walkah: gadgets

Almost exactly one month ago, I made the switch from my old, 2g, jailbroken iPhone to a brand new fully legit android phone: the HTC Hero.

My reasons for the switch were varied - it's a platform I'd like to support, hack on and one I generally find interesting. I've also grown increasingly frustrated with my suite of Apple products and, in general, am looking to "live open" (more on that later).

Treats

There are some things that I absolutely love about the Hero: way more than the iPhone:

• It is an aesthetically pleasing device. This is one thing that has kept me on Apple gear for a long time. I appreciate quality design - particularly in the products I use constantly every day. The Hero is a good looking device and feels good in my hand.
• Multi-tasking. Yeah, this is the big "killer feature" over the iPhone, but it's really handy. I consider my phone primarily a communications device and I can see instantly and easily who is emailing, texting, IM'ing or mentioning me on twitter all without quitting the app I'm currently running.
• Contacts a central. On a contact's record, I can see all phone calls, emails and texts with that person - and even their Facebook status (or birthday - nice touch).
• Really great sync. Now, let me start by saying - I'm a google apps user. That said, all I did was add my gmail account information and instantly I had all mail, contacts and calendar entries seemlessly sync'ed to my phone. Oh, and (unlike "mobile me") there was no additional cost.

Frustrations

This isn't quite the ultimate phone yet. Here are my top gripes:

• No paid apps in the Android Market in Canada. I'm confused as to who is really to blame here - whether it's the big US companies or the Canadian government or a combination of the two, but living in Canada can be a real drag sometimes.
• Lag. It's not a blazingly fast phone and when you add running multiple simultaneous apps, the interface can get laggy after a while. A good "task killer" app on Android seems to be a best friend. (I'm currently using TasKiller, FYI).
• Lots of the apps just aren't as good. Twitter apps are a significant comparison - there just is not a tweetie 2 comparable app. That said, there is a google voice app ;-)
• Version lag. This seems to be particularly bad on my HTC Hero (which currently uses Android 1.5), but in general handset manufacturors seem to be slow to roll out the latest version of android for their handsets. Doing so yourself, requires rooting (how is that an advancement from iPhone?).

Conclusion

Overall, though, I'm happy about the switch. I think the Android future is bright and hopefully I'll have some spare time here and there to hack on some things in support of the platform.

As a nice little side benefit from my trip to Vancouver a few weeks ago, I got another fancy phone as a hand-me-down from Roland (who has moved on to the n93): a Nokia n91. I've spent 2 weeks with this phone now and overall I *love* it!

I ran into a couple "gotchas" while getting it all set up - I think mostly from being so hip and bleeding edge it hurts. Namely, this phone is not natively supported by apple's isync (which I can't really live without these days), however, these instructions worked beautifully (complete with little n91 image :). The other tricky bit was I initially installed ShoZu on the hard drive - which the music syncing tool does not like at all - however, installing on the phone's memory cured that.

That brings me to what I love most about this phone: it has a 4gb hard drive! Why is that so cool? Well, combine that fact with the built-in music player (and matching iTunes syncing app) and my phone is effectively a little iPod. Oh, this phone also has wifi... ok, so that's *two* things I love most. Here's a quick bullet point review:

The Good:

• 4gb hard drive : I don't need to lug my iPod as much anymore - phone, camera and music all in one. Plus there is a music control keypad.
• Wifi!! Can't say enough good things about having wifi on my phone - it means I'm willing to use ShoZu again (since I don't have to worry about data transfer fees). Another neat thing I also use my phone as a little wifi finder (Connect -> Conn. Mgr -> Availabl. WLAN). Oh, really it's cool.
• Standard output jacks - RCA headphone jack and standard mini usb. Thanks, nokia.
• Keypad locking switch - I didn't realize how much I'd love this when I first got it... but the standard series 60 keypad combinations to lock/unlock your keypad are a pain... especially on a phone where you have to slide open the keypad.
• Not unique to the n91... but I really like having a half decent camera in my phone... especially since I can use shozu again. *Almost* makes my flickr pro account worth the money.

