Today's musings

Vodafone 3G
My Internet access is with Vodafone 3G here in Australia. I have a Pocket Wifi, which allows connection of up to 5 computers.

I buy prepaid, usually pay AU$125 for 15GB, 365-day expiry.

The problem is, I went through that 15GB in less than 6 weeks. Which took me by surprise.
Previously, it has lasted much longer, and it leaves me wondering if Vodafone have changed the way they are metering transfers.

A few days ago, I bought another $125 worth. Checked usage at the "myvodafone" site, found that in one day, 5th March, I had used 2.18GB!

That was the day I uploaded Quirky 7.0.1.
No way I transferred that much!

I didn't watch any videos, no Flash Player, just usual browsing, visit the Puppy Forum, etc. These activities normally log about 10 - 50MB per day.
The uploads for Quirky 7.0.1 were about 1.4GB.

Hmmm

Ubuntu Phone
Much as I want to support Ubuntu Phone, I have had doubts about the gesture-based UI.
Swiping from left-side, right-side, top-side or bottom-side, each does something. So, if you want to touch or swipe something within the window, you have to be careful not to do it too close to one of the sides.

That was my thinking, seemed logical to me, though I haven't had any hands-on with the phones.

But, it turns out, this is exactly the problem, see a recent hands-on report from MWC2015:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/05/ubuntu-meizu-hands-on/

Quoting:
Furthermore, dragging your finger too close to either the left- or right-hand edge of the display triggers other features in the OS, which meant I was constantly hunting for "safe" gaps in the UI. When I handed the devices to the staff at Canonical's booth, they also seemed to struggle with the number of gestures that can be activated by mistake.

Perhaps the whole swipe-from-the-side concept is a bad idea. Perhaps just four capacitive buttons at the bottom of the phone (not in the screen), is a superior solution.
Which of course is getting back to how Android and others do it.

Tags: general