chw42

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) That's because of components beneath those areas require open space, particularly the cellular antennas...putting stuff (such as screens) in front of them impedes the signals to/from the devices. There's always a way. On the Galaxy S I disassembled a few months ago, the antenna was on the side of the phone, with a connector on the bottom. But that connector was part of a larger multi-purpose chip that included sensors for the capacitive keys, the microphone, etc. If you don't have capacitive buttons ( or buttons period), that chip can be much smaller. I'm fairly positive they can move the antenna elsewhere and still get it to work. The antenna system of the HTC Sensation is etched on its back cover (although that had a death grip issue). Plus, didn't the iPhone 4 have an antenna system that was wrapped around the phone or something? That caused some issues during launch.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 12:13 PM) Bezels are necessary to prevent accidental screen touch. Without a bezel, every time you touched an edge, you'd accidentally move, press or shift the screen from touch sensor. You can see this at play if you've ever moved a tablet from one hand or the other and accidentally grabbed slightly too much...it turns the page, etc...it does something you didn't want or intend...and it's annoying. That's why they use bezels. They're not just for show. That's more or less on the side of the phones though, not the top and bottom. I see a lot of wasted space on the bottom of most phones.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 11:42 AM) Which I have seen and those are insane. Ironic how all these same folks were making fun of the iPad as an oversized iPhone, and now they are putting that thing up to their ear. Yeah, that thing's ridiculous. They plan on coming out with a 5.5 inch one, better get some bigger pockets. I do like that it was designed for note taking, but I'd rather buy a separate tablet for that. What I would like, however, is for a phone that has nothing but a screen in the front (no surrounding bezel). You can then make the screen like 5 inches without having to worry about form factor. The Galaxy Nexus sort of started doing that already.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 11:24 AM) One of the criteria when i was phone shopping was "biggest screen possible." Did you get a Galaxy Note by any chance then?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 11:01 AM) I personally find Apples iPhone, in modern times, a bit undersized...however, not absurdly over-sized like a lot of modern Androids. That's not to say there aren't Android based devices available that are of good portable size. I personally think the sweet spot for a phone/all-in-one portable device is around 4.0-4.2 inches diagonal, no smaller, no bigger. While Apple falls short of that (for now), many Android's have way overshot it, but not all. The iPhone 5 will be probably hit 4", which is exactly what I'd like to see. As for bland...that's the point. Apple's modern tech is usually bland/simple, but sleek looking...their entire design philosophy is simplicity, where a lot of their competitors point is counter to that view, full of bells and whistles, which IMO complicates everything. TL;DR: Apples iPhone is a bit undersized, but not as over sized as some Android's. Design is intended to be bland/simple. I've gone through phones with a lot of differing screen sizes. My first Android phone had a 3.2 inch screen, my second and third ones had 4 inch screens, now I have one with a 4.7 inch screen. I don't think I can ever go back to a phone with a screen less than 4 inches. Once you get used to it, there's no going back (that's what she said). The good thing about the newer Android phones is that they're extremely slim. Although they are fairly large in terms of dimensions, they don't feel all that oversized in your pocket. IMO, a 4.3 inch screen is probably ideal. I feel as if 4 is a bit small and 4.5 is getting a bit too big. A 4.3 inch screen with a HD resolution (that's a very high DPI though) would be awesome. I know Apple hasn't changed their screen size because they've researched that a 3.5 inch screen is ideal for the average person to use it with just one hand (that's for men and women). But I feel like Apple will have to change that rule in the future. I know I won't ever even think about getting an iPhone if it keeps its current screen size. As for the UI, I never found Apple's UI sleek. If you want that, look at the Windows Phones. Metro UI is about as modern, minimalist and sleek as you can get. I used to do some themeing on my iPod touch before and I never kept the stock menus and icons.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 08:44 AM) I've had a few problems in the past. I had an iMac whose hard drive crashed. Twice. My original iPad also had a problem with the dock connector and had to be replaced. Apple products are certainly not immune to breaking or having problems just like anything else. They just tend to happen fewer and farther between than with other brands I've used. When they did break though, Apple always honored their warranties and made it easy to replace the item. Apple always did have a nice warranty. I went through like 4 iPods once. The first one had a broken home button, second one had poor screen quality. Third one just stopped working. They ended up giving me a refurb for the last one and I still have it. The battery is pretty much dead, I might get like 3-4 hours of full operation on it. I feel as if the iPhone and the iPod touch were incredibly awesome when they first released, because they were more or less the first of their kind. Now they just feel small and bland to me.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 08:26 AM) Overcharging? It seems to me like maybe they've streamlined their production costs and leveraged their position within the industry to negotiate very profitable deals with the carriers to build those revenues. iPhones, considering their capabilities and quality are very reasonably priced in the market. They certainly are not gouging. The subsidies Sprint and Verizon pay are ridiculous, especially Sprint, who took a $15.5 billion gamble. They paid through the nose so much that they're going to sell iPhones on prepaid plans with Virgin Mobile. The cost? $650 for an iPhone 4S,$550 for an iPhone 4. iPhone 4 = 2 years old, $550, that's far from reasonably priced. It also shows just how much the carriers have to subsidize the phones to get them affordable. Apple is charging these carriers a whole ton of money and I'm not totally sure that they're really making as much money as they should on it.

