sinéad's lifestream

Today’s Science Week submission… because I enjoyed writing one yesterday and if I have a chance I’ll do tomorrow’s (Which invention has helped you most with your working life?) and Saturday’s (In your opinion what was the best invention in 2007?) too.

An mp3 player that isn’t an iPod…

Ask anyone about MP3 players and obviously the iPod is perceived as the ubiquitous model. This is the work of incredible marketing on the part of Apple and despite masses of criticism (quick battery death, difficult repairs etc.,) the iPod has managed to outsell its competitors, even when the likes of Creative and Archos seem steps ahead of Apple in terms of quality, durability and innovative thinking. These are some of the reasons that the next gadget I want to buy will be the new Creative Zen.

The Creative Zen is a flash based mp3 player, similar to the iPod Nano, both of which are very different to the iPod Classic model which is a hard drive based player. There are some major differences between flash based players and hard drive based players, it’s not only price and size, durability is the key.

Hard Drive based mp3 players

A hard disk drive (HDD) stores your data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Picture the internal components of an iPod (or any other hard drive based player) as a small disk, spinning continuously as your songs load and play, quite similar to a CD spinning in a discman. You can even feel the slight vibrations of the disc when holding an iPod in your palm. These moving parts make the iPod quite fragile, especially if you drop the device while it is in use.

Flash Memory based mp3 players

Flash memory is a solid state storage drive (SSD), meaning that everything is electronic rather than mechanical like in a hard drive. This indicates that there are no actual moving parts, making flash based mp3 players more resilient to both dropping and everyday use. It is for this reason that flash based players are favoured by joggers and athletes.

The iPod Touch, Nano and Shuffle are all flash based players and in comparison to their more popular counterpart the price to storage space ratio is far higher. For example the 16gb Nano is €199 and the Classic 80gb is €249. Flash players might be more expensive than hard drive players, but they’ll certainly outlive any hard disk players on the market (this is especially true for iPods, having been criticised heavily for their seemingly built-in obsolesce).

This is where the Creative Zen comes back into consideration. It has an SD memory card slot which gives you unlimited media storage possibilities. The idea being that when your Zen becomes full you simply buy a memory card(s) for it. The latest SD memory cards are available in up to 32GB in size and although these are expensive at the moment, flash memory is following Moore’s law which indicates that the price should continue to drop at an exponential rate as the maximum capacity increases. What I really like about the Zen having an SD card slot is the fact that I already have SD cards from mobile phones and cameras, which I can re-use in the Zen.

The other huge selling point of the Zen is the 2.5inch screen – the same size screen as the iPod Classic but the Zen is a fraction of the size. Its size is comparable to a credit card and is a very slim 0.44-inch thick. Surprisingly though it actually feels very sturdy in the hand. The Zen also plays a wider variety of file types, so no need to convert your entire music collection or to use iTunes, you can even use Windows Media Player or Winamp to manage your music and video files. The Zen can also be used as a dictaphone as it has a built-in microphone and also has an FM Radio (a must for a PhantomFM fan like myself) – these are two features that you must purchase additional accessories for in order to have them on an iPod, accessories that cost over €50 each.

Overall the Zen represents, to me, a better investment than any other kind of mp3 player would, especially an iPod. I’m going to be a very happy music/video lover once I get my paws on one of these.

You can view other entries to today’s question over on Damien Mulley’s blog.

It was an easy prediction for me to make (even back in January) that the iPhone would (eventually) launch in Ireland on the O2 Network. Seeing as the iPhone is launching in the U.K in November exclusively on O2, it’s an even easier prediction to make now. But O2′s data packages are very expensive – ask anyone who ever attempted to use their ill-fated iMode to do anything productive. For instance 25MB of data is currently €19.99! To put this into perspective, 1MB is approximately 20 webpages. Not websites, pages. So much for that “mobile internet device” we’ve been promised.

Speaking of which – I’ve finally hit the 1GB download allowance (a.k.a fair usage policy) on the Three Network. Considering its taken me 6 months to do so, and at only €20 for the privilege, I’m very impressed. 1GB went a very long way – from checking my email every available second using the fantastic Gmail Java Application, to looking up cinema times, browsing Bebo and even the occasional “attempt” at cheating in quizzes. If I was on O2, this would have cost me over €800.

