* Posts by My New Handle

84 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jun 2009

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Brace yourself, planet Earth, says Nokia CEO – our phones ARE coming back from mid-2016

My New Handle

Re: Philips

The difference will depend on whether Nokia are licencing the brand, in which case it ain't Nokia. Apple use Foxconn as the manufacturer, they do not licence Foxconn to use their brand. And so they maintain an iron-clad grip on Foxconn's output.

Microsoft just saved Windows Phone... Now stop whining

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Re: I have one and it's really good!

"I think they should lock articles about windows phone ..."

What an absolutely splendid idea. And perhaps they could put them all in a special section of The Register that only those with a Windows Phone account can log in to. That would spare the rest of us having to wade across articles about this dirge of an mobile phone OS that just will not die ... yet.

Windows Phone? Landfill? A dreadful idea. Send them all along to the chaps at Will It Blend.

Reg reader rattles tin for GoPro camera 'Stubilizer'

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Flame

You miserable lot

Really? Really? Someone takes the time, trouble and effort to design and produce an out of the box camera stabiliser at an eminently affordable price and gets ripped to shreds. Gawd, I'd hate to go to any tea party you lot are at ... Give a bloke some credit for not only innovation but putting his ideas into a practical device.

BSkyB punters drown in MASSIVE MYSTERY Yahoo! mail! migration!

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FAIL

Re: migration notification

What would you have Sky do? Send vans around to every single customer's home? If people are clever enough to have and use email then they should be clever enough to read the ISPs noticies about that service also.

Boss of Irish-based R&D hub: Man, this place is the back of beyond

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FAIL

Change of Use - EMCs fault

Oh noes! EMC site a premises in Ireland. Then, some time later, they change its purpose/use and find that the transport infrastructure is inadequate to that new use. And they expect the country to pick up the tab to re-work the transport just for them? What an almighty #fail on their part. Serves them bloody well right.

If yer don't like it, yer knows what to do with it fellas.

Orange is the new TalkTalk of the broadband complaints league

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FAIL

Crappier than a crappy thing

Orange are completely the crappiest mobile network in the UK. It beggars understanding why anyone uses them. And the unholy alliance with T-Mobile in the venture that is EE will go the same way.

The OFCOM ruling is only surprising in that it has taken this long to register.

Windows Phone 8 reboot woe causes outpouring of forum misery

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Re: Be careful what you post!

"Clearly none of them has ever heard of Science, and a logical approach ..." BURN THE HERETIC

Seriously, I doff my cap in respect to another voice of sanity in this wilderness inhabited by various *bois

Carriers, prepare to bleed: EU pops a cap on data roaming

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WTF?

Re: Danny and Andy

What? And you're blaming that on the 3G licence auction price? Maybe in some parallel universe but not this one. "...upgrading its ageing telecoms infrastructure..." to what exactly? Lets have a look. Ah, that must be all that copper that is still being deployed everywhere - much to the Pikey's delight.

Its R&D spend in places like Martlesham Heath achieved some successes but squillions of turkeys. Their whole attitude to the changing world was set in the days of The Post Office Telecommunications still, PTT mentality and Spanish working practises drove BT to where they are today. I recall a presentation at Martlesham where BT stated that within a few years that it would "own" the Internet in its entirety. The deathly silence that greeted that statement said it all - they clearly had no idea at all.

Then they outsourced their IT to India and that pretty much ruined the plot entirely. Working with them today, having to deal with their bureaucracy layers and off-shore ineptitude tells all.

Its got sod all to do with the cost of 3G licences, BT have been their own ruination, and continue to be. If they had true competition for cable in the ground they'd have gone bust years ago.

My New Handle
WTF?

Re: 3G auction crap

WTF has BT got to do with 3G? They sold their interest when they sold Cellnet. If they're stupid enough to have taken a loss during the sale then thats their own stupidity. They're out of the game so none of this EU regulation has diddly squat to do with BT.

Apple: We never said Siri would actually work in the UK

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FAIL

Unlimited Stupidity of the ASA

This would be the very same ASA that deemed the total corruption of the word "Unlimited" by the mobile network operators was perfectly acceptable. One has to wonder who exactly pays the ASA's salaries. Would it be us, the general public, or the mobile network operators?

ASA = Fuckwits (and that is a perfectly apt description of the service being provided)

Dixons Logik LE423ED11 42in passive 3D TV

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Thumb Down

Nothing wrong with Shutter Glasses

2011 spec shutter glasses from all the manufacturers are a vast improvement on the original Infra Red-driven tech of previously. There is no bleedhtrough across eyes or any problem whatsoever where compatible products are used.

