Sonic nirvana

I had reviewed the B&W C-5 headphones earlier, and mentioned I was disappointed in the overpowering bass; not what I was expecting from Bowers & Wilkins. I mentioned that I had ordered the P-5's, and was hoping that it wouldn't have the same problem. I am ecstatic to report that they don't.

 

Clear, faithful sound stage, vocal reproduction, an easy to use case and the ability to switch between iPod-compatible (controls for volume and ability to advance / rewind from the lanyard) and standard audio cables make this a winner! Highly, highly recommended! On top of that, they're extremely comfortable, feel well made and look like they're going to last. Its in the same league or superior to the Sennheiser RS-180's in terms of comfort. Being closed though, you get no leakage which is good for the other people in the room :-)

 

I've partnered them with a FiiO E7 headphone amplifier, with the EQ set to bass boost +1, and its amazing how neat the sound is. Highly recommended combination.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I normally write these posts while the content is still fresh in my head, as I feel my initial impression is the most faithful. With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I wasn't sure how I felt. The fact that its the first Android phone to run Ice Cream Sandwhich is very exciting on its own; combine that with the hardware talents of Samsung, and this promises to be a ground breaking device.

 

I used the device for a week while overseas on holiday, in a more intense use-case mode than normal - not comfortable office based, but in and out of taxi's, public transport, planes, on the beach, by the pool side, etc. And specifically where connectivity was rubbish at best.

 

And so the verdict I'm happy to provide after more than a week of fairly intense testing is that while the operating system is excellent, the hardware its mated to is just too damn big (and soft) to be comfortable carrying around.

 

This device is bigger than a Samsung Galaxy S2; and thats a big phone. So you can't imagine how big this thing is. Sure, its light, and its thin, and that screen is gorgeous, but its uncomfortable to go into your pocket easily or retrieve in a hurry (like when its ringing). And you definitely shouldn't sit with it - highly unrecommended! And its even worse if you're a man ;-)

 

More detailed impressions;

 

• Hardware

1. The speaker is terribly soft - for ringing, audio calls, music, etc.
2. The screen is gorgeous - colors stand out, depth looks amazing, and vibrancy of the screen is crazy. But its not Gorilla Glass - so how long will it last and how hardy will it be is questionable
3. As mentioned, the dimensions of the phone are just uncomfortable to hold in one hand (unless you're a freakishly large person) and you need two hands to text, browse, etc - forget thumb-based texting with this, ain't going to be possible unless you're a yeti
4. Because its so big, you're constantly scared you'll drop it

 

My overall impression is that this is the wrong hardware for this device. The screen real-estate space race needs to end.

 

• Software

1. Slick, polished, and lightning fast - transitions, the cool effect when you reach your home screen ends, etc - this is truly world class and eliminates the one argument all iPhone users have, which is around the speed of interacting with Android devices. Its finally fixed!
2. App compatibility so far seems great, and I have yet to find an app that misbehaves
3. The entire UI is obviously completely customisable, widgets galore and gorgeous yet subtle effects

 

The overall impression is that the software is amazing, and I find it hard to see how the traditional hardware manufacturers will differentiate now that Google has made the decision to reduce fragmentation based on UI.

 

PS. I will admit that this large estate makes this a wonderful smart device to carry around (note, I didn't say smartphone). So, my modus operandi now is to use an iPhone 4S to make/receive calls, and this device for everything else (social media, e-mail, etc). Seems to be a winning combo. In retrospect, that sounds like the girl taking a different phone with based on the handbag she's carrying. But bigger isn't always better, and walking around with this device over the smaller iPhone only exaggerates the size.

B&W C-5

I am a bit of a headphone / audio junkie; I have a very good pair of headphones, but was intrigued by B&W's foray into headphones. So I went and bought the C-5's, which feature an interesting "secure" loop design to keep the headphones in place. For those of you who are interested, its on special in South Africa at the moment. Very attractive, well weighted and incredibly comfortable to wear.

 

 

 

The attractive Apple-esque packaging also doesn't hurt matters. So how do they sound ?

