Andy Rubin's "Essential" phone.

Post #418,372 by Another Scott 5/30/17 8:34:56 AM 5/30/17 8:34:56 AM Reply	Andy Rubin's "Essential" phone. https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/30/15711170/essential-phone-announcement-price-android-andy-rubin Looks interesting, but he's got a tough road ahead... Cheers, Scott.
Post #418,373 by mmoffitt 5/30/17 10:20:28 AM 5/30/17 10:20:28 AM Reply	My company test phone is an iPhone SE. Of course, I'm only using it for MDM testing stuff related to an initial roll-out, but I actually like that little phone. The latest iOS builds, proper size for a stupid phone and with MDM policies and configurations, stripped of all extraneous crap. At least, for now that is. I could see myself liking to carry around that little device instead of one of the notebook computers euphemistically called "phones" these days. ;0) Call me a Luddite. I don't mind. I don't like gadgets and never have. My first preference would be to not have a "phone" at all and instead see phone booths make a huge comeback along with 35mm film. I've never seen a digital representation of a photograph I thought came close to an actual photograph. And just as having access to electronic files containing the complete works of Mark Twain, it's just not the same as having his hand written manuscripts. bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #418,374 by Another Scott 5/30/17 11:31:32 AM 5/30/17 11:31:32 AM Reply	Yeah, digital images are pretty crappy... NASA - ;-) Cheers, Scott. (Who likes the idea of handheld computers, but wishes they would stabilize a little so they aren't obsolete in 2 years.)
Post #418,377 by mmoffitt 5/30/17 12:03:56 PM 5/30/17 12:03:56 PM Reply	Re: aren't obsolete in 2 years. Never happen in a capitalist society. ;0) bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #418,378 by mmoffitt 5/30/17 12:09:15 PM 5/30/17 12:09:15 PM Reply	That was a comparison. This is nice. But the seeing the actual photograph would be far better. bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #418,380 by pwhysall 5/30/17 12:17:44 PM 5/30/17 12:17:44 PM Reply	Would it? Why? If you read Ansel's books, you'll know that he was a master in the darkroom. He was a master in the darkroom because the process of printing from the glass negatives required dealing with precisely one million different kinds of annoying bullshit, due to limitations in film and chemistry. He had to become great at dodging and burning and farting about with chemicals, because if he didn't, his prints would be ass. I have seen this picture - The Tetons and The Snake River - many times, and I have spent a long time considering it. What makes it great? The composition. The use of light. The sense of distance and scale. The encapsulation of the character of a wilderness that is both beautiful and savagely ready to kill you. There's an artisanal, craftsmanlike element, too: the work done to ensure that the detail in the river is preserved as well as the bright bit in the middle, the masterful use of the zone system to establish the correct exposure, etc. yadda and so on. But that's like getting interested in the brushes that Leonardo used to paint the Mona Lisa.
Post #418,381 by Another Scott 5/30/17 1:54:11 PM 5/30/17 1:54:11 PM Reply	Wegman. WegmanWorld: I am often asked if I miss working with the big camera. No. I like working with the digital Hasselblad with the huge files, and the fact that all the lighting, equipment, printers and computers are here in my studio. I don't have to deal with lugging this beast around the woods of Maine or trekking to Soho with the dogs every time I want to use it. I do miss working with John Reuter and other tech assistants I got to know and love at the 20 x 24 studio. And I miss seeing the curve in the lives of each dog under the scrutiny of one lens. The most hauntingly sweet and surprisingly poignant aspect of looking through these boxes of polaroids is seeing, because I am searching through the photos in reverse, my dogs Penny, Bobbin, Chip, Chundo, Batty, Crooky and Fay, all growing younger and younger. If one can't get the shot, it really doesn't matter how "beautiful" the equipment and technique are. Cheers, Scott.
Post #418,386 by Ashton 5/30/17 6:24:09 PM 5/30/17 6:24:09 PM Reply	Nope.. 'Art' doesn't 'work' that way, methinks THAT (displayed pic) seen in front of face: is the result not merely of having anticipated.. Seen!... and 'SHOT' aka pressed shutter release. It only began there, and while the fiddly-bits of Ansel's day consumed aeons of (a lifetime) and new techno RAW etc. gives easier access to unprecedented Power to influence the final viewable result: The 'dodging' and other aspects of Ansel's decisions: were about demonstrating much-More of "what was There if you had Eyes + a brain making infinite auto-corrections." He was striving for bringing as much of that mind's-eye experience to paper as all his talents could manage. That's Art, based upon n-skills and a fine mind. And the medium IS the 'message': you haven't experienced Ansel without seeing His Print (in suitable lighting also, etc.) IMhO, Nothing that 'meets-the-eye' in some moment IS ever simply-transmissible. And I am unanimous in that ;^>
Post #418,376 by pwhysall 5/30/17 11:57:13 AM 5/30/17 11:57:13 AM Reply	What pish. One reason (there are others, obv) we don't read Mark Twain's writing in the original pen'n'ink is because he had absolutely piss-awful handwriting:
Post #418,379 by mmoffitt 5/30/17 12:11:29 PM 5/30/17 12:11:29 PM Reply	And while one is extremely valuable and the other near worthless is addressed in that very letter. bcnu, Mikem It's mourning in America again.
