Technology Android

[THEV1LL4N]

HTC just unlocked the bootloader for the G1.

 

[masta247]

HTC just unlocked the bootloader for the G1.

Seriously? Just in time.

 

[Flipmo]

Sony Xperia S review - in case someone was curious.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/5/2841547/sony-xperia-s-review

 

[masta247]

And an in-depth comparison vs the Galaxy S2:

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_s_vs_samsung_galaxy_s_ii-review-734.php

 

[masta247]

A new low/mid-end from Sony, and to me it might be the best phone design ever, I'm in love with it:

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_pepper_goes_official_is_the_sony_xperia_sola-news-3970.php

Imho these look great. I'm absolutely in love with the design. It's just that Sony are spamming the market with a bit too many phones if you ask me, it might cost them more in the long run and people are going to pick between this one and Xperia U anyway, while they're very similar spec-wise - and I'm sure most are going to pick this one over Xperia U.

 

[masta247]

Also these new Sony phones have that cool "floating touch" feature that let's you hover over objects in the browser for example. Look here at 0:30:

It basically detects your fingering hovering over the screen and makes a distinction between that and touching the screen. I love it.
Sony have packed a lot of great new tech into their new phones, that I'm pretty sure everyone else will copy and it'll be for the good of the end customer since these are really great features.

 

[Pittsey]

I like Floating Touch.

 

[S O F I]

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jw_on_tech/archive/2012/03/13/why-i-left-google.aspx

i can see his point and understand it. but he went to work for msft.....

 

[Pittsey]

^^

He didn't really offer much information. What does he mean by lack of vision and entrepreneurism? On one hand having some order is good, but to take away the creative freedom within Google, would be bad.

 

[S O F I]

what he means is that the focus is so strong on social search and competing with facebook that your vision and entrepreneurship have to be aligned with that goal. for example, google is famous for giving employees 20% of their time to do what they want and come up with ideas and create products/programs. but if what you're creating is only going to get taken up by google if it helps them beat facebook, then it's not really free time to do what you want, but free time to make products directly aligned with "social". if that makes sense. that's what the article seemed to tell me, anyway.

 

[masta247]

But they're not going to beat Facebook. They lost their momentum some time ago and I doubt they're going to get much further. From the start I doubted in Google+. I never felt a need to create an account there and little of my friends use it. At some point I thought that it might become the secondary social network, but now it feels like its best moments are behind us.

Google+ shouldn't be a focus for Google, it's one of their least successful products. I bet that it does generate profit but it's a very fragile point to focus on.
It's like their higher management does things they don't understand, because the excel guys started ruling the company. I understand this guy, but on another hand that's what happens often if you work for a huge, dynamic company.

 

[Pittsey]

what he means is that the focus is so strong on social search and competing with facebook that your vision and entrepreneurship have to be aligned with that goal. for example, google is famous for giving employees 20% of their time to do what they want and come up with ideas and create products/programs. but if what you're creating is only going to get taken up by google if it helps them beat facebook, then it's not really free time to do what you want, but free time to make products directly aligned with "social". if that makes sense. that's what the article seemed to tell me, anyway.

I understand that. But is that what Google are really saying... Or is that just his perception of it.

Also... With Google+ I believe google are trying to build one eco-system for your connected life. It links all their products together to give them more focus. If it works, it would be brilliant. I think G+ is potentially better than facebook, and offers more. But like Masta said, people see no reason to move. It doesn't offer too much more... Google+ will only get facebook users when facebook mess up, not through good work from Google.

Google still has many industry leading products. Not everything they touch will be a success. And a monopoly isn't good for the consumer. As long as there are lots of competing companies, we will do better for it.

 

[S O F I]

I need urgent help. My power button wore out. It's not functioning. What's a good app to use to lock and unlock screen using volume buttons?

 

[ARon]

I forget what its called but something like key mapper maybe

 

[ARon]

Buttonremapper

 

[S O F I]

i downloaded two last night - fix broken power button (no, really) and lock screen. They function well together so I guess I won't revert back to the G1 after all. That was a huge scare, though. When my car's engine died, I cared less.

 

[Pittsey]

Some Linux news -

It's landed at last, Linux Kernel 3.3, which most notably, reintegrates Google's Android into the mainline for the first time, in quite some time.
Curious readers may have noticed that even on their Android 4.0 devices, the Linux kernel has remained at version 2.9.x with only the most recent Android 4.0.3 releases integrating the 3.0 kernel, primarily for bug-fixing purposes, with the OS falling behind major changes made in kernel versions 3.1 and 3.2.
Android, as a rapidly evolving OS, features many bespoke subsystems and rush modifications from manufacturers of new SoCs and devices, that make it difficult and slow to integrate with mainline Linux, a process which firms looking to ship products can't wait for. Whilst the reintegration into mainline Kernel 3.3 may now help reduce the difference between Android development and mainline development, there's no guarantee that the same splitting process will not happen again, though with any luck to a lesser extent than before. In the meantime, new chips and hardware supported since Kernel 2.9 should now be available to developers looking to load-up such devices with Google Android.

 

[masta247]

So it's like I said, One S eats One X for breakfast.

http://www.tchnws.com/tech-news/htc-one-s-smashes-basemark-es-2-0-taiji-benchmark-is-number-one/
http://www.htc-one-x.de/vergleich/htc-one-x-vs-one-s-benchmark/

It maxes Nenamark - the first device to do so.

 

[masta247]

But.. the pictures taken by those phones... SUCK BIG TIME!
HTC dare to boast about this one on their blog. Just zoom in, it hurts eyes though.

 

[S O F I]

you're always strung up on the camera quality. who gives a shit. they look fine to me.