A break and warning label

First of all I'll be going away on an overseas trip and most likely won't be able to blog from there.

Secondly the warning label. I'm not sure if Sony is going to put this anywhere on the box of their lower priced 40GB Playstation 3 ($399 in the USA), but one of the things they have dropped from this version is backwards compatibility with PS2 games (according to Sony rolls out cheaper 40GB PS3 in InfoSyncWorld). Considering that there are very few compelling games for the Sony Playstation 3 this is a possible deal breaker. This especially so since there are a lot of Playstation 2 games still available (and still getting released). From what I understand, to get backwards compatibility you have to buy the 80GB Playstation 3, which is apparently due for a price drop - probably down to $499 - before Christmas. Hopefully Sony won't decide to remove backwards compatibility from the 80GB version when they drop the price.

Deal of the Day

Deal of the Day, or Sale of the Day, websites are springing up all over the net, with some variations on the theme.

The first one I came across was woot!.com which is regarded as the best and most popular.Basically woot! sells one item a day, anything from computers to flashlights. Sometimes the items are new, other times they are refurbished. There is also a quirky funny story about the item on sale. Some people wait up until midnight (which is when the next day's item is put on sale) just to see what it is going to be. Some items sell out quickly (the woot website has stats), and others don't, but a lot are sold, like the refurbished 30GB Microsoft Zune MP3 Players on October 15 - over 10,000 units were sold in one day. From what I've seen woot's prices are good and I haven't had any problems with items purchased from them.

And the other sites? Squidoo has short descriptions and links to many sites (but for some reason maybe blocked by overzealous corporate website blocking software).

There are also several Roundup sites, like Deal of the Day Tracker and Bargain Jack. I would advise shopping around before buying anything on these bargain websites.

Since I have not had any dealings with any of these websites other than woot!, I would recommend checking out reviews and approaching any purchases with the normal caution you would use for other internet purchases.

Really Secure

This week I signed up on one of the Sandisk user forums. The password format they wanted was ridiculous - I'm used to providing one with alpha characters and a number, but they also wanted at least one uppercase letter and one lowercase one. I can understand requiring a tough password if Credit Card or other sensitive information was being stored, but this was a user forum, and the most sensitive information was my email address.

Anyway, I complied, then had to laugh, because they sent me the confirmation email with my userid and password in plain text. Really Secure!

iPods Hidden Feature

There is a feature on iPods which I haven't found on any other MP3 Player. It is auto-bookmarking, something very handy for Podcasts or Audio books. (Actually it is only hidden because it is not advertised or shown on any menu).

Basically if you play anything and then pause and exit through the menu, when you next play that particular track it will start off where you left off, even if you have turned off the iPod in between. This is handy for me since I listen to multiple Podcasts, and often don't finish listening in iPod one session (quite often I get home before an episode of "Buzz Out Loud" finishes). I can then finish listening to it later. It also works for videos.

Before I get howls of protest from fans of other MP3 Players - apparently if you are listening to a track on most non-iPods and just turn the MP3 Player off without pausing first, it will resume when you turn the player on again - I got this tip from CNET's "MP3 Insider" Podcast, and have tested it on a Creative Zen V Plus. I also know that the Creative Zen Vision:M allows you to set bookmarks in audio tracks and videos. It is possible that the whole Creative line has this feature.

Now my disclaimer - although I own a couple of iPods, I also own or have owned 3 iRivers, 2 Creative Zens and even a Sandisk Sansa. So I would suggest that anyone in the market for an MP3 Player shouldn't just buy an iPod without checking what is available out there, and buy based on what their requirements are. The Portable Video/MP3 Player Reviews at CNET are a good starting point. Then there is dapreview.net and anythingbutipod

My new iPod Touch

No, not me (unfortunately), but Dominic, a Site Administrator of dapreview - a website which reviews MP3 Players (aka DAP - Digital Audio Players). He mentions it in his post My new toy - iPod Touch. DAPReview.net also reviews iPods, but are more focused on the wide variety of other Digital Audio Players.

Two weeks with the Dash

Well, after two weeks what is my opinion of the T-Mobile Dash?
It's not perfect but I like it. The screen is bright and the phone feels good in the hand with a rubberized exterior.

