Previously, I gave my first impressions and the interior of the Prius c. In this review, we will delve into the nitty gritty features of the Entune and Navigation systems in the Prius c.

Before we start, the picture below shows some of the vehicle settings that can be changed via the touch screen. I’m sure we are only one or two versions away from being able to upload your own alarm sound to your car. As you can see, you can set the car to lock the doors when you go from “Park” to “Drive.” It’s about time cars can be configured like your phone or TV.

But I digress.

Entune is basically Toyota’s answer to Microsoft’s SYNC, which is to say, it’s an online connection and user interface for your car. To use it, you must first download the Entune app (iOS or Android) and have it running on your phone with the bluetooth active on your phone.

According to the Engadget review of Entune, the Entune firmware simply is like a browser that shows what the app in your phone is feeding to the car via bluetooth. I don’t think this is true. It would be too slow for all the icons and images to be uploaded in real time. It’s possible that those static items are preloaded and just the positioning is controlled by the app on the phone. My Toyota dealer Eric told me that when updates come, the firmware in the Entune would have to be upgraded by Toyota. If true, I think only the raw data is being uploaded from the app to the car.

Whatever the case, there are tons of features to checkout.

You can listen to regular radio stations or Satellite radio (subscription required) or even Pandora. The system will even allow you to play music stored on your phone. However, I noticed that sometimes there will be a glitch for about 50 to 100 milliseconds. This might be some type of garbage collection going on in Android on my phone, or it could be the Entune app running on the phone. Whatever the reason, it’s too annoying to be used on a regular basis.

Although I haven’t actually used it, you can even use a CD to listen to music. If you’re not familiar with CDs, it’s a physical plastic disc with music stored on it, much like a record.

Just like your phone, one of the more mundane things you can do is bring up the weather information on the screen. It will use your GPS to figure out where you are and display the forecast.

If that’s not boring enough for you, try looking at your stock prices. Yes, what a great thing to be doing while driving.

For more useful information, you have an interface to the Microsoft Bing search engine. It works pretty much like you are on your computer searching places. Unfortunately, the touch screen is old school and there is no swiping. To scroll the screen, you have to touch the up arrow or down arrow icons. If this came out in the 80′s, I would have been astonished at it’s advanced technology. After using the iPad, the user interface looks and feels very outdated. I expected a game of “Snake” or “Pong” to pop up on the screen.

Since this is in a Hybrid car, it’s only natural that there is a way to get a list of close gas stations and their fuel prices. This is a nice touch. There is also a feature that allows you to enter the fuel price that you used last and the top display will show you how much money you are saving every time you drive your car. I guess they want to remind you why you bought a Hybrid.

Another really great feature that I used to use on my phone is the freeway conditions being reported in real time. This information can be viewed in a list, or as you are using the Navigation system, you will see tiny icons showing where the traffic is located. The navigation system will automatically ask you if you want to avoid the traffic by using an alternate route. I’ve used to on several occasions to save a bunch of time.

The navigation system has 3 views: 2D, 2D north and 3D. The view below is 2D north where the top of the screen is always north. I like this mode because it helps you know which way north is. In regular 2D mode, you have to look at the compass to figure out which way north is. Since my sense of direction is so bad, this is a needed feature for me.

You can also zoom in or zoom out on the map by touching the “+” or “-” buttons. Sorry, no pinching like on your iPad.

The picture below shows the navigation in 3D mode. The streets are shown in larger font and easier to read but I still like the 2D mode personally. What I really like is the turn by turn directions that are setup perfectly to tell you to turn at the right time. Yes, the voice does sound like a fem-bot but so does all the other navigation systems. Personally, I kind of like taking direction from a fem-bot. The GPS is rock solid as compared to my on and off GPS in my cell phone.

Some things to note are that you can use your voice to control the system. However, I found it to be frustrating sometimes and touching the button is usually quicker. But, if the vehicle is moving, the system will refuse to let you make your selection using buttons, for safety reasons. You will have to come to a complete stop before the on screen keyboard will return.

