The more I use this machine, the more I realize how little I need in my every day computing. It also emphasizes what things are necessary for maximum utility in modern life. When the original Asus eeePC came out, reactions were mixed, but once you took the cramped keyboard out of the picture (as Asus did with subsequent, models of the eeePC) it was clear that a new computing market was born. Thanks to Intel’s Atom processor, what I like to call the Age of “Good Enough” computing was born. People did not need dual core processors, with monster GPUs to do most of what they wanted to do: they needed only modest hardware that could support the most important of modern software (a browser, Flash, music, word processing, etc.). They found that at a specific price, they were happy with a computer that was “good enough.”

In some ways, my Mac Classic II is “good enough.” With some modifications, it could in fact be almost entirely “good enough.” But its age has some issues. For one, its SCSI hard disk may need replacing in the future (being SCSI, this limits options, eliminating most SSDs and makes use of CompactFlash cards difficult). It already has issues with the lubricants gelling if the disk isn’t spun up every once in a while (requiring me to crack open the case and smack the hard disk to jar it loose). Its CRT is affected by my stereo being put on top of it. It’s somewhat bulky, it’s not that quiet, and Apple rates its maximum power consumption at 100 Watts (for comparison, what’s called a 100W CFL consumes 26W; a USB powered device, like a cell phone, consumes 1W; an iPad consumes closer to 10W; my 2008 MacBook Pro consumes 85W, and the average PC consumes around 250-350W). This makes it somewhat impractical.

This makes me wonder if it is possible to build a newer implementation of the classic Macintosh platform. The architecture is well understood enough for emulators to run the classic systems. Why not build a new physical machine? Perhaps implement it in an FPGA, much like how the 1chipMSX and C-One operate. However, there may be legal issues in developing a new implementation of the Motorola 68000 series processors (such as the 68030 which the Mac Classic II runs, and the 68881 mathematics co-processor it can run) on any kind of new silicon that Motorola doesn’t license. And, of course, there are problems with the legality of using Apple’s proprietary boot ROMs, and apparently there are no known clones of these ROMs floating around. But regardless, one could theoretically build a new physical machine, centered around modern 68000 processors (I believe Motorola still builds them, with modern examples including the Motorola Dragonball processors that were used in all Palm PDAs running OSes below 4.0), and the intention of plugging in a ROM salvaged from another Mac. A modern SCSI bus (or an ATA bus for use with SD or CF cards, assuming the OS could support that), an Ethernet port (emulated internally as a known SCSI ethernet adapter, perhaps even a WiFi adapter that masquerades as such an ethernet adapter), utilizing an LCD instead of a CRT, USB appearing as an Apple Desk Bus, things like that. This could reduce the problems associated with older hardware, perhaps making such a system a little more practical.

Or perhaps being away from my laptop for a week has made me a bit loopy. All I know is that I still can’t find a decent Oregon Trail for OS X.

Related posts:

• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day One
• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day Three

My solution is a clip-on charger. One side is a solar panel, and the other side is a nondescript box, much like a garage door opener. Inside you connect your headset, and flip down your sun visor to expose the solar panel to the sun. This charges the headset while you’re not using it. The box could also contain a small battery, so you can charge that cell during the day, and then have it charge your headset charge from the battery when sunlight isn’t available.

This way you have a somewhat secure place to stow your headset when you’re not using it, and top off its batteries. The built-in battery allows people who park their cars in garages or ramps to store power for when they won’t have sunlight.

The idea could also be used to power a speaker phone system too.

First off, I assumed that moving files around between machines would be easy. The Mac reads and writes FAT12 disks with ease, and the USB 1.44 MB disk drive I have plays nice with the family PC. And that’s where the easy parts end, and I am thrust back into the hell that was the Mac/PC formatting debacle.

To start, the Mac Classic II I am using, even though it is running the newer Mac OS 7.5.5, still predates Windows 95 and long file names. So when copying files to the FAT12 diskette, Mac OS truncates everything down to the old 8.3 naming scheme. But that’s when things go nicely. That’s assuming I added the three character extension myself. Even though Mac OS 7 has a feature called the PC Exchange, it only seems to work one way: PC to Mac. So any files I haven’t manually entered the file extension on becomes an almost indecipherable mess, meaning I need to use some brains to determine which file on the disk is the file I want, and which one is the resource fork that Windows will likely never understand.

See if you can guess which files are which

A task easier said than done, since the file and its fork are named in very similar fashions, but with almost random and unpredictable extensions. This is a stark contrast to how Mac OS X handles resource forks, which is the creation of those infamous .* and ._* files (an example is .DS_Store). So exactly determining which file is which involves opening the file, which can actually take a little longer than everyone is used to, since 1.44 MB diskettes are slower than DSL.

