I started writing this post about a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve been jotting down notes and thoughts about HTC’s Sense interface on my HTC Hero.  Sense is a great mobile experience.  I wanted others to know what it’s all about.

Also, I’ve started a post that gives you some hints on how to get a Sense-like experience on almost any Android device, just by installing a few apps.  I’ll publish that shortly.

What is Sense?

I’m going to back up a lil bit.  Android is an open source operating system.  That means that anyone can use/modify/distribute the source under the terms of the license…for free.  HTC did this with Sense.

When you boil it down, Sense is the user experience.  I’m not just talking about the color palette or the home screen layout.  It’s everything.  They changed the flow of the menu.  They included social media integration.  There’s multitouch and Flash Lite, which is pretty uncommon for Android devices.  They improved upon many of the stock Android apps and widgets.  They even dug deep and changed some of the core code (which actually caused problems initially).  The only thing they couldn’t didn’t change were the “With Google” apps (Gmail, YouTube, Maps, etc).

I’m going to talk each of these things in more detail, and let you know how you can enjoy a similar experience on your non-Sense device.

There’s no place like Home

When you power up a Sense phone the first thing you’ll notice (after the cute boot screen) is that the Lock screen is different.  You slide the screen down to unlock.  Also, you can have a different wallpaper on your Lock screen from your Home screen.  After you get past the Lock screen you’ll see a beautifully dark color palette.  This theme extends throughout all aspects of Sense.  At the top of the screen you’ll find the Notification slider.  At the bottom are three buttons: An up arrow, “Phone” and a plus sign.  The up arrow is the App tray.  It looks pretty standard.  However, if you press MENU you can opt to change the tray to a list view.  The phone button launches the Phone app (one less icon on the Home screen :).  Lastly, the plus sign opens a tray of things you can add to your home screen.  All of the standard Android Home screen add-ons are present.  You’ll notice a new section called HTC Widgets.  More on that later.  Also, there are 7 Home screens versus the standard 3 for vanillandroid.  There is also a feature called “Scenes” that allows you to save multiple home screen experiences for particular activities.  For instance, you can create a “Work” scene that has a “safe for work” wallpaper and includes the Mail, World Clock, and Stocks widgets.  Then when you get home, you can switch to a “Home” scene that has a picture of your family for the wallpaper, and a different set of widgets and app icons.  I don’t use this feature, but I see the benefit.

Widgets Galore

If you have an Android phone already, you may ask yourself “what the heck am I going to fill up those extra Home screens with?”.  Well, you’re in luck.  HTC Sense comes with a ton of widgets.  Here are the categories:  Bookmarks, calendar, clock, mail, messages, music, people, photo album, photo frame, search, settings, and weather.  I think there were also widgets for Footprints (see below), twitter and stocks, but I deleted them.  Each has two to three (or 12, in the case of Clocks) ranging in size from small to full screen.  I use the full screen calendar, half screen music, half screen clock/weather, and a bunch of the “Settings” widgets. These are quick on/off widgets for commonly used settings (WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS…yes, Sense allows one-click GPS toggle ;).  I don’t use many of the widgets, but I can see how they could be useful to some.

There’s an app for that…

HTC also took the stock Android apps and made them much better.  Here’s a list of apps they’ve either replaced or added:  Albums, Browser, Calendar, Camera/Camcorder, Clock, Footprints, Mail, Messages, Music, PDF Viewer, Peep (twitter), People (contacts), Phone (dialer), Quickoffice, (some) Settings, Stocks, Voice Recorder (Android has one, but it’s not visible o_O), and Weather.  There’s also a built-in Ringtone Trimmer, but it’s only accessible via the Music app.  That’s a lot.  Almost every stock app.  The Albums app added swipe-to-browse, and a much improved look-and-feel.  The mail app added Exchange support.  It’s pretty awesome to be able to view PDFs and Office documents as well.  If you’ve ever use the stock Android Music app, you’ll appreciate the HTC Sense Music app.

