Use a Google Alterntive and... Support Google

If I wanted to support Google Chrome in creating a two browser world, I would use Google Chrome. I use Opera because I cherish diversity, and choice; plus its a superb browser too. Thus I was concerned to hear that Opera intends to change to Webkit. Webkit is the rendering engine used by Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and many others.

Recently a Beta version of the Webkit Opera was released for Android, which I had wished to try for identification purposes, but had been unable to because i do not own any Android devices. Today I was able to view this blog using Opera Beta, and the identification results were.....

Statcounter: Chrome for Android.

Shiny Stats Chrome 25 / Andoid 4x.

ExtremeTracking Android Webkit / Android 4x.

W3 Safari 0.0 / Linux.

24Log, GoStats, SiteMeter and Motigo also identified Opera as Chrome!

When I first read that Opera was moving to WebKit I feared that Opera would be misidentified. If Opera is identified as Google Chrome, or another webkit browser, Opera will just fade into obscurity.....

BlackBerry Z10 Identification

The BlackBerry Z10 was resleased in the UK a few weeks ago. It is hoped it will turn arround BlackBerries fortunes in the smartphone market, with an all new BlackBerry 10 OS. I looked in several shops, but only a demo mode version was available, but eventally I found a working phone.

I visited this site to see how the counters viewd the visit. Whilst this phone may raise Blackberries profile in the shops, it does little to raise the profile much in the world of counters; which should hopefully show BlackBerries increasing in popularity. Hopefully, the counters will improve as the Z10 becomes established, but, alas, at present, the BlackBerry WebKit browser is prodominately counting for the opposition!

Identified as:

Apple Safari Browser / Other OS ~

ShinyStat GoStats

Apple Safari Browser / Macintosh OS ~

OneStat

Unknown Browser / Unknown OS ~

W3

Blackberry Browser / Blackberry OS ~

StatCounter (Only identified as generic Blackberry, and not the new Z10)

Lets hope the counters will sort out BlackBerry 10 identification, otherwise it it little more than a case of Apples web market share being elevated by other browsers and phones.

Loyal BlackBerry fans may well not like apperaring to have switched to Apple!

Update, 14/03/13: When I did the above I got no response from ExTreme tracker, but I have just had a visit from a Z10 in Dubai. Extreme tracker records the Z10 as Unknown OS with Opera 10 browser!

On A Phone Camera!

How good can a camera on a phone be?

I took the following picture of fungus in a wood on Bodmin Moor, in the rain, on an overcast day, using a phone camera/flash:

It might not look that remarkable, but it was taken with my Nokia 808 Pure View phone, with a resolution of 38 Megapixels. A bigger version can be found here, although even this has not got the detail of the original.

However, lets look at some detail crops:

Flickr Link

Flickr Link

Personally, I think it is amazing to be able to take such photos from a phone. I bought the 808 as a camera. However, as a phone I believe the Symbian operating system, and the phone functionality are a match for any phone.

Rekonq Browser ~ Identification.

I have a net book which I use on the train when going to work. Every few months I change the OS, just because I can, and so it has had many Linux distros, and even Solaris. Recently, I tried Kubuntu, the KDE front ended version of Ubuntu. Kbuntu ships with a WebKit browser for for KDE called Rekonq.

I decided to try Rekonq, and see how it is identified. Unfortunately, identification of Rekonq browser was poor, and most counters mis-identified:

Linux/Safari:
Shiny
GoStats
24Log
W3
ExtremeTracking

Macintosh/Apple Safari:
OneStat


Linux/Rekonq II:
Statcounter

So only Statcounter identified Rekonq browser as Rekonq. All the other browsers identified the browser as Safari! Personally, this would put me off using Rekong; I use Linux/FreeBSD/etc. because I do not like the way certain companies are trying to monopolise the internet, and the users experience/options. So why use an alternative browser which counts statistically as the product of a company which has a hostile attitude towards an open internet?

A Bada Phone! Life With The Samsung Wave Y

I recently had to buy a mobile phone. From the media you would think there was just a choice of two operating systems, iOS, and Android, with Windows Phone as an also ran. Fortunately, this is not the case, there is also the likes of, Blackberry OS, SymbianOS, Meego, and Bada.

I opted for Bada!

Bada is Korean for Ocean. Bada is used on Samsungs Wave range of mobile phones. Although Bada is virtually unknown in the UK phone market it managed to outsell Windows Phone in the 1st quater of 2012, globally.

The flagship of the Wave range is the Wave 3, I opted for the bottom of the range Wave Y (GT-5380). The Wave Y is not even listed on the Samsung UK website (the Wave 3 is listed, but with the footnote not currently available in the UK). However I was able to buy my Wave Y on my local  Phones4U, at only £53.95, making it the cheapest smartphone on the UK market.

