Got my hands on another glove that was specifically built for using touchscreen devices: the North Face Etip Glove.  I had high hopes for these gloves as my previous endeavor into this realm, the Burton Touchscreen Liner was rather disappointing.

The verdict?  These gloves are much better than those Burton ones but still leave much to be desired.  The touchscreen pads work quite well; this time the downfall lies with the fact that the gloves don’t keep your hands warm (a glove’s primary function).  Even in temperatures close to the freezing mark, I found my hands cold.

Three other comments as stated in my previous post:

• the palm and other fingers should have “stickier” padding;
• the touchscreen element should wrap around the index finger and thumb so that you can use the sides of these digits;
• the glove should expand to the size of the users hand to ensure a tighter fit.

Rather than buying a baby monitor, I decided to set up a webcam instead.  So I picked up an inexpensive one from www.newegg.ca, the Trendnet TV-IP121WN Internet Camera.  The advantages are three-fold:

• There are numerous apps (some free) that view the camera from an array of different platforms (iOS, Android, PC).  On the iPad at home I use SecurView and I can even look in when I’m out and about using my Google Nexus 4 using TinyCam Monitor Free.
• Once I no longer need a baby monitor, it easily becomes a home security camera.
• It’s a cheaper than most baby monitors.

The picture quality is not bad either and it’s a Day/Night cam so it works even when the room is dark.

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More info on the  TRENDnet TV-IP121WN 640 x 480 MAX Resolution RJ45 SecurView Wireless N Day/Night Internet Camera:

• Very easy to set up.  If you know how to set up a router, you can set this camera up pretty easily.  Once it’s on your wireless network you can view the video on any number of devices.
• It has other functionality such as motion-detection capture, it can even email you (I haven’t yet tested this).
• Cons:  The main complaint with the camera, which I knew about prior to purchasing, is that the colour is a little off.  For some reason the video comes out with slight pinkish hues.

I knew that once off Blackberry, I would need more data than I was getting with my current plan.  (Blackberry uses push technology which is typically more efficient data use vs polling.)

While researching wireless plans, my coworker recommended I check out Wind Mobile.  They had a plan that was unlimited everything and a promotion if you brought your own phone.  Being that a  Nexus 4 is sold by Google unlocked, it seemed like a good way to get a new phone and tie it to a plan that wouldn’t punish me for using too much data.

After talking to Telus customer service a couple of times about my plans, they couldn’t negotiate my existing plan into anything resembling the neighbourhood (cost and features) of Wind.  So I decided it was time to leave even though I was still on contract.  Because of the price difference in my plan, I save almost 40% on my bill per month.  This pays for me breaking my Telus contract after 5 months.  It pays for my new phone in two years.  Plus Wind requires no commitment (and I have an unlocked phone) so I can keep shopping for better plans if something comes up.

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So how is Wind?

Because I live in Toronto, my Wind network coverage is pretty good.  The only problem I experienced was when I went up to Collingwood to snowboard.  Couldn’t get a signal on the hill at Alpine Ski Club.

Further re: unlocked phones

I will realize the biggest benefit to having an unlocked phone when I travel.  When I visit the states or go back to the Philippines, I can buy a local prepaid SIM, pop it into my phone and enjoy calls/text/data without worrying about a huge roaming bill.

Recently took my aunt’s Motorola Xoom for a test drive.  She found a great deal on the Android 3.0 tablet, it was essentially risk-free.  She asked if I could play with it then teach her how to use it.  I couldn’t refuse an opportunity to play with another nerd-toy, she knew that I could compare it to my experience with an iPad and tell her whether this was a good purchase for her needs.

So that was the first logical question:  What are her needs?

• reading personal & work email
• surfing the Internet (searches)
• social networking (Facebook)
• games (like mahjong, scrabble & Angry Birds!)

These are basic use cases, all easily performed on the Xoom.  Some apps like Gmail, require you to link your Google account after which you are presented a nice dashboard view.  The Motorola Xoom was the first Android tablet to ship with the Honeycomb Operating System (Android 3.0 OS).  The overall desktop view is very clean and the UI for navigating and moving icons around is fairly intuitive.

Likes:

• There are so many Android apps (and lots of free ones).  There is no submitting your application to Apple for approval.  You can create your own app and install it on your machine.  You know, that practice software developers have been doing for decades.  (Of course this could also be in the cons category since you can make the argument that more poorly developed, less QA’d apps will make it into the Android Marketplace vs the App Store).
• I like that I can browse the device’s filesystem.  I installed an Android App called Astro and I could see all the files on the tablet which I was able to copy using a standard USB connection rather than the proprietary, must-connect-to-itunes, iPad-to-computer interface.
• I could watch any video file I wanted without converting.  Again, there was an app for that, I installed Mobo Player and I could play AVI’s.  Seems like such a novel concept.
• Integration with Google accounts

Dislikes:

• The keyboard input is sometimes slow and unresponsive.  At times I found it excruciating trying to highlight text and cut/copy and just resorted to backspacing chunks of text and retyping.
• The browser will sometimes lag which results in screen taps being buffered and then multiple taps happen all at once.  You won’t want to open more than three tabs when browsing.
• No Dragon Dictation for Android (yet).  If I can’t use one of my favorite apps, that hurts.  Android Evernote looks good though.
• I missed Apple’s  smart gestures, still have to try SWYPE.

The Xoom came with a lot of extras, it was ~$500 for a 32GB wifi-only model with:

• a case/stand
• a speaker dock
• full-size keyboard attachment
• Car charger

This works out to being >$100 cheaper than the comparable iPad (since Apple products never come with peripherals or other useful adapters).

The verdict?  I could see myself owning a Xoom (or other comparable Android tablet) over an iPad.  The experience was very comparable despite all of my dislikes.  I will say that an iPad still seems much more intuitive.  Xoom does show Android as a very promising platform.