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* Posts by thegambles

7 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Feb 2014

Rejecting Sonos' private data slurp basically bricks bloke's boombox

thegambles
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Re: Logitech Squeezecenter

I also took the Slimdevices / Squeezebox route a long time ago with many hundreds of CDs stored in FLAC (and Apple Lossless for those stupid devices) on a couple of servers at home (Heavily upgraded MediaSmart and a QNAP TS-453A). I was very sad that they discontinued them. I still have a pre-logitech Slim Devices Squeezebox, One of the LCD touch screen ones and two Booms. The biggest issue with them is frankly something unforgivable that has happened with many other things including £300 Philips shavers - the rubberised finish on the remotes and Booms has de-vulvanised making them sticky and prone to collecting dust. They must have selected cheap / untested rubbers which breaks down over a relatively short life. The hardware should be fine for many years to come. I also understand that some have had problems with the Boom speakers with separating cones - again a clear manufacturing fault. As a result the Booms have now been locked away and replaced with the HEOS7s. Unacceptable really.

I have since upgraded my Denon (largely to support 4K and DV) to a 4400 which has HEOS support. That works well and I've added to HEOS7s to other rooms. I can either control everything from the Amp or each speaker from the HEOS App. The kids connect over BT, and I use WiFi / ethernet to stream the same FLAC files to the speaker. Works great and has no privacy issues I've seen so far. The audio is at the high end of what Sonos deliver - some would say better.

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thegambles
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Re: Logitech Squeezecenter

I still run SqueezeCenter on a MediaSmart with a backup on a new QNAP VM in case the former fails to support my two Squeezebox Booms, one Touch and one original Squeezebox. They run beautifully with Flak lossless and provide good TuneIn integration.

I do have to be honest though, they sometimes drop off the network for no good reason and the UI is less than perfect. My wife now has an Echo Dot connected to her Kitchen Boom with Line In always enabled so she can more reliably listen to Radio 4 Extra.

Paul

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Sacre bleu! Apple's high price, marginal gain iPhone strategy leaves it stuck in the mud

thegambles
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Compare like with like

I know it's easy to say Windows CE / Mobile / Phone was crap and didn't provide a viable interface for web and mail, but much like people look at iDevice releases and see old copied technology as new, when the only new thing was the face matching emoji, you're not comparing like with like. Windows Mobile 5 with a good skin and after market apps (WM was more about after market even for core apps) was already do almost as easily and elegant (if that was what you wanted) as the 2007 iPhone. When the latter came out it was also hugely flawed - no cut and paste, no viable mobile data - I could go on.

By 2009, the HTC HD2 came out only 12 months after the iPhone 3G (the first really viable iPhone in my book). As a device it was leagues ahead of the iPhone of that generation with a bigger higher resolution capacitive display. It was also faster with better battery life and arguably the best and most sensibly built phone ever. It was thin, very hard wearing (had very strong alu rear that enabled replaceable battery and SD storage). WM6.5 at the time could be made to work almost exactly like the iPhone if you wanted it, but could also get hideously and wonderfully complex with full desktop like apps (Softmaker Office etc) if you wanted it. Yes, this wasn't for everyone, but looking at innovation - it was great. Beyond this it was amazingly future proof. I, like many migrated to Android and upgraded for years to later releases. Re stability - running aftermarket Android ROMs on a 5 year old device was demonstrable more stable than a 3 year old iPhone that was supposedly endlessly updateable. WM6.5 was a good, stable OS that was targeted at people that wanted a bit more control and options and the best 6.5 device in 2009 was leagues ahead of the iPhone. We mustn't keep comparing the first W CE device with the later iDevices and expect to be taken seriously.

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Samsung Galaxy S8: Slimmer bezels, a desktop mode – and yet another me-too AI pal

thegambles

GearVR and hand control

Ya know, I have loved my Note4 and was eager to get a Note7. I was put off before the exploding battery issue by what seemed like little extra function and indeed some lost capability.