This reviewed set is either a Friday build or Dixons has gone and bought a job lot of crap that couldn't be sold to the locals in the Far East and so has been dumped on Blighty.

Passive is unlikely to ever look as tight was active technology, but it shouldn't be a stark difference as the reviewer has witnessed. But then, I tend to shy away from any of Dixons own-brand stuff. It is generally C-grade nonsense.

No winner in Android v iPhone 2011 marathon

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Meh

Web rules Apps? Really?

"... and others believe must ultimately crown the web victor on mobile devices, just as it on the desktop."

The big flaw behind this is the constant rationing of miserly amounts of mobile data by all of the [UK] mobile network operators, bar one.

There is plenty of life left in apps, so we shouldn't be writing them off for just a while yet.

Does tech suffer blurred vision on 3D future?

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FAIL

Have you actually used it at home?

"And at home? The need to sit bolt-upright head perfectly level and directly in front of the screen for the entire film? No thanks. I want to relax at home."

As Granny would say ... "What a load of old bollocks". You can sit and watch 3D content at any angle you'd care to watch 2D. No need to sit bolt upright either. You can slouch on the recliner, stand on your head if you like (the effect would be the same in 2D).

Fuzzier picture? One a 2011 plasma? You've got to be joking. Right?

You're not a Sun journalist are you?

Starbucks extends gratis Wi-Fi to UK

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At Mauritius Airport

The WiFi is completely free, and evenly distributed throughout the departure lounge so that everyone can get a signal. Talk of civilised nations should not exclude this little backwater nation that has simply got it right.

Contrast with Charles De Gaul airport and of course our own BAA operated rip-offs and that puts this lot to complete shame.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer

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Thumb Up

I've ordered mine from Amazon

The long delay between Amazon and retail outlets sucks, but I can do the wait thing.

The iPad 2 is an amazing device, I've had the original since launch. I was really getting interested in Honeycomb the more I saw of it. This device, however, has completely won me over. The format is perfect. I get on fine with touchscreen but do miss the keyboard of a laptop for the "big typing" that I often get up to. Being a trained touch typist I find that I make too many mistakes on the touchscreen that just slows me down - it is really difficult to type slowly, and forget one-finger poking. The ability to clamp on a keyboard for such marathons suits me just fine.

Otherwise, the tablet format is already sold to me, I use one daily, often for work these days (although the firm won't buy me one, I have to use my own). The paradigm works.

As these devices are so easy to connect in these times, be it by built-in 3G or tethered then working with docs is a piece of cake if you're not averse to Google Docs or similar cloud services.

Forget iOS vs Android vs WebOS etc ... This is the future happening right now. Time to just get on with it.

Microsoft tablet OS to see light of day in 'autumn 2012'

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FAIL

Microsoft? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

That is all.

Tainted apps worm into official Android store

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Pint

Google pulled 'em

According to reports it didn't take too long for Google to pull the offending apps from Market. Not only that but they also OTA removed the apps from affected handsets. Given the circumstances it seems that this action happened as fast as was reasonably possible.

I don't think that this is time for the usual pissing contest to kick off. All systems can be infected by such malwares if the intentions are there. It doesn't have to come from the device's app store, it could equally be a web-based exploit or somesuch. There is no high ground, we're all in this together and would better turn our outrage against the Malware developers. Personally I would have their heads on pikes along Westminster Bridge.

O2's free Wi-Fi in detail: How free is free exactly?

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Flame

Your pet hates ...

Grow up and get a fucking life! Who gives a toss about your pet hates?

If I want to leave my WiFi on all of the time - and I do, 24x7x365 with no detriment to my battery - it is entirely up to me. Who died and made you God? We certainly do not require your particular approval or blessing. Sheesh!!

It really is mind boggling that you even have a modern smartphone, coming out with nonsense like that.

NB: I don't often, if at all, rant. But you've helped me make an exception to my rule. Twat.

Microsoft steers OEMs away from putting Phone 7 on Tablets

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FAIL

Ballmer, the day it happened ...

I said, the day it happened, that Mr Ballmer would be the complete ruination of M$. Won't be too long now ...

£180 7in Android tablet launched

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They're rubbish because ...

The ubercheap ones are running an older version of Android (in this case 1.6) than what is coming out right now. As such, they are Android of course, but they will not necessarily be as functional as the newer devices sporting Android 2.1 and later.

