If you’re trying to decide between the hot new Nexus One vs. the iPhone 3Gs, here’s the skinny on what sets them apart. Both phones sport the aesthetic appeal of that sleek “wow” factor sheen, but there are a few differences you should know about which may make one a better fit for your needs than the other.

Despite its light weight compared to the iPhone 3Gs, the Nexus One picks up where the iPhone left off in the bench-press department. Its faster processor and more efficient Organic LED screen will keep your video sizzling sharp and your images pinpoint crisp while making the overall screen color reproduction more accurate (though strangely enough the orange colors on some of the YouTube videos I streamed to the Nexus One appeared a little too red for my liking).

The built in camera flash on the Nexus One is a very useful feature in low-lighting. It’s also a feature that the iPhone currently lacks, though rumor has it that Apple already put in a big order for flash devices for its next generation of iPhones. No doubt Apple will also be ramping up its camera resolution which is currently only 3-megapixels on the iPhone compared to the whopping 5-megapixel deliciousness of the Nexus One camera.

Unlike the iPhone, the Nexus One sports a full hands-free driving GPS navigation system with turn-by-turn directions functionality included right out of the box. On the iPhone, you only get the standard Google maps directions right now which is basically a little dot moving around on a 2D map…not very impressive unless you are willing to shell over the cash for a third party navigation application such as the $70 Navigon or the $80 iGo My Way.

Aside from these extra perks included with the Nexus One, the main point of difference I encountered between the two phones was their dependence upon wireless connectivity. iPhone applications run as smoothly when you are out of wireless range as they do when you are in range because your data is largely saved to the phone and is re-synched when your phone reception returns. This approach keeps your most of your data on your physical phone device, at risk of being lost along with the device if that data has not been synchronized and backed up first.  The Nexus One takes the opposite approach. It seems geared toward storing as much of your personal data as possible on Google’s computer clouds rather than on your phone’s memory. Unfortunately, while it does mean that your data is theoretically safer, it also means that you have to have a strong wireless connection for many of your applications to be useful. This is particularly true if you’re looking to leverage some of the coolest features Google provides such as voice recognition (see below).

The included Android Calendar application is a perfect example of why storing data on the cloud isn’t always the best solution. The included Calendar application is barely functional without a direct link to the internet, and it will not operate unless you have first assigned it to a preexisting Google Calendar account. While these limitations may not be an issue for someone who already uses Google Calendar and who has frequent internet access, I found it an unnecessary burden, and wasn’t thrilled about being forced to use a the Google Calendar which was only recently endowed with integrated Task features.

There are a few other ‘gotchas’ you should be aware of before you buy, such as the not-so-multi-touch feature of the Nexus One’s touch screen. The iPhone’s multi-touch feature is more than just fancy hand-waving; it allows you to use more than one finger at a time to interact with your mobile phone screen. This makes the phone easier to operate and cuts down on the number of buttons that would otherwise clutter its interface. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Nexus One. Though the Android interface itself has been given an appealing facelift, (with live animated backgrounds and the like), it is currently limited to single touch functionality. [Note: You can enable multi-touch yourself if you are brave enough to attempt a ROM hack on your Nexus One].

Another iPhone feature I missed in the Nexus One was a simple notepad. You may be able to download one from the Android Market, but not having one pre-installed is inconvenient, and it makes taking notes or jotting down ideas difficult when no pen and paper are handy. If you’re creative, you could record videos of yourself talking and then sync them with Evernote, but if you’re looking for more direct digital copies of you paper masterpieces, check out the Scan2PDF Mobile application which instantly converts phone photos of your notes into fully searchable PDFs.

As any personal trainer will tell you, you won’t see your best results until you’ve put in the necessary hard work and preparation. In the same way, the Nexus One really starts to shine brightest once you start using one of its most underappreciated yet most awesome features, its voice recognition technology. Leveraging the technology it has long been toiling over for its Google Voice telephone service, Google’s Nexus One makes searching as easy as pressing a button and telling your phone what you want it to find. Seriously, it’s that simple! After a few tries, the phone will train itself to recognize your voice patterns and will identify pretty much any word you throw at it. And since every search you do is logged with Google, I’m guessing that your subsequent search patterns will be used to teach the software so that it continually gets better at recognizing which of your verbal commands it interpreted successfully.

