I need some assistance from you in determining which cable provider to use. You see, in August 2012 Sinclair indicated that I should switch from Dish Network because they were treating you bad. Since there is nothing more important in my life than the Fox programming that Sinclair provides, I listened! Thanks for being my guiding light. I switched from Dish Network that day and went to DirecTV, because in August 2012 they were apparently being nice to you. But now I read in February 2013 that DirecTV isn't being nice to you anymore. That stinks because I just switched to them 6 months ago when they were being nice to you and Dish wasn't. But hey, I guess it is cool that Dish is being nice to you again now. I'm glad you guys made up in these last 6 months because things seemed really bad in August 2012 between you two.
But now I am so confused! I am just not sure who to switch to now. Can you please tell me who is being nice to you so that I can switch to them? I also have an option of Mediacom in my area. But I read that in 2006 AND 2009 they weren't being nice to you either. That agreement will probably be up soon and I am afraid that when it is up THEY won't be nice to you either. This is all so confusing. I don't have access to Suddenlink, Time Warner or Comcast, but even if I did I probably shouldn't pick them either because I've read that none of them were nice to you in 2006, 2007 and 2010. Darn it all. All of these providers are so mean to you guys. I just don't understand it. And it is so confusing to me because I just don't know who to select as my provider now. It is clear to me that since you have been involved in at least 8 retrans disputes in 6 years that the providers must be colluding against you. Clearly all of those companies are bad and you guys are good. I just need some help from you to determine which of those companies are "less bad" so that I can watch TV. Thanks Sinclair. You guys are awesome!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
These retrans disputes are so confusing. I've asked Sinclair and the NAB for help!
Another day, another retrans dispute using customers as pawns in the chess game played by corporate conglomerates. Since these retrans disputes are so confusing, I've reached out to Sinclair and NAB and asked them for their assistance. I really hope they help me!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Copy2Contact's Ridiculous Apple vs Android Blog Post
I was pretty surprised today to see a blog post today by Copy2Contact with a 5th grade playground "my Dad is bigger than your Dad' post taking sides in the iOS vs Android debate. I mean, really? What kind of business potentionally alienates, on purpose, half of their customer base with nonsense unrelated to their core product? Choice can't be left to choice?
But as I read their post by an unnamed author I was stunned at the amateur arguments and opinions-disguised-as-facts approach to the blog post. As a personal customer of Copy2Contact back when it was Anagram (and still a customer today), I found myself, for the first time since they acquired me as a customer, thinking "who are these boneheads?" And for importantly, would I give them any more of my money with this kind of amateur nonsense? That is a bit harsh, but seriously, read their piece and decide for yourself. I HOPE that this was a bait piece, in an attempt to simply draw traffic to their site. If they actually employ someone this void of deductive reasoning skills then heaven help them.
My house has the following: 5 iPods (1 original and 4 Touch's across 3 generations), an iPad 1, an iPhone 4S, 1 Android tablet and 3 Android smartphones, plus two laptops and a desktop. I get technology.
So forgive me while I roll my eyes at an author that admits just starting to "dabble" (his word) in Android this year and then goes on to lecture us about the two platforms and superiority of one of them. Reminds me of the 50 First Dates mentality. Live with both options for a couple years and then come back to us with an opinion that is relevant.
Now, let's dissect this blog post piece by piece and decide for yourself if you want to do business with a company this insanely shortsighted about their opinions on technology.
This author believes in being "open-minded when it comes to technology." And then he proceeds to use his experience in "dabbling" in one type of technology as the basis for his self-important declaration about the superiority of the one he prefers. Pure nonsense.
He compares using Android to using Windows (vs Mac) and reinstalling the OS countless times or tinkering with anti-virus software. Well, I get to live with 4 post-iOS5 devices that WILL NOT upgrade the OS via USB on an Intel i5 with 8 GB RAM. They won't. They wipe the devices, then fail, all of them (WIPED), EVERY time, with a USB error that Apple swears is the computer's problem. Nevermind the GPS devices, Android devices, printers, external drives, my Fitbit, 2 digital cameras, and my kids talking donkey toy, all of which don't seem to have a problem with that same computer and that same USB port. But you are probably right. It has to be my computer's problem. Sure. And I am sure it was user error when I had to put my iPad and 2 different gen2 iPod's in airplane mode and back to get the WIFI to work after the device was dormant for awhile.
"For users that want to have the best phone possible, Android’s deals with half a dozen different manufacturers makes that impossible." I simply cannot make sense of that statement. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. Here is my sentence: "For users that want to have the best phone possible the user walks into the store and buys the best phone possible." Manufacturers make cheap garbage phones and they make rock stars like the Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Note 2. If you want the best phone possible YOU BUY IT. If I want a Galaxy Note 2, the fact that there is a cheap Chinese android phone for sale in the next aisle MEANS NOTHING TO ME. This is just a bonehead comment.
Then he follows it up with this whopper: "there is a good chance a better version of your Android phone will be released by a different manufacturer within weeks or months of your purchase." Um, no, not really. There was 1 year between the original HTC EVO and the Samsung Galaxy. It took 2.5 years to get from the original Galaxy to the Galaxy S3. Several high end Motorola devices came out in that year (YEAR, not week). The Galaxy S3 has been out for 10 months now and there is no apparent successor yet. The Galaxy Note 2 came out 10 months after the S3 and 1.1 years after the Note 1. This comment is factually inaccurate and ignorant. What was the lifespan between the iPad 3 and the iPad 4 by the way?
"Want to upgrade your iOS 5 to iOS 6? No problem." Oh really? Want to explain to us how to upgrade my iPad 1 to iOS6? Please. Hear that? It is called fragmentation in iOS. Now, without question fragmentation in Android is more robust but spare us the idea that it is non-existent in Apple land. Oh and thanks for the iPad fragmentation too, otherwise known as the "press this icon to blow up your app 2x because we don't have another strategy until the developer writes a different app specifically for this device." Fragmentation. Look it up.
