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* Posts by Tim Cook

117 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Jan 2008

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Apple iPhone 3G

Tim Cook
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@ MMS, FFS

I think your post sums something up - you're boasting about the fact that O2 send Iphone users a link to any MMS picture they've received, which of course you can look at with your uber-advanced browser and connectivity etc - and yet you're seemingly oblivious to the fact that this isn't some kind of special Iphone feature, but a standard, ancient Network means of dealing with deficient, older, non-MMS capable handsets. I remember when I had my old T68i with a 256-colour screen back in 2002, even though that phone *did* have MMS built in, due to a SIM problem the network would still send me those links, and I could load them up in the T68i's crappy WAP browser quite happily. How advanced are you Iphone owners feeling now?

MMS is imperfect, and nobody uses it everyday, but it's still the only way to send an instant picture message to any mobile phone, and a basic expectation of any mobile phone in 2008, or 2002 for that matter. Email is not a replacement for MMS in any form whatsoever, it fulfills a different function altogether.

That the Iphone doesn't fully support MMS natively is laughable, though not as laughable as the fact we're all still having to point this out a year after the first phone was released (and its fans then said "it's only software, it's coming soon...")

Incidentally, to the poster defending Apple over the problems incorporating copy and paste into the Iphone's interface, um - maybe that's something they could have considered when designing the interface in the first place? Like it or not, it's something that many users consider essential to any user interface, and which the supposedly "complicated" competing OS's do with admirable simplicity and ease.

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Tim Cook
Stop

@jai

Memory cards are a thing of the past? Somebody better tell Sandisk!

Seriously, that's a ridiculous and baseless thing to say, built in memory (like the Iphone) is fine, but exchangeable memory is useful too, it opens up the possibility of limitless storage, and can extend the useful life of a device too. I bought a 4GB card for my Tytn II back in October, I could upgrade it to 8GB now for £30 - try doubling the memory in your Iphone next year.

As for MMS, as everyone else here with a life has pointed out, if you know people who aren't set up with constant email access on their phone (wife/kids/friends/normal people) then of course it's something you need, or at least want. Picture messaging is a standard mobile feature, just like SMS and that talking thing people sometimes do, and not having it would be a constant irritation to many people.

Video calling - meh, fair do's, nobody uses it, it was a terrible idea in the 60's and it still is now.

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The Top Ten 3G iPhone beaters

Tim Cook

Frustrating

A few people are claiming that while individual handsets ape various Iphone features, none of them combine them all. Just for the record, that's complete bunkum - the Tytn II in my pocket (mystifyingly ommitted from this list) does everything the latest Iphone does, despite being a year older. Broadband speed data? GPS? Youtube? Been there, done that.

If you really want the best of everything, an open WM device like the Tytn II (or one of this year's improved VGA models like the Touch Diamond or Touch Pro) will always have the advantage over a closed model like the Iphone. Take Youtube for example - the Iphone has a nice app built in that streams videos over a live connection - very nice. On my phone, I have freeware developed by enthusiasts, rather than Apple Corp, that not only lets me stream live video in the same way, but also save my choice of videos to the storage card, so I can watch them offline anytime I want, when I'm going through tunnels on the train, or I just don't want to burn up my battery with a constant connection. It's a simple thing that Apple could easily have chosen to do it, or could allow someone to release via the apps store, but they won't because it doesn't suit their data-centric business model (and it probably has copyright implications etc that a corporation wouldn't want to touch). That's where a completely open approach to development, as found in the WM environment, really benefits the user. Similarly, I can use my GPS to the full with a wide choice of navigation software (no question about TomTom support for me), and radically customise my handset with different UIs, themes, and a huge range of other software without anyone being able to "vet" what I choose to install.

So many other things I take for granted are lost on the Iphone. Why is there no tasks application? How can you promise full Exchange support without the simple and useful standard feature of a syncable to-do list? Can I mention copy and paste? How about editing any of those email attachments? My Tytn II (and every other smartphone I've had for the last five years) has full document editing built in, I can jot my expenses down in Excel, compose a quick letter in Word - where is that in the Iphone? Where is it in the App store, for that matter?