 

I'm afraid that while the sound stage is very wide (impressively so), and the volume is good, the excessive bass response vs mid-range bass relegates these to iPhone / iPod use in cars, planes and the like. I'm afraid they are nowhere near the Klipsch's in terms of truthful reproduction of the music. It appears that B&W has tuned these for exactly that MP3 generation of music lovers. Not a bad thing, but not what I was looking for.

 

I have also ordered the P5's. Lets hope they don't suffer from the same problem.

 

PS. These cans come with the most rubbish carry case I've ever had the displeasure of using. Fiddly, without instructions and very easy to screw up. Fail!

AirServer

I like the idea of Apple's AirPlay. It works well on my Apple TV, but very often there is something on my phone or pad that I want to see on my Mac. I found AirServer, and have installed it; it works very well. Highly recommended!

How does Vodacom expect to stay in business ?

I have had a good historical reason to stay with Vodacom. I've always liked their services, and frankly, they've been as rubbish as their competition. But recently, the number and scale of outages, and complete and utter ineptitude at managing their network has resulted in me being rather disappointed with them. If it wasn't for the crazy early cancellation fees, I would have ported over to someone else at least 6 months ago.

 

But I digress; lets focus on the last 3 weeks of ineptitude. I returned from an overseas trip with an iPhone 4S. I wanted to enable Visual Voicemail for it, and miracle of miracles, Vodacom has it. For the purposes of clarity, please see this article on their website. I tried to enable it on the 12th of November. Through an endless series of calls, first explaining what the service was, then that they did in fact have it, and that it wasn't activating, it finally started working  - on the 20th, with no explanation or understanding from the myriad operators I was speaking to as to what had changed. No-one knew why it wasn't working, and no-one knew why it started working. Major problem!

 

Then, I foolishly decided to add Voicemail Plus, which gives me the ability (theoretically) to forward my voicemail to an e-mail address; having both would have been voice messaging nirvana! I activated it (on the 21st), was immediately charged for it and received a summary notification saying my Visual Voicemail service was cancelled. No excuse, no explanation. So, for clarification, it appears you can't have both services together, even though none of the documentation (nor, for that matter, the operators) seem to know that.

And they're an innovative company! I decided the ability to get my voicemail as an e-mail was worth more than not having to sit through tons of tedious IVR messaging, and started looking for a place to enter my e-mail address. Lo and behold, hours on the web site, several calls to the help desk and two call references later, I still don't have my voicemail forwarded.

 

So, to summarise;

1. It took 8 days to enable Visual Voicemail, a service that Vodacom advertises it has
2. You can't have multiple value-added voicemail services at the same time (something I only learned when I activated another one) - there is nothing in the documentation or collateral that states otherwise
3. I have been four days (and counting) without the ability to forward my voicemail to my e-mail, in spite of having being billed and have, as active, the service on my profile

How do cellular operators expect to survive when they offer up such shit service ? Can't get the basics right (keep the network up and don't drop my calls), can't get the value added services right, and can't support the end-user when things break ? I'm a "premium" customer to them, paying over R1000 a month. Not for long; not for long.

 

Update: as of yesterday, December 30th, I now have the service working. No apology, no explanation and (still) no ability to configure it on the web. It has to be configured "on the back end".

Kindle 6"

 

Ligher, smaller, faster. That's how the new Kindle is introduced and sold. And it is; amazingly sma

 

ll to hold in the hand and very light. It was most annoying to know that the Kindle Touch isn't available in South Africa. I was passing through duty-free last week, and saw this version available, and decided what the hell.

 

I also got the official Kindle leather cover for it, which is outrageously priced by being a third of the price of the Kindle. Oh well.

 

I haven't read anything yet; saving that for December! But so far, quite impressive kit. Using the on-screen keyboard is quite difficult; but on an e-reader, I expect that you won't be doing that much.

Apple, you ruddy wankers.

Apple released iTunes Match, a cloud-based system whereby a copy of your music is stored online, and is retrievable (and critically, streamable!) from any authenticated device. But, you need an American credit card to make it work. Major suckage :-(

 

PS. Now that I'm in the ranting mood, isn't it weird how Google and Samsung postpone a device launch event out of respect for the death of Steve Jobs, but Apple themselves choose to launch new software and hardware for the same date. Talk about poor taste.