I love this one. In his discussion comparing app stores, he says "But when you go into the Apple store, you never get malware." Really? http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/first-ios-malware-found/ What is that you say? Yes, it is malware in the app store. Yes, real, factual, credible information FROM JULY. More flat out factual inaccuracies from this writer.
"I’m big on securing business data and the lack of checks in the Android environment simply puts your data at too much risk." What an amateur. First of all, connecting an Android smartphone to a corporate Exchange server gives the Administrator complete control over the device. Has this author even READ the permissions that are granted when an exchange server connection is initiated on the device for the first time? Obviously not. But let's not stop there. Here is a cute article *FROM 2010* about the Device Policy feature set added to Android in version 2.2 (yeah, 2.2). (http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/administer-control-android-phones-with-google-apps-device-policy-app/). Let's also not forget about one of many third party security solutions that can be added on top of these other two things AT THE USER AND COMPANY's DISCRETION. Do you understand the word discretion? It means the USER AND COMPANY get to decide - not Apple.
Next, on to the rant about the "junk" in the app store when entering a search by app function instead of app name. For kicks I entered the search "take notes by hand." I searched the Google Play store. I got 1000 results and the first ten were: Handrite Note Free, Antipaper Notes, ListNote, TT Note, Free Note, Jotter, Note Stacks, My Script, Jot It and Notebooks. But it really does piss me off that I had to jump over all of that garbage to find the few apps that were really relevant to what I wanted to search for. Damn you Google. And I am just SURE that the first 3 of 4 of those are actually Chinese hackers that will steal my thumb print from the phone the next time I touch the screen.
In the Apple store I got "No results for "take notes by hand."" But I am sure that I just didn't "search right." At least Apple was there to protect me against downloading a non-approved app for taking notes by hand. I feel protected now.
"Every phone is also preloaded with a ton of bloatware from whatever manufacturer you chose." Um. No. Try this press release from *A YEAR AND A HALF AGO* when Sprint announced removal of preloaded apps on current phones and no more preloaded apps on future Android phones. http://community.sprint.com/baw/community/sprintblogs/announcements/blog/2011/07/08/did-you-know-sprint-allows-removal-of-most-preloaded-apps-on-htc-evo-3d But, I am sure that in a year and half you just didn't have time to read that press release. You likely were still pondering the deep thought that went into this blog post. This is a CARRIER decision, not Google's decision. Really? Are you that uninformed?
And I LOVE this one: "Searching for ways to get my Android phone to work the way I wanted, I headed straight to Google, where the only suggestions were that I “root” the phone. Is it too much to ask that the phone be ready out of the box?" Notice no examples were provided? Hey uninformed blog author: give us three example of ways you can make your iPhone "work the way you want" without jailbreaking that you cannot do on an Android phone without rooting? Just three. Go.
Then we get to the "iOS is far more intuitive" comment. You know, an opinion that is stated as a fact without providing any examples? Here is an example of that intuitiveness. Just suppose I want to do something nuts like send an email to someone and attach any file on my phone, whether in internal memory, or the SD card and send it to someone. I know - that is far out. How is that working out for you on your iOS device? Just browse to the SD ca.....oh, yeah, nevermind. Well, browse on your internal memory for the file that you transferred to your iPhone by hard connecting it via USB and performing a full phone synchronization (you know, like you did on that Palm Pilot device in 1994). Oh, I know, you didn't want to transfer the 1GB movie from iTunes right now in order to transfer that 50KB work related file, but iTunes knows best, right?. So go ahead and open your email program and attach that document. What? You mean that document type isn't one of the Apple sanctioned document types that you can attach to an email? OK. Well Apple must know best. That can't be an important file type to begin with then. Go ahead and change what you needed to do because it was clearly wrong. See how intuitive that was?
And then he closes with the predicable "battery life and speed" comparison. Except that the two blogs referenced were written in September. Better recheck the phones that are referenced as the "fastest" and the "most battery life" since it is almost three months later.
This Apple vs Android war perpetuated by these ridiculous bloggers is nonsense. To each his own and that is why we have personal choices. Imagine the ego that it takes to declare one's personal technology choice as superior to anothers. Add to that the factual inaccuracies noted above and you've got a bad case of a guy that seems to be trying really hard to find an audience for attention.
But as I read their post by an unnamed author I was stunned at the amateur arguments and opinions-disguised-as-facts approach to the blog post. As a personal customer of Copy2Contact back when it was Anagram (and still a customer today), I found myself, for the first time since they acquired me as a customer, thinking "who are these boneheads?" And for importantly, would I give them any more of my money with this kind of amateur nonsense? That is a bit harsh, but seriously, read their piece and decide for yourself. I HOPE that this was a bait piece, in an attempt to simply draw traffic to their site. If they actually employ someone this void of deductive reasoning skills then heaven help them.
My house has the following: 5 iPods (1 original and 4 Touch's across 3 generations), an iPad 1, an iPhone 4S, 1 Android tablet and 3 Android smartphones, plus two laptops and a desktop. I get technology.
So forgive me while I roll my eyes at an author that admits just starting to "dabble" (his word) in Android this year and then goes on to lecture us about the two platforms and superiority of one of them. Reminds me of the 50 First Dates mentality. Live with both options for a couple years and then come back to us with an opinion that is relevant.
Now, let's dissect this blog post piece by piece and decide for yourself if you want to do business with a company this insanely shortsighted about their opinions on technology.
This author believes in being "open-minded when it comes to technology." And then he proceeds to use his experience in "dabbling" in one type of technology as the basis for his self-important declaration about the superiority of the one he prefers. Pure nonsense.
He compares using Android to using Windows (vs Mac) and reinstalling the OS countless times or tinkering with anti-virus software. Well, I get to live with 4 post-iOS5 devices that WILL NOT upgrade the OS via USB on an Intel i5 with 8 GB RAM. They won't. They wipe the devices, then fail, all of them (WIPED), EVERY time, with a USB error that Apple swears is the computer's problem. Nevermind the GPS devices, Android devices, printers, external drives, my Fitbit, 2 digital cameras, and my kids talking donkey toy, all of which don't seem to have a problem with that same computer and that same USB port. But you are probably right. It has to be my computer's problem. Sure. And I am sure it was user error when I had to put my iPad and 2 different gen2 iPod's in airplane mode and back to get the WIFI to work after the device was dormant for awhile.
