Tag Archives: iphone 4

Top Ten Technologies of 2013

oldtools1

These are technologies that I actually use, they exclude web tools and services which I do a separate top ten for. They are generally tools that make my life easier, more efficient and more productive.

Having changed jobs in 2013, this has made the list a little more interesting as the technologies I used over the year did change quite a bit.

Missing from this list is BT Infinity FTTC which made the list for the last three years, not that it doesn’t exist anymore, I moved in 2012 and am now connected to the only cabinet on my exchange that won’t be upgraded to FTTC. As a result I am stuck on a very slow 1-2Mb ADSL connection.

Here are my previous top tens from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

10. The iPhone 5S is a new entry and I’ve only had it a couple of months. It certainly is one of the best smartphones I have ever used. It is a big improvement over the older iPhones, not as much an upgrade over the 4 as I was hoping though. It isn’t perfect and it has crashed on me a fair few times since I’ve had it. I do like the new camera, but the one thing that has taken a lot of getting use to, was the new interface that came with the launch of iOS 7. I found this to be a big change and quite a steep learning curve in changing the way I use to things on my older iPhone.

9. Another new entry at number nine. I used a Samsung 50” Plasma Screen a lot this year for training and presentations. On a mobile trolley with a Mac mini underneath it was an ideal presentation machine. Air Server on the Mac mini allowed me to use AirPlay to mirror my iPad or the MacBook. It was much easier to use than a projector with small groups, and much brighter and clearer. Moving jobs this was one piece of kit I really did miss when I started my new job.

8. Sticking at number eight is the iMac. It is my workhorse computer, the one I do big things on such as movie editing, managing my photography collection, writing, large spreadsheets, desk top publishing and so much more. It is very much my truck when it comes to computing, but it isn’t that portable… When I changed jobs in the Autumn I lost my work iMac and started off using an Acer Windows 7 PC with a 17” screen… I can tell you I certainly noticed the difference.

7. In my old job I had the iPhone 4 and to be honest though I would have liked an upgrade, I didn’t need one, it did a fantastic job and I was sorry handing it back (which is the main reason it drops a place to number seven). The camera was excellent, and great for taking stills and video. The retina display still astounds me in terms of the visual quality. It was fast enough and apps opened smoothly, for a phone that is now over three years old

6. The Google Nexus 7 is my sixth choice. If I didn’t have an iPad and was ensconced into the iTunes ecosystem of apps, music and films, then it would be higher. I really like the form factor, it just works, in the main as it fits in my jacket pocket. As a result when going out I have access to a tablet device and don’t need to carry a bag, which I would need to do if I took the iPad.

One issue I have with the Nexus 7, well the version I have, is the lack of 3G, so I need to use wifi; it’s not too bad as I then use the Google Nexus One for tethering or free wifi in coffee shops. I would also have appreciated a rear facing camera. The screen is great and movies, books and apps look really good. The main downside for me is writing on the tablet, as the on screen control buttons are at the bottom of the screen, when I type I find that too often I hit the “home” button and drop out from what I was typing. It is well ensconced into the Google ecosystem, so great for Mail, Google+ and Google Docs.

5. The 15” MacBook Retina from my old job was an excellent piece of kit, mainly for the beautiful screen, using other devices really showed me how much I appreciated the retina screen on this laptop.

4. Though I liked using the Apple TV for playing and streaming my iTunes content and showing photographs on my Mac, what I liked more was been able to stream content from my iPad and the MacBook Retina to my television. Having lost FTTC one aspect of the Apple TV I do miss was the ability to stream content I had purchased direct (again) without having to download it again, or move it back into iTunes. I think the Apple TV could do with apps, where is BBC iPlayer for example? Also no 4OD or ITVPlayer. If the Apple TV had these apps then it would be even better than before. The lack of apps does curtail the use of the Apple TV if you don’t have an iOS device, but is almost a critical extra fore presentations if you do have an iOS device. There was a new Apple TV released in 2012 which plays 1080p content, mine is the previous model to this which does 720p content. Not sure if I would notice the difference, so didn’t upgrade. It looks like there might be a new model in 2014, wonder then if I would ugprade?

3. Climbing four places to number three is my good old Google Nexus One, which is four years old this year! The main reason I like it is the portable wireless hotspot (wifi tethering) that came with the Froyo 2.2 update. It’s not perfect, I do find that the OS is not as stable as I think it should be, it also doesn’t keep time well. However as a phone for making phone calls, it works very well. One of the reasons it has climbed so many places, was that I retired my iPhone 3GS at the beginning of 2013 and started to use the Google Nexus One as my personal mobile phone (I had an iPhone 4 for work and when I changed jobs I got an iPhone 5S, hence the reason for three phones in the top ten).

I have made extensive use of the phone as not only a phone, but also as a smartphone (using apps) and for tethering.

