Facebook announced “Home” today. I’m not going to go into too many details, you can read a lot of reviews about it elsewhere. It replaces your launcher and your home screen to focus on Facebook content and messaging.

A few thoughts and questions I haven’t been able to find the answers to yet:

• Because Facebook takes over the home screen and launcher, that means no more widgets on the homescreen. Hm. Wonder if heavy android users will cry about that considering how much grief iOS is given over that.
• There is no camera shortcut from the home screen. Android and iOS phones have a swipe to open the camera from the lock screen for when you really want to take a picture quickly. Strange that Facebook – which is photo sharing focused – didn’t think about this. In “Home” you have to push a button to unlock, open apps, find the camera app in your app dock and then open it. Yikes.
• What happens if you buy the “facebook phone” The HTC First and uninstall the Facebook launcher. Is it running stock Android under there? That would be a nice $99 Nexus stock android device…
• Why isnt Facebook Home software compatible with the Nexus line? According to Facebook it will only work on new devices, specifically: he Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, HTC One, HTC One X, and HTC One X+. Presumably because they run the latest version of Android. So why is the Nexus not on that list?

The Apple rumor sites are buzzing about whether or not the new iPhone will have an NFC chip. For those who don’t know NFC chips are similar to RFID. They allow you to transfer data wirelessly when your phone is very close to another device, often so close you have to tap the phone to the reader physically.

Some Google Android phones have this technology, and Google uses it for their Google Wallet to allow mobile payments. Samsung phone allow you to swap information with other Samsung owners such as photos, apps, etc.

I firmly believe Apple will not be putting NFC on their phones. I used to have high hopes that they would do this, if only to encourage adoption and thus encourage stores to provide the technology. Then I wouldn’t have to lug my wallet around all the time. Let me explain my rationale for why they won’t.

1. Passbook doesn’t use NFC.

Apple has already shown off its mobile wallet technology when they previewed iOS 6 earlier this year. Their passbook software does not use NFC technology. Instead it uses QR codes and visual scanner graphics to transfer information. This allows legacy devices like the iPhone 4 and 4S to use passbook, not just early adopters.

2. Apple has been quietly including Bluetooth 4.0 technology in their devices without using it. The iPhone 4S has a bluetooth 4.0 chip. The new iPad (iPad 3) has a bluetooth 4 chip. But these devices don’t do anything new with the technology that isn’t able to be done using older Bluetooh chips available in older legacy iOS devices.

As we know, Apple does not just include cutting edge tech without a purpose (see: Blu-Ray). I believe they will use Bluetooth 4.0 for data transfers before they ever use NFC.

3. Evidence of Bluetooth use.

Rumor sites are leaking that Apple is going to introduce a way to AirPlay across devices without the use of Wi-Fi. Instead they will use BT 4.0. I think this is part of a larger strategy to utilize the technology they’ve been including to adapt older features, which could connect points 1 and 2 above.

Google just had their developer conference this past week. They announced their new flagship tablet device the Nexus 7 which was pretty compelling. Less compelling, was the Nexus Q a kind of cloud based Apple TV competitor.

The two things I found most significant but possibly overlooked were Google Now and the PDK.

When companies like Google and Apple release an operating system, they also expect independent software developers to create software for these devices. In order to help these developers create great software, they release an SDK, or software development kit. This helps them create compatible software that runs smoothly and uses all the latest features of the OS.

One of the biggest complaints about Android is how when a consumer buys a device that isn’t an official Google supported device (one of the Nexus line) say from HTC, LG or Motorola, often the big software OS updates are very very slow to come. Google is trying to get around this by release a new PDK – platform developer kit. The hope is that by release the OS drivers and software to the hardware manufacturers early and in a neat package like this, updates will come to these third party hardware devices sooner.

Second was something consumers will notice more directly. Google introduce a new features with their 4.1 Jelly Bean OS update – Google Now. First, the introduction video from the conference:

and a consumer directed “what is Google Now” video:

This takes the idea of making your phone your personal digital assistant to another level. Instead of focusing on direct queries, the software now pays attention to what you normally do and tries to anticipate your needs and address them. It watches teams you care about and keeps you updated on scores and standings. It notices your daily commute and tries to warn you to take different routes if there is an accident – before you even ask. Really really neat stuff. Apple should emulate and integrate features like this into iOS through siri and the notifications tray.

Ran across this article that suggests Google is trying to rush its Google Glass project a bit. They want devices to test by August, and have submitted a “device” to the FCC for approval.

Google‘s been busy testing out some neat new gadgets that we all should know by know called Project Glass. These augmented reality type glasses allow users to do all sorts of fun things. This week it’s been tipped directly from the FCC that not only is Google severely ramping up their testing, but they could be trying to get at least one version of Google Glass to pass the FCC by August of this year, not 2013.

The part that caught my eyes is this:

Either that or Google has a completely different “personal communication device” they’ve just sent to the FCC for clearance as soon as August. This wouldn’t be a tablet or anything as 722 units is way too low, and it doesn’t have cell service listed along with the WiFi and Bluetooth parts.

So, it doesn’t have cell data. That would make the glasses useless out and about in the world where there isn’t WiFi coverage. Unless, the glasses used the cell phone in your pocket as a data connection, and paired with the phone via Bluetooth! Nice! Way to save me a second data bill, Google!

Now, here’s the evil part. What if Google makes this an Android only accessory? Like, you need an Android device to pair the Goggles to- they won’t work with Windows or iOS devices… Of course, this is all conjecture. And hopefully instead of Bluetooth, you could use a MiFi feature on your phone to share via WiFi.

