Last night I had the opportunity to experience Verizon customer service when I canceled the VCAST V PAK while still in the one month trial period.
Their customer service was friendly and efficient, and deserves the high Consumer Reports rating.
I've found one problem with the Motorola RAZR V3c, one that I have not seen mentioned in any reviews. The main (internal) display is unreadable in sunlight and with no way to increase the brightness this makes it almost impossible to dial calls outside. This is a major flaw in an otherwise excellent phone. I really though that Motorola would have fixed this by spending more on a better screen - but keeping costs low may have been their primary concern. After all, who uses their cellphones outside?.
My old, soon to be sold, Treo 600 has an extra bright screen to overcome this. Inside you need to keep it at the lowest brightness setting, but outside there's plenty of brightness on the slider bar to make the screen readable. I have on occasions used it as a torch (flashlight).
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Got Gripes?
While searching for a review of ZoneAlarm software the other day I came across this detailed gripe about ZoneAlarm.
I had struck the mother lode, a site dedicated to both software and hardware Computer Gripes: computergripes.com
They also have a link to PC World's 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.
I had struck the mother lode, a site dedicated to both software and hardware Computer Gripes: computergripes.com
They also have a link to PC World's 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.
Monday, June 19, 2006
V3m vs. V3c
Just after I bought the Motorola RAZR V3c, the Verizon Online Site had its successor, the Motorola RAZR V3m on special for $69. That’s a lot more than I paid for the V3c, but it still grated a bit. Of course Amazon’s price for the newer RAZR is $199 after rebates, they must have a lot of the V3c’s in stock.
Anyway, a comparison on Phonescoop.com reveals that the differences between the two are not that important to me:
First is a Memory Card Slot for microSD / TransFlash cards. No Comment.
Then the V3m has better battery life - standby time is increased from 215 hours (9 days) to 325 hours(13.5 days). No change in talk time though.
The updated RAZR has a Music Player. No big deal.
Oh, a converged device; music player and cellphone, you say.
Sorry, my Treo 600 had that, on top of being a handheld computer with a keyboard. I prefer the sound of a dedicated DAP (Digital Audio Player).
Also, the V3m is all of 1mm thinner than the v3c (or 0.03 inches). Now, that really makes a difference.
Anyway, a comparison on Phonescoop.com reveals that the differences between the two are not that important to me:
First is a Memory Card Slot for microSD / TransFlash cards. No Comment.
Then the V3m has better battery life - standby time is increased from 215 hours (9 days) to 325 hours(13.5 days). No change in talk time though.
The updated RAZR has a Music Player. No big deal.
Oh, a converged device; music player and cellphone, you say.
Sorry, my Treo 600 had that, on top of being a handheld computer with a keyboard. I prefer the sound of a dedicated DAP (Digital Audio Player).
Also, the V3m is all of 1mm thinner than the v3c (or 0.03 inches). Now, that really makes a difference.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
RAZR Early impressions
So far I'm really impressed with Motorola RAZR V3c. Fortunately I was expecting the Verizon interface and the crippled Bluetooth, otherwise may have been disappointed. It certainly is the coolest cellphone I've owned, easily surpassing the Motorola V600. The main color screen is bigger than I expected for a cellphone. The keypad is really cool, especially when it is lit up. My only minor gripe is that I seem to press the directional keys sometimes instead of the main "Select" button in the main navigational keys. Not being able to fully customize these keys is what I expected. If I really wanted to use the EVDO highspeed features I would be frustrated as EVDO reception is patchy and variable in my home. I have also since discovered that the North Shore and South Shore of Long Island are not in the EVDO coverage area, which I guess explains the bad reception. The cellphone itself is small and light, very easily pocketable. In my tests of the most important cellphone functionality - voice reception - it is pretty good.
By the way, thanks to The General for pointing out that the "Q" in the Motorola Q stands for "Qwerty" - that makes sense as it has a keyboard.
By the way, thanks to The General for pointing out that the "Q" in the Motorola Q stands for "Qwerty" - that makes sense as it has a keyboard.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
RAZR not Razor?
