Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I can't make this stuff up

plus.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 190 posts

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#111

Post by phaus »

shinratdr wrote: post #54
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a power user of a mobile phone, and what makes a 3.5" screen unacceptable? edit: Ah, I see. Reading a lot. I actually read all of Guns, Germs, and Steel on my iPhone 4S earlier this year, and probably do an hour or two of reading on it a day in total. It's not necessarily an ideal experience, but it certainly isn't terrible. I'm looking forward to the rumored 4" screen on the upcoming The New iPhone, but I th…

Definitely, everyone who has bothered to say this to me about their Android phone actually does little to nothing with the phone. Certainly nothing that takes advantage of the screen. I do constantly see people using those Galaxy Notes with the S Pen and two hands at all times. Seems like a big step backwards to me. Not only can I do everything a phone with a bigger screen can do, but I can do it with one hand.

The Galaxy Note is a great device, but I admit it's not for everyone. It's supposed to be a hybrid between a tablet and a phone, like the Dell Streak or the Nokia N900.

I'll admit I have slightly large hands, but I can use a Galaxy Nexus just fine 1-handed.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#112

Post by chipotle_coyote »

dimitar wrote: post #4

A more probable headline - Apple consumers are wondering what they are paying for. Not really news, and I doubt its going to affect sales for now. Eventually they'll have to reinvent themselves if they want to stay cool, though. (Like Sony Walkman failed to do so as a brand)

I think a more probable headline is "Nothing happens." Except that won't be much of a story.

Seriously, who's going to read "Samsung owes Apple $1B for patent infringement" and come away thinking that Apple is the bad guy? There are perfectly valid answers to that -- people concerned about the terrible state of patent law in the US, open source advocates, Hacker News readers -- but "average consumers" is not in that set of valid answers.

In practice what this means is that by Christmas Samsung has a bunch of new phones out that don't violate Apple's trade dress patents and everyone who is not a nerd mostly forgets about this. Samsung may lose on appeal, they may not, but a year from now they'll still be the #1 phone maker in the world and they will have phones that are more distinctive than they have now.

Or they will have phones that all look like Nokia's.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#113

Post by nirvana »

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…

You've been able to run Unix on Macs going back to the 1980s. In the 1990s there were several variations of Linux that ran on Macs, and Apple hired the mklinux guy to make sure that linux kernels ran ok on Macs.

The only time in the Mac's history that Apple wasn't working to make sure it could run Unix was 1984-1987ish before they released their flavor of Unix.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#114

Post by X-Istence »

saryant wrote: post #105
alberich wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I had Yellow Dog Linux installed on my iBook G4 without issues ... not sure what OP is going on about.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#115

Post by nirvana »

AJ007 wrote: post #55
tedunangst wrote: post #20

Here's what's going to happen. These people will buy a Samsung device. And they will hate it. And then they will learn to never buy anything but Apple. Apple has, for a short bump in near term revenue, earned themselves a lot of lifetime customers.

I'm still on Apple but I've heard no complaints from friends who have switched. Instead I hear, check out how much better than the iPhone this is and the battery lasts days. Many mass market consumers will be more than happy to get a slightly poorer experience if they can save half their money. But, if these people just switched from an iPhone or iPad, its likely that they were a year or two in and the performance st…

Android fans like to talk about how much better their android is... it is the same phenomena you see with chevy vs ford.

Only its like saying your yugo is better than my mercedes, when the difference in price is $100. It's silly.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#116

Post by Steko »

I'm mystified that an anecdote that's very likely fabricated and is filled with misinformation is one of the highest rated pieces here.

I'd say people who upvote before they read are part of the problem but I'm more concerned that many people did read and still upvoted it.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#117

Post by bpatrianakos »

alberich wrote: post #70
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…

I always wonder if this is what they call the reality distortion effect. You get what you pay for? Long time ago I had an ibook g4. Supposedly it was very nice back then, and very pricey too. However, after playing with it sometime, it just looked cute. Overpriced and cute. Apple products are a jail that looks very nice, but its a jail anyway. Now I have an IPad (don't remember the generation) because my job. It is s…

I'm not afraid to say that on iOS, the "jail" makes the experience better for me. The entire iOS is amazing for what I need it for and for what many people need it for. I'm happy to pay the higher price because there's no other product that can substitute for the experience. I don't care about the "jail". If this is a jail then lock me up for life because it's a damn nice jail.

