest features that Android device manufacturers are offering, I see the shift in demand towards their competitors continuing on the current trend. It’s unstoppable and unavoidable.

Maybe they will throw us a wicked curve ball and release an iPhone 5 that completely breaks the mold of smartphones. But in all actuality, I don’t see that happening. I think the iPhone 5 that has already been developed will lag behind the competition even further than the iPhone 4S by the time it is released this summer or fall.

Those that are loyal to Apple products will continue to stick with the home team, and it will profit the company well and keep them viable for the long-term. But their market share will continue to shrink as Android and Windows Phone devices continue pushing the limits of the imagination.

I’d sure love to hear some of the iPhone experts “slide-to-unlock” this seemingly senseless saga for me, because I just don’t understand the reasoning behind their market strategy. What are your thoughts, Apple fans? Will Apple surprise me and win back my former loyalty? Sound off in the comments section please!

Carlton Flowers
Android Fanboy

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is available right now on Amazon.com for between $179 and $199 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Skyrocket, the super capable LTE Android smartphone with the jumbo-sized 4.5″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is good!

The Original Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The original Samsung Galaxy S II is available right now on Amazon.com for between $99 and $149 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Galaxy S2, the super capable HSPA+ Android smartphone with the optimal 4.3″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is still this low!

Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G Android Phone (Sprint)

The Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G Android Phone by Sprint packs all of the features that you want, just like the AT&T version and is now selling with a 2-year plan as low as $79.99 over at Amazon Wireless!

This version of the Galaxy S2 line runs on Sprint’s WiMax Network at blazing speeds. With unlimited data available with your contract, you won’t be a disappointed surfer! Get it now while the price is low!

Samsung Galaxy S2 4G Android Phone (T-Mobile)

Get the Samsung Galaxy S2 4G Android smartphone made for T-Mobile with the large 4.52″ SUPER Amoled PLUS display that packs all of the features you expect with Samsung’s amazing flagship line. Currently, the price of the T-Mobile version is $199 with a 2-year contract.

The T-Mobile version runs on the fastest HSPA+ network at speeds up to 42Mbps! It will certainly get the job done and maximize your surfing experience!

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THE SPECTRUM SQUEEZE & THE MOBILE DATA CRUNCH THAT  WILL BRING RAPID CHANGE

CNNMoney.com is telling us that smartphone companies and carriers are desperate for network capacity and they are hard-pressed to find it. I recently blogged about AT&T plopping down $1.9 Billion for the 700MHz spectrum owned by Qualcomm (read about it here), so this is without a doubt a very serious problem.

To make matters worse the FCC is projecting a huge increase in data traffic, on the order of 612% per cell site this year and 925% in 2013. This will certainly put the squeeze on the telecoms like never before. I’m not so sure that anyone even has a real solution to this problem as of yet.

Reuters is now reporting that the iPhone 4S consumers are using twice as much data as its predecessor the iphone 4, and three times more than iPhone 3G/3GS users. Some say that Siri is to blame for the spike, but nobody can really nail down the true reason.

Apple just upped their 2012 iPhone sales estimates by 20%. Add that to the pile and this situation gets messier. Plus they are predicting the sale of 125 million iPhones this year. Can you say data traffic jam?

One thing is for sure… this will put network engineers to the test as they scramble for solutions. With problems like this, technology will have to make a quantum leap. It has happened time and time again throughout the course of history. We saw a quantum leap when we went from cramming data through the audible frequency range to DSL not too many years ago, and I predict that the next leap will be equally as significant.

Sure, we have a brand new LTE (Long Term Evolution) network rapidly growing throughout the country as we speak. It promises super fast data transfer speeds of up to 10 times that of the existing 3G network, but it won’t solve the problem of crowding. The challenge we face is that the faster network speeds get, the demand for service grows almost exponentially.

What will the next development be with high speed data transfer? Will it run through the existing network, or will we have to turn to an entirely different hardware system? Will we end up with new cell phone towers littering the countryside in the same way that telephone poles and power lines exploded during the industrial revolution? I don’t think so…

I truly believe that we will see some crazy new way to ram data through the existing network in much of the same way we have seen before. If we don’t, the demand for data downloads will out pace our ability to expand the telecommunications infrastructure. Someone is going to come up with a new idea that hits us by surprise.

