heelo

The exact same gif was posted in the comments of the Lumia 900 review.

That is really fantastic.

I’m jealous of anyone making $1M a year.

So I’m basically 38 kinds of jealous of Tim Cook.

Cook should only get half that.

The other half should be shoveled into Jobs’ mausoleum.

So here’s the issue for Android OEMs in the situation you described: Release your device with the latest hardware components but with a last-gen version of Android, or delay the release by 3 months while you skin and validate the latest version of Android and then release your device as a “me too” to the manufacturers who’ve had devices with the latest hardware (but last-gen OS) on the market for the past three months.

In that scenario, the natural solution is to release now and (promise to) update later (maybe).

However, I believe that a great majority of that delay time is not due to driver and hardware validation, but OS skinning. If you reduce the delay cost down to one month or so, the cost/benefit scenario changes significantly.

I think you’re referring to the fragmentation issue, and not the update issue. As for updates, if MS sticks to a yearly release cadence then updates should remain manageable. The lack of skinning on WP is huge.

My pet theory is that MS’s plan is to limit fragmentation by requiring apps to be validated on the minimum specs for each full-point release. Thus a game validated for WP8 will run on every WP8 device, but may not be available for WP7 phones. This would be one explanation for the rumored lack of upgrade path for current devices: the WP8 minimum specs will require dual core processors and more capable GPUs.

This is likely incorrect.

My understanding (and the general consensus, I think) is that one of the foundational objectives of WP8 is to allow the platform to run on a variety of different hardware configurations, including multicore support. The device hardware will not be constrained by the OS.

Actually, I think you’re misunderstanding him. I think he’s being rather optimistic.

His point is that WP sales are likely to improve once they’re released with hardware specs that can go toe-to-toe with the premium Android handsets, and that a better measure of WP’s market potential will be available once it has been on an even playing field with Android for an entire year.

Fuck this shit!

I would generally agree with this sentiment, but the fact of the matter is that Apollo and the iPhone 5 (or whatever) will be here by November.

There is no reason to lock yourself into two years of an iPhone 4 when, for just $100 you can bide some time for either a next-gen Windows Phone or what is shaping up to be a very significant iPhone upgrade.

The Arrive for $100 is a fantastic value, and will be totally functional for a few months.

Hey Bitly, guess what?

Unless some new kind of pizza was unveiled in the last 90 minutes, Google is going to work just fine.

Unlikely.

Amazon continues to be a bit mobile player despite its consistently better pricing. For whatever reason, the vast majority of consumers prefer to make their phone choices in-store.

Additionally, the magic piece to the puzzle that you’re not seeing in the WSJ is reduced data pricing for BYOP customers. Only ultrageeks and those with extreme amounts of disposable income are going to pay a $200 premium for their phone with no price relief on their contract payments. Heck, even with a $10 month BYOP discount very few will be takers. The very existence of the mid- and lower-end market is testament to how price conscious consumers are in terms of up front cost.

Apple’s last great unicorn was the iPad, and that was a monster success. So I’m cautiously optimistic/excited by the Apple TV.

There’s three kinds of lies in the world:

(1) Lies
(2) Damned Lies
(3) Samsung’s excuses for cheaping out on the GSIII display.

I agree with you 100%.

But I do like the form factor below. I think it looks much more sturdy and useful, since you can deal with it casually instead of bending all the way over.

This is one of the best videos that you guys have ever done at The Verge.

You’re finally using video effects for something more than making things “visually interesting.”