F1: Kimi Returns With Lotus-Renault

The number of world champions on the grid next year will increase by one after Lotus-Renault confirmed that 2007 winner Kimi Raikonen will return to the sport with them.

This now means that the winner of every championship since the turn of.the millennium will be on the grid for 2012.

How will Kimi fare? Pretty well I guess. Whilst Petrov has had a half-decent season this year there's no question of him being in the same league as the Iceman.

Will Lotus give him a car capable of competing with the best? I'm not so sure. I'm expecting ferocious battles between Kimi and Michael Schumacher behind the top three teams next year though...

Microsoft Disses Siri, Misses The Point Completely

Microsoftie Craig Mundie claimed that Windows Phone 7 has had voice control for a year and Apple's Siri is nothing more than a fad.

Unfortunately he couldn't be more wrong. And as a big WP7 fan I know what I'm talking about.

Windows Phone 7 has voice control which works, for very simple queries only. Otherwise it's desperate. I mean throw the phone out of the window frustrating.

Now I realise that may not be the case in the US but Apple has managed to make Siri work perfectly well with an English accent and can handle all sorts of complex queries that Microsoft's TellMe application can only dream of dealing with and - if it's even able to recognise the input - will end up sending to Bing as a search.

The number of times that TellMe tells me that it can't find that name in my contacts is ridiculous.

Siri is a stand out application and rather than dismissing it Microsoft should be working very hard at playing catch up...

Google Updates Android Blogger

Not sure whether my post yesterday had anything to do with it (let's assume not) but Google have updated the Blogger client for Android and, whilst its not perfect, it does represent a big step forward over the last version.

Now if we can just have an update for Gmail please...

Google Galaxy Nexus Arrives To Rave Reviews

Google and Samsung have a hit on their hands if early reviews are anything to be believed.

The combination of Android 4 - aka Ice Cream Sandwich - a super high resolution screen and some innovative use of technology are being lauded as the top of the smartphone game.

Just don't rely on the face recognition to keep your phone secure from snoopers as it can apparently be bypassed with a picture. At least it should keep your phone secure if you accidentally lose it...

Gmail App For iOS

Recently I've seen people complaining about the quality of the Gmail app for iPhone. I'm not too sure what the beef is, because it seems to work very well to me.

In fact I think it's fair to say that the Gmail app for iPhone surpasses the Gmail app for Android! That can't even handle simple tricks like displaying HTML emails properly.

Considering how bad the Blogger for Android and how good the iPhone version is by comparison, I almost wonder if Google has something against its own operating system.

I think it's fair to say that if you were to just compare Google applications on both platforms you would have to choose the iPhone every time.

EU To Investigate Apple And Samsung

There's an air of inevitability about this one, as the EU announces that it will investigate the current global patent battle between Apple and Samsung for what they believe are anti-competitive practices.

Apple's tactics in defending the iPad and iPhone have been particularly underhand and indefensible. The recent Netherlands case that found that the Galaxy S2 infringed in a very minor way in how the gallery scrolled is a perfect example of the inappropriate nature of these patents.

Hopefully the EU will bin the lot of them and force Apple to compete on features  rather than in the  courts...

How Can Microsoft Sell WP7?

Microsoft's market share in the smartphone arena is hovering around the 1% mark - about the lowest its ever been. As users and businesses migrate away from Windows Mobile they aren't necessarily switching to Windows Phone. The rapid growth of the Android sector, particularly in the £50-100 market segment, isn't helping by skewing the figures for everybody else. The launch of Nokia's WP7 devices will certainly boost sales and initial reception of the Finnish devices has been very good.

Nevertheless, Microsoft have a problem that they have to address. They aren't winning the battle to drag in new smartphone buyers because there are no Windows Phones in the lower price bracket (yet) and they aren't converting iOS or Android users because of the resistance to Microsoft as a brand.

So how can they fix this?

Well the first thing would be to address the number of different niche demands that different user groups have.

Music lovers? How about six months free Zune pass when you buy a Windows Phone? Unlimited access to all your favourite tunes on the go, at home and on your Xbox.

Games players? Ten free premium games for Xbox Live...

App junkies? A £50 voucher for the Marketplace... This one would particularly interest iPhone owners with an investment in apps on that platform.

There's a wealth of opportunity out there and given that Windows Phone manages to best both Android and iOS in many areas Microsoft needs to start investing in its future.

Remember how long it took for the Xbox division to return a profit? Its that kinf of vision that's required now.

