Final Verdict - 6P v. Pixel XL - Who Wins?

On January 12th I posted an article about giving the Pixel XL a try.  As a long-time Verizon customer, I received an offer to upgrade to the Pixel XL from my Nexus 6P for only about $15 a month for 24 months.  Verizon gives you 14 days from the date you receive the phone to return it if you are not happy with it. I ordered the Pixel around the middle of December of last year.  I finally received it on January 11th. 14 days were up on January 25th. During those 14 days I used it extensively to make sure that I would be happy switching from the 6P to the XL. After all, this was a 24 month commitment that I was being asked to make.  I used every bit of my 14 days to test drive the Pixel XL.  I made my final decision on January 25th, the last possible day that I had to return it.  I ended up driving down to my local Verizon store and returned the Pixel XL and reactivating my Nexus 6P.  It was not an easy decision to make. I was going back and forth in my mind up until the very last minute. I made my final decision while in the parking lot of the Verizon store.  I've had a few days to think about my time with the Pixel XL and I want to share with you my thoughts about the Pixel and what went into my decision to stick with the 6P.  

Pixel XL Is a Great Phone

First of all, let me start off by saying that the Pixel XL is a great phone. I would be willing to say that the Pixel XL is probably the best Android phone ever made.  Having said that, the phone is not perfect.  But while not perfect, the Pixel XL is about as good as it gets when it comes to an Android phone.  The display on the Pixel XL is outstanding.  The only other Android phone that may have a display that is comparable to the Pixel XL may be the Samsung Galaxy S7.  My wife has the Apple iPhone 7S and the display on the Pixel XL is much better than the iPhone.  The size of the phone is excellent. It's not too big and not too small. Being that I only had two weeks with the phone, I had not gotten completely used to the size of the phone.  The Nexus 6P is much larger.  But I could see myself getting used to the size of the Pixel XL if I had a little bit more time with the phone.

The phone is buttery smooth and the vanilla Android experience makes the phone easy to use and as fast and smooth as any Android phone I've ever used.   I did not experience any problems with the operation of the phone. It never slow down or failed to do anything I wanted it to do immediately. The fact that the phone is running the latest version of Android 7.1.1 is a great thing. And knowing that the phone will receive monthly security updates directly from Google is another strong selling point.

The camera on the Pixel XL is the best thing about the phone. The camera on the Pixel XL is absolutely outstanding. I took many pictures with the phone to test it out. Every single picture I took on the Pixel was outstanding. In addition to the great pictures, the camera is super fast. Once you tap on the button to take a picture, there is no delay or lag when it comes to taking a picture. The Pixel XL has the best camera ever on an Android phone. Google hit it out of the park when it comes to the camera on the Pixel XL.

Google also hit it out of the park when they made it possible for any photos taken on a Pixel to be backed up to Google Photos in high resolution without counting towards your Drive storage limit. Currently, any photos you take on your Android phone will get backed up to your Google Photos account in normal resolution for free.  But if you want those photos backed up in high resolution, the photos will use up your Drive storage limit. But any photos taken on the Pixel get backed up in high resolution for free.  I have never backed up my photos in high resolution before I tried the Pixel. I can tell you that pictures backed up in Google Photos in high resolution are much better than the standard resolution that Google allows for free. So in addition to the great photographs taken by the Pixel XL camera, you get to back up those photos in high resolution for free forever.

If I was a heavy user of my camera, I would probably switch to the Pixel XL just for the benefits available on Google Photos and the excellent camera. I have a few friends who have young kids who take pictures all the time. My kid is in his late teens so I don't take as many pictures as I used to. But for someone who needs the best camera experience, I strongly suggest the Pixel XL.

Things I Didn't Like

The main thing that I did not like about the Pixel XL was its speakers. I am a heavy user of the Waze navigation app on my phone. I have a cell phone vent mount in my car and I always place my phone in it and use the Waze app even when I know where I'm going.  I do this so that I can get there faster by using the unique features available in the Waze app. It's one of my most used apps.  The Pixel XL has two speakers that are located at the very bottom of the phone.  I mount my phone horizontally, which causes the Pixel's speakers to be pointed away from me, and I can barely hear the bottom facing speakers on the Pixel XL.  My Nexus 6P has two speakers that are located at the top and bottom of the front of the phone. These front-firing speakers on the 6P are much louder than the Pixel. There were several times when I did not hear something coming out of the phone while using Waze on the Pixel even though I had the volume set to the max. I don't think I've ever had that problem with my Nexus 6P.  In addition to the problems experienced with the Pixel's speakers in my car, the placement of the speakers at the very bottom of the phone makes it very easy to cover the speakers with your hand when holding the phone.   I would strongly suggest that Google address the speaker problem with the Pixel 2 by just putting the two speakers on the front of the phone like they did with the Nexus 6P. Apple put the speakers on the front of the iPhone 7S.  I don't understand why Google put them at the very bottom.  Especially since the phone is built by HTC, the cell phone maker known for it's "Boom Sound" speakers on past cell phones.

