Samsung lost to Apple in various ways but...

I don't agree with lawsuits, in general.  I think there are better ways to resolve situations, unless the two sides just can't meet in the middle.  What's happened here should have been clear: Samsung copied Apple user interface elements and animation to replicate Apple's device experience.

Does it matter?  I'm just not certain.  I think it's annoying that they would copy.  My Samsung SPH-A900/Blade was a copy of a Motorola RAZR, and the name was obviously a rip-off.  If Motorola had patented the design, would they have been in court to stop Samsung?  Probably.

In fact, HandSpring/Palm, Nokia, and Motorola all had designs and design elements lifted by Samsung and added to Samsung's devices.  For that alone, Samsung should be sitting alone in the corner thinking about what they had done, just as school children who copy are set aside.

This is where I differ from the jury.  I don't see $1.05 billion in damages.  They should each pay their court-related costs and shut up.

As much as I don't like Samsung and I like Apple equipment (but not their legal department), both companies act like spoiled children and should be punished accordingly.  We need a global government to address these situations.

Google Nexus 7 tablet impressions

A few weeks ago, around the 8th or 9th of July, I had the ticket in my hand to buy one of these.  Sam's Club had the 16 GB tablets and I took the last ticket for a walk.

US$249.99 seems a deal for a powerful tablet with a 1280x800 display, even if it doesn't have a card slot for external storage.  The 8 GB is too expensive at its current price, as it doesn't have enough storage available to the user.

I tried one of these on Friday at another Sam's Club and I was impressed.  Unlike previous tablets with Android, it had good hardware and good software, apparently.  It made me feel that it wasn't rushed to market, although some reports would suggest physical problems.

I still don't really care for the long and thin shape, but it was heavy enough that it might stay in my hand, even if it did feel a bit awkward.  When Apple's 7.85 inch tablet arrives, it's in for a big test against the Nexus 7.  Will the extra visual space make a difference?  7.85 inches for a tablet sounds a good size to me.  Given recent revelations about the shape of the next iPhone, will the smaller iPad have a long and thin shape, as well?

Since I've got an iPhone 4S, I don't feel a particular need to have an iPad.  If all things are (fairly) equal, I think I'd end up with a Nexus 7.  If Apple does some extraordinary magic, I'll be surprised.  Since the iPhone 4, the iPod touch has been less wonderful than it had been in the past.  Sure, they upgraded it and enhanced it, but less so than iPhone whereas, it had been the other way prior to that generation, with better speeds and more storage.

Apple, of course, still has over 60 % of the tablet market, and hasn't deployed it in every country imaginable, nor have they deployed their app store, which definitely helps sell the product.

Google itself has brought something to market that's very desirable, through ASUS.

Samsung, the copier

Years ago, I bought a Samsung phone, the SPH-A900 otherwise known as Blade.  That name may make you think that it had something to do with the Motorola RAZR.  It was in many aspects, a copy.

The phone was rather broken, software-wise.  It didn't work well as a phone, but became my first 3G data modem, where the power-hungry display didn't kill the extended life battery I bought at extra cost.  Where I couldn't get 3 hours in typical phone/internet use, I would get around 6 hours of modem use.

I'd always hoped that Samsung would come to their senses and provide good software updates, but what they provided made the phone worse and the people at the Sprint store, weren't able to take the phone back to an earlier level of firmware, though they charged me for it.

At that time, multiple people I knew were angry about their !@#$ Samsung phones, each one a bit more vehement, it seemed.

I'd see the phones at the store, wondering why they looked like other phones in the store made by other companies.  If Samsung was a big player, why did they copy?

I thought back to Mazda's 1974 RX-3, which looked like AMC's Hornet hatchback or the 1975 Toyota Corolla SR 5 hatchback that looked like a 1970 Ford Mustang.  Pontiac made a habit of driving excitement by copying BMW.

