Why I want a Surface Pro 2

I am one of those first world people who many hate because I get bored with perfectly good gadgets and normally I'm looking for the next cool thing I can tinker with. It is a very time consuming and expensive habit supplemented by the ease of resale on the international market (a fancy way to say ebay). This is one of those moments! I recently sold my nexus 7 and Macbook in order to raise $1000 for my next gadget, I was naturally thinking I can put that towards a new bigger, better, and what Tim Cook would like to call, "most innovative Macbook" ever. Something has halted my plans, I'm sure much to the delight of those geeks in Redmond Washington. I want a surface pro! 

I was thinking to myself, what can I tinker with the most, and whats an unfamiliar gadget I can learn. The saving grace for Windows today is its a tinkerers platform. If you like PC games , hacks, and unfortunately ability to pirate, you are best served using Windows. It is the performed platform for downloading those fringe apps from the web without the technical skill needed for linux. I was thinking if I grow tired with the tablet like I did with my ipad I can turn to the web and open myself up to millions of apps or what we first called it , applications. That is also the reason why I have no interest in the regular surface 2. The closed interface is taking the worst part of ios and adding more to the problem. With a full fledged computer like the surface pro 2 i5 Hasweel processor, 4 gigs of ram, graphics on chip, usb, and sd slot, I will never have to be faced with the wish that my tablet could do more! I know its heavy but not more than a Macbook, and I have a 6.3 inch phablet (sorry) , for browsing in bed. I like that its thin enough for me to not mind carrying it around. It also has all day battery life due to the haswell chip making it portable , which is really good for me as a teacher maneuvering from class to office and walking around grading. I can imagine setting this thing up in a meeting and seing the eyes, because I yet to see it in the wild, its so unfamiliar. 

That's the next big reason I want the Surface Pro 2. I dont know much about it. I have had ipads since its inception and it got to be ummm familiar. I first began using macbooks because I grew a tad bit familiar with my pc laptops. Now its different. People are angry about windows 8 but I like the bold step. Its so different.  I run my windows 8 on my desktop monster but its basically a media server / console. I boot straight into steam or xbmc. Walking around with the surface pro as my daily workhorse will force me to use windows 8 as a productivity tool. I am currently typing on a Chromebook, (no suprise to my frequent readers) , but my job uses office! I thank GOD that google apps allow me to save in word format but with the pro I can have the best of both worlds. I have the quickness of the pro , and I can go into chrome as I slowly transition back to my 90s home of office. I also look forward to using the gestures inherent to the windows 8 interface. I ddint get the point of the gestures so I didn't even try but the touch controls will make me excited to dive in! I also never used a Walcolm stylus. I haven't used a stylus since the OG windows pocket pc so I can look forward to spending extra time learning something new.  

I can picture me now, waking up early before my wife and kids , firing up my Surface Pro 2 , eyes wide open as I say to myself "I don't know whats going on" then "oh wow that's awesome" . Later blogging about the power of a ultrabook with the portability of a tablet, and the wow factor of the first ipad! Then in March, hastly trying to sell it in preperation for something new during Aprils Microsoft BUILD conference. Thanks Microsoft for giving me something to talk about! GOD BLESS

ok hooray nexus 5 but LG G2 is still cool!

So now that everyone is talking about the nexus 5 I decided this would be a perfect time to talk the G2 :/ .... ok ok its kinda overdue / late but i recently seen the G2 and for a moment, it totally took my mind off the nexus for a while. What makes this even more interesting is how it came to my attention ..

I like many was not really thinking about the G2 much more than to think how this was going to translate into the next nexus,, (see what I did there?). The nexus 4 was based of the Optimus G so this is what we were expecting this time around. So I was walking through the media center at the school I work at when I noticed this phone with a big bright beautiful screen!

I had to be about 10 ft away but I noticed the phone lying on the counter with a bright screen! Woah! I almost screeched out, "what phone is that!" My co worker notified me that it was the G2 so I dropped what I was doing and asked him can I see more, so much more that I wanted to record it. This wow factor is missed on many of the redundant black slab phones. Specs are usually lost on the general public and noticeability is usually reserved to Samsung's horizontal home button and 3 icons, and of course apples home button and apple logo. As I was looking at this phone people came up behind me noticing that the phone's screen looked awesome. This reminded me of the led tv when I first saw it in a best buy. It somehow, stood out. Being able to see it from far away speaks for itself. The trailer for transformers was perfect for showing off the screen.

