Palmtop nostalgia is tinny music to my elephantine ears Up and down, I’m up the wall, I’m up the bloody tree. Yup, this week finds me back on the trail in an unnecessary hunt for inessential portable kit I probably won’t use. It was triggered, as these things usually are, by something I read here on The Register. I should know better than to allow myself to be so easily influenced …
“My beloved, your effulgent beauty brings me back to life and swells my heart!”
As my wife points out, no man talks to a woman in this way.
They do in Nigeria: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38827888
(Unless that's fake news.)
I too almost pre ordered one (a gemini) but then a number of things dawned on me
The ceo has a bad reputation among indigogo's public for failing to deliver https://mobile.twitter.com/thezxkingpin/status/837554886250135553
Their release date of november seems rather unrealistic - we've not seen a working keyboard or software and they're not answering technical questions on indigogo. For the form factor to work the software needs to match and vanilla android or a plain linux distro won't do without a stylus or mouse.
Android and apps are made for portait mode unless you're watching netflix, which negates the keyboard need. When is the last time you decided to use your 7" or less phablet in portrait mode? I tried using my nexus in landscape orientation last night and it was horrible.
My approach exactly.
It's hard not to fall in love with the concept when your inner geek is still alive. Then I realize the horrible screen estate efficiency of Android and the inner skeptic wins over. Is android ready to be used almost exclusively by keyboard and shortcuts or will users keep smudging and wiping their screens, ad nauseum.
In the mean time we're waiting on a n950, e7 form factor replacement.
Nokia should have released a remake of their n950 or communicator series instead of their 3310.
"a genuine warranty and free of import taxes and other worries."
I've lost count of the numbers of friends and family whinging about their cheap tat bought from foreign websites and then discovering they courier won't actually deliver until they go to the depot and pay out the import duty and 20% VAT. It's about then they realise their cheap tat now costs nearly as much as if they'd bought it locally but they don't have a guarantee. And if it's electronic tat, they discover the shite software, the built-in malware and the backdoors (well, they don't, I do that bit for them as a free service)
Only for eBook reading, which is inferior to eInk.
I have a cheap USB keyboard cover (€8) with cheap Android Keyboard utility so I have the equivalent of Compose and AltGr. That is only usable in landscape. It's frightening how many BT & USB keyboard covers (and mini USB standalone USB) are useless for UK keyboard layout approximation and have too few special buttons either side of spacebar. The one I have is printed as USA but amazingly has the | \ key beside Z, and five non-character keys apart from Fn on bottom row with space.
All the BT portable keyboards I've tried are useless
I plan to make an 8 row, 96 key USB based keyboard to suit portrait mode to write notes. I've made custom keypads before using the PCB out of PC USB keyboard and figuring out the row/column, with "tact" switches. Faster than making up an 18F series PIC.
I'd like four, five or six LED illuminated light pipes so a A á Á å Å etc light up as required.
Oh gosh, now is the time to mention this.
What means "portrait" and "landscape" modes, every time I see or hear this I have to take a moment to figure it out.
I wish to heck we had named these modes "tall" and "wide" instead.
Is it too late to do this? Are we allowed to rescind old nomenclature?
I use a cellphone "tall" and I use a tablet "wide" like any normal non-infuriating person is apt to do ! !
These terms derive from photography. Some developers, including Adobe, also use the more sensible" vertical" and "horizontal".
Pretty sure the terminology comes from much, much earlier than photogeaphy. Go to an art gallery or stateley home and you'll see the difference between portraits and landscapes - as in portraits of people or landscape scenes.
Adobe, also use the more sensible" vertical" and "horizontal".
FWIW, that's even less descriptive than portrait and landscape. At least tall and wide give a clearer mental image than vertical or horizontal.
I tend to agree however "tall" and "wide" mode have a distinctly American simpleton twang to them and makes no sense in a sentence.
"Hold it wide for me"
"Make sure you're holding it tall"
Portrait and landscape are very specific terms that are unambiguous. Other possible terms "horizontal and vertical" are problematic too as they aren't explicit enough.
