* Posts by Andy Nugent

138 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jul 2008

Windows 10 for phones: Stepping towards the One True Windows

Andy Nugent

Re: Elephant dead?

What ads are on Windows Phones that don't also appear on other phones? I've never noticed any other than the usual in-app adverts in free apps.

Andy Nugent

Re: So... what then?

Does that "4th largest phone vendor by devices shipped in Europe" include all the £20+ Nokia feature phones, which don't really have anything to do with Windows Phone?

Andy Nugent

Re: Is IE still cack on it?

My 1020 does it all the time, e.g. reading a long article, read a message, switch back to browser and it's re-loading and I'm at the top of the page.

I assumed the 1020 had a fairly good spec despite being fairly old?

So long, Cyanogen! OnePlus says its future belongs to OxygenOS

Andy Nugent

One Plus distraction

Is this not just another distraction from One Plus to handle the fact that they still haven't brought their "2014 Flagship Killer" to market (i.e. I can't walk into a shop, go to Amazon or their website and actually buy one without spending time advertising them on social media)? Don't focus on the fact that we're all hype, focus on our new Android variant...

Russian revolution: YotaPhone 2 double-screen JANUS MOBE

Andy Nugent

Re: Wht's the point really ?

Guess it comes into it's own in warmer countries, but being able to quickly scroll through a news feed and send the articles you want to read to the eInk screen for reading while sat out side in the sun seems pretty useful.

Being able to see notifications without powering up a full HD colour screen, when most of the time you'll be dismissing/ignoring them.

Being able to put useful information (e.g. boarding passes) on the rear screen (and have them stay their after a shutdown) when the battery is dying seems handy as well.

Just a couple off the top of my head.

Samsung's first Tizen smartphone is HERE ... by which we mean India

Andy Nugent

Re: Nice price point

Voice calls are pretty much a "nice to have" feature on a smartphone.

http://news.o2.co.uk/?press-release=making-calls-has-become-fifth-most-frequent-use-for-a-smartphone-for-newly-networked-generation-of-users

Cheap Android phones? Bah! How about a $29 mobe from Microsoft?

Andy Nugent

Re: Perfect second phone for music festivals and similar

a) this isn't a Lumia.

b) "Go to a festival with this and get laughed at"; are you 13?

THREE MILLION Moonpig accounts exposed by flaw

Andy Nugent

Except Moonpig don't have public APIs for 3rd party developers. They've (I'm guessing accidentally) published their internal API's docs (that they've also not secured). Like leaving your front door unlocked AND putting up a sign where the valuables are to be found.

Ten excellent FREE PC apps to brighten your Windows

Andy Nugent

Ninite.com

Not so much a free app; but a really easy way to setup a PC (and keep it up to date) with a lot of free apps (including several mentioned on this list).

Select the apps you want, download a 200kb installer. Run and it installs them all silently. Run again and it updates them all for you.

Download alert: Nearly ALL top 100 Android, iOS paid apps hacked

Andy Nugent

Re: I call BS

Years ago we had a fairly popular Symbian app in the Nokia/Ovi Store (free and a "pro" version available for about €1) that was available on numerous pirate sites (some with more downloads than we'd had paying users). The majority had a 20-30% increase in the file size for the "cracked" pro install. Maybe the crack to remove the license check was just really large, but I'm guessing there was a lot more packaged in with it.

Huawei: There'll be BLOOD spilled in the smartphone sector soon

Andy Nugent

OnePlus One

Except you can't buy a OnePlus phone, it's only available if you have an invite from entering competitions, promoting them via social media, etc.

IF they start shipping them in numbers at that price while that's still considered a high spec, then great, lets start taking them seriously.

But at the moment, it's pure marketing. I'm guessing they're making a loss on the very low number of phones sold at the moment to try and build hype, and will then release on scale when/if the bill of materials approaches the break even point.

BlackBerry not afraid to throw its mobe biz under a bus, says CEO Chen

Andy Nugent

Re: Chen: Give Us What We Want

Are you suggesting that the way for BlackBerry to compete with iOS and Android is to let them run BB7 apps? Seriously?

