« Alpha Lanterns
Distro Heaven »
04 02 2008

Gadget Envy

Posted by Alan in Technology

I’m a self-confessed gadget-lover, and every day at the moment I find my list of “stuff to buy when I have money” is growing.

Aside from the ever-present desire to get a nice TFT monitor to replace my aging (but going strong) 17″ CRT Samsung, I’ve got my resolute vow that this year I’m getting an iPod Touch.

The iPhone is something I’m just not interested in, but for me the iPod Touch is way more enticing. Since my Creative Zen died last year, I’ve been very impressed with my 4Gb Nano. However, being used to more space, I’m finding the 4Gb a bit constricting at times (especially now that I can use podcasts), so the 16Gb iPod Touch is very tempting. And with the builtin wifi for web surfing, I’m thinking it could be quite a natty gadget for wasting away a lunch hour in a coffee shop.

However, increasingly the Asus EeePC is on my radar. It got an excellent write-up in Linux Format, and people seem to be going crazy for them. Its a great idea to use the solid state drive, and it seems to be incredibly flexible for its size. The price point is proving a winner as well. And, of course, the fact it runs Linux really appeals to me.

All I need now is some cash burning a hole in my pocket ;-)

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 20:34 and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “Gadget Envy”
Trackbacks
  1.  
Comments
  1. David says:
    February 5, 2008 at 0:44

    Seeing as you’re in a gadget frenzy, have you picked up an N810?

    I’m curious about a few of the bundled programs.

  2. Alan says:
    February 5, 2008 at 10:09

    I must admit, I’ve fallen out of keeping an eye on some of the current mobile phones. That does look really cool though.

    My current phone’s a Samsung U600. Not a smartphone, but its a really nice handset. I had looked at getting a smartphone this year, but being on a budget, the only ones I could get looked quite restricted in their keypads.

    Since I’m locked into my current handset for the next year though, I’m hoping the iPod Touch (when I eventually get it) will smooth over the rest of the smartphone functionality I’m missing out on. Although I do wish Apple would:

    a) Quit trying to rip people off and just release an SDK - once they do that, and user-made apps start coming out, the popularity of these devices will skyrocket.

    b) Make the interface themeable. The Trek-geek in me really thinks it needs an LCARS theme ;-)

  3. Pie Man 70 says:
    February 5, 2008 at 14:55

    c) stop giving Steve Jobs money, it encourages him.

    Come on man, seriously, I’ll help you steal one provided we can break into a warehouse at the dead of night.

  4. Alan says:
    February 5, 2008 at 15:59

    Depends. Does prison come with wifi? ;-)

    Actually, I’m now imagining some Spaced-style breaking into the dog pound style rescue mission. :-D

    While I’m definitely now a convert to iTunes/iPods, I’m certainly not falling for the reality distortion field.

    The Air (for example) looks pretty, but I figure either I’d be looking for a proper fully featured laptop, in which case I’d get something with an optical drive and a couple of USB ports, or I’d be looking for something mobile, in which case the Asus EeePC’s more something that interests me.

  5. David says:
    February 5, 2008 at 23:39

    Oh definately. The iPod needs an LCARS interface.

    As does the Microsoft Surface if and when it comes into common use.

  6. Alan says:
    February 6, 2008 at 9:56

    I think part of the problem of being into Linux so much, is you get used to the fact that everything’s theme-able :-D

    But I do mean what I said. While the iPod Touch is no doubt popular and trendy at the moment, I really think if they made it theme-able, and got that SDK released, then it would *really* take off.

  7. David says:
    February 6, 2008 at 10:27

    Well, Apples never really been that much into customisation…
    Another reason I find them more tyrannical than Microsoft.
    I half expect the SDK to have safe guards working with an in-built anti-customization safe guard protecting certain system files, etc.

  8. Alan says:
    February 6, 2008 at 11:30

    Oh yes. The fact they’re dragging their heels releasing it does suggest they’re trying to lock it down as much as possible.

    I think its pretty reasonable to extent though that they would want to limit people’s ability to release malicious applications. Especially given that they rely on having a reputation of not being as virus-ridden as Microsoft.

  9. Pie Man 70 says:
    February 11, 2008 at 11:10

    Not hard, no-one really cares about infecting the minority apples.

    And ist not just that apple are anti-customisation, they like you to be able to make the apple your own, within Apple’s constraints of course, so you can be individual in a strictly apple approved manner, but attempt to deviate and they will destroy your hardware. Twice.

  10. Alan says:
    February 11, 2008 at 11:26

    Ah, but in this case, the iPhone would be big news. Remember its not the computers we’re discussing. I suspect a load of malicious apps attacking iPhones (and iPod Touches) would actually be a big hit for Apple in terms of publicity.

    And after last year’s dodgy publicity (iPhone contracts, bricking unlocked iPhones, problems in Leopard etc), Apple are being more careful PR-wise this year I think.

  11.  
Leave a Reply
FireStats icon Powered by FireStats