Posts by Michael Downie

RIM stands, staggers, falls again

BBM uses the blackberry network rather than the normal data network, because you pay the premium for the extra blackberry internet service

iOS 5 falls back to autumn, say moles

Odd

Odd that. Oh well, I suppose it gives Android a chance to make some serious inroads with Gingerbread and honeycomb.

Sent from an iPad I was randomly handed at work.

Ads watchdog: PS3 graphics 'discernibly' better than Xbox

Odd that...

...considering that ads like that tend to have a small print indicating which platform the images are from. I would have thought them putting "PS3 footage" on the bottom of the ad would have negated the need for an investigation.

You don't see Wii customers kicking off because the graphics on the Wii version of Toy Story 3 are significantly worse than the PS3 graphics shown on the advert.

L'Orange and T'Mobile: Together at last

Um...

Did you all _read_ the article? Everything Everywhere is the name of the umbrella company which runs the two networks. For now, at least, T-Mobile is T-Mobile and Orange is Orange. They are converging the network, not the operators.

iPhone 4.0: iAds, multitasking, and 98 tweaks

Multitasking

The lack of support for Multitasking on the 3G iPhone is irritating. I read the live blog from Endgadget and the quote from someone on stage was that "the hardware will not support it". I'm sorry, but I've had Palm Pre style multitasking in the form of the ProSwitcher app from Cydia for ages. It doesnt slow the performance of the phone (any more then 3.0 did anyway) and the battery impact is negligible.

nice way to force us fanboys to upgrade, Jobs, nice

3 gets Desire

Re:Locked

it will be locked to 3G only, mainly because 3 dont have much in the way of a 2G/2.5G network so they route all the voice calls over 3G. It'll only drop to 2G when you're out of 3G coverage at which point it piggy-backs on the T-Mobile network. So chances are you'll probably be stuck on 3G only.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile UK are also getting this. It's on the website in the coming soon section

Steve Jobs uncloaks the 'iPad'

Massively Disappointing

I was hoping for it to have a version of OSX on it, rather than a scaled up iPhone/iTouch OS.

If it had a version of OSX, had multitasking and could run most OSX software like iLife, then i would say its a nigh on essential and properly groundbreaking product.

But it doesnt have any of it, it isnt essential and bearing in mind the iPhone/iTouch has been out since 2007 with essentially the same features, its not even groubreaking. When realeased in the UK, the 3G model needs to be sub-£300 for me to even glimmer some interest.

Sorry Mr Jobs, i like your phones, laptops and desktops but your iPad... try again please.

BeautifulPeople ejects post-Xmas fatties

Bonfire of the too bloody Vain

So, because people have put on roughly, what, a stone? maybe? they are now considered "fatties" and no longer beautiful enough to be a member of this club for elitist retards? lovely, shows how much society has improved over the years and how tolerance prevails.

So despite the fact that I have modelled and done headshots for hair product companies, my rather sturdy 23 stone frame would deem me not suitable... yet my face is considered good enough to be put into advertising?

I wonder if they have ever heard the phrase pertaining to the ocular region of a beholder..

Tesco iPhone priced, dated

Ouch

That's a touch pricey. Much as I love the iPhone I wouldn't have got one if i would have to pay that much. It's not *that* good. I much prefer my deal, Unlocked iPhone 3g off eBay for £250 with my T-Mobile staff plan sim, £0 a month and the equivalent of a Flext 40 price plan and unlimited data. Yes please haha

Fanbois Apple buyers howl over crocked iMacs

insanity

I think this rabid insanity over faulty computers is, well, insane. I ordered my 2008 Macbook from Apple directly in the summer. When i ordered it, the nice American on the end of the phone said it would be up to two weeks because of stock shortage. Three days later i got the email to say it was dispatched and it turned up a further two days later. The screen was half dead and the HD making a horrible clicking noise. Called Apple staright away and the next day i had a UPS guy on my door to pick it up and three days later i had another one on my doorstep and a £50 iTunes voucher as an apology.

Cant say i'd ever leave them if they kept treating me like this haha

Crackdown on dodgy mobile deals

Shurely Shome Mishtake

How could they? If they put in rules and codes of practice, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U will go out of business! The humanity! Who would screw over customers and leave operators to pick up the mess now?

Actually... hang on... Good plan actually

Muse eye Bond theme

I dunno

I think if they were to do a Bond theme it would steer into Supermassive Black Hole territory, which is just not cricket. I would like to hear them have a stab at it, but i find Muse's music is generally either too heavy, too dark or too uplifting to be a Bond theme.

