Well, in the main very well.

The good:

• Great Beaches
• Good Roads
• Fantastic Mountains
• Spectacular Valleys

The Bad – The adverts make a big thing of the great food in Wales and the Michelin stared restaurants, but unfortunately, the reality appear to be very different. Wales seems to be stuck in the dark ages when it comes to food. Over the past two weeks I visited over 30 locations across Wales, in each I was was looking to eat, and willing to pay the price for good food but almost without exception I failed.

The whole nation’s cuisine seems to revolve around burgers, all day breakfasts, lasagne and fish ‘n chips. Where I expected to see signs advertising “Fresh Local Fish”, “Local lamb” etc – all I saw were things like “Eat for only £2.50″, “cheapest burgers in town” etc.

Oh and the burgers! A bun with just a slab of minced beef is not really raising the bar very high folks! How about a bit of salad at the very least?

Now cheap food has a place – there are many people holidaying on a limited budget – but the budget food seems to have taken over – I’m sure there are some good places to eat, but they must be really well hidden.

I didn’t buy the first generation because because without 3G if had limited value as a data device. Also to replace my iPod (160GB), 8GB storage was not enough. Then the 3G ticked the data speed box but the largest capacity was still only 16GB. I did replace my iPod Classic though, with an iPod Touch 32GB at the end of last year (In fact I had two iPod Touches – the first suffered an early demise when I trod on it.)

So having set the bar at 32GB as acceptable capacity, the new iPhone 3GS 32GB ticked the final box.

First the out-of-the-box experience. As soon as I plugged it into my Mac – it quickly completed the activation process and within a few minutes O2 were sending me texts confirming activation and also telling me that MMS had been enabled. After that iTunes asked me if I wanted to restore from the backup of my previous iPhone. Of course it was actually referring to my iPod Touch, but I let it go ahead. Around an hour later everything completed and all my Apps, Music, settings etc. had been restored to the new iPhone. Even the save state of the various games was restored. It was ready for action.

So what do I think.

Overall it’s a fantastic device – it’s years ahead of any of the mobile phone I have used. In fact rather than list all the things I like, I will just list few things I don’t.

First the Mail Application – it’s terrible. Apple know how to make a good Mail application – I use it every day on my Mac running OS X Leopard. It was a good application 5 years ago too. So what were they thinking when they designed the iPhone mall application – the iPhone runs OS X too so why did they omit so much.

I want a single unified Inbox – currently the process to check the inboxes of my three email accounts is

1. Open Mail App
2. Selected Mail Account
3. Select Inbox
4. Read Mail
5. Press Back
6. Press Back
7. Select 2nd Mail Account
8. Select Inbox
9. Read Mail
10. Press Back
11. Press Back
12. Select 3rd Mail Account
13. Select Inbox

Thirteen steps – compare that with the same task on my mac

1. Open Mail App (Opens showings contents of all the inboxes)

And then managing the mail is also a nightmare – basic functions are just not there, things like:

• Mark all email as read
• Select All
• Delete Selected

And my other gripe is around Apple’s decision to tie the iPhone to a single carrier and then allowing the carrier to abuse their monopoly positions.

As a consequence O2 are able rip the consumer off.

Unlimited Data which is not unlimited data. If you want to use the tethering option, you have to buy a “Bolt On” for £15 per month and limited to 3GBs. Every other phone I have owned for the past 8 years has allowed tethering with no extra cost – this is disgraceful.

Other than that – the iPhone, coupled with the App store, is near perfect.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iWork, Numbers, iWork ’08, Review

My first test was importing my financial spreadsheet. It only use a couple of functions and a minimum of formating. The resulting Numbers spreadsheet was a complete disaster

Now the formating that accounts for most of the errors is just using UK currency with fixed decimal places.
The formula is “WORKDAY”, which, admittedly is from the analysis toolpak, but finding out that was the culprit was near impossible – you can’t click on the error message and ask it to show you the cell(s) it relates to. I had 25K + cells all marked to say that they had an import error.

