Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 2:01AM What type of smartphone case design do you prefer to use or do you prefer none at all? For a long time now I have been using wallet cases of which the BookBook is my favourite. I also like the Tech 21 Impact Snap with Cover which does a good job of protection and style at the same time.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 1:45AM While it is true that until we move away from a solid form for mobile devices things will only grow evolutionarily, I am not convinced by the design below. Someone will blow our minds soon with something completely different.
Stay safe like Nokia and suffer or be radical like Jobs and go the Apple way. You really have only two choices in the evolving world of mobile phones. If you take the latter route then something like this Evolution of Mobile – Mobile Phone seems to be a fit... More at Yanko Design.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 1:30AM But what else does iOS offer that you can’t accomplish in one way or another with Android? For a moment I thought I would mention iOS’ Photo Stream feature as a real bonus to the operating system. The feature, which allows you to share a photo album from your phone for others to access, is — again — intuitive and easy, incorporating directly into your iPhone gallery, but it’s far from unique. Consider Google+ auto photo uploads and Android can more or less achieve the same results (with added social networking functionality), though it might not be immediately obvious to users... More at Phandroid.
Some good stuff in this article, but it would be fair to say that iOS could borrow more from Android than the other way around. Thanks to Jah.
The question of changing default apps has been a contentious one at times in the life of iOS. Until recently, I had not seen many examples of compelling replacements for Safari and Mail. Today, though, that's vastly different.
There are really good alternative browsers now, in the form of Chrome, Dolphin and others. The official Gmail app is lacking in some ways but its a perfectly good alternative for Gmail users. On the iPhone, I have been using Mailbox since the day I got to the head of the queue and would love to set it as my default mail app... More at speirs.org.
And the article above looks at what Apple needs to do to change iOS. Just about nails it.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 1:15AM Users care about applications and services they use, not operating systems. Very few people will ask you, “Hey, how come MacBooks are on Mac OS-X and iPhone and iPad are on iOS? Why is this?” They think of Apple as iTunes, iCloud, iPhoto. Developers are people, too. They want to write applications one time, but they also want choice. What excites me in this new role is that I can try do the right thing for users and developers — without worrying about the fact that we have two things. We embrace both and we are continuing to invest in both. So in the short run, nothing changes. In the long run, computing itself will dictate the changes. We’re living through a pivotal moment. It’s a world of multiple screens, smart displays, with tons of low-cost computing, with big sensors built into devices. At Google we ask how to bring together something seamless and beautiful and intuitive across all these screens. The picture may look different a year or two from from now, but in the short term, we have Android and we have Chrome, and we are not changing course... More at Wired.
If you have an interest in Android, you will enjoy the interview above with Sundar Pichai.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 1:00AM Gimmick or genuinely useful?
The Kevo lock system let’s you use your iPhone instead of a key. You don’t even have to take the phone out of your pocket. Once paired with your phone, just touch the lock and open sesame. The app-driven device also allows you to send E-keys to family & friends, the dogwalker, whomever. Military-grade PKI encryption means your system’s unique signal is secure.
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 4:41PM I made quite a sum of money developing and selling apps on the Android market, peaking at $57,000/month (see chart below). Eventually, the business declined, but the rise to the top was an exhilarating feeling -- only it was too short. After the decline of the app business, I jumped back into a new startup, ZenPayroll to look for an equally exhilarating but longer ride. If you want to know what it's like to start a startup, but don't want to spend years of time and your life savings to see what it's like, an app business is a great, low-cost way to get a taste of what it could, or could not be... More at Edward Kim's blog.
Nice to read accounts of successful Android developers. I am sure there are loads, but we won't seem to see to many publicised.
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 2:00AM This may sound a little sad and geeky, but one thing I like is to have lots of media queued up and ready on my iPhone for when I have the time to enjoy it. Currently I have 8 episodes of Mad Men to watch, 5 of Game of Thrones (may not bother with them actually), 1.5 issues of The Magazine, 2 eBooks and a stack of articles procured using Instapaper.
The reality is that I rarely get time to enjoy more than a quarter of what is there, but I have reached the stage when I like to have a selection loaded just in case I end up on a desert island or something. One that just happens to have power to charge my iPhone. It's comforting for no reason other than I can have this stuff loaded.
Is it just me? Feel free to make me feel normal and say it isn't.
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 1:45AM I played with a BlackBerry Q10 over the weekend and have to admit that it is impressive. The keyboard, screen clarity and general feel in the hand made it feel like twice the device the Z10 is.
The software takes a bit of getting used to, but the hardware is brilliant. I suspect I will take the opportunity to try one for a few weeks to see if the long term is as good as the initial impression.
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 1:30AM I like the idea of my children owning mobile phones for a number of reasons, but I can't help thinking that the 1stFone is marketed for children who are too young. Yes, it offers some safety aspects, but surely the children shouldn't be out on their own at such a young age anyway? And the payment plans look very high to me as well.
