At Geehall One

All things relating to @geehall1 social media/projects

You Want Collapsible Threads With Your Buzz?

Android 1.5 and 1.6 users now have a bonus.

As of the Valentine's Day weekend, they can now access Google Buzz's mobile site.

When Buzz first came out, only iPhone and Android 2.0 users were able to access it via their mobile browsers.  Unfortunately, that shut out over 70% of the Android user base.

Now, the previous two versions can also access the mobile Buzz experience and even those on full-sized computer browsers.  The https://m.google.com/app/buzz site allows unsupported browsers.  However, if you want to cut one part out of the process to make it a tad quicker, there's the force option which goes straight to Buzz without worrying if it's a supported browser or not.

However, I've found Firefox seems to have a small problem with this site, not showing all the interface and sometimes locking to the following/nearby screen.  On Chrome and Safari, the whole interface is running nicely.

There are a couple of other small drawbacks to the mobile Buzz experience.  In Gmail Buzz, you can click on a timestamp in any Buzz and get a permalink URL which can be added to a new Buzz and made part of a ReBuzz.  On the mobile Buzz, you can't do anything with timestamps.

One good thing about using the mobile Buzz site on your normal computer is that you can collapse threads.  Mobile Buzz also seems to be a bit faster than the Gmail version.

Google seems to be responding fairly quickly to the feedback from the early adopters after the first half week, so there's bound to be a few more improvements in coming days.

Anyway, I've made Mobile Buzz my main way of accessing Buzz, only going back to Gmail if I really need one of the features the mobile version doesn't have, like the timestamps URLs.

I'm buzzing along nicely.

The Reaction to Buzz...

Have you tried out Google Buzz yet?

I can know Darren Rowse has, after seeing his Buzzes this afternoon.

I also know Ange Recchia has, since she popped into Buzz today too.

I even had a look at the 'Nearby' tab in the mobile version this afternoon and was surprised to see there's a few in the inner suburbs of Melbourne already getting some practice at it.

Interestingly, though, I didn't recognize these people as Twitter regulars.  Then again, you don't always know people's names from quick glances of Twitter nicks.

I'm intrigued to know what people are using Buzz in its first few days and who's not.

Apart from a handful of people among my regular Twitter friends, there doesn't seem to be too big a buzz in local Twitter for it as yet.  Perhaps that's because Buzz is technically a competitor to Twitter.  Contrasted to that are the people I know from Friendfeed who are enjoying the similarities to their old service.

So let's here some feedback on what the average Twitter user thinks of Buzz.

And yes, I'll be quite happy to hear any "buzz" joke you can think of.

Filed under  //

Comments [2]

Buzz...Wave Lite?

The first day using Google Buzz shows it's everything we would like Wave to be.

It's fast, for one thing.

As yet, I'm still waiting for my Gmail account to be connected to Buzz and about the only practice I'm getting on it is through the mobile version. Even so, I'm liking what I see.

When the Gmail connection is live, I'll be able to take a better look at what it's like for sharing pictures and/or video.  In the meantime, I'm already noting how Mashable is already using Buzz to give updates on their articles.  They're already doing something constructive with it there.

So far it's been good to join some conversations with Google Reader contacts and in this regard, it's much like Friendfeed, a service I'm still active on.  So if I've picked up Friendfeed pretty well, the learning curve for Buzz will be quite minimal.

Google profile is where I'm seeing my updates the best, with Buzz threads showing up currently as messages containing one thread, as opposed to one small message.  As I'm still waiting for the full connection on any other computer, there's a limit to how much I can describe, although the mobile Buzz web app is a good start.

The mobile interface is very effective, but it took a few minutes to work out I had to click on the thread-starter's profile to be able to add a coment or a like.

As you first login to the mobile version of Buzz, a small popup tells you how to turn it into a mobile bookmark on your iPhone's homescreen.  From there you can read through your contacts' buzzes or you can check who's updated nearby.

It's only the first day of Buzz yet, but it's off to a good start as far as I'm concerned.

As a "Wave Lite," Buzz works.

Filed under  //

Comments [0]