I am using the Q1 to submit this post and I have to admit it has exceeded my expectations so far.
The device is comfortable to use, has great handwriting recognition and is just fun to play with. I haven't had heat problems and the battery is consistantly in the 3 to 3.5hr range. It suits my needs rather well.
The drawbacks I have seen are few. The price point is all wrong and the stylus is too small but for the realm of work I do, education support, it has been a great tool.
Was the campaign too forward thingking? Sure. That said, the Q1 is a device that shows and meets its potential. It made me a believer and I will most likely stick to the UMPC platform when a new device with an improved feature set becomes available.
I usually charge $30US for software work on modern OSs like OS X, Windows XP and some Linux distros. I charge $50US for anything older than Windows 2000 and OS 9 or earlier on the Mac side.
Most of my housecalls are for spy/ad/malware where an average cleanup job takes anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. I install and then train the user on Spybot, AdAware, AVG and Firefox. They have been pretty sucessful. Mac and Linux calls, while rare, are mostly calls for help setting up Apache and Moveable Type for blogging.
I also include a copy of the OpenCD for all Windows users.
Business has been word of mouth and helped pay for a nice trip to the UK this past summer.
I tried iView on XP and found it tried real hard to do what iPhoto does for free. I still use iPhoto on my Mac quite regularly but I really started to lean towards Picasa for a number of reasons, most specifically, the file management. I can tell Picasa where I want my files to go. iPhoto sort of takes over there and it always bothered me.
I used to be a huge fan of iPhoto but I found as my collection grew, I outgrew iPhoto. Picase stepped in for me exactly when I needed it.
Picasa1 needed some work with stability. I picked up 2 as soon as it became available and have found myself completely impressed and satisfied with Picasa2 so far.
The interface is easy to understand and the enhancement tools rival those in for-pay software like Photoshop Elements. It may even replace GIMP 2.2 for simple tasks on my laptop.
Google seems to have the same ethic of Apple in the "make it work" category. Add in the Blogger and Hello integration and you have a superior and free for now piece of software. If only Digikam can catch up.
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I am using the Q1 to submit this post and I have to admit it has exceeded my expectations so far. The device is comfortable to use, has great handwriting recognition and is just fun to play with. I haven't had heat problems and the battery is consistantly in the 3 to 3.5hr range. It suits my needs rather well. The drawbacks I have seen are few. The price point is all wrong and the stylus is too small but for the realm of work I do, education support, it has been a great tool. Was the campaign too forward thingking? Sure. That said, the Q1 is a device that shows and meets its potential. It made me a believer and I will most likely stick to the UMPC platform when a new device with an improved feature set becomes available.
I usually charge $30US for software work on modern OSs like OS X, Windows XP and some Linux distros. I charge $50US for anything older than Windows 2000 and OS 9 or earlier on the Mac side. Most of my housecalls are for spy/ad/malware where an average cleanup job takes anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. I install and then train the user on Spybot, AdAware, AVG and Firefox. They have been pretty sucessful. Mac and Linux calls, while rare, are mostly calls for help setting up Apache and Moveable Type for blogging. I also include a copy of the OpenCD for all Windows users. Business has been word of mouth and helped pay for a nice trip to the UK this past summer.
I tried iView on XP and found it tried real hard to do what iPhoto does for free. I still use iPhoto on my Mac quite regularly but I really started to lean towards Picasa for a number of reasons, most specifically, the file management. I can tell Picasa where I want my files to go. iPhoto sort of takes over there and it always bothered me.
I used to be a huge fan of iPhoto but I found as my collection grew, I outgrew iPhoto. Picase stepped in for me exactly when I needed it. Picasa1 needed some work with stability. I picked up 2 as soon as it became available and have found myself completely impressed and satisfied with Picasa2 so far. The interface is easy to understand and the enhancement tools rival those in for-pay software like Photoshop Elements. It may even replace GIMP 2.2 for simple tasks on my laptop. Google seems to have the same ethic of Apple in the "make it work" category. Add in the Blogger and Hello integration and you have a superior and free for now piece of software. If only Digikam can catch up.