In rambling on on November 17, 2007
This is going to sound quite critical so I’ll start by saying that I do really like my iPhone. It’s got one absolutely fantastic feature which I love. But then every other feature is substandard in one way or another.
- web browser When the iPhone came out in the states a few months back I read numerous blog postings from people who run web sites saying that the browser was usable. This was pretty much all the marketing that the iPhone needed as far as I was concerned.
The usable web browser is the killer feature. Over the years I’ve had
various combinations of mobiles, PDAs, cables and what not, and whilst they’ve managed to get the job done for someone who wants to set things up to have website admin available on the hop they’ve all been seriously hacked and sticky taped together solutions. Safari on the iPhone displays regular web pages just fine, and Javascript works too. Fab!
It works well on my home wifi network, well enough that for simple web browsing it’s easier to pull the phone out of my pocket than to walk to the computer in the next room (possibly just the newness factor, but also the boot time factor if the computer isn’t already up and running). I haven’t had the chance to use it on an Edge network yet but we loaded in some pages over GPRS in the pub and it worked ok.
-
phone This is a secondary feature as far as I’m concerned! If you want a high performance texting phone go somewhere else. There are well documented shortcomings in SMS (no multiple recipients, no forwarding etc), a complete lack of MMS, and no Bluetooth business card function. These are all things I’d use if they were there, and have used in the past, but the browser function is good enough that I’ll compromise on them. They are also all things that I hope Apple will fix with software in the future.
I’ve barely used the phone to talk on yet. I don’t use my old mobile much to talk on either.
- apps I’ll write another post about the apps on the iPhone as they all have serious shortcomings. This iPhone really feels like an early adopter version and I presume they were supposed to show off what could be done with the iPhone once third party developers are able to get their hands on the development kit. Except they don’t realy do that very well. Apple, let the third party developers in already!
- keyboard It’s not bad. That’s probably the best I can say. I’d prefer a stylus and Palm’s original graffiti. The screen is heat sensitive, not just touch sensitive. You need to use your fingers, and nails get in the way. Apparently the idea is that you can type with two thumbs, except I can’t figure that out because the pads of my thumbs are too big or my thumbnails get in the way. Did they try this keyboard out with any women? (I don’t have huge nails or anything out of the ordinary btw, just not ultra short bitten blokey ones.)
I also don’t much like the auto correct feature. I may have missed something but it only gives you one option to correct with, unlike a predictive text thing on regular mobiles that let you page through until you find the right word. And if you type something that turns out to be a real word by accident you’re out of luck too. Also, backspace key is too easy to mistake for the return key at the moment, that probably just needs more practise. Or more customisation would be good.
I know I’m sounding like I hate it. I don’t, I think it’s lovely. Beautiful, tactile and useful. It just isn’t perfect. It’s a good way better than what has up to now been the best. I just have a huge list of things that could be better. More on that later.
In rambling on on November 9, 2007
I have a shiny new iPhone. They went on sale 2 hours ago in the UK. I hope nobody queued for long because there was tumbleweed blowing through the branch of Carphone Warehouse that I went to.
I was fourth in the non-existent queue and no one came in behind me. The computers were having troubles and they had to put my details through three times and con the system that my chip & PIN card was ok (it is, I don’t know what the problem was) so there was obviously some business being done somewhere.
More when I’ve played with it!
In books, rambling on on September 6, 2007
I got 50% of the list, which isn’t a terribly good hit rate. (I’d have done as well with a random choice.)
The shortlist is:
- Darkmans by Nicola Barker
- The Gathering by Anne Enright
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
- Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
Part is me is quite pleased because I’ve read five out of six and so only need to read Animal’s People in the next few weeks if I want to complete the list. But I’m also disappointed that The Welsh Girl didn’t make the cut, and I really don’t see what McEwan is doing on the list apart from being “hello, I’m the most well known author” as hardly anyone who has actually read the book rather than just looked at the covers thinks it’s particularly great. (I enjoyed reading it, but there are better books here.)
