Android!

[TripleDES]

Possible evidence that many of ICS's theme design choices were lifted from a theme called DarkEdge made by a 15 year old

How is that for a sensationalist headline?   But no really, I'd love some context here. Quinton?

Wow, two minimalist UIs look vaguely the same. There's only so much variance, when you're trying to implement mainly just text on uniformly colored surfaces and using unicolor accents.

[Tannhauser]

I'm getting a new contract and phone from Verizon today.  What phone should I get?  I will probably stay with Android, the iPhone is cool, but the 'walled garden' irks me.

[01101010]

I'm getting a new contract and phone from Verizon today.  What phone should I get?  I will probably stay with Android, the iPhone is cool, but the 'walled garden' irks me.

My personal choice would be the bionic if you can drop that much coin on it.

[Vaiti]

Possible evidence that many of ICS's theme design choices were lifted from a theme called DarkEdge made by a 15 year old

How is that for a sensationalist headline?   But no really, I'd love some context here. Quinton?

Wow, two minimalist UIs look vaguely the same. There's only so much variance, when you're trying to implement mainly just text on uniformly colored surfaces and using unicolor accents.

Nah, that's just dismissive of you to say. There are alot of similarities. The guy made that theme 2 years ago for the Droid. It isn't far fetch or a stretch to think someone in the design department saw it, and was at least inspired by it. Only so much variance? Have you every tried to find/make a good minimalist UI/theme? Thar statement has me thinking no, and if yes, very little time/you're easy to please.

[MahrinSkel]

I'm getting a new contract and phone from Verizon today.  What phone should I get?  I will probably stay with Android, the iPhone is cool, but the 'walled garden' irks me.

Bionic if you can afford it, although the X2 is kind of nice, too (dual core).  Droid 3 if you want a thumb-board.  If you get the Droid X2, you'll want the oversize battery.

--Dave

[Vaiti]

I should add a maybe or two to my above post. I'm not trying to insinuate/accuse here. I was just came across the post and comments and yeah, they do kind of look really close. The scanline and pinstriping. The way the tabs are handled etc;
Coincidence or just a natural progression of modern design aesthetics it could be. Could also be it was inspired by it. I'm just curious what Quinton thinks really here, he having direct ties and connections with the people who would have made these design choices, think he would have the best insight about it.

Really, I'm just curious because "hrmm, that is interesting"

[TripleDES]

Going by that, I can claim Google ripped me off, too, because a bunch of VBB skins I made for FXP boards, back in the day when there weren't torrents, had pin striping and monochromatic line accents on black backgrounds, too.

[Tannhauser]

Thanks guys.  I'm looking at the Bionic and I see that it's not 'global ready' which means it doesn't have a SIM card that is dual CDMA and GSM.  Is this an issue for me if I travel to China and India? 

[Sand]

Thanks guys.  I'm looking at the Bionic and I see that it's not 'global ready' which means it doesn't have a SIM card that is dual CDMA and GSM.  Is this an issue for me if I travel to China and India? 

Yes and no.
If your phone is global ready and you carrier allows international roaming you can take your US GSM phone, fly to India, turn it on and start making phone calls. But the roaming charges will be expensive. For example if I remember correctly phone calls for me while in Russia can run 25 cents per minute.

Generallly the cheaper thing to do is get a phone in country with local carrier and use prepaid similar cards. So not having your US phone be global ready wouldn't be a problem.

[Chimpy]

Thanks guys.  I'm looking at the Bionic and I see that it's not 'global ready' which means it doesn't have a SIM card that is dual CDMA and GSM.  Is this an issue for me if I travel to China and India? 

CDMA does not use a SIM, only GSM (well, iDEN does too but you aren't looking at Nextel) uses one.

If you are buying on Verizon, I am not sure if they even sell a "world phone". The only one I know of on a CDMA carrier at this point is the Motorola Photon which is on Sprint.

[schild]

Possible evidence that many of ICS's theme design choices were lifted from a theme called DarkEdge made by a 15 year old

How is that for a sensationalist headline?   But no really, I'd love some context here. Quinton?

edit: p.s. Quinton, if this is looking valid, you should totally get in touch with this kid and hire him. He is 17 now and is also making SentioUI

Naming convention is shit, and no one should really give a shit if they lifted something from a theme.

But Sentio is better looking than anything coming out of Google right now and probably a million times less usable.

[Sand]

Thanks guys.  I'm looking at the Bionic and I see that it's not 'global ready' which means it doesn't have a SIM card that is dual CDMA and GSM.  Is this an issue for me if I travel to China and India? 

CDMA does not use a SIM, only GSM (well, iDEN does too but you aren't looking at Nextel) uses one.

If you are buying on Verizon, I am not sure if they even sell a "world phone". The only one I know of on a CDMA carrier at this point is the Motorola Photon which is on Sprint.

The only two world phone carriers I know of with overseas carrier agreements in place are AT&T and T-Mobile. And last I checked you had to have a year of history with AT&T before they would activate it and pay a deposit. But its been awhile since Ive looked.

