Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I downloaded both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the Consumer Preview from my Technet account.

By the way, if you have a serious IT addiction like I have, and need access to Microsoft Products, the Technet subscription is the way to go.

I decided to install the 64 bit version as a dual boot with Windows 7 on my main hobby system, and the 32 bit version on an Acer W500 Tablet PC.

So after downloading, I copied the 64 bit ISO to my USB flash drive, for a quick setup on the hobby machine. I used Microsoft's own tool for writing the USB stick.  You can find the tool at:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool.
(It will also write a DVD, but so will Windows 7).

I didn't get immediate joy on the hobby system since for some reason, telling it to boot from the USB didn't work.  Instead, it saw the stick as another hard drive, and I had to reset it for that.

At first, for the Acer Tablet, I tried using the web based install routine, but after it finally downloaded Windows 8, it needed 16 GB of storage in order to work, and the 32 GB SSD on the Acer was too full for me to get that much room.  So I decided to do a clean install on the tablet since I didn't have much stuff there anyway.  So I wrote another USB stick with the 32 bit ISO and went to work.

I attached the keyboard base for the tablet, got into the BIOS and reset for the USB boot and away we went.  The install went quickly.  Oh, as a side note, if you have any extra memory cards in the tablet, like as SD card, remove it before trying to boot from the USB.  For some reason, you can't unless you remove the SD card.

After the install and several reboots, Windows 8 came right up.  Even in the install setup process, it was reading the screen touches, and I have to say Windows 8 seems to fly on this little machine.  It has a dual core 1GHz processor, and I haven't seen real slowdowns or stutters, except what I consider to be network congestion.

One of my major concerns was all the rumors around whether or not Media Center would survive into Windows 8.  Not many people seem to use it, but those of us who do, really like it.  My whole digital media life revolves around it, and is stored on my Windows Home Server.  I record some TV and definitely have a movie collection, and Media Center was my portal to that.  But I discovered something that gives me greater hope for the future.  The move to the live tile/Metro interface has tiles for Music, Videos and Photos.  When I had connected through Media Center (and therefore through Media Player) my libraries of data on the server, lo and behold, the data showed up through the tiles.  There was all my music.  I switched over to Photos, and there lived all my Photos.

So I went hunting for my movies, and some of them were in the Video tile.  Those movies which I had transcoded from DVD to another format, showed up under the Other part of the Video tile.  Now, it they could just add a DVD and Recorded TV part to the tile, I'd be all set and ready to go.  So I see a path for the Media Center components to migrate to the Tiles, and probably become more familiar to people since they will then see them on the main screen.  I can't tell you how many family members and friends only use what they find in an icon on the main screen.  Maybe if Microsoft had put it in separate pieces on the main screen all along, it would have garnered more users.

I finally got the dual boot working on my hobby system, and I'm learning the differences in the touch vs. mouse uses.  But Windows 8 has really impressed me, and I see a bright future ahead for tablets with Windows.

Nook Tablet/Color Price Drop

Today Barnes and Noble announced a price drop for the Nook Color to $169, and a new Nook Tablet at $199.  There is still a Nook Tablet at $249, with double the internal storage (16 GB) of the new $199 model (8 GB).

I own a Nook Color, which I purchased back when it cost $249.  At $169, it is really one of the best tablets out there at a terrific price.  I've had my Nook Color for a couple of years and it does the job of a basic color tablet very well.  I've purchased a few books for it, as well as sideloaded quite a few free ebooks.  If you're a Science Fiction fan like I am, the Baen Free Library (www.baen.com/library) is a great way to start.  Of course Project Gutenberg at www.gutenberg.org is a source for almost 40,000 free ebooks.

The nice thing about the Nook Color is that you're not limited to just reading books, but can surf the web and even get your Angry Birds fix for the day (or hourly as some of us require).  If you want to take a little break with a cup of Starbucks, a Barnes and Noble Cafe in the bookstores is a good way to spend some time.  The Nook Color attaches to the Wi-Fi hotspot, and you can even get an hour's worth of reading for many current books for free.

The other reason I like the Nook Color (versus the Tablet) is that it is still easily rooted, and with a little time and an SD card, you can have it dual boot, either to the stock B&N software, or a custom ROM.

