iPhone update

Today, I thought I would try something new and actually post an update from my new iPhone... I am finding more reasons to like this little phone (the 4S is a lot smaller than my Android device). The latest discovery is that the GPS is a lot better (although as the phone is probably four times as expensive as my Android, I guess you would expect that.
There is another thing to like though... The iPhone, once connected to Bluetooth is able to give driving directions via my car speakers, interrupting the CD/radio, something that I had hoped my Android would be able to do... I'm not saying it's impossible to make the Android phone do the same thing, but it is much easier to do with the iPhone because it anticipates that you might want to have this feature - so you just click an on-screen option.
I would not yet say that the iPhone represents value for money by any stretch of the imagination, but am impressed by the way that the 'phone anticipates and integrates with other systems and devices.
So I think I am happy that I can use the iPhone to post a blog entry, seems to work OK bearing in mind the limitations of the small screen. I didn't install any app, just used the native browser and signed into Google. Again, seems to work fairly seamlessly - more kudos to Apple apart from the fact that the JAVA for adding labels does not want to work....

Android Update

More and more I am finding that I am using my phone as a mobile gaming device - which is fine as long as it doesn't end up having adverse affects on normal working and family life. I note that the idea of giving up Facebook or some other online site or device for Lent is very popular this year - I don't really subscribe to the 'giving up for Lent' brigade, but it has brought to my attention just how time-consuming it can be when you have access to emails and games an social media 24/7.
I tend not to use my Android much whilst I am at work, there is not really the time because we are so busy - I tend to access games when the rest of the household has gone to bed and I am 'winding down', so it doesn't have an impact on family life (as long as I don't play for hours and lose essential sleep time). All-in-all I don't think it has a negative impact on these two significant areas (family and work), but I can see how it might with some personalities.
I am 'into' my games (currently I access four on a regular basis, two daily and two weekly) but will endeavour to ensure that they do not impact on 'reality' to any significant degree.

iPhone update

I am finding some of the aspects of the iPhone to be quite invaluable, but partly that is because our works IT department have integrated iPhone apps into our network. We have started using 'Outlook' at work for emails, this also incorporates calendars and scheduling - the integration with the iPhone works well and I find that I get emails and meeting reminders directly to my phone which is a bonus.
I am sure it could be made to work just as well with an Android equivalent system, but as I haven't had the chance to compare, I can only report that integration with the iPhone seems to work really well. It frees me up to be fairly mobile around the workspace without having to check emails and calendars on a laptop or PC at regular intervals.
I think we are planning to integrate our long-awaited SAP system with the iPhone and iPad too, so I will be able to report on that once it is done. The SAP system will control every aspect of the business from processing orders, receipting stock, creating production tasks through to invoicing and customer relation management. Quite how it will be able to integrate with an iPhone is not clear yet, I look forward to finding out - I may even end up not needing one of my current devices (I currently have both a laptop and a desktop at work in different locations) if the iPhone can integrate with the essential business tools that we use.

NAS update

Having tried pretty much every trick I can find on forums for kick-starting my NAS, it still refuses to work properly. This is one of the more disappointing aspects of eBay buying - if you need support for a product like this, it can be a frustrating experience. The vendor has been helpful and supplied a link that was used by him when he first started up the NAS, so I will follow that up probably later today.
The error I am getting may be a hardware issue - so I am now wondering if, although the three hard-drives I have put in the NAS are recognised by the system, whether it will only actually be able to format certain drives that are on the list of recommended drives for this equipment.
More to follow, fingers crossed and all that...