Smartphones

The Samsung Galaxy is Ultra-Cool

By Mark Evans in Wireless 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

The Samsung Galaxy is ultra-cool. It’s a sleek, beautifully designed wireless device.

While you might say “Mark, you’re just another gadget geek excited about new, shiny toy”. And while that my be true, a far more significant consideration is how so many non-geeks see the Galaxy as cool. I’m talking about people like my hockey buddies, who enthusiastically show off their new Galaxy phones without any prompting. It is something I haven’t seen with any other non-iPhone device. No one has pulled out their Blackberry Torch to gush about screen, applications or the high-quality videos.

In a smartphone world dominated by the iPhone, the ability to be seen as “cool” is crucial to have any kind of success. The benchmark is so high that devices that aren’t cool have no chance of being widely adopted. Until now, no device has been able to capture the imagination of wireless users. The Galaxy has a huge opportunity to break the rule.

So, what makes the Galaxy so cool?

For one, it’s the design. Slightly longer than an iPhone but a bit slimmer than my iPhone 3GS, the Galaxy S Vibrant I’m evaluating has a nice, comfortable feel. The screen quality is top-notch, which is particularly important to watch videos and movies. In many respects, the Galaxy has the same features and functionality has the iPhone.

While iPhone users may suggest the key competitive difference is the number of applications within iTunes. Truth be told most of the major services are available for Android-powered smartphones such as the Galaxy. In a few minutes, I downloaded two of my go-to mobile apps, Twitter and Facebook. As a GMail user, I like the fact a GMail app came as a standard feature.

Perhaps the biggest appeal of the Galaxy is it seems like a viable alternative to the iPhone for people looking for a cool smartphone. These are consumers who may not want to become part of the Apple Nation, and have no interest in using a Windows-powered smartphone. Before the Galaxy, there wasn’t a compelling option to the iPhone.

Maybe the Galaxy is a cool, shiny toy but from the number of people now using them, it is definitely attracting a lot more attention than any other smartphone.

Life Before Smartphones?

By Mark Evans in Main Page 2 Comments Tags: , ,

As I was leaving a downtown meeting yesterday, I saw a women running a hot dog cart. That in and of itself wasn’t interesting but what caught my eye was that she was intently checking her smartphone, oblivious to the hustle and bustle around her.

It got me thinking about what life was like before smartphones? How did we fill in the small gaps between meetings, during coffee breaks or lunch, waiting in line-ups for groceries or movies, commuting or stuck in traffic?

Today, many people instantly reach for their smartphones to check e-mail, watch videos, surf the Web or play games. While these devices are terrific, what’s been lost in the process? Are we reading fewer newspapers? Are we reading fewer newspapers? Are we spending less think time just thinking with no distractions?

There is a price to be paid for using a smartphone because the time it consumes means that something else has to give. For the gains they offer, there is also a balancing loss.

Espoo (and Nokia), Here I Come

By Mark Evans in Wireless No Comments Tags: , , ,

I don’t travel for business that often, mostly because most of my clients are located in Waterloo, Toronto and Montreal. I also find business travel to be gruelling, which is why I wonder about people who proclaim to enjoy the lifestyle.

My resolve to avoid business travel if at all possible disappeared a couple of weeks ago when Nokia invited me to attend its “The Way We Live Next 3.0″ conference at its global headquarters in Espoo, Finland, which is located just outside Helsinki.

The two-day conference features a number of Nokia senior executives, who will provide insight about the company’s strategic direction and how it’s “connecting and building the communities of the future”.

I’m looking forward to to meeting Oskar Korkman, head of “opportunity identification” for Nokia’s consumer and consumer insights unit. Korkman is responsible for “consumer insights, and supports the business in translating consumer understanding into business decision-making.”

I’m hoping he can provide some insight into what consumers are demanding in terms of hardware and software, including how the fast-growing smartphone market is going to evolve.

To be honest, I’ve had very little experience with Nokia smartphones, which is not that surprising given Nokia’s low profile in North American compared with the iPhone and Blackberry. I played with a Nokia smartphone several months ago that looked really slick but I found the UI and usability to be too complicated and somewhat frustrating.

It will be interesting to learn more about Nokia’s smartphones plans given the market is exploding, and smartphones have higher profit margins for hardware makers and carriers.

I’m also hoping to take in the sights of Helsinki and maybe catch a hockey game.


The Dangers of Working 24/7

By Mark Evans in Social Media 8 Comments Tags: , ,

I was talking to someone recently who mentioned how many of his friends were disenchanted with work, including some who had decided to resign rather than grin and bear it.

In discussing the possible explanations, one of them was the downside of being connected all the time through the Web, e-mail and smartphones. It means people are working longer and harder – and working even when they’re not at work during “working hours”.

In a sense, many people are working all the time – a situation exacerbated by the current economic climate in which employees are being asked to do even more as companies reduce costs.

The question is whether “all work, all the time” is just the way it is these days. In a wired world with the ability to be connected pretty much anywhere, can you ever escape work? If not, what does that do for your personal/family life, and work/life balance?

Here’s a few more scenarios to fuel discussion:

- A friend of mine told me when he goes on vacation, he works from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. every day. Then, he turns off the computer and Blackberry until 7 a.m the next morning.

- A colleague told me his boss has recently said there’s no need to respond to e-mail after 8 p.m.

- Chris Brogan, a social media consultant, recently sent a newsletter that included a snapshot of a “typical day”, which suggests he works 12 to 14 hour days.

- Amber Naslund, a community manager with a social media analytics company, said she works 10 to 12 hour days, including nights and weekends.

While I’m probably as bad anyone who works within the Web, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the dangers of being unable to digitally disconnect.

I look at many people who active on Twitter from early morning to late at night, and wonder whether this is unhealthy, or simply the way it works these days.

I wonder about a world in which it’s difficult, if not impossible, to not be connected; a world where Twitter has to be constantly monitored, and replies to e-mail done ASAP.

More food for thought: check out this video in which Renny Gleeson talks about the “culture of availability”


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