Reviews
Das Keyboard for Mac Review.
Thursday, May 10th, 2012 | Reviews | No Comments
About a month ago I finally received my Das Keyboard for Mac. Prior to that I was using an Apple Design Keyboard. I know the Apple Extended Keyboard II is all the rage in geek circles, but I found the softer key action of the ADK much nicer. Still, I wanted to try the Das Keyboard out since its a USB keyboard that the closest to the ADK, and even closer to the AEKII.
I really like the design of it. Its black, which aesthetically fits much better with my MacBook Pro and my external monitor. It has two USB ports on the side- which are powered. That requires a cable with two USB plugs to plug in. Since I have a hub, and I’m not losing ports (but gaining better access to them), this is great. The weight is very solid, which helps keep the keyboard stable.
It also has media buttons, which are helpful- though I don’t like the placement of the function key. Its in the opposite spot over where the MacBook Pro has it. I would much rather had it in the same place. They key font is weird- and maybe that’s because all the text is in lower case, which I find not as pleasing and harder to read. Finally, they replace the Insert key with an eject key- which is great except I need the Insert key for vSphere servers!
As far as the action of the keys- I like it. Its not as nice as the ADK, but I bet its pretty close to the AEKII. It took me a bit to adjust as I think they keycaps are smaller. But after using it a month, I’m now pretty fast and accurate on it, which is great. The sound isn’t as pleasing as the ADK, but its not annoying at all. I actually like it.
My final verdict- if you like the old style keyboards, but want a modern replacement, get the Das Keyboard. It doesn’t get better than this.
Twitterrific 4: Excitement followed by disappointment
Sunday, February 13th, 2011 | Reviews | Comments Off
Twitterrific 4 for Mac was released on Wednesday. I was excited to download it, because version 3 was getting long in the tooth. For example, it didn’t support retweeting, nor URL shortening. To my dismay, there are two glaring issues with the application. And that has forced me back to version 3. And if that all sounds familiar, it should. I wrote very similar things about Tweetie for Mac back in 2009. You would like Iconfactory would learn from atebits mistake. And on top of that, the developer seemed incredulous that I would ask for the changes.
My first complaint is that to send a tweet, you now have to press option-return or click send. That’s a really bad UI. I want to type, then hit send. The developer tweeted back that its too easy to send an accidental tweet. First, how often does that happen? Second, who cares- let the users figure that out, because that’s what the delete function is for. Third, you can use the enter key, but laptops don’t have that. It makes usability much harder. His response to that was how would a carriage return be input? But, who does that? The tweets I look at almost never have carriage returns. And since that is a lot rarer than just sending a tweet, the options should be reversed. Its a stupid UI decision.
And for some reason, they left out the very useful Growl. The developer has said that if enough people request it, they will bring it back. It looks to me like one of the most requested features on their Twitter account is Growl support, so they better add. Still it is crazy that they took it out in the first place. Growl is exceedingly easy to add to applications- it took me about 15 minutes to add Growl support to SMART Utility. However they also have said they aren’t convinced of its usefulness. Again, that’s crazy. I don’t want to open up the app every time a new tweet comes it. Just show me it briefly.
While writing this review, I found a two more things that are infuriating about Twitterrific 4. When the main window is closed, the app stops updating What kind of decision was that? For version 3, it just hid the window when it was closed, but it still updated in the background. Now, for the same functionality, it has be hid manually. For basic users, hiding and closing should be the same thing. Also, the Dock icon is always there, when it wasn’t in version 3. Okay, so that’s just annoying, but still, another bad UI choice.
So I really hope Iconfactory fixes these bugs in the next version. I really want to support development, but I can with these glaring problems.
iPhone 4 Review
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 | Reviews | Comments Off
I have had the iPhone 4 for about six weeks now. My verdict? I absolutely love it. Its the best phone I ever owned, as well as the best iPhone ever (that sounds familiar). I want to cover my favorite features, but first, let’s talk about that elephant.
Antenna
Unfortunately, the one of the best parts of the iPhone has gotten a heavy amount of bad coverage: the dreaded signal drop. I will admit I can make my bars drop, but not as much now with iOS 4.0.1 out. And just yesterday I accidentally held it the wrong way (I had my thumb on the bad spot) and a call almost dropped. But then I realized it, and moved my hand to how I normally hold my phone. That is the only time in six weeks I ever had an issue. I also do not use the bumper, mainly because my car has a dock, but also because I just don’t feel like I need it.
I find this just a small problem. In fact, I believe its better on the iPhone, because I know exactly were the problem is. On other phones, who knows where the antenna is, and I have had problems with other phones dropping calls depending on where I hold the phone.
I also find the benefits outweigh that small problem. I get much better reception in more places now. There are buildings I travel to that I never had a signal before, and now I do- and its usable. Plus, by making the antenna external, the phone is thinner, but with a bigger battery.
Battery
This is a huge benefit to external antenna. The battery lasts forever compared to my 3G (even when new). I can use 3G internet for much longer. I have noticed I can surf for about 3 hours straight, and only lose about 50% of my battery. My 3G would be down to 20% at that point.
Camera
The camera on the phone is wonderful. Its faster for one. I can keep pressing the button and it will take pictures as fast as I can tap it. The pictures look better, and have a much better quality to them (of course I was coming from a 3G too). The video is spectacular as well. Having HD video on a device this small is awesome. Its not perfect- the colors are always exactly right, night shooting is tough, and there is some tearing in video shots. But for a cameraphone? Its amazing.
Screen
The Retina Display is absolutely stunning. Just looking at text blows me away. It almost is as good as high quality printed magazine pages! Looking a pictures, especially from the built in camera, shows so much clarity. I just cannot believe the quality of this screen. Games looks beautiful on it. Watching videos on this thing is amazing.