I am expecting it to fall apart at some point, but I still get great battery life, decent coverage with EE (better than the iPhone 5S on Vodafone as it happens) and it just works. I keep meaning to upgrade it, but never get round to it. There are some issues, the main one is phone memory, too many apps rely on being installed on the phone’s memory, which is quite limited, and as a result I am unable to install many new apps. It is also now limited to Android 2.3.6 so not KitKat for me!

2. Dropping a place is the iPad. This device I use every day, from checking that the trains are still running first thing in the morning, to reading books before I go to sleep. It is such a useful and versatile device. I use it extensively for e-mail, calendars and general browsing. There are various apps I use on are regular basis and many more than I use now and again. Airplay is a great technology which I used a lot in 2013 for mirroring and streaming video.

I do think the iPad is a great piece of technology for conferences and events and wrote quite a lengthy piece on how it could be used to support the amplification of a conference.

Certainly compared to using a large laptop, an iPad is a much better device for using on the train, more so on those trains that don’t have tables. It is also a great way of doing stuff in a café or on the sofa.

Blogging on the iPad is still a bit hit and miss for me. There are still a fair few things that I do on a regular basis that the iPad makes it more challenging compared to a device with a regular keyboard. I have used my Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad, but not always an ideal situation, for example when travelling on a train (the iPad keeps falling over).

When it came out in 2010 it made my top ten for that year, I did ask though “So my number one technology for 2010 is Apple’s iPad, I wonder if it will still be in my top ten next year?” This was a honest assessment, as experience of other mobile technologies I had used previously rarely got extensive use after a while, usually because of too many limitations. I do think that it is indicative of the success of the iPad that it is still in my top ten for four years, but it has dropped a place. Does that say something?

1. Jumping to the top spot is the 11” MacBook Air, this is an amazing piece of kit and an ideal technology for working whilst travelling. I used an older one for a while in my old job, but in my new job I have the latest version. It’s a really superb piece of kit. It’s fast, well it has an SSD inside, it’s light, the battery still lasts a decent amount of time (the 13” had a much better battery life, but the 11” is a lot more portable). It is the laptop I take with me to events and conferences. I think I probably could survive with the iPad for most events, however on the train and at the events I find I am typing a lot more. One reason for using a “proper” laptop with a “proper browser” is that some websites, including my WordPress blogs, don’t work particularly well on mobile Safari, and I’ve still yet to find an iOS app that works the way I need it to for WordPress. So though I really like the iPad, it doesn’t always do what I need and how I want to do it, for those reasons I use the MacBook Air.

So what were your top technologies for last year?

Top Ten Technologies of 2012

I did mean to post this back at the beginning of January, but missed my own deadline. However I have found my previous top tens from 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 useful so decided to get this article done.

So what’s in the top ten for 2012 then? Well these are technologies that I actually use, they exclude web tools and services which I do a separate top ten for. They are generally tools that make my life easier, more efficient and more productive.

10. BT Infinity FTTC drops seven places to number ten, not because it wasn’t great and useful, but I moved in June and my new place couldn’t get FTTC so I couldn’t use it anymore. This is a top ten for 2012 and for the first six months of the year it was great and since moving back to ADSL I realise how much I depended on it. It is looking like there is very little chance of our cabinet getting upgraded in 2013, so I expect not to see FTTC in the top ten next year.

9. The Blue Snowball Microphone would probably have been higher this year, if I had used it more. I use it for recording podcasts, for doing online presentations and voiceovers. I love the way it records sound and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a decent, but not super expensive microphone. The main downside is that the size of the microphone makes it less than ideal for taking to events and carrying in a bag. However the quality of recordings means that I am more keen to use this then any other microphone.

8. The iMac is my workhorse computer, the one I do big things on such as movie editing, managing my photography collection, writing, large spreadsheets, desk top publishing and so much more. It is very much my truck when it comes to computing, but it isn’t that portable… The main downside with the iMac is the size of the hard disk, and I might replace it with a larger drive, but I am quite intrigued by the newer model, the one with the fusion drive.

7. My Google Nexus One is now three years old and is in terms of phones quite an old phone, almost an antique… however I do use it all the time. Mainly for tethering, I am grandfathered into an unlimited tethering plan from T-Mobile so loathe to get rid of that SIM… However it is also a great phone, and most of my Android apps work just fine on it. The big change for my was Froyo, that turned the Nexus One from an interesting phone to an useful phone. Sadly it is now stuck at Gingerbread, and Google have said that they won’t add any future updates. I think I will be replacing it this year, with what though I am not sure. One of the reasons I haven’t upgraded it was purchasing the Google Nexus 7.

