How do you feel about purple?

Does one color really deserve an entire article? Good grief, no. A company releasing a phone in yellow, for example... or red, even; that I would not write about. I don't even write about every new phone release (I am neglecting the HTC One because I don't like their decision to go shabby with the camera, and because it's too much HTC Sense, not enough Android.) Why, then, are you hearing from How Do You Android about this new option for Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S III? Because it's not a color -- it's an identity.

Yes, Sprint is offering the S3 in Amethyst Purple. I don't like contracts, and I'm not such a fan of the S3, but purple -- I advise you all to cancel your current phone plans (paying any fees this may incur), flush your phones, and skip (most likely floating a little, between skips) to your nearest Sprint store, as soon as you get off work today.

I've observed a funny thing about those who have an affinity for the color purple. Purple isn't their favorite color; they're purple-lovers. I haven't seen that with any other color. I know people who choose blue, when the choice comes along. I know people who definitely prefer green. Now, I understand that I tend toward strong opinions (as a 6-year-old told me today, "You love everything." This isn't true: I think tomatoes vile. She qualified her statement to everything I do like, I love. I may be guilty of that.). But I can think of four friends who are purple-lovers, and it's not just me. Purple-lover is a personality trait.  That, in addition to the transition of purple into a solidly gender-neutral color (not like some think guys can wear pink; rather, like red is acceptable for guys and girls), is why I like this decision Sprint has made to carry the S3 in purple.
Get the phone from Sprint, here.

In other news, this morning Dish made Sprint a merger offer of $25.5 billion. Since Softbank's $21.1 billion offer was previously proceeding nicely, a $4.4 billion wrench in the works was not anticipated. A plot twist.

In conclusion, happy Tax Day!

How Do You Know Android? (Devices of Note)

Times they are a-changin': no longer is it enough for a handheld device to be phone, computer, wallet, camera, e-reader, mp3-player... no, the flaw is the "handheld" part. All these tools should be adhered to our faces, or, worst-case, strapped to our arms, eliminating strenuous gripping or lifting. Thankfully, Android's got us covered. Google Glass and Smartwatches are on their way.
(Important note: I originally entitled this article Devices to Watch... but that was a bit too punny, considering my topic. I then tried Devices to Keep an Eye On. Highly amused by my inadvertent puns, finally I was stumped and explored a new preposition.)

Official device

Unofficial Speculation

Running Android's operating system, Google Glass surfs the web, provides navigation, takes pictures, translates languages, and more. It's controlled via motion, voice, and eye movements. Beta users will be receiving their devices soon. Yes, it's for real... no foolin' (it's April 1st, I hope you remember). My favorite aspect of Google Glass is this very sleek website, where you can find more info.

Smartwatches, with no details or pictures released yet, are not as far along as Google Glass. Samsung has confirmed that a watch is coming, and Motorola has hinted the same, with some speculating that Motorola will be the one producing Google's particular interpretation. 

I expect the watch to come into widespread use, but I can't see the typical smartphone-user walking around with Google Glass. Smaller, smarter, and subtler is the name of the game, and Google Glass scores a zero in terms of subtlety. It is very smart, though, and as the device is tested and fine-tuned, I think the geek-factor will be curbed, and then the concept will become widespread. Not Google Glass, though... not this exact model, anyway. What do you think -- will you recoil with a shriek, the first time you encounter a Google Glass beta tester?

How do you control your Android just by looking at it?

Some new features for Androids are just cool and convenient; the major advances, that are an indication of where technology across the board is headed, are more rare. This software, showcased by The Eye Tribe at CES 2013, might just be the latter.

The software is a new way to control your smartphone, using your eyes instead of your fingers. Imagery provided by the phone's front-facing camera is analyzed using computer-vision algorithms, which identify where you are looking with enough accuracy to, for example, open the app you just looked at. The software is already sophisticated enough to activate the screen when you look at your phone, scroll websites based on how fast and how far down the page your eye has moved, control games, etc.

The Eye Tribe was founded by four PhD students from the IT University of Copenhagen, whose brilliant business plans and previous experience in eye tracking research and applications have kept this start-up funded and highly awarded. A particular strength of The Eye Tribe over similar developers in recent years is The Eye Tribe's focus on low cost and previously-integrated components to operate the software. This is contributing to the smooth organization of partnerships with mobile manufacturers and carriers that is currently taking place. Devices operating this software are expected to hit the market this year.

Learn more about The Eye Tribe's work from the official website, TheEyeTribe.com.

How do you remotely control battery-operated devices with an Android?

I found it: it's called a harvesting strategy. I had to look that up. Asking Google the name I'd forgotten for market penetration in the decline phase didn't turn out to be as simple as I'd hoped, but eventually Joe Schmo came through for me. The disposable battery industry seems to be riding out the waves of its maturity phase, and even entering the decline phase, meaning Tethercell, entering at this phase, is engaging in a harvesting strategy. Since this scenario sounds like an example in a college marketing textbook, I had to remember the name; and since I "remembered" the name, I decided to share it, despite only vague connections with Android.

The second of three CES products that we'll be discussing is called Tethercell; like Parrot's Flower Power, it simplifies life.

