working on tech

working on tech

Mission Statement

This blog should be a safe place for anyone who wants to talk, read, listen, and experience technology in safe GOD fearing way. I am a believer and follower of JESUS CHRIST MY LORD AND SAVIOR WHO I BELIEVE CAME DOWN AS GOD IN THE FLESH TO SHED BLOOD SO WE MAY BE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD AND HE WILL ACT AS WITNESS ON OUR BEHALF BECAUSE NO MAN CAN GET TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST and it is those who believe mission to spread this message of love to all people for GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD! I strive to live righteously and I pray you do to and understand that we should do that in all that we do even when we are enjoying my favorite hobby, all things tech! that's why I am a techie in CHRIST I am a tech nerd that is grounded in the LORD. GOD BLESS !
Showing posts with label atechieinchrist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atechieinchrist. Show all posts

Friday, October 2, 2020

My Ebike Journey !


 If you ever thought about building a Ebike, do it! It was an amazing experience and I just want to share it with you all 

Friday, August 5, 2016

Minimizing my tech, the next step

Looking at my tech is the hardest part of my journey so far into Christian minimalism. I had to look at my gadgets because I know as I try to lead my family away from stuff I have to show that I am all in. One of those things is limiting my technology. I am a techie in Christ! cmon man!
I first got rid of the gadgets in the garage that I tinkered with , like a LCD projector, HDMI cords, adapters. I had to get rid of my baby, the one I birthed from the picture in my banner, my gaming pc! I didn't need a PC that I played by myself or against people hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Bye bye PS4
If I play a game most of the time I want to do it with my family. That's why I haven't been playing my PS4. I originally got it for so called "grown up games" which really mean games "too sinful for your eyes to see kids" haha. So I knocked out two birds with one stone. Well I am selling it now. I just spent 375 on it in February before GOD began working on me and I am trying to recoup my losses. I know I want to get to the point I give up stuff and not think about the losses but my wife don't want me throwing away money. So until a buyer comes, it collects dust! At least its not building dust on my relationship with those around me and my prayer life!

Whats the next tech purge?
I began July with canceling Comcast. I used to use it exclusively for internet so that I can use my Apple Airport Extreme router. I had a jungle of cords set up! Now I sacrificed a little speed, gave up the extra features, and simplified the cords to keep things a little tidier and easier to maintain. I now have one bill for everything keeping it simple. I can always come back when I am considered a new customer for a cheaper price.
 I am down to using one computer. We have an extra laptop as a family , so I am trying to get rid of one of the older slower 2 in 1s. I gave away most of the cords in such and sold some things, I still have old flip phones I need to trash and condense down some old floppy drives. I am debating and praying over the movement to a cheap phone. I am selling my 6 plus honestly to prepare for the iphone 7. Some are rolling their eyes but that is progress for me, a person who upgraded legit probably every 6 months to something. I really enjoy my iphone, rather its taking screenshots, saving passwords, letitng it talk with other devices or Apple Pay! The greatest thing that I love when using my Iphone is Apple Pay. I use apple pay all the time much more often than I swipe my card, rather its gas , groceries , subway, etc.. Its convenient clean and , dare I say it , minimal?,,,,,, haha talked my way out of that one!

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Chromebook makes me not miss macbook?

Working with this Chromebook again has been pretty fulfilling. I am typing this using a Asus c300. I have just sold my macbook on my continued journey. My plan was to actually sell my old macbook to acquirer a newer macbook because the old one had battery issues and it was getting dirty and worn from the years of use. I wanted something fast that I can keep for another few years and I still think its ok to get something that you will use everyday if feel like its a tool that  bring pleasure to my life. The crazy thing is , I have really been enjoying this Chromebook. 
The keyboard is very responsive and it feels good to type on. I am typing quickly without any typos (my gramar is human error haha)  so that is showing that the keys are layed out well. The space bar gives me an old mechanical keyboard type bounce back and its a joy. The screen resolution sucks compared to my Macbook air but this Chromebook was dirt cheap. The browsing is fast for me. I noticed the battery life is amazing too I have been typing for 3 hours doing work and now blogging and the battery is at 80 percent! 
I also found out today that there is a easy way to take a screenshot too. I know its something so simple but after using the iphone screenshot daily to work on my daily scripture reading, I find myself taking screenshots all the time. It basically transformed my photo album into a file cabinet. In today's world with much online purchase activity, it comes in handy taking screenshots of confirmations and payments. Especially when many of our email providers trying to protect us from spam, inadvertently hides stuff in clutter or junkmail or the sort. 
The instant on is pretty cool too and the lightness feels pretty good. I became conditioned and even spoiled to thin and light because of the macbook air, but this isnt as bad as I thought it would be. Its light enough. I am also excited because I got a easy hdmi out for my presentation tomorrow. 
I guess the biggest revelation I had since using this chromebook is that my workflow is not really OS dependent. If you read many of my articles in the past you probably seen me go in and out of my desire to use a chromebook or tablet over a mac only to come back to it after 6 months or so. However things really have been changing for me now that I am diving into this idea of Christian minimalism. I love having my computer power just in case I need to tinker or hack away at something, but now that I am trying to get away from the "just in case" precautions and things, I can have something cheap to get just what I need to get done and get out the way to experience other things in life. Is $800 worth me getting the power just in case? Decisions, decisions.... 

Friday, April 22, 2016

Just awoke from my Surface 3 nightmare!


"Lost in the Hype"
I purchased a Surface tablet 3 a few weeks ago and I'm "meh" ...
I fell for the hype in the commercials seeing artists and engineers draw on the versatile computer easily toting it and writing on. I watched Nadella and his crew charismatically pitched how Microsoft is jumping ahead as the leader of the wave of technology and the future. I seen the shiny display in Bestbuy and it seemed so much more interesting than the usual macbook i have now become accustomed to because it looked like the 5 year old Macbook I already have. One of my keys was stuffed crumbs on my macbook air so I used it as an opportunity to dive into the windows world once again. So I got myself a Surface 3

The initial impression was amazing, I loved the build due to its thinner and light weight! It felt amazingly solid in my hand and thats when things seemed to stop.