Google are already about the fragmentation of Android and these cheaper devices are going to add to the confusion. It won't be long before the word Android will be associated with "junk", maybe.

Look, if you know exactly what you are doing by buying one of these cheap £180 or £110 priced Android tablets then go ahead, fill your boots. As long as you know that some will not have 3G radios in them, being WiFi only - it is not absolutely clear that is the case.

Next fashions budget 10in Android tablet

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FAIL

Dope!

To be a ripoff the iPad would have had to come after this device.

Do try harder next time.

iPhone mules are taking our handsets, damnit!

My New Handle
Flame

Xenophobic? WTF??

"Well done for pointing out the Daily Mail's typical xenophobic crap."

And how did you make that leap dear? The Daily Mail and El Reg report on a factual matter and just because the report mentions foreign people you pull out the Race Card? How completely pathetic and immature. Why don't you grow yourself a pair and just deal with life as it is.

The fact is that these queues are there, people (including British-hating xenophiles like yourself) can go along any day of the week and see them there. They are disadvantaging bona fide IK customers, fact. So whats this then? Too many facts for your intellect to handle?

UK.gov outlines plans to comply with new EU telecoms rules

My New Handle
FAIL

Upto = Misleading? No, not really

Those calling for the abolition of "up to" speeds are missing a salient point. It is impossible to accurately predict what a customer will get in ADSL technology because of the inability to compensate for bad quality home wiring, the bane of all ADSL providers.

Two adjacent properties could receive widely different ADSL broadband speeds even if they are fed by the same street cabinet. The chances of the internal house wiring being of identical topology and quality are slim to non-existent. And so it is completely impractical, unfeasible and unfair on the providers to have to be held to account for "misleading speeds".

But hey! Why spoil a good government soundbite?

Forcing the quoting accurate ADSL speeds under UK or EU statute is an exercise in impracticability. Or would everyone be happier with a speed quote of "from 128Kbps"?

BT's onshoring call centres scheme continues

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Grenade

Don't piss on my back and tell me its raining

"...the move was not about customer service because standards were very similar around the world."

Complete poppycock. Do these spokesmen read what they are about to say? Do the marketing departments think we are al completely brain dead and believe that crap. Do these BT flossers even use their own call centres? Because if they did they would not be spouting this kind of crap at us. It is patronising and insulting - which is why I refuse to use BT for anything at all.

Frankly, I'd rather not have a service at all than submit myself to the BT that exists today.

I certainly do not wish to indulge in the abortion that is their off-shore call centre.

Jailbreak hole in iOS 4.1 will be hard to close

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FAIL

Lets see how glad you'll be when

Samsung do their usual stuff and don't bother to offer an update to the Android OS.

You're going to have to try very much harder than that, sunshine.

My New Handle
FAIL

I thought so ...

"If, however, you have lots more money than you need, it's a snip."

Which is precisely why I bought one each for all the family. "I'm sorry, we only have the 32GB model" offered the Apple store salesperson. "I should damn well hope so" said I.

£20 for your handset? Don't bother me with your reverse-snobbishness. There's nothing great in being poor. Deal with it.

Greenland ice loss rates 'one-third' of what was thought

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FAIL

Another inconvenient truth

The sky is not falling. Goldilocks does not exist. Man-made global warming is a myth.

And in other news - Al Gore gets a new mention http://tinyurl.com/29gy7ya Now that is what I call "inconvenient".

I particularly like "... the global warming huckster that flies around the planet on private jets and lives in a home that consumes 45 times the energy of the average American ..."

Precisely.

Fennec squeezes into Android users' pockets

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Thumb Up

Buggy as hell ...

Its a good preview but does seem a bit buggy in places. Lots of freezes on offer. But all the same, as a functional demo it is worth a look.

Don't forget to save to SD - its 22.4MB in size! Makes Adobe Flash seem almost sylph-like.

Home Office unveils new UK passport

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Flame

Won't somebody think of ...

... the children?

Oh for fucks sake, can we please all just stop the infantilisation of this planet of ours. Not every single adult is a pedophile child-snatching monster. Yes, dear, I know they exist, but so do bogey-men. Ships sink but we don't drain the ocean.

