Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 30 Sep 2013 07:36

Inside the fall of BlackBerry: How the smartphone inventor failed to adapt

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Sep 2013 09:05

do people in the US paste the screenguards on their phones?
I find it attracts oil and fingerprints and distorts the look somewhat more than the real glass.
so far no stuck anything depending on the chimp glass, but will align with the crowd if you are all doing it.

wrapped the back in a rubberized case.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Sep 2013 10:14

my question was not about adhesives but if people use screenguard at all.

manish · Post by **manish** » 30 Sep 2013 14:00

Singha wrote:my question was not about adhesives but if people use screenguard at all.

I do not.

I do not understand the need for going for the latest Ultra-Super-Whatnot-HD screen if you are finally going to wrap it up in cheap plastic.

I have never used any screen guards on my devices and never will. My SGS III has a hard, matte finish Ringke SLIM Lite case (back plate onlee) and that's it.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 30 Sep 2013 15:17

Wtf is use of boasting about one's precision machined titanium hulled chi chi smartphone if you are gonna wrap it in a condom?

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 30 Sep 2013 15:21

I do. That way I do not have to worry about keys in which pocket etc

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 30 Sep 2013 15:29

I use a screen guard -

niran · Post by **niran** » 30 Sep 2013 15:39

Gus wrote:I do. That way I do not have to worry about keys in which pocket etc

me too, even went out and forked up hard earned cash for kompany bahadur supplied iPhone and ipad

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Sep 2013 17:45

I am back nanga again, kept the rubber case in storage.

negi · Post by **negi** » 01 Oct 2013 00:16

My almost 2 year old 4s never had any screen guard only a thin rubber cover to protect it from dings . Now that it has become old I use it without any cover .

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 01 Oct 2013 01:32

^^^so its like going from GHQ phase to SHQ phase.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 01 Oct 2013 07:18

‘‘It Was the Biggest Game of Chicken I’ve Ever Seen.’’ David Karp built a massive, culturally totemic company that was losing millions of dollars a month. After a huge infusion of Yahoo cash, he’s breathing easier.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 02 Oct 2013 07:30

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Oct 2013 08:01

imo WP8 will cross iOS mktshare next year....except in the distorted US market. another big market is china..maybe xiaomi and gionee and zte will release some handsets to drive that.

Frankfurt: Microsoft's Windows platform has reached a 9.2 per cent share in the smartphone operating system (OS) market in key European markets, driven by Nokia's low and mid-range models, market research firm Kantar said on Monday. During the three months to August, the Windows Phone platform reached a market share of over 10 per cent for the first time in France and Britain, with 10.8 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, the researcher said. Nokia, which earlier this month agreed to sell its mobile phone handset business to Microsoft, is the main user of the Windows platform and the driver behind the increase. Nokia is the main user of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform and the driver behind the increase. "Windows Phone's latest wave of growth is being driven by Nokia's expansion into the low and mid-range market with the Lumia 520 and 620 handsets," said Kantar analyst Dominic Sunnebo. "These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 year-olds and 35 to 49 year-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone." Google's Android, which runs on Samsung and Sony smartphones among others, remained the leading platform in key European markets, which include Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Android's market share increased to 70.1 per cent from 68.8 per cent in the same period last year. Apple's iOS was the second-biggest platform with a 16.1-per cent market share, 2 percentage points more than last year. BlackBerry, which earlier this month agreed to go private, saw its market share more than halved to 2.4 per cent from 5.8 per cent.

Read more at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nokias-lumia ... ef_article

Sriman · Post by **Sriman** » 02 Oct 2013 09:31

Just noticed that the price of 1st Gen Nexus 7 has dropped to 10K from 15K. Is it still a good buy? Or a bit old in tooth now? I can live with the screen resolution etc.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 02 Oct 2013 09:33

Yes its a good buy...just make sure its not refurb maal.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 02 Oct 2013 11:12

^^^ whats wrong with refurb maal though?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 02 Oct 2013 19:29

^^^
For tablets:
1. Battery life will be worse after gone through many cycles of charge-discharge.
2. The USB connector on the main board may be flaky.
3. The housing may be acceptable, but it may show signs of wear and not feel solid or flex in your hands.
4. If someone has rooted or jail broken the device, the firmware may be corrupted, you might have to re-install it correctly. Not a big deal for some, but just another hassle.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 03 Oct 2013 01:13

So much for trusting Sammy's Android benchmark numbers....

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 03 Oct 2013 02:09

More from the original source, Anandtech:
They're (Almost) All Dirty: The State of Cheating in Android Benchmarks

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 03 Oct 2013 02:34

Raja Bose wrote:Wtf is use of boasting about one's precision machined titanium hulled chi chi smartphone if you are gonna wrap it in a condom?

