Category: Computer/ Tech Related

Fuck Off, WordPress (Rant 2.0)

July 13, 2010

Computer/ Tech Related, Rants

2 Comments

I was typing an epic post again. Then I pressed submit. Then it took me to the login page when I was already logged in. I went to check the draft and there was one line there. For fuck’s sake, what a piece of shit. I actually spent time on it. When is this shit going to do real time saving like Google Docs? I’m sick of losing shit, like I did that other time.

Note to self: always copy the fucking thing every once in a while for good measure. I don’t learn

Seven Months with A Droid: What Could Have Been Improved

July 11, 2010

Computer/ Tech Related

2 Comments

What sucks, in bulleted form, to get to the point:

  • It’s heavy
  • It’s slow. The 550MHZ processor is pretty awful when loading javascript intensive webpages. It’s almost painful to browse the web on the Droid, even on WiFi (forget about Verizon’s 3G ). Half the time, my menus lag and the UI can be pretty jerky at times. I am blaming the sluggishness on Android 2.1 which is pretty slow. When 2.2 comes out with an improved Dalvik VM and V8 as the javascript engine, it will be much faster.
  • The keyboard slider thing gets loose over time, so it flops around like an asshole.
  • The back of the keyboard slider has plastic wrap on it, which bubbles up over time
  • The keyboard is cramped
  • Sometimes the GPS doesn’t connect unless you reboot the phone. I returned mine and got a new one and the GPS worked better, so it might have been a hardware problem, but it still happens at times.
  • Battery life is eh, but aren’t all smartphones? So no negative points here.

I still love it because it’s the only Verizon phone that does raw Android these days. And I don’t like the Droid X, Droid 2 or HTC Incredible, so I’m happy for now. I’m still jealous of the Nexus One because it’s sleek, but Google botched the launch of that phone. I would have done it differently (and better).

Thoughts on Making the Switch From Firefox to Chrome

July 11, 2010

Computer/ Tech Related

4 Comments

I always used Chrome as a secondary browser. Firefox was always my main one and if I needed another browser with separate cookes (so I could log in to two gmail accounts, for instance), I’d use Chrome. But Firefox 3.6 is behind the times and with 4.0 beta 1 looking fucking hideous, I temporarily switched to Chrome as my default browser until Mozilla releases and/or gets their shit together with Firefox 4.

But you really need to spend time using a browser to understand it inside out. Here are a few of its quirks that annoy me that I never noticed because I used to use Chrome so infrequently:

  • The preferences dialog is confusing as hell and poorly organized
  • You cannot middle click to open links in a new tab in chrome:// pages (plugins, bookmarks manager etc)
  • There needs to be a custom print dialog box and a print preview
  • There needs to be a native proxy support, not use the IE/system proxy setting dialog
  • You can’t clear browsing data on exit.
  • Memory usage sucks. I have like 9 chrome.exe processes running.
  • There’s some funkiness going on with selecting text on pages sometimes. It’s slightly annoying
  • You can’t open files from the browser. You need to download them first. This is more secure, but its annoying when you want to open a torrent from the browser. With Chrome, I need to download it first then click on it.
  • Firefox has a huge advantage for the location bar. I hate how you can’t control what pops up in the location bar. It searches history over my bookmarks.
  • It never seems to remember my window preferences / always opens windowed instead ofmaximized(maybe a beta issue?)

Other than that, it’s better at rendering pages. It’s faster. Its UI is clean. That’s enough to make me happy for now.

Uh, on the second though, those are a lot of quirks / things that annoy me. If Firefox ever gets their UI problems sorted and boosts browser speed, I’m running back to it.

iOS 4 Multitasking is Full of Shit

July 10, 2010

Computer/ Tech Related, Rants, Useless Update

No Comments

It’s not real multitasking. It pretty much pauses the app in the background and focuses on the frontmost app. Plus, Apple needs to approve it in the App Store and if they don’t like what you’re doing (such as connecting to servers in the background), they can kill it.

In addition, let’s examine the footnote. The App needs to be rewritten for iOS 4 to take advantage of this. Therefore, it requires the programmer to update the software. On a Droid, you can just multitask anyway with old and new apps.

I had a complete ramble about this a few week ago, but WordPress was an asshole and lost it. I also have no energy to rewrite it.

Droid X vs. HTC Incredible

July 10, 2010

Computer/ Tech Related

1 Comment

Mike over at ScoopandSlam (hey look, free shout out) asked me for my comments on the Droid X vs. the HTC Droid Incredible. I pretty much wrote him a book in my comment on his post, so I figured I might as well archive it on my blog. If you’re brave (or geek enough to read my book, go ahead, otherwise you’ll probably be bored. To quote myself:

Straight up the Droid X has better hardware. Take a look at this chart. Also, the Engadget review on the Droid X is decent, but they spend too much time comparing it to the EVO 4G. I can only speculate based on reviews and and my research, but here are my further comments:

There’s something about HTC that pisses me off. Probably SenseUI with that huge fucking clock on the homescreen (you can probably turn that off though) and the moronicly shaped waste of space software phone/menu buttons on the bottom. At the same time, I’ve never seen Motoblur, but from commercials, it looks very similar to the regular Google UI/ my Droid (only with different icons). Android skins piss me the hell off. From screenshots, I like Motoblur better, but I would much prefer for these hardware companies to stop fucking with UI customizations and leaving it the way Google intended it to. All of these customizations are fragmenting the Android OS and confusing people, letting morons like Apple and RIM’s Blackberry gain more users because their interfaces are consistent.

Because of the two UI themes, neither phone pleases me. SenseUI kills me, so I automatically put the Incredible out of my mind. At the same time, the Droid X is so damn huge, it doesn’t impress me either. So if I needed a new Android phone right now, I’m at a loss. I love the idea of the Nexus One because it’s sleek, but that’s out of the question because Verizon dropped it in favor of the two you’re pondering. Google also fucked up the launch of the Nexus One – they should have released it to carriers to sell and not created their own web store, plus releasing it to T Mobile was just dumb as shit and caused them to lose mad sales. Anyway…

The Incredible and Droid X are both very good pieces of hardware, but the Droid X is better. I hate the fact that the Droid X has such a huge screen. However, I did read that it was lighter than the Droid and if you said it fit into your pocket nicely and wasn’t too bad, go for it. The Droid X also has 7 homescreens, which is nice because in all honesty, there are so many cool widgets 3 screens simply isn’t enough.

Something to note: the Droid Incredible has the same sized screen as the original Droid. And on my Droid, the virtual keyboard is a pain in the ass and cramped (I’ve actually been using the physical keyboard). You eventually get used to it though. But with a bigger screen, the keyboard is more spread out and probably easier.

Droid X also records in HD and plays HD video, plus it has an HDMI out.

So my only concern is that you’d look like you’re hoding an iPad to your head when making calls, but if that’s not too bad for you, it doesn’t matter.

I’d lean Droid X, pending you taking a look at MotoBlur. Although it’s completely up to you.

Either way, if you go with an Android phone you’ll be happy. And they both have crazy cameras lots of storage and fast processors. No matter what you get, once you get it enjoy it and ignore the other one/ new phones that come out. Otherwise you’ll go crazy comparing things. I was SO pissed when the Nexus one was announced because I didn’t have the best phone anymore.

Good luck.