When that happens, I truly believe that measuring data download speeds will become something of ancient times. People will look back and remember the days that everyone focused on how fast the latency speed and data transfer speeds are as a measurement of service quality. Data transfer speeds will be so fast that we will think nothing of instant transfers.

By that time, we might be laughing at how the cellular service providers bragged and boasted about 21Mbps transfer rates. People will come to think that instant data transfer of any size is supposed to be, well, “instant”. Nobody will know any different. All of this will probably have to happen within the next 2 to 3 years.

It’s an exciting time in the history of technological advancement. Things change so fast, we can’t even conceive of how much we have improved over time. It’s mind boggling just to consider where we have come since the days of the first affordable cell phone services. If we continue at the current pace, the sky will truly be the limit to what we can accomplish.

What are your thoughts and predictions of the next paradigm shift in data and communications services? What type of devices will we be carrying in our pockets. Or, will we even have rectangular shaped gadgets that we carry with us to access the internet? I’d love to hear your thoughts, my fellow geeks!

Carlton Flowers
Technology Nostradamus

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is available right now on Amazon.com for between $179 and $199 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Skyrocket, the super capable LTE Android smartphone with the jumbo-sized 4.5″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is good!

The Original Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The original Samsung Galaxy S II is available right now on Amazon.com for between $99 and $149 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Galaxy S2, the super capable HSPA+ Android smartphone with the optimal 4.3″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is still this low!

Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G Android Phone (Sprint)

The Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G Android Phone by Sprint packs all of the features that you want, just like the AT&T version and is now selling with a 2-year plan as low as $79.99 over at Amazon Wireless!

This version of the Galaxy S2 line runs on Sprint’s WiMax Network at blazing speeds. With unlimited data available with your contract, you won’t be a disappointed surfer! Get it now while the price is low!

Samsung Galaxy S2 4G Android Phone (T-Mobile)

Get the Samsung Galaxy S2 4G Android smartphone made for T-Mobile with the large 4.52″ SUPER Amoled PLUS display that packs all of the features you expect with Samsung’s amazing flagship line. Currently, the price of the T-Mobile version is $199 with a 2-year contract.

The T-Mobile version runs on the fastest HSPA+ network at speeds up to 42Mbps! It will certainly get the job done and maximize your surfing experience!

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FEEDING AN OLD ADDICTION WITH A 3GS TURNED IPOD TOUCH

I have a fun little experience I thought I’d share with the gang. Last week, a fiend of mine blessed me with a broken iPhone 3GS. I replaced a couple of parts and turned it into an iPod Touch. Now I have my Samsung Galaxy S II and an iPhone with all my old favorite apps! It’s been a strange experience, though…

Now that I have had my Galaxy S2  for a month, it has warped my perception of what I thought “normal” was with screen size. When I pick up the 3GS, which by the way I loved so much more than my horrible iPhone 4, it seems like it went through a “Honey I Shrank  The Kids” experiment.

Was this phone actually this tiny when I was using it? I could swear it wasn’t this small. Turning it on and reading emails and looking at websites with the 3GS is a definite strain on my eyes. I don’t know how I did it before. I think my eyesight has taken a turn for the worse in the past year, so that might add to the effect. But it sure seems like it shrank on me.

It is nice to have some of my old favorite applications available, however. I paid for a few apps that are not available on Android as of yet, so that’s a nice thing. It’s also kind of nice to hear the old sounds that the phone gives off that are burned so deeply into my brain. Sometimes I just pick it up and swipe to open the home page to hear the “unlock” sound.

When I scroll through the apps and play around on the 3GS, it’s like going home. It is comforting and familiar. I can still navigate around iOS5 with relative ease. I’ll probably use the 3GS at home when the Galaxy is charging, or while I’m on the phone at the same time. I liked it so much that at first, I feared it would ruin my Android experience and cause a relapse.

Well, it didn’t…

First of all, after toying with the 3GS for a couple of hours, I started stumbling upon all the familiar frustrating things that made me switch to Android in the first place. Things like no text reflow in the browser, not being able to read the tiny screen, no haptic response, the clunky GMail app, apps disappearing and reappearing when I sync, not being able to “understand” iTunes, etc.

