Tonights The GadgetShow included a “showdown” between 4 of the “latest”¹ smartphones – the iPhone 4, Nexus S, HTC HD7 and the Blackberry Torch (each representing a different OS – iOS, Android, Windows 7 and Blackberry, respectively).

Now, on Twitter I’ve denounced The Gadget Show a few times and said I’d never watch it again. But I do. Normally though it’s their lack of actual testing of tech² and reliance on padding with competition and “challenges”. I’ve gotten around that now by recording it and using the PVR to whiz through the results – sometimes I’ve had an episode down to 10 minutes. What does also annoy me though is their obvious fanboy-like obsession with Apple products (particularly from Jason).

So, before their Smartphone test I guessed the iPhone 4 would win. And, it did. But it was how it won that provokes questions.

The first test (and a phone was eliminated after each test – not sure why, as it may be excellent in the other tests) was ease of use. Which is a fair enough test. Except it was a in a speeding car and tested the time to turn it on, look something up on the internet and email something. The tester – Pollyanna  – obviously didn’t like the keyboard of the Blackberry generally and seemed to almost purposefully not try. But what kind of speed test is the switch on time? Most people wouldn’t leave it turned off, so this would never be an issue. The iPhone was the slowest to turn on but somehow came the 2nd fastest overall (it must have been REALLY quick to make up the time, but that somehow didn’t get mentioned).

Next, now with the Blackberry out of the testing, was a photo and video test. That to me, was good. The Nexus has best photos and the iPhone the best video (note how Jon Bentley goes on about the high quality of the video when he’s remained pretty quiet up to that point). So, the HD7 is now out of the running, leaving the Android powered Nexus S and the Android 4.

The last test was to test it’s apps. Hmm. This was done by leading the 2 testers around via a series of clues that they solved by using apps. They obviously knew which apps to use beforehand and were 100% clued up on how to achieve their goals. Their first task was translating a Spanish message to know they had to get dressed up. They then used an app to find somewhere for an outfitter and then had to print an invite – this invite told them where to go next. Jon reached this place first not because of the phone but (her words) Pollyanna took longer to choose an outfit and had to run in high heals. Once there he got first choice of a vehicle to get them to their final destination – he got a motorbike and Pollyanna got a horse-drawn carriage. Hardly a fair fight and nothing to do with the phones. At this point I realised that I was going to be correct and the iPhone would win. All they had to do was use a SatNav product to guide them to where they were going.

In a case of “Tortoise and the Hare”, however, the iPhone app failed Jon and he ended up going the wrong way. Would the iPhone not triumph after all? Of course it would. With Pollyanna nearly there and Jon still lost, the Nexus S mysteriously “went dead”. No explanation was given as to why (if it was battery life it couldn’t have properly charged beforehand) and the iPhone was declared the winner.

This is the iPhone that takes an age to switch on, has 2nd best speed of use, 2nd best photo capability, best video, an equal footing in apps but with a 2nd place free SatNav application, and somehow it was crowned the best Smartphone. Because the Nexus S “went dead”.

Fair, or badly biased? I know what I think. And Apple are laughing again.

1. their words [↩]
2. and when they do it’s often stuff that we, the average consumer, would be able to buy [↩]

My earlier post about the future of gaming got me thinking.

For over a year now I’ve been earnestly intending to start developing Android Apps. That requires me to learn Java as a starter – and then onto the Android specifics. Unfortunately, time has been my enemy and I haven’t really got anywhere with it.

None-the-less, I keep my eye on the market to see if there’s an obvious “hole” where an app could be desperately needed. At the moment, games appears to be the way to get a “hit”, with few “paid for” apps being enormously popular. Certainly, this is the case in the Android market, although I believe it is different for Apple.

And after mentioning bingo and poker online, I realised that this is possibly where a big explosion in app development may occur in the future. If you look through the Android Market you’ll find few bingo or poker apps from the big online companies, and those that are there are often rated poorly. Small screens and no way of making in-app payments severely restrict their impact.

It’s only a matter of time, though, before Android (like Apple) allows in-app payments (and, indeed, is something they are working on), and with the popularity of the larger screened tablets on the increase, is this the way forward for such apps? It would surely be a lot easier to kick back at home, feet up and play these gambling games on a tablet, rather than sitting at a desktop or laptop. Not that it’s my intention to write such an app – these are probably best left for the companies already dominating the online gambling market.

Meantime, I’ll keep thinking of that ultimate “killer” app that I’ll make my fortune with. Although I suspect the first one I’ll write will simply be a mobile version of this site.

The rather excellent Pogoplug can now be found, for a limited time, for the rather amazing price of £49.99, only available at Firebox¹.

Additionally, today the Pogoplug iPad app is available for free in the iTunes App Store! The new app offers full Pogoplug functionality on the Apple iPad.

Users can now access and share their files or stream their media from their Pogoplug-attached storage, taking full advantage of the multi-touch surface, immersive high-resolution screen and the extreme ease of portability of the iPad.

1. this offer has now ended [↩]