Xtreme CPU - Blogs

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Collectors Edition unboxing

MagicLess — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:41:44 GMT

Video can be found on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfVfos2WndQ

You Disappoint Me Verizon

SuperFly03 — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:14:45 GMT

Well, it is official. The wireless industry is headed down a dark path. A path which leads back to the 90�s. You remember the 90�s don�t you? Cell phones were the size of bricks, literally, the Yankee�s dominated baseball, NBA wasn�t played by a bunch of girls, USA sucked harder at soccer than an 18yr old in Vegas on New Years, oh and Windows Mobile reigned supreme.

Does that sound like a fun idea to you? I thought not. In fact, I would call that regression. The exact opposite of progression. That is what the cell phone companies are doing.

Earlier this year AT&TT introduced a new tiered data plan aimed at curbing smart phone user�s usage. AT&T had a not so subtle message when they introduced their plans: �iPhone users have raped our networks so now we are going to rape their wallets.� That was the undertone of the message. The reason it singled iPhone users out is because they are and were the only smart phone on their network capable of using that much data (save the Nexus One which isn�t sold at retail).

When the iPhone was introduced back in 2007 AT&T expected an increase in data usage but they severely underestimated the iPhone. AT&T�s estimates were off by more than 50% and it cost them dearly. In cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Houston iPhone users were unable to hold sustained calls, repeatedly had data time out, and had very sporadic data rates. It was and is so bad that it drove users to break contracts and switch to other carriers. AT&T actually waived their ETF fees for iPhone users who complained enough, it was that bad.

So AT&T introduced their new data plan whereby users could pay $15 or $25 for 200MB and 2GB of data respectively. Use more than 2GB? Yeah, you will pay $10 per GB over 2GB. Great, yet another cap in our lives to worry about. As if we don�t have enough limits to worry about (minutes used, txt messages, home phone minutes, home data usage, etc.). AT&T decided we needed another one.

So a great many users flipped from AT&T to other carriers, as previously mentioned, including Verizon. Verizon, in my experience, has had the most reliable and consistent network. It isn�t the fastest (AT&T and TMobile rolled out 7.2 HSPDA recently) but no matter where I go on Verizon I get the same data rate. It is nice to be able to count on your provider.

Today Verizon became just as evil as AT&T. Today Verizon announced that they will introduce their own tiered data plan and it plain pisses me off. Admittedly, pricing and tiers haven�t been announced but they will likely mirror AT&T�s because by and large VZW and ATT are identical in terms of subscribers and overall presence in the market. Why does this piss me off? Because my usage of data averages nearly 2GB per month and there are several months where I encroach on the 5GB cap on the �unlimited plan�. Yeah, even unlimited plans aren�t unlimited.

I know what you are thinking, �How the hell do you pull 5GB of data in 30 days on a phone?� The question is easy to answer: 3 email accounts (which are set to download full attachments), Pandora, Sirius/XM, YouTube, live traffic reports, Google Maps, games (several require data connections), Photobucket mobile, etc. You get the idea. I use the hell out of my phone. I should also note I generally turn on Wi-Fi when I�m at home (though not always) so my actual usage is well above 5GB.

Now I have to pay $25 for 2GB then likely another $30/month for my usage for a total of $55. That is more than my voice package costs. I know what you are going to say: �You use it the most so you should pay the most� or �I only use 400MB so I shouldn�t have to pay for 5GB� or �This is to recoup the cost of providing you the bandwidth�. Bull. My data usage is rather even during the day (mainly because I can�t get a signal in the office, no one on any carrier can) and spikes at night. By night I mean well after 10PM when most people are asleep. I am using it at off peak times when there is ample bandwidth available.

I believe this tiered data structure constitutes an injustice to our society. There should be no reason to limit our data usage when you flaunt these super smart phones in our face. It feels like getting bent over and sodomized with a spiked steel rod without so much as a reach around or lube.

You gave us these phones, you want us to use them more, you want us to do things on the go and now you want to restrict how much we can do?

I don�t think so. If there is no grandfather clause or if the tiers are much like AT&T�s then I will head to Sprint. Sure WiMax isn�t everywhere and it�s not the best technology (2500Mhz vs. LTE�s 700MHz) necessarily but what Sprint does allow me to do is use my damn phone as I see fit without the risk of sticker shock.

Verizon, heed my words. This will not fly.

Screenshots of my Incredible:

Verizon Data:

Main Data Usage:

You can see that Pandora, Traffic, Sports Scores, Stock Quotes... all of this chews data and none of it unreasonable.

Kodak ESP5250 All-in-One Printer Impression

MagicLess — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:00:10 GMT

At home our last all-in-one decided to start acting up, so replacing it is the Kodak ESP5250 all-in-one (AIO) printer, scanner, copier. We likely would have gone with an HP AIO, but a Kodak representative was at Wal-Mart and sold me on it. It had the features we were looking for, so we figured if it doesn't work out it won't be much of a problem to return it.

Installation
I'm giving Kodak a 10 out of 10 for this. The manual was easy to read, and unpacking and following the simple to follow instructions were a breeze. Once it said it was ready to go it's been working. Bravo so far for Kodak.

Scanning
Another 10 out of 10. Maybe I'm biased by going from older tech that was breaking down, but this thing does a nice job with scanning. From the computer there is a preview option that does a quick scan, and shows a thumbnail of of what's on the scan bed. Once scanned the options for converting it might be daunting to someone new at using a computer, but the options presented were a pleasant surprise. Multiple formats available for saving including .PDF; which is a nice touch and helps to ensure readability over almost every system out there.

Printing Pt. 1
So far only done a test page for it to calibrate itself, and for the most part it looked good. Minor smudge, but I think that might be from a fresh cartridge being put in, and shouldn't be a reflection on future prints. I suppose it's time for an actual test page. One of a document, and one of a picture...

Troubleshooting
Okay, so tried to print, no-go. What's wrong? Dunno. The Wife set-up the printer for Wi-fi, so I consider the change in connection settings to be the cause. Get the CD back out, this time around it decides it wants to update the installer software over the Internet... Kodak, you need faster download speeds available. Anyway, get it installed, set up over the network, and try printing again.

Printing Pt. 2
So, print out a campus floor map as the document map, not a lot of colors, but solid lines are solid, no smudges, everything is nice and sharp. Doesn't look quite the same as it does on the monitor though. Time for a picture... what to pick, what to pick... Well, figured it out, printed it, and I'm going to chalk this one up to color settings on my monitor being much different than what the printer sees. The picture ended up being auto-cropped as well, but I'm not sure if that's the viewing software I printed from (Windows Photo Viewer), the driver, or the printer's adjustment. 8 out of 10 for printing. Would have been 9, but it seemed to be taking it's time printing out the color picture.

Overall, this AIO is turning out to be a nice solid machine. The price of the device for us was $120+tax, about $10 less than the other AIO we were looking at (the ink might end up being less costly as well). We're thinking this thing might last quite a while here.

HTC EVO 4G, my experience

MagicLess — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:03:20 GMT

The HTC EVO 4G (the Evo) is the first smart phone that I've owned. Overall my experience has been positive, but there are a few things that, in my limited time with it, have come not to like. I don't feel like focusing on those, so on to my impression of the Evo.

I have had some use with smart phones in the past from my Wife's HTC Touch Pro II and her recent switch to HTC's Hero, so there's some knowledge on using the Android OS (or maybe just HTC Androids). Most of what I've looked to do I've been able to with little issue. With exception to that would be on killing running programs. Like any good item from a major vendor there's going to be features not utilized, but I don't want them to detract from the usability of the item. A quick run to the Android Marketplace gave me an app to kill things I don't want running. (Though now it seems the programs killed just pop right back up. :()

For setting things, such as connecting to the home network, just click the a button on the screen swipe to the left, type in the password, done. It's not quite as fast as it could be, based on Ookla's Speed Test, but it's faster than 3G. 4G isn't in my area, and probably won't be for a while, so I have no first hand experience in using that. I am looking forward to it, since it will likely mean much faster upload rates. Back on wireless I am slightly disappointed that it runs the G protocols rather then N, or however that works. Though based on the speed test it makes sense that N was not implemented, since for some reason I'm guessing the phone would be unable to utilize the extra bandwidth.

Battery life after going from a simpler phone is somewhat dismal. I try to keep the thing charged up, but it seems to want to drain down the battery, and recharge for me seems to be taking its sweet time. Could have been an app that was downloaded, running somewhere eating up the juice, or it could be the constant usage and the wi-fi connection. Though this doesn't seem to be limited to me in terms of smart phones. Recently I've heard plenty of complaints from people using different phones on different networks. Then again, it could just be I'm used to plugging in my previous phone once every couple of days and not having to worry about battery life. Just something to get used to.

Picture taking is easy and on the large screen viewing them is somewhat of a pleasure (not like that you perverts). For myself the pictures are easy to upload to Facebook. Press upload, choose to where, add a description, and after pressing upload again you're free to do other things while it sends the picture in the background. With the camera leads to video recording, of which is painless to upload once set up. In the YouTube app press record, start, stop, uploaded. I think I'm beginning to understand why these things are called smart phones.

Connecting to a PC to transfer data, like doing everything else, is a breeze. I don't utilize syncing programs through this, so it just straight transfers over the USB. I've found myself listening to music a bit more after putting the files on the phone, and sound quality for that is great (to my ears).

I did attempt to use Qik, though had issues using the service. After setting up the account, recording video, it uploaded after pressing stop, but when attempting to view the videos on Qik.com only one out of six properly showed up. I'm not sure where the problem with this lays.

Not really going into it much, but for being my first smart phone, I think I've made a good decision in getting it, and playing around with it a bit hasn't changed my mind on that.

Monday, June 28, 2010 update: Issues so far
Any issue that I've experienced with the phone has been temporary and mostly dealing with an app having to be force closed. Otherwise smooth sailing up until today. This morning the phone worked like usual for a while, then the screen decided to stop working. Pressing the power button seemed to do nothing, but the charge light came on when plugged in, and calling the phone was doable (though went unanswered). After that there was an HTC Software update. Applied it, went to school, came home. Noticed that the Wi-Fi wasn't working. Power cycled, still non-functioning, but calling still works. Start driving to the local Sprint Store and notice another update for the HTC Software is available, so I let it update while I'm driving. Get to the store, apply the update, still nada. Go inside the store and talk with a rep.

Well, I find out that I'm the first person that's come to them with this issue. After a hard reset still no Wi-Fi, so time for a new phone. They didn't have one in stock, and it is still usable, so as soon as they get one, I'll be doing a thirty day return for it. Besides the two issues experienced today, my impression of the Evo 4G is still positive.

Anand's HTC Incredible Review... worse than the Nexus One review

SuperFly03 — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:39:30 GMT

The Windows vs. OS X debate will likely never be solved during our lifetime. That is a fact of life. It hasn�t been solved in 20 years and I don�t see any reason for that to change. It�s a lot like the toilet paper argument: does the TP roll over the top or under the bottom? There are certain debates in human history that just can�t be solved and the newest one is Android vs. iPhone OS.

It�s a debate of epic proportions in the market place. RIM, which makes Blackberry devices, is really a very security oriented and business centric OS and while it rivals Android and the iPhone OS it is setup to target a different audience. Windows Mobile� just isn�t worth mentioning. You can�t teach a dinosaur of an OS new tricks but alas back to the debate at hand. Recently the Android market has been in hyper drive. Since the 2009 holiday season we have seen the release of the Motorola Droid, Nexus One, HTC Incredible, HTC Evo 4G, and others who just aren�t up to snuff (read: everything running Motoblur).

Back in the first week of April Anand himself released a review of the Nexus One (ATT) and slammed it. Anand constantly rode the mantra of �iPhone does this better, Android does it but not as polished�. A few claims of his were legit. Android is not perfect but then again neither is the iPhone OS, however, the vast majority of his shots across Google�s bow were misleading or at times outright incorrect. I took his review apart line by line. I pointed out his errors and conceded those points which were legitimate.

Personally, I have used RIM�s OS, iPhone�s OS, Google�s OS, Microsoft�s OS and a few off the wall smartphone-esque OSes in my day. I spend day in and day out with them for months before I decide to keep it or ditch it.