But even with the frustrations, it was still a calming soothing experience to have that little iPhone 3GS back in my hands, and everything was just so familiar, functional, and flowing. Because of that, I was worried that using the 3GS at the same time would ruin my Android experience and make it seem like a “cheap copy”.

So story continues… when I picked up my Samsung Galaxy S2, to my surprise, it was like opening up a big huge present on Christmas morning as a kid. Playing with the 3GS didn’t “ruin” my Galaxy experience. It only made it better. Staring at that bright, rich display was a night-and-day difference from looking at the Retina display for the past couple of hours. And everything was easier in Android.

Navigation on my Galaxy S2 is so much better than on the iPhone with iOS5. I have modified my home screens to where I can get to everything with relative ease. With iOS, scrolling past dozens of app screens just doesn’t get it anymore. Sure, you can jam everything into folders, but it’s just not customizable enough to match Android 2.3.4.

Texting is a big thing that jumps right out at me also. I have always loved the “feel” and spacing of the iPhone keys, and the responsiveness is awesome. But with the bigger Galaxy display, and all of the myriads of keyboard styles that you can switch to on a whim, the Android device is much better. Plus, I can even use my iPhone clone keyboard when I’m in the mood.

Overall, I’m enjoying having the best of both worlds. iOS5 runs just fine on my 3GS, and I can text other Apple device owners using iMessage, so that’s nice. I don’t know how much I’ll really use the 3GS, but it certainly anesthetizes me whenever I get the urge to scratch my old Apple habit.

But the biggest benefit is that it reassures me that I made the right decision to switch to Android. There’s no doubt about that!

Truly mixed up and loving it,

Carlton Flowers
Smartphone Double Agent

PRICE DROP ACTION ON GALAXY S II SMARTPHONES AT AMAZON!

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is available right now on Amazon.com for between $179 and $199 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Skyrocket, the super capable LTE Android smartphone with the jumbo-sized 4.5″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is good!

The Original Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The original Samsung Galaxy S II is available right now on Amazon.com for between $99 and $149 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Galaxy S2, the super capable HSPA+ Android smartphone with the optimal 4.3″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is still this low!

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ANDROID MARKET CELEBRATES 10 BILLION DOWNLOADS WITH 10-DAY SALE

Okay CZ Bloggites, this is huge! I stumbled upon this two days ago in the midst of my “writer’s block”, not even realizing that I should have been passing this on to you! Google’s Android Market has hit the 10 billion downloads mark, and they are in the midst of a celebration that you need to know about.

For the next ten days, er, uh, six days, they will be hosting a ten-app ten-cent-sale each and every day. I have already plucked off several applications at the sale price, some of which were priced at $5.99 regular price. And these are not any slouchy “crap apps”. They are top selling popular downloads.

I came in at Day 2 and snagged Flick Golf, Air Sync by DoubleTwist, and NFL Rivals. On Day 3, I forgot to check the site and was really bummed to see that I missed out on Tetris. Today is Day 4 and I just grabbed Shazam Encore, Need For Speed Shift, and Jelly Defense. It’s not too late if you are reading this Friday nite to get in on today’s downloads, so don’t delay.

There are plenty of great apps in the lineup, and who cares about refunds when the purchase price is only a dime, right? I’m going to be watching closely for the next six days and grab everything that remotely catches my interest. I’m especially looking for good games, because I’m having a resurgence in game play.

There’s a lot out there to be discovered on the Android Market, and the momentum is really picking up. I have found several apps that I previously had with my iPhone 4, but there are still some that you cannot find for Android devices that I will be patiently waiting for. One of the biggest things I’d like to see is a quality video editing app like Splice. Android just does not have a good equivalent. Clesh is a possibility, but I’m afraid of blowing five bucks on what I see in the description.

You can pop on over to the Android Market to get the apps that I’ve mentioned for today’s sale, but to follow this for the rest of the ten cent sale celebration, check out the Talk Android Blog Site for all the details.

If you have any hot tips on awesome Android apps, let us know in the comments below. Meanwhile, enjoy the “salebration”!

Carlton Flowers
Android App Watchdog

Speaking of great deals and sale prices…

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is available right now on Amazon.com for between $179 and $199 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Skyrocket, the super capable LTE Android smartphone with the jumbo-sized 4.5″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is good!