Post #418,383 by Ashton 5/30/17 5:43:55 PM 5/30/17 5:43:55 PM Reply	GMTA.. had one of those while 'deciding' which? to try-to-Abide My take (then, and perhaps now--whatever Else is next: an infinite series.. ...) IF.. what one wanted were: a fucking-PHONE mainly, say 80.13% of the time? THEN.. this little gem ought to win over anyone who wants the gadget to disappear within her collection of techno-crap which she usually stuffs into her clothes/somewhere!.. every day. I need not be conversant with ALL the details, in order to instantly comprehend that: the SE is pretty much the marvel-est of the panoply of gadgetry: if all you NEED is a bloody portable PHONE. Simply, it feels just-RIHGT. (The (claimed) advanced-camera factoids == supposedly sl. superior to the i6S) would imply that, should you encounter a situation where some nut-job was in view-- In flagrante delicto--you might not See, in the bitchin-but-tiny screen all the red splotches on the pavement: BUT the tiny device would damn near fill the front page of NYT ... with as much detail as, say a reporter's 1939 4 x 5" Graflex Speed Graphic. I went with the boat-anchor 6S+ (aluminum instead of magnesium alloy because--Oh DEAR!! it might bend=crack too ... if you put it in a vise and whapped it --because I wanted to be pretty sure, should I decide that: I Don't Need?/Want-to-be tethered to any magic-box, Thankyouverymuch: without having seen, at my own snails' pace.. a fair sample of the Blings and evaluated whether any of it is REALLY 'intuitive' ... once one has sat through the HOUR+ Youtube of choice.. [also Screw the tiny-stylus/ascii map, a thing of perdition. I'll dictate if it comes to 'needing' {ugghh} text.] This is proving a difficult assessment since I, unlike most once-here: simply only rarely Wish I had a phone right with me NOW. And I consider that mind-set an asset as ... ... Life IS too SHORT ..for cramming the little grey cells with n+20 new algorithms Every Fucking Day, y'Know? Carrion.
Post #418,375 by pwhysall 5/30/17 11:50:35 AM 5/30/17 12:10:08 PM Reply	Curious It's a nice-looking handset. The screen is going to lead to manufacturing headaches a-plenty, and few Android apps (or more likely, none) will take account of that stupid FFC placement. But make no mistake - this phone is not competing with the iPhone or Galaxy S. It's competing with the Google Pixel, and sales of that product line don't keep anyone at Apple or Samsung awake at night. (Apple and Samsung both differentiate on industrial design and software. Samsung's software (which is basically a hedge against Google using Android (via Play Services) as a weapon in the handset market) delivers a lot of additional functionality vs stock and lays the foundation for a world where you don't need to be signed into Google for your phone to work. And (whisper it) it's actually pretty good. Stock Android just means you're giving away a differentiator. ETA: Google was well chuffed with shipping (not selling) a million Pixels in a quarter. Samsung sold five million S8s in a month (shipping ten million), and probably many multiples of that number across their gazillion different handset SKUs. And what's with all this "drop test" bullshit? The internet gets very excited about it. What happened to "you've got a £700 device made mostly of glass at least on one side, how about you take care of it and if you can't trust yourself, put a suitable case on it?" Not a significant differentiator, IMO. The iPhone 4 had a glass back, when Gorilla Glass wasn't as good as it is now, and that didn't hurt sales one iota. Sure, you could spot the hamfisted twat in the room by their shattered phone, but whev. So it's a cool phone, that looks really nice, with an interesting screen/FFC that's going to be a pain in the arse, a camera system that promises revolutionary things but will almost certainly just take pictures that are perfectly acceptable just like pretty much every other phone camera out there, and an interesting magnetic accessory system that'll have about five things made for it ever. And no headphone jack socket. Edited by pwhysall May 30, 2017, 12:10:08 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #418,385 by Ashton 5/30/17 6:02:12 PM 5/30/17 6:02:12 PM Reply	Always appreciate your Reviews, Peter No deadwood (mea maxima culpa..) and distills much more lore into manageable bits than I have the patience to sleuth the hard way. My SE review above comes from a teahno-savvy-enough One who intends to spare the little grey cells the mere adsorption of the Techno-sometimes-Monster du every jour. Science WAS 'fun' when I worshipped at her Altar, blessedly relieved of having any Products-thus-Lies to daily pretend ... "to be Interested-in-hawking." [Thanks! 'higher-forces' for that Pearl of Great Price.] For others of my ilk, especially those trained by experience to recognize truly bitchin combinations of techno-savvy plus the intangible qualities of--say a Vacheron et Constantin pocket minute repeater or Vincent cycle--I suspect that these others would second my notion, in a trice: A Great Phone. Period. ;^>

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