I look at Apple's Macintosh and Digital Research's GEM from the mid-1980s.  They both used elements that had been presented in the Xerox Alto machine.  Of course, Apple hired Bill Atkinson and Susan Kare to do some of this work.  Many people from Xerox' Palo Alto Research Center went elsewhere to market their ideas when Xerox would not.

In art, taking inspiration from the greats is a given.  You learn from those who did something wonderful, and you create something of your own that is also quite wonderful, hopefully.  If you copy it, they call you a forger.

I'm unclear as to how Samsung has copied HandSpring/Palm, Nokia, and Motorola designs and no one noticed all this time.  Had those four companies filed design patents, would Samsung be in the business now?

I'm not saying that you should patent a rectangle, a simple button, or other unremarkable details; however, there is a point where the imitation is no longer flattering.

What saved HandSpring/Palm, Nokia, and Motorola in the old days was the Samsung was so terribly bad at software.  They couldn't care less about the software because they would have new phones to sell in the next 6 months.  Now that Android is their main base software, they care even less, but Google help a lot to keep customers able to use their phones.

It was sadly amusing this week when Susan Kare admitted to the court that she had inadvertently picked up a Samsung product, thinking that it was an iPhone.  The Samsung attorneys wanted her to describe in detail the differences, but the point was made.  Most people would never notice the differences.

I look at what HTC, LG, Nokia, Motorola and others are doing and their designs are unique.  Why can't Samsung do their own designs?  Mind you, I don't agree with Apple filing lawsuits but Samsung should do their own work, not copy others.

Instagram and something other than mobile phones

I saw a comment on a @getolympus post today.  The person was making a point about Olympus using Instagram to post photos relating to their users.

There are a huge number of iOS and Android users who have nothing else but mobile phones and some are quite good at capturing the moment.  Some even capture good photos that could be categorised as art.  I can envision the sneers at this time.  Great photographers can work with any equipment and produce good photos.  There are those who are too timid of stepping out on their own who must stay with a dSLR or rangefinder camera to produce their photos.  I count the majority of Canikon users among them.  After all, that's how they came to follow the followers.  However, I can imagine Ansel Adams picking up an iPhone and taking the time to make good photos.

It's not difficult to believe.  Digital technology has come a very long way since I first picked up a digital camera in 1997.  When I first decided to join the movement away from film in 2004, it still wasn't very good and the Canon 20D and Nikon D200 were not very good.  Now, they're really not good.  You say that I wouldn't want to make a poster with a photo from an iPhone 4S or Galaxy SIII?  You're right, but additionally, I wouldn't want to make a poster from 20D or D200 shots either.

The world doesn't care about huge shots and high resolution.  The world is more interested in sharing and that's where Instagram has made its mark.  Since it's been acquired by Facebook, who knows how its nature will change.

I've taken a number of my old shots and uploaded them to my phone and then, to Instagram.  They still look good but in such a smaller size.  At that size, you still notice a clarity from the lenses that my iPhone 4S just can't give.  I thought about adding the Schneider 2 lens and case kit, but at almost $200, that's a bit too dear, and could go toward dSLR equipment or a mirror-less system camera purchase.

The social implications of Instagram are as massive as they are with Twitter.  On the Popular page, you can see like-driven photos within a grid.  Perhaps unfortunately, One Direction and Justin Bieber seem to be getting most of the attention, just like on Twitter.  Providing something silly that people like can vault that image to the top and get you fans, even if it's not your image.

Yes, even if it's not your image--people tend to use images of others to catapult themselves upward.  Of course, you can report violations, but are they heard?  Does any social media service pay attention to violations?  I haven't seem much reaction.

While Instagram is important to a few, it could be gone in a few years, but it certainly signals a maturing of sharing media.

My car is better...and better than ever

I've had a lot of work done on my 1999 VW Golf GLS lately.

I had my front struts replaced, which shouldn't be unusual over 120,000 miles.

