Showing posts with label Switched On. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switched On. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Hello Tokyo, Is This Thang On? New HTC EVO Phone

Got my grubby hands on a new HTC EVO smart phone last week. In and out in 30 minutes at the Sprint Store. Took my old cell company AT&T about 30 minutes to activate the new Sprint account. Pretty easy to figure out the functions, the battery life seems a bit weak at first look. Audio does have that underwater sound to it on calls sometimes. Surfing the Interwebz, sending messages, posting pics from the camera to Facebook all worked perfect.

The best part of the whole deal was working with Clarisse. She was 3x hotter in person than in this pic. Lord have mercy.


First week with the HTC EVO smart phone. The GPS app with say location and go is slick, only screwed me once out of maybe 20 trips (bout 1/2 mile off).

The 2.2 Android OS has a root hack finally posted over on xda-developers.com but sweet jeebus it's 3 pages of DOS commands. WTH? I need that WiFi hotspot tether bad for the laptop. Not to fret, a one click root process is about done.

The flashlight app is the shizzle in rattlesnake and scorpion country. Email, Twitter and Facebook was easy to set up. This is my first touch screen phone, it does take some getting used to for typing and not hitting the wrong link or icon on a screen. Size and weight are good for my tee shirt or surf shorts pockets.

The 3G WiFi screams in town, out in the boonies not so much. It's workable for the Internetz and email. YouTube videos are a joy to watch on the big screen with no stoppages to buffer or herky jerky playback. The EVO has 4G  (4rth generation) capability which rolls out here in SoCal in the fall of 2010.

The Friends Stream is nice to combine Facebook and Twitter feeds into one screen to ease the boredom in the airport.

So far Sprint's coverage has been good, even out in the empty desert south of Cibola AZ.

I went with the Aliph Jawbone Icon ear bud, The $39 hardwired ear bud the Sprint Store had sucked and the salesman warned me not to even try it. If that is so why even have the crappy non functional one on the rack to tempt suckers like me?

The one big beef I have is the lame AC/DC micro USB charger plug that plugs into the bottom of the phone. It doesn't lock into the phone so it's constantly having to be plugged back into the phone when you move the phone around in the car or on the table. I guess many of the new phones are using this type connection for power and data but some engineer needs to rethink this weak link FAIL.

One other minor bitch is my older IBM laptop doesn't have USB 2.0 so I can't sync the phone to that older laptop.

The camera is pretty good, I'm shooting 1 meg high quality pics that are stored as .bmps. Video worked fine to record the neighbor's drunken wife swerving all over the road on labor day weekend. The one small nag is close up pics sometimes are not in sharp focus, not sure if that's me or there is no macro mode or what.

Low light pic wasn't too bad on auto setting.



Fast action (30 mph) pic was okay, some overexposure in upper right.


I know, you're wondering "Why not an iPhone"? Well, to be brutally honest I'm tired of all the "Network Busy" errors from AT&T's overloaded network. The iPhone is just too popular right now. I like the bigger display of the EVO and the fact their apps are catching up to all the iPhone apps. Add in that Sprint has built their network out a lot better than AT&T and you have my vote. The Sprint phone bill is also cheaper, $69, if you need unlimited data and messages. I made my new phone decision after putting a Droid X, Samsung Captivate and iPhone through some testing. The one biggie I wanted but didn't get was the Super AMOLED screen which works better in bright sunlight.

Bottom line, if you need to take your office on the road so you can read email, share pics and video on Facebook and Twitter, surf the wild wild Interwebz, find addresses in the dark, this is a must have tool. 

Oh yeah, almost forgot, you can also make phone calls with it since it's also a cellphone. I almost forgot to add that part in from all the fun I'm having using the other features.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Too Switched On?

The other night I was heading north to a duck hunt at Kern NWR. It was dark, having just left a fine supper of Carnitas at the Los Pinos restaurant at the top of the Vine (Grapevine) as some know it on I-5, north of Los Angeles. As each vehicle passed me I began to notice the blinking displays from laptops, GPS units, cellphones, Gameboys etc. I've always been a gadget freak and nerd but I began to wonder just how far we've become addicted to electronics. Many of the cars whizzing past had several people using electronic devices in them.


RING!!! RING!!! RING!!!! Hold on a sec, gotta answer this call.

