Showing posts with label Advantages of the Android. Show all posts

Why We Want More Moto In The Philippines


We reported months ago how Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google. Recently, too, we've given you specials, from the Android Pub, of his first-ever Android, which incidentally was a Motorola.

Motorola as a brand had been trusted for mobile telephony solutions since 1928. From its humble beginnings with a battery eliminator as the first product, to wartime solutions for mobile telephony, and to being on the bleeding edge of Android technology today, Motorola Mobility has earned its spot as a pillar in cellular telephony.

Motorola held its post as a formidable rival to Nokia back in the early to mid 90's. With cutting-edge design and features that were far more advanced than its contemporaries, Motorola phones were the quintessence of "cool."

However, "cool" just didn't cut it, in terms of profitability. Nokia, producing generation after generation of simple, easy-to-understand mobile phones, overtook Motorola in sales. And the company suddenly experienced obsolescence and obscurity of near-dinosaur proportions.

It was the Android that resurrected the company.

Thanks to crucial moves in recent years, and believing in an upstart Operating System/Mobile Device Platform, Motorola became the best, and the rightful choice for acquisition by Google as the flagship OEM to bear the Android. It was the first company to believe in the Android, and it's only fitting that Google returns the "favor" by partnering more closely with the company, as one of its sub-divisions today.

Because of this fact: being at the bleeding edge of Android technology, Philippine Android consumers definitely should be seeing more of Motorola Android presence in the country, and soon.

Here are top three reasons why Moto should consider being more aggressive with making their presence felt in Philippine mobile telephony spheres:

  • Two out of the Top Five mobile networks that derive their revenue from data use hail from the Philippines: Smart Communications and Globe Telecom. The other three are from Japan. This means that the Android, as an ecosystem, will benefit greatly from this. Remember that the Android's business model was built around getting more users to go online so that they could push ads onto the users' machines.
  • The Filipino is a hungry mobile user and cellphone addict. Most of the tech-savvy Filipinos have short lifespan for keeping their mobiles. While some can keep their mobile phones for 5 to even 10 years, others can tire of their mobile phone models in as little as 2 months. Others even dispose of their phones within weeks or a month after the purchase. It's safe to say that a good percentage of Filipinos change phones anywhere from 6 months to a year and a half.
  • The Philippines was not named the "texting capital of the world" for nothing. Even after the rest of the world has caught on in the SMS craze, the Filipino still has texting for its first choice in telecommunications. The reason is that it's non-intrusive, less threatening, less intimidating and offers a good hedge from overexposure that a voice call or face to face communications may offer. Not only that, Filipinos are also among the top consumers of social networking. Is this not the perfect market for the Android?

Motorola as a brand will offer the Filipino better diversity in its gadget choices. It will also do the Filipino mobile consumer community a major favor by exposing this market to bleeding edge in Android technology, as well as provide this market a top-notch experience in Android telephony. This is certainly going to be a win-win situation: Motorola and Google will capture a heavily mobile, heavily online consumer base, thereby hitting their target of getting more users online for more ad traffic, and Filipinos will then experience the newest in Android innovations.

And when Motorola reaches mainstream distribution, Filipinos will no longer need to acquire their Motos via the grey market of online sellers.

Filipinos will definitely welcome Moto with open arms and be happy to count it among its Android gadget choices. We bet that the premium market will have good fun choosing between Moto, HTC, and Samsung's premium lines.

So what are you waiting for, Moto? It's time to plan your official re-entry to the Philippines, and with a bang, soon!

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Photo Credits: Mobility Digest
Advantages of the Android
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The Android Searcher: Cherry Mobile Candy


My phone has been with me for almost two years now. As technology advances, it seems that my current phone is getting outmoded as smartphones are invading the local market. I decided, that's it! I need to replace my phone, and soon. While people are mostly attracted to smartphone platforms like the iPhone and Blackberry, a freeware innovation attracted my attention: the Android. Just to backtrack a little, the Android was released in 2005, derived from the Linux kernel. For those who are most familiar with Linux, it is a free operating system. Even though Google bought the development rights and absorbed the Android Dev team as a sub-unit of Google, the Android continues to be a free operating system for mobile smartphones and tablets. Since the Android is a free operating system, a number of companies, most notably Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG to name a few, adopted the mobile OS. 

In the Philippines, a mobile phone company called Cherry Mobile took the chains in providing cheap but quality mobile phones. And in its moves to expand and grow its market, it also released a good selection of Android phones. The mobile phone brand has been popularized by variety show host Willie Revillame in his show at the local television network, TV5.

On my way to church, I passed by a Cherry Mobile booth in the lower ground floor of Robinson's Galleria. Having Android in mind, I decided to check it out. What caught my attention is the Cherry Mobile Candy and its QWERTY version, Candy Chat. At less than PhP4,000, Cherry Mobile Candy is the cheapest in the market and comes in different colors: even purple, my favorite. 

The phone boasts of being powered by Android Froyo 2.2 Froyo, the Android Kernel version before Android Gingerbread 2.3. Froyo is also the second most utilized Android platform in the market, second only to Gingerbread.

I got to hold an actual phone which is actually lightweight and easy to carry around. The saleslady mentioned that the Cherry Mobile Candy and Candy Chat boasts of a wide variety of apps which one can get for free! Yes, for free, the advantage of Android phones. 

