Target's Sales Floors Are Switching From Apple To Android Devices (gizmodo.com) 137
After three years of Apple products, Target is moving to Android devices for stocking, pulling items, and other essential sales floor duties. Target first outfitted its employees with Apple products in 2014, replacing PDAs with iPod Touches. Gizmodo reports: In Fall of 2016, Target stores began testing the Zebra TC51, which runs Android 6.0 Mashmallow and was confirmed to Gizmodo as "the new MyDevices for store team members chainwide" by a company spokesperson over email. On Reddit's r/Target page and the unofficial employee forum The Breakroom, the new devices have been met with enthusiasm -- and plenty of jabs at the old iOS scanners. "The current iOS my devices we have all sorts of issues, connection issues, scanner issues, and tons more," one Breakroom poster complained. On Reddit, a former store manager wrote that "the iPod hardware they used as on the floor scanners for employees died quickly and there was no way of swapping in new batteries. There were many hardware issues that came about with the ipods." While a Target spokesperson confirmed the company will still purchase some products from Apple -- iPads for online order pickups, iPhones for managers -- the sales floor is switching to Android, and the company is staffing up on Android developers to port over all the internal software stores use.
It doesn't make sense to use Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
No business should use a single source product/solution when there is an equal alternative with multiple vendors.
In that case, if Target even runs into trouble with Samsung, they can easily switch to LG or whatever. It would be even better if they were not dependent on Google for the OS, but having multiple hardware vendors is a good start.
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It would be much worse for the hospital if they used equipment from a single vendor. That vendor could raise prices without any limit because the cost for the hospital to switch out to something else would be too expensive.
The best is to have open standards, and many vendors.
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The operating system is a trivial issue when you are referring to the difference between (say) software from Phillips, GE, and Siemens for a CT Scanner-- just as it is for all the other diagnostic instruments in use.
I don't think Samsung has an MRI "backpack" for the S8 yet, but maybe I just missed the press release.
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It's still much better than if every single vendor did like Apple and developed their own OS.
No matter if only 20% of the interface is the same when switching from one Android device to another. As long as it's greater than 0% it's better than Apple.
Single source is the way to go in real life (Score:2)
In real life companies single source, because (1) in real life they single source stuff anyway, (2) they're buying a solution not a technology, and (3) single sourcing is a guarantee that everything works together.
The fact is, the vendor is choosing the underlying hardware, which is probably white label that's factory-direct. Target chose the vendor for its end-to-end solution. Target doesn't really give a shit what hardware the vendor is using, as long as it fulfills the requirements.
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In real life companies single source.
really? what vendor even does that any more? please name a company that makes both servers and software
IBM, HP, Oracle are all dying
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You confuse single source and vertical integration. They are not the same.
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In real life companies single source, because (1) in real life they single source stuff anyway, (2) they're buying a solution not a technology, and (3) single sourcing is a guarantee that everything works together.
You missed the point. It's not about single sourcing, it's about locking yourself into whole source change and becoming dependent on a vendor. To address your points:
1. They will do this anyway, they are just switching to a platform that allows them to move if a vendor doesn't play along.
2. Depends on the company. It looks like they are developing the solution themselves, and even if they aren't they are more likely to find solution providers on an open multi-vendor platform.
3. You just made me laugh, cry,
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Does Apple have a recent record of breaches or poor security?
you mean, like the fappening?
Re: It doesn't make sense to use Apple (Score:1)
Which wasn't an Apple failure: it was the result of idiotic password choices on the part of the victims. Had they been using Android, or Windows Phone, or kept their photos on a CP/M machine with dial-up access only... the same thing would have happened.
Re: It doesn't make sense to use Apple (Score:2)
Apple's enthusiasm to make iCloud the has-all-your-stuff-and-controls-all-your-devices cool convenience hub was understandable in terms of creating a feature that users who barely know about backups, much less make them, would find valuable(especially in the context of mobile devices which get replaced/lost/broken/stolen a lot and don't tend to
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Not sure what your point is. Are you saying Apple will be happy to sell you a replacement device, but Android manufacturers won't? And about that "hardware support." Ever heard of "Made for iPod", the formal Apple program which promised compatibility (well, for maybe 30 days after the product was discontinued)? Heck, my old Moto Droid wil
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Where's the Apple support for 30 pin dock connector charging?
