I finally saw a real Nexus S in person last night!  In one week, the Nexus S will be released for public consumption.  This is the second generation of unlocked Android phones from Google.  It’s Samsung hardware.  Public release date is December 16th, 2010 available unlocked  so it will work on any GSM carrier’s network including T-mobile.  It will cost $199 with a contract on T-mobile or $529 without a contract.

Let’s explore initial impressions, features, the potential shortcomings of this phone.  You can check out the full list of technical specs at Google’s Nexus S site.

Initial Impressions

As a technology geek who’s had a smartphone, there are particular things I notice when checking out other people’s phones.  Sort of like two dogs sniffing each other, you could say.

Tonight I’ll share a few of those observations.  The other part is when a gadget has been churning in the rumor mill for months with sightings in the wild, you want to see if what they really say is true.

Photo Credit: Google Nexus website

Nexus S Weight. This smart phone is very light.  Compared to the Android G2 or even the iPhone 3GS, I found the Nexus S to be on the light side.  According to Google’s site, the Nexus S weighs 4.5 ounces while Apple’s iPhone 3GS is 4.8 ounces and HTC’s G2 for T-mobile is 6.3 ounces making the Nexus S the lightest smartphone I’ve considered buying.  Interestingly, the iPhone 4 also weighs 4.8 ounces but that was never on my geek gaget drool list.  I like the lighter feel because it means less pocket sag!

Photo credit: AndroidOS

Nexus S Body material. Unfortunately, it seems to have a plastic body casing.  When I played with a co-worker’s G2, I really liked the feel of the metal in my hands.  This is also one of the reasons I love my 13″ macbook pro.  Brushed aluminum cases feel like higher quality gadgets.  They certainly clean up easier than plastic.  Speaking of which, I was unable to find anyone selling Nexus S cases online as of yet.

Photo Credit: Google Nexus website

Nexus S Screen Dimensions. This smart phone seemed wider than what I was used to.  It’s almost 2.48 making it almost 2.5 inches wide!  That’s a lot of screen real estate when you compare it to:

• Apple iPhone 3GS – 2.4 inches wide
• Apple iPhone 4G – 2.31 inches wide
• HTC G2 for T-mobile – 2.3 inches wide

On the Google site, they have this wonderful video for the Nexus S where there are little gingerbread cookies and a warm roaring fire.  But what I noticed (and I’m hoping this was not digitally enhanced!) was the video quality displayed on the device:

Why gingerbread men?  The new Android operating system, 2.3, is nicknamed “Gingerbread”.  Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, names major versions after Jazz artists so there’s a long history of computer programs having cutesy nicknames.

Can’t wait to see what the video quality looks like on my phone!  Is there a Hulu or Netflix Android App?  I couldn’t really bogart this person’s phone and sit down to watch something but if I do get a chance to, I’ll  update this post!

Nexus S Cameras and flash. There are two cameras, I REPEAT, two cameras in the Nexus S.  One is facing away for you to take photo and video while the other faces you so you can do video calls.  So exciting!  You all may remember Jason Calacanis joking on Twitter that the new iPad would have two cameras.  I’m a big fan of mobile photography.  I capture my world in the lens and am able to look back over the photos and rebuild the amazing experiences I’ve had over the last few years.  Cooking is one of my new and enjoyable hobbies and I love to snap photos when I’m out eating with friends!  Conferences, skylines, weird people in San Francisco, I capture it all.  Since the loss of my iPhone 3GS (upcoming post), I’ve tried to hold off taking photos as the iPhone 2G’s camera is quite pitiful.  As an iPhone user, I’m also looking forward to having an LED flash, finally!   Again, I didn’t wan to be taking photos and transferring them to my mac but I-won’t-be-waiting-too-long!

