“Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gadget in your hand?”
Though I’m an iPhone 3G owner, I’m still a fan of Palm’s Access-based Palm smartphones like the Centro - so much so it would be my smartphone of choice if I wasn’t using the iPhone.
As such, I’d be really pleased about Palm’s release of Facebook for Palm smartphones. When it comes to getting *anything* done on a smartphone, nothing beats mobile-tweaked apps over their general web counterparts.
To download Facebook for the Palm Centro, Treo 755p and Treo™ 680 click here.
The folks at Shield Zone sent me half a dozen iPhone and Palm Treo Invisible Shield screen protectors to try out.
While Apple’s iPhone has hardened glass that seems impervious to scratches (as demonstrated by CNET and a few other sites), the super-smooth screen is a total smudge-magnet.
Hours after owning the iPhone I began to perfect the left-pec-screen-wipe maneuver to swipe my screen clean on my tee-shirt every so often. So though the Invisible Shield is meant to protect your screen from scratches with its ultra-strong plastic material, I’m more grateful for the way it minimizes the smudge factor with its watery finish that offers a bit more tactile touch-feedback under the fingertip.
I blew it on the first two I applied - mostly because I was hyper-aware of not touching the sticky side of the sheet because I was afraid a fingerprint would appear. Following the directions, I sprayed both sides of the sheet (and my fingertips) with the supplied fluid and set it onto the screen, sliding it this way and that to align with the speaker hole and the home button at the bottom of the iPhone. Because I feared time was of the essence I tended to do my best to move it in place, then, using the supplied squeegee, squeeged out bubbles. Both times I found dust beneath the surface of the Invisible Shield.
Trying a third time I was super-careful to make sure there were no dust particles on the screen, sprayed my fingertips and the shield, then applied it and took a little more time to get the fit exactly right. This time I nailed it - but at $14.95 a pop, take my advice, don’t worry so much about being gentle, and concentrate more on making sure you have no dust on your screen, or your fingers, and then take a deep breath and relax as you move the slightly slippery screen this way and that to get the fit just right.
Once you do, squeegee away the fluid, and if possible, keep your hands off the iPhone for the recommended 24 hours. That wasn’t possible for me, and in my case it didn’t matter - as the Invisible Shield “dried” it seemed to tighten up nicely and I’m absolutely pleased with the fit and finish.
Sheild Zone offers a costlier version that provides the same plastic protection for the backside of the iPhone, however I skipped that, as I’m only concerned about the screen staying scratch-free and, the real win for me, lessening its smudge showoff factor.
As an aside, I also applied the Invisible Shield for Palm’s to a Treo 680 and it turned out great, though I have to say the feel of using a stylus against the shield’s slightly tacky surface feels a bit stuttery rather than smooth.
The iPhone shield texture feels the same, but under the fingertip it feels like there’s less drag/stutter.
Bottom line: The Invisible Shield for iPhone (and Treo and other devices) offers great protection while hiding smudges.
From the sewing machine-sized luggable Compaq of yore, to the diminutive original Mac and those that followed, all-in-one computers aim to minimize clutter by bringing everything (computer, DVD drive and monitor) together in one neat package.
Apple’s newest iMac models, ranging in price from $1200 to $2,300, are less about breakthrough and more about refinement, and once again set a new standard with an all-in-one design that’s aesthetically pleasant enough to display in the family room rather than relegate to a spare room or home office.
The loaner iMac Apple sent me to test was the 20″ model (1680 by 1050 pixels), with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 320GB hard disk, 2GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, bundled applications for Web browsing, e-mail, contact and calendar management and a host of media-centric programs.
Such fine design and bundled goodies cost two or three times the price of inexpensive Windows-based PCs or even Apple’s own Mac mini, the tiny white slab of a computer.
There is nothing junky about the new iMac, which trades its former white plastic casing and plastic screen for sleek aluminum and hardened, glossy glass.
It’s that latter element, the screen, which has already prompted a love it/hate reaction to the new iMac. I prefer glossy screens to matte and the new iMac is no exception. Turned off, the black screen reflects my visage with the clarity of a windowpane or dark mirror. Turned on, and my reflection vanishes, helped in part because I’ve stationed the iMac against the same wall as a window. Turned around, the iMac’s screen does pick up the window reflection, most noticeably around the wide black rectangle framing the screen.
The second dramatic change to the line, the keyboard, also runs the risk of turning off some potential buyers while turning on others. Candy bar-thin, the keyboard’s Chicklet-style keys respond to the same ultra-light touch as my MacBook’s keyboard. That part I like.
What I don’t like is how wide the new keyboard is on account of the right side cursor and page keys and 22-key numeric keypad. All of those extra keys mean positioning the wired scrolling Mighty Mouse half a foot away — a reach that causes a distinct stress in my right arm and shoulder.
