Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 27 Aug 2013 19:57

Raja Bose wrote:^^^Mickey does well becoz its SVP level management is strong and knows their job well. If it was a cult driven shop like FruitCo they would have had an equally volatile history like FruitCo does. Putting too much reliance on some super star CEO is great for media frenzy but bad for business.

No one is looking for superstar cult CEOs. As mentioned in the press, good CEOs bat at least 55%. The Mahdi was batting over 70% and Uncle Fester below 40%. People like Carly Fiorina less than 20%. Another report indicates that Billu dadda may have asked Uncle Fester to step down.

From reading what is going on at AAPL, they do have some good people in high positions that keep things moving, if the fudge packer can harness that that, then good.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 20:18

^^^all that 70%, 40% is just madrassa math. What is needed for sustainable success is several strong product lines which are all solid revenue generators, each led by a SVP who knows their job inside out and can work with his/her peers (Sinofsky fails this last requirement). That is where Billu succeeded despite his micromanaging, Fester inherited and the Mahdi failed.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 27 Aug 2013 20:38

^^^You are implying that all was rosy under Uncle Fester and would continue that way. Of late, Windows 8, Surface and WP have not gained the traction intended. Unless, you call a $900 million write-off as a success.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 21:02

^^All may not be rosy but you are talking about a company which has grown in revenue consistently YoY for the past 3 decades and rakes in money which most other ITvity companies can only dream of even in their best phase, not to mention has successfully diversified into other revenue streams and dominated them....something even Chacha has failed to do despite hitting the 15 year mark soon. So for others 900 million may be a killer blow, for Mickey its chump change and worth the risk...no risk, no reward. No company can just keep steaming on a fixed charter course throughout its history especially a company like Mickey which has been around for decades....that is a sure shot recipe for failure.

And BTW how is Bawarchi doing fumbling like crazy, considering he is in Fester's shoes right now?

WP is gaining slow and steady.....no need to look further, just use the BRF crowd as a random sample.

It doesn't matter to Mickey if Win8 gains traction or Win8.1 or Win9....they own all those platforms and now have switched to an annual refresh cycle for all their products. None of the other companies despite all rona dhona have succeeded in creating a viable alternative except whining about it so where are users going to go? Linux? ChromeOS? I guess it matters more to fanboys who want to go ZOMG!!!! People buying Win8.1!!!Mickey failed with Win8!!! while Mickey laughs it way to the bank.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 27 Aug 2013 21:03

so what is that nokia product to compete with surface 2?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 21:11

^^rumors are they have a WindowsRT tablet launch soon...uses the same design language as Lumia.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 27 Aug 2013 21:16

^^^That would be interesting since others are abandoning Win RT.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 21:19

^^^I would rather Nokia use the new ChipZ processors to release a slim Win8 tablet. Surface PRO has shown that people still like the Wintel combo.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 27 Aug 2013 21:38

Raja Bose wrote:^^All may not be rosy but you are talking about a company which has grown in revenue consistently YoY for the past 3 decades and rakes in money which most other ITvity companies can only dream of even in their best phase, not to mention has successfully diversified into other revenue streams and dominated them....something even Chacha has failed to do despite hitting the 15 year mark soon. So for others 900 million may be a killer blow, for Mickey its chump change and worth the risk...no risk, no reward. No company can just keep steaming on a fixed charter course throughout its history especially a company like Mickey which has been around for decades....that is a sure shot recipe for failure.

And BTW how is Bawarchi doing fumbling like crazy, considering he is in Fester's shoes right now?

WP is gaining slow and steady.....no need to look further, just use the BRF crowd as a random sample. It doesn't matter to Mickey if Win8 gains traction or Win8.1 or Win9....they own all those platforms and now have switched to an annual refresh cycle for all their products. None of the other companies despite all rona dhona have succeeded in creating a viable alternative except whining about it so where are users going to go? Linux? ChromeOS? I guess it matters more to fanboys who want to go ZOMG!!!! People buying Win8.1!!!Mickey failed with Win8!!! while Mickey laughs it way to the bank.

