Tag: Mobile OS

Coming to the Surface

We’ve all played a little Xbox, but how many of you ever got your hands on a Zune, or a Kin? Microsoft’s getting back into the hardware game with the Surface tablet and on episode 63 of inThirty we get into, about, and under the soon to be released device. We talk pricing, features, make predictions on future market share, and add to the overall confusion about the two different versions of Windows, RT and 8, that’ll run on this new entrant to the tablet market.

Episode 63 Hangout: http://youtu.be/6pxvOYZyAJg?t=5m22s

Show Notes
Microsoft Surface Pricing Goes Toe-to-Toe with Apple iPad | Slashdot
Surface with Windows RT | Microsoft
“Surface RT: Pricing details, spec updates...” | PCWorld
“Microsoft fails to explain Windows 8 vs. Windows RT…” | The Verge
On the Recent Microsoft Surface Announcements | Curious Rat

BlackBerry 10 Nails in the Coffin

RIM’s BlackBerry OS smartphone chops are showing their first signs of ripeness: on the 39th episode of inThirty we give our take on BlackBerry 10. The dev kits and PR speak are flowing like maple syrup straight from Waterloo and comparisons to more mature smartphone platforms abound as we analyze RIM’s future prospects and discuss whether the hardware keyboard will be BlackBerry’s defining feature going forward. We also consider whether RIM’s popularity with the enterprise can be spun into success in the consumer sector.
Later, we follow up on the progress of another newish mobile OS, Windows Phone 7. When we spoke to Steve Wozniak a few months ago we asked for his feelings on the mobile OS that Gates built and he hadn’t yet had time to play much with Metro. Apparently a Lumia made its way into Woz’s hands and he has some interesting things to say.

Show Notes
“BlackBerry 10: a closer look (video)” | The Verge
“RIM guarantees developers will make $10,000 on their ‘certified’ BlackBerry 10 apps in first year” | The Verge
“Does BlackBerry 10’s camera app get by with a little help from Scalado Rewind?” | Engadget
“Woz: Microsoft might have reincarnated Steve Jobs” | CNet
“Woz One” | inThirty.net
“Woz Two” | inThirty.net
“I’m leaving the internet for a year” | The Verge

Windows Phone 7

It’s good to be cing, and it’s good to have Klout. Harry earned a free Windows Phone 7, a Samsung Focus, for his courageous tweeting and shared it (and pizza) with his fellow inThirty hosts. We pick it apart and marvel at its simplicity and the lack of Blue Screens of Death, though its connector software did nearly fry Harry’s MacBook. The tiles, the font, the understated elegance, how could this have come from Microsoft?

PS The first commenter to leave the exact timestamp for Chaim’s Rick Perry moment gets 5 Klout points.

Show Notes

“A Windows Phone 7.5 Review from a Dedicated iOS User” | Curious Rat

Klout

“Pioneer Studios Closed by Microsoft” | Windows Phone Thoughts

Samsung Focus | Samsung.com

Android Orphans

Please sir, can I have some more over the air updates? Not if you’re using the majority of Android phones. As a follow up to yesterday’s show, we’re lucky to have the creator of the chart that puts the Dickensian state of upgrade support across Android phones on display, Michael Degusta, with us on inThirty. We get to the bottom of how and why he took on this topic and find out what version of Android those big laser-shooting-Transformer-type-things from the Droid commercials run.

Fragmentation Threshold

Ice Cream Sandwich hasn’t even had time to melt and someone out there on the internet has the nerve to create a chart showing just how infrequently all those Android devices actually get the latest version of the mobile OS.
Michael DeGusta, the man who laid out the sad state of Google’s hardware support in red, orange, yellow, and green joins the inThirty crew and our guest host Kelly Guimont to discuss whether Android is a stop or a go and how the carriers, manufacturers and Google factor in to this traffic jam.

Tomorrow we’ll post an interview with Michael that covers why he created the chart, how he found the data, and whether or not he was inspired by the bygone days of the color coded terror alert system.

Show Notes
Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support | TheUnderstatement.com

My View on Android Fragmentation | ChaimTime.com