I stumbled on a Microsoft patent application that shows the UI for a mobile game controller. The interface is the Xbox controller on a touch screen. It’s that glimmer of hope that this shows Microsoft’s plans of actually doing a mobile device that resembles the Xbox controller while playing games and will give us integration more than just avatars and stats.

Here’s what makes this a lot of fun, you know that thing we all do when we’re excited, we take the controller to the left hoping that our car will turn left quicker, the Xbox Mobile controller with it’s several sensors will do that:

[Fig. illustrate] additional exemplary orientations of the mobile touch-enabled device that can be utilized to manipulate operations in the game rendered on the display of the mobile touch-enabled device.

So there it is, internally Microsoft is bringing the Xbox controller to a mobile device, a dedicated Xbox mobile gaming device with music & video services–a new Zune–a second attempt at competing with Apple’s iPod Touch. Or a Xbox Phone we’ve wanted, take your pick.

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The Xbox Mobile

The Lumia 920 is a bulky phone compared to the iPhone 5, in fact the 920 feels uncomfortable to hold compared to the Nexus 4 for two reasons:

• weight
• width

You do get used to the two but the bulk (and extra weight in the upper half) keeps haunting you, especially when your second phone is half the weight. L920 owners have made arguments against the weight:

1. Nokia couldn’t have done anything about it if they wanted to release a phone in time
2. It’s not a big deal

The first one was rubbish, and I’ve maintained so. Nokia coming out with Lumia 928 within 6 months of 920 is proof that Nokia could in fact have released a less bulky phone. Here’s the annoying part: Nokia’s design team has gone a step back with each Lumia. Devices usually get lighter/thinner with every new model, but the flagship Lumia has gone the other way round:

• Lumia 800: 140g
• Lumia 900: 160g
• Lumia 920: 185g

People defended it and Nokia is set to release a lighter/thinner phone within 6 months, that’s evidence that Nokia realizes their blunder with the L920.

This brings us to my statement, when I blame Nokia for launching a better phone within 6 months as a betrayal of trust, it’s argued that technology changes rapidly and I have to deal with it. Here’s the problem with that:

Flagship phones from Apple, Google and Samsung remain flag ship for a year. Given the economic situation where people really want value for money, like me, will consider this factor. (Apple got a lot of flak for releasing iPad 4 months after iPad 3.) It was the same people who blamed Apple for betraying the customer. A lighter phone is an expected evolution, it’s not a drastic product improvement worthy of a new flagship model–many criticized the iPhone 5 and 4S for being an incremental, not revolutionary upgrade, because one of the biggest feature of the phone was its light weight–and yet when I say Nokia fucked up by launching a bulky phone and fucked up more by showing intentions to launch a thinner/lighter phone in 6 months, I’m considered to be oblivious to technology developments–it wasn’t me who was oblivious; it was Nokia who is being short-sighted.

A better product >> several mediocre products

For Nokia, several mediocre products worked in the past, especially India, where the company launched one phone with a good camera, another with better storage, and another with a better screen–but not a phone with all the best possible specs. They’re using the same strategy again and hoping to spam the market with a lot of Nokia phones, unfortunately, the market is polluted with Android phones today.

That brings me to Android. And Google. Having spent quite a bit of time on iOS6, the OS has brought nothing new in terms of usability since the last time I used it. In fact having gone to iOS after WP8, made me realize that Windows Phone 8 is a well thought out OS that has been designed around improving usability.

If you talk (or have talked) to any Apple apologist, attention to detail is a concept you’ll definitely be schooled at. iOS is everything in the other direction:

• When you’re not typing in capitals, the keyboard still shows you capital letters
• Calendar is an auto-updating icon but Clock & Weather are not (it’s always 10:15 & 73deg in Apple-land. Always.) Attention to detail, my ass

iOS is a mediocre OS but a better platform compared to WP8

A few days ago I realized that I use more Google services on my iOS phone than Apple services. To name a few that I use every few minutes:

• Chrome
• Maps
• Currents
• YouTube
• Gmail
• Search

Now, none of these are services that I can’t move on from. I am not “tied” to Google, if there was a better alternative to any of the services above I can easily switch. (I hardly use Gmail.) Google simply offers a better experience at all these. When Apple replaced Google Maps with a product that was 10 times worse, iOS users realized how reliant they are on Google services. Since all these services are available on Android, and my data can be moved by simply singing in with my Google id, switching to Android is a seamless process.

Why would one move to WP8 when:

• I have most of the third-party iOS apps on Android
• I have access to all my data by simply signing into Google
• WP8 has no Google love and has sub-par alternatives

It’s simply a pain to switch to a new platform. Google and Android have eliminated a major barrier if people want to switch. And if they don’t switch to Android, Google is still a leading a app/service provider on iOS. They win either way. Microsoft does not have any can’t-live-without product on the iOS that would make one consider WP8 to switch.

Microsoft has given iOS users no tangible benefit to switch.

This brings me to apps, and usability. Over the past few weeks I’ve realized that I can live without Instagram and Path. They’re popular apps but add little value to me besides being able to post across platforms. Those with existing communities on both have a reason to stay, but for a light user, the absence of these apps is not a deal breaker. The absence of these apps coupled with factors like a bulky phone and the presence of mediocre alternatives to daily used services–that’s a deal breaker. (HERE Maps+HERE Transit offer nothing over Google Maps that everyone is used to. And they’re slow, give poor routes in some cases I’ve tested.)

