Spotify on iPhone 2: The Update

March 26, 2011 Leave a comment

Image representing Spotify as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Incredibly, I started writing this post on the 14th October 2009.  No, really.  For some reason I struggled with it at the time and instead came up with Poster’s Block.  Anyway, I’m not one for giving up, so I’m finally going to complete it.  I can’t promise that it’s not going to be a bit half-hearted.

The post is a follow up to Spotify on iPhone – the story of me signing up for a premium Spotify account.  Now, in the world of gadgetry, 18 months is a long time and there’s no guarantee that this post will still be relevant.  Indeed, I don’t even have an iPhone anymore.  Don’t fret, though, I do still have a Spotify premium account and I use it every day with my HTC Wildfire.  I bet I had you worried for a minute.

At the time of this post’s conception, I probably had a long list of pros and cons about the service and the Spotify app itself.  A year and a half of usage has melted any of these concerns away; Spotify is brilliant. Having access to whatever music I want, wherever I want, without having to worry about downloading, or backing it up, or syncing is amazing.  Sure it’s a pay service, and that puts a lot of people off, but it works at 30p a day.  It’s an absolute bargain.

What more do you need to know?

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My Monday Night

September 13, 2010 13 Comments

So, I was going to write a post about how angry other drivers make me, but then I just couldn’t be bothered. I couldn’t face looking at the stupid laptop any longer.

Anyone normal would have just walked away from the whole blogging thing for the evening, but I could never be described as normal. Instead I opted to fire up the old WordPress iPhone app and knock together another ridiculously self-indulgent bit of bloggery. So here we are. Congratulations to anybody who has managed to get this far.

As I type, I’m trying to watch the first episode of new BBC sitcom Him & Her. I’m 11 minutes in and close to giving up. It’s just making me feel old. That’s it, I’ve given up.

Part of me already regrets deleting it. It feels like a crime to give up on a new comedy so easily, but I don’t need to watch someone have a poo. They didn’t even have any splashing sounds. If you’re going to do it then you might as well see it through properly.

I’m back on The Gadget Show. I usually like to wait until it’s finished before I watch it so that I can whizz right through the boring bits. That accounts for about 45 minutes of it. Some of the ‘challenges’ that they have to complete are woeful. Right now they’re trying to make a gadget referee for a football match. How I wish I could fast forward.

Oh dear god. Here comes the infamous Gadget Show competition. What would you actually do with all those prizes were you to actually win? They wouldn’t fit in my house. It costs £1.50 to enter. I don’t know if that represents good value or not. Rest assured, I won’t be entering.

Hang on! I’ve got ten whole minutes that I can fast forward through. I feel so ashamed at my amateurism.

Right. I think it’s probably time to have a brew. Since you’re all too lazy to make me one then I’d better go myself. I’ll speak to you soon.

Night x.

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Blog Without Blogging

September 8, 2010 Leave a comment

What do you do when you don’t have time to blog properly, you’re tired and you’ve got nothing you want to write about?

This. You do this.

It’s pretty easy. You just open up the WordPress app on your iPhone and you just start typing. It doesn’t really matter what you write about. Any old sentence will do.

It can be useful to start with some kind of statement about your current lack of inspiration (check paragraph one), then you can just say what you’re doing. If you’re feeling particularly frisky, you can then go on to explain that you did the other two things.

You’ll soon find that you’ve done 3 paragraphs and a blog post is well and truly on its way.

Critics will point out the complete lack of meaningful content, but don’t listen to them. This is blogging. It’s often better if your posts are as meaningless as possible. It all just adds to the rich fabric of the internet.

If I wanted to I could just stop now. I’ve not written loads but it’s enough. Another option is for me to carry on. Maybe I’ll do that. Maybe I won’t. I’ve not decided yet. It all depends on whether or not I can be bothered thinking of something to spin this out for a bit longer.

I’ve decided. I’m going to stop. But don’t feel sad, just take a look. I’ve done a blog post.

Job done.

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Navmii Update and Skobbler

July 31, 2010 3 Comments

My advice is quite simple: if you’re thinking of using an iPhone sat nav app to replace a dedicated sat nav, then don’t.

I should probably qualify that somewhat.

You may remember my luke-warm review of Navmii a couple of weeks ago (you can read it here), in which I said that while it wasn’t amazing, it basically did the job.  I’ve sadly had to revise my opinion.  I’ve tried to use the app quite a few times since my initial review and it’s completely failed every time.  The problem is pretty fundamental, in that it is no longer able to get a GPS signal.  While attempting to use it, I’ve been into the Maps app on my phone and this is able to get a GPS lock straight away, so the phone isn’t the problem.  It’s incredibly annoying.  I’ve e-mailed Navmii support, so I’ll keep you up to date with how that goes.