Let’s face facts. If texting while driving is dangerous and there are laws against it, it’s probably not safe to be checking your stocks or finding cheap gas prices while driving. Commercials often show the driver talking to the car to get directions but it doesn’t show all the steps that are required to get to that point.

I love having the navigation system on all the time so that I know where I am at all times. All the other Entune fluff that comes with it might be fun for the passenger, but frankly, it’s too dangerous for the driver to be playing with while driving.

All in all, the user interface needs to be upgraded, and they should contact the people that made Siri for the voice recognition. The navigation system is solid but I wasn’t very impressed with Entune. Toyota, please contact me when you have version 2.0 available.

Last time, I gave my first impressions of the iPad. Now it’s time to review some of the iPad specific apps.

First off, let me explain that you can run iPhone apps on your iPad and click on the 2X zoom button to enlarge the image but it doesn’t look very good and the big screen is wasted. Some apps work on both devices properly while there are some developers that have created iPad only apps.

So with that in mind, I wanted iPad apps that showed off the big gorgeous screen. I started with the ABC Player app (free) that allows you to watch full ABC shows. For the most part, it works fine and indeed the shows look pretty good on the screen. However, I did get this error below while watching one of the ABC shows.

NBC also has an app for free that allows you to watch full episodes of NBC shows. This app also has the NBC schedule, games and photos. Strangely, there is no iPad app for CBS, but CBS News and 60 Minutes (not free) both have their own apps. Even the local CBS station has a free app called CBSLA. However, as you can see below, the app has a lot to be desired compared to the other apps.

As for news, ABC News, ABC LA 7, AP, USA Today, LA Times and tons of other news iPad apps are available. For local news, the LA Times is good, but the AP app has a great user interface and looks great on the iPad screen. All of them are free.

For people who have Hulu+ or Netflix, those apps are also available and allow you to watch tons of movies, documentaries and TV shows. As on your computer or PS3, the Netflix app allows you to see and manipulate your “Instant Queue” as well as recommended movies and shows, as shown below.

Strangely, there are no iPad versions of the app for UPS, USPS, Southwest Airline, Instagram or Paypal. No iPad version for Paypal? Strange. But there are iPad versions of the app for eBay, Amazon, Chase, Bank of America, Twitter and of course Facebook. The Facebook app is completely different from the iPhone version and designed around the big screen. So it’s mostly a wash unless the app you want is missing.

All in all, for the most part, the iPad version of the apps are great looking and work a lot better than the iPhone version, which is designed for a smaller screen.  If you have an iPad and haven’t yet upgraded your apps to the iPad versions, be sure to get on that.

After getting the new iPad, one of the first things I wanted to do was to get a carrying bag so that I could take it with me. I didn’t want to get one that was too big but I needed space for other items other than the iPad. The STM Stash Shoulder Bag looked pretty good and I found it on ebags.com for $38.50 as shown below:

Unfortunately, I looked at the price more recently and it has gone up to $44 on ebags.com but you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

As usual, I digress.

This bag has a padded compartment for the iPad with a zipper, and 2 other zippered compartments in front, as shown in the STM promo picture of their product below.

The larger of the 2 compartments have smaller pockets for pens, thumb drives, and a clip for your keys. The zipper for this pocket goes all the way down so you can open it wider than the front pocket which is smaller. It’s supposed to be used for your iPhone (according to STM) but I think having to unzip the pocket to get your phone is inconvenient at best.

The shoulder straps rotate so they don’t get tangled and the padding is nice, although the iPad is not so heavy that you need padding. You can remove the shoulder straps and use the handles or tuck the handles away if you don’t want to use them.

Here is STM’s promo video for this bag:

The quality is very high with this bag and so far, I’ve been very happy with it. However, it is very thin and the pockets do not expand. With my thick wallet on the inside pocket, it restricts items in the outside pocket to very thin items. If I try to put anything in there that’s thicker than an iPhone, it does not fit properly. I wish they made the pockets expand like some bags that I’ve owned in the past.

If you have a thin wallet, and don’t plan on carrying around anything thick, this is a good way to carry around your iPad.

Next time: My solution to carrying my phone with this bag

Last time, I gave me first impressions of the Prius c. This time, more on the interior and usage of this new Hybrid vehicle.

