Tom Henderson, of the Math for Primates podcast and MathPunk.net, has a Kickstarter campaign to raise money so he can write a Punk Mathematics book. What’s punk mathematics? Well, as Tom explains, punk raises questions, and math finds solutions. Topics may include:
Better living through probability; the fractal dimension of cities and cancers; using orders of magnitude to detect b.s.; free will and quantum economics; and the mathematics of cooperation in a networked world on the brink of a No Future collapse.
For a full explanation, though, check out Henderson’s Kickstarter page and watch the video, which is fairly entertaining. (Parents note: he drops a couple of F-bombs during the video, so you may want to preview it before you show your kids.) I love the idea of making math interesting and relevant.
Henderson has already exceeded his Kickstarter goal, but it’s still worth checking out, and kick in a few bucks if you want to get a PDF or hard copy of the completed book. (Unfortunately, he’s already sold out of his “Answer-to-Everything Pack,” which included 24-hour phone access to the Math Hotline—i.e., Henderson’s cell phone.) The Kickstarter campaign ends at the end of the month, so check it out before then.
Tom Henderson, of the Math for Primates podcast and MathPunk.net, has a Kickstarter campaign to raise money so he can write a Punk Mathematics book. What’s punk mathematics? Well, as Tom explains, punk raises questions, and math finds solutions. Topics may include:
Better living through probability; the fractal dimension of cities and cancers; using orders of magnitude to detect b.s.; free will and quantum economics; and the mathematics of cooperation in a networked world on the brink of a No Future collapse.
For a full explanation, though, check out Henderson’s Kickstarter page and watch the video, which is fairly entertaining. (Parents note: he drops a couple of F-bombs during the video, so you may want to preview it before you show your kids.) I love the idea of making math interesting and relevant.
Henderson has already exceeded his Kickstarter goal, but it’s still worth checking out, and kick in a few bucks if you want to get a PDF or hard copy of the completed book. (Unfortunately, he’s already sold out of his “Answer-to-Everything Pack,” which included 24-hour phone access to the Math Hotline—i.e., Henderson’s cell phone.) The Kickstarter campaign ends at the end of the month, so check it out before then.
The next version of Google’s browser has been promoted to beta status. You can now download Chrome 6 beta and start testing it out on multiple platforms.
The biggest new features? There’s a simplified user interface in Chrome 6, a new autofill feature for completing web forms, and better syncing, including support for autofill data and extensions. If you’ve been using the dev channel or canary releases of Chrome, you’ve seen these features showing up one by one over the last few weeks.
Chrome 6 beta gets the performance bump that’s standard for each new browser release. It also comes hot on the heels of the latest pre-release versions of Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9, both of which arrived within the last week showing off faster and more capable HTML and JavaScript engines.
The browser’s skin has been tweaked slightly to streamline the tab and button layouts, and there’s a new unified button that marries the old Tools and Menu buttons found in previous versions of Chrome. The new menu button holds all the most popular controls, as well as some oddly placed buttons for zooming pages, launching fullscreen mode, and performing copy/paste tasks. I don’t think any of us are going to be abandoning keyboard shortcuts for these options any time soon.
The autofill feature is integrated with the sync feature in Chrome 6 beta, so all of your instances of Chrome (home, work, laptop) will be able to share not only preferences, extensions, browsing data and themes, but also form data. You can autofill forms with the same information — provided you’re logged into Google using the same account in each location. Chrome can remember, store and sync any set of common information you’d normally put into a web form (names, e-mail, mailing addresses, phone numbers). You can simply select which data set to choose from when the autofill feature takes over.
Chrome can also remember credit card numbers, but you have to explicitly add them in the autofill feature’s preferences.
This version of Chrome will likely move from beta to a general stable release in a few weeks. We should expect the next version of Chrome to follow along only six weeks after that, as Google has sped up its release cycle to put a new version of its browser out every month and a half.
