Boy, ten minutes certainly isn’t enough to review this phone! And you’ll notice that a lot of important information is left out because of time constraints. But this is my phone, the HTC Titan operating on the Verizon network.
It is by far the most enjoyable phone that I’ve had the opportunity to experience, and I highly recommend it for any potential phone shopper. It’s currently available on the Alltel, Sprint, and Verizon networks.
I’ll follow up the next few days with more in depth features of the phone—and other Windows Mobile applications.
A friend of mine told me a few weeks ago that they were trying to get in contact with me but were unable to do so. I was completely taken back by this in a few ways. Firstly, there is no possible reason why you couldn’t get in contact with me considering that I carry every piece of mobile technology with me, and secondly, if they were a friend that knew me well enough, they would know all about this technology.
And it’s true–it is impossible not to contact me in some way, shape, or form. And it’s all thanks to one device: my mobile phone. My phone (an HTC Titan) is the communications center of my entire life. Everything routes through my phone before it gets to me. In reverse, everything which routes through my personal desktop computer also goes to my phone.
All of my email gets routed to my phone. When I’m away from my computer, Live Messenger Mobile takes over on my phone for instant messaging. Don’t have access to a phone to call or SMS me? That’s fine. Call me via Skype (adamreyher), and if my status on my desktop client is set to Away, you’ll automatically be redirected to my mobile phone. The best part? It’s at my expense.
If I need directions, Live Search Mobile is right there with me, complete with speech recognition, to help me find my way. If I don’t know where I am, built in phone-GPS allows me to pinpoint my exact location without having to browse through tons of maps. I can then receive turn-by-turn directions using this GPS. As much as I love Google, Maps Mobile has absolutely nothing on Live Search Mobile.
With Bluetooth functionality, I simply tap a button on my phone anywhere within 50ft of my desktop computer, and the phone automatically begins syncing contacts, calendars, and even my text messages. No cables required. With a Bluetooth enabled radio in your car, any media files stored on a memory card instantly become available for play. Add Voice Commander to the mix, and you’ve got 100% wireless control in your car.
The level of customization and functionality which Windows Mobile offers is absolutely outstanding. As a geek and hobbyist developer, I can create my own applications for Windows Mobile using the same exact programming techniques that I’m familiar with inside of Windows.
I’ll be the first person to admit that the iPhone looks extremely slick. The features are very nice for a phone. The implementation is beyond fantastic. But the level of customization and control over your phone is absolutely trumped by Windows Mobile devices.
I’m also not keen on the prospect of being locked into AT&T. While no phone company out there is exactly desirable, I personally have had worse experiences with AT&T than I bear to recall. I’m free to take my HTC Titan to any 3G CDMA network that I choose, and I’m currently with Verizon.
When all is said and done, I want choice combined with raw power and customizability. And that’s what Windows Mobile offers. And on that note, I’m desperately waiting to see what the full capabilities of Android have to offer the world.
We already know that Microsoft needs to start listening to the community and hearing what they have to say. We already know that not only do they need to listen, but they need to involve the community in core decision-making processes with their software, from the very planning stages. What do we as users want out of the software? What do we want to be able to do with it? How would we, as users, actually go about doing this with said software, and what features can be added to make it easier and more enjoyable?
Twoof the teams at Microsoft which have isolated themselves from this ideal are, mainly, the Windows and Office teams, and quite possibly a bit of the Windows Live team. Windows Vista, while not a disaster for me personally, was one for multitudes of people. Office 2007, while having many excellent features, was a trainwreck for the power user (Outlook 2007, anyone? No thanks…). Where are all of these complete OS/cloud integration features from Windows Live? No where to be seen.
Onthe flips side, there are many teams at Microsoft who do an incredible job at listening to users. The Xbox and Xbox Live teams, absolutely the Zune team, and while they’re not heard from too often, the Microsoft Research teams. They all listen to what users want out of products, what features, whether software or hardware, would benefit to the end user, and begin using their brilliant development minds to follow through on those ideas. They have us, the geeks and user advocates, to literally translate what the average end-user wants to do or has frustrations with into language that Microsoft developers and technical users can understand.
Onething that made headlines today is that Microsoft Research has opened up the Singularity project to the public for SDK and RDK use, for 100% free. If you do not know, Singularity is a very small Operating System which runs its microkernel and processes as managed code. Not only that, but it’s written in the C# language. For the non-technical users, this means it’s a completely different operating system than anything else out there both in terms of its programming and the potential it has. What Microsoft Research has done with Singularity is create a virtually uncrashable operating system with insane performance. People have been begging Microsoft to release this to the public, to technical users and developers, for over a year now. They’re finally listening.
Whatdoes this mean? It means that they’re making progress. It means that technical users can use Singularity, get down into its core, and start making suggestions to the Singularity team of how they’d like to see it improved. It means that with Microsoft’s brilliance, and our end user input, we could potentially be involved in the planning stages for a next-generation Operating System from Microsoft.
Now,I’m not saying that Singularity will be the base for the next version of Windows. The Singularity developers have already states that’s not its purpose. However, with input from the community, it very well could be the case that Singularity’s ideas make it into the next version of Windows, something that would significantly help us all. Nor am I saying that this has any relationship to my previous post about Microsoft’s involvement to the community, though a few people from Microsoft have already commented to me about it.
Microsoftis making progress, no matter how slow it may be. Let’s just hope it’s not too slow. And let’s hope that not only my cry to Microsoft, but that of thousands of others, speeds up that process.
Microsoft:Please listen to the community in all areas of your software development from the very planning stages. It will benefit the end user, and ultimately, it will benefit you as a company.
