Merry Xmas & Happy New Year

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Steve Jobs - 1955 - 2011 | (C)2011 Jonathan Mak

Sad – but not unexpected – news when I woke up this morning: Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56. A month after leaving Apple permanently, one day after the iPhone 4S was announced and just a few weeks before his (authorized) autobiography will come out.

Regardless what you think you know about the man: he changed the industry and the world. Yes, I can say that without sounding dramatic. Just take a look around next time you commute from home to work. How many Apple products do you see around you?

How many brands you know that have such passionate followers? How many brands you know that inspire their customers to literally get in a queue at 4am in the morning, 2 days before a new product becomes available?

Sure; not everything the man did turned into gold or was original. But such is the human condition: everyone makes mistakes. However, Jobs execution of his vision and ideas inspired many people on many different levels.

All I have to say is: watch this video in which Jobs reflects on his own life and the lessons he learned:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.”

Think Different (1997)
Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

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9/11, 10 years later

It is kind off surreal to me, that 9/11 is already 10 years ago! It was a Tuesday afternoon for me (6 hours of time difference with New York) and I was at my work at my former employer; Internet company Lost Boys (Business Solutions). Around 15:10, which was about 20 minutes after the first plane hit the North tower of the WTC, the news trickled in at my work.

The initial reports where that a “small airplane” had hit the WTC. My first thought was, “wow, that’s a freak accident.” I also thought about the fact that in 1945 a B-25 bomber hit the Empire State  Building.

In 1996 I had first visited New York with two buddies of mine. We all went to see the WTC and went all the way to the top to enjoy the view from the roof. We also peaked inside “The Windows on the World restaurant” on the North tower. I was very much impressed with the view and the building. I thought it was a modern marvel. At one of the vending machines I flattened a penny and imprinted it with the outline of the Twin Towers.

Five years later, when I revisited NYC in may 2001 with my girlfriend Carrie and her son Zach, we only visited the Empire State Building, which was just around the corner from our hotel.  I told my girlfriend that the view from Empire State was a lot cooler, because you can see more of Manhattan. In that sense I didn’t think it was worth paying for the WTC as well.

Instead, we just walked around the area of the WTC and gazed up those two gigantic towers that we also admired from the water some days before when we took the famous tour around Manhattan in one of those tour boats; something I always recommend to do whenever I hear someone is going to visit the Big Apple for the first time.

I was thinking about this while going on with my business as usual, when some minutes later the news of a second plane hitting the South tower of the WTC came in (in reality the second plane had hit at 9:03am (or 15:03 CET) already: the news just was delayed). Also the reports changed to both planes being commercial aircraft’s.

Everyone hearing that news at my work was in shock because we all knew immediately that it was a terrorist attack. No doubt about it.

News was very sketchy at first: according to some sources there where more hijacked planes in the air and the US air-force was en-route to shoot them out of the sky.

As we didn’t have any TV’s at my work (we had moved to a new building just recently) we where depending on news that trickled in through the radio and Internet websites (as I worked at an internet company).

Within minutes however, it seemed like the Internet halted worldwide. There was so much data traffic (remember: it was 2001) that newspaper web-servers all over the world buckled under the sheer traffic. In Holland hardly any website could be reached.

Then, around 4pm we got the news that the Pentagon was hit as well. When I heard that news my first thought was “Wow, this is like a modern Pearl Harbour“.

I remember calling my girlfriend at her work and asking her if she was watching the news as well. Which was the case off course.

In fact, as she works and lives in Tallahassee, capital of Florida, there was quite a scare there as well: rumor had it that governor Jeb Bush (brother of president Bush) was a target as well and since the Governor’s mansion was just blocks away from her work, people were very anxious as well.

Off course the rest of the day we didn’t get any work done, as we where trying to get more news of what happened. Off course the CNN website was down and so where other news sources.

It wasn’t until around 6pm that day that I went to a friend’s home to watch the news with him and seeing – for the first time that day – what had happened on TV.

