About stereotypes and the choice of OS, a launcher for Vertu and a free place in Google Drive, a tablet on Ubuntu and fashion for stylus …
Often the most heated debates are caused by just the most ordinary and unremarkable news. Last week, the news was 'Error 53', which you can read about in the latest issue of Eldar Murtazin's 'Spillikins'. In short, in some cases iPhone it will be able to recognize that you repaired it in an uncertified service center and flatly refuse to work. It will not be possible to solve this problem on your own, you will have to carry it to the official SC and pay for repairs after repairs.
Spillikins number 367. Service from Apple becomes official
As you might guess, for many, this story has become another reason to tell everyone around them which smartphones and on which operating systems can be bought and which not. Some promoted devices on iOS and rejoiced in such a commendable concern Apple about their own safety, while others loudly and wordy praised Google, which does not try to rob loyal users to the last thread. In general, the poison was once again sprayed so much that it seemed a little bit more, and it would start dripping from the monitor screens.
And the most interesting thing is that most of the debaters are not at all such ardent phantoms of mobile devices. And the majority of the people made their choice of the OS almost by accident – someone just liked the design of the smartphone, someone listened to the opinion of a friend or the advice of a sales assistant, and some simply believed the beautiful advertisement or chose the device with the biggest discount. People who have read all available reviews, studied a couple of dozen of the most successful devices and personally tested the operation of devices on different OS, at all times there were a minority. And nevertheless, the owners of smartphones argued to the point of hoarseness, once again trying to convince opponents of their unconditional correctness.
What's the point in arguing about things that aren't particularly interesting to you? On the one hand, to spend a lot of time trying to prove to the first person that comes across that OS X is definitely better than OS Y, and on the other hand, do you have neither the time nor the desire to check the difference on your own skin? Or, which is also by no means rare, even to specially read materials about 'enemy' products, painstakingly searching out and memorizing all its disadvantages, but completely oblivious to the advantages? In part, simply because everyone is always instinctively defending their choice. And, criticizing others, he first of all tries to convince himself of the correctness of his choice. And partly because a habit is really a terrible force. Once you get used to one device or OS, switching to another can be almost physically unpleasant. At first, I don't like everything, everything is annoying, everything seems completely wrong and illogical. If so, the temptation to return to the familiar device and then tell scary stories about the horrors of competitors' products will always be very great.
At first glance, it seems that a lot is changing every year within the same line of devices on the same OS. In fact, this is far from always the case – very often the same old idea remains behind cosmetic changes. Take the same 'error 53', which for some was a complete surprise. There is nothing new in this – in Apple from the very beginning they insisted that decisions on all any important issues should be made by professionals, and not by users. You buy a finished product that you have tried to bring as close to the ideal as possible, but do not interfere with its work – the specialists will do all this for you. And here it is not so much to disassemble the device, but even to try to change the system settings on a large scale is already blasphemy.
The advantage of this approach is obvious – difficulties with the choice and configuration of the device are minimized. There are also disadvantages – no one will explain to you the party policy in a verbose way and no one will convince you of the potential danger of underground SC. Disagree with the party's policy – put your party card on the table. You delegated the right of choice to the company from the very beginning, so is it any wonder that you were not asked about something or were not warned about something?
Google has a different approach. You always have a huge choice in everything, from the manufacturer of the device and the shell used in the device to the choice of software, root access and all other points. Actually, the search giant does not deal with these things at all, end devices are created by completely different companies, and what and from whom to buy, you and only you decide. The pros and cons of this approach are also obvious. On the one hand, the company will forcefully impose something on you (no one bothers to buy a smartphone without Google services at all, and this will also be Android). On the other hand, no one will lay the straws, there is absolutely no guarantee that the cheap “Chinese” you have chosen will work at least somehow digestible. You are free to make any decision, but you are also responsible for its consequences.
For example, take the same issue of protecting private data, which caused this whole fifty-third error in iPhone and appeared. Google, like any other company, is also very excited about it. And not at all from some highly moral considerations – just to prove that the reason for everything was the carelessness of the user, and not at all OS problems, in reality it is very difficult. And nobody wants spots on their reputation.
In honor of World Safer Internet Day, Google invites everyone to take a standard test for the security of their Google account and gives 2 GB of space in Google Drive for this. As far as I understand, the action is valid on the 11th inclusive.
