An Android PR Gal’s life is always full of adventure – especially in the form of finding her way through mazes upon mazes of cool awesome gadgetry. It doesn’t necessarily have to be all about Android. After all, we are an avid fan of Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”, so we make it a habit to visit other territories just to see what the enemy .. errrr… I mean, competition has up their sleeve.

Tomorrow, we board the ICE train to Hannover, Germany where the annual CeBIT takes place. This is our second time going but this time, we’re taking it up a notch.

The Android PR Gal will take part in a Panel Discussion on Mobile Computing. Of course, she is going to take her little Android Man with her up on stage! The Panel is one of many that will take place at the Webciety area. The photo below was taken last year. Who would have thought that in one year’s time, we’d be up on that stage?!  *pppssssssttt* Want to know a secret? I wished it! :-)

Webciety 2009

We’re really excited because we get to talk about and share a topic that we are passionate about – mobile … anything!

We hope our batteries have enough juice and that the buildings don’t act like kryptonite against our monthly wifi data plan network. We plan to qik, tweet and take photos while we’re up on stage, because we can. Social media isn’t just about the observers sharing with the world what they are observing … it should also go both ways. The ones being observed should also be able to share with the world HOW they are being observed and WHO is doing the observing!

Social Media.

Mobile Networking.

Being Socially Mobile in a Global context.

That is what is happening now. If you don’t understand the “why”, the “how” and more importantly, what this means to the future behaviour of societies in general, then you’re not doing your part as a responsible, accountable and conscious human being.

I caught an article a few days back saying how the majority of women preferred the iPhone and that most Android device owners were men. Hmmmm….

It certainly got me thinking again about women and their gadgets … or should I say, accessories. Two years back I started a site called “Tech Savvy Tech Sexy” and it was suppose to feature gadgets that women were drawn to and why. I should really re-vitalize that site …. or put it up again because I feel I am really missing the boat when it comes to women and gadgets.

Of course, I don’t want to be another “Geek girl” with another gadget site. Lord knows, we don’t need another one of those .. or???

Then last week, when I got back from Barcelona, after being surrounded by men and gadgets, I received something Pink and Swarovski Crystal like. It was a Pat Says Now, Special Edition Glamrock Mouse.

Now frankly speaking, I don’t use a mouse, much less, one with Swarovski Crystals glued to the center.  I should really try it out though. I wonder if it would make me feel more of a “accomplished woman” or something like that.  Or maybe it’s meant to make me feel sexy. Hell, if I wanted to feel sexy,  I’d just blog in my thong or something.

Anyway…..

Women always love fashion, even if it’s not considered fashionable. Women always have their own sense of fashion, be it copied, original (often quirky) etc ..  so what does it take for a gadget to be more “female appealing”.

At the Mobile World Congress at the Samsung section, I caught a phone series entitled: The Diva Collection -

You can watch the video of it here:

One thing I did note while on a spy mission with Android to the new Apple store in Frankfurt, was that, there definitely was a lot more accessories for the iPhone than there was for the Nexus One. Firstly, the Nexus One has just barely arrived to Germany (I got mine in Barcelona) and second of all, android phones vary in size and shape, that to make accessories a.k.a., neat little wardrobes for the devices wouldn’t seem to practical from a manufacturer’s stand point. At least with the iPhone, it’s all the same shape. One size fits all, and this makes everyone and his mother, want to design something for the iPhone.

I suppose I’ll need to scout around and start my own Android PR Gal Nexus One accessories. Hmmmm, in fact I WILL!

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to blog more on what I saw at the MWC10.

It was a week ago that I returned from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and I’m STILL exhausted. It was truly overwhelming and surely a Gadget Gals paradise, not to mention a “sausage fest” as Sara would put it.

Not only that, but I found myself wifi challenged the first day and a half. Mind you, I arrived there Tuesday morning and went straight to the venue. Despite the Media Wifi card, access was horrible. If you weren’t accessing their ethernet cables then wifi was fickle, for me anyway. I would’ve gotten those Yoigo Pre-Paid data and phone sim cards if I only knew where they were earlier. Luckily, Wednesday afternoon I managed to find a phone house and purchase two. I didn’t want to be caught without wifi ever. NEVER!

It really was too bad though. I was not able to qik or live stream or tweet (much) or especially take photos and twitpic, posterous or facebook them.

Wednesday afternoon was spent trying to see everything (which I didn’t get to do). Thursday was spent seeing the exhibits I really wanted to see and going back and talking to people. Thursday was by far the best day in terms of talking to people. However, by the time I got back to the press area, I only had like 20 minutes to upload photos to flickr …  I had forgotten that the press area closed at 4 pm on the last day. In fact, when I left the press area, the exhibitors were already starting to pack up.