It dawned upon me that we were witness to a history – or better world – changing event. I knew for sure that the world would not be the same after 9/11 2001.

And now, 10 years later that notion has become truth. After 9/11 the world has changed in many respects.

And it’s not for the better if you ask me. But that’s another story.

Ps: to see some of the newspaper headlines of 9/11/2001 see this link.

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1. Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) – “Think Different”

Google Ads

Ok guys & girls. This post is a full-blown rant aimed against Google and the annoying way they do their offline advertising!

Why is it that I can’t open up *any* magazine here in Holland without this annoying piece of paper falling out of it?

WTF! It’s 2011 and Google uses PAPER to spam us!

I am talking about the 50 Euro credit advertising for Google Ads. Literally for months and months now I am getting annoyed with this!

It is just as bad as back in the 90′s when both CompuServe ad AOL where spamming us to death by including a freaking CD with their software in just about *every* magazine you could think of!

I have seen photos of people having those CD’s literally stacked up to the wall! It was the biggest waste ever!

Come on Google ! It’s a huge waste of trees and energy to print and distribute the tons of paper! Not to mention it all goes to waste after you throw away the paper! You can’t recycle fast enough to make up for it!

I can’t believe that “do no evil” Google keeps doing this knowing that its bad for the environment as well.

Anyway: Google has turned into a huge spammer, just like CompuServe and AOL back in the late 80′s and 90′s!

So, I am going to start the official “STOP the GOOGLE PAPER SPAM” action.

If you, just like me are annoyed with Google wasting paper just send your 50 Euro check back to them and let them stack that shit up to the ceiling!

Google Nederland
Claude Debussylaan 34
Vinoly Mahler 4
Toren B, 15th Floor
Amsterdam, Netherlands
1082 MD, Netherlands
Telefoon: +31 (0)20-5045-100
Fax: +31 (0)20-524-8150

Let’s show Google what we think of their annoying spam! STOP IT NOW!

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Jobs Unveils the iPad 2

Three months after a very sick looking Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, I jumped on the tablet bandwagon as well. Yes, I now own an iPad 2. To be exact the white 16GB 3G version (I wanted GPS and for that you need the 3G version).

So far I can say that it is by far the best gadget I ever bought. It fills the gap between laptop and smartphone in a way I never dreamed of.

Last year I bought an Android powered smartphone (the Samsung Galaxy S) and I love it. It basically can do anything the iPad can do (actually even more as it does handle Adobe Flash and you can expand the memory with Micro SD cards), but it lacks the simplicity of the iOS interface and the big screen.

But lets take step back in my journey to get a perfect portable piece of hardware like the iPad 2.

Some years ago I bought an Asus Eee PC 900; a so-called ‘netbook’. It attempted to fill the gap between regular laptops and ultra-portable laptops that were just to expensive for regular folks.

I was looking for a small, lightweight and portable computer that I could take with me on my travels to stay in touch with the home front via email and Skype. Lugging around a big laptop wasn’t exactly my thing.

So when Asus came out with their first netbook in 2007, I was excited. However looking at  the original Asus netbook, the Eee PC 701, I was not impressed with the specs. Especially the screen seemed not very handy with just a 800×480 resolution. The 900 series had a 8,9″ 1024×600 screen which seemed a lot more useful to me.

But I ended up using that Asus Eee PC900 a lot less than I anticipated. Even though it’s handy and not big at all, the major drawbacks were: battery life (3,5 hrs) and start-up time (a few minutes even with an optimized Windows XP version). In effect I hardly took it with me on holidays and such.

I had a few Windows smartphones for a while (see my article “Mobile Me”) but the big change came when I got my Samsung Galaxy S. That was a big improvement already.

But still not good enough.

So when the first model iPad came out in 2010, I was very exited. Even more after playing with one. But I also learned you should never buy a first generation Apple product. You pay too much and within a year they usually upgrade the device and you’re left with a feeling you’ve got screwed just because you wanted to be “hip”.

