Matharu's Rants and Raves » iPod

My iPad – mini review

Kulvinder Matharu — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:16:31 +0000

I bought an iPad a few days ago. It is a very sexy-looking device and there are some really cool apps for it. But there are also a few issues with the iPad.

There’s no Flash and hence I don’t get the “whole internet”. Same with the iPhone.
It’s quite heavy so needs to be balanced on a surface when using it for long periods. I’ve more or less worked out the best positions to hold and balance the thing. Playing “Real Racing HD” is fun but my arms soon start drooping. Perhaps I should get stronger arms!
A lot of apps designed for the iPhone / iPod Touch don’t look too hot when expanded onto the iPad’s larger display. Hopefully that will change once developers bring out more apps for the iPad.
I think that 99.99% of computers/hubs cannot charge the iPad from a USB port. The iPad requires a heavy current draw to charge the batteries and these exceed the USB specifications. So you’re mostly stuck with having the iPad charge from the dedicated mains adapter. But it’s such a short USB cable too which make things awkward when trying to use the iPad whilst it’s recharging.
The iPad seems so…shiny and slippery. So much so that you’ll be wanting to get a case and screen protector for it ASAP.
There’s no camera. So that kinda kills video messaging; my £300 netbook has a camera for goodness sake!
It’s bloody expensive for it is.
Many decent apps are not free. So once you start downloading all these apps it’s like “death by a thousand cuts”.

But there are also a lot of really good things about the iPad too.

Looks sexy and cool!
Some apps are awesome.
The game “Angry Birds HD” is so addictive. Brilliant.
It’s great for toddlers and kids; the interactivity is perfect for learning. Just make sure that the iPad is protected when letting the kids loose on it (no, it’s not an expensive toy, thank you!).

It is an improving product and perhaps we’ll even get Adobe Flash on it one day! Maybe a second generation or third generation iPad will sort out all the kinks? But I do recognise that such a device had to be built within certain constraints. As the engineering saying goes, “Cheap, tough, light…choose two!”.

I’m still going to buy a laptop, though, as that still provides me with better productivity features with my workflow. Depending what happens later on this year, perhaps a new breed of touch-screen laptops may offer me more.

OK, that’s all for now.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010

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The future is here, instant song purchase from FM radio!

Kulvinder Matharu — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:14:51 +0000

After my Future of music – my vision! article posted in January 2008, Wired has just put up an article regarding the new Microsoft Zune MP3 players, where it seems that the Zunes will implement the ability to purchase songs heard on the Zune’s FM radio.

My original thoughts were that Apple would be the first manufacturer to get there but it looks like Microsoft got there first. This is good for competition. Let’s hope that competition becomes more competitive, perhaps even with Sony or Creative getting into the action too. As a Zune and iPod owner that makes me feel real good!

iPod touch 2.0 Software Update

Kulvinder Matharu — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:10:17 +0000

I own an Apple iPod touch (32GB). Now that the 3G version of the iPhone is out, the latest software firmware (version 2.0) for the iPod touch has also been released. The cheek of it is that Apple are trying to charge me £5.99 to obtain this firmware!

Are Apple really trying to make me regret purchasing the iPod touch?

Apple, Apple, Apple. You continue to disappoint! It’s just such greed from Apple that encourages people to modify the iPod firmware…this modified firmware allows the customer the freedom to install other software on the iPod and to break out of the restrictions imposed by Apple. “Think different”? Sure…

Apple 32GB iPod touch

Kulvinder Matharu — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:37:32 +0000

Having bought the 80GB Zune 2 MP3 player, I treated myself to the 32GB iPod touch from Kuala Lumpur after all that hard work on the Borneo Orangutan Adventure.

The iPod touch is a really sleek design, a joy to hold and look at. However, even with the latest firmware (1.1.4), the iPod touch crashes on a frequent basis. By “crash” I mean that in the middle of web browsing or listening to music (for example) the iPod touch will crash whatever it was doing and revert to the main start screen. Not nice at all!

In addition, the album cover flow screen sometimes doesn’t show the album covers which kinda defeats the main purposes for having the album cover flow screen.

And it seems that I’m not the only one who’s experiencing these problems. A quick web search revealed the extent of these problems. I imagine that Apple will eventually get the bugs ironed-out with future firmware releases but I paid a lot of money for what turns out to be a flawed jewel. So, at the moment, I’m really disappointed with Apple’s latest iPod.