I also assumed that older files would be easily readable on newer machines. And to an extent, this is true. Microsoft Office 2003 does indeed read Microsoft Word 5.1 files. However, due to security policies set by default in Word 2003, reading of file types this old is disabled. This is likely due to several vulnerabilities in Word Macros in older versions of Office. This means that the easiest way to get information out are the tried and true, old as dirt TXT (AKA Plaintext) file, and the RTF (AKA Rich Text File, or RTF Interchange, as Word 5 calls it) format. This, of course, limits some of the editing capabilities, but maintains all the important features I need.

The other issue is writing e-mails. It is quite convenient to be able to have a distraction-free writing environment with a full spell checker, but being unable to copy/paste information is a bit more annoying than I had initially expected. It almost makes me want to buy a SCSI Ethernet adapter (which tend to be quite rare) just so I can run a simple mail client for sending (rather than reading) e-mail.

The last problem is that when I am composing things, I frequently refer to other sources, such as an e-mail sent to me (if I’m replying), the Wikipedia, a news report, and so on. Most of these sources are from the Internet, and for now I’m using my Nexus S as my bridge to the Internet, but its configuration for conservation of power makes it inconvenient. Then there’s the fact that I cannot copy and paste between the two, which is rather irritating. And if I want to move something from the phone to the Mac (or vise versa) I need to use another computer as an intermediary, which I would suppose is the most annoying, because if there were an easy way to throw files betwen the two (if, say, the Mac were networked, so the two could could pass files to each other) I could probably temper the other issues in this particular category.

On the whole, however, this isn’t as bad as it could be. The Classic II is pokey, but quick enough to get me to work before the cat decides I’m not doing anything important and decides it’s time for a long and involved scratching-me-behind-the-ears ritual. I am rather interested to see what it could do if I were to outfit it with a network card, some additional RAM, and some additional software.

But this reveals the issue with using these old devices: the hardware is quite sound, but the software is where everything trips up. I had, prior to getting an iPod Touch, considered snagging a used Newton MessagePad, which seemed like quite a good idea. And while I could deal with the fact that the Newton requires a serial port for linking to a computer with a USB-to-Serial adapter, actually getting the software to do the communicating was another story altogether. Sure, the Newton could talk to the Mac through Bluetooth or WiFi, but the software didn’t know how to use those particular protocols. And such are some of the issues with the Mac Classic II, however, it is saved by the fact that it has a strong community of dedicated users, and it was around when the simplest common protocols and formats were becoming popular.

Related posts:

• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day One
• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day Seven

When I tell you that I have written this on my Mac Classic II, in Mac OS 7, using Word 5.1, I’m sure the first thing in your mind will be, “why?”

Well, let’s start with the obvious things: my MacBook Pro is in for repairs. I was not an acceptable option to let its warranty lapse without first taking care of the hardware issues it had. From there, that’s where things could have gone differently. In our house, we have a few computers. There was my MacBook Pro, the family PC, a Dell Inspiron, an old Toshiba Satellite, and an iBook G4. Unfortunately, except for the family PC, most of these require work to get them to a fully functional state. The Dell Inspiron is the computer with the newest round of issues, and also some of the hardest ones to resolve: its power jack needs to be replaced. The Satellite, while running Ubuntu 11, has graphic issues due to drivers being incompatible with new software and no proper open source solution yet available. The iBook G4 has a thoroughly wrecked hinge and damaged video cables, making it impossible to use it without the possibility of exacerbating the physical problems (the power jack and video out ports are on separate sides of the machine).

This left me with the family PC, where demand for time on it far outstrips supply, my Nexus S, and my surprisingly functional Macintosh Classic II. It is inevitable that I will need to use the family PC, since the Mac Classic has no printer, and no network connectivity. The idea here, then, is to reduce the amount of time I need to use it. The Nexus S is a possibility to temporarily replace my MacBook Pro, as it has access to all the files I need through Dropbox and Google Docs, but even with an incredibly smart on-screen keyboard (I’m currently using Swiftkey X), it is still difficult to type anything of great length on it.

This left the Macintosh Classic II. I had upgraded it to System 7.5.5 a long time ago, had found a SCSI Zip drive (I already had an ample supply of Zip Disks), and had a few 1.44 MB diskettes (plus a 1.44 MB Diskette drive salvaged from a laptop with a built-in USB interface). This meant that data could easily be brought into, and out of the Mac Classic II. With Word 5.1 on board, it also meant I could do the majority of work I needed to do with my laptop (typing) on the Classic II, with the majority of the necessary formatting, and then bring it to the Family PC to final touches, and distribution (sending the information to the Internet, or printing it, or what ever else needed to be done).