Questions for Motorola:
Why drop the "o" from Razor to make it RAZR, or the "b" and "e" from PEBL? Okay, so short CAPS are eye-catching - ROKR instead of Rocker. I guess V60 or V600 wasn't catchy enough. Now there's the Motorola Q. Does Motorola have to pay royalties to Ian Fleming's estate? ("The lasting impact of 'Q' does not refer to the Motorola Q")
Why drop the "o" from Razor to make it RAZR, or the "b" and "e" from PEBL? Okay, so short CAPS are eye-catching - ROKR instead of Rocker. I guess V60 or V600 wasn't catchy enough. Now there's the Motorola Q. Does Motorola have to pay royalties to Ian Fleming's estate? ("The lasting impact of 'Q' does not refer to the Motorola Q")
Monday, June 12, 2006
Target Acquired
Bullseye!
(I hope, and not "Mission Accomplished")
Cutting Edge technology:
....a year ago
Can you hear me (now)?
(I hope, and not "Mission Accomplished")
Cutting Edge technology:
....a year ago
Can you hear me (now)?
Friday, June 09, 2006
Non-Mobile cellphone
A cellphone by definition should be mobile.
I was very interested in the VZ Navigator feature from Verizon. When it first came out I had read about it, probably in PC Magazine. Now, this seemed like a really cool and useful technology. A cellphone is something you carry almost all the time, and is (usually) smaller than one of those handheld GPS devices. So basically you shold have access to GPS whenever you really need it (assuming there is coverage in the area you happen to be lost in, but that's another matter). The way Verizon prices it is appealling - either $10 a month (for the constantly lost), or $2.99 for a 24 hour period whenever you need it. From a flyer (aka junk snail mail) Verizon had sent me, it appeared that they only offered 2 cellphones which were GPS enabled: the Motorola V325 and the LG VX 9800. At first the VX 9800 sounded like a cool phone loaded with features like BlueTooth, a Megapixel Camera etc,, but then I realized it's a brick.
Dimensions 4.57 inches, 1.97 inches, 1.0 inches, weight: 5.19 ounces. For a cellphone that's a brick.
The LG VX9800 as a cellphone
The LG VX9800 is not a PDA, as it doesn't have an OS, but is a text messenger.
(Mobiledia has larger pictures of the LG VX9800 in their review)
As for the Motorola V325, it was the first to have VZ Navigator, and had good user reviews on CNET, Phonescoop and even on Amazon. Yet it lacked bluetooth - kinda ironic for me to want bluetooth, since I have it on my Motorola V600 cellphone and have never used it. I also have it on a couple of my handhelds, but never have tried hard enough to get it working - infrared works easily between handhelds (this includes Palm and PocketPCs).
Anyway, I digress.
Also, the Motorola V325 only had a VGA camera, and since I was upgrading a better camera would be nice (the camera on the V600, although low resolution, takes pretty good pictures for a cellphone). The one nice thing the V325 had was a World Clock.
The General (the cellphone expert) mentioned the RAZR. I had a look at it on the Verizon site, and saw that it supports VZ Navigator. Sneaky Verizon - they don't want to tell you that upfront - it would affect the sales of "The V" (the VX 9800, I guess V stands for Very Big cellphone). The Motorola RAZR V3c goes for $99.99 after rebates on the Verizon site and in their stores.
On Amazon.com however, it can be had for free after rebates.
The prey was in my sights...
I was very interested in the VZ Navigator feature from Verizon. When it first came out I had read about it, probably in PC Magazine. Now, this seemed like a really cool and useful technology. A cellphone is something you carry almost all the time, and is (usually) smaller than one of those handheld GPS devices. So basically you shold have access to GPS whenever you really need it (assuming there is coverage in the area you happen to be lost in, but that's another matter). The way Verizon prices it is appealling - either $10 a month (for the constantly lost), or $2.99 for a 24 hour period whenever you need it. From a flyer (aka junk snail mail) Verizon had sent me, it appeared that they only offered 2 cellphones which were GPS enabled: the Motorola V325 and the LG VX 9800. At first the VX 9800 sounded like a cool phone loaded with features like BlueTooth, a Megapixel Camera etc,, but then I realized it's a brick.
Dimensions 4.57 inches, 1.97 inches, 1.0 inches, weight: 5.19 ounces. For a cellphone that's a brick.
