Eager to try out the latest hype, I signed up on a wait list about a week after the initial release of 50,000 units sold out, and waited about another week until the second shipment of 30,000 units trickled down to my neighborhood good-deal phone dealer. Apparently, I was lucky since other stores and DoCoMo shops in the Tokyo area were still reporting in excess of 40 people on each of their waiting lists–literally thousands of people waiting for the new SonyEricsson device.  Thus far, I’ve had my Sony Xperia X10 Smartphone since 17 April 2010–just over a month–and I have learned much about the strengths and weaknesses of the Xperia device and the Android platform.

Let me cut to the chase: If you drool over the Android platform and you love having the most impressive specs, this is probably the phone for you.  I admit I purchased the phone based on specs alone: 8.1 Megapixel camera, 384MB of RAM, 1GB of internal storage, 16GB external SD card included, 1 GHz Snapdragon QSD8250 processor, Timescape and Mediascape to tie up e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and all my music, photos and videos; all runing on Google Android 1.6 (affectionately called “Donut”).  And of course, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a gorgeous 480×854 pixel 4 inch display.  Did I mention the battery is removable and replaceable?

It looked like just the device for people like me who wanted an iPhone-like device but without the SoftBank service–a SmartPhone that could do it all–reduce personal clutter, combine devices–like an FM radio, voice recorder, cellular phone, camera, and laptop (for short e-mails and quick web searches)–and still leave room for upgrades and games.  So I got one.

But I am disappointed.  Seeking perfection, I got possibilities.  Hoping for the Holy Grail, I got a promise.  Quite simply, the interface and the apps lack polish. It is not clear to me if this a hardware limitation or an Android limitation, but the end result of the package is a less than completely satisfying experience–at times it is downright frustrating.  I give it three stars on a scale of 5.  However, over 100,000 units sold in the first 20 days of the Japan campaign. DoCoMo is targeting sales of 1,000,000 units total.  So maybe I am just asking too much from my phone. Read on to learn more and make your own call (pun intended).

Out of the Box:

I pulled my Sensuous Black Smartphone out of a well designed and good looking black box.  The shape of the phone was immediately appealing and fit my hand perfectly.  The phone was not usable without a SIM card. Powering up without the card brings up the screen and an emergency call setting, but you cannot access any of the features beyond this.  Inserting the Sim card was an exercise in patience.  I was loathe to damage my new phone and at first I was worried about breaking the plastic back.  Now that I know how to pull the back off, I can do it with ease and without worry (you have to put your fingernail into the slot on the bottom of the phone and pull the back off with a peeling motion.)

With the sim card now installed,  the included 16GB memory card confirmed in the device, and the back replaced; I pressed the power on button for the required 1+ second.  A quick Sony-Ericsson vibration notified me that the phone was indeed powering on.  10 seconds to display “Sony Ericsson” in white letters on a black screen,  7 seconds later “DoCoMo” appears in similar font, and then finally, 9 seconds later, 26 long seconds after pressing the power button for the first time,  the phone is displaying a beautiful blue screen with the local time and date.  Fortunately, it only takes this long on the initial power up.

Once you swipe past this time display, there are three home screens: center, left and right.  On the bottom is a drawer that stores all the apps.  And on the top of the screen is a function display with the time and status of the phone and another drawer with notifications such as missed calls and new e-mails.  This was all new to me since this was my first Android device.

So far so good.

The next thing I wanted to experiment with was the camera.  As a camera buff, I expected a lot from this device.  I was disappointed. The focusing speed is adequate, the options sufficient, but the lag from pressing the shutter button to actually getting a shot is much more than the average waitress can handle.  This is not the device to hand to someone to get a picture of you and your friends when you get together for an impromptu reunion.  Especially if you are in a dimly lit restaurant.  Often, the camera refuses to take a photo until the first image is saved, but there is nothing to let you know that you must wait.  So the poor waitress keeps pressing the button to no effect.  Of course, you can get a photo if you are patient, but it takes several frustrating tries.  Once the image is taken though, if there is enough lighting, the image is sharp and impressive.  The macro focus is nice and gets in close. But low-lighting really stumps this camera.  Hard to get a decent image if you are in a dim restaurant or outside at night.  There is no flash, just a bright light that you have to manually turn on.