Social Integration

Like other device manufacturers, HTC has integrated some social networking aspects into Sense.  Peep, a Twitter client, is pre-installed on the phone and is part of the “Share” menu.  The Facebook integration is a bit deeper.  Once you sign in, it’ll start matching your phone contacts with your Facebook friends.  It’ll set their profile picture as the contact image on your phone, you’ll be able to see their FB updates on their contact page (in addition to emails, SMS, etc).  You can also share images and videos directly to Facebook.  HTC also included Flickr integration.  You can browse your friend’s photostreams and upload photos to your own.

In conclusion…

By tweaking the apps and adding a ton of widgets, HTC created a pretty amazing experience, in my book.  That being said, I can live without it.  There are apps and widgets in the Market that can help replicate the Sense experience.  If I had to choose between two similar phones, the only difference being Sense, I would choose the Sense phone.

Post your questions in the comments.
Breon

To help clarify, I’ve created this handy, dandy formula.

Android ≠ Droid; Droid = Android
or if you prefer
Android != Droid; Droid == Android

Let me explain…

Android is an operating system, mostly used on mobile phones.  There are currently 11 Android phones available in the US.  There are phones available on all four major US carriers and 1 available directly from Google.  Devices other than phones can run Android.

Droid is a series of phones available from Verizon Wireless.  There are currently two phones in the series: Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris.  Both run the Android operating system.  The generic term “Droid” usually refers to the Motorola phone.  Because of the “Droid Does” marketing campaign, it’s probably the most recognized Android phone.

In summary:  While both of the “Droid” phones run the Android OS, not all Android phones are “Droids”.

Hope this helps!

Last year, you may have heard me say “next year is the year for mobile”.  After seeing everything that has happened in the past two months, I stand by that statement.  There are faster mobile broadband technologies, sexier devices, and new plan options from the carriers.  This is just the start.

Speed, speed, SPEED!

Over the past couple years, carriers have been beefing up their networks and offering faster data connections.  A common term these days is “3G”.  Most users may achieve around 3 Mbits/s download speeds on 3G.  This isn’t so bad if you’re reading news or flipping through a Flickr album.  But what about streaming music? Videos? TV? YouTube? (I gotta have my YouTube).  Here’s where 4G comes into play.  There are two major technologies being worked on in the US: LTE and WiMax.  Both will offer speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.  Though you many only see speeds up to 100 Mbits/s on mobile.  That’s still twice as fast as Comcast’s fastest data connection and five times faster than the 20 Mbits/s service I have.  In theory, one of these technologies could replace your current broadband provider.  Sprint announced that they will be bringing WiMax to Minneapolis this year.  You can bet that my next mobile device will be packing a WiMax chip.  Bring on the videos, VoIP, video conferencing, and music!

Focus on the device.

Last year, carriers tried something a little different.  Instead of just taking about their services, many of the marketing campaigns focused on the devices.  One that sticks out like a sore thumb (or a jab in the ribs) was the “Droid Does” campaign by Motorola and Verizon.  The “iDon’t” commercial openly mocks the iPhone and, what they believe to be, it’s shortcomings.  Others have taken the high road.  Sprint had a commercial that featured the HTC Hero, Blackberry Curve and Palm Pre.  It showed the variety of devices that they have.
Manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon as well.  HTC launched the “You” campaign that centered around making the phone yours.  It featured both Windows Mobile and Android phones from their lineup.  If you watched the Super Bowl, you undoubtedly saw the Motorola Devour commercial with Megan Fox.  You know what they say: “Sex sells”.
Google has even thrown their hat into the ring.  They’re selling the Nexus One on their very own site…in fact, that’s the only place you can get it.  They currently have T-Mobile and AT&T versions available, with Sprint and Verizon ones on the way.  You can buy the phone, at full price, without a contract or get it partially subsidized through T-Mobile.

There can be only one.