The LG VX9800 as a cellphone
The LG VX9800 is not a PDA, as it doesn't have an OS, but is a text messenger.
(Mobiledia has larger pictures of the LG VX9800 in their review)
As for the Motorola V325, it was the first to have VZ Navigator, and had good user reviews on CNET, Phonescoop and even on Amazon. Yet it lacked bluetooth - kinda ironic for me to want bluetooth, since I have it on my Motorola V600 cellphone and have never used it. I also have it on a couple of my handhelds, but never have tried hard enough to get it working - infrared works easily between handhelds (this includes Palm and PocketPCs).
Anyway, I digress.
Also, the Motorola V325 only had a VGA camera, and since I was upgrading a better camera would be nice (the camera on the V600, although low resolution, takes pretty good pictures for a cellphone). The one nice thing the V325 had was a World Clock.
The General (the cellphone expert) mentioned the RAZR. I had a look at it on the Verizon site, and saw that it supports VZ Navigator. Sneaky Verizon - they don't want to tell you that upfront - it would affect the sales of "The V" (the VX 9800, I guess V stands for Very Big cellphone). The Motorola RAZR V3c goes for $99.99 after rebates on the Verizon site and in their stores.
On Amazon.com however, it can be had for free after rebates.
The prey was in my sights...
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Smells like a Hunt
Before the last blog entry about Ubuntu, I was so engrossed in a hunt that I didn't have time to blog.
What? Yes thanks.
Anyway, I didn't expect to find myself on a hunt, especially considering I've basically blown my personal technology budget for at least the next year.
I've being wracking my brain trying to figure out how I got into research mode, which quickly morphed into hunt mode.
No, I don't hunt Polar bears - this is a technology hunt.
I was looking at getting onto a "Family Plan", and after checking when my wife's cellphone contract ended, I quickly checked when mine ended. To my surprise my contract had ended last year, and I've been on month-to-month since then.
Aha, research mode became hunt mode. I checked out my current cellular provider, Cingular, and saw that their cheapest plan was $39.99, which is $20 more than my current plan, but with 10 times the minutes I currently have. But their free phones were not particularly inspiring.
Instead, since I'm eligible for a discount from Verizon (don't ask why, it's a state secret), I had a look at their plans and phones.
The first phone which interested me was the Motorola V325, to be seen here on its own blog. One of it's most interesting features was the VZ Navigator which allows GPS Navigation from a cellphone - see PC Magazine review here.
This phone seemed ideal, it even had analog roaming, but...
The hunt continues...
What? Yes thanks.
Anyway, I didn't expect to find myself on a hunt, especially considering I've basically blown my personal technology budget for at least the next year.
I've being wracking my brain trying to figure out how I got into research mode, which quickly morphed into hunt mode.
No, I don't hunt Polar bears - this is a technology hunt.
I was looking at getting onto a "Family Plan", and after checking when my wife's cellphone contract ended, I quickly checked when mine ended. To my surprise my contract had ended last year, and I've been on month-to-month since then.
Aha, research mode became hunt mode. I checked out my current cellular provider, Cingular, and saw that their cheapest plan was $39.99, which is $20 more than my current plan, but with 10 times the minutes I currently have. But their free phones were not particularly inspiring.
Instead, since I'm eligible for a discount from Verizon (don't ask why, it's a state secret), I had a look at their plans and phones.
The first phone which interested me was the Motorola V325, to be seen here on its own blog. One of it's most interesting features was the VZ Navigator which allows GPS Navigation from a cellphone - see PC Magazine review here.
This phone seemed ideal, it even had analog roaming, but...
The hunt continues...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Linux for Astronauts
A new version of Ubuntu Linux has been released, version 6.06 (6.06 meaning the release date of June 2006, not June 6!)
Why Linux for Astronauts?
Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project, was also the first South African in space, having paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket in 2002 (see his website)
Why Linux for Astronauts?
Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project, was also the first South African in space, having paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket in 2002 (see his website)
Friday, May 26, 2006
Virtualization and another Buzz
Virtualization is causing a buzz in Technology right now.
It has Microsoft's attention at the moment in the software world with Microsoft releasing the latest update to Virtual Server, Virtual Server 2005 R2 as a free download. Of course this has nothing to do with VMWare offering their VMware Server Beta for free. Then of course there is the buzz about virtualization in the hardware world with Xen for Linux and Intel's whatever...
