Here’s a video I did demonstrating how I used the Galaxy Tab and Nokia N8 for rich photo blogging at MWC. The combination is the best I’ve ever used and as the WordPress app matures, so does the process. For example, this post was created from a ‘share’ from the YouTube app to the WordPress app on the Galaxy Tab. I just love the Android sharing system!
Posted from WordPress for Android with the Galaxy Tab
In my last report – How Was my CES 2011 Mobile Reporting Kit? I didn’t have much positive to say about my plan for quick-fire mobile blogging. 3G failed me and I ended up scrabbling around trying to find WiFi hotspots. Not only is it a pain in the neck, it’s also a security risk. I connected to 18 different SSIDs in Las Vegas!
In Barcelona last week, it was a completely different story. On day-one I used the hotel WiFi but as soon as my 3G card was configured, I didn’t touch another Wi-Fi all week. Everything, including video uploading, was done via Vodafone 3G and finally, because of the 3G, the kit worked together in harmony, including a new photo blogging process that I’ve detailed below.
A reminder of what I’m using:
I took my Atom-powered Gigabyte Touchnote netbook (in use since April 2009) and the Canon S2IS (In use since Mid 2007) I added the Galaxy Tab and the Nokia N8 Smartphone (thanks to Nokia UK for the loan of the phone) and a pay-as-you-go SIM card and 3G data service from Vodafone Spain. Although there’s a nice range of tech there, it certainly isn’t high-end across the board.
Photoblogging 2011
As always, the netbook was for long-form typing and video ‘finishing’ and uploading. I didn’t do any live blogs with the Canon S2IS attached via USB this time but the S2IS was used for videos. It’s a rather embarrassing 640×480 resolution and I only get about 9 minutes in before the card runs out because it records in M-JPEG and only supports SD cards, not SDHC but, the optics and Mics are great and the video file is easy to process on a netbook. With the long zoom it also works well in keynotes and press events although I do realise that none of the images taken in low light are anywhere near print quality!
Despite my love for this camera I have to find something that is faster, supports 720p video, is more sensitive and, somehow, supports external audio input. The rotating viewfinder is a must for self-filming too. I really would love Bluetooth support on my next camera for instant sharing/pushing but for the time being, I’m considering an Eye-Fi solution and the Canon SX20 or new Fujitsu HS20. I just cant afford to go to four-thirds and and I can’t justify 1 Kg of DSLR equipment!
The reason I’m so bent on having Bluetooth on my camera is due to the way I’ve been using phone cameras for the last 3 years. The Nokia N82 gave me the ease of transferring images to PCs and other mobile devices for easy editing, sharing and photo blogging. At MWC I used the N8 for just that and the experience was amazingly stress free and flexible. Far more than simple photo-bogging.
Photo blogging like never before, without a PC!
Take one Nokia N8. Pair it over Bluetooth to a Samsung Galaxy Tab, connect the Galaxy Tab to the internet via a 3G service and boom! You have one of the easiest, richest photo blogging solutions I’ve ever seen. The solution was so liberating that I ended up posting about half of my content last week without the use of a PC. In most of those cases I was standing up and in some cases, even walking! The solution also allows for multiple images in a post. Here’s an example that was posted on the Samsung booth just minutes after shooting a video.
Here’s a video demo of the solution.
Here’s the blog entry I created during the video.
Note that this process also works with Twitter, Email, Pixelpipe, Evernote, Facebook and other sharing targets. That’s the flexibility of the Android sharing subsystem coming in to play.
Unfortunately, the size of the N8 720p videos and the low speed of the Bluetooth 3 protocol (remember, the N8 and the Tab don’t have the ‘HS’ Wi-Fi extension that speeds up transfers) mean it can’t be used for that but 480p is possible on the Galaxy Tab, with video light and pause capability. There’s no continuous auto-focus but if I can find a video splicing application that fits my needs, it might work! [I’m currently testing Clesh the web-based service which now has an Android client]
Other improvements could be made too. Ideally I’d like to be able to auto-send an image to the Galaxy Tab although selective sending isn’t exactly a problematic or time-consuming task. The best improvement would be in the WordPress editor. Inclusion of html source, bullet-point support and positioning of photos (rather than just at ‘top’ or ‘bottom’) would make posts look less samey and if the WordPress application could support the sending of ‘custom-fields’ I could feed more layout info to my back-end.
Some of you might be thinking – “Why not use Pixelpipe or get a slider phone or Use the camera on the Galaxy Tab.” Yes, this is something I’ve tried to do in the past but there are a few problems with that. Number 1 The N8 takes extremely good low-light and close-up photos without flash. 2 The large screen of the Galaxy Tab allows me to thumb type and review a lot of text (see pic below. )The WordPress application adds a lot of value to the processes enabling auto-resizing, links, tagging, geo-tagging and more. The portrait mode keyboard on the Galaxy Tab is superb. Haptics and Software work well together.
