1. Screen quality. iPhone wins, but only slightly over the EVO.

2. Multitasking. All of them do it, but Apple’s system is a LOT easier to figure out and manage. That said, AT&T’s new data plan pricing has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I’m going to have to use the iPhone 4 for a month to see how much data I actually end up using now that I can do things like use Waze for traffic at the same time as playing music on Pandora, or watching live streaming videos from Ustream, etc. The iPhone should be miles ahead here, because of its superior OS, but is only slightly ahead because AT&T is dragging down the experience for me.

3. Battery life. HUGE win for the iPhone 4, which gives up to 40% longer talk times than the 3GS, which is already giving me at least 40% better battery life than the EVO.

4. Application choice and quality. A slight win for iPhone 4. Overall I like apps on the iPhone better and there definitely are more to choose from. 225,000 according to Steve Jobs today. But there are some apps on Android that are better. Google Voice and Google Maps are two of them, which are pretty dramatic. I keep getting complaints from developers about the Apple approval process, too.

5. Feel in pocket. iPhone 4 wins here. It’s thinner and since it’s glass on both sides more pocket compatible.

6. Voice quality. The EVO is a LOT better than the iPhone 3GS, but I wasn’t able to try it out today for a phone call, so we’ll need to wait until June 24th for that.

7. Sexiness. The iPhone 4 wins here big time.

8. Carriers. The iPhone 4 LOSES here big time. AT&T has dead zones where none exist on my routes around the San Francisco Bay Area on Sprint or Verizon.

9. Video and camera. The iPhone wins here by quite a bit. The focusing on the iPhone is better. The quality seems like it is better, but I’ll need to do a head-to-head after June 24th to really know that for sure. The video features are FAR superior on the iPhone, especially the new editing features. I will buy the iPhone for these features alone, so for a video geek like me these are a huge deal. My wife, though, uses the iPhone camera a lot more than I do (I have a pro camera, she doesn’t and she takes a lot of pictures of the kids), so it’ll be interesting to see what she does with this.

10. Video games. The iPhone is already ahead here by a long shot and with its new gyroscope we should see even more apps for the iPhone that are cool and now that Zynga is bringing its games to the iPhone Apple has widened its lead. Yeah, yeah, I’m sure all the haters will remind me it doesn’t play Flash games but, sorry, that train has left the station and isn’t coming back.

11. Tethering. The EVO lets you share your phone as a wifi hotspot and lets other devices use its data plan to get on the Internet. This is wildly cool and how I get my family’s iPads on the Internet when driving in the car. Apple didn’t say a thing about tethering today and I’m hearing rumors that the iPad won’t tether with the new iPhone. So, this is a major feature in the EVO camp. Plus, AT&T’s new data plan restrictions really bug me.

12. Synch and services. Here Android kicks Apple’s ass. The iPhone has to be physically plugged into a computer and connected to iPhone to synch it. With the EVO I never have connected it physically to a computer. I just entered my Gmail address and password and all my contacts, all of my calendar items, all of my email, and all of my applications just showed up. This is a MAJOR advantage to the Android system.

So, will I start using an iPhone again? Yes, but I have the luxury of being able to afford two devices and I’m definitely keeping the EVO if just for the tethering. If I could only afford one? I’d go with iPhone 4 over the EVO. Mostly because the OS is nicer to use (hard to explain all the ways this is so in a short post, so you’ll have to wait for a longer post after I get mine), the video features, and the battery life is dramatically better. But I totally understand why many of you will ignore those advantages because AT&T sucks so much. If voice quality is more important to you than all the toys, the nicer OS, or the video chat, then definitely go for the Sprint or the Verizon.

To the second part of this question. Does Nokia, MIcrosoft, or RIM have a chance to get into the game?

Well, let’s look at the strength’s of each company.

1. Nokia has a ton of market share in low-end markets. That still gives it a powerful voice brand to build off of. Will it matter in the high end game? I don’t think it will, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of Nokia employees telling me why it does.

2. Microsoft has the Xbox and their new phone is coming from the same team. Wired also explained how Microsoft’s Kin and a bunch of services give it a leg into the game. I don’t buy that horseradish, but I can see how many of you will.

3. RIM has the best keyboards and best integration with Microsoft Exchange (still). Corporate IT folks care about both of these. Even Mark Zuckerberg carries a Blackberry to do email on. Until Android matches the keyboard quality RIM is safe. The first Motorola Droid has a dreadful keyboard. Will the next one have a good enough keyboard to let RIM’ers switch? We’ll have to see.

