RAIN’S a bummer for many, especially cyclists. A heavy downpour forces one to stay under an awning to wait for the sun to come back. Because most of the time the sky extends its weeping, it’s a good time to whip out a gadget and extend a test run.
Which was what I did one time when stuck in the rain with my road bike and a CloudPad One 6.95 that PhoneCo Mobile Technologies Inc. gave to me last month. Here are the five things I did with the unit while waiting for the rain to subside at the Martel Building along N. Domingo Avenue, Quezon City:
- Played games. Of course, it was the time to play chess I downloaded from Google Play. It was a goog alternative to a smartphone because the unit offers a 6.95-inch wide super video graphics array in-plane switching display. The images are crisp and bigger, of course, while the movements of the pawn and other pieces appear smooth.
- Took photographs and video. Beaten several times on chess by the computer, I chose to shoot still images and video of that night when the fate of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority hung in a balance. Sadly, the rear camera offered only two megapixel quality.
- Read an e-book. From just one position, taking a photo and a video becomes boring. Thus, I caught up with my reading, “Principles of Newspaper Management” by James E. Pollard, that somebody sent to me via electronic mail. There were also the free samples I downloaded via the Play Books application.
- Managed my appointments. The calendar application integrated in the Cloudpad One 6.95 is a nifty tool to manage schedules. There are 73 notification sounds and several hundred icons to add to the appointment. There’s also the Keep app to jot down notes and write a reminder that, along with appontments in my calendar, are synchronized with one of my Google mail account.
- Listened to music. Plugging an earphone into the device, I played the 16 tracks of John Cougar Mellencamp’s album The Best That I Could Do. Having earphones compensate for the low quality of sound and at least helps to kill time.
- Wrote a list like this. Using the Google Docs app, I called up the file containing the draft of and continued writing this article.
However, despite Android 5.1 Lollipop, the CloudPad One 6.95 fails in extending battery life. It nearly conked out on me when before I got to Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good.” Nonetheless, recharging the CloudPad One 6.95 takes only about 42 minutes on direct outlet but nearly an hour via a powerbank.
But at less than P5,000 ($96.20), the device is for those times one is stuck under the rain for nearly three hours but who is not finicky about spending those times with just six things to do.