Even more useful, and novel by comparison to what the iPhone offers, is the voice-to-text feature which magically transcribes whatever you say to your phone into an email or text message. This voice recognition feature, in particular, turned out to be a big time saver for me, just like using voice recognition in the built-in GPS navigation made hands-free navigation that much easier and safer while driving.

If you currently have an iPhone and are looking for those extra features that will squirt a few more ounces of productivity into your life, you may want to wait until the next iPhone iteration comes out. The additional benefits the Nexus One offers are mostly under the hood, and while they do add up, the margin of difference they make depends upon how ambitious you are about tackling the learning curve burn cycle, especially if you’re already acclimated to the iPhone interface. On the other hand, if you aren’t in love with the iPhone or if you are upgrading from a previous non-iPhone model and are looking for a top of the line phone with tremendous long-term potential, the Nexus One is probably your best bet.

And in case you’re still deliberating over the technical details behind the gloss, I recommend checking out Gizmodo’s definitive smartphone comparison chart for a great side-by-side comparison of these top two contenders.

~jp

Justin Palmen is a recovering technoholic with a passion for everything fast, mobile, and cloud enabled.  When not working in cyberspace, he enjoys traveling to exotic locations and would love to travel in real space some day.  He’d also love to receive your questions or comments at jp@justanasterisk.com

Image via Wikipedia

Argue what you will about Starbucks taking over the world. I’m probably not going to argue.  In fact, normally I’d even join you. I experienced the joy of working at a Starbucks on the Upper West Side when I first moved to New York and I’ll be the first to rant about the evils of allowing already self-absorbed morons the to abuse hourly workers in the name of uniqueness.  The number of times I was told something rude by an Upper West Side mommy back from the gym but somehow wearing fur… Ohhhh you wanted your drink with a pint of my blood?  Let me just open a vein.  Coming right up.

However, I found something worth writing about on my recent trip to London: nearly free wireless. I think I’m in love. Here is a brief recap of how it works. Hopefully this truly beautiful gift will remain intact for ever and ever.

After leaving Starbucks for my first office job, I continued to frequent my old store as a loyal customer. For those who want to buy me a cup of coffee, I drink a grande americano with room for milk. Please wait till you come to NYC before you buy me one (no mail please). Anyway, I eventually signed up for the Starbucks rewards card. This lovely piece of plastic provided a 10% discount and ensured my on-going loyalty. This card was replaced recently by another but I still carry it with me and I’m registered online. Now for the magic – Starbucks introduced a program of free wireless via AT&T when you have an active card (used in the last month) that has a balance. What makes this even more incredible is that this service is provided in the UK too!  I get free wireless at all Starbucks in London via BTOpenZone. This is huge!  In a country (the UK) where wireless is crazy expensive, I get free access on nearly ever corner.

And yet, I do have a few questions… I buy an americano every time I connect. This has to be a great revenue creator for Starbucks, but why did I have to figure this out on my own??? Why didn’t someone let me in on the secret?  Moreover, why does this only happen at Starbucks? Obviously, I’ll spend less money at other coffee chains if they don’t offer the same service.

Anyway, I’ve said enough. Fellow American travelers to Britain, please take advantage of this lovely treat from the espresso behemoth. We want this to be successful so it catches on!

Internet access should be free. This is a great step. Well done Starbucks!

~ab

Filter one – Star messages that are confirmations of orders.

When I order something online, I often star confirmation messages of pending deliveries for quick reference.   I’ve had about 99% accuracy with this search:

((confirmation OR Thank you) and order)

Give it a try.  Put that same search in your search bar in Gmail.

Did it work?  The results should pretty much just be order confirmations… Click on to create your own filter with the same query.  Put the terms in the “Has the words” section, as shown below and click next step.

Check the box “Star It” as shown below, or you could add a new label for your orders.

Finally, click “create filter”.  In my case, I didn’t want to apply this to previous conversations, only new ones, so I didn’t check the box next to “Also apply filter to ### conversations below”

Filter 2 – Travel Itineraries

I travel quite a bit and my itineraries end up getting lost in a sea of incoming email.  I call them out with this query:

(Itinerary and confirmation) –unsubscribe

You might be wondering why I include the –unsubscribe.  This is to remove emails from vendors who are trying to sell me travel software (that can track itineraries and confirmations and therefore appear in my results).  Who needs a piece of software when I can make Gmail do it?