Your browser’s built-in download tool is ok, but you, the demanding Internet surfer, deserve better. Leech plugs into a number of Mac browsers and gives you some great tools for organizing your downloads.
Well we knew that there wouldn’t be many Nexus One’s left when Google said they were receiving their last shipment from HTC, but selling out within 10 days? That’s cutting it short.
Google has told the L.A. Times that it expects to sell all of it’s remaining stock of the N1 by the end of July, which is essentially 10 days from now. So if you’re been on the fence about buying the Nexus, you probably shouldn’t hesitate much longer.
HP looks like it might be doing something with webOS after all, Wired takes a gander inside the not-so-perfect marriage of Apple and AT&T, and yes, what remainders would be complete without something about the iPhone 4’s reception?
Here is a nice surprise for everyone as we head into the weekend. The good folks over at Driphter.com have just posted up a pretty nice video of the new BlackBerry WebKit browser running on a BlackBerry 9800. So far, videos have for the most part skipped over showing the WebKit browser so this is certainly the best look at it for now. Hit the video after that jump and let us all know what you think in the cooments. Personally, to me it’s looking mighty fine now all we need is RIM to start rolling it out to users.
Chuck Lawton is reporting from Microsoft’s Imagine Cup finals in Warsaw, Poland. This article is the first installment of coverage; please read the introduction if you have not yet done so.
The National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland is the site for presentations by teams that advanced to the final rounds in the 8th annual Imagine Cup. Entering the theater you can see the rock star like atmosphere surrounding the event with the main stage flanked with large projection monitors, remote cameras on cranes and a panel of six judges evaluating the presentations. In attendance are members of the press, event organizers and other teams who’s out pouring of support for their fellow competitors fill the hall with unfettered applause. The highlight of the show, however, were the presenters themselves and the projects they have been working on tirelessly over the past year.
The format for the presentations consist of a pitch of the team’s idea, a demonstration and a Q&A session by the judges. This is not their first pass at presenting to judges but advancing to the final rounds brings an extra amount of pressure. The stage, cameras and lights all work to make what is likely a surreal situation for the students.
Scott Davis, the Windows Embedded Captain from Microsoft said to the attendees, “As you go forward and leave here, you will never face a presentation like this again. At most you would pitch to a small group of around twenty in a board room.”
On top of this, English is the mandatory language for the event and for a majority of the teams presenting from all of the world, English is not their primary language. Regardless, each team performed admirably in their delivery and it was exciting to see teams having fun in the moment.
Microsoft has additionally stepped up the focus on the business aspect of the Imagine Cup. Specifically, they Academic Developer Evangelist’s within Microsoft subsidiaries coach team mentors on the development of business plans or at least an understanding of market forces and how to bring their ideas to market. The presentation style is flashy, sure, but it also is geared towards potential investors and to get them excited about their ideas.
With game design and the XBox Live Marketplace, however, these finalists can choose to self-publish and form a company around their game. If they haven’t already, I overheard many plan to do so. And how did the competitors stack up? Below I highlight the three finalists in the Game Design category.
This was my first taste of the finalist presentation, and I can think of no better way to start than by viewing the Game Design finalists. These include Nom Nom Productions from Belgium, By Implication from the Philippines and Gears Studio from France. What each presented were mature and polished games that were not only innovative but took the goal of integrating one or more of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in subtle and fun ways.
Shift by Nom Nom Productions from Belgium
Shift is an interesting take on a basic puzzle game, wrapped around the idea of an island facing various challenges including pollution, heat, draught, among others. Each challenge is represented by an opponent and you take turns against that opponent to improve the island and win. For example, one challenge involves growing crops while the sun makes the soil arid. Another challenge is to clean water from contamination while that pollution spreads. Compounding the game is that multiple challenges occur concurrently and you need to balance the time you take on each puzzle against the others.
While the puzzle aspect looks entertaining, there is an emotional connection as well. Using challenges in Africa as a starting point, an avatar is presented on screen that coaches you along, becomes sad when the island is doing poorly and becomes happy when your efforts to improve the island are successful. By forming a connection with the avatar and your own efforts, Shift aims to raise awareness to real problems in the world.