First of all, please Digg this. Microsoft needs to hear our voice.
Read on. I promise I’ll get your attention.
I’m a nobody. Microsoft has probably never heard of me in any capacity. I’m not popular in the online community. I’m not an executive and I have no business experience. My opinion counts for very little and my voice is rarely heard.
I’m a user. But I’m more than that. I’m a user advocate, or at least I try to be.
I’m a geek. Or, at least, that’s what my family and friends call me.I’m the person my peers turn to when they need help with technology.
I educate. Not only do I help solve their problems, but I also educate them how to better go about using their product in the future.
I AM a user. Regardless of how much I know about technology (and I know a lot), I’m frustrated with all of it.
Microsoft isn’t all about Windows. Microsoft isn’t all about competing with other companies. Microsoft should be about me. This bold statement requires one to ask why I am so important. The answer is not all that simple given Microsoft’s current ideals surrounding their software products. Businesses and people want Microsoft products. OEM vendors pay countless sums of money in order to license Windows and other Microsoft software products to provide to customers. Microsoft owns the market and this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Why am I so important in Microsoft’s world?
I’m important because I start my computer every day and use Microsoft’s products. I’m important because my entire life in the year 2008 relies on software that Microsoft has engineered and produced with millions of working man-hours, whether it be Windows, Office, Media Center, Sync, the Zune, Windows Mobile, or Live Services. My entertainment revolves around Microsoft products. My communication revolves around Microsoft products. To restate: My life revolves around Microsoft products.
Have I gotten your attention? Probably not. Microsoft, after all, has an overwhelming reputation that they make horrible products. Bill Gates has a reputation of being a money-hording and self-righteous person. When people think about Microsoft, they think about power, control, and quite possibly, hopelessness. Let me be the first to say that I utterly loathe such statements as these for their downright ignorance to the truth.
I see it every day. I deal with it every day. “Microsoft is horrible.” “Microsoft can’t produce a good product.” “I can’t stand this new ‘Vista’”.I sit here using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on 4 custom-built computers surrounding me, never had one single issue with Windows Vista since the public Beta, wouldn’t dare touch any other operating system, and yet I am somehow frustrated to my very core with Windows Vista.
It’s not about what’s wrong with Vista. It’s about what’s not right with Vista. It’s about overpromising and under delivering. It’s about why my voice and the voice of countless others has been all but silenced in the ears of Microsoft’s decision-makers. I’m not frustrated with the product. I’m frustrated with the ideology that Microsoft has adopted over the last decade.
What happened to Microsoft’s original idea of technology in the hands of the average person?
The average person has been removed from the map in Microsoft’s mind. The end user has been allowed to be trampled on by not only the products that Microsoft releases, but also the ways in which they are released to the customer. Microsoft has allowed OEMs to not only frustrate, agitate, and torment end users with technology, but also cause the horrible reputation that Microsoft has in the software community at this very point. Microsoft has lost all quality control outside of the development labs and the end user, the very people that matter the most to the success of Microsoft, are suffering because of it.
The frustrating thing from my perspective is that the end user typically is too ignorant to know what to do about it. They don’t know what hardware to buy or which software to run. They don’t know how important updates are. They don’t know the difference between Allow and Cancel in UAC. They come to us, people like me, the geeks, the user advocates, pleading for a solution. We try our absolute best to not only provide this solution but educate them in the meantime.
And we, the community of user advocates, have been begging Microsoft to listen to us for over a decade. We, the community of user advocates, are the most user-facing people Microsoft has to tell them what people want in Microsoft’s products. We, the community of user advocates, have been utterly ignored for over a decade. And yet, we, the community of user advocates, have not stopped our relentless plea for Microsoft to hear our voices as customers, as loyal customers, who want nothing other than a quality product for us to advocate to our peers; for us to evangelize to everyone around us; for us to be able to say “This product is AWESOME.”
That’s us. Who is Microsoft and what can they do?
Microsoft is a company with potential like no other software company in the world. Microsoft is a company which houses some of the most brilliant minds in technology. Microsoft is a company which contributes more to technology as a whole through things which stem out of Microsoft Research. Microsoft is a pioneer in the gaming industry. Microsoft is one of the greatest success stories this world has ever seen.
There are areas of Microsoft, including those I have just mentioned, which have done so much for the end user. Microsoft Research listens to what users want to see in products. Where are these amazing technologies in primetime Microsoft products? The Xbox Live community is virtually flawless. Why isn’t this development strategy used when developing other Microsoft software? I saw dozens of tips submitted to Microsoft about how the Zune 1.0 could be improved: all of them made it into Zune 2.0 and it’s a fantastic product, better than anything else out there. What happened to Windows?
Microsoft needs to stop thinking about how their operating system software and office productivity software will benefit corporate environments. Microsoft needs to dedicate entire teams to finding out what the community has to say about their products and how they can be improved in the way that users want, not the way that Microsoft executives want. Not only do these teams need to be created, but these teams need to have direct influence as to where, how, and when these ideas make it into core Microsoft products.
Microsoft has long had conferences where they get feedback from users. Why haven’t any of these major ideas made it into Microsoft products? What happened to the lines of communication? Which Microsoft executive decided our ideas weren’t good enough for the product?
Microsoft has to stop thinking about its business partners and start thinking about itself for once. While Microsoft benefits financially by partnering with, say, Hewlett-Packard, HP is one of the prime examples of an OEM which is utterly trashing Microsoft’s reputation by bundling software which is not only completely pointless, but ultimately hurts the user’s experience with the Windows operating system. HP has turned a Microsoft product into an HP branded product, complete with trial software from companies which no one has ever heard of or services which will never be used just so HP can make money.