The setup for this one is similar.  Follow the steps above, but in the first screen put:

You could also have put unsubscribe in the “doesn’t have” field (without the “-“) and it has the same effect.

In this case, you might want to include a new label, creating a folder for all your travel plans.

Filter 3 – Work Emails need their own space.

This one is going to need to be customized, but it’s still a goodie.  I send most of my mail to the same place.  However, personal mixed with professional else gets a bit tiresome (and confusing).  Luckily, there is a simple solution.  A domain specific filter.  This will put email from a specific domain (like “gmail.com”) in a special folder.

Create a new filter and try this:

By including the @justanasterisk.com in your “From” field, you filter only the messages sent by that domain.  In the next screen you can apply a new label and save your changes.

I hope that these little filter tricks have either given you some new tools or some food for thought.  Let me know if you have any filter tricks in the comments.  I’d love to hear them!

~ab

Although this data is going to be old as soon as I post about it (for reference, the current date is Tuesday, November 17, 2009), a great study was just released by Square Trade.

Here is the link

For those unwilling to wade through it, here are some highlights:

1 in 3 Laptops fail over 3 years

As you go shopping this holiday season for a new notebook, make sure you take this into account.  One third of laptops are going to die in the first 3 years.  Do you really want to spend that much?  This certainly isn’t the last computer you’ll purchase.

Netbooks fail 20% more than laptops

To provide the full picture, it’s actually 20% more than entry level laptops (higher quality laptops fare even better against the netbook).  I have to say, I’m not entirely surprised that a notebook perfect for your lap (the netbook), which suffers much more heat strain than the average laptop, wouldn’t last as long.  At the end of the day, remember that heat is the enemy…

ASUS & Toshiba the most reliable

This is simple and sound data – ASUS and Toshiba most reliable.  No ambiguity there.  Delving deeper into the numbers, I was happy to see that Apple and Sony did well…  Here is the chart from the doc.

So that’s it – some fun mid-week reading and just in time for the black Friday shopping madness.  Be careful out there and don’t forget to do your research!

~ab

Thanks for reading!  As always, you can email post suggestions to ab@justanasterisk.com or posts@justanasterisk.com

~ab

We are know that web pages can be bookmarked.  The act of saving web pages for future browsing has become second nature.  However, today we’re going to talk about the bookmarklet, which is a bookmark but with magical powers (sometimes).

First off, let’s recap on what a bookmark does.  A bookmark is designed to copy a URL (the http://… thingy) into your address bar and send you to that location.  The key point here is that the browser simply gets passed a bit of information that it understands and it executes the command (GO HERE!).

A bookmarklet is the same thing, just with (sometimes) a more interesting result.  Instead of passing a URL to the browser, it sends a little piece of code (called JavaScript).  This little piece of code has some restrictions for security, but it can be very powerful when it comes to aesthetics.  Anything on the page can be fiddled with using JavaScript.

To show you what I mean, here is an example bookmarklet explained:

A good bookmarklet is available from Twitlet.com.  Here you provide you username and password to Twitter and the site generates a bookmarklet for you to save.  Anytime you click on the bookmarklet, you receive this box:

Anything you type is sent to twitter as an update without leaving the page you are visiting.

Once you’ve found a bookmarklet to use, you can drag it into your browser toolbar for quick access.  For example, here it is in Google Chrome.

And here is an example in Internet Explorer:

If you don’t see a bookmark bar or favorites bar, you might need to enable it.

Now that you know what a bookmarklet can do, try searching the web for bookmarklets to your favorite services!  They exist for Gmail, Google talk, twitter, Google calendar, etc…  Just about everything!

Finally, here are some (overkill) points before you go:

1. If you want to try out some of my bookmarklets for Google tasks, Google talk and Gmail (including bookmarklets for Google Apps users) go here.
2. On thegeekiness.com, I went into some detail on how to create bookmarks and provided some examples.  Check this out if you want to know how to create your own bookmarklet.
3. If you’d like to wade through a ton of possible bookmarklets, try out bookmarklets.com.

Good luck in your bookmarklet endeavors

~ab