I come from France and when I came is the US, even though I found the price of mobile phone plan out of reach (come on $100 for a plan?! Really?!), I thought that having unlimited data was a amazing plus. I had a smartphone and I was able to finally use it to its full potential! That was 4 years ago.

Since, we’ve seen all unlimited data plan disappear one after another while companies started to charge you more for less (an AT&T 3Gb data plan is now $30 and you’ll pay more if you use more) and of course tethering is still an option you’ll have to pay additional bucks for.

In the mean time, in Europe, while competition increased, price drop and services increased dramatically. In France, a new mobile service provider, Free, propose for €20 ($26) an “unlimited” plan that includes unlimited phone calls to France AND the USA (land-line and mobile) + 40 other countries (land-line only), unlimited SMS and MMS and 3Gb of data.

By the way, in Europe you do NOT pay when you receive a phone call or a text message!!! Why would I pay for a SPAM SMS that I can NOT block or reject?!

All Smartphones are data centric, they use data even if you don’t as Apple and Google collect location and usage information very single day from your phone. All new services are web-based or use a data connection, all the crap-ware AT&T, Verizon and others pre-install on your phones is also using data! Use the AT&T Navigation software, you’ll pay to use it (monthly fee) and you’ll re-pay to use it (data download).

Now is there a solution? I believe so, use Sprint, so far they do REAL unlimited! Use SimpleMobile using T-Mobile network they propose unlimited talk, text and web for $60! Of course they don’t have stores everywhere but who really cares?If you need a store, use MetroPCS, once again, far cheaper than AT&T or Verizon and I am sure can hardly be as bad.

You have alternatives, use them. As customers you have a power to say no and CHANGE. Don’t let tham full you with a two year data plan and a brand new cellphone, it will in 90% or cases be cheaper to pay the phone upfront and then take a contract free provider.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

And if you wanna know how this impacts you if you receive the deadly text message, just watch this:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

After a year and half having the Desire Z, I wanted to update my phone to something more current but HTC did (and still don’t) propose any Android slide-out device, so I decided to jump to the competition, not without fear (I had a very bad experience with Motorola, worst Android brand out there in my humble opinion).

I now have 3 devices, a Samsung Captivate Glide, a HTC Flyer and a HTC Jetstream and guess what, even if those device are not old (not even a year each) NONE of them will probably even receive ICS!

AT&T, Samsung, HTC… They all find an excuse not to answer and tell you if it will be released. HTC official statement says that they are evaluating the devices that will receive ICS (I unfortunately know what it means). AT&T push the responsibility on the manufacturers stating that it is their job to provide the updates. Samsung… bad experience there and bad customer service, probably another brand I will in the future avoid too, they simply don’t answer because they don’t know, OMG!

So I take a few minutes here to address this letter to every manufacturer with a minimum of respect for their customer: if you don’t want to support your devices, at least give the community all the tools to do it for you! At least this way, you can wash your hands from having to support too many devices, and we, customers can actually have updated software.

The community is also dispersing, as a matter of fact there is more competition on the smartphone market than never before and the capacity come to spread due to the choice of each individual to purchase different devices.

The lack of consistency in hardware multiply the effort of the community and divide the potential of what could be done. So why don’t you do an effort by releasing the tools that would allow you to gain power user and crystallize a whole bunch of competent developers and passionate bloggers behind your brand?

My HTC Jetstream will probably never even reach HC 3.2 while it is not a year old and my captivate Glide not ICS while it is not 3 months old… I start to understand the strategic choice made by Microsoft or Apple, at least we, buyers don’t feel neglecting after a software release.

Google, you also have a part of responsibility, you could have added in the Android license an obligation to support the devices for at least a year and half or at least the obligation release the drivers source code after 6/8 months.

My Android experience start to be very frustration as open-source does not appear as open as it sounds. HTC, Google and others, I really hope you will open your eyes and stop to ignore the one that buy your devices, your customers.

Once this said, let’s talk about the Samsung Captivate Glide and let me tell you, I have been waiting a very long time for a replacement of my HTC Desire Z with a dual core and a better display (HTC seems to have given up on slide-out keyboard, a shame). When I saw that Samsung was about to release the Glide with AT&T I have to admit I was super excited.

