Posts by Karnka
47 posts • joined Thursday 12th March 2009 09:40 GMT
Posted in 20 years of GSM digital mobile phones
The pain
Is no one else suffering from bleeding eye balls having looked at all of those horrifically stretched images?
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I would quite like to give a Nokia Windows Phone a go. I know a few others who feel the same way. Strange that I must be part of the '1%' or some other such bollocks like that :)
"There's a lot of caching"
Of course you'll find yourself at the mercy of the Roomba then.....
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Years ago you say, Android has clearly been popular longer than I thought(!)
(Think before you type)
Posted in X-COM UFO: Enemy Unknown
Damn you
DOT and now this. Are you trying to convince me to waste all of my spare time.
Someone mentioned this game was tough. I did finish it eventually but Terror from the Deep was much harder.
Bad El Reg
It's the world's first 'Chromium' OS laptop, not chrome.
so...
an Asus transformer:
http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Tablets/buy-ASUS-Eee-PAD-TRANSFORMER-Tablet/717703
Sigh
I'm not saying that the price from HTC is appealing but at least get your facts right when you criticise.
The 3G, 32GB iPad (i.e. equivalent) is £580, not £400.
Posted in BT vs Sky vs Virgin
Wrong price
The TiVo is an extra £3 / month.
Worth every penny by the way.
Most operators already....
Route all enquiries <snip> to a call centre miles away where noone understands their accent.
Posted in TiVo calls time on ageing set-tops
Been coming for a while
I can't say I blame TiVo. I'm sure that when they stopped selling them 8-9 years ago it was estimated that there were something like 30,000 of them sold so there can't be that many around still...
I've been expecting either the service to end or my TiVo to die for a few years now.
Perhaps I'd be less accepting if I didn't already have Virgin TV so have an upgrade path but if they hadn't made this new cable only TiVo it's not like there would have been an alternative replacement.
Anyway, I expect outrage on here too :-)
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
How can it be possible to patent the concept of sending people emails about offers in their local area. Seriously, how.
Ridiculous.
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They were quoting February the other day so I wouldn't really trust this.
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There goes the last reason I was staying with T-Mobile. :/
Posted in WTF is... up with e-book pricing?
Iain M Banks
Iain M Banks latest was a good one to use in the article but there's an even more stark example in the Kindle store.
Consider Phlebas is £5 in paperback or £7.99 on Kindle. Madness. Especially given that you can buy a second hand paperback from amazon market place for ~£3.
Sigh, maybe I don't want a Kindle for Christmas after all.
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Chrome OS is for devices with keyboards/mice - ie netbooks not tablets. The concepts are suitably different.
Read the register's review of that toshiba android smart book and you'll see why it just doesn't work.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet
Still unfair
We're talking about major retailers now selling it for £470.
You're also basing part of your article on comparing to iPad RRPs, which are pretty much the actual price....
I just don't think it stands up.
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GPS doesn't work (this is very very widespread).
The RFS filesystem frequently brings the phone to its knees (requires a lag fix from XDA)
Wifi implementation is shot (random disconnects and likes to turn itself on for no reason).
Bluetooth and radio stacks are flakey at best
Samsung have done something to the exchange support that causes some pretty nasty issues.
Everything above isn't just my handset, I've read many threads about all of the above problems.
Galaxy S is a mess
I am appalled to see the success Samsung have had with the Galaxy S. I own one and could not recommend it to anyone. Their android implementation is full of crippling bugs that Samsung fail to acknowledge or apologize for. The phones are also mostly still waiting for froyo.
Steer well clear.
Posted in Apache threatens Oracle with Java exit
Not 'no one has ever quit in protest'
Doug Lead quit very recently
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/25/doug_lea_oracle_jcp_stuffing/
Posted in Google Nexus Two 'lands November 8'
you may be right
I couldn't figure out why on earth google would consider involving Samsung in something they would probably screw up so badly at first and then I came to a similar conclusion to you.
The Galaxy S is appalling. The GPS, the filesystem lag and the myriad of little bugs. Google may just be helping Samsung to learn how to do Android 'right' beofre things get any worse.
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USP = It's not an iPad
(let the flaming etc begin)
Posted in Powermat iPhone 4 wireless charging kit
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Ah, I had missed that article, looks like a start.
I do however recall seeing batteries / covers for Android phones. Perhaps they'll be along soon.
Posted in Powermat iPhone 4 wireless charging kit
Where are the batteries
At the start of the year they trailed batteries with the charging coil built right into them. There would be no need for cases and everyone would be happy (obviously not apple folk mind).
Where are they!
Posted in OFT waves through Sky's Virgin TV slurp
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....and Virgin1, which will be renamed in due course.
Has actually already been renamed. It's called 'Channel 1' which obviously isn't at all confusing or stupid(!)
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Yes.... I'm starting to feel that way with the fun surrounding T-Mobile and Android updates.
I think in future I'm going to be paying full price for unbranded phones.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy S
wrong
No they haven't.
For some reason there's a site called samsung-firmwares that has access to their dev build roms.
It proves they are working on it but there have been no releases. I will be very surprised to see an officially release in the near future.