OSX on the other hand isn't a jail. You can install whatever you want. It's a computer. In fact I prefer Apple's jail to Microsoft's jail and pay more because I get a better experience and have found no substitute. Can I customize the OS? Fuck no! But if I wanted to then I wouldn't buy Apple because I know what I'm getting into before I buy. As a developer there isn't anything I can do on another platform that I can't on OS X. In fact, because its based on BSD I get the best of the Unix world and Apple's world. And Apple's world, or jail as you call it, is beautiful, well designed, has better font rendering, it's fast, it makes the right assumptions about my use, and so one. So I can't hack the kernel. So what? I don't need or want to. That's kind of why I bought an Apple to begin with.

Philosophies about freedom, free software, or really any philosophies or beliefs do not apply here. That argument is just a red herring. The value of the machine is in its substitutes. My Macs don't have any substitutes. There's not a single PC out there that can match the quality, beauty, and experience of my Macs. But not everyone uses them like I do so I can understand if others don't believe they're valuable. But as far as Samsung goes, what they did was basically try to trick people into thinking that they'll get the Apple experience on a Samsung just because they look alike.

And just so everyone knows, at my job I work 8+ hours a day on a Windows7 PC. I've had an Android phone. I also have a Linux laptop. I love my Linux box but it still doesn't hold a candle to my MacBook Air. This isn't about fashion. It's about people finding a product so impressive that they truly love it. I own a lot of stuff but very few of my possessions are as valuable to me as my Macs. Call me a fanboy. I don't give a shit. That argument is a lame copout. People see people like me being truly impressed with something, they don't get it, then they write it off as fanboyism. It's just a meaningless argument meant to explain something people don't understand. A lot like how people ascribe religious significants to events they don't understand. No, that's not hyperbole. It's just like that.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#118

Post by KirinDave »

evilduck wrote: post #43
othermaciej wrote: post #32

I am skeptical that this is actually a true story and not a parable. The alleged regular people consumer statements do not ring true.

Also, he shows off a "OS/X" [sic] virtual machine to convince laymen that Apple's overcharging because you can run OSX in a VM. This is clearly a guy fabricating a story. Anyone who's ever virtualized OSX outside of VMWare Fusion will tell you this line is bullshit and would never offer that as a legitimate substitute for the real OSX desktop experience. Even legit OSX VMs on Fusion perform worse than their natively…

I have virtualized OS/X with the specific naughty versions of VMWare in question on windows boxes as part of UI testing setups. While I would not play games on it, it'll run Safari just fine.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#119

Post by Dramatize »

Zirro wrote: post #89
paulgb wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I can agree with it in the case of an iOS-device, but in this case he said "Long time ago I had an ibook g4". I am starting to get pretty tired of hearing that the products I use every day for professional work are toys, that I gave up my freedom to use them and worship Apple etc etc.

I agree. I was a Windows user for most of my life. Now that Apple products are better, I'll use them.

If something else comes along that's new and better, I'll use that.

Re: I can't make this stuff up

#120

Post by chipotle_coyote »

css771 wrote: post #83
shinratdr wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try comparing them with software freedom in mind and tell me how again the devices running android lose vs apple devices. OK. Every app worth getting for an Android device, I can get via the iOS App Store. Everything that requires a rooted or unlocked Android device, I can get via jailbreaking. I'm not an OS developer so I'm not going to be contributing patches back to AOSP. The vast majority of Android devices are…

Except that the vast majority of Android devices are not bootloader locked (Almost all samsung phones are sold unlocked, HTC provides an after-market unlock tool for most phones, Motorola recently started doing so). Besides, even if an Android phone is bootloader locked, you can actually do more on it than on an iphone. And also, you dont have to contribute patches back to aosp to appreciate software freedom. How abo…

* How about building and running your own kernel on your phone. Is that something you would be interested in? Most Android phones can do that.*

No, I'm interested in browsing the web, reading and sometimes replying to my email, checking my calendar, doing online banking, finding restaurants via Yelp, reading my Instapaper queue, checking my RSS feeds, reading and replying on Twitter, listening to and downloading new podcasts I subscribe to, occasionally reading ebooks, listening to my own music and Internet radio, getting turn by turn navigation and sometimes walking or transit directions, and checking in on Foursquare.

In other words, I want a smartphone. Ideally, I want one that works without dorking around with a damn kernel recompile. Android phones can absolutely do all of those things (without damn kernel recompiles). And, darned if iPhones can't just as easily.

In practice, applications aren't lock-in. Data is lock-in. What Apple can do to piss me off is locking in my data, which is a potentially grave concern with iCloud. But just about everything I mentioned above is stuff that would take me about a day to migrate from iOS to Android or vice-versa, because nearly all of it involves open data formats.

Being able to put a new kernel on your phone? Sure, it could be fun. But when push comes to shove, the best thing a smartphone can do for me is to make its inner workings as invisible as possible. When I want to spend time cursing at a Unix shell prompt, that's why I have Arch Linux. Not on my phone.

Post reply on HN