State of the Mobile Nation

There is so much happening in the world of mobile technology right now that even a complete gadget geek such as myself finds it hard to keep up. So I hope you will find the following a handy review of the headlines that have made news so far in this sector in 2012, and what we can still expect to see as the year progresses;

1). Google buys Motorola

This is particularly interesting to me as it could ultimately turn out to be a big game changer. Historically, Google has not got involved with hardware. Its Android OS is Open Source and freely available to all developers and manufacturers. HTC and Samsung are the most notable tech giants who sing from the Android hymn sheet when it comes to their smartphone devices. Apple have iOS of course which is completely proprietary - meaning it can only be used on Apple Hardware. Could this purchase be an early indication of Google considering a similar path? It's hard to imagine Android being closed off in such a way - especially when Google and Samsung in particular seem to have such a strong partnership.

However, saying that - Google CEO Eric Schmidt used to be on the board of Apple, and was even present onstage at the launch of the original iPhone. Things can change very quickly though. The Apple/Google relationship went sour when Google created Android - with Steve Jobs claiming it was stolen software and vowing to go to "thermo nuclear war" with Google over it. The suits and counter-suits are continuing to this day!

Those in the know however, suggest that Googles primary motivation for this purchase was to improve their own weak patent base. Motorola seemingly held some very useful patents, and Google have no doubt seen the opportunity to acquire some very valuable intellectual property to strengthen their position in their ongoing war with Apple.

Time will tell how this one turns out - but if I were Samsung right now, I may be wishing that I had beaten Nokia to Microsofts door to get on board with the fast emerging Windows Phone platform. I have a sneaky feeling that Google and Samsung may not be such good buddies in a year or so down the line.

2). The New iPad arrives

Apple launched its 3rd generation tablet device in April and called it "The New iPad". For me, even as an Apple Fan - this model feels like it's been put out for the sake of it. The iPad2 was significantly better than the original iPad. It introduced a thinner form factor, front facing camera, and the A5 Processor to note a few features.

The new iPad on the other hand is thicker, has a 5mp camera as compared to the 8mp camera on the iPhone 4S. It doesn't have Siri, but it does have a new A5X chip, quad core graphics and a retina display (meaning that the human eye is unable to discern individual pixels on the touchscreen). The design is almost identical to the iPad2 (apart from being thicker as I said). The price remains the same and you can also still pick up a new iPad2 for $100 less in the US, and £70 less here in the UK.

Overall, a disappointing stop gap for me! Do I still want one at some point though I hear you ask - of course I do!!! I don't know why, I just need it!! And so do millions of other people it seems - as predictably the new iPad has been a major success. Unlike the smartphone market, Apple is still very much King of the Tablets. There is nothing to touch the iPad, and until Windows 8 Tablets start arriving on the market - nothing will.

3). Samsung Galaxy S3 is launched

In fact, the UK launch date for this device is today. The S3's predecessor (the Samsung Galaxy S2) has been an enormous success and has catapulted Samsung ahead of Apple as the worlds largest Smartphone Manufacturer. Samsung are getting such a fanbase for their phones that I hear that people have actually been queuing (Apple Store style) for them overnight as they simply cannot wait to get their hands on the latest "King of the Android Phones". I've not seen an S3 yet. Ironically, I only got to play with an S2 for the very first time yesterday - and I have to admit that I liked it. Early reports on the S3 suggest that it will continue to help Samsung dominate this market. The only reservation I have heard about it so far is that the plastic case makes the build feel a little cheap. I will certainly check one out when I get the chance though that's for sure.

4). The new iPhone is coming

Surely, it has to this year doesn't it? Last year, Apple disappointed millions when they failed to release the iPhone 5, and instead launched another iPhone 4 with an extra set of antennas, Siri, a better canera, and iOS5 - and called it the iPhone 4S. And like the mugs we are, we all got one and made it the best and fastest selling iPhone so far. I swear, Apple have built up such a unique brand loyalty over the past couple of years that they could release practically anything and we would buy it.

That being said, I don't think they can get away with such an obvious stop gap again this year. With the release of their S3 today, Samsung have basically sat back and said "over to you Apple - let's see what you've got", and I for one expect them to respond with something special. I predict that the next generation iPhone will launch in October this year with a completely new design and with iOS6. There have been rumours of a bigger screen which concern me slightly as I prefer the size of the iPhone screen I must admit. Apart from that, who knows what we can expect. I have heard the possibility of a liquid metal casing, and an edge to edge screen, no home button - the rumours just go on and on. Until you see Tim Cook and Phil Schiller on a stage with it though - don't believe anything!

