Posts by Dave Fox

Re: nfc?

Have to agree - on what planet do the "vast majority" of smartphone possess NFC, because it isn't this one. Granted, I have 3 phones (Note 2, HTC One, and Nexus 4) that all do have NFC, but I'm the exception not the rule.

Except that it does....

The post you replied too was referring specifically to the Surface Pro, which does run ordinary x86 apps!

Re: Richard Taylor 2

Think of it this way: Linux is to Unix as Nyetimber sparkling wine is to Champagne. i.e. it may be functionally equivalent, or even better, but can't actually be called Unix, in the same way that Nyetimber sparkling wines can't actually be called Champagnes despite the fact that they are produced identically to Champagne.

If Linux were certified to the Single UNIX Specification, it could legally be called Unix, but to date no one has ever bothered to certify their distro, probably because it is largely immaterial in line real world.

Re: Who do you believe?

Try installing the proof of concept APK on the ReKey website via ADB.

I tried on my devices which the Bluebox security scanners reports as patched and it failed - which is the correct behaviour for a patched device.

Re: Reporting bot posts ?

A bot that responds to a Doctor Who reference with another? That would be clever!

How about you just admin you've no idea what he was talking about eh Rory? ;)

Re: Information required

No idea I'm afraid, but it would still probably be cheaper to just buy an offline GPS solution with European maps (e.g. Copilot).

There are exceptions though that may make it cost effective - Three will give you "unlimited" data roaming across the EU for £5 per day, and Vodafone will allow you to use your UK data allowance for £3 per day if you've signed up for Eurotraveller - both only charged on days you use your device.

Re: More expensive?

You really shouldn't equate the "price" of a phone from a carrier with a contract, with the actual price of the phone SIM free and unlocked, which is how much it would actually cost to buy if you take the carrier and contract out of the equation.

Here in the UK, on my contract, I wouldn't pay a single penny for either an iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S4 at contract renewal, but that doesn't mean the phone is "free". A quick glance at the SIM free prices on Amazon(UK) shows the iPhone 5 @ £505, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 @ £450.

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: 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.

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! :)

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.

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.

"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.

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! :)

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.

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!

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).