~ One Plus One: Black screen of death ~

Until last night I had only heard & experienced blue screen of death, the famous fatal error on your Windows OS. It all changed when my 3 month old OnePlus One went completely dark. Double tapping or pressing the power button didn't wakeup the display nor the glow on softkeys. However, the notification light was glowing & the phone had about 65% battery. 

My wife noticed that something was wrong w/ my phone and when I explained what had happened, she taunted me saying that's why I never want to own a Chinese smartphone. 3 weeks ago she had told me about her colleague's experience, who switched from iPhone to One+, had similar issues. She got the issue resolved by visiting One+ Support Centre. Never found what the problem was with her device, am guessing mine was similar. The last thing I wanted to do find & visit the support centre. All this at 1am IST & didn't have energy to google on the issue.

Woke up today morning and the first thing I did was lookup "Black screen of death one plus one", lo and behold what do I see? I wasn't the first one to have experienced this. Many of them had already experienced & I knew there would be DIY solution.

Went through the official forums and was able to resolve the issue. Here are the steps:

1. Press both the power and volume up buttons for about 10 seconds. The phone will reboot and entered the "Fastboot" mode. Did wait for few mins thinking it will reboot, but didn't.
2. Next press both the power and volume low buttons for about 10 seconds. This time the phone rebooted in the standard boot cycle and started fine.

Not sure of the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) for this one. The last action I had performed yesterday before the phone slipping into the blank screen, was using the camera. Additional reading on the forums for similar issue didn't find yield any commonality. The use-case is diverse:

1. Just after a ending an voice call
2. While browsing
3. When the battery was very low < 9%
4. Processor strategy value
5. In my case, I had used the camera app without any issue

As you notice, there is common pattern which could cause the issue. Nor is there an official communication from OPO on the site.

@oneplus Experiencing black screen of death with my OnePlus. Any idea how to resolve it?
— Vivëk Köndür (@vevck) March 6, 2015

~ In the end, GTD is what matters ~

Phil Schiller, during the keynote, might have said that “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”. But we all know some of the features showcased in the keynote of iOS7 is already available on Android or other mobile platforms. The feature lists offered by the operating systems - Android, iOS, Windows - overlap and with each iteration they are getting blurred across the product. Only thing we are witnessing is the new found love for *flat* UX from every major software company - Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, Pintrest.

We have to come to terms, that like any other product the smartphones or their OS, have reached a saturation point. I feel with iOS7, Apple might not have invented anything new, but refined the UX with Ivey touch. In design lingo, people have been using the term *Transluency* for describing the new interface.

I wouldn't go into comparison of the feature set with Android or Windows, as we already have many sites or blogs which have spun out that info in the last 8 hours {Check the additional reading section}. Nor I am qualified enough to comment on the design aesthetics of iOS7. Om has a good collection of tweets & thoughts from the design community, with both sides of the coin covered - iOS 7: Love it? Hate it? Either way, designers are talking about it.

The soldiers from the Android army state that the iOS7 features are strikingly similar to that of current Android version. While the Windows Users state that iOS7 has taken a leaf out of Windows UX. In the end, a product or a service is just a means of GTD easily. We might like different products or services based on our allegiance to a design or company or brand or experience. For me the following criteria play a role in choosing a product / service - Cost, Features, Ease of use / Simplicity, Design - software & hardware, How often they iterate their software / hardware, Quality Support. Fanatics can take a break & watch the competition deliver better products or service for Consumers :)

Loved the latest campaign by Apple.

Additional reading

Design & Insecurity is back at Apple {Techcrunch} | iOS 7 gallery {Arstechnica} | Early screenshots {Techcrunch} | iOS7 Beta high resolution screens | Finally, Apple steps up to Android with the futuristic, ambitious iOS7 {NBC} | iOS7 vs Android comparison {Droid Life} | iOS7 vs Android comparison {Phandroid} | CNet review of iOS7 | Much iOS 7 design inspiration came from others but Apple elegantly puts it all together {GigaOM} | The design of iOS 7: simply confusing {The Verge} | ‘This Is Our Signature’: iOS 7 {Gruber}

~ Android & OEMs ~

Is HTC suffering from the onslaught of cheap Android phones? Are Android OEMs having the same fate to that of PC OEMs? Yes for both the questions.

Two recent articles which highlight the problems HTC is facing - The Verge 

The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One.