This dual-core 1Ghz processor phone offers a 4″ Super Amoled Display (the box presents it as a Super Amoled Plus) with Gorilla glass and runs Android 2.3.5 out of the box. You will also find a dual camera, 8 mega pixels for the one in the back with a led flash, and all of this for only 147 grams (5.2 ounces)! Yes the feel is plasticky but for this weight I can live with it.

Now let’s talk about the real hands-on experience I have with the phone: I bought this phone end November 2011 (a life time ago when we talk about phones) and the first thing I tried to do it to root"root" is the default username/account created by linux/unix OS. The "root" is the administrator of the machine, it can run all commands and can access any files. it of course (I believe I was the first one to try that) and I bricked my phone. Working with the community we succeeded to achieve root"root" is the default username/account created by linux/unix OS. The "root" is the administrator of the machine, it can run all commands and can access any files. and bring my phone back to life but the support from Samsung was just simply the worst I have ever had. I’ll talk about it later.

Keyboard: This is the main reason why I bought this phone. I was used to the Desire Z and let’s be honest here, Samsung needs to work a bit more on this exercise because it is not even close to the level of comfort of the HTC device. Samsung had the good (?) idea to put the 4 menu buttons around the keyboard, I never ever used them, you loose real estate for the key. In addition, the keys are flat to the point that sometimes you wonder if you pressed the key or not… You’ll eventually get used to it as I did but it is a shame to have a so-so keyboard, it is far from bad but could have been better.

Vibration: One of the point none of the reviews I read about this phone EVER mentioned. My phone is always in my pocket or in a holster on my belt and I hardly ever use the ring tone. Here you have the possibility in the setting to change the intensity of the vibration but even maximized it is not strong enough, I missed quite a number of phone calls this ways.

Notifications: Another of the points missing for other reviews, the Captivate Glide DOES NOT have a notification LED! I know this phone is not supposed to be a high end device but Samsung you are very cheap on this one! So, you’ll need to turn on your screen every time you want to know if you received a mail or missed a phone call. A real bummer.

Sound Quality: Here nothing to say, it is perfect, the sound is loud and clear, even the speaker phone does a decent job and the active noise cancellation gives my correspondents real satisfaction.

“4G”: I would like to think that this is not a phone issue but a AT&T issue but still. This phone is not a real 4G phone, here, no LTE. So don’t believe the ads, they are simply lying, this phone is a HSDPA, 21 Mbps, not bad you would think… Using Speedtest, I never reached above 3Mbps, and they dare to sell it as a 4G phone

GPS: Here it is perfect, the fix is fast, no disconnection, Google Maps or Navigon work like a charm. Perfect.

Screen and interface: I know every single review talks about the screen and let’s give credit to Samsung, when you come from the Desire Z, the screen of the Glide will amaze you, the black IS black, the contrast is amazing. but Samsung once again you are being cheap… Why not at least a QHD screen like most of your competitors (HTC, LG, Motorola…). The 4″ display is a pleasure but could have give more of it potential with a higher resolution.

Samsung Support: The worst support ever. You call them, the helpdesk Level 1 (HD-L1) is just reading a screen and miss the common sense to realize that you probably know the phone better than they do so simply refuse to re-rourte  you to the level 2 or 3… After 3 REAL hours of discussions with several HD-L1, I gave up. It is simply unacceptable from this company to have such a bad level of support.

Community: I am so happy and proud to be a part of a community working to make our phone experience better, the Captivate Glide is not forgotten and you be able here to see, ask, share about the Glide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1487. The phone has two custom roms (one provided by myself and available in the download section) and some modified kernels that will make your experience better than AT&T, Rogers or Samsung ever tried to do.

Finally be aware, the AT&T version of this phone has traces of the infamous CarrierIQ software, the community will give you all the tools to remove that. Also, I am not a big fan of the TouchWIZ Samsung interface, it does not bring much to Android (unlike Sense) and would love to see soon a Vanilla Rom for this phone.

First let put it in the context, I live in a big city and I use my tablet everywhere I go, office, public transportation, home…

The first tablet I owned was the Acer A500, a great tablet, cheap, a lot of custom ROMs out there to make it faster and bloatware free but the main issue was its size!!! Yes 10 inches is great when you are in your sofa browsing the web but now try the same standing in a bus… good luck with that!
So I sold it… and looked for something smaller.