I’m uncertain as to whether my next Internet bundle purchase will last as long, as they are supposed to expire after the allowed 1 month but if my previous experience is anything to go by it should be fine. This is just another fuel to my disappointed over the iPhone being released without 3G capabilities. Not only would have it been cheaper to run (on the Three Network at least), it would have made my mobile browsing a much more enjoyable experience.

Using EDGE technology is slow and O2 are quoted as having only 30% coverage in Europe. In the UK, O2 have attempted to overlook this issue by offering free access to over 7,000 wifi hotspots. I can’t imagine them being able to pull off a similar deal in Ireland – especially when the major wifi hotspot provider is Eircom.

All usability studies show that fast response times are essential for web usability. The lesson from this? If you want Internet on the move that is actually usable rather than frustrating, don’t even bother with an iPhone – it’s a glorified widescreen iPod, overpriced and over-hyped. I’m not slating the device itself, as it does boast a very user centred design. The user interface is beautiful and intuitive. A list of its strengths and weaknesses can be found here. (It does fail to mention the lack of multimedia messaging (MMS) capabilities though). Also check out “Living with the iPhone” over on Infosync.

My advice to you, prospective Irish iPhone buyer – try to get an unlocked one online, choose whatever network you want for voice and txt, then forget about connecting to the Internet unless you’re at home in your own personal wifi network, otherwise this thing will cost you a fortune in monthly voice, text and data from O2. And no, there won’t be any pay-as-you-go iPhone out there.

Or, you could just buy an iPod Touch. It’ll definitely work out cheaper.

In my previous post on X-Series I wrote that Three were due to launch this product soon but it appears that the launch date has been pushed forward, for reasons that I’m not privileged enough to know. More than likely they’re testing the systems rigorously, rather than doing-a-Microsoft and launching with bugs intact.

However, much to my surprise they’ve removed their “walled garden” (see post) from Internet browsing on all 3 handsets. I’ve tested it and come to the conclusion that it’s not perfect, but it is very useful. Some sites redirect you to a PDA or Mobi version of their site, which is wonderful for legibility. The sites that don’t are squashed into your small screen, Bebo is difficult to navigate but is usable, to a degree. Some sites wont open at all, MySpace is completely inaccessible. Some sites are handset specific, YouTube will open but viewing the streaming video isn’t possible without Macromedia Flash Player, which doesn’t come as standard on most handsets. Overall I’m impressed with being able to type in practically any web address and being able to access it, and it’s reasonably priced.

There is an age verification system in place, for 3pay (pay-as-you-go) customers. You do have to be able to prove you are over 18 to access these features, which is understandable, as I did (for research purposes only of course) access pornography online with total ease. The only other downside (is age verification a downside?) is the fact that it’s not quite X-Series speeds, but it’s certainly not so slow that it will irritate.

In the post on X-Series I also mentioned my interest in getting a Nokia N73, but something else caught my eye. Infact, one genius feature completely won me over and I got a Sony Ericsson W850i. It comes bundled with TrackID, an incredible and extremely user-centered piece of software that records audio from the microphone (or built-in radio), takes a musical fingerprint and then connects to the Internet comparing the fingerprint to the Gracenote database. The software then tells you the artist name and song title, and seeing as it’s on a Three handset, you also have the option to download the song from the 3MusicStore – if it’s available, the Gracenote database has 2.5 million songs fingerprinted, 3MusicStore is only just approaching the 1million mark.

This software is something so wonderfully usable by myself and many others, Jen tried it in the Cinema and it picked up 90% of the songs she queried. I used it to find and download a song (that my brother was obsessed with) that featured in a Scrubs episode. TrackID has turned me from a hardcore Nokia user to a Sony Ericsson lover. The w850i is fantastic, I thought I’d be lost without symbian, but I’ve easily adapted and come to love the SE interface. As a music lover this is definitely the perfect phone for me.

There has been a huge amount of speculation online (for years actually) about Apple producing a PDA or a Phone. Recently Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPhone which is being marketed as an iPod, phone and Internet communicator. The iPod and phone part I get, the Internet communicator, with regards to an Irish market, is a bit of a stretch. This is definitely a device designed with the American market in mind.

The problem with any kind of mobile Internet is that none of the current networks in Ireland offer any kind of reasonably priced data packages that will allow for anything more than e-mail usage from the iPhone (unless connected to a wifi hotspot – pretty slim chance of finding many of those in Ireland). It’s a real pity the iPhone isn’t 3G compatible as it would be perfect for the 3 network’s eagerly anticipated X-Series. Unfortunately the iPhone currently only supports EDGE.

