@limburger2001's world in 320x240

Quick thoughts on the HP Touchpad

2011-09-27T23:09:00.003+10:00

So its been a while since I've posted anything on here, but ever since I bought an HP Touchpad during the fire sale, I wanted a place to put my thoughts on this now discontinued device.

what I like:
1)Price - I got mine from Target US via Amazon for $99...and with shipping this added up to around $140AU (yay strong aussie dollar!) - still within my impulse buy price range for tech, and definitely good value. I feel that all this attention and near-instant growth in user base could have really been utilized better by HP (ie. By reviving the touchpad, and/or continuing to develop the platform)...but I hope the WebOS dev's are seeing enough growth to stick with it during this uncertain period.

2)Interface - although not perfect (will get to that later), WebOS has a great user interface which incorporates the use of cards to switch between, and manage running apps. The look is consistent and appealing overall.

3)Micro USB connector and drive mode - This makes it a breeze to get content to the device by simply connecting to any computer, and dragging and dropping files. Of course, the ability to view these files is dependent on apps that are available on the device.

4)Touchstone dock (wireless charging) - the dock, sold separately, does take longer to charge the device vs via micro USB port, but the ease in which I can get the touchpad undocked is worth it. Also, it's cool :-)

I tried to find a 5th thing that I liked about the Touchpad, but I couldn't really think of one that wasn't already covered in the previous four, so I'll leave it at that for now.

I think I'll make a separate post on what I didn't like so much about the Touchpad (there might even be pictures!), but from what I've experienced so far with the Touchpad and WebOS, I can say that there is a lot of untapped potential in the WebOS tablet platform, and I hope HP (and/or other hardware manufacturers) won't let it die.

Early Impressions of the E72

2009-12-05T13:05:00.001+11:00

As the successor of the E71 (duh) - the E72 retains the svelte dimensions and long list of features, but with a faster processor and a slightly redesigned chassis. So does the device live up to the expectations of this E71 owner? Unfortunately not.

Things I don't like:

Build quality. For something slated as a business phone, and with fairly high RRP the E72 feels cheap in the hand, especially when compared with the E71. The percentage of plastics used in the chassis has been increased, and moreover the plastics used seems to be of a lesser quality as well. The metal accents are also thinner than on the E71, from the rear battery panel, to the border that frames the front of the device. It could be argued that Nokia went this way to reduce the weight of the device, but according to the Nokia website, the E72 is supposedly 1gram heavier!

This is very disappointing indeed as many reviewers expressly stated that the quality of the E72 had not changed, or have been improved on. So the question is, are these people on the take, or are they getting a different phone that the production model? Either way, you just have to hold the two phones in your hand to realise that the quality is NOT the same standard.

Unfortunately this decrease in quality has extended to the most important part of the phone - the keys. Unlike the E71, which have springy keys with a very precise travel and weight, the keys on the E72 are the exact opposite. The keys in the middle of the qwerty are fine and springy, while the ones on the edges are spongy and have less travel. The shortcut keys to are fine, and so are the call accept and end, but the two softkeys are lack are spongy and lack the clickyness of the others - this is even more obvious since you have to click those two keys in order to lock/unlock the phone keyboard each time. So basically you have a mess of keys that all require different pressures to register a click, and also feel differently, which makes typing on the phone difficult and frustrating. Very poor indeed for an email/messaging phone, and even more so since they got it so right with the E71.

Just as test to see if the issue is an inherent fault with the different keyboard layout, I compared the keys to the E63, the cheaper brother of the E71, which have identical keyboard layout. I must say that even the E63, with its rubbery and more spongy keys, still offer a superior and consistent experience than the E72. If this hardware inconsistency is a result of Nokia's recent decision to manufacture their phones to China (they were previously made in Korea) - then this does not bode well for the future of Nokia, as it degrades the reputation they have for making solid phones.

Lastly, the E72 has the new optical navigation key which is a first for Nokia, and perhaps other phones - it relies on essentially a small touch sensitive square in the middle of the fairway navigation key, and allows you to scroll through the screen and through menus by swiping your finger over it. In theory at least, this interface was supposed to offer some of the touch-screen goodness that is lacking in this non-touchscreen phone, but alas, the optical navi key is a gimmick.

Swiping the key like a deranged person doesn't really get you much further - I find it was less effort and more accurate to just press and hold the navigation key. Scrolling websites was a little better, as the navikey allows you to scroll diagonally on pages, but with the way the Nokia browser was designed, the little cursor is always being pulled towards the nearest clickable link as you scroll, so it effectively stops scrolling whenever you hit one. Perhaps the only redeeming quality of the navikey is that it offers the option of haptic feedback, so you know when the phone has registered your swipe - but it only seems to highlight how finicky the whole system is, and how many false 'swipes' it can register. You can turn the navikey off, but this means that it disables the one use of the navikey which I actually like, which I'll discuss more in the positives section below.

Things I do like:

But there are some redeeming features to the E72, though I'm still not sure it is enough to win me over. Firstly, the phone now runs on a 600Mhz processor with more RAM and ROM than the E71 - this doesn't really translate much to performance, except that the UI of the E72 has more eye-candy, with animations for every little thing. I'll resist the temptation to bag Nokia on the eye-candy, since some people might like it, but its a bit of a waste of CPU cycles to me.

The phone also comes with a 4Gb microSD card, which is handy for storing the photos and video you take with the 5MP camera. Ignoring the increase in pixel count, the camera on the E72 is noticeably superior to the E71's, rendering colours more accurately, and now employing the LED light as an autofocus lamp (a feature I first saw in the E75). The camera interface is also improved, which allows the user to engage the autofocus feature just by placing your thumb on the navikey, then pressing the button to take a photo. Having said that, the navikey's seemingly inherent sensitivity does mean that sometimes the autofocus is activating when you don't want it to, or more worryingly, not registering a touch when you do. If the navikey is turned off, the autofocus is engaged by pressing the navikey down, then releasing to take a picture. However, if the camera feels that it hasn't got the right focus (indicated by the red rectangle on the screen), it won't take the photo…which is annoying for the times when the focus is either good enough, or you don't care.

Ok, focussing again on the good (can you see where this is all going?) the E72 has more improvements on the E71, which I'll just list:

- 3.5mm headphone jack

- USB charging (with supplied proprietary cable)

- HSUPA (theoretical 10.2Mbps)

- more battery life (more efficient processor + same big battery)

- access to the secondary camera

Conclusion

If you haven't guessed already, I'm pretty disappointed with the E72 - having had such a stellar experience with the E71, I was really excited to have a phone which built on that foundation, with improved guts and features. Instead, what I have in my hand is a phone with a solid feature set, wrapped in a cheap, plastic case that I'm seriously worried would not last the two year contract I have it on. And frankly, for something with a RRP of $729 AUS, I expected more.

I'm not a Nokia fanboy as such, but I've always appreciated Nokia's solidly built handsets, great battery life, and their useful yet utilitarian UI - but if the E72 is indicative of the direction Nokia is going, I seriously question Nokia's longevity as a top tier handset manufacturer.

Quick early review of the MBP 13' with Mac OSX Snow Leopard

2009-12-05T12:53:00.002+11:00

After having the MBP for just about 5 days, I thought I'd give my impressions of using the shiney apple laptop from the perspective of a long time windows user (this is my first Mac). To make it easier for me, I've broken my review down to three sections: Hardware, Software and Usability. Enjoy and be nice if you're commenting!

Hardware

Probably don't need to say too much here, since its obvious that this is a beautiful piece of design and engineering. The fit and finish is stellar, the backlit keyboard is glorious, and the screen is nice and sharp. The device is compact, but feels solid - I'm still in awe of how Apple could fit so much computer into a thin and attractive package, while many other laptop manufacturers fail so miserably. I used to scoff at Mac apologists/fanboi's attempts to justify the Mac's higher pricing - but having scrutinised the build quality of the MBP's hardware, I can see what those extra dollars are getting me.

I was a bit worried how I'd get on with the depressible touchpad, but my fears were unfounded - using the touchpad either by tapping or pressing was accurate and precise - and for the times when my brain forgot, I could still use the touchpad as per usual, by clicking on the bottom left or bottom right for a left and right click respectively. I'll talk more about the touchpad later, because the most impressive thing about the touchpad is the underlying programming that makes it work.

Software

Despite working almost exclusively with Windows PCs, I have had some experience with MAC OSX Tiger before, so I knew there were subtle differences in the way Macs and PC interfaces worked, things like the screen close/min/max buttons being on the top left, and using the command key vs ctrl for keyboard shortcuts. I did get a bit put off by the absence of a "My Computer" equivalent on the Mac Desktop, but you can actually activate that option in the preferences anyway.

