Posts by Long Fei
128 posts • joined Thursday 14th June 2007 04:31 GMT
How about...
Maybe it's time someone did a similar app for individual police offiers/stations. That way people can look up a cops record and how they score on beatings/false accusations/arrests and so on.
The cop shop data would feature number of arrests and for what, as well as complaint ratios and so forth.
Let's see how they like it.
Noks
On the subway these days (here in Beijing) I'm seeing very few Lumias indeed. Very few. I see quite a lot of Apple's, but 99% of them are old models - hardly any iPhone 5s.
Interestingly, what I am seeing a lot of, certainly more than i5s or SIIIs, are Note IIs. Not sure if that's because I have one myself, or maybe because they stand out more though.
The only Nokia's I see these days are olde cheap models.
Thanks Iain.
Your works will be missed. (As will you of course).
Posted in Review: HTC One
Agree
It really doesn't matter about the features for me if the battery isn't removable and there's no expansion slot. Double fail.
Posted in Reg Hardware Awards 2012: The Winners...
Note?
Why the heck is the Note II classed as a pad? I have a pad, but I also have a phone, the Note II as it happens. Whilst I appreciate there's the 'phablet' label, it's far closer to a phone (because it is a phone) than a tablet.
Still, good to see it up there in the rankings, as it's a really good device. (phone). I'm super pleased with mine.
Wow
You know, I've lived in China for 11 years and I never realized these were banned. Possibly because I'm not a console fan, but also because any large IT mall here has them for sale. Though now I think on it, not so many as I'd have expected.
Several of my friends bought Wii's about five years ago, when they were all the rage. Easily obtainable.
Re: It's now wonder...
It's because they only use copied sw, which comes without a manual, or only in English which they can't read.
How, one wonders
You already have to register, or at least your landlord does, when you get an internet connection here. I'm not sure how they are going to register each and every connection?
As mentioned elsewhere, Macs, Starbucks and some other places need you to send an SMS to a number to get a login to go online, though I think that's as much to stop you sitting there and browsing all afternoon as much as anything (the logins have time restrictions on - Macs is half an hour). Quite a few other places just offer open wifi though.
Plus, let's not forget that Chinese people are infamous for 'finding ways around' all the rules, or just plain ignoring them. It's practically a national pastime.
Nice
That looks surprisingly impressive.
Re: CNXTim & mining
I've lived in China for more than ten years and as a general rule you're right - most of them *are* quite (or indeed very) stupid. However, the thing about China is that there are lots and lots and lots of people doing business, and there's always going to be a, perhaps small, percentage who either aren't stupid or are lucky or both. Thus, due to the sheer number of people involved, even with a small percentage, that means there's a lot of very good (or lucky or both) businessmen too. And after some time this will be subjected to Darwinism and we'll have more and more Chinese who actually know what they're doing.
As for the rare earths thing, I thought it wasn't so much the mining, which is relatively easy, but the processing, which is relatively not/and or polluting. With the industrial base to process such, China's 'hold' came in this area rather than just digging the stuff out of the ground.
Yah
I'm with Astrill, and they keep sending me update notices on this.
*Currently* OpenWeb works still, for websites, but Astrill's OpenVPN fails nine times out of ten. Ah well, I generally only use my VPN for surfing the net to get to blocked sites, but if that goes under it will be a *major* pain.
Re: iPhone 5 still isn't released in China
But it's very easy to buy one non the less. I'd say a fairly high percentage of these phones are the semi-legal imports from HK,
Re: Cost
There may be many millions who can't afford one, but there are also many millions who can easily afford them. There are a lot more rich Chinese than people think.
I've been seeing a lot of iPhones recently, but they seem to be non-5 models (bit hard to tell with these small Apple phones sometimes). I've also been seeing lots of Galaxy Notes, though not so many S3s. Of course, that could be because the Note's are easier to spot. There do seem to be a fair number of HTC Ones too.
Then again, most locals here seem to have generic looking brands I can't readily identify.
