Monday, February 14, 2011

Is there still a chick running H.P. ? A new pre?

I don't see the point. Palm bounced their first web os device by using a too-small screen which made some of its many fine features annoying to use. Multi-touch zoom is nice but not as a required motion to operate the phone.
So, they blew it on hardware and lost their only shot at gaining a foothold to contest  androids ascension.  Now that the window is closed HP launches three "oh, by the way" devices. D. O. A.
Android will soon become a multitasking os and no one but a democrat will be caught with an iphone.

33 comments:

WaterBoy said...

Thought you'd get a kick out of that, seeing as how you still use a Pre.

I plan to get the TouchPad, depending on what the retail price ends up being, but I won't get the Pre3.  And I won't be getting an Android phone, either, based on the problems my wife has with hers (intermittently shuts itself down even when the battery is fully charged; loses Bluetooth connection).

My Tilt works just fine.

Michael Maier said...

My Pre is fine but almost all I ever use is my camera and the alarm clocks. I like Googling phone numbers while out and about.

The stock battery dies too quick so I don't use the MP3 player much.

I despised the Windows Mobile phone I had and have no idea what I'll get next. But I'm also in no hurry to get a next phone, either.

But in the interest of gathering info for future use, what're folks using and how do they like it?

Bill said...

Blackberry rocks.  And, business friendly.

JACIII said...

WB, Been using an Evo (android) for 3 months now. It's rock solid. Your wifes problems are probably hardware related or due to a phone still running an earlier version that may not be upgradeable. 

MM, Android has taken over, Apple just doesn't know it yet.

Bill, Nathan like his crackberry, too. What specifically makes it "business" friendly that Android/iphone/winMobile don't do?

Mikesbo said...

iPhone 3gs 8gb are $49 on contract at ATT now

Bill said...

Crackberry has the BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) that lets the IT folks actually manage their own email server, not rely on 3rd parties, it also connects to various Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Managment systems, so you can actually do real work on your crackberry, not just facebook and email. And the BES lets a remote administrator wipe a blackberry (if someone quits or gets fired) and allows corporate IT policies to be enforced (can block pr0n sites, monitor e-mail usage, etc).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server

Michael Maier said...

Read that Blackberry phones have encryption. No idea if that is available on any other platforms.

That might be why only BBs are allowed to be used on our FedGov networks.


Why the hell am I looking at this stuff?

Re: EVO: 1/2GB RAM and support for 32GB on a phone. Incredible.

Bill said...

Don't know what happened to my last reply, but the Blackberry has the BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) which allows local IT people to really manage the email, contacts, calender, etc for the Blackberry.  Also, the BES allows remote locking or wiping of your Blackberry, in the event it's lost/stolen, or the employee quits/fired.  Additionally, the BES allows IT admin rules to be applied (no surfing pr0n, e-mail retention, etc).

And, there's lots of Crackberry apps for real business apps (corporate Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Resource Management, etc), not just Facebook and music.

Checkout BES on Wiki.

Bill said...

Oh, I forgot some key features of the BES; when someone else (secretary, co-worker, etc) adds an event to your Outlook calender, or adds a contact, or does anything with your corporate Outlook server, it instantly, over-the-air updates your Crackberry.  Ditto with sent and received e-mail, the sync is done all the time, no need to tether the Crackberry to your desktop to sync - this ability makes it imperative to ditch the Apples/Androids until they do the same thing.  Your Crackberry really does become an extension of your desktop.

Raggededge said...

If making phone calls and messaging features are the primary uses of your device, a crackberry is hard to beat.  I have Blackberry, my wife a Samsung Epic 4G.  It's fun to play games on my wife's phone, not so much fun dealing with 100+ emails per day on it.  

WaterBoy said...

JACIII: "Your wifes problems are probably hardware related or due to a phone still running an earlier version that may not be upgradeable. "

Apparently it is hardware; a software upgrade will not fix it.  But they still haven't addressed the Bluetooth issue...though I suppose that may also be related.

thimscool said...