The second chosen tablet was the Samsung Galaxy Tab (the original), it running with Gingerbread but don’t judge it on that it is fast! and allows you to do everything you may need, phone calls (you need a Bluetooth headset), web, email, watch a video in the plane, read in the bus, you can actually hold it with ONE HAND!
The size was just perfect for what I needed, so why did I change again? As I told you I use also my tablet in a professional environment. So, I start looking for a tablet that would give me more than a phone with a big screen and I found the HTC Flyer.

When I received my Flyer it was running Gingerbread with HTC SenseHTC Sense is a graphical user interface developed by HTC Corporation for mobile devices running Android, Brew and Windows Mobile. HTC has referred to HTC Sense as both a user interface in itself and also as a user experience layer. - Wikipedia - and already I was impressed. Fast, Sense actually is very practical in a professional environment, grouping together all the function your need and perfectly integrating with Exchange. The size is like the Galaxy Tad, the perfect compromise between mobility and practicality. Finally, what make the whole difference with the Galaxy tab: the STYLUS!!!

Steve Jobs hated the stylus and stated while presenting the first iPhone “Stylus… Who wants a stylus?…”. Dear Steve wherever you are, you were wrong again. I do want a stylus, and it seems the 700 000 people who bought the Galaxy Note also want one. There is indeed nothing more natural to take note, correct a document, over-light a text or simply draw a pictures whatever Apple fanboys can tell me, and if you think I am wrong, feel free to share it in the comment section.

But Let’s go back to the HTC Flyer, and let’s go back to what I don’t like or what could be improved. Maybe a better battery life to hold the charge for two full days, no tablet can do it so far but I dream of it. The button to be active even on HoneyComb, really Google, don’t copy Apple on this one, physical buttons do make a LOT of sense! a better CPU or a better OS, HC is just sluggish, hopefully ICS will correct this.

Now what I love and I believe you already understood by now, the size first, the 7 inches screen is simply what I need, it fits in a jeans pocket, you need only one hand to hold it. Then, the stylus also called the “Scribe Digital Pen” is a MUST tool for anybody who wants to take notes, draw, underline a text or simply have a kid writing or drawing without using 10 paper sheets. The screen resolution, some people will always want more, but why, to have a shorter battery life, no thanks. Here it is 1024 x 600 pixels you can do plenty on it, it is perfect to read, and you see pixels is you have a magnifying glass and are looking for them. Finally the charging port!!! Guest what? Even if HTC send you a specific cable (weird on this one) a classic micro-USB will do the work and pluging it to the computer will recharge it, slowly, very slowly but it will!

For this reason I decided to share here my personal experience and opinion on some of the tools available on the market and the functions they give you.

Let me spoil the suspense, NONE is perfect in my opinion but…

1. Viber: My personal favorite. Easy to use, this software use the cellphone to connect people so no need to create and give an id for your friends to find you, they will as soon as you join the network. The voice quality is also great on Wifi and very decent over 3G. It misses some key functions though, I quite often want to share contact cards or documents with my contacts and Viber dos not allow it. the missing feature that would make it almost perfect. Ah, did I mention if, Viber is FREE, is very battery friendly and is also available on iOS.
   • Pros:
     • Allows phone calls (WiFi & 3G)
     • Allows texting
     • Allows pictures sharing
     • Allows location sharing
     • Let you know the message status (sent/received)
     • Off-line messaging
   • Cons:
     • The interface needs a real designer
     • Does not allow contact sharing
     • Does not allow file sharing
     • No landscape support
     • Does not tell you when a contact is inactive for some time or removed the app

   

2. Skype: No need to present this one, the old guy here. You create an account, give your id to your friend and you’re good to go. You can use it on your phone, your computer or even your landline phone (yes, some have Skype integrated) and you can be called from a phone (Not free – Skype-in), you can also call land line or text friends all around the world without Skype (not free either – Skype-out plus purchase of credit). So if you are willing to pay probably the best alternative.
   • Pros:
     • It is really crossed-platform
     • Free Skype-to-Skype text and call
     • Allows file sharing
     • Allows video-calls
   • Cons:
     • A LOT of option have to be purchased for a limited period of time
     • ID based (you need to create a profile to start using it)
     • No message status
     • Your contacts have to be online
     • You need to manually starts the app

   