Somethings not right 
I took a late flight after wrestle mania so I was stuck in Dallas airport for about 5 hours. I had trouble getting a good connection to wifi and I became very frustrated. My frustration came to a peek when i couldn't get the browser to log in to my Uverse websites to watch wrestling. Luckily I remembered I had an Uverse app on my iPhone. I logged in quickly and was off to watching WWE Monday Night Raw! Apple saved the day!


The turn

I got home and posted the surface 3 on craigslist but after reading some positive reviews I decided to give it another shot! I gave it my full effort even going as far as buying a keyboard a surface pen and sitting my MBA down for a week. That brings me to why I am writing this. I was at work wondering whats wrong with the connection. I kept having to refresh my browser and reconnecting. I tried to download office and it kept freezing. I had trouble getting it to boot at one point and I had to research finding out I have to press volume down with the window logo in order for it to go into troubleshooting mode. I wasted a whole day of productivity thinking that my new idea of minimalist productivity could somewhat improve with this device... boy was I wrong!  In a bat of frustration I pulled out my macbook air I brought into work to reformat and prepare for sale and I logged right in. I logged in within a second or so. I then pulled up the browser to see if it was something wrong with the internet and I was wrong everything popped up right away! I logged into blogger and wala! It was soo easy, so simple, such a minimal amount of work for maximum productivity.

"Prodigal Son Returns"
What was I thinking. The keys feel good in my hand without the weird angle of the type cover keyboard. My palms wrest nicely on the side of the touch pad as my fingers glide and bang across the keys. The 13 inch screen helps my eyes to relax. Testing minimalist waters, its much easier to carry my macbook as my only device because it gives me access to many of the phone features I use like phone text and video calls via face time. I also can use my iBooks purchased on my iPad. Once you add the type cover, there is really not that dramatic of a difference between the bulk and weight of the Surface 3 verses the Macbook Air 13.. If you have read my previous articles , you can see this is not my first go around trying a surface, a few years back i was an early adopter of the Surface pro 2 but that ended in the same result.

Im sorry Apple I am so disloyal but hey I keep coming back. They say if you love something let it free if it comes back you know it loves you back. I guess I love my Apple products. GOD BLESS

Why I felt Wrestlemania 32 was amazing!!

Let's start of stating I'm a grown man in my 30's with a wife and kids. I guess that's saying I'm not the stereotypical smark my keyboard warrior in my moms house asking for privacy while I complain about a show I spend 6 hours plus watching (raw, smackdown, nxt). Not trying to start a war with anyone but I just had to address the first elephant in the room. I watch WWE because of what it stands for ,,,, entertainment!!
Wrestlemania 32 fit guys like me! who cares who got pushed who got buried. Who cares who deserves a spot, you wouldn't know any of the wrestlers if they didn't get pushed to be on tv for you to notice them! It's entertainment, not a sport. I spent $1000 to watch the greatest show in person not the greatest sports ticket! So how did it do? 
 Pre match - Ryback vs Kalisto 
I didn't see it because I was outside trying to get in! I'm from Chicago so I was burning up in the Dallas sun next to a guy dressed in a unicorn! 

I got settled in during the Usos vs the Dudleys... I have to admit I cheered for the Dudleys because I grew up watching them. I thought it was cool a black guy and white guy brothers and they looked like to geeks who can thrash anyone! I wanted them to win but it was cool seing the Usos fly through the air! It was entertaining.

The ladder match
This match was amazing! The crowd was über into it from the crazy dive through the ladder , to the the kalisto spring board flip and splash/fall! I cringed at the suplex on the ladder I thought it was a botch and Owens was legit hurt. Ryder won the crowd with the elbow drop! Wow we was primed to chear woo woo woo (sorry)... Thoroughly entertaining 

Break the walls down! 
Wow what a match I lost my voice from the ohhh! Wanted to cheer for the last time with a win but Jericho always does the job for mania I think this his first win in maybe 5 or so 

New day
This match was boo but then the magic happened
3 of the most entertaining wrestlers of my childhood came out. In their prime I couldn't afford to go see them and my parents didn't value wrestling but I thank GOD I had the finances to hear that music and that crowd as they came out! Shawn Micheals still looks like he can go. Stone Cold the no games stunner like days of old. Whimsical Foley still making me laugh but looking like a legit threat! Wow this was perfectly placed after what would've totally killed the crowd! There was more new day shirts and signs than any other talent! Despite what the old heads say... New day is definitely over! The only people who was more over? The legends I mentioned. I finally got a chance to see what people meant when they said it was nothing like a stone cold pop! I was headed for food until I heard this! 

The ladies match was food time for me for religious reasons. Not being sexist. I heard it was a good match! I don't listen to rap no more for religious reasons but I have to admit I popped hearing Snoop my favorite childhood rapper (poor parenting ) haha. The crowd was hyped and I respect their talent. 

Shane vs Taker 
This match started slow and made me remover the slow fumbling around type wrestling of my childhood. The crowd including myself was biting our fingers in anxious anticipation for Shane to do something stupid for our entertainment! When he cut the gate we popped, when he crashed on the table we popped. By the time he began ascending to the top we totally forgot about the beginning of the match! I recorded my reaction as I watched him fall breaking my usual stoic reaction. We all chanted thank you Shane! Thank you Shane for risking your life for my entertainment! 

Finally the Rock has come back to Wrestlemania
I grew much more emotional than I'm comfortable with as the Rock came out! The reason I began working out, coming back to wrestling after the 80's , the reason I came back as an adult! The rocked looked like me, had swag like me, was funny , and can wrestle. If your still reading of course you know why people love the rock! I felt like my money was well spent already and then the Rock came to give us desert cutting a awesome promo he controlled the crowd in the palm of his hands! Then when he ripped into his gear and said he wanted a match I yelled like I did when Macho man said "Elizabeth , will you mar-ry-me?" . I lost my voice and jumped up even if it was 6 seconds. ... Then John Cena !!!!! Wow I knew he was coming but wow and I seen him burry like always but I'm in my 30's Hogan, Goldberg, Sting, dX , and the NWO birdied everyone too! I pay to see stars be stars not people become stars! They came to entertain me! 

