The Woz: We've Fallen Behind in Smartphones


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There are things you can do on the iPhone that you can't do on Android, like set location reminders. I can say to Siri "remind me to buy milk when I leave work" and it will do.

Another example is that most music/radio apps can be controlled from the multitasking bar, so I can put the radio on, background that app, go do something else in another app and then control the radio without leaving the app I'm in.

So, again, it all comes down to preference as to what the individual wants, and trying to convince anybody that either OS is better is silly.

Seems to me that you haven't tried Android before. Even Android 1.6 can do exactly the same things. If you want to set location reminders, then you have Tasker. Pretty much every music apps that are out to Android today can be controlled from the notification bar. I currently use PowerAMP that have a nice controller in the notification bar.

Here is a screenshot from that.

2013-02-09-17-10-29.png

So what you are saying is something we have been able to do on Android since Android 1.6.

There are things you can do on the iPhone that you can't do on Android, like set location reminders. I can say to Siri "remind me to buy milk when I leave work" and it will do.

Another example is that most music/radio apps can be controlled from the multitasking bar, so I can put the radio on, background that app, go do something else in another app and then control the radio without leaving the app I'm in.

So, again, it all comes down to preference as to what the individual wants, and trying to convince anybody that either OS is better is silly.

Thats the first use of siri I found that IS actually useful! Tasker can do loops around siri possiblities. Its rediculously complicated but almost too powerful. It can completely reconfigure your phone based on GPS, cell data, wifi networks, time of day, brightness in room at anytime automatically. Like having BT on when you enter your car after work? it can do that. want bluetooth to shut off, silent profile to change and wifi to turn on and connect and complete any updates? No problem. I even seen people disable wifi, turn on bt connect to their headset, start playing an MP3 playlist, turn on GPS and launch MyRun. Once they hit a speed over 5MPH an alarm is set for 40 min to time their run. I have never used a program that is so configurable in my life. Took me like a week to read through how it actually works though. I can't speak to it however.

I also don't know what you mean about backround music. Android plays nearly every music program fine in the background. TuneIn, kConRadio, DoubleTwist, Winamp.. I can be listening to TuneIn while playing Simpsons Tapped Out and hear them both, or just whichever one I want to hear at whatever level is best. This wasn't even possible in windows until Windows 7 released.

Something an iphone can't do is watch a YouTube Video while reading a webpage. Android does that no problem with SuperVideo app. can resize the video while playing and move it around the screen with ease. Actually youtube is a bad example, supervideo no longer support it as the youtube app has to play all youtube content... But how about streaming an MKV file from your local network share/PC? Oh right.. it needs to be iFormat first, then iTuned over, unless you jailbroke and use XBMC, which can't run windowed.. Its stupid stuff like this which makes me not enjoy the iLife. The hardware is more than powerful enough to do it, and developers have more than likley submitted code to do so which got rejected.

But how about streaming an MKV file from your local network share/PC?

air video works flawlessly and is free. I don't like jail breaking and the XBMC, seems too clunky, don't like the feel.

So what you are saying is something we have been able to do on Android since Android 1.6.

how come you use windows in your avatar?
how come you use windows in your avatar?

I use Windows 8 Professinal on my Samsung laptop. Windows 8 is very good, so that's why i use that. On my main computer, i use Windows 7 Home Premium, but i'm gonna update my main computer to Windows 8 soon though.

But why do you ask about this?

I use Windows 8 Professinal on my Samsung laptop. Windows 8 is very good, so that's why i use that. On my main computer, i use Windows 7 Home Premium, but i'm gonna update my main computer to Windows 8 soon though.

But why do you ask about this?

why do you use a locked down OS when you can can choose any number of Linux distos?

why do you use a locked down OS when you can can choose any number of Linux distos?

Because Linux sucks at gaming atm. That's the only reason i use Windows. But if the game companies starts to release more games to Linux, i will for sure switch to Ubuntu.

Because Linux sucks at gaming atm. That's the only reason i use Windows. But if the game companies starts to release more games to Linux, i will for sure switch to Ubuntu.

if you tinker enough, you can get the games to work on linux. Takes some customization to set it up perfectly the way you want, but after a while, you will get it just exactly the way you like it. How come you don't make it work?

if you tinker enough, you can get the games to work on linux. Takes some customization to set it up perfectly the way you want, but after a while, you will get it just exactly the way you like it. How come you don't make it work?

I know i can get it to work in Linux. But the problem is that the main game i'm playing atm that is EVE Online is not supported by Linux in any ways. That means if i want to run EVE Online under Wine in Linux, i have to live with many bugs, witch is something wont when i can play it in Windows with none of those bugs.

