Nexus One versus iphone: technical specs chart

I know, everybody is doing it: but here's a side-by-side comparison of new Nexus One tech specs versus the iphone. Green bold text highlights a superior feature. The summary is that Nexus if cheaper, smaller, lighter (if only marginally on all three), with better camera, bigger display, faster CPU, bigger battery, and more RAM.

We have to hand it to Apple for re-defining the worlds expectations for cell phones. Good job Apple, you blazed the trail again, just like you did with mp3 players, USB support, and the GUI. Apple is a leading innovator.

Google's advantage is that the iPhone's specs are public so Google knows exactly what they need to beat, and they do so in every category but base storage.

Also the wishlists for iphone are well-published, so Google can one-up Apple in categories that users actively complain about: removable storage, camera flash, battery life. Smart.

Googletalk & AIM becoming officially compatible?

Google linked up their arguments to allow the Yahoo-Google ad deal to go through without government regulation. I was actually most surprised by slide #8, which reads that "Yahoo! will enable interoperability with Google instant messaging".

Does this mean Yahoo Instant Messenger will use jabber, and as such, talk to any jabber client?

This may be the first good news for googletalk since it was launched, as Google doesn't seem to be doing any work to update it or add features.

News Bots Fail on browser add-ons

I liked this story I saw at news.google.com this morning, which google couldn't collect properly because of a Flash-based website:

User Interface design: Google gets it right

The latest google friends newsletter draws attention to why google gets user interface design right, in a world where 99% of interfaces are wrong.

Google posted their list of user experience aspirations to the public. I think they got the order of priority right as well, since their bullets number 1, 2, and 3 are things which you'll regularly hear me lecturing my wife, children & friends about (much to their dismay).

1. Focus on people
2. Every millisecond counts
3. Simplicity is powerful

That's obvious enough - build fast, simple interfaces that work the way the user wants them to. How come only Google (and perhaps Apple) seem to be able to master this?

Flexibility is key, too, but you can provide power while maintaining simplicity through good design. I look at interface design a lot like building a Huffman Tree - you provide the smallest number of steps to accomplish this most frequently required tasks.

I could write a whole series on interface design flaws I observe every day. It's not limited to software, either. It's not even limited to electronics & mechanics. My home builder installed a perfectly smooth spherical knob on the shower exit door, guaranteeing the user no traction when twisting the knob to get out. This is terrible in a location where the users hands are always wet.