Nexus S Virtual Keyboard. There’s an on-screen keyboard, similar to the iPhone.  Nothing else too mentionable until I get mine and play around with it more.  The benefit of a virtual keyboard is you don’t have to worry about breaking a hinge or losing a key so for those of you in colder climates (*cough* Minneapolis) texting on a physical keyboard when it’s -24 with the windchill is re-dunka-lious.  If you had a separate keyboard (see bluetooth mentioned below) then you’d have to wrangle batteries for the keyboard and suffer additional battery drain on the phone.  Now, I will say that if you’re going to be somewhere for a while, like a coffee shop, I really liked being able to prop up my Windows mobile device, attached the external keyboard and type up a storm while sipping on a breve latte (steamed half-and-half with espresso).

Mmm, spelling, copy/paste on the Android is a little bit different.  It’s hard to explain but once I get some more hands-on time with the OS, I’ll explain the differences.  When I first got an iPhone, I thought the on-screen keyboard was dumb.  I searched high and low about connecting my existing bluetooth keyboard used with a palm and windows  mobile device to the iPhone.  With each new update to the iPhone iOS, I had fingers crossed they would update the bluetooth standard….no such luck!  As people can attest to in Minneapolis, I was just about the slowest mobile typer in the world!  I got advice on how to hold the iPhone, type with fingers and thumbs, having “faith” that Apple’s spell check would correct my keystrokes automatically and so on.  It really took over a year for me to master typing on a flat screen.  I’ve never been a big “text’er” sending messages back and forth on my phone.  Always thought of it as a kid’s “sport” and something Blackberry geeks did.  Why wear down my thumb pads when I could head over to a regular sized keyboard?  That’s all changed now and I can type out entire emails on my iPhone, no problem…and quickly!

Nexus S Features I Drool For….Coming Soon

I’ll continue with features later this week like the ability to tether up to 6 other devices from your Nexus S!

All day on Twitter, people have been talking about the newly released, Google phone.  It’s called the Nexus One and runs Google’s Open Source software called Android.  Not having an Android, I’ve watched from the sidelines as people bragged about how superior the Android OS was compared to the iPhone operating system.

Well, my time has come because T-mobile just confirmed I’m due for contract renewal February 20th, 2010!

Top 10 Reasons I Will Buy The Nexus One

1. I support Open Source Software
2. All my geeky friends have Android based phones
3. I worship Google
4. It has a 5 megapixel camera with flash
5. I keep jailbreaking my iPhone to get the freedom the Nexus One already has
6. It’s not the iPhone
7. It has 290 hours of standy by time (almost 2 weeks)
8. It’s probably secretly tied into Google Wave
9. It has a removable battery (yes, I didn’t stutter)
10. Did I mention it’s not an iPhone?

I enjoy technology because it empowers people.  One of the ways you achieve freedom is by choice.

Get Your Milk Direct From The Cow

Now, in an unprecedented move (Just like how George Lucas didn’t show opening credits in Star Wars), Google is selling this phone on their website.  I cannot even begin to say how important this is as a statement to Open Source and *cough* *cough*, the open market.  Cell phone companies are playing with us giving us crippled phones.

UPDATE: One of my commenters, vaunnorwood, said that I would have to pay $379 so I investigated. Turns out that T-mobile is only providing full or partial discounts based on where you are in your contract so even at the end of a 2 year agreement, you are only eligible for $250 off.

Customers up for a full discount get $250 off and customers eligible for a partial discount (1 year into contract?) get $150 off the $579 price tag when you buy it without a contract.

• If you buy this phone outright with no contract, you will pay $529 which is almost as much as the 16GB iPhone 3GS.
• If you’re eligible for a partial discount (1 year into a 2 year contract?) you’re eligible for a $150 discount and will pay $429
• If you are out of contract after 2 years, you can receive a $250 discount and pay $329
• If activate a new line, with a 2 year contract AND select the “Even More” plan (which looks ridiculously expensive) you pay $179.

Am I Eligible For The Discounted Nexus One?

That said, T-mobile is the first provider available for this phone.  End of today, I called T-mobile to see if I was eligible.  I read off my phone number and provided the last four digits of my social security number to the rep.  I held my breath.

The phone I got from T-mobile was a Samsung Beat but while waiting I couldn’t remember when I bought it!  Of course, I’ve been using the iPhone with my T-mobile sim card ever since OhDoctah sent me his old iPhone and then switched it to my new iPhone I won this year at Blogging While Brown.

