Where Has All My Game Time Gone?

When I was a kid, not sure how old I was, 3-7 years, there was always very little on my mind. In fact there was only 2 things on my mind. Arthur snacks, and Game time. The latter was from when I would watch the old PBS Kids show, Arthur, at 3:30. One time my mom gave me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at that time, and I designated it as my "Arthur Snack" and began looking forward to it everyday. Good times. Speaking of times, the former, Game Time, was how long I would get to play my video games. Vectorman and Sonic games on the Sega genesis, the pinball games on Computers,etc. I always wanted more Game Time, and would always ask my mom, "Mom can I have more g-a-m-e-t-i-m-e please?"she would always laugh and grant me 15 more minutes.

Before I continue, I want you to know i'm definitely not going to launch into some rambling speech about how games of yesteryear are better than games of this year,blah blah blah... (Although I do have to say every Bomberman game released for the super nintendo is much better than the newer ones of today. Dont believe me? go play one on a Zsnes emulator, than play one for the nintendo 64, than one on the gamecube or xbox. It will be clear which game is the victor.) Okay moving on.

Im 18 now, and am allowed to have all the Game Time I please, although some games have changed, for instance, the game i played most,Sonic 2, is now Call Of Duty:Modern Warfare 2. Earlier today, I started thinking about my games of today, and realized something. Although I do occasionally play Cod MW2, most of my games are played on portable devices.

I bought an iPod Touch when I was 17, and almost loved it. I say 'almost' because i loved all of the apps for it, but hated the small screen, when I saw the iPad, that was it. I wanted it primarily for gaming, and just recently treated myself to one, along with an Acer Iconia tablet.

Most of my gaming over the last few weeks has been done on both these tablets. I realized the primary reason is price. While im not a big fan of racing games, others like them, and I like a few of them. As great as racing games look on the Xbox 360, now they look great on the iPad too. Now there's no reason for me to buy a $19.99 or $29.99 game for my xbox, when I can get one for $1-$5.99 for the iPad. The same logic occurs with a personal favorite genre of mine, FPS games, or action games in general. I was able to buy the game N.O.V.A 2 for $.99 it has great graphics, and runs fine. Sure it uses touch controls, and while I do mind them slightly, i'm fine with them when the game is that much cheaper. Samurai 2:Vengeance is another high quality slasher type game, for only $2.99. Another great game I got for free is Contract Killer with high graphics, fluid gameplay, and a price tag of $0.00, its a great game.

This may sound like its all about the iPad, but the Acer tablet has been just as active on the gaming front. for $.99 I bought the game Caligo Chaser, a full fledged rpg, with great graphics,fluid gameplay, quests, skills, items to equip, everything. There were several full featured free games. Angry Birds, a nice time killer for adults and kids alike, all 3 versions for free. Another game is called Galaxy On Fire, it has extremely good graphics and fluid gameplay, and was also free. Third blade, another free game made by the same app developers who made Caligo Chaser, Another is Colosseum, a side scrolling beat 'em up type game. Although very repetitive, still alot of fun, with all kinds of weapons, and enemies to face, for only $.99

So when I tell my mom or sister, im gonna buy this or that app for up to $9.99(the maximum price I will pay for a game on the iPad.) and they say, "thats way to much for an app." from now on I'll respond, "its not an app, its a video game."

Sent from my iPad

Hp Touchpad Keyboard Review

The Hp Touchpad keyboard arrived at my house today, I unboxed it, and Voila! it worked right out of the box on my ipad and on my acer Iconia a100! all I did was turn on bluetooth, and then turn on the keyboard, and it was found right away.  

Design 

The Touchpad keyboard has a very nice feel and look to it. From the sub pound weight of it, to the thin and light frame, and to the spacious chiclet style keys and the volume/media buttons that work fine on both tablets. 

Function

This keyboard works great with both tablets, although there are a few buttons that dont work, as some are WebOs specific. Such as the brightness + and - keys, and next/previous keys, the play key is the only key(of the next/pause/previous buttons) that worked on my android tablet. 

Cost 

This keyboard is a nice cheaper alternative to the $50 bluetooth keyboard built by acer, or, the logitech android keyboard for $60. This ones on amazon for 31-39 dollars. Its a great bargain.