The picture below shows a  closeup of the seat. I don’t really like the light color in the middle because I’m sure it will get dirty as the car ages. My old Matrix had a seat that was entirely charcoal which hid stains a lot better.

Closeup of seat

The next picture (below) is a USB/phone jack station on the passenger side of the car. It’s a good place to put your phone while you use the USB to charge it. I’ve never had this feature before and I’ve always had to put my phone in the cup holder in the past. It might have been better if the plug was facing towards the right instead of towards the seat.

USB and Phono Jack

The next picture is the middle rear passenger seat belt which hangs from the ceiling in the back area. I’ve never seen this before but apparently this is a new safety requirement for new cars. It’s a little ugly but safety first.

Rear 3rd Passenger Seat Belt

As you can see below, the left side of the steering wheel has the radio volume control, mode and cursor, and below that cluster is the voice control, and cell phone controls. This is the first car I’ve had that has the volume control on the steering wheel and it’s very convenient. Looking down at the radio to change the station and volume can be very dangerous while driving. You can control the navigation, make calls via blue tooth, and play music all by voice control. The other 2 buttons allows you to answer/hang-up the phone.

Left Controls on Steering Wheel

The voice control does not work very well. If you are searching for something very simple like “Restaurant,” it will work. However, you will have to slowly grind down the multi-levels to get to what you want. Since the voice recognition is so bad, it will give you a list of possible choices. Then you can choose one by the number. It’s still easier than trying to type on the touch screen (more on that next time) but it can get frustrating. Too bad they didn’t put Siri into the car.

The right side on the steering wheel (see below) has the temperature control, and controls to navigate on the top display. Again, I like having the controls on the wheel but they also have a big temperature wheel below the Nav display.

Right Controls on Steering Wheel

While on the topic of the steering wheel, unlike my last Toyota, it is not perfectly round, and is slightly oval. Apparently, this is the new cool way to make steering wheels but if you like to let the wheel turn quickly under your hands after a turn, it won’t work as you would normally expect. Also, the silver plastic portion of the steering wheel feels and sound like cheap plastic… because it is.

The usual electric door locks and windows are there in the next picture below. As with most cars these days, the driver side window will automatically open without having to hold the button. You can also lock the windows for the passengers so they can’t open them.

Electric Window and Door Locks

Below the gear shift, there are 2 buttons: ECO mode and EV mode. When in EV mode, the car tries to use electric power only but cannot go faster than about 25 mph. Therefore, it’s very hard to stay in this mode unless you are driving in a parking lot or practically in a parking lot on the freeway. If you drive too fast, it will automatically get out of EV mode. I have not been able to use this mode for very long in real life situations.

The ECO mode tries to save gas by limiting the use of the air conditioner and acceleration. When I tried using it, I really didn’t notice too much difference but I wasn’t trying to drive very fast. How much fuel it really saves is not clear.

ECO and EV Modes

For some reason, unlike the old Prius, Toyota decided to make a big-ass gear shift. I’m not sure why they chose this design because it takes up a lot of space in the tiny subcompact. That space could have been used better. In fact, because the space between seats is so narrow, they took the cup holders and put it above the gear shift. This makes it very hard to grab your drink while driving. I liked the design of the Matrix better where the cup holders where below the gear shift.

Shift

Between the seats is the usual storage space and arm rest. My old Matrix had a thin top compartment and a deep lower compartment. The Prius c has no top compartment and the deep compartment is much skinnier and barely fits a sunglass case. I really miss the top compartment because digging into the deep compartment is a lot harder when trying to find something quickly. What the Prius c does have is the arm rest that slides forward. Frankly, if I could only have one, I’ll take the top compartment instead of the sliding arm rest.

The picture below is an ultra-close-up of the dash material. It looks like some type of fake plastic snake skin. The color doesn’t really turn me on and I’m sure it will get dirty quickly. If this was Toyota’s idea of trying to make the car look less cheap, it didn’t work.