In books, rambling on on September 6, 2007
As I’ve read 8.5 out of the 13 books longlisted for the Booker Prize and have been kind of keeping up with other bloggers who have read more, or have read the ones I haven’t read, I thought I’d have a stab at guessing what will be on the shortlist.
- Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
- The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
- Darkmans by Nicola Barker
- Self Help by Edward Docx
- Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
- The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The first two are books I’ve read and loved. The second two are books I’ve read and not liked as much but seem to be favourites with others. The third two are books I haven’t read but seem to be very well regarded by those who have.
Any one of the above could be replaced by Winnie & Wolf by AN Wilson, which is the only book on the long list I have no intention of even trying to read as it sounds dreadful. It was on the New Books shelf in the library yesterday and I didn’t even pick it up for a glance. I can’t imagine how it got onto the longlist so some kind of contrariness will probably lead to it making the shortlist too.
I had no intention of reading so many books from the longlist. I just enjoyed one after the other with only a couple of stumbling blocks and I’ve been pleased to find so much good reading material.
In rambling on on July 24, 2007
The scrapbook-like tumblelog I just started over here is looking far more like a weblog than this one has done for a long long time.
In rambling on on July 2, 2007
Just taking advantage of the fact that it’s quite easy to swizzle the look of the site around in wordpress. Of course I have to customise everything so I’m still finding I break things!
The big image at the top of the page comes from a large random selection. I’m pulling in all the photos I’ve taken that I like best.
In books, rambling on on January 8, 2007
Another year, another roundup.
In 2006 I read 65 books, more than in 2005, and curiously exactly the same number as in 2004.
- I read 27 books bought in 2006.
- I read 2 books bought in 2003
- I read 2 books bought in 2000
- I read 34 books I didn’t buy at all
Hurray for the library.
I only have two books outstanding of the 30 that I bought in 2006 and haven’t yet read. One of those I’ve found to be inpenetrable so far (bought in February), the other was only bought on New Year’s Eve and I’ve already read the other book I bought on the same day!
I think I only read 5 non fiction books (7%) when I said last year I’d like to read more. Well I was wrong, I’m quite happy with fiction! I read enough non fiction in other places than books.
No real reading resolutions this year, the same again please!
In rambling on on August 22, 2006
how to read by nick hornby is a good article on how we should all be reading things that interest and entertain us and not wading through doorstop books because we think we ought to. i agree entirely.
i started posting all the books i read online over five years ago and sometimes i think i ought to read something to make the list look better, but that rarely works because i get bored. i do like quite a lot of “literary fiction” but wouldn’t want to throw out the mysteries and whatever else, i like a bit of variety. i just keep reading whatever takes my fancy and when i look back over the lists as a whole i think i look like a relatively intelligent reader. i’ve never yet decided not to post something to the booklog.
this quote from the article made me laugh:
very few of us pick up a book after the children are in bed and the dinner has been made and the dirty dishes cleared away.
why on earth would i do the washing up before picking up my book?! i’m not much of a tv watcher, occassionally it enraptures me but mostly it bores me to tears. i can get enveloped into reading chapter after chapter and ignoring my basic bodily needs but don’t like being made to wait until an ad break to get a cup of tea.
[found via rebecca's pocket]
In rambling on on August 18, 2006
picked up at janet’s weblog.
Go here and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe. Go with the first five that work for you (i.e., don’t worry about getting global optima).
Here are the five that caught my eye:
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
– Duke Ellington, US jazz bandleader, musician, & songwriter (1899 – 1974)
There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.
– Robert Byrne
You can’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t put a few nickels in the machine.
– Flip Wilson, Comedian and television actor, starred in The Flip Wilson Show (1933 – 1998)
Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.
– Author Unknown
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
– Groucho Marx, US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 – 1977)
In rambling on on August 4, 2006
I’m revamping my website and moving everything over to being integrated in Wordpress. Nowhere near done yet but if I don’t make it live I’ll just tinker for eternity. Lots of things missing. Plenty more tinkering to come.
All archives etc can be accessed using the “open/close” link in the top corner. Not right obvious at the moment. Update: slowly getting more obvious.
nocto