Wildfire By Implication from the Philippines
The most striking thing about Wildfire is the visual style. It’s sparse, clean, and with a splash of color only to highlight events or objectives in the game. Additionally, the game environment is procedurally generated offering plenty of replay capability. This game also offered the most effective integration of the UN Millennium Development Goals as part of the core game play but in a way that is not lecturing. Information about each goal appears along side the objective allowing you to explore more if you choose to.
Describing the game mechanics would be a disservice — the below video does an excellent job on its own. It looks like an exciting game with fantastic gameplay with a great message on top of it.
Green Gears by Gears Studio from France
Green Gears is a 3D game that’s not exactly a shooter – at least, not in the classical sense. Pollution abounds on the Island of Island of Nazeth and a team consisting of an engineer, nurse and a soldier can use their respective skills to improve the island. But all actions have consequences. While mostly positive, some actions, such as those of the soldier when he uses his weapon, can cause damage to the environment which must be fixed as well. The game play is mission based, introducing the player to the game mechanics while also delivering the UN Millennial Goal messages as well.
Check out the game trailer below. When released, Green Gears plans on offering their level designer, which looks exciting, to the user community.
Overall Impressions
It’s hard to believe sometimes that these are students working with no budget. These games are advanced, innovative, and polished. The graphic design and game play are unique, and their delivery on stage is solid and confident. If you were asked to play a game that focused on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, you might pass. After all, how can a game that focuses on environmental sustainability, universal education or child health be fun? Not only have these three teams accomplished that, you may not even realize that’s what the game is about. But you may find yourself talking about these issues afterward. That ability is one of the reasons these game shine, and I hope these teams are all able to bring their games to market.
How would you get people up off the couch so they can go out and improve the world? Micah, age 10, suggests: “Put spikes on all the couches.”
Kids Make It Better from Workman Publishing is a little bit like those “Kids Say the Darnedest Things” compilations, but with one significant difference: it really wants kids to make a difference, not just to say funny things. Writer and artist Suzy Becker asked kids for their solutions on a wide variety of topics, from dealing with pollution to staying out of trouble to stopping nail-biting. Each solution has a cute cartoon illustration, but then there’s a section for your child to write in your own solution and draw a picture of it. Some pages also have “Yes, Kids Can!” sidebars telling the stories of kids’ solutions that have actually worked to make a difference for that problem.
At the back of the book is an observation log to mark down problems that you spot on your own, and then a section called The Make It Better Action Plan, which challenges you to pick one problem, brainstorm solutions, and then work toward putting one of those solutions into practice. It includes suggestions about researching other groups already working on solutions for your problem, and a list of websites of organizations that may come in handy while you’re trying to change the world. Finally, there’s a certificate of honor at the back “in recognition of exceptional service to the community and an ongoing commitment to making a better world.”
The book is cute, but behind the kid-themed cartoons is a very serious idea: getting kids to think creatively and critically about making the world a better place. Even if your kids come up with off-the-wall suggestions to the problems in the book, it gets them thinking about it, and puts them in a problem-solving mindset. As somebody who is always trying to change the world, I love the idea of this book, and I’m excited to see what sort of solutions my six-year-old comes up with.
Becker recently asked a bunch of kids what they would do about the BP oil spill, and whether BP should be punished for the consequences of the leak. Read on for some of the kids’ answers.
Reilly, age 7: “I would make a wall to block the oil from coming out. Then I would take out the animals and put sunscreen on them and then clean the water up and put the animals back. BP should make sure everybody is OK and help clean up the oil.”
Matt and Nikhil, age 7: “Make robot fish that eat oil. Scientists should make charts that show where the oil is. Take all the animals out of the water and put them in a huge tank. They should make a wall. They should make a giant boat to scoop up all the oil. BP should make their pipes be on land instead of underwater.”
