Linked by gsyoungblood on Tue 20th Jul 2010 18:01 UTC
On July 15th the latest Android super-phone was released by Motorola and Verizon Wireless. All hail the Droid X. The release was not without controversy though. The Droid X, while greatly raising the bar for Android phones in general, does so at the expense of the very power users and community that made the original Droid the gotta-have phone it became. Alienating this group may have far reaching consequences for Motorola.
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RE: What the hell are power users supposed to buy?
by DigitalAxis on Wed 21st Jul 2010 06:45
in reply to "What the hell are power users supposed to buy?"
Member since:2005-08-28
One would hope that if the situation gets bad, Google will get someone to make a Nexus 2, or hold a manufacturer's hand as they did with the Motorola Droid 1.
As it is, I've decided I need to get a phone based on what it can do NOW, and not count on future updates to make things better. If they happen, great.
That said, I am counting the potential firmware lock against the Droid 2 (it has substantially the same hardware as the Droid X, and Motorola has promised the Droid 1 was a fluke) in my own internal battle of Droid 2 vs Samsung Epic 4G (vs waiting even longer for T-Mobile to get something worth buying)
RE[2]: What the hell are power users supposed to buy?
by werpu on Wed 21st Jul 2010 07:08
in reply to "RE: What the hell are power users supposed to buy?"
Member since:2006-01-18
One would hope that if the situation gets bad, Google will get someone to make a Nexus 2, or hold a manufacturer's hand as they did with the Motorola Droid 1.
As it is, I've decided I need to get a phone based on what it can do NOW, and not count on future updates to make things better. If they happen, great.
That said, I am counting the potential firmware lock against the Droid 2 (it has substantially the same hardware as the Droid X, and Motorola has promised the Droid 1 was a fluke) in my own internal battle of Droid 2 vs Samsung Epic 4G (vs waiting even longer for T-Mobile to get something worth buying)
As it is, I've decided I need to get a phone based on what it can do NOW, and not count on future updates to make things better. If they happen, great.
That said, I am counting the potential firmware lock against the Droid 2 (it has substantially the same hardware as the Droid X, and Motorola has promised the Droid 1 was a fluke) in my own internal battle of Droid 2 vs Samsung Epic 4G (vs waiting even longer for T-Mobile to get something worth buying)
T-Mobile does not manufacture themselves, they just rebrand like everyone else, in the end they just rebrand something from HTC and Co. So far the safest bet for long term support still is and probably will be for the forseeable future until Google brings out the next dev phone the Nexus One. Google still is going to sell it over the dev shop instead of the official shop and the phones will be sold over the phone carriers also for the forseeable future.
RE: What the hell are power users supposed to buy?
by werpu on Wed 21st Jul 2010 07:15
in reply to "What the hell are power users supposed to buy?"
Member since:2006-01-18
At the moment the Nexus One probably still a favourite to Android users who want as much flexibility in running what they want, but which next generation devices are we supposed to get?
I've got an HTC Hero, and I'll be ready for an upgrade in the next few months. I'll probably wait until Android 3.0 is here, and I'll want a device which is considered to be a successor to the Nexus One. I want to be able to root it, to run whatever firmware I want, with fanatic support with Android operating system updates.
Is anyone going to provide me with such a phone?
This is my fear with Android, they started off with great phones which were pretty open, now we're getting locked phones where the users are restricted with what they can run. Newer Android phones need to be hacked in some way to get full access to them, compared to the Nexus One where a few legitimate commands will give you full control over the device.
Supposedly Google aren't going to sell a successor to the Nexus One. Personally I'm not too sure on this, they'll need a device to test out the next generation of Android with, a developer device which they may only sell in a similar way to the G1 - to registered users only.
I'm willing to pay the full upfront cost for my next Android device - if the right one comes along. However it seems like all the current manufacturers are more interested taking steps backwards in terms of what we can do with Android phones.
I've got an HTC Hero, and I'll be ready for an upgrade in the next few months. I'll probably wait until Android 3.0 is here, and I'll want a device which is considered to be a successor to the Nexus One. I want to be able to root it, to run whatever firmware I want, with fanatic support with Android operating system updates.
Is anyone going to provide me with such a phone?
This is my fear with Android, they started off with great phones which were pretty open, now we're getting locked phones where the users are restricted with what they can run. Newer Android phones need to be hacked in some way to get full access to them, compared to the Nexus One where a few legitimate commands will give you full control over the device.
Supposedly Google aren't going to sell a successor to the Nexus One. Personally I'm not too sure on this, they'll need a device to test out the next generation of Android with, a developer device which they may only sell in a similar way to the G1 - to registered users only.
I'm willing to pay the full upfront cost for my next Android device - if the right one comes along. However it seems like all the current manufacturers are more interested taking steps backwards in terms of what we can do with Android phones.
Actually the Android phones were never open, the only devices which were were the G1 dev phone, the Droid (the Milestone already has the crippled bootloader, which is the GSM version of the Droid) and the Nexus one. In all three cases Google was the reason for the phones being semi open.
My personal guess is, that google always will have one dev phone or the other, as reference platform as long as it is important. I expect the development to slow down significantly post Android 3.0. Face it the OS with 2.2 has become more or less feature complete 3.0 will bring following, totally overhauled UI and modularisation, which means lots of the infrastructure will be updatable over the shop, after that having to upgrade to the latest Android OS will not be as important as it is anymore. I also do not expect Google to update the N1 anythime soon. Google soon will start to sell the N1 as next official dev phone over their dev shop and the hardware still has not outlived its full potential, it simply is that good, that there are still some untapped features left like 720p recording and Radio and also real 3d acceleration on the UI side of things.
So if you want to stay on the safe side, my bet is the N1 still will be the phone until end 2012 after that Google might roll the next generation of dev phones. As for the rest of the manufacturers simply it is like that either buy it and be left alone after 6-8 months or simply do not buy it no matter how flashy and shiny their stuff seems to be.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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2007-03-20
At the moment the Nexus One probably still a favourite to Android users who want as much flexibility in running what they want, but which next generation devices are we supposed to get?
I've got an HTC Hero, and I'll be ready for an upgrade in the next few months. I'll probably wait until Android 3.0 is here, and I'll want a device which is considered to be a successor to the Nexus One. I want to be able to root it, to run whatever firmware I want, with fanatic support with Android operating system updates.
Is anyone going to provide me with such a phone?
This is my fear with Android, they started off with great phones which were pretty open, now we're getting locked phones where the users are restricted with what they can run. Newer Android phones need to be hacked in some way to get full access to them, compared to the Nexus One where a few legitimate commands will give you full control over the device.
Supposedly Google aren't going to sell a successor to the Nexus One. Personally I'm not too sure on this, they'll need a device to test out the next generation of Android with, a developer device which they may only sell in a similar way to the G1 - to registered users only.
I'm willing to pay the full upfront cost for my next Android device - if the right one comes along. However it seems like all the current manufacturers are more interested taking steps backwards in terms of what we can do with Android phones.