Take a look at this pic, taken with the N8 and transferred by Bluetooth of-course! You can see how much screen area is still usable with the keyboard on-screen.
The N8 also has an excellent photo gallery application (fast, smooth, usable), high quality audio recording capability and good outdoor screen clarity. Its the perfect device for this set-up.
In terms of rich photo blogging, I’ve found a great pair of devices in the N8 and Galaxy Tab. So much so that I might reverse my original decision to hand back the N8 and look for a different phone.
As far as the camera and netbook go though, a move to 480p 720×480 or similar is a must. This is potentially a 1000 Euro and 2KG decision so I’m not going to do it without a lot of thought. The ideal solution will give me 720p source and 480p editing in 1.5 Kg but that will be very tough to achieve. The AMD Fusion platform (Toshiba NB550d perhaps?) and a Fujitsu HS20 could be a good place to start. I’ll be testing soon so keep an eye out for the next mobile reporting kit.
I’ll be at CeBIT, Hannover next week where the kit will be in action again.
My masterful plan to use the Nokia N8 and the Galaxy Tab for some photoblogging for Carrypad and UMPCportal via the wordpress application failed at CES in Las Vegas. Internet connectivity was terrible (despite having a Sprint MIFI) and so I abandoned it quickly. Barcelona should, if last year is anything to go by, be a lot better so stay tuned for a lot more posts. I’m going to be trying hard no to post photo after photo without any information. That would be boring.
Again I’ll be dragging along my trusty old Canon S2IS with its simple video capability that allows me to edit on Windows Movie Maker and to connect via USB for live blogging. I still can’t find a combination that beats it. It should allow me to upload some videos fairly quickly too.
Total kit list goes something like this:
Nokia N8
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Gigabyte Touchnote netbook (with ssd and 2Gb upgrade)
Canon S2IS
Universal power pack (50wh)
USB cables
SD cards
Total weight is still going to be in the ‘backpack’ range unfortunately.
One extra service I want to try out this time is Audioboo. I’ve been testing it on the Galaxy Tab and I’m impressed. The audio quality is fine and it slots nicely into my Twitter stream. I won’t be including it on the website though as I want it to be something unique for my Twitter followers. If you haven’t heard of Audioboo, check it out. It allows you to record a piece of audio, in my case through the Samsung Galaxy Tab built-in Mic, and send it to their servers in a single press. They then send it into your Twitter stream and make it available, with RSS, in your own channel. You can find a few segments I’ve done with the Galaxy Tab here
Join me over at Carrypad and UMPCPortal over the next week. It will he fun!
[This post written on the Galaxy Tab]
With the temperature at 7 degrees it’s difficult to sit outside for too long although the sun, the atmosphere, the smiles on peoples faces make it difficult to head indoors. Tea always calls me at some point though so off to Starbucks we go. Their big mugs of black tea aren’t expensive and here in the middle of Bonn, sitting at the window, there’s lots to see.
As I walked through town it was tempting to check out the latest in the mobile phone shops but just one glance inside reminds of the experience. A bunch of out-of-date phones in non-working plastic dummy versions attached to ‘free’ price tags and 2-year contract commitments. TWO YEARS! I just can’t bring myself to go inside. Even if they had something new, I can’t face the sales staff!
As I sip my tea my thoughts drift back to MWC. Serious things are going to happen to one of the operating systems I have followed closely since it grew its first roots. Both Nokia and Intel will make announcements that affect the future of Meego. Nokia can’t drop it from their strategy because Intel need them and there are probably agreements in place that secure this. Intel have platforms in production that don’t support Windows so if Meego fails, 5-10 years of strategy needs re-working. Intel can’t just switch IADP and Appup over to Android or hope for massive take-up on Netbooks.
What I really hope happens over the next week are three things.
1 – Nokia re-affirm their commitment to Meego and Meego products at the high end, the advanced, leading edge.
2 – Intel announce product partners for Meego on Intel
3 – HP joins the ecosystem by sharing software and engineers, making the WEBOS user interface work with the Meego core and embracing Qt as a development platform.
HP will make an announcement about WEBOS and WEBOS products today. The ex head of Maemo at Nokia (Ari Jaaksi) now works for HP so theres some good connections there too. HP, Intel and Nokia need to stimulate a developer ecosystem and can’t do it on their own. I can’t think of a better partner for Meego.