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Apple and Google have completely different views on what is good and what is bad. And if you look at specific manufacturers, you will be able to collect the entire palette of opinions, from diametrically opposite, to almost identical. There are enough high-quality devices on the market, and in a variety of price categories, and each of us is free to choose any one. And it is not at all necessary to choose one thing from year to year. Of course, there are principles in the world that should be adhered to all your life, but the choice of a smartphone is definitely not one of them. Sometimes through your habits it really makes sense to step over, clench your teeth and still force yourself to try something new. At least for the sake of not going around with a pager all my life, considering it the most convenient, useful and innovative mobile device.
It is generally useful to abandon hackneyed stereotypes and try to take a fresh look at things that have long been familiar. Repeating the same thought day after day, it is very easy not to notice that it has not been true for a long time. For example, someone still thinks that none of the normal buyers will change the keyboard to iPhone or put a new launcher on Android, this pampering is interesting only for schoolchildren and those who are obsessed with technology 'geeks'. Commentators like to discuss this topic for a long time and tastefully, not noticing that all this has not been the case for a long time.
An example is Vertu, which recently entered into an agreement with the developers of the popular Holo launcher. According to rumors, Vertu and Holaverse will start working together on a new launcher that will only be available to Vertu owners.
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Another example is styluses. Many buyers still curl their lips at the word 'stylus' when they recall the first touchscreen devices. And completely in vain – in some situations, the stylus can really be very useful. And now we can say that this is one of the very rapidly gaining popularity trends.
According to rumors, stylus support at the system level will appear already in Android 7. It is not yet clear which functions will be supported out of the box by the OS, but it is obvious that we are talking about something like Samsung S- Pen. In any case, Samsung is going to exclude some of the functions of its 'smart' stylus from future Galaxy Note firmwares, since they will already be present in the OS.
- Edge
- Edge Single Mode
- Edge Single Plus Mode
- Edge Feeds Mode
- Edge Immersive Mode (will be deprecated in N)
- S-Pen
- AirButton (will be deprecated in N)
- SmartClip (will be deprecated in N)
- WritingBuddy (will be deprecated in N)
- PointerIcon
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In parallel, Samsung is patenting a foldable stylus that can serve as a smartphone stand. Quite an interesting solution in my opinion.
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An important plus of styluses is the ability to write by hand. This includes making changes to documents or putting an official signature on them. True, one cannot get rid of support at the system level, and you will have to install additional software on your smartphone. For example, the Sign pro PDF application that Wacom plans to release for iOS and Android.
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In our age of 'flash drives' and cloud storage, cassettes are perceived as something completely outdated. But in vain – after all, a tape cassette does not necessarily mean an analog recording method. And again they can become very popular again. In any case, that's what Sony thinks, which recently introduced a completely new generation of tape cassettes, each of which can store up to 185 TB of information.
True, such cassettes are unlikely to have anything to do with music or video filming, their main application will be backup and archiving of information. But who knows, maybe one day cassette players will return to store shelves? Perhaps I would buy one.
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Apple and Google are two giants that have divided up the majority of the smartphone and tablet market. And yet, in the world there are devices on much more exotic OS. For example, a Turing Phone that will run on Sailfish OS.
Moreover, the operating system will be far from the most unusual feature of this smartphone. Its main feature is increased protection against physical and software impact, as well as unusual body materials. For example, the frame of the device will be made of liquidmorphium (apparently it should be translated as 'Liquid morphine'), which is an alloy of copper, aluminum, nickel, silver and zirconium. Anyway, the device looks very unusual … if, of course, you believe the renders.
In addition, a couple of months ago a video was leaked on the network in which journalists are testing the smartphone for strength.
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The Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet will run on another rare OS – Ubuntu Touch. The manufacturer of the device will be BQ, the ideological inspirer – Canonical. The diagonal screen size of the device will be 10.1 inches, MediaTek MT8163A is selected as the platform.
It's funny that mobile OS Microsoft and Canonical had the same destiny. And there, and there – a promising start, a lot of big words about modes a la Continuum and support for 'desktop applications' … and then – many years of marking time in one place and the complete absence of at least some serious progress.
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Sometimes, smartphones on the usual Android can surprise. For example, Gionee W909, which is a new 'clamshell' with a fingerprint scanner, two displays and quite decent hardware.
The characteristics of the device are as follows:
- Two 4.2-inch screens with a resolution of 1280 × 720
- Octa-core processor
- 2GB RAM
- 32 \ 128 gigabytes of internal memory, microSD slot
- Main camera 16MP
- OS Android 5.1 Lollipop
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