The Brits Blog

I love my G-1, I really, really do. Like an unborn child, I loved it even before it was delivered, but like any soon-to-be parent I was dreading what I would hold in my arms on that “special” day. Would it have its buttons in the right places? The right number of buttons? Would it be a normal healthy new-born or would it suffer from some debilitating disorders? Well after seven months with baby, I can honestly say that I am satisfied. My phone is normal, not amazing, but normal.

I think that in many ways you have to love the idea of the G-1 to love the physical product. I loved the idea of an open platform, of a phone that you could tinker with. Granted, as a totality the Apple iPhone is certainly a more polished, slick product. But on  a recent trip to Finland I got some hands-on time with a friend’s iPhone, and I can honestly say it is not for me, it’s nice, it’s cool and indeed slick, but I just don’t like it. It comes down to the interface, after being spoilt with the G-1 I really love my QWERTY keyboard and can’t imagine life without it.

However, to be honest, the software side of the equation is not so good. There are a few applications that have been cool, but nothing paradigm shifting. The native applications are all I have really needed. Part of the problem lies in the lack of an actual marketplace. After seeing the success of the iPhone application store, it shocks me that Google haven’t sought to get this bird airborn. But, even if there was a thriving marketplace, would the G-1 be able to keep up with the demands of its operating system? I find I need to reboot daily to keep it fresh and get anything less than a creep out of it. It appears as though the hardware just cannot keep up with the demands of the OS and its applications. Perhaps the hardware will play catch-up, however the Android platform has a lot of potential.

Let me just reiterate that I am not disappointed with my G-1, far from it, but I do feel that the G-1 is the middling “C” student of the smartphone industry, could do better, just needs to apply itself. I don’t have the battery issues that some people have and my applications don’t crash all the time. In fact, since the summer is rolling around, as I find myself spending more and more time outside or simply out of the house, I have come to rely more on the G-1’s internet and e-mail capabilities. Of course it’s never going to compete with a nice big screen, but it gets me by and allows me to be more mobile.

I have been very remiss these last few months, and frankly been neglecting this blog and I feel thoroughly disappointed with myself. This has been due largely to the fact that I study two languages and have a dissertation to write. However, the other problem is that in order to be a dedicated technology blog I need more time to actually research what I am writing about.

To this end I have decided to re-jig The Brits Blog as a personal blog. Sure, every post may not interest all readers, but I feel that at least I’ll be able to write more frequently. So while I am here in  Helsinki I shall be playing with the blog trying to get it back into its stride.

Hopefully this will result in more posts, of a better quality.

“The 85 Watt Apple PortableMagSafe Power Adapter features the MagSafe Connector — a magnetic DC connector that ensures your power cable will disconnect if it experiences undue strain and helps prevent fraying or weakening of the cables over time. In addition, the magnetic DC helps guide the plug into the system for a quick and secure connection.” The Apple Store

So we all thought that the Magsafe adaptor was indestructible? Wrong, on the night of the 26th of December Sarah’s, now three year old, Magsafe adaptor snapped. Yes the the actual connector that plugs into the computer just broke sheer off. It doesn’t look like it’s fixable, though to be honest I didn’t really try. Needless to say I ordered a new one and £44 pounds and three days later it arrived and everything is back to normal. Except of course that I’m £44 out of pocket.

So much for preventing “fraying or weakening”. Of course one really can’t complain too much since the adaptor did serve for three years. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for the lack of posts over the last while. I’ll be honest I have hardly spent any leisure time on the Internet at all, so I haven’t really had much time to write.

I’d also like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year. I hope that despite the recession a good time was had by all. One the home front I have been working incessantly, until the 23rd and have enjoyed a much needed break from work for the last week. Constant travel has kept me from enjoying the Internet, but it has given me a chance to play with my G1 and the much waited software review should be posted soon.

I first laid my hands on my T-Mobile G1 last Tuesday when Father-dearest sent it to me here in rainy Wales. Of course you can never trust your initial “it’s shiny” reaction to anything new, besides which it was the day of the election so there was plenty going on to keep me occupied. So I gave it week (almost) before writing my first impressions. I’ll focus on the actual hardware first and post my software review soon, promise.