The dialer is adequate with lots of real estate dedicated to the important buttons.  But the Contacts interface and call history leaves much to be desired.  If you select English as the interface language, you get the alphabet in tiny letters from A-Z along the right side.  You can try to aim for a letter close to the letter you desire (not possible to get it right every time with those tiny letters) and then scroll from that point.  If you select Japanese as your language, you get the hiragana syllabary followed by the alphabet from A-Z. Selecting the Japanese language for the phone also allows you to modify the reading of your contacts–a feature not available under English.  Each of your contacts has a strange silhouette icon until you select a photo from your SD card (note, it does not allow you to jump over to Facebook to pick a photo….so good luck running around taking photos of your friends or finding a way to download images from the Internet…you cannot download images using the Android Facebook Apps. Apparently only the browser has figured out how to save images…)

The history page displays missed calls, and sent calls all on one screen. You cannot parse this out.  You also cannot delete individual calls. You can erase the entire history or keep the entire history.  Poor interface planning.  Also, if one person calls you a lot….they will show up for every single entry. There is no way to “stack” the calls from a single person.  Again, poor planning on such a capable phone.

Voice quality on the calls is adequate.  If you are in a quiet location, you will have no trouble hearing the other person.  If you are on a noisy subway platform, in a party, or other loud area, you are better off plugging in the included headphones to have your conversation.  You will hear the other party, but not as clearly as you might like.

Finally, I had to try out TimeScape and MediaScape.  The all-in-one solution that Sony claims to have perfected in this phone.  So perfect was this to be, that Sony kept the old version of Android 1.6 rather than upgrading to 2.1 or 2.2. I was not impressed.  I wanted to find a song from an album but all MediaScape wants to show me on the opening screen is recently played, recently added, most played, and shuffle.  You have to press one more button to find the album lists.  And if you somehow get the wrong album art loaded, no amount of cajoling with get the system to recognize the new and better album art. Weak.  I have turned to using MixZing for music and find this app is much better at presenting just the information I need and even shows the player in the Notification bar making access a snap.

TimeScape was fun, but the tiles are not easy to work with.  One kind of touch brings them to the forefront.  Another kind of touch allows you to jump to the source.  Pressing infinity is supposed to link to the other methods of locating that contact.  And somehow grabbing the upper left side allows you to delete a tile (the information remains, but only the tile is no longer displayed). I managed to perform this once, and have since lost the magic touch required to remove a tile from the lineup.

Timescape would be a great place to have your home page if it worked all the time.  But it sometimes hangs up or hiccups for a second and makes you forget that this is supposed to be a high-spec machine.  The spinning and reassembling looks cool the first time, and becomes tedious after a while when you just want the data.

So what about YouTube and Google?  YouTube plays wonderfully on the device.  The App that handles YouTube gives great results over the high-speed DoCoMo network. But I have been unable to store videos as bookmarks or in favorites.  I also cannot download YouTube video to my device using this App.  Othewise, no complaints at all about performance or quality of the YouTube App.  The Google Map and Google Searches work splendidly.  Especially when combined with the GPS and network locating services.

But the keyboard input does not lend itself to praise. The autocomplete and autocorrect are not very good…and that is disappointing considering how difficult it is to land on the tiny keys and always get the letter you want.  Turning the phone sideways gives slightly larger keys, but then the page you are typing disappears and you no longer have any hints about what the field is that you are filling in. Only the field is visible–the rest of the page is no longer displayed until you complete your entry or return to portrait mode.  I ported the HTC keyboard to the Xperia and experience a much better keyboard, much better autocorrect, and a nicer layout.  However, I lost the ability to input Japanese characters and there was no quick method to switch to the Japanese keyboard from the HTC keyboard.  However, this proves to me that the limitation is in the App, and not in the device.

Battery life was much shorter than on my existing DoCoMo cell phone.  But of course, using the SmartPhone for every feature I was placing much greater demands on the battery.  At least I can purchase a spare battery that I can swap when the juice runs low.  With a lot of download access, GPS, WiFi, and 3G access, I found that I get about 9 hours of use.  After a few charge cycles, I can now even get upwards of 12 hours (with less use of 3G, WiFi, and GPS).  But still nothing stellar.  I would like to be able to go at least 24 hours without a charge and still have decent use of 3G, the GPS, WiFi, etc. 