Today we are here to address Anand Lal Shampi�s review of the HTC Incredible. For those who aren�t up to speed, the HTC Incredible is extremely similar to the Nexus One except for a few things:

1. A CDMA based phone
2. 8MP camera w/ dual LED flash vs. 5MP w/ LED flash
3. HTC�s Sense UI vs. stock android
4. Unlimited multi-touch support vs. 2 touch support on the Nexus One
5. HTC�s custom developed android widgets and optimizations

The 5 items above are the most significant differences. There are other more subtle quirks like the change to an optical trackball however they do not significantly impact the phone. Anand published his review of the HTC Incredible earlier this week and it was a rollercoaster. At some points it seems like he is a little too excited about the Incredible, if you know what I mean, but there are other times where he goes back to his �iPhone is bettah� mantra however there are still many points in his review that just don�t make a great deal of sense.

Link to Anand's article: The HTC Droid Incredible Review, Clearly Better than the Nexus One - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Shall we dive head first into what will probably be the start of a long lasting feud? I thought we might.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I'm very proud of companies like ASUS and HTC. These aren't your tradtional consumer electronics companies. They have their roots in the OEM business, working hard but for very little recognition. These Taiwanese companies have been desperately trying to bridge the gap to the mainstream consumer market over the past few years and honestly, they've done a great job thus far. Just earlier this year we saw HTC build Google's first branded smartphone: the Nexus One. A clear shot at the iPhone, the Nexus One was well built and only fell behind in software issues. It lacked the polish that Apple was able to provide with the iPhone. Rather than depend on Google to fix that, here we are a few months later and HTC has a solution.�

Well, if Google closed the door on every application I didn�t like, prevented multi-tasking, forced users to endure the worst 3G network in the US, only released the OS on 1 phone, gave user�s the most bland UI and only one button then Google could provide polish that Apple does. Let�s not too worked up over this clear �Apple is superior� comment before we get into what Anand has to say about the HTC Incredible.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�In the box you get the phone, a USB cable and a charger. There's no included micro SD card and no case, both of which Google gives you with the Nexus One.�

Ok, there is some serious context missing and misinformation here. First, we�ll start with the misinformation. Inside the box itself there is no microSD card that is true however Verizon bundles a 2GB microSD card with the purchase of the phone. Now, the missing context here is the fact that the phone has 8GB of memory built into the phone, a first for any Android device. Prior to the HTC Incredible, every Android based phone had local RAM and SD type storage but no internal memory for storage. So to say that that there is a lack of a microSD card really isn�t true or in this case even relevant to the phone itself.

Now, there is a reason for Verizon bundling a microSD card with the phone even though it wasn�t originally included. Since every Android phone has been built around external SD card storage for programs, all applications are coded to look for the SD card. With the move to internal memory certain programs are unable to see the internal memory. Think of it like a NTFS formatted thumb drive plugged into a Mac, it just can�t be seen by the OS. It is there and it works but the programs can�t see it.

Consequently Verizon and HTC decided to include a small microSD card to combat the program as a bridge solution until the apps in the marketplace are updated to take advantage of both internal and external storage. The user won�t notice a difference as long as the SD card is installed. It is transparent but it is also a legitimate point when talking about Android apps currently.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�HTC doesn't want to be another Taiwanese OEM house, it wants to be an ASUS, a Palm or an Apple.�

I seriously doubt HTC wants to be Palm. �Hi, I�d like to be a failure of a company that hasn�t done anything in 5 years and will be swallowed by HP.� Come on Anand, leave Palm be.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The basics of Android are still the same (read my Nexus One review for that), you get multiple home screens and a separate listing of all apps on the phone, but Sense makes the default setup closer to perfection in my mind. It�s all much more polished.�

Obviously by perfection, in your mind, you mean the iPhone OS. Ah well, we will deal with this in more detail as Anand does later in the review. Just know, I�m watching you Anand.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�There�s still no way to delete multiple emails at once, no way to copy/paste from an email and no way to search through emails stored on an IMAP server other than Gmail. Imperfect much?�

Let�s add some perspective here. I can delete multiple exchange emails and Gmail conversations at once by checking the boxes then pressing delete on my Motorola Droid but I cannot on my HTC Incredible. Not sure what is going on here but I blame HTC not Android/Google.

The copy/paste from an email is still a valid point on stock Android but I can copy/paste out of emails on my Incredible. Before the Apple fans waltz in here and take credit let me say this: the copy/paste implementation in email is a direct decendent from the iPhone OS. It works the same way. I hold my finger over a word on an email and it zooms in and highlights the word. You then release it and the word is highlighted and you have two �bookends� which you can move to adjust the amount of text highlighted. After that you have a list of three actions that you can choose from including share the information and copy/paste. The lack of email copy/paste is oddly annoying on stock Android but let�s remember that it was more than 2 years before the iPhone even got copy/paste. So keep it in perspective.

To illustrate, check out the following screenshots below:

The inability to search emails on exchange server is annoying but then again anything I would search for in my exchange email would be archived by my company and I�d be unable to pull it anyways. So, for me, it isn�t a big deal but it is a valid point.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The email widget is a great way of quickly reading through emails. Swipe up to view your next message, swipe down to view the previous one. Again there's no quick way to delete from this view, you have to tap the delete button and hit OK.�

So open the full email app. You are whining about a widget. Do you realize how pants on head retarded that sounds?

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�While Google�s Nexus One is setup to immediately sync to Google services, the Incredible is much more provider agnostic. The first time you power on the phone you�re asked to provide it with any email accounts you want to sync with. You�re not actually forced to supply a Google account.�

What is failed to be explained is that other Android phones can be used without a Google account as well. You need a Google account for one thing: Marketplace. This is just like the iPhone but the difference lies in the that Google asks it for you up front whereas Apple asks you for it when you hit the App Store or sync via iTunes. At the end of the day I don�t think either of them are better or one is wrong and the other is right. What I do believe is that at the end of the day you still need to have an account to use the respective app marketplace. Plain and simple, you cannot fault Google or Apple.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�It�s not just about email though. The Incredible�s setup process will ask you for your Facebook, Twitter and Flickr logins. If you share them, all of your data from those services gets pulled down into your phone.�

Pretty nifty eh?

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The obvious benefit is that moving to a new phone requires hardly any setup other than typing in your own login information. The downside, like on a webOS device, is that everything gets synced. My contact list on the Incredible is full of people who I seriously don�t know. I realize that�s my own fault for being too liberal in befriending people on Facebook, but it doesn�t change the situation. Just as I mentioned in my Palm Pre review however, it�s not that big of a deal. Finding the contacts I want to communicate with is relatively easy and at most I�m just risking accidentally calling someone I don�t know.�

I am at fault for the same reason. There are a lot of people on my contact list that I don�t know as well however not all Google phones download everything. Non-HTC Sense phones have the option to download additional data from facebook to existing contacts which means it won�t add anyone from your Facebook account that isn�t already on your contacts list but it will add additional information. I am not sure why the HTC Sense version of the Facebook app doesn�t do this but it is worth mentioning. With my Motorola Droid I had my exchange account synced and then Facebook would download additional information for those contacts which were on my Exchange account but it wouldn�t add the people I don�t know.

I�m looking at you HTC� take the hint. Get it fixed.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The cloud based syncing is nice for contacts because it means that you don�t have to keep up with everyone�s constantly changing contact information. If a friend updates his/her information on Facebook, it will automatically change on your phone as well. The limitation here being that if your friend�s privacy settings don�t give you access to information then you�re out of luck.�

Did you ever think that maybe if you really were friends with the person you would get their mobile number from somewhere other than Facebook? I am too liberal with my cell number because it is on my business card (has to be for my industry) but I don�t sophisticatedly screen people before giving them my cell. The comment seems an overly dramatic point about Facebook. I�m watching you Anand.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�HTC's supplied Friend Stream app groups together your Twitter and Facebook updates in one place. For me it meant that I had a copy of my Twitter stream with the promise of some Facebook updates mixed somewhere in there. It's still easier to view Facebook and Twitter updates independently but I get what HTC is trying to do here: pull you away from visiting websites, and using non-HTC apps and getting your experience entirely within HTC supplied software. It's HTC saying "come to my house" and under its breath adding �I will serve you ads there one day.��

Ok, I�ve seen some leaps in judgment before but this is out of control. Anand, are you really thinking about what you are writing? You are telling me that you really truly believe that HTC is designing its own special widgets so they can serve up mobile ads one day? I find that assumption to be utterly ridiculous. While ads are creeping into cell phones and should be stopped, I do not believe it is ethical for Anand to assume that HTC will force ads down you�re throat because they created a few custom widgets. Hell, Motorola and Motoblur have a crap load of customizations; does that mean they will serve up ads too?

I think we are jumping the gun here. I personally axed the Friendstream widget. Why? Because I don�t use twitter and I hate facebook status updates. If I want to know what is going on with my friends I will ask them or go to my facebook page. I do not want them streamed to my phone so I can monitor my friends while I�m at work or at the movies. I�m not their mother.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Whereas the Nexus One feels very iPhone like in its curves and narrow seams, the Incredible just doesn�t. It feels cheap, mostly because of the back cover. The back snaps (instead of slides) into place. It�s easier to get on/off than the back panel of the Nexus One, but it�s also not as snug of a fit. I found that the cover on my sample squeaked a lot at the sides, which made it feel very cheap. The Incredible also has a pretty powerful motor for vibration, unfortunately that meant whenever the phone vibrated the back cover made even more noise.�

Haven�t had a single problem with my Incredible nor have any other forum members who have the Incredible. Hopefully this is just a review sample issue here. I am also not sure where Anand got this �cheap feel� from but the phone is solid. Yes, the back is a thin bit of rubberized plastic but since when was the build quality of a smart phone entirely dependent on the back cover of a phone that at least has a user replaceable battery? I think the ability to replace a battery without having to bend over with a bottle of KY to get a new one does not make the build quality inferior.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Inside the phone you get access to a removable battery and micro SD card slot. Verizon doesn�t ship the phone with a card, but it does come with 8GB of NAND on board. The Incredible�s inner red is cool and solid enough that I wonder why HTC went with such a boring backplate by comparison.�

Let us bask in the glorly of that first sentence. Removable battery. Yeah, that�s right I ordered an 1750 mah battery to replace my stock HTC Incredible�s battery for days when I travel and I can replace it myself. $40 shipped and installed. Ahhhh great success!

I refer you to my original discussion at the outset of this article regarding the �lack of a micro SDHC card.� It�s crap and flat out wrong. Moving on.

Boring? Boring? This is really what you call a device that has very nice off setting tones? The black rubberized rear cover is offset nicely by the silver HTC logo which is then offset by the red ring surrounding the camera�s lens. In comparison the Nexus One and the iPhone both have monochromatic backs with the iPhone having a silver Apple logo. That�s it. I�m not sure what is so boring about it. If you want a Hello Kitty phone I suggest you import your phone from Japan.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�You get three or four physical buttons on the Incredible, depending on how you count. There�s a power/lock switch up top in the same place as the iPhone, so no confusion there.�

Oh good, because for a moment there I thought I was handling an Apple device. Woah, thank goodness Anand cleared that up for me. I wouldn�t have been able to find the key otherwise if it wasn�t in the same spot as the iPhone. People apparently do not have the ability to learn or discover things. Speaking of which, didn�t Columbus discover where something kind of important was?

Hey oh! Look, they even tell you where it is!

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Haptic (vibrate) feedback is enabled by default but you can thankfully disable it on the HTC Incredible.�

Guess Anand doesn�t enjoy some good vibrations�

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�You get the same 3.7� AMOLED display from the Nexus One with a 480 x 800 resolution. That means it�s something sharper than the iPhone 3GS, with very saturated colors, but beautiful to look at indoors. Outside, in direct sunlight, it�s virtually useless.�

Coming from a guy in Houston, TX� it is hard to read but it is usable in the sunlight. Just don�t do it and cross streets with traffic and you�ll be fine.