I can remember a time when you loaded up the truck for a vacation to get away from the ringing phones and never ending questions from work. When you arrived at the rustic cabin or campsite there was no phone to answer, no mail, nothing. It was you and the beautiful woods with no annoying distractions.

On the other hand, a cellphone is good insurance to have if you become stranded or have an emergency of some sort. Most of these folks were traveling for the Christmas holiday. The I-5 can be a boring haul with the Tule Fog causing California's deadliest pileups.

Where is the line for too much electronic gadgetry?

I know some families who can't go anywhere unless little Johnny has his Gameboy, it keeps junior occupied and quiet many parents tell me. The world Johnny has never seen is screaming by and his head is buried in the toy. Part of traveling to me as a kid was seeing the sights, the wonder and awe of seeing new places and new things. Is the next generation missing out in their enlightenment or is this the new world order? Do I need to assimilate or can we bend the folks who are constantly wired and tuned in, off?

BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! Be right with you, gotta answer this page.

I see folks everyday walking around with I-Pods in their ears or yapping on a cellphone as they blindly negotiate busy intersections or walkways. Hearing is one sense I want turned on when big buses and machinery are buzzing by me just feet away. I wonder how many have been squished when they didn't hear the yell from someone to "Look out!!". Some states like CA here are passing laws prohibiting the use of cellphones while driving to try and prevent accidents from inattentive drivers. Some of the cellphone ring tones are flat out annoying, especially in a movie or restaurant. One goof had a screaming elephant in his cellphone the had everyone in the local cafe jumping up and looking for cover, me included. It was that loud.

That begs the question. Is all this electronic bombardment ruining our situational awareness as outdoorsmen? If we don't hear that Towhee singing how would we ever know what one sounds like? If all we hear is music and phone conversations as we walk around outside we will never enjoy the funny chatter of a red-headed woodpecker scolding a squirrel for daring to invade his tree.


RING!!!! RING!!! RING!!! Excuse me, gotta answer this call, BRB.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

New Leaf River iR-5 & iR-7SSi Infrared Game Cam Models

New for the "Switched On" Outdoorsman this summer are the Leaf River iR-5 and iR-7SSi infrared models that record sound when in the video mode. How cool is that? Infrared pics by night, color pics during the day or video with sound, you make the choice. Don and the gang At Leaf River have a winner here.

For a sneak peek at some tasty video from the new Leaf River game cams check out the links below.





Hog video

Turkey video

Quick look at the specs:

IR-7SS - $379.99

Features:

7.0 Mega-pixel Picture Quality
Built-In 2.4˝ Viewing Screen
Improved trigger speed
MPEG -4 video with 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second
Sound recording when in video mode
Color daytime, infrared night-time still pictures or MPEG-4 video
SD card slot for removable memory or use internal memory (SD card not included)
Zoom and Pan feature on internal viewing screen
Adjustable sensitivity knob for motion detection
The unit can be programmed to pause from 1 to 90 minutes between pictures, and by using the Quick Shot mode, you can capture an even quicker 2nd and 3rd picture before entering the pause time, if additional motion is detected, such as a buck following a doe down a trail.
INCLUDES: Mossy Oak Treestand ® camoflage, USB cable, RCA cable, steel mounting bracket, steel security bar and mounting strap. Requires 4 D-cell and 3 C-cell batteries. (NOT INCLUDED) Infrared Digital

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IR-5 - $329.99

Features:

5.0 Mega-pixel Picture Quality
Built-In 1.6˝ Viewing Screen
Improved trigger speed
MPEG -4 video with 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second
Sound recording when in video mode
Color daytime, infrared night-time still pictures or MPEG-4 video
SD card slot for removable memory or use internal memory (SD card not included)
Zoom and Pan feature on internal viewing screen
Adjustable sensitivity knob for motion detection
The unit can be programmed to pause from 1 to 90 minutes between pictures, and by using the Quick Shot mode, you can capture an even quicker 2nd and 3rd picture before entering the pause time, if additional motion is detected, such as a buck following a doe down a trail.
INCLUDES: Mossy Oak Treestand ® camoflage, USB cable, RCA cable, steel mounting bracket, steel security bar and mounting strap. Requires 4 D-cell and 3 C-cell batteries. (NOT INCLUDED) Infrared Digital
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Available from Leaf River and other fine dealers like Cabela's.

More videos from Leaf River on YouTube