User: Zpike
These are the most recent forum messages posted by Zpike:
Not quite
Sort of. But the FCC mandates that some spectrum that was bought in some of their auctions cannot be used to discriminate about data traffic. The 700 MHz block comes to mind as Verizon recently got in trouble for charging for tethering on their 4G (700 MHz) network. They had to backtrack and allow their customers to freely use their phones as a wifi access point. So, depending on what spectrum the carrier is using, there are limitations to ...
Beware
I quit allowing Sony software of any kind on any computing devices I own when they started installing root kits on people's computers.
Yea but
Yea but they could put native Android on the Sprint hardware if they really wanted to. They just won't, and I get why. But that doesn't make it suck any less, especially considering the existence of this variant of the phone.
So....
If I sold you a new computer with no OS, would you want to pay the same price as the retail box that contained your OS flavor of choice? Or would you consider that the absence of some software that you might want would make a difference in the price? Before you go there, I know that technically the unlocked GS4 comes with an OS. But my point is that hardware isn't the only thing that matters. Software has ...
today
I could have used that today. When I got on the interstate, traffic was backed up to just past where you could see until you turned onto the ramp and it was too late. It took me 20 min to get to the next exit and taking an alternate route added another 10 min on top of that. If I had stayed on my original street and not gotten on the interstate, that route would have likely only added ...
Re: Missed the boat
Yea, I just want the stock android experience with out having to install Cyanogen Mod and hope for a stable release. My problem with Nexus devices is that they have usually been middle of the road. If they made a really high-end device with pure Android, that would be the device for me. Oh, and it would also need a 5.5 "- 6" screen, a stylus, and a gynormous battery. Then that would the device for me. With its ...
Missed the boat
Damn. Why can't this come to Sprint?
Benchmarks
This may be the one platform where x86 can actually be benchmarked against Arm. I would be very interested in seeing how the current generation of Atom processors running Android stack up against the modern Arm powerhouses.I hope someone benchmarks this phone soon.
wrong thread
I posted this comment on the unlocked GS4 thread and it somehow appeared here.
But you're not entitled to be a pest, per the TOS
Funny retort, but it doesn't excuse your post. There are plenty of other avenues where you can sling insults at people who disagree with your political stance. It makes much more sense to only insult people based on their electronic preferences here :P
Re: Hardware???
I think you're making a very unreliable generalization, and insulting the rest of humanity as well. Have you ever considered that your customer support experience is based on a population of people who are comfortable calling customer support? Of course most of your callers don't understand technology. But that doesn't mean that there's only some tiny sector of people who do. Technology is hands down the fastest growing sector of our society, and if it's not the largest it ...
Re: no plan b
Why don't you keep your political propaganda to yourself. We're here to discuss cell phones, not why you think you're entitled to an abortion.
Re: Hardware???
>>The big thing you're missing here is that Phone Scoop doesn't write reviews for the technological community. We write reviews that average Janes and Joes can understand.
You know your readers better than I do (or maybe you don't- I'm one of them :p ), but you're writing reviews of technology. And I get that you're presenting those reviews to people who maybe aren't that tech-savvy.
But that doesn't mean you have to skew technical terminology. When you say something ...
Re: Hardware???
Yea, Samsung is good about keeping things up to date. They're just slow. My GSII did eventually get Jelly Bean. But battery consumption has consistently been terrible since going to ICS. I really enjoy all the new features and find them hard to give up, but I think the Gingerbread experience was the most solid on this device. I don't want a similar experience on my next device so I'm waiting for something I'm sure will upgrade without a ...
Can of worms
Sorry I didn't mean to open a can of worms. I was more musing about the distinction in terminology as opposed to trying to bash the article. I do find the articles informative though I don't always agree with them (but who does). I also agree with techalum99 that some elements of lab testing where you actually try to see what the phones will stand up to would be nice. But I also assume that you have to return ...
Overlords
Has anyone considered that we may one day carry our Google-powered overlords around in our pockets?
Re: Hardware???
I kind of feel the same way you do. I think the software on the S4 wins out in the end. But I also like the memory card slot and removable battery, which are missing on the One. It's a hard call to make, but I've heard rumor that Samsung has some stuff up their sleeve. So I'm waiting to see what pops up on the Note III before I upgrade.
Re: Hardware???
You're comparing apples to oranges. Just because some processor has more GHz and cores than a processor on some other architecture (which they really don't anyway if you're really paying attention) doesn't mean it's more powerful. I have a first generation bottom of the line Core 2 processor at home that will eat any of these Arm processors for lunch. High-end cell phone processors "might" (and that's a big might) be more powerful than average desktop processors from 10 ...
Re: Hardware???
I understand where you are coming from, it's just that I always have to do a double take when I read any comments about hardware on this site. You guys typically place your emphasis on different things than must hardware junkies.
Re: Hardware???
But you've missed the point entirely.
1. Phonescoop said they preferred the hardware on the One to the hardware on the Galaxy S4. They weren't comparing S4's across carriers. They were comparing the hardware on two entirely different handsets by two different manufacturers. So, yea they should justify why the hardware is better on one than the other.
2. Your statement of what is important to consumers is both entirely objective and ill founded. Certainly network performance is important to ...
Hardware???