Anyway, Apple is still on top of the mind share mountain and that’s a powerful place, indeed, to be. Look for Apple’s sales and profits to continue to go up. I’m buying three (one for Patrick, one for Maryam, and one for myself).

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VentureBeat has all the details on their survey and other fun things they learned.

OK, nothing really shocking there, but I did sit down for an interview with CEO Jeff Haynie this afternoon.

In the interview Haynie explains why his developer platform is a lot faster to develop on than building apps in Objective-C (developers use standard web technologies, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, along with its own API, named Appcelerator Titanium, that is easy to call from JavaScript to do a variety of functions. You can watch a video where they explain more about how this works.

Basically Appcelerator is a competitor for Adobe’s AIR framework/app system but one that delivers onto the iPhone (and, within a few days, on the Apple Tablet, or whatever it’ll be called).

Yes Haynie is taking advantage of the Apple news, even before it happens, but I gotta appreciate that in a CEO.

Finally, in his survey they found that most of their developers see lots of opportunities for the Apple Tablet outside of the kinds of scenarios already discussed. We talk about these at length in the interview, but while gaming will be hot they see opportunities to develop new apps in entertainment, productivity/business, social networking, and education.

Ahh, Apple Tablet Hype Week continues…

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Unfortunately for the companies exhibiting, I was too busy gorging myself on grilled cheese sandwiches made with white chocolate orange bread and brie to remember where I put my Sam Adams. I didn’t get to see every company there because:

1. I didn’t want to.
2. It’s kind of tiresome talking to booth vendors after awhile.
3. I had to pry myself away from the grilled cheese.

But I did get a good taste of things. Below are my gut reactions from the various gadgets and tech toys I tried there. You can find all of their press kits online from Showstoppers, you can view more of my photos from the event on Flickr, and I have a handful of videos on YouTube.

Technology I started using right away: Seesmic for Droid

Seesmic is best known for its desktop Twitter client. I’ve tried it but I always wind up either using Twitter.com or a mobile app. On the Droid, the gold standard has been Twidroid, but I think they just went silver. When I met Seesmic founder Loic LeMeur, he showed me how Seesmic for Droid had integrated Twitter Lists, and any of its features I’ve tried out so far either mirror or surpass anything from Twidroid.

Gadget I don’t understand why anyone would ever buy unless they’re a board member’s mother: Plastic Logic’s Que

One of the hot product categories at CES were e-readers… no big surprise there. There was a pretty, glassy, thin one that debuted from Paper Logic called Que, which is designed to format newspapers and magazines in a more natural way while also making it easy to review and even annotate Microsoft Office docs like presentations. I fell over when I heard the price - $649 (4GB wifi) or $799 (8GB wifi and 3G).

So let’s see – you can get a netbook for a few hundred, or a tablet somewhere close to $1000. If tablets go big, they will kill the market for this device because tablets have web browsers, color, and really any features you’d expect from your laptop without the physical keyboard. When I saw another demo of the Que they were very quick to say you shouldn’t spend much time typing – it was only for brief notes. When I appeared skeptical, on more than one occasion, different reps would say, “But it’s for business!” It’s reminiscent of the “You know, for kids!” tagline from Hudsucker Proxy. But at least in Hudsucker Tim Robbins was selling the hula hoop, a gadget that filled a need in the market.

By the way one reader that looks far more compelling is the Skiff, but pricing hasn’t been announced. Here are some views of the Que:

This wasn’t an easy award to give out – so many contenders… but Sensawaft lets you control computing devices just by breathing. The guy below was blowing into a mic and controlling flicking a website up and down. I got to do this too, and it took a little getting used to, but yes, the direction of the air blown can make a difference.

I can see it being used in some kind if My Left Foot scenario – I mean, imagine if the guy played by Daniel Day Lewis had this. Or if he had the Internet. The movie would have probably been a little less depressing.

There are some things I like about it. One big one is that they’re opening up the platform, and they created the Be A Mind Blower competition to get people to submit ideas.

I have seen other applications of breath blowing digital tech. GE’s Plug Into the Smart Grid augmented reality showcase allowed you to blow into the computer mic and turn the wind turbines. I’m sure this Sensawaft stuff is more sophisticated and perhaps more useful, but I think if your cubicle mate hears you blowing into your computer all day, they’re going to report you for running a 900 hotline.

Most creative use of an iPhone application: Yurbuds by Yurtopia

Yurbuds hooked me on a great use of both cool and practical, and it offered a fun demo of how digital tools can improve retail for physical goods.

