Android Icecream Sandwich : What are the ingredients?

Android's freshly baked cookie the Ice Cream Sandwich aka ICS is hailed to be the best of the mobile and tablet worlds.
It combines the 2.x phone interface with 3.x tablet interface (honeycomb) to create one lethal weapon: A single cookie that runs on Android tablets and smart phones.
I found these really interesting pieces about all you need to know videos on ICS.
In a gist, the key selling points of ICS are:

• Easier and more visual multitasking
• Rich notifications
• Customizable home screens
• Resizable widget
• Deep interactivity
• Added powerful new ways of communicating and sharing
• Unlock the phone via face recognition.
• Data usage analyzer tool.

To me the coolest features on this list are surely the sci fi face recognition unlocking of the phone and data usage tool. The Face Unlock feature is really convenient allowing you to unlock your phone by face recognition. So also is the data usage analyzer. I somehow did get a data usage tool in my gingerbread version on Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc..so I'm doubting if it is indeed unique to ICS!


Re sizable widget is again a big plus. Currently widgets take up a lot of space on the home screen and the home screen sometimes cannot accommodate more than one or two of them, if the widget size is really big like the Facebook widget or Calender.
This feature is not seen on a smartphone for the first time however. I remember seeing this for the first time demoed on a Nokia N9 last year (Secretly I like the fact that Nokia managed one innovation out in time before Android :-))

And since Google has been working closely with Samsung for giving life to these features, you can see all of them running on Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone- the lead phone for ICS.


More recently ICS software push has been promised by several Device manufacturers for a variety of phones. Recently in the news for phones getting ICS were Sony Ericsson Xperia and LG, Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi Tablet , Droid Razr Maxx, Asus Transformer Prime and HTC Primo.
The verge also reports the Sony Tablets S and P getting the ICS treat soon.


So all in all Android the year 2012 seems all about ICS devices in the Android arena.
I hope it evokes a better response than the lukewarm ones obtained for Honeycomb...


I might write another post to put my wish list of features for the next android release!
Watch this space for more!

Fun, Friendly error messages !

Here're a few interesting , user friendly and fun error messages I have seen on the applications and websites I have seen and also some I've dug up.
The language is actually so casual that you'd almost think there's a human on the other end talking to you directly! Quite a difference from those machine like messages we are accustomed to in the past.

Check out some of these.
Twitter:

"Twitter.com is loading slowly.
Hmm, this seems to be taking a while. If problems persist, please reload to try again."

Mozilla Firefox:

"Well this is embarrassing.
Firefox is having trouble recovering your windows and tabs. This is usually caused by a recently opened web page."

Google Chrome Browser:
“He’s Dead, Jim!”Apparently, as per Google's help pages,  "He's dead, Jim!" is a reference from Star Trek to describe things that are unresponsive!




And the infamous one...the one that flooded Apple's support forum, upgrades to iOS 5:


Or the Facebook one:


If you recently saw some really fun error messages yourselves, why not leave a comment?!

Asha for an Amazing Everyday ...

This time around, I was amazed at the loudness and passion exhibited by the keynote speeches lined up in Nokia World 2011!
So I thought I'd let you know what I got out of the lengthy keynote.

I loved they way Stephen Elop actually showed an example of how he lives the value of "Connecting People". He shared the experience of listening to a fellow traveler from Beirut tell his story about all the happenings in his life and how he thrived a midst turmoil and troubled times.
I also liked the way Stephen Elop was welcomed to the stage with references to him calling up people at 5 a.m. to enquire about things, meaning how enthusiastic he was about Nokia products.

The phone launches would always be the most likely topic on the Nokia world keynote agendas. But this time around, everyone was eagerly awaiting a product launch that is slated to be a turning point in Nokia illustrious and yet recently troubled history. The first Nokia Windows Phone..

But it had to wait. Stephen after an introductory addressing of the crowd, moved on to welcome on stage Bianca. Bianca was called upon to talk about and launch the Asha series of S40 phones. Stephen did warn about her enthusiasm..
But despite that, when she was on stage, I saw an earnestness in her voice while introducing the Asha phones that really took me by surprise! She used Nokia's usual segmentation principles and took the young and vibrant 25 years and below age group personas , from various geographies in the developing world to introduce a different Asha phone that suits his/her personality.
While introducing the phone just right for a flashy Kenyan youngster, she played Shakira's Football anthem "It's time for Africa". She actually broke into a small dance, and this was truly unique I must say for any product launch...and again, I was pleasantly surprised.

