Took a shedload on holiday.
1. iPOD Touch - OK an oldie and I've had this around three years now. It normally lives in a BOSE docking station providing ad-hoc sounds at home, on holiday it's a different animal and proved indispensable in the US - it has a WiFi facility which means when you're abroad, especially the US you can get free WiFi in most public spaces and hotel rooms - this provided us with access to the excellent BBC website during the Ash Crisis - gave us balanced news in a country where that is increasingly difficult to get. Based on my experiences of this device, I'll get an iPhone when the Blackberry's contract runs out in October. Brilliant bit of kit, screen could be bigger and the virtual keyboard is a pain for extended use (see my postings from America !) - I was tempted to buy an iPad but was put off by media reports I saw - I'll wait. Also recommend a Belkin leather wallet for the iPOD proved very durable in daily use (kept in pocket) - probably get an excellent Otterbox for my iPhone. Nearly forgot - using this and the excellent "apps" for Tripadvisor led us to excellent hotels and restaurants.
2. AmazonKindle - again a stunning bit of kit - had a go on the Sony version, not in the same league. AK readable in all lights (but lacks a backlight for darkness (!) ) slim, light and easy to use although needs some tweaking. An added bonus is that in the US you can use its free wireless system to access the net in a very basic and slow way - but useful. Book choice for British tastes needs refining has not made the book obsolete yet.....but allied to books very useful. Battery life is compromised a bit by leaving the wireless feature switched on.
3. TomTom 700 - loaded with seemingly expensive US maps proved another reliable friend. Getting a bit long in the tooth now, this cost an arm and a leg 4 or 5 years ago but has proved
very useful and reliable in the US and other places.......it's excellent POI proved invaluable to find hotels etc. It lost its footing once in two weeks looking for a restaurant in Key Largo....linked to Tripavisor it proved an invaluable friend....worth its weight. I had considered taking the BMW (Garmin 660) unit off the bike, but despite being a couple of generations ahead in Tech is light years behind the venerable TT in usability.
|
> I'll get an iPhone when the Blackberry's contract runs out in October
I told you 6 months ago the iphione was the dogs danglies. The Iphone v4 will be out in june or july with much improvements.
|
|
I was still in contract then ! I thought you hated Apple products... ! Heard of the improvements last week, so October will be could. Slight unexpected problem with the iTouch was that the charger I took (for the original iTouch) wouldn't work with the latest generation iTouch despite having identical connections - daft. (but no doubt a sound tech reason :-( )
|
the latest generation of I touch and I phone need a positive voltage on the data pins as well as the +5v voltage pin, not all usb type chargers do that instead just providing +5v on the voltage pin.
Hate apple? yes I do, Apple are shameless exploiters of their customers, far worse than anyone else, and Jobs is a Meglamaniac,
The Iphone tho, on sheer useability and usefullness stakes is a winner.
The IPAD is completely useless. Have you tried holding one?
|
...The IPAD is completely useless...
I predict millions of sales and a worldwide shortage.
|
|
doesent stop it being useless, just goes to show most apple owners are blind muggs
|
|
Its the mains charger with the iPOD specific connector on it not the USB. Having used my MacBookPro for the last twelve months and now using it alongside the Gateway Laptop (now its fixed) the difference in build quality is huge - the Gateway was a £500 jobbie and the MBP was a tad over £1200 quid - the MacBook's keyboard and screen are superior and the sound quality is in another league - whether it's worth the difference is difficult to answer. I wanted one though....
|
I played with an iPad quite a bit while I was over there. It's a nice toy, I'd really like to have one lying in my lounge, especially if you could hook it up to something on the hi-fi to make it a portable, hand held jukebox that you could surf and check email on. If it had been $200 I would have bought one I think.
Trouble is, it's not. It's $500 + tax for even the cheapest one, which only has 16 Gb. So it's actually more like $750 plus VAT for one you'd want. It's a bit heavy to hold like a book, and I can't imagine carrying one instead of anything I already carry, so I don't think I would use it except in the house or on a long flight.