Microsoft needs to threaten OEMs concerning such behavior which tarnish their reputation. Microsoft needs place strict limits as to which hardware and which software is allowed to be installed on these machines which are sold to consumers in order for Microsoft to provide OEMs with the licenses in the first place. And Microsoft needs to put their money where their mouth is and actually follow through with pulling OEMs licensing for those who do not completely and fully comply. This would and does require a virtual reconstruction of Microsoft’s business ideals.
OEMs are controlling Microsoft at this point and it’s hurting us. Advertisers and software which have little use for the consumer are controlling OEMs and they’re hurting us even more. It’s Microsoft’s duty to step in on behalf of the end user and provide them with the experience they deserve. Not only is it the end user’s experience that’s on the line, it’s clearly Microsoft’s reputation and future support from the community.
Have I gotten your attention? I most certainly hope so.
I’d like to think that all of my dedication (and not only mine but the tens of thousands of people in the community), will have paid off in the end by Microsoft undergoing major changes in order to better involve the community as a core part of the company, as advisors and consultants, to improve the quality of Microsoft’s products, Microsoft’s reputation, Microsoft’s stance within the technology and software world, and Microsoft’s future as a great company who actually listens to their users.
You can’t know how long we wait for the day that people can actually say they respect Microsoft. And believe me, we won’t be giving up anytime soon should our efforts at this point in time be ignored just like the rest. The reason we never give up is because we care about the end user; ultimately we are just end users ourselves who happen to know about the technology behind product.
We want quality. We want a voice. We want to be embraced by a company who could give us such amazing products. We want Microsoft to succeed.
Please help us.
On behalf of the entire Windows and technology user community,
As we all know, people are having issues with Windows Vista. While personally I know that these issues truly aren’t the fault of Windows itself, the world seems to want to think of it that way. Here are some tips to keeping Vista running smoothly:
Don’t buy your computer cheap. Now, I know this doesn’t help people who already own a computer with Vista, but for anyone looking to get a new machine in the near future, my advice is to not go cheap. Ultimately, you’ll be getting bad or unstable hardware which will cause you a plethora of problems with Vista in the future. If you’re buying a desktop, I’d recommend spending at least $700 for the tower itself, not including the monitor and peripherals. This way you know you’re most likely getting higher quality hardware.
Keep your computer clean. Don’t be installing tons of software you’re only going to use once. I personally go through my Remove Programs list once a week and uninstall anything I don’t need again. Don’t let programs launch when Windows starts up. Only open programs when you need them. If you don’t know how to turn off a program from starting up when Windows starts, there’s a great way to stop it from happening. 1) Hit Windows + R and type “msconfig”. Hit Enter. If Windows asks you to allow, hit Allow or Continue. 2) Go to the Startup tab and uncheck any programs you don’t need running when Windows starts up. This includes things like Adobe, MSN, AOL, Quicktime, Java, or iTunes. Be sure not to disable any Microsoft items or Antivirus/Antispyware!
Have a computer with a dual core or quad core processor? Use it! For some strange reason, Windows will not use multiple cores when booting up the computer. Once you’re in Windows it will use them, but not during the boot process. This significantly slows things down. Here’s how you can turn on the other cores: 1) Hit Windows + R and type “msconfig”. Hit Entier. If Windows asks you to allow, hit Allow or Continue. 2) Go to the Boot tab and click Advanced Options. Check the “Number of Processors” box and from the drop down, select 2 or 4 or however many processors your computer has. Note that if you only have 2 cores, only 2 will be listed. If you have 4, only 4 will be listed and so forth, so chose the maximum number in this list.
Use a good Antivirus and Antispyware program. By “good,” I mean a few things. Firstly, the detection rate needs to be high. Secondly, is it a “lightweight” program. What I mean by this is how much resources does it use on your computer? The number 1 cause of slowness on computers is not the hardware but the Antivirus program that is running in the background. Absolute no-go programs are Norton, McAfee, or AOL protection. These programs will bring your computer to an absolute crawl regardless of how powerful it is. The #1 program that I recommend is Kaspersky Internet Security (kaspersky.com). Kaspersky is a full internet protection suite protecting you against both viruses and spyware. It is extremely lightweight and runs in the background without you even knowing it’s there. Another recommendation would be Trend Micro Internet Security (trendmicro.com). I personally don’t like this as much as Kaspersky, but it is a very decent solution.
Keep your desktop clean. Surprisingly, the number of icons you have on your desktop can affect the performance of your computer. While this isn’t as much of an issue with higher-end machines with good graphics cards, you’ll notice performance hits on lower end machines since the computer needs to re-render all of these icons every time you go back to your desktop. Folders are a Godsend. Use them.
Useless programs, while sometimes fun, can actually hurt your computer. This includes stuff like Weather programs which keep you updated (use the Sidebar in Vista!), programs that change your mouse cursor, or toolbars for your browser. More often than not, these programs also contain high amounts of viruses and spyware. Stay away from them.
Leave your computer on all the time. In the pre-Windows XP days, leaving your computer on 24/7 was a sin. The reason for this was that the hardware in your computer wasn’t meant to be kept running for that long. These days, the same exact hardware that’s going into enterprise-level servers is pretty much what you’ve got sitting in your computer. It can more than withstand staying on all the time. The advantage to this is huge: Windows Vista will automatically perform maintenance on the computer while its not in use, such as defragmenting the hard drive. Also, constantly shutting down/booting up your computer will effect performance of things like Superfetch as it has to not only load Windows, but commonly used applications when booting up.