EVE Online is supported under Mac OSX though. But what kind of normal person is crazy enough to go from Windows 8 to Mac OSX lol?

if you tinker enough, you can get the games to work on linux. Takes some customization to set it up perfectly the way you want, but after a while, you will get it just exactly the way you like it. How come you don't make it work?

What's with the trolling? Getting games to work properly, especially any Direct 3D game that is remotely modern is very hard on Linux. To a desktop gamer Linux still isn't a great alternative yet. Android is however a completely workable alternative to iOS and I'm pretty sure that's what the OP is talking about. Different strokes for different environments.

You don't like Apple products very much, do you? ;)

Right. But there is many good reasons for it though. Here is some reasons.

1. Apple cares more about the money than they cares about their customers.

2. Apple doesn't innovate. They steal others good ideas and tweaks it their way and then calls it their work.

3. Apple use the term 'Revolutionary and magical' to many places / times witch makes them look really unserious and dumb.

4. Apple takes double / tripple the price for something that have old and outdated hardware over the up-to-date hardware on other brands.

5. Apple is controlling way to much over their users.

6. Apple thinks their users are dumb the way they explain how their users is.

There you have some of the reasons why i don't like Apple.

What's with the trolling? Getting games to work properly, especially any Direct 3D game that is remotely modern is very hard on Linux. To a desktop gamer Linux still isn't a great alternative yet. Android is however a completely workable alternative to iOS and I'm pretty sure that's what the OP is talking about. Different strokes for different environments.

no trolling intended. It was a lead up to exactly what you just said. Sometimes people can only realize things if they are lead to the same scenario. To "you", Android its a completely workable alternative to IOS just as to some people "Linux" is a completely workable to "Windows". Just because you "can" make it work, doesn't mean another person wants to bother trying.I was making the correlation that what works for you, works for you, and what works for others, works for others. I, among others, will never want to "bother" getting Android perfect. We see no need to try (even some of has HAVE tried). We already have something that works perfectly for what we want to do. No reason to make things complicated.

no trolling intended. It was a lead up to exactly what you just said. Sometimes people can only realize things if they are lead to the same scenario. To "you", Android its a completely workable alternative to IOS just as to some people "Linux" is a completely workable to "Windows". Just because you "can" make it work, doesn't mean another person wants to bother trying.I was making the correlation that what works for you, works for you, and what works for others, works for others. I, among others, will never want to "bother" getting Android perfect. We see no need to try (even some of has HAVE tried). We already have something that works perfectly for what we want to do. No reason to make things complicated.

The problem here is that you have to fiddle and tweak a **** ton of things before you can get Linux to be somewhat of a Windows experience. On iOS though, you have to fiddle and tweak a **** ton of things before you can get iOS to get a somewhat like an Android experience.

Why go to Linux when everything is ready there for you in Windows and the same way with iOS and Android. Why go for iOS and jailbreak it when you can just use an Android smartphone where everything is ready in your hand?

So either you are trolling or you simply don't understand Windows and Linux or iOS and Android.

Right. But there is many good reasons for it though. Here is some reasons.

1. Apple cares more about the money than they cares about their customers.

2. Apple doesn't innovate. They steal others good ideas and tweaks it their way and then calls it their work.

3. Apple use the term 'Revolutionary and magical' to many places / times witch makes them look really unserious and dumb.

4. Apple takes double / twice the price for something that have old and outdated hardware over the up-to-date hardware on other brands.

5. Apple is controlling way to much over their users.

6. Apple thinks their users are dumb the way they explain how their users is.

There you have some of the reasons why i don't like Apple.

1. All companies care more about money then customers. If they cared about the customers more then money, they would do it for free for the love of the labor.

2. No company innovates. All ideas are a minor idea built upon another idea, unless you go back to fire and the wheel. Don''t mistake quick growth for innovation.

3. All companies use wording to make the products sound good. If i go buy a Honda CRV, will it really be anything I want it to be? What if I want it to be a tank? Will it turn into a tank?

4. In capitalism, this is the design if the market will allow it. Not sure about what you do for a job, but I 100% guarantee it someone else can do your job for 1/2 your paid. Does this mean you should lower your wage?

5. Control allows a unified experience. Hand an apple user a touch, ipad, or phone, and they know how to use it. Familiarity sells well.

6. Perception based opinion only.

The problem here is that you have to fiddle and tweak a **** ton of things before you can get Linux to be somewhat of a WIndows experience. On iOS though, you have to fiddle and tweak a **** ton of things before you can get iOS to get a somewhat like an Android experience.

