Week of 9th September, 2013

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Monday, 9th September

On Friday, I ordered me a Google Nexus 4 16GB smartphone, SIM-free and unlocked, from the Google Play Store. This entailed creating a Google Wallet acount, after which all was pretty easy. I may unlink my credit card from that account, since I don't want the card number too spread about - PayPal and Amazon are quite enough, thank you very much. Checking my GMail inbox showed that the phone was dispatched on Saturday, via ParcelForce. There was a tracking number, which, in turn, showed that ParcelForce would deliver today.

And they did, first thing, before I got up, so Jane had to sign for it. First task, after explaining what it was, and why I'd bought it, was to charge the thing. Any high power (1 amp or better) USB charger suffices for that, and there's one in the box, but Jane's Amazon-branded plugtop charger, with it's microUSB lead, was to hand.

Of course, there's no SIM in it, but the rest of the configuration completed well enough, and I can go back and do the rest when I have a suitable SIM. My Vodafone SIM, in the Blackberry, is not suitable - it's the mini- size, and the Nexus 4 takes the micro- size, so I need a new one. Or a SIM cutter. But that would prevent putting the SIM back in the Blackberry. Better get a new one - probably not from Voda. Hutchison 3 do 1 month rolling contracts, with 200 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited data for UKP12.90 per month. I'll probably only keep this until I finally transition fully to the Nexus (when the Blackberry finally becomes too flaky)

OK, so I have to pay for Ulysses' repairs, get the new SIM, and do some shopping for Jane. And I need a case for the Nexus - it's not going in my pocket unprotected. Easier to do this in the car. So garage, 3 shop in the shopping centre, Tesco (in the centre) which didn't have the thing I really needed, and back to the big Tesco on the way to the garage, where Jane sent me an extra shopping list. That's why I dislike shopping for Jane - she always remembers something else, after I've gone out. In this case, "something else" boosted the shop from 1 bag to 3. Good thing I was in the big Tesco, parked less than 100 yards from the door, and with a trolley.

After lunch I had another outing, to get some spending money for Jane's Mum. And while I was there, I got the case for the Nexus - leather pouch style, rather like the case Blackberry (formerly RIM) supply with the Bold 9700, but cheaper and tackier. Well, it only cost me UKP8, so what else can you expect?

And everything seems to work - Bluetooth, when enabled, pairs up nicely on both Nexi. Pity there's no microSD slot...

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Tuesday, 10th September

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Wednesday, 11th September

12th anniversary of the Twin Towers atrocity

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Thursday, 12th September

I'm trying to move all my contacts, and my calendar, from the Blackberry to the Nexi. It seems logical to do this via Google, since the downward sync is automatic, so all I need to sort is the upload from the Blackberry. Free software only, of course. Blackberry have posted a procedure that they claim will work, but I've had no results yet - nothing is getting to Google.

And yes, I know I didn't want to do this, but the alternative is to use M$ Lookout, and I positively refuse to do that on my own machines. Maybe via a work machine...?

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Friday, 13th September

Friday the 13th is actually a Friday this month!

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Saturday, 14th September

So I checked the People app on the Nexus 4 today. And my contacts have been synced to it!. The Nexus 7 has them as well. This, of course, means that the Chocolate Factory, as intermediary, have a copy too. Which, in turn, means that it is trivially simple for the NSA and GCHQ to find out who I actually want to talk to, rather than inferring it from phone records - the which might link me to a suspected terrorist, just because we both patronise the same pizza shop. Don't laugh - there is evidence of this, from the various NSA leaks, of which Edward Snowden is the best known.

Now for calendar sync - onward and upward.

Meanwhile, limited experience suggests that, in my (relatively infrequent) use, the Nexus 4 will last 2 to 3 days on a charge. Except when I'm in the RF black hole known as work, when 20 hours is good going. I suspect the battery is getting nicely run in. The N7 is doing similarly well - last charge was 4 days ago. Compare that with the Playbook, which I am in the habit of charging every day - although I probably don't need to. Daily battery usage, in standby, is on the order of 8%.

Later: It now seems as though some of my calendar has synced - not the shift rota (which is a bunch of repeating appointments), but a few (not all) single items.

Later still: I've found out why. My primary calendar, which is associated with my Vodafone e-mail account, isn't synching. Only items that went into the calendar associated with my Gmail account are synching. And the Gmail calendar is now the default. More research is required.

<pause>

It would seem that Blackberry can only sync one calendar to Google. And the Google account you create takes priority, so it's the calendar that syncs. But I have 319 entries in my Blackberry calendar that I want to move, via Google, to the Nexi. It would be nice to keep all 3 devices synchronised, but I'll settle for a one-way transfer for the moment...

There are 3rd party apps that claim to do it, for pay. Which I consider a no-no, since I don't like paying for something without knowing how well it will work.

Lots of TV archiving done, 8% cleared, so there's 45-odd % free.

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Sunday, 15th September

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