iPod Touch 16GB version

Last Thursday I got the iPod Touch 16GB to use over the weekend. I quickly uploaded Video, Podcasts, Music and Photos and maxed out memory... that's just how I am. I always knew that 16GB isn't enough. I figure for my needs I would need an absolute minimum of 32GB though if you start adding video I would have to say 64GB is much more realistic.

So let me talk a bit about the device itself... the pros and the cons.

 

Pros:

Design... wow, this thing is amazing to look at. VERY thin and just beautiful. Everything is very high quality... amazing product.

Screen... WOW, this is the best part by far. The screen is amazingly bright and VERY high res. Everything looks just great on this screen.

Speed... this thing is fast. It seems to load all the apps very quickly, including pictures, music and video.

Web Surfing... was actually pretty good. I enjoyed the WiFi speeds and the great screen, pages looked great and overall it was very fun to surf on this thing.

Cons:

Battery Life... I used it for the day... watched an episode of Ugly Betty and Heroes. Had the music on for a few hours total, and I even turned off the WiFi to see if the battery would last longer. By the end of the day it was dead. Not good.

No bluetooth... perhaps the most important feature which is missing on the Touch is Bluetooth. The reason why this is so important to have is A. You should be able to sync with your computer/laptop via bluetooth B. You should be able to use an external Bluetooth keyboard to make typing easier.(that includes a mouse too). C. This is the most important, Bluetooth gateway to your Bluetooth mobile phone. Since this unit does not take GSM cards (as it is not an iPhone) the only way to get online is via WiFi). I use my Bluetooth phone connection when I need to connect my laptop to the internet on the go, it works very well and is fast. The Touch desperately needs this... DESPERATELY.

Another thing I noticed is the fact that 99% of the functions are via the touch screen, it is not possible to use the unit while it is in your pocket. This is an issue, and shows me that the ideal device would in fact have a couple of buttons so that you may (feel) your way through your clothing to say... skip to the next track. Maybe if I had a remote on the cable to my headphones that would help.

16GB is NOT enough... it's bad enough that most people have more than 16GB of music on their PC but now you pictures and video and suddenly 16GB seems... small. I ran out memory the first day I had it and had to start "managing" my music/video content. Not good.

The next complaint I have with the unit is one that is very much just an opinion. You see I never liked (and probably never will like) iTunes. Using iTunes with the Touch did not change my mind. The software is bloated (the PC version). It has hung up on me (the software) on several occasions usually when I disconnect the Touch from the computer.

The Touch itself did manage to hang up on me a couple of times, usually Safari was what caused the hang up. Safari does not yet support all types of plug-ins (like YouTube's regular site). And some sites like Pownce did like to "hickup" as they loaded.

The final thing I found very annoying about the Touch was... how locked down it is. I deliberately did not Jail Brake it to see what I could do... well, the answer is NOT MUCH. In fact I'll go as far as to say that the "official" Apple applications that are now available via the Apple site are a hoax.. they are not REAL applications, they are only web sites. This is Steve Jobs idea of running apps on the Touch??? Creating Web sites??? That's just so so poor... especially since the device can do SOOOO much more. It doesn't even include a way to check and write email on it. They took that application out of the Touch (it is in the iPhone) and to get it on the Touch you are, well you guessed it, forced to Jail Brake it so that REAL apps can be installed.

So overall I miss the unit. It's very slick, very nice, works well. But why sell a Ferrari and allow it to get out of 2nd gear??? Such a complete waste of a great device (perhaps one of the best devices ever made).

 

3/5 when locked down, 4/5 when unlocked, 5/5 if Apple would add bluetooth and allow computers to see this thing as regular HD.

Symbian Smartphone Show 2007

Well, on Tuesday and Wednesday I attended the Symbian Smartphone Show which, while not being the largest show I've seen, did have quite a few very impressive partners show they latest offerings.

Of course you had the big boys there, such Goliath's as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung, but also the S60 Forum was there, UIQ.