You know. I think I can still see the screen but maybe it�s just me? Judges ruling? Yes, I believe that was an affirmative response.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I'd say HTC managed to deliver a capacitive touchscreen that's virtually indistinguishably from the iPhone in day to day use.�

Oh goodie! Let�s just ignore the better software, hardware and camera and just say it is indistinguishable. Bunch of bull if I�ve ever heard it. Anand talks all day long how the iPhone does this better and Android does this but not as well and yet he�s trying to say that the two are the same. Nice try to cover your Apple lovin� ***.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�In my Nexus One review I complained about the keyboard limiting my ability to type as quickly as I could on the iPhone. Many of you responding by telling me to use a different keyboard. This is Android after all, you can replace your keyboard app if you wish. The Incredible ships with HTC�s attempt at a virtual keyboard and I�m happy to say that it�s like a more cluttered, but more flexible version of the iPhone keyboard.�

First of all, learn to type or hold the phone in landscape mode like normal people. Second, cluttered?

What the hell is cluttered about that? Shift: on the iPhone; Space: on the iPhone; Numbers button: on the iPhone; Backspace: on the iPhone; Enter: on the iPhone; Voice command: Not on the iPhone.

Are you telling me this is all about that one extra button on the keyboard which allows voice command/text input? I find this argument to be utterly absurd and baseless. Is it a better keyboard? No, I would say it is the same. Is it more cluttered because of one button which backhandedly implies that the iPhone one is better? No. Also, I would like to add that the voice input works extremely well. That is how I text and drive these days. I rarely ever text and drive but if there is no one around then the only harm is to myself but now I can text by pushing 2 buttons. First, press the microphone button then speak. Next hit send. Done.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Flipping between home screens is iPhone smooth on the Incredible, so long as you�re using the touchscreen. Use the virtual joystick and it�s back to chopfest for some reason. Scrolling is smooth in nearly all applications, the main exception being messages.�

I am wondering if this is a pre-release phone bug because my works fluidly. The animation using the joystick is actually better than when I use my finger to flip homescreens. When using the joystick the Incredible scrolls a little too far and slightly into the next homescreen then comes back and shakes itself into place. It is a very neat animation that is buttery smooth. Message scrolling? Could be better but it isn�t choppy at all. There is a distinct lag when you have someone�s photo being pulled in from the cloud and rendered in the messages. I�m guessing this is just an access time lag between accessing the image on the phone�s storage and pulling it into the message thread and switching the images as you scroll.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�If you try to scroll through a list of SMSes the Incredible starts flushing frames like they�re drugs and the police are at the door.�

Had a few run ins with the cops as a kid did ya Anand?

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The Apple v. Adobe debate is a great exercise in hypocrisy, but the end solution here isn�t to just enable Flash on all smartphones. The experience is miserable.�

How would you know? Flash isn�t on all smartphones and it isn�t on the iPhone so we don�t know what it would be like on those phones. However, it is currently on the Incredible but granted it is Flash Lite 4 not Flash 10.1 right now. Users will have to wait for Froyo (Android 2.2) for Flash 10.1.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�HTC ships the Incredible with Flash Lite installed, which will fully load most Flash advertisements. Great for websites, not necessarily great for consumers. Flash Lite does support FLV, but sites like Hulu still don�t work. To make matters worse, the inclusion of Flash Lite appears to make web page loading slower on the Incredible than on the Nexus One.�

Captain Obvious strikes again. Who would think that rendering flash in web pages would take longer than not rendering flash? I wouldn�t have thought that at all. In fact I think rendering flash should take less time than normal. I mean, you are loading less data and even less complex data .

Alright, enough sarcasm. Let�s get back to reality. Loading flash content is a pretty hefty load to lift. On my corporate laptop flash games bring it to its knees. I literally max out 1 core of my processor playing Farmville on Facebook and now Anand is surprised that loading flash enabled websites take longer on the Incredible than they do on the iPhone, which incidently will never support flash, or the Nexus One which does not have Flash Lite 4. If you do not want your web pages to load flash or you want faster browsing capabilities just turn off flash. It is a check box in the settings for the browser. The solution is that simple. If Anand really wanted to compare apples to apples he would have turned off flash and then compared the page load times then turned it back on and retested. This approach would show the delta associated with enabling flash and also allow for an apples to apples comparison in rendering time between the iPhone, Nexus one and Incredible.

Is the Incredible slower at rendering flash enabled pages? With flash enabled, yes. Without flash enabled? You can�t tell. The point is there is some severe context and perspective missing here.

Typical for Anand�s smartphone reviews.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�In every single test the Incredible took longer to load the pages, despite having the same underlying hardware and a slight edge in Javascript performance (I'll go into greater detail on the tests later in the review). The point is that whatever HTC has done to its browser or its modifications to Android make pages load slower than compared to the Nexus One. Take a smoother UI, pair it with a slower web browser, and you�ve got a recipe for frustration.�

So much stupidity in this statement. I feel like I am reading something from BaronMatrix from amdzone.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I will say that although it�s measurably slower than the Nexus One, the Incredible doesn�t feel slow by any means while loading web pages. Instead the browsing experience feels iPhone-speed with a higher resolution display.�

Here again, Anand doesn�t put two and two together that it is flash that is slowing the rendering down.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Other than my basement, I get great AT&T 3G reception at my house. I�ve never had a Verizon phone at my current house so the HTC Incredible was a nice experiment. While the signal strength indicator on the Incredible was never that good, 3G performance was better on the Incredible than on the AT&T Nexus One.�

I have found this to be very true. The signal strength may say 1 bar but when I run speedtest I will churn through 1.3Mbps download and nearly 900kbps upload. I�m guessing it is a software issue but the signal and the speed is there. Last time I ran it I pegged around 1.2Mbps while doing 85 down a highway in South Texas.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I will say that I have been noticing AT&T dropping more of my calls over the past couple of years but it hasn�t been enough for me to want to jump ship just yet�

Ahh, you�ve never been to Houston then. The ATT network gets flat out raped and you can�t make a call to save your life� literally. There are some rough spots on the East side.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The Incredible comes with a blindingly bright LED flash that actually makes low light photography possible. We are talking about a very tiny lens so low light performance, even with the flash, is grainy: But in a pinch it works just fine, which is more than I can say for the iPhone�s camera in low light conditions.�

I appreciate the cander Anand. He is accurate; the Incredible�s camera is incredible when put in the context of a phone. The camera probably rivals low end point and shoot.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The process requires you first selecting the device you own and second typing in your Verizon phone number. There is of course an additional charge for tethering and you're limited to 5GB of transfers per month, but this is much, much better than the alternative from the iPhone world. There you either get to choose to participate in a constant game of cat and mouse by jailbreaking your phone and waiting for Apple to introduce a spicy new update that breaks your jailbroken phone, or you get to cling longingly to AT&T's empty promise that iPhone tethering would be coming sometime soon.�

The irony is that once you root an Android based phone and get WiFi tethering you never have to worry about updates borking your root. Just a thought.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�To measure web browsing performance I downloaded a bunch of different web pages and saved as much of them as possible locally on a server. I used WiFi (802.11g) on all of the devices to connect to my local server and timed average load time. I repeated the test at least 3 times and threw out any unusually high or low numbers. Performance on the Android devices was from a clean restart with no unnecessary programs running in memory.

What these tests should show is the overall performance of the platform when all network bottlenecks are removed. Obviously hiding in a tunnel under a lead umbrella will make any phone slow, but we�re looking at peak performance here.
The first test is the new AnandTech front page. Here we�ve got tons of images and HTML, meaning we�re stressing both bandwidth and code parsing speed.�

Perplexing indeed. Maybe the Incredible can parse more of the webpage�s code than the Nexus One or iPhone. I don�t really know what�s going on here but I agree it seems on based on the numbers Anand has provided.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Using our Print this Review function, this next test loads our entire 2010 15-inch Macbook Pro review. While the other two tests had some flash ad content, this one is completely devoid of it so the Incredible shouldn�t be penalized:�

Wait, he admits now that there was flash content in the first few tests? So the Incredible was being penalized. Interesting.

So how can we trust this data when he doesn�t admit usage of flash in his prior tests?

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�The Incredible falls flat on its face here. The iPhone 3GS and Nexus One are much faster.�

I�m not sure if anyone has actually read the engadget front page but it is the poster child for flash. The site has flash ads on 3 of the 4 borders and everywhere in between. You are asking a phone which has Flash Lite, and incidentally no hardware acceleration of flash rendering, to compete with phones that do not load any of the flash content? I find this to be an apt time to use ROTFLMAO and�

You cannot put any faith in Anand�s web page results. They are inconsistent, apples to oranges and generally nonsense. Not only does he compare non-flash loading phones to flash loading phones but compares the iPad to smartphones and then uses WiFi instead of the actual mobile networks. Let�s be honest, you are more likely than not to be browsing the web on your mobile network instead of WiFi because you own a phone not a laptop.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I like the Incredible. If you are on Verizon it�s probably the best option you can get for the network. HTC delivers a much more polished and complete feel than Google does with the Nexus One.�

Not to mention you can�t get the Nexus One on Verizon�

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�My device-level complaints are limited to the cheap feeling back cover and poor battery life. HTC has built a good Android smartphone. I wouldn�t say it�s perfect, but it�s good.�

More subtle reach arounds for Apple. No phone is perfect. The Incredible isn�t, the Nexus One isn�t, the iPhone isn�t, the Pre isn�t. There is just no reason for this comment other than to keep playing Android down as �Ok but not good enough� which, obviously in my opinion, is complete BS. I believe Android is better and more powerful but that does not mean I believe the iPhone sucks or is the worst phone out there because Android would never exist without the iPhone first being invented.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�Both will get you from point A to point B, Apple just does it cleaner, Google does it with more flexibility. Choosing between the two really depends on what you want from your smartphone. Apps like Goggles and fully supported tethering are Android only features at this point. Flexibility in where you get your apps from, and how you can customize your OS are as well. The Apple approach is much more focused on a clean user experience. Things like a single switch to silence your phone and delivering a consistent user experience throughout all apps. The functionality is more limited, but the UI isn�t nearly as cluttered.�

UI is cluttered? Waaaaambulance alert. Turn off whatever you don�t need. The answer seems pretty simple to me. If you want just a home screen then you can make that happen. Also, I don�t know about you but I do not want to leave the App decisions up to Apple and their closed door ways. They lock everything and everyone out. If they don�t like your app then they dismiss it. They won�t add basic functionality because they want to string you along and make you feel that each generation you are getting a new feature that is worthy of an upgrade instead of including it in the first iteration of the OS. Additionally, they claim OS 4 won�t support the 3G phone, why? It is because current 3G owners� contracts are up this summer when the iPhone 4G is released. There is nothing more to it than that. The hardware is there but Apple wants you to buy a new phone. However, I digress.

In fact, Anand's own screen shots show the existence of a "clean slate" scene which wipes all widgets and shortcuts from a user's homescreens.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�I honestly doubt if there are many folks who are on the fence between the two. Spending a bit of time with both devices will quickly let you know if you fall into the Google or Apple camp. Both have their issues and limitations. I don�t believe any smartphone platform is perfect at this point, although all players are rushing to get there as quickly as possible (Palm is a viable competitor as well, if HP doesn�t kill it).�

Here Anand tries to save some face with the impartial crowd. Too little too late Mr. Anand. Palm� oh Palm where art tho? Hopefully designing a better phone though I like my Pre significantly more than my iPhone but again I digress.

Originally Posted by Anand Lal Shampi

�What HTC has done is provided the best hardware platform for Android to date so that those users who have to choose between Apple and Google at least have a good representative from the Android camp. With some app consolidation, some additional features (e.g. server side email search for non-Gmail accounts) and a simplified Sense scene I�m confident we could see a HTC phone that even delivers the same clean user experience as an iPhone. Then you wouldn�t even have to choose.�

The same clean user experience as an iPhone? Wooo those are some fighting words. So if they add those features then Android will be on par with Apple? What about all the things that Android does compared to the iPhone OS? Multitasking, widgets, HTC Sense, custom home pages, integrated feeds� need I go on? You get the picture. Oh, wait I�m sorry I forgot to mention FLASH. Now, again the iPhone OS isn�t bad and it started a revolution in the smartphone market that cause Android to be created and I am thankful but the iPhone OS is dated now.