The dock is nice for accessing your most commonly used apps, but I keep it hidden just to reduce clutter, though it doesn't matter so much day to day, but for things like iMovie and iPhoto, you need all the screen real-estate you can get.

I've not really played with many of the supplied apps that came with the MBP, with the exception of iMovie which I used to edit and post the unboxing video (taken with the iPod Nano!), but trying to move the video from the Nano to iMovie was a little more complicated that I expected. In the end, I found out that you actually download the movies from the Nano using iPhoto, which was a little counter-intuitive. Regardless, iMovie was a quite useable editing tool, though I was a little frustrated that it didn't work the way I wanted it too, but I'll chalk that up to being too used to using Windows moviemaker and Corel VideoStudio on the PC.

I had a brief play with Garageband (I was thinking of using it to make a soundtrack for the unboxing video) but it was a little too difficult and too much work at 12am, so I left that alone. I suspect that its complicated nature means that its quite a powerful audio editing and creation tool, but I may need to see a few more video tutorials before I tackle it again.

Safari is usable as a browser. So far I've only encountered one website it doesn't play completely nice with (Nokia website), but there's Google's Chrome and Firefox if I need them.

TextEdit works fine for my basic word processing needs (I'm typing this review on it) - and seeing as I'm expressly NOT going to use this computer for work, I'm not going to bother with getting Office or OpenOffice/NeoOffice on it right now.

But far and away the killer app for me has been the touchpad gestures. OMGWTFSWEETJEEBUS! You've got one finger tap, two-finger tap, two-finger scroll, pinch and stretch, three finger swipes, FOUR finger swipes! Ok, so beyond the use of two fingers it get's a little crazy, but the way Apple has implemented all these gestures is very clever, and done in that classy Apple way. Another on these apple touches (was that a pun? I dunno) were the mini videos that demonstrated the gestures and what they did - these are found in the touchpad preferences screen, where you can choose to deactivate the different gestures individually. My favourite gesture so far is the four finger swipe: swipe up, and it clears all your windows to expose the desktop; swipe down, and it lays out your opened screens, and you mouse over and click on the one you wish to view. No lag, no stuttering. Now usually I don't go gaga over all this kind of fluff - I turned off all eye-candy on XP and VIsta - but when something can be pretty AND functional, I am the first to admit that I'm impressed (and maybe a little aroused).

Useability

Now by usability, I guess I'm really posing the question "Can I function with this as my primary/only computer?" - and my answer would be a definite "Yes". Now as far as PC users go, I'm probably one of the more flexible in terms of needs, since all my email is on the cloud, and there isn't one app that I am absolutely bound to. Sure, I could think of some peripherals that I won't be able to use on OSX such as my current HDTV dongle, Nokia and Windows Mobile phones (for syncing purposes), but if I need to, then I can either install XP via bootcamp, or virtualise it via VMWare Fusion. Either way, any hurdles to switching are easily solved.

Final thoughts

Like them or loathe them, Apple knows how to make a good-looking device with a great user experience to boot. You may have to pay more for it, but you only have to use one to see exactly what your money is paying for.

A comparison of three Nokia E-series phones

2009-07-25T22:46:00.009+10:00

The Nokia E-Series Smartphones: E63, E71 and E75.

I got inspired to do this comparison because my friend Erk was thinking of the Nokia E63 as an upgrade, a phone which my mum herself had recently purchased. I also still had the E75 for a few more days (on loan from @aussienick) , as well as the E71 to I own. Now being all Symbian S60 devices, the interfaces are all very similar between the three phones, so I've only concentrated mainly on the hardware. Here's how they stack up, noting that as their name suggests, the E63 is the cheapest, followed by the E71 in the middle, and the E75 being the priciest (and also the newest).

Build Quality:

E63 - its plastic body and light weight does make it feel slightly toy-like, but the tight seams between the different layers of plastic, and the soft touch material they've used gives the impression of quality. The rubberised material they use for the keys are a nice touch too, making them easier to press with either the meat of the fingertip, or with a fingernail (a plus for the user with long fingernails)

E71 - Its all metal construction gives the E71 a really sleek look and feel, and its probably the reason it was possible to make the phone so thin (its about 1cm at its thickest point) . The keyas are made of a textured plastic that feels like it last, but is a bit slippery. It looks expensive, but the use of shiney metal all over does make it a fingerprint magnet.

E75 - This phone is a bit of a mixed bag, with the all plastic front face and number keypad bordered with chrome-painted plastic giving the impression of a cheap and cheerful Nokia candybar phone. But turn it around and the stainless steel etched back combined with understated matte silver plastics is more keeping with a phone that's at the top of the E-series family. The keys on the QWERTY keyboard are also made of nicer material than the keypad.

Connectivity:

E63 - standard fare for an entry-level smartphone: 3G (no HSDPA though), WiFi, Bluetooth.

E71 - similar to the E63: 3G (but with HSDPA), WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

E75 - identical to the E71.

Screen:

E63 - it has a 2.34 inch landscape screen QVGA, which is smallish, but very usable. Its also quite bright.

E71 - has very similar specs to the E63 (the two look almost identical), but the screen on my phone wasn't as bright as the E63.

E75 - it has a slightly wider screen than the other two (2.4 inch) at the same resolution, but I didn't see that the extra 0.06 inches of screen is really made a difference. Screen is also nice and bright like the E63.

Battery Capacity:

E63 - 1500mAH

E71 - 1500mAH

E75 - 1000mAH

Bottom-line: based on anecdotal testing, the E75 runs out of juice in a day and a bit, whilst the E63 and E71 can go for about two days before needing a recharge.

Keyboard and keys:

E63 - it has a lot of keys, and they're all at the front of the phone - there is no volume buttons on the side, or power buttons at the top. What I like with the QWERTY keyboard here is that Nokia has catered to the SMS'er and Twitter, with all the common symbols having their own button (instead of having to sift through the menu for them), just as the @, ( and ). It also has a 'ctrl' button, so you can use functions like ctrl+x to copy, etc. The keys are all squished together, they are raised in the middle so its easier to press the right one.

Overall, the keys are nice and clicky, though slightly spongy compared to the E71.

E71 - very similar to the E63, with the majority of the buttons present in the front of the phone. The E71 does have volume buttons to the side, and a dedicated power button at the top. The keys are even more squished together than on the E63 (since the latter is a tad wider), and the some of the symbol keys are missing on the E71. Again, the QWERTY keys are raised so that its easier to discern individual keys by touch.

Keys are hard and 'clicky', and spring back immediately after you press them (versus the spongey E63 buttons) - but you do have to press them with a bit more force, which could lead to more tired thumbs in time.

E75 - This phone has buttons everywhere: at the front, on the side, and in the middle! Starting at the front, the keypad consists of strips of plastic, so that none of the numbers or functions have a single piece of plastic dedicated to them. Nevertheless, the keys are nice and clicky, but since they're all flat and flush with the surface of the phone, its hard to discern the different buttons by feel, and the reference 'bumps' flanking the '5' button doesn't really help. The direction button is a tad spongey, and there is a lot of give with the direction button before it registers.

There are chromed plastic keys on the side, as well as a dedicated camera button, with the latter having two stages like a camera ie pressing to the first stage pre-focuses the camera, and pressing to the second stage takes the picture. I like it, but the camera button is very easy to press to the first stage.

Slide the phone sideways and you've got a QWERTY keyboard. Its made of a nice rubberised material, but the keys are all flat and flush, and there is very little travel in them. Another criticism from my point of view is that there is no secondary direction pad on the QWERTY, so you have to move your right hand from the QWERTY to the direction pad on the front of the screen - you also do the same for the left and right softkeys.

Camera:

E63 - your run-of-the-mill cameraphone. Fixed focus, 2.0MP sensor gives typical camera phone images, though its white balance processing is pretty good. LED light is there, but not really good for close-up or far away.

E71 - close but just misses the mark - auto-focus, 3.2MP at least renders sharp images, but it suffers from a blue tinge in all of the images captured - typical of cameraphones, its crap in low-light situations, and the LED light is useless far away, and blows out the images close-up.

E75 - The best of the three - auto-focus, 3.2MP has the sharpness of the E71, but it renders the colours more accurately, like the E63. A clever innovation by Nokia is that the LED flash is also used as an auto-focus assist lamp, so that the camera can focus in absolute darkness as long as the subject can be illuminated by the LED. The LED is useless for faraway subjects (no surprises there), but does a great job of compensating the exposure of the image when using the flash at close range.

Audio output:

E63 - it has a mono speaker that fires from the top of the phone, and also has a 3.5mm headset/headphone jack, so you can use normal headphones on it.

