Nexus 4 smartphone review

May 192013
 

Nexus 4About a week ago, I bought the Nexus 4 smartphone via Google’s website. After much consideration, I decided the Nexus 4 sounded like the best option for the following reasons:

  • It’s inexpensive. I bought the 8GB model for $299 + two-day shipping + tax.
  • It’s unlocked and not part of a contract, allowing me to use a range of company’s prepaid services via swapping out the micro-SIM card. Even with the cost of going through several lesser smartphones in the past few years, I’ve calculated being on prepaid has still been much cheaper than what being on a contract during that time would’ve ran.
  • The only other prepaid option at the $300 range would’ve been the Samsung Galaxy S II. While it’s a nice enough phone, I didn’t think paying that much for 2011-era smartphone tech was a good idea.

Registration and set-up

The phone arrived pretty quickly, as did the micro-SIM card I ordered from T-Mobile, the prepaid carrier I’ve decided to use. Registering on T-Mobile’s website lets one choose a $30/month prepaid plan that offers “unlimited” 3G/4G data (data capped at 5GB) and 100 minutes per month. If one needs more than 100 minutes, extra time costs 10 cents/minute, which would be $6 for an hour. While the Nexus 4 doesn’t have “true” 4G (no LTE), it’s still much faster than my former Virgin Mobile/Sprint network, so I’m fine with it. I also don’t get many phone calls, so 100 minutes (and any extra time as needed) should work fine.

Setting up the Nexus 4 is just like setting up any other Android phone, including its hardware “cousin” the Nexus 7 tablet. After entering your Google email address and password, you’re prompted whether to restore previously saved apps/some options, which I chose to do. The Nexus 4 went ahead and downloaded most of the same apps I used on my previous phone and Nexus 7 tablet; for some reason, the Nexus 4 also imported the tablet’s wallpaper, which I soon changed.

Porting the phone number from Virgin Mobile ran into some problems. Porting required my Virgin Mobile account number, which forced me to call Virgin to acquire; the number wasn’t available via their online account management system. I finally got the number, after dealing with attempts by their customer service associate to hard sell sticking with Virgin. I then called T-Mobile and let them know I didn’t enter the account number when I registered online, which they soon entered for me. After this, the registration and number porting went through, and I set up the phone’s voice mail. Another reason for calling: when I initially went through T-Mobile’s online registration, the final step threw up an error message stating I hadn’t chosen some (unchoosable) payment option, an error I presume was related to my first account number-less attempt at porting the number from Virgin.

For more setup tips, GottaBeMobile’s Nexus 4 guide has some decent ones.

Android software

One of the Nexus 4′s signature traits is its use of a pure Android installation, without any manufacturer “skins.” Thus, things work quite smoothly, with the Nexus 4 running the newest version of Android. If you’ve used the Nexus 7 tablet, you’ll find the Nexus 4 works similarly. I am, however, still getting used to the size of the phone. With a 4.7-inch screen, it’s definitely the biggest smartphone I’ve ever used.

Protecting the phone

I purchased a case and plastic screen shield for the phone, as I usually do for smartphones. It’s also to address my one hesitation I had about buying the Nexus 4: comments online about the glass back cracking. However, none of the tech sites I usually read, nor Amazon.com’s user reviews, seemed to find it as prominent a problem as the comments made it out to sound. Phones made of glass don’t seem to have slowed down sales of the iPhone 4 or 4S, though Apple did wise up and dropped the use of glass from the iPhone 5. Hopefully, LG/Google will do the same for the next version of the Nexus phone.

Camera and photos

Taking photos works nicely, but some of the pictures have the wrong datestamp, defaulting to December 8, 2002 for some reason. While it’s easily fixed in iPhoto or Flickr, it’s still a concern.

The automatic backup of photos to either Google+ or Dropbox is nice. I’m still trying to figure out which one to stick with, though Google+ doesn’t expire access to most of its free storage space after a few years like Dropbox does. I wish Flickr would improve its Android app; automatic backing up of photos to Flickr doesn’t seem to be an option.

