Tuesday 3 January 2012

David Briggs

Listened to the latest programme (2 Jan 2012) on Pipedreams this morning and heard David Briggs' Te Deum recorded in Gloucester Cathedral. This blew me away with the combination of plainchant and French-style cathedral organ improvisation. I had to buy the CD and found it here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003IEAMG2.  I can't wait to get it.

Monday 2 January 2012

Nokia Lumia 800

My old mobile (LG GM750 - so painfully slow I replaced it once but the replacement was no better) was coming up to the end of its contract and I have been wondering what to replace it with.  In the end, I had no choice - I wanted to stick with the Vodafone network, being by far the best for Alveston and the Lakes, and I wanted to stick with Windows Mobile if I could, because, maybe naively, I thought this was the best way to synchronise with Outlook calendar and contacts on the desktop.  So I went into the Vodafone store in Yate before Christmas and they said they only offer one Windows phone and that was a Nokia Lumia 800.

Here are some thoughts on the phone so far:

Pros
Very responsive
Built around tiles which are very easy to use
No stylus required (but typing requires smaller fingers than I have)
The people tile links to contacts which automatically link to their facebook pages
Most apps you would ever need are available in the marketplace
The link up between Microsoft and Nokia seems to be paying dividends and this is promising for the future

Cons
Synchronises with windows live in the 'cloud' rather than directly with the desktop using activesync, so may not be everyone's cup of tea, but this has the advantage of accessibility from any computer connected to the internet
Synchronisation can be slow
Does not download Outlook categories
Battery life is one day (but this is the same as my previous phone)

Overall, I very much like this phone and it is a joy to use.  It would be difficult to beat - iPhone should be worried.

See also:  http://thenokiablog.com/2011/11/09/nokia-lumia-800-review/