"For users that want to have the best phone possible, Android’s deals with half a dozen different manufacturers makes that impossible." I simply cannot make sense of that statement. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. Here is my sentence: "For users that want to have the best phone possible the user walks into the store and buys the best phone possible." Manufacturers make cheap garbage phones and they make rock stars like the Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Note 2. If you want the best phone possible YOU BUY IT. If I want a Galaxy Note 2, the fact that there is a cheap Chinese android phone for sale in the next aisle MEANS NOTHING TO ME. This is just a bonehead comment.
Then he follows it up with this whopper: "there is a good chance a better version of your Android phone will be released by a different manufacturer within weeks or months of your purchase." Um, no, not really. There was 1 year between the original HTC EVO and the Samsung Galaxy. It took 2.5 years to get from the original Galaxy to the Galaxy S3. Several high end Motorola devices came out in that year (YEAR, not week). The Galaxy S3 has been out for 10 months now and there is no apparent successor yet. The Galaxy Note 2 came out 10 months after the S3 and 1.1 years after the Note 1. This comment is factually inaccurate and ignorant. What was the lifespan between the iPad 3 and the iPad 4 by the way?
"Want to upgrade your iOS 5 to iOS 6? No problem." Oh really? Want to explain to us how to upgrade my iPad 1 to iOS6? Please. Hear that? It is called fragmentation in iOS. Now, without question fragmentation in Android is more robust but spare us the idea that it is non-existent in Apple land. Oh and thanks for the iPad fragmentation too, otherwise known as the "press this icon to blow up your app 2x because we don't have another strategy until the developer writes a different app specifically for this device." Fragmentation. Look it up.
I love this one. In his discussion comparing app stores, he says "But when you go into the Apple store, you never get malware." Really? http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/first-ios-malware-found/ What is that you say? Yes, it is malware in the app store. Yes, real, factual, credible information FROM JULY. More flat out factual inaccuracies from this writer.
"I’m big on securing business data and the lack of checks in the Android environment simply puts your data at too much risk." What an amateur. First of all, connecting an Android smartphone to a corporate Exchange server gives the Administrator complete control over the device. Has this author even READ the permissions that are granted when an exchange server connection is initiated on the device for the first time? Obviously not. But let's not stop there. Here is a cute article *FROM 2010* about the Device Policy feature set added to Android in version 2.2 (yeah, 2.2). (http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/administer-control-android-phones-with-google-apps-device-policy-app/). Let's also not forget about one of many third party security solutions that can be added on top of these other two things AT THE USER AND COMPANY's DISCRETION. Do you understand the word discretion? It means the USER AND COMPANY get to decide - not Apple.
Next, on to the rant about the "junk" in the app store when entering a search by app function instead of app name. For kicks I entered the search "take notes by hand." I searched the Google Play store. I got 1000 results and the first ten were: Handrite Note Free, Antipaper Notes, ListNote, TT Note, Free Note, Jotter, Note Stacks, My Script, Jot It and Notebooks. But it really does piss me off that I had to jump over all of that garbage to find the few apps that were really relevant to what I wanted to search for. Damn you Google. And I am just SURE that the first 3 of 4 of those are actually Chinese hackers that will steal my thumb print from the phone the next time I touch the screen.
In the Apple store I got "No results for "take notes by hand."" But I am sure that I just didn't "search right." At least Apple was there to protect me against downloading a non-approved app for taking notes by hand. I feel protected now.
"Every phone is also preloaded with a ton of bloatware from whatever manufacturer you chose." Um. No. Try this press release from *A YEAR AND A HALF AGO* when Sprint announced removal of preloaded apps on current phones and no more preloaded apps on future Android phones. http://community.sprint.com/baw/community/sprintblogs/announcements/blog/2011/07/08/did-you-know-sprint-allows-removal-of-most-preloaded-apps-on-htc-evo-3d But, I am sure that in a year and half you just didn't have time to read that press release. You likely were still pondering the deep thought that went into this blog post. This is a CARRIER decision, not Google's decision. Really? Are you that uninformed?
And I LOVE this one: "Searching for ways to get my Android phone to work the way I wanted, I headed straight to Google, where the only suggestions were that I “root” the phone. Is it too much to ask that the phone be ready out of the box?" Notice no examples were provided? Hey uninformed blog author: give us three example of ways you can make your iPhone "work the way you want" without jailbreaking that you cannot do on an Android phone without rooting? Just three. Go.
Then we get to the "iOS is far more intuitive" comment. You know, an opinion that is stated as a fact without providing any examples? Here is an example of that intuitiveness. Just suppose I want to do something nuts like send an email to someone and attach any file on my phone, whether in internal memory, or the SD card and send it to someone. I know - that is far out. How is that working out for you on your iOS device? Just browse to the SD ca.....oh, yeah, nevermind. Well, browse on your internal memory for the file that you transferred to your iPhone by hard connecting it via USB and performing a full phone synchronization (you know, like you did on that Palm Pilot device in 1994). Oh, I know, you didn't want to transfer the 1GB movie from iTunes right now in order to transfer that 50KB work related file, but iTunes knows best, right?. So go ahead and open your email program and attach that document. What? You mean that document type isn't one of the Apple sanctioned document types that you can attach to an email? OK. Well Apple must know best. That can't be an important file type to begin with then. Go ahead and change what you needed to do because it was clearly wrong. See how intuitive that was?
And then he closes with the predicable "battery life and speed" comparison. Except that the two blogs referenced were written in September. Better recheck the phones that are referenced as the "fastest" and the "most battery life" since it is almost three months later.
This Apple vs Android war perpetuated by these ridiculous bloggers is nonsense. To each his own and that is why we have personal choices. Imagine the ego that it takes to declare one's personal technology choice as superior to anothers. Add to that the factual inaccuracies noted above and you've got a bad case of a guy that seems to be trying really hard to find an audience for attention.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Garmin Smartphone Link v1.3 - More problems
If you spend a few minutes reading my past blog posts, you'll see a history of documented problems with Garmin Smartphone Link. Unfortunately, tonight, with the v1.3 update, it is more of the same from Garmin.
