I remember my first search. I was 15 and found Altavista. I remember the magic I felt when I searched for porn on Altavista and I suddenly realized how large the world really was.
The year is 2009 and there are two major players to the search game. Google and Bing. While both search engines want to accomplish the same goals, the cultures are completely different. Let me explain….
The Early Days of my Google experience
The goal of Google is speed, accuracy and trust. I feel Google’s popularity stems from their simplicity and lack of non-relevant ads. I remember my first search on Google beta (I think this was around 1998). During that time search engines such as Lycos and Aol had adds all over their homepage. I was one of the idiots that sat there for 30 seconds thinking that Google was slow at loading because I didn’t see ads on the homepage which was the trend of search engines at the time (you have to remember that I was on dial up speeds in 98 everything ran really slow). After realizing that the page was done loading I began using Google full-time. Mainly because of the lack of ads and the fact I could get to what mattered to me; the search results. I have to admit that Google at it’s beta stages still served the best results for the day.
The Google of Today
I rely on Gmail, Google Voice, Blogger, Google Reader and Google Listen (Android) daily. Why might you ask? Because I trust Google. I have no problem with providing my info to make their search engine better. Call me weird but if my search history helps Google become a better services then what’s the problem. If there’s something you don’t want people to know then you shouldn’t be searching for it. The Google of today is powered by trust, access, speed and plain old simplicity. The day Google loses trust is the day Google goes out of business.
Google’s Android a dark future ahead
I bought the G1, which is Google’s first Android powered phone. I’ve had the sidekick and a few Windows Mobile phones in my past and have to say the Android has changed internet access for me. Quick access to Google services along with a touch screen is magic, but there’s one major problem with Android. The cellphone carriers control the updates. Cellphone carriers don’t really care about updates, they made their money when they sold you the phone. There are different flavors of Android across the board. My G1 is running 1.6 while the new Droid is running 2.0. I expected my G1 to have the latest updates, but I was wrong. After waiting for an update for my G1 I wonder if I will ever get it. If the phone software is fragmented the app store will be also. This will cause a major headache for me. I will be royally pissed off if I spent $400 on a cellphone that can’t update. I will be even more pissed off if I can’t get an app from the marketplace because I don’t run a compatible Android version.
Google Release your own hardware already
I noticed there’s allot of buzz surrounding the Nexus One which is (this is the rumor) Google’s first go at hardware that’s not locked to a vendor. Google has the money to sell this phone for $100 dollars unlocked without the carriers. If Google controls the updates and ads the latest hardware (along with a normal headphone jack for christ’s sake) I would buy it in a heartbeat. As the phone updates are fragmented the quality of the phone hardware is as well. Google needs to release Android on cellphones that equal the iPhone in quality of the design and technical specs. If you (yeah you Google) release Android on a sup par phone, the impression of Android will be a sucky one and that customer will never buy an Android phone again.
This is Google’s last chance to keep me as a customer of Android. My phone has an old update, the hardware sucks and I’m experiencing the same slow down I did when I was a Windows user. I really don’t want to buy the Iphone. I can’t afford Apple’s products. So Google if you’re listening out there bring home your own hardware for Android.
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