Monday, November 28, 2011

Donated to Wikipedia

Today, for the first time, I donated a few bucks to Wikimedia Foundation. Why? Because I use the site a lot. I constantly keep on googling for things and end up reading Wikipedia about the subject - and other stuff related to it.

I understand that some, if not most of the money may not really go to the things they claim them to go. Is this a reason not to donate? I don't think so. There are always people that take more than "their fair share" in this world, but it should not stop people from doing things out of good will. In general I think people are much more selfish these days than years ago. And really, few euros won't hurt your personal economy in any way.

Personally, I like the idea that even a few cents of my donation end up being used to buy a new server for Wikipedia, a server with information I might be soon looking for. And maybe by donating we get that Jimmy Wales face off from the top of the page more quickly ;)

Donate to Wikipedia

Friday, November 25, 2011

HTC Radar with WP7

I have now been using my HTC Radar for about a week and here's some of my thoughts of it in brief. I also added sample photos and couple videos for you to see.


Windows Phone 7.5 'Mango'


For the past few years I had been using Apple's iPhone 3G, a great phone, but badly outdated by now. I could've stayed in the iOS 'ecosystem' but decided to try something new - WP7. When I got my hands on the HTC Radar, it was my very first experience with the Microsoft developed mobile OS. Previously I had never seen or tried a WP7 phone anywhere, except for YouTube videos.

Considering the background, the switch from iOS was surprisinly easy and pleasant. Maybe it was because I'm tech-oriented guy. Nonetheless, the WP7 operating system is very nice. It's different from iOS or Android, and fits somwhere in between them, in my opinion. The logic is different from the two most popular mobile systems, but after a short while you'll get used to it. Most notable are the features of Live Tiles on the home screen and the Metro style UI.

Live tiles are more than the typical icons on iOS and Android because they show much more information. E.g. "Me" tile shows notifications from social media apps, calendar shows upcoming events, etc. etc. Metro style is in use in most of the apps, the logic is that different views inside the app are horizontally arrangend. You move between these views with familiar swipe gesture. Live tiles are colored according to the current theme color and it can be changed from the settings at any moment.


 WP7 application count is growing at fast pace with some 40 000 apps currently available at the Marketplace. Many of the most popular apps are already available, such as Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and WhatsApp. There are some nice "WP7 specific" things, such as pre-installed Office suite and of course Xbox Live that is really nice addition to a mobile device! It makes it's easier to keep up with Xbox Live friends and it's more fun to collect achievements from games on your phone rather than just playing them without such goals.

The Windows Phone slogan "Put people first" is apt. One of the cool features of the OS is "people hub" that integrates your contact info from all social medias and accounts into one place. Then, by tapping a person you can choose which way to contact him/her, whether it's a post on Facebook wall or SMS. You can also arrange people into groups and tap contacts to the start screen.

Some of the settings where rather hard to find or I wasn't unable to find them at all. Sometimes (mostly in the early stage) it was also difficult to understand that the physical "back" button on the phone itself also applies to moving within the applications.

Other than that, WP7 is easy to use, swift and - imho - looks gorgeous.


HTC Radar


General

My first impression of the phone was: surprisingly elegant. HTC Radar is packed in a neat, clean package with not too much of extra materials. Once I took the phone out of the box, it looked and felt great: the grey metallic body was quite sleek and it had a feeling of better quality than what I expected.

Sure, it sorf of looks like the most of the usual smartphones out there, but itlooks great anyway. It's almost identical in the size with my iPhone 3G (Radar: 120.5 x 61.5 x 10.9 mm, iPhone: 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm) with a little taller and slimmer design.

Setting up the phone was easy by following the on-screen instructions. Sadly though, my SIM-card didn't have any contact so I had to manually insert people who were not on my Facebook or Window Live services. I hope the transition to my next phone will be easier, though I doubt it.


Screen


The screen in HTC Radar is 3.8" in size and with the WP7 standard of 800x480 pixels it gives a very nice resolution of around 246 ppi. To me, it was a positive surprise to realize how sharp the screens in the smartphones are these days. The text is so sharp that you basically don't see the pixels anymore. Also the viewing angle is great (comparing to my old phone).

The glossy surface of the damage resistant Gorilla Glass display looks and feels great, although it reflects lamp lights etc. in "right" angles. The automatic brightness level setting seems to work well and I like to keep it on.


Camera


The camera on HTC Radar is a 5 Mpx with a F2.2 lens that gives a bit more wider angle and better low-light photography than perhaps the average cameras on other phones (it's getting more common I think, though). The photo quality is OK: looked up close the pictures are quite blurry on flat surfaces, but for any online use they scale down to be great. Photos taken on daylight can also qualify for regular print photos, but not any larger print than that I think. But what I really love is the simplicity of taking a photo: even when the phone is in lock screen, you can start the camera quickly by pressing down the camera button.

