iPhone syndrome

[Handruin]

That is for personal use I assume. How can you all justify the initial and ongoing cost for such a cell phone/device?

My phone is for personal use, but I have it connected with my work email which makes some things easier for me when getting back to people faster.

I don't need to justify the cost, it's something I want. Its all about those checks and balances. I don't spend a lot on other things and pick the things I do want to spend my money on. I could ask you the same about buying Intel's ultra-expensive SSD drives and mass quantities of storage. Do you absolutely need the fastest SSD drives available? Do you need multiple terabytes of space?

 

[LunarMist]

Duh. I did mean to write it like that. I understand that most of the SF members can amply afford the phones and devices.

It just seems that so many young people without high paying jobs have them. I guess it is a prioroty, but I shake my head sometimes.

 

[Handruin]

I guess they do prioritize it over many other things or they're living from credit just to pay for some type of smart phone.

 

[Mercutio]

It just seems that so many young people without high paying jobs have them. I guess it is a prioroty, but I shake my head sometimes.

18 year olds LIVE on their cell phones. No. Really. LIVE. Screw TV. Screw the computer. They want texting (but hate Email) and internet access that doesn't tie them down, either to the location of a desktop or to the need for wireless network access.

And that's worth $400+ to them, even when they can't pay their actual bills.

 

[MaxBurn]

Anyone frantically refreshing tech news sites today waiting on their next fix? I admit I am curious and may eventually want a tablet like device.

 

[Handruin]

I've been watching to see what's going to be announced. I'm guessing we'll have to wait until 1:00PM PST.

 

[sdbardwick]

Arstechnica has a live blog starting just before the event at 10AM PT/1PM ET.

 

[sdbardwick]

Heh, looks like the event took down Ars; getting 500 server errors.

 

[Handruin]

Engadget says they've announced the iPad. It sounds like a feminine product... They're also having bandwidth problems. I'm trying to view images and I'm getting errors.

 

[Mercutio]

I did in fact blow the tea I was sipping out my nose when I heard "ipad." Now I have to clean tea off my Thinkpad. :\

Anyway, Apple is releasing a seriously misguided overlarge cell phone with a hilarious name.

I'm interested in this. I'm really more partial to Windows Mobile, but a 4.3" OLED screen and a 1GHz CPU on my carrier of preference still make an appealing case.

 

[Mercutio]

It's Sanitary Naptacular!

 

[fb]

The Onion reveals how it's made...

 

[ddrueding]

Even closer to home...

 

[LunarMist]

I did in fact blow the tea I was sipping out my nose when I heard "ipad." Now I have to clean tea off my Thinkpad. :\

Anyway, Apple is releasing a seriously misguided overlarge cell phone with a hilarious name.

I'm interested in this. I'm really more partial to Windows Mobile, but a 4.3" OLED screen and a 1GHz CPU on my carrier of preference still make an appealing case.

What does the device do exactly? Where do you keep it? I don't get the point.

 

[MaxBurn]

It's something for the couch and messing around at coffee shops I guess. Functionally I was thinking big iphone and looking at thoughts of others they seem to be thinking the same. I was hoping for a bit more but it is nice you can get ones without the cell service, but the ones with it have prepay which is great so thanks ATT for being a little flexible. Very slick and polished though, not seeing problems with the ones shown at all.

 

[LunarMist]

iPad looks like a half-baked product with too many missing features. Then in a year Apple will fix it and the fools will run out and buy another one.

Maybe the device should be dubbed the iBrick because it is so large/heavy.

 

[mubs]

I'm ogling the HTC HD2 with WM 6.5.x over here. It'll cost ~ $800 (none of the carriers here subsidizes handsets).

There are rumors that the HTC HD3 will be out Oct. 2010 with WM 7 and very high-end specs. Maybe I should wait for that.

 

[Mercutio]

I've heard basically nothing about the HD3, except some stuff that links back to one Chinese site. HTC usually does refresh its phones annually, so it's certainly possible.

In the US that phone is only available to T-mobile (and I guess ATT if they wanted to swap a SIM card). The CDMA version that's supposedly coming to Sprint is supposed to run Android instead of Windows Mobile, and given the specs you can rest assured that ROM hackers will have Windows Mobile 7 and Android versions regardless of the underlying hardware you actually choose to buy.

 

[mubs]

A colleague has the HTC Touch Pro and is an avid WM fan. He's of course upgraded his WM 6.1 to WM 6.5.x by downloading the firmware from enthusiast hacker sites. A couple of days ago he showed me Android on it; I was shocked to see he had abandoned WM. Then he grins and says he's dual booting. Some guys seem to have way too much time on their hands!

