We are finally back. After recording an admittedly terrible podcast about a month ago, we decided to scratch it, and wait for something we were a bit more passionate about. This isn’t our most heated podcast by any means, but we do come to an interesting fork in the road for the future of Android. Give it a listen and let us know how you feel about the recent developments in the Android camp.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 12 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Living with Android is a feature where we focus on what sets Android apart from the other guys
It’s not uncommon to find phones that have downloadable applications and stores in which to purchase said applications. However, one thing that always set Android apart for me were the types of applications that the Market strives towards. So I decided to try and create a top 10 list of applications that I use on a daily basis.
Sorry for the delay everbody. Lots of reasons for it, we had a friend from Seattle in town that we had to show around, and also laziness came into play.
We’re moving on up to podcast 11, a bit of a longer podcast for you. We ended up covering the likes of Google Voice, Verizons App Store plans and some other topical goodies.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 11 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We finally made it to Podcast 10, we counted all the podcasts, and we technically are at 21, if you count the two video podcasts that I’m still struggling to encode properly.
So please enjoy one of our most loosely planned podcasts. We ended up talking a lot about some of the things we would like out of Android, plus a little bit about Chrome OS and what that could potentially mean for operating systems and mostly Linux in the future.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 10 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We have an exciting announcement for this week’s podcast: it’s video! We haven’t even started editing, and we’re working out the details as far as how we’ll run it on our feed. In the meantime, why don’t you check out some quick snippets we recorded on our phones to test out and compare the video quality.
Living with Android is a feature where we focus on what sets Android apart from the other guys
-marvel at my lame photoshop skillz
For our first Living with Android post, I wanted to start by talking about what may become Android’s greatest strength; the ability to download alternative applications to Google’s built-in apps. The main reason Android got all of geek-dom supremely excited was it’s Open-Source nature. Meaning all parts of the phone will be open and accessible to any developers. If you don’t like how contacts are managed or you want more workspaces for your home screen, not a problem, either write you own version to your liking or peruse the Android Market for an alternative that seems to hit the points you were looking for. At the end of the day Android isn’t quite as open as originally intended, but it’s still miles beyond any of the competition.
In this exciting installment, Scott gives his impressions on the Pre. You might be surprised by what he has to say.
After the break, Scott also gives his impressions of the G1, which he now owns. That’s right: two phones, one week. Is it any surprise, then, that this week offered nothing in the way of posts?
P.S. This post was created entirely on the G1.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 09 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“We haz a Pre!” Scott proclaims.
And that about sums it up. We have a Palm Pre that Eric has been living with for a few days and has obviously mixed feelings about, to the point that he can barely explain what he’s feeling. Also in other news, this device called the iPhone 3GS came out, a few of you might have heard about it, nothing big, we talk a little bit about it.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 08 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On this week’s podcast: Scott drinks a bit too much on an empty stomach, we talk about the 3GS, and praise the wonders of Google. Basically, it’s pretty par for the course for us.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 07 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Now time for another After Smoke Break podcast. This time we try to figure out why someone who could obviously benefit from a smartphone just doesn’t seem to want one. We basically were stumped.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 06 After Smoke Break (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Iran just had it’s elections, and the Iranians are pissed. The defending president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, just “won by a landslide”. This statement was made, however, after counting paper ballots for just over 4 hours. The riots are enormous, as you can imagine. Now I don’t want to go into politics on this site, but what is happening in Iran bears mention on a site that focuses on the mobile lifestyle.
In Iran, sms messages and websites are being monitord and blocked by the government, presumably to prevent the views of the opposition from spreading. But they have found how to beat a technically ignorant administration. From their cell phones, Iranians they are posting videos of the protests to YouTube, and Tweeting news, opinions and photos to Twitter. The word will always get out when you care enough, and are smart enough to do it.
Good luck to you, friends in Iran. I salute you.
App Store on Shuffle is a weekly feature where The Mobile Ping finds, through highly scientific methods, a random iPhone app for review.
This time around, the random word generator gave me chills when it provided me with the word “refrigerator”. What the App Store recommended was surprising.
$0.99
We’re back talking about cellphones again, so all 3 of you listening can rejoice in a return to our proper subject matter. We’ve got the Palm Pre, iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS.
Enjoy and expect the after break portion up shortly.
The Mobile Ping - Podcast 06 (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
App Store on Shuffle is a weekly feature where The Mobile Ping finds, through highly scientific methods, a random iPhone app for review.
To explain how my first review came about, I feel that I need to go into a bit of detail as to how we choose apps for this feature. First we use a random word generator to find a common to uncommon noun. Then, we type it into Apple App Store search engine and download the first item we can afford. I say afford because I dread the day the generator throws “Oracle” at me.
For my first word I drew “Juvenile”. Already, I knew I was in for it, But I was not prepared for what was coming:
Celebrity - That’s What She Said - TWSS
$0.99
Go Wireless is a weekly feature where The Mobile Ping takes common tasks and situations and explains how to streamline your life using wireless technology.
For our first “Go Wireless” feature, I decided to use probably the most useful wireless convenience I’ve come across, Google Sync. Google Sync allows any Microsoft Exchange compatible phone (with the exception of Android phones, it just works) to sync with Google Calendar as well as Google Contacts. With “Go Wireless” we would like to focus on things that can be accessed through Standard Phones as well as Smart Phones, but Google Sync is such a convenience that it definitely deserves a mention.
We’re all home safely from E3, and sleeping off the excitement from our trip. While the lack of cell phone games was dissapointing, our experience with doing everything over cellular data networks gave us some amazing insight.
We met a lot of awesome people, had a lot of not-awesome food and beer, and had an absolute blast. After we get rested up and detoxed, we have a few changes to the site, so keep up!
Here’s our wrapup podcast for our E3 2009 trip. We recorded this in the car driving up I5 at 78mph. It sounds like shit and there’s a weird garbley low frequency sounds, but anyway you get the picture. I uploaded this over a mobile broadband connection at 150kbp/s while driving. Amazing.
The Mobile Ping - E3 Day 3 Podcast (.mp3)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I’ve gone to E3 three years previous to this years E3 and there’s been a large improvment with developer interaction this year. In previous years you didn’t get much face time with developers; if any at all. This year I have actually been able to carry on two way conversations with minimal shrugging off, because they can’t talk about that just yet. A perfect example is Ty from Hellbent Games. He has been working with Travelers Tales and Warner Bros to create Lego Battles. Lego Battles is an amazingly well designed RTS (Real Time Strategy) game with some amazing features. The game was originally designed to be 3 different games, but at the end they decided to combine them into one fantastic game.
Here’s the second E3 podcast we got for all you guys. We did this pretty quickly, just went over some of the games we checked out and gave a few impressions, overall I had a blast, but I’m exhausted. Enjoy!
The Mobile Ping - E3 Day 2 Podcast (.mp3)
Check us out tomorrow at some point (possibly early morning Saturday) for our final E3 podcast. We will probably be recording it in the car and uploading it to the site at a Denny’s or something, so it should be pretty exciting.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
As you may have noticed we are at E3 2009, and yes we know it’s not entirely related, we are pretty big gamers and this is a huge religious experience for us. So, we are going to be posting some podcasts while we are here.
So, without further ado…
The Mobile Ping - E3 Day 1 Podcast (.mp3)
Check us out tomorrow for our Day 2 podcast.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
TMP on Twitter!