I wasn't a fan of previous Windows Mobile/smartphone interfaces but this one is pretty good. It didn't take much to get into it, although I have used earlier versions of Windows Mobile Pocket PCs fairly extensively. With no touchscreen, the Windows Mobile Interface on the Dash relies on Menus and icons, which are selected using soft keys and a Navigation Control. The icons with captions of the most recently used applications right at the top of the Home screen are really handy, and reduce the amount of time spent looking for applications in the Start Menu.

The Dash is easy to use as a cellphone - typing is anything while on the Home Screen starts a search of contacts. From there making a call is simple. The speakerphone works well and pairing with a Bluetooth headset was easy enough.




The Dash compared to my previous phone, the Treo 650 - keep in mind that the Treo is 2 years older than the Dash, has a totally different OS, and weighs 2 oz more than the Dash.

As for email, setting up email accounts was a snap. All I needed was my email address and password for Yahoo, GMail, AOL and Hotmail (now called Windows Live). I didn't set up Instant Messaging as I don't really use it that much anymore. I liked that I could select weblinks within email messages and they would open in the web browser. Word or Excel attachments can be saved and edited as well. Browsing the internet is not too bad on T-Mobile's EDGE network, I wasn't expecting a high speed connection. Once Wi-Fi is set up and a connection is made the browser uses the Wi-Fi connection, which is obviously faster.

Battery life on the Dash hasn't been bad - when I first got it and was playing with it a lot I recharged once a day - but keep in mind that I usually do not let the battery level of any device go below 60% before recharging it. Since then I have gone for six days without recharging, although I do not keep the Dash on all the time, especially on work days. One thing I have noticed is that it takes quite a while to boot up, but that doesn't really bug me. I've disabled the volume touch strip, and the other con of the phone, is the camera interface - CNET's review of the Dash says "The camera interface is also confusing" and I have to agree.

Typing anything on the Dash is quite easy. There is an intelligent auto-complete feature which remembers any words you have typed in. I'm actually considering doing some blogging from the Dash.

Touch not really phone-less iPhone

The iPod Touch - not really an iPhone without the phone.
I was quite excited when the iPod Touch was announced. Now it is being released this week and the big tech sites have had time to play with pre-release models and write their reviews (see the CNET review here)

As well as being slightly smaller and lighter than the iPhone, the iPod Touch is also missing features like Google Maps, the email client and the Notes application, along with built-in speakers, microphone, camera and other mini applications. It is kind of understandable not to include Google Maps - if you really need to use it you may not be near a wireless hotspot. To leave out email and Notes just sucks. Sure you can use web-based email, as the Safari browser is included, but the email client would have been useful. Even more so, leaving out the Notes application on the first iPod (excluding the iPhone) to have a virtual keyboard is just reducing functionality.

Somehow I suspect these omissions are not accidental, but carefully selected. An iPod Touch which had all the functionality of an iPhone except the phone could very well hurt iPhone sales, something Apple wouldn't want.

Dash vs Blackjack

Here's some of the background research which lead to the choice I made in the "What, No Hunt?" Blog Entry.

The total contract price was not the only reason I went with the T-Mobile Dash instead of AT&T's Samsung Blackjack. If the Samsung Blackjack had really appealed to me I may have bit the bullet and gone with it, even with the two year contract. I had come across a review of the Dash and made a mental note of it before the hunt had even begun.

Interestingly enough, CNET reviews give both cellphones the same rating (7.3), but on Phonescoop.com the Dash has a slightly higher user rating.

Elsewhere referred to as not photogenic, the Dash looks far better in real life than it does in photos (see this article "Editor's Corner: T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur)") on FierceDeveloper.com.

The Dash has built-in Wi-Fi, a real nice-to-have feature. The only AT&T smartphone which I looked at which had Wi-Fi was the AT&T 8525, a Windows Mobile Professional phone. This would have previously been known as a Pocket PC phone before Microsoft renamed them in an attempt to resolve the "Windows Mobile Smartphone edition" and "Pocket PC Phone Edition" confusion (see "Windows Mobile Editions Get Less Confusing Names..." on Gizmodo). I really didn't want a more powerful "Windows Mobile Professional Phone" which also happened to weigh more than the Treo 650, and cost more.

