Android App of the Month: BBC News

Why am I giving a news program, "app of the month" status.  Well it is not written for a 24 hour connected world, that why.  Not only that it is so intuitive and easy to use it makes reading the news on a table almost as good as an old fashioned magazine. 

This app is just perfect for a tablet, it even works well on a mobile phone.  It needs to be run in landscape mode on the tablet as it splits the screen in half with a headline pane on the left and a reading pane on the right.  When using it on a phone it swaps between the two panes.  Essentially touch the story you would like to read and the reading pain displays the story.  Nothing new here I hear you say, very similar to pulse.  There are however subtle differences that set this app apart.

First and foremost you can hit the refresh button and load up all the stories in just a minute or so, switch off your WiFi and read the article offline on your way to work or on a plane.  no need to go the the Internet when you want to read a story.  With pulse, even though the interface is almost identical you have to be connected so that you can read the full story as it only gives you a few lines as a taster.  


By flicking from left or right on the reading page you can scroll through all the stories under the heading chosen on the left hand pane.  I cannot really say too much more on this app as it is so simple.  You can do all the normal things like change the font size and share the article.  I think if you want to watch videos you do need to be connected, due to the amount of data you need to download for a video feed

Likes:
Works off line 
News articles well written
Wide range of categories (though I do wish that they had and Oceania heading)
Pictures are downloaded to the app so no need to get them from the Internet
Easy to scroll through the stories.
The refresh is very quick

Dislikes
No Oceania heading for those of us who live in the antipodes.
Does stop at times and has to be restarted.  Presume this will get fixed.


Conclusion:
Easy to use news app perfect for picking up stories while you are commuting or travelling, or even relaxing on the sofa.

Android App Of The Month: Any.Do

There are lots of To do list apps around but I have never been particularly happy with them.  They are generally over complicated for making quick lists.  Until recently I have been using an app called ToDo List.  It is pretty good and sits on screen as an editable list widget.  Its limitation is that it is just that, a list widget, which is fine but I need a bit more functionality without having to be a rocket scientist to work out how to drive the app.  Enter Any.Do.

Back from holidays

I have been away on leave.  Now that I am back I will have to get my skids on and put out some reviews.  I have one in draft at present so I will edit it  in the next couple of days and put it on line.  It is for the App of the Month.

GPS Logger i-gotU GT-120 Review

What is a GPS Logger

Ever wanted to be able to put your last trip accurately on a map?  Maybe to know how far you have travelled and exactly which roads were used and the altitude?  This is where a GPS logger comes in.  I bought the Mobile Action i-gotU GT-120 about eighteen months ago and have used it on a couple of long trips.  It is very small and very light.  It hold loads of location points.  On a five week trip to New Zealand I set it to log every minute.  I started every time I left in the morning and switched it off each time I arrived at my destination eight or ten hours later (We were cycling).  On arrival back at home I downloaded all the data and found that it had only used 20% of the available memory.  Not bad.

Features

As I said it is truly tiny and very light.  You hardly notice that you have it with you.  It is pretty water resistant.  We went through some really heavy storms and it never missed a beat, unlike my bike computer that decided to cease to function and had to be dried out for a couple of days to coax it back to life but I had lost all my trip data. 

Size compared to an Australian  20c piece

Update to TF101 review: Ice Cream Sandwich

Asus has pushed out Ice Cream Sandwich.

Full marks Asus!  Last night I switched on my Transformer only to be presented with the message that there were updates to install.  As I plugged it into the charger to ensure there was enough power to completed the update I was wondering if this was the big one.  The update to Android V4 or Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to give it is developers name.  Answer... Yes. 

As with all updates from Asus on the Transformer the file was downloaded in the background before the option to upgrade is offered.  Therefore as soon as you push the OK or install button, away it goes.  It said it would take 10 minutes and I think that is just about all it took.  Everything seems to be working and I am just exploring the new features of ICS. 

QNAP TS-412 NAS Review

QNAP TS-412 NAS Review

I have chosen another IT focused review this week.  As we all know having your own network at home with access to your media files and photos is the new big thing.  Probably the more important aspect to having a NAS is to be able to back up your data.  I don't know how many times I have heard someone say in anguish "I have lost all my photos because my hard drive crashed".  You then ask (fully knowing what the reply will be) "was it backed up? the reply comes back in a small voice "no, can you help me?"  You then set about the task of trying to recover their life from the time that they bought their first digital camera.  Not always successful.  I think that these situations are often referred to as a "good learning experience".  (If only we could learn from the experiences of others!)  

The latest TVs come with wireless connection and the ability to stream files from your network.  There are a number of NAS boxes with various degrees of services on the market.  For my money, which is obviously why I bought it, the QNAP series of all-in-one boxes is probably the most versatile available.  The Synology boxes do come pretty close in this respect.  We have used one of the upmarket Synology units at work and the performance is surprisingly good for a cheap piece of rack mount storage.  Back to the QNAP.  This is a four disk unit that can be configured with either RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 or 10.  plus just as separate disks.