So the iPad 2 was more suited for me: a 2nd generation Apple product with better performance for the same price.

What I like most about the iPad 2 is it’s performance (both in battery life as in ‘snappiness’ and graphical performance), ease of use (no start-up time, it just works), versatility (e-reader, web, games etc..)  and most important: portability. There is no excuse not carrying it around.

I also find myself sitting a lot less behind my PC. I have my iPad within reach and it fills 90% of my needs: e-mail, browsing, YouTube, casual games etc.. In other words: it fills the gap between smartphone and PC just flawlessly.

Now, it would be a lie to say I find iOS perfect. But there is hope.

iOS 5

In comparison with Android iOS lacks features and control in the field of personalisation. Why Apple hasn’t got widgets yet is beyond me. Widgets drive my user experience on Android. Want to know the current weather? On iOS you need to slide to unlock, start an app. With Android you just slide to unlock and look at the widget. Twitter or facebook status? Latest news headline? Same thing. I just check my widget.

Heck: I can have info at a glance on my Android lock-screen as well!

Widgets just save time and put you in the drivers seat. I wonder when Apple will catch on with that.

Notifications on Android are way more nice than on iOS 4. Something Apple has recognized and in iOS 5 they are overhauling notifications and are – no surprise – going towards the Android approach but less consistent (on the lock screen swiping a message will open it’s app, swiping it in notification window will erase it?).

And there are more nice features in iOS5. I am currently running iOS 5 beta and am pleased with what is in store. Notifications is just one. I like the split keyboard a lot already: it is made for using your iPad in portrait mode. Tabbed browsing in Safari is great. Multitasking gestures are cool too. iMessage will be a pain in the ass for telco’s (here in Holland  I wouldn’t be suprised if they block it).

Reminders? Mixed feelings because I use Google calendar for that. Or else you should check out Wunderlist.

Off course the big change is iCloud: it will sync a lot of data between your Apple devices. That is: if you have more than one Apple device. Otherwise it’s only good for backups.

Using Google apps and Gmail with Google calendar already gives me sort of an iCloud. And using the sync option in Chrome keeps my bookmarks, setting and even my extensions synced between all my PC’s. Coupled with a free Dropbox or Wuala account you’re set. For free.

Maybe I missed something, but I don’t think iCloud syncs my bookmarks between devices (at least its not an iCloud  feature mentioned by Apple).

So far I have run into a bunch of annoying bugs with iOS 5 already (heck: it’s a beta), so I probably will downgrade to 4.3.3 again this weekend (also because it seems a jailbreak for the iPad 2 is imminent), but all in all it looks great.

Bottomline: even with all the things I do not like about the iPad, it’s still king in tablet country. And in in my home.

Next year I probably will also get an iPhone (5?)…

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Newspapers "celebrate" Osama Bin Laden's death

When US president Barack Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden (OBL) on national television, he claimed “justice has been done”. The question is of course: who’s justice? Certainly not justice by international standards. If you look at the way things unfolded, there are many questions one can raise with his course of action.

In fact: in this case the “justice” that was served was nothing else but revenge. Revenge for 9/11 2001 and the ghost chase the US government was on since 9/11.

Don’t get me wrong: I totally understand revenge and I don’t shed a tear about OBL’s death, but governments need to be above revenge.

We do not know all the circumstances yet: it may not have been possible to take Osama alive. But the few details we do know only raise more questions.

Then there are the many legal implications. According to statements van the US, Osama was killed (executed one might say) even though he was unarmed and not resisting. Still he was shot? The SEAL team that was involved in the action was able to wound a woman in the leg that came between them and Osama, but they were not able to capture an unarmed Osama?

Not to mention that the whole operation took place on Pakistani soil and the Pakistani government wasn’t informed by the US in any way until the operation was under way. People say that since Pakistan hasn’t protested against this, it’s ok. But reality is off course that they probably are too embarrassed by the fact that public enemy number 1 was living right under their noses.

