Google's Rich Miner has identified one of the biggest problems facing mobile phone carriers, manufacturers, and developers: The hardware on the current generation of phones is not being fully used by all customers.
Miner, Google's group manager of mobile platforms, made the observation at the Future of Mobile panel at Emerging Technology '08. "Hardware on mobile phones has been outpacing the software capabilities," Miner declared, noting that 80% of mobile phones being sold today have cameras on them, yet the number of people who actually know how to use them or get the images off the phones is between 10 and 50%, depending on the model. "The capabilities on these devices are not being leveraged by people," Miner added. He pointed to small screens, bad UIs, and closed systems for leading to the current state of affairs.
The trend has huge implications for Google and its Android partners, including T-Mobile and HTC, whose G1 phone will be released to the public next month. However, Miner seemed confident that Android will prevail, thanks in large part to software improvements, the presence of a true Web browsing experience, and Google's open development platform. "These are factors which are helping to realize the mobile Internet, which has eluded us," he said.
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Comments
The Android can be a powerful part of the cloud computing framework of Google. Since it is open-source LINUX, it will have a super-ammount of apps soon. OGG/THEORA content for mobile will be a super-cool feature, and sites like OGGTV will have THEORA video streaming on mobile devices. The YouTube feature, will have a VLC, or other icon next to it, for a truly open-tv, mobile platform.
The Google Android will compete with the iPhone, with open-source apps. OGG multimedia support, will be built-in, and sites like OGGTV will provide OGG/THEORA mobile content. The hardware will improve with time, and have better processing and memory.
I can only imagine that the iPhone camera is used by well over 50% of users. I'd gather it's nearly 90-95%. That is why the iPhone is the game changer, and is the benchmark for the gPhone/Android.
There are several reasons why I won't / don't use such features
1) The camera quality is not that good (or didn't used to be)
2) Still no easy way to move photos / MP3's between phone and computer.
3) Every existing way to move content to / from phone requires $$$$ and the phone carrier
4) Managing calendar / database on the phone is a pain - can't connect to PC to do it there.
5) Additional features shorten battery life
6) Most phones have about 21 smallish keys - a severe hardware limitation. So is the tiny screen.
So many drawbacks....
Here's a solution
Provide a working USB port on the phone and an easy to use client application for the the PC / Mac, and you'll greatly improve the phones utility / use. For that matter, do away with the custom charger - charge the phone from USB. Allow the phone to be used as a modem (get rid of the USB / PC-card / Expansion card dong;e for network access).
Getting photos off of an iPhone works as it should... it's a folder that you can drag and drop the JPEGs from/to. On all other phones I've seen you must use some proprietary software (that sometimes costs extra) to transfer photos or music. My wife's Verizon phone requires the purchase of a $30 piece of software to put MP3s on it. I bought it for her, and she gave up using it after a couple of days because the interface was so bad. Hopefully Google and Apple can encourage other phone providers to improve the interface of their products.
There's plenty of market share for both. Android won't have any impact on iPhone market share whatsoever. Apple created a tidal wave from day 1 and it's increasing exponentially, not many company's can pull that off. Android will have market impact eventually but it'll take much better design that the HTC G1 phone has to offer. I was expecting much better. As far as realizing the true mobile internet experience or creating a device who's hardware is fully utilized, Apple's already done it. It's been done. Others should learn from what they've done and emulate it. I look forward to G2, I hope it does Android more justice.
Did anyone ever think that maybe the reason no-one uses the features is because they don't want to?
I'd rather have a phone that works when/where I want than one that mostly works but also has a camera, internet ability and can do the washing up.
The phrase 'jack of all trades but master of none' comes to mind
The iphone has the right start with the touch screen, and the controls you don't need being invisible. However all hardware suffers from feeping creaturitis -er- creeping featuritis.
The big breakthrough will be voice recognition at the level of being able to transcribe with some accuracy. We'll name our phones so they recognize that they have to pay attention.
"Sidney: Text message Election night party, my place, BYOB and muncies. Endtext. Send to Matt, Mike, John, Susan and Karen"
Review Today's todo list. {Sidney reads list }
Add Todo: Safeway.
{Add to today's list?}
Yes.
Add to shopping list
Beer, pretzles, chips, wine.
{Added. Read back additions or whole list, or none}
none
Go to sleep sidney.
One of the biggest thing that keeps me from using my phones features is my carrier.
They have specifically disabled software (perhaps hardware) on the phone they gave me and they charge outrageous rates to take advantage of some of the features.
For voice recognition that goes some way towards this look at Reqall and SpinVox
As long as we can't access wifi with our laptops/notebooks/netbooks using the phone's wifi (a wifi modem), then the phones are doomed.
The reason most phones have cameras is that they're a cheap hardware addition that encourages users to buy a monthly data plan, and the reason they're badly supported by USB cables is also to encourage users to buy a monthly data plan. The iPhone's a different market - those customers want to have web browsing, and expect the camera to be insanely great, so it's designed to do a better job.
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