Well, not really.  However, I do believe that between the four major US carriers, only one or two will flourish this year.  I can’t say if it’ll be because of the devices they’ve chosen to carry or the broadband technology that they are partnering with.  What I do know is that the battles are just beginning.  Sprint took a shot at Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T by releasing their “Everything Data with Any Mobile, Anytime” plan.  T-Mobile’s “Project Dark” turned out to be their “Even More” plans, which can include unlimited talk/text/web for $79.99 with NO contract.  However, you have to pay full price for the phone or bring your own.  Verizon and AT&T have lowered plan pricing too, albeit not as aggressively as their competitors.

I’ll say it again: This is the year for mobile.  We’ll see faster data connections and a lot of new devices, some that further blur the line between phone and computer.  There will be patent battles, jabbing commercials, and price wars.  I’m perfectly content with manufacturers and carriers trying to ‘one up’ each other.  This type of competition drives innovation…better, faster, cheaper, more.  Who is the winner?  The consumer.

After the dust settles, and the battles are won and lost, 2011 will be a year of growth.  I see carriers merging, operating systems disappearing, and a dominate wireless broadband service.  We’re on our way, but we’re not there yet.

See you ’round the spectrum,
Breon

Less than a month after the Hero was released in the states, the Verizon started a media blitz for the Motorola Droid.  I was fortunate to be able to review one a couple weeks before it came out.  At the time, I was pretty jealous.  Faster processor…bigger screen…new version of Android…Google Maps with Navigation.  It was pretty darn perfect.  I was still within my 30-day return policy for Sprint and Best Buy.  I thought about returning the Hero for the Droid.  But I knew, something better would come out in 2010.

Fast forward a couple of months, and guess what? Something better came out. Behold the Nexus One.  Faster processor…bigger screen…a new version of Android…Goo..wait a minute.  Didn’t I just say that?  Anyway, the Nexus One is a sexy phone.

Oh yeah, about a month after the Nexus One was announced, HTC released a couple new phones.  This is never going to end.

Anyway, to the point.  Looking at all of the phones that are available, the perfect one still eludes me.  The Nexus One is close, but still doesn’t get a 10/10.  Here are five features I’d like to see on every mobile phone in the future (in no particular order).  Also, let’s assume that there’s a fast processor, touchscreen, camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc.

Android
You’re probably well aware that I’m an Android fanboy, so this feature should be no surprise.  Do I really think EVERY smartphone should have Android? I guess not, but this is my perfect world.  Android [should] lower the cost of the unit, since there are no licensing fees.  It’s able to be customized by the hardware manufacturers and carriers to make the experience unique, while still retaining the solid Android base of features and applications.

Camera Button
One of the things that I liked about my G1 and the Droid was the physical camera button.  It was a quick way to launch the camera app and it made it easier to take pictures.  I’m not a super vain person, but sometimes I like to take pictures of myself or of Kate and I.  If you’re going to try and replace my point-and-shoot camera, act more like a point-and-shoot camera.  Plus, in Android, a developer can hijack the camera button for another function.  One more hard buttons to do one more task. I like.

Improved Camera Functions
If you’ve ever tried to take a picture with a cell, and weren’t standing a foot from a 100w bulb, you know what I’m talking about.  Most camera phones take okay pictures in good light, but once you’re indoors, forget about it.  I’m not suggesting that everay phone should have a DSLR slapped on the front of it.  I’m talking about a basic flash, auto-focus, and maybe some digital zoom.  My Hero has two of the three…no flash.  The digital zoom has worked out well.  The auto-focus (with touch focus) is pretty good.

On-Screen Navigation
I’m not talking about turn-by-turn directions.  I’m talking about some sort of input device to move around the screen.  I don’t care if it’s a trackball, optical sensor, or directional pad.  Something to offer a finer method of getting to where you have to go.  Frankly, I don’t know how the iPhone folks do it.  It’s nice to be able to use a trackball to quickly jog around an email correcting typos or specifically selecting a link on a webpage.  I have ‘fat thumbs syndrome’.  If there are a group of links bunched together, I inevitably select the wrong one.