If any of these commentators idly eulegising about the Iphone actually looked at what a competing product like the Tytn II is *really* capable of - not just paper specs, but the real nuts and bolts of what you can do with the thing - they might begin to see beyond the smoke and mirrors. In terms of basic functionality, the Iphone 3G would be a massive downgrade for me - yes I'd enjoy the shiny new interface, but I'd lose out in so many other ways, it really doesn't bear thinking about. If you want to look at a truly converged device, that *really* combines all the features of the Iphone with so much more, then give Windows Mobile some crediit and look at the Tytn II.

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Tim Cook
Dead Vulture

Glaring ommission indeed

Forget the two Touch models featured here, the real king of the Windows Mobile heap for the last year has been the HTC Tytn II - so good it's also called the O2 Stellar, Vodafone V1615, Orange Tytn II, T Mobile Vario III, AT&T Tilt, the list goes on. One model to rule them all.

It pretty much takes the exact opposite approach to the Iphone, and that's what makes it great - it's loaded up with every hardware feature you can shake a stick at, and that's where Windows Mobile really comes into its own, because it supports all of that and remains open to more at the same time. Stick WinMo on some trimmed down Iphone-alike, and all you have is an overly cumbersome interface for a relatively simple phone - but make it drive a powerhouse like the Tytn II and you have real mobile computing in your pocket. It's no smartphone for the masses in the way that the Iphone and its pretenders are, but it's a hell of a device for those that need it.

And what's not to like about that unique form factor. It tilts!

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An iPhone with a keyboard?

Tim Cook

Hmm

So in the author's opinion we're all "like small children who won't try porridge because they don't like it, they know they don't like it"? Righto.

The only truly amazing thing about the Iphone is the way that it seems to have convinced so many people that the idea of a touchscreen-driven smartphone is revolutionary in some way. I had a Sony Ericsson P800 back in 2002 (a truly revolutionary device) from which you could optionally remove the flip up keypad, and operate the entire phone purely through the touchscreen, complete with a choice of on-screen keyboard, phone keypad, or letter recognition. On that phone the letter recognition was actually the much easier option, but the principle was the same - a completely keypadless phone.

Pocket PC/Windows Mobile devices have similarly experimented with these form factors and long featured a variety of touch-driven input methods and finger-friendly on-screen keyboards. None of this is remotely new. All the Iphone does is remove the stabilising wheel of the physical keypad entirely, and say "off you go, just rely on the screen now".

My current phone is a Tytn II, which features something Apple are less than revolutionary in, called "choice". I can choose to use an on-screen keyboard (either the piddly little one built in, or any number of downloadable alternatives), or handwriting recognition (a choice of two methods there too, either transcriber or basic graffiti-style), or of course I can slide out the real, tactile, physical keyboard and use that. When presented with the choice, depending on the circumstance, I'll usually choose the keyboard. It's better for me. I can touch-type to some extent, it's fast, convenient, and it suits me.

I don't choose not to have an Iphone because I "just know" I wouldn't like the on-screen keyboard, I simply choose not to have an Iphone partly because I *do* know that on-screen keyboards aren't the best for me. It's not a showstopper in itself, but it's one of various reasons why I'm more likely to choose a better equipped phone like the Tytn II (or in the future a Touch Pro, or possibly an Xperia X1).

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Samsung SGH-F490 cameraphone

Tim Cook
Stop

Hey Gildas

We invented the imperial system before "you Yanks" went and messed it up, so the identity conflict is just between the British and European cultures, nowt to do with you...

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O2 XDA Orbit 2 smartphone

Tim Cook

Gildas

Nice tirade, surprisingly lengthy for someone that professes not to care about such things, but naturally you've missed the point. This was never about "high resolution video" (to borrow that clever phrase from HTC's press release), it's just about getting plain old video working at least as well as it did on their older handsets. It's also about basic performance in other tasks and applications, including essentially anything that displays on screen.

