Here’s a few before/after pics, it only took me about 40 minutes to do our driveway and the neighbor’s (their driveway is smaller)

As someone who really loves technology and nice new things, I’m pretty happy w/ my decades old snow blower, Thanks Dad!

Back to the title of this post, Squeezeboxing. I recently purchased a Squeezebox Duet and Squeezebox Boom. If you’re not familiar with the Squeezebox line of audio equipment, it’s essentially a set of players that allows you to play music directly off the internet or MP3’s stored on your computer and control them from any room in your house. It’s somewhat similar to the SONOS system, but way, way cheaper. Even though I’ve only had the system setup for about 24 hours in my home I’m already in love with the control it gives me over listening to music. The other great thing about the Squeezebox system is that is has a pretty big support community through forums, wikis and even custom applications that have been written by people to extend the functionality of the system.

Squeezebox streams your favorite internet “stations” right to a receiver and plays them. In the case of the Squeezebox Boom it’s all self-contained, speakers included. With the Squeezebox Duet system there’s a controller and a receiver, the receiver requires an existing stereo system to plug into and then plays through that. The controller itself works with all Squeezebox products so once you have one (that comes with the Duet) then it can control the Boom and even a Java player running on a PC called SqueezePlay. The controller even has a standard headphone jack so you can listen to your music right from the controller, no receiver or Boom required (this feature is currently listed as beta).

Did I mention it’s all wireless? Yes, the entire Squeezebox system works over your existing home WiFi network. That means you can turn up the music in the living room, change the channel in the basement and pause the music on your computer all from the bedroom! The wireless is the part that makes the Squeezebox system so great in my opinion. The reason I started research into a wireless music system is that with our new patio, I needed to find a way to get the music outside. We previously had a Sirius Satellite receiver connected to an old stereo in the garage and crappy outdoor speakers. Since the Sirius receiver died, I wanted to get Sirius back outside but also wanted some additional listening options such as Pandora. I still need to purchase a new stereo system and good outdoor speakers for the patio but that’s a project for this spring.

Want to try out Squeezebox without spending any money? Visit SqueezeNetwork.com and create an account. Next, download Squeezeplay and install it on you computer and connect it up with your SqueezeNetwork account. Squeezeplay works just like the Squeezebox controller to help you get familiar with it. Of course Sirius and Pandora both require a subscription in order to connect them up so don’t be disappointed if they don’t work. NOTE: if you’re not comfortable installing and configuring software, ask your computer geek friend to help you out (don’t call me).

(l = liter = 33oz)

0.1l – Demo

0.25l – Trial version

0.5l – Personal Edition

0.7l – Professional Edition

1.0l – Network Edition

1.75l – Small Business Edition

3l – Enterprise Edition

5l - Corporate Edition

Self-made vodka (aka “samogon” in Russian) – Home Edition

Aspirin in the morning – Recovery tool

Snack for vodka – Plug-in

Beer - Patch

Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, 7UP etc. – Trojan viruses (when taken along with Vodka)

Battery Life

This is what everyone is asking about. Battery life is less than stellar. I’m not sure why and if this can be fixed in a software update or not. In my day-to-day use battery life is OK as long as I’m using my computer more than my phone. When I have extended periods where I’m on my phone, not talking but using WebOS, I find that the battery will drain after a few hours of hard use. To be honest, this really isn’t much worse that on my Windows Mobile phone so it’s really not a big complaint for me. Besides, after a few days I realized that I would need an extra battery so I ordered one from Sprint. It’s a pretty easy fix really…if the battery goes dead, replace it with one that’s not (I’m so glad Palm listened to the complaints from all those iPhone users).

Multitasking

This is where WebOS really shines. It’s so easy to switch between applications, simply press the button to go into “card view” and then flip between all the open apps. If you wan’t to close one, just through it off the top of the screen (this is actually a pretty satisfying gesture).

I have run into some instances where my Pre has run out of memory and it suggests I close open applications (cards). It’s hard to say exactly why this happens but I suspect that it has to so with some applications not handling memory very well (leaks) and again, it’s a brand new platform so I’m forgiving.