So the dear child has a passport to prove that the adults are mummy and daddy - and that makes it safe so that you can sleep at night? Grow the fuck up, haven't you heard of forgery? Wouldn't it just be easier to fly out to the country of your choice and grab yourself a local? When in Rome and all that. Why take the chance of dragging little Johnny or Susie through an abundance of CCTV and no end of jobsworth checkers in the dim and distant hope that said infant is going to keep their gob shut long enough for you to get them to your destination.

Look, its simple. Shit happens to some people. But we really do not have to shut down all normality to protect all 25billion of us just because ...

Keep this up and we'll have to sit perfectly still in our front rooms unless we have a permit to move!

Jobs tells iPhone users to get a grip

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Coat

I dunno what the fuss is all about

It is shiny. What more could anyone want. And yes, I actually do have one. I'm polishing my feeelthy handprints off of it right now.

My New Handle
FAIL

The problem there ...

... is that it is on O2 mate. What a god-awful notwork that is. Only when my iPhone 3GS took its first breath of Vodfone 3G did it begin to perform for the first time in its short life! So absolutely no surprises there that the iPhone 4 phenomenon is even more expressed than it might be on any other network on this planet!

Don't send it back - get it supplied on another network.

Prisoner of iTunes - the iPad file transfer horror

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Stop

Numbers comes with plenty

Numbers comes with 26 (sixteen) different templates to choose from. For the life of me I cannot see or imagine how you deleted any of them! There appears to be no way of doing that.

Oz customs search lappies and mobes for smut

My New Handle
Grenade

Between the ...

... Redback and Funnel Web spiders, Box Jellyfish, Brown Snake, Tiger Snake, Stone Fish and this cretinous lot of Customs officials there really isn't that much that appeals to me about Australia. It is one of those countries that, oddly enough, I find myself liking less and less each time I read stuff like this. No wonder so many of them escape to our [relatively] sunnier shores.

Those poor Aboriginies - what the hell did they do to deserve their invading hordes?

O2 to release Palm pair on iPad day

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FAIL

@Good luck to 'em

"The more the world realises how much better alternatives to the iPhone are the better."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

That is all.

Android on an iPhone? There's an app for that

My New Handle
Stop

A bijoux bit wrong there

My iPhone bought on PAYG, unlocked by Apple (via O2) and now running a Vodafone 30-day SIM-only. So how are Apple exactly making any "slice" out of my calls or monthly SIM-only rental? The rest of the diatribe is marketing, not control. Jeezus - you lot make me laugh - if you were in business would you be prepared to give it all away? Oh hang on, maybe thats why you're not the successful business Apple is, 'cos they're not brain dead stupid.

Back on topic - I can't see the real point of running Android on the iPhone hardware other than simply to say that it can be done, and someone's actually done it. It isn't two fingers up at Steve Jobs or Apple or whomever. Its pure and simply a feat of technical dexterity performed on some hardware. And not particularly suitable hardware at that (lack of buttons required by Android).

So get real people. Cool down. Its just a phone stupid.

Microsoft: Oracle will take us back to 1970s hell

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Thumb Up

Agree

Oh I completely agree with you sir. It is as plain as the nose on one's face if just looked without MS rose-tinted specs on.

3 gets Desire

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2G on 3? You're kidding, right?

It would make no commercial sense for 3 to allow the handset to be switched to 2G. The 3 UK company has zero 2G capability and relies upon other operators to supply that.

That said - even if 3 do get all hissy fit and have the setting removed from Android it is a simple case to install a stock Android ROM to replace the 3-customised version. Or perhaps a custom ROM would be even better option. Once rooted the opportunity to run any Android app becomes open to you.

Researchers rip iPad apart to reveal Apple's profits

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FAIL

Fail to that, sir

Everyone knows that if you tried to buy all the individual part to a car/motorcycle/WHY at retail/trade you will end up paying more than twice what you would pay for the fully assembled item. So not much of an analogy there then.

Like others have said - Apple have a whole set of operating costs that many others do not. You could start with the Apple stores worldwide. You could then go on to their after sales service both in-store (extraordinary by any measure) and on-line. Apple's prices generally reflect a premium product delivered and support by a premium route. Of course, you get to choose whether or not you actually want any of that or not. Don't like it? Then don't moan about Apple's pricing, go by Acer or something more budget.

The iPad may make it on its own merits or not. For sure, there will be those that buy it just because. Others will not. Who cares really? None of this is newsworthy, just a bit of muck-raking for the fun of seeing the anti-anything-Apple got into the ritual mouth-frothing at the latest morsel to vent their faux rage at. Oh well, if it floats you boat, I suppose.

