* Posts by Dave 126

10622 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jul 2010

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: A steep price to pay

Dave 126

Re: Another price increase .....

> Rather than selling it at a reasonable price point (£650 comes to mind) they would rather be stupid, price themselves out of the market and close manufacturing plants.

£650 buys you a Note 8 from a reputable UK-based dealer.

If someone doesn't buy a Note 9 because of its price, it doesn't follow that they'll buy Apple. They might buy Huawei or Pixel, but they may well just buy a cheaper Samsung, either an older Note or else live without the stylus and buy a Galaxy S9+. If that's still too pricey, last year's Sammy flagships are usually heavily discounted and pretty much as good.

I seem to remember that last year's Note 8 sold very well despite a similar price increase - though of course we can attribute that to some pent up demand from those who wanted a quickly-discontinued Note 7.

Dave 126

Re: Excellent features

The Samsung flagships have a fair few sensors and emitters in line with the front facing camera (including IR grid projector for face ID, Iris scanner, notification LED, proximity sensor and of course earpiece) so there isnt any unused room to place common status bar icons. Hence no notch. If Samsung rejiggled these sensors a bit, they might have been able to squeeze in a front-facing fingerprint scanner would would be handy for when the phone is on a desk.

The UK versions (Samsung Exonys SoC) of earlier flagship Samsungs such as the S8 (it's too early to know what's in the Note 9) suggest the internal DAC is a pretty decent Cirrus Logic unit with native high Res support, but not quite as nice as the ESS Sabre DAC in the LG V20. However, the specs for the Note 9 mention a Quad DAC, which is often how the Sabre chip is described, so who knows? The audio circuitry is different in the USA (Snapdragon) versions of Samsung phones. Whatever, the 3.5mm output quality is more than good enough for most people most of the time.

Dave 126

Re: Bezels

Smaller bezels mean that the screen is larger for the same width of phone. It's phone width that largely limits its size, since if it is too wide it will be uncomfortable to hold in the hand or to stow in a pocket.

I've fitted a case to my S8, so it now has bezels akin to an older model. Therefore another way of thinking about it is that a bezelless phone in a protective case is the same width as an unprotected phone with bezels. (Of course there were phones where the bezel would provide screen protection (iPhone 4, aluminium bezel) and phones where the bezel wouldn't protect the screen (Xperia Z3 C, bezel was soft ABS plastic) against falling against a sharp edge.

I haven't used my phone much without the case on, so can't comment on accidental touch input on the edges of the screen. I do know though, from poking around the hidden hardware test menu, that Samsung phones can detect when the phone is being gripped, even through a case (some sort of capacitance sensor, presumably present to help weed out accidently touch input).

Dave 126

Re: Too big for my pockets

It's be nice if software SIMs allowed us to have several handsets, and whichever one we grab as we leave the house that morning just works as our phone. Long train journey? Grab your Note. Going camping? Grab your rugged phone with small screen and big battery. Going out on the town? Grab a little near-expendable cheap phone. Etc.

Dave 126

Re: The one thing I wholeheartedly agree with Jobs on ...

I tried a Note in a shop once, and was impressed by the way that it could transcribe stylus I out into properly formatted notation. I'm sure there is a way of inputting "the square root of 2n + 1" or somesuch with a keyboard, but I've never learnt it.

It's too big for me though. My S8 in a tough case is at the upper limit of what I'll carry around.

Dave 126

Re: The one thing I wholeheartedly agree with Jobs on ...

> stylii. If you need them, you've failed.

It doesn't *need* a stylus, any more than the first iPhone or any phone today does, any more than a PC *needs* a joystick or graphics tablet. It's just a useful addition for people who like to sketch, need to annotate diagrams, use some written languages or need to write mathematical formulae.

Samsung Galaxy Watch: A tough and classy activity tracker

Dave 126

Re: OY!

Jony Ive owns an Omega Speedmaster which looks far nicer than this Samsung, as does his Patek Phillipe Nautilus. If he's wearing a smartwatch for function, then a rectangular display just makes more sense, as most phone information - especially text - can be displayed more efficiently on a rectangular display, just as the Speedmaster's information is best disputed on a circular face. Ive's colleague on the Apple Watch, Marc Newson, is more likely to wear one of his own Ikepod watches.