The bottom-line is that no one should be outside the protection of the law. After the end of the second world war even the biggest Nazi war criminals like Adolf Eichman and Hermann Göring got a fair trial. Even Saddam Hussein got his trial.

The fact Obama has decided not to disclose any (photo) material proving Obama’s dead, is grounds for widespread speculation and feeds conspiracy theories. Even though some Al-Qaeda “officials” have said that OBL is dead as well.

Off course we can’t forget that Osama bin Laden took full credit for and supported terrorist attacks around the world inspired others to commit such acts, but again: if we look at what happened to (war) criminals in the past, we can’t condone a government sanctioned execution can we?

Think of the implications. No one should be above the law.

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T-Mobile #Fail

So in February this year I decided to get myself a new phone with my T-Mobile subscription. Since an iPhone 4 was way too expensive, I decided to get a high-end Android phone. The idea is that I give either that phone or my Samsung Galaxy S, to my girlfriend in the US as a birthday present. After some careful considerations I decided to get the HTC Desire HD as it packs almost the same specs as my Samsung.

Now, one would think that the easiest way to order a phone would be online: after all it is 2011, right? Well, as it turned out getting my new phone was kind of an ordeal.

Actually “ordeal” is a gross understatement: it was the most frustrating customer experience I have had in years and a total #fail on the part of T-Mobile: and a week long ordeal.

It is amazing how a company can totally screw up even though you only have to deal with them once a year – or in my case: after two years. what an epic fail!

Here’s what happened.

Sunday

It is Sunday night Feb. 20th when I go to the T-Mobile website, and use their online configurator to get my new subscription and the HTC Desire HD phone. After filling out all the required information I get a confirmation email telling me that I will receive more info within 24hrs about the delivery of the phone and my payment options for it.

Monday

I receive an email around 9am confirming my new subscription and  a link to the online payment system. I fill out the required form and options: the phone should be delivered to my work and I decide I want to pay for it with my credit card since I get bonus miles and free insurance with it.

I fill out  my credit card information including my security code and press submit. The website gives me some vague error code  and I get stuck in the payment screen.

So, I call the T-Mobile helpdesk and explain my problem. The lady on the phone is very helpful. After she looks at my order and it shows cancelled (for whatever reason) she says that she will do everything by phone so I don’t have to bother doing it all over again online. Good: whatever helps me out right?

So she looks at my (cancelled) online order and repeats all the options to me I had previously filled out online. I even get good news:  the phone should have a delivery time of a bout two days – oh joy!

At the end of the call she says I will receive a confirmation of my order soon. At that point I am happy that it all went through and I assume  she means I will  receive an email. Since we did my order by phone, I will  have to pay on delivery instead of online. So I ask her if it is possible to pay with my credit card. After being put on hold for 15 minutes she tells me this is possible.

So far so good – or so I thought.

Wednesday

Wednesday arrives and I still haven’t  received any email confirmation for my order. I decide to call T-Mobile (again) to find out how and what.

After being put on hold for about 30 minutes they re-assure me the order is in the system and I will  receive a confirmation soon.

“Delivery time should be  a week and a half, or so” the lady on the phone tells me – to my suprise.

“What? I thought it was about 2 days?” The lady apologizes and says she looked at the wrong phone, and yes: “it should be about 2 days”.

I also have her confirm to me that I can pay on delivery using my credit card. After being put on hold again for about 10 minutes she confirms that that will not be a problem.

So I feel reassured and  I figure I just need to give it a day or so.

EPIC fail!

Friday: the #FAIL continues

Thursday passes by without any news.

I get home Friday after work, and find a letter in the mail. Snail-mail that is.

It confirms my order, except there are numerous errors on it.

First of all, the delivery address for the phone suddenly is my home address and not my work address.

Second; the amount for my internet access suddenly is 9,95 a month instead of 6,95.

