My iPhone killer - Google's Nexus7 is my new favorite gadget

People who know me tend to think that I am an Apple-Fan-Boy, which I would not consider my self, but I have to admit that the simplicity and product strategy in the recent years impressed & inspired me.

Nevertheless I was always critical (and actually increasing critical) about the slow innovation (actually NO innovation) we have seen in the Apple announcements the recent years (excluding the iPad 1).

But I had always to argue that there is NO other product from any other company (nor the Palm Pre or any Android product) that came close to the product experience the Apple packages (hardware & software) provided constantly.

Until NOW :)
I finally have a product that is actually BETTER then all my other Apple products in house, which is an iPhone 4S, an iPad one and a Samsung Galaxy SII. Before you start now, yaya, I know S3 and iPhone 5, but I am absolutely confident that I will NOT change my mind about this new gadget and its No1 status for me in 2012 :)

What is it? Well the well-known (but only in US and UK available) Google Nexus 7 tablet. A 7 inch tablet with wifi-only running on Android Jelly Bean (4.1) and providing the perfect experience for a one-handed reading and consuming need.

Isn't that just a big smartphone? No, it is rather a digital version of a book with the full load and speed a digital service should habe. Tremendous speed by opening and scrolling websites, switching apps and running audio or video makes the consumption experience much more rich then with a tiny little smartphone.

But isn't it then some sort of iPad? No, it is a "mobile" device because I can pack into my pocket, carry it around easily and love to use it combined with a smartphone via blutooth tethering. Yes, it does not have a 3G module, but because it is NOT a phone, I am anyway carrying a smartphone for tethering. It is a perfect size to snack content on the go and is less a couch device then the iPad, which stays permanently on my couch.

Additionally the OS now is the first time beating the iOS with providing speed, smoothness, design and functionality by far and is the first OS tailored for tablet - really well done Google.

Not convinced? Well besides the always "winning" tests you can find by current unboxing tests etc. it has one character that is almost not possible to beat: it is only 199 ($ or €) for the small version (8GB, not recommended, too small) and 249 for the 16 GB version. Yes, you can get two Nexus for one iPad and almost 3 Nexus for an iPhone.

Yes, this is MUST BUY call, a NO brainer so to say :-) Go get it ;)

You are german and cannot wait? Holger posted a really good explanation how to get it and which I followed completely :)

My definition of Social Networks - why Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and App.net have authorization being here

App.net - the newest of all activities to "beat" Facebook, to be different, to be the "better" social network. Watching my and others habits, there is finally no "best" or even "better" network.

Let's start with Facebook. For sure it has the biggest audience which means it is and has to be for the masses. It has to serve the most common ground of social interaction, which is having fun and sharing private stuff with a peer group - your friends & colleagues. That's it - Facebook is for leisure.

We have Twitter. Twitter has only 140 characters and has a post awareness beyond 1 hours. By its definition it is meant for real-time and therefore for time-dependes events like the Olympics, TV-Live-broadcast, simply events that happen at a certain moment. Therefore we can conclude: Twitter is for media and real-time.

Let's get to the often called "Ghost town" Google Plus or Google+ which by mistake gets always compared and benchmarked by FB & Twitter. But it is neither of them, Google Plus is perfect for integrated services of Google, perfect to share longer textes and opinions and to discuss longer threads. It is a mixture of a blogging service and a forum, it is more professional and for geeks and nerds then Facebook and it is much more detailed then Twitter and less focused on real-time. Let's face it, Google+ is for writers and meaningful conversation.

The most recent one App.net which at least cost 50$/year for being part of the network and allowed to use it. It is definitely for developers and users that value the freedom of 3rd party companies that want to make money by advertising or other sales activities via the network. Users of App.net want pure communication without disruption and are willing to pay for it. It has for sure the least common ground and compared to others not the goal to reach the greatest mass (because scale and advertising depend each other). App.net is made for very professional discussion and elitear people that value freedom of use.

So - can we stop the whole discussion now what is best? Just pick one, or two or all of them and enjoy being social :)

Google+ Engagement Still Way Behind Facebook, Twitter

Google+ Engagement Still Way Behind Facebook, Twitter [STUDY]

I was observing the exact same and actually a tremendously decreasing interaction in general within G+ (in my circles)

What do you think? Are you actually "opening" G+ anymore frequently?

Google+ iOS app with fresh and beautiful UI

As noted earlier today (http://j.mp/LmvXdt) Google provided its iOS app (only made for smartphones) a really beautiful new UI with a lot of graphical elements that are completily revamped and differ completely from the old version.

In comparison to other social network applications (Facebook et al) this sets a great new standard and proves Google's capability to improve and develop software, especially for mobile.

Unfortunately social networks' UI is only one component of the complete experience and especially the lacking activity of Google+ users is significant low compared to users at Facebook or Twitter etc.

Driving activity to social network applications could be created by a better UI, but social interaction (sharing, messaging, gaming) needs to be pushed harder to get people switch from other networks.

The recent attempt by Facebook to integrate applications and especially mobile apps into theor offerings is exactly a step to keep users even tider to the framework of FB then the UI optimization of G+ for mobile could possibly bring to the table.

Google+: a mobile app with sense and soul

Facebook announced its own AppStore (for desktop & mobile)

This is going to be very interesting: Facebook moves into the territory of Apple & Google (and Amazon) and is offering its own AppStore. Given the amount of time the average online user is visiting Facebook the possibility of success for the Facebook Store (especially for mobile) is very high.

The assumed social component (what apps are my friends downloading etc.) has not been really successfully adopted by the others and might be the critical success factor for the upcoming store.

What will change? Well, basically Facebook will ensure that every app offered has some sort of facebook integration and the login and profile building might even increase. App usage and user interactions are tider linked to Facebook and world domination continues ;)

Introducing the App Center

Battle for the cloud: Google Drive vs. Dropbox vs. SkyDrive

A lot of news media is talking about Google Drive today, simply because the brand "Google" is offering a new product, I guess ;) Anyways see at @digitaltrends a nice overview about the differences compared to MS' and Dropbox offerings. I am surprised how expensive Dropbox is - big challenge for a startup to hold prices? Missed the point to "exit"? In summary - Google seems to have bundled the best package and sets a new cloud storage standard - thanks for that :)
Battle for the cloud: Google Drive vs. Dropbox vs. SkyDrive

Der bessere Feedreader: Google Currents vs. feedly via @FOTOPRESSO

» Der bessere Feedreader: Google Currents vs. feedly » FOTOPRESSO:

Das kann ich ales nur genau so bestätigen - feedly scheint mir mindestens 2 Versionen voraus und Currents hat mit den Exclusiv-Teilnehmern und Publishern gar kein Mehrwert beim Nutzer geschaffen - höchstens in der Beziehung zu Verlagen ... das ist dem User aber egal ;)