So there you go. That’s my list of tips for running Windows Vista smoothly. I hope they can be of help to you.
My last post regarding the Zune 2.2 release gained quite a bit of attention! I’ve gotten several questions through the Ask Me section about various Zune-related issues.
I’ve selected two of the primary questions. I’ll try to address these as best as I can.
Here goes…
The first one comes from Gordon:
So… I have music that I want to arrange into an album, but the new Zune interface seems to stubbornly not let me manually manage my files individually. Even though the “album” name is the same, as long as the artist of the files are different, it separates that collection as separate albums. Am I missing something? I really would hate to have to reorganize what I already have on my zune unit.
–Gordon
That’s, unfortunately, from what I’m aware, an issue with most music libraries. Primarily, songs in the library are organized by Artist > Album > Song, so if the album name is the same, but the artist is different, it will separate them. However, in several of my cases, this hasn’t been a problem. For most of my “Various Artists” tracks, the primary Artist is “Various Artists” while the “Contributing Artist” is different. This way, an individual song will split up when viewing songs by a particular artist, but when viewing albums, all of them are together. You might try a setup similar to this and see if it works.
From Larry:
I am having trouble trying to reinstall the firmware on my zune 30. I have the zune to the point where it says to connect to pc but that is as far as it goes because the zune software program says the firmware is up to date. So what next?
Have you tried restoring the software on the Zune? Note that this will delete all contents of the Zune, so be sure everything is in your library first. On the Zune 30, the first step is to hold the back <- button and the UP button on the pad at the same time. Then, press and hold the back <- button, the leftOK button the same time. The device should then begin restoring and will take a few minutes. After this is finished, the device will ask to be connected to your PC at which point will update the Zune firmware and sync if applicable. Hope this helps!
I went against my better judgment and formatted my desktop’s main hard drive in order to reinstall Windows Vista Home Premium. This time, I decided to install the x64 (64-bit) version of Windows. The advantages of an x64 operating system are numerous. Applications designed with x64 in mind will run ridiculously faster, such as multimedia applications, server services, and even the latest games. The operating system itself will also perform a fair bet better. However, x64, for the average user, does have it’s extreme downsides.
For example, have you ever had a window pop up when installing a new device telling you that a “driver isn’t signed by Microsoft” and then asking you if you wish to proceed? The good news is that box doesn’t exist in the x64 version of Windows. The bad news is you can’t install any drivers whatsoever that haven’t been signed by Microsoft. That eliminates a majority of devices and drivers out there.
I know what you’re probably thinking, though: I’m insane. And in most cases you’d probably be right. However, I did a fair bit of research and came to the conclusion that Windows x64 is the right direction for me. Here were my reasons:
1) Compared to x86 (32-bit), x64 (64-bit) Windows has horrible driver support. More often than not, you won’t find the driver you need for peripheral devices such as printers. However, in my case, I extensively researched my hardware and discovered that all of it has up-to-date x64 drivers, all signed by Microsoft. Any peripherals that I purchase are typically high name-brand devices (such as Creative, Logitech, HP, etc) which I know will have signed drivers from the get-go. I never go generic, and to be honest, neither should you when it comes to computer technology. I’ll only get you in trouble in the long run.
2) The programs that I run on a day-to-day basis are either fully, or partly “with a few minor quirks” compatible with an x64 operating system. Once again, I try to stay away from specialized software or generic brands. Also, I’m a major geek, so if I ever need to run an application that doesn’t support x64, I’ll just run it in my Windows XP x86 virtual environment.
3) As I just indicated, I’m a geek. That means I’ll intentionally put myself through trouble just to have the best stuff. An x64 operating system is a bit different, mostly in highly-technical ways. The average user isn’t going to see a UI difference or anything. But the nitty-gritty backend has some pretty major improvements, and as a geek, I want to take advantage of those, play around with them, possibly screw up, and find out how to fix my mistakes.
4) And to put it simply: I want higher framerates in Crysis. But in all seriousness, I wan raw performance in every aspect of my machine, which includes the operating system. Windows Vista x64 is the right choice for me.
Everyone knows that I’m an outspoken Windows user. I’m running Windows Vista on 5 machines in my house (completely stable, mind you), and a server in my house is running Server 2003. My desktop is specced out from a custom build.
That’s why it’s interesting that I’m writing this right now. Over the last few years, I’ve slowly grown an appreciation towards Apple’s OS X. As much as I’m surprised to say it, I have actually (and am currently) debating becoming one of the so-called “switchers” at least in part.
Let me say first of all that I’m still a die-hard Windows user. Windows has been great for me. Vista is a solid upgrade over XP. But whether or not Vista or Windows has been a good experience for me (and it has), Windows is slowly becoming a dying brand. There’s a massive amount of bad PR against Windows, regardless of whether it’s justified bad PR or not (which most of it isn’t). Windows has lost respect … and I’m doubting that unless Windows 7 pulls off a miracle, it will never get it back.
At this point in time, like I said, I’m seriously considering switching most of my daily work to a Mac machine. The issue of not being able to run the same applications is a moot point now. It wasn’t 5 years ago, but it certainly is now. While OS X inherently doesn’t have as many applications availble for it, there’s plenty of alternatives. The rest you can pretty much run flawlessly inside of a Virtual machine such as Parallels or VMWare Fusion.
Previously, as a power user, the main reason holding me back from getting a Mac was the hardware performance. Regardless of whether or not Apple refused to believe it, both Intel and AMD had much more powerful chips than the G3, G4, or G5 at any point in time. The benchmarks were overwhelmingly in favor of the PC.