E71 - it too has a mono speaker that fires from the top of the phone, but uses a 2.5mm headset/headphone jack. My attempt at using a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adaptor my own headphones didn't work, so its the proprietary nokia headset, or nothing.

E75 - it has a mono speaker, but fires from the back of the phone, so its easily muffled if the phone is sitting on its back on a desk. It does have a 3.5mm headphone jack though.

Extras in the box:

E63 - as the 'budget' model, the only thing you get with the phone is the charger, headset and a 1Gb microSD card. The phone can plug into a PC via USB, but you'll need to buy a nokia data cable for it.

E71 - you get quite a bit more here: charger, headset, 2Gb microSD card, leather slip case (form-fitting and very nice), data-cable, CD containing Nokia PC Suite

E75 - almost exactly the same as the E71, but with a more capacious 4Gb microSD card (very nice indeed), and a suede slip case that was frankly too snug to get the phone out of!

Conclusion

Overall I think Nokia have done a pretty good job with all three phones, though there isn't a clear winner between them, which is kinda scary with the case of the E75, which at the most expensive (double the price of the E63) should really be blowing the other two handsets out of the water.

In terms of build quality, features and price, I'm glad that I bought the E71, though its hard to look past the E63 as a great entry level smartphone or texting phone (I've seen it available at$279 Aus prepaid with Three). As for the E75, I think Nokia kinda dropped the ball with that one, packing a lot of great features (and a great camera) into such a ergonomic mess of a handset.

Bottom line: if you want a pure smartphone and won't use the camera except for emergencies, go with either the E63 or E71 - the latter if you can afford it. I can't really recommend the E75 for anything, unless you must have a big QWERTY keyboard in small handset that runs Symbian; for the price, there are really better phones out there.

E75 - makes a great camera phone

2009-07-16T22:08:00.015+10:00

As I mentioned in the last post, the E75 has a really good camera. Yes, the images still look like they've been taken by a phone, but there were several key hardware and software elements employed by Nokia which helped make the E75 in my mind, a very capable point and shoot.

For a start the camera has auto-focus, and you can pre-focus by simply pressing the camera half-way. Unfortunately, pressing the button all the way down without pre-focusing bypasses focusing altogehter, but it does mean that you can take a photo quickly if you need to. But to me, what separates the focusing mechanism of the E75 from other phones - and indeed, other point and shoot cameras - is the use of the LED flash as an auto-focus lamp at low light settings. This brilliant choice by Nokia means that even in complete darkness, the E75 can produce a shot like this:

Seeing in the dark: Full marks to Nokia for employing the LED flash as an auto-focus lamp - this photo was taken at night in complete darkness, but the flowers are in focus, and despite being very close to the camera, the image is not washed out and the colours are close to life.

the correct render of the colours, and the absence of overexposure in the photo leads me to suspect that the white balance and exposure of the image is also calculated during the pre-focusing stage (see example below for more evidence). Honestly, I reckon Nokia should sell this technology to camera manufacturers if they thought of it, because I have stand-alone cameras that don't perform this well with a flash so close to a subject! It may be a hasty call after just using the cameraphone for a day and a half, but I think the E75 may be the best camera I've ever used in low-light conditions with the flash on!

As proof, I've added some macro shots taken of my laptop keyboard by my canon point and shot (A410, 3.2MP) compared to those of the E75 (3.2MP), another auto-focus cameraphone (E71, 3.2MP), as well as a fixed focus camerphone (Dopod 838, 2.0MP). To make things fair, all shots were taken one after the other, and with the flash activated and all settings set to automatic. The plan is to take more photos on the weekend (weather permitting) in a larger variety of situations (both indoors and outdoors), but for now, let us marvel as the prowess of the E75.

Umm, this is the standard?! : The Canon powershot A410 is a point and shoot camera with an auto-focus lamp, which definitely helped with the focusing. Unfortunately, the camera didn't/couldn't throttle down the exposure enough, and the "J" key has been completely obliterated, with some collateral brightening of the sorrounding keys. Colour is accurate where the image is not overexposed.

E75 : Subject is sharp, colours are accurate, and the LED flash has produced a bright section in the image, but nothing too severe. Auto white balance did its job well, with only a slight yellow cast compared to the Canon A410.

Dopod838 : Subject is reasonably sharp (macro setting on), but the black is washed out, and the LED flash has completely washed out the "B" key. White balance is correctly applied by the camera.

E71 macro shot: Where do I start? The image is more out of focus than the Dopod (auto-focus had trouble in low-light setting and dark subject), the image is the most overexposed of the three, and to add insult to injury, the white balance is completely wrong (my keys are not violet!)

Playing with the Nokia E75 - Preliminary thoughts

2009-07-15T21:13:00.012+10:00

Thanks again to @aussienick, I have another shiney toy in my hands - the Nokia E75. Half candybar, half QWERTY slider, this phone straddles the boundary between feature and smartphone, and while having some a pretty capable multimedia features as well.

Having just played with the phone for a few hours, here are a few things that I've noticed:

Front on, you might mistake the E75 as another run-of-the-mill freebie Nokia phone

The Good:

-The E75 can be charged by USB (I think it may be one of the first Nokia phones to have that ability)

-It uses a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for sound output

-The camera is very good, with auto-focus, accurate colours, and proper compensation for when the flash is used (ie it throttles down so that the light from the flash doesn't wash out the image)

-It takes video in 640x480 at a high frame rate (30fps?) - the video is saved in .mp4 format.

-The fit and finish of the device overall is very high - the back of the device looks a million dollars - and the sliding mechanism is nice and precise

-The screen is bright and crisp.

-The QWERTY keyboard is spacious, and the materials for the keys look and feel high-grade and durable

From this side, the fit and finish of the E75 is closer to the standard of other E-Series phones

The Bad:

-Although charging is via usb, the port in the phone is proprietary, so you have to use Nokia cables (no microusb here unfortunately)

-The battery capacity is quite small - only 2/3rds the capacity of the E71 - I will test this more tomorrow to see how the battery copes with heavy use.

-The QWERTY keyboard lacks arrow keys (you're only method of navigating on the non-touchscreen phone) - so to enter text and navigate the screen, your right hand has to move back and forth from the QWERTY and the direction pad at the candybar face of the phone - you also do the same for the left and right shortcut keys.

-The phone automatically locks the keypad when you close the slider, which makes it annoying if you want to quickly switch from QWERTY to keypad/direction pad use in portrait mode (amendment: You can turn this off), as I often do when I want to switch from two-handed to one-handed use.

-Whilst the two halves of the slider are pretty solid when closed, when the QWERTY keyboard is slide out, the screen half of the phone does have a bit of wobble, and its the time when the phone feels the most fragile.

The Ugly:

-The front looks and feels like a cheap throw-away nokia - the thin bands of cheap feeling plastic that make up the number keys are ricketty, really close together, and the bottom left and right keys are very hard to press. They feel so fragile and such an afterthough, that Nokia maybe have done better without them, and just extended the length of the screen.

Keys made out of thin, flimsy plastic ruins the otherwise stylish E75

I think there is so much to love about this phone, but even just after a few hours of use, I can see there are a few hardware and functionality choices that may make it hard to live with this phone. Anyhoo, I'll keep an open mind, and report my findings while I have the phone.

I've posted some more images of the phone below, and I'll do a few phone camera tests later in the week.

Note the brighter screen of the E75 (versus the Dopod 838), and the classier look and feel of the device with the slider open

The smaller capacity battery on the E75 (left, versus the E71) may be a limitation and potential dealbreaker for business users

The E75 (bottom) is shorter, but thicker than the E71

Quick and Dirty Review of the Viliv S5

2009-07-12T23:27:00.003+10:00

Thanks to my generous friend (and fellow gadget geek) @aussienick, I got the chance to spend a few days playing with a really cool gadget, the Korean made Viliv S5. Since the S5 has been reviewed more comprehensively by more reputable people, I won't bother doing the product shots and long musings, and just distill my impressions of the device based on what I like and what I don't like.

The Likes (ie. WANT!):

Long battery life - at least 4 hours (haven't really tried to do a battery drain test yet)
Crisp 5' screen - 1024x600 in a 5' screen = high pixel density = awesome!
Stereo speakers - still a bit tinny, but loud enough for viewing videos without headphones
Build quality - feels good, looks good, and provided (?) case looks good.
Built-in 3G (as an option) - makes sense in a device you can actually use whilst walking
Touchscreen - because I love touchscreens :)
SSD - makes the device rugged, and provides faster boot-up and stand-by times.

