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Re: undefined

#131

Post by mladenkovacevic »

inoop wrote: post #127
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #98

Here's why Windows possibly has a shot at regaining a meaningful presence in the mobile space. 1) the untapped market potential is still huge (I myself don't own an Android or an iPhone - although I'll be buying an Android phone soon) 2) The customers gained by Android and iOS are not as loyal or as committed to each platform as the early adopters of the home PC were. When you bought your first PC, you usually spent…

3) WP8 and Windows 8 are converging into a single entity. Before long you'll be able to run a full desktop on your phone, all you need is a dock to connect it to a mouse/keyboard/monitor. This is a nice feature for a lot of people who just use their desktop PCs for typing out letters and browsing the internet. If high-end smartphones are able to replace desktop PCs for light/casual users, Microsoft can take advantage…

Yes absolutely. Both Windows and OSX/iTunes have existing desktop/tv mediacenter lock-in they can take advantage of to secure (imprison) new customers. Android doesn't have such a firm grip on its users. The strongest lock-in Google has is their online services like Gmail, Docs etc and even there it's really easy to export everything and use it on a different platform (which ironically is why i am a Google fanboy). I don't know whether Chrome OS/GoogleTV will become a viable platform to allow Android users to easily extend their mobile computing onto the desktop and tv or maybe another Linux distro will steal that opportunity (I recently saw Canonical demontrate some pretty seamless transitioning between Android and Ubuntu). Both Microsoft and Apple are moving towards the cloud with many of their services so maybe that's where the war will be fought, but I don't know if I see the whole app ecosystems moving along with them.

Re: undefined

#132

Post by Xuzz »

pedalpete wrote: post #126
Xuzz wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major innovation was the scrolling: none of the previous touchscreen phones had smooth, natural, physics-based scrolling on a capacitive (e.g. finger, not fingernail) touchscreen. The home screen is a prettier version of the Palm OS one, and much of the UI is similar, although it feels a lot more natural with animations and without a desktop-style menu bar.

Are better scrolling and natural animations really innovation? It's much more of a progression. Touchscreen is the same? I believe the quality of touchscreens weren't good enough before 1997.

Yes, they are. It's what changes the device from a standard computer (with an indirect interface) into direct manipulation of objects on a screen. With Palm OS-style scrollbars or desktop scroll wheels, you are manipulating an object that affects something else.

With iOS-style scrolling, there is nothing to learn. That's one of the biggest issues with Android (and, conversely, one of the advantages of Windows Phone and iOS): because Android has not been able to match the fluid scrolling and realistic physics, it breaks the illusion of physicality that the original iPhone managed to first create in 2007.

Re: undefined

#133

Post by RandallBrown »

huggyface wrote: post #124
RandallBrown wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got a Lumia 900 and I think it's the only phone that is competitive with the iPhone. It looks fantastic and it performs well. Seriously, there isn't a non-iPhone device out there that can compete with the design of the Lumia 900. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time dealing with the screen. Text looks like shit, and since most of what I do with my phone involves reading text, this is annoying. I hate that I h…

Your first paragraph lies in complete opposition to everything that follows.

I guess so, but most of the problems I have with it aren't ones that most people will have.

Re: undefined

#134

Post by gbog »

bgilroy26 wrote: post #113
gbog wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hope is that another mobile OS eat Android on its left: even more open, even less linked to big corps. This OS would be to Android what Linux is to Unix.

Would you consider Cyanogenmod to be to stock Android OSes what Linux is to Unix?

I love and use Cyanogenmod, but I think it is still too linked to Android.

Re: undefined

#135

Post by bergie »

ImprovedSilence wrote: post #128
HorizonXP wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's funny how BlackBerry has been doing this for several years now, but people seemed to have just glossed over it. RIM has had NUMEROUS missteps over the last few years, but they do have some good ideas in there. Let's hope they shine this week with BB10. Oh, and let me get the obligatory, "BlackBerry? They still exist?" out of the way.

Hmm, you bring up some good points. Blackberries did have a lot of crazy good things about them. And I might even consider looking at a BB or WP for my next phone (just to be different, a bit of a hipster decision I suppose, but I'm disappointed with android, and I don't know if I want to support Apples frivolous patent trolling.)

Well, Microsoft is quite active in the patents game too.

http://mashable.com/2012/04/25/microsoft-pegatron-patent-dea...

Re: undefined

#136

Post by bergie »

joesb wrote: post #37
tmuir wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Reality Distortion Field is strong in this one. So if I understand what you're saying, android's back button causes users to randomly mash buttons in frothy fits of delirium, yet iOS's back button provides zen like enlightenment and happy endings. Pushing the back button on an android phone, by default ALWAYS goes to the previous activity, or cancels context menus. Of course, it's possible to make the android bac…

> Pushing the back button on an android phone, by default ALWAYS goes to the previous activity. Good if it is the only apps you are using. But what if you switch to use others app for a while and switch back to this app. Can you remember the activity stack as of all the apps good as the OS does? Can you predict where back button is going to take you after not using the phone for half an hours?

So, you don't like the back button in browsers either? The Android back button does the same, but for the whole OS.
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