The iPhone Fenceboy Chronicles – HTC Incredible 2?
As an almost iPhone fanboy who likes to keep his options open (a fenceboy, I might be referred to as) more news today in the growing confusion on what to buy and when to buy it. Was pretty warm to the HTC Thunderbolt, now with 3G, 4G, dual core, iPhone 5…it’s almost too much for such wonderfully stupid thing.
Answer – don’t buy anything ever. Re-activate my Motorola Razr.
From Droid Life:
- DROID X2 is rumored to be a Tegra 2 dual-core device. We had heard it was going to be clocked at 1GHz and were initially a little disappointed, but after hearing from one of our guys that it could be dual-core, that speed no longer bothered us and actually made sense. It also will not be 4G just as we figured. A current Verizon timeline has it slated for a May release.
- The Incredible 2 could wind up as a global device. I’m not hearing any signs that it will just be a re-hashed version of the supposedly-cancelled Merge, but another bigger-screened Incredible (4?) with a new radio. Current Verizon timeline suggests a March release date. Seems early? I thought so too.
- And lastly, we’re hearing May for the DROID BIONIC.
Netflix Comes to the iPhone
I’ve got Netflix. I’ve got iPhone. You probably do too. Well today is a day of happiness as the free app now allows you to watch streaming videos in the palm of your hand. On a really tiny screen that drains your battery.
A cool concept, but how does it play out? Download it for yourself, or check out Gizmodo’s stellar review of the new app. So exit question – even if it’s great…is watching movies all the time really yet another good thing to add to our deteriorating attention spans and lack of being wherever we physically are at any given moment?
- Here’s how Netflix streaming works on my 3GS: silky smooth over Wi-Fi, gimped over 3G. And I’m way more relieved about the former than I am concerned about the latter. Streaming video over 3G has always been untenable; I’m just glad they even offer up the option. But the interface is easy, the video is clear and crisp enough to make dream of retina displays, and it played back the first five twenty minutes of Futurama: Bender’s Game.
Can I fawn some more? I’d like to if you’ve got a minute. But not just about Netflix on the iPhone. That’s just one slice of the pie. It’s been on the iPad for months. It looks like it’ll be gorgeous on Windows Phone 7. Android can’t be far behind (right?). Then throw in WiMax and LTE speeds. Maybe a future in which studios embrace broad distribution instead of fight it—or Netflix pays up for earlier distribution rights, given how much money they save streaming rather than shipping. That’s when we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want. That’s the dream. And we’re so close.
Did Google Android Just KO Apple’s iPhone?
Based on the iPhone 4.0 sneak preview and yesterday’s Google Android 2.2 demo, I for the first time want to have a full cover on my iPhone to not let people know I don’t have a Droid. Time will tell if this stands, but right now it’s looking like Android 1, iPhone 0.
It boggles my mind since the iPhone came out first, controls its own hardware, and has such a large and vocal user base. Android sputtered out of the gate, and has to deal with wildly different hardware specs and had a lot of catching up to do.
Is it the iPhone’s Kryptonite?
So exactly why should you be looking at Droid phones when the iPhone 4.0 is just around the corner? From Gizmodo on yesterday’s announcement (excerpts). It’s all about the Android 2.2 software, also known as Froyo.
- Froyo lets you turn your phone into a hotspot—which means it can be your wireless internet for your wi-fi devices, including friends around you, your iPad, or even your laptop.
- 5X faster processing than the previous version of Android (2.1..what’s on phones now) and the fastest mobile web browser in existence. iPhone is lucky to double their speed with each new release.
- it runs Flash. Whether or not it runs it well is TBD (supposedly pretty decent) but Apple has decided the internet will be filled with little question mark boxes. (as Google put it “We discovered something cool: It’s called the internet.”)
- Downloading music or apps on your computer, then synching with a cable. Nope. Over the Air (OTA) synching to your phone. Want long time.
- A variety of other tweaks and fixes meshing your browser and other native apps (like camera) and more usability settings, etc.
- If you have a Droid phone (at least most newer ones) you’ll just upgrade and get all these features in a few weeks or a few months.
- full details at Gizmodo. also check out Google is Leapfrogging Apple
Hey, iPhone’s got multitasking, wallpaper, and folders coming. Oh wait, those were in Google’s last version already.
Sigh. We’ll see. I hope all those new features brick everyone’s phone 