Here’s a few of the photos I’ve taken with the Nexus 4:

Downtown Milwaukee, May 2013

IMG_20130518_160227

IMG_20130518_160553

Conclusion

Overall, I’m enjoying the Nexus 4, and so far, I’m glad I bought the phone. I’m hoping the phone’s strong, mid-to-high-range specs (glass back/lack of LTE aside) make it last longer and have fewer problems than the previous two prepaid smartphones.

Those looking to buy a new unlocked or prepaid smartphone would probably be well served by the Nexus 4, keeping in mind the above mentioned caveats about the glass back/LTE. If buying a phone on contract, however, I’d also look at the HTC One, iPhone 5, and Galaxy S 4.

GoComics app now available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone devices

Apr 212013
 
GoComics app

The GoComics app, on Android.

As reported by Engadget, Universal Uclick’s released a comics viewing app for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone based devices. Universal Uclick is a national syndicate formed by a merger a few years ago of online site Uclick and traditional newspaper comic strip syndicate Universal Press Syndicate. While Universal’s comics have been available for years for viewing through their website (www.gocomics.com), one can now view them through this app, as well. Strips I enjoy reading via Uclick include “FoxTrot,” “Doonesbury,” “Luann,” “Baldo,” “La Cucaracha,” and “Pearls Before Swine.” Other classic strips carried as reruns include “Peanuts,” “For Better or For Worse,” and “Calvin and Hobbes.”

My brief look at the app (on my Nexus 7 tablet) shows it seems nice enough, with the same functionality as the website: the ability to forward to others links to favorite strips, as well as bookmark favorites. Unfortunately (as of this writing), the app wouldn’t let me log in to my Uclick account. However, the Google Play store description has a response stating they plan to fix this in an update very soon.

Since I usually read newspaper comics on my desktop each morning, I probably won’t make heavy use of this app. However, it might be useful for trips away from home, when I’ll be more reliant on my tablet, and don’t feel like firing up my laptop. Of course, I’d still have to read the non-Uclick strips I enjoy (“Mutts,” “Edge City,” etc.) via other means.

Anthony looks for a new prepaid smartphone

Mar 032013
 

LG Optimus V with a screen protectorAs the subject line states, I’m looking to once again upgrade to a better smartphone. But first, a look back over my history with smartphones:

  • Fall 2009: I bought my first-ever smartphone, a first-generation Palm Pre running WebOS. While things initially went well enough (despite wondering if going with WebOS over then-version-1.x-era Android was worth it), the phone eventually became a headache. Several months before the Sprint contract was up, I decided to just pay the $50 early termination fee and go with…
  • Summer 2011: …an LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile. Advantages over the previous Pre were: Android being by that point a much more polished (and popular) operating system, and thus I didn’t have to root it to make it fully useful; the build quality was much better than the cheap plasticy Pre; and going prepaid with Virgin Mobile was much cheaper than being on a Sprint contract (even with Sprint offering a small discount because of my place of employment). The downsides were that the LG Optimus V was too low-end specs-wise, plus was stuck on Froyo.
  • Summer 2012: I decided to upgrade to the HTC One V, another Virgin Mobile phone. The One V, introduced as the low-end model in the HTC “One” line of phones, was better than the LG Optimus V—a bigger screen, better camera, and it came with Ice Cream Sandwich. The main downside is that it’s still very much a low-end phone—it feels sluggish/slow at doing various functions (blame the single-core processor).

And so, here I am, having decided to look for a newer smartphone. Only this time, I’m seeking something that’s fairly high quality off the bat, since I’ve decided being cheap on buying a phone isn’t such a great idea. However, I still want something prepaid, as I’ve determined it’d still be much cheaper than anything on contract, even with the higher cost of buying an unlocked or prepaid phone. I’m also looking to switch to T-Mobile, as they offer a prepaid plan for about what I pay now ($30/month), but with “unlimited” 4G (throttled after 5GB). While this prepaid plan has only 100 minutes of talk time a month (plus 10 cents/minute for anything over), I get very few phone calls, so it shouldn’t matter. The speed boost with T-Mobile’s 4G network over currently being on Virgin Mobile’s 3G service (via their parent company Sprint’s network) would also be nice. And if you’re wondering, I’ve checked: T-Mobile’s 4G service is available here in Milwaukee, but not Virgin Mobile’s 4G offerings.