The phrase that ought to strike fear in every Garmin executive (and shareholder) is "good enough." In other words "Google Navigation is good enough." Or "Waze is good enough." You could even preface the comment with "It's no Garmin, but..."
Those apps move closer to be "good enough" for mainstream consumers in the following ways:
Tonight, I have arrived at #3.
I've moved on from the Smartphone Link problems that I've described in detail in my blog. I've moved on from the ridiculous amount of effort it took for me to spoon feed the details of their problems to someone at Garmin that actually knew what Smartphone Link was. I was willing to forgive and forget. Then they do it again. They release v1.3 tonight and what do you know - more problems.
Smartphone Link v1.2 worked fine for me today on 3 different occasions. I updated to v1.3 tonight while enjoying the pot roast sandwich at Culver's (you should try it - it is good!) I jumped back into my car and the little Smartphone Link icon turned blue, the Smartphone Link icon on my Nuvi appeared and I was off - driving home.
Except....the temperature on my Nuvi was listed as "--" instead of the ridiculously hot 99 degrees that it is here. I went to the weather app on my Nuvi and I was greeted by an advertisement telling me all the great features of Advanced Weather. I know. I already bought it (twice actually).
I go to the Smartphone Link services icon on my phone and low and behold, all 4 services that I own and already used today are now shown with a price tag. My "subscribed services" are blank. As is typical with an in-app purchase, sometimes you have to let the app and the server communicate so that the server can tell the app "hey, app - this guy already purchased this feature - light it up for him chief." Except, I couldn't find a way to do that in the app.
I picked the cheapest service: "Advanced Weather" for $4.99 and selected purchase. I figured that I'd get into the process deep enough that at some point the server would inform the app that I purchased it already. Then I see the email notification from Google. I got a fresh, new, shiny $4.99 in-app charge.
I decided that I'd uninstall the Smartphone Link app and reinstall it. Maybe it was just a glitch. Upon reinstalling it, now I find even the $4.99 that I just purchased 2 minutes ago is no longer listed as subscribed. It too now shows up in services that I can purchase.
Since this is an in-app charge, there is no 15 minute return policy. I have to deal with Garmin. Well, I've been down that road before. Garmin, to this day, has never responded to double billing me. NOW, they have triple billed me.
So I call Garmin support on the phone. Guess what. They are only open from 8am - 6pm Monday through Friday. I'll be damned if I am going to take time off from work to sit in my car to trouble shoot their sloppy software development.
So for me, tonight, Garmin has officially fallen into #3 above - being a total pain in the ass to deal with.
I bit the bullet on #1 above - buying a $399 Nuvi after not owning one since the 885T. I've lived with my 3590 rebooting multiple times per week (yes, even after the latest firmware). Now I officially regret my purchase. Tonight it just crossed the threshold into "not worth it" territory. Google Navigation became "good enough" for me. Tonight I can see myself looking back on this day referring to the last Garmin I ever purchased.
Garmin should be better than this. Their products are priced at a premium. They are the world leader in consumer navigation. These sloppy problems should come from the #3 or #4 company in the industry, or the free app guys - not the supposed top player. Garmin should quit using their customers as beta testers. And they ought to try providing a 2012 level of customer service. Social media can be used for more than promoting your racing team you know!
The phrase that ought to strike fear in every Garmin executive (and shareholder) is "good enough." In other words "Google Navigation is good enough." Or "Waze is good enough." You could even preface the comment with "It's no Garmin, but..."
Those apps move closer to be "good enough" for mainstream consumers in the following ways:
- Garmin continues to try to sell a dedicated navigation device for the same price as a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone or for MORE than a Google Nexus 7.
- The features of Google Navigation (or Waze or others) continues to improve while Garmin continues to artificially restrict software features on existing models to protect future hardware sales.
- Garmin becomes a pain in the ass to deal with.
Tonight, I have arrived at #3.
I've moved on from the Smartphone Link problems that I've described in detail in my blog. I've moved on from the ridiculous amount of effort it took for me to spoon feed the details of their problems to someone at Garmin that actually knew what Smartphone Link was. I was willing to forgive and forget. Then they do it again. They release v1.3 tonight and what do you know - more problems.
Smartphone Link v1.2 worked fine for me today on 3 different occasions. I updated to v1.3 tonight while enjoying the pot roast sandwich at Culver's (you should try it - it is good!) I jumped back into my car and the little Smartphone Link icon turned blue, the Smartphone Link icon on my Nuvi appeared and I was off - driving home.
Except....the temperature on my Nuvi was listed as "--" instead of the ridiculously hot 99 degrees that it is here. I went to the weather app on my Nuvi and I was greeted by an advertisement telling me all the great features of Advanced Weather. I know. I already bought it (twice actually).
I go to the Smartphone Link services icon on my phone and low and behold, all 4 services that I own and already used today are now shown with a price tag. My "subscribed services" are blank. As is typical with an in-app purchase, sometimes you have to let the app and the server communicate so that the server can tell the app "hey, app - this guy already purchased this feature - light it up for him chief." Except, I couldn't find a way to do that in the app.
I picked the cheapest service: "Advanced Weather" for $4.99 and selected purchase. I figured that I'd get into the process deep enough that at some point the server would inform the app that I purchased it already. Then I see the email notification from Google. I got a fresh, new, shiny $4.99 in-app charge.
I decided that I'd uninstall the Smartphone Link app and reinstall it. Maybe it was just a glitch. Upon reinstalling it, now I find even the $4.99 that I just purchased 2 minutes ago is no longer listed as subscribed. It too now shows up in services that I can purchase.
Since this is an in-app charge, there is no 15 minute return policy. I have to deal with Garmin. Well, I've been down that road before. Garmin, to this day, has never responded to double billing me. NOW, they have triple billed me.