5). Microsoft are doing a Madonna

Microsoft have been quiet the last couple of years I feel. Sure, they put out Windows 7 but there has been very little fuss about this, and most people these days seem to be talking about Apple, Google, Samsung, Smartphones, Ultrabooks and Tablets. Microsoft have seen their revenue from sales of PCs drop very drastically as a result of their rivals launching the "Post PC Era".

All the while though, they have been quietly reinventing themselves, and later this year - Windows 8 will arrive. If you have read any of my posts to date on Windows 8, then you know that I am very excited by it. The Windows 8 tablet version could very well emerge as the first serious competitor to the iPad. I love my iPad as you know, but there are still things that I cannot do on it - and when this happens, I have to power on a laptop and that is frustrating. I believe Windows 8 tablets will change this, and take the Post PC Era to a whole new level. You will have all the benefits of a touchscreen device - without some of the restrictions and obstacles that you face on the iPad. I for one will be keeping my eye on this. We were planning to change our home laptop at some point but now I think we will wait until we can replace it with a suitable Windows 8 tablet device. In fact, I don't want to buy a device with a physical keyboard ever again if I can help it.


6). Best of the rest

I've been impressed with the look of the Nokia Lumia - although I haven't had the chance to take a proper look at one as yet (I wish I was important enough for manufacturers to send me their phones so I could test them out)! I expect their partnership with Microsoft to flourish over the next couple of years however.

HTC remain pretty strong in the smartphone market too. The HTC One is their flagship phone at the minute and it looks pretty good, although maybe not as good as a Samsung. HTC have a mixture of Android and Windows Phone running on their devices which I find a little strange. They do seem to have their own dedicated fan base too though and I expect they will continue to do well.

The Sony Experia range also looks very good - but Sony don't seem to be making much impact in this or any other market these days to be honest. They are very much playing second fiddle to the smartphone giants of Apple, Samsung and HTC.

And that's about it. I hope you've enjoyed this little run through. If you can think of an event, or device that I've omitted that you think is important or will make a big impact this year - then please let me know!

Peter

Tech Review - Ubuntu

Ubuntu, in the words of its creators is "the worlds favourite free PC desktop Operating System". I first started seeing the word Ubuntu when I started looking at Oracle Virtualbox (previously reviewed on this blog). Anyway, curiosity got the better of me so I headed over to http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu to learn what I could about what turns out to be a very impressive Operating System.

I quickly got the idea of what Ubuntu was all about and decided I wanted to test it for myself. Oracle VirtualBox seemed the perfect way to quickly get an Ubuntu installation going and it wasn't long until I was setup.

I have to say I am very very impressed. Ubuntu is completely free, has built in security, free updates for life, an App Store, a music store, and some native apps including Firefox for web browsing and Thunderbird Client for Email.

The App Store is easy to use, and they also have Apps for iOS and Android which includes a personal cloud feature called Ubuntu One. In addition to this, they have Apps that do that same as Word/Excel/Powerpoint (albeit scaled down) but once again completely free.

And that's about it really. I can't say much more about Ubuntu - except that I really recommend you check it out if you are looking for a good free alternative to running Windows OS. Ubuntu is quick, stable, nicely designed and I think it will only get better and better. I take my hat off to the people behind it!

And that's Ubuntu!
Peter

Standing in the way of progress

As many of you will know, it doesn't take much for me to get on my soapbox and complain about things that bug me in day to day life. The name of this blog is a bit of a giveaway to that fact really.

One thing that I am finding increasingly frustrating - is a combination of the slow progress we are making in certain areas, combined with an astonishing reluctance to let go of some genuinely pointless and outdated technology. I feel a list coming on;

1) Fax Machines

It's the year 2012 for heavens sake. Why are people still using fax machines? This is a technology that seemingly just refuses to die. There are so many alternatives now too. Email, FTP Servers, Text Message, iMessage, all manner of Live Chat. So why won't people just let go of their fax machines? I just don't get it. They are old, unreliable - cartridges cost money, and every alternative is just so much cheaper and easier. So why won't fax machines just go away and politely expire??

2) Cheques

Why we still need cheques is beyond me. I can't imagine anyone could argue otherwise. In this day and age, the cheque has become truly pointless. We have credit/debit cards, Online Banking, even Apps for Smartphones such as the excellent Barclays Ping-it. I can never find my cheque book, and if receive I a cheque - I then have the inconvenience of having to go to the damn Bank on my lunch break when I should be in the canteen eating my supernoodles and mackerel.

3) Cash

OK, maybe I'm ahead of my time on this one, and I think 10 years from now we will genuinely be very near to living in a cashless society. That being said, in the here and now - I find cash to be an absolute nuisance, and like our Queen - as a rule I don't carry it.

