The size is perfect for reading books and magazines look great on the color screen, but i personally think it’s a little small for viewing them. Article view helps out a lot though, which I will talk about more later.

On the initial startup you are greeted by a welcome video. The quality of the video is perfect. Seriously, I don’t really think it could look any better. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only video that I can get to even play on the device, but more about that later. It takes little time to setup. You just set up your WIFI, timezone and log into your account and that is about it.

The performance of the Nook Color is great. There is an occasional hiccup with an animation, but it is very minimal. Unless you are sitting there searching for a problem you will most likely not even notice.

The device itself only has 4 physical buttons: power, volume up, volume down, and the “n” home button. Pressing the power button locks the screen. If you hold it for 5 seconds it will pop up an option to turn of the device completely. I have been doing this at night because I don’t really have a reason to keep it on. I figured it would be a good addition to the review to time the fresh boot up. It takes 31 seconds to load up all the initial wording and animations. At that point you are on the home screen. So turning the device off completely isn’t really a big time killer.

The Nook Color really shines as an ebook reader. I have absolutely no eye strain while using it even though it has an LCD screen. My eyes are totally used to LCD screens though, as I have been using them for the last 10 years regularly. You have many options while reading books or newspapers on the device. You can change the colors, margins, font, line spacing and text size that it displays. It has enough options available that you should be able to find a combination that suits you perfectly.

The entire screen is touch enabled. But there are 3 key locations you want to touch while reading. About 1/2 inch on each side of the screen is for page turns. You can just tap on the left side to go back or tap on the right to go ahead. If you don’t like the single tap function, you can also swipe your finger to “move” to the next page. By tapping in the middle of the page, it will bring up an option menu where you can see the content of whatever you are reading along with your bookmarks, search through the text, share (recommend via email, Twitter or Facebook along with posting the % complete as a status update), change the text attributes, and adjust the screen brightness. There is also a slider to go to a specific page. I have tried all of these functions and haven’t come across any problems yet.

Where the device begins to have some problems is with media functions. Various sites including YouTube are bookmarked by default in the web browser. I tried a few videos via the home page of YouTube and none of them worked. Each popped up the same “unable to play media” message. To test this further I put a few videos on to my microSD card. I tried 3 videos, all encoded via mp4 as stated on the Nook specs as necessary and none of them worked. There seems to be a major issue with the video codecs on the device. But as I stated earlier, the demo video looks incredible. So I hope an update is released soon that adds more functionality to the video playback portion of the device because as of right now it serves little purpose. I put about 100 mp3 files onto my microSD card also. They played without any problem. I have seen other reviews where mp3 files did not play. But I had no issues, though I didn’t try to play any VBR mp3 files. If any could be a problem I would think those would have the greatest chance of failure.

Now back to Article view in magazines. This function makes magazines actually readable. Article view, which works in regular or landscape, pulls the text from within the articles and displays it in the center of the screen. It makes it much easier to scroll through and read the text this way. Magazines would not be very functional if this option was not available. You would be forced to zoom in and out on the magazine, moving it around the screen to view the different columns of text.

The web browser works well. It lacks Flash like most other mobile devices. One thing to point out though is the fact that the mobile versions of sites don’t load by default. Every site I visit treats the browser in the Nook as a “desktop” device rather than mobile. I don’t mind though because over WIFI pages load fairly quickly. I did notice that .gif animations don’t actually animate. But that is a very minor issue, and once again could be fixed in an update easily if the developers think it is necessary.

Overall the device is great as an ereader. As of right now it lacks in the tablet department. Once some issues are worked out with video playback, and the app store is available in January, I can see getting a lot more use from the device as a whole and not just as an ereader.

I left out some aspects of the device in the review because it is already fairly long. If you have any questions about anything not mentioned here feel free to ask below. I will respond as soon as I can.

Also, all photos in this post were taken with my phone so they are very low quality.

I am an avid Netflix user and streaming video to my laptop is nice but watching movies on a television is a much nicer experience all around.

My Roku arrived this week and, unbelievably, I installed it on my lunch hour after I ate my lunch and I was not late returning to work! In less than thirty minutes I connected it to my television and the internet, registered my device with Roku, Netflix, and Amazon Video On Demand. It was an amazingly simple process.

