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Scott's Column
The iPhone 5, and Harmony 650 Remote
October 2, 2012
By Scott Lewis
This month is all about the iPhone 5. Yes, I got one on the first day, and I am here to tell my take of using it. I also bought a Harmony remote, and that is covered as well.
Enjoy!
Current Topics:
I recently purchased a Harmony 650 remote (by Logitech). The Harmony
series of remotes are "activity" based remotes. What this means it that
you setup activities, such as "Watch TV" and the remote sets up all your
equipment for that task.
I currently only have two activities. Watch TV and
Watch a Movie. As it happens there are two dedicated
buttons for these two activities. You can create custom activities as
well as a couple more standard activities.
Once the Harmony 650 is setup, you should have all your equipment turned
off. When you press the Watch TV button the remote will send the
appropriate signals to all your equipment to turn on. In my case it
turns on my TV, my receiver and my cable box. It also sets the receiver
to HDMI 1, which is how I have my cable box attached. All the
information on how these devices connect you enter into the Harmony
software at your PC. When you finish the setup on your computer you sync
with the remote and it knows everything.
The really nice part of this setup is that the remote buttons do double
duty. For instance, there is one main set of arrow buttons around an
enter button. If I am using the Watch TV activity the arrow buttons are
used within the cable box's guide. If I switch to Watch a Movie those
same buttons now work the menu screens of my Blu-Ray player.
All of this works quite well... but... and you knew there had to be a
but!!!
There are some features that are not on the remote. For instance, there
are no buttons for changing the day of the week while looking at the
guide to my cable box. It might be possible to set other buttons to this
feature, but that might compromise another feature. I was disappointed
that there is no dedicated "List" button. With DVRs all over the place,
you would think a remote as advanced as this would have a dedicated
button for this.
There are four colored buttons, red, yellow, blue and green. When I
initially setup the remote the green button did not have a function. So
I assigned it to be the "List" button. After all, the List button on my
cable box remote is green. Alas, it did not work. However, when you are
in the activity of Watch TV, the LCD screen displays four functions, one
of which is List. So I just use the button next to the List command on
the LCD screen.
Another problem with this remote... it does not turn on
my receiver and change the HDMI input at one time. Say
I was watching TV (with the input set to HDMI 1) when I last turned off
the equipment. If I select Watch a Movie, the receiver comes on with the
TV and Blu-Ray player, but the input on the receiver is still HDMI 1.
The LCD asks if there are any issues, and if there are tells me to press
help. Pressing help at this time it then changes the receiver to HDMI 2
and asks if that solved my problem. Yes, it did help, but it does not
really solve the problem. I can only assume the delay in my receiver
coming on is too long for the remote to send the input change command.
Of course... there are no input buttons on the remote to switch from
HDMI 1 or HDMI 2 (or more). So I do need to keep the receiver's remote
nearby for the occasional input switching.
One last issue. Since the remote turns everything on... and many devices
use the same command for turning on and turning off... you could get
caught in a situation where one or more device is in the wrong power
state when you select your activity. For instance, if the Blu-Ray player
is off and the receiver is on when I press the Watch a Movie button, the
receiver gets turned off.
This last issue is slightly compounded by the fact that my Blu-Ray
player will power down on its own after a while of inactivity (sitting
at a menu screen). Since the remote expects to turn everything on when
it starts you need to be more diligent about using the remote's button
to turn everything off. This way devices are all in a known state.
Overall I like the Harmony 650 Remote. It is not perfect, but it is
really nice. And since my cable box remote had a couple of buttons that
required more and more effort to use... I really needed this remote.
Once you get used to the layout... it becomes very natural to use the
remote all the time.
I am not an Apple Fanboy. I decided on the iPhone 5
for a few simple reasons:
1) My ex-wife and two sons each have iPhones (4S, 4S & 4). We are still
all on the same family plan, and we all use my Apple account. So all the
apps they have bought... I can download without having to pay for. This
made a lot of economical sense.
2) I have an iPad. Say what you want... the iPad is the best consumer
tablet out there. Some are pretty close, but none match the user
experience and ecosystem of the iPad.
3) The deciding factor for me was the tight integration that Apple has
being the maker of the hardware and software. This allows them to be
class leading in battery life. And they do an excellent job at providing
a first class user experience.
