Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

What are you guys protecting your screens from exactly? Almost all of them are scratch resistant, you're just making your viewing experience worse.
 
Yep, I had one on the N1 for a while, but when it started to peel I just removed it and never went back.
 
I played some GTA IV multiplayer on a MacBook Pro yesterday, I was actually quite impressed both by home much fun GTA still is and by the fact that it played well enough on a MacBook.
 
You mean a new MacBook Pro with Intel integrated graphics, right? Because the previous model with the GTX 320 had no trouble running GTA IV... I just hated using the MBP's keyboard due to non-standard buttons though.

And yeah GTA IV is fun, I still play it once in a while. Of course I am still working my way through TBoGT. :p
 
Shawn said:
What are you guys protecting your screens from exactly? Almost all of them are scratch resistant, you're just making your viewing experience worse.
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Yes, scratch resistant, not scratch proof.

The protector I use, I really couldn't tell any visible difference when I put it on, nor could I feel any. All it is doing is keeping the resale value up.
 
No, it's actually scratch proof if you want to be a pedant. :rolleyes:

Just do a search on YouTube, you will see people taking knives to various modern touchscreen devices with no ill effects whatsoever. Screen protectors are the biggest scam since who knows when... they may have served a purpose in the days of resistive touch screens but not now.
 
Shawn said:
No, it's actually scratch proof if you want to be a pedant. :rolleyes:
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If you want to be a pedant, nothing is scratch proof as long as there is a harder material available to scratch it... I'm sure your screen is not made of diamond, so I'm sure there are plenty of harder materials available.
 
Yeah, because people carry shit harder than keys or pockets knives in their pockets.

Go ahead and waste your fucking $5 or whatever those stupid things cost, see if I give a shit. There's people putting covers on their car seats for years to save a buck on resale value too, so whatever.
 
Sand. It's rough and dry and gets everywhere, and it's harder than a lot of glass out there.
 
After my phone survived my essentially grinding the screen into concrete with all my body weight behind it with nary a scratch on the glass I figure anything that can scratch it deserves to leave its scratch as a battle trophy.
 
narf said:
So... it's scratch-proof as long as it doesn't come in contact with hard shit? Anything is scratch-proof then.
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Please stop being a tool and arguing with me on semantics in every thread.

Yes, as far as 99.9 percent of consumers are concerned, any modern mobile phone has a scratch proof screen, meaning anything you can reasonably throw at it will not leave any kind of mark noticeable to the human eye.

It isn't technically scratch proof because there are some items existing in this universe that can scratch it, like diamonds or other outstandingly rigid materials. But if you possessed the ability to put technicalities aside once in a while you'd be able to admit an iPhone or an Android device is impossible to scratch under most imaginable circumstances.

Labcoatguy mentioned sand... I guess that's something to worry about, but at that point you are just protecting against accidents and not wear and tear or bag/purse items like keys or lighters. If you are protecting against sand then wouldn't it make sense to also protect against theft, misplacement, water damage, or even the screen shattering because you dropped it?
 
Buktu said:
keeping the resale value up.
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How quickly do people flip their phones? I buy phones that are up-to-date at the time, but I keep them for a few years so they're long obsolete when I'm looking for a new one. One of my favorite things about this process is the point after 2-3 years when it's picked up a few scratches and you reach "not giving a fuck" status, because hey, it's already got some scratches by now, what's wrong with keeping it with your keys and getting a few more? :p
 
I'm on my third phone in a year, laying groundwork for a fourth by the end of the year.
 
I'm considering dumping my Vibrant at the year mark for a Sensation 4g.
 
narf said:
If you want to be a pedant, nothing is scratch proof as long as there is a harder material available to scratch it... I'm sure your screen is not made of diamond, so I'm sure there are plenty of harder materials available.
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Why are you so sure? Maybe he's baller status and has a diamond screened phone...
 
Which?
Motorola Atrix: $99
HTC Inspire: $69
HTC Freestyle: $0.01
Samsung Focus: $0.01
Dell Streal Table: $49
Samsung Captivate: $0.01
LG Vu Plus: $0.01
HTC Surround: $0.01
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10: $0.01
Samsung Solstice II: $0.01

My needs are very basic, but it just needs to do what it does well. A nice screen is nice. I like casual games like tetris and old-school arcaded games like Galaga, etc. I'll be syncing up my work email with a lot of pdf and possibly excel documents if that's at all possible. Ability to handle most downloaded tv shows from the bay. Also, I don't even know if this is an issue anymore, but a dedicated headphone jack would be nice. My phone needs an adaptor into the data jack. Lame. A phone that is a sucky phone is also lame.

I'm still using a Sony w810i (yeah, I know) so I don't have anything to compare.
 
Shawn said:
Please stop being a tool and arguing with me on semantics in every thread.
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You're the one wanting to be a pedant.