That, again, is a moot point since the transition to Intel chips. The only difference between a Mac machine and a PC now is the type of BIOS system that Mac uses.
The other thing that was holding me back was the software. As a hobbiest .NET developer, I rely heavily on applications such as Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005. You can’t run these on a Mac … or can you? Only recently has Parallels and VMWare Fusion fully supported both of these. I can run both of them in a Virtual Windows installation without any problems at all.
At this point there’s only one single thing holding me back from getting a Mac and getting the best of both worlds (Windows and OS X) … the price. As a power user and someone who is wanting to run development and enterprise-level applications such as Visual Studio in multiple instances and SQL Server 2005, an iMac + a Virtual machine just isn’t going to cut it. I’d be required to get a Mac Pro. Even with the education discount (and the discount I get from working for Best Buy), I’d still be forking out $2300 at a minimum. And that’s only with 1GB of RAM and an 250GB HDD. That’s pathetic.
In order for my needs as a power user to be met, I’d need to spend around $3200+ for a Power Mac. Considering I have 3 machines currently sitting on my desk, I honestly can’t justify that cost. And it’s not that I can’t justify it … if I had that kind of money freely avaiable, trust me, I’d buy a Mac Pro in a heartbeat. The fact of the matter is that I can’t. Even as a college student who is 1) living at home for free and 2) receiving a 100% free education thanks to the state of Florida, and 3) making a respectable amount of money working as a Geek Squad agent in Best Buy, I just don’t have that kind of money to spend.
Apple: If you’re reading this, I beg of you. Help me. Help those of us who are in the same position. There has to be SOME way we can do this without having to spend that much money.
I started laughing while attempting to register my Zune a few minutes ago. The process seemed simple enough: login with your Windows Live account, put in your name/address information, and the device’s serial number and click “Register this Device.” However, I quickly discovered that, well gosh darn, Florida isn’t listed in the drop down box as a state.
Neither is Georgia and Maryland apparently. I called Zune support and had the device registered less than 2 minutes later and had a laugh with the guy on the phone about it.
It pays to check and double check those arrays, folks! What I don’t understand is that if they used ASP for the site, why didn’t they just use the built in classes which provide this functionality? Who knows…
I have just purchased a Microsoft Zune as a replacement for my old MP3 player (Creative Zen 20GB). My experience with the device and software has, so far, been extremely satisfactory. However, there were various things which I found about it which annoyed me. I just submitted those as feedback to the Zune Team in hope they will review them and take them into serious considering. My feedback was as follows:
Hello! First of all, I’d like to let you know that this will be fairly long. I’m a firm believer that the Zune has an immense amount of potential, so what I’m submiting here is a thorough list of various improvements that I would like to see in the Zune to help improve my experience using the product, as well as many other people who already own a Zune or are looking to purchase an MP3 Player. Also, as I have selected “Zune Software” as the category for this, what I will write isn’t necessarily limited to that, though a good portion of it is. If different departments of the Zune team handle different categories, I’d ask that you please forward the appropriate feedback to its respected department for review.
I have just recently purchased a Zune, and as far as the experience goes I have found it far superior to anything else out on the market, including the iPod (iTunes is just meh … I won’t go there). While the Apple iPod is a solid product in its own way, I personally do not like the craze that is all over it, making it out to be a superior product than it actually is. I was truly looking for the Zune to become an iPod killer … which as of this point it has failed to do so for various reasons.
That being said, the Zune from my experience, certainly has the incredible potential to do so … easily. The aesthetics of the hardware itself are great, including the size, weight, durability, and controls. The software on the player itself is far superior to anything I’ve ever used before. The menu system and organization just makes sense. In album (track listing) view, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to use the left and right navigation buttons to move through various albums, while using up and down to select the track. THAT’S innovation and such a small touch that makes the experience wonderful. The Zune software on the hardware is virtually perfect. There’s various things I’d like to see, added, however:
- I love the way the FM radio system is set up and how presets are added and such. However, why am I not able to record radio? For example, I was listening to a late night program on an FM station when someone started talking about something I found extremely interesting. I would have loved to have been able to record that for my later enjoyment. The only MP3 player that has actually done FM recording right is the Creative Zen. Can we please add this to the Zune? Please?
- The Zune automatically pausing playback when the headphones are removed is certainly a nice feature. However, can we please get an option to turn it off or on? I can vision various situations where I’d be switching headphones/speakers and I really don’t want to have to keep pressing play/pause each time I do so.
- When playing back a video, it would be awesome if the playback didn’t stop when going through the menu system again (such as with music and the radio). Can’t we implement something like in Windows Media Center where the video is still played back in the bottom corner? (with the back button, just as it does now, go back to the currently playing video)
- Having an equalizer is very nice. However, people such as myself who have various experience with “real” equalizers would probably like the option to have a custom equalization setting. For example, I like a particular song which has an awesome guitar solo. When I listen to that song, I’d like to isolate the range of frequencies in which the guitar resides and boost them. Saving these to custom presets would also be an added bonus.
- When saving radio presets, it would be awesome if each frequency was also tagged with the last know station name (whether it be the station name, or the call letters), just like the current station is top when viewing the presets. When tuning to that frequency again, this can be updated if the station has changed it.
- Along with the suggestion to keep video playback in the background (having a preview in the bottom corner or some such ), a “Currently Playing” section (whether it be music or the radio) would be a massive addition.
- Add an option to turn wireless on or off within the community section. I really don’t want to go into the community … find out that it’s not turned on … then have to go all the way back and two levels into settings to turn it on … then back to the community.