The bad part 
Haha they did bury the main event to be honest. Nothing mattered after the Rock! I was ready to go home. They tried hard! The Game intro was amazing! It was very disturbing but he looked like an awesome villain! I tried to cheer for Reigns I think 60 thousand did. A small kid behind me said "reigns is cool triple H sucks daddy" .. The match was doomed when they started with a lock up , he should've rushed into a spear right away and have Steph pull him out but .. Hey I am not a writer. I still enjoyed the few cool spots . I appreciate the effort , I loved seing him win again. Many did cheer but the the smarks spending $1000 plus on tickets alone was the voice that's heard. 

Godfather was good even though the dancing at the wedding was long and boring.. The talk was long and boring on kill bill before she flung the knife in Vivica fox chest... We regard those movies as awesome because the good outweighed the 20 min of bad! The 4 hours of good outweighed the last match 

Wrestlemania was amazing because it was well wrestled matches with the stars that I grew up watching coming back to entertain a "Mark" like me. Not to be fair , but give me wrestling entertainment! Thank you WWE.. Sorry smarks




Monday, September 29, 2014

iPhone 6 plus truly is bigger than bigger, a "iSheep's journey"

 I mean - whats the point of being an isheep if you don't read every review you can find on the iPhone 6 or 6+! I know I have read almost every post that I can possibly find on my google+ / Twitter feed trying to reaffirm the positive feelings I have for my precious ..... yes i do say it as creepy as the voice sounds in your head when you read that. .


The pre- order  

I was one of the dorks / fortunate ones that stayed up until midnight pacific, 2 a.m my time getting ready to purchase the iPhone 6+ believing the rumors was true (and they where), I had to make sure I order as quickly as possible. I had the iPad  , iPhone, and iMac waiting to ibuy! haha I kept refreshing being the apple store close on my safari app , and i kept closing and relaunching the store app until wall 2:45 I'm in like flip and my journey begins, I got the black iPhone 6+, debating the gold but feared letting this one go and ending with nothing I stayed with what I got first. I entered the info , and OH NO the store gives an error, it says it will email me when purchase goes through... the thirst pushed me to not bank on this email so i thought ," ill resubmit order if I'm double charged I will just fix up later! " , who cares about money when obsessed, ,, i mean crazy, i mean passionate, i mean just trying to enjoy the experience! (the last one sounds the best ) .. Oh the joy posting a screenshot of my notification my order is complete !  jealous much? ,,,,

The wait 

What a long , ugly week it was. Friday couldn't come soon enough, I go to Amazon to purchase a case , which still hasn't come! I re - watch the press conference imaging the thoughts in my mind, i hock my iPhone 5s of to some poor sap who broke his and stuck in the middle of a contract! I laugh at the guys waiting in line , what shmucks spends the night outside when they can just loose a nights sleep, some people are ridiculous haha. As Wednesday and Thursday slowly drives in the left lane as Im speeding to Friday. I get tips like using my order code to check my location. I slighty panic when I see my order disappears from my checking account until I read it happens all the time in my isheep forums.. I constantly refresh the app store wondering why its thursday and my order hasn't ship,, it was hiding in the hills of kentucky.

The Arrival 

Wow a plain white minimalist box. The white album. Beauty in the unbeautiful nothing ness. Allowing me to paint the picture of how this iPhone will affect my life.. Just trying to audition for a PR job , i looked and thought I guess they wanted to save money and I broke it open. The box is open and wow this thing is huge! Luckly I dabbled in ridiculous sized phones before with the samsung mega earlier in the year, but I recently had the iPhone 5s so i became reacustemed to the small phone. Wow its like the iPhone went away to summer camp and came back a man! Wow good headline huh?
The screen is beautiful! I like the way it curved to the edges like my old nexus 4 i miss the rounded sides, it makes it seem as though the screen was coming out to me rather me looking inside of it. I enjoyed seeing the beauty of IOS on a bigger screen, small enough so its bright and visible from side angles but not big enough to seem normal like a iPad. Basically it looks rich, you know like a mercedes black vs a Ford Taurus black, it just seems different.  The phone is skinny to like a giant iPod touch! I like the lines because it makes it stand out but after feeling the slipperiness of the phone (necessarry fake word,, i think its fake),  i knew right away I needed a case. The load up seemed quicker and the finger recognition was quicker. My phone got pretty warm when I was loading up from backup. to be honest if I had another chance , which I kinda do, I would start from scratch , especially due to the fact I have to reload the and approve all the security and location settings anyway.


The experience 

Screen 

I really loved my first experience with this phone! The screen is amazing and continues to be so. I can see it from far away, the colors seem brighter and the curve makes a difference. It looks as though its coming to me and it takes me back often.

Quickness 

The quickness in the sign in is amazing. The apps feel the same but strangely it seems as though Facebook is much slower. My screen goes black and then loads up its weird. I am not used to seeing that on apple products . I love how fast siri is, i guess i can say the main chip isn't that significant and I think it needs some more time with iOS 8 but the co processor that handles security , siri and all that   is amazing! Though I'm not sure about the siri being handled by that. The Internet is faster I didn't think the faster wifi would be visible, it may be a placebo thing but I feel its faster.

Camera 

i took a quick shot of some Mexican food i figured if I do a one take unedited shot you can see real  life scenarios. 
The camera works good,  I like throwback looking pictures ala IG so the camera don't get me to excited anyway. I can say my caffinated hands was helped by the image stabilization. I like the slow picture, its funny how people are willing to embarrass themselves to see how it works. Im a good Christian so I won't embarrass them haha.

Size benefits 

I love the big screen. I missed my mega when it came to reading the web. My calloused thumbs reminded me that I would've been more comfortable if I still had my phablet while reading instead of the tiny 5s. I feel bad, but my iPad has been feeling like Woody because Buzz has replaced it for my morning Bible Study! I used to fire up the iPad mini for the kindle app but not I can just use my iPhone 6+ and share the scripture just as quickly with the keyboard.
my, "I dare you make a snarky comment about my giant phone" face 
I know a ton of people don't like IOS keyboard but I think its the best, the problem was that it was squished. Now that there is plenty of room the iPhone keyboard can shine again. Much less typos than on my android stock keyboards, I am one of the few I guess that has no interest in a swype keyboard and honestly my phone is probably to big to swipe with one hand.
I also like how in landscape mode you get traditional looking safari! Thats amazing! I think its to much junk on the landscape keyboard but the copy and paste button is pretty cool.

