Tag Archives: cell phones
Remember The ’80′s?
If you remember the days of the one red button joystick, cell phones as big as your head, and betamax, then this video is for you. If everything that I just said made you scratch your head and say “huh?”, then you’re obviously not up on your history and should be ashamed of yourself. (What are they teaching kids in schools these days?)
They have finally made it!
Schmidty and I were once talking about what I’d want out of a personal device; connectivity, storage, integration, navigation, and an operating system flexible enough to evolve with the needs of its user. We both dismissed this immediately, since no company is in-tune with it’s consumer base to that degree, and figured such a device will never exist.
Well, it’s still not perfect, but Garmin has gotten much closer than anyone else so far.
This thing has nearly everything I could want in a phone. What it doesn’t have, just may not have been announced yet (I don’t know). It has a better GPS system than any other phone out there (let’s face it, it’s Garmin) which ties seamlessly into Google services, and then has the Wi-Fi 3.5G and phone capabilities with it.
Let’s say you’re talking on the phone and get into your car. You sit down and place it in it’s dock, and the call is immediately made hands free. On top of that, the device also switches straight into navigation mode. While talking on the phone, viewing the map, you notice you are running low on gas. So you hit the touchscreen, select the Google Services, and in real-time it tells you all nearby stations and their current prices. It can even guide you there.
While I don’t own an iPhone, I have used one a few times. It’s hard to say how the Nuvifone’s keyboard is in comparison to iPhone, though it looks more responsive. I still have issues with “typing” on a flat surface, but that just may be me. I simply might have to admit that the time of actual keyboards might be ending.
Some things to add that would just utterly complete the package for me:
- Stereo bluetooth, as well as BT sync or Wi-Fi sync with bundled software. It’s Palm OS (update below) so I don’t think that will actually be a problem.
- Satellite Radio capability. I don’t use it, but it’d make this next suggestion all the better for me.
- Have the car dock also interact with your car stereo. Any music on the device can be played from the device to your car speakers when you plug it into its dock.
- Open up the OS a bit. I know it isn’t released quite yet, and so this part might change, but the response time in the video looked a little laggy. Part of Windows Mobile strength (and no doubt Android’s as well) is that you can access the OS registry and do whatever you want with the thing.
- Massive onboard storage. Maybe I’m asking too much with that one. It’d really help #3 though! At the very least, let us use those nice 32GB SDHC cards.
Lackluster launch for Android
The HTC G1 launched today for T-Mobile (though the phone itself won’t be available in stores until October 22nd). For anyone who wasn’t paying attention when it wasn’t announced, this is special because the phone uses Google’s mobile operating system, named Android.
And what a botched job it was. Don’t get me wrong; I love Google, and I love HTC. I also have T-Mobile service. So why am I disappointed with this first phone? Well, namely because it seems like too little fanfare for something that could potentially be huge. Or, maybe because too much hype has been generated for what it isn’t doing yet. I’m not entirely sure yet.
The Android Logo
Android has been in the works for a little under a year now. It’s an “open source” SDK with an Java based architecture that is supposed to offload much of the processing requirements from any hardware, thereby allowing it to run much faster than traditional operating systems. This is especially important for mobile devices since they don’t have the same horsepower as your laptop or desktop will have. Conversely, they also don’t need all the features that your PC does, so it can run much leaner than Windows Vista or OS 10.5 and get away with it.
The main downside to it is that it IS open source. While Google itself is a huge company who could throw endless resources at making a mobile phone, they wouldn’t get very far in the commercial market. For this reason they partnered with HTC, T-Mobile, Amazon, and who knows who else to get their system out there. I get the feeling that a lot of concessions were made in the process, since we are NOT looking at the iPhone killer that many people were expecting.
And the really dumb thing is that none of it is Android’s fault! If you look at the G1, it looks like any other HTC phone! It operates like it’s the Touch, and even has a similar menu system as both the Touch and the Shadow. The system menu (the load of icons) looks more like a Blackberry or Windows Mobile 6 than it does anything else, the only apps that even exist for the thing are either Google’s or Amazon’s (in an attempt to sway the iTunes Store users), and the thing is downright clunky.
What we were promised vs what we got
Apple released the iPhone to a stunned crowd, and for good reason; it’s a shiny toy. Apple learned how to sell anything by simplifying it and making it an accessory. Don’t believe me? The iPod is more status symbol than actual device nowadays, the iPhone (as much as it failed in many of its original objectives) is still immensely popular, and the iMac I’m using to write this post is more designed for loft-dwelling hipsters who can’t afford both a TV and a computer (so why not have a computer the size of your TV).
"In my loft, on the interwebs. I'm just like those hackster kids!"