So I call Garmin support on the phone. Guess what. They are only open from 8am - 6pm Monday through Friday. I'll be damned if I am going to take time off from work to sit in my car to trouble shoot their sloppy software development.
So for me, tonight, Garmin has officially fallen into #3 above - being a total pain in the ass to deal with.
I bit the bullet on #1 above - buying a $399 Nuvi after not owning one since the 885T. I've lived with my 3590 rebooting multiple times per week (yes, even after the latest firmware). Now I officially regret my purchase. Tonight it just crossed the threshold into "not worth it" territory. Google Navigation became "good enough" for me. Tonight I can see myself looking back on this day referring to the last Garmin I ever purchased.
Garmin should be better than this. Their products are priced at a premium. They are the world leader in consumer navigation. These sloppy problems should come from the #3 or #4 company in the industry, or the free app guys - not the supposed top player. Garmin should quit using their customers as beta testers. And they ought to try providing a 2012 level of customer service. Social media can be used for more than promoting your racing team you know!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Mapquest for Android - How does it stack up?
In my never ending quest to find the right navigation solution for my needs, I've been spending some time with the Mapquest app for Android.
The map has a lot to offer as well as some things that it needs to improve on. Here is a quick look:
The map has a lot to offer as well as some things that it needs to improve on. Here is a quick look:
- Full voice guidance including text-to-speech, auto-reroute, auto map rotation.
- The use of your own TTS engine rather than a lower quality bundled TTS engine like you'll find in Waze for example. For those of us that have purchased a higher quality TTS engine like SVOX, we can use our SVOX voices within Mapquest. This also allows you to benefit from the pronunciation correction features of SVOX. If a street name is pronounced wrong, just change it's pronunciation in SVOX! Thanks Mapquest!
- Voice search is provided, using the Google voice input feature.
- Multi-step routing. This is a great feature that is missing from Google Navigation. You can enter multiple stops in your route. Mapquest needs to take this to the next level and allow us to save, edit and recall planned trips.
- A robust traffic feed is in the app and comes from Inrix, a respected name in traffic content. In my mid-market region of 500,000 people the Inrix feed is by far the most robust content of any traffic source on any device. The traffic feed includes incident & flow data updated every 5 minutes.
- The map is interactive meaning that you can long-press anywhere on the map and route to that point or save it as a favorite. But unfortunately, it doesn't appear that the map has any auto zoom capability based on the distance to the next turn.
- Mapquest has included a great use of Android shortcuts. This allows you to add a one-touch icon to your home screen (or within a folder on your home screen) that is "pre-configured" to a specific destination address. When you press this icon, Mapquest opens and begins navigating to that destination without further user intervention.
- Android calendar and contact integration. When you press an address in your calendar, contacts, a 3rd party app or a website, if you have your navigation default preferences cleared in Android then Mapquest is one of the options to receive the address. This passes the address directly to Mapquest from the source app without requiring the user to enter it or copy and paste it.
- Mapquest's ETA seems very good. My biggest complaint about Google Maps is their very conservative ETA's. Mapquest seems to be right on with their ETA calculations.
The Mapquest app has improved greatly from its initial launch but it still has a ways to go. Here are some things that need work in this app.
- Voice search requires an extra step that shouldn't be necessary. When you speak a search the Mapquest app uses voice recognition only to populate the search box with text. It doesn't actually execute the search. Therefore, the user has to touch the search button. This is an unnecessary step while driving. Contrast that to Google Navigation. When you speak a search, Google receives your voice, translates it to text and automatically executes the search. If it isn't sure or there are multiple options, you are presented with a "Did you mean:" box of options. Mapquest needs to remove this unnecessary step from its voice input workflow.
- The text size used for street names in the Mapquest app is simply unusable and I have a 4.7" smartphone screen. Both Google and Waze do a much better job with the readability of the street name text. This remains the biggest downfall with the Mapquest map in my opinion. When I navigate in an unfamiliar area, even though there is turn by turn guidance, I like to compare the street signs with the streets I see on the map to get a better feel for how many more blocks I have before my turn. This is impossible with the Mapquest app because of their problem display the text of street names.
- Despite having a robust traffic feed from Inrix in the app, and despite Mapquest telling us that they use that data in determining routes and ETA's, to date, I have not found any evidence that Mapquest ever shows the user any indication of the impact of the traffic. In other words, if there is traffic and it is impacting my ETA, Mapquest should tell me that. Google does this by a simple black, red, yellow or green light. ALK, in their CoPilot product, also using Inrix traffic, has perhaps the best implementation of this with their traffic bar on the side of the screen. Not only does it tell you the traffic situation but does so graphically in a way that represents the distance the traffic is away from you. If Mapquest is going to use this traffic content, I want to see how it is using it and impacting my route when I use the app.
- The Mapquest app has no ability to show you multiple route options. Everyone: Google Navigation, Waze, Telenav, Navigon and ALK has this now and it needs to be in the Mapquest app.
- While the Mapquest app is integrated with contacts and calendar, it is not integrated with apps like Vlingo. Mapquest can do this by themselves without Vlingo's cooperation. On my Android home screen, when I long-press the search button it starts the Vlingo recognition app. I can then speak "Navigate to 123 Main St, Anytown, USA." Since I've cleared my navigation defaults, I am prompted by Android to pick an app to carry out my navigation request. In that list is Google Navigation, Telenav and Garmin Smartphone Link (used with my Nuvi over bluetooth). Mapquest needs to register this app within Android in a way that puts it on that list. For the record Waze hasn't figured this out yet either.
- Mapquest, like Telenav does, needs to leverage their online website and link it to their navigation app. We should be able to define favorites, search and select destinations and create routes on the Mapquest website, all of which we should be able to send to the Mapquest app. Mapquest is behind Google and Telenav in this regard.
Here are some questions that I'd love for Mapquest to answer:
- Is Inrix used for real time traffic only or do your ETA's take historical traffic into account?
- Does the use of the app send data back to Inrix for purposes of real time flow determination?
- How does the deal with TomTom for map data impact the ETA? Are you getting only raw map data from TomTom or does the data include IQRoutes data which then impacts the Mapquest ETA?