Yesterday I was in a hospital car park, and I happened to know that the parking machine takes credit/debit cards - so I don't have to worry about taking cash. However, even though the machine accepts my pin, it decides to refuse my transaction. So I am left fumbling in my wallet trying to find £2.50 whilst an irate group of people wait behind me at the single machine. In what can only be described as sheer miracle, I actually manage to scrape together £2.50 (I may then have said out loud "dumbass machine, and stormed off). The point being though - I should not have had to have cash in this situation.

There are early signs of progress in this area. For example, you can now order takeaway food online at just-eat.co.uk and pay with your card, and you don't have to pick up the phone and talk to some fool who is going to get your order wrong. Your food is then delivered and you don't have the problem of having the grumpy delivery bloke whine and complain when you give him a £20 note (because you've already paid in advance). Seriously though, these delivery blokes annoy me beyond belief. It's absolutely not my responsibility to have change for him just to make his life easy is it!!!

I could go on about cash all day actually? Why for example in 2012 don't snack machines let you pay by card - or at the very least, why don't they take coppers (the only cash I ever seem to have in abundance).

Cash is just not my friend. I never have any on me when there is some sort of collection at work for the new baby of the wife of someone on the shop floor that I have said hello to twice in 14 years! I swear, cash is just a pain. The sooner you can scan your thumb on a little pad of some sort to pay for anything at any time - the happier I'll be!

4) Broadband Speeds/4G/LTE

Given that there is so much you can now download, and stream over the internet these days - we in the UK are embarrassingly behind other countries when it comes to broadband connections and mobile capabilities. I sometimes feel as if we are still using 56k modems when I have to wait for a YouTube video to buffer. There should be no damn buffering! Buffering should be a thing of the past. The most irritating thing about this is that all the big Communications companies seem to do is argue about it instead of working together to get these technologies up and running better for everyone. I don't care about the politics of it or which network brings it first. Just get it done for heavens sake!!!


Anyway, if I put my mind to it, this list could go on forever so I'll quit right here for now. Hopefully the above listed will not continue to ruin my life for too much longer!

Peter

Where it all began

The year was 1993. I was working for a Law Firm on Hood Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, initially as one of an army of Office Juniors who's tasks ranged from photocopying, shredding, delivering letters, assembling Ikea flat pack furniture, and my personal favourite - cleaning the front step following a visit by persons worse for wear the night before!

Overall, it was a very unhappy time. I wasn't very good at even these very basic tasks - after all they weren't very uplifting or motivating, and most of my days were spent getting bossed around by people on a major power trip. No, it wasn't the Partners, it was the Legal Secretaries and Articled Clerks! Some of the grief I got caused much cursing, eye rolling, and sighing at the time, but to be fair in those days I had a large sense of misplaced entitlement mixed with an overall lazy and uncooperative streak (haven't changed much have I)! So I probably deserved it I guess.

Anyhow, it was around this time that I got my very first Home PC. I had never had a computer of any sort before so I wouldn't have even known how to switch one on. A friend of my Dads was quite computer literate and helped us get started. He recommended a good place to buy a PC and we took his advice. Shortly afterwards a shiny new IBM Compatible 486 DX/66 was connected up in my bedroom at my parents house on my similarly new computer desk. Being 1993, this thing was big and white! It had 4mb of memory, and a 130mb hard disk. Not only did it have a 3.5 inch floppy drive, it also had a 5.25 inch one as well! Although I don't have a picture of it, it looked very much like this one;

The pre-installed Operating System was MS-DOS 6.22 with Windows 3.1. When you powered on the machine, this is what you saw;

From the DOS prompt, you had to change to the Windows directory by typing cd windows. Then, you typed win to start up Windows 3.1. Here's what it looked like;

To those of you who were born in the 90s (and now bizarrely are grown ups), yes folks - this is what Windows used to look like. And it was absolutely great. To quote Kid Rock, "We didn't have no internet", but it didn't matter. We knew no different. We could play Solitaire or Minesweeper;

So it's fair to say that I took to Computer Technology pretty quickly. At the same time, PC's were starting to emerge in businesses and this worked out really well for me as finally there was something at work that interested me. Our newly appointed I.T. Manager obviously picked up on my enthusiasm for the subject. The I.T. Infrastructure developed so rapidly that it was soon too much for one person to manage, so she asked if I wanted to join the I.T. Department. Well, I was never going to say no was I. After what seemed like 100 years, I was no longer an Office Junior, and a proper career path began (although the Legal Secretaries still bossed me around)!

To this day though, I remain grateful for the opportunity, and the fact that I was in the right place at the right time. I've seen a lot of unbelievable changes in Technology in the years that followed. Windows has changed many times. 3.1 was replaced by the very good Windows 95. The average 98 and ME versions briefly followed.

Windows 2000 and Windows XP became Microsofts Work horses for many years. XP is arguably their biggest success as people still want to use it right now.

Vista was a low point, but Windows 7 put things back on track.

and now we have Windows 8 on the horizon.