Speed
Wow is this thing fast. Apps open up in the blink of an eye. I never have to wait for my phone anymore- when I tell it to do something, it does it. The biggest slowness, of course, were games loading. And they load so quick now. I’m eagerly awaiting more apps that can take advantage of the speed.
Other
The GPS is much more accurate now, as well as quicker to identify my location. iOS itself is very cool- I love unified mailboxes. Going back to my iPad without it is a pain in the butt.
The way multitasking on the phone works is just about perfect for me. There still are a lot of apps that need updated for it, but the implementation is great. I love being able to switch back and forth quickly, as well as have a recent items list. One thing I think can be improved is some way of differentiating between running apps and just recent apps. That way I can tell if an app is actually sucking down battery. But other than that, I love it. Its so nice to be able to run MLB At Bat in the background now.
Verdict
Like I said before, this phone is awesome. It gets my 100% buy rating. I’ve played with other Android phones, and the still do not compare. And where I live, ATT has awesome service, so no complaints there. Apple did a great job with the phone.
iPhone OS 3.0
Thursday, March 26th, 2009 | Reviews | Comments Off
Now that it has been over a week since the iPhone OS 3.0 event, I would like to comment on what happened. I’m very impressed with the new features that Apple is including with the update. I was actually surprised at just how many features were added- I expected a few bigs ones (ie copy and paste) but some surprised me (P2P Bluetooth). Let me go over the features I think are important:
- Copy and paste: FINALLY! While I didn’t need it all that often, it does come in handy once and a while. Even though the interface is a little odd, and will take getting used to, it is a much needed addition.
- Search: This is bigger than it sounds. Having a global Spotlight search is something that we’ll never believe we lived without. And adding search to Mail and iPod is another much needed addition.
- Landscape keyboard: I hated not being able to use the landscape keyboard in Mail and in SMS(now Messages). Its about time this was added too, and it makes typing on the iPhone so much better.
- Automatic login in Safari: This is awesome- no more needed to type passwords over and over again. With Safari remembering key passwords, it makes browsing a much better experience.
- Peer to Peer Bluetooth: WOW! This is going to open up a whole new class of applications. I cannot wait to see what other developers do with this ability. I can imagine playing games with other iPhones and sending notes and Calendar events to a friend or co-worker. I even have some ideas on applications that can leverage this.
- Dock connectivity: Its about type the dock was opened up. Imagine attaching it to a serial cable and managing a switch or router with it? This sounds really cool, and I can’t wait to see what device manufacturers will come out with.
- Push notification: I’m glad this is finally coming, though I am disappointed there still is no option for background notification. While having a notice come through will be helpful for some apps, there still is no option for background audio. I would like to see an interface to specify 1-3 apps that are allowed to run in the background. It would make management much easier than Windows Mobile devices, but still allow needed apps for users.
–
All in all and awesome update. I’m actually already running it on my iPhone, and it is quite nice. Obviously, I can’t talk about it too much, but other than being buggy in some areas, it works great.
Now I’m thinking of ways I can utilize the new features, and hopefully I can come up with something cool.
iPhone 3G- A decent upgrade
Thursday, December 25th, 2008 | Reviews | Comments Off
I had to buy a new iPhone last month- somebody stole my original one. Luckily it had a passcode, and nobody made any calls on it.
I did want to wait to upgrade for a couple of reasons- I wanted 32GB of space for all of my music and a few movies, I wanted a processor upgrade (like the new iPod Touch apparently has), and I wanted any other new, unexpected feature Apple would add on.
Nonetheless, I did need new a new iPhone. I like it. It feels good- lighter actually. Reception is definitely better. And the call quality is noticeably better as well- my fiance says I am much clearer now, even when driving. I like being able to use the internet and receive a call at the same time. I’ve missed calls because of that with the old one. The flush headphone jack rocks. I love being able to plug in any head phones and using them without a extra adapter. And of course with 3G I don’t get the “brrp, brrp, brrp” on speakers like I used to.
I don’t like the screen as much- its too yellow. The original had a much nicer white balance to it- which brought out the colors better. My home button also feels soft and mushy. It doesn’t have that nice click to it (it also doesn’t activate all the time either- maybe that’s related). I hate that all my old docks don’t work any more- at least not without some dremeling.
Overall I am happy with it. Still has some thing I don’t like, but its not a bad upgrade at all.
New MacBook Brief Review
Friday, December 5th, 2008 | Reviews | Comments Off
I had a chance to play with one of the new unibody MacBooks the other week. My school district purchased two to use as spares. The first thing I noticed was how solid they felt- not just compared to the old plastic MacBooks, but to the old MacBook Pro’s as well. The case did not flex at all- even the old MBP’s case flex a little bit. That certainly is very nice. One thing I do wonder is how well it will hold up in a drop.
The new trackpad was actually easy to use. I was worried how the buttonless “feature” would work, but I had no problem using it all all. It felt natural. I liked it better actually. I could not get the 4 finger swipe to work however- not sure if that was a bug or what.
It didn’t feel any faster but then I did not have much time to play with it. I also did not get a chance to test out the screen- which really is my biggest fear. I am not a fan of the glossy screen. Hopefully, when they update the 17″ MacBook Pro, which is what I am waiting for, they will have an option for glossy.
The only downside I could really see is the loss of FireWire, which is a huge mistake. Losing target disk mode is a giant loss- not only for the Migration Assistant and recovering data, but for booting other Macs with that Mac. The MIgration Assistant is the best thing that the Mac had and Windows didn’t. Now a stupid decision has cut that out.
But other than that I would score it as a win. I would definitely get a MBP though- gotta have FireWire.