Yes, MSFT has grown steadily, better than all of the others no doubt. However, much of this comes from services they provide institutional customers. They've had their hooks in large institutions for some time like IBM. Desktop IT services from MSFT, as we know it today, has been around for 25 years. The time is similar to the IT services IBM provided with mainframe computing. We are today just starting a transition to mobile and cloud computing, similar to the mid 1980s where the transition started to move from mainframe to desktop computing. MSFT is filling the role of IBM was 25 years ago and they look invincible like IBM did in the 1980s.

I'm not a fan of Fudge packer at AAPL, but he does have good divisions under him though and isn't prone to throwing fits and chairs.

Many BRF folks do like WP in this dhaaga, outside of here is a different story and the numbers reflect it. Sure WP pankhas are growing, just like Rahul Gandhi pankhas. Misguided

The camera is great for a phone though thanks to Nokia.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 27 Aug 2013 21:46

is this RT business to address real-time OS needs?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 22:06

Mort Walker wrote: Yes, MSFT has grown steadily, better than all of the others no doubt. However, much of this comes from services they provide institutional customers. They've had their hooks in large institutions for some time like IBM. Desktop IT services from MSFT, as we know it today, has been around for 25 years. The time is similar to the IT services IBM provided with mainframe computing. We are today just starting a transition to mobile and cloud computing, similar to the mid 1980s where the transition started to move from mainframe to desktop computing. MSFT is filling the role of IBM was 25 years ago and they look invincible like IBM did in the 1980s.

Unlike IBM, Mickey has also made steady in-roads in the consumer space. Its fashionable to say Mickey is an an enterprise company becoz their enterprise business is huge compared to their consumer business. But their consumer business if taken in isolation is much larger than many of their competitors. So Mickey may look like IBM but it is not entirely so.

I'm not a fan of Fudge packer at AAPL, but he does have good divisions under him though and isn't prone to throwing fits and chairs.

Bawarchi believes in deep penetration not surface explosives.

FruitCo has no real divisions to speak of in practice. Chaiwallah sources all say that Sir Jony is the one throwing fits and mijjiles. In fact, one chaiwallah who is very close friend of mine & ex-colleague, gets hauled off in front of Sir Jony every day to get abused in maa-behen terms.

Many BRF folks do like WP in this dhaaga, outside of here is a different story and the numbers reflect it. Sure WP pankhas are growing, just like Rahul Gandhi pankhas. Misguided The camera is great for a phone though thanks to Nokia.

Misguided?

So people choosing a platform you don't like is equivalent to blasphemy....so they need to be re-educated now, hain ji? BRF must be one helluva influential community if WP's growth is entirely due to the jingos here, as you are claiming.

Abhi Sunday nahin hai tau-ji

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 27 Aug 2013 22:07

Raja Bose wrote:^^^I would rather Nokia use the new ChipZ processors to release a slim Win8 tablet. Surface PRO has shown that people still like the Wintel combo.

Me too, as long as they aren't locked to a carrier like ATT or VZW.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 27 Aug 2013 22:08

SaiK wrote:is this RT business to address real-time OS needs?

RT == Run Time. Nothing real-time about it. Why would you need RTOS on your PC/tablet/game console/phunwa?

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 27 Aug 2013 23:03

i have this old IBM thinkpad z61t runn a c2D chip with 3gb ram.

turning it into a triple boot win 8, linux and FreeNas, and will use it as a FreeNas server with 2-3 USB HDDs attached to it.

don't try this at YOUR home

http://www.pcworld.com/article/241978/h ... ystem.html

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 27 Aug 2013 23:07

rbull... too much deadlines to keep up!?!?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 00:05

Mort Walker wrote: Many BRF folks do like WP in this dhaaga, outside of here is a different story and the numbers reflect it. Sure WP pankhas are growing, just like Rahul Gandhi pankhas. Misguided The camera is great for a phone though thanks to Nokia.

Raja Bose wrote: Misguided? So people choosing a platform you don't like is equivalent to blasphemy....so they need to be re-educated now, hain ji? BRF must be one helluva influential community if WP's growth is entirely due to the jingos here, as you are claiming. Abhi Sunday nahin hai tau-ji

Note I said "in this dhaaga". WP just doesn't have the apps many are looking for. If you want contacts, calendar, email, social networking and games, then WP will work well. For the rest of us, not so much. WP growth has more to do with Nokia h/w quality than anything else. Had Nokia been in the Android camp, then that would have helped GOOG immensely. No blasphemy here and no need for re-education, just see what works. If WP works for you, great, but for many it doesn't.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 28 Aug 2013 01:16

Mort Walker wrote: Note I said "in this dhaaga". WP just doesn't have the apps many are looking for. If you want contacts, calendar, email, social networking and games, then WP will work well. For the rest of us, not so much.

