Posts by Dave Fox
158 posts • joined Tuesday 21st November 2006 10:53 GMT
Posted in Review: Samsung Galaxy S4
Except that it isn't though really is it?
It's all very well screaming "£580 for a fucking phone!" if that is all that it was, but for many people these days, it's something else.
I have a Galaxy Note 2, which I absolutely love, but I use it more for apps, web-browsing, movies, music, navigation, and exercising tracking, than I do for making calls. Yes, it's still my primary phone, but on average I probably only use it for 20 minutes or so a day to actually make and receive phone calls. The rest of the the time I'm using it is for its myriad other functionalities, that in years gone by I'd have had to have separate, expensive, devices to accomplish.
If you just want a phone, there are thousands of alternatives out there that do not cost the earth!
Re: Minor correction to quote...
"I don't think" said Heins.
There - fixed again! :)
Re: What gives ANY company the right...
I rather suspect that the point is that the contract relates to the Google services that Google Glass needs to connect to in order to function correctly.
Whilst they can't legally stop you reselling the item, they can prevent the purchaser from accessing the required Google services because the contract for supply of those services isn't transferred with the ownership of the device.
Re: So?
"Lack of needing a password"?
Recently, Play has been asking for my password when I make purchases - usually just the first one, if I make more than one during the same "session".
Re: Acer W510
The original article never mentioned a price point - it was talking about a particular type of machine for use by Roadwarriors, and lamenting the demise of the Netbook!
Most Netbooks are single core, 1GB RAM, 1024x600 screen and an mechanical HD. The W510 is a dual core, 2GB, 1366x768 screen with touch, and uses an SSD, *and* it's a tablet, so making comparisons to a Netbook purely on price isn't really fair because whilst the W510 might look like a Netbook when docked, it is in reality a far more capable and versatile machine.
Acer W510
What you need is an Acer W510.
A truly remarkable little machine - a full Windows 8 tablet/convertible, with epic battery life. Docked, you can get 15+ hours and 9+ as a pure tablet.
Sure, it isn't perfect. Like an Atom based Netbook, desktop performance is exactly stellar but still very usable, as in tablet form running Metro apps it is very speedy, so if Atom netbooks are ok for you, the W510 will be too.
The keyboard is small and cramped and isn't of the highest quality (I think the Asus Transformer keyboards are better), and the trackpad is quite frankly an exercise in frustration but that is slightly mitigated by touchscreen and a bluetooth mouse is always a good thing to have.
I take mine wherever I go for work, along with my Macbook Pro Retina, and use both simultaneously, though I never need to plug in the W510 in unless it needs a charge because I can easily get two to three days usage out of it when I'm using the Macbook as the primary device, and the W510 essentially as a second screen, perhaps RDP'd into a server, or showing a spreadsheet or emails. When I'm back at the hotel, the W510 comes out and usually undocked and then I can lay on the bed bed and watch movies, surf the web etc, which previously I'd have been using an Android tablet to do.
For a road warrior who wants a small laptop with excellent battery life, the Acer W510 is a very good choice. The fact that it is a tablet too makes it an even better choice.
Re: What's the alternative? Aduio rcording and paper/pen
All that proves is that the fellow who used a laptop has no concept of making a backup.
For any important document that I create, I make sure that I have it backed up or synced - often in a variety of places.
The USB drive that I carry with my keys is one such place, as is my phone, but I'm also not averse to using Dropbox, Google Drive, or Evernote.
Your paper notes and audio recordings are far more at risk from loss than a properly backed up electronic version.
Now I'm just waiting "Tin Foil Hat" brigade to chime up about how unsafe it is to keep my data in the cloud...... ;)
"I have never met anyone who had considered replacing it"
I'm guessing you live on a deserted island then, because pretty much every iPhone owner that I know would love something like Swype on their fruit-themed device! Of course, there are some iPhone owners who are oblivious to the idea that other OSs offer a choice of keyboard, but once they know, they generally wish that the iPhone did too.
