There aren’t too many. Some are just annoyances, but there are a few that would take the user experience to the next level.

1. A simple one to start: Continue to display the current time when receiving a phone call.
2. The ability to configure battery saving preferred settings (like “turn off GPS, Bluetooth, and Wifi”), then “activate” them just by tapping an app icon. Touch the same app icon to set it back.  I’m tired of having to go in several places to turn items on and off when I’m on the go.
3. Custom ring profiles similar to the Blackberry. I’d like to be able to set rules on how the phone behaves when receiving emails, texts, or calls with various criteria.

If I can have those 3 things, I would be a much happier iPhone owner.

I’ve been dyin’ for an Apple tablet PC – even signed the online petition hoping that’d help, but they’re still not making one (I add hopefully, “at the time of this post”). Granted, there is always the Axiotron Modbook, but that’s just not the same. First, it’s a modified MacBook – so you have to pay not only full price for the laptop, but then for the modification. That’s a bit out of my price range. And besides, I would much rather have a modified MacBook Pro. Then there’s the fact that it is strictly a tablet PC – no keyboard. And even though there’s an on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition, that doesn’t help my efficiency in applications like Photoshop.

I did a lot of research on the various models out there, their specs, their prices. The Modbook, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Gateway. The Modbook was too expensive, but ran my OS of choice. The Dell’s processor was far too slow (about 1/2 the others) and supported the least amount of RAM – while surprisingly it was barely less expensive than the Modbook! So the Dell was right out. The Gateway was too heavy and didn’t have much in the way of redeeming features or specs – at least nothing better than the others. It all came down between the Lenovo & the HP.

I really wanted to give the tablets a try before I made a decision. I just couldn’t find any semi-local stores that had them in stock for me to look at. I called around – nothing. Apparently the tablets were either marketed as either business computers, or “multimedia” computers, and weren’t really popular enough to be kept in stock in stores?

Then one Friday after work on a whim I stopped by my local Best Buy and found the HP out on display! In addition to the display model, they had one left in stock – and it was on sale! I could hardly contain myself. It was a nice little machine, even a little style – and very affordable. So I bought it.

This was just the base model – nothing upgraded. The HP Pavillion tx2500 with a 2.0GHz processor – a little slower than I wanted. 5400rpm hard drive (instead of the 7200rom drive in the Lenovo) – but it did come with 3GB of RAM (upgradeable to 4GB) and Windows Vista x64 SP1. It’s not a bad little machine.

The resolution’s very nice – perfect for the size. The screen rotates/swivels 180 degrees so you can use the keyboard – or not. You can also rotate the display to better orient the way that you’re holding it (vertical/landscape). Very cool. There are ports out the wazoo, a tetherable stylus with its own storage slot in the front for easy access, and a multimedia remote with its own storage as well (I like not having to worry about losing things).

My complaints:
This is definitely marketed as more of a multimedia device than an artistic tool. The media drive is removable to lighten the weight if you don’t need it, but the laptop is a lot thicker/beefier than it needs to be because it has to accommodate it. It’s not really heavy, but borders on it for this size laptop.

It’s too bulky – it’s just really thick. It’s all about proportions. Why do I want to carry around something that’s the thickness of a larger laptop? It just feels wrong. I didn’t think I was going to say this, but I’d rather forgo the DVD drive for a thinner, lighter tablet PC. I just don’t use it to watch movies – I use it to sketch and work on my websites.

Another issue is that it seems to get warm quickly and the fans spin up a lot – and the fan is quite loud. This can get pretty annoying. The vents can kick out some serious hot air too. Sometimes I hibernate or shut it down just to make it stop if I’ve been working for a bit.

My biggest frustration however, is something that not everyone will run into. If you use this tablet PC in a coffee shop, at the office, etc., you’ll be fine. But if you use this say, in your living room to chill out while you work – then there’s a potential problem. It seems as though my Xbox360 remote can control my laptop to some extent. Initially I didn’t make the connection – I thought the laptop was just acting very strangely. One moment everything’s fine, and the next I hear the laptop’s fans spin up and I’m left confused, swearing that I had shutdown the laptop just an hour ago… I’d have to open the display and shut it back down again.

Apparently – if you suspend/hibernate/shutdown the laptop in the vicinity of your Xbox, then decide to play a movie… Simply pressing “play” will power up or resume the laptop! On top of that, Windows Vista won’t simply allow you to disable the IR port – and I’m not about to disable it in the BIOS. Or am I? Sticking a Post-It to the front of the laptop does look a little stupid and can lead to strange papercuts…

I – had – a – blast.