Right here: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MA591G/C/apple-30-pin-to-usb-cable [apple.com]
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Re: It doesn't make sense to use Apple (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean the dock in the dashboard of your car?
Apple says it's obsolete. Get a new car.
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Are you saying Apple will be happy to sell you a replacement device, but Android manufacturers won't?
Yes. When a company comes up with a solution, they will usually approve it for a set number of years...not changing anything (i.e. upgrading every 6mo to 1 yr) because that would mean recertifying a new model, sourcing new cases, dealing with heterogeneous inventory. Apple hardware generally has longer production/support runs than Android. Most of the iPod Touches seem to be available new from retail sources for 3-4 years[1] (I couldn't find a similar source for Android). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wi [wikipedia.org]
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No, let's think bigger. Electronics manufacturers? Nah. Businesses. All of them. There's one that sucks and, since we're lumping them together, well, they all suck.
Right?
It's rare that I'll reply to support an AC, but here I am.
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It's like safety scissors vs shears, really. There are really dangerously designed shears with poor handle designs and sharper than necessary points, and there are a handful of good designs with points just
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When that one well-supported device outsells any individual model of iPhone (be fair, compare a single model to a single model)
what model is that? Every single Samsung (who owns the Android market) is unsupported in less than 2 years, AFAIK. I have 4 of them on my desk, between 2 and 4 years old, none are officially supported. Jailbroken, sure. But official support? Not a chance. Every one with less than 1 year of official updates. We'll see about the S7.
and iOS is better than Android for locking you into Apple's ecosystem.
Capt. Obvious today? ;)
Also, and I've never been able to put my finger on it, iOS just really clashes with how I use my phone; ... Of course, the same can be said about Android when it comes to tablet use, which is why I have an iPad Pro and not a Galaxy Tab.
There's so much to talk about in those 2 sentences.
Other than phone calls and potentially cellular data app use, exactly how does your phone usage vary fro
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Not a chance. Every one with less than 1 year of official updates. We'll see about the S7.
You must be referring to one year from when you bought it, in which case people get hit with that on iOS as well if they buy an older model. The S7 is already past the 1 year mark (and was when I upgraded to the S8 the day it came out) and is still receiving updates. Hyperbole only weakens your argument; did you forget that I understand this fact, because I know you do, it's one of the reasons I engage you, on average, more often than almost anyone else on this site. I appreciate that you tend to stick to f
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Not a chance. Every one with less than 1 year of official updates. We'll see about the S7.
You must be referring to one year from when you bought it, in which case people get hit with that on iOS as well if they buy an older model. The S7 is already past the 1 year mark (and was when I upgraded to the S8 the day it came out) and is still receiving updates.
Depends on your vendor. I'd check the S7, but it was shipped out last week. As soon as I get it back, I'll see when the last update was. BTW, support doesn't mean some firmware gets a minor tweak, but the OS gets its version updates. So when I buy a phone, and it's OS 3.2, and 6 months down the road OS 4.0 comes out, if I can't install OS 4.0, then that phone is effectively unsupported under the OS, especially given that OS updates on a given version appear to stop within 6 months of the next full version r
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As for locating info on the phone, the iOS search feature is pretty damn quick, and works within various apps
The easiest way to locate info on a phone is to have a widget displaying it when you unlock the phone. Last I checked, iOS doesn't support home screen widgets. If I can "unlock, look, and put away" in 2 seconds with Android, or "unlock, search, look, put away" in 10-15 seconds with iOS, Android is the clear winner.
If you use your phone differently than I use mine and, as a result, iOS works better for you, that's great, use an iPhone and be happy with it. Android works better for me and I honestly don't k
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The easiest way to locate info on a phone is to have a widget displaying it when you unlock the phone. Last I checked, iOS doesn't support home screen widgets.
There's equivalent - I generally use notifications for that. You can configure those to show even without unlocking the phone.
Allrighty, let's dig into it - I wish to find where on the phone a particular app data file is.
