Google Nexus One, its almost a dirty phrase in the world of iPhone owners.
Of course the device was designed as a direct competitor to the iPhone 3G/3GS, given this its almost understandable that the Nexus One isn’t well received by the Apple fanboys and iPhone advocates alike.
And I would be one of those people if Apple hadn’t failed me so greatly.
If you haven’t already read my rant on why the iPhone 3G sucks then stop reading now and read it first.
For those who have read the aforementioned article, you’ll understand why I’m looking for an alternative.
I like the iPhone, its a great platform, robust OS, great selection of applications and huge development base, but the device is clearly rife with problems. I’m yet to meet a person who hasn’t tried to use the full breadth of their iPhone’s capabilities and has not had to do a full restore.
I’m also yet to meet a person who has followed the firmware upgrade path without needing to resort to the same action, even then as I found this isn’t without its dangers and can ruin your device.
Enter the Nexus One, designed to be open source, functional across multiple platforms, also built on a robust hardware solution and still a strong development community.
Googlehave been developing Android for some time now, infact the development life-cycle rivals that of the iPhone OS itself, opening it up for phone devices has been a rocky road however, but this can only be expected when manufacturers who wish to support the OS can’t agree on base hardware requirements.
This caveat can also be seen in the Nexus One, but the benefits out strip its shortcomings.
There are far too many people who have switched from the iPhone to the Nexus One to ignore, and far too many reports of people enjoying Google’s offering more than Apple’s device.
I can’t ignore this, and as an iPhone owner thats unhappy with the device (broken wifi after a firmware update) and support that has failed me twice, its time for me to look at alternatives.
The Nexus One isn’t the only phone I’m looking at, mainly because Google is still yet to announce a carrier or provide a release date for the phone in Australia.
Research in Motion’s recent Blackberry’s are very tempting, sure loss of screen space due to a physical keyboard (unless you look at the Storm… or not…) but its backed by a substantial amount of time in the marketplace for smart devices.
So I’m at a crossroads, on one hand the newest phone out of the block is an exciting addition to the smartphone, but I’ve been burnt by my iPhone experience with newer devices, so do I go for trust in a brand thats been around for longer than most?
If you have any suggestions or opinions please leave a comment!
Have you ever had the burning desire to have random strangers ask you questions about anything they can think of? No?
Well if you are someone more inclined to do so you can head over to Formspring.me and sign up, this allows you to have people anonymously ask you anything they like!
If you want to ask me anything you can head over HERE
OK so maybe the title is a little harsh. Let me tell you my story and you can decide…
Think back to October 2008, Haiti’s earthquake hadn’t happened, a terrorist hadn’t blown up his underwear in an airplane toilet, it was a simpler time… wait.. no it wasn’t…
Anyhow, the iPhone 3G had just hit the shores of Australia about one month before hand, it was the hot tomali of all tech at the time and I wanted one.
I’d been using a Nokia 6300 for ever and a day but its software crapped out, so I got a nice $99 Samsung SGH-E250 to fill the gap till something better came out in about July. And something better had arrived, the iPhone 3G.
It was out of the gate and people were treating it as if each iPhone box was the glowing sphincter of Steve Jobs himself, pooping out the latest and greatest hot steaming device into our hands.
And I was one of those people…
Sure I was caught in the hype, I was the second person in my team to buy one and it was grand. 3G data, Wifi, beautiful interface, amazingly growing app store.. life was good. Little did I know that around the corner lurked an evil beast which would rend my phone from its podium of glory.
So I did the usual thing, hung on every piece of information about the next OS update, 2.2, 2.2.1 then came the shiny 3.0 and 3.0.1…This is where my tale turns for the worse, iPhone OS 3.1.2 firmware update… it broke my Wifi, and broke it good.
Symptoms were that my iPhone could detect Wifi access points, but not connect to them. And I’d constantly get the error below:
iPhone Wifi FAIL
Now I’d heard around the interwebz that there was a way to roll the iPhone OS back to 3.0.1 to fix most teething issues that 3.1.2 was having, and upon doing so this returned my Wifi back to its original state… FOR 1 MONTH
For some reason I downloaded a wifi enabled application from the iTunes App Store, and it broke my Wifi again but this time for good.
I’ve tried different router settings, different routers, public access wifi and more to get the Wifi to work again. The only way I can get a Wifi signal connection is to create an Ad-Hoc Wifi AP from my PC/Laptop, for some reason it will connect to an Ad-Hoc network just fine!
And here I am, I’ve been trying to contact and get some resolution from Apple ever since. Here are the problems I’m facing though…
It is out of warranty, yes the warranty is no more, I didn’t opt for Apple Care for my phone, in hindsight this ‘may’ have been something to get but who knows?
I’ve contacted Apple several times, even have spoken to techs in Apple Care and in an Apple store (both over the phone) to which they always book me an appointment with one of the geniuses at the closest store to myself. Here in lies the FAIL.
I live approx. 200kms from the nearest official Apple Store so getting to one is a little harder than people in metro locations. I was also quoted that it would cost $275.00 AUD to have my iPhone replaced with a ‘referb’ with no warranty or guarantee that it wouldn’t exhibit the same issue.
I’ve even explained to them that there are people that have had their iPhone’s replaced out of warranty due to this issue as it is a known phenomenon to occur with the 3.1.2 update. They do not accept or admit that this is a fault and still attempt to run myself around in circles.
Also, to add insult to injury, I’ve tried to contact Optus, in the store that I purchased the phone from, a secondary store and on the phone. They will only take the phone, even with a known issue, and send it to an approved Apple service center (aka a shop down the road) to have it assessed for damage.