Dislikes:

Stubby telescopic stylus - the device is pretty wide, so it would have been nice if they could provide a stylus that was the same length as the width of the device, and had a silo on the hardware itself, instead of having it attached to the case
Touchscreen calibration issues - which I hope is only because the drivers for XP is not playing nice with Win 7 RC1 (installed in this unit), and not a hardware fault
Comes with plain XP - using Win7 on this emphasises how much more usable this device would be for me if it ran at least XP tablet edition
Small fonts - the trade-off of a high rez screen in a smaller screen - my eyes get quite tired when reading text
Onscreen keyboard - the buttons are nice and large, but the touchscreen can't really keep up with my thumbs unless I really slowed it down...and at that point, I'd rather use the tablet input panel for text entry (which I did)
Direction pad instead of a stick-type mouse - would have been so much better for the times when you want to keep both hands on the device, but still be able to navigate the whole screen

So there you have it, my impressions of the Viliv S5 so far. Overall, I do like the concept of the device, but for me there were just too many factors that prevented me from falling love with this device. In the end I felt a little disappointed, not because the device was a failure (because it did a lot of things right), but because it was so very close being my ideal gadget, but not quite getting there.

I do have a few more days to play with the Viliv S5 before I hand it back, so I'll update this post I find more things I like/don't like about it. Also, if you have any questions about it, or things you want me to test for you, just let me know and I'll post the answers up as soon as I'm able.

A good match: Twikini for Windows Mobile and my Dopod838

2009-07-11T13:43:00.011+10:00

A lot has changed with my web habits in the last few years, and I've noticed more and more that Twitter is forming the majority of the web content I consume, especially on the mobile.

When I upgraded my phone last year, I switched from my WM dopod 838 to a Nokia E71. For me the choice was both due to the experience and the hardware - basically, symbian S60 worked better as a phone, and WM worked better as a PDA, and unfortunately for the Dopod, the phone part was more important to me at the time.

Now, I'm considering moving back to the Dopod 838, at least as a mobile web device, after I've found a really good twitter client available for Windows Mobile called Twikini, which works well with how I like to use my WM device.

Scroll wheel FTW!

Being the twitter addict that I am, I almost impulsively wake up and immediately check my twitter feed in bed (you've all done it - Don't you judge me!!!). Currently, I perform this task on my 1st Gen iPod Touch (using Twitterfon), which works really well, except for one exception (which shows off the depths of my laziness): I have to use two hands to scroll through my feed*!

Why does this matter? Well, because I surf/view my twitters while lying on my side in bed, which means that I usually have one arm under my pillow or under the covers (especially important in winter, where its good to limit the number of limbs exposed to the cold to the bare minimum). Also, if you've ever lost grip of your phone and have it smack you in the face, then you understand why body positioning is important when using a portable device in bed! Anyhoo, in the case of one-handed operation (oh grow up), this is where the Dopod 838/Twikini combo shines.

Twikini on my Dopod838 - Scrolling is easy with the little scroll wheel on the side. In portrait mode you can view 4 tweets at a time

(conveniently positioned for my thumb)

With Twikini (which offers my feed in a convenient running screen), all I have to do is use the scroll wheel on the side of the Dopod to scroll up and down my feed - the scroll wheel also works as a select button, so when I'm just passively surfing through my feeds, selecting links is a breeze and completely one handed. Unfortunately, if I do have to create a tweet or otherwise need to input some text, I will have to use two hands since the onscreen keyboard built-in to WM is not at all finger-friendly, and the Dopod's QWERTY keyboard is of the landscape variety. But again, Twinkini comes to the rescue by providing some intuitive and clever UI choices to make tweeting a breeze, and addresses one of my pet peeves with WM devices.

*Okay, so that's not strictly true - I have mastered the "hold with 4 fingers and flick up and down with thumb" manouever, but after a while it does get uncomfortable, and my thumb isn't especially flexible, so having the thumb moving around in such an unnatural position does hurt after a bit.

Keeping a firm grip

With twikini, there are several options available for replying or DMing - you can either select the option on the menu screen, or simply scroll to the twitterer u wish to converse with, and tap on the left arrow key to @reply, or right to DM. This simple UI choice might not seem that exciting, but its a godsend for me, since I loathe having to switch between using my QWERTY keyboard and the touchscreen to interact with my devices.

Twikini on Dopod in Landscape mode: In this position, keeping the device in your hands really requires two of them (but I needed one of my hands for taking the pic)

This may not be an issue that people really care/think about, but it really matters to me since I'm one of those people that constantly has their phone out and surfing the web while walking. Because I'm on the move, I like my phone to be as secure as possible in my hand/hands. Now in the case of the E71 and the Dopod 838 (in portrait mode), keeping a firm grip with one hand is a cinch because both fit equally snug in one palm. However, in the case of the Dopod in landscape mode (QWERTY keyboard in use), a firm grip can only really be achieved with two hands, so in that usage scenario, I prefer that both of my hands are holding onto the Dopod (thumbs on the keyboard) as much as possible - and with Twikini and its left/right shortcuts for @reply and DM (correction: right arrow actually performs a RT, not a DM), I can interact and with my twitter friends whilst keeping my device stable in both hands.

Anyhoo, if you want to try Twikini, they have a 14 day trial period available so you can see if you like it, at http://www.trinketsoftware.com/Twikini

A friend (@jodiem) did note some issues with scrolling, where use of the inertial scrolling sometimes selects a tweet instead, so its good to take advantage of this trial period to see if the device works well for your device and use case scenario. But I'll say that having used Twikini back when the app was still in beta, I've found the developers to be pretty receptive to suggestions, and are also good with updating the features on their program, so it pays to make your voice heard and provide constructive feedback.

Finally, before you all "get up in my grill" (fo shizzle my nizzle - wow, did I really say that?) - I do know of (and will be reviewing in turn) alternative clients for other platforms, such as Gravity for Symbian s60, and of course, twitterfon and tweetdeck for the iPod/iPhone. I'll also get around to reviewing some web-based, mobile-optimised twitter clients like dabr and slandr, but do let me know if there are others floating around, and I'll check them out too. Cheers!

Quick Battery Life Post

2009-07-04T13:04:00.002+10:00

Since battery life is such an important consideration for any portable device, I thought I'd stress test my various gadget to determine the minimum battery life I could get from my current smartphone (Nokia E71) and my netbook with its shiney new 9 cell battery (Acer Aspire One).

Nokia E71:

With Wifi-on, 3G on, continuously downloading podcasts and web surfing whilst listening to said podcasts over its mono-speaker, I got just over 7hours of battery life before the phone shut itself down :) This is pretty impressive, and certainly explains why I usually get about 2 whole days with moderate use with this phone.

Acer Aspire One (with 9-cell battery):

With wifi-on, screen at 40% brightness and on 'home/office desk" mode, tweetdeck constantly on and itunes downloading podcasts every so often, the battery would last 4 hours and 50 minutes before the netbook would forcibly go into hibernation mode (at 3% battery life). I think this is phenomenal, and infinitely better than the paltry 1hr 30minutes that I used to get when using the supplied (2-cell!!!) battery. Since having the battery, I've found that I'm using the AAO a lot more, and now I'm tempted to get a USB dongle so I can take the web with me :)

Anyhoo, that was all, except that I am interested to find out what the battery life is on the shiney new iPhone 3Gs under the same conditions - I'm interested in getting one, but I have to see whether it can come close to the numbers I'm getting on my current phone, otherwise I could potentially be disappointed.

E63 vs E71 - pics!

2009-06-08T12:44:00.011+10:00

Just a quick and dirty post comparing the Nokia E63 and the E71, two qwerty phones from the Nokia E series. Apart from the chassis (plastic vs metal), there are some subtle, but potentially important differences - and not all of them swing in the favour of the more expensive E71 (which kinda sucks since that's the phone I own :P) Actually this post will be especially quick and dirty, since I'm just gonna throw some comparison pics for now (and blurry ones at that - sorry!) and add some comments later. Enjoy the phone pron :D

Want to upgrade from your old laptop, but can't afford it? Try this!

2008-12-14T11:22:00.006+11:00

If you were wanting a new laptop/computer but can't afford it, here are some quick (and some slow) ways to breathe new life into your tired old lappie, or at least make it bearable to use and cart around until you can get your tax return ;) This post came about because I was struggling with this issue myself (actually, I suffer this every six months after I buy ANYTHING), and so I thought I'd share some of the tricks and tips that I've used to curb my purchasing of new gadgets. Enjoy :)

1)upgrade the RAM/HD - this is a great way to get more out of your existing computer, providing that you haven’t maxed it out to begin with. Getting new RAM will improve performance, and depending on your HD drive, you could either improve the performance and/or improve the capacity. And don't throw out the old parts either - coz provided they’re not faulty, you may be able to get some life out of them yet.

