* Posts by Giles Jones

2536 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Dec 2006

Phone 7: Another Vista or another XP?

Giles Jones Gold badge

Advantage over Android is updates!

Amazing how many people on here are saying the same old things about lack of USB mass storage support and so on.

Here's a tip: don't buy it!

Nobody has mentioned the one very big advantage with this platform, Microsoft updates the software via on-air updates. So you're no longer at the mercy of HTC and others to release the upgrades.

Of course, I'm sure you'll not get updates for life. You'll probably still have to get another phone to move between WP7 and whatever is released next. It's not quite as good as Apple who give you about two major upgrades.

MS to unveil fresh Flash challenge next week?

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No more plugins please

I wouldn't want a Microsoft plugin for my browser. Having an Adobe plugin is bad enough. Flash gets enough updates for crazy security holes discovered by people with too much time on their hands. Having a Silverlight updates once a week would be even worse.

Who needs plugins anyway? they just hold back development of the web.

Google Android chief smacks Steve Jobs with Linux speak

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Licences are still required

What use is open when you have to have a licence to use Google's app store?

What's the betting this licence is more or less what an OEM would pay for Windows Mobile?

So open just means freedom to ruin or water down Android for end users. Even when OEMs do create good Android customisations they don't share them, they would lose their USP.

So to summarise 'open' means grab Android code, play around with it. Stick a GUI on it, don't give anything back to Google. Unless you want to use the app store. Ordinary non-geeks aren't going to give a hoot about source code access.

HP unwraps Palm Pre 2

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Some things never change

Palm's PDAs were stuck in 160x160 pixel land for years. They had to double the resolution to 320x320 when they wanted to progress.

Seems the Pre 2 is stuck with an entry level screen, which will make browsing a bit fiddly. Don't they ever learn? HP are going to fail if they don't bring the hardware up to scratch.

Microsoft steers OEMs away from putting Phone 7 on Tablets

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Not sure of this..

But I think they've been a bit muddled in what they've done. They have some advantages in the business market, exchange connectivity and the chance to integrate their mail and office tools with their phones.

Instead they've decided to imitate Android and Apple by going after the consumer.

iPad tethering does disappearing trick

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Back to reality

iPad and iPhone are sold with standard Apple firmware, no operator is allowed to bastardise it like they have done to other brands.

What happens is the feature is enabled if allowed by the "operator", i,e, the network you are on. It is they who control if tethering is allowed. Having the ability to switch this on or off is a concession that Apple make to the operator. Other brands just let the operators remove it completely from the firmware, leaving you with a device you either have to reflash (although some handsets auto-revert the firmware now - thanks HTC) even if you change operators.

Sure, some Android phones have mobile access point software built in. However read your network operators T&Cs and you're probably breaking the rules if you use it. If you rack up enough traffic they have the option to just disconnect or charge you extra.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Data is free on some providers

They don't all, many have an allocation of a few gig a month. Giffgaff is truly unlimited if you buy their £10 goodybag, even without one you can do 100MB a day.

They simply don't want to give you bundled data and then have you use it for mobile broadband. Using a phone and doing RDP, VPN etc is additional strain when they were just expecting some casual email or web access.

iPhone, BlackBerry, Droid: purveyors of pestilence

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Nothing has changed

What's the difference between touch screen phones and previous phones? either would require you to hold the thing in your hand.

Vodafone moves 360 goalposts

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Their phone

If your phone is subsidised on a contract then it's theirs until you complete the minimum period of the contract.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Erm, SIM free?

How about going SIM free, not getting a contract and going with a good PAYG service like GiffGaff or getting a rolling one month SIM only contract?

Android phone auto reverts jailbreaks

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Mobile operators

Mobile operators aren't happy enough just raking in loads of cash, they get bored playing golf all day and there's only so much champagne and caviar you can consume. So they have their little pet projects, IM networks and cloud services.

They want to feel like they're in control and that the handset makers need them, not the other way around. They're already feeling like they are losing control with iPhone and the new Windows Phone 7 devices (which are also not allowed to be OEM modified).

Giles Jones Gold badge

Won't affect many at first.