My coworker was also so kind to let me go through the phone, the knock feature was really cool, I enjoyed the quickness of the scrolling, I did not notice lag with the scrolling, the camera app was pretty cool with the ois. It seemed futuristic as the green blocks searched for a target to shoot and my shaky caffeine induced hands really put it to the test. I did noticed the knock didn't respond each time I hit so I am not sure if there is some smoothness to work out there. The buttons on the back felt ok to me. Not good not bad but I actually like the ,,,I'm so sorry for this ,,,, "selfie" usability that this button provides. I also like the smoothness on the sides and being able to do scrolling if I understand it correctly.

Check out the video of me trying it out below!

So hopefully you will take a break and maybe consider taking another look at the G2 , I would like to see the nexus 5 and the G2 screen together, ooops there I go again, haha GOD BLESS

haha nexus 4 next to G2

Is there anything Apple can do at their announcement to win over android loyalist?

A little bit around this time last year I began my grand experience of dropping many of my apple products for Google. I was looking at Chromebooks and researching the app parity of Google play vs app store. If you keep up with my blog you know that over the past year or so I have been pretty much fully vested in the Google universe and this once self admitted apple fanboy became one of the biggest advocates for android and chrome os I know personally. So of course in lieu of the recent apple event announcement a few people at my job took this time to throw a few jabs my way. More than one person remarked, "so I guess your going to come back to apple after tomorrow right". I laughed and said "never that" initially, but later my reply became "it will take a lot". The final time I was asked I hesitantly replied, "we will see urrr ummm nawl I cant picture it!" That last retort led me to writing this post. Is there something apple can actually say tomorrow that will make me come back as the prodigal son? Can apple ignite that nerd excitement? I was thinking about things like maybe: 

1. Ipad mini retina with scaled down size comparable to nexus 7

2. Apple Iwatch with more capabilities or versatility than galaxy gear

3. Added feature to iworks and icloud in which everything is saved every few seconds ala Google. 

Well it feels as though im pretty much reaching so maybe I should ask you, is there anything apple can do to make a android loyalist switch?....

I believe it will start 10:00 a.m. pdt. Last year it was live for SAFARI browsers ONLY and of course I will be watching on 2 different tech sites. I usually use cnet.com and twit.tv and you guys can look for remarks from me if you cant get those sites at work haha. GOD BLESS 

Things I heard 10/17/2013

Nexus 5 coming? - Any one else getting irritated, I even saw this video from someone in Europe showing kit kat, it was not something to get excited about other than the prospect of a new phone. Then I got Google seemingly playing with our emotions with the random adds like "everybody dance now." We are wasting time thinking about C and C releasing the song on October 18th and then people saying the group used to be 28 street something so the announcements will be made on the 18th for the 28th release. Then we see an ad saying this is it, a MJ single released on the 18th! haha are they that clever? The bigger story was somebody had time to research and figure this out. Wow talk about a potential detective in the wrong career. Too bad Bin Laden didn't have a nexus, we would've caught him early!

HTC ONE MAXed out - I thought it was pretty awesome. I will spare you my usual speech about how the bigger the phone the better, oppps , Well anyway critics seemingly doesnt think so , I guess because it has a snapdragon 600 instead of 800 which is a lost for the geeks , and then the back cover comes off just for a sim card , ummm yeah. The finger print sensor I guess isn't good, its weird how apple manages to make simple things look cool and just work. I wonder did they rush the scanner or that was just he best they can do for a reasonable price as of now.

