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TMoNews is reporting that they've received word that T-Mo will stop allowing tethering of devices. It hasn't been officially announced, but they received an anonymous tip today about it.
Do any of the U.S. carrier allow it?
How will they know if we're tethering? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see this impacting any of us who are rooted.
If it hasn't been officially announced, and just from a so called "anonymous" source, I wouldnt worry about it.
phatmanxxl said:
If it hasn't been officially announced, and just from a so called "anonymous" source, I wouldnt worry about it.
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Yeah, hopefully it's just a rumor. Who knows?
We'll find out soon enough I guess.
uansari1 said:
How will they know if we're tethering? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see this impacting any of us who are rooted.
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Not really sure if this applies or not, but ...
http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=1078
uansari1 said:
How will they know if we're tethering? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see this impacting any of us who are rooted.
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Deep packet inspection can see the user agent in http headers. That's the quickest and most direct tipoff. Performing UA spoofing should be enough to bypass.
blueheeler said:
Not really sure if this applies or not, but ...
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It does not apply at all, because apps allowing tethering over 2G/3G were removed from the Market a while ago. The "killswitch" cannot remove applications not installed by the Android Market (e.g. preloaded in a "ROM" or installed from sdcard, etc).
jashsu said:
Deep packet inspection can see the user agent in http headers. That's the quickest and most direct tipoff. Performing UA spoofing should be enough to bypass.
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You know the kind of resources they would have to apply to checking each user running an android device to see if they're tethering? There have been hundreds of thousands of android devices sold on TMO alone, and even if 25% of those are rooted, thats a hell of a lot of people to monitor 24/7.
kusotare said:
You know the kind of resources they would have to apply to checking each user running an android device to see if they're tethering? There have been hundreds of thousands of android devices sold on TMO alone, and even if 25% of those are rooted, thats a hell of a lot of people to monitor 24/7.
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I doubt they care if a subscriber using 100MB/month (or even 1GB/month) is tethering. But for those consistently reaching the 10GB cap and then going over on EDGE... It's more likely they'll flag that account for packet inspection. All this is just speculation of course.
That said, the dedicated hardware to perform packet inspection exists and doing it for just the traffic generated by mobile devices is trivial. It's often referred to as "traffic shaping" hardware.
BTW root is not strictly required for tethering. PdaNET can perform tethering in userspace.
jashsu said:
Deep packet inspection can see the user agent in http headers. That's the quickest and most direct tipoff. Performing UA spoofing should be enough to bypass.
It does not apply at all, because apps allowing tethering over 2G/3G were removed from the Market a while ago. The "killswitch" cannot remove applications not installed by the Android Market (e.g. preloaded in a "ROM" or installed from sdcard, etc).
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User agent means nothing and can't be used as a tipoff. Anybody can run a browser on their phone that has a custom user agent -- and this is actually quite LIKELY for a couple of reasons; 1) there are already several browsers with different user agents, 2) in order to access the "normal" pages, sometimes it is necessary to set a user agent like regular firefox, 3) some websites are intentionally hostile to non-MS browsers and filter browsers by user agent (even if other browsers will work perfectly/better).
Also, due to the nature of the device, other kinds of deep packet inspection can NOT be used to distinguish the network traffic as being due to tethering. Really, this is a regular (albeit very small) computer that can run all kinds of neat stuff.
lbcoder said:
User agent means nothing and can't be used as a tipoff. Anybody can run a browser on their phone that has a custom user agent -- and this is actually quite LIKELY for a couple of reasons; 1) there are already several browsers with different user agents, 2) in order to access the "normal" pages, sometimes it is necessary to set a user agent like regular firefox, 3) some websites are intentionally hostile to non-MS browsers and filter browsers by user agent (even if other browsers will work perfectly/better).
Also, due to the nature of the device, other kinds of deep packet inspection can NOT be used to distinguish the network traffic as being due to tethering. Really, this is a regular (albeit very small) computer that can run all kinds of neat stuff.
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All very good points by lbcoder and Jashu
I agree here. And we need to understand that everything is cost vs. return driven.