I had been told that I would need to manage my Netflix queue via the internet to add movies for streaming, however Netflix has made some upgrades that allow you to search for movies via your Roku device making adding and deleting from the device is very user friendly. Download speeds are fast and I have not had any issues with any movies needing to buffer as I watched them. The only thing I found a bit awkward was scrolling through a video I just wanted to watch parts of, however if you pause during a movie and come back later to resume watching, it immediately goes to the point where you left off.

There are many options of channels you can add to your Roku device from podcasts to videos to photo sharing. Thus far I have added Mediafly, PodTV, woot!, Roku Newscaster, EZTakes, and USTREAM.tv.

I have found each of these applications to be very easy to navigate and use.

I have not found Amazon video on demand as simple to use though. I found their application to be a bit cumbersome and outside of a few current television show offerings, all of their content is available on Netflix, so paying for Amazon rentals is not going to be something I will do with any regularity.

For those interested in MMA, there are a couple of channels for viewing UFC which offers LIVE events and archived PPV events and classic fights and Midwest Cage Fighting.

It also has some internet radio channels, family channels with kid friendly content, some independent film channels, and several classic movie channels. In addition, in the few days since I have installed my Roku device, there have been several new channels added to the lineup, so I will be checking back often to see what else is new.

If you have been considering purchasing a Roku device, I would definitely recommend it.

Features

I will begin first discussing some of the features of the Playsport.
It is capable of 4 video modes, WVGA, 720p, 720p 60fps and 1080p. It is also capable of one still photo setting of 5mp.

I am sure the 1080p quality level of recording is a huge selling point, but I tend to use 720p for the most part. The size/quality ratio just seems to be better for 720p. I feel that if I use 1080p for most videos, it is basically overkill and will just fill my card much faster than necessary. The 720p 60fps mode uses the same storage space as a 1080p video, but when there is a lot of motion this mode is clearly the best. It is very smooth with little to no motion blur when recording at 60fps. It is great. Truely.

Unlike the Kodak Zi8, the Playsport does not have an external mic jack or a macro mode. But, the focusing distance on the Playsport is fairly short so the macro mode isn’t really a big deal. Also, like many other pocket video cameras the Playsport does not have an optical zoom, only digital. Digital zoom in my opinion is practically useless, but others might care to use it.

Build Quality

The best part about this pocket video camera is the build quality. As soon as I originally took it out of the box I knew it was built well. It has a nice weight to it and is very sturdy. It has a rubberized coating to make it very easy to grip. The rubber grip is needed for easy handling while the camera is wet, because after all the Playsport is completely waterproof up to 10ft.

Video/Photo quality

The video quality of the Playsport is great considering it’s price tag and general size. In low light, still photos and videos are fairly grainy, but I totally expected that to be honest. The video filesizes are fairly large, but once again, it’s expected when you are dealing with high resolution video files.

Below is one short sample video I recorded in daylight. This is not the best sample, because Flickr reencodes the videos, but it gives you a general idea of the clarity, and the EIS (electronic image stabilization). Also are 2 sample still photos. One was taken in sunlight, the other at night.

Sound Quality

The sound quality on the Playsport is average. It contains a built in mono condenser microphone. It picks up sound from a fairly decent distance, but if you are in any sort of wind forget about getting usable audio. Indoors it works fairly well because there shouldn’t be much wind, at least we hope so right?

Other Comments and Issues

Getting the files off of the Playsport on my iMac is fairly simple. All you do is connect the device via the included USB cable and it mounts just like an SD card reader would. There is one major bug though. When you remove the files from the device, it starts using the same filenames over again. This is a major problem if you want to put all of your videos and photos in the same folders, you might accidentally overwrite one of your older files. I hope a firmware update is released to fix this issue quickly.

Conclusion

Overall I am happy with my purchase of the Playsport. I also purchased an 8gb class 6 SDHC card to go with it. 8gb will get about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours of recording time depending on the quality setting you are using. If you need more storage, it supports up to a 32gb SDHC card, but remember the battery will most likely die before you run out of storage if you have larger than an 8gb card. Fortunately, the battery is easily replaceable, so you can buy extra one for about $20 if you need more recording time.