OK , dealt with that problem, next, the spreadsheet is very wide and quite tall, hundreds of columns – and around 60 rows. As soon as you scroll, left, or up, you lose the column/row titles because Numbers does not support the basic Excel/Lotus 123 facility to freeze panes!, The best you can do is use the Column/Row headers facility in conjunction with the print layout view. Now the Column/Row cells are a special kind of cell, you can’t just click on your existing headers and say “make this the header row”.

There never was a second test – Numbers isn’t a spreadsheet application – it’s Pages with enhanced tables.

Hopefully they will fix these fundamental omissions in a patch, rather than waiting for the next version.

Starting with delivery – be prepared – it comes fully assembled in one box. This is very heavy (59 kilos) and very large – the box is about 50% bigger than the unit. Aside from putting the glass top on and setting the height for the adjustable shelf – it is ready to go, right out of the box.

Technorati Tags: Review, Sony RHT-G800

First stop is the manual and it’s here you find the biggest disappointment – The specifications for the RHT-G800 given by Sony are:

“Coax Digital In X 1, Composite In Audio/Video X 1, Opt Digital In X 3, HDMI In X 2 and HDMI Out X 1″

So that’s 7 Sources and 1 Output – isn’t it?
WRONG!. There are only 4 input sources, e.g. the “SAT” source uses 3 inputs, 1 X COAX, 1 X OPT and 1 X HDMI. Also one of these four sources in analogue only. This presented my first headache – I have 4 digital audio sources – XBOX360, Sky Satellite, DVD player and AppleTV.I had to sacrifice digital input from one of those devices – I chose the Apple TV, mainly because I don’t have any content with multi-channel sound – YET.

After quite a bit of careful planning, I ended up connected as follows:

??? XBOX360 – Component Video connected to the TV, audio connected to the “TV” Optical Digital input of the stand.
??? SKY+ Box – RGB SCART video connection to the AV1 SCART of the TV, audio connected to the “SAT” Optical Digital input of the stand
??? LG DVD Player – HDMI to the “DVD/BD” input of the stand.
??? Apple TV – HDMI2 input of the TV
??? Sony VCR – Composite SCART connected to the AV2 SCART of the TV
??? Stand HDMI OUT to HMDI1 of the TV
??? Panasonic TV Analogue Audio Out to stand “AUDIO” Analogue Input.

This means that ALL sources can output from the stand including the TV tuner and the VCR, The labels on the stand cannot be changed so I am left with a minor anomaly that the TV tuner and VCR use the input marked “AUX” and the XBOX360 uses the input marked “TV”

With everything connected, it was time to tackle the usual headache of moving it into position without any of the cables coming loose, whilst also trying to keep things looking as tidy as possible. Given the unladen weight of the stand I was anticipating quite a struggle here, but that was not the case. The stand has four, round, steel legs, about 6 cm in diameter; These glide almost effortlessly over my carpet. There is a recess underneath the rear bottom shelf and this provides a natural home for any slack cable and power strips.

There is very little to configure on the stand – you cannot adjust the sound field, other than to apply a couple of effects and to adjust the volume of the sub woofer and centre speaker. There is also night mode or “Audio RDC” for playing movies etc at lower volumes.A/V Sync adjustment is also available for digital input if the sound and picture are out of sync – I have not found it necessary to use this.The remote is very large and most of the buttons are for controlling components other than the stand, e.g. dvd player etc. It can be programmed for various manufacturers equipment and I have successfully set it up to control my Panasonic TV – I have not tried the other components as a don’t intend to use the Sony remote after I have programmed my Logitech Harmony remote. There are apparently some benefits if you use all Sony components, and if they support Sony Theatre Sync,

So that just leaves the big question – how does it sound?
Well to my ear, very good – the sound is rich and the subwoofer gives it the punch that is missing from the TV’s built in speakers. The 6.1 virtual surround is effective – it’s not quite as obvious as with my previous 5.1 setup where I had real (rather than virtual) rear speakers – but that is almost certainly because I used to have the rear levels too high to exaggerate the effect.