Flashing these ROMS is (although fairly safe) at your own risk and warranty voiding.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy S
Past history
I had a Galaxy i5700/Spica/Portal and the support from Samsung was shocking, I swore I'd never get another of their phones but then the opportunity arose to upgrade to a Galaxy S on the cheap and I took it.
I am worried Samsung are going to shaft me in terms of updates and that the 2.2 might not materialise (at least not on T-Mobile UK) but we will see. Hopefully they'll at least fix the GPS firmware issues soon.
Build quality is a bit poor compared to the Desire but I think the screen makes it worth it.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy S
meh
The touchwiz dock and app drawer are ugly as hell, but easily replaced with LauncherPro or something similar.
The quick toggle icons they've added in the notification bar pulldown are very nice.
Posted in NatWest sets lawyers on student site
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
It's typically in the terms and conditions that you aren't supposed to have >1 student bank account. ie: >1 interest free overdraft
Posted in Android's UK phone sales quadruple
The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.
Most of the HTC phones aren't available in the UK.
If you want a relatively high end Android phone you've really got two choices.
HTC Desire - Has their 'Sense' skin which is really just a few nice weather/clock widgets etc. Nice, solid phone.
Samsung Galaxy S - Newer / slightly higher specced than the HTC but a little less solid feeling (looks a bit like an iPhone 3G).
Both are about £30/month on a stupidly long contract.
Seriously - wander into a phone shop and have a play with those two.
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We've had a lot of luck with graduates this year - which surprised me given that in the past I've had the same issues with visas etc.
Advertised directly with the local university compsci departments - and by advertised, I mean asked them to email round a job ad for us. Cost nothing and seemed to get us a decent set of applicants.
We were a bit behind with things this year (well, really a lot) and only starting seriously looking in March. I had expected all of the good ones would have been snapped up too but I was pleasantly surprised and we managed to hire several.
Posted in Latest Chrome beta fastest ever - again
errrr
I've been using Chrome for quite some time now and I'm sure it's always had a decent popup blocker. It certainly has now...
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I also liked the 'Firestorm', which was a little copied flying saucer jobbie.
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I think the 'Lightning' was a bit crap.
The 'Avenger' was the one you really wanted to have.
*Looks out old copy of X-Com to play this weekend*
legally speaking
Sadly it doesn't need to be 'enforceable' legally.
They catch you doing anything they don't like and they can just pull your application.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700
Too soon to tell
Few people I've heard talking about it have said it's _a bit_ slower than 1.5, but they are still using a beta version of the ROM.
Whether it's to be believed or not the official release might be out in the next few weeks. We'll know then for sure.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700
Better than that
I think the review's maybe a little harsh. I got one of these a couple of weeks ago and am really happy with it.
Firstly, there are a couple of really good deals available if you're willing to pay a little money up front for it (and sign an annoyingly long contract as always!)
100 minutes / unlimited texts / unlimited* data - £10/month + £71 upfront
300 minutes / unlimited texts / unlimited* data - £15/month + £36 upfront
This is pretty close to the cheapest Android phone you can get, certainly cheaper than some deals for things like the Pulse/Tattoo which have much worse (resistive) screens.
The build quality is really decent and although it admittedly runs a pretty old version of Android there is a beta 2.1(Eclair) ROM circulating and it sounds like it will be 'official' in the not too distant future.
Would heartily recommend this to anyone who wants a decent Android phone and doesn't want to pay £25-£35 a month.
Maths...
The debt is a lot more than £178Bn, that's the deficit for 1 year.
Posted in Scientist proposes quantum über-battery
Expensive
I'm all for lighter/better/etc but... If this battery has to be fabricated by the same sort of process that makes chips and presumably has to be very large compared to a CPU die to be of any use.... Surely that's a lot of silicon.
Posted in Tivo to return to UK in 2010
Hooray
I too am still using my series 1 Tivo. I wouldn't say it's going strong as it occasionally gets a little upset/confused but I have really been dreading the day it dies for good.
Just needs to keep going a little longer now!
Posted in eBooks: What to read on which reader
Kindle 'International'
I was tempted by a Kindle recently. I buy quite a lot of paperbacks and looking at the prices (in dollars) of all of the kindle editions it didn't look like that much more than I normally pay for a book.
I don't even mind paying ~£200 for the reader itself (although I'd rather have one without the keyboard at the bottom).
What stopped me in my tracks was that although you're buying an 'international' kindle from the US, you can't buy the same books as in the US. There's a special section of the kindle store for books that you can download in the UK.
I looked up a few things I was considering reading. Half of them weren't available in the UK store and the other half were more expensive that the US store.
That was the end of it. I'll consider it again in a couple of years. Thanks Amazon (!)
Virgin Media...
I'm thinking of the famous 'Telewest' green street cabinets here... They've been around for > 10 years and are the end points for their fibre.
They're not 1.8m tall.
Am I missing something?
Posted in Apple 24in iMac (March 2009)
Price Rises
There are quite a few points in the article where the price is bemoaned and apple are blamed for putting up the prices across pretty much their whole range.
Has no one thought it might have something to do with the collapse in the value of the pound.
Given that the pound is down something like 30% on average across the board I think we've gotten off lightly with the price increases from apple. We're going to have to get used to paying more for our gadgets from now on.
