A Disappointing Christmas

Growing up, I always loved Christmas time. My grandparents would ask us for our Christmas lists, and I would start wondering which parts of the list they would get. While I understood the meaning of Christmas, I really enjoyed seeing the presents under the tree and which ones were mine. What do you expect? I was a kid. I found out years later that my grandpa would refuse to leave the store until all of the items on the list were purchased. I really wish that tidbit had been revealed a bit earlier. Oh well.

As an adult (or as close of an approximation as I am), I focus more on Christmas as a time to remember the significance and for family to gather together. The anticipation that formerly accompanied Christmas has found a new outlet.in looking forward to gadget releases, software releases, updates to software or hardware and various other geeky type of stuff. It was fully in evidence leading up to the release of what would become my phone. It was more recently apparent as I waited for the release of the operating system update for the phone.

The Incredible came out of the box with Android version 2.1, but soon thereafter, 2.2 became the latest version of the OS. Since upgrading the software on your own apparently voids the hardware warranty, I proceeded to wait as patiently as I could for the new release to be blessed by both HTC and Version before it arrived on my phone. "I'm a close approximation of an adult," I say to myself. "I can wait for it."

I should really have known better.

It became increasingly difficult to wait for the upgrade. Even though I knew that every day brought it closer to the date of the release, like Christmas, time seemed to slow down.

Finally, one morning, it was time: I got the notification on my phone that there was an update available. I immediately clicked to start the install. Then, I went to take a shower. The two events were completely unrelated other than the fact that chronologically they are together. Once I had completed the shower, I grabbed my phone and went to work.

Since then, I've been largely unimpressed, to be honest. I haven't noticed much of a change as far as the performance of the phone. Some of the widgets are prettier and the task switcher is a little bit improved so that there are more applications to switch between. However, most of the changes have almost been for the worse. Or at least the disappointing. The mobile WiFi hotspot feature is built in to 2.2. However, Verizon doesn't want to let you use it without paying an extra $30 per month. Verizon also added some applications, namely Skype Mobile and Verizon Navigator, that run on their own and can't be uninstalled. Skype runs on its own without any input from me. This is a bad thing. I have also recently discovered that Verizon has it set up that when you plug your phone in to your computer in hard drive mode (as opposed to charge only), they have an autorun set up to ask you to install their media management application. It also launches their website in your browser to affirm the virtues of their media management software.  All of this tends to make me a little bit upset. They're wanting to charge me for a feature of the operating system that they didn't create. They're filling my phone with bloatware that uses up resources that are at a premium on any mobile platform. They're ruining my OS upgrade. For shame, Verizon. For shame.

It's as though they've taken all the toys for me under the Christmas tree and replaced them with sweaters, socks and underwear.

And it's not even fun underwear.

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Waiting is the Hardest Part

I have an odd relationship with the rumor mill. On the one hand, I know that there are people out there that are making things up strictly for the page views or to be able to say, "Hey! I started that rumor!" We'll call this the Peter Vescey group.  On the other hand, I have an insatiable curiosity for what might be coming down the pipe. This was very prevalent for me with the rumors about the iPhone coming to Verizon, information on the release of the Incredible, and most recently information about the Incredible moving to the new version of the Android OS, 2.2 or FroYo. When HTC announced that the handsets sold in 2010 would be moving to 2.2 before the end of the year, there was a bit of an uproar on the internet because people didn't realize that meant that all of the phones would be migrated before the end of the year, not at the end of the year.  Pretty soon, we were hearing about the HTC Evo being updated and it was. Then, everyone started asking questions about when the Incredible would follow its Sprint-based brother.  At least, I did, and since I'm writing this, I'm going to assume that everyone else was asking those questions right along with me.

I started checking the rumor mill. Pretty soon, there was word from somewhere (probably Peter Vescey) that the update would happen August 18th. To a tech-obsessed geek like me, this was the operating system equivalent of a pregnancy due date. You try and tell yourself that it's just a date. Nothing is confirmed and lots of things might happen between now and then, but it still gets ingrained in your mind that you have a definitive end date in site. When that "definitive" end date comes...and then goes...it's a bit disappointing.