Dash Material

The next picture is the top display located above the dash, inset back so that it is protected from the sun. The left side is the speedometer and fuel gauge, and the right color display can show a variety of status information about the car. The picture shows one called the “Eco” screen which is basically a game that helps you try to get higher scores by driving more economically. I’ve managed to get 94 out of 100 but it’s hard to get anything higher in real world driving conditions. To get high scores, you have to start up slowly, cruise without too much change in speed, then stop by applying the brake very slowly. Nobody drives like that all the time, but it trains your brain into driving the way you need to, in order to save gas.

Top Display

Both displays in this area are very easy to see and shows tons of information. It would have been nicer if the MPG and gas gauge were also using the high resolution screen (instead of the cheaper LCD), but I guess they have to save a few bucks here and there.

So far, I am averaging about 52-54 MPG per month. Interestingly, the more city driving I do, the higher the MPG. The more fast freeway driving I do, the lower the MPG. At first, it’s counter intuitive, but obviously, the “c” in Prius c stands for “city” and indeed, it was designed to work well in city conditions as advertised.

The last picture is the big color navigation screen and the climate control below it. I will go into detail about the Entune and Navigation screen in the next installment. All I will say now is that unlike the top display, this display is not inset so the sun glare often makes it almost impossible to see the screen. Even in the picture below, you can see the glare of the screen. The GPS in the Navigation system works fantastic, compared to the GPS in my cell phone. There must be some huge GPS antenna on top of the vehicle.

As for the climate control, I’ve never had one before and having it computerized is great. The only thing that is strange is the crazy big temperature wheel they put to the left. With the steering wheel temperature control buttons, why is this big wheel needed? If it’s for the passenger, it should be on the right side. It just seems to waste a lot of space for no reason.

Bottom Display

One small feature that I really miss is automatic headlights that turn on when it’s dark. It’s bad enough that I have to remember to turn on my lights at night, I have to manually turn it on when I go into underground garages or tunnels. Also missing are the multiple compartments in my Matrix that allowed me to store a bunch of stuff hidden from view.

Another difference is the rear blind spots, which are much larger than my old Matrix.

In conclusion, there are a many things I like with the Prius c, including:

• Keyless entry
• Navigation
• Climate control
• Steering wheel controls (including volume and answer call)
• Gas mileage
• USB outlet

Some of the things I don’t like are:

• Narrow width making seating less comfortable
• No automatic headlights
• Location of cup holders
• Lack of thin top compartment under middle arm rest
• No hidden compartments to store items

All in all, if you want an attractive looking Hybrid that gets great mileage in the city, as well as on the highway, but don’t want to spend a ton of money, this is the vehicle for you. It has a lot of features that are only found on more expensive models at a very reasonable price. But the low price does mean a few shortcuts have been made so there is no mistaking this car for a luxury vehicle.

Next time: Entune and Navigation

After waiting for the 3rd generation, I finally broke down and bought the new iPad online, which arrived on the day that it was released to the public. Why did I wait so long? I tried to go as long as possible but just like the eBay commercial, everyone at work was making fun of me. Yes, peer pressure got to me. And my carry around Alienware laptop broke so I needed a replacement.

But I digress.

Basically, the new iPad looks and feels like the iPad 2, except it’s slightly heavier and thicker. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Since this is my first one, it feels a tad heavy but sturdy and not flimsy or cheap. What I really like is that it’s not flat like the iPhone 4, which I hated because it was difficult to pick it up from a table.

As you can see below, the iPad is smooth and rounded, making it very easy to pickup. The speaker is on the back and is loud enough to hear your Youtube video or movie if you’re in a quiet room. However, if you’re at a noisy environment, you will need to put on your ear buds or headphones.

As everyone is already touting, the screen is amazing to look at. Looking at a high resolution picture, and zooming in on a spot has a satisfying feeling that is hard to describe or reproduce in any other way. The CPU is the same speed as the iPad 2 but they have put a faster GPU in there and it’s worth it. Scrolling through pictures and browsing websites are so smooth that it puts many laptops to shame. This is the way all tablets and laptops should feel.

If you don’t have an iPhone or never used iOS, it might take a minute for you to figure out the user interface. Otherwise, everything works exactly the same except the screen is massive in comparison to the iPhone. One thing that I had forgotten is how much better the multi-tasking switching works on iOS compared to Android. On my Samsung Epic 4G, I often find it frustrating when I return to an app and it has restarted and requires me to re-enter data that was already entered. The task switching on the iOS works a lot better, although not as good as Palm (HP) webOS.