For me, the speaker issue is a big deal.  I use the speakers more than I use the camera.  That's why the speaker issue was such a huge deal for me.  I suppose that if I used the camera more it wouldn't be that big of a deal for me.  But if the Pixel XL had the same front firing speakers as the Nexus 6P, or the iPhone 7S, I probably would have the kept the Pixel XL and ditched the Nexus 6P.

There's a few other things about the Pixel that I did not like. While none of these reasons dramatically impacted my final decision I do want to point them out because they may matter to you. The WiFi on the Pixel was not as good as the WiFi on the 6P.  I pick up my kid on the side of his High School almost every day.  On my 6P I can pick up the Wifi from the High School. I get a pretty good signal and I'm able to stream music from my TuneIn Radio app onto my car stereo while waiting for him. But with the Pixel, I could not detect the WiFi signal from the school.  In addition, when running a Wi-Fi speed test from home on the 6P and the Pixel, I would get slightly higher download speeds on the 6P. But only slightly.

I did experience some missed calls on the Pixel from home.  My home office is located in the basement of my house. I get a weak cellular signal in the basement.  Usually one or two bars.  In spite of the weak signal I don't think I've ever had a dropped or missed a call on my 6P while using it in the basement. The Pixel has the option to enable WiFi calling. There is no such option available on the 6P.  When I got the Pixel I enabled this feature immediately.  After I did that, I noticed that I missed a couple of calls while I was in the basement.  My phone did not even ring.  After a few days I disabled the WiFi calling feature on the Pixel and relied strictly on the cellular service from Verizon.  I did not have any call issues with the Pixel after that.  I assume that the problem was the WiFi calling.  Since this is a feature that is provided by Verizon, I cannot blame the Pixel for this problem.  It's probably Verizon's fault. They need to improve their WiFi calling feature.

HD voice is another feature that I would like to talk about. The first time I noticed HD voice was shortly after I got the Pixel. I was calling my wife on her iPhone 7S and I noticed that the call was crystal clear and I could see on the screen an indication that HD Voice was active. I noticed that several calls on the Pixel in the last two weeks were going through HD Voice. I think it's a wonderful featured to have. If a call is being made on HD Voice, you can't help but notice how crystal clear the voice on the other end is.  But here's the thing.  It looks like HD voice has more to do with Verizon than than the Pixel.  A few minutes after I turned in the Pixel and started heading home in my car with my Nexus 6P I made a phone call to my wife. To my surprise I noticed that same crystal clear voice on the other end.  I looked at the screen of my 6P and I see the same HD Voice indicator.  So it turns out that HD Voice is not exclusive to the Pixel. I have noticed that I am making and receiving calls and HD Voice is active on my Nexus 6P. I'm very happy about that because I thought that when I turned in my Pixel XL that I was also losing HD Voice.  But it looks like it's a feature that I will have on my Nexus 6P.   Makes me feel a little better about my decision to turn in the Pixel XL.

Conclusion

As you can see, I have very few complaints about the Pixel XL.  I really do believe that it's the best Android phone ever made.  Then you may ask why I didn't keep the phone?  I've been thinking about that and I think the decision had more to do with the Nexus 6P than it did with the Pixel.  In addition to realizing what a great phone the Pixel XL is, I also came to better appreciate how really great the Nexus 6P is.  While the Pixel XL is a better phone the Nexus 6P is not that far behind.  The 6P is running the exact same version of Android as the Pixel.  Now there are a few additional features available on the Pixel XL such as Google Assistant, but this feature is so new that I don't think anyone missing it on the 6P is really going to notice.  The Pixel's camera is clearly superior to the 6P. But you only really notice this when you compare pictures taken by the Pixel to pictures taken by the 6P.  If you are using the 6P to take pictures and don't have a Pixel to compare it with, the camera on the 6P is pretty darn good.  I would venture to say that for the average Android user, the 6P camera would be just fine.

With all the other things that the Pixel is better at than the 6P, the 6P is not far behind the Pixel. While the Pixel's display is better than the 6P the 6P's display is still very good.  And while the Pixel is faster and smoother than the 6P, the 6P is still very fast and very smooth.  All the more impressive when you consider that the Nexus 6P is one year older than the Pixel and was only half the price of the Pixel.

In summary, the Nexus 6P is still good enough that there were not enough sufficiently compelling reasons to upgrade to a Pixel right now.  Looking into the future, I can see the Nexus 6P getting a little old.  And just thinking of some of the upgrades that could be included in the next version of the Pixel makes me think that for me, a Nexus 6P user, it would be wiser to wait until the end of the year and upgrade to the next Pixel.  I hope that Google does a better job with the speakers with the next Pixel.  I have looked at several online reviews of the Pixel and the speaker issue appears to be a common complaint by reviewers.  I hope Google is listening.

I hope my review helps.  Hit me up on the comments if you have any questions or have anything to add!

Nexus 6P v. Pixel XL: Is It Worth the Upgrade?

