The Beginning Of The Global Tablet and Smartphone Wars

It seems that there is trouble brewing on the tablet front. While I was reading the tech and business news, I felt that there was something familiar about the conflict. Upon further reflection, I realized that it was something that seemed almost like World War II.

I am referring to the events surrounding the decision of Hitler to move East and fight a war in 2 fronts. He ended up fighting the Russians and the Allies. Whatever the reasons, it was the beginning of the end. In the books that I read, the analysis was that it was overconfidence on the part of Hitler. He thought that he could overwhelm the Russians with ease, a mistake that would prove fatal for his regime.

Today, we have Apple fighting wars on at least 4 fronts. It is fighting a war on the mobile phone market in the market itself and in court. It is also doing the same thing on the tablet pc front, where they are fighting in the market and in court. It would appear that all sides are gearing up for a battle royale, which could mark the beginning of Apples unraveling.

Some independent industry analysts are thinking that this multi-theater battle smacks of desperate moves on Apples part to regain market share. This scenario is further supported by what seems to be a concerted move on the part of publicists to paint an extremely rosy picture of Apple Inc.

Nearly every day, there is some article extolling the invincibility and financial success which Apple is enjoying. This is actually a move that can backfire. Some analysts are pointing out that Apple is even more valuable than the US and some other large companies. This a scenario that might not sit well with the general public, particularly Apples clients, in the aftermath of the downgrading of USA by Standard and Poor.

Why?

Well, if a company is making too much money, and can spend millions on court cases across the globe, then some people might think that they are making too much money from their customers. Some customers, particularly those who are feeling the crunch, might take a very serious look at the value for money rating of their machines. On the other hand, it could be that the company is losing market share and it is a desperate move on the part of the publicists to make the company seem more viable and attractive.

There is also another factor which could fast become the straw that broke the camels back. Many consumers are beginning to wake up to the fact that ultimately, they will be the ones to bear the burden of all these lawsuits. It costs money to file a suit and it will cost money when you lose one.

These consumers are smart enough to know that this will end up coming from their pockets. It’s ironic that these should come at a time when the competition has shown decisively that quality products can be produced at prices that are less astronomical. Samsung for one, has made the smartphone and the tablet pc immensely affordable putting it within the reach of average Joe.

But this may not last long because as the litigation costs pile up, and these companies lose money due to the inability to sell their products, the prices of these devices will go up once more.

There are many ways to interpret all these events, but one thing is certain. HTC, Samsung and all the other companies involved are not taking this sitting down. The public has also begun to back some players and their choice does not begin with the letter “A”.

Banning the sale of the Galaxy 10.1 in Europe is clearly the opening salvo in this battle which will definitely change the landscape of technology. An massive upset is imminent and that would pave the way for a new, and hopefully a more sober market place where competition will benefit the consumer, which is the way it should be.

The Mobile Phone Patent Wars

I have been watching the flurry of patent related suits being bandied back and forth between major manufacturers. 
I'm sure most of you have heard about all these suits of Apple against Samsung, HTC and Google which were likewise reciprocated with countersuits by the manufacturers involved. Then there is the case of Kodak against Apple and RIM. 
In the midst of these patent wars, there are several thoughts that cross my mind. 
One is I wonder what the end result will be and how substantial would  be its effects. It is possible that one company will end up paying royalties to the other company. Should this be the case then the end user will be the ultimate loser, since it is almost a certainty that the additional cost will be passed on to them. While the foregoing scenario itself is quite an unpleasant and undesirable one, there is one another one that borders on the insidious, with sinister motives. 
I have noticed that some writers are having a heyday predicting the downfall of Android, HTC, Samsung or at least the very least a massive loss of revenue for them as a result of the suits filed by Apple. 
It is quite curious but wherever Apple is involved as a plaintiff, like clockwork, a study or article will crop up painting the equivalent of a doomsday scenario for the companies involved. Yet when Apple is the defendant, like in the case of Kodak, there are no articles that paint the same dismal scenario even though the case of Kodak could stop the importation of Iphones and Rim phones into the US. 
On the other hand again, articles are aplenty about how Android will lose gazillions of market share because it may have to pay $5 to $15 per phone should they lose the suit !?? 
I don't know where these figures came from, but it seems logical to assume that the inability to import your devices is tantamount to massive loss of revenue. But in this equation, a $15 fine spells a catastrophic market loss. Go figure. 
To my mind, it seems that someone is trying their very best to use unsavory methods to eat into a competitors market. Obviously someone is getting desperate and is now pulling out all stops to prevent what appears to be an impending if not current loss of market share. I would not be surprised if one of the players involved is incurring bigger losses than they are admitting. 
Then of course, one must also keep in mind that there is also the question of international politics since the current battle in this market is USA vs Taiwan vs Korea, at least in some areas. In the other area, its free vs paid....  the usual crusade of open source against the "for profit"giants. What is even more distressing is that the case of Kodak has been dragging on for quite a while, but the case of Apple has gone right to center stage, getting a lot of attention, from the agencies involved and the media... It's something with very serious implications.
On my part I believe that someone should at least try to level the field by putting all the facts on the table. So i am rising to that challenge. From this point onwards, I will write a sort of editorial type article for my blog as my contribution to fair and honest writing.

