(* This post is inspired by me finally playing with Android Instant Apps.) Whoever knows me, knows I'm a big Apple fan, from the times it wasn't popular to be one. You also know I carry two phones for the past 5 years - a late model iPhone (currently iPhone 6S), and a late model Android (currently Samsung S8 - one of the most amazing phones e-v-e-r, but that may be a topic for a different blog post). You also know I'm a big mobile fan - whether mobile-web or mobile-apps - and

(Continued from yesterday) Drumroll... Enter Lollipop... Wow! Smooth, fun, high finish quality. Great new features (and those copied from iOS - are many times done better than iOS). Nothing (and I mean nothing...) bad to say. Highlights include: - Great notification center - Great lock screen notification center - Smooth finishing touches (animations, bounces etc.) - Application Lock ("Child Mode") - enabling "locking" the phone to a single app, thus enabling a children to pl

(Continued from yesterday) I prefer the iPhone, and prefer the iOS, but Nexus 5 and Android 4.4.x (KitKat) are an OK combo. I know people make "religious" wars about the iPhone-vs-Android, closed-vs-open, bla-vs-bla banter. Hardware-wise, I think we've nailed the basics. Everything after the iPhone 5/Nexus 5 line is either "speciality", for specific markets, or luxury - we don't really need it. OS-wise, I think Apple did a better job about the finishing touches of the OS (eve

(Continued from yesterday) Something that I felt was very well designed, so much so I felt that (device-wise) I could "live" w/o my iPhone and replace it for an Android phone. And when the Nexus 5 was out, I decided to add to my iPhone a "brother" - and got myself a Nexus 5 - and it's a great device. But the software left much to be desired... So I've been carrying both me for the past 10 months or so (Nexus 5 and iPhone 5, recently replaced with iPhone 6), and using both on-

(Continued from yesterday) So, last week I decided I'll root my Nexus 5 and install the pre-release version of Android 5, AKA Lollipop. (I carry two phones - an iPhone and a Nexus 5, so I wasn't concerned about the possible dire consequences about what it something doesn't work.) I've been an iPhone fan from the first iPhone, and played around with (other peoples) Android phones since the first Nexus, but I wasn't impressed. Not until a year ago. A year ago, around the time I

TL;DR; I still prefer the iPhone hardware/software combo. BUT - if I had to switch to a Nexus 5 running Lollipop, I would hardly complain. (And the price point is amazing...) Bottom Line: IMO, Lollipop is currently the best Smartphone OS for the average smartphone user... For a professional review, checkout The Verge's review [Note: it blurs the line between Nexus 6 and Lollipop, but still - it's good] (http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/28/7082875/12-best-new-features-android-l