But it will affect you mid contract (if you're on 18 or 24 months) when HTC have another newer handset to support and can't be bothered to update yours, after all they've pocked your cash and aren't interested in giving you free updates.

OOo's put the willies up Microsoft

Giles Jones Gold badge

They tried something else

In the videos the people interviewed tried something else. So that suggess they werent entirely happy with Office. Once a better rival comes along then MS will be stuffed.

What needs to happen is a similar situation to the web where many sites were IE optimised. People should stop using proprietary document formats and go for an open format. Then the open source community can improve open offive just like they converted netscape into something usable.

Using word format is like doing IE only websites.

Microsoft confirms Russian pill-pusher attack on its network

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Sue themselves?

Maybe they should sue themselves for spamming and get their Internet access cut off. They seem to force ISPs to do that to everyone else.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Oh I dunno

Don't you remember when 90% or so of the Windows 2000 code was stolen off one of their FTP servers due to misconfiguration. Those servers were Windows machines.

Can Windows Phone 7 help Microsoft come from behind?

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Simple

Interally Microsoft teams compete for funding for their project.

It seems to be a bottom up approach, the idea has to be pitched to senior levels and gain funding to go ahead. Contrast that with Apple who have management with vision and decide what product they want to develop.

If your project isn't liked by all at Microsoft then you'll end up releasing a bad product as all the other teams will try to undermine it. It's why the tablet PC failed, the head of the Office team didn't like tablets and refused to re-write Office with a touch screen interface. So it ended up being very poor to use.

Nice write up here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/04/microsoft-exec-tablet-killed-brass-office

Windows Phone 7: handsets, operators compared

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OSX is more 'standard' than Windows

That's funny, why do you think Windows is any more standards compliant?

Mac Mail client uses MBOX format for storing mail. OSX uses CUPS for printing. The kernel was started as a project at a University. It has a Bash console.

It's a Unix OS for gods sake. Microsoft's OS is the proprietary OS.

Have a look at all the Open Source code in OSX.

http://www.apple.com/opensource/

Giles Jones Gold badge

Two uncertainties

Possibly. iPhone is certainly the "low risk" option. It's around, people have them in their hand and have their opinions (both positive and negative).

With WP7 you have two uncertainties at present, firstly the OS, will you like it, does it work well etc.. and the other is the hardware. Do you know if they handsets are any good?

I think it will be a slow few first months, lack of apps will hurt at first.

Windows Phone 7: 'Different, delightful'... and unfinished

Giles Jones Gold badge

Different for the sake of it?

From what I've seen it has some good features, but also it seems to be different for the sake of standing out. But the UI looks like you'll spend half of your time scrolling around to find things that should just be there.

Many of the user interfaces are only partially shown, so you have to scroll about using your phone like a magnifying glass to find things. You might think that's the same with all OSes, but the layout isn't very consistent.

Have a look at three examples here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/7928956/Hands-on-preview-Windows-Phone-7.html

Ubuntu 10.10: date with destiny missed

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Laptops

Especially given desktop PCs are only about 10% of sales now. Laptops are popular and very few of them have multiple hard discs.

Aggrieved boffins to march on Whitehall

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Ok then

If that is the case then why did we never have our own space programme?

Have you noticed that NASA are now hitching a lift into space using Russian rockets? even the Americans can't afford a fully fledged space programme.

In the UK the problem is not so much lack of funding, but lack of capitalising on the results. Breakthroughs are made and then the idea sold to the US.

Not to mention that under Labour foreign ownership of UK companies increased from 25% to 75%. So there's not many UK companies you could sell the technology to anyway.

Verizon: we like Microsoft, but not Windows Phone 7

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Innovation in mobile

The user interface was the last big innovation in mobile and that's been sorted now. No more silly little sticks to touch the screen, no 'start' menus.

It's hard to see what innovations are left?

'We Want Two' Navy carrier plan pondered by Cabinet

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Wars

If you're not fighting two long wars then you can afford to build such things. But building lots of ships and hardware which are no use for the wars your engaged in is a bit much. Many people have left the army because it's current work isn't defence work.

The only downside to losing carriers would be another defence of the Falkland islands. It would be much harder to defend them.