As far as pads go, most non-subway pads I see are big iPads (rather than the new one), but on the subway the smaller Chinese ones are most visible. Though with the crush underground that's possibly not surprising either.
loyalty
Quite right. I feel no shame at all in that.
I'll certainly buy the best product. Unlike the legions of Apple fanboi's who slavishly buy the latest iWhatever, despite being rather technically lame and highly overpriced.
where?
" be stripped of their citizenship and exiled."
Exiled to *where*, exactly? I doubt there would be any country in the world willing to take in fifty thousand fat Yank rednecks.
Then again, maybe one* of the countries the US has upset where they could be used for target practice. Or maybe a starving nation, to be cut up and used for food. T
*Take your pick.
Blocked
I can't say I noticed any difference yesterday, though Google search was unresponsive that's a fairly regular thing here, I've stared using Bing to search recently on non VPN'd machines.
Gmail is fine at the moment. (Sat afternoon).
...from Beijing.
Beijing
By coincidence,I took the Beijing underground at rush hour for the first time in ages yesterday, and did a similar survey. I saw only four pads being used (if you think London is crowded, try Beijing). One was an iPad, one was a small Lenovo model of some kind, whilst the other two I couldn't identify, but were too small to be ipads.
As an aside, nearly all phones I saw were Android (there was one HTC Windows), mixed with a few old Nokias and only one iPhone. Most of the Android phones were local brands.
Locations: North half of line 5 and along a long chunk of line 1. Both Apple products were on line 5, and the general level of phones seemed to be newer and nicer than on line 1. Not sure what that tells us though.
Re: Penny wise, pound foolish.
"renewable energy (aside from hydro-, and in some places geothermal) will never become load-bearing"
I'm not saying that renewables will ever rival nooclia, but this is a bit of a sweeping statement. The tech will no doubt advance. Who knows what the future will bring?
Anyway, I'm all for trying these clean energies. I'd rather see money 'wasted' on these than the trillions currently pumped into the military.
Re: the other apps are just gimmicks
I agree 100% about the maps. Nokia's map app was wonderful on my last phone (N97, and no, don't knock it, it worked just fine for me).
When Nokia announced they would drop Symbian for Windows I was so disgusted I went out and bought an Android phone, which I was/am very happy with... except the maps. The Nokia map app beat the Google one hands down. I want the whole country on my phone, without having to be online.
There are some map apps for Android that do this, but they're just not up to snuff, IMHO,
Chinese
Actually, the Chinese tend to buy whatever is seen as 'cool' (in their opinion, which can be odd). I saw many iPhones a year or so ago, they were the 'hot' product then. They aren't as loyal to the brand as many in the US as it's not a Chinese phone of course.
Then HTC was 'in', and everyone was buying those. These days they seem to be all about the newer, bigger ones. I've seen a lot of Samsung's, both SIIIs and Notes lately, for some reason. No doubt it will swing back to Apple some when the new one comes out.
The price of an iPhone here is usually about 4-6k RMB, depending on what model and where it was made (eg: HK or mainland). A shiny Samsung S3, by comparison, is about 4-4.5k RMB at the moment (I've been looking, 'cos I'm going to buy one). The price is also different depending upon color!
As an aside, the Apple store that has been in Lido hotel* for ages has been replaced by a Samsung one! I laughed.
*Lido hotel is a very well known, high end, 'laowai'/business hangout here in Beijing.
Re: Hang on, hang on...
As someone who's lived in China for more than ten years, I can tell you that China is the most capitalist country I've ever seen, and that includes the US. Seriously, the States have nothing on this place.
Unless
"To qualify for patent protection inventions must primarily be new, take an inventive step that is not obvious and be useful to industry."
- Unless you're Apple, in which case you can patent the wheel. (And then claim you invented it).
Re: Expected
I have my big ol' Windows desktop at home for, well, home use, my Asus Transformer for use as a laptop or casual device and my olde HTC Desire HD for use as a phone. Each has a distinct use, and I can't see myself getting rid of any of them.
