Copy cats
Talking of the inscrutable Chinese ability to spot & reject faux iPhones, is it really wise of Samsung to release the S6 on to such a discerning market!
Posts by Green Nigel 42
178 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Oct 2012
Apple storms to top spot in stagnant Chinese phones market
Tesla Powerwall: Not much cheaper and also a bit wimpier than existing batteries
Tuesday 5th May 2015 12:29 GMT
Re: Back of a fag packet calc/guess!
It would be interesting to know if Tesla have built in extra capacity into its battery array to enable the 80/20 charge cycle to be applied by its charge management system .This would help along with careful cooling towards reaching their claimed 10 years service life.
Monday 4th May 2015 15:44 GMT
Re: Back of a fag packet calc/guess!
When I first looked into this I found like you that most deep cycle batteries, that their service life is around 300 to 500 charge cycles. It does appear with batteries, as with most things, you get what you pay for, The 230Ah Victron Gel lead calcium grid batteries are £340 each & almost 1 and a half times the price of the cheapest, it was also significantly larger being 410x176x227mm.
However as you implied, without the data sheet to back it, 12 years Design life could mean any thing, such as only as a designed for a 25% discharge limit from full to achieve 12years life, as you stated.
There are batteries by Trojan (T105 RE) which claim 1000 discharge cycles to 80% from full or 10 year life, at a reasonable £110 (to good to be true?) and industrial quality Solar-One flooded batteries which employ HuP technology which there SO-6-85-21 can deliver 1000Ah, +2100 80% discharge cycles from full for 20 years plus at £2000. So you pays your money & takes your choice!
In all cases, it still makes the Tesla Powerwall look good value if it can live up to the spec/hype!
Monday 4th May 2015 11:41 GMT 
Back of a fag packet calc/guess!
I have just attempted to priced up an equivalent spec'd 7.KWh system using deep cycle Lead/Gel batteries applying :
1. Batteries do not go below 50% of capacity to ensure pre-longed life.
2.Inverter efficiency 90%.
3. Gel filled to enable rapid charging.
4. There is always enough surplus charge off the solar panels to charge.
5. Life expectancy greater than 10 years.
So required capacity (7000 W x 2) / (0.9 x 12V) = 1296Ah which is also 56.Mega joules.
This can be achieved using 11 off 135Ah Gel deep cycle which Victron sell at around £340 each,
so 11 batteries come in at £3700 ( as Victron claim of 12 years design life. )
If one includes an inverter/charger then add another £3500, (Does the Tesla solution include an inverter/charger or just a power management?)
If Tesla sell a 7kWh at £1875 ($3000), then this is quite competitive when compared with an equivalent specified Lead/gel battery set up at £3500, especially as Tesla have a 10 year guarantee vs the average 2-5 years for Lead/gel batteries)?
I do admit these are back of fag packet calcs and am unsure to how makers arrive at Ah ratings, some quote Ah capacity for a 12v battery to the point in time where it only outputs 10.5V. (30% charge remaining) So I am ready to be corrected & learn!
Apple to devs: Watch out, don't make the Watch into a, well, a watch
Wednesday 29th April 2015 14:48 GMT
Re: Time up
Note my caveat about clearly notifying the end customer prior to purchase of the restrictions.
This is common practice with software you buy, which you agree to by ticking that box after reading the small print (like we all do!!). You do not own that but you buy the use of it. Apple have appeared to have taken this one stage further by applying it to the hardware they design, have manufactured & market so annoyingly seductively.
So what are you buying?, The agreed use of it!
The question is, were these restrictions & the permission to add more retrospectively, presented clearly to you before you bought in?
Yes another reason I do not own/lease Apple devices.
Wednesday 29th April 2015 10:46 GMT
Time up
As has been previously stated, its Apple's hardware & Apple's OS, that is why they can get away with what can & cannot go on their device's without the fear of restrictive trading practice actions .(as long as the end customer understands this prior to purchase, there is not a probem).
No one is forced to buy the iWatch & or any of there other devices. Don't like it then vote with your wallet.
