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Setting aside that none of the examples I or you mentioned are truly, perfectly flat: since you guys seem suddenly unable to understand the fact that similes, metaphors, analogies, and so on, exist, let’s go with something a little more pedestrian.

Ever heard a woman’s breasts referred to as “flat?” Did you assume when you heard that, that the person meant they met some kind of platonic ideal of flatness? If you did, and subsequently saw said breasts, I imagine you’d have been disappointed to learn that the person who used the word “flat” to describe them was speaking in relative terms.

Assuming you followed that, I reiterate: wait until the damned thing is released.

about 3 hours ago on Jony Ive's iOS 7 redesign reportedly eliminates 'heavy textures' for a flat, 'black and white' design 1 recommend

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Polygon isn’t the source. Polygon is where it was reported. Do you know who their sources are? Has the publication been known to jump the gun and make inaccurate claims? Feel free to explain.

about 3 hours ago on Xbox One games will require internet 'spot checks', but Microsoft won't charge to authenticate used games

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Brick and mortar stores where you can talk to actual people, sell your games back easily, and play with the games before buying cost money to maintain.

If you look at GameStop’s profit margins holistically (read: over the course of their entire business, not just, "how much do they make on each used game), it’s actually quite small. 7-8%.

about 3 hours ago on Xbox One games will require internet 'spot checks', but Microsoft won't charge to authenticate used games

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Tell that to all the few-years-old sports titles I got for $1 each.

about 3 hours ago on Xbox One games will require internet 'spot checks', but Microsoft won't charge to authenticate used games

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No. You don’t deserve credit for stopping at the headline just because a bunch of other ignoramuses do it too.

about 3 hours ago on Xbox One games will require internet 'spot checks', but Microsoft won't charge to authenticate used games

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They aren’t. Sony said explicitly that used games will be allowed.

about 3 hours ago on Xbox One games will require internet 'spot checks', but Microsoft won't charge to authenticate used games 1 reply 3 recommends

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True. Though I’m personally not sold on any of the calibrations I’ve seen. Having the ability to change things without a strong calibration assistance tool in software isn’t all that useful to those who want real accuracy. Makes me wish Android had screen calibration built in by default, so someone could market a great calibration app on the Play Store, like the calibration software that comes built in with OS X and Windows.

about 5 hours ago on HTC One 'Google Edition' with stock Android reportedly in the works

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Regardless of a lack of proofreading, thank you for using the word “supercut” correctly. The Verge could use more of that.

about 6 hours ago on Why No Reviewer Supercut HTC?

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While I do think the way the “Samsung’s marketing is killing HTC” narrative is framed is kind of insane at times (the framing being, selling lots of devices through great marketing is some kind of inherently bad thing), I do think given the quality comparison between HTC and Samsung phones, the difference in the effectiveness of their marketing is one of the biggest factors.

But rather than framing it as, “Samsung doesn’t deserve their success, people are just stupid and marketing is ruining everything rah rah” I’d frame it as, Samsung is kicking major ass with their marketing, and have devices that are good enough to back it up in the eyes of consumers. HTC has made some great devices (the One X and the One in particular), but have absolutely abysmal marketing to get people interested in the first place.

There’s also been talk that HTC has economy of scale problems compared to Samsung in the cost of their devices, and that might be costing them as well. That could be true, but I think the implication that it’s somehow inherent to Samsung’s vertical integration (and HTC’s lack thereof) is dubious. Apple is not very vertically integrated compared to Samsung, but their profit margins are higher than Samsung’s anyway. If HTC could get themselves together and actually sell a lot more devices, there’s no reason to think they couldn’t get a profitable economy of scale working for them, too.

about 6 hours ago on HTC Phablet?

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Yeah. It’s really more like two gigantic steps forward, one measly step back.

about 6 hours ago on Is it just me or can Google just not get Play Music right?

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1. The First was not a flagship device. It had a last-generation, dual-core-only processor, lower RAM than any current flagships, and a mediocre camera at best.

2. The First had the rug pulled out from under it in its marketing; Facebook didn’t push it on its website. They denied it the promised exclusivity for Facebook Home at launch. There was no promotional drive in advertising it. They didn’t even create demo accounts for it, so users who asked for it in stores (it wasn’t even on display in any of my local AT&T stores; I had to ask to see it and they’d pull it out of a drawer if they had one at all) couldn’t even see a demo of Facebook Home on the device.

about 6 hours ago on HTC One 'Google Edition' with stock Android reportedly in the works 1 reply

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Not necessarily. I wouldn’t bet on AT&T being that much more evil than Verizon. I mean, I doubt they’re going to sell the MVNOs LTE bandwidth for the same price they’ve been selling the slower stuff. But that’s a different story.

about 10 hours ago on AT&T prepaid users can now get LTE, if they have the right phone

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It won’t if you just download a ROM that has Beats Audio in it.

about 14 hours ago on HTC One 'Google Edition' with stock Android reportedly in the works

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That part may not actually have been shopped, is the funny thing about your humor at it; point updates are often reasonably small when they’re OTA updates; when you’re not flashing the whole thing in iTunes they just give you what you need. Going from 6.1.2 to 6.1.3 was like 20MB. Obviously the jump to 7.0 is not going to be that size, though.

about 14 hours ago on Jony Ive's iOS 7 redesign reportedly eliminates 'heavy textures' for a flat, 'black and white' design 5 recommends

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No. “Flat” isn’t that binary in real life. Flat like a calm sea, flat like a Pancake, flat like Kansas, all of these analogies are for things that are not absolutely flat.

What I’m saying is: wait until the damned thing is released.

about 14 hours ago on Jony Ive's iOS 7 redesign reportedly eliminates 'heavy textures' for a flat, 'black and white' design 4 replies 27 recommends

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“Ultrapixel” is just a name brand for a sensor with larger pixels. “Boom Sound” is just a made-up name brand for their dual front facing speakers (which work just fine in AOSP). And Beats Audio is in tons of ROMs (though it sucks anyway, so who cares).

about 23 hours ago on HTC One 'Google Edition' with stock Android reportedly in the works 1 reply