Author: jamesclay

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Nexus to Nothing

One of the things I have noticed about using the Google Nexus One for more stuff is how awful the battery life is! I can barely get it to last the day, especially if I am using applications. As a phone and a portable wifi hotspot, it seems to be okay, but as soon as I start using Twitter or Foursquare then this seems to kill the battery life.

Yes if I turn off wifi, 3G and GPS then the phone battery does last a fair bit of time, but if I do that I might as well get a cheap Nokia phone which is just a phone!

My iPhone 3GS to be honest also has a pretty poor battery and as it gets close to its second birthday, the battery life appears to be getting worse! What is different though with the 3GS is that I have an external case which includes a battery, so I can usually ensure (even with heavy usage) that the 3GS lasts all day.

However the Nexus One has trouble doing even that!

My solution would be to buy a battery case as I have for my iPhone, but buying accessories for the Nexus One is not easy. Another option would be a spare battery, and I have considered that. I use to do that with an older phone I had a few years back.

My current solution is to carry the charger with me and I also have a car charger in the car too. As the Nexus One has a mini-USB port that does make life a little easier.

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Where am I?

One thing I have realised is that location services work better on my Nexus One when the GPS is switched on!

Well I didn’t realise it was switched off.

My first indication that something was amiss was when using the Foursquare app which didn’t appear to be as accurate than using my iPhone in the same location. I just put it down to the iPhone been “better” and I was inside.

After this happened outside, I thought I better check the settings, and yes the GPS was turned off! Turning it back on and Foursquare was spot on to where I was.

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Bluetooth interference

I’d forgotten how annoying Bluetooth interference can be. I was on the train to London and I had only brought my iPad, but also brought my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard so that I could type up some stuff.

However as I tried to type I was getting typing errors like this.

So there IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The iPad also kept “losing” the keyboard.

The reason for the keyboard problems wasn’t an issue with the iPad or the keyboard, but was Bluetooth interference from my Google Nexus One. I use the Nexus One as my portable wireless hotspot and due to the constraints of the seating on the train it was placed next to the iPad.

London Paddington

Moving the Nexus One resulted in the keyboard problems disappearing.

So why didn’t I just turn off Bluetooth on the Nexus One? Well that would seem to be the easy solution, the reason I didn’t was that it was already off. The interference actually comes from the wifi on the Nexus One and not Bluetooth, and if I turn off the wifi then I lose my internet connection. So easy solution, move the Nexus One, not that simple in the cramped seats of First Great Western.

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WiFi, wot WiFi?

One of the real benefits of running Froyo (and now Gingerbread) on my Google Nexus One has been the facility to use it as a portable wifi hotspot. Despite often been in locations with free wifi, more often I have reverted to the Nexus One as the quality of the free wifi connection has left a lot be desired.

The other day for example I was in my local Costa coffee shop which has free wifi for customers.

It seems to take ages for my non-3G iPad to connect to the wifi and an age for the wifi login screen to come up. You have to create an account (which means I need to remember that account), you then need to enter your credentials and the “code” you are given when you bought the coffee. By which time you have drunk the coffee… The connection isn’t that good either, sometimes a little flaky, and if the connection drops, you need to go through the process again. So if I am rushed for time, I will probably use my Nexus One and turn on the wifi hotspot feature whilst I am queing for coffee, so that when I sit down it is up and running and my iPad will connect automatically. Now I know you could say, why didn’t you get a 3G iPad then you wouldn’t need this, well in reply I would say that I was already paying for 3G on the Nexus One and why would I want to spend more money on another 3G connection? I have a legacy T-Mobile Web’n’Walk Plus account that allows me to use my phone as a modem (or as I can now as a wireless hotspot).

Another time I do use it is at conferences. Most conferences I attend now actually have had decent wifi so haven’t had to worry… however recently at a conference in Harrogate, the conference wifi, which though free, would normally cost £4 per hour, was somewhat flaky, basically I don’t think it could cope with the number of delegates who had multiple wifi devices, iPads, phones and laptops.

Not quite full #uksg

As a result I got a better connection from the Nexus One than I did with the conference wifi. This is something I have written about before on my e-Learning blog. That though was written in 2007, here we are four years later, the iPhone has proved quite popular, we now see more smartphones with wifi and there is of course the iPad.