Multicolored LED
In the Android SDK there is a way for developers to be able to display several different LED colors.  Something like 12.  This is only possible if you have a tri-colored LED built-into the phone.  The G1 and several other HTC phones have this.  The Hero does not.  It can only turn green or orange.  The benefit of true multicolor is the ability to customize the color and blink rate for your various apps (if the developer built it in).  I used to have a super fast flashing blue LED for SMS messages, my email would come through as a green steady blink, and Twitter mentions would be a lighter blue (to match the Twitter color palette).  On the Hero, no matter what the message is, it just blinks green…and at the same rate.

Let me know what features you wish you had on your phone.

Love and robots,
Breon

Then there’s Picasa by Google.  Picasa offers many of the same features as Flickr.  You can upload and manage your photos from the web or with the Picasa Uploader (the uploader does integrate with iPhoto).  There isn’t a ‘Pro’ version per se, but you can purchase additional storage, which is also shared with Gmail and Google Docs.  I paid $20 and have 80GB of storage for my Google services.  Also, every Android phone has a “Share with Picasa” feature.  It’s just built into the OS.  With Flickr you have to use a third party app or use utilize their “upload via email” service.  Picasa also integrates with any Blogger accounts that you have.

With the services being so similar, why is Flickr more popular than Picasa?  I want to know what you think.

Being the Android fanboy that I am, I just about jumped out of my shorts.

Two days passed and Albert contacted me, talking about “Verizon…Android…device…hands-on” (those are the keywords that stuck out :) I was excited to be able to SEE the device, let alone be able to play with it. I made the comment “Can we go for a ride to try out the Navigation?”. I was surprised to hear “You can take the phone for the weekend”. I played it cool. When I got to my car, there was a grin from ear to ear.

Let’s start with the hardware.

Running around the edges, we find a dedicated camera button (YES!), volume rocker, 3.5MM headphone jack and a micro USB connector for charging and data transfer.

On the face, there is a BEAUTIFUL 3.7″ screen, which is longer than most screens out there. The resolution is phenomenal. The standard Android button arrangement (HOME/MENU/BACK/SEARCH) are just below the screen and are touch sensitive (capacitive). They offer a bit of haptic feedback when touched. Also on the face is a multi-colored LED, an ambient light sensor, the earpiece and microphone (which is on, what I’ve been calling, the anti-chin).

Flip it over and we find the 5MP AF camera WITH flash. The flash is better than most, and tons better than the cheap LED flashes on featurephones. The speaker (used for notifications, speakerphone and music) is LOUD. In fact I had to turn the notification volume down to about half. While it was annoying for notification, it was great for music. I would argue that the audio quality was better than most laptops that I’ve owned. The battery door on most mobile phones is hard to get off. This isn’t true for the Droid…almost to a fault. You might want to ‘adjust’ the locking tabs to keep it in place. I’ve flung the battery door half way across the room when taking it out of my pocket. The entire back has a soft-touch grip on it.

Hidden under the screen is a full QWERTY keyboard and directional pad with a ‘select’ button. The keys are rather flat, but it didn’t take long to get used to them. The d-pad on the right kind of shifted the keys off center. That took some getting used to. It also took me a couple hours to find the question mark…which turned out to be a primary key (doh). The slide mechanism has a reassuring click when sliding up and down.

Overall the phone feels great, is easy to navigate, and feels comfortable against the ear. The shell is partially metal and it shows. It’s hefty, but that’s ok. Some phones feel like toys. The call quality was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G…but I kind of figured that would be the case (there’s a map for that).

Most carriers will customize their phones to include branding and their exclusive services. The only thing that indicates that this is a Verizon phone, is the modest logo on the front, and a special tab in the Android Market for Verizon. This will probably fill up with Verizon content and of course their V-Cast services. Today there is only a Visual Voicemail app in the tab.