Ok, back to the suspenseful waiting period.

The rep came back and said yes!  I had purchased my phone in March 2008 so I would be eligible in Feburary 2010!  Of course, I immediately tweeted this out:

T-mobile Treats Me Like A Princess

I’m happy with T-mobile’s service, coverage and customer service.  They are always nice to me when I call and have even comp’d me with extra minutes when I was about to go over.

In 2009, I was offered the T-mobile “Loyalty” plan which is $50/month for unlimited national calling.  This not only saved me $20 each month, I no longer had to worry about support calls to vendors eating up my minutes.

It was also super easy to get my iPhone connected to T-mobile’s data plan.

Of the one problem I had with them trying to charge me for a free phone, The Consumerist website helped me get that silly $20 fee waived.

Latest and the Greatest

I will watch the CES buzz this year about all the new gadgets but I won’t be hopping on most because it leads to consumption without appreciation.  Gina Trapani had an interesting item over at her site that lined to Last Year’s Model, a site dedicated to raising awareness of our “disposable” views on electronics.  You’ll find the badge on my site as well.  I’ve seen it too many times where someone doesn’t even know how to use something and they’re upgrading to the next version.  One day, we will have less resources and our demands will outweigh them.  I like to feel I’m doing my part by taking care of my electronics so they have a long live and only upgrading when I’ve determined there is an essential functionality I need.  That’s the treehugger in me.

• Are you going to get a Nexus One?
• If you already have an Android based device, what would make you upgrade?
• Are you sick of Apple controlling what goes on the iPhone?

My New Dell arrived and it’s smoking hot!

New post 1/2/2010 Dell XPS 8000 Discontinued? What The Hell Dell? [VIDEO]

This shiny new desktop arrived Tuesday just after I was getting over not feeling so well. When the Fedex guy showed up, I felt instantly better! I unboxed it on Wednesday night over at AskAdria.com.

Specs

• Quad Core Intel i7-860 2.80GHZ
• 8GB DDR3 Memory
• 1.5 TB 7,200 Seagate Sata hard drive (I selected a 1TB)
• nVidia GeForce GTS 240 1024MB GDDR3
• Two 16X CD/DVDRW-+ drives (I only ordered one)
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Dell 6-button Laser mouse
• Dell keyboard

First, let me say this monster is FAST!  I had plans to install Windows XP, the 64-bit version but found out it has been discontinued for service pack maintenance.  I successfully avoided running Vista on any computers I’ve owned.  I’m not too happy about Windows 7 but hear from reputable tech folks on Twitter it’s a great operating system so…I’ll give it a try.

When I ordered, I thought it would just take a few days to get the system built.  I wanted to order before the holidays so I wouldn’t be waiting weeks.  Well, I was wrong!  It took nearly 2 weeks to ship and Dell overestimate the build time so that once I placed my order, it had an arrival date of December 2nd!  Now, I was initially ticked off at this but since I’ve ordered a lot of systems for my clients, I figured Dell was just covering their backend.

Now I was surprised to find that they had upgraded my hard drive capacity by 500GB and thrown in an extra CD/DVDRW for free!

It’s been a long time since I had a new computer.  My current system is a 2.6GHZ single processor, small form factor (SFF) Shuttle XPC with 2GB of Ram and 2 Sata drives.  Nothing fancy.  I pretty much did remote connections to my client’s systems, work in a text editor and made Skype calls.  It wasn’t until I got the webcam and started doing AskAdria that my technology needs increased.

I stubbornly put off upgrading because I didn’t want to believe I needed some crazy, overpowered system.  Plus, I was getting the itch for a Mac.  As fate would have it, this would be the year that I went to 6 blogging conferences so I had to prioritize attending and put off a new system.

Let me take a moment to thank my conference sponsors for Blogworld; Zendesk and Logmein!

Now how the HECK did I determine I needed such a monsterous computer system?  I mean, 8GB (upgradable to 16GB) is just insane sounding.  Or is it?

