For sale, net book, laptop and smartphone functions. IPad forces sale.

So, on the 28th May I promised a review for my ultimate impulse buy and general humble pie generating iPad.

The blog has Been suspiciously quiet on the subject since. Well, here is the review.

It's ok. 

I mean, if you want something that is very easily portable, as "always on" as any device can be, which pretty much fulfils every day to day computing task you can think of with an ease of use which makes it virtually ubiquitous and as addictive as a heroin sundae with crack coated cherries, then it's ok.

In the 3 weeks I've had it, net book, laptop and smartphone haven't been used. Well, the phone got used as a wifi-3G hotspot for the iPad until I got a mifi but I don't think that counts.

News, mags, comics, games, surfing, video, streaming, writing, tweeting and email all now done daily on the iPad. I haven't even bought a magazine this month except on the iPad. Which for a mag-addict like me is amazing. 

The only time I've resorted to an old fashioned computer is to sync/backup the iPad or to connect to work. And I'm reliably informed that there is a pilot in the works to allow me to do that from iPad too.

So is it perfect?

Er, no.

The glare on the screen is annoying at best, the lack of flash is quite obvious and annoying to some extent when browsing, the wifi can be a little weak and flaky at times, it's a bit heavy and I need to have a lint free 'specs' cleaning cloth near to hand at all times. Safari is a pretty rubbish browser and it SERIOUSLY needs the iOS4 update not due until "the fall", not least for folders but mainly. For multitasking which would make it even more useable. And the app pricing needs to be sorted. Bit of a piss take in some cases.

But all these things aside, it is obvious from the simple fact that I just don't use any of my other devices for anything but the most esoteric stuff and the ironic umbilical of iTunes on pc, that the iPad is the ideal 'computer' for everyday use. Unless you are some sort of uber power user it just does everything quickly, cleanly and, relatively, intuitively.

They are still a little overpriced in my opinion but then that's just the Apple tax, right? And the UK tax. Don't compare prices with the US if you are prone to depression.

So, in conclusion. Given that I didn't desperately want one, didn't have any love for apple or it's fanbois and sort of just bought one because I was there like sweets at the checkout, it's the best £429 I've spent on kit. Ever.

And next year, when the better, slimmer, faster, higher specced iPad 2 comes out I hope the queue outside curry's is as short as it was this time.

Kidding. ;0D

This month in everything

My next phone dilemma has been haunting me for the past 4 weeks but has now resolved itself in a rather unexpected way. With a mere three months in which to make the decision and with new and intriguing hints, like the lg windows 7 phone or the Dell streak and the slowly materializing iPhone 4g the scope of the project seems ever more clouded.

Then there is the issue of cost. The main reason for all this agonising vacillating is the pay monthly contract. 18 months of i chose the wrong phone hell beckons if this decision isn't properly made. So, what if I just BUY the phone? The whole monthly contract thing is merely an HP agreement for you to buy the handset anyway. Cost it out and £400 for an HTC Desire and a cheap PAYG sim will probably work out no dearer (and probably) cheaper in the long run, but with the added freedom of being able to whack the thing on bay at any point for a decent price toward "the next big thing" (tm).

So there I was, budget of £400 sitting in the bank, waiting for the early termination term to expire so not as to be fined £250 by Orange for hating their crap 3G, unable to stop wandering round the mall or the Internet looking at the best deals as one does (assuming one is a completely obsessed geek gadget magpie), when Friday May 28th came round.

Now £400 is a good budget for a top netbook or a Desire or even a decent laptop in a sale. Which makes it a very awkward amount to have burning a hole in your pocket especially on the day the iPad was launched.

Yes, I know, it was the strangest thing, I just went to look to see if there were long queues, I just went to mock perhaps but there was only a tiny queue and as I said in a previous post it's not the apple kit per se but the perceived snobbishness of the fanboi advocates.

Anyway to cut a long story short...

Sent from my iPad

PS...

I'll post a review after a week of use. So far after one day, it's a big iPod touch which is not a bad thing at all. It's easier to type on than my EEE and some of the productivity apps are excellent for quick creativity. There are lots of annoyances but they are minor and the usual Apple gripes. Like the touch, it just works and the size makes the Internet much more useable.

PPS...

The phone? I'll get the desire, probably on contract.

Xx

TWiT : My next phone dilemma (tm)

My next phone dilemma (tm)

The HTC Touch HD is the best phone I've ever had. Period. And I've had a mobile phone since the early 90's. It's just great and, as far as windows mobile legacy (or whatever they are calling 6.n now) goes it's still and amazing device.

