The Brooks Review

Month: September 2010

  • Exclusive First Look: RIM’s Playbook Prototype*

    After criticizing the very existence of the RIM’s iPad competitor, the Playbook, I came home to a little surprise – a RIM Playbook Prototype to, um, play with. I must say this is a cute little device very tiny and I could see how the size might be appealing.

    But I am getting a little ahead of myself – we really should go through this step by step so you know that I really do have a prototype unit (I found it at my desk, not a bar FYI).

    The Size

    This thing is tiny in comparison to the iPad, just take a look at the picture below.

    Playbook

    Playbook

    Playbook

    Playbook

    I am not sure that I am a fan of the size, it just isn’t quite big enough to feel more useful that the iPhone yet far too small to feel like a good laptop substitution.

    The Screen

    The screen is amazing on this device, there is absolutely no glare, it has a very paper like quality to it. It doesn’t matter what kind of light you have it in, no reflections or glare. That though is a major problem because this device needs some light – well a lot of light. In the model that I am testing the backlight either is broken or eludes this testers ability to turn it on.

    The resolution of the screen is also very poor, the pixel count looks high (print[er] quality even) but the graphics look like an iPhone app running at 2x mode on the iPad – just not good enough.

    The Build Quality

    Overall the build is rather interesting – the device almost feels like it has some kind of cloth tape wrapping on it. It feels very rigid, about as rigid as 3 pieces of cardboard perhaps but I am just guessing here. There is still a lot of work to be done though as these three things really bug me right now:

    • The screen is not perfectly centered.
    • The device is not perfectly squared on the corners.
    • The cloth tape like material shows it seems all over the place.

    This though I have to remember is a prototype and one would assume that all these things will be fixed by the time the Playbook hits production.

    Battery Life

    I have had the screen on non-stop (how do you turn it off?) and it has been connected to Wi-Fi the entire time the battery life has not budget from 75% in the past 58 hours of testing. Very impressive.

    The Weight

    This thing weighs nothing, again it weighs about the same amount as three pieces of cardboard with tape on it. Honestly if they can keep it this weight when it hits production then I am sold.

    The OS

    This OS looks really swell, which is about all that I can say about it. I cannot for the life of me get the device to respond or do anything for that matter, it is stuck with the app switching screen being shown. In talking with someone who did not deny to me that they are a RIM executive (perhaps the CEO) said that it only works if you have a Blackberry and not a crappy iPhone. So it appears that RIM has done an impressive job of locking up the OS unless it detects that the owner also has a Blackberry – kudos to RIM on the feat.

    Overall

    Without being able to test the OS it is hard to say just how good this device is. What I can say is the the battery life, anti-reflective coatings on the screen and the weight of this device are highly impressive. If they keep these features in the production model it will kill the iPad.

    *Where by Prototype I mean that I have a replica of what I think that RIM had on stage at the press event, maybe.

    Playbook

  • Due for iPhone: to-do, task, reminders management app

    From the developer:

    Ever wished you could jot down a task and set up a reminder really, really fast?

    What a great little app, the stored timers are killer for me – baking will be much more accurate now. Not that I do much baking, but when I do – watch out.

    [via Daring Fireball]

  • The Single-Use Blog

    Pretty neat idea, creating a new blog (something on Posterous maybe) for each trip or event in your life. I think this is a great thing for the non-techie people out there (especially with how easy Posterous is). For me though I would rather set up a custom page on an existing blog or something along those lines – still I might just try it out for my next trip/event.

  • Does RIM Have Working Playbook Prototype Yet?

    Justice Gödel Conder argues that RIM only showed people a dummy device and has yet to make an actual Playbook:

    The PlayBook was never demoed at the Live Announcement. The dude is supposedly holding the device in his hands and he doesn’t touch the screen once. Let me repeat that. He never touches the device once! The screen never changes and it never gets dark. I cant help but wonder if he’s just holding a dummy (plastic) device.

    He goes on to compare this with how Apple handled the iPad announcement – allowing everyone to play with the device and showing it in operation over Jobs’ shoulder. Interesting, if true this most likely means the device will ship late and not work as well as shown in the videos.

    [via Mike Rundle on Twitter]

  • John Gruber: “Apple and the Open Web”

    John Gruber’s video presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo.

