Author Archive
Friday, March 15th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
Which device did I covet the most at MWC 13? While I admit to being tempted by Sony’s latest designs, the star of the show had to be the LG Optimus G Pro. I’m glad to see LG get back into the smartphone game last year, and with the Nexus 4 selling very well, I think this is LG’s prime opportunity to prove itself as a top-tier player in the high-end device market.
Without a doubt, the best thing about the Optimus G Pro is the magnificent 5.5″ 1080P IPS display with a respectable 400 pixels per inch (the HTC One tops the charts with its 460 PPI screen). Unlike other “phablet” devices, the performance on this device was super smooth and instant response. It could be the quad-core Snapdragon 600 cpu, or the 2GB ram that is making this a beast of a performer.
And you cannot do a screen like that justice without an upgrade on the camera: how about a 13MP camera with more scene and timer options than you could ever imagine. As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy Note, I liked how this behemoth of a phone was actually narrower than the Note while increasing the screen size.
Finally, the killer feature for me is always battery life–how did the Optimus G Pro fare? Well, it’s hard to say now, but LG gave it a good start with a 3,140 mAh removable battery. Based on my experience with the Galaxy Note’s 2,880 mAh battery, this device should easily last 1-2 days with real-world usage. Would I miss the stylus on the Galaxy Note? While it’s a cool technology, I honestly have not pulled the stylus out of my Galaxy Note but a few times, and that was to demonstrate to people who’d ask.
So yeah, even with the 7-8 devices I already juggle everyday, I’d definitely make room for this one. I can’t wait to see this phone in a US store some time this spring.
My most coveted phone of MWC 2013 >>
Monday, March 11th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
For those curious about my prepaid SIM snafu earlier this week (see Part 1), it turned out the plan I was sold was not the one that I was on.
The takeaway for me was that not even the local phone dealer would know all the different mobile plans and feature permutations. Add on top of this all the technology and alphabet soup standards like GSM, CDMA, LTE, MP4, SIM, Mmicrosim, and I now have a better appreciation the next time I hear our CEO at iPass remind us that “Wi-Fi is the new lingua franca” for connectivity.
Yes, I’ve been back on Wi-Fi and I’ve been able to stay connected with colleagues and family without running up a lot of roaming fees. So how did I do it?
Here’s my setup:
- Google Voice account with US phone # used to route voice calls to wherever I am
- Free VOIP phone # set up through a service called SipGate (can receive calls free)
- Laptop, smartphone, or tablet running a VOIP client configured for SipGate
That’s it. There’s a great LifeHacker writeup of how to get all this working. With this setup, I’m able to point my Google Voice number to my free VOIP # and continue answering calls with the number I’d been using. Calling out is free too since Google Voice can be set up to call the VOIP # before connecting you to your dialed number. At the moment, Google Voice is mostly limited to North America, but there are some pretty cost-effective solutions such as Skype where it’s more straightforward, albeit not free.
During the all the activity of Mobile World Congress, I was able to use LogMeIn to finish some tasks on the corporate intranet, interview a candidate back in the U.S., and continue using GroupMe (a group text messaging service that I’ve found great for teams to stay connected while traveling).
One last note on leveraging Wi-Fi while traveling—I was able to use Apple’s FaceTime video chat with my family back home. No matter how wonderful the places I visit, it’s always gratifying to be able to connect with loved ones.
Dear Wi-Fi (part 2) >>
Friday, March 8th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
I was surprised by one device maker at MWC last week. I hadn’t found them in the exhibit halls the first day, but inadvertently found them leaving one exhibit hall for another.
It was the Sony booth.
A year ago, none of their smartphones, tablets, or even consumer products excited me. The blogosphere didn’t exactly find much of a differentiator in Sony’s Xperia Android-based devices. Their tablets had the characteristic Android 4.0 lagged performance and the industrial design was supposed to be something like a thick plastic version of a folded open book.
This year has been refreshingly different. A different industrial design was also afoot. Sony can now boast one of the thinnest designs, with one more twist: water proofing and even some quick liquid immersion. Thanks to improved hardware and an Android OS that is now buttery smooth, performance was snappy and felt similar to an iPad.
I’m not a fan of the little plastic covers, but this was one sexy tablet to behold and to use. I’ll go back to the waterproofing though–I think this is evidence of innovation and leadership. While I love Apple products, their recent approach to water hazards was to make a sticker that turned red upon water detection to deny warranty claims.
Sony claims you can even dunk the device and operate under water. How does this work? I went digging a bit and ran into a company at MWC called P2i. I’m not sure whether Sony is using P2i, and the P2i rep wouldn’t confirm it, but here’s how it works on their website:
The P2i technology employs plasma enhanced vapor deposition processing to apply an ultrathin polymer layer onto all surfaces of a product. The process takes place under low pressure within a vacuum chamber at room temperature. The coating is introduced as a vapor and ionized. This allows for the development of the polymer layer, which forms a covalent bond with the product’s surface, making it extremely durable.
This technology doesn’t leave the device oily feeling, nor does it add any bulk to the device. At the P2I booth, they demonstrated this technology on a number of materials, including paper tissue. Check out what happens to water leaked onto a treated piece of regular tissue paper.
You can imagine the possibilities for devices–these are everyday companions to us, and now I’m excited about all the beach and water photos one would be able to take with this technology.
Want to hear about my top 10 list at Mobile World Congress? It’s coming soon!
