Mobile phones & tablets thread

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Originally Posted by Dave B

As for The Cloud, I can see some uses: for example my calendar and email are up there somewhere and sync effortlessly to my phone and computers; as do contacts, navigation points and some small documents. But what all of these have in common are small file size which I can easily duplicate on my devices.

What I don't think will ever take off is having your media stored in the cloud, mainly because connectivity cannot be guaranteed - especially on the move. I can store thousands of hours of music on a portable device which won't suffer if I'm in a tunnel, out in the sticks, or hit my network's arbitrary usage cap.

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I haven't read anything about the iCloud but did have a look at the Amazon one when it launched in the US. To me it will be incrediably useful, I use a laptop at work that I don't like to clog with my own stuff (maybe a few photos but very limited music). Something that can easily let me store music online means that the Spotify premium account I was considering just isn't needed :)

However as it's Apple no doubt it will turn out to be extremely limited and they won't let anyone with MS software use it...and you'll only be able to use it on the 5th Tuesday of the month.....when you're wearing a hat at a jaunty angle.

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Originally Posted by Dave B

Updating without a computer should have been a feature from day one: an iPhone and especially an iPad should be considered stand-alone devices and it's monumentally stupid that they rely so heavily on iTunes. Software and OS updates should be performed OTA as a when required - I've just updated half a dozen Android apps with a couple of clicks.
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You can update iPhone apps over the air. It's only the firmware that you have to use iTunes for.

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Originally Posted by Mark

You can update iPhone apps over the air. It's only the firmware that you have to use iTunes for.

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Fair do's, but the point still stands that if Apple are trying to promote the iPad as a successor to a home computer then it's crazy that their OS requires a connection to iTunes for any updates. :)

The reliance on iTunes was the main reason (among several) why I opted for Android over iOS - I simply refuse to have it installed on any computer in the house!

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Originally Posted by Dave B

Fair do's, but the point still stands that if Apple are trying to promote the iPad as a successor to a home computer then it's crazy that their OS requires a connection to iTunes for any updates. :)

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True enough. Which is why it's being addressed, which is excellent. I certainly agree that, if I were to buy an iPad, *that* would be my home computer, I shouldn't have to have an additional device.

Having said that I've had my iPhone for about a year now, I think I've connected it to iTunes about 4 times in total. But iTunes should disappear IMO, all iOS devices should be completely standalone and never need to connect to a PC, ever. Which I think is what Apple is now aiming for - at long last.

Remember that although Nokia did so OTA updates the majority of the OS updates still required installing the Nokia Suite software on a PC. But they were crap with coming out with updates anyway so most people didn't bother upgrading the firmware. My wife bought a new phone rather than update the firmware on her Nokia!

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Originally Posted by Mark

Remember that although Nokia did so OTA updates the majority of the OS updates still required installing the Nokia Suite software on a PC. But they were crap with coming out with updates anyway so most people didn't bother upgrading the firmware. My wife bought a new phone rather than update the firmware on her Nokia!

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Please don't remind me - even now I get nightmares and flashbacks to the afternoon I wasted trying to update a map on my E71. The Nokia Suite and the Ovi store were two of the biggest mistakes Nokia ever made and the primary reason why Symbian failed despite being a decent OS running on excellent hardware.

Mark, do you ever back your phone up then seeing as you've only connected it to a PC around 4 times in a year? Actually do people using other operating systems feel the need to back up their phones?

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Originally Posted by Dave B

Please don't remind me - even now I get nightmares and flashbacks to the afternoon I wasted trying to update a map on my E71. The Nokia Suite and the Ovi store were two of the biggest mistakes Nokia ever made and the primary reason why Symbian failed despite being a decent OS running on excellent hardware.

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Did Symbian fail? Possbily, but for many years it was at the cutting edge, sure it eventually got overtaken (in the manner that a Ferrari overtakes a guy on a bicycle), however the only issue was that they should have killed it off and moved on several years earlier rather than trying to flog the horse which was already long dead.

I don't really back up my iPhone, I only sync when I want a a change of choons. I do back up my work phone (Nokia) but that's only because I have far more numbers on there that I want to keep hold of.

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Originally Posted by GridGirl

Mark, do you ever back your phone up then seeing as you've only connected it to a PC around 4 times in a year? Actually do people using other operating systems feel the need to back up their phones?

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No, not really. But there isn't really much on my phone that *needs* backing up. All the Apps I can download again, my emails are on the servers not my phone. There's only really stuff like photos (the ones I want to keep I put on flickr anyway) and notes.

That was another good feature of Nokia's - backing up to memory card, but like all Symbian features, sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

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Originally Posted by GridGirl

Actually do people using other operating systems feel the need to back up their phones?

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All my contacts and emails are in t'cloud; my messages are automatically backed up by an app; my media is duplicated on my home PC (and backed up - twice!); and my apps are easily downloaded for free if required.

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Originally Posted by Mark

Did Symbian fail? Possbily, but for many years it was at the cutting edge, sure it eventually got overtaken (in the manner that a Ferrari overtakes a guy on a bicycle), however the only issue was that they should have killed it off and moved on several years earlier rather than trying to flog the horse which was already long dead.

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As an OS probably not. What did for Symbian was the user experience. Apple showed that getting software to your phone could be a doddle, others followed but Nokia clung to the dog's dinner that was the Ovi Store. Had they put some effort into that and incentivised developers to write some mass-appeal software they could still have a significant market share instead of watching the bulk of their customers drift away to Apple, Android, RIM and W7 devices.

The partnership with Microsoft could yet save their bacon but there are no devices available yet, meanwhile nobody will develop for Symbian or buy the hardware because everybody knows it's being abandoned.