[This is an update to a review of Google Home, which I performed almost exactly a year ago] [I've only updated the main differences, which caused me to upgrade the overall score from 3.8 to 4.1] TL;DR Great Promise - starting to deliver - and Much to Look Forward to! ==> Total: 4.1 out of 5 My main complaint with the device, was that for a Smart Speaker, it's use was super limited, mainly to paid music services (and conveniently enough, Google left out the one paid music serv

(* 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

My mother, ever the tech-autodidactic, got Google Home - and I offered to review it. Way to go Mom! TL;DR Great Promise - Yet to be Delivered - and Much to Look Forward to! ==> Total: 3.8 out of 5 I was highly excited to get Google Home - and within 3 minutes of the unboxing, it was set up and we all started "OK Google"ing it... ==> Setup: 5/5 We were mainly focused about asking it all kinds of things, and getting good answers - kind of like googling things - only by voice. W

The other day I noticed a nice touch by Chrome. As I was reviewing a Google Hangout chat, I got a message containing a link to some article. As I clicked the link, Hangout asked me what browser I'd like to use to read the link - Safari or Chrome. I chose Chrome, and Chrome was launched and navigated to the link. As I was reading the article, I noticed that the regular "Back" button/link showed Hangouts - and then realized I also saaw this in Pushbullet/Chrom - realizing this

(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