FXI Promises To Make Any Screen An Android

In terms of ultimate cool, this could be the tech heads choice. A HDMI dongle which runs Android Gingerbread, packs a dual-core Samsung processor, Bluetooth and Wifi and draws its power from the HDMI port on your TV.

Plug this in and you have instant internet on your regular TV.

Plug it into your laptop and you've got thin-layer access to Android on that.

The combination of Android, WiFi and an micro-SD card slot make this a pretty powerful tool for media in the home/hotel and, assuming that FXI deliver a solid remote control solution for smartphones, makes the Apple TV look hugely limited.

Price is likely to be $200 and availabilty is set for early 2012.

Sent from my Windows Phone

HTC Rolls Out Internet Sharing To WP7

Last night HTC pushed out an update to Windows Phone 7, although there was no indication of what changes were in the update. However having had a quick look through the settings it appears that internet sharing is now available!

That's exceptionally good news and proves that Microsoft and HTC are looking to deliver the best user experience to Windows Phone 7 customers.

Apple Marketshare Drop Does Not Equal Lower Sales

Much is being made of the news that worldwide Android's marketshare has now blown through the 50% barrier whilst Apple's marketshare has dropped significantly.

Apple is now third in worldwide shipments behind Android and Symbian (amazingly) but ahead of RIM for whom things seem to have stabilised.

But whereas Symbian's device shipments fell by nearly a third Apple actually shipped nearly 30% more devices than this time last year.

So whilst Android continues to grow its market domination it's not a case that Apple sales are falling - just that they aren't growing as quickly.

Happy Birthday Xbox

Its ten years since the original Xbox (complete with stunning, if quickly banned commercial) went on sale - at a time when Sega, Sony and Nintendo dominated the console scene.

A whole decade and only one hardware refresh later and Microsoft's console dominates sales, with only Sony really competing. Sega are long gone and Nintendo need a new console quickly if its to avoid the same fate.

The only dark cloud on the horizon has to be Apple, who could decimate the console market by adding access to the iTunes app store and wireless controllers to its Apple TV.

Happy birthday Xbox, but watch your back!

Why You Should Be Using Windows Phone 7

As far as arguments go this is a very persuasive one for Windows Phone and does a great job of explaining why Microsoft have done a better job of the user interface than Apple or Google.

http://spillwaybrain.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/why-windows/

Mobile OS Fragmentation - Why Its Unimportant

You'll have probably seen the interesting chart mapping iOS and Android updates on phones sold in the US, which was published on the Understatement blog. It's asks some very big questions and paints Android buyers in a hard done by light. I should also say, if you read other posts on the blog it's published from a solidly pro-Apple point of view. That shouldn't detract from the points he makes.

However there is a bigger picture which hasn't really been focused upon: how much is the user impacted by these issues. I'd argue not very much.

The reasons why Android phones don't receive updates are various but mostly valid.

Google has a punishing schedule of adding functionality to Android which means that update flow much more quickly than other platforms.

Secondly, OEMs are producing a much wider choice of smartphones, at multiple price and functionality points. This makes it much harder to keep phones on the latest revision of the software and also means that some phones can't or won't benefit from some updates.

And thirdly, in many cases it doesn't make a significant difference to the user that the OS hasn't been updated because it doesn't change the experience. This has been true since the arrival of Froyo more than eighteen months ago, when it added Flash support to the OS.

I have three Android phones - one on Froyo and two on different point releases of Gingerbread. Is there any functional difference between them? No, I install the same software on each and perform all tasks the same way.

Latest figures from various data capturing organisations suggests that a large majority of Android users are running Froyo or later. So that chart we discussed earlier? Tells a very wrong story.

In response Android users could validly dispute that because the iPhone 4 is unable to run Siri it doesn't have the latest functionality of the full iOS 5 release and therefore fails the Understatement's test for being up to date.

Which makes the Android picture look a whole lot rosier in my book...

Sebastian Loeb Motor Sport Legend

Frenchman Sebastian Loeb has sealed his eighth consecutive World Rally Championship at Rally GB.

That's some kind of achievement, beside which the legends of other disciplines look a bit more ordinary. Remember that this isn't the relatively sanctified world of track racing, this is triple digit speeds down forest tracks, ice stages gravel stages and all points inbetween.

NUFC Fans Are Nuts!

You know it's hard to feel sorry for Mike Ashley but Newcastle United supporters have pretty much made it happen.

