Nexus One Day 7: Summary

March 29th, 2010 omo

[Partial copypasta from the latest MT iPhone thread.]

One week later…

Do I like the Nexus One? Yes, coming from somebody who has not had the smartphone experience so to speak.

But I think if I had an iPhone I would probably stick with it, if I was app/OS neutral. Ok I hate iTunes on windows and I don’t own a mac, so that is where I’m from. Besides that there was nothing influencing my decision heavily either way. I paid a premium for the N1 to use on AT&T, so my views might be colored slightly via cognitive dissonance. W/e.

There’s also that there’s this thing called flash 10.1 that Android doesn’t have yet. Which didn’t matter much–the only things I would have done was being able to view Nicovideo and CR (both have iPhone apps). So i can actually go through my twitter without skipping everything Link tweets, lol. Viewing streaming video on your iPhone or your Nexus One is a sure way to kill your battery life anyways.

The other sure way to kill your battery life is taking pictures.

Oh hay at least you can swap batteries with the Nexus One. It comes with a 1400 mAH battery and you can pick up another one for like, $25. There is also like a 2700mAH battery for like $60. I think it’s something worth looking into, because power use is something you have to be mindful of. If you plan to do some serious work on your phone, pack another battery.

For the daily grind, one battery holds just fine. I’m on the computer most of the time anyways and I hit 20% only at the end of the day.

The N1 needs more accessories. Like a proper headphone adapter (tho those iPhone ones will do in a hurry) with play/pause/ff/rew controls. And a separate battery charger if you have an extra battery. Cases and such are all available now.

The iPhone comparison are just for ease of discussion, and for AT&T wireless users, it’s a damn certifiable alternative. That said, for some reason they still have not changed my data billing to the correct plan…knocking on wood here. And if I were to compare it with the iPhone (which I used a good deal, but not enough to see all its flaws), it would be that the Android 2.1 experience is still not as polished. It does a lot of stuff better, but some of the stuff not so much, and it can get annoying. The stuff N1 does better tend to be important things so that is good. Small details like better keyboard etc can be fixed with apps. But things like lack of multitasking means I would never be able to have the twitter experience I have on the N1 on an iPhone unless I jailbreak it. Or being able to idle on IRC while doing that, lol.

Given the ability and flexibility of the N1, I’m hard pressed to think ill of it. At least most of the shortcomings can be overcome with skill and modification or third party parts. It is probably true for the iPhone as well, but the Nexus One is designed to be open from the start, so that advantage, while subtle and not directly affecting much, makes a big difference.

It all sums up with this anecdote. More than a few reviews of the N1 complained about the lack of sync software. It’s a valid complaint if you find operating a thumb drive with file folders too annoying. (And it can be if you’re an iTunes/iPod person). But the big deal about sync (as any WP7 fanboy could tell you) is cloud. Sync to PC is mainly just for moving media from one storage to another storage. Where’s my iPhone cloud synching? It’s just as advanced as Android’s, which is via Google. I realized this, and I thought that is where things have to go. And devious Apple has roped in a whole convenience factor into its ecosystem, that people expect that sort of compatibility across a walled garden as guarded as syncing with iTunes. On the Nexus One, I can just drag and drop the big files, and let my 3G or wifi connection do everything else. What is there to sync? It’s always in sync anyways.

Tags: cell phone

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Nexus One Day 1

March 23rd, 2010 omo

Googling briefly as both research before I bought the phone and after I got the phone for answers to my questions, I noted that a lot of people’s review of the Nexus One are slanted from iPhone owners.

I think Apple has done a great job building its own software echosystem, so if living inside of that bubble is your most comfortable place–and it is a very nice place–then few things will ever beat out the iPhone experience even just in theory. However if you are echosystem-agnostic like I am, or just have the slightest anti-Apple or anti-iPhone inclination as I am (well, I just hate iTunes for Windows namely), then I think the Nexus One is the better choice.

At least after a day of use.

Let me just address all the key points of my Nexus One experience as they are:

3G: I am using AT&T and I live in NJ. I work in Midtown. I commute via NJ Transit. Sufficed to say reception is actually great. I get anywhere from 2 to 4 (max) bars of 3G coverage between home and work. At work I get also anywhere between 1 to 4 bars 3G, and 4 bars at my desk (most important!). I do notice the 3G bar likes to wildly vary at times, which is a bit of a reoccurring theme for this phone. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories (as far as anecdotes from real life people) about ATT 3G, and seen how it is on the iPhone over the past year from others who has it. I’ve not seen any of that so far, on this phone.