Turns out that other people who do web based shows have similar “rigs”.  Two folks I consulted on this decision were OhDoctah of IQMZ and Nic of Filmsnobbery.  They both put out videos on a regular basis.

I came across OhDoctah (Owen JJ Stone aka OhDoctah) last year when Googling for who knows what.  I found his site, AskOhDoctah and was amazed with the honesty and emotions he shared in his videos.  OhDoctah is doing a lot of interviews this year so he needs to process his videos once he returns home.  He calls his computer, “The Beast”.

Nic is a film critic and a darn funny one!  He not only reviews movies but also offers advice to up and coming directors, producers and actors.  He puts out a weekly show and takes time to plan his show with a script and then does quite a bit of post production to insert segways and sponsor call outs.

They both assured me I would need a quad core.  Seemed a bit silly at first but after reading on the i7′s hyperthreading ability which would allow my computer to processes multiple tasks at the same time, I agreed.  I selected a higher grade video card that has a whole 1GB of memory on it.  I’m stoked to see how well my weekly technology show, AskAdria looks as well as my Skype video calls.  In addition to better output, I expect that I will be able to render video faster so tutorials that I put together in Camtasia studio will zip along.  I’m also expecting that multimedia that I view will no longer freeze, skip or refuse to play.

I’d like to thank both of these guys for taking the time to help me spec out my new system and understand this new fangled video stuff!

This Thanksgiving weekend, I’m installing apps and moving over my data.  I can’t believe how much memory this thing has!  We’ll see how well it performs once I have my applications I use to run my business installed including:

• Adobe Flash Media Encoder
• Audacity
• Firefox
• Snagit
• Camtasia Studio
• Picasa
• Keepass
• Yahoo Widgets
• Flickr uploader
• PDFCreator
• Affixa
• Cepstral
• DiskAid
• Evernote
• Google Desktop
• GoToMeeting
• Logmein
• PUTTY
• Quickbooks (Sorry Freshbooks)
• RocketDock
• Skype
• Speedfan
• StreamRipper32
• Teracopy
• TortiseSVN
• VirtualCloneDrive
• VMWare
• Webex
• WinDirStat
• Winmerge
• WinSCP
• Avira
• Spybot Search and Destroy
• Logitech 9000 Pro webcam
• Canon MP780 Printer
• All my website development tools including EditPad Pro, XAMPP, Filezilla, Acetext and more.

Now you may be saying, “Adria, you’ve got Windows 7 Home Premium?”.  Why didn’t you get Windows 7 Ultimate?  Because, good things come to those who wait a bit.  *smile*

I ended up talking with the Microsoft guy at Wordcamp NYC (argued really about open source vs talking) and he had a bunch of Windows 7 Ultimate licences with him.  Too bad they were 32-bit and this monster computer is 64-bit…but he said to email him and he would do his best to get me a 64-bit version before year’s end!  Whee!  That saves me $150 that I could of paid to Dell.

I did get a 2 year warranty with this system and may extend that to 3 years because I truly believe that hardware warranties pay for themselves with piece of mine.

Are there any apps I’m missing that I need?

Today is Blog Action Day. It’s where thousands of bloggers unite on a single day to write about a specific topic and this year it’s climate change!

I want to raise your awareness today on how easy it is to save the world.
You want a shiny new Macbook.
Buy a refurbished one from the Apple store.

I did and here’s why:

• I like to save money
• I like to save the environment
• I eat my own dogfood (take my own advice)
• I wanted to see the quality of a refurbished item from Apple

I just bought a 13″ Macbook Pro and rather than buying new, I went into Apple’s Refurbished section and ordered my new (new to me) laptop. I saved $200 and it shipped out fast!

Often, people are worried if they buy a refurbished item that it will have visible scratches or not work right.  I am here to say there was not a single scratch on the Macbook.  Companies will often reuse the guts of a computer by testing them and replacing the shell if there is any defect. 

