Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Google+ & New Facebook Chat

I've recently adopted the new social platform developed by Google as well as the new Facebook chat format, while the former is voluntary and latter is involuntary. To my disappointment, I wish there was a feature on Google+ where it can automatically import all my contact from Facebook then I can manage the circles accordingly. But obviously that wouldn't fit too well with Google, given that this new platform is intended to compete with Facebook. However, wouldn't it be more rational to include your existing social network in Facebook to Google so you instantaneously have your social communities ported over to start experience the difference that Google+ offers? In this case, I only have few friends manually added to my network and have nothing really compare to. Yet, I have to give Google the benefit of the doubt that this platform currently is still in beta stage. Now comes the new Facebook chat, either the product manager really never thought it through or Facebook has nothing better to do than switching around its formats, once again confusing users all over the places. The new chat bar is always sticking on your right side of screen and showing all contact it thinks you want to chat with, regardless of its online or offline status. Now, why would you want to chat with somebody who is offline in the first place? Now, I know it is quite difficult to satisfy 500 million users all at once with a feature change, but at least make sure these changes make sense on the rudimentary level.

Which Tablet?!

Working in a wireless industry company, I thought buying a smartphone was already difficult enough, but now as I am planning to buy a tablet, the decision is even harder! I know, you might say the obvious choice is iPad. But for me, I like to make some comparisons before making my purchasing decisions. Given there are zillions of tablets out there, some are better equipped than the iPad while others may not, I wish there is a tool that can compare all of them and make a decision for me. Given that tablets are almost replacing desktop PCs and notebook computers at a much accelerated pace, what's the next technology gadgets that may replace the tablets? The sad thing is that we humans always chase for the latest and greatest trend and conforming to societal patterns. On the other hand, this is how part of human civilization continue to evolve, for the better or worse.

Battle between Androids vs iPhone

As the smartphone industry continue to heat up in its battlefield of competitions, two forerunners are clearly grabbing market shares. One of the most heated debate that has been ongoing is whether iPhone is better than android devices. In terms of timing, iPhone definitely paved and shaped the way smartphone industry has evolved to today. This can be seen in both the phone factor and features. On the other hand, Android, which is an operating software platform developed by Google, utilizes its partnerships across multiple OEMs such as Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG to compete against iPhone. One of the distinctive difference I see between iPhone and Androids is that the former tends to be more rigid and formalized in terms of hardware specs and/or software customization, whereas Android devices tend to be more flexible in user options and template designs. So who is the ultimate winner you ask? It all depends on self-preference. Whether you like the simple stylish Apple designs with one phone to choose from versus multiple user interfaces with a wide selections of handset choices, at the end of the day, does your phone serve you the functions you need? Heck, buy both if you really like them all.