Posts by GregC
184 posts • joined Monday 6th July 2009 10:29 GMT
And some stuff does not even exist for Android like offline speech recognition (build in btw)
I don't know about the Note, but my Nexus devices all have this feature. I know this because I downloaded the the UK English pack just this morning.
Re: PPI - so what?
I was extremely dubious about high PPI screens until I got my Nexus 10. You may not get any more information on screen, but for reading ebooks/magazines, viewing photos and watching high definition content the difference is massive. I'm a convert.
That said, I do agree that going much above 300PPI is pretty pointless, you're going beyond what the human eye can physically discern.
Re: Still waiting for that legal alternative that is as good
Yep, for video especially. I bought a DVD a while back that was advertised as including a digital copy, which of course meant Ultraviolet. So after faffing about creating an account with Flixster, getting the app then downloading the file, I have my nice legal, copy of the movie ready to watch on my tablet whenever I fancy.
Except that in order to get to the movie I have to sign in to Flixster. Which means I can't watch my movie when I want after all, because I'm not prepared to cough £20 for the privelige of 1 day of internet at my hotel (another pet hate...)
As it happens I don't download movies - mainly because of shitty internet connectivity - I buy the DVD's and rip them (which is, as I understand it, still technically illegal here in the UK?) so that I have a digital copy I can watch at my convenience whether I'm online or off.
I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but the movie biz might want to take a look at their buddies in music. Apparently this year, in music, piracy is down and revenue is up for the first time in years. This could be a freak year, of course, or it might just have something to do with music being readily available to purchase legally, unencumbered with any DRM, and at a not unreasonable price. Make it easy for people to get your product, don't be stupid with pricing, don't get in the way of them viewing it, and you might just find they'll buy it.
People like the easy option. It's easier for me to get pretty much any track I want from Google Play or iTunes or Amazon for 69p than it is for me to go and find a torrent, and it'll likely be as good quality or better.. If I could do the same with video, at say £5 or £6 for a movie, I would...
@JDX
It's not a matter of "learning". Or, just to cover off a couple of the other terms that get thrown out, being a "luddite" or "afraid of change". I have no problem with change, when it's for the better.
I spent plenty of time using the previews of W8, enough to know that a schizophrenic UI/UX that insists on taking over my entire screen is not an improvement when a compact menu a) works just fine and b) doesn't force me to context switch when I'm trying to work. Enough time to realise just how bad an idea hot corners are on a multi monitor setup. To name just a couple of my bigger annoyances.
Now here's the thing. It's not a problem for me. I've simply stayed on Windows 7 at work. At home I'm pretty much in the "post-PC" world already. But if MS were to introduce the option of a "classic" mode then I might upgrade. Given the numbers 8 is (not) selling in, you'd think the message might have got through.
So to summarise:
- Some new bits for the sysadmin
- UI still broken
Just another voice..
saying no. It's not the button. Until I have a launcher/start menu that isn't a) fullscreen & b) full of tiles then I'll continue not buying it.
While you're at it feel free to bin the ribbon too. Ta very much :)
Oh wait, this is MS. Off to pastures new then...
my 2p
I couldn't give a rat's ass about Kinect (or Move on the PS, for that matter). I'm not interested in streaming to a console. I hardly ever play online. I realise I'm in a minority on that last one.
Both the Xbox One and PS4 have, on the face of it, broadly similar hardware specs - PS4 maybe looks slightly higher specced but in the real world it will almost certainly be marginal. What's pretty clear is they will both chuck a metric shitload of polygons around at 1080p/60fps, with lots of pretty lighting effects, which is pretty much all that's required when you're outputting to a TV.
So really, for me, it comes down to exclusives, and which company I dislike least. Sony have the franchises I like (GT, LBP, Uncharted) and I dislike them less than MS, so on the face of it I should be buying a PS4 come the end of the year.
But.
GT6 and GTA5 are both scheduled for the end of the year too, on current gen hardware. Assuming they arrive on schedule (and let's face it, Rockstar and Polyphony both have form when it comes to being late...) then those two between them will keep me playing for at least 6 months. So I'll probably end up just keeping the PS3 and watching the fanboi bunfight...
Pay attention at the back...
That product shot is not a Lumia, it's the old Pureview.