6. iPhone 4 drops to number six, the main reason was iOS 6.0 which thought brought many useful features, also removed some too (looking at you Maps). I kept thinking about upgrading the phone to initially the iPhone 4S and then the iPhone 5, but though there were some nice features, to be honest none were really “outstanding” enough to make me upgrade. The iPhone 4 is still a great smartphone and was what the iPhone should have been from day one. The camera is excellent, and great for taking stills and video. The retina display still astounds me in terms of the visual quality. It’s fast enough and apps open smoothly, for a phone that will be three years old this year and I still think of it as a modern phone! Using the iPad and the Google Nexus 7 a lot this year however has made me appreciate the larger screen space that is severely lacking on the iPhone. If I have a choice then I will not use the iPhone and move to a tablet. The key question is will I upgrade this year to the iPhone 5 or the 5S, it might be time for a change.

5. Google Nexus 7 comes straight in at number five. If I didn’t have an iPad and was ensconced into the iTunes ecosystem of apps, music and films, then I think this would be much higher, possibly even number one. I didn’t think I would like the form factor, but it just works, in the main as it fits in my jacket pocket. As a result when going out I have access to a tablet device and don’t need to carry a bag, which I would need to do if I took the iPad. When the iPad mini came out and was available to play with in the Apple Stores, you would have laughed as I went to have a play and then tried to fit it into the inside pocket of my jacket, so see if it would fit in the same way that the Nexus 7 does. Was challenging as the iPad mini was cabled to the table! The main downside of the Nexus 7, well the version I have, is the lack of 3G, so I need to use wifi; it’s not too bad as I then use the Google Nexus One for tethering or free wifi in coffee shops. The screen is great and movies, books and apps look really good. The main downside for me is writing on the tablet, as the on screen control buttons are at the bottom of the screen, when I type I find that too often I hit the “home” button and drop out from what I was typing.

4. Apple TV wasn’t in my top ten last year, what made a real difference this year was AirPlay. Though I liked using the Apple TV for playing and streaming my iTunes content and showing photographs on my Mac, what I liked more was been able to stream content from my iPad and the MacBook Retina to my television. Having lost FTTC one aspect of the Apple TV I do miss was the ability to stream content I had purchased direct (again) without having to download it again, or move it back into iTunes. I think the Apple TV could do with apps, where is BBC iPlayer for example? Also no 4OD or ITVPlayer. If the Apple TV had these apps then it would be even better than before. There was a new Apple TV released in 2012 which plays 1080p content, mine is the previous model to this which does 720p content. Not sure if I would notice the difference, so didn’t upgrade.

3. The 15” MacBook Retina was almost an impulse buy to utilise the remaining part of a budget. My existing 13” MacBook Air that I use at work was then reallocated to another member of staff. I did miss the thiness and lightness of the MacBook Air, as the 15” MacBook is much bigger and heavier. However though I was expecting the screen to be good (having used retina displays on the iPhone and the iPad) I didn’t realise how good it was going to be. The retina screen is incredible and I was really really impressed with it. In my job I do read a lot of text and often I would print it out, I now read a lot more on the MacBook then i did on the previous model. It’s incredibly fast and very powerful. Part of me thinks maybe I should have waited for the 13” MacBook Retina, but I actually like the larger real estate of the 15” screen.

2. The 11” MacBook Air I have is now a couple of generations behind now, but it is still a really superb piece of kit. It’s fast, well it has an SSD inside, it’s light, the battery still lasts a decent amount of time (the 13” had a much better battery life, but the 11” is a lot more portable). It is the laptop I take with me to events and conferences. I think I probably could survive with the iPad for most events, however on the train and at the events I find I am typing a lot more. I did a fair bit of conference reporting last year and having a reasonably decent keyboard made it much easier. I have used a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad, but even then the challenge is moving the content back to the desktop computer. If I had all my devices running the latest versions of OS X and iOS then I might be able to take advantage of iCloud, however they’re not, some are running Lion, one is running Snow Leopard! I do use Dropbox, but that doesn’t work in the same way on iOS as it does in OS X, as a result I would get multiple copies of files, something that adds to administration. The other reason for using a “proper” laptop with a “proper browser” is that some websites, including my WordPress blogs, don’t work particularly well on mobile Safari, and I’ve still yet to find an iOS app that works the way I need it to for WordPress. So though I really like the iPad, it doesn’t always do what I need and how I want to do it, for those reasons I use the MacBook Air.

