Google I/O 2011

[Hummer]

I wonder Google has been holding up their sleeve. I'm sure that YouTube movie rentals are just a small drop in the bucket.

Gizmodo is updating live: http://gizmodo.com/5800352/all-the-great-stuff-from-google-io-2011-live

 

[cocacolakid]

The Chrome laptop lease program is interesting. I wouldn't want one, but I'm curious how businesses and the education field react to it.

$20-28 per month for a laptop on a 3 year lease, with no licenses to buy, no IT employees to keep them up and running, etc.

Drawbacks, it's Chrome OS, must be online at all times, and the hardware is already slow and dated.

 

[SevenInchScrew]

....must be online at all times

Incorrect. If a ChromeOS app is written for it, offline functionality is available.

....and the hardware is already slow and dated.

For what they are designed for, the hardware is plenty powerful.

 

[*LTD*]

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We're in the tablet, post-PC era, and what does Google do? What they do best: racing to the bottom via fragmentation. Netbooks have failed, so why not release more netbooks with yet another OS? Great idea.

Hey Google, why not spend time fixing Android and release tablets that don't suck ass?

 

[yg17]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134b Safari/6533.18.5)

We're in the tablet, post-PC era, and what does Google do? What they do best: racing to the bottom via fragmentation. Netbooks have failed, so why not release more netbooks with yet another OS? Great idea.

Hey Google, why not spend time fixing Android and release tablets that don't suck ass?

How much does Apple pay you to post this garbage?

First of all, tablets will never replace PCs. There are some things a tablet simply cannot do. A tablet is an accessory, not a computer replacement. Second of all, Android doesn't need fixing. Of course, there's no convincing you of that. If it doesn't have Apple's name on it, you think it sucks.

 

[ravenvii]

How much does Apple pay you to post this garbage?

First of all, tablets will never replace PCs. There are some things a tablet simply cannot do. A tablet is an accessory, not a computer replacement. Second of all, Android doesn't need fixing. Of course, there's no convincing you of that. If it doesn't have Apple's name on it, you think it sucks.

If you don't think Android needs fixing, I'm sorry to say this, but you're delusional.

Or dare I use a trendy lingo... you're an Android fanboy.

That's exactly like saying "iOS doesn't need fixing."

 

[cocacolakid]

How much does Apple pay you to post this garbage?... Second of all, Android doesn't need fixing.

I have an Android phone and let me also say, Android needs fixing.

And, btw, Android tablets are a mess. Google needs to take stronger control on their OS and not allow manufacturers to slap Android on anything and then walk away, leaving users with no support and no updates. Google is trying to do that, based on their new 18 month update promise at the IO show, but that does nothing for the millions of users who have Android products that are buggy and cannot be updated, which includes a TON of tablets.

 

[Nermal]

Google needs to take stronger control on their OS and not allow manufacturers to slap Android on anything and then walk away, leaving users with no support and no updates.

No kidding. I use Android but I think that Apple's update system is much better; you get the updates when Apple releases them. There's no extra step of waiting for your operator to release them.

I appreciate that the hardware manufacturers need to be involved (look at iOS with its separate update images for different device models) but Apple's proven that the "operator approval" step is completely unnecessary.

 

[tjb1]

Thats what steered me away from Android, they length of time from Google releasing an update and the phone company modifying it. Instead the phone should be built to use Googles release, focus on hardware features and let the android app store modify the UI and everything else...HTC could make Sense an app or whatever for download instead of modifying it into each release before its available.

 

[Nermal]

That's why I went with a Nexus One. As soon as Google's ready, I get the update. No waiting for HTC, no waiting for Telecom NZ.

But who knows how many more updates this phone will get before it's obsoleted

 

[tjb1]

Im stuck on Verizon too because of my parents...but im glad I got the iPhone and not the Thunderbolt, my roommate had to charge his phone everyday about 4 hours into the day. Mine made it all day

 

[mrsir2009]

The Chrome laptop lease program is interesting. I wouldn't want one, but I'm curious how businesses and the education field react to it.

$20-28 per month for a laptop on a 3 year lease, with no licenses to buy, no IT employees to keep them up and running, etc.

Drawbacks, it's Chrome OS, must be online at all times, and the hardware is already slow and dated.

It'd be a great way for poor people to get on the internet

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Im stuck on Verizon too because of my parents...but im glad I got the iPhone and not the Thunderbolt, my roommate had to charge his phone everyday about 4 hours into the day. Mine made it all day

I am going to guess he just got the phone? While the battery life never is that good lithium batteries need to go threw a few cycles to before they get their full life. Mix that with it is a new toy battery is going to be crap because LTE just sucks down power.

So you have 4g sucking down power, new battery and new toy. That means very crappy battery life. Even after conditioning I still think the battery life is way to low.

 

[SevenInchScrew]

I think Android is fine. Sure it has some issues, but every other mobile OSs out there does as well. In my day to day use with it, though, I've had no more difficulty using it than I did in my years with iOS. It certainly isn't as "broken" as some people around here make it out to be. Once I got accustomed to it after switching from iOS, I personally find it more intuitive and easy to use.

Even though I, personally, don't find the "fragmentation" issue to be that big of a thing, I'm happy to hear about Google taking a more forward stance with the phone manufacturers and wireless carriers about updates. Improvements to the update process will, obviously, be welcome. And it seems the phone manufacturers are starting to realize this as well.

