I’ve been using the N900 as my primary device for a couple of weeks now. At first it was difficult to keep away from my iPhone 3GS (which is the only smartphone I’ve ever stuck to for an extended period of time) but gradually I’ve been getting used to the N900 more and more. The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to but now I’m up to about the same typing speed as I am on the iPhone. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a massive fan of the iPhone because of two things: it’s speed and the applications/framework. Initially the biggest concern for me with the N900 was that with it being such a new platform in Maemo that the application support just wouldn’t be there – much the same as the iPhone in it’s infancy. While this is still true of the N900, the web browser really does compensate a great deal. There’s no great Twitter client yet, but I’ve been using Hahlo via the browser for keeping up to date and I’ve used the sharing functionality that’s built-in coupled with Pixelpipe to post photos. It’s not as slick as using Tweetie but it’s as functional. Facebook I’ve become less involved with recently but the Facebook touch site works fine for quick updates and the full site works great through the browser for anything else. Photo uploading to both Flickr and FB work via the built-in sharing features and work very well.
The N900 really comes into it’s own for communication via IM. I have Skype and Facebook chat (now over Jabber – awesome) running through the phone’s Conversations application. All my contacts are present in my phone book and duplicates merged, all syncs back to Google nicely – although this has taken some effort to get running smoothly. I love photography and the camera on the N900 is a fair bit better than the 3GS’ camera. Having a hardware shutter button alone makes a world of difference. Multitasking is a godsend and works so well, it’s intuitive and fast.
The N900 still remains a proper geek-toy, I wouldn’t recommend it to joe-consumer in the same way I would an iPhone. For any gadget fan that wants a powerful Linux-based device in their pocket that handles pretty much everything well, it’s a superb device.
I’m finding the more I use it the less I’m missing my iPhone… but it’s not ready to replace it just yet. Give it 6 months and that might change.
So much has gone on over the last few months in my life. I had to look for somewhere else to live after the whole breakup stuff because I really couldn’t afford to pay for the house and have a life at the same time. The last time I posted (besides all my Twitter updates and the giving up Coca-Cola thing) I was about to move house and was looking forward to change. I’m now living at my new place. Big change indeed.
Moving was quite a stressful experience but thankfully I had Andrew and Wing to help me get through it – couldn’t have done it without them. It’s quite amazing to see the amount of junk and general useless crap you can accumulate when living in a house for half a decade! I got rid of what I really didn’t need and stored the appliances I couldn’t take. Which reminds me – I really should get around to selling that stuff.
As with any change of situation it’s taken a bit of getting used to. I’m now living a bit further away from work (though not considerably far) in a house with a colleague. It’s a big house, large rooms throughout and I’ve got my own living room as well as bedroom – and that was pretty much essential with the amount of stuff that I have. I’m now all settled in, most stuff is in place and it’s all set up the way I want it.
So I’ve moved house, got my finances sorted and for the first time in a while I don’t feel like I have an enormous amount of pressure on me any more. My wages cover all my rent and bills comfortably and I can now start saving a bit.
All I need to do now is work out how to make my job a bit more interesting, it’s boring me to tears and is no challenge at all. Once I do that I think life will start looking rather good again.
Oh, and the photo – no, it’s not really my living room!
As any of my friends will know, I drink an obscene amount of Coca-Cola. I’m addicted – there’s no denying that. I spend a small fortune on cans and bottles during a working week and it’s really not doing my body any good in the process. So I’ve decided that this very bottle that I have in front of me is going to be the last I buy at work. I’m not going to give it up completely, caffeine withdrawal would probably eat my brain into mush but I’m not buying another bottle or can from the vending machines here. This is a conscious effort to kerb the addiction and save my body (and wallet) in the process.
Wish me luck.
Just a quick one I thought I’d share as this appears to be quite a common issue – many new MSI installers (including Microsoft’s latest, such as Windows Live, etc) like to download components as part of the installation process. If you’re working behind a proxy then this can often be a problem – in typical Microsoft style the MSI won’t inherit the settings you have stashed in IE.
Most MSI installers use WinHTTP proxying. To get this configured to match your Internet Explorer proxy settings, simply run this from the command line:
proxycfg –u
The MSI installer should then work via proxy.
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