I got to check how the touch screen works but the resistive screen does not go well with my touch; which falls short for me, as I'm pretty fond of mobile games. The resistive touchscreen creates a gaming handicap, as mobile games require a lot of pressing. If you are not a game freak though, the touch resistance may be just fine. For a phone that costs less than PhP4,000, its a good deal with wi-fi capabilities and a 16gB capable SD Card memory slot. Stylish and reliable at a cheap price: not bad at all. 

Will this finally be my new Android phone? Maybe or maybe not. I need to soul-search more for Android phones in the market to find "the one" for me. Follow me as I search for more of Android, its market perks and features that would be worth my pocket's spend.

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-The Android Searcher
Advantages of the Android
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One More Reason Why The Android Is Better Than The iPhone (And The Blackberry Too)



The iPhone is possibly the dream phone of every Apple Fangirl and Fanboy out there. It is also the dream phone of many cellular phone enthusiasts, especially smartphone enthusiasts. Geeks and hardcore IT people may be divided over the Blackberry, the iPhone and the Android, but still, the iPhone is still part of that list. 

Maybe it's Steve Jobs' Charisma, or maybe it's the fact that the iPhone is really one piece of beautifully-designed machine. As many an iPhone 4 enthusiast would say, nothing compares to the iPhone's rendering of the capacitative touchscreen.

On the other hand, there is something to hate about the iPhone: it eats your data plan or even prepaid credits like mad.

There are horror stories that abound of how the iPhone eats up load credits or makes postpaid plans balloon like crazy. That's why either you think twice about buying a new iPhone, or read the cautionary tales and don't do what these users did, or do what they did to remedy the problem.

On the other hand, why don't you make your life simpler? How about getting an Android? Sure the OS still has more room to grow and still has to be tightened and improved in a lot of areas, but if there's one thing we can never fault the Android with, it is consuming prepaid load or racking up a postpaid bill thanks to data.

In fact, one of our staff, who uses a Cherry Mobile Nova, oftentimes leaves her 3G settings on when she switches SIM cards, and yet her load balance doesn't get consumed, as long as she gets to turn off her 3G within a minute of turning the Android on. This goes to show that the Android doesn't log you on to your network's data connection unduly, thus letting hundreds to thousands of pesos go to waste.

The same complaint of monetary loss is true of Blackberry units. Unless you configure the settings with your provider, you may, unfortunately, encounter some monetary loss due to data service usage.

If you're like our Cherry Mobile Nova user, who focuses on what's great in a phone and not its bugs, then you'll probably remain a happy Android camp-er. So far, for her, 3G and WiFi use have been painless, even the software upgrade was rather painless, and these data service glitches have never been a problem for her.

This is just one advantage of the Android over the iPhone and the Blackberry as a Smartphone. Let the Smartphone wars rage on!


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Note: Rochelle Sy Chua was, is, and remains an Apple enthusiast and believes that the iPhone is still the best Smartphone out there. This discussion was prompted by one of her Facebook contacts' complaints about the iPhone.


Photo Credits: BookBotics
Advantages of the Android
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Four Advantages Of The Android



Many smartphone enthusiasts complain of the Android as a buggy device. They always compare it with the iPhone, which has had a headstart in perfecting the way it works. These dissatisfied users forget that the iPhone is part of a closed system, which has the benefit of better QA.

On the other hand, the Android still has undeniable perks over the other smartphones. We'll give you a few:

1. Free Angry Birds. While Angry Birds, the phenomenal petrary physics mobile game that took the world by storm, is free on the Android. It costs $0.99 on the iOS, but for the Android, it's all free. It's also free on Nokia Ovi. It's still under development for the Blackberry, but it will be made available on the Blackberry Playbook first.

2. Most great apps and games are free. On the iOS, you pay at least $0.99 per app that you download. On the Android, there is a free app for nearly everything you need. Need a battery booster? A to-do list? More games than you can handle? There's a plethora of choices. The only thing you need now is more space and time to evaluate the apps so you can settle on the best ones that suit you.

3. Google Integration and painless email. This is possibly one of the best perks of being on an Android. Since the phone is basically a Google phone, Google services (GMail, Docs, YouTube, Picasa, GTalk, Google Earth) are better integrated than with, say, the iPhone or the Blackberry. Setup is painless. As opposed to the Blackberry, where setup could be a pain, all you need with your Android is your GMail address and your password, which you input upon the first startup of your phone, and you're all set. No need to look for your PIN, other numbers that may need time for you to wrap your brain around, no need to forward your GMail to your Blackberry account and other such setups, just your username and password. Upon startup. That's it.

You may experience a bit of a lag with email coming in, especially if your connection is not up to scratch. Unless you're in a high-emergency field where real-time email is a must, that shouldn't be a problem.

4. Customization is up to you, not your phone manufacturer. Ever got tired of how the buttons in the iPhone are just there for you to scroll through? Not much room for how you prefer to arrange things? With the Android, everything is customizable. Want to group your apps by dashboard? You can. Want to have accessible widgets to your to-do's? You can mount them on a dashboard of your choice. Want to keep one dashboard as a place where you can get to the e-Books you're reading with one click? You can. You can even replace the Launcher that manages your dashboard. There's no limit to what you can do with your Android.

Despite the OS's flaws, we find the Android a far better OS to power a smartphone than Symbian or the previous Windows Mobile OS versions. There's so much you can do with it. There's no limit to how you can modify your Android. It's the perfect OS for the user who loves tinkering with his smartphone.



Photo Credits: LindaBCool
Advantages of the Android
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