    [via DF]

  • 430 One Star Ratings

    Dave Caolo on the ratings of the new New Yorker iPad app:

    Out of the 582 ratings left as of this writing, 430 are only one star. The vast majority of low scores come from subscribers who are opposed to the app’s cost.

    The problem: Apple has yet to provide a way for publishers to allow subscription pricing, and until then publishers need to cover the costs of making iPad editions. Apple please fix this.

  • Engadget Reviews the Apple TV

    Joshua Topolsky:

    If you just want a dead simple movie rental box and you’re not that picky about content, the Apple TV is a no-brainer. If, like us, you’re looking for options good enough to make you can the cable, Apple’s new box still feels a lot like a hobby.

    Looks like I will be passing this go around on the Apple TV (again). The Mac mini just makes so much more sense.

  • Everday Carry [dot-com]

    From the site info:

    Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

    If you can’t get to the site that will be because it is on Tumblr…just sayin’ they’ve been having problems.

    [via Unplggd]

  • The Dropbox Syncing Text Editor iPad App Smackdown

    It appears that TUAW.com is running a similar story – great minds I guess.

    It seems like all the rage right now is to make a ‘writing app’ for iPad users (you know the device that is for content consumption only) – the requirement though seems to be that said writing app must sync in some way with Dropbox. This of course is a win for consumers and the Dropbox team, but the problem that I am running into is which app to buy – most cost money in some form (either up front or to remove ads later).

    The three main contenders as I see it are: Writer ($4.99), Plaintext (free, $4.99 to remove ads), and Elements ($4.99). ((note I am omitting Simplenote here as it is a note app, not a writing app and it also does not give the option for Dropbox syncing in the app)) All three are very good apps, so which one to choose – well I couldn’t decide so I bought all three.

    Let’s see what I found.

    Writer.

    To say that Writer had a subdued launch would be an understatement – it was all over Twitter and blogs that I read when it was launched. Writer was designed from the ground up with the idea of creating the best possible writing experience one could have on the iPad and doing it all while minimizing distractions. This gives Writer the most unique look of all the apps – Nitti Light was custom made for the font in Writer and designed with the iPad in mind.

    The result is a very unique full screen experience that forces you to write one way – the apps way. The font choice is exquisite, the sharpest font I have seen to date on the iPad screen.

    Writer’s ‘focus mode’ offers a very unique take on what fullscreen writing should look like – you don’t get just a menu-less environment, you also only get three lines of text in focus, the rest faded out. This is something that has lead some to criticize the app, while others praise it for the ‘feature’. I am in the latter’s camp, I think this is a great way to think about focus, but I am glad the mode is optional.

    The last attribute that sets Writer apart from all other writing apps is the keyboard – iA has added what they are calling an ‘extended keyboard’ where you get an extra row at the top of the keyboard. This adds extra functionality that allows you to move word by word and character by character through your text, additionally brining to the foreground some common writing characters (parentheses, colons, hyphens, quotes) that are usually buried a couple of button presses away.

    The one thing I have found odd about Writer is instead of giving you a word count the app just tells you the expected amount of time it would take to read your text (along with a character count). This is really interesting to me – I have never before thought about text in this way and trying to figure out just how long that is (in word count) seems awkward at best.

    In then end then Writer is a gorgeous app with some odd choices made to its functionality. Writer is perhaps the most ‘Apple like’ of all three apps I will be looking at, in that meticulous attention was paid to the design and features were unapologetically left out of the app.

    PlainText

    From the makers of WriteRoom, Hog Bay Software launched PlainText – the newest of the three apps being reviewed. PlainText offers a very straightforward, plain app for writing. You can sync with any folder in your DropBox and add sub-folders for better organization in the app (two very nice features).

    PlainText presents itself much like Simplenote – you have your files along the left side and the writing screen along the right – hit a button and you can write in ‘fullscreen’ mode. However unlike Simplenote, PlainText ditches Helvetica in favor of what looks to be Georgia for the apps font choice. The font looks much more legible on the iPad screen and makes the overall experience that much better.

