Sunday, September 28, 2014

Mini Speaker: Mini Bees Hands-on Review

Mini Speaker: Mini Bees Hands-on Review

  Found a cute Chinese office toy of your favorite droid and decided to splurge money on it blindly without understanding the controls? Well, fear not, because I have included a video that figures out how to start it up and use it.


 Now, I didn't explain the Radio feature because I realized it afterwards. Just adding the audio jack alone will serve as the antennae.

   Turning it on will automatically turn it to radio mode where it will keep scanning the FM channels. After it's done, you can briefly rotate his head back and forth just like the MP3 version.

  The only different controls are the play and pause, that just re-initiate the scanning of the radio channels.

  The speakers do have clean sound, but every time you press on and off, everything resets, which isn't good. Also, the maximum volume is great but not fantastic. Every time the device is turned on, all settings reset to default, and radio mode is on.

  I hope that these are enough instructions for you to not feel ripped off and try again. This speaker isn't cheap: it really does as advertised.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Voxel Racing Game: Android vs. iOS

Voxel Racing Game: Android vs. iOS

It's time, android fans, to prove your worth and make your mother proud. Voxel Rush, a racing game, is testing your skills, pitted against iPhones, iPads, and iPods in our endless tilting game. Will you let your device down? Will you let us all down? You won't, so grab every smartphone in the house and make sure you beat my score. I am competing with three android devices, including this one that I am blogging with. I won't share the names of the other two. Competition starts on 1 pm EST so practice well before then.

As a motivational picture, I drew a little poster. Since this is my first drawing on the World Wide Web, I'll go with the initials B.C.Z. just as my youtube channel.

iOS users: make sure you download the game too. Don't go easy on us either, so that you get crushed fair and square.

Spectators: Watch the twitch stream. Make sure you tell everyone about it, and also, if you are android user, stop watching and get your head in the game!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Tokyo Ghoul No-spoilers Review

Tokyo Ghoul No-spoilers Review




As this is literally the first anime I watch episode by episode instead of wait for the episodes to accumulate and watch when the last episode airs, you can tell that it is no ordinary anime. In this review, I will try to be as brief as possible, with no spoilers.



If you have heard about Tokyo Ghoul, then you have obviously heard the impatient fans urging anyone to read the manga and forget the anime. There are other fans, including me, who would suggest that you don’t watch the anime until the uncensored version is released on the internet, because the version right now is the TV-approved version. However, the rising DDoS attacks should be enough reason for you to disregard this message and watch right now.



A problem with trying to describe an anime like this without spoilers, is that it is slightly unique in the way the story is portrayed.



Synopsis: With enemies of humanity against every corner, the battle between the hunter and the hunted intensifies as more factions crop up, all with the desire to gain control over humanity. But the hunters have yet to realize the biggest threat to their own survival.



The story itself is not extremely different from some [insert cannibalistic humanoid here] ideology that you have read before, but actually, it is quite different in the way it is portrayed. Extremely. At the beginning you will not think it is your typical cannibal clan plot, and the “typical” plot points that are portrayed are actually putting you on other people’s point of view. You won’t sympathize with the enemy, you will be the enemy and feel the pain of being the hunter too.



They really put a lot of 3D sound into it. I’d give that more than the animation because sometimes they censor almost everything on the screen. 10 /10 for sounds. The music tracks were ok, there was one track that was distinctive, the opening is quite cool, and the instruments used were fine. I’d give music an 8/10.



The animation gets 4/10 comparatively and artstyle gets a good 7/10. Although the animation isn’t repetitive or failing in any way, it doesn’t compare to the innovative styles used in the production of Tokyo Ghoul itself. This is bound to change when the uncensored version comes out, really.



The plot gets a good 9/10 for having factions that aren’t too complicated, being extremely unexpected, having a majority of psycho cast for the first time in modern anime in a satisfying amount. Trying not to say any more would be spoilers.



However overall it’s only 7/10 because of horribly unnecessary fanservice. I was going to drop it, although luckily they are few and predictable. Be warned, and also, don’t mind the beginning of the first episode. I’ll keep this short not to ruin the short season. Don't read any further if you do not want spoilers.

 Tell me your opinion about the last and totally different episode of Tokyo Ghoul. Wasn’t it really a calm climax?

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Dear iPhone 6 haters

Dear iPhone 6 haters

  Oh you Android fans throwing tomatoes at iPhone for copying Android very late because it’s out of ideas. How dare you insult iPhone 6 like that?

  Actually, you should direct more hate on it, but this time the obtuse iPhone zombies might wrongly accuse us of being jealous on the iPhone 6. Of course, nobody has the right to insult the users themselves, so we just start pointing out how slow-paced the iPhone series is, right?

  Ron’s joke was good, but when Samsung and HTC gang up like that, we don’t look very good at making fun unless we are innovative. So let’s spread our innovativeness by sharing these kind of user-generated jokes along social media. Android fans should always remind the rest of the world why supporting open-source products is the only thing that is saving humanity from destruction (by titans!)

  Initially I also thought of comparing an iPhone 6 with the Motorola Nexus 6, because since Google bought Moto and the Nexus series is closer than ever to being Google’s perfect realization of the Android OS, but it has not yet been revealed completely.

   What about initial thoughts on the Apple Watch? It’s probably going to be a total rip-off, however with outside looks it’s almost on par with the Samsung Gear models, I’ll give it that. It does look glossier that Sony’s previous retro edgy looks on the sides. But with their surprisingly bulky buttons, it barely feel like what I expected the iWatch would turn out to be.