My iPhunwa is nanga as well. I am good with keeping stuff in good condition forever, so this works best for me.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 03 Oct 2013 03:40

Remember bitcoin? One of the main users were reported to be people who want to purchase drugs on the internet.

Here is a related news item - I came across "silk road" first in an NPR broadcast.

F.B.I. Seizes Silk Road, an Online Drug Market, and Makes Arrest

The Silk Road marketplace is available through Tor, a popular tool for maintaining anonymity online. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is used for transactions. The identities of sellers are not known to the buyers. About $1.2 million in sales were conducted a month in early 2012, according to a study by an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Nicolas Christin.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 03 Oct 2013 06:31

Suraj wrote:More from the original source, Anandtech:
They're (Almost) All Dirty: The State of Cheating in Android Benchmarks

I noticed weird things with AnTuTu and some of the other benchmarks on different devices. The only one I use is Geekbench 3 as a reference since it is across all platforms. Why Sammy had to inflate GB3 scores by 20%, I don't know, but it sticks out very obviously. Even without cheating, the Note 3 does very well and is comparable to the iPhone 5s (GB3 score of ~2500), but with a 6" 1080p screen.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 03 Oct 2013 10:03

^^^
Anyone remember Nvidia cheating on Benchmarks? http://www.geek.com/games/futuremark-co ... rk-553361/

Way back, when gamer community were willing to pay big bucks for graphics cards, Nvidia would drop calculations for benchmarks if it detected them. Sad to see mobile manufacturers also going Paki along the same vein.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 03 Oct 2013 13:17

Cheating on benchmarks is old hat. I remember that in the early 80s, Byte Magazine used to use a C version of Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm to generate prime numbers as a standard for bench marking (a few other companies also used this test). One vendor's compiler was written to recognize their test code and instead generate a binary that spat out prime numbers from a pre-computed list! When the reviewers ran their benchmark code, it spat out the prime numbers extraordinarily fast, since it was generating them without doing any calculations. The speed of the code baffled the testers until the author of the compiler fessed up to Byte Magazine and claimed this was an "unusual compiler optimization". Soon after that, Byte Magazine changed their bench mark suite and made the test code secret.

Sriman · Post by **Sriman** » 03 Oct 2013 16:54

Sriman wrote:Just noticed that the price of 1st Gen Nexus 7 has dropped to 10K from 15K. Is it still a good buy? Or a bit old in tooth now? I can live with the screen resolution etc.

Thanks RB.
Maulers in India, any other tablets in that range i should be considering? I'm guessing when chacha does release Gen 2, it'll be 16K+ for sure.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Oct 2013 00:17

How the XBox One Kinect sensor works

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 04 Oct 2013 08:13

I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T that's obviously still under contract (less than one year old), and on a lark, I tried to use the AT&T official unlock page to request unlock. The page has the usual boilerplate that you have to be out of contract (>2 years old) etc. But lo and behold, I get an email from AT&T stating that my phone is unlocked. I checked IMEI status online on AT&T and elsewhere, and it shows as unlocked now. Macrumors forum indicates some other folks have also had success using this approach, as opposed to using grey market sites. YMMV . Is is possible for AT&T to relock a phone that has been officially unlocked ?

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 04 Oct 2013 14:16

Mort Walker wrote:^^^
For tablets:
1. Battery life will be worse after gone through many cycles of charge-discharge.
2. The USB connector on the main board may be flaky.
3. The housing may be acceptable, but it may show signs of wear and not feel solid or flex in your hands.
4. If someone has rooted or jail broken the device, the firmware may be corrupted, you might have to re-install it correctly. Not a big deal for some, but just another hassle.

So,

I bought me a refurb Lenovo Laptop from the US, and am now in India. Spoke to Lenovo, they said that we donot have international warranty only...only US warranty.

It is giving me some trouble with the sound card: mic and speakers. They go off when not required, especially when I use Skype to call other people.

How to solve this?

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 04 Oct 2013 14:35

Sriman wrote:
Sriman wrote:Just noticed that the price of 1st Gen Nexus 7 has dropped to 10K from 15K. Is it still a good buy? Or a bit old in tooth now? I can live with the screen resolution etc.
Thanks RB.
Maulers in India, any other tablets in that range i should be considering? I'm guessing when chacha does release Gen 2, it'll be 16K+ for sure.

just dont buy MM

archan · Post by **archan** » 04 Oct 2013 15:20

mahadevbhu wrote:So,

I bought me a refurb Lenovo Laptop from the US, and am now in India. Spoke to Lenovo, they said that we donot have international warranty only...only US warranty.

It is giving me some trouble with the sound card: mic and speakers. They go off when not required, especially when I use Skype to call other people.

How to solve this?