The Original Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

The original Samsung Galaxy S II is available right now on Amazon.com for between $129 and $149 with a 2-year contract agreement with AT&T! Pricing depends whether you are getting a new account, adding a line, or upgrading an existing line.

This is the lowest price you will find the Galaxy S2, the super capable HSPA+ Android smartphone with the optimal 4.3″ display.

Click the link or the thumbnail pic to hop to the Amazon Wireless Store and get it now while the price is still this low!

Tweet This Post

FLASH PERFORMANCE ON A SAMSUNG GALAXY S2 – DOES IT CUT THE MUSTARD?

As I am getting more into the depths of running my new Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone, I am finally able to report my experience on one hot topic… Adobe Flash and browsing the Internet.

As you know, I previously owned an iPhone 3GS and also an iPhone 4, and I took every opportunity to whine and complain about the lack of Adobe Flash support within the Safari browser.

The reason that I complained so much was that I frequently use two particular websites that require Flash support, and I wanted to be able to use these sites with my  smartphone instead of a laptop computer.

During the two years that I owned Apple iPhone products, the corporation hinted at making deals with Adobe on allowing Flash on their devices, but when it came down to it, Steve Jobs put the kibosh on it and never turned back for even the slightest consideration.

The “warnings” about allowing Flash on Apple’s portable devices were battery drain, system instability, and vulnerability. All the while, my theory was that it would threaten Apple’s walled garden business model because Flash would allow their devices to run web apps that do not come from Apple’s App Store.

While I moaned and groaned about the lack of Flash, many of my iPhone and iPad toting friends claimed that they never missed it on their browser. I couldn’t quite understand how a person couldn’t miss Flash content on the web, but I supposed that once you get used to avoiding certain sites you would not seem to have a problem with it.

To me, restricting Flash support from a mobile device is like removing much of its basic functionality and usefulness. It prompted me to write this silly spoof post that a few people apparently took as serious news (I had to chuckle about that!). But again, apparently there are a lot of people who don’t see it as a fundamental component of their web surfing experience on their mobile devices.

Enough about Apple and their Flashless devices. The purpose of this post is to report my findings on the functionality and usefulness of the Flash-enabled browser on my Android device, the Samsung Galaxy S2. Have I had any serious issues or complications with my smartphone due to its allowance of Flash content?

No.

Maybe I haven’t used my Galaxy S2 enough as of yet, but thus far I can’t tell you one single negative story that has resulted from enjoying sites that have Flash content while using my mobile device. I don’t see the supposed enormous battery drain, because I just don’t go far without a charger. I haven’t had a single crash. Running Flash-enabled sites has not shaken up my device’s operating system. Neither have I had any security issues or virus problems.

I’m not saying that there aren’t people who own Android devices that have had these issues due to surfing Flash-rich sites, but I just can’t confirm any of the negative things that the Apple experts have always gone on about when it comes to justifying barring Flash from their devices.

But my biggest surprise with using my Flash-enabled Samsung Galaxy S2 was realizing just how much rich content I was missing out on previously with my iPhone and the Flashless Safari browser. The “we-don’t-really-need-Flash” argument from the Apple loyalists does not stack up one single bit with me any more.

I have not only been enjoying Flash video content with my device, but I now get to listen in to audio content like never before, plus I can use sites that have high utility to me that include Flash programming like Google Analytics, the Amazon Affiliate site, and my Quansite blogging engine. I’m getting more use out of my smartphone than ever before.

Until I see some seriously negative side effects from its use, I will be recommending the purchase of Flash-enabled Android devices to all of my friends and family members. Sure, HTML5 will be the wave of the future, but right now, Flash isn’t going anywhere. If you want the best overall utility from your mobile device, you’ve got to have it. Period.

Do you have any Flash-related stories or experiences with your Android device? Are you for or against enabling Flash in your browser? Id’ sure like to hear your opinion. I’m open to all viewpoints!

Carlton Flowers
Flash Fan I Am

GET IT NOW –> $149 Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

Help support the CZ Blog and join and Android Army at the same time by purchasing your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone through our proud partner Amazon Wireless!

Click the link above (or the picture to the left) to make the jump to Amazon where you can purchase your very own Galaxy S2 for only $149.

That’s $50 off from the current selling price at most retail outlets! Grab one while it’s hot, and congratulations on your choice to snag an amazing cutting edge smartphone! Click the link and go get it!

