Eye-Fi Home Wi-Fi SD Card now in Canada

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla We were surprised to come across a bunch of Eye-Fi Home SD cards at the Black's Kiosk in Toronto's Dufferin Mall. The Eye-Fi cards, which are basically Secure Digital Cards that have Wi-Fi connectivity and features. They allow instantaneous downloading to either a PC or a photo sharing website (provided Wi-Fi is available) have been around for a year but have only recently made it to mainstream retailers in the US. More after the break. As with many things tech-related, Canada usually has to wait a few months to a year (i.e. iPhone) to gain local access to these devices. The appearance of the Eye-Fi was a local reseller was a great surprise but the pricing was a bit dissapointing. In the US the 2 GB Eye-Fi sells for US$75, in Black's it goes for $99.00 Canadian plus tax. Home Edition The Eye-Fi Home version offers users the most basic of Eye-Fi features. You can wirelessly upload photos from your camera to your computer via your home wireless network. This is convenient if you don't want to fiddle with USB connectors and adapters. Transfers are fairly quick but would depend greatly on the quality and speed of your connection as well as your file sizes. For a price you can upgrade the functionality of the Eye-Fi Home card and add Geotagging and the Webshare feature. Webshare gives you the ability to automatically upload photos to any of the following the more popular online photo services such as Flickr, SmugMug, Facebook, MobileMe, PhotoBucket, SnapFish, ShutterFly and others. You can also subscribe to a hotspot service which will allow you to upload photos while one the go provided you live in the US and are within area coverage. For photographers, the Eye-Fi offers a number of conveniences and tmakes most digital cameras (that that SD cards) wireless devices. In a home studio setting, the Eye-Fi can transfer photos directly to a Mac or a PC for viewing on a large screen within seconds. Not only is the flie saved in two places (the Wi-Fi card and the computer's hard drive) but you can quickly make adjustments to the photo to compensate for any flaws. The friendly salesperson at Black's said they ahd been carrying the Eye-Fi cards for two weeks but we found it surprising that they weren't prominently displayed in the store nor were they advertised. They are more expensive than standalone SD cards but for photographers that take a lot of photos and need quick transfers, these will quickly pay for themselves. Some newer cameras like Nikon's D60 and D90 DSLRs are even Eye-Fi enabled and they can sense when a card is in their slot. They regulate their power and shut-off settings automatically to enable the Eye-Fi cards to transmit all the files before the power off. Expect your battery life to take a substantial hit. We plan to write a more exhaustive review of the Eye-Fi SD cards once we've had a chance to get a test unit and integrate it into our own shooting workflows.

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Nikon Coolpix S210 - Review

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla At a friend's recent birthday party, which took place in a darkly lit dance club/bar, we decided to take photos of the event and of all the guests as a gift for the celebrant. We thought long and hard about bringing a digital SLR and decided that even Nikon's diminutive D40 would be a bit clunky to maneuver in tight spaces. The thing is, we only needed snapshots but we wanted them to look good - we've been testing the Nikon CoolPix S210 for some time, liked its size and decided to give it a chance. We weren't disappointed. More after the break. In situations like indoor parties in busy locations, the last thing you want to be doing is fiddling with a camera while you miss out on all the action. A good point and shoot that can figure our the conditions, grab the best photos and not produce too many duds is ideal. It is even better if the said camera has built in stabilization, which the Coolpix S210 has as well. We chose the party setting on the camera, enabled the VR image stabilization and had face recognition enabled. The best thing about this palm sized camera is that it is easy enough to use that you can pass it to anyone and just tell them to point and shoot and the camera does everything else. It isn't the fastest camera though, with one to two seconds time between shots depending on the image size. Slim Achiever The CoolPix S210 is an 8 megapixel point and shoot that is one of Nikon's smallest and lightest. In your pocket, it feels like it is barely there. Controls are reasonably easy and while it lacks a viewfinder, the bright 2.5 inch LCD more than compensates for this. Slim and small, the S210 is a bit tricky to hold if you have large hands. Do use the included strap to make sure the camera is secure when it slips from your fingers. The small size, smooth Aluminium body and rounded edges make it a bit tricky to hold. Still, its small size is less intrusive and less "official" looking than a DSLR which could just scare away people since who wouldn't mind posing for a snapshot from a smaller camera. For the party situation, we decided to use flash after our experience of having messy blurred shots. Between a small camera that's held unsteady, low light and moving subjects its difficult to ensure you get a clear picture. With the S210's party mode setting, the flash helped freeze the subject's movement and even better! Zero red eye! The movement and feel of the party was well captured and in the end, the celebrant was happy to have the photos to remember the event. Conclusion The Nikon S210 performed pretty flawlessly for a point and shoot. Response time could have been a lot faster but, for the S210's price ($149 at Aden Camera Downtown ) We liked the end results and the ease of use. There were a few blurred shots but we credit that to photographer error and misfiring the camera in a dark, crowded room full of dancing people.