This is not a bad thing though (it’s not a great thing either). However, it’s not really easy for other companies to duplicate, and HTC going on about their new phone and how it’s going to have all the same interface “shinys” of the iPhone was probably the wrong way to go as it gave people unfair expectations. Does Android seem to stand up to Palm OS? Well, hard to say since we haven’t seen any sort of Synch capabilities. Does it stand up to Blackberry OS? Seems to, though 3rd party support isn’t there yet. Does it stand up to Windows Mobile 6? Oh yeah. And then some.
But see, all of these mobile operating systems are actually USEFUL! They aren’t toys and they aren’t accessories. This isn’t a Sidekick we’re talking about here, it’s an actual smart phone. They could have launched it as just another HTC phone, and people would have been happy with it. Instead, they drummed up that it was using Android and therefore was about to rock our world!
Well we’re left rather non-rocked, looking at a phone that can does what every other smart phone already does, wondering where all the apps are for it.
But hey, at least this thing can cut and paste!
I have the enthusiast’s remorse
I am an absolute technophile. I love seeing all the new gadgets that come out and what they can do for me. I love to think about how I can then modify those gadgets to do even more for me without me having to pay anything more. I’m a cheapskate, and an enthusiast.
The term “enthusiast” is not one I’ve used all that often to describe myself. If there were a scale to describe how much of an enthusiast a person could be, I’d imagine I’d be rather low on the scale. But the fact is, I’m still ON the scale. There is a very sad down side to being an enthusiast (well, there are probably a few); those same devices that you find you can’t live without aren’t usually everywhere you might need them.
Case in point (and most relatable example I can think of): you have standard, run of the mill broadband internet. It doesn’t need to be the fastest thing on the planet for this example to work, but it’s better than a 256k ISDN. You use it at home to browse, do email, read blogs, whatever. You then go over to your parents/friends house, and while there you try to show them something you found online (like our awesome website here) . . . only they are on dial-up. And slow dial-up at that.
That’s the downside I’m talking about here. To point back to Schmidty’s announcement of Chrome; it’s so fast and nice that it’s all I use . . . except at work where I have to use IE to work with Oracle and I nearly scream every time it takes 5 minutes to load a page simply because the browser is so bloated.
Well, there’s another device that’s in this category; the DVR. Call it a TiVo, an HTPC, a DVR, or whatever else you want, these little babies will change your life. Anyone who owns and regularly uses them will testify to you just how much they will change your life in regards to TV. I’m not trying to make them out to be like a religious experience or anything, but they really are that pivotal.
Your spouse wants to talk to you during the game? Just pause the show. Your show is only on at 1:00 AM? Set it to record! There’s an interesting documentary on squid that you know you’d be interested in but just don’t feel like watching it right now? Record it for later! Kids are killing each other? Dinner is on the table NOW? Don’t like commercials? Guests come over unannounced? You get the idea. Our favorite use is to record a whole bunch of shows the kids like and have them at our fingertips whenever we want to reward them.
Screenshot of Vista Media Center from MSDN blog
The down side is that not everything is hooked into a DVR. We don’t have one in our bedroom, so when I miss something important that was said I can’t jump back to hear it again. If there’s something interesting I want my wife to see, I can’t pause it and wait for her to get in the room. I find myself listening to the radio on my way to work in the morning and habitually reaching for a remote that doesn’t exist to jump back 15 seconds or so to re listen to something that was said! That’s how messed up I’ve become.
If your computer can barely run Windows XP SP2, I don’t want to touch it (sadly, that’s my computer at work). If you have a whole 5 channels on your TV, please don’t ask me if I want to watch anything (everything I’d want to watch is already recorded at home anyway). I know this makes me look like a snob, and to a degree I am one. But the secret fact of the matter is it’s just painful for myself and other enthusiasts at times.
Sure, we’re in a 1st world nation, with access to some of the best technology in the world (not counting cell phones where we seem to be permanently stuck in 2002), but I’m not interested in what technology could do for me five years ago; I’m interested in what it can do for me tomorrow.
John Tesh wants you to know just how smart he is!
And it’d help greatly if you are dumb enough to believe anything you hear.
We have a radio station here in our state that typically plays your normal fare of “90′s and now” programming that is so popular everywhere. I will occasionally listen to it when I’m surfing through the stations, but I don’t really follow it as much as I do my favorite one. I hadn’t really listened to it before at night, until I was driving down to the gas station the other evening.
John Tesh has a radio show that broadcasts at night on this station. I sort of knew that it was there, but hadn’t ever really paid any attention to it until my gas run the other night. Billed as “Intelligence for Your Life”, it’s a syndicated program (that sounds like it was recorded in his basement, “unibomber-style”) designed to educate people with little factoids that he finds interesting.
Now, I’m young enough and from a different circle of . . . whatever, to not be really familiar with John Tesh. I know he used to be the host on Entertainment Tonight, and he’s made some songs or something. I honestly don’t know enough about him, and wouldn’t dare to assume anything, to try and guess why his resume is all over the place; maybe he just does what he wants to do at the time. If that’s the case, more power to him.