You’ll find out why 10 million people from around the world are joining the frenzy and jumping aboard the Galaxy S2 phone craze!

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MY GALAXY S2 ANDROID JOURNEY BEGINS, AND THE VERDICT IS…

I am completely, totally, wholeheartedly outdone! The Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone is everything I ever hoped it would be, and even more. I am 100% convinced of this in only 8 hours of constant use since purchasing this phone.

At 10:30am this morning, I got the notification on my iPhone 4… someone bought it for the low low price of $289, and that included the cracked screen, partially responsive home button, and all of my iPhone accessories & the original box. I was so happy, I could have let out a scream right there in the office.

At 11:30am, I went straight to the AT&T store, where I had previously gotten them to agree to sell me the phone for $50 cheaper than what they were asking for it (I asked them to price match Walmart). On the way, I was giddy and nearly uncontrollable. I could not wait to get my hands on the phone.

Even though I was totally beyond excited, I knew this would not be the the easiest of transitions. There would be things that I would miss, and there certainly would take some getting used to using an Android device after having an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 for the past 2 years.

I arrived at the store and spent about 45 minutes of waiting time and demonstration time. When I walked in the door and was waiting in queue, I chatted with my friend Bern from work, and he found me to be quite entertaining. I told Bern that if I hadn’t sold my iPhone 4, I would have drop-kicked the thing straight through the AT&T Store window, and I would not have worried about broken toes.

Usually, it is a hit-and-miss experience when you visit cell phone retail outlets when it comes to being helped by someone who has real tech geek experience. Fortunately for me, attendant Frank was not only quite the smartphone expert, but he was also a Samsung Galaxy S2 owner himself. We spent a good amount of time talking, and he ushered me through some of the basic aspects of getting around Android and downloading some basic apps.

When I left, I was on cloud 9 (not to be confused with “iCloud). I did not take my eyes or my hands off of the phone for the next 8 hours. I even took it with me to Zumba fitness class and had it plugged into the wall 8 steps away from where I was.

My head hurts from trying to figure out how to do things in Android. I am still automatically and unconsciously on “Apple cruise control”. It has taken some real effort, and it can be frustrating. As time goes on, I’m getting better and better at typing and moving around on the phone.

Right now I am loving the Swype keyboard. It is my favorite. But the Samsung keyboard also is fantastic. I love the way it sounds and feels, and when you backspace, it gives you this squishy erasing sound that really makes it feel like you are destroying what you are deleting.

The voice command entry is fantastic also. I have had fairly good luck getting the device to understand what I am trying to input. I also downloaded and installed VLingo, but I have not had a chance to give it a test drive. I have been hearing good things about it, and I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

The display is remarkable. I was slightly discouraged the day before I bought the phone, because I read a really bad review of the Galaxy S2 on one of the tech blogs. The writer reported that the Galaxy S2 had the second worst pixel density of all smartphones, with its 800 by 480 resolution. After having this phone in my face for 8 hours, I have no idea what this guy is talking about.

My eyes are certainly not able to tell the difference between this Super AMOLED display and anything else that has a better screen resolution. In fact, this display far outshines my iPhone 4’s Retina Display. The blacks are richer and deeper, and the colors just simply pop. I don’t think my eyes will be able to appreciate something much better than this. I am 100% satisfied with the display.

Some of the things that I find frustrating the most would be getting used to typing in text, because I am so used to the spacing and placement of the iPhone keyboard. I still think that the iPhone layout is one of the best and most responsive of all smartphones. But that might be due to the fact that it is the one that I learned on. After sending thousands upon thousands of text messages using my iPhone, that is to be expected.

I am now in the process of downloading applications that I previously enjoyed on my iPhone, and quite a few new apps that I have found in the Android marketplace. I don’t think there are as many high quality apps in the Android Marketplace as compared to the Apple App Store, but again, this might be explained by the fact that I am used to Apple apps. But even if the Android Marketplace isn’t quite at the level of the App Store, I’m sure it will catch up over time.

The battery life is respectable. One thing that I noticed is that the Galaxy S2 smartphone takes quite a bit more time to fully charge than that of the iPhone 4. But this is not an issue for me, because I don’t go far without a charging cord of some type. I usually had my iPhone plugged in 90% of the time that it was in use, and I’ll do the same with the Galaxy S2.

