• Quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU
• 2GB of RAM
• 4.7″ Display
• Sealed battery which can’t be changed or replaced.
• 8GB  or 16 GB of internal storage (which won’t be expandable as no microSD slot)
• Price of US$ 399 (no contract or locked)

Do you envy when your Blackberry friends talk about BBM, short for Blackberry Messenger. Time to show them Whatsapp.

What is Whatsapp?

Its a cross platform instant messenger, think SMS/BBM.

It works on iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Nokia. Currently BBM is restricted to Blackberries only.

It offer messages, videos, photos, audios and more.

No cost of sending messages because it uses your data connection. You can use WiFi or 3G. A world of caution: if you have a limited data plan or on roaming, you may be paying for sending messages.

Sounds too good to be true? Now the fine print Its a paid app, on no! For iPhone its $.099 and for Android its free for first year after that its $2.

Its still worth it. Enjoy Whatsapp.

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HTC has launched the HTC Incredible S, which is an update over HTC Desire HD. Here are the improvements of HTC Incredible S over HTC Desire HD.

• Its lighter, 135g vs 165g
• Incredible S has 4″ display, while the HTC desire is 4.3″. Incredible S however has better quality Super LCD with the resolution remaining the same 480 x 800 pixels. Aparently HTC had LCD supplies Delays from Samsung and hence has switched to Super LCD from Sony.
• Incredible S ships with Android 2.2 just like the Desire HD, however is upgradeable to 2.4. No word yet on whether Desire HD will be upgradeable to 2.4 althought 2.3 is expected.
• Incredible S has secondary front facing camera for video conferencing.
• Has image stabilisation
• Touch sensitive control buttons

Both the phones have:

• 1 GHz Processor
• 8 Megapixel Camera
• HSDPA 14.4 Mbps

My two cents: If you already have the HTC Desire HD, then stay with it. If you were planning on buying the Desire HD, then this is for you. Battery life is nothing to write home about.

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I have been using an Android phone for more than month now. I used the original iPhone which I upgraded upto iPhone 3.0. I have used newer iPhones 3GS, 4 occasionally. Here is what I find better in the Android platform:

1. No Need for iTunes: Apple insists for syncing music, video and other things, you need iTunes. Which requires a PC/Notebook with Windows or Mac. This is a big limitation for me for two reasons. One, you need a computer, today cellphones are out-selling computers so why have the need for a computer. The second is I don’t use Windows or Mac, I use Linux. So every time I needed to add an MP3 into my iPhone, I had to re-boot into Windows.. newer version of Ubuntu, allow you to sync with iPhone without iTunes, which is nice but it still requires a PC.
   With Android, I can stick-in a memory card full of music and it will allow you to play it. You can also transfer from another phone/PC via Bluetooth.
2. No Apple Tax on data usage: In India Vodafone charges higher for data usage if you have an iPhone, essentially a part of the data revenue gets shared with Apple.  Do I get any benefit of paying the Apple Tax? No, so why should I ? Android phones data plans are the standard plans and they are cheaper.
3. Choice of Vendors: With Android, you have a choice of vendors to choose from. Android has the large number of vendors supporting it, while iOS is only available from Apple. Competition is always good for the customer.
4. Cheaper and pricing options: You can purchase an Android phone from Rs. 6800 ($150) up to Rs. 32,000 ($710), while the iPhone costs $800 in India.
5. Faster availability: iPhone 4 is still not available in India, while 3GS is priced very expensive. Android phones are hitting the markets faster pace.
6. No Vendor lockin: When you buy an iPhone you are locked into apple and also with the service provider due to contracts etc.. With Android you can choose to buy your own handset and take the plan of your choice without any contracts.
7. More Free Apps: Lots of free apps right from Wi-Fi hostspot to games are available. While many of these apps are charged on the iPhone.
8. Play you own ring tone! Apple doesn’t allow you to select any music from your collection as your ring tone, while Android has no such restrictions.
9. Expandable Memory: When you buy an Apple product, you better be sure how much memory you are going to need. You would either end up buying more than what you need or if you buy with less, you would always feel wish I had bought the model with higher memory. With Android, you have a choice of phones which has expandable memory slot. So if you every run out of memory in the phone, you can always add expandable memory.  This also works out cheaper.
10. OS upgrade make your phone faster. With iPhone, every time I would upgrade the OS, my phone would slow down.. it was tell me time to get the new  iPhone. With Android, upgrading to the newer version of the OS actually makes your phone faster. The upgrade on Android also doesn’t require iTunes or a PC, so can be done directly

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Motorola Atix the most powerful Android phone is now available for purchase.

US$599 without any contract and $129 with 2 year contact with AT&T.

Order Motorola Atrix on Amazon.