A part in the ignition lock cylinder broke and had to be replaced.  Of course, this required the steering wheel, air bag, and steering column to be disassembled.  The air bag idiot light is on and I've notified the people who did the work.  If I'm in a wreck, does the air bag not deploy?  I almost got the answer in the last week.

The oil dipstick holder fell apart and had to be replaced, but couldn't be replaced by the local people, so I went to a VW dealer.  The VW dealer knew exactly how much to charge for the holder, so it must be a common problem.

While I was there, I had them run a diagnostic.  They mentioned the evap valve and a brake pressure hose that showed up on the diagnostic.  They also mentioned the serpentine belt, which had minor cracks and the radio antenna, of which the cover is falling apart and the internal wire coil is rusted.  I took it off for the previous car wash and hadn't replaced it yet.    They somehow missed the hanging side marker light, which should have been obvious.  I can't get it to stay put.

They ordered the brake hose, as they didn't have such parts in stock.  Seriously?  They don't stock safety parts?

The next day, on an overnight trip, 2 brake hoses split, thankfully while it was parked.  The mechanic was ingenious enough to do what a mechanic from 30 years ago would do.  He fashioned the parts from regular brake hose.  A few days later the brake hose arrived at the VW dealer and I made an appointment for the following week.

They replaced the brake hose without comment.  They replaced the evap valve and did a smoke test to check for leaks and found none.  They replaced the serpentine belt without incident.  As they were trying to back out, reverse would not engage.  This sounded a bit convenient, but they worked it around so that it wasn't costing me much more.  At nearly $700 total, it was plenty already.  Having had multiple bad experiences with Jimmy Bryan Mazda in Winter Park, FL, I was suspicious about sudden problems at the dealership.

As I drove away from the dealership, muttering choice words, I noticed that the car had more power with the air conditioning running, more than I'd ever remembered.  I gave it more than a week, and took a trip to Philadelphia and back, and noticed that it continued to supply more power, and fuel economy.  I haven't had a tune up for a number of years, although that would mostly be a set of spark plugs.

In the good days, the car would rarely give me over 25 mpg with the air conditioning running and it was a serious power drain, to the point that I didn't like to use it.  It seemed expected, though, and it had worked this way from the start.  Over the trip, I was getting 30-32 mpg with air conditioning, except for an extended period in Center City Philadelphia while police had us (practically) driving in circles, and that was 28+ mpg, not as low as 25.

I'm sure the car still needs work, but could certain parts have been defective from the factory and no one bothered?  The window regulator clips certainly proved that.  I made 30+ visits to the dealer to have those replaced, though VW of America denied the problem.

A little more work and it may be as good as new--or better than new.

Photokina 2012 and micro Four-Thirds

September 18 (my birthday!) to the 23 this 2012, Photokina will be happening in Köln/Cologne Germany.  It's probably the better world show for photographic equipment.  For some reason, I feel the Germans take the shows more seriously and less like a media circus.  That may be a mistaken assumption of mine.

Usually, Olympus announces their new products the Sunday before the show starts.  I'm expecting 2 new models to replace the current 3 Pen models.  There should also be a new OM-D series body, but knowing how Olympus can be slow about such things, it will probably be an announcement and the body will arrive around March of 2013.

I also expect that Panasonic will introduce their DMC-GH3 there with a few goodies and most likely, a new professional Four-Thirds video camera/camcorder.

During the show, Zeiss will likely introduce another new lens for micro Four-Thirds for later availability in 2013.

Strangely, I expect there to be a contingent of iPhone-ography accessories.  It's about this time that Apple will be introducing their new models, so it could be difficult timing if cases have to be revised to hold the accessory lenses.

I'm mostly interested in Olympus' new OM-D series model and Panasonic's GH3, as they're both to be aimed at a more professional market than previous mirror-less system cameras have been.  I suspect that they'll be a bit bigger to accomodate larger, heavier lenses, and bigger hands.  That doesn't mean they'll be as big as the Nikon D7000 but likely somewhere in between that and where the current models are now.