Just looking at specifications, the Samsung Blackjack appears to be a winner. It is smaller and lighter than the Dash (and the Motorola Q). However this comes at the cost of screen size (2 inches versus 2.4 inches) and a more cramped keyboard. After mentioning that some of the buttons on the Blackjack are a bit slippery, the CNET review gives the warning "...some design and performance issues trip up this otherwise sexy device."

The worst feature of the Dash is the volume touch strip. Fortunately, being forewarned, it does not bug me although it really does suck. The good thing is that it can be disabled entirely.

What, No Hunt?

Instead of boring my reader(s) with continual updates of weeks of hunting for (yet another) cellphone I'll cut directly to the trophy.

I have bought a T-Mobile Dash smartphone with a one-year contract.

My hunt was spurred by the desire to get a lighter and less bulky cellphone than the Treo 650. I also wanted to be able to check my email on the cellphone without paying outrageous data plan rates. The ability to store some information was a nice to have. Of course I could get various data plans with the Treo 650 on Verizon, but the prices were ridiculous. Even though their coverage is good, and their customer service very good, any new phone from them would be locked into their ridiculous pricing structure. Also I was looking at a GSM carrier because of an upcoming overseas trip , and the ease of switching to a backup phone if necessary. A smartphone appealed to me, not just because of my "techie" nature but because I already carry a regular cellphone for work and wanted some of the additional features available on a smartphone.

With this in mind my top choice was an AT&T 3125 smartphone - the only clamshell style Windows Mobile smartphone I could find. One of its advantages - apart from small size and weight - was that it came with a $5 per month email data plan. When it came down to placing the order though, the person at corporate sales told me it had been discontinued - just her disinterested manner put me off arguing that it was still available on the AT&T website. Unfortunately, to get the sizable corporate discount I would have to buy from her or not at all.

The only other AT&T smartphone available which was on my short list was the Samsung Blackjack. It was currently free "on special", but the data plan was $39.99 on top of a $39.99 voice plan for a two year contract. Even after the corporate discount this was more than I had anticipated paying. I decided to think about it.

One of the other phones on my shortlist was the T-Mobile Dash. Also a Windows smartphone, the T-Mobile Dash was not free, but when I initially priced it the data plan was $29.99 on top of a $29.99 voice plan for a one year contract. The only corporate discount was a waiver of the activation fee. That made the total cost of the two phones over two years pretty close. Although I had initially wanted to go with AT&T because they have better coverage, the slightly better reviews of the Dash, as well as T-Mobile's good customer service - from previous experience, as well as dealing with their Corporate Sales people and the flexibility of just a one year contract helped me make my decision.

There was a pleasant surprise when I actually placed the order for the cellphone. The data plan had dropped to $19.99 per month when purchased with a voice plan!

Early Adopter Blues and iPod Touch!

Last night I was having a look at The Unofficial Mac Weblog and reading the comments on "Apple lowers price of 8 gig iPhone to $399". These comments were posted before Steve Jobs decided to give early iPhone buyers a $100 credit. There seemed to be two distinct responses - the positive "That's the price you pay for being an early adopter" and the "Apple did me wrong" (in rather angry and sometimes unrepeatable language).

This must be one of the highest profile examples of the fact that all technology drops in price over time. Unfortunately Apple had to do damage control because it happened so soon.

To think of it, the second generation 8GB iPod Nano I bought late last year for almost $250 has been replaced by a a third generation iPod Nano with more features at a lower price (the new 8GB Nano goes for $199). However, this was only a $50 price drop after a year as well as a new generation.

After the iPhone price drop I was eventually convinced by my wife that I really don't want an iPhone. It took me a while to agree after I realized that a newer generation of the iPhone is very likely to be released while I would be still tied to a two year contract to AT&T.

The iPod Touch is another matter entirely. Basically an iPhone without the phone (and without the contract) I've long thought that it would be pretty cool if it was ever released. Of course an MP3 player with built-in Wi-Fi is nothing new. CNET's Crave blog's First Look at the iPod Touch mentions the Archos 605 WiFi. However, even the smallest capacity Archos 605 weighs 9.2 oz, in comparison to the iPod Touch's 4.2 oz. Admittedly, the Archos 605 series features a 4.3 inch screen instead of a 3.5 inch screen, and the capacity starts at 4GB and goes all the way up to 160GB. For less than the price of an 8GB iPod Touch (why do I struggle not to call it the iTouch?) you can get a 30GB Archos 605.

