Monthly Archives: July 2010

Huawei E585 MiFi

With my WIFI only iPad and a recent need to use it outside of home and work I needed to get some form of mobile broadband data solution. For which I turned to the Huawei E585 MiFi, while only available from 3 in the UK the price is very reasonable from only £49.99 on pay as you go.

The data speeds are better then I expected with downloads well over 3.5Mbps and uploads over 1.5Mbps

The device is very simple to use with only one button on the side, a power button, there is however a web based interface to access text messages and settings. I do recommend changing the SSID and encryption key and obviously add a admin password to protect your settings.

Apart from that little setup the device is ready to go out of the box after a little charge. On a full battery it’s good for about 5-6 hours of constant uses.

The predecessor E580 had 5 LED lights to provide you with the information you need to know about network connectivity and power and a Windows only control panel to change settings. The new E585 has a LCD display providing better and more detailed information such as how many devices are connected up to 5.

The data plans 3 offer are very good with 15GB of monthly data costing £20 a lot more than the almost standard 3GB for £15 that the major networks offer. The coverage of 3 is far better then most of the big networks in terms of data coverage, I’m yet to find a place with no connectivity.

Buying this allows me to connect my phone, laptop and iPad when on the go and I only need one data plan.

Twitter Apps on iPad

Since I got my iPad over a month ago I have been looking for a good Twitter app and still haven’t found one. While Twitter for iPhone runs beautifully on the iPad I want a native app that can take advantage of all that the platform has to offer.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Twitter’s own iPhone app is the best on the phone with all the basic features and some more that I want but on the iPad it feels out dated and old.

On the iPad I have tried Tweetdeck, Osfoora, Twitterific and Echofon, all of which cover the basics multiple accounts, lists, contact search for @mentions, etc. very well. But for me they are all missing one feature, custom URL shorteners. I use YOURLS on matt.mx and Twitter for iPhone allows me to shorten URLs via this.

Whilst trying all these iPad apps however I did get to use some features I really liked for example, sync and push notifications on Echofon and the pure beauty of Osfoora on both the iPhone and iPad.

While Echofon isn’t the prettiest it is the only universal app (both iPhone and iPad versions in one app) I tested and with the sync and push notifications I am drifting that way. Plus theres a Mac application as well.

Unless Twitter come out with a iPad version of the iPhone app, I will be using Echofon.

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