That being said, the operating system is virtually stock Android 2.0. I’m fine with that. It has all of the standard “with Google” apps that we’ve come to love on Android. A few highlights include the ability to sync multiple Gmail/Google Apps accounts (I had three configured), a sweet, new contact popup that works anywhere you see the contact’s picture, Exchange support, and Google Maps Navigation Beta.

In addition to the Navigation, Google Maps allows you to display more layers. Of course there’s traffic, but you can also show any of your saved My Maps. Looking for a new apartment? Create a new My Map of all the potential apartments, while you’re kickin’ it on your couch. Then, hop in your car, turn that Map on as a layer, and navigate to where you need to go.

You can even pop the Droid into a car dock for ease of navigation. There is also a home dock that turns the phone into a bedside clock with a media interface.

The hardware is solid. The OS is solid. Developers are already updating their apps to be optimized on the new screen resolution. The Droid IS the Android phone to have.

I want to thank Albert, Karen Smith from Verizon, and of course Justin for putting my name out there.

Cheers,
Breon

By the way, if you’re in the Twin Cities on November 17th, your should stop into the Mobile Twin Cities meeting. November is the month for Demolicious! Local mobile companies will be showing off their wares. There might just be a Droid and Droid Eris there as well ;) (more to come)

They’ve recently added some neat features that allow you to easily share and edit your videos, right on your device. You can also now record offline and upload them later. Very neat if you’re in a poor data coverage area.

Some of the existing features include the ability to tweet when you’re live, push videos to other services (read: YouTube), and even simulcast on livestream.com.

Check out the few short videos that I’ve recorded with my Android device here http://qik.com/breon

Here’s a video explaining the new features. Can’t wait to try them out!

It’s pretty commonplace for a smartphone, or even a feature phone, to have geolocation capabilities. Back in the day, geolocation relied solely on wireless tower triangulation. It’s accuracy was sketchy at best. Today, there are much more sophisticated methods for acquiring your location…like, um, GPS :) They still use the towers for an approximate location. They even use WiFi hotspots to triangulate your location.

Well, now that my phone knows where I am, what’s next?

The obvious answer is: Directions. Using the GPS technology, in conjunction with your data service, you’re able to search for points of interest or just punch in an address to get detailed driving, walking or even metro transit directions. Some apps will give you turn-by-turn voice guidance.

Maybe you don’t know where you want to go. Maybe you’re just looking for a killer nightspot, or an auto mechanic, or would just like to know more about your surroundings. There are plenty of apps that can help with that.

For the hardcore geolocators out there, you can track your location, allow folks to see where you are on a map, or drop waypoints to know where you’ve been.

I present to you, my favorite location based apps (and honorable mentions)

For everyday directions, I use Google Maps for Mobile. It was preloaded on my G1 (and on my Helio Ocean, back in the day). It works pretty much exactly like the web version. The mobile version offers driving, walking and transit (where available) directions. The little blue dot will follow you on the map. It doesn’t provide turn-by-turn or voice navigation. For that you’ll have to download something like CoPilot Live. Sure it costs $35, but it utilizes a hardware you already own. One less gadget to manage. Waze is a unique app that relies on user generated content, including traffic updates, construction zones, speed traps. They even utilize the user’s GPS data to verify the road maps. If you look at the maps, you can see the roads that have been verified. it’s interesting to see other Android users in the area :)

If you’re trying to find a local place to eat (including Yelp reviews), gas prices, movies, traffic, newsweatherstarbucksyellowpages and so on Where is the app for you. It has all that and more. I’ve also downloaded Shepa recently. This app will be preloaded on the MyTouch when it’s launches this month. I haven’t used it much yet, but it looks like it includes a wide range of categories, like Where. It does all this with a very slick user interface. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Zland. Zland is was created by local Twin Cities development house Localtone Interactive

If you don’t care about where you’re going, but more about where you’ve been, then My Tracks is for you. You can record your GPS track log, drop waypoints, and insert statistics on the map. “Statistics” you say? Distance traveled, min and max elevation, total time traveled, moving time, and a bunch more. The best part of it is, you don’t need a data connection to do any of this. It’s all about dropping latitude and longitude points and some text data into a KML file. Yes, I said “KML”. Being a Google product, My Tracks seamlessly integrates with Google Maps. You can push the KML to your My Maps page or email it to a friend to view in Google Earth. You can also send it to your Google Docs account, where it stores the pertinent statistics for the track. My Tracks is by far my one of my favorite apps for Android.