The basic premise: custom-fitting earbuds. They have a much longer explanation for how these earbud covers fit better around your optic nerves and improve the sound and maybe improve your balance (I could use that last feature but I’m making that up). Go to their site for the specs. Ultimately, they’re these rubbery covers that make your earbuds fit better in your ear, even when running, or as I tried, waving your head back and forth like an idiot. They didn’t fall out.

What upped the cool factor tremendously though is that they’re sized with an iPhone app. You hold a quarter up to your earlobe, take a picture, and they use that to determine your ear size. It worked for me. On their site they also do it with a photo submission process. The price is $20 for the covers or $30 for the covers with the earphones, and their earphones look EXACTLY like iPod earphones. Full disclosure: I got a free pair of the earbuds and the earphones, and I used them on the plane ride home. The sound was about as good as you can expect to get from watching a Jets game on a Jetblue flight.

Best musical instrument for someone who can’t even figure out Guitar Hero: Beamz

If your kid can’t play any of these real musical instruments or even video games based on them, get them Beamz – a way to make noise just by running your hand across laser beams. They even advertise this on their site, calling it “an approachable instrument that anyone may play.” In other words, if your musical talents include banging a rock on the ground and almost kind of being able to whistle, you’ll love this.

It’s weird. I tried it out and, not being among the most rhythmically gifted, didn’t really let loose there. If you’re of drinking age, I highly recommend doing a few shots before trying this. But please note this blog does not advocate giving liquor to minors – they will enjoy it just fine as they are.

Apparently some real artists use it. I can’t remember who but they sounded famous. And you can program the Beamz to play any kind of instrument. They also have a new game Shadowbeamz. So yes, people who are talented can probably have even more fun with this than people who aren’t. But it is “approachable.” That’s one of those words often used as a backhanded compliment, but for those who like toys that make a lot of noise, I think “approachable” is a huge upside here.

Technology with most promise that’s not delivering (for me): PlayOn

I couldn’t love the idea of PlayOn more: you download software (free trial, then $40 flat fee), use your gaming console to connect to the Internet, and watch video from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and elsewhere on your TV. I thought this was the most impactful technology at all of Showstoppers.

Then I tried to use it.

It didn’t take too long to set up on my PC and then my Wii. A nice touch is that you can add your accounts for Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube so you can quickly access your content.

I tried going to Hulu first to watch some TV shows, only to get a recurring ‘error loading video’ message. Then I went to YouTube to load one of my own, a brief clip from CES. It took a couple minutes to load, and then it was choppy – and this was just a 20-second clip.

My PC passes all the connection tests in the PlayOn software, but maybe if I had a newer laptop it would run better. I really wish this would work so I could easily watch Hulu on my HD TV without even needing a box. Great idea, and maybe it works better for others. It’s a free trial so I’d still recommend giving it a shot to see if it works for you.

If it does though, I might be coming over to your place to watch it.

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Since then, technology and gadget bloggers have been in a frenzy not seen by me since the iPhone was first announced. I’m not about to get into the many details of Google’s Nexus One phone–I’m going to take a different angle, below–but you can read all about the unlocked Android phone, here, here, and here. Oh, and here’s what it looks like:

So, what’s my take on this?

The media frenzy!

OMG! I don’t know how much Motorola and Verizon spent trying to hype up the launch of the recent Droid phone, but that publicity doesn’t compare to what Google has accomplished over the weekend.

How smart was Google? It handed out free phones to Google employees, either didn’t tell them to keep quiet about it, or actively encouraged the discussions, and let the details slowly leak out. All weekend long, I’ve seen post, after article, after post hit the web. Right about now, everyone that doesn’t own an iPhone is currently drooling over becoming a Google Nexus owner–and there are probably a few iPhone owners feeling the same way too!

Perhaps Google has realized that it’s just not that good at artificially creating excitement with its own advertising. The company became the world’s #1 search engine via word of mouth. Could it own the world’s #1 cell phone the same way?

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You can view the Windows 7 training screen shots related to Linux here.

The Windows vs. Linux comparison material is likely defendable, but does not paint Microsoft as the open source enlightened company that they’d like to become, or at least be viewed as.  I should clarify “likely defendable”.  Most of the screen shots are, in my view, accurate.  It’s difficult to argue that any other OS has broader support for printers, digital cameras, video cameras, applications or games than Windows.

On the other hand, it is easy to argue with claims that:

“There’s no guarantee that when security vulnerabilities are discovered, an update will be created. Users are on their own.”