Will the costs to implement any particular detection/prevention system go beyond the returns gained (actual or projected)?
What does TMO see as the impact of tether users? That's the real question. I can see that they want to eliminate the gross offenders that are trying to use tether as their primary internet connection rather than those of us using it for convenience.
Jashu has a good point, 1GB users will not likely see any action by TMO. I feel less than top 5 percent users or so will probably be looked at. To look at a larger population would be to costly. So, think about it if you fit in the top 3%, you might be a target for action.
lbcoder said:
Also, due to the nature of the device, other kinds of deep packet inspection can NOT be used to distinguish the network traffic as being due to tethering. Really, this is a regular (albeit very small) computer that can run all kinds of neat stuff.
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I imagine they could guess with confidence I was tethering if they saw multiple gigs of access to hulu.com or 20 simultaneous connections to Giganews NNTPS.
But you're right on the part where smartphones basically are small computers. The whole notion of "tethering" will become more and more irrelevant as heavy bandwidth consuming activities are more and more natively done on the phone. To continue to offer tethering-specific plans seems like nothing more than a money grab at this point. The logical and honest way to penalize heavy network users is to either institute hard caps or bill in tiers. Carriers are just reluctant to do so because "unlimited" carries greater psychological emphasis.
There are zero in the Marketplace.
Is there some kind of technical limitation of Android that prevents this most rudimentary of features of a computing device with a screen? I just don't get it at all. It can't be that nobody has asked for one. So there must be a limitation of Android that prevents a screenshot from being generated?
REQUEST: Can anyone write an app that solves this? I think there were would be great demand.
I think if it was possible, there would be one by now. Most likely it's not.
It can't be that nobody has asked for one. So there must be a limitation of Android that prevents a screenshot from...
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I think you answered your own question; )
In order to take a screen print, data from the video RAM must be extracted. root access is required for this.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Yeah, you can pretty much rule out anything that requires direct access to hardware. Hardware access is limited to what is accessible via APIs. By the look of it, that does not include access to the video RAM. There are many other things (flashlight for example) which, although they seem simple, are not included in the standard APIs and therefore are not possible without root access to the device.
bcmobile said:
Yeah, you can pretty much rule out anything that requires direct access to hardware. Hardware access is limited to what is accessible via APIs. By the look of it, that does not include access to the video RAM. There are many other things (flashlight for example) which, although they seem simple, are not included in the standard APIs and therefore are not possible without root access to the device.
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Thank you. I'm not a developer so I didn't know these limitations existed. This OS has developed so fast -- less than 2 years old... and yet, I would have thought this kind of thing would have been handled long ago, just from end-user expectation: "I can print-screen" or screen grab on my full size computer, so i probably can screen grab from my hand held computer.
But re flashlight -- maybe there is one specific function/app you are referring to, but on my Hero, unrooted, thru the Market, i must have downloaded and tried about 6 different flashlights, all with basic function of using the white light of the screen as a light source... some that enabled you to change the color of the screen to blue, red, etc... One even has this cop-car alternating red-blue flashing light display.
I am probably misunderstanding you though.
I think ultimately I am just surprised certain things are not further along -- and it's a stark contrast to a thread I was just visiting way across the other side of the XDA forums universe -- called WP7 - epic fail --- in which many die hard WM developers lament the passing of an OS that gave amazing levels of access to devs, yet the UI of the OS itself was beyond dated, it was dysfunctional and impractical in today's world.
It's just interesting to read the perspectives of developers touting Symbian as the most open OS and most efficient (less battery drain) -- and last I knew I thought it was being killed off. Wrong again.
I'm extremely happy with Android -- but then there are these few blindspots where I have to say -- wow -- i could do THAT 5 years ago on my old T-Mobile MDA WM 5x phone ... like 100%-reliable voicetags for phone calling contacts, opening apps etc, vs speech recognition, ... like the abilities the resistive screen gave me in drawing elaborate sketch at a meeting -- or my being able the take really quick notes with -- yes -- a stylus -- not an alltogether stupid idea -- and have a 90% success rate at character recognition and conversion to text ... the precision of controlling a color slider bar on a resistive screen --- i understand that's not OS but screen properties -- but I am just collectively observing that while I absolutely loved my HERO, and now am discovering my DESIRE, there are still some very basic things I can't do with allegedly the best smartphone in the marketplace.
