News - Apple sold 34 million iPhones and 14 million iPads last quarter

[Kovoet]

Never had an iPhone and never will have one. I tried a Mac mini recently and it confirmed what I had always known in that you feel to limited to what you can do with with an Apple product. The only thing I will use from Apple is an iPod touch I own. But I do not use iTunes as that restricts you as well and I use media monkey gold.
Android I find its so much easier and less restricted

[crossy]

Yeah I know I may sound anti apple but the funny thing is I'm not anti apple, I'm anti the apple 'hype' machine, the stock price is saying it all in my opinion, it's going down all the time.

OS's 'borrowing' ideas is pretty common, some even blatantly steal ideas and say they're new and revolutionary.... but at the end of the day it helps 'improve' user experiences and sadly flat design is here to stay....

Going to agree with this 100%, heartily dislike the legal maneuvering and the "we reimplemented this, and so we 'invented' it" mentality. On the other hand I do like their interfaces (definitely like OS X from what little I've had to do with it), and their customer support (apart from the "Genius" bars) has been exemplary.

Maybe the fall in stock price will convince someone in power that they can't continue to live on past glories and do some really innovative products. Not that this would convince me to buy an iPhone or iPad, as I'm too comfortable with the alternatives.

Not that anyone will give a tinker's cuss as to what I think, of course.

I do, (and agree with the bits of your post that I cut).

[3dcandy]

The problem is that Samsung are doing the best job of everyone out there, balancing the cost to performance and the looks and features...
Touchwiz I'm ambivalent about, the SDK's for their hardware is a good idea as long as it's not a quick way to make Samsung even more powerful

[LSG501]

The problem is that Samsung are doing the best job of everyone out there, balancing the cost to performance and the looks and features...
Touchwiz I'm ambivalent about, the SDK's for their hardware is a good idea as long as it's not a quick way to make Samsung even more powerful

Not sure if Samsung are doing the 'best' job in regards to the phone itself but they're doing the best marketing/brand awareness out of android phone makers, not to mention they already had a BIG leg up due to their tv's etc for brand awareness, surprised lg isn't doing better. Most reviews are saying the htc one and lg g2 are better phones but I have NEVER seen an advert for these anywhere, while I have for Apple and Samsung.

[b0redom]

I tried a Mac mini recently and it confirmed what I had always known in that you feel to limited to what you can do with with an Apple product.

Really? What couldn't you do that you could do with Windows/Linux?

Not trolling - genuine question.

[peterb]

All these things are cyclical though - ten or twelve years ago Microsoft were perceived as the evil giant, steamrollering the opposition, buying up small companies with competitive products just to kill them. There were a whole load of sites where people referred to "Windoze" and "Micro$oft" as if the names were too dreadful to mention. Apple were seen as the little guy staving off Goliath. (And were partially rescued by Microsoft who at one point had, iirc, a 20% stake in Apple)

Then on the back of that came the iphone, which was pretty revolutionary at the time and the herd jumped on that. Then as Apple's shine faded, and Android came along, the herd followed that. Microsoft has sort of rehabilitated itself, and the Windows phone looks as if it will be where the herd goes next.

The herd will probably fall for the Microsoft surface too, and that will be a new "must have". Personally, now that the iphone is no longer the 'cool thing' to have, its probably time I thought about getting one! And time to build a Hackingtosh!

[LSG501]

The herd will probably fall for the Microsoft surface too, and that will be a new "must have".

I want to get a larger tablet as although I have a nexus 7 it doesn't really do much outside basic browsing, games and videos and I like the idea of a windows tablet with a stylus more than the other options out there. The funny thing is as much as I liked the surface 2 pro (no point in the surface in my opinion) I'm more interested in the dell venue pro's...

[crossy]

Then on the back of that came the iphone, which was pretty revolutionary at the time and the herd jumped on that. Then as Apple's shine faded, and Android came along, the herd followed that. Microsoft has sort of rehabilitated itself, and the Windows phone looks as if it will be where the herd goes next.

The herd will probably fall for the Microsoft surface too, and that will be a new "must have". Personally, now that the iphone is no longer the 'cool thing' to have, its probably time I thought about getting one! And time to build a Hackingtosh!

I'm not sure I agree. Yes Windows Phone is doing "alright" - but I've failed to see anything that says it's going to be able to achieve anything more than a (distant?) third position. Personally I think that a shame since there's quite a lot to like in there. Will Microsoft's buyout of Nokia hurt WP? I think there's a distinct possibility.

Surface on the other hand is easier to argue. First off, RT is a waste of space - good idea in theory, but whenever I've suggested it, all I've got back is "no software apart from Office". Pro on the other hand is probably a decent idea, but others - Samsung, Asus, etc - seem to do it better. My feeling is that the gotta-have configuration going forward are these tablet/netbook hybrids like the Asus Transformer, HP Envy x2, etc.

I want to get a larger tablet as although I have a nexus 7 it doesn't really do much outside basic browsing, games and videos and I like the idea of a windows tablet with a stylus more than the other options out there.

Take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. You can still get the "old" model on pretty decent prices (heard a rumour that some O2 stores have it for less than £250). Stylus implementation is really good, only downside for most people is that it's Android not Windows (and ARM not x86).

I actually bought the add-on stylus for my Note 10.1, this has a spring-loaded "eraser" on the end and it's surprising how naturally that feels in software that supports it.

[LSG501]

Take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. You can still get the "old" model on pretty decent prices (heard a rumour that some O2 stores have it for less than £250). Stylus implementation is really good, only downside for most people is that it's Android not Windows (and ARM not x86).