Or that Linux does not have “Authorized support”.

These claims are accurate if you’re comparing versus an unsupported community distribution of Linux.  But these claims are plain wrong if you’re comparing versus a supported Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop.

Microsoft could have handled this potential for misinformation by adding another column for “Supported Linux” or adding a note at the bottom of each table.

Now here’s the surprising thing.  BestBuy doesn’t sell Linux machines.  So why in the world would Microsoft want to provide this information to BestBuy sales representatives?  I understand that these types of marketing enablement material is created once, and used essentially as-is for several audiences.  Some of Microsoft’s sales channels certainly also sell Linux machines.  Hence, this education was intended for them, and not necessarily BestBuy.

Note to Microsoft; tailor these materials by audience in the future.  Or even better, don’t deliver marketing enablement for certain audiences that you wouldn’t feel confident publishing on your public website.  This applies to Microsoft as much as any vendor.

What I don’t understand is why Microsoft is even putting Windows 7 on the same page as desktop Linux.  This may be a comparison that I or other open source proponents want to see.  But it’s not a comparison that typical PC buyers consider.  Why isn’t OS X in that comparison table?  Shouldn’t Microsoft be comparing with the operating system that PC buyers consider to be comparable, if not superior, to Windows 7? Maybe that was another section of the training material?

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You’re spoiled for choice with a growing number of web services and iPhone apps, all (currently) free.

In March, I discovered Audioboo, a free service that gives you the ability to record up to five minutes of audio on your iPhone and publish the recording to your Audioboo account on the web, complete with descriptive text, tags and your  geo-location data if you choose to include that.

At about the same time, I found out about ipadio, a phone-based system that offers a broader and deeper range of audio services including recording audio from any telephone. Nemisys, the UK company behind ipadio, released a new ipadio for iPhone app last week, a free app which, from  my user perspective, broadly does the same as Audioboo. (I’ll be posting a comparative review of Audioboo and ipadio soon.)

Apps like this focused on the phone – specifically, the iPhone – make it as easy as you can imagine to record and share audio content on the web. No microphone, software nor computer, just the iPhone. It couldn’t be simpler.

Well, it looks like it just got even simpler thanks to a tool like Chir.ps, a web- and iPhone-based service and app that lets you speak, record and publish with a few clicks at the website or screen taps on the iPhone.

The web service is simplicity itself, making use of a microphone you have connected to your computer or a built-in one to record via the service’s Flash-based interface.

It’s equally simple on the iPhone as Chir.ps hasn’t developed its own app but instead makes use of the Voice Memos recording app that comes with Apple’s version 3.0 operating system for the iPhone.

Voice Memos lets you record and share audio via email or MMS. With Chir.ps, you record and email your recording to Chir.ps which publishes it in your account on the website.

How simple is that?

Each of these apps has its strengths and weaknesses (in my experience, lots of strengths and very few weaknesses) so you use what you judge to be the best app for the job at hand.

Each of them offers a number of ‘social’ elements (including embed codes, followers, text commenting, marking as favourites, etc) although Chir.ps is quite literally embedded with Twitter, linking your Twitter account when you do your first recording.

You’re already seeing some imaginative uses of such tools, especially Audioboo and ipadio on the iPhone as entry points into audio blogging/podcasting but without the infrastructure.

These aren’t the only audio-recording apps and services out there, either. There’s TweetMic, for instance, which I’ve been experimenting with as well. Also stand-alone recording apps for the iPhone such as Griffin iTalk.

It’s never been easier to get your voice heard on the net.

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<a href=”http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo” target=”_new” title=”Future Vision Montage”>Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Now as reported by Gregory T. Huang, Craig Mundie gave some more insights on the Future Vision in helping to kick off Microsoft Research’s 10th annual faculty summit. These were the top five takeaways from his talk:

1. It’s all about the natural user interface.

Today’s devices are able to understand voice, handwriting, and touch commands better than ever before, but nobody has really put it all together yet. Advances in computing algorithms will lead to software that is “better at anticipating what you might want.”

2. It’s time for the digital assistant—but fear not, real assistants.

In a demo, Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz talked to a “robotic receptionist” (on a screen) to schedule a meeting. The software used machine vision to track Horvitz’s movements, gaze, and orientation to the screen, speech recognition to understand what he was saying, and speech synthesis to communicate back to him—all in real time.

3. It’s not all about the cloud.

As we move to continuous, contextual awareness, the idea that we can time-share these things is not practical. Processing, communication, and integration with any other software needs to be done locally, not by a remote server in the Internet cloud. – clearly countering the Google approach to the cloud.