It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession — most recently Jason Gordon, the company's vice president of global communications. Other fresh departures include global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, director of digital marketing John Starkweather, and product strategy manager Eric Lin.

While Om Malik writes about how both, Apple & Samung have the upper hand in integrating Supply Chain in the manufacturing process.

Apple has used all the billions in the bank to lock up supplies for processors, memory chips, radios, displays and other such components at favorable prices. It has worked out long term manufacturing arrangements with the likes of Foxconn. It has its own retail outlets. While most of us try and focus on Apple’s hardware and software integration, we forget that it is software, hardware and supply chain integration that allows the company to sell 37.5 million phones in the most recent quarter. It allows the company to make phones that meet the needs of different carriers.

Samsung too is an integration beast. It owns memory chip plants. It makes its own processors. It makes displays and it owns the factories. It has the unique ability to churn out new products faster than anyone else in the consumer electronics business and thus overwhelm the market with dozens of models. Just look at the many flavors on its latest Samsung S4 device and you start to see that this is a game only for big boys.

Supply Chain Integration could be a very key factor for a Global player. However in India, which is one of the fastest growing smartphone market, has seen the rise of 2 companies - Karbon & Micromax - that offer low lost Android Smartphones. Micromax sources China for their production, like any other OEM to reduce production costs. The product features & functionality match that of Samsung. The exterior build quality looks same in both cases, PLASTICY. One can own a Micromax phone with S2 features for about 15000 INR which is 30% lesser compared to Samsung's device. The devices offered by Mircomax/Karbon might be cheap imitations of the South Korean giant, but they are selling like hot cakes in India.

If Samsung wants to retain it's growth & share in the Indian Android market then it needs to take cognizance of these companies & have a strategy. While Apple has always been late in introducing products in the Indian market. Micromax has outpaced & outsold both Apple & Samsung which is gearing up to touch the $1 Billion mark.

Additional reading: Pretty profitable parrots | First Mover or Fast Follower?

~ Talking Shoes ~

If you thought only Nike could connect with Apple iPod. Adidas & Google have come with a Talking Shoe. Am not sure if there is a market for talking shoes. 

Looks like everyone is thinking about integrating some kind of  computing with clothing these days. Sounds a bit extreme for me. While Google has advertising on its minds! Wasn't that obvious :P

Via FastCompany

You might also be interested in Next Gen Devices

~ Zeitgeist 2012 ~

Google today revealed their annual Zeitgeist report for 2012. Year on year, as Internet become more accessible to the masses, we see a growth in the number of searches for various things. The numbers are mind boggling - 1.2 trillion searches across 146 languages. 

Considering the 3Q12 of IDC report, we see the burst of Android devices across the world, would have given Google Search more traffic.

Chart: Worldwide Smartphone OS Market Share, 2012Q3

However, the Google Zeitgeist report doesn't share the % of searches originating from various devices or Operating Systems. Am sure that people searching on their smart phones is increasing every passing day. One of the main motivation for Google to keep Android Open-Source, is to push their Search algorithm into mobile devices.

Here are few top 10 searches across people, places, movies in India. Looking at the type of searches made by people, no wonder that the entertainment business makes movies for the masses ;)

To see the worldwide zeitgeist go here. You can view the report as PDF here.

You can also read 'The crucible of Phone market'

~ Remix for better ~

If you haven't watched the series called Everything is a Remix or Steal like an Artist, then you should be doing it right now.


There is no point in boiling an ocean or re-inventing a wheel. You build upon something which already exists to make it even better. That's the power of ideas. 


What triggered me to write this post was the simple UX flow of the ever growing mobile OS - Android. Android so far in its latest iteration i.e. ICS has evolved & has much better UX than the previous versions (Note: Am referring to Stock Android devices). But, even the stock UX doesn't come close to what Sharp AQUOS has to offer. I'm taken by the simplicity & minimal event triggers across various actions.

OEMs (Samsung, Sony, HTC, Motorola) who patch a layer of SHIT over stock Android should be watching this video to learn more about UX, Design & Minimalism. Above all, Google should be paying more attention to this video.

You should ONLY remix original if you can offer something better. Else don't remix.




The power of being open - where you have the option to create / improvise, something better than the original. Unlike WALLED gardened products or approach.

More about Sharp AQUOS

Via @Cotton