Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we discuss the gadgets, apps and toys we’re using in real life and take a re-evaluation at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Welcome back to IRL, a brand new column where we dissect, defend and gripe in regards to the gadgets we’re using in real life. This week, Dante gets a firesale TouchPad, Dana ditches her Shuffle for a Sansa Clip Zip, Tim’s on a ship with the DeLorme PN-60 and Darren explains why, exactly, he’s still clinging to his Nexus One.
Going strong with the Nexus One
Blast away, but I’m still using an AT&T Nexus One . Why? It is the only smartphone that’ll tether on AT&T (my wife has an iPhone, hence the necessity for a family plan) with none additional charges — it’s unlocked, remember? I even have a type of grandfathered unlimited plans, and for the reason that my entire life is online… well, it’s handy to have around. Sure, rather more sophisticated handsets have shipped over the last year, however the N1 still manages to hang its own, and hey, I got Froyo before most everyone else, too. I’m also a massive fan of side-loading, and this here phone hasn’t ever given me one ounce of trouble on that front.
Unfortunately, one of the most two main reasons I stick to this thing from a software standpoint is beginning to fail me. Google Maps Navigation is really a godsend, but only when it really works. For whatever reason, acquiring a GPS lock has become increasingly difficult, and infrequently even a tough reboot won’t hasten the method. I’m starting to ponder whether it’s just my N1, or this class of phone on the whole. Still, that one program has revolutionized how I live, and the unlocked nature of the telephone has enabled me to pop a lot of international SIMs into it with a view to stay on the right track even whilst venturing overseas. The GPS reliability ain’t what it was once, but it’s still my travel phone of choice — that rugged Otterbox case that matches around it doesn’t hurt to have, either. Particularly when you are romping around in places like this .
A break from the Shuffle
For an exceptional year and a half, the third-generation iPod Shuffle was my most useful gadget, eclipsed only by my OG Droid . You spot, I’m a protracted-distance runner, a marathoner, and people pinchable, inline controls meant i’ll skip songs without feeling around for a button or taking my eyes off the line. It was lighter, less cumbersome than the Nano, the alternative iPod aimed, partially, at athletes like me. I used that thing until the battery gave out and rain ruined several pairs of earbuds. Since then, after all , Apple’s done away with the Shuffle’s inline controls, while the Nano has gotten a touchscreen — often the very last thing i need to function with sweaty fingers while running. I’d love for Apple to reverse all that once it unveils new models q4, but i do not expect it to. So for the primary time in years, I’m using something apart from an iPod.
SanDisk sent me the Clip Zip , and i have been using it as my primary music player for a month. We didn’t get off to an excellent start. The player’s software ships on a disc — not a whole-sized one, mind you, however the type of miniature disc that simply won’t play nice with my laptop’s slot-loading optical drive. i stopped up transferring my files the old-fashioned way — i.e., dragging and dropping.
Now that my music’s living on there (minus all of the one-hit wonders i bought using iTunes gift cards), I appreciate it more. After I attach it to the waistband of my running shorts, the plastic clip doesn’t leave scratches on my skin, because the third-generation Shuffle did. The bundled headphones actually stay in my ears while I’m running, and the froth ear tips feel comfortable and somehow never feel too disgusting after I’ve drenched them in sweat. The battery is powerful enough that i’ll take it on a two-hour run while not having fully charged it, and now have juice left over on the end. The bass notes are low enough, but let’s not pretend it is a player for audiophiles. Scrolling through tracks one after the other using the tiny buttons could be tedious, but when this were a Shuffle, choosing the following song wouldn’t also be an option. i will even forgive the homely design; I just wish that once I pressed the lock button up top, the amount rocker would still work. It is also annoying which you even have to press the unlock button twice to realize control of the device.
For what it’s — an affordable $50 music player — I just like it, and that i imagine I’d sooner take it on a run than Sony’s W series Walkman , which might compel me to tap my ear each time i needed to skip a track. But would I rather have an iPod? i do not know yet. Let’s examine what Apple has up its sleeve — and meanwhile, i have to decide if I 0 loathe iTunes 0 rather a lot that I’d be willing to upgrade my library to DRM-free simply to get out.
Kayaking with the DeLorme PN-60 personal GPS
Man, I hated this thing after I first got it. Really, really hated it. How could something manufactured nowadays costing over $300 be bigger and chunkier than a $20 walkie-talkie and feature a user interface that makes Windows Mobile 6.0 look refreshing and new? Even the (PC-only) software it ships with (DeLorme Topo USA 9.0, basically required to load maps at the thing) is ready as user-unfriendly because it gets, its interface paling compared to the far less ire-inducing Google Earth.
Keep it up, noble outdoorsmen and ladies, and ye will be rewarded. The software will be painful, but through it you have got access to precisely one worlds worth of charts, maps, satellite imagery and topographical data that may be selectively downloaded to the device — over a corpulent and unfortunately proprietary USB cable. Get your maps synced, spend a couple of hours deciphering the user interface and you will find yourself becoming strangely endeared to this rubberized brick of a gadget. The screen is small, though it’s bright and sips power from the twin AA batteries. It’s not touch-friendly, however the big, chunky buttons are incredibly glove-friendly and the entire thing is, indeed, waterproof. (I left it bobbing off the side of my kayak for a chunk, simply to be certain.) I’m still not in love with it, however the first time I pulled up a NOAA map and combined it with the integrated tidal charts to plan a course through some shallow wetlands, well, i began to feel a little bit attached to the stumpy thing.
every week with the HP TouchPad
Judging from the 15,000-plus comments on our 
1 TouchPad liquidation post 1 , I’m guessing a host of you spent the evening of August 20th the identical way I did. Truth be informed, I’d originally set out for the $49 unlocked (!) Pre 2, not the elusive $99 TouchPad. Dismayed at finding both phone and 16GB slate already out of stock, I pulled the trigger at the 32GB variant — I figured I’d a minimum of finally own a webOS device and the general one inside the tragic Palm saga, at that.
So what is the verdict after owning a TouchPad for every week? In a word: torn. It is a mixed bag, but let’s begin with what i really like. Apparently I’m within the minority, but i am unable to say I’m offended by hardware others deem portly and inexpensive. Yeah, it’s plastic and is not as thin as an iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab 10.1 but that does not mean it’s unworkable. As for software, i like webOS’ aesthetic, its multitasking cards and Synergy. At the beginning glance, that is just how a mobile operating system should work, but dig a bit deeper and all of it starts to crumble.
It doesn’t take long, however the first knock comes once you bore with the pre-installed apps and venture out into the App Catalog. The tough reality is that during any given category there aren’t greater than a handful of options. Frustrated, you find yourself downloading a highly ranked “TouchPad-compatible” Pre app, only to search out it runs in a miniaturized box that may not scale. Annoying. And by now, after a couple of hours with the device, you’ve undoubtedly run into the primary of many maddening pauses and errant slowdowns. They’ll seemingly occur at random, dwindling your confidence when you continuously peck to no avail.
But perhaps the largest letdowns are the stuff you never realized you took with no consideration with other tablets. With iOS, for example, if one misses a text box or a button ever so slightly, the OS still responds with the intended effect. Not so at the TouchPad. You’ll also miss how iOS locks in scrolling in a single direction, ignoring, say, horizontal input when it realizes you simply wish to scroll vertically. It’s that sort of polish and a spotlight to detail that’s always been missing from webOS. Perhaps it won’t matter to these of you smitten with the discount of the century, but it’s something I lament. Very similar to the fanboy that wept on the death of Cobalt, I’ll always wonder what webOS might have been had Palm HP followed through.
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