I don't take my Transformer with me all the time, but my phone goes everywhere I go, which is probably a fairly normal pattern. I think it highly unlikely that (most) people are going to start using pads as phones as well.
7 inch
Well the answer for Ss here is easy, assuming Apple brings out a smaller pad. Just say that Apple was copying Samsungs *size* and sue back for more.
Korea
I find the Korea responses to be particularly suspect. When I went there recently I don't think I saw* an iphone at all, everyone was using Samsungs, which is understandable considering Korea is home territory for them, much like Apple is in the US.
I've certainly seen a big uptake of Android phones here in China too, whereas last year there seemed to be iphones everywhere.
*Bearing in mind I wasn't taking a survey, it was just something I noticed.
Ya
Here in Beijing they've just upgraded my connection to a fibre link (supposedly 20Mbs), and it certainly is faster than before. However, I've lived in other cities in China, and the service there certainly wasn't as good.
On the plus side, there isn't (doesn't appear to be anyway) any bandwidth limitations per month etc, so that's a big thing, especially as I download all my TV!
Also, remember that most of the people here still live in the countryside, and they're lucky if they have running water and toilets that aren't holes in the ground, let alone an internet connection.
Waste
For the amount it probably spent on the lawsuit trying to stop this, Apple could have probably just bought the bloody patents themselves. It will be interesting to see if they actually try to do that. If not, then it will just show that they were only really trying to mess with Kodak.
Posted in Take a look at atom’s shadow
Wuhh...
"ytterbium, millikelvin..." Your making these words up aren't you? Or copying them from the original Grimm's fairy tales.
;)
Rip off
"Fury at Apple's 'rip-off' plan"
Haha, surely iphanbois should be used to being ripped off?
Re: Flops mission is complete.
Because when the share price is right down MS will be able to pick up all the patents (and maybe any hardware infrastructure) cheap.
Seriously, I doubt Eflop meant to do this, after all it was nearly too late when he joined. Still, I believe he did put the last nail in the coffin by going MS.
I'm very sad about Nokia. I was a big Nokia fan for many, many years, but their lack of impetus and finally their dropping of the new version of Symbian and Meego (both of which, IMO, could have been winners) just before they were ready to go, pis$ed me right off. I defected to Android, and it looks like that's where I'll be staying for the foreseeable future.
Cost?
I'm not sure how much broadband is in the UK, but here in Beijing I pay about 1500RMB a year for a pretty decent connection speed. (I think it's about 40Mb, they just upgraded it).
Also, there's (currently) no bandwidth restrictions. I have to use a VPN to get around the Great Firewall though.
Posted in China and US argue over smog tweets
Feed
Actually quite a few Chinese have apps on their phones that show the US embassy readings. I do (currently a relatively reasonable (for here) 118).
@Nickpaton: You're joking right? If manufacturing moves anywhere, it won't be back west. People will just find another place that's cheap. Maybe Africa or the like. Also, it may be fake goods they make, but the chances are the fakes are made on the same production line as the real ones, just on a 'dark shift'.
China
How do they know there's 500k users in China? If they use a VPN (as I do), then your IP will be from pretty much anywhere else *except* China.
Just curious.
Hours
It's probably also to do with the fact that Chinese bosses like to have their workers in for all hours. It doesn't matter they aren't working, I've seen Chinese staff slumped on their desk asleep often, but they have to be IN.
www.ChinarensBlog.com
Posted in Symbian smacked by Windows Phone
Re: To the haters
Haha, thanks for that post, it made me laugh. I could use a bit of humor today.
As an aside, I was a long term Nokia customer until I couldn't withhold my disgust at their dropping of Symbian (and failure to follow through with Meego). They work for years on a replacement/upgrade and then, just before it's due out, chuck it away? That makes little sense on any level.
I'm not an Android man. Good work Nokia. Way to alienate people.
Posted in Job-seeking IT pro? Head for China
China
Pollution and squat toilets depend where you are in China. I don't even count Shanghai as China, as it could be a modern city in any country in the world. It's certainly not a normal Chinese city. Beijing is more Chinese though, and certainly has squat toilets in many places.