1. For the third year running the iPad is my top technology. Well not quite true. The first iPad was my top technology in 2010 and 2011, even beating the iPad 2. This year’s top technology is the third generation iPad, the one with the better camera, faster chipset and retina screen. I certainly feel silly taking pictures or video with the iPad, it certainly lacks the ergonomics of a camera device. However the quality of the video on the iPad is pretty good. I was quite surprised that Apple released a fourth version of the iPad during 2012, but it’s not an upgrade I think I will make from the third generation iPad I have. I do like the retina screen, but when I first saw it, I wasn’t that impressed with the screen, but once I had one and used it everyday I was totally won over. I’ve always preferred paper for reading, until I started using the iPad retina for reading. Even I am surprised by how I now much prefer the iPad for reading over paper. Combined with the MacBook Retina my use of paper as declined considerably. If you read my reasons for making the MacBook Air number two, you might think why and how did the iPad beat it. It’s true the iPad is not a perfect device, and there are shortcomings when it comes to writing and file management. The file management side of things is awful, in theory that is solved when you use iCloud, but the reality is that, that can’t be a reality for me, well not yet. I have too many legacy items of kit I use for my different workflows. Some applications don’t work on Lion or Mountain Lion, so I need an older operating system, and of course iCloud doesn’t work on them. Also using various web systems such as WordPress and Moodle means that you need a proper browser, also there are various websites that I use that just don’t work as they should in mobile safari. Having said all that there are lots of reasons why I find the iPad such an useful device and has a real positive impact on how I do stuff. For example, I find the iPad one of the best devices I have to deal and process e-mail, it’s fast and very effective. I also like how the Calendar works and integrates with the e-mail; this is all through Exchange by the way. The browser (despite some shortcomings) is perfect for that quick browsing you do on the sofa, in meetings or at conferences. Using Chrome as well means that I can sync across various machines, well I know I can do that too with Safari and iCloud, but I think I have explained why I don’t do that, well not often. I do like the app ecosystem, I use a variety of apps for lots of different things. The apps I use on a regular basis include Flipboard, Evernote, Keynote, Pages, iMovie, iPhoto, Snapseed and then there are the games too. I have found it, using iPhoto and Snapseed a great device to use alongside my Canon DSLR, using the camera adapter I can import the photographs into the iPad and then edit them in iPhoto (or Snapseed) before uploading them to Flickr. I much prefer doing that on the iPad then on my Mac. That’s often the reason I take both the iPad and the MacBook Air to events and conferences.

Overall the iPad has and continues to be a device that changed how I worked and makes my life easier and more efficient. That’s why it’s my number one technology for 2012.

There are a few things that aren’t in the list, in the main as I don’t have them, the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini are two examples. I did seriously consider getting an iPhone 5, but haven’t got around to buying one. I think it’s the thought of having to go into a phone shop. I do like the iPad mini, but would I use one having got both the iPad and the Google Nexus 7, I think not. Also it doesn’t fit in my jacket pocket!

My workhorse of a printer, the Canon MP600R also isn’t in the list, but that does get used an awful lot. I would probably have put the HP B110a in there as initially I was very impressed with it, from both a print our perspective, but also how mobile friendly it was for scanning and printing. However after putting in new print cartridges, which killed it, I had to throw it away. So as you might expect, it’s not in the top ten.

So what were your top technologies for last year?

Optiscan – iPhone App of the Week

Optiscan – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive.

This week’s App is Optiscan.

Scan any QR code quickly and easily using your devices camera and Optiscan.

  • Create your own QR codes to share contacts, web addresses, text messages, phone numbers or locations with others.
  • Contrary to some reviews, it IS possible to create geo-location codes – use the ‘Note’ option to type (or copy/paste) the information in. This will be made easier in version 1.9.2 – due very soon!
  • Save to Photo album by holding down on the QR code image and selecting ‘Save Image’
  • Automatically scan a wide variety of QR code data formats
  • Save specific QR codes for quick sharing – perfect for sharing your business card!
  • Keep a history of QR codes created and scanned for easy recall.
  • Want to scan or generate codes in French? Japanese? No problem! Optiscan supports UTF-8, ISO-8859, and Shift-JIS.
  • Select the contact details you want to send, so the right people get the right information.
  • Found a QR code on the web? You don’t need two devices. Save the image to the photo gallery from Safari (tap and hold the image) – and Optiscan will decode them for you!
  • Optiscan runs without a network connection, and keeps your data private. Why put up with anything less?

£1.49

QR Codes do seem to be going mainstream at the moment and there are lots of people who are now embedding and using them in education.

In my own college one of the Sports Lecturers on a newsletter about College Sport put in a QR code that linked to a Flickr page with more photographs on.

The iPhone doesn’t come with a QR code reader and the older iPhones, the 3G and the 3GS, had a poor quality camera that often failed to render QR codes properly. When I had a 3GS I tried a few free QR code reader apps, but in the end after reading a review bought Optiscan.

Of course the camera in the iPhone 4 and the 4S is superior to previous cameras and as a result the newer iPhones are much better at reading QR codes.

It did the job really well, so have stuck with it since then.

It reads virtually all the QR codes I have thrown at it. I also like how it retains a history of all the QR codes I have read.

There are free QR code readers that work well on the iPhone 4 such as the QR Reader for iPhone that probably means paying for a reader isn’t necessary. However if you have the older 3GS or 3G have problems with one of the free readers then I would recommend Optiscan.

Get Optiscan in the iTunes Store.

Cat Physics – iPhone App of the Week

Cat Physics – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive.