Andy Nugent

Re: Apps apps apps

Sort of... developers need to bother to publish them (ignoring people sideloading the .apk). Which means buying some BB handsets to test your converted app on.

You also need to remove and potentially replace any Google service based features (Google Maps, push notifications, game/Play centre, etc.).

We've got a fairly popular app on Google Play (around 400,000+ installs), that has an Android Runtime version in BB World that has had 4,000 downloads.

It's a free app with adverts. We're not going to recoup the cost of getting handsets to test it on, never mind the time to test it or the time it took to create a custom build with Google Maps, etc. disabled.

I certainly wouldn't recommend any small to medium sized company to bother (maybe if you're BBC iPlayer, Facebook, etc. where 1/100 of the downloads is worth it).

Apple RESURRECTS the iPhone 4: report

Andy Nugent

Re: New refurbished?

A) I can't be bothered looking it up, but you could work out Apple's profit margin by taking the profits (documented in their quarterly reports) and dividing it by the number of units sold (documented in their quarterly reports). They're not a private company. It's not an internal doc.

B) The figure that I heard at a Deloitte event was 60% profit margin on a 128GB iPad Air.

Apple coughs up 7 hours of profit to refund kids' $32.5m app spend spree

Andy Nugent

It's made slightly worse, that you also need to enter your password to install free apps opening the same 15 minute window.

Android antivirus apps CAN'T kill nasties on sight like normal AV - and that's Google's fault

Andy Nugent

Re: Crazy Platform

"At least XP allows a modestly competent user to reinstall from scratch if necessary" - also known as a factory/hard reset on Android (and other smartphone OSs, Symbian had it, Windows Phone has it, etc.).

SLAPPING an iPhone out of a corporate drone's hand: You're not the only one who longs to do it

Andy Nugent

WP8 released in Nov 2012

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Windows_Phone_8_devices

So we're actually at the one year mark, not two.

Build your OWN Apple iBeacon with a Raspberry Pi

Andy Nugent

Passbook

I presume this setup also works with Passbook (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/Reference/PassKit_Bundle/Chapters/LowerLevel.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40012026-CH3-SW4)?

Microsoft: Everyone stop running so the fat kid Win RT can catch up

Andy Nugent

Re: Success???

3.3% was Windows Phone market share in Q2 2013 according to Gartner (http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2573415). As it was Windows Phone's best quarter to date, the actual share of Windows Phone devices in use is probably significantly lower.

Andy Nugent

Re: Glacial?

It's not market share, it's sales share in the last quarter. Given that most people keep a smart phone for 2 years (contract length) the market share is roughly the phones sold in the last 8 quarters.

The increase in the EU, which is the figures I presume you're talking about (http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Windows-Phone-nears-double-digit-share-across-Europe - I've not seen the 5% world wide mentioned anywhere else and my guess is that's a little high), is encouraging for Windows Phone, but as a developer they need several more quarters like that before they're considered as a requirement along with iOS and Android.

Sorry fanbois, no supersize Apple fondleslabs for you

Andy Nugent

Re: The dogs bark

Not really similar to BlackBerry, in that Apple are still selling significant numbers of devices at a much higher margin that everyone else. I predict a PC-esque smartphone market where Apple = Apple (~10% market share, but at the high price end) and Android = Windows (the other ~90%, everything from dirt cheap upwards), with anomalies in countries with high number of contract / subsidised "free" phones where people don't realise or care (as it's such a small fraction of the cost of the network service, e.g. USA) how much they're paying for the Apple kit. Apple may never hit the peaks they've previously seen, but they'll be making lots of money for the foreseeable future.

Microsoft: Oh PLEASE, HTC. Who says Windows Phone can't go on an Android mobe? – report

Andy Nugent

Re: I fell for this once

Isn't judging Windows Phone on how Windows Mobile worked a bit like saying I'm not getting an iPhone as I didn't like the Newton?

Nokia's 41Mp Lumia 1020 'launches' in UK - but hoi polloi must wait

Andy Nugent

RE:

But people (mostly) don't but OEM's products, the networks do. They see an advantage of having exclusive deals to attract people to switch, and so offer incentives (bigger orders, more prominent promotion, higher unit price, etc.) to the OEMs to take these deals.

