The MacX

iPad Madness

2010-02-01T12:21:00.003Z

Poor old Apple. They bring out yet another killer device that is mis-understood at launch.

To all those people that say they will not buy one, I have one simple question. There are many more things that you don't but than do. So why tell us about this one?

I may not be a Psychologist, but I have the answer. It's because, just like when you said that the iPhone won't catch on and now you have one, you know deep down that in two years time there will be at least one iPad in your home, and probably more.

Just to let you know, that this really isn't a computer as we know them. This is an device for accessing content. That's all. With iWork, you can create some content, but really you'd want to do that on a Mac. But for surfing the web, watching video or just checking for interesting tweets on Twitter (good luck), it's the best tool there is.

On saying that, I will wait for version two and see what they change after it's been in users hands. If I can hold out.

Nokia 5800 - All is forgiven

2009-07-06T09:26:00.006+01:00

Well, I have been using an iPhone for the last month, and I have to say that although the user interface is better than the Nokia 5800, there are fundamental things that are wrong that stop it being my main mobile.

First, the crippled bluetooth. If you own a Mac, and have any other phone with bluetooth than an iPhone., you must try BluePhoneElite. It connects to your mobile and allows complete control over calls and text messaging (SMS). When someone calls, BPE puts up a message telling me who the caller is, and an answer button. You can even use the microphone and speakers built-in to your Mac as a hands-free kit. Texting now works like iChat, and has a threaded list of texts. A real killer app once you've started using it. Of course, because of the iPhones lack of bluetooth profiles, BPE doesn't support it.

Video over 3G. I can watch BBC1, BBC2 and BBC News (and other TV channels) on my Nokia 5800 through the 3G network. Last weekend I was watching the tennis at Wimbledon whilst my girlfriend was shopping. It is a very useful feature. Unfortunately, Apple bowed to AT&T and only allows such apps to work through WIFI. Why does the rest of the world have to suffer because of AT&T?

Hopefully, Apple will make bluetooth and network access work as expected when their exclusive deal with AT&T comes to an end. Until then Nokia 2:Apple 0.

More Nokia 5800 Annoyances

2009-05-24T18:33:00.002+01:00

Now here's a really stupid one. I have my 5800 on a mount in my car. I am using either the SatNav or listening to music. The phone rings. I press the on screen button to answer the call, and the call screen disappears and goes back to the one I was on before receiving the call.

Why is this stupid. Well, I am in a moving car and want to use the speakerphone facility. Only now, the button for the speakerphone is no longer available.

Nokia really screwed up this one.

By the way, this is on the 5800 with the V21 firmware update.

Ebay and fraudulent bidders

2009-05-24T18:17:00.002+01:00

I have tried three times now to sell my Nokia N85 mobile phone through eBay, only to have the winning bidder turn out to be fraudulent every time. eBay have the cheek to charge me for the auctions, even though they allowed people to bid for it who were trying to con me.

Well, I have a simple suggestion for eBay. When you get bidders to register with you, they should have to give a 'safe' email address, which is not the same as the one they have in their My eBay settings. The 'safe' email address would never be available to anyone, including the bidder. Anyone who hacked the bidders account would not be able to see the 'safe' email address. When the bidder makes a bid, you should send an email to their 'safe' email address with a link that they need to click on to confirm their bid within a reasonable amount of time, say three hours. If you do not receive a response, then freeze the account and retract the bid. Simple isn't it eBay!

If anyone can think of a reason why this wouldn't work, I would love to hear from them.

Nokia 5800 Annoyances

2009-04-18T19:14:00.005+01:00

Further to my recent post about Nokia's 5800 touch screen mobile that's their answer to the iPhone. I have found that when I'm using an application, such as the built in Sat Nav and the mobile rings, as soon as I've pressed the answer button I'm taken back to the application instead of staying on the call screen. This means that I have to switch applications back to the call screen to turn on the speaker, which I use when I am in my car. This is a really annoying feature, and one that I hope Nokia fix in a future firmware update.

I have seen pictures that purport to be the firmware from Nokia's N97 ported to the 5800. It appears to let 5800 users rotate the home screen, which we can't do at the moment, but could do on my Nokia N85. It appears to be a more refined version of the S60v5 operating system on the 5800. Hopefully more information will come to light about the hack that allows this soon.

Nokia 5800 Mobile Phone

2009-04-13T12:12:00.007+01:00

Not having O2 where I live, and not wanting to jailbreak an iPhone, I have opted for a Nokia 5800. Using mainly Macs myself, I have found that it syncs to a Mac very well. Nokia have done a good job with their Mac software, and they have iSync conduits for all their compatible phones available for download from their website.

The interface isn't quite there yet, but overall I am impressed by the S60 touch interface that Nokia have implemented on the 5800.

Having such a large screen is great. It is excellent for watching programmes from iPlayer, films etc. It is also good for showing more information than a smaller screen mobile, such as when viewing calendars.

So far, for such a cheap phone, I can highly recommend the Nokia 5800 if you have a Mac.

The all New MacX Blog

2009-04-13T10:36:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the all new MacX blog. More on this later.