In the meantime, I came across the sat nav app Skobbler, which only cost £1.19, and so was a bit of a no-brainer purchase. Skobbler downloads the maps as you drive, which relies on having some kind of data signal and could seriously eat into your monthly data allowance.  Despite this, my first few tries of the app were pretty successful.  For a lot of the journey I only had a GPRS signal, so the maps weren’t incredibly detailed, but I could tell where I was going, as long as it didn’t get too tricky.  For just over a pound it seemed like a bargain.

Ah, but it was just too good to be true.  I tried to use it on Thursday and it failed miserably.  I had problems getting a GPS lock (although not as bad as with Navmii) then it was incredibly slow updating my route and seemed to be giving me false information.  I found myself getting incredibly lost.  Still, it only cost a pound, so you can’t complain too much.  Maybe it would run a bit quicker if I had a newer phone.  Hopefully some iPhone4s will be available soon and then I’d be able to tell you.

The whole experience made me realise how lazy using a sat nav makes you.  My destination on Thursday was a friend’s house (good old JLS) which, if I had stopped and thought about it, I knew exactly where it was.  It’s essentially straight down one road, then turn left.  It’s not exactly rocket science, which, incidentally, I happen to be qualified in.  Maybe I should just do away with having a sat nav and just engage my brain instead.

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Navmii on iPhone Review

July 14, 2010 1 Comment

After having my Tom Tom stolen a week or so ago, I decided to try and save a bit of money by replacing it with an iPhone app.  After searching the app store for “sat nav”, there seemed to be three main contenders.  The official Tom Tom app costs £52.99 and so ruled itself out on price.  The other two were Navmii and CoPilot Live, which were both £19.99 for the UK & Ireland editions.  The reviews seemed to be pretty similar so I ended up just guessing and I went for Navmii.

The size of the app is 341Mb, so I òpted to download onto my laptop first to make sure that I had a copy.  However, this did mean that I had to wrestle with the deraded iTunes, but I luckily managed to emerge pretty much unscathed.  The bonus of the software’s large size is that all the maps are included and that you aren’t relying on an internet connection when you’re on the move, so it was worth the extra faffing.

On first use, the interface was clear and easy to use and the GPS located the satellites quickly.  The app is feature-packed, including your current speed, an estimated time of arrival, detailed speed camera alerts, 2D or 3D maps in portrait or landscape, full 7-digit postcode search and POIs.  Everything you’d expect from a proper sat nav, really.

My initial test journey was to a local golf club about 1.5 miles away (it was a nearby POI).  This part of the journey seemed to be sucessful, although it wasn’t obvious to me where the entrance to the club was, but this isn’t necessarily the softwares fault.

As I drove past, I changed my destination to home (using the home button), and, instead of telling me to do a u-turn, it took me on a unecessarily long diversion down a country lane.  In fairness, country lanes do tend to make sat navs go a bit mental generally, but this seemed a particularly perverse digression.  Technically, it did get me home, though.

My first impressions òn usability were mixed.  In comparison to my Tom Tom One it sometimes seemed slow to update your position and the maps, there were the odd spurious direction from the voice commands (although the directions on the map looked fine) and the GPS position ocassionally drifted.   However the map seemed laid out well enough to be able see where you’re going and so, if you paid attention, then you should generally avoid going wrong.

My next journey was going to be the app’s ultimate test: Manchester city centre.  Driving around Manchester feels like you’re in a remake of Escape from New York at the best of times, so Navmii really needed to be on the ball.   Sadly it was nowhere near the ball.  The app updated far too slowly and the map wasn’t clear enough for a built up area.  This meant that I ended up missing the correct turning and then the app really struggled to locate where I was and then plot me a new route.  Technically it did eventually get me to the correct location, but I was late (read about it here), and it felt like a failure.

I had to use the app a few days later when I was on a route I knew, but the road was closed and so I was totally lost.  I got Navmii up and running quickly enough, but it took a long time before it knew exactly where I was and planned the route.  It felt like I went on a longer diversion than necessary, but not being familiar with the area then I’m not sure.  It would probably have been fine if I could have stopped immediately and let it sort itself out, but I was stuck in the flow of traffic and there was nowhere to pull over.

It’s worth pointing out that I have an iPhone 3G and so the software may run much quicker on the newer models.  If I ever get a newer iPhone then I’ll be sure to update my review.  It’s a pity that I can’t do a side-by-side comparison with Co-Pilot and Tom Tom apps, but I’m not forking out £70 just to write a review.  If anybody wants to sponsor me to do this, then I’m open to offers!