Without going into too much detail virtualization refers to running more than one Client or Server Operating System at a time on a single hardware box. Of course there is more to it than that, with another flavor of virtualization being an implementation from Altiris that allows applications to run with controlled access to the underlying OS (Altiris SVS). What's great is that a lot of the software tools have free versions. VMwares Virtual Player is one of them.
Virtualization is something I work with almost every day, but another buzz is about something I only just heard about for the first time: Rails for Ruby.
Rails for Ruby, which is being hailed as a successor to Java as it is a whole lot faster to develop web-based database applications. The language itself, Ruby has been around since about 1993.
"Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server." this is according to the official website RubyOnRails.org
Instant Rails for Ruby on Rails which includes everything needed to setup Rails for Ruby can be found here
It has Microsoft's attention at the moment in the software world with Microsoft releasing the latest update to Virtual Server, Virtual Server 2005 R2 as a free download. Of course this has nothing to do with VMWare offering their VMware Server Beta for free. Then of course there is the buzz about virtualization in the hardware world with Xen for Linux and Intel's whatever...
Without going into too much detail virtualization refers to running more than one Client or Server Operating System at a time on a single hardware box. Of course there is more to it than that, with another flavor of virtualization being an implementation from Altiris that allows applications to run with controlled access to the underlying OS (Altiris SVS). What's great is that a lot of the software tools have free versions. VMwares Virtual Player is one of them.
Virtualization is something I work with almost every day, but another buzz is about something I only just heard about for the first time: Rails for Ruby.
Rails for Ruby, which is being hailed as a successor to Java as it is a whole lot faster to develop web-based database applications. The language itself, Ruby has been around since about 1993.
"Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server." this is according to the official website RubyOnRails.org
Instant Rails for Ruby on Rails which includes everything needed to setup Rails for Ruby can be found here
Saturday, May 20, 2006
AOL Music canceled
Well, I finally canceled my trial of AOL Music Service, before the 30 day trial period had ended of course. It was just that it was so difficult. First, because I wasn't sure that the Music Service was what AOL calls a "Premium Service", I got put through to the wrong department who put me through to Bangalore or somewhere similar. I was then advised to phone the number I had phoned. By the time I go through to the right human being it was hard to be civil.
Canceling Rhapsody was easier and they actually asked why. AOL it seems couldn't care.
Canceling Rhapsody was easier and they actually asked why. AOL it seems couldn't care.
Monday, May 15, 2006
U3 and PortableApps
That is U3 and not the famous U2.
Both U3 and PortableApps are methods of storing and running Applications from USB Flash Drives. U3 is a platform and a USB Flash Drive has to be a "U3 smart drive" to run U3 applications. PortableApps on the other hand will work on any USB Flash Drive. The other difference is that PortableApps features mainly Open Source (free) software, whereas U3 has some freeware but mainly commercial applications, like ThinkFree Office for U3 (I guess the "Free" of ThinkFree is Free of MS?) and WinRAR for U3.
My boss remarked that this was like the old days of DOS and floppy disks - remember when you could run a program from a floppy disk? In fact, right now flash drives of 512MB or less would be recognized as a floppy drive when it comes to booting from them.
There are a number of ways to make a USB Flash Drive bootable with everything from DOS to Windows versions to (of course) Linux. Unfortunately this will work only if your PC or Notebooks BIOS supports booting from a USB device, and this is limited to PCs from the last year or so. See Bootdisk.info for more information.
Both U3 and PortableApps are methods of storing and running Applications from USB Flash Drives. U3 is a platform and a USB Flash Drive has to be a "U3 smart drive" to run U3 applications. PortableApps on the other hand will work on any USB Flash Drive. The other difference is that PortableApps features mainly Open Source (free) software, whereas U3 has some freeware but mainly commercial applications, like ThinkFree Office for U3 (I guess the "Free" of ThinkFree is Free of MS?) and WinRAR for U3.
My boss remarked that this was like the old days of DOS and floppy disks - remember when you could run a program from a floppy disk? In fact, right now flash drives of 512MB or less would be recognized as a floppy drive when it comes to booting from them.