I only paid $1170 (£770) for a new Macbook Pro 13", which so far has blown me away. More expensive, but MUCH more capable. And it's still a really shiny toy.
|
The ipad will get cheaper in time. The first ipod was quite large compared to the current ones so I'd expect the second generation ipad to be much thinner and lighter.
If you add some disability/old person's tools to the ipad then it could be a way of getting the older generation onto t'internet as who wants some noisy great machine in the room when you could just have a touchscreen sized silent device. A talking book reader seems one use for it or large print reading books. Large print books are expensive to produce but changing the font on an ebook would take no time so you could large print any book you liked.
The ipad isn't for someone that wants a laptop. It is for someone that doesn't want a laptop but may have discovered t'internet on their phone or on their tv that wants something more convenient I think. I can't think what I'd use one for unless I didn't have a laptop already.
As a controller it also makes sense. Home automation and all that guff.
|
The ipad is hard to handle. You cant have it on your lap because the screen tilts away from you. Its quite heavy and there is nowhere to hold it with sticking your thumbs on the screen,
It is of very little use for the disabled or elderly, and is alomst imposible for thos with arhtritis to hold or use.
Its useablity is seriously flawed, and its a mistake to just simply scale up an Iphone. Alas everyone will make clones and propogate the flawed concept. People having trying to push the tablet for years, the problems with that format dont change.
|
Apple a while ago changed the charging voltages, from 12V to 5V IIRC, I believe they also changed the pin configuration at the same time, but used the same plug.....
|
My response:
1. iPod touch is great anywhere with a personal wifi hotspot. Negates the need for an iPhone for me. If I had my own contract I'd have an iPhone but the company SIM is phone calls only... and I carry only one phone. The same Wifi hotspot is useful for laptops, iPads, etc.
2. I have a Sony eReader/Book and it works well. And simple. And works in direct sunlight. An iPad would not. I do buy books from Kindle and can use on the iPad but I also copy them to the Sony eReader. Is that illegal if I bought the book for use in the UK for Kindle (Mac/PC/iPhone/iPad)?
3. TomTom you have sounds long in the tooth. But I got new maps earlier this year for my 720 so now cover Greece.
Edit: for point 2.... happy to leave the cheap(ish) eReader on a chair when in the sea on holiday. An Apple iPad.... not sure. And the iPad is only double the price probably.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 22 Apr 10 at 20:28
|
|
No other reviews of, ahem, new products from your holiday Pug??? :-)
|
|
Never mind all that techno stuff. What about the cars eh ? The motors man, the wheels........? Sheesh !
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Thu 22 Apr 10 at 22:37
|
|
Didn't buy any really ! The only things I bought were a pair of traditional canvas loafers bearing the Croc branding. What I have always called "man crocs" not to be confused with the dreaful (to me) plastic ones.
|
|
2010 V6 Ford Mustang convertible - I ended up with one of these in Florida -Standing in the darkened Dollar multi-storey car park at Orlando international was a brooding blood red Mustang, I could hardly believe that I had been upgraded to one of these. It was every inch the cool motoring icon that Steve McQueen drove - first problem the cases would hardly fit the boot so a suitcase ended up living on the back seat but the electric canvas coloured roof allowed easy access when required. The V6 rumbled into life and sounded like a stonker but in reality was a cooking version and was a tad sluggish - didn't explore the handling. Highlights were the 3,2,1 Indicators, lit Mustang lettering on the sills - retro instruments - 150 channel Satellite radio. Lowlights were the 20 mpg consumption (mitigated by the $3.00 per gallon cost) - but all in all a lovely looking retro motor which despite seeing loads of them out there i felt a little special to us - love it, but of no earthly use over here.
|
I suspect by new 'products' the enquirer was asking about more organic life forms that a Mustang car!!
So, how was the honeymoon........?
|
|
It was good - helped by lashings of good weather and food !
|
Shiny kit reviews. - Zero