Olympus would do well to create a model that's like a slightly smaller E-1, rather than a somewhat bigger OM-4Ti.  As I learnt in the past, the OM-1N was rather slippery and heavy lenses were a problem but their IS-1 was quite manageable, and also the E-10/E-20 models.

As far as Panasonic goes, the GH3 can't help but be better.  They'd hired the firmware hacker that had been enhancing the GH2's firmware, so maximum performance should be expected.  Hopefully, they'll make it so that the GH1 and GH2 users would have no regrets in upgrading and the Canon 5D MkIII users will have more than a little video envy.

There should also be a surprise, but who knows if anyone will see anything out in public.

Update this week: the person in charge at Olympus has stated that they're working on a (not micro) Four-Thirds body to replace the E-5, to get the most out of those lovely HG and SHG optics that are too cumbersome to be used on the E-M5 and Pen series.  That's welcome news.  Hopefully, the body will be announced before or at Photokina and be available in spring 2013 at the latest.

Love/Hate Sprint

Why do some people just not care?

Thursday, I called customer service because, after weeks of poor data connections, everything was failing.  I could not use my data connection on the mobile hotspot or on the phone, and even voice calls were distorted.

The person was remarkably interested and was working to help me.  He said that they had tower problems in the area (a first! well, the admission, anyway) and that engineers were working to resolve the situation within 72 hours, though those were working week hours.  (If you have problems on the weekend, there is no problem?)  I was really having trouble understanding the conversation because it was distorted but we got through it.

This person called several days in a row, asking about my connection and last night, another person called.  She mentioned that the work on the tower had been completed and wondered how things were.  I mentioned that it was mostly back to the way it was a week ago, but with some distortion during the phone call.  I mentioned that things had taken a turn for the worse about 6 weeks ago, so she looked into the tower information further.  She was seeing a lot of problems with requests being rejected and proceeded to open another ticket for that matter.

I got a call this morning and this third person wanted nothing more than to close the ticket.  Nothing I said mattered and she wanted yes/no answers to everything, as though asking "does this fit into our easily-achievable brand of marketing happiness?" actually works for people subscribing to their services.

After my recent trials of AT&T and Verizon, I know I'm better off with Sprint.  I just have to wonder how some people keep their jobs.

For a while, I've been in contact with another Sprint customer service representative, this time from the social media team.  He responded to an e-mail from a few days ago, and I updated him on the situation with "go-away-girl" from this morning.  He called later, apologized and said that her supervisor would be noted on the situation, and that he was able to see the outstanding problems and that there was an internal ticket open on the situation, but that the tower is due for at least one capacity upgrade on August 4th.  That goes with what I was already told the previous evening.  I can only hope that things come together.  When I joked that they could just drop in LTE connectivity, he didn't laugh, but said that they had a strict roll-out plan.

The company's ticket on my most-used tower must still be open.  Some of the day time speed is up there again, but Sunday/Sunday night/Monday morning, it was unusable again.

Update: I'm in the Philadelphia, PA area and I'm trying WiMAX, their original 4G technology.  It's used extensively in South Korea, Taiwan, Russia, and parts of Japan.  The trouble with Sprint's WiMAX is that it's in a higher frequency that makes it difficult to penetrate buildings.

So, I tried it in York, PA and it connected but that's all.  It didn't really work in the motel room, next to the window on the second floor.  Here I am now in Christiana, Delaware and it's working better than the 3G/EVDO or the motel's WiFi connection.  It's only registering average download speeds of about 2.8 Mbps but I just got 4.65 Mbps down with only 0.56 Mbps up and that's higher than the previous test.  I get that much from EVDO on the upload and I've exceeded 2.8 Mbps on download.  4.65 is almost as good as I was getting from Verizon's LTE in West Carrollton, OH and they're supposed to be sooooo amazing, right?

I haven't heard anything from Sprint, so I assume that they finished and my "it's working okay but not as great as it was" was enough to say goodbye.  Okay, whatever.