Chrome for Android

Since my last post saying that I miss a 'grown up' browser on my tablet, Google has released Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4).  Recently the Chrome browser was made available for ICS, and I have to say I'm happier.  I use it on my Galaxy Nexus and I've very pleased, especially having access to my desktop bookmarks.

Now, if something can just happen to get ICS faster to my tablet(s) I'll be even happier.

I Miss my "Grown Up" Browser

Yep, I've gone tablet crazy.  Just love the little critters.  I have an original iPad, I have an Android Tablet (Acer Iconia A500) and I even have a Windows Tablet (Acer Iconia W500).  See what they did with the Iconia model numbers?  Darn clever these folks!

The iPad is definitely prettier.  The Android has lots of options.  The Windows is Windows, but with teeny tiny buttons to try to press.  Good thing it comes with an attachable keyboard.

But time and time again, I find myself being forced to use the Windows tablet simply because I want to use a "Grown Up" browser, rather than the limited, constrained, features-missing browsers from IOS or Android.  (You know, like making a blog post, etc.)

I haven't been a coder in decades, but I've gotta ask, is it really so hard to make a full-featured browser for either IOS or Android?  The look is different, the feel is different, and the rendering is different between the desktop and tablet versions.

I downloaded Opera for the Android, and gave up with it after just a week or so.  It seemed a little unfinished.

I really do see the Windows based tablet, with the keyboard attached (yes, like a cheap laptop or netbook) as the 'go to' machine for when I really want to get something accomplished, and not just browse within the limitations the tablets lock me into.  If I want to see some video, I have to have FLASH available.  If I want the pages to render well and not give me the stripped down 'mobile' version, I either have to try to fool the sites by changing arcane settings in the mobile browser, or by just going to the real, desktop, made for grown-ups, browser.

I know these limitations, and I work with them so I can be on the bleeding edge of technology.  But I have many friends and family who just want the silly things to work, and let them see the content they want to see.  Make that happen with a decent battery life, and the sales of the tablets might REALLY take off.  Then again, I'm just a low-level functionary and not a tech company mogul who makes billions with every brain wave.  I just know that every time I extol the virtues of a tablet to one of them, and let them try it out, they invariably go to a website that shows the flaws of these 'little brother' browsers.  I can explain with lots of great reasons why that particular website didn't work right, but my friends and family don't care.  They just want the silly thing to work and show them EXACTLY what they are used to seeing on the desktop/laptop screens.

Oh, and Google?  A touch interface (that makes sense) for the desktop Chrome browser would REALLY help.  I've got a machine that can handle it, and IE 9 can do it (with some IRRITATING limitations).  So maybe you might want to try to make my life more wonderful?  Please?

If you're looking for a Google+ invitation, here's a link

:https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DwEIOhUfYpsI%3AmTlUwmNNcd4

When More Tech Just Won't Help

This morning I stopped by the local Super Walmart to pick up a few things, and like always, I wandered around a little.  I found a nice cover for the new Acer A500 Iconia Tab I bought several months ago.  So I picked it up along the stuff I really came for and headed to the checkout.

The Tablet Cover has four different barcodes on the back, none of which were in the store's computer checkout system.  So they were completely flummoxed.  Rather than ask for a price check, or call a manager, the cashier asked if I remembered the price and was willing to take whatever I said as the truth and enter it manually.  Of course I thought about saying $5.98 or anything other than what I thought I remembered as $39.  But I didn't.  I just said I thought I remembered $39, so she entered it and was willing to move along.  But then I balked.  What if I wasn't remembering correctly?  I had looked at a lot of stuff.  What if it was only $29 - then I'd be the one out of the money.

However, no one wanted to walk way to the back of the store to price verify this thing, including the 'manager' who came over to help.  The goal seemed to be to get me through the checkout line, no matter if it cost me or the company to do it.  So I asked to have the item removed from the list (she had already entered the $39 price).  Well, that took a manager's override too, so again I waited.

After the purchase - without the Tablet Cover - I put the stuff in my car and went BACK into the store for the cover.  I had the time, and I wanted the cover, but I wanted it all be on the up-and-up.  So I hiked to the back of the store (the most exercise of the day so far) and found the covers again.  They were $39.99.  I took one and headed for the checkout lanes, and chose the Self Checkout.  Again, the item wouldn't scan, and I needed assistance.  This time it took even longer, involved a cashier and manager, and this time the manager made the trip to the back of the store to look at the item.  She came back and tried more things on the checkout, but it still wouldn't register correctly.  At this point, all the waiting around totaled about 40 minutes for me.