For PITY'S SAKE, DON'T BUY an iPHONE 5S, begs FSF

Andy Nugent

Re: Should we trust Android more though?

"Hypothetically, if an Android phone was released with fingerprint reading capability (now a likely outcome in response to apple)" - Motorola Atrix (http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_atrix-3709.php) - released in Jan 2011.

Five SECRET products Apple won't show today

Andy Nugent

Re: @AC 07:12 (Who the hell cares?)

What's a vulnerability in the app signing mechanism got to do with the language the app was written in?

It's the software, stupid: Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch bags big apps

Andy Nugent

Re: Bastards!

The new Sony works with any Android 4.0+ device.

Microsoft buys Nokia's mobile business

Andy Nugent

Re: Oh, great!

Microsoft have bought both the Lumia and Asha brand names, and have rights to use the Nokia brand name on mobile phones until 2016 (Nokia can also use the Nokia brand name in that time, but not on a mobile phone/tablet/whatever).

Finally, someone's fixed THAT Android hole. Was it your mobe network? No

Andy Nugent

Genuine question

Have I misunderstood this vulnerability or is it:

- Hacker could take Facebook/Twitter/etc. APK.

- Add malicious code into it.

- Distribute the app (via 3rd party sites unless they have access to the companies Google Play login) and it would be installed as a valid update to your already installed Facebook/Twitter/etc. apps.

But if you could get people to install your app from a non-Google Play source, couldn't you just as easily have them install any app that's labelled as Facebook/Twitter/etc. and just have the app open a web view or crash on startup (once you've done whatever you wanted to)?

So what's the real vulnerability to end users? Not suggesting it shouldn't be fixed, but how does this make it easier to infect a phone?

Living with a 41-megapixel 808 PureView: Symbian's heroic last stand

Andy Nugent

Re: Wifi hotspot

Haven't used it in years, but this used to work really well: http://www.joiku.com

Android device? Ooohhhh, you mean a Samsung phone

Andy Nugent

Re: Fragmentation?

We have an app with 100,000+ downloads in Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.attidomobile.passwallet). They come from 1637 device models. 56% of the downloads are from the 10 most popular models, 5 of which are which are Samsung (Note, S1/S2/S3 and Nexus).

Fragmentation is a problem in that people with obscure devices (we have 520 different models with a single download on that model) will shout quite loudly when it doesn't work perfectly, but in reality you can test on 5-10 devices and pretty much cover you user base (either using the same device or something similar enough so as not to see issues).

I'm sure this is a bigger issue if you're using native code or writing the Facebook/Twitter apps where you'll have 100m+ users, but they they have larger resources for testing.

Compared to developing PC software, where people could be running on hardware they've put together themselves, the number of variants of Android is trivial.

Live Blog: Google I/O keynote

Andy Nugent
WTF?

Re: WOW, 900million.

you can't count can you?

BadNews, fandroids: MILLIONS of Google Play downloads riddled with malware

Andy Nugent

Re: Don't need to download dodgy apps

Not sure which version of Android it was introduced in, but you can "disable" pre-installed apps. It's in the app manager where you'd normally un-install 3rd party apps.

Review: Asus PadFone 2 phone-tablet combo

Andy Nugent

Re: Fantastic - except...

1. https://www.asus.com/Tablets_Mobile/PadFone_Infinity

2. Think you can still use normal MicroUSB.

Andy Nugent

Original PadFone had the keyboard as well (https://www.asus.com/Tablets_Mobile/PadFone/) so you might be in luck.

Another 170,000 Freeview homes to be freed from reality TV - possibly

Andy Nugent

Re: Fiddling the results?

I think they're probably concerned about people on the other side of London calling the helpline as they're having trouble with their FreeView.

Apple tech FOUND ON ANDROID: Passbook gets pay-by-bonk

Andy Nugent
Thumb Up

Download links

If anyone's interested in trying out the apps; PassWallet (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.attidomobile.passwallet) & codeREADr (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skycore.android.codereadr).