I went to the Sprint store the night before to check out the Samsung
Galaxy S3 and compare it to an iPhone 4S. I really liked the Samsung's
big screen. But, it is a bit big for putting in a pocket, and the phone
does have a plasticy feel to it.
I believe the S3 is an excellent phone. In fact, I would say that if you
are not infected with the Apple ecosystem you should get the S3 over an
iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 is not good enough to pull in Android fans.
We live in a great time. Yes, the economy is in the toilet, and the
leaders of this country can't seem to do a thing about it. But... you
can get a great phone that can do so many amazing
things... for a mere $200. You can't get a bad phone.
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Apple iPhone 5 = TIE!!!
Yes... I was one of those people that jumped on his computer the
morning of Sept 14th and pre-ordered an iPhone 5.
Two friends of mine did it as well. One was able to get him and his wife
an iPhone 5 for delivery on the 21st. The other friend could not get the
Apple web site to work for him, and finally got through close to 3:00 am
and received the dreaded 2 week wait.
Unlike my two friends... I did not get up in the middle
of the night. If case you did not know, pre-orders were taken starting
September 14th at 12:01 AM Pacific Time. We are Central, so that meant
2:01 AM.
I woke up at my usual time to go to the gym, 5:00 AM. I got onto Apple's
web site to pre-order the phone. I normally would never do this... nor
wait in line for hours for something like a phone. But I wanted to get
my phone before a trip I was taking to NY on the 27th.
So, at 5:00 AM I got on Apple's web site and saw that pre-orders would
take 2 weeks. Really?!? Could they have already sold out of the
pre-orders that would be delivered on the 21st? I then logged onto
Sprint's site, my carrier. They were showing a delivery date of the
21st. Cool. I had to update a couple of things on the Sprint site with
my account, then I was able to order the phone. I received an email
confirming my order, and saying I would receive another email with
tracking information when it shipped.
On the Sprint site when I would go to the Track My Order page, I
received this message when I looked up my order:
Thank you for pre-ordering the 16GB iPhone 5. You are one step closer to getting your phone. Keep an eye out for a shipping email with your tracking information. Pre-orders placed through 2 pm CT on 9/14 will arrive on or around 9/21. Pre-orders placed after 2 pm CT on 9/14 through 10:00 am CT on 9/19 will ship in 2 weeks. Orders placed after 10:00 am CT on 9/19 will ship in 3 weeks. For questions, visit sprint.com/preorder.
Since I got my order in about 5:20 AM on the 14th I should have
nothing to worry about.
Sure enough it was delivered to my apartment complex at 12:54 PM on
9/21. I left the office and when I got home I had an iPhone 5 on the
first day without waiting in any lines.
I am not going to give you a standard review of the iPhone 5. I am
going to tell you some of my early experiences with the iPhone 5, and
mostly complain about the things I don't like. You can read review after
rave review... this is not going to change your mind. However, if you
have one already you might find some of this interesting.
I really like the keyboard on the iPhone. In landscape mode it is roomy
enough I make very few mistakes, which means I don't need to depend on
it to correct me. It is also very fast, which is a huge improvement from
my last phone. I was taken aback by the fact there is no period key.
Hmm. To get a period you just press the spacebar twice. This is a
Godsend. I hated my previous phone because I hit that damn period key so
many times when trying for the spacebar.
I did find one thing that is hard to get used to... the 123 key... that
brings up numbers and special characters. On my old Android phone this
was to on the right side of the keyboard, on the iPhone it is on the
left. What makes this worse is that it is on both sides
on the iPad and I never noticed until I looked at it after using the
iPhone. I thought the position a bit odd... so I went to the iPad
because I always knew it to be on the right like my Android phone. That
is when I saw it was on both sides on the iPad. Now I have to get used
to using my left thumb for this. It is harder than you might think.
Related to the keyboard, I don't like how many apps do not go landscape,
and they require you to type on the narrow keyboard. The App Store on
the iPhone is portrait only, and entering in my Apple ID password is a
chore on the smaller keyboard. As well as search terms. This is probably
me... my son types out message after message on his iPhone in portrait
orientation. I don't get it.
Apple's new Podcast app is portrait only... making searching for
podcasts a pain. The new Podcast app does seem to do everything I want.