All in all, the app is a bit disappointing, but it does eventually get you to where you’re going, and as someone with no sense of direction then it’s essential.  It does its job up to a point, and £20 is a lot cheaper than buying a brand new Tom Tom.

UPDATE: Please read the update post, here, for an update on how Navmii has been working.  It hasn’t gone well.

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Return to Crime Town

July 7, 2010 3 Comments

I was pretty nervous last night when I went to watch Richard Herring in Manchester. Yes, just 4 days later after being robbed, I returned to the scene of the crime.  Technically it was a different part of the city and so wasn’t actually the scene of the crime, but I’m more than happy to tar the whole place with the same brush.  Would my poor little Saxo survive its latest incursion into Manc territory?

The journey didn’t bode well.  There was a traffic snarl up on the M62 approaching the M60.  I counted at least 8 cars broken down on the hard shoulder over a 3-4 mile stretch. It was clearly too many cars to be a coincidence, but there were no signs of an accident. It was perplexing.  The only possible explanation I could think of is that an alien spacecraft chose to fry the engines on particularly hostile vehicles.  It seems an odd theory, but it’s difficult to predict what these aliens get up to.

This had me running late and slightly stressed at the thought of turning up at the gig late.  Matters weren’t helped by the city planners, who decided to put traffic lights every 20 yards that turned red every time I approached. I was going to be cutting it fine, but I still should have made it.

That’s until my new sat nav app on my phone (bought to replace my stolen Tom Tom) decided it was a good idea to start playing tricks on me.  I’d suggest that a ‘prank directions’ feature isn’t really that useful on a sat nav. I spent a good 10 minutes on Manchester’s back streets looking suspiciously like a kerb crawler.  Expect a full review of the sat nav app soon.

Thankfully it eventually started to give the correct directions (after a long, unnecessary detour) and I found the car park.  I was now 10 minutes late.  I hurried to the pay and display machine to find the car park attendant in mid-repair.  A very slow, drawn out repair, that seemed to involve opening the front, pulling out some tickets, closing the front and repeating.  I was disproportionately stressed by this stage.  After 4-5 hours (actually minutes) the guy told me that I didn’t have to pay and he’d note my registration plate so that he didn’t give me a ticket.

You’d think that free parking would be considered a win.  And free parking would be a win.  I just wasn’t convinced that he’d remember the right car and fully expected to find a fine when I returned.  It added an element of intrigue to the evening.  Amazingly, there was no parking ticket when I got back to my car.  I consider this to be a minor miracle.  Perhaps this was the universe’s\Manchester’s reward to me for such shoddy treatment on my previous visit.  I had travelled to Manchester, my car had survived and I avoided the ridiculous parking fees.  This was a result in anybody’s book.

I drove home feeling foot loose and fancy free.  Maybe the world wasn’t such a bad place.  I continued to feel this way right until I smashed into an upturned cone on the motorway and broke a piece off the front of my car.  It’s safe to say that I’m an idiot.

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Amazonian

May 26, 2010 10 Comments

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, I recently self-published a book based on my other blog, The World of Sherby57.  Despite only selling two copies to people other than myself, it’s been an interesting experience.  Mainly because it’s nice to have a real book with your own name on the front.  I’m easily pleased, I know.

Well, today saw another exciting milestone in my life as a best-selling author, as the book is now available to buy on Amazon.  In previous posts, we’ve already established that I’m fully aware that I am participating in vanity publishing, so I’m happy to say that my vanity has definitely been well and truly tickled by being available from the world’s largest book retailer.  It sounds impressive to be able to tell people that I have something they can buy on Amazon.  Hopefully they won’t then go on to ask how it’s selling.

Folks in the UK can check it out here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-World-Sherby57-1/dp/1445742187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274877587&sr=8-1

Our American cousins can have a look at it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-Sherby57-1/dp/1445742187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274878244&sr=8-1

You can also, obviously, find it on the Amazon iPhone app.  It gives me a special thrill that it’s available on an iPhone app.  I’m very sad.  Here’s a photo of my glory:

Anyway, if anyone would like to leave a (positive) review on either of the sites then I would be eternally grateful.  Although it’s safe to say that most of you haven’t read the book, I think that if you’ve read my blog then you’re fully justified in writing a (positive) review on that basis.  After all, we’ve all read reviews on Amazon by people who have seen a TV programme but not bought the DVD of that same programme.  That’s only my own biased opinion, though.

You could also just buy the book.  That would be great.

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A Week of Sherby57: 27th January 2009 – 2nd January 2010

January 4, 2010 Leave a comment

So, what’s been going on over on Sherby57 this week?

