Yesterday was a good day, but today is better. Reason being is that yesterday my HP TouchPad came back to me after being sent out for repair. (see http://ssarge.net/technology/HPTouchPadCrackedCase) Today I went to my work (where I had it shipped) and picked it up. Found out that they didn't repair my original TouchPad like I had requested, but actually just swapped it out with another one. Now I'm not really particular about that, just so long as it works for me, there wasn't anything wrong with the other one except the cracked case... at least that I know of. There are a few issues I'm finding with this refurb. unit, and that is the volume button and the serial number tag. The button doesn't seem to stick out like my original one did, and the tag is a bit extra-recessed into the case, so the final fit isn't as good as it could be. But on my Christmas list is the HP case, so those issues shouldn't be once I have it installed.

Having used my Touchpad only a few times, as compared to everyday, I have noticed a crack on the left speaker. Now going back to day one I did notice that the glass was raised up a few mms and I could catch my finger on it.

After fearing that this is somehow damage I caused, I started looking around the web to see if anyone else has come across this problem before. A bit to my surprise there are a few long threads on the main Palm Forum about this issue. Phew... I'm not alone.

I'm currently setting up a repair case with the Palm/HP/WebOS team to get my TouchPad repaired - hoping that I don't get a replacement.

I guess what I will need to do is restore it to factory settings incase they don't like the fact I have loaded CyanogenMod's Android port onto it. :-) But I must say that the Android install is pretty slick, and doesn't overwrite the default WebOS install.

Ref http://forums.precentral.net/hp-touchpad/288235-touchpad-case-cracked-sp... amongst others

Today is the day that my employer moves from one phone provider to another. That means that we not only get a better data plan and services, but we also get new phones!

The phone we are moving away from is the (what seems ancient) Motorola Milestone, or Droid for the American readers. This is one of the first Android-based phones to be released in the area, and at the time was a great phone. Even though it was about a year old before it was released in Canada.

Today we get access to the new and super fast Samsung Galaxy S II(2). I got to use it a bit lastnight before it gets ported over to the new service and I must say - WOW!

Not only is it a great looking phone with a pleasant weight and feel, it also has a load of great features included. Being Android-based, it comes shipped with Gingerbread (2.3), and with the dual-core processor will handle any future updates.

I'll have to report back on this later, but for now this is about it .... I'm excited!

With HP's decision to cancel all devices that are running the webOS, they put their Touchpad on a fire sale. That means that after only a few weeks of having their tablet on the market for $499 and $599 for their 16GB and 32GB models, that the price went down to $99 and $149 respectively. That's a HUGE discount and prompted so many people to buy them.
I was one of those people that managed to acquire a 32GB Touchpad during their online sale, although it took them nearly a month to process the order and have it shipped out. The delay was mainly in part to the extreme demand and having over 10000 orders to go through from the weekend sale.

After adding wireless to my network, I started noticing issues with the router I got. Now, I should explain that this router was free as the customer that owned it before complained about having connection drops randomly, mainly while transferring lots of data.

I took this as a sign to actually go out and purchase a wireless router, so I ended up picking up a refurbished Linksys - since I've always purchased Linksys products. So I get this new router hooked up and I actually decided to set it up as the main internet connection and router, whereas before I had the internet firewall and routing being dealt with by my main server. Since its a Linksys wireless router I decided to install the DD-WRT firmware to unlock some features and security options. This however didn't seem to work as planned, and I started to notice some connection issues on the internal network with wireless.