As for phones, the main choices I’ve looked at so far are either the Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S II, or the Samsung Galaxy S III. While the Nexus 4 is the newest of the three, was nice to look at in person, and is fairly inexpensive, two things bother me about it: how long shipping times from Google are running, and the phone’s glass back. While I use a case for my phones, reading reports online about broken Nexus 4 backs has made me a bit wary.

The Galaxy S II (released in 2011) and III (released in 2012) are both quite popular models of smartphones. While the S III is the newer and higher-end model, of course, it’s also more expensive than the S II. Buying the prepaid S II would run about what the Nexus 4 runs, while the prepaid S III from T-Mobile is, well, quite expensive. Despite its age, however, the S II still seems to be sufficiently modern/popular. One big factor: Samsung plans to announce the Galaxy S IV at the end of next week (March 15). While the on-contract S II and III prices have dropped accordingly beforehand, there’s no indication if or when their prepaid counterparts will do the same (or when the S IV will even be available prepaid). Thus, I’m not sure if buying anything now is a good idea, or if I should wait to see what happens. A brief web search, however, suggests it took many months for the S III to turn up prepaid since it was first released.

Of course, I’ll report here on whatever I decide…

More 2012 Olympics tech issues: NBC Olympics website streaming on Linux

Jul 282012
 
Google Play page for NBC's Olympics app

A screenshot of the Google Play page for NBC’s Olympics app.

Previously, I discussed issues with streaming the Olympics via NBC’s smartphone app, namely that Android users couldn’t install it period. Fortunately, an update at the last minute’s apparently resolved this for many/most Android users (or at least on my HTC One V). Since then, the app’s worked fairly well, though the streaming’s occasionally stuttered.

As for NBC’s website, getting streaming to run there wasn’t particularly easy, as I kept being sent on an endless loop to the log-in screen. After much searching, I stumbled across the solution (both on this blog and on Adobe’s official site): Flash on Linux installations doesn’t automatically install with Flash a “Hardware Abstraction Layer” module for “protected content” (basically, DRM… meh).

To fix the above situation on Linux, first open a terminal, then type:

sudo apt-get install hal

After entering your password and the HAL module installs, next enter the following code to clear the Adobe Access directories:

cd ~/.adobe/Flash_Player
rm -rf NativeCache AssetCache APSPrivateData2

Presumably, one will want to restart one’s browser. Access to NBC’s Olympics website streaming should work normally.

Doing this fixed things for me, and I can now watch such esoteric sports as handball or table tennis (still wonder why the latter’s an Olympic sport). So far, streaming seems to go as well as anything else does with Flash, though I’ve seen some stuttering, which might be due to Flash or my less-than-speedy 3Mbps DSL connection.

I’ve now done everything I’m “supposed” to to get Olympic streaming access fully up and running on my phone and computer. That said, I can’t blame anyone for seeking “alternate” solutions (VPNs and/or proxies to watch CTV/BBC coverage, etc.) compared to the “official” solution…

 

Streaming the 2012 Summer Olympics: NBC’s not winning the gold for Android users

Jul 242012
 

This weekend, I worked on setting up my smartphone and laptop to watch NBC’s streaming coverage of the Summer Olympics. Unlike previous years’ TV coverage on NBC (which is uniformly awful), there seems to be some effort at improving things this time. This year, NBC promises to stream online (with Flash, not Silverlight) all Olympic events from start to finish. From the looks of things, they plan on mostly using the generic Olympic feeds for most of this coverage, which means most of the events will either have no announcers at all (just a camera aimed at the events) or will use a generic Olympics-chosen announcer for coverage. Of course, for some of us, no NBC announcers (or manipulative NBC-style coverage) will be a vast improvement.