I have been a Verizon customer for many years. The past year I've been using the Nexus 6P which I bought on Amazon. I've been very happy with the 6P.  I have no complaints and was not looking for an upgrade. But about a month ago I stopped at the Verizon store and checked out the Pixel XL. Verizon had a deal going which would only cost me about $10 a month so I decided to give it a shot and try out the Pixel XL. I have 14 days to return the phone and pay a small restocking fee so I decided to give it a try. I received the phone yesterday and activated it. I want to give my readers my initial impressions of the Pixel XL and discuss whether 6P owners should upgrade to the Pixel XL. Here's my initial impressions:

Set Up Is a Breeze

As a long time Android user I can tell you that Google has been making strides in coming up with a seamless and effortless way to transition into a new phone. In the early days of Android you had to manually download your apps and manually input your accounts and settings to set up your new phone. Then Google began restoring apps automatically from the cloud but you still had to manually set up your accounts and your settings.  The setup process for the Pixel XL has improved the Android experience once again. The phone comes with an adapter that allows you to connect your old phone with your new Pixel XL and easily transfer the apps, the accounts and settings from your old phone to your new phone. From my experience the process was not 100% successful. While all of the apps, with the exception of one or two, were automatically installed on the new phone, more of the settings were not successfully transferred. I found myself having to sign in on a couple of apps, but this was not a serious problem.  While not 100% successful it was sufficiently good enough that it did speed up the process and make it much easier to transition into a new phone. Android has made incredible strides when it comes to transferring apps and the data from your old phone to a new phone. The experience was positive and I have to give Google credit for really streamlining the process and making it very easy for me to set up the new Pixel.

Physical Appearance

My initial impression was that the 6P and the Pixel XL are the same size. But the more I look at the phones, especially side-by-side, the 6P is noticeably larger than the Pixel XL. While not much bigger, the more you look at the Pixel XL, the more you realize that the 6P is a larger phone. I don't know what impact that will have on my impressions of the phone. I say that because when I got the 6P I was coming from a 2014 Moto X. For the first couple of weeks the 6P felt very uncomfortable with its larger size. I was worried that the 6P was too big. But after a few weeks, I got used to it and learned to like the size of the 6P. In my first 24 hours with the Pixel XL, I find myself wondering whether the size of the phone will be a problem. Thinking that it may be too small. I'm thinking that I need to get used to it like I did the 6P. So my judgement about the size of the 6P has to wait.

Overall, I prefer the appearance of the 6P.  The Pixel XL is not a very attractive phone. The plastic and glass back doesn't do anything for me. The metal backing on the 6P is more attractive to me and makes the phone seem more substantial and premium in spite of the price difference. While both phones are slippery, the Pixel XL seems to be a little more slippery than the 6P. Both phones require a case. Not only does that improve the grip of the phone but it protects them from being damaged if dropped.

Overall the 6P wins in physical appearance.  But that is probably more of a personal preference.

Performance

The Pixel XL performs better than the 6P. There is no doubt that the Pixel XL is slightly faster and than the 6P. Having said that I am not putting down the 6P at all. While the difference in the performance of the phones is noticeable, the Pixel XL is only slightly better than the 6P. The display on the Pixel XL is better than the display on the 6P. This may be one of the biggest differences in the phones.  It is crisp and clearer than the 6P. The blue colors used in the system settings on the Pixel XL are an improvement over the dull green colors on the 6P. The display on the Pixel XL is brighter and more pleasing to the eye. But that should be expected considering that the Pixel XL is much more expensive than the 6P and about a year newer.

So when it comes to performance, the Pixel XL wins.

Battery Life

Since I've only had the Pixel XL for about 24 hours, it would be unfair for me to render a final judgment when it comes to battery life. But I do want to point out that I never had any battery issues with my 6P. My 6P would never run out of battery life but it would never make it through an entire day without a charge either. In the short time that I have had with the Pixel XL I haven't noticed any drastic improvement in  battery life over the 6P. If anything, the battery life on the Pixel XL may not be quite as good as the 6P. But then again, it may just take a little bit of time for the Pixel XL to settle in and give me a better idea of the performance of the battery.  It wouldn't be fair to the Pixel to render judgment on it's battery life this early.

So at this time, no judgement on the battery life.

Camera

We've been hearing that the camera on the Pixel XL maybe the best camera ever on a smartphone. This may be true. The pictures taken by the Pixel XL are outstanding. They are very clear and look great. A definite improvement over the pictures taken by the 6P. Just take a look at the pictures taken at the top of this post.  The photo of the 6P was taken by the Pixel XL while the photo of the Pixel XL was taken by the 6P.  You can clearly see which picture is better. But the biggest advantage that the Pixel XL could have over the 6P is the ability to save all of the photos taken on the Pixel XL to Google Photos in high resolution for free. Any pictures taken on the Pixel XL will be saved to Google Photos in high resolution. Any space taken on Google Photos will not count towards your Google Drive storage limit. That is a big deal for people that take lots of pictures. For many customers, this may be a big enough advantage that will make upgrading to a Pixel XL a no-brainer. For me, it may not be that big of a deal because I don't take lots of pictures. But I will acknowledge that this is a huge advantage that the Pixel XL has over the 6P. Like battery life I don't think it would be fair for me to render a final judgment on the Pixel XL camera until I spend a little bit more time playing with the phone. But regardless of what happens, there is no doubt that the Pixel XL camera is a big improvement over the 6P. The unlimited Google Photos storage in high resolution and the speed of the camera alone are enough to give the Pixel XL the edge over the 6P. Taking pictures is a snap. You tap on that button to take a picture and it's almost instantaneous!