"Ok its horizontal, ive put it flat on the table"
See what I mean?
If only it were so..
Much as I'd like to join you in fantasizing about modern psions and n950's, I did have the foresight to attach a redundant bluetooth keyboard. Sure, reading and writing the odd email works fine despite the annoyance of seeing screen estate go to waste but don't think about a quick trip to tumblr or detour via other image heavy sites https://lostinmobile.com/2017/03/02/why-i-think-i-need-a-psion-style-device-but-wont-be-buying-the-gemini-pda/
Why I think I need a Psion-style device, but won’t be buying the Gemini PDA
The embedded video there offers a clue as to why a modern Psion might be lacking:
What’s going on here?Some of your technology may be out of date, which means this video won’t play properly. Please upgrade your browser or install Flash.
Oh Dear.
I tried using my nexus in landscape orientation last night and it was horrible.
I use my 4.5" Moto G in landscape orientation probably 75% of the time. I find the on-screen keyboard much easier in that orientation, and web pages are much easier to navigate (Opera). Stick me a proper keyboard on that and I'd be ecstatic.
M.
"When is the last time you decided to use your 7" or less phablet in portrait mode?"
All the time. Apart from the odd exception of watching full screen video. Maybe it depends on your use case. I read and send emails, make phone calls, do my expenses on a spreadsheet and look up technical stuff on the browser, all of which work best in portrait mode for me with the odd time switching to landscape mode and zooming into a parts spec. diagram.
My own headphone behaviour is uncannily similar to that of Mr Dabbs.
I look at headphones in the shop when I don't need any new ones. My preference is for over-ear designs, except they are incompatible with my hat which I wear anytime it is raining or likely to rain... or sunny. I have preemptively reinforced the cable near the plug on various 'phones with Sugru, Sikaflex or heat-shrink tubing. Indeed, this cable issue is why I don't have a problem with a cheap dongle on the end - let an inexpensive doodad take the mechanical strain, be it 3.5mm > 3.5mm or otherwise. If I broke out the soldering iron now, I could repair at least four pairs of 'phones I have kicking around.
I'm mildly upset at leaving my plastic over-ear Sennheisers in a pub the other week - I could fall asleep wearing them, and yet feel no discomfort on my ears when I woke. Still, I'd only taken them out of the house because I had lost or broken all the pairs of earbuds I've had.
I would never buy anything akin to Apple Airpods- far too easy to be loose if you're me. Might be tempted by the 'neck bud' form factor.
Keep hearing of cheap but very cheerful Chinese ear buds... think I'll consider them to be consumable items like drill bits or knives.
I can see the the soldering iron now as I type. The issue is that my small stash of leaded solder, no doubt hidden under piles of broken or redundant gadgets, is harder to find! Oh, and if I'm to fix em, I'll want to fit my choice of 3.5mm jack to them (the low profile 90° type) which I'll need to order. :)
Hmm, it's just struck me that the part of the headphones that disagrees with my hat is the headband, yet this component is redundant since the hat itself could be a stable platform for supporting the cans. Okay, not cans because there would be no force pushing them against my ears, but the battery and receiver for some earbuds could be stowed in the crown of the hat, as could the buds themselves when not in use. With magnets. Hmm...
Bugger fixing something, I'm going to cannibalise and improve!
The last two pairs I've mended I've use this type of Neutrik connector.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neutrik-Stereo-3-5mm-Mini-Jack-Plug-NTP3RC-B-Gold-Plated-1-8-Angled-Connector-/150550012640?hash=item230d7ae2e0
The connector is very good but it's metal so it does add extra weight.
Neutrik - they're the boyos! A stage lighting company I worked for would only use Neutrik DMX plugs when making up cables.
For my use though, I fancy something lower profile. I guess the downside of the 90° is that whilst they protect the socket against knocks to the plug, they relay more stress if the cable is yanked.