Just like pregnancy, however, when things finally do start moving, they happen pretty quickly.  We had started hearing about a new date in early September. I again told myself not to get my hopes up while at the same time freely acknowledging that I would still get my hopes up. An odd thing happened, then. There was a leak of the official 2.2 build for the Incredible. People were excited and admonished people to let them know how it worked so that they, too, might upgrade. Soon after, a new rumor started: FroYo for the Incredible would drop the next day on the 27th. The labor pangs had began. On the 27th, Verizon indeed confirmed that 2.2 would be rolled out, albeit slowly, to the customers who had purchased the Incredible.

Here I am, now, on Saturday, the 28th, still waiting for my update. I know that every minute brings us closer to the arrival of the update. I know that in due time, my phone will also be updated and I'll be able to enjoy the improvements that come with the upgrade.  I have to say, though, all those logical, well-reasoned arguments don't make the waiting any easier. I wonder if going for a walk would help move things along?

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The Next Big Thing

I've been horrible about writing again. For this I humbly apologize. Here are some of the things that I've been up to with the phone.

The phone came in very handy while we were on vacation recently. We went to the store when we first arrived (using the GPS to get there), and by the time we were done there, it was dark out. My wife said that we didn't need the GPS to find the hotel since it was on the same road (we thought). After 15 minutes or so of fruitless driving, my wife turns to me and says, "Maybe we need to turn on the GPS." The Incredible, for the win.

I've found that I'm searching out new apps less frequently. I have my social apps (Facebook and Seesmic). I have my podcasting app (Google's Listen).  I have my game (Robo Defense). There really isn't a whole lot else that I need an application for at this point on the phone, so I'm not hunting. Maybe that would change if there was a better interface in to the app store. This is one way in which Apple does better than Android in being able to discover apps in a nice, desktop interface and then load those apps to the phone. doubleTwist is attempting to do something similar on their website, but there's much to be desired there as well.

Speaking of apps, I also haven't gotten any progress in on writing my own.  I was able to download and install all of the tools and in fact did the "Hello, World" example.  However, my laptop's hard drive crashed and I haven't gotten back to it. Trust me, though, it sounds really cool in my head.

Recently, there's been news that the Incredible is getting close to being updated. The update would be to the current stable version of Android (2.2) and will add some very nice features to the phone, including 802.11n wireless, an Amazon MP3 store, and wireless hot spot. The last one is the feature most interesting to me. There's been some speculation on if Verizon will be charging extra to make use of a feature that's built in to the operating system of the phone, but it remains to be seen how it will be handled. That feature is already available on the webOs Palm Pre Plus without any extra charge, so one would hope that there would be a similar thought for the more popular Android devices. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.  One other thing with the update is that I've been hearing that Froyo (the code name for 2.2) includes some optimizations that make the phone a bit snappier and improves battery life. This is also a very good thing. I'm able to mostly work around battery issues with shutting off WiFi and leaving the GPS off unless I need it, but it would still be nice to not have to be so paranoid about it.

I've really like the phone so far. I think that it has been a good utility for us, and I think that I haven't been on it nearly as much as Tracy had feared that I would be. Maybe I'm finally starting to grow up.

No, that can't be it.

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Regret, Avoided; Opportunity, Missed

Well, today Apple held the WWDC Keynote address and unveiled their latest iteration of the iPhone hardware and (newly-renamed) iOS 4.  There were, as usual, the applause and cheering that Steve Jobs has come to expect of his keynote crowds.  I was able to avoid any potential buyer's remorse and Jobs missed a huge opportunity for a great announcement setup.

Jobs started off by covering some of the statistics with regard to the iPhone, iPad and the application store for their mobile stores.  He also discussed their new advertising platform for those devices that they hope will make themselves, and the application developers, even more rich (The Fugitive reference).  Then he went on to cover the main event.