That said, if Another Way To Die can make it as a Bond theme then i suppose any turd can.

Twitter is mainly pointless babble and other rubbish

Well Duh...

Considering the format of Twitter, would it not be obvious that all you would get out of it would be inane banter. I am annoyed by this for two reasons;

1) there are people in the world who get paid to do this kind of thing

2) no one will pay me to do that kind of thing

US bank deposits checks via iPhone camera

hmmm

Although there is not much of a use for cheques over here unless you operate a business, i would file this one under bloody clever

HP forces swingeing pay cuts on EDS staff

house of cards

EDS has been making cuts in the UK since the merger. So far the peterlee call centre has been closed (most of them came to work at the T-Mobile call centre in sunderland with me, seeing as its only a few miles up the road) and friends of mine in the North Tyneside call centre are fearing for their jobs now. The company is in ruins, a slight metaphorical breeze will bring the whole lot down.

iPhone solo loss stares O2 in the face

@ Dave Cumming

you're right, all the other networks have their exclusive phones. T-Mobile have the G1 and G2, Vodafone have the Blackberry Storm and the HTC Magic et al, however, all the networks will allow you to unlock your exclusive handset with the subsidy pin after having owned it for a month. My G1 is on Vodafone half the time and my wife's T-Mobile Samsung Tocco Ultra is on Orange occasionally because she hasnt ported her old number yet. Both these phones were legally unlocked, for a £15 fee each from T-Mobile.

I've asked o2 and the iPhone is the only handset they offer where they wont give you a subsidy PIN, no matter what you offer them in form of payment. Thats the bit I find the hardest to swallow, that the only way (at the minute by all accounts) that I could have an iPhone on T-Mobile, with my hugely better priceplan than anything o2 offer, is to either buy a second hand, illegally unlocked one, get a contract with o2 and pay an extra contract and an exorbitant cost for the handset, or go to play.com and pay upwards of £500 for last years technology or upwards of £799 for this year's iPhone legally unlocked. I think not.

I dont care of T-Mobile dont get the 3GS. The difference between the 3G and the 3GS is nothing for me. I wont use tethering, the point of Voice control is lost on me and I already have a satnav, so a digital compass is not something i'm interested in. I'm not a big mobile gamer and i will be using the web browser over wifi, so the HSDPA speeds arent a concern. So a 3G will suit me fine lol

I will take donations of iphone's though

Average UK broadband just over half advertised speed

ISP Banality

I'm on Virgin Media "Nationwide" (ADSL) and I can quite comfortably say, having worked for three different ADSL providers and now working for a Mobile Broadband provider, the service they offer is the worst I have ever experienced. Their customer services and importantly, their tech support are awful. I can spit on my local exchange from where I live. Literally, its across the street. Samknows shows I'm 10metres from the exchange, obviously ADSL estimates are a sync of 8128.

The problem I have with VM is that i get a throughput of 1890kbps... persistently. I've checked with virgin, i'm not breaching fair use, i'm not being traffic shaped and beyond that, all they will say to me is:

"test in the test socket"

"change filters"

"swap router"

All of which I did the first time I had an issue. All of the tech agents I've spoken to admit that there must be an external problem but say they cant do anything because BTW wont touch it, because its over 1meg. Which to be fair, thats a massive crock. When I worked for BT retail, I got problems like that through with Wholesale all the time. I actually got the problem sorted myself, by calling BTW directly and passing validation as a tech support agent to get it sorted.

As soon as I can i'm making the switch to sky or BE

Hero: HTC names third Android smartphone

interesting

I work on T-Mobile tech support and I cant wait to demo one of these. I'll be interested to see if HTC have listened to the multitude of complaints about the G1, like the horrendous batterylife, the fact that OS1.5 is noticeably slower than OS1, the fact that the battery gets very, VERY hot during charging and the ever missing 3.5mm headphone jack.

Be interested to see what that skin does to the functionality of the OS, or if they've enabled multi-touch on this one...

RIM announces BlackBerry Tour

hmmm

I work for a mobile operator on tech support and the GPRS only feature of the curve is a major bugbear for most customers, so this is a welcome move.

However, one cant help but wonder if the fact that its now a 9000-series phone, if the price is going to go up. The Bold, for the fact that its a technically inferior phone to the 8900 Curve, its over £100 more for the SIM free handset, so having the curve go 3G and 9000 series, just worries me is all