Time will tell, but the team over at Google is doing their darnedest to help empower anyone with the desire (not necessarily the skill) to create their own Android apps.
Their new “App Inventor” is a product that’s been in development for more than a year, and promised to bring Android development capabilities to the masses. Check-out the info they’ve already made available, and watch the video for a quick overview:
…or just here, in North Coastal San Diego County?
Back towards the beginning of this year, I was amused by Verizon’s campaign to illustrate that their 3G network is significantly larger than AT&T’s, and even more amused when AT&T responded that they “cover more people,” displaying a map that looked bigger than Verizon’s.
I wonder how many people never figured-out that the AT&T map, which “looked better,” was actually a map of their voice coverage, and not their 3G coverage?
About that same time, I began reading all kinds of scathing reports about how AT&T’s 3G coverage was not just spotty, but really pretty slow in some areas.
All of that back-and-forth got me wondering… I had started noticing what I perceived to be a slow-down in the 3G service provided by T-Mobile on my wife’s Android phone, and decided to see how well it was really performing, by conducting a series of speed tests over time.
I wish these were around back when I got my MyTouch a few months back.
After seeing the Clapton commercials for the Fender MyTouch Android phone, I finally got to play with one “in-person” during a recent visit to my local T-Mobile store.
I have to say that even despite the faux vernier (yes, that’s “fake wood”), it’s one good looking phone.
And at least, I guess, the “plastic wood” isn’t much of a fire hazard, as compared to carrying a wooden phone in your pocket.
Even the matching “wooden” ear-buds that come with it look incredible.
And it’s probably good they’re “fake wood.”
Splinters in the ears would be a real bummer.
Overall, it’s the coolest looking phone I’ve ever seen (kudos, T-Mobile).
I can’t wait to see how Apple responds (a Les Paul iPhone would be cool?).
I just wish T-Mobile hadn’t made Clapton goof with that cheesy “guitar app” in the commercial. That really seems to cheapen the offering, but alas.
I have to admit, I’m admiring the turn-by-turn navigation on my Android phone more every day.
I used to have one of those “traditional” GPS units, and it was a pain… I had to subscribe (and pay) to update its database all the time, and it relied on me to know (and enter) the address every time I went anywhere.
Turn-by-turn Navigation on Android is so well integrated into the overall experience, that none of that matters, anymore.
I can speak the name of a client, the App pulls it from my contacts, and I’m off and driving in the blink of an eye.
Better yet, I can speak the name of any business, and it’s loaded with driving instructions before I turn the key.