NBC’s streaming coverage is available online through their Olympics website, as well as on iOS and Android devices. Or so they promised. The reality so far seems to be that a lot of Android devices aren’t supported by NBC’s app for some odd reason—neither my current smartphone, a brand-new model running Ice Cream Sandwich, nor my old LG Optimus V (running Froyo) are supported. See the picture below.

Google Play page for NBC's Olympics app

A screenshot of the Google Play page for NBC’s Olympics app. Note none of my devices are compatible (left), as well as the high number of low scores for the app (right).

Yep, a pretty big let-down so far for a lot of Android mobile device users. (Don’t know how things are on the iOS side of things…) On top of that, NBC is requiring a cable TV subscription for anyone who wants to watch streaming coverage. I guess they (or their Comcast corporate parents) really do fear cord-cutting, since they could’ve just offered the streaming for a one-time fee instead of tying it to a cable TV subscription.

On an even odder note, the only official TV broadcaster Olympics app that’s apparently compatible with my phone is… Canada’s CTV Olympics app. While there’s no live video (per region-blocking, of course), everything else (news clips, statistics, etc.) seems fully functional. Ironic the network I’d probably tune to over NBC (if I had the choice) for Olympics coverage is the only functional broadcaster app.

Thus, it looks like if I want streaming covderage of Olympics events, I’ll have to watch it on my (non-Android-powered) laptop. And if anything is up with that side of things, I’ll let you know. Hopefully, NBC will take the time to rush out an update for the app to fix things for Android users, and (in the future) will allow cord-cutters to pay some one-time fee to watch streaming coverage.

Update (7/27/12): As of this morning, it looks like NBC’s live streaming app’s been updated to support my HTC One V. The Google Play page says it’s still not compatible with the LG Optimus V, so anyone with that particular Virgin Mobile phone (or, I suspect, its cousins in the LG Optimus One series on other carriers) is still out of luck.

Alternatives to Google’s services: yes, they still exist

Jul 212012
 

GoogleOn the heels of my recent iGoogle alternatives post, I took a look over what other Google services I’ve come to rely upon, and thought I’d write a followup post. Yes, writing this made me realize how reliant I am upon “da Google” (to quote the crocs in the comic strip “Pearls Before Swine”). This post lists my suggested alternatives to Google’s services, where possible.

AdSense

Google seems to dominate this area, but one alternative might be Amazon.com’s Associate program.

Analytics

There’re some alternatives to Google Analytics for website statistics tracking. One option (that I haven’t tested, but read about) for self-hosted WordPress users is WordPress.com Stats, which comes as part of the Jetpack plugin package. Once installed, self-hosted WordPress users get the same general site statistics WordPress.com users can access.

Another option is Piwik, an open-source statistics package with similar functionality to Google Analytics. However, unlike Analytics (or WordPress.com Stats), Piwik must be installed on one’s site. Installation difficulty may vary; my webhost offers Piwik installation through software installation options in cPanel. Another issue (last I used Piwik) is that one can’t export Piwik data to use in another analytics program. (It does, however, let one import Google Analytics data.) I used to use Piwik until earlier this year, when (with Anthony’s Notes’ webhost move) I also moved to Google Analytics (after discovering Piwik’s lack of data exporting the hard way…).

Blogger/Blogspot

Various alternatives exist to Google’s blog hosting service. WordPress (either self-hosted or through WordPress.com) is a popular alternative, offering plenty of features (some better than what Blogger offers). Another possible alternative is Tumblr, assuming one wants a lightweight blog with fewer features than Blogger or WordPress.

As longtime readers may recall, my blog started out on Blogspot, before Blogspot’s parent company was sold to Google. I moved to the WordPress-based current solution a few years ago.