I like the Mapquest app. It has potential to be a good app, especially given its quality ETA calculations and great Inrix traffic feed but it has some things it needs to improve on.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
My take on the Apple Maps announcement
There has been a ton of speculation about the Apple Maps announcement this week. The announcement was perhaps the worst kept secret of the event. Everyone knew it was coming. Google and Apple have a huge need for you to use their phones for your location based activities so that eventually when the mobile advertising market grows up, they can capitalize. What better way to capture your location based activities than to create a robust app that navigates you whether driving, walking, biking, or using public transportation. Neither Google or Apple could care less about the navigation itself. They care about knowing about your navigation. And therefore, both have now planted both of their feet firmly in the navigation app space. The only way to do it, they believe and I agree, is to provide a robust navigation app that will be your go-to solution for all forms of personal navigation so they have a constant opportunity to serve you mobile ads.
What does this Apple announcement mean? No one knows for sure but here are my thoughts.
TomTom
No one knows the details of the relationship between Apple and TomTom for sure, other than the very short press release that TomTom released. The only fact that we know is that Apple is using TomTom's maps (TeleAtlas actually - owned by TomTom). What we do not know is:
1) Did Apple only buy the underlying mapping data from TomTom (TeleAtlas) and Apple built their own UI on top of that underlying mapping data?
2) Is the routing algorithm TomTom's or Apple's? If TomTom's, does it use IQRoutes data?
3) Will Apple's crowd sourcing feed back into TomTom to support TomTom's IQRoutes feature?
4) Will Apple's crowd sourcing traffic feature feed back into TomTom's traffic service?
If Apple only bought "dummy" map data from TomTom then in my opinion TomTom sold it's soul to the devil because of it's reportedly precarious financial position. Apple has a lot to prove in terms of their ability to develop their own routing algorithm and ETA calculations if they are not using TomTom's. Only after consumer use of the new app will we know for sure how good they are at this new game.
I've said many times that TomTom's main remaining value in the US is it's intellectual property: IQRoutes and HD Traffic. Those two services need users, and lots of them, or these features wither and die. Without users, TomTom cannot sustain the accuracy and timeliness of these features. And without those features, TomTom has little to offer the US consumer that is unique. TomTom already missed the boat badly in the US by not expanding their user base by adding Android users.
We know that Apple has announced that the Apple Maps app will feature crowdsourced traffic. What we do not know if is if it will also contain historical traffic. If it does, this would presumably have to be TomTom IQRoutes because Apple has no history in this space by which to have any historical traffic data. If it does not use historical data at product launch, then Apple has a long way to go to catch up to their competitors. Not having historical traffic data would be a bad sign for those hoping that the Apple Maps app will be back feeding TomTom's IQRoutes and HD Traffic.
If Apple's app is not back feeding TomTom's IQRoutes and HD Traffic then that is a clear sign of the trouble that TomTom is in in my opinion. Apple clearly has the user base to build up their own data that would resemble IQRoutes and HD Traffic. It would take them several years, less in larger cities, but they clearly have the user base to build it like no one other than Google can. It would appear that Apple does not necessarily need TomTom, except for a short term jump start. Clearly the release of Apple Maps will cause a significant reduction in sales of TomTom's own iPhone app. There would be little to justify the expense. If Apple is not using IQRoutes or HD Traffic, then those features would remain as selling points for TomTom's own app, but that advantage will be short lived as Apple builds up their own data. And Apple's own app will likely simply be more fun to use anyway, further drawing users away from TomTom's own paid app. The Apple app will be integrated with Siri and you can bet that Apple will nail the UI.
If Apple Maps is not feeding back into TomTom IQRoutes and HD Traffic then those features, in my view, are dead in the US. Apple Maps will drastically draw users away from TomTom's own apps, their PND's are already in deep decline. There simply do not appear to be enough users out there using IQRoutes and HD Traffic "feeder devices" to make those features viable.
After all of that explanation and speculation my prediction is that Apple buys TomTom.
Garmin
Garmin's public comment downplaying the impact of Google Maps screams of a historical 800 pound gorilla still trying hard to be seen as the major player it once was in the industry. Garmin is positioning itself as the "premium" player in a market of less-featured free or freemium solutions. The problem with that strategy, as I pointed out in previous blog posts, is that their so called premium devices are typically full of "half baked" features that never seal the deal. They get their devices 85% right in my view, but never finish the 15% of the features that would truly put it over the top, justify its high cost, and make it too good to pass up. Instead, they are onto developing another 10 skus of product, end-of-life'ing devices after 12 -16 months and trying to convince me to pay another several hundred dollars for the next "latest and greatest" device. Fool me once Garmin....Actually you fooled me twice, I just bought a 3590 after owning nothing since the 885. Not sure there is another Garmin device in my future that I can see.
Garmin is the only major player left that is at the mercy of a twice removed company for its core foundation - the maps. Garmin is at the mercy of Navteq, who is in the hands of Nokia, for its maps, a problem that no other player has. Part of Garmin's premium justification is Navteq maps - once the clear premier mapping provider. In the hands of Nokia, I am not sure Navteq remains in that position long term.
The future of Garmin's app on the iPhone seems destined to niche status, perhaps only for those customers sophisticated enough to know that they want Navteq maps and are willing to pay the fee, or for customers that still are blindly brand loyal to Garmin.
Garmin has no play in the Android space. Google will continue to exert pressure on Garmin and Garmin simply has no answer. Smartphone Link (Garmin's Android app that mates to a Nuvi via bluetooth) appears to be a lightly used niche app as evidence by the download numbers. For the record, I use the app and love it.
Garmin's problem with Smartphone Link however is that it holds my phone hostage because of its use of my bluetooth connection. That means I can't use a bluetooth headset, I can't use the bluetooth phone feature of my car and I can't use the bluetooth telematics feature in my car with its in-dash apps. Am I willing to give that up long term just to maintain my Garmin Nuvi? No. Smartphone Link is Garmin's Android v2.0 strategy and I think this will also be short lived, like the phones they tried a couple years ago.