Word 5.1 on Mac OS 7.5.5

Sure, this basically makes my Mac Classic II a glorified typewriter, but unlike my old Smith Corona, I can still edit documents, and the documents are still digitized, so all I need to do in order to bring things into a modern world is copy and paste it. After all, the original Macintosh, predating my Classic II by many years, ushered in the era of what was called Desktop Publishing. Since then, the majority of what people do with their word processors hasn’t changed much: both do page layout, both will do images (though, granted, I cannot easily import graphics from my camera or the Internet, and I also cannot see color, see example at right), I can adjust the italics and character spacing. In many ways, Word 5 and ClarisWorks 2 still offer more document editing and display control capabilities than many modern blogging engines, or even Google Docs!

This is also partially an experiment. An experiment to see how easy it is to go backwards in time. Obviously, it won’t be easy, but aside from the video work I do, the majority of what I do on my laptop can easily be replaced with the Classic II (for typing) and my Nexus S (access to the Internet). On the whole, it could possibly be a productivity enhancement. The Classic II lacks many distractions found on a modern PC, and my Nexus S can still serve as my necessary link to parts of the Internet (such as e-mail, access to group messaging, keeping up on the news, and so forth). Sure, it means fewer cat pictures, and not checking Twitter every five minutes, but it does mean doing more serious work. And if the process doesn’t scar me too much, and doesn’t have too much of a negative impact in time when it comes down to the transition from the Classic environment to the modern world, I may maintain this set-up, leaving my laptop for the times when I need to do work that simply cannot effectively be done on the Classic.

Either that, or I’ll sink a bunch of time into the machine, then spend the rest of my time on CraigsList looking up peripherals for it, get them, install them, then get my laptop back and never use the thing again. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how it all works out.

Related posts:

• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day Three
• Living with a Mac Classic II – Day Seven

After thinking about the phone for a while, it struck me that what made my previous mobile devices feel more constrained was software, not the hardware. My iPod Touch felt a little pokey, but being trapped at iOS 3.1.3 meant I was left out of some of the more innovative software being released. And while my BlackBerry only had a 3.2 megapixel shooter on-board, it was the inability to do much with it that frustrated me more than the image produced itself. And that was what made the Nexus S stand out: its software would be the most up to date, and would have the fewest barriers involved.

So when I finally was eligible, I zipped on over to my local Best Buy… then over to the nearest Best Buy that had a contract with T-Mobile, and got myself set up with the Nexus S.

All my initial problems with the phone subsided as soon as I fled the poor over-saturated cell towers that serviced the Mall of America and got out in the parts of the world where I would actually be using the phone more often. I’ve found it to get GPS locks rapidly (much to my relief, considering the Nexus S is based on the Galaxy S platform, which was plagued with GPS issues), and the hardware to be rather zippy. I haven’t yet actually hit the RAM wall on my device, always somehow finding myself with free RAM (according to the system). While I wish the camera provided higher resolution images and videos, I was impressed with how quickly it was able to focus on objects, and at how close I could get to objects and still be able to focus.

It took me a while to get used to Android’s convention of Home Screens. At first, I just considered it a place to put quick access to a few apps and maybe a weather widget. Quickly I realized that the main app listing would be unmanageably large, lacked any way to organize it (aside from the default alphabetical listing), and was not intended to function at all like iOS’s home screens. Gradually I started to feel my way around them, and I’m currently using four out of the five that Gingerbread has given me.

My first few days with the Nexus S were besieged by unacceptably short battery life. I had done everything I had been taught to do by previous devices: I had the backlight at its lowest setting, I used only a few apps I used, and I tried to avoid heavy network usage. While I love the Battery Usage meter, it wasn’t delivering the whole picture when it came to battery consumption. I was used to, on my iPod Touch and BlackBerry, loading up several apps at once for testing, and switching around between them. What I hadn’t realized was that without running these apps each and every time, they had all started their own processes and were gobbling up my battery life (and my Twitter API calls). I’ve since adjusted my usage habits, and while I typically expect a device to meet my usage instead of conforming myself to it, this is not unacceptable. It was extremely disconcerting, though, that some apps (specifically Tap Tap Revolution 4) could start background processes without me ever starting the app in the first place. And when I say “ever starting,” I mean that it was running a background service, and I had never run the app. Even after telling it not to perform background checks or accept Push notifications, it kept running. This has, fortunately, been the exception, rather than the rule.

