* Posts by Monkey

223 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Feb 2008

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Samsung says 'yes' to iPhone 5-sized Galaxy S III

Monkey

Re: Agree with aj87... why the iPhone 5!?

Because it doesn't have the same attention grabbing value.

'Samsung to make a smaller version of the S3'

or

'Samsung making a handset THE SAME size as the new iPhone'

Do the math.....

Apple files 'Shake to Print' iOS patent application

Monkey
FAIL

It smacks of a company desperate to make their products stand out in a now very, very crowded market place.

They've 'won' (for now) a legal victory over Samsung but have likely had it dawn on them really quickly that it has done nothing to neuter the pace of handset release and development at their biggest rival, as they almost certainly intended it to do. As well as witness the resulting substantial moral backlash in the mainstream press. Both tech and non tech.

I'd wager that all but the hardcore 'buy anything Apple' consumer will approach their purchases of handsets and tablets with moral factors now part of the buying agenda. As an iPad user who was due a recent handset upgrade I can honestly say any serious consideration of the new iPhone went out the window because of this. I’m not alone in now feeling dubious about Apple I would imagine.

I know I'm just the singular and don't claim I know what everyone is thinking, but I'd bet good money that this recent patent application is Apple going down the gimmick route. Try and stand out in a crowded market place to get the attention of novelty whores when their competitors now bringing knives to the fight and not just their tech which has more than caught up with the march Apple stole on them all.

Personally I think 'innovations' like this will do nothing but devalue their brand even more than their recent behaviour as a corporation and the 'missed a classic opportunity to innovate again-what was all the fuss about' epic fail that iOS6 is.

Barnes & Noble Nook HD and HD+ hands-on review

Monkey

Re: Kobo?

Then they aren't strong competition for the Amazon Kindle are they if they are no where near as popular!

Samsung ready to drop faster SSDs

Monkey

Re: hmm

I put a 256 830 series in a late 2009 13" macbook pro the other week and I needed no proprietary connectors. It took longer to undo al the tiny baseplate screws on the machine itself than it did to disconnect the SATA connector to the motherboard, remove the HDD caddy chasis and mount screws, reattach them to the 830 drive, plug it in and put it in the machine.

Might just be my machine but I can honestly say it was a quicker and easier job than the same task carried out on an HP and Toshiba laptop the previous week.

Knomo Folio iPad 3 case

Monkey

Re: What's the obsession with protecting the back?

Because when it gets dropped by someone it will have maximum protection. I'm not fussed about the back getting scratched personally but I sure as hell don't want it falling onto something that will take huge chunks out it, dent the back inwards onto components, break buttons off of the edges or smash the camera lens.

I'd rather not have my tablet in a case at all but the bitter experience of mine and my friends over the years shows with all the devices owned shows to go for as much protection as possible that you can put up with in terms of the intrusion on your day to day use.

It's preservation not vanity the reason people want the back protecting.

Pollster charts rise and rise of the e-book reader

Monkey

Re: Number of books bought does not = number of books read

Agreed about the library thing and until a standardised e-borrowing system is put in place with buy in from all the e-reader makers it will continue to flounder and be ignored. When surely the strength of the over the air delivery and space saving is what would help take ebooks into the learning environment large scale.

Monkey

Re: What About People Upgrading Readers?

Oh absolutely, agree, agree, agree with you on every point you make in regards to my own Kindle 3G. It is just a simple observation really. Mulling things over so to speak.

I changed my old clunky first generation Sony reader for the Kindle 3G and saw a massive refinement between the devices which has really made me commit to the format even more than I already had, and picking up my girlfriends new Kindle I can already feel yet more refinement between that and the 3G I have.

So whilst it would have to be a big, big leap forward to make me consider changing from my Kindle 3G, I couldn't rule it out.

Monkey

Re: Number of books bought does not = number of books read

True, but it matters not.