Justin, age 7: “[BP] should set out a sorry note. They should have to run the marathon.”
Josh, age 7: “The company should buy more fish and put them back in the ocean.”
Emma, age 8 1/2: “The best way would be to take a boat over where the oil spill is and some scuba divers would dive down with weights on their feet and fix the pipe then they would take the weights off and swim up. You could take a metal box with an open side and jam it on the pipe and then the oil would go back into the pipe”.
Kyle, age 8: “I would make tons of small, microscopic germs and feed them hyperotic pills to get them hungry and hyper and enlarge their stomachs so they can eat all of the oil.”
Wil, age 8: “If I could stop the oil spill, I would take a bunch of cockroaches and give them scuba gear so they could drink up the oil.”
Makiah Bennett, age 10: “BP should work for no cost and do everything they can to solve this problem as their punishment. When it is solved they should dedicate their time to preventing another problem like this.”
Leilan Bennett, age 7: “While they are working and working to fix the oil leak, BP should get everything in the ocean and protect it from the oil. They should get a boat and net and try to get every fish and shark and octopus and plant and everything in the Gulf Ocean out until they clean up all the water. Sort of like Noah and the Ark, get two of everything so they can have more babies and then they won’t be gone forever. First, they should say they are sorry for causing this problem. Then BP should figure out how other people won’t cause this same problem.”
Jake, age 7: “Cut a giant puzzle piece the size of the hole and put it in”.
And my personal favorite:
Nolan, age 4: “To stop the oil leak he would push it out of the way with a bulldozer. For their punishment – they should get a baby tadpole and put it their bathtub. And play with it.”
Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book.
So you think you can type? Well, so did I, until I got an email from Fabian with his latest application, TyperLearn. While downloading I was thinking to myself, "I got this, I’ve been typing on these things for years." Well, wow was I wrong. TyperLearn is a rather simplistic style application with a nice straight forward user interface, but overall it is extremely helpful. After completing lessons you will be presented with your words per minute per lesson as well as your overall average speed for all completed lessons.
Within the application you will find lessons you have to complete, each of them geared towards learning a different part of the keyboard. You will start with the basics, learning your keyboard size, then move on to mastering the left hand, right hand and more which proves to be very helpful. If you are thinking that this application isn’t useful to you and that you have already mastered your keyboard, give it a shot and see if you notice the same results after. This is a great way for BlackBerry beginners to easily learn and master the BlackBerry keyboard. TyperLearn is on sale for $4.95 until June 26th.
You know, we come across a lot of interesting articles here on TalkAndroid, but none of them strike home as hard as this video:
If you’re not laughing at this point, I’d hope you realize that the above video was satire and is obviously pro-Android. Hopefully that gave you a good chuckle this evening.
For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides
At least people trying to buy HTC EVOs are just met with an “Out of Stock” message, instead of being able to order the phone (and get pre-charged) and then having your order mystery-canceled. Apparently, messages like the one above are being received all over. What’s even funnier is the fact that ATT and Apple are playing the blame game with each other.
Hey iPhone users, if you don’t care about the forward facing camera, go grab a Nexus One. They’re in stock and you can jump the AT&T ship if you want. You’ll love it, trust me.
Ah, bacon: the world’s greatest guilty pleasure, at least where food is concerned. I do so very much love bacon, in all things in which I’ve tried it. I’ve had it with eggs, on a burger, crumbled up in pancakes, wrapped around a scallop: the usual suspects.
But I haven’t tried it in everything possible — yet. I’ve been aware for some time of the various commercial products and recipes out there that use bacon in … let’s call them “unconventional” ways. Since we at GeekDad have publicly agreed with the generally accepted rule that bacon makes everything better, I have decided to follow in the footsteps of one of our favorite TV shows and put that myth to the test!
