Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Oct 2012 21:51

edward de bono has a old book from back in 1990 named "Simplicity", with spartan text and a white cover. wouldnt be surprised if Mahdi read it somewhere along the way. would suggest people read it...its a good one.

I work for a org whose culture is ingrained to make things as complex as possible , add as many options and suboptions as possible, and whose text based command system needs something like 1000 pages of manual to explain the meanings of all options.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 11 Oct 2012 21:56

Behind the scenes history of MeeGo including the still-born MeeGo tablet with pictures

nakul · Post by **nakul** » 11 Oct 2012 21:59

How do ze zermans create a ze-book reader in 13 dollars only?

http://us.txtr.com/beagle/

Dubbed the "txtr beagle", the company brags the e-reader is the world's thinnest and lightest e-reader device, weighing a mere 0.282 lb (128 grams) and measuring a mere 0.197 in. (5 mm) thick. The 5-inch (diagonal) footprint packs a 800x600 eight-level grayscale E-INK display, similar to the displays in older Kindles.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=27916

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 11 Oct 2012 22:10

You might think that being an injineer it is not your job to think about these things and that makes you a technology purist - you couldn't be further from the truth.

On the contrary, the current UX will improve significantly if there is more spectrum. More spectrum = faster data rates. It is basic physics.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting. - Ernest Rutherford (father of nuclear physics)

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 11 Oct 2012 22:15

Japan's Softbank Plans to Buy Sprint Nextel

Softbank wants a share of US spectrum, including ClearWire, which is very lucrative. It does not matter what happens to the customer base, but once they get it, they can turn around and sell it for a fortune.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 11 Oct 2012 22:20

Prasant wrote:Actually they can. I was surprised about the variation based on territorial rights. Same for books and e-books. Anyway, the bulk of the gana bajana on the proposed ai-dukaan would have been bollywood based. Good news is that won't happen.

Due to this variation in prices, an important case is currently being heard in the US Supreme Court. Basically, a few years ago, a Thai chap came to the US to study and discovered that text books here were much more expensive than the same text books sold in Thailand by the same publisher (Wiley and Sons). So he got his family in Thailand to buy the books there and mail them to him. Then he got the idea of buying them in bulk in Thailand, mailing them here and selling them on Ebay for much cheaper prices than Wiley & Co. was selling them. He made over a million bucks. So Wiley & Sons sued for this and this guy sued back asserting the US law of second sale (i.e. he already bought the books legally from publisher, so he's the owner and can resell them at any price if he wishes). Wiley's lawyer responded that the first-sale law is only applicable to US products and since he originally bought them from Thailand, that law should not apply. The case has now made it to the Supreme Court and has some very interesting legal ramifications (e.g. If Wiley & Co. wins, are citizens allowed to make garage sales now, especially if the items were bought from Walmart. If the Thai dude wins, then this whole regional variation in prices will suddenly get a lot more interesting)

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 11 Oct 2012 22:21

Mort Walker wrote:
You might think that being an injineer it is not your job to think about these things and that makes you a technology purist - you couldn't be further from the truth.
On the contrary, the current UX will improve significantly if there is more spectrum. More spectrum = faster data rates. It is basic physics.

Only on paper (or powerpoints) saar.

More spectrum = faster data rates but faster data rates on unreliable network with spotty coverage = Fail. More spectrum doesn't magically improve UX. Real world is not as simple as theory would like it to be.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 11 Oct 2012 22:24

Raja Bose wrote: I like the Nexus 7 - they had some initial manufacturing quality issues but once Asus fixed that, its a nice tablet. Ofcourse iPadwa saath inchy is gonna kill that as per punter log.

Saath inchy? A hakim like you should be carrying nothing short of chi-chi dus inchy Naya iPad.

nakul · Post by **nakul** » 11 Oct 2012 22:24

So Wiley & Sons sued for this and this guy sued back asserting the US law of second sale (i.e. he already bought the books legally from publisher, so he's the owner and can resell them at any price if he wishes). Wiley's lawyer responded that the first-sale law is only applicable to US products and since he originally bought them from Thailand, that law should not apply.

