Gadget crazy…

It has been a busy few months and all seems to be coming together. I have been working on some pretty awesome projects which have tested my skills but has allowed me to utilize a few things I have been dying to use, mainly the jQuery UI and 960.gs css for quick pain free prototyping. Although these projects are far from finished it has been great to work on them and has been a real challenge both skills and mental.

I am also working on slightly redeveloping meincken.com and hope to have something built for sugarcoated design for a release in the new year. I haven’t really had time to work on my own projects for a while but have been trying to make time to get something going, it is like I have designers writers block.

I am still having fun with my Asus Netbook although seriously considering upgrading the OS to something a little better… Windows Ghetto 7 isn’t the best option for this beast. And now I have a new gadget to add to the family and am currently putting it through its paces. This is the HTC Hero, a true powerhouse in the smartphone market and the only real choice, there is the great pretender in the iPhone, but it just couldn’t do all that I wanted it to do and the apple tax was a huge consideration, also the Palm Pre just lacked the mustard (and the OS) to properly compete with the power of open source like the Android OS. I have been using it now for 2 days solid and it has proven itself a great tool, from auto syncing with my google contacts painlessly after entering my username and password, everything was added including my calendar dates and contacts.

I have been playing with the pre-installed widgets and the Peep twitter widget is something of awesomeness, discovering new bits to this each day and the latest being able to geo-cache and post images via twitter. Also the syncing of facebook profiles to contacts is great and being able to have pictures for my contacts finally makes profile pictures for contacts simple and not having to take pics of everyone.

Enough of the pre-installed widgets that this awesome phone has to offer, I have also downloaded a few additional apps from the Android Market and all I can say is I’m glad I don’t need to mess around with the stupid App store on iTunes (a program I have often had major problems with). Downloading free open source programs and installation could never be simpler, the main one I have been using is Spotify which is good if you’re a music fan but does require a spotify premium account, but with a world of high definition music at your finger tips and the ability to store a limited amount of music on your phone (and computer) it’s perfect if you’re on the underground and no longer have a phone signal.

I can’t express how great this phone is, and if you’re looking at upgrading your phone in the next few months I would not overlook the HTC Hero for a high ranking smartphone and iPhone alternative.

Tags: Apps, Hero, Me, Windows 7