It is not as good as the Zune's podcast handling, but
it is finally acceptable. And I think the only reason it is not equal is
because of the managing of podcasts from the app on the phone. I would
prefer to manage the podcasts on my computer... then let iTunes know
what to sync and to remove. Since you do this all on the phone you have
to see all the old episodes... just in case you want to listen or
download one. I have the Zune software set to save all podcasts, but
only sync unread podcasts to my Zune. This way if there is nothing new
then there is nothing on the Zune. Much better for minimizing scrolling
and such.
The weather app is usually so-so. It was 10 degrees off the first time I
checked it, or just lagging 10 degrees from the current time. It seems
to get the highs and the lows correct, but the first morning I had the
phone it said it was 61 degrees at 9:00 am. It was about 72 degrees, but
the low the night before was about 61. Eh! The second day it was 5
degree too cool from my local news stations weather report. So, I will
replace the default weather app as soon as a better one comes along that
uses the entire screen.
Here is one thing that is still not as good as my 3 year old
Android phone (HTC Hero). When I miss a call, or get a message,
a little green light blinks on the phone. If this happens on my iPhone
is it still as black as the Monolith and I have to push the home button.
I find this troubling. I am not a phone fanatic. And I will frequently
just leave it on the counter. If I take a shower, walk away, take a nap,
go to the gym, etc... I have to make a conscious effort to check for
messages, whereas with my Android it was obvious from looking at the
phone from across the room.
Another thing I don't like... the volume level of all the alerts.
Initially I thought they are mostly too low. Adjusting the volume with
the buttons adjusts the ringer volume. But does not adjust the text
alert volume. I did some digging online and it said if you don't like
the volume of the text alert compared to the ringer alert... download a
louder or softer sound.
Then a friend told me that the text alert volume is tied to the overall
system volume. So... go into the music app and adjust the volume there
and it adjusts the volume for your text alerts, and the volume of the
keyboard, the camera sound, etc. The easy way to get to this volume is
to double press the Home button from the lock screen. There is a volume
control there you can adjust. Why I could not find this fact on the
internet is amazing... even on Apple's forums.
Siri Sucks!
You may already know that, but I could not resist. I started playing
around with Siri with the iOS 6 release on my iPad. The very first
question I asked was "What's on TV tonight?" Siri responded, "I cannot
help you with what's on TV."
Are you kidding me. Siri is supposed to be so wonderful about telling
you about movies (more later) but it can't tell you what's on TV.
I am also disappointed in it's movie information. If I ask it what's
playing at the Northwoods Theater (my closet theater) it tells me it's
can't help me with that. Oh sure, I can ask Siri what movies are
playing, and it joyfully presents a list of movies. I further asked it
to show me times for Expendables 2. It showed me a list of theaters in
my area... and Northwoods is not listed. Of course I checked the
Northwoods' web site and Expendables 2 was playing there.
Between TV and movies... which would people ask Siri about more? I can't
believe that movie information takes precedence over TV information.
Apple needs to get on this. If they have my location they should be able
to tap into my local cable company's listing. If that is too much to ask
how about giving me the major networks information by saying "Revolution
is on NBC tonight at 10PM (9PM CST)."
Back to movies... Siri presents me with movies and show times for
theaters near me. And that's it. There is no link provided to purchase
tickets. Really? You are supposed to be able to make reservations with
this thing and it does not provide an easy way to buy movie tickets.
That's a shame.
What I find amazing though... is that Siri repeats back to me exactly
what I said. Clearly voice recognition is improving quite a lot. It's
just that language understanding still needs some work.
Apple made a claim that Siri does sports. So I asked it to tell me who
won the last NASCAR race. It told me it could not help me with NASCAR.
And it even spelled NASCAR in all caps correctly. I guess Apple does not
think NASCAR is a sport.
I hope Apple is analyzing the logs from Siri's failed requests to look
for where it needs improvement. Toward that end... I ask Siri almost
every day, "What's on TV tonight?" One day I hope she answers.
4G LTE
I live in San Antonio. It was one of the first 5 cities to get 4G LTE
from Sprint when it launched the service in July 2012. I have tried to
run speed tests using Speedtest.net. They are all over the place. I have
seen speeds anywhere from 5 Mbps to 20 Mbps. It seems to average in the
8 to 13 Mbps range most of the time.