A quick comparison:
iPod Touch dimensions: 4.3 x 2.4 x 0.3 inches.
Archos 605 dimensions: 4.8 x 3.2 x 0.8 inches.
The Archos 605 has a whole slew of accessories which can turn it into a DVR.
The iPod Touch is almost as revolutionary as the iPhone, and just as cool...

So long, Foleo

Palm announced today that they were canceling the Foleo Mobile companion - see this entry in the Official Palm Blog and "Palm Cancels the Foleo" in Palm InfoCenter.

The Foleo - a small notebook device running Linux - was intended to be a companion product for the Treo line of smartphones. The idea just did not make much sense. Why carry a Treo and a Foleo when you carry a Treo and a laptop anyway?

Switching ... migrating

Right now I'm in the process of switching from one Palm handheld to another. Migrating is probably a better word though, since this is taking weeks. Normally I would simply archive the previous Palm's data, uninstall the Palm Desktop, remove a few registry entries and install the Palm Desktop for the new Palm. Then I'd import the information from my previous Palm, reinstall some third party application and be "good to go".

This time however, I'm more cautious, probably because the Tungsten C I'm moving to doesn't have the same enhanced PIM applications as my current PDA, the Tungsten T3. Although I lose these enhancements I gain a QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi with the Tungsten C.

Of course if my Treo 650 had more memory (a lot more!), I would switch to it instead. The Tungsten T3 has 52MB of RAM available, and the Tungsten C has 51MB, but the Treo 650 has a measly 22MB of RAM. A new Treo 680 or 700p would have more memory, but would require a two year contract.

Oh well, on with the migration...

That old feeling

In news that makes you feel old, the Compact Disc format celebrated its 25th Anniversary on Friday. (see this MyWay News article).

This makes me feel especially old since I can remember buying vinyl records in the days before CDs. Since I'm not an audiophile, I can't say I miss the Vinyl records which had to be treated so carefully.

Now the CD is slowly being replaced by digital formats. Thinking about it, I don't often listen to CDs anymore, and the last two albums I bought were through iTunes, although I burned them to CD for backup. CDs bought before that have been mostly ripped into MP3 format - just a quick look on my main PC and I have somewhere over 100 full albums on my hard drive for selective syncing with my iPod Nano. On my main MP3 Player - a 30GB Creative Zen Vision:M - there are 188 Albums, and around 1800 tracks, although it is probably counting Podcasts as well.

As for data storage I've mostly stopped using the CD, and I mainly backup to an external hard drive or DVD. For files I want to carry around with me I use a 4GB USB flash drive.

Zunes and iPods

The price of the Zune is beginning to drop below $200 at some online stores. I'm slightly tempted by this because of the 3 inch color screen and that the Zune is supposed to work well together with the Xbox 360 (see "Use Zune with Xbox 360" on xbox.com). Then I remembered that this Microsoft player does not support Microsoft’s PlaysForSure, or Podcasts, and has half-baked Wi-Fi. So even at this price it is not worth it. This is especially so since new Zunes are due out soon which may fix one or more of these problems - see "Microsoft comments support reports of new Zunes" at InfoWorld


Zune in original colors (light black, chocolate brown, and pearl white)

The real interesting thing to watch out for is the next generation of iPods. The iPhone gives hope for a fullscreen touchscreen iPod (see "6th Generation iPod - What We Know" at MP3Buzz.net) , now that would be really cool.

Price drops and format wars

Apparently an Xbox 360 price drop (according to this article from PC World) is almost certain. Oh well it had to come, I knew it was just a matter of time when I bought my Xbox 360 six weeks ago.

The price drop on the HD DVD player add-on for Xbox 360 really doesn't affect me. What I wonder though is whether the consortium backing this HD format is getting concerned because they are falling behind (see "Target to only sell Blu-ray players in stores" on Engadget HD). It is amusing that sales of the Sony PlayStation 3 with its integrated Blu-ray player are bolstering Blu-ray players so much. Lets hope the consumer wins this High Definition format war.