The screen looks marvelous, even with the original screen protector in place.  Removing the obvious screen protector reveals a sticky screen that seems to collect greasy fingerprints and scratches.  At first, I thought the scratches in the screen were in the glass, but on close inspection, there is another screen protector beneath the upper, obvious one that is intended to be removed.  This lower level protector is much harder to remove, but it can be removed if you work from the edges.  This lower protector is thick and apparently is not present in all markets.  It is definitely on the Japan phone.

With all of these issues, you might think this phone is not worth the effort.  But it does have a bright side.  It is the infinite updateable, upgradable device…so any flaws should be easy to overcome with a simple App download right  Well….

If you want more real estate and more features on your desktop, you can turn to?apps like  “Home++”, “Panda Home”, “Open Home”, “atHome”, “SweeterHome”, “DxTop”, etc. I tried Home++ and Panda Home and liked them very much.  Great features and awesome ideas for interfaces.  Really well thought out.  But they seemed to slow down overal performance of the phone an cause additional non-specific hangups. I removed them from my phone despite my great interest in their features.

I also tried several dialers.  Some improved on the way calls were handled, but none had superlative interfaces. I liked “JBook 2″ the best of these for handling English and Japanese contacts. It has alphabet on the left and hiragana on the right.

If you don’t mind lower res photos, Toy Camera produced nice images and somehow allowed the shutter process to work more efficiently.  (Probably because of the smaller file size, images saved faster, improving performance).

Juice Defender and Juice Plotter were great additions to help solve the battery drain problem.  But these also gave me interesting non-specific errors that were difficult to repeat.  I have removed these programs for the time being to help identify the culprit of my non-specific problems.

And “MyDoCoMo” allowed me to view my bill in real time.  A real bonus.

Where MediaScape fell short, “MixZing” came to the rescue.  An awesome app to control and play your music.

Raziko is a great way to get all your FM stations in noise-free perfection. Even better than an FM tuner and you can listen while on the subway platform. Goes beyond regular radio since the screen displays the program and sometimes even the song playing.

As an update to this brief review, I took my phone in to DoCoMo today to have it replaced with an identical model. This was to hopefully solve a series of random Force Close errors and stuck clock in the status bar.  I will give this new phone another couple of weeks.  But I don’t think this is the phone for me.  I may just have to revert to my old standby Keitai and part with this attempt at smart phone.

Only time will tell.

Aloha, Dylan

What next? I hope that I can drop the keyboard and just think the words onto the screen….

And one of my major complaints about the iPod is the way I get the music into the little box.  In order to play CDs that I own, I must sync my iPod to a single computer, and spend hours ripping the hundreds of CDs into that machine.  Further, if the album is duplicated in the CD database, or if it is stored in a manner that is not to my liking, I have to spend some time editing the entry, genre, album name etc. I just don’t have the desire to spend this kind of time.  I wish someone could just take all of my CDs, put them into a memory storage device, with the album covers, and then send me the whole device.  Ultimately, this device would be portable and plugable.  I should be able to copy these tunes to my car, my home stereo, my office desk, and anywhere else I might want to listen to music.  I don’t want to be tied to an iPod.  I don’t want to carry my iPod. I don’t even want an iPhone.  I want to go as simple as possible…

And while walking around one of the shopping centers in Den Haag, I found a Bang & Olfsen store.  For those of you not familiar with this high-end brand of audio equipment, don’t bother price shopping.  This brand comes up with some of the best fidelity, and truly unique style of music machines.  I loved their vertical CD player. 

I walked into the store and told the salesman what I was looking for.  He walked me right over to the $8,000 digital music system.  I fell in love the instant I heard the concept.  They take my CDs, covert them to a lossless format, upload them to a box, and then give me a stereo system that would meet most of my needs.  Most, but not all.

I found the organization system great.  The concept of matching songs was neat–you pick the first song, the machine picks all other songs that match the beat and style and unending music begins to play in a way you’ve never heard before.

I like this system!  But I want an iPod price…

 D

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/beosound5

Kite surfers catch the last of the daylight at the end of another beautiful day in the Netherlands.