Complaints ('cause it wouldn't be blogging if I didn't complain):

• Nokia's "Music Manager" application for os x is clunky. Wouldn't it be possible to actually build this as an iTunes plugin? I thought that was one of the big things with Tiger - the whole iSync services framework... how come nobody is using this?!
• Some apps aren't available/supported. The one I'm really missing is Clicker. But, I'd love to see support for plazer and BluePhoneElite.
• The keypad (hidden under the music controls) has *really* small buttons. I don't actually mind them - but if you use them for a while (if you *ahem* send a lot of text messages) they've actually made my fingers sore.

Overall, I love this phone. The size and weight are good - considering the feature set.... and it's pretty close to my ideal "all in one" device. Thanks Roland (and nokia)!

i've set a new personal record for most short lived gadget. my last cellphone (the nokia 6620) has been replaced.

when i first saw that my favourite member of nokia's blogger outreach program got his hands on the n91 i was maybe slightly jealous. however, said jealousy has subsided as i have inherited his former envy-inducing phone: the n70. so i've managed to get all my data synced onto the new phone... but alas haven't had much of a chance to play yet. so, i'll have to report back later on how much like (or i suppose dislike) this fancy little gadget. but, basically it has all the benefits of my last phone plus some sweet bits: like a "real" camera (with lens cover!), a sleeker form factor, and a bunch of pre-installed apps courtesy of roland.

oh, and fear not - my old phone has found a happy home with one of my favourite python hackers ;)

last week, my old sony T616 kicked the bucket, which was all the excuse I needed to go for an upgrade. while I was hoping to get something really super fancy (like an n91 or similar), it just wasn't in the budget. after some half-hearted poking around downtown, I ended up going for the lone series 60 phone currently offered by rogers: nokia 6620.

even though it doesn't have a megapixel camera and I haven't quite figured out how to make coffee with it, i have to say I really like this phone. I understand now why all the bryght guys have nokia phones. series 60 is where it's at.

so far, i've got salling clicker working - and it actually has a much nicer (more complete) UI - mostly due to the 6620's better and bigger screen.

I've also been playing with shozu which makes me officially one of the cool kids. For those that don't know shozu, they're basically a super-duper flickr (and others) uploading tool for camera phones. sadly, my phone's camera is a bit weak but it's still fun... check out my shozu pics.

Next up (and secretly one of the reasons I was so into getting a series 60 phone): python hacking on my phone! (stay tuned)

i was too busy to blog it last week, but the most interesting thing for me from last week's big apple media event was not the video ipod, itunes 6 (now with more video), or the new imac (with built-in isight). I think the coolest announcement was front row - apple's "10ft interface" including the adorable little shuffle-like remote. now *this* is exactly the kind of thing i want from apple. I want to stick my mac mini in my living room, and have an interface to play all my songs through itunes, watch movies (downloaded or otherwise), and maybe even do the odd photo slideshow for guests (or not). I've long thought about building a mythtv box for the purpose but the main limiting factor (aside from the boring old lack of time and money) is aesthetics. anything that goes in the living room has to be "wife approved" - i.e. it needs to not be a big, ugly beige box (with associated fan noise), and it needs to have a simple, elegant interface so that I'm not required to work it. front row sure looks like it fits the bill.

but WAIT! front row is apparently *only* available with a new iMac. WHAT?? that doesn't make any sense. As far as I can tell, the remote is bluetooth (which my mini supports) and the software is just software, no? Dear apple, I'd buy this today if I saw it on apple.com!

it appears i'm not the only one who thinks so. in fact, there's even an online petition - which i signed. please tell me there is a good reason for this besides pushing imac sales?

UPDATE: apparently, according to this page the remote, while available is IR *not* Bluetooth. *sigh*

the long awaited itunes phone was just unveiled - finally. boris wonders if we'll be able to use them in Canada (just swap SIM cards? or will they be locked?). I'd hope they're not locked ... but you never know.

I've got to say, I actually don't care either way. I hate to say it - I'm not sure I'm that desperate for one. As many of you likely know, I'm not a huge phone guy - and while I do love gadgets, I'm not sure an iPod phone is really going to get my money. I'm much more interested these days in having things like wifi & bluetooth, etc. It doesn't help either that my previous motorola phone was awful.

of course, I can say this because a) I already have an iPod and b) nobody knows yet how easy it might be to use one in Canada. If I read that they're available on eBay and completely unlocked - I'll reconsider. Until then, I'll likely hold out for the nokia n91.