There are plenty of proper reviews of the Pre if anyone is actually interested, here's just my take after a day. Skip if you're not in to gadgets.

Quick Summary: It's lovely

Slightly less Quick: It's lovely but has hints that it's a version 1.0 product.

But only really hints, I feel and it's all stuff that should be fixable in software (or are down to carrier coverage). With the standard back it feels very light, the Touchstone back feels like it adds more heft than you'd think weighing the bits separately. Being able to just put the thing down and have it charge without fiddling with cables is great. In use it fits in the hand nicely, especially with the Touchstone back which adds a bit of texture.

You can't be too throwaway with your gestures, you do need to be fairly deliberate about the various swipes that are used. On the other hand, it does mean that just touching it doesn't make stuff start happening randomly.

My main terms of reference here are the Treo 600 I've had for ages, plus a HTC Touch Pro work have inflicted on me. I've also had my paws on several models of Blackberry. The keyboard is small. There's just not the physical space for it to be as good as the Treo or a Blackberry. That doesn't mean for a moment that it's unusable though, in fact it's actually pretty good and takes very little time to get used to. You can type one handed/thumbed but it's a bit happier with two, just like most others. I've not worked out how to navigate around within text whilst editing it though.

Quick, check the help! You will need to use the help a bit since the supplied documentation is minimal as with most things these day but if you've used another device of some sort and you're willing to put a couple of brain cells to the task, it's not going to be that hard to pick up. How to move the cursor around is covered in there, so that's no longer a problem. (Hold down the Orange key!)

The screen is very sharp and easy to read although I'm not entirely convinced about the digitiser, it feels as if it needs the ability to re-calibrate it to my not terribly sharp and pointy fingers. Some of it is down to not being clear with gestures though, just like getting the hang of writing with Graffiti on the early Palm models.

Call quality seems fine on the couple of calls I've had, as does music playback either through the built in speaker (not amazing but OK, especially since you can stick it on the Touchstone and just let it get on
with it) and being able to plug in a standard 3.5mm set of ear buds or headphones is what everybody should be doing.

I can't really comment as much as I'd like on the data handling. I have it sync'd to Exchange, Facebook and GMail for mail, chat, contacts and calendars. Initially it didn't want to sync the GMail calendar which appears to be a not uncommon problem, so you have to spend a few seconds removing the account, then adding it back in again. Multiple GMail calendars aren't a problem if you share. They do provide details on performing a one way transfer of data from Palm Desktop (or Outlook) in to the Pre. If you want two-way local sync you'll need a third party application (which are around). Having done the traditional Palm thing of sync old device, plug in new one, sync, done for the previous 5 Palm devices over I hate to think how many years, I've decided that this time I'm going to do a proper data cleansing exercise and get rid of all the old rubbish. Of course I may just end up running Classic to have all the old apps as well and carry both old
and new data around the whole time...

Although it can act as a normal drive when plugged in via USB, the USB port cover feels really fragile so hopefully some kind of easy wireless transfer will be along at some stage. Even once you've got files over, the video player seems to be a bit picky about what formats it will support. Haven't got to the bottom of that one yet.

I've not had any problems (apart from the Google sync thing) with the supplied apps but I think a 3rd party one was causing some issues (not helped by O2 coverage, I think it was network timeouts). There may be an issue with it not spotting when headphones are unplugged but I've not done enough testing, or tried it again since I deleted that 3rd party app.

Get an email, text message, missed call or something else the device needs to tell you about while you're busy doing something more interesting and you'll get a notification. These are described in other reviews and I
really like how they work. Although they're taking up a bit of screen they're not obtrusive and because of the way the rest of the screen resizes to accommodate them, they don't get in the way. This kind of thing is what makes the difference for me - I get really annoyed by things popping up and getting in the way when I'm trying to do something else.

The iPhone is too big, I've never met a Windows Mobile-based device I didn't want to smash to bits within minutes and Blackberry range just feel too corporate. Until now I'd not found anything that was really a compelling upgrade from my aged Treo but I think this will do the job nicely.

Sinfest for best use of a Sunday strip for a MJ tribute. The last few days have been amusing too.

Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force won the musical category yesterday and seemed a nice bunch of chaps in to the bargain, on a brief meeting at least.

Leading on from http://gmul.livejournal.com/93048.html I offer the following, significantly more mature and worrying specimen:



Fortunately the camera has a decent zoom as I didn't want to get too close to this one. It has grown to quite a size so I don't want to think what it might have been eating...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7995869.stm

Or, alternative headlines: "Recruitment Agencies and the media employ liberal arts graduate wankers who can do nothing but perpetuate stereotypes". Or, "Breakdown in education system means there aren't enough teachers and the those responsible for employing them aren't doing their jobs in getting the right people". No, sadly not snappy enough.

OK, so I most probably associate with the more professional, literate, qualified and experienced end of the door supervisor scale, rather than the jacket fillers but the above article really does make me cross. I think I'm mostly cross though that the schools are failing their pupils so very badly by not providing appropriate cover when required. And yes, I do remember how much of a hard time supply teachers got given at school but that was because they were mostly useless.

