Today is my first day of working exclusively from the Eee PC. It has been a long time since I've spent a work day without using my regular laptop but I figured that the only way to be able to make a decision about the Eee PC's appropriateness as a supplementary system. Certainly, the Eee PC isn't suitable as a primary computer but as a supplement to a decent desktop/home-base system it's worth looking at.

My Kit for the Day

In order to get through the day there were a number of accessories I needed to pull together so that my Eee PC 701 was usable as a serious business tool for a day. Here's the list

• Asus Eee PC 701 (obviously) with its power pack
• Proporta Gadget Bag
• Huawei E220 modem on the Three data network
• A clutch of USB memory sticks (I usually have three or four on hand)
• My Moleskine notebook and Fisher Space Pen (just in case)
• A Google account

The Day

My work day started with my daily commute to Melbourne's CBD on the train. The carriage was particularly packed today and, although I got a I was stuck between two largish gents. I managed to extract the Eee PC, connect the modem and fire up an Internet connection. I altered my Gmail account so that it's collecting all my POP3 email sources. That means that I can use Firefox(here's how I upgraded).

At work, I used a USB stick to copy a bunch of files I needed for the day's work to the Eee PC. This is probably a one-off activity as there's enough storage on the Eee PC to hold the documents I need.

The main operational issue I'm facing is the screen resolution. I'm finding that the 800 pixel width means there's lots of side scrolling in Firefox and when reading documents. I suspect that even with a 7” screen that a higher resolution would make the Eee PC 701 fr more usable.

The other, less critical, issue is font quality. I've not found a font smoothing option for the Eee PC running Xandros. This is especially problematic when using reading slabs of text. Does anyone know of a solution?

Battery life in a day of real use was reasonable but still a little thin. Three hours was good with the 3G modem constantly active but with WiFi turned off. In an ideal world I'd like to get closer to six hours off a single charge. Hopefully, a decent third party or extended battery option will come to light soon.

Can I Sell the Laptop?

I'm wondering whether I really need my MacBook Pro. Certainly, it's a far more capable computer with a great display, full-sixed keyboard and a plethora of applications. However, the Eee PC is far more portable and doesn't stop me from doing most of my day to day tasks.

I still need a decent PIM application s I don't like the supplied Organizer application and I'd prefer to not use a solution that requires a web connection like Google Calendar. I still need to do some investigation for a better solution.

The same goes for email – Gmail is OK but I prefer an offline application. Thunderbird is competent and I will need to give it a decent run. My problem is that I have a lot of folders and intelligence built into my installation of Apple's Mail.app. I'm going to need to find a way to deal with that.

The display is small but as an email reader and tool for occasional document creation it's OK. The keyboard takes some getting used to. Initially, I kept hitting the “s” instead of the “a” and find that my hands get a little sore if I type for more than about 30 minutes at a time. However, that's not something that happens often.

I'm not quite ready to give up my laptop yet. I really like the idea of the Eee PC but, and this about my capacity to change my work habits, there are many compromises. I wonder how many of these are about the form factor and how many are due to how the Eee PC's OS, Xandros, does things. I'm going to try to work mainly from the Eee PC again tomorrow and use the desktop for my main work.

 Asus • Eee PC • Xandros

The Huawei e220 is probably the most popular mobile broadband on the planet. Many carriers across the globe use the Huawei E220 and the hardware is supported on just about every platform in common use. I've used it with Windows and mac systems and it passes the "just works" test. But what about the Eee PC?

It turns out that using the e220 with an Eee PC is trivially easy. In fact, it's been one of the easiest tasks I've had to negotiate as I learn more and more about the Eee PC and Linux.

The starting point, for me, was the discovery of the eee220 Mobile Broadband Tool that can be downloaded from the 3epc User Portal.

Installation was simply a matter of downloading the application's DEB package, right-clicking the downloaded file and installing the software. That took a mere 30 seconds or so.

Once the installation was done, I plugged my e220 in and followed the prompts to create a connection using the Eee PC's own wizard. At the end of it all, I had an icon on the Internet tab of the Easy Mode screen and a "3G" icon in the system tray in Desktop Mode.

[If you don't know about Full Desktop Mode this tutorial might be of assistance]

Plugging the E220 into the USB port automatically launched the connection software. Click the "Connect" button (the one with the stylised globe of the earth and plug) and you're online.

What you need

• Eee PC (I tried this with the 701)
• Huawei E220
• Contract with your comms carrier and a SIM card from them for the E220 (I use Three in Australia)
• eee220 Mobile Broadband Tool from the 3epc User Portal

 3G • Asus Eee PC • Huawei E220

I've been a long time fan of mobile broadband services. Like regular, in-home broadband I think I was one of the earliest adopters amongst my friends and peers. However, the hardware I've used for connection has been largely determined by my service provider and the specific modems they offer with the particular deal. What that's meant is that my hardware decision has been out of my hands.

