Raymond Chen

After buying iPad and iTouch, I’ve bought many accessories. I always introduced them to my friens when I felt they were good. The result is not so good, luckily sales is not my profession.

The sketch pen for iPad, which I’ve bought the 2nd one, could not be sold to any of my friends.

The tiny bluetooth keyboard was only bought by Henry.

The small charging adapter, which converts A/C to USB output and can be used to charge iPad, can not make a sale. But I’ve made the 2nd order this afternoon.

The deluxe insinde-ear earbuds, which can prevent up to 85% noise when its power is turned on is good. I never tried to promoting it to anyone. I think the requirement is not common. It could be a little bit inconvenient if being used at home. But in a noisy environment like Starbucks, it really creates a quiet private space..

The iPhone holder is goood. It can support my iTouch standing in a tilted angle, good for watching podcast.

Extract from book – “Mobile Design and Development”:

• Don’t trust any report, fact, or figure that is more than a year or two old. It is most likely wrong. For example, the majority of assumptions about mobile development pre-iPhone are no longer applicable.

• Perform contextual inquiries, not focus groups. Go to your users and ask them questions in person, in their context, not yours. They often have a lot to say; listen and keep an open mind.

• Record everything. Nothing makes your case like your users’ own words. They have a funny way of reducing company politics and focusing back on the user.

• Don’t forget to innovate. Try new things, be bold, and don’t be afraid to fail.

• The best strategy succeeds even if it fails. Have a contingency plan. If your plan fails to meet expectations, how can you reuse what you’ve learned or done on something else?

There are usually some shopping sprees occured after I get a new electronic gadget.

After I bought the Nexus One, I’d bought two batteries with travel charger, one key ring that can be used as flash disk and charging cable, two android apps from the Market and a waterproof bag used in swimming.

After I bought the iPad, I’d bought two cases(the former one really sucked, so…), two Apple Store Gift Cards ($15 & $25) which enabled me to have bought 4 apps until now.

And I’ve bought some ebooks, which didn’t count– I’d buy them anyway.

“Buy once, read everywhere”, I love this statement of Amazon Kindle.

I’ve used Sony Reader for a year. I chose it over Kindle because of its touch screen. Double-tap to look up words is a good feature.

Then I saw Kindler for PC, Kindle for MAC. I didn’t get Amazon’s idea until I installed Kindle for Android lately. Yes, that’s “buy once, read everywhere”. The most annoying thing of DRM is the binding to device. Digital is supposed to be read on multiple devices. What’s the point of binding to one?

Amazon knew this. It sees itself a platform, rather than a reader manufacturer. Sony is still a manufacturer. If it wants to get its slice in the ebook market share, do something. Ditch the stupid DRM.

Do I need an iPad? That depends what I use it for.

I’ve played with my colleague’s iPad for a while. The screen size is good, not too heavy to carry. Reading PDF with a screen as large as this is much enjoyable expereience than on cellphone. The only problem is: how often will I use it to read books?

I bought a Sony Reader a year ago.

It’s a b/w device. Reading experience is not bad, especially in the sun. I later discovered this feature is not that cool. How many times do I need to read in the sun? That must be on the  beach. I wish I could be there as much as possible. Without color screen, reading magazine like Time and Newsweek makes me feel something is missing. Reading novel is good, especially when I need to look up a word I don’t know, I could just double tap on it. The battery life can last for two weeks. It sounds good, but if its charger is not super huge and the charging time doesn’t take too long, 10 hour continuous working time is good enough. That’ s ipad’s battery life time.

What’s really annoying me in digital reading is not the device, it’s the DRM. The ebook must be bound to one device(or two, if including the PC I used to download). There is no easy way to read a copyright protected ebook on multiple hand-held devices. OK, it’s not Sony Reader’s problem.

Since I replaced my Nokia N81 with a Nexus One last month. My cellphone reading experience has improved drastically. Clearing unread Google Reader items becomes entertainment now. Cellphone screen as big as this is good for reading fragmented information like web pages and news feeds. But for novel reading, the screen will make us turning pages all the time. I need a larger screen to solve this problem. Maybe it’s not a problem for younger generations: they are supposed to turn page so frequently.

I’ve installed FBReader for Android lately. It’s a really cool reader software. I guess I’ll try some reading with it first, see if I could get used to the small screen, in comparison to my Sony Reader. And I’m also waiting for a droidpad to emerge in the market. Competition is always good.

BTW, the Nexus One really caused some change of my reading habit. I read RSS more and spend less time on deep reading now. I need a good balance between them.