Inside Windows Phone 7: ghost of Zune

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Just like iOS

"The official line is that third party applications must be built in one of two .NET platforms, Silverlight or XNA"

How dare Microsoft dictate to developers what they program their applications in.

Also, using Microsoft only platforms? that's a way of locking in developers.

It's like iOS all over again, come on Microsoft fan boys, try and explain that with Microsoft it's for a different reason and they aren't like Apple.

Asus Eee PC 1215N 12in netbook

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Pointless

When they cost £449 there just isn't any point. Especially when the size of the device is creeping up.

The next one will have a 13 inch screen, then 15 inch and then it will just be a laptop.

RIM opens its PlayBook – tablets clearly set for dominance

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Simple reason for that

Such applications are designed around the WIMP system, Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointing Device. Anything designed for keyboard and mouse totally sucks on a touch screen.

Go back in time to before the popularity of the Internet, PCs were around but it was only once the Internet exploded into the mainstream that PC sales increased. Therefore a huge number of people only have a PC for the Internet.

Those people who want to run dull software and who want to run Word or Excel will continue to use a normal computer.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Battery life?

What's the battery life like? if it's doesn't last a day then what use it it? I suspect since it hasn't been announced that it must be poorer than the iPad.

It's all very well throwing Mhz and lots of CPU power into a device, but tablets aren't that sort of device. They're small, portable and efficient.

The iPad is very quick to use, so who needs to much CPU power?

TalkTalk reveals faster broadband plans

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Speed is useless

What happens is people are offered more speed but the price has to be low as many people just don't use the Internet for downloads. For them it's all about having fast loading websites (which 512kb ADSL was fine for anyway).

So due to low price the download allocation is minuscule. It will be getting to the stage where you can use up your allocation in a day.

Google TV transplants Android on Intel

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1080p

720p vs 1080p is all about download times. I believe the Apple TV streams instead of downloading files. So streaming 1080p would require a very fast connection.

Microsoft pays licence fees for 74 smartphone patents

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Bonkers

Crazy, paying licence fees for patents just legitimises those patents in the eye of the patent holder. It also gives them money to fight more cases.

I can see Microsoft putting out a press release that their phones aren't infringing, so buy now.

Mobile computing is becoming so important that each tech giant is trying to monopolise the market, knowing all too well they can't. So they at least try to weaken competitors products by trying to force them to redesign key features and make the features less elegant to use.

Motorola sues Apple over - what else? - patents

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Erm?

I think you're of the belief that an Apple mobile phone is 100% custom and their phone chips are their own design. Only their processor and display chip is theirs.

Many of these court cases are about basic mobile phone workings. Apple doesn't create its own 3G GSM chips, they're made by Infineon and others.

If there was a court case against Intel processors and you assembled a PC from parts and used an Intel CPU you wouldn't expect to get sued for that. This is in effect what it happening.

HTC are being sued by Apple for using Android. Motorola are being sued by Microsoft for using Android.

It's all tactical, gives the PR departments something to do.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Push email

I still don't see how they are ignoring patents.

With so many thousands of patents, how on earth can a company check through them before making a product?

Obviously some things are so well known that it is impossible to be unaware of them. RIM's push email is an example. Nobody is infringing on that, which explains why push on all other devices isn't as good and uses more battery life.

Logitech unveils first Google TV box

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Then and now

That was before TV's were big, flat, widescreen and most important of all HD! 1980x1024 resolution is higher than PCs were doing back then.

I don't surf with the computer that is plugged into my TV, but when there's a big media event on the web I can display it on the TV if I want.

Samsung Galaxy Apollo Android smartphone

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Yoof phone

Always wondered about this "phone for youths" tag. When I was 16 I was getting into music technology, writing music and using MIDI and such.

So if anything the phones for youngsters should have a higher specification than those for adults. Simply because they have the time and effort to utilise it.

Of course, cost is a major consideration if they can't afford to buy it themselves :)

Ballmer goes to LSE as internal doc calls for radical overhaul of MS

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New blood needed

Someone from outside of the Microsoft bubble needs to come in, do lots of observation and reviews of the company and implement the changes.

It's often easier and someone new will not be institutionalised.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Gates was a 'geek'

Gates could code and in assembly language. The work him and others did on Altair basic was pretty good, using tricks to cram in as much in such a limited device.

