Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Performance gets eaten by old software (Score 1) 487

Most of the Gentoo mocking comes from the fact that it's liked by the same people who have transparent windows in their computers with UV-reactive liquid coolant, but it does have its place. I gave an employee an assignment to build a Gentoo system because it was a good way for them to get hands-on experience with the internals of Linux and the command line. Not something you get from installing the latest Ubuntu distro.

Comment Re:Must say... (Score 4, Insightful) 164

I have actually been pretty impressed by the shift in Microsoft's attitude regarding malware in recent years. Not only are vulnerabilities handled more transparently (though, I suspect, not as transparently as they could be), but they've taken an aggressive stance in going after those like botnet providers who are exploiting the exploits. Seems like they finally woke up to the fact that vulnerabilities actually detract from the value of their product.

Comment Re:That's cool, but my one grip still (Score 1) 309

I have had an extended battery for my Droid Incredible since not long after I got it, and was never disappointed with battery life. Then one day, I went back to a (new) standard-sized battery. I haven't gone back. I'm the kind of user that plugs in my phone on the nightstand to charge while I sleep, and even if I forget a night I can generally make it through the next day as well. My usage profile does include quite a bit of widgets, web browsing, et cetera (though no games), and I'm quite satisfied.

I think for a lot of users it's the games or Netflix that does it. Or, living in an area with poor signal quality where the radio power (and power consumption) is automatically increased to compensate. With those situations, I could definitely see someone being disappointed in the battery life - but that's on just about any smartphone platform.

Comment Re:Andriod app development (Score 2) 309

In addition to what the other responder said about android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation", it's possible with most mobile platforms for the application developer to include a soft-button in their interface that does what you describe.

Personally, I do actually like the feature on the Xoom, included with Honeycomb 3.0, that allows one to globally lock screen orientation. Short of the 'orientation-flip' button you describe I find it a fairly reasonable alternative.

Comment Re:Updates to phones (Score 1) 309

Another reason I'm a fan of Android though (see my other post to this thread), is that every update has actually made my Droid Incredible *faster*, or at least not any slower.

The phone is just as capable as the day I got it, and even though I consider myself an advanced user I have yet to see any reason to upgrade. The only real features that have been added to smartphones since its release are front-mounted cameras and faster/dual-core CPUs. I could care less about the front-mounted camera; while the upgraded CPUs are nice on Javascript-heavy websites and such, it's not enough of a difference for me yet to upgrade.

I say this as a user or former-user of just about every smartphone platform under the sun (extending all the way back to Palm's first phones, but admittedly with the exception of Blackberry), and I don't think I've ever kept a single phone for so long. This includes a couple of iPhones - where I certainly *did* complain about the slowdown that seemed to come with every new iOS release.

Comment Droid Incredible has received *every* OS update! (Score 1) 309

I've actually been very pleased with the update support from Verizon/HTC for my aging Droid Incredible (original, not version 2). This phone started out with 2.1 (Eclair), and shortly received an update to 2.2 (Froyo). The phone was actually 'end-of-life'd this past March but that didn't stop them from providing an update to 2.3 (Gingerbread - the latest version available for phones prior to 4.0's imminent release) just this past September. These are all vendor-sponsored updates mind you, no CyanogenMod required.

So essentially, I've been provided with an update to the latest Android every time a new version has come out since the release of the phone. Can't ask for much more than that.

That's not to say that I'm necessarily expecting an update to 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but with today's uber-short product lifecycles I'm pretty happy with the support for this 1.5-year-old phone. And if they *do* update the Droid Incredible to 4.0, that's going to significantly enhance my loyalty to Verizon/HTC to the point where I'll probably insist on the same carrier/vendor when I upgrade.

Slashdot Top Deals

Solutions are obvious if one only has the optical power to observe them over the horizon. -- K.A. Arsdall

Working...