Why go to Linux when everything is ready there for you in Windows and the same way with iOS and Android. Why go for iOS and jailbreak it when you can just use an Android smartphone where everything is ready in your hand?

So either you are trolling or you simply don't understand Windows and Linux or iOS and Android.

Why go to Android when everything is ready there for you in IOS? We could go in circles forever. Are you starting to see that it comes down to 100% preference?

Why go Android when the optimization is already done for you in IOS? We could go in circles forever. Are you starting to see that it comes down to 100% preference?

Because as a user I don't equate excessive dumbing down with optimisation. If iOS had the same advanced capabilities as Android I doubt it would operate any faster. I have a single core Samsung Galaxy S, and whilst it's probably not quite as fluid as it would be on a Galaxy S3, Android 4.2 is still very usable on this phone.

no trolling intended. It was a lead up to exactly what you just said. Sometimes people can only realize things if they are lead to the same scenario. To "you", Android its a completely workable alternative to IOS just as to some people "Linux" is a completely workable to "Windows". Just because you "can" make it work, doesn't mean another person wants to bother trying.I was making the correlation that what works for you, works for you, and what works for others, works for others. I, among others, will never want to "bother" getting Android perfect. We see no need to try (even some of has HAVE tried). We already have something that works perfectly for what we want to do. No reason to make things complicated.

They aren't the same scenario at all. Android is perfectly usable out of the box, and everyone I know that owns an Android phone is perfectly happy with it. Android users root their phones and install a custom ROM to get even more control over their experience. That's the difference that people like you don't seem to get, using open source software isn't about having to tweak the s*** out of everything, it's about having the freedom to edit your software as you wish. Of course certain products are going to suit certain scenarios better but that doesn't mean that a product isn't usable. For 80% of the tasks you'd wish to accomplish with Windows or OSX, Linux is just as capable of performing them. Despite my personal love for PC gaming, PC gaming makes up a very small segment of the PC using market. And it's that kind of narrow minded ignorance Apple seem to thrive on. A few flashy animations and overly simplified and dumbed down software does not make Apple products empirically better.

1. All companies care more about money then customers. If they cared about the customers more then money, they would do it for free for the love of the labor.

2. No company innovates. All ideas are a minor idea built upon another idea, unless you go back to fire and the wheel. Don''t mistake quick growth for innovation.

3. All companies use wording to make the products sound good. If i go buy a Honda CRV, will it really be anything I want it to be? What if I want it to be a tank? Will it turn into a tank?

4. In capitalism, this is the design if the market will allow it. Not sure about what you do for a job, but I 100% guarantee it someone else can do your job for 1/2 your paid. Does this mean you should lower your wage?

5. Control allows a unified experience. Hand an apple user a touch, ipad, or phone, and they know how to use it. Familiarity sells well.

6. Perception based opinion only.

1. So you mean Google doesn't cares about their users when they actually are changing Android for the better in each releases?

How much different are the first iOS version to the latest iOS version?

Ahh there you have it. Apple gives a damn about their users and just keep going with the same **** over and over and over and just steals their users money for nothing new pretty much.

2. So Samsung doesn't innovate with their Smart Stay, Direct Call, Smart Alert, S Beam and Pop Up Play functionality witch is actually smart features like a "Smart" phone should have?

3. Please show me how many times Samsung or Sony have used the term 'Revolutionary and magical' in their keynotes or web pages?

4. Still doesn't help. Why pay double or tripple the price for something i can get for cheaper that is actually much much more powerfull that gets your work / job done much much faster?

Someone may ask, why buy a Ferrari for so much money while you can get a pretty damn good Toyota to half (or even lower than that) the price?

The difference here from Ferrari and Apple is that Ferrari costs alot because they actually use super high quality components in their cars (witch use much better components in their cars over what Toyota use) where Apple use old and outdated hardware that is much worser than the components you can get in a computer made by another brand.

5. No, it doesn't. To much control stops you from deciding over your own device witch will restrict you from setting up the device YOUR way. No matter how much you belive in your self, you will never get a better experience on a phone where you can't set it up your way over a phone where you actually can decide you self how to set it up so it will work best for you every day.

A phone that is set up to 'fit for all' will never have a good experience for most of the peoples.

6. So you think Apple takes their users serious when they can say that their users isn't smart enough to change a theme on their phone while they mean their users can use Mac OSX fully out?

You see where this is going right?

Again, to me it seems like you have no clue what so ever about what you are talking about.

Because as a user I don't equate excessive dumbing down with optimisation. If iOS had the same advanced capabilities as Android I doubt it would operate any faster. I have a single core Samsung Galaxy S, and whilst it's probably not quite as fluid as it would be on a Galaxy S3, Android 4.2 is still very usable on this phone.