On the whole, I’m rather liking Android. I’ve had a few apps crash on me, but I’m reassured by the fact that I can submit crash reports. I’ve also come to really appreciate Gingerbread’s combination spell checker/predictive text engine. I’ve been able to compose entire sentences using only a handful of letters from each word, and increase text entry and accuracy greatly. However, having large fingers to begin with, I’m finding myself hitting a lot of typos (especially when I’m trying to hit the backspace key). I’ve also found my hands frequently accidentally hitting the softkeys for Home and Back, causing all sorts of havoc.

I’m also not as thrilled with the screen as I thought I would be. Sure, 800×480 isn’t the Retina Display of the iPhone 4, and nor was I expecting it to be. However, its dot pitch is slightly awkward, reminding me, slightly, of old LCDs used as camcorder screens. However, the color reproduction is amazing, it’s extremely readable in bright sunlight, and unless you press your eye against the device, you can’t really see the individual pixels. This is the only thing I’ve found to be particularly upsetting since putting my hands on the device. However, I don’t think it’ll be a make-or-break issue.

The software on the whole, has been agreeable, except for a few issues. I had heard horror stories of copy/paste on Android, and while my experience with it hasn’t been particularly bad, it isn’t been nearly as nice as I’ve had on any other platform. For starters, selection in any text entry field is done in an acceptable maner, but requires more taps than most platforms. But I can get over that. However, text selection outside of there is a mess. In the browser I’m still not entirely sure how I’m managing to select text, and in some apps I can’t select text at all. It’s a mess, and Google really needs to step up their game on this one. Also, the browser is something of a pain. Instead of on iOS or even in the BlackBerry’s abysmal browser, where columns of text are displayed at screen width when zoomed out (that is, the columns of text are shown exactly the way you will see them when you zoom in), but Android dynamically reflows the text, making zooming in on a particular paragraph annoying. I also am unable to connect one of my Exchange e-mail addresses to Android, receiving only an error telling me that my username and password are incorrect (though they work fine with OWA). This may be a due to some corporate security policy, but it would be nice if it at least told me that. My other Exchange account is working sufficiently well, as are all my accounts that are powered (in one way or another) by Gmail. However, having separate apps for Gmail and all other e-mail is suboptimal, in my opinion. Also suboptimal is how Android handles notification sounds: they’re all handled in individual applications, rather than in one centralized place. At first I was worried that I would be doomed to have the same tone for SMS as I would e-mail, until I started poking around in the Messenger’s settings. I much prefer how BlackBerry handled notifications: all apps told the Notification Manager what notifications they would issue, and I could control what would happen from the Notification Manager. Having all my settings spread out is not how I would prefer to do things, but at least now I know about how Android handles this.

I am rather pleased with the rest of Android, and am glad I’ve taken the plunge into 2.3. One of my particular favorite features is the Battery Usage screen and graph, which give me an indication of precisely how power hungry that SAMOLED screen is (I have yet to see it consume less than 42% power, or anything else eat more than 12%). Live Wallpapers are a cool idea, especially ones that display some kind of interesting info (such as the Polar Clock, or ones that show RAM usage, current weather, and things like that), but consume too much power for my lifestyle. I have yet to give Navigation a proper test, but I’m positive that if I don’t have a window mount on hand, the microUSB port being on the bottom of the device will annoy me to no end (preventing me from simply sitting the phone upright in a cup holder). Google Goggles has been a disappointment in translating anything, but is hands down the fastest barcode reader I’ve ever seen. Hearing all the stories of disappointment with the Android music player, I’ve skipped straight to DoubleTwist for music and Podtrapper (an app I loved on my BlackBerry) for podcasts. So far, Astrid is serving me well for a to-do list, though HoneyDew is something I plan on checking out. I’m also in love with the Android Notification System. It’s simple, it’s out of the way, and I can ignore a particular notification (for now), receive several more, and not have it be pushed away into the miasma, like how iOS handles Push Notifications when you aren’t using your device.

So far, only four things have stuck in my craw with the phone. First, when I got it, the on-board software was Android 2.3.1. Sure, it was Gingerbread, but 2.3.3 was out, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to recognize that. In the end, I manually updated it to 2.3.3, and I’m glad I did. I initially wanted 2.3.3 because I had heard that I would be able to take screenshots without having to root my phone, however this may not actually be true (and no apps are available yet claiming to do this, thus the lack of screenshots in this post). However, Priority Inbox may retroactively be the reason I went to 2.3.3, as it is my favorite introductions to Gmail since Labs. I may yet root my phone, just so I can take screenshots of my phone. The other thing that annoys me is that randomly my phone will simply shut down. No warning, no proper shut down, just: off! This happened more often with 2.3.1, and it may be a defect with my phone. It hasn’t happened so often that it has caused me any trouble (since I upgraded to 2.3.3, this has happened once). Finally, my phone doesn’t ever seem to want to charge to 100% power. Every morning when I wake up I am greeted with a 96% charge. Last night I put the phone on the charger at about 30%, and in eight hours it should have had no problem whatsoever in topping off 70% more. I plan on contacting Samsung on this issue, since I seem to be alone, at least with the battery problem.

