Haglofs Watatait Mobile Pouch – Test
As it was raining it was a good opportunity to test the waterproof case for the iPhone 4.
Here is a photo taken through the pouch.
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iPhone
3G Signal Coverage
A couple of weeks ago the BBC announced that it was going to carry out a survey of UK 3G Signal Coverage – using an app for Android mobile phones and the participation of members of the public. This morning the results have appeared here and make a case that smartphone users outside of the of the major population centres of the UK do not get a good deal when it comes to 3G (but of course we all pay the same fees). This is something our engineers at Octagon Technology, myself and our clients understand very well living in Lincolnshire – a county not known for great urban sprawls!
There is a quote somewhere about how good and reliable statistics can be and the mobile operators have always relied on their statistic of providing coverage to a very high percentage of the population, not a statistic of covering the UK with a 3G signal. I can understand this from a business investment/profit position as 3G installations are expensive and the mobile companies paid billions of pounds for the rights to the frequencies to transmit 3G.
The government has hinted at initiatives to increase coverage in rural areas (let’s see this happen) and now they are talking of improving coverage on major roads and railways – Lincolnshire has little in the way of major roads and we may or may not have a direct rail service to London!
Now I enjoy living in a rural area, and will put up with the inconvenience of not having a polluting, noisy, fast motorway coming through our city and the small inconvenience of having to go to Newark for a train to London. I will also work around using 2G sometimes rather than 3G. But the point is when are the mobile providers going to have a scale of charges that reflect the service you get rather than the service they say you will get – and we all know at this point the mobile companies will direct you to the disclaimers about selling you 3G and then providing 2G and that is your problem and not theirs. Now this is my point – in these days of technology if you live and use your smartphone in an area with reduced 3G coverage, it must be possible for the mobile providers to reduce your bill accordingly?
In the BBC article it points people at a website for checking 3G coverage where you are – OpenSignalMaps. We are camping very close to the station in Dingwall and luckily I have a 3G signal.
This site has gone into the favourites on my iPhone for future use.
The aim of the site is to create a worldwide coverage map, using an Android app to collect the data – if you have N android phone or tablet I’d encourage you to get involved – I would if the was an iPhone app.
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eBook Reader?
What device should I buy to read e-books on?
Last week I was talking with a backpacker about reading when backpacking. She had a real paper book with her, I had my iPhone and was reading two books on it. She then said she was thinking of buying a Kindle – and that got me thinking about what I would recommend for the job.
One consideration in this process is that the phone/smartphone is kept in the pack, ready for use as a phone – rather than running the battery down using it as a book reader.
So what are the requirements for a backpacker’s e-book reader?
* lightweight
* compact
* robust
* easy to keep dry
* versatile
* long battery life
So just looking at this I think I would reject the Kindle – and many of the other dedicated e-book reader devices.
* lightweight – most dedicated units are reasonably light, but not very light
* compact – they are about the size of a large paperback in area but thin. However there are not many models that are truly pocket sized.
* robust – and being thin I am not sure how it would pack. As you push that last stuff sack in the bag, will you break your e-reader?
* easy to keep dry – can you get a dry case (Aquapac) to fit it?
* versatile – some e-readers can be used to browse the web and have other functions but they are limited to doing one thing well
* long battery life – most e-readers make use of screens that consume very little power – this is their one big advantage
So, looking at my list I think a better device for a backpacker would be lightweight, truly pocket-sized and offer more functions than a simple e-reader.
I think that an Apple iPod Touch meets these requirements.
Using a program like Calibre and the iPod app Stanza you could load your own books and buy from some stores. You can buy books from the Apple store and use Apple’s reading app, or even load the Kindle app on the device! Several other booksellers have apps to access their catalogues, giving a very large choice of where you purchase your books.
The screen is small but extremely sharp and easy to read. Stanza also has a simple function to change the brightness of the page to match your surroundings.
An iPod is easily more flexible than a dedicated e-reader.
Leave your camera at home and use the one on the iPod. Same goes for video.
With an iPod you can get online at wifi access points, listen to music and of course there are many other apps that will interest you. However one thing to remember is “how much battery” this will consume. A Kindle has an incredibly long battery life for just reading books – an iPod Touch much shorter if you use it for lots of other things, longer if you use it only as a camera and book reader.
To make the iPod a better proposition you would need to extend the battery life – my son uses a battery pack he got from the supermarket with his iPod, and for my iPhone I have a battery jacket. I know a search of eBay will turn up many more ways to extend the battery life of an iPod (or iPhone).
There are several very good waterproof cases for the iPod and it is truly pocket sized, so you can keep it handy, get it out and read a book at your tea stop in the rain!
If you just want an electronic book reader – there is a good selection on the market, and if you must have one try Sony – they sell a pocket sized model. If you want a more versatile device, as well as a book reader, opt for the iPod Touch.
(Of course an iPhone will offer all the above, and be your phone, blog poster and GPS… and save on the weight of the mobile phone – just take another battery pack!)
This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England
Documents To Go – iPhone
I have just discovered something really annoying about Documents To Go on my iPhone 4. I cannot copy and paste information from Safari into a DTG spreadsheet. I also tried copying the same list from a GoodReader text file into the spreadsheet and that did not work either. I’ll have to get someone in the office to create the spreadsheet and put it in the drop box – I can then get it from there using Documents To Go.
The office versions offered in DTG are cut down versions but they have nearly all the functionality I need – if you are going to use this software then get the slightly more expensive Premium version so you can link it to your online storage and you get support for PowerPoint.