   What do you think about the misleading title? Be honest. The rest of the articles aren’t so misleading.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

September Smartphone 2014

September Smartphone 2014


thanks to this blogger for transparent eyes

    
   Every beginning of an academic year, and most people do a back to school shopping spree, nerds do their own hunting. This year we’ve got a lot of smartphones that just load more numbers and more digits into their processors but what we really need to limit ourselves with here is functionality.

  Although I say that and here is a specifications comparison of the four flagship native KitKat phones, namely the LG G3, the Sony Z2, the Samsung S5, and the HTC M8.

  Before the comparison tables, I was actually reluctant to include the HTC, because their model numbers are simply confusing, and they always try to remake every model they have. They are going to make a Windows Phone model out of this too.

  What’s special is that all these phones were released in 2014, which made me drop the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 out of the list although it should be worth comparing.

   This year around I shall consider the budget phone of the year, which, surprisingly isn’t an android. Let’s introduce it first: The Nokia Lumia 525. As any living human being, I always advise that the RAM of a smartphone have to be => 1GB and no less. Nokia loves to trick you into not getting one of these, and their apparently well-sold Lumia 520 is very similar with the exception of RAM.

   Budget phones are not just about the initial price; it’s also about the lifespan. Generally dual core 1 GHz phones should have a good life span if the OS allows it. iPhones degenerate quickly, and so do Android phones if used extensively, or connected to shady networks. Nokia’s version of any software is usually the safest to go, however it’s best to have a full experience on any phone, so steer clear from the Nokia X and Nokia XL as they do not have proper Google Play stores, while the Windows phone does. Microsoft also has some cool cloud and other services, and if you are an Xbox fan it’s a bit of a plus.


click to enlarge
*=two different models exist with 16GB,2GB RAM and 32GB, 3GB RAM respectively


   Now that Sony decided that increasing phone resolution is not worth the battery life drop, I am really considering waiting for the PS4-game enabled Xperia device. Hooray for smuggling video games into study areas!

  As for the table, this time I’ve went on to do something new and almost completely try to omit the extremely similar features and repetitive ones. Since these flagship smartphones are directly competing with each other, the main focus will be on the differences rather than similarities.

  The CPU, GPU, Chipset, etc., are exactly the same for all. The native OS is as well as Bluetooth, so I only included some of them because they are more important. Mainly, all these Quad-core processors are of equal caliber, and there shouldn’t be a great difference in there, but the LG sure has stepped up its game by including two models, and one of them (the 32GB internal storage one) has a whopping 3GB RAM. 

   Most people consider this a “Shame on you, Samsung” because the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 had 3GB of RAM, and the S5 looks like a downgraded version released in the wrong order of time. But compared to every other manufacturer it doesn’t lose much ground.

  Apparently HTC M8 is planning to rob iPhone of its user base, with no need to change the SIM card or try to fit it into a small adapter in order to use an Android device right now. Speaking of the odd measures of HTC, they have a phone with a dual 4MP? What does that mean? It means it is essentially 4MP, but with better brightness and faster focus on images and videos. If you already have a digital camera, then trying something new is not bad, but it sure is a little bit of a risk to get a flagship phone with the inferior camera. However, for selfie enthusiasts, this phone is better than your iPhone for taking a front-camera selfie with back camera iPhone quality. Have you ever seen a phone with 5MP on the front? HTC really targets the iPhone users this time.

   A sad point to note is that Samsung is using the new charger, which is why I colored the USB field black to contrast. Version 3.0 of the micro-USB is actually something like a micro-USB version 2.0 with a smaller version stuck to it. The micro-USB v2.0 is just the normal one we use on most android and even old Nokia and Samsungs. Of course the Samsung Galaxy S5 is backward compatible, but that just means one more sophisticated cable in your house. You’d want to need it for faster transfer speeds on your laptop, as my 1TB hard drive really goes smoothly with that cable as well, so it’s not a lie, but personally, I believe it’s not worth it unless you live alone. Most people who live in a family probably store their old mobile phones for headsets and chargers, or even other family members are likely to buy from the same manufacturer. Generic Nokia phones had a standard, newer iPhones now have a standard, most Android devices have always maintained their unspoken rule about standards, so why now, Samsung? You were the early adapters of micro-USB v2.0, why are you selling it out now?

  Both Sony and Samsung were competing really hard with the camera specifically. The Xperia has the higher MegaPixels at 20.7 which is magnificent, and the resolution is probably better (more square-ish) than Samsung’s. It is amazing though, that you can record a video on a phone with a resolution higher than the screen itself. Playback is a waste on the cell phones now!

  Things I forgot were that the Galaxy S5 and the Xperia Z2 are both waterproof.

  LG is quite spectacular with the screen this time, completely winning in the pixel density war as well as the resolution. Having a lower brightness on one of the earlier adapters of the Corning Gorilla Glass series is a plus point. Most people assume that brighter is better just because it is a word that mathematically refers to a positive change in a variable, but actually a screen with lower brightness is a lot less stressful on the eye, and also heats up less. Of all my experience, a Samsung phone with an AMOLED display would heat from the front extremely, to the point where the “dust” on your hand would electrostatically become released from your fingertip. An LG device normally heats up whenever the 3G or the screen are on and white light is displayed, but only the upper part where the upper speaker and wifi are positioned. Glad that Samsung is using Gorilla Glass 3 this time around.

  I almost went through everything, and I did not really intend that, but for now I will delay all the other points regarding general phone issues to a later date. Which phone appeals to you most, and are you actually planning to buy a flagship this September? It is the beginning of the academic year, so I’d love quick responses in the comments below. Play More Zelda!