But, if they did make it Android only, say to make sure all their services “integrate properly”, would this be incentive enough to make the leap from iOS to Android?

Monday Apple is going to host their annual Worldwide Developer Conference. As they have done in the past, the first presentation is open to the press and is used to showcase upcoming products and updates.

I have fun doing predictions before these things so here are my thoughts.

New Mac Pros – 100%

But no one really cares.

Retina Macs – 40%

This is a really popular rumor right now, but I just don’t see it happening. Those screens are super expensive.

Bigger MacBook Airs – 60%

It would make sense. I think they might launch a 15 inch model, but still offer the normal 15 MacBook Pro still. People need more than 256 GB of storage that is not upgradable.

iPhone 5 – 25%

I’ma bit torn here. I don’t think they will sell the phone now, instead waiting for Oct which is their new release schedule for the iPhone. I do believe Apple needs to make their screen bigger. And you could argue that they need to give developers time to code for the bigger screen. However, when they launched the iPhone 4 with its retina screen, they didn’t give developers a bunch of any time. It launched, developers updated and rolled out their updates overtime. Same thing will happen.

Siri – 90%

Some sort of Siri update will happen. Whether this means just expanding to iPads or adding APIs so you can use Siri with other apps (though I’m leaning to the latter) I’m not sold on, bust some kind of update to their “beta” software.

iOS 6 – 100%

This is definitely happening. Its the reason for the conference! What will be involved? The Music store and App store are going to combined into “iTunes”, the Maps app is going to drop Google. And Siri will get APIs for use with all your apps.

Apple TV – 49%

This is also everyone’s favorite hopeful rumor. I just think its a hair too soon. I discount a physical TV even more, but could see apps coming to the current apple tv, with AirPlay controls. However, I’m leaning just barely more to not happening than happening.

I had the chance to try out Windows Phone a few weeks ago. I came away very pleasantly surprised. It is elegant and simple without feeling like it is lacking any features. In fact, many features that require apps on other platforms are built into the OS on Windows Phone. This leads to a nice speed advantage at certain tasks, namely social sharing features.

However, there is one feature that kept me from making the switch (reverse switch?) from Apple to Microsoft. Notifications are terrible on Windows Phone. Notifications happen in two ways. First, is through the Live Tiles that are the face of Windows Phone. The home screen on Windows Phone is a series of squares and rectangles that you get to customize. Kind of like Widgets on Android,they can show updated information like weather or mail notifications. Some apps, will show updates on the tile. One could imagine a Twitter app that shows a number for new @ replies or DMs. The second type of notification is a bar that comes down from the top, in an identical manner to iOS if something happens. For example, if someone posts on your Facebook wall a pop down appears for about 10 seconds saying “Joe Smith posted on your Wall”. You could click this banner and get taken to the post in the Facebook App.

The problem is that Windows Phone doesn’t store old notifications. In iOS, if you miss that banner, you can just pull down from the top and see a list of your missed notifications. You cannot do this in Windows Phone. If you miss a notification, it simply disappears into the ether! Did you win that item you were bidding on in eBay? Did you get pinged about a new job on LinkedIn? Hope you open the app in the near future bc if you miss the notification you have no idea.

I suppose Microsoft’s solution is that you add a Live Tile and get the tile to update you next time you look at your phone. But if I think about all the things that notify me on my iPhone – news apps, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Skype, eBay, ESPN – I don’t want ALL of these tiles to be on the Home Screen. It kind of defeats the purpose.

Even the original iPhone system of notifications, where you got a pop up that you had to act on – dismiss/ok/open/whatever – at least notified you that something was going on. That should be the chief concern of a notification system in an OS. I have it set to notify me because I want to see this when something happens the next time I look at my phone. Windows Phone flat out fails at this. It is the most glaring example of what separates the otherwise fantastic OS from its competition.

I’m a big fan of Apple’s mobile operating system. I think largely it is successful because of its ease of use and visual polish. There are some features which is is missing that other competitors have, but I think the platform allows these to be easily implemented by third parties, so it tends to not be a big fault.

However, there is one area where iOS is severely behind the competition and it should be addressed in the next update.

Apple needs to revamp it’s Maps app.

The Maps app has gone largely unchanged since the phone launched. When the iPhone debuted, Android was not out yet, and Google was the obvious partner with their superior Maps product. However, since Android has become Apple’s chief competitor in the mobile space, one can’t help but feel the Maps app on iOS has been neglected as a result.

Above all, Apple needs a turn by turn voice guided navigation feature. Google’s phone has done this since Android 2.0. Windows Phone now has a turn by turn function built into it’s Bing Maps app. This is a major differential selling point for these other phones. See Samsung’s latest ad – a campaign I tend to snicker at as smelling of jealousy but on this point I think they are spot on.

Note how they mention “it just comes with it” as opposed to Apple where you have to buy an app for another $40 on top of your new phone.

Second, Google’s maps on their Android platform has added features that make Apple look silly by comparison, such as indoor maps of airports and malls. (Again, Windows Phone does this too, something that really should make Apple ashamed considering how young WinPhone is)

Worse, Apple’s lacking of updating their maps shows how reliant they are on Google. Google has little incentive to update a competitor’s maps app, it would take away a great selling point.

Therefore, Apple needs to come out with their own Maps app. There are hints they might be working on this. They acquired a 3D mapping software company. There was a small controversy when it was discovered your iPhone was keeping track of your location – and theories Apple might be collecting this data for mapping purposes.

Hopefully this is the big new feature of iOS 6. Apple needs to stay innovative in the face of a (potentially negative) constantly updating Android platform. This is the weakest part of the iOS platform currently.