I'm very agnostic about hardware and software, never been a fanboy -- I'm a usability designer... so functionality rules, end users rule. And basic things like this -- a screenshot -- they may be very explainable by devs... And my question may sound like it's very annoying to some, and I'm just a dumb **** (not you, you were respectful), but I think, as a end user advocate, it's pretty stupid -- and seems senseless to me that this phone can do 1001 backflips with video, and yet it can't let me "record" what I see on my screen. I get it that it's not yet released by Google, but they're who I'm calling stupid for not solving something so elementary by now.
I have every right to say this without any android architecture knowledge.
I can see your point, but in all modern operating systems, there is no direct hardware control, for any purpose, no matter how benevolent the purpose might be.
This is done only through api programming and libraries of calls, which are also restricted most of the time.
The reason is simple and can be summarized to one word, security.
As phones are becoming more and more capable of doing sensitive activities like online banking transactions and on top of that hold every personal info one has,
security will become an even greater concern.
Windows so far, have been the least secure platform for every day use to date. This is also true for windows mobile.
I know it looks like you are getting less usability than you did, but at least in this case its not just to inflate someone's wallet with extra money, through proprietorial lock down of services and apis, which would be "opened" at a later date for some more cash.
I m sure that in no time we ll be seeing full blown firewalls and antivirus suites for superphones like the desire.
All it will take is a few more viruses-trojans targeting mobile platforms like jailbroken iphones or rooted android devices.
I guess the same limitations are to be blamed for not having a proper voice recorder, i.e. one that can record both parts of a phone conversation.
reason you arent getting a non root screenshot app(if memory serves correctly):
the screenshot app takes a dump of the display file in /dev/ and then uses image processing to output a jpg/png/whatever. At the momment we can see the contents of /dev/ with (adb shell ls /dev/) but any attempt to read/write/copy (adb pull /dev/lightsensor ./lightsensor)(yes i know that is the light sensor but couldnt remember what the display file was called) anything is met with a "permission denied".
I am noticing after I installed a number of games and some apps from the market shows that the smooth movements during swipes changes to a bit of stutters.
Mainly I am noticing this in the home screen when I wipe to scroll through the number of home screens it was not smooth as before-i can spot minor stutters, not smooth as cake!
Is it only me or this can be overcome?
That's what I found too.
This is what I found too.
From my observation, I am thinking that a lot of Android's applications on the market are:
1. poor quality with very little QC by Google. Google may be too focus on releasing as much application as possible to catch up with iphone rather than quality.
2. request too much permissions from the user, such as full internet access, running in the background etc etc. A lot of applications that don't necessary need these permissions are asking for it anyway and I don't know why they needed it.
3. this last point is my PURE speculation, so do correct me if I am wrong. Most applications are ad-support, they needed to download ads to show on your phone. That means each application on your phone that are ad-supported need to connect to a server somewhere. I don't know how google manages ads, but I sure hope that it doesn't allows these applications to connect to different ads server in the background.
i found this slightly too, doesnt the new firmware updates (unofficial) and the lag fix (putting the apps in the nand) fix this though?
im still waiting for samsung to give me the update, wont be waiting much longer though
kcharng said:
3. this last point is my PURE speculation, so do correct me if I am wrong. Most applications are ad-support, they needed to download ads to show on your phone. That means each application on your phone that are ad-supported need to connect to a server somewhere. I don't know how google manages ads, but I sure hope that it doesn't allows these applications to connect to different ads server in the background.
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I think you just wrote the last sentence in a confusing manner. I think your point is "I sure hope it doesn't allow these applications to connect to ad servers in the background", if so I'm with you.
