* Posts by gav_taylor

49 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Slideshow: A History of the Smartphone in 20 Handsets

gav_taylor
WTF?

no HTC TYTNII!?!

how can you miss the TYTNII! my first toe dip into the smart phone world, touch screen, full desktop browsing (via Opera Mobile) yes it was Windows but before anyone had heard of the iPhone, these HTC devices were king of the smart phones giving Palm a good run for their money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Htc_tytn_ii.jpg

Visa Europe muscles in to UK cloudy wallet market

gav_taylor

Re: Is...

they used to be part of RBS but it was sold in 2010 apparently.

- see http://www.worldpay.com/about_us/index.php?page=history&c=UK

Google updates Chrome for Android

gav_taylor
Meh

"The update brings with it a new user agent specification which website builders will find handy""

I hope they dont find it handy... website developers should be using feature detection not browser sniffing

HTC struggling as profits drop 70 per cent

gav_taylor
Meh

Dont bite the hand that feeds you

"Analysts have put HTC’s demise down to its inability to carve out a decisive brand identity and differentiate from the multitude of rivals all selling Android handsets."

I think its more to do with HTC alienating the developer community, the people that were actually buying HTC products. They started locking down every device making it harder and harder for devs to customise and low and behold, this time last year we all went out and bought SGS2s from Uncle Sammy.

12 months on, the S2 is still holding its own so nobody has had to buy a new phone. HTC have since completely u-turned on their bootloader policy, so the next 12 months will probably see HTC pick up again, but its been an expensive lesson for them to learn.

HTC Ice Cream Sandwich updates slip to late March

gav_taylor
Linux

i still can't figure out how a company with a dept full of developers can't push out updates quicker than a handful of guys doing it in their spare time.

I know they cry "we have qa requirements the community doesn't" but cyanogenmod also have QA

requirements and they manage it

Blushing HTC too coy to admit sales figures

gav_taylor
Linux

their poor sales are because the developer community boycotted HTC over their bootloader lockdown, most of us bought SGSII's instead and haven't needed to upgrade yet

Security takes a backseat on Android in update shambles

gav_taylor

they said at IO they would be implementing an 18 month upgrade policy for manufacturers to follow, not heard anything since tho

Half of Britain now owns a smartphone

gav_taylor

not too sure about that...

"The figures are somewhat skewed, though, as data is based on a period that ended two days prior to Apple's iPhone 4S launch, which has undoubtedly boosted the company's position after it shipped record amounts of the latest iPhone."

I dont think they are going to be that skewed, most people (in fact everyone I know) who got a iPhone 4S were already using an iPhone so were just upgrading rather than moving from another device to the iPhone

How to... re-energise your Android smartphone's OS

gav_taylor
Alert

"Moral: RTFM." and be careful with your "'what does this button do?' activities"

while the purpose of the article is great for both users of old(er) devices and a great bit of PR for CyanogenMod, apart from the very misleading title, it struck me as potentially dangerous for novice users who don't quite know what their doing due to a lack of warnings in a couple of places.

The two biggies that could lead to a few angry readers with bricked devices are:

"The first time I tried this the Zip wouldn’t install. So I downloaded the same Zip again and it worked. Go figure."

- this is ROM flashing 101, always check your MD5 hashes before attempting to flash a zip! (If your using the ROM Manager, it does this for you automatically) Downloads cant sometimes get corrupt, your phone is sensitive to these things and a dodgy zip flashed to the wrong place can seriously damage your phone.

"I tried bumping the San Fran’s 600MHz chip to the maximum indicated 806MHz and everything froze"

- Just because the option is there, doesn't mean your device supports it. How much you can and cant under/over-clock your cpu is down to your specific cpu and depends on various things like build quality, device age, mood of QA guy testing it...

A bit of trial and error is needed when doing this, and you should always bump up to the max value not start at the top and work down.

Firefox 4 squeezes onto phones

gav_taylor
Unhappy

[insert title here]

yeah its equally shocking on my Gingerbread powered HTC Hero (running 2.3.3), its a shame they dont put any love into the ARM6 build...