EDGE and 3G are the technologies that allow for high-speed mobile data transmissions, the most notable difference between the two is the speed. With EDGE you can connect to a mobile network at up to 384kbps but with 3G it’s up to 3.6mbps. It’s that huge difference in speed that allows you to make video-calls on a 3G network, which means no video-calls on the iPhone.

Currently only O2 and Meteor support EDGE, Vodafone and 3 surpassed this lesser technology to install a 3G network. Therefore the iPhone, as it is now, will only work on O2 or Meteor. It definitely limits your options and seeing as O2 is already a Apple Reseller, for now I’m going to assume that when the iPhone does launch in Ireland, it will launch on O2, only.

Since my last post I have officially graduated from college, you can see all the embarrassing photos of myself and my classmates in our graduation gowns and caps over on my bebo page. I spent some time in cork working/training in the 3Store on Patrick’s Street, and other than that I’ve just been playing around with my new toy. I finally got my dream camera – the Fuji Finepix S5600 – it was a graduation gift from my parents, and by gift I mean they handed me money and said “We were afraid of getting you the wrong one.”

So far, I’ve yet to master the finer “complicated” functions of the camera, which is frustrating but also makes me realise that for once in my life I should probably read the manual. The camera takes fantastic photos and it’s really quick, making multiple shots very easy to take. The 10x zoom is incredible, it makes you feel like a spy. It’s a lot of fun. Getting clear close-up shots of small objects isn’t easy though, having tried to take shots of a bearded dragon at the weekend I’ve come to the conclusion that I must (yes, must!) purchase a fisheye lens and macro, for panoramic and close-up shots. I don’t have any other negative comments, I’m very happy with my purchase, I did have one small problem with it though.

After less than a week of it being in my possession there was one very annoying problem – the additional memory card I purchased with it was faulty. I lost all of the photos I took at the weekend. However, I was pleasantly surprised to come up against no hassle whatsoever in Pixels, where I purchased the camera. When I explained the situation, they simply gave me a new memory card, none of the usual arguments or “I’ll have to talk to the manager” bull that I’m used to from sales people.

So, to make sure it was working perfectly with the replacement card, I took some shots of my dog Ben, who is definitely no stranger to the camera, in fact he is quite the little poser as you can see below.

If there’s one thing about “chiq” fem-phones that I’ve hated in the past, it’s that they are often feature-filled yet lack the ability to expand the memory. Take the Nokia 6111, great looking phone, fantastic features like bluetooth and a megapixel camera – yet, what’s the point of a megapixel camera phone if you can only take about 20 photographs at its highest resolution? The new Benq-Siemens E51 is a big change to this annoying trend. From the outside it appears to be the successor of the popular Siemens CL75 (the “poppy” phone) but there are some major differences, for instance the 1.3 megapixel camera instead of vga, it’s bluetooth enabled and also has a micro-sd slot so you can expand the memory. Siemens haven’t launched a new phone in a long time, the reason being that it was bought out by the Taiwan based Benq group. Rebranded as Benq-Siemens, and with the launch of the E51 into the Irish market also comes the E61, a “music phone” which boasts a 512mb miniSD card and dedicated music buttons. Both of these models are due to launch on the O2 Speakeasy range and will retail at approximately €150.

I had the opportunity to play around with both phones during the week, both phones have the same user interface which seems straightforward enough, easy to navigate, but with it’s bright colours it’s probably more suited to the teen market. Personally, I really like the style of the E61, its slick black with red/orange stripe reminded me of the A-team van. The dedicated music buttons are easy to use, and although it only has a vga camera I can definitely see this being a popular alternative to the more expensive Sony Ericsson “music phones”. With regards to the E51, it’s nice to see a phone that’s being marketed towards women that has excellent features such as bluetooth and a micro-sd slot. It borrows from the CL75 quite successfully, with its integrated compact mirror but also comes pre-loaded with a “5 minutes to fabulous” java application that shows you how to do your make-up in five easy steps. It’s this feature that made me take 5 steps away from this phone. I’m sure it’s not for everyone (me included) but it’s a nice gimmick and along with its low price, and with Christmas fast approaching it’s sure to be a big seller.

In personal news, I’ve had no feedback yet from Google about the Adsense position. So don’t ask. I’ve been told it will be sometime this week, possibly tomorrow, before I hear anything. At least in the meantime I can distract myself by trying out the “5 minutes to fabulous” java application to see if it can turn a butch like me into a pretty chiq girl… the odds are pretty slim though.