- Even though it’s fairly intutive that you’re viewing a list of Artists/Albums/Tracks, adding a tag to tell you what’s being displayed would be nice. Play around with the idea. Something as simple as a tag or even reducing the font size of the tracks, or indenting them 1 more space would do it.
- When I try to send a song through the song options menu, for the love of James Allard himself, don’t let the song stop playing! Isn’t the storage/cache inside fast enough to play AND send the song at the same time?
- There has to be some better way to show the track list than in the song options menu. Clicking twice to get to it is rather unnecessary in my opinion. I’ll admit that I can’t come up with a better way to do it, though. So have fun with it and rattle the idea around a bit.
The Zune hardware is essentially perfect, as I indicated before. The main thing I would like to see added is some sort of button which will take you back to the root menu. Hitting back 14 times isn’t a good experience for the user . I know the point of the Zune look was it’s lack of buttons and to get every feature accessible through those few buttons. However, you already did an awesome job designing the current Zune. I’m sure you can come up with something.
Another thing which would be absolutely AWESOME for the Zune (and a feature to make it stand FAR out from the competition) is a rather large improvement. It would be great if Microsoft would work with other manufactures (such as Pioneer, Sony, Alpine, JVC, etc) to integrate wireless support into the Zune for car media decks. The Zune already has the hardware capability. I can’t imagine it would be that difficult of a task to apply a simple software/firmware update to allow connectivity with supported car decks. Of course, the main work would be on the car deck manufactures.
I swear … I would use nothing but a Zune for the rest of my life if I could sit down into my car, push a single button, and play all my music from my Zune on my car stereo without ANY auxiliary 1/8″ wires or unstable and horrible quality FM transmitters. Those are just baggage which is largely unnecessary. The technology is available.
Microsoft … Zune Team … whoever. If you take one bit of advice from the mass of stuff I’ve written here, PLEASE pursue this option as a viable one. Seriously. Do you want to take a huge market share away from Apple with respect to playing in the car, or not? Do it quick before Apple does it first. And believe me … if no one else does it, they MOST CERTAINLY will.
The main things which I am giving feedback for, however, is the Zune software. At first, I was hesitant to purchase a Zune because I was unsure of the ease of use, stability, UI, and features of the Zune software. However, after discovering it’s utter similarity with Windows Media Player 11 (and the fact that WMP11 is required to be installed for the Zune software to work), I was very much pleased all considering I use WMP11 for my desktop media player anyway. Importing my library (as it was done automatically) was seemless and I was very happy.
However, there are various things which I would like to see changed. They are as follows:
- I found it rather annoying at first that when I plugged my Zune into my computer via USB, the Zune software automatically launched and synchronizing started and the album I was listening to stopped playing. All I wanted to do was start charging the Zune while using it. I quickly found the option to turn off Zune software launch. Okay, that was nice. However, what about the option to turn off connecting and syncing when I plug the unit in? Can’t the unit be connected in the background when the Zune software is active? Can’t the “real” connection (where music stops playing) ONLY happen when I actually MANUALLY sync the device?
- Why in the name of the evil Steve Jobs can’t I add music to my device from networked machines? If the Zune software is that similar to WMP11, seriously … why can’t I add my non-DRM’d music from another computer? I, for example, have a server in my house which holds ALL of my music/videos, etc, which I use for storage. I mostly stream this to other computers when I want to listen to the library or when I want to listen to the music on my stereo system/TV from my Media Center computer. I’m finding myself forced to sync while physically plugged into that machine … THAT’S annoying. Seriously. Fix this.
- It makes no sense to have playlists in the photo view. Slideshows? Maybe. But not playlists. Please remove it or change its functionality.
- This is 2007. The internet’s news comes from bloggers. Bloggers also are big into doing podcasts. If the Zune is all about “the Social” for Pete’s sake, why isn’t there Podcasting support in the Zune? Here’s a radical idea: add RSS feed support to the Zune software for me to subscribe to the podcasts rather than iTunes’ method. While a central database is important for finding new Podcasts and organizing everything into categories, being able to subscribe to a podcast (which may not necessarying be in the archive) via RSS would make the Zune the #1 blogger’s MP3 player. Period. Think about it: every enthused and non-Apple-fanboy blogger on the internet is advocating that their readers buy a Zune. That’s some MASSIVE publicity and good PR. But whatever you do, add Podcasting support to the Zune/Marketplace. Period. I don’t care how. Just do it … and soon!
- Even the name of your Zune is indicated in the category/genre view on the left-hand side of the software, can we please add some kind of indication this is your Zune? For example, tag it with (Zune) or (Device), or heck, add a tiny picture of a Zune next to it.
- Why doesn’t “sign me in automatically” actually sign me in automatically? I mean, I get it that it’ll sign you in when you actually want to download/buy something, but why can’t it sign in when I launch the application? I keep feeling like it’s lost my account association or something…
- Can we have some kind of indicator in the Zune Software/library that a particular album or song is DRM’d or has been downloaded from the Zune Marketplace? I want to know which media is going to expire at the end of the month.
Again, sorry for this being so long! However, like I said at the beginning, I’m very impressed with the Zune and I see utterly massive potential for the device. The things I’ve listed here certainly are my own opinions. However, I’d wager a good portion of what I’ve listed are ideas that are shared by many other Zune users out there … or rather, their experience would be improved should these things be changed.
I sincerely hope I haven’t written all of this in vein. One thing that I’ve been impressed with in Microsoft of late (mostly within Microsoft Research and the Xbox/Gaming division, which James Allard is part of) is how well they have listened to the community surrounding the products that have been released or are in development. Again, I sincerely hope what I have suggested in here will be read and seriously considered by the Zune Team as viable changes and improvements.