Don't get me wrong, for a long time, the iOS keyboard was the one to beat, but it is now very, very dated in comparison to Android keyboards like Swiftkey and Swype.
P.S. I originally wrote deserted desert island, but it just looked strange! :)
Posted in Review: Google Nexus 4
Re: Battery life...
Galaxy Note 2 is still thin, and has epic battery life too. I get 9-10 hours of screen on time from mine.
Of course, it's large, but since the 5.5" screen is a selling point, it is intentionally so.
Posted in Review: Google Nexus 4
"The 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm S4 Pro APQ8064 chip that hauls the coal may not feature the new ARM Cortex-A15 architecture used in the Nexus 10 tablet’s Samsung-made 1.7GHz Exynos CPU"
No, and it shouldn't either because Qualcomm don't use off the shelf ARM cores like the Cortex-A15 but rather use their own completely custom silicon which is instruction set compatible with the ARM licensed cores.
In practice, the Krait core in the S4 Pro, whilst most definitely not a Cortex-A15, is architecturally similar and can be considered of the same "generation" as the A15.
Re: Win 8 RT rooted
"The Surface might only have a 720p screen, but it is a 'better' screen than any android tablet to date"
Bad conclusion from what the Display Mate article actually says.
A better conclusion would be:
"The Surface might only have a 720p screen, but it is a 'better' screen than any 10" 1280x800 android tablet to date:"
And yet in in 2013 what OS is running on most desktops in the world?
The problem here is that the desktop is losing relevance in the world of 2013 and beyond.
Devices like the iPad, Surface, Asus Transformer, and internet connected TVs are already supplanting the desktop/laptop in the home, and making inroads into the business world too.
Far, far, too early to signal the death knell of the desktop as we know it, but I do think the traditional laptop is definitely on its way out, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if at the home/office, we all end up with smart docks which we can slip out phones into to provide a more "desktop" like environment, such as the one you can already get for the Galaxy Note II.
Re: Win 8 RT rooted
Hmmm - how about you post the complete set of battery stats from Toms Hardware rather than the single chart that puts the Surface in an appreciably better light?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/surface-windows-rt-battery-life,3346.html
Re: Win 8 RT rooted
I don't know where you get that idea from, but having owned several Android tablets (TF Prime being the latest), and currently rocking a Surface, I can tell you that for my usage patterns, the Surface does not have a better battery life (it's similar) and very much worse when asleep.
And no, I'm not using the dock when I compare the TF Prime to the Surface for battery life.
Run *any* desktop software of their choosing?
Methinks not!
That would be any old desktop app which has been recompiled for ARM, the list of which is exceedingly small.
"they adopted an OS that offers nothing in the way is differentiation"
You clearly missed the point here!
It is not whether WP8 is "different" from Android or iOS, it is that one of the reasons that Elop gave for not adopting Android was being able to differentiate their products from other Android handset manufacturers.
The same logic applies to WP8 - how does Nokia differentiate their WP8 device over say an HTC device? Elop's answer: via their technologies such as Maps, CityLens, imaging etc, but then again Nokia could easily add these technologies to an Android device *and* re-skin due to the open source nature of Android. WP8 is far more limited than Android when it comes to the ability to create product differentiators in the software.
Re: Some comparison...
True dat on the VAT! Journo's do seem to love to distort the price differential by failing to disclose that UK prices include the 20% and in order to make a fairer comparison, you have to remove it.
Two other points here though.
1. A company like Apple will have its entire supply chain priced in USD, so they never have to worry about exchange differences. For non-USD countries, they will almost always convert at an exchange rate which is slightly more advantageous to them, not necessarily to price gouge, but to allow a little slack so that if currebcy exchange rates worsen significantly, they don't have to raise prices. Of course, if the exchange rate improves significantly, they seldom reduce their prices.... ;)
2. In the EU we get a 2-year warranty by law, so I'm sure some of the additional "cost" associated with that warranty is reflected in the prices we pay.