The Galaxy S2 is very thin and light compared to my iPhone 4. It fits well in my hand, and it’s not too big. I love the extra size of the 4.3″ display, which seems to be the perfect size for me. The thinness is incredible, and it “sticks” to my hand when I grip the phone, unlike the super slick glass sandwich that I had with my iPhone 4.

Download speeds are also very respectable. I was getting decent speeds with my iPhone 4, and as I mentioned before, it was even out-performing my friend Tim Largent’s iPhone 4S. My average download speed on the AT&T 3G network here in Jefferson City was around 1.0Mbps, peaking out at 1.5Mbps on a good day. The Galaxy S2 is consistently charting at 1.2 to 1.4Mbps, and I am happy with that.

I’m not sure what the status is in Jefferson City Missouri with the HSPA+ upgrade of the 3G network. One thing is for sure, though, there’s no LTE coverage here and there probably won’t be anywhere in the near future. I would probably bet that the HSPA+ speeds will improve before we get LTE service. HSPA+ “Fake 4G” will work fine for me over the next year until I get a Samsung Galaxy S3, that’s for sure.

I had some mixed feelings about whether or not I should have waited for the Galaxy Nexus, but I’m solidly sure that the Galaxy S2 is for me. The rear camera is 8 megapixels as opposed to 5 on the Nexus, and the front facing camera is also better. Something else that disappointed me was the lack of an SD Flash card on the Nexus, so I’m not going to be hurting in that catagory.

I really needed to jump off of the upgrade vicious circle waiting game and just lock in on a device, so waiting around for the “next big phone” is something that would have kept me with my iPhone 4 and my Apple frustration. I’m glad to have finally stepped off the crazy train, and I’m ready to settle in on using this Galaxy S2.

My head still hurts from using this phone and getting used to a different system. It’s like learning a foreign language for the first time. It’s totally frustrating until the new language sets deep into your mind and becomes an unconscious thing. I might give this process about a week or two before I think my aching head will go away.

Overall, I’m feeling as if I have been liberated. There is so much that you can modify with the Samsung Galaxy S2 it will make your head spin off of your shoulders. For a computer hacker/programmer/builder like me, this is the only way to go. I have come to realize that the iPhone is more geared towards those that want immediate simplicity and mindless usability. There’s nothing wrong with that.

However, I found it quite interesting to hear a report from a fellow HTC Inspire user friend of mine that she had a hard time understanding how to tool around on the iOS operating system as opposed to her Android device. She stated that the Android system was much easier, simpler, and straight forward. The biggest thing she noticed was the ability to get straight to what you want to do without heading back to the home screen and selecting the setup icon to make changes. Again, this proves that what you learn on will become the easiest system in your mind.

I will have a lot more to say about this device, and there will be plenty of screen shots and videos that I will share as I get used to this Android smartphone. I’m glad to say that I agree 100% with my fellow Galaxy S2 owners on the CZ Blog that this is one incredible, spectacular device, and easily the best smartphone on the market at this time.

I’m going to go take a couple of ibuprofen tablets and let my head rest. We’ll chat more tomorrow.

Carlton Flowers
Android Assimilator

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Help support the CZ Blog and join and Android Army at the same time by purchasing your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone through our proud partner Amazon Wireless!

Click the link above (or the picture to the left) to make the jump to Amazon where you can purchase your very own Galaxy S2 for only $149.

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THE TRANSITION OF AN APPLE IPHONE FAN TO ANDROID BEGINS

Well folks, I finally got up the nerve and listed my iPhone 4 on eBay. It’s right here. Now is the time for me to start on my journey with Android, with the help of a Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone.

I cleaned up my iPhone 4 the best I could, loaded iOS5, took pictures with my wife’s HTC MyTouch smartphone, and got a nice ad listed for eBay. This was not an easy process. And even though I have had it up to my ears with Apple, I’ll hate to see my iPhone go.

I hope that my Samsung Galaxy S2 experience is so great that it will wipe away all of my Apple iPhone woes. And I don’t plan on coming back. After toying with a Galaxy S2 at the AT&T store this weekend, I’m thinking that I will be in love with this smartphone.