Garmin seems only to be able to compete by convincing customers that premium PND's are the way to go. I don't see a competent and sustainable go-forward strategy yet from them to compete in a smartphone dominated world.
My prediction: Garmin buys Navteq from Nokia and tries to position themselves as the premium map set and the premium navigation solution. They may get smart about developing an Android app and continue their iPhone app development and also position their apps as the premium answer to the free alternatives. Whether they have enough features to truly differentiate and justify their premium cost remains to be seen.
Google
Frankly, I don't see Google impacted much by Apple Maps. I don't see that iPhone users make up a significant portion of Google's crowdsourcing user base. I don't see that Google's data will miss these users much. I also don't think Apple Maps will convert any significant quantity of Android customers. I just don't see that Apple Maps provides any advantage over Google Maps. I think that iPhone customers will remain iPhone customers and Android customers will remain Android customers. There is no doubt though that there will be a huge competition between Google and Apple to see who has the best navigation app to attact new users. This is a win-win for consumers. We can expect great strides from both players as they try to one-up each other.
Inrix
I don't know what to think about Inrix. I like their app and I like their traffic content, but I never use their app. Why? Because knowing the existence of traffic is only part of the equation. I want to know what to do about it and their app (at least for Android) doesn't tell me that. Frankly, the Inrix app is just not an app that will get my attention on my phone right now. From what I know, I don't see that Inrix has any role in either Google or Apple in this new smartphone navigation app battle. I am not knowledgeable enough about their business relationships to comment on what role Inrix has going forward that would have a direct consumer impact.
Others
I don't consider the other players worth spending much time on at this point. This is clearly a Google versus Apple battle. Players like Waze offer a unique solution. But I can't see them offering a compelling enough case to draw customers away from Google or Apple in enough quantity to create critical mass for their own crowdsourced apps. I see Waze as a small niche player that will drawn numbers similar to Open Street Map or Mapquest. Actually, I would bet good money that Waze will be acquired at some point.
ALK, TeleNav, Sygic, NDrive and the others have no upside in my view. There is just no compelling story here for any of them to justify not using Google or Apple. Once the general public gets a taste of the power of crowdsourced historical and real time traffic, these small niche players that don't have that data will have a hard time making a case for their app. Perhaps the inclusion of Inrix data in some of these apps will continue to be a compelling enough drawn for some people that are smart enough in this industry to know the difference and care but I have a hard time seeing a long term business case for these other players.
The same goes for the small PND players like Magellan, Rand McNally, etc. These players will turn into niche suppliers for specific industries like trucking, RV/Motorhomes, etc.
Conclusion
Who knows? How is that for a conclusion? We all talk smart about what will happen but the truth is that none of us know. I see:
1) Google continuing down their current path, crowdsourcing map data, using their users as probes for their historic and real time data, and using field vehicles primarily for streetview.
2) Apple will get a few months into their Apple Maps app and determine their confidence in building their own map data (ala Google) including using their users as probes to build their own historic and real time data. If they see roadblocks or think the data is building too slowly, I can see Apple making a play for TomTom to get TeleAtlas. I could also see Apple buying Waze instead to get the technology that Waze has and apply it to the user base that Waze doesn't have.
3) Garmin will remain as the viable premium old-school player in the market, still trying to convince the user base to buy dedicated devices. I can see Garmin making a play for Navteq as a fire sale from Nokia and trying to mold themselves into a services and software company. Their play could be premium map data, not relying much on crowdsourcing, built into premium apps and dedicated premium PND's.
That is my two cents on recent events.
What does this Apple announcement mean? No one knows for sure but here are my thoughts.
TomTom
No one knows the details of the relationship between Apple and TomTom for sure, other than the very short press release that TomTom released. The only fact that we know is that Apple is using TomTom's maps (TeleAtlas actually - owned by TomTom). What we do not know is:
1) Did Apple only buy the underlying mapping data from TomTom (TeleAtlas) and Apple built their own UI on top of that underlying mapping data?
2) Is the routing algorithm TomTom's or Apple's? If TomTom's, does it use IQRoutes data?
3) Will Apple's crowd sourcing feed back into TomTom to support TomTom's IQRoutes feature?
4) Will Apple's crowd sourcing traffic feature feed back into TomTom's traffic service?
If Apple only bought "dummy" map data from TomTom then in my opinion TomTom sold it's soul to the devil because of it's reportedly precarious financial position. Apple has a lot to prove in terms of their ability to develop their own routing algorithm and ETA calculations if they are not using TomTom's. Only after consumer use of the new app will we know for sure how good they are at this new game.
I've said many times that TomTom's main remaining value in the US is it's intellectual property: IQRoutes and HD Traffic. Those two services need users, and lots of them, or these features wither and die. Without users, TomTom cannot sustain the accuracy and timeliness of these features. And without those features, TomTom has little to offer the US consumer that is unique. TomTom already missed the boat badly in the US by not expanding their user base by adding Android users.
We know that Apple has announced that the Apple Maps app will feature crowdsourced traffic. What we do not know if is if it will also contain historical traffic. If it does, this would presumably have to be TomTom IQRoutes because Apple has no history in this space by which to have any historical traffic data. If it does not use historical data at product launch, then Apple has a long way to go to catch up to their competitors. Not having historical traffic data would be a bad sign for those hoping that the Apple Maps app will be back feeding TomTom's IQRoutes and HD Traffic.
If Apple's app is not back feeding TomTom's IQRoutes and HD Traffic then that is a clear sign of the trouble that TomTom is in in my opinion. Apple clearly has the user base to build up their own data that would resemble IQRoutes and HD Traffic. It would take them several years, less in larger cities, but they clearly have the user base to build it like no one other than Google can. It would appear that Apple does not necessarily need TomTom, except for a short term jump start. Clearly the release of Apple Maps will cause a significant reduction in sales of TomTom's own iPhone app. There would be little to justify the expense. If Apple is not using IQRoutes or HD Traffic, then those features would remain as selling points for TomTom's own app, but that advantage will be short lived as Apple builds up their own data. And Apple's own app will likely simply be more fun to use anyway, further drawing users away from TomTom's own paid app. The Apple app will be integrated with Siri and you can bet that Apple will nail the UI.