Steely wonder? It's blind to 4G and needs armour: Samsung Galaxy S6
Thursday 9th April 2015 13:53 GMT 
Ministry of Truth
The S6 appears to be an inferior phone in many important areas to its predecessor, the S5 namely.
1. Waterproofing ( why is this not now with nano coatings a default on a device designed for use outside?).
2. Robustness, the use of metal not better than plastic here. The automotive, motosport, defence & aerospace are dropping metal in favour of robust plastic ( when did you see a metal bumpers on a car last!) Add thinness to the mix & you have the complete iPhone 6 problem of bending.
3.Built in battery, see my above post and add that most lithium batteries are only good for 500 charge cycles (2 yrs average use then back to Sammy for a new phone they hope).
4. Data is the most valuable thing in your phone, if the S6 is accidentally dropped down the loo, you may as well pull the flush as there is' nt the chance of real data recovery you have with a removable SD card.
All the Tech site writers are singing the praises of this S6, and the comments sections are fairly consistent in damming it. The question is, how much pressure or lucrative incentives is Sammy exerting on these sites? Where & who in history said if you said something false often enough that it would be eventually held to be true by the masses
Samsung's bend blame blast: We DEMAND a Galaxy S6 Edge do-over
Tuesday 7th April 2015 17:09 GMT 
Long & thin does the thing, but short & thick does the trick! ( so my Mrs says)
So reading all posts above, one can conclude, any one with enough money to afford large £500+ smart phone and feels compelled to put it in their back pocket and sit on it, should not under any circumstances be allowed to have one
However they will qualiify to own an exclusive newThick phone.
Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in Vulture's claws: we find looks AND brains
A gold MacBook with just ONE USB port? Apple, you're DRUNK
Linux clockpocalypse in 2038 is looming and there's no 'serious plan'
What's MISSING on Amazon Fire Phone... and why it WON'T set the world alight
HUGE SHARK as big as a WWII SUBMARINE died out, allowing whales to exist
It's not you, it's Three. Mobe network goes titsup across UK
Tuesday 7th October 2014 07:25 GMT
Indian support support
I have to be fair & say that 3 support have dealt with the various teething problems very quickly & politely. I appreciate that they do have to run down the checklist of reboot your phone ect, which probably sort the majority, but they have achieved for me by sorting a sporadic iPhone texting to setting up a signal booster box & its subsequent crashing issue.
Bendgate backlash: Apple claims warped iPhone 6 Plus damage is 'extremely rare'
Sunday 28th September 2014 12:27 GMT
Re: "Rarity" is not the point
I guess you would have to omit work hardening & fatigue life as well.
The question has to be asked if stress relieving was performed to remove the work hardening generated by the original machining of the case.
The larger face area & minimal sectional height makes the stress cases to be considered, design, dimensional tolerances & keeping within the material spec all the more critical.
I do wonder if any one or combination of any these factors are exceeded, would cause the these failures. This could therefore be a case of a break down of Apples quality control, afterall quality is expensive!
Sunday 28th September 2014 11:23 GMT
Whats cooking? Why its Apple Pie!
Apple appear to have tried to distort the laws of physics again with their belief of the power of Art in making form trump function & Newtonian physics!
My feeling is that Apple in the pursuit of the slim light body beautiful have gone beyond the capabilities of the comercial & cost effective materials available to them, since sectional stiffness & (resistance to bending) is calculated by the 2nd moment of inertia,(I=bd Cubed/12). They have not appreciated that the cubed part becomes vitally imporant the thinner you go, as halfing the width does not half its stiffness, but reduces the stiffness by that cubed factor.
Cosiquently your stress calculations, load cases to be considered, the tolerance to dimensions & to material spec have to be so much more exacting.
It appears that this permanent distortion due to the Aluminium Alloy exceeding its elastic limit, (this has occoured with the phone in front pockets as well as back ones).So I believe this is a design flaw through sloppy engineering & you can't go on to blame the customers for using it in the same manor as they have treated all their phones.
