This week at Mobile Tech Manor #11
Another week has flown by, it must be true that the older you get the faster time flies. It’s been a good week for mobile tech and the Manor has been a busy place. The week has seen too much netbook news that’s for sure. You can’t turn around without seeing netbooks all over the web. I’ve done a lot of tweaking of my working setup on a lot of levels and spent a lot of time talking to some OEMs about some nice phones coming down the pike. Come on in and lets shoot the breeze a bit.
Tweaking my setup
This week I didn’t fire Outlook up at all which is an absolute first in probably ten years. I have continued to help my cloud working evolve and pretty much spent all my time in GMail. I really have come to appreciate Google Chrome for this, the ability to make GMail live as a standalone app on the desktop is extremely useful. I also have come to appreciate Firefox extensions for skinning GMail and Google Reader so that I can see more information at a glance. This is all working very nicely but it feels strange to not be using Outlook. Outlook Web Access is sufficient for those times when I need to check my Exchange email and that’s what I’ve been doing. I am thinking more about how long I should hang on to my hosted Exchange Server to retain access to my archived emails. I still don’t have a good feeling about how long that needs to be.
I have tweaked Windows XP on the Lenovo S10 netbook and it is running very well. The only real downer about the S10 so far is the rather poor battery life with the measly 3-cell battery. I’m only getting between 2 and 2 1/2 hours a charge with very stingy power settings and that’s not good enough. I actually had to break down and carry the power adapter with me one day when I was running around all day and that killed me. I have always used extended batteries and carry a second one in my bag so that I never need the adapter but with just the one 3-cell that adapter has to come along. That’s a pain because it means I’m always having to look for an outlet which I shouldn’t have to do. Lenovo has indicated to me that the 6-cell battery should be out soon which is a necessity in my book for anyone considering a purchase of the S10. It’s a recommended netbook other than the battery.
Lenovo has their own power management utility on the S10 and it has four preset power management schemes defined. You can customize those all you want and tweak power management on all aspects of the system if you wish. The most stingy scheme is the "Super Energy Saver" scheme but be aware that selecting it turns off all radios. It’s kind of like a super efficient flight mode for the netbook. In conversations I’ve had with Lenovo about this and other aspects of the S10 they told me that eventually it will ship with SplashTop which is very cool. SplashTop is that special Linux mode that boots almost instantly giving you access to web functionality without having to boot Windows. I can’t wait to see that work on this device.
All of my documents reside on the MacBook Pro since it’s my desktop system. It is always backed up to an external hard drive using Time Machine and I also do manual backups to MobileMe for redundancy. When I’m using a mobile computer and need to access a document I’m using LogMeIn Free and remoting into the MacBook Pro. This is working really well and it’s all I need so far. Eventually I’ll probably get a real cloud access system set up but for now this is good enough. I am just letting my cloud work system evolve as necessary and it’s actually been fun so far.
Phone Stuff
It’s not a standard phone but I have been using the HTC Advantage a lot this week. I have my T-Mobile SIM in it and since it doesn’t support their 3G network it’s limited to EDGE speeds. That’s fine for normal email work and simple browsing but I have to fire the WiFi up for real web browsing. This is one device that never fails to impress me when I’m using it and it’s easy to understand why I still use it a lot for all these many months. It defies describing as a device, it’s not a phone but it is. It’s not a PDA but it is. It’s not a tiny laptop but it is. However you describe it one thing that is certain is how very capable it is. I am going to Philly in a few weeks to attend Kevin’s wedding and since that’s just a three day trip the Advantage is probably the only "computer" I’ll take with me. That’s how capable the Advantage is.
This week saw the official announcement of the Blackberry Storm and I have been in conversations with RIM to get a review unit soon. The more I see of the Storm and the more I read reviews of it the more I am impressed with RIM’s first touch screen phone. Everyone seems to like it when they use it and I can’t wait to try it. It’s one of those phones that you have to try it to tell if you could use one for real or not and I am looking forward to giving it a shot.