But LTE coverage is a bit hit and miss right now. This is a Sprint
issue. I don't get LTE service much. In fact, I don't even get it in my
apartment. I have to go out of my apartment, down the stairs, and across
the parking lot (about 40 feet) to get LTE. Otherwise I am on 3G (or
WiFi). So that pretty much sucks. I have noticed similar patterns
driving around... I see 3G displayed on the phone more than I feel I
should.
Hopefully Sprint will solve this. On 3G I could not even break 1 Mbps
(only 570 Kbps down, 6 Kbps up).
WiFi tests with my computer (Gigabit Ethernet to my router) and my iPad
and my iPhone were... Computer: 15.86 Mbps, iPad: 16.36 Mbps, iPhone
16.00 Mbps. It was hard to get consistent results though... I was seeing
numbers from 9.9 Mbps up to 22 Mbps. Considering that I only pay for 10
Mbps from my ISP, these numbers are all impressive. Most of the results
were in the 13-16 Mbps range. In other words... WiFi on the iPhone is
just fine.
Maps
I will not do the usual complaining about the Maps app. You can find
that elsewhere. I will tell you that it is picky. When I left Newark
Airport for upstate New York I tried to get Maps to take me there.
Unfortunately, it kept displaying the roads with the number of miles I
was to be on that road. It never updated the information and it never
gave verbal directions. We must have done something wrong, but I don't
exactly know what. We were able to eventually get the turn by turn
directions and they worked well enough.
I did have a little trouble with a couple of locations here and there,
but nothing serious. I did not like that the default display does not
show you your estimated time of arrival. I have to touch on it for this
to show. And it is in a small gray area at the top of the app. Too small
and too gray to be easily read while driving. I would prefer a little
more emphasis on this... like it was on my old Android phone.
Battery Life
I am not impressed. On the day I returned to the Newark
Airport from upstate New York the Maps app was working correctly. I
unplugged my phone that morning about 9:30 AM. We headed out about 12:45
PM (when we turned on the Maps application). By 3:00 PM my battery was
down to 28%. My son turned the phone off while we stopped for gas and
food. So I bought a cheap USB power outlet so I could charge the phone
for the rest of the trip to Newark.
On the day we went to New York City to go to the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, my phone died about 7:30 PM... on the train ride back to upstate
NY. I should have brought my charger as all the seats on the Amtrak
train had outlets. In fact... the train was so much more pleasant than
plain travel... except slower of course. Since we used the Maps app to
get to the train station it turned out to be an adventure to get home
from the train station without any support. We eventually made it to the
house we were staying at.
So, overall I find that I can use the phone all day most days. But some
heavy days took their toll, so keep a spare charger in your car. When my
HTC Hero was new and I used it a lot and got at least 2-1/2 days between
charging. The iPhone 5 will never match that.
Jailbeaking
I can definitely see the appeal to Jailbreaking an Apple device. I can
also see why Apple restricts some applications. In my case I may
Jailbreak my phone when it can be done reliably with iOS 6. Why? If for
no other reason than to be able to use my iPhone as a WiFi HotSpot. I
find it outrageous that Sprint charges $30/month to use this feature. I
get it that they don't want people to use the 4G on there phones to
replace their existing home internet access. After all they are the only
one still with unlimited access (save the comments all you grandpas out
there).
I would only use this feature once in a while, like on a trip. I should
not have to pay 30 bucks a month for this feature.
If I Jailbreak it I will most likely look to add widgets to the iPhone.
I would prefer quicker access to certain settings and such. Plus there
are some cool weather and other widgets that I miss from the Android
world.
That would be about the extent of my Jailbreaking. If I do it I will let
you know.
Conclusion
That's it. I feel the iPhone is a great phone. But if you are an Android
fan you should be looking at the Samsung Galaxy S III. It too is a great
phone.
Competition is a wonderful thing. You would have to look very hard to
find a bad phone today. So don't get an iPhone because I did... get one
because you want it and you don't mind having Apple control what you can
and can't do. If you don't have a vested interest in Apple (no iTunes
songs, Apps, etc) then by all means get an Android phone.
Conclusion
That's it for this month. Next month I will pick on the iPhone and some of its apps some more. Until then...
