Posts by Dave Fox

Microsoft announces execution date for failed QR code-killer

Re: nfc?

Have to agree - on what planet do the "vast majority" of smartphone possess NFC, because it isn't this one. Granted, I have 3 phones (Note 2, HTC One, and Nexus 4) that all do have NFC, but I'm the exception not the rule.

Microsoft Surface sales numbers revealed as SHOCKINGLY HIDEOUS

Except that it does....

The post you replied too was referring specifically to the Surface Pro, which does run ordinary x86 apps!

Android MasterKey found buried in kiddie cake game on Google Play - report

Fail again!

How many times is El Reg going to post that the S4 is the only phone which has been patched against this, when it simply isn't true?

Using the Blue Box Security Scanner for my devices:

HTC One - Patched

Galaxy Note 2 - Patched

Galaxy Note 8 - Patched

It's all in the wrist: How to write apps for the Pebble smartwatch

Re: Richard Taylor 2

Think of it this way: Linux is to Unix as Nyetimber sparkling wine is to Champagne. i.e. it may be functionally equivalent, or even better, but can't actually be called Unix, in the same way that Nyetimber sparkling wines can't actually be called Champagnes despite the fact that they are produced identically to Champagne.

If Linux were certified to the Single UNIX Specification, it could legally be called Unix, but to date no one has ever bothered to certify their distro, probably because it is largely immaterial in line real world.

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

Re: Who do you believe?

Try installing the proof of concept APK on the ReKey website via ADB.

I tried on my devices which the Bluebox security scanners reports as patched and it failed - which is the correct behaviour for a patched device.

Re: "but only the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been patched to protect against it"

No - according to the patch website, the Bluebox scanner is failing to detect their patch in some cases, and stating that the phone is still vulnerable when it isn't. i.e. a false negative rather than a false positive.

"but only the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been patched to protect against it"

According to the Bluebox's security scanner, my Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 8, and HTC One are also already patched!

Google brings Blink-powered Chrome to Windows and Mac OS X

Re: Reporting bot posts ?

A bot that responds to a Doctor Who reference with another? That would be clever!

How about you just admin you've no idea what he was talking about eh Rory? ;)

Samsung isn't alone: HTC profits take a huge dive

So, get the Google Edition? ;) If it isn't available in your region, get a regular one and flash the GE software.

Personally though, as with Touchwiz, you tend to lose more than you gain when you go to "stock", but it is nice to have the choice.

2 year upgrade cycle

In my opinion, the manufacturers have forgotten that in many markets, there's a two year upgrade cycle if you want to get a subsidised device. Personally, I'm ok with paying retail for a device, but I only do so once every two years, sandwiching a free upgrade in between.

No, it just confirms that most people think that comments like "iSheep" are puerile and unnecessary!

I'm no great fan of Apple and iOS devices (though I love my Macbook Pro), but the iPhone and iPad are absolutely the right devices for some people, my wife included - just not for me.

At last: EU slashes mobile roaming fees

Re: Information required

No idea I'm afraid, but it would still probably be cheaper to just buy an offline GPS solution with European maps (e.g. Copilot).

There are exceptions though that may make it cost effective - Three will give you "unlimited" data roaming across the EU for £5 per day, and Vodafone will allow you to use your UK data allowance for £3 per day if you've signed up for Eurotraveller - both only charged on days you use your device.

Galaxy S4 way faster than iPhone 5: Which?

Re: More expensive?

You really shouldn't equate the "price" of a phone from a carrier with a contract, with the actual price of the phone SIM free and unlocked, which is how much it would actually cost to buy if you take the carrier and contract out of the equation.

Here in the UK, on my contract, I wouldn't pay a single penny for either an iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S4 at contract renewal, but that doesn't mean the phone is "free". A quick glance at the SIM free prices on Amazon(UK) shows the iPhone 5 @ £505, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 @ £450.

Re: Battery

Just pull your old feature phone out and use that then!

Modern *smartphones* aren't going to get the battery life you require until the battery technology catches up, or they start making them 5 x thicker and heavier to accommodate a much larger battery (which would probably take 24+ hours to charge!).

That Microsoft-Nokia merger you've been predicting? It's no go

HTC on the radar?

I can definitely see that MS needs to buy a handset manufacturer, but I would've thought HTC would have been considerably than Nokia and probably more "relevant" in the world today.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Proof the pen is mightier?

PPI - so what?

I'll never really understand this fascination with ever increasing PPI - a 1280x800 8" screen has a far better PPI than most laptops. Yes, I know higher PPI screens tend to look nicer (I'm writing this on a rMBP), but what is far more important is the amount of information than can be reasonably be displayed on a screen of any particular size and 1280x800 on an 8" is more than adequate.