Teachers in schools, with the requisite wide range of skills in teaching, development, discipline, care and encouragement, they are what's needed.

{Additional frothing deleted for, well, frothing rantyness}

One of the sometime hilarious, sometimes worrying things about only reading the front page headlines of Metro from a distance is that you can't see if the main picture and headline are related. Most often I think they're not but this morning we have "Experts still try 'cures' for gays" juxtaposed with a picture of a happy, smiling Simon Cowell looking in the direction of the headline.

As I understand it, there are a lot of things people would like to cure about him before getting anywhere near his sexuality, whatever that may currently or previously have been, or his views on the 'curing' of homosexuality.

Also this morning, spotted an in-carriage advert for the island of Aruba (it has an oooh factor, apparently) on which someone had scribbled "Scottish holidays create employment". Perhaps in a nice motorhome, one of which I shall just happen to have for sale in the hopefully not too distant future.

And (it seems to have been a morning for it), opposite the above there was an advert for Lufthansa with a handsome young chap coming out of the plane door and lifting up his sunglasses "all for this one moment" they say. Perhaps if he didn't wear his sunnies indoors, the outside world would be less of a shock.

OK, I've done it. I've joined Twitter. There's no point following me, or expecting me to follow you. Unless you're Mitch Benn. Follow Him. FOLLOW HIM! Sorry. Anyway, listen to The Now Show this week and you'll understand.

Chaps,

I've had a Windows Mobile 5 device. I now have a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. And I've seen and poked at many, many, others. They're all crap. Why not try nicking the *good* bits of Palm and RIM's (and occasionally Psion's) designs for a change?

I already have enough phones without having to carry this lump around as well.

No love,

Me.

This year is one to be stepping out of some comfort zones. A significant change is that I've gone down to 4 days a week at work so I can persue "other things". The general nature of these things is intended to be heading towards "stuff that doesn't require being based anywhere in particular". Or to look at another way, stuff I can also do/be based in Cornwall while suetekh does her stuff, while still keeping a base in London as that's handy for both of us.

Last August, I volunteered for the first time as a steward at Towersey Village Festival and was put on the artist liaison team - basically making sure the acts had turned up, knew where they were going, when their sound check was and in one case, setting up the stage of one of the acts. That seemed to go quite well and the chap in charge of the team said I could do the same this year if I wanted to apply so that form will be going in the post soon.

Whilst there I also worked with a couple of the people who organise Shepley Spring Festival and got invited to go do the same job for them. The practical upshot is that I get two festivals which have pretty much all the acts I want to see, just for the cost of diesel. Bargain. All good public facing stuff to go on the CV anyway.

Also at the back end of last year I did a door supervisor (DS) course and now have a SIA Door Supervision licence. The upshot of this is that I can try and get paid to go to festivals too. Long hours, not terribly good money necessarily but still interesting and can be fun if things don't kick off too often or better yet, at all. Recruitment for that starts to pick up in April so looking forward to that.

My usual approach to anything, especially a new field like security where I have no prior experience, is to network like crazy, build up a reputation for being helpful, sensible and generally a good egg and start making contacts. As fall out from that, I've been helping with proof reading and making comments on a book by an experienced DS (from when it was acceptable to bounce people out of the door and probably off a few other things). A credit in the book and a nice little testimonial. Not a big start but still positive.

I have an application in for a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector course to hopefully start in April, the interview for which is coming up soon. I did a basically similar course about 15 years ago when I taught a few adult ed./evening courses but I need something up to date in order to approach training companies with a "select range" of IT and Security courses. Course outlines are starting to be written but haven't made it off the other laptop thanks to O2 screwing up my mobile broadband, bless 'em.

And I've still not entirely given up on the counselling idea but that's on the back burner for the next couple of years. Still keeping my hand in though, going to a seminar along with orddu on working with people who've experienced sexual abuse. Seemed like a good follow-up for the one on working with people who self-injure I did last year...

That may all seem rather fragmentary and it feels it but I think there is some semblance of a Plan in there. Only time will tell. All the workish stuff is starting to appear on www.floatingmetal.co.uk

Just back from Redemption 09, the highlights of which included playing Tarrant in the "Man of Iron" reading (an unfilmed Blakes 7 script by Paul Darrow), working on the newsletter, seeing people that aren't seen often enough and meeting new people to not see often enough. Entirely failed to go to half the items I wanted to but that's pretty typical as other fun stuff was happening instead.

"If you do not wish to re-type the same details you've already put in a couple of times already again, please press cancel but be warned we'll just keep cycling back to this page until you do put in the details. Again."

That's what it should say, dear people at Microsoft Volume Licensing. But thanks for wasting more of my life, it really helps. I do hope your department has been hit hard with the redundancy stick.

(Actual news when I'm not spending the day standing in a noisy basement cupboard...)

Which, since I didn't even apply for "Part Time Receptionist - Hilton London Gatwick Airport" is no great loss. Apparently they'd like to thank me for my time and effort though. Which is nice.