2)get a new battery - similar to upgrading the innards, getting a new battery to replace one that isn’t holding its charge anymore, or getting another to supplement the existing one, will help enable you to enjoy your lappie away from the cord a bit more, which increases its relevance in your tech life, and keeps it with you.

3)give your laptop a new look – I find that my eye starts wandering for new laptops when my device starts looking less than new...depending on your device, the remedy could be as simple as giving the thing a quick once over with a damp cloth (you filthy little monkey, you!) and you're well on your way to restoring your laptop to its pristine state. Of course, some device designs age better than others (I'm convinced that the dells look old when they come out of the factory), so if you're the person who plans to hold on to a device for a while, as shallow as it may seem, paying attention to how the laptop looks will help you to be happy about your purchase in a few year’s time. Also, pay attention to what materials are being used in your laptop – matte materials will start looking old when parts of it become shiny from being used, and they’ll also be more susceptible to staining as well, unless it’s a dark colour.

Another way to go, is to add a completely new look, by applying decals. There are a couple of companies that specialise in decals for your laptop/devices, like gelaskins, garskin and skinit, and they have the added benefit of being easy to peel off when you tire of them, or they start looking a bit grubby.

Finally, give your desktop screen an overhaul too, since It’s no good having a spruced up exterior, when the interior looks old (its like steampunk in reverse). I won't go into specifics (actually, I'm not even going to bother :P), but here is one article that I reckon, covers the subject quite well for windows XP: (link)

4)do a spring/summer clean - remember when you first got your computer and it ran quite fast (provided there wasn't much bloatware - your mileage may vary)? Well to get that new computer snappiness, I highly recommend doing a complete restore of your device, especially if its older than XP. Not only does it clear out the crap that slows the computer down (not sure exactly what, but I know it happens) but its also a chance for you to reassess which applications actually need to be on your device in the first place. A few caveats though -this will take a while, -you will have to backup all your files and folder before you do it - and you will have to reinstate any printers and network connections your computer may use, which may make you unpopular with the IT guy at work if he needs to set that all up for you.

5) swap computers with someone else - now, not everyone can do this obviously, but relying on the adage that 'a change is as good as a holiday', it may be worth it if you did the old switcheroo with another member of your family. Obviously this won't be as effective if the laptops are identical - but if they're not really fussed about the hardware that they're using, or you can bribe the other party in some way, this could be one way to make two people happy :)

Alright, so there are just a few ways you can breathe life into your old laptop, and a few of these tips can be applied to a variety of devices to different extents - most of them do involve spending, but if they mean that you won't have to buy another laptop/device for a while yet, then its money well spent, and its good for the environment!

Next blogpost, I'll discuss the benefits of, and the way to properly re-gift your old tech to your family, as well as the my thoughts on giving geek gifts to non-geeks and its implications (two words: “tech support”).

Pat's Quick and Dirty Acer Aspire One Review

2008-11-16T20:43:00.012+11:00

First Impressions
Build quality is very good. Seams are tight, and all the different components fit very well. The construction is light, but solid. The pearlescent white plastic behind the screen looks to belong to a more expensive device, and the materials look to be of a high standard. It’s easily the most good-looking netbook in my opinion, possibly tying with the HP mini-note 2133, which is very stylish, but loses points for its bulkiness. The battery fits flush into the battery compartment and the material matches the plastics furnishing the underside of the netbook, so the battery fits well with the overall aesthetics of the design.
Unfortunately however, its with the slotting of the battery into the compartment, and powering on of the device, that the great first impression I had dissipated. Like a beautiful girl who snores like 60 year old overweight man with sleep apnoea, the loud, incessant whine of the Aspire One’s CPU fan just ruins an otherwise perfect moment. Its drone is constant, with the fan activated as soon as the netbook is turned on, and remains on, even when the netbook is idle, occasionally increasing in pitch when the the device is put to use. I understand that this serves to keep the CPU cool, but having owned the first gen Asus EEE PC for over a year, along with a few full-sized laptops, I can honestly say that the noise coming out of the Acer is the loudest I’ve experienced from a laptop. Although it does blend in with ambient noise, during my testing in a quiet room, the noise was so noticeable that I had to turn it off only after 15 minutes or so of operation. I could imagine this noise making the user a target of annoyed looks in a quiet lecture theatre, or a study area.

But overlooking this point, I must say that the screen is gorgeous. The relatively low resolution (1024x600) is well complimented by the small screen size, which means that visually, the screen renders crisp images, with barely noticeable 'jaggies' or blurriness. The backlighting is also very good, with the lowest setting still throwing a nice amount of illumination to the screen. Despite the wide-screen view, websites are easy to navigate, with only downward scrolling needed.
The keyboard is a good size, with good-sized shift keys one either end (an oft ignored aspect by other netbook manufacturers). Keys are comfortable to type on, and with time (and not being a touch-typist) I reckon I could get quite fast on it, despite the smaller size. The keys are a bit squishy, with the keys being slow to spring back after being depressed, but in any case, the keys register accurately and without any lag.
Unfortunately, while I would consider the Aspire One’s keyboard to be one of the better netbook keyboards I have used, I have to say that the touchpad would have to be one of the worst. The rectangular touch pad consists of the touch surface flanked by the left and right buttons on the side, instead of underneath as with other touchpads. This caused all manner of frustration for me, since I am so accustomed to using touchpads one-handed (usually for invoking the keyboard shortcuts with my left hand, while operating the cursor with my right). First of all, left-clicking using the dedicated button required the dexterity of a surgeon who does finger-yoga...however I managed to get around this obstacle by simply tapping on the touchpad itself, which in itself was quite usable and accurate. However, right-clicking proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, since my hand almost had to approach the touchpad from the north-east to even get my thumb in position to click the right button. To add insult to injury, both mouse buttons sit flush with the chassis and required a pretty hefty push, which was not always possible from the angle of my thumb, making it difficult to highlight text accurately because I couldn't maintain sufficient pressure over the left button with my thumb alone, and overall slowed down the act of activating context specific menu's via right-clicking. I seriously wonder how this touchpad design got past user testing (if any).

Programs
Fortunately, crapware is kept to a minimum, with google desktop, mcafee antivirus, and a trial of microsoft office being the only ones I noticed, so kudos for Acer for realising that its not a good idea to bog the system down anymore than it already is. Perhaps the only criticism I have, is in comparison to the linux version, the XP variant is missing the office and other tools that are present, but that only really affects those that are completely new to computing, which arguably is not the target market for the XP variant. All in all, on the software side, Acer keeps the MS install of XP home edition free from clutter.

Performance
I won't really touch on this because I've decided really early on not to keep the device, so I'm reluctant to install any software, and there are several reviews on the One that have already covered this, so I'll skip it. I will say that wireless performance is more than adequate (it identified and logged on to my home wifi network with ease) and webpages rendered quickly. Youtube videos work fine in both windowed and full-screen modes but moving the mouse causes it to drop frames immediately, and having the CPU at just under 50% probably has something to do with it. Taken as an indicator, I don't think multi-tasking will be a strong-suit of the One, though really, the small screen would really make that difficult to begin with anyway.
Sound from the bottom-firing speakers are not the best, but also not the worst sounding I've experienced from a laptop - suffice it to say that having the One on your shoulder boom-box style won't really be viable (or realistic anyway) or being the source of music for your neighourhood block party.

Battery life
The included battery is a thin block which is almost the length of the netbook, approximately 1.5cm thick, and sits flush with the chassis. While this makes the whole package aethetically pleasing, it does place limits on the battery's capacity, which ends up being a relatively paltry 2200mAH. Translated to real world usage, this means 2hrs of work with the screen at the lowest setting, and wifi turned off. Acer's decision to skimp on battery in this way is disappointing, because it severely limits the capacity of the One to work as a mobile device. Maybe my idea of target market serviced by netbooks is incorrect, but I thought the aim of having such compact laptops was so that they can be used on the go, part of which includes use in scenarios where access to cabled power is not available ie lecture theatres, and cafe's. With the battery life as is, the One would just make two 1 hour lectures before needing a recharge, less if some of that time involves use of wifi.

On that note, charging takes about 1min/1% of battery life when the One is being used, so with the stock standard battery, approximately 1hr and 40min are required to charge the battery from 0 to full - not bad, but certainly means that for continuous all day use, you'll have to be spending most of your day being plugged in.