Not only do you save money taking this route but the machines are fully eligible for the same warranty and you save the environment by not having the company build a new machine.  Computers are bad for the environment and the workers who build them because it takes a lot of toxic stuff to make them. Gina Trapani mentioned a website that supports people not rushing out to buy the latest and greatest but holding onto your gadgets and gizmo’s a little longer: LastYearsModel.org

People often ask me, “What’s the name of that software?” so in this video I give a run down of my updated tech wall…in my pajamas!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpMif1UEQvU[/youtube]

AskAdria Ustream logo for my live, weekly technology show!  You can watch it each Monday at 5:30pm CST

Windows XP will be supported until 2012 2014.  It’s going to be the business mainstay for the next 5 years irregardless of Vista and Windows 7.

iPhones were built to be jailbroke.  This allows you to run additional software that you wouldn’t find at the App store.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks Apple lost some marbles and that this is no different then when people modify their cars.

ThinkGeek makes awesome tech t-shirts for women!  In addition to geek stuff, they have jewlery

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world!  Major newspapers including the New York Times use it to run their blogs.  Wordpress also can run your website

Eventbrite is the best way to register for conferences and webinars!  It makes the promotion and sales for your events easy.  Post your event and get paid.

Ubuntu is an operating system.  It’s a specific flavor of Linux.  It’s become one of the most user friendly and popular Linux distros in the last 4 years.

Tux is the the mascot for Linux.  Yay penguins!

Moo makes awesome business cards.  I get lots of compliments on my business cards so I keep reordering from Moo!

Firefox is a web browser for the world and is made by Mozilla.  It now makes up over 25% of the browser market as more people get sick and tired of using crappy Internet Explorer.

Timebridge makes meetings happen.  It streamlines the process by allowing you to send multiple times to everyone you’re meeting with.  They all click on the best times and Timebridge adds the confirmed time to your calendar.

Google is the most popular search engine in the world and they took the time to take photos of the planet Earth and share it via Google Earth.  Sweet!

Dell is a great hardware platform if you’re going to stick with Windows.  It’s a solid choice for business desktops, servers and home systems.  You can net a sweet deal on a refurbished Dell for $300 with a 3 year warranty for your business.  I picked up my 23″ Samsung monitor from Dell because they had the best price.

Apple makes great laptops.  I have seen these macbooks last for years, find them to be made of high quality parts and most importantly, have excellent power management vs many pc based noteboooks which I won’t name.  I will be getting a 13″ Macbook pro in the next few weeks (fingers crossed) and will rejoin the computer world as a cross platform IT person.

Lijit is a custom search plugin for your blog or website.  It crawls your site and provides visitors with a Google-like results page.  Lijit will also list content from folks on your blogroll.  Pretty cool stuff plus @tarable and @micah work there!

Flickr is a social networking site based on images.  It has huge Google juice so if you care about SEO for your website, find a way to incorporate Flickr.  I have their pro account which allows me to upload a lot of images.

Netflix is a superior alternative to renting movies from your local video store because there are no late fees, you can queue up movies, no shipping charges, a much larger selection and they launched “Watch Instantly” in 2007 so you can watch movies on your computer.  I’ve been using Netflix since 2003.

I didn’t mention two companies as I’m waiting for their logo banners but I’ll mention them here:

Zendesk is a web based helpdesk ticketing system which centralizes IT support requests and will save you time and money.  It’s scalable so you can be a single consultant or helpdesk with 200+ support folks.  I started using it last year, Twitter copied me this year as did MSNBC (probably because I was on The Rachel Maddow Show) and Viddler.

Harvest and is one of THE BEST solutions I’ve used for easy time tracking and invoicing that is cross platform.  They support Quickbooks export, you can Tweet your time and they talk to Zendesk so I can bill right from my tickets.  Did I mention they recently added the ability to collect payment via Paypal and create reoccurring invoices?

Know how you folks are always asking what kind of hard drive should you buy, what kind of mouse, video camera and mic I use?

You can now buy all those gadgets right here! I’m also listing books that I recommend often and books I’ve read for fun!

Thanks to Robin for the awesome tutorial on how to embed my Amazon store inside a WordPress page template. Even though I know how to create page templates, it was nice to read the comments, follow along and get the tip on adjusting my CSS!