Fortunately, none of these problems have made me seriously consider swapping out the phone for a different one. I sincerely doubt I would be enjoying the platform as much if I was shoehorned into TouchWiz or Sense or some other custom UI that I could not remove. Week Two with the Nexus S should prove interesting, as I think I may have finished experimenting with the phone, and will see how it settles into its niche in my life.

A side-on view reveals the console's greatest weakness: limited viewing angles, and also offers an insight into how the 3D effect works

3D mode appears as a simple 2D image if viewed with a camera, or only one eye open

I also appreciate Nintendo’s truth in advertising regarding the 3D effect of their screen. Rather than most advertisements you see for 3D products (TVs, films, etc), where the images jump “out” of the screen, the 3DS ads show you a world of depth inside the screen. Instead of the images popping out (which, more often than not, they don’t do in 3D movies/TV shows/games), they just have depth. This is exactly the effect the 3DS accomplishes, and the advertising Nintendo put out did an excellent job of establishing realistic expectations for the console.

The part of the console that I found most interesting was the introduction of the analog pad. Analog controls of some sort (including those that merely emulate the effect of an analog control, like a touch screen) are pretty common these days, so it’s no surprise that Nintendo decided to add one to the 3DS. This is certainly a step-up from the analog nub present on the PSP: it’s located in a more ergonomic location, its rubber coating prevents slippage, the concave design is comfortable against the thumb, it’s sizable not to be a pain to use, and the managed to get the amount of resistance just right so as to allow discrete levels of control. In some ways, it was almost nicer than the analog stick present on some gaming consoles (and third party controllers). This analog pad is more than likely the feature to be used by more games, and to be better effect, than the 3D screen. It is significantly more comfortable to use for prolonged periods than the D-Pad, and certainly should prove useful in any kind of 3D gaming endeavor. The only thing that I have concerns over is the same lesson Sony learned from the PSP: two analog controls are better than one. However, the kinds of games on the PSP where I frequently wished for a pair of analog controls (mainly FPS and Katamari games) aren’t the kind one sees so much on the DS. Somehow I doubt The New Super Mario Bros. 2 or Tetris XIX will be ruined by a lack of twin analog controls.

So in simple summation: 3D is a well done effect, proving that Nintendo still knows how to make economical, well thought out technology, but the peripheral technology added to the console will be what you keep using it for (much like the Wii’s Wiimote: the motion sensors are typically used more than the pointing aspect).

What I’m talking about is going somewhere in the settings of your phone, or laptop, or whatever, and telling it that the on-board battery is due for prolonged storage (perhaps I’m replacing it and I want to keep the old one as an emergency spare if the existing one explodes or something), and have it bring the battery to 40% power and shut off, displaying a message.

This isn’t at all difficult, to be honest. Devices know quite well that the power level is on their batteries, and all of Nokia’s current phones will display a message when the batteries are fully charged (even if the handset is turned off). Devices also have the ability to control their power states, which is how they sleep, go into low power mode, and control what subsystems are on or off (like WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular radios, etc).

There are applications for this outside the world of technological toys as well. Go back to my example of a power tool. A device, such as a cordless drill, may have a Lithium-Ion battery. However, as anyone who owns a rechargeable electric power tool, the charging units aren’t known for their verbosity in battery states. Most chargers just indicate when a battery is low, when it is charging, when it is full, and when it is in some sort of error state. There is no way of telling how charged a device is. However, when winter rolls around, I don’t think I’ll be necessarily doing too much drilling, so I want to store my extra battery during the frigid months where I would only realistically need one battery (or possibly not need the drill at all). I could set my battery charger to put the battery at 40% charge, and then shelve the battery.

Many commercial battery chargers have similar features. Anton Bauer professional battery chargers have several modes, which include diagnostic and conditioning modes, though do not include a storage mode as far as I am aware (newer chargers may have this facility). However, they do flex their muscles in every way when it comes to battery management, including reading battery diagnostic information (which most devices can do, but typically do not present this information to consumers without some form of modification or additional software) and actively discharging batteries for the purpose of conditioning them. These techniques are not that obscure, and could be applied to many consumer electronics without much added cost.

