I got an iPhone 5 shortly after they came out. My contract had expired just at the right time…

So what’s it like?

Rather underwhelming I have to say. Its longer and skinnier than my ‘4’, but I liked the other shape better. Its faster which is good as my kids use my phone as a game centre and load it to the gills with all sorts of nonsense. The old iPhone 4 was breaking under the strain and the GPS would regularly be playing catch up, getting to the destination often after I had arrived.

So far I haven’t used Apple maps as there is no voice assist here in Oz so the GPS is still the way to go.

The new cable connector is a rort. Seriously who needs to change all their cables yet again?…

Battery life is about the same, but I do like the ‘Do Not Disturb’ function. After 10pm and before 7 you can’t call unless you are one of my ‘favourites’ and then you can get thru…

So, a fairly uninspiring upgrade really, but then what more can you really do with one of these things?…

The blog has lost its banner for some reason…

I was uploading a new one but because I am using the iPhone for this at the moment and the connection is a little dodgy it seems to have simply disappeared…

Normal service will be resumed with some more great pics in due course once I hit a decent net connection.

I think I have exhausted all avenues so here’s a question for the geeks out there!

About a week ago I got the iphone and stopped using my E65, but since then neither the iphone or the E65 have been able to download data on my wireless connection.

The iphone shows it is connected, but won’t download and the E65 (which used to connect easily to the wifi) now shows that it is connected but also won’t transfer data. So I have lost the connection I once had on the E65 and have never been able to establish it with the new iphone.

My ISP don’t want to talk to me and the nice people at iphone don’t want to talk either… The ISP don’t support iphones and the Iphone people don’t deal with individual ISP issues.

What’s weird is:

– my laptop & Danelle’s computer still connects easily

– the iphone connects to other wifi networks with no problems

– the iphone downloads on 3G – when we are within range

I have played around with every setting I can think of, but to no avail.

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finally gets his new iphone I want to do a test and see if his connects on my network. Although I’m not altogether sure what that would determine…

I am yet to determine if its the phone, the router or something else.

We have a PPPoE connection thru a cable service (e-wire) and I am wondering if it has something to do with the ‘PPPoE’ thing?

I like solving these puzzles, but after googling every possible forum I’m pretty much done…

Come on tech-heads – who has an answer!!

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A question for the tech-heads…

Since installing AVG 8 my normally speedy Sony Vaio laptop has been rather sluggish and slow to respond to commands. It is especially noticable when flicking between tabs on Firefox.

I have done a complete factory restore and it is as up to date in terms of being ‘clean’ as it could be. AVG 7 ran well and there were no problems but for some reason this one seems to be the cause of a mass slow-down.

Has anyone else had similar problems?

My wife’s computer runs like a Commodore 64 at the moment and I think AVG is the common issue.

Interestingly you can’t do a system restore to pre AVG installation…

Andrew is asking questions about online relationships and their nature.

Its a question I have been pondering recently too. Are virtual relationships less real than those we have in person? We used to always answer ‘yes’ to that because it seemed odd or weird, even kinda ‘raincoat’ creepy to have a ‘relationship’ thru an lcd screen, but these days I am not so sure.

Here are some random observations:

I met Andrew last year when he and Jo were in Perth for a period of time and we got to know each other. Usually when people move away (esp to the other side of the planet) you lose all contact, but because of blogs I now have a fair idea of where Andrew’s life is at in a broad sense. We could meet up tomorrow and we would have things to speak about.

Yesterday I caught up with Alex (who comments on here) at a course on evangelicalism at the Baptist Theological College. I ‘converse’ more with Alex online than I do in person and we made that observation in front of the class. I noticed that it was met with some curiosity and maybe even a little hint of ‘how whacky’ by others. But, having connected online did make me feel something of a resonance with Alex when we were face to face.

Phil & Dan have decided to shut down Signposts. We ‘met’ 3 or 4 years ago online and these guys have become good friends. Phil is coming to Perth next week and staying at our home as he leads a Forge seminar. A relationship that began online… and now is fostered by both online and in person contact.

Grendel is my friend and lives all of 1 km from me, but we probably have more regular contact on here than in person. I noticed that when I stopped blogging for 6 months we had less regular interaction but as I have started again it feels like we are more connected. Of course we see each other in person, but it might not even be weekly just due to the busy nature of life. Is this weird?… or just life?…

I could go on with many other examples, but my point is simply that if these are relationships then they are real, whether they are from a computer or from a face to face meeting. Maybe I’m just catching up to the rest of the universe here, as I was one who despised online contact as a lesser form of interaction.

As Andrew points out in his post it is not ‘lesser’ but different and does offer some dimensions that might be missing in a non-connected world

What are you thoughts here?

Do you feel like your online relationships are real, or false?

Is the net just a way of avoiding human contact?

One of my consumer weaknesses is new electronic toys. I am always impressed by new technology and better functions etc. I try not to be sucked in… but sometimes I just can’t resist.

As much as my old Nokia 6230i has been a great little phone, I was quite bored with it and wanted a change. I stopped by a Vodafone shop in my lunchbreak and the assistant there showed me the Nokia E65. Very nice! (Imagine Hamo doing Borat impression)

I spoke with Telstra to see what it would cost me to exit my contract with them – Virgin had the best deal – and they told me $217.00. That’s a lot of money just to have a new toy. I really couldn’t justify it. Then I had a thought… I rang Telstra and told them I was thinking of moving on and asked what they would give me to stay.

‘Hows $100.00 credit?’ he replied.

“Ok…”

So I rang Virgin, told them Telstra’s offer and haggled a $100.00 credit on my first bill. I tried for more, but they weren’t moving.

Now its down to $117.00 to recoup. Hello Ebay… 6230is were selling for around $80.00 so I figured I could justify $40.00 changeover for a new phone and a better contract.

I had heard that the best way to get the bids going on your listing is to put your item on starting at $1.00 with no reserve. Its a gamble… but worth a shot I thought. Five days later and with $113.50 paid for the phone I didn’t feel too bad that all up the new phone deal had cost me $3.50.

One of the great things about the E65 is that it has wifi, and a great little web browser. The MP3 player is much better than the 6230i – one the things I hated about the old phone was that if you were listening to a sermon (as I often do) and someone rang then it sent your listening right back to the start… The camera is pretty dodgy, but otherwise its a great little phone.

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