A book sale is a book sale. Doesn't matter if it sits on a book shelf, digital or real, unread. It has still generated the sales traffic and revenue for the seller and agents. And as such still brings legitimacy to the content driven aspect that will sustain ebook usage even if device uptake does plateau.

Bit of a non point you are making I feel.

Monkey

What About People Upgrading Readers?

I know it is still a relatively early analysis to be doing given that the ebook device market has really only just seen significant enough price reductions to make it feasible for early adopters to upgrade with some regularity, but I'd be interested in the stats from the questions asking current ebook device owners if they have upgraded their readers over the years, how many times and if they plan to do so in the future.

If the device market does plateau at the 30% ish predicted here, that 'churn' in the current device ownership are going to be significant in whether or not we see any further innovation in e-readers. I love my Kindle 3g, but know full well given a device with enough improvements and at the right price I would upgrade.

Orange Tahiti 7in Android tablet

Monkey

... And you gotta remember

These contracts are largely aimed at people who want a tablet but can't find the lump sum to purchase one outright immediately. No matter how much real money it may be cheaper than the final cost of contract price.

Is it a predatory practice by the retailer (Orange in this case)? Yes of course it is, but that is exactly how HP agreements have worked since day one, which this effectively is. Attractive trickle costs of a bling item, with a crap underlying deal, and it is how they will ALWAYS work.

Motorola Pro+ Qwerty Android smartphone

Monkey

Wrong...

HTC Cha Cha is Android and a QWERTY keypad. Get past the FB gimmick and it's a very good phone. Better than this, and I say that for a fact.

Kindle Fire demand hits iPad rivals not iPad

Monkey

Phil, so WHAT if people only use iPads for browsing in the end? You can bet your sweeping statement applies just as much to the majority of people buying Android tablets who, after been seduced by the sales pitch of 'more flexibility than an iPad' eventually end up browsing and reading email and little else on them.

Your comment smacks of someone who simply cannot understand why people don't agree with your own purchase choice and all the petty prejudices and insult that go with that attitude.

(Said by an Android tablet owner I might add)

Nokia's next Windows Phone leaked in dev ad

Monkey

I'm sorry but...

Until Nokia uses a marketing strapline along the lines of 'wake up and piss excellence every day with Nokia and WM7', I ain't interested.

BlackBerry Curve 9360 hits UK

Monkey

As much as I like BB's....

I really have to agree with you on this.

Amazon Kindle Lighted Leather Cover

Monkey

Had one bought as a present...

... and in hindsight I'd pay for it myself.

I too baulked at the price and went for the hemp covered Econique case. Perfectly adequate I agree. But not a patch on this. I thought the light was a gimmick but it actually isn't.

It's expensive yes, and I can't necessarily defend the whopping price tag, but it's fantastically good quality and offers a very good level of protection for the device.

Yes I'd look about first for good alternatives if I were to be buying this again, but knowing what I do now I'd stretch to the price tag of this if it warranted it over the alternatives.

Jaguar hybrid supercar gets green light

Monkey

Yes, and...

..engineering work, and will do on the final production model. God forbid Williams would actually put their F1 house in order and get their priorities straight. They have a track record of losing performance on track when they dilute their focus onto road car projects or engineering race cars for other companies in different classes. Given that the team are fighting to drag themselves off of pretty much the back of the grid, the recent flotation on the stock market, and even more recent loss of over half of the share value, this will probably bring in cash but have a detrimental impact on the F1 team.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android smartphone

Monkey

Gotta agree...

with the comments about the headphone jack location. I wrecked the jack on two pairs of headphones when I had my Blackberry with the socket on the side. As much as I loved the phone, I'd had enough. You shouldn't have to buy an adapter just to be able to use your phone as a music player and not live in fear of breaking headphones.

So yeah, the location of the headphone socket is a deal breaker.

SHOCK research reveals Wi-Fi not as nippy as Ethernet

Monkey

I shit you not...