Crackberry's suck. BES is horid. $2k to play plus software/hardware requirements that make the mailserver 2-3 times as expensive.

All of the features that Bill mentions are available out of the box on Exchange2007/10 for no extra cost, and they work with WinMo, Android, iPhone, webOS... but not BlackBerry. The rest of the smartphones let you set up activesync in less than 5 minutes but Blackberry requires BES to give that level of functionality, even though it is poorly written and supported software that hasn't fundamentally changed in years.

As for BlackBerry's business apps, there are none that I'm aware of that arent available on Android or iPhone. The devices themselves are not as impressive as they used to be, compared with other smartphones, although I'll grant that BlackBerry has always had the best hardware keyboards. And BB is still the most secure option, although that is damnation by faint praise and matters less and less with each passing android/WinMo product cycle.

JAC is right. Android has won, unless Microsoft A) gets back on its game, B) spends a ludicrous amount of money on marketing, and C) dumps the devices at below cost to gain marketshare (like BlackBerry). A) will probably not happen with Balmer at the helm. B) will definitely happen, as always, but won't be enough. C) may happen, although Noikia is not going to like that so there will be unintended consequences. RIM is all but dead. Apple is a niche company that plays to the snobs because they depend on high margins. They'll always be there, but they won't drive the market.

Hey JAC, are ya still digging the SU16c?

JACIII said...

Thanks for the bb rundown, tc.
The su16c is a fine rifle still.
On Feb 17, 2011 4:22 PM, "Echo" <
js-kit-m2c-BNQD09RDVK2TPK6U92B38OPS29C86QRNSDE67UT28CKMH7NQE49G@reply.js-kit.com>
wrote:

thimscool said...

Until they finally get them out of inventory...

thimscool said...

The fold is appealing, as is the light weight.

What do you recommend in .308, accuracy being the primary constraint? Do you like Saiga?

Bill said...

No offense Thims... but what you describe has no relation to my experience.  SAP has had decently robust blackberry apps (CRM, BI, Analytics) since about 2007/2008.  SAP CRM was announced for Windows phones Oct/Nov last year, and SAP Analytics for Android was announced two days ago.  And just last week SAP announced BusinessByDesign for the Blackberry and said that they'd have Windows and Android support at some future date.  With a huge installed Blackberry base, that's where the research is going.  I'm sure these things will become commodities someday, but it ain't there yet.  In the business world, if you're running SAP or Oracle for your CRM or ERP and you want to do it remotely, for the past few years you've kinda needed a Blackberry.

And our IT folks have never had a problem with BES, just business as usual.  And with a price of $6k for 100 users, it's dirt cheap - oh, and it's free for less than 30 users.

thimscool said...

None taken, of course.

It depends the scale of organization. BlackBerry's are also the only thing you'll see on capitol hill. Big business, big government, can afford the overhead that BlackBerry imposes on IT... and of course the IT dept that values their budget and jobs will say they have no problem with it.

BES express is "free" for a single user, but unless they have changed their pricing in the last six months (the last time I had to deal with this crap), it is much more expensive for multi user.

In any case, software is only free if your time has no value. My company provides IT solutions to small to mid-sized bussinesses, essentially acting as an outsourced IT department that chaarges by the hour. In that circumstance, which is the largest market outside of the consumer space, BES is a complete non-starter.

So, they lose in the consumer space. They lose in SMB... they still win in the enterprise, although they are losing ground in that market to WinMo.

SAP, Oracle, BES... these are all enterprise solutions where the margins are high and the complexity is atypical. 80% of the employed people in this country will never see that shit. But they can get the features they need (actually better feartures than a BB) from an android phone, Google Apps, and SalesForce.com.

The mass market is what enables revenues that allow for domination of an existing industry, even if the profit margins are low. BB has zero chance in that mass market, and although they may hang on for a while in the corporate space, they will be a marginal player in the larger smartphone market. Hell. They already are. And their numbers are shrinking fast.

