Nerd Nest

I’ve moved!

Ousmane Mariko — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:25:09 +0000

Hey guys. If you want to follow my writing, you can head over to TheDailyGetUp. I’m writing as the Tech Editor. See you there!

First HD2 turn on is a turn off

Ousmane Mariko — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:25:03 +0000

I guess we knew this was coming. When HTC skinned Windows Mobile, it was only a matter of time until Windows Mobile reared is big ugly head and poked through. In SlashGear’s unboxing of the HTC HD2, that nasty Windows Mobile error notification came and crashed the high we were experiencing while watching this totally lust-worthy device. The video link is below, and try not to cry when it comes up.

SlashGear HTC HD2 unboxing

Universal phone charger gets approval

Ousmane Mariko — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:19:01 +0000

It’s refreshing to know that the UN has your mobile life in their best interests, isn’t it? In the past few years, we’ve seen an ever-growing adoption of Micro-USB for charging smartphones. The International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations, has approved the standard for cell phone chargers. This will reduce clutter (how many of you have bought a charger that works for one phone?) and be friendlier towards Mother Nature (not as many proprietary chargers chillin’ in landfills). It’s important to note that companies are not required to adopt the new format, but there should be a more widespread adoption. Except for the iPhone. We all know how Apple feels about connections.

HTC knocks some Sense into your Magic

Ousmane Mariko — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:17:41 +0000

We learned about this back in August when the Hero was released and it’s just been a matter of playing the waiting game. Now at least it’s official in Taiwan, at least, for the Chunghwa HTC Magic. It’ll be interesting to see how it runs on the Magic with the Hero really struggling to fully utilize the UI — at least until recently with the last update, but that is debatable. Look for future Android, as well as Windows Mobile devices to come with Sense UI.

Download page (Taiwanese)
via HTC Twitter

Moto Droid shows up on site early, ready to bash iPhone

Ousmane Mariko — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:58:24 +0000

I guess Verizon couldn’t wait for November to unleash its beast of a phone. That’s quite alright. We were hungry for specs anyways. It has a full list of delicious specs including a WVGA 3.7 inch capacitive touch screen, 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, WiFi, and Android 2.0. I immediately checked how fast the processor was and was subsequently dissapointed to find out it runs at 550Mhz — a smidge faster then the ancient 528Mhz chip in all the other Android devices. We’ll see how it goes when it is unleashed onto the world.

Update: They took it down shortly after this post went up. I guess its time hasn’t come yet.

Windows 7 Review

Ousmane Mariko — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:58:41 +0000

So it’s now October 22nd and you know what day it is? Yes, Halloween is just around the corner, but that’s not it. It’s even more significant than that. Today is the day Microsoft officially releases their new, revamped operating system Windows 7. It has been a long almost 3 years since we were blindsided with Vista and had to suffer through the ensuing hell. Well now, the dark cloud has lifted and the light at the end of the tunnel has revealed itself in the form of Windows 7. Or has it?

Pricing and upgrade

Typical Microsoft move, right here. They over-price the software and, on top of that, they bring about confusion as to how to go about upgrading. If you would take a look at the table above, there are 66 squares regarding the upgrade path to Windows 7. Out of those 66 squares, there are only 14 “easy” ways to upgrade. For a nerd, upgrading is easy. We back up our stuff periodically anyways, so migrating shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. On the other hand, the vast majority of Windows users, sadly, are not nerds and don’t back up periodically. In that case, all your setting will have to be added again manually. So upgrading basically goes like this:

From Windows XP and Windows Vista Starter, there is no direct upgrade path. You’ll have to do a clean install.
32-bit can upgrade only to 32-bit, 64-bit can upgrade only to 64-bit.
Windows Vista Home Basic and Premium, 32 and 64 bit, can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate.
Windows Vista Business can upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate can only upgrade to Window 7 Ultimate

Simple enough? Well, at least the fellas in Redmond think so. Luckily, if you’re running anything from XP onwards, you can purchase the upgrade versions which will save you considerable moolah. Next up is pricing. Vista got a lot of heat due to its high prices. Windows Vista Ultimate was originally sold at $399 and later dropped to $319. Their current prices are not very different. The full version of Windows 7 Ultimate will run you $319 while the upgrade(which applies to most of you) is $219. Upgrading to Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium are $199 and 119, respectively.

First impressions

For those of us who were brave enough to try out the Windows 7 Beta and Release Candidate have grown to cope better with this latest Windows iteration. More or less an incremental change (that is extremely debatable), Windows 7 comes with improved functionality and visuals. It is not sluggish, by any stretch of the imagination (except in booting). Running this on my 4-year-old desktop and Macbook Pro saw little if any hiccups. First of all, you’ll notice that it isn’t as much as a resource hog as Vista. They are touting this OS to be able to run well on a netbook, so I’m sure your PC should be able to cope. The visual style has some differences than its much insufferable predecessor.