The interview with Google on Monday went really well, both team leaders who I met with were really nice, educated and nerdy. Despite feeling extremely over-dressed, it seems that everyday is “Casual Friday” at Google, I was comfortable and confident throughout the entire hour of interviews and simply being able to walk through the offices themselves was an interesting experience. I don’t want to overanalyse for now, but I’ll tell you one thing – the Google offices themselves are really funky and cool. I think I would fit in perfectly there. In a weird coincidence though (or maybe just the work of a certain search engine) there’s a comment on my previous post from someone who is competing for the same position as myself. Weird.

While I’ve been off contemplating moving jobs I’ve also been in the process of doing Apple Sales Training (I’ve gotten Silver Status, half way to Gold! Hurrah!), even I don’t use the knowledge to sell the products it’s a great way of finding out about Apple technology. Although, I still haven’t found the answer to why Jen’s new iPod Nano keeps freezing randomly and needs to be reset. I’ve been assured by one of my colleagues that all Nanos go through a “phase” where they need to be reset occasionally, Jen seems to think it’s going through puberty and it’s acting out against her.

Speaking of Ipods… the best time of the year to buy one would be right now. What with Apple launching the new iPod Nano and 80gb iPod, all the iPod range has gone down in price (so the old stock gets shifted quick) – you can actually pick up a 30gb/60gb Video iPod for €290/€340 here in 3G on Henry Street. Which I think, is a bargain. Although, I’ve heard a rumour that you can get the 30gb for only €270 in Spectra Photo on Grafton Street. Even nicer!

Seeing as there has been a price drop in the iPod range, it’s only natural that the Creative Zen Vision M will have to drop in price to compete and there is even rumour online that Creative will be upgrading the capacity of the Vision M to 80gb, they’ve also launched their new widescreen mp3/video player the Vision W. Since my Micro Photo got stolen I’ve been using a 1gb Creative player, which is fine by me, at least in the short term. If those Vision M players go down, I think I’ll invest in one of those rathar than an iPod.

For years I’ve had an interest in digital photography but have never had the money to purchase my own digital camera, I’ve always borrowed everyone elses or used my god-awful vga camera on my mobile phone. I’ve been thinking that it’s about time that I purchased a digital camera of my own. Of course, when it comes to me and technology, I want the best there is to offer. I had my hopes set on getting a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera – the difference between a DSLR camera and a standard digital camera is the ability to view the picture you are taking via the lens rather than the viewfinder, giving you a truly accurate image. Unfortunately, even a 6 mega pixel DSLR camera is about €600. Which is definitely outside of my budget, for now.

The traditional digital camera market is completely saturated, and I’ve found it rather difficult to choose one (hence why I still don’t own one!) as my own terrible greed for “features” makes it impossible to stay within a reasonable budget. However, upon investigation I found an alternative to a DSLR camera that’s within budget. The Fuji FinePix S5600 Zoom: it’s only 5.1 megapixel, however it boasts 10x opitcal zoom. That’s impressive for €300, and it looks quite cool too. It has some wonderful features, for instance, movie recording in .avi format and the ability to change the lenses (I already have my eye on a fisheye! – ha ha).

The only drawback to buying a Fuji digital camera is the fact that they only take xD-Picture Cards, which is annoying considering I have plenty of MMC cards just lying around from old digital cameras and phones. If I’m to buy this camera I’ll have to purchase at least 1gb, which will set me back another €60, double the price of a standard MMC card. For now I’m not going to make any decisions, until I actually have the money. What fun it is to procrastinate.

I just had the wonderful pleasure of doing some market research with a representative from Creative, who let me play around with their new range of Creative Zens, the Creative Zen V. It’s basically a mini Creative Zen MicroPhoto, but they will also have a version that can play video. On a screen that small, I can’t see why they would include that feature…

It looks like Creative are targeting the iPod Nano market with this little number, and if they market it correctly (and Apple don’t release a new type of Nano) they’ll be onto a little winner. Emphasis on the little.

It will come in 1gb, 2gb and 4gb. Creative have removed the FM Radio feature, which will only feature on the V Plus model (for an extra €20), I think this is an error on their side as one of the benefits of owning a Creative Zen over an iPod is the ability to switch to the radio function. It looks cool (it’s completely black this time, no white battery cover this time thank god) and it feels nice and snug in your hand – and it definitely feels more sturdy and reliable (if you per chance drop it) than the iPod Nano.

