Glo Networks Technical Blog (Glo Blog)

Here at Glo Networks we’ve recently taken delivery of our first iPad. Having had some hands on time with the device we thought we’d offer our opinions on the current must-have gadget.

The first thing likely to cross your mind when using an iPad for the first time is how alien it is to hold and how strange it feels to use. This does not last long though as, much like the iPhone before it, after a short while with an iPad in your hands it seems perfectly natural and a joy to use. The onscreen keyboard is a decent size which makes text entry quick and simple.

The display on the device is crystal clear and a pleasure to use. The apps that were designed for the iPad all look fantastic (The email application in landscape mode is a particular joy!) however the older apps, designed for the iPhone, while useable and upscaled on the iPad are much less nice to look at. As more time passes we would expect to see iPad versions released for the majority of the most popular iPhone apps!

One App that has a Glo recommendation is Jump Desktop. This allows you to control remote PC’s via RDP. This is a very useful tool for those who may wish to use their iPad as a kind of replacement for a laptop, as it can allow access to all the programs, files etc. on your PC from your iPad. Using this app to connect to your PC you also have access to websites with Flash (we tested on Youtube, video was laggy and audio not perfect but compared to a complete lack of Flash it’s a definite improvement!).

Our major gripe with the iPad is, and has always been (since announcement) the lack of multi-tasking capabilities. As with the iPhone, to switch between apps means one closing to allow the other to open. While this is not such an issue on a phone (though annoying) on a tablet PC this becomes a major drawback! However it seems Apple are very aware of this, and have promised multitasking added in an update soon!

Posted by James in General | No Comments »

Opera are the makers of what is reported to be the most widley used browser for mobile devices, Opera Mini. The Opera Mini browser has been available for various mobiles, smartphones and PDA’s since 2006 however it has never made it to the Apple ran App Store for the iPhone.

The iPhone version of the browser has apparently been in developement, possibly even ready for release, for some time, but so far the app has been turned down by Apple. It seems Apple did not like the idea of competition for the iPhones built-in Safari browser app.

However all this may be about to change, Opera Software have announced here  that they will be giving their partners and the press a preview of the ‘Opera Mini 5 Beta’ browser for the iPhone at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Febuary 15th-15th. With this announcement it seems likely that there has been some progress on an agreement between Opera and Apple that will allow the browser to be released onto the App Store some time soon.

Posted by James in Mobile | No Comments »

Want to keep track of your staff / friends ? Want to work out where someone is that your trying to meet up with ? Might be a little big brother’ish but we can see the benifits of it.

Try it about and see what you think ? It works on the iPhone of course and may other mobile.

Google Latitude Link

Posted by Chris in Mobile | No Comments »

So the iPhone has been around for a while and has kinda taken the world by storm. It wasn’t just a different mobile phone but it’s was a unique bit of hardware with a great finger based OS that actualy worked. Microsoft have been making Windows Mobile / Pocket PC devices since the days of only grey scale screens. And not once did they wake up and think that the stylus was daft !

Having said that I’ve bought and used probably near on 20 different Windows Mobile devices over the years each one getting more complex and more feature filled.

Back in August 2008 I took the plunge and started using an iPhone. Loved the hardware and the OS was nice. The fact that proper GPS software wasn’t included, you couldn’t cut and paste, no Office doc syncing and a few other niggles really ‘ground my gears’. So I recently jumpped back to a Windows Mobile device (HTC Touch Diamond 2) and loved getting all the features back that I missed. Also the look of Windows Mobile 6.5 sounded nice. I was looking forward to Microsoft at last catching up … so what’s this post about ? ?

Well Windows Mobile 6.5 is out now and starting to appear in cooked ROMs for your devices. I know it’s not official yet but these cooked ROMs are bug free and feature rich so they’re pretty much as good as the real things. I now have it on my Diamond 2 and I’m affraid it’s an utter let down. I can’t believe it’s just a new Home screen and a basicly a load of skins ! Settings are still a mess, you still need a stylus for decent navigation and the entire OS still feels a few years old. Now the iPhone has proper GPS there’s no need for Windows Mobile.

Also ..
Where’s a decent online App Store ?
Lets have the same type of hard touch screen like the iPhone on WM devices.

Or is it too late for Windows Mobile now, have they missed the boat ?

Posted by Chris in Mobile | 2 Comments »

Although Apple dont seem to have released a list of bug fixes in the iPhone 3G’s latest update 2.0.1 here are a list of things i have found -

Scrolling through contact no longer has any lag at all which is great if you have a lot of contacts, the lag meant you went flying past the contact that you want.

There was also some lag when typing a test message sometimes, it wasnt the same person each time or everytime but it was most annoying when it did happen becuase the keyboard wasnt keeping up with what you were typing but this is now fixed.

A lot of the fixes in the update seem to be performance ones, as the two listed above, they have also fixed some of the little safari crashes and maps would sometimes return you to the home screen for no reason.

More updates as we find more fixes.

Posted by Dave in Mobile | No Comments »