One other notable difference is the way cut-and-paste works. If you hold your finger over the text, you will get a magnifying glass to help you select what you want. On Android, the little cursor that comes up is a lot harder to move and place where you want.

One of the first things I got for my iPad was the dock for $30 from Apple. Since it’s from Apple, I figured it was the one to get. Wrong. Unlike my dock for my Epic 4G, which works like a charm, this dock is very hard to use. First, you have to line up the connector with the iPad, which sounds easy but is very difficult to do because there is no physical guide. Next, even when you think you have it plugged in, you’re not sure because the iPad says “Not charging.” More on that later. To make maters worse, the iPad is so big and heavy in comparison to the light dock, it does not feel safe to touch the screen while it is on the dock. This dock is a fail in my book.

The next accessory I got was the iPad smart cover from Apple for $40. This is a genius accessory for the iPad and is probably a no brainer for most people. It protects your screen, props up your iPad when typing, and props up vertically for viewing videos: All-in-one. If you tap on the screen too hard, it may cause the unit to fall over so be careful.

However, notice the picture below, which shows the wrong way to prop up your iPad with the smart cover. I was doing it this way and it kept falling down until I looked at the sample pictures and realized it should wrap around from the bottom in the reverse order.

Wrong way to use cover

The on-screen keyboard used in portrait mode is large and easy to use. In fact, I can almost type as fast as touch typing on the iPad on-screen keyboard. If you are holding the iPad up with your hands, you can switch to a split keyboard mode (shown below), which will allow you to use both thumbs to type on the screen. It’s a lot slower but still faster than using one finger.

If you’re too lazy to type, you can use the voice dictation key on the left side of the keyboard. It’s not Siri, but it does work pretty well in a quiet environment. Of course, it’s using a dictionary so it won’t recognize weird or made-up words, but it works pretty well for regular dictionary words. You can also end your sentences by saying “period” or “exclamation.” Of course, if your dictation includes the word “period,” it will get confused. Hell, I’m sure some secretaries would get confused too.

As for battery life, unless you are watching movies for hours, you will easily be able to make it through a day without having to re-charge the battery. In fact, I can make it through several days without charging with my light usage. However, if you let it get down low to nearly dead, an overnight charge will NOT bring it back to 100%. In fact, when you first plug it in, the indicator says “Not Charging.” I’m not sure if this is so that it trickle charges the battery very slowly to help it’s life, or something else weird that’s going on. In any case, this can be a little annoying.

Some users have complained about the unit getting too hot to use. Since I didn’t use an iPad 2 for more than a few minutes, I can’t really compare the 2 versions in this regard. Since the GPU is different, and the battery is apparently bigger, it would make sense that the new iPad would get hotter. I’m so used to using crazy hot laptops that the temperature of the new iPad doesn’t bother me. I also don’t use it on my lap so it’s not touching my body directly.

Just like the iPhone, the iTunes store has enough music, video and apps to keep you busy for months or maybe even years. By now, if you want to do just about anything with your iPad, there’s an app for that. It might not be the iPad version, but you can download an iPhone version and there’s a “2X” button to double the size so you can see it better. No other mobile platform has as many apps.

Speaking of downloading, the way e-magazines and e-books are handled is smooth as silk. This is certainly the beginning of the death of printed news papers, magazines and eventually books. They are going the way of the CDs and DVDs. Why would I buy a physical book when my e-book allows me to do a global search on the entire book in a second? And not to mention carry around all my books with me where ever I go.

Yes, the iPad is more expensive than many of it’s competitors, but sometimes when you want the best performance on the best screen, you have to pay for it. I’m very happy with my purchase so far.

Next time: iPad apps

Since 2007, I’ve been using the Buffalo NAS RAID but it finally broke down on me again, but this time for good. Frankly, I was more than ready to upgrade because I was starting to run out of space on it. For a couple of years, I’ve been eyeing the Drobo FS, shown below. So when my Buffalo died, I rushed out to by local Fry’s to get the Drobo.

