Cool that it now takes into account who a "normal" user might be for a particular site before challenging. More Humble Bundle traffic is let through without CAPTCHA, than Wordpress traffic.
Yes, but before you couldn't simply get a good mid to high-range phone for $400. That's not true anymore nowadays, the Moto X 2014 will probably go down to ~350USD/Euro off-contract like last year's generation. Heck, even the Moto G is a great phone for most people and is $179 off-contract for the LTE model.
Quite affordable compared to iphone 6+, which has an off-contract price of $750/$850/$950 for 16GB/64GB/128GB - on a 5.5" display. The 4.7" 16GB iphone - lowest end model available - is $650 off-contract.
In contrast, the $650 Nexus 6 has a 5.96" display and is presumably 32GB.
I agree that $650 seems like a lot of money for a phone - but that doesn't mean it's not a good value.
You mean the box is ticked in a terms and conditions screen when you first turn the device on and that counts as opting in. It's on by default. Most people don't realise what it's doing until either the uploader drinks all their battery (which mercifully they seem to have fixed) or they have loads of photos pop up when they sign in to Gmail on a desktop.
The sign in process for Android devices has become ever more convoluted and incomprehensible. People, understandably, complain about the Facebook app, but Google are actually far worse.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/lenovo-x1-carbon-adds...