I really thought we would be in a position, in 2012, where mobile operating systems would be able to offer a full Web experience but we’re not. My recent experiences with Google Plus drove me to dig out an UMPC.

Google Plus is becoming a business-critical application for many. Blogger, marketeers, brands and bands are all jostling for position. Millions are enjoying new online relationships and a huge amount of interactivity through photos, live video and circles but what happens when you’re mobile? The Android and IOS based solutions are really poor which is surprising considering Google should be creating products for its own operating systems.

Things you can’t do on Google Plus mobile (correct me if I’m wrong)

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As a mark of respect to my readers that live in the public web domain (i.e. are not in Google Plus yet) and trust that I write openly for the internet, I’ve decided to refrain from using Google Plus until it becomes a public service. Yes, you can read my public postings but you can’t read my ‘restricted’ postings and that’s not what I intend to do as a blogger, connector and communicator.

It came to me yesterday when I was talking to a local friend and respected mobile video journalist. I started talking about Google Plus and my friend just couldn’t relate. Then, this morning I followed a process that is becoming common as I wake up in the mornings. Twitter (groups), Reader, Email and now, Plus. I was faced with a lot of noise and a feeling of unrest as I saw Google Plus ‘exclusives’ from Robert Scoble and others. There’s a little too much social media jostling in there for my liking and not enough of the general public so for the time being, I’m out.

I look forward to the day when it’s public (rumors point to end of July) and I suggest you try and get in as soon as possible to check it out. It’s interactive and very interesting on the Android platform.

And so, back to my normal service over at UMPCPortal, Carrypad, Ultrabooknews, MeegoNews, MeetMobility, Solar-UMPC, Twitter, Flickr and…oh just read this.

I’ve been spending a lot of time, probably too much time, testing the first iteration of Google Plus and I’m fairly certain where I think it will take root. Google Plus will be the social network of the mobile world.

Given a few changes that I’m sure will surface soon (bi-directional connectors to Facebook and Twitter for example) I predict that this tool is likely to end up baked into the Android phone and tablet operating system soon and will therefore make Android the first mobile product to have a complete, single-vendor toolset for the most popular internet based mobile activities.

Gtalk +video (Instant messaging)
Gmail (Mail)
Plus (Social networking)
Reader (RSS)
Maps (Location search and Navigation)
Documents (Basic office doc creation and storage)
Google Print (print from mobile)
Latitude (Location tracking)
Picasa (Instant Image storage)
YouTube (Instant video storage)
Blogger (Blog creation)
Search
News and Weather
Payments
Voice and SMS

A few I missed (Thanks Beantin, comments)

Contacts
Calendar
Tasks

Of course you’ll have to endure the advertising but that doesn’t seem to worry too many people and with the location component of Plus giving Google important data, could get better, especially if they introduce ‘interest’ circles.

There isn’t another operating system out there, either on desktop or mobile, that can offer this.

Android is currently being activated by 500,000 accounts per day. That’s a huge number of potential Plus users even if Android doesn’t get any more popular.

Google Plus is already the best mobile social network in my opinion but with the addition of the rest of the toolkit, will there be any need to install 3rd party solutions at all?

Thoughts on improving Plus: http://hiblue.carrypad.com/2011/07/03/ideas-for-google-plus/

Posted, possibly while reclining, with the Galaxy Tab 7

Plus is great technology but we’ll have to see how it gets adopted. If it can create enough momentum until it gets baked into the next Android phone OS and receives 500.000 users per day then it’s won but until then, there’s work to do.
Personally I think the success purely rests on how it performs in the mobile space.

Things I would like to see on the mobile client:

Collapsed view on Stream. Two posts per page isn’t enough for scanning. I’m using an Android 2.x tablet. it must be even worse on small android screens.

Timeline view. Turn off re-ordering so you can catch-up more easily. I believe Google will change the way popular posts rise to the surface but that’s not the same as a timeline view.

Circles muting. I can creative circles that allow me to chat with, say, people in Germany or people that like talking about food but I can’t listen to those topics specifically yet. I want to mute circles sometimes or just view one circles at other times. It would reduce noise for certain circumstances. An alternative is a layer of topic keywords and circles.
Note, you can watch the stream from a specific circle but unless you manually creative and manage super-circles, its not possible to combine circles. Left and right swipe on main stream in mobile client could easily achieve this.

I want to import my contact groups in Gmail as circles.

A Picasa client would be nice for tagging, organising and even basic editing of photos and videos.

Plus needs a version for big screens.

I would like to be able to mute people but not block them. Blocking in Plus means they can’t hear you!

I would like to tag myself with keywords and I would like Google to present me the tags from others as circles. E.g. I want to see auto-circles based on my contacts tags. Gives me an better idea of what interests people.

On tagging posts. I realise that it could make things complex but have separate circles of keywords, e.g. photography, could be useful. if you tag a post with ‘photography’ it could auto-create a circle of friends that have also used that keyword.

I want auto-uploaded videos to be available in YouTube if I wish.

There are some good opportunities for better widgets.

I want an rss feed of my plus posts.

The api needs to come soon. Devs are chomping at the bit!

I want my to see posts that I make as ‘+1’,  appear in reader.

I want to be able to force-email non-plus users. Maybe there’s something I need to say to my family that’s easier to do through a circle on Plus rather than creating a mail-to list. None of my family are likely to get into Plus very quickly so email remains the lowest common denominator. Of course, this would massively drive adoption like it did introducing people from the desktop client in the first few days of Google Plus.

I would like this post to auto-post to Plus!

Now, where should we discuss this. Here, Plus or Twitter, where it will appear automatically.

I write a lot about connected cameras. I’m a huge fan of being able to share the moment and I’m generally writing about cameraphones because ‘real’ cameras haven’t caught up yet. They will soon though. I wonder if they will be running Android.

Over the last 6 years my phone choice has been largely influenced by the camera on it and of the phones I’ve had, only the Nokia ones have stood the test of time.

That might change soon though because the new Google Plus service raises the bar for sharing on a cameraphone.

The Instant Upload service automatically sends every photo and video taken to Picasa where it can be tagged, modified and shared, from any web browser on any device. The Google Plus application for Android exposes these images too which means its easier than ever to make them public or to share them with pre-defined groups (circles) of people. Only a Picasa app for tagging, sorting, slideshow and basic editing would make this better.

Having tested Instant Upload with photos and a video today I’m finding it powerful. So powerful that I want my next cameraphone to run Android. I’ve tried this before with the Onnia pro and Experia X10 so I’ll be treading carefully, especially as the Nokia N9 is coming!