Several of the gadget cites are reporting that someone has managed to get Android running on a Nokia N810. That's quite an impressive feat.

Now if someone would only do the same for my lowly HTC S621 (aka T-Mobile Dash). I soooooo need to eviscerate Windows Mobile from my phone.

Tags: android, nokia, n810, windows mobile

Businessweek has an interesting article on how the big players in the cellular biz are trying to outdo the iPhone.

The first thing they've got to do is to get rid of the clunky GUIs on their phones. To me, the biggest thing working against the iPhone is the lack of a keyboard. For this reason alone, I'm very curious in terms of the usability that Google's Android platform will offer.

I've been using Windows Mobile begrudgingly for the past 3 or so years. And I absolutely hate the OS. My phone crashes regularly (albeit less so since I've upgraded to Windows Mobile 6) and takes over a minute to boot. Until Microsoft realizes that the phone is not a computer and that phone operations take precedence over all other activities, they're not going to be #1 in the smart phone space.

Apple has taken a lot of flak over the rules around iPhone application development, especially for the one where apps have to quit when the user switches apps. Any Windows Mobile user will welcome such a rule, especially if he/she has turned on their phone's camera and switched away to another application. Invariably, the camera app stays on in the background and drains the battery. Windows Mobile users are stuck using the Task Manager to kill the app. How inane is that?

Interestingly enough, I've been very impressed with RIM's Crackberry offerings, but could never convince myself to go with RIM because of the relatively weak application support on the platform. Having said that, Windows Mobile may offer a million apps, but 999,900 of those apps will suck.

Tags: iphone, cellular, android

The New York Times has an article on how mobile phone companies are trying to meet consumer needs.

I think they could start by making phones that get the basics right. You know it's a sad state of affairs when a $5 home phone can outperform your spanky $300 smart phone. Phone designers should make sure that they live with a phone for a few months before releasing it to manufacturing. To this day, I still can't figure out many of the design choices that Microsoft made with Windows Mobile. Hello! My phone is NOT a computer!

Apple is definitely going in the right direction with the iPhone, although their strategy isn't perfect either. If it weren't for my form factor preferences (sorry, but I really do need a hard keyboard), I probably would be iPhoned right now.

I'm really hoping that the upcoming Android platform is successful, since Google, like Apple, is a company that Gets It.

Tags: cellular, windowsmobile, iphone, android, google, apple