The market has changed recently with many carriers, at least in Australia, letting customers mix and match their hardware and data needs. I've tested three different mobile broadband modems. All the tests were carried out in exactly the same location, on the same computer with the same carrier. the only thing that has changed is the modem.

The Test Environment

I've chosen three different modems. They are

1. Novatel Wireless XU870 Express Card


2. Huawei E220 USB


3. Huawei E169G

Testing mobile broadband services can be a little tricky. For that reason I've chosen to use SpeedTest.Net. I know that it's not perfect but it's an easy way to do a controlled test where the only variable changing is the hardware.

All testing was done using an Apple MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4

Outcomes - the Numbers

I must say that the outcomes of my testing were a little surprising. I expected that the ExpressCard product would offer the best performance but that honour went to the Huawei E169G - branded as the Internet Key by Three. It was able to consistently deliver downloads of about 1000 kbps and uploads around the 320 kbps mark.

The Huawei E220, probably the most most popular 3G modem on the planet, delivered similar upload speed but slightly lower download performance with speeds consistently around the 900 kbps mark.

Coming in at around the 800 kbps mark was the Novatel XU870. Consistently, my testing rated this the slowest at downloads but the equal of its rivals in uploads. I'm at a bit of a loss as to why this might be so I'm putting it down to some sort of software anomaly. Given that signal strength atmy test location, in Melbourne's CBD, was very similar with each device I don't think that my finding is due to signal reception.

Outcomes - Ease of Use

One of the factors to consider when buying your mobile modem is its form factor. This is where the XU870 and E169G stand apart from the E220. The E220 requires a USB cable to connect to your computer - the others either slide into an ExpressCard slot or connect directly to the USB port.

However, one of the great things about the E220 is its ubiquity - it'll work with just about any computer and operating system. I've even got it running with my Asus Eee PC. The E169G is also very easy to use as it ships with Windows and Mac drivers on the flash memory within the modem. that means it can be installed to a new system in minutes without the need to carry a CD of drivers.

The XU870 offers convenience through its form factor. It only protrudes from the computer's ExpressCard slot but a couple of centimetres making it great for working in confined spaces such as on public transport. However, installation requires drivers that need to be loaded from a CD or some other media.

Which would I buy?

If I had to buy one of these units today, it'd would be a toss-up between the E220 and the E169G (I actually own a XU870) as they offer the greatest flexibility. Every computer has at least one USB port whereas ExpressCard slots are still a little thin on the ground.

The e220 has the annoying "dangling off the side" thing happening but it'll work on practically any computer. The E169G doesn't need a driver CD or extra cable but I worry that it could be bent or snapped when plugged into the side of a notebook.

My final decision is the Huawei E220 - but only just.

 3G • E169G • E220 • Huawei • Modem • XU870

Over at Hydrapinion, I've penned a short post on Nokia's purchase of the remaining stock in Symbian.

Stop by for a read.

 Mobility • Nokia • Symbian

After opening with a meager ration of TV shows last week, my friend Angus Kidman has broken the story that Australians will be able to buy movies over the iTunes Store next month.

This is good news for Australians and even better news for iiNet customers as the downloads will be unmetered meaning that they won't be counted towards any download caps.

 Australia • iTunes • Movies

Following on from announcements by Optus and Vodafone and Three begging for customers Australia's other telco, Telstra has announced, somewhat surprisingly that they'll be selling the iPhone from 11 July.

Unlike the other carriers, Telstra has announced pricing.

8 GB - $279 up front and $30 per month OR $0 and $80 per month
16 GB - $399 up front and $30 per month OR $0 and $100 per month

In addition, Telstra's customers will have free access to Telstra's extensive WiFi hotspot network that covers significant parts of Australia's capital cities with access from every McDonalds restaurant, airport and other locations.

Telstra will NOT be selling unlocked iPhones and customers will be bound to their two-yar contracts. In contrast, Optus has said that they'll sell the iPhone unlocked.

One thing's certain - Telstra's announcement will setthe cat amongst the pigeons. While Optus and Vodafone are being coy about pricing and other details, Telstra has thrown down the gauntlet. The good news is that Optus and Vodafone will need to up the ante to compete.

My feeling is that Vodafone will respond with two year contracts with $0 up front and $49 per month with a data allowance of about 2GB. Optus will probably come in reasonably close to Telstra with perhaps more generous allowances within pricing caps.

The wild caard in all of this is Three. Despite being the last to come to an arrangement (at least one they're prepared to disclose) they have a reputation for delivering great value and not being scared to undercut the opposition. Already, they've announced more generous call and data allowances for current customers on capped plans.

 iPhone • Telstra

Over at Australian Macworld, I've filed a news story on what must be the most bizarre iPhone story. Local carrier Three is asking customers to petition them so that they can put some pressure on Apple to become one of Apple's sales partners.

