Eat your hearts out Apple and Motorola

[KØWVM]

Oh this is going to be tempting not to pass up if it goes from concept to reality

http://www.dump.com/2010/11/28/concept-of-the-mozilla-seabird-mobile-phone-video/

[KG4CGC]

That video is going to be nostalgic for someone I see, in about 10 years.

[NQ6U]

It's groovy; however:

It's easy to come up with ideas and make a cool CGI movie about them. It's an entirely different thing to produce the hardware.
Mozilla has zero experience when it comes to building hardware and not a huge amount of money to spend on R&D
They can't even produce a browser that will function without memory leaks any more. How do they expect to develop the firmware for a mobile phone, which has to be much more reliable?

This is mostly an exercise in wanking. In any case, by the time they actually get the thing to market--assuming they actually do get the thing to market--Apple, Motorola, Nokia etc, who have years of experience with building hardware, will have already surpassed them.

[W3MIV]

Well, if Apple is so damned smart, why in hell did they ever choose AT&T?

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

There is no intent to build this or any other hardware, this is just a concept.
Mozilla and Google have introduced something that they hope will catch on, very much like car companies introduce concept cars that they hope will someday make it into the showrooms.
And, Apple and Motorola, do not produce mobile phones, foxconn does that for them. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

[NQ6U]

Well, if Apple is so damned smart, why in hell did they ever choose AT&T?

Because they wanted to build a GSM phone and AT&T was the only GSM carrier in the U.S. who's network uses the international standards. T-Mobile is GSM, but their 3G frequencies differ from those of the rest of the world; also, their coverage was even worse than AT&T's. All other U.S. mobile carriers use Qualcomm's CDMA protocols, which are not much used elsewhere.

[KC2UGV]

It's groovy; however:


It's easy to come up with ideas and make a cool CGI movie about them. It's an entirely different thing to produce the hardware.



Mozilla has zero experience when it comes to building hardware and not a huge amount of money to spend on R&D



They can't even produce a browser that will function without memory leaks any more. How do they expect to develop the firmware for a mobile phone, which has to be much more reliable?



This is mostly an exercise in wanking. In any case, by the time they actually get the thing to market--assuming they actually do get the thing to market--Apple, Motorola, Nokia etc, who have years of experience with building hardware, will have already surpassed them.

Odd... Mozilla Firefox doesn't have memory leaks on my computer... I leave it running for days on end, and nary an issue.

Oh, and I think someone said the same about Google:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703757404574592530591075444.html

[NQ6U]

Odd... Mozilla Firefox doesn't have memory leaks on my computer... I leave it running for days on end, and nary an issue.

Oh, and I think someone said the same about Google:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703757404574592530591075444.html

You are the rare exception, then. I had to stop using Firefox myself. As for Google, well, they have a lot more money that Mozilla does. Also, just because they're set to market a phone doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a success in the market.

[W2NAP]

Odd... Mozilla Firefox doesn't have memory leaks on my computer... I leave it running for days on end, and nary an issue.

Oh, and I think someone said the same about Google:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703757404574592530591075444.html

same here, FF w/ LINUX no mem leaks

[WØTKX]

Vaporware Prediction. :snicker:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/222/467686711_0ecf27d0b6.jpg

[w6tmi]

While I prefer firefox, I have to restart it periodically due to it taking a huge amount of memory.

With i.e. 8 tightening up it's leaks pretty well, I may go back to it, but I dont like they "streamlined, Win 7 look".

[KC2UGV]

You are the rare exception, then. I had to stop using Firefox myself. As for Google, well, they have a lot more money that Mozilla does. Also, just because they're set to market a phone doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a success in the market.

No, not very rare. If you run an application on a reliable system, you don't get memory leaks. If you run it on a buggy OS slapped on top of a older UNIX, then you'll run into problems.

As for the "success" of Google's phone, it was minimal. However, they sold it on their own, unlocked. Which meant people were paying $800 for the phone.

[KC2UGV]

Vaporware Prediction. :snicker:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/222/467686711_0ecf27d0b6.jpg

I've always wanted one, ever since I played with one in school.

[W3MIV]

Because they wanted to build a GSM phone and AT&T was the only GSM carrier in the U.S. who's network uses the international standards. T-Mobile is GSM, but their 3G frequencies differ from those of the rest of the world; also, their coverage was even worse than AT&T's. All other U.S. mobile carriers use Qualcomm's CDMA protocols, which are not much used elsewhere.