From the "Why on earth can't we do that here?" file, we bring you the Tzu Chi Foundation and their Silent Mentor programme as a means of obtaining cadavers for medical training. There's an outline as part of a more general article here and a vignette from a medical student here.

(I wonder if this was the inspiration for the HHGTTG Dish of the Day. (Sorry...))

Well, no, but if the presence of such comes as any surprise to them at all I can only think that one of London Lite's headline writers hasn't ever been near a place of worship belonging to the majority of the world's major religions. The current crop of organised religions have been around for how many hundred years? Some of them are gradually, grudgingly, starting to accept women. Well, a bit anyway. That they still have a problem acknowledging even the existance of homosexuality (publicly, we'll leave the repressed bits in the closet for now), let alone any kind of actual acceptance can hardly come as a surprise to anyone.

(I presume the headline was related to this. This posting has been another in the series 'read the headline but skipped the rest as it would probably just make me cross'.)

This sort of thing is one of the reasons why having a Royal family is such a good idea, I think.

I'm also all for Prince Charles sticking his nose in to politics. He may in some areas only have a limited grasp of life in the real world but on the other hand he doesn't have to be popular so can say things that politicans, who have to win a popularity contest every few years, cannot. Even if some of them are utterly barking. See also the House of Lords. I really can't see any good reason for making that elected. Whilst there seems to be a risk that it'll just be filled with the cronies of whoever is in power at the time, as far as I can tell actual experience suggests the system as a whole actually works reasonably well as a balance against the excesses of the Commons. Having two elected chambers would just confuse everyone. Which is doubtless the idea.

(It may seem a bit of a stretch to go from penguins to constitutional reform but you just wait until I remeber what the third paragraph was going to be about...)

The road our office is on is so hip it can hardly see over it's pelvis.



(It says "Going through the motions kills emotions" if you have trouble reading it).

Given all the achingly trendy clothes shops (sorry, boutiques), galleries (sorry, creative art spaces) and hairdressers (creative head art spaces, probably) along here it's a wonder we were allowed to move in. Perhaps we're just here so they can occasionally see what commoners are like...

It's the third annual Veterans Day today. Well, for the next few hours at least. Apart from the direct.gov website on which I happened to be looking for something else, I can only assume that the press release is on one of the few CDs or laptops the government as a whole hasn't manage to lose lately and thus it didn't manage to escape. Even digging a bit on the BBC News site doesn't reveal much. "Caretaker wins ladder fall case" is more important.

Dear Past Members of the Armed Services,

Thanks for clearing up when the politicians have fucked up and doing lots of other things that many people wouldn't even do if paid to. Sorry that (especially recently) lots of people seem to think that it's *you* that start wars and decide to invade places then give you a hard time when you come back, especially if you have been injured where the poor quality of care you may receive on returning home is absolutely shocking (even though all the nurses, etc. may be doing all they can).

Special thanks to all Gurkhas past and present who are amazingly poorly treated even by MOD standards.

Highest Regards,

A Complete Wuss.

As I needed to head in to town this evening anyway, I decided to do it a bit earlier and do a bit of shopping while I was here. After an abortive attempt at buying shirts in M&S, I moved on to the second part of the mission...

I wanted a mobile broadband package. I ideally wanted to buy it from Three, since they do it at a sensible rate. I am/was happy to sign up to an 18 month contract.

But.

I want to be able to use the package both with the modem they supply *and* either or both of my other data-capable, unlocked, devices. This is where it all takes a turn for the dumbass. The Three shop they say no way, can't use our SIM in another device.

Vodafone say, er, dunno but dug out a SIM so we could give it a try and it worked although it also managed to make a call which they didn't think it should have done so I might have to try that again before being confident.

Carphone Warehouse they say, er, dunno. When pressed with the experience from the Vodafone shop the sales chap rings their central retail advice desk and they don't know either.

Word on the Web is that actually you can use a 3 SIM in a different device but they won't like it, might notice and cut you off. I've not bothered reading the Ts&Cs yet to see on what basis they'd do this. But clearly it does work. I'm quite happy for them not to support me, I just want this stuff to do what I'm paying for.

Having a delve around led to a rather long but naturally rather entertaining entry on the blog of a certain Mr. Stephen Fry. I've not finished it yet but I would appear to be largely in agreement with the sentiments expressed therein.

I mention in passing, for anyone interested who hasn't caught them

The Canada Day London free concert n stuff.

Time for Tease - Afternoon tea with a dollop of burlesque.

Tickets have been requested but for which, eh?

Q: Why oh why oh why oh why do the monkeys who do portable appliance testing have to put their labels over the ratings plaque on a power supply?

A: Because that way you'll never be able to tell what it is in future.

Bastards.

Does anyone hereabouts work for a company who might be willing to donate a dozen or so mouse mats to a worthy cause? All the ones hereabouts are falling apart and it really would make a huge difference to the volunteers who have to use them! More details on request if required...

Keep left (or right)
Stand on the right
Let people off the train first
Follow the helpful arrows

It's not that bloody difficult, people!