So as I put my Nokia N73 back into storage, keeping an eye on it so I can bring it back from 20% power to 40%, so that if my next phone fails, I may call on it again (there are a few technical reasons why using my BlackBerry would be sub-optimal), I wonder why no one has snuck this into some deeply hidden system setting sub-preference dialog, possibly in MeeGo or Android. One can assume it has something to do with manufacturers wanting to sell you more batteries, but I’m not going to delve into conspiracy theories, accusations of collusion, or other such ideas. That wasn’t the purpose of this blog entry, nor do I feel I am qualified to make such accusations at this time. I’m simply coming out and saying: this is a feature I would like to see in devices in the future, and above are the reasons why.

Aside from being completely freaky to watch, there are some problems with this solution that doesn’t address any of the complaints about active-shutter-based 3D TVs:

• You’re still blocking a portion of the light getting into your eyes, making the picture overall dimmer
• You still need to wear something on your head (only now you look like Geordi LaForge without his VISOR)
• There is still likely flickering
• People without these devices still can’t see the picture (so you need to have enough of these devices for all your viewers)

Then there are all the new potential problems introduced with this solution:

• Instead of charging one set of glasses, you now need to charge an independent pair of devices
• The prototype is pretty small, which makes you question the size of the batteries (and their capacity)
• The size of the prototype also leads to the probability of the devices being more easily lost
• Obviously: eyelid fatigue.

Since this is just a prototype, some of these problems could be solved in the next hardware revision. For example: independent charging of the two pieces and battery size could be solved by tethering the two pieces together, much like some stereo BlueTooth headphones, but this adds weight and increases the size of the device, which could prevent it from being affixed to the skin as demonstrated here. This could be replaced with a circlet, but then you basically have glasses, except your eyes are the shutters, which still leaves the potential problem of eyelid fatigue, and doesn’t really offer much advantage over conventional active shutter glasses, unless their cost is significantly lower than most 3D glasses.

Another problem I noticed, but likely just a problem with the prototype, but the system didn’t deactivate when the demonstrator looked away from the screen. Immediately everyone I showed this video to began planning pranks based around it. I could also see other potential problems, though less intentionally. Like forgetting you’re wearing them and trying to drive with them on, potentially causing visual impairment (related to dimming the real world) or issues with reading electronic displays (like traffic signs, gas station prices, or LED-based traffic lights) because of the refresh rate of those signs isn’t quite compatible with 60+ Hz shutters (leading to incomplete looking images).

I guess the moral of this story is that while this is indeed, technically, “glasses-free,” (or, “no glasses,” as the video is labeled) it doesn’t mean it isn’t “device-free,” that it’s better than the glasses, or that it’s an optimal solution.

Just some brief history: I’ve owned a device that runs almost every mobile operating system on the market, except Android. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, so nothing against the platform. By far, the two with the most captivating experiences I’ve had were iOS (I’m locked into 3.1.3, since I’ve only got my iPod Touch) and Symbian Series 60v3. Yes, seriously: Symbian. By far the worst have been Windows Mobile 5/6 (which preceded my Nokia N73) and BlackBerry OS 4/5. So I’ve been around the block as much as someone without buckets of cash can be.

When Apple announced that the iPhone 4 would record 720p video and have iMovie onboard, I was floored. This seemed too good to be true, especially as I had never owned a phone that could shoot at 480p, let alone 720p. Hell, I was merely satisfied that my BlackBerry Curve 8900 could shoot at 320×240 after its upgrade to OS 5 (OS 4.6 capped “normal” video resolutions at 240×160 for some unimaginable reason).

While I’ve owned and enjoyed my iPod Touch (1G) for a while now, I’ve been using iOS as a platform long enough to know that I do not want it to be my phone. I’m quite convinced that the only reason I’m still using it is because:

1. It was free with my MacBook Pro
2. BlackBerry OS is rubbish in most areas (except messaging).

I’ve always been a bit of an Open Source enthusiast, and everything about iOS rubbed me the wrong way, but its UI and fantastic media support kept me coming back for more. Android had me intrigued, but it wasn’t until the Nexus One came out that I truly coveted such a device. The Nexus One seemed to have it all: a beautiful screen, an advanced operating system, and the potential to be a multimedia monster. At least, I could have a phone where not only could I take high resolution pictures, but I could also tweak and adjust it (rotate, crop, basic things like that) right on the phone, and shoot high quality video and upload it without a computer. It would simultaneously replace my iPod Touch, BlackBerry and Flip Ultra in one fell swoop. Alas, its price was beyond my reach, and it left the market long before I could afford it.

Now comes its successor, the Google Nexus S, and boy am I disappointed. The Nexus One was Google’s flagship phone, leading the way in capabilities and features. It had a 5 Megapixel camera and recorded video at 720x480p20. The Nexus S has a 5 megapixel camera and records video at 720x480p. As you can see, this is groundbreaking stuff. And unfortunately, things just get more bland.