#FAIL
"A statement from Barnes & Noble said the tablets were arriving on shelves at Blackwell's, Foyles, John Lewis, Argos, Asda, Dixons, Sainsbury's and Waitrose"
http://www.johnlewis.com/231809937/Product.aspx
So much for the Nook tablets not being available in the UK!
If Apple's tech is so shit then why is their tablet's screen resolution class leading?
I don't think Apple's tech is shit, but small point of order here - the iPad's screen resolution is no longer class leading, as the Nexus 10 has a higher resolution.
"Who in this world ever apologises when they believe they are 'right' but are told they are wrong?"
Hmmm,
People in danger of being in contempt of court perhaps... ;)
"Even if what's on the card can't be seen by the the device, it's still... a revolutionary approach, no less."
Not really - it's been done before!
When the Motorola Xoom was originally launched, it did so with an SD card slot that the OS couldn't see at all! :)
"Most people are used to finding external media themselves. "
*Most* people would probably never use external media, beyond sticking a DVD or a CD into a laptop. However, having done so, regular Windows would prompt them what they should do with it.
I'm not talking about the tech savvy user here (who are very much in the minority) but the mums, dads, grandads and grandmothers who aren't particularly computer literate.
P.S. Having already "corrected" the error in my original post, it's a more than a little churlish to take me up on it again, don't you think? The point stands that media on your SD card does not end up in your Windows libraries unless you are prepared to jump through hoops to do so, and that is a fail in my opinion. YMMV.
Re: "Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"
Which is what is discussed in the link I posted earlier.... ;)
However, this is *beyond* your average user!
Re: External SD would be fine... if you could install Apps to it
In the interests of fairness, it should be said that later Android devices (i.e. those that shipped with ICS or Jellybean) generally don't support Apps2SD any more. This is because the device is no longer partitioned with a discreet, limited, amount of space for apps, and instead apart from essential /system and a few other partitions, apps and data share the same partition on external storage.
Re: "Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"
@AC 10:07
I probably wasn't very clear - what I meant to say is that internal apps can't see videos on external storage automatically, and add them to the Windows libraries.
You have to manually browse to the SD card and find your videos, rather than just picking "Videos". My Galaxy Note 2 scans internal and external media and presents all the available video files in the Video Player app without me having to explicitly go look for it.
http://www.teamradicus.com/post/Surface-and-SD-Card.aspx
Posted in Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives
Apple is a victim of its own marketing here. No one cared about PPI until Apple introduced the "Retina" display.
I still don't care about PPI - my missus has an iPad 2 and has never complained that the text was "fuzzy", so I'm wondering why I'm hearing people complaining about the iPad Mini when its PPI is higher. The simple facts of the matter are that a 1280x800 screen on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 is more than adequate, and the importance of PPI has been blown out of all proportion.
"Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"
No,
Microsoft make it easy for you to add an SD card to the tablet. However, the built-in apps, such as the Video player etc, can't actually see that additional space rendering it not so usable or easy for the average user to use.
Yes, there are ways and means around this, but they really should've had a media scanner a la Android to automatically scan the external media for playable files.
Got to agree here!
Nokia need to win the hearts and minds of consumers, and making their flagship device a network exclusive is not the way to do it.
Hint for you Nokia - most people don't choose their network based on the phones they carry! They choose their network mostly on price (including allowances), coverage and network reliability (not necessarily in that order!). Orange/TMo/EE fail on 2 of the 3 criteria for me (Price/allowances and coverage) so there's no way I will move to them.
"That's because few people use them as they have a bad reputation generally."
Ahem,
It is a well known fact that 3 carries more data traffic than the other networks, so your post is full of fail! :)
Well, don't try to brush every Apple users a fanboi.
You mean like labelling every Android user a fandroid? ;)
Personally, I wouldn't label all Apple users as fanboi's because I am an Apple user myself - just not an iOS user!
"I know fandroid's are in the majority, but they're never right for common sense"
Yeah - because fandroids are well known for camping outside stores for days on end in all weather in order to purchase the latest Android device.....
Most tablets (that aren't iPads) aren't 16:9 - they are 16:10.
