Tag Archives: Windows Mobile

Keep The Note 4?



Motorola Bag PhoneSince the mass adoption of the cell phone happened starting in the 1990’s, like everyone else I’ve gone through a long succession of cell phones. My very first cell phone was a Motorola bag phone. Remember those? Analog cell phones could sound surprisingly good. Of course, in fringe reception areas, the sound quality would often become quite crackly and was prone to dropped calls. Those bag phones could output up to three watts of power, so the reception could be decent depending on the area it was operating in.

The next phone I had was an early analog candy bar style phone with a nickel cadmium battery. It had a terrible standby time of only about 30 minutes. Reception was poor in part because output wattage was cut back to about ½ a watt.

After that, the next one was a more modern Nokia candy bar style phone with better battery life and was both digital and analog. Unfortunately, the digital sound in those days was pretty bad, and the analog reception suffered from vastly diminished ½ watt of power.

The next one was an updated version of the Nokia candy bar phone. It offered somewhat better performance, and a few more bells and whistles.

Cell phone number five was a folding LG camera phone that included a color LCD and was my first phone with an integrated 640 x 480 camera. The phone also had a USB port. I was able to figure out how to plug the phone into a computer and go through a very clunky process of transferring the photos from the phone’s built-in memory to the computer’s hard drive, a process that required some hacky third party software I downloaded from the Internet. Even after I replaced this phone I continued to use it for several years as an alarm clock, a function that worked quite well.

Next came my first smart phone. It was a Windows Mobile phone from HTC with a 3.5” pressure sensitive touchscreen with WiFi and 3G EVDO. It included a storable stylus and a slide-out keyboard, features I found of little practical use.

My second smartphone was another HTC phone running Windows Mobile, this time without the slide-out keyboard. It still had a 3.5” pressure-sensitive touchscreen, WiFi and 3G EVDO.

Smartphone number three was my first Android device, a Sprint Evo also manufactured by HTC. The HTC Evo  included a 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen and the 8 megapixel rear camera was able to record 720p 30fps video, though the video sound quality suffered compared with newer devices. The HTC Evo’s biggest problem was that it had awful battery life.

Smartphone number four was a Samsung Galaxy S3. It had a 4.8 inch touchscreen and was a better performer than the Evo while offering somewhat better battery life.

Smartphone number five was a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The Note 3 had a 5.7” 1080p touchscreen and offered great battery life. The Note 3 can record 4k video. The Note 3 has great stereo video sound. Many Note 3’s remain in use today.

The next, and my current smartphone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. I really like the Note 4. It has great battery life, fantastic performance and a Quad HD 5.7” touchscreen.

With cell phone number eleven, I find myself in a bit of a quandary regarding where do I go from the Note 4? Three of the Note 4 features I find extremely important, besides the 5.7” screen size, are the integrated Micro SD Card slot, the ability to do fast charging, and the user replaceable battery.

The fast charging feature is game-changing. If I have forgotten to plug the phone in or I find the battery is low, I can plug the phone in and quickly goose the battery. The Note 4 will charge from zero up to fifty percent in only thirty minutes which is incredibly handy. Even a quick 10 or 15 minute charge can be extremely useful in pushing the battery percentage back up to a higher level.

I recently experienced a suddenly failing battery in my Note 4. I was able to buy a high-quality replacement battery via Amazon and I’m back in business. If I had a phone such as the Note 5 with a non-user-replaceable battery, I would be forced to make an inconvenient trip to my phone provider.

I am inclined to simply keep the Note 4 that I have indefinitely. After all, it has everything that I demand. There’s nothing to be gained by switching to the Note 5 or later, and the user-replaceable battery to be lost.


Switching From Windows Mobile To Android



I became eligible for a new phone from Verizon on November 10th.  On Black Friday, November 26th, I finally made my decision.  I had been thinking of holding out for Verizon to get a Windows Phone 7 device, but I just couldn’t take my Windows Mobile 6.1 phone any longer.  Plus Dell had a great deal on the Motorola Droid X – $79.99.  It could have been $49.99 if I had the primary line (my wife’s phone has that designation), or even $9.99 if I were moving to Verizon as a new customer.  But, $79 is still one heck of a deal for a Droid X.