• First stop, Animal House Quotes at imb.  Not for the easily offended.  But a classic nontheless.
• Then I opened up KCCN FM 100 for good tunes for my web stroll.
• Next up, a quck review of indifference curves via a Google Search…I drilled down into a few sites, but Wikipedia was the one I relied on for comprehensive information…
• And from there, I linked to LaTeX (pronunced Lay-Teck) to see how they represent math equations….surprisingly, the Wikipedia description was far more informative than the official web site. 
• Somehow–I can’t recall how–I ended up at a WordPress themed blog tracking down some informaton on LaTeX.  The blog had some interesting information, but more importantly, it had a great design.  So I had to track down the design called Notepad Chaos created by Evan Eckard for Smashing Magazine. 
• The comments in that article mentioned how Notepad Chaos looked a lot like Web Design Wall.  So I stopped over there to compare….Once at WDW, I found myself wandering down lots of Internet Rabbit Holes (IRbHs) from the links in various posts and articles. 
• The first tunnel was over to  Ma.tt where I learned how the WordPress creator spends his day.  I would love to leave my office empty for 6 days a week… 
• From one of those articles, I learned about Gravatars, images that you can use all over the Internet without having to upload new images to each and every blog, website, forum, etc, that you might visit.
• Of course, I had to visit the parent site for WordPress, Gravatar and others….and that is Automattic. Great stuff.
• And I’ll bet you didn’t know that some people intentionally remap their keyboard and type in other than QWERTY keyboards.  There is DVORAK and AZERTY…who knew?!  I had no idea. Not sure if I can switch but I’m intrigued.
• A link in one of the articles took me over to The Power of Less.  Something I could clearly spend some time reviewing!  Focus is good. I’ve already modified my computer usage to shut down Outlook when I’m trying to focus on other things.  I am going through withdrawal, but a little concentration will get me past this.  I no longer visit my Facebook page either…Less is more. More time for me.
• And while enjoying the great web designs I found, I decided to go looking for more WordPress Themes and ended up at WordPress Theme Park.  Nice.  I’m thinking of using some of these graphic ideas in a logo I’m designing.
• And without dragging you through the mud, I’ll just say that I hit about a dozen other sites related to logo design, internet design, and graphic design in general.     
• Finally, I’ll close this list with the last link I visited before heading outside to enjoy the evening by jogging through Den Haag for a couple of hours– Tim Ferris’ blog–where he talks about his 4-hour week.
• The timing of visiting that final webpage seemed appropriate as I later stood on the beach in Scheveningen, NL .  There were crowds and crowds of surfers, windsurfers, and kite surfers who had been in the water for most of the day.  Here in the NL, most businesses seem to close promptly at 5 or 6 pm and only stay open late one night a week.  Which got me to rethink the idea of working hard and working late to get more done…all I have to do now is take up kite surfing….

And with that in mind….why am I still sitting here writing this blog?  Time to go work on another project.  Signing off for now.  Peace to you and may you enjoy life.

:>D
ylan

The Chosen One

If you liked the first one Animator vs Animation you’ll enjoy “The Chosen One”.  In this episode, the animator felt like he needed a challenge.  So he created the ultimate animation and named him “The Chosen One”.  Follow Alan Becker as he takes on his own Animation. 

Animator vs Animation II by Alan Becker

Enjoy. And may the Force be with you.

D

A circuit board for the masses: the Arduino microcontroller. Photo: James Day

For anyone who as ever been out looking for a little microprocessor to help you do something better, this is a heavenly gift.  You can modify these plans at low cost to engineer your new device.  And lots of folks already have!  Without licensing fees! 

Arduino gadgets: WineM coaster; Snail Light Seeker; interactive embroidery with conductive threads; and Botanicalls, which tells you when your plants need water.

Can this be the wave of the future?  I certainly appreciate a product that is patented and rigorously tested.  I doubt I’d be interested in an open source automobile, but for some things, open source is really going to catch on.  All of my websites are run on open source software  (WordPress) programmed in open source languages (php).  I would love to have inexpensive devices tell me when my kids have left the lights on in their room and turn it off for them.  How about a wireless device that makes sure your plants always have the right amout of moisture?  Automatic curtain closers?  I could go on.  Clearly,  there is room to grow in this market and it may just be the home tinkerer who comes up with the next great device that changes our lives…via open source. 