So I was wondering if the new RFID systems being touted would have helped.  As I picked up the item and put it in the cart, it would have been scanned or not, and I would have had to deal with the issue right then and there rather than at the checkout.  But this addition of tech probably wouldn't have helped.

First, I didn't use a cart.  I only had a few things and I carried them.  Second, there was no one in the section of the store where the Tablet Covers were located, so even if it hadn't RFID scanned correctly, there wasn't anyone around to help, and I would have had to wait until someone did come around, or once again head to the checkouts and deal with it all over again.

Nope, can't think of a way tech could have helped with this issue, because the main tech that should have worked, the barcode system, had failed at the start - the store's computers didn't know about the physical product in the store.

CNET: The nitty-gritty details of the Bloom box

The nitty-gritty details of the Bloom box: "Bloom Energy CEO K.R. Sridhar spells out how the fuel cell works."

Touch Me in the Morning

The iPad is here.  That is exciting, another device in the touch tablet arena.  Apple has entered the fray, bringing more publicity and notice – it can’t help but make things better.  Let me give you a few words of experience from someone who owns a touch pc – the HP TouchSmart TX2 with Windows 7.

Things in the larger world of the PC and internet are not as touch friendly as things on a touch enabled phone like the iPhone or Blackberry Storm, or other device.  Those devices have applications written specifically for that interface, with limited web browsing.  We use those devices for the web, but it isn’t a very satisfying experience because we can’t do all the things we want on our larger systems.  It is the same with using the TX2 as just a tablet.  Your finger just can’t get to the fine detail of the mouse our touchpad, and you often find you need to go back a screen or two and try again.

Using the onscreen keyboard is not as simple as it may seem.  For a touch typist like me, it just isn’t natural, and again I keep missing the keys I want to hit.  Even for someone who uses ‘hunt and peck’ believe it or not, your finger aim just doesn’t quite work as well as you might think.

Using the web is not quite straightforward either.  The browser might support touch and gestures, but the site probably won’t, and every time you need to log in with a name or password means more typing.  There’s a reason why Apple wants to offer you an optional real keyboard.  Having a ‘third’ device between computer and phone is good, but most of us like to use all three types of features at the same time in the living room.  A Hulu video, while browsing or posting (like I’m doing right now) is a good thing, and having a tablet doesn’t help this process in any way – it is only because the TX2 is a full computer, and can run multiple applications, that I can get this all done at the same time.

As long as you stay in the touch world, with applications specifically designed for touch, you’ll be fine, but venturing out into the general computing world, like the web, gets a bit more dodgy.  But I do like playing Bejeweled 2 on the touch screen.

Idle Speculation

Since Google’s Chrome OS has been announced and the idle speculation of what this will mean for Microsoft has begun, I want to share my two cents worth, as the owner/user of a netbook, and someone who supports several non-tech netbook users.

Recent articles have said that this is an aim by Google to take over the low end of the market, by targeting the underpowered netbooks.  Maybe.  If so, it is going to be harder going than the pundits are realizing.

The tech oriented users, like me, have more on their netbooks than just the OS.  I have a few simple games that I like, as well as a few productivity tools, such as Windows Live Writer, which I’m using to create this post.  (Some would argue that posting to a blog isn’t productive, but that’s for a later post.)  The games in the Linux world are certainly available, and similar to what I’m currently playing (card games, slot machines, puzzles), but they aren’t as polished and professional looking for the most part.  I like what I like, and playing the game I’ve grown fond of on the netbook as well as on my desktop machine is important to me.  Since Microsoft owns my desktop, I want to play Windows based games, and use Windows based tools.

For my non-tech friends for whom I am their user support, they want something familiar.  They don’t like learning new ways of doing things.  Even I complain about the Microsoft UI and how things work in Internet Explorer, but getting them to switch to Firefox or Chrome isn’t going to happen.  I know, I’ve tried and I’ve suffered for it.  Tech types also know about the problems with Microsoft’s use to web standards in rendering pages, but when users get used to seeing something, they always want to see the same thing.  Complain as much as you like about the way the web portal for Outlook renders on Internet Explorer versus the other browsers, but my friends want to see the IE version, not the Chrome or Firefox version.  They will never install a game on their netbook (unless they make me do it for them) and will probably never consider any productivity tools.  They truly will just use it for surfing and email, but they want the surfing and email to look exactly like, and work exactly like, their desktops at work and home.

