Posts by tebiru

Not 'replacing' consoles...

Yes, consoles have other uses, and I don't think services like this would necessarily replace the machines themselves - at least in the short term. Rather, they would provide an alternative to forking out another £3-400 on having the latest tech client-side when the PS4 comes out. Don't forget, console makers often make a loss on the machines - especially the first few years. There is a strong incentive to shift to this model.

To elaborate, Sony could develop an OnLive-style service playable via a simple firmware update on the PS3. Kutaragi spoke of the potential for streaming games many years ago (long before OnLive came about) using Sony's LocationFree TV streaming as an example - it's just he was so cryptic about it that no one really got the implications of what he was saying. This is something that, once fast and truly reliable broadband networks are finally in place, is coming to ALL consoles.

WiFi

What they need to do is allow all WiFi-capable phones route calls over any pre-registered network when it is in range. The only reason I can think of for them *not* doing this yet is that the proportion of phones currently WiFi-capable is still relatively small. That should change as smart phones become more widespread.

Tethering

I've done it a number of times on O2's simplicity tariff without a hitch. How do they know if you're tethering or not? (I know technically you're not 'allowed', but that's not the same as 'can't'.)

I think as long as you do it within reason - i.e. not trying to download films with it - you can get away with it without paying this extra charge.

I've been on the 600 mins 20 / month plan, but thinking of switching to T-Mobile since they offer unlimited data deals from 10 / month without having to sign up for 12 months.

Damned if you do...

Let's face it: this article would have been written no matter what the content of the review was. The BBC is always going to draw massive criticism simply due to its funding model.

Which is probably why it's so brilliant. Sure, it's not subject to the market pressures of the commercial networks, but it IS subject to every other kind of pressure. And I defy you to find a better public broadcaster in the world than the BBC. I've lived in Japan, where the national broadcaster - NHK - has a similar license fee-style funding model. But beyond the news and the odd decent traditional samurai drama, it is absolutely *awful*. It's like TV from 50 years ago, and most Japanese people watch anything but NHK.

The BBC is a real global oddity in being a genuinely popular, innovative public broadcaster. For all the stick it gets for following the latest web 2.0 fads, would you really want it any different? Would you prefer it to be like NHK, making the odd decent drama but otherwise being utterly irrelevant to modern society? No boundary-pushing documentaries (the recent, brilliant, Virtual Revolution, for instance) and comedies (Bellamy's People), no BBC website, no iPlayer?

All that said, please do continue criticising. It's probably what keeps the BBC brilliant. Just be careful you don't kill it in the process.

Auto-correct

One thing that's been sorely missing, and that I miss about Outlook, is auto-correct. Surprised Google hasn't added this yet.

Nintendo

The similarity with Nintendo is striking, and has become increasingly so. Nintendo, in the years between the Super Nintendo and the Wii, had among the smallest market shares in the games industry, but has nearly always been - by quite a distance - the most profitable. All the while, its rivals slugged it out over meaningless 'market share' at the expense of their profit margins. (Nintendo's platform is also the most closed, and like Apple's, the most simple and user-friendly. Funny, that.)

In any case, while Apple appears content with the low-volume, fat-profit strategy for now, I'd argue it won't be long before they start expanding the range, iPod-style, to hit all segments of the market. Given how world + dog wants an iPhone but can't afford/isn't prepared to fork out for one at current pricing, I'd wager we've only seen a hint of Apple's future dominance of the mobile industry.

So what?

This article misses the point. Google has been reluctantly pushed into releasing a phone as a mere promotional device for Android. They clearly never wanted to do this, but because no single device has ever stood out to sing the praises for the platform, the big G has been forced to do it themselves.

What we have here is little more than a dressed-up, G-endorsed HTC phone. It is not Google attempting to take the iPhone's crown. It's part of a long, drawn-out attempt to take the phone OS crown. As a mere means to an end, whether the Nexus alone is 'as successful' as the iPhone is far less important than whether Android itself is ultimately successful.

Try Be

I'm not with them any more as I'm currently overseas, but if I were in the UK I'd go back to Be in a heartbeat. Very reliable after some initial early hiccups, and good, responsive, unpatronising customer service. I'm not sure if the O2 buyout has affected things since, but back in 2007 they were excellent.

I have the Gmail app...

...and turned on the 'Notify me when I have new email' option, but I have yet to get one alert, after a month of using it on my W890i. I wonder why?

Just to inject some balance into this...

It's not the phrases themselves that are the problem, it's how you use them. A lot of them are quite convenient and make sense when used appropriately and in the right context. Where people should object is when they're used purely for vanity. But it's wrong to say that the concepts themselves are meaningless.

Not to spoil a good joke...

...but that's not necessarily incorrect. You can say 'Innocent kids' as a single brand name. In which case an apostrophe isn't necessary between the 'kids' and 'juices'. For example, you would say 'Innocent juices' not 'Innocent's juices'.

Off the top of my head, a few advantages:

1. Data can be accessed from anywhere, from a variety of devices.

2. Software upgrades a far more painless procedure - almost invisible to the user

3. Potential for processing power-intensive software to be accessed at very little cost vs buying the hardware yourself (particularly handy if your usage of said software is quite limited, or one-off)

And I'm sure there's plenty I've missed, but those are pretty compelling reasons, I'd say.

@kerlmann

The problem is that you can't even look at the website from abroad, not get the phones delivered. I currently live in Japan and was looking around for which phone to get when I return to the UK, only to find that the O2 site doesn't seem to like foreign visitors...

I wonder whose brilliant idea that was.

ugh, DRM

Why is it that BBC podcasts don't come riddled with this rubbish? What exactly is the difference - aside from one being audio, one being visual?

Given that license payers have already paid for their content, I fail to see the justification of this DRM, self-destruct system they've concocted.

Of course I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those idiotic anti-BBC 'safeguards' imposed by the government to 'maintain competition'.

I wish mobile companies would look at Japan...

They keep whining about spending so much on 3G and not being able to get people to use it - why don't they look at Japan, where mobile Internet browsing/email has been the norm for pretty much the past decade?

It's partly about tariffs. Data bundles are a fundamental part of tariffs in Japan - in the UK (and I gather the west in general), they're offered as an extra. The only exception I've seen to this is T-Mobile's web'n'walk.

It's also about ease-of-use and good software integration. Push email is by far the most commonly used function on a phone in Japan - text messaging became obselete a long time ago. The reason for this is similar to the tarriffs issue - email is not treated as an extra, but as one of the main functions of the phone. Thus it's as easy to get to and use as SMS.

You could argue it's a chicken/egg situation, where until people demand this kind of thing it's not going to happen... I just wish one of the networks would have the balls to bring about the (relatively simple) changes to tarriffs and software that could get things moving in the right direction - to the benefit of both consumers and networks.

the difference, Dave...

...is that it's an *option* to access the data offline. Combined with the option to access such data from anywhere with an internet connection, this is pretty nifty. It removes one of the key advantages desktop apps still have over online apps.

buttons

It's a shame about the buttons. I can't stand buttons that dig into your fingers, or where you have to use your finger nails to push them properly.

If they released the same phone with a similar keypad to the W800, I'd grab it in a flash.