The 1stFone is a brand new design of phone that connects your child with the people they need and that's it! To make a call on a 1stFone all you have to do is press a name. You can have up to twelve names on your 1stFone and it recieves calls too. There's no text or internet - just good old-fashioned voice calls and you decide who the phone can call. Peace of mind for you and a first phone for your child.
With a compact, screen-free design, the 1stFone is easy for small hands to use and tough enough to survive bumps and scrapes. It's also super lightweight and perfect for children to carry or wear when they're playing outside, walking to school or sleeping over with friends. The 1stFone is delivered pre-programmed and ready to use straight out of the box. So there’s no fiddly set up - simple!
Monday, May 13, 2013 at 1:00AM Just the action of lifting the device out of its understated, seemingly mystical travel tomb you close your eyes and deeply inhale the heavenly new phone smell you’ve been so violently craving since your last upgrade. Not a week before you remember the intense rage you felt having stormed into a Carphone Warehouse only to discover they didn’t supply ‘new phone smell’ air fresheners and that if you didn’t leave immediately you would have been escorted out. Oddly enough the police didn’t know where you could get any either, but on reflection screaming “But I don’t understand - they do it for cars, THEY DO IT FOR CARS…” may not have lead them to believe you were the sanest of persons or therefore warranted a thought induced answer... More at Expert Shield blog.
The horror of applying new screen protectors never goes away and the article above is an amusing way to look at the situation.
Sunday, May 12, 2013 at 1:29PM The image below was posted by bengoldacre on Twitter. Speaks for itself...
Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 1:30AM The numbers in this Business Insider article are quite interesting, but if we hadn't bought those gadgets the stock price would not have gone up in the first place...
Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 1:00AM In 2001, researcher Frédéric Brochet invited 54 wine experts to give their opinions on what were ostensibly two glasses of different wine: one red, and one white. In actuality, the two wines were identical, with one exception: the "red" wine had been dyed with food coloring.
The experts described the "red" wine in language typically reserved for characterizing reds. They called it "jammy," for example, and noted the flavors imparted by its "crushed red fruit." Not one of the 54 experts surveyed noticed that it was, in fact a white wine... More at io9.
Funny.
UPDATE: And then John Gruber linked to this.
Friday, May 10, 2013 at 7:36PM Is it just me or are all of the Nokia Windows Phones starting to look the same and far too angular?
Nokia today announced the Nokia Lumia 928 smartphone, the latest installment in Nokia's Windows Phone 8 lineup, exclusive to Verizon Wireless.
With Nokia's award-winning PureView imaging innovation, including optical image stabilization, the Nokia Lumia 928 enables people to capture bright, blur-free photos and videos, even in low light conditions such as indoors or at night. Great looking images come easily when snapping them with the smartphone's 8.7MP camera featuring a high-quality, wide angle Carl Zeiss lens. The Nokia Lumia 928 also comes with powerful Xenon flash to freeze the moment.
In addition to amazing imaging and video capabilities, the Nokia Lumia 928 offers rich distortion-free audio capture, even in noisy conditions. Built with three high-audio-amplitude-capture (HAAC) microphones and one of the most advanced loudspeakers available for smartphones, people can record and play back the sound just like they first heard it, all the way up to 140db - the sound equivalent of an airplane taking off. These features shine when using Vyclone, a new app for Windows Phone that lets people co-create, sync and edit multiple views of a shared moment.
Friday, May 10, 2013 at 7:35PM Browsing the App Store and getting new apps, often spending a few bucks along the way, is a form of casual entertainment for a lot of people. This role used to be filled by movies and music. Today, it’s filled by browsing the internet and playing with mobile apps. Usually, they’re games, but not always — modern mainstream culture, especially younger people, seem to be more interested in media and social apps than games.
This apps-as-entertainment market falls apart if app pricing rises above casual-disposable levels for most people. Few people balk at spending $1-3 for something that doesn’t end up being that great, but when someone’s $30 app is disappointing, that’s going to stick with them and inhibit future purchases... More at Marco.org.
I agree. I like the way app pricing works at the moment, apart from the silly in-apps.
Friday, May 10, 2013 at 2:00AM On a typical day what do you use your smartphone for? OK, here goes-
GPS, traffic and podcasts on the journey to work. Checking emails and Twitter occasionally in the morning. Reading articles and an eBook at lunch. More emails in the afternoon. GPS, traffic and podcasts on the way home. Games, reading and whatever else in the evening, but not always. Photos, navigation, taking videos, streaming rented movies to Apple TV for the kids and so on and on and on.
Friday, May 10, 2013 at 1:30AM Google made a lot of news this week when it updated its Gmail app for iPhone and iPad to use its own Chrome Web browser by default when opening links in emails.
That's because Apple doesn't let iPhone users select default applications for basic tasks like Web browsing and mapping within its mobile operating system iOS, but it does let individual developers select defaults for such tasks within their apps. Google's move essentially means it's trying to create its own mini ecosystem of apps on the iPhone... More at Business Insider.
I kind of like the idea of a Google ecosystem on my iPhone.