Posts by the-it-slayer

"After them vandalising and being violent to their own app (Hailo), this disruption and massive reverse publicity Black Cabs are just their own worst enemy. Rather than realising the challenge they face and meeting it head on with a great marketing campaign and a great service they fall back to the tired old methods of the past. Once the economics of driving a cab start to suffer they will blame the Mayor, TFL, Hailo, Uber, the public, the media etc but they will spend no time looking back and reflecting their own actions and whether they could have seen this coming and adapted."

Totally disagree. Uber is another attempt to appease to the "I want this, I want that now crowd". Okay, maybe the black cab community are bit short-sighted in the technology race, but I DO NOT want automisation to be the winner such a renowned and excellent service which the black cabs already offer.

I've never had problems with black cabs. It's the quick solution when public transport fails or won't meet the needs to move stuff around. I used one yesterday to shift my girlfriend's suitcase and numerous bags. Having a driver who's personality wins outright of the customer shows why black cabs have lasted the test of time. He knew exactly where to go without wasting time on a faffy GPS system. There's already private firm apps that are already available for specific-need users or anyone outside zone 1/2 of London which I've used without fail.

Uber is an attempt to spoil the amazing institution and undermines the services of the black cabs we already have. If Uber end up being the public service of Addison Lee (awful on the roads in general), then I'll refuse to use them. TfL should backup the black cabs and offer them a solution to the digital world (via their apps and website). Not the other way round. Any cost savings via Uber are going to be minimal anyway. The cost of running cars + petrol + maintenance is not going to be any different to black cabs. In a way, slowly destroying the black cabs will ruin a tourist recognition that's essential for a city to be trusted and thrive.

Re: Apple is simply bloody minded - and is out to shaft it's Customers

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery" - keep this in mind fellow human being. because apple is apple, are they not allowed to create products based on the best ways of doing things?

People wouldn't buy them if they disagreed with simpler repairs rather than bustling with 3rd party repair shops (who in my previous experience are always wanting to stump more money than it's worth to the customer). It is like Apple aren't allowed to do anything positive to streamline their business practises. Go into shop (Apple are trying to open more and more as time goes by), offer device, get replacement or repair and off you go.

Would anyone want to tolerate Dell's practise of spend 3 hours diagnosing issue with a scripted customer service assistant, box the laptop, insure it yourself, see it go overseas, wait 3 weeks for it come back and then receive it more broken than when it was sent. Different product type I know, but that's the same from what I've heard off other Android manufacturers. Okay, having a phone isn't a right. But it's an essential now-a-days. Who has the spare cash or phone to wait 3 weeks for a fix or replacement to come back.

Well done Apple in my opinion. Dismantling Apple products must be great for recyclers getting easy access to the simple parts rather than deal with screws.

Arse to their Microsoft Word document

Problem is... people don't know their arse to their Microsoft Word document most of the time in the home or office-scape. Especially when Word (AFAIK) conceals each document under the same icon. You'd need to understand what a file extension is to avoid opening a malicious document.

Even worse, someone could easily send a mass *.doc/*.docx and disguise an RTF underneath as the later versions will auto detect the format?

Oh oh.

Re: 4k

"Smart TVs failed to take off" - That's because TV manufacturers cannot write software. Especially with effective and intuitive UI elements. I played with my parent's new Panasonic 50" Smart TV. Jesus christ. Navigating with the normal remote is a struggle, but then try using the touch-sensitive remote they provide. It's so bloomin' sensitive! And there's no logic to what content is where. Just loads of boxes on a screen with labels.

"3D screens failed to take off" - There's never been much of a market for 3D. Only sport/movies have adopted the tech. Mainstream TV (like the Beeb/ITV) will never touch it because of the cost. Especially when their expenditure is being squeezed all the time. I love 3D, but it's a pain for glasses users too.

Mobile TV (via tablets/phones) are the way forward. Once TV makers have figured out that being able to push TV channels via the TV itself wirelessly to mobile devices (to take on Sky's Multiroom/houses with slow internet connections), then people will have a desire to upgrade. 4K will be only relevant to 40"+ TVs.

"Far more powerful than any Apple kit. And a screen that you can actually read without glasses..."

It's not a book, it's a phone. And the PPI is very similar, so invalid case already. Unless you're blind of course, which you might be...

Re: So many Anonymous Cowards

The hardware war in the smartphone market is not really a concern any more (especially in the Android landscape as it took a while for to catchup). It's down to software choice and user experience that determines purchases on the mid to high range phones.

If Google are sticking the dagger into Samsung by making vanilla Android much better, then people will go for the cheaper options (Nexus range). As Samsung aren't a Nexus hardware maker, they're going to lose out if the S5 fails to deliver a better experience which is probably more difficult now Google have got Android vanilla in order.

For me, iOS7 wins on that regard as hardware specs are too similar for anyone to win in that field (unless it drastically improves the user experience within the software domain - i.e. Apple's TouchID).

Camera pixels, screen resolutions, CPU/Memory, storage are reaching slow improvements.

The Blackberry 10 OS is pants and full of bugs having used the Z10 for 6 months from launch. Apps became too important to me when they were slow to appear and major devs were lazy to implement native apps. Windows Phone... I'd probably like if it was a smaller screen estate rather than the 4.5" phones it's hosted on.

Best thing to do is for Samsung to rip up Android and do it themselves by taking themselves out of the OHA. Do the brave thing and stand out by reworking Android themselves by forking it.