Battery 

I don't have any scientific measurements but I know many people like me just want to hear real practical use reports. I can say when I did the usual gitty phone use that most have when they get a new gadget, I had 48% 11:30 pm. I unplugged 5:30 that morning and I was listening to 3 hours of tech podcast (because they where talking iPhone). I was showing off of course , watching review videos, and of course browsing the web, Facebook, google plus, and twitter. I know I used to charge my iPhone 5s around 3:00 and was still red before bedtime. I had to laugh at myself when watching the Samsung wall hugger commercial but none of those people would realistically hold an iPhone 6+, (sans the fact it was made before the new phone) haha.

IOS 8 

IOS 8 has some awesome things, I am sure by now many have it. I want to write separately about this but why we are on the subject I will mention a few things I like.
Messages
I have been using the voice message a lot! I love how I can just send my wife a quick voice message and send it. Its a way so she can hear my voice and understand the inflection of my voice when I send it. We all know by now how sometimes bad vibes can be falsely communicated because someone read a text wrong! I also love the quick picture sharing. The new chip (wow a good thing about it), made it seamless and quick, in fact I sent pics by accident. I am a faithful man so I'm not worried about that!
key chain
I am now able to quickly fill in the info I need and it remembers everything! I like being able to log in and pay for things quick with my phone. I feel as though I don't need my desktop as much to take care of business. Me and my wife had date night and needed to make reservations, I quickly downloaded open table (I know I should've been had it don't judge me!) , I then had key chain fill out all the info for me!

But the Negatives. 

This is the buggiest experience I have had on IOS at least since the 3g. my Desktop got stuck upside down a few times and I had to reboot, I was used to that on my nexus 4 but not from an apple product.
I have apps freeze up often, the cure was to clear out everything but it shouldn't be a problem with two or three apps open.
I have to admit I feel much more comfortable holding my wife iPhone 6. I knew what I was getting myself into and I'm pretty used to it but I know it would be a deterrent for some.
The keyboard in landscape mode is fussy, the key pad is in the middle of all this other stuff so you have to consciously type at least right now. I like typing from muscle memory and iOS keyboard makes that easy usually but not now.


Verdict 

After a whole week with the iPhone 6 plus I have to say I'm extremely happy. I have never been this happy with a phone since the my iPhone 4. I love the large screen, good speed and of course IOS 8 which I will let them hold on to the "it just works" in grace. The only thing this phone is missing now is split screen! I know hindsight will have me laughing at this next statement , but there is nothing else I can imagine I want on a phone. I can predict people bad mouthing next years 6+s because its nothing really to do but the usual battery bump blah blah, but after my use even thats not on my checklist. Its kinda sad actually not having anything to wish for but its a blessing to be able to enjoy a gadget like that. I was telling folks this time last year, " a perfect phone is a big screen iPhone that I can buy stuff with, oh crap I recorded that on my iMac, are they watching me?.............Haha its probable i was like most in that assessment. Now to through fire on the fandroid fury..
There is no reason to get an android now ,,, all google services is on iPhone, you can customize keyboard and notifications, you can jailbreak usually quick like rooting a phone, you have a big screen, and apple pay will work on anything you can use google pay on because nfc is a standard POS, oh and you can defend your buggy quirky os. haha
Tim Cook wasn't just giving us his usual hyperbole this time, this is really the best iPhone ever made, and it truly is bigger than bigger. I suggest everyone get an iPhone 6 and if you want a tablet for your pocket, get the iPhone  6 plus! GOD BLESS




cool a train, now i can play with my phone wow look at the blues
 




Monday, September 8, 2014

Lower Expectations: What is the least of your expectations for Apple's Event

I am having a hard time the past couple of days controlling my excitement about the Apples press conference Tuesday September 9 10am pacific. I was thinking it was getting unhealthy because I should only be this excited about JESUS CHRIST MY LORD and SAVIOR. I also felt it was a problem because many times we get so hyped on the prospect of something, we end up disappointment. I felt myself coming to the point that it would be impossible for Apple to meet my expectations. You know, like that reunion CD of your favorite rock group,  p.2 of any movie, RoboCop reboot, ending of "24". You get the point......So I decided to act ahead of time.

I decided to bring this to you? What can be the bare minimum announcement necessary for us to be happy with the apple press conference. I think we will get a lot more out of the apple announcement if we expect much less and become presently surprised! I will began first, and hopefully you can respond with your bare minimums and we can see how the actual presentation stand up to it. Please think about it and not just disdain if you don't agree with my religious beliefs.

I will go first ....
I want the obvious a bigger phone, a 4.7 will be fine, unless there is actually a 5.5 in the near future. I would also need to have NFC because combined with a quick finger scan this can be something beautiful! I need to pay for my things because I feel like thats what I am missing out on the most since switching from Android devices.
hey Apple remember this I think you left it in 2012 lets do something with it! 