HTC have seemingly done a good job of convincing cretins like you that we're all being unreasonable, and that's a shame. They've cut their costs substantially by producing a crippled range of handsets, without paying for the drivers required by the hardware they're using, and you're bending over to thank them. It's an odd position for any customer to take, but I can only assume you're no stranger to it.

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Tim Cook

Where's the drivers?

Dissapointed that the Reg is still rewarding these samey HTC devices with glowing reviews, when essentially the current range are (a) all the same phone, and (b) all seriously lacking in the driver department. Every review of one of these 400mhz Qualcom based phones needs a big disclaimer at the start - VIDEO NOT INCLUDED.

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Pentax Optio V20 compact camera

Tim Cook

Low light performance

You don't mention the "speed" of the lens in this review, and there's no indication of it on the barrel (eg 1:2.8, 3.5 etc). You do mention some noise at higher ISO settings... just wondering how this camera really performs in low light? It could be that the reason the max aperture isn't mentioned anywhere (on the lens or presumably on any of the literature you had) is that it's on the slow side and Pentax are keeping quiet about it. Not necessarily a problem for everyone, but something worth investigating a little I'd have thought.

Explanation for the non-photographic - the lens doesn't let much light through, meaning pictures in low light or without flash may be a bit rubbish. Possibly.

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HTC S730 Windows Mobile smartphone

Tim Cook
Stop

So the obvious question

Does it have video drivers? Have they elected to cripple this model in their usual way? Perhaps they've supplied a microphone, but no wires to connect it, something of that sort? Have they released a statement confirming that future models will include the facility of "speech", but they believe the overall quality of the S730 somehow compensates for the broken features therein. That's the particular shaft that the owners of most of their other recent models have received.

HTC, thou name is mud.

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BBC vs ISPs: Bandwidth row escalates as Tiscali wades in

Tim Cook
Stop

You're on the wrong side, Reg

I'm surprised at the Register's reporting on this whole issue, which appears to be siding with the ridiculous comments of Tiscali and the like.

Yes, the ISP business is in dissarray and that's partly as a result of the Iplayer, but it's mostly as a result of their business being structured around lies and half truths. If they can't provide the capacity their users demand, and would appear to be paying for, then they need to be honest about that. Tell customers the truth about the service they're being charged for, and introduce a new scale of charges that actually reflects the way their business works. If that's really so impossible, then put pressure on the regulator (Ofcom) to force a system where the smaller ISPs can compete fairly with the infrastructure owners like BT.

But to direct this bile at the BBC? Actually make a straight-faced argument for them to pay? Utterly ludicrous. It's an impossible argument that flies in the face of every technical (or ethical) principle underlying the internet. The BBC is a content provider putting stuff on the web - no different to the Register, or Google, or Youtube, or any of the other video-on-demand players like Channel 4 or ITV - there is simply no good reason why they should be singled out for some kind of backwards levy on the "broadcast" of content they're not forcing on anybody. The Iplayer is not broadcasting, it's providing content on request to users, using bandwidth that's supposedly been paid for already by the same. If those users are exceeding some limit then just block the connection. That's the ISP's right - under the terms of whatever contract they have with their subscribers. Honest implementation (and charging) of those contracts would avoid this entire problem.

The license fee is a complete red herring in this. When you compare ITV's VOD content with the Iplayer, does it become any more lighter or less bandwidth intensive because it's funded by ads rather than the public? Does Tiscali get some extra wedge from ITV's advertisers to carry their material? Of course not. The only real difference is that the BBC content is more popular, and that publicly funded bodies are always seen as soft targets when they apparently conflict with the interests of poor, defenceless private companies like Tiscali.

The funny thing is, I don't remember any of these ISPs complaining all the time that the BBC were using public funds to drive internet and broadband takeup through advertising and educational campaigns, and establishing various internet "killer apps" like the BBC News website, much to the benefit of private companies like Tiscali. These things never work the other way though, do they?

I look forward to the Register's positive reporting on Tiscali's tax demand to Google - surely carrying that website must be costing the poor ISPs a bob or two as well?