After you upload you tracks to Google My Maps, you can open them in the My Maps Editor right on your Android device. With this app, you can edit the GPS track (line color, opacity, thickness), add/edit/move/delete waypoints, add photos to waypoints, and even draw lines and shapes, just like on your computer. This is synced with your online My Maps account. However, it doesn’t sync back to My Tracks.

Long story short, there is a lot you can do with location based apps. I imagine it will only get better as the new SiRFstarIV GPS technology is released in handsets. Faster GPS acquisition, less battery power, better coverage…it will only help an already impressive technology.

By the way, all of the apps that I use are free :) (I don’t use CoPilot Live)

Notable Mentions
Where am I? (…and what’s around me?)
Google Latitude – Built into Google Maps for Mobile. This allows folks in your contacts list see where you are on Google Maps.
InstaMapper’s GPS Tracker – This offers the same service as Latitude. However, anyone with your map link can see you on Google Maps. You can also embed your personal map on your webpage.
BrightKite – This app gives you a list of businesses/intersections near you and allows you to ‘check in’ to one of them. You can then see if there are other people or events nearby.

Where do I want to go?
Nav4All – Free GPS navigation. This was available on my Helio Ocean as well.
Telenav GPS Navigator – This is one of the few non-Market apps I’ve tried. There was a 30 day trial. After that it is $10 per month or $100 per year.

Where have I been?
RideTrac – This is a great alternative to My Tracks. It’s also free and doesn’t need a data connection to log your tracks. It supports KML and GPX.

Other
Many, many apps allow you to geotag your location to the service the provide. Twidroid allows you to geotag your Twitter posts (you can also share My Tracks via Twidroid). The Android camera allows you to geotag photos. Qik, the only live streaming application for Android, allows you to geotag your location with your live stream.
Locale – Allows you to dynamically change your phones settings based on your location. For instance it will turn your WiFi radio on when you get to your favorite restaurant with a hotspot or it will put your phone into silent mode when you step into your local movie theater.

Note: The above apps are only a small cross section of what’s available. These are apps that I use or have used. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to add them in your comments.

I also tried the Sidekick and a plethora of Windows Mobile devices before settling on the Helio Ocean. It had what I was looking for: A QWERTY keyboard, a strong following on the interwebz (including modders), and all of the instant message and email apps built right in.

Fast forward a year or so, and here comes a new contender: Android (and the T-Mobile G1 with Google).

Sure there were a lot of touchscreen/entertainment/smartphone devices released in the last year. In my opinion, Android and the G1 gave the iPhone some real competition.

Touchscreen – Check
QWERTY keyboard – Check
App Market – Check
Exchange Support – BUZZ! (sorry, nope)

While it had a lot going for it, there were some initial bugs, some of which would allow the user to have root access to and potentiall brick the device. Also the hardware isn’t quite up to snuff. It’s underpowered to the point where simple games and apps hang up. It has a slightly smaller screen, which affects the virtual keyboard directly. In my opinion, it’s a little chubby. The second Android device (T-Mobile MyTouch 3G) is a bit slimmer, but drops the keyboard. Same specs otherwise.

Fast forward another half year and there are rumors floating around about a new HTC device…and a new Android…named Rosie?

“Rosie” was officially announced as HTC SenseUI and is available (or will be shortly) on the HTC Hero.

I’ve watched tons of videos on the net and have been tracking the Hero and SenseUI since it was announced. THIS is what android should have been all along.

I’ll leave you with this video. I think it speaks for itself.

(more videos here)