Posts by j800rob 7 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Sep 2012
According to an article on the beeb about this new S6, from a little distance it looks awfully similar to the iPhone 6. Moreover, they've ditched the micro SD card slot, a user-replaceable battery, and the waterproofing. Oh yes... and added "Samsung Pay" (USA and Korea only).
By my reckoning Samsung have dropped many of the USPs they and their followers have touted all this time, and have just come up with an iPhone 6 look-a-like with flashing disco lights. Nice.
Apple are often berated these days at the lack of thinking differenly and not coming up with novel ideas. Additionally they're repeatedly accused to pinching the ideas of others. However, when they genuinely do consider something a little whacky (i.e. 64-bit processor in a mobile phone) everyone pipes up questioning the reasons why, claiming there will be little (or no) benefit, that it's overall a bad idea. It is worth remembering that Apple first successfully mainstreamed the idea of a touchscreen-only mobile phone way back when, as there have been plenty of "me toos" since we can be pretty certain they got something right. In two or three years time it's not inconceivable that all new mobile devices will be equipped with a 64 bit CPU, with an OS and apps to support that. It's what's known as evolution. Something I see Apple are pretty good at and something that many companies are not - preferring just to sit back and be a "me too".
Incidentally, whilst Apple have not increased screen size beyond 4" as it affects useability and convenience to carry, there are plenty of Android devices about for those of you who do want a phablet. Personally, I have an iPhone and an iPad - two well suited devices that compliment one another rather than become a single compromised device that fits neither job particularly well. Of course we mustn't forget that it's the cloud that's the glue keeping stuff in sync; and it's this glue that we need to feel confident in with regard to robust security. Worryingly I think there's some way to go here.
...but I dunno about anybody else, but my smartphone has lots and lots of different apps on it. Those apps all have different icons. And there's no one theme running between them. So I'm not sure that it matters all that much there's no consistency in the icon set selected for iOS7...?
Maybe for a brand-spanking new iPhone user who'll be ooh-ing and aah-ing at the sleek new OS it might make a difference, but after the first few minutes of use some more apps will be installed which will ruin the consistency anyway. Worst of all, some folk might refrain from install apps because they'll not follow the uniformity of a new out-of-the-box experience.
Make each icon totally different from the outset; start as you mean to go on.
Whilst I'm sure there will be a method to defeat Apple's deterrent, from the limited details provided I thought their solution was pretty elegant. Not withstanding those experts determined to reactivate a robbed device, we can only hope that it might reduce the 'opportunistic thefts' of which I suspect most stolen handsets are the result of as opposed to organised criminals making a bee-line for top-end users. It does remain to be seen what the other manufacturers decide to come up with, especially for the lower end of the market, but surely this is a step in the right direction.
However if a bastard nicked my phone, I would relish the satisfaction of being able to instigate a remote "This phone will self destruct in 5... 4... 3... 2...1..." kaboom!
Just curious what the responses would be had Samsung came out on top. Would we see the same groups of people wooing Samsung stating how accurate the survey was, and that it's about time the population woke up and acknowledged how they lead the way in smartphone products? Or would it be the same nay-sayers who would this time be berating Samsung in favour of HTC or some other handset manufacturer?
I just kinda feel we're missing the point of the survey. It's result were reflecting how existing owners of mobile phones felt about their experience. Surely if owners are happy that's a good thing? Who are we to point out the error of their perception?
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