 

Overall I expected to be impressed with Nokia, Sony Ericsson was strong as well... the surprises were both Samsung and Motorola who both showed their new handsets based on Symbian OS (with Motorola using UIQ who they just acquired a majority stake in). It's good to see these companies agree on a standard OS allowing developers to create some truly wonderful applications expanding the mobile market. I have nothing against Palm, Windows Mobile or even Blackberry for that matter, but this was the Symbian Smartphone Show and I do believe that from what I have seen so far, the Symbian platform does offer the most flexibility, powerful functions and open developer base of all these systems.

 

I went around, talked to people and made new friends. I can see that the mobile market is well, and expending... things are now really starting to get interesting.

The obvious major thing I noticed at the show was the move by two very large mobile phone companies (Samsung and Motorola) to the Symbian OS (finally). This makes me think that LG might be the next company to make the move, but for now... I'm just happy that these companies are finally realizing the advantages of using the same OS both from a cost point of view as well as support (and I mean development from outside none-employee developers).

There were also many companies showing various solution that run Symbian based phones. Obviously that number will grow as more and more companies put the OS into their mobile phones. I really feel this is going to be great for the mobile phone market and finally allow it to grow in a way we've been waiting for.

 

 

Now I can't wait for next years show, which I suspect will be MUCH bigger. I see Symbian reaching a major turning point now that so many players are onboard and becoming the major mobile OS moving forward. Question is, how will future versions of Symbian handle the multimedia needs of new devices... or new input methods (such as the new push for touch screen) will remain to be seen. But I have faith that Symbian will work very closely with the large vendors to make sure their OS is properly implemented and supported. The mobile revolution is upon us! :-)

My new Apple Keyboard... running on Windows XP.

So on Friday I decided to go to the Apple store on Regent Street in London. I finally wanted to try the new keyboard Apple released a couple of months ago (when the new iMac came out). My goal was to see if it felt as good as it looked. Now before I go on... I just want to say that keyboards are like mice... almost impossible to decide if it's any good unless you try it for yourself. I've read quite a few reviews on the Internet about the new keyboard and quite frankly it just made me want to try it for myself more. This keyboard is NOT for everyone... but you know, no keyboard is for everyone. Different people have different tastes, this is true for cars, fashion, and keyboards.

So I went to the Mac store and after standing in line to try one of the new iMacs (which had the keyboard connected to it) I finally got a chance to experience it (both the 24" iMac as well as the keyboard).

So my first impression for me was.... this was a very well made keyboard. It is aluminum with buttons that stick out very much like the iBook laptops Apple sells. The next thing you'll notice is how incredibly thin it is... I mean it is REALLY thin. Yet, it is very sturdy and balanced. This is a USB2 keyboard (not because the keyboard itself needs USB2 but because it has 2 USB2 ports built-in on the sides so you can easily connect MP3 players, cameras, phones, etc).

After typing on it for a bit (the people behind me were not very happy to wait but owe well) I must say.... well... here is what it looks like at home. :-)

It works very well with Windows XP though a couple keys are mislabeled but really only 2 I think so not a big deal. It really looks nice and I am enjoying how the keys work (I've always loved laptop keys). I can only say good things about it, though I STRONGLY suggest you go into your local Mac store to try one out before you buy. But I would give that advice to anyone who was interested in getting a new keyboard or mouse.

My next test will to try my favourite FPS (first person shooters) such as Unreal Tournament 2004, Half-Life, and Bio Hazard.

Mobile Camp London 2007 Day 2 - great people make for a great event

The show was a huge success, so many different products and services were shown. The only complaint I had was that I wanted to be in 2 or even 3 places at once. The show was very well organized and even though a lot of the presentations were last-minute it never seemed that way. There were always refreshments on hand (including breakfast and lunch) and even beers at the end of the day.

The hosts like Victor Szilagyi (pictured above) as well as Imran Ali and Christian Lindholm (pictured below) really knew what they were doing and I must give them a big thank you. (BTW on the right that is Petro Soininen, who showed me the latest Nokia handsets that are not on the market yet)

In fact even some very familiar faces were there as well... such as the very lovely Sarah Blow, founder of the London Girl Geek Dinners as well as GirlyGeekdom Blog. She even went as far as to fashion the Mobile Camp London shirts to show us just how good they can really look! :-)

The conferences were always full of interesting attendees and it was never boring.

