I spent a month intensely researching my options and seeing every video on youtube, and going to the stores before deciding to buy the iPhone 4 instead of the Droids or the Samsung Vibrant. Here are the reasons for doing so, along with a rebuttal of everything which has been pointed out as problems with the iPhone 4:
1. Android is not a walled garden - not really true because the best android phones are the Droids, and these phones are completely walled to CDMA, and totally useless internationally unless you want to pay roaming fees. How does it matter? - I can atleast unlock and use the iPhone in New Zealand or India because you will be able to get micro sim's there. That is not the case for a CDMA phone.
2. True Multi-tasking: May not be possible on the iPhone, but makes the droid user experience slow and shabby, so says everyone who has used the droids for long.
3. Expensive - not anymore, in fact with the $15 plan, ATT plans for iPhones are cheaper than even T-Mobile. I don't want to pay $70 a month for a phone which cannot be used outside Verizon/ Sprint. The question is not whether it is $15 for 200MB which I agree is too less, but that you have the option to go for a cheaper plan if you have wifi at most places (office + home). Otherwise $25 for 2GB is more than adequate for more than heavy internet use unless a person does video/ audio streaming. I have never exceeded more than 400MB internet usage with very heavy browsing and email.
4. Size - I was the original guy who used to go around with huge phones because I liked the screen size. The truth is that, a phone is not a PDA, it needs to be small so that it can be carried around easily. So, I prefer the higher resolution iphone screen over the larger Droid X or Samsung Vibrant.
5. Android - Not a good bet, because it is too fragmented and most vendors put on their own software on top of Android. The problem with this is that the older phones are stuck at the older versions of Android, and cannot upgrade. Consider the iphones on the other hand where every hardware revision can be updated to the latest software. I almost opted for the Vibrant, until I read an irate Samsung android phone owner complaining that, he is still stuck with android 1.6, because Samsung did not update their software which runs on top of Android.
6. Service - For this alone, it is worth going to Apple, because if you have a problem, you can simply go the Apple Store. And they know how to fix the phone. Twice I have got brand new replacement for old faulty phones. On the other hand, with the Android phones and multiple manufacturers, good luck trying to get service.
7. Maybe the geeks like Android, but ultimately it is the user experience which is simple and intutive which wins.
8. Waiting for a larger screen? - you really need a mini ipad or a mega ipod. Hopefully, Apple will come up with either of the two in the next 12 months.
9. Facetime - Is a revolutionary thing, because if you paid attention to Steve's presentation, it makes use of real telecom protocols to deliver, real video over a telephony system. Agreed it needs wifi today, but it is a bonafide video over telephony. When we move to 4g, it will be real easy to have real video over real phones then.
10. It is the only phone in the world which supports multiple exchange accounts (I tested it and it works). A big deal, because even Microsoft does not support that in Outlook 2010.
11. One of my problems was that at home if the AT&T signal was low, then I had to have a home phone connection. This can be remedied by using the AT&T 3g microcell which will give you 5 bars without any call drops at home.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Introducing sparrkle.com
I would like to take a few minutes of your time today to introduce what I have been working on since March 2008. I call my site: www.sparrkle.com and it resolves one of the problems I have had for a long time.
Like any other geek, I have many computers at home and office, and there have been times when I know that something which I need is on one of these machines. Till today, there has been no way for a person to securely search across all her/ his machines and download files - from any of her/ his other computers.
So, I have built sparrkle.com which lets you download what is effectively one year of my life. It uses windows desktop search, sql server express and a variety of windows services on your machine to let you search all your computers. Once you see the search results - simply by clicking on the file name, you can download your file from any computer which has sparrkle installed on it. No need to worry about firewalls, complex configurations, nada - nothing. Just click to download.
It is completely seamless, and very, very performant. I have spent months testing it for stability, installation and performance. I hardly noticed it when I was using it from a $400 laptop from Walmart, with a 1.6GHz AMD processor.
It is very secure, your information is transmitted using encryption and if some machines are offline, when they come online sparrkle will automatically query those machines and retrieve the search results. By default, you don't have to open any incoming ports on your firewall.
Basically, all you really need is just the windows install and that is it! - You can register after installing the software. The only pre-requisite for sparrkle is windows desktop search on pre Vista machines.
If you are interested in this solution, I would really be thankful, if you atleast visit my site so that I can know how many people would like to see a software like this.
Like any other geek, I have many computers at home and office, and there have been times when I know that something which I need is on one of these machines. Till today, there has been no way for a person to securely search across all her/ his machines and download files - from any of her/ his other computers.
So, I have built sparrkle.com which lets you download what is effectively one year of my life. It uses windows desktop search, sql server express and a variety of windows services on your machine to let you search all your computers. Once you see the search results - simply by clicking on the file name, you can download your file from any computer which has sparrkle installed on it. No need to worry about firewalls, complex configurations, nada - nothing. Just click to download.
It is completely seamless, and very, very performant. I have spent months testing it for stability, installation and performance. I hardly noticed it when I was using it from a $400 laptop from Walmart, with a 1.6GHz AMD processor.
It is very secure, your information is transmitted using encryption and if some machines are offline, when they come online sparrkle will automatically query those machines and retrieve the search results. By default, you don't have to open any incoming ports on your firewall.
Basically, all you really need is just the windows install and that is it! - You can register after installing the software. The only pre-requisite for sparrkle is windows desktop search on pre Vista machines.
If you are interested in this solution, I would really be thankful, if you atleast visit my site so that I can know how many people would like to see a software like this.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Women players to earn equal pay at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- After years of holding out against equal prize money, Wimbledon yielded to public pressure Thursday and agreed to pay female players as much as male players at the world's most prestigious tennis tournament. The All England Club fell in line with other Grand Slam events and offered equal pay through all rounds at this year's tournament.
"Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time," club chairman Tim Phillips said at a news conference. "We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognizes the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon."In short, good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon." Last year, men's champion Roger Federer received $1.170 million and women's winner Amelie Mauresmo got $1.117 million.
"It is a victory for women's tennis, and a victory for women in general," Mauresmo said Thursday after reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Open. "It was really a matter of principle. It is a question of equality."The U.S. Open and Australian Open have paid equal prize money for years. The French Open paid the men's and women's champions the same for the first time last year, although the overall prize fund remained bigger for the men.
Source:SportsIllustrated
"Tennis is one of the few sports in which women and men compete in the same event at the same time," club chairman Tim Phillips said at a news conference. "We believe our decision to offer equal prize money provides a boost for the game as a whole and recognizes the enormous contribution that women players make to the game and to Wimbledon."In short, good for tennis, good for women players and good for Wimbledon." Last year, men's champion Roger Federer received $1.170 million and women's winner Amelie Mauresmo got $1.117 million.
"It is a victory for women's tennis, and a victory for women in general," Mauresmo said Thursday after reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Open. "It was really a matter of principle. It is a question of equality."The U.S. Open and Australian Open have paid equal prize money for years. The French Open paid the men's and women's champions the same for the first time last year, although the overall prize fund remained bigger for the men.
Source:SportsIllustrated
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