So what does this mean for Google’s Android, the Apple iPhone, and Windows Mobile?

Well, for one thing, MeeGo is an open platform, just like Android, but unlike the iPhone and WinMo. Also like Android, MeeGo is Linux-based.

But unlike any of the other platforms, MeeGo is also suitable for cars, landline phones, netbooks, cellphones, and other appliances. So you can have the same platform on all of your computing/communications devices.

Some of the complications with MeeGo, though, include:

• Intel wants to sell its chips, but MeeGo can work with non-Intel chips, and Nokia hasn’t committed to using just Intel.
• Nokia will continue to use Symbian for some of its smartphones.

So, despite Walter Meego’s song “Forever”, it’s unlikely that Nokia and Intel will be joined at the hip, but they can be frenemies in coopetition.

My comments

The nice thing about Maemo and Moblin was the fact, that, underneath, they were basically a Linux distribution. So you can install and run just about any Linux software you want. To me, that’s a lot better than trying to jailbreak an iPhone to get it to do what you want. Despite the geeky name, MeeGo continues this advantage.

Resources

Meego
Bits blog article
Slashdot discussion
Walter Meego “Foreever”

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Not anymore.

Google announced in a blog post that new software update for the Nexus One will include multi-touch.

What Is Multi-Touch?

Just a short reminder for people who don’t have iPhones or other devices with multi-touch: A touchscreen is a screen you touch to operate it. Multi-touch extends the concept by operating in a different manner if you touch the screen again when you already have your finger down in another part of the screen. For example, to zoom in on an iPhone, you use a pinching movement with your finger and thumb, bringing them closer together.

Without multi-touch, Nexus One users would double-tap to zoom in. Double-tap is fine, but it doesn’t give you control over the amount of zoom, like a mouse scroll wheel would.

Multi-touch on Android

Google says multi-touch is part of Android 2.0, and it’s up to carriers or manufacturers to update their users’ phones.

Nexus One users will receive an automatic over-the-air (OTA) update which will give them multi-touch as well as the following other features:

Google Goggles: Search for stuff close to where you are by sending Google a picture of your whereabouts.
Google Maps: Night mode for easier viewing, among other changes.
3G: Fixes 3G connectivity problems.

Google, Apple, and multi-touch

Multi-touch has been touted as one of the hallmark features of the iPhone.

Now that Google NexusOne and Android have it as well, is there anything the iPhone has that Android doesn’t?

And what will Apple do about it?

It’s rumoured that, up until now, Google hadn’t implemented multi-touch simply because it had a cordial relationship with Apple. But with the two companies coming to virtual blows over their business ventures, it seems Google doesn’t really have any reason to stay on Apple’s good side.

Also, the Palm Pre and Microsoft’s new Zune are using multi-touch so either we’re going to see the end of Apple’s multi-touch exclusivity or a lot of lawsuits.

So, is multitouch on Android enough to tip the balance against the iPhone for your next phone purchase?

Resources

Google blog post on multi-touch
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/02/02/nexus-one-multi-touch
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/02/02/apple-google-multi-touch-android

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It has one screen which can display forward and back (one for when you’re using the keyboard and one when you’re not).

So, actually, there are three modes in which you can use it:

Use the screen towards the inside and folded out

Here the phone operates like a mini-laptop, well, actually a palmtop.

Motorola Backflip Cellphone Open

Use the screen towards the outside and folded in

In this mode, you have a hand-held video/music player without the keyboard or number pad taking space from the screen.

Motorola Backflip Cellphone Closed

Use the screen towards the outside and folded out

In this mode, you have a hands-free video player. Just put it on a table or desk and you can watch your movie or video clip without having to prop it up against anything.

Motorola Backflip Cellphone Open (Back)

Or you can use it as an alarm clock.

Features

The Backflip includes Motorola’s MotoBlur, which according to the company melds friends, pics, emails, messages, and Facebook, MySpace and Twitter into one feed. This is all displayed together on the screen so you don’t have check each website individually.

Other features:

Multinetwork 3G

• 6 hours talk time
• Android OS
• Wifi/Bluetooth
• Video/still camera (5MP) with flash
• GPS
• 3.1 inch 320×480 screen
• Voice dialing

More tech specs

Resources

Motorola Backflip

Backflip tech specs

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First it was MP3 music players, then PDAs, still cameras, video cameras, and GPS.

Now a Santa Clara company called OmniVision has announced the OV14810, an image sensor that uses BackSide Illumination to decrease the amount of light required to get a good picture.

Omnivision CMOS Image Sensor OV14810

BackSide Illumination (BSI) is basically a way of turning a chip around so that the light can get to the back, where it needed to reach all along.

Not only that, but the chip supports 14.6 megapixel (4416 x 3312) still images or 1080p 60 frame per second HD video recording.

While there’ll still be a place for dedicated video cameras (and GPS, etc.), mobile phones are getting to the point where they’re good enough for most purposes so that people don’t need to carry around five or six different devices.

Resources

Mobile Phones Eliminate Single-Serving Devices at the New York Times Bits Blog

OmniVision OV14810 Color CMOS 14 Megapixel Image Sensor

BSI at Engadget

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Google has had a mobile phone software platform, Android, available for a while now, and a number of cell phone companies are using it on their phones.

But this is the first time Google has come out with a consumer hardware device. (Note: It also has something called the Google Search Appliance, which is a computer running Google for your Intranet, but that’s for companies).

The New York Times posted a review of the Google Nexus One by David Pogue at their Personal Tech section.

Pogue says the Nexus One has a number of improvements, but not enough to put it in a different category from the Apple iPhone.

Home Screen

The phone is $529 without a plan, and $179 with a T-Mobile contract for two years. It’s roughly the size of an iPhone.

Features

Some of the new phone’s features:

• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Removable battery
• Camera with flash
• 480×800 pixel screen (vs. 320×480 for the Apple iPhone)
• Voice recognition software which allows you to dictate into any program on the phone.
• Onscreen QWERTY keyboard with word completion
• YouTube, GMail, Google Maps, and Facebook integration.

The Google Nexus allows the user to choose his own GSM provider (unlike the iPhone, which is tied to AT&T). But there’s only one GSM provider in the U.S. with 3-G speed: T-Mobile. Users in other countries might be able to take more advantage of this feature.

Google has a webpage at google.com/phone which has a Flash application that simulates how the Nexus works.

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Apparently AdMob’s focus is on web ads that display when you view a website on a mobile phone and on ads that display on mobile phone applications.

TechCrunch discusses the acquisition here. Google blogged about it. And so did Admob. Google also posted a note for the press.

FTC Good Houskeeping Seal of Approval still required

But, like Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, which is still being held up, the FTC wants to investigate the AdMob buy before it approves it, according to the New York Times Bits Blog. Given that Google’s deal with Yahoo was basically nixed by the Justice Department, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will be serving the ads on your cell phone this year.

My comments

It’s sort of like the frog being slowly boiled as Google continues to buy every company that remotely touches our digital lives, as well as building its own data tentacles. It’s becoming increasingly difficult not to interact with Google even if you don’t want to. At the very least we can be aware of who has information regarding us.

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