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Red Rocket TTC iPhone App - Review

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla One of my recent finds at the iPhone App store was the Red Rocket TTC app. A must-have for commuting iPhone owners, the $1.99 (at the Apple App store on your iPhone or iTunes). The developer describes the application in the following way. "Red Rocket puts the TTC in your pocket. It's a perfect companion to the Toronto public transit system. Find out when your bus is leaving. Plan a route with the streetcar-subway map. See routes and stops with Google Maps. Waiting for the streetcar? Use GPS to find departure times for your stop. Stay up to date with service advisories and transit news on the latest happenings in Toronto and the GTA." More after the jump Offering up real time information on route schedules, TTC advisories and Google Maps integration, the Red Rocket app can access information even without Wi-Fi or 3G connection. The application is intuitive and quick to access information, commuters can also save their favourite routes for future reference. The best part of this application is that it uses the full range of the iPhone 3G's features such as GPS, 3G or EDGE connectivity and does something really useful with them. We managed to find information on streetcar routes, projected arrival times and use the included subway map quite easily. Red Rocket is ideal for those times when you need to suddenly get to somewhere you may not be familiar with. We think it is a great example of a localized application that makes the iPhone 3G a truly valuable tool. For the $1.99 price, its a great deal. Much better than a lot of the junk that we've run across in the App store. If you use the TTC on a regular basis, have an iPhone and need to cover a lot of ground, the Red Rocket is a must have app. It will help you keep on track and give you as close to real time information on your next ride. Kudos to developer George Talusan for this truly useful tool.

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Android Invasion - part 3 of 3