    PlainText also excels in my testing for the best speed of syncing, where Writer forces you to manually sync, PlainText offers a plethora of options for when it should automatically sync with DropBox. The coloring appears to be slightly off-white making the writing experience that much more classical feeling – by that I mean that you don’t feel like you are being blasted by white when you look at the screen. ((It is possible that the text is not pure black as well, a known web trick – but I am not able to verify this.))

    My biggest complaint though with PlainText is that the font size does not change when switching form portrait to landscape or vice versa (al á Writer). This means that when you are typing in portrait the font choice looks ideal, however when you switch to landscape the font looks a bit small to me. Much like with Writer, PlainText forces their way or the highway, the options are few ((In fact you can only set syncing options right now)) but the app overall is an excellent choice given the freemium price tag.

    [Updated: 9/30/10 at 7:14 AM] PlainText does include TextExpander support in the option – I just forgot to mention. Sorry about that.

    Elements

    Elements is the oldest of the three apps and before I review please notice that thus far I have not mentioned any of the app icons – allow me to correct that mistake now: all three apps have ugly icons, Elements though wins the prize of ugliest of the uglies. That said if Writer and PlainText are Apple in the way they force you to do things, then Elements is more like ‘choose your own adventure’ in that it offers a plethora of options to customize the look and feel of your writing environment.

    You can set your font (the font list is huge), set your font size (from 8pt to 24pt), set the font color (eight options including purple – wtf?) and set the background color (Nine options here, thankfully no purple, but what the hell there is red – who wants a red background?). You get word, character and line counts and the ability to have an always ready scratchpad at hand for errant thoughts.

    Elements is fighting off the competitors on the feature front, supporting TextExpander and the odd option of being able to turn off spell checking. The one thing that really bugs me in Elements though is the margins used for text display in the portrait orientation – the margins are just too close to the edges, making the text feel very cramped. For the record I think you can really make the text look great on this app by setting the font to Georgia, the font color to Black, the background color to Silver and the size to 22pt (only in landscape though, in portrait you need to take the font size down a bit).

    The last thing that Elements does not offer, that the other two do offer, is a fullscreen mode. This means that you must stare at the title and most importantly the menubar that shows the time, the entire time you type. I don’t know why but I find clocks incredible distracting – so much so that you won’t find one in my menubar.

    The Best a Writer Can Get™

    That leaves the ultimate question then: which app is the best? For my money it will be Writer every time, for one reason: the font looks amazing and properly scaled in each orientation. PlainText is a nice second, and given the ad supported free version it makes for a great option for people just wanting to test if they would use this type of an app. Elements though feels much too complex and un-iPad like for me to really get into.

    Writer I think will be the app to stand the test of time, even if you don’t agree with the ‘focus’ mode that the app has introduced. For me writing is about getting the words down and the more clearly I can see those words the better off I am – Writer gives you the hands down clearest view of the text you write.

  • Idiot of the Week: Eric Zeman [Updated]

    Eric Zeman for InformationWeek on why the RIM Playbook is better than an iPad:

    The PlayBook has a 1GHz dual-core processor with multi-symmetric processing. The iPad has a single core 1GHz processor. We haven’t seen any benchmarks yet, but two cores is twice as good, right? RIM claims the PlayBook is the “Fastest. Tablet. Ever.” We’ll have to see just how fast it is once it is available for sale.

    In actuality I should have quoted his entire article – the whole thing is that dumb. He his talking out of his ass about something he has never held, not to mention the fact that ‘speed’ is based just as much on the software as it is on the hardware. So to say that having a dual core chip is ‘better’ is just dumb, they aren’t even the same architecture, let alone the fact that they run different OSes.

    [Updated: 9/28/10 at 2:46 PM] I know that he is being partially sarcastic in the above quote – but honestly read the entire article and you will see that it is really misinformed.

  • The Value of a Donation of Facebook Shares to Newark

    Apparently Zuckerberg will be setting up a company that will house $100 million worth of Facebook shares for his pledged donation to the New Jersey schools. Andrew Ross Sorkin for the New York Times writes:

    People involved in the donation process say that the Facebook shares pledged will be worth $100 million based on the company’s own internal valuation, not the value assigned by the secondary market.

    Sounds like a sweet deal for Zuckerberg, he may only have to give up one single share.