The “Big Issue”

OK, there is one thing that really, really annoys me about the Pre. Again, it’s software related so I’m hoping for an update soon. The issue is formatting of emails when replying using EAS (Exchange ActiveSync). When you reply or reply-to-all to an email you received through EAS, all formatting is lost and all the text runs together. Apparently this issue is caused by the fact that we’re running Exchange 2003 and not Exchange 2007. But, judging by the community response here (Palm Forums) I’m hoping that Palm fixes this VERY SOON. Here’s some examples of what this looks like…

Notice how the text at the bottom of the image on the right is all run together. I have gotten more than one complaint about this from my co-workers so I really hope Palm fixes this soon. Upgrading to Exchange 2007 would be an option if I controlled IT, but I don’t

Fun Fact: To save a screen capture on  your Pre, simply press <orange>+sym+p, an image of the current screen will be saved and you can view it in the Photos application under screencaptures. This is how I got the 2 images above.

Summary

While I do have some minor complaints and the Pre is not without its quirks, I am keeping it for now and I have no desire to go back to Windows Mobile after owning this phone. Also, everyone who has actually seen my phone and handled it has been super impressed with the size/feel/funcationality. I really do think Palm has a great device in the Pre, now if they can just get some updates rolled out I’ll be a very happy camper.

The biggest question that has come up so far has been battery life. I can’t really say anything yet since I’ve been playing/charging all day and haven’t had a chance to test the battery out under my “real world” conditions. One good thing…the battery is USER replaceable and you can buy extra batteries for it. So, if i decide that the battery life isn’t up to my standards, I’ll just buy another battery so I can switch them out. Sorry iPhoners.

Please understand that I’ve been running Windows Mobile on different devices for the past 5 years so some of my comments will compare to WinMo.

Very first impression – It’s small.  Much smaller than I expected. But it’s small in a good way. One reason I wanted the Pre was for the keyboard, I haven’t seen a decent Windows Mobile phone out there with a keyboard that’s not like a brick (all my previous phones were WinMo). The Pre is just the perfect size, it’s only slightly thiker than my old HTC Touch but the same general dimensions. I really think that once people see a Pre in person and get to hold one they will be very impressed.

The Good

• WebOS is pretty slick. The multi-tasking ability and the “cards” are really great. You can have multiple browser windows open to different websites and just “flick” between them
• The Exchange sync works flawlessly so far. Once I connected to my Exchange server it only took a few minutes to sync my mail, calendar and contacts.
• Gmail sync is very good as well. I setup the Pre with my gmail account initially and added Exchange later. If you connect multiple mailboxes you can view them all in 1 inbox.
• Speed – I have noticed no slowness in applicaitons, even when I have multiple open. WebOS seems to deal with multi-tasking very well.
• Touchstone charger – I really like being able to charge the phone just by placing it on the charger. The magnet holds it in place very well. The Touchstone is so much better than trying to pry open the micro-USB “door” every time you want to charge. WARNING: The Touchstone charger does NOT come with a wall plug/micro-USB cable. I found this out after I got home. I bought 2 Touchstones, one for home and one for the office so now I also need to buy another wall plug/cable.
• WiFi – I love having a phone with WiFi again. It was very simple to setup and connect to my home wireless router. I haven’t tried it yet at a public hotspot.
• The camera on this thing is great. 3.2 MP with a flash. One of my biggest complaints of my last phone was it’s crappy camera. So far the Pre camera has taken excellent pictures and the flash seems to work pretty well.

The OK

• The keyboard is just OK. It’s not bad, it’s not great. I’ve seen numerous other reviews so I won’t bore you with the details here.
• Settings (or lack thereof) – Many of the settings are buried within applications themselves or non-existent. For example, there’s no way that I have found to set a different alert/ring tone for text messages, you’re stuck with the default. Also, the screen settings are missing a few things, most noteably the ability to leave the screen turned on when on external power. The screen stays on when on the Touchstone but not with the car charger. Very annoying if you want to use Google Maps.
• Plastic screen. I’m concerned about scratching it. At launch there weren’t any stick on screen protectors available.
• Apps – I know it’s only launch day and the SDK hasn’t been widely available so I’m not going to ding this too much. I did find 2 Twitter apps that are OK (Tweed and Spaz), neither are anything close to PockeTwit(the one WinMo app I’ll miss the most).
• Copy/Paste – It’s there, I just haven’t quite figured out how to make it work very well yet. But hey, at least it’s an option and I didn’t have to wait until update 3 to get it.