App consolidation? Sure that sounds great but I don�t think it is necessarily bad that you can do the same thing in multiple programs. If I am in the camera I can upload photos to Photobucket or I can do it from the gallery. To me it doesn�t matter but I can see the point.

Additional features? What else do you need? I can see the use for email search but simplified Sense scene? That is pure and utter crap because the phone comes with a clean slate scene which clears out every home screen and allows you to customize every bit of it. Then again you could customize any of the predefined scenes and wind up in the same place. This is a total horse shat point and it comes from someone digging to find things wrong with the phone and the associated platform just for the sake of having something to comment over. Anand is really stretching for things to whine about because this isn�t an iPhone and Google doesn�t line his pockets with velvet the way Apple does.

In closing this review brings out Anand�s bias against Google as much as the Nexus One review did. Now, having said that let me say that I admittedly do not like Apple. I don�t like the way they do business or their marketing practices. I think they operate on a model which takes advantage of people. They have perfected it but I feel it is an underhanded way to do business. Now, with that said, I do think the iPhone is a good phone, not the best but a solid smartphone.

I believe the iPhone has been surpassed with things like the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, Google Nexus One and HTC Incredible� hell even the Droid Eris. Google provides the flexibility to make the phone as simple as you want or as complex as you want. I gave my 51 yr old mother my Droid, who calls me to ask where her Outlook preview pane went when her Outlook crashes, and 3 minutes later she looks at me and says �I want this.� She likes the way it works and how easy it is to change the home screen and the widgets which stream information to her as well as the extremely transparent notifications.

I also think Anand is unfairly criticizing the Android platform based on his affinity for Apple and the benefits that go with that bias for websites. Engadget is guilty of the same bias. As smartphone platforms evolve my allegiance changes on a continual basis based on what I perceive to be the best platform. I went from Blackberry OS to the iPhone to Blackberry Storm OS to Windows Mobile to Android and in the current state of the OSes I believe that Android is the best platform. Windows Mobile 7 looks extremely intriguing but it isn�t out yet so I can�t render an opinion.

Anand, leave the Apple Kool-Aid at home when you write smartphone reviews.

Don't resort it up in college

monst0r — Tue, 18 May 2010 02:36:12 GMT

I learned a great life lesson today. It's possibly something others have learned earlier than freshman year of college, but o to class in college. Or you will be ****ed over. Nuff said.

Quick Load: Previewing the Firefox Mobile Alpha

DaSickNinja — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:44:28 GMT

Once again, I'd like to explicitly state that the software that I'm previewing here, isn't release. It's not even Beta.

Mozilla's development team would really like us to know that the software codenamed Fennec is actually what they call Pre-Alpha, in other words, it's a debug issue, with none of the memory/CPU optimizations or full features that we'll find in the release. This is essential to keep in mind if you plan to install this .apk. Oh by the way, since this is Pre-Alpha software it isn't available for download in the Android Marketplace, so I've kindly provided a link for you to download and sideload Fennec onto your Android phone after the jump. Just remember to enable application loading from unknown sources (Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources) and make sure that your device is 2.0+ (Desire, Nexus, Hero, Magic, Incredible, Droid, etc) and has OpenGL ES 2.0 support.

Like I said earlier, since this is unreleased software, it would be incredibly unfair to do any sort of in depth review of it, but you my dear readers would at least expect me to give a overview of it's functions and UI. And like the well trained internet monkey that I am, I deliver. I can say that even with it's memory optimizations missing and no multitouch API yet enabled it does load pages faster than Opera Mobile (although this may come down to Opera caching each page before rendering it). Renderwise, it's a bit below par with the stock Android browser, but again, I have to stress that none of the memory and CPU utilization tweaks are yet in place. The browser like it's desktop counterpart does support extensions as well as tabs. As a long time user of the stock Android Browser, the way it handles windows/tabs leaves much to be desired, and the swipe to view tabs function is certainly a marked improvement over having to bring up the settings and then click Windows in the stock browser. Another interesting feature that Mozilla has added to their browser is WeaveSync, which allows you to sync your favorites, tabs, passwords and other saved information from your desktop straight to your phone. All in all, a pretty solid effort from the boys and girls at Mozilla.

Click here to view more images of Fennec

Download Fennec Mobile
Source

Edit: Words of warning: it won't kill your phone, but since it doesn't support crash handling yet, there might be some errors that you can't recover from. Just reboot your phone.
For those using rooted phones, Apps2SSD will not work with this. You need to install the software to the device memory (10MB download (20MB+ program))

Apple iPhone 4G Leak or Plant? You be the Judge!

Ches111 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:44:12 GMT

So in the news this week the "Leaked" photos of a supposed iPhone 4G.

There is detailed photos of the interior and exterior. Detailed specs. All of this just was an oopsy right?

Full story here: http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple...he-next-iphone

Lets review:
With the pre-release version of the iPad, to even touch the device you had to create a special room with blacked out windows and a secured entry and the device needed to be chained down to a floor anchor. Apple would supposedly not even entertain the idea of allowing pre-release handling unless you met these stringent requirements.

Apples Hype machine marketing (I mean their security) just let an engineer walk right out the door! mmmmm hmmmm.

So now we go to the other day. An engineer walks into a bar (I know this reads like the tag line of a joke :)) and accidentally leaves his JOB(I mean his iPhone 4G prototype) on the floor. It just so happens that this prototype similar in value to a Billionaires "walking around" money is on his person.

He was able to walk through security with a highly guarded secret and nobody noticed while doing the prototype count that evening before going home that one was missing?

On top of this all, he happened to leave it in a bar where the patrons recognize it pretty much right away and forward the info, pics and detailed specs to Gizmodo.

They also decided to tear it neatly down (as shown in the pics) and display for all, the insides of a highly prized/valued phone! Nah nobody will go to jail for possibly damaging the device?

A day or two later we find Gizmodo releasing contents of an email from Apple requesting they send their prototype back?

Very convenient.

I'm just sayin.

Just for fun I will mention it again:

OOPSY!!

Here is my deal.. Apple is late to the game now with a number of requested features that have already shipped in the Nexus 1 and is about to ship in the EVO 4G and the HTC Droid Incredible (user replaceable batteries, larger screens, user replaceable batteries, Micro SIM card, user replaceable batteries, ...). Maybe we accidentally leak that we have many of those features in our next gen phone that is not just yet ready for prime time.

Maybe just maybe people who are coming up on their two year commitments (most 3G users who were alienated by Apple with the release of the OS 4.0) will just wait for our new wonder device if there is a hint we might release it.

On this note! User replaceable batteries from Apple? Who is going to get fired over that one?

Sorry I am not drinking this Kool-Aid :)

Violet gets an honorable seat in the comedic stage

Violet_wind — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:44:52 GMT

In honor of me, my friend Henry Chim has decided to write a play based on our adventures at school, horribly exaggerated of course and not to mention fiction from the Enith universe.

Without further ado, my friend has authorised me to display some teaser content.

Cartner: I�m looking for a good high quality fire sprinkler system for my school. Do you have any recommendations?
Marketeer: Of course! Dr Cartner, I recommend my company�s X2 Sprinkler system
Cartner: So what does it have that the other half a dozen marketers I�ve seen don�t?
Josh: Hello Dr Cartner
Cartner: Shh! Can�t you see I�m busy? Wait outside until I�m done.
(Pauses)
Cartner: Continue then.
Marketeer: Certainly, the X2 Sprinkler System features a unique�
Cartner: Yes, I get it; just tell me what it does
Marketeer: Well you know normal water sprinklers can�t put out electrical fires? Well that�s just an accident waiting to happen in the science classroom. So, the boffins at my company came up with the new Carbon Dioxide sprinkler! It works by starving fire of all oxygen making it go out instantly! The system is so fast it completely fills the room, even before the students can leave the room. As soon as the fire is extinguished, the students can quickly resume work, even without getting their books wet!
Cartner: That sounds amazing
Josh: Isn�t Carbon Dioxide bad for you Dr Cartner?
Cartner: Don�t worry trust me I�m a Doctor, Josh now please go and wait in the foyer
(Whispering)
Marketeer: What type of Doctor?
Cartner: Doctor of visual arts
Marketeer: Phew!
Cartner: How much is the Carbon Dioxide sprinkler?
Marketeer: Well, we haven�t gotten an ABN permit yet, so it�ll be cheaper�
Cartner: Sold you�re definitely making the new sprinkler system

Violet: What do we do now?
Henry: Here, don�t worry Vi, it�s all under control! Fred, give me your nasal spray
Lambert: Shoosh! Start, lady and gentlemen
Henry: Alright, here are your scripts
Violet: Here goes nothing...
(Starts acting)
Violet: Achoo! My nose is running like a tap! What can I do doctor?
Henry: Ever had nasal problems?
Fred: Looks very severe my dear. I�m sorry but you�ll need to buy some nasal spray!
Henry: Ever have nasal problems and can�t afford the hefty cost of discount nasal spray? Tired of how dry new nasal sprays are initially? Well rest assured knowing your nasal spray is well travelled. Introducing the 2nd hand Fess nasal spray! It contains 90% of the liquid of your regular Fess nasal spray bottle, at only 50% of the price!
Fred: That�s only $2*. Remember if you order now! My nasal spray might even still be warm!
Violet: And if you buy now, we�ll throw in another bottle of used nasal spray... umm... from another nasal spray donor?
Fred: Not to mention our lucky special! One in ten bottles has a nasally transmitted disease, free!

Violet: I�ve found an escape route! There�s a emergency chute in the train!
Henry: Don�t worry, according to my travel insurance for every hour I�m in a hijacked public transport vehicle I get $100.
Violet: You crazy, crazy boy�
Criminal #1: So you�d rather stay with us?
Fred: Well there goes any hope of escape, thanks a lot Henry.
Henry: Yeh, I�ll probably stay with you guys. Just if you don�t kill me I�ll give you a cut of it.
Criminal #2: Less work for me I suppose

Apple launches iPhone OS 4.0 - Misses Big Time

SuperFly03 — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:36:35 GMT

Alright. Today was a big day for Apple. They launched iPhone OS 4.0. A new revision is supposed to be a big deal and bring a lot of new features to the plate right? Well, I guess the word new should be put in quotes because there is really nothing new with this launch. There isn�t an ounce of creativity in the entire OS. Rather, there is varying degrees of ripping off ideas from other more innovative companies like Microsoft, Palm and Google. However, let�s put that aside and walkthrough the more substantial features of OS 4.0.

Bear in mind that I used to have an iPhone, Palm Pre, Windows Mobile 6.5 phone and currently an Android 2.1 OS phone. The only major smartphone platform I have not laid hands on is Symbian.

Let�s deal with the features one by one as to not add any confusion or convolution the article.

Now, let me make this disclaimer: my information is from engadget.com. If something is inaccurate it is because I read it there. Cool? Ok, let�s continue.

iPhone OS 4.0 spotlight lets you directly search web, Wikipedia -- Engadget

Originally Posted by engadget

Apple did quite a bit today bringing its iPhone OS up to feature parity (and sometimes beyond) when compared with other modern smartphone platforms, and here's one piece not discussed today that we've been long wanting: web and Wikipedia search directly from Spotlight. WebOS and Windows Phone 7 have had it since inception, and Android's had it since Donut, and we're pretty happy to say that our OS 4.0-equipped iPhone is now also among the ranks, just 13 months after it first got a search bar. There you have it, folks, iPhone Spotlight is now useful.

Ok, let me get this straight. Android has done this since OS 1.5. WebOs has done it since it was launched in 2009 on the Palm Pre and Windows Mobile 7 has had this since the entire OS was conceived. However, it was not until OS 4.0 that the iPhone got the ability to search Wikipedia? That is beyond an epic fail. Wikipedia itself is an app within the iPhone OS so adding it to Spotlight really doesn�t net you anything. What does Android do? It searches Google (big surprise there) and therefore across the entire web not just Wikipedia. What does WebOS do? The same damn thing. It goes to this magical place called the internet and searches what you type in the search bar. It is magical! Wait, no. That is what Steve Jobs wants you to think while he is threatening you for cash with one hand while beating you off with the other. In the spirit of brotherhood let�s move on before going off the deep-end.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/j...-they-blew-it/

Originally Posted by engadget

Steve Jobs is never one to mince words when taking questions from the press, and he just made it very clear how he feels about other platforms during the iPhone OS 4 event when asked about task management:
Q: How do you close applications when multitasking?
A: (Scott Forstall) You don't have to. The user just uses things and doesn't ever have to worry about it.
A: (Steve Jobs) It's like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it. In multitasking, if you see a task manager... they blew it. Users shouldn't ever have to think about it.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Apple Way, but hey -- tell us how you really feel, Steve.

