Aquila Online

How to make things last longer

// March 28th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Interesting, Tech

This is a note to self…
(more…)

Garmap delivers enhanced mobile online navigation

// November 22nd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // News, Tech

I’ve been a big fan of Garmin ever since I got my Nuvi back in 2006. That being said, I’d always hoped that Garmin would bring out a software suite that could run on mobile phones, without the need for any GPS attachments. Last week, I was notified that Garmap has done just that.

The official word:

Garmap, the official map data provider for Garmin navigation products in Africa, announced at the AfricaCom event in Cape Town recently that Garmap for Mobile Online, Garmap’s newest navigation software suite for mobile devices, will be available to purchase in retail blister packs at outlets and mobile phone stores around South Africa from mid-November.

Powered by Appello’s award-winning navigation platform, Garmap for Mobile Online delivers full-feature navigation throughout South Africa on nearly any GPS-enabled mobile phone, while only utilising a minimal amount of the phone memory.

“With this software, GPS-enabled mobile phones can be equipped with the same navigation capability utilising the latest mapping data that is available on bigger and more expensive GPS devices,” says Andrew McHenry, head of mobile for Garmap.

“When people purchase the new retail blister pack, they can enjoy the full version of Garmap for Mobile, which gives them access to voice turn-by-turn navigation, a full list of points of interest (POIs), weather updates and – for a small monthly fee - real time traffic, just to name a few of the features,” he adds.

Garmap for Mobile is designed to keep as small a presence as possible on a mobile phone and, as such, relies on a data connection (either GPRS, Edge or 3G/HSDPA) to download maps, POIs and other data that gives users the full GPS experience.

Because maps and POIs are downloaded in real-time via the phone’s data connection, users can be assured that they are always accessing the most up-to-date maps of Southern Africa that Garmap has to offer.

Garmap for Mobile is available for Symbian-based phones as well as BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile phones.

Garmap for Mobile Online retails for a recommended R990.00, which includes a 24-month usage license and a live traffic subscription.

Screenshots

Comments
I’m delighted that this is out, but I have a few reservations. It’s still only available for Symbian, CrackBlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile, which unfortunately doesn’t help me with my iPhone. Secondly, the pricing model seems a bit steep, considering that Google Maps is free (and it works on practically any mobile device).

I’d like to think that Garmin offers a completely different experience with its extensive POI (Points of interest) database and Southern African coverage - the area that the Google maps lags behind in many ways. We’ll wait and see.

Dwell

// September 12th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Tech

Well, I wonder how long the W-key on my Dell keyboard is going to last.

What’s that song again?

// August 29th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Music, Tech, Video, iPhone

Ever had a song stuck in your head and you don’t know the name? It happens to me all the time. Either I know a line from the song, or have some idea of the tune, but no idea who the artist or the song is.

To make matters worse, I always seem to miss the song intro on the radio and the DJ never seems to repeat the song title.

Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the iPhone song identification application Midomi. Let me briefly interject.
A good friend, Leon Jacobs once said, “The greatest things about iPhone is the potential that every new app has to completely transform the device into a totally new experience.” I have to agree with Leon. Midomi has transformed the way I interact with music.

The premise is simple - open Midomi, press the big orange button, hold your iPhone up to a source of music and voila, it identifies the artist and song title. It even allows you to play back a short clip (from its own database) so that you can confirm if it’s the same song. Just watch out for loud ambient noise though - it makes song recognition a bit tricky.

Surprisingly enough it even recognised my tone-deaf humming of certain songs. Of course, if you don’t want to feel like a dork singing to your phone, you can also search for a song or band just by saying or typing the name.

The features don’t stop there though. You can bookmark and share your song results via Twitter and Facebook. Check out the lyrics, videos via YouTube and obtain detailed artist info. You can buy the song, but I haven’t been able to do so since the iTunes music store is still not available in South Africa.

All in all, this is a great application and at $4.99 (around R38) it’s worth every cent.

Download the Midomi application for your iPhone here.

iFell

// December 12th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // HTC, Tech

Two days ago I was set on getting the HTC Touch Pro as my contract upgrade phone.

I mean, who can resist a phone that has:

• Mobile Internet features - surf and download at broadband speed with HSPA and Wi-Fi®
• 2.8-inch touch screen, with four times the resolution of most phones
• Vibrant TouchFLOâ„¢ 3D user interface
• Five-row QWERTY keyboard for quick and easy text entry
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash light for quality stills and video
• microSDâ„¢ slot for expandable storage
• Integrated GPS can be used with maps software for a full turn-by-turn navigation experience

Turns out all this is good and fine, but Vodacom decided to up the ante and is charging exhorbitant fees for this phone. I was told that I would have to pay in an additional R224 per month to get this phone and that’s on a Talk 500s contract. Not to be funny but who in their right mind will pay over R1,000 just on subscription fees?

At this point my little gadget crazy heart sank to an all time low. I entered into many (sometimes heated) debates discussions with colleagues and friends about the pros and cons of the Apple iPhone vs the HTC Touch Pro. In my books the HTC always trumped everything else.

I must make mention that when the iPhone came out, I too rushed to the nearest store, held it in my hand, ooohed and aaahed about the sexyness factor. It was there that I eventually decided it wasn’t for me. My biggest gripe? No keyboard/stylus input and no 3G passthrough among other things.

Back to the present though. On a whim I called up the nearest Vodacom outlet, asked if they had the iPhone 16GB in stock and much to my surprise, they did. I rushed over to have “a second look” at this phone, clearly convinced that my current HTC TyTN is “still good for another year or so” and “do I really need another brick in my pocket?”.

Strangely enough, holding that iPhone the inner gadget junkie child in me came out - clearly overjoyed at the sight of some bright, fancy gadget with the promise of hours of fun and a coolness factor of +300. I cave in and got the iPhone on a mid-range contract mind you (it’s a slowing economy and we all have to tighten our belts).

As soon as that puppy was fully charged and ready for updates, upgrades and the obligatory sync I uttered three simple words: “I’m in awe“.

I fell hard for this little piece of gadgetry. It’s still early days, but I’m stunned. I hope to write a better post on my experience with the phone in the near future, but for now all I can say is iFell!