Anyone else here in the post-PC era?

My wife and I got iPhones to celebrate her getting her PhD in May, and it's amazing how it's become my auxiliary brain. I don't even bring my laptop anywhere (though I still use it when I need to type.) I'm not sure I'm "post-PC" or that I ever will be, but I'm totally with you.Still wishing EvC had a mobile version, though.

Can you elaborate on the iTunes objection? iTunes accounts are free, and basically any tablet is going to have some kind of media store which will require an account to use. The Nook requires a B&N account, Android tablets require a Google account, the Kindle requires being linked to an Amazon account, and so on.Wifi-only iPads are available and aren't tied to any wireless carrier. I think that's probably what most people get. I'm not trying to be the Apple booster, here, but it seems like not wanting an iTunes account isn't a very good basis on which to make a decision about a tablet. And almost everybody finds the iPad superior to the alternatives; iOS has a "fit and finish" to it that Android really doesn't (too many fingers in the Android pie to get that kind of cohesive software design.)

Well, Android also wants to be the be all and end all of the tablet.And there's always Cydia. Jailbreaking iOS devices frequently is no harder than clicking a button on a website. But the truth is that I hardly ever have to use Cydia apps on my iPhone; there's just not all that much you can do with the device that they won't let you do via the app store. I can make calls through Google Voice with an official app. I can play Final Fantasy Tactics on my phone, now, with an official app. If you want to use the camera flash as a light, there's like a dozen stupid apps for that. The problem with Cydia is that 90%+ of the "apps" on Cydia are nothing but skins for the springboard, usually that violate somebody's copyright. (I wish there was a Cydia minus the skins.) I think that's largely a myth. Unless you're going to write your own apps somebody else is going to be defining the terms of your interaction with the device, regardless. Even the Android and Cydia stores are walled gardens. And what's the difference, anyway? That iOS has only six fart apps instead of 30?Also, isn't your wife the one who has to use it? Maybe it's not fair for her to have to live according to your principles.Edited by crashfrog, : No reason given.

Well, that's clearly a mistake. Even just five or so years in, Android has emerged as a fragmented, bargain-basement OS with too many conflicting versions and install platforms for anybody to have any idea about what Android can actually do. Does "Android" mean escaping the walled garden? Well, not on a lot of platforms. The Android-based Nook doesn't let you install any apps besides the ones B&N thinks should already be on it. Does "Android" mean high-powered handset hardware? Maybe, except that they're putting Android on low-power pseudo-smartphones, too. And there's the persistent performance hit from being a Java platform. Don't get me wrong, I love Java, but as an architecture it has always and will always exact a performance cost. I actually had an entire post of such constructive thoughts, out of which you opted to respond to only a single line that really was nothing more than an afterthought. How about you calm the fuck down and work on addressing your own problems with producing constructive comments?

Can you? You're the one who's responding from nothing more than pique and close-minded defensiveness. And that's the problem. Absent a defined hardware platform, software developers for Android will have to design to the minimal platform, which means people with more advanced Android handsets and tablets will be limited to apps that, for the most part, won't take advantage of the hardware.I mean, developers have already noticed: http://www.slashgear.com/...ation-is-a-huge-problem-05144471

quote:

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The results of a survey of 250 working developers suggest that though more developers are actively creating apps for Android, they also have serious concerns about the platform. The survey was conducted by Baird’s William Powers, and released Monday. Among the concerns are device fragmentation, store fragmentation, app visibility, and the ability to get paid.

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Though based on a Linux kernel, Android is very much a Java platform. It uses the Dalvik VM to process application and interface code and its application frameworks are all Java. (iOS is a Objective C platform running on a Darwin kernel, which is a kind of modified BSD.)

You can use the real thing. I'm looking at Youtube's site in my iPhone right now and videos work just fine. Flash sucks, everybody knows that. Yeah yeah, 4chan, everybody says that until they play it. Of course, if you really want to put the GPU to work, you have to play something like Infinity Blade:I dunno, looks about as good as my Xbox 360:One thing I would like to see would be benchmarks for these two GPU's. I'd be interesting to see how they stack up. Of course, one advantage of the iPhone is that the games are usually under ten dollars, but the games for dedicated portable platforms like the PSP or the DS are usually 30-40. (Although I did pay 16 bucks for FF Tactics on the iPhone, but only because that's like the best game ever made in all of history.)

