Posts by Dave Fox

Samsung Galaxy S II dual core Android smartphone

CPU obsession!

What is it with smartphone manufacturers obsession with faster/dual core CPUs?

As far as I'm concerned, the CPU is my original HTC Desire was more than adequate for anything that can be thrown at it today. What we really, really, need now is better batteries, not more processing power!

I've since replaced my Desire with a Desire HD, which has a "better" processor, but an even smaller battery capacity than the Desire. I'd swap it out tomorrow for a similar device that gave me a *full* day of heavy use on a single charge, without loss of functionality.

As far as I'm concerned, dual core is pretty much just a marketing gimmick on phones right now.

Apple proposes even tinier SIMs for future iPhones, iPads

Hey Apple! Leave my SIMs alone! :)

I travel a lot for work - and when I travel, I often have a local SIM that I can simply pop into my phone without having to worry about excessive data roaming charges. For voice, I usually forward my mobile number to my Vonage line which can then "simulring" my foreign SIM, thus saving me vast amounts of money.

SIM cards are great! They are small enough to be easily transportable (I have about 10 in my wallet at the moment) and large enough to be easy to handle. I'll never have an iPhone 4 for a variety of reasons (I did buy my wife one though), but one of which is that it is almost impossible to get hold of prepaid microSIMs in the various countries I regularly visit.

So, I see no benefit to the microSIM as is, and a smaller one even less so. As to dumping the SIM entirely, and letting someone like Apple control my network via something like iTunes - absolutely no way!

RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7in tablet

It might be "obvious" but...

having taken James Bond's Blackberry when he left it on the train, surely my first step would be to put it into airplane mode so that it can't receive any remote wipe instruction! ;)

So much for security!

Asus Eee Pad tablet-cum-netbook ship date slips

Keyboard dock etc

Hi John73,

Keyboard dock was £54.98p incl shipping direct from Asus via the offer given here:

http://techinstyle.tv/news/eee-pad-transformer-keyboard-dock-offer/

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this offer ends up getting extended.

As to the tablet part - it is a very nice bit of kit.

Oh dear!

Just because Amazon doesn't have stock, doesn't mean that the device hasn't shipped!

Comet delivered my Transformer on Monday morning of this week, after I ordered on Saturday morning.

True, it doesn't have the keyboard dock yet, but I consider that an accessory, which I've already ordered direct from Asus with expected delivery in the 2nd half of May.

Nvidia: 'old' tablet development kit won't get Android 3.0

Ventana is "out"

My Honeycomb packing EEE Pad Transformer that Comet delivered yesterday is based on the Ventana platform.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android smartphone

SIP VOIP!

SIP VOIP isn't just about Google Voice you know?

I've been using SIP VOIP via SipDroid on Android phones for a long time now, without Google Voice!

Middle England chokes on Nice Baps

Future plans?

I do hope this is resolved amicably, because I fear it may affect my plans to open my "Big Jugs" jug emporium in the same town!

Firefox 4 for Android shuns ARMv6 phones

Firefox FAIL!

So Opera Mobile and Firefox 4 both go to final versions within a few days of each other.

However, Opera have managed to get the Flash Plug-in to work, and Mozilla haven't.

That would be ok in a beta version, but not in a final version, so that's a big fail Mozilla!

And to anyone who might comment that Flash is bloatware/resource hungry/buggy/slow/security risk/carrier of smallpox etc, all I can say is that I want the option to run Flash on certain sites ok? The Android browsers (Webkit-based and now Opera) all you to load Flash on demand which is a far better compromise than the iOS one of not supporting it at all!

HTC Incredible S Android smartphone

Skype?

Last time I checked, Skype for Android didn't support video calling!

Asda slashes Samsung tablet price

£200? Are you having a laugh?

For those who think that the Tab should be priced at £200, consider this:

An unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S phone currently retails for around £350. The 7" Galaxy Tab shares very similar hardware except that the Galaxy Tab has:

1. A much bigger, and higher resolution screen (ok, not AMOLED, but it's very good).

2. A much more capacious battery

3. A front facing camera in addition to a rear camera (rear camera lower MP on Tab, but has a flash!)

4. A gyroscope

To suggest that somehow it should cost £150 *less* than a less well specified smartphone is a nonsense.

