Of course, being an IT person, these kind of things are like my second nature, and I had experimented with Android before on a hacked phone. At the time I purchased this phone, I actually had my eyes on the N900 from Nokia as well, but the fact that they merged their platform with Intel kind of got me scared for future updates. But I’m wandering off-topic… Back to Android!

In general, I’m pretty amazed how much this platform has matured in such a relative short time. All the basic functionalities work like a charm right out-of-the-box, which wasn’t always the case in the past if I recall correctly. The fact that it is an unlocked phone of course is a tremendous advantage, although here in Belgium, it’s illegal to lock phones like they do in the U.S. anyway. The look & feel of the software is very refreshing and blazing fast. Of course this speed is mainly thanks to the premium hardware used to make this phone (hello Snapdragon!). Most applications work great, and the fact that you’re not tied to the Android Market is a big advantage. Clearly syncing with your Google account is seamless, and even the push mail of my company using Exchange ActiveSync works great.

However, naturally there are still some negative points as well. You’ve probably all heard about the problems with the phones’ touchscreen, especially multi-touch. I’ve been lucky and so far I’ve not run into these issues myself, but when you read some of the forums dedicated to Android and/or the Nexus One, it’s clear a lot of people are having headaches over this one. I have had the phone crash on me a couple of times, but nothing a reboot didn’t fix. Another negative point for me is the lack of proxy support on WiFi connections. At home this isn’t a problem, but for use in a corporate environment, this really is a must have. I was actually pretty surprised to see this not being implemented, but I have good hopes for the upcoming Android 2.2 update that this will finally be included. Last but not least, I’ve been also disappointed in the default platform alarm clock. There is no fade-in, no decent snooze and no choosing an mp3 as wake-up music. I’ve solved this using a third-party alarm, and that has worked fine most of the time (actually, it has sometimes not gone off in the morning, which obviously is a painful experience when you do wake up eventually).

All in all, I find the Nexus One, and Android in general, very pleasant. Sure there’s still room for improvement, but I’m sure the 2.2 version and future iterations will only improve the user experience. Unless Google decides to shoot itself in the foot at some point, I think they really have a chance of making this the leading platform for smart-phones and tablet devices.

Reason for all this was bad coding which didn’t incorporate a leap year. Since 2008 was of this kind, the software couldn’t handle an extra day after number 365. Numerous blogposts have been appearing on this topic. One of the possible workarounds first suggested was to hard-reset the player, wiping the updated firmware altogether. This however required getting the battery out, which in turn voided the warranty.

Meanwhile Microsoft has acknowledged the problem an posted their own workaround, being to let the Zune power down completely and only to charge/power on again in the afternoon on the 1st of January (GMT time). The fact stays however that this is a major fuck-up on their part. Things like this should have been tested, and one can only wonder how this ever got passed their QC-department. The proposed workaround doesn’t actually solve the issue, and next leap year this will happen again. Let’s hope Microsoft releases better firmware before that time!

This new hardware is developed by the Redmond company and is supposed to combine the power of optical and the precision of laser, providing a superior mousing experience.

It’s easy to recharge with the accompanied docking station and also has a whole new design & style, as the mouse emits a cool blue light when you pull it out of its docking.

It works as following, the mouse makes use of a proprietary chip which houses advanced algorithms and pixel architecture for even better tracking. The blue optics used provide superior navigational accuracy just like laser mice. This light also is emitted in a wider and more diffuse beam to aid it earlier mentioned accuracy, while also it’s more incoherent, providing the same experience in a dusty environment as it would on a clean surface. This new toy is available from this month, and priced around $100 (about €75).

While above is all presented very nice, I don’t think the majority of people will really notice the difference. Nowadays mice, especially the laser type, already provide a very good accuracy. Maybe some die-hard gamers will run to the stores to get this goody, but the average Joe is already well served with the existing technologies.

Does this really matter? No! In the end, the existing hardware will have to be replaced sooner or later, it’s just a matter of time before we all have a Bluetrack. On the other hand, since Microsoft has probably patented this technology, this leaves very little possibility for competitors to create their own variant. Either they have to take a licence with MS, or develop their own new technology. I don’t see a company like Logitech eager to use this technology, as they most likely have the resources to come up with something of their own.

I hope this is not going to be another ‘Microsoft-only’ thing, like we had with the Office document standards. Okay, you can in no way compare these to each other, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end it’ll be exactly the same deal…