Final thoughts
During my brief time using the One, I tried my hardest to love the device, and there certainly was a lot to love: looks, build quality, and computing performance were either on par, or better than expected for the price. However the misgivings with this device were just too obvious, probably emphasised by the attention to detail in the other aspects, and were things that I could not come to terms with, such as battery life, and that ruddy CPU fan noise! Its such a shame that the great detail to the design and execution of the chassis didn't extend to making a larger space for the battery, or having enough space to have a touchpad with the buttons in a more familiar position. To end on a positive note, I think that Acer has shown with the One that they are serious about their entry in the increasingly more crowded netbook market, and I hope that gen 2 of the One goes further in enhancing the usability of the device.

Living without a laptop for 5 days - not bad at all.

2008-11-07T09:18:00.007+11:00

I reckon that its a pretty exciting time to be a geek - due to the rapid advances in battery and radio technology, being attached to a computer or the web no longer requires one to be sitting at a desk. Furthermore, computers themselves are getting smaller, and are now available in form-factors such as smartphones and mp3 players.

The no laptop challenge

With the smartphones and ipods being such capable internet devices, and with the majority of my web surfing needs not extending beyond basic websurfing and downloading the occassional podcast, I thought I'd set myself the challenge of leaving my laptop at home and relying on my smartphone and ipod during a 5 day conference in Adelaide earlier this year. So the first device I decided to bring was my smartphone, since a phone would be a must for safety as well as enabling contact with my work colleagues which were arriving on different flights. The phone also provided a source of 'reliable' internet access (based on the coverage maps of my provider), which I could use anywhere, and more importantly, at any time. The decision for leaving the laptop at home was made even easier by the fact that I didnt have to present anything this time around, so there really wasn't a need for the computing power of a full-sized computer. Sure my smartphone had powerpoint viewing software, and I could simply keep a copy of my talk on a usb stick, but I tend to be a little paranoid about things like presentations as it is without trying to add another variable to the mix. Anyway, in the end I decided to keep my gadget count to two - the smartphone and the ipod touch, both capable and extremely pocketable devices.

So armed with my smartphone (the Windows Mobile 6 based Dopod 838 at the time) and the first gen ipod touch, I headed off to the airport.

First off, I cannot tell you how liberating it is to not have to carry more than one bag into the plane, nor how much quicker it is to go through the baggage check - I think I even chuckled quietly to myself while watching the people around me trying to juggle their multiple bags in order to take out their laptops to place on the conveyor belts for scanning.

Also, this was around the ti,e when the airports had so many different rules on what you could and could not bring on board the plane with you, and I was adamant that I didn't want to have to check in any luggage, especially if my laptop was going to be in it. It turned out later that my worries were unfounded, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

Past the gates, I turned on my phone, and fired off a few work emails and a couple of tweets as I made my way down to the the boarding area, grabbing a slightly overpriced coffee and donut while browsing the news headlines on smh.com.au...ah, the wonders of mobile internet. as I walk past some internet kiosks littered around the airport terminals, and the people hogging access to them, I had another smug chuckle, then had a quick virtual window shop at some online stores. when i got to the terminal, I thought I'd save some of my mobile internet quota for when I actually got to Adelaide and had a quick war-drive for any free wifi...unfortunately there was only a for-pay hotspot provided by the Airport, so it was straight back on the mobile internet. When it came time to board, I just got up and continued surfing until I handed the boarding pass to the nice attendant, put the phone in my pocket and walked the ramp and boarded the plane without skipping a beat. Once my bag was in the overhead locker, I settled down on my seat, fired a couple of sms's, looked at what was happening on my twitter feed, and feeling so smug about the whole thing that I would probably punch myself in the face if I ever saw me. When it was time, I activated flight mode on my phone, and got my headphones ready for when we were in the air, and were allowed to use electronic devices again. This time, the ipod was my source of entertainment , which contained about 3 hours worth of podcasts that I'd downloaded over the air via wifi, thanks to an app called mobilecast (thanks to jailbreaking).

Once I touched down in Adelaide and got to the conference floor, the phone came in handy for the periods when I was feeling bored and a little anti-social, and in the evening, the free google maps app was handy for navigating around an unfamiliar city, using cell-tower triangulation to approximate my location, since my phone did not have gps. I think even I was amazed at how capable the Dopod was at fulfilling all of my computing requirements, including downloading a couple of podcasts over the mobile internet when I settled in at the motel.

at this point I should say that my use of the smartphone as a source of internet access over the ipod touch was less due to usability and interface factors, than it is by the fact that there is absolutely no free wifi to be had where I needed it to be in Adelaide...I probably could have looked a little harder, but because I had already signed-up and am paying for mobile internet, my laziness kicked, and I defaulted to using that full time. A few months later, I came across some software that would allow a windows mobile phone to act as a wifi hotspot, which would effectively allowed me to tether the touch to my phone...unfortunately I did discover this after the fact, and would probably just result in draining both my phone and ipod batteries quicker anyway, but good to know that its out there. Incidentally, I now have the symbian version of that program running on my current smartphone (the E71), and though i rarely use it, it does come in handy for when O need to access sites that dont work on the E71's in built browser, like hotmail for instance.

Anyhoo, for 5 straight days and despite being in a new city, I remained connected to the internet where I want, and when I want, and though I had to put up with starring at the world wide web through a small 2'8 inch screen, there was not a point during the whole time when I was lamenting my decision to forego the laptop. Can I also say that being laptop free allowed me to travel lighter during the conference since I'm too paranoid to leave anything valuable in my hotel room, which left more space in my schwag bag for, well, shwag of course :)

So as an epilogue to this post, I find myself increasingly turning to my smartphone and ipod touch when seeking to access the internet since that little experiment, and I find that my laptop is spending more and more time on my desk, and has been relegated to performing desktop tasks like video encoding, image manipulation and word processing. I probably should note at this point that this blogpost was written entirely from my E71 while lying in bed :), though I did upload it (and performed some minor changes) on a full-sized laptop.

Nokia E71 Review part 1: Unboxing photos

2008-09-07T14:48:00.010+10:00

Okay, so technically this doesn't really count as a review since I'm only showing unboxing photos, but in the weird and wonderful way that my brain works, I've managed to write the second part of the review (camera performance) first, so I needed something to slot in as post to introduce the fact that I'm reviewing the E71.

For the sake of full disclosure, I paid for this device with my own money, having researched the device extensively for the past few days before I pulled the trigger, so if the review ends up a bit gushy, then its probably me trying to justify the purchase. Also, I'm not a professional blogger, or a professional anything that has to do with publishing in a format for 'normal' people to read, so my sentences will be convoluted and not properly formatted, so bear with me. Worse comes to worse, just look at the photos :) And awayyyy we go!

Nokia E71 review part 2: Camera performance

2008-09-07T13:39:00.009+10:00

In this second part of my E71 review, I take a look at the camera performance, but not only as a device for taking happy snaps, but in its ability to work as a productivity tool.

Camera

The camera has a 3.2MP sensor, which doesn't really mean anything to me, since its not any carl zeiss optics, but it does make the images more usable when viewing on the device, or on the web. What I do like is that the camera has auto-focus, and what's more interesting, is that you don't necessarily have to use it. When you activate the camera, you can immediately take a photo by pressing the enter button in the middle of the direction pad – lag using this method fairly good, but don't except to catch any good photos of hyperactive pets or other fast-moving objects with this thing. However, if you want the camera to focus, you press the “T” button on the QWERTY thumboard, and the autofocus attempts to lock focus. Now I haven't tried this for far away subjects, but I find that the best implementation of cameras with a focusing ability is for taking close-up/macro images.

Now I know that comparing the performance of a chintzy, strapped on camera in a smartphone to that of a dedicated camera with proper optics is a bit unfair, but I really wanted to compare the feature of the E71's camera that I was most excited with, namely the autofocus.

But looking at E71's general performance, we can see the images have a definite blue cast (which I find to be a symptom of Nokia smartphones that aren't part of the N95 series), and items in bright sun are overexposed when you let the E71 control exposure (Fig 1). But with a slew of manual settings you can fiddle with (exposure compensation, white balance, and scene modes), you might be able to get a usable image for web use.

Figure 1: General camera performance

Now, as a macro-geek and information hoarder, I'm border-line obsessed with taking macro photos, as well as having electronic versions of hardcopy texts and whatnot. What I was hoping with the E71 is that the macro ability is good enough for me to jot things down on random pieces of paper, then taking a photo of it for storage on the E71. I am happy to say that in both scenarios, the E71's camera does a competent job.

Ignoring the blue cast of the pictures, we can see that in the two macro images I've taken, the sharpness in the E71 images aren't too bad, and doesn't seem to lag that far behind the dedicated camera in terms of autofocus ability. Note that for the sample images below (Fig 2) that I've taken a 500x500 pixel crop of the original images from the two devices, so the sensor MP differences are controlled for.