The Surface is 16:9, and I can't see this being particular usable in portrait, but the N7 at 16:10 is very much like a paper back book and the aspect ratio is better suited for video than 4:3.
Re: "No phone should be wider than iPhone models"
Firstly the Note(s) can be configured for one-handed operation, which does work perfectly well, but I don't feel the need to use it (and I'm 5'8", and have regular sized hands) in order to make and receive calls!
That being said, anyone who thinks of the SII or SIII (or the Note/Note II) as just a phone is clearly too stupid to realise that the phone is probably the least part of its function these days. ;)
I use my Note II as my primary media consumption device for web, video, and music. It also happens to be a phone, but I make and receive calls less than I use the device media consumption. Given the primary interface for media consumption is the screen, a larger sized screen makes perfect sense.
Large devices like the Note(s) are not for everyone, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist. I find it rather bizarre when you read reviews of the Note(s) and the reviewer lists the physical size as a "con" when that is one of the USP's of the devices! It's a bit like someone reviewing a Ferrari and listing the fact that it's fast as a "con".
"No phone should be wider than iPhone models"
So when Apple produce a "wider" phone, it will of course be perfectly acceptal because it still fits the "No phone should be wider than iPhone models" mantra! :)
Personally, I'll happily type this from my Retina MBP and read any responses from my equally gorgeous Samsung Galaxy Note II which I've no problem using whatsoever!
Gathering dust?
Don't know where the author got the idea that "most" Transformer keyboards are gathering dust in a drawer somewhere!
I know that I use mine regularly, and so does everyone I know who has a TF (though admittedly that's a fairly small group).
Another vote for the Sony Ericsson P800/P900 range here!
Glad to see the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900 ranges made the grade here.
I had both, and they were fantastic phones - in my opinion these devices running the UIQ flavour of Symbian were the true successors to the Psion Series 5 devices, and it was such a shame that Nokia ruined Symbian by hamstringing ti with such useless UI's as their "Series <whatever>" interfaces.
Whenever I hear some revisionist tosser talking about how Apple "invented" the smartphone, I think back to my P800/P900 phones and sigh!
Posted in Microsoft Surface priced up for Blighty
Re: Office - USP? Really?
Clearly you've never tried to do any *real* work with Android Office suites, because if you had you'd know that they are all incapable of anything other than fairly rudimentary document creation and editing.
Yes, they work to a fashion, but real world spreadsheets are usually more complicated than these suites can deal with.
Posted in Microsoft Surface priced up for Blighty
Why does MS think they can do better?
Simples!
One word - Office.
The Surface has been touted as coming with a near-feature complete version of MS Office. This is a big selling point for many and easily worth a few quid extra.
Whilst I own Apple kit in the form of Macs, for my tablet and phone fix, I'm Android. However, I've pre-ordered the Surface based purely on the fact that it comes with a proper Office suite. I've used pretty much all of the Android Office suites, and tried the iPad equivalents too, and none of them is capable of replacing MS Office for my requirements.
Surface and Windows RT may just change all that, and I'm prepared to take a punt on it.
Re: Oh no...
Had precisely the same reaction here too.
I've not even given Mike Singleton and his games a second thought in what must be 20 years, but the memory of his work lingers on to this day!
RIP Mike - 61 is no age to go.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review
One can only assume that when you talk about "human" hands, you are referring to members of your particular pygmy tribe, and not the human race as a whole! :)
My hands are average size at best, and I have no trouble holding or operating the OG Note with one hand, and I don't look daft when using it as phone.
I really do wish people would stop using terms like "too big" when discussing the Note and Note II unless it is accompanied by the words "for my purposes" so some other such qualification.
I have no use for an iPhone, but that doesn't mean I think they are useless - just that they don't suit my own particular needs and requirements. And it's not because I'm an Apple hater either - the 4 Macs in my house, including the particularly lovely Retina Macbook Pro I'm typing this on, are a testament to that! :)
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review
It isn't going to sell like an iPhone because, wait for it, it's not an iPhone!