Still, it would be nice to see Ive and Newson design a stealth smartwatch - an analogue watch with a laser perforated face (like they use for the power LED on Apple keyboards) for simple notifications. Primary function is to tell the time, secondary functions include notification and phone paging. No one would have to know you're wearing a smartwatch.

Dave 126

Re: God that’s ugly!

The watch Dieter Rams designed for Braun is 38mm. The Timex worn by Steve Jobs in a famous 1980s photo is 38mm, and is similar in simplicity and legibility to the Braun. Many a fine watch from the 1960s is 38mm.

Functionly 38mm is superior to anything bigger - it's less likely to catch on things. What the hell is wrong with people's eyes these days that they want a huge watch?

It's a blessing to smart watch makers that the fashion in traditional watches was for big cases - it means the smart watches have more space for batteries.

Citizen gave just brought out a couple of connected watches with simpler faces than their previous sports-watch inspired efforts. Getting closer, but no cigar yet.

Dave 126

Re: Let me save you 40-50%

From a review of the Amazafit:

"it's the display that really lets the show down here. The 300 x 300 resolution is often difficult to read and fares dreadfully when lighting is poor. Colours look faded while, more peculiarly, text often appears uneven when displaying notifications."

Also mentioned is inaccurate heart rate monitoring, and a screen that often fails to register taps and swipes.

- https://www.wareable.com/xiaomi/amazfit-stratos-review

Dave 126

Re: Half a Review?

Er, maybe. Strava says it can export data from the Samsung Galaxy Health app (the phone app that this watch sends data to), but has no plans to support Gear ( now called Galaxy Watch). And someone claims to have had success in coaxing a CSV file out of their Samsung account by downloading a Samsung Health SDK. Have fun!

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/218887007-Samsung-Gear-and-Strava?mobile_site=true

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-5/606733-there-way-export-save-s-health-data-file.html%3famp

Dave 126

> That’s a tenner a month for something that’s only really useful in emergencies.

Depends what you mean by 'emergency'. You can call the emergency services without having an eSIM set up, just as you call 999 (or whatever the emergency number is where you are) from any phone with or without a SIM inserted (or unlocking the phone beforehand). It's mandated by the regulators. Indeed, calling the emergency services is the only time a soft SIM iPad will allow you to make a voice call over a cellular network.

So, this watch having a cellular chip could be useful should you be out jogging and break an ankle, or feel sudden shooting pains in your chest - both events that would warrant an ambulance.

But yeah, lesser 'emergencies' such as ringing a curry house to order a takeaway aren't covered - you'll need the EE tariff as you say.

Google keeps tracking you even when you specifically tell it not to: Maps, Search won't take no for an answer

Dave 126

> Back in the real world, apple are doing the same, collecting location data from iPhones to build up the Apple maps dataset, it's not optional.

The data Apple collect for their maps can't be identified back to any individual user. It's anomynised and can't be de-anomynised because of mathematical techniques such as Differential Privacy.

Why is my cheapo Android red hot and switching off Wi-Fi?

Dave 126

Re: To think...

> But now the problem is: which model will give you monthly updates? Most OEMs do not disclose that information at all so that's tricky. All you can do is look at which OEMs gave what in the past to which phones to get an approximate answer.

That's not a very useful approach, since many vendors can and have improved over time. Nor will a vendor always know how well their suppliers (ODMs) will support components with new drivers. Your best best is to buy a phone that shipped with Oreo - it'll have Project Treble so Android can be updated without input from ODMs (Day one updates to Oreo don't count). Obviously choose a vendor who'll likely still be in business in three years time.

Phone models that are popular with modders might also be a good a good bet if you want to stay up to date by faffing around with ROMs.

The last phablet? 6.4in Samsung Galaxy Note 9 leaves you $1k lighter, needs 'water cooling'

Dave 126

Re: High performance tablet

> Except it's not 845, it's last year's 835. For $650. They're mad.

Well as I outlined, there's little point in powerful Android tablets when the range of power hungry software (games, productivity apps) is limited. The OSs for productivity on ARM are Chrome OS, iOS (feature complete Photoshop coming soon) and possibly Windows (though i haven't looked recently at what decent productivity Universal Apps are available). Even Google are looking away from Android to Chrome OS for productivity.