Figure 2: Comparing Macro capability of E71

In terms of taking photos of text, there is an obvious limit on how much you can fit in the one image, simply owing to the limits of the 3.2MP sensor. Another important factor is getting enough light onto the subject, in order to get quick enough shutter speeds to take care of camera-shake. But again, a competent effort that's good enough to make the camera useful as a tool. Again, examples are below (Fig. 3 for a closeup of 12point font, and Fig. 4 for an image taken of an A4 sized page).

Figure 3: Close-up of 12 point font

Figure 4: Macro image of an A4 page

Mini laptop anyone?

2008-05-23T16:12:00.002+10:00

Are you a part-time roadwarrior that has to give a presentation interstate at a conference, and would rather not have to bring your big-ass, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, weighs-a-freaking-tonne desktop replacement? Then the Asus EEE PC might just be what you need. And at the moment, Penta Computers, which has a brick and mortar shopfront at Ultimo, is selling the EEE 4G (900Mhz celeron processor, 512Mb RAM, 4Gb SSD, Xandros OS) for $371, which is a bargain considering that they originally cost $500 when they launched in Australia about 6 months ago, and are still being sold near the original price at the big box stores (like Officeworks, Myer and Harvey Norman). A version with XP pre-installed will cost $108 extra, unless you're ok with a green coloured one, which is bizarrely only $32 more.

At first blush, the EEE might seem too much like a kids computer, but when you look past the 'kid/n00b-friendly' interface of the reworked Xandros Linux OS, you'll see that you're actually getting quite a lot for something that costs just a bit more than a PDA/smartphone, but is much more capable. Its has an ethernet port for a start, which is very handy for the times when you only have cable access to a network, a VGA-out port for outputting to a bigger screen or onto a projector set-up, and three USB host ports, which at the very least, can power some peripherals.
Just add a monitor, a USB keyboard and mouse (the supplied keyboard and touchpad are a bit cramped), and an external USB HD and you've almost got yourself a basic, but capable desktop to work with. On the go, the Asus can perform adequately with wifi on for approximately 3 hours, which is enough to get some emails checked, get some surfing done, and maybe review and edit some office documents when you have some free time. And to think, a few years ago, an ultraportable laptop that is not too dissimilar from the EEE specs would have set you back a few thousand dollars...

PS: If you think the EEE prices are cheap now, you may be able to get an even cheaper price in a few months, when the second iteration of the Asus EEE PC arrives (I'd like to say in Q3 08, but I have nothing to back that up), which has more screen real estate (9 inches, 1024x600), more memory (1Gb) and more SSD space (12-20Gb)...of course it may be the case that the second gen (dubbed the EEE-900) might be more to your liking, so the choice is yours.

For all y'all who already have an iPhone...

2008-05-23T00:03:00.002+10:00

...and where after a case, brick and mortar retailer Dick Smith Electronics are already selling iPhone cases (from leather flippy ones to reflective and clear hard cases) even before the iPhone has been launched officially here in Australia.

Not having an iPhone myself, I can't really make any recommendations with regards to cases for it, but as an iPod Touch user, I am a fan of the DLO JamJacket with 'cable management'. Basically, the cable management consists of some extra silicon jutting out of the back of the case where you can wind your headphones when you're not using them, and even has little holes that fit the headphone 'heads' and the jack...genius! Having said that, having all that junk jutting out the back of your otherwise wafer-thin (Monty Python reference) iPod does look a bit dodge at first, but the utility is worth it in my opinion.

I might post some piccies of the DLO jacket (which was a birthday present btw, and not a review product that was sent to me) if anyone cares.

Also, I haven't really done much research if the DLO case can be had for cheaper at another store, so it may well be cheaper elsewhere.

Cheap external storage anyone?

2008-05-22T23:44:00.004+10:00

Officeworks is offering a 1Tb external HD for $249...which would be awesome, except I had just previously purchased the exact same product for $299 less than a month ago!!! Anyhoo, my loss is your gain (if you were shopping around for some storage)...backup early and often people!

Trying something new

2008-05-22T23:34:00.003+10:00

Having a chat to a professional blogger at STUB (shoutout to Nareev) got me thinking that maybe I should make my blog a bit more useful for people, and maybe eventually people will actually have a reason to read it.

Anyhoo, I was thinking of ways I can help people, and I came upon the idea of pointing out tech bargains that I spot here and there. I mean, I tend to window shop on the interwebs during my lunch breaks anyway, and this way my time-wasting exercise might be helpful. Let's see how we go, eh?

Searching online catalogues....now, errr, tomorrow (I am le tired)

and now for something different

2007-03-25T23:28:00.000+10:00

Sorry if that was hard to read - I was just trying out 'writing' on my blog.

ps:contrary to what I wrote on the post, I had to use the desktop to upload the text - it sucks that many webpages don't cater for the stripped down web browsers in pdas :(

yeah, tx1000 still sucks

2007-03-18T15:46:00.000+11:00

So last post, I was bitching about how crappy the tx1000 touchscreen was, but I wasn't quite ready to give up on it just yet. So I went to another store (same franchise, Harvey Norman), seeing whether I get a different experience. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case - even the salesman ws telling me that you have to really dig the pen in to write on it...damn.

I think I'll just have to look elsewhere for my touchscreen based computing needs.

TX1000 - touchscreen? more like strong-sharp-forcescreen!

2007-03-15T21:14:00.000+11:00

To anyone that cares, I've recently been shopping around for a new laptop. To be honest, my 2 year old celeron laptop, while bulky and has dismal (1hr) battery life, is doing well in serving all my computing needs (see last post)...so upgrading is not really essential.

Specifically, I've been indulging the thought of getting into UMPC's and other touchscreen based computers for use as my primary computer - I've been a pda person for a few years now (guess what I'm writing this blog post on?), and thought that having that experience on a full fledged pc would be cool, since I wouldn't have to sit down and prop my computer against a lap/table to use it.

Enter the hp tx1000, a convertible tablet pc, with a decent processor (2Ghz AMD turion x2), and a touchscreen instead of an active digitizer. I fell in love: this could well be my ultimate device. So being the excited geek that I am, started researching reviews. The results were mixed - people complained of weight, performance (speed and battery life), and then there was the touchscreen. I was so suprised when people kept talking about how much harder it was to ink on the touchscreen, and made a big deal about needing to keep the pen on the touchscreen for the whole penstroke...frankly, I was confused - I never thought that was a big deal - I mean, if you write with a pen, you have to keep the pen in contact with the paper for the whole penstroke right? I was starting to think that the reviewers might just have been used to active digitizers.

Anyhoo, I wasn't perturbed - though I was concerned about their comments, and thought I'd wait until I can try one out at a brick and mortar store before I take the plunge.

So imagine my excitement when I went to a store today (Harvey Norman for the Aussies reading this) and there it was. It looked amazing - the curved edges, the recessed trackpad, the small form factor - I think I almost ran to the display! I tested the swivel action, and the screen (some reviewers said it was grainy due to the digitizer that had to be overlayed onto the lcd - it was but not an issue for me)...so far so good...then my hopes came all crashing down when it came to using the touchscreen. It was easy enough to tap things, though I immediately noticed how much more pressure it required to get a response...then I tried to write using the touch input panel (TIP). Disaster! In order to make my penstrokes register, I was almost scraping my pda stylus against the screen (and it didn't help that the screen itself was not slick, and was catching the stylus tip)... I thought, 'any more of this, and I'll be scratching marks onto the screen!'. So as I left the store, I was annoyed at how such a cool device could be let down by such poor implementation of the touch screen...I even came back a few minutes later to see if there was a way to increase the touchscreen sensitivity, but I didn't find any (anyone know if there is?)....why hp, WHY??? Now I'm starting to worry if this touchscreen 'insensitivity' happens on the UMPC's as well! Anyhoo, the search continues...sigh.

Laptop hunting

2007-03-01T22:12:00.000+11:00

Hey all. The last few weeks have seen me scouring all over the net and on foot, searching for a new laptop to replace the one already have. There's nothing wrong with my current laptop - except for maybe the inadequate battery life, and maybe its heft - I just thought that it was time to see what I can replace it with. So off I went to research the current laptop offerings, and got bombarded with "core2duo" this, and "aeroglass" that... In the end, I was paralyzed with indecision - the new Microsoft operating system had also just started shipping with new laptops, but the response have been mixed. Indeed, do I even really need a new computer?