I wouldn't want to run my rMBP at its full resolution of 2880 x 1800 and much prefer the scaled resolution of 1440 x 900, so whilst the retina screen looks nicer, in general use it doesn't offer me an more real "information" than a 1440 x 900 panel would.

Review: Samsung Galaxy S4

Except that it isn't though really is it?

It's all very well screaming "£580 for a fucking phone!" if that is all that it was, but for many people these days, it's something else.

I have a Galaxy Note 2, which I absolutely love, but I use it more for apps, web-browsing, movies, music, navigation, and exercising tracking, than I do for making calls. Yes, it's still my primary phone, but on average I probably only use it for 20 minutes or so a day to actually make and receive phone calls. The rest of the the time I'm using it is for its myriad other functionalities, that in years gone by I'd have had to have separate, expensive, devices to accomplish.

If you just want a phone, there are thousands of alternatives out there that do not cost the earth!

BlackBerry CEO: Tablets will be dead in 5 years

Re: Minor correction to quote...

"I don't think" said Heins.

There - fixed again! :)

Google Glass will SELF-DESTRUCT if flogged on eBay

Re: What gives ANY company the right...

I rather suspect that the point is that the contract relates to the Google services that Google Glass needs to connect to in order to function correctly.

Whilst they can't legally stop you reselling the item, they can prevent the purchaser from accessing the required Google services because the contract for supply of those services isn't transferred with the ownership of the device.

Google Play privacy SNAFU sends app buyers' details to devs

Re: So?

"Lack of needing a password"?

Recently, Play has been asking for my password when I make purchases - usually just the first one, if I make more than one during the same "session".

Netbooks were a GOOD thing and we threw them under a bus

Re: Acer W510

The original article never mentioned a price point - it was talking about a particular type of machine for use by Roadwarriors, and lamenting the demise of the Netbook!

Most Netbooks are single core, 1GB RAM, 1024x600 screen and an mechanical HD. The W510 is a dual core, 2GB, 1366x768 screen with touch, and uses an SSD, *and* it's a tablet, so making comparisons to a Netbook purely on price isn't really fair because whilst the W510 might look like a Netbook when docked, it is in reality a far more capable and versatile machine.

Acer W510

What you need is an Acer W510.

A truly remarkable little machine - a full Windows 8 tablet/convertible, with epic battery life. Docked, you can get 15+ hours and 9+ as a pure tablet.

Sure, it isn't perfect. Like an Atom based Netbook, desktop performance is exactly stellar but still very usable, as in tablet form running Metro apps it is very speedy, so if Atom netbooks are ok for you, the W510 will be too.

The keyboard is small and cramped and isn't of the highest quality (I think the Asus Transformer keyboards are better), and the trackpad is quite frankly an exercise in frustration but that is slightly mitigated by touchscreen and a bluetooth mouse is always a good thing to have.

I take mine wherever I go for work, along with my Macbook Pro Retina, and use both simultaneously, though I never need to plug in the W510 in unless it needs a charge because I can easily get two to three days usage out of it when I'm using the Macbook as the primary device, and the W510 essentially as a second screen, perhaps RDP'd into a server, or showing a spreadsheet or emails. When I'm back at the hotel, the W510 comes out and usually undocked and then I can lay on the bed bed and watch movies, surf the web etc, which previously I'd have been using an Android tablet to do.

For a road warrior who wants a small laptop with excellent battery life, the Acer W510 is a very good choice. The fact that it is a tablet too makes it an even better choice.

‘Anonymous’ hacks Oz Uni’s email to protest bulk iPad buy

Re: What's the alternative? Aduio rcording and paper/pen

All that proves is that the fellow who used a laptop has no concept of making a backup.

For any important document that I create, I make sure that I have it backed up or synced - often in a variety of places.

The USB drive that I carry with my keys is one such place, as is my phone, but I'm also not averse to using Dropbox, Google Drive, or Evernote.

Your paper notes and audio recordings are far more at risk from loss than a properly backed up electronic version.

Now I'm just waiting "Tin Foil Hat" brigade to chime up about how unsafe it is to keep my data in the cloud...... ;)

Apple 'slashes iPhone 5 screen orders', tight-fisted fanbois blamed

"I have never met anyone who had considered replacing it"

I'm guessing you live on a deserted island then, because pretty much every iPhone owner that I know would love something like Swype on their fruit-themed device! Of course, there are some iPhone owners who are oblivious to the idea that other OSs offer a choice of keyboard, but once they know, they generally wish that the iPhone did too.

Don't get me wrong, for a long time, the iOS keyboard was the one to beat, but it is now very, very dated in comparison to Android keyboards like Swiftkey and Swype.

P.S. I originally wrote deserted desert island, but it just looked strange! :)

Review: Google Nexus 4

Re: Battery life...

Galaxy Note 2 is still thin, and has epic battery life too. I get 9-10 hours of screen on time from mine.