Last but not least the letter states I can pay cash or using my debit card (using my pin-code), not a word about paying with credit card.

In other words: they got everything wrong.

For a third time I call the T-Mobile service desk. By then its 19:50 Friday night.

After explaining everything a third time, and being put on hold several times as they figure out what is going on. The guy tells me he corrected the wrong information for my order.

I ask what my payment options are: can I pay with my credit card on delivery.

Again they put me on hold.

They tell me I can’t  pay with my credit card. Even though I was told twice it was possible?

After some apologies he cancels my order – again – and arranges for me to try and order online – again –  so I can use my credit card to pay for it.

The alternative he adds, would be to go to a T-Mobile shop and order everything there.

However, I know that is something you want to avoid at all costs:  the shops are always overcrowded and it takes hours and hours to get some help.

Literally within minutes I can access the T-Mobile website so I can try and order yet again.

But low and behold: I get to the payment page and for whatever reason it’s only showing a Mastercard logo instead of VISA.

So I immediately call T-Mobile and I while I am on the phone with them I walk through the options with the lady from the helpdesk.

We try some things and yet again I get stuck in the same payment loop where it just redirects me back to the payment page over and over again.

Great!

As it is after 8pm by now and the lady from T-Mobile can only cancel my order.

And I get the – dreaded – advice to visit a T-Mobile store. “They surely will be able to help you there”.

Oh well, I guess there is no way to get around that, so I accept my faith.

Saturday

Saturday morning comes and I get up early to visit the T-Mobile store, hopefully to beat the crowd.

As expected  the store is full, crowded with people and busy as hell. In fact I need to get a number and get in a long line to be “helped”.

After a long annoying 50 minute wait it’s finally my turn.

I head up to the desk and explain to the guy what I want to do (get my subscription renewed and a new phone).

T-Mobile guy: “So you want the HTC Desire HD? Uhm, let me look if I have any left.”

After 30 seconds he emerges again from the back room:

T-Mobile guy: “Sorry we don’t have any in stock right now. I think it will be in within the next 1,5 week or so.”

Me: “Ok, that sucks, but I guess I can get the paperwork out of the way and just pay everything and then pick it up later, right?”

T-Mobile guy: “Uhmm, no I’m sorry we can only do everything at once when the phone is here as well.”

Me: “Ok, again: that sucks, but can you guys give me a call then when the phone comes in so I know when I can drop by?”

T-Mobile guy: “Uhm, no I am sorry we can’t”.

Me: “Ok, I’ll  call you guys then to find out when it is in, what’s the number for the store?”

T-Mobile guy: “Sorry we can’t give out our number: we would get calls all day long.”

Me: “Well, I understand that, but what are my options then? Just randomly walk in here and hopefully get lucky?”

T-Mobile guy: “Well, uhm, yeah”.

Me: “WTF dude! So you have me  waiting here for an hour to get no help whatsoever, and now I just get send home without any help or solution?”

My first instinct is to punch the guy in the face and let out my frustration like that. But off course I don’t as I understand he is only telling me what T-Mobile can do in this situation.

After this surreal conversation and total waste of time – I walk out of the T-Mobile store vowing I will get another provider instead of T-Mobile.

Media Markt p0wns!

Mijn Winkel

Still disappointed and frustrated I walk into the Media Markt a huge electronics store comparable to the Best Buy chain of stores in US. They have everything you want when it comes to electronics. And I do mean everything!

I walk by their telecommunications department: to add insult to injury I see the HTC phones are literally stacked up to the walls.

Including the HTC desire HD I want.

So I start playing around with the HTC Desire HD that’s on display there, still mad about the total #T-fail.

A sales guy approaches me and asks if he can help me.

I tell him “I doubt it” and after he asks me “why” I explain to him what happened this last past week and how utterly disappointed I am with T-Mobile.

To my surprise the guy tells me that they can also renew subscriptions for T-Mobile and can  give me the same deal – with a phone.