Grazie, Carlo. Good expo. I live here, however, and the only reason I carry a cell phone is to use it. As a cell phone. I had AT&T at one time; I couldn't use it in my house. Their coverage is better now than it used to be, but nothing amuses me more than to have a friend with an iPhone ask if he can use my cheap-ass LG (on Verizon) to make a call. :lol:

[N2NH]

Whoa! Wait, I'll give it the WHOA! when it comes out. The keyboard, remote and projector look like a great idea. Hope they get it out soon before someone else implements it. Either way it's a win-win for the consumer.

[KC2UGV]

Grazie, Carlo. Good expo. I live here, however, and the only reason I carry a cell phone is to use it. As a cell phone. I had AT&T at one time; I couldn't use it in my house. Their coverage is better now than it used to be, but nothing amuses me more than to have a friend with an iPhone ask if he can use my cheap-ass LG (on Verizon) to make a call. :lol:

I run into the same thing. All the other providers drop calls all the time, short of Verizon.

Now, if you are outside the US, AT&T is the carrier to have. I don't go outside the US that often to be concerned.

[W1GUH]

Random comments on things that came up:

Firefox memory leaks? Maybe, I've never checked its memory usage (Vista), but that fact that I've never had to seems to imply that I've never experienced this problem. Soon's I remember I'll monitor it's memory usage. So far, though, I've had no indication of anything amiss.

AT&T and the "V" word:

The only time I had a gripe with AT&T was back in '99 when it was next to impossible to get a line in NYC. Finally, one night, after trying a long time to get a line I called up "Customer Care" and read them the riot act about how I paid a premium price for "anytime, anywhere" service, and all these cheapskates who DIDN'T pay for that were clogging up the works with their "free" minutes in the evening. I kid you not, that's the LAST time I ever had a problem getting a line. And I have literallly NEVER had a call dropped. Don't know if the timing was fortuitous or what...but that's my last complaint with AT&T about their service. OTOH, having had "V" for local service (even if the real carrier was AT&T) - their whole attitude is predatory and nasty to the customer. Glad I no longer have a land line.

Mozilla vs "The Giants."

Well, if Mozilla's gadget starts to look like a winner and people are buying it, all the "Giants" have to do is reverse engineer it, change something so it's not an "exact copy", and market it. Mozilla won't have the legal budget to fight "deep pockets" in court and will fade out of the picture. OR....if "The Giants" like the guy in charge of Mozilla, they could buy Mozilla & make him wealthy.

[KC2UGV]

Random comments on things that came up:

Firefox memory leaks? Maybe, I've never checked its memory usage (Vista), but that fact that I've never had to seems to imply that I've never experienced this problem. Soon's I remember I'll monitor it's memory usage. So far, though, I've had no indication of anything amiss.

AT&T and the "V" word:

The only time I had a gripe with AT&T was back in '99 when it was next to impossible to get a line in NYC. Finally, one night, after trying a long time to get a line I called up "Customer Care" and read them the riot act about how I paid a premium price for "anytime, anywhere" service, and all these cheapskates who DIDN'T pay for that were clogging up the works with their "free" minutes in the evening. I kid you not, that's the LAST time I ever had a problem getting a line. And I have literallly NEVER had a call dropped. Don't know if the timing was fortuitous or what...but that's my last complaint with AT&T about their service. OTOH, having had "V" for local service (even if the real carrier was AT&T) - their whole attitude is predatory and nasty to the customer. Glad I no longer have a land line.


I'll hand you Verizon is predatory. But, so is AT&T (AT&T blocks much of the Android App Market). In fact, all of the Telcos are, since they are granted Diplomatic Immunity (not really, but are protected Monopolies)..

And, even their wireless arms are just as predatory. Did you know, Verizon's wireless forums forbid you from talking about rooting a phone, or using the built-in tethering feature?



Mozilla vs "The Giants."

Well, if Mozilla's gadget starts to look like a winner and people are buying it, all the "Giants" have to do is reverse engineer it, change something so it's not an "exact copy", and market it. Mozilla won't have the legal budget to fight "deep pockets" in court and will fade out of the picture. OR....if "The Giants" like the guy in charge of Mozilla, they could buy Mozilla & make him wealthy.

They can copy it whole-cloth, and as long as they leave the copyright marks in place, no problem :) It's open sourced :)

[W3MIV]

All CORPORATIONS are predatory; that's what they DO. So, what's new? Verizon has better service. What else matters to the consumer?