Such books have a clear note saying that they are to be sold in the listed countries only. Wonder if that rule is applicable to second sale. BTW there is nothing written on the book cover regarding the applicability of the rule.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 11 Oct 2012 22:29

Eric Schimdt: Microsoft is not relevant

I hope Schmidt's statement is more for PR purposes rather than reflecting the actual mindset of Chacha's top management (Larry & co). If it did, now that would be disturbing for shareholders.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 11 Oct 2012 22:35

^^Chacha seems to be getting cocky and complacent. Conditions are ripe for mickey$ to deliver a swift kick in the backside of both Chacha and Fruit co. All depends on how Win 8 is received on mobile devices.

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 11 Oct 2012 22:41

I think mickey is finished under takloo. He needs to be booted and someone else like Gates/Jobs needs to run the place. Bawarchi/Takloo type of side-kicks just are employee-CEOs who just ride the gravy train.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 11 Oct 2012 22:50

Oye! Takla is bezos, ballmer is fester chacha

Any company whose success depends on the founders onlee cannot survive.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 11 Oct 2012 23:04

Raja Bose wrote: Only on paper (or powerpoints) saar. More spectrum = faster data rates but faster data rates on unreliable network with spotty coverage = Fail. More spectrum doesn't magically improve UX. Real world is not as simple as theory would like it to be.

OK.

There is no reason why any telecom is interested acquiring spectrum, since it doesn't translate in the "real" world. The telecoms should spend their monies only in to an improved network for more coverage, hain ji? If that isn't lahori logic, I don't know what is.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 12 Oct 2012 05:40

Mort Walker wrote:
OK. There is no reason why any telecom is interested acquiring spectrum, since it doesn't translate in the "real" world. The telecoms should spend their monies only in to an improved network for more coverage, hain ji? If that isn't lahori logic, I don't know what is.

Saar ji, stop applying lahori logic yourself. Who said you have to do one and not the other - are they somehow mutually exclusive activities?

And who said more spectrum should not be acquired? What has been stated very clearly is that doing that is not enough - ATT was used as an example of that. The only lahori logic I see is your fantastic belief that:

(a) Acquiring new spectrum will magically make UX better.
(b) Switching to new standards will magically make UX better.
(c) Quality of service doesn't matter since it wildly varies per customer and apparently that is a sign of good UX!

(d) UX does not matter and end-users don't matter - apparently mobile technology exists for some other mysterious higher purpose which mere mortals are not privy to.

Now these defy any logic....probably even lahori logic!

In case you haven't noticed, we are not talking about some academic research topic here but real world deployment of mobile networks.

pentaiah · Post by **pentaiah** » 12 Oct 2012 08:37

Folks i a using as I am type this on a Pandigital taablet which is slooow and.uses andriod OS
I do have Ipad latest gift from SHQ
So. I will use this device to down load books and. read
It took me 7 minutes to finish this message the keyboard is qwerty tyype unlike Ipad

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 12 Oct 2012 09:09

The funny thing about sprint is, within their network I have the free roaming.. it so happens certain areas, where sprint is supposed to be strong.. I get "welcome to verizon network" voice.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 12 Oct 2012 09:59

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 12 Oct 2012 10:46

ArmenT wrote:The case has now made it to the Supreme Court and has some very interesting legal ramifications (e.g. If Wiley & Co. wins, are citizens allowed to make garage sales now, especially if the items were bought from Walmart. If the Thai dude wins, then this whole regional variation in prices will suddenly get a lot more interesting)

Very interesting indeed! I actually knew desi guys who used to do this while in college.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 16:31

SaiK wrote:The funny thing about sprint is, within their network I have the free roaming.. it so happens certain areas, where sprint is supposed to be strong.. I get "welcome to verizon network" voice.

