4 Months on With The Samsung Series 3 Chromebook

June 25, 2013 in "tech"

I’ve had my Chromebook (Samsung Series 3) for over 4 months now, so I thought I’d do a very quick review of the device now that I’ve lived with it properly. Just to make it clear, this is a review of this specific device and not Chrome OS in general, which I think is a superb operating system and way of working.

I have to say straight off that the Samsung Series 3 could not possibly replace my Macbook for work uses, so if you’re thinking of getting this as a main device, I wouldn’t recommend it. Of course I don’t expect a laptop that costs just over 200 quid to be some sort of media powerhouse, but at the same time, there’s no way you can rely on it in meetings, and you can’t install a lot of applications that the majority of workplaces use.

A few main problems I have with the device is trying to play video files (avi, mp4 etc) and Youtube clips; they just end up stuttering like crazy. Also when trying to use Google Music (a service I usually love); as soon as another tab is opened the music stutters. There are several known fixes for these problems, but I’ve tried them all and even a system reboot and still no luck. These are two things that just make the device seem slow and the operating system feel almost incomplete. Using the HDMI port is extremely temperamental too, and it seems to just decide when it wants to work properly, even when using the same TV. However, I know that Google will only improve the OS on this particular device over time, and I’ve no doubt that these problems will be sorted. Let’s hope so.

Now there are plenty of good things too. The device is super light and portable which makes it really good for just chucking in your bag and taking with you without the bulk of a normal laptop. I’d honestly say this is the best part about the device, coupled with the excellent battery life. I absolutely love the keyboard; it just feels amazing to type on. Which brings me to my next point of the device being great for writing. Google Docs and drive do naturally work wonderfully on it, so these in factor with the size and keyboard make it a good choice for writers on the move (yes Google Docs works offline fine).

Overall I’d recommend the Series 3 Chromebook for people looking for a content creation device to complement a home PC. It’s good for a days use on one charge, and very portable, but it doesn’t have the media power of slightly more expensive Windows devices.

Another note: get a case for it! It scratches

really

easily.

Google Keep Initial Impressions

March 20, 2013 in "tech"

So Keep is official and launched. It looks really great, I love the idea of quickly colouring your notes, and the interface is much cleaner than Evernote or even Wunderlist, and certainly a hell of a lot cooler than Scratchpad. In fact, the browser based interface https://drive.google.com/keep/ just looks amazing. Simple, immediately understandable and very fast.

But what first strikes me is that this product seems to be best for Google users only. I realise that Google will eventually release it everywhere (as they are planning to do with a lot of products i.e Google Now) but how long will it take them? People are so used to Evernote that it'll be hard to switch, which will be made much worse if the users of Evernote are on iOS devices or a phone with a version of Android lower than 4.0.

I would love to start using this app regularly, especially considering it runs so quickly on my Chromebook (compared to Evernote which is extremely sluggish) but I feel like it's another burden on my already fragmented

productivity apps.

Hopefully it'll get better and more compatible quickly. But for now, I'll stick with Evernote. I hope you're listening Google.

Why I love Google+

March 17, 2013 in "social media", "tech"

The past few weeks has seen me pretty much turn back into a Google fanboy again.

I strayed away from their products and services when I got my Macbook Pro and iPhone, as I was using the inbuilt email clients instead. But let’s face it, the native Apple mail can’t compete with Gmail, and the iPhone app looks

gorgeous

. With this I started using Google+ again, and joined some great communities.

These communities are essentially like every other forum/social network ‘group’, but with a few added features. However it’s not really the functionality of the groups that’s great; it’s the level of engagement. Ask a question on the Chromebooks group and there’s an answer in minutes. Drop into the Nexus group and see a bunch of geeky guys positing their awesome homescreen layouts, with a ton of comments to follow. There’s no spam, no (serious) trolling, no fake accounts, just a bunch of people with the same interests, genuinely engaging in interesting conversation.

I would say Google+ is the only social network available with this level of quality engagement. I use Twitter a lot, and still think it’s great, but the conversation isn't quite as complex due to the character limitations, and there are a ton of people who are just collecting followers and are totally disengaged. I only really use Facebook when I want to see fountains of shit spewing from my news feed, it’s a joke how bad it’s become.

So get on Google+, search for your interests on the ‘Communities’ section and start chatting, or even set up your own community.

Update: in one day, this post has 7 shares, over 20 comments and 54 +1's (and counting) from Google+. Twitter and Facebook have had no engagement.

My Initial Impressions of the Samsung Chromebook

March 10, 2013 in "tech"

I recently purchased a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. The hype round the Pixel and the general love for the devices from the Chromebook G+ community encouraged me, and they're only £230. I've been using it for a week now, for work and play, so here are my initial impressions.

The screen is just lovely. I use a Macbook Pro most the time, so coming from that glossy display was strange at first; I was sort of thinking 'what the hell is this matte piece of crap??' when I turned the Chromebook on, but it's actually a much nicer viewing experience when using it in bright environments and for long periods of time.

