your unofficial guide to the google android
Posts tagged shopper
Today’s "What’s on My Phone" List
Jul 3rd
In February of 2006, I listed the timers that were current on my satellite TV PVR. It is interesting to see the programs I watched, especially since most of them are no longer being broadcast.
This fits into my general concept that even the most mundane aspects of life become noteworthy if enough time passes.
Discovering the contents of a time capsule, whether intended or not, can have a significant historical value. For example, I’ve only been the owner of an Android phone for a few weeks. Yet, I’ll take a moment to list of the apps on my phone right at this moment. I know things will change and the items will take on added interest when time give greater perspective. I will only list the icons on the phone’s 5 home pages. For example, you won’t find the Solitaire card game on this list although it’s loaded and accessible.
FREE GOOGLE OR ANDROID APPLICATIONS
Calendar – Tracks appointments.
Contacts – Syncs Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter apps.
Earth – The same as the PC version including Street View.
Gmail – My main mail client.
Goggles – Identifies products by using the camera.
Listen – Podcast collector via Google Reader.
Maps – Same as the PC version.
Messaging – To handle text messages.
My Tracks – Uses GPS to show routes travelled.
Navigation – Traditional GPS w/ Voice Turn by Turn
Shopper – Identify barcodes or logo online.
Sky Map – Shows what is in the night sky.
Translate – Speak English and translate to other languages.
Voice Dial – Just part of Android
FREE APPLICATIONS FROM OTHER COMPANIES
Advanced Kill – Saves battery by stopping apps.
Android Market – The official place to find apps.
Antivirus – Just to stay safe, I guess.
AppAware – Shows what apps other people are downloading.
Bump – Transfers business card info, by touching phones.
Calculator – Doh!
Camera – Also a part of Android. Should be above?
CBC Radio – Stream many stations live. Read news.
Currency – Finds XE.com exchange rates. Nifty!
Facebook – The offical Andoid app.
File Manager – See what’s on the SD card.
Foursquare – Location aware app. Say where one is.
GPS Status – Shows satellite reception.
IMDb – Customized for the small screen.
Movies – Similar to the one above but from Flixter.
mSpot – Keep 1600 songs online for free streaming.
News and Weather – Nothing special. Forecasts seem accurate.
OverDrive – Works with my library’s audio books.
Public Radio – Streams lots of NPR stations.
Shazam – Indentifies a song by listening to a sample. Magic!
StopWatch – As it says. I use at work.
Sweet Dreams – Turns off the phones functions at night.
Translink – Allows look up of local bus, SkyTrain schedules.
Twitter – The official Android app.
Voice Recorder – Good for making audio notes.
Weatherbug – Slick but too big. Can set multiple locations.
WiFinder – Helps choose wifi connections.
World Time – Shows time in chosen cities.
YouTube – Link to the mobile site. Android 2.2 does Flash.
A Week of Nexus One
Apr 7th
A year ago I reluctantly moved over to Blackberry because I couldn’t get the Windows Mobile experience of my dreams. At the time I could never have guessed that I would end up using an Android device, and yet, here I am- tapping away at my very own Slabby McSlab! And somehow, I’m perfectly content.
Its been just over a week since I started using my Nexus One and already I can’t imagine going back. In the morning I wake up and see the time and weather glowing from the dock. I take it off and use PhoneMyPC to connect to my desktop and initiate a sync of my iPod Touch so that I can get the previous night’s television shows (via Tivo Desktop) onto my Touch. A few swipes through my homescreens gets me up-to-date on Twitter, Facebook and the top headlines.
During my shower I listen to my audio podcasts that were downloaded automatically via BeyondPod
At work I use my widgets for Toodledo and Agenda to add things and check off my to-do list. I get my emails and instant messages via eBuddy without my battery draining. On my way home I listen to Pandora to relax during my commute.
During shopping trips I use Google Shopper to scan barcodes and find the cheapest price. I take hi-res photos and upload them to my Flickr or Photobucket account.
The bottom line is, I feel a sense of freedom and excitement that’s been otherwise stifled for the past year. Everytime I browse the Market, there’s something fresh and exciting. Without rooting my Nexus, I’m still able to enjoy tweaks and cosmetic changes I couldn’t even dream about on the Blackberry OS. Maybe this will change when Blackberry starts using widgets (OS 6?) but for now, I’m as happy as I was on Windows Mobile, but more so because rather than being on a platform as it dwindles into end stages, I’m on a platform that is just getting started.
Why I don’t like Google Shopper
Feb 22nd
Before you read on, note that this is just my opinion about how free competition should work in the software world. If you don’t care about that sort of thing, then you don’t have to continue. You have been warned.
Google just released Google Shopper to the market, and while I tend to believe that it will be pretty awesome, if it gets preloaded into future builds of Android, I will be pretty disappointed. But you usually love Google and you always love free stuff, you say. Why would this be any different you ask? God you are nosy.
I am against it because even though Google releases much of the Android operating system code under the Apache License, Android = Google from a brand perspective. As a result, any Google application that they load with the Android OS has an unfair advantage in the rest of the market.* If they start creating and releasing applications that someone else already developed on the Android platform, and install them by default, then they will be seriously hurting the chances for competition of other companies who are making Android applications. In this case, there are already some great “scan and shop” applications on the market (see Barcode Scanner, CNET Scan & Shop, Big in Japan, Shopsavvy, etc).
* I actually think they should offer you a choice on your default search engine and email too. On the web, you have to make a choice to choose Google as your search engine, or Gmail for your mail. However, I can let it slide because if you are buying a Google phone, you should know that you are getting their core service, which are searching and email.
I do not see this as any different from when Microsoft started giving away Internet Explorer as the default browser in their operating system to stop Netscape from gathering the market share. A quick history lesson, for those who don’t remember IE was not initially part of the Windows suite, and wasn’t free until version 3 in 1996. What difference did that make? Well after virtually eliminating Netscape, it took them 5 years (2001-2006) to make a new version of the browser, which just so happened to have coincided with Firefox giving us tabbed browsing. Meaning that in the end, innovation stalled on the browser market because there was no competition with Microsoft.* Who knows how many sites that only work in Internet Explorer would have been eliminated were it not for their tactics.
* By the way, they finally just lost that anti-trust settlement for good in the EU and now have to offer people a choice when they start-up Windows for the first time.
As long as Google only lets you download these apps from the Market, then I’m technically OK with it,* but if your motto is don’t evil, you cannot start eliminating your competition by using your brand as an unfair advantage. At least Microsoft didn’t pretend to be nice. I have not read anything that says Google will start installing these kind of apps as part of the default Android install, but I hope they do not.
* Not that anyone cares.