Got it! 80GB Black Zune 2

Kulvinder Matharu — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:45:37 +0000

Following my article Great music, Zune and iPod…I finally decided to buy the 80GB Zune 2 rather than an iPod. I think that the main thing that decided it for me was that there was a built-in FM radio in the Zune 2 and also because the display is bigger making watching videos far easier. Mind you, it was a close call between the iPod and the Zune 2.

The Zune 2 arrived a few days ago and I’ve synchronized all my music, a lot of photos and a few videos. The unit looks pretty cool in its blackness, the sound quality is very good and the headphones are pretty decent too. I appreciate the built-in FM radio, and of course WiFi synchronization. I haven’t met anyone else with a Zune so I’m not sure about the “Social” yet!

One thing that I am waiting for is Amazon’s global MP3 download service. That will release everyone from the shackles of DRM infected files and from iTunes and the like…in essence this will allow us all to move between Zune, iPod or any other MP3 player. Come on Amazon, give us some launch dates!

Great music, Zune and iPod

Kulvinder Matharu — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:23:30 +0000

There’s a lot of really good music being given airtime by a number of UK-based radio stations such as London’s “Capital Radio”. I do also listen to a lot of classical music, blues and some jazz through Internet-based radio stations but I did want to say something about some songs that I particularly liked at the moment. And why not!

OK, here we go.

Relax (Take IT Easy) – by Mika
Chasing Pavements - by Adele
Superstar - by Lupe Fiasco
Rockstar - by Nickelback
Valerie - by Mark Ronson with Amy Winehouse (I like anything with Amy Winehouse!)
Run – by Amy MacDonald
Sun Goes Down - by David Jordan – fun
Ride It - by Jay Sean
Homecoming - by Kanye West
Carry You Home – by James Blunt (also “1973″ is still being played!)

Check them out!

Next problem. My dilemma is regarding the purchase of my next MP3 player to replace my Sony MP3 player which has hit maximum capacity on its 20GB drive. I was thinking of getting an iPod but the lack of a built-in radio receiver put me off. The new Zune MP3 players from Microsoft do have FM radios built in and the units do seem to have some very good reviews. They look kinda cool too. Unfortunately the Zunes are not officially available in the UK and if I need to use the Zune Marketplace then I need to be a bit creative with my Internet set up to access the Zune Marketplace from the UK. Also, the iPods have a huge array of accessories available. Dilemmas! I think that I’d also lose any option of getting the Zune customised with those graphics on the back of the units. The word on the street is that the Zunes will be launched in the UK in Christmas 2008! I don’t think that I can wait that long even if we do get new and improved Zunes by that time! I’ll try and get myself an 80GB Zune. Unless anyone has a strong objection!

Future of music – my vision!

Kulvinder Matharu — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:11:46 +0000

A device, whether mobile or fixed, such as a laptop, a mobile telephone, a desktop, etc which is used (as one of its functions) to receive “radio” stations from the air (using radio techniques such as VHF/FM, DAB, etc) or “streamed” such as from an Internet connection over xDSL, WiFi, etc. Such a device, using automatic user-matching preferences, or through manual intervention by the user, flags a received song/tune/audio which then actions the device to immediately (or stored later for such action) to access a relevant music download site such that the flagged song/tune/audio track can be purchased (or made available free of charge) and downloaded to the device such as to allow the user to playback the downloaded track at any suitable time.

A simple scenario. Basically, you’re listening to a traditional radio station or Internet radio station on your 3G/WiFi smartphone/MP3 player and you hear something you like. You press a button and the device goes to iTunes or other site and the track gets downloaded to your device. Instant impulse purchase! The device (or even the music store) could also determine that you like that particular type of music or that artist and it could provide recommendations for further purchase.

This is my vision of the future and it doesn’t take any leap in technology as all the buildings blocks are already there. And I’m sure that the idea isn’t that novel as it’s just a trivial and perhaps obvious example of putting such blocks together. I think Apple could put such a system together very easily using the iPhone (but perhaps with a 3G upgrade!). So the rest of you companies out there, wake up and smell the coffee…you’ve got a lot of work to do! And with GPS built-in such a device would be a real killer! Location based services are going to sky rocket but that’s the subject of a different article.

I want now!

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