Is your Surface Pro a bit full? Slot in an SD card, it's not from Apple

Andy Nugent

Re: Limited capacity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#Card_security

Andy Nugent

Surface Pro vs MacBook Air not iPad

Surely the Surface (running WinRT) is competing with an iPad, and the Surface Pro's main Apple competition is the MacBook Air? In that they both run the full versions of Microsoft and Apple's OSs, and are both spec'd to run full applications. You just get a touch screen thrown in with the Surface Pro.

By all means continue to criticise the Surface Pro for using more space for the OS than the MacBook Air does, but at least compare like for like.

Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset review

Andy Nugent

re: With such a great camera why fake the pictures then?

Do you think it's possible the marketing company was hired to do the campaign before the phone was ready?

Asus doubles up phone-slate combo's specs with Padfone 2

Andy Nugent

Re: Whats not to like here?

But if you see them both as your personal devices, do you need to be able to use them both at the same time?

For me the main two advantages are (1) I only pay for one SIM & (2) when I plug my phone into the tablet over lunch / on a train / whatever my phone gets recharged from the tablets battery (Admittedly, I'm presuming that's the case on the Padfone2, as that's how the Padfone one worked when I saw it demoed at MWC).

Plus other benefits like watching a video / playing games / writing an email / etc. on the tablet and you can then just carry on with the phone.

Nokia offers its maps to enterprise: Deal inked with Oracle

Andy Nugent
IT Angle

Re: Default maps

Which country is that? Genuinely interested, as I've used Nokia Maps for years (N80 first phone I had with it I think) and have never had any issues.

WinPhone 8 preview SDK limited to established developers

Andy Nugent

Re: Way to go.....

Windows Phone 7.x apps will work on Windows Phone 8. It's the other way around that may be a problem (if your app uses the new features or contains native code for example).

The world's first Windows Phone 8 hands on – what's it like?

Andy Nugent
IT Angle

@FordPrefect

Have you ever actually used Windows Phone for more than 5 minutes? Serious question, as people seem to have very strong opinions for how awful it is but very few seem to have ever owned / borrowed an actual device.

Andy Nugent

Re: Are you serious?

I recently switched from a Nokia Lumia 800 to a Samsung Galaxy S3.

Yes the "resuming..." of apps on Windows Phone got annoying, and any improvements in the multitasking would be a huge benefit.

But I've seen the S3 fail to respond significantly more times than I ever saw on the Lumia 800.

Bringing up the list of apps and returning to the desktop are prime examples. I don't even have a lot of widgets on the S3 (mostly full screen task / calendar / mail / etc.)

Admittedly there may just be something wrong with my device, it's just an observation.

But my impression from using WP devices (I've also used a HTC Pro 7 in the past) was that the processing power (or lack of) wasn't a huge issue. It's almost like it's been designed to run with that (locked down) spec.

Valve: Games run FASTER on Linux than Windows

Andy Nugent
IT Angle

Two questions

1) How does it perform using OpenGL on Windows? Is this performance boost down to them optimising the app for the OpenGL version?

2) How many of the app optimisations done for OpenGL would also be applicable to the Direct3D version?

Devs can't be bothered with Nokia's Windows Phone – report

Andy Nugent
IT Angle

Re: That and

I thought the apps will be compatible with WP8, and it's the other way around that's the (potential) problem?

So you write an app now and it works on WP7.5 & WP8.

You write an app in future, and if you use some new features, such as native C/C++, it'll only work on WP8.

Or did I miss something / get the wrong end of the stick?

Nokia details 808 Pureview release

Andy Nugent

Re: Erm yes it is

You can choose to output the 1:1 pixels if you want, which results in 34 or 38 MPixel images depending on the aspect ratio (Nokia have released a paper detailing the tech), so yes you're right that you can't output 41 MPixel images, but you can easily choose not to have the scaled down ones.

However, I think one of the main selling points is that you either get digital zoom that's reasonable quality (as it's not stretching the image) or you get low noise 3/5/8 MPixel images due to the over sampling.

Andy Nugent

Re: 'tis odd

Or the fact that's all Symbian supports?

Andy Nugent

Re: Oooer

They won't be unfamiliar with the code, part of the Symbian outsourcing was that Accenture took some of the Nokia staff on.

Crime Map

Andy Nugent

That's correct. All crime data is linked to streets. So you see spikes outside shopping centres and similar places that attract large crowds.