I've been using Android since before it was released in the UK. When I was working at Vodafone, I got a pre-release HTC device with an early version of Android on it. I've been pretty much in the Android ecosystem ever since. Recently, I treated myself to an upgrade - a Pixel 8 Pro. The biggest, fastest, fattest, AI-stuffed Android phone yet. It's pretty good! The camera is excellent, the heat-sensor is crap, the battery is gorgeous, the weight is annoying. Google's software was too needy, so …
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While farting around online, I stumbled across this 2008 Time Capsule from Stephen Fry. In it, he discusses the state of mobile phones - diving into the problems with BlackBerry's and Apple's latest offerings. BlackBerry had released the Storm and Apple's 2nd iPhone was now 3G capable. It's quite the glimpse into what we thought the future would be like. Halfway through, he says: When the first generation [of iPhone] came out I offered the view, based on my experience of releases and…
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I want a new phone! I went to a wedding and everyone had one of those new folding phones. Social marketing has done a number on me and inveigled its way into my brain. Hey, I make decent money, perhaps I'll buy one. How much could they possibly cost? About £1,700 for a Pixel Fold or a Galaxy Fold. WHAT THE JUDDERING FUCK!? That's over twice the cost of my laptop. Over 4x the cost of my large 4K TV. The same cost as a PS5 and twenty-five games. It would be the single most expensive object I …
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I really like this article from Rohan D "Every Phone Should Be Able to Run Personal Website". In it, they make the convincing case that phones are perfectly capable of hosting websites and - if we want more people to escape the walled-gardens - this could be a good way to get people back into self-hosting. I loved hosting a small site on my Nokia N95 back in the day, and I'd be overjoyed if modern phones allowed this. But there are a few pitfalls. Connectivity is the main one. If you're sat …
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I'm not sure how many people know this, but I thought I'd share something I learned a few years ago when I worked for a mobile phone seller. Most modern smartphones are too expensive for people to purchase outright. At the most extreme end, the iPhone 14 Pro Max costs £1,200. So a typical customer elects to pay £50 per month for 24 months. The customer gets a new phone for a reasonable monthly figure. The phone seller gets a regular monthly payment which helps with their financial f…
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How I miss the days when phone manufacturers were innovative. Nowadays everything is just a boring black rectangle. Tawanda Nyahuye👨💻@towernterHow to end a frontend developer's career pic.x.com/aysi0pghh5❤️ 5,760💬 162♻️ 006:19 - Fri 06 May 2022 I imagine that this (concept) device would probably just put the browser only on one row / column. Probably sensible, but utterly BORING! Let's imagine a few bonkers devices. Here's a daft concept phone with a punch-hole camera cutting out its screen…
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Like many of you, I'm inundated with spam calls. I've suffered endless car accidents, my National Insurance Number has been suspended multiple times, and my broadband will be cut off imminently. Wouldn't be nice to screen out all the fraudsters? So I've set up a Bananaphone. When people ring me, they get 30 seconds of my favourite song. Then the call is passed to me. The theory being that my friends get to enjoy a short ditty but con artists are likely to hang up before the call connects to…
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The UK faces an epidemic of telephone scams. Fraudsters are constantly calling people up pretending to be their bank. But how can you be sure the number displayed on your screen in genuine? You can't. The telecom system is hopelessly insecure and shouldn't be trusted for anything more complicated than dialling the speaking clock. Barclays bank knows that customers are worried about this. So they've produced a handy website where you can see if a telephone number belongs to Barclays. Because…
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The first thing I did when getting to the USA as a kid, was to find a payphone where I dutifully called 1-800-STARWARS. I'd grown up with American media. Phonewords - where your phone's dialpad spells out words - were ingrained in my psyche. But the UK never had anything like that. In 2003, a reverse-charges company tried to make it a thing. Here's how they tried to teach UK users how to spell out words on their keypad: Not even Holly Valance could convince the British public to adopt…
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Another weird economic casualty of COVID19. I'm not wearing out my socks and shoes. I cancelled my train season ticket. And now, I'm giving up my mobile contract. For a decade, I worked in the mobile industry - and always had an unlimited SIM card. Rejoining the real world, some years ago, was a bit of a shock to the system. You mean people have to pay for phone calls?!? The pandemic has everyone reassessing their finances, right? Do I need that beer-of-the-month subscription? Should I move …
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How often have you seen a meeting request which says... To join the conference call, please dial 0306 999 0348, then type in your access number (07700 900 951) followed by the hash or pound key. What a faff! If you're reading the message on your phone you have to flip back and forth as you try to remember which numbers to dial. Well, there's a better way! You all know the standard keys on a phone - 0-9, *, and # - what if I told you there were two more? Yes! That's right! Two hidden and…
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The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is attempting to simplify the way consumers are charged for telephone calls. (Disclaimer: I work for a company which is regulated by Ofcom. This is my personal blog.) To deal with the multitude of different types of phone numbers - each with their own unique cost - and the rise of the mobile phone, Ofcom want this to be the norm by 2015: Under new rules confirmed today, telephone users calling service numbers will in future see the cost broken down into an…
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