Adobe to Jobs: 'What the Flash do you know?'

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FAIL

@Henry Wertz 1

In the words of Captain Mainwaring ... "Stupid boy!"

If you want to make a point then don't go on to show us all your deep-seated prejudices against anything-at-all-Apple. No one cares. Get it?

Multitasking is not the be-all and end-all of an OS. Stability, reliability and, in the case of a mobile device, battery consumption are much more important.

Regardless of whether it is Adobe Flash's fault or that of the websites hosting poor quality Flash code is irrelevant. The user experience is the same, crap. That developers of such websites struggle to write decent Flash code may well speak volumes about the weaknesses in Flash and its implementation for browsers.

So the only Fails here are Adobe and your entirely subjective bleatings. Good luck with that.

Windows 7 upgrades Vista laptops to lower battery life

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FAIL

Wala!

The last time I heard that was from Omid Jalili in Hammersmith. Does he read The Reg?

Win 7 has worked okay on the Samsung NC10 that several variants of Ubuntu have had difficulty with. They seem a matched pair (not sure that is a good thing really).

What a pi55er that M$ are still making the cock-ups that they have always. Fewer, perhaps. But they still have the talent for breaking the simplest but most impacting. I'd cop the complete arse if I had bought a replacement battery on the strength of Win 7's dubious warning. One wonders how many people have done just that ...

Epic ...

Confirmed: no iPad iBooks for Blighty

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Paris Hilton

Getting mugged

So you're sitting on the bus/tube/train reading that paper copy of the latest and greatest and everyone ignores you.

The next week you're sitting on the same bus/tub/train coming home one evening and decide to read the Metro or somesuch reading material on your new iPad. Six weeks later you come out of your coma in hospital minus your iPad having been relieved of it by some regular thieving git. The attraction of "shiny shiny" was too much for the Neaderthal who decided that it would fund his next session of drug-induced oblivion.

Its risky enough taking an iPhone out of your pocket let alone this darned thing. As that old song goes ... "I can see trouble ahead ...."

Paris, 'cos she's nothing but trouble also

Motorola ends mobile sell off

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Paris Hilton

Market share?

"Motorola has seen its previously decent market share for handsets shrink thanks new players like Apple and stronger competition from the likes of Samsung."

Allow me to rephrase that ... "Motorola has seen its previously decent market share for handsets shrink thanks to making shit devices that no one wants". There, that reads so much better now.

Really, with their new Android handsets they are beginning to stand a chance of some small description. But even the Droid is let down by some corner cutting with its atrocious camera, and that in its flagship handset. Will they never learn?

One has to wish them luck at their attempted renaissance. But if I were a betting man, I wouldn't be betting on them not repeating the same mistakes as they made before. Leopard, spots and that sort of stuff...

Paris, 'cos she's something no one wants either

Nokia posts proposal for next year's smartphone UI

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FAIL

It is a duck if ...

... it waddles like a duck, it quacks like a duck and it swims like a duck then it is a bleedin duck! Got it Nokia?

Symbian is so past its sell by date. The right thing would be to just put it out of our misery.

ntl:Telewest forgets who its customers are

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Grenade

The age of accountability is over

Led by our politicos, it is no surprise to see enterprise wear thick coats of teflon. I reckon that I am well out of Virgin Media nee Telewest, the shower of shites that they were.

AWOL SDK kicks off Nexus One backlash

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Not true ... no need to root to update

All you need to update from Cupcake to Donut was a copy of the new OS image file. The actual update was a piece of cake not requiring root access at all.

When Donut arrived I simply updated mine rather than wait for the OTA. There is plenty of help on the forums as to how to do this.

Samsung's Galaxy stuck in history

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FAIL

Buy a product only based on what it does now

Crap! What a load of bollocks.

Lets just get this in perspective.

To date, all iPhone OS updates have been free of charge and applicable to all of the iPhone hardware. Apple churned out three distinct versions of their OS X for each device. Thank you very much.

Since the launch of the iPhone all of the nay-sayers have had their knickers in a right old twist. They've hailed S.J. as the great Satan himself, Apple as a latter-day Hades and the iPhone as the Devil's own semen or somesuch. And so as each and every manufacturer pushed out their own touchscreen Phone it was hailed as the next "iPhone killer".

So the expectation is established - that all of these modern touchscreen smartphones would be at least on a par, if not better than, the iPhone. And that would also set the expectation of OS updates to improve and develop the handset over time. There is also an expectation that such a handset would not be wholly obsolete within the first six months of its life!

