From the Orient

In a fun and interesting experiment, Tantek is redesigning his blog, based on some of the Top 100 Technorati.

It should be useful to see a wide variety of styles redone as CSS presentation only (No tables/GIFs says Tantek). He’s started with “Boing Boing”:http://boingboing.net/

So, in the end I got one of these Tungsten C

Whilst tempted by the UX-50, I couldn’t afford it right now, and with the difference I’ll get an iPod or Zen at a later date.

It was delivered yesterday, and I’m very impressed. The wi-fi worked first time, no problems at all, except for a bizarre dead spot in the corner of the living room. The range of the T|C must be less than the wi-fi card on my laptop to pick it up. It is where my PC lies and explains the weak (but usable) connection I get on my PC.

The keyboard is good, and I’m trying to learn the various shortcuts to get around the screen without using the pointer.

More when I’ve used it for a week or so.

Something that I’ve been especially waiting for. Bloglines For Connected PDAs.

Just tested it from my home wireless network. Works like a dream.

TheKompany’s Task program just did not live up to the challenge (it was slow, boy was it slow, it crashed frequently, to get it to do want I wanted I would spend longer pointing at the screen than it would take to actually do the task; I needed a more complex program to simplify the system).

Frank Koehntopp posted a “good review of the UX-50″:http://www.gadgetguy.de/archives/000622.php and says he has a Tungsten C. I will almost certainly be buying one of these two devices.

I thought I would take a look at the two devices, without taking into account things I don’t need (like the camera) but also not thinking about the price. I’ll give each device a mark out of five, and also give each feature a weighting as to much much I need the feature. For example, if I don’t need Bluetooth, I give Bluetooth a weighting of 1 and therefore it doesn’t matter that the C doesn’t have bluetooth. The rating is purely based on reviews and pictures I’ve seen of the products and therefore may be inaccurate.

==

Looks (Weighting 3; I need to like the look but it isn’t too important compared to functionality)

T|C (3) - Looks okay, a standard Palm device but with a nice looking keyboard.
UX50 (5) - Very nice looking. Smaller than I thought too.

Ease of Use (5; I must be able to use it quickly and efficiently)

T|C (4) - Standard palm with keyboard in a position I am used to.
UX50 (3) - I admit to having reservations about the clasp case and how you could type on it without putting the device on a surface.

Battery (4)

T|C (5) - By all accounts the C has an excellent battery life.
UX50 (3) - Apparently good, but irratic.

MP3 playing (3; useful but I won’t use it often)

T|C (2) - Bad news. Whilst it can play media, it is mono
UX50 (5) - Very good MP3 player.

Storage (3; useful for storing MP3’s etc)

T|C (5) - SD card expansion slot and I already have a 256Mb SD card
UX50 (3) - Proprietory Media Sticks which will cost me extra and wont fit in my camera.

Wifi (5; with a WiFi network at home this is a must)

T|C (4) - Wifi built in
UX50 (4) - Wifi built in

Bluetooth (2; I have a Bluetooth phone; so this might be useful for mobile connecting but I doubt I will ever use it. When I go on holiday I don’t want to check my mail)

T|C (1) - No bluetooth + Bluetooth SD reportedly doesn’t work on the C
UX50 (4) - Bluetooth built in

Voicememo (3; I can see I might use this if I had the feature)

T|C (3) - Would have to buy a separate headset with microphone.
UX50 (4) - Apparently built in but can find no review that mentions it.

Screen (4; must be a good screen)

T|C (4) - Has a good screen, very clear 320×320
UX50 (5) - Large screen, I think my only concern would be apps not configured for landscape mode

Overall score

T|C - 117
UX50 - 126

==

So, in the ideal world the UX-50 wins by 9 points. However, in the real world £200 is a lot extra. I could buy a 10Gb iPod with the difference (and I would still have to buy a memory stick). Incidentally, removing MP3 playback from the points makes the scores even.

I still can’t decide.

Little Britain explained :-

bq. And people wonder where Vicky Pollard, Emily Howard and the rest come from.

bq. Actually, Lucas and Walliams explained, they catch germs of ideas for these characters from Trisha and Kilroy. Now that the latter has been taken off the air, Walliams said, their rich seam has been somewhat depleted. Every silver lining has a cloud, I guess.

“Little Britain”:http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/littlebritain/

They’ve found another episode of “Doctor Who”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3400429.stm

Cool

UPDATE: “More here at Gallifrey One”:http://www.gallifreyone.net/news.php#newsitemEpZuEZyZVAIXGYLdKa

bq. Episode two of the lost Doctor Who serial The Daleks’ Master Plan, entitled “Day of Armageddon,” has been recovered in its entirety and has been returned to the BBC’s archives, according to Steve Roberts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team.

bq. Says Roberts: “I was contacted on Tuesday via the RT Website address by the former Head of Engineering at Yorkshire Television, who told me that he thought that the time was right to return two cans of Doctor Who film that he had “borrowed” from a pile of junk he was asked to dispose of whilst a trainee BBC engineer in the early seventies. The first was a copy of ‘The Expedition’ from the first Dalek story… but the second was ‘Day of Armageddon’, the second episode of ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’!