Google isn’t releasing apps for WP8 for two reasons:

1. There aren’t enough users, if there were, like in iOS’s case, Google would
2. If they release apps, regular Google users can switch to WP8 sans the migration barrier, Google doesn’t want that. They want people to switch to Android from iOS

Google’s Android has become like Windows of the 1990s:

• can be customized by OEMs
• has all the apps people want
• offers services that people use daily

Windows Phone 8 is none of the above. I see no reason to tell someone to move to WP8. Microsoft hasn’t been able to figure out which division WP8 is a part of. For a regular user, today the right mix of devices is:

• Phone: An Android flagship device (Nexus 4/Galaxy)
• Tablet: iPad Mini
• Laptop/Ultrabook: A Windows 8 device

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Android Is The New Windows

ob·liv·i·on

1. The state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening.
2. The state of being forgotten, esp. by the public.

Concentrating on the first meaning of the word, let’s talk about Microsoft’s mobile phone strategy. Microsoft has 2 major resets in their mobile struggle so far:

1. Windows Phone 7
2. Windows Phone 8

For Microsoft, both these resets showed some promise, WP7 more than 8, but MSFT hasn’t done anything to prove they are serious. Apple & Google have been in the consumer smartphone business for time lesser than MSFT and have a decisive lead over the company. Microsoft’ excuse that Apple & Google benefit from launching a competent smartphone OS before MSFT has run its course. Apple & Google have had the advantage of maturing their platform and concentrating on features that make the phone a part of our lives in a way that the phones make our lives convenient; this has left MSFT irrelevant in the rat race.

It’s no more about apps.

Apple is working on Siri, a NUI that makes accessing information that I need convenient while Google has been working on Google Now that makes anyone’s life convenient and does what technology is actually meant to do. Microsoft has nothing in its feature-list that competes with these two smartphone capabilities. Personally, I believe Siri is useless, but Apple can build on it. MSFT has done nothing with TellMe in WP8 that makes the phone a part of my life beyond being a dumb computer in my pocket. Google Now is a feature that eliminates effort I have to make and it does what I would like technology to do for me–give me information that is relevant to my everyday life.

The bigger problem with Microsoft is that while Apple & Google are perfecting Siri & Now, MSFT is busy figuring out whether Windows Phone is part of Windows or stand by itself, what core code it uses and who owns it. By the time MSFT figures this out, it’ll be too late to be relevant for at least a few years.

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Microsoft’s Continued State of Mobile Oblivion

In the past I’ve called the living room TV as the next PC, and that Microsoft is already a leader with the Xbox. Both while true, compared to services like the Apple TV, Google TV, Roku, Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft has a self-imposed barrier for its users–Xbox LIVE subscription.

Some might say I’m being cheap by not paying $8 a month (or $4 if you get the 1-year subscription cards on Amazon), the fact remains, none of the products I listed above have this additional cost. Xbox LIVE Gold subscription is nothing but an unavoidable recurring expense. What makes Xbox LIVE Gold so outrageously absurd is that it is a necessity to use services like Netflix (another $8/month) or Hulu. Or even using IE. Sony’s PSN is free and I pay for services I want to use. I’m not being forced to pay a service to use other services that I’ll have to pay for. Kinect is probably the only reason why one might consider the Xbox over PS3 (the rest are ecosystem compromises). As far as Xbox’s cross-device capabilities are concerned, I’m not that excited. I want Justin Timberlake’s latest single and it’s not there–Xbox Music is useless to me if it can’t come through when I need it. It might work for you which is fine but that’s not the point–it doesn’t work for everyone. (Having the song in their catalog caters to a wider audience than not having it.)

Microsoft’s Xbox division has been profitable and I would like to believe that Xbox LIVE has a huge roll to play in it. Unfortunately for Microsoft when a device/platform/ecosystem agnostic everyday user says they don’t want the Xbox simply because of this barrier, Microsoft needs to reevaluate their strategy. Xbox is not just a game console anymore, the device’s USP is that it’s an entertainment device for the living room–a must-have device if you have a television. It’s time Microsoft remove the subscription for playing games online.

Microsoft’s subsidized Xbox 360 was a great step in this direction.

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Xbox LIVE Gold: Microsoft’s Barrier To Living Room Dominance

Let’s face it, no matter what smartphone or super smartphone you get, you’re limited by battery more than anything else. The phones have come a long way with iPhone 5, Lumia 920 lasting at least the best part of a day, with Wi-Fi, 4G, streaming, 10-11 hours of the battery-life is reasonable and the best case scenario.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone came out with a Battery Saver feature that would turn off background processes, email checks, location services, etc. once the battery reaches 20%. It’s effective. There are times when I simply turn it ON when I know I won’t have access to a charger for  more than 10 hours. It works. But that’s a very straightforward implementation, these are smartphones we’re talking about. They should be smarter than a simple 20% if/else. The engineers at Microsoft seem to be working on something that is. Every user has different use-patterns; I, for example, keep my data plan OFF most of the time, saves me battery & makes sure I don’t exceed 200MB in a month. The patent filing reveals an basic flowchart of tracking use-patterns and use this data to preserve device battery.

According to a patent, Microsoft wants to track when phones are charged and how often certain tasks are performed. A simple implementation described in the patent is that the phone will suspend sync operations depending on parameters like:

• whether the phone can continue operation till next charge (this means the phone tracks the time when a person usually charges his phone, it could also track location such as home/office)
• whether the phone will have better signal soon (location)

These are simple parameters since they’re pretty obvious in thought.

According to the patent this adaptive process can have significant impact of battery. Here’s a chart without the implementation:

Here’s one with:

PS: This feature’s usefulness extends to tablets too.

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Microsoft Patent Reveals User Behavior Based Battery Saving