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla Google in your pocket Functionality and Conclusion It has been a week since we popped our SIM card into the T-Mobile G-1 (AKA Google Phone, HTC Dream, Android Phone). We we're able to test it unlocked on our Rogers network in Canada and during a visit to lovely Atlanta, Georgia - we used it on its resident T-Mobile network with a pay-as-you-go refill card. Like with most new things, the G1 takes some getting used to. We initially found the Wi-Fi troublesome but realized during the course of our testing that it was pretty good at finding and connecting to wireless hotspots. Since we were using a pre-paid card (you need a T-Mobile monthly plan to bask in the glorious glow of 3G data, otherwise you're only good for calls and text). Read on for more functionality reviews on the G1 What is most frustrating about the G1 is the touchscreen. We really, really tried to like this device but when it came to dialing on the touchscreen that is where frustration began to fester. This is a serious flaw with the capacitive touch screen, that it is not sensitive enough and sometimes requires numerous button presses to get anything out of it. You can of course use the QWERTY keyboard but that is so counter intuitive. Since this is a phone and since you will need to make calls using the touchscreen is something to consider. We've had touch-based phones other than the iPhone, products from Samsung and from Sony Ericsson which are two years old but which work a lot better. I am not sure if this can be fixed via software, I hope so. It would be a shame for the G1 to get a bad rap because you can't effectively dial on it. Once you do get to call, however, you are rewarded with above average call quality. Clear but not loud, the G1's sound is pretty dependable. We're not too thrilled with the G1's ringtone selection or the ring volume. We missed a number of calls while the G1 was in our shirt pocket. How is that possible? Perhaps we've damaged our ears with too much heavy metal or maybe, just maybe, the G1's speaker is not up to par with what we are used to. So, setting vibrate as an option is a must if you don't want people who are calling you to think you are purposely avoiding them. Applications Free applications are perhaps the strongest feature of the T-Mobile G1 and the few that we have tried were pretty good. Searching the Android Marketplace is not unlike searching on the iPhone's app store. Navigation is straightforward and downloading is quick. We tried a few of the bar code applications, which use the built-in digital camera's autofocus feature and we were delighted to see that they worked well. It is still early days for the Android Marketplace but there are already a number of promising titles. Take for example the iSkoot Skype application, the likes of which you will never see on a jailbroken iPhone. Making it possible for users to make Skype calls via Wi-Fi, specially while traveling away from their home networks, is extremely useful. . Some of the games were a lot of fun and use the trackball as the controller, they aren't as engaging as the iPod Touch or iPhone accelerometer games though although the screen clarity and brightness is excellent. The G1 will not be the next gaming platform, it doesn't have the ease-of-use and three minute learning curve we've seen in other devices and again the screen isn't optimized for gestures or gaming. It must be noted that applications and games seem to continue running in the background even after you have exited them. You see, the G1 has no built-in program manager like Windows Mobile, so you can't go somewhere to quit apps. We find this disconcerting, since if the apps are running in the background they are no doubt sucking battery life. The only way to remedy this, is to shut of and restart the G1- a three minute penalty that most users may have issues with. The apps themselves don't have Quit screens so you just exit them or go to the home screen...its like a complicated relationship. You know, one that doesn't have the proper closure and which lingers at the back of your mind too long. Hopefully, this will be improved in subsequent firmware updates or someone will offer a good hack to manage apps better, save battery life and make everyone happier. Speaking of battery life, after a week of usage we can say that it is manageable but not optimal. With 20 minutes of surfing the web and checking GMail, three or four five minute calls and about 40 minutes of music playback and 30 minutes of YouTube videos--the battery is at 30% capacity. Yes, you need to charge it nightly and the G1 is nowhere near as efficient as an iPhone or a BlackBerry. The good news is, you can swap batteries if you need more juice. No, we're not thrilled with with the G1's battery life and it is one of the big reasons why we wont be making it our regular smartphone. It seems to drain quickly as soon as it is unplugged even if used very lightly. Conclusion In terms of day to day use, the T-Mobile G1, the first Android powered phone, feels like it isn't ready for primetime. Yes, it feels like a prototype in the throes of testing, unfortunately it is the early adopters and users who will need to do the testing. Did Google rush off to market with this device, we think they did- but so did Apple with the Gen 1 iPhone, which now works great with the updated software. We expect great things from Android and from Google, the G1's integration with GMail and assorted Google web apps is seamless but the lack of Microsoft Exchange integration and real push email means that the G1 is not yeat ready to play in the BlackBerry arena. The kludgy touchscreen and the odd app management system plus the poor battery life are deal killers for many business users and those that need to interact with their smartphones. We can't recommend the T-Mobile G1 as a daily driver and in a way, is just as well that it isn't available in Canada, or elsewhere for that matter. We are keeping our fingers crossed that when Android handsets are finally made available to the global markets and not just the USA, that the devices and the software will mature and be more usable. Android has a tough and steep mountain to climb in order to even start to think of doing battle with Apple, Symbian, RIM and Windows Mobile. These more mature mobile operating systems have little to worry about from this upstart....until they get their act together. The open source and free apps are promising but not compelling enough to jump ship and invest in this whole new environment. For now, the T-Mobile G1 will thrill early adopters and developers who need to develop around the system. Casual users are better off investing in the technology that is available today from more established makers.

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