The promised shipping date for the T-Mobile G1 Android phone is drawing near and that’s another phone I can’t wait to try. There’s nothing game-breaking about the G1 other than it uses the Android platform and since that is new it will be fun to try. I’m also ready to see how well T-Mobile’s 3G network performs and this will be the perfect chance to do so. I now have 3G data plans on three different carriers: Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. One day I need to do a 3G shootout for grins.
CES planning
The massive Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is not until January but my planning for that trip is already well underway. The trip has been booked already as it is such a big show that accommodations and flights fill up fast. Booking the trip has already got me thinking about the gear I will take this time to cover the show. There is so much walking to do as the show is spread across miles and miles of exhibitions and events will be held at venues all over Las Vegas. This means small and light is the gear order of the day and I’ll be thinking about what to take for a while yet.
Last year the HP 2710p and the Advantage were my main devices and they worked very well. I just might take them both again this year. The live blogging of the CES using the Advantage was well received last year but I haven’t decided if I want to do it again this year. Who knows what we’ll decide to do to bring you the best coverage of the show.
Misc. stuff
I bought a new gadget this week although not the electronic kind. This one is a tabletop tripod for both my still and video cameras. My office is tight for space and my big tripod is almost too big to fit so I thought a tabletop tripod would work better. I went online to J&R and bought a Vidpro Power2000 Digital Tripod. It’s small enough to travel with in my bag yet it is sturdy enough to handle either camera and I think it will work well although I haven’t used it yet. It was only $15 so I figured it was a good investment. I find it funny that Vidpro tags it as a "digital" tripod. I don’t know what that means.
Ebooks of the week
This week I read Heat Lightning by John Sandford which is one of the Virgil Flowers series. Virgil works for Lucas Davenport who makes repeated cameos in the book. Lucas is another Sandford series that I am fond of and this was a good story all around. I have just started Mutant Chronicles by Matt Forbeck which is a sci-fi story dealing with the typical corporate states fighting each other theme. They have to come together against a common foe of course. It’s OK so far but not great but it shows potential.
I have been reading both ebooks using eReader, mostly on the HTC Advantage which is a great ebook reader given that 5-inch screen. I put the books on both the Advantage and the iPhone so I can read on the iPhone when I’m out and about and don’t have the Advantage with me. That’s why I like eReader so much, I can put the books on almost every device I own when I wish.
Closing
That’s it for this week at Mobile Tech Manor. I hope you enjoyed this column and maybe even found something you can use. As always if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see hear just leave it in the comments and I’ll see what I can do. Until next week au revoir.
Hi,
when i moved to gmail i just forwarded all my mail and filtered it into the archive. Or is it possible for you to go with the fetchmail option?
Jim
Hi James,
Just letting you know I got my 2133 mininote a few days ago. This device is a blast to use (purchased the XP model). I’m very impressed with the sturdy build quality, and especially the active 3D driveguard technology – I’ve accidentally knocked it about a few times (2 foot drop off the couch) and the driveguard has saved my back for certain. This in one feature no other netbook has and is not highlighted enough.
I’m using the 6-cell battery and find I can get 3.5-4.5 hours of work use, or 1 hour of work and watch a 2-hour movie on a full charge (720p movies look GREAT on this). You know this also has the express card slot and great keyboard. With a second 6-cell battery I’m hoping I can last a full work day sans wires.
If you haven’t purchased a netbook yet, please consider the mini. The driveguard feature alone, as I quickly learned, is worth the investment. I find the VIA CPU quite capable.
Keep up the great work!
Hi James.
Quick Question – do you use the magnetic keyboard with your Advantage?
I’ve had it (the 16GB version) for around 4 months and I think I’ve used the keyboard 3 or 4 times over that period. Every so often I see the keyboard bit on my desk and figure I should try it again, but then use it once and remember why I prefer tapping on the on-screen keyboard!