.... there was an advice label on the boxes of the last two wireless routers I have bought stating that wireless connection could be slower than a direct cabled connection.

I'd love to know who approved the funding for that research. What a mug!

Apple MacBook Pro 13in

Monkey
Flame

Oh for crying out loud

Sony did NOT create Blu-ray. Three, almost four years is it since the tech arrived? And still people make stupid, ill educated nonsense comments about who invented it.

Nice one GK.pm... You know LG were part of the Blu-ray disc association and a technological contributor to the format don't you?! Round of applause there.

Motorola confirms Xoom tablet is Blighty-bound

Monkey

@ Paul Brain

Yeah I like your thinking!! My daughter had better start behaving herself real quick.....

Pentax 645D medium format digital camera

Monkey

@AC 'Cars'

What a silly thing to say. Of COURSE it isn't aimed at an amateur. Neither are DSLR bodies costing £2k+, neither were SLR bodies costing the same, and neither were new complete roll film medium format systems.

They were, as is this, aimed at a pro with a specific need as you yourself already seem to know. I just don't understand why you felt the need to state it because it is a real moot point. It's just so bloody obvious!

Maybe the issue is more with Reg for reviewing what is essentially a red herring for the majority of its readers and that comment would have been better?

Amazon: e-books outsell dead-tree copies

Monkey

Actually..

Mills and Boon are available!

HP Beats up its PC range

Monkey
FAIL

Yeah but...

...does all that fancy schamsy stuff mean that they have beefed up the chassis of the 17" models to stop flexing of the motherboards, cracking of solder around the chip sets, cracking of battery connections to the power supply, etc etc?

No? Didn't think so.

T-Mobile to fling Froyo at Samsung Galaxy S guys

Monkey
FAIL

Don't Upgrade!

Anyone who hasn't updated to 2.2 on t-mobile I would advise to wait or just not bother. Updated my Desire a few nights ago and a previously silk smooth phone has become glitchy. Couple of other people on t-mobile I know are having similar experiences. Nothing critical or glaring, but lots of little glitches that build up to be a right freakin pain in the ass.

Wait!!!

UK iPad ship date slips

Monkey

I'm no Apple fan...

... I simply buy what suits me best for what I need the object to do, but people can yell 'glorified this' and 'pointless that' all they want, just like they did when the iphone was first launched, Apple have a habit of releasing key products that give other manufacturers a kick up the arse.

Who pays for that ultimately? We do. But nobody makes you.

I hate ipods and iphones for quite legitimate reasons (and yes I have used them), but I love my HTC Desire and if it wasn't for the iphone I wouldn't be using a phone so refined as the Desire is. I'm man enough to acknowledge that.

I won't use anything but A Macbook Pro for recording and editing music as the software is second to none. But think it's left wanting by my cheapo-mart Windows laptop for day to day sheer flexibility.

I don't moan about it though. Why? Because it was my choice to buy the Macbook.

Same with the ipad… if someone wants one then it’s their prerogative and they shouldn’t be slagged off for their product choice simply by default if it works for them.

HTC Desire

Monkey

@Flenser

... no it's bloody well not. Having used both devices I can honestly say that is possibly the most ill informed comment I've seen in here for quite some time.

Orange days from major tariff refresh

Monkey

Decision made...

You know I've been dithering over whether to jump from Orange after 11 years as a customer after their constant fobbing off and bullshitting me about when the Desire was going to be released, and constant 3g outages lately due to 'network upgrades'. Either go SIM free and pay my costs up front or go to t-mobile with some very tasty tariffs...

Decision made after having this confirmed by a friend who works for Orange. See you and I shall be taking all three contracts in my household with me too.

Student racks up £8000 mobile broadband bill

Monkey

I'm with the 'idiot' comments

Whilst I agree the guy has been fleeced due to the fact that he was most likely on Orange France, I don't have any sympathy for him.

