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I can't make this stuff up

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Re: I can't make this stuff up

#101

Post by dubya »

waterside81 wrote: post #53

A few commenters here are not sure if this is real or not. I thought it was quite plainly put out as a tongue-in-cheek commentary in the form of an anecdote on the ridiculousness (according to the author) of this whole patent situation. "If Samsung copied Apple, why would we buy Apple? Just buy the cheap knock-off" is what he's angling at.

"... Samsung's iPad is the same as Apple's iPad, and I paid how much for the Apple one?" pretty much clinches this as fiction. Samsung's tablets are not "a lot cheaper" than the iPad. Not to mention all of the Starbucks patrons chatting with strangers.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#102

Post by MaysonL »

greenwalls wrote: post #28

A Pro-Google Android Zealot writes a story on Google Plus about people switching from Apple to Samsung due to a patent lawsuit and you all believe it? I guess there really is a sucker born every minute. Check Apple's earnings later to see who was right.

And the first sentence in the post, bolded for emphasis:

I can't make this stuff up

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#103

Post by alberich »

alberich wrote: post #94
epistasis wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know what he's going to say, or how he thought it was a jail, and would like to know.

I just couldn't install any other usable operating system on the hardware other then Apple's OS. The specifications were closed, you couldn't get much anything useful installed on it because it depended on proprietary software that, of course, only worked on OS X. edit: besides, things don't look much better nowdays, eh?

I can't reply to Zirro's and pooriaazimi's posts, so I'll answear here.

Zirro: that is good to know. I wish it was the same with the IPad. Owning your hardware, in the sense that you can install alternative stuff on it, is very important for me.

pooriaazimi: the point was about the power to install anything, including a different OS. If it is like Zirro said, it is sure a big improvement on the desktop/laptop category. Sadly the IPad doesn't offer you the freedom for using anything that is not from Apple. I don't care much about it, because the IPad isn't mine anyways. I just wouldn't buy it if I had to choose (Android's devices look much more open).

ps. I'm sorry if I offended some people, it was not my intention. cheers :)

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#104

Post by ricardobeat »

Zak wrote: post #65
bpatrianakos wrote: post #48

Even if this is a true story, it isn't the lawsuit that made people think this. What makes people think that Apple products and Samsung products are the same is the fact that Samsung intentionally ripped them off to get exactly that. Apple did not do this. Samsung did and the lawsuit was so they could stop it. If this story is true, which it kind of sounds like it isn't, then the only reason people are being vocal ab…

Even if the appearance of say... an iPad and a Galaxy tablet are very similar, I don't think it's fair to call the Galaxy a ripoff. That basic design is just where the industry was headed. Case in point: the Crunchpad was announced nearly two years before the iPad and has a nearly identical design.

The original version did not look like an iPad at all (http://www.slashgear.com/crunchpad-200-web-tablet-gets-secon...), it got more similar on later revisions.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#105

Post by saryant »

alberich wrote: post #92
rlt3 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do use a computer that is free (as in freedom) all the way down to the BIOS?

No. But considering that I paid almost nothing for it makes a big difference. It's not like paying U$ 1k and being locked in. with my Ibook I couldn't install other OS on working conditions because Apple wouldn't just open the specs, so there wasn't really other OSs to install. It is also not really an option to install other OSs on the IPad. And it costs a lot of money, that makes a big diference. You pay to be lock…

Maybe there was something funky about the hardware in the iBook G4 but I remember installing Yellow Dog Linux on my old PowerBook G4 without too much trouble.

It was years ago so I don't recall the details but it was definitely possible and not terribly difficult.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#106

Post by phaus »

shinratdr wrote: post #68
esolyt wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A power user is a user who regularly browses the web. Browsing the web on a 4.65-inch 1280x720 screen is significantly better than browsing the web on a 3.5-inch 960x640 screen. Reply to your edit: The fact that Android phones have low pixel density is absolutely wrong. That used to be the case. But now they have both larger screens and more pixels. Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Xperia S all have 1280x720 scree…

That all depends on what's running on the screen. I find browsing on my iPhone much faster and more responsive on my iPhone vs my friends Android devices. I browse the web on my phone constantly. I still wouldn't rather a bigger screen at the expense of all the other benefits of a compact phone like one handed usage. I resent the implication that I'm not a power user or I don't really browse the web just because I pr…

If you had the option of buying an iPhone with a 4.65 inch, high resolution screen that still managed to be comfortable to use with 1 hand, would you still prefer the smaller version?