As for mad, well yeah, Samsung are asking similar money as Apple do for a 10.5" iPad, give or take (Apple stylus optional extra), yada yada. But it should be telling that no other Android device vendor is bothering much with tablets.

Dave 126

Re: Nobody buys Samsung anymore....

>"Since the the Note 9 has Treble, comments about Samsung's historical update record are irrelevant."

>>That remains to be seen

The historical record is irrelevant regardless of whether Treble works as intended. It's a logic thing. Strewth, I've read here of Sony being rubbish for updates, but my Xperia P was updated through three versions of Android, my Xperia Z3C through at least two: Vendors can - and have - changed and improved over time. So regardless of Treble, past performance isn't a great indicator. Sheeit, at least Samsung will still be in business in a couple of years.

Curious that someone above ditched Samsung for OnePlus over this issue - historically OnePlus have been poor at updates, and recently have only *promised* to be better in future. This suggests that with little to distinguish between handsets these days (I value waterproofing, you might not, you might want wireless charging, I haven't bothered yet), vendors are upping their game and addressing the update issue. Or at least making the right noises.

Oh, you can buy many brands of phone from UK based retailers and be covered by the Sales of Goods Act, but OnePlus insist you buy direct from them, based outside the EU and shipped from Poland. They appear to try hard on customer service but drop the ball. No VAT receipts. Read their forums. But hey, they might grow up and get better in future, so in a coupla of years time when I need a new handset I'll consider them again.

Dave 126

My friend had an Android device with 512GB storage years ago - it was an Archos PMP with a spinning rust HDD in it. Fortunately Android behaves itself now - there was a time it didn't support more than X thousand individual files. This caused him issues cos he filled the HDD with mono MP3s he'd transcribed from vinyl.

Dave 126

Re: Nobody buys Samsung anymore...

> ...more likely they're just too bloody expensive.

They are when they launch. However Samsung sell enough of them that they can heavily discount them after around nine months - around the same time as internet rumours about the next model start up.

I bought my S8 for the same price as a OnePlus 5T. The 5T is a decent enough phone, but for the same money I went for the better screen, waterproofing, better support, wider compatibility and wireless charging.

Dave 126

Re: Mifi+Tablet+(VOIP(Sipgate/Skype/Other))=Phablet

It's a weighing up of many factors, including what they use the phone for, the clothing they wear, the size of the hands etc etc. Jo Public has gone through a few generations of phone since the first 'Phablets' arrived on the market, and so he has more than enough first-hand information (his previous phones, handling his friend's phones to get an idea of the size etc) to make an informed choice. All design is compromise.

There are two longstanding products I like to equate to smartphones. Playing cards are designed to fit in the hand easily, like an iPhone 4. Postcards are a good size for displaying a more detailed image, like a 5"+ smartphone.

We used to consume our news on a 24" 'screen' that could be stowed in a jacket pocket. As a bonus it could also be used to wrap our chips, swat flies or scrunched up and placed in wet shoes. It was called a newspaper.

Dave 126

Re: High performance tablet

You might want to look at the Galaxy S4 Tablet, Snapdragon 845. It has DEX - see recent Reg articles about that - and will act as a second monitor when doing so. DEX optimised software is limited in range, but includes Office 365.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/08/galaxy-tab-s4-review-a-solid-android-tablet-a-too-quirky-android-desktop/

Really though, Android tablets have always been limited in quality software, since most people who use tablets for more than watching stuff have an iPad - and developers know it. It's too easy to sideload apps onto Android, so developers don't see much return.

It's not just Apple's fault that Android tablets are neglected - Google is working in combining / replacing Android on Tablets with Chrome OS or Fuschia.

Dave 126

Re: Nobody buys Samsung anymore....

S8, my first Samsung since feature phone days. Interface is fine - easy to swap softkeys back to Android default, Bixby not hard to disable, some Samsung stuff actually useful. I had been on Nexus before and had been fearing TouchWiz, but Samsung's Android is fine these days. Crazy right?

Received OTA update to Oreo, receiving regular security updates, expect Pie down the line but not fussed about it. Sadly no Project Treble on S8 ( unlike the S9 and the Note 9). Since the the Note 9 has Treble, comments about Samsung's historical update record are irrelevant.