So while it's a little early to render a final judgment on the camera, I am confident in saying that the Pixel XL camera is a big Improvement over the 6P.

Software

The biggest advantage to owning a Google phone, whether it's a Nexus or the Pixel, is that your phone will be upgraded to the latest and greatest version of Android first.  That's true for both the 6P and the Pixel XL. Both are running Android 7.1.1. But while both phones are running the same version of Android, the Pixel XL has a few features that are not available on the 6P. First of all, when you first set up the phone you are notified you can set up Wi-Fi Calling. This is something that you cannot do on the 6P. I don't know if this will make a difference for me but knowing that if I am somewhere where I cannot get a signal to make a phone call but have access to Wi-Fi that I will be able to make a phone call is a good thing.  It's better to have the ability to do this than it is to not have the ability to do so.   HD Voice is also available on the Pixel XL. I don't know if this feature is available exclusively to the Pixel XL or if this is just a feature that Verizon offers on all new phones. I haven't made enough phone calls to decide whether this is a big deal, but just like the Wi-Fi calling, I would think that it's better to have this feature than to not have it.

I've been hearing that the Verizon version of the Pixel will not be upgraded as quickly as the Google Store version of the Pixel. I can assure you that that is not the case. As soon as I turned on my Pixel XL yesterday, I was notified that a system update was available. I downloaded and installed that update. That update was the January security update to 7.1.1. My 6P has yet to receive that update. So it looks like the Verizon version of the Pixel XL will be updated by Google without delay

The biggest software feature that the Pixel XL has over the 6P is Google Assistant. It looks like Google Assistant is Google's answer to Apple's Siri. It basically gives you the ability to control the phone with your voice.  Setting it up is really simple. It takes a minute or 2 to train Google Assistant to recognize your voice and a simple command of "Ok Google" wakes your phone and gives you the ability to do pretty much anything you want by just using your voice. I was able to send a text message using my voice from beginning to end flawlessly. It's going to take a little bit more experimenting with Google Assistant for me too render a final judgement but the little I've seen of Google Assistant is very promising.  My understanding is that Google intends to add more features to Google Assistant as time goes by.

The additional software features available on the Pixel XL gives the Pixel XL a clear software advantage over the Nexus 6P.

Conclusion

After reading my initial review you would think that the Pixel XL is a hands-down winner over the Nexus 6P. I don't think that I am ready to make that conclusion. While the Pixel XL is an improvement over the 6P, the improvements are not drastically better than the 6P. The advantages that the Pixel XL has over the 6P are slight differences. I'm a little concerned about some of the things that the Pixel XL is missing. For one thing, since the Pixel XL is priced among the high-end phones it should have more premium features. One feature that the Pixel XL should have is wireless charging. I know that wireless charging has not taken off like we initially thought it would but at this price point the Pixel XL should have this feature. While not essential it would help make the phone a little more useful. Another feature the Pixel XL should have is dual speakers. The 6P has a speaker at the top and bottom of the phone. The Pixel XL has 2 speakers at the very bottom of the phone. At this price point, the Pixel XL should do a better job with the speakers.

So at this point I am not ready to make a final recommendation as to whether it's worth upgrading from a 6P to a Pixel. If I absolutely had to make a recommendation right now I would probably recommend not upgrading to a Pixel XL. The differences between the 6P and the Pixel XL are just not quite big enough and the missing features from the Pixel XL tip the scales in favor of sticking with the 6P. It may be better to wait for the next version of the Pixel to upgrade from the 6P. Based on Google's track record, the next Pixel should be out in about 9 or 10 months.

It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes in the next 2 weeks.  Stay tuned.

How to Force Update to Your Moto 360

Last week, Motorola issued an update for the Moto 360 smartwatch.  The update takes the software version up to 4.4W.2 and includes many updates and improvements.  The update will be rolling out in phases to all Moto 360 watches over time.  But if you are impatient like me, here's a method you can try to force an update to your phone.

What Does 4.4W.2 Update?  First, let's see what this update does.  According to Motorola, the 4.4W.2 update makes the following improvements:

-Smart Battery Saving - When your battery hits 15%, your Moto 360 will turn off ambient mode, so you don't have to remember to.

-Timely Time Checks - Moto 360 will synchronize the time with your phone more often to make sure it up to the minute.

-User Interface Tweaks - We observed with customers that there are many times where you want to use your Moto 360 as truly a classic watch-a beautiful way to see the time.  A new gesture now lets you see the full watch face without permanently dismissing a notification.  Just touch the top of a notification and swipe down.  You'll see the notification again when you have another high priority notification.