Apple has aimed at the top of the market, and this gives them an income and some bragging rights.  Google might be aiming at the bottom of the market where they will promote speed and simplicity.  Microsoft might be in the middle of the market, but just like my body, it is a HUGE middle, and the folks there are comfortable with what they have, and want that same comfort and experience.

For Google to succeed, it has to convince the buyers/users of the devices that they are doing something “different” just like they do something different when they use their smartphones for email, texting, surfing, etc.  On the phones the UI is different, and folks learned because they were told they had to learn, there was no other way.  By the way, when users get to see Windows Mobile, and see that it works very much like their desktop, they do get hooked.

It is going to be fun to watch.

Lords of Content – Update

Jim Louderback from Revision 3 has an interesting tale of paying for content to be delivered anywhere.  It is a cautionary account to compliment my earlier post of wanting to view the content I pay for on the devices of my choosing at the time of my choosing.  I wasn’t thinking of live events, but Jim was.

Kindle for PC

If you’ve gotten the bug, or been bugged by someone to look at or get the new Amazon reading device called the Kindle, you can now do the same thing for free from your PC (sorry Mac lovers, that version is coming soon but not yet ready.)

Of course if you must have the actual Kindle device, please do buy one from the links below, or just buy the books and use the free reader for the PC.  One of the big attractions is that they sell the electronic version of the book generally for about 1/2 the price of the printed book.  It makes sense.  It costs them next to nothing to churn out another electronic copy to you, so they are making even more profit than selling and shipping a real book.

But now you can increase Amazon’s bottom line by using the free software from them and still buying the electronic book.

The software can be found at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

The devices and books can be found at these links:

Caught a Wave

Well, I got my Google Wave invitation. When I heard about Wave, I went to the Google site and signed up. I guess my patience paid off since I got my invitation just the other day.

I really see potential here as a workplace collaboration tool. Right now, with the very limited participation I'm mostly seeing very familiar instant messaging/email type usage. I'm also watching some different groups form, so it will be fun to watch what kind of collaboration starts up between people who hardly know each other. Until some friends or co-workers of mine get on the system, I'm kind of stuck watching and reading the public waves.

Youtube XL

Youtube has released a couch-size version of their site at www.youtube.com/xl

I can use my media center remote to navigate the site, but not for input.  I’ll have to play around to see what else I can and can’t do.  But this is definitely a move in the right direction for Youtube as more and more PC’s get hooked to televisions in the living room.

Roomba Pac Man

Too much fun

iTunes vs Cable vs OTA

Might this be the end of cable TV and the resurgence of the broadcast networks?

I’ve been reading that Apple wants to start a $30/month subscription TV service through its iTunes store.  I have no inside knowledge what that might mean and how it would work, but it does make me want to juggle some numbers around right now.

I just made a list of all the shows I watch regularly.  I took this list from the DVR list I’ve got on my cable box.  It comes to about 12 shows that I watch regularly.  So I went to the iTunes store to see if these 12 shows were available.  They were.  I can purchase almost of them in individual episodes and most in high definition.  I can also purchase a ‘season pass’ which automatically downloads the next available episode for me.

So I put together a little spreadsheet for costs.  If I purchase the season pass for each show in HD when available and SD when not (which comes out a little cheaper than individual episodes), it will cost me $357.73 for everything for a year which averages to almost $30/month.

My current cable bill (which includes my internet service and all the sundry set top boxes I need plus some movie channels that I almost never watch) is almost $186.00/month.  I can save over $100 a month, or $1,200 a year by dumping the TV portion of cable, buying the shows I want, and using the free over-the-air (OTA) to watch local programs and sports (go Cardinals – Suns – Diamondbacks - Coyotes) and just channel surfing.

I went to go see the Microsoft Store

I had a very rare Saturday morning free, and since we’re one of two places that has a Microsoft Store, I went for a look-see.  But I didn’t go inside.  Even after driving 15 miles to see it, I just didn’t feel the need.