Lefties won’t mind at all, but other right-handers like me may. To be fair, most any keyboard with a numeric keypad forces the same far-reaching mouse placement. Much nicer is Apple’s newly announced Wireless Keyboard (shipping in a few weeks), which eliminates the extra keys and cable, thereby closing the aching gap between hand and mouse.
Love or hate the keyboard and mouse, either or both can be swapped out for third-party alternatives such as those offered by Logitech, Belkin or Microsoft. Continue reading ‘Review: Apple’s new iMac’
Look closely at your Palm Treo 680 (or other Treo model). See any tiny cracks on the bezel surrounding the touchscreen? Pay particular attention to the left and right spaces between the green and red buttons, and the application buttons below those.
I ask because I’m on my fourth Treo 680 exchange with Cingular. The first I exchanged because the SD memory card was flaky - recognizing an inserted card sometimes, but other times, not. That was the main reason to have it replaced - and the tiny cracks were mostly an unsightly, but secondary reason that I hardly noticed.
Cingular sent a replacement, the SD memory slot worked fine, and there were no cracks on the bezel. But a week or so later I noticed the start of a hairline crack in the very spaces mentioned above. It’s important to point out that I never dropped the phone, and never handled it roughly. Yet there were the little cracks. Which became more pronounced over the next few days, and after a week I noticed the start of still another crack about a half an inch up from the left green/answer button.
I called Cingular and arranged for another replacement phone, which Cingular sent overnight via DHL.
Within a week, same thing: Cracks appeared in the same spaces first mentioned, then a little farther up on the left edge, and then another one, same side, left edge, just below the word “palm.” Also as before, I never once dropped or roughly handled the Treo.
Last week I once again contacted Cingular, arranged a swap, and they sent a replacement overnight, with a label to return the broken one (within ten days or else I’d be charged more than $300; ditto if they determine the phone has been dropped).
The replacement Treo 680 is as good as new - but for how long? I’m afraid to use it, for fear of starting another Treo 680 crack-up.
Anyone else experiencing this not-so-funny Treo bezel crack-up problem?
This is a test, to see if I can post a blog entry directly from SOHO Notes for the Mac - particularly if it supports formatting, like italics, and bold. If so, cool. I may be using SOHO Notes more for my day to day work - non-fiction and creative/fiction - than I have in the past. It seems like a more functional way to bring lots of disparate information together, under one roof. It has a Palm sync option, so I’m covered on that front, and there’s also a Journal folder, and another for keeping track of Passwords - securely, I expect. A side feature is called Services, which lets you search for info in SOHO Notes much the way you search for system-wide information using Spotlight. A little panel in the lower right corner bearing the SOHO Notes tab pops open for quick access to SOHO Notes folders, and there’s also a clipboard feature for going back several steps to information copied to the clipboard, to paste as needed. That could come in handy. I also see a little key icon in the middle of the tabbed SOHO Notes pop-up window, and I’m guessing that is for access to the aforementioned passwords I’ve saved. Possibly more to come on this subject, as I continue to work with the program.
Update: I was not able to post to my blog as directly as I expected; I need to figure out an Atom API connection between SOHO Notes and my blog.
The Samsung BlackJack is beautiful to look at and the slightly rubberized finish feels nice in the hand. Using the main keyboard is pretty comfortable, however the center OK button and surrounding directional buttons often lead to mis-taps on either side.
The BlackJack’s screen is bright and ultra-sharp. Out of the box the phone syncs perfectly with Outlook. That means contacts, calendar and to-do items, emails - and thanks to an add-in extra, sticky notes, too. (For some reason Microsoft doesn’t offer Outlook sticky notes sync with Windows Mobile 5 as standard equipment, hence the helpful add-in that comes with the BlackJack.)
It’s worth mentioning that the BlackJack comes with two batteries, which suggests the battery life isn’t the greatest. Such was the case in my test of the phone, which meant I always had the extra one charging with the charger, and when at my desk I kept the phone plugged in to the USB cable to keep it charging at the same time. USB charging is always a nice touch, and one I appreciate on my Palm Treo 680 as well.
The BlackJack’s applications - Internet Explorer, Email, Media Player - run smoothly, but as with all Windows Mobile devices you may want to keep tabs on what’s running in memory, then manually cancel loaded but unused programs in order to maintain an overall snappier responsiveness when opening menus and operating programs. I’ve always found Windows Mobile devices a bit tricky to get used to, mostly because settings are scattered all over the place and require lots of hunting to get to exactly what you’re looking for, and the BlackJack was no exception.
Continue reading ‘Samsung BlackJack i607 review: Smart, sleek, but bound by data fees’
This first look is of the first picture I’ve snapped with the new Palm Treo 700p. Clearly, the 700p’s boost to 1.3 mexapixels over the Treo 650’s scant 0.3-megapixel resolution is immediately evident in this photo of my new neighborhood friend Holly’s dog, Fillmore (who is one part fruitbat, one part goat, and one part James Dean). A fuller review of the Treo 700p will follow after I’ve played around with it over this three-day Memorial Day weekend. Stay tuned.
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