-Mood Lighting - Moto 360 will adjust to the lighting of the room while charging, so that it isn't too bright or too dark.

-Readying the wires for Bluetooth - There are a couple of under-the-head enhancements that will pave the way for connecting Bluetooth headsets to the watch.

-Bug Squashing - As usual, bugs are squashed to enhance the overall user experience.

How to Force an Update.

Here's how I was able to force the update to be pushed to my Moto 360.  While I cannot guarantee that this will work for everyone, it did work for me.

1.  Unpair Your 360 From Your Phone - To do this go to "Settings" on your phone.  Go to "Bluetooth," find your Moto 360, click on the arrows to the right and choose "unpair."  From what I can tell, this step is key to forcing the update.

2.  Uninstall Android Wear - Go to "Settings" on your phone, then go to "Apps" and find "Android Wear."  Then just "Uninstall" Android Wear.

3. Reset Watch - Go back to your watch and go to "Settings."  Choose "Reset" and go through the process of re-pairing your watch to your phone.  

4.  Install Wear - When your watch prompts you to Install Android Wear on your phone, make sure you do that and pair your Moto 360 to your phone.  It may take a while for this process to complete so be patient.

5.  Check For Update - Once the pairing is complete, go back to your phone's "Settings," go to "About," and click on "System updates."  

That's it.  It may take a few minutes to do this but this should force the update to be pushed to your watch.  Let me know if this works for you.

How To Update Extensions on Chrome

Yesterday I had to update an extension on my Chrome browser.  I have a Moto X cell phone and Motorola posted an update to the Motorola Connect app on my phone.  The Motorola Connect app is a very handy feature for Motorola users only. It allows you to download an extension to your Chrome browser so that you can share your text messages on your phone with your computer and a list of your call history. You can send and receive text messages from your Chrome browser. The update refreshes the UI on the phone and the browser app and adds the ability to ring your phone from the browser extension.  This new ring your phone feature is handy if you misplaced your phone.  But in order to take advantage of the updates, you have to update the extension on your Chrome browser.  To do so is very simple.  Here's what you need to do:

-Go to the "settings" tab.

-On the left side click on "extensions."

-On the top click the box next to "Developer Mode."

-Below Developer Mode click on "Update extensions now."

That's it. Now all of your extensions are updated automatically and you are assured of having the most up to date extensions on your Chrome browser.

Hope this is helpful.

How to Set Up K9 Mail on Android Phone

If you are like me and have several email accounts, being able to unify all your incoming emails into one unified inbox makes life just a little easier.  For the past several months I have been using the Mail app from Dropbox.  I am pretty satisfied with the app and have very few complaints.  The UI of the app is a little boring, but the app is very stable and reliable. I decided to give the K9 app a try to see if it does a better job for me.  I noticed that the UI is a little nicer than the Mail UI.  Another difference between the two is that it's a little harder to add email accounts to the K9 app than it is with the Mail app.  If you are using the Mail app just add the user name and password.  With K9, if you are using a regular gmail account then you will encounter no problems.  Just type in your user name and password and the app will automatically set up your account.  But if you are like me, and have an email account associated with a paid Google Apps account, you will run into problems.  Simply including your user name and password will not work.  You have to manually configure the details in order to get the app to sync your Apps email account.  Here's what you have to do:

1.  Install the K9 app from the Google Play Store;

2.  Open the K9 app and manually set up your personal email account as the default account by simply         adding your personal email account details;

3.  Now you can add your Google Apps email account.  Start by clicking the "+" button.  Type in your full email address and password. Click "next" and choose "IMAP."  

4.  This is where it gets tricky.  Here's what you should change the settings to.

     Incoming server settings     

     Username:        Name@(Your Domain).com

     Password:        Make sure password is correct

     IMAP Server:  imap.gmail.com

     Security:          SSL/TLS (always)  

     Authentication: Plain

     Port:                993

     Outgoing server settings

     SMTP server: smtp.gmail.com

     Security:         STARTTLS (always)

     Port:               587

5.  Click next and set up your individual preferences.

And that's it.  Obviously, I only talked about Gmail accounts.  I only use Gmail accounts.  I have a couple of old Hotmail accounts and a Yahoo email account that I have synced with my personal Gmail account. I no longer use my Hotmail or Yahoo email account so I have not tried to set up those accounts on K9 so I don't know if you can even do it.

Anyway, let me know how it goes in the comments below.  I would be interested to see what you think about K9 and Mail.

LTE Spectrum Article

I want to share an informative and educational article which does a great job of explaining how frequencies are allocated to wireless carriers.  According to this article, Verizon is winning the war.
LTE spectrum: How much do the big carriers have?

Use of Messaging Apps Eating Into Carrier Revenues

One third of cell phone carriers are reporting that the use of third party apps for text messaging is eating into their profits.  

