I got new swim goggles

I got new swim goggles, originally uploaded by Al Pavangkanan.

I ordered these Speedo swim goggles after the strap from my old goggles snapped.

They fit well after a lot of adjusting. The strap has an odd design that makes adjusting very tedious.

The blue tint of the goggles makes for a strange swimming experience. Things will seem yellow after removing them.

The goggles perform very well while swimming. They're very airtight and do not fog.

Taking pictures is fun again

After getting fed up with my N97 and its charger port problems, I sent it in for repair. In the meantime, I've been using my old N82.

The camera interface on the N97 is a total mess. Options are buried in menus and not easy to access. Some menus are touch optimized, others are d-pad optimized. It is very confusing and inconvenient for anyone who wants some control over their pictures. There's too much time wasted and the moment gets away.

Shooting in auto on the N97 sucks. The flash on the N97 especially pisses me off. It is often more harmful than helpful. It takes three or four clicks to turn it off. Never fun to take pictures with.

The camera interface on the N82 isn't much better. But since it is d-pad optimized, I can set up my pictures pretty quickly since the interface is fast.

The N82 has a xenon flash. It is still the gold standard that every camera phone is compared to. Hardly ever does the flash get in the way of a good shot. At the top there's a picture I took last week at the Griffith Observatory. Not only is the subject well lit, you can see the background.

While the N82 takes much better pictures, the N97 is still a better camera phone. The larger battery lets you take more pictures. The qwerty keyboard makes it easier to name and tag the photos. The 3G makes it faster to share and move on to the next moment.

I'm hopeful the N82 and the N97 would join in holy union and have a baby.

March Road Trip

This past week I drove up Interstate 5 to Visalia to deliver some car parts. I had my N97 with me and pushed it to its limits. I had Ovi Maps running to keep track of my speed and the Music Player was playing some podcasts so I didn't fall asleep from boredom.

The N97's FM Transmitter would be a great feature if there was some empty radio frequencies it could transmit with. For the entire drive, there was no station I could find to broadcast on. I ended up using the N97's speakers.

I made an effort to check in on foursquare every time I made a stop. I still like playing foursquare. I checked into rest areas and a 7-Eleven during my trip.

While I was driving, I had an idea. Ovi Maps should know if you're driving on the interstate and have a pop up telling you when the next rest station is. Maybe add an option for pop ups and categories you want to pop up when driving.

Taking this to the next level, this would be a great way for location based advertising. A restaurant could have a pop up for their business pop up when you approach. While I would HATE to see this if I'm driving around the city, I would love to see this option out on the highway.

With Ovi Maps, foursquare check-ins and the music player running via loudspeakers, the N97 lasted from 10AM to 3PM. It probably would have lasted longer if the car charger was working. The usb port on my N97 was very flakey so I sent it in for repairs the day after I got home. I'll be using the N82 in the meantime.