How do you do that on iOS? I'm genuinely asking as, last time I checked, you could not.
In iOS, you don't, at least until iOS 11 (I heard some snippet about viewing the filesystem, maybe it's not correct) However, it's easy enough to see files via Imazing or, yick, iTunes. And those don't magically appear/disappear either, unlike Android's external viewing options.
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Not everything works as a notification, my friend. RSS feeds sort-of work, but the notifications tend to disappear once you've interscted with thime, while the widgets remain there for later reference. Slicky notes and lists are other useful widgets that just don't exist on iOS. If those aren't useful to you, so be it, enjoy iOS, there's nothing wrong with that. It really isn't my fault that you can't fathom someone having different usage patterns than you, but, well, I do. iOS doesn't work for my as a phone OS and that's that.
I tried sticky notes, they drove me crazy. We obviously have different usage patterns. For me, I prefer a laptop, then a tablet, then a phone, in that order. I am over-connected (is that a valid condition?) enough that I absolutely don't want RSS feeds, for example, on my phone. Disconnecting when I'm away from work is something of a goal for me, and I'd leave my phone in my drawer in a different house if I could get away with it.
This would be a worthy discussion had I not already tried it and if I weren't already a daily user of iOS, but I have and I am. You aren't introducing me to a better way or whatever you think it is you're doing, I'm already quite familiar with iOS, thanks. Familiar enough to know it's not what I want on my phone.
I'm just genuinely curious why you stated what you stated. I've tried similar
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I am over-connected (is that a valid condition?) enough that I absolutely don't want RSS feeds, for example, on my phone.
I feel the same way when I have a ton of notifications. I strive to keep that notification bar as clean and clear as possible; a widget is always there, wherever I left it on whichever home screen I put it on, and I can pay as much or as little attention to it as I see fit. That's why widgets beat notifications for my use case; if you prefer notifications (or nags as I often call them), I can't really argue with that and iOS is the clear winner for you.
Disconnecting when I'm away from work is something of a goal for me, and I'd leave my phone in my drawer in a different house if I could get away with it.
Ah, what luxury, being "away from work". What I wouldn'
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I feel the same way when I have a ton of notifications....if you prefer notifications (or nags as I often call them), I can't really argue with that and iOS is the clear winner for you.
Actually, I turn 99+% of those off. I can glance at my calendar if I need to see what's happening, my todo list if I need to see what's due next, etc (I guess those would be widgets? :) Mail is absolutely 0 notifications, or I'd never be able to focus on anything. This goes for all my systems. Do I occasionally miss an "important" message sent via email or IM? No, because if it was truly important, there'd be a call. Does this mean you sometimes have to train a new boss? If you have one, absolutely. So far
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I can glance at my calendar if I need to see what's happening, my todo list if I need to see what's due next, etc (I guess those would be widgets? :)
Yes, Apple has a handful of lock screen widgets and, if they provided the functionality I needed, they would certainly be better than Android's home screen widgets, because I wouldn't have to unlock to see them. Of course, they'd also be worse because nobody I hand my phone to (or who takes it from me) would have to unlock to see them, either.
I actually made use of iOS lock screen widgets for a brief while and found them clunky; especially the ones you could interact with, like the calculator (which doesn
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Yes, Apple has a handful of lock screen widgets ...Of course, they'd also be worse because nobody I hand my phone to (or who takes it from me) would have to unlock to see them, either.
This is why I don't get the whole widgets thing. Usually the things I need to see are things I don't want joe random to be able to see merely by picking up my phone. Things I don't need to see don't need to be on the lock screen, qed.
But, even as a user, if you borrow or try to help someone with their phone, it's like randomly picking up a version of windows NT from 2000 through Win10 and being asked to help connect to a wireless access point.
That's a caveat of customization. I'll agree that manufacturers have been given too long of a leash for their own customization, but it's really a side effect of giving the user that level of control. It's one that Google should have foreseen and handled contractually, and they're taking steps to reel it in; they have to boil the frog, so to speak, making subtle changes over time so as not to run afoul of existing licensing agreements. Even if this was handled correctly from day one, there would still be nothing technically preventing a manufacturer from modifying the OS, though, as that's really one of the points of Android: to be able to be modified.