However...

It's slow...

Compared to the iphone 3GS and android phones it's painfully slow and most definitely the finest example of a previous gen. Orig Xbox vs 360. And like Xbox Live on original xbox, it's time for it to go quietly into that dark night of things left behind by progress.

Which brings me to "My next phone dilemma (tm)".

I like the iPhone, always have, but I hate Apple as a glaring symbol of style over substance. The iphone delivered (eventually) but the evangelical, poseur fanboi air it carries with it put me off for years. Now I can upgrade to one for less than £100 (and an OS upgrade in the offing) while the coffee-shop-cognoscenti explode over the '4G' and their iPads leaving the excellent 3GS available to those of us who want a device that works and not just shoves a lifestyle choice in peoples faces.

But...

And it's a big BUT. I have an ipod touch. So all the ancilliary non-phone apple-ness is sorted. And we don't want duplication do we? Especially as the HTC Desire is living up to it's name. Android may be a little behind on the apps but it's open and geek-tastic. Linux on a phone with sleek lines and a UI to die for.

So an ipod touch and an Android Desire, but wait...

Soft, what light from yonder window breaks?

The Dell Lightning! Windows Phone 7! Innovative hubs, sleek designs and, oh, Oh, OH! XBOX LIVE INTEGRATION!!

But, that would make me a gen one early adopter. Can I take the risk when a new contract will mean I'm stuck with whichever one I choose for the next 12, 18 or even 24 months!!

What a "My next phone dilemma (tm)"

twit

This Week in Tech

I was born in 1966.

Somewhere there is a slide of me, aged a few months, in a bouncy little chair in front of the TV. The black and white TV. With legs screwed into the wooden cabinet. With one socket on the back. The one for the aerial. With the three channels that weren't on much during the day and finished before midnight.

43 years later, only half the lifetime of TV itself, i want to watch some TV. Well, i have 2 i could just turn one on. Oh, but the girls are watching the one in the living room. Ok, oh, but the one in the bedroom doesn't have an aerial, what should i do!

Well, i could watch Sky via the Xbox 360 that is plugged into one of the half DOZEN sockets in the back of the TV. I could watch a DVD, or stream something on demand thru Sky Player or Zune Marketplace or i could boot up the laptop which is now permanently plumbed in as a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) and watch something from my 400Gb library, or iTunes, BBC iPlayer, 4OD, ITV player, BlinkBox, Lovefilm watch online, SeeSaw or TVCatchup.com, which will stream me all the channels that would normally come thru that little wire from the roof.

Or i could surf YouTube, Google video, _Current.tv or watch any number of video podcasts (I encourage all to watch "The Engadget Show").

And if i really wanted to i could do most of the above on my netbook or even ipod touch.

And if all that means, God forbid, MISSING SOMETHING!! I can record it on the Virgin HD PVR and watch it later.

TV has come an awful long way in those fleeting 44 years. As a technology it is not only ubiquitous but changing constantly and leading the digital revolution for most, non-techie types. But there is one thing that plays on my mind about it. We have all these amazing new delivery systems for our TV with more and more HD driven innovation to come. But the system is no good without the content.

I wanted to watch some TV remember? So i looked around on all of those online, IPTV, cutting edge services and ended up watching the best thing i could find.

It was an episode of "Dr Who", starring Patrick Troughton.

Made in 1966.

My Digital Life : Real World MMO

I'm beginning to feel like i'm living in an elaborate MMORPG. Either that or the genre has been so groundbreaking that real life is taking on it's ideas.

In an MMO you move through a world which appears huge but is really pretty small. in real life we are bombarded by news and views from the entire globe while inhabiting a tiny sub world of home and work with the occaisional forays to another PvE server or vacations as we call them.

In an MMO you interact with NPC's to get things you want or need and to pick up quests and missions. If you've dealt with a call centre, helpline or govt department recently, or work in a white collar job with a boss you can relate to that.

In most MMOs, as well as your monthly subscription you can expand your enjoyment with microtransactions from an online store or swap things you have or have made in an online auction. well the most i spend on entertainment these days is either subscription TV services, LoveFilm and buyingshows, apps and comic books on iTunes and downloadable content, arcade games on XBox Live. Shame about online auctions though, oh, wait, hang on...

In an MMO you use IRC or Voip chat to speak to you friends, send them mail and meet up in the digital space. In real life i consistently interact with friends digitally and in many cases asynchronously far more often than in the meatspace. Facebook, twitter, this blog, skype, SMS and old fashioned email.