The search button is glorious! Why don't all computers have this dedicated key? I don't miss caps lock at all (and you can alt + search for caps anyways).

It's ridiculously simple. Obviously I knew this before I bought it, but it isn't until you start using a Chromebook that your realise just how stripped down everything is. In a good way. This is certainly the future of computers, I know it would be much easier for most people to use, no messing around, just get on with what you have to do in the browser.

It takes ages to bring up the wifi login screens. Most the wifi networks I use outside of home need to launch a page in the browser first to login. My Mac, iPhone and Nexus devices just bring this up right after you connect. The Chromebook has, for me, taken up to a minute to load this - really annoying.

The touchpad is pretty naff. It scrolls really nicely with 2 fingers, but the accuracy of it is noticeably poor. 2 finger touch is right click though, a nice feature from Mac which works well.

The keyboard is just brilliant. It is seriously the nicest keyboard I've ever used. It feels a little cheap at first, but the sound it makes and the way the keys feel is just perfect. Maybe it has something to do with the layout or size, I'm not sure really, but it just seems like the only keyboard I ever want to type on ever again.

It's fast, really fast. Some apps are terrible compared to their native Windows and Mac versions (Evernote for instance) so you do get slowed down now and again, but in general it's lightning quick. 7 second boot? Yes please.

The sound is crazy loud for a device this size. It's actually louder than my Macbook Pro, although not as good quality.

That's it for now, I'll be posting a proper review once I've gotten some use out of it.

Productivity over many operating systems

February 17, 2013 in "Project Management", "productivity", "tech"

I've recently turned to the dark side and started using Apple products again. I bought a Macbook Pro and naturally an iPhone followed (because I'm a pretentious dick like that, really). However I've still kept my Nexus 7 because I love the damn thing (and what else am I going use to read the first 5 pages of a book I may or may not buy?) and at work I am forced to use a Windows 7 machine.

This means trying to balance my personal and work life over 4 computers, and use Microsoft, Apple and Google in a way that they all play nicely. So, after using many apps and web apps and cloud this and that, I've stuck with 3 that play best.

Wunderlist, Evernote & Google Drive.

Wunderlist

, as the name suggests, is Wunderful (sorry). It's a todo list, but has its own sync service which requires only a very fast registration. It's available on Mac, Android and iOS as an app, and you can use it on a desktop PC via a Chrome app or just by logging onto the site. What I like most about Wunderlist is that the design is extremely consistent throughout all devices, to the point that even the wallpaper of the app syncs (sounds lame, but try it, it's really cool). The todo lists are as simple as the Apple Reminders app, but they have more sneaky features like adding sub tasks and repeating tasks as often as you like. Add in the fact that the lists can be shared, and you have yourself a pretty slick project management tool. And I should probably mention it's completely free.

I'm sure I don't have to bang on about

Evernote

too much, you've probably heard of it already. I used it a while back but got annoyed with waiting for everything to sync and notes being unavailable without connection. The Evernote team seem to have sorted all that out now, and the apps for Android and iOS are just stunning. It's much faster than it used to be too. For meetings, the document capture mode is perfect, and the sharing options almost always result in others following suit. £3.99 a month for the paid version, but it's well worth it.

Google Drive

is essentially Dropbox with balls on. I've blabbed on about it before, but it really is just so reliable. My Macbook isn't connected to the network at work, so Drive has proved extremely useful. I believe I pay $2.49 p/m for 25GB of storage; an absolute bargain. No more messing around with USB pen drives.

Using these three services has turned me into one organised badass (nerd), and juggling 2 projects at work and many out of work has become a breeze.

How long will the UK have to wait for NFC Payments?

July 02, 2012 in "Android", "tech"

Reading an article on Fourth Source entitled

'What does 2012 have in store for the world of payments'

I couldn't help but think the NFC technology described in the article is so far off the current year we live in, at least for the UK. NFC payments seem like a brilliant idea, particularly for public transport, and while all London buses may be accepting contactless payments by the end of 2012, how many people will actually be embracing the technology? And how long will it be before contactless payments become the norm on public transport for someone who lives outside of London? I can guarantee we'll be waiting a lot longer than the end of 2012. Even if the contactless technology does come into place, the chances of 1/5 of the public having NFC enabled smartphones by the end of 2014 seems slim. And another solution posed by Barclaycard seems to suggest that they realise this will be the case, offering borrowers the chance of using contactless payments without the NFC enabled smartphone.

Even if you did decide to get an NFC enabled smartphone and use it for payments, it is likely that the technology will become fragmented with too many providers and payment systems, which is already something of a trend considering Orange, Visa/Vodafone and Mastercard all have separate services in the UK, and there will likely be more to come. This will only create more confusion for consumers and deter them from the technology.

Another thing to consider is the simple factor of: will people want the technology? I personally work in retail in the UK and it is amazing to see such a high amount of people every day having trouble using Chip & Pin, technology which has been around for years. I could never imagine these people wanting to take the time to set up a payment system on their mobile phones.

I'm always embracing new technology, but in the case of NFC payments via mobile, I think it will be at least 5 years before it is used effectively in the UK.