This week’s App is Cat Physics – Donut Games.

What are cats up to at dawn, when nobody’s around?

Sneaking around the back alleys? Probably!
Going through garbage cans? Not likely!
Playing Donut Games? Most certainly!

Join the cats in their favorite midnight ball game: CAT PHYSICS!

The objective is simple — Pass the ball from one cat to another!

Sounds too simple?
Oh, wait… did we mention flip boards, glass windows, trap doors and other obstacles?

£0.59

I don’t normally mention games in this series, though of course games certainly have their place in learning and to give learners new skills.

However the reason I am bringing Cat Physics to your attention is not that it is the holiday season and therefore an ideal time to play games, but for two reasons.

Firstly it was recommended to me by a senior manager in my college. A year or so ago this manager would be quite open about her lack of learning technology knowledge, but was eager to see the potential. I did lend her one of my MoLeNET iPod touch devices and this year she did go out and buy an iPad. Cat Physics was one of the games she bought, enjoyed and brought to my attention. Bizarre I thought that a senior manager who wasn’t really that much into learning technologies, is now advising the learning technologies manager on what applications he should buy for his iPad!

I do find it really interesting how consumer electronics can have such an impact on society and social change and the resulting impact that these devices have on learning and learners. I am sure that devices such as the iPhone, the iPad, Android phones, the Nintendo DS and Wii, the PSP and other consumer devices have probably had more of an impact on changing the culture of education towards learning technologies than anything learning technologists have done in terms of training or staff development. I have seen many staff totally change their attitudes to the use of technology in the hands of learners as soon as they buy (or have been bought) a device such as the iPod touch or the Nintendo DS.

So what of the second reason?

Well when the iPad first came out, anything designed for the iPhone to be honest looked awful on the iPad, the x2 button though worked, didn’t result in a clear look to the application. The results were often fuzzy or pixellated. However Cat Physics was the first time I didn’t notice any issues. My first thought was that it was in fact an universal app for both iPhone and iPad. However upon close inspection it was certainly an iPhone sized game with the x2 button. The reason it looked so sharp and clear was that the game had been designed for the new “retina” display for the iPhone 4 and as a result the game which was designed for the 960×640 resolution of the iPhone 4 looks fine and dandy on the 1024×768 resolution of the larger iPad. So even if you don’t have an iPhone 4, the new versions of iPhone only applications, designed to work with the “retina” display of the iPhone 4 now look really quite good on the iPad.

So what of Cat Physics itself?

Well I actually really enjoyed the game. It works well as an iPad or iPhone game in that each level can be completed in the few minutes that you find you have for these kinds of casual games. The five minutes before your TV programme starts. Whilst the adverts are on before the film at the cinema. The few minutes waiting for that train or tube. Part of the success of the iPhone has to be down to the casual gaming potential of the device, Angry Birds is a prime example of how people are using their phones.

There are (at the time of writing) eighty levels of varying complexity in Cat Physics, each requires a modicum of skill in working out both the puzzle behind each level, but also the physics of how the ball will travel on the screen.

It’s an enjoyable game and at 59p is certainly worth buying, check it out.

Top Ten Technologies of 2010

This is the third time I have written a top ten list of technologies, I did the same in 2008 and 2009. It’s interesting to compare the three lists to see what I was using, what I am still using and what new stuff I am using. This list focuses on physical technologies and gadgets and I have also been working on a list of web tools that will be in another blog post.

So what didn’t make my list?

The MiFi which was number eight last year got used a lot less, partly as I used the Google Nexus one more for portable wifi and the issues I had with the MiFi when trying to use it on the train.

The Sony video cameras in previous top tens got slightly ursurped by both the Kodak and the iPhone 4G this year, they were used, but no where near the level I used them in 2009 and 2008.

The 3G USB Stick I had in my top ten in 2008, didn’t make the list in 2009 and I actually handed back to our IT department in 2010!

10. i7 iMac

The iMac was my number two last year and in many ways is still a really excellent computer. Very fast and more than capable of doing lots of things all at the same time. It’s still in my top ten, as I still use it every day for lots of different activities.

9. iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS was my number one technology in 2009 and I have continued to use the 3GS throughout 2010 as my main home mobile phone. Why is it not higher up, well I upgraded my work mobile phone to the iPhone 4G. The 3GS though is the phone I use at weekends when I am out, it’s the phone I use on the sofa in the evenings and it’s also the phone I use when the battery runs out on the 4G. I use a Logic3 case with an extended battery. It’s also the device I use for sat nav, using the TomTom software. Alas the one key component of the 3GS lets it down and that is its ability to make phone calls. Too often it will drop calls for my liking.

