Phones ..... changing big time in 2016

Google Fi  -- Google innovates by having multiple carriers (Sprint and T-Mobile) both lit at the same time by the same phone with the phone intelligently trading off between wifi and the two phone carriers as needed -- at a much reduced price to the end user.   Google Fi comes to all the new Nexus phones that just came out and to certain select phones from other makers that are joining the Google Fi idea in this upcoming year.

Apple is picking up on the trick with Apple becoming, like Google, a wireless carrier who will conglomerate existing major carriers.   Apple will charge you a lot more for their wireless service though, while Google is doing it as a break even while trying to show the industry how phone makers can LOWER the end users cost for phone service while making it all work faster and better.    

Google uses Qualcomm chipsets (middle to upper grade) while Apple designs their own phone chip for maximum performance.

Republic Wireless continues to pilot all the progress of this type, but using Qualcomm's least costly chipsets and with wifi, Sprint and AT&T for your roaming coverage.   Republic Wireless costs half of what Google Fi costs and the phones cost $129 for a Moto E and $299 for a Moto X.

Use of wifi as your primary connection type will become more prevalent in 2016 as many phone makers are utilizing the capability to do this that is built into all current Qualcomm and Mediatek chipsets now.

All carriers except AT&T have already geeked some and lowered their plan pricing at this point in time.  As Google tightens the screws with Google Fi and the old school main carriers lose more and more customers to Apple and Google they will all have to get with the plan or see their customer pool evaporate.

Processor sales

Apple has the largest single block of processor sales which matches their iPhone and iPad sales.

Samsung builds most of them, but not all of them.   TSMC shares in that glory as well.

TSMC produces the vast majority of standard ARM chipsets.   However this lead is eroding as Mediatek and the other hockey stick boys are cutting into TSMC sales quite a bit of late.   Global Foundry is in there as well, as part of the IBM/Samsung/Global Foundry Consortium.

Then number-wise comes Intel, but only in the aggregate of everything they produce.   Intel sales are giving up some of what the hockey stick guys are growing on, but since that rising tide is lifting all the boats at the same time, this really isn't so noticeable until the tide stops rising.  

That is when folks will notice Intel sitting low in the water compared to the rest.

Microsoft is FIRST in this new Phone/PC effort, as apart from three (3) Oriental organic Android vendors Google has not replied yet.   Nor has Apple.

Intel feels the PC market declining most acutely (6-10% year on year on year) as what they picked up in tablet sales was all low margin stuff and you need 10 tablet chipsets to make up the profit margin from one PC processor (assuming you sell the tablet chipset at a profit, and with Intel this is not always true as they are still price supporting tablet chipsets).

Mediatek is shooting at Qualcomm with their big new 10 core chipsets, but the shots that miss Qualcomm seem to be hitting the legs of the Intel giant standing off to the side behind Qualcomm.  

Intel is worried because they see their tablet sales losing all form of viability within the next 2 years as ARM chipsets are getting just that much better at a much much lower price.  

And they are rightly concerned as both Google and Microsoft are intending to be "processor agnostic" going forward into the future and the newest most powerful ARM chipsets rank right up in the mass of Intel laptop processor units as far as processing power and graphics go --- and the ARM stuff is much much cheaper.

Both Qualcomm and Mediatek are making Intel sweat right now, as is the new Apple A10 and A10x chipset that is under pilot lot production right now.

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/14/apple-a-series-chips-mac/



Apple is the only one still left that only uses Intel chipsets for laptop/desktop units any more -- and that situation may change at any time as Apple has been working on an ARM chipset for their low end laptops for quite a while now.    A10x is out there, and it is acknowledged by Apple at their last show and tell as a laptop capable chipset.

Tablet and Chromebook space are Intel's main ARM battleground fronts, but as the new Nvidia Tegra K1 crew, the Rockchip RK3288/RK3388 and all of the new Mediatek Helio 10 layered cortex A72 cores burst into laptop space this upcoming year -- in 2016 Intel may find all of laptop land joining into the churned earth of the ARM battle zone.

Further confusing Intel's market mayhem is the phone/PC, of which we now have two examples being produced and shipped --by Microsoft of all people, with both using Qualcomm chipsets at this point in time.    We currently have 3 organic Android units doing the same sort of thing off of ARM based tablets and phones.  

THESE ARE ARM CHIPSETS THAT ARE KEEPING INTEL OUT OF AN ENTIRE BRAND NEW MARKET SEGMENT.   Intel must fire back ASAP, and that return fire is expected to come from the ASUS Zenphone group.



   .... change, she comes .....    


TSMC just made the news by providing Apple with testing samples of their 10nm production process, thus entering the A10X sweepstakes as a last minute dark horse entry.    

Since all 3 of the large ARM makers, Samsung Global and TSMC all have 10mm processes ready right now and Intel does not, life just got a little more interesting for Intel next year.