First off, how does this impact me as a multimedia creation guy? Well, the 720×480 resolution is only ever used in DV, and so if you’re not working with something that expects non-square pixels, your video tends to look rather weird, so there goes using the maximum settings to record video for direct uploading to the Internet. Second, the 480p resolution is unimpressive. 480p recordings have been around for a while now, and it doesn’t replace a Flip HD, if one happens to own one. Even more annoying, this is basically a 4:3 resolution, and almost everything today is shot for widescreen. I could shoot 4:3 for 16:9, but then I lose vertical resolution and it still requires additional processing. In short, this is par, and suboptimal.

The five megapixel camera also isn’t that impressive. 5mp is the new 3.2mp: every phone has it. Nokia’s high end phones have been running 5 megapixel cameras since at least 2008, and 8 megapixel cameras since 2009. Now it’s almost 2011, and I’m not sure there’s a single Android phone that delivers better than 5mp.

So the multimedia capturing isn’t the device’s strong suit. Actually, it doesn’t seem like anything is the Nexus S’ strong suit. It’s running the same 480×800 resolution that the Nexus One had (though this one should deliver better images, and is curved), its processor still weighs in at 1GHz (though the Hummingbird A8-based processor should deliver more kick), and it even shares the same RAM ceiling of 512 MB with the Nexus One. In fact, besides the use of gyroscopes instead of accelerometers, and the addition of a front-facing camera (something else Nokia has had for a long time) and Near-Field Communications, it specs out almost identically to the Nexus One.

Look briefly, though, at the Samsung Galaxy S series. It features phones that have 1GHz Coretex A8′s (very similar to the Hummingbird, from what I can tell), 512 MB of RAM, a bigger screen (same 480×800 resolution, just physically larger) and shoots 720p video. Did I mention that Samsung is building the Nexus S for Google? Then there’s the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G and the G2, with 768 MB of RAM for the MT4G and 512MB for the G2, yet both shoot 720p video, and one features a physical keyboard. Both also have HSPA+ capabilities. So not only is the Nexus S a poor successor to the Nexus One, but it’s a poor flagship among phones of the same type, yet have better specs.

The Google Nexus One was supposed to be the alternative to the iPhone. In many ways, the Nexus One was a, technically, better phone than the iPhone 3GS. As the Nexus One fell by the wayside, the Droid took its place, and still managed to beat the iPhone 3GS at its own game. Now the iPhone 4 is here, and if Google wants the Nexus S to stand up against it, it is doing a very poor job.

The iPhone 4 has a higher resolution screen (with higher pixel density), the option of more internal storage, a more efficient multitasking system (in a high-level technical sense), 5mp camera with tap-to-focus, 720p video recording (and editing), and the super-snappy A4 processor that was given its field testing in the iPad. The tables have turned, and now the iPhone 4 beats the Nexus S in every technical way. In fact, the Nexus S is a very lackluster answer to the iPhone 4, because the only thing it brings to the table is the NFC, which doesn’t have any use yet.

Even Nokia’s N8 is more impressive, mostly because it is pushing boundaries for Nokia. The Nexus S isn’t. Of course, the N8 also shoots at 720p25, has a 12mp camera with a xenon flash (not the weak LED ones found in most phones now), stereo microphones, HDMI-out, and a short-range FM transmitter, so even it has features the Nexus S lacks, and the N8 is generally considered a flop in the United States.

So the Nexus S isn’t great as a multimedia capturing device, it isn’t impressive as a flagship phone, it’s beaten by phones that have been on the market for a while now, and its greatest competitor is better than it in almost every technical way. All that the Nexus S has going for it is Gingerbread, which hasn’t delivered anything big or iPhone-killing yet; the curved screen, which doesn’t do anything besides allow for a cool looking shape, but offers no other useful purpose; and NFC, which has no practical use yet.

Before you jump on me about software, let me explain why I’m not getting into it. I’m sure Gingerbread is a great operating system, and I already know the new Google Maps for Mobile has been announced for the Nexus S, but it’s also been announced for other phones, and likely the Galaxy S phones, the Droids and maybe even the Nexus One will see Gingerbread, so this isn’t anything unique or special to the Nexus S. And while it’s nice that this is a pure, unadulterated Android experience, I’m sure I could hack off whatever skin my manufacturer of choice would put on there.

I want to love the Nexus S so badly, because I loved the Nexus One so much. Since the V key on my BlackBerry started to become slightly unreliable, I had been looking at Android replacements, and I held off, knowing that the next “Google Phone” was due to be announced soon. And now that it’s out, I’m so very disappointed, because I was expecting something better than what was on the market already, and what we were given is worse than the best phones now. I’m not asking for 1080p with LTE, 128 GB of Storage and a 24 megapixel sensor with a flip-out full keyboard, and a pico-projector, but it would be nice if the Nexus S at least did 720p, and offered a sharper screen, something— anything that is just a little bit better than my current options. Something I could point to and say, “that! That is why I want this instead of an iPhone 4!” Instead, my only reason to snub the iPhone 4 is perhaps one of the oldest reasons: AT&T, not some technical reason, or some way in which the iPhone’s OS would hamper my lifestyle.