It’s A Full Bodied Phone. My personal preference in both beer and phones is robustness. My first response when I unboxed my G1, was wow. Some folks have complained about the form factor, it’s not as swish as the iPhone they say, but I really like it. It’s a little chunky in terms of depth, but I really like the fact that I can hold it in my hand and not be terrified that I might break it. I’ve laid my hands on a few iPhones and I can honestly say that my first response was a fear I might break it, not that it isn’t a robust device. (I guess its price adds to this fear)

I Like The Way It Moves. There is a trend at the moment to cram functionality into ever-tinier devices. The fact is that for that functionality to be usable the phone must be able to actually display information and allow input, this is something the G1 does very, very well. The fact that it has three modes of input makes doing everything on the phone a breeze. I found myself shifting seamlessly from trackball to touchscreen to keyboard as, and when, I needed to. My biggest gripe is the lack of a stylus, since I seem to be unable to hit anything but a nice big juicy desktop button. But I’m getting better at that.

You’re Always Sleepy When I Want To Play. Sometimes when I switch between an application and home screen I find myself waiting for a split second for it to catch up, but I’m sure that future updates will fix that. I’m also sure that these updates will address the battery life, which at the moment isn’t a big seller. Personally I don’t find this a problem since I’m good at planning my charging and I’ve only got close to empty once so far. But I find that I can use the phone quite heavily throughout the day and come charging time at night it will really need it.

Super-connected. This really is a phone for the road, and the GPS and Maps integration make this very clear. Also quite surprisingly is the fact that I get GPRS here in Lampeter, where people normally struggle to get 2G coverage. So I’m happily skipping around the Welsh green checking my Calender and Updating Twitter. Oh the joy. One major gripe is the stupid USB-like connector that the G1 uses for its hands-free and charger. Everyone who has commented on the G1 has brought this up, and it really is a bother. Damn HTC, there is no good reason for this. Just as everyone else is tending toward standardization, the Open Handset Alliance phone is the one that makes it self different. Jerks.

(Blue)Toothache. On the wireless front I am half happy. Half happy because, whilst WiFi is a dream and I cannot get enough of using the G1 as a really small computer, the Bluetooth just isn’t up to scratch at the moment. The lack of file transfer is annoying as it is something that I do use quite regularly. Again the fact that the device is open source convinces me that someone will write an application that will provide this functionality. In a similar vein the inability to use my Bluetooth headset to listen to music and the like is a trifle annoying. However, I really love the fact that I can use T-Mobile Hotspots gratis, which means that not only is Starbucks the place for an over-priced coffee, but now I can do some browsing while I enjoy my over-priced coffee.

In Conclusion. I’d say that as a piece of hardware the G1 has a lot to offer now, and that things can only get better. The fact that the hackers are already going to town, with really cool projects like installing Debian Linux on it, highlight the fact that there is a desire for a phone you can really play with. In fact I think I might try that. I must also add that nothing has ever driven me to want to learn Java like the G1, I really want to sink my teeth into this device which shows so much promise. I suppose only time and the community that grows around it will determine if it is a success. I hope it is.

T-Mobile said that they’d deliver my new G1 on Monday, but it came on Saturday! The only problem is that since I am at university at the moment I don’t have it in my hands just yet, since they can’t deliver to anywhere but the billing address where your credit card is registered.

Anyway it arrived Saturday morning and Father dearest paraded it before me eyes on Skype and then threatened to open it. But the old chap came through and posted it to me yesterday so that it will arrive here this morning. Needless to say I will be doing an initial preview once I have opened the box and played with it. What I might do then is post a more through review a week or so after getting it.

I realise that I’ve been quiet on the posting front for the last few weeks, largely because of work, particularly Ovid and the eighth book of his Metamorphoses. I’ll try and get things up and running to normal soon.

So I caved in and got a G1. Shameless, yes, but inevitable really. I suppose I really am just too much of a geek. After hearing all the talk on the Net, I just couldn’t resist, and here’s why:

It’s an open platform. First and foremost, I want to be able to put stuff on my phone and tinker with it. My biggest gripe with the iPhone was its closed nature, it’s not really a negative point, just a design choice on their side really. I’m looking forward to the growth in applications that we will see once the platform really takes off, I don’t think the G1 will be the only Android phone for very long, with a platform like this manufacturers are bound to get in on the action and that only stimulates developement.

I love the phone itself. It’s not just that I like what I’ve seen of the Operating System, but I really like the handset itself. Comments about its rather chunky shape have abounded, but I can honestly say I don’t care. For me the biggest seller is many interfaces available to the user, a touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard and trackball. This reminds me of the Palm combination of touchscreen and keyboard that seriously tempted me to get a Treo Pro. The 3 mega-pixel camera is also a bonus.