I would add weather to it. But how many people actually use any apps beyond these? When you say "rest of us" you need to understand that, that group is probably quite small and insignificant. They have most of the important stuff taken care off. They can afford it if the rest of the app library grows slowly.

What WP needs (and as RB keeps saying) is a counterpart to the Android/iOS drop-down notification pane. That is one feature of Android I use quite a lot and really like. Sammy's otherwise horrible touchwiz has this scrollable quick settings bar at the top of the notification pane which is also quite useful. Unfortunately they have gone paki in the S4 and added so many settings there that it looks ridiculous now.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 01:17

Mort Walker wrote:If WP works for you, great, but for many it doesn't.

Don't you think you should follow your own advice (after substituting Android for WP above), since you are the one going around claiming WP users are misguided

Mort Walker wrote:Had Nokia been in the Android camp, then that would have helped GOOG immensely.

That is Chacha's fault (specifically Andy Rubin) for refusing Nokia to have its own LBS if they went with Android. Its not about the HW, its about the entire UX. People do appreciate the buttery smooth UI which iOS and WP provide but in Android its more of a guessing game. Android is successful becoz of its model of being allowed to spread far and wide. You can put Android in anything and everything. This is fantastic for people at the consolidated end of the ecosystem for example, service providers such as Chacha but not too good for people at the fragmented end of the ecosystem namely, HW manufacturers.

BTW most people use only those apps which you listed above (games being a pretty large chunk of it)....the 'many of us' you talk about are pretty much a minority....a vocal minority but a minority (just like the SLR toting crowd

).

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 02:15

Samsung confirms Galaxy Gear SmartWatch for September 4th event

Is this going to be another Pebble wannabe...clunky, chunky turd on the wrist?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 02:27

^^^Wow, I didn't know you would be offended by the word "misguided". If so, I am sorry. Perhaps another word or phrase would be more appropriate, but it doesn't come to my simpleton mind. Most of us are in some sort of profession where we need scientific, engineering and medical related apps. If you don't then fine.

The minority, such as most us on this dhaaga, are the early adopters and those who will be using the technologies to their potential.

The buttery smooth UI WP are the Nokia versions, what little I've seen of the HTC WPs, I didn't want.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 02:31

Raja Bose wrote:Samsung confirms Galaxy Gear SmartWatch for September 4th event

Is this going to be another Pebble wannabe...clunky, chunky turd on the wrist?

Get ready for the Galaxy of products coming with access to the S-Store! Isn't turd a bit strong of a word?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 02:36

^^^Arrey tau why would I be offended? So you think most people use their smartphone as the primary computing device in their injineering profession for specialized scientific tasks? iPhone adoption didnt get driven by early adopters, it was driven by massive mass market appeal from the non-scientific/misguided abduls who couldn't add 2+2 without a calculator while the 'early adopter'/scientific/injineering class were turning up their noses at it for the lack of a hardware keyboard and cut-copy-past functionality.

The USP of WP (over Android) is that the UI is buttery smooth whether its high-end or low-end, whether its Nokia or HTC becoz the HW is exactly the same.

Mort Walker wrote: Get ready for the Galaxy of products coming with access to the S-Store! Isn't turd a bit strong of a word?

Used that word just to get you to react

S-Store is one of things which must worry Chacha coz all Sammy's differentiating apps and services go there as opposed to the Play store. So when Sammy decides to do a Takla, they will have no trouble.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 28 Aug 2013 06:01

M$ is upset at you unwashed abduls speculating about Ballmer's bye bye. So its VP of communications has put up a blog post:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_bl ... itter.aspx

It’s puzzling how this could be, how the same set of facts could possibly lead to such radically divergent conclusions on the part of so many writers, pundits and self-promoters....Of course, the key thing that determines how we interpret a set of facts is the frame we view them through and what pre-existing beliefs that frame is built on. Study after study shows we tend to focus on facts that support our beliefs, and ignore those that don’t fit neatly. In research, this is known as confirmation bias, and it’s a very hard thing to overcome, even when you are aware of it. So, if you really want to understand what’s going on with a category as complex as the one we operate in, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

and therefore:

We believe that technology is the key to unlocking human potential in all its forms, and that our job is to make it as broadly accessible as possible.

