Steves71’s Blog

Today I’m going into town to see which of these devices is best for mobile blogging. I’ll write a blog entry in three different locations and upload it to wordpress as a draft. Ill then copy that draft into here exactly as it was, any mistakes, formatting problems or layout errors will remain intact. Each device has it’s oven advantages/disadvantages depending on the location so there will probably be no outright winner, I will however decide on which one I personally prefered. Right, off into town to do some blogging.

The Asus Eeepc

First stop is McDonalds for a hot chocolate. This is being written up on the Asus EeePC using Microsoft Office 2007. I’ll do all formatting and spell checking in Word then copy and paste it into the WordPress website to be published. The good thing about using Office is that when it’s copied to WordPress all formatting and links are retained. Being in Mc Donalds has the advantage of being able to use their free WI-Fi, though if there was no Wi-Fi I would still be able to get on-line using a Bluetooth connection to my phone over HSDPA or 3G. The photo was taken using my phone then transferred to the eeepc via Bluetooth. Working with the Asus for blogging is fantastic, its ultra portable, easy to get on-line and easy to type with (as long as your not a touch typist). All in all it’s a pleasant experience.

With the N800

Now it’s the turn of the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, I’m using this in conjunction with the Nokia bluetooth keyboard. Text entry is easy, just as easy as with the Eeepc. The one disadvange it has for off-line composition is that when text is formatted using either the built in notes application, or Maemopad+ the formatting doesn’t carry accross to WordPress once its been pasted in. The N800’s web browser does render and the display wordpress.com perfectly so formatting can easily be done from there. No Wi-Fi connection here so I’ll be using a bluetooth connection to my phone to upload and edit this section.

Using the Nokia N95 8GB

Now its the turn of the N95 8GB. As there is no easy way to include an image with a post when blogging from a phone this will be a text only entry. Because of this I thought id put it to the ultimate mobility test, blogging from public transport and while walking round town. For this im using Quickoffice to compose the post as it has a built in spell checker, then ill copy and paste it into the mobile wordpress page. There is no easy way to format text when using a phone other than to use tags. Its not as easy to use as the previous methods but for mobility it cant be beaten. All text has now been entered so ill publish it using a 3G connection.

Back home on my 17” laptop now, and time to reflect back on the three different mobile blogging experiences.

Firstly the EeePC, this was without a doubt the easiest to use and most pleasant to work on of the three. The keyboard may be a little cramped for some especially touch typists but as I mainly type with two fingers (sometimes three or four on a good day) it’s not much of a problem. Everything about it was so easy from text entry, uploading a photo and arranging the layout. One thing I must point out though is that the Eeepc doesn’t come with Bluetooth out of the box, I used a micro dongle to transfer the photo from my phone to the Eeepc, without this I would have had to physically connect the two together via a usb cable.

Second in the test was the Nokia N800 which I used with a Nokia Bluetooth keyboard, without the keyboard it would have been a completely different experience as entering text on any touch screen device can be a real pain. The keyboards keys are closer to full size than that of the Asus so it might suit some people better. Text entry and image upload was a simple process, the N800 is equipped with Bluetooth so no external hardware was required. As with all the three devices I used today it also has WLAN so if I had been within range of a hotspot I could have used that method to publish the post. Once the text and image had been put on the wordpress site for editing it wasn’t as easy as with the Asus. Drag and drop an image to change where it’s placed isn’t possible on the touch screen. So cut and paste have to be used instead. Other than that it was all quite easy, if not quite as enjoyable as with the Eeepc.

Last in the test was the Nokia N95 8GB. I had intended to do the same as with the previous two tests, sit down in a cafe and start typing. I was going to use the Nokia keyboard as I did with the N800 but then I changed my mind. As it is the most restrictive of the three devices for blogging, but also the most portable I decided to put it through its paces and blog while on the move. This was quite easy for anyone that’s used to entering text on the numeric keypad of a phone. From the example above you can see that all formatting was intact, the <b> <i> and <big> tags all worked and posting was simple using m.wordpress.com over a 3G connection.

Of the three mobile devices I tested today I found the Asus EeePC to be the best as long as you have a place to sit down, which could be at a table, on a chair, on the floor or on public transport. It’s easy to get online and as it only weighs 2lb it’s also easily carried in a small bag. But if you want ultimate portability and not bothered about easily including media into your post then the award goes to the N95 8GB, I could have blogged on the move with the N800 but it wouldn’t have been anywhere as easy and simple as it was with the N95.