This is my third article in the series from purchasing the phone to evaluating it. I have finally concluded that the phone is unusable and I’m returning it. Basically nothing on this phone works right and I am really disappointed.

I had high hopes for this phone as it looked totally cool. I’m a Windows user and I don’t care about operating systems. To me it’s whatever works. So I thought that the current Windows Mobile will be at least as good as my 3+ year old Palm 700p. Boy was I wrong!

First of all, Windows doesn’t work with the fingers and requires a stylus. But even then it’s broken. It also really needs a 4 way rocker switch to scroll through items to select. Most menus have no scroll bars so you have to flick the stylus just right to get it to scroll to the exact spot on the list you want. If you go to far you have to flick to back up and if you flick wrong you end up selecting the wrong item.

The phone itself was almost useless. It shows recent calls just above the number touch-pad and if you accidentally hit one, it dials that number instead… or if you accidentally hit the green key twice, it dials your last call and nothing about this can be configured.

When talking, the phone times out and goes dim (which is fine) but as it moves, touching my face, it lights up again because it thinks it’s been touched. So you have what seems to be a flashing light in your eyes. It has a feature where if you lay it down on a desk it will do a speaker phone but if you put it on a soft surface like a bed or couch then the speaker phone switches on and off.

When the phone rings, there are answer and ignore buttons but you can’t touch answer, you have to slide a bar to answer with your fingers and half the time it doesn’t work because it has to slide just right. So it doesn’t even work as a telephone let alone anything else.

I spend almost $200 buying software upgrades for better shells, better email, and other applications. I got the SPB shell that everyone talked about and it was great eye candy but it was also unusable, although not quite as bad as the original.

I could go on and on about what wasn’t right on this phone but the bottom line is – the phone doesn’t work, so I sent it back today. Luckily Verizon has a good return policy. I’m back to using my old Palm 700p hoping it will hold together till I find a phone that actually works. And that sucks because I was looking forward to owning this phone.

This is going to be a two part article because the phone is (hopefully) arriving later today. So this is about what I’m expecting and when it arrives we’ll see if it meets expectations.

I am currently a Palm 700p user but my old phone is falling apart, apps no longer work, support sucks and it’s time to get out of the PalmOs world. I considered the iPhone but decided not to for several reasons. I like Verizon and didn’t want to go back to AT&T. I need multitasking which, from what I read, the iPhone runs one app at a time. Having played with software keyboards, I decided I wanted a real keyboard. I need tethering without having to “jailbreak” the phone. I didn’t want a phone that was “jailed” in the first place and I don’t want to do business with a company that might turn my phone into a brick if they don’t like what I’m doing with MY phone. (I buy it – it’s MINE!) And I don’t need a million apps, I need 10 apps that actually work well.

I also decided I wanted a big screen so a full screen phone with a slide-out keyboard looked like the best of both worlds. I also want a stable platform that is going to be supported, lots of apps and isn’t going away, so I went with Windows Mobile. Not as sexy as the iPhone but I always seem to come back to Windows because Windows actually works. (I’m picky about the “actually works” feature. And I don’t have to join a cult to own it.)

Customer reviews are good so my expectations are very high for this phone. I’m thinking this is a phone I’m going to be really happy with so if it doesn’t work really well then I’ll be easily disappointed. The most common complaint is that the phone is big but I actually want a big phone. I’m a beefy guy and capable of lifting an ounce more than most people. And if I had a choice, I’d rather have something that was even bigger, like a netbook, but 1/2 the size. So I’m looking at this as a portable computer as well as a phone.

Will I be happy? Later today, when I get, it we’ll see. They are sending it to me with a new phone number so I’m going to need to get them to move my old number to it so that will be the first test to see if Verizon gets that right. So – will I be happy? What do you think?

While I mainly use Windows machines for work and at home, I’ve also used Apples since the late ’70s. Among my computers is an old PowerPC Mac Mini, but I needed a new laptop so for Festivus I bought myself a new Macbook.

It’s one of the aluminum ones with the LED-backlit screens. The screen is amazingly bright and easy to read. I’ve always preferred non-glare screens, so I was wary of the gloss screen the Macbook has, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Aside from having a lamp directly behind me that reflects its image on the screen, it isn’t a problem. In fact, it actually seems to make what’s on the screen more readable and, well, shiny.