I know that they're trying to improve it recently by removing some customization abilities. I have yet to see the results which should be a more consistent experience.
On the vast majority of devices, it's POWER+HOME just like iOS. I'll grand you that, though, for the handful of devices (including my Yoga Book) where it is not. Screen grabs have always appeared in the photos app for me; that same Photos app (provided by Google, so it's the same on every device) has a Device Folders menu item, you can find pretty much everything there. You can also the ( i ) icon while viewing an image to get a whole slew of information about it, including its location on the device. There should never be a reason to have to look that up; even the vendor-provided and aftermarket viewers I've seen show all media by default and provide this info, because the vast majority of them use the Photos API in the first place.
On the LG K20, for example, it's in the Capture+ folder, because how you get a screen capture there is via the
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This is why I don't get the whole widgets thing. Usually the things I need to see are things I don't want joe random to be able to see merely by picking up my phone. Things I don't need to see don't need to be on the lock screen, qed.
And this is why Android's home screen (e.g. where your icons are, not visible while locked) widgets are better.
That is truly an understatement.
I don't think Slashdot will let me fit enough text into the 50 posts I get each day to properly elaborate.
Then again, basing CoreData on SQLite says all you need to know about that, except SQLite itself is actually far better and more reliable than CoreData.
A lot of Apple's architectural decisions leave me scratching my head. Then again, so do a lot of Google's... and Microsoft's... and don't get me started on Linux; if more VPS providers supported BSD, that's what I'd run my servers on.
At least you can get your hands on the Android devices you
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And this is why Android's home screen (e.g. where your icons are, not visible while locked) widgets are better.
I guess I don't get it. Generally the apps are fine for me, a widget is like Tom, in Office Space.
That is truly an understatement.
I don't think Slashdot will let me fit enough text into the 50 posts I get each day to properly elaborate.
Thanks for the laugh. I need those daily, keeps the frustration in its place.
A lot of Apple's architectural decisions leave me scratching my head. Then again, so do a lot of Google's... and Microsoft's... and don't get me started on Linux; if more VPS providers supported BSD, that's what I'd run my servers on.
NetBSD is pretty decent, but yes, mostly we're running either RedHat or CentOS for our linux deployments.
As for architectural decisions, Apple I get on the desktop, after thinking about it. I do hope they're successful with what
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I guess I don't get it. Generally the apps are fine for me, a widget is like Tom, in Office Space.
A widget is always there displaying your information or waiting for your interaction, while an app must be located, opened, and navigated through. Opening an app can take anywhere from almost no time, up to several seconds, depending on the app, and navigation can also be nontrivial. With a widget, I unlock, look, lock, done, 2 seconds. In well over 90% of cases, I won't have an app open in that same time, let alone have found the information I'm interested in.
Google basically did a "how fast can we rip off and write a clone of iOS with what we have" rush job, and they've been bandaiding it ever since.
Do you honestly believe that? Like, really? You
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A widget is always there displaying your information or waiting for your interaction, while an app must be located, opened, and navigated through. Opening an app can take anywhere from almost no time, up to several seconds, depending on the app, and navigation can also be nontrivial.
I guess we really operate differently. I unlock, look at mail, done. My home screen is organized to have the apps I'm interested in 1 tap away, so generally, unlock, tap, look, done. Home, tap, look for another app. As the phone is more than capable of appearing to be running all my apps all the time, it's not an issue. Oh, and background processing is turned off pretty much across the board.
Google basically did a "how fast can we rip off and write a clone of iOS with what we have" rush job, and they've been bandaiding it ever since.
Do you honestly believe that? Like, really? You think they put together a full operating system and hardware to run it on, build a handful of test units, got FCC approval, got it into manufacturing, and moved it onto store shelves in a matter of weeks? If they did, they should sell logistics as a service; just getting FCC approval for a device takes longer than people making that claim seem to think the entire R&D, testing, approval, manufacture, and shipping process took Google.
Actually, they did [bgr.com]. They had a phone in development for a couple of years, and when they discovered what the iPhone r
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Actually, they did
Oh? From your last reference:
After working for two years on Sooner, which was supposed to ship in late 2007 ... and whose launch was pushed back to fall 2008.