I wish them well
They might be small, and they definitely have one hell of a mountain to climb, but we need another phone OS (or 2) that doesn't lock you into the manufacturers garden. Plus I have a soft spot for Maemo, as it was then, from my N900 owning days.
Only thing is, in one of the shots I've seen elsewhere there was a hint of a fairly tile-esque UI. I'm hoping that's not going to be the case, I really don't like the whole tile metaphor in the world of MS and I'd be disappointed to see it appear here.
Re: "I would use Linux if I knew beans about programming"
Seriously?
I'm not going to sit here and preach that Linux is some kind of panacea (we have an Eadon for that....) but you absolutely, emphatically do not need to know programming to use Linux. If you can install Windows, you can install and use one of the consumer oriented distributions.
Give Linux Mint a try - it's specifically aimed at the casual user. You may or may not like it, but don't buy the myth that you have to be some kind of tech genius to use it.
Yep, sticking to 7 around here too
Our IT dept finished the transition to 7 about 6 months ago, I can't see them wanting to go through the process again for a while.
As for the machines I help look after, we're currently looking at Win7 Embedded to replace the butchered, er, customised XP build we currently use, and with it's 15 years of support that should keep us going quite nicely.
Re: Hmmm
According to the previous article it will play "any game on Google Play" plus ones from nVidia's store.
"Google and Apple will start merging their mobile and desktop platforms"
The idea of having a consistency across all your devices is not necessarily bad, it's how you implement it that matters.
I think MS have proved that slapping a fullscreen launcher over the desktop and calling it done is not the solution....
@Shades
I think if you remove a "d" from the second and third instances of "adds" the sentence will make more sense...
And if memory serves the Metro weather app already carries an ad.
Posted in Live Blog: Google I/O keynote
Re: Nexus S4 for How MUCH!
What were you expecting? That price works out at £511 including VAT - a stock S4 unlocked will cost you £575 at CPW. Amazon want £550. It was never going to be priced like the Nexus 4.
That said, I'll be sticking with my N4 too...
Parachute - from the article...
"but the TF-X has a built-in parachute in case things go wrong."
Depending on your definition of laptop...
Google have the Pixel Chromebook, very nice hi res display by all accounts.
I agree though, the regular notebook makers need to get their finger out and produce some machines with up to date screens.
Posted in Google goes big with Play store redesign
Re: ?
I've bought music, and have an active magazine subscription. It all seems to work very well. Your point?
Re: distract the enemy with 'X-Factor'...
It'd distract me. To the point where I'd be redeploying any weapon capacity I had directly towards Cowell.
It's a novel defence tactic, but it might just work....
@tabman - tried the preview, didn't upgrade - no problem!
I reached my conclusions about TIFKAM (and other aspects of W8) during the preview phase, and am quite happily continuing with 7.
The only reason I continue to post about 8 is that I take issue with people saying that the problems with it are people that are "too lazy to learn" or "aren't using it properly" - there are genuine issues with 8, that could be easily fixed if MS got their head out of their backside and reinstated the registry change that restored usability in the Developer Preview...
No. It's not better.
Hit the windows key and type - it's much quicker than reaching for mouse and scrolling
It also wipes out my entire screen, breaking the flow of what I'm doing when chances are all I want is to bring up an instance of Calc or something. The lack of start menu isn't the major problem for me, it's the fullscreen nature of it's replacement, along with myriad other little irritants.
Re: @GregC
No need to worry on my account, all things in moderation! I'm now geeked out for the week and will indeed be enjoying the sunshine at the weekend.
Nope, hang on. I suspect I'll be frozen solid by the time Sunday's done...
Re: Ugh, "Cybergeddon."
Did you actually read the article? They make it very clear early on that:
"Here is what did not happen: the Internet did not come close to coming down, not much real impact was felt outside the victims and those in close Internet-proximity to them and we were all still able to get to pinterest and see cat pictures online."
I got the distinct impression that the title was meant to be ironic, the piece itself was (like Trevor's, I should say) both informative and interesting, especially to someone who doesn't know the subject well (ie, me!)
Re: how are you getting8gb on PAYG?
Sounds like they're on the same deal I use - buy a PAYG SIM for 99p, top up £15 a month to get 300min/3000txts/AYCE data. The only small issue is the T&Cs explicitly prohibit tethering, though on the odd occasion I've needed to it's never prompted any action from them.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
I didn't install Windows 8, I haven't seen a tile since the Consumer Preview.