However, if you mean it the way I interpreted the more direct writing of the post. (disclaimer: I also don't know how they handle ads), but I think that more than just admob exists as a service for developers to use, and if that's the case and they do allow any connection in the background...then I think some would have to connect to different servers since the ads would be hosted by different hosting services (admob, company x, company y). All that said, Admob does (just about?) every ad I see that I happen to look at the host of.
sany said:
I am noticing after I installed a number of games and some apps from the market shows that the smooth movements during swipes changes to a bit of stutters.
Mainly I am noticing this in the home screen when I wipe to scroll through the number of home screens it was not smooth as before-i can spot minor stutters, not smooth as cake!
Is it only me or this can be overcome?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I experience 0 lag during homescreen scrolling.
I use LauncherPRO, in advanced settings I have "High quality scrolling" enabled (Keeps high quality graphics while scrolling, but reduces performance) and then in Advanced Settings subsection "memory usage present" I have "Use homescreen caches" (creates caches of your homescreens for smoother scrolling" checked. I have over 150 programs. 7 homescreens, though 2 are at least half blank, but I have 5 rows of icons on each screen (20% more icons to slow me down).
LauncherPRO typically uses up 20-25MB of memory for me due to my settings. If you don't have it, check it out. If you have it, look into your settings to optimize performance.
alovell83 said:
I think you just wrote the last sentence in a confusing manner. I think your point is "I sure hope it doesn't allow these applications to connect to ad servers in the background", if so I'm with you.
However, if you mean it the way I interpreted the more direct writing of the post. (disclaimer: I also don't know how they handle ads), but I think that more than just admob exists as a service for developers to use, and if that's the case and they do allow any connection in the background...then I think some would have to connect to different servers since the ads would be hosted by different hosting services (admob, company x, company y). All that said, Admob does (just about?) every ad I see that I happen to look at the host of.
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as long as they dont take any credit card details stored with the market or anywhere in the device.
S
Well, after a lot of hours of work, I'm real close to putting my first app out.
It includes a 5MB database that can't be loaded from /assets due to it's size. The app itself is small.
Now, as I know it, there are 2 deployment methods:
1. Google Market
2. My own hosted site
Google Market is easy on end user...find an app, install (and pay if req'd). Works over 3g and WiFi. Gives you 24 hours to uninstall before you're credit card is charged. Drawbacks are one-time $100 vendor fee and 20% fee per download. Plus, as my apps may grow, the databases I use could get fairly large. Now, most phones can handle the size (my Droid goes to 40 gig with 32 gig SD card), but searching a huge database on the phone could lag like crazy.
A self-hosted site can be had for $50 a year from GoDaddy or 1 and 1 with FTP, MySQL databases and much, much more. With the SQL running on a hosted server, queries would be fast. Drawbacks are the user has to download Google ADB package, app and database. Then hook-up phone via USB, set a couple of settings on the phone and actually run the "adp install <package name>". Then you need some type of payment center (Paypal) and possibly a refund policy.
So, I'm on the fence here...comments and suggestions appreciated!
From what I've read, lagging for loading databases can be brought to a minimum by altering the way it loads. Instead of loading all the content up front (possibly with a dialog to keep the user amused while waiting) or by loading it as the information comes in. The listView might lag because of the phone's memory available as opposed to a problem with the app. It could be the app. If it needs resources, then make it a top priority and allow it to tell the OS to kill other resource-hogging applications to make way for the information download. It's just a speculation. I don't know this for sure, but I would check the Android Dev site and other places for more information.
Interesting idea...I could just set the data (about 80,000 rows) up as a flat file and then do an INSERT based on user input. Do query, return results and delete rows from table. That takes it to, on average, about a 2,000 row table.
Not sure how I can encapsulate (hide) the data from prying eyes or worse yet, changes to the data! But I will research that idea further and do some code changes and testing....thank you very much
I decided to get a hosted site for a couple of reasons:
1. To get my OWN MySQL databases
2. To create a web site to drive my business and apps delivery
I've finished my application and it works great. 80,000 row database on server, app is 40kb on the phone. Data retrieval is fast...i can get over 100 rows back in 2 seconds on 3G; WiFi would be even faster.