I have yet hear this happening to Samsungs Note series, Nokia 1520 or HTC One's (Al Alloyed too).
Germany strikes again over Amazon warehouse pay
Tuesday 23rd September 2014 17:49 GMT
Re: Who's being exploited?
My objection to Amazon is the combination of benifit subsidised wages & tax avoidance. This not only see's the money you & I pay in taxes, (but also that from our vital SME's, stifling their growthi), sail off shore to bolster their profits, but also effectively gives the likes of Amazon free use of our infrastructure.
I agree with you, our tax & benifits system would benifit the economy greatly if it was deeply rationalised as you outlined. I would also like to see a flat rate of tax too rather than this hodge podge of income & consumer taxes. Suprisingly & by accident, most income groups contribute tax roughly the same proportion of their income of 30%, (the rich end predominantly by income & the poor predominantly by consumer tax such as Vat & fuel duty). With greater simplicity comes greater transparancy and greater difficulty in avoidong ones responsibility.
Tuesday 23rd September 2014 07:00 GMT
Re: Who's being exploited?
Well put, the same level of exploitation, false market economy, if not cosiderably worse exists here in the Uk, even to the extent of giving Amazon goverment assistance through a subsidised living wage through benefits & tax "efficiency"!
Prehaps we should take the Germans initiative & resort too industrial action too, fight them globaly as it seams our government will only listen & do zero to stand up to zero hours contacts, virtual zero taxation & soaring profits.
Prehaps if we as consumers boycotted Amazon with regard to the high true cost we pay.
'Windows 9' LEAK: Microsoft's playing catchup with Linux
Warrantless phone snooping HAPPENS ALL THE TIME in Blighty
Monday 8th September 2014 09:14 GMT
Re: manifest promises
It is hard enough in the UK to ensure that Government policy stays within the bounds of the legislation it has passed! It can be done, Jeremy Hunt (the health secretary of state) has been taken to court a few times over deemed illegal actions he has sanctioned ( most notably the his attept to closing Lewisham A&E which he lost, but then he went back to parlament changed the law, so he could close other Nhs depts if he thought fit despite local & clinical opposition). To do anything in law costs an awful lot & Jeremy was brought to rights only after a local & national campaign groups fund raising performed, media support achieved & petitions delivered.
To pass a bill to make manifesto's legally binding is not going to happen, a true and full appreciation of the situation & the need to rapidly adjust it to meet future conditions will probably be cited amongst many other reasons
The thing is, voting every 5 years is not enough, we need to take part if we are not to be guilty of delegating our responsibility.
Saturday 6th September 2014 17:12 GMT
Re: Be afraid, be very afraid.
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." -- Daniel Webster (1834)
You are right, people now, as they have done in past, are unknowingly or even willingly trading their freedom for peace, comfort & security. These, of course will be the first thing to go.
If we do not continually watch & challenge our elected representitives by talking to, writing to, signing petitions, going to meetings, raising awareness in others, protesting and ultimately principled civil disobedience, do we actually deserve to be free?
Saturday 6th September 2014 13:32 GMT
Welcome to the Village
Prisoner: Where am I?
Number Two (not identified as yet): In the village.
Prisoner: What do you want?
Two: Information.
Prisoner: Whose side are you on?
Two: That would be telling.... We want information...information...information!
Prisoner: You won't get it!
Two: By hook or by crook, we will.
Prisoner: Who are you?
Two: The new Number Two.
Prisoner: Who is Number One?
Two: You are Number Six.
Prisoner: I am not a number; I am a free man!
Two: [Laughter]
Saturday 6th September 2014 13:06 GMT 
Be afraid, be very afraid.
With these deeply intrusive & abusive sweeping powers of RIPA, why was there the need for DRIP legislation to be brought in under emergency measures convienently just before the parlamentary summer recess? Was this not supported by manuipulating the fear and orchestrating excessive public knee jerk reaction to the actions of a few radical groups, plus the fear that the Telco's could now wipe the data? Reassurances were also given regarding that the content of messages & calls would not be available under DRIP (true), but the combination of DRIP & RIPA is truely worrying.
