Mobile phones & tablets thread

[CaptainRaiden]

EDIT: A funny thing I've noticed in the UK is that people seem to delight in being able to say they spent more than they needed as if it's some sort of status symbol. Person X spends £200 on something and person Y spends £300 and didn't have to rub shoulders with riff raff or shop around. Look at me! I've got more money (and less sense) than you!

I think a lot of people buy most of the Apple products because probably the style appeals to them. There's nothing wrong with that. A practical guy like me wouldn't understand it, but I've seen people spending much more money on luxury items they don't really need, like Italian leather, gold watches etc. etc. And personally I don't have a problem with it, it's their money after all.

Apart from maybe Final Cut Pro, and then the X version, the Macbook has NOTHING else that has ever appealed to me. Yet I've seen people shelling out close to 500 GBP more for the exact same hardware they would get if they buy, let's say, a Dell or an Acer, which IMO is madness! The latest version of Premiere works just as good as FCP if you know how to use it. I used a friend's iPad for a week and couldn't find anything extra it would do that my cheaper laptop wouldn't. It's a little toy which can carry out basic stuff and play basic games. But Apple asking 600 GBP for something like that is unjustified IMO.

[Malbec]

I don't have a problem with the iPad being a nice little toy for technologically-challenged people. The problem I have is, why should I pay the same amount or MORE for something with which I can do MUCH, MUCH lesser? I mean for 600 GBP you get a 64 GB capacity iPad, which is a robbery! It may sound nerdy to you, but I'm not really into getting shortchanged by Apple just to look "cool" in some circles.

Why compare a 600 quid top of the range iPad with a laptop? Most people would be buying the cheapest models in either range.

[CaptainRaiden]

Nor do I have a problem with the laptop being a nice little toy for technologically-geeky people.

(See, we can all do it )

Just so you know, I have NO problem at all being called a geek or a nerd.

[CaptainRaiden]

Why compare a 600 quid top of the range iPad with a laptop? Most people would be buying the cheapest models in either range.

Comparing because the most expensive top of the line iPad 2 still comes with pretty crap hardware. The cheapest iPad has 16 GB capacity. My Samsung Galaxy S has more than that...

[Daniel]

A funny thing I've noticed on this forum is that some guys don't understand that people have needs that go beyond having the best spec possible for the price.

Personally when it comes to meetings I'm a fountain pen and paper man. Electronic stuff merely gets in the way especially when you already have reams of minutes of previous meetings, agenda and various summaries to wade through already. A laptop in such a situation is laughable and merely an annoyance especially given how slow they can be to start up

Arrows' comment about using a drawing app to take notes on is appealing for me even if there is no writing recognition going on, because a tablet in such a situation could actually be handy and replace my easily lost scraps of paper.

Daniel, you keep going on at people who have iPads claiming that other options could perform some other tasks better. I'm sure you're right on paper, unfortunately people don't live their lives on paper.

I understand where you're coming from and I'm not simply focusing on the fact that one machine has more memory than another even if that might appear to be the case.

Laptops shouldn't take that long to boot up. If they are taking a laughable amount of time to boot up then your IT people need a good hiding. My laptop here at work takes ages to boot because my predecessor seems to have installed a load of crap which simply didn't need to be on there. Tbh I think there are probably far more elegant solutions out there for the issue of taking notes in a meeting. I think the world of IT is full of a lot of really unimaginative dullards who like to overcomplicate where simplicity is required and who try to go for the easiest sollution when a bit of lateral thinking or innovation is needed.

Case in point, this new job I started a month or so ago. There are a lot of really basic things which simply don't work, but there are printers in locked rooms with only one person using them which are networked. Why?!?!?!?!? Why the hell overcomplicate that can be so simple. I also have to support some remote sites. One site has a desktop PC and connects over a VPN back to base and of course the VPN needs a 100% stable connection. So when the wireless invariably drops because it's going through quite a bit of wall and crap, the VPN disconnects and the PC is more or less useless. Just cable it ffs or use a powerline adaptor.

I'm not against technology and I'm not against Apple products per se, I happily ordered 2 iPad 2's recently for students with disabilities and I think they'll be FANTASTIC for them. I just think that in most cases there are far better solutions to problems than an iPad. When someone is quadriplegic and has very limited use of their upper limbs then I can't really think of anything better than a tablet.

