AMD joins MeeGo
AMD joins MeeGo
Posted Nov 15, 2010 20:31 UTC (Mon) by jmm82 (guest, #59425)In reply to: AMD joins MeeGo by martinfick
Parent article: AMD joins MeeGo
Overall, I like your post.
I disagree with the 4 hours of battery life. I believe most people want minimum of 10 hours so the device can stay on a full day without change. Also, you left off boot time. I think the device needs under 10 second boot time because this is the type of device you use to quickly look something up. A usb port for a 3G/4G modem would be nice, also. One reoccurring issue I see with a Linux tablet will be lack of drm. I do not know how MeeGo fits in on this topic?
Right now Apple owns the tablet market and has the only tablet that "just works" for the average non-geek. Sadly, they are closed and narrow minded in their computing philosophy and are overpriced. The one thing they got right was no flash, so that is helping convert the internet away from flash, but some sites just make a custom app instead.
We all dream of the day when all you need is a Linux kernel and a browser, sans flash. MeeGo looks promising. The more hardware vendors supporting the project the better, but at the end of the day we need support of content providers and software companies. Most people want apps like Hulu, Netflix, and Skype. They do not care about what license it is released under, as long as it works. It is mostly developers and technical business people who even look at licenses. Look at Android, most people do not know or care it runs Linux, rather they care that it works.
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John
Posted Nov 15, 2010 21:08 UTC (Mon)
by martinfick (subscriber, #4455)
[Link]
I agree that 10 hours would be great, but it is not essential for ubiquity of the cheap device. Certainly, there will also be higher end devices in this market: 10 hour batteries, ipads, galaxy pads... but the low end devices are what are going to penetrate further. Granted the low end devices will go almost unnoticed in the media since they are cheap. Who wants to write about them (no low end seller will pay for the requisite adds)?
As for boot time, I would agree with you if you really mean instant access. But, for a device lying around the house plugged in or cradled on a coffee table when not in use, it simply needs to come out of sleep mode quickly, not boot quickly (just as my android phone currently does).
As for DRM, it is a feature for producers, not consumers. Only a limited amount of consumers will pay more for a device which does less, not surprisingly, the same consumers willing to pay a lot for content, that is what built in hardware DRM requires. But most users like free or reasonably priced; software solutions will work for them. The reasonably priced content delivery (Hulu...) will come to all devices that way eventually (it benefits the content providers), either with a few niche apps, or more likely simply via the browser (flash is the cheap effective "enough" DRM enabler).
As for usability of tablets, apple hasn't done anything remarkable. The day I brought home a "tablet pathetic" (android 1.6) tablet, my 4 year old son was able to watch Thomas videos on youtube almost entirely unassisted. He wanted a bit of help finding the search field and then yanked that tablet out of my hand and said "I do it", he understood the routine.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 2:30 UTC (Tue)
by martinfick (subscriber, #4455)
[Link] (5 responses)
You would think that, but today that is useless on a cheap tablet. No one wants to pay for a second plan, tethering makes more sense (even if you have to pay for it). Once the carriers figure out that: hey, people want 3+devices each (it will take them a long time to figure this out), it will take them another 5 years to figure out how to deal with this situation (the networks aren't setup to deal with this). No, people will go around the carriers instead of waiting. All the devices will simply tether of the single plan phone. Remember, these are cheap deivces, not expensive corporate laptops which can afford their own individual data plans (and thus dongles).
Most already do have USB and support 3G. I just don't think it is required for ubiquity.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 11:38 UTC (Tue)
by khim (subscriber, #9252)
[Link] (2 responses)
This is only true for some stuck-up markets (like US). Take a look here. Yota day: 90RUR/24h (about $3 for a single day - and yes, you can use it for a day then stop). You only need to rent Yota Egg - and off you go. Often you can borrow said egg from your friend if you'll ask nicely... It makes no sense to offer permanent 3G/4G for cheap devices: it can easily double or triple their price right now. But few years down the road? It's different story. I think in the next 5 years we'll see support for such activity even in US, but no, not today.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 18:01 UTC (Tue)
by jmm82 (guest, #59425)
[Link] (1 responses)
No contract and you can buy a contract in 10 days 100 megs of data in 10 days intervals.
