Windows Phone 8, 1 month in…
After being an iPhone user since v2 (I skipped the non-3G v1 effort) I recently decided to jump ship and try Windows Phone 8.
The iPhone experience, although tweaked here and there over the years, has largely remained the same and I was a bit bored of it.
I went for a HTC 8x, three main reasons…
- Rave reviews
- The Nokia 920 was only available (when I bought it in the UK) locked to Orange and associated networks. I wanted to take it back the Cayman Islands!
- Although big (smaller than the Nokia 920 though), it does feel pretty slick.
Rather than writing a novel on the subject, I’m just going to push out some bullet points.
The good ( OS )
- The WP8 UI is beautiful, its smooth and very modern.
- I love how my social networks are integrated directly into the phone, in the people hub for example. This is a big plus.
- Contact pictures auto downloaded and merging contacts works well.
- Live tiles, love this. Seeing a little calendar, weather etc info directly on the tile.
- Maps – although not better than the Google maps on iOS, considerably better than Apple’s disgraceful effort in iOS 6.
The bad ( OS )
- Apps, apps, apps. The app store has pretty slim pickings, although the main contenders are there, its clear the investment in developing those apps (like Facebook, whats app, BBC news) is pretty poor as they are simply crap compared to the iOS version. To the point that they just don’t function correctly, let alone poorly. Although not directly a fault of the phone…it hurts the WP8 eco system.
- Slow, I don’t mean the OS itself, which is very snappy. Refreshing data in apps, opening web pages, its just slower than the iPhone.
- Search. Why the hell does that search button default to the web? It should search my phone first, then the web.
- Mail live tile. Shows number of new items, going into the app, whether i read them or not, removes that number. That’s crap.
- The keyboard and auto-correct is not good. I make more typo’s than ever before.
- Closing apps. Perhaps this is me, I’m missing something. But I want to force the closure of apps. Mainly because they are crap and need to restart in order to refresh. How?!
As a user of the MS online eco system (live mail, skydrive etc) I would say that the WP8 integrates really well with that, but iOS has some nice apps that do the same.
The good ( Phone )
- Great to hold, love the feel of it.
- Screen is really clear
- Although quite big, its really thin and fits really well into a pocket.
The bad ( Phone )
- The buttons for power, volume, camera are just not good.
- The phone is too big to operate well with one hand. I can’t hit the power/lock button without pressing the camera button.
- The battery is poor. I’m lucky to get a day from it. On my iPhone 4 a day was easy…i could stretch it out.
- The camera, although the MP is high, getting a good shot is tricky…you need a very steady hand. This might be the OS, but still…its not great.
In general I am pretty happy. I don’t think the WP8 is as good as an iPhone. In software or hardware. Perhaps with some investment in apps it will be better.
I’m happy to be using something different from an iPhone though – a change was needed.
On another note, I’ve recently been given a Blackberry from work…now that is total rubbish!!!!!!!
Lance Armstrong–such a shame…
This is obviously all over the news at the moment, I for one find it disappointing reading about it (BBC article - http://scle.me/T5gHDV ) .
I can’t really understand the thinking behind it. This goes back a long way, and they appear to have no proof other than the word of other people – which as we all know is not proof. Of course you can’t allow a doper to simply be “allowed” because of who he is. But this all happened a long long time ago – and they don’t appear to have conclusive evidence.
I understand his comment, he must be tired of fighting you and as he gets older why would he want to continue fighting and fighting. He wants to enjoy time with his family, I would too.
I think Lance is an icon, an inspiration (albeit with an arrogant American approach), what he has achieved and continues to achieve racing in Triathlons in quite incredible.
He is a credit to your country and done a many great things for a great many people.
Cayman Stroke and Stride–Race 2
After a bit of a bad start to the set of 3 races, last night went a lot better. For a start I made sure I had plenty of battery in my watch.
I decided to go for it a lot more with the swim, I still started near the back and on the wing, I’m not a great swimmer, but I’m better then my effort last week.
I wasn’t so shocked by the amount of arms and legs flying all over the place and stuck to my task, although still not in my normal rhythm, I don’t think I ever will be!! I soon started catching and overtaking people. Trying to draft where I could, but I couldn’t seem to find the right person to draft. Either too slow or too fast.
The current was against us on the way out, and you could certainly feel it! After the turn, bodies were spread out, with the current behind us it was certainly easier.
I finished the swim in just under 12mins, still a very slow time for a swimmer, I was probably 4-5 mins behind the leader. That’s still at least 2 mins slower than I would do it in a pool!
Transition took me just over a minute, I was never going to be fast. I don’t have “quick” laces, I have to double knot my trainers and with wet feet and hands, it’s tricky! I also need a good drink because the taste of salt water is horrible! Most people that come out of the water with me or just after me started the run before me!! I wasn’t worried in the slightest about that! Some of these guys are very serious!
The run went pretty much as standard! I certainly would like to have run faster, but the heat is a big factor for me, I’m not a small slim guy. I weigh over 80kg and not having been here long, I overheat … a lot!
Thoughts that stick…
- The guys and gals in Cayman are quite elitist and serious about their training. There are not many “have-a-go” people here in the races. Apparently its the same crowd for all these types of events. Bugger!