3. WhatsApp Messenger: Propably the best for SMS and also one of the first so the user base is quite big. But two issues here, first it does only texting and honestly that is a shame, second, it is not free when more and ;ore competition is appearing with new ideas and more functionalities. Still with this one you can share any kind of file, you know when your correspondent was last seen online (that is really missing to Viber)
   • Pros:
     • Available on iOS, Blackberries and Android
     • Allows file sharing
     • Let you know the message status (sent/received)
     • Off-line messaging
     • Let you know when your counterpart was last seen connected
   • Cons:
     • Only SMS, no voice
     • Free the first year, $1.99/year after that

   

4. Touch- formerly PingChat!:This one was the first I tried as I was looking for a FREE alternative to WhatsApp and it is a good one, even if it still does not do voice. The main issue in my humble opinion is that it is not based one the phone number but on a pseudo that you need to share and so slow down its adoption.
   • Pros:
     • Available on iOS, Blackberries and Android
     • Allows file sharing
     • Let you know the message status (sent/received)
     • Off-line messaging
     • Very “social” oriented
   • Cons:
     • Very “social” oriented
     • Only SMS, no voice
     • You need to create a ID and share it with your friends
     • Does not tell you when a contact is inactive for some time or removed the app

   

I know there are a LOT more solutions out there, Facebook chat (I don’t use FB…), Google+/Messenger, iChat () and other but I always try to be as cross platform as possible and Viber offers me a very good alternative between functions, friends on iOS and eventually Blackberries, it is also nice with my abttery and allows me to make international phone calls for free, what else can I ask for? YOU let me know!

tha way ACTA is currently define can stop all of us to express a voice, share information and hear me weel I don’t even talk about an MP3 but about a single information such as a article you just read on BBC and that you are talking about with your neighbor, you are now sharing COPYRIGHTED content!! Straight to jail, you really are a criminal…

And guess what 31 countries including the USA (so proud of the First Amendment…) and the European Union signed it. Poor World we are leaving in!

I invite you to join the EFF (link below) and support their work to stop this non-sens.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The idea behind this project is to enhance the original Android proposed by Google and reinforced its security in order to avoid data loss or intrusions on the device.

Security Enhanced (SE) Android is a project to identify and address critical gaps in the security of Android. Initially, the SE Android project is enabling the use of SELinux in Android in order to limit the damage that can be done by flawed or malicious apps and in order to enforce separation guarantees between apps. However, the scope of the SE Android project is not limited to SELinux.

All this starting on January 16 2012. All phones sold before this cutting date will be freely unlock-able through the website of the mobile operator on which it is in use. Just access your provider page, enter you phone number and IMEI 15 digits and you should receive your unlock code shortly.

I still wonder how Apple will react to that and how the procedure will work for the freshly launched iPhone 4S. I strongly believe this procedure should be an standard in the industry: when you buy a phone isn’t it YOURS? Should not you be able to change to any provider without begging for a code? Even worst in the case of Apple, you’ll never get this code even when your contract is over, you’ll just inherit a brick!

Let’s hope more countries adopt this “common sense” legislation and Happy New Year 2012!

The worst, according to HTC it seems the request comes from providers… I invite you to read the comments from different sources on Engadget.

Still, I am using Android, and kernel source are available but I believe I should have the choice to remove any spyware install on my system and all tools should be provided by manufacturers and/or service providers to remove such tools.

An example: I just bought the Samsung Captivate Glide (i927), Samsung provided the source code of the kernel. Guess what?? There are “traces” of CarrierIQ… no surprise there… it is now common knowledge but when I called Samsung to ask for the firmware in order to work on the kernel and potentially remove any traces of CarrierIQ, they refuse.

So if you believed Android is open and manufacturers will play the game, you are WRONG. Samsung if proof of it, they are doing everything to stop you to do what you want with your phone, I have to admit as much as I was in love with Android, I start looking in other direction and Samsung is for me an example NOT to follow. At least HTC release their firmwares authorizing users (if they want and know how to) tweaking firmwares and creating their own version of the kernel.

Carrier-IQ, a shameful media company, is suing TrevE (the developer who made us aware about the data leak on HTC devices and much more. I strongly encourage you to look at the video from XDA and read there article! The behavior is shameful to be publicly pointed and hopefully never happen again.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.