Microsoft presumably would like to sell their product. Unless/until I have the option, without messing about with 3rd party add ons, to have a "classic" mode (or whatever you want to call it) then I will continue to not buy it*. It's pretty clear I'm not alone in this.
*I may well not buy it even then, of course. Win 7 continues to be working just fine here, and next time I need to update my work hardware it will quite likely be a Linux + VM for when I need Windows. Nevertheless, as things stand right now it's a guaranteed lost sale.
Re: desktop
The reason is has this multiple personality disorder is purely because it needs to support it's legacy apps and the users who cannot be bothered to try and learn something new
That bit in bold, especially, is bollocks. It needs to support a desktop (or, more accurately, windowed) mode because some of us, and this may come as a bit of a shock, don't use software maximised. This has nothing to do with "being bothered to learn something new", it's to do with Getting Stuff Done. Right now I have 6 windows open across 2 screens on my machine - the browser I'm typing this on, my mail client, IM main and chat windows, explorer and Teamviewer. Normally there would be a few more, but it's nearly beer o'clock. I can see what's happening and interact with these windows just by moving my eyes and mouse, without interruption. If I then need to, I can use a small unobtrusive menu to start a new task, without losing the context I have been working in.
It sounds like you would prefer that the desktop was fully deprecated in favour of TIFKAM. Please explain how your brave new "everything fullscreen, oh ok then we'll let you have two apps side by side" world is going to do anything other than make me less productive and more annoyed?
Fullscreen tabletty interfaces are fine, on small screen devices. While I personally find TIFKAM incredibly ugly, I can see that it works on phones & tablets, and probably even netbook sized laptops. But not on a machine where I'm trying to work, thanks.
Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
If the things are still compulsory, I'll continue to pass, thanks.
Posted in Windows Phone 8 support to end in 2014
Re: Because less choice is FREAKIN AWESOME right?
You know what? When that choice is another OS that's locked down tight as a drum, where the user can only install software that's approved by the software-provider-who-must-be-obeyed - yeah, my giveatoss-ometer fails to get above zero.
Re: "Fire engines will all swarm to put out the nearest fire..." and so on...
Yeah, but, you know, that kind of stuff is really complicated to model. There's no way you could do all that on a single PC, what you'd need is some kind of connected model where a server could do all the heavy lifting. That'd solve all the problems, I mean the cloud's the future, right? Especially now everyone's got a permanent, immutable, never suffers from outages internet connection*
Oh, wait.
*Have I turned up the sarcasm too much again?
Re: To the naysayers
Why? It's the best Windows version I've used in years, and TIFKAM works quite well on a tablet.
Personal preference - I can't stand TIFKAM. It may well be the best version of Windows to date underneath, but I find the whole tiled interface horrible.
That's what tablets used to be. What's wrong with wanting a tablet that actually does stuff?
I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, but my use for a tablet is the standard "consumption device", and in that scenario I value thin, light and loooong battery life. The full fat x86 Win8 tabs are heavily compromised in all three of those areas, for very little benefit in my use case.
Re: To the naysayers
Actually Win8/x86 allows you to install what you want on your Windows tablet.
Win8, be it on ARM or x86, is a non starter as far as I'm concerned.
For the rest, your requirements for a tablet are clearly very different to mine. It sounds like you pretty much want a laptop replacement
To the naysayers
Here's the thing: at the moment, if you want a mobile OS that isn't locked into a walled garden where your corporate overlords (be they Apple, Microsoft or Blackberry) decide what you're allowed to install, then you have one choice - Android. Android is a perfectly good OS, in it's current form it's slick, easy to use and very well supported, but only having one option is not good.
So I sincerely hope that at least one of the in-progress mobile OS's, be it Ubuntu, Firefox, Tizen or whatever, manages to break out. I want an alternative to Android, one that treats me like an adult and lets me use my phone/tablet as I see fit.
Posted in Ten ten-inch tablets
Re: Life's too short for indecision and dithering
Why on earth would I want an inferiorPad when there's so much better out there?
Oh, and hardly anyone needs a tablet. They are very nice shiny toys though.
Posted in Ten ten-inch tablets
Re: @GregC Nexus 10 Accessories
Not you, the deleted post. It was a snarky comment about availability that was about as accurate and well researched as a Daily Mail headline...
