Linux and the Desktop

Often as I read my Internet news I note that the perennial question of "Is Linux ready for the desktop?" and I started thinking about it. I've also recently been playing with Windows 8 and I said to my co-worker "Is Windows 8 ready for the desktop?" We both laughed. As an outgrowth of this I started to really look at what it would take for me as a consultant with a range of small and medium business clients to move them to Linux. 

Obviously there are a range of applications that are not cross platform - usually either financial (MYOB etc) or industry specific stuff.Wine could potentially take care of this, or even running Windows in a virtual machine - which is common with people needing Windows XP to run specific software and being unable to run it on Windows 7 (and also 8). As for the common applications like word processing, spreadsheets and presentations there are a range of Open Source versions like NeoOffice, or even Google Apps or Office 365.

If you consider application support beyond the specific software noted above, there are plenty of applications available in your Linux of choice for all the stuff you want to do - video / audio / image editing, video / audio play etc. The options are numerous.

Taking into account Linux's robust architecture and resilience against viruses, trojans and malware, then the operating system starts to really look good. It's not uncommon for me to have a Linux desktop with 30 plus days of up time. Updates are easy and encompass the OS as well as apps, all in one reasonably easy to use package (I like Linux Mint personally and it's great for all these things). 

Take Android for example. Prior to it gaining popularity I bet there were a lot of people asking if Android was ready for the mobile market place. Time has certainly shown that it is. The difference between the mobile phone marketplace and the desktop is simply that the competition is so much more fierce. Microsoft's  stranglehold over the desktop, strengthened by their bundled browser Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player and buy in from all the big software firms. 

Chromebooks - Linux on the desktop! Obviously it's ready - it needs the brilliant packaging and design of MacOS X. And probably someone big to push it. Dell have been offering it for some time now and the excellent Ubuntu Windows installer (also available on Mint) gives the new user a chance to play with it. 

Give Linux a try - if only in a virtual machine and make up your own mind:

http://www.ubuntu.com

http://www.linuxmint.com

http://www.redhat.com

http://www.apple.com

HTC One X Review

So I have taken possession of my new phone, bidding a fond adieu to my beloved Nokia e72. Originally I was considering getting the One S, not the One X - as a cost thing more than anything else. At any rate, I've chosen the One X on a new plan only marginally more expensive than my previous plan, with slightly more included calls after some excellent selling by an uber efficient sales lass.

Rather than re-type all the specs you can find them here: http://www.htc.com/au/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs

Key things to note are are the Quad core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The device itself is quite large - much bigger than the iPhone I use for work and it makes the iPhone seem quite a small phone. It makes the e72 even littler by comparison. The speed and the gorgeous screen make up for those slight detractions though. 4.7" Super LCD2 - oh so very bright, clear and lovely to look at. Reviewing photos taken by the 8 mega pixel camera is a joy, and taking photos with the camera has been excellent, apart from a small issue I have where the camera won't focus. After I leave the camera app and come back in a couple of times it seems to come good, but this can be annoying when I'm trying to get a quick action shot.

The phone is light and thin, it easily sits in a top pocket of a business shirt, or in my case, the side pocket of my cargo pants. Sound is clear and vibrant, music sounds great from the little speaker at the back. For the first time I've actually gotten a top of the line phone and now I see what the hype is about. Although the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a very similar beast in size etc, I find the HTC Sense interface to be comfortable and easy to use - I've used it before with my HTC Aria.

The bad aspects of this phone are as follows:

• the camera focus thing - perhaps this an update or it's something I'm not doing correctly but this irritates the hell out of me
• the size of this phone renders all my accesories obsolete - which while it's good to buy new stuff means that my old faithful phone case is no longer usable.
• Facebook doesn't ding on notifications
• Occasionally I miss the dings of emails etc
• I can automatically tell it not to receive emails/Facebook updates and the like between a given period. The one thing the Nokia e72 has all over this phone, for me, is that it only checked emails between given time periods. Neither the iPhone 4S I have, or the One X do this - always on email means you either manually have to turn the auto-sync off (which is what I do now) OR put up with email dings throughout the damn night. NO. I like to sleep peacefully, but I also rely on my phone as my alarm clock.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this new device and I recommend that if you want a great Android phone - consider it very seriously!

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 2 Review

Recently, through sheer blind luck, I was able to get a hold of one of these excellent little devices. A friend sent it down (he prefers his iPad) so I was able to play with it a bit before handing over to the wife for her amusement. The Galaxy Tablet is a 7" tablet, much like the Google Nexus I recently reviewed and use almost continually. At first blush here are the differences I noted:

• the user interface is different (naturally). I feel that the Galaxy's is more polished, looks crisper but is a lot more busy. The QWERTY keyboard interface for example has the numbers above it and the keys are smaller on screen than the Nexus.
• SD Card slot - upgradeable storage is a nice thing indeed.

