Disqus - Latest Comments for EdHodges

Re: Coming soon: Rafe Blandford does Martin Brundle at Nokia World

EdHodges — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:09:50 -0000

Rafe was excellent. I've never heard such an authoritative report on the future of Nokia, he's outstanding! Never too snide or rude about some of the worst bits - Ovi Store, N97 - always able to counter balance his own arguements. Excellent!

Re: MIR Show goes to Rome and finds locals using N73s

EdHodges — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:28:45 -0000

You should definately do Marrakech, it's an amazing city where Berber, Asian and European's mix with apparent ease. Also, while taking a break there last year, I spotted a guy who had plainly just arrived in the city from the High Atlas Mountains (judging by the amount of sand and dust on his clothes and face) calling people on a Blackberry 8700!

I remember being surprised at the sophistication of the locals when it came to their mobile phones, I think it would be a great place for you guys to explore next. Oh, and i can tell you some of the awesome rooftop bars you should check out ;)

Re: Batteries really aren’t good enough yet

EdHodges — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:58:21 -0000

You know what, and this really guts me, when i talk to friends who have Sony Erricson phones not one of them complains about battery life... Yes they aren't as cool as Nokia or BBs or the G1, yes the text input is terrible BUT, if you want a rock solid (drop down the loo and still work level) NORMAL PHONE where the battery can last a couple of days... there's your answer. I know the answers you'll give, they don't really do email, they're J2ME based so have no particularly worthy 3rd party applications etc etc - agreed. But for making calls, texting and being an alarm clock (the western worlds most important features) they work brilliantly...

Re: We’re on the Storm bus!

TerenceEden — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:20:04 -0000

Hi,

Didn't have much of a chance to play with music - but here's what I remember.

It can handle loads of audio and video codecs. The desktop manager comes with Roxio Media manager which can be used to transcode to appropriate formats and synchronise playlists etc. There's also a Vodafone music manager which can handle music as well. I think it will synch with iTunes though.

It can't play files with iTunes DRM (nothing apart from Apple products can), but it can play OMA DRM files downloaded from Vodafone live.

I didn't check the podcasting abilities, sorry. There is a photo management software on the device - but I didn't do a deep dive.

However - the device mounts a USB drive. So you can just drag and drop.

HTH

T
(Usual disclaimers apply)

Re: We’re on the Storm bus!

EdHodges — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:51:14 -0000

Terence, good of you to reply, thanks for the update. If what you say is true, i'll be the first person in the line on monday morning buying my shiny new Storm. However, i have one more quick one for you - The Storm can handle loads of video and audio codecs - what's the experience like of getting music onto my BB? Will it sync with iTunes? Will it recognise only non-DRM'd music from my library so i'm not downloading partial playlists? Will it let me make my own playlists etc on the computer? Will it automatically manage my photos?

Most importantly, will it automatically sync the MIR podcast so i can watch it on the tube?

Good stuff

Re: We’re on the Storm bus!

TerenceEden — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:28:37 -0000

(I work for Vodafone - with some of the people responsible for Storm. My comments are unofficial and *highly* biased.)

The keyboard is much better than the iPhone or other touch screen devices. Feeling the click really makes a difference when you're touch typing. It's not quite as good as a physical keyboard - but better than any of the competition.

I didn't notice any significant lag - but I've been trying various firmwares - so I can't vouch for the launch responsiveness. I've been happy with it, though.

That said, some people just won't get on with it because it's different from anything they've tried before.

Because the keyboard isn't visible all the time, it's harder to use Power-User keyboard shortcuts (pushing T in the browser takes you to the top of the page, etc.)

Yes, it does HTML email (assuming your BES / BIS is configured correctly). You can add as many corporate and private emails as your admin will allow.

Overall - I like it :-)

Re: We’re on the Storm bus!

EdHodges — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:53:35 -0000

Can you also examine the email client and let us know if the html is rendered as well on it as on the iphone. I really hate it when emails can't be rendered using html (a la Nokia) so i'm always left with long url strings... especially as i receive daily html newsletters.

Also, can i have a Microsoft Exchange email and 2 Gmail accounts on the same phone i.e. Work and 2 home accounts.

As Dominic mentions too, I'd like to know what the haptic feedback is like. I've read plenty of stuff saying in preproduction it was laggy - much like the iPhone when trying to type an SMS. This would be the one point that would realllllly put me off.

Re: The T-Mobile G1 setup walkthrough

mostlythis — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:59:29 -0000

yes i agree its not as nice as the diamond pro/ touch HD etc.
and i also agree it feels odd when open - i wish there was a way to enter text without opening it
for quick texts etc. but i find the speed ok

when i was first using it - the usb charger was plugged in and it was really awkward
its less so when thats out as you can find a good position - but it would of been better as a full slider.

Re: The T-Mobile G1 setup walkthrough

EdHodges — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:14:46 -0000

I've just got my hands on Ewan's very own G1. I have to say the software's brilliant! AND I love the response the handset gives to the touch with smooth scrolling and responsive 'touch-thru' to the next screen. Even more impressive is the speed it loads Google's applications. For instance, opening Gmail (which being Ewans has thousands of messages in it) occured instantly, then, setting up the 'Compose' screen took milliseconds too.... beautiful - Something Microsoft Windows would do well to heed. So far the software reacts at the speed of thought ;)

However, the hardware is different, it's nice and all that, but very 'plasticky' (spelling?). I'm also not that fussed about the resolution of the screen, it doesn't take much to see the pixels and many of the icons can look blocky. The screen rotation mechanism is good, giving a satisfying 'snap' when opened or closed, however, it feels a touch insecure when open. The biggest let down about the whole experience is the QWERTY keyboard. The tiny keys are more or less flush and take a concerted effort to locate visually rather than semi watching the screen. They don't give particularly good feedback and i felt i was typing slower than i would normally with more nispakes.

Finally,the phone feels unbalanced when using the keyboard, the base of the phone which sits on the right hand side when in landscape, forces your hand away from the keyboard and makes it more difficult to use fast - while on the left hand side there is a lot of space between the edge of the phone and that fat part of your palm below your thumb (what's that called? anyone?). As a result, you can find yourself pushing the handset across from the right to left when trying to type fast or reach keys/the screen with your right hand.

So, software is bloody impressive, as we've all established and swapping between applications and screens is super fast - brilliant! The handset.... meh, next! With HTC bringing out such beauties as the Touch Pro and HD, I don't know why the G1 was put in that brick.

Still, won't stop me from buying one ;)