Astros are 6-19 on the road, let's try for a 4 game winning streak before heading on the tough road trip.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:12 PM) Stuff=good command=bad I'd say it's a combination. Velocity seems lower, I haven't seen him hit 93-94 as often. Slider is still moving, but it's easy to lay off since it's rarely in the zone. Plus, he's hanging it more often. April Peavy was a Cy Young candidate. May and June Peavy's been slightly above average.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:10 PM) Jake could have easily pitched a shutout...he was pretty unlucky in that second inning. Hawk has no patience for guys that walk people...he always would get on Jose for that too...Contreras would give up two runs but because he walked 5 people, Hawk would be on his case the entire game. That second inning was very frustrating to watch. Hudson should have had that grounder by McCoy. Bad hop or no bad hop, it never seemed like he got in front of the ball.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:05 PM) i love how hawk just keeps praising peavy and that it was a gutsy performance yet ripped edwin jackson when he had starts like that Unfortunately, starts like this by Jake just makes me think he's losing it. Perhaps fatigue is already catching on. He hasn't had good stuff for his last 4-5 starts.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:06 PM) f*** ORLANDO HUDSON!!! ORLANDO HUDSON Hudson made up for his poor defensive play tonight. This was a huge win. You avoid a sweep and you get some momentum going back into interleague play. Let's sweep those lowly Stros.

Yeah...the Hudson experiment is going to come to an end soon.

LeBron showed up when it really mattered. Props to him. Boston's done.

Damn, no Konerko for rest of the game.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 05:29 PM) While Android phones, by sheer numbers, often outsell Apple's iPhone on a worldwide basis...the number that actually matters is the profits... Apple's share of the mobile phone market's profits is a whopping 75%. Yes, you read that right...75%. That means the remaining 25% of it is shared between Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Research in Motion, Nokia, etc... That's why Apple doesn't care who it pisses off...the money talks...and right now it's saying Apple is -- by far -- #1. Two words...App Store. The other manufacturers don't get commission from the apps Google has on Google Play. Google gets that money. Apple gets 30% commission on everything from the app store. It might not be the entire reason, but it has a lot to do with it.

Who the hell dropped Bryce Harper in your league? That's just bad...

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 12:28 PM) This is why I said highest-selling and not highest quality. Damn, for some reason I read highest quality. I was too busy eating to read, haha.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:20 AM) I don't think Apple gives a s*** if they are pissing you off. The VAST majority of people don't know or don't care about any of this nonsense. They are merely trying to use whatever means available to them to continue to produce the highest-selling products. This has nothing to do with the quality of their current products or future products. It has everything to do with trying to slow down the competition. Plus, I'm sure a lot of people will care if Apple somehow gets this ban to go through (which would be absurd BTW). They already held up HTC in customs for the stupid data tapping crap. I know some co-workers who ordered the new HTC Evo 4G LTE from Sprint and haven't gotten it yet because of it. To say the least, they're not happy.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 7, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) If they are already planning on getting a samsung phone then why does it hurt Apple to piss them off? Also android is an operating system not a type of phone. I believe the other actual phone manufacturers have a little catching up to do. Personally I think Apple is doing pretty well owning the market in both phones and tablets, "'owning" a particular space is I believe is having 30% market share. Android phones are phones with Android OS..., http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/01/comscor...are-march-2012/ Android phones currently have a 50%+ foothold in the U.S. phone market. Apple is sitting at 30%. Sure, that's one manufacturer vs. at least 3-4 major manufacturers (Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola), but Samsung is by far the big dog of the 4. In fact, Samsung itself is catching up with Apple in market share alone at 29%. The true irony is that all of Apple's devices use Samsung chipsets. Samsung is too afraid of Apple going away (that's a big customer for them), so they re-designed the Galaxy S III in a lot of ways to avoid patent infringements. I guess that's what you call a weird relationship.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 6, 2012 -> 08:14 PM) I was just using random numbers. If they can delay the release by 1 day, how much does that cost Samsung, etc, etc. The point is Apple has $100billion to screw with people, this is nothing more than screwing with people. It's seriously pissing people off. It's not like the people who are pissed off that they won't get their Galaxy S IIIs or HTC One Xs on time will switch over to the iPhone. They get those phones because they like the big screens, not Apple's puny 3.5 inch screen. They'll just be pissed off at Apple even more. Apple is losing its stake in the phone market. It's been that way for like the past couple of years with Android becoming very mainstream and Windows Phones picking up some steam. They're just trying to compensate by suing over ambiguous things. Thing is, I don't think it's going to sway public opinion to go towards Apple, it just makes them look like bigger dicks.

Henderson Alvarez has been bad as of late. Let's not get swept! We need you to be the ace like we're paying you to be Jake!

Despite having absolutely no stuff, this guy is getting guys out. Impressive to say the least. Plus, it's not like he's done this against horrible offensive teams. Cleveland, Tampa, and the Jays are all decent offensive teams. His peripherals suggest he will regress, but somehow, I see this guy as somewhat of an outlier.

Wow, Danks is ripping up AAA right now. He's had great patience throughout his career, but the power is finally showing up. I hope he's ready to not play everyday.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 6, 2012 -> 07:18 PM) Anyone think Tyler could put up Arencibia-type numbers if he played everyday? He can definitely match the home run total. He'll probably walk more as well. But I really don't see him hitting any higher than .240-.250. He'll be Adam Dunn super-lite.