Conclusion 

The HP Touchpad Keyboard is a great deal for anyone who owns a ipad or android 3.0 tablet and is looking for a cheap, but good keyboard. At its current price, this Item is definitely a steal!

Side Note:This Review was written entirely on the Hp Touchpad Keyboard from my acer Iconia a100!

Acer A100 Review

I got the Acer Iconia A100 from Walmart for about $350 with tax on the 19th, and have rarely sat it down.

The Iconia a100 is touted as the first 7 inch tablet to run Android 3.2, this was the primary reason I decided on this tablet instead of my other choice, the Asus Transformer. The transformer had connectivity that the Iconia a100 doesn't have, such as a full sized USB port, and port for a keyboard dock. But the Acer tablet's size drew me in, as I wanted something a little more portable.

Hardware

The Iconia has a 7"  LCD screen and weighs 0.92 lbs, with a dual core tegra 2 processor. Although it feels sort of plasticky, the build quality of this device feels very solid. Slight flexing of this device produces a very low, faint creaking, one you can't hear unless you put your ear close to it. On the left side of the tablet you have a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the power/lock button. On the top is the screen orientation lock in the form a slider, and a volume rocker. The right side of this tablet has the charging port, speaker grill, mini USB, a docking port, mini HDMI, another speaker grill, and a pinhole sized reset button. The bottom of the device is bare. The back of the device sports a smooth design with Acer branding on it, with a helix-esque design.

Acer Iconia Compared To The iPad

Sound

The Iconia is equipped with Dolby sound,the speakers on this device deliver audio well.

Camera

The Iconia has a rear 5 MP camera, with an LED flash, and a front facing 2 MP camera. Based on reviews of other tablets, the iconia seems to be equipped with one of the better camera's.

Accessories

Accessories specifically designed for the a100 model seem to be sparse, but I have found a few things to purchase that will play nice with its form factor.

1.Universal Stand-This stand works fine with the acer tablet in addition to all other 10" tablets,and is surprisingly sturdy.

2.Logitech Keyboard-Although pricey, this keyboard will work with all android 3.0+ tablets.

3.Hp Touchpad Keyboard-Someone told me this keyboard also works with android tablets, I've ordered it and it works great, granted a few WebOs Specific keys dont work, but it makes a good keyboard for your tablet none the less. Read the Review Here

Apps

There are alot of apps in the android market, and apparently android 3.2 allows phone sized apps to scale up to the tablets size. I have gotten several games that work very well with it, and a few good apps that I'm going to reccomend you get.

1.Angry birds(Original,Rio,Seasons)-Free
Kids and Adults alike love this game! Its a great ice breaker, plus all of these are free.

2.Winamp-Free
If you use winamp as your desktop player, which I do, you can use this app to sync all of your music wirelessly.

3.Clear.fi-Free
This app came pre-installed on the tablet, it is a nice video/music/photo streaming app, it worked right out of the box.

4.Movie studio-Free
Another pre-installed favorite, this app is used as you would use windows movie maker.

5.Samurai 2-$2.99
If your more interested in gaming on tablets, this is a great way to see how well your tablet can perform. Samurai 2, although a little pricey, is excellent, it has quick,fluid game play, accurate touch controls and well done audio, this app is defenitley worth the money. Another app worth a look is Third blade,and Colisseum.

These are just a few apps that I think you should consider purchasing, there are hundreds more in the app market for to look at.

Software

This is the first android device I've ever owned, currently I'm still learning about the software side of android 3.2, and actually may be getting another tablet that runs 2.3, although right now its unclear. Anyway, after I have a more solid understanding of how Android works, I will then review  it.

Lg Fantasy Wp7 Leaked

According to WpCentral, Lg's fall 2011 roadmap of phones has been leaked, and down the roadmap,likely in the fourth quarter according to pocketnow.comthere will be a new wp7 handset known as the Lg Fantasy that is likely to be a Mango device. Check out the pic below, courtesy of pocketnow.com

Archos 35 Home Connect Revealed By FCC

The Archos 35 Home Connect was launched with the Archos G9 Series in June, and was portrayed as a web radio running android, well thanks to the fcc filingwe now know that it will run 2.2 froyo, and we also have a users manual to look at.