Tonight I’ve updated my iPhone to OS 3.1.3, its only just out today and I thought that this may have addressed my phone problem, but no dice, it still sucks as much as it did an hour ago on the old 3.1.2 firmware.
Here’s the video to prove it:
So that is my story, my next step is to drive the 200-or-so kms to get to an Apple Store, speak to a genius and see if they will outright replace this phone.
It all may be in vain however, I’ve decided that when it comes to phones, I’d prefer an Android… But thats another story…
Recently I’ve purchased a Canon IXUS 80 IS- its an older camera, sure, but its still the best compact I’ve seen on the market for a long time.
I’ve had a few compacts, and looked at plenty more in the marketplace before settling on the powerhouse above, I’ve moved from a Kodak Easyshare C813 up to the Canon as I’m going on a trip to New Zealand (more on that later) and needed a camera with better features, more functions and most of all and improved image quality.
Now don’t get me wrong the Kodak was a good camera, for its price. Originally it retailed around the $150.00 AUD mark, that said you get what you pay for…
It is a snappy little cam, but the image quality leaves much to be desired, even from an 8.2 megapixel sensor. It feels plastic, looks plastic, and its lens although good still performs badly.
But this is something that most sub $200 cameras suffer.
Flickr: Muschel by Simon S.
The IXUS 80 IS on the other hand originally became available in Q4 2007 – Q1 2008, its a stable camera, lots of good features on board (although does lack manual shutter control) and overall gives an amazing photo with great colour balance, richness and sharpness that most in its price category struggle to achieve.
When it was released it was valued at $397.oo AUD – quite a lot for a compact camera in any ones book, and for the price at the time you could go to a fixed-lens SLR Digital for not too much more.
Thankfully, as Moore’s Lawdictates, this camera has dropped in price significantly. (I got mine for $204.00 AUD)
Specifications
When it comes to the specs this camera is crammed full of them, lots of great options and features as well, although it does lack some features (like manual shutter control) remember that it is compact after all, and not to expect features like a digital SLR.
While I could list all the specs for the camera, I won’t if you want to see them click the below link:
What I will do however is talk about some of its best features.
Portability, of course this is a no brainer as its a compact after all, but I mean in respect to its feature set, cameras that have similar features have traditionally been bigger, and bulkier that the IXUS 80 IS.
Image Quality, awesome image quality for a camera in its price range, while you can get better shots from something more expensive (check the Canon Rebel series) this camera makes most compacts look like a pin-hole shoebox camera.
Flickr: Winkworth Chestnut by natokie
Speed, its fast, even on multiple exposures its a fast camera – yes some people will tell you that the flash recycle rate is appalling, in normal sunlight or in a well lit location it takes a shot every 0.6 of a second (as far as I could time without expensive speed metering equipment), menu response times are great, you’ll never have to wait for a function to finish or for it to load its menu.
Looks, may not be a big thing for most people, but the IXUS range of camera look far from shabby. They are sleek and sexy for sure.
User Interface, and I’m not just talking about software here, both the software internal menu and the external controls are well placed, easy to use and intuitive enough for even the most ham-fisted person to deal with. The one gripe I could see though is that the W – T rotator (read: zoom in and out) is a little fiddly. If you have mammoth sausage fingers then you might need to play with it a bit before you are comfortable.
Image Size / Format Control, big tick in this area, everything from 3264 x 2448 down to 640 x 480, lots of options for changing quality, 3 options for resampled smoothing is a small point be wary of, but most of the time even on the medium smooth setting its wonderful.
Hackability
No, I’m not talking about installing Linux on the device, or turning it into an internet streaming camera (although both could probably be done), I’m talking about opening up some of the more undocumented and unavailable features.
Canon Hack Dev Kit;
CHDKis a community based firmware mod that supports “most” canon powershot and later cameras.
CHDK stands for: Canon Hack Development Kit
Its not a permanent mod for your camera and can be totally reversed, all the new software lives on your SD card that is inserted into the unit. If you don’t like it, just remove the data of the memory card.
Best of all, its completely free to use.
Now that said it comes with one of these…
WARNING
CHDK IS ONLY EXPERIMENTAL, IT OPENS UP MORE FUNCTIONS THAN ORIGINALLY AVAILABLE THROUGH YOUR CAMERAS SOFTWARE, IT MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR CAMERA.
DUE TO ITS EXPERIMENTAL NATURE, NO WARRANTY IS GIVEN WITH THIS SOFTWARE.
But then when has that ever stopped anyone from hacking a device before?
All over the CHDK site you’ll find reference to this time and time again, but they also mention that to date they are completely unaware of a single camera that has been damaged, bricked, or unusable after the software has been applied.
Just remember that its your device, do what you like with it, but be careful…
All in all, features considered, judged and weighed against other cameras in its class, and even considering its age (almost 3 years now!), its features still stand up and get counted.
You’d be hard pressed to find a more well rounded camera at its current price (approx. $200.00 AUD)
I would totally recommend the Canon IXUS 80 IS to anyone, even if they were a photography nut, but for the most part you’ll be surprised how much this camera packs into its small chassis.
I was wandering through my local supermarket shopping for some goodies to eat and I stumbled upon one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.
An 8gb USB Drive, packed in an interesting way…
WARNING: EXTREME PACKAGING FAIL
Extreme Packaging Fail
Seriously this is stupid, I understand that its for security so people don’t just walk off with these but COME ON, the packaging probably costs more than the device itself!
If the supermarket was smart they’d have a smaller packed device that is advertised as being available but only be able to purchase from checkout or from a secure area.
OK so maybe the title is a little harsh. Let me tell you my story and you can decide…
