Andrew's Inner Sanctum

As you all know, I have a Windows Phone and I love it, but I have concerns about the way Microsoft is handing updates, service distribution (such as Zune & Bing Local) and advertising the phones. Today though, there has been some very surprising but GOOD news about the platform in Australia which I’m going to comment on. I’ll get the update debacle out of the way first though.

I bought the HTC 7 Mozart from Telstra because it was the best Windows Phone being offered in Australia and had the best plan at the time I purchased it (during a pre Christmas sale) as well as using the best phone network in Australia (Vodaphone is having a lot of issues). The problem is, Telstra is the ONLY carrier in Australia who still hasn’t finished testing the tiny February Windows Phone Update which updates the updater. So I don’t think they’ll get around to releasing the March Update till mid to late April at the earliest (I hope I’m wrong). Microsoft shouldn’t be letting the carriers decide when OS updates go out, Microsoft should be saying, we’re ready now and allow every customer to upgrade at the same time if they choose. Windows Phone 7 is a very different OS to Google’s Android, all the phones being shipped with Windows Phone 7 software have the same hardware which is compatible with the OS without the manufacturer having to make major changes to it each time an update is released. Manufacturers and carriers also can’t modify or brand the phone’s UI other than through exclusive applications in the Marketplace so they don’t have to worry about checking or updating those either like they do on Android. The carriers say they have to test the updates to make sure they’re compatible with their networks, but I say that unless Microsoft actually makes changes to the networking stacks or phone’s radio (not FM radio, communications radio), then the carriers should not have any part of the process as the phone will continue to operate on their network in the same way (I mean, seriously, copy and paste could bring down the Telstra network?, of course it won’t!). I understand manufacturers might ocasionally like to update the firmware in the phone that could impact the carrier’s network and I can understand needing to test those updates, but they should be kept SEPERATE from the Microsoft produced OS feature updates. Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on this chart and hopefully it will be updated next week to show Telstra as either scheduling or delivering update.

So now to the happier news. There has been a article around in the last few days saying that Windows Phones are selling well in Australia compared to the test of the world! According to Smarthouse.com.au (http://smarthouse.com.au/Phones/Industry/E2T3Q8E6?page=1) Windows Phone 7 devices have a 3.2% market share in Australia, which while still isn’t all that huge, is actually 1% more than the rest of the world. The other big piece of information that I found this morning on the Sydney Morning Herald website (http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/windows-phone-7-has-stronger-start-than-android-in-australia-20110324-1c7oy.html) was that Windows Phone 7 has had a stronger start here in Australia than Android did when it was first launched here. Apparently for Q4 in 2010, 4.4% of smartphone sales were for Window Phone devices. Again it’s a small win, but it’s little wins like this, which give me confidence that Windows Phone is going to be a serious player in the long run. I’m hoping that this news saying that Windows Phone devices are selling well in Australia means that Microsoft will prioritise finishing making the full range of services the phone can utilise available here in Australia such as the Zune Music Marketplace and Bing Local Search (see this article for more information).

One last article predicts by 2016 that Windows Phones will have a larger market than iOS worldwide. The article states that Android will be number one with 38.7% marketshare, Windows Phone second with 22.6% marketshare, iOS third with 19% marketshare and RIM’s Blackberry fourth with 9.2% marketshare. This makes sense, because Apple market’s their products at the more wealthy audience so having a smaller marketshare makes sense, while Android works on nearly anything and so has a large market it can attract. Windows Phone sits somewhere between Android and iOS in terms of market, so being between them in marketshare adds up. You can read all the details here (http://wmpoweruser.com/ovum-predicts-nokiamicrosoft-will-redraw-smartphone-market-overtake-ios-by-2016/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

As you’d know just from reading this blog and especially if you actually know me, I’ve been immensely excited about Windows Phone 7 since it was first announced in February this year, but especially excited since the RTM was announced in September.

Well, the problem has been, Microsoft hasn’t exactly done a great job at promoting Windows Phone 7 in Australia and the Apple obsessed media has skipped over the release, because even though it’s better than the iPhone, the media seems to think any device that isn’t displayed on stage by Steve Jobs doesn’t deserve any attention at all, which is just rubbish and shows the problem with the way technology is being reported in Australia at the moment.

Update: Microsoft has just announced on Twitter they’re launching their Windows Phone 7 TV ads tonight! Here’s what it will look like (minus the coming soon part, since it’s here!)