Why is it that Phonescoop's notion of hardware always seems to be limited to the construction materials of the enclosure/case? And while this is one form of hardware, it is usually a menial aspect of hardware for the rest of the technological community. Usually when we talk about hardware we mean the processor, memory, screen, camera, memory card slot, and other elements that comprise the main physical architecture of the device. But the aesthetic elements, enclosure/case, buttons, paint job, ...
The main difference
The main difference is that spectrum is a public asset being auctioned by the federal government- the same federal government that has an obligation to promote competition and bust up monopolies. When telecom companies were smaller and wireless spectrum was virtually a new asset, having an auction was a very sensible way to decide which corporations got access to these public resources. However, that is no longer the case, and the government has an obligation to promote competition, not ...
double post
dupe
Re: They were all small once...
What?!!!? When was ATT small? If you remembered when the government actually cared about busting up monopolies, instead of picking and choosing them the way it does today, you would remember that ATT has already been busted up before. But ATT has always been a giant technology company, and it is also one of the first. This is probably the worst possible example you could have given to support your argument.
Re: Battery Killer
Yup, that beez wherez we lives. Pass the beer-cheese dip, please... I think 'Lipsynkin Wit Pikles' is about to come on. :P
Re: All smartphones look the same, can be move on?
To that degree, all cars look the same. And I'm certain you never consider the appearance of a car when you purchase one.
Why care
If you have an Android, why use facebook. Switch to Google+. Problem solved.
Re: Oh, but the camera
A 1920 x 1080 image would have 2,073,600 pixels. And that's as good as HD currently gets, unless you're into high-end gaming or use big resolutions in a professional environment. But for the run of the mill consumer, 1080p is it. And since your photograph isn't likely to appear on anything larger, it's quite possible that a 2M pixel camera with a good lens could take better pictures than an 8M pixel camera with a crappy lens. I'm sure ...
To be entirely biased while claiming fairness
To be entirely accurate with no regard to fairness, Apple has never been years ahead of anyone on anything other than sales figures.
Get the troll a tin can
It seems that a tin can would be the perfect device for you. It's entirely made of metal and seamless in it's simplicity.There are no buttons to confuse you or pesky options. It is only compatible as a communication device with other tin cans, and they're all tied together with the same string (think ecosystem). You can market it's hollow nature as a reinvention of acoustic reproduction engineering (think speakers), similarly to how Apple is currently marketing that they ...
who cares
I've been doing this for years with google voice. Nice to see one of the big 4 trying to catch up, but I use google voice to supersede most of their offerings anyway.
Bailout Drone
I guess you're in favor of giving more free bailout money to banks too, right? Because as we all know, many more people walk off on credit card debt, mortgages, and car loans than those who walk away from a $600 phone debt. So, we should all be sympathetic to the poor hurting banks and give them more free money too, right?
Re: People also forget that the carriers get screwed by fraud/non-bill pays
I ran a cellphone store myself for a few years, and you're confusing one big point. Third party dealers who resell Sprint, Verizon, ATT, etc. services have a hard time making a profit because, as you mentioned, the carriers don't pay them unless the customer keeps the contract. And they don't make squat off the phones themselves. Heck, there were times that I gave away high end phones at a 10 or 20 dollar loss just to get the ...
Re: Faulty Assumption
We have an oligopoly in every market in the USA, because the ignorant, incompetent, and greedy Federal Government prefers price fixing schemes and big business money as opposed to busting up monopolies and enforcing competition.
Someone earlier in the thread suggested that we could get some healthy competition by enforcing just such a ridiculous price fixing scheme and forcing big companies to give better prices to MVNO's. Every time the government has ever tried something like that, prices have gone ...
Consumers and the Beanstalk
But this is how we as consumers are. Some large corporation becomes a near monopoly and their practices become arrogant and border on abusive to their customers, while stifling innovation and holding back progress. We see nothing happening but the cow getting fatter, and we wonder, "where's the milk?'" Suddenly the big company becomes evil, and probably rightly so.
Then begins our quest find a Jack to climb the bean stalk and slay the evil giant and bring us ...
Re: Hyper-Threading
I'll be sure to run that by everyone using an i7 processor. I'm sure they'll all tell us how terrible those processors are. I agree that hyper threading is over-hyped, but you're basing your opinion of it on what is almost universally agreed to be the worst processor series of all time- the P4. The problem there was the entire die, not the hyper-threading technology. And as I said, I agree it's over-hyped. But I haven't heard anyone complaining ...
Re: The jury made many mistakes
Actually, the company he was fired from had litigation against Samsung, making it even worse.
Re: Thanks
Hilarious! You know I think perhaps the best news I've heard in the last couple years is that Disney bought the rights to Star Wars. Now maybe someone who knows what the F they're doing can make another Star Wars movie worth watching.
Growing up as a teenager I remember watching a live video of Led Zepplin doing Stairway to Heaven in the 80's. I think it was one of their last shows. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were blitzed ...
just stupid
This whole thing is just plain stupid. When a carrier agrees to subsidize a phone, they are taking a risk to attract your business. So far, it's been a big win for them even if a handful of customers stuck it to them on a few devices. And it's not like refusing to fulfill your phone contract is without consequences. It impacts your credit and drives your interest rates up on everything. Also, you can only do this a ...
Re: What?
So, find a phone you like that supports it. There are more that do than there are that don't. That's what diversity and choice is all about.
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