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Wow Moto G did it again

Its times such as these when once again you love market competition. I am a self described Apple fanboy now that I have ventured into the land of Android, Ubuntu and the like but this low price is soooo intriguing. Making it more tempting is the hometown loyalty for Illinois' own Motorola. I see they took the old service merchandise building and turned it into a state of the art world headquarters. I was filled with joy seeing one of my hometown heroes tout there new office! Then I see the jewel of the night, no not the more powerful and bigger Moto X, I was happy to see the amazing Moto G about $200 is amazing for a 5 inch screen, loud speakers, sd card slot , and latest Google firmware, and "ok google" with google now!
Wow I rest on the fact I can sell my iPhone for $500 , keep $300 in reserve, (lets be honest I am still getting the iPhone 6 ....) and use the last $200 in the mean time, or if I break my iPhone or drop it or something.... i mean who cares its less than $200 ! I mean Cmon there are stores that sell unlocked flip phones less than that! We are talking an enthusiast phone that I can show to my geek friends, (reverse fitting in)... and my iPhone for to fit in / be another sheep in the flock! GOD BLESS the Corporate Machine (isn't it ironic how fanboys act as though , Google, Motorola, Huawai , Canonical , are not corporations out to make constant profit) I digress,,,, ,
The appeal to me for the Moto G is that its a good tech centric phone for a crappy plastic drugstore price! You know the type not tech people sometimes generically refer to as "my android", like in phrases such as "how do i get pictures of my android", or even worse ,"how do i get pictures of my galaxy" ... . sorry, GOD BLESS

For your information on the phone I referenced my favorite google newsource androidcentral.com
Operating systemAndroid 4.4.4 (KitKat)
ProcessorQualcomm® SnapdragonTM 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU, Adreno 305 @450 MHz GPU
RAM1GB
StorageSingle SIM - 8GB & 16GB versions
Dimensions (soft feel model)70.7 (width) x 141.5 (height) x 6.0-11.0 (thickness)
Weight149 grams
Display5.0-inch 720p HD 720x1280 IPS, 294 ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass
Battery2070 mAh
US GSM ModelGSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 1700 (AWS), 1900 MHz)
Global GSM ModelGSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
Rear camera8 MP (4:3) or 6 MP (16:9) with 4X digital zoom, Burst mode, Panorama, Auto HDR
Front camera2MP + 720p HD Video
Wifi802.11b/g/n
ConnectivitymicroUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS, GLONASS
Audio playbackAAC, AAC+, Enhanced AAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MIDI, MP3, PCM/WAVE, FLAC, OGG/Vorbis
Video playbackH.263, H.264 AVC, MPEG-4, VP8
Video capture720p HD Video, 30fps (MPEG4, H.264)

Monday, August 25, 2014

I left pc for xbox one,,put the torch down and listen!

Yeah so about that stuff I said about PC gaming being superior,,,i guess that xbox one is pretty cool. 

I was in the midst of using my pc in steam big picture mode with my son when I had to go help my wife bring the groceries in. I come back in the house only to hear my 3 year old son call me nervously admitting that my computer is broken. It was not broken ,,,well at leaste he didnt break anything, the game stopped because adobe wanted to restart after the update... I restart the pc into big picture mode but uh oh, ,,the connected bluetooth adapter was trying to reconect, have to fix that now. where is the close button, its off screen because my graphics card didnt render to fit my tv,,,,"ok son let me fix this really quickly". Now my son sees an icon for street fighterIV , ,I go for it but oh no they need me to copy n paste the code into the program, registry error, uh oh, this is not a true steam game.................................... ok you get the point. 

The only slow download so far...

I go to my pal +Alex Glover house and he is playing his ps3, my son grabs the controller and comist to playing the game, an hour later, yep everything is fine. His attention wains and he request netflix, no problem , just a press of the button , and "walla" 

Wow the 2nd paragraph went so much smoother, so I decided that enough was enough. The last reminant of my personal use of Windows has now ended after selling my pc, surface pro, and laptop. I now tote a macbook pro, imac, ipad, iphone, and Xbox one! 

I went for the xbox one because as a Husband and father , I need to maximize my gadgets. I have my Xbox one hooked to my main tv and being able to have Uverse pass cable through the HDMI is a plus. I can seemlesly go between tv and gaming. I love that I am able to watch tv in snap mode while still playing my game! I love being able to watch WWE app on the side , while my kids watch a cartoon ,and I can just switch screens on the go. I love how smart glass enables me to use my iPad as a keyboard when I'm browsing on the xbox one or just navigating its menu. The difference is, I can do all this with standard apps, and not have to try hard to find solutions that inevitably require maintenance and unfurtanetly often at the wrong times. I also love the ease of the remote, not having to worry about connection issues when rebooting my xbox one. I also love how the games load in the background while Im watching tv and the notification pops up letting me know its ready. I do not have to keep wandering into my office to look at my pc for Steam's slow download progress. 


Now before the pc fan boys grab the torches let me issues some disclaimers. I know most of the games I will get including my most played game (Lego Marvel Heroes) can be played on PC. I also know Xbox One graphics cant compare to a mid to high level GPU in a PC rig, evidenced in Diablo, Tomb Raider, Battlefield, etc. I also know that PC has a fully featured browser and XBMC opening access to any form of movie, tv and music, from legal and nefarious means. I agree with all these things, I wrote a previous article stating just that and shown off picks of my triple monitor eyefinity set up in the men cave, BUT and that's a big BUT, Gaming PC's are for a niche audience. 

I am a 30 something with a wife and kids. The TV is no longer mind, the "man cave" is a storage/ laundry room with a door that my children feel is a perfect tool to bang on to get my attention accompanied by the yells of "daddy! what ya doing in there". I don't have time to seclude myself into 3 monitors and get lost in the digital battlefield. I do have time for a quick campaign that can switch to my kids Cartoon as they come running downstairs. I need to justify the $550 purchase by telling my wife that its a family entertainment device. No keyboard shortcuts, you can yell what you want to do, my 1 year old screens watch tv and heart fills with joy as the screen switches. I smiled with satisfaction as my youngest watch "team Koizumi" on the Amazon app and falls asleep on my lap. I grab the controller silently and switch to Battlefield, awesome! 
I traded in my personal trophy in which I talked about more than having the opportunity to play due to glitches, family, and work. In return I received a family machine that plays the games I want in quick enough time to do it!

As far as the games I want. I am to busy thinking at work and raising a family to think for fun. I know it sound crazy but I know one of my readers understand. I want to veg out, not strategic. I like to play Lego Marvel free play mode. Walking around living vicariously through my favorite superheros. I want to play Madden which is starting to get too hard, but that dumb game ism't on the PC. I want to veg out to WWE 2k15 when that comes out but once again, not on pc. I want to play the next goofy platform, usually not suitable for PC guys who most often use keyboard and mouse. I also want to fire up a silly dance game or fake ride a ski jet. 