I did manage to take enough photos and enough vids. What I still need to do is to write about all the things I wanted to share. This weekend should be a blogging weekend. Hopefully I’ll get MWC10 squared away before CeBIT next week.

We’re getting ready to leave for the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. We had such a great response from people wanting “What’s up, Android?” to be present at their exhibit announcements that out heads are spinning on where to go first, since a lot of these presentations take place almost simultaneously. 

We’ll try to cover as much as we can and then of course there are the many “cocktail” invites to try to attend .. so many people to see, so little time. 

There’ll be a separate Mobile World Congress 2010 Category called MWC2010 that will be set up for all things relating to the 4 day event. We’ll have to miss the First day but will be arriving late morning on Tuesday and staying all the way till Thursday.

Do stay tuned for our coverage of the events that are taking place in Barcelona!

I was just wondering how many Android devices were given out as Valentine gifts today? I still believe that accessories for women (and for men) are changing, in terms of the actual objects people are using as accessories. For one, a mobile device.

Yesterday I managed to do something I have  not done in awhile …. window shop. The first place I did my window shopping was at the city Saturn store that houses electronics and gadgets of all types. The place was crowded but I did not attribute this fact to it being Valentine’s the following day. Rather, it was probably just another busy Saturday filled with people being ‘good consumers’.

What I was disappointed at was the fact that were was not one Android device in the store … (unless I completely over looked it – which in that case, demonstrates the popularity of Android devices with the retailers).

My next goal now is to find out how to get Android devices into more mainstream stores where the numbers are greater. Who decides this anyway?

I really would like to know if people indeed, gave their loved ones an Android device for Valentine’s, other than a diamond or whatever it is that people give to one another on this fine day, other than an exchange of genital flesh. Just saying.

Hello World!

2010 will mark the tipping point for Mobile Technology. Mobile operating systems have taken a large leap in defining an empowered future by abandoning the old ways of “what’s our’s is our’s and you can’t have any” to turning the other cheek and going “open source”.

Yesterday marked the entry of yet another big player, the world of  the Symbian OS. Opening its doors to the developer world, the platform will surely be going over a radical make-over, even if it only involves the acquisition of “accessories” in terms of apps.

But what does this all mean? Why didn’t the Symbian Gods open their pearly gates earlier? Why now?

Did Android have something to do with influencing this “turn over a new leaf” or ?

Right before our social media consciousness, we are witnessing the future of mobile unfold into an exciting platform of possibilities. Where this will lead only time will tell.

One thing is for sure.  If we’ve ever been really connected, we will be even more connected now, in ways that will make us think “Now, this is more like it.”

Never mind that Apple decided to call their new baby (the iPAD)  a name which makes women cringe and “LOL” in such cynical ways. Never mind that Google is handing out FREE Nexus Ones to as many anxious and ambitious developers worldwide. Never mind the the Symbian OS has emerged from an obviously “productive” brain storming session .. the question is, “How will Microsoft’s new phone, fare when entering the game?”

My good friend Monique posted on my Facebook wall this comment, to which I gave a reply.

When Google announced the Nexus One during their much anticipated and awaited Press Conference on January 5th, I wasn’t at home to catch the real time tweets  and live blogging. I did however get a front row seat, thanks to Robert Scoble ( @Scobleizer ).

Granted, the Nexus One isn’t exactly eye candy in every sense of the word, personally speaking, but underneath his (notice the gender) outer wear, he can surely perform! And isn’t performance, what really counts?

The above image is a screenshot off the Nexus One Specs online. I highlighted in green what I thought was the “performance” positives and in orange, I highlighted the specs that were rather disppointing. Hey, no man is perfect.

The Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz (Snapdragon) is currently the fastest mobile phone platform out there (to the best of my knowledge, while still in semi zombie-girl mode). This means that users can enjoy switching back and forth from their favorite android apps that are running in the background without really noticing “lag”. However, there really isn’t much efficient use of this processor if, say the phone is limited to only 512MB RAM and 512 MB Flash. Having 3 or 4 amazing android apps running at the same time, well, 512 MB RAM just isn’t going to cut it.

The Nexus One, running on the new Android 2.1 (Eclair), the latest Android OS version, is another “performance” Yay! However, as with all “performance” positives, there is always a set of conditions and environments that make for optimal performance. The technology may be there, but if users do not appreciate and understand the “meat and potatoes” of the thing, then how can one use it to the best of its functionality.

One  thing we all need to be reminded about is that everything has its limitations. It’s just a matter of how they are used and what expectations are put  on  things. It’s really a matter of choice, in every sense of the word.

Rather than blame things for their lack of meeting our needs, we should also try to understand and analyze our needs and find out, why we use and need things in the way we do.