That is why the Nexus S is disappointing to me, and why I probably won’t buy it (instead of some other Android phone). I hate to say it, but outside of its slow CPU, old OS, and tiny RAM amount, even the N8 is more tempting than the Nexus S.

The Apple TV is basically an iPod for your TV, except it no longer has its own storage. It taps into a remote library and plays things back. And Microsoft already has this in the XBox 360. The XBox 360 also lets you play games, buy media, communicate, play DVDs, and rip CDs. It also starts at $250 ($300 if you want to have more internal storage than a flash drive, however). It also consumes a lot of electricity. But this is an excellent building block to start from. Drop the games, the three core CPU, and the over-powered GPU, and you’ve got a good start. Switching to a lower powered CPU, and probably using discrete logic for media playback should reduce power consumption and heat generation, which kills three of the XBox’s notorious problems (heat, power, and fan noise, though that is mostly mitigated with the XBox 360S).

The Zune XL, however, is more than just a playback device. It also ought to function as a server. The XBox is something of a media dead-end. You can get music and movies into the XBox, but you can’t get them back out. The solution is to make the Zune XL a media server. Media can be accessed remotely on other computers. Utilizing XBox Live profiles (or at least Microsoft Passports) people at home can prepare their own playlists, though have access to a household media pool from which to make these playlists. As an optional feature, allow people to associate individual Zunes with these profiles, so when they connect a Zune to the Zune XL, it can either be treated as an external media source (like the XBox 360 does) or be paired with the Zune XL for syncing media. Since the Zune hardware is associated with an individual account, the Zune can be synced in the background. Just plug it in, and go. No need to interrupt a movie being played, just do it in the background.

The Zune XL can be built either on an ARM system (like the Zune, Windows Phone, or many embedded systems Microsoft works with), x86 (like other embedded systems, PCs as we know them, and the XBox), or even PowerPC (like the XBox 360), giving a wide range of configuration options for Microsoft to determine the amount of power they want to put into the machine.

Other options could include adding in a TV tuner/CableCARD system for DVRing material, something Microsoft also has experience with in Windows Media Center. This could also be streamed out across the home network. But perhaps, for cost-cutting measures, that’s best left to the Zune XXL. Since this is aimed at the Apple TV, the price point to match/beat is $99.

Microsoft should probably let the Entertainment Division handle this one. They’ve made solid and mostly stable devices out of the XBox, XBox 360, the Zune and the Zune HD, most of which also look nice (which is a benefit for a shelf-mounted entertainment device).

Since we’re talking about cramming a lot of features into this device, the $99 price-point may not be entirely feasible. The XBox 360S (250 GB) is $300, but Microsoft sells it at a loss. And the cheapest PCs around are typically in the $300 range as well. $150 is competitive against the Apple TV, since you’re offering up a media server and a DVD player in addition to a playback device, but perhaps multiple configurations should be available. The Zune L gives you media playback, storage, a server, Profiles, media purchasing, and CD ripping, built on a very cheap x86 CPU or perhaps even an ARM. The Zune XL adds more CPU power and RAM, adding Zune syncing, the ability to connect USB flash drives/memory card readers/hard disks as external media, either for playback, or to be “absorbed” into the greater media storage server. The Zune XXL adds a TV tuner, and an option to transcode video for syncing to a Zune/HD. Or something like that. Though it should be very obvious that missing features can be directly demonstrated as reducing cost. The lack of Zune syncing and USB ports reduces components, software complexity, and the need for enough processing power to handle syncing silently in the background. But the cheapest model must still offer XBox-level of simplicity in User Experience for server maintenance and media management. If you drop the server or simplicity, you lose the edge over the Apple TV, because unlike the Apple TV, the Zune XL doesn’t require you to have a PC on somewhere in the house to provide media for it. It doesn’t require library management. It’s a turn-key solution, in one box, doing what the XBox 360 has done really well: offer up what is really complicated on a PC in an embedded form with a great UX.

One last note: lots of people already own XBox 360s, so perhaps offering just a cheap, low-power media server could be an option? The Zune Media Center/Server. Because does anyone want to spend more on devices that have a lot of overlap with products they own? OK, maybe they do (iPod Touch/BlackBerry, iPhone/DS, laptop/iPad), but they’re less likely when these are components connected to their TVs.