I have therefore embarked on The Great Bacon Odyssey. Starting now, for however long it takes, I will be trying anything and everything with bacon or bacon flavoring that I can lay my hands on. I will be trying the questionable bacon products as a public service, so you don’t have to. (I suppose I should add, just in case, an apology to my ancestors, as I am Jewish by heritage, even though I’ve never kept Kosher.)
For this inaugural post, I tried two bacon-flavored sweets: bacon-flavored jellybeans and a chocolate bar with bacon in it. How did they fair? Read on.
Photo: Matt Blum
First up, Mo’s Bacon Bar by Vosges Haut Chocolat: I’d had normally savory food items mixed with chocolate before: salt and hot peppers. And, as I mentioned above, I’d had bacon in pancakes, so the notion of bacon in something sweet was not that extraordinary to me. But how would chocolate with bacon really taste?
Ingredients: Impressive — chocolate, bacon and salt. Nice and simple.
Appearance: Looks like a regular, if thin, chocolate bar.
Smell: Like good-quality chocolate. No detectable bacon smell at all.
Taste: Good! Not delicious, but really quite good. Only a little bacon flavor came through the rich taste of the chocolate, mostly lending the bar a nice smoky quality.
Worth the Money?: Not really. The small bar I tried cost about $2.00 (at Whole Foods), and weighed in at 0.5 ounces. It was good, but not $4-per-ounce good.
Photo: Matt Blum
Next up, Bacon Beans: In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I have never been a fan of savory-flavored jellybeans. I love regular jellybeans, and have a huge weakness for Jelly Belly sours in particular, but flavors like “buttered popcorn” have always tasted off to me. But how would Bacon Beans taste?
Ingredients: Troubling. “Artificial Bacon Flavor” included on the list, with no other flavor mentioned. Instead of the nutritional information (which is available on ThinkGeek), the label simply provides a phone number you can call to get it, and the number isn’t even toll-free.
Appearance: Orangish-brown, slightly larger than Jelly Belly jellybeans. Not particularly appealing, but not particularly off-putting, either.
My actual reaction to the Bacon Beans. Photo: Jen Blum
Smell: Very pungent, best described as a mixture of liquid smoke and sugar. Way more smoky than bacon-y. Did nothing to whet my appetite for the beans.
Taste: Right up (down?) there with the very worst things I have ever eaten in my life. I drank a whole glass of limeade after eating just one jellybean and the taste was still in my mouth. If evil ever needed a flavor, this would be a strong candidate. My children wanted to try this, too; each of them spat it out upon tasting it.
Worth the Money?: Depends on what you intend to use them for. If you have enemies, and plan to sneak some of the beans into their jellybean mix, $5.99 for a tin might be worth it. If you’re thinking about eating some yourself, save your money and eat some month-old fruit — it’ll taste better.
Know of any — any — bacon products or recipes out there that you can’t quite bring yourself to try? Let me know about it in a comment, an e-mail, or a tweet.
An LG Ally promo video has hit the internet and it definitely has us thinking a release is merely weeks away. Check out the clip below and you’ll hear all sorts of wonderful references to Android apps including Latitutude, OpenTable, and eBay. At the end of the video a website is shown directing folks to LG.com/ally, which (for now) redirects to lgim2.com. We’re only a week away from Iron Man 2′s May 7th release. Naturally, we’d expect to see LG or Verizon step up with an announcement.
Are you ready for back-to-back super phones from Verizon!? (clip after the break)
As phones improve, new devices (iPad) launch, networks improve, and consumer demand grows, lots of money flows toward bigger and better mobile video services. Who will emerge as the “Hulu of mobile”?
Living in the real world we get the pleasure of having basically everything already being in three dimensions. When something real jumps out at us, we react. When we bump into something because we aren’t paying attention and bruise our shin, it’s because it is a three dimensional object we should have avoided. With the recent flush of movies moving to a 3-D format, and with television moving that way as well, I thought it time to mention some things out here in the real world that are two dimensional and could use the 3-D treatment.