Seems like more than a few weeks to me, and that's assuming they didn't change course until the official iPhone announcement on January 9, 2007. They spent over a year reworking what they reworked. Well over a year, nearly two. Again, assuming they didn't start before the public announcement.
I guess a $400 mini wouldn't satisfy your Safari needs?
Not when I need to test against the larger viewport of the larger iPad Pro. No, it would not. Before that, I bought an Air because it was the newer device and would be supported longer (a ne
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Oh? From your last reference:
After working for two years on Sooner, which was supposed to ship in late 2007 ... and whose launch was pushed back to fall 2008.
Seems like more than a few weeks to me, and that's assuming they didn't change course until the official iPhone announcement on January 9, 2007. They spent over a year reworking what they reworked. Well over a year, nearly two. Again, assuming they didn't start before the public announcement.
Something like 1.5 years. IIRC the iPhone was in development for over 3 years. But yes, they rushed to attempt to build it out. From 0 to their first Android phone was pretty quick, far quicker than they would preferred from everything I recall reading at the time. And what they released then was truly underwhelming. It's why they relinquished as much control as they did, because they needed to gain as much market as possible or it could have been them, not MS, that buckled and disappeared.
I guess a $400 mini wouldn't satisfy your Safari needs?
Not when I need to test against the larger viewport of the larger iPad Pro. No, it would not. Before that, I bought an Air because it was the newer device and would be supported longer (a new Mini model came out some time after that purchase). The Mini (and Ari) present a 1024x768 viewport, compared to the Pro's 1366x1024. That matters.
I have no idea wh
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Something like 1.5 years.
1 year 8 months if you really want to nit-pick, but they didn't throw out everything they had; they were already building on a 2.6-series Linux kernel and using their in-house Java implementation (see your first reference) for codename "Sooner" before the iPhone was announced; they simply added touch screen support to that.
I have no idea what you're talking about there.
I had no idea what you were talking about, apparently; sorry for the confusion. I thought you were talking about an iPad Mini.
That said, no, it really wouldn't have done the trick for m
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1 year 8 months if you really want to nit-pick, but they didn't throw out everything they had; they were already building on a 2.6-series Linux kernel and using their in-house Java implementation (see your first reference) for codename "Sooner" before the iPhone was announced; they simply added touch screen support to that.
I think you may be right, and in that case, that fully explains why the first Android phones were so lackluster. That's even more depressing, btw, that means they took 20 months to add touch screen support.
Regarding your personal challenges to using a mac mini, you can screen share with them and run them headless. For initial setup/configuration, just about any reasonably modern TV would have functioned as the monitor.
When I started talking about viewport sizes, it should perhaps have been a giveaway that I wasn't talking about the desktop; for that, you just resize the window.
You were talking about viewport being important from the standpoint of safari running wit
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Regarding your personal challenges to using a mac mini, you can screen share with them and run them headless. For initial setup/configuration, just about any reasonably modern TV would have functioned as the monitor.
At any rate, in 2014 when I bought the MBP, my choices for a Mini were either a used 2012 or a hobbled current model. I wanted smoetihng I wouldn't have to replace for the froeseeable future and I'm guessing your Mini is from before "the hobbling". For my use case, this MBP will die long before it will have outlived its useful life; a used 2 year old 2012 Mini would have set me back about $600 and who knows what abuse it saw that may lead to an early failure, then the prospect of replacing it with who kn
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At any rate, in 2014 when I bought the MBP, my choices for a Mini were either a used 2012 or a hobbled current model. I wanted smoetihng I wouldn't have to replace for the froeseeable future and I'm guessing your Mini is from before "the hobbling".
Yep, I bought 2012s when the nerfing was known. Refurbs are fine, too. I got the cheapest i7 quad configurations I could get, SSD replacements and more RAM made them quite useful, and they're quiet and pretty cool, which is important when you're sitting right next to them.
Viewport as in the piel dimensions at which the page is rendered.
Viewport, canvas, same thing. Yes, the browser's display space is always smaller than the screen resolution, on everything.
