From Torch 9800 to Xperia Z1

My experiences and opinions from learning to use a Sony Xperia Z1 after using a Blackberry Torch 9800 for three years.

The Xperia Z1 cannot turn off the mobile signal without turning off Wi-Fi.  There is a workaround though.  Airplane mode turns off everything, but you can turn on Wi-Fi again while in airplane mode.  Dodgy, but it works.

On the plus side, the Xperia Z1 can turn off mobile data independent of Wi-Fi.  This is something that the Torch 9800 could not do.

The Sony PC Companion software can sync calendar and contacts via USB cable to Outlook.  There is an option whether you want to sync with Google as well.  Unfortunately it cannot sync notes, which I also need.  Although I do not use it, I have noticed it cannot sync tasks either.

Since I need notes to sync to Outlook, I tried out MyPhoneExplorer and discovered that it can sync everything via USB Cable.  MyPhoneExplorer does install its own notes app and tasks app on the phone, but they are fully functional.

I type much faster with the Torch keyboard.  The Torch trackpad also helps me edit text faster.  No need to wait for the magnifying glass to show up to place the cursor in the correct spot for editing.  The on screen keyboard of the Z1 is much better than the Torch's on screen keyboard, but I find the actual physical keyboard of the Torch much quicker to use than the Z1's touch screen.

The Xperia Z1 has a larger screen than the Torch 9800.  This is good for looking at information, but the larger size means it is more difficult to fit in a pocket.  I did get use to the larger size after a while.

The Xperia Z1 cannot schedule auto power off/on without rooting Android.  This is one built-in functionality that I really like in the Torch 9800. Good for saving power and preventing calls from coming in while I am sleeping.  I am not prepared to root Android just yet, so it's manually turning on and off airplane mode for me.

The camera in the Xperia Z1 is far better than the Torch 9800, although this really does not say much because my old Dopod 818 Pro camera was better than the Torch 9800 as well.  A better comparison would be to the Canon PowerShot SX1.  The macro shots with the Xperia Z1 are not as good as the PowerShot SX1, but it comes very close.  For scenery and other shots that do not require zoom, I would say the Z1 is as good as the SX1.  The Z1 has no optical zoom, so there is no comparison with the SX1 in this department.

PowerShot SX1

Xperia Z1

The above two photos were taken at the same time with the Z1 to the left and the SX1 to the right.  The Z1 was set to multi auto focus, 20 megapixels manual mode.  The SX1 was set to full auto mode.

PowerShot SX1

Xperia Z1

The above two photos were taken at the same time with the Z1 to the left and the SX1 to the right.  The Z1 was set to Superior Auto mode.  In this mode the Z1 shoots in 16:9 ratio and in 8 megapixels.  The SX1 was set to full auto mode.

The GPS in the Xperia Z1 works much faster than the one in the Torch 9800.  This is without using location aiding from Wi-Fi and mobile networks.  Mobile GMaps is not available on Android so I have to find an alternative offline maps app.  Currently, Google Maps just does not have a good enough offline map functionality.

There are no sound profiles on the Xperia Z1, other than sound on, vibrate and complete silence.  There are a few apps available, but I have not tried any yet.  Until I find an app that works the same as the Torch 9800, I have to manually adjust the ring volume in different situations.

The Xperia Z1 comes pre-installed with OfficeSuite 7 Free, but it cannot edit files.  Time to find a new app or purchase the paid version of OfficeSuite 7.  I guess I have been spoilt by Documents to Go on the Torch 9800, which can edit Word and Excel files.  Add BeamExplorer to the mix and I can also create Word and Excel files on the Torch 9800.

On the plus side, OfficeSuite 7 Free does enable the Xperia Z1 to view PDF files, which was something  the Torch 9800 could not do out of the box.

The calendar reminder alert on the Xperia Z1 is horrible.  When it is reminder time for an event, everything is fine and the Z1 will sound an alert.  The bad point is when I snooze the event, whether it be snooze all or snooze for 5, 15, 30 minutes, the alert will not sound again.  Instead, the alert will only sound when I turn on the phone again.  So, if I forget about the event and do not use my phone, the reminder will completely fail me.  It looks like there are apps that fixes this problem, but I have not had the time to try them out.  The Torch 9800 and every smartphone and PDA before it always sounded the reminder alert when I snooze them.

Overall the Xperia Z1 is more customisable than the Torch 9800 even though some things cannot be customised.

The Xperia Z1 is waterproof, but I have never submerged it in water.  I have used wet hands with it and so far so good.


Biases
I have been using PDAs since 2002 and moved to smartphones.  I use personal information management(PIM) functionality more than the phone functionality.

I prize being able to USB sync PIM data between my device and Outlook on my PC and this is a necessity as Wi-Fi is not always available to me.

The Xperia Z1 is the only Android device I have used.  There may be many similarities between the Z1 and other Android devices, but I do not know what they are.

I started using the Xperia Z1 on February 2014.

Ants and Baking Soda

Many sources on the Internet say ants do not like baking soda and that if they eat it, they will die.