We elect these people every five years to run & lead the country based upon their manifesto's. Every time they fail to deliver, do the opposite of what was promised with the "we did'nt relise the true situation" excuse, or blatently run rampent over thier mandate to govern & put in place more powers to preserve the status quo.
No wonder people have little faith.
Shitty what? Almost half of MPs have never heard of Tech City
Saturday 6th September 2014 11:19 GMT 
Why the big suprise?
Quick reference to the professional break down of our MP's reveal very little, if any practical business experience, 24% are professional politicians with PR, marketing, law, finaciers, media & business consultants making up most of the rest.
http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/file/Who-Governs-Britain.pdf
Is it any wonder Government continually write poor contracts based upon a cronic lack of understanding of technical matters & a real appreciation of what we actually need, then demonstrate this by abysmal (if any at all) project management.
Numerous IT & engineering projects they have commisioned have failed after falling behind & grossly over budget as a result in both civil & military fields. My favourite at the moment is the unholy alliance between Lockheed Martin & BAE that our Government (Labour & Alliance) has through compiling, not checking, released such badly written contracts, it has hobbled our new aircraft carriers (no cat & trap), & made sure we can only take the troubled, increasingly expensive to buy & run F35C Fighter. Not to mention the recent Border control fiasco, NHS records & Police data base.
A Silicon roundabout is appropriate, not as a node to communicate or go some where, but just to go around & around!
Who do they blame, industry.
Heads up, Chromebook: Here come the sub-$200 Windows 8.1 portables
e-Borders fiasco: Brits stung for £224m after US IT giant sues UK govt
UK Parliament rubber-stamps EMERGENCY data grab 'n' keep bill
Thursday 17th July 2014 21:48 GMT
A stitch in time
If they can rush through Drip so quickly to defend the country, why can't they do the same with the Recall bill & save democracy from drowning in justified cynicisim? That bill was promised 5 years ago & has been progressively watered down to another stitchup.
You may think that vested interests are fully at play, but I could'nt possibly say that. Watched the original "House of cards" last night, chuckled a lot in how little has changed. Though I also believe that "Yes Minister" is also hit the nail on the head!
Thursday 17th July 2014 21:19 GMT
Re: Punish the innocent
My statement "terrorists will easily evade these measures" is retorical in effect. As it implies that they will useless as counter insurgency measure, or for that matter catching pedophiles (especially as they have told everyone the method!!), so leaving the innocent to be punished, controlled, by installing the paranoia of being snooped upon and loss of another bit of liberty, (so protect & preserve the status quo).
Wednesday 16th July 2014 12:39 GMT
Punish the innocent
So the terrorists will easily evade these measures, and we not only have another bit of our freedom compromised, but pay for it in our taxes!
We elect these people every five years to run & lead the coutry based upon their manifesto's. Every time they fail to deliver, do the opposite of what was promised with the "we did'nt relise the true situation" excuse, or blatently run rampent over thier mandate to govern & put in place more powers to preserve the status quo.
No wonder people have little faith.
Wednesday 16th July 2014 08:38 GMT
Rubber fun
E mailed my MP voicing my concerns of yet another emergency measure rushed through that takes away that which we are supposed to be defending!
Also pointed out the past eye wateringly high cost of such Government IT projects & the dismall success & performance they deliver. Asked how does this tally in these austere times. Also asked what measures they are to be put in place to protect our data against leaks (another Gov IT failing), but also about it being flogged off, ( like our medical & tax records!).
To be fair to my MP, he does respond in sufficient to too much depth, but still tows the party line.
Boeing CEO says no more 'moonshots' after 787 Dreamliner ordeal
Saturday 24th May 2014 12:59 GMT
Outsource Flaw.
Can it just be that a team will always beat a a group of individuals? Outsourcing breaks the job into a series of discreet projects, making essential communication, its speed, iteration of solution, sharing of technical breakthroughs or dangers, team building & much much more, difficult if not impossible. Examples MRCA, Eurofighter, F35, & 787 all demonstrate what can & will go wrong!