Anyhow, for the average consumer, bang for the buck, you can't beat Android. The browser is clearly the best. The GPS is the best. And yes, they are pretty good phones, too.

Nate said...

Until Rim releases the next generation of super phones... which will be running the OS that is on the Playbook... which multitasks.

Plus rim will have all the cash flowing in from the new markets... india for example.  A billion people want curves... and they can afford them.

Thankfully the new playbook OS and Android are both so web friendly that they are virtually interchangable.

thimscool said...

I haven't used the Playbook yet, so I can't really comment except to say except that RIM's prior implementations of a touch interface leave a lot to be desired. Maybe they finally got it right?

Who knows what Indians will want. One factor you may not have considered is that android is open source, so there are no licensing fees to implement it in whatever hardware can support it (pretty much all mobile chipsets). That's a significant price advandage in a market that will reward cheap. So again, my bet's on android taking over the developing markets. And for the developed market, check out the Atrix.

Nate said...

They bought QNX.  Apparently they knew their limitations.  They had QNX develope the Playbook OS.  Go and look... and love.

Darlin' Joy said...

I just got the Motorola Atrix.  :-D

Michael Maier said...

You guys seen this?

http://www.keltecweapons.com/news/preview-kel-tec-shotgun-ksg/

Looks like a very cool mess-maker.

And if you needed a good, long-lasting rotary tool, would you go Dremel or something else? I'm leaning towards the 8200 12V cordless but it's spendy and I'm not sure I'll ever NEED it to be cordless. I surely want at the very least a variable-speed model.

Michael Maier said...

You guys seen this?

http://www.keltecweapons.com/news/preview-kel-tec-shotgun-ksg/

Looks like a very cool mess-maker.

And if you needed a good, long-lasting rotary tool, would you go Dremel or something else? I'm leaning towards the 8200 12V cordless but it's spendy and I'm not sure I'll ever NEED it to be cordless. I surely want at the very least a variable-speed model.

Michael Maier said...

You guys seen this?

http://www.keltecweapons.com/news/preview-kel-tec-shotgun-ksg/

Looks like a very cool mess-maker.

And if you needed a good, long-lasting rotary tool, would you go Dremel or something else? I'm leaning towards the 8200 12V cordless but it's spendy and I'm not sure I'll ever NEED it to be cordless. I surely want at the very least a variable-speed model.

EP said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8A9Y1Dq_cQ

mikesbo said...

Heloooo....

thimscool said...

How's it going, JAC? I hope you're well.

Check this out: http://victorygasifier.com/gasifier-kit/

I like the concept.

thimscool said...

Dig this too: http://www.tegpower.com/products.html

Michael Maier said...

Two things: One, I found a pretty cool web site:

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Main_Page

Two, I hope you're going to post some pics here about this weekend.

I picked up the HJC IS-Max this weekend, it's pretty nice. I like the built-in shades and the fact that I can keep my specs on while donning or doffing the helmet.

Now I just need to pick out my intercom/MP3/phone comm unit...

WaterBoy said...

Not that you're likely to see this, JAC, but you were dead on about WebOS.  We'll see if the TouchPad sellout frenzy last month will keep it alive or not, but it seems to be dead now.

Anonymous said...

It's a damned shame too. Web OS had a lot of potential and it still the only truly multitasking mobile OS out there.  The timing of its release was way too late; they missed the window between Apple and Android.

JACIII said...

That was me.

WaterBoy said...

Hey, you are still alive!  Good news. :-P

HP might still keep WebOS going, but they're ditching the mobile hardware market.  Unless they can successfully use it on their PC/laptops -- which are also spinning off into a new company -- WebOS will not survive long.  There will be some money to be made on third-party apps for the next couple of years due to the flood of TPads now out there (and another production run in the works); but after the hardware starts wearing out, they will stop publishing, too.