To those comparing it to the iPad 1 - ok, apart from the fact that they are completely different devices due to the difference in size, show me where you can get a brand new 16GB iPad with 3G for £330, because if you are going to make a comparison at least make it like for like! :)

I paid £500 for my Tab when it first came out and I don't regret it for an instant, because it is a constant companion whether I'm home, out and about, or travelling for business. A Tab for £300 is quite frankly a steal!

Obama to overhaul heinous US patent system

Politicians!

So, some politicians "recognised" Meucci as the inventor of the telephone.

Well that proves it conclusively doesn't it? Not! :)

PS3 jailbreak judge refuses to rescind GeoHot order

@Gordon Barret

Who says 'Xerox it' - pretty much everyone in the US, that's who! ;)

Very much like us Brits saying "I've got to hoover the carpet" instead of "I've got to vacuum the carpet".

BBC iPlayer iPad app out this week

@DominicT

Oh the irony!

Instead of writing in to whinge about whingers, why don't you follow you own advice and "get a grip on what is actually important"? ;)

As to the iOS/Android issue - there's a very valid point here. There *were* 3rd party applications that allowed non-ARM7 Android devices to access streams compatible with their hardware, but the BBC *chose* to shut them down, rather than support them. There was no need to do anything at the back end, because those streams are already there (I think they are the Nokia streams). Similarly, with the flick of a switch, the BBC could make the iOS streams compatible with both iOS and Android, but once again *chooses* not to do that and instead intends to add further support to a device that it already supports via the web interface.

In fact, the BBC has direct support for iOS, Symbian, and Blackberry, and yet insists that Android users must use Flash, which is fine and dandy for those with a Flash-capable phone, but not for those who do not.

So much for impartiality and universal service! Yes DominicT, universal service should apply to *everyone* and not just iPad owners! ;)

Flash versus HTML 5

@jamie 5

The stock browser on the Galaxy Tab is dreadful - however, the browser from later ROMs (which can be found on XDA) are much better.

Personally, I find Flash more than acceptable on the Galaxy Tab with the later browser. Having said that, I've set plug-ins to "On-Demand" anyway, so that I only view Flash content if I "click" on it - this gives me the best of both worlds - the ability to use Flash only as I when I actually want to!

HTC DG H100 Media Link DLNA adapter

PS/3 + Twonky isn't exactly portable though!

@Tom 38

Fair enough for your home setup, but I think this DLNA adaptor is going to be of use for people who travel/visit family etc.

Most of my friends have HDMI equipped TVs, but no mechanism for playing digital video on it. With one of these, I can pop round with this in my pocket, hook it up, and play video from my phone. Ditto many hotel rooms.

For this reason, and this reason alone, it's a worthwhile purchase from my perspective.

Microsoft explains Windows 7 Phone phantom data cockup

Low (single digit) percentage?

Given that the vast majority of smartphone users (of any particular OS) are going to be pretty much ignorant of data allowances, and how much data they actually use, I would say that if a low, single digit, percentage of WP7 users are actually *reporting* the problem, it is likely far more widespread than MS suggests.

Just because (a) someone doesn't know they have this issue, or (b) doesn't report to MS that they have this issue, doesn't mean that they aren't affected.

I'm not a WP7 user, but I do read sites such as these. If I were, and I'd noticed the excessive data usage, but knew that it was a known issue that MS were looking into, I wouldn't have reported it myself either!

Apple's Jobs stand-in touts iPad's enterprise reach

@Giles Jones

Really? The screen resolution on my HTC Desire HD is 800x480, whereas on my Galaxy Tab it is 1024x600. Yes, the iPhone4 is close to that resolution, but then again it's also close to the 1024x768 of the iPad.