Why Nexus One Can't Run 4.0

I ran into this article this morning which does a great job of explaining why the Nexus One cannot run Android 4.0, the upcoming newest version of Android commonly known as Ice Cream Sandwich.  Even though the Nexus One was considered state of the art a little over two years ago when it was released, it is now considered a relic.  It's 1 ghz Snapdragon processor is an outdated version and its lack of internal memory are serious limitations for today's resource intensive apps and operating systems.  While I can't complain about its processor I can, and often do, complain about its lack of internal memory.  I frequently find myself complaining that I have to delete apps to free up memory.  This is the only serious flaw I see with this device.

Anyway, here's the article:

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/102149-why-the-nexus-one-cant-run-ice-cream-sandwich

End of the Road for Nexus One

A Google representative has revealed the dreaded news that the venerable Nexus One will not be receiving the upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, or Android 4.0.  The Nexus One was released a little less than 2 years ago.  It set the stage for the future models of the Android line and helped propel Android past the iPhone in popularity.  Google had previously claimed that Ice Cream Sandwich will be made available on all phones capable of running Gingerbread but revealed yesterday that it won't be making its way to the Nexus One.  While the Nexus One certainly has the processor and RAM to run Ice Cream Sandwich, it is believed that it's lack of a graphics processor is the main reason for it not receiving the upgrade.  Google did reveal that the Nexus S will be receiving the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade in the coming weeks.

This announcement means that the Nexus One will end at Gingerbread.  It's been a glorious ride!

Nexus Prime to be Unveiled?

Samsung has announced that they will be hosting a special event at the upcoming CTIA Enterprise and Applications Conference in San Diego.  The event is called "Samsung Unpacked, Google Episode."  Speculation is rampant that Samsung will unveil the rumored Nexus Prime, the next version of the pure Google phone.  The first phone was the Nexus One and the second was the Nexus S.  The Nexus One was manufactured by HTC while the Nexus S and the upcoming Nexus Prime are manufactured by Samsung.  The line of Nexus phone features the pure Android experience, without any add-ons or changes to the Android operating system.  The Nexus Prime is rumored to have some top of the line features including a 4.6 inch display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1080p video recording, 720p hi-def screen, 1GB of RAM, 5MP primary camera and 2MP front facing camera, and the first Android device to run the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich version of the OS.  

The San Diego event is scheduled for October 11, seven days after Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 5.

Nexus One Updated to 2.3.6

The venerable Nexus One is still receiving updates directly from Google.  While we are not sure what this updated version of Gingerbread does for the Nexus One, Google does say that it has "important bug fixes and security patches."  I can report that immediately after I manually updated my phone I did notice something on my N1 that I had never seen before.  When I turned on my Bluetooth device, the BlueAnt T1, I noticed a notification on my taskbar informing me that my Bluetooth was requesting permission to connect with my phone.  I noticed that my Bluetooth was not connecting so a pulled down the notification, clicked it, and it asked me for permission to accept the connection.  I turned off my Bluetooth and turned it back on and I did not get this notification and my Bluetooth connected to my phone normally.  I will update you on any new features or issues that I may notice with this new version of Gingerbread.

The Build Number is GRK39F.  If you do a Google search for this Build Number you will find many download locations.  Just download the zip file, rename it update or update.zip, install it to your SD card and reboot the phone just like with past manual updates.  If you want detailed instructions on how to manually update let me know and I will email you step-by-step instructions.  If you don't want to go through the process of manually updating your phone, just wait and you should be getting an OTA update directly from Google in the coming weeks.

There's only 2 phones that have the most up to date version of Gingerbread, the Nexus S and the Nexus One.  Long live the Nexus One!

Pale Moon 6 a Necessity for Firefox Users

I find myself using the Google Chrome Browser more and more.  I used to use the Firefox browser but Chrome seems to have gotten to the point where its faster and less bloated.  I still find myself going back to Firefox every so often.  This is especially necessary when I use my Google Apps business account.  I need to print a copy of my calendar and Chrome does not print the schedule properly.  In order for me to print the schedule properly I have to use another browser and that's Firefox.  I just discovered a very good alternative to Firefox, Pale Moon 6.0.  Firefox is designed to work on every computer out there.  This includes modern, up to date new computers, to older computers with Pentium chips, Windows 7 systems to Windows XP systems.  This puts users with modern Windows 7 systems to a disadvantage when Using Firefox because its not designed to take specific advantage of the features available in modern systems and with Windows 7.   Pale Moon is designed to take advantage of Windows 7 and dual -core processors to make Firefox work faster.  Only users with newer, modern Windows computers should download Pale Moon 6.0.  The developers of Pale Moon have tweaked Firefox to make it run much faster by disabling features unnecessary in newer Windows computers and eliminating features that only slow down Firefox on these newer systems.  I have been using Pale Moon 6.0 for a few days and report that it works flawlessly.  I find myself using Pale Moon much more often than Firefox.  There is a noticeable increase in speed which brings it up to par with Chrome. Also, Pale Moon is able to open up some websites that the newest version of Firefox was unable to open up.  

When you first download Pale Moon it asks you if you want to import your bookmarks from Internet Explorer or Opera.  It does not give you an option to import your bookmarks from Firefox or Chrome.  I chose not to import anything.  After the browser installed I was able to import my Firefox bookmarks by using Firefox Sync.  The developers also have a migration tool which preserves your profiles and bookmarks.  We have not used this migration tool but you can download it here.