Mozilla: 'Internet Explorer 9 is not a modern browser'

gav_taylor
FAIL

should look to the future...

so Microsoft say they are building @IE for what developers are building today... ok, but with years between major releases/feature updates surly they should be looking at tomorrow?

Kinect blamed for Red Ring of Death outbreak

gav_taylor
FAIL

has happened to me..

my xbox is 4 years old, Im not a heavy gamer which is probably why its not happened sooner.

I got the kinect last wednesday, played it wednesday night for about an hour, turned it off, played black ops sunday afternoon for 10 minutes and it died... RROD

a little too much of a co-incidence if you ask me.

I know the RROD is caused by overheating, but its been in a well ventilated horizontal position for 4 years and I only use it for an hour or too tops, a couple of times a week.

the kinect must be doing something to cause the console to overheat...

Google pinpoints bugs that send texts to wrong people

gav_taylor
FAIL

the real question here is how will they deploy the fix?

its all well and good they have found and fixed the bug. The Android developer has confirmed it has been replicated and now fixed and they will deploy the patch as soon as possible.

Great! but how?

Google are currently unable to release updates to users (except Nexus 1/S owners) without manufacturers and network carriers getting in the way.

Google release the patch... the device manufacturer get it, play with it, tweak it, change it, customise it, sit on it, 6 months later release it... Network carriers then get it, sit on it, customise it, fill it with pointless apps and demos, sit on it, release it... by this time 12 months later I have bought a new phone.

This is a serious issue that really needs resolving, There is a discussion going on on the VillainRom forum about this (see http://bit.ly/fDGHPV)

Angry Birds struggle to take on Androids

gav_taylor

update the app..

if you have missing images, your running the old version of the app, check the market for an update.

although be warned...

what ever they did to correct the graphics problem has caused the app to lag...

still playable tho on my hero.

I think over clocking has helped it. FroydVillain win :)

Facebook unveils 'next-gen' messaging system

gav_taylor

errm...

google wave also came with an email address? xxx@googlewave.com

Our PARIS becomes GLOBAL MEDIA SENSATION

gav_taylor

page 31, full spread

yeah it was in this mornings Metro, got itself a full page..

nice picture of the Playmonaut.

you can read it in their online version - http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/home.html (page 33 online)

Android phone auto reverts jailbreaks

gav_taylor
FAIL

Android jailbreakers? I didn't realise there was such a thing...

C'mon El reg, why do you keep making this mistake?

'jailbreaking' is the term given to the process of unlocking an iPhone.

'rooting' is the term given to unlocking an Android device

Angry Birds take wing on Android

gav_taylor

your resolution is too small

the current beta build is only compatable with HDPI devices (desire,n1,etc)

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

not showing up in market...

the reason its not showing up in the market for everyone is that the current build is only for HDPI devices (desire, N1, X10, etc) so that rules out a lot of us on older devices.

You can still run it on MDPI devices (runs fine on my Hero) but some of the menus run off the screen and it can lag a little sometimes but its more than playable...

Hopefully the next version will include support for other screens as for a beta, its pretty good :)

Twitter tightens grip on own firehose

gav_taylor

opps.... darn phone auto-complete...

* It's not just HTC dev's.....

gav_taylor
FAIL

major fail...

IIt's not just HTC debate that need a kick up the star, a few phone manufactures that somehow missed the deadline

http://status.twitter.com/post/1050106371/log-in-issues-for-users-of-some-mobile-clients

I don't understand how they missed the switch off, it was announced in December, Twitter reminded us once a month, then every day in August, and even gave a 2 week extension...

gav_taylor
Thumb Down

hmmm...

WWhile its great that they are opening up t.co to 3rd party developers, I'm not sure about forcing everyone to use it by replacing all links...

Stripped-down IE9 interface leaks in Russia

gav_taylor

Im not convinced

I saw the screen shot yesterday and Im not convinced that its the final design.

its probably an early developer ui so the guys n gals at microshaft can use the developer previews a little easier than the one they dished out to us.

they said a couple of times they didn't want us using it as a everyday browser so didn't add an easy to use interface, but I would have thought the developers would want to be able to use it as much as possible while waiting for the design dept to finish tweaking a design layout so will have built themselves a basic ui for developing with.