The crowd was still not entirely happy, as what they were waiting for was something new and unprecedented in Nokia.
Stephen talked about a famous Finnish architect Alvar Arto and how when Stephen joined Nokia, he was quickly educated on Alvar's Nordic design rules and how Alvar gives something extra to everyday things; what he calls "genfrastructure". Stephen expressed that Nokia's design principles are highly inspired by Alvar's rules.

After briefly talking about industrial design of Asha phones ensuring that they are truly aspirational devices and not much ado, Stephen moved on to do his thing.
He launched the Nokia Lumia 800 amidst flashing cameras and cheering voices!!

He described the undisrupted form, inky blackness, speaker phones and the sheer beauty of the design of the Lumia 800.
He declared it "The first real Windows Phone device" and that this launch also signals the intent of Nokia wanting to be the leader in smartphone design. And then, to undertake the daunting task of going through the Lumia inside out, he invoked the energetic Kevin Shields,  product and prgram management for smartphones in Nokia.

Kevin Shields seemed normal pitched to begin with. But when he said the word "AWESOME!!!!", I had to quickly take my ear phones away from my ears! He was clearly elated about the product!
He describes the phone saying "If it's a Beauty on the outside, it is a Beast on the inside". I guess the specifications would speak for itself.
He takes us through the awesome Tile UI, the wonderful large captions on every screen with super easy to use and fun UI, the smooth swiping, the "alive" Tile one touch access to all your applications from your homescreen, etc.
I particularly liked the music access...no sign in, no creation of accounts, no hazzles, just one tap into a world of music.Nokia have also introduced this concept of music mixes, wherein there're nice playlists already mixed in for you to keep playing. What's more there're so many of them to choose from and apparently you can make new ones too. I cant wait to really try that out. Also pre-downloading and offline playing of music is possible, which is a real boon in low connectivity geographies and areas.
He also showed off his Game center , XBox Live - all his games and a nice cool avatar that has all that nice hair (Not particularly resembling him in real life, he admits!).
And to finish it off he demoed the complete Microsoft Office solution on the Lumia 800. A delightful convenience that would surely be a welcome feature for enterprise email users.
Completely integrated with Nokia Maps, 3D navigation and voice guided navigation and the signature Nokia camera with Carl Zeiss optics, it was indeed a Nokia phone at heart.

Once Kevin finished all the demos, it was again time for Stephen to conclude on Lumia 800. But before Kevin could step down the podium, a phone in his pocket started ringing and playing the oh so familiar Nokia ring tone. And viola! Another Windows Phone from Nokia comes out the Nokia Lumia 710 which "packs some punch" but at a lesser price than Nokia Lumia 800

Stephen then calls upon Steven Overman to introduce the Nokia marketing campaign around the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710..the slogan being "The Amazing Everyday". The 60 s campaign video shows real videos from life to showcase how everyday can be amazing. I loved it!

And to answer the question of when does Lumia 800 start shipping, Stephen Elop uses an unprecedented means ...he calls upon Ram in the Salo Nokia factory in Finland, where they showed the phone being carefully packed into sleek Blue boxes!

So now some quick facts :

• Nokia world boasted of the presence of 175 developers who are fittingly called millionaires - their applications having exceeded 1 million downloads.
• Nokia has been recently recognized as the global leader in locally relevant content.
• Lumia 800 is being launched by 31 operators in 6 countries. It also gained commitment on marketing than any other Nokia smartphone in history.
• 7 Nokia devices have NFC till date.
• Launching of 6 new Symbian devices this year.
• Launch of the iconic N9 - iconic UI, Swipe interface, simple elegance can be deceptively . Sold out in Moscow.

Asha in Hindi means "Hope" and that is what inspired the name for the "Asha" series of Nokia phones.

So I wish Nokia a lot of "Asha" for providing an "Amazing Everyday" experience to People.