To download Pale Moon 6, click here. Give it a test drive and let us know what you think.

How To Restore Messed Up Icons

I have discovered simple step-by-step directions that allow you to install icons that have been damaged.  I recently lost my icon for Mozilla Firefox and when I took the following steps, the icon was restored.  You have to follow these steps exactly as set forth below:

1.  Close all folder windows that are currently open.

2.  Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe.

3.  In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.

4.  Click the End Process button when asked for confirmation.

5.  From the File menu of Task Manager select New Task (Run . . .)

6.  Tape CMD.EXE and click OK.

7.  In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one, exactly as set forth below and press ENTER after each command:

CD /d%userprofile%\AppData\Local

DEL IconCache.db /a

EXIT

8.  In Task Manager, click FIle, select New Task (Run . . .)

9.  Type EXPLORER.EXE and click OK.

That should do the trick and your icons should all be restored.  Hope this helps.

Firefox 4 Beta 7 Boasts Major Enhacements

Yesterday, Mozilla released the 7th Beta of their new 4.0 browser.  The most significant improvement is a new JavaScript engine which dramatically speeds up the browser.   The new JagerMonkey JIT compiler boosts performance by five times in the V8 Version 6 benchmark and by three times in both the SunSpider ad Kraken benchmark tests.  In addition, more supported for accelerated graphics has been added and even added 3D support.  This means that users will be able to tap into the power of their graphics card for rendering, rather than merely using the power of the CPU to render a page.  In order to take advantage of these improvements, your computer needs to be equipped with a graphics card that is advanced enough to do these tasks.  

These features have been available in the Minefield browser for several weeks.  Mozilla is expected to release the final version of their new Firefox 4.0 browser early next year.  Mozilla has informed developers that this Beta version is stable enough that developers can begin finalizing their plugins for the final version of Firefox 4.0.

Google And Mozilla In Cutting Edge Battle

Google and Firefox are offering tech addicts, like ourselves, the ability to download and use the most recent versions of their upcoming new browsers.  Google started this by offering users the ability to choose which version of their browser they want to install.  You can choose to install the "Stable" version, the "Beta" version of the "Developer" version.  The stable and beta versions are relatively secure and stable.  They have been tested and are pretty reliable.  However, the Developer version is updated every few days and is more prone to crash and not work properly on certain website.  Recently, Google gave users the option to also download the "Canary" build of their browser.  The Canary build can be installed side by side with the other version of the Chrome browser and contains daily builds of the browser.  It is updated daily and is unstable and prone to crash at any time.  But it gives users the ability to see what Google is working on and what they are experimenting with.  To download and install Canary, click here.

Not to be undone, Firefox is currently working on the next generation of their popular Firefox browser.  Firefox 4.0 is currently in Beta.  I have downloaded the most recent Beta version, Beta 6, and found it to be extremely stable and feature rich.  However, Mozilla has made daily nightly builds of Beta 7 available for download.  It's known as Minefield and users are warned to install and use at their own risk.  Various versions of Minefield are available for download, Linus, Mac and Windows 32 bit and 64 bit.  Minefield is very interesting.  It contains the brand new Javascript engine which will power Firefox 4.0.  Beta 6 does not have the new engine but Minefield does.  There is a drastic increase in speed in Minefield.  The speed increase is noticeable and feels as fast as Chrome.  I download the latest nightly build every morning to keep up to date with the most recent version.  Until a few days ago I was downloading the 64 bit version but started to experience problems with the browser crashing.  For a couple of days I was unable to run Minefield.  Yesterday I downloaded the 32 bit version and now Minefield is up and running on my computer.  Computer geeks, like me, are urged to try Minefield to see how drastic the increase in speed in the next Firefox browser will be.  To download Minefield, click here.

Hidden Windows 7 Tool Securely Wipes Free Space

We've discovered a hidden tool within Windows 7 which allows you to securely wipe the free space on your hard drive.  When you delete files on your computer, Windows shows the free space as being available but traces of the deleted files remain on your hard drive.  The traces left behind make it possible for technicians to recover the data.  However, there is a tool within Windows 7 which is supposed to go through those deleted files and securely delete the traces left behind.  Apparently this tool is also available in Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista.

To launch this tool you need to do the following:

1.  Launch the "command prompt" by going to "Accessories" and finding the program.

2.  Type in the following command:  Cipher/w:(X).  Where "X" is indicated, type in the letter of the drive, usually C.

That's all you need to do.  Be patient.  This may take several hours.