Read more at Wired

The Leading Role - aka the victim

I love the Internet. The things you can find, the ideas people have. Deviant Art has a way of pulling together some interesting talent. But it takes some time to go through and find the gems. I wish I could build animation like this.  This is truly one of the gems. Great action, cool story line, perfect blend of sound effects… I can’t wait to see the sequel!

The Plot:  A bored animator decides to create a stick figure that he can mangle, maim, and otherwise torture.  But the stick figure, aka “victim” wants no part of this.  The stick figure leaps off the animation work area and wreaks havoc with the menus pulling a few tricks of his own. Watch the movie to see how this turns out!

Animator vs Animation

D

P.S. Interested in making your own flash movies?  Of course there is the tried and true Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, but have you checked out Swish?  I recommend starting with Swish Max.  Get the free download, check out the lessons online, look at the samples, and enjoy programming your own Flash movies!

Don’t get me wrong, these are all great uses of the computer, but you don’t need a high-powered computer to do these activities.  Cell phones are now very capable of handling these functions.  It all boils down to the software.  Can you program enough lines of code to make the computer interact at a higher level?  Can we get semi-autonomous machines that control the light in our house, turn on the lights when it gets dark, control the temperature in the house etc…?

But I digress.  This post is about not being able to keep up with the changes on the internet.  Recently, I discovered Chrome when I downloaded Google Earth.  I also found CoolIris when I was looking for a plugin for Lightroom.  I just signed up for Facebook and have been wondering who else I might know with an account.  I just updated the underlying software for this blog.  I am now using WordPress ver 2.7.

Change is great.  I like the new features that come with new toys.  And with the exception of Lightroom, all were free!  How does this work?  Who is paying for these programmers to pay their rent and electirc bills?  Again I digress.

Chrome is great.  I like being able to search by typing directly in the address bar (I just discovered that IE also allows this…funny I never noticed before…) Hard to keep up.  I like the graphical display (a mini page shot) in Chrome that shows the sites you visit most frequently.  Cooliris is neat but a little disorienting.  I feel like I’m on a boat in the ocean with gentle waves lapping at my boat….I couldn’t stop the screen…it keeps moving a little after your mouse stops. (Turns out you can turn of the gently scrolling feature to make it feel like you are on terra firma). But again, a neat graphical represenation of your searches on a huge wall that spans left and right as far as you like.  Much more fun to search this way than with the simple text responses from google.  But alas, something is missing and I gave up. Too much splash and not enough content….But a step in the right direction.

Google Earth is a great way to view the world.  Wonderful mapping and 360 pictures are eerie.  It is fun to jump into pictures and see where I am jumping.

Lightroom is finally working well for me and I just wish it could handle video images.  Now that the Canon 5D Mark II DSLR can take video (probably not its claim to fame, but it appears game-changing to me), it seems appropriate to have Lightroom pick up the marker and move the ball forward.  Now anyone can use high quality lenses to make movies on a Digital SLR. Wow.

And Facebook.  A neat idea, but can I have a system that allows me to “rate” my friends?  Not everyone comes to my house for dinner and so, everyone on facebook should not be allowed the same level of access.  I have acquaintences, and friends.  I have family and really close friends.  I should be able to rank my contacts to change how much of my Facebook they can access…Not everyone needs to write on my wall.  And those applications that are so neat…why do they have to access everything on my page (to include my friend’s information)?  I would love to try those apps, but if I play, all of my friends content is opened up to the app and then by extension, to google and search engines.   There should be a better lock for this…Maybe I’ll have to make my own “facebook” page… I think I’ll call it “myspatula.com”.  Cause you’ll be able to “cook up”  any scheme you like for keeping track of your contacts….

But I’m just dreaming on.  The more things change, the more humans stay the same.  Technology changes, but will these changes become permanent useful fixtures (like the car, telephone, or Internet), or just road markers on the way to something better (Disc Cameras, Cassette Tapes, Neckties)?  