When all's said and done though, no matter how exciting or amazing all the new technologies are becoming, I still feel nostalgic for that very first PC (even though the motherboard had to be replaced on it after about a week). Windows 3.1 was truly amazing at the time - it made the impossible possible, and the Tech world has really never looked back since. I wonder where we'll be in another 20 or so years. I can't wait to find out!

Peter

iNever gave up!

Undaunted by my setbacks to date - I ordered another replacement iPhone screen and digitizer, and to cut a seemingly endless story short, I fiited it no problem - got the screws in the right place and voila;

I had a few further snags in that I found that the WI-FI wouldn't work.  I investigated what could be wrong and discovered that I had rather carelessly detached a clip from the motherboard that is important to the WI-FI functionality.  It's not an uncommon problem and I restored the WI-FI by inserting a small piece of copper wire underneath a screw where the clip should have been.  Unbelievably, the WI-FI works perfectly once more.

I also ended up having to replace the antenna/speaker component that you can see in the above picture, as the connector that you can see which connects to the motherboard got damaged on the original.

So, I nearly have a fully functional iPhone 4.  The final issue I have is that the mobile signal drops whenever I pick the iPhone up - which is obviously a bit of a nuisance.  But, my research informs me that this could be a loose connection, or the fact that some of the connections need cleaning with a de-greaser such as Windex.  As yet, I have not had the time to try this but it is on my to do list.

So what have I learned?  The most important thing is that I should have taken my time more, and been a bit more careful.  I was in truth a bit gung-ho, heavy handed, and in too much of a hurry.  I made several mistakes as a result but I now know that I can fix an iPhone that ends up in such an unfortunate condition.

I have in fact successfully replaced the screen on a white iPhone 4S for a colleague - and I'm pleased to say that this repair was a complete success.

And so ends this story.  I will post an update as to whether I get the SIM working properly, but in the meantime - I hope you have enjoyed reading about the ups and downs of this epic journey!

And that's that!

Peter

Oracle Virtualbox

I have often found myself wanting to try out new and different operating systems, yet frustratingly I have no spare hardware on which to experiment.  That's why I was really pleased to discover Oracle Virtualbox.

As described on their own website (https://www.virtualbox.org) - "Virtualbox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2".

It's easy to download and setup, and if like me you have a laptop with a 500gb hard drive - it gives you the chance to test multiple platforms on the same laptop, without the inconvenience of overwriting your existing OS, or setting up messy dual boot configurations.

Here's what Virtualbox looks like when you start it up;

As you can see, I have already used Virtualbox to install and test multiple platforms - including Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Ubuntu (more to come on that in another post), Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and even Android Ice Cream Sandwich.  I have also been able to find an ISO image of Windows 3.1 (purely for nostalgia purposes).

Configuring specific settings for each platform can be a bit tweaky, but there is lots of advice available if you do a bit of Googling - and so far I have managed to get everything working that I have put my mind to.

So if like me, you come from Planet Geek, and you want to try out different platforms to see what they can do - give Virtualbox a try.

And that's Virtualbox.  Share and Enjoy!

Peter

Screwed!

So my iPhone 4 replacement screen and digitizer had arrived and I took everything I needed home one Monday night, and once the boys were asleep and Louise was out to teach her Slimming World class - I got to work.  This is what the replacement screen and digitizer look like next to the gutted iPhone case;

Things started pretty well.  I listened to the football as I worked - Newcastle were away to Arsenal that night, and they scored early which was great, but Arsenal quickly equalized.


Bit by bit, I put the iPhone back together.  Getting some of the very small screws back into place was a lot harder than taking them out.  I made a few small mistakes along the way and had to backtrack - but eventually I got the phone back together and the moment of truth arrived, would the phone actually work?


I powered it on, and incredibly I see the Apple Logo and the phone begins to start up.  After a moment I see the familiar Home Screen and I feel utterly elated.  I can't believe that I have actually done this!!


However, I notice that there is a small gap between new screen and the case - so I figure I haven't screwed something in far enough.  I take off the back cover again, and I can see that one of the clips securing the motherboard doesn't seem to be quite secured enough. It is at this point that I make what can only be described as a "questionable decision".  I take my thumb and I push down on the connector.


I put the back cover back on, restart the phone - and this what I see;

My heart literally sinks.  What have I done?  I take the phone apart again, and it quickly becomes clear that I have one of the screws in the wrong place, and the action of pressing down on that clip with my thumb has pushed that screw through the new screen and absolutely ruined it!!


From a sense of utter elation, I now feel like I have been absolutely stabbed in the heart!  


Just when I think things can't possibly get any worse - Arsenal score a 95th minute winner!!


And that's how you ruin a new iPhone screen and digitizer!
Peter