Here the club stand at the dizzy heights of third in the Premier League, still unbeaten in mid-November (has that ever happened before?) and the fans are still calling for their chairman's head.

Really? Are you sure?

What's the big man's crime this time?

He's decided to rename the stadium from St. James' Park to The Sports Direct Arena. Sports Direct being the business providing the funding to allow him to do things like buy Newcastle United. The fans are livid. And I really can't understand why. No one is forcing them to call it by its new name, if they object to other people calling it the Sports Direct Arena then they'll just have to put their hands over their ears...

Newcastle United fans average around 40,000 a game. If they feel so strongly about it then I suggest they form a collective, raise £4,000 each and buy the club from Ashley. Then they'll see how valuable Mike Ashley has been to the club...

Flash Is Dead...

Adobe have announced that Flash for Devices is not much longer for this world, with one last update set to sneak out before the curtain comes down.

Whilst its being seen as vindication of Apple's policy of refusing to support Flash on the iPhone there's a wider issue to consider: does Flash have any future on the web?

The answer is probably no, without mobile clients going forward the drive to dump Flash for HTML5 gets even stronger. Flash will disappear for good and Adobe will probably go with it!

A Victory For Common Sense

Whatever else happens in this week's football involving England and Wales an important victory has already been won.

The players of both teams will be allowed to wear poppies on black armbands to participate in Remembrance Day.

The outrageous behaviour of FIFA in initially denying the teams this right has been roundly condemned and rightly so, this is symptomatic of the sort of mindless fascism which soldiers fought to defeat in two World Wars.

To suggest that remembering their bravery and sacrifice could be construed as a political or religious message is unbelievably insulting and the idiots responsible should be dismissed without further delay.

FIFA has time and time displayed its absolute disregard for common sense and fair play and should be stripped of its ownership of world football with similar speed.

I for one wear my poppy with pride, one only needs to travel the fields of Northern France to see why. To those brave men who gave their lives to make the world a better place we owe a huge debt and a place on our memories forever.

iPhone 4S Battery Seems Okay To Me

Bizarre thing battery life, two identical users can have such wildly different experiences with the same device.

Here's my iPhone 4S at the end of a busy day, with 43% battery remaining. Yet some people are struggling to get through a day on a full battery. That's over fifteen and a half hours of standby and five hours of use with both Bluetooth and Wifi left permanently enabled and all notifications enabled.

Not too shabby in my book...

The Drugs Don't Work - Pete Townsend Demonstrates

Pete Townsend has always been a bit of a plonker, now he's going out if his way to demonstrate what years of drug abuse can do to the mind by attacking iTunes in the John Peel lecture he was (bizarrely) asked to give.

What were the ex-Who guitarists beefs? Apparently Apple is a vampire because its doesn't develop new musical talent. As far as I recall Apple buys music from the artists/publishers and sells it on to customers. Like every single record store in history. I don't recall Townsend making the same comments about Woolworths when it was the biggest retailer of music on the high street.

Sorry Pete but responsibility for developing new artists sits with the publishers, otherwise what value do they add to the whole process. Record retailers have never done this.

Townsend also claimed that pirates should come round to his house and steal his children's bikes. Not sure what this has to do with Apple though, seeing as iTunes customers pay for their music, money which gets distributed to the artists and publishers.

"People should treat music like food and pay for it" - Townsend claimed effectively attacking the service which persuaded people to start paying for music that had lost all perceived value; and the customers that use it.

Sorry Pete, your brain is addled, or stuck back in the sixties.

Android Marches On

Figures from Kantar show that Android now owns half the UK smartphone market and HTC owns half the Android market.

It doesn't surprise me to hear that as I see more HTC phones on my travels than just about anything else.

Much of that is down to the strong 'We are HTC' advertising campaign that ran last year when the Desire was launched. The combination of great advertising campaign and a quality phone meant that the Desire sold by the bucketload and as those owners replace their devices they're going back and buying HTC for their next phone.

Samsung are making inroads into the market too - recent sales figures for Q3 show that Samsung shipped more smartphones worldwide than Apple and in the UK they're running HTC a close second. 

It would be interesting to investigate the mix of smartphones sold by Samsung, given that they appear to have an Android device for every pocket. Are users who would traditionally have bought a pay as you go feature phone choosing Samsung's entry-level Android phones instead?

It would certainly explain the rapid growth of both smartphone market and Samsung, nearly 70% of phones sold in the UK last quarter were smartphones...