People like their technology to be transparent.  The only people who brag about the size of their memory card or the number of pixels on the screen are geeks.  The rest of the world just wants to use their toys, watch their DVDs, and enjoy the fresh air….We don’t want to fight the technology, we just want to get by and have our lives be a little easier. But its hard to keep up with the newest gadget…. Got a new gadget you want me to try…Post a comment and let me know about it….

Eventually we will not wear ties.  But I digress…

D

And now that they have fixed the printing issue (was only occuring to a small, but distinguished group), it is truly a great place to print individual photos or standard photo packates.

BUT, Adobe has a long way to go to make this the software I would call near perfect. 

Here are my feature requests for this venerable and otherwise great software:

1. When I take a lot of photos, I like to print them out for the people in the picture.  So I’d like to see a feature where I can select a specific number of photos for each individual photo to be printed.  (i.e. 5 of #2, 4 of #1, etc.)

2. My still camera camera takes video.  My video camera takes still photos.  I’d like to be able to load both video and still images into the computer using Lightroom.

3. Lightroom does not have an effective tool to deal with duplicates.  And if you delete or move photos outside of lightroom, it gets confused.  I’d like an active tool to help me see where images are, if they’ve moved, if I accidently duplicated them–or even intentionally duplicated them (like to send an e-mail 2 years ago).  I’d like the tool to recognize the photo not only by the name, but by the content of the photo.  Identical images but one is inferior quality, smaller size etc.  Then let me cull this growing pile of duplicates with some automation!

4. Face recognition is neat. It is here.  Hello Adobe?

5. After upgrading Lightroom, it cannot find my card reader.  It used to open up automagically to import photos when I slid my cards into the reader.  I’d like Lightroom to notice this and turn the auto feature back on.  (I did it manually and it still doesn’t work…hmmmm)

6. I’d like a better system for swapping images and image libraries between computers.  I use two and would like to have access from both machines….Hmmmmmm.

7. Remote server. Planning on moving *some* of my photos to a remote server.  I wish Lightroom could handle two libraries simultaneously.  Why do I have to hard close out one to use another….Grrrrr.

8. The pop out/pop in menus are great.  Kind of….they keep popping in and out when I wanted to do something different.  Can we get some protectors to turn off the popping when we know we’ll be hovering the mouse in that general area?

9. When loading images from a card, I’d like to (in one step) apply mass Meta data.  I’d like to select x-y photos and tag them with “Tokyo”, then tag a-f with “Football”, and j-m with “Kids”, etc.  Why not at this stage?  Why do I have to tag all of the photos at once?  Come on Adobe…work with me…

10. Not sure why, but sometimes the filters are on the top of the page, sometimes a few are on the bottom.  Sometimes my favorite filters are there (pick, unpick, trash); and sometimes they aren’t.  Sometimes I can’t tell if a fiter is selected or not and I have to click it on and off to verify….can we fix all this so there is less guesswork?  

Lot’s more like this….but I think 10 is a good place to take a break….

Cheers,  D

So the question is now what?  What do I replace this venerable workhorse with?  Naturally I want a fast and quiet machine. One that won’t wake the family when I power it up.  And hopefully video rendering times will fall rapidly from 12+ hours to something much more reasonable.  I can only hope.

I tussled with buying a Mac, but I know Windows.  Mac will have to wait for a botique opportunity later.  I need this machine to work with all my current software.  And I like being able to right click <grin>.

So I went to Dell since they got such a good write up in one of the video editing forums I was perusing online.  Dell online customer service recommended the XPS630.  Great looking machine.  They even offered it with Windows XP.  So I got interested.  I configured my machine as best I could and then asked Dell to look it over.  I couldn’t find the option for wireless NIC nor internal card reader so I asked.  They couldn’t really help there…the “system” gave the combinations and the sales folks just sold those combinations. If I clicked on some of the other XPS 630 “configure me” links, I got different options for processor, HDD, video, and keyboards.  Bizarre.  I thought they were all the same XPS 630s.  I guess some are more equal than others. 