UI enhancements

Like Vista, Windows 7 has a really clean, bubbly feel to it. Microsoft has added small enhancements to improve the Windows experience.

Taskbar

You’ll probably first notice the task bar. It now contains icons of the programs you set there for quick access or the programs that are running. Great thought, but it can be a lot more functional. For instance, switching quickly between apps is a pain if you have more than one window open. Let’s say that I have several Firefox windows open in the background and I’m currently using Microsoft Word. To go to Firefox, you instinctively click on the icon. Unfortunately, the only thing that does is show you a preview window of what you have open and then you click on what you were looking for. It could be faster, but you can live with it. This view is set by default. If you prefer the old way the taskbar looked (with the name of the program), that can be changed by right-clicking the taskbar.

Aero Peak

A cool addition is the new Aero Peak feature. Again, it is reminiscent of Mac OS X, Exposé this time. Placing your cursor in the bottom right hand corner of the screen will you your desktop as well as an outline of all your open windows. Clicking will minimize all open windows.

Aero Snap

I’m sure Microsoft wants all of us to be productive and to make full use of our screen real estate. That is the vibe I’m getting with this feature. Dragging a window to the left side of the screen will have it fill up the left half of the screen. The same happens if you drag to the right and the right half will be filled. Dragging to the top will maximize your window. I’m sure you’re all fans of keyboard shortcuts and Microsoft has you covered. Holding the Windows key combined with the left or right arrow will fill the corresponding half. Quite the handy tool. No one likes double-clicking windows. That is so 2007.

Aero Shake

This is, hands down, the funnest addition. Grabbing hold of a window and vigorously shaking it will minimize the other windows. Shaking again will bring them back up. However hilarious at first look this may seem, it is actually very helpful once you get used to it.

Other enhancements

Luckily for the end-user, the improvements go beyond the pretty new looks on Aero. The start menu as well as folder functionality have seen some considerable improvements.

Start Menu

If you’re the lucky few to survive Vista, the Start menu will seem very familiar. The main improvement here is speed. Using the search box will yield results much quicker than previously.

Folders

You can bet that productivity is not compromised. The folder options at the top of a window brings even more function just a mouse-click away. Instead of digging into a submenu to print a certain document, mail it out or just to create a new folder, you have those tasks accessible directly. Once again, you see the theme of less clicking to improve how you work on the machine.

The preview pane does allow to, well…preview, what you selected. Excel document, music file, you name it, it can probably preview it. Nice addition, not well executed. I ran into the problem of it not previewing every image in my pictures folder, even though others of the same file type and resolution were rendered fine.

Windows XP Mode

If there was one thing Microsoft had to include, this certainly should have been it. This is even better than the Aero shake. The problem with Vista was that after switching, many of your programs just did not work. Basically, your experience was broken. Now you have a wonderfully woven safety net to fall back on should you need to rely on XP. This feature will be available for download on the release day of Windows 7.

Final Thoughts

Oh Microsoft. You are quite the enigma. First, you gave us a fantastic operating system in Windows XP, sent us into oblivion with Vista and brought good to our PC’s and semi-redeemed yourself. This is what Vista should have been. Windows XP emulation? It’s almost 3 years late, but we’ll forgive you. You did bring us the Aero shake. I’m sure all the young hip kids will coin it a new dance in no time. Of course, it’s not perfect. It rarely is. You can’t install a program without a security message babysitting you and asking you if you want to install. Yes, if I clicked on it, I’m pretty sure I wanted to install that. Windows 7 is recommended. If you’re using XP and on the fence, go for it – if you don’t mind the ensuing hell while trying to get you files back. If you’re using Vista – this is what you’ve been waiting for.=. The end product is definitely worth it.

Other reviews

Engadget – Read
Gizmodo – Read
Maximum PC – Read

Verizon launches new ad campaign: iDon’t and Droid Does

Ousmane Mariko — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:15:10 +0000

Once again, Verizon has put up a totally hilarious ad taking some pretty hard shots at the iPhone. The ad starts off with a totally Apple-esque, bubbly song and with the line “iDont have a real keyboard.” What a classic way to begin the commercial. It runs about 30 seconds and lists things the mystery phone(probably the Motorola Droid formely the Scholes) does do that the iPhone doesn’t, such as a 5 megapixel camera with flash. Video is down below. Enjoy and try not to smile. If you don’t smile to yourself, you have no soul…or you’re an Apple fanboy/fangirl.