In an MMO, when you die you suffer severe penalties for a while but then carry on as normal. Ok, so perhaps not all of life is an like an MMO but hey, if you're religious, perhaps this counts too.

This week in gaming

Sticking it to Game Room

After several days recovering froma nasty virus it was lovely to be rewarded with an exciting impulse buy in the 'Game' sle this weekend, picking up a Hori EX2 arcade fighting stick (Xbox 360 licensed) for half price (£34.99). A lovely chunky piece of kit, wired, 6 big buttons representing A,B,X,Y,RT,LT, with the remainder of the xbox controller buttons being replace by smaller ones along the top surrounding the ubiquitous Xbox button itself.

Not being a big fan of the arcade fighting genre (although i did help myself to a preowned Tekken 6 at the same time) the stick is absolutely perfect for Game Room. It will work with any game that uses the dpad for movement so is perfect for the simple arcade classics available both as part of Game Room and in the XBLA.

However, despite this, i still can't crack Asteroids Deluxe. I guess more practice is required. The next Game Pack, along with the start of the weekly release schedule, isn't out til the end of this month (April 2010) and i have been able to resist splashing out too much with just 6 games in my arcade but despite this it is a compelling product. Devisive in opinion though it seems, between nostalgia freaks and those that have left the origins of gaming behind. For me i can't help trying to beat those games that frustrated me in my youth and despite a healthy dose of mid-life nostalgia it's the basic addictive gameplay of these defining little games and the framework of the Game Room itself with it's friendly competition settings and collectibles is what keeps pulling me back in.

Quickies

• Star Trek Online is just getting better with some very good 'episode' storylines which hark bark to the shows and movies.
• Broken Sword on ipod touch it's a very interestingly designed puzzler, more like an interactive comic with it's art by Watchmen's Dave Gibbons.

And, finally...

... having loaded the spring update and formtted a spare cheapo 8Gb USB flsh drive i had lying about, arcade titles, video downloads and game demos work fine running of the stick despite it 'failing' the MS performance test during the format process.

Happy Timewasting

Couch Potato Online

In the week of the US release of the iPad there have been many reviews, criticisms and posts about just what this 'revolutionary'device is for.

It seems to be revolutionary because it is made by Apple. If they brought out a toilet brush that cost £200 and was made from aluminium and did what every toilet brush had ever done but just more stylishly the twitterati would nerdgasm over that too.

And that can detract from what the iPad and it's upcoming android and windows 7 counterparts will bring to households. The era of casual couch computing is upon us.

I recently picked up a freebie iPod touch 8Gb 2nd gen from a friend who had upgraded. As a bigger screen to watch itunes downloads and video podcasts than my classic, it's a boon for the train. However, as iphone users know it's the apps that make the device. And apps like IMDB, while sitting on the couch watching a dvd for that "Oooo, what have i seen her in?" moments or just popping into safari for a quicky wiki check. It's even got me reading comic books again thanks to the excellent comiXology app. All backed up with a few cool retro style games that make it a DS rival in pocket gaming.

So, surely, if the touch is the perfect pocket sized couch potatoes friend, then an iPad is merely just a bigger screen version and can't be all that bad for being nothing more. Perhaps, with the edition of itunes books to back up what stanza offers on the touch it's even more for that couch (or even in bed) entertaining computer experience.

But, hang on, it's pretty expensive for a glorified wifi portal to enhance the movie experience purely ecause it connects to the network more or less instantly. I mean, that's the key isn't it? i want to know the answer to this now not in 5 mins after i've gone to the computer and booted it up and the browser comes to life. wifi devices and smartphones have cut out that boot process by being 'always on'.

And yet, i already have a device that does all this, it's not cool, it's not touch and it's certainly not Apple. but it has great battery life, runs a gazillion apps, connects to the web with a 7" display and can even access itunes, etc. Ok. it takes about 3 minutes to boot but if i just have it on when i get to the couch, the battery is enough to last all night. and despite being underpowered and as pretty as a house brick and superceded by a thousand copycats it's a damn sight more open and flexible than an ipad.

Ladies and gentleman, welcome back to the spotlight, the humble EEE pc 4G. £150 if you can find one, fast with linux installed, powerful with xp installed and before long, in late 2010, lightspeed when it has chrome os installed (i tried an early build on usb, boot to browser in 10 secs).

Yes, the ipad is a very impressive ipod touch on steroids. But it can't do a fraction of what this obsolete bit of plastic i'm posting from can.