If you’ve seen an Apple Store, you’ve seen a Microsoft Store.  It was a blatant rip-off.  At least from the outside looking in.  I didn’t venture inside for a number of reasons, most of them having to do with it being a blatant rip-off of Apple.

It  was Bauhaus and chic and seemed designed for the ‘pretty people’ of Scottsdale.  I lived in that area for many years, and know the ‘pretty people’ well.  One magazine writer said it best.  Watching the mommies and nannies pick up the school kids is like watching a Playboy tryout.  He was right.

Microsoft, I’ve gotta ask . . . why the Apple envy?  For all intents and purposes, YOU’VE WON.  I know those “Mac/PC” ads sting a little bit, but you can almost buy and sell them in an afternoon with your spare cash.  You dominate the desktop and office productivity software.  They only thing they choose to compete on is image.  They even switched over to YOUR hardware platform with the Intel move.  Image, that’s it – ephemeral opinions, that’s all.  So if you want to live and die by image – here’s the image you painted with me.

It is that image that turns me off about their stores, and now your stores.  I’m not Bauhaus or chic.  I’m middle aged, overweight, and decidedly unbeautiful.  I don’t walk around like I grok the whole Apple image/mystique thing.  When I look at the Apple store (and now the Microsoft store), I feel unwelcome.  First it reminds me of Grandma’s formal living room, covered with plastic slipcovers that put you on notice that this room (and these products) are not ever for ordinary use – keep your grubby self out of there – you don’t measure up – this is for important people – and you ain’t it.  Second it oozes that smug gnosticism that those inside are among the enlightened few.  The fact that the Microsoft workers wore the minimalist uniform of pants and a colored t-shirt (colors taken from the Windows flag) didn’t make it folksy, warm, or inviting – just the opposite for me.

Microsoft, what about ditching the image thing and showing us what you really do – how the software is going to make my life as a small business owner or consumer all the better for using it?  I’m guessing that a retail store is not to attract large businesses with giant I.T. staffs.

Show me your business platforms.  I’d like to learn more about this Sharepoint stuff.  I’d like to see how your Hyper-V technology will help me save money and do more with my meager server capabilities.

What about showcasing all the ways that Windows 7 will help the family with multiple PC’s?  How about showing off in a decent way the wonderful Media Center you’ve buried inside but never really gotten around to showing the world.  Don’t get me started on Windows Home Server and the ways it has saved my bacon countless times already with its backup feature, and how it can be used in the home.

Educators are the biggest sheep on the planet.  Convince one of the braver ones that your products help schools save money and prepare students and they’ll beat a path to your door.

Sure, if I walked inside I would probably have been met by the super-friendly staff who could have shown all this to me – but I just didn’t want to run that gauntlet.  The minimalist decor also made it possible for everyone to see everything that everyone was doing.  That way the customer can also be treated to the experience of the car lot – something we all love – where you are seen approaching a mile away and can be descended upon like a gazelle in a pirahna pond while the manager watches through a minimalist monocle and sniffs disapprovingly.

Am I being fair about this?  Probably not.  Am I showing that I am a disturbed individual with obvious issues of confidence?  Probably.  Am I going back to the Microsoft Store?  No.

One Device to Rule them All

In a previous post, I mused on letting me move video and watch it on any device I might own.

In this post, I want to conjecture on having one device that I carry with me at all times.  Ideally this device would have:

• A phone
• Access to mail and calendar (if I so choose) from AOL, GMail/Google, and Outlook (yes, I use all three, don’t ask, you don’t have time for the story).
• Music/mp3 capabilities.
• Audible.com support (for my DRM audiobook collection from them – grr).
• A game or two.
• Various and sundry other applications that will emerge and tickle my fancy.

Right now to get all this done well, I have to carry both my phone (Blackberry Storm) and an iPod Classic 80.

The Blackberry was getting close to this capability with the Blackberry Audible application, but alas it seems this has gone bonkers with the release of OS 5.  I was trying to use it today and frustration was the key feature.  The audio kept dropping off no matter if I stored the book locally or streamed it from Audible.  It was maddening because there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it.  To restart the audio, I had to stop the playback then start it again.  If I did it right away, it would pick up where it dropped off, but if I was doing something nonessential, like driving, and had to wait for the work-around, then I missed the portion that was read during the worthless driving activity.