Weight, size and battery life appear comparable. My wife loves it. She wasn't convinced initially about a tablet and didn't think she could find a use for it. As a non-technical person it seemed like another gadget to her. Now though she uses it for Pinterest, Facebook, eBay, email and generally web searching.

The Galaxy Tablet is a fine piece of hardware, but I have to criticize the interface. It is not as user friendly as the Nexus and this was actually a factor that led me to purchase a HTC One X over the Samsung Galaxy SIII recently. Navigating through some of the menus has been a pain, and initially finding in the Yahoo Mail app the Create Email option was not straightforward at all. That being said, now I've played more with it it's quite good.

I recommend the Galaxy Tablet to anyone who needs 3G or LTE connectivity as the Nexus doesn't appear to offer this. WiFi connectivity is very good on both devices and the Galaxy has a bright easy to read screen. Occasionally the light sensitivity gets a bit annoying as it dims the screen unnecessarily, or makes it too dark, but otherwise it's very good.

Google Nexus 7 Review

For my recent birthday I purchased one of these excellent devices. I had been eyeing one off for several weeks - in lieu of an Apple iPad or similar device. I picked it up from JB HiFi here in town and paid less than what I'd pay online. The basic specs of the Nexus 7 are:

Specifications

SCREEN

• 7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)
• Back-lit IPS display
• Scratch-resistant Corning glass
• 1.2MP front-facing camera

WEIGHT

• 340 grams

MEMORY

• 8 or 16 GB internal storage
• 1 GB RAM

BATTERY

• 4325 mAh
• 9 hours of HD video playback
• 10 hours of web browsing
• 10 hours of e-reading
• 300 hours of standby

CPU

• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor

SIZE

• 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm

WIRELESS

• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth

USB

• Micro USB

OS

• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

FEATURES

• Microphone
• NFC (Android Beam)
• Accelerometer
• GPS
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscope

General Information

These specs come from the Google Website here: http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs

I chose this tablet because of it's 7" size - the large iPads I find are too big to hold and type on with my thumbs, not because I've got small hands, on the contrary they're quite large, but just the comfort of the big iPad (or larger tablets for that matter) I find to be better on a smaller device. 

I also chose this device because of an ongoing love affair with Android - a love affair that I've felt to be a bit one sided at times. My first use of it was with the Motorola Backflip and it was dreadful. A HTC Aria followed, and while it was better, the speed was a real issue. I was hoping very much to avoid this again with the Nexus and thankfully it was all I hoped it would be. Let's start at the beginning:-

My initial impression of the device was a pleasant weight, solid build and a lovely bright screen. The onscreen keyboard was responsive and the buttons were large enough I was able to type quite quickly on it straight away. The pretty graphics and screen bling were very nice, smoothly drawn and with great colour depth. 

I managed to get a hold of a case, a rubbery plastic thing which I've since replaced with a nice faux leather one. The screen is robust and has thus far survived being dropped and drooled on by my 15 month old baby and also the rigours of being carried around in my hip pocket while I'm working. 

The screen's brightness and easiness to read have meant an introduction to eBooks in a serious way for me now. It also displays movies in HD and came with Transformers Dark Side of the Moon which I delightedly watched - the $25 Google Play voucher was very welcome too - I promptly bought a few eBooks and apps with it - the billing was very easy and it all worked well.

Now that I've had the device for a week I have it syncing 4 separate Google Apps accounts - email/calendar/contacts/Google Drive, plus Facebook and Twitter and the battery lasts for 2 days. I use it more or less continuously during working hours - reading and responding to mail, and using the Cards features for calendar and weather information. It has certainly accelerated my ability to respond quickly and stay on top of what is happening in a busy work environment. The WiFi connectivity has been solid, and I've been tethering it with my iPhone for out of office work - this has worked brilliantly thus far. 

Conclusion

For my money, the Google Nexus is an excellent device and has already saved me a significant amount of time and effort in keeping on top of the unending information flow that's part of my job. These are an extremely useful tool, and a great little toy too - definitely worth the money!

HTC Aria Review

After the unmitigated disaster that is the Motorola Backflip I have very fortunately managed to get my hands on the HTC Aria. Although this device is aimed at a mid market it's a wonderful little bit of kit. OK so first up the hardware.

The device itself is quite compact and fits in the palm with ease. I find that I can put it in the same case I had my e66 in without worry and it fits easily. The screen takes up the majority of the Aria with 4 capacitive buttons and a swipe mouse thing as well. Only a few external buttons - volume up/down and the lock/on/off switch. Under the black casing is a brightly coloured interior which is quite striking. The screen itself, which I read elsewhere as being not as bright as the OLED type screens is nonetheless bright and readable. I find it better than my iPhone 3GS to read. The keyboard works relatively well and the device is easy to use.