Orange gives the green light

gav_taylor
FAIL

still having problems

it seems to be back on in manchester city centre (M1) but my missus says its still down at home in Stockport (SK3)

Orange mobile data chucks punters

gav_taylor
FAIL

been ongoing for weeks

this has been happening on and off for weeks/months now in the manchester/stockport area.

failed connections, slow speeds... a lot of the time it will show a data connection is active but you just get page cannot be found errors.

Yahoo! begins Bingification in North America

gav_taylor
Unhappy

a sad day...

is a shame Yahoo! have decided to ruin there business by being "powered by bing", cant see how they will survive now? if people want to search bing they will goto bing.com.

I can see people leaving in droves... soon after that the advertises will follow and then Yahoo will fail and will eventually become Ya-who?

Google's Inventor gets short shrift

gav_taylor
Thumb Down

may as well learn java

I got my invite to the beta week before last and spent a couple of hours trying the tutorials and playing around and to be honest I find it easier working in eclipse...

Facebook gets mobile privacy

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

big improvement

the android update is long overdue and means it is an actual app now and doesn't keep jumping off to m.facebook.com all the time...

Vodafone bags UK first for BlackBerry Torch 9800

gav_taylor

also coming to Orange

looks like it will be available on Orange too...

http://twitter.com/conorfromorange/status/20298597857

Google shutters Nexus One webstore

gav_taylor
WTF?

"unlocked phones of any flavour, are not available"???

Every Android phone released has come with the option of it being unlocked (sim-free) Just don't buy it from your network provider as part of your contract.

The only difference with the N1 was that it came with Vanilla Android rather than running the manufacturers custom UI on top.

HTC posts Android 2.1 update for Hero phone

gav_taylor
FAIL

Orange Fail!

No update has been released for Orange branded Hero's, we are still waiting for the OTA part one which was release 2 weeks ago!

According to the customer services agent I spoke to last week, there is no update for the HTC Hero and if there was they wouldn't release it as the phone works ok as it is....

I must be dreaming about the poor battery life, numerous bugs and lack of bluetooth file transfer...

Google risks OEM wrath for unified Android UI plan

gav_taylor
Unhappy

Ability to disable overlays?

I think this will end up wishful thinking on both Google and our parts..

Having played with a HTC Hero for the last 12 months, HTC's inability to update Sense UI quick enough to match Android updates is both shocking and disapointing... watching friends update their Nexus One last month was a painful thing to see.

I dont think it would be right for Google to ban UI overlays but they should insist on partners adding the ability for users to easily turn it off if they want and maybe even install a vanilla rom to get updates from Google directly!

There I go, wishful thinking again...

Google: Android fragmentation isn't fragmentation

gav_taylor
WTF?

"I don't think anyone is harmed by it"

its easy to say that when you have a lovely free Nexus from the company, that is and always will be running the latest version of Android.

Andy obviously hasn't had the pleasure of having a HTC Hero stuck on cupcake (1.5) which is now unable to run some of the latest apps being developed. No Fennec (Firefox for Mobile) or Official Twitter app for us! Not even mentioning the outdated Google apps, various bugs, etc that have been fixed/updated.

Thank god for XDA

HTC sets timeframe for Hero Android update

gav_taylor

XDA, here I come....

I think I may be following you soon... have been putting it off as I wanted to wait for the official update before flashing a custom rom but looks like it isn't gonna turn up any time soon...

gav_taylor
Joke

very disapointed...

Im not holding my breath for a June update either...

we've had no public conformation from HTC about a release date since that tweet last year promising we would get an android 2.x update in the new year,

I think this is just HTC's way of trying to get us all to buy the desire or the legend instead. Wouldn't surprise me if in July at the "Hero is 1 year old" party they turn round and say sorry we don't release major updates to legacy phones....

not the best way to look after loyal customers that help HTC win all those awards for the hero!

(Joke Alert because HTC's management of this whole thing has been a joke...)