This:

Sunday 27th

I’m Great – I inject a new meme into the public consciousness and then declare how bloody brilliant I am.

Monday 28th

Being a Ghost – I worry about the place of ghosts in society, but my inspiration is soon seen through.

Tuesday 29th

Rom-Comtroversy – I address the fact that yesterday’s post was inspired by a romcom.  But don’t say anything, it’s a secret.

Wednesday 30th

Shape Story Ruined – I had a lovely surreal little story lined up here, but it wouldn’t save on my iPhone application.  It was really bugging me and so I said so.

Thursday 31st

Post From The Past – Best of 2008 – Each of the monthly winners of PFTP throughout the year and the overall winner is named.

Friday 1st

New Year’s Day – An alternative meaning to New Year’s Day.

Saturday 2nd

Fruit Machine of Death – A post that combines ‘Hold Your Plums’ and the naughty kitty.  What more needs to be said?

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One Month

September 14, 2009 2 Comments

Today marks the one month anniversary of me making daily updates on both my blogs, but don’t worry, I don’t expect you to throw me a party or buy me a special present (although it would be nice).  It’s not really that impressive a feat, but I’ve never done it before, and, since this is my blog, I’m entitled to celebrate it.  Although, ‘celebrate’ might be a strong a word.  It has to be said though that daily updates have been a positive thing, not only because of all the extra writing that I’ve got done, but because of the impact it has had on my blog hits.  Daily blogging for just half of August led to my hits tripling (see here for details), and that’s not to be sniffed at.  Not that I blog purely for hits, but it is nice to know that someone is actually reading this rubbish.

The original plan was for me to post  here and over on The World of Sherby57 on alternate days, with 3-4 posts a week being a pretty healthy amount of updates.  Then I thought that I could do occasional, shorter posts on the off-days using the WordPress iPhone app.  Those occasional posts have ended up being daily, and I can’t help but feel that I’ve made a rod for my own back.  This can be seen over the last couple of days, with the rather shoddy ‘Out and About‘, and a rather lacklustre account of Liverpool’s match against Burnley.   That said, my good friend, Dr Angel, thinks that car park blogging is a great idea, so maybe it wasn’t a complete waste of time.  I might start a new mobile blogging feature where I review the many car parks of Great Britain.  Then, eventually, I could compile them in to a book, and I can make my fortune.  Well, everybody has to have a dream.

This week is going to be a challenge as I usually stock up on a few posts over the weekend, but this week, having been busy, the cupboard is bare.  I’m thinking of a few plans on how to get round this, but perhaps I should consider missing a few days, just to get it out of the way.  Stay tuned and see what happens.

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Spotify on IPhone

September 10, 2009 3 Comments

On Monday, I was having a browse through the App Store on my IPhone, when I spotted something that I’ve been waiting ages for: Spotify. For the uninitiated amongst you, Spotify is a free application that allows you to legally stream music to your PC, from a catalogue of millions of songs. Oh, it’s also free! The next obvious step was for it to go mobile, and here it was.

I downloaded immediately and attempted to log on using my existing account. It didn’t work, saying that you need to have a ‘premium’ account. How very frustrating. The premium accounts cost £9.99 per month and so the dream of mobile Spotify was squashed before it could even begin.

It took about an hour before I succumbed and upgraded my account, the temptation proving far too strong. Fortunately, there is no minimum contract and you can cancel the subscription at any point, so it seemed like a good way to spend a tenner. I was out and about when I first logged in to the app, and, since I wasn’t on wifi, I didn’t think it would work properly over 3G. I was wrong and it started streaming immediately and was indistinguishable from MP3s, and it carried over the playlists that I’d set up on my PC. Very impressive.

When I got home, I found that you can set your playlists to sync over wifi and create an offline copy on your iPhone. This is a killer feature for the app, and allows you to listen to your choices anywhere.

There are a few drawbacks; you have to listen to the music in the spotify player and so it isn’t integrated with your iPhone music, and the clicker controls don’t work on your earphones. The music also seems to stop when your phone autolocks when you are steaming music over 3G (it works fine for offline music, so perhaps I need to investigate this further). The other obvious downside is that once you cancel a subscription you no longer have access to the music!

The app has only got a two star rating on the App Store, mainly because people are outraged that it isn’t all free. Do they really expect to be able to carry around any music they like for free? Well, obviously they do. In an ideal world, I’d like it to be free too, but you have to be realistic. You can hardly buy anything these days for £10, so it doesn’t seem a lot to pay for what you are getting. Maybe my opinion on this will change, I’ll let you know.

I definitely recommend getting Spotify for your PC, and you can see if it is for you.

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