The contract is good. The biggest deterrent for all the other phones I’ve been looking at, like the Blackberry Bold and Samsung Omnia, and, yes, the iPhone is the provider and the contract that you can get. I’m sorry, but if you compare O2’s crummy iPhone contracts with the G1 contracts there is no contest, even the Orange contracts aren’t all that competitive.

The fact that the phone is free on the £40 contract is really nice, and the inclusive minutes and text messages and good too, I’ve opted for the Flext plan since I really want this for use as an Internet device with phone features and my usage of text messages and minutes varies quite considerably.

The price of the phone. If you want the 16GB iPhone you pay a premium, whereas the G1 is expandable. Okay you get a crummy 2GB card with the G1, but with the prices of the really big ones falling all the time (16GB for £40 now, but for how long?), there really is no way that £60 represent value for an extra 8GB of iPhone. Micro SD just keeps getting larger in capacity all the time and I’d like to be able to hit those heights.

Something I really like is that you get to use the T-Mobile hot spots free of charge, I really can’t wait to use this little feature of the contract.

The X-Window System, this is what I see when I run X on FreeBSD.

As a new Linux user I remember being thoroughly confused by GNOME, KDE, Afterstep and all the various X-Window managers. Does anyone out there remember the frustrating process of using X86config just to get a crummy window system with a terminal and a clock running? I do.

But I realised the other day that while I have always been aware of these window managers, I didn’t actually know what they were and what made them different from each other. I set about finding out what these differences are. After reading about it at Wikipedia and the Linuxforums this is what I found.

Unix’s user interface is multi-layered. At the base is the terminal, which sends most users running, since it’s not pretty and you need to know commands.

Above this there is the X-Window system, which acts as a middle-man between the Operating System and the user. It’s a client-server relationship. Now the X-Window system is very ugly and what the community did was create better and more pleasing desktop environments.

As freedesktop.org would have it, there really exist two different types of desktop environments. Heavy-weight like GNOME and KDE, and light-weight like Afterstep, XFCE and Enlightenment. But, in short, the difference is that heavy-weights have application development frameworks so that applications can be tailored to them, whereas the others stick to being desktop environments.

The big three at the moment are GNOME, KDE and XFCE. When I come to choosing, I base my decision on two things. Applications and Speed. In terms of speed XFCE wins since it’s light-weight, but that doesn’t mean that KDE and GNOME are slow, it’s largely about configuration and how bloated you decide to make it. KDE and GNOME on the other hand have a vast panoply of applications built around them. Have a look at http://xwinman.org/ for a compreshensive list, the site is a bit outdated, but you can see some screenshots of the different environments to give you an idea of what they look like. I would also recommend that you check out Compiz, freedesktop.org again helps out with a good description, and of course there’s the exciting Compiz Fusion project that makes a mockery of both MacOS X and Windows Vista in terms of prettiness. I just wonder how practical it all is.

My advice, like with most things open source and free, is to try it all. Play with it, see what you like and have a look at all the applications that are available. If you’re running Ubuntu you don’t really have an excuse not to since the add/remove button in the menu makes it so easy to try. And in any case, you can have more than one desktop environment, and switch between them. At the moment I’m downloading KDE4.1 for Mac, yes for the Mac. In theory, once I’ve downloaded and installed it, I will be able to run KDE applications on my MacBook, in MacOS X. How cool is that?

I just got this little trifle in my inbox. I can’t wait and I might just be tempted to get one. Okay it might not be the greatest phone, but I am so intrigued after all the talk surrounding it. Check here for more information.

I said that I’d review Bento 2 and here it is. Just to be clear, I used the trial version, though from what I can gather there don’t seem to be any differences between the full and trial version, except that the trial pesters you with an annoying licence key window everytime you fire it up. I suppose they are just eager to make a sale.

Getting Started was easy, since everything in Bento is relatively streamlined and automated, and user input is not really necessary to get started. All your contacts and events are there for you to peruse. And beyond this you can make nice little databases of say your toy car collection.

Is it a suitable solution for my needs? The other day I mentioned that I wanted to create a database of all the books I have used in my research, including as part of the entry, all the notes I had made on that source. I must admit that Bento does all this. However after playing with it for a while, I can’t help but feel that Bento is little more than a pretty shell for otherwise ugly databases. Sure it’s prettier than Bibdesk, but my software choices aren’t a beauty contest.

Bento, huh, What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, apparently. I watched all the Bento propaganda videos in the hope that they might show me what Bento can actually do beyond make pretty pictures out of cold hard data. Nothing. So while Bento is a “personal database” it seems to me to be rather a paper tiger.