Best Note Taking App for Android

My favourite Note Taking App for Android: ColorNote

 This is not so much a review but an overview of the reasoning why I have settled on ColorNote as my note taker of preference.

If like me you are blessed with a doctor's handwriting, the invention and proliferation of the personal computer was like manna from heaven.  Suddenly it was possible to tap away at the keyboard and produce a document that other people could actually read!!! Something truly amazing for those of us with the affliction of "doctor's scrawl syndrome".  Enter the laptop, you could lug this thing into meetings and click away at the keys annoying everyone around the table and driving people on teleconferences crazy as the tapping of the keys is amplified over the telephone line.  Not a great solution and we had to resort to still carrying around our note pads then trying to decipher the jagged lines on the page afterwards.  It really fell into the too hard basket.  This is where the tablet really comes into its own.  Touch keyboard means that text can be entered silently but you can still keep up with the conversation if your keyboarding skills are up to it.

OK, so we know that we need a note taker but which one.  It tried lots and there are still some that I loaded on my Asus Transformer that I need to delete.  I just do not use them.  I have put together a list of things that I have come to realise are most important to me.  Originally I wanted something that I could also use as a todo list and calender.  As I searched I found that these Apps get more and more complex to use.  I finally decided to separate out the functions.  Leave Google Calendar as my reminder application as it is up there in the cloud so is available on all my devices.  I also use Todo List Widget for quick lists for shopping or jobs to completed for the day, this just leaves a note taker to find.

KIA Sportage Platinum Review

KIA Sportage Platinum

Year              2011
Engine           2.0 l Diesel
transmission  Automatic
Model            Platinum

This is the replacement for my trusty Subaru Forester.  If you have read my blog on the Forester you will know that I really liked this car for its versatility and drivability.  I did not buy the new model as it just left me cold.  After looking around for quite a while and annoying multiple car salesmen I settled on the KIA Sportage.  It ticked all the boxes and it was fun to drive.  So, six months down the track what do I think?  Still happy and enjoying driving it all the more.  I am still amazed at all the bits and piece I am finding out about it.


What was I looking for in a car?  It had to be comfortable for a long trip. enough power to be able to overtake.  It needed good connectivity (Bluetooth, iPod or mp3 player connectivity and a decent sound system).  I wanted it to have a trip computer with fuel consumption, distance to next tank fill, etc... Good fuel economy was a must in this day and age but had to be large enough to fit five adults comfortably.  I also like all wheel drive, it just makes the car a bit more predictable and copes with wet roads better.  Not that I have a habit of going into a corner in any car with the intention of performing a well executed four wheel drift.  Integrated satnav would have been nice but not a deal breaker as they get out of date so quickly.  All of this plus to do it in a bit of style.  On the face of it that would seem to be not too tall an order... wrong.  Very few cars or AWDs could match these criteria  It had to be a wagon of some sort to take the two dogs we have in the back.  It had to have a blind that would go over the cargo bay so it was easy to roll back to allow the dogs in

Dimplex Portable Air Conditioner

Dimplex Portable Air Conditioner

Model    GDC18RWA 

Power    5.3KW

I bought this unit in the hope that it might be able to take the edge off the temperature in our family room on hot summer days.  The room is a family room/kitchen which is about 30 m2.  As the advertising claims, it is true that no matter how hot the ambient temperature of the room is, it does pour out cold air.  The only problem is that the amount of heat it generates radiates out of the lower portion of the unit and also from the pipe that exhausts out of the window (yes I do have the window blocked off except for the exhaust pipe).  The exhaust pipe gets very hot, almost too hot to touch.   It could be that the room is too big but I do find that overall the temperature does rise rather than cool when I fire it up even if it is very pleasant when you stand in front of it.  Stand being the operative word as it blows the cool air out of the top of the unit.  In hindsight it might have been better to get a unit that blows the air our horizontally so that you can sit on the couch with cool air blowing at you.  The unit is on wheels so it is not too difficult to move it around on a level surface but you had better get help if you want to get it upstairs.  

Android App of the Month : Navfree

Navfree


Link to Navfree page on the Android Market
Well for my first Android App review I have found a really great one.  If you drive a car or have to find your way around this is one app that you won't want to uninstall once you have tried it.  It is a SatNav application that does not require connection to a network to function once you have chosen your destination and what it more it is free. It is ad supported however but this is a small price to pay for an app of this quality.


When you first start it up it asks you to choose a country.  It then downloads the maps for that country.  The Australian map is about 179MB.  After that the only reason you need connectivity is to find a location.  I am guessing that it uses Google Maps to get a longitude and latitude position to pin point where you want to go on map.  Once you have chosen this route your can untether yourself from the network and the GPS will work out how to get you there.  If you take a wrong turn it will recalculate and set you back on track.  Obviously your phone or tablet must have a GPS receiver. The software will ask if you want to enable the GPS each time you start the program.  The Maps cover most of Europe, India, parts of South America and Canada.  It also covers South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  You only need to load the map that you need so you can save memory space ignore the other countries maps.  There is now a version for the USA.