There are a number of ways to make a USB Flash Drive bootable with everything from DOS to Windows versions to (of course) Linux. Unfortunately this will work only if your PC or Notebooks BIOS supports booting from a USB device, and this is limited to PCs from the last year or so. See Bootdisk.info for more information.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Successful Downgrade
This week I successfully downgraded from Graffiti 2 on my Tungsten T3 to Graffiti 1. Why would I do that you may ask? Well, I got tired of not being able to write the letter "x", no matter how hard I tried.
Admittedly, Graffiti 2 is a lot closer to normal handwriting, although each letter needs to be formed individually like in the first version of Graffiti. I was actually starting to get used to it, but then had to write something on a handheld which had version 1 on it. It reminded me of how quick easy those shortcut strokes are to write.
There are lots of articles on how to downgrade the web, like this one from Palm Infocenter.
As a comparison, the two versions of Graffiti look as follows:
Graffiti 1:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has an excellent article on Graffiti and why Palm brought out version 2.
Graffiti 2:
The Palm site has an article on how Graffiti 2 is "intuitive and easier to learn".
Admittedly, Graffiti 2 is a lot closer to normal handwriting, although each letter needs to be formed individually like in the first version of Graffiti. I was actually starting to get used to it, but then had to write something on a handheld which had version 1 on it. It reminded me of how quick easy those shortcut strokes are to write.
There are lots of articles on how to downgrade the web, like this one from Palm Infocenter.
As a comparison, the two versions of Graffiti look as follows:
Graffiti 1:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has an excellent article on Graffiti and why Palm brought out version 2.
Graffiti 2:
The Palm site has an article on how Graffiti 2 is "intuitive and easier to learn".
Friday, May 05, 2006
Something cool on a warm night.
No, I'm not referring to an ice cold Bud Light, but a Tech kind of cool: Specifically a network update of the Sony PSP firmware to version 2.70. The network update feature has been there since the PSP came out, but I've just never used it before. Of course it makes perfect sense to allow updating the operating system and other features of the console over a wireless connection, since the PSP has built-in Wi-Fi.
Up until now I've done it in the "old-fashioned" way, downloading using my PC. I had forgotten about this feature until I was browsing the Sony Playstation website with my PSP (seemed a logical thing to do), and read up about the new features of the firmware upgrade and decided to apply it. Initially, before I even got the PSP, firmware upgrades were more for taking things away, locking down the PSP and making it more difficult to hack. In fact, the firmware version my Sony PSP came with (2.0 I think), is pretty much un-hackable. Version 1.5 was a favorite of the Homebrew crowd, they could add their own web browser and other software. Then games came out with firmware upgrades on the UMD (disk) - if you want to play the game you had to upgrade your firmware. Anyway, now Sony has been adding features: 2.0 had a Web Browser, 2.6 added support for RSS Feeds, and 2.7 adds support for Macromedia Flash (not a favorite of mine - those Flash ads bug me so much I've disabled them in Firefox, and unless the otherwise excellent Opera browser allows Flash to be disabled I'm not going to bother to use it). More importantly, this upgrade supports audio Podcasts (called something else - "Audio content" - of course), and the saving of multimedia content from the web browser to a Memory Stick. Video podcasts have been promised in a future update.
As an aside, CNET.com has the Sony PSP Rated as the most popular PVP (Personal Video Player). I've watched a movie on the Sony PSP, and the aspect ratio of its 4 inch screen is perfect widescreen movies. Of course a protective case like the Logitech PlayGear helps, as it can be flipped around to hold the PSP in the right position for movie watching. The stereo speakers are also adequate for the task.
Up until now I've done it in the "old-fashioned" way, downloading using my PC. I had forgotten about this feature until I was browsing the Sony Playstation website with my PSP (seemed a logical thing to do), and read up about the new features of the firmware upgrade and decided to apply it. Initially, before I even got the PSP, firmware upgrades were more for taking things away, locking down the PSP and making it more difficult to hack. In fact, the firmware version my Sony PSP came with (2.0 I think), is pretty much un-hackable. Version 1.5 was a favorite of the Homebrew crowd, they could add their own web browser and other software. Then games came out with firmware upgrades on the UMD (disk) - if you want to play the game you had to upgrade your firmware. Anyway, now Sony has been adding features: 2.0 had a Web Browser, 2.6 added support for RSS Feeds, and 2.7 adds support for Macromedia Flash (not a favorite of mine - those Flash ads bug me so much I've disabled them in Firefox, and unless the otherwise excellent Opera browser allows Flash to be disabled I'm not going to bother to use it). More importantly, this upgrade supports audio Podcasts (called something else - "Audio content" - of course), and the saving of multimedia content from the web browser to a Memory Stick. Video podcasts have been promised in a future update.
