* Posts by Hypnotist

16 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2011

Firefox 57: Good news? It's nippy. Bad news? It'll also trash your add-ons

Hypnotist

LastPass

It's available in beta from their own site. I miss a bit of functionality (the "copy password to clipboard" menu item seems missing) but it's working otherwise.

AC because I'm happy not to advertise I use LastPass.

World's shortest international flight: now just 21km in 7 minutes

Hypnotist

Re: 66.1kms

Check-In am Flughafen Altenrhein:

Wir bitten Sie, mindestens 30 Minuten vor Abflug in Altenrhein einzuchecken

Check-In am Flughafen Friedrichshafen:

Wir bitten Sie, spätestens 60 Minuten vor Abflug in Friedrichshafen einzuchecken

I don't think I've ever arrived for an international European flight two hours before, except where I wanted to abuse the lounge.

Play the Snowden flights boardgame: Avoid going directly to Jail

Hypnotist

The SU flight from Moscow to Havana may usually fly over the US, but it clearly doesn't always do so:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFL150/history/20130620/1005Z/UUEE/MUHA

BlackBerry: Aaah, Microsoft, we meet again.. for another deathmatch

Hypnotist
WTF?

"Before Apple and Google's Android rocked up with games and 69p apps, the smartphone existed as a serious business device for serious business types. That market was owned by RIM and any suits denied a BlackBerry on expenses got stuck with a Windows Mobile phone instead."

The pre-iPhone smartphone market (and indeed, a large amount of the post-iPhone smartphone market until the rise of Android) was owned by Nokia.

Eight... HD camera smartphones

Hypnotist

They have Belle already

The Nokia N8 now ships with Belle, even though the upgrade for existing users isn't ready just yet.

Nokia's Great Lost Platform

Hypnotist

> So the 9100 was done with Symbian.

There wasn't a 9100 - there was a 9110 but that was still Geos, as was the 9110i.

The first Symbian Communicator (and open Symbian phone, indeed - following the closed R380) was the 9210.

Hypnotist

Several years of my life into these phones. Wish I'd got hold of a 7710. I also wish the follow-on products had actually made it out before S90 was canned. I'd have bought one.

Still remember hearing the news of the canning. Ouch.

Nokia's software exits the US market

Hypnotist

Commas

Interesting article, but, did there have to, be, so many, commas?

Nokia posts massive loss, blames 'ambiguity'

Hypnotist
Facepalm

Next year this will be a case study for MBA students

I do wonder if the N9 as it is today would have happened without Elop, if what is being said about the development timelines are true. It's also possible the Windows Phone strategy was the right one.

Unfortunately Elop's execution plan of denying Nokia any profits for an entire year by following Gerald Ratner's awesome marketing strategy might mean Nokia don't survive long enough to get a decent Windows Phone out.

HTC ChaCha Qwerty Android smartphone

Hypnotist

Is it...

really 10% better than the Nokia E6?

Need something to access Lotus email with to replace my falling-apart-ALREADY BB Curve...

Gloomy forecast, job cuts, product delays at RIM

Hypnotist

Strange...

You're the kind of person Nokia should have been winning over. The Nokia E6 would seem to be perfect for you (bugs aside).

Nokia unveils Contractual Obligation Meego Phone

Hypnotist

Nokia as an innovator

Everyone focuses on the Windows Phone stuff, but disappointingly few analysts are looking further than that. Having both Meego and S40 running QT apps in the very near future, free to do whatever they want with them, while getting credibility from the American investors for going with a company those investors have actually heard of, is actually starting to look rather smart (assuming this isn't just a flash in the pan).

Nokia is the firm that made the 7110, the 3650, the 7600, the 7280 and 7380, the 7370, the 9500 and the E70. About time they got back to just putting phones out to see what works and what doesn't, rather than worrying about every phone being a blockbuster success. (Of course they need the blockbuster successes too...)

Nokia and Apple bury patent beef

Hypnotist
Facepalm

Indeed...

Not even Apple knew what the norm was - they just decided Nokia was asking too much.

"Throughout the negotiation process, Nokia blatantly attempted to circumvent its contractual obligation to offer non-discriminatory licensing terms to Apple. While Nokia said it was offering Apple its “standard” royalty terms, Nokia repeatedly refused Apple’s requests to substantiate that naked representation. Nokia refused to provide any information about what other licensees were paying for the same standards-essential patent rights (even on an aggregated or anonymous basis)".

Hypnotist
Stop

@Ian Davies

How do you know they were onerous? Because Apple said so?

The other side of the story, from Nokia: "Prior to filing this Complaint, Nokia has made various offers to Apple for the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory royalty determination (F/RAND) terms and conditions of a license agreement...Apple has rejected Nokia's offers for the F/RAND terms and conditions both on a portfolio and on a per-patent basis".

Microsoft fingered for Nokia's bleak future

Hypnotist
Stop

@Steve K

I agree with Dave, except for the (in retrospect) dark dark period of Symbian^1. Phones of this series often had great features - I still use my 5800 today - but a UI that was at best inconsistent, and hardware that often just wasn't up to it. This culminated in the N97 debacle.

The X6 was about half the price of the iPhone though, I don't think it was ever marketed as "an equal".

More to the point, Symbian^1 was the same era as iOS 1.x (though quickly left behind - iOS 2.x came a few months after). Symbian has since moved on much as iOS has, though to differing extents in various directions. Past use of a Symbian^1 device does not give a sound basis for judging Symbian devices today, even if parallels can be drawn - just as taking a first-gen iPhone with iOS 1.1 to inform one's view of the iPhone 4 would be a bit restrictive.

Hypnotist

The title is yadda yadda

I think it went deeper than that. Every S60 phone review since the 5800 - maybe since the N95 - has been along the lines of "interesting hardware, but Symbian sucks". Even with the N8 and Symbian^3, where it's no longer really true that S60 is far worse than the competition - some things are better, some things are worse, the overall experience is fine - that's still the line that is trotted out. Mostly due to the browser that can't handle part-loaded pages very well and doesn't reflow properly, and the stupid hide-the-screen touchscreen input mechanisms. It's a huge shame things like Nokia Sleeping Screen and Nokia Bubbles aren't in production hardware, too.

When the Saturday guys in the phone shops started telling people not to buy Symbian / Nokia, the game was pretty much up - had they shipped the N8 with Anna they might have got away with it, but they didn't. Windows at least offers the prospect that the operators will start pushing Nokia phones again hard - they certainly don't want Google to start risking their lunch.

Why Elop cut Symbian off at the knees so soon is a far bigger question - he's backtracking like crazy now (support to 2016?) but the damage has been done. A huge shame - I really like my N8 and it could have continued to sell well for some time to come.

BTW I'm (now very) ex-Symbian and non-Nokia too, though I spent a lot of time in Finland.