  • ‘Omnifocus Brings Desktop Caliber GTD To iPad’

    Brandon Pittman reviewing OmniFocus for the iPad:

    $20 for the iPhone version is fair and $40 for the iPad version can be justified because I actually feel like it’s of desktop quality, just on your iPad. I can’t get behind $80 for the Mac version of Omnifocus though. I use it the least of the three apps, and since you can sync the iPhone and iPad without a desktop version, unlike Things, using just the mobile versions in tandem is a completely viable solution.

    I couldn’t agree more, if I didn’t already have the Mac version of OmniFocus I would not buy it today. That said it does come in handy if you use your Mac all day and not the iPad – but for $80 I think I would figure out how to work in the iPad a bit more first.

  • Typedia’s Q & A with Mark Simonson

    Mark Simonson on the tools he uses for Font design:

    Eventually, I realized that the tools I had were more than good enough, had been good enough for a long time, and that all I was doing was procrastinating. I still get hung up about it sometimes, and I have to remind myself to get back to work.

    Typedia is just starting the Q&A series with Font designers and if you are a font nerd like me you will love it.

    [via Jason Santa Maria on Twitter]

  • AOL Officially Acquires TechCrunch

    The linked item is the press release, I didn’t read it because a) it looked boring b) it doesn’t matter. All that matters to me is that they continue to let MG Siegler do his thing, he is the best writer they have.

  • Microsoft Replacing Windows Live Spaces with WordPress.com

    This should be very interesting for WordPress – if they can handle this with no downtime it should be a huge win for everyone. I am curious though – why didn’t Microsoft just buy WordPress.com?

  • AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch? [Updated]

    Om Malik is reporting that the deal is close to being done, and it all reminded me of a tweet from a while back from Kevin Rose talking about TechCrunch being sold. I can’t find the tweet now (email if you can), essential Rose @replied to Arrington (the founder of TechCrunch) saying that he got his email and asked if he was really selling TechCrunch.

    [Updated: 9/28/10 at 10:29 AM] It’s official.

  • PlainText — Dropbox text editing for iPad & iPhone

    Hog Bay Software’s new Dropbox text file editor for the iPad is now available in the app store. It is free and ad supported an update will bring an ad-free version for a $4.99 in-app purchase price. I have been waiting for this little app for a while now – however it will be interesting to see how it stacks up to Writer for iA.

    On first glance it feels a lot like Simplenote, but a little more classic – by that I mean it seems the background is off-white, which makes the experience in PlainText my subdued and calm feeling. One major advantage it has over most other apps like this is the ability to pick the folder name it is linked to in Dropbox (as well as a lot of syncing toggles).

  • Stephen Hackett’s iPad Life

    Editors note: This is the first in what I hope to be a longer email interview series looking at how different people across the web are using their iPads on a daily basis.

    Tell me a little about yourself, what do you do, where do you live?

    My name is Stephen Hackett. I’m the IT/Multi-Media Director for the Salvation Army Kroc Center, which is due to open in about a year. The Kroc Center is a large community center focusing on arts, education, recreation and worship. I oversee pretty much anything that involves electricity or pixels. Back in the day, I was the Lead Genius at our local Apple Store and (more recently) served as the Service Manager at a local Apple-Authorized Service Provider.

    Speaking of Apple, I write about the company, journalism and design over at forkbombr.net.

    I live in my hometown of Memphis, TN. Yes, where Elvis is from. While I have never been to Graceland, I love this city and don’t plan on going anywhere. I have two kids, two bikes, a cat and am married to my high school sweetheart.

    I have a dog cow tattoo on my right ankle.

    What was your reaction when the iPad was launched?

    I initially felt underwhelmed and what I perceived to be a large iPod touch. However, the more I thought about, the more scaling up the iPhone OS (and not scaling down Mac OS X) made sense. Now, I’m really glad Apple decided on iOS to power the iPad.

    Honestly, the A4 chip got me more worked up than anything else. I love hardware, and this thing is the pinnacle of Apple’s design philosophy. There is nothing here that doesn’t need to be. Even the bezel is perfect. I was in love with the hardware from the moment Steve unveiled it on stage.

    Which model did you order and why?