That people don’t stop being people when they go to work or stop making things happen when they go home.

That being human is at least as defined by creating as it is by watching, playing and sharing.

That evolution entails an ongoing, messy diversification of use cases, form factors and scenarios, not a simple clean progression from one thing to another.

That the intersection between hardware, software and the cloud services that connect them is the space where great things happen.

And finally, we believe that any attempt to isolate these activities from one another and treat the boundaries between them as fixed vs. fluid is artificial and limiting.

Which brings us to M$ new slogan:

devices and services company that empowers people for the activities they value most.

I would have used

devices and services company that empowers people for the activities they value the most, delivering its products and services which provide profit and value to the shareholders, conducted as a lawful activity while providing the most value to consumers while not losing sight of disruptive innovations in technology to embrace such disruptions while leading people and businesses towards that disruption with legacy support so that their current activities are not disrupted which does not imply a solely business focussed set of products and services because people do not cease to become people when they come home from work which means that we will also have a strong consumer focus not just in software but also in devices and services because consumers want an integrated set of experiences.

It is more straightforward and clarifies many things when compared to other companies' stupid slogans like "Invent" or "Think different"

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 06:29

Or "Do No Evil"

I am starting to see Google+ pages for businesses thrust right up on top of the search results as if that is the #1 ranked search result, which I really don't think is the case. VickyG seems desperate for people to come visit his empty house and for some reason has some Vulcan grip on Page's brain.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Aug 2013 07:24

I think samsung is doing a good role as TSP - inspiring all jihadis around the world to copy its design idiom like moths around a flame. leaves the space open for others like Nok or LG or Sony or HTC to do something different that stands out.
all of the low and mid range pandaphones try their hardest to look like samsung galaxy/note. they even try to match or outmatch the spec. but they never really match the higher end galaxys and note...its not possible to get such internal HW for half the price.

but good thing is almost anyone in middle class can afford a smartphone now and samsung is forced to steeply drop prices on its middle range under continuous attack.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 08:46

Raja Bose wrote:Used that word just to get you to react S-Store is one of things which must worry Chacha coz all Sammy's differentiating apps and services go there as opposed to the Play store. So when Sammy decides to do a Takla, they will have no trouble.

Koi baath nahi. Aap ko aur saab log ko gussa dilanae ka matlab nahi tha. Maaf kar do, huzzoor.

I'll sign up for the S-Store once I can order subzi from Sammy's Galaxy fridge.

P.S. I was one of those paagaal peoples who shelled out $650 for the 1st iPhone. Saala, I should have bought AAPL stock in April 2007 when iPhone was announced.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 08:52

BREAKING NEWS

Google Play Store just dropped Nexus 4 prices by $100. Nexus 4 8 GB - $199 & 16 GB - $249.
They must be taking a beating on sales, or like last year getting ready to announce the Nexus 5.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Aug 2013 12:18

lumia 820 is price dropped to 19.5 now(2k drop), same as 725. 720 is pushed down to 16.9
marten, quite being a wannabepanda with the xolo hollow and go for one of these!

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Aug 2013 12:28

oh sorry I forgot that

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 28 Aug 2013 12:37

I think Sundar Pichai will be the next to go after the writedown they will have due to the Nexus 4 markdown.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 28 Aug 2013 12:57

Mort Walker wrote:BREAKING NEWS

Google Play Store just dropped Nexus 4 prices by $100. Nexus 4 8 GB - $199 & 16 GB - $249.
They must be taking a beating on sales, or like last year getting ready to announce the Nexus 5.

Which means Key Lime Pie will make its debut.

