Merry Christmas - Now what!?

Since the middle of November I've had a steady stream of people coming into my office asking what they should get their family members for Christmas. I've walked people through options, loaned out phones and discussed if it might be best to wait or buy now. Here's what I came up with:

Phones

I'm sort of biased, I've been using the iPhone for several years now and I'm really like it. What I don't like about it is that it's run by Steve Jobs, who I sometimes think is a bit nuts. What's great about it is that it's easy to develop for and the developers love it, this equates to thousands and thousands of apps. The Android is also very good, but I'd only get one if I couldn't get an iPhone. The BlackBerry, I have a love/hate relationship with these, meaning I love to hate them. If you're a corporate entity and need to have a secured device, then this is your phone, if not avoid it. Either way avoid ALL their touch devices, they don't do touch very well and I personally become very frustrated with them. I do have a Torch and a Storm 2, and after using them, I prefer my Tour.

E-Reader

For the E-Reader market, I feel the ONLY option is Kindle. They have the most books, the best hardware and will more than likely still be around for the next 4-5 years (meaning your books will still be around for the next 4-5 years). They also let you register several devices on your account so you can share books between devices. This is meant for you to have your iPhone, BlackBerry, iPad, Kindle, etc... all use the same device, but I've had the same books for my daughter on the Kindle and me on my iPad. I've played some with the Nook and found it clunky. For Kindle unless you're going to be reading newspapers on it (note newspapers don't include the comics, sigh...) I'd get the standard Kindle with Wi-Fi and 3G, it's nice and small, if you're going to read at night, be sure to get a nightlight or a case with a nightlight built in, Kindles aren't back lite and are difficult to read in the dark (but they excel in the daylight). Also don't confuse a Kindle with an iPad and Kindle is an ebook reader, and iPad is a mini-computer that has ebook capabilities.

Tablets

This is a market that's starting to boom, first with the iPad and now with several Android devices. If you want a computer that's not a computer, but also not an e-reader, then this is where you want to be. I have an iPad and in using my iPad apps from Dropbox, Zinio, Washington Post, USA Today, etc... I find the iPad is a perfect computer that's not a computer for me. I take it to meetings, use it for games and movies, I can also read on it and surf the web. It's almost too good in the bedroom (not good if you're prone to insomnia, you'll find yourself on this thing all night. It's not great in daylight (if it's too hot outside, 90+ degrees, it'll shut down). It is great if you want to check email or do other things at home that you'd normally turn your computer on for (when I get home I rarely turn on my computer). If you are going to be using the device as primarily an e-reader, I'd suggest you save several hundred dollars and buy an kindle.

If I were to buy an iPad today I'd get the 64GB with 3G, you can't upgrade the memory on the device, so I feel get the most you can. I'd get the 3G for the added flexibility. The 3G is a month to month option, so no 2-year contract is needed. I'd also get the AT&T version, while I like the ability with the Verizon setup to be able to have a wifi I could hook my laptop up to also, I don't like the idea of carrying an extra device around (I have too many already). Now comes the tricky part, if I wanted to risk some and wait, in April (maybe, possibly, rumor has it...) I can get the iPad 2 with a front facing camera, so I'd wait if I could.

AppleTV/GoogleTV

SKIP THEM, they aren't ready for prime time, and unless your house is already 100% Apple and you have a separate computer that's on all the time to stream movies that you have on your hard drive, then these aren't worth anything. I have a GoogleTV and it's horrible.

Laptops

There are several laptops out there, I'd say at a minimum get something running Windows 7, 4GB RAM, Intel i3 Processor, 500GB disk space and 64-bit processor and OS. If you have the money, up the RAM to 8GB, i5 or i7 processor, 500GB to 1TB hard drive running at 7200 RPM and a BluRay player. You can also look at MacBook's, if you're using this for home or work and need Office (which is very cheap for the Mac), then I'd look at the MacBook Pro. I have a 15" with 8GB of RAM and 500MB drive and it's great. If I could redo it, I'd keep the 15" and 8GB of RAM (maybe try to increase the RAM) but go to a 7200 RPM drive. Now if you're looking for something that's a full fledged computer (minus CD-ROM) then I'd go with a MacBook Air. This may sound sexist, but I think it's a perfect computer for a woman, only because it's small enough that it would fit in most purses and not require an extra heavy computer bag.

Gloves

Gloves? Really? Yeah, most of the tablet, iPhone, Android, Touch Screen devices are heat sensitive, they don't work with gloves on. There are several options now that have either the ability to pass heat through the glove to the device, or allow you to flip just the fingertip of the glove up to use the device.

Windows Phone 7

I've used all the platforms at one time or another, I feel they all have issues and strengths, but I also feel that Microsoft has done such a poor job in the consumer market that they'll need to produce a "game changer" to get in. They showed off the Microsoft tablet years ago, they should have pushed forward with it then, they've tried integrating into cars and such, without much fanfare. The only place in the consumer market they've done remarkably well is in gaming, the Xbox is a well received product.

Personally I've been using a MacBook Pro for about a year now, 20 years before that it was nothing but Windows/DOS based (with a little Linux and Mac thrown in). After a year on the Mac I don't see anything special about it, it's a computer, a $1500+ computer (Most computers I've had in this class are about the same). After spending the weekend setting up my daughters Windows 7 laptop (don't tell her, it's a Christmas present, shhhhh....), I feel that Microsoft could have done a lot to make the process easier (mostly I was installing patch after patch, these could have been batched together for one install I'm sure).

I think that Microsoft sees that putting "Zune" on their devices makes it sexy, unfortunately my first reaction when I saw "Zune" was being advertised as an advantage was to laugh. I don't like iTunes, but Zune is no iTunes. Maybe push a strong integration of the phone and Xbox, this might not get you into the corporate market, but it could get you winning the hearts and minds of the kids (who will then proceed into the corporate market). Push phone to phone integration, for example, I could be sitting with a friend, I want them to see a picture, share an app, play a game with me, chat one-on-one, make it as easy as swiping your finger. Allow you to share items permanently or temporarily. For me, as a corporate geek, what I think would be sexy is strong integration between my phone and my desktop, allow me to browse and retrieve documents from my desktop, now that's sexy.

Anyway for Microsoft to get the "Mobile" market they need to think outside of Redmond. Perhaps they need to set up shop in Silicon Valley and poach developers, or find some cutting edge school and create a development incubator, they need to do something different. Until this is done, the Microsoft mobile platforms will not be well received.