Literally 15 minutes (!) later I walk out the Media Markt with my subscription renewed and a brand new HTC Desire HD in the bag.

In other words: they accomplished something that T-Mobile themselves could not do even though they had a week.

Talk about an epic fail!

T-Mobile responds

After all this crap, I post my story on the T-Mobile forum. A T-Mobile rep gets in contact with me. After some emailing back and forth, he comes up with an apology for my bad customer experience and tells me they will compensate by giving me my internet access for free till June 2011 and then for 3 months free after that.

In other words: I get compensated for some 21 Euros for my all frustration.

Well: thank you T-Mobile. Thank you for the worst customer experience ever and the lousiest compensation for that.

Next year I am going to stop using your crappy service and I will go with another provider.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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HTC Desire HD

After considering my options for a long time, I finally decided what I am going to get in terms of a new phone. Knowing that a new iPhone is probably around the corner and knowing that there are many new Android phones coming out right now as well, it had to be a compromise of some sort.

So I opted for a one year contract instead of two year contract (T-Mobile Flex +Internet) and ordered myself a HTC Desire HD. Yup: I opted for Android – again. Biggest reason for me to do so: it’s a whole lot cheaper than an iPhone 4 (about 40%) and this way I don’t end up with a first generation iPhone 4.

Yes, that’s right: I still want an iPhone, but I’m not going to get one until 2012. I figured: if I wait a little longer I can get a 2nd generation iPhone 4 (or maybe they will call it iPhone 5). And – maybe – by that time I will be able to buy a white one!

Anyway, the Desire HD isn’t exactly a slug compared with an iPhone 4 – or my Samsung Galaxy S (SGS) for that matter. It has a nice 1ghz processor (as does my SGS) and has the same 480×800 WVGA resolution. It does not have a Super-AMOLED screen as my SGS, but having compared it up and close with my SGS I’m sure it will do just fine as it is 4.3″ versus 4″ for my SGS.

One thing I think I will enjoy about this phone, is the HTC Sense interface that adds many cool feature to the Android experience. Also, the build quality seems to be ok, as it has a sort of unibody design (although I have read about some build quality issues as well).

On the down side: the battery life seems rather horrible (which I why I got an extended battery for my SGS) and the build in memory is only 1,5GB (my SGS has 16gb) so you will need a MicroSD card for sure! But since I travel by car and am in the office most of the time I have some juice readily available and charging it should not be a problem.

Anyway: I might give this phone (or my SGS – depending on which one I like better) to my girlfriend when I visit her later this year; that way we both can enjoy being online & mobile.

In short: I hope to receive my HTC soon (hopefully later this week?).

In the meantime I can watch these cool videos on my – soon to be – new Android Phone.

Official HTC Desire HD Video

Phone Arena review

Related Links:

• HTC Desire Dutch website http://www.htcdesire-hd.com/

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iPhone 4 vs Android

Ok, I admit: this falls into the “luxury problem” category. But it is a problem nonetheless: in about a week I need to take a decision on renewing my current T-Mobile mobile phone subscription. This means I can choose a new phone as well. I am still torn between getting an iPhone 4 or another Android phone.

Which is it going to be? Well, I am leaning towards Android at the moment.

If you have been following my blog, you know I have been really interested in getting an Apple iPhone 4 ever since it got launched in June 2010. However, by the time it became available, there where loads of caveats surrounding this wonderful device. In fact: I wanted the white iPhone 4. And I kind of hoped for it to be available around November/December (as I can renew my subscription 4 months before it ends). But we all know that the albino iPhone still isn’t out there. Rumor has it that the new release date is March 2011, but who knows?

So in October 2010 I decided I wanted an Internet enable phone and set out to buy an Android phone. To be exact: a Samsung Galaxy S. I was able to get one  pretty cheap (Euro 350 for a brand new 16gb model) and I have been using it ever since and haven’t regretted it for a moment.