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Samsung has announced the I9100 Galaxy S II, here is whats new..

• 8 MP Camera
• 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen
• 16 or 32GB memory
• HSDPA 21 Mbps for high speed data downloads
• USB on the go, so you can connect other USB devices
• Full HD, with 1080p video recording
• Gyroscope sensor for gaming and other applications which require 3D orientation
• Dual Core 1GHZ processor
• Near Field Communications (NFC) support, which doesn’t have any application today but could be used in future for payments, etc.

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Samsung has discontinued Samsung I9000 Galaxy S and has replaced it with Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL, here is the difference:

• Sumer AMOLED display is replaced by Super Clear LCD. Resolution remains the same.
• Slight heavier 131 grams vs. 119 grams.
• Preloaded with Android 2.2, while Galaxy S has 2.1 but is upgradable to 2.2
• Has 16G storage, while the Galaxy S has 8 or 16.
• 1GHz Hummingbird (Samsung) processor is replaced by TI, speed remains the same.
• Battery has been bumped up from 1500mAh to 1650mAh, that answers the increase in weight.

Final Thoughts:

I don’t see much change in specification,  If you are using Galaxy S, you need not upgrade. If you are planning to buy a new one, you could get a good deal on Samsung Galaxy S. You can always add additional memory if you need and change the battery to 1650mAh.. since battery life was one big complain for Samsung Galaxy S users.

Samsung Galaxy S is available on Amazon for $539.

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Intel CEO Paul Otellini agrees with me

Otellini said Nokia’s Chief Executive Stephen Elop received “incredible offers — money” from Google and Microsoft to switch.

“I wouldn’t have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him,”

Otellini said Nokia would find it hard to differentiate using the Windows platform: “It would have been less hard on Android, on MeeGo he could have done it.”

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After the Motorola Atrix which runs both Android and a Linux based OS, ARM showcased a TI OMAP4 based phone that runs Ubuntu and Android.

Todays phones have become powerful enough to as a phone as well as provide basic PC functionality. This should get more PCs accessible to People, as more people today have mobile phones than PCs.

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Nokia has been losing marketshare in the last few years and has been trying a few things. In 2010 Q4, They lost the title of being the number 1 smartphone to Android. This was after having this lead for 10 years.

They tied up with Intel for Meego, which is Linux based OS for smart phones and tablets.  Now their first device is cancelled.

They also open sourced Symbian, now they are  shutting down the site and taking off all the code from the website. You can still get a copy before the site goes offline next month as the code is open source.

They have now tied up with Microsoft for Windows Mobile 7 based devices. Nokia is hoping to beat Android and Apple with this strategy.

They recently released Nokia N8, which has the best specifications for its price but had poor software Symbian.

Here is some food for thought.

Intel’s Moblin project and Nokia’s Maemo were both great initiatives but struggling to get a popular device with the end user. So they decided to merge the project. Does merging two failing projects result in a successful one?

They also hired Stephen Elop  in September 2010 as the CEO who came from Microsoft. He decided to tie up with Microsoft for Windows Mobile 7. Windows Mobile is another struggling project. What would you expect, if he is expected to show results quickly and has exposure to Microsoft due to his past?

While its a good move for Microsoft as a leading mobile company has adopted their stuggling platform, Nokia is taking a beating. Nokia’s lost $5 Billion in market capitalisation since the announcement.

Microsoft has a history of forging partnerships where they benefit the most at the cost of their partner. They have very good lawyers, you see This alliance will surely benefit Microsof, the feedback given by various engineers at Nokia will help them improve their products.

Stephen Elop also owns US$ 6.79 Million worth of Microsoft stocks.. go figure!

While Nokia is hoping to compete with Google with this, they don’t realise that Android is not only Google. Its driven by the Open Handset Alliance which is lead by Google and over 80 companies are members. This include software developers, telcos, semiconductor companies and phone manufacturers such as ARM, TC, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung, LG, T-Mobile, Nvidia, Sharp, Toshiba, NEC  and Wind River Systems.

Instead of competing with these companies, they could have simply joined Open Handset Alliance. I would have purchased the N8 only it ran Android. It still has the best specs in the market but runs Symbian which is a crawl as compared to Android.

With Nokia’s Microsoft announcement, Intel’s Meego team is going to be single this valentine as their partner has found someone else.

Nokia is not relevant any more. Nokia for Me is NoGo.

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As per last quarter reports published by Gartner, Android is now number two Mobile operating system with 25.5 percent market share. While Symbian is loosing market share, it still retails the number 1 slot due to Nokia.

Android market-share jumped from 3.5 percent to 25.5 percent vs the same quarter last year. Android 2.3 is just round the corner, expect it to fuel more growth for Android phones.

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