James

Member since: Oct 11th, 2006

James's Latest Comments

Blog Activity

Blog	# of Comments
TUAW.com	1 Comment
Engadget	5 Comments
Download Squad	1 Comment
Engadget Mobile	2 Comments

Recent Comments:

Palm Pixi Plus now free on AT&T (Engadget)

Jun 9th 2010 9:08PM @torch29
I was also thinking that this would be perfect for my wife, until I saw that the $15 data plan was required. That is unnecessary for her (especially with wifi), and I would rather pay $50 upfront to save the $360 in extra charges over the life of the contract. Moving on...

T-Mobile rolls out fresh unlimited prepaid voice and text plans (Engadget Mobile)

May 17th 2010 8:04PM @mmcnier
If you have the Even More Plus plan, then you don't have a contract, so you can just get rid of your plan and go prepaid whenever you want. Just remember, there's no data available if you're prepaid.

Vertu Constellation Ayxta gets unboxed and admired (Engadget)

Apr 6th 2010 1:45PM Yes, the luxury watch analogy is right on. Here's the relevant question:

Before you leave one of your houses in the morning, do you have to choose which of your Rolex watches you're going to wear that day? If not, you are not in the target demographic for this phone, and Vertu doesn't care what you think.

(note: Vertu doesn't care what I think)

It's Engadget Mobile's ultimate Nokia giveaway! (Engadget Mobile)

Apr 2nd 2010 6:02PM For some reason, I suddenly NEED this phone. Pick me!

Editorial: the American phone subsidy model is a RAZR way of thinking in an iPhone world (Engadget)

Feb 24th 2010 2:31PM @adityakar

One problem is that here in the US, you don't really have a choice of carriers. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA, and don't use SIM cards so you can't just switch a card. AT&T and T-Mobile use SIM cards, but use different frequencies for 3G, so a 3G phone on one carrier is only and EDGE phone on the other.

Editorial: the American phone subsidy model is a RAZR way of thinking in an iPhone world (Engadget)

Feb 24th 2010 2:15PM @Levi
>>Does anybody ever stop and think about this? If you are going to buy an iPhone, or a Nexus, or a Pre, you're going to be paying the same amount for data with or without a contract!

This is not true anymore in the case of T-Mobile and Nexus One. T-Mobile's new plans charge $20 per month less for the same minutes with unlimited text and data without a contract if you bring your own unlocked phone. So if you buy unlocked Nexus One, you'll save money over buying the subsidized price phone in the course of two years. As far as I know, no other carriers in the US are doing this, though. This could be attractive to people who want to use old phones or keep their current phone for a long time. It also makes sense to people who like to switch phones very often. Buy a phone, use it for a few months, sell it on eBay, buy a new phone, repeat as desired, all while saving money on your monthly plan.

Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally (updated) (Engadget)

Jan 21st 2010 5:26PM @TheHypnotist
I have maps for the US, UK, France, Korea, and Japan on my phone. This takes up a little less than 2GB on my SD card. Granted, I don't have this new version of maps, and the data for Korea and Japan is pretty sparse. Still, I'm very happy with the way it works offline. It was terrific when I was in France last year--I could use maps even without any phone service at all.

Hulu to begin charging for (some) content next year? (Download Squad)

Oct 22nd 2009 7:46PM I could see them keeping the free content as is, and charging for the following new services:

1. Older episodes and previous seasons of current shows. Currently, Hulu generally allows you to watch the five newest episodes of a show. I could see them keeping those five episodes free and charging for users to view earlier episodes and previous seasons.

2. Shows from paid cable networks like HBO and Showtime.

3. Live streams and pay-per-view events.

4. Premium membership, where all content can be viewed commercial-free.

5. Paid downloads? Of course, DRM issues would have to be worked out.

It seems like they can reasonably add all these things without changing the free content on the site.

iTunes 7 UI: the Bad and the Ugly (TUAW.com)

Oct 11th 2006 1:17PM While these criticisms are valid, I think it's important to remember what the alternative philosophy in UI design looks like. Have you looked at a Microsoft application lately? The screen is so cluttered with buttons, icons and popups that it can be almost paralyzingly confusing for a new user. When I open Excel, I get four rows of toolbars! Of course, you can completely customize your toolbars (and even remove all of them, if you wish), but I suspect most people don't bother doing this. Apple's philosophy in general is to provide a cleaner, more streamlined interface that presents only the essentials on the main display. In iTunes, it's a tradeoff that I think is worthwhile, although people will always disagree on what is "essential." Me? I don't use EQ and chapter skip, but I can see how people did would be upset by this change.