The Dell responses got slower and less focused.  They really were nice and wanted to be helpful within the sphere of what they were allowed to do.  But they couldn’t give me everything I wanted. So reluctantly, I began searching the web for something else.  Something more responsive.  I stumbled across Puget computers while visiting consumersearch.  Puget’s website actually explained each component.  And different builders/sales folks gave different opinions on the same product.  But each of these opinions  made sense even though they often differed, and yet were sometimes not what you would hear from a sales guy.  Things like “we do not recommend this one…” or ” a little loud, but the price is right” (I’m paraphrasing to protect the innocent….)  It was like having a real conversation with real people about a product in which they offered their real opinions, but were also the experts and not just random comments…

I liked their style so much, I configured a system and asked for a review.  I got an answer in less than an hour.  Not bad for a company that says they would get back to me in 24 hours.  They gave good advice, I made some more choices, and now they are building my machine.  Will let you know how it goes…(I get to see my machine being built…they post online updates.  So far, I see that they ordered the video card which arrives later today.  The rest of the parts are in stock and get built as soon as the video card arrives….  This is almost as exciting as watching maple syrup drip from a tree.  You can’t take your eyes off it when it first starts to flow, yet there is nothing supremely unique in the process itself.  It is just good business with great customer service.  It is a wonder that we crave this so much, yet experience it so little.  Just like good maple syrup.

**********************************

Here is the progress from the online build screen at Puget.  Every day they kept provide me an update.  It is almost like building it myself…almost.  I get to watch the progress without the pain. I will keep this blog post updated as the computer gets built, tested, delivered, and then used in my home!  

• Quote Submitted – 2008-09-08
  Original configuration submitted by customer.
• Order Submitted – 2008-09-09
  Order submitted by customer.
• Waiting for Part(s) – 2008-09-09   Updated By: Melissa
  Video card is ETA 9/10 (tomorrow), beginning assembly of everything else.
• In Assembly – 2008-09-10   Updated By: Melissa
  All parts arrived, including the adjustment to a different case and PSU.
• Ready for Installation – 2008-09-11   Updated By: Jeff

So if all parts have arrived, I wonder when they start building….

***********************************

Just checked on line 12 hours after my comment above.  Looks like my question was answered!  See the progress below:

• Build / Assembly Section certified completed by: Ruben  
• Test the power supply for adequate voltage levels    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:03 AM
      Your power supply is tested for stable output of all voltage levels (3.3V, 5V, 12V rails). 
• Check for post of mb/cpu/ram before mounting    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:05 AM
      Your motherboard, CPU, and memory are tested outside your case to ensure they are in working condition before we take the time to assemble the whole computer. 
• Assemble the rest of the system, verify all parts    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:06 AM
      Your system finishes assembly! We also double check all the parts on your order at this step, to make sure they are all correct, present and accounted for.
• Check for post of fully completed system    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:08 AM
      The completed system is turned on for the first time!
• Update BIOS    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:10 AM
      Your BIOS is updated to the most recent stable release.
• Set Memory Speed, Timings, and Voltage    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:11 AM
      We verify that your memory is running at the correct settings for best stability and performance (sometimes the motherboard does not automatically select the right speed).
• Set QFan and fan monitor settings    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:13 AM
      Special features are turned on to keep your system running quieter.
• Set SATA controller mode    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:14 AM
      We set the SATA controller to either IDE or AHCI mode according to the operating system.
• Set Boot order    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:16 AM
      Your boot order is set to Floppy -> CDROM (top drive) -> Hard Drive
• Disable all unnecessary onboard devices    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:17 AM
      All onboard items that are not needed are disabled (RAID, sound, video).
• Verify all cards and cabling is hot glued    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:19 AM
      All loose connectors and cards are hot glued in place to help prevent them from being knocked loose in shipping.
• All bundled items boxed and area cleaned    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:20 AM
      All manuals, CDs and accessories that came with your components are bundled and placed with the computer.
• Phase 1 Testing Section certified completed by: Jeff  
• All fans spinning at correct RPM    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:27 AM
      All fans are confirmed to be spinning and properly controlled by any included fan controllers. 
• Front LEDs functional    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:31 AM
      All front LEDs (hard drive, power) are confirmed to be properly hooked up.
• Hard Drive Test    Ruben – 09/11/08 09:28:30 AM
      Your hard drive has passed a full test by the manufaturer’s diagnostic tools.
• CPU Test    Jeff – 09/11/08 12:45:28 PM
      Your CPU has passed testing at full speed.
• Memory Test    Jeff – 09/11/08 12:45:30 PM
      Your memory has passed testing with MemTest86
   

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Update:

In Assembly – 2008-09-12   Updated By: Jon
Motherboard had a fault (it didn’t properly detect the hard drives). Replacing with new motherboard, and OS installation will commence on Monday.