The extra screen size of the Tab (around 2.5x the size of my Desire HD), combined with the extra resolution makes a big, big difference, in terms of actual usability. For my needs, the 7" form factor is a great compromise - it sits between my phone and my laptop(s), and outside of actual work, gets used more than both of these devices combined.

The iPad, great though it is, is too large IMO - it's similar in size to my 11.6" Macbook Air, which is more capable device.

Archos 43 16GB Android PMP

No capacitive screen?

How old is the original iPod Touch now? It showed the way with the AppStore and capacitive screen.

No access to the Android Market is a little troublesome, but a decent 3rd party store can fill that hole.

Resistive screen though? Come on, it's 2011, and at this price point if it really wants to compete with the iPod Touch, it needs a capacitive screen.

Beastly Android will batter Apple's iOS beauty

Competition is good

I really wish people would stop with all the ridiculous fanboi nonsense!

I've been using Android phones since the G1, and have a Samsung Galaxy Tab. I don't have an iPhone or an iPad, but I do have a Macbook Air, a Macbook, an iMac, and an iPod Touch, so I certainly don't hate or dislike Apple. I do however think that the iOS "sanitized" view of the world is not for me personally.

Does the iPhone offer a more coherent and standard experience than Android? Yes it does - it's one of the many benefits of Apples walled garden approach to iOS. However, there are many benefits to the more open Android approach too, and essentially you pays your money and you makes your choice.

One thing that you can be certain of is that a strong Android platform will make iOS better, and vice versa. Similarly, if MS WP7 can get some traction in the market, it will also improve both iOS and Android.

I'd hate to see Android take the world by storm and crush all opposition it it's wake because that would just lead to a stagnating platform much like we saw with Symbian and WinMo, and waiting years for something bright, shiny, and new to come along to take it's place (i.e. iOS and Android).

Skype offers iPhone video calls over 3G

@numanoids

Not all of us have restrictive data plans in the UK!

Both 3 and GiffGaff offer truly unlimited data, and TMo offers a healthy 3GB allowance on Android phones, with no real penalties for go over that limited (at present!).

Amazon: 'iPad LCD tablets no threat to Kindle'

Funny USB connector?

It's MicroUSB - pretty much the defacto standard these days.

Even my new WD Passport external HD I bought a couple of months ago uses MicroUSB, which surprised me! I think MiniUSB is probably dead.

@TonyHoyle

I take it you didn't read much before the advent of the iPad? ;)

Last time I read a paper book, I needed to use a light if it was dark out dimly lit, and the Kindle was designed to replace a book. That simple fact makes the whole backlighting argument a non-starter for me.

Personally, I think the Kindle is a fantastic book replacement - I find it far superior than my Galaxy Tab for reading, which in turn is better than the iPad for reading due to it's smaller size and weight. That's not to denigrate the iPad, which is a great device but IMO it is far to big and heavy for comfortable reading.

E-ink screens are just better for longer reading sessions.

Apple iPad vs... the rest

Its only toy when you play with it! :)

I have an iMac, a Macbook, a 11.6" Macbook Air, and I had an original V1 iPod (my wife has an iPod Touch). That's in addition to a couple of Windows laptops, and a Windows desktop.

You'd think that I'd have an iPhone and an iPad, but I have Desire HD and a Galaxy Tab.

Whilst I'm not keen on the Steve Job sanitized view of the world, my reasons for having a Tab over an iPad are simple - for *my* needs the iPad is too big. My Macbook Air isn't that much bigger and heavier than an iPad and it is much more versatile - it cost twice the amount though, so that's not a dig at the iPad at all, which is a great device!

My Tab on the other hand is the perfect size and weight for *my* needs - it's also just as functional (IMO) as an iPad. That's not to say that it is better than an iPad - just that it meets my needs better than an iPad would.

Some would say that it is a toy, but for me it is an essential business tool - when I'm out and about I can use my Tab for a variety of tasks including remote desktop to various servers I need to attend to, Citrix served applications, viewing and creating office documents, and ad hoc web browsing.

When I'm not working, it serves as a media player (and server), games machine, rss reader, occasional ebook reader (only when I don't have my Kindle with me!) amongst other things. It's also the tool I am most likely to use a night to browse the web, which used to be a task for my Macbook (not the Air, that's a business travelling tool).

