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Category Archives: Smartphones

Where is the BlackBerry Development Environment?

10 Feb

There isn’t any. Microsoft has Visual Studio for developing all sorts of applications including Windows Phone apps and it is simple, elegant and a 10 year old could probably do it. And Apple has their own Coco development IDE for creating Mac and iOS applications.

What about BlackBerry? Why don’t they have a complete development environment?

It’s always a massive inconvenience to me when I have to download, unpack, and install several SDKs and JDKs and configure them just to be able to create a simple ‘Hello World’ java application. But BlackBerry has a platform running on millions of devices and even an upcoming new platform (BlackBerry 10) that’s suppose to change the industry. Yet, they still haven’t got a single and complete development environment.

How is that suppose to attract developers? If anything, it will just continue to differ them to a simpler solution that doesn’t require a master’s degree to start creating apps.

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2012 in BlackBerry, Programming, Smartphones

 

Tuesday, August 9 2011

09 Aug

As mush as I love the original concept behind Windows Phone’s start screen, I still have a few things to complain about.

There just seems to be a lot of wasted space on the start screen. You will notice there is a quite spacious black empty space at the top and at the right of the tiles. I understand why the top was left blank (for toast notifications) but it just doesn’t look right with all that space left blank.

The same thing applies to the empty space to the tight of the tiles. It just doesn’t make sense to me to see all that wasted space for displaying an arrow.

I don’t know if you also noticed, but the length of the home screen doesn’t fit the amount of tiles it can display. When you first see the start screen in its default position (scrolled all the way to the top) you will notice that your screen will only show the complete length of 3 tiles with part of the 4th tile covered where you have to scroll to see the rest of it. Even though it’s only a tiny part of it that is covered, that still feels like a flaw in the UI design.

Apart from those three design flaws (in my opinion at least) Windows Phone has proved itself to be the most enjoyable experience you can get on a mobile operating system.

 
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Posted by on August 9, 2011 in Microsoft, Rants, Windows Phone

 

Saturday, July 16 2011

16 Jul

Looks like RIM is taking a lot of heat from the press lately. Not just the press, but bloggers around the globe are firing negative opinions at them since RIM’s last shareholder meeting. Personally, I understand why all this is happening. They company have become more of a reactor than an inventor. They went from being smartphone leaders to followers. This makes both shareholders and consumers frustrated.

What’s mostly depressing is RIM’s ever lasting love to their outdated and mostly hated BlackBerry OS. Don’t get me wrong, RIM makes great BlackBerry devices from a hardware side. But when it comes to software, RIM is way behind. You could even say Samsung’s BADA OS starts to look like a better alternative.

 
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Posted by on July 16, 2011 in BlackBerry, Smartphones

 

Monday, July 4th 2011

04 Jul

I never understood why HP called their tablet TouchPad. Don’t they realize that a lot of manufacturers are just appending the word ‘Pad’ to their crappy tablets to lure in unfortunate customers? This is simply bad marketing which isn’t a surprise since HP is now the owner.

What pissed me off the most after reading the first reviews of the TouchPad is the negative feedback about the device’s physical hardware. The bulky heavy plasticy smudge-magnet they call a TouchPad. This is all HP’s non-creative dirty work. I am sure Palm’s team had absolutely no hand in the design of the tablet. This has HP’s crappy design signs that we’re all used to seeing all over it.

Haven’t they even compared the size and weight of their TouchPad to whatever is leading in the market (iPad, Galaxy Tab, etc) while the TouchPad was just a blue print? Who ever managed the hardware team should be fired cause he’s dramatically affecting TouchPad sales.

This is really sad news for WebOS. The operating system, as everyone including me always said, has great potential but the hardware has always been pulling it back.

 
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Posted by on July 4, 2011 in Rants, WebOS

 

Sunday, June 26th 2011

27 Jun

Windows Phones are great devices and they run on a wonderfully unique platform that seems to simply make sense right out of the box. But of course nothing is perfect and no matter how great the operating system is it also comes with its own quirks.

Hardware wise, since I am using a Samsung Focus, my main disappointment is the touch buttons that I keep mistakenly hit whenever I try to rotate the device to landscape mode to view a video for instance or whenever I try to take a picture.

The other hardware issue I am facing is due to the locations of both the power button and the volume control buttons on either side of the device. They are located exactly opposite to one another which causes me to hit them both accidentally when I try to hit the power button to wake up the device. That usually confuses the device or me personally.

On the software side, I can’t complain much since it’s in its first stages of maturity, so there is still a long road ahead before I could state my criticism. Maybe I could start complaining after Mango is released, if there is anything to complain about.

In general, I do like (maybe even love) the user experience and the concept behind combining similar activities in hubs, it just makes sense instead of jumping from one app to another.

I am certain that Mango is gonna make things even better for Windows Phones, not to mention Nokia’s adoption for the platform over MeeGo.

 
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Posted by on June 27, 2011 in Microsoft, Windows Phone

 

What’s New With Microsoft Zune?