The phone itself is largely what we'd been hearing about for weeks, especially after the prototype was purchased by a rumor site.  It's using the same (or similar) chip to the iPad, developed in house and has a substantially upgraded screen that packs a lot more pixels in, apparently.

What I thought was going to be the best part about the keynote, though, didn't happen, but it was perfectly set up to occur.  I'll explain.  When Jobs was demonstrating the new screen, he was going to have a side-by-side comparison between the screen of the previous iPhone and the iPhone 4.  Jobs makes mention of the network being unpredictable.  Asks people to get off of the WiFi (which I thought was a slight jab at the Google IO keynote a few weeks ago).  Later on, in another demonstration, more connectivity issues.  I had everything that would happen next mapped out in my mind.

The Steve shakes his head and sighs in exasperation while a sympathetic and loving crowd looks on.  "Can anyone help me?" he might ask.  Cut to stage left.  Ivan Seidenber, CEO of Verizon, strides confidently on stage.  "Maybe I can help, Steve."  "Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenber? How can you help?" "Well, I know that you've been having some network issues for, well, a while, and I think it's finally time that we joined forces.  We can show the world exactly what the best hardware, software and network can look like when they're together at last." "I think I'd like that, Ivan.  I think I'd like that a lot, but keep in mind that from now on, I own you." "Yes, sir." "Thanks for playing."  Then there'd be a freeze frame of everyone laughing at Ivan.

It was perfectly scripted.  It just didn't turn out that way.  So, here we are; mostly minor-sounding upgrades to a three-year-old device with a new form factor.  And the same horrible network that's been hampering it all along.  And here I am without the test I had been wanting.  The test to figure out if it was strictly wanting the openness of the Android which fulfills the philosophical arguments of freedom and choice, or if it was simply a case of justifying second best.  I still feel as though I would have gone with Android.  I have become more jaded with each Jobs keynote, picking it apart and taking everything he says with a China-sized grain of salt.  He's trying to get his followers to be excited about adding in features that have been available everywhere else for years, but they only become "innovative" when they come to Apple.  Multi-tasking, folders, WiFi video chat.  These are not new things.  They're just new to Apple.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go listen to Pandora while writing an email on my phone, which I've been able to do from day one.

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The Potential for Regret

In my original statement on why I was going with and Android phone I talked about being fed up with waiting for the iPhone to be on Verizon along with Apple's overly-vigorous control of what is allowed to go on the platform.  I purposely and happily went with the Incredible and haven't regretted it.  At least, yet.  This upcoming Monday is Apple's World Wide Developer Conference.  It has traditionally been at these Conferences, specifically the keynote address, that Apple has announced the latest version of the iPhone.  There has been speculation for a long time that one of the announcements this year will be the inclusion of Verizon as a carrier for the iPhone.

This has started me wondering:  How much of my decision to go with the Incredible had to do with the stronger philosophical alignment that I have with the Android platform and how much was because it was already on my preferred carrier?  When the iPhone does come to Verizon (it seems fairly certain that it will, at least eventually) will I regret jumping in with Android?

If Monday comes with the announcement of the iPhone on Verizon, we'll find out how that makes me feel.  My thinking right now is that I'll still be fine with my decision.  I'm free to do with my phone what I want to do.  I'm free to develop software for the platform and not have to cross my fingers that Uncle Steve will approve the application.  However, I also admit that if Monday comes and goes without any official word of the iPhone coming to Verizon I will breath a bit of a sigh of relief because then I won't have to be confronted with the possibility of being disappointed.  I like not having to be confronted with my feelings.

Like the rest of the world, we'll just have to wait and see.

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Something's Developing

As many of you know, I am a professional geek who writes software for a living.  There's a lot more that goes in to my job, but for the most part, that's it in a nutshell.  One of the side effects of doing that for a living is that occasionally, I'll get an idea in my head and start figuring out how I'd program my way to a solution.  Only rarely, however, am I driving to actually start writing code.  This is normally because I find other things to distract myself.  However, a friend of mine said something as we were talking bout phones that stuck with me, so I decided to look in to what it would take to start making programs for the Android platform.  Turns out, not really that much.