Yes, I could do much of this on my Desire HD, but the simple facts of the matter are that the Tab has almost 3x the screen area of the Desire HD and a higher resolution. That is a key differentiator for me. In fact, I hardly ever use my Desire HD anything other than a phone these days because for most purposes (other than phone calls) it is more comfortable and convenient to use the Tab.

So for *my* purposes, it's an absolutely fantastic device - and it fits in coat and jacket pockets, which is a massive win for me.

Sony PlayStation Network vs MS Xbox Live

iPlayer on PS/3

The biggest issue I have with the iPlayer on PS/3 is that it doesn't work with my official Sony bluetooth remote control!

Hopefully, there's a way to do this, and by posting here someone will enlighten me, but I find it frankly retarded than I can use my remote to navigate around the PS/3 no problem and yet when I want to pause, rewind, play etc I can't just press the corresponding button on my remote!

Contrast this to SkyPlayer on the Xbox, which even integrates with Kinect!

As to the BBC's ridiculous policy - in order to use iPlayer I have to pay to use an internet connection anyway. I also have to pay line rental to my telco too, so in some respects I'm still paying because my "pipe" isn't free.

XBL is essentially a closed private network accessible over the internet, so I can't see the difference between paying for my broadband and phone line (and being allowed iPlayer) and paying an additional fee to MS in order to access XBL.

Samsung dangles £200 lure at iPad-eyeing punters

Nationality <> Race!

@UBFusion,

You can call it racism, but your nationality is no indication of your race, so you be wrong! :)

Who is to say the Samsung won't be offering similar promotions to other countries?

@Weird_George

Actually, it's not 15 films - it's £165 worth of credit on the Samsung Movies website. If you pick older releases you can get considerable more than 15 films.

@AC 08/12 15:42

Clearly you've not used both in anger because your comments are a long way from the truth! W.r.t to the Galaxy Tab, build quality is great, battery life is great, and the OS is perfectly fine. I don't have an iPad because it's simply too big for my purposes whereas the Galaxy Tab is perfectly sized. No doubt you will refer to me as a fandroid, but for what it's worth I have an iMac, a Macbook, and a Macbook Air too.

WTF is... up with e-book pricing?

Technical Library

I use my Kindle mostly as an extremely portable technical library. Those books are mostly going to be concerning current technologies (e.g. SQL Server 2005 etc), and so that idea that an e-reader from 10 years in the future might not be able to read them is not a worry for me because they'd be so out of date its untrue.

That being said, I'm sure I could strip the DRM from them and convert if I really wished.

Why Microsoft is Acorn and Symbian is the new CP/M

"Archimedes" didn't catch on...

Whilst it is technically true that the Archimedes didn't have the same level of success as the BBC Micro, we shouldn't forget that the CPU designed specifically to power Acorns "next generation" of computers (which became the Archimedes), is now the all pervasive ARM chip we find all over the mobile space today.

With that in mind, clearly the legacy of the Archimedes was far greater than that of the BBC Micro.

Android bugs let attackers install malware without warning

Move along, there's nothing to see here

So, a researcher posts a proof of concept app that highlights a vulnerability in Android that Google are now going to fix.

Sounds quite similar to the recent "weaponization" of the jailbreakme.com exploit that a researcher recently demonstrated as a proof of concept of how a rootkit could be installed silently and without user permission on range of fruit themed telephony devices, which a certain fruit themed manufacturer has already patched. (@ AC 01:19 GMT - see, you do hear about iPhones getting rootkitted! :) )

Seeing a pattern here? Exploit found, exploit published, exploit patched!

Security vulnerabilities exist on *all* platforms, and continue to exist until they are found and patched!

Finally, @AC 01:39 GMT - of course it's easier to find exploits in open source code! Doh! This is one area where closed source has an advantage, but with closed source code you've no idea how good or bad the code quality is whereas with open source you do and you can fix it!

iPhone 4: the best built smartphone...

