Mobile phones & tablets thread

[Jag_Warrior]

I've been reading the posts here and I must say that I have been totally left behind in my knowledge of smart phones.

You and me both. And while I have an iPod Touch that I use all the time, I'm still rockin' a 2003 Motorola V60i flip phone. I was determined to make it last a full 10 years - I made it! And what with my new job being different in certain ways than my previous job (if I had WiFi in my car, I could maybe hold out a bit longer!), I guess I'll have to go ahead and join the smartphone crowd later this year. I knew the day would eventually come when I'd have to bury my old friend. And now it's almost here.

The next iPhone is of course my likely choice. But I'm willing to look at this new Blackberry OS too. Apparently for security reasons, Android is the only OS that I can't use on the office network.

[janneppi]

My shiny new Sony Xperia V arrived today.

Black front, weirdly curvy on the back and waterproofing up the wazoo.

Then I realized my current SIM card won't fit in it.

Unless I cut the old SIM card into a micro SIM, I have a tiny Wifi table for two weeks until my new operator ships me a new SIM card.

[Daniel]

I might be wrong but iPlayer don't provide a dedicated app for Blackberry either and they are the third most popular platform in the UK. Although Windows is growing they are still only supplying a small proportion of the market and there is still the fear they won't be anywhere near as popular as the market leaders, Android and iOS. I remember when I first started using Android and app's were slow coming out, and its frustrating. There is the added part where its been reported recently that a couple of hardware manufacturers have paused development on Windows phones because the OS is harder to work with than that of Android. Something Windows perhaps have in common with Apple in that respect. Its not ideal but making the site mobile friendly appears to be the cheaper alternative when there is still uncertainty over whether WP8 will be successful in the long term. One of the reasons I moved to iOS was because of app choice and the quality of app's appears to be of a higher standard. I've re-purchased a few apps I had originally on my HTC and they come with more features and run in a much more stable fashion.

Well, I think with the Lumia 920 and now the 520 and 720, Nokia are going to make some inroads.

Personally I'm not all that bothered, I would be happy if the Beeb site worked as I do sometimes miss the ability to watch videos when a story doesn't have any text, but it's no biggie.

[Daniel]

My shiny new Sony Xperia V arrived today.

Black front, weirdly curvy on the back and waterproofing up the wazoo.

Then I realized my current SIM card won't fit in it.

Unless I cut the old SIM card into a micro SIM, I have a tiny Wifi table for two weeks until my new operator ships me a new SIM card.

I had a tiny wifi tablet (Lumia 800) for about a year, it's actually quite useful to have two phones. At the moment I have three, cancelling my two other contracts over the next month! I will still use my 800 to track exercise and listen to music on, but that'll be it.

[Daniel]

You and me both. And while I have an iPod Touch that I use all the time, I'm still rockin' a 2003 Motorola V60i flip phone. I was determined to make it last a full 10 years - I made it! And what with my new job being different in certain ways than my previous job (if I had WiFi in my car, I could maybe hold out a bit longer!), I guess I'll have to go ahead and join the smartphone crowd later this year. I knew the day would eventually come when I'd have to bury my old friend. And now it's almost here.

The next iPhone is of course my likely choice. But I'm willing to look at this new Blackberry OS too. Apparently for security reasons, Android is the only OS that I can't use on the office network.

10 years! That's amazing! I can't remember the longest I've had a phone for, I guess my e71 is the one that in recent years I've had for the longest, I've still got it (bought in early 2009) and was using it up until July last year, although there was a year where I didn't use it at all.

[henners88]

Well, I think with the Lumia 920 and now the 520 and 720, Nokia are going to make some inroads.

You might be right but I can't see them dominating the market as I think they joined just too late. Bill Gates admits they screwed their mobile strategy up just recently too. I mentioned a few pages back that a friend of mine had the Lumia 920 but they have since swapped for an iPhone and the others I know have very basic entry level WP8 phones. They just don't seem to have the same widespread appeal from my experience. I admit they do a very good job but lack of competitive apps and fashion appeal are making things difficult IMO. Their marketing is good and is on TV most nights I've noticed. If they were set against Android of 2 years ago I think they would be sitting comfortably in second spot behind Apple right now. The fact Blackberry RIM had a year off producing software and Hardware and are still third most successful OS can't be easy reading for Microsoft right now.

[ioan]

You might be right but I can't see them dominating the market as I think they joined just too late. Bill Gates admits they screwed their mobile strategy up just recently too. I mentioned a few pages back that a friend of mine had the Lumia 920 but they have since swapped for an iPhone and the others I know have very basic entry level WP8 phones. They just don't seem to have the same widespread appeal from my experience. I admit they do a very good job but lack of competitive apps and fashion appeal are making things difficult IMO. Their marketing is good and is on TV most nights I've noticed. If they were set against Android of 2 years ago I think they would be sitting comfortably in second spot behind Apple right now. The fact Blackberry RIM had a year off producing software and Hardware and are still third most successful OS can't be easy reading for Microsoft right now.

You can't expect them to have the highest market share after barely a couple of years.
The reason BB is still third is because of extensive business usage which doesn't change that fast cause companies will not buy employees a new shiny phone every time a new player come to the table, it has to become obsolete, brake or be lost before you get a new one.

[henners88]

I'm aware if that ioan yeah.

[ioan]

I'm aware if that ioan yeah.

So, how often did you lose your company phone?!

[henners88]

Not very often if ever. Smashed a couple in the past though. Writing this on my own mobile right now