Smartphones are not new to my life. I have over the last 10 years with my current employer have been intimately involved in the smartphone technology revolution we are witnessing today. As with any technology the way each of us embrace it and adapt to it is our own unique story. I wanted to dedicate a post on how I have been using smartphone in 2011 and how it has affected my life.

My primary smartphone in 2011 has been the Nokia N8. (Thanks to @NokiaDeveloper for giving me a C7 that I immediately sold on Amazon and bought the N8 instead). To give you a little context of when I came from I had used the HTC HD2 (loaded with Android/CM7) for a few months - CM7 was great and the Android appstore offering on par with the best - however, the HD2 was a bit large at 4.3” display (which is excellent for webbrowsing) and had a mere 5MP (w/LED flash) camera, the battery hardly lasted a day of use.

Let’s take a look at my daily usage:

Morning Drill:

On most days I miss the wakeup alarm on my phone (I cant blame the loud N8’s loud speaker). But I first check out the time. (NOTE: I dont like wearing a watch and I simply love the Nokia N8’s always on Screen saver clock - it’s one of the most handy & used features by me.) I typically keep the phone around me for about 30 mins while I get ready - checking new emails (via Mail for exchange & Gmail) and reply to urgent stuff, twitter/ facebook (via Gravity) and review my day’s appointments. I also catchup on the latest news via CNN & Engadget. Ocassionally, I check the weather as well.

At work

My usage at work tends to be mostly answering phone calls (about 30mins) and responding to SMS. I do most of my primary work on a Mac and typically don’t use the N8 for anything else at this time.

Evening Dance

My evening are filled with family, home/outdoors, shopping malls/dinner etc. I typically use the Nokia Drive to navigate us to the destination and it works like a charm (except for search which can be improved). I also use the Music application to play our favourites tunes in the car (especially to keep my daughter entertained while I drive). I tend to take most of the photos with my camera (typically about 5 per day) and upload them to directly to flickr (via PixelPipe). I do occasionally check twitter/facebook and news (especially while my wife is busy shopping). I also typically read about 5-10 webpages on a my phone each evening espeically when away from home. I take picture of stuff I want to track in Evernote and email it to my evernote account. (due to lack of evernote client on N8).

Good Night Kiss

One last email check & final dose of twitter/facebook before I sleep. And then finally before I sleep - I religiously set a couple of alarms for next morning.

Other usage notes:

• Phone charging: On most days I don’t really bother charging the phone at night as I know that my N8 will make it thought the night without any issues (I cant claim that for other power powerful smartphones I have played). I typically charge my phone using the Nokia’s fast charger each morning for an hour or so. I know that if I need to charge it a microUSB port would be available in my car & at work. And if there is a risk that my battery will die - I have a fast way to switch on the power savings mode that will certainly get me through till I reach a power outlet.

Built-in Apps:

• Mail : Mail for exchange and Gmail support work fine and meet my needs.

• Webbrowser: The browsing experience is seriously lacking (In areas of display resolution, browser performance & rendering) . Once you taste the Android browsing experience -- you really can see what I mean.

• Calendar: Works beautifully. I just hope that the home screen widget uses space more efficiently

• Camera: The best image quality (unparalleled in any 2011 smartphone). Performance needs improvement (especially startup & shot to shot). The UI is not bad - but, can really be improved.

• Maps: Best mapping application I have used (and it’s work every penny of the $8B Nokia invested :) - however searching for places can be improved.  I cant see myself using the Android maps as it has no offline support and.

• Music: Mostly to list to music on-the go in my car and when I work out.

3rd Party Apps

Most of the big ecosystems (iOS, Android & soon WindowsPhone) have been making a big noise on with their app store metrics. But, I am a strong believer that ‘quality not quantity’ is important to a end user. I also firmly believe that most users use about 10-15 apps on a regular basis (though they may try a lot more in a device’s lifetime).

Here are apps I use on a regular basis:

• Gravity - For Twitter & facebook

• Nokia Pulse - Still in Beta. But, I use this to send short updates to my family

• PixelPipe - Use it to send picture from my N8 directly to flickr.

• Upcode - QR codes are not dying. So, this is quite handy.

• AAS - I keep track of whats going on in the Symbian world (afterall Nokia N8 is a Symbian ^3 device)

• Enagdget (RSS widget - I made my own via appwizard)

Ocassional Usage:

• Joikuspot: Somehow this has been pulled from Nokia store in US. But you can get it directly from the publisher.

• Google Maps: I mainly use it as the Nokia Maps seach mostly never finds what I am looking for. I typically seach on google maps and then load up the info into nokia maps to give me turn by turn routing.

• HDR Pro Camera: Just a nice app to capture and experiment with HDR photos.

• Sports Tracker : I use it to record my occasional jog

• Talking Hamster : It’s a neat little app that I use to amuze my daughter

• Skype

• Angry Birds : A casual game I play when I have a few dull minutes I want to pass

So now with all of this said - smartphone (N8 in 2011) has now woven into my daily living. Here is summary of what I learned about my my smartphone usage & preferences.

The essentials (what I can’t part:

• Core phone: Yep - it need to be solid, stable & should work!

• Robust Email: It should just work with a range of email accounts

• Great camera: Though I have moved to using a DSLR at home for photos - smartphone camera will continue the camera at my arms reach for years to come. So, I just need the best camera in the phone I carry.