If so, your choice would be a personal preference that has nothing to do with functionality, unless for some reasons your hands are too small to use a larger device with ease. From an objective standpoint, a phone with a larger screen is easier to type on, better suited to displaying videos, and more capable of displaying a variety of text-based documents (powerpoint, technical manuals, web pages.) The only drawbacks of having a larger phone are that: A) some users have smaller hands than others, and B) it takes up more space.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#107

Post by encoderer »

alberich wrote: post #94
epistasis wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know what he's going to say, or how he thought it was a jail, and would like to know.

I just couldn't install any other usable operating system on the hardware other then Apple's OS. The specifications were closed, you couldn't get much anything useful installed on it because it depended on proprietary software that, of course, only worked on OS X. edit: besides, things don't look much better nowdays, eh?

Why on Earth did you buy it if that isn't what you wanted?

It's like buying a hardcover book and complaining that you couldn't get it to be any other book. They're not selling iOS devices as hobbyist machines for tinkerers. You buy an iPhone to be an iPhone, an iPad to be an iPad. That's not a bad thing, it's an attribute of the product you bought as much as its price and processor.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#109

Post by MaysonL »

delllapssuck wrote: post #5

Beautiful. For Apple, it's all about controlling the minds of consumers. And controlling their access to information about the devices. For Samsung, it's less about that and more about plain old lack of interoperability: proprietary plugs, crappy Windows proprietary "install" software that was written hastily, and other little annoyances, stuff that will only work with Samsung. Like every other Asian manufacturer for…

But they do care about overpaying.

But they keep coming back to Starbucks, and they buy subsidised cellphones, with two-year plans.

And they think they care about overpaying.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#110

Post by nirvana »

paulgb wrote: post #81
Zirro wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Apple products are a jail that looks very nice, but its a jail anyway." Please clarify this. I don't feel more restricted with my MacBook Pro than I did with my old Lenovo-laptop. In what way was it a jail to you?

The comment was made about an iOS device, which it is more applicable too. Apple has a monopoly on legit iOS App distribution, where Android tablets and phones can install apps from the wild. It may sound like a small point, but the feeling that I didn't own my iPhone is a big reason I prefer Android.

> Apple has a monopoly on legit iOS App distribution,

I know why you think that, but you're missing that there is a completely legitimate app distribution mechanism outside the AppStore.

You can install (and distribute) whatever apps you want for iOS devices, and users can download them from the web and install them on the device. And I'm not talking about jailbreaking.

Since the first day the iPhone has shipped, you've been able to download and install apps built with javascript from anywhere on the web.

These are full apps, written in Javascript and running on the machine. They have access to the iOS design components such as the navigation controller and tab bar UI, etc, can read touches and orientation and even your current location.

You can turn off the network- put the device in airport mode- and they still run. These aren't links to web apps running on the web, they are full apps.

Apple only curates what goes on in the App Store. Apps distributed outside the App Store are not curated. Apple built this platform for apps specifically so it wouldn't have to curate them.

Its just that once the App Store came out, everyone switched to writing native apps (And at the time, writing native apps are what people were clamoring for) that that native app distirbution model won out.

But the javascript app platform is still there on the device and completely un-regulated by apple.

It's also still supported by Apple, and each year at WWDC they have a couple sessions talking about it.

I know it fits some people's ideology better to believe that Apple will only let you run apps approved by Apple on your device, but it simply isn't true.

Further, if you want native apps of arbitrary origin, you can join the developer program and run whatever native apps you want.

But Apple has always allowed this other distribution mechanism. These apps can't spread malware and so there is no need to regulate them. Since native apps can, they need to be curated, hence the AppStore.

It is disingenuous for people to pretend like Apple only wants you to buy apps from the AppStore-- because the javascript app platform has existed since a year before the AppStore and they continue to maintain it.

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