Android-based handsets are no exception, and even they are hailed as the next "iPhone killer", although one has yet to actually achieve that state.

Personally, I wouldn't touch a Samsung phone with the proverbial barge-pole, not even with the shitty end of a stick. Their customer support for their handsets is pathetic. Why would anyone expect Samsung, of all, to support the Android community with updates to it's handsets? This is normal Samsung behavior.

If their Galaxy was a sub £100 device SIM-free then maybe this kind of "disposable" culture would be acceptible, if not entirely green. But it is not, I note that in the UK it is still priced between £350 and £400. So we're not looking at a commodity-priced device, this is premium product and so the expectation of support for it is not misplaced at all.

Basically it is a case of a massive but not unexpected #fail for Samsung in general and their Galaxy handset in particular. Expect exactly the same with their Android handsets that follow the Galaxy. Like others, I always advise to stay away from Samsung mobile handsets at all costs.

O2 takes a Christmas break

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Paris Hilton

O2 sucking off

The O2 network sucks big sucky things like its national suck day! They are truly awful.

Apple did them a huge favour with the iPhone exclusive. But no amount of PriOrity offers will keep customers, especially those like me who don't bother with their Meejia stuff...

My contract expires 1/2/10 - on that day I shall be calling CS for the one and only time for my PAC that will end up on a 30-day SIM-only Vodafone tariff. I have well and truly had it with O2. I knew it was a mistake going to them. I should have waited it out but, mercy, I couldn't :-)

Paris, 'cos at least when she sucks its got a decent outcome!

Motorola Milestone

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FAIL

I was waiting for this, but ...

... the poor quality camera is a bit of a show stopper for me. I'm going to have to think long and hard between the Milestone or the Google Nexus (or whatever it eventually gets called).

I really did want an Android with a fold out keyboard now. When the G1 first came out I hated it and waited for the HTC Magic (Vodafone) which I enjoy - although it doesn't quite make the iPhone grade. Then I bought an second hand G1 to play around with and the damn thing grew on me like the clap. I now like it quit a lot (the G1, not the clap, that itches like crazy!). So, when the Droid/Milestone hit the headlines it was an immediate draw to me.

This day and age there is no excuse whatsoever for a poor quality camera in a smartphone. It just isn't on. Any manufacturer that manages to screw up the image quality from a 5mpxl camera deserves to suffer the consequences. And, regrettably, I rather think that the Motorola Milestone will not do as well as it could have if the camera were up to scratch. Maybe they can resolve the problem in software - but unless they do in 2.1 that is already out then the future doesn't look too bright - and no doubt there'll quite a few Droid/Milestones on eBay come January 2010.

Shame really ...

Headteachers slam 'disproportionate' vetting database

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Stop

Repeals?

It is interesting and completely scary to note that, so far, not a single opposition party has stated any plan to repeal very many of Nu Labours draconian law-givings. In fact, with all of this silence going on, one can only assume that whichever brand of government wins the next General Election will continue to pass equally bad legislation.

Passing laws because of "... if it saves one <fill in the blank> it will be worth it" is severely flawed thinking and no basis for passing sweeping legislation to replace common sense. It makes for a nation that is very uncomfortable to live in - it makes for making an assumption of guilt to replace the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. We are all criminals unless proven otherwise.

How the hell did we ever get here?

Microsoft grinches W7 Family Pack in US

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FAIL

How do you feel?

I cannot for the life of me imagine why people are getting so upset at Microsoft. This is what they do, we've all seen it before. If people ever thought Billy-boy lacked customer ethics they ain't seen nothing yet. By comparison Ballmer is the great Satan himself (time to change the icons below el Reg).

Having bought the Family Pack to "upgrade" from XP I'm reasonably satisfied. £129 from PCW/Currys Digital was an OK price to pay having experienced the first Beta that convinced me Windows 7 was not Vista reincarnate. But there'd be no way on this blue planet that I'd pay that kind of money for a single licence.

There is a certain element of shooting themselves in the foot, I reckon. This kind of thing only inspires people to get a hold of cracked versions of the OS. M$ have never really understood the consumer model. And so now they face the prospect of continued illicit copies of their OS doing the rounds. The Family Upgrade Pack, being Home Premium, had pulling power. But now I suppose we're back to the bewildering array of five different versions again, together with the confusion and disappointment that is going to cause.

Ballmer, the man able to snatch defeat from the hands of success.

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