Apple, buttons and fake Steve

Now I think I know why there are so few buttons on iPods and the iPhone. According to a number of sources (Slashdot and Free Mac Blog to name a few), Steve Jobs hates buttons. Even fake Steve Jobs ranted about a Washington Post Article about Steve and buttons.

Ah, that explains why iPods don't have FM radios, voice recording or line-in recording. Adding these features would require more buttons, as the click wheel is totally maxed out for the functions it performs. And more buttons would be a no-no.

Yet in some ways this minimalist design works. Sure I like the additional functionality of the Creative Zen V Plus - the ability to delete tracks on the devices as well as create and name playlists. But I can operate my iPod Nano with acupuncture needles protruding from my my hands and arms without causing myself a major injury.

Treo versus iPhone

I know the iPhone has been out for a while now, but I have hesitated mentioning the following article since there was a huge reaction to it - almost 400 comments, mainly from iPhone fans telling the writer he was crazy (among other things).

Editorial: 10 Rounds with the iPhone

Anyway if you feel you must comment, do it at the Palm Infocenter editorial here

Digitizer Drift

This is a dreaded phrase for some Palm owners particularly of the Tungsten T3. When a PDA has handwriting recognition it becomes rather aggravating when it no longer wants to recognize your "Graffiti input". This has been happening to me with my Palm Tungsten T3. Writing slower and occasionally resetting it seemed to help.

First I changed the screen protector, which didn't really help, then I tried calibrating the screen. This just seemed to mess everything up. Palm in their wisdom just calibrates the top 320 by 320 pixel area of the screen, and not the bottom 320 by 160 pixel Virtual Graffiti area. There is a program that does the full screen, called PowerDigi, but the website was down for a few days and appears to be up again. If that doesn't work I may be hunting through my collection of Palm handhelds for a replacement. The Treo 650 is out of the question, it just doesn't have enough memory for even half of my programs. Unfortunately this time I don't have a backup Tungsten T3, so the move won't be so easy.

Sony PS3 price cut, or not?

This week I was watching the news from the E3 conference in Santa Monica, California, keeping my ears open for an Xbox 360 price drop which analysts expected. It did not come.
Instead, after announcing a price drop of $100 (down to $499) for the 60GB PlayStation 3 on the day before the conference, Sony confirmed that the company is no longer producing these 60GB PS3s and that "all new PS3s will be 80GB models to be sold at $599" according to the Crave Blog, "PS3 price cut isn't going to last?"

Also announced at E3 was the redesigned Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable). It has the same form factor as the first Sony PSP, except it is "33 percent lighter, 19 percent slimmer, offers better battery life, faster game load times, and video output to TVs" (also from the Crave Blog)
It is not quite the Sony PSP 2, but the video output sounds promising.

Of course a whole bunch of new games were announced at E3. I must admit I didn't pay too much attention these, having more than enough PSP games, and trying to keep my Xbox 360 game collection small (the ability to download playable game demos from Xbox Live is really cool).

General Hardware Failure

This Microsoft-ism is almost as meaningless as "General Protection Fault".
Something in the Xbox 360 fails, it is not software - Microsoft says, wailing about a Billion US Dollar plus cost to fix the mess.

When I was researching gaming consoles I kept on coming across stories of Xbox 360 hardware failure - not from rabid complainers either, but from people who really like the console. I only read one posting by someone, who after about their third or fourth replacement console failed said "That’s it, I’m getting a PlayStation 3".

The Xbox 360 also has a bad reputation for chewing up game discs. A sticker on the Disc drive of the Xbox 360 warns "Do not move console with disc in tray" in English, French and Spanish. The Xbox 360 can supposedly be placed either upright or laying on its side. Of course most pictures show it upright - it actually looks better that way. But that is not the position recommended by those in the know. They say it is best positioned on its side. The reason - the game discs are more likely to be damaged when inserted with the disc tray in a vertical position. There is even an "Xbox Disc Replacement Program"
With the price of newly released Xbox 360 games at $60, and the much-hyped Halo 3 going for at $70 on pre-order, I’d be pretty upset to have the console chew up a new game disc. Unfortunately, this plan only appears to cover some of Microsoft's own games.

So far, I'm quite happy with my Xbox 360.