Ok, whats the most frustrating thing you have encountered lately that has consumed more time than you could have imagined but initially you thought it will be simple, I don't mean partners, pets or the like but task, projects and manmade items?
For me it is a so called smart phone that has become a real PITA, more so because I do not use mobile phones on a regular basis and only carry a very basic one for emergencies, but I needed a device for navigation when out walking and looking for specific locations when in out of the way places, all it has to do is basically receive data from a Ublox GNSS receiver and display it on a map so not asking for too much or so I thought. My current device is 14 years old and and very usable so you imagine things have progressed since it came onto the market, but no what benefits they now offer are offset in other areas . So my first problem is that I struggled with the tappy, tappy - swipe swipe thing needed for touch screens on these devices, not having thin pointy fingers does not help but after many hours of painstaking trying progress was sort of made. But this was just the start of a string of issues that would need resolving, loading the program I needed seemed relatively simple but soon I realised that was just Google giving me false hopes, I could not locate where my files were within the device and so could not copy the ones I needed to use, but they were there somewhere. Got some further info from a guy in the states who knew the Android OS inside out and he explained that the smart phone is great for those into social media, making phone calls, texting and sharing pictures which is what the majority use it for but if you fall outside of these groups then you will meet the restrictions imposed by Google who only allow it to do what they deem it should, talk about big brother and this stuff is being integrated into new cars! For me copying and moving files is a basic requirement in any field of IT so whats the problem with Android?
I was directed to another site that explained the solution, I needed to root my device and that did not mean putting it into potting compost. Has anyone heard of rooting their phone because it is not a term I had heard of before but then I am not a mobile phone user and being of the baby boom generation I avoid much of this social interaction technology found on these devices. Well after more hours of digging around I found that rooting is what a lot of people do to Android devices to free them from the restrictions imposed by google and give you full access, files will no longer be hidden and there is a lot more you could do, so why why make life so difficult at all, it is like buying a new car but you cannot open the bonnet, sealed by the OEM and only they have access. Well this process has taken hours to perform and was like going back to the days of DOS in the eighties with a command line interface. I have over forty years working in electrical, electronics and software in many fields including R&D but have never come across such a stubborn, unfreindly and uncooperative device like this thing, it just fights you all the way and loves to throw obstacles in your way, so how do so many people become addicted to such a device, perhaps it's just my age but you can teach old dogs new tricks but with age comes wisdom so it is more a case of we don't always want or need new tricks. So when I though woodworking was going to be a major challenge and give me some hard times little did I realise something as small and insignificant as this mobile device would be many magnitudes greater.
For me it is a so called smart phone that has become a real PITA, more so because I do not use mobile phones on a regular basis and only carry a very basic one for emergencies, but I needed a device for navigation when out walking and looking for specific locations when in out of the way places, all it has to do is basically receive data from a Ublox GNSS receiver and display it on a map so not asking for too much or so I thought. My current device is 14 years old and and very usable so you imagine things have progressed since it came onto the market, but no what benefits they now offer are offset in other areas . So my first problem is that I struggled with the tappy, tappy - swipe swipe thing needed for touch screens on these devices, not having thin pointy fingers does not help but after many hours of painstaking trying progress was sort of made. But this was just the start of a string of issues that would need resolving, loading the program I needed seemed relatively simple but soon I realised that was just Google giving me false hopes, I could not locate where my files were within the device and so could not copy the ones I needed to use, but they were there somewhere. Got some further info from a guy in the states who knew the Android OS inside out and he explained that the smart phone is great for those into social media, making phone calls, texting and sharing pictures which is what the majority use it for but if you fall outside of these groups then you will meet the restrictions imposed by Google who only allow it to do what they deem it should, talk about big brother and this stuff is being integrated into new cars! For me copying and moving files is a basic requirement in any field of IT so whats the problem with Android?
I was directed to another site that explained the solution, I needed to root my device and that did not mean putting it into potting compost. Has anyone heard of rooting their phone because it is not a term I had heard of before but then I am not a mobile phone user and being of the baby boom generation I avoid much of this social interaction technology found on these devices. Well after more hours of digging around I found that rooting is what a lot of people do to Android devices to free them from the restrictions imposed by google and give you full access, files will no longer be hidden and there is a lot more you could do, so why why make life so difficult at all, it is like buying a new car but you cannot open the bonnet, sealed by the OEM and only they have access. Well this process has taken hours to perform and was like going back to the days of DOS in the eighties with a command line interface. I have over forty years working in electrical, electronics and software in many fields including R&D but have never come across such a stubborn, unfreindly and uncooperative device like this thing, it just fights you all the way and loves to throw obstacles in your way, so how do so many people become addicted to such a device, perhaps it's just my age but you can teach old dogs new tricks but with age comes wisdom so it is more a case of we don't always want or need new tricks. So when I though woodworking was going to be a major challenge and give me some hard times little did I realise something as small and insignificant as this mobile device would be many magnitudes greater.
