Windows Mobile?

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:windows-category ]Back in the day, my first smart phone was a Windows Mobile HTC 6800, I guess it’s time to go back to the future!

Microsoft announced it’s SKU’s for Windows 10 last week and included in the list was Windows 10 Mobile, for phones and tablets.

I guess it makes sense, Microsoft is expanding beyond just phone’s to small tablets and other portable devices so calling it Windows 10 Phone doesn’t make much sense.

Windows 10 Portable has too much of a programming context too it and would be confusing.

I always like Windows Mobile as a name so I’m fine with it and I suspect enough time has passed for it not to be a marketing problem.  Except for maybe a few tech writers that still remember Windows Mobile from the old days of 2008 🙂

At least it doesn’t have the WinCE abbreviation to deal with.

Surface 3

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:hardware-category ]I’ve been using my Dell Venue 8 Pro as my primary tablet for over 18 months and it’s been a good tablet.  The one area that it does kind of lack is memory.

Both disk and ram are pretty limited on the unit and it works fine as a single tasking device but my usage of a computer is seldom a single task.

One of the big issue I had with my original Surface RT was the weight and form factor.  The 16:9 screen was very wide for a table and, while light at the time, it was still something you didn’t want to hold for a long time.

And so now I’m pondering a Surface 3.  I looked at the Surface Pro 3, but for my usage it’s just too large.

The Surface 3 on the other hand has taken care of the big issue I had with the RT, the 16:9 screen layout has been replaced with the squarer 3:2 form factor.

The Surface 3 is still quite a bit heavier than the Dell but that may be a trade-off I’ll have to live with to get the extra ram to make multi-tasking more useable.

I need to feel one though first, I’ll be by a Microsoft store next week and will drop in and take a look.

Stay tuned…

 

Build 2015

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:mobile-category ]Microsoft’s Build conference was this week and there was lots of news out of it for Windows 10.

Though not as much as I thought there might be.

The big news that didn’t happen was a release date for Windows 10.

Though we did get the semi obvious news that Windows 10 for Phones would not be released at the same time as the PC version.  I say semi obvious because the technical preview for phones came out later and has many features missing that would be required for a release.

The other big news was Android and iOS tools to allow porting of apps from those platforms to Windows 10.

There was a lot of speculation that Microsoft would allow Android apps to run on Windows 10, but that’s not what happened.  Instead there will be tools to convert an Android (or iOS) app to a Windows app.

That makes the most sense as while the process of porting looks to be very easy, it does make sure the publisher does some basic testing and then publishes it to the Windows store.

If they had just let you load any Android app on to your phone it would likely cause more problem than it solved as users found bugs in the compatibility layer.

The other interesting news was Continum for Phones, giving you a desktop like experience for your phone.

As many have noted, there’s a palpable change in Microsoft’s strategy.  They have come out of the old world where they were the only game in town and have emerged with a major shift that could very well rock the mobile industry to its very core.

Xbox One

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:entertainment-category ]Back when this console cycle first started I made a post about the PS4 and said it was time to make up my mind about it.

That didn’t happen 🙂

In fact I’ve been waffling on if I was going to buy a new game console at all since then but I’ve finally broken down and picked up an Xbox One.

There were a few things that finally convinced me to bite the bullet:

  • My PS3’s Bluray drive has gone flaky, I can’t watch more than about 30 minutes of a movie before it freezes up.
  • Having the 360 and PS3 really makes a cabling nightmare around the entertainment system.
  • Windows 10

So it came down to a choice, PS4 or Xbox One?

At the end of the day I use my console more for media than gaming and so the choice was simple, the Xbox One.

First Impressions

Ok, the Xbox One is big, really big.  Much bigger than I would have expected honestly, but that’s not really an issue for me, I have lots of space.

What confuses me about the size is that even with how big it is, the power brick is external and huge as well.  You’d think they could have integrated it in to the main unit.

One other nitpick that I had heard about was the fact you couldn’t stand it on its side, which is true and kind of strange really.  But it works fine laying flat so again, not a big deal.

Beyond that, the software is slick, the games are impressive and it does integrate well with all of my other components.

Voice control is a little hit and miss, but the auto detection of who’s in the room is a neat trick and seems pretty consistent.

The media player and Bluray payer both work well and didn’t have any issue connecting to my media server.

All in all it was an easy setup.

Next Steps

There are a few things left to do:

  • Route my Bell ExpressVu signal though the Xbox to get the integrated TV experience.
  • Connect the Xbox One through my stereo instead of directly to the TV to get surround sound.
  • Find something to do with an old 260/PS3 🙂

Windows 10 for Phone… not installing it quite yet.

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:mobile-category ]A couple of weeks ago I pondered if I was going to install Windows 10 on my Lumia 925.  Well the time has come to make the decision since Microsoft released a new technical preview on Friday.

However I’m not going to install it yet.

This was not an easy decision as I’ve always liked getting the latest and greatest as soon as possible, but something is different now.

I’ve had a cell phone for a long time, well before smart phones were a thing and they have never been anything more than a convince to me.  My 925 is the first phone I’ve had that seems to be more.

And it’s not because of Windows Phone but a change in the way I use my phone.  It has a large enough display and enough features to be usable as a computing device and that had made it indispensable.

That’s why I’m waiting for a more stable version of the technical preview of Windows 10, I can’t sacrifice stability and features just to see what’s new.

Of course that doesn’t mean I might not pick up another phone to install Windows 10 on and play around with 😉