The biggest factor in motivating me to make the move is that I can modify the Galaxy S2 smartphone in any way I wish, without jailbreaking or rooting the device. I plan on doing some heavy modification when I get my hands on this phone. Instead of having the feeling that I’m using some big company’s smartphone, I want to feel like I am using my own unique creation.

I have always pulled for the underdog company, and this move makes me feel good about not going with the masses and continuing with an iPhone. I especially don’t want to continue with an iPhone 4S, because it’s just more of the same of what I already have.

You have a beefed up interior, better rear camera, a decent voice command system, and a so-called “improved antenna” (I’ll believe that when I see it), but it’s still the same ugly form factor with a tiny screen and a closed system that I cannot modify. That doesn’t excite me at all, but congratulations to all of those that seem to be cranked up about buying an iPhone 4S.

As I wrote in my last post, my good friend Tim Largent (go check out Tim’s blog here) informed me that his iPhone 4S is not surfing the 3G system any faster than my iPhone 4, and it is supposed to be HSPA+ “Fake 4G” capable. Where are the 14.4Mbps download speeds? Tim is reporting download speeds of a whopping 1.0 Mbps, and that is in Jefferson City Missouri, where we have great coverage.

That’s all beside the point though. My story today is about the beginning of a new smartphone experience that will take place as soon as someone hits the “Buy-It-Now” button on my eBay auction to take this iPhone 4 off of my hands. Then its time to take a trip across town.

What am I most excited about at this moment? I’m thinking about a rich, robust colorful 4.3″ display with haptic feedback and SWYPE. That’s the first few things on my mind. I’ve been wanting haptics for so long I can taste it. Er, uhm, feel it. And boy will it be easy on my old eyes with that bigger screen staring back at me.

Secondly, I’m excited about using the Quansite online blogging system with my phone. Some of the service is Flash-based, so I can’t really do much editing on my iPhone. That problem will be solved with a Galaxy S2. This represents the single reason why I need the option of having Flash on my smartphone, because I’ll be using it as my “mini laptop”.

But while I impatiently wait to make the big move, I can’t ignore the breaking news coming at us in full force about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will be the first official Google smartphone to feature the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. The new Ice Cream Sandwich has features that certainly impress, but I’m not sure if I will forego my Galaxy S2 plans to pick one of these up.

For starters, there’s a higher price tag. The latest-greatest Android superphone we are watching at the live event tonight will probably set you back $299. That’s double the cost of what I can purchase Sammy’s Galaxy S2 for through Amazon.com.

Second, we won’t see the Galaxy Nexus until sometime in late November of 2011. We still have not heard if Verizon Wireless will get some brief period of exclusivity before it is rolled out to the other cellular providers, but the story has some credibility since Verizon decided to pass on the first Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy S2.

I would be satisfied with a Galaxy S2, especially since it will have better cameras both on the front and on the back. Video recording will be a big part of what I’ll be using the phone for, so this is a concession that I may not want to give up for the Nexus Prime. But everything else on the Nexus Prime is absolutely fantastic as far as technical specs.

The screen resolution will be much better on the Nexus as compared to the S2, but with my poor eyesight I really don’t think I will be able to tell the difference. But the curved glass is compelling. That sure would feel better smushed up on the side of my face than the flat screen of the SGS2.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how my auction turns out. At the end of day one, I already have over 250 views, but no “watchers”. That’s a great start, but I hope to expect to see more watchers before the ending moments of the 3-day “Buy-It-Now” listing.

Once someone pulls the trigger, the migration will take place, and I’ll high-tail it down to the local AT&T store to pick up my Galaxy S2 at a discounted price (I took the advice of one of the CZ Bloggers and asked them to price-match with Walmart, and the AT&T staffer agreed).

I’d love to buy it on Amazon for a discounted price and receive a small commission back from my own purchase, but time is of the essence here. I’d like to get the phone as soon as possible so I can start rolling out videos demonstrating all the features that I’ll be enjoying with this device.

Day one is about to come to a close. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know what happens at the end of day 2 in my attempt to defect from the walled nation of Apple!

Carlton Flowers
Excited Apple Defector

GET IT NOW –> $149 Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

Help support the CZ Blog and join and Android Army at the same time by purchasing your Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone through our proud partner Amazon Wireless!

Click the link above (or the picture to the left) to make the jump to Amazon where you can purchase your very own Galaxy S2 for only $149.