With regards to coverage of AT&T at least in my area (Pittsburgh), I have had no issues what so ever in regards to making both telephone calls and using the data network.  In my personal opinion, I believe that the 3G coverage is about equally matched up to Verizon Wireless, however using the web and data applications run much smoother, in addition to the response time appears to be better.  This could be due to the nature of how the phone’s applications are written, or due to the OS that the device is running on.

Using two accounts on this phone both MobileMe and Microsoft Exchange works beautifully.  In my experience with BlackBerry, having more than one account tended to merge both email accounts, calendars, and contacts together.  The iPhone handles multiple accounts very well keeping everything separated.  I am absolutely in love with MobileMe, and how it integrates with my phone and MacBook (more on the MacBook in a future post).  The synchronization is by far faster than Exchange, and Apple I applaud you for getting email, contacts, and calendar synchronization nailed on the head.  I actually find myself more now using the calendar and iCal to keep my personal life organized, because I know the two will work together with no problems.

I think the battery on the phone is good, considering I have been playing with this phone every free moment I get.  I go about a full day on my battery when I am playing with this,  and on days like Saturdays when I’m at home the battery lasts until Monday morning. As of this post I charged my phone last night, and have had 3 hours and 40 minutes of use today, and my battery is still at 65%.

At the end of the day, everyone will have their own thoughts about this device. In my opinion  moving from a business standard platform (BlackBerry), to the iPhone was a great move.  I found no down sides to having a iPhone over a BlackBerry, and with the addition to the various applications that adds additional productivity to my personal life, I’d already be lost without this phone.

So that being said, I thought a comparison between this device and my old BlackBerry Storm is in order.

I’ve only had my iPhone for 5 days, so I will follow up this article in a week or so with part deux.

Coverage:

I have always had a Verizon cellphone (Smartphone or not) for years, so the thought of switching carriers did cause a bit of concern.  I heard multiple people say the AT&T coverage in my area (Pittsburgh) was not that great in comparison to Verizon’s.  Generally a few dropped calls would be  okay, and even understandable, however since this is primarily used for business I need to have a reliable network.  I don’t believe in the TV commercials for AT&T or Verizon, as they are playing the marketing game, and really only the individual using the phone can correctly assess the coverage.  As of now (5 days) using the phone, I have yet to see any situation that makes me believe Verizon is a better network.

To test the AT&T commercial, I created a phone conference with two other phones.  Once  I had the phone conference going I began surfing the web and perhaps because of the network and the beauty of Apple everything just worked.  I could not make a phone call and browse the web on my BlackBerry.  I do not know how often I’d use this, but its fantastic knowing that I can.

Email/Calendar/Contacts (Exchange):

The first account I configured on this device was my Microsoft Exchange account from work.  Prior to the iPhone I was using multiple BlackBerry devices (VZW WE 8830, and the BlackBerry Storm), so I was used to getting my email very fast.  So far I have not noticed a delay in the delivery of my email.  Typically my phone has notified me of a new message either 1 – 2 seconds after my computer received the message, no major delays.  The calendar and contact synchronization has also been fast.  I have not seen a major delay yet in comparison to the BlackBerry platform.

Email/Contacts/Calendar (MobileMe):

I have now moved from using Gmail to MobileMe.  I have been using Gmail since the early days, when the initial invites had been in small numbers.  I knew what to expect from Gmail so once more, I was leery of the switch.  I tried using MobileMe a few months back on the 60-day trial, and noticed that the web interface was slow, and my contacts would randomly delete themselves, so I cancelled my trail.  My thought was even though the web interface was beautiful, I need reliability.

Since getting the iPhone I figured, lets give it another chance to fully take advantage of the push technology.  I am not sure if Apple has changed their servers, or made an update but now my web interface is extremely fast.  Had the experience been this fast during my trial I probably would not have cancelled it.  The push for email is extremely fast, and I believe it works faster than my exchange account.  The updating of contacts and calendar is actually faster than Exchange.  I can move items in my web interface or on the phone, and almost in real time I see the update.  Exchange takes a little bit longer (10-20 seconds).   This is actually much faster than the BlackBerry platform again. I am actually loving the performance of MobileMe over Exchange and even the BlackBerry platform.