Overall – what’s the score?
I had a very specific reason for choosing an all-in-one solution. I previously had a Sony A/V receiver connected to 5 speakers + a sub woofer – however, I live in a fairly small flat and I could never really take full advantage of what it offered. The room has a lot of furniture, which affects the quality of the sound and also, out of consideration to the neighbours, I rarely turned the sub woofer on. Despite this I had still sacrificed a lot of space to the speakers and stand for the amplifier. Over the years, technology has moved on and I needed an upgrade to support HD inputs amongst other things. This time I decided on a compromise that reflects the reality of how it would be used. There aren’t many all-in-one solutions on the market, so it didn’t take long to narrow this list down to the Sony RHT-G800. After my little “Technology Refresh” I have halved the footprint of my A/V equipment without, to my ear, sacrificing any of the sound quality – I am very happy with the choice.

How could it be improved?
Well, firstly the Sony website should make it very clear that you can only have four sources, and second, well four is not enough!The ability to change the labels on the inputs would also be nice

8/10 (would have been higher if it was not for the misleading specs).

Technorati Tags: Panasonic TX-32LXD70, XBOX360 HD-DVD Drive, Sony RHT-G800

First off – the TV – a Panasonic TX-32LXD70.
I’ve been following the development of flat screens over the past couple of years.

At first the only option was Plasma and the price was prohibitive. There were also a number of apparent issues with the technology:

• Poor Contrast – because the cells of plasmas could not be switched off, only dimmed.
• Delicate – Had to be professionally installed and kept upright at all times or they would lose pixels.
• Screen Burn – Static images, such as the annoying logos on all satellite channels burning onto the screen.

Next came LCD – these only came in small sizes and also had issues:

• Poor Contrast
• Slow refresh rate (causing motion to be blurred)
• Limited viewing angle – you had to sit right infront of the screen in order to see the picture
• Dead/Stuck pixels – a manufacturing defect that the manufacturers seem to think was acceptible

Basically the picture on an old fashioned CRT screen was far superior to both these technologies – the only thing it didn’t offer was High Definition but this was not an issue as the was no HD content to view.

I waited, and two or more years on, there are beginning to be reasons to want HD.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs – Nice but who wants to end up with another Betamax
SKY-HD Satellite – too little content and too expensive
Apple-TV – HD connections only, but nice and I needed something to replace my aging, Windows only, Pinnacle ShowCenter.
XBOX360 – HD games – hardly a necessity, but nice all the same.

So time to review the situation. The first change is price – both types of flat screen are much more affordable.
Technically I can’t see that Plasma has changed much. LCD on the other hand now has:

• Bigger screen sizes
• Larger viewing angles
• Faster (less motion blur)
• Better contrast
• Better manufacturing plants (less dead pixels)

So I began some in depth research. I discounted Plasma fairly early on and started reading lots of reviews for LCDs . Considering that CRTs are hardly stocked any more and that LCDs are now mainstream I was surprised how immature the technology still is.
Many still have poor contrast, viewing angles and suffer with motion blur. Also HDMI has emerged as the only real connectivity option but many only have one socket. Next is the whole 1080p thing – HD is no single resolution standard and screens have varying pixel resolutions.

So I decided that although the time was right to buy an LCD screen, I was not going to spend too much on what could become 2nd rate technology in the future. As a result of raving reviews, The Panasonic won.

I also bought a Sony RHT-G800 Theatre Stand System and an HD-DVD drive for my XBOX360 – more on those later.

With all the recent short trips I have been taking recently, I had been using my Nokia 6230i to take photographs. It’s relatively basic camera was not really up to the task so I had three options:

1. Take my main Camera, Lumix DMC-FZ30, but that’s far to big too lug around on these trips
2. Buy a second, pocket size camera, but then I still end up carrying two devices.
3. Get a phone with a proper camera.

So option 3 it was, and from a short list of two, 3 megapixel camera phones, I choose the Sony Ericsson K800i over the Samsung D900.

Technorati Tags: Camera, Cybershot, K800i, Phone, Review, Sony, Sony Ericsson

As a camera, it has met all my expectations. its 3.2 megapixels and has a proper flash (Well it’s better than other camera phones that just use an LED).
It has a dedicated button for the shutter and an image stabiliser too. It had it’s first outing on my trip to the Science Museum (see previous post).