But I still am very much drawn to the iPhone 4. In terms of build quality, look and feel and design it still is top of the bill – to me. I have had multiple chances to play with it extensively (not just 5 minutes) and it feels just great to hold one in your hands. The retina display is superb (although my Super Amoled is not bad either) and iOS 4 is very nice and smooth.

Apple rocks when it comes down to their user experience (emphasis on “their”).

But there are things about the iPhone 4 I don’t like as well.

First of all – as with all Apple products – you pay a premium price for all the design:  a 16gb iPhone is still 30-35% more expensive than comparable non iPhones.

Second: I hate iTunes. I am both using Apple (MacBook Pro) and PC (Dell XPS 420 desktop) and on a PC iTunes just sucks balls. It is a huge memory hog and slow as s***.

Also the vendor lock in with Apple is annoying. Sure you can jailbreak it, but that is mostly useful for obtaining illegal Apps.

Another annoying thing: you can not expand the memory of an iPhone. Android does not have that problem: my Galaxy now has 32gb of storage: 16gb internal and 16gb on MicroSD. Most Android phones support MicroSD.

When I connect my Samsung to my PC (or Mac for  that matter) I can just mount the internal and external storage as USB storage. That way I can store anything on there I want. MP3′s can go on there without any problems. Divx video’s, you name it.

As far as web experience goes: I can watch anything online that uses flash without a problem – if I want: I can turn flash on or off: Apple just flat-out denies me that choice.

Android has given me a very good experience so far. I rooted my Galaxy S (the equivalent to jailbreak) and that opened up a new world to me.

One of the biggest pro’s of the Android platform to me is the amount of customization you can do as a user.

For instance: I am currently running a custom ROM that is geared towards performance. I.e. it has a completely overhauled kernel that benchmarks my Galaxy at twice the speed of a out-of-the-box Galaxy. To my knowledge you can’t do that with iOS. Or at least I haven’t seen anything like a custom ROM out there.

Where Apple tries to give everyone exactly the same experience on exactly the same hardware, Android pretty much leaves that up to the manufacturers and end-users. Choice = good.

Widgets, notifications, wallpapers and the kitchen sink

Something I have grown quite attached too, are the different “homescreens”  Android offers. You can fully customize these screens with widgets. These widgets are essentially apps that show their data without you having to start it up full screen – as you always need to do with iOS.

On iPhone your homescreen is basically just the application overview. If I want to see what is going on with your Twitter stream you need to start the app. Not very interactive.

The big downside to having all those widgets on Android is, off course: battery life. But the good thing is: you are in control on Android. You can set updates the way you want them and can choose how many widgets/homescreens you want to use.

This brings me to another hit on iOS: the notifications. On Android notifications are very nicely done and you can decide yourself how obtrusive they are. The current notification system on iOS 4 doesn’t just notify; it completely stops all other interaction and whatever train of thought you had; it’s rather in your face.

On Android you choose how you like to be notified. The top bar is perfect for that: you can pull it down and see what application needs you attention.

Apart from that you can fully customize the look and feel of Android. One manufacturer has his down to a ‘T’: HTC. With their Sense interface you can switch easily between a business look and feel  or a social look and feel or a pre-set “travel” theme. Not to mention you can get different themes/color schemes that go with that.

And then there are the interactive, “live”, wallpapers.

My wallpaper for instance can show the (live) weather conditions – all animated- based on my GPS location. On the iPhone you can only get that – sort off – if you jailbroken it. And they are (mostly) not really interactive at all: it just shows a looping video (big deal?).

Out of the box my Android powered Galaxy allows you to kill all apps with one push of a button: it comes with a build-in taskmanager. Out of the box on your iPhone you need to close all apps by hand: the build-in taskmanager is laughable! You don’t even see what services are running the background! Sure: Apple will say they leave that up to developers (or again: jailbreak your iPhone and get something like Multifl0w)

Also I feel that development for Android is going way faster than with iOS. Android Honeycomb looks like a really mature interface that is also very much geared towards Tablets. Most new Android phones now already support Near Field Communication (NFC) which gives your phone many new exiting possibilities.

