Saturday, January 15, 2011

Microsoft Phone 7 – Vista of the smart phones


Windows 7 - Microsofts first ever truly working os -  has lulled us all into a false sense of security. Perhaps we thought Microsoft had learned how to treat their users, they haven't - remember vista - did Microsoft seriously think we forgot?  Might be time to jump around on stage like a crazy monkey, just to take everyone's mind off the problem. The Windows 7 Phone don't work properly guys!

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The Glich - Windows 7 phones are running a Beta Tester that sucks the bandwidth out of the phone - obliviously users don't have clue until the first bill arrives.
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This operating system is being marketed towards budget users, mom and pop users. OK to the crux of my gripe - my dear old pensioner mother has been talked into one - and she aint happy. These folk aren't technical at all and wouldn't even be aware of where all of their data allowance is going.
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My dear old mother's phone used over 200MB of data In her first month. Believe me my mother would be lucky to use 10mb - she refuses to use Facebook - keeps asking what a google is - happily gets lost even though there is a map on the phone and I think last time I said twitter she thought I was making bird noises.
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When we got the new phone I spent 4 hours setting it up for her. The normal jobs, contacts, addresses, and setting passwords. I was impressed with the interface but even initially there were some peculiarities. It didn't feel like a finished operating systems. Turns out it wasn’t. From time to time it would stall for no reason, the odd restart and sometimes the interface would become jerky. At the time I put it down to just being an early version. But after her first month of using it I think its more than that, much more than that.
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So what did Microsoft do. In the programming world a beta is a special version of an application/operating system designed to make it easy to fix any programming errors. These extra bits should be removed once a final version is complete. They can slow things down, chew through the battery, take up memory and they use bandwidth. Does that sound familiar. These are all the symptoms being reported by many users around the web and my dear old mother.
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The data usage patterns and IP addresses of the traffic suggest the phone is reporting Directly to Microsoft.
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I have recommended she turns the phone off completely when not in use, sleeping and at work for example. I recommend everyone do the same thing. It also seems that Microsoft has sacrifised functions such as Multi-Tasking to maintain it's phantom Beta Testing Software - which we suspect is a cpu drainer? If this can't be addressed there are plenty of alternatives out there, Android, iPhone and HP Palm. To be honest all of them are better phones. F_ck you Steve Bulmer - Microsoft CEO and crazy monkey - you can do better!
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Game Rules

Americans $15 billion on gaming in 2010

According to a preliminary estimate released by NPD, total consumer spending on all video game content in the US was between $15.4 and $15.6 billion during 2010. That figure includes physical console and PC games, digital downloads, used games, rentals, subscriptions, social network games, DLC, and mobile game apps. Assuming the initial data is correct, the research firm believes overall sales have fallen by about 1% from 2009.

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