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Update:  I got a MOBO upgrade since the one that was destined for my machine is no longer in stock.

•  Install / Setup Section certified completed by: Jeff   Install Base OS    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:02:31 PM
      Your hard drive is pre-loaded with a base level install of the operating system, which is later customized to your order.
• Install / update device drivers    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:07:41 PM  
      All the most recent drivers (downloaded from the manufacturer) are loaded for your devices.
• Uninstall Unnecessary Device Drivers    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:07:41 PM 
       All software used for unnecessary devices that we disabled earlier is uninstalled, to keep Windows as clean and fast as possible.
• Check Partition Sizes    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:14:32 PM 
      We make sure that all your hard drives are correctly partitioned, and that any special instructions about partition sizes are followed.
• Install Temperature Monitoring Utility    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:09:38 PM 
       A temperature monitoring utility is installed to help us check your machine for adequate cooling. When the system is ready for shipping, we uninstall these utilities to keep the install clean.
• Synchronize time with server    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:07:43 PM
      Your time is synchronised with an atomic US govenment clock.
• Run WindowsUpdate.com    Jeff – 09/15/08 04:28:21 PM 
       All Windows updates and service packs are applied.
• Install all software and updates    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:07:42 PM 
       All software on your invoice is installed and any applicable update packs are applied.
• Update optical drive firmware    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:07:40 PM 
      Your optical drive firmware is updated as applicable, to ensure best media compatibility.
• Copy Feedback Icon to Desktop    Jeff – 09/15/08 03:09:40 PM
      A link is placed on your desktop to leave feedback about your computer.
• Verify front ports (USB, firewire, sound)    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:12:47 PM
      All front ports on your case are verified to be functional. In some cases, it is not possible for all ports to be active (ie, if you have a sound card with no front audio support, we cannot hook it up to the front sound port on a case).
• Verify floppy drive, DVD-ROM, card reader    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:15:40 PM
      All removable drives are confirmed to be included in My Computer.
• Phase 2 Testing Section certified completed by: Jeff 
• Double Check System Specs    Jeff – 09/16/08 07:26:21 AM
      Your system specs are double checked for any mistakes, using an automated utility we have built that not only checks for the right parts, but that they are configured correctly.
• Test Standby Mode and Power Off    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:10:44 PM
      We put your system into standby and back, and turn system completely off and back on, to verify normal behavior.
• Test Wireless Connection (if applicable)    Jeff – 09/15/08 04:50:38 PM
      If your configuration includes wireless, we check for normal reception, and test the component by copying a large file over our office wireless connection.
• Test DVD-RW Burning    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:14:43 PM
      If you have a DVDRW drive, we burn a short movie to a DVD to test the drive. This DVD is next used to verify DVD movie playback.
• Play Movie DVD    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:15:41 PM
      We play a movie DVD in your drive to confirm drive functionality, as well as codec installation. DVD playback software is installed if needed. Not applicable if you do not order a DVD drive.
• Check for sound output    Jeff – 09/15/08 05:15:40 PM
      Your sound card is confirmed to output sound.
• PCMark2005    Jeff – 09/16/08 01:45:20 PM
      Various aspects of your machine are fully tested with PCMark 2005.
• 3DMark    Jeff – 09/16/08 01:45:22 PM
      Your video card and 3D software is fully tested with either 3Dmark 2006 or 3Dmark Vantage deepending on the OS.
• Upload Bechmarks and Temperature Logs    Jeff – 09/16/08 01:49:50 PM
      All the benchmarks taken during the phase 2 testing process are recorded on our server, providing you with benchmark scores, and providing us with statistical information that will help us assist future customers. We also upload our temperature logs, giving you a baseline you can compare to after you receive the system.

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Update September 20, 2008.  The machine is built and has been shipped.  Now all I have to do is wait and then *play* with the new *toy* when it arrives!