Tag Archives: review

iTunes 10 (Windows) review – worth the upgrade

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It was announced yesterday that Apple would be releasing their newest version of iTunes in the early hours of this morning. And as if by magic, the Apple Software Updater today alerted me that a new version of the software was available. So I’ve downloaded it, given it a spin and here’s what I have to say.

If you’re just a casual user of iTunes, you probably won’t notice any huge difference except from the new design and interface. They’ve replaced the CD logo with a new logo of a music note. The general UI of the program has been changed quite considerably. I quite like it, but I think this new approach to listing my music library looks very untidy.

Thankfully, I use the album cover view to see my music, so that won’t affect me hugely.

The biggest new feature to the program is the new “Ping”. Essentially, it’s just a copy of last.fm with the ability to like, review and follow artists/songs that are of interest to you. You can then share this with other users that you happen to be following. The software will give you up to date information from the artists you are following.

Personally, I quite like the feature. I’ll find it very useful for “discovering” new music as Apple like to put it. However, I think it’s sad that Apple are so desperate for ideas that they have to go and copy a concept that already exists. I much prefer last.fm’s approach and I think Apple will have a job getting people to convert to their idea.

I happen to think performance has improved considerably with the new version. Even with a dual core 2.8ghz processor and Windows 7, iTunes 9 still seemed to be pretty sluggish. The new version appears to load up pretty quickly and navigating through the software seems to be much more speedy. Gone are the days when you have to wait several seconds for iTunes to respond to you clicking a menu option.

Other than that though, there isn’t really much the casual iTunes user will notice. The store hasn’t really changed much, except for “Ping” integration. The iPod management is almost identical to the old version, with exception to a tiny bit of new design.

Overall, I’d go grab it. It’ll probably be essential to upgrade soon anyway. You can get it from apple.com/itunes or from the Apple Software Updater.

PlusNet Extra broadband – a fantastic package with unbelievable value

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Following the release of the new broadband plans, I was quite intrigued by the Extra package.

The new plan costs a mere £11.49 a month (in Market 3 areas – go to www.samknows.com to check your exchange). For that, you get a large 60GB monthly usage allowance with unlimited usage between 12 midnight and 8am. You also get a connection up to 20MB and the possibility of not having a contract.

So, we took the offer up. We got the offer with the first 4 months free too (offer expires 27th May) so the only down payment was a £25 setup fee and we chose not to have a contract. Within 5 days it was up and running, and I was astonished with the results.

Our previous provider, IDNet, was giving us a speed of 5Mbit per second (on average), but now with PlusNet (we are still in testing period, I know) we’re getting 8-9Mbit per second – a huge improvement.

There is traffic management, but it’s very well organised. YouTube is throttled to 2.5MB per second between 6-10pm, and many large download sites (such as Megaupload – which often contain illegal content) are throttled during most of the evening and night, but that’s about it. At least we actually get to know how the traffic management works – most ISPs don’t reveal that information.

The offer almost seems too good to be true – but evidently it isn’t. I’m really happy with the fantastic value service. So overall here – a definite win. A fantastic price that can’t be beaten. Amazing!

Nokia 5230 Review – The best budget phone I’ve had so far

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I recently acquired my first ever smartphone (at last!). It’s the Nokia 5230 – a budget phone that packs a lot of punch.

For the best part of £80 from the Carphone Warehouse, you can get the phone brand new and unlocked. It includes HSDPA internet, GPS, Symbian S60 5th edition and a 2 megapixel camera. Personally, I think that’s a great line up for such a low priced phone.

The phone is very similar physically to the 5800. It’s a very similar size (but slightly thinner) and has the same sized screen. In fact, the 5230 only lacks wi-fi and a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash compared to the 5800. The 5230 is very nice to hold and fits comfortably in my hand.

On the left side of the phone, you’ll find slots for the MicroSD memory card (up to 16GB) and a SIM card. Whereas on the right of the phone, you’ll find a volume control, a lock slider (to lock the phone) and a single press camera button. On the front of the phone, you simply have the 3.2″ touchscreen and 3 hard buttons.

The interface of the phone is very easy to use. The Symbian S60 firmware means you get great ease of use together with brilliant functionality. As part of Nokia’s recent changes, you also get free worldwide Ovi Maps to go in harmony with the GPS receiver. Overall, I found Ovi Maps to be very impressive with the latest firmware to date. It is very fast and is relatively good at following your movements. The GPS receiver is one of the best built-in receivers I’ve used so far, being very good at getting strong signals even when in the car or on a bus.

The 2 megapixel camera is slightly lacking in today’s standards, but I feel that it still performs relatively well. I was very impressed with video camera, which is capable of shooting 640×480 video at 30 frames per second. The phone was also very good at getting decent, well focused shots in fast movement. I wouldn’t use it for professional photography, but for casual out-and-about usage it is perfect for the job. There’s no front facing camera, so no video calls, but who ever did video calls?