- I don’t like running straight out of the water. Wet feet don’t make it overly comfortable and my heart rate doesn’t get chance to recover like it does on the bike – which is probably my strongest event anyway…so I miss the ground I can make up after my slow swim! Also, I don’t like my nice trainers getting so wet!!!!
Next week is the final race in this Series. The swim goes up to 800m.
Then the Triathlon build-up (practice) events start. Which include a bike leg! I’m looking forward to that!
Cayman Stroke and Stride, Race 1.
This is a series of 3 races.
1. 400m swim and 2 mile run.
2. 600m swim and 2 mile run.
3. 800m swim and 2 mile run.
(then the triathlon build up begins!)
You can check it out here. http://www.triathlon.ky/tri-events/stroke-and-stride
Last night was the first race, and my first attempt and a mass open water start. There was about 100 swimmers starting. I was feeling quite confident because I have done enough open water swimming to feel confident. I was wrong, the sound went, feet and arms everywhere. Water was so rough and I couldn’t get a rhythm. I found myself at 200m feeling really tired because I was just using too much energy swimming in this madness!! I ended up doing breaststroke at some points, where I was stuck behind people or there just wasn’t room to turn the corner.
Really the swim shocked me, I must have been 5 mins slower than anticipated. (I couldn’t tell because the battery was flat on my watch…)
I got out of the water feeling pretty tired and out of breath for a 400m swim, it felt more like a mile swim. Anyway I plodded on the with run and felt ok after half a mile, I made up a bunch of places, but came in on 29 mins. Not a good time. I was hoping for 25.
Time to practice open water swimming with people, not just me!!!
(Note to self: Do not eat a lot of broccoli for lunch, internal action is way too high!)
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Moved to the Cayman Islands.
Those of you that know me in the physical world will know that I got a job in the Cayman Islands and have been whittering on about it for that last couple months!
Although very excited and looking forward to, what my (Spanish) fiancé would call a “real summer”, I can’t argue, the UK has painfully unpredictable weather! I’m gutted that I’m not going to be in the UK for the Olympics – totally gutted – I almost said no to the job based purely on that!
I’ll be working as a SharePoint Dev for a company called DMS Organization (note the z not s!!) – its going to take some getting used too, spelling everything incorrectly!!
Hopefully its going to be interesting challenge.
I was planning to widen the scope of this blog, to not only .net, SharePoint etc geeky code stuff, but some stuff about the Cayman Islands and the surrounded countries. Travelling is certainly high on our agenda and we plan on seeing as much as possible, using our weekends to the max!
I have never been to the Cayman Islands before and I have never lived outside of the UK before, its all new and at times its difficult to focus the mind and remember that I have to start a new job, be smart and perform for what looks like a pretty dynamic organisation. I’ve had several “first days” and don’t generally get nervous anymore – I know what I can and cant do. I’m most intrigued to see how its done in another country and the Cayman seems interesting…a UK overseas territory, having our bank holidays and some cultural aspects etc, but with what seems heavy influence from the US.
That of course is what I have inferred from speaking to a few different people who live there or have lived there – I must say, I’ve spoken to immigration a couple of times and not overly impressed, “blood from a stone springs” to mind! I’ve also been warned about “Caribbean Time” !!
Immigration is a problem, I have been granted a visa, but my fiancé cannot be a dependant on my visa, only when married can she be a dependant. This is not resolved yet and while of course Luki is going to come out, exactly on what terms has yet to be decided! Personally I think this is very old fashioned and they need to step it up – marriage is not as big-a-part of the world as it once was, we have been living together for several years – if this can be proved, like in many countries, she should be allowed.
Cayman is (apparently) famous for a its scuba diving, boasting such a place as “Stingray City”, I’ve never done scuba diving before, only snorkelling a few times, I certainly plan on doing a PADI course and seeing some of the underwater world. Again those that know me will know I love my bike (bicycle) and will be purchasing one on the island to get involved in what looks like an excellent little community. And I can’t wait to go running along the beach with a quick swim to cool me down every km!
That’s something I’ll have to get used too…Cayman uses the imperial system, crazy. Ohh…and you don’t pay income tax…a nice bonus!
Well, that’s enough about the “plans”, time for a dodgy airline meal, a quick siesta and get on with doing some of them!
A couple pics from my journey!
Train to London – progress.
Boarding!
My view!
Display content from Reusable HTML list in a MasterPage
This is as useful as it is simple!
Having a footer for example in your master page without the overhead of being responsible for its maintenance.
Here is a simple WebControl that you can reference in your master page and supply a key.
Control
Note: You might want to handle the exception better!!
public class DisplayReusableContent : WebControl
{
public string ContentTitle { get; set; }
protected override void Render(System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter writer)
{
try
{
SPList rcl = SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb.Lists["Reusable Content"];
SPQuery q = new SPQuery
{
Query = "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Title' /><Value Type='Text'>" + ContentTitle + "</Value></Eq></Where>"
};
var items = rcl.GetItems(q);
if (items != null && items.Count > 0)
{
// Should only be 1!
writer.Write(items[0]["ReusableHtml"].ToString());
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
writer.Write(ex.Message);
}
}
}
Register Control
<%@ Register TagPrefix="my" Namespace="$Your-Namespace" Assembly="$Assembl" %>
Use the Control
<my:DisplayReusableContent ContentTitle="Copyright" runat="server" id="ruc1" />
And that’s it – not life changing, but one for the tool-bag!