Would be interested in your thoughts on this…
Nick, I do use the keyboard a lot. I even use it to type emails holding the whole thing in my hands. The keyboard is the key thing that sets the Advantage apart from most other devices.
Jim, my concern is the ability to access older items that were archived in Outlook. I don’t need to bring the stuff into GMail, rather I need the ability to find particular items in very old archives if need be.
Luscious, I was one of the first people lucky enough to use the HP Mini-note and I did enjoy it. The only thing keeping me from buying one is the price at this point plus I’m hoping HP will release a refreshed model soon.
I’ve been looking at netbooks and UMPC’s on the net (and in stores) for a few months now and, so far, have yet to get excited about any one model. The HP Mininote comes the closest save for the gutless CPU and high price. If they’d stick a Nano in there and lower the price to around $450 I’d be sold. Right now I’m using an (almost new.. bought in Aug for $750) HP TX2500 convertible tablet PC. I look at how much some of these netbooks are going for and compare it to my TX2500 and.. I just can’t lay out the cash. The Acer Aspire1 comes the closest to pushing my BUY” button, but I really like the looks and quality of the Mininote. I’m also trying to find out how difficult it would be to swap out the C7 for a 1.3 GHz Nano. ..Willy.
@Willy
I haven’t gotten my hands yet on a service manual, but you’re gonna need a torx driver to get to the guts of the mininote. Taking it apart is no trivial task.
I’m quite happy with the performance of the VIA C7 so far. I’m using my mininote to run Cool Edit Pro under XP and I can process large WAV files effortlessly. I can play back 720p HD WMV video using windows media player with no problem. The bundled WinDVD software plays back VOB files off the hard drive easily. There’s really not much I can see an Atom doing that the C7 wouldn’t be capable of, but heavy multitasking is not something I would do with either option. My specific needs required a small, mobile unit for simple multimedia audio/video tasks as well as standard office/web work, and the mininote fits those needs very well. Yes, the price is high, but you get the best keyboard in the category, best screen in the category, pc card slot, driveguard technology and solid HP build quality.
I’m not your average user, and it took me a lot of nerve to hold off so long on my purchase of the mininote, but I am glad I finally made the jump as I am happy with my purchase. The unit works as expected, it does exactly what I need it to do, and while others may wait for something slightly better, I get to finally enjoy my toy that I’ve had my eye on for all those months.
One alternative to LogMein is an appliance based solution from RHUB (http://www.rhubcom.com), which bundles four collaboration tools in one delivery: web conferencing (like WebEx), remote access (like LogMeIn free edition), remote support (like LogMeIn rescue), and webinar (like GotoWebinar).
One thing I like about the Nano is the ability to run a 64bit OS which kinda future-proofs it. Was looking at a test that was done between a Nano (1.8 GHz), Atom 230 (1.6 GHZ Hyperthreaded), Atom 330 (dual core 1.6 GHZ Hyperthreaded), Celeron 420 & E120 (Intel Core 1.6GHz and the E120 Hyperthreaded), where the Nano basically held it’s own, generally beating the A230 and biting at the heels of the A330. Now, since the Atoms had the advantage of Hyperthreading, wht would happen if a full 64 bit OS were used instead of 32 bit? Extending that ‘logic’ to the 1.3 GHz Nano, it just might be a real beast running Vista/XP 64. This and low power draw. ..Willy.
I have the HP Mini too (downgraded to XP), and like Luscious have found it perfect for my use. The VIA chipsets perform all my tasks just fine.
The only real reason I downgraded to XP wasn’t because of Vista’s performance, it was because my Blackjack I cell phone couldn’t properly establish a bluetooth connection with Vista.
My only complaint – and it’s minor – is that I’ve done some tweaking to apps because my 47 year old eyes argue sometimes about the small screen. It’s the only reason I’m considering upgrading to a 10″ netbook.