Two iPhone FM Transmitters Tested

We were desperate for a way to listen to audiobooks on our 11 hour
drive to the grandparents for Christmas. I bought a few from iTunes
for my iPhone but needed a way to play through the Prius stereo which
will require an FM transmitter.

An online search was disappointing. No official FM transmitters are
available. I pressed my luck and grabbed two from Radio Shack with the
following results.

Monster iCarPlay Wireless 200 (FAIL)
$49
Some other iPhone owner blogged success with this unit. I had no such
luck. It has to display the FM band on the iPod screen. This did not
happen on the iPhone. Even when I blindly coupled a band to my radio
(part skill part luck) switching from tune mode them just disconnected
it again. This unit just won't work with the iPhone.

Griffin iTrip Auto Universal Plus (3.5/5 Stars)
$49
As the name suggests, this unit is designed to work with any device
and so plugs into the headphone jack. And it fits the iPhone headphone
jack without an adapter! Yea, I hate those. Plus it has a USB port to
power and charge the device. The tuner is fully digital with 4 memory
slots and a backlight that automatically turns off.

This unit connected with no trouble, and setting was trivial to figure
out. The sound quality was average. I set the iPhone volume at a bit
less than full volume to stop sound clipping, forcing me to turn up
the radio volume. Well the sound was ok. I used the treble boost
iPhone eq setting to improve the audiobook sound and we enjoyed 5
hours of books. The backlight was perfect as as had to switch FM bands
a few times along the trip to avoid interference. Unfoutunately this
unit seems under powered and so we had to fiddle with the transmitter
position frequently to reduce static. We never got a perfectly clean
signal. All in all it worked fine for our purpose and some music
testing put it at usable in a pinch. I'll keep using it for now but my
recommendation is 3.5 stars due to the imperfect signal.

I'll probably keep looking but this is a decent option for now. Merry
Christmas!

Windows XP Faster than Mac OSX on a Mac!

This is almost too good to be true. This site http://www.circuitremix.com/index.php?q=node/9 does a true apples-to-apples (sorry for the pun) comparison. Since Intel-based Macs can run Windows XP and since Adobe Photoshop CS3 is available on both platforms and particularly native on OSX unlike before, it's a true 1:1 comparison. Well for some basic image manipulations Windows XP is faster than OSX and on one test is actually just over TWICE AS FAST! I don't even know what to say to all the Mac gloaters who love those entertaining but sadly misleading commercials.

Latest Windows SmartPhone Rocks!

REVIEW: Audiovox SMT 5600 / SPV C500 (HTC Typhoon)

I've had this phone for a week now and am convinced it's the best available. My previous T-Mobile PPC Phone was bulky and flaky. I also tried and returned the Motorola MPx200 (ATTWS) due to sluggish UI and data connection and bad reception. This new HTC design combines all the critical features in a form-factor so compact that it's almost unbelievable.

PROS

• Hardware: The size and weight of this phone are tiny. The screen is big, bright and sharp. The faster processor means much snappier UI. The included USB sync/charge cable makes on travelling light. And this phone feels rugged.
  
• Software: The Microsoft Windows SmartPhone 2003 Second Edition software is stable and smooth. I've had no crashes/reboots since I got the phone. The UI is greatly improved with many convenience features. Looking up contacts is slick -- just start single punch typing a name, number, etc and the list dynamically filters. The menu system is intuitive and lean. The included applications are decent.
  
• Service: The AT&T reception with this phone is fantastic in Redmond and Seattle even with no protruding antenna! Data connections are speedy, and my experience with customer service has been great over 3 calls. I was worried given their reputation, but my worries are gone.

CONS

Of course even the best will have some flaws. A device needs to be really close for me to take the plunge and this one gets a 4.5 of 5 rating. But I hope the next version will fix these flaws.

Hardware

1. Elusive Enter Key: This rocker design is awesome for up/down, left/right, but clicking enter is an exercise in surgery. "It takes a steady hand!" I always hate this now popular design. Enter needs to be a distinct button in the center.
   
2. Flat Number Keypad: The flat, continuous buttons have little tactile separation. There is just enough room to have shifted the text to the outer edges and have more bevel along the center column to make them truly discrete.
   
3. Tiny Volume/Camera Buttons: The volume button is so tiny it's hard to differentiate between up and down. Plus the location is directly opposite the camera button (also tiny) so it's too easy to accidentally press both. There is enough realestate for these to be twice the size and located differently.
   
4. Low Volume: Even at max the volume is too low. Fortunately the speakerphone is great and I'll probably use that most often. I haven't tried the earbuds.
   
5. Camera Limited: Outdoors or in great light it's good. But the resolution is low and in moderate to dim light it's useless.
   
6. No Accessories Yet: Only comes with a sync/charge cable (no cradle). Want a car cradle with audio hookup to play MP3s. A sleeker holster: the one included is high quality but doubles the phone size.
   

