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Over the past few months, I’ve been testing various Android phones. Overall, the platform has continued to improve, to the degree that I can easily swap an Android phone for my iPhone 4 and not feel a loss. But unlike the one-size-fits-all iPhone, each Android phone has its own individual characteristics. Below, a look at how three different Android cousins performed for me and measured up against the iPhone. From Windows Mobile To Apple’s iPhone… First, some background. I’m a long-time smartphone user. My first was back in 2004, a Windows Mobile flip phone. I went through various Windows Mobile phones over the years, such as the Verizon XV6700 pictured below. I turned my nose up at the original iPhone, as it lacked a physical keyboard and 3G. But when the iPhone 3G came out, the 3G issue was solved — and I discovered that the on-screen keyboard really was so good that I didn’t need a physical one. I jumped mobile platforms. Android, The Early … [Read more...] about Droid 2, Samsung Fascinate & Google Nexus S

The third generation of Google’s “pure” Nexus-series phone goes on sale tomorrow, the Galaxy Nexus. Sporting the latest version of Android, is this the phone you’ve been waiting for? As always, maybe. There are nice things, there are bad things. Here’s my past month living with the phone. First Impressions I’ve had a Galaxy Nexus review unit since the middle of November, and I covered some initial thoughts about the phone in my earlier review, First Impressions: Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 Smartphone. In particular: Finally, a “pure” Android phone comes to Verizon’s awesome 4G network It’s big, but it feels good The camera gets better controls Despite having NFC, there’s no Google Wallet support Android 4.0 takes getting used to after Android 2.2 Button confusion! How do I go back? Where’s the search button? I’ll revisit some of these issues, but not all of them. My focus in this review is on how I’ve … [Read more...] about Real Life With The Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 Smartphone

I recently got a new Android phone and found a little card in the box advertising Ingress, the “massively multi-player location-based alternate reality game from Niantic Labs at Google.” Ingress had slipped past my notice despite Greg Sterling’s mention of it nearly a year ago. Yet, here it was, already preloaded as an app in my phone, ready to go. The video game is still in beta, but the invite has apparently been expanded to new Droid Maxx owners. Ingress is a skunk works project that emerged from Google Earth as a pet project of John Hanke, VP Product, Niantic Labs at Google (former founder/CEO of Keyhole, Inc. purchased by Google in 2004, now Google Earth). Hanke had long wished to create a multiplayer game based on Google Earth components, and Larry Page allowed him to set it up with greater independence, start-up style, under Niantic Labs. I’d intended to just dabble with the game a bit, but found it fantastically addictive once I got into it! The concept … [Read more...] about Is Google’s AR Game A Stealth Local Data Effort?

Last week, Google announced the EMD Update, a new filter that tries to ensure that low-quality sites don’t rise high in Google’s search results simply because they have search terms in their domain names. Similar to other filters like Panda, Google says EMD will be updated on a periodic basis. Those hit by it may escape the next EMD update, while others not hit this time could get caught up in the future. Google has several filters that it updates periodically, that is from time-to-time. The Panda Update is the best example of this periodic nature and the impact it can have on publishers. Panda works by effectively sifting all the sites that Google knows about on the web through a filter. Those deemed having too much poor quality content get trapped by Panda, which in turn means they may no longer rank as well as in the past. Those that slip through the filter have “escaped” Panda and see no ranking decrease. In fact, they might gain as they move higher into … [Read more...] about Like Panda & Penguin, Expect Further Refreshes To Come

The conversion rate optimization (CRO) crowd is adept at tapping into these to drive the actions of their audiences. When it comes to ad copy, there may not appear to be a lot we can do to actively influence our search audience. Short of a screaming headline (not allowed), all we have is a limited set of characters. We can make every one of those characters truly work by channeling our inner CRO expert. Before we jump into the words that work, let’s take a few minutes to understand the psychology of decision-making. What causes us to choose X instead of Y? What’s behind our decision to opt for free shipping rather than 10 percent off our order? Fact is, we can influence our audience with smart, effective ad copy. Here’s how. We think like lizards Okay, okay. I know the whole reptilian brain thing was huge back in 2012. But it’s still a really smart tactic at its core and can do magical things for ad copy. If you missed it back then, here’s a quick … [Read more...] about how to truly drive action