They aren't the same scenario at all. Android is perfectly usable out of the box, and everyone I know that owns an Android phone is perfectly happy with it. Android users root their phones and install a custom ROM to get even more control over their experience. That's the difference that people like you don't seem to get, using open source software isn't about having to tweak the s*** out of everything, it's about having the freedom to edit your software as you wish. Of course certain products are going to suit certain scenarios better but that doesn't mean that a product isn't usable. For 80% of the tasks you'd wish to accomplish with Windows or OSX, Linux is just as capable of performing them. Despite my personal love for PC gaming, PC gaming makes up a very small segment of the PC using market. And it's that kind of narrow minded ignorance Apple seem to thrive on. A few flashy animations and overly simplified and dumbed down software does not make Apple products empirically better.

As a user, I agree that a few flashy animations and overly complicated and customization software does not make Android products empirically better either, although it gives you more things to play with.

Again, to me it seems like you have no clue what so ever about what you are talking about.

I don't care what you use. I don't even care what I use. What I use could say CRAPBOX on the label and would not change my mind one bit. Unlike for some people, a product is not a church to me. Unlike for some people, a company is not a religion to me. I can choose whatever product suits my needs best. Some of you hold Android brand so close to your heart, its very disturbing.

I don't care what you use. I don't even care what I use. It could say CRAPBOX on the label and would not change my mind one bit. Unlike for some people, a product is not a church to me. Unlike for some people, a company is not a religion to me. I can choose whatever product suits my needs best. Some of you hold Android brand so close to your heart, its very disturbing.

Ahh, good to see that my points against yours are pretty spot on then.

Oh also, just because you choose a product that suits your needs best doesn't means a single thing that the product you choose is any good at all compared to other products of the same type.

As a user, I agree that a few flashy animations and overly complicated and customization software does not make Android products empirically better either, although it gives you more things to play with.

Except I never made that claim. Whether Android is better than iOS is a matter of a user's opinion. However Android does offer more features and options than iOS. That's an empirical fact.

I don't care what you use. I don't even care what I use. What I use could say CRAPBOX on the label and would not change my mind one bit. Unlike for some people, a product is not a church to me. Unlike for some people, a company is not a religion to me. I can choose whatever product suits my needs best. Some of you hold Android brand so close to your heart, its very disturbing.

I own a Windows 7 PC, I browse with Chrome, I download my emails with Outlook, I game with Steam and Origin, I own an Android phone, and I use Neutron MP to listen to my music. Please quit with the tiresome trolling.

Android does offer more features and options than iOS. That's an empirical fact.

And is also fairly irrelevant to most users. Which should be obvious when you replace Android with Linux and iOS with Windows in that sentence of yours