He realised what he'd done, asked his dongle to be blocked but then continued to use it adding another £1500 to his bill...

Ignorance isn't an excuse, not in this case.

Nokia's X6 now Doesn’t Come With Music

Monkey

Nothing to do with...

...the phone and download service been plagued with problems with failed downloads, vanishing tracks and phones failing to refresh the tracks in the song library. No of course not, the firmware updates available at retailers and online from Nokia solved all the problems didn't it....

Did it bollocks.

Samsung SH-BO83L

Monkey

You might have given your knee jerk...

anecdotal post a little more credit if you'd spelt 'BlueRay' correctly. Let me guess... shoe horned Blu-Ray into an old entertainment setup and it couldn't cope and rather than invest to get it all working properly, as many people quietly realised they had to, you thought getting all bitter and narky about it like a petulant child.

I bet you think Sony invented BlueRay as well don't you?

Samsung N140

Monkey

Gotta agree...

... with the positive comments about the NC10 and what you can make it capable of with the right software codecs. I've even used it to crunch through a couple of hundred thousand records in a complex Access query and to be honest, it surprised me that it didn't fall on it's ass right away let alone actually complete the job. Slowly, but it did it.

Really made me evaluate exactly what I'm paying for with high end PC's/laptops and what I'm convincing myself i'm using them for. Christ it survived two drops onto a hard surface off of a dinning table with a scratch!

I do agree that Samsung missed a trick not levering more resolution and a 3G slot into this update. Especially as they aren't spec'ing under the XP restrictions and clearly profits have come first with this machine.

But, when my (well, my wife's now, who am I kidding?!), NC10 goes pop the latest Samsung equivalent will be the first thing I'll go for. Be it this or something in five years.

RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700

Monkey

Another brilliant positioning of the headphone jack...

... I loved my original Bold. Right up until I realised that the positioning of the headphone jack on the side of the device was putting huge amounts of strain on the headphones when I tried to fit the device in my pocket or bag, and eventually breaking the connections in the jack.

Two pairs of not exactly cheap headphones later I put the Bold back in the box in the cupboard and went back to my old phone. As much as I like the look of the 9700 I'm afraid I'll be steering clear of RIM devices until they actually spend some money redesigning the chassis' for how people WANT to use their phones, and not rehashing a ludite layout from the last geological time period.

HTC HD2 Windows Mobile smartphone

Monkey

Potential battery issues too

There are rumblings of battery issues too with some users reporting nearly two days from a charge and some people not even getting six hours use. With no WiFi switched on and screen brightness down to minimal!!

I too had my wallet primed and ready to strike. I'm so glad I actually bothered to read things properly first!

Apple dangles tablet lure in Oz

Monkey

@ Scott Earle

Totally, totally agree. I actually had a rep from the local paper door knocking last night offering me half price and delivery until the end of January. I simply don't have the space in my daily commute on the train to read a normal newspaper, let alone a broadsheet, and don't have the time when I'm home to read. I actually said last night if they produced an e-ink version I'd happily pay for it every day and read it.

Your closing comment... I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Sony Walkman NWZ-S544

Monkey

@ Mathew White

Nope, the device ACTIVATES the speaker when getting on buses and trains, or entering busy shops with long queues.

Palm Pré arrives in Blighty

Monkey

@ Meh

I'm no iphone fan boy, but how can you seriously say 'all flashy icons and no function'?! That's as knee jerk a comment as those who dismiss any other phone as 'shit compared to an iphone' without having ever picked the device up.

Subaru set to show stylish hybrid

Monkey

The words 'stylish' and 'Subaru'...

... Don't go together. They produce great looking concepts and then the production car comes out looking like it has already been in a multi car pile up. And the company are suffering as a result but just don't seem to realise it. When they were winning rallies people had a perceptible reason to buy their cars despite them being pig ugly. Rally wins have dried up and people don't want to buy an ugly car for no reason. But have Subaru twigged this? Not in the slightest and this will be no different when it eventually hits the road.