I actually bought the add-on stylus for my Note 10.1, this has a spring-loaded "eraser" on the end and it's surprising how naturally that feels in software that supports it.

I actually had a go on one in (shudder) pc world and I didn't come away too impressed, yeah I know it's a demo model so it's not going to run like it would when we get it but I just didn't feel that the device worked well, not just because of the software but because of the 'feel' of the stylus on the screen (seemed 'sticky' which is strange for a wacom based stylus) and to me this is far more important than anything else.

Then there is a software issue in that I would argue that there is more software on windows that supports a stylus compared with on android...

[crossy]

I actually had a go on one in (shudder) pc world and I didn't come away too impressed, yeah I know it's a demo model so it's not going to run like it would when we get it but I just didn't feel that the device worked well, not just because of the software but because of the 'feel' of the stylus on the screen (seemed 'sticky' which is strange for a wacom based stylus) and to me this is far more important than anything else.

Then there is a software issue in that I would argue that there is more software on windows that supports a stylus compared with on android...

First point - yes, it's strange ( ) that the Nexus's et al in PC World don't seem to perform as well as ones that in the hands of consumers. And there's the small matter (in my store at least) that you have to walk around a very large Apple stand to get to the "proper" gear. My advice is that if a Note appeals try it in Carphonewarehouse or John Lewis. Not suggesting for a second that PC World deliberately cripple the non-Apple gear, but ...

Second bit, apart from Photoshop all the apps (got a Wacom tablet for my PC) that I've come across seem to use the stylus purely as a mouse replacement with the possibility of a handwriting keyboard (which - coincidentally doesn't work very well with the latest Office - for me at least). But how many Windows tablets have you seen with that stylus/digitizer combination? Not many (if any). In which case you'd need to bring tablet AND a separate drawing surface - not good.

I guess what would suit you would be something like a "Note Pro" - Windows8/x86 based tablet with the Note's Wacom digitizer integrated into the screen and OS support for a pressure sensitive style that slots into the body.

[3dcandy]

Not sure if Samsung are doing the 'best' job in regards to the phone itself but they're doing the best marketing/brand awareness out of android phone makers, not to mention they already had a BIG leg up due to their tv's etc for brand awareness, surprised lg isn't doing better. Most reviews are saying the htc one and lg g2 are better phones but I have NEVER seen an advert for these anywhere, while I have for Apple and Samsung.

When I said best job I meant the whole thing...including marketing. They hit the price points V hardware quite well, market the product, then deliver the product. As you've said, you only see adverts for Samsung and Apple these days

[3dcandy]

All the stuff in PC World etc. seems to perform worse, tv's always seem badly setup, and the tablets have that demo thing on them which seems to run all the time. Imagine though that the stuff gets turned on and left for hours every single day and I imagine that's the reason, not exactly normal useage is it?

[LSG501]

First point - yes, it's strange ( ) that the Nexus's et al in PC World don't seem to perform as well as ones that in the hands of consumers. And there's the small matter (in my store at least) that you have to walk around a very large Apple stand to get to the "proper" gear. My advice is that if a Note appeals try it in Carphonewarehouse or John Lewis. Not suggesting for a second that PC World deliberately cripple the non-Apple gear, but ...

like I said I know it's a demo unit in PC World (so going to be jammed up with all the junk etc) but even giving it an allowance for that it still didn't really feel quite right for me, mainly in the stylus area.

Second bit, apart from Photoshop all the apps (got a Wacom tablet for my PC) that I've come across seem to use the stylus purely as a mouse replacement with the possibility of a handwriting keyboard (which - coincidentally doesn't work very well with the latest Office - for me at least). But how many Windows tablets have you seen with that stylus/digitizer combination? Not many (if any). In which case you'd need to bring tablet AND a separate drawing surface - not good.

I guess what would suit you would be something like a "Note Pro" - Windows8/x86 based tablet with the Note's Wacom digitizer integrated into the screen and OS support for a pressure sensitive style that slots into the body.

Actually you'd be surprised by how many of the programs I use can utilise the stylus to make the program more efficient or faster to use but then I do work in 3d design so using a stylus is part of the job lol

Actually the 'note pro' is part of the reason I'm waiting on the dell venue pro's (plus there are new wacom tablets, sony, surface pro, lenovo, samsung Q if ever gets released, HP I think and I suspect asus/acer will follow the trend soon enough), they seem to have everything I'm after (removable battery is a big plus) in a slate and if their pens work as well as or close to the wacom/ntrig the 11 inch (and 8 for 'expensive' note taking) could be exactly what I'm looking for (reviews pending obviously)

[MrRockliffe]

From the looks of things I think I'm the only person that thinks apple's products are getting better. Better specs for less.

[crossy]

From the looks of things I think I'm the only person that thinks apple's products are getting better. Better specs for less.

"Not quite" for the first part - look at the sales figures.
"Better specs for around the same price" - I don't see the price of the Air, for example, being less than last years model.

Then again, Samsung seem to be trying that "we're a premium brand, so we get to charge premium prices" schtick too - in which case I'm going elsewhere cos Samsung is definitely an "Asda" style brand, not Fortnum & Mason.

[3dcandy]

To be honest Crossy I think Samsung are just trying to make sure they don't fall into the Android root of losing money on the mobile side of things, even the best of the rest after them are struggling at moment with big sales figures but no margins or profit. They *seem* to be on the ball with the majority of things like software updates etc. Take a look at HTC for a company that is shifting as much as they can make realistically and still just pouring dollars down the drain