    I wasn’t going to buy an iPad. However, about an hour before our Apple Store closed, I drove over to see them in person with another former-Genius buddy of mine. My initial “meh” attitude melted away instantly.

    I bought the the 16GB Wi-Fi model on the spot. I didn’t see the need for 3G, and haven’t come to regret going Wi-Fi only yet. I opted for the 16GB, as I don’t keep a lot of media on my devices. And spending the least amount of money let my wife tolerate the impulse buy a little better.

    How are you using the iPad on a daily basis?

    At work, I am in and out of meetings a lot. Calendar and Mail are wonderful to have handy. I use the Photos app to not only show off photos of my kids, but to share renderings and construction plans for the Kroc Center. I take notes all day long on it.

    At home, I use the iPad to check RSS feeds and email, check the weather and more. I really don’t use our family iMac for “little things” anymore.

    I read a lot on my iPad. Between Instapaper, iBooks and the Kindle app, I’m set. However, I don’t write a lot on my iPad. While blog post ideas may come to me on the go and get captured via the iPad, most of my writing takes place either at my iMac (via an Apple Extended II keyboard) or at my MacBook Pro.

    The battery life continues to impress me. Even my Mid-2009 MacBook Pro can’t keep up. The iPad is basically a tiny computer bolted to two giant batteries, and it shows. It blows my mind how little I have to charge it.

    Can you give me a quick run down of the apps that you use the most?

    Simplenote, Instapaper and Reeder are my most used third-party apps. (NetNewsWire was on that list until I discovered Reeder. Seriously, go download it. Now.)

    As far as built-in apps, I use Mail, Calendar, Photos and Safari the most.

    My current game of choice is Solipskier. It’s a wonderful little game involving a skier going really, really fast and making huge jumps to over-the-top music. My two year old could watch me play all day.

    Homescreen

    Which app is your favorite?

    Simplenote, as common as that answer probably is. I keep everything in there – meeting notes, ideas for blog posts, snippets of HTML and more. It’s fantastic.

    Do you have any bag/stand/case recommendations for people?

    Early on, I bought the InCase Convertible Book Jacket. It looks like a large Moleskine journal, and doubles as a stand. However, it was bulky and the iPad had a tendency to move around in the case a bit, which I found very annoying. I sold it after a few weeks of use.

    I bought the Timbuk2 Freestyle Netbook Messenger to carry the iPad around during the day. Timbuk2 has great products. It has a padded pocket for the iPad and space for papers and a paper notebook. Yes, it’s a man-purse. Don’t judge me.

    My wife recently made me a sleeve for the iPad. It lives in that while in my bag or for a little extra protection.

    I have the official Apple case, but I don’t use it much. I like my devices naked.

    What features do you want to see in a future iPad?

    On the hardware end of things, I know a FaceTime camera is a no-brainer when it comes to future iPads. I don’t really care about it, honestly. The biggest thing the current device lacks is enough RAM. And I’d be happy with a louder speaker.

    Software-wise, I really want to have AirPlay working in reverse. Why can’t I stream iTunes content from my iMac to my iPad across my wireless network? Don’t get me wrong, AirPlay seems like a killer feature for the new AppleTV. I just want it here, too.

    Ed. note: Big thanks again to Stephen for taking the time to answer my questions, be sure to hop over to Forkbombr.net and check his site out.

    More iPad Life

    See more people’s iPad Life interviews here.

  • RIM introduces Poorly Named Device

    Joshua Topolsky on RIM’s new tablet named ‘Playbook’:

    The device will connect via Bluetooth to BlackBerry devices, though the content is cached only temporarily on the PlayBook. More info is coming our way as we type, and we’ve got a full feature list, press release, and video after the break!

    What a dumb name. What a stupid name. Blackpad was/is such a great name. Wait, it only caches files, what the hell do I do on an airplane when I am not allowed to use bluetooth? OH man.

    [Updated: 9/27/10 at 2:42 PM] Also on this name thing, they want it to be for serious business use, yet they have ‘play’ in the name. Dumbasses. (<=== I mean it)

  • Kno Creates 14-inch Tablet For Students

    They are making a 14-inch tablet aimed at students that they are hoping will be under $1000 to buy. I just don’t see a student wanting this over an iPad, but dumber things have happened.