Anyway, because of this, I thought I would be the first person that I know to actually get one of these phones, because of the lack of knowledge and buzz around them. Last night though I was given a pleasant surprise when one of my friends asked me on Facebook how to Sync their HTC Phone. I thought they were talking about the HTC Desire which is a Google Android based phone, but they were talking about a HTC 7 Mozart phone – the first Windows Phone 7 based device in Australia! Soooo Excited! The answer of course was to download the Zune PC Software 4.7 from www.zune.net but I was soo excited to hear that someone has a Windows Phone. They allowed me to take a few photos of it today so here they are

The other great thing was the reviews. I was asking different people who had seen it what they thought of it and there was so many “oh it’s so much better than the iPhone” comments. This just proves that it’s a great phone, that people would love if they knew about it. It’s true that there is a LOT of stuff missing from it at the moment, but nearly all of those can be fixed by software updates in the future, which Microsoft has promised will occur frequently throughout 2011 (and maybe late 2010). You have to remember though, that this is a v1 product, a complete rewrite from their previous Windows Mobile devices (they share absolutely nothing in common with each other) and so priorities had to be established. What Microsoft did get done is fantastic and is much better than the iPhone when it was at v1. I plan to get a Windows Phone 7 based device (when I buy there will be more handsets available, although the HTC 7 Mozart does look fantastic) by my 18th birthday in January next year and between now and then there will be plenty of content about it on my website!

This weekend was a big weekend in the TV world. Two new free to air digital channels launched this weekend bringing the total number of channels to 16 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth (if you include the community stations). The new channels now available if you rescan your digital set top box or TV will be 7Mate on 73 and Gem on 90. 7Mate launched at 6pm on Saturday 25th September right after the AFL Grand Final and replaced 7 HD Digital which was just a high definition copy of 7 Digital. Gem launched 12 hours later at 6am Sunday 26th of September and replaced Nine High Definition which was just a high definition copy of Nine Digital. The final channel that we’re waiting for is Network Ten’s new channel called Eleven (to replace One Digital which is a Standard Definition copy of One HD) in January 2011 and then our TV guides will stay fairly stable until 2013 when the digital switchover occurs and the networks are allowed to start more channels (and also probably when SBS will launch SBS 3 and 4).

This is a great thing for Australia and for those of us who have never been able to afford Pay TV, because we now get a very broad choice of TV channels for the one time cost of a new TV set or Set Top Box. The only issue is, for adults who have only been used to 5-6 TV channels, all these new channels are rather confusing even slightly overwhelming.

So I’ve decided to put together a document that you can print out and put near the TV set which simply lists the channels, their associated numbers and a brief description of what the channel is about. It lists One HD, ABC1, SBS One, 7 Digital, Nine Digital, Ten Digital, Eleven, ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24, SBS HD, SBS Two, 31 Digital, 7TWO, 7Mate, Gem and Go! The only thing you may need to do is write under Eleven in pencil that this channel does not start until January 2011 and then rub it out when it commences broadcast. The other thing to note about this guide is that it was created for Brisbane viewers. That means that the community station will be different in each city (TVS in Sydney, C31 in Melbourne & Adelaide and CTV in Perth). Darwin will receive Gem and Go! from October 4th (but still not OneHD) and other regional areas will these new channels on different schedules. Most of Regional Australia will not receive Eleven in January 2011 due to technical upgrades that will need to occur in these areas.

Yes, yes, I know – Apple updated their iPods, iTunes & Apple TV. But who cares – it wasn’t very innovative anyway and in fact the Nano lost features in return for a weird touch screen interface, so let’s ignore that!

It has been a big week for Microsoft. Today Microsoft’s brand new innovative Phone OS called Windows Phone 7 reached the Release To Manufacturing stage today! This means that this version of the OS is complete and is being sent out to phone manufacturers now to put onto their phones and add their own customisations to it. The final version of the developer tools that anyone can download for free and build apps for the phone will be available September 16th and the Marketplace will open to developers so they can upload apps in early October. The phones should reach Europe by October, US by November and hopefully Australia by December! So it’s very exciting, but I wanted to share (and I had this post planned for a few days, so today’s announcement is a co-incidental pleasant surprise) some information about the awesome apps being developed for the phone.

Unlike the iPhone apps which only really scroll up and down, the Windows Phone apps will be panoramic experiences if the app developer decides to build their apps this way, which means you can scroll up and down, but also left and right to access “different pages”. The idea is to make the content front of stage rather than the interface. The interface is simply there to show the content, not to take over the content – so in some cases such as the calendar or email app, it’s very blank and bland because it’s just text you want to look at, while the Music & Pictures apps look really graphical and stylish. Manufacturers & phone companies won’t be allowed to completely change the interface of the phone like that have in the past (just like they can’t modify major parts of the iPhone), but they will be allowed to add some apps to the phone. Here is an example of what Telstra’s app will look like.