Ballmer is just a numbers droid and he isn't head of Microsoft on merit, he just knew Gates and was there at the start of Microsoft.

If you look at the income Microsoft generate, it's still largely Office and Windows. You don't really need to do anything to keep those two bringing in the dough. Certainly just a refresh with some new ideas every couple of years.

iPhone app tagged as terror tool

Giles Jones Gold badge

Radar

I'm sure the sort of people who want to blow up planes could also get some sort of radar device. The planes transmit their location anyway.

Multi-touch iMacs prepped in Cupertino?

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Thankfully these are only on home machines

I don't think touch screen displays will catch on in the office. This is due to the amount of people who touch screens to point to something on the screen, can imagine the mayhem as someone does that and points to a delete button, pressing it accidentally and losing all your work.

Virgin Media introduces P2P throttling

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Captive audience

With a phone line and BT you can at least switch to another ADSL provider. With cable you're stuffed, you can't get your service from anyone else.

This is a pretty fundamental flaw with cable and one which needs to be sorted out.

Microsoft adopts invisible mobile pitch

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New slogan

Windows Phone 7 - Get your 'Kin life back.

Why not go the whole hog, have a pin through the phone that you can pull out and have the phone self destruct?

Apple iAds soar as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! sink

Giles Jones Gold badge

Get your wallet out

Remove the adverts and you'll have to pay for apps.

Aren't you aware that's how most websites function? you'd be paying for all those news sites too without advertising.

HP won't license WebOS, says exec

Giles Jones Gold badge

Nice OS but won't be around long

I think as nice as WebOS is, there's just way too much competition out there and the phones WebOS is on now aren't good enough.

HP have a massive uphill struggle ahead.

RIM unveils The BlackPad BlackBerry PlayBook

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Simple

It's simply because people won't buy software for mobile devices. When forced to they try to circumvent the protection and run hooky versions.

So instead developers make them free and then get revenue from advertising.

Giles Jones Gold badge

Cool OS aside

I think a 7 inch screened tablet is too small. Maybe these 7 inch screened tablets should be called a sub-tablet. Or ultra mobile tablets.

They're only a little bigger than a phone in terms of screen real estate.

Use of QNX seems a little odd these days, it was cool back in the 90s when alternatives to Windows were cropping up and vanishing all the time. But is it really worth all the work to keep it working on the latest embedded devices?

Maybe if RIM were building an entire product range around then it would make sense.

Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile Java

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Oh great

What the world needs is yet another mobile app development environment to add to:

1. iOS

2. WebOS

3. Symbian

4. Android

5. Blackberry

6. Windows Phone

Probably many more too.

Keene USB FM Transmitter

Giles Jones Gold badge

Car FM transmitter?

Just use an FM transmitter designed for car use. Stick 12v DC into it via a regulated DC power supply then connect to the line out of your computer.

Not elegant, but will work.

Sony Ericsson delays X10 Android 2.1 update

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Except for Hero owners.

Tell that to Hero owners who have waited ages for an upgrade.

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Windows Phone 7

This is where Windows Phone 7 may equal the iPhone in user experience leaving Android behind.

WP7 software updates will not be done via OEMs, the phone itself will download updates from Microsoft directly. No OEMs holding back updates for their own reasons.

Of course this probably means the hardware requirement for WP7 are quite narrow so that on air updates work with all phones. But that can actually be a good thing.

No idea if the OS will be any good though. It looks to me like the UI is a bit strange. Way too much scrolling around required.

Nokia E5 Qwertyphone

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Show me a nice looking Qwerty phone

Qwerty phones always are ugly. Having lots of keys makes any qwerty phone look a bit like a calculator.

Functional yes, attractive no. On such a phone the keyboard takes up a lot of room, so the screen size suffers. With slider phones this isn't so much of a problem.

Apple's 11.6in MacBook Air release imminent?

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Apple fans want a small Mac laptop

There are a lot of people out there who loved the old 12 inch powerbooks and have been waiting for a long time for a modern replacement.

The 12 inch powerbook was full blown laptop in terms of mac specifications. It just had a smaller screen and dimensions.