Yes, as far as 99.9 percent of consumers are concerned, any modern mobile phone has a scratch proof screen, meaning anything you can reasonably throw at it will not leave any kind of mark noticeable to the human eye.

It isn't technically scratch proof because there are some items existing in this universe that can scratch it, like diamonds or other outstandingly rigid materials. But if you possessed the ability to put technicalities aside once in a while you'd be able to admit an iPhone or an Android device is impossible to scratch under most imaginable circumstances.

Labcoatguy mentioned sand...
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Sand gets everywhere, no need to use your phone on the beach for that. Sand is not just a technicality or some exotic material, it's one of the most abundant things in the Earth's crust.
 
chaos386 said:
How quickly do people flip their phones? I buy phones that are up-to-date at the time, but I keep them for a few years so they're long obsolete when I'm looking for a new one. One of my favorite things about this process is the point after 2-3 years when it's picked up a few scratches and you reach "not giving a fuck" status, because hey, it's already got some scratches by now, what's wrong with keeping it with your keys and getting a few more? :p
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Resale prices on iPhones are so high that you can basically upgrade every year and come out with money to spare.

The protectors I'm using on my 4 covers both the front and the back. Nor sure what major differences there are between the glass they use for the front and the back, besides the front having some oleophobic treatment. I know my back scratched before I put my protector on.

I'm not taking any chances, it wasn't a major investment, I can't see it nor feel it, why on earth shouldn't I put it on?
 
NecroJoe said:
Which?
Motorola Atrix: $99
HTC Inspire: $69
HTC Freestyle: $0.01
Samsung Focus: $0.01
Dell Streal Table: $49
Samsung Captivate: $0.01
LG Vu Plus: $0.01
HTC Surround: $0.01
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10: $0.01
Samsung Solstice II: $0.01

My needs are very basic, but it just needs to do what it does well. A nice screen is nice. I like casual games like tetris and old-school arcaded games like Galaga, etc. I'll be syncing up my work email with a lot of pdf and possibly excel documents if that's at all possible. Ability to handle most downloaded tv shows from the bay. Also, I don't even know if this is an issue anymore, but a dedicated headphone jack would be nice. My phone needs an adaptor into the data jack. Lame. A phone that is a sucky phone is also lame.

I'm still using a Sony w810i (yeah, I know) so I don't have anything to compare.
Click to expand...

The Captivate comes with an app for viewing and editing Office files, and has a beautiful screen. It's fairly solid, certainly moreso than the rest of the Galaxy S family, and gets good reception in my experience. The battery life is the best of the three smartphones I've had, with the stock ROM handling my heavy usage for a full day with no problems. It has video out via the headphone jack, but it seems pointless. It looked terrible on my 47"LG. This is to be expected since it's analogue at 480x800. It's so thin and light I had some difficulty handling it without a case, but I have smallish, fumble-prone hands. 16GB internal storage(about 14 available iirc) is nice, negating the need for an SD card for many. I never liked having the power button on the side, across from the volume rocker, but depending on how you hold the phone this may not be an issue for you. The Captivate is a bit more powerful than the Inspire, but I doubt it's enough that you'll notice in your described usage.

The Inspire, like all high end HTC phones, is like holding a magic stone. Slightly heavy, solid as can be, and with a just-slightly-less-than-smooth texture, I find it easy to hold and use despite being wider and a good bit heavier than the Captivate. The SLCD screen is nice and clear, with ok-ish daylight viewing, but falls far short of the SAMOLED of the Captivate on both fronts. I liked the small size increase, but it's not nearly as dramatic as going from 3.7" to 4", I find both sizes to be comfortable, but I miss the SAMOLED any time I use the phone in the car during the day. The reception seems to be a bit worse than the Captivate, maybe a bar less in low-signal areas, meaning 0-1 bar at work instead of 1-2. It has 2GB internal storage, but it seems to be reserved for apps and such. It comes with an 8GB MicroSD card(class 2), but I had to replace it with 16GB in order to be able to have any room after my music. Sense is a thousand times better than TouchWiz, if you plan on staying stock. The Dolby and SRS audio enhancements(only through headphone jack) are nice, and might make your TV viewing more enjoyable.

Overall, I am very happy coming to the Inspire from the Captivate, and plan on staying with HTC and avoiding Samsung because of differences in updates, software quality, and build quality, but both phones have their advantages and are good devices.

I've not had a chance to handle the Atrix, and I like the idea of Tegra and a high resolution screen, but I think it's ugly and locked bootloaders make kittens sad. However, the laptop dock, while expensive, would probably be very nice for your excel work.

I don't really know anything about the others listed, but I'd maybe look at the Surround as well, as I think it has strong internals and WP7 looks nice and keeps getting better with updates.
 
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