Sony Z ultra - the dream phone for me is coming to the states with a dream if they think I will actually buy it at the outrageous price of 600+ us. Yes I understand the value of unlocked phones but lets face it , technology changes to much for me to spend over 400 for a phone! Thats the genious in the early upgrade plans. I know geeks willing to shell out $600 + for a phone are going to be angry if they are stuck with a phone more than a year! All being said if something magical makes this phone imaginable I will defenitley get it but with the pricing and lack of carrier support, Its not mentioned in the same conversation as your galaxy  and one's

Samsung Round - really? So I want a phone thats harder to put in my pocket just because its possible to be bent? Its stuck in that position, so whats fascinating about curved grass? Who folds paper to read it? Nope try again! I would like a phone with a display on the sides giving the display a infitnity view type look with the time on top , umm my idea sucks too a little I guess. (pic below from phandroid.com)

Windows 8.1 is here! - this is only cool to me because it is for 8 inch tablets! This will make a tablet people want because most of us have a windows laptop (not me) and they want to have some windows functionality on the go. I touched on this before and I am still excited. I have my nexus 7 but this does have my attention. Upgrade today for your start screen , your ability to boot right into desktop, and easier settings. Well I guess you should upgrade if you hate the new look of windows 8 but you are willing to compromise.

Apple announcement official - the event will be Tuesday October 22. They said they have a lot more to cover! hmm an announcement on covers yeah!!!! well who has two thumbs to watch even though he claims he moved on from apple,,,,,This Guy!

 wait thats one thumb, well anyway I'm not the only one, we will all be watching. Its like watching the Tom Brady throw that touchdown (I like Tom Brady tho).

Video of this post below. 

on side note, most importantly I praise GOD for the traffic I have been getting I didn't expect thousands of visits so soon, I am just trying to learn but its a goal of mine! Please subscribe , share my page/posts, and talk about it!  GOD BLESS!

Waiting on my Chromecast

Im soooo exited about the new chromecast. So I was already excited about the "breakfast with Sundar" which was a press conference from the person in charge of chrome and android. I was expecting something cool with the Nexus 7 but I did not expect this chromecast at all. That's what made it so exciting! I remember watching apple and experiencing the 1 more thing , this was in a weird kind of way a torch pass to google with its one more thing.

Now I am not saying that the quality of the nexus 7 and the chromecaset for that matter match the beauty and the overwhelming architecture and detail but the the spirit of ingenuity is their. It's like the coolness for the nerds rather than the masses.

So why am I excited? 

Well the first thing is that now that I have moved to android from my iphone I no longer use the airplay like I used to. It feels sorta weird too switch back in forth from my ipad to my phone so most of the time I carry my nexus 4. I then find myself looking for my ipad when it is time for me to show my family something at the spur of the moment. If i have the chromecast hooked up i can easily press the button like I did in days of ye old I phone
The next thing and most important thing I look forward to is the use of the chrome browser mirroring. I see panned reviews already seemingly disregarding the "beta" tag google aggressively expressed during the press conference. I work with Linux, needlessly to say I can deal with hiccups here and their for the sake of innovation.I mainly look forward to showing webpages, like my blog for instance, while sitting amongst friends and family.
So to the critics,,
I heard a few critics noting that Hulu was laggy using the browser cast or mirroring but I believe that Hulu and vimeo , etc, will most likely hurry to add the additional function to its app to allow chromecasting so they will not be left behind netflix. I don't phantom a reason why they wouldnt though I have seen stranger things happen in the intellectual property world. I hope that it will be more on par with the offerings of apple tv soon seeing as though the apps are already available in the android store and its just a matter of an additional api. On a side note,  I am a tad bit skeptical of the lagginess review due to the fact that it pulls urls rather than device to chromecast.

Brief explanation for how it works. 

For my non techies, I do not work for google and I dont have access to the materials or actual device as of me writing this but I will tell you by my percepetion and understanding of the explanation. Please feel free to correct or clarify what I got wrong: It seems as though everything is handled in the cloud. When you press the chromecast logo on your device (phone, tablet, computer) will tell the chromecast to pull the URL from the web and display it on the tv. It is as though your just giving it directions. That is cool because unlike with apple tv, I don't have to worry about keeping something on my device screen in order for other people to see it on the tv and this will help with multi-tasking!

Value 

This is the best part. The chromecast only costs $35 and on top of that, the first day buyers like me got 3 months free of Netflix! This means I basically played 11 bucks for something that serve a lot of the same functions as apples $99 appletv witch I felt was a good deal anyway!

Waiting game
My device should be here by thursday and I am trying to keep my mind focused on the LORD so that I dont get to anxious. I have many things to do and luckly tomorrow is Sunday so I can pray for patience (pray for me yall) haha GOD BLESS