You also get a mono speaker which I thought was pretty good, but putting my own earphones into the 3.5mm jack sounded much better.

In terms of what you get in the box, I was slightly disappointed. In the UK, you’ll get the phone, together with a charger, manual and wrist strap. It also includes a very low budget stylus in the shape of a guitar pick, however I can’t really complain at the price of the phone. You don’t get a micro USB cable for the phone, so you have to rely on bluetooth for syncing with your computer. However, you can get these on eBay for about £3, so it may well be worth budgeting for.

Overall, I’m very happy with the phone. It packs a lot of punch for £80, and I’m happy to take it as an upgrade for my old 3120 classic.

Giffgaff – the “people powered” mobile network

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I recently stumbled across this new UK mobile network, and I have to say – it’s a dream come true for me.

They are a very interesting phone network because they are unique in many ways. When you’ve got your SIM card running and you’re using the network, it all seems very standard and basic – but take a look under the hood and you’ll notice a very clever concept.

The basic idea behind giffgaff is very simple. They cut all the expensive marketing and support services and replace them with much cheaper and efficient solutions. By doing this, they can provide a mobile phone service that is considerably cheaper than competitors whilst having happy customers.

For example, they don’t do telephone customer service. Instead, they provide an online community forum that people can submit problems to and members of the network respond with possible solutions. There are also moderators and managers who can help with the slightly more technical problems. And for peace of mind, they also provide an “Ask an Agent” service for the people who need administrative help such as call bars and setup help.

They don’t own any masts – these are provided by O2 and work pretty well. 3G coverage is not brilliant (O2 have always had a bad reputation for 3G coverage) but 2G is coverage is very good for calls and texts. You’ll get 3G in large towns and cities but don’t expect to get it in your rural countryside home.

That brings me nicely onto the subject of costs. They are trying to keep things simple by simply providing one pay as you go tariff. The basic cost of this tariff is as follows:

  • FREE calls (anytime) to other giffgaff members (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months)
  • FREE texts (anytime) to other giffgaff members (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months)
  • 8p per minute calls (flat rate, anytime) to any other UK landline or mobile phone
  • 4p per text to any UK phone.
  • 8p per call to voicemail
  • FREE (100MB per day FUP) internet usage until 25th May 2010 (as long as you top up £10 per 3 months), internet price after that date to be confirmed
  • FREE calls to any 0800 number (I believe you have to remove the 0 at the beginning – ie 800 not 0800 – no longer true, just dial the number as normal and it’s free), and many other freephone numbers including 0500 and 0808 numbers.

So as you can you see, it’s pretty good value. They haven’t sorted bundles (eg for texts or calls) yet, but as far as I am aware, they are working on that.

If you’d like to give it a try, head over to giffgaff.com and request your free SIM. You’ll have to pay £10 when you get it to activate it (this will give you £10 credit) and you’ll be away within a few minutes of activation.

I really love it and I’m pretty sure 3 will be losing my custom as I’m not impressed by their upcoming price increase. I suggest you give it a try. You’ll need an unlocked phone – that’s it.

3 Mi-Fi – The Complete Review

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If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ll know that I recently ordered the 3 Mi-Fi Pay as you Go. Well, today it has arrived! And here’s my review…

First of all, it’s very light. No heavier than my mobile phone (Nokia 3120 Classic). It’s a tiny bit longer than a credit card but not as wide. Very small.

On the device, there are 3 switches. The first one powers the device, the second turns wi-fi on/off and the third turns data on/off. I’m not going to go into tonnes of detail – if you aren’t sure how to use on call 3 or browse the web – there are tonnes of guides. GEEK! tells you the thing you won’t see on other sites.

Here are some important things you may want to know:

  • The SIM on the £49.99 single PAYG Mi-Fi comes with £1 credit on it. This isn’t much, but it gives you enough to kick you off. I’m not sure how much data that actually is but I’ve browsed quite a few sites on it without topping it up and I still have £1 on it.
  • How it charges is a little odd. When you’ve got it plugged into a PC, you can turn it on and it will still charge – even put wi-fi on, but as soon as you switch data on it will stop charging. It continues to power itself by USB but will not charge when data is active.
  • You have to use My3 to check your balance online. According to 3, I can still do this from my Mi-Fi connection even when my credit is out but haven’t tested it as yet. I will confirm when I can.
  • The microSD slot on the device only shows up on USB. It is not shared over wi-fi.

Those are some facts you may want to know. If there’s anything else you’d live to know, email me.

Overall, I’m really happy. It works very well and is so convenient. It might be quite expensive in terms of bandwidth, but prices will decrease with time.

If you need mobile interet on your devices easily, this is what you need.