Samsung, who last year could do nothing but delay updates, has so far this year made a much improved turn around. Updates abound, with source codes being released almost instantaneously with each new hardware and software release. The new Galaxy SII, which just came out, released with current 2.3 OS, and has already had its source code released, which came with its drivers in tow. That is fantastic.

Sony/Ericsson was in a very similar position, if not maybe even worse than Samsung. They previously were locking down hardware and releasing almost no updates. Now they have official documentation on how to unlock their phones, how to write custom kernels, and software updates coming much more frequently, with new phones coming with the current 2.3 OS. If those two can make these types of changes, things are looking up in a big way.

-----

As far as IO-2011, here are my quick thoughts....

• Ice Cream Sandwich sounds great, glad to hear that all types of hardware will be merging OS.
• Google Music sounds great. I like Amazon's new similar service, so more options like that is fine with me.
• I don't rent movies that often, but having the option to do so now is great. The "pinning" sounds simple.
• The Market updates are nice. Just like the iTunes store, discovering new apps when there are that many can be hard, and these new updates help greatly
• GoogleTV getting Honeycomb with the full Android Market is huge. I can think quite a few apps that I use that would work great on a TV. I'm surprised they beat Apple to getting apps on the TV.

All in all, so far I'm really liking the things I'm hearing from Google this year at I/O.

 

[tjb1]

I am going to guess he just got the phone? While the battery life never is that good lithium batteries need to go threw a few cycles to before they get their full life. Mix that with it is a new toy battery is going to be crap because LTE just sucks down power.

So you have 4g sucking down power, new battery and new toy. That means very crappy battery life. Even after conditioning I still think the battery life is way to low.

Well after about a month it was still doing horrible on battery, reason I didnt even look at it was because it hadnt come out yet because they kept pushing they date and I got tired of waiting for it. Would be nice to try android though, have been on iOS for 3-4 years now and it gets quite boring with all the free spam apps.

 

[gkarris]

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We're in the tablet, post-PC era, and what does Google do? What they do best: racing to the bottom via fragmentation. Netbooks have failed, so why not release more netbooks with yet another OS? Great idea.

Goes with the $299 GoogleTV...

 

[roadbloc]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134b Safari/6533.18.5)

We're in the tablet, post-PC era, and what does Google do? What they do best: racing to the bottom via fragmentation. Netbooks have failed, so why not release more netbooks with yet another OS? Great idea.

Hey Google, why not spend time fixing Android and release tablets that don't suck ass?

It seems that whenever you see what could be a decent product launched by someone who isn't Apple, you simply attack them for either not being Apple.

Netbooks are going nowhere. Most PC stores nearby have larger Netbook sections than Tablet sections (some don't even have Tablet sections).

Oh, and by the way, Android does not suck. Since you have never used it, I don't see how you can make that claim.

 

[*LTD*]

It seems that whenever you see what could be a decent product launched by someone who isn't Apple, you simply attack them for either not being Apple.

If it was decent, I wouldn't say anything. Most non-Apple tech out there just SUCKS. Plain and simple. There are very few exceptions. Google's not-a-notebook-that's-a-notebook isn't one of them.

 

[yg17]

If it was decent, I wouldn't say anything. Most non-Apple tech out there just SUCKS. Plain and simple. There are very few exceptions. Google's not-a-notebook-that's-a-notebook isn't one of them.

You haven't even used the Chrome notebooks and you're saying they suck. You're biased, plain and simple.

 

[*LTD*]

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If it was decent, I wouldn't say anything. Most non-Apple tech out there just SUCKS. Plain and simple. There are very few exceptions. Google's not-a-notebook-that's-a-notebook isn't one of them.

You haven't even used the Chrome notebooks and you're saying they suck. You're biased, plain and simple.

I've never used a Zune, ether. Nor a Kin, Palm Pre, or Xoom, or one of those slates that Ballmer showed off a year ago. What's your point? You don't have to huff paint to know it's a bad idea, LOL.

Of course I'm biased. Apple's track record earned that. And they continue to do so.

 

[yg17]

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I've never used a Zune, ether. Nor a Kin, Palm Pre, or Xoom, or one of those slates that Ballmer showed off a year ago. What's your point? You don't have to huff paint to know it's a bad idea, LOL.

Of course I'm biased. Apple's track record earned that. And they continue to do so.

So you're basing your opinion that the Zune, Kin, Pre, and Xoom all suck based on the fact that Apple doesn't make them. Not any actual experience using them. Again, I ask, how much does Apple pay you to post this garbage?

 

[pivo6]

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I've never used a Zune, ether. Nor a Kin, Palm Pre, or Xoom, or one of those slates that Ballmer showed off a year ago. What's your point? You don't have to huff paint to know it's a bad idea, LOL.

Of course I'm biased. Apple's track record earned that. And they continue to do so.

I think his point is that giving by your opinion without using any of those products, it makes your opinion worthless.

 

[roadbloc]

Most non-Apple tech out there just SUCKS.

You have just lost the scrap of respect and belief I had in your posts. You cannot seriously believe that...

 

[BornAgainMac]

Would like to see a desktop Chrome OS package for the enterprise. Perhaps something like a Mac Mini.

 

[yg17]

I think his point is that giving by your opinion without using any of those products, it makes your opinion worthless.

We have a winner!

I haven't used a Kin, Pre, Zune or Xoom, so I'm not going to give an opinion on them, which is the logical thing to do. You wouldn't read a review on a product or service (not just tech. This applies to anything) if the person writing the review stated they never actually used the product. Well, you might read it, but you definitely wouldn't take it seriously.