Clap, damn you, clap! Samsung's Bixby 2.0 AI reveal is met with apathy

Dave 126

Re: "Because speaking a trivial command out loud is still too intrusive"

There's Chorded Typing - silent, and can be invisible too - can be done in one's pocket if needs be.

I've not learnt it, but apparently it doesn't take too long to do so.

Dave 126

If I could natively remap the Bixby hardware button to Flashlight, that would be lovely. As it is, I've taken a scalpel to my phone case, slicing off the bump above the Bixby button to make the volume bumps easier to locate by touch.

Still, it isn't necessary to install Lineage OS to get rid of Bixby.

Encryption doesn't stop him or her or you... from working out what Thing 1 is up to

Dave 126

Re: There's a war brewing

> Well IoT which is dumbed down so that even idiots can use it is usually the problem.

No, it's the poor design of the kit. People will assume that a piece of kit is fit for the purpose for which it is sold. The company making the kit employs experts who should (and actually do) know better, but they often aren't given the time and money required to do a good job (competing on price, competing to be first to market).

Dave 126

Re: No shit, Sherlock

I've seen LED light arrays sold in Lidl as 'television simulators' to give the impression through net curtains that there is somebody inside a house.

It won't be long til someone writes some code to produce spoof IoT traffic with the same intent.

Dave 126

Re: So, if you care, don't use IoT.

Apple cares about security in HomeKit, but they just haven't been that enthusiastic about HomeKit generally - little updating of a clunky UI and insistence on an Apple TV acting as a hub. I might be that their analysts saw something like ARM's mBed platform or a joint venture gaining more traction, or they were just playing the wait and see game.

3rd party HomeKit gizmos had to contain Apple chips and pass Apple's scrutiny - costly and time consuming for vendors, especially if they saw people buying cheap insecure stuff.

I don't need home automation... yet. But I'm still young. We've seen medical devices such as pacemakers with security vulnerabilities, but the answer is not to stop making pacemakers (obviously!), the answer is to improve security. With an aging population Tele-Medince, which is a form of IoT, will have a role to play, as will a bit of home automation to ease the lives of the physically frail.

Dave 126

Re: Speaking of a war ...

Indeed, what these researchers have done is very far from novel - information about communication can be valuable to an adversary even if they don't know its contents - but I'm sure their work is still valuable.

The concept is even in popular culture - "I'm detecting a lot of chatter over the Covenant battle net" says Cortana in the video game Halo, i,e, I have reason to think the enemy is up to something even if I don't know what they're up to.

Is Apple going ease off its HomeKit chokehold? Sure looks like it...

Dave 126

Re: will need hubs or gateways?

By all accounts the HomeKit stuff was secure, but it came at a extra cost, and Apple taking a few months to certify a gizmo discouraged kit makers. Also, Apple just didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about it, and hadn't put much effort into the HomeKit UI.

The relative popularity of Alexa caught Google and Apple by surprise. It might also be that the flood of cheap and leaky IoT gadgets on the market gave the sector a bad name.

Time to party like it's 2005! Palm is coming BAAAA-ACK

Dave 126

Re: The mistake of a non compatible OS....

Before Sony Ericsson, Sony made the fanciest Palm OS device there was, covered in buttons, a colour screen (gasp!) swivelling bits and and a camera. See Sony Clie, PEG UX50 or PEG NR70.

I miss Crazy Sony.

ZX Spectrum Vega+ blows a FUSE: It runs open-source emulator

Dave 126

If Reg HQ did have a micro USB OTG cable ( micro usb male > USB A female cable) kicking around, they could probably run a better Spectrum emulator experience than the Vega by connecting a gamepad to an Android phone.

Wondering what to do with that $2,300 burning a hole in your pocket?

Dave 126

Re: If Tim Cook says decent AR goggles aren't possible yet

> Apple bought multitouch technology buying a smaller company. Breakthroughs not always happen in big R&D centres.

