[DUG] Google(HTC) Phone

[Gary T. Benner]

[Reply]

HI all,

At 09:54 on 18/01/2010 Jolyon wrote 
>I was nearly tempted by the "installment plan" but fortunately (for me) the
>Vodafone rep was able to demonstrate the device as she herself had one.  As
>a result I quickly changed my mind.  The on-screen keyboard (it has no
>physical keyboard at all) was just too small for my fingers and didn't have
>cursor keys that I (or she) could find.
>
>So, e.g. when entering a txt message, if you make a mistake the only way to
>position the cursor on the offending text is to try to hit exactly the right
>spot in the txt with your finger (or backspace ALL text back to it) .. you
>can't simply cursor back over/thru the txt!!!
>
>And unless you have a child's fingers and prod the letter out *real*
>carefully (i.e. slowly), you will make mistakes with the tiny virtual
>keyboard.  Guaranteed.

It only takes practice to learn how to do it - also when the phone is in landscape orientation the keyboard is bigger. I guarantee I have as big, or bigger fingers than you, and it now works fine for me. I figured out that the system works by calculating the centre point of the finger presented to the screen, and you only have to get used to that.

I really love it now.

And as it's purely software ( and O/S at that ) I can be sure that such a feature will turn up real soon. Along with two finger gestures. ( not the rude ones either!! )

>
>There is no stylus.

Thank goodness ... you always lose those things! or they get caught on your trouser pocket.


>"Way cool" doesn't outweigh simple practicality in my book.

Learning new ways and new practices always takes time. For me it is way cool, and getting practical as I learn how to use it. Learning Linux back in the 90's was the same.  Same for a very powerful motorbike back in the 70's  ... but I lived to survive and really enjoy it.

Regarding the maths on your costs .... gee that was creative ... I've been on a  plan ( albeit high usage ) previously with my own paid for phone, and the HTC phone was provided at no extra charge, with only a 24 month commitment - since I've been with Vodafone since the Bellsouth days there was no issue with that.

My view is that computing will shake down to the client server model -  we will carry or access devices that provide purely a human interface ( as appropriate ) and the  computing mostly back end. There are a number of people showing proofs of concept of where it will go, merging the real and virtual, with cameras supplementing our world view and sensory input, and providing mechanisms to feed data back to us as if we had an "angel on our shoulder".

I see that with Google introducing voice recognition (VR) we are heading to the Star Trek scenario where we also talk to the computer. Rather than every program implementing VR, I predict our "personal device" will be trained to understand us ( with our language, accent and terminology ) and convert that to a digital stream, that will then be input into any application we are currently using, on whatever platform. Some XML DTD will evolve no doubt for that <g>.

Where Delphi fits into all this - just to stay on topic - depends on Embarcadero keeping up witht he play, and on us creating great apps that customers like, on budget and on time.

Just my 2.5c worth.  Have a good year guys!

cheers

Gary
Ref#: 41006

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