Google Apps (etc.) still not ready for prime time

Many have heard me say it:  Google isn't ready for prime time, yet.  That appears to be the case, still.  I just went through the process of rationalizing the "old way" Google let users of Gmail and Google Apps be with the "new way" Google is requiring users to be. What this means is beyond the scope of this article.

Suffice it to say that with just a few services assoicated with Google Apps and Gmail, and only about 15 documents in Google Docs, this has taken me an hour (so far) to complete.  As is typical of Google Apps and associated services since the beginning, the process they document ALMOST works as described, and the places that comprise the cracks in that ALMOST working are deep and treacherous and time consuming.  I can only imagine what early adopters with thousands of documents and hundreds of users are going through.  I feel a tiny (1 user and 15 documents) bit of their pain.

Google Apps is very powerful and very capable and very attractively priced, but it has at least a couple of years of maturing to do before it catches up with with Exchange for core functions, and settles down the rest of the functions it offers beyond what Exchange can do.  Microsoft is threatened, to be sure, but as Google continues to mature its offerings, Microsoft is warming up the oh-so-complicated and oh-so-powerful Office 365.

Let the battle continue!

Hi, I'm Don and I'm an Android-a-holic!

Hi Don!

OK, I did it again.  The HTC Sensation is an amazing, outstanding, top-notch, nearly perfect phone.  Except for one thing:  T-Mobile's coverage, where I need to use it.  I've said before and I'll say again, in a 90-mile radius of my place here north of Denver, CO, Sprint has the best coverage, followed by Verizon, then T-Mobile, and AT&T taking up the rear.  Actually AT&T works very well in my home and office, but elsewhere it's, well, AT&T.

So yesterday the EVO 3D 4G came out.  Still a really dumb name.  HTC Sensation - now that's a name!  EVO 3D 4G, um, well, isn't.

But I went to see it yesterday and, to make a long story short (too late, I know) I bought one.  The economics of my recent phone decisions aren't as bad as one might think.  Yes, I'll have to pay T-Mo $200 to terminate early, and yes the EVO 3D 4G (hereinafter EVO) cost $200.  That's $400!, you say.  Yes, it is!  However, I got a $125 "porting credit" for porting my number (back) to Sprint, and I just checked on Gazelle.com (www.gazelle.com) and they'll give me $349 for the Sensation.  So, I spent $400, and I'll get $474.  Not bad.

So, the new EVO:

...Truly a superphone.  Amazing in every dimension.  Inexplicably zippier, as others have noted, than the equally awesome HTC Sensation.

...3D is a gimmick.  It's really pretty bad.  I have a 2D camera that's 5mpx, I I can live with that, for now.  I'll never turn 3D on.

...The EVO is nowhere near as elegant as the Sensation, even though it's nearly an identical phone, inside.  No aluminum body (which was a bit slippery, truth be told); no gently curved screen, not as thin.  The EVO looks like, well, an EVO.  Not all bad, but not what you'd call a head turner.  It looks like what the Sensation would look like in a bulkly case. . .

...HTC/Sprint left off the Flashlight app.  WHAT??  Easily fixed, here:  http://www.4shared.com/file/ZHQQZIbJ/Flashlight.html. 

...I've gotten some reports that I sound muffled, or crackly, but that might be because I'm in a place with no Sprint service, and am using an Airave device to make the calls.  We'll see.

...As with the Sensation, the EVO's darkest screen is still too bright to be a pleasing nightstand clock / alarm.  Both the Samsung's AMOLED and the LG's IPS LCD go "really dark" when turned to 0 brightness.  The EVO's screen, as with the Sensation's, glows white/gray when turned all the way down.  Not a showstopper - just annoying. 

Bottom line:  I spend 5000+ minutes a month on the phone, 2000 of which are in my car.  So a) Sprint's coverage is better / T-Mobile's isn't good enough, and b) Gingerbread phones work with my car.  a + b = EVO!

I don't actually get the $125 porting credit until day 61, so I think I'm on the EVO 3D 4G for the summer, at least.  Sprint is supposed to be coming out with a GSII phone later this summer, though, so don't count me out yet!

Yes, another Android phone . . .

OK, perhaps I've gotten a little carried away, but it was all for the truest of motives, with the best of intentions, and with generally positive results.  9 phones in one year.  Is that a record?

And, I'm back to an HTC Android phone, the Sensation, which is pretty close to where I started, with the EVO.

Herewith, some ramblings:

1.  HTC Sense

People love to hate the Sense layer that HTC puts on top of Android.  I can't say I agree with them.  Here's what I do not need to download, now that I have Sense 3.0:

Enhanced email and Contact Editor.  The HTC email client is hands down the best one out there.

Advanced Alarm Clock and Stopwatch & Timer.  The HTC clock/alarm/timer/stopwatch is advanced enough!

Advanced Call Log.  The HTC call log is very good.

Flashlight Zaphrox. The HTC flashlight . . . well, you get the idea.

Now, I do still need Calengoo and Calendar Snooze, since apparently the HTC folks put as little thought into the calendar as the Google folks do.  Maybe they don't use a calendar?

More as I have time.  For now:  Sense is the best layer out there, and improves on the stock Android experience. 

Wow! G2x review from Android Central!

My new phone.  Nice review!

http://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-g2x-review

Addendum from using this phone for a little over a month:  it's an amazing, powerful device, but in my relatively low signal area for T-Mobile, the reception/consistency on phone calls, and the battery life, are really verging on terrible.

How did Safari (and Mobile Me) get on my Windows computer?

All,

I've posted previously that Safari, whether on Windows or MacOS, scored lowest of any major browser on a recent security test, and that, to me, is a good enough reason to never see it on a Windows machine.  Then, how come it still shows up on so many Windows machines?

The answer:  iTunes.  The iTunes update process helpfully offers to install Safari, and Mobile Me, too:

If you don't uncheck the Safari and Mobile Me boxes, you'll get 'em!