The problem with IT expenditure is that the hierachy which is completely ignorant in terms of technology or the need for technology see something like an iPad on the BBC getting praise for this and that and they think "ooh they must be good" and we should start pushing them into our schools, hopsitals etc etc. Case in point is Caroline's school, some dipwad went down the route of looking whether iPad's would be money well spent. The roof of the school leaks in places when it rains ffs!!!!!! Sort out the big problems first and then if you've got money to splash out on luxuries then sure, if it adds value then chuck some iPad's in. I know different money comes from different pots and all, but surely ensuring the students have a roof over their head should be the primary priority.

[ArrowsFA1]

Just so you know, I have NO problem at all being called a geek or a nerd.

mokin:

[Daniel]

Anyway, now for something interesting.

Microsoft patents modular Windows Phone with swappable batteries, keyboard, and gamepad -- Engadget

[Daniel]

iTunes fraud surge hits gift card balances, PayPal accounts | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

This is pretty bad and why I only use a debit car with no overdraft which only ever has a tiny amount of money in it for my purchases on my phone.

Welcome to the Cloud - "Your Apple ID has been disabled." - Scott Hanselman

[Daniel]

Firstly I wouldn't say the ipad is aimed at technologically-challenged people and not sure why you think that but its your opinion and thats fine. In reality you shouldn't buy an ipad that is more expensive because its not the product for you. If you can get a laptop that is better all-round for what you want it for, you get what you need. As I keep saying its all personal taste at the end of the day and if someone wants something that is different then its fine. Its a product and its in the marketplace and people are buying them, so its a niche that is working.

Yourself and Daniel are obviously against this type of device and I was wondering is it an annoyance that so many people don't see it the way you feel about it? Every single product in existance has people who will buy it and like it and those who won't. What is it about the ipad or say Apple products in general?

It's the fact that Apple has taken a product which has such limited use and seems to have marketed it as this product for the masses and succeeded in convincing people that it's the most useful thing ever. I remember playing around with tablets back in 2004/5 and thinking how useless they were for most people.



To me a tablet comes into its own a sort of clipboard replacement and that is certainly how people seemed to use the above device. I think I met maybe 2 or 3 tablet users whilst working for a large HP service company? I think one of the guys who was using it tended to work around building sites as a surveyor and it was perfect for his needs because you really need a device which could be used in your arms. Thing is as soon as you can actually sit down, a laptop makes a lot more sense, hence why even back then the TC1100 was a convertible tablet. Sure iOS is a more tablet centred OS and that means it makes more sense, but you will never get back the precision that comes with having a keyboard and a trackpad or better yet, a mouse. But for places like hospitals I can really see tablets replacing the chart at the end of your bed and enabling the doctors/nurses to have your whole medical history at their fingertips.

There's one person on here (I won't name names but it's not you henners in case you're wondering) who probably thinks I'm poor which is why I resent people who can afford to buy iPad's and iPhone's and so on. This is simply not true and if I wanted I could easily buy Caroline and myself an iPad tomorrow. In reality I've already got an ultraportable tablet with phone capability so why do I want a big one?

My only other annoyances with Apple stuff is the fact that it's overpriced, they do stuff like bundle Quicktime with iTunes (Micro$oft would have an anti-trust case against them if they did this!!!!!), their advertising is dishonest and misleading and they're a bunch of patent whores who wish to stifle their competitors with legal paperwork rather than compete on a level playing field. To me it's like buying a Ferrari hat and sending your money to Maranello so they can be a bunch of twats with it, who wants to support a team who would happily take to the track on its own and pat itself on the back as a winner than compete on a level playing field.

[Knock-on]

Wow you're good!!!!!!!

Speaking as an IT person, your laptop is a tool which you're not meant to be using to play DVD's install hello kitty desktop themes and so on and so forth on.

The thing about IT people is they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

You would look at a beautiful, overgrown, natural field and claim it would be a lot more efficient if it were Tarmac'd

However, I have some bad news for you and the rest of the work prevention department. People like me are working with people like your MD and CFO to enable workers to access their personal devices on your precious secure networks. Want to know why (and you're gonna really hate this bit). BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM MORE EFFECTIVE!

You see (well, you don't) it's not about what machine has the biggest HD or fastest graphics card or most RAM. Those things are about as important as what make of Unleaded you put in your car. It doesn't matter one iota. What does matter is that workers use what enables them to do their job to the best of their ability.

Sorry to break that to you