New Phone – HTC HD7
I’ve been after a new phone ever since I cracked the replacement screen about a week after replacing it. My 24 month contract has been stopping from getting a new phone as I still have a couple of months to wait. Not anymore though, the other day I decided I’d actually get a new phone, the idea has been flying around for quite some time (the idea being to get a phone out right and get a cheaper sim-only contract). I dislike paying £35 a month and being strapped down for 2 years and I think I’d get better value for money buying a phone out right and paying £10-£15 a month instead. Plus it also means I can trade/sell/buy another phone when I like!
So, I don’t know why but I somehow came to the conclusion that I wanted a HD7 with Windows Phone 7 and I’m glad I did. The phone is awesome, after having the same standard interface on the iPhone it is refreshing being able to swipe around Windows Phone 7. Its clean and simple and doesn’t get cluttered up when you install more than 10 apps. One of my dislikes with the iPhone is that you had to manage the interface, you had to decide where apps go and within no time you have around 5 screens of apps… WP7 is much simpler giving you an alphabetical list of applications..
Coming from the 3GS it is also nice to have a bigger screen although WP7 doesn’t seem to maximise the space it has available I think it works though, gives a much cleaner, less cluttered user interface.
One major annoyance though is that BBC iPlayer isn’t supported, although I read that Flash will soon be available it’s quite annoying not being able to watch iPlayer whenever I like. You have to remember it’s pretty new compared to Android or iPhone so I suspect it will be addresses soon!
This post seems to have developed in to more of a review / how WP7 is better than iPhone and I suppose it is in my mind. Although I did like the iPhone when it first arrived after two years and the fact everyone seems to have one takes away that brand new gadget that no one else has feeling, which for a techy person like me, is pretty important to be honest… This brings me to its development support…
Unlike Android you have to pay the £65 to unlock your phone for development, even just to run your own homebrew apps you’ve got to part with £65… I was annoyed when I discovered this information and was ready to start hacking the phone to bypass it, however I remembered and learnt that Microsoft likes students and offers it free with Dream spark which is great but I’m only a student for another couple of months and after than its £65 down the drain every year, maybe I should develop an app to recover the cost? Any ideas?
It is quite annoying that you have to pay but I can see why, it’s slightly disconcerting that Android and Google provide no moderation on its app store. Being open source is great but as everyone learns from the days in high school… Not all the kids play nicely… Hearing that over 50,000 Android devices are infected with a rootkit, whispering back to hacker HQ with you information is a little scary. You shouldn’t have to worry about your phone getting a virus; you want it to just work.
Anyway, the phone is pretty awesome, the battery life opinion is yet to be decided upon but generally I’m very happy with it. The People/Contacts tile is great adding everyone you know on Facebook, Outlook and Windows live which prompts you to remove those contacts you’ve not spoken too since forever but a little contract purge is something everyone has to do sometime…
How To: Customise Coloured Buttons on MCE remote with XBMC
I’m not sure if this is well known but it took me a while to work it out, so I thought I’d make a post on it. Just in case it may make anyone else’s life a little easier as well as being a future reference to me.
I decided I wanted to change the button functionally on my MCE remote, the remote I have is similar if not the same to the one in the picture. I never really used the coloured buttons but I want to so I thought I’d change their functions. The function being related to x10 devices which I am yet have a mess with as Royal Mail have yet to deliver them, I could rant all day about them I think I’ll move on.
My system is based upon Mythbuntu/Linux so bare that in mind and these are the steps I had to take which may differ but this should give you an idea.
1. Create a file in “~/.xbmc/userdata/keymaps/” called remote.xml
2. Insert the following;
<keymap>
<global>
<remote>
<red>Function_Here</red>
<green>Function_Here</green>
<yellow>Function_Here</yellow>
<blue>Function_Here</blue>>
</remote>
</global>
</keymap>
3. Replace Function_Here with an Action within XBMC, a list can be found here.
4. Save and restart XBMC.
Hope this helps, It worked for me so hopefully it’ll work else where.
Broken Laptop Hinge – Not Any More!
I seem to be getting more and more experience with fixing Laptop and iPhone screens. My latest fix was my sisters Dell Inspiron 1525. The hinge had broken which stopped her from closing the hid, and in time it had also broken the screens front bezel. It was a simple fix but I didn’t think to take a pictures, so I can’t do a how to, but it was pretty simple and I just skimmed over a couple of repair the keyboard/ replace the screen type tutorials of that/similar models. It took less than an hour and the total cost was less than £20 with parts from eBay! So if you’re thinking about it, go for it, it’s a quick and simple job!
I did take a couple of pictures on my iPhone of the result however.
Fried Graphics Card!
I never really thought that you really needed any kind of surge protection on your computers up until now. A couple of weeks back now the house circuit breaker was tipped by the microwave we think which turns out fried the on board graphics card in the HTPC in the living room. It was due an upgrade really as I liked the sound of it having a HDMI port for the future. Not sure what happened but the VGA or DVI output on the motherboard just flashed white and never displayed anything. Its quite lucky I suppose I though have thought it would have done more damage or at least taken out the PSU!
However after playing around trying to get this fixed I gave in a took a trip to Maplin’s just down the road. I thought it would be quicker and probably not much more expensive than anywhere on the internet. Anyway I came away with an NVIDIA Geforce 210 for £30 with £10 off! Bargain!
Drove home and quickly got it installed! Surprisingly, what with this going in to a Ubuntu installation (Mythbuntu actually) it was extremely simple. Just installed the NVIDIA proprietary and BOOM! sorted! That’s how I like it!
Anyway as I keep saying.. Good story eh?
Cracked iPhone screen!
Well it finally happened, after nearly 17 months I finally smashed my iPhone screen. I can add this to the list of smashed up phones including my D900 and a MP3 player I had in college. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner but the other day when I was at the gym my iPhone fell out of my pocket and hit the floor. It landed face down and I knew instantly it wasn’t going to be a lucky escape! I don’t have a photo but it was well and truly shattered.
I say was because £40 later I had a new piece of glass in the post. I was luck enough not to damage the LCD and what with replacing my laptop screen twice I thought I had the expertise to replace my iPhone screen. It was quite cheap really £40 included £8 posted as well as a £6 all you need tool-kit for opening up the iPhone. As you can probably tell I don’t have insurance but if you think about it I’m better off without it. 15 months x £9 = £135 or what is £6? still that’s £60 so I have saved myself at least £20!
Anyway I was surprised at how easy it was to replace. I checked out some videos on-line (there are many) and once you’ve removed all the broken glass its pretty simple. However I’m not sure if its because of the new screen or the jailbreak I have but the iPhone is slowly getting painfully slow and sometimes unresponsive I think its time for an upgrade but past Tom decided it was a good idea to tie myself into a 24 month contract.
Probably for the best as I shouldn’t really get any new gadgets while being busy with Uni. Although I have an eye on a Windows 7 Phone. Something with the iPhone I don’t like any more. Maybe its the tight grip the App Store has or the fact every man and his dog has one now… It doesn’t seem as cool does it?
Week 3 Already!
I’m just heading in to week three at university, oh how the time has flown by which is actually quite unusual for university for me. I suppose this week is where is all really kicks off as I am now past the initial final year project stage. This is because I have my idea finalised and my supervisor sorted. Down hill from now eh?
Not much else is going on really which is why there is a lack of posts here. Sorry, but its true.
