Introducing…
vtReview. I was going to use an “i” before Review. but that already existed several times already. “v” before Review is already some sort of webapp or something or another. so vtReview [as stupid as it sounds] will have to do.
vtReview 1: 3rd Generation Apple iPod Nano 8GB
The Package - Included in the very simplistic box is the iPod itself along with the newer Apple ear buds, the USB adapter, some neat Apple stickers, a Quick Start guide, and the warranty information.
The Transferring - The transferring of my songs was rather smooth. I initially put my iPod to sync with my Library. But then I realized that a good 25% of my music I don’t want to listen when I’m on the go. So. I cleaned up my iTunes Library and re-synced my iPod. Again, there were still many songs that I didn’t want. So I just manually deleted them and turned the option to Sync off. I then realized that my Videos weren’t being transferred which was odd because they were all in .MOV or .MP4 format. Found out later that there’s a “convert to iPod” option. Besides those little mishaps, the transfer was speedy.
The Design - With the front plate being aluminum and the back being some sort of other metal, it looks of the iPod is pretty. Some may be turned of because it looks fat, but once you play around with it, it’s quite nice. Even with my long fingers, it was quite comfortable going through the menus with one hand. The only flaw that I find in the Nano is the click wheel. It’s just too thin.
The Interface - Half the old interface, a quarter of stupid, and a quarter of “finally”. The half which was the old interface is the obvious very simplistic menu-ing. The quarter of stupid is the cover flow and the random album art preview that’s on the right side. Not only is it completely unnecessary… but it’s completely unnecessary! The thing with Cover Flow is that the album art isn’t cached meaning you have to stop and wait for the album art to load. Maybe if it was cached, I would like it. Meh. The quarter that is Finally is the Album/Artist information underneath the Song Title. Especially useful if you don’t know all of the song titles of a particular artist.
Video Quality - Obviously, one of the main concerns for the new iPod Nanos is the Video playback because… well it’s a new feature! The concern is because the screen is smaller than the Video iPod’s screen. But surely, the quality is still fantastic since the resolution is the same. One can even read subtitles [ie. anime subtitles].
Battery Life - Apple claims the battery life of the Nano is “an impressive 24 hours”. I haven’t quite tested the Nano to that extent, but I have tested it enough to where I’ve seen a sort a range. I listen to my iPod about 2-3 hours a day. 1 Hour set aside just for sleep music and getting up music [yay alarms], about half an hour during lunch, and about half an hour to an hour when I read [if I don’t use the computer]. With that, the Nano didn’t get into the lower region of yellow until about a week.
Final Thoughts - The Nano is a nice little device. Great for someone who doesn’t need a gazillion songs or videos *raises hand*. And for those who like to run *puts down hand*. From me? 4/5
vtReview 2: Apple Wireless Keyboard [Aluminum]
The Package - Again, simplistic for the win. Inside the very thin package was the keyboard, some batteries, quick start guide, and warranty information.
The Design - Sooooo thin. Soooo light. Soooo pretty. Designed very much like the Macbook Pro keyboard, the keys are like little tabs that are elevated just a teeny bit above the frame. There are a plethora of hotkeys built into the Keyboard’s Function keys such as the obligatory Brightness controls, exposé, Volume controls, and the Dashboard. But another fantastic addition is the iTunes/i-other stuff controller. The iTunes controller [as I will call it from now on] is nicely placed right next to the volume controls. This actually might be meh in the beginning when you still have to get used to it being there. When you want to skip to a next track, you might just mute your computer instead.
Typing - Typing is surprisingly comfortable. I usually don’t like typing on laptop style keyboards, but this is much more comfortable. They keys themselves are slightly larger than normal keyboards, but it’s not enough to cripple one’s typing. However. what is annoying is that while the keys are large, the actually button thingy is in the very center. Meaning if you stretch and click [if you type from Home Row] there’s a slight possibility it won’t register. Speaking of that, I must bring up the keyboard. The keyboard’s small-ness means long-fingered people [like myself] can’t properly hit the spacebar. My thumbs usually hover over a normal keyboard, but here, the keyboard hovers over the very edge of the keyboard. Not only that, but the spacebar suffers the same flaw as the keys, if the very edge is hit, there’s a possibility it won’t be registered.
Wireless Range - I actually tested this. Don’t ask why. From where the computer is in my house [family room] I could use the keyboard from almost the exact opposite side of the house. I haven’t tried upstairs because there’s no real point in doing that.
Final Thought - The keyboard is beautiful. But with beauty, comes flaws. 4.5/5
Guest Review!
Reviewer: Brittany
Thing Being Reviewed: Season Four of House
Review:
So, speaking as someone who, going into the season, was all “OMG NO DUCKLINGS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!?” I was more than pleasantly surprised by the season four premiere. I never really realized how much the show was completely not dependent on any one character (other than House to an extent). Obviously, the more Wilson and Chase and the less Cameron and Foreman, the happier *I* am, but that’s just me. I did not once throughout the whole episode think “Oh my goodness, where are the ducklings, this is getting so boring!” Hugh, Robert Sean Leonard, and Lisa Edelstein (who play house, wilson, and cuddy respectively) pulled off the episode spectacularly. While previous season’s episodes have been SLoW (severely lacking of Wilson is the fandom term), this episode showed how truly brilliant RSL is, and how much he and Hugh have a great enough chemistry to pull off the show just with the two of them. RSL is just hysterical. Speaking as someone who had never watched House with that many people before (watching with around 12 or so girls in our TV Lounge) I was happily surprised by the amount of people who were as amused with Wilson as I was. Speaking as someone who was very skeptical, I give the first episode of the new season a solid A (and totally cannot wait until tonight’s new episode).
All right. So ends my very first review bloggy. I’ll try and do reviews whenever I have stuff to review. If you want to be a guest reviewer, just send a review over to my E-mail.