For sure - that's my point: Apple know what others in the industry are doing, from big rivals, through Original Equipment Manufacturers, to tiny interesting start ups. If for example there's a company doing interesting stuff with optics that could be applied to AR, Apple will have noticed. I wasn't saying it will be Apple that will create the first really good AR system, I said Tim Cook's comments that the tech required - industry wide (display, optics, silicon performance ) - isn't there yet has been vindicated by Magic Leap's lackluster developer units.

Apple combined FingerWorks' bought IP with the fruits of a Touch UI skunk works team from within Apple. - a big R&D budget means you can employ people to explore avenues that initially look unpromising. Similarly, the iPod was based around another companies HDDs. The combination of good ingredients is a skill - and often an expensive process - in itself.

Dave 126

Re: TBH I'd thought they solved this problem decades ago.

It's a different issue. This isn't VR's issues of tracking headset motion, this is AR with issues of tracking physical objects. Yeah, they'll be some tricks and techniques learnt from developing VR, but AR presents its own challenges.

Dave 126

Re: So they tell us version 2 and 3 are already on the way?

A lot of what makes this headset expensive ( the AR lenses and room tracking) wouldn't benefit it use for flight sims. A VR headset would be a better match, and far cheaper. If you're interested, I'd hunt for some flight simulator forums, see how others have got on with it.

- there's a really cheap option, an IR emitter you wear on your head to track where you look. I hear it works well with flight / space sims.

Dave 126

Developers needs hardware, and the current price isn't crazy compared to developer workstations or the MS Hololens.

However, this version bears out Tim Cook's comment from last year: "The technology doesn't yet exist for an AR experience that isn't rubbish". And there's the thing - what does Magic Leap have that others can't do once the technology improves? A patent here or there maybe, but there's more than one way of skinning a cat (patents are for the *how*, not the *what*.)

Microsoft are taking the sober approach, targeting professional markets with long standing form for buying pricey visualisation kit (architecture, plant engineering etc).

Apple.. well, they've been spending silly money on R&D year on year. They have the custom AR silicon engineers, are researching Micro LED production (very high dpi displays), have form in working with content studios, a proven ability to sell pricey gear to the public, a mountain of cash to buy in any tech they need. If Tim Cook says decent AR goggles aren't possible yet, I'm inclined to believe he knows what he's talking about.

It's a phone with a peel, but you'll have to wait a bit more for retro Nokia

Dave 126

Re: Wasp T12 Speechtool

Thanks Dan 55! Can't remember model numbers, but i was thinking of Nokia with circular keypad, Nokia with scroll wheel instead of keypad, and Nokia that looked like a cubic lipstick with no keypad at all. Strewth. See the Nokia documentary on BBC iPlayer for how non-native Nokians were screwing things up.

You were only likely to see the lipstick phone in the wild if you kept the company of young women at the time.

Dave 126

Re: "and never twice the same power connector even between similar phone models"

I wasn't thinking of the N8; can't remember which Nokia it was that couldn't charge through its Mini USB data port, which is why I deliberately used the word 'some'.

Only drawing 500mA when in data mode was common to a lot of devices back then - many devices would only draw more if they detected the data lines on a cable were shorted, supposedly to protect a computer. This wasn't the case with the Nokia in question (during the era of a gazillion Nokia models, c. 2006) - it just wasn't charging through mini USB at all.

Dave 126

Re: Wasp T12 Speechtool

It doesn't have an extra large 5, but during Nokia's hubristic era they released phones with keypads even dafter.

Dave 126

Some Nokia phones that had both round pin and mini USB ports couldn't charge through the mini USB port - it was for data only (trust us, we tried). You're right though, compared to others Nokia was well behaved over its power connectors - and a Nokia charger could be found nearly anywhere. However, there was still a period when their lower end feature phones didn't have a 3.5 mm headset socket.

Dave 126

The Nokia phone prop used in the Matrix film was modified with a spring opening mechanism that wasn't present in the stock model.

I liked the slider form factor - there was a Samsung feature phone c. 2005 (when Samsung ran billboard ads for three models, proclaiming the world's thinnest slider phone, candy bar phone and flip phone) I had that I got on well with - save for faults common to every phone vendor ( Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson) back then - no 3.5mm headphone socket, and never twice the same power connector even between similar phone models.* When you finished a call you slid the keyboard cover back with a satisfying thunk - no pocket calls.