Source:ArcTablet

New Wp7 Devices

So today a few new wp7 handsets were shown off by a microsoft employee, manufactured by acer, fujitsu, zte, and a nice thin new samsung model that will be coming out, watch the video below.


Hopefully these phones will be out by Christmas as Steve Ballmer said earlier this week.

Mango Mania Part 5-Browsing For Mangoes

IE9 Portait Browser

In this second to last installment of Mango Mania, I'll be discussing the new internet explorer 9 browser. So here we go!

The new browser has had quite a few changes, some useful, others taking away from the usefulness in my experience. First of all, the new browser is pretty fast, web pages load up immediately. The look of the browser has under gone some changes too. In portrait mode, gone are the add to favorites, favorites, and tabs buttons, for better or for worse, as it does give you a nice amount of screen real estate, but now to access your other tabs, you have to tap the familiar elipses, which brings up a slew of options, such as:


Tabs-View your other open tabs.

Recent-In the new IE9 browser you can revisit your closed pages.

Favorites-View your Favorite web pages.

Add to Favorites-Pretty self explanatory.

Share Page-Share the interesting article your reading to others via email, and text messaging.

Pin to Start-Pin a website you visit constantly to avoid typing it in everyday.

Settings-From here you can choose to "Allow cookies", "Get suggestions from Bing as you type", "allow internet explorer to collect my browsing history". You can also choose your website preference from desktop and mobile, and delete your history.

You also now have the address bar that you've wanted in land scape orientation, with the elipses to access those same options listed above.

IE9 Land Scape Browser

All in all the IE9 browser has seen a nice improvement, especially in speed, but  it seems like it's also lost some productivity, mainly by losing the tabs button. Just to view any open tabs you have running, you'll now have to make three taps, as opposed to the 2 in Nodo. You have to tap the elipses, tap the tabs section, then select which tab you'd like to run, although Im gonna miss being able to just tap the tabs icon, but this is also subject to change as this is a beta.

Mango Mania Part 4-Mango Market

Market Place Search

This latest installment is very short, but the next one will be longer, I'll be discussing the new market place additions, so lets jump right in.

First of all, the market place now has a much better search function, in NoDo, you had to press the search button, and risked your phone switching to the Bing search page, or if it did search for something, you would just get a giant list of music and apps without any kind of filter. In mango, you get a simple search icon as soon as you enter the market place, and now have different search filters, such as apps+games,music, and podcasts. This makes the whole search feature much more accurate and productive, along with a new suggestions as you type feature.

Podcast Search

Zune HD Firmware Update...

So today I noticed a few people on twitter talking about a zune hd firmware update, I immediately checked my local forum, and saw people talking about it on there to, then started thinking"OMG! New FW FTW!" all that good stuff, but unfortunately, according to a tweet posted by Dave Mclauchlan, the man who has a lot of dealings in working with zune, the update is simply a bug fix(Proof:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2524375.mspx), although it is still nice to know that the HD did get one more FW update, its last being in april 2010.

Mango Mania Part 3-Mango Media

The Modified Now Playing Screen

I'll be discussing the redesign of the Zune(music+videos) hub is more productive what with the new features that have been added, such as making playlists on the go, the smart DJ playlists, and especially the OTA(over the air) downloading of podcasts.

Starting with the new now playing screen,
you now have the previous, pause/play, and next buttons at the top of the screen instead of the bottom, and instead of having to tap the album artwork to reveal the favorite, shuffle, and repeat options, they are now on the side of the album artwork. You also now have the option to show the artist your listening to on the lock screen, as seen below.

Artist On Lock Screen Feature

Another new addition to Mango is downloading podcasts on your device via WiFi or 3g. My phone doesn't have service, so there's no 3g, but I did download some podcasts over WiFi, and had no problems with it. After selecting the podcast to download, you can then choose if you want to subscribe to it, and from there can choose how many episodes you want to download, along with a helpful only download over WiFi option, so as not to use your data plan up.