In summation , if you cared to come this far, I left PC for Xbox one for the ease of use, and the availability of 3rd party games more suitable for the controller. I am happy with the decision. GOD BLESS 


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

What made me most excited about WWDC14

This was one of the most exciting WWDC I have seen in years. Even the naysayers was excited about this press conference. I love seeing @MollyWood scoffed at the keyboard improvements thinking typical closed off apple then ,,,,,boom you can get custom keyboards!  Thats just one part, we got so much more. 

  1. Customizations - Apple has opened up to allow more customizations. The number one thing Android fanboys tout is the ability to customize their phone. Isheep take what Apple gives them but Android let you pick the keyboard and widget etc to make their phone uniquely yours. Now if you don't like the iPhone keyboard you can download one. You can do a ESPN widget, or maybe you hate sports and want weather, etc. From my understanding, the cloud drive will be customized as well so you can save from all your apps to the drive of your choice. 
  2. iMesseges - This is so exciting. 
    1. Dropping out of conversations is so nice and convenient. I often get group messages and sometimes I begin getting replies from people I don't even know. I would love to be able to read the initial message responding and then leaving the conversation. 
    2. Grouped pictures would be nice. Sometimes I try to show people a pic my wife sent me and I am constantly scrolling trying to figure out the day when she sent it to me. I would love to have those pics in a certain place where I can depend on it being there. 
    3. I  love the quick voice message, so when your thumbs get tired you can just send a good. You also have a quick video or voice messages that can self destruct liken to the appeal of snapchat. 
  3. iCloud drive-  Now all devices will have the ability to save to iCloud drive. All the apple devices will be able to utilize the iCloud drive. This will be direct competition with one-drive. Microsoft makes it easy for all of your windows devices to use a common cloud drive to access your files. Google has done the same with its chromebooks. Now Apple will take this concept for its Apple products that will be a awesome manifestation of the end goal of Apple iWork productivity suites. This helps me know that I can create content on any Apple device and pick up and continue on any other Apple device I own. This means I don't have to worry about flash/thumb drives. Remembering what device I was using. That was the lure of chromebooks for me. I was able to use any machine to get things done. The best part of it all is being able to "handoff" what I am doing on one device and finish on another. I can type an email , and then finish it on the computer when I feel like I need to type faster. I can also type up a flyer for my Church on my iMac and hand it off to my iPad to format the pictures on the flyer in the park.
    Also photos can be edited and updated on all of my devices. When I went back to iPhone from android, the first thing I did was download google plus to back up my photos. Now I can replace it , (probably do both ;)).   The elephant in the room is the charge. It is only 5 gigs free and the photos pull from this, so basically your going to have to pay a subscription fee liken to live 365. I remember being happy that iWork apps where now free but I see why now, I am paying for the service now not the programs. The good news is that the price is lower , so I can get 200 gigs for basically $4 a month , which is cheaper than live 365. 
  4. Quick Hot Spots - The bluetooth LE helps you to do some cool things like quick hotspot. Just the other day I was watching WWE network at my mothers house and it was tome to go home. I wanted to continue watching on my wifi iPad while riding in the car. (Wife was driving). So now Im hastily trying to start a hotspot, come up with a password, then pair it with my wifi iPad.
    Now I can just have my iPhone serve as a lte hotspot connect with my iPad whenever I step out of the house. This will make the LTE version of iPad's take a hit but I think it will make the iPad a nice companion device to my iPhone when ever I need a big screen for doing something. 
  5. SMS/ Voice cross platform - speaking of companion device. With your phone now nearby you can send and receive sms text and calls through the iMessage app on your ipad and mac! I am most excited about this feature by far! When I get home I would love to plug my iPhone in the charger and plop on the couch with my ipad or macbook pro. It is so irritating sitting and the computer ready to geek out and then you her a ring or ding from a distance.
    I would love to be on my mac, see a text come in through the corner and send a quick reply. I know my wife always complain why I didn't answer when Im immersed in geekdom. Now I am never to far away. I like being able to browse and call from a website. Just the other day I was researching hotel reservations and I wish I was able to call from the browser. I would also like to be on my ipad and answer a text from android brethren. Once again, it no longer matters what device I am using to get what I want done , just what is more convenient  for me at that time. 


It has never been this hard to break down what I am most excited about to 5 things. It almost felt like WWDC fell into the problem with CES and E3, so many announcements the significance of some products get overlooked. I was given so much to be excited about I felt overwhelmed! This is what stuck out the most.  Lets not forget some honorable mentions 

1. Wifi calling- I can now call from the basement or brick school building
2. Extensibility- I can use the same document in different apps awesome! 
3. Large file mailing- now you can send 5 gig files through mail, no thumb drives
4. Interactive notifications - you can now respond to texts, appointments, etc in notifications, 
5. Family Sharing - with gaming I can buy an app for all of us to do multiplayer on apple tv 


Notice no mention of health blah blah blah , eat a burger and go for a walk.....GOD BLESS 

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Why I left Surface Pro 2 for Ipad mini and Macbook Pro: life lessons

First The Rant

So as I was deciding to begin writing a post about why I dropped pc and went back to mac I decided to check on something on my desktop pc. I tried to download a file but it needed administrator access, I proceed to put the code in but oops there is no box to put the code in....thats odd? I click something else and,,,,,. I think, well maybe its a bug and I need to upgrade, I go to upgrade but uh oh, in order to upgrade I need to have administrator access! So Im stuck , oh great! time to refresh the computer totally, now that takes me to a reboot in which I cant get to any recovery memory even though its set aside, so off to the box o junk I go hoping I have a restore disc made because I cant download one without admin privileges... I find a disk , go through the process and I format drive, but wait its not over,, "windows cant be installed on drive,,,," That ladies and gentlemen, is exhibit A and the prevailing argument for dropping pc for Apple!

So as I try the ol power off and turn back on method,,,I begin my next paragraph...

