Sugden’s posterous

Just a quick update on the Nokia N95 8gig.

Still loving it. I'm very happy with the quality and ease of use the camera has - for both video and photographs. I downloaded a Flickr application that allows me to view my Flickr content and to easily upload directly too - so that's a real bonus. It's nice and easy to send images to friends via MMS too - something which has been great while we've been in France recently (no data connection there, but MMS comes in cheaper than text when 'roaming' - we also think it comes as part of our packages, but we'll have to wait for the bill and see).

I'm a little frustrated by the 'contact' block - it seems to want more clicks to make a phone call than I'm used to but other 'stuff' outweigh this. e.g. in predictive text mode, when the word is underlined (I want 'no' instead of the offered 'on') - all I have to do is click the * button to scroll through the various options. BRILLIANT.

On our way back through Kent, I accessed the Opera web broser via 'web-n-walk' to catch up on the news and today I posted a comment to Jaiku using the same interface (but it still wouldn't let me post a new message).

That's it

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Well here we are. A new phone to play with. The biggest frustration so
far is the difference between Sony interface and Nokia.
 
Luckily I've had a Nokia before so it's just a process of remembering.
The main frustrations are pressing the Caps key instead of Space and
getting the Caps sequence wrong.
 
But what a joy to have internet access in my pocket again. There is
still a lot for me to learn but here I am posting in less than 24 busy
hours.
 
David

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I’ve just listened to the latest http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/ Podcast [http://elearningstuff.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/e-learning-stuff-podcast-018-digital-literates/]in the car (M1 junction 38 to Junction 26) and found it fascinating. I’m certainly going to log it as CPD.

There has been a discussion on the eCPD OLS (http://ecpd.bdplearning.com/ecpd/index.php) this week about what exactly counts as CPD. There have been some good replies and I’ve enjoyed reading the contributions. But, for me, what it boils down to is that one man’s CPD is not necessarily another man’s CPD. Some contributors have said that only things that move your activity/delivery (there’s other word but I can’t think of it) forward should count, but I believe that anything that moves your thinking forward – or makes you think – should count. What are we if not reflective practitioners?

James’ Podcast was the usual relaxed chat but because the participants are known and well regarded, I could rest assured that their comments are worth listening to. In fact, to get some of those people together to talk (as James does) is quite an achievement. You’d never be able to go (even if you paid) to hear Kev Hickey, Lisa Valentine, Shri Footring and James Clay speak on the same platform – so hearing them talk like this (about Digital Identities) was great.

They raised some interesting points about who we are, or who we claim to be online and offline. I’ve just found THWIRL (again, thanks to James) so that I can read two Twitter streams at the same time: my usual dsugden [http://twitter.com/dsugden] stream and my Village e-Learning stream – FatRascal [http://twitter.com/FatRascal]. The reason is that I can invite family and non-‘e’ friends to FatRascal, without them becoming bored by the ‘e’ stuff on dsugden. The Podcast talked about similar reasons for dual YouTube identities (and by extension Flickr?). There is certainly an issue to consider when teachers begin to work online – with learners. Over the years, we have all learned a lot about who we are and who we are regarded as online, and this discussion considered the importance of honesty – and how much learners expect it.

At the very end, Lisa said that she preferred Jaiku to Twitter (so do I) and gave reasons for her preference. If you listen very carefully you will note that the Podcast is a Twitter v Jaiku sandwich – with the beginning being very controlled and the end being much more freewheeling.

Thanks for the company on my M1 journey.

David

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Well, I thought it would be a fitting tribute if I were to write my final piece about the iPhone via the iPhone.
 
I have to return the equipment to 02 by Saturday next so I've made my decision already - I won't be taking up an iPhone contract with them.
 
I recorded a long and wide ranging Podcast with James Clay last Friday about my trial period (I'm unable to ref. James here which highlights one of the reasons why the phone never really got above65% - no cut and paste! ) so look out for an e-learning stuff podcast before too long.
 
The bottom line is that the phone just doesn't have the basic functionality I've come to expect from a phone. Don't get me wrong though, it's a wonderful machine, second to none in many of its functions, but O2 connectivity and less than adequate phone functionality put me off.
 
I may now get an iTouch to let me continue to experience the 'good stuff'. For better or worse, I've ordered a Nokia N95 8gb today.
 
David
 
Sent from my iPhone

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Last night was at one of the dreariest presentations I've ever attended. Early content was ok but boy oh boy how dreary.

Only the iPhone saved me from death by inappropriate use of PPT and droing presenters.

I was able to read my emails on the 'net. I was able to tweet and communicate with Jaiku - I made notes and saved them to the web. AND I was only on 3G. So that put it up a little more %wise.

So it was good to have something positive to say for once. I'd not been happy receiving calls on the iPhone in the car. That's something that I'd have to think carefull about. I don't have a bluetooth headset so the crappy headphones are not really adequate. I'm sure I could do something about that though.

I quite like the finger keyboard - it's not much worse than the Asus eee one I'm using now (I couldn't make the sound recorder work - hence the typing).

But now I need to decide what it is I want - a phone with good add-ons or a superb handheld device that doesn't do phone stuff that well!

David

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Well it's day six now. I'm still hovering around the 60% mark (although this is probably being very stingy.

I've just re-read Lilian's blog post http://www.xlearn.co.uk/2009/02/my-thoughts-on-iphone.html on the iPhone and I concur with most of her points. However, I am not a Windows Mobile fan – it's an aging platform designed for PDAs, not phones.

iPhone negatives:

·         Some of Lilian's stuff (no cut and paste, no positioning arrow keys, etc)

·         No MMS – a big negative for me (would add at least 10% to my rating). There is an App, but it costs to send, not part of contract

·         O2 connectivity – not impressed with this so far. No connectivity by G3 makes the Mapping features (which use Cell positioning) useless even when connected though WiFi

·         No video – not much of a negative to me, but I could have done with it the other day for filming frogs

·         Very poor battery life. If you use the iPhone at all it uses battery big-time. I thought that my K850i was bad but this knocks it into a cocked hat. (would add at least 10% to my rating)

·         No Flash. This didn't bother me much at first but it prevented me from listening to James's web based podcasts on the iPhone (had to link via iTunes first) e.g. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/elearningstuff/~3/meg3KLQig_Q/ (would add at least 5% to my rating)

iTunes – I'd better mention here that I've only connected to Sharon's iTunes and downloaded all her 'stuff' from the iTouch. We're sharing Apps for now – until I make my mind up. So the opposite situation here to Lilian's – iTunes will allow more than one device – as long as you want the same 'stuff'

iPhone positives

·         Some of Lilian's stuff – I actually like the virtual keyboard and found it very positive

·         Brilliant web interface – the pinch and pull feature makes this Sooo easy and friendly

·         Email – easy updates for Gmail (still need to figure out how to get my second email address to read)

·         QR code readers – BeeTag works for me but I'm told that there are several more

·         Applications – some of this are great:

o   Fantastic Contraption for the iPhone – yeahhh (it's actually quite entertaining)

o   mJaiku – allows me to connect easily and to contribute and read

o   Twinkle for Twitter – this is a fabulous application, better really than the real thing

·         When G3 is present it makes this a different device. Always on the Internet, on email, on Jaiku, on Twitter – without it, it renders the fabulous interface worthless

·         TruPhone – an app that turns the iPhone into a Skype like device. Still playing with this but looks cool.

And the research continues. Next – does it work as a telephone and for SMS (started this – looks fine)

See earlier posts below.

--
David Sugden
dsugden@gmail.com
touring_fishman@yahoo.co.uk
 07717 341 622 

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