The first thing I worried about was that this phone would be just a bit TOO big.  I always carry my phone in my front right pants pocket.  It’s not.  It’s perfectly sized.

The next thing was the learning curve from Windows Mobile 6.1 to Android.  And that was surprisingly low.  It took me a little while to figure out certain things, but that should be expected when moving to a new device.  For instance turning on WiFi, deleting programs, and moving icons to the home screen were all not completely obvious.  But they weren’t really hidden either.

The market was front and center on the home screen and made searching for apps simple.  And once you find one it’s one-click to download and install it.  Talk of Android apps is all over the place on on the internet, so there’s no problem hearing about new ones, both good and bad.  I had a list I was interested in long before I even bought the phone.  For instance, Tom wrote a great post on this site a while back about Camera 360, so that was one of the first I added.  The apps you start with will depend on a lot of things.  I have DirecTV, so I added their app for accessing and programing my DVR.  My kids and I have a fantasy football team and Yahoo makes a really slick app for tracking your team.

Beyond those personal apps, everyone should probably look at adding Google Maps, Google Reader, WeatherBug, and Twitter.

Moving to Android has been really painless.  If you have heard talk of Android being somewhat geeky then you have only heard part of the story.  It can be as Geeky as you want, but version 2.2 can also be simple for any user, no matter what their level.


Living With The Sprint HTC Evo



I’ve been living with my HTC Evo now for a few weeks, long enough where I can make a few informed observations about the device.

The Evo’s 4.3 inch multi-touch screen is superb. I’ve been surprised by the brightness and readability of the Evo’s screen even in a vehicle or outdoors in sunlight. The screen is big enough to be useful, yet the device still fits into a regular shirt pocket.

The Evo is fast and responsive. It seems that no matter what programs are open, the Evo remains just as responsive — there’s no wait for programs or configuration screens to pop open. The other smart phones I’ve owned in the past are dog-slow and sluggish by comparison.

The HTC’s “Sense” user interface that sits on top of Android is a winner. Popular social networking sites are slickly integrated right into every aspect of the phone’s functionality, making it possible to share most everything you can think of with a couple of taps.

The WiFi hotspot feature is also a tremendous convenience. It does have its quirks though. I’ve found that if I have opened up a bunch of different applications in the course of using the phone, if I then open up the WiFi hotspot feature, something will go wrong after a few hours and turn off the battery’s charging circuit. Something I have installed and am running may be causing this to happen. If I reboot the phone and then run the WiFi hotspot feature, this problem doesn’t occur and the battery keeps charging when it’s plugged in to AC power.

The integrated GPS is able to quickly find a signal. There are two GPS navigation choices that are included – Google Navigation and Sprint Navigation. Both work exactly as expected. I find myself making the most use of Google Navigation and Google Maps. The ability to search for businesses in a local area based on the phone’s own GPS location is extremely useful and I typically find I use that feature several times a day.

4G is currently not a good reason to buy an Evo because 4G coverage is currently extremely limited. This situation is in the process of changing. In the meantime, I’m happy with Sprint’s 3G coverage. I knew about this 4G limitation going in to getting this phone, so it’s not a problem for me. In reality, it’s likely going to take two or three years before 4G is widely deployed. I’ve been a Sprint data customer for more than 5 years, so I’ve witnessed (and lived with) the process firsthand of them going from 1XRT service that was limited to the eastern half of the country to widely-deployed EVDO Rev “A” 3G service.

Android is light years better than Windows Mobile 5, 6 or 6.5. When Android needs to pull data from the Internet it quickly pulls it without fuss or muss. All the versions of Windows Mobile I’ve dealt with have a “Dial-up Networking” routine they have to go through just as if it was a desktop computer connecting via a modem, which is slow and sometimes prone to fail. Windows Mobile data connections must be manually closed when not in use or they can drain the battery. Android just does what you expect it to without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

The Evo’s main 8 megapixel camera is very good, and the interface allows instant uploading of photos to services such as Flickr and Facebook. The front-facing camera will work with a free program called “Fring” that will allow two-way video conferencing, but I’ve found Fring’s interface confused and somewhat unreliable.