You would think that conference venues would know that decent robust scalable wifi is not just an extra these days, but a standard requirement for events.

Till that happens, I am pleased I can continue to get my own wifi through the Google Nexus One.

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Trying out Blogsy

After it was pointed out to me, not once, but twice, by Mark Power on Twitter I thought I would give this iPad blogging App a go. I have tried Blogpress and the WordPress app for blogging, but have been disappointed with the user experience. Currently what I do is use a word processing App and then either save to Dropbox and finish the blog post off on my computer, or try and use the web interface for my blog; though that doesn’t always work well on Safari on the iPad.

One of the issues with the other blogging apps, and I I’ll admit having not used them for a few months, so they may have improved, was how they worked with stuff other than text.

Blogsy in theory allows you to swipe in rich media such as images from Flickr.

Like this.

Or YouTube videos.

Like this.

I noticed though, that it was not easy to resize Flickr or YouTube to meet the particular needs of this blog.

You can also insert images from a Google Image Search.

Like this.

However I am not sure if the images are CC licensed, which may be a problem.

So initial thoughts are quite positive, but whether I’ll use it regularly, who knows.

Update

Well….

After publishing I noticed a few image alignment issues causing some text flow issues. Whilst editing these, the app crashed on me losing these edits and forcing me to do them again! I also took a screenshot of the text issues, but there isn’t an easy way to upload an image, and certainly can’t be done in the app.

Not sure if it is any better than the other apps at this stage, though the swiping is useful.

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iPad 2, hands on

Okay not a real hands on trial, but at least managed to touch and feel Apple’s new iPad 2.

My initial thoughts?

Magical?

No, it’s a device that I would use to do stuff, not change my lifestyle!

Okay first impressions was that it is an improvement on the original iPad, it is lighter, thinner and does feel different. Not sure if this is better or worse, but I quite liked the feel.

Having seen both the white and black versions, I do prefer the black version. The white one appears to have a smaller screen, it doesn’t! It’s just an optical illusion caused by the black one having a black bezel, the white bezel makes the screen appear to be smaller. If I was going to get an iPad 2, I would go for the black one.

Alas one of the problems with only playing with the iPad 2 in a store, or as I also did hold someone else’s, you really don’t get a feel for speed or responsiveness compared to the first iPad. Likewise no way to try out the camera, stills or video.

So I am at the stage where I would like to upgrade to iPad 2 to try it further, but really without any real justification to upgrade I know it would be an expensive luxury.

Okay so who wants to buy me an iPad 2?

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iPad 2, probably not delayed

Maybe it was too late in the cycle to do anything, but it is expected that Apple will bring the new iPad 2 in the UK this Friday. Despite huge lines (still) in the US, Apple are still saying on their website that the iPad 2 is coming March 25.

You have to wonder though, whether it will actually be here on the 25th March, or will just be available to order.

Even if it is here and available to buy, I wonder if there is a similar demand as there was in the US, they will sell out very quickly and it will be weeks before you can get one if you miss out on the 25th.

Last year, lots of people I spoke to said, they wouldn’t buy the first iPad and would wait until the second version came out. In the main as they saw problems with the first iPhone and the first iPod touch and didn’t want to be either early adopters or test subjects for Apple. I also have spoken to quite a few people having now seen the potential of the iPad, were waiting for the new iPad before making a purchase. So I can see quite a bit of pent up demand.

Though others I know, with the £100 reduction in price (and while there is still time) are buying the older original iPad as at a price from £329 is now seen to be more affordable than it was before, for some it’s a great alternative to buying a netbook and comparatively quite close in price.

So are you going to be queuing up on Friday to buy the new iPad?

After much thought and contemplation, I won’t be in the queue.

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iPad 2 UK launch “delayed”

There are still big queues in the USA for the iPad 2. Apple stores have sold out, but still they queue just in case they can get one when stocks come in. There is still eager demand for the device one week after its initial release.

So here’s a question, with this demand will Apple (as they did with iPad 1) delay the UK release from the 25th March to a later date?

I have a feeling that this probably will happen.

Won’t impact on me as I am not going to upgrade to the iPad 2….