Before getting to the juicy stuff, let me explain why I selected the Drobo instead of another NAS (Network Attached Storage) RAID. One of the biggest problems with traditional RAID is that you cannot mix and match different sized drives. So when I wanted to upgrade my Buffalo, I would have had to replace all the drives simultaneously. Drobo has a new system called BeyondRAID which allows the user to mix and match different sized drives, as well as add or replace drives on the fly without having to re-format all the drives like in traditional RAIDs. These features alone makes this RAID the best on the market, in my opinion.

The MSRP for the Drobo FS is $699 but Fry’s had it for $499. Luckily for me, they also happened to have a sale on Seagate 2TB drives for $149. These drives are fast and very quiet. The only problem was that it was limited to one per customer.

This is where I used my real world hacking talents to find a guy that let me buy 2 at a time. So I bought 2, then put them in my car, then came back and got 2 more from the same guy. That’s 8TB for $600. Nice.

It doesn’t hurt that the Drobo also looks cool compared to my old Buffalo, which looked like it was from the 80′s. As you can see in the back of the Drobo, it has the power switch (which is a toggle), the Ethernet port and even a slot for a laptop locking cable.

Setup was as ridiculously easy. Install the Drobo Dashboard software (more on that later), insert the drives into the front of the unit, then plug in the unit and toggle the power switch to turn it on. The Drobo accepts any 3.5″ SATA drive, even mix and match different sizes, and manufacturers. The drives slips into the slots bareback and without any screws.

The LED lights start to flash and after a little while, it’s ready for use. The big lights next to the drive give the current status of each drive. The green (or red if there’s a problem) LED on the left bottom is the status of the entire Drobo unit. The green LED on the right bottom is the network access indicator, and the blue lights at the bottom show how full the drives are. It’s a nice touch that you can see how much space you have without having to use your computer.

One thing that was a little strange is the front panel comes off completely and sticks back on with magnets. The first time I took it off, I thought I broke the door. It’s also a little hard to remove since the magnets are pretty strong.

The Drobo Dashboard software that comes with the unit allows you to setup and change the settings of the Drobo, as well as look at the current status. You can also have it email you when something goes wrong.

Drobo also includes a backup utility called Drobo PC Backup that will automatically backup your files to the Drobo in the background. It has the usual features to select the folders for backup and restoring from your backup. It also allows for a second backup drive to be setup so that you can backup your data on multiple drives. You can only install this software on 3 computers for free so if you have more, you may have to buy a license.

There were a couple of minor annoyances that I’ll mention. When you use the Windows file system to see the size of the Drobo FS drive, you will get some large size that doesn’t correlate to anything. In the list below, you can see that the total size shown for the drive is 16TB. I have 4 x 2TB drives + a 250GB = 8.25TB, and certainly not 16TB.

To see the actual size of the drive, you have to go into the Drobo Dashboard as shown below. As you can see, out of the 8.25TB, only 5.63TB is actually available for my data, with 1.04TB being used currently. It’s not a big deal since the blue LED lights on the unit tells you how full the drive is at all times, but it’s a little annoying.

The other problem is once in a while, the drive will disconnect from the network and will have to be re-booted. I had this same problem with my Buffalo NAS drive so this might be a problem with Windows, or even my router.

Drobo’s website also has some apps you can load onto your Drobo unit. Since the Drobo is a Linux-based box, you can run Linus programs on it to make it a local home server or media server. However, Drobo does not support these 3rd party applications so unless you know what you are doing, it’s better to let the professionals play with these toys.

So far, everything has worked as advertised and I’m very happy with my purchase. I’ve backed up my desktop and 2 laptops, and copied a bunch of files onto the NAS without any problems. To test it further, I added a small 250GB drive into the 5th and last slot to see how easily I can add drives. Just plug in the drive and the Drobo takes care of the rest. It can’t be any easier. I love it.

Drobo’s BeyondRAID technology is clearly the way of the future. I’m completely sold on it. If you’re looking for a NAS RAID, the only decision is what model Drobo to choose. It’s a no-brainer.