I was also impressed that such a Feedback form was provided on the Zune site. A few minutes before I discovered it, I was joking with a friend about how impossible it usually is to find feedback sections for devices such as the Zune. I love irony.
Again, thank you for all of the hard work that has been put into the Zune. It’s an awesome product. However, there are various things about it which keep it from being popular with the masses. I wish you guys good luck with the development of future revisions. I’m certain I’ll return with more feedback at a later time as I want to see the Zune improve.
As many of you know, I’m a Support Team Member for the popular open-source phpBB bulletin board project. We are now live after much discussion and work internally with the first episode of the Official phpBB Podcast!
You can find the episodes and more information at the podcast site.
As mentioned in the podcast, please post comments and suggestions in this topic. Please note that the email address mentioned in the podcast and shownotes has not been created.
And yes, we are aware of the sounds. We had forgotten to change the setting for that.
Episode 1 is about 45 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy the smooth stylings of the phpBB Team!
Earlier in August, MTV announced they would be merging with RealNetworks to form Rhapsody America, thus ditching URGE and Microsoft. For those of you who aren’t aware, URGE is essentially a competitor to iTunes but also allows you to have a music subscription where you can download and listen to any songs you want provided you keep paying the monthly fee.
URGE hasn’t been extremely popular, though the users who use it have reported that it is overall a very good experience and excellent service to have. MTV ditching URGE for Rhapsody is a huge blow to Microsoft. It was also a stupid move on the part of MTV, in my opinion. For the last 10 years, Real Network’s desktop software has been, to be blunt, crap. It’s been bulky, slow, unstable, and one of the worst UI experiences I’ve ever seen in Windows software. Whether MTV and Rhapsody will succeed in this is anyone’s guess.
However, I see this as a massive opportunity for Microsoft to gain some ground in in online music store and subscription industry. Microsoft has already invented PlayForSure which was one of the most ingenious ideas in the history of MP3 players. If only Apple would accept that standard, we could all be happy. However, Microsoft’s biggest mistake in all of this was their refusal to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. To be honest, I think this is one of the main reasons MTV left Microsoft. URGE has long supported PlayForSure, but when Microsoft has said URGE can’t connect with the Zune (which were announced hand-in-hand), it just screws up everything.
Live services by Microsoft is also another example of joining everything together into one standard platform. If Microsoft wants to take advantage of this situation, they need to firstly, ditch the Zune software. It’s a horrible piece of software as it is. They need to just stick to Windows Media Player. Secondly, they need to add PlayForSure support into the Zune. Why in the world they ever decided to not add a Microsoft technology to a Microsfot MP3 player is beyond me. Thirdly, they need to create their own version of URGE entirely from scratch and integrate it into the Live services so you can manage your account from anywhere using the Live account you already have.
I don’t like Microsoft for a lot of things they do, namely screwing up Vista’s release. However, Microsoft has a ton of incredibly awesome ideas rattling around up in their heads. They know how to create a good product and what users are asking for. They know how to wow people. They just need to successfully do it. Microsoft Research is a prime example of this. Why exactly Microsoft Research isn’t at the forefront of everything that comes out of Microsoft I’ll never know…
Microsoft … if you’re reading this, don’t screw this opportunity up. You had a good thing going with URGE. You screwed it up. Learn from this experience, take the bull by the horns, and create something much better and something which the end user will want to experience on a regular basis. I beg you … don’t screw this up.
It’s ironic that I’m not a hardcore Mac OS X user since I’m such a major advocate and stickler for good looking, well designed, and highly productive user interfaces. For me, the OS is only one of the many aspects of proper user interfaces. To a degree, I care more about the keyboard or mouse I’m using than the OS.
I recently decided it was time for a new keyboard. After much consideration and comparison with various other brands and models of keyboards, I decided to purchase Logitech’s diNovo Edge keyboard.
The diNovo Edge boasts a sleek design that just cannot be matched by any other keyboard. It is extremely lightweight and thin, but this doesn’t have any effect on its durability. It’s an extremely solid acrylic glass material. It’s orange lights which illuminate when the function key is pressed, or when the built in touch slider for volume control is touched, or when the TouchDisc ring is used.
Even with all of this sleekness, Logitech certainly did not skip on functionality The typing experience on the diNovo Edge is by far the keyboard’s best feature and, in my opinion, can only be matched by Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000. The keys are not hard to push, spaced near perfectly, and the keys are extremely silent, even when typing at high speeds.
The keyboard’s touch sensor for volume control is actually quite a nice feature. At first, I thought it would be like any other keyboard’s volume control. However, after playing with it for a few minutes, I don’t think I’ll ever use a keyboard which doesn’t have similar functionality pertaining to volume control ever again.
While the built in touch pad seems a bit excessive (and actually is unless you’re minimalist and don’t want a separate mouse), the one redeeming feature about this touch pad is its scrolling ability. Simply touch the outer rip of the touch pad and move your finger clockwise or counter-clockwise to quickly scroll through a web page or document.
As always with most newer keyboards, function keys are present. However, Logitech’s diNovo Edge keyboard takes a different approach. Rather than having all the function buttons displayed on the board, the labels are actually illuminated only when the function key is pressed, thus adding to its sleek design. At the same time, Logitech didn’t fill up the keyboard with useless buttons to launch applications you’ve probably never heard of (who seriously uses their keyboard to open their Photo folder by default), let alone have or use on a regular basis. The essentials are present with 4 extra custom functions which can be customized to carry out practically any computer function in Logitech’s easy-to-use SetPoint software.