KLP on a whole will want to be leaner and meaner with better resource mgmt - That said ,

My list-
native support to a better keyboard with swipe (with better word prediction - with optional support for mixed language use),better camera app,native night mode (with real power savings from dim mode of screen), inbuilt multipart resumable download manager , a screen capture which can be cropped before save,data compression and optimizing for all data transfer s by device (not just chrome browser as currently is the case), ability to block from background running or even remove unused Google apps, more power profiles, more offline support to the system to utilize free WiFi when ever prompted by user - and reduce the need for mobile data use.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 20:04

Anujan wrote:I think Sundar Pichai will be the next to go after the writedown they will have due to the Nexus 4 markdown.

I don't know if they'll have much of a write down as GOOG ordered so few of the Nexus 4. Sales did pick up on it, but I don't know how many they sold, certainly less than the Sammy S3 in the same time frame from Nov 2012 to Jun 2013.
Sundar will stay. I will support companies that have SDREs in their leadership.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 20:11

^^^kabhi sarcasm bhi samjha karo tau ji.

Anyhow nexus4 is not a Chacha product per se....its YellG.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 28 Aug 2013 20:44

^^^Kya kaare hum? One track dimak hai.

Yes, Yell-G did Nexus 4, and some rumors point to someone else doing a Nexus 4 2013 and Yell-G doing the Nexus 5. But didn't GOOG pay Yell-G for the Nexus 4?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Aug 2013 22:25

^^^They paid enough to ensure YellG got its minimum margin since the price is heavily subsidized. Making a CE product in partnership is very different from making one's own CE product - whole different set of pain and investment in the latter case.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 29 Aug 2013 01:18

Raja Bose wrote:Or "Do No Evil"

I am starting to see Google+ pages for businesses thrust right up on top of the search results as if that is the #1 ranked search result, which I really don't think is the case. VickyG seems desperate for people to come visit his empty house and for some reason has some Vulcan grip on Page's brain.

Google stopped giving out the PageRank algorithm parameter settings ostensibly to prevent gaming "the system" . At this point everybody is supposed to believe in their non-partisanship which they are doing thus giving a carte blanche to chacha to do wuht evar. The ad moolah flow (the majority part of the revenue for chacha) would not diminish. They are sitting pretty I would say. Did uncle fester's bing make any dent in the ad market share?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 29 Aug 2013 01:39

^^^Mickey's game plan for Bing is same as Chacha's for G+....embed it everywhere possible.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 29 Aug 2013 02:51

^^^Tell me about it. Everything GOOG releases always stays as beta development. Just as many of us got used to Google Latitude and were using it on a daily basis to keep track of our kids (and SHQ tracking me to make sure I wasn't visiting any MILFs), GOOG decides to take it away. Now we've got use Google+ and is PITA for tracking. SHQ is steaming mad and now wants us to switch to iPhone for tracking. What tracking s/w is available for WP? If there is, SHQ may force me to switch.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 29 Aug 2013 04:53

My pyaara new Nexus 7 received a new Jellybean goat dropping OTA yesterday. Supposed to fix supposed multitouch problems (which I never encountered) and the GPS issue - which I didn't face using offline GPS maps while driving either. Didn't even notice a 4.3% improvement in performance. The online world seems happier though. Wonder what Key Lime Pie will have in store.

Does anyone use their tablet for taking notes by hand ? If so, what app do you use ? I'd love to use a stylus and write down notes instead of type them in. Somehow I'm more creative when I've to write work notes in my near unintelligible chicken scrawl than type in nice looking Arial or Helvetica

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 29 Aug 2013 06:09

Android VP Hugo Barra reportedly leavin ... ker Xiaomi

Google’s VP in charge of Android product management is reportedly leaving the company for Chinese cellphone maker Xiaomi. All Things D reports that Barra recently tendered his resignation at the company he joined in 2008.

Barra had become an increasingly public face at Google, featuring more prominently at its annual I/O developer conferences. Xiaomi has only been making Android phones for the Chinese market for the past two years and despite its brief history has already taken a leading position in the country’s mobile market. Earlier this month, Macworld reported that Xiaomi’s shipments had already surpassed Apple’s there, citing figures from Canalys.

Sources in position to know tell AllThingsD that Barra recently tendered his resignation, but that it came before a recent personal situation related to the end of a romantic relationship he had with another Googler and is unrelated.
That Googler is now seeing the company’s co-founder Sergey Brin. As AllThingsD reported earlier today, Brin has split with his wife and is in that to new relationship.