Here's what you need in a nutshell:

1. Java Development Kit - This doesn't just mean that your computer is capable of running Java programs.  It means that you're capable of developing Java programs.  Java is a programming language that is object-oriented (which means that you think of everything in the software as an "object" and each object has certain attributes and capabilities) and tends to be pretty good for embedded platforms.  It's also pretty widely-used.  The download is freely available from Sun.
2. Some way to edit Java programs.  What Android (and, frankly, almost everyone else) recommends is using Eclipse.  It's a bit of a resource-intensive program, but for what it does, it does it well.
3. The Android development kit.  This is where you get the tools for writing specifically for the Android platform.  This includes the interface to the OS along with essentially a virtual phone to be running your software in (which you can see above).
4. Programming ability.  This wouldn't be absolutely necessary, I suppose, but it sure doesn't hurt.  I haven't really written much Java code in the past several years, but it has some strong similarities to the languages I normally write software in (C/C++).

After getting everything installed and set up, I was actually able to get a program running pretty quickly.  I'm interested to see if everything I want to do will be possible with Android.  It means digging around a bit with the documentation to find out what function calls I need to do, but it should be interesting.  I don't want to talk too much about what I hope to actually accomplish, but it will hopefully help with my biggest complaint about the phone so far.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

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GPS FTW

As part of my commitment to a happy marriage, I took scuba lessons.  If you know my wife, that completely makes sense to you.  The lessons consisted of two weekends' worth of time allotment.  The first weekend was classroom work (horrible high school flashbacks) and pool work ("we're going to swim horizontally while pretending that we're swimming vertically").  That was the easy bit.  I passed that portion without any problems.  I'm still upset that I got that one wrong on the final test.  Regardless.  The second weekend consisted of what's referred to has "open water dives."  In other words, you're not in the controlled environment of the pool anymore, Toto.

We met early on Saturday morning and divided the group in to the various cars that would be traveling four hours to a quarry.  The quarry used to be a working rock quarry until they dug deep enough to hit a spring and fill the hole up with water.  They then stocked it with fish, sunk some interesting things to look at, and began charging such crazy, extortion-level prices for people (mostly scuba students) to make use of it that the Russian mafia was overheard to have said "that's a steep price."  The trip started mostly uneventful.  Those of us in the minivan were getting to know one another and enjoying scanning the radio for music we enjoyed.  There were five vehicles in the convoy all total.  For those who are wondering, of course I quoted some C.W. McCall as we pulled out of the parking lot.

Later on in the trip, things got a bit more fragmented.  One car missed where the interstate split and were on their own.  Traffic separated the lead van with the other three.  I called the lead van to make sure which route they were taking.  We were only a few miles behind them, but didn't see them again until reaching the quarry.  How does this relate to the Incredible?  With everyone separating, I decided to put the phone to a real-world test.  Battery life to the wind, I turned on the GPS.  It took me a little bit to find the address of the place we were going (Maps was a bit fickle about using the abbreviation for road instead of spelling it out), but soon I had the route planned out before us.

It was a bit more of a scenic route than I initially expected as it took us through the heart of a small town instead of staying on a road that eventually met back up with the road we were on, but the important bit is that it got us there.  I found that when the miles remaining to turn is in the double-digits, it decrements when it reaches four tenths of a mile remaining (e.g. 10.4 appeared as 10), but other than that, it was a perfectly good turn-by-turn direction system.  It fulfilled its purpose of getting us to the quarry and subsequently home.  Isn't that all you want out of a GPS system?

Over the two days we were there, I survived the sub-60 degree water and successfully didn't drown.  I passed the open water portion of the scuba classes and am now a certified open water diver.  The GPS passed a test that makes me feel better about not bringing my mom's Tom-Tom with when we make our anniversary trip, but I still need to get a car charger for the phone before that happens (stupid battery life).

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