Software

1. Calendar is Pathetic: The included pseudo-Outlook calendar app doens't show sufficient information in the agenda view. The title and location is cutoff as a rule. You can't even adjust the font to squeeze more in. I am currently evaluating Power Calendar v2.51 from Developer One Software and it is far better at displaying calendar entries. It allows fine adjustment of the display including 8 fonts and granular color assignments. Quick keys for compress or expanded view and other niceties make this a likely candidate for the replacement. I'll have to let you know when I'm done reviewing all.
   
2. Still a Little Sluggish: Even with the faster processor, response is not instantaneous. Even with all apps closed using the Task Manager, clicking the Talk button to get to phone leads to a .25 second delay and obvious screen paint. With any apps running this easily goes to 1 second for full switch and screen paint.

BONUS

There is one simple but powerful feature that made me smile. On the back of the phone next to the camera lens is a small chrome circle. It's a mirror for self-portraits! The following analogy applies:

U.S. Space Pen : Russian Pencil :: Twisting Screens : Audiovox Mirror

What could be more elegant and rugged?!

CONCLUSION

Even with the flaws this phone is the best one on the market. This is cliche, but the Audiovox SMT 5600 is really a marvel of miniaturization

Highly recommended.

For details on this phone go to PhoneScoop.com.

This phone is currently available at AT&T Wireless.

Book Pre-Review: Marketing Playbook, John Zagula & Rich Tong

First in the interest of full disclosure I must mention that I worked for John who worked for Rich at Microsoft during the time when they started assembling the concepts for The Marketing Playbook. And, yes I think they're great guys. More importantly, they are brilliant marketers. They are a big reason why Microsoft was successful in many markets and this book explains their unique technique for winning in competitive marketing.

This is just a pre-review since I've only read the inital chapters Zag-man sent me as a sneak preview. But from what I've read the book is going to be a must read. They clearly describe their system for marketing through countless examples not just from Microsoft or technology but from dozens of industries. The examples alone put into this context are worth the read.

The language is plain and easy to read, and even though a bit of jargon sneaks in at times, it has no trace of the pedantic puffery of so many such books. The book is funny at times, but deadly serious about how to develop a winning strategy for beating the competition.

Until I read the rest of the book I won't say more, but I encourage anyone managing a business through competitive battle to read this book.

http://www.marketingplaybook.com/

P.S. Since there is so much conflict of interest in this "review" I'm leaving this post open to comments.

First Reluctant Post - Rant on Usefulness and Usability

I have resisted BLOGing for a long time for the same reason I resist many such phenomena: they're trendy and popular. Of course, I also tend not to participate in underground fads as I'm skeptical of their longevity. So where does that leave me?

In many things, I am a practical pioneer. I like to be on the leading and even bleeding edge, but do so in a way that's sensitive to the realities of life. So any new phenomenon or technology must follow some simple rules.

Affordable:
Not everyone has tons of money to spend on fancy gadgets. New products have to hit a pricing sweet spot of affordability given the benefit before I'm willing recommend them. Just one example is Tablet PCs (convertible models). Awesome tool. Not generally recommendable until they're available for around $1000 or less (coming soon fortunately) and 4lbs or less (I'm being generous on the weight possibly against my better judgment).

Simple:
This touches on both ease of use and the fact that complicated designs usually mean more things to break. My typical example is the classic ice-cream scoop with the lever and gears that swoop a thin strip along the inside edge of the bowl to release the ice cream. The gearing makes the lever hard to press (little mechanical advantage provided). The ice cream doesn't doesn't consistently pop out as it just re-adheres to the bowl right after the strip passes. How many presses of the lever does it take you to get the ice cream to pop out? And lastly that strip gets disengaged from mechanism breaking the functionality. On my quest for perfection I finally found an OXO model that has a simple recessed lever for popping out the ice cream. Not yet perfect but much closer. Of course even OXO (which I love for many things) have their version of classic model, probably because of the lemming factor.

Usable in Real Situations:
If something is hard to figure out or use then people won't or can't use it in real life situations. Many car stereos have started using a knob for forward/back type control. The knob doesn't turn all the way around. A twisting motion for a momentary type action is difficult and not intuitive. Furthermore, these are used for functions like tuning which would be far easier if a true rotary control allowed for fast movement. These functions should be buttons or allow for true rotary, continuous increment as expected and usable. Even worse is the buttons for volume control. Cheap and completely painful to use.

Truly Useful:
Many new models of aftermarket car stereos have these cool little Organic Light Emitting Diode displays (OLED) which are bright and detailed. They're about 2.5cm by 10cm in size. Man the useful information you could put in there. However, all of them currently plaster little pictures and even video clips behind the functional information. Plus they don't use all the resolution to display complete information. For example, these stereos can play MP3 CDs. Great, if they provided a multi-line browse view of the contents. The room is there, but alas they fill it with useless eye-candy. This renders these displays hard to read and incomplete. What a waste!

Fun:
If something is a pain to use it's certainly not going to be fun. But, to be it also needs to be interesting, energizing, involving for it to last in any way. This topic needs much further discussion for another time.

That's all for now.
Shiraz