...... Intel should skip 10nm and drive directly for a 7nm non-silicone process -- they have lost out already on the 10nm generation and need to save some face at this point in time .....     If they try with everything they've got mebbe they can compete again at 7nm if the ARM guys haven't gotten there (again) a whole year before Intel does.
     
REMINDER, the IBM, Samsung, Global Foundry Consortium already have a 7nm non-silicone process that was developed and patented by IBM 3-4 months ago.  ASML Holdings is building a pilot production line for the Consortium (with Apple possibly footing the bill as it will be their dedicated line for 2018 when it is finally working right).

Speed to the 7nm market is Intel's only possible hope now and they are starting out 3 months behind IBM/Samsung/Global/Apple at this point in time.

Intel had better get on the stick as Apple will want that 7nm chipset as a A11x follow on for the year after next (2018) production year.    

Apple has ways of making things happen quicker than you would think it possibly could, but with them owning 33% of ARM Holdings may just have a little something to do with that, don't you think?

 
HA !!!    Old_Rider gets to tell me "I told you so".

I just used GParted live to re-do part of my hard disk back to a NTFS format on ~80 gigs~ of my hard drive space, and I went and loaded Win 7 legally and just one program, STEAM Live.

I now have a 100% registered legal Windows gaming partition that only exists when I am gaming a Windows Only game.   I load them from Steam into the 80 gigs of hard drive space and then I play them some, then reboot back to Linux Mint automatically when I get done.  

Linux Mint 17.2 Mate is where I stay all the rest of the time.



This is a challenge to Win 10 to automatically go find me and corrupt me with nasty ol' Win 10.    

Plus, both my machine and my Win 7 are 100% Dell commercial, so Win 10 just may not come calling on me in the middle of the night in an uncontrolled fashion for fear of pissing off "Big Business".

    ..... Plus,  as a moving target that is there, then not there and there and then not there, lets see if they can find me at all.

       

Windows 7 is an update hairball as it keeps asking for .net framework 4.0 but the current versions are far far in advance of that.

To get my video card installation and control software to run I finally had to get .net framework 4.6 from FileHippo along with their "no hassle installer" so as to get past all the conflicts created by me just raw dumping in an old random version of Win 7 Dell 64 bit Home Premium software into the big Dell box.  

There is a progression to Windows that I have broken by what I did -- but I was finally able to get my good video card drivers up and working and lo and behold the young small breasted teenage Laura Croft is up and kicking on my big old Dell box jest dandy.  

She's just too sweet and cute to kill anybody, don't cha ya know?

$4.99 on Steam Midweek Madness .... gotta love that 85% off too.

It's funny, Steam won't use or even touch MS Explorer but spot loads a copy of the blue themed open source Chromium Browser to do whatever it has to do for background work since crappy old MS Explorer has so many many bugs and limitations and it drops downloads, etc fairly frequently.

And yes, I downloaded the Real Google Chrome so I could have at least one modern tool to work with while struggling with the Windows Gaming Partition from Hell.

I actually asked MS Windows Update for an update stream on my various MS softwares, to see if they can move me from where I am (as installed) to where I need to be so this dog will hunt good again.

So far it just blinks at me and does nothing useful ......   but that is OK, I have already refused two automated tries to get me to go to Win 10 already so mebbe it consulted the ultimate hater list and found me on it, second line from the top, and it is ignoring me now.

I gotta like Google Chrome though -- it asked me for my login info and BAMMO !!! I had my full Chrome set up right there on the screen with all preferences, toolbars, favorites, add-ons, etc. all complete with a click link to on-line Google Photos that has all my Mountain trip shots in it.   I take a new shot with my phone and the pic is there in seconds ....

Gotta love that Google .....  it doesn't care where you are, all your stuff is available to you right now.




So, I'm back on Linux again and once more I will tell you with feeling that Linux Mint is the good stuff.    It works flawlessly good, it runs lickety split fast ..... and it bothers you not a whit while it goes about doing it.  

Windows is ALWAYS asking you for something .....  it is a pain in the ass because when you go get what it wanted then it doesn't like the version of it AND then something else that touches that gets indigestion too.

Linux Mint comes on a DVD with ALL the touching softwares right there, with all of them the correct versions AND correctly configured to boot.  

It Just Works ....

Continuum lands on Lumia Phones -- the PC/Phone is real, starting next month.

http://liliputing.com/2015/10/microsoft-introduces-lumia-950-and-950-xl.html

"Continuum for phone might not let you run classic Win32 apps on your smartphone, but the new Universal Windows App platform allows many apps to run across both phones and desktops. Out of the box, these phones will support Microsoft Office, the Edge web browser, and Outlook apps, all of which look like desktop apps when you connect an external display.

How do you do that? The Microsoft Display Dock is an accessory that connects to the USB Type-C port on your phone and has 3 USB ports, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections that let you hook up a display, keyboard, and mouse.