The Added playlist functionality is also useful for those of you who like to make playlists on the go. What ever tracks your listening to, all you have to do is tap the elipses in the now playing screen and select 'Save as playlist'. Easy and quick, and the Smart Dj mix is even easier. All you do is hold down on one artist you like, and a drop down menu appears with the options 'add to now playing', 'play smart dj mix', and 'pin to start'. All you do is tap play smart dj mix, and the phone does the rest for you, although it did give me a message on lesser known artists. For one it said, 'we cant create a smart dj mix for you because we're not sure who this is.' but for the most part this feature worked just fine.

All in all the redesign and added features have pretty much satisfied me in the area of Media on Mango.

App Review-Evernote

So this is my first review of an application for Wp7, and I'm only doing this one because I honestly think everyone should use this app if they write articles on a blog And/or are on the move often. I have used this app for all of my latest Mango Mania installments. So lets get to it shall we?
 

So before you get this app you should make sure to already have the evernote desktop client, along with an account obviously. The desktop client and wp7 app sync very well together, in my case I start a new note from my quantum while I'm out, I can type up an article, attach pictures from the 'pictures' hub, even attach a voice note. Then when I get back in all I have to do is make sure the evernote client is running on my desktop. It will sync automatically if it is, and pull up the new/updated article for me to finish it on there.(although in most cases their already done from my phone.) it also works vice versa, if I start on another note on my computer, when i open evernote, it will sync automatically, it even includes pictures that i attached from my computer. The only problem I have with this app is that in Mango when I switch to another app and come back, the writing process will lag noticeably, but this is most likely because it hasn't been updated for Mango yet. But it's definitely not a deal breaker.

Make sure to check out Evernote's official Blog Release to learn more about this app

Rating
8.5

Pro's

• Syncs well with desktop client
• Can attach different items in note
• Can transfer notes to different 'Notebooks'
• Free

Con's

• Noticeable lag when app switching

Mango Mania Part 2-Game Hub

The games hub has been redesigned very well in Mango. We now have 3d avatars, that's pretty cool, along with much more integration. On Nodo You have to make an extra tap on your avatar to sign into Xbox live and see any friend requests, achievements, etc. In mango, you have your profile, achievements and avatar editor right there in the games hub, next to your fully animated 3d avatar. Tap him/her to get them to do something, or don't tap it and it will act on its own, if your playing music, your avatar will actually dance to it, shake your phone and it will trip, sometimes it will actually pull the gaming section over your current section. Swipe to the right to see a seperate section for requests, another swipe takes you to the "Spotlight" section, where you'll see the deal of the week,articles on the newest games, and gamer spotlights. The next swipe will take you the new games collection section. The games collection is more productive now. You view all of your apps from a zoomed out view, where your XBL games are separated by a divider, and your other games are in alphabetical order, although it's upsetting how there are no blocks that indicate which letter your on like in the music section, but hopefully that will be rectified by its official release date. I cant really say whether the performance of the games have improved for me, as I never had a problem playing the apps on the NoDo update.

Avatar's can fall,dance and be as silly as they want, right on your phone!

Mango Mania Part 1-Multi Tasking Mango's

So I've been running the Mango beta update for my Lg Quantum as of late. Today I wanted to touch on "Multi Tasking" the reason for those quotes on "Multi Tasking" is because multi tasking is supposed to be used to increase efficiency, but in Wp7's case, its the opposite. To be fair, you can switch between apps efficiently, the trouble comes when you attempts close the tasks running. When I saw how this was demoed online, I was confused on how to close the apps, I think Microsoft should take a page out of apples book here and have a red X to close running apps or even switching to another app and pressing the home button, but instead you have to press the back button, which would be fine if it immediately took you back to the homepage, but instead you have to cycle through everything you had done previously. For instance, if i was playing angry birds and switched over to play Pixel Man Zero, another great retro styled platformer for wp7, and then went back to angry birds and wanted to back out, the first back tap would pause it, the next tap would take you the main menu, then the next tap would take you the home screen. Wasnt Windows whole Motto to "Get In And Out" on your phone? it seems like their straying from their mantra with this problem. I've found myself constantly pressing the windows button to get back to the homescreen, thinking i've exited the app, only to find it is still open later on! Although I am still slightly holding onto hope that this problem will be fixed by the time the official mango comes out.