Facebook sinks Lite

gav_taylor
FAIL

was perfect for mobile browsing

been wondering why its stopped working.... I used the lite version of facebook all the time on my mobile.

it was perfect for checking facebook on the mobile without having to worry about farm/stars/chicks/zombies/mafia/etc game notifications clogging up my feed and using up all my bandwidth. It had all the features of the www. version of facebook but without all the c**p.

the touch version of facebook is very limited in what it can do, and I haven't found an app yet that comes close to the features available on lite.

this is a shame

Google tweaks search results with mystery site speedometer

gav_taylor
Coat

shoot themselves in the foot

am not surprised by this announcement, they have been hinting at it for months.

I can see this causing a lot of people to drop google analytics after this tho as the most common problem reported by Google Site performance in web master tools is with analytics tracking.

if sites start dropping down in SERPs and the only issues reported in web master tools is with analytics, they will see a lot of people removing it...

Ten Essential Android Apps

gav_taylor
Unhappy

not going to hold my breath

the 2.x update has been rumoured for release every month since december, with HTC keeping quiet and enjoying all the free publicity. I think the only way we will will ever see 2.x on a hero is if you install a custom rom.

I hope I'm wrong and will gladly eat my words but as the title says...

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

HTC Peep

I actually prefer Peep to Twidroid, is much simpler and gets the job done. twitdroid seems overly complicated for what it needs to do.

the only thing I don't like about peep is that the url shortening services list is a bit sparse and doesn't contain bit.ly

apart from that and your missing Astro! a nice list..

Bloke threatens BT with giant plywood cheque

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

brilliant!!!

"Well done that man" indeed... :-)

Google Checkout checks out

gav_taylor
FAIL

android market

not good news for us android users, we need google checkout to purchase apps in the market!

HTC Legend

gav_taylor
FAIL

right place... wrong time...

I think the Legend should probably have been released before xmas. HTC have shot themselves in the foot be releasing it at the same time as the desire which is by far a more superior handset.

As a Hero user, the legend was on my list of possible upgrades, due to the lack of 2.1 update for the Hero I want a new phone, but it seems to be just that bit short of all the other emerging handsets, no snap dragon for instance, which means with the poor battery life and only slight improvements over the Hero, the only reason for buying it would be the all in one case.

Fail for HTC's timing on releasing the (could-have-been-a) Legend

New Internet Explorer code-execution attacks go wild

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

RE: I wonder....

lets hope so...

Open source webdesktopmobile kit refreshes for iPhone, Android

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

looks promising...

looks quite promising... an easy way to dip our toes into mobile app building, downloading now...

Anti-Internet Explorer 6 protests grow with online petition

gav_taylor
FAIL

Why on earth MS supporting IE6 for so much longer?

they have to support it for as long as the product it came bundled with is supported.

in this case IE6 came bundled with XP, and because if you do a fresh install of XP, IE6 is the default browser they have to support IE6 till the support ends for XP

this is a failure in Microsoft's support policy, they either need to separate IE as an individual product which would then let them end support for it or update their support policy to exclude it

gav_taylor
Unhappy

waste of time...

the petition is never going to do anything as the government can do nothing but advise the public.

what we need to do is what they did in Norway.

All the web development companies, ISP's, etc.. in fact anyone who builds websites, need to come together and collectively stop developing for IE6.

Once you cant visit any website because your IE6 wont display it correctly, people will update...

[sad face because we will be supporting IE6 till 2014]

HTC readies radical Touch HD revamp

gav_taylor

3.5mm audio jack

cant see why it wouldn't have one, the last touch HD did and HTC have said they are putting them on all phones as standard due to popularity and peoples hatred of the mini-usb headphones...

gav_taylor
Thumb Up

about time...

been waiting for ages for HTC to announce the Touch HD2, my touch HD is probably one of the best phones I've had, and its getting android instead on winslow... er I mean winmob...

good news indeed... all we need now is some concept designs or one of those lovely guys or gals at htc to "misplace" some pic's

Facebook to offer vanity URLs

gav_taylor

saw this coming

am surprised this hasn't happened sooner, pretty much all social networks already offer this

they could have made a lot of money charging users to have a personalised homepage, thier marketing guys will be kicking themselves now... lol