The Cloud vs. Mobile OS - App or HTML5

HTML5 vs. local app

The future is in the Cloud. That’s what everybody has been saying for a long time. Some of this is here already. Google Apps and Microsoft Live are two of the biggest cloud based services and the ones closed tied to a mobile OS. The reason I focus in on the mobile OS is that this just might be where we will see most interesting collaboration between the client and the Cloud.

It was my belief that we would see a fairly quick move from the standard app and program to a HTML5 based app type. They would be easy to keep updated, customers would not have to update all the time, and the pricing model could be anything from full payment upfront to a pay per minute. There are services that are based in the Cloud, but on phones all of them seems to have versions running as an app. This is mainly due to two things, small screens and lack of full HTML5 support by the mobile browser. So they build a mini client for the Cloud based service. Most often you’ll find that the app will have only a small portion of the functions the browser based version have. This again is also primarily due to two things, screen resolution and processing power.

Faster processors and large screens with desktop like screen resolution is finding its way into our future Smartphones. The questions is will this new found power and space be used to bring better browsers with HTML5 support or to build better apps that will deliver full functionality of the Cloud service on to the phone? There is no doubt that both will happen, but will the new and better browsers on the coming Smartphones be used to run the cloud based HTML5 apps or will the native app grow and slowly turn into, not just a dumb client for the service, but a full featured version of the Cloud service?

I believe in the latter, and the reason for this is that a native app far better can harness the power and screen size of the target device. The native app will be able to check screen size, processing power, screen resolution and if any external devices are connected, and adapt to use all this. This something a HTML5 app do not have access to, it depends on the browser to present the user interface right. The native app can change depending on if the phone is used in landscape or portrait. It can detect if an external monitor is connected and again change the UI to fit the bigger screen. Apps like this will make the future Smartphones come alive as a productivity device in ways we have not seen yet and therefor set new standards for the way we work and play on Smartphones.

I’m certainly not declaring the Cloud dead for mobile users, but for the mobile user the Cloud in large parts will be used as a storage and sync place, and the creating and presentation of the information will happen in a intelligent app running locally on the smartphone.

Asus PadFone - Take two

Asus PadFone

Since Asus went public with their lasted tablet concept, the PadFone, I have been thinking a lot about it. It was very hard to figure out that Asus wanted it to be, a phone or a tablet, since it had to run either Android 2.x or 3.x. The launch of Android 4 gives new life to the idea, since it is supposed to build the bridge between phone and tablet. We had a chance to get a good look at the mobile part of Android 4 when Samsung and Google launched the Galaxy Nexus, a little under a month ago. It will still be some weeks before we get the chance to see Android 4 running on a tablet, but I believe that it is possible to make a fairly good guess at how it will look.

What has been shown of the hardware so far, tells us that the design and weight of the PadFone is a good deal off the current standard. The iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and even Asus own Transformer Prime is sleeker and a lot more exciting to look at. This is something Asus has to be aware of and need to change before the launch sometime next year. The PadFone concept is even more apropirate today, than it was back when it was launched. Smartphones have evolved into super Smartphones with screen sizes that just get bigger. This is mostly for the better, but it does make is harder and harder to make simple phone calls.  You could use a headset, but it is impractical and most people don’t want to. This is where the modular design of the PadFone fits perfectly.

I would suggest that Asus took the PadFone even further. Asus has to make sure that the PadFone docks in the Transformer Prime keyboard dock. This way The PadFone is not just at phone and a tablet, it would be a phone, tablet and a notebook. Android 4 makes this transformation possible. I expect that a device running Android 4 will be able to detect if an external screen is connected, no matter if it is a dock or through a cable. This detect will make it possible to change font size and icons to fit the screen being used. All newer super Smartphones will at a minimum have a HD displays, and all these pixels have to be used differently on a 5”, 10” or a 22” screen.

If this scaling of the user interface becomes possible with Android 4 I’m sure that new and exciting apps that take advantage of this will emerge. They will be able to transform them self’s from mobile apps, to tablet apps, to full blown programs that utilize connected keyboard and mouse. If Android 4 makes this possible and the Asus PadFone gets access to the Transformer Prime dock, then Asus will have the first device, In a, what I would expect to be, long row of devices, to offer this unique modular platform. This could be a 3 in one device that would offer the full benefit of all 3 product types without any compromise.