Disqus - Latest Comments for matjkd

Re: Wal-Mart set to release ‘Scan and Go’ – allows customers to avoid long lines for checking out

matjkd — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 05:04:06 -0000

With Fast Track in uk sainsburys, you bag as you go. Then you just hand the scanner over at checkout. They have random rescans to discourage thievery.

Re: Google launches Motorola Xoom as rival to Apple iPad

matjkd — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:20:30 -0000

" it features a new maps programme that offers a full 3D look at major cities."

It's called Google Maps. It isn't new. The "3D look" is available on the latest version on other android devices.

Did this guy do any research before he wrote this article?

Other points (some mentioned in previous comments):

The OS is Android 3.0, the version codename is Honeycomb.

It comes out this year, not next year.

Honeycomb is not a new OS written for tablets, its the next major release of android, but with tablet optimisations, so it's the first written with tablets in mind but it will still be a phone OS.

I don't think Google needed to "allow" Samsung to make an android tablet. Android is open source, anyone can make a tablet running android if they wish.

'Google has taken an "open source" approach by developing an operating system called which it allows manufacturers to put on their own devices' - Called what?

'Mr Dubravac said a number of new products were struggling to provide users an businesses with specific reasons to buy them.' - Did he mean 'and'?

Its a bit of an amateurish article overall, how it got published on the telegraph website I don't know.

Re: Flight Control spreads its wings to DSi

matjkd — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:27:17 -0000

I wouldn't say the Hero isn't desirable, it is very desirable, but its just not advertised as such, or at all. The day it was released I phoned up my orange store to ask if they had any in yet, and they'd hardly heard about it.

The iphone is constantly advertised, people who see my phone always ask me what it is and are amazed how cool it is. If we were to believe advertising, the iphone is the only phone capable of being awesome. it's not

When I talk about HTC popularity, I suppose I can't talk for the rest of the world, but here, in England, the only time I've seen them before here are peoples work phones. I've certainly never seen them advertised.

I read that article (the mobile part) and again this is down to opinion, but nothing he said translates to my experience with my phone. Though the hero wasn't out until the end of august so they weren't using it. The HTC Hero, running the sense ui, updated rom (which fixed a massive lag problem on the original release) is the best phone experience I've ever had, granted I've never owned an iPhone, but everything works so well, my contacts sync automatically with my google account, they're also all linked to their profiles on facebook and flickr so in my phone contacts I get notified of updates from those sites, my phone gallery is also synced with flickr, and my calendar with my google calendar. with 7 homescreens I have instant access to my calendar, twitter and weather widgets, as well as shortcuts to my most used apps, I can slide between the screens smoothly and quickly. The notification drop down is superb. multitasking means things such as google maps can run in the background so things like google latitude work as they should, my friends with iphones only ever update when they load maps. emails come through instantly, the battery life is good. The compass comes in more handy than I thought it would too. Also the soft keyboard never ceases to amaze me with its auto correction of my fat fingers.

The only complaint I had was with the initial lag, which wasn't major, more annoying. This is now more than fixed. Even with multiple apps running theres hardly any slow down. Now my only gripe is that iPhones have better apps. and the camera is ok, just as long as there is lots of light.
I completely agree with you about symbian though, the n97 was an embarrassment.

The problem with comparing iphone with android as a whole, is often it'll end up being a comparison between the 3gs and a g1, which i wouldn't own, when it came out I thought it was very disappointing, its ugly, the standard android interface is ugly. When the hero was announced, that's when I started getting excited about it. HTC have done something special with it. I'd like to see those comparisons with an up to date phone.

http://discuss.gdgt.com/htc...

These reviews were before the recent update too, only officially released tuesday. Most reviews of the hero stated it was slow, this was pretty much the only negative thing to say about it. it was slow. it isn't any more. Basically next to iphone it compares very favourably, some prefer iphone, some prefer Hero, but it bodes well for the upcoming android based phones. And yeah I'm sure different hardware will cause development issues not there with iphone, but pc games developers have coped well enough.