MertoPCS has similar plans.
All I was saying is having the option for a 3G/4G connection that can be shared with other devices is going to be important. It could be over usb or bluetooth.
One issue with tethering over a phone is:
I work with cellular for a living. Right now the carriers are trying to figure out how to balance the cost of running their networks and price it accordingly to meet the vast bandwidth needs of customers.
Back in the day(2006) you could buy a monthly plan from most the U.S. carriers and get unlimited data for a monthly fee($60). I have set up systems that were streaming 5 gigs of data a day. This can take down a whole tower. The carriers realized this and put limits to protect their networks. The carriers would just over subscribe the networks with unlimited plans and the system would go to sh@t. Now they realize there needs to be a better system.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 18:34 UTC (Tue)
by martinfick (subscriber, #4455)
[Link]
I was focusing on the fact that I believe that it is not necessary to have 3G built into the devices themselves for ubiquity. But having the ability to add a dongle is certainly useful (and perhaps required). In fact, it is likely now much more useful then built in 3G since it is easier to transfer a dongle from one device to another than it is to transfer a SIM card.
No doubt that tethering is not perfect, but for many uses it beats and is more flexible than a second data plan. It inherently serializes all of your devices through one point (which you seem to agree is important). Don't forget that tethering can also be done through USB, saving the energy of wifi usage all while charging the phone. In this way, it would turn your phone into the USB dongle. :) Not to mention that any current inconvenience of tethering (phone calls) is something that could be easily overcome if tethering were seen as a "good thing" by all parties.
Another one of your points is good: carriers in the US do have oversell issues, and they seem to currently hate tethering for this reason. However, once they realize that people will need access with more than one device and that most will be unwilling to pay for a plan per device, tethering will become the simplest solution due to its built in serialization. Without tethering, in order to offer a multi device per person plan (which I am claiming is paramount in the very near future due to multi tablet per user ubiquity), the carriers will need to implement a physical or network level serialization solution across devices. This is not likely easy and I suspect would take at least a decade to implement. Instead, I predict that the carriers will wake up to the realities (and simple benefits to them) of tethering (although, perhaps a bit late in the game). They will have to charge a bit more per plan and increase their network capacities and take advantage of the builtin serialization in tethering.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 15:33 UTC (Tue)
by Los__D (guest, #15263)
[Link] (1 responses)
Dataplans (Hi3G in Denmark) are $14 (500 MB) to $40 (flatrate), 16 Mb/s if your device can handle it.
Posted Nov 16, 2010 16:44 UTC (Tue)
by martinfick (subscriber, #4455)
[Link]
Posted Nov 19, 2010 19:46 UTC (Fri)
by daniel (guest, #3181)
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Posted Nov 19, 2010 20:23 UTC (Fri)
by Trelane (subscriber, #56877)
[Link]
If all you need is a browser and a kernel, why do you need the kernel? (this was the question that got Netscape stomped)
AMD joins MeeGo
AMD joins MeeGo
Why do you think it's useless?
Once the carriers figure out that: hey, people want 3+devices each (it will take them a long time to figure this out), it will take them another 5 years to figure out how to deal with this situation (the networks aren't setup to deal with this).
Why do you think it's useless?
1. it uses a lot of phone battery
2. It is annoying if you actually want to use your phone.
Why do you think it's useless?
AMD joins MeeGo
AMD joins MeeGo
We all dream of the day when all you need is a Linux kernel and a browser.AMD joins MeeGo
Speak for yourself please. I for one consider a browser to be a highly inappropriate interface for many of the tasks I wish a computer to perform for me.
AMD joins MeeGo