Re: Tim Cook, can you really be this dumb?

Why are the Apple-haters getting on this so quickly? To be honest, I'd want to use Touch-ID WITH a pass-code. That way, you stump hackers and thieves with 2-factor authentication. I don't think that's possible yet, but I can see that happening in an update.

For the consumer = result!

By the way, this was never going to be a military grade fingerprint scanner. Not even for millions of units sold and for all the money Apple has. It's the execution of the fingerprint tech where most other companies have failed to make it quick and easy to use. Convenience will win over security sometimes in consumer devices; that's life. Even for luxury brands.

I did read that 50% of iPhone users don't even lock their phone. If this encourages it, then all for the better for offering a basic protection mechanism that's simple to use.

And the media claiming this is a hack (being claimed on other sites)... hardly. Let's see them hack the firmware/software to get the fingerprint data first and then reproduce the fingerprint from that data.

Re: Blackberry don't deserve to be in the market...

The 5C is better than you think. And I dislike the 5/5S design. Some personal choices there. Even a 5C is a huge step up.

Re: KitKat?

There will be some specially branded Android Kit-Kats on sale in their big selling countries. The only good thing Google has done since the birth of the bloated mobile OS.

This is why Apple is sitting on top of the mobile podium. They managed to bully control on updates etc over mobile carriers who are mostly good for nothing with it comes to the smartphone arena.

Re: This article is missing something...

Even the free apps try to encourage you to buy their PRO counter parts. Maybe I should of said a "reliance" on an app store to fulfil people's requirements (app stores cost money to run/promote). Again, iOS/Android are too app-centric. Any major development to the basic communication frameworks (messaging/e-mail/calls etc) have barely been touched.

Re: Oh FFS - It's like Google have chosen to forget the past.

Patented by the slayer, or I wish! Why not place small low-res OLED/eink keys (rather than making it totally flat) in the QWERTY format as a start? Again, would save experts in audio/video/gaming having to place stickers over the top of keyboard for shortcuts. That would make a start until you could create a screen that physically changes shape so you didn't have to type on a flat surface.

Come on Apple, make me one damn it! That's technology worth paying for.

Re: Obviouslky! _is_ Eadon. Discuss.

@toothpick - possible the same person with a personality disorder? or just teenagers with nothing else better to do. they only seem to run riot in the holidays/weekends.

Re: Willy Gates Melinda

True my friend. It wasn't Microsoft was late to the party, it executed it's own party poorly and almost crushed the PDA/Early-smartphone market into submission because it was very terribly run. Sometimes someone else has to make a mistake first before another company can learn from those without any cost and then succeed (like Apple's case with the iPhone). Right time, right product, right opportunity.

Google just took the easy option and sold Android to the cheapest bidder (open-source parts of it). Anyone will be happy to take software for nothing.

Re: Not just for loyalists

@TheVogon - Blackberry are in a death spiral. No Eco-System, only one manufacturer of the technology, and becoming increasingly irrelevant in the enterprise.

I can't see them being attractive to enough consumers at ~ £500 a handset to survive. This handset isnt even available until April btw!

Such a biased and pessimistic view on things here. Take a hard look at WP8. It's hardly made a dent in it's first 6 months (regardless of Nokia making a lucky break in profits this quarter that still shocks me). There are hundreds millions of Blackberries still being used out there who are potential buyers of the new BB10 series. Quite nicely, we now have some clear intentions for each device.

Z10 being the glossy flagship device.

Q10 being the fan's choice or an upgrade from an older BB10 who want a more powerful model

I guess 1 or 2 others are on the way after the Q10 release that will cater for the developing countries who don't want to jump to a higher quality BB.

There is an eco-system that's growing at a faster rate. Who cares if it's a one manufactuer tech; Apple have survived with an integrated system. BB still have that luxury unlike Android vendors who get screwed over on every update release. And who says that this phone will be £500? It'll probably fit the £300 - £450 category (hopefully lower end) so we'll see contracts with no upfront fee (including the fact the necessary £5 BB add-on for their BIS servers is now gone). BB will get competitive and the odds of them taking a healthy 3rd place behind Apple and Google is strong.

After seeing the pictures in this post, I may wait after my contract in March comes for renewal. By then, I'm hoping the new iPhone rumours will kick in and that the disappointment of another mediocre iPhone release will steer me away from iPhone's.

Re: I'm worried...

Stuff the fact they'll be 30 minute episodes. Look at what they did to Postman Pat. CGIed it, PCfied it and all the magic around the original was gone.

Re: Destined for failure

I actually had a play in one of the EE shops in London. The OS is superfast! Much quicker going between apps than iOS on my iPhone 4 (admittedly running iOS6 that is two generations newer). Especially flicking up from the bottom which will throw you back onto the multi-task menu. The virtual keyboard text predicter that you can flick your thumb towards suggest words is superb.

Hardware is solid and not overly too big. I even compared it to the Lumia 820 and god that is huge! As much as I had reservations about anything larger than 3.5" or the equivalent across, the Z10s size is spot on.

My worry is applications, but the big players in the mob app business will want their app spot on rather than half-baked. I don't get the negativity/reservations here. This is a tech site and we should be support newer devices that at least try to break the boundaries of the norm. The Z10 definitely does that!

...and Samsung have lost all the cash already in that 5% stake when they only sell less than 10,000 of things and Wacom crash.