I've decided to push my apps to users via the web site. I'll offer a crippled demo version for review before they buy...no return policy. That is, if you like the demo and buy it, well, you made the choice LOL
I'm still not warm and fuzzy about making user download adb package, hook-up phone via usb and install. But I'll offer something I don't see much on Google Market and that is: SUPPORT. Each app I create will have it's own e-mail address for comments, concerns, enhancements and, god forbid, bug reports. I'll probably also offer free updates if I change the program or upgrade the database.
Well, time to go do the web site. I'll admit I would rather be coding vs. web site design!
Why not both? You could use google and it's HUGE base of users (which may never even know about your app otherwise) and still host the database online at your site. Note that many (most) phones are crippled by the carrier to NOT allow downloads from anything but the market.
Frankly, I think you could probably do it more efficiently. I don't know the details, but why not have the app download the database from your site upon first usage and store it to SD card? A local copy even on an SD card will be orders of magnitude faster than any online solution.
Yeah, I'm still 50/50 on it.
Speed is not an issue on this app; max rows I pull back may be 60 and it takes 2 seconds. Literally, by the time your finger is off the "Search" button, you have your data And if you think about it, how many databases are out there already that people are hitting off of web pages? My 2 second download was on 3G, I imagine the WiFi to be even faster (just tested it on WiFi...3G was faster LOL)
I like the control of the database on my end and it keeps the user from having to download a new copy if the database is updated.
And I'm trying to look at the big picture here too. I'm an unemployed programmer after a 13 year career. I don't mind coding apps for "the people", but I want to get my foot in the door of business' that are going to need smart apps, just like they all needed a web page years ago.
I just have to do some more research and make a decision. However, I do think you are right; the market has huge exposure and can even lead people to my site. The hosted sites is dirt cheap...$50 a year.
I know my app is pretty solid, just hate to think about paying that one-time vendor fee and the 20% per download. Then again, that takes ALL the billing concerns from me; the market handles it all.
Thanks for your feedback!
After seeing the leaked build of Windows Blue at http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/24/4...creenshots-leak-smaller-live-tiles-options-ui, it got me thinking about what I'd like to see. A video I saw had some good ideas but I know that us XDA members can do better. Said video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdqUsTAWSnY
Personally, I would like to see:
A better default e-mail app
Ability to boot straight into the desktop
More gestures
More optimization
Even faster boot times
What features would you like to see in the next version of Windows?
faster boot times is just greedy as it is my windows 8 machine booting off of an HDD side by side with a mates more powerful win 7 machine booting from SSD, my machine reaches desktop about a second after his does, and I have to go through a boot select screen and click a tile on the start screen.
Blue isn't 9.
Mail app we need yeah. I would add the music and video apps while your at it.
I dont own a touchscreen so gesture wise I dont care.
Booting straight to desktop would be nice I guess, I really dont care as I actually like the new start screen but some people of course ask for that feature anyway.
What I want to see:
Improved music and video apps, frankly, they suck. Music wise I now use "I love music" which isnt too bad but is a little rough around the edges, certainly better than default though
improved mail app (as you already said)
ability to resize the split between sideloaded metro apps
being able to run my desktop on one monitor and metro on another
my running desktop applications should be listed in the running applications sidebar on the left of the screen, that only seems to show metro applications
in the store app being able to list applications from certain developers (for example being able to look at the angry birds space entry and being able to click rovio to show all rovio apps).
While they are at it with releasing windows blue. XNA replacement please
SixSixSevenSeven said:
faster boot times is...
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There is always something faster regarding boot times. There are some Chrome books which boot in 8 seconds compared to my laptops 14. The ability to split metro apps has already been added if you check the link about the leak from the Verge. All your suggestions are very good, hopefully at least a few of then will be in Blue
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Reboot times are a total red herring. It's a waste of Microsoft's time to put a bunch of people to work shaving off another second or two. Why are people rebooting anyhow?? I never do except for updates. Sleep is faster to enter, faster to return from, doesn't require re-launching my apps, uses only trivial power, and is supported on all hardware I've seen this decade (although I did, about four years ago, encounter an NVidia driver whose preferred form of "screwing up your PC..." install process was to break sleep mode, which I fixed by rolling it back).