Your Sprint iPhone4 has radios that can handle both VZW and Sprint's network. Note the iPhone4 does not have LTE and only has 3G capability limiting your data rates. However, your CDMA iPhone4 can not do voice and data at the same time if that is important to you.
iPhone4 CDMA model: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 16:42

Raja Bose wrote:Who said you have to do one and not the other - are they somehow mutually exclusive activities? And who said more spectrum should not be acquired? What has been stated very clearly is that doing that is not enough - ATT was used as an example of that.

I believe you did after I stated that ATT was significantly improving their network by implementing LTE. Do you understand that implementing LTE means acquiring new spectrum or actually using what is already in ATT's possession?

Raja Bose wrote:Who cares what spectrum is used or how wonderful the future is gonna be and who's stuff is a standard vs. who's is proprietary - when the stuff they have right now is not working as expected. End user experience saar, end user experience....that's all that matters.

I started this discussion off stating that one should not get locked in to a 2-year contract at this time since the networks are rapidly changing in the US. ATT is showing great promise in this time frame. Instead all we got was jihad (UX), jihad (UX), and jihad (UX)...

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 12 Oct 2012 18:12

forgot that iTunes is paki and hit pause and resume when I was 90% done on an update download. Took 5 hrs and now I have to do it again. For a much vaunted UX company..this is just crap. Why provide pause and resume menu if it does not do it..

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 12 Oct 2012 18:31

mort, then how come att commercials show iphones talks about voice+data concurrently? this ad must be at least 3 years old.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 20:26

SaiK,

I'm sorry.
I should have said the CDMA iPhone can not do voice and data at same time.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Oct 2012 20:34

my ipad airtel plans says "data & SMS, no voice". what app should I use to send SMS here?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 20:52

Singha wrote:my ipad airtel plans says "data & SMS, no voice". what app should I use to send SMS here?

Try installing the app "Simple SMS" for iOS. There should also be others as well.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 12 Oct 2012 21:47

Mort Walker wrote: I believe you did after I stated that ATT was significantly improving their network by implementing LTE.

So basically going back to your lahori logic that adopting new technology will magically make everything better for ATT? Turn on the switch and poof! Everything is magically better!

Do you have any idea about the problems on the ground faced during deployment of large scale mobile networks? There is a huge gap between the specs document and the real world - you should check it out sometime.

Raja Bose wrote:Who cares what spectrum is used or how wonderful the future is gonna be and who's stuff is a standard vs. who's is proprietary - when the stuff they have right now is not working as expected. End user experience saar, end user experience....that's all that matters.

And guess what....I reiterate what I said - read it again if you have trouble understanding. If the end user experience is effed up as it has been for ATT, it does not matter what spectrum is used or what technology is adopted unless deployment results in better coverage and better reliability (including for base station equipment). What do you think the consumer whose money results in ATT's revenue, salaries and profit gives a eff-eff about? - the technology or their own experience? It is surprising to me that such simple logic is so hard to get and the blinkers remain on. No wonder Fruit Co. kicks mush so easily despite sometimes selling inferior and buggy stuff.

Mort Walker wrote: I started this discussion off stating that one should not get locked in to a 2-year contract at this time since the networks are rapidly changing in the US. ATT is showing great promise in this time frame. Instead all we got was jihad (UX), jihad (UX), and jihad (UX)...

So UX is jihad. hmmmm.....pray do tell us for what higher purpose does your mobile network technology exist? For talking to martians?? Or perhaps indulging in academic technology wet dreams

BTW those networks will change regardless and what are you going to suggest 2 years later when the change hasn't percolated through - wait 2 more years? Be practical.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 12 Oct 2012 23:01

Boy I upgraded to jelly bean on my HTC inspire 4G.
cool stuff. everything is in order.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 23:06

^^^I am not an acydemic type, no pee-chaadi here or posht-daac working on high-falutin concepts to make the world a better place.

Do you have any idea about the problems on the ground faced during deployment of large scale mobile networks?

Actually, I have a little idea. I am a field ingineer who's yob is to hunt and slay the squatters of spectrum that become a pain in my rectum.