If Apple Maps is not feeding back into TomTom IQRoutes and HD Traffic then those features, in my view, are dead in the US. Apple Maps will drastically draw users away from TomTom's own apps, their PND's are already in deep decline. There simply do not appear to be enough users out there using IQRoutes and HD Traffic "feeder devices" to make those features viable.
After all of that explanation and speculation my prediction is that Apple buys TomTom.
Garmin
Garmin's public comment downplaying the impact of Google Maps screams of a historical 800 pound gorilla still trying hard to be seen as the major player it once was in the industry. Garmin is positioning itself as the "premium" player in a market of less-featured free or freemium solutions. The problem with that strategy, as I pointed out in previous blog posts, is that their so called premium devices are typically full of "half baked" features that never seal the deal. They get their devices 85% right in my view, but never finish the 15% of the features that would truly put it over the top, justify its high cost, and make it too good to pass up. Instead, they are onto developing another 10 skus of product, end-of-life'ing devices after 12 -16 months and trying to convince me to pay another several hundred dollars for the next "latest and greatest" device. Fool me once Garmin....Actually you fooled me twice, I just bought a 3590 after owning nothing since the 885. Not sure there is another Garmin device in my future that I can see.
Garmin is the only major player left that is at the mercy of a twice removed company for its core foundation - the maps. Garmin is at the mercy of Navteq, who is in the hands of Nokia, for its maps, a problem that no other player has. Part of Garmin's premium justification is Navteq maps - once the clear premier mapping provider. In the hands of Nokia, I am not sure Navteq remains in that position long term.
The future of Garmin's app on the iPhone seems destined to niche status, perhaps only for those customers sophisticated enough to know that they want Navteq maps and are willing to pay the fee, or for customers that still are blindly brand loyal to Garmin.
Garmin has no play in the Android space. Google will continue to exert pressure on Garmin and Garmin simply has no answer. Smartphone Link (Garmin's Android app that mates to a Nuvi via bluetooth) appears to be a lightly used niche app as evidence by the download numbers. For the record, I use the app and love it.
Garmin's problem with Smartphone Link however is that it holds my phone hostage because of its use of my bluetooth connection. That means I can't use a bluetooth headset, I can't use the bluetooth phone feature of my car and I can't use the bluetooth telematics feature in my car with its in-dash apps. Am I willing to give that up long term just to maintain my Garmin Nuvi? No. Smartphone Link is Garmin's Android v2.0 strategy and I think this will also be short lived, like the phones they tried a couple years ago.
Garmin seems only to be able to compete by convincing customers that premium PND's are the way to go. I don't see a competent and sustainable go-forward strategy yet from them to compete in a smartphone dominated world.
My prediction: Garmin buys Navteq from Nokia and tries to position themselves as the premium map set and the premium navigation solution. They may get smart about developing an Android app and continue their iPhone app development and also position their apps as the premium answer to the free alternatives. Whether they have enough features to truly differentiate and justify their premium cost remains to be seen.
Frankly, I don't see Google impacted much by Apple Maps. I don't see that iPhone users make up a significant portion of Google's crowdsourcing user base. I don't see that Google's data will miss these users much. I also don't think Apple Maps will convert any significant quantity of Android customers. I just don't see that Apple Maps provides any advantage over Google Maps. I think that iPhone customers will remain iPhone customers and Android customers will remain Android customers. There is no doubt though that there will be a huge competition between Google and Apple to see who has the best navigation app to attact new users. This is a win-win for consumers. We can expect great strides from both players as they try to one-up each other.
Inrix
I don't know what to think about Inrix. I like their app and I like their traffic content, but I never use their app. Why? Because knowing the existence of traffic is only part of the equation. I want to know what to do about it and their app (at least for Android) doesn't tell me that. Frankly, the Inrix app is just not an app that will get my attention on my phone right now. From what I know, I don't see that Inrix has any role in either Google or Apple in this new smartphone navigation app battle. I am not knowledgeable enough about their business relationships to comment on what role Inrix has going forward that would have a direct consumer impact.
Others
I don't consider the other players worth spending much time on at this point. This is clearly a Google versus Apple battle. Players like Waze offer a unique solution. But I can't see them offering a compelling enough case to draw customers away from Google or Apple in enough quantity to create critical mass for their own crowdsourced apps. I see Waze as a small niche player that will drawn numbers similar to Open Street Map or Mapquest. Actually, I would bet good money that Waze will be acquired at some point.
ALK, TeleNav, Sygic, NDrive and the others have no upside in my view. There is just no compelling story here for any of them to justify not using Google or Apple. Once the general public gets a taste of the power of crowdsourced historical and real time traffic, these small niche players that don't have that data will have a hard time making a case for their app. Perhaps the inclusion of Inrix data in some of these apps will continue to be a compelling enough drawn for some people that are smart enough in this industry to know the difference and care but I have a hard time seeing a long term business case for these other players.
The same goes for the small PND players like Magellan, Rand McNally, etc. These players will turn into niche suppliers for specific industries like trucking, RV/Motorhomes, etc.
Conclusion
Who knows? How is that for a conclusion? We all talk smart about what will happen but the truth is that none of us know. I see:
1) Google continuing down their current path, crowdsourcing map data, using their users as probes for their historic and real time data, and using field vehicles primarily for streetview.
2) Apple will get a few months into their Apple Maps app and determine their confidence in building their own map data (ala Google) including using their users as probes to build their own historic and real time data. If they see roadblocks or think the data is building too slowly, I can see Apple making a play for TomTom to get TeleAtlas. I could also see Apple buying Waze instead to get the technology that Waze has and apply it to the user base that Waze doesn't have.
3) Garmin will remain as the viable premium old-school player in the market, still trying to convince the user base to buy dedicated devices. I can see Garmin making a play for Navteq as a fire sale from Nokia and trying to mold themselves into a services and software company. Their play could be premium map data, not relying much on crowdsourcing, built into premium apps and dedicated premium PND's.
That is my two cents on recent events.
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