Telstra One Hub

It looks pretty cool, but this isn’t the whole app. Because of the Panoramic experience, where you can scroll left and right and up and down, there is plenty more in this app that you can’t see. You can see the start of the next page on the right and if you scrolled your finger to the right (using a flick or drag), it will move pages. The title also gives you a clue, because the word Telstra One is cut off, meaning more pages are available. Here is what the entire app will look like, with the phone layered on the top to show you how much fits on one screen.

Telstra One Hub All Screens

Another example of an app for Windows Phone 7 in development (I’ll just say now, none of these apps are completed yet and will be updated when the final version of the Developer Tools arrive on September 16th) is Twozaic – which is a Twitter client for the Windows Phone. Again, the main idea here is content, there is little UI such as buttons etc and the main thing is the content.

Twozaic - A Twitter Client

Another example of content being the most important thing about Windows Phone 7 is the lock screen. On the iPhone, the lock screen is actually a pretty useless screen, it shows you the time and maybe a text message, but other than that it is pretty useless until you unlock it and open the specific app. The Windows Phone 7 lock screen not only displays the date and time, but also – the number of missed calls, unread text messages & emails and also the upcoming calendar appointment. This is so you can pull the phone out, and see all of this information at a glance without even having to unlock the phone!

iPhone Vs Windows Phone 7 Lock Screens

Finally Windows Phone has something called Hubs which sections of the phone, where apps or services which are linked to each other such as the Pictures Hub where pictures from the Camera, Phone Storage, Facebook, Flickr and other services are all put together, the People Hub where Windows Live, SIM & Facebook contacts all appear together (and merged into one profile per person even if they’re on multiple services) and the Music/Videos Hub which integrates the Zune store, music and videos uploaded to the phone via the Zune PC Software and also services such as Last.fm and Pandora. Here’s the People Hub.

People Hub

So that’s Windows Phone 7 for now – I hope to get myself one of these sometime next year

In 2000, Channel 7 ran one of the most unique promotions I’ve even seen for TV. Most TV promotions require you to call in, or remember a promo code or something similar to that, but this one actually required you to stick something to your TV. The promotion was called The DOT. Here is one of the packets they came in and the DOT itself.

The Packaging Of "The Dot"

The Dot

Basically how this thing worked was that at a specific time each night (usually during a popular show), in the bottom right corner where there is currently a 7 watermark, a watermark the same shape as the DOT appeared and at the start of the program, Channel 7 would tell viewers to stick the DOT to their telly (it was sticky on the back) over the watermark, and continue watching Channel 7 for the entire hour (no changing Channels) and this process would charge and activate the DOT. After that you simply put it back in it’s packet and then sent it away and hoped you were a winner. 10 years ago (I was 7) I must have decided to keep one of these DOTs as a momento and I found it the other day as I was looking through my stuff. I was also disappointed to see not a single mention of it on the internet, so that’s why I decided to blog about it now!

I’m getting excited, because ABC News 24 is nearly here. Since I first started watching TV, I remember the 6 channels our TV set could pick up: ABC (2), Seven (7), Nine (9), Ten (10), SBS (28) and Briz 31 (31). Some of the shows on these channels were OK, but a lot of it was reality TV, because that’s what the people like apparently. I was always jellious of the people who had Foxtel, because they had access to stacks of Channels, such as Sky News and the Discovery Channel.

Well Digital TV is set to change this finally. With the ABC launching it’s 24 hour news channel soon, free to air TV will have just made a massive jump in catching up to the content of pay TV, and Sky News will likely be crapping their pants at this moment. One HD has made little impact on Fox Sports, because covering sporting matches involves rights and other legal messes, but covering news can be done by anyone, and the ABC are probably the best in the country at this. I also suspect other channels on Foxtel will be watching the extra channels that Seven, Nine and Ten are planning to launch within the next year or so. Even SBS has 2 more channels planned, and the ABC has some ideas about broadcasting ABC5 and ABC6 in the next decade.