Stepping into danger 

Allow me to give background, around Christmas I became intrigued by the propaganda spewed by Microsoft Execs about the Surface Pro 2 . I was also bored with the Iphone and jumped ship to android. I was thinking this will be the best time of any to go windows. I promptly sold my macbook, Ipad, and powered off the Imac. I replaced my beloveds with a Surface pro 2 with a dock. Hopefully I have some returning readers out there who remember my grandiose exit explaining why I'm leaving Apple for Surface Pro 2.
I was excited by the well constructed and different gem. I noted how I was bored of things just working and I want a little chaos and opportunity to create chaos. My fellow Apple fanboys responded to my motives with a smirk replying "you will be back". I scoffed at their prediction as I shown off the 4 pains I was able to do on my surface in docked mode and pull it out to walk around with still two windows. I aggravated them with my showcase of games I was playing with my dongle and wireless xbox controller. I wrote articles about using it to root my phone. I wanted chaos and work and work I did. Like a kid going off to college, you are free from the monotony of order and someone telling you whats best for you but now the prodigal son returns , why you may ask? Because freedom and excitement has an adverse and equal reaction of pain and frustration.
I mentioned a point of frustration earlier.

By the way, its starting now after the reboot..

That is just one example. I hated how I got freezes from day one. Doing the simplest of tasks. I figured it was maybye because it did not come out the box updated. Most task I did took an extra step than it would have taken on the Ipad. For instance , passwords didn't always save so I had to answer questions. I had to log back in by first moving up the screen then type in. I couldn't press the off button to long because it would go to sleep mode thus having to log back in. If I had a few desktop apps running on start up this slowed me down a great bit. I had to think what place to write my notes in because they look different depending on what part of Onenote you enter your info into. I had to adjust my screen because chrome browser was fuzzy by default. There was two different explorers and depending on the site, sometimes you got switched into the desktop mode. If you are having trouble following , it was purposeful to give you a since of the experience.

  • I purchased a Macbook Pro used and I was able to hook it up to the internet and let the magic happen. It asked for my Itunes account name and noticed I previously downloaded osX like windows and it loaded it up for me. No discs, no long product id, just a log in and a server. I don't get many freezes even though its more buggy than previous OSX. Chrome is in all its chrome glory, which it should be seeing as though most Googlers are using macs in press photos. The Ipad turns right on. I have a passcode because my job uses exchange (ahem Microsoft) but thats understandable,,,I guess. It stays on all day, my wife was laughing because i kept charging it. she said "you don't have to do that with apple". On my Ipad when I want to go to a website I realize there is an app for that that is often more feature rich and quick so I just go there, but we will get to that later. 

Portability 

I noticed that I couldn't get used to the weight. Every time I managed to at least not bug me, I picked up my wife's Ipad and voila there it goes again. I literally had thoughts to take it with me and then ended with a "nah i don't feel like lugging that thing". It was a chore when I had the only personal time I get as a father (ahem the bathroom). So I defaulted to my phone. When I go to the mall to let the kids get free time in the play area, I defaulted , to my phone. When I was in the back yard bbq  and wanted to read while the food was smoking, I defaulted , to my phone. When my kids wanted to play a game , they had to hold the xbox controller because I was scared the heavy tablet would lead to them dropping it. (Notice that was the first time I used the word tablet). I was thinking it would replace my laptop as a more mobile device but it was essentially serving the same purpose. It was just a tiny desktop.

  • But my new Ipad mini fits in my big pockets, partly because I'm stuck in the baggy 90s. I can take it to my "daddy area". And feel fine! I also have a laptop that is sitting stationary or on my lap. What Microsoft is missing about the type keyboard is that the weight needs to be on the base to feel sturdy. Until then it will never be lapable. (is that a word?) 
I just rebooted twice because the screen went blank and the cd stop spinning during the refresh ! 

Software 

I touched on how getting started is a dream. I hate to beat a dead horse because i rolled my eyes at the constant mentioned of the poor amount of apps but once again like a teen I should have listened! I am not ashamed to admit I like wrestling! I was trying to get the WWE APP but it seemed as though it wasn't updated in years! It didn't even have the added live network so I was forced to access it through the browser. I went to the one of choice, chrome and it was a bug in it. Chrome kept thinking I was using a usual tablet so it told me to download the app. Even though I was in desktop mode. I searched and found a hack but the hack took away the touch functionality of my surface so that was not a viable option. I then wanted to use a grade book program that has an awesome app for the Ipad. I couldn't use it so I went desktop mode. The icons where to small for touch so I lost my ability to walk around and check grades. Those are just examples of my angst for the app store/ market place/ whatever. 

  • Ipad apps are amazing. There is something for everything I can think of (accept for Instagram for some reason, its a stretched mess). I was able to go back to my mobile grading. I was able to do quick Iprint. I dint have to bother with messy hookups to my tv because I can just click air play and once again my kids was playing games. They was excited to be back to playing lego on tv but this time controlling the Ipad as he stare to the main screen. I miss the controller but I read there are bluetooth ones available. My mac keyboard is so nice. I actually like the typecover 2 keyboard but the laptop keyboard is better for in the lap. Everything works together too! You can air drop, airplay share open tabs like a dream. Everything works. At one point when showing off my pc stuff I always uttered the words "hold up wait one minute let me try something". Now its just watch this, did you see that? Oh and the books, have to love the books. It was so awkward reading in widescreen or legal pad mode haha, ibooks ,and of course kindle looks beautiful on my Ipad! 
apparently I have two volumes of windows 8 started now :(...I have been recovering/ DIY PCS for 20 years by the way 

Sooo


To sum it up, I came back to apple for normalcy! Normalcy and Quality. No its not as fun being back home but moms meals are always good , there is no sleep like your old room and waking to that good breakfast. Its the normalcy that feels good! When I can type this blog up on my Ipad comfortably with no plug , print with drivers installed automatically, close it down and go out side with my Ipad air in my pocket, grabbing a cup of coffee and pulling it out to read my Bible app comfortably. When things get chaotic in my tech life like mama , Apple makes it all better, with its auto updates, and Icloud backup. Easy Facetime call to the wife and kids to make me smile. I can tell the wife I will be right there, because Im not loosing time getting something to work. Im sorry apple , thanks for welcoming me back home.
Thanks for working guys :) 