I have had two iPhone 5s affected by the failed batteries. In the end, they both had replacements which failed (one one, the screen kept lifting which the Apple Store accepted instantly as poor services) and good old Apple gave me brand new devices as a result. The point here though is that I keep a high end device for 3-4 years (probably unusual these days) and even a good battery will not be working well if charged daily after 2-3 years. With the Note 4, I replaced with an Anker battery at just over two years because the original just wasn't holding charge. I had a choice of keeping a device which others have made clear is still able to run everything as well as any current device.

What's more, whilst the Note 7 had a newer camera, when looking at good and low light stills that may be printed to A4, the Note 7 wouldn't have been an improvement. Video was also excellent - no no practical improvement there.

The Note 4 had IR which has been very useful to me when in hotels around the world. Why remove something so clearly useful for some (if not all) ?

Screen was the same on both.

Retina scan a little superfluous as most will use finger print or code anyway. Always happy to have new toy, but not as beneficial as IR.

Clearly Note 7 would get Nougat (contrary to what most say, the Note 4 came with KitKat (v4.x) and was update through 2 major versions (i.e. 5 and 6). At least those updates worked unlike iDevices which lose much of the new iOS version function on updates for purely marketing purposes and older devices stop performing altogether.

Only real plus of Note7 aside from cosmetics was the water proofing. On it's own, that just wasn't enough.

With the S8, I hoped it was going to be good. In the main, it is. It loses IR still and doesn't have stylus which has been very useful on perhaps 10 occasions in 3 years. The lack of the removable battery (which I know is the way things are going so manufacturers are unlikely to listen - especially when including water proofing) is a major concern as I know this very expensive device will need a new one within 3 - 4 years and the lack is therefore built in obsolescence which drives me mad.

Whilst I may still get it, it is the staggering lack of respect Samsung are showing. With previous devices the UK got the Gear VR bundle.

This time around, in the US, they get the new VR and hand controller for pre-orders. In the UK, we get (possibly) an 8 day earlier delivery. That is just taking the piss and may encourage me to wait for something else. After the issues they have had and problems they caused many loyal customers, by maintaining this insanely high price point and having different 'rewards' regionally, they are doing themselves no favours.

Paul.

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Apple wants to buy Formula 1 car firm McLaren – report

thegambles
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Re: Damn

I've never been a fan Vauxhall or Opel with the exception of the Lotus Carlton of course. Some liked the hotter versions of the Corrado G60 and even the Calibra, but they didn't do it for me.

Looking at the whole Opel / Vauxhall thing, I would say that the Manta which is the only Opel ever to hit our shores with the Opel brand was by far and aware a nicer proposition than the dire Cavalier or almost anything else that followed.

Paul

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Maplin Electronics demands cash with menaces

thegambles

They were so much fun

Do you remember those fantastic catalogues with every component under the sun and detailed diagrams and notes outlining how they worked. They sold them in newsagents with superb sci-fi covers. My Dad used to get one every year for Christmas.

I know Electronics as a hobby has reduced to tiny levels (which is a real shame) but their move to sell those 5 minute wonder gadgets that gadget and junk shops provide means they will never recover. It's a race to the bottom. Most of the things that are not in the junk category (CCTV, PC components etc) are either the lowest end of the market (that no one should touch anyway as they usually don't work properly) at massively higher prices than elsewhere or simply way more expensive than the same item in other shops or Amazon. For those that know, it feels like the height of disrespect.

The last time I actually tried to go to them for components, they had one or two small racks with between 0 and 3 of each component they stocked. When designing or building circuits you normally need multiple of the same component. I do hope Farnell recovers. Otherwise, just left with those good folks at Rapid.

Very sad.

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Samsung brandishes quad-core Galaxy S5, hopes nobody wants high specs

thegambles
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Re: Excellent review; but "flaunting"?

And HP / Compaq had in 2004 with the iPAQ 2750 ... I'm really puzzled as to why people ever think this is a big thing. It worked brilliantly on the 2750 and the implementation was pretty much exactly like millions of Lenovo laptops in recent years. It worked ...

I'm sure people will say the Apple one is cool ... but it has been hacked within a week of coming out.

Paul.

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