All around, the Logitech diNovo Edge is the best keyboard I’ve ever owned. When deciding which keyboard to purchase, the only real competitor to the diNovo edge is Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000. To be honest, I would have rather purchased the 8000. However, I’m just not ready to put out $300 for a keyboard at this point. I think I can get over the $150 price tag of the diNovo Edge considering it’s pure genius in terms of design, functionality, and pure sexiness.
At this point in time, I’m exclusively a Windows user, with Vista as my primary operating system. Over the last few months, I have actually thought about becoming a “switcher” at least temporarily. I’m considering getting a 20″ iMac so I can experience Apple OS X firsthand, something which I’ve only been able to do at work, or at the Apple store. I really do want to learn more about Apple OS X and become as productive with it as I am in a Windows environment.
That being said, I took a trip to Orlando yesterday to do some shopping. While I was at one of the malls, I decided to take a trip into the Apple store to see the new iMac (which, in my opinion, is actually the first good looking iMac design). I stood in front of a 20″ iMac for about 30 minutes or so. There were a lot of things I enjoyed about the experience, but even more annoyances. Below is the list of what I found particularly annoying just from that 30 minutes.
Maybe I just didn’t find it, but where exactly can I find out how much memory or CPU is being used in real time? That’s annoying.
When I click the close button on a window in OS X, I expect the application to close. Period.
Why, exactly, can I only resize a window by using the handle on the bottom right-hand corner? What if I have the bottom of the window already positioned exactly where I want it?
Please, please, do not allow the desktop to display when Photoshop or Final Cut Pro or any other application like it is open. It confuses me what application is active and I really don’t want to have to look at the Apple bar to tell. OS X really needs to have this changed.
Put a real scroll wheel on a mouse like everyone else. I kept launching Dashboard when trying to left click.
And please allow me to secondary click a Dashboard widget to change its properties.
In iTunes, which I launch a video, why can I only resize the window proportionally? And can we please merge the library and play window into one? Reasons like this are why I stay away from Apple iTunes or Winamp for Windows. Windows Media Player is annoying as heck sometimes, but it’s certainly better than dealing with that
Apple’s Safari is a horrible user experience. Period. I was surprised that it was worse on OS X than it was on Windows.
OS X’s Wireless network switching is annoying. Seriously, if I have 2 wireless devices, what then?
Secondary/right click is a godsend. OS X better start supporting it fully like everyone else.
OS X Mail looks more like a to-do list than an email client. The iPhone’s SMS system is actually pretty nice. Can’t you make Mail look similar (leaving out the conversation dialog balloons)?
This is not so much as an OS X issue, but more of the overall experience. Most of my primary phone calling is done through Skype. It’s utter trash on OS X. Even Chris Pirillo thinks so, and he’s leaning towards switching to a Mac way more than I am.
Slot-loading DVD/CD drives are evil. What if I have a miniDVD that I recorded on my camcorder? I don’t care if it doesn’t look “cool,” please go back to a tray.
Apple’s .Mac is a total waste of money and you’re developers time. Either fix it to what it should/could be, or drop it entirely.
And why in the name of the Holy Steve Jobs do I have to pay that much for an Apple brand computer? This is the 21st century!
I’m torn at this point as to whether or not I should get an iMac. Windows Vista has a ton of annoyances, and I really wouldn’t mind switching to another platform such as OS X as there are, at this point, just as many “popular” applications that will run on OS X as Windows, and for the rest I can run Apple Mac Parallels or VMWare Fusion. But OS X has just as many annoyances, if not more, that really need to be fixed before I’ll ever consider switching entirely. Who knows … maybe in the future I will. I’m definitely more tolerant of Macs that I was 3 years ago.
This idea was brought on by some problems that I encountered in my Calculus class. The teacher does the normal in class lecture, gives tons of examples, is very good at explaining concepts and answering any/all questions. Overall, an aboslutly excellent teacher.
But she insists on using a web-based homework system. Basically, you create the account, select your school, class, and teacher, and off you go with premade questions by this third-party mathematics site (which will go unnamed at this point). Not only is this completely moving away from the typical homework that I’m so used to, but it brings up other complications.
For one thing, this paticular website accepts one answer, and one answer only. Basically, everything has to be perfect or you’re out of luck. No accidental typos, no improper forms, nothing. In the past, my teachers graded my homework with common sense. I could make a simple mistake and lose a point or two–half credit or one-forth credit. All my math teachers in the past have accepted square roots in the denominator of a rational. Not this online system.
Now, I don’t have too much of a problem with this since it is proper mathematical notation. However, what about when the server goes offline the night before everything is due? Yes, that is, indeed, what I’m faced with at this very moment. The server is down and I can’t get in to finish some last minute stuff which I otherwise had plenty of time to do.
Regardless, I’m a bit frustrated at this point. But it brought up an interesting point. As you all are probably aware, I’m a major advocate for technology and technological improvements. But is there a point where it hurts more than it helps? That’s the question at hand.
In all honesty, yes. I don’t care how well you program a computer. It still will never be able to use common sense or know for a “fact” what you meant to do. It’s not able to make decisions based on this logic. This doesn’t apply to just homework grading, though, but to every area. Computers in cars making decisions for us? Medical computers? The list goes on and on.
All in all, why can’t we just use old-school techniques which are just efficient that have been used for hundreds of years? I like writing and seeing stuff on paper. Always have, always will.
But in all seriousness, I wan raw performance in every aspect of my machine, which includes the operating system. Windows Vista x64 is the right choice for me.