Android smartphones

Android’s become one of the most popular smartphone platforms, and makes particular use (by default) of various Google services, including its calendar, search, and contacts features. The most popular alternative for most will be the iPhone, though there’ll be a few who’ll want Blackberry or the even fewer who’ll want Windows Phone. Even within Android, one has the option to change the default search engine (Bing or Yahoo are the usual alternatives).

Feedburner

FeedBurner, an RSS feed creation/tracking tool, is another service Google bought some years ago, and offers some rudimentary tracking statistics. If having tracking statistics available isn’t a concern, the best alternative is to just offer the default RSS feeds for one’s blog.

Gmail

Gmail’s one of Google’s most popular services, with everyone and their mother having a Gmail address by this point. Still, other free email options exist. The alternative I’d choose would be Yahoo, which still offers free email addresses, even if lacking the flashiness of Gmail. For some, Hotmail may also be an alternative (though I’d choose Yahoo well before choosing Hotmail).

Google Reader

Google Reader folds RSS feeds into one easy-to-use interface, and has the advantage of being accessible from anywhere, just like a Gmail account.

Alternatives include a myriad of third-party stand-alone newsfeed readers, including Liferea on Linux.

Google+

Social networks are one area where Google’s yet to dominate (if ever). As such, Google’s role here is reversed, with Google+ as the alternative to the dominant social network, Facebook. Other popular social networks include Twitter and LinkedIn (for professional usage).

YouTube

YouTube is one site that’s largely unmatched elsewhere online. While there’s other sites like Dailymotion, they don’t even begin to match the range of choices in material or prominence YouTube offers.

Maps

MapQuest is the most prominent alternative to Google Maps… at least as long as one doesn’t need mass transit directions outside the biggest American cities. MapQuest only offers transit information for Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. If one needs mass transit directions and times, Google Maps still has a lock on such. Some cities offer to-the-minute schedule information through their transit systems’ websites, but mine (Milwaukee County Transit System) merely redirects to Google Maps.

Google itself (as a search engine)

And finally, Google’s original purpose in life as a search engine. While Yahoo and Bing are options, the best alternative I’ve seen for non-image web searching is DuckDuckGo, which I’ve written about before. For images, Google Image still seems to be the best choice available, though Flickr (owned by Yahoo!) offers searching through Flickr’s Creative Commons images.

 

My thoughts on the first 24 hours (or so) with the HTC One V

Jul 152012
 

As those of you who’ve followed me on Twitter know, I’d grown fed up with my LG Optimus V (Virgin Mobile) prepaid smartphone. While (as my initial reviews indicated) the Optimus V was a big improvement over my old Palm Pre, it’s since proven to have too many flaws. I was experiencing way too many freezes and crashes, not to mention in the year I’ve been using the LG Optimus V, I’ve had to replace it once (after it outright broke for no apparent reason). Also, the phone specs were way too anemic: only 200MB on-board storage space, plus the phone being stuck on Android 2.2 (“Froyo”).

This weekend, I decided to finally replace it with a more modern smartphone. Since I wanted to stay on Virgin Mobile, I went with their newest model, the recently-released HTC One V. The One V is meant to be the “low end” model in HTC’s One line, versus the high-end One X and middle-of-the-road One S.

So far, the One V is working quite well, and is a much nicer experience than my old phone. I’m not sure how much of this is from the One V running 4.0 (“Ice Cream Sandwich”) or from HTC’s pared-down-for-its-low-end-model Sense UI overlay. Among the niceties on the One V:

  • A 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash, versus the 3 megapixel, no-flash LG Optimus V.
  • 4GB on board storage space (though only 1GB is accessible for apps, etc.), versus 200MB of storage space on the LG Optimus V.
  • 1Ghz single-core processor. (OK, not really a “nicety,” but it’s better than the old phone’s 600Mhz processor).
  • Screenshot taking is now built into ICS; on the One V, simply press the power button and volume-down button at the same time.

Thanks to the increased specs, the apps seem to work more smoothly than on the old phone. One big plus is the Netflix app works well on the One V, at least over wifi. Not sure I’d want to use it at all over 3G, especially with Virgin Mobile (owned by Sprint) now throttling data speeds after 2.5GB/month.