While I found the bringing together of iCal and Address Book cool for about five minutes, I couldn’t help but feel that it was all rather pointless. These MacOS X applications are so fundamentally connected anyway, simply displaying them together in one window hardly seems revolutionary.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: What is the point of Bento? I just don’t see it. I’m a busy person, but it doesn’t seem to me to make my life more organized or efficient.

But I stuck with it, and within a few hours of playing with it, I realized. Bento isn’t revolutionary, but it doesn’t need to be. It is ridiculously simple, so that grandma can put all her recipes on the computer, but its simplicity doesn’t preclude it usefulness. Yes it does simple databases, but it does a lot more as well. As Andy Ihnatko pointed out in MacBreak Weekly number 111, it’s the kind of thing you should have lying around on your hard drive and eventually you will find a use for it.

Let me give you an example. If you are writing something, say a blog and constantly surfing the Internet finding cool stuff, coming up with ideas, you could scribble them down on paper or a text file, then you could hash up a draft and finally bring it to Wordpress, Blogger or whatever you use and copy and paste it.

However, if like me you get ideas all the time and not enough time to finish one post and then move onto another its great to have a repository for all your ideas, including links and possible titles. So that’s what I’m using it for at the moment.

My verdict: If you need to catalogue anything, or organize a project, with many disparate files in different formats, then I can see the use in this application. However, it simply just isn’t worth it for a Address Book plus. At around £30 or $50 the price is a steal even if it is a limited application.

Personally I’m downloading KDE for Mac at the moment, and then I’m going to see if I can’t find a better, free solution. £30 isn’t much, but Bento 2 is so limited I don’t really know if it’s worth paying for. I guess I have 23 days to decide.

The screws are on. Now that the academic year has started, I really need to get my dissertation underway properly. Having spent the first half of the summer working on it about eight hours a day, five days a week, I started my job and then went travelling, so my little book with all my knowledge about Roman citizenship has been gathering dust.

Thus far all my research has been stored in a £2 ring bound A5 book. This represents two problems, firstly it’s easy to lose or damage a book, and secondly when it comes to typing my dissertation I will probably spend 99% of the time it takes painstakingly entering quotations and references and then typing up the bibliography. Clearly I need a solution that allows me to easily integrate my note taking with my final written work.

Before I begin, let me first make it clear, that I do all my university work on my MacBook, because its fast, stable and small. I can carry it everywhere with me, to the library, lectures and the coffee shop. I would really like an ASUS Eee PC 901 running Linux for a smaller and more rugged solution, but I do love my MacBook. Of course the fact that I am tethered to MacOS X means that my selection of applications is far fewer than they would be if I were using Windows or Linux.

OmniOutliner - When working on previous projects I have, in the past, used The Omni Group’s OmniOutliner, a nice little application which is free in its standard form. Highly customizable and easy to use, its greatest shortcomings were the fact that at some point, when you have about 30 or 40 bibliographical references, each with say 20 references within them, the workload becomes a little unmanageable. And when it finally came to moving the text from Outliner to Word there were huge formatting problems.

Bento 2 - Ideally what I want is a database, with each book as an entry and with a set of contingent entries for the notes I make from each book. To this end I have downloaded the trial version of Filemaker’s Bento 2. Now, I tried using a trial of Bento in it’s version 1 incarnation and I wasn’t thoroughly impressed. It seemed like a home inventory and address book application, none of which I need. However my first impression of Bento 2 is quite favourable and although I can’t say I notice vast differences, it seems more useful.

BibDesk - A part of the MacTeX package from the TeX Users Group, is a “bibliographic reference manager for Mac OS X” (http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net/). It is an option I had hitherto not considered. I am not too sure of it yet, but I think this might be the solution I am looking for. For those who may not know what TeX (Pronounced Tech, as in Tau Epsilon Chi) is, it is a mark up language used for typesetting. The TeX Users Group have a good overview on their website. Suffice to say, although I had always seen TeX packages in Linux distributions I had never checked it out before.

An article in the October issue of Linux Format by Juliet Kemp brought it to my attention. In fact, after reading the article and downloading MacTeX, I am even considering writing my dissertation in LaTeX. However, this is an unfortunate digression. Back to BibDesk. In many respects this looks like exactly what I need, however it will take some time to learn how to use it. So in the next few days I shall be looking to writing about how I have found using both Bento 2 and BibDesk and, hopefully, reach a conclusion on which to use for my dissertation.