HTC Sensation OTA update

Two important updates about the HTC SENSATION


1. HTC confirmed via Facebook page, that the SENSATION will be included in the system update that will unlock the BOOTLOADERS! This upgrade is expected in September.

2. The OTA update to the SENSATION that was rolled out in Europe a few days ago, is now available in the Philippines. Nothing fancy, according to HTC, just some system performance improvements.The new version after the update is 1.35.707.1

Here is a link to the page about the upgrade:

http://phandroid.com/2011/07/06/european-htc-sensation-receives-its-first-ota-update/

And here is the XDA thread about the update

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1142417

My Vision Board Strikes Again

I am in gadget nirvana right now.

Just a few posts ago, I was facing the unpleasant task of choosing between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation.

As I write this, I have in front of me ....drum roll please...

The SGS2 AND the Sensation!

YES! My vision board worked again! The universe somehow collaborated and created circumstances that made the appearance of these two powerhouses nearly painless and close to instantaneous. Two weeks ago, I would never have dreamed that I would have these gadgets at my disposal and yet they are now here.

So for all intents and purposes, I am a happy camper for at 1 year (I hope) or at least 6 months.

Prior to their arrival, I found good homes for my K810, W850, Omnia 2, HD2 and a newly arrived Galaxy Ace. 5 people are so much happier with their new acquisitions and so am I. I am becoming a believer in the saying that the more you give, the more you get back. At least for as long as you are not giving in order to get...

 

Hence, I will be preparing a couple of posts so I can share with my readers  my first impressions about these two new arrivals which are arguable, the 2 best phones in the world today.

Sidetracked by the Samsung Galaxy 2 and HTC Sensation

SAMSUNG GALAXY S II

 



 

HTC SENSATION

 



 
Forgive me for the delay in posting the buyers guide. I was sidetracked this week by the announcement by two telecom companies about the Samsung Galaxy 2 and the HTC Sensation. I have been waiting for these two phones and now that they are here, I am faced with the unpleasant task of selecting one….for now ;)

A few details:

Globe Telecom announced that it was taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy 2. Thankfully, it is available to early birds at a much lower price point, the MySuperSurf 2499 or MySuperPlan 2499. The new MySuperSurf plan looks tailor made for my needs and the price point is fair.
Interested readers can view the Globe page here: 

http://site.globe.com.ph/galaxy_s2?sid=TgQs1MuxpRYAACgdhfYAAAGde


Smart Communications, not wanting to be left behind, also announced the availability of the HTC Sensation for pre-order. The details on the page are a bit skimpy but the price point is a bit higher than the Galaxy 2 which most reviewers consider to be the better machine, though by a small margin. 

The pre-order page states the availability of the HTC Sensation under the Unli Data Plan 3000 which is not as a good a deal as the Globe one. It might be a matter of suppliers because the Sony Xperia Arc is available from Smart under the consumable plan 2500 which should have been par for the HTC Sensation.

Anyway, readers who want to preorder the HTC Sensation OR the HTC Wildfire S can go here: http://smart.com.ph/htc1/


 It's great to see that the telecom companies are getting more into the high end units. However, the plans are starting to get too blown up in proportion and the plans hitting 2500 to 4000 pesos are a bit too much. In my experience, P999 seems to be the sweet spot and 1,500 and 2,500 are acceptable for plans like Sun Cellular's Elite Plans

http://suncellular.com.ph/post_plan_elite.php

Sun Cellular just has to rethink the pricing of the triple unlimited because they appear a bit overpriced as far as the landline service is concerned. The units also have to be rethought because the Sun Elite 2,500 offers the Galaxy Tab as a free phone, but when you consider that the Galaxy 2 is also available at the 2.500 price point from Globe then that is a nearly 10,000 peso difference staring them in the face...