ATT is improving and I disagree that end user experience effed up for ATT. Can you not accept that? I hate ATT as much as the next guy, but I do see what they are doing on the ground.

So UX is jihad. hmmmm.....pray do tell us for what higher purpose does your mobile network technology exist? For talking to martians?? Or perhaps indulging in academic technology wet dreams

Actually, Venusians. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. When I talk to SHQ, I need a reliable network so I can talk and schedule time on my smartphone calendar for planning activities.

BTW those networks will change regardless and what are you going to suggest 2 years later when the change hasn't percolated through - wait 2 more years? Be practical.

Who said anything about waiting? The major carriers have pre-paid plans where you bring your own phone and you're not locked to a contract. I'm tied to my VZW hotspot contract, but my smartphone is with pre-paid TMO. If you don't like the service, you go else where for a better UX.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 23:07

krisna wrote:Boy I upgraded to jelly bean on my HTC inspire 4G.
cool stuff. everything is in order.

Did you actually get the upgrade from HTC or was it some sort of Cyanogen special ROM?

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 12 Oct 2012 23:10

Mort Walker wrote:
krisna wrote:Boy I upgraded to jelly bean on my HTC inspire 4G.
cool stuff. everything is in order.

Did you actually get the upgrade from HTC or was it some sort of Cyanogen special ROM?

from xda forum. JellyBean - JELLYTIME for DHD/Inspire4g - R17.1 Available

HTC Inspire has not got any upgrade since gingerbread. jailbreak ed to ICS and now JB.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 12 Oct 2012 23:31

So, I need a 32gb sdhc card for my camcorder and other use. I saw a nice sale at MC: http://www.microcenter.com/product/3497 ... #tab-specs. Well it is class 10 but way less speed than scandisc which is at 30mbps. The link says 3 year warranty.

And.. I dropped to a nearby store to pick up couple of cards.. I remembered our lallu bhai for what he might have done to her. a perfectly milfable indic (gujju-last named shah) was ringing for me on the counter. she said, it has lifetime warranty so bring it back for replacement. I asked her, what about the data loss? she was so kanpoosed only!

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 23:31

krisna,

As long as you can live with the quirks, then that is fine. I got tired of the delays in OS upgrades, although some companies like Sammy are much better now, and went with plain vanilla Android with Galaxy Nexus. No looking back and my next phone will probably be another Nexus series.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 12 Oct 2012 23:42

SaiK wrote:So, I need a 32gb sdhc card for my camcorder and other use. I saw a nice sale at MC: http://www.microcenter.com/product/3497 ... #tab-specs. Well it is class 10 but way less speed than scandisc which is at 30mbps. The link says 3 year warranty.

And.. I dropped to a nearby store to pick up couple of cards.. I remembered our lallu bhai for what he might have done to her. a perfectly milfable indic (gujju-last named shah) was ringing for me on the counter. she said, it has lifetime warranty so bring it back for replacement. I asked her, what about the data loss? she was so kanpoosed only!

SaiKji,

You get what you pay for. If the data is of value, then look at other SD cards, but it may cost you double. Best not to think of desi-naari as MILF, it contaminates your mind and you become an unreliable Big-O administrator for your SHQ, and the Indic could be the daughter of a BRF member!

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 12 Oct 2012 23:46

Mort Walker wrote: Actually, I have a little idea. I am a field ingineer who's yob is to hunt and slay the squatters of spectrum that become a pain in my rectum.

I could sense that given that you were on a spectrum jeehard

- which is also probably why you haven't raised your head to see whether the technology actual makes a positive impact on the users or whether it gets frittered away by other factors such as coverage and equipment reliability.

Mort Walker wrote: ATT is improving and I disagree that end user experience effed up for ATT. Can you not accept that?

oh, I have no love or hatred for ATT, VZW, TMO or for that matter Fruit Co./Chacha/Gumboot/Takla/Mickey etc. All are companies which make people money, period. But I don't mix ideology with objective evaluation. I am telling you as I have seen it and not just from a consumer perspective. So the acceptance or non-acceptance here is not a subjective matter of what I believe, rather it entirely depends on what I see.