I recommend this software to all our clients who want to use their iPhone or iPad for work (or other smartphone, my engineers use the Android version on their phones). My son has it on his iPod Touch for keeping up with his homework whilst away, without having to take a laptop. (He links to the internet via the personal hotspot on my iPhone when he is with me.)
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Do you use a PC?
I read an interesting article on the BBC news site last night – referring to Dr Mark Dean, who was part of the IBM team who worked on the first PC.
I have been away on holiday now for over a week and have been able to keep up with my work from my iPhone:
* it is a phone – holding all my contacts database and client info (securely – you cannot take the SD card out of an iPhone)
* I keep up with my email on it
To the basic out of the box software I have added:
* Documents To Go (to deal with MS documents – opening and creating them)
* GoodReader for PDFs
* the files are kept online in my DropBox
Battery life can be an issue when camping. I have a cradle in the car which keeps the battery topped up when driving – and it plays the iPod in the phone through the car stereo. I have two extra batteries – a pocket sized, booster/recharge battery and an extended jacket battery.
I also have a power inverter for use in the car so I can use the Apple plug to charge both of these batteries when camping – and at the house in Aviemore.
A complete office in my pocket – a small pocket today. In 1996 when we came away on holiday I needed a bigger pocket!
* Psion Series 5 PDA, with a box of spare batteries and a mains psu
* 56k dial up modem for use at the timeshare
* Ericsson SH888 mobile phone with a built in data modem – car charger and charger for the mains
* data stored on memory cards – I think I had a couple of 1 MB and 2 MB CF cards
* no media player but I did read books on the Psion
Other things I have used the iPhone 4 for this holiday
* Stanza book reader app – I have about three hundred books on the phone so I have plenty of choice
* It is the only camera I have with me – I use the built in camera app and I have purchased Camera+, I really like the split focus and exposure points in this app
* I have watched videos and listened to podcasts and audiobooks on it
* I have used Google maps, MemoryMap and Navfree for navigation – we found Jimmy Chungs in Edinburgh with it
* browsed the web in full colour and with video and sound – although I did not keep up with the news as it was Thursday when I caught up with the fact that Britain had suffered days of rioting!
* and I post to the blog using the WordPress app
So do I use a PC – yes – but do I always need it, no. The screen is small on the iPhone but iOS is more than capable of supporting my business – the bigger screen on the iPad would be good for some jobs but it is not pocket sized.
Replace my PC with an iPad. No I cannot do that, there is just so much software available for Windows OS and that’s what I need – the Windows PC strength is it’s flexibility. I know a number of people who have Mac books – who will tell me how great they are, impressive hardware, no viruses, etc etc etc, and in the next breath they ask, can I help them to set the Mac up to run Windows as the need to run some Windows software on it!
One final comment – my company supports PCs, so selfishly I hope they don’t disappear, but as it says in the article they are no longer the single driving force for technological change. At Octagon we support a variety of tablets and smart phones, as clients now have these devices and find them very convenient and with the latest OS releases very easy to use – also they are fun!
New Printer for the Home and Office
We have replaced our office printer – with another HP. As I tell my clients, you are never disappointed with an HP printer.
I bought an HP Laserjet Pro CP1525nw – mainly because it has HP’s ePrint, which means it will work with my iPhone (and my son’s iPod).
I installed it to our network, on a wire and disabled the built in wireless connection and fixed the IP to match the IP plan I have and so I can find it easier when I want to manage it. It has a slightly larger foot print than the old HP 2600n but we were still able to fit it in that space on the bench.
The ePrint servcies have to be installed via the internet, after the printer has been installed on at least PC on the network. The ePrint services give you far more than just iPhone printing – you can also send print jobs to the printer by sending an email to it. On installing ePrint you set up an account with HP, from there you get a secure email address for your printer and a management console for the service. For extra security you can alter the email address to be something very complicated and also limit what email addesses can send jobs to the printer (I did this). To print attach the file you want to print to an email, send it and get a notification email back telling you the job was a success. This opens all sorts of possibilities – we try and run a paperless office but we still need some things in print. Diana is looking forward to when she is working in Spain and is able to print something out in the office here and having it put in the post or on file.Printing from the iPhone works from any app that has a print option – there is an HP ePrint app, when that is installed it gives you many more options for printing.Anyone with an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad should get one of these printers.
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iPhone – Phone Speaker Failure!
Without any warning my phone speaker on my iPhone failed. The speaker phone worked, the hearphones worked on phone calls as did the bluetooth connection/speaker.
This happened Wednesday 13th July.
So I went to the internet to find the solution and although I tried a number of the solutions I found there from a complete restore from the backup to following complicated routines of unplugging and plugging in the headphones whilst starting and stopping the iPod player nothing seemed to work for me.
I was convinced it was a software issue but was resigned to a hardware fault. I was going to book an appointment at an Apple shop, on Monday but one of my engineers was off sick so I had no time to do this, when just as suddenly, I realised, as I answered a call and was about to switch on the speaker phone I could hear the caller through the normal phone speaker!
Well I was very happy about this but puzzled by it just starting. The only thing that I had done that day was to update four apps on the iPhone – don’t ask me which ones because I do not remember, but may be one of these patched the software issue, possible it was that app that caused the problem in the first place. Who knows?
Speaker magically resurrected Monday 18th July!
The one saving grace in the issue was the minature bluetooth earpiece i bought from Tesco sometime back. I linked this to my iPhone so I could continue to use it whilst the phone healed itself!
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