Globe's MySuperSurf is "almost" a really great deal. If they include Super Duo in the deal, it could threaten the dominance of Sun as the value leader.


Competition is always good for the consumer and with the cellular wars starting to heat up again, it looks like the next few months will be good ones for the new phone buyers. 


So the buyers guide is coming next.

Advice For Upgraders From The School Of Hard Knocks : The Desire Z Experience

Being a go-getter is normally a good thing, but one must always keep the saying “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. This applies most specially to gadget junkies who are stumbling all over themselves to unwrap and power on their latest acquisition. In fact, being one of these junkies, I have nothing but the highest admiration for those people who are able to control themselves in order to painstakingly film the unpacking of their newest gadget. 

Such excitement tends accompany the upgrade of the software as well. Because of the internet, upgrading a device requires little more than clicking a link, installing software, downloading the updates and you have the newest software onboard.

The updates are always a good thing right?

Well for a lot of people, it is. But for many others, it can lead them to a harrowing experience like one that I just had. So here’s my story:

When my Desire Z was new, my first impulse was to update it and lucky for me, one was available right off. This is usually the case when you buy a new device because the equipment on the market is usually a few months old and there is likely to be some sort of update in the wings. 

So I updated my DZ and the problem was that it was not so much that there were niggling things in the phone that were bothering me. It's more of I tend to go over the tech sites and forums every day and of course I would be passing some Desire Z specific forums like this: 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431

So I would read about some problems which other people have encountered and even if it was not a problem I was likely to encounter, once I was able to re-create the problem is my machine, it left me hungry for an update to my own device.

So embarrassing as it may be to admit it, I would generally check for updates most of my devices at least three times a week and as usual, once it's released I would be one of the first to apply them to my devices.

http://www.htc.com/sea

The good news is that being able to do so gives me something to write about on this blog. Regular readers will notice that one of the things I usually make it a point to post here have to do with upgrades and updates which I just happened to run into. That's actually a half-truth because I go searching for those updates 

Anyway that was the good news.

The bad news is that if you have such a propensity to update like I do, it would be fine if your intention is to stay with the factory updates. Meaning if it's not an official HTC, Samsung or other manufacturers update then you're not applying it to your phone. However like for my original Desire, there have been conflicting reports about the upgrade to gingerbread and while I was able to update to Froyo already, I've spent the better part of several months waiting for Gingerbread to appear while watching Desire HD owners getting their upgrades. 

Moreover the statements of HTC about the Desire (the Bravo) have not been reassuring regarding the GB release. They are referring to the problem of low memory on the Desire which might lead to the abandoning of the update altogether. So this is what led me to upgrade my Desire to the Cyanogen mod rom which was an eye-opener and has given my Desire an new lease on life. 

However, while the original Desire already had some form of protection against the third party rom installations via the S-ON protection, it was a fairly easy thing to hack. The Desire Z was a totally different story because looking at the wiki on XDA, one would notice that the last two updates where what really sealed the fate for most Desire Z owners that time. 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431

There was one update around December which introduced several patches which provided a higher form of protection against third-party roms and exploits. But some bypass was created by the wizards at XDA, however the 2011 update was such that it made it extremely difficult to bypass the protection in order to root and S-OFF the phone. 

Consequently, anyone who would have taken the time to read the XDA forums about Desire Z would've seen this a warning about not updating to that particular OTA update and saved themselves from unnecessary woe. Of course given my excitement, I did not bother to wait for any feedback from the forum at all and proceeded to apply the update as soon as I saw the notification on the site and on my favorite mobile phone site:

http://www.gsmarena.com/

Little did I know that I was putting my DZ in what would be the equivalent of a maximum security prison. So it was updated to the 1.84 software and to make things worse, the CID on my device was one of those that could not be readily downgraded or S-OFFed.

At that point it looked like I was probably destined to stay with the stock HTC rom for the life my DZ. I was able to take such a fate lightly for the next couple of months but when I went to Cyanogen Mod CM7 and observed my HTC desire getting much better battery life than the Desire Z I began to feel this uncontrollable urge to change my rom. At this point my Desire Z was running 2.2.1 while my original Desire was running 2.3.3 so you can imagine how difficult it was for a compulsive upgrader like myself to be in such a situation.