3G part 2 – Web: I’m generally impressed. Partly because of the good reception, but things load quite fast, as far as websites and downloads go. I pulled a couple podcasts at work today and they went down in seconds. The default browser is zippy, I even pulled up JP sites pretty fast. I use Google Reader and that is generally fast enough, but I ran into a couple hiccups today.

Web part 2: I actually tried the New Opera browser as well, but it was somehow slower than the default browser when I pulled it up just to try. It’s not any serious indictment though, since I didn’t measure it scientifically.

Apps: All the apps I need are there, at least off the top of my head. And free. Anything else I can pull down from the web. Like there’s this paid app for NJ Transit bus/train schedule, but lol wut. NY MTA has a free app that pulls down the subway and bus maps for you. I don’t game much, so that’s not a real concern for me (…yet). I think if there was an Android version of Bisei Tokei, then I’ll be all set. That said, I am sure once I spend more time I’ll find apps I sort of need/want, that are missing. But at the same time I haven’t had a good look at what’s out there yet, so maybe what I will think up later will be found by spent more time finding whatever I will think up, lol. For example, like a good remote desktop client…

Overall User Interface: This is what bugs me the most about reviews from people coming out of iPhone-land, because most of them probably have not had the intimate time with a device similar to an iPhone, so there’s a bit of a first-impressed-duckling effect. But one thing that I can agree with them is that the UI can be more polished. I’m all thumbs when it comes to capacitive devices on both iPhone and everything else. The N1 is the same. Generally I was able to figure out everything with the minimal amount of reading. I didn’t even watch all the youtube videos they had online. But it was slightly more annoying to use than I like. It’s as if it’s not enough to just be intuitive. Some icons should be bigger, the way things are layered should make more sense as far as switching between running apps go. The “media/’my stuff’” section isn’t too hard once you get the hang of it (and the gallery could use more filenames). The problem is, though, there is still too much learning-by-trial-and-error at the end. For someone like me, it’s no big deal–in fact I expect something similar if I were to take up an iPhone, so as a matter of comparing it to the iPhone, I can’t say conclusively. As far as a value thing, it’s nothing to really worry about as it is something you’ll get used to if it is your first smartphone with a touch screen (like it is for me).

Screen: 480×800 AMOLED. ‘nuf said. iPhone doesn’t even come close I think. I watched some anime off it today. Color accuracy is slightly better on the iPhone display but man, the Nexus One kicks ass in every other visual aspect. I can’t really speak enough good about this display.

Call quality: Good enough. Speakers are on the weak side but they do just fine. I think the noise reduction thing kind of works.

Minor irritations: There are a lot of little things that sort of irritates me about the phone so far, so I’ll list them–like there are too many menus to navigate. Like how auto-dimming isn’t turned off when you’re watching a video (so brightness changes on the fly if you’re watching something next to the window on a vehicle). Like how the keys could be space a tad better. Like how bluetooth support is…really bare bones. Like how the adapter it comes with is the only way to control music forward/backwards. Like how the trackball is mostly useless yet takes up so much space. Like how the search key is also mostly useless except for being there for me to hit on accidentally (can I config those?). Like how the Gallery app needs filenames in the top level file view so I can tell episode 45 from 46 as the thumbnails tell me not very much. The desktop shortcut icons are just too small I think.

Camera: It’s good. Autofocus, 5mp, flash, how can you lose. I’m no photog. But I think it beats the iPhone hands down, and you can already do a lot with that crappy one.

Data portability: This is one of those minor irritations, but there really needs be a more convenient way to stash data from PC to phone. And I’m not talking about a sync thing. Right now you can treat it like a USB drive, but that’s if you got that cable handy. You could always rip out the memory card and do it that way, but that’s a lot of work (and you need a microSD reader). I had problems to get bluetooth to work. I can stash files on the cloud, but it’s annoying to put videos up there. Maybe one of the apps will solve this problem (by using cloud-style storage) but it looks like the usb device method has to be it. Oh, I guess that also goes to the problem how once you “disconnect” it from the PC, you have to physically unplug the cable and plug it back in to get the PC to re-detect it. Not the phone’s fault but it’s yet another irritation.