Here's the story.

 iPhone • Three

Firstly, welcome to any visitors who have found your way here from Lifehacker or any of the other sites that linked to my recent post on Getting Started with the Eee PC.

One of the other sites i contribute to is a venture called Hydrapinion where me and four other journalists take a turn at writing about a favourite subject each week. My beat is called "Carry" where I cover mobility related topics.

My post at Hydrapinon this week covers my continuing journey of discovery with the Eee PC and Linux. It follows on from a piece I wrote the week before where I suggested that Linux has some substantial issues that need to be addressed before it's really "consumer ready'.

 Eee PC • Linux

With no fanfare Apple has opened a new new aisle in the iTunes Store. Australian customers can finally access episodes of some of their favourite TV shows.

Popular American imports Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives are there as well as Bit Torrent favourite Lost. Local productions from Channel 9, McLeod's Daughters, Sea Patrol II and Canal Road are also available with the ABC represented with Chris Lilley classics We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High there as well. That's interesting as those shows were freely available from the ABC when screened through their vodcast service.

There's plenty for the kids as well with Blues Clues, Hannah Montana and Cory in the House.

The full list of shows is

Blues Clues
Canal Road
Cory in the House
Desperate housewives
Double the Fist
Foreign Correspondents Postcards
Grey's Anatomy
Hannah Montana
Laguna Beach
Lost
McLeod's Daughters
My Super Sweet Sixteen
Pimp my Ride
Scrubs
Sea Patrol: The Coup
Sleek Geeks
South Park
Summer Heights High
Surfing the Menu
The Hills
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Urban Magic
We Can Be Heroes

Individual episodes are priced at $2.99 - that's a hefty premium on the US prices of $1.99USD. Full series cost start at around $40 but range up to over $60. Depending on what you're after it may be cheaper to buy the DVD. All the series available are complete so there's no sign that we'll be able to download episodes the day after they air as it the US practice. A look at a current series such as Sea Patrol II shows that you can download all the current episodes for $17.94 (the cost of the six individual episodes that are available) even though the series is intended to run for 13 episodes.

OK - so it's not as good as the US store but it's a start.

 Apple • iTunes • TV

Now that I'm getting the hang of installing apps on the Eee PC (I still maintain that it's too hard but that's an old rant) I'm looking at a few apps to make the Eee PC even better.

The installed browser, Firefox 2, is competent enough but it's a little long in the tooth. After a little research I've settled on two candidates - Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5. Here are my impressions.

Opera 9.5

Installation was dead easy with Opera coming in a deb package that installs simply. The main trick was to download the correct version - the one for Xandros 1.0 and 1.1. The version for Versions 2 or above didn't work for me.

Once it was installed, I imported my Firefox bookmarks and was up and running in a few short minutes.

Browsing was definitely faster than with Firefox 2. The user interface is very clean with the default theme making a nice change from the regular grey/blue toolbar arrangement.

Tabbed browsing works nicely although I was annoyed that my favoured Ctrl-Click on links for new tabs opened the new tabs in front of the current tab with no option (that I could find) to open new tabs behind the current one unless I used the right click and selected the appropriate option from the context menu. However, this is a small complaint and not a showstopper for me.

Given the Eee PC's limited screen resolution, one of the key factors in any Eee PC browser is its ability to zoom and deal with wide web pages. Using the Ctrl-Minus and Ctrl+Plus keystrokes, it's easy to increase and decrease the size of pages with text and graphics scaling in 10% increments.

You can download Opera from the Opera Download page.

Firefox 3

Firefox 3 is a sensational browser. It's fast, offers good zoom for pages exceeding the Eee PC's display width and offers a familiar look and feel.

I know this will draw the ire of some quarters but without this excellent guide at Eeeuser I'd never had got it up and running. I needed to install the GTK 2 library (whatever the heck that is!), edit a script file and enter a bunch of commands in a terminal window.

Once it was installed, Firefox 3 was excellent to use.The page zoom in and out feature worked well.

Where Firefox beat Opera was its ability to render pages nicely. If you take a close look at the screen grab from Opera and compare it to Firefox, you'll notice that Firefox does a much nicer job of rendering fonts.

Conclusions

At the end of the day there are a couple of things that web browsers have to do. These are render pages correctly and be easy to use. At the end of the day, Firefox, while a little less refined in its default appearance (in my opinion) is certainly easy to use and it is better at rendering pages.

While Firefox was a pain to install I don't expect that it's a task I'll need to repeat often.

So, the winnder is Firefox 3 but not by a lot.

 Eee PC • Firefox 3 • Opera