Optical zoom arrives on 12Mp cameraphone

Monkey

Finally...

... it looks like they might just have a form factor large enough to encourage them to increase the size of the CMOS censor to make the 12mp camera take decent pictures and not just generate back ground noise on the image.

That's assuming they can be bothered to make a proper job of the internals...

iRiver e-book reader spied online?

Monkey

Ahhh peter...

Nice to see that you bit. Despite all the education you clearly have old boy. I fully understand the points you were making, as well as the ones you were implying too... Hence the joke at my own expense about marks out of ten. Which clearly you missed.

In terms of the point about the single format, totally agree. Sony seem to have realised the same thing and are ditching their proprietary formats to move to the standard the same as the Amazon store. I think it'll take a long time for the readers themselves to catch on and reckon the take up of ebook media(viewable on PC's), will eventually be fuelled more by educational institutions buying digital formats alongside hard copies. Libraries as well quite possibly. Whether that will trickle down to price reductions for consumer purchases though is another matter. Although the prices are coming down already as I stated in my badly made original points. I've seen that in the last month with my own purchases.

Your point about the global situation is valid too, although I'm certain people will soon start finding the means to again buy things they can't afford. But at £200+ for the latest models and the cheaper old models vanishing from stock fast, I suspect the £150 ish limit once felt to be the impulse purchase threshold, but vastly exceeded the last few years, is going to come sharply back into force.

That's my opinion on it. Slightly better put and considered I hope than previously!

Monkey

Score...

Enthusiasm, personally I think it was a 10/10 for effort. I went for it completely. Scores for other aspects are certainly questionable, I won't argue there, but effort.... I put my heart into that Teach! Honestly I did Sir.

Monkey

Well that told me!

Comments made in haste. Alex, In fairness some of what was said did smack a little of what I'd heard several people go on and on about, but if I got the intentions wrong I got them wrong. No use arguing with you about it or trying to squirm my way out of it.

Simple as that really.

But hey at least it got some activity into what was an incredibly dull morning for me.

To follow up with Peter though, at no point was I moaning about the lack of uptake globally. You took my comments as far out of context as possible to suit the points you were making during my tellling off. Congratulations on your educational achievements. Judging by the manner in which you told me off and the twisting of my comments to further prove how much more superior you are than me, I'm guessing you're a teacher at a secondary school. If not, you should be. You'd fit right in. I won't insult your intelligence as clearly it would be factually incorrect to do so and pointless. But I can call you a prick.

Alex, as for yourself, sorry. I got it wrong by and large.

Monkey

@Alex

Ebook prices... I'm sorry but I think you're talking complete tosh. People have to get out of this mindset that digital formats mean 'free', or at a fraction of the cost. This is the legacy of music piracy and is one I detest. People have a living to make, authors have a living to make. I know people who have worked at being professional musicians for years and years funding it from their day jobs before selling enough CD's to make a living at it. Only to have illegal music downloading render the products they sell worthless, and have had to go back to full time employment or the dole to survive.

Certainly there is scope for a reduction in the prices at some ebook stores, but I bet you've found the most expensive shop and prices to justify your argument. Much like the people still foaming at the mouth about Blu-ray films. You CAN get ebooks from several sources now at much reduced prices. Legally. I'm not going to list them because it would be pointless as you'd likely only dismiss them for one reason or another. A bit like the lunatic they had on the One Show some time back who they loaned a Sony reader to and she went on a rant about it needed five cables plugging into it to get a book on there (it needed one), and she would NOT be told otherwise.

Do you take a big hit up front with the cost of the devices? Of course, and nobody is pretending it isn't a big hit, but the devices you get/ will be getting for that cost are some great pieces of kit. But if it isn't technology that suites your needs, uses or imagination then don't buy into it.