The other big question mark was the keyboard. It’s more of a chicklet-type than your usual laptop or desktop kind, but I’ve been amazed at how easy and enjoyable it is to type on. In fact, it ranks as the second or third best keyboard I’ve ever used over the last 30+ years! On top is still my late-80’s PC keyboard that’s built like a rock and can’t be beat for feel. Nothing allows me to type as fast as I can on that, but the Macbook’s keyboard is astonishingly close.

While the Macbook isn’t as thin as the Air, it is quite thin and fairly light. Battery life I’ll leave to the magazine testers to thrash out. One nice touch is the clever latch underneath that pulls off a cover over the battery and hard disk. Apple has made it very easy to swap out hard disks as the technology drives capacity higher.

So, what’s bad? Not that I have a current use for it, but there is the much discussed lack of Firewire support. If USB 3.0 were here with it’s vastly higher transfer rate then I could see it. But for a consumer grade laptop, many of whose users have video cameras and other devices that use Firewire, it seems like a slap in the face. I just don’t buy the “not enough room for the connector” excuse.

Another pain is the replacement of the DVI connector with the mini-DisplayPort. Why? Plus, unlike with my Mini, no adaptor to VGA or DVI was included. I want to hook up my 32” TV to the Macbook, but noooo. Not without a $29 adaptor. Apple has released the specs to manufacture them, so there should be cheaper ones soon as well as an adaptor to HDMI.

I’ve left the glass (although you’d never know it unless you were told), Multi-Touch trackpad for last, partly because I hate trackpads. I’m a mouse guy. Period. Gestures using it with pictures is definitely cool just like on the iPhone. No buttons. You press the pad for that. But for general use, I need a mouse.

Other improvements, including the faster Nvidia graphics chip, make my new Macbook a pleasure to use. Oh, yeah.. it runs OS X, a distinct improvement over Vista which I have running on an HP box I bought a few months ago and XP on others.

Yeah, it’s expensive for a laptop these days, what with cheap netbooks becoming the newest thang, but now I have the best of both the OSX and Windows worlds (with Parallels installed for the few Windows-only programs I need). A few negatives, but in the end, worth the cost.

Opening ceremonies

The Beijing Times has revealed that the footprint fireworks sequence for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, was computer generated and inserted into the coverage too look like the real thing. Beijing’s hazy night skies and camera shake as though it was filmed from a helicopter was even added to the sequence to make it look more authentic.

The 29 footprints were lit at one footprint per second, with 29 of them marching from Tiananmen Square to the Birds Nest stadium. They were supposed to symbolize the path of the 29th Olympiad and their arrival to Beijing.

The faked fireworks were actually set-off at the stadium, but because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded, computer-generated shot.

The head of the visual effects department for the opening ceremony said that since everyone thought it was filmed live, he couldn’t see a problem with it.

Perhaps it’s no worse than the facial hair on some of the women athletes.

Over the summer I reviewed Creative’s Zen Vision W. Now I’ll review its little brother, the Creative Zen 4GB MP3/MP4 player.

Compared to its bigger brother, this Zen is small. A little smaller than a credit card. However, unlike its bigger brother it lacks a user-replaceable battery, TV-Out, a built in speaker, and a 4.3″ screen. This little baby only has a 2.5″ screen. But while the W has a useless CF reader, the 4GB has a very useful SD reader.

But enough about the W, the more apt comparison is with Apple’s new video-capable Nano. Points against the Nano are that it only has a 2″ screen, has no SD drive, no built-in microphone, and no radio. The Nano does have TV-Out if you buy an extra cable from Apple for nearly fifty bucks. But while the Nano costs about $149, the Zen only costs around $129. For that price I consider it a great deal.

It plays the following video formats natively: MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX, and XviD. However, unlike its bigger brother, the 4GB Zen is picky about resolutions. The Zen 4GB is limited to resolutions no greater than 320×240 (320×180 for WS format). In other words, you won’t be able to download stuff from the net (cough PirateBay cough) and play it without first converting it.

Fortunately, Creative includes a batch converter to make that process simple. You load the videos you want, select the quality you want, and let it go. It’ll even load them for you when it’s done. But if that’s too confusing, it’ll convert incompatible videos for you automatically when you transfer them.