Of course, the technology to apply the three dimensional effect to physical objects that are already technically in 3-D but with a 2-D appearance may be beyond the scope of current technology, but then I just think back to the Jaws 19 billboard in Back to the Future II and remember that if we can think it, it just might be possible. I am quite aware that this list is nothing more than fantasy, but fantasy leads to experiment which may lead to reality. I’m going to blissfully ignore GeekDad Dave Bank’s right on assessment that enough is enough when it comes to 3-D, and present a list of 10 everyday items that would be better in 3-D.
10. Classical Art. How awesome would it be to go into a Museum of Art and experience all the twisting post impressionist brush strokes of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in 3-D? Then you walk into the Dali room and freak the hell out.
9. Traffic Signs. This one is not just for the elderly, but for everyone. If the stop sign is projecting several feet in front of your windshield instead of off on the side of the road, maybe people would stop on the line and not halfway into the intersection.
8. Restaurant Menus. If one could see what one was ordering from a menu before ordering said item, that would be fantastic. Especially if the menu is in a foreign language, like with big fancy French words. For example, crème brulée. Just say “burnt cream” and show me a picture!
7. T-shirts. Yes, this is my cake of lies – IN YOUR FACE. This is my awesome Green Lantern T-shirt IN YOUR FACE. Feel the power! Yes, I actually own both those shirts.
6. Business Cards. My business card is pretty boring. Flat, two color design with my name and contact information. Imagine if it was in 3-D? Suddenly you would have a dynamic 2 x 4 inch piece of paper that may or may not have three dimensional Cylons on it. Just saying.
5. Assembly Instructions. Raise your hand if you’ve ever built a pre-packaged entertainment center or crib or anything. C’mon, I know most of us D.I.Y. as much as we can but there have been times when we’ve simply bought it in a box. Then became completely flabbergasted by the instructions. Especially when you can only see one angle of the item. Imagine if the instructions were in 3-D and you could see all angles? Who am I kidding? It would still inexplicably be a pain in the arse.
4. LEGO Instructions. Same deal. When was the last time you built a LEGO set and couldn’t tell where to place the block on the opposite side of the graphic? Presented in 3-D, problem solved. Of course, what geek follows the instructions in a LEGO set and doesn’t just dump them all in the bin?
3. Maps. Not the in-dash GPS or the Google Maps on your phone, but actual paper maps. You remember those right? Like the time you had to pull over at some dusty gas station somewhere outside of Baker, CA after accidentally turning north on state road 127 into Death Valley on the way to Vegas. That was a fun trip.
2. The Newspaper. You remember the newspaper right? That rolled up log of paper that someone used to toss on your driveway every morning? You would shuffle out in your robe, cup of coffee in hand and sit and read the ink on paper for the news. Well, the internet is killing the paper newspaper, perhaps a 3-D face lift is in order. Except for the business section. Stock quotes in 3-D don’t sound that exciting.
1. Comic Books. Do I even have to elaborate on this one? Wolverine jumping out of the page at you. Seeing the depth and height of Spider-Man as he swings between buildings. Seeing the blood splatter as Batman beats the crap out of some masked criminal. I’m not even going to mention what 3-D would do to Rob Leifeld’s drawings. Put an eye out maybe.
Got any other ideas? Think mine are ridiculous? Leave it in the comments!
A new iPhone app makes messing around on Foursquare a more-visual experience than ever before.
The app is called Kickball, and it more tightly incorporates maps into the Foursquare experience. It has many of the same features as the official Foursquare app, like check-ins, history, badges, tips and shouts, and the list view that shows all your friends’ statuses.
But Kickball (App Store link) ups the ante by letting you plot all of the current Foursquare activity within your network on a map. You can see where your friends are, zooming in and panning around to different neighborhoods. Also, at any time, you can pop up a map that shows you the 15 venues in the Foursquare system that are closest to your current location. Kickball uses Mixer Labs’ GeoAPI, which is now owned by Twitter, for location data.