* Til the EU pushed for MicroUSB. We'll see more of this topic later today, because the EU is now pushing to mandate USB-C on waste reduction grounds, even though wall chargers haven't typically incorporated the cable for a decade. As for wall chargers themselves, were seeing incompatibility, since we have Qualcomm's adaptive charging (seen in Samsung phones, even the Exynos versions) and incompatible weird stuff from the likes of OnePlus. They'll all charge at 5v 2.1 A, but they won't fast charge (at 9v in the Qualcomm case) incompatible phones. Android phones have always been a mess with their connectors, since not all have supported USB OTG over micro USB, and USB - C is already muddied, with some phones not supporting USB Audio properly.

I'm an Android user, and so I note with interest the range of quality 3rd party Lightning peripherals, such as 3D scanning, audio and imaging peripherals.

Top Euro court: No, you can't steal images from other websites (too bad a school had to be sued to confirm this little fact)

Dave 126

I don't follow your case you make for abolishing copyright. What you're saying is that there are so many images available of any subject that it should be trivial to find a non copyrighted image of the desired subject. This seems no reason to abolish copyright, since market forces would suggest that you can find a suitable copyright-free image, or one you can licence for 1p.

Dave 126

Indeed. It seems complicated:

https://www.dacs.org.uk/knowledge-base/factsheets/copyright-in-photographs

Dave 126

Re: Seems a bit churlish...

There was no problem with the image being in the child's school project. The problem was with the school putting the school project online.

Dave 126

Re: how exactly were the school to know of the copyright in the first place?

@Crisp

No one can see you indicate your irony by winking when you use the written word on the internet. ;)

Dave 126

These days you can 'reverse image search', so if there's a specific image you absolutely must use (as opposed to this school project where presumably many photographs of the city would have served just as well) you have a sporting chance of finding the rights holder.

Dave 126

> I think that if your work is copyright then it is your responsibility to ensure that whoever you authorise to use it makes that clear or you add something to image indicating this.

There are many end uses for images where it is undesirable - or impractical - to have a copyright notice. Not only images - imagine a music radio station or Spotify where every music track was followed by a voice stating "Copyright 1996 Polydor Music Inc Unauthorised Reproduction prohibited without explicit permission..." Or similar.

Greybeard greebos do runner from care home to attend world's largest heavy metal fest Wacken

Dave 126

1, it's unclear that they were forced to leave or 'dug their heels in' - the relevant Reg paragraph isn't supported by the source article. The original article merely says that after being contacted by the police the nursing home arranged return transport.

2, There's no mention of these guys' mental capacity - since they are evidently physically fit enough to make it to the festival, one assumes that they might reside in a nursing home due to dementia. Neither the police nor the nursing home may have seen it as their place to disclose the men's medical conditions unnecessarily.

3, It might be that two men didn't have tickets for the festival. That's usually cause to be escorted from festival grounds.

Top tip? Sprinkle bugs into your code to throw off robo-vuln scanners

Dave 126

Re: Also

Good documentation?

Dave 126

Given that released software does contain genuine bugs, it is evident that software devs can't find them all. This suggests bug scanners - and other methods of finding bugs - can't find all bugs all the time.

So if you suspect you have some genuine cracks in your castle wall it does you no harm to paint some some fake cracks as well.

When I first read the article, I was reminded of honey traps - the technique of having fake fake servers that resemble the real thing, so that a, you can detect an attack attempt, and b, attackers waste their time (or if you were being super cunning, come away with fake data that it suits you to have them believe is genuine)

Sur-Pies! Google shocks world with sudden Android 9 Pixel push

Dave 126

Re: I don't see it

Pie will come to your Pixel in the next couple of weeks without your intervention. If you want Pie now, you need to opt into the Android Beta Program to get an OTA update:

https://m.androidcentral.com/how-get-android-pie

There's also a side loading method for Pixel phones if you don't mind a bit of command line.

Dave 126

Re: Its all in the name

Android v.3.14?

Motorola strap-on packs a 2,000mAh battery to appease the 5G gods

Dave 126

Some of the Moto Mod-compatible phones have fairly small batteries because they're slim and designed with extra battery 'backpacks' in mind. This might be an additional reason for the 5G Mod containing a battery.