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HTC applies for multi-keypad sliderphone patent

Tim Cook

Nice idea

But will it have any video drivers?

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Second-gen O2 XDA Orbit goes on sale

Tim Cook

HTC Crippleware?

Just wondering if this will have the display drivers that all HTC's other Qualcomm-based phones lack? If it's a rebadged Touch Cruise, the answer is almost certainly no - so don't expect it to perform as well as the last Orbit.

IF it does have a 5mp cam (which seems unlikely) expect that to REALLY lag, without any proper video acceleration.

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Germany flicks off-switch on DAB

Tim Cook

DAB & DVB T

DAB suffers from being, well, not very good. Here in the UK, it has the protection of harbouring some very good content (BBC7, Radio 6 etc) which makes it worthwhile, but as a technical standard it's not up to much, and a lot of the additional dross doesn't really make up for the drop in quality.

Digital telly is something else. When videophiles like the anonymous coward above state things like "an average analogue TV signal / receiver is WAY better than an average digital TV signal / receiver", I have to point out that's the exact opposite of the truth, and one of the reasons why DVB-T is winning out across europe, in stark contrast to DAB. The truth is, the average analogue picture is pretty awful, and always has been. Most people have long suffered a bit of fuzz, a little ghosting, a dodgy Channel 4, a Channel 5 they can only get when the wind blows the right way, etc. A basic Freeview box is a revelation to these people, because as long as their aerial is picking up half a signal from the right mast, they instantly get a near perfect picture on 1-5 and then some. It's a revellation for many people, something that ropey old DAB could never claim.

Of course, for the minority that live next to Crystal Palace/happen to have had the perfect analogue setup in the first place - DVB-T is seen as a degradation - and indeed it is slightly sub-par compared to be the best analogue signal. But those people are not the norm, and neither was their experience of analogue "average".

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HTC to include high-res video support in handsets

Tim Cook

@ Mikus, Malcolm Hall

Yes, it's "windoze" if you like, but there are still older HTC devices that run WM6 better than the Tytn II does. Compared to the original Tytn (which is ROM upgradeable to the latest version of Windows Mobile), the Tytn II has more ram and a "better" processor, and yet it's noticeably more laggy in all kinds of apps, and offers poorer multimedia than its predeccessor, even when running exactly the same OS.

Just for once, this isn't Microsoft at fault here - it's HTC. They've cut corners somewhere, either on the hardware or the software, and produced a whole range of new devices that simply don't perform as well as their old gear. Now sure, they can tell everyone to just swallow that if they like, but it's not going to help their future sales. It also doesn't do much for Windows Mobile's unshiny reputation, and gives plenty ammunition to the Mikus's of this world, and I don't suppose MS are too enamoured of that.

Don't forget, these problems aren't just restricted to the Tytn II, they're common to a whole line of HTC products, including some that aren't even in general release yet.

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Tim Cook

@ "Try before you buy"

You might want to do your own bit of research before posting - if you had, you'd see that the supposed class action was never really about a legal argument, but simply a means of putting pressure on HTC to confront the issue, mostly by drumming up coverage like this. It worked too, even if the response wasn't as hoped.

As for the rest of your comment about Quallcom rather than HTC being responsible, well again, a little research would have helped. Quallcom have the drivers, Quallcom are quite open about the fact that they could supply HTC the drivers, but it is HTC to (a) have to license them, and (b) integrate them into their handsets.

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Tim Cook

Poor response

This is an extremely poor response from HTC, seemingly designed to break the spirit of those protesting - who also happen, of course, to be previously loyal customers in many cases. It deliberately misunderstands the real issue (which as others have pointed out relates to ALL display rendering, not just video let alone "high resolution" video), and then seems to suggest the only cure is to buy their next product. There are now a great many people who will be making a point of not doing that.

Someone at HTC has badly misread this situation, IMO. This was the time for them to say "hey, we're listening, we'll try and do what we can..." when in fact what they've said is "hey, tough shit! Come back soon!"

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