It's certainly always been detrimental to gaming on the PC. There's usually a five-year lag between new features released in the new DirectX version and the release of any games that actually take advantage of them, and that's much longer than the dev cycle for a video game would suggest (and devs are given pre-release access to DirectX tools, as well.) It's just that game devs don't design for the latest hardware, they design for the common hardware. And until everybody had a video card that supported DX11, for instance, there was nothing to be gained by designing games to it.iOS devices are a walled garden, and that comes with limitations. But the limitations, in most people's opinion, are more than overshadowed by the more consistent interface, the curated app store, and the defined hardware. Look, buy whatever your wife wants. I seriously don't care. The only thing I wanted to get to the bottom of was why you thought needing an iTunes account - which, incidentally, you only need one on the iOS if you want to buy apps and music - was a dealbreaker. I'm still not very clear on the concept, here, and it's because you refuse to do anything but vent your spleen at me. We can pick this up again when you're prepared to be more dispassionate.

Yes, I recall you saying that the first time. Now, perhaps you would like to take a stab at actually answering the question?

I've run, like, three different firmwares on my iPhone and tweaked all kinds of stuff thanks to Cydia apps. I can SSH into my iPhone. What are you talking about? Um, like, half a dozen? iPhone 3gs in a couple different sizes, iPhone 4 GSM in a couple different sizes, iPhone 4 CDMA in a couple of different sizes. iPod Touch. iPad. There's like a dozen iOS devices, what are you talking about? I know it's Apple fans who get the reputation for unreasonable feelings about the platform, but I'm glad you and Theodoric are here to demonstrate that the truth is the exact opposite: it's Apple's detractors who have allowed passion to run off with their rationality. "Sickly Steve Jobs"? Really? Right, but that's every single one of them. There are no open-source Android platforms. Android apps are still signed by Google, same as iOS apps are signed by Apple. The problem is Java - Java isn't free or open-source. Well, they sue because they have a bunch of patents. Everybody's doing it. I'm not here to defend the company or the legal environment; I'm just here to tell you why I would never in my life consider an Android phone.

Much like Linux I think Android is going to become the best OS for various niche installs. (For instance, I'd someday like to put together a Surface-style touchscreen table using Android. I'm just not ever going to make phone calls on Android.) Oh, so it's actually not an open platform.Well, good luck with that! I guess if you absolutely have to have 20 different fart apps, Android is your platform.

Because it makes no sense. Because you keep contradicting yourself - you keep trying to tell me what's so bad about Apple, and then you finish by saying that Google is exactly as bad.How am I supposed to make sense out of that? The privacy issues are just as bad on both sides, so you definitely prefer one over the other? Nonsensical.

I can only read your posts, not your mind. Maybe for next time you could work on improving the clarity of your communication.

Well, what extra money? I mean my iPhone was an even $200 when I picked it up (obviously I had to start a wireless plan, etc), that's actually cheaper than some of the smartphones out there with fewer features and app support. iPads start at $499 which is the same as the "iPad killing" Samsung Galaxy Tab and the LG Optimus and less than the HTC Flyer. Your Asus Transformer comes in fairly cheap, so that's a point in its favor, and I've always been a fan of Asus products (I have one of their laptops).I mean, yeah. When I was first hearing about the iPad, I was like "wow, that'll be great, but come on - it'll be nine hundred dollars at least." The Apple premium price. But imagine the surprise of the tech industry when they released it at the 500 price point.My wife has a MacBook Pro, and sure by the book it's probably a slightly overpriced laptop. Except that it has the battery life of a champ and weighs like 3 pounds or something, and it's svelte enough to slip into backpack and not think about it. My Asus laptop is two inches thick closed, at least, and I'm lucky to get 40 minutes out of the battery. Hers boots Windows and Mac OS. The "comparable iPod" at the time would have stored your whole music collection, probably. And, yeah, I was buying off-brand mp3 players back then, too. I thought "iPod, way overpriced!" except that the shitty mp3 players I was buying would break after three months of moderate use. I have iPods from 2003 that still work.

You mean where iOS devices are listed as "other Apple products"? Along with the Apple II, the Lisa, and the Newton? Which aren't Macs either?That would seem to indicate that they're not Macs. Also, the fact that they're not called "Macs" and don't run the Mac OS or any Mac software.Whatever. We all knew what AE is talking about, but not because he's using appropriate word choice.

Right, you'd spend $700 on PC upgrades instead of buying a $300 PS3, but we're supposed to be impressed by your ability to judge the best bang for your buck.LOL!