Sprint appears to be blocking the uploading of videos recorded on the phone even through the phone’s integrated browser when signed in to YouTube. However, I was able to email a video as an attachment to my YouTube account.

The Evo’s “HD video” recording capability is not anywhere close to HD standards. Furthermore, the sound quality of recorded video and audio is quite poor. The Evo is not a replacement for a real video camera. It is only fair to note here that all iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads have superior audio recording capabilities. Also the iPhone 4’s HD video recording capabilities are obviously quite superior to the Evo’s.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the HTC Evo. That being said, keep in mind that it requires expensive voice/data plans if you wish to take advantage of all its capabilities. Furthermore as a two and one half year plus Sprint customer I’m satisfied with the quality and speed of the Sprint network.


GNC-2010-05-14 #575 Machine is Fired!



Well as many of you experienced on the last show the audio went downhill at 1:11 minutes. Tonight it happened again! Backup recorder saved the day, meanwhile the machine in question has been fired and a replacement has been ordered from Sweetwater. Having issues like this is unacceptable to me at this point. Otherwise show went off without a hitch and I have a pile of stuff to share. Their will be a meetup on 5-22 in Coldwater Michigan. Listen for details. Special version of Geek News Central Insider coming be a Insider!

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Show Comments please call 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
DNA Robots!
Boxee to have eCommerce Tie in!
Satellite out of control!

Show Links:
Phones moving more data than voice.
Prom Dress wars!
More Botnets controlled by Twitter!
Fungus Conspiracy!
Mini Bluetooth Keyboard.
iPhone for Verizon?
STS-132 Launch Today!
Pirate Bay ISP Ordered to shut em down!
Netural Net Neutrality Bill?
Fiber in your City?
Judge Rules against Limewire Chairman.
EC2 taken out by Car.
End of the World?
Subway has Lost It.
Hulu says no to HTML5.
Skype 5 Way Video Chat.
Skype no to Windows Mobile 7.
** Secret Mission of the Terminator!
Sony Looses more money.
Bing Navigation.
Have a 100k for Space Ticket?
PS3 Supercomputers Locked Out.
Adobe’s Hail Marry.
Philip’s LED bulb.
13 Port USB Hub.
Privacy and Facebook Origins.
North Korea attains Nuclear Fusion? ;)
Gold Dispensing ATM Machine.
Hotmail set for comeback?
Verizons plan to crush all carriers.
Broadband Demand Up!
See the Moon on MoonZoo.
Content Distribution Strategies.
Scoble to Facebook.
Are you from Future?

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!




GNC-2010-02-15 #552 It only takes one!



Every show has it’s trolls tonight one took it to a new level, very sad individuals play games like this. Lots of tech news and information just like always. Next show will be a early live recording hope you join me on Thursday night for the live event.

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Show Comments please call 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
TaskSquid.com
Fictionwise.com
Archive Org Books
Free-e-books
Scribd
e-book-com.au
manybooks.net
planetbook.com
feedbooks.com

Show Links:
iPad books to be wrapped in DRM.
Apple Blocks Hackers!
Convention Crashers!
FDIC has to get Defensive?
ISS gets a new viewing perch!
Parallels wins Windows for Mac showdown!
Will Google fail in 1gbps roll out?
FCC may force carriers to share!
Verizon 4G on the Way!
Sports Hacker wanted in France?
4 Trillion Degree collision?
Some cool iPhone Apps.
California Steampunk Gathering!
Comcast = Xfinity!
UK Linking is not Infringing!
7.2 Billion stimulus being blocked?
Spirit is parked for Winter.
Shuttle Mission Extended!
Blip Downloads bad for Media Device Viewing!
Windows Phone 7 Video.
Windows Mobile Comparison.
Bug Labs 2.0
Is Wi-Fi on School Buses a good Idea?
Use for those old Projector Slides!
DIY Mag Power Plug.
WAC to deliver on App Standards?
Is Cable Fudging Survey Numbers?
ChatRoulette is very very dangerous!
Do you use Hot Spot?
Scobleizer on TED
Sarah Lacy on TED?
Do you have a 20 minute rule?
Mozilla happy with Opera?