Subaru Forester

Subaru Forester

Year:             2003

Model:           XS Luxury

Engine:          2.5L unleaded

Transmission: Manual Dual Range

I owned one of these from 2006 to 2011.  I bought it when it has 89,000 km on the clock and sold it when it had just ticked over to 148,000 kms.  During the 5 years I owned the car I did nothing to it except get it serviced regularly.  I did not even change the tyres.  When I got the car it had a set of coopers on which had only a few thousand clicks.  When I traded it in there was still a fair amount of tread left. 

Well what did an eight year old Subaru Forester look like when I sold it, pretty good actually.  The paintwork (silver) was in good condition and polished up nicely, the interior had stood the test of time, nothing worn or broken and the leather seats were still supple.  The first owner told me that he had always put leather protector on the seat about 4 times a year.  I continued with this at least twice a year.  The engine bay also looked great after giving it the once over with the pressure spray at the car wash.

Asus Transformer TF101 Android Tablet

Asus Transformer TF101 Android Tablet

Click here to read an update to the review, added on 27 Feb about the upgrade to Android V4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

My first encounter with the Transformer was on the Asus website in the form of a promotional video. My initial thoughts were, "holy cow, this is a game changer! It leaves the iPad for dead, it can't be that good." I am pleased to say that I was wrong.  It is not perfect but I can live with its' imperfections.  

What sets it apart from the rest you may ask, there are lots of tablets on the market these days and why should I pay a premium? Obviously the first reason is the detachable keyboard, it turns the unit from a casual note taking device into a full blown notebook capable of editing documents and spreadsheets.  That coupled with the extra battery life are reasons alone  The keyboard has saved me many times when I have forgotten to charge the tablet and have had to rely on the keyboard to get me through meetings (the keyboard contains a battery that extends the tables battery life). The battery life is phenomenal, you really do feel liberated from working indoors close to a plug in case you run out of juice.  The other nice thing about the keyboard is that you can plug in a USB mouse and use it just like a laptop.  I use the word laptop with reason, contrary to a normal netbook that has to share the keyboard space with on/off switches, indicators and function keys, the keyboard and touchpad are free to use all the available surface of the dock.  I therefore find the keyboard big enough to type on easily

Also note that the top row of keys duplicates a number of soft functions such as direct access to the settings menu and switching Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on an off.  You can even disable the touchpad which is very useful.  We have all had the problem with a laptop where you are typing and your input suddenly jumps to another part of the page because you have inadvertently brushed the pad.  I plug in a mouse to the USB port but you can also still use the touch screen.  One more button worth mentioning is the screen shot button.  When you push the button it will take a .jpg image of what ever is on the screen.  This is going to be useful for my app of the month blog. 

Some people do find fitting the tablet to the keyboard can be hard but I have not had this problem.  Just put the keyboard down on a hard surface, ensure that the dock portion is facing upwards, line the tablet up with the edges of the keyboard and gently push down until you hear a click. 

The other selling point that often gets neglected is the bundled software.  It comes with Polaris Office which contains a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation viewing and editing applications.  Also bundled is a package that will stream your desktop computer screen to the pad over you home network.  While none of these two applications suites are stunning it means that you are instantly productive.  There are a few other applications loaded but these are the important ones for me. 

Performance wise I have no issues, it runs smoothly even with high definition video, the display is bright when needed and the screen is very responsive to any inputs.  Asus have also been very good with the updates.  I have had the tablet around 6 months and during that time I have received a number of over the air updates, including one for the keyboard dock.  I am hoping that the Android V4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will not be far away.  Asus has announced the update will go ahead after the release of the new Transformer Prime.

The one downside for me is that it does not have 3G connectivity like some of the iPads do.  However it is something I can live with as it tethers nicely to my phone.  There is a version of this unit, the TF101G, which does have a 3G connection.  Check your local specifications to see if this option is available.  That is the downside of being an early adopter!! If I was going to be doing a lot of travelling I would invest in a little portable hotspot. 

Because of the versatility of the system it replaces most of the functionality of my desktop computer which only gets switched on a couple of times a week for archiving email and processor intensive applications where speed is an issue.  

Would I travel with this rather than a laptop or netbook, definitely.  It would do everything I need it to.

Likes

Keyboard

Battery life

Bundled apps

16:9 format display and speed

Weight

Micro SD and SD slots plus 2 USB ports

Flash support

Dislikes

No 3G (this model TF101)

Conclusion

Bottom line would I buy one, definitely, I have one and am looking forward to the release of the Prime.  Not sure if the quad core is enough to tempt me though if it does not have 3G.  Is it better than the iPad?  Yes and no.  The iPad interface is definitely cuter and slightly more polished, however the Asus Transformer and Android is so much more flexible.  The iPad is fine if you want to live in the Apple ecosystem but personally I find that too limiting.  I like the fact that I can access my home network and download or upload any file I need without having to go through iTunes.  Final words, a truly great product and game changer.