Paypal has announced a new service called “Paypal Here” which is basically the same as the Square Up service. It’s not available yet but soon, small business owners will be able to accept credit cards for payment to their Paypal account simply by swiping the customers credit card.

Paypal will provide a free encrypted card reader that will allow the credit card information to be read by your iPhone or Android device. Notice that the card reader is encrypted. Since there was a lot of talk about the problem with the unencrypted reader from Square Up, I’m sure Paypal will make a big deal about it when it comes out.

Other than the transaction free being very slightly less for Paypal, they also have a feature in their app that will allow the user to take a picture of the credit card. The app will also allow the user to create a menu of choices to choose items from, like shopping on a website and paying the shopping cart at the end.

Since Paypal is owned by the powerful eBay.com, Square Up will be looking at some very serious competition. As a matter of fact, it’s hard to justify why somebody would use Square Up when they could use the Paypal Here.

Last Wednesday, Apple announced the “new” iPad. In case you’re living under a rock, this one has a better camera, higher resolution (2048 x 1536), and most importantly, a retina display. I was impressed with the retina display on the iPhone 4, so this large screen should be fabulous.

After years of pretending the tablet market was a fad, and seeing the new features on the iPad, I’ve decided to get one like everyone else. I’ve justified the purchase by creating an excuse of needing an iPad to test the compatibility of my websites. On top of it, just like the eBay commercial, I’m getting sick of being the only person at work that doesn’t have one. Do I really need one? I’m not sure. I’ll find out after I get one. There are a few iOS apps that I used to like on my old iPhone that would be nice to have again. Don’t ask which ones. It’s just another excuse I’m using to get one.

This new iPad also comes with the option of 4G LTE from AT&T or Verison. There’s a rumor that one is coming later to Sprint, but that’s down the line. Do I really want yet another carrier to send me a monthly bill? I decided I’ll re-activate my Sprint hotspot on my phone and use the WiFi on the iPad to connect to the Internet via my phone. I’ll keep you posted on how well this works.

The Wi-Fi models come in 3 sizes: 16G ($499), 32G ($599) and 64G ($699). Since I don’t plan on carrying around all my music and videos, and will be mostly using my iPad to access websites, I decided to get the 16G model.

After pre-ordering from the Apple website, I got an email with my UPS tracking number. According to the UPS website, my iPad should arrive on Friday, March 16 (the official release date of the new iPad) from EPZ, China. Where is EPZ? Apparently, EPS stands for Export Processing Zone. And how do they time the delivery down to the day? I guess they know what they’re doing.

There are some news reports that if you try to pre-order your iPad at this point, you will not get it by the March 16th date. Glad I got on the bandwagon early on this one.

Next time: First Impressions.

As more people use their smartphones to video everything that’s going on, the next level of POV (point of view) video recording is almost here from Pivothead. According to their website, they will start shipping their HD recording eyewear in April 2012 for about $350 each. The user can have both hands free while recording video, and could be used by extreme sports athletes, law enforcement, and of course for making pron. Checkout their demo video below:

The 1080p @ 30fps mode seems to be high enough in resolution but some of the video looks a little washed out. Although the unit comes with anti-shake technology, the lens seems to be not wide-angle enough to keep from having the Blair Witch effect. It’s hard to evaluate from just the demo video since it’s probably being recorded using a prototype unit. Reading some Internet buzz seems to indicate the battery will last about 1 hour. Settings can be changed via an USB connection and software on your laptop.

Whatever the quality, this will just make it that much easier to record video at concerts and other venues that frown on recordings.

Sprint has quietly updated the firmware for the Epic 4G to Gingerbread 2.3.6 EL30. Since the last update seemed to cause more crashes, I’m hoping some of those bugs have been fixed. Also, when you get a call, the choices displayed looks different.

But really the only thing of importance is Sprint has decided to remove Carrier IQ, which is a marketing tool embedded code that basically keeps track of everything that you do on your phone, including your location. There was a big stink about it when it was revealed that many Nokia, Android, BlackBerry and even the iPhone had this “secret” code running that was tracking everything on your phone.

So now I can go back to going to strip clubs without Sprint knowing about it.