The iPad

I’ve been an active mac laptop user for a little over 9 years now (ignoring the Apple IIe I had as a kid).  Unfortunately though, during the day at work, I’ve always had a different computer that I had to use (and was always a PC – yeck).  This has always meant that I have less time during the day to use my expensive mac laptop – expensive because it was always the more powerful one (then the PowerBook, now the MacBook Pro).  So in order to get my money’s worth out of my Mac, I can’t really have anything else fighting for its attention.  The exceptions are the cheaper Mac Mini computers I’ve always bought to keep at home for my days off/evenings in when I’m working around my home office.

This is why the iPad was something that I never considered owning.  I thought it seemed kind of cool but nothing for me.  Plus, when I’m on the web at home, I’m not just browsing – I’m editing videos, doing stuff with photos, have a ton of windows open.

But then in January my brother in law bought me and my wife one as a gift.  Since then we’ve both been using it here and there but not a terrible amount.  Again, most of what I do is easier on a laptop or just plain can’t be done.

But the iPad is something good for on the go – if and only if I can get internet on it all the time.  And since I don’t want to pay yet another amount a month for a data connection, this limits my options.  The best one I have come up with is to get a phone that can take its data connection and make a wifi hotspot out of it for no additional charge.   This would allow me to have something quick to work with for my stand-up.  Also, when I was traveling, it was something handy to keep on me while going around but not having a case/holder for it made me nervous.  Plus, I was traveling internationally so didn’t have data connection everywhere so I kept looking for wifi hotspots.

The iPad 2 announcement came when I was traveling and the updates that stood out to me were the lightness, thinness, and the cameras.  These updates would have been appreciated to have on my trip.  It’s definitely nothing that would make me want to upgrade from the iPad and still not enough for me to justify buying an iPad 2.

I’ve had my F-sport sway bars for my 2008 IS 350 for over a month now.  I had read how easy it was to install on http://my.is and http://clublexus.com.  However, I have not been able to do it on my how.

After my F-sport sway bars arrived, my first attempt in putting them into my 2008 IS 350 was on February 18th.  It was 70 degrees that day so I attempted it at work:

(more…)

I’ve been a mobile phone user for over 10 years now and the majority of my phones have been Nokias.  As a matter of fact, my first phone was a Nokia (I got into my extensive Nokia history here in this post I wrote last year: http://ifweran.com/nokia-we-would-change-around-quite-a-few-things/2010/08/ )

My current phone is a N95 8gb which I have had now for almost 2 years.  The phone is starting to die, but even then, I’m also needing my phone to do some other main things (example 3g+ on t-mobile).  I’m looking for a replacement, but unfortunately, nothing in Nokia’s arsenal is catching my eye.

My need is pretty simple - I want my same phone again but want it to do more.  I’m a very big (one of the last it seems) proponent of the keypad.  Out of everything a phone can do, I care most about how fast and easy it is to type on.  This has always been my driving force with my phones

It is why I kept using my 8890, 6170, and now my N76 for so long. I’m mainly using my phone while doing something (walking, driving – yes I know it’s wrong) and that is when the keypad is your friend.

I got my hopes up with the X3-02 but it’s just too limited for me to do anything with (as it was meant to be). But a capable Nokia touchscreen phone with a keypad is what I dream about late at night.

So, with me being unable to get a good phone in keypad form, this means I’m going to have to settle for a phone with a keyboard.  So far I have demo-ed 3 phones from my friends at Womworld Nokia: The N97 Mini, the N900, and a few months ago the C7.  The N97 Mini I wrote a very critical review about, The N900 just wasn’t for me (I know it’s a mini-computer that became a phone, but that’s not really my cup of tea), and the C7 I also was not impressed by (I still haven’t written my review yet).

So the big question – if I have to go with a phone with a keyboard, why am I not going with the E7 (or something? And the reason is that I love Nokia but don’t like Symbian.  A few years ago, all the extra stuff you couldn’t do with a phone really wasn’t a big deal, but now it is.  My wife had her 8801 from ’06-’08 and was so in love with the form, she didn’t care about apps, etc.  She then got her N82 and was happy with that too – until she started noticing around her what others were doing with their iPhone.  In Summer 2010, I got her an iPhone finally and she’s doing a lot more with a phone than she ever did with a Nokia (although now she’s not happy with it and wants something else).  I know there are apps out there, etc but it’s just not as easy as with the other guys.  And the apps.. well app on Nokia I do use hard (Gravity) still feels it lacks something.  There are always those other things that bothered me too – like how I couldn’t change the default browser to much smoother Opera Mini.  Also how it still doesn’t play nice with macs (The Nokia Multimedia Transfer app for example doesn’t even run on intel – thus requiring Rosetta to run and hogging more resources on my computer.  And it doesn’t even delete my pictures after importing them).

So, all things the same, I’d rather consider another OS (and as a result, unfortunately, another phone).  All things not the same (i.e. keypad),  I would stay with Nokia and be ok with doing the MAIN things I need well and not be able to do other things.

I’m going to keep an eye on Nokia because of this whole Windows Mobile 7 thing.  And as I mentioned, I love the Nokia phone and think it is a superior phone to others.  I’ll still keep rooting for Nokia and getting excited when I run into their events, like this one in Kuala Lumpur:

Shahryar at the Nokia E7 Roadshow

Last august I bought my wifeRida her iPhone 3GS to use with t-mobile. She had wanted one for a long time and with her n82 starting to act up ( it was past the 2 year mark at the time) and a jailbreak out for the latest firmware, it was time to finally do it.

Unfortunately though, within just a few months, she had decided that she did not want it anymore.

There were 3 main complaints.

1) too hard to type while driving, walking, etc

2) slow Internet speed (because the iphone isn’t compatible with anything other than edge on t-mobile)

3) low battery life

Regarding the first complaint, there’s nothing that can really be done. Typing while doing something is easiest on a phone with a keypad but it seems you can’t get a good keypad phone now.

So if there’s nothing that can be done for that, then at least I can see if I can find her a phone that addresses her other two problems.

Because of the time, effort, and money that was put in, I made her at least stick with it for some time. She did that So the hunt is on now. Just have to figure out what to get.

I will hen hand off this phone to my mom because 1) the iPhone’s incredibly easy to use, 2) my mom doesn’t. Really have much data need, and 3) as a result of limited use, the battery life should be fine for her.

The iPhone experience wasn’t totally negative though. She did a thousand % more win this phone than she did with her n82. Now she knows better what she can do with a phone and what she wants and needs in a phone.