Also: as off Android 2.2(.1) “Froyo” most Android phones support Over The Air (OTA) updates of the OS. With Apple you need to hook up with iTunes for that!

Freedom baby, yeah!

All in all I don’t think I am the average iPhone user Apple has in mind: I think I like my individuality too much and as such I like to be able to be more in control of my own user experience and not the one Apple forces onto me (and million others).

I always want to experience different things when it comes to IT. I use Windows 7, Apple OS X and have a Ubuntu Linux webserver and workstation.

There good things about Windows 7 and bad things. Same goes for OS X and Ubuntu. But in order to find out, you need to use all of them.

So the bottom-line is: maybe I need to get an iPhone 4 and just use it for a year to see if all the above things I don’t like, really matter to me in practice?

Hmmm. That is food for thought for me for the next week. Time to make up my mind.

Android event: Honeycomb

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Now, in Holland we have a rather funny way of dealing with copyrights and the legalities of pirated movies/music.

Dutch law says that downloading a pirated movie/music (even though you now you didn’t buy it) is legal.

Yes, you read that right: I can download ANY pirated movie/music without fear of being prosecuted.

Also, making a copy of a movie/CD (in case you did purchase one) for a “personal backup” is a right we have and 100% legal too: as long as you don’t circumvent any anti-copying scheme (which nowadays all movies have; so this right is rather theoretical).

Now, in order to compensate for this “home copy” law (“thuiskopie”), and the downloading of movies, everyone in Holland who buys blank CD’s and DVD’s pays an extra fee – even if they don’t use them to burn illegally obtained materials but just for data-backups.

European lawmakers also want(ed) to tax hard-disks for this reason (but that never passed – yet?).

So indirect, we – in Holland – all pay for downloading illegal movies/music materials (even if you do not participate in this kind of behavior) each and every time you buy blank CD’s/DVD’s. It’s like paying road taxes even though you don’t drive a car.

Now, uploading and sharing pirated materials is 100% illegal. But as a user/downloader, you are not going to to prosecuted. And catching the guys that do upload is way beyond the skills of BREIN.

On a side-note: this policy resembles our Dutch policy in regards to (soft)drugs use: as a drug user you won’t be prosecuted unless you have a quantity on you that is considered to be for drug dealing. Hence you can go to a Coffee shop and buy and smoke cannabis 100% legally.

Anyway: Today BREIN – a special Dutch interest group, paid by the media industry – won a legal battle against FTD a popular download community, that facilitates the downloading of copyrighted materials (not only music/movies but also software).

Even though the practice of downloading isn’t illegal in Holland, a judge ruled that FTD blatantly promotes the uploading of copyrighted materials and uploading is, illegal.

Hence they need to stop showing any copyrighted materials with their software. Off course 99,9% of all materials on FTD are copyrighted. So in effect this will kill FTD unless they come up with an appeal that they win.

Now, FTD had become really popular in the last years as it made it really easy for the masses – with no IT skills – to obtain movies etc..

I think that this is just a stupid strategy of BREIN. I used to buy movies, but I always felt ripped off in many ways.

I mean: go figure, you bought a movie and somehow the industry STILL tries to make you feel like a pirate (click picture below and see what I mean):

Thanks for paying: we still want to make you feel like a criminal!

Off course the only thing BREIN accomplishes, is that smart people will now just have to come up with an even easier way for people to get their movies but in a way that will make it virtually impossible to prosecute “a community” for it.

It’s the same mistake the Americans make in thinking they can win the war in Afghanistan. You can’t win a war if you can’t get the enemy! (or technically speaking: if everyone IS the enemy).

In short: BREIN just won “a battle”, but will never win the war.

The media industry needs to wake up: adapt, evolve or die!

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