Custom ROMs??

Given that you can get a huge variety of home-brewed custom ROMs for certain devices (e.g. HTC/Motorola Android and WinMo devices) I do wonder if some of these warranty returns aren't attributable to someone bricking their device and then claiming under warranty anyway- You don't need to look at XDA Developers for very long to hear many stories like this!

I seriously doubt that HTC and Motorola spend too much time investigating the cause of a failure, so most such self-imposed failures probably get repaired. In this situation, looking at warranty claims isn't necessarily going to give a truly accurate "reliability" statistic if essentially the user has managed brick their device in this fashion.

Facebook engineer bashes Google for Gmail block

Facebook is right, for once!

I use Google services a lot - I'm an Apps for Domains customer, so all my email is effectively Gmail. I'm definitely keen on the whole Google experience!

However, in order to email someone, I need to know their email address, so I consider this public information. However in Facebook, many of my "friends" are only friends on Facebook - I don't know their contact information outside of Facebook unless they've made it available.

So, if I don't know this information, why should should Google be able to get to it?

Perhaps I'm wrong, and this is not what they are looking for, but it certainly sounds like it.

As an aside, I've never let Facebook or any other such service access to my mail contacts anyway! :)

Behind the Kindle, under the iPad: an unholy alliance

Kindle is the future of book!

I'm a recent convert to Kindle as I never believed that an EBook experience could compare favourably to having a real paper book.

That was until I wanted to go on holiday and take lots of IT books with me, but was unable to do so due to baggage restrictions on Ryanair.

First of all, Kindle allowed me to pack in literally dozens of books that I wanted to peruse on holiday, yet consumed no more space and weight than a single paperback.

Secondly, the actual reading experience on the device is fantastic. I can hold it "like a book" and read it anywhere, including the throne, and the whole experience felt much the same as having a real book.

Just like CDs and MP3s, I can eventually see the day when practically all books are electronic, and that day can't come quite enough for me!

Windows Phone 7: handsets, operators compared

Carrier Exclusives

I base my choice of mobile phone carrier on coverage, reliability, and cost, in that order!

Making handsets exclusive to particular carriers is never going to make me switch operator - all it's likely to do is push me further down the path of buying the phone I want and switching to PAYG or a non-contract SIM only deal.

Mozilla answers WebKit with first mobile Firefox 4 beta

Application size

I know it's a beta, and I know this is talked about on the blog, but the sheer amount of space this app takes up on the phone is absurd. Even if you move the app to SD card, there's still several meg left in /data/data.

Mozilla - instead of trying to make it faster, why not try to make it smaller before removing the alpha tag and calling it a beta! With the limited storage space for most current phones, the custom dynamic linker mentioned in the blog is desperately needed.

RIM goes for Documents To Go

Updates?

If DataViz/RIM stop supporting the Android application I purchased, I wonder if they'll give a refund?? Hmmm...... I doubt it very much!

HTC Wildfire Android smartphone

HTC Sync

@thesykes - HTC Sense-based Android phones, which is pretty much all of them except the Nexus One, come with HTC Sync, which allows you to sync with Outlook - albeit via cable and a desktop client.

Apple MacBook mid-2010

The best thing about MacBooks and OS/X is...

... they wake from sleep almost instantly and the battery lasts for ages when it is sleeping.

That's worth the price of entry in my book, as my MacBook sits on a table in my lounge, and when I want to quickly get on the net I pick it up and open it up. Seconds later, it is ready and connected to my WiFi. Not one of my Windows machines wakes from sleep anywhere near as quickly and not one lasts anywhere near as long on battery when sleeping.

Android phones get free video calling

It's not see and be seen

It's see OR be seen! :)

Ten free apps to install on every new Mac

Neooffice

Version of OpenOffice.org for the Mac that has a better "native" look and feel.

Santa Fe man demands half a mill for being near iPhone

Counter suit?

I doubt this will be a problem for him for long. Given his ridiculous claims are not backed up by any kind of medical science, I'd expect his suit to be thrown out, and that the inevitable counter suit from his neighbour for "distress" probably will win rendering poor Arthur penniless and homeless!