13 Mar

Ever since Microsoft shifted focus to Windows Phone 7 there has been nothing new in the Zune department. It’s like Microsoft completely switched all its resources and dedication to marketing and pushing the Windows Phone 7 platform, and I don’t blame them. Windows Phone 7 is the new kid in town when it comes to mobile operating systems and Microsoft needs to prove themselves to phone manufacturers and wireless carriers. But that doesn’t mean they should forget about Zune players completely.

There are still thousands (if not millions) of owners of the original Zune and Zune HD and I believe they would like to know “what’s next” when it comes to Zune. Microsoft seems to release an app in the Zune Marketplace not very often and it has to come from them and not from any third party developer which raises concerns on how will it continue to evolve and gain market share like that.

I believe Microsoft is trying to (and will) build an ecosystem that encompasses Zune players, Windows Phones and Windows 7. Doing so might take time and money to get there. All I am saying is that recently it feels like there is no one working in the Zune department and I am sure lots of people are interested in knowing where Zune sits in Microsoft’s roadmap.

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2011 in Microsoft, Windows Phone

 

BlackBerry WordPress App Glitch

22 Feb

The other day I decided to use the WordPress app on my old BlackBerry to write and submit a new post. As a result, there was a double post as well as my previous post’s category was removed. I couldn’t remove the double post from the BlackBerry WordPress app and when I tried to remove it from my iPad it gave me a weird error.

Something is horribly wrong with the app.

I had to go to the main WordPress website to manually remove the double post and fix my previous post. I don’t know what could have triggered such an error, nevertheless, I sent WordPress a message on twitter with the whole story.

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2011 in BlackBerry, Smartphones

 

Went Back to BlackBerry Bold

16 Feb

Yup, I switched back to my old trusty BlackBerry Bold 9000 last week. It’s not that I completely switched from my Android Nexus One phone or anything. I just like to switch to my old smartphones every once in a while. It either makes me appreciate the new smartphones more or regret buying them.

The BlackBerry Bold has always been the closest smartphone to my heart (after the Nokia E61, my truly first ever smartphone). The Bold’s keyboard is just unbeatable. There isn’t a smartphone keyboard out there than comes close to the Bold’s perfectly balanced and spaced out keys. It’s a true beauty.

I am sure I blogged about my love for my BlackBerry Bold so I won’t bore you with another post. I left my Nexus One in a drawer until Google decides to give us the new meaning of “next couple weeks/days” to release any update to Android. They’re starting to piss off many Nexus One and Nexus S owners.

 
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Posted by on February 16, 2011 in BlackBerry, Smartphones

 

HP Might Be On To Something

11 Feb

When HP revealed the Veer, I thought they were out of their minds. I thought they pulled another mistake out of the bull-shit bag. From the looks of it, the device is too small to be a smartphone. But then it hit me. HP might be seriously looking into the future of smartphones.

HP knows how important tablets are and with the release of the TouchPad, HP is positioning itself to be the top leader in the tablet market, or at least that’s the plan. The Veer is basically a way to veer people towards owning a TouchPad, hitting two birds with one stone. Genius.

The Veer is an excellent tool (or smartphone) for those who desire having a tablet that goes along with their phone. A companion. It’s a great idea and something I see happening to most smartphone owners eventually.

Having a smartphone alone these days isn’t enough, you need a companion. A tablet. Laptops are heavier, takes longer to load and requires some surface to place it on. A tablet is the next generation of PC portability that just requires your hands.

In my case, I would prefer the Pre 3 since I see myself relying heavily on both my smartphone and my tablet. And getting both devices to play nice together, like sharing links and files in a breeze, is a special and unique feature. You can even call it innovative.

In my opinion, HP has stepped with both feet into the smartphone and tablet markets with the help of WebOS. They owe it all to Palm.

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2011 in Smartphones, WebOS

 

HP Palm Major Event Tomorrow

08 Feb

It’s time. It’s ‘the’ day. It’s also ‘D’d day for HP and Palm. ‘D’ as in Delivery day, as in Demo day, as in Dead if they come up short and don’t meet people’s expectations. And also a whole bunch of other ‘D’s if I kept going.

Tomorrow is, you could say, the most important day for Palm’s WebOS. An operating system that never reached its desired and probably deserving potential. It was a great move from HP to buy Palm. Now Palm has a chance to further promote and push WebOS in the market thanks to HP’s never ending cash-flow.

I am really excited to see what Palm is releasing tomorrow. Speculations and rumors say there will be new WebOS devices coming out which I am sure current WebOS owners will appreciate. There might be new smartphones coming from Palm as well as tablets. The more interesting part, obviously, is the tablets since the tablet market is currently dominated by only iPads. Don’t even mention Android. Android Honeycomb tablets haven’t hit the market yet and any Froyo tablet out there should be tossed in the garbage before it further embarrasses their manufacturers.

Tomorrow is the day that marks Palm’s future. Will there be a sneak preview of a new version of WebOS? Will HP/Palm release new smartphones and tablets? Will people have to wait for ever to get their hands on the new devices or will they be available immediately and worldwide? I’ve got many more questions roaming inside my head. Will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2011 in WebOS

 
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