What Nokia does in the meantime is of no interest to me whatsoever. Symbian will be a mid-tier OS and whatever Nokia decides to do as a bridge will be forgotten in a year. Putting Windows phone 7 in as the corporate offering and freeing up symbian for non corporate focus makes sense. Using Android doesn’t. Meego still needs to be the 2-5 year high-end solution though.
At least thats what I think.
My tea is nearly finished now (but not cold, showing you how damn easy and quick it is to thumb-type on the Galaxy Tab) and its time for me to head back home to spend some hours with the family. Until the HP event starts that is!
Pics from the Galaxy Tab. The 3.5MP cam works well when there’s a lot of bright light around!
The sun is out, the Galaxy Tab is charged and I have a few things to do in town so its time to hit the road and go mobile today. I want to do some more Galaxy Tab photography too so stay tuned for that along with a few posts via WordPress. All this practice will help with my work at MWC next week.
I had a little blip of excitement last night as I was unboxing a Lenovo S10 3T convertible netbook with a 9 cell battery but it didn’t last long. While the battery life might be better than my Gigabyte Touchnote, it would need a days work to port the ssd and apps over. In the end I decided that the Touchnote would once again be my workhorse. That means sticking with my tried and tested S2IS 5MP camera with the vga / mjpeg video capability. This combo, along with a tripod is what I’ll be using on press day to do live blogging. With remote capture via USB, it works very efficiently. The tripod helps me with those long, low-light shots too. I did test an SX20IS and and an SX30IS and they would both give me a couple of extra f-stops to play with (due to better sensors and better software and stabilization) but at 320 euro, I think I’ll wait until after CES now.
In previous posts I have been taking about the Nokia N8 and the Galaxy Tab and I do indeed plan to use them but not until day 1. Day zero, Press day, is a day of dark rooms, live blogging and long-zoom shots on a tripod. Ill stick with the Netbook and bridge camera for that and wait until the 6th for the big Galaxy Tab test. The N8 photos are really quite amazing and i had a lot of success with indoor video over Christmas so I’m looking forward to that.
Final kit list is this then. . .
– Gigabyte Touchnote for live blogging, video editing, long-form blogging.
– Canon S2IS bridge camera for live blogging and video on press day.
– Nokia N8 for day 1 photo and video work. Continuous use as phone, calendar.
– Galaxy Tab for light blogging, day 1 blogging test, Twitter, maps, latitude, Google chat.
I’ll also have a power pack with me and a local MIFI unit for connectivity along with the usual cables etc.
The fun starts on Jan 3rd and coverage will be on Carrypad and UMPCPORTAL.
Over at Carrypad I’ve been writing about another attempt to get a mobile reporting kit together. This time the Netbook gets left in the hotel and I try to use the Samsung Galaxy Tab as the main input device. I’m using it now and it is working out really well. The Nokia N8 works fantastically as a mobile camera too. Results in some low light tests I did snow a huge improvement in quality over my bridge camera, the Canon S2IS. Only the optical zoom is missing.
One major problem I have though is video. With my bridge camera I can produce reasonably good quality videos at VGA resolution. The files are big mjpeg jobs but they’re easy to work with on a Netbook. 720p videos produced with the N8 however aren’t nearly as good. The stabilization isn’t as good, audio isn’t as good, there’s no zoom and the videos are done in fixed-focus mode. Given that the N8 is one of the best 720p capable camaeraphones out there, it looks like I will have to stick with my Canon S2IS. At 500gm it’s not much fun to carry around but what’s the choice?
I love the zoom, the USB remote capture, the hinged viewfinder, the stereo mics and the AA batteries. The only device I can find that competes is the SX20IS but then we’re into H.264 territory which means the netbook would need to be upgraded in order to process the files. It’s still over 500gm too.
Most people with any sense would just upgrade and take the hit on the extra weight but I am determined to focus on mobility here.
Given the N8 can’t do the video, I need to focus on something else as the camera and video camera and just use the N8 for those times (many) when I haven’t got my camera with me.
10x Zoom
USB connectivity
720p recording with zoom, continuous AF and good quality microphone
sub 250g weight
SDHC card support
I’m currently looking at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10 which seems to be getting good reviews in the camera and video department. The Sony HX5 is also getting good video and low-light reviews.
I have a week before CES so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
We’re all unique customers and all have our unique requirements. I categorise myself as the ‘boy scout’ type. I am not a fan of highly converged devices (the Nokia N900 was not something for me) but I do like being prepared with a good, mobile set of computing and communications kit. I have a tendency to want to cover as many scenarios as possible with my mobile devices but I balance that with the realisation that you can’t have one device for each task. Some convergence is needed. But how much?
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