When your phone is connected, the Start Screen shows up on your external display as a Start Menu. There’s a taskbar, and support for running Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and other apps. They’re the same apps that you use on your phone, but they take advantage of the extra screen real estate.

Need to take a call or do something else on your phone? You can use it independently while the desktop experience continues to work on your external display."

And, after spending all that time waiting on Win 7 to download all its serial updates and laboriously unpack and install them, I restarted the machine to go back to Linux, and it stopped me cold dead for another 2 1/2 hours to "Stage 1 of 5, Reconfigure Updates" before allowing me to do a simple restart.

Coming from Linux, I find the maintenance "maggot level" in Windows to to have gotten to be simply astronomical.

Does no one else see that Windows has gotten completely out of control, in taking up WAY WAY to much of your time and your effort because it is simply so poorly structured and so poorly written?

And for those that have gone to Win 10, how do you like how Win 10 now spends your money (your bandwidth) to fumble around in this clumsy fashion on the internet every night?

Microsoft deserves to die, really, it does.    But what it will do is inspire the competition to do better, which also needs to happen.

A good sign is that MS seems to be attempting to ease off on the demands on user knowledge and user intervention in the maintenance of Satya's ugly baby.   If they can just get the bulky clumsy offspring to stay up on its feet better and quit with the diaper, already.

Windows 10 mobile is shipping now, on two proprietary MS phones that are 1) costly and 2) bulky.   However, Continuum works after a fashion off of these phones, showing Universal Apps as the planned future pathway for the Phone/PC.

Microsoft is FIRST in this Phone/PC effort, as apart from three (3) Oriental vendors Google has not replied yet.   Nor has Apple.

Windows 7 still requires 15 minutes to a half hour of fiddle per use.  

And by use I simply mean starting it to go play a game on Steam.  

But every time I go into Win 7 I have to deal with that day's updates, with a download, install, reboot, configure and a final install and reboot.

Windows 7 was a user time hog compared to all the other OS systems out there at the time.    Compared to what is out there now in both Chrome OS and Linux, it is simply friggin' ridiculous.

All this endless update foo-bar just to occasionally play a game?

Now it is nagging me to go to Win 10 and is offering me the little white window in the task bar.

SO ...... right now DELL is in very good shape as far as drivers go, and Win 10 senses no issues with the upgrade.

Here we go ....  Win 10 is on the way.





Nope, it was bait and switch and ..... wait for it .....

"You have reserved your copy of Win 10 and we will get back to you on when to install it."

I could install Linux Mint 17.2 complete from sticking the DVD in the DVD Drive in this same 15-30 minutes of "Win 7 daily screw around with the updates time".  

Yes, in the time it takes me to just get past Win 7 to my actual game I could COMPLETELY INSTALL LINUX MINT.  

And I'd only have to do it once ......  and I'd only have to reboot the machine one time (when I took the DVD out) too.

Well now, the all seeing eye of Linux detects 3 hidden folders (directories, to you MS speak people) with the first weighing in at 1.6  megabytes, the second at 204.3 megabytes, and lo and behold, the top secret hidden secret  .NET  package "downloaded and ready to go" files folder at a dainty and skinny 5.1 GIGABYTES.

Each folder has its own secret "what to do with me" instructions, and here they are in order.


Instructions for 1.6 meg hidden folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
   <servicing>
       <package action="install">
           <assemblyIdentity  buildType="release" language="neutral" name="Package_for_KB958488" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" version="6.2.7600.16513"/>
           <source location="%configsetroot%\Windows6.1-KB958488-x64.CAB" />
       </package>
    </servicing>
</unattend>

This looks like the Win 10 .NET package which was kept separate so it could be updated easily.




Instructions for 204.3 meg hidden folder

This is the all the detailed automatic installation instructions for Win 10 .NET package, it is very very long and complex and involves multiple multiple sub folders and CABs.




Instructions for 5.1 GIGABYTE hidden folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
   <servicing>
       <package action="install">
           <assemblyIdentity  buildType="release" language="neutral" name="Package_for_KB958488" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" version="6.2.7600.16513"/>
           <source location="%configsetroot%\Windows6.1-KB958488-x64.CAB" />
       </package>
    </servicing>
</unattend>


It looks like the middle one calls all the shots and asks for information contained in the other two as needed.   They kept the main body of data in one, the .NET installation in the other and the one the counts is the middle one with all the instructions.  

I "think" the middle one is the actual installation which then fires the .NET off and the bulk of the .NET files are just sitting in the third.

You will note that these 3 hidden folders came automatically into the Windows root directory which is apparently active even when the machine is in Linux mode.


   

I am a member of the Borg Collective now.    
There definitely is an antenna up my butt now that is in silent and secret communication with the MS Death Star ......




I still have not gotten the super secret Win 10 update package, this is all for .NET stuff which masses about as much as anybody else's whole OS does.

Microsoft, the bulky slow and obese .....  and don't forget, <transparent>.