Tag Archives: Review

Samsung Galaxy S Review

Posted by on October 5, 2010 Comments Off

I purchased a full price Samsung Galaxy S phone on August 10, 2010 from a corporate AT&T store.  Prior to the Galaxy S, I’d been using the Google Nexus One as my primary business phone.  Google’s Android operating system has its quirks, but works extremely well for what I use a phone for.

AT&T’s network aside, the phone performs amazingly well.  The Super AMOLED screen is brilliant and remarkablyvisible in direct sunlight.  The touch sensitivity of the screen is just right and extremely accurate.  And including the Swype keyboard is a life saver – you can hold your finger down and move between individual letters on the screen rather than hunting and pecking for each individual letter.  Swype is perhaps one of the best virtual keyboards available on the market today.

Battery life is great.  With moderate daily use, I can get about 12 hours of life out of the phone before needing a recharge.  The internal storage is more than enough for what I need (mp3s, videos and photos).  And the Google Voice integration is exceptional – this has allowed me to get away from carrying multiple phones.

I’ve sold several people in the office on this phone – most purchased them from Costco where you can get an additional discount over an AT&T store.  There are several downsides that I warned everyone about:

- Android 2.2.  Where is it?  It should have shipped with this phone.  We’re into October, several months after release, and it still isn’t available.  This isn’t good.  Early adopters and technically savvy consumers purchase this phone.  Samsung should be more on top of this.

- AT&T bloatware.  AT&T has loaded the phone up with their own software – completely useless software for most people considering the included Google applications and the Android Marketplace.  The AT&T applications take up space, clutter the screen and slow the phone down.  And without rooting your phone, it is impossible to remove these applications.

AT&T needs to realize that their proprietary applications are not wanted and are doing more harm than good.  Consumers shouldn’t have to put up with this.  If I could have purchased this phone separate from AT&T, I would have to avoid their bloatware.

- Multiple microphones.  The Galaxy S doesn’t have multiple microphones to help with noise cancelation when speaking on the phone.  The Nexus One did and they worked remarkably well.  The noise canceling that’s employed on the Galaxy S works well – just not as well as two microphones.

- USB port. Samsung put the USB port / charging port in an odd place – on the top of the phone.  This makes for speaking on the phone when plugged in feel odd.  You expect to connect power to a phone on the bottom of the unit.

The few caveats aside, I recommend this phone to anyone looking for an iPhone or Blackberry alternative.

AT&T Uverse Review

Posted by on May 7, 2009 Comments Off

Today was a long time coming.  I haven’t had cable / satellite service for the past 7 months because DirecTV decided they didn’t want to service my home with HD service — so I canceled all of my service with them.  I’ve been dealing with over the air (OTA) DTV.  It hasn’t been bad, but it is incredibly limited; only 5 or 6 English language channels.  After 7 months I finally received word that AT&T Uverse is available in my area — I immediately jumped on it.

I placed my order on Tuesday and had an 8 – 10 AM install window just two days later.  I decided to go with their Uverse TV 450 package with their 18 mbit/s internet package, I left off the phone service since I already carry several cell phones.  Thursday rolls around and I’m at home waiting for the installer.  I selected the first available install time for the day hoping that I wouldn’t be caught up in a later day install where there’s generally delays.  10 AM rolls by and the installer still hasn’t arrived.  I end up calling dispatch to see where the installer is.  A nice gentlemen informs me that it looks like my install slipped between the cracks and he was attempting to find a free installer.  20 minutes later an installer calls me and will be at my home in 30 minutes.

Sure enough he shows up, very polite and gets straight to work.  Finds out that the initial work he did on the pole needed some tweaking so he took off for 20 minutes.  Comes back, everything checks out and then starts to plug in the gear.  In approx. 45 minutes he has everything up and running, gives me a quick run down on the features, hands me his personal cell phone number in case something isn’t up to snuff and takes off to his next job.  I must say the TV quality is very nice.  HD is crisp and clear — no pixel tearing.  Video on demand is smooth and works as expected and the DVR functionality on the receiver and online is seamless.

Next I took the internet for a spin.  Amazingly I was able to pull down 20 mbit/s and upload hovered around 2 mbit/s.  As advertised speeds and it seems very consistent.  I downloaded a weekly video series this evening and was amazed with the speed at which the file came down off the net.  Steady at 1.5 – 1.6 MB/s.

AT&T Uverse

Overall I am very impressed on day 1 of AT&T Uverse.  If you have Uverse available in your area, I’d recommend it over DirecTV in a heartbeat.

Flip Mino Review

Posted by on April 28, 2009 Comments Off

I’ve owned the Flip Mino for several months now.  It really only seems to come out when international travel happens — fortunately that’s fairly often.  I must say, for a relatively inexpensive device, the Flip Mino is solid.  From the easy USB charging, to moving and uploading the video files to the near instant boot time and battery life; very hard to beat.

The video quality is very nice and the audio is picked up well for such a small hand held device.  If you’re looking for a video recorder that’s compact, inexpensive and simple, go for the Flip Mino.

Here are a couple of videos from the last couple of trips.  One to Dubai, UAE in November and to Sydney, Australia in March.  http://vimeo.com/silvershed/videos/

Pepsi Throwback Review

Posted by on April 26, 2009 3 comments

Pepsi Throwback

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month and happened to avoid the internet and TV, then you probably have no idea what Pepsi Throwback is.  Pepsi, for a limited time only, has decided to go back to its roots.  Pepsi Throwback is the standard Pepsi recipe using sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  I suspect that most people haven’t had the opportunity to or don’t remember what Pepsi made with sugar tastes like.  You can get Pepsi made like this in Mexico and in the Caribbean Islands.

Pepsi has altered their packaging to show the retroness of their product — going back to a logo from days past.  The second thing you’ll notice is that Pepsi Throwback is difficult to find.  I spent 45 minutes in downtown Houston going from one store to another.  After hitting 4 stores I was finally able to locate it at a Walgreens (2 for $2.49).

After all of this it was finally time to taste this new Pepsi science project.  I’ve enjoyed Pepsi Crystal, Pepsi Blue, so this should be a walk in the park.  The first thing you notice is the smell is about what you expect.  A smell of sweet mixed with the smell of plastic bottle.  Next a gulp.  You first notice Throwback is a little flatter than what you’re used to compared with the HFCS option–you generally expect more carbonation.  This was a little subdued but not bad.  The next thing you notice after swallowing is a much less harsh aftertaste.  Much more pleasant.  Not to mention less gas due to the reduced carbonation.

Overall not bad at all.  I suspect that even if this product takes off, they’ll stop production in several months as they’ve done in the past with Crystal and Blue.  Either way, go try some and let me know what you think.  If you aren’t a fan, Mountain Dew is also offering made with sugar options.