The converter can shrink full sized movies down to less than 500MBs each. So even at only 4 gigs you could easily fit 8 full length movies on it. And even more with an extra SD card.

To try out the SD reader I bought an 8GB card from Newegg. You can play video, music, and view pictures off of it. I’ve filled up the player with MP3s and will likely use the reader for movies.

Plenty of reviewers of both this Zen and the Nano have complained about watching videos on the small screen. I don’t get it. It’s not like you have to watch it from across the room. Held at a bent arm’s length it’s about the equivalent size to the 22″ WS monitor on my desk. I have a blast watching TV and movies on this little screen while I’m stuck waiting with nothing better to do. (Like the W it remembers where you left off when you turn it back on. So it’s great when you’re on the stop and go.)

It plays the following audio formats: MP3, WMA, non-protected AAC, WAV, and Audible 2,3 and 4.

The non-protected ACC format is interesting, that means it’ll natively play DRM-free songs bought from iTunes… no conversion necessary.

I never tried the FM radio. The last time I listened to radio Van Halen were not considered classic rock. About around 1982. Does anyone listen to the radio anymore? I guess it could be handy for NPR junkies, but I doubt if it’ll get any use from me. Heck, maybe the lack of radio is an advantage for the Nano!

So to sum up, I love it and would certainly buy it again. If you’re already tied to Apple’s vertical business model, you’ll probably want the Nano. But if you’re living free and small, you’ll want this tiny but full featured Zen.

Pros:
Great price.
Handy video and audio converting.
Very small.
SD reader to increase storage.
Crisp and sharp video.
Also comes in 8 and 16GB sizes.
Non-proprietary USB cable.
Decent ear-buds included.
Can be used as a portable flash drive for data.
The screen is protected under hard plastic.
Full and rich sound.
Intuitive controls and UI.
25 hour battery charge for music and 5 hours for video.

Cons:
No support for Windows 2000.
Limited video resolutions.
Plug-in charger not included, you have to charge via the included USB cable.
The included USB cable is very small.
It makes my Zen W seem fricken HUGE!

Amazon’s new DRM-Free MP3 Store was all over the news this week, so I thought I’d check it out. I fired up Firefox and went to amazon.com. I found the service under Search: MP3 Downloads.

The hardest part of the process was deciding which song I should buy. I decided to check the depth of the service and looked for songs from the seminal Canadian metal band Voivod. They had plenty. I went with their cover of Syd Barrett’s classic “Astronomy Domine.” It was 99 cents. (Some of the songs are only 89 cents.)

Amazon asked if I wanted to download and install their “Amazon MP3 Downloader.” That sort of confused me, why should I have to download software merely to get an MP3? That’s what’s always bugged me about iTunes. I’m not some idiot who can’t figure out how a browser works or how to organize files on a computer. I don’t want software to hold my hand and make choices for me, I just want my music!

I noticed there was an option to “skip installation and continue.” I went with that. Amazon asked for my user name and password, as it always does before I check out. Seconds later I was downloading the song.

Here’s the information from the MP3 according to Winamp:

I certainly like the bitrate. But notice how the song is not marked as copyrighted. Weird.

I’ll also note that the song transfered and played perfectly on my Creative ZEN Vision W, which is not shocking at all considering the file has no DRM. There also appears to be some sort of image of the album art embedded in the file which showed up in my Zen. That was sort of cool. (I tried to take a picture of it for the blog, but couldn’t get a clear shot.)

Anyway, with the incredible ease of use I’ll almost certainly buy again. And while Amazon certainly does not have the vast catalog that iTunes has, it’s a start in the right direction: Well organized high quality DRM-free songs at a cheap price.

Update: According to reader snoopyjy, the Amazon MP3 Downloader serves a useful purpose. It transfers the MP3s into iTunes to make it as simple as possible for iPod users. Considering how popular iPods are that’s pretty smart thinking on Amazon’s part.

Update 2: I tried the Amazon MP3 Downloader because it’s required for downloading full albums, which by the way are priced a little lower than the meat-space CDs. I bought Bill Haley and his Comets’ “Rock Around The Clock.” It was only $9.49 while the CD was $9.98.

By default it downloads music automatically to your Windows Media Player’s music directory. But you can change it to any other folder. Also, as stated above, it you have iTunes installed it automatically adds it there.