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!




GNC-2009-11-17 #528 Little Rough Tonight?



Never let your Audio recorder start doing a Virus Scan in the middle of the show. 15 minutes had to be re-recorded tonight which sucks.. You know me no editing but when the audio was blank I had to do it twice. Probably better the second time around anyway.

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Show Comments please call 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
2012 Review Plus Spoiler
Samsung DualView is pretty crazy.
Congrats to Richard!
Travel alot? Try www.worldmate.com
Jay needs a job in Albuquerque Area (505) 750-3121 Listen to mini Resume on Show

Show Notes:
Cisco and Logitech Get serious about Video Conference!
Google Hires Don Dodge!
Some Online companies to get congressional spanking this week.
Who do your Believe NYT or Computer World?
Windows 7 Tricks and Tips on Explorer.
Paul Allen Lymphoma announcement!
Windows 7 Zero Day Threat!
Unfriend Word of the Year!
Twitter to tweak Suggested User List.
10 Black Friday Tips.
Apple Post printer driver updates.
SSL not so Secure?
100 Million Core Computers by 2018?
FreeCreditReport gets over 1000 domains in ruling.
MPAA/Sony reverse course on small Muni Wifi.
American Airlines fires considerate employee!
Shuttle to ISS.
Progress docks at ISS.
Water on the Moon!
Where goes the programmers goes the Money!
The Future of Super Computing!
Does AT&T have egg on their face?
Apple and Evil Patents!
Apple rumored deals on Black Friday.
iPhone Apps now reviewed by Computer.
Find dining that fits your diet.
What are the odds?
What is Twitter really for?
Startup Dont’s
Has your world changed?
Google Translation Services significantly approved.
Chrome Extensions Site Launch?
15 Chrome Extensions!
Apple Tablet yet a reality?
Windows Mobile dying off fast!
Psystar Guilty Guilty Guilty!
Psystar Crushed!
Viacomm Lawyer relates P2P Lawsuits to Terrorism.
Multi-Track recorder for iPhone.

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!




GNC-2009-10-12 #519 Off to Vegas!



Ok folks one show at home and then off to Vegas, there will be no Friday show this week due to BlogWorld and New Media Expo make sure you check out some podcasts over at TechPodcasts.com. I will be back with you from Florida a week from today with a early evening live show.

Ongoing support by these fine sponsors keep the lights on your support is appreciated!
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Follow @geeknews on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/geeknews
My Personal Facebook Profile
Join the Geek News Central Podcast Facebook Page
Show Comments please call 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Mac Network Issue Link
Australia Dust Storms aftermath findings.
Newspaper End Times
Zune HD review from GNC Winner!

Show Links:
Judge does not punish Lawyer
Some Startup Commentary
Snow Leopard Killing user Accounts!
Hyperdrive testing at Hadron Collider? Whats Next?
The inventor of web says he is sorry!
Apple Time Capsule has its own countdown!
More info on Comcast Botnet Battle!
Ultimate Media Converter.
Digital iPhone Cheapskates?
Winer on Future Safe Archives.
Windows Mobile 6.5 Bad reviews!
Sidekick Failure due to Third Party.
T-Mobile allows cancellation of Sidekick Contracts!
What caused the Sidekick Failure?
Data, Data, Data Everywhere!
Photoshop on iPhone!
Twitter not doing Videos Native.
New Jailbreak for iPhone 3.1.2 Available.
100 Years of the Sky is Falling.
App that can save Lives.
45 Vintage Fonts.
More details on Font Suite against NBC.
20 Fantastic iPhone Apps for Parents!
The battle against company behind Pirate Bay.
10 Billion to get schools and Libraries wired with Fiber!
NASA Happy Public Disappointed!
Dyson Blade free Fan “Amazing”
Zune MarketPlace for Mac?
Brit hacker may find new home in Fed Pen!
Getting a unemployment check do not have ads on your Blog!
IOC not happy with Olympic Pictures with CC License.
Radio Stations to pay Performance Fees (Serves them right)
Gourmet Magazine dead because of Bloggers and Twitter Users?
Redskin Fans Read Up..
Soyuz and Clown back from ISS.