As I See Tech

I got a new smartphone. It's my first replacement since a long time. I'm excited to talk about it. Actually, more about the process of getting to it. For some people, the choice may be quick and easy. For the rest of us, it can take a lot of researching and shortlisting and choosing. At the end of it all is a well thought out decision. Or at least justified.

In a world where everything connects to a cloud hosted OS, the smartphone can be cheaper and simpler. There is no need to make them more powerful than an interactive TV. The real focus is on fast and reliable networking, because everything else really happens in the cloud.

Unlike how Apple iOS and Google Android started, when Microsoft launched Windows for phones, it needed justification.

I am a Windows 10 phone user. I own a Nokia Lumia ICON. I love it. With Microsoft seemingly killing off Windows 10 for phones anytime soon, I feel the pain. I probably share the same sentiments as other Windows 10 phone users. Regardless how loyal to the platform we wish to be, it seems inevitable that we shall forever be the last few. Microsoft does not care.

I just realized that more than six years ago, As I See Tech kinda, sorta predicted BlackBerry's trouble.

The PC as we know it is competing with itself. However, the competition is in a form that delivers the modern needs of most modern users. Truly, the current generation's exposure to mobile gadgets over the years have broken the barrier between mobility and the typical, or classic, PC experience.

Owning a mobile computer could push our attention away from TV. We can do a lot now with computers to entertain ourselves, sometimes even leading us to doing something else other than sitting on the couch just to catch that popular game show.

There are things that we wanted to do as quickly as possible motivated by some reasoning that may had been justifiable at that time as manageable risks, but are now turning out to be just plainly panic driven. I am guessing that's what happened with Motorola Xoom which is now garnering a lot of negative criticisms since launch that include Motorola's stupid act of promising 3G-to-4G upgrades without any clear plans; Motorola's obviously devious overpricing; and Motorola's questionable case on the use of an already registered brand/trademark.

The smartphone has grown from a fully featured cellular phone to a mini-mobile computer with rich telecommunication features and functionalities practically sized to fit in a pocket. Nokia once touted their high-end devices as mobile computers. In a sense, they really are. More so today, only their difference in size separates smartphones from computers.

The Nokia+Microsoft deal is the biggest news of the year so far in the mobile industry before the much awaited Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 14-27, 2011. What's the significance of this deal? How important is it to Nokia? And to Microsoft?

The month of February starts with hot news about competing products and technologies. Hot enough to spark a couple of wars! It's Google vs. Microsoft Bing on a search war; and, it's Verizon vs. AT&T on the mobile network war (over Apple's iPhone).

There were news last year of exciting product releases and updates to expect on January 2011. February 2011 comes in and now it's time to check out who delivered and who didn't...

I was looking at my favorite source of tech usage statistics and noticed something that seems to favor Apple's iOS at the expense of Blackberry-based devices. Since this graph does not really distinguish between an iPhone, an iPod Touch or an iPad, still the trend seems to show that there are Blackberry users switching(?).

If you're Microsoft, and you want to market a new product like Windows Phone 7, how would you choose to do it? How could you penetrate a market that's already saturated with choices like the iPhone, Blackberry and Android super smartphones? What would work? And what wouldn't?

CES 2011 is invaded by Androids! Started today in Las Vegas, the first day news coverages are mostly about Android, 4G and more Androids. As expected, there'll be a lot of touchscreen devices at CES 2011...  but the Android theme is in the air. New players are venturing into releasing new product lines in 2011, and, yes, they mostly involve a lot of Androids. Many new 4G phones and tablets announced are also using Android.

The desirability of the iPhone has been negatively affected by various issues since iPhone 4 was launched in 2010. It is safe to say that the iPhone 4 is, perhaps, the worst version of the iPhone! From the first day's Antennaegate to the new year's Alarm-ageddon, Apple needs to smooth things out quickly lest they be beaten by the growing competition. 2010 is generally not a good year for the iPhone. And so far, 2011 is NOT enjoying a good start as well.

2010 celebrated a lot of announcements for new technologies for 2011. From new computer designs to more green-oriented technologies, 2011 is an exciting year for new products that can truly help improve our lives. Here's a quick list of what I have so far...

2010 has been a great year for technology in general affecting various sectors and cultural groups around the world. Here is As I See Tech's rundown of the best mobile technologies in general that made remarkable achievements in 2010...

2010 has been a great year for technology in general affecting various sectors and cultural groups around the world. Here is As I See Tech's rundown of the best technologies for mobiles phones, particularly smartphones, that made remarkable achievements in 2010...

Microsoft finally has an official statement on how much Windows Phone 7 units have been pushed to retailers: 1.5 million in 6 weeks. Meanwhile, their Marketplace have grown from 1,000 apps since launch to 4,000 apps worldwide. The reactions are mixed but, as Microsoft puts it, the progress is as expected .