Now, if they want to make it so that reboots are needed less often, I'm all for that. More user-mode drivers, and/or modernize the kernel-mode driver stack to reduce how often KMDs require reboots (already much better than XP and below, but still too high). Make Windows Update better about not requiring reboot; I'm willing to close a program or even restart the desktop Explorer session (which takes moments) to avoid rebooting the whole machine.
Fix the <REDACTED> Start search. I don't understand why they took one of the best UI features of Vista, preserved it in Win7, and messed it up in Win8, but the whole segregation of "Apps", "Settings", and "Files" needs to stop, now! Launching programs is one of the very few core requirements of an OS, and the last two versions of Win8 were better at it than Win8 is (specifically, they required fewer clicks and showed more useful info at a glance). That's a travesty.
Metro apps and multi-monitor were already discussed. Instead of reiterating those, I'd like to see more capable Metro apps. Currently, they're locked down to nigh-uselessness from a get-stuff-done perspective. Consequently, I barely ever use them... but that's not good for the ecosystem, because it means that I (and people like myself) have much less incentive to develop them, too. One critical feature: the ability to launch other programs without the target being expressly designed for it.
As a Surface RT owner: remove the stupid prohibition against third-party desktop apps. Make it a hard-to-find setting if you must, but let me unlock it without needing kernel-mode hackery.
As a Surface RT owner: give me drivers! The USB port is already useful, but it could be a lot more useful.
As a Surface RT owner: add support for the low-power standby core of the Tegra 3. Battery life is good already but could be better.
Integrate something like OblyTile into the Start screen. Default desktop-app tiles are ugly.
Worth asking for: multiple (virtual) desktops? I mean, it's "just another app" now, right? I hate that in 2013 I still need to use third-party utiltiies to get this feature that all other common desktop environments have.
Please don't kill off the SUA (Subsustem for Unix Applications)! At the very least, open-source it when you drop official support, so the community can introduce some long-overdue fixes. But seriously, that thing is useful. Cygwin is a nasty hack by comparison.
A virtualization environment that supports high-end graphics would be nice. There's a lot of games that run like crap on NT6 but don't run on virtual XP machines using any of Microsoft's virtualization environments. That directly contributes to the market share of third-party virtualization software. MS used to be good at this VM thing for uses other than servers...
Lots more, but this post is long enough as is. That covers most of the gripes I have at least once a week using this OS.
Most of these are from the viewpoint of an RT user, unless noted.
Critical:
Allow unsigned desktop apps
Allow third-party Metro apps (sideloading)
An alarm clock on RT
Allow metro apps to run backgrounded without requiring them to be pinned to the lock screen
WinRT lacks some major features in the API set (from what I've experienced, lack of client-side cert support for SSL, lack of decent background capabilities, and lack of VPN, though they claim to be fixing the last one)
Go back to the idea that developers create the platform and stop trying to mimic Apple by closing the ecosystem down
Desired:
Allow a hotzone for corners, instead of just a hotspot (x86, mostly)
Better mail app
Allow start screen wallpaper customization without tedious hacks
Allow fine grained tuning of which settings are synced between computers (I don't want the same wallpaper on my tablet and desktop, for example, so I have to turn off syncing all customization settings)
Open up the ARM DDK
Documentation on what features are lacking/missing on ARM Vs. x86.
The current sideloading situation works fine for me, though I agree with the rest of those. I might care more if I found Metro less useless in general.
Hmm, my Lenovo Twist cold boots in about 3 seconds. Doesn't get much better than that.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
It really doesn't, actually. The default "shut down" behavior on Win8 is to reboot the machine, and then enter hibernation right before showing the login screen. This is one of the lowest-RAM-usage points in the operation of a PC, so both entering and leaving hibernation here is extremely fast. When you "cold boot" your system, all that is happening is the power-on self test (which is very fast on modern hardware), followed by the OS resuming from the minimal hibernation image (which could easily take three seconds or possibly less with an SSD but not a ton of RAM). Bam, you're at the login prompt in what seems like no time at all!