Because Safari on iOS doesn't generate click events in some cases, so one must be able to test in order to know where a tap or drag event might be needed. Literally only iOS has this problem. And because Safari rendering engines differ between iOS and macOS which, of course, necessitates having an iOS device for each viewport you wish to target with a responsive design, as each device has a fixed (by the OS) viewport. This is less of a problem on Android, where Chrome and Firefox use their own engines and typically match what the desktop version does. Another reason I prefer Android, to be quite honest.
OK, that's some new Interesting data. I have not run across the Safari click events issue in iOS. I have run into th
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Viewport, canvas, same thing. Yes, the browser's display space is always smaller than the screen resolution, on everything.
I suggest you look at the link I posted so you can understand just what I am referring to. The canvas on an iPad Pro is way larger than the 1366x1024 viewport it provides; closer to double that, as a matter of fact. Obviously, the canvas will be the screen size minus any toolbars, window borders, and other decorations or controls; the viewport on a desktop is often identical to the canvas, while this is almost never the case on mobile.
This is what I do for a living, I'm damn good at it, but even still I h
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At the very least, check the references before you discount what I'm saying, you might just learn something.
Oh, I don't discount what you're saying. And I see what those links say falls in line with my experiences. The "canvas" being larger is somewhat irrelevant in my experience, I'm only concerned about the viewable real estate. It's obvious you delve in areas I don't tread.
Depending on the control or element being tapped on, ...
Yes, all of that makes sense and would be what I'd expect. I understand it makes life harder for what you're doing, but I fully get why it works that way.
Regarding the underlying engines, I was under the impression they were all different for mobile, primarily because of what you're limited to in the mobile realm.
That hasn't been the case for some time now. On every browser I've used in recent memory, except Safari, the rendering engines are the same; or at least close enough that neither I nor my clients have spotted any difference that required a tweak for mobile. The javascript engines sometimes differ; the iOS Safari javascript engine necessarily differs because iOS registers touch events instead of clicks, while macOS Safari does not.
So the difference in Safari is primarily attributable to the additional interface optio
Re: It doesn't make sense to use Apple (Score:2)
AOSP isn't really designed to be turned into an end-user-ready phone; and lacking Play store, the various Google apps and services, etc. is typically a deal breaker unless you swap in your own (as with Amazon); but if you are treating it as a subst
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AOSP isn't really designed to be turned into an end-user-ready phone;
Who told you that? Why did you believe it? I've run AOSP on my phone before, in the form of SOKP, and it was a joy. Absolute minimum bullshit.
and lacking Play store, the various Google apps and services, etc. is typically a deal breaker unless you swap in your own (as with Amazon);
What? No. You can install gapps on AOSP.
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You can't install gapps legally on AOSP. Google requires a license for them, and only licenses them to OEMs that agree to a large number of provisions (and pays them). THey're widely available, but you are pirating them.
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As for 'isn't really designed to be turned into an end-user-ready phone"; I agree that it can be done; and the experience can actually be pleasant in a minimalist sort of way; but w
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The lesson is more that specialized hardware works better than commodity, mass-market hardware once the innovations from mass market can be passed down. The new device has a built-in laser scanner and presumably replaceable batteries, apparently two major limitations of using a generalist device.
When I look at the Apple Store employees with their iPhone backpacks for credit card transactions and lasers, I think they should be more like Target, sadly.
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Target wants exclusivity for merchandise it sells (Score:1)
What scanner? (Score:2)
So they took a sleek consumer device and strapped an aftermarket 3rd party barcode scanner onto it and wondered why the hardware behaved like a big kludge?
Re:What scanner? (Score:4, Insightful)
> So they took a sleek consumer device and strapped an aftermarket 3rd party barcode scanner onto it and wondered why the hardware behaved like a big kludge?
Suuure. A PC with a peripheral attached is a "big kludge".
Re:What scanner? (Score:5, Interesting)
I develop develop/enable mobile barcode scanning for a few platforms as a developer, so this is not a subject I'm alien to. There is a very good chance that the app they use is less stable or more power intensive than the ones I develop for. Then again, that would just go back to shitty testing (much to my surprise).