People are entitled to their opinions about why they don't feel them suitable, but when they say the only reason, with great stressing, to buy one of these is to save space I can't help but roll my eyes. Have you not thought of the fact that these readers are a damned sight lighter than a large print hard back? Or that you can zoom the text? My grandmother, after three years of being unable to read because she no longer had the strength to hold a large print book now reads again because of an ebook reader. And she will NOT be separated from it. Also I used to carry at least three massive text books around with me at university and it killed me. Virtually all my uni texts are now on ebook. If only I'd had one of these then.

Don't buy technology if you have no need for it of course, but make informed choices not petty knee jerk ones motivated by the letter 'e' up front making you take exception to paying more than 50p for the media. Life and consumerism doesn't work that way. Never has done, never will.

Microsoft re-jigs Xbox 360 range

Monkey

You buy a 360 to...

...play 360 games on, you buy a PS3 to play PS3 games on.

People with the income/ will to/ passion for it, will buy both, and the people making twisted comments about a particular machine either can't afford both or Mommy and Daddy say you can't have the other one until your birthday. And they are bitter about it.

I echo Tony's comments, fk off and do something more productive for society. Like drinking alcohol and masturbating to reducing your chances of ever producing children.

Amazon limits PS3 Slim sales

Monkey

I take back my original comment...

... so little wisdom spouted by so many.

Think I'll stick with that one instead.

Monkey

Oh yeah...

...the experts. So much wisdom spouted by so many.

Orange prices up LG 3G watchphone for UK

Monkey

Oh come on Kungfu...

I think the name of the product is a bit of a give away there. 'Watch Phone'...

That has to be a 'given' feature and even the most idiotic would have to ask the question 'so does it have a clock, cause the pictures don't show one?'!!!

Leica unwraps £16k, 32Mp camera

Monkey

I'm having two...

One for best and one for everyday...

BlackBerry maker dials in to watchphones

Monkey

Ben81

You mean you don't find any appeal in being in a RIM up to your wrist? So to speak....

Sony embraces ePub for eBooks

Monkey

DRM just an excuse

I find people foaming at the mouth about DRM really odd. I understand it to a degree, but I think people are very silly if they at least think companies AREN'T going to go to lengths to protect their products and media. If you opt to go down the digital format route for something high value, like a book, you've got to accept people have an income and a product to protect. You might not give a shit about the author Gordon, but the book is their living.

I was very blasse about piracy in music and didn't really care if I paid for stuff or not unless it was my favourite bands, but a friend of mine opened my eyes. His best mate made his living from selling CD's of the two bands he writes for and plays in. Now, thanks to illegal file sharing, this guy has had to give up being a professional musician and take a day job again because he can't sell CD's. Despite working extremely hard at his music for many years. To me that stinks.

Walmart switching off servers stinks too and that is where DRM is used in an extortionate way because it forces consumer to re-buy or lose out, and is a totally relevant example to quote. But I feel it slightly out of context here. As pointed out this is about standardising formats to ensure Sony is competing on a level playing field in the ebook store market and their hardware product isn't disadvantaged in the eyes of the consumer by having a strange format. In effect this will serve to help standardise the digital book market very early on and encourage uptake. Do away with the AAC, MP3, WMA etc format type fk ups that music sales have gone through. Only to screw the customer when formats are made redundant and servers switched off. As you pointed out.

Sure DRM will likely restrict distribution of the ebook you have bought, but 1) You switch to digital formats you have to accept that with high value purchases the publisher will want to protect themselves as much as they can and for as long as they can, and 2) 'Digital' doesn't mean free. People have to realise that. You wouldn't buy a car from a dealership and then bitch and moan when they refused to lend your mates cars for free for as long as they wanted would you?!

Spouting DRM vociferously as a reason not to adopt ebook readers as a technology is an excuse in my opinion. An opinion equally as valid/ spurious as the next man's I might add.

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