Also I'm sure I've gone off point. All I want is flight control. oh and that game with the stick men that you throw around the screen, the name of which escapes me.

Re: Flight Control spreads its wings to DSi

matjkd — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:23:33 -0000

oops i replied in a new thread.. see below

Re: Flight Control spreads its wings to DSi

matjkd — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:21:43 -0000

yeah appstore may have been out for 1 year, but the phone was in circulation for much longer, so it was well established, and remember the iphone was released with all that hype. I'd say Android phones are only now just starting to become recognised. The original g1 came out less than a year ago, the hero is the first to have a real polished feel to it.

What you're doing though is exactly what you shouldn't and that's comparing Android with iphone, android is an OS, iphone is a product, there is 1 iphone yes, but it is heavily advertised as one desirable product.
The HTC Hero is the best android phone currently, it has a smooth operating system (now the rom was updated), the customisable homescreen, the ability to multitask, tight integration with social networking sites. General use of the phones basic tools is better than the iphone from what I've seen. Multitasking alone makes it a much better system.

Apps is where it falls down, apps on iphone put the android apps to shame, part of the problem is possibly a lot of developers think like you, and only see todays numbers.
You say it has lack of users, and I'd agree with you, this is part of the point I'm making, but surely with 20 or so phones on the market running android by the end of the year, with a lot of those phones built by known manufacturers that will advertise (only business users have generally heard of HTC) those users will increase.

I'm also sure for every user you can find that used android and dumped it in favour of iphone I could find an equal amount that have gone the other way round. Which one is best is just down to personal opinion
Though I must point out there is nothing the iphone can do that the hero can't do, but there are things the hero can do that iphone can't. Also the UI on the hero in the opinion of many is better than the iphone ui.
I also agree android phones probably won't steal users from iPhone, but then it doesn't need to. iPhone users tend to be of the fanboy variety, and like those that follow religions, no matter how much clear evidence that religion is a lot of silly made up stories, they'll still follow it because they minds are closed to the possibility of something else.

Android users will most likely come from those that use other phones, such as samsung users, motorola users, nokia users, blackberry users, lg users etc. I used to have a nokia n95, which was often compared to the original iphone, and in my opinion was loads better (it had 3g and gps for one)

There are many more other phone users than there are iPhone users.

As I've said repeatedly, you can't compare iphone directly with android. You can compare Iphone with the Hero, but the hero is a phone that will no doubt be superseeded in a few months.

Despite me writing all this I'd argue I'm not actually an android fanboy, I just have an htc hero, and I really like flight control, and I like a good argument/debate...

Re: Flight Control spreads its wings to DSi

matjkd — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:42:55 -0000

or short sighted. there are only 3 android phones on the market right now, all made by HTC, and not even half the people in phone stores know about them. I've never seen an advert for htc on the tv. Their usage is pretty much limited to geeks and techies. Not known for spending money on games.
But, with the donut upgrade soon, the android market is getting an overhaul, plus there are a number of android phones in the pipeline, not all at the high end of the market. The HTC Tattoo is supposedly going to be a $100 phone, far more accessible to those who can't afford £40 a month for an iphone or Hero. Both samsung and motorola will be releasing phones shortly which will most certainly be advertised heavily, and in total around 18 phones due before the end of the year, this means there will be a mass take up of android in the next 6 months or so.
People make the mistake of comparing android directly with iphone. Iphone is a single product, android is an operating system that will be used on a lot of products.
Also, in reality android has been going less than a year, compared to over 2 years with iphone, and the first phone (the g1) was more of a developers phone than anything. The HTC hero is the first phone to really make use of the os, and has been out for around a month (and it wasn't until 2 days ago it got a fix for lag).

Re: Flight Control spreads its wings to DSi

matjkd — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:08:22 -0000

Yeah what about for android?