That�s interesting Steve. Really, very interesting. I don�t think Apple users have to worry about multi-tasking on their Macbook Pro�s or iMac�s nor do PC users. It would be unreasonable for an OS developer to expect the end user to be in control of the applications that are running simultaneously or to navigate between applications. Computer users have not been doing that since� what? Windows 3.1? Further back maybe? Ok, let�s be conservative and say 20 years. For 20 years users have had to select which program to run, which application they wanted to be in the forefront. Is it that much of a stretch to believe the user could decide which application to run on their phone? I don�t know about you but as little faith as I have in the human race I still believe they can figure out which application they want to run first on a phone. Hell, I bet if you tested it on drunk blacked out college kids they could still function on a multi-tasking iPhone. Just a thought there.

Thinking about it more and more I can�t believe a task manager is a fail in Jobs� book. Well, I can believe it because he wants you to hate Windows Mobile OS and Android OS but not because there is something inherently evil in a task manager but rather because Apple refuses to add one today but will probably laud it as a feature down the road. Adding a task manager isn�t a fail but rather a backup plan. 3rd party apps don�t always interact with the OS very well. No matter how much testing you do sometimes code does not interact with the subsystem well. I know; I�ve done programming over the years in at least 7 different languages and sometimes anomalies happen. It is no one�s fault but you need to have a way to fix it and the task manager is an easy way to prevent pulling the battery on a phone� wait a minute you can�t do that on an iPhone. Hmmm� that is one large predicament.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/s...-called-admob/

Originally Posted by engadget

We'd previously heard rumors that Quattro Wireless was Apple's consolation prize after a deal with bigger mobile advertising rival AdMob fell through, and Steve Jobs confirmed it on no uncertain terms at the Q&A session following today's iPhone OS 4.0 event: "we tried to buy a company called AdMob... but Google snatched it away." Indeed they did, though that deal hasn't yet been approved by the Federal Trade Commission while Apple's already up, up and away with its iAd solution, so it seems like everything shook out for the best -- if you're an iPhone developer, anyway.

Alright, we all know where this is going and no one is happy. This isn�t just an Apple thing but more a general comment because this is prevalent on Android too. Ads on cell phones. Right now they are only apparent on Google Maps on Android but I foresee Apple adding this functionality to all aspects of the iPhone if left unrestrained. They will likely add ads based on the apps you have installed. They will suggest new apps or places to eat because they are near you even though you didn�t search for them. If Android started doing this I would be just as upset at Google. This evolution of advertising is an absolute abomination to all that is freedom in the United States. I do not want ads delivered to my damn phone just so your dumb *** can offset some costs because you are cheap. Whatever happened to the end user�s experience? Bastards.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/m...iphone-os-4-0/

Originally Posted by engadget

You heard that right, people -- iPhone OS 4 just brought multitasking to the platform! Apple says they've figured out how to implement third party multitasking without hurting performance or battery life, and they're demoing it now -- you just double click the home button and see a list of your apps, and you can just tap to switch between apps. The system actually runs the services apps need in the background -- the apps don't need to do them individually, so it's not a "true" multitasking system, but it seems plenty effective. There are seven services: background audio, which allows you to use the standard pop-over iPod controls, Voice over IP, which can receive calls in the background, location services for GPS and social networking (there's an indicator if any service is tracking you), updated push notifications with local notifications, task completion so you can finish things like uploads in the background, and fast app switching, which lets apps sleep and resume instantly. Notably missing? Anything for managing a conversation, like IM or Twitter, which is a big omission. Win some, lose some, we suppose.

Update: Here's a big "lose some" -- only the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation (late 2009) iPod touch will support multitasking. The iPhone 3G and below won't -- Steve says the hardware doesn't support it. Sad face.

Where do I begin with this load of horse manure? Well let�s start at the beginning. Double tapping the home button to bring up the app list? I�ve seen that somewhere, oh wait I know! Google Android does full multi-tasking and long-pressing the home button brings up the list of the 6 most recent apps used which are still running in the background as necessary. On top of that obvious ripoff from Google Apple actually has the balls to limit what you can do via multi-tasking.

So, instead of truly creating a multi-tasking platform which is obviously possible on the hardware since the Palm Pre does it on the iPhone 3G hardware (more on that later), Apple decides to limit the apps you can run in the background. Apple fans will scream �but I can listen to my iPod while playing a game now!!!!� to which I will retort Android has been able to do that for over a year and Palm has been able to do that since inception and Windows Mobile has been able to do that since� wow I can�t even remember how far back that goes. Moving forward from that is the absolute failure to include an ability to �multi-task� while tweeting or being on Facebook. I�m not sure if Apple looked at the stats lately but combined the two social networking sites probably have more than 30-40% of America covered and Apple is hamstringing those users.

Now, let�s discuss the ability to �multi-task� on the iPhone 3G. Having owned both the iPhone 3G and the Palm Pre I can tell you that the iPhone OS was smoother at the time but the Palm Pre could run circles around the iPhone because of its ability to multi-task and run several apps at the same time. So, while you were running Pandora you could be surfing the web all the while your Facebook was updating or you were downloading a new app or email. It was an easy choice so I jumped ship to Sprint and bought the Palm Pre. Let�s face it they use the same exact hardware. There may be a small clock speed discrepancy (600MHz vs. 500Mhz or so, I forget the exact speed discrepancy) but the underlying hardware and SoC chips are the exact same. For Apple to claim it is a hardware incompatibility is pure horse manure. Let�s examine the real reason. It is pure business.

In the summer of 2008 Apple launched the second version of the iPhone (the one which I bought), the iPhone 3G. It was an updated platform which added a significant speed bump all the while adding 3G capability. It was a significant improvement over the original iPhone. In the summer of 2009 Apple launched the iPhone 3Gs which I did not buy because at that time I had moved on to another carrier which didn�t have its head up its ***. Now, the standard contract for iPhones, like other phones, is 2 years. Accordingly this means that people who purchased the iPhone 3G (the first subsidized iPhone) are about to come up on the end of their contract which means they are eligible for the promotional price on a new phone, a.k.a. the advertised price of the iPhone on ATT�s website ($200) and not the full retail price $599/$699. So, to ensure that Apple forces those with iPhone 3G�s to upgrade to the latest and greatest they made the business decision, not the tech limitation decision, to exclude the iPhone 3G from iPhone OS 4.0. In no way, shape or form does this have anything to do with the hardware compatibility. Steve Jobs is banking on their users being completely ignorant and following his lead blindly. If Apple �figured out a way to run multiple apps at the same time� on the iPhone 3Gs then it can run on the iPhone 3G without a hitch. Steve Jobs is full of crap and every site that supports that conclusion is sucking him off. Period.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/i...g-this-summer/

Originally Posted by engadget

Notable new features for users ("tentpoles" are in bold):
� Multitasking.
� Spell check (like on the iPad).
� Bluetooth keyboard support (again, on the iPad).
� User-defined wallpaper (a jailbreak favorite).
� Tap to focus when recording video, just like with photos, and a 5x digital zoom for the camera.
� Playlist creation and nested playlists.
� App folders for sorting apps! You can even put an app folder in the dock.
� Enhanced Mail! You can have a merged inbox view, switch between inboxes quickly, and sync to more than one Exchange account. There's also threaded messaging (at last!) and in-app attachment viewing.
� iBooks, just like on iPad, only smaller. You can wirelessly sync books between platforms, a la Kindle.
� Enterprise features, including remote device management and wireless app distribution.
� Game Center. It's like Xbox Live, but for iPhone games. Includes achievements, leaderboards, and match making. It will be available as a "developer preview," and out for consumers later this year.

Multi-tasking, yeah the pile of horse manure has already been dealt with.

Spell check. Ok, let�s think about that one. How on earth does that make for a better smartphone? Does it make for a worse smartphone not having it? No. They already have auto-correct so what good is spell check? None. It is another flag for Apple to waive in the smartphone war which actually holds no water other than the sheep will flaunt it because let�s face it if you are concerned with spelling on a smartphone then you ought to be using a different platform.

Bluetooth keyboard support� ummm� why? Seriously, why did Apple waste resources developing this �support�. In reality it uses the same Bluetooth spec that was already enabled on the iPhone and all they did was add an additional profile to the core Bluetooth stack. However, they will still flaunt this as a significant development in the OS because it is a new feature nevermind how useless it is in the grand scheme of things. It will be one of those features that the end users flaunt but you can never find a real life user who actually uses it.

User-defined wallpapers. How far back do I have to go to debunk this feature? Is 2004 enough on a Motorola Razr. That seems adequate. The Motorola Razr flip phone which had copy and paste before the iPhone OS also had definable wallpapers and that isn�t the only example in the world. My LG VX8600 also had definable wallpapers and it was a sophisticated as a brick falling from a building.

Tap to focus� ok. Big deal. Nice feature but probably something that should have been added previously with the recording feature. Slow pokes!
Playlists� these things date back to the original WinAmp and Windows Mobile OS/Android OS. Catch up with the times. It is especially sad because iTunes and the related iPods have supported this since day one so for Apple to not include it is just a withholding so they can flaunt it later. Oh, did I mention they are flaunting it now?

App folders. This is really just a basic OS feature which is present in the background of every OS which Apple decided to bring to the GUI for sake of adding some organization to the cluster that is the iPhone homescreen. I have a friend who has 6 pages of apps. 6 pages of applications and no way to sort them. Sure you can put them in order but that really isn�t a sorting mechanism. Now you have the ability which, incidentally came stock on Android, WebOS and Windows Mobile years ago, to add folders and drop apps in the folders in order to unclutter those home screens of yours. Nice addition? Yes, but Apple should receive no credit for this feature. Rather, Apple should be scolded for not adding it previously and maybe even from the start. Folder architecture is inherent to any OS. Lazy Apple.

Enhanced mail, wait did you say functionality that existed in other OS�s? Sorry, the phrases must have run together in my head. I could have sworn you mentioned something about a combined inbox and multiple exchange accounts like Android can do already and Palm does quite nicely. Additionally, threaded messaging exists on Android as well and has for a long time. Now, admittedly it is limited to the Gmail app and not exchange emails but still, this is not an Apple innovation. In fact this has existed in Gmail since I signed up for it years and years ago. Again, no originality here; do you detect a theme?
iBooks? See Amazon Kindle platform. Please stop ripping ideas off other companies and create something useful Apple. Maybe an update to the GUI? No, that too much to ask? Ok, I�ll go back to using the vibrating app to get me off since that�s about as useful as an iPhone is these days relative to the competition.
Game center; Ok, some of these features are subtley stolen from other companies but this is about as blatant as you can get. Apple is ripping off features from Xbox 360�s marketplace in a more obvious nature than Pamela Anderson�s plastic surgery. It is like starring at an iPad and iPhone side by side and suddenly realizing �Hey, they look the exact same!� and only to find out they are the exact same just one is slightly larger. But hey, if Apple is ok blatantly ripping off achievements and social gaming from one of the companies with the largest law force this side of the Mississippi then I am ok. I�ll just wait for the lawsuit to be file and then start rolling on the floor. It will probably work out as well as that time Fujitsu patented iPad before Apple� which incidentally was extremely well because they made a boat load off a failed product. Props to Fuijitsu.

Summary

At the end of the day what has Apple really contributed to the smartphone market? Absolutely nothing. Not one idea presented above is a new idea. Every idea has been ripped off another company somewhere. However, with that said the iPhone drones will laud them as the best features since sliced bread because they are the blindest sheep I have ever seen. Are they all that way? No but the vast majority of the users are and should be ashamed of themselves. I am actually embarrassed to admit to people that I once owned an iPhone but it gave me a great perspective on the market and experience with the OS.

A Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger to Apple

YMAA — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:54:33 GMT

High praise
It's no secret that Apple has been at the forefront of the smartphone market for the last three years. Full-screen phones with on-screen keyboards never really took off until Apple added its unique blend of polish and style to the market, and now you can't walk down the street without seeing at least a few Apple phones. Apple, you've earned a tip of the hat for yet again creating a market where there wasn't one before.

But to business...
However, you've also earned a wag of the finger for doing nothing with the bloody thing after three years. Now, everyone knows the old motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's the formula that's served the God of War video games quite well, as the fantastic controls are worthy of Olympian praise across all three games. However, in the smartphone market it is all too easy for customers to get bored with their device's user interface after three years (myself included). The iPhone just doesn't look or feel any different. It shows a complete lack of innovation. Apple's motto has always been �Think Different,� but apparently it only applies to the competition's products.

I'd almost rather that the Apple devs tried something completely new and broke it in the process, because it shows they're doing something with it. Apple should be pushing new bleeding-edge Alpha builds of the iPhone OS at the very least on a monthly basis so that users who actually are in the know can test new features and report back, thus improving the product. Not only would that get new ideas into the market quicker, but it would show that Apple is willing to listen to its customers and try new ideas between Macworld Expos, the annual convention around which Apple releases the bulk of its new products.

Apple needs to do more than hardware
Sure, you can buy two different models of iPhone now, the 3G and the 3GS. They have different feature sets: the 3GS has a much faster CPU, the ability to capture video and then send it over SMS, a sharper still camera, and so on. The hardware has changed quite a bit between generations when you consider that only one company manufactures the phones. But we're rapidly approaching a time where the hardware can only get so fast before the software running on them needs to catch up to take full advantage of it, and Apple seems to be stuck back in 2007 as far as the operating system is concerned. The iPhone OS imply hasn't changed, with the exception of adding features that should have been there from the beginning.

Readers, please keep in mind that I'm writing this from the perspective of the user that gets bored with stagnation. I like nothing more than finding some new setting to change, some new toggle I haven't seen before. This may lead some of you may wonder why I haven't Jailbroken my phone, then. It would certainly enable more features than the stock OS, after all. The reason why I haven't done it is because, quite frankly, I shouldn't have to. I understand that Apple doesn't want users to have control over the OS to make it harder to break. I get it. It's unfortunate that in doing so they're alienating users that like to tweak their devices to their liking.

Perhaps, then, I'm being too hard on Apple in that respect, punishing them for not succeeding in a market where they obviously don't belong (the enthusiast market), but all the same there's no reason NOT to innovate. Apple innovated when the phone first came out, lack of important features like MMS and cut/copy/paste notwithstanding. But after three years, the OS is still exactly where it started. In the gadget world, people need to be constantly impressed with a device to stick with it.

iPhone OS in its current state is comfortable. It's easy to use, relatively intuitive, and all that. What it isn't, however, is new. I look at my phone when I get a call and where I used to think "Huh, my friend really likes that hot dog" (don't ask...) I now think "well, that'll always be the same." Your users should NEVER feel that way.

And that's why you get a wag of the finger, Apple.

Anandtech Nexus One Review - Full of Misinformation

SuperFly03 — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:10:24 GMT

Here at XCPUs we pride ourselves on being rational people. We like to think through things. Weigh the pro�s and con�s. If something sucks harder than a vacuum with a 500HP diesel motor attached to it then you call it that. You don�t sugar coat something because you like the company or because maybe this is just an interim product. If you like it you state why and what the basis for your conclusion is.

Anandtech.com recently posted their review of the Google Nexus One. It was a very detailed review but ultimately, if one is paying attention to the language, Anand played up a few features big but consistently throughout the article he undercut Google with some very low blow and completely false information. I walked through the article page by page and commented on what sections I believe to be in accurate.

Let me preface my commentary with why I am doing this. I have owned a Blackberry Curve 8300, iPhone 3G, Blackberry Storm, HTC Touch Pro, Palm Pre and now a Motorola Droid which I have owned for 6 months. I also had the iPhone for about 6 months. I�ve used both. I�ve worked on both. I can pull over 1000MB/mo without tethering my phone. That�s how much data I use. So when I speak I speak from experience not from something I read in an article and interpreted. The information comes from my own little hands wondering all over both the iPhone OS and the Android OS.

Let�s start with page 2. Yes, we can�t even make it through the first page with real information on it.

Originally Posted by Anand

The form factor is both better and worse. Making the Nexus One thinner means that it�s more comfortable to hold up to your head as a phone. You don�t succumb to the iPhone conversation fatigue nearly as quickly. The downside is that the virtual keyboard is narrower, making typing more difficult than the already painful to learn (for some) iPhone keyboard. Personally, I don�t think the tradeoff is worth it. While I believe the Nexus One�s form factor is closer to ideal for carrying around, its keyboard (in portrait mode) is worse off because of it.

Ok, let�s get pragmatic for a minute. Is the Nexus One narrower in portrait mode than the iPhone? Yes by 2.3mm (.09 inches). Yes, that is 9 1/100ths of an inch. Now, how many keys are on across the top row of each QWERTY keyboard? 10. So, via basic math we can deduce, on average, that each key must be at least 9 1/1000th�s smaller on the Nexus One than on the iPhone assuming the screens are the same size. That is .0009 inches per letter.

Realistically do you think the phone is that much worse off for being narrower? I think not. Rather, I know it isn�t. However, let�s continue without flying off the handle at the first comment.

Originally Posted by anand

This is a normal smartphone after all, so you do get a removable battery. The back cover slides off to reveal a battery, micro SD card slot and SIM card slot. The removable battery is an important addition as you'll soon see. The Nexus One ships with a 4GB micro SD card from the factory.

Completely passes over the depth to which your pocket book will love this feature. On average a new cell battery is what? $40 or so. Depends on the brand and the capacity but by and large that is a reasonable average. So your Nexus One won�t hold a charge, what do you do? You go online and order a battery for $40, wait two days and then switch them out. No big deal. Waiting for shipping sucks but it could be worse. You could have to pay $99 to send your iPhone to Apple who drop ships you a refurb unit and then you have to reload all of your software from your iTunes backup. Do you enjoy paying 2-3x as much and getting a refurb unit which requires you do reload all your software? You answer that one to yourself silently. Moving along.

Originally Posted by anand

You get a standard 1/8� headphone jack up top and to the left of it is your power/lock button. Initial boot on the Nexus One does take a while, I timed it at 48 seconds (that's PC-length!).

Haven�t used a blackberry in awhile eh Anand? That�s blazing relative to a Blackberry and honestly, how often do you turn off a phone? Never. That is the correct answer.

Originally Posted by Anand

As with all other Android phones, you need a SIM and a Google account to make the Nexus One work. Simply typing in your existing Google/Gmail account works, or you can register through the phone�s interface. All syncing with the phone is done over the air and with Google�s servers.

Funny, my Droid works just fine on Verizon without a SIM card.

Originally Posted by anand

Google doesn�t have a desktop OS (yet), and no thick client desktop apps. Rather than rely on building bridges between its smartphone OS and the desktop applications of its competitors, Google relies entirely on its cloud based services for syncing. Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Calendar, these are your new best friends. Already use all of them? Perfect - your Android phone syncs with your account and you�ll get all of your mail, contacts and calendar events immediately. If you don�t already use them then it�s a lane change. Not a difficult adjustment to make, but transitioning from desktop apps to something entirely cloud based does take some getting used to if you haven�t made the jump prior.

Funny, I synced my Droid to my exchange account without so much as a fuss and lo and behold my contacts appeared without any effort. So, unless you are making the jump from a Motorola StarTac to a Nexus One you probably already have your contacts in Outlook. If not, then yes, Anand is right and you do have to get used to the �cloud.�

This is where Android�s more PC-side comes out to play. Apple and Palm for the most part try to keep these sorts of menus away from you. Apps are purposefully not very deep and settings are all controlled through the settings screen, not from within an app. Functionality is driven by the UI. Android takes a more application centric approach. Neither is right or wrong, but both approaches have their pros and cons. I�d argue that Apple/Palm�s approach is better suited for something that�s going to be used as a passive device. Something you�re quickly scanning emails or text messages on. Google�s take is more PC-like. Give the users the options they want, where they want them, even at the risk of UI simplicity.

Woah, don�t ask users to decide between refreshing a page, a new window, back or bookmarks. Woah is me. That is too much! Then again, the masses bought 300,000 iPads in a weekend in order to sit on their toilet and browse the web instead of reading a paper. Who knows?

Originally Posted by anand

What MS is proposing for WP7 are contextual search results that are formatted for the smartphone. Akin to a search app if you will. Search for GeForce GTX 480 and get a normal listing of websites. Search for dentists and get a smartphone formatted list of dentists in your area. Granted MS� proposal is just that, a proposal, while Android is shipping today. Enabling similar functionality though shouldn�t be hard for Google. I�d love to be able to search, pull results from the web, but have the results presented as more of an app.

What no mention of how the iPhone can�t do any of this? Interesting.

Originally Posted by anand

The search function will autocomplete things like address book entries, but it won�t automatically search your email for you. While the iPhone�s search function is more focused on searching your device, Android is more interested in helping you search the web. Google has a search engine, Apple doesn�t, the distinction makes sense.

Rationalizing Apple�s failures I see. As if Apple couldn�t pull from Google if they wanted. This is someone covering Apple�s *** until they make it a feature.

Originally Posted by anand

Until Windows Phone 7 arrives, Palm fixes its issues or MeeGo starts shipping in earnest, the inevitable comparison is between Android and the iPhone OS. And in my weeks of using Google�s Nexus One, I can honestly say that the differences really boil down to much of the same things that separate PC and Mac users.

Oh yippie. Let�s invoke the same war that has been going on for more than 20 years, Mac vs. PC.

Apple�s home screen is a structured list of icons. Each swipe reveals another page that looks the same. You can customize placement of the app icons, and control what appears in the bottom row of four, but ultimately you�re flipping through a virtual index of your applications.

Umm, no. You can customize the order of the applications but not the placement outside the 4 bottom buttons whereas everything is up for grabs on Android.

Apple�s predictable UI allows no room for quick ways to disable things like Bluetooth or 3G. The Nexus One ships with a Power widget that lets you quickly toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, auto syncing and auto brightness control. The only thing that�s missing is a quick way to disable 3G.

Really? You are picking at the ability to turn off 3G when it offers a control bar Apple fans could only dream about while masturbating in their father�s woodshed at night under the moonlight?

The fundamental difference in approach to UI really shows how Google and Apple view the smartphone. Apple views it as a passive extension to the desktop/notebook. You use it when you want to make a call or quickly access a program or application. Your primary sources of information consumption are in other forms (e.g. desktop, notebook, tablet).

Bull. Bull. Bull. I can�t finish the phrase because of the swear filter but I�m calling BS. Apple wants your iPhone to be everything to you. An internet browser, a media player, a phone, a mobile gaming experience, a document editor, email machine, etc. Passive extension my ***. It is no different than the Nexus One.

Originally Posted by anand

Google�s view is a bit more ambitious. Not having a desktop/notebook platform (yet) to rely on, Android�s role is understandably more pronounced. You get more customization and personalization options. The focus isn�t on simplicity, but rather customizable functionality. The sort of flexibility you�d expect out of a larger computing device, but on your smartphone. Again, it makes sense because Google doesn�t currently offer a larger computing device.

Blatant shot at Google. More customizable? Yes but it isn�t because they don�t have a notebook platform to stand on but rather because they can offer a better mobile experience. Get your ducks in order and get out of the locked down camp of Apple.

Originally Posted by anand

Those who cried foul when Apple tied everyone�s hands with the iPhone OS, those who listed everything that Windows Mobile could do that Apple couldn�t, if you are one of these people then Android is a far more natural fit. Those who wanted the focused simplicity the iPhone offered on the other hand, will probably feel a bit uncomfortable with Android.