If you go to smaller cities, then yes, squats there.
If you wish to work here and do so for a large multinational in one of the big three cities, or even some of the 'second tier' cities (Qingdao etc), then you're probably going to be more than fine. However, smaller, local, companies will take some getting used to as they probably won't be used to the strange western working habits, such as not randomly being called in for a non-urgent meeting at the weekend. Chinese work habits are... not western work habits.
Pollution is bad in the big cities yes, but coastal cities like Dalian or Qingdao are quite nice.
(I've been living in a number of cities in China over the last ten years, so talking from experience here. My blog about living in China: www.ChinarensBlog.com)
Re: Wifi in China?
There's a fair bit of wifi in Beijing and Shanghai, but out in smaller towns (which means pretty much everywhere else) there are few hotspots.
Wifi is quite common in people's apartments now, though the days when they were just about all unencrypted seem to have passed.
Missed it
The Great Firewall here has become so bad* my VPN is now always on, hence I actually 'missed' this due to not surfing 'au natural', so to speak.
*Or good I guess, depending upon which side of the fence you are sitting on.
www.ChinarensBlog.com - My life in China
MKV
"I've got the original transformer and it does everything I want of a portable device, except play mkv video. "
Don't know what player you are using, but mine can play these no problem. Try downloading a few different players.
Yeah, looking a bit envious at this new one, but can't afford an upgrade. Still, my original Transformer is fine, and I've been using it to replace my old laptop with no real problems. (Except for printing stuff, but I can work around that).
Ah
They put the batteries in backwards.
Understandable
I can understand the figures shown. I still believe that, yes, whilst many people have a legit use for a pad (of any denomination), their (the pads I mean) functionality is limited for most people.
I'm not an Apple fan, but the pad is nice to use (some friends have them). However, I own an Asus Transformer because I simply couldn't justify *any* pad for my daily usage.
Yes, sometimes I detach my AT's screen and use it as an ebook, but 90% of the time it's attached to its keyboard and is used as a laptop (with looaadds of battery life).
I do have a few niggles with it, but that's just because it's not yet a mature system. I have confidence the few features lacking will be added eventually.
Also Starbucks
As already mentioned, Macs already record your phone number, and also Starbucks (at least here in Beijing) now does this as well.
I'm just more careful where I visit using these, though I also tend to use a VPN about 95% of the time these days, as so much of the net is blocked otherwise.
www.ChinarensBlog.com
Posted in Native Gmail app coming to iPhone, iPad?
Whut?
I don't use the native email app on my Android, and I'm fairly sure most people don't rank that highly when choosing their phone!
Mountain out of a molehill here.
Yep
My HTC Desire HD has been great. No probs at all, except for when I dropped it and broke the screen.
That was quickly replaced though.
Posted in BioWare Baldur's Gate
Agree!
Yes indeed, a fantastic game. Could stand up to anything available today even, IMO.
Bah.
As soon as I read about the whole Gmail/Dali Lama thing I groaned, knowing some of my Google connectivity would suffer. Just didn't expect it to be the Market, which I can confirm is blocked.
At least I have my VPN. Fking China. Fking Google come to that.
Sigh.
Also
Come to think of it, most Chinese Android users don't use the 'normal' market anyway, but a Chinese version of it, so it seems to be more spiteful than usual.
Optional!
I don't mind paying for something I watch. However, when I lived in the UK I *never* watched the BBC, or the other ones. (really, my TV wasn't even tuned in to terrestrial channels). Yet I still had to pay for them.
I'm fine with having the BBC, but let's have it so that only the people who watch it pay for it. According to the above that's still 4/5s of the population, so should be plenty.
As an aside, I had a friend who worked for the BBC as a manager, and he often boasted to me about how many jollies his chums and he went on on the Beeb's ticket. Great value I'm sure.
Should I ever live in the UK again I won't be getting a TV at all.