Screen went black again , I'm rebooting 

GOD BLESS!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Why I am back to Iphone ,,again! a android fanboy treasonous tale

yes yes I the prodigal son returned home to his first love, Apple, yeah I know you heard this story before, I try and try to leave apple to get out of line with sheep but every time I think the grass is greener on the other side, I realize that apple is the best there is! So as the flames begin, continue to read if you’re not one of those fan boys that leave comments like "As soon as I read.... I stop reading your crappy isheep article". 
me with my galaxy mega! 
So I grew bored with IOS 6 on my iPhone 5 and I became lured to the large screen android smartphones I read about on google+. I decided to first go with the S4 after the constant advertisements during the NBA finals and popups, and YouTube ads, it was endless. I loved it initially, seeing something different, I then began reading about how things could be so much better without samcrap so I decided to go Nexus. The NEXUS 4 that was an amazing phone but I found myself missing little goodies like ir remote I used on Samsung, and multi-screen, so I decided, let’s go bigger. That leads me to Samsung Galaxy Mega! Mega is the key word, because this thing was huge! At that time, I was using the nexus 4 and 7. Toting two devices seem to be cumbersome so I wanted to get a device to rule them all. The mega satisfied my needs for a while until once again, I grew angry with the samcrap. So naturally I went to CM11. CM11 was pretty cool but it was full of quirky bugs, which is fun to work with. I used that to argue for android before, the problem though came to when I needed it to work right away, ,, ahh here comes that annoyingly true apple standout, motto "it just works". 

The design and those little UI things began irritating me fairly early though I was able to ignore them. For example:

1.    Snap to the top scrolling. - I was using twitter when I first went back to android and I didn’t realize that it doesn’t have snap to the top scrolling. When you began to scroll through your feed on twitter and google+. Sometimes you want to go back to the top right away, on android you have to begin rolling that finger! It speeds up but that’s the best you can do! Google+ implemented this but the browser still makes me scroll through reddit and xda etc. 

2.    Pull to refresh- listing to podcaster and stitcher forces me to find the little widget to refresh my feed vs just pulling down. On my mega, I was waiting for the green refresh arrow to pop up. It is just much easier to pull "thinking pull in new content. 

3.    Quick settings from the bottom up - ironically Apple actually seem to copy this feature from android but like apple they steal or "gets inspiration" from others who mess up first and clean it up to make it work. I know kitkat has the two finger gesture to separate settings from notifications but I use the calculator and flashlight all the time and I like being able to scroll up and get what I need. I also really like how I get to my stitcher music controls from the bottom separate from the notifications on the top, (because the top notifications still sucks! ) 

4.    Google apps - That was one of the nails in my android owning coffin, the google apps looks so much better on iPhone, it’s like they made it for the iPhone and just ported it on android, or made it an afterthought. Hangouts is awesome on iPhone, the colors pop and options are quick for things like hangout video etc. Google + scrolls nice, and the notifications and everything get out of the way. Yes the feed is harder to see on the small screen but wow! Apple even let my password load on all of my google apps automatically. There was little difference between the sync of my google account over the iOS apps like android apps. It is almost like I never gave up what made android best, instead it feels like a visual change to my android. 

5.     Print - iprint is so seamless, I was toting google cloud print to others but the last
print right there!!!!
week of my android ownership came when I was attempting to print out an emailed coupon. I found myself struggling to connect for some odd reason and the button was inconsistently popping up. I sent the email to my wife’s IPhone and she just tapped and printed! WOW! I couldn’t believe how easy it was, she saw my expression and smirked, "yeah it just works" .. 

6.    I was laughing at how you never see the apple community talk about how they are angry because they still are waiting for the update to kit kat, Samsung just announced that 4.4 is coming to the mega in the next month but the month after that Google will announce the next version. When apple release an update we all get it! No wait, no matter the carrier, it works! (there I go again) 

7.    Apps in general - I was so upset when I was on my surface and mega trying to work with the WWE app on my chromecast and I went through lag, quirks, freezes, and pixelization. I grew ill one day and was regulated to the bedroom with an apple TV and it was a totally different experience. Using my wife’s IPhone I was scrolling in beauty as the app loaded up perfectly looking good. I tried PlayOn which was a lagggy nightmare, but when I tried it on iOS, and it feel worth the lifetime membership I paid. 

8.    Contextual keyboard. - I didn’t really pay too much attention but when it was in Instagram, I saw the @ and # sign in the corner waiting for me, making it easier for me to bang a comment out quickly. I see I type better too with less mistakes, my buddy +Alex Glover always make fun saying "that’s that android keyboard" when he get messages like "hty yoy kile that song? I have seen an improvement in just a couple of days. 
notice the keyboard icons in the corner?

On Another note 
No matter how much I enjoy the user interface and beauty and solidness of hardware, I can’t ignore one MAJOR sore point, this phone is Tiny! It wouldn’t be so glaringly small if I wasn’t coming from a 6.3 inch screen but I am squinty my eyes trying to read the text on websites, and google+. I soon was reminded of one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go android, a bigger screen. You can defend Apple using a plethora of evidence but this is not one of them. There is no way you can argue that the screen is perfect. With that being said I do like being able to use it with one hand comfortably but I think you can go bigger without messing that comfort up. 
I also miss the easy sharing capabilities with android. When I took a picture it was easy to share to any program I like right from the camera app. I thought I remember doing this so if I am don’t criticize me, criticize apple for not making intuitive enough to notice. Android let all the apps talk to each other so I can share between google+ and Instagram easily. I see I can’t do the same. 
I miss my slide keyboard. It was pretty cool sliding through the keys to type faster even though I ended with many mistakes. 
The notifications are horrible, its random stuff, random things I don’t care about, stock, and it’s to transparent for my old eyes to see differentiate what imp looking at in a glance 

Conclusion 
I came back and at least for now, I can say I am going to stick with the IPhone! I have the option of upgrading in September due to the pricing wars I wrote about in another article. I am hoping the rumored 4.7 inch iPhone will solve the remaining angst I have about the iPhone. I keep looking at that White and Gold beauty, holding the well-constructed metal
Sorry!!!
and glass, opening up with my thumbprint and think to myself, what was I thinking leaving you? ..haha GOD BLESS