This Is Only a Test #140 – PodcastGate – 9/20/2012

20 thoughts on “This Is Only a Test #140 – PodcastGate – 9/20/2012”

1. Poor Norm licking all those dirty envelopes 🙁 Glad to have Gary back!

   I don’t even care about the Apple discussions anymore, we all know what the guys think about Apple products. Gary the Apple apologist. I get entertained by the other parts of the podcast.

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2. The only problem with having videos on the site with interesting content is, you end up with an hour stuck in a phone/tablet filled rut talking about the minutiae that nobody really gives a monkey’s about.

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3. lick dem envelopes

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4. this made me want to camp out with the guys just for the hell of it despite not wanting an iphone. def wouldve been fun to just play boardgames all night..also im nowhere near the bay area

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5. Several Tested users now have your saliva, Norm! Watch out for clones! Norm clones everywhere! 0______0

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6. Whitta logic is always baffling.

   It’s too hard for me to stay up until midnight. So I’ll leave my baby with my girlfriend for 10+ hours so I can wait in a line overnight to get the newest phone for “work.”

   Then there’s the tax fraud, but hey.

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7. Will’s hatered of Windows Phone seems to have risen to new heights. He will make excuses for Apple/Android in every single podcast but will rake Windows Phone over the coals ever chance he gets. I’m sorry will but your view on the Lumia 920 is unfounded, it’s plain and simple a better phone than the iPhone. Also, the Galaxy SIII is a better phone than the iPhone. Last podcast where you say not to go with the third place guy is baffling. If everyone would’ve had Will’s view Android wouldn’t ever have become what it is today. Because it was absolute crap when it was first released.

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8. Yeah, I have to agree with this sentiment. They don’t have any Android users on the team. This leads to breakdown of “please don’t fail Apple, you were so great”. Remember when Android came out? No real reviews, nothing. In a sense it provides a slant to the comments.

   I really wish that they would have someone who uses Android on the panel. Is Joey an Android user?

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9. Both Will and Norm use the Nexus 7. Joey is indeed an Android user.

   I don’t think that they HAVE to use Android devices and I get that they don’t want the site to be about tech only. I don’t want them to review every Android device but it would be nice if they didn’t apologize for Apple so much (Gary especially). At some point if you’re not going to cover more than a few tablets/phones, then why cover any at all? I know that the iOS videos get a lot of hits but doing something good must be more important than hits, right?

   I would love if and sat down and talked about their goals with the site. To me it does seem kind of random at times.

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10. “I don’t understand why people don’t just buy a $200 4.7 inch phone, or a $300 iPhone.”

    Great logic there Will.

    I think I’m going to finally give up bitching about it. Will’s head seems to be too far up Apple’s ass at this point.

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11. I’m aware my quote isn’t completely accurate. But the same point is made, regardless of context.

    Most, if not all, high cost smartphones are the high end smartphones. High end smartphones have large displays for the most part (for various reasons). Cost of the phone aside, some people simply don’t want a large phone, which you neglect to take into account.

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12. 3 Headphone suggestions Suggestions for Gary

    Sennheiser HD650 – Will sound good on their own, but even better with a good headphone amp.

    http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-650-Headphones/dp/B00018MSNI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1348290292&sr=1-1&keywords=Sennheiser+HD650

    Hifiman HE400 – I have a pair these, bit harder to drive as they use a Planar Driver, but nice sound.

    http://www.amazon.com/HiFiMAN-HE-400-Planar-Efficiency-Headphones/dp/B007ZG32I4/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1348290374&sr=1-4&keywords=hifiman+he-500

    Grado sr325i – A bit cheaper than the 2 above, but good headphones. I have a pair of Grado sr125i’s that I carry with me, and they sound excellent, the 325i’s are better again.

    http://www.amazon.com/Grado-Prestige-Series-SR325is-Headphones/dp/B000J1N3HW/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1348290466&sr=1-4&keywords=grado+sr225i

    It’s also worth getting a decent headphone amp, having that extra drive will add huge dynamic improvement to the sound.

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13. I use Sennheiser in ear’s on PT; but I know what you mean about sound leakage. From my experience (Melbourne Trams) it’s usually those crappy iPhone buds that are the main culprit.

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14. Agreed. Also, which phone you picking up? I’m leaning toward the 920, waiting for hands on reports.

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15. 920, hands down. The 8X wins when it comes to weight, the screens HTC uses on their high end phones are really nice, and the camera will be no slouch. But the Lumia 920 just has all the bells & whistles hardware wise, and will get timed exclusive apps (as well as Nokia’s own developed exclusive apps).

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16. Will is the only open-minded guy in this group.

    This Gary guy other other hand… Yeah that Samsung commercial is dumb but even Will knows those ‘sheep’ do exist. When your waking up in the middle of the night to order a phone and being giddy to camp out all day to get it and don’t see yourself as one of those people in the commercial, your in denial.

    Also the guns laws have been that way your entire lives so I don’t know why you should be worried about it. Big 5, Wal-Mart and many other stores have always carried guns. Guns must be unloaded at all times and any handgun that is hidden from view must be in a locked container.

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17. I realise I’ve said something similar before but I really would like to see a feature where Norm & Will both give up on iOS for a two week period and stick to Android and then maybe Windows Phone 8 if the Android feature was popular. I’d be interested in seeing just how you would get on with a switch like that when services like Dropbox, Kindle and Spotify are available on multiple platforms. CustomPC (uk magazine) did a feature a few years ago about switching exclusively to Linux for a week or so as an experiment and it was interesting to read about finding alternatives to programs the writer had used everyday on Windows. I get that you guys aren’t that interested in pure reviews anymore so I wouldn’t expect or want a verdict on which OS is best (that varies from user to user really) but as someone who may switch OS fairly soon I think it could a cool experiment.

    Garys story about how easy it is to buy a shotgun freaked me out more than any of his baby birth stories.

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18. Actually, Will and Norm (but mostly Will it seems) use whatever phones they get in to review/quick look for at least two or three weeks.

    There was someone over at The Verge who switched over to WP7 for a bit and did the math (can’t find the story). I want to say about 70% of the apps he used on iOS/Android were available on WP7 through either official apps or pretty good third party ones.

    Will says that we won’t be able to truly judge the app situation on WP8 until 6 months after launch. Given the massive changes coming, I don’t think he’ll be able to have a problem anymore.

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19. You can install whatever you want with a developer unlocked Windows Phone, which is easy to do if you have a .edu email account. But it will never be officially supported, sorry.

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20. The retina display on the iPhone 4 was as almost as big a deal as the original iPhone. Think the 5 is lacking in design, needed more of a change IMO.

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