Showing up about a week early is my wife’s Pepper Pad 3. I thought the Pad 2 was pretty darn cool, but the new model is a definite improvement.
First of all it came pre-loaded with Pepper Keeper 3.0, which I can’t wait to get on my Pad 2. The UI makes much better use of the screen real estate and is more colourful to boot.
The new Pad 3 hardware – based on the AMD Geode LX800 platform – runs circles around the old XScale architecture. It’s SERIOUSLY FASTER. I don’t know how I can stress this enough. Switching apps is INSTANT now. No lag whatsoever. And this is with the same amount of RAM and hard disk as the Pad 2.
Network performance is better too, a combination of G-class wireless with a better antenna. Pages render faster.
I didn’t get too much time to poke around last night, but most other applications look pretty much the same. I’m sure there are bugfixes in place. I did try the built-in camera out: don’t be expecting any stellar optics but it’s a passable webcam or video conferencing camera (which is of course what it’s supposed to be.)
Month: September 2006
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Impressions: Pepper Pad 3 vs. Pad 2
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I still hate iTunes.
Unsurprisingly, I’m not alone in my hatred of iTunes. A handful of people have commented on my previous post back in June in a similar vein. Well the hatin’ just keeps on comin’.
My wife just converted over to Anapod Explorer after grappling with iTunes. As soon as she said “I just want to drag and drop!” I knew what had to be done. After a frenetic license-purchasing and quick training session, she’s happy as a clam.
But lo! Apple manages to piss me off even more! If you haven’t been living under a rock you’ll know that the next incremental updates to the iPod line are out, including firmware updates for older models. In the past, Apple has distributed the firmware updates as a separate application known as the iPod Updater. But not any more – now you have to install iTunes 7 to get the latest firmware (for my 5G, that’s version 1.2). The separate updater is gone. Not only that, but I looked and looked and disassembled and the firmware isn’t even included in the download itself. The software must download the firmware from Apple after the fact. ARGH.
I will get this iPod updated without iTunes, somehow…
Update Well I got it upgraded, but I had to install iTunes 7. But then I uninstalled it immediately. I torched my old iTunes library data files first, then installed iT7. It crashed the first two or three times I tried to start it (real /quality/ there, Apple) but once it came up I took a deep breath and plugged in my iPod. It detected BUT I guess it didn’t remember anything about my iPod, so it asked me if I wanted to sync it with iTunes (aka DELETE EVERYTHING OFF MY IPOD) so I said NO, then it told me there was a firmware update. Did the update no problem and as soon as my iPod started rebooting (with the little progress bar) I shutdown iTunes and uninstalled it. Then I used iPodWizard to dump the 5G v1.2 firmware off my iPod to a file.
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Seriously, I’m still around
That spring I was talking about on my K550DTN printer, the one that came dislodged? It actually got jammed and I had to bend it beyond repair to remove it. HP sent me a new lower tray gratis, but they haven’t updated the design.