The built in HTC themes and widgets are superb and I've found that I don't need to add any extra widgets for a lot of the stuff I used on the Motorola.

Review: Motorola Backflip - an update

So after having used the Backflip for a while now I can offer some insights.

Firstly I have had to reset it to factory default and re-install everything. The reason was simple - the damn phone was resetting at random intervals and when I need to make a call... an urgent call to Police, the bastard thing wouldn't work and reset twice before I was able to get through. Completely unacceptable and I was ready to throw it out the bloody window and stamp on it. After recovering from my hissy fit, I reset it on advice from my local Optus dealer and re-installed some of the applications. One of the most commonly installed apps - Advanced Task Killer lite - was causing all of the grief. I paid for it and have had no problems since then so I'm happier.

I've played with lots of widgets and things and found that once the phone's uptime reaches about 400 hours, it needs a reset. If you aren't making a lot of changes it's settled and you can leave it for longer without any problems. Current uptime on my phone is 450 hours plus. Battery life can be affected by some of the crap you install on it, so be wary about what you do install and what you've got enabled on it. I found with bluetooth and wifi enabled the battery lasted about a day. Without those two added I got 3 days out of it which is quite acceptable (especially with the number of calls I made during those days). GPS also seems to impact battery life significantly.

Generally I've found the phone functions to be good, texting to be acceptable and email to be acceptable. The Gmail sync has been very good so that's all very nice. The touch screen is quite good and the keyboard is also pretty good although I find the tactile response from it somewhat lacking at times. I wouldn't want to write an essay on it for example. I've been using the "Beautiful Widgets" set and find the weather is excellent. I've also got various other things running like System Info and System Panel. I don't mind spending a little bit on these things and find the application support better on the Backflip than on my iPhone 3GS. Performance on both is much the same.

I really like Android though. There is something about the interface options, the many applications and the performance with such moderate specs that appeals to me. I find the Apple way to be a more difficult way to understand and since upgrading (forced to) to iOS 4, my iPhone is slower and has demonstrated more problems. It won't unlock at times which I find exceedingly frustrating. In conclusion, I am now much happier with my Backflip than I was - trial and error getting the right software has become an interesting exercise rather than a frustrating one.

Review: Motorola Backflip

Just recently my beloved Nokia e66 passed away in a freak water related accident (read: it fell in the loo). I was far enough through my contract that I was able to update to the Backflip. I'd been looking at Android mobile phones for a while now to see if I could find one that would be suitable for what I do and the Backflip looked like it fit the bill. I want a phone that does the following:

• email
• texting
• simple games
• WiFi
• good application support

The Backflip specs didn't fill me with excitement initially but it does have something I really like - a full QWERTY keyboard. Although the onscreen keyboard of the device is pretty good and the screen is big enough I can drive it easily, I like the tactile feedback of real keys. My iPhone drives me crazy periodically with typing difficulties and so the Backflip came into it's own with this.

Prior to purchasing the Backflip I noted that there were quite a few reviews out there that paid out on the phone for it's lack of application support - that it wasn't able to deploy 3rd party apps and you were restricted to Motorola applications that work with it's specialised user interface called MotoBlur. I found this to be inaccurate and that you are able to install 3rd party apps, without any fancy hacking or anything else. The number of apps available is immense and certainly as large as the Apple iTunes store. Motoblur is a specialised interface designed by Motorola and it is this which is currently holding the Backflip at Android 1.5. Apparently in the next quarter it's designed to be upgraded to Android 2.1.

The phone is very usable - as both a phone (!) and as a mobile email/texting device. I don't use Facebook or Twitter or MySpace so I don't have all the feeds coming in - but that's what this device is geared for. It's supposed to be able to keep you up to date with all the trivia of your friends' lives and so forth. For me, that just makes life more complex and kills your battery! After a full days use of email/text and voice calls, I still have 70% battery life at the end of the day. Given that the Backflip as a USB port it's easy to charge it from laptop or desktop PCs. I like the flip of the keyboard too - it's a nice little keyboard to use and provides reasonable tactile feedback. The screen flip works well too and the screen itself is bright and easy to read.

Although the phone is sometimes a bit slow to do things this is generally because I'll leave a lot of apps open. The memory management is pretty good though and sorts itself out relatively quickly. I use a task management app to clean the RAM up periodically and get it working happily again.

As a phone, the speaker is clear and it generally has good reception. It's a light phone and it's comfortable on the ear when I'm in a call. Even one call lasting 45 minutes didn't leave me with a numb ear as sometimes happens with my iPhone.

All in all I find the Backflip to be a good phone and I'm happy to have it. I'm very much looking forward to the upgrade to Android 2.1 which should be soon.