An amazing technology at MWC13 – P2i >>
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
Walking all the exhibit halls and seeing the miniature cities raised for meeting centers left the impression that mobile is going to become even more interwoven in our daily lives. I’m going to recap the tech highlights of Mobile World Congress, but first I’d like to share some takeaways from the conference as a whole.
Every company wants a mobile play
And why shouldn’t they? That’s where their customers are. Here at MWC, the immediate impact of this idea can be seen in the effort and resources put forth by companies to seize the market and mindshare. Well-established companies and startups alike see mobile as a land grab opportunity to dominate and be relevant in the immediate and near future.
Here is one of many “hospitality” suites that built out like town centers at MWC. Amdocs would like to curb the support costs of smart devices with their on-device agents.
eBay states that $400 is spent every second on eBay Mobile. Shopping on mobile is going to be huge.
AirWatch managed one of the largest exhibit booths by also incorporating room for their partners.
Visa looks as much a technology company as a financial institution.
It’s about proliferation, not consolidation
As far as mobile ecosystems go, Android and iOS aren’t going to budge from their number one and two spots any time soon. The majority of smartphones and tablets today are ARM-based and it’s a good probability that the chipsets are from Qualcomm or Nvidia. Got a device from Samsung or Apple? You’re far from alone, across the planet.
However the atmosphere and evidence of everything here at MWC suggests that these footholds are transient. Microsoft, Blackberry, Intel, LG, and plenty others are gearing up for round two.
Mozilla just launched FireFox OS to compete in the low to mid-end mobile market. The OS was mostly fluid on the Telefonica devices, and seemed to be very solid for the target market.
Huawei’s expanding beyond the low-end market with some impressive devices like Ascend P2–a gorgeous screen and a 13MP camera!
From ultrabooks to a new emphasis on mobile, Intel is heavily promoting their Android-based device capabilities such as battery life and graphics performance.
Samsung continues its Windows 8 tablet foray with the Ativ Smart PC. I loaded the iPass Open Mobile client on it, ran our speed test, and wow, Wi-Fi here was blisteringly fast!
On the whole, innovation felt iterative, not disruptive at this MWC
While I’m sure I missed a few announcements, there didn’t seem to be anything disruptive in technology this year. New devices are typically slab-styled and made of plastic and glass. Display technologies now crammed with more pixels into bigger screens. Android is being introduced into more consumer electronics.
Device manufacturers seemed desperate to find a hook with consumers this time around. To wit:
Samsung: more screen sizes, advance the stylus, more CPU cores
Huawei: higher end devices, better screens
HTC: better sound, less intrusive homescreen branding
ZTE: more camera megapixels, higher end devices
Sharp: dual screens, thin design
Motorola: kevlar material, Intel inside
LG: Qslide multitasking, better screens
There were good advancements at this year’s MWC, but again it seemed iterative. I’m still waiting for new battery technologies that take us from single day use to week long use in the same form factor. Don’t get me wrong, by no means was it a boring MWC. There were a few standouts. I’ll get to those shortly. Stay tuned.
Mobile World Congress 2013 Takeaways >>
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
Dear Wi-Fi,
I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Please take me back.
With undying devotion,
Tom
It all started with a little SMS.
“Tu saldo es inferior a 2eur.” I understood after a bit of a double take: I had less than 2 euros on my mobile account.
Well, I certainly felt less than content when I got this notice a few hours after buying a prepaid sim here in Barcelona. The brochure had advertised 1 cent a minute to the US, so I figured 10 euros would be enough for a couple days of text and voice calls back home.
Back I went to the cellular store and the guy there shrugged his shoulders and said something vaguely about the fact that he “only activates these for different companies and sometimes it’s more expensive…” I’m paraphrasing generously here. He wouldn’t look at the account detail to explain how I used up $10 of credit with only a few texts and a handful of quick calls, and told me to take it up with the operator. “The speak English yes!” he assured me. After 5 mins of trying to find the English option, I gave up there and went to go create an account so I could better understand the relationship with my new mobile operator.
I had a bit more luck with the operator’s web portal–they offered English right on the first page, but kept defaulting back to Spanish every time I clicked on something. There was something about a tarifa, mi tarifa, that sounded promising…oh look what I found: listado de llamadas:
So up to the point where I thought buying a local sim would be even better than Google Voice and VOIP over Wi-Fi, I didn’t realize things could get so pricey without mobile data in the picture. There was probably some kind of fine print in the prepaid terms about how they’d charge me, but I’m pretty sure my lesson was cheap compared to others.
$1 for a single SMS
$2.50 for 3 misplaced calls
You can see how $10 was a drop in the ocean when you’re roaming internationally. What led me to even go down the prepaid sim route was the thought that perhaps someone couldn’t reach me in real time as I roamed with Wi-Fi. I’ve previously mentioned the decent iPass Wi-Fi coverage here in Barcelona—the next couple days have been even better because my phones started auto-connecting on their own to networks I’d visited, including a few free ones that I manually connected to previously.
So I think Wi-Fi might have forgiven me my temporary indiscretion. Earlier today, when I took a walk near the Museum of Art, I naturally took a few photos, and guess what showed up? More iPass networks.
So check out the moment I was able to share with my friends back home. Pretty amazing, right?
Part 1 of 2 parts…
Dear Wi-Fi…[part 1 of 2] >>