Was not the success of the Skunk works built upon a close knit multidisciplined team to the extent of desks touching plus Kelly Johnsons iron rule & genius? Results cost effective designs including the SR71 to the Stealthfighter.
So the real suprise about the 787 is that there is a suprise!
Saturday 24th May 2014 12:25 GMT
Re: Very similar to the APT
With our technical advances are often binned by poor management understanding of development program & ignorant UK press. For example its been sold back to us in the form of the Italian Pendolino!
Boeing often benifits from bleeding edge risks, didn't they gain considerably when we shared the invalueable airframe fatigue data from the Farnbourgh Comet tests post tragedies, so they could check, revise & enhance the 707 performance & saftey?
Funny we never see 2 way traffic from the special relationship.
Saturday 24th May 2014 10:18 GMT
Re: Boeing is not too bad at moonshots...
At least the a B17 got to the Moon! ref WW2 Bomber found on Moon", as reported & photographed by Sunday Sport National newspaper in the 1980's!!!
That papers headlines used to lighten & brighten my sundays trip to the Newsagent, never bought it thou
(honest, might be worth somthing now if I had and kept it!)
Its probably as truthfull as much of the garbage we are fed by the papers of today.
Official: British music punter still loves plastic
Thursday 20th February 2014 14:06 GMT
Re: Back to CD
MP3 will remain the dominant download format as long as people continue to buy the flashy cheap low quality audio systems as they always have, (always seams to be the girls who do this, including my wife who wants it to match the decour first!). The Hifi system I built back in the mid 70's still serves me well & only have added a Cd deck. Its prime purpose is to be audably transparent & let all the music through (thou wife would like it tobe invisible too !) Checking out new equipment, my ears have not found anything within my budget that would improve on it & can easily tell the difference between Mp3, digital remastering & the superior Cd (unremastered!)
Thursday 20th February 2014 11:59 GMT
Try before you buy.
Been doing it from borrowing & sometimes recording mates Lp's, copying singles off the radio on to Cassette, to rummaging around You Tube, ( now to check if I really want the Cd of my old Vinyl). In all cases the act of borrowing/copying has resulted in an introduction to new artists & future purchases.
The thing is, there is evidence to support that freedom to lend, borrow, record & rip has been benificial financially & expanded the market of the music industry, Big corporate labels DRM & copyright have not.
Downloads now appear to me lack this type of portability, ( DRM gone but still a painful memory). Add to this its apparent fragile, low quality (lossy MP3 & digital remastering) & temporary nature (inherited vinyl of 40 aged 40 years & is still playable, a bucket load of 3 year old dead hard, flash drives & players). I can see the compact portability benifit Mp3's, but the cost outlined above, the additional time needed to maintian a viable backup, transfer to new equipment & that the big labels like it, all put me off big time!
Samsung leaps out of volume PC game as UK market crashes
Monday 10th February 2014 10:41 GMT
Bricked up Samsung
Although they have probably patched a fix, the loss of trust that Samsung's UEFI firmware bug introduced, that bricked up many of their laptops when adding Linux or a different Windows release put these on my naughty list. This and other personal experience of short lived other products, the introduction of region locking (Note 3), have placed a doubt in my mind to their quality image.
Samsung leaving the PC market, never mind!
Amazon floats 'Prime Air' drone delivery plan
Guardian lets UK spooks trash 'Snowden files' PCs to make them feel better
Wednesday 21st August 2013 12:24 GMT
Too close for comfort
With all these warnings, threats, detentions at airports, symbolic destruction & whatever comes next, it could be deduced that something of high importance, that can only be seen when added to the greater scheme of things, has been compromised by the files?
Problem with that of course is, why draw attention to it and make such a hash at destroying it?
My only conclusion is that the Establishment did this in order to put pressure on the media to consider further releases very, very carefully with these serious FUD tactics.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