 

[timwhit]

Even Hitler doesn't like the iPad.

 

[LunarMist]

http://cnettv.cnet.com/buzz-report-...42-1_53-50082923.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.1

 

[Mercutio]

A colleague has the HTC Touch Pro and is an avid WM fan. He's of course upgraded his WM 6.1 to WM 6.5.x by downloading the firmware from enthusiast hacker sites. A couple of days ago he showed me Android on it

The 6.5 upgrade isn't all that interesting, and IIRC the Touch (I have basically the same phone) is missing some of the external buttons WM6.5 is expecting.

I like the fact that Windows Mobile and Android pretty much universally run on the same platform. It's nice to have an open system and a choice.

 

[Handruin]

I just got off the phone with AT&T support. I just lost all signal about 30 minutes ago to my phone while at work. I thought maybe something died in my phone because other coworkers with AT&T were not having issues. So I decided to try AT&T support. I connected with a person (not in India) within 3 minutes while only pressing one menu item (and entering last 4 of my social).

I described my problem and I gave her my location at work. She confirmed a cell tower problem and said a tech was dispatched to have it fixed within 4 hours. She also sent a signal to my phone to route it to a new cell tower. I got full signal strength within a couple minutes on the call and the phone was working fine once again. She also credited me $25 to my account for my trouble without me even asking for any type of compensation. She was also very friendly.

This is my first experience with AT&T cellular service issue and also customer support. I know this is only one experience out of millions of customers, but it was a very positive experience.

 

[LunarMist]

That is good service, although one would expect them to know about it automatically. I don't know what kind of system my cheapie phone uses. It is fine most of the time, but in remote areas of Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, etc. there is no signal.

 

[MaxBurn]

If you are near a highway you should have a signal, otherwise your SOL. Actually in upstate Maine you still don't get digital coverage though the analog cell is out there, may have changed but that was three years ago. Some of the off road guys I went around with carry sat phones, all obey the three vehicle minimum rule when really going out there.

 

[Handruin]

That is good service, although one would expect them to know about it automatically. I don't know what kind of system my cheapie phone uses. It is fine most of the time, but in remote areas of Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, etc. there is no signal.

The woman on the phone wasn't from my area so she wouldn't know instantly which towers were out at my exact location. Her baseline started from my registered address on the account. She knew which one was having issues once I gave her the town I was in.

I had a variety of coverage in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah when I was out there visiting. Lots of times there was no coverage...or even people in the remote areas I was in. I had Verizon at the time.

 

[Pradeep]

I'm ogling the HTC HD2 with WM 6.5.x over here. It'll cost ~ $800 (none of the carriers here subsidizes handsets).

There are rumors that the HTC HD3 will be out Oct. 2010 with WM 7 and very high-end specs. Maybe I should wait for that.

$800 is a shitload when you think that you won't be able to upgrade to 7 on that hardware.

Are you still in India? By October 2010 we should seee ubiquitous Android 2.1 or beyond, on all types of hardware.

I know at one stage Windows Mobile was the only way to retrieve Exchange email, but that time has long since passed with Blackberry Enterprise Server sitting in there with Exchange functionality and hard keyboard delights. And of course Android does the gmail.

 

[mubs]

I moved to India in 2006, so yes, I'm still there.

Agreed, $800 is a lot of money. None of the carriers here subsidizes cell phones.

Will Win 7 be worth it? There is a huge online community that releases "fixed" versions of Win Mobile 6.5 for various phones. My understanding is that MS is putting a stop to that with Win 7.

Android phones are available here - for instance, from HTC the Tatoo, Hero, Magic. Not the Google Nexus, though.

Generally everybody I've talked to about the Berries has said they excel at email and suck at everything else. So a bit leery of them.

My employer is a pure MS shop, and my job requires me to "be in touch", which means mail on my cell phone. I currently use a Nokia E72. It's an outstanding device overall, except for:
a) Small screen: 2.36", 320 x 240
b) No HTML email
c) If on a call and it's sync time, will disconnect the call.This should be fixable via firmware, beats me why it still isn't. I am always on the latest available FW. (Obviously this ain't push email, though Nokia says so).
d) The highly polished stainless steel back makes it slimy with finger oils and difficult to grip.

I'm miserable with items a) and b).