[01101010]

Thanks guys.  I'm looking at the Bionic and I see that it's not 'global ready' which means it doesn't have a SIM card that is dual CDMA and GSM.  Is this an issue for me if I travel to China and India? 

CDMA does not use a SIM, only GSM (well, iDEN does too but you aren't looking at Nextel) uses one.

If you are buying on Verizon, I am not sure if they even sell a "world phone". The only one I know of on a CDMA carrier at this point is the Motorola Photon which is on Sprint.

Verizon sells a few global phones. My INC 2 is global ready with a SIM. Just hit up the site and flag global ready as a features. Given that condition... Droid 3 is a nice dual core. The LTE phones I don't think are globals.

[Chimpy]

Does Verizon sell them with an unlocked GSM radio or do you have to buy a Verizon world-roaming SIM and get assraped on charges?

[01101010]

Does Verizon sell them with an unlocked GSM radio or do you have to buy a Verizon world-roaming SIM and get assraped on charges?

They come with the SIM installed. No clue on the charges as I am too poor to cross an ocean.

[Ingmar]

The kid doesn't have a PhD, he can't work at Google. 

[Quinton]

The kid doesn't have a PhD, he can't work at Google. 

Contrary to popular belief, one can get a job at Google without even a B.S., much less a PhD.   Perhaps a little harder, but not impossible.

[rattran]

A Degree in BS helps in getting a job anywhere.

[Tannhauser]

I've seen a couple of questions on the Google entrance exam.  Let's just say I didn't want to work there anyway. 

[Yegolev]

Challenge accepted. ;-)

[Surlyboi]

FWIW, I turned down a job offer from the Googs, and I've got a BA in English, so hey...

[Quinton]

I never finished my CompE degree, but I also came in through an acquisition which is a slightly different path (though I still did get thrown through the interview process along the way).  One of my coworkers failed out of both high school and college, and he's one of the best engineers I've worked with.  So, like most silicon valley companies, being good at what you do is often an acceptable substitute for assorted degrees. 

The interview process is not exactly as insane as it's sometime portrayed.  My main gripe with it is that it's often just not fast.  When we're competing with nimble little startups for hiring, and the startups can turn around an offer in 24-hours (or less -- I've had two jobs where I got a call within 2 hours of interviewing with a verbal offer, and it's not unheard of for folks to get offers on the spot), it's annoying if the process can take a couple weeks.

[Yegolev]

Two weeks is lightning fast compared to some corporations.

[Xuri]

Posting this in Android-thread since I have slide-to-unlock on my Android-phone :P

Apple patent for "Slide to Unlock" feature

Someone should set fire to the US patent office already. (PS! I meant that as a joke. Sort of. Maybe. Not really. Do it!)

[Vaiti]

Easy solution here is for Google to file for a patent for "press button to power off mobile device". 

[KallDrexx]

To be fair it was filed in 2005

Nevermind, read it wrong, it was filed in 2009

[TripleDES]

First UK retailer already announcing a delay with the Galaxy Nexus. Despite Samsung pushing out a press release TODAY, continuing to harp on the 17th.  

Fuck you, Google. Next time do the sensible thing and do your goddamn presentation when you're sure that you can deliver. Like with the Nexus One.

[Yegolev]

God damn Google, I have a VZW coupon that expires on Nov 30.  Release that shit in Nov please.  Also, by "in Nov" I do not mean in that nebulous non-realm after Thanksgiving weekend and before Dec 1.

[Quinton]

Posting this in Android-thread since I have slide-to-unlock on my Android-phone :P

Apple patent for "Slide to Unlock" feature

Someone should set fire to the US patent office already. (PS! I meant that as a joke. Sort of. Maybe. Not really. Do it!)

Some wag stuck a post-it with "Slide to Unlock" written on it next to the latch in one of the stalls in the men's room in B44 recently.

Gotta love the US patent system...

[Amarr HM]

The slide to unlock on my HTC Desire unlocks itself in my backpocket the odd time, which can lead to phantom phonecalls. Hopefully this could lead to something like a user defined gesture unlock system.

[Chimpy]

The slide to unlock on my HTC Desire unlocks itself in my backpocket the odd time, which can lead to phantom phonecalls. Hopefully this could lead to something like a user defined gesture unlock system.

Doesn't the Sense UI already have the pattern unlock thing already?

[Amarr HM]

Not that I'm aware of? Googled it to find out more and stumbled on a blogger who shares my sentiments on the matter.

[Chimpy]

Hmm. A friend of mine had an HTC android phone that had a 9 dot grid pattern unlock on it. Maybe it was an addon app, I thought it was built in.

[TripleDES]

A friend of mine has a HTC phone with Sense. Pattern unlock's available on it. On the other hand, he flashed a custom ROM.

[eldaec]

I personally have an HTC Desire locked using pattern lock. It runs out of the box Sense and has always had pattern lock.