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Posts Tagged ‘primary’

Olympus just took the wraps off its new $600 E-PL1 micro four thirds camera the other day and your main question is still probably what’s the difference between the new model and the previously-announced E-P2 .

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The Olympus E-P2 vs the E-PL1

Earlier this week we saw the launch of the Google Nexus One, the second very high profile Android launch in as many months. And, as should be expected, the phone is drawing numerous comparisons to the iPhone — it seems you can’t find a related review, blog post, or tweet that isn’t gauging the device based on how it compares to Apple’s juggernaut. That’s as it should be. But for anyone considering making the jump to Android, you need to keep one thing in mind: many of these early adopters have been using their iPhones non-stop for years. And it takes days, if not weeks, to unlearn your iPhone habits and judge Android on its own merits.

Imagine if you took a longtime Windows user and sat them in front of a Mac for a couple days. They’d probably complain about superficial things like the change in mouse acceleration and the “unintuitive” button placement (the Close button is on the opposite side of the window). It’s not until a week or two after you start using a Mac as your primary computer that you overcome these issues and begin to fully grasp some of the benefits it offers. No, it may not be for you, but there’s really no way you can tell for sure without taking the plunge and using one as your primary computer. It’s the same way with Android.

I know, because I had the same experience when I made the leap from the iPhone to Android a few months ago. When I got my Droid, I was initially very pleased with it: the screen is amazing and the device flies. But as the luster wore off, I began to have my doubts. I couldn’t figure out how to access options that should have been readily visible. Menus weren’t where they should have been. All in all, Android made me feel stupid, because much of what I had learned about using the iPhone — habits that had become nearly instinct — no longer applied.

A week or so later, it clicked. When I want an option that isn’t already visible, I hit the dedicated ‘Menu’ button just beneath the screen. Need to jump to a previous screen in an app or the web browser? Hit the dedicated ‘Back’ button. In some ways, these are actually better than the soft buttons located in iPhone apps, because they’re always in the same place. It also saves some screen real estate. Using them has become totally second nature to me. But they aren’t the reason why I’ve decided I prefer Android over the iPhone.

Which brings me to the things that have turned me into a full-time Android user. Gmail on Android kicks the pants off of the iPhone’s Email client — something that I’m not the only person to notice. As someone who does a lot of Emailing, that makes a huge difference to me. Google Voice integration is fantastic. The ability to run multiple applications at the same time is a breath of fresh air. Those three things were enough to seal the deal.

Had I only used an Android device for a few days, these aforementioned pros may have been overshadowed by the fact that the phone felt so unfamiliar. Or I may have been turned off by one of the things Android gets wrong, like that there’s no way to update multiple applications at the same time and the default music player is remarkably ugly. But when it comes to using the phone in real life on a day-to-day basis, those problems aren’t enough to outweigh the productivity benefits Android offers me.

And, really, that’s my point. Many of these iPhone users who are testing out Android for the first time tend to get hung up on things that feel unfamiliar, or are griping about issues that will only affect them once in a blue moon. No, Android isn’t as pretty as the iPhone, and there are plenty of things it doesn’t do as well as it could. But until you’ve taken the plunge to see what lies beneath its less-polished exterior, you haven’t really seen what it has to offer.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

I’m fairly certain that TechCrunch readers are far ahead of the curve in abandoning wired landlines at home. But I’d like to know just how far ahead of the curve you really are. Please let us know below what you use for your primary home phone service – landline, VoIP, mobile, etc.

I’m a long time Vonage user myself, and haven’t had a landline for nearly a decade.

What Do You Use As Your Home Phone Service?(survey)

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

As mobile web usage increases, conference attendees need real-time, updated information on the go that can be accessible from mobile devices. Mobile Roadie, a startup that helps develops iPhone apps, has developed the official iPhone app for LeWeb, the foremost European technology conference organized by French entrepreneur and Seesmic founder, Loic Le Meur and his wife, Geraldine. LeWeb 2009 is set to take place next week in Paris, France. The LeWeb App, which is free, essentially puts the entire conference in the pockets of show attendees and lets anyone who isn’t attending the conference watch a live stream of the events directly from their iPhones.

The LeWeb App packs in the essentials for attendees, speakers, and participants, including a detailed show schedule and agenda, speaker bios, and directions. To help people network at the show, the app contains a list of show attendees with a link to their Twitter profiles. The application also supports Facebook Connect and Twitter integration, so that all comments and Tweets can be blasted back out to Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag for LeWeb. And the app features push notifications so administrators can send alerts and updates easily to iPhone users.

Mobile Roadie has partnered with Ustream to enable iPhone users to watch LeWeb live inside its own app. For now, Mobile Roadie only offers iPhone apps but will soon offer the ability to develop apps for the Andoid in January. The beauty of Mobile Roadie’s platform is that it offers a dead simple mostly-automated system to build apps and have them posted to Apple’s App Store in as little as a week. Launched earlier this year, the startup develops mobile apps for other conferences, events, and venues, as well as musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

As the TechCrunch Network’s resident mobile guy, I was given the task of writing up a list of apps for each smartphone platform that you ought to buy as little e-stocking stuffers for your loved ones. It was to be my primary contribution to CrunchGear’s ultra-amazing Holiday Gift Guide; my festively themed magnum opus.

But there’s a problem with this idea: it can’t be done. It’s not because I’m lazy (which may be true), nor because I don’t have any apps to recommend (which most certainly is not). I can’t recommend apps for you to buy for others, because you can’t buy apps for others.

Read the rest of this post at Mobile Crunch >>

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra, fresh off a new funding and site relaunch, is showing some of the highlights from their annual State of the Blogosphere report today at BlogWorld in Las Vegas.

We’ll have a video of his full video presentation shortly. In the meantime, we’re embedding the power point presentation below.

Key points Jalichandra brought up – What’s the no. 1 success metric for a professional blogger? What do successful bloggers have in common? The data was taken from a survey of 2,900 bloggers, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland.

72% of bloggers are hobbyists, says Jalichandra, and blog for fun. They don’t make any income from blogging, and only half hope to someday. They blog simply to express themselves. Of professional bloggers, only 10% blog 40 or more hours per week.

2/3 of professional bloggers are male, and 60% are between 18 – 44 years old. 75% have college degrees, and 40% have graduate degrees. Half have household incomes of $75,000 or more. 17% of them say blogging is their primary source of income. A whopping 74% of bloggers use Twitter, v. 14% of the general population. Their no. 1 use of Twitter is to promote their blogs.

Lots more detail in the full presentation, below. You can see the audience reaction on Twitter here.

Technorati SOTB 2009 –

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Man, you’ve gotta love these things. I’ve yet to see one of these leak out showing any shortcomings for the primary device - but I guess that’s really the point

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Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm2 Competitive Comparison chart leaks out

Matt Waldman at Nooka has done it again. The Zaz is a see-through watch with an LCD sandwiched onto a transparent surface. You tell time by counting the blocks and reading the growing minutes bar and it comes with a black, silver, or white band

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The see-through Nooka Zaz

Prediction: The Windows 7 Family Guy mashup will be lame.

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Video: First look at how Family Guy is selling out to Microsoft

Lets get a few details out of the way first.

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Review: Casio EXILIM 5.1MP camera phone