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.
After mulling it over for a few months, I decided it was time I got a new phone (a Google Nexus 4). I’d been using a Blackberry for a while now and although things started out rosy, it was time to move on to a better smartphone.
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.
After my recent purchase of an iPad, I found myself now looking for files on four different devices (the others being a desktop PC, a laptop PC and a Blackberry Torch smartphone). That was until I installed two apps on all of the devices, Evernote and Dropbox. (Both are FREE!)
Evernote is good for saving just about any media. If I see a picture of something, if I want to save a weblink bookmark accessible from anywhere, if I start thinking of a new blog post or new ideas, I put it in my Evernote. It has tremendously simplified my ability to maintain multiple lists.
Dropbox is essentially a universally accessible file folder. You can copy any file you want to share (including publicly). Hook me up with a referral if you decide to sign up and they will give both of us extra space. :)
Like any kind of cloud-based technology, Evernote and Dropbox have their own limitations. Your ability to upload and synchronize is dependent on your connectivity. Though an Evernote Premium Account allows you to access your notebooks offline which is handy.
In terms of bugs, the only thing I’ve encountered with these two applications thus far are errors accessing and editing files from Evernote for Blackberry.
Got to spend time with my cousin Andrea recently who although diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, it doesn’t get her down. Every time we hang out we have laughs and she is super-positive.
For her birthday last year, her parents and sisters bought her a Blackberry Torch 9800. She uses Blackberry Messenger to stay in touch with friends and family. However, knowing that she has some difficulties with motor functions and sight, I suggested that instead of typing out a message, she try using the voice recorder, record a note and then fire it off to selected Blackberry Messenger recipients. We walked through the process that I demonstrate in the video. This could work with WhatsApp too but I haven’t tested it (iPhone may not like the file format of the Blackberry, *.amr file). The voice note file sizes are pretty reasonable. iPhone/iPad is great for this with Facetime, but you normally wouldn’t use it unless you’re on your own wi-fi.
I apologize for the blurry ending to the video, the video recorder had trouble with the font size I use so it couldn’t focus. The screen should look like this picture. I recorded the video with one phone then the other.
I think it’s pretty cool if we use technology to give people who may normally feel isolated an opportunity to remain social. Maybe it’s time to get Gramma and Grampa some crack(berry)?
I’ve been using WhatsApp for a couple of weeks now and it’s been great for communicating with my non-blackberry using friends. My California cousins are all about the iPhone and I needed some way to cheaply and efficiently communicate with them especially while I was there last week. I added the US data plan from Telus again and my usage came out like this.
Every time I received a text message my wallet cried a little. SMS is so 00′s. It’s time to install WhatsApp. The data usage wasn’t all instant messaging, (I wish I had set up a way to isolate it) it’s combined with me emailing, tweeting and Facebook-ing (uploading/downloading pictures and videos) and of course Google mapping. How did people travel without their own personal GPS??
I’ll be posting a more thorough review after some more testing (like conference chats and sending/receiving of files) but I’d like to get the word out so that I can have more people to test with.
I downloaded (for free!) PatternLock Lite for my Blackberry Torch 9800 from BlackBerry App World and I like it a lot. I no longer have to open the keyboard or type my password on the touchscreen to unlock my device. Choose a pattern to use for locking and re-enter it whenever you want to use the device.
There are two negatives.
From the forums, is that it has been found to drain your battery faster. I haven’t noticed it but I thought you should be aware of this.
The application cannot stop someone from accessing data stored on your device if they come in from USB (i.e. plug it into a computer). The app requires you to disable Blackberry’s hardware password function, which when enabled, forces you to enter the password when you connect it to a computer as well preventing data access through the device.
I looked through the specs and reviews for the full version ($2.99) of Patterlock to see if issue #2 is addressed but I couldn’t find info on it.
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. I had high hopes for these gloves as my previous endeavor into this realm, the Burton Touchscreen Liner was rather disappointing.
Themocracy