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I have to wonder if they're also worried about the iPod touches being EOLed in the near future, given the product hasn't been updated in over two years - and the rest of the iPod line was axed two months ago.
Re: What scanner? (Score:1)
The summary says they are porting their apps to android. The sequence could be develop some bad iOS apps that don't work blame iOS and move to android ;)
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iPod in a scanner sled actually works really well, right up to the point the battery swells or wears out. Then you yank the iPod out of the sled, and waste time sending someone to the Apple store to swap out the entire device since Apple's battery replacement program is really an $80 device replacement program. Then the devices come back to IT for provisioning and reassembly, and finally back on the warehouse floor.
This is what we're faced with today in our business as well. The iPod in a sled has worked
You can see the improvement already (Score:5, Funny)
"The current iOS my devices we have all sorts of issues"
Apparently the Android grammar checker ain't so hot.
Re: You can see the improvement already (Score:1)
"my device" is internal Target jargon for the tool. The old hardware was called a PDA and to distinguish the iPods and now Androids from the old PDA hardware someone decided to call them a "my device". They also brilliantly decided to name all the apps on it with "my" as a prefix.
Also when the switch was made to the iOS devices there was no decent business grade Android or Windows equivelant. So choosing iOS wasn't such a bad idea. And, most development was done using HTML5 and phone gap. So conversion
Honestly... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's for specific cases like these that I wanted to see Linux distros getting a true, solid working mobile commercial version with continuous support and enterprise/business adoption...
And yes, I know Android is based on a Linux kernel, but I'm talking more like Ubuntu Mobile expanding and going forward, or something else.
Because honestly, I'm not sure how much replacing iOS devices with Android devices in cases like these will help. Fanboyism aside, Android devices have as many if not more potential problems in comparison to Apple stuff, particularly in business and enterprise scenarios.
Connection issues, scanner issues? Android devices also have those. Replaceable batteries? Perhaps the company they closed a deal with (Zebra) still has devices with replaceable batteries, but this is clearly going away on Android devices in general... I think the last flagship phone that had it was the LG V20, and the update to it (V30 released recently) is sealed with no easy replacement for battery. Not even cheaper phones or phones with alternative markets (active lines, rugged lines, etc) are coming with the option anymore.
They'll eventually have to go with external battery cases and whatnot.
How would a Linux mobile help? Well, I guess it really depends how the whole implementation would work really... and it wouldn't be easy. But it'd really be best not to get tied to Google or Apple for cases like those, to have an OS that could be installed in multiple mobile configurations, to have access to code to configure it down to devices' specific functions, etc etc.
When you are on iPods, iPads, iPhones, or Android devices you are basically running a whole bunch of useless crap on top of the software you really need for sales floors and warehouse management. Not to talk about privacy and security worries, the world could really use right now an alternative to big corporation devices for tasks like these.
And I'm no Linux fanatic myself... Android phone user and Windows 10 desktop here. It's just that I think the lack of competition in this area is bringing a whole lot of problems recently.
Re:Honestly... (Score:4, Interesting)
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This!. Linux changes nothing. Android is already quite open enough when you don't need to rely on Google Play services. The whole point is that special purpose devices can be made for Android, but not for iOS. Switching to Linux changes nothing about this.
Re: Honestly... (Score:1)
Whichever hardware Target standardises on, I would bet they make sure it's robust and comes with assurance of future upgrades. If necessary. Remember, these things are built into a closed retail ecosystem. I doubt that employees are allowed to install bad Candy Crush clones from the Play Store.
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Whichever hardware Target standardises on, I would bet they make sure it's robust and comes with assurance of future upgrades. If necessary. Remember, these things are built into a closed retail ecosystem.
Oh, okay then. What could possibly go wrong [senate.gov]?
Re:Honestly... (Score:4, Interesting)
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I use Android devices to do inventory control. Honeywell just released their Android based scanner (CK75). They work great. I don't see why they would have a problem in the business or enterprise world (Considering there's a lot of enterprise inventory control software for Android already). I've had Windows CE based scanners, that were always freaking terrible. They were never good to begin with. It was so bad, I didn't even bother wanting to write software for it, just made my own telnet interface for the
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but it gets pricey to outfit every employee in a Big box store with one when you are looking at a quarter million dollars per store for $10/hr grunts.