You might say that the iPhone does all this.  Yes, it appears to, but I haven’t seen the mail & calendar integration that I would need, and I just hate being trapped in the Apple-only ecosystem.  Today it all works with Audible, but if Apple decides that its best interests are to kill the Audible cooperation, it won’t hesitate to do so (as would any self-respecting capitalist institution).  I applaud this approach, for I believe in our system, but I just don’t want to get trapped by it.  I could continue to do what I do right now by buying only DRM free music, but I like the Verizon network I have and have been hearing bad stories about AT&T.

Windows Mobile might be the answer, but I got burned pretty badly by their upgrades not supporting whatever recent purchase I had made, and the fact that Windows CE-then PocketPC-then Mobile seems to have a hard time deciding what it wants to be, so for now I stay away.

I’m hoping that maybe the Verizon (my current phone carrier) and its new embrace of Google’s Android might be the answer.  The Navigation application looks like a real winner no matter what.  I’ve seen the demos of the mail/calendar integration, but the kicker is whether or not Audible is going to support the OS with player.  It took them a while with Zune, so I’m hoping for Android.  Of course by the time I wait, and am rewarded, some new version or new application will be out there that I want to have, and it won’t be supported by whatever current device I carry.

I don’t mind upgrading the hardware every few years or so, but balk at being locked in to a DRM situation that won’t be supported in a future release or new devices.  (Yes, I know I’m locked into Audible, but I was young, and needed to save the money, etc.)

Hacking your way through life's jungle

Hackers - despite the negative media connotation, they are simply folks who like to see how far they can take products in a new direction or beyond the listed limitations. There are also social hackers, who "bend" social conventions to their own purposes. Not necessarily always evil purposes.

But my favorite hacking site is Lifehacker at www.lifehacker.com. At the site they have everything from making your own detergent and saving money, to evaluating and setting up, or building up, your own home server.

It is just a great site to browse through, and a great site to get daily updates from their RSS feed.

Can I switch to 7 yet?

I've been using the beta and RTM versions of Windows 7 for a while now (thanks to my Technet subscription.) But I haven't switched over my main computers (yes more than one - I'm a geek!) to 7 yet because I'm waiting for the free upgrade software from the manufacturer. The computers are new, but were heavily discounted to make room for the preloaded 7 machines - so I took advantage of a sale.

But now I'm chomping at the bit to get 7 loaded on them. One of the cool new features I found is right clicking on the folder that contains the music I want, and choosing to add all the songs in that folder to the Windows Media Player - rather than opening the folder, selecting all the songs, and adding them by right click.

The new feature saves me clicks - and I like it. So I'm thinking of putting on a temporary version of 7 on the machines until the upgrade software comes - just so I can use that, and some other great new features.

Blackberry OS 5 - Where have you been all my life?

On Monday of this week, I got the notification from Blackberry that my Storm's OS has been updated, and that I might want to do the update.

So I did. At first I regretted the effort. I grew to dislike the Storm more and more over the year that I've had it, and the process of upgrading was horrendous. It didn't work at first - or second - or fourth or fifth. It just kept stopping in the middle telling me a fatal error occurred, and left me between the old OS 4.7 and the new OS 5, and a non-functioning phone. I was not pleased.

Patience and time, and really nothing to lose, had me try the upgrade over and over again until finally late in the afternoon it worked. I restored my personal data from a backup that I had, and then took the upgraded phone out for a spin.

WOW. If this thing had acted like this over the past year, I would not have been so strident in expressing my hatred to family and friends. Quick and responsive - the two things I wanted most have arrived. This phone now actually does what I want, when I want! No more push the thing and wait, wait, wait, until it finally figures out what to do. The hated lock/unlock feature now works immediately!

Not only do things work quickly, but there is a bit of eye candy with screen opens and closes, and fast scrolling that "bounces" when you reach the end of a list.

I actually like this phone much, much more. I might even be able to wait for my "new every two" time before switching to an Android phone.

Update:

This morning when checking a voice message I noticed that the number pad remains on the screen when you make a call so that you don't have to call it back up to tap in your access code. Gosh what a novel concept - at least for the Storm. That was one of my pet peeves all along - the minute you send your call, the number pad disappeared. Thank you again!

But I am looking around for access to the App store that I had under 4.7.