Let�s put it this way, I�m getting the Moto Droid for my 50yr old mother whose tech ability consists of calling me when her preview pane disappears in Outlook. In under 3 minutes of demoing it at the Verizon store she looked at me and said �I want that. Get me that.� Yes mother�

Originally Posted by anand

The integration is visible on so many levels. For example, instead of just a single Email icon you have two apps: a Gmail app and an Email app. Distinguishing between Gmail and Email? Interesting.

Of course they are. Can�t blame them for a little self app pimping. Apple forces you into Safari on the iPhone why not let Google pimp Gmail.

Originally Posted by anand

Google Maps for Android also fully supports the Nexus One's integrated GPS and compass, so you have an idea of exactly where you are and what direction you're facing. While these are both features echoed on the iPhone, Google one-ups Cupertino by offering a built in, free of charge, navigation app that integrates with Google Maps.

That's right, you get turn by turn navigation directions with voice for free with the Nexus One. The obvious limitation is that map data is streamed to the phone in real time and not stored on the device like on a dedicated portable nav unit. So if you're in a location where you don't have data access then you do lose navigation.

I would really love to know where the hell in the US this could occur. I�ve been in a town with a population of less than 800 people and I had 3G coverage. 800 people. Not even a hotel in the city. Nearest one was 30 minutes away. So� yeah, I�d say that �limitation� is complete horse manure.

Using the Nexus One�s keyboard, I was reminded of the same feeling. While it�s a purely virtual keyboard, the key spacing isn�t quite as wide as the iPhone�s because the device is just slightly narrower. As a result, I can�t type as fast on the Nexus as I can on the iPhone. With a good amount of practice it�s possible to be quick on the keyboard. Using the keyboard in landscape mode was a lot more comfortable to me, unfortunately there�s hardly any remaining screen real estate when you do so.

Ugh, this BS again? We�ve already visited this point. Move along, same shizznit � unfortunately the same day.

Wait a minute� those keys look bigger on the Nexus One due to the iPhone�s spacing. I think Anand�s trying to pull a fast one on you Android lovers.

Originally Posted by anand

Like most smartphones, the Nexus One will attempt to autocorrect your spelling mistakes as you make them. By default there�s a bar of words that appears under your text input box as you type. The spelling correction appears to be based on length of word and letters used, but not the location of those keys on the keyboard. For example, typing yjomh instead of thong won�t autocorrect, although on the iPhone it will. Overall the autocorrection and thus typing on the iPhone is better than on the Nexus One. With the iPhone you can really just type and mostly forget about mistakes (assuming you take the one finger, one thumb, two thumbs approach and really grow accustomed to the device over about a week). The Nexus One comes close, but it still ends up feeling like it�s using a dated form of text entry/correction compared to the iPhone.

Pretty sure any time you have to rely on such an autocorrect method is a time you shouldn�t be texting. Is anand right about the autocorrect? Yes, but again put it in context.

Originally Posted by anand

This is a major issue because with any device this narrow, the pad of just one of your thumbs will cover up a huge section of the keyboard. You can either slowly peck at it or rely on the phone to be as smart as possible in figuring out what you�re typing. Apple simply does this better.

And you are simply full of it. You are whining like a little girl about less than 1/10th of an inch distributed across 10 keys when in reality it appears that the iPhone keys are smaller. I�ve never had a problem with either phone (iPhone or Nexus One/Droid).

Originally Posted by anand

Kinda crowded, right? Here�s where it gets awkward. To see all of your notifications simply place your finger at the top of your screen and drag down. You�ll reveal all of your notifications in list form

Ok Anand, stop sucking off Apple. The notification bar on Android is the most unobtrusive one I�ve ever experienced and the easiest one to navigate. You swipe it down and it lists everything that is going on on your phone. You can even scroll and navigate to the notification you want to deal with just by tapping it. Don�t see anything you like, hit the �Clear� button and it gets wiped clean and you don�t have to deal with the notifications. Last time I checked having 3 things going on at the same time wasn�t a problem on the iPhone because� it can�t run more than 1 thing at a time. Palm Pre�s notifications, while generally unobtrusive, don�t stack up well on top of each other. Not a bad system though.

This image is deliberately created by plugging the Nexus One into a computer with a data cable while manually enabling debug mode. This is not a normal screen shot. Plug it into the wall or turn off debug mode (which is off by default) and you won�t see � of these notifications. This is low Anand, even for you.

Originally Posted by anand

It feels awkward if you�re used to using any non-Android phone. It�s functional, it gets the job done, but it�s just a strange UI construct. In fact, Android is riddled with such things.

Funny, I was thinking that about your new sites layout.

I am going to skip the section of the review on the Snapdragon because, honestly, Anand is way more qualified than I am to talk about such things and he is a smart man.

Google also does some pretty standard tricks to make the display look even more impressive. You get oversaturated colors and the usual trickery you can find in the TV section at Best Buy. Whites on the Nexus One aren't quite white but rather a cool blue and reds are often too red.

Sure, downplay the screen quality by attacking it can likening it to retail tactics. Do you like the look of it or not? I think you do but you don�t want to admit it. Instead you want to add more subtle jabs to the Nexus One.

Outdoors it�s another story entirely. In direct sunlight, the display is mostly useless at its default brightness settings. With the brightness cranked all the way up it�s still washed out but at least legible.

Damn, pretty sure I had trouble reading my iPhone in direct sun too. Houston sun must be worse than where he is.

Originally Posted by anand

Touchscreens have gotten much better over the past couple of years since the iPhone�s introduction. The Nexus One�s touchscreen is very close to as responsive as the iPhone�s but with some annoying issues. There are some situations where holding the Nexus One in one hand and swiping with my thumb won�t let me swipe between screens, and other similar accuracy issues. Getting the home bar buttons to recognize taps is also a pain at times. The touchscreen is definitely usable, just not as good as the iPhone's.

Funny, in the 6 months I�ve been using Android I�ve never had a real problem with that and I have a slower phone. Maybe you should clean the screen?

Originally Posted by anand

Much like the display, the Nexus� performance can be frustrating at times. First, the bad. Switching between pages on the home screen and scrolling through applications is downright choppy. The scrolling process isn�t slow, but the animation isn�t smooth - which makes the phone feel slower than it is. It�s a framerate issue that�s been present on every Android device I�ve used (for the life of me I can�t remember whether or not it was present on the Motorola Droid). It varies depending on the app as well. Scrolling through contacts is perfectly smooth, scrolling through Facebook isn�t. I doubt it�s a hardware issue but rather a software optimization/driver problem. Why it hasn�t been fixed by now is anyone�s guess.

I think there are some bigger issues to address here because I haven�t had this experience at all. Is it perfectly smooth 100% of the time? No, I�d be a liar if I said that but it isn�t often enough to annoy me� and I�ve switched phones 5 times in 2 years due to annoyances (network issues, slow phones, etc). I�m thinking there may be some background tasks chewing up cycles that we aren�t being told about.

Originally Posted by anand

Another inexplicably slow part of the Android experience involves getting the virtual keyboard to appear. The keyboard appears whenever you tap in a text input box. Doing so upon first entering an application (e.g. the SMS app) usually takes several taps before it�ll actually respond. It�s frustrating beyond belief and inexcusable given the horsepower of the Snapdragon SoC in the Nexus One. Again, this just seems to be a software optimization issue rather than an inherent platform limitation.

Again, I�ve never had a problem with the virtual keyboard. Tap input box, wait less than a second, start typing. It�s that simple. I don�t know what borked kernel Anand has but keep my arse away from it.

Originally Posted by anand

It�s weird, the flexibility that Android offers is very PC like. And by that, I mean that the platform really does feel like a condensed version of Windows or Linux running in a smartphone. Unfortunately, the weird quirks also seem to come with the package. In fact, I�d say Android really does feel like a more modern version of what Windows Mobile used to be rather than an iPhone, webOS or Windows Phone 7 competitor.

Really? A condensed version of Linux? Hmm I wonder why. Could it be because Linux is the base of the entire Android OS? Nah, that can�t be it. That would be too easy�. Wait a minute. Anand is saying it isn�t a competitor to the iPhone OS, webOS or Win Mo 7? Funny, I thought Google was putting Android on smart phones just like Apple, Palm and Microsoft. I thought they were adding applications, features integration just like Apple, Palm and Microsoft. I thought the Droid sold 1million unites faster than Apple ever did with the iPhone. Damn, I must have my facts messed up somewhere. Or, the other alternative, Anand is smoking some really good stuff that he doesn�t want to share with the rest of us. Hmm, I�m thinking the latter.

Originally Posted by Anand

Pages load incredibly fast thanks to the Snapdragon SoC, unfortunately the choppy framerate while scrolling is very evident when using the browser. The screen is also perfect for viewing web pages although if you're actually trying to read anything you'll probably want to be in landscape mode.

Choppyness again? Ugh. Even on full sites with streaming information I don�t have issues. Whatever anand. Also, landscape mode? Yup, that�s nothing new. How about a little common sense courtesy to our readers?

Managing all of these options does make the Android browser a bit more complicated. For basic browsing the functionality is the same as the iPhone, but to access any of the extras I mentioned above there are a couple more levels of menus you need to navigate through. Refreshing a page for example takes two presses instead of one on the iPhone. Accessing the download manager takes three.

Unless you are at the top of a web page on the iPhone it is still two. One to swipe up and the other to hit refresh. As for the download manager, iPhone doesn�t even let you download files so why the hell would Anand bring that up except to craft yet another point to sucker punch Google with?

Originally Posted by Anand

You can attach audio, pictures or videos, it's just not very obvious how to do it. While Apple provides a single camera icon (and no way to attach an audio file from within the SMS app), Google relies on you hitting the contextual menu button to bring up the attach option. Again we see that different of approach rearing its head.

**** Anand, is it too hard to push menu and hit the paper clip? Can people not understand what the paper clip labeled �attachment� means in Android? It�s not like that wasn�t the symbol for 10+ years in Outlook or are you looking for still yet another BS point to sucker punch Google with? Do you see a trend here? Making something out of nothing. Is Android better than iPhone at attachments in messages? No, just different. No harder to use and no easier.

Originally Posted by Anand

I did run into one annoying issue with trying to SMS a contact. Laura is in my phone with a home number, mobile number and iPhone number. The SMS app won't let me message her iPhone number, whenever I type her name in all I see is the option to SMS her mobile number. I have to manually type in her iPhone number and then it fills in her name. I wouldn't read too much into the issue other than Android appears to default to SMSing whatever number you have listed as mobile for a contact.

Ok Anand, I have to ask. What the hell is an iPhone number and how is it different than a mobile number? Now I think you are just making things up. Seriously.

Originally Posted by anand

The dialer is pretty straight forward. There is no visual voicemail so you�ll have to hit the dedicated voicemail button to check your messages the old fashioned way (there is an alternative that we�ll get to in a moment).

Bull. That is a carrier specific problem not a Google problem. There is visual voicemail on Verizon but there may not be on ATT for Android mainly because ATT has their head so far up their own *** with their 3G network they can�t be bothered with application development.

Originally Posted by anand

All of your photos and videos are stored and played back using Android�s Gallery app. Google toyed with some neat UI effects to make this much less of a boring app, but fundamentally it just gets you to your content.

What Anand doesn�t say is that it will load your picture albums from Picasa if you have an account. It�s a real slick integration with online photo storage.

Originally Posted by Anand

The Gmail app does support push, making it perfect for anyone who does rely on Gmail as their primary email provider. As I mentioned before, it's only because Google's web apps don't actually suck that this works out. This is one of few times where total integration makes sense.

Another thing there Anand, exchange mail works on a push system of delivery too. This isn�t specific only to the Gmail app. I have both exchange and Gmail pushed to my phone. Works perfectly.

Originally Posted by anand

Despite the high resolution screen, responding to an email is cluttered with UI elements that take up far too much real estate. Quoted text is always off screen.

What horse manure is this? Cluttered with UI elements? Funny because emails take up almost the entire screen except for the navigation bar and the Delete, Forward and Reply buttons at the bottom. Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by Anand

Android does have a power consumption page that shows what percentage of battery drain can be attributed to various components in the phone (e.g. display, OS, specific apps, idle time). It�s not granular enough for my needs but it�s a great way of showing users, at a high level, what�s killing the battery.