Of course, it's large, but since the 5.5" screen is a selling point, it is intentionally so.

"The 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm S4 Pro APQ8064 chip that hauls the coal may not feature the new ARM Cortex-A15 architecture used in the Nexus 10 tablet’s Samsung-made 1.7GHz Exynos CPU"

No, and it shouldn't either because Qualcomm don't use off the shelf ARM cores like the Cortex-A15 but rather use their own completely custom silicon which is instruction set compatible with the ARM licensed cores.

In practice, the Krait core in the S4 Pro, whilst most definitely not a Cortex-A15, is architecturally similar and can be considered of the same "generation" as the A15.

New tool jailbreaks Microsoft Surface slabs in 20 SECONDS

And yet in in 2013 what OS is running on most desktops in the world?

The problem here is that the desktop is losing relevance in the world of 2013 and beyond.

Devices like the iPad, Surface, Asus Transformer, and internet connected TVs are already supplanting the desktop/laptop in the home, and making inroads into the business world too.

Far, far, too early to signal the death knell of the desktop as we know it, but I do think the traditional laptop is definitely on its way out, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if at the home/office, we all end up with smart docks which we can slip out phones into to provide a more "desktop" like environment, such as the one you can already get for the Galaxy Note II.

Run *any* desktop software of their choosing?

Methinks not!

That would be any old desktop app which has been recompiled for ARM, the list of which is exceedingly small.

Nokia chief Elop: 'Android? Hey, anything's possible!'

"they adopted an OS that offers nothing in the way is differentiation"

You clearly missed the point here!

It is not whether WP8 is "different" from Android or iOS, it is that one of the reasons that Elop gave for not adopting Android was being able to differentiate their products from other Android handset manufacturers.

The same logic applies to WP8 - how does Nokia differentiate their WP8 device over say an HTC device? Elop's answer: via their technologies such as Maps, CityLens, imaging etc, but then again Nokia could easily add these technologies to an Android device *and* re-skin due to the open source nature of Android. WP8 is far more limited than Android when it comes to the ability to create product differentiators in the software.

Unlocked iPhone 5 on sale in US, cheaper than UK - but not cheap

Re: Some comparison...

True dat on the VAT! Journo's do seem to love to distort the price differential by failing to disclose that UK prices include the 20% and in order to make a fairer comparison, you have to remove it.

Two other points here though.

1. A company like Apple will have its entire supply chain priced in USD, so they never have to worry about exchange differences. For non-USD countries, they will almost always convert at an exchange rate which is slightly more advantageous to them, not necessarily to price gouge, but to allow a little slack so that if currebcy exchange rates worsen significantly, they don't have to raise prices. Of course, if the exchange rate improves significantly, they seldom reduce their prices.... ;)

2. In the EU we get a 2-year warranty by law, so I'm sure some of the additional "cost" associated with that warranty is reflected in the prices we pay.

Barnes & Noble go up against Amazon in Blighty with Nook apps

#FAIL

"A statement from Barnes & Noble said the tablets were arriving on shelves at Blackwell's, Foyles, John Lewis, Argos, Asda, Dixons, Sainsbury's and Waitrose"

http://www.johnlewis.com/231809937/Product.aspx

So much for the Nook tablets not being available in the UK!

Judge to Apple: You WILL tell Samsung what you got from HTC

If Apple's tech is so shit then why is their tablet's screen resolution class leading?

I don't think Apple's tech is shit, but small point of order here - the iPad's screen resolution is no longer class leading, as the Nexus 10 has a higher resolution.

Apple removes apology-hiding JavaScript from UK website

"Who in this world ever apologises when they believe they are 'right' but are told they are wrong?"

Hmmm,

People in danger of being in contempt of court perhaps... ;)

Microsoft's 32GB Surface RT has 16GB of free storage

"Even if what's on the card can't be seen by the the device, it's still... a revolutionary approach, no less."

Not really - it's been done before!

When the Motorola Xoom was originally launched, it did so with an SD card slot that the OS couldn't see at all! :)

"Most people are used to finding external media themselves. "

*Most* people would probably never use external media, beyond sticking a DVD or a CD into a laptop. However, having done so, regular Windows would prompt them what they should do with it.

I'm not talking about the tech savvy user here (who are very much in the minority) but the mums, dads, grandads and grandmothers who aren't particularly computer literate.

P.S. Having already "corrected" the error in my original post, it's a more than a little churlish to take me up on it again, don't you think? The point stands that media on your SD card does not end up in your Windows libraries unless you are prepared to jump through hoops to do so, and that is a fail in my opinion. YMMV.

Re: "Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"

Which is what is discussed in the link I posted earlier.... ;)

However, this is *beyond* your average user!

Re: External SD would be fine... if you could install Apps to it

In the interests of fairness, it should be said that later Android devices (i.e. those that shipped with ICS or Jellybean) generally don't support Apps2SD any more. This is because the device is no longer partitioned with a discreet, limited, amount of space for apps, and instead apart from essential /system and a few other partitions, apps and data share the same partition on external storage.