Posted in Ten ten-inch tablets
@Spartacus
I agree with almost everything you've written, however I would take exception to "Nexus to save cash" - or at least the implication that price is the only reason to get a Nexus. The N10 is priced very keenly, yes, but the hardware is pretty much at the top end (at least for the time being...)
Posted in Ten ten-inch tablets
Re: Nexus 10 Accessories
Agreed. Though I'm not that fussed about the fast charger, I'd really like a proper smart cover and I'd be interested in the dock. The frustrating thing is I know that both exist in some form inside Samsung, get the bloody things on sale and I'll buy!
Posted in ITV catches up with TVCatchup
Re: Why?
Presumably ITV would argue that TVCatchup are serving up their own ads (I'm assuming they still are, haven't used it for ages) as well as the ITV ones, therefore profiting from the ITV content without ponying up. Up to you what you think of that argument, up to the court to decide if it's legal or not...
"Everyone that is apart from the people that choose to learn how to use it"
Nope, sorry, that's bollocks.
I spent a lot of time with the dev preview, and a lot less time with the consumer preview. It's got nothing to do with "learning how to use it". I suppose someone will be along to tell me I'm holding it wrong next.
tl:dr; version first: I don't like working with everything maximised. That means the start screen breaks my flow every time it comes up. This is shit.
Long version if you can be bothered: Win8 seems to be based on an assumption that everyone uses software maximised. Two of my colleagues work like this, and they get on just fine with it. I've got lots of lovely desktop space across two screens and I like to use it, thanks. That usually means whatever software I'm using right now, a command prompt and a file browser on the main screen and email & IM on the other. In Win7, when I hit start, I get a nice compact menu that leaves most of my working area intact - I select whatever I need and I'm on my way, with minimal interruption. In Win8, my main screen gets wiped out and I'm taken completely out of the context I was working in. As in the short version, this is shit.
Add to this that the start screen is eye searingly ugly (which is purely a personal preference, of course), along with the pretty unattractive reskin of the actual windowed part of the UI, the hot corners that seem to require sub-pixel accuracy on a multi monitor setup, and various minor annoyances - it all adds up to a pretty solid "no thanks" from me
Posted in Amazon yanks SimCity download from store
Re: There is a kickstart project that looks like a better bet.
Here be the linky - Civitas
Does look promising, one to keep an eye on.
Posted in Amazon yanks SimCity download from store
Re: Oh, for the avoidance of doubt
I just do without it if I don't agree. So, a lost sale not accounted for by piracy.
This. This x several thousand.
I would have bought the new Sim City, I loved the previous incarnations and an up to date version is very appealing, but as many others have said if the single player game requires me to be online then they can forget it.
So no, I won't be getting the cracked version when it inevitably appears. I'll find a copy of SC 3000 or 4 at CEX or somewhere for a couple of quid and play that instead.
Enjoying these more every week
Between this problem and the USB one from the other week, you've summed up 90% of what conspires to ruin my day.
Posted in SimCity 3000
Re: Dons cynical hat
If the intent is to make me buy the new one it's failing miserably, all this series of articles is doing is reminding me how much I enjoyed the old games, and making me want to get hold of a copy of one of them.
EA can take their always-online crap and shove it where the sun don't shine.
"This is a platform loved by reviewers and respected by analysts" - and yet...
...hardly anyone in the real world seems interested. Maybe there's a message here for reviewers and analysts.
Just a thought...
Re: Need better 3G service first
Not to trivialise the lack of 3G where you are, but it's far from being just for city folk - I usually get 8-10Mbits down at home, indoors in a small town, and on my travels around the country I've only found two places where I can't get 3G at all - and everywhere I have a signal, I have reasonable bandwidth.
Re: Connections
From the spec sheet...
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX,1000BASE-T
IEEE 802,11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 EDR
Re: Sony have dropped the ball
It'll be a black shiny box with a PS logo, a BD drive and ports for USB/HDMI/whatever else is on the list. It'll be tucked away under the TV for it's life. I don't really care at this point about exactly what shape that box is, what it's packing hardware wise is what's important and that's what Sony have announced.
No doubt there's be pics and/or hardware at E3 - if they reveal everything now how are they going to keep the hype machine fed until Xmas....