If you want to do a true cold boot, you'll need to either disable hibernation boot (one of the easiest ways to do this is to disable hibernation entirely using "powercfg /h off", probably must be run as Admin) or you'll need to remove power while the system is running (as in, remove the power cord and remove or drain the battery without allowing it to enter sleep or hibernate). You can get an idea of the true bootup time just by rebooting the machine, but a machine built for Win8 probably won't show you the point where the "shutdown" portion switches off with the "bootup" portion; using EFI, that whole thing can be hidden.
Wouldn't electricity bills go through the roof if all 5 PC's in my household were on hibernate 24/7 365?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
mmmcfc said:
Wouldn't electricity bills go through the roof if all 5 PC's in my household were on hibernate 24/7 365?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
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They're off when they're in hibernate. Hibernate saves the state to disk then completely powers off the computer. You could literally unplug it for 5 years and it would still have the state.
Yep, hibernate's entire point is that it uses no power. However, maybe you meant sleep instead, also known as suspend-to-RAM and which does use a trickle of power. It's a small trickle, though; a PC in Sleep mode draws less than five watts (and most draw only one or two). Five PCs in sleep mode, assuming they're big, beefy, and incredibly inefficient, plus have every kind of wake-on-event (wake-on-LAN, wake-on-click, wake-on-timer, etc.) option enabled, will draw about 25W - non-trivial but less than half what a typical incadescent light bulb draws. Realistically, it would be closer to 5W, especially if some of them are laptops (which only use a portion of a watt).
Depending on the percentage of time that the PC is on anyhow and how efficient its sleep mode is, you may actually be wasting power by taking the time to turn it off, then on again (requiring restarting its programs) all the time. Entering and exiting sleep is effectively instant.
I for one would love to see custom backgrounds on the Start screen, as well as Google Talk support in the Messaging app. One of the main reasons I still have to keep a GMail tab open on Chrome, so I can receive IMs.
Also I would be pleased if they returned Google Calendar syncing after the updates a few days ago. I was very annoyed when all my Calendar events disappeared, but seems to have gotten better since I worked around that with the subscriptions feature in Outlook.
More functionality in the Metro/Modern part of the OS would also be good, but I have already seen that happening with the recent leaks.
Edit: And I also would love to see Aero Glass with Blur come back in the Desktop. Although there are a few hacks to get it working, most do not have similar functionality to Windows 8 or are buggy. The only good one imo doesn't support 32 bit.
How come my windows phone syncs with google fine. Yet windows doesnt.
Google have more sync options than EAS and contrary to MS's claim EAS is still active until june or july.
All they have done is made the mail and people apps worse not better.
Anyway. Supposedly in the blue leak IE11 now has stubs for WebGL support. If this is true then windows blue presumably has OpenGL support, possible for store apps too. OpenGL, even if it is just the ES subset, on RT has been an often demanded feature.
So many android and iOS apps are written with OpenGLES, if microsoft wanted an app rich store then it really would have made sense to support OpenGLES to allow porting of iOS and android apps to windows without having to be rewritten for DirectX11 (not a simple task in many cases).
Oh, overall they made Mail a lot better... but it pisses me off that for people who already had a working Google EAS connection, they went and disabled it. I'm holding off on updating my other devices for now. As for "more sync options than EAS", this is technically true (and the new version of Mail offers to set them up for you), but the others are not as well integrated (one protocol to provide contacts, email, calendars, and security policies).
WebGL support I'm actually kind of skeptical of; the web is a very hostile environment and video drivers are a frightening combination of high-value targets and shaky security. I'm concerned about the attack surface exposed by enabling WebGL. However, it's true that OpenGL, even just OGLES, would be a huge boon to the platform. Windows and DirectX may still rule the roost for PC games, but even there their lead is eroding. In the mobile space, OpenGL has left DirectX in the dirt.