I make my own guitar cables and will only use Neutrik jack plugs along with Klotz cable. Cheaper and more reliable than any brand of pre-made cable I have tried.
My preference is always to try and fix things, however my niece broke a pair of Skull Candy headphones a while back and their cable is so thin and flimsy that it just melts when you try to resolder it into a new jack, at least with my soldering iron.
my small stash of leaded solder
It's not difficult to find 60/40 even these days:
CPC sells... loads of the stuff
Even Maplin sells the stuff (at a price)
M.
My own experience of Sennheisers is that the earpads will disintegrate in short order, shedding little black dandruffy flakes everywhere for the next 8 years (which is how long my sennheiser PCX headphones have lasted for).
As for the sturdiest pair I own, AKG 271 headphones seem pretty indestructible - in 10 years owning my pair I've had a little bit of plastic break off (which I fixed in 2 seconds with a paperclip) and they've been bulletproof through plenty of dropping on the ground and heavy usage. Mine came with spare earpads and cables in different styles as well, although I've not needed to swap.
As for the sturdiest pair I own, AKG 271 headphones seem pretty indestructible - in 10 years owning my pair I've had a little bit of plastic break off (which I fixed in 2 seconds with a paperclip) and they've been bulletproof through plenty of dropping on the ground and heavy usage.
But you need AKG K701's if you want to look as cool as Mio Akiyama...
http://animeconsumerism.tumblr.com/post/101828141740/series-k-on-headphones-akg-k701
My folding Sennheisers bought 20 years ago (to replace the cassette Sony Walkman ones) are still fine and still sound excellent. The Walkman's rubber-band rotted away years ago unfortunately.
My Psion 3a was still working in 2012 when I abandoned it as there was nothing left that it could talk to.
Unlike some (cough *Dabbsy* cough) I learnt not to be heavy handed with delicate kit.
My main memory of using an Asus netbook was that the letterbox landscape screen made reading websites a chore - too much scrolling! Whilst a higher Res screen would have helped a bit, the issue was the aspect ratio.
Tablets are easier to read websites on because the can be rotated to suit, and because they are held closer to the eyes than netbooks were.
Dabbsy, buy a Koss. Most comfortable pair of headphones we have ever had in the house.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005I497X4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I bought a pair for the daughter at LHR (so that she stops annoying the whole plane playing Leo's Fortune), which ended up with the ladies in the family fighting for them. I caught the SWMBO "privatizing" them 3 times, so I had to buy another pair for her. After that I discovered junior trying to pinch them all the time so he will probably get a pair too. One day. If he deserves them (until then he will suffer from an el-cheapo Phillips).
The sound is not tinny either - they are on par with my old studio headphones and the high end Panasonic I am using myself (unfortunately not sold in the UK - I bought it on an off-chance in Vancouver many years ago). It is definitely better than most Sennheisers in terms of both sound quality and comfort. It does not brutally vandalize sound like Beats. It also folds down to a very reasonable size for a pair of cups.
Concur on Koss. The last set of decent, inexpensive cans I bought is a couple pairs of DR9s ... nearly 40 years later, they are still going strong.
Mind you, I only use them for studio work, I never really understood the "must have tunes 24/7" mentality. When I do want music, I use real speakers. Wharfedales and Boston Acoustic studio monitors, all from roughly 1981 ... I still haven't found anything that sounds better.
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Please, do the responsible thing and do not get the Koss Porta Pro. For the money, they are really good, fun-sounding phones and Koss provides a great warranty. They are also as open as the arms of a seamstress on duty and leak more to the public than the most proficient whistleblowers. So if you use them on any sort of shared transport, other people will hate you. A lot.
Diddo, although after many set which work once, get stuffed in a pocket, and then emerge in kit form the next time they are retrieve, my latest, a set of Sennheisers, are just approaching their one year anniversary of public transport use.
Oh bugger, why did I say that, I'm getting on a plane next week. They're going to disintegrate mid-flight and stab me with bits of frayed copper aren't they.
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