8. Edirol R-09HR

I have been using the Edirol for a few years now, it was in my top ten in 2008, and the Edirol R-09HR now back in for 2010. Recording as either WAV or MP3 direct to an SD card, the audio quality is excellent. Very easy after recording to connect a USB cable and copy the recordings over to edit in Audacity or Garageband. It is very portable and the fact it uses AA batteries means if they run out, they are easy to replace. Main downside is cost, but in this case I do believe it is very much you get what you pay for.

7. Blue Snowball Microphone

I have been recording a lot this year, not just e-Learning Stuff podcasts, but also symposia and other discussions. The Blue Snowball Microphone is certainly a key tool for this. I also use it at home for Skype and making recordings.

The main downside is that the size of the microphone makes it less than ideal for taking to events and carrying in a bag. However the quality of recordings means that I am more keen to use this then any other microphone.

6. Kodak Zi8

This for the first part of the year was a great little camera that I used for both video and stills. Alas I “lost” mine after a mobile learning event I ran at the college in July. We have two class sets at college and I have used the Kodak Zi8 at various events, so that’s another reason for including it in my top ten.

5. Amazon Kindle

The UK version of the Kindle was available from September 2010, and despite owning an iPad I did buy a Kindle and have been impressed. With a battery life measured in weeks, a great book selection, what I like most about the Kindle is that I can continue to read Kindle books on other devices such as the iPad. This is not just about the Kindle device, but also the Kindle app for other devices.

4. Google Nexus One

My Nokia N95 which was number one in 2008 and in the top ten in 2009, I retired it this year after getting the Google Nexus One. This was an Android phone and the first time I managed to use the mobile OS on a regular basis.

I really do like this phone and I certainly over 2010 recommended it to people who didn’t want an iPhone. The main reasons I like it is the portable wireless hotspot (wifi tethering) that came with the Froyo 2.2 update, the screen which is gorgeous and the voice control. It’s not perfect, I do find that the OS is not as stable as I think it should be. However as a phone for making phone calls, it works very well, unlike other phones I could mention…

3. iPhone 4

The iPhone 4 is what the iPhone should have been from day one. Finally the iPhone came of age. It is one of the best phones I have ever used.

The camera was better than ever before and the phone also came with a front facing camera. This is something the Nokia N95 has had since 2007! However the improvements in performance and the wonderful “retina” screen certainly are welcome.

What I like about the iPhone is the ease of use, the browsing experience, the apps. There is so much I am doing on this phone and so much more I could be doing on this phone. I for example have not yet used Facetime, but I wonder if that’s more down to I know very few people with an iPhone 4 and the one time I tried to make a Facetime call, it didn’t work!

Though I could replicate the antenna problem this didn’t impact on me as much as it seemed to in the US. If anything I found the iPhone 4 was much better at making phone calls than the 3GS was. It has better reception, but will still drop calls.

Multi-tasking with iOS4 certainly made the phone easier to use and meant that switching between apps didn’t always result in a loss of data or information.

The key advantage of the iPhone for me is the sheer number of apps and the quality and quantity have changed how I use a phone.

I do think the iPhone 4 is one of the best phones I have ever used and I am really pleased with it.

2. BT Infinity FTTC

When ADSL came to my home town I was one of the first in the area to get it. It was great going from dial-up 44kbps to a broadband connection of 385kbps. Over the years this did rise to 1.3Mbps and for a lot of things was great. However as more and more people got broadband, the contention ratio kicked in and the speed dropped to under 1Mbps for most of the day.

For general browsing it was okay, however downloading large files was a real pain and I use to schedule these overnight. For example upgrading my iPhone would take anything up to 24 hours! Using BBC iPlayer was generally also a non-starter and most of the time I wouldn’t even bother trying.

So when fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) arrived in my area, I signed up as fast as my ISP would let me. With 40Mb down and 10Mb up this is significantly faster than the 1.3 down and 0.6 up I had before.

It has already changed how I use the internet, whereas before I would probably not consider downloading a film from iTunes during the day, as it would soak up my bandwidth and would take hours to download; now it takes under five minutes to download! No problems with downloading large files and updates now. The other key advantage is streaming video, which was almost pointless before due to buffering, and like downloading, previous streaming would soak up my bandwidth, having 40Mb down means I can stream and do other stuff at the same time. Skype works really well too and is a lot more stable than before.

Having really fast internet is making my work and home life easier and I am having less issues with using different internet services and uploading is a dream now.

1. iPad

Announced in January and released (in the UK) in May, I was even surprised by how much I now use the iPad. It has in many ways replaced how I use a laptop at home, at work, whilst travelling and at events. When I ordered mine, I didn’t think it would have that much of an impact, but it has and continues to have an impact.

In July I wrote about how I took just the iPad to an event in London and how I just used the iPad. I did the same at the RSC SW Conference too.

I do think the iPad is an ideal device for conferences and events and wrote quite a lengthy piece on how it could be used to amplify and enhance conferences.

Certainly compared to using a large laptop, an iPad is a much better device for using on the train.