This discovery feature is especially handy if you’re in a city or a neighborhood you don’t know that well. Even in a place I know all too well (the Wired office), I was able to see all the places within about 100 yards where I can go fight for mayorships. Oh, it’s ON.
While you’re browsing one of these maps, and you zoom in on a friend or on a venue, you get a button that says, “I’m here too,” making it easy to check in with one click. Equally as accessible within the app is the “Off the grid” choice. There’s also the ability to view details about a place, view relevant tweets and add photos (something else missing from Foursquare).
I’ve been using both Kickball and Foursquare’s official iPhone apps side by side for a couple of days, and the map experience in Kickball is far better than the map experience in Foursquare. The user interface in Kickball is also a little less chaotic than Foursquare. Both have their ups and downs, but if you’ve been wanting a stronger, more elegant integration of maps, Kickball is your answer.
Just a few days ago, Foursquare and Microsoft announced that Bing’s mapping service will begin to pull in Foursquare data, allowing a Bing user to be able to perform many of the same Kickball-style searches and discovery tasks on its maps site. But Kickball is more convenient, since you get what’s more relevant to you directly inside the app — and without the Silverlight.
There are big plans for the future, according to the development team, Portland, Oregon’s Gorlochs. Kickball will soon integrate Gowalla and Brightkite and make the Twitter integration tighter. But for now, it’s all about Foursquare, and it’s iPhone only.
The iPhone app is free and available now in the App Store. The “for a limited time” tag on the free price point is a hint that Kickball may be a paid app soon.
Kickball was released this week to coincide with the all-things-location Where 2.0 conference, which kicks off in San Jose, California, on Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
Sprint’s new HTC EVO 4G smartphone is being hailed as the new ruler of the Android empire. But has the crown really been passed?
The HTC EVO 4G, unveiled at the CTIA Wireless exhibition this week, sure has a feature-list fit for a king. The phone boasts a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with HDMI output, dual front- and back-facing cameras, and a superspeedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Oh yeah — and there’s that whole 4G thing, too.
Hang on, though: Wasn’t the Android throne just overtaken a couple months ago? Google’s Nexus One, after all, was widely seen as stealing the top spot from Motorola’s once-dominant Droid. (That’s speaking primarily from a specs perspective; the sales figures actually paint a different picture.)
So with the HTC EVO 4G almost in the wild, is the Nexus One doomed to become a has-been? Consider these comparisons and decide for yourself.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Display
It’s hard to miss all the gushing over the HTC EVO 4G’s display, and there’s a reason for the excitement: The phone has one sweet screen, and you don’t have to be an Android fanboy to see that. The EVO 4G’s 4.3-inch display beats the Nexus One’s 3.7-inch offering (which beat practically everything else back when it debuted). Both devices feature the same WVGA resolution: 800-by-480.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Data Network
Sprint’s biggest selling point with the HTC EVO 4G is all about those final two characters. A 4G data connection, according to Sprint, brings you download speeds as much as 10 times faster than what you’d get on a flimsy old 3G alternative.
But — and this is a big but (you’re welcome, Sir Mix-a-Lot) — you won’t be able to get those tasty 4G connections in much of the country. So far, Sprint’s 4G network is available only in 27 U.S. cities. The carrier has plans to expand to a handful of other major markets later this year, but that still leaves everyone else with that aforementioned flimsy old 3G.
Plus, the EVO 4G will be available only on Sprint — so if you’re in an area where network coverage is spotty, you’ll be out of luck. The Nexus One, on the other hand, will soon be available on all major carriers, giving you greater choice in the data-providing department.
Which phone wins this category, then, truly depends on where you are and how the carriers’ coverage compares for your specific area.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Hardware
The HTC EVO 4G is powered by the same chip as the Nexus — that snazzy-sounding 1GHz Snapdragon processor — so there’s a virtual tie in that department.