Palm Pre is coming to Verizon early next year

Ousmane Mariko — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:18:06 +0000

It was just a matter of time that Sprint wouldn’t have an exclusive stranglehold on the Palm Pre here in the States. Its been confirmed, by Verizon, that it is indeed coming to the Big Red next year. No word on date as of yet. Good news, just tell me when its coming to AT&T. Then, we’ll be talking.

via Engadget via BoyGeniusReport

HTC HD2 thoroughly enjoyed for the better part of 10 minutes

Ousmane Mariko — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:15:34 +0000

The guys at ai.rs blog have put up a 10 minute video demonstrating the HTC HD2 phone. it looks to be extremely snappy thanks to the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. The massive 4.3″ screen has just so much real estate that the keyboard looks to be a dream to use as well as the Sense interface. It was announced this passing week on October 6th with several other Windows Phones as part of Microsoft’s worldwide coordinated launch. We’ll be waiting with childish anticipation for Q1 2010 when, supposedly the divice will come stateside, while our European brethren will enjoy the festivities very very soon (like, November soon). Keep your fingers crossed. Check out the video below. Please enjoy the snazzy music as well.

via ai.rs blog

HTC Leo/HD2 specs leak

Ousmane Mariko — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:40:06 +0000

Surely, little pockets will be graced with this device soon enough. We keep seeing leaks left and right and there is plenty too keep you busy before an expected October launch. We knew some specs, but now the guys over at XDA Developers got their hands on a more complete list. It does have more RAM than any other HTC device with 340MB instead of the previous max at 288MB. And the screen is made of glass, unlike their other capacitive screen devices.

Take a gander at the specs below.

Platform
Ultra slim bar type touch phone / Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional

Processor/Chipset
Qualcomm MSM 8250, 1GHz

Memory / Internal Storage
ROM: 512 MB / RAM: 320 MB / HD: 207.13MB

Display Module
4.3-inch 480×800 WVGA resolution / 65K-color / Sensitive touch screen (Capacitive) / Keep support Multi-Touch capability for WM7 Chassis
HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM Function

Internal antenna
HSPA/UMTS 2100/900 MHz and GSM/GPRS/EDGE
Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) / HSDPA / 3GPP Release 5 compliant
Up to 7.2Mbps / HSUPA / 3GPP release 6 compliant / UE category 5, up to 2 Mbps peak rate / EGPRS Functionality / EGPRS class B / Multi-slot class 12 (10 Operator dependent) / PBCCH

Standalone GPS
Internal GPS antenna

Sensors
Motion G-sensor / Proximity sensor / Ambient Light Sensor / FM Radio

Digital Camera
Main camera: 5 MP Color CMOS with auto focus / 2x LED flash

Key/Button/Switch
Volume up and down control / Send Key / End Key (Power Key) / Windows Key / Home Key / (Cinema mode Key, TBD) / Back Key / Reset

Notification
Notification by sound, vibration, LEDs or status shown on the display
One dual colors (Green and Amber) LED in the left / lens for PDA event, battery and charging / status

Audio
Built-in microphone / Receiver / Loud speaker with hands-free support

Connectivity & Interface
Bluetooth / Version 2.1 compliant with EDR / Wi-Fi / IEEE 802.11 b/g compliant / Micro-USB: / USB 2.0 High-Speed client / 3.5 mm stereo audio jack with mic / 1.8/3V USIM/SIM card slot / microSD card slot with SDHC support

Power
Battery / Removable and chargeable battery, 1,230 mAh / AC adaptor / AC input: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz / DC output: 5V and 1A

Accessories (In-Box)
Quick Start Guide [Inbox] / Travel Charger, TC P300 [Inbox] / USB Sync Cable (Micro-USB to Standard USB) [Inbox] / Battery [Inbox] / Wired stereo headset with 3.5mm audio connector, HS G335 [Inbox] / Premium pouch (Carrying Case) [Inbox] / Car Charger [optional] /Car Holder with
battery cover [optional]

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Applications
Microsoft Outlook Mobile / Messaging (SMS/E-mail), Contacts, Calendar,Tasks, Email Set Up Wizard / Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile / Microsoft Media Player Mobile / Microsoft ActiveSync / Microsoft Windows Mobile Update / Internet Sharing / Pictures & Videos / Games / MSFT Zip
File Explorer / Device Management / Security Enhancement / Microsoft Office Mobile / Microsoft Windows Live! / Microsoft Smart Dial / Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile

Value-Added Applications
Windows Mobile Enhancements / Pictures & Videos enhancements / Ring Tone enhancements Telephony (HTC) Phone Canvas(HTC) Phone Experience Multimedia / (HTC) Camera Album / MP3 Trimmer / Streaming Media Player / FM Radio / Presentation mode / Web / Push Internet / RSS HUB / YouTube Client Social Networking / Input Method EZ-INPUT / Messaging SMS/MMS Client / GPS/LBS Navigation (CoPilot, Papago) / Google Maps / Quick GPS / Support CLL.dll library for indoor positioning andreverse geo-coding / Navi-panel / Calendar to Navi / User Interface (Enhanced Manila) / TouchFLO Footprints / Auto Screen Rotation /

Tools & Utilities
HTC Common Sense / 3G to WiFi router / Task Manager / Text selection (HTC) Connection Setup / OOBE / Voice Recorder / Document Viewer / PDF / OMA DRM Engine / Java virtual machine / Long Press / End Key Confirmation (to shut down) / STK SIM manager / (HTC) Volume Control / Business Card Reader / Document Printing / Magnifier.

via Pocketnow