Monthly Archives: November 2010

1/ What smartphone do you use at the moment and why?

HTC Aria (an Android phone). I had the misfortune of losing my iPhone 4 earlier this year and this was the least expensive smartphone replacement I could find that was decent enough. I actually like Android with HTC’s Sense UI overlaid on it BUT I’d still rather have an iPhone again.

2/ What was the first mobile device (smartphone / PDA) you owned and what are your memories of it?

The original Palm Pilot, believe it or not. I was originally impressed with the ability to have notes, tasks, calendar and contacts on an electronic device, but when I discovered ebooks, I was hooked (yes, ebooks were available in limited quantities even way back then).

3/ How many mobile devices have you owned to date?

Dozens! I don’t even remember them all. With Palm, I went all the way to the T5, but I’ve owned several Windows Mobile devices up to WinMo 6 devices. I gave up on WinMo when I bought the original iPod Touch and then an iPhone 3G followed by an iPhone 4. If I hadn’t lost my iPhone 4, I’d still be using an iPhone.

4/ What’s your favourite book, song and film?

Favourite book, easy: The Holy Bible! Favourite song & film – don’t really have one.

5/ Describe yourself in 30 words?

Technology loving “old” guy!

6/ Anything you would like to add?

I’ve been a lover of technology and gadgets since before many folks were even born! My first computer was a Timex-Sinclair 1000 and I’ve used almost every major O/S and computer brand made over these past 30 years or so. Tech is fun and empowering as long as one isn’t too obsessed with it!

Today’s comment of the day goes to Bob- “I carried a PDA before I ever worried about a phone, but like most, if I could only have one thing on the smartphone, it would be the phone. But then I’d be off to buy a PDA for todos and a calendar.”

This is a subject you may be bored of reading about, but I am going to tackle it anyway.

Last week I linked to an article by Jon Buys called Android Marketplace Inconsistencies in which he said “I love Angry Birds for iOS, so I thought I’d see how the game looked and felt on Android. I searched for “Angry Birds” on the HTC and found two screens worth of knock-offs. Some of these applications took the artwork and Angry Birds name directly from the real game. There was one game called “Angry Avians”, who’s icon looked like a closeup of the red bird from the real game. There were Angry Birds wallpapers, Angry Birds books, and Angry Birds unlockers. I can’t imagine that any of these apps were actually licensed to use either the Angry Birds name or the Angry Birds artwork. They are ripoffs riding the wave of the original games success…”

He concluded his article with this line- “The difference between the two markets feels like the difference between buying from an upscale mall, or buying from a back alley black market.”

Joel popped up on 247 and said-

“Get off your high horses.. I search on my friends iphone (after the app store finally loaded)..
I found, more than 2 pages,
- unoffical walkthroughs
- unofficial pictures
- unofficial ringtones
- unofficial cheat apps
- rip off games like angry pigs and angry zombies, both by other developers and direct rip-offs of angry birds gameplay
- Crash Birds, slightly different POV but still direct rip off of idea and title
- A word game called “Angry Bird” ripping off the title to attract attention.”

Joel is 100% right on this point. There is a lot of Angry Bird ripoff-ness going on in the iTunes App Store as well as the Android Marketplace that Jon handily chooses to ignore.

I then tracked back to Jon’s site and it is all very clinical and minimalist and dare I say it ‘Apple-like’. He strikes me as a bit of a Gruber wannabe who seems to have an obvious bias towards Apple.

On the subject of John Gruber, he is indeed a clever man. Of course he linked to the story mentioned above because it was a slight against a non-Apple product and this is something he tends to do a lot. I can now copy / paste to describe Daring Fireball- it is all very clinical and minimalist and dare I say it ‘Apple-like’.

Daring Fireball is one of very few sites in my daily bookmark list. On the one hand I like the intelligence, I like the unbiased observations, when they are unbiased, but it feels like Steve Jobs texts John every couple of days to say “Print this story or I won’t be your friend anymore.”

I understand people being passionate about Apple products, and with very good reason, but I don’t understand why they develop so many of Apple’s traits- minimalism and an obsessive view of the smallest design details. Neither is a bad thing, but I don’t see the same traits in Microsoft or Android evangelists. Maybe that is why Apple is doing so well, but it still doesn’t excuse the occasional stepping over the line of bias that Jon managed to do last week, and that John was only too happy to repeat. Feel free to ignore the fact that I also linked to Jon’s article…

One other point I wanted to mention. I spent many hours last week writing iPhone app reviews for a project. Out of a list of 50 apps, more than half were really poor and a handful had serious faults to the point that they were unusable. My experience of iPhone apps is that the ones we get to hear about are very good, but there is obviously a substantial amount of rubbish on the App Store as well which got through the approval process. Let’s not pretend it is just Android that suffers this problem.

Oh and another thing. The Beatles pricing on iTunes and the fact that the albums are already swarming the top 100… OK, I won’t go there:)

1/ What smartphone do you use at the moment and why?

As of a few days ago I now use two smartphones.  The HTC Desire and a BlackBerry Bold 9700.  The HTC Desire is my everyday device.  I love the form factor, not too big or too small and is a fantastic all round performer.  Its also nice and slim, even when I have my Case-Mate Barely there case on the device.

Battery is an issue on the Desire, it often needs charging during the day but I can cope with this as I will either charge it up, replace the battery with a spare or clip on an extended battery.

It may not be the newest, but I have the luxury of being able to try any device I like and with the exception of the new Motorola DEFY nothing has tempted me away as yet.

I love Android, how it can be customised…I have no plan or Desire (no pun intend) to change devices yet.

I have also started using a Blackberry Bold 9700, primarily for the email and BBM, which makes it a bit easier for communicating with my customers. I do not do a lot of web browsing but when I do on the 9700 it feels like stepping back into the dark ages, I really do not enjoy the experience.

Overall I still prefer the Desire despite the benefits of the 9700.

2/ What was the first mobile device (smartphone / PDA) you owned and what are your memories of it?

My first smartphone was the i-mate K-jam.  I loved it.  I was only 16 and envied by my friends.  It was fantastic, even with Windows Mobile 5.0.  It was clunky in comparison to some today but it had so much to offer.

3/ How many mobile devices have you owned to date?

Not sure, probably about 8 devices, but used an awful lot more.

4/ What’s your favourite book, song and film?

Book – Anything by Jeremy Clarkson

Song – Tough one, I don’t have a favourite, but any Queen or Phil Collins I love.

Film – Gone in 60 seconds

5/ Describe yourself in 30 words?

An aspirational, highly motivated, organised go getter, with an attention to detail seeking the good and finer things in life, but often forget to stop and just relax.

6/ Anything you would like to add?

I can be a little self confident – some would argue arrogant, but the rumours are NOT true!