This topic is now closed to further replies.
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BIOS The ZimaBoard 2 includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2, 3], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to a SATA/USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the ZimaBoard 2 can be reached by navigating to the IP address (shown if you have a monitor connected), or you can find it using the ZIMA Client desktop application, which is essentially a Zima device finder. Initializing the ZimaBoard 2 The ZimaOS setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full above, it basically consists of setting up an account and some handy tips, and that's that! Post Setup (ZimaOS update) Upon first boot, you are alerted that there is a ZimaOS update from 1.5.0 to 1.6.1, which I applied; the full process is shown above with the changelog. ZimaBoard 2 Storage Setup Next, it is time to set up the storage. ZimaOS actually throws everything onto the eMMC flash drive; it is also the default location of AppData, which is definitely something to be wary about, as the 45GB available storage could fill up quickly. HDDs I first attempted to create a Storage Pool using the two 4TB WD Red Plus NAS drives, and got an error message: After several attempts and then looking online, I discovered it was a bug with ZimaOS where the fix was simply to reboot ZimaOS and then try again, this time I was able to create a RAID mirror using the two drives. SSDs I did the same for the SSDs, as you will see in the above gallery, when I created the second Storage Pool, it only allowed me to select available drives. ZimaBoard 2 AppData ZimaOS comes with an App Store that includes a repository of almost 400 apps, so you will be able to find most of what you'll need for a NAS (although after a quick search, I wasn't able to find a Surveillance Manager), and now comes the important part: moving the default AppData location off the 45GB eMMC and onto a larger volume: Open Settings Then Apps Then, in the Select a new location field, click on the new Storage volume you want to move it to (in my case, the Apps Storage Pool), which is the SSD RAID mirror. Confirm the Migration warning Be praised! You can also do this for Docker (which by default installs onto the 45GB eMMC flash drive) and the User database. Plex Setup Next, I tested the configuration by installing the Plex Server app from the App Store. The library folders must already exist (which I placed into the Storage Pool). Plex Server setup is straightforward and requires very little configuration. In my case, all I had to do was add the media path I just created, which you can also browse to using the folder icon in the path field. In addition, you can now map the new Media library in Windows Explorer using the Zima Client. Oddly enough, it is not possible to access the ZimaBoard 2 over the Network Neighborhood; you must map drives using the client, which is shown in the last image in the above gallery. I watched one of my Blu-Ray rips, which is Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos, and the content played fine with no stuttering or buffering, which is what anyone needs in this scenario. ZimaBoard 2 Zima Client mobile app There's also a client for mobile. It is pretty barebones, as shown in the above gallery, for example, the Apps screen launches the WebUI for that app, and the Backup must be done manually. On opening Backup, you can select internal storage folders on your phone to backup to the ZimaBoard 2's storage, and although this is constantly scanned, the backup action itself must be manually triggered. There is an option to allow foreground backup (last image in the above gallery), but this basically means the queued backup gets triggered when you manually open the app. Benchmarking SATA PCIe 3.0 X4 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 2.5 GbE was well within acceptable ranges. Writes were generally better on the SSD RAID mirror. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 2.5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 2.5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. Thermals Top PCIe card SATA HDDs Next, I measured some hotspots while playing content on Plex. It's fair to say this will perform better than a NAS that is enclosed in a metal or plastic case, as almost everything storage-wise is exposed! Anyway, the ZimaBoard 2 did not break a sweat with Plex streaming or disk benchmarks. ZimaOS Factory Reset ZimaOS does not include a factory reset option. Instead, you have to download the ZimaOS image and flash it to the eMMC manually. The flashing process is shown in the above gallery. The steps to do so are listed below: Download the ZimaOS image here; Open BalenaEtcher (Run as Administrator) and select the image; Select your inserted USB drive (min 8 GB) Flash to it; Connect your USB drive, monitor, keyboard, USB hub (optional), mouse (optional), and network cable (recommended) to the ZimaBoard 2; Connect power and press F11 continuously; Select your USB drive starting with UEFI in the boot device menu; Press Enter on the Install ZimaOS option; Select /dev/mmcblk0 (MMC) flash drive as target; Confirm with (three times) to wipe the target disk; Wait a couple of minutes while ZimaOS installs; Remove the USB drive and confirm with a reboot; Your ZimaBoard 2 has been factory reset. However, you don't have to stick with ZimaOS, in fact the company also offers official CasaOS images, that are based on Debian; or as they say themselves, put anything you want on this "hackable single board server" it's up to you. Conclusion I had a lot of fun putting this together. I've custom-built all my own PCs and servers since the 90s, and this is the first time I have had to put a NAS together. Even if the actual base ZimaBoard 2 was already a completed build, it still feels pretty custom. I just wish that IceWhale Technology included a getting-started guide in the box for the Start Kit, which would have really completed this kit. Instead, I had to search for the official video on the YouTube channel to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. So who is this for? Definitely the hobbyist who is comfortable building their own PC and servers. It also has a much smaller footprint than its nearest equivalent (in terms of specs), like the Beelink Me Pro, which is another NAS I will be testing soon. Although the Beelink does not come with the PCIe 3.0 X4 expansion, the ZimaBoard 2 Starter Kit suddenly looks to be a great bargain, even if it only offers the two 3.5-inch bays over the four in the other example. It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N150 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the ZimaBoard 2 is intended for, media streaming and backup. It also looks like the IceWhale Technology staff are quite active in the official forums helping people with issues they come across with ZimaOS and the devices, peer support seems to be good as well, I was quickly able to find why I was not able to create a new Storage Pool in ZimaOS v1.6.1 even though that is quite a serious bug, hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. If you are comfortable with the command line and Docker, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. This was my first time with ZimaOS. It seems a bit barebones in comparison to the likes of Synology DSM, TOS, and UGOS, but it has a ton of apps to get you started with your home or small business NAS. Where to buy As of publishing, IceWhale Technology is running a discount of up to 5% for the Starter Kit. If you opt to get just the ZimaBoard 2 itself, it does come with a SATA Y-Cable, so you will be able to connect up to two 3.5-inch HDDs to it. ZimaBoard 2 1668 Starter Kit for $534.50 on Amazon US (was $548.60) ZimaBoard 2 832 Starter Kit for $372.88 on Amazon US (was $390.60) Zimaboard 2 1668 (16GB+64GB) for $419.90 on Amazon US Zimaboard 2 832 (8GB+32GB) for $359.90 on Amazon Disclosure: IceWhale Technology provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Good to know The Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. 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