One of the main reasons for buying Bada is because I do not wish to pay the Microsoft tax on Android. If Android infringes so many Microsoft patents, why does it not sue Google? However, if my Wave Y fails to be a viable phone, then it does not amount to a viable alternative to the Microsoft tax on Android.

In use the Wave Y is a very good phone. The Dolfin browser supplied is not brilliant, but Opera Mini is available from Samsung Apps (although it did take several attempts to download) and works superb. The App store has sufficient applications for my needs, but may not have for a ardent gamer. The touch screen is responsive, and easy to use. All things considered its a superb phone, for a bargain basement price.













Identification of Bada OS.

1. With Dolfin Browser, using Browser String:

Mozilla/5.0 (SAMSUNG; SAMSUNG-GT-S5380D/S5380DXXLC1; U; Bada/2.0; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.20 (KHTML, like Gecko) Dolfin/3.0 Mobile HVGA SMM-MMS/1.2.0 OPN-B

Sniny Stats ~ Bada OS / Mozilla

Onestat & Sitemeter ~ Macintosh / Netscape 5x

Brave Stats ~ Windows / Mozilla

Go Stats ~ Unknown / Unknown

24 Log ~ Other / Mozilla

Extreme ~ Samsung Phones / Mobile Phones

Statcounter ~ (Dolphin 3 on ) Bada / GT-5380

2. With Opera Mini, Using Browser String:

Opera/9.80 (Bada; Opera Mini/6.5/28.1914; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10

All counters obtained some variant of either Opera or Opera Mini combined with either Other or Unknown.

Nokia Lumia 800 Traffic Identification.

Recently I went into a local phone shop and tried the Nokia Lumia 800, with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, to see how this was reported by the various web usage trackers.

My first impressions of the much discussed Metro interface was not good, I did not find the tiles intuitive, and found the phone much easier to use when I found by swiping to the left there was a menu system!

The phone I used had the browser string:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 800)

The most striking thing about the identifications made is that there was no commonality in wording between any of the results, but generally these results were accurate. Hence, I will just list the results, rather than group them.

Shiny Stats: Windows Mobile 7 / Internet Explorer Mobile 9x

BraveNet: Windows NT / Explorer

OneStat: Mobile Wap Nokia / Microsoft Internet Explorer Other

SiteMeter: Microsoft Nokia / Internet Explorer 9

StatCounter: Windows Phone / Internet Explorer Mobile 9

GoStats: Windows Phone OS 7.5 / Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0

24 Log: Other / Internet Explorer Mobile

Extreme Tracking: Windows Phone 7 / Internet Explorer 9

W3: Windows Phone 7 / Internet Explorer 9

A Sad Day for Tablet Competition, Plus HP TouchPad Identification.

I do not like to see one company having too great a dominance in any market. I have long thought small touch screen portable PCs are a good idea; and then after years of negligible success Apple launch the iPad, as though it is a new idea, and make them fashionable. I hate Apple trying to stifle competition using alleged paten infringements, and trying to take extort money from using the iPad (to me if you buy hardware you should be able to do what you want with it). Thus I was pleased when HP said it was going to take Apple on; from my limited experience WebOS made sense.

I looked forward to the launch of HPs first touch screen, and a few days ago went to a PC shop to have a play with the HP TouchPad. My impression was that it was not perfect, but it was a good first attempt, and would be a stepping stone to a better machine. I would have bought one, however, Opera browser was/is not yet available for the TouchPad, and whilst I am happy to buy a tablet which helps open up the market, I do not wish to buy a tablet which will be used mainly for portable browsing, and will artificially inflate Apple Safari browser market share (see TouchPad Identification below). All things considered I decided that the TouchPad seemed a perfectly acceptable tablet, that I would buy when Opera became available.

Alas, this is a sad day because HP have decided to scrap their WebOS tablets and phones, but maybe I will be able to buy one cheap, and put a straight forward Linux distro on it!

TouchPad Identification

I recently reviewed the identification of the Blackberry Playbook by counters, and found it to suggest that Apple Safari browser usage was higher than it actually is, due to both browsers being based on the WebKit browser engine. Likewise, the TouchPad uses a WebKit based browser, and almost universally is counted as Safari:

Linux OS and Safari browser

ExtremeTracking
ShinyStats
Sitemeter
W3

BeOs (OS and browser)

BraveNet

Mac OS and Safari browser

OneStat

Default Browser

StatCounter

Browser String:

Mozilla/5.0 (hp-tablet; Linux; hpwOS/3.0.0; U; en-GB) AppleWebKit/534.6 (KHTML, like Gecko) wOSBrowser/233.70 Safari/534.6 TouchPad/1.0