[NQ6U]

Grazie, Carlo. Good expo. I live here, however, and the only reason I carry a cell phone is to use it. As a cell phone. I had AT&T at one time; I couldn't use it in my house. Their coverage is better now than it used to be, but nothing amuses me more than to have a friend with an iPhone ask if he can use my cheap-ass LG (on Verizon) to make a call. :lol:

Yeah, it depends a lot on where you live. In these parts, AT&T has excellent coverage. I've even had a connection in the mountains east of here when nobody else's phones worked.

In any case, the problems your friends are experiencing may not be an issue for much longer--Verizon is in the process of making a gradual switch from CDMA to LTE. LTE is the next-generation of GSM technology and Verizon is supposedly activating their LTE network at the beginning of next year. There has been much rumor mongering about the iPhone becoming available on Verizon then and, although neither Apple or Verizon is confirming them, they aren't actively denying them this time either.

[W3MIV]

In so far as FF is concerned, I have been using it steadily for the past few years. Every once in a while, I check out the latest offering from MS IE and Google's Chrome, but so far I have found no reason to change. I like FF. It works for me, and I especially like some of the add-ons that make life with several computers easier.

For a number of years (more than I really care to count) I have been in the habit of limiting my "multi-tasking." The habit was developed on much slower hardware than I now am using, and my present boxes will let me run a number of apps without punishment. I still choose, however, to open and close both browser and email client (Thunderbird), rather than minimize them. For one thing, it irritates hell out of me to be regularly presented with bullshit emails when I can deal with them en masse at my leisure. Nothing is so important that it can't wait 'til I am ready to be annoyed by it.

If my browser has memory leaks, I do not know of them. Or, perhaps, at my age it is just that I don't remember them. Why should I demand more of my browser than nature demands of me? I leak regularly.

[W3MIV]

If Verizon does offer an iPhone, I would probably opt for it. I like the hardware, but probably won't make full use (or even necessarily "economical" use of it). I use a phone strictly as a phone. I watch guys at lunch fiddling with Blackberries, checking their emails, going online to scope out items of our luncheon discussions (rants?) and so forth. All of them are company-supplied phones, and the companies obviously do not concern themselves with the bandwidth being consumed by bullshit. I guess they just consider it a benny and write it off as such. I don't, however, have a company willing to underwrite such bullshit.

Most of the time my phone is turned off; I carry it so that I can use it when I want, not so that anyone else can get hold of me anywhere, anytime.

[NQ6U]

No, not very rare. If you run an application on a reliable system, you don't get memory leaks. If you run it on a buggy OS slapped on top of a older UNIX, then you'll run into problems.

I was running it on Windows XP but switched to Chrome, which I like quite a lot. I run Safari on my Mac. I still do run Firefox on Linux, however.

[WØTKX]

I've always wanted one, ever since I played with one in school.

The Mac Classic was a NO SALE for a lot of businesses because the only spreadsheet available was Multiplan, and it really sucked compared to Lotus 123. Lotus came out with a spreadsheet product called Jazz that was supposed to kick butt, but it was buggy, and never really became a product. Vaporware, true story. I even have a saved poster from the product rollout at a trade show. :lol:

But the Mac was not Vaporware, and once Microsoft got a good version of Excel running, the Mac rocked on spreadsheets. And then there was another 'playa, Informix Wingz.

[W4RLR]

Well, if Apple is so damned smart, why in hell did they ever choose AT&T?Because their only other choice for a GSM carrier in this country is T-Mobile. GSM is the standard used by most of the world for its cellular networks. The U.S., ever the oddball, has CDMA, GSM, and iDEN to choose from, none of which is compatible with the other. So if you are designing a phone that will work in nearly every world market, what standard would you choose?

Of course this was stated earlier, but I only saw that when my eyes became less dilated. I had my six month checkup today, back for more laser surgery next week.

[W1GUH]

Because their only other choice for a GSM carrier in this country is T-Mobile. GSM is the standard used by most of the world for its cellular networks. The U.S., ever the oddball, has CDMA, GSM, and iDEN to choose from, none of which is compatible with the other. So if you are designing a phone that will work in nearly every world market, what standard would you choose?

Of course this was stated earlier, but I only saw that when my eyes became less dilated. I had my six month checkup today, back for more laser surgery next week.

Or....AT&T offered more generous kick..er incentives.