Beeb iPlayer blocked by Xbox velvet rope

Why?

If it is Microsoft who is charging for access to XBox Live Gold and keeping all the revenue, how is it that the BBC unable to offer the iPlayer regardless since crucially the BBC is not charging anything themselves for access, and Microsoft is not levying a *specific* charge in relation to iPlayer access - the charge is for "premium" access to their own closed network, XBox Live.

After all, in order to access the iPlayer, I have to have a broadband service, which means I am paying my ISP for access to their network. The same is true if I wanted to access iPlayer over a WiFi hotspot such as BT Openzone (I know it's free over The Cloud!). With respect to WiFi hotspots especially (The Cloud excepted), I see no particular difference between this and XBox Live.

Lawyers pursue banned Xbox Live gamers

"Backups"??

This is the sort of user who's had his console banned: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_10000000/newsid_10002900/10002915.stm

I quote - " I mean it's always at the back of your head using pirate games you know there's that possibility".

IMHO, the vast majority of Xbox owners who claim to have modified their consoles so that they can use "backups" of their legitimately owned software are lying thieves! I'd say all of them, but I'm sure their are one or two red-palmed anoraks who can't face putting their original GTA disks in their Xbox!

US immigration dodge is permanent

@The Vociferous Time Waster

Ever thought about walking over to the empty non-resident desks instead? It's what I do in those situations, and I've never been turned away with my UK passport!! ;)

Google open sources flash-happy Chrome OS

What a disappointment!

No local apps? No thanks!

I'm well into the Google "scene", running Google Apps for Domains, but I just don't see this being anything past an "InstantOn" type solution for my Vaio P.

@Tony Hoyle - well, it's open as in open source - hopefully someone will create a version that's a little more worthwhile!

Windows 95 to Windows 7: How Microsoft lost its vision

Win95->XP was the revolutionary step

As CurtisB already alluded to, on the desktop side at least, it wasn't 3.1->95 that was revolutionary, as both were still shells on top of DOS. The real revolution was 95->XP, when the "Windows" desktop operating system changed from being DOS based to "NT" based. However, the real work for this had already been done in NT Workstation 4.0, so it deserves a nod too!

Sky confirms telly-on-Xbox launch date

@Daniel Wilkie

Actually, it doesn't matter if it's BBC channels or not, if you are in the UK and wish to receive a "live" television transmission (from any source!), you require a TV licence.

Regards,

Dave

Kindle to come to Blighty on 19 October

@DrXym

According to other sites, this is a GSM-based Kindle, ostensibly for AT&T in the US, but presumably it could work with any GSM carrier. I wonder if they've just signed an agreement with AT&Ts UK roaming partner(s) to allow them to use the AT&T APNs "free" even when roaming which would presumably mean the device didn't need to be reconfigured specifically for a UK SIM.

ALK CoPilot Live 8

Crash, what crash?

Two things!

Firstly, I have Copilot on a T-Mobile G2 Touch (Hero) and I've never experienced Sense UI crashing on exit. Note, it's not called TouchFlo any more, though the process still is!

Secondly, ALK recently released an update which changes the keyboard to a QWERTY layout, which is better. However, I'd prefer they just used the Android "standard" IME keyboards.

Otherwise, a good review - just got back from a road trip through France to Spain, and Copilot worked flawlessly.

T-Mobile's G2 denied the update Touch

@AC 14:31

Who says you have to jailbreak to get "full" functionality? Quite simply, you don't.

In the iPhone world you have to jailbreak the phone in order to install applications outside of the App Store. No such issue with Android phones, since it is an user-selectable option to allow applications to be installed from locations other than the Android market

You do have to "root" the device if you want to play around with system files, and this isn't a user selectable option and requires a little hacking around, but to be honest on a consumer level device this is perfectly appropriate - consumers are notorious for finding ways to destroy their device, and for the vast, vat (did I say vast? I mean really vast!) majority of users this will not hinder them from using their device in anyway, but it will make the device more robust.