Tethercell includes an app as well as a physical device. The device is this super cool thingy of which I do not understand a circuit, but whose designers (Trey Madhyastha and Kellan O'Connor) I hold in high regard -- I mean, look at it. (Which reminds me: if you sell the motherboard and screen from your old laptop, you just might practically pay for the new.) To use Tethercell, replace one AA battery, from the device you'd like to monitor, with a Tethercell (which is powered by a AAA battery). Then the app end of the program can turn the device on and off remotely, alert you when the battery level is low, set schedules and timers to run the device, and even locate the device if it has proximity function.

TIME Magazine, cnet, The Verge, TechCrunch, Mashable, and others have given Tethercell the thumbs up. Looks like a nice little harvesting strategy, don't you think? You can pre-order Tethercell, with delivery scheduled for June, from indiegogo.

How do you learn about the Samsung Galaxy S IV release?

How Do You Android is deeply troubled that two articles in a row cover new phone releases. If this troubles you deeply, you may ask, why not choose a different topic?  Because I have big news... excruciatingly big news: A phone manufacturer has announced a new phone.

...Anticlimactically put, no?

March 14, 2013 is poised to go down in history as the day the Apple empire came crashing down, thanks to the unveiling taking place that day, in iconic New York City.

...Now we're looking at melodramatic, as well as highly unlikely.

Yes, the next next big thing is coming -- the Samsung Galaxy S IV. We know nothing at all about it, currently. Rumors aren't even giving us much to go on... probably some advances in mobile payments through NFC (Near Field Communication -- meaning you need only walk by Starbucks in order to spend $6 on coffee), a 360-degree camera (360? how on earth...), and the possibility of a central new syncing program attempting to rival iTunes. 

Do you find it amusing that Samsung officially announced its official announcement? The event is taking place in NYC this time (while the S3 was released in London), on March 14 -- at that point we hope to hear some specs. 

While I expect, in order to form a valid opinion of it, to get a hold of an S4 at some point, I plan to stick with the Nexus 4, for actual use, a while longer. The true reason is shamefully far from techy: the glass back of the Nexus 4 allows me to put a skin under the bumper case, and I really like this skin.

How do you overcome a Samsung Galaxy S III obsession?

I've done it: I'm over the S3. This gem has been the standard to which I hold all other phones since spring of 2012; but now, close to a year later, I have a new standard... and I've arrived at a place where I can acknowledge the features of the S3 that I'm not that excited about. (There aren't many.)

Flaw #1:
The Samsung Galaxy S III receives upgrades to Android too slowly. This is the most-purchased phone out there (Apple doesn't release too many numbers, but near as I can figure the 2nd place phone (the iPhone 5) sold 5,000,000 units its first week, while the S3 sold 9,000,000 that first week. And don't forget Android sales are divided up among many phone choices, while Apple fans have only one current option.), so you would think getting the second phase of Jelly Bean, version 4.2, wouldn't be taking this long. I'm bored with old Jelly Bean -- it's so three weeks ago.

Flaw #2:
It is irritating that the Samsung Galaxy S III takes a Micro SIM. This, however, is a very minor fault. First, because it would seem devices are heading in the direction of Micro SIMs, based on the fact that my new favorite (to be revealed below, after a bit more nail-biting suspense) also takes a Micro SIM; second, because it is easy to convert a Standard SIM to a Micro SIM, as well as to use an adapter to switch it back.

Flaw #3:
This is my most serious complaint with the Samsung Galaxy S III: the physical home button. I dislike this immensely. We switched to touch for a reason. It seems minor, and until I had actually used an S3 I just though Huh... interesting (though even at that early hour I was harassed by my second reason to dislike the physical home button). After using it, I realized it really makes a difference -- you have to hold a phone differently, brace it differently, if pressure (not just touch) is required to get a response. My second complaint with the physical home button is that it is a feature of iPhones -- Android doesn't need it; Android doesn't want it. Android has given Apple incentive to point and laugh: Ha! They're trying to make their phones just like ours! Not good.

I still think fondly of the S3 (it is a gorgeous phone: sharp and slim), but it is no longer my favorite. The Google Nexus 4 now holds that position. The specs are top of the line; the design is sleek; as Google's phone it receives updates lightning-fast; and (my favorite feature of all) the Android operating system is not seen through the film of Samsung, HTC, or Motorola -- it's pure Android.

How do you know Android? (Amazon and Android)

I'm excited; this is from an interview with Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, by Charlie Rose:

Bezos: "I will have to decline to answer that question."
Rose: "Because it might incriminate you?"
Bezos: "I'll just have to ask you to stay tuned. There are a bunch of rumors. I agree that there are a bunch of rumors that we might do a phone."
Rose: "Of course, that answer leads us to believe that you are going to do it. You're just waiting for the right opportunity."
Bezos: "Well, you'll just have to wait and see."

(I recommend reinserting the laughter that played a roll in this bit of the interview. Read it again, with the laughter, to take away the Woah... obnoxious! feeling. Better?)

Amazon's pattern of excellence is why I'm keeping posted on this all-but-confirmed Amazon phone saga, despite my love for the Samsung Galaxy S3. Like the Kindle Fire tablet, this currently unannounced Amazon phone would run on the Android operating system, with Amazon's little Kindle twist. I actually like it when manufacturers do a little tweaking of the Android OS, like HTC does with its HTC Sense; it gives us some nice choices. Though rumors are flying, there are very few nailed-down facts right now, giving details about this mysterious phone.

So when will it be released, and what are its specs going to be? Yes, exactly. *sigh* 
Keep an eye out for that news, and rest assured that whatever Amazon's secret is, it will be worth investigating once it's here.