At work I use the iPad for dealing with e-mail and my calendar and quickly checking things on the VLE. For some meetings I do need to take a laptop as some tools we use rely on Flash or Java and that is one of the main weaknesses of the iPad is that these kinds of tools can not be used on it.

At home, I use the iPad on the sofa, in the kitchen and around the house. I like how I can use it to quickly check the news, e-mail, the weather, social networks and general browsing the web. I like the casual games you can get for the iPad and its media capability easily surpasses any other mobile devices I have used. It’s not all perfect, I would like to stream (easily) video and audio from my iMac to my iPad and not all web functions work as I would like them to. Blogging on the iPad is still a bit hit and miss for me.

So my number one technology for 2010 is Apple’s iPad, I wonder if it will still be in my top ten next year?

Are any of your favourite technologies in this top ten? What have I missed?

You Gotta See This! – iPhone 4 App of the Week

You Gotta See This! – iPhone 4 App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.

This week’s App is You Gotta See This!

Ever been at a concert and wished your friends could experience the atmosphere with you? Ever been on a mountain top and wished your family could experience the same view? Ever thought “they’ve got to see this!” but simply taking a picture was not enough? Share your experiences with unique images taken in a unique way with your iPhone 4 (required) and “You Gotta See This!” Read on to learn how it works…

Simply start the recording in “You Gotta See This!”, swipe the scene up, down, left and right with the camera and share the image created by one of the five amazing themes on Twitter, Facebook or by email. Or simply save it to your camera roll for later presentation. (See a short tutorial video at our website.)

The app creates collages of images that you take by slowly moving the camera around in 3D space. The resulting images are somewhat similar to what is called “panography” or “Hockneyesque” (after the artist David Hockney).

“You Gotta See This!” uses the iPhone 4 gyroscope to determine the camera orientation while you record and positions the images it takes accordingly on a flat surface to create the spacial collages.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You Gotta See This! requires an iPhone 4. It will not run on iPhone 3GS, 3G and earlier models.

£1.19

I do seem to buy a lot of photo Apps, some I use quite regularly others I just use once or twice and others I kind of forget I bought!

So what of You Gotta See This!

This iPhone 4 App makes use of the camera and built in gyroscope to capture multiple images that are then placed in a collage. You can choose how the images are spread and then save the result to the iPhone or share via various social networking sites.

It’s a simple yet clever App that quickly creates an image that can be used to show off a place or an event.

It must be remembered that this is not a Panorama App.

Stitched panoramas are not seamless. This is by design. ‘You Gotta See This!’ is not a panorama app. The purpose of the app is to create what is called panorama collages or panography.

It creates collages rather than panoramas. There are quite a few Panorama Apps in the iTunes store.

I do quite like this App, it is easy to use and creates a fun effect and the results can be used on websites, the VLE, presentations, student work, etc…

FlickStackr – iPhone App of the Week

FlickStackr – iPhone App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone and iPad Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will work on the iPod touch or the iPad, some will be iPad only apps.

This week’s App is FlickStackr.

FlickStackr brings Flickr photo sharing to the iPad. Designed from the ground up for the larger screen, it allows you to BROWSE photos in the Flickr universe. UPLOAD photos and EDIT your photos’ metadata.

£1.19

There is a free Flickr App for the iPhone (which I do have) however when I came to look for a Flickr App for the iPad, I wanted something that used all that lovely screen rather than the x2 of the Flickr iPhone App. I came across FlickrStackr and decided to try it out.

Now before you start shouting at me that the “iPad doesn’t have a camera” let me just remind you that there are quite a few photo editing Apps available for the iPad and you can also get a camera connector kit for the iPad that allows you to upload onto the iPad, photographs from a “proper” camera!

FlickStackr is an universal App and therefore if you get it for the iPad it will also be available on the iPhone in an iPhone version. This is (as you might expect) similar to the Flickr App for the iPhone. It allows you to go through Flickr as you would on the website through a standard browser, but is a much better experience than using mobile Flickr through the mobile Safari browser and that is the main reason to use the App over just using the web interface.

I can browse my photostream and find images. These I can then download onto the iPhone if needed.

I might be doing this if wanting to send images to another service, or attach to a blog posting using the WordPress App.

I can also go through my sets, this is useful If I was wanting to show some of my photographs to someone, I have sets of my Library and of the facilities in my college for example.

I can also use the App to upload photographs, and with the much better camera in the iPhone 4 I suspect I will be taking more photographs with it than I did with the 3GS.

The original reason I bought the App was that it was a dedicated iPad App and it does work very well on the iPad. I can view my photostream.

I can view individual images.

Browsing images is easy and quick.

Overall if you take photographs with the iPhone, or you have the camera connector on the iPad, and you have a Flickr account, it makes sense to have some kind of Flickr App on your iPhone or iPad.

The free Flickr App is going to be fine for what most people need, however if you want something a little better and £1.19 is not exactly going to break the bank, then I would recommend FlickStackr.