It’s about communication.

We’ve just started figuring out that the way we behave in terms of being able to communicate, has changed through the use of innovative platforms on the internet however, we still need to understand how we get the communication to become more effective on both sides. Early adopters set the pace and often start the trend on the “buzz” of a brand. Mainstream, albeit it, having their own opinion, often can get influenced on what they read, hear, and watch.

People still complain that Google’s lack of communication with Android Developers, in terms of when the next Android OS is being released – sucks. But even Google is aware of that and they do intend to fix it. There is always room for improvement, so why should Google be any different.

Google is not a Power Entity. It is run by humans that are just like you and me. It’s when a group of humans get together and get the opportunity to collaborate on projects that – ultimately, intend to create a change in the way we behave, is when things get a little “unsure”. It’s called development. It’s called evolution.

I’ve looked around at blogs and articles, trying to get a feel for what people think of the Nexus One and it’s pretty much still split down the middle, and I’m talking about Android users.

This totally does not disturb me. Just because people like Green Vegetables, does not mean that everyone likes broccoli!

Just finished watching Google’s Press Conference that featured the Nexus One. Thanks to Robert Scoble for livestreaming the event on USTREAM and thankfully, I was able to watch it, after the fact.

Two words that stuck out: Superphone and Evolution. The cartoon above was inspired by them.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then a simple cartoon can pretty much sum it up.

Video recorded by Thanks to Robert Scoble. (@Scobleizer)

Here are the tech specs of the Nexus One.

Day two of Clone Method started off NOT on schedule.

I was still surprised that I DID get up at 5:30am but laid on the bed, thinking. I decided to just do it. So I got up made some fried rice and egg (hey, I’m Asian .. ‘ish) and coffee. Got on Twitter, checked email, updated my status on FB and now I should really be getting ready to get the “working girl” to work.

The one thing I didn’t expect was the “unwinding” time I need when I come home. I couldn’t get to sleep until 2am .. so you do the math. I’ll be a very tired girl today. I intend to drink a lot of water, a few cups of coffee and keep saying to myself  .. “You can do this!”.

Today is CES and of course, Google’s Press Conference. I just caught the tail end of the AndroidGuys Podcast and thought, how lucky to be able to attend CES and get to cover all the cool stuff.

Our @cOZ will also be there at CES covering the event live. I tried catching more info on which site she’ll be reporting from but I was too late. Follow her to find out so you don’t miss any of the action.

Well, gotta get going. It’s time to get into “working girl” mode.

Cheers!

You’ve seen it all before. You’ve done it. You’ve experienced someone else doing it. You find yourself on top of your game, rolling in the dice, feeling untouchable and by the looks of things you figure you’ll continue cruising to the top and nothing can stop you.

Then all of a sudden something or someone comes along, seemingly innocent, not too obtrusive but you’ve heard rumors. But heck, at your pace, you figure you’re so ahead of the crowd that it’s not even worth your while to worry about competition. Yup, your ego is about the size of a giant apple and unsuspecting you, has no idea that you may just be about to eat yourself silly. Ego and all.

Is it possible to prevent this kind of situation from happening to us? We don’t care if it happens to others, but to “us”?

Ouch.

It’s not even about karma being a b*tch. It is what it is. You’re not the only one whose eyes are set on being the best of the best. It’s hard to stay on top these days. In fact, it’s near impossible to stay on top. In that case, you don’t necessarily have to throw in the towel either. You can simply find it in you to share the space and in doing so, realize that what you lacked all along (if your ego dares to admit it) is to open your heart and accept the notion that  you’re not perfect after all. You’re just like everybody else, trying to find a way to feel complete.

I’m not saying that “people complete you”. I’m just reminding you that only you, can complete you … often from the help of others you’d least expect could help you.

Life is funny that way.

The cartoons above are part of a group that were created to help illustrate Kevin Nakao’s,  article on Mashable entitled: Mobile Advertising: 5 Things You Need to Know to Succeed in 2010. Three of these were not chosen, so rather than have them lie dormant in my cartoon folder on the desktop I decided to make some use of them. I was inspired by an article I caught on twitter from the ComputerWorld.com site:

“Demand for Android phones makes ‘monstrous’ 250% jump”

Macrumors.com even wrote something about Android’s rise within the smartphone environment.

It all started from a research study that ChangeWaveResearch conducted that produced this interesting bar graph. Oh heck, I decided to grab the graph image since everyone else did …

Numbers don’t lie and you know how much we all love bar graphs! I especially like this one. So after reading a few articles I got the idea of just posting the “wallflowered” cartoons and try to make a statement that would fit in with Android’s current trending topic. It may be a little abstract in nature, that commentary, I mean .. but then again, I’m a little abstract normally. Just sayin’.