Instead of the touch pad there is now a small joystick, which reminded me of the joystick on the Nokia 6600, it’s soft under your thumb, unlike other joysticks that feature on mp3 players such as the Cowan iAudio X5. They’ve added a volume control button to the side of the player, which definitely makes it more user friendly in comparison to the Zen Micro Photo.

A stand-out feature is the abilty to rotate your screen to orientate it to your preferred viewing point. It also features line-in encoding (so you can record music directly from a CD player or other playback source with the supplied line-in cable) technically you don’t even need a computer to store your music, and of course they’ve included the voice recording facility.

I do have some negative feedback, however.

4gb is not enough, personally I like carrying a full 8gb (or more) worth of music with me. The headphones you get with Creative mp3 players are horrible. They’re just so 90′s. They don’t fit into your ear snuggly and the sound quality is dire. Also, asking consumers to pay an extra €20 for a radio and video function is laughable, not many people are likely to want a video function on a screen so small and with a player with such a small capacity. The extra brings the price closer to the price of an iPod Nano and some people may opt for the iPod because of their popularity and “reputation”. Despite these drawbacks, it’s a possibility that I will actually buy one, or buy one as a present.

It’s set to hit the Irish market just on time for Christmas, but with the 1gb model retailing at around €100 it should be a fast seller.

I’ve been on the search for a new MP3 player since my ‘ol faithful (and most wonderful) Sony MP3/Discman player died on me – the Discman element of this contraption did have it’s benefits, it meant I could buy a C.D and just pop it in to listen to it on my way home, the only downfall of this was that even if I only had 1 C.D with 1000 tracks – the Discman required a bag, if I wanted to bring it out with me.

Since my Sony crapped out on me (for no apparent reason – it just WONT play mp3′s anymore) I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect MP3 Player. At first, I was thinking of getting a Nokia N91 – which would combine every single thing that I wanted – Mp3 Player, Radio, 2mega pixel camera phone (the phone part is only slightly important!).

Unfortunately the N91 wont be coming out till sometime next year, and will carry a hefty price tag (probably about €800). I really dont want to be carrying around something that expensive with me every single day. I would be completely crushed if it was stolen or broken accidentally. Besides, my Nokia 6600 is still working, and as much as I crave buying a new phone (working in a phone shop makes me want to buy a better phone all the damm time) I dont really NEED to buy one. An Mp3 player is definitely NEEDED though (what will all the traveling I do!)

So, whats the problem? I hear you say. Well mp3 players are UGLY. Very ugly. The Apple iPod is very pretty, but I sell them, and I wouldnt buy one because I know how often the battery just dies on people (and can only be replaced by sending it away for a couple of weeks – and it will cost you about €100). The warranty is only 1year – so any other problems you have with your iPod, if they happen after 1year you’re screwed (and random things DO happen to iPods all the time). I got my brother a 15GB iPod when they first came out (in April 2003) and the battery is totally destroyed on it. What other electronics item DOES this? Practically speaking if you were going to spend €300/€400 on a new TV, but then you were told it would cost you 100 every 3years to keep it working would you buy it? Of course not.
iPods the Worlds biggest fucking scam. (even the accessories are riiculously priced – an iPod sock?! a SOCK!? €40! It’s a piece of WOOL you morons! stop buying this SHIT!)

What I really want in an MP3 player is something with a sleek look, a usable interface, good ergonomic button design, a radio, and some features of customisability that dont require me to spend money. When you say the words radio and mp3 player in the same sentence most people direct you towards Creative Zen which I agree are reliable products, with the absolutely paramount option of replacing the battery. The only problem with Creative Zen? Again, they’re ugly to the max. Every Zen Ive ever seen has made me recoil with disgust. At least that was until today…

It’s not available to buy over here yet (typical! it just came out 2days ago) but, this will be MINE. Its a beauty. And Ill be taking it in the GREEN please (it comes in white, black, green, blue and ewwww pink). The asking price in the States is $330. Bargain for a 30GB. Features wise its equivalent to the Apple Video iPod (with a longer battery life in video mode, however) except it comes with the usual Creative Zen features too radio, voice-recorder, and replaceable battery. It WILL be mine. Thank you Creative for finally designing something pretty for me.

*update* I was unable to purchase the 30GB (I couldn’t get it anywhere for months), and ended up buying the 8GB Creative Zen Micro Photo, I did get a discount, so I wasn’t too disappointed. I love my new Zen. The software it comes with is god awful though – don’t use it, try Winamp instead.