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Friday, August 27, 2010
The summer smart phone roundup
Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
In Saturday’s American-Statesman, a roundup I put together of the summer’s hottest smart phone releases runs in the Life & Arts section.
To recap, here’s some of the reviews we’ve run of some of the phones in the roundup as well as links to other write-ups for the ones we haven’t had a chance yet to review ourselves.
- My impressions of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G.
- My review of Apple’s iPhone 4 (on AT&T).
- A mini-review of Verizon’s Motorola Droid X.
- Walt Mossberg on Dell’s Streak mini tablet (on AT&T).
- Engadget reviews the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant.
- Crackberry’s lengthy review of the BlackBerry Torch (on AT&T).
Got questions? Post them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
Surprising no one, SXSW Panel Picker deadline extended to Sunday
Voters have two more days to pick panels in the South by Southwest Panel Picker (including those submitted for SXSW Interactive). In a blog post, the festival says it will close up voting at 11:59 p.m. Sunday night (give or take two days).
Two more days to pimp those panels!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2011
Mini-review: Time Warner Cable’s IntelliGo 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot
Photo courtesy Time Warner Cable
Over the last year, companies including Clear, Verizon and now Time Warner have been giving customers the option of cutting the cord on their home Internet connection. Wireless hotspot devices like the Verizon Mi-Fi have the speed and advantages of a USB Internet device you’d plug into a laptop, but is compatible with many more devices. Plus, since it’s Wi-Fi, an advantage to going this route is you can get mobile Internet service on several devices at the same time, say a laptop, a smart phone and a tablet PC.
They vary in price and service cost, but typically cost about $40-$60 a month depending on a data plan (how much you download) and options like whether it runs on a 3G network, a 4G coverage area (faster but limited in range to mostly big cities) or 4G and 3G combined (which gives you the most flexibility, but typically costs more).
Time Warner’s entry into the increasingly crowded field is the IntelliGo, a coaster-shaped 3G/4G hybrid device that’s about as thick as a deck of cards. It’s made by Sierra Wireless and has a far superior battery life to the MiFi I tested last year. Up to five devices at a time can connect to it. It also has a microSD slot that allows you to share files from a memory card with the devices connecting to the IntelliGo.
Unfortunately, I had inconsistent experiences while testing it out. When the IntelliGo connected to Austin’s 4G network, it offered fast speed. The device has a small, monochrome screen that tells you how much battery life is left, the wireless password to use to connect to it and whether it’s connected to a 3G or 4G network. It’s great for troubleshooting, but several times when I supposedly had a solid 3G connection, the device inexplicably stopped responding to a variety of devices including an Apple iPad, several laptops and smart phones.
The only remedy for me was to reboot the IntelliGo, which takes a few minutes. Once rebooted, the device worked normally, but sometimes only for another 10 or 15 minutes before stalling again. One thing that might have been responsible is I did a lot of my testing in New Braunfels, where I live. The IntelliGo, however, said on its display that it had a solid 3G connection, so I’m not sure if the problems were with the coverage area or the device itself.
The IntelliGo costs about $50 with a two-year contract and after rebate and service is $50 a month. If you decide to try it out, I’d spend a day or two taking it to all the local locations you might use it and make sure it works consistently with your Wi-Fi devices before commit to keeping it. As long as you’re within 30 days of purchasing it, Time Warner should accept a return if you change your mind and find it doesn’t work consistently.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet
Lines that are probably in that Facebook movie
Since I saw the trailer for the movie, “The Social Network” (embedded below) due out in October, I’ve been a little obsessed with how Hollywood heavy hitters like screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and genius director David Fincher are going to tackle the origin story of Facebook.
Will they portray Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a cocky Harvard geek who got in over his head? Or a visionary Millennial with slightly sociopathic tendencies who cunningly bended the Internet to his whims?
Either way, we know that young people sitting at computers on film rarely makes for compelling drama. Instead, we’re sure to get lots of high-decibel dialog between the characters. Here’s a list of exchanges I absolutely expect will make it into the film:
- “Privacy?! (Expletive) privacy!”
- “Do you have a girlfriend?” “No. I have a website.”
- “Users are freaking out! What do we say?” “We tell them we’re sorry. Then we push twice as hard.”
- “It’s called a Poke.” “Poke? Who the Hell wants to Poke someone on the Net?” “Um, only EVERYBODY?”
- “Say goodnight, MySpace.”
- “We are gonna rule the world. Do you hear me, Sean? RULE. THE. WORLD.”
- “$900 million?! Who do you think we are? Friendster? NO DEAL, JERRY.”
- “You stole our idea!” “I didn’t steal your idea. I had a BETTER idea that fixed all your mistakes.”
- “We need more servers.” “OK, Mark. How many?” “Um… 10,000, maybe?” “Are you kidding?” “Make it 20,000.”
- “Take it down? Do you have ANY IDEA how the Internet works?!”
- “LET them sue us. We’ve got more money than God and more lawyers than we’ve got engineers.”
Got your own lines? Post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, Movies & DVDs