So far, there’s not many downsides to report, besides that Google Maps still freezes/crashes (like it did on the LG Optimus V) when “select a trip” is chosen in the directions part of the app. Fortunately, I can at least look at the bus schedule times for any location. The only other downside (not specific to the phone) is the customer service at the Radio Shack store I bought the One V from leaving something to be desired. I didn’t get the impression the staff was very familiar with their prepaid phone models, plus the sales clerk’s attempt to push their store warranty and phone accessories was annoying. I’d have bought the phone elsewhere, but Milwaukee lacks much in the way of electronics stores within city limits/near my apartment, plus Best Buy didn’t have the phone in stock when I last checked.

I might have more to post about the One V after putting it through more full-fledged use (i.e., a typical work week), but for now, I’m glad I decided to buy the newer phone after all. I’ll keep the old LG Optimus V phone in storage as a backup in case something does happen to the One V…

Here’s a few of the various reviews online about the HTC One V. While most online reviews criticize either the screen size as “too small” (versus 4-inch phone screens) or the low-end processor, they still usually give the One V “thumbs up” overall:

Finally, here’s a few screenshots from the One V:

HTC One V screenshot #1HTC One V screenshot #2

Five years of the iPhone (and the modern smartphone era)

Jun 302012
 
iPhone 5-year anniversary infographic

Infographic created by Mashable.com, used under a Creative Commons license (BY-ND).

This week marked the fifth anniversary of the original iPhone coming onto the market.

Yes, there’s much being written about this anniversary, and how much it’s changed both Apple and our lives overall. For Apple, the iPhone quickly became their top-selling device, pushed Apple into becoming one of the US’ most valuable companies, lessened the iPod’s importance, and ushered in the modern smartphone era, “apps” and all. The iPhone’s operating system (now called iOS) has also changed Apple’s computing hardware, as Apple’s folded some iOS features into OS X (granted, the Classic Mac OS had “desk accessories,” of which modern apps are the “2.0″ version of desktop accessories).

Competitors of course have come along, most prominently Google with rival smartphone OS Android. The quality of smartphones, plus their versatility as devices, have also greatly improved since 2007, with a myriad of affordable options to choose from.  Of course, this has had the side effect of reducing in prominence other devices, particularly the stand-alone casual point-and-shoot camera and video camera. And finally, the smartphone’s helped to make the Internet a much more portable and ubiquitous presence, for better (such as smartphones’ role in the recent “Arab Spring”) or for worse (for some, yet another device to distract us).

Smartphones have come a long way since my first post in 2007 about the original iPhone announcement, plus my initial impressions of seeing the iPhone in person. iPhone prices have come way down (from $500), there’re several models available, and they’ve become ubiquitous (even my mother has one). Of course, given my Linux usage, I opted for an alternative to the iPhone once things reached the point that I decided a smartphone might be useful after all, first going with the Palm Pre (which ultimately was a disaster), then moving to a prepaid Android smartphone. As for smartphones being useful, they have been for me—easily the most useful gadget I’ve purchased. I suppose I’ve come a long way from dismissing smartphones as “[my] not needing to use everything but the kitchen sink in an on-the-go device.”

Mashable.com has an article about the iPhone’s fifth anniversary. They’ve also offered (under a Creative Commons license) the above infographic about the iPhone’s rise to prominence.

 

The iPhone is coming to Virgin Mobile

Jun 072012
 
iPhone 4S unboxing 17-10-11

Photo by Brett Jordan via Flickr Creative Commons

Apple fans who hate smartphone contracts, rejoice: the iPhone is coming to Virgin Mobile (US) on June 29. For $649, one can buy a 16GB iPhone 4S, while the 8GB iPhone 4 will go for a “mere” $549.