As a phone, its, well, OK. I have a few niggles:

• The C button, the one that “Cancels” things in other phones, acts as a DELETE key in many situations – I keep nearly deleting contacts.
• The Profiles don’t change automatically, e.g. when I put it in the dock, I’d expect it to change to a Dock profile
• You can’t disable the power saving – I’d like the screen to stay ON which it’s charging in the dock.
• There is no silent setting for the camera shutter.
• No Mac OS X Software
• I can only update firmware using a Windows PC, or, over the phone using the relatively expensive internet access.

But aside from that – I like the phone and I’m glad I bought it.

My quest to find the perfect headphone has been a long one – I commute on the train for 2-3 hours everyday and listen to music during the journey

Technorati Tags: Bose, Ear buds, Headphones, Noise Canceling, Shure, Sony

There is a lot of noise pollution on the train. As well as the noise of the train on the tracks there is:

• Passengers talking on the Mobile Phones
  Inane announcements from the Guard and Driver (never telling anything useful)
  People typing on their laptops – striking the keys so hard, it’s a wonder the keyboards still work
  People snoring and…
  the noise from other people headphones with the volume set too loud

Standard iPod headphones,

In order to hear everything, you need to have the volume very high to drown the noise out, As a result you end up contributing to the noise pollution! It’s not very good for your hearing either.

My first solution was a pair of Sennheiser NoiseGard??? Headphones at ??70:

These tick all the right boxes but had two drawbacks. The noise canceling feature works very well but:

1. They are quite bulky to wear when you walking (and you look a bit stupid)
   With the noise canceling box, they are very heavy.

They did me well for a while and while I was never 100% happy, they were the best I could find. I waited for someone to release an ear-bud version and eventually, Sony obliged:

These worked fairly well except for one major drawback- they would not stay in my ear. They come with three different size grommet, but none seemed to suit my ears. Sitting still they would gradually fall out after about 15 minutes. Walking with them in was next to impossible. At ??100, I was not going to give the up easily, but in the end they were too much trouble – I used them for about 2 months.

Next up – Shure E4C Noise Isolating headphones – at ??150 – it was a lot to pay, but the reviews were good:

FANTASTIC!!!
They come with an array of grommets and one set fits my ears!! (The triple flange one in the right of the picture)

With them in, almost all external noise is blocked out. They produce extremely good quality sound, and with the noise isolation, you only need to turn the volume up to half the level you need with standard iPod earbuds. No matter how loud you have them – they produce no noise pollution.

Fast forward two years to January 2007.
After lots of use – the left channel begun cutting out when the cable was moved – they had lasted well but now they had to be replaced.

In two years the price had gone up to ??250 – the cheapest I could find were still ??200.
I decided to give another, cheaper brand a try, the Bose TriPort IE at ??70

They are halfway between the iPod buds and Shure in terms of design. They sit in the same part of your ear as the iPod standard buds, but extend further into your ear. This is achieved with soft silicone “tips” which come in three sizes – the largest gave me the best fit.
The sound quality is very good and whilst they don’t have the sound isolating properties of Shure headphones, you do not need to have the volume as loud as with the iPod buds – Like Shure, they produce no noise pollution.

I missed the isolation of the Shure headphones – I’d forgotten how noisy the train was. But having spent the money – I was prepared to live with them.

One of my early reservations with the Bose, was the relative ease that the “tips” came off. Twice on the first day one tell off and despite being very careful, I lost one a few days ago. Without the Tips, all you have is a very expensive piece of wire -I could get replacement tips, but it was clear that this was not a problem that was going to go away!

So, today, I decided to trek across town from my office in Canary Wharf, to Tottenham Court Road and purchase the cheaper cousin of the Shure E4C, the E3C (priced at ??150)

Then a nice surprise – the store had sale and were selling the E4C half price, at ??110. (only the white version was on sale – they were still selling the black ones for ??250!)

They may be expensive, but they are definitely worth it.