It is, however, going to sell extremely well for what is essentially a niche smartphone at the top end of the market, which is exactly what the original Note did.
Samsung don't have a one-size-fits-all mentality, and therefore produce a range of devices to suit consumers who like a bit of choice.
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review
WTF?
Guess you've never heard of replaceable MicroSD cards then?
Need more films, carry more MicroSD cards! It's not exactly rocket science is it? ;)
Posted in Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review
Multi-tasking
Don't know if the ROM on the review model has it, but there's also split screen multitasking on later ROMs if you hold down the back button. Apparently, the first batch of UK Note II's didn't get this feature, but will get an OTA to add it.
http://www.talkandroid.com/134347-samsung-highlights-multitasking-feature-on-galaxy-note-ii-smartphone-in-new-promo-video/
That should add a few percentage points to the score! :)
Re: Not even related.
"Is it unreasonable to think that if we dropped all the pay walls around scientific research that research would thrive?"
Yes, I'm afraid it is!
Whether we like it or not, we live in a risk/reward society, and that is what drives an awful lot of scientific endeavour and research.
Why would company X invest billions to develop say, a new cancer drug, if company Y could immediately pick up their work and produce their own generic version of the drug having incurred none of the development costs?
In such a world, for every company X there would be hundreds of company Y's leeching off them taking most of the revenue and driving the innovators out of business.
Patents do serve a purpose when applied to the right areas - it's just that in my opinion, for the most part, software isn't one of them.
British spyware?
Developed by a German conglomerate, and sold by one of their subsidiaries that just happens to be UK based???
So why is this British as opposed to German? And more to the point, in this day of globalisation, why does it matter where the company is from?
When is a patent not a patent?
I've nothing against inventors patenting their work, but it should only apply for genuine invention!
Take a smartphone for example - there's an awful lot of real invention in a smartphone. The capacitive touch screen, invented nearly 50 years ago, is one such example of a real invention.
"Slide to unlock" though - where's the invention in that? When I my shed door I have a bolt that I have to "slide to lock" - it's an action, not an invention. The same with "Pinch to zoom". "Bounceback" also just mirrors some real world effects.
In my opinion, these sorts of items should never have been patentable. Some may disagree and I respect that, but the figures that Apple were bandying about for licensing this "technology" was just absurd - $30-$40 dollars per smartphone or tablet? Frankly unbelievable - even if you believe these sorts of patents should exist, the licensing for them should be in the single cents per unit, or perhaps even lower than that.
The decision to validate some of these ludicrous patents by finding Samsung in breach of them *isn't* good for the consumer and it *is* a damning indictment of the patent system, particularly in the US.
Re: In fact
Sorry, but I have a Galaxy Note and have absolutely no problem whatsoever putting in my trouser pockets, and I'm not exactly a giant!
Who were you talking to, Smurfs? ;)
(Ok, "iOS, Android and WP7 only have one real browser. Not true of the others." WTF??
How do you work that out?
Android has at least 3 real browsers in my opinion - Opera Mobile, Firefox, and all those using the stock Webkit rendering engine (so are all essentially the same). I'm not even certain that Chrome for Android doesn't use it's own "internal" version of Webkit, so it is possible that Chrome for Android is a "4th" browser.
Not really new at all
As has been previously stated, this isn't really new at all. I've been using the TMo £10 for 50mb for a couple of years now using a prepaid SIM for most of the period as I'd already shifted to Three for unlimited "domestic" data.
The new Three £5 per day unlimited is much better though IMO - travelling for business for 3 days, I'd often consume the 50mb within a day and have to cough up another £3.
Let them build it!
I say let EE build their LTE network at 1800MHz.
Whilst this will definitely give them a competitive advantage of their rivals, I suggest this can mostly be mitigated against by mandating that they cannot have anything other than month by month rolling contracts for services provisioned over that network.
That way when the other operators do manage to get enough spectrum to deploy their own LTE networks, customers using EE's LTE network can jump ship immediately if they so wish as they won't be tied into long term contracts.