First Impressions On Mango

Mango Beta First Impressions

Multi tasking is confusing and unproductive

New ie9 browser is MUCH faster than previous one

3D avatars are kinda cool

New much needed Zune player features and redesign was done well

Twitter integration not active with this build

Market place loads much faster with much better filters for apps,music,and podcasts

OTA podcasts

The new office can save your documents to your SkyDrive.

More to Come In My Actual Review

Windows Phone Mango Has Arrived Early!

Working on a review right now of this great software!

Custom ringtones for Wp7 on Mango Confirmed!

Ringing in Mango

According To the link above, which is the official windows phone blog, Wp7 will feature custom ringtones in the next big update code named 'Mango', although there are a few expected rules here:


To qualify as a ringtone, a sound file must be:

• 39 seconds or shorter
• smaller than 1 megabyte (MB)
• saved in MP3 or WMA format
• not copy-protected (i.e. DRM free)

The post also explains how simple it is to install a ringtone, as listed below:

In short, custom ringtones can be installed using the Zune software on your PC. Once you’ve created an audio file that meets the ringtone requirements, find it in your Zune music collection, right-click the file, and change the Genre field to Ringtone. Then just sync the file to your phone like you would any music track.

Looks like Mango just gets riper and riper, and all Wp7 users cant wait to harvest it soon.

Archos G9 Honeycomb Series

Not so long ago, Archos announced a series of "Internet Tablets" that ran android 2.1/2.2, and the questions being asked about it was, "is it going to be upgradeable to honeycomb?" Today Archos has debuted 2 new models for a new series of tablets, the G9 Series, the 101 G9 and the 80 G9, both tablets feature Android 3.1, a dual core OMAP 4 processor running at 1.5ghz, and a 250 gb seagate hard drive.The 101 G9 will cost $349, an affordable price compared to the other honeycomb tablets out there.(Asus Transformer, Motorola Xoom,Acer's Iconia,etc.)The 8" 80 G9 will run an attractive $249, which is an incredible price to pay for a honeycomb tablet. Both models can have the additional optional accessory of a $49 3g usb laptop stick to come with it. They begin shipping at the end of september.

Archos G9 official specs
Video for the G9 Series
More Features:


Adobe Flash Player support
Built-in features: Compass, GPS, speakers, G-sensor, Vibrator, Built-in kick stand, Built-in Microphone
Innovative 3G – The ARCHOS Gen 9 tablets have the ability to receive 3G mobile broadband signals using a USB 3G stick, it’s a $49 optional upgrade.
Camera – 720p front camera with 720p encoding
Battery life – Music playback time: up to 36 hrs; Video playback time: up to 7 hrs ;Internet navigation time: up to 10 hrs
Weight – ARCHOS 80 G9; 465g (17 oz) for 16GB flash model and 599g (21.9 oz) for the 250GB HDD model. ARCHOS 101 G9; 649g (23.8 oz 16GB flash model and 755g (27.7 oz) for 250GB HDD model.

The Zune's Legacy

See that picture up there? to those of you who've owned a ZuneHD,you know what this is already. To those who are not sure what your looking at, this is the now playing screen for the ZuneHD Operating System, and the 'Metro' Os Design. Now look at this:

Looks similar right? those who own a Wp7 Device know what this is, and those who own a ZuneHD probably know what this is too. This is the now playing screen for the Wp7 Operating System, and the 'Metro' Os again. Now look towards the future at these:

Those 2 pictures are the future-Windows 8 and the Xbox 360 dashboard update. expected 2012 and fall(?) 2011, respectively. Donesnt this 'Metro' design seem like it stemmed from the Zune's Operating system? with its starky 2d blocks of color and Oversized elegant font? I personally loved the Os of the Zune, and love how widely its being adapted, even to the desktop software Omnimo 4, which i personally use, shown below.