Once in the camera mode, you can either choose to take pictures with the physical camera button, or tap on the screen to focus and shoot on a specified target. You can also access the many options and settings of the camera while in the camera mode. I especially love the Panorama mode that helps you take panorama pictures by stitching 3 photos into one as you turn your camera horizontally. Very easy and great way to capture landscapes etc. Click the link to see some of my HTC Radar sample pictures

HTC Radar can also capture 720p HD video that seems to be quite good in quality. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to really test it in life, but you can see some of my not-so-great test videos on YouTube: HTC Radar HD video sample 1 | HTC Radar HD video sample 2

HTC Radar also has a front facing camera, but that I haven't had a chance to test in any way. Guess it'll be useful if you like to make video calls.


Software


The phone came pre-installed with some HTC specific apps, but I haven't found them that much useful since there are many other apps that can take their place (weather apps, photo editing tools). But when getting started, they were a good addition.

Talking about the photo editing apps, it's great how easily you can edit the photos on your phone. Once you've taken a picture on your phone you can directly open it in your favorite image editing app from the camera roll. Then, after editing the photo is saved in Saved pictures folder.

One absolutely great thing is the easy of sharing pictures and videos into social media: just tap on the share action and you can choose to which services you wish to share that picture, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, email or SkyDrive. One thing to notice: the built-in share feature compresses the images into smaller size, so if you want to upload the full resolution image, you need to use specific app of that service, e.g. Facebook. Many of these share and other features are part of the WP7 system and it has been just a thrill for me to find and use them on this my first WP7 device.

One of the not so great experiences is the syncing the of the phone with my computer that happens to be a Mac. There is an Mac application for this use and the interface is nice and easy to understand, but when syncing it uses iPhoto which I don't use, and getting iTunes music to the phone seems to be blocked because of some DRM things. But you can get files off the phone with direct file download, which I tend to use now. It's a shame the phone doesn't shop up on desktop as a USB memory or a connected camera like the iPhone does.


Some final thoughts

The price tag for HTC Radar is very compelling, since it's a mid-range smartphone and not the flagship phone or even flagship WP7 phone of HTC (Titan is). There are some lack of hardware: the processor isn't the best of all with 1Ghz but it's enough to run almost everything very smoothly. The only case so far I've had a slight lag is on some games with alot of stuff going on. Radar doesn't have a compass either, so some apps will miss it.

On the other hand, HTC Radar has most of the stuff a modern smartphone should have: great screen, good camera with HD video, GPS, front facing camera, tons of sensors for games and apps to use etc. etc.

For regular use HTC Radar has all you need, it looks and feels good and it's nicely priced. WP7 is worth trying and if you don't require the most top-notch phone, HTC Radar might be a great choice for you.


You can find detailed technical specifications of HTC Radar here: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_radar-4131.php

Monday, November 21, 2011

HTC Radar sample photos

I put up an album on Picasa to show some of the photos I've taken with HTC Radar. The album includes indoor and outdoor photos as well as shots from day and night conditions. The album also includes Panorama mode examples and some shots that have been image-edited on the device. Click on the album link below to see the photos.
HTC Radar sample photos

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Happy 10th Anniversary Master Chief!

Ok, I'm few days late with this, but better late than never, right? =)

Anyway, so it's been 10 years since the launch of the original Xbox from Microsoft, along with Halo, it's launch title and what one might call the console's "killer app".

I was thrilled about the original Halo since it was to be released on Mac by Bungie who had made the outstanding Marathon game trilogy (indeed, Marathon is the spiritual predecessor of Halo). I kept watching this video of the initial Halo announcement by Steve Jobs over and over again.. But then Microsoft bought Bungie to port the game for their upcoming console. It was such a sad moment and I lost interest in Halo - until the summer of 2010.

It was my little brother who introduced me to Xbox 360 and two titles in specific: Dirt 2 and Halo 3 (in multiplayer). I was so impressed about the games and the thrilling atmosphere in Halo 3 multiplayer that very soon I bought my own Xbox 360 and Halo 3 alongside it (before playing the campaign I also bought and played through the original Halo: CE and Halo 2 so I wouldn't miss anything from the story!). Later on I also got my hands on Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST.

Now, I will have the opportunity to play the original Halo completely refined to match the look of modern games. The original Halo: CE I bought and played on my Xbox 360 was already 9 years old, in 4:3 ratio and with laggy frame rate and old graphics.