• Usable & intuitive browser: Currently very lacking in a N8 - I do think a good browser is a must for me (something on part with Android browser on my HD2)

• Best Text input: should be intutive and fast (this is currently a limiting factor in N8 soft keyboard which feels contrained).

• 3.5-3.9” Display - I cant really go back to the E72/Blackberry style phones after I had the taste of bliss (larger touch screen devices like the N8)

• Functional button & key add to usability: Manufacturers are on a path to removing all button from a phone - but I have found that I like thoughtfully designed and implemented button (e.g., the Lock/Unlock key on the N8 - missing in most modren smartphones).

What’s missing:

• Nokia N8 currently does not have apps for Evernote & Audible that I use often.

• Breadth of apps is important: My needs and workflow is dynamic - I would like to have an app ready on my smartphone so that it fits into my workflow.

• Fast camera performance is a must.

• Fitness Accessories: I would like my phone to keep track of my weight, calories burned, sleep times etc - an accessory that works out of the box will keep me healthy

   

It’s holiday season and lot of us are looking to buy or gift a mobile device. It has been a tremendous year for OMAP™ fans everywhere and a lot of awesome hardware is available today to include in your must have holiday shopping list. I thought I will take a stab at listing out my favorite cool new OMAP powered products for your shopping list or just wish Santa will bring you one of them!

Smartphones:

Yep the smartphones from last year have been outsmarted yet again. Here are my OMAP powered picks:

 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (OMAP4460): If you are looking to get a fix of latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in time for the holidays this is the only way to go. Simply awesome Samsung hardware & the latest unadulterated Google Android software are tough to beat combination. Though I have not played with the device nor tested it’s camera - the choice of 5MPx camera sensor is a bit of a let down for any flag ship device in 2011. If you are not in it for the camera - then the Galaxy Nexus is hands down the best smartphone you can own this year.

 

Motorola Droid RAZR (OMAP4430): This is my personal favorite. Simply awesome crafted hardware - it’s true to it’s name RAZR. As well as handles 1080p video recording and 8Mpx stills that you tend to expect from a flagship smartphone in 2011. The device is blazing fast for all you can throw at it and has LTE support on Verizon USA. In addition Motorola has promised a upgrade to Android 4.0 in 2012.

 

Motorola Droid 3 (OMAP4430): If you need to have a traditional QWERTY - then the Droid 3 has one of the best keyboards on a smartphone.

 

Motorola Droid Bionic (OMAP4430) : In addition to being all you expect 2011 smartphone  - the droid Bionic takes the smartphone experience to the next level with Motorola’s Webtop application & lapdock accessories.

 

LG Thrill (OMAP4430) : The world is 3 dimensions - so why should our smartphones capture and render anything less that that. The LG thrill is one of the first 3D smartphones with 3D video capture & glasses free 3D playback. It does come with some limitations - the device's 3D display suffers from low viewing angles i.e., you need to hold it a specific way to enjoy the 3D effects.

 

Nokia N9 (OMAP3630) : The device does not earn the credit of having the leading edge OMAP technology - but, its a beauty in it's own right. The Nokia N9 is simply stunning piece of industrial design, runs MeeGo/Linux Operating system. The UI and the device are simply put "beautiful". The only let down is that Nokia has pulled the plug on MeeGo platform and any future updates to Nokia N9. However, Nokia N9 is the smartphone I would recommend to open source enthusiasts and linux hackers.

 

Tablets:

Kindle Fire (OMAP4430): For $199 it's a bargain for what it does. The key selling point of the device is how beautifully it ties to Amazon services, Amazon's android app store, Amazon prime with thousands of videos, mp3 & last but not least ebooks. This is the tablet I would recommend to all for this season.

 

Nook Tablet (OMAP4430): I have been a fan of the Nook Color (see below) but the Nook tablet take it to the next level. With Dual core OMAP4 SoC, better battery life, lesser weight, integrated new tablet centric apps like Hulu, Netflix are built in. However,  there is no official support for any market place. And I personally find the Kindle a better device for most people as it gives access to broad range of amazon services.

 

Blackberry Playbook (OMAP4430): The Playbook is a decent device especially for enterprise, blackberry owners. If you are happy with the built in applications, lack of native mail/calendar client, & the rather small blackberry app store choices then it might be a good buy. Most retailers seem to be offering deep discounts on the Playbook this holiday season to making it a sweeter deal.

 

Archos G9 (OMAP4) : Finely spec'ed device with great media codec support. The G9 is pretty awesome bang for the buck. I am looking forward to the Turbo versions with 1.5Ghz Dual core and 250GB disk space.

 

Ebook Readers:

 

Nook Simple Touch (OMAP3): eInk displays provide a book-like reading experience and Nook Simple Touch gets you started at a very low price with great usability & performance. It also supports a open ePUB format that most libraries and ebooks are available in.

 

B&N Nook Color (OMAP3621) : The Nook color is still my favorite color ebook reader - or should I say tablet. It's easy to convert to a fully functional Android tablet (See: Cyanogenmod). Well you don't need to give up on your ebook's as you can install Amazon's Kindle app as well as B&N Nook app and get best everything Amazon, B&N and Android has to offer.

 

Hackable Development Boards

Yeah this is a special category for hardware hackers & enthusiasts.

PandaBoard: Low-cost way to get access to cutting edge OMAP technology in a open-source package. With over 70 community projects, 1100 community members & 9 linux distro you can scratch your geek itch this holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Full Disclosure: I work for Texas Instruments in the OMAP team. The post has been composed with public information & expresses my personal views.