When it comes to cameras, the HTC EVO 4G is victorious: Its back has an 8-megapixel camera and its front features a 1.3-megapixel one. The Nexus One, in comparison, has a single 5-megapixel photo-snapper.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Body
The HTC EVO 4G is slightly larger than its Google-endorsed cousin (4.8-by-2.6-by-0.5 inches, compared to 4.69-by-2.35-by-0.45 inches). It’s about 1.4 ounces heavier, too.
A deal-breaker? Unless you’re Thumbelina, probably not.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The OS
Both the HTC EVO 4G and the Nexus One are running Android 2.1, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. Despite the matching versions, however, the user experience will be quite different on the two phones.
The reason is that the HTC EVO 4G runs HTC’s Sense user interface, while the Nexus One uses the stock Android interface. The Sense interface gives Android an entirely different look, with specialized home screen widgets and custom navigation tools. As far as which is better, it’s really just a matter of personal preference.
One area where the Nexus One’s setup will have a distinct advantage, though, is in future Android upgrades: Given the fact that the phone is running the stock Android interface, updating it to a new OS version will be a simple and likely delay-free process (the fact that the Nexus One is Google’s baby probably won’t hurt, either). Custom interfaces such as HTC’s Sense tend to take more time to update, as the manufacturer has to rebuild the interface around the revised platform.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Data Perks
Sprint is billing the HTC EVO 4G as a mobile hotspot, meaning you can connect up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices to the phone and use its data connection to get them on the Internet.
It’s not difficult to set up tethering on any Android phone (even if some carriers may discourage it). Still, this built-in multidevice functionality is certainly a perk worth considering.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Nexus One: The Final Judgment
Ultimately, the truth is that there’ll never be an end-all Android phone; it really comes down to what’s right for you. Given the nature of the platform’s open ecosystem, a new contender will always be right around the corner, and hyperbole-loving bloggers will always be chomping at the bit to label it the “killer” of everything else.
That, my friends, is the one thing you can count on.
Any Motorola Droid owners out there looking for a direction to which some frustration needs to be channeled? We present comments today from Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein, who had some things to say about Verizon and the Droid during Palm’s third-quarter earnings call this afternoon. Mainly, he says that the Pre’s a better product and that it could/should have been bigger than the Droid, it’s just that bad timing got in the way.
"We had an arrangement with Sprint that when we launched with Sprint that they would invest in marketing and carry the product and for that they would get an exclusive for a period of time. That really determined when we could do our launch at Verizon. I agree with your premise that if we could have launched at Verizon earlier, prior to Droid, that we would have gotten the attention that the Droid got and since I believe that we have a better product, I think we would have even done better."
We agree that being stuck on Sprint (a fine carrier in and of itself, but a limiting factor nonetheless) kept Palm’s products from gaining better market share. But the Pre’s better than the Droid? Them’s fighting words. And, so, let’s get it on! [via PreCentral]
Between BerryWeather, BerryBuzz and SmartAlerts the folks at BellShare have been turning out some of the best must-have utility apps for BlackBerry and their latest offering, BerryMail, looks to be another winner. BerryMail allows you to take control of your inbox by allowing rules to be defined which are then automatically applied to incoming emails. BerryMail features include:
Create incoming e-mail rules based on
Sender address
Message subject
Message body
E-mail account
Attachment presence
Automatically trigger one of the following actions
Delete message
Mark message as opened
Don’t flash LED (compatible with BerryBuzz 2.2 and later)
Set high priority message flag
Set low priority message flag
Create rules right from within your inbox by using an e-mail as the template
Create rules right from your address book
Backup/restore all rules to/from memory card
For those who lead lives ruled by the email they receive, this is definitely an app worth checking out. It sells for $3.95 but is currently available for only $2.95 until this Sunday via the CrackBerry App Store. A 7-day free trial is available. Give it a go and drop your feedback in the comments!
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When it comes to cameras, the HTC EVO 4G is victorious: Its back has an 8-megapixel camera and its front features a 1.3-megapixel one. The Nexus One, in comparison, has a single 5-megapixel photo-snapper.
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