4. It’s four devices, not three.

Mundie outlined four types of devices in his broader view of computing: phones, laptops, desktops, and something he called “specialty computers.” These are handhelds specialized to do certains kinds of computationally intensive tasks, like environmental forecasting, medical imaging analysis, or even delivering prenatal care in rural regions of a developing country.

5. The room is the successor to the desktop.

In the office of the future, there will be high-definition displays on walls, a keyboard projected onto a desk surface, gesture recognition software that lets you move things around on a digital whiteboard, a digital assistant on the screen, a video conference with a colleague with interactive graphics within the video screen, and so forth.

This Microsoft vision is certainly an impressive display of what may well be available.

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If the Android phones can be released sooner rather than later, it should provide some interesting competition for the summer phone war against the iPhone and Blackberry, among others. The applications available for the Android will play a major factor in consumer’s buying decisions.

This is where there is still some confusion regarding the Android OS. According to the Times, there are three types of Android platforms. Each places different requirements on the handset manufacturers and wireless carriers. The Times broke each of these types out, here is a short summary of them:

1. Obligation Free—Popular Google applications cannot be preloaded on the OS, but device manufacturers are allowed to provide access to as many or as few applications as they wish. This type is free for device manufactures to use.
2. Small Strings—This version encompasses everything above, but manufactures sign a distribution agreement with Google. Google expects 12 to 14 of the 18 phones released this year to use this version.
3. The Google Experience—The actual Google logo appears on these phones, and include a variety of Google applications that cannot be removed by the handset maker or carrier. Additionally, the Android market must remain censor-free. This means that no matter how horrible/distasteful a application available to some users may be, they cannot restrict access to it. Five or six phones are expected to be released with this version.

Are you thinking of switching to a phone with the Android OS?

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Amy Quinn over at the Online Education Database has come up with 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better categorized in 8 main sections. You can check out Amy’s full post here, but here are a few of the top iPod tips and resources.

Study Guides

• Spark Notes: Long considered a busy high school or college student’s best friend, the online study guide database now offers users an iPod-friendly version. Get summaries and analyses of books like A Tale of Two Cities, Beowulf, Hamlet and more.
• iPREPpress: This website provides study guides, travel guides and foreign language training, all compatible with iPods.

Podcasts and More

• GoogleGet: Get your Google News and iPod in sync by installing this software program. You’ll stay current on all the top news stories, making you better prepared for class or work.
• Soundwalk: This site currently only sells CDs and MP3s, but you can use an MP3-iPod converter to check out unique self-guided audio tours like “The Bronx Graffiti Walk” or “The Paris St. Germain Walk.”
• Pod CityGuides: This site has hundreds of city guides that are compatible with iPods, so no one has to know you’re really a tourist.

Tutorials

• Learning Podcasting: If you want to create your own podcast to share your skills or expertise on a particular subject, read this in-depth introduction to podcasting from Wise-Women.org.
• Podtender 3.0: This software program will teach you how to make all kinds of tasty cocktails for your next party.
• PodGourmet 2.0: Teach yourself to become a master chef when you get recipes

Applications

• iGadget: Make your class notes, presentations, study guides and other materials iPod-friendly by using iGadget. You’ll be able to move documents and files back and forth between your iPod and your computer easily and securely.
• Plato Video to iPod Converter: Use this app to transform all kinds of video formats into MP4 formats so that you can upload video clips and footage onto your iPod.

More Downloads

• iJourneys: Take walking tours in cities like Salzburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris and Ancient Rome by downloading iPod-compatible guides from this site.
• Audio Bibles for iPod: AllBibles.com offers iPod-compatible Bibles for theology and seminary students, or for those who just want a more portable version to take along with them.

iPod Learning Support

• iPod in the Classroom: Take a look at Apple’s collection of lesson plans for teachers who want to use their iPod for classroom work.
• iLounge: Get together with other iPod users to find out about new things you can do with your iPod.

Tools and Sites

• ShowFootage: Browse through this site’s library of video clips to make your presentations and projects more attractive.
• Audible.com: Find a large variety of books, newspapers and magazines ready to download to your iPod on this site. Categories include Romance, Classics, Business, History and more.

iTunes U

• Stanford on iTunes: Take a class from Stanford by downloading one onto your iPod. Or, you can find interviews with faculty and lectures to help you better understand the course material at your own school.
• University of California — Berkeley: Classes from this well-respected school are available in chemistry, the social sciences, journalism and much more.

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