The Bad

• So far nothing to report on the bad side of things. Since I’m new to this phone and platform it will take some getting used to. Maybe after a few weeks I’ll have some “bad” to report.

Summary

Overall I’m very happy that I was up before the sun today and got in line to be one of the first people to own a Pre. I’m looking forward to using it over the next several days/weeks and getting used to it. It’s a big change from WinMo so I know it will take some time. Here’s a few pictures of my Pre:

Update June 8, 2009: Here’s a quick video showing the interface:

Phone/Mobile Email/Twitter

Since I’m on the Sprint network here in the US it means my phone won’t work overseas. This is good and bad. It’s good because it means I won’t rack up HUGE overseas roaming bills for voice and data. It’s bad because it means I need to have a secondary (unlocked) phone for use in Europe. Sprint’s network is CDMA, all of Europe is GSM. Because of all this I have a secondary GSM phone and when I’m in a particular county, I just buy a local pre-paid SIM (I’m getting quite a collection of local SIM cards). So what happens if someone calls my US cell number when I’m abroad? Through the use of forwarding and Skype I’ve worked out a method…

1. I have a “SkypeIn” number. This is a local (Columbus) number that anyone can call and it will ring to my Skype.
2. Before I leave the US, I forward my cell phone to my SkypeIn number
3. Skype has a great feature called call forwarding. With Skype call forwarding if someone calls you on Skype and you don’t answer, it will forward the call to the number you specify (in my case, I put in my current number for the country I’m in).
4. In summary, if someone calls my US cell number here’s the route: ->Sprint->Skype->Local#

Data access has been a bit more difficult to figure out. While my GSM phone does run Windows Mobile and I can get my email on it, the local SIM’s don’t always provide easy access to “data”. The best I’ve found so far when in the UK is Vodafone. I know the settings for Vodafone’s data access and when in the UK they only charge 1 pound/day for (mostly) unlimited data access. I’ve found that their roaming data rates in other countries (like Germany) aren’t too bad as well. My upcoming trip will test the rates in The Netherlands (during my layover) and in Russia.

Twitter isn’t always as easy. If I can get a data plan when in a local country then I’m good because I have PockeTwit installed on my GSM phone. If I can’t figure out data access then my Twitter is just one way because Twitter doesn’t allow “send” to text except in the US, Canada and a few other countries not in Europe. This means that when I can’t get a data connection on my phone I can send Tweets, just not receive them.  It’s very frustrating…

What to Pack

People who have never gone to Europe have heard all sorts of horror stories about the “power conversion” issues. People always ask me if they need to buy a “converter” to convert the “European” power to “US” power. While that may have been the case several years ago, the good news is that today almost all modern electronic are “dual power”, meaning they work in the US and abroad. All you have to do is check (presumably before you plug that thing into a European electrical socket). Dual power electronics will have a label on them that should say something like INPUT: 100-240v 50-60Hz, this means you’re good to go and all you need now is an adapter, you know, the thing that allows you to plug that 2 or 3 prong US plug into a UK/European socket. These are pretty cheap and can be found at pretty much all airports, Radio Shacks or other electronics stores.

TIP: To cut down on the number of adapters you need (if you have a lot of electronics like I do), I find it best to travel with a US extension cord. This way, I use 1 adapter to plug in the extension cord (or power strip) and then I have 3-8 US sockets available for my electronic gear.

Not entirely thrilled with the look on my face but I do like the location and how the Sears Tower looks “in the clouds”. Thanks to Dave Byrd for snapping the pic.

@RBrambley
@vSeanClark
@Scott_Lowe
@EdSai
@DJRoberts
@ThinLaunchMike
@SBeaver
@BKnudtson
@TheVirtualDC
@VirtualKaren
@TonyWilburn

Here’s some pictures that @RBrambley took and shared via TwitPic

Here’s the video, enjoy!