Towards the end we even had a competition, where a group of developers showed off their latest offerings.\

Each one was unique and different dealing with many areas within Web 2.0

everyone listened closely because at the end we had to vote for our favourite solution. It wasn't an easy choice...

Once the presentations were over the developers all got into a line (looked like a police lineup) and everyone was reminded what each person (persons) presented.

 Victor made sure everyone got a fair shot as the prices were really good (iPhone and Nokia n95 as the top prices) it make me wish I had tried it. (that Nokia N95 will be mine one day)

and some more....

and the winner is.....

... ahhh the kids these days... :-) he put together a very cool application that made it easy to check TV shows online (schedules and such). Now that's a good way of showing everyone what the TV guys need to figure out... their audience. He is the proud new owner of an iPhone.

Another update to Mobile Camp London 2007 Day 2

Let me introduce you, to Monsieur Laurent Guyot-Sionnest, CEO of Tiki'labs based out of Paris France. I actually stumbled upon Laurent's invention by accident... and to be honest I thought it was something else entirely. He notice me poking around his stuff and quickly came over (probably a bit concerned I might break something). He comes over and starts explaining that I'm not, in fact, looking at his invention. I wasn't sure if I could take him seriously after all his heavy French accent was a bit suspicious, but I let him talk, and what he explained to me... I cannot stop thinking about. I was looking at something... that can change the world.

The first thing Laurent gets out is a piece of paper with 6 squares on it... 3x2 configuration. So he asks me to place my hand on it and starts to explain... how his new keyboard will work. 6 keys???!!! Yes, 6 keys to replace the QWERTY keyboards we use on mobile devices... Surely you mock me sir... mock me not sir... no... he was serious.

As the presentation progressed he explained how the 6 keys were split up into quadrants (or squares), and how each quadrant had 2 rows inside it. This is VERY intuitive and surprisingly easy system to learn.

The basic layout of the keyboard is this picture:

Each quadrant has carefully picked letters/symbols in it. It has been especially configured for maximum speed and ease. So imagine 6 keys lined up like the 6 squares above (for this example I'm going to use QWE and ASD). Let's say you want to write the letter "a", just hit "q" once, which then switches the program to show this...

So the program is told which quadrant you want and then that switches the same 6 keys so you are now asked which row you would like... hitting the "q" again tells the program to input the letter "a". Of course if you wanted to input the letter "b" same logic would work except you would hit "q" once and "w" for the second input.

That's it, you now know the basics. It takes minutes to learn, and a couple of days (at most) to feel comfy with it. The goal is... you can go as fast as 40+WPM once you really use this thing. The other obstacle is the keyboard itself, as you will need one that has much less travel on the keys. Your fingers don't have time to wait for the keys to go all the way down and back up, they want to press the keys much faster than that. (here is the TikiLabs official presentation)

I am very excited about this product, even saw a version of it running on Symbian OS. Larry plans on a Windows Mobile version as well as releasing a separate USB keyboard attachment (like the number key attachments you can get today).

The idea is, you will be able to type as fast or faster than today, using only one hand. And with fewer keys and more logical layout, you should make far fewer mistakes as well... and truly be able to type without looking at the keyboard (yes I know some can do that now, but most can't). I was really impressed by the simplicity of this solution, and hope to be able to help make it a reality. I mock you not sir... it's THAT good. :-)

Mobile Camp London Day 2 (continued)

So as the sessions continued everyone was busy taking notes and overall staying connected...

Some even showed off the wonderful prizes that were won! How cool...

Others were getting ready for their presentations (these guys were getting ready for the app showdown)...

While others took the time to get private demos of products...

 This would be a demo of the OpenHand Neo 1973 GTA 01 I discussed earlier. The "open" iPhone device (fully touch screen while running Linux).

There was  even the new HTC Touch (running Windows Mobile) probably just to compare with the OpenHand.

 

and even some "multimedia" devices like this "opened" Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) allowing it to run homebrew software as well as movies in true divx format (typically Sony makes you convert to their special format if you want to watch)

"So what about that sleeping guy's incredible product?" you ask... ooohhhh, that's next... for now, let him sleep, he's about to change the world! :-)