Re: "Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"

@AC 10:07

I probably wasn't very clear - what I meant to say is that internal apps can't see videos on external storage automatically, and add them to the Windows libraries.

You have to manually browse to the SD card and find your videos, rather than just picking "Videos". My Galaxy Note 2 scans internal and external media and presents all the available video files in the Video Player app without me having to explicitly go look for it.

http://www.teamradicus.com/post/Surface-and-SD-Card.aspx

"Microsoft makes it easy for you to add more storage space"

No,

Microsoft make it easy for you to add an SD card to the tablet. However, the built-in apps, such as the Video player etc, can't actually see that additional space rendering it not so usable or easy for the average user to use.

Yes, there are ways and means around this, but they really should've had a media scanner a la Android to automatically scan the external media for playable files.

Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives

Apple is a victim of its own marketing here. No one cared about PPI until Apple introduced the "Retina" display.

I still don't care about PPI - my missus has an iPad 2 and has never complained that the text was "fuzzy", so I'm wondering why I'm hearing people complaining about the iPad Mini when its PPI is higher. The simple facts of the matter are that a 1280x800 screen on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 is more than adequate, and the importance of PPI has been blown out of all proportion.

Nokia primes Lumias for Windows Phone 8 push

Got to agree here!

Nokia need to win the hearts and minds of consumers, and making their flagship device a network exclusive is not the way to do it.

Hint for you Nokia - most people don't choose their network based on the phones they carry! They choose their network mostly on price (including allowances), coverage and network reliability (not necessarily in that order!). Orange/TMo/EE fail on 2 of the 3 criteria for me (Price/allowances and coverage) so there's no way I will move to them.

4G: Bad coverage, crap battery life - but at least it's really expensive

"That's because few people use them as they have a bad reputation generally."

Ahem,

It is a well known fact that 3 carries more data traffic than the other networks, so your post is full of fail! :)

iPad Mini vs Nexus 7: inch makes all the difference, says Apple CEO

Well, don't try to brush every Apple users a fanboi.

You mean like labelling every Android user a fandroid? ;)

Personally, I wouldn't label all Apple users as fanboi's because I am an Apple user myself - just not an iOS user!

"I know fandroid's are in the majority, but they're never right for common sense"

Yeah - because fandroids are well known for camping outside stores for days on end in all weather in order to purchase the latest Android device.....

Most tablets (that aren't iPads) aren't 16:9 - they are 16:10.

The Surface is 16:9, and I can't see this being particular usable in portrait, but the N7 at 16:10 is very much like a paper back book and the aspect ratio is better suited for video than 4:3.

Re: "No phone should be wider than iPhone models"

Firstly the Note(s) can be configured for one-handed operation, which does work perfectly well, but I don't feel the need to use it (and I'm 5'8", and have regular sized hands) in order to make and receive calls!

That being said, anyone who thinks of the SII or SIII (or the Note/Note II) as just a phone is clearly too stupid to realise that the phone is probably the least part of its function these days. ;)

I use my Note II as my primary media consumption device for web, video, and music. It also happens to be a phone, but I make and receive calls less than I use the device media consumption. Given the primary interface for media consumption is the screen, a larger sized screen makes perfect sense.

Large devices like the Note(s) are not for everyone, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist. I find it rather bizarre when you read reviews of the Note(s) and the reviewer lists the physical size as a "con" when that is one of the USP's of the devices! It's a bit like someone reviewing a Ferrari and listing the fact that it's fast as a "con".

"No phone should be wider than iPhone models"

So when Apple produce a "wider" phone, it will of course be perfectly acceptal because it still fits the "No phone should be wider than iPhone models" mantra! :)

Personally, I'll happily type this from my Retina MBP and read any responses from my equally gorgeous Samsung Galaxy Note II which I've no problem using whatsoever!

Windows RT still haunted by the ghost of Microsoft's 2001 tablet fiasco

Gathering dust?

Don't know where the author got the idea that "most" Transformer keyboards are gathering dust in a drawer somewhere!

I know that I use mine regularly, and so does everyone I know who has a TF (though admittedly that's a fairly small group).

Slideshow: A History of the Smartphone in 20 Handsets

Another vote for the Sony Ericsson P800/P900 range here!

Glad to see the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900 ranges made the grade here.

I had both, and they were fantastic phones - in my opinion these devices running the UIQ flavour of Symbian were the true successors to the Psion Series 5 devices, and it was such a shame that Nokia ruined Symbian by hamstringing ti with such useless UI's as their "Series <whatever>" interfaces.

Whenever I hear some revisionist tosser talking about how Apple "invented" the smartphone, I think back to my P800/P900 phones and sigh!