Browser Wars Really Heating Up

With today's release of Internet Explorer 9 Beta, the browser wars have reached a new level.  For years, Internet Explorer was the king of the hill.  Several years ago, The Mozilla Foundation released an open source browser that has steadily been chipping away at Microsoft's market share.  About 2 years ago Google jumped into the fray with its Chrome browser.  Chrome really changed everything.  The minimalist screen was different than anything out there and the speed of the browser immediately began changing the browser landscape.  Suddenly, all of the browsers starting fighting over the title of "fastest browser."  Microsoft had fallen seriously behind all of the competitors and is generally seen as slow and out of date.  When Microsoft started working on its most recent version of Internet Explorer, IE9, they started looking for a way to catch up in the speed wars.  They have come up with a way of using the computers processor and video card to help do some of the work to make the browser work faster.  Suddenly, Internet Explorer becomes the trail blazer and all the competitors find themselves trying to come up with a similar feature.  Mozilla is working on the next generation of it's browser, Firefox 4.0.  In the 4th Beta of their 4.0 browser, they added this feature but in order to make it work, users had to manually turn it on.  About a week ago Mozilla released it's 5th Beta and turned on the hardware acceleration by default.  My experience with Beta 5 is that the graphics are greatly improved but not quite up to par with Internet Explorer 9.  Chrome recently added hardware acceleration to the Developer Version of their browser a couple of weeks ago also.  But most people do not know that they can download even more updated versions of Chrome and Firefox.  Here's how to download up to the minute versions of the browsers.

Chrome gives you the option to download Chrome Canary Build.  This version of the Chrome browser is updated almost daily.  It carries the greatest risk because it is truly experimental but users who want to see what Google is cooking up can download it here.  It works side by side with any other version of Chrome.  The icon for the Canary build is yellow.

Firefox has introduced a brand new engine in its nightly builds.  This engine drastically speeds up Firefox.  This version is updated daily and can be downloaded here.  Some security software may recognize this is a virus and not allow you to download it.  I use Norton and when I update daily, Norton considers it a virus and deletes it.  I therefore have to reinstall it every day if I want to use it.  When you install it you will see that it is entitled "Minefield."

In the meantime you can download Internet Explorer 9 right here.  Windows XP users will not be able to use IE9.  And when you download IE9, it will replace IE8 on your computer.

Let us know what you think of this state of the art browsers.

Firefox 4.0 Beta 4 Released

Not quite s promised, Mozilla released it's fourth Beta of it's new Firefox 4.0 browser.  The Beta was supposed to be released yesterday but had to be delayed after a couple of bugs were discovered.  To download the new beta click here.  The new version offers several upgrades.  Most notable is a new hardware acceleration rendering feature which claims to harness the power of your video card to more quickly display graphics and text.  At this point, Mozilla is trying to play catch up to Google's Chrome which has established a reputation as the fastest browser on the market.  This new feature is turned off by default.  Reason being that Mozilla is afraid that this feature may not be ready for prime time.  But to turn on this feature is relatively easy and painless.  Here's what you need to do to turn on this feature:

1.  Type "about:config" in the address bar.

2.  In the search bar type in "mozilla.widget.render-mode."  Set the value to 6.

3.  Next, go back to the search bar and type in "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled."  Set the value to True.

That's it.  To see what changes you made you can always type "about:support" in the address bar.

Let us know what you think of this new feature. 

Mozilla To Release Firefox 4.0 Beta 4 on Monday

The Mozilla Foundation has announced that they intend to release the 4th Beta of the Firefox 4.0 browser on Monday.  They indicate that the code for this beta is "mostly frozen" and on the way to being shipped out on schedule on Monday.  The beta is planning to introduce hardware-accelerated graphics for Windows users and tab sets, which is commonly known as "Tab Candy."  "Tab Candy" is a feature that is pretty similar to something that Apple's iOS4 offers.  You can drag and drop to re-arrange all your tabs into groups, create new groups by simply dragging a web page outside an existing group and dragging another item on top of it, and rename each group based on what task is assigned to it.  The hardware-accelerated graphics feature will increase the display of text and increase graphics as well.  However, this graphics feature will not be turned on by default.  Users will be required to go into the about:config page and adjust some of the settings to turn on this feature.  Mozilla's developers are concerned that this feature is not ready for prime time and want to see it rolled out slowly.  Mozilla is indicated that they expect many betas to be released prior to the final release of the new browser.

Mozilla is hoping that the newest version of their browser will help them get back on track.  For several years, Firefox was gaining ground on Microsoft's Internet Explorer.  In the past several months, Firefox has been losing ground to Internet Explorer and to Google's Chrome Browser.  Next month, Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing a public beta of their new Internet Explorer 9.  The browser wars seem to be hearing up, with each contestant trying to one-up the other.

Microsoft To Release Emergency Patch Monday

In a somewhat rare move, Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing an "out-of-band" update on Monday.  This is the term that Microsoft uses to describe an update that is outside of the normal monthly schedule of updates.  A couple of weeks Microsoft announced that they had discovered a vulnerability in the way that Windows parses the shortcut files for icons on the desktop and system tray.  Since then, Microsoft has noticed a large increase in the number of attacks based on this exploit.  About a week ago Microsoft issued a work around patch that allowed Windows users to manually apply the fix.  I tried this but found that it eliminated the icons on my desktop and taskbar.  

Microsoft has announced that the patch will be released by 12 noon central time on Monday.