Get FlickStackr in the iTunes App Store.

iPhone 4 issues

So is the iPhone antenna issue real?

Well this is my iPhone 4 and me.

Is the issue really worth all the column inches, rolls of film, metres of video tape?

To be honest no!

This is an issue with the iPhone and every phone I have ever used has had issues.

I had an LG Viewty that would just crash and the only way to reset was to remove and replace the battery.

I had a Sony Ericsson that would turn itself off when it felt like it.

I have a Google Nexus One that every so often decides that it can’t find the wifi or the 3G network and needs to be rebooted. Sometimes the screen won’t unlock unless you reboot. If you use it for watching video or similar and it gets too hot, then the touchscreen stops working!

All phones have their issues and problems.

So would I recommend the iPhone 4?

Yes I would.

Would I recommend the Nexus One?

Yes I would?

Would I recomend the LG Viewty?

Nope!

Why didn’t you buy an iPhone 4 ?

I seriously did consider buying the new iPhone 4 on the day of release.

However when I was faced with this…

I couldn’t face the idea of queuing. I also had to be somewhere else too…

I am still in two minds about buying the new iPhone now, or waiting until my contract ends.

Yes it has some great new features that I would like to see and try like the new camera; however part of me is thinking is this just because it is shiny or something new and different!

What about the reception left hander issues?

Personally I think, yes there may well be an issue, but is it really worth all the column inches that have covered this? There may be a design flaw, but all devices have design flaws, doesn’t mean they don’t work most of the time. My Google Nexus One for example, if it gets too hot (from being on for too long and doing stuff) the touchscreen stops working! My old LG Viewty kept turning itself off and the only way to turn it back on again was by removing the battery! Where was the Guardian and BBC on that issue?

Of course the iPhone is selling really really well. Some estimates say 1.5million of them have been sold. So that any flaw in the design is going to impact on a lot of people, a lot more people than the flaw in the LG Viewty! That’s probably the reason behind the column inches.

I do like that even though we have moved from analogue newspapers to online news sites, the term “column inches” still works. Thought I suspect a lot of people might think “inches” what are “inches”? Wonder what the metric or European term is for “column inches”.

Anyhow even with the reception issue, I don’t think that would stop me buying one.

I have already installed iOS4  on my iPhone 3GS and am finding it useful. I like the rotation lock. I like the quick App switching. Folders I am less keen on, but they do mean I can now see all the Apps on my iPhone, whereas before some were off the screen at the end! I like the spell checking (this is also on the iPad) and as someone who can’t spall it’s grteat! Not at all impressed with the digital zoom, but then I have never been impressed with any digital zoom. Less impressed with the home screen wallpaper, the first one I tried made the whole phone look cluttered… The Nexus One does seem to do this much better. Keyboard support may be useful in some instances, I do do a lot of writing.

So what will the iPhone 4 hardware provide that is so “essential”?

Facetime sounds great, but really we have been here before. My old Nokia N73 had a front facing camera and could do video calls over 3G. Well actually I never did do video calls, the main reason was that no one I knew did video calls, so I never had one. Also when I got the N95, I tried to call myself to just see how it worked, and it never worked! Facetime only works over wifi, if I have wifi I probably have a laptop or my iMac so I would be more likely to use Skype. Another big reason I wouldn’t use Facetime, is that very few people I would call in this way would have an iPhone 4. Like the idea, but can’t how it would benefit me at this time. Should I be buying two iPhone 4s then? No I think not.

I do like the concept of the retina display. I really like the display on the Nexus One which is sharp and looks great. The 3GS has a 480×320 resolution, the Nexus One has 800×480. The iPhone 4 has 960×640 which is to be honest incredible for the size of screen, but is not that far off the Nexus One. It would be interesting to compare all three.

I do like doing video, and though many phones I have had, can do video, none have really got there. The Nokia N95 which took great images had an okay video camera, but not fantastic.

This video was taken with the iPhone 3GS and is actually not bad, certainly much better than the N95.

If the video on the iPhone 4 is as good as the video that is been shown on the web, then I would be impressed. I also like the idea of the iMovie App. I must remember though I have ReelDirector on my iPhone, I have only used it once or twice in anger!

I do like the idea of a 5MP camera, as I do use my camera a lot on the iPhone 3GS for taking images (in the main for uploading to TwitPic). Of course 5MP is nothing new, I did the same for many years with the Nokia N95.

Of course the front facing camera on the iPhone 4 is only a 0.3MP camera like most other phones that have front facing cameras. Two 5MP cameras would have been nice…

No idea if the battery life is any better, the stats indicate it is, but I suspect that this may not reflect actual usage. 6 hours on 3G doesn’t really cut it for a full day in London at a conference and for the train home.

So at this time, I am in two minds about the iPhone 4. I think I would like one, but whether I would really like one right now, I don’t know.