I realize I'm a bit late in doing this post - one generally does "The Year's Best" in the week between Christmas and New Year's. But I was busy with activities such as jetting off to Seattle for the day. 
I'm going to keep my list short: one fabulous device and one device that I basically want to fling out the window on a daily basis.
 My Favorite Gadget of 2006: The iRiver Clix MP3 player.
I know, I know. You're thinking, "An MP3 player? And an MP3 player that's not an iPod?" Well, I'm here to tell you that the iRiver Clix is a sweet little gem - hands down my favorite interface on any device that I use. I think the interface is actually superior to the iPod. And I realize "them's fightin' words". Especially for my buddy Isaac. However, the clix click feedback is soooo satisfying. The display is wonderful and the navigation interface is very very intuitive - again, other than "shuffle", I think the navigation is easier on the Clix than the iPod. However, I do admit that the Clix shuffle feature is hard to find and also seems to be buggy - or at the very least, their random algorithm has issues.
Music is loaded onto the Clix via Window's Media Player. When I first discovered Media Player 11 was required, I was aghast. The last thing I wanted was to use an official Microsoft product to move tunes to my MP3 player. I had concerns regarding DRM and usability. The DRM issues were not an issue because I rip songs from CDs and I use a high end shareware program, Audiograbber to do my ripping. I only use the Media Player software to load the ripped tunes to the Clix. In regards to interface, I was pleasantly surprised, Windows Media Player 11 interface is not hideous. It's actually pretty easy to use.
But enough about Windows. It's the iRiver Clix that's the star. The video display is screaming wonderful. Sharp and vibrant with tons of depth. It is such a treat.
My only complaint is that the Clix is a flash player with just 2 Gb of storage. I want to put all of my music on my MP3 player - for that I need at least 30 Gigs. And with that sweet sweet screen, you definitely want to watch videos. So, I want a 60 Gig Clix.
My Least Favorite Device of 2006: The HTC kjam smartphone.
Here's the sad thing - the kjam is probably one of the best smartphones on the market. Its keyboard is definitely the best full QWERTY keyboard available on a phone. But the phone cannot overcome its fatal flaw - Windows Mobile Operating System. Omigod, it sucks beyond belief. It is soooo important for a phone to have an intuitive interface and not be buggy. Windows Mobile is not intuitive and it's very very buggy.
At the very least, the actual phone interface and software should be rock solid. For goodness sakes, mobile phones have been around for over ten years and we've been using phones for almost 100 years. This is not new stuff. But, Windows Mobile is a classic example of Microsoft interface design at their worst. At least 1/3 of time, when my phone rings and I answer it by selecting the "answer" button, it doesn't answer correctly. Instead the person calling me hears me muttering, "fucking phone" when I can't hear them and then the software hangs up the phone. One of my other little favorite design features is that after you dial your call, the keypad screen disappears. Have the Microsoft designers never heard of voice mail or audio response systems where one makes menu selections from the keypad? Evidently not. When using Windows Mobile, one has to hit another button to get the keypad to come back up. By the time, you've figured all of that out, you've lost your opportunity to perform the menu selection.
The obvious question is, why do I still use this phone? Well, I've become very attached to getting my email on my phone. I also love the keyboard.
However, I've learned some key lessons. My next smartphone will not have a "soft screen". It will have an actual physical keypad for dialing. I will also not use Windows Mobile again. Unless, they dramatically change for the better.
8:30:26 PM 
|
Happy New Year!!!!!!
