Ubuntu 11.10 Impressions a week on.

I haven't used Ubuntu since it implemented the Unity UI. Having had some time pass since its launch and, I thought it about time to give it a spin.

To be honest I'm not overly impressed with the UI. It isn't all that great to navigate and seems clunky. They have in fairness made for a less pain free experience in terms of 'install and go' with a lot of features working straight out of the box.

I was also bit surprised that it has not been able to detect my Nvidia GTX 275. This is something previous Ubuntu versions never had issues with.

The Ubuntu Software centre is a nice addition and I think this will help a lot of new users find what they are looking for but could do with some expansion on the search criteria.

In terms of day to day use it's pretty good thought! Libre Office works in it's usual seamless manner as well as most other productive software... I did have issues with WireShark picking up the right interface though.

My personal preference was to change the browser to Chromium and the music player to Amarok (especially if you use Lastfm's Scrobble feature). I'd probably recommend the novice user still steer clear for a little while longer (at least from unity anyway) but overall its a step in the right direction, it's nice to see some major development on a GUI for once.

New gadgets!

Been playing with a fair few new gadgets recently.

I got a great deal on some stereo Bluetooth Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 (£35 eBay, new!!) headphones which are simply awesome! You need to be able to live with a relatively short battery life of 4 hours in use but for their size I think they are really impressive. The range and quality is top notch! 

I was a little concerned as the volume needs to be controlled by the device they are connected to but this didn't seem to be a problem on my HTC HD7, Motorola Xoom and even my Iphone 4 S. I had heard these used to have issues pre IOS4 on older Iphones. 

Next up, the girlfriend and me ended up randomly purchasing DJ Hero 2 in town at the weekend as it was like £18 a set. The below is what happened when we got home: 

Apart from the heavy bout of RSI I developed it was a good laugh! I actually find it a lot harder than guitar hero as there are soo many different things to do and being mixes, a lot of the songs are new to me so it's harder to anticipate what's going to happen next with the songs. 

Tesco Mobile UK - no personal hotspot feature.

Gutted, I got the Iphone 4 S as a replacement to my Windows Phone 7 (See you again in 12 months) HTC HD7 mainly as this did not have a wi-fi tethering option. Once my Iphone sim was activated I found that the Network ( Tesco Mobile) who has some fantastic offers on the handset with 1GB allowance does not allow this feature.

Bit confused as it seems pointless to give such a high cap and I want to use it with my Moto Xoom wifi tablet!

Just thought i'd post this in hopes that other potential Tesco mobile customers don't get less features than they were expecting when they make their purchase.