Thing is, it’d really help his image if the facts he was giving on his show (and by extension, his site) were accurate.
- Cell phones emit radiation even on standby, because they periodically search for the nearest cell towers. The fix: Make calls only when you have strong reception, hang up before your phone heats up – which is a sign of radiation – and keep your phone at least 8 inches away from your body when it’s not in use.
- Electronics consume 75% of their power while not in use. To save electricity, be sure to unplug everything you aren’t using. Better yet, plug everything into a surge protector and shut it off from there.
- If you call 911 from a cell phone, they can’t tell where you are and so it’s harder to send help to you. So make sure to keep your landline and call from there.
- You are more likely to over eat when you buy larger portions of food at the store. To be healthier, buy single-sized meals!
These were all tips I heard in 7 minutes of listening. It was like someone who had NO IDEA what they were talking about knew everything about everything and was trying to tell me how backwards I am! Even the name of the show itself felt condicending.
Here’s the facts:
- Everything emits radiation. Using your cell phone will not turn you into the Hulk or Mr Fantastic. Modern digital phones use the same amount of power when they have one bar of service as they do when they have a full set of bars. When you are out of a digital service area, your phone switches to analog mode, which is less efficient and requires more power. If your phone is heating up, it’s more likely to be the inverter to the backlight in your screen, and not radiation. Either that, or your phone is shorting it’s battery and it’s time to replace it. Of course, if we’re going to get technical, it could be argued that heat is, iteself, a FORM of radiation. Maybe he meant that.
- No matter how much power you think you save by turning something off, you ruin that idea as soon as you turn it back on. The amount of energy used to turn on most devices can be up to 4 times as much as what the device uses while just running (TV’s and microwaves are great examples of this). This principle holds true with most mechanical things too; turning your car off in the drive through will only make you use MORE gas when you have to start it again. Also, turning off devices from the surge protector is possibly the worst thing you can do; when you turn the strip back on, you SURGE all the devices plugged into it, thereby rendering the whole point of having a surge protector moot.
- Only calling 911 from your home land line sort of assumes you will only ever be calling from your home. That little gripe aside, cell phone towers typically overlap in their coverage areas to ensure that cell customers always have a strong signal as they move from cell to cell (hence the name “cell phones”). Using the practice of triangulation, cell companies and 911 operators can calculate your position whenever you make a call. On top of that (since that can take awhile if done manually), nearly all modern phones either include an on board GPS chipset that only activates when 911 is called, or are programmed to calculate thier own position using the aforementioned triangulation and send it to the 911 operator in a burst of data before you even talk to them.
- Everyone who has EVER bought food at the store knows that single serve meals are more expensive, contain more preservatives, more sodium (sometimes for flavor, sometimes AS a preservative), and are typically less healthy than anything else on the shelves. A good example is the Boston Market Meatloaf Dinner (a personal favorite); 2000 grams of sodium in a single serving is enough to shorten your life.
The truth of the matter is, he’s getting all these inaccurate facts from other sources who don’t have a clue themselves. Reportedly, the inspiration for his show was seeing all his wife’s magazines that were filled with really great information, but she never had a chance to read them all. When you picture some of these half true “facts” coming from Redbook or Oprah, it suddenly all fits together.
The problem is, somewhere out there people are either reading these things in their original form or listening to him spout them on-air and thinking to themselves “Whoa, that totally makes sense! I SHOULD water my lawn all night to save water!”
No, you shouldn’t!
Now, I know the demographic this is intended for; they’re the ones who are driving to bingo night after an enthralling day watching Matlock and worrying that AARP is cheating them out of their money. I know this sounds horribly biased of me, but it’s either that or “a bunch of people who are too stupid to read an actual book themselves”. I felt better going with the kinder description.
This leads me to a rather pointless revelation which is that none of these “sources” have any sort of experts on their staff. Not a single article is written by a person with any sort of authority on the subject; they’re just staff writers. In the end it’s sort of like that game “Telephone” you used to play as a kid, where people try to pass a message down a line of kids and laugh at how silly it ended up sounding. Here, I’ll take you through the steps!
- Expert writes study on something.
- A scientific journal with a moderate understanding of the subject matter compiles the study with other studies into an article.
- An underpaid staff writer for a housewife’s magazine with NO understanding of the subject matter at all is given 3 days to produce an article on that something.
- The editor who has even less understanding (since he didn’t even do the Google search to find the references) then hacks up the article to make it fit somewhere in the magazine.
- A staffer at the radio show thinks it looks interesting and writes it down on a 3×5 card and puts it in a pile on John Tesh’s desk.
- John Tesh, who didn’t even know he was about to talk about chemicals, expertly tells you to immediately stop using dihydrogen monoxide because it will kill you.
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