Mort Walker wrote: Actually, Venusians. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. When I talk to SHQ, I need a reliable network so I can talk and schedule time on my smartphone calendar for planning activities.

Then its even more dangerous coz those type of end-users are most unforgiving and their experience is all that matters to them, technology gaya bhaad main!

Try explaining to a Venusian that despite having adopted all the wonderphool technology, why is the network reliable at home but not reliable somewhere else (high QoS variability) or why does it work fantastic sometimes but other times it fails (unreliability). Do you think they care about the technology and how wonderphool it is, when somebody beat them to a tweet?

Mort Walker wrote: Who said anything about waiting? The major carriers have pre-paid plans where you bring your own phone and you're not locked to a contract. I'm tied to my VZW hotspot contract, but my smartphone is with pre-paid TMO. If you don't like the service, you go else where for a better UX.

Try explaining that to the mango abdul who cannot afford to put up a single chunk of cash to buy a $700-800 unlocked smartphone. Massa consumers are largely wired to phone subsidisies and I don't see that changing any time soon given the hand-to-mouth and credit card centric spending habits in massa. So, the above may sound good on paper and might be practical in other countries but not in massa. Companies like Gumboot learnt this the hard way and so did Chacha on a much smaller scale.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 12 Oct 2012 23:48

Mort Walker wrote:I got tired of the delays in OS upgrades, although some companies like Sammy are much better now, ...

They are not, as far as delays are concerned. The S3 has got the JB update only in Poland, SoKo and one or two other countries as of now. Sammy has given no timeline on when it will be released in the US. The only consolation is that JB has very few cosmetic upgrades over ICS besides Google Now. The main improvement is in performance, which won't be very noticeable in the S3 since it is extremely fast while running ICS as well.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 13 Oct 2012 01:12

^^^^
Anyway HTC Inspire ot going to get any upgrades, hence I jailbreak ed it.
Now I am having fun. If things go wrong go back to gingerbread.

I have stored all my contacts online.
All my apps in google account.

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 13 Oct 2012 01:47

OK, final word. ATT sucks big time! Across the country. Their investment philosophy - not technology is what is upside down here. They provide decent coverage in metros, on interstates and some major arteries. Step out of these zones - as most normal users do to state, county and local roads, the coverage can vary WIDELY. I live in a dense part of the US - really dense. I have NO coverage zero bars - no calls, or text goes through forget LTE in the towns north, south and west of me.

I have travelled across the country enough times over the years to realize the coverage differences. Known MANY people, who refused to be subdued by the charms of the iFun, when nothing else was there on the market, as they did not want to leave VZW.

Mort Walker speak to some "normal" people they will tell you the secret. ATT QoS coverage sucks.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 13 Oct 2012 02:21

^^^Oh ATT sucks that is why I dropped them, but you have to give them credit where its due. In the last 18 months, they have improved their network, obviously not for everyone, but it has. If you don't have any service it may be a lack of towers in your area, which is not surprising. I would suggest you find which carrier has the most towers in your area and switch to them for reliable coverage. Then again, it may be worth finding out if any new ATT towers are going up in your area in the next several months.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 13 Oct 2012 02:44

Guess it depends on where you live. I use att and will not leave it.

have a good coverage in my area-- no problems. gives bang for buck compared to others- family minutes, all att phones numbers free etc etc.
Of course I am now looking towards straight talk and sundry others.
I dont like cdma fones and stupid fruit one.

If you invest in fruit you are scr*wed for life-- everything is special-- separate only from fruit. I give it a BIG middle finger to it.
I said the same thing to a group of my friends-- did not know they were onto fruit fones.They sheepishly agreed to my assessment-- they purchased fruit fones-- one had it gifted by shq-- had to go for only fruit products software ithyadi.

. he seems to be trapped. No wonder steve jobs the greatest conman of this decade.
with android types everything is cheaper relatively for similar product and BIG bang for buck.
Have never had any issues with it so far-- ~3 years onwards now.