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Upgrade

OnePlus policy that makes it a better buy than Samsung, HTC or LG

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

As a security technologist, the security philosophy of the OEM is a crucial determinant of my decision to buy or recommend a device. This is where Apple shines with it's iPhone update strategy. Every single iPhone receives updates (security and version) at the same time. 

This is why I highly recommend Google's Pixel devices. The Pixel line offers the same regular and speedy update schedule. The other Android manufacturer that has shown it cares about upgrades is OnePlus. Until this week, it did a great job delivering updates quickly, but it didn't formally commit to a software upgrade schedule. 

All of that changes this week when OnePlus unveiled its new operating system (Android) maintenance schedule. It has copied the Google Pixel model and will deliver major upgrades for two years and security updates for three years. 

As per the maintenance schedule, there will be 2 years of regular software updates from the release date of the phone (release dates of T variants would be considered), including new features, Android versions, Android security patches and bug fixes and an additional year of Android security patch updates every 2 months.
— OnePlus OS Maintenance Schedule

Conclusion

OnePlus has always offered solid well-designed devices at competitive prices. This new software maintenance schedule commitment makes their offering that much more compelling. 

I can no longer recommend devices from manufacturers that do not regularly deliver security and version upgrades. This is why I only recommend Android devices from Google, Blackberry Mobile and OnePlus. 

How Android N will save you money on your monthly data plan

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Image by Gord Webster  used under creative commons license

Android N (Nougat) has a handful of new very useful features but nothing catches my attention like a feature that can save you cold hard cash. This witchcraft is a result of a feature called Data Saver. 

One thing most mobile carriers are good at is charging you top dollar for any data overage you incur. This is true whether you are at home and especially abroad. It is true whether you are in Canada, the US or Hong Kong.

Most of the time users don't realize they busted their data cap until it's too late. Overage can happen because of excessive streaming (music or movies) but it can also happen because some apps aggressively update data in the background without you realizing it....

Google wants to help you tame the data monster intelligently. Instead of just reporting on data usage or cutting off data at a certain threshold, Data Saver can prevent background processes from downloading data when on a metered connection. 

Data Saver is a feature that users will have to enable but luckily it isn't an all or nothing option. By turning it on, it prevents almost all background apps from consuming metered data but you can add apps to a whitelist if you want.

There are some apps, by their very design, that must connect in the background to function (think of instant messaging apps, VOIP, etc). For these special cases, developers will be able to ask the user to be added to the whitelist during installation. 

Hopefully developers will make these Android N (Nougat) changes intelligently and modify the operation of their apps to minimize background data usage when they detect Data Saver is enabled but they are granted a slot on the coveted whitelist. Unfortunately we'll see some lazy developers just ask for the permission then continue as usual and hopefully users will uninstall those apps sending a strong signal to the developers.

As a Canadian, I am envious of my american friends on one of those beautiful Sprint or T-Mobile unlimited plans. They can ignore this new feature and continue guzzling huge amounts of glorious data.  For the rest of us, we should turn this feature on immediately. 

My main phone has been an iPhone since the iPhone 3G days (even though I always have other phones available). Until recently, IOS was still superior to Android but not anymore. With the latest changes introduced by Google in Android N (Nougat), I truly feel Android has become a more cutting edge platform and Data Saver is a clear example of that. Hopefully most of you are on devices that will eventually receive Android N. 

I can already see the emails flying in asking what devices will be upgraded. We won't know for sure until a manufacturer publishes a statement but here is my bet:

  • Samsung - Expect most devices since the Samsung Note5/Galaxy S6 to eventually get updated.
  • LG - LG G5 is probably the only one
  • Motorola - All 2016 devices will get upgrade and probably the 2015 Moto G
  • OnePlus - Expect the OnePlus 3 to eventually get updated but don't expect it soon. My guess is sometime mid next year.Don't expect other OnePlus devices to receive Android N
  • ZTE - The ZTE Axon 7 seems to be a huge hit (I'm trying to get one to review). I expect it to receive an Android N update but like the OnePlus 3, I wouldn't expect it soon

 

Clean Install Windows 8 with an upgrade key

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Creative Commons Image - Flicker user Tripp

Creative Commons Image - Flicker user Tripp

Let's say you bought one of those $30 Windows upgrade promotion keys from Microsoft last year and now want to perform a clean install. What do you do?

The media you downloaded does allow you to perform the install but windows will refuse to activate a new install with that upgrade key. Unless you perform this magical process.

If you don't know what you are doing, stop and call a friend. If you make a mistake with regedit, you can harm your windows installation.

  • Start Regedit
  • Navigate to this registry folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
  • Double click on the MediaBootInstall key and change the value from 1 to 0
  • Open a cmd prompt with admin rights and execute this command: slmgr /rearm
  • Now you have to reboot Windows

You will now be able to activate your windows with that upgrade key you bought.

Windows 8.1 upgrade issue

technologyEdward Kiledjian

So I decided to upgrade my main PC to Windows 8.1 yesterday and the upgrade is painfully slow. But once it was installed (on a non touch based traditional PC), I was greeted with these: 

swipe-left.png

Then when I started the desktop, I was greeted with: 

swipe-right.png

Problem is I do not have a touch device and getting rid of these message with my mouse was challenging.  

Come on Microsoft, why don't you make this easier?  You know I''m on a non touch PC. You know I'm upgrading from Windows 8 (so I know the gestures). Someone at Redmond needs to own the customer user experience.

Microsoft Windows 8 upgrade priced at $39.99

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Apple customers have had fantastic upgrade pricing for the last couple of years. While they were paying less than $30 (Lion was $29.99 and the new Mountain Lion will be $19.99) for their OS upgrades, most Windows users ended up shelling close to $100 to upgrade to Windows7. Many of us anxiously waited to see if Microsoft would respond.

We can all sleep easy, knowing that the next major Microsoft OS upgrade (Pro version) will cost $39.99 in 131 markets. Anyone who buys a new PC starting now until February 2013, will be eligible to buy Windows 8 Pro for $15. This is a major change for Redmond but is likely based on sound business principles. 

  • By pricing the upgrade so competitively, they are enticing consumers, even those who did not upgrade from Windows XP or Vista, to upgrade to Windows 8. 
  • They want consumers to move to the Pro version of Windows 8 (which is the version with all these great offers)
  • Obviously they want their new desktop model (no start button) Metro interface and Microsoft App Store to be quickly adopted by consumers in huge numbers.

This special price will be available for customers buying the digital download version during the initial promotional period (ending January 31, 2013). The DVD version will sell for $69.99 during this promotion.

Many pundits have said Windows 8 is designed for tablets and is of no use to traditional mouse-based computer users. They said Windows 8 is doomed to fail (similar to Vista).  

Others have come out supporting Windows 8, saying it moves us into a new computing paradigm that better matches how we use our PCs today. I have played with windows 8 a little and agree that it will take some getting use to but it’s not bad. To be honest, coming back to Windows 7 (on my production computer) feels wrong and awkward. I think Microsoft is on the right track and can’t wait for the final version.

Microsoft provides upgrade instructions on its blog here.