 

[ddrueding]

I have a blackberry, and I can verify that it sucks at everything, including e-mail, if it weren't for Google's mail app and their mail service on the backend. Blackberry Enterprise Manager is a ridiculous cost to pay for something that is free through other means. Every time I think back to when I was running my own Exchange Server with Blackberry, Anti-SPAM, Anti-Virus, and a ton of rules and filters, I just shudder.

 

[Mercutio]

The easiest thing to do to make Exchange functional is put a Linux machine in front of it to do all the heavy lifting.

 

[LunarMist]

I have a blackberry, and I can verify that it sucks at everything, including e-mail, if it weren't for Google's mail app and their mail service on the backend. Blackberry Enterprise Manager is a ridiculous cost to pay for something that is free through other means. Every time I think back to when I was running my own Exchange Server with Blackberry, Anti-SPAM, Anti-Virus, and a ton of rules and filters, I just shudder.

Why are BlackBerrys so popular, just because they were first? At practically every large company I visit people are all wandering around with a BB attached at the hip like a medical device.

 

[time]

Status symbol.

 

[udaman]

Why this is even worse than Sony, Merc's gonna go insane, jihad @Apple:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/02/22/innocuous.apps.may.be.caught.in.crossfire/

Apple's cleansing of "overtly sexual" apps from the App Store has taken over 5,000 titles offline, claims ChilliFresh. Responsible for one of the first apps to be banned, Wobble iBoobs, the developer says that it has learned the information in discussing the situation with Apple. The figure may be backed by data from AppShopper, which said that 4,000 apps had been culled as of last Friday.
The new rules are said to be extremely strict, preventing images of women in bikinis, or any form of sexual innuendo, such as references to "boobs," "babes," "booty" or simply sex. No apps will be allowed that could in any manner imply sexual content, an Apple representative is said to have informed.

The measure would appear to be hypocritical, or at least not yet fully enforced, as App Store shoppers can for instance continue to download the official Playboy magazine app. Beyond this, it may also be affecting innocent parties. Simply Beach, a UK swimwear retailer, says its shopping app has been removed for "overtly sexual content" despite merely showing women modeling the clothing for sale. The app is being resubmitted with an age restriction, though even if it fails Simply Beach notes that its products can still be found through Amazon's iPhone app.

How is it that Al Gore could be comfortable with this, he's on the board...then again with that frigid thing he calls a wife, Tipper wearing the pants as his home ?

 

[LunarMist]

Status symbol.

Status of what, being a slave to the machine?

 

[Mercutio]

Yes.

These days, important people don't even carry cell phones.

 

[LunarMist]

If you are near a highway you should have a signal, otherwise your SOL. Actually in upstate Maine you still don't get digital coverage though the analog cell is out there, may have changed but that was three years ago. Some of the off road guys I went around with carry sat phones, all obey the three vehicle minimum rule when really going out there.

We only have one vehicle with plenty of water and food for a few days. If there is a medical emergency then I will just die off.

 

[ddrueding]

Yes.

These days, important people don't even carry cell phones.

Can't stress this enough, but at the moment I can only dream...

 

[ddrueding]

We only have one vehicle with plenty of water and food for a few days. If there is a medical emergency then I will just die off.

Nah, just let someone know where you are going, and keep a flare gun handy for the rescue aircraft

 

[LunarMist]

Nah, just let someone know where you are going, and keep a flare gun handy for the rescue aircraft

Often I don't know where I'm going until I get there, and then it would be too late.

 

[Pradeep]

The easiest thing to do to make Exchange functional is put a Linux machine in front of it to do all the heavy lifting.

This. Had a job where we had 6 servers running Red Hat and anti-virus in front of Exchange 2003, problem with Exchange is that when you get into the larger categories in size in terms of accounts and filestore sizes, it gets to be very cumbersome. It's a huge resource in terms of sys admin time on the Exchange side. We also had students running email on Solaris and Sparc. Both these systems require large resources to keep up 24*7 (Unix mail of course being much more robust and self sustaining).

Mailbox maintenance on Exchange degrades performance during backup windows etc. Once we started using snapshots on NetApps (duplicating to an offsite location, via our own optical lines, 10gb was lit to start, with additional wavelengths configurable. Offsite also had the tape auto libraries. This allows us to fulfill many of our backup duties without an operator intervention in terms of extracting tapes and sending to Iron Mountain (tho we still do that for certain tapes that need 7 year retention etc).

We ended up putting the students on Gmail,, it's generally something they already have before coming to uni.