A couple of points though. Not every employee gets one, usually just the department managers. You're not talking 100 devices for every store, probably closer to 20.
And with how hard they push their employees it's not just about their labor rate, but the ability to get their jobs done. Can't scan the "outs" because your consumer grade phone died/broke? Now you've missed the order deadline and your going another 4 days without all of that product. There are dozens examples where the lost opportunity cost
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Connection issues, scanner issues? Android devices also have those. Replaceable batteries? Perhaps the company they closed a deal with (Zebra) still has devices with replaceable batteries, but this is clearly going away on Android devices in general...
It's in the summary, Zebra TC51 [zebra.com]It's a $1,500 purpose built device with a built in barcode reader and replaceable batteries. This isn't a toy, it's a purpose built device.
There's still an iPod Touch? (Score:2)
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Re: There's still an iPod Touch? (Score:1)
I had an iPod Touch for awhile. I did not need or want a cellphone. In this day and age, it would make more sense to buy an inexpensive no-contract Android phone at Walmart for $30-50 and just never activate it. The Touches have always featured significantly degraded components (displsy, camera, etc.) than their iPhone of the same generation , so it would be nuts to spend three figures on a Touch to hand to your kid in today.
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Even better
https://www.motorola.com/us/pr... [motorola.com]
No phone contract to worry about and cheaper than a iTouch
Happening this Friday ... (Score:2)
... and it will be a Black day [slashdot.org].
"Target experienced a system-wide breach of credit card numbers over the Black Friday holiday shopping season..."
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Target has a good consumer site (Score:3)
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Dear Store Manager: (Score:3)
"...a former store manager wrote that "the iPod hardware they used as on the floor scanners for employees died quickly and there was no way of swapping in new batteries"
And how many employees were reprimanded for not plugging them in to recharge? A similar situation happened at a store close to me. A friend said the morning/afternoon shifts would screw around and not recharge devices. Leaving the night crew having to wait their turn for the only remaining device working. Why was this happening?....
1) No one plugged it in to recharge.
2) The recharge cord wasn't plugged in because the employee removed it so they could recharge their own phone. (Hey, Pokemon Go takes up a lot of juice during an eight hour shift. And no, I'm not kidding. This was actually being done by the same employees who were also [see #1 & #3].
3) When they were fully charged the powerstrip would be turned off. And then forgotten to be turned on again. In order to save energy. "Also turn the lights off when you leave the room." Even though people are in and out all day. And it take more power to turn it on/off 30x then it would use if you just left it on.
Also you notice managers won't lose their iPhones.You know, the ones they probably use for Pokemon Go. ;)
Customization (Score:2)
Android is open source, so there is an endless choice of form factors, ruggedized devices, battery sizes, hardware like built in barcode/RFID scanners... Surprises it took that long. Target probably doesn't need Google apps on their devices, so they can strip down the OS for security/abuse protection and run on really inexpensive hardware without much RAM or flash.
Apple closed ecosystems seems a weird choice (Score:2)
Apple's closed ecosystem devices seem like a weird choice for this purpose. Apple are famously uncooperative about hardware and software functions they don't approve of and their support systems is highly oriented towards individual consumers.
Am I missing something about their flexibility in industrial markets? This mostly seems like the device being chosen because someone in management thinks the user interface is easy and their staff might be familiar with it, not that it's an otherwise good technical c
Comment removed (Score:3)
Buzz driven IT (Score:2)
That's what happens when you make infrastructure decisions based on shiny things and buzz, rather than evaluating actual needs.
Why the hell would you use an Apple device (or more accurately, ANY device with a non-removable battery) for tasks that routinely require constant use throughout the day, every day.
I can't speak to the rest of their problems, but if the rest of their system was as poorly thought out as the battery aspect, then I'm not surprised they're running into issues.
This isn't an Apple problem
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All the touch iPods are basically iPhones without the modem.
Re: iPod WTF? (Score:1)
Apparently an iPod Touch.
This change must eliminate the last practical reason for the iPod Touch to exist.
Disclaimer: I used to own and really liked my iPod Touch 3rd gen.
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