Banai's impressions

Android user, Banai Feldstein, gives her impressions of the Rootstech app.

RootsTech App 2013 First Impressions

Rootstech App

Rootstech App Dashboard

I have had a little play with this app this afternoon.  It seems to be a great improvement on the app that was offered in 2012.

The Icons on the menu of the dashboard are: My Schedule, Exhibitors, Maps, Events, Speakers, Photo Gallery, Twitter, Friends, News, Attendees, Facebook.

It is easy to set up one's profile and, if one makes this public, one's name appears on a list of attendees. to set up one's profile one needs to select the My Profile option from the settings icon on the top right hand corner of the dashboard - it is not obvious. I would love to see a few more fields in the My Profile area especially one for hometown and country so that we have more information about potential friends.

Once one's name  appears on the list of attendees it is a simple matter for others to add that name to a contacts list or to send an invitation to become a friend. When one receives a friend invitation a little red icon appears over the Friends icon on the top menu, as these are accepted one's friend list grows. There is another way to invite friends but it is clunky and is what helped to soar the 2012 app for users.

My schedule is a basic calendar app that allows one to enter one's own events as well as items from the conference program.

One can view the program and details of talks from the Events icon, I couldn't seem to add events to my schedule from here. I must be doing something wrong but, in the absence if help can't work out what. The social events and keynote sessions do not appear to be listed either.

One can also get to session details via the  speakers icon on the menu bar. When one selects a speaker from the list that speakers sessions are displayed, one can then select a session to add to one's Conference  schedule. As one adds items to one's schedule these appear in a list above the menu icons on the dashboard of the app.

The Maps icon shows city and venue maps. I found the venue maps hard to understand although I have been at two Rootstech conferences; perhaps this is due to my poor spatial skills. The Twitter icon takes one to a feed of Tweets that include the Rootstech hashtag.

The Exhibitors gives a listing in abc order of all the exhibitors with contact details and short descriptions of their services. This is a great tool to organize one's vendor visits.

Friends lists those who have accepted your invitations and those whose
invitations you have accepted.

While it looks promising I'd like to see a few more things. Especially frustrating for someone who has more than one Android device is that  one's profile information does not seem to sync from one device to another. I move from tablet to smartphone many times during the day and need to have the same data on both. I need to have my same schedule appear on both otherwise I will get very confused.

It's past midnight in Australia and I am about to turn in. I hear that the Rootstech people are refining the app and look forward to seeing what additions and modifications will be waiting for me when I wake. Hopefully more attendees will fill out their profiles and make them public so that others can interact with them.

Rootstech Android App now available in Playstore

You can download the app from here.

The Playstore tells me that "This app is compatible with all of your devices." so I'm off to download it and have a play.

New player in the Android market.

HP unveils its first Android device: The HP Slate 7 entry-level tablet - National Technology | Examiner.com

I'm going to do this

How to improve your chances of recovering a lost Android phone

What browser do you use?

I have been using the  Dolphin  browser for over a year and am quite happy with it. When I saw the article below I thought about trying Chrome, my browser of choice on my laptop, on Android.

Chrome Releases: Chrome Beta for Android

I am wondering what others use.

Androids Downunder

Yesterday when I gave a talk on Tech Toys and Gadgets at a local historical society I was pleased to see that some attendees had brought along Android smartphones and tablets.

At today's Paul Milner seminar in Sydney I caught up with several genimates who were equipped with their Android tablets for notetaking, staying connected and social media. Thanks to Carole, Jonathan and Michelle who posed for a photo with their Androids. Just after this snap was taken I ran into Neil who was brandishing his new Android.

Carole, Jill, Jonathan and Michelle with their tablets 

Neil with his new toy

The use of Androids for genealogy in Australia is flourishing.

Time for an upgrade

My original Galaxy Tab that I purchased nearly 2 years ago has served me well but sadly its battery has given up the ghost. After much deliberation I got myself a replacement tablet today. My choice was a Galaxy  Note 10.1, 16 gig with 3G and the catalyst was actually the need to have a eBook reader for an overseas holiday that is looming.

I had previously been committed to a 7 inch tablet but now that I have  Galaxy S3 phone I find that is all I need when I am out and about. The 10 inch screen gives my fat fingers more keyboard space and more real estate for my growing apps collection and for reading eBooks. I trust that I have made a wise decision - I have been vacillating for weeks.

So today has been busy as I have been setting up the new toy with my apps. I have also purchased eBooks, one each from Amazon and Google Play so I don't need to take any real books when I go cruising this weekend.

New Slideshare Presentation

Recently retired from the workforce genealogist, Susan Petersen, has thrown herself into genealogy with gusto.

She recently posted this great presentation on Slideshare:

Turn Your Tablet Into a Lean Mean Genealogy Machine

Head over to Slideshare to see the 85 slides in Susan's presentation.