So yet again you are bashing a feature that an iPhone doesn�t have because it isn�t good enough for your needs? What the hell do you want here Anand? It breaks it down by task, by app, by core program and the related percentage of the battery drain and also the time since the phone was unplugged. While we are on the topic of battery life, I can kill an iPhone battery as fast as I can kill an Android battery. I plugged in my iPhone once a day to charge and the same with my Droid. Some days my battery will be 10% at the end of the evening because of heavy emailing, voice and internet browsing but some days it ends the day with 70% of the battery. Battery life tests in this misconstrued manner are a bit ridiculous. No one will use their phone on the web for 7 hours straight or listen to streaming music all day without a charger. These are things rational people do not do. Get the batteryleft widget and see what charge your Android phone will hold. My phone is OC�ed to 1-1.2GHz (stock 550Mhz) and I get 24+ hours of life.

Quick Load: Dragon Age Awakening (And It's Bugs)

DaSickNinja — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:16:30 GMT

If you haven't been under an internet gaming rock for the last week or so, you'd full well know that the expansion to the spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age came out this week on Tuesday. Me being the mad game monkey that I am, as well as a dirty willing whore for BioWare, religiously purchased the game via the awesome that is Steam. We pretty much know that the first Dragon Age was lawfully awesome and I was hoping after the equally righteous Mass Effect 2 that BioWare would finish the one two punch of Origins and ME:2 with Awakening being the proverbial roundhouse kick to the wedding vegetables. Unfortunately, I must rate this game a resounding meh. Don't get me wrong, it's very much a good game, and very much a good expansion of the serious, but it seems like we're simply going through the motions and just having content for contents sake, like they were trying to fill in the time between this game and DA II.

The characters are certainly nothing we haven't seen before, with one of the characters being someone we have seen before. Anders is Allister, Sigrun is Leliana, Nate is pretty much Wynne, Justice is Sten without the douchebaggery and Velanna is Morrigan. No seriously this is Morrigan with frickin' blonde hair. Same charachter model, same misanthropic attitude, same class, etc, etc. Oghren is still Oghren (say it with me now ladies, Aaaaaaaahgren).

But enough about that. I'm going to talk about my actual experience with the game. I actually bought the game in two different methods, one as a download from Steam and another as a PC-DVD from my local PC retailer. This my dear reader, is solely for the purpose of full disclosure and to preempt any insinuations that I am a complete numpty and don't know how to game. But I digress... and boy will that happen a lot.

Installing the game is pretty much like installing any other game, as a matter of fact, if your copy of Dragon Age Origins isn't up to date with the latest 1.03 patch, the installer for the expansion will update it for you. Small and yet not insignificant in an age where pretty much only Steam auto patches games when DLC is available taking [some of] the headache out of PC gaming. After that, the typical Bioware expansion steps come in to play. Start game, select save, press play, yay. And here, here is where the experience becomes a murderous affair.

So I've selected my prime save game, with my level 25 rogue with assassin and duelist specializations pretty much maxed out and carrying some of the best items that can be had in game. I'm totally pimped out with the awesome 1H Star Fang (with the proper runes to make it that much more awesome) and Duncan's Sword in the other hand, not to mention the rest of the character spec'ed out with various DLC items. This my dear blog reader (or is it blogreader or blogeader... uh.. nevermind) is critical to the issues of my trouble. Load that save state, and press play. Nothing happens. Okay, could it be that I've screwed up the install, this could have happened. No biggy, just uninstall and start again. So I do. D:\Programs (x86)\BioWare\Dragon Age and all that joy. Select save game. Yay, this time it at least loads. And I am greeted by my character having absolutely NONE of the items that I had in the save state. None of the DLC items show up. All I'm equipped with is the Felon's Coat, Wade's Boots and a generic crossbow. None of the awesome stuff that I worked like mad to get. Obviously I must be doing something wrong here. BioWare has never released a game so buggy it doesn't allow DLC content? So for the third time, I reinstall not only Dragon Age Awakening, but Origins and all my DLC all over again. And the same issue comes up again. DLC is validated and active, game is legal, profile is connected to BioWare Social Net and yet my DLC items just don't work. More than a little annoyed, I make my way over to the Internets to see what's what sort of ridiculousness is going on here. What I get is pages of people all getting the same set of issues. That last link is pretty important to me. See, when I tried playing the game to just play the game, I got enemies that did not attack. Let me reiterate this for your understanding. They stood stock still. Did not attack, did not pursue, did not look, did nothing. And my character did not try to attack. Neither did any of my party members. Nothing. Apparently in the time after the Blight both the Darkspawn and the people of Fereldan started to get along to the point of absurdness.

Pictured: WTF

This normally wouldn't be much of a problem but in a game such as Dragon Age which is driven by plot actions, having enemies (and bosses) that don't attack actually bog down the game to the point where even with the killallhostiles cheat you cannot advance in certain places. That's right, even with cheating to get around the brokenness of the game, you still can't get around the stupidity of it all. Oh, you'll slog through the Wending Woods and Vigil's Keep, but when you get to the Deep Roads under the Vigil and you get to the Shade spirit who's death controls the door and who is standing on a platform THAT PREVENTS HIM FROM DYING EVEN WITH A BLOODY CHEAT, you realize that this just cannot fly. Time to solve the issue old school style.

After much mucking around in the nuts and bolts of the actual game (.ini files and altering the core and override folders so that things should be where they should be) it became very obvious to me that noticing the changes in the folder setups and from various clues in various threads that the issue came down solely to the 1.03 patch itself. Isn't that deliciously ironic. The patch broke the game itself.

Seriously, I love Bioware. They, along with Steam and Blizzard are pretty much driving non evil PC gaming (SCREW YOU ACTIVISION). Mass Effect 2 was simply orgasmic. But this is ridiculous. A patch should never break the game itself. The user shouldn't have to jump through this many hoops to get a game to just. WORK. You couldn't get away with this during the cartridge days of the NES, so why do we in this hyper advanced age, settle for content that is so often, so much more buggy? Dragon Age Awakening isn't a bad game, no, I rate it a high 8. It's fun, it expands on the universe, brings in a new dimension to the world and adds characters that you wish will show up in the next game. It's just a shame that the game is so broken that people's experiences are colored by the errors and not the gameplay.

Bioshock 2: DLC Stupidity Woes

DaSickNinja — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:43:48 GMT

Trouble is brewing in Rapture. The recently released Sinclair Solutions multiplayer pack for BioShock 2 is facing upset players over the revelation that the content is already on the disc, and the $5 premium is an unlock code. It started when users on the 2K Forums noticed that the content is incredibly small: 24KB on the PC, 103KB on the PlayStation 3, and 108KB on the Xbox 360. 2K Games responded with a post explaining that the decision was made in order to keep the player base in tact, without splitting it between the haves and have-nots...

BioShock 2 DLC is Already On the Disc

Pardon me if my brain doesn't remember every fact and figure in the world (the fact me screwing up IPS and PVA today would so firmly illustrate) but wasn't the point of DLC supposed to be content which could be downloaded to compliment the game that you paid an already astounding amount of dosh for? The content provided being a way to encourage gamers to stay with the franchise between sequels and expansion packs and as a reward for continued playing? All in all, simply I don't think this was ever the way DLC was meant to be ($5 to NVIDIA...). This has gone from simple extra content to full on scamming the customer.

Downloadable content my foot...

For those of you that haven't read the link in full (shame on you) let me briefly explain the situation. Some gamers have noticed that on the Bioshock 2 retail game disc, the kind you'd get from Gamestop for instance, the DLC content is already located on disc. I've already had some issues with Day Zero DLC, but that's a debate worth having and actually can be filed under something with a bit of nuance. This, unfortunately, is a scam. Plain and simple. If you can't see the obviousness of it, let thou simplify it for your brain. You are paying full price for the game. $60. Now to be able to use content that is on the very game disc that you have paid for you have to pay some more money. If that doesn't sound bad to you then obviously you've been blighted by a few blood clots in your noggin and have lost all ability to reason insightfully. Imagine buying a game at current market value, that being anywhere from shy under $50 to just over $60. Now you get home and pop it in your preferred gaming device (PC you clotty ignorant peasant!) and the install screen requires that you pony up $5 for an unlock code to be able to use the content on the game. This, shall not pass. You'd be understandably livid over such chicanery, and this is what 2K is to be doing.

Pictured: 2K Studios

I'm all for DLC. After all, you have like 3 months to polish your game, and during those months quite a few employees don't have much to do, so you put them to work. I get that. I can even understand Day Zero DLC, since there is obviously a bit of time from the actual game completion to the day a game is published. But this? Just un-flipping-believable. Anyone who says, " well just don't buy it" has missed the point so, so, so badly. The data is already there! They expect you to essentially re-buy stuff you already payed for! Capcom did the same thing with Resident Evil 5 if I remember correctly. Apparently there weren't enough people calling them on it to make it clear that this **** does not fly. People paid FULL PRICE for the disc, by any average person's viewpoint, what's on it is theirs. You have game developers basically putting in extra effort into locking out customers from features that ARE ON THE BLOODY DISC.

The problem is though that it's becoming very hard to let some particular infringing offenders (I'm looking dead at you Bobby Kotick and Activision) know that these shenanigans won't be tolerated. The common line from publishers being, "well it's our game, and if you don't like what we do, screw off" regarding anything that resembles criticism (Hi Ubisoft you cheesy bastards) and God forbid the game doesn't sell well when people catch on to these attempts at customer rapeage then you get the usual bleating of "shrinking market, PC dying, rampant piracy, etc".

We'd gone from being valued customers, to walking wallets to just some sucker off the street.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Violet uses folding to cure gaming addiction

Violet_wind — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:09:08 GMT

I'll be honest with you. Gaming was ruining my life, it was like my fictional character's caffeine addiction. All I did hour over hour was play the MMORPG D&D Online. I remember playing for 4 hours straight, jumping around the game collecting bloody annoying coins just to increase the power of one of my weapons (yes, all that for an extra 1d6 cold damage). I remember playing the game for 12 hours straight, on the night of a major exam, finally getting to bed at 6am, waking up 30 minutes later for school. It was almost impossible to run an international clan and school concurrently. Something had to just give!

When I got my results back, it was hardly a surprise. My score was detrimentally lower than usual, so much to the point that the school threatened to revoke my scholarship. I'd gone from a A student to an awful mess. Gaming had to give, it was causing all sorts of problems, I was cranky, depressed and on the verge of finishing a whole 1kg of mocha in 1 week. I ripped out the HD 4770 from my rig and stored it away in my cupboard. I installed Fedora 12 and tried to forget I ever used Windows Vista as a gaming platform. But I couldn't resist. I couldn't bring it to myself to delete the game files! They were just too tempting reduce into nothing. I found myself constantly fighting the urge to boot into Windows with that HD 4770, with my will not being strong enough to stop myself (yes, I admit rogues have weak will saves).

Nothing changed that next month. If anything I just played more games. However, the fun level just started to drop, the game was becoming like math homework. I felt like it was like a job. Still, I couldn't stop and just kept racking on the hours, playing that horrible game. Gaming was replacing all of my hobbies, art, music were all in decline. I literally felt like a piece of crap.

Folding, I reckon was the only thing powerful and important enough to stop me gaming excessively. I could give up gaming because I realised I'd taken so much from you guys. I owe so much of my knowledge, hardware and friendships to XCPUs. I know folding is important to all of you guys. I know I was still in debt to you. So I popped in my 9600GSO and started folding again. It sure feels great to see the little points slowly rise. It sort of gives a sense of achievement, as if my computer's power isn't being wasted on getting that 1d6 extra cold damage.

I've gone from not folding to folding almost full time. These days I only play computer 2 hours a week. I've capped my caffeine addiction back down to 'once in a blue moon' and my grades are getting back to B+ level. I'm spending alot more time in the library drawing on my Macintosh (we all know Macs can't play games ;) ). Life's gotten alot better now, mainly thanks to the support you've all given me through the weeks. Thanks alot guys. (Particularly Legafuh who was nice enough to PM me). Now I eagerly await the development of the GPU 3 core so I can finally put Sirheck's HD 4770 to good use.