Ease of Use:

I have to admit using this phone is truly a dream.  Typing on the iPhone’s keyboard is a better experience than that of the Storm.  In a previous post, I mentioned how one had to touch, then physically click on the screen to input a character.  This is not the case with the iPhone. I am actually finding it faster to type email and SMS messages via the iPhone.  I have yet to try the landscape keyboard because I am so impressed with the portrait keyboard.  On the storm I was constantly producing spelling errors, due to the “SurePress” keyboard.  The phone would “think” I wanted to type one word when really I meant another.  This led to some embarrassing emails to executives as the overall grammar of the email made no sense.

Battery:

I’ve been charging my battery daily, but I believe the reason it is getting low is due to my constantly playing with the device.  Once the novelty slows down from having the iPhone I will be able to truly give both devices a fair comparison.  I do not want to give a opinion on the iPhone’s battery quite yet.

Summary:

I have been downloading applications like crazy this week, and the App Store has a far better selection than what I could find for my BlackBerry.  There are many applications I have found so far that will allow me to be more productive and aware of my servers at work while I am out of the office.  This is one of the reasons our company is actually removing all BlackBerries from our environment and moving to the iPhone.  I plan on following up to this post in a week or two once I have really tested the phone in more detail.  As I said both phones have been on the market for quite some time, however I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on moving from a popular platform (BlackBerry) to the iPhone.

Side Note

As of a few days ago (1/11/2010) all four buttons had fell off my phone. I pulled my phone out of my jeans and those buttons got snagged and fell off.  Verizon Wireless is sending me a replacement device, however I have yet to receive it.  This seems pretty common as seen here,  ”BlackBerry Support Forums“

Edit: (1/16/2010):  Verizon Shipped me my replacement phone yesterday, I got it set back up.  I took a picture from my new storm of the old storm’s keys.  I super glued the send key in place so I could make phone calls during the week.

I will start off with a brief description of the software taken directly from GoldenSignals.com

“Install DisplayShare software on your PC in the home network.  With the TV displaying the PS3 welcome screen, an icon identifying the PC appears on the TV screen.  You may then use the PS3 remote or game controller to select the PC icon, and whatever is on that PC display screen will appear on the TV.  A wireless link between the PC and the home entertainment system is automatically established.

With DisplayShare, everything displaying on a PC screen can be streamed.  You do not have to navigate complex interfaces or overcome file format issues to wirelessly send a display to a TV.  Likewise, any PC audio, regardless of format, can be played through a home audio system.”

I downloaded the 30 day trial and installed it on my laptop from work. The specs are fairly good: 3gb of ram, a Core 2 Duo processor and a gigabit network card.

I loaded up the program and almost instantly it found my ps3 and added an icon, as shown in the first (very low quality iphone photo) screenshot.

Basically, it makes your ps3 think of it as a file and the software “streams” whatever is on your screen through your network.

Upon my initial use I noticed there was a 1 or 2 second delay between what I did and when it streamed through my ps3. I didn’t consider it a major problem so I figured I would load up Youtube and try a video through there. The first video I tried skipped. I instantly thought to myself, if this doesn’t work I highly doubt a high quality video will work either. And unfortunately, I was correct. I loaded up VLC and tried playing a 720p video. All that showed on the ps3 was a black box where the video should be playing.

At this point I had enough and decided that there was no chance of me paying for this software because it just flat out doesn’t work as advertised. You can’t tell from my photo, but the video doesn’t actually fit my entire tv screen either due to the slightly different proportions of televisions and monitors.

After my first impression, I wouldn’t recommend even wasting your time installing this software. Let’s hope that a new version is released soon that actually works, because in theory this could become a very useful application.

View: Screenshot 1

View: Screenshot 2

I was looking through the application store in iTunes and came across Midomi. It has been out for a while now and has gotten some great reviews, so I figured I would give it a try.

Basically, this program lets you hum, sing, type, or listen to audio. Based off of that recorded sample it will tell you the song. There have been many times when I have heard a song I really liked but had absolutely no idea what it was. With this application I am now easily able to “grab” a portion of a song and get the title.

I have hummed a few songs and it figured it out fairly fast. Some attempts at humming brought up multiple possible songs, but the one I hummed was definitely there. As for the grab feature, every song I have played on my computer here at work has been found and was correct.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This app may not have many uses, but it is definitely worth the download. It’s free, so why not try it out?

Click the iTunes button below to open iTunes and view the Midomi app store page.