As a scientist, part of my job involves taking pictures of cells under a microscope. Now, I had just started working at a new place, and they use a digtal slr ie. something expensive and unfamiliar. Unfortunately, I'm a point-and-shoot guy at heart, and though I do like to dabble with the settings on my own digital camera, this was for work, and I didn't want to waste any time fiddling with settings. So I snapped away, checking the images briefly (on a teeny tiny 1.5 inch screen - way too small for me), and loaded them up on my laptop. Unfortunately, it seems that the LCD backlight on the camera was cranked way up, coz on my laptop, everything was severely underexposed. Crap! I had two options: take the photos again, but trying different settings (too fiddly), or I could try and boost the brightness using an image editing program (bingo!). Long story short, my 2 year old, celeron 1.5Ghz laptop with 768Mb of RAM and 40Gb HD performed like a star. Multiple layers, filters, having up to 20 or so images open (though just at 0.5Mb each pic) - there was no discernable lag, no crashing, no weird results. Then I also remembered that when I went on a roadtrip with some friends, I used the same laptop to download the video from my camcorder (via firewire), create a roadtrip video (with live preview activated), added a soundtrack, and played it in front of everyone that very night!

In the end, my laptop might look as sexy as a grey paving tile (and look/weigh like one), but as much as I'd like to find fault in it (to justify a replacement), I couldn't deny that it was a solid performer. Hell, even with intel integrated graphics, I can play World of Warcraft and Freedom Force (a very cool game, I encourage everyone to check it out), record, edit and encode HDTV (with my HDTV adapter), and create a dual monitor setup by outputing simulatenously to an external monitor!

So this is my advice to anyone contemplating a laptop/portable computer purchase: Laptops may not be created equal, but unlike what the manufacturers would have you believe, it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be happy with anything less than the latest and greatest. Its not all about clock speed, especially with laptops. Battery life, portability and flexibility should definitely be considered, as well as the cost of extras, such as accessories, and extended warranties.

Based on those criteria, I reckon that my next laptop won't be a laptop at all, but an ultra mobile pc (UMPC) . In particular, the Asus R2H has caught my eye. At the moment I'm still researching how this device will perform (at $1850AU, I wouldn't want to end up with something I won't use) - I may even wait a little, to see if the price goes down a bit more, and maybe wait till it ships with Vista. Sure, I could upgrade it myself, but I'd rather leave it to the experts and not have to scour the net for device drivers - Kevin Tofel, I am not. Til then, I'll try to make do with my laptop as my primary computer, and use my pdas (hp ipaq h2210 with wifi sdio card and rx1950) for my mobile computing needs.

Widescreen on a small screen: Creative Zen W

2006-12-10T12:41:00.000+11:00

:D Purty ain't it?! Much bigger screen than the vision M, that's for sure (4.3 inch widescreen vs 2.5 inch) .

Costs the same as the CZVM 60Gb ($479), with half the capacity...but I think the 2x bigger screen, included A/V cable and ac adapter ($29 and $59 sold separately) justifies the price. No usb host, which bummed me out a bit, but it does have a CF slot, and a multi-card adapter available as an option, so it might still be ok for storing my pics on holidays.

Have to say that what convinced me to stick with Creative players is the included software - very user friendly, and converts video formats that aren't compatible, like all those vidcasts that are in m4v (ie. iPod format) that are available on the net, and the ones that come out of my digital camera (.mov format).

Its too big to be pocketable, which is fine since its got a huge screen and a spinning HD that wouldn't survive two days in my pocket anyway, so a bag would be a must to carry this around. Speaking of bags, the drawstring pouch that was provided as a case was pretty lame and provides crap all protection against anything but dust, but I love how the W's chassis is made of a matte, faux brushed metal finish that resists fingerprints and scratches...something that the CZVM sorely needs.

This ones a keeper.

The creative zen vision m has left the building

2006-12-03T01:42:00.000+11:00

alas, the honeymoon is over. I returned the Creative Zen Vision M (CZVM) today - thank God for generous return policies!
The tragedy is, the CZVH would have been my perfect multimedia companion, but I just found too many negatives that I know will eventually frustrate me to no end.

First and foremost, the screen is too glossy! It was so bad that my eyes were constantly refocussing to my reflection, giving me a headache after only a few minutes of watching. And what was even more annoying was that the rest of the body was so bloody reflective as well! Sure, it makes it look pretty, but I need something that is functional, and this wasn't working for me.

Finally, though the build quality is pretty good, I felt like I can't comfortably walk around the place with this thing in my pocket - the front is just too scratch prone. Getting it out of the packaging already produced some micro-scratches, and don't get me started about the dodgy drawstring bag that was provided as a case! Also, being my first experience with a hardrive based pocketable device, feeling the hard drive spinning in use alerted me to the fact that carrying this thing around would require special care. I've been spoilt by flash based memory in all my other portable gadgets (PDA's, phones, mp3 players, even cameras), and frankly I'd be too obsessively paranoid about crashing the HD carrying this around in my pocket.

So its with a heavy heart that I drove to the store and returned the CZVM, knowing that apart from those few complaints, that it is a very innovate and worthwhile device. I'll still write up my impressions on it, though obviously I won't be able to tell u anything about the battery life (apart from how long it takes to trickle charge via usb), but hopefully it'll help others decide whether the CZVM is right for them.

May I present: The creative zen vision M 60Gb!

2006-11-30T22:56:00.000+11:00

Just got my hot little hands on a new Creative Zen Vision M (CZVM) :D Its a kick-ass mp3/wma/divx/xvid/mpeg/wmv player, and usb host feature built-in!

What is this usb host thing, you ask? Well, it means that you can connect a usb drive or camera to the CZVM (just as you would with a computer) and download the files from the drive/camera to it! No more running out of memory for all your piccies and vids (which happens all too often to me on holidays), and it has a nice 2.5' inch screen to view those downloaded images as well (which is a bit bigger than any of the screens on my cameras). On a cost per Gb comparison, $479 for 60Gb (just under $8 per Gb) vs $75 for a 2 Gb SD card ($37.50 per Gb), the CZVM is a darn good deal in my book. Having said that, there are a few things I don't like about the player, but I'll leave that for my full review, coming soon!

Stay tuned!

Pat
ps:That's a pic of my CZVM 60Gb charging up - that white thing attached to it is the multi-connector dongle (hehe, 'dongle'...)

New pics on flick!

2006-07-13T00:04:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post to say that there are new pics on my flickr album - that's going to be the place for my photos to go while MSN spaces continues to not let me upload my photos on my other blog. So just click on the link to the right of this page for the pics...and don't be afraid to leave a comment :)

Take it easy,
Pat

I love redundancy...

2006-07-02T18:43:00.000+10:00

..at least with my gadgets. I've just bought a firewire pc card today - its a long story as to how this ties into redundancy, but its got to do with the fact that my laptop is still in the shop (hopefully getting fixed), and until today, I had no way to upload the videos on my minidv to a computer. This is an unusual situation for me since I'm too much of an impatient, paranoid freak about everything that I am hardly without access to a backup of any of my devices...and because I'm not made of money, this usually means that I purposely buy things that can perform double duty in a pinch.

maybe next post, I'll share all my toys with you and what I used them for :)

Watch pat hanging out on youtube

2006-07-02T12:50:00.000+10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lK7bbNc4Iw

This is what I've been doing every tuesday night (and I plan to continue
doing) for the last six months...and I think one of the funny things is the
fact that I'm actually scared of heights (though I subscribe to the 'don't
look down' philosophy, and its been working well for me so far)

Pat
ps: I cheated with this post and did it with a desktop (considering that I
had to upload the video on youtube first); anyhoo, hope you enjoy it.

just getting a feel for posting on my pda

2006-06-22T00:24:00.000+10:00

if you can read this, then all is well.

hehe, ok, so I CAN post photos...wooo!

2006-05-27T09:48:00.000+10:00

ok, the photo below is of my friend James from work (and his oversized mug)...I'm on my sister's laptop at the moment, since my own Compaq Presario 2200 piece of Sh_t suddenly decided that it doesn't want to recognise my wireless card - the same one that is built in there, and that has been working fairly well for over a year and a half (I'll do more complaining in another post). And all of that was to explain my photo choice, since I don't have access to many of my photos at the moment. Hmmm, I'm being unusually productive for a saturday morning...better watch some tv and scratch my ass for a bit to compensate :)

2006-05-27T09:37:00.000+10:00

moving house

2006-05-27T09:16:00.000+10:00

first post! haven't really thought about moving all my ponderings to a 'proper' blog until now - msn spaces was getting a bit too inundated with teenagers (vile creatures) - and I really wanted to have a URL to put in the "URL" window for the forums/blog sites that I post at. Anyhoo, the plan is to move all of my msn spaces stuff here, though I'm not sure that blogger supports photos, or that I'd be able to port all my previous posts from msn spaces. Alright, that's enough writing for now. Stay tuned if you want :)