Import/export: The setup process for this phone is a cinch. I can’t express this enough. I spent about 30 minutes setting up my dad’s dumb phone. Which is about 20 minutes more than it took me to set up my Nexus One. From my old phone, I copied over the stuff on my old phone’s (SE W580i) memory card (which was actually a Micro M2), which included a vcard backup of my old phone’s contacts. I then imported that data to the N1 after I was done doing the initial setup/google account synch. Flawless victory it was. Well. One thing–it took me a while to figure out the wallpaper has to be 960×800 in size. Partly because I didn’t realize the wallpaper scrolls with the different desktops until way later.

ATT Wireless Part 2: Googling on the Nexus One support forums, you will see that AT&T is trying to charge $30/mo for this phone’s unlimited data plan. Sensible I suppose, but a lot of the reps you talk to will just add the $10 or $15 plan for you. I’m fine with whichever (and obviously cheaper is better), but I hope they straighten this out.

That’s a lot for day one. And I didn’t even get to the exciting stuff besides that AMOLED screen. That thing is awesome I tell ya.

Tags: cell phone

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New Smartphone, I Am Giddy

March 22nd, 2010 omo

Zek is a pretty trustworthy guy. When the US government tells him to shut up, he does. Good stuff. I hope he’s having fun in Far-away-istan.

In other news, I’ve been F5-monkeying Fedex’s site to track the progress of my next-day delivery. It began FRIDAY and it’s still ongoing. What a fraud. I know you work Saturdays Fedex! Plus I had to call since I’m sure the guy responsible for next-day deliveries doesn’t know where I live.

Inside the package contains a 3G 850/1900/2100 MHz HTC Nexus One, (sister phone to the HTC Desire). Those are AT&T Wireless bands. It’s also a whopping $560, unlocked without contract.

And to think just a year ago, they were parting with Developer versions of the HTC G1 for $400. No, wait, that doesn’t make me feel better.

There is a lot to getting a phone to work properly on a robust wireless network. Doing the whole unlocked phone boogie has taught me a couple things:

1. It isn’t obvious as to how to sign up for a plan for such a phone if you didn’t already have one previously, in as such you could simply swap over your SIM card. ATT last week had to come up on the fly a policy for N1 users. As in, “UR PAYIN 30 BUXX” and they will bump up your 10- or 15-dollar data plan once they find you out.

2. Google is kind of lawl with their message board. I think it’s kind of cool though, just time consuming to farm out all the information I want.

3. Man, I’m still excited about exciting personal electronics.

4. I didn’t know ATTW 3G covers most of NJ. I guess I can test to see if that 3G bug that plagued TMO N1s affect me.

5. Time to read up on apps.

This post so will have a part two.

Tags: cell phone

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Ugh

October 21st, 2009 omo

I feel kind of under the weather but I’m at work. Had been.

Lots of stuff happened, but let’s talk about one thing–Google wave. I’m on it. It’s interesting, but I’m not sure if it is intuitive enough as is.

I’m sure I’ll find a use for it, once people bother to decentralize it and have better clients.

Tags: google wave

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Fighting the Fight

July 27th, 2009 omo

So I’ve been sick the past 3-4 days with a stomach malaise that turns into pain and back into a vague feeling of discomfort that may have involved light fever and other bowel issues, but I think given the tight sleep schedule I was trying to wrangle back from it was reasonable.

It’s finally 8 days after Otakon and I’ve at least gotten sleeping back on schedule, even if at the expense of writing some stuff for blogging and cleaning and whatever.

Just kind of thankful that I have the luxury of sick days, that I can recover while catching up on anime back log.

And that my unrest the day after Otakon did turn out to be fruitful–my PC hasn’t crashed since the BIOS upgrade.

I also don’t have a lot of stuff to report from Otakon besides that I think I’ve definitely hit the limit in terms of too much to do! It’s a perfect storm in a way, in terms of working the press gig and having so much to cover for once, and so much to look at and things to do, crowds to push, pictures that I didn’t take… Ah well.

And I still have crap to upload and what not! Insane.