I’m SO glad that I attended, and would will absolutely be going again. Hopefully soon! I didn’t realize that NAPP was made up of such a great group of people – both employees, and members. Seriously. I went there on my own, made some friends, learned some stuff, and had a ball.

First I’d like to thank Mark (@tweakt) for letting me crash on his couch so that I could afford the trip in the first place. Thanks again! Would’ve been nice to actually hang out more while I was in town, but the schedule of events for PSW was pretty crazy as you saw. hahaha

I met a number of the forum peeps from the NAPP forums. They were all incredibly friendly and welcoming. My new buddies Lisa & Dave sage (@Lisa_Sage) – had a lot of amusing conversations with them. I was very excited to finally meet Nancy (@NAPP_News) – OMG she’s such a sweetheart! Margaret & April (@AprilAndrews?) were both cool – I ran into them a number of times. April has an awesome purse, and Margaret had a cool haircut so I could spot either in a crowd I met Firgs (@Firgs) of course! She’s a riot! hahahaha I can’t believe she talked RC into having the whole crowd do “the wave” right before the Closing Ceremonies started. Met Don Ricklin (@DonRicklin) the first night and realized just how small a world it is. Back in high school I knew his niece and nephew!

Met & bumped into a handful of others that I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time with and will probably get some of their names wrong… Hask/Harold was always smiling & friendly. Then there was Jeff (@jtamagini?), Will?, Roux (@LRoux?), Elizabeth (@egower), … and a number of others that I can’t think of at the moment. Too wiped from the trip – but I’m surprised I actually remember that many.

As for the instructors and staff – everyone was awesome (including Nancy mentioned above). I can’t believe how approachable everyone was! The instructors were knowledgeable and funny. Bert Monroy – as I said on Twitter – his work and knowledge just blows me away. He’s very inspiring. I wanted to send a special thanks to RC (@LayersTV_RC). He’s a big sweetheart and really helped make sure that I had a great time and felt at home. Thanks again RC!

Getting tired, and I’m dwindling, so I’ll have to stop there. I’m sorry for all those that I know I’ve forgotten. It was a pleasure to meet and spend time with you all.

The concert totally rocked. Best concert ever. Seriously. Trent is one geek that I would love to meet. He doesn’t just play his music for the audience – he puts on a complete show. We were in such awe at the combination of technology and lighting effects that he had used… It was amazing. The band was interacting with the background/foreground lighting effects and screens. At one point they even made it look like it was raining on stage!

Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr. They’re not entirely clear or detailed because they were taken with my phone They’ll give you an idea of some of the lighting effects even if they they don’t do them justice.

We started off with our first trip to the San Diego Zoo. It was a long day of walking around, but we saw most of the animals and had a great time. I let Steve take most of the photos since he had better zoom on his camera.

From there we cruised quickly through Balboa Park with just enough time to grab some photos before sunset and grab dinner. We were all starving, so I’m glad that everyone humored me and let me grab pictures. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

On Friday I went to Comic-Con with KC and Kim, while Steve tooled around historic Route 101 and wandered down the coast (I figured I’d only subject Steve to one day of the convention). We all met up for dinner with Pete and his girlfriend for dinner at this Hawaiian place with a great view of the San Diego skyline.

We realized how close we were to the Pacific and ended up wandering down to the beach each night. It was great. Relaxing. The tide was so strong compared to back home!

Saturday we all went to a great sandwich place for lunch that Steve found on the coast. It’s on a cliff in La Jolla with a great view. There are hang gliders and paragliders all over the skies there. More photos here.

Afterwards we all went to Comic-Con. I took a bunch of photos – but not nearly as many as I would have liked. Sunday we headed up to LA and detoured to Temecula for a wine tasting and tour of the Callaway Winery and Vineyard. They had a few decent wines, one or two great wines, but the rest were either “eh” or horrible.

Our hotel in LA was pretty cool. Minimalistic. Comfy bed. Very “Euro” looking. Creepy photos in the elevators. Expensive minibar. Funky sheep in the hotel lobby that would randomly be rearranged when no one was looking. hehehehe

LA was a bit of a whirlwind. We checked out Venice Beach (briefly – it was a moderately frightening experience), dinner on Sunset Boulevard, wandered through the 3rd St Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier before heading into the almost icy water on a very windy and unseasonably cold day. We even stopped by In-N-Out burger to get my annual fix.

The toughest part of the whole trip was the 5.4 earthquake the day before our return flight. Apparently the largest one in almost 15 years? Pretty scary on the 6th floor of a hotel…