Despite the extremely steep upfront cost for an unsubsidized iPhone, I suppose it might be a worthwhile purchase for those who specifically want an iPhone, but hate the idea of restrictive smartphone contracts, as well as the steep monthly rates. For $35/month ($30 if one allows automatic credit/debit card billing), one can get 300 phone minutes plus “unlimited” data and texting (throttling kicks in at 2.5GB). Moving up to $55/month ($50 via auto-billing) will gain unlimited phone minutes. For a comparison between Virgin Mobile and a standard two-year iPhone Sprint contract:

  • Virgin Mobile: $649 (16GB iPhone 4S) + $1,320 ($55/month x 24 months) = $1,969 over two years.
  • Sprint: $199 (16GB iPhone 4S) + $2,376 ($99/month x 24 months) = $2,575 over two years.

Of course, Sprint is Virgin Mobile’s parent company in the United States. I’ve also left out any taxes or early termination fees. Still, going with Virgin Mobile would save $606 over two years. Assuming one’s willing to pay for an unsubsidized smartphone tied to Virgin Mobile’s network, this might be worth the savings to avoid a contract. If curious, there’s no roaming with VM, plus the network is CDMA.

I’m still using Virgin Mobile’s much-cheaper LG Optimus V, which I’ve had replaced once (the previous phone suddenly malfunctioned). I wouldn’t mind a more modern smartphone (if it meant one with a bigger screen), but it’ll be another Android-powered phone (that won’t run $649)…

RIP WebOS

Aug 182011
 

Looks like the fat lady’s finally sung for WebOS, after this week’s already-disastrous news about Best Buy wanting HP to take its TouchPads back: not only does HP plan to sell off its PC manufacturing side to focus on just software/services, but they’ve also decided to kill off the TouchPad (this year’s biggest tech flop) and WebOS based smartphones. While they claim to be investigating possible future uses for the OS, I’d say WebOS is now deader than Elvis in terms of a future. (Ars Technica has more on today’s HP news here.)

As long-time readers of this blog know, I was fairly enthusiastic about WebOS as an operating system at first, and still view it as a nicely designed, slick looking OS. It was also my first “real” smartphone, and the first I signed a contract for (I was using prepaid Virgin Mobile dumbphones beforehand). I was enthusiastic about the first-generation Palm Pre I bought, and though I had some doubts even then about whether I should go with WebOS over the then-burgeoning Android, at the time (October 2009) I didn’t think Android was polished enough, so I went with the Pre.

Since then, having a smartphone was one of the best purchasing decisions I’ve made, as it’s made many things in my life a lot easier (bus schedule information; an aid on my trips out of town; a portable electronic calendar/notebook; etc.). For that much (and the pleasantness of WebOS), I’ll be grateful. However, the flaws of the Pre soon became too big to ignore—the awful hardware for one, and the lack of support for the OS for another (aka few apps; there’s a reason WebOS has a strong homebrew community). Also not helping were the various other stumbles for WebOS and Palm since late 2009 (the lousy advertising campaign; the sale of Palm to HP, who also stumbled on handling WebOS; etc.), or the explosive growth in Android’s popularity since then. (And yes, my “WebOS shall live on” comments in that last link are quite ironic in retrospect.)

Several months ago, I finally had enough with the phone, and decided to look into an Android phone (Android having greatly improved since late 2009). After some deliberation (and deciding not to wait until August, when my Sprint contract would let me buy a newer phone), I decided to jump to Sprint’s prepaid subsidiary, Virgin Mobile, and bought an Android-based LG Optimus V. Thanks to Android, the phone’s been even more useful than even the Pre was, not to mention the amount of money saved by going back to prepaid. Thus, I haven’t looked back at WebOS since…

And now today’s news; guess I jumped ship just in time. So long, WebOS… it was (for awhile) fun.

PS: HP’s also looking to spin off their PC manufacturing division, just as I’m considering buying a new laptop in 2012. Given I’m not sure if buying another HP laptop during such a transition period’s a good idea, I might be looking at other laptop brands—Lenovo? Acer? Even Dell (after my refurbished laptop experiences)? We’ll see…

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