Tags: otakon

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Messing with Theme

May 15th, 2009 omo

I’m trying to import an old-ass wordpress theme (circa 2.2.3) to 2.7 or whatever. Pardon the appearance.

[edit]

Actually I’m mostly done. Switching back to the old theme now. Note the URL changes…

Tags: wordpress

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#Twitterfail @ replies

May 13th, 2009 omo

It’s fun, it’s not too serious, but this time it actually reminds me of fail.

Twitter removes non-follower’s @ reply from your timeline.

I can see why you want to do this. A spammer can just go @<everyone> <insert ad> and it’ll show up. But at the same time the 140-character limit puts a damper on it, so I don’t see how it’s a big deal.

But I have followers I don’t follow! I want @ reply to work for them. So it is a fail. I am also posting here just so I can ride the fun-fun bandwagon.

On second thought the fun factor of this post is probably overrated at first.

Tags: twitter

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Comic Party, 21st Century Style

April 21st, 2009 omo

Every once a blue moon I find a good article that interest me and that I didn’t find on my own via the Japanator tip line. This one is so good that it’s worth sharing before it even gets written up :3

This is a way that you can print about 16 pages, with color front, back cover, inside covers and rest B&W for about $200 for roughly 175 copies. If you’ve ever done small-run prints, you’d know this is a p. good deal. In some respects, the generalized advice is that for the right job you need to find the right kind of printer service. In this instance some small-press management type was looking for someone to run a doujinshi print run for an anime con. These numbers, hopefully, make obvious sense to you before I even mention the d word.

The print service is one of those online places that mail it to you, www.docucopies.com. The stiupation here is that you can’t have bleeds (standard for doujinshi), and the printing is done through a photocopier (as in, basically, printed in a relatively low fidality method). Make sure you test it out if you can before you submit your order (go to a Kinkos or something). No bleed just means having a .125 inch border of white space around the edges. You could have more if you’d like.

Tags: deals

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WordPress 2.7.x

April 17th, 2009 omo

WordPress is well-loved and known for its technical simplicity from the back end. A lot of bloggers are not IT people so they don’t want to mess around with hacking php or tossing files around in shells or whatever. So with 2.7 there is now an “auto-update” mechanism.

WordPress 2.x is a relatively young platform, and we’re up to 2.7 already, and for every release (like 2-3 major ones for each 2.x increment–like 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.6.2) they want you to upgrade… guh. I mean, okay, it’s something some bloggers do meticulously every month or two, but I can’t be bothered. Especially for those who have like multiple blogs, and each blogs have its own set of plugins that needs to be upgraded, and theme changes, et cetera. PITA.

The old automatic plugin upgrader had some flaws, didn’t work well. The new one, along with the overall WordPress upgrader, works like a charm. the only problem is you can only upgrade one thing at a time. So if you have 8 plugins to update like I do on this blog, you have to upgrade the main blog (1 set of user internetion) and use the upgrader 8 separate times. Not the same as uploading all the scripts via a FTP queue. But I’ll take what I can get.

Think I’m going to kick up a gear and try to revamp my anime blog soon. Still need to bribe some artists to do some header images for me. Like Eric. Ufufufufufu.

Tags: wordpress

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The Fruit of Labor

February 23rd, 2009 omo

The New Nana Mizuki album

If you didn’t know, I run an anime blog that originally was a personal blog. Since now that site has a dedicated audience, I’m also running some ads (I stuffed some google ads and some text link ads on the footer) and affiliated with one store that I shop often–CD Japan. If people click and buy with my affiliate links to CD Japan, I get a commission (like 5-9%, depends on volume) which can be cashed out via Paypal (they pay in yen…which is good these days) or as store credit. I vouched for the latter.

Because as you all know how the economy is globally, retailers are pushing hard to get rid of wares. CD Japan is not really the cheapest place on the block for importing Japanese CDs, but they are one of the more reliable and well-serviced alternative if English is your preferred language. To compete on price, they offer a lot of random coupon things, a point program (1-5% of your purchase turns into points, and my affiliate credits are treated as points), and on top of your usual clearance and %-offs (rare as they are), they are also sales tax-free for their exports unlike most other places.

Enough about writing on ads. I am just a little happy about preording a $40 import and getting it for free effectively. Just had to pay shipping and some change.

Tags: cd japan, deals

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