Tag Archives: QOTDs

Are you locked in to the mobile platform you are currently using and do all of the apps, connection with other devices outweigh your possibility of moving to another smartphone, even if it could be better?

This came from a comment by Neil yesterday in response to my thoughts that the iPhone is no longer the best smartphone out there- “Hmm… I’m unconvinced. I am not sure that the iPhone ever was “the leader”, so to speak – it had something about it (primarily the interface), but that was about it. There were better phones for reception for day one, for example, yet people compromised on this to have an iPhone.

Perhaps, come renewal time, people will reconsider – but I don’t think many consumers would upgrade whilst still within a contract, given the cost. And, once you’re in the Apple ecosystem, I’d have thought it rather hard to break out unless you are willing to rebuild what you have with Apple on your own; technically, not impossible, but harder to match aspects of the user experience, but I guess it all depends on whether you “just” have an iPhone, or more products too. Similarly, given the investment in apps, I genuinely wonder how much people feel locked in to an iPhone (or the Android platform etc.).

In short, I’m not sure it’s ever been the best phone out there, but I think people overlook its foibles and buy them anyway.

Perhaps, as you say, this will change, but, in the short term, I’m not convinced.”

Which network provider are you with and have you any intention to move in the future? It’s 3 for me at the moment and I will likely stay with them for as long as they perform well.

When was the last time your smartphone crashed and what caused it? My iPhone 4 crashed last week and I had to leave it attached to my Mac for 20 minutes to bring it back to life. Made me think twice about jailbreaking…

Picture this. A smartphone is released with every feature you want- 128GB of memory, 4G speeds, massive screen etc. etc. What is the maximum you would pay for your perfect device?

It has been one hell of a fortnight for digital privacy. First up Apple came under fire because the iPhone kept data on user movements for longer than it should. Then Sony had an even bigger setback with the PlayStation network hack which looks likely to rumble on and on. Sony has rightly come under scrutiny for its part in the hack, but not so many are complaining about the evil b*stards who did the hacking in the first place. It is like we push all of the blame onto the victims, which Sony is as well, and not so much on the perpetrators.

And now TomTom has admitted to selling customer data which was used by the Dutch police to build targeted speed traps. To be clear the data was sent anonymously, but that is irrelevant in this case. If I use my TomTom every day to drive to and from work, it is not exactly difficult to work out that it is me should anyone have need to track my movements. It is not good at all, but I guess that TomTom is currently looking into a gloomy horizon. Smartphones, or in particular the iPhone, offer TomTom a small lifeline, but even this is under threat if the rumours about Apple building its own navigation solution prove true. I can’t see where TomTom, and many of the others, are going to go next, but it does not excuse selling customer data for one minute.

It can make you paranoid about your online privacy; email spammers trying to get your bank account details, websites loaded with code to track your online movements and so many other areas where you can potentially fall foul of security breaches.

So what is the solution? Well, short of terminating your digital world completely all I have to offer is to use a different password for each online account, use a credit card that is purely for online purchases (if it gets hit you won’t miss it for a while) and to be careful every step of the way. It’s a shame we have to do all of this and an even greater shame that the big companies charged with our protection are also struggling to protect us adequately.

Do you update your mobile apps whenever they are available? I must admit that I do every single time, but know others who have more than 50 updates waiting and they are not fussed at all.

What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful mobile phone ever made? Jump to the next article for my choice.

Do you keep a digital diary of events or do you still keep a paper diary? Maybe you don’t keep one at all. I didn’t for a long time, but now have 556 days of diary entries in Awesome Note with photos etc. and it is always fascinating to look back at what happened this time last year. It also makes a great record for me to keep of my children.

How many different sources of information do you use on your mobile device to get news, friend updates etc.? It can become overwhelming, but I use Twitter, web, TUAW, Guardian, Tech News, The Next Web and a few others. Too many apps to check at times.

Do your various bits of computer equipment talk to each other directly? On the whole mine do not; the iPhone syncs with my Mac Mini once a month and my netbook talks to neither of them.

How much are you swayed by the phones your friends and family use? Is it likely to influence your buying decision or do you decide purely on what you need?

What is your experience of children and computers? Do you think they have picked up the digital world quicker than you did? As per the article below, they just seem to pick up the latest technology so easily that it makes me feel really old…

Good question from Bob today. Has anyone ever completely read the terms and conditions under which we supposedly purchase things? Please remember that I’m not a lawyer.

We may well own something outright, but we do not own where we use it. The automobile is a good example of this one. Actually you can do almost whatever you want to your automobile, but you then may not be able to drive it on roads that you don’t own. By driving on those roads, you agree to follow certain terms and conditions, in other words, laws. I said almost, because I’m sure that there are some things you can’t do. Perhaps setting a car on fire?

We are usually granted a license to use software. We don’t own it meaning that we can’t do what we want with it. Likewise purchased music, movies, etc. One of the conditions is usually that we will not reverse engineer or modify the software.

With mobile phones, you are purchasing the phone and you own it but you don’t own the software or operating system. Courts have ruled that you can make whatever changes you want to your phone, including jailbreaking. I must say that I was somewhat surprised at that because jailbreaking must include reverse engineering to figure out how to jailbreak.

However, if you want to use the service provider’s network, they are fully within their rights to restrict usage to non-jailbroken phones. Just like you are fully within your rights not to let anyone eat in your car.

Do you believe that your smartphone aids you when trying to input data? I have to say that my iPhone, and all touch screen phones, have proved problematic for me so far and I long for a decent keyboarded iOS / Android solution.

Which hardware manufacturer do you trust the most to build a quality smartphone / tablet and to offer decent after-sales support? I would go for Samsung for hardware and Apple for after-sales support.