So it's time for me to finally experience Halo: CE as a new game just like the others had enjoyed it 10 years ago. I also look forward on the new multiplayer map experience over Halo: Reach. See you on Xbox Live!

My gamer tag: AliquisNJ

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

First touch with Windows Phone 7


Yesterday, finally, I had my first touch with the Windows Phone 7 (Mango) OS on a brand new HTC Radar. I haven't had time yet to try all of the features, and since I'm new to the OS (been using only iOS for the last 3+ years), I don't even know all of the basics yet. But this I can tell you: I'm loving it so far!

The leap of waith was quite something for me, when reflecting it on my history with Apple products. It was simply time to try something new, and WP7 is truly that - a fresh approach to a mobile OS, and it's very snappy too. As a noob, it was fairly easy to adapt to the logic behind the user interface as well.

I'll post a longer "review" on the HTC Radar and WP7 Mango later on, when I have more time. Meanwhile, if you've never tried the OS before and are planning on getting a new phone, go ahead and give it a try! You might be positively surprised.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Mission to Mars

Now that the simulation for a manned Mars mission, experiment MARS-500 has ended successfully I wanted to post some of my thoughts about space exploration here on my blog.

I have always been interested in science and astronomy - I even have my own mirror telescope. Haven't been watching the stars actively in late years, but every once in a while I get so excited when I hear new great news about space exploration. A manned Mars mission, even being in it's early planning stage, is one such news.

Concept for NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009) Retrieved from Wikipedia.

If I was asked what is the single most greatest achievement in the history of mankind, I don't think I could answer anything else than: "Putting man on the moon". Beating the forces of gravity, dealing with the vacuum, radiation of space and then landing on a stellar object far away from Earth and then getting back safely.. it just shows how great things human being can actually do, when they really push it. And they did that in the 60's! Imagine the computers of that time. These days your phone has more processing power than NASA's computers back then.. and still they managed to pull it off (unless you're one of the conspiracy theorists).

Anyway, I guess they succeeded because they poured almost unlimited amounts of money into the space program. Of course, it was a silent battle against Soviet Union those days and a nation's creditability was at stake. But no matter the motives, I hope they will get all the resources they need to pull of a mission to Mars, since I believe any investment in such great endeavor is always better than just raising the amount of money spent to warfare and such.

I would be glad just to see a colony on the Moon too, if Mars is still too far away for any executable program. The main reason is that I simply think "it's good to not keep all the eggs in the same basket". Or how'd you express that in English? =) The idea of human race being able to survive (for some time) even a planet-scale disaster by doing something so bold just lifts my spirit. We truly should dare to reach out for the skies - and succeed in it.

I want to conclude with a message to the people at NASA, words coming from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the classic sci-fi/action film Total Recall: GET YOUR ASS TO MARS!

Arnold on the surface of Mars in Total Recall. Not the most credible movie in history, but great entertainment!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Online Dating

Sorry, a boring, non-gadget-related post with no pics =)

"Inner beauty matters the most", sure, but mostly in Hollywood movies. I know the basic message behind that phrase is very true, but why is it that so many people on online dating sites have lists of features they want from their partner, mostly related to their appearance. Yes, I use online dating sites/apps myself.

The sad thing is, pretty much the only thing I can't change in me is the thing most women don't like… and that is my height (166 cm). And if it's a close call, there's always the "I wear very high heels" explanation. I'd say about 80% of nicely gone conversations have ended immediately once this "issue" has popped up - and that is before even meeting anyone in person. Of course, there are some truly nice women out there too to whom height isn't the most relevant thing.

The second problem with online dating is, that you truly can't tell about the personality of someone based solely on text messaging. I'm a bit of a shy person, geeky and tend to get (too) excited on certain subjects and none of these help on real life date, no matter how well I may write down words on messages =) Messaging though is a good way to learn quite a bit about a person, her/his values and interests and thus to evaluate if it's even worth to meet that someone.

But still, even after longish conversations there seems to be false expectations of one's appearance as I have learned quite a few times. Or maybe my online pics are distorted (which I believe is not the case). Maybe this problem could be fixed with webcam conversations, but that just sounds way awkward to me..

Anyways, I hope there are still some decent women out there that truly appreciate some of the virtues I believe I have: honesty, fairness and being reasonable at all times. I don't smoke nor drink much of alcohol, keep myself fit.. etc etc. In other words, I'm not a "bad boy", and unfortunate to me, they sure seem to be in fashion.

So, perhaps there's a business idea for someone? Dating site where short men are not looked down on. Well, thinking of it, I bet there are some out there already. Maybe I should join? Or maybe I should move from this land of beauty queens and ice hockey players to some crazy, smart short people country. Japan, South Korea, perhaps? =)