Re: Three weeks...
Citation on the EU "army" set to replace domestic forces, s'il vous plait?
49 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jun 2009
Yep, I see you're first point but I don't think that's the reason the industry *expects* handsets to be replaced so frequently. I may be being pedantic but an extremely large selling point of all of these devices regardless of cost, brand, age etc is their ability to be "mobile", they are / should be designed to be just that. If my SII grinds to a halt after 18 months and I hear my insurance company tell me, "you were too mobile with it" well, how would you react?
Incidentally, like you, I also use it for a fair bit of navigation/tracking work, in the car as well as on foot and two wheels in the form of cross country, all-mountain, hiking, biking etc, that's why I chose to equip it with a double skin gimp-suit and a decent screen protector, that was just my idea of prudence I guess.
Generally speaking I have a "Use to Destruction" policy on the things I buy; clothes, bikes, boots and phones. I buy what I judge as good quality based on experience and advice I trust, then I use it until I can no longer. But that's just me.
It uses Googles satellite imagery for mapping so you get an actual detailed photographic route of where you're going, not just some beige/red/green/blue drawing. It not only accepts postcodes but pretty much any descriptive information you could think of i.e. if you'd expect to see a map result when you search for something on Google desktop, the SII will automatically map a route there, so no more having to ask for postcodes most of the time. And if you're so inclined (which admittedly I haven't yet been, it will automatically offer you Street View navigation when you reach your destination if you need to proceed on foot) And the 4+ inch screen is more than adequate and larger than some dedicated sat nav devices I've seen. I have to say it's probably one of the biggest value adding features of a smartphone.
"Sniffer dogs can get tired." Judging by the rate my dog can sniff on an average day walk I just can't really believe that particular statement. Aside from that, it's always nice to see dogs in airports and such places. AAAAAAND "[sniffer dogs] cannot act as evidence in court"? Surely that's the cocaine's job???
...but I'd like to think RIMs last bastion in the industry will always be there tight grip on data security, their bread and butter and it's something I think they're yet to give up entirely to any third party organisation whether it be government or law enforcement so far. Let's hope they keep hold...
...can I make it look like Gingerbread 2.3 please? My eye couldn't help be caught by the screenshots and they were left really wanting and none of your write up about the graphics appeased any of my concerns. Floating menu button? Really? Why would they do that?
I did like some of additional features and upgrades though, I find my Gallery sometimes just hangs on loading, that's frustrating, so if the upgrade could fix that, great. Also liked the idea of individually wiping all notifications and of course the facial unlock sounds fun but the overall visual redesign looks like it could be disappointing.
One big thing for me is that one of your screenshots states, 'No trace keyboard', I seriously, *seriously* hope that doesn't mean no 'Swype' keyboard, because for me, Swype kicks a$$!
I always coveted the TomTom whenever it came to sat-nav, as did a couple of my friends, that was until I upgraded my old nokia 6301 (that was stolen) to a SGSII and happened to come across the navigation on it. Coming from the stance that I still see and use my smartphone first & foremost as an actual phone, the fact that it happens to use excellent Google satellite imagery to plot and track your course is really quite amazing and really did turn said friends green when I used it to navigate us to and around London one weekend. I also like the way it caches your route to memory so that even though you might fall out of coverage, the imagery will automatically scale down from 'Sat' to 'Map' to just a beigey grid, all the while your blue route line is always crystal clear.
N.B. - Yes, I know battery life is woefully dismal in comparison to a dedicated sat-nav but using the incar charger is no problem and screen size is the same. Well, I like it anyway.
We went for the Humax HDR-FOX T2 and am really pleased with it. The one thing that always put me off freeview was the thought of most of the really cr*ppy, clunky EPG's that come with them that look like a photo of lined A4 put through a typewriter (it's a superficial gripe, I know) but I really like how the Humax EPG looks and it also works really well. We went from VM TV to the Humax and we get far more functionality (that we actually use day to day) now. Unfortunately we're about to go back to VM for the broadband so we can plug the box in to the Internet and get even more.
"...the photographs that were published in the newspaper were significantly more graphic and close-up..."
So why weren't approximately 2,000 complaints received against the p.o.s. paper for printing images they agreed were inappropriate in their publication which is (unfortunately) widely available to the entire country?
What a joke.
...using my Driving Licence. Most people, myself fully included before then, naturally assume you need a passport whenever it ocmes to boarding something with wings. I was pretty sure I'd read somethintg to the contrary about internal flights and didn't fancy risking my passport on that particualr trip either. So turned up at the airport, met the rather large group of friends I was going with, sweated a little under the numerous "So, you *haven't* got your passport?" and the "Are you sure you don't need it?" and the "I probably would've bought it anyway, just in case!" comments just to feel especially superior and knowledable when I wandered on the damn thing just the same as everyone else in the end anyway.
Right, not sure where *this* is going but I'm heading to pub. Happy Friday people :)
...If money was no object I'd rather use a dedicated, quality (Kindle etc) e-reader to read an e-book. To paraphrase something else I once read (on my PC that time), "I don't want the book I'm reading to "ping" everytime my email account gets a new message." And in the same way, I don't want my browser to be in B&W either. I have to agree, just because they happen to have similar form factor and *some* similarities in function, this doesn't warrent a head-to-head comparison.
What I find kind of frustrating is that I could find out pretty much everything about an iPad by just watching the TV ad breaks a couple of times. Then one day I saw 35 seconds of absolute non-sensical, flashing garbage that p*ssed me off only to see "Kindle by Amazon" splashed on the final screen...w...t...f...No voiceover, no dialogue whatsoever, no shots of the actual product, no spec, nothing, aaarrrrggggghhhhh. I know Apple are one of the greatest marketing machines on the planet but I really could have done much, much better for the Kindle than Amazon did. Shame!
"Over a short time they form a *unique* signature of the electrical frequency at that time, which research has shown is *the same in London as it is in Glasgow*."
How does 'unique' = 'same in London as it is in Glasgow'?
Also, how good would this work if said ne'er do well simply stood in the middle of a rather large, very empty, very much disconnected, disused warehouse to make those all important phone calls. I can imagine these often make suitable venues for such nefarious activities.
...there's a great paraphrase of a previous court ruling somewhere concerning who "owns" a photograh of you, it goes a little like, "You do not own the light that bounces off of your face!"
To go a little further, you don't own the light, or the lens it hits unless the camera is yours, in which case the photos are your responsibility. Some people should examine that word closely sometimes too, *responsibility*.
...must be the inner geek in me but every time I read on the progress (or lack thereof) of poor little Spirit I get an overwhelming sense of empathy and visions of this lopsided Wall-E take off, wheezing and spluttering in the dusty sand whilst it slowly and helplessly sinks...oh man...here I go again :'(
the fact that he was driving through or near Todmorden which is basically a town in a valley that forms a cess-pit of the freaks, wraiths and strays of society (I can only assume they have an urge to gather at the lowest point around). I imagine the collective aura of these weirdos probably emit some sort of noxious gas or other air-bourne emission which can temporarily effect outsiders, particularly those who are of the mental disposition to drive for long enough that there's only "seven miles of diesel remaining", those who "drive for a living" yet don't have a cheap (or otherwise) in-car mobile phone charger and those who are diabetic and have "no insulin" with them!
I'm also really fighting the urge to slurry what I think is a sound argument with the stereotype that he also owns a god-damn BMW....PRICK....oops!