As an aside, CNET.com has the Sony PSP Rated as the most popular PVP (Personal Video Player). I've watched a movie on the Sony PSP, and the aspect ratio of its 4 inch screen is perfect widescreen movies. Of course a protective case like the Logitech PlayGear helps, as it can be flipped around to hold the PSP in the right position for movie watching. The stereo speakers are also adequate for the task.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Web on TV? No: TV on Web
After several attempts to get internet content on television, none with much success, now the big guns are trying to get Television content on the Internet. Like AOL Television
Friday, April 28, 2006
Online Music Services
I was going to do a review on the Online Music Services, including subscription music, "Music To Go" and straight download services. However someone has already done this:
Here's a blog, which reviews Music Subscription Services:
TechCrunch
PC Magazine also did a review "Subscriptions for a Song"
Still, here is my take on the services I've tried so far:
Rhapsody Online is one of the most expensive Online Services (for downloading Subscription Music). But they were offering a 30-day free trial. To use their service you have to download their software. Its actually quite easy to use, and I had no problems downloading Subscription tracks to a Sandisk Sansa as well as an iRiver H10. They have a wide selection of music, and when you view an artist they list other similar artists. This works quite well. Some groups and tracks are for purchase only.
Then I tried AOL Music Service. My initial impressions were not good, especially compared to Rhapsody. Although this is supposed to have a web-only interface, you still have to install the AOL Music Download Utility. The Web interface to AOL Music is pathetically slow, even on a broadband collection. otherwise, they have a fairly good selection of music, although you are left on your own regarding similar artists.
Here's a blog, which reviews Music Subscription Services:
TechCrunch
PC Magazine also did a review "Subscriptions for a Song"
Still, here is my take on the services I've tried so far:
Rhapsody Online is one of the most expensive Online Services (for downloading Subscription Music). But they were offering a 30-day free trial. To use their service you have to download their software. Its actually quite easy to use, and I had no problems downloading Subscription tracks to a Sandisk Sansa as well as an iRiver H10. They have a wide selection of music, and when you view an artist they list other similar artists. This works quite well. Some groups and tracks are for purchase only.
Then I tried AOL Music Service. My initial impressions were not good, especially compared to Rhapsody. Although this is supposed to have a web-only interface, you still have to install the AOL Music Download Utility. The Web interface to AOL Music is pathetically slow, even on a broadband collection. otherwise, they have a fairly good selection of music, although you are left on your own regarding similar artists.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Frozen Mini
Last night my Apple iPod Mini starting giving trouble. At first I thought it was frozen, but the player can play songs using the wired remote. So it seemed that the click wheel wasn't working.
I scoured the web for solutions. After trying to to reset it according to instructions on the Apple support site, I did the next suggested solution: drained the battery and recharged it. The reset still didn't work. Then I tried restoring the iPod to factory settings. I can transfer songs to the player, and play them using the remote, but the clickwheel - probably the single best feature of the iPod - still doesn't work.
Of course it is no longer under warranty. The 30 day warranty ended over a month ago.
What really burns me is that I could have got a refurbished second generation iPod Mini (this one is a first generation - main difference being 2nd generation gets 18 hours battery life instead of 8) directly from Apple.com with a better warranty for less than I paid for this piece of crap...
I scoured the web for solutions. After trying to to reset it according to instructions on the Apple support site, I did the next suggested solution: drained the battery and recharged it. The reset still didn't work. Then I tried restoring the iPod to factory settings. I can transfer songs to the player, and play them using the remote, but the clickwheel - probably the single best feature of the iPod - still doesn't work.
Of course it is no longer under warranty. The 30 day warranty ended over a month ago.