So there that's when my three-day saga began where I had to alternate between working and researching for the solution to downgrade my Desire Z in order to get root,  after which I was going to upgrade to the latest rom which incorporated the 2.3.3 update.

I went through no less than six gold card creation and countless sessions using ADB trying to push different software to get temporary root in order to get my Desire Z to recognize a lower rom version as the upgrade version. 

However each attempt only ended up in my DZ ignoring the zip file on the SD card which was supposed to provide the update. No amount of tinkering with the files in the SD card could make it recognize the image file. At this point it was now keeping me up at night because I just don't understand why the downgrade wasn't working.

Finally I ran into this tool for Desire Z on the XDA forum which offered to downgrade, S-off, root and change to super CID all in one sweep. Basically all the things I wanted to do to my phone without having to go through ADB!! 

Moreover, the feedback about the tool was most promising but the only problem that confronted me was overwhelming. I must be able to downgrade my software before I could use the tool.

Here is the link to the AMT tool:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1097977

Somehow, in the middle of burning midnight oil, I was able to figure out a solution that utilized AMT and an original factory Asian ROM which I found on XDA too. These two provided the key for me to be able to downgrade my DZ easily.

The procedure went like this:

I used AMT to alter something on the DZ to make it believe that the current rom was a much lower one, a 1.08 to enable me to flash an upgrade which was actually a downgrade to the 1.40 something version. This was the one which would allow AMT to work its magic. So since it was my third day of tinkering with the DZ, I decided to go for broke and said to myself well if it's going to get bricked then so be it. Because I wasn't going to leave this thing hanging over my head much longer. So I fired up AMT, set it up and proceeded to upgrade/downgrade my rom. Thankfully and to my amazement, it was able to go through without a hitch.

It's hard to describe the elation that overcame me when this happened. Finally I was able to proceed and root my device, install an engineering H-boot and remove the S-ON, making it S off. In retrospect, it was an extremely lucky break for me that I was able to find that particular piece of software as well as the rom for the Asian version of my phone. 

The hard earned lesson here is to wait for feedback about updates before applying them to your device. Yes it's exciting to flash all the new updates that's true,  but undergoing 3 days of aggravation trying to look for a solution to undo my hasty upgrade that effectively locked in my phone is certainly not an enjoyable experience. 

So wait for the feedback from reputable forums like XDA and read before doing any updates to your machine. 

For my part, my purpose in this whole exercise was to be able to upgrade my phone which I was able to do. But I had to go through no less than four different roms. 

I ended up with Cyanogen mod 7.03 which is in an AOSP and the story about how I went from wanting to stay with a Sense enabled rom to dispensing with it altogether and going AOSP is one for another day. I'll be posting that story after I am able to put the continuation of my buyers guide to smart phones.

In the meantime gadget junkies, I know it's hard but try to wait it out for at least one week after update is released before flashing the machine. 

That way you will be able to get the feedback from early upgraders and not have to go through their difficulties.

HTC Desire Z LCD Problem Update

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I returned my Desire Z because of a very strange problem with the LCD. Well my friendly neighborhood phone shop had it replaced immediately and I have had my phone for over a week now.
Of course the very first thing I did at the phone shop was to inspect the screen closely. Actually the easiest way to check the screen is to first of all make sure that the display is off. Then take a powerful flashlight, like an LED flashlight and inspect the underlying membrane. The problem in my first phone resembled window film with bubbles under. When discussing it with the phone shop owner, we both agreed that it may have been due to an improper mating of screen layers. Anyway the good news is that the replacement unit had no such problems. However I do want to share that the underlying layer in the LCD screen had a sort of pattern on the surface as opposed to the screens of my other phones which were smooth is. The appearance is like how grainy high ISO black and white photos might look like but the important thing to me is that there are no blemishes and no visible dust particles under the screen.
This particular unit had the hinge which felt looser compared to the first one, but given the assurances of HTC that it was their intent in the first place to make the hinge relatively loose to facilitate opening and closing, I will put this matter on my "check in six months time" list.
So except for these issues, I am happy with my decision to get the Desire Z over my other choices. It is very convenient to have a hardware QWERTY keyboard to type out lengthy SMS replies and e-mails so I have absolutely no regrets. Let me say though that the observations about the Desire Z being a heavy phone are quite correct. It's even heavier than my HD2 which is a heavy phone to begin with.
Having said that, between my smart phones and my net book I am pretty much well-equipped to handle just about anything business related I might need to do technology wise, while I am on the road.