That’s $50 off from the current selling price at most retail outlets! Grab one while it’s hot, and congratulations on your choice to snag an amazing cutting edge smartphone! Click the link and go get it!

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GOOGLE LIVE UPDATE NIGHT COMES TO A CLOSE WITH “BEAMING” NEWS

Last but certainly not least, a new exciting feature that Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich plans to bring to us will be the ability to share information via NFC (near field communication). This is a cutting edge feature that I will soon enjoy!

It’s called the “Android Beam“. If you touch two Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones together back-to-back, you will be able to beam contact information, webpages, Youtube videos, map locations, and more. A prompt shows up on the screen that says “touch to beam”, and you’re off to the races.

Even when you are in an application, you can beam to another ICS smartphone and it will immediately navigate to the Android Marketplace for the second user to download.

This takes “Bump” to another level of information sharing. It looks like the possibilities are limitless when you can share the high amount of data required to stream a video, if it is actually doing that and not just loading it on the second device. I’m sure we’ll see more details on this as Ice Cream Sandwich is explored more over the next few days.

The event closed out with information for the developers, including tools for the now-available SDK.

Overall, there was a lot more information than what I gleaned from the presentation, but it’s looking like Android Ice Cream Sandwich is going to be a serious contender in the world of smartphones, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will lead the charge for Google’s newest operating system update.

How do you think Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich rates against iOS5 and Windows Phone Mango? Share your thoughts!

Carlton Flowers
Excited Android Follower

Carlton Flowers
Future Android Follower

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GOOGLE ANNOUNCES GMAIL UPDATE AT LIVE EVENT

We are now getting the new Gmail update. You’ll have a lot of new things coming for your Gmail experience in Android 4.0.

First, you’ll get two-line previews. Next, there’s a new action bar at the bottom for one-click access to composing new messages, searching, and adding labels.

They state that it’s “a lot easier to navigate between messages.” You can swipe left and right between messages. That will truly help me maneuvering through all the messages I get bombarded with every day. I like it.

They also state “We transform email addresses into ‘chips’, with pictures and names.”. That’s a very cool addition, where you will get the thumbnail picture of the person you are writing, just as it is on the desktop version.

Now you can swipe to change and navigate through the days on Gmail’s calendar. Very cool. But now, you can pinch to zoom to change how many events will show up at a time on your screen. Even better.

There’s some more boring information about being able to track your data usage during billing cycles. You’ll be able to set alerts and cutoff points accordingly.

Pictures get some attention with Ice Cream Sandwich too. You’ve got quite a few nifty photo editing tools now. Plus you can get a photo uploaded from your phone to the web in three clicks.

There is also Google+ integration with its picture management capabilities.

Back to this “magazine layout” talk, they’ve got a new “People” app that organizes contacts with thumbnail pictures. Now they are “contact cards” with a magazine layout. That’s a new way to handle contacts. Add social integration to the mix, and it’s quite slick.

Visual voicemail now includes thumbnail pics of your contacts. Everything is integrated from the contact info to the person’s social media identities.

That’s pretty much what we have for the improvements with Gmail and contacts. More later!

Carlton Flowers
Android Show Caller

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VOICE RECOGNITION UPGRADE FOR ICE CREAM SANDWICH IS COMING!

On to voice recognition with Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

“Text-to-talk” allows you to do direct voice entry for text messages. It looks like the voice recognition has been given a significant upgrade.

Now they are on to passwords and lock screens. They are stating that a phone should “recognize you”.

This is a biggie… “Face Unlock” is a new feature with Android 4.0. ICS will recognize your face and unlock the screen. When the wrong face approaches the screen, it says “sorry, I don’t recognize you”. Incredible!

For the browser, we now have tabs. You can open 16 at a time, and you even get live previews and the ability to mutlitask and switch between them easily.

Mobile-optimized sites come by default, and you can choose the “desktop version” by selecting a dropdown menu item.

Bookmarks on Android 4.0 will be synced with your Chrome account on your desktop or laptop. That’s a fantastic addition.

You can save entire pages for reading, and virtually take screen shots of pages for further viewing.

Full formatting is the standard for the browser. With Flash capability, that should make a fully functional Internet experience in my opinion.

Next up, Gmail. Stay tuned!

Carlton Flowers
Ice Cream Sandwich Follower

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