What really burns me is that I could have got a refurbished second generation iPod Mini (this one is a first generation - main difference being 2nd generation gets 18 hours battery life instead of 8) directly from Apple.com with a better warranty for less than I paid for this piece of crap...
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Technology moves fast (sometimes)
One technology which is moving particularly fast - probably because there is so much consumer demand - is MP3 Players.
I guess I should have realized when I bought the SanDisk Sansa 240 1GB MP3 Player on special that there was a new one coming (I suspected that something was up).
Now I see that SanDisk has come out with the Sansa c100 and Sansa e100 series of MP3 Players. Instead of boring mono screens, these new ones come with full color screens, and the e100 series can play video.
According to CNET "The SanDisk Sansa e200 series combines copious features such as subscription compatibility, an FM tuner/recorder, voice recording, and photo and video playback into a compact and durable device. We like the tactile navigation wheel, as well as the well-designed software interface. The user-removable battery and the Micro SD slot are nice touches, and the device has decent sound quality, processor performance, and battery life."
and
From CNET's SanDisk Sansa e270 (6 GB) review:
"The SanDisk Sansa e200 series offers a boatload of features for a reasonable price, in a package that is much nicer than that of past SanDisk models. For those looking for a high-capacity, compact, skip-free MP3/WMA player, start with the e200 series."
The Sansa e200 series starts with a 2GB capacity and goes all the way up to a 6 GB capacity, 2GB more than any iPod Nano at present.
The SanDisk Sansa m240:
The SanDisk Sansa e200:
Everyone say Ooooh!
I guess I should have realized when I bought the SanDisk Sansa 240 1GB MP3 Player on special that there was a new one coming (I suspected that something was up).
Now I see that SanDisk has come out with the Sansa c100 and Sansa e100 series of MP3 Players. Instead of boring mono screens, these new ones come with full color screens, and the e100 series can play video.
According to CNET "The SanDisk Sansa e200 series combines copious features such as subscription compatibility, an FM tuner/recorder, voice recording, and photo and video playback into a compact and durable device. We like the tactile navigation wheel, as well as the well-designed software interface. The user-removable battery and the Micro SD slot are nice touches, and the device has decent sound quality, processor performance, and battery life."
and
From CNET's SanDisk Sansa e270 (6 GB) review:
"The SanDisk Sansa e200 series offers a boatload of features for a reasonable price, in a package that is much nicer than that of past SanDisk models. For those looking for a high-capacity, compact, skip-free MP3/WMA player, start with the e200 series."
The Sansa e200 series starts with a 2GB capacity and goes all the way up to a 6 GB capacity, 2GB more than any iPod Nano at present.
The SanDisk Sansa m240:
The SanDisk Sansa e200:
Everyone say Ooooh!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Mobile Internet Part IV
(I use Roman numerals because they seem fairly well understood in the U.S., probably due to the Super Bowl)
Once again I tried using the wireless Internet on my Tungsten T3 with the CPU at full speed (400MHz). I may have been expecting too much, but eBay was extremely sluggish in loading. Only got past the login screen, and page just loaded too slowly, even with "Load Images" turned off. I tried again, and the T3 did a fatal reset, which messed up the Virtual Graffiti area. Is it due to a better Operating System (Linux) that the 200MHz Sharp Zaurus can browse not just eBay, but another page at the same time? Or is it the Opera Browser? There are rumors that Palm is working on Linux-based operating system for their handhelds - see this article at PalmInfoCenter
Once again I tried using the wireless Internet on my Tungsten T3 with the CPU at full speed (400MHz). I may have been expecting too much, but eBay was extremely sluggish in loading. Only got past the login screen, and page just loaded too slowly, even with "Load Images" turned off. I tried again, and the T3 did a fatal reset, which messed up the Virtual Graffiti area. Is it due to a better Operating System (Linux) that the 200MHz Sharp Zaurus can browse not just eBay, but another page at the same time? Or is it the Opera Browser? There are rumors that Palm is working on Linux-based operating system for their handhelds - see this article at PalmInfoCenter
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Apple boots Microsoft
Apple Unveils Software to boot into Windows XP, according to this article in My Way News. But that's what Microsoft has been wanting to do to Apple for ages!
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