With The 'Metro' design hitting windows big product's one by one, one would wonder: whats happened to the Zune players?
Well, the answer is simple really. They arent dead, but the prospects of new hardware isnt looking incredibly well either. The last firmware update for the Zune Hd was 4.5, released in april of 2010 i believe. The platform for the Zune HD is still surviving, as far as apps go anyways. Before I obtained my Lg Quantum, I was in the beta app testing program for the Zune HD, and there are some surprisingly useful apps still coming. I wish I could say more on them, but they havent been released yet, so I dont want to spoil the surprise. Anyway The 'Zune' Brand name is currently viewed by a majority of people as a failure sometimes compared the windows kin phones. Some argue that it was Microsoft's marketing strategy, some that it was the lack of apps, ,Some would say:it has a tegra chip in it! why are there no great apps!? even though the purpose of the tegra chip in the Zune HD, according Dave Mac, is for HDMI output. But one thing no one would disrespect about the Zune HD was the look, sleekness, Amoled screen, or Music and Video Quality of the OS. Yet, news about the Windows Phone 7 Platform seems to be positive for the most part, with a dab of negativity only here or there(See Below for Wp7 news.). So as I wait, mainly for Windows 8 to start up, and for the Xbox 360 dashboard update, It's nice to remember where this sleek, elegant design that will soon be connected across most of my devices came from.

Small Editorial

Technology

Wp7 Conundrum
So I read an interesting article on one of my favorite wp7 sites, wpcentral today. The article was about a summary of a statement made by Microsoft, stating that wp7 is their only mobile gaming platform(Wp7 is microsoft's only solution to portable gaming.). That statement actually worried me, due to the latest problems Microsoft's been having with its app's.
Wp7 Marketplace spam
Wp7 marketplace spam again?
The spam problem already seemed bad from before, but now that Microsoft has made it clear that this is their direction platform wise, the spam problem, combined with another problem I've been seeing and considering as of late, is the quality of the app's. I've seen a few articles about the quality of the app's, but IMO if Microsoft is going to use wp7 as its solution to mobile gaming, it needs to step up. These are the people who gave us gears of war, halo, etc. So why aren't we seeing any good exclusive titles besides the harvest(i didn't see it for IOS or Android.)? Right now all I am seeing is ports, which to be fair, Android did start out similarly. Hopefully we'll get some better titles after the developers conference for gamer's in London, Seattle, And Tokyo coming soon.(Developers Conference) But as far as the wp7 gaming situation is concerned right now, I'm still pretty worried since I haven't heard of any great exclusive titles yet.


Btw all of this was typed with my LG quantum, except this sentence.

Lg Quantum Hardware Review

Technology Review

the 2nd technology review of a product on this site!

HARDWARE

The LG quantum has some extra girth to it due to the landscape keyboard, but it still looks nice. The internals are 16GB storage(unfortunately there is no micro sd expansion option, but 16gb should be okay for the average user.), 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM,1 GHz Scorpion processor . On the outside however, the front of the handset sports a speaker, with a mic next to it. Below that is a 3.5” wvga capacitive touch screen, next is a tactile windows button That gives a nice audible click when pressed. Below that is the required two capacitive buttons for search and back.
The back of the handset features the 5 mega pixel camera in the middle. On the right side of the device is a volume rocker, and a dedicated camera button. Atop the handset is the power/lock button, and the standard 3.5mm jack. One problem I have with this phone is that when the device is locked, pressing the central windows button on the phone does not unlock the phone or show the screen saver. Instead you have to tap the power button to take you to the unlock screen, its an inconvenience to the user.

SOUND

The speaker that is located on the back of the phone is average at best. Music sounds slightly tinny. You'll probably find yourself using headphones with media more than the speaker.

Camera

The 5mp camera is located on the back of the handset. The camera takes surprisingly nice pictures in the dark thanks to the nice LED flash located underneath the lens, along with nice 720p footage. Since this is my first review, I'm not sure how to review the camera other than to post actual sample pictures, so I guess that's what I'll do! Look below to find the pictures, some of them are on my new blog for pictures taken with this device, ShadowPicture555

Keyboard

The LG Quantum features a fully fledged, qwerty landscape keyboard. The keyboard has a set of directional keys, along with a emoticon, and symbol key. The keyboard shortcuts actually make the keyboard surprisingly easy to use. Each key has a alternate symbol on it, and all you do is hold down the key to add whichever symbol you wish, this method is fast and easy to use, as opposed to pressing the function button whenever you would want a single symbol.

Phone entry

Yep this is a raw shot with my LG quantum, I really like it, might post more on the blog now that I can use my phone :D

Sent from my Windows Phone

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