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These loopholes can not be closed by one country’s government. You need international agreements. The US/Ireland story is a good example.

3 days ago on Senate probe accuses Apple of avoiding billions of dollars in taxes with offshore havens 1 reply 2 recommends

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How do you know that Google ‘called’ Samsung to ‘do a stock version’? Maybe HTC had the call first and said ‘no thanks’. Or Samsung called Google first.

Or they all met (Samsung, Google, LG, HTC, and some others) and said “mighty, these guys at the Verge Forums really want a stock Android on a flagship phone and look at all this CM and all that lancher replacements – how do we stop them, what can we do to make them happy” and after a few rounds of staring at the ceiling Samsung said ok guys, we’ll do it, we’re the big one here and we can afford a bit of extra work on our production lines". And then they all bought Samsung a beer and talked about something else.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android 1 recommend

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I think the backgrounds used for stock Android were tailor made to fit the screen of the Nexus 4. Check the backgrounds for the G-Nexus, they are much darker to enhance the deep balcks of the amoled.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android

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Not sell much of the S4? It’s flying off the shelves.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android

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Maybe HTC didn’t want to our couldn’t.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android

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I get that Samsung is wedded to the home button. It is simple, iconic as hell and makes life easy for visually impaired people. You can fumble for the phone, hit the home button and speak to the device etc. Want to leave an app? Click the home button, instantly done! Want to multitask? Click and hold it, tap the app you want, done!
Best of all, you save screen space at the bottom, that otherwise was used only to display three buttons that other manufacturers place in the bezel.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android 1 reply 1 recommend

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Because Sense is a selling point for HTC. If they put stock Android it would be admitting there are possibly better options. And as you can read, a lot of people expect a stock Android version to be cheaper.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android 2 replies

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Now you can choose between a regular S4 and a stock Android one, for, let’s be fair, exactly the same price. And look, all this moaning snd complaining. What do you want?
By the way, if the phone is not available on contract and you have to pay the real price when buying it instead of buying it on a loan, it’s the carrier you should complain to.

7 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android

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Dropbox is preferred by many because it is very simple and reliable. It does one thing and does that very good – install, use. Clean, easy, reliable, flawless. Easy to promote to friends of all types because you are sure they will get it working.
Every new function will inevitably have at least one button to click and make it more complex. It must be hard for Dropbox to differentiate themselves while maintaining their USP. I’d go for behind the scenes functionality which is relevant for other apps and leave the user in limbo about it.

17 days ago on Dropbox launches developer conference to stay ahead in the storage wars

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The iPhone, especially nr. 5? A lot of the details are similar.

24 days ago on Samsung says the Galaxy S4 design is 'like nothing you've ever seen before' 1 reply 1 recommend

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Samsung, which clearly has a language – although most of the people here don’t like it – is still figuring out how to describe that language. I think they sincerely put a lot of effort and thought in how the device should look, and most of all, feel. It’s just very different from Apple/HTC (which have an identical design language). I’m convinced they really, positively prefer polycarbonate (*) over metal because in their view it gives a better user experience.

(*) I will from now on use polycarbonate or any other word, other than plastic, because when the iPhone 3 came out, it had a ‘polycarbonate’ back, that was praised all over for it’s nice feel and good grip.

24 days ago on Samsung says the Galaxy S4 design is 'like nothing you've ever seen before' 3 replies 1 recommend

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Well this is a bit silly from Samsung, just like their launch was. But I do not agree that the S4, or the SIII if you prefer, is bad design. It’s functional design with ergonomics in mind. The S-line does not want to be design icons, like the iPhone or HTC’s line. I agree that the S’s won’t win a beauty contest, but their design is smartphones to their core identity: a big screen, and everything around is in function of that. It is industrial design. It’s light, very thin, well-crafted, durable. From an engineering point it’s excellent. It’s a device, it’s equipment, it is what it is and in that sense, it’s design has more merits than it gets accounted for.

24 days ago on Samsung says the Galaxy S4 design is 'like nothing you've ever seen before'

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Ok, if you think so, but I feel the same about HTC’s Sense, that still looks the same to me as it did around Froyo’s time: the same cartoonish – magazine-ish design language. And iOS hasn’t changed a bit.
Most of the time you’re in apps anyway, those have changed the most, and usually for the better.

28 days ago on Samsung Galaxy S4 review