Perhaps try another OS to make sure it is not some program or driver that is causing it.
You could try a live CD.
If the hardware is bad, then one could look for a USB soundcard. I had one with a Line In and Line Out.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 04 Oct 2013 15:40

So,

I bought me a refurb Lenovo Laptop from the US, and am now in India. Spoke to Lenovo, they said that we donot have international warranty only...only US warranty.

It is giving me some trouble with the sound card: mic and speakers. They go off when not required, especially when I use Skype to call other people.

How to solve this?

try with a speaker and see if you can play some songs, reinstalling OS could be another option , do a fresh install and update the drivers, us drivers specific for hardware and dont use inbuilt windows driver

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 04 Oct 2013 16:04

Suraj wrote:I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T that's obviously still under contract (less than one year old), and on a lark, I tried to use the AT&T official unlock page to request unlock. The page has the usual boilerplate that you have to be out of contract (>2 years old) etc. But lo and behold, I get an email from AT&T stating that my phone is unlocked. I checked IMEI status online on AT&T and elsewhere, and it shows as unlocked now. Macrumors forum indicates some other folks have also had success using this approach, as opposed to using grey market sites. YMMV . Is is possible for AT&T to relock a phone that has been officially unlocked ?

I don't know if the unlock procedure is different for iPhone, but in my case (Android) , when I asked AT&T customer service to unlock my phone, they gave me the unlock code. Now the procedure is that when you put in a non-AT&T sim card in it, the phone will ask you for the code. Once you put it in the phone is unlocked forever. It is not possible for AT&T to lock it again. Even if they could, you'd still have the unlock code with you.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 04 Oct 2013 18:23

^ for iphone, the unlocking happens in apple servers. if you connect to iTunes, it will then say, your phone is unlocked. I have never heard of 're-locking' of iphones.

i wonder how these websites operate where you give IMEI and they unlock it for you. Probably sending your IMEI as part of regular unlock batches from approved re-sellers?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Oct 2013 19:35

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/facebook-bui ... 85-11.html

fbook investing in a 500 unit housing complex near the office.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Oct 2013 19:52

people are trying out fashion photos with the 1020 .... not exactly a hasselblad but maybe adequate for the low end
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/10/01 ... title_0_12

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Oct 2013 20:41

Singha wrote:http://ibnlive.in.com/news/facebook-bui ... 85-11.html

fbook investing in a 500 unit housing complex near the office.

So they are upgrading from tents?

Singha wrote:people are trying out fashion photos with the 1020 .... not exactly a hasselblad but maybe adequate for the low end
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/10/01 ... title_0_12

Heh heh....when you find a "low end" camera which can shoot a 3 page photo spread for National Geographic (that too hard copy print), let us know.

Stephen Alvarez discusses Grand Canyon shoot with Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone for National Geographic

In one of his interviews, Stephen Alvarez actually gave an example of where he could only use a phone like the 1020 but not a DSLR. The world is passing by while die-hards doggedly cling to beliefs swathed in cobwebs and long forgotten.....holding out in desperate hope. The world waits for no one.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 04 Oct 2013 20:51

^^^Remember, Alvarez is doing advertisement for Nokia/MSFT. Nothing more. He's not giving up his 5DMkIII DSLR in any way.

"Nokia called my rep to see if I would be interested in doing an assignment that would showcase the capability of the phone," he told Imaging Resource. "I gotta say, I was little skeptical, but I got kids to feed so I said yes. But over the course of the ten days with the Nokia, I became a convert."

This sort of always happens when you get a professional to do your bidding. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is good low end camera and probably the best camera phone at this date. Let's leave it at that.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 04 Oct 2013 21:03

does the part after the bolded text say something

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Oct 2013 21:21

Mort Walker wrote:^^^Remember, Alvarez is doing advertisement for Nokia/MSFT. Nothing more. He's not giving up his 5DMkIII DSLR in any way.

"Nokia called my rep to see if I would be interested in doing an assignment that would showcase the capability of the phone," he told Imaging Resource. "I gotta say, I was little skeptical, but I got kids to feed so I said yes. But over the course of the ten days with the Nokia, I became a convert."
This sort of always happens when you get a professional to do your bidding. The Nokia Lumia 1020 is good low end camera and probably the best camera phone at this date. Let's leave it at that.

Read what you yourself post (highlighted in red) before drawing conclusions.

Sorry, tau ji your calling it a low-end camera doesn't make it so especially given it produces photos good enough for a 3 page spread in National Geographic and that too in print. Don't forget that National Geographic which is known for spectacular photo quality in its magazine is putting its reputation on the line, not to mention Alvarez himself by using the Lumia 1020 to do the entire photo shoot....so yes its an advertisement for Nokia but its hardly a blind endorsement in exchange for some bucks.

Now which "good" "low end" camera has been used till date to do those type of 3 page fanfold photo spreads of the kind National Geographic is famous for?....do let me know coz I am curious