Stuff that worked brilliantly at ConnectED
by Volker Weber
I did not bring a lot of gear to ConnectED. You'd be shocked:
- iPhone 6 Plus with Pebble Steel and Voyager Edge. I use that for everything including calling home over Facetime with very discreet audio. Platronics replaced my original pre-launch sample because it could not be upgraded to the latest firmware. I wanted to try a Jawbone Era, but the agency turned out to be very difficult to deal with. ("We don't have a charge case and I will first send you a contract.") Thumbs up for Plantronics, again!
- Lumia 930. I brought this for a simple reason: if I had the chance to record a video interview I wanted the best camera I have. It can record up to 4k video with 5.1 surround sound. It can also record directional stereo. That means things in front of it are louder than things behind it. Very impressive. Why not the Lumia 1020? Only two microphones instead of four and no Denim upgrade yet. I used it for ten minutes, but they were worth taking it.
- Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. I left the Macbook at home and instead brought the Yoga. That saved me from bringing an iPad or any other tablet. I was really happy to have it since I had to do a few quick emergency fixes over SFTP and SSH, that would have been impossible or at least very difficult on a tablet.
Yes, that's it. Three machines, one that required no recharge and one that needed only one recharge. For the first time ever, the iPhone did not need a recharge during the day, but I kept a powerbank in my bag with the little charging dongle attached which TimeToAct gave away in the showcase.
While the Yoga is a great machine, it has some challenges rooted in Frankenstein 8.1. Sometimes it would not turn off the keyboard or trackpad when folded. Then the mouse pointer disappeared and I could only get it back by powercycling the machine. Both never happened on my original Yoga 11. Not once. Those were minor inconveniences. And then I returned home and found that the Yoga had shed a tiny part. I don't know why this happened because I always treated it with exceptional care. I did not even notice when it fell off.