So at the moment we have moved from this

• ABC (Channel 2)
• Seven (Channel 7)
• Nine (Channel 9)
• Ten (Channel 10)
• SBS (Channel 28)
• Briz 31 Or Equivilent Community Station (Channel 31)

To this:

• One HD (Channel 1 & 11) – 24 Hour Sports Channel
• ABC1 (Channel 2 & 21)
• SBS One (Channel 3 & 31)
• Seven Digital (Channel 7 & 71)
• Nine Digital (Channel 9 & 91)
• Ten Digital (Channel 10)
• One Digital (Channel 12) – Non HD Feed of One HD (Plans To Replace This Channel With 10′s Second Multichanel)
• ABC HD (Channel 20) – Offically Decommissioned July 7 2010 To Make Way For ABC News 24
• ABC2 (Channel 22)
• ABC3 (Channel 23) – Dedicated Children’s Programming Channel
• ABC News 24 (Channel 24) – 24 Hour News & Current Affairs Channel
• SBS Two (Channel 32)
• SBS 3 (Channel 33) – Currently Broadcasting SBS One (Plans For SBS3 Coming Soon)
• SBS 4 (Channel 34) – Currently Broadcasting SBS One (Plans For SBS4 Coming Soon)
• 31 Digital (Channel 44) – Brisbane’s Community TV Channel (Known As TVS in Sydney & C31 In Melbourne)
• 7 HD (Channel 70) – High Definition Version Of Seven Digital With Some Unique Content)
• 7TWO (Channel 72)
• 7 Digital 3 – Currently Broadcasting Seven Digital (Plans For 7′s Second Multichannel Coming Soon)
• Nine High Definition (Channel 90) – High Definition Version Of Nine Digital
• Go! (Channel 99) – Youth Channel With Some Older Shows Too!

Red = Decommisioned

Blue = Currently Broadasting Another Channel’s Feed & Plans To Use That Channel In The Future

That’s around 20 channels to pick from within the next few years (there’s about 16 at the current moment) and with digital and how it works, there could be many more channels if the networks wished to add them. The same thing is happening in the radio space too with Digital Radio (I’ll write about them soon hopefully), but it’s still a fair way off before the analog signals get switched off there. Foxtel aren’t going away anywhere, they still have the stronghold on sports coverage, commercial free movies and overseas content, but news is going to be a tough one to sell now. It’s exciting stuff, bring on the complete digital TV switchover in 2013!

Good Friday, it’s a day that I just don’t understand. Note that if you’re overly religious and take offensive at someone speaking against a religion, then you should probably stop reading this post right about now.

Now, before I get comments explaining to me about why we have Good Friday and why it’s called that (Jesus died to save our sins and we’re greatful etc etc), from a logical standpoint – I simply don’t see how someone dying  painfully nailed on a cross (whether it be fiction or fact) can be seen in any way good. I’ve been brought up to see that murder, for whatever purpose is a very bad thing, not good and definitely not good enough to have a public holiday behind it. I would have called it Bad Friday or Very Sad Friday then then Good Sunday for when Jesus supposedly comes back to life – that’s what I would logically see as the “Good” bit! Anyway – enough about the logics of it all, now onto my actual issue.

EVERYTHING IS SHUT TODAY!! For someone who’s not religious and staying away from churches, there’s not much to do really. The newspaper isn’t printed (even though the internet doesn’t take a break thank goodness), most shops are closed, most attractions are closed, radio shows are on holidays and the TV is full of movies about Jesus! – it’s a public holiday with nothing to do. There’s a large number of people who aren’t Christians (especially Muslims, Hindus and Atheists etc) who won’t be spending the day in church feeling sorry for Jesus and eating fish. What are we supposed to do. I can understand Christmas day being a public holiday and even Easter Sunday, because at least you can participate in the commercial part of it, with gift and egg giving no matter what religion you are, but Good Friday has nothing and is specifically Christian only! ANZAC Day is also an important public holiday, because it affects all Australians, as does Australia Day, and even those days aren’t as shut down as Good Friday is!

So I hope in the future we can lift the commercial absence of  Good Friday for those of us who do not wish to participate, so we can have a public holiday with something to do (like Labor Day). The Christians who wish to take Good Friday off and go to church should fully be allowed to and I have no problem them doing that, but the rest of us should be allowed to do more than sit at home with less to do than normal.

BTW – before I go, stuff like this really annoys me: http://www.news.com.au/national/atheists-are-believers-who-hate-god-says-anglican-archbishop-peter-jensen/comments-e6frfkvr-1225848927144 – Atheists are simply people who do not believe there is any God at all, we do not hate your God as you cannot hate something which doesn’t exist! To any religious people I’ve offended, I’m sorry, but I warned you not to read, and this is my blog where I can express my thoughts on things.