So what on earth are these ants doing in my box of baking soda?????

I guess there is no surprise that there are dead ants lying around since they got to the baking soda.  I do hope they will clear out of the power board they infested.  It looks like they have taken some baking soda inside the power board too.

What Ants Taught me about Laptop Power Adapters

The Short
Ants suicide-zapped my laptop power adapter successfully taking down the adapter with them.

I searched and learnt that other laptop power adapters can be used as long as
1) The voltage is the same.
2) The current rating is equal to or higher than what the laptop requires.
3) The polarity of the adapter is the same.
4) The physical tip is the same.

My old laptop which I thought was partially working is actually fully working, but was acting strange because its power adapter was faulty.

The Long
The Main Event
Another routine morning and it was time to power up the PC for work.  On goes the mains switch and ZAP!  Hmmmmm what was that noise?  Uh oh, there is no power going to the laptop, what's wrong?  Pressed the power button on the laptop and it ran fine on battery power.  Phew!  So the PC is fine,  so it must be a power adapter or cable problem.

When I checked the laptop power adapter, this is what I found.

Wonderful!  Ants killed my power adapter.  Time to buy a new one.  While searching where to get a replacement, I was also researching whether other laptop adapters can be used, since I have an old, partially working laptop with a power adapter.  It has the same tip, polarity and voltage, but the current rating is higher than the zapped adapter.

There were quite a few forum answers and articles out there that said "Yes I can.".  One of the better articles I found was this:
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_use_a_charger_that_provides_the_same_voltage_but_a_different_amperage.html

My lesson of the day was, different laptop power adapters can be used as long as
1) The voltage is the same.
2) The current rating is equal to or higher than what the laptop requires.
3) The polarity of the adapter is the same.
4) The physical tip is the same.

I plugged in the old power adapter and voilà, power is flowing to my PC once more.  YAY!  I am saved.  No need to buy a replacement adapter, but then the plot thickens.

The next morning, I turned on the mains and powered up the PC.  Hey, the battery lights on the PC are blinking! What is wrong now?  I proceeded to check everything from turn on and off the PC several times, removing and reinserting the battery several times and also changing main power points.  The problem was still present.  Time to bring out the big guns, or should I say another gun.

Very lucky for me,  I have another laptop that is fully working complete with TADA! power adapter.  I took this power adapter and plugged it into my main laptop.  Lo and behold!  Power flows once more and the battery was charging normally again.  Sooooooooooooooooooooo, there was a problem with my old laptop's power supply.  Which means I still have to buy a replacement power adapter .

Next day, I acquired a new adapter, tried it on my laptop and all is back to working perfectly.  I decided to get an adapter that was powerful enough to power the old laptop as well, since I knew that adapter was faulty.


Old Laptop New Life
My old laptop is about six years old and it had been working perfectly until last year.  After five years of great service, one day when I turned on the mains power, I heard sizzling noises coming from the battery and the PC would not turn on.  When I removed the battery and just ran it from the power adapter, the laptop worked fine and worked all day.

Next morning.  I tried to power up the PC which already had the battery removed and the PC would not boot.  The power indicator light was on, but nothing appeared on the screen.  I turned the PC off and on again and this time it did power up.  At this point I thought my PC was dying.

Day after day I had to turn on the PC two to five times before it would boot.  One day though, the laptop did turn on first go and I was surprised.  It was a hot afternoon so I thought maybe the PC needed to be warmed up before it would boot.  The next day when I turn on the laptop for the first time, I left the power running for a few minutes with nothing appearing on the screen.  When I turned it off and on again, it booted. So, warm up required before PC would boot.  From this day on I only had to power on twice to get the PC working.

In light of the new events that indicated that this old laptop's power adapter was faulty, I wanted to find out if the laptop itself was working fine.  So, new power adapter, meet old laptop.

I guess I should not be surprised, but with the new power adapter, my old laptop powered up perfectly first go.  This meant that the warm up time which I thought was for the PC, was actually for the faulty power adapter.  I am also happy to say that the new power adapter charged my old laptop's battery just fine.  No sizzling noises.  Unfortunately the battery life only lasts around ten minutes now.  Oh well,  I guess it still makes a good UPS power supply.

Six years on and my old laptop is still teaching me stuff, namely when a laptop starts going funny and there are battery issues,  first check the power adapter!

What's That Crawling on the Power Line?

See for yourself.

Laser Mice With Blue Teeth

Logitech V470 laser mouse with Bluetooth connection.

Mousing
The laser mechanism is supposed to be much better than the standard optical mechanism.  So far the only improvement I have noticed is the mouse does not cause the pointer to jump.  All optical mice I have used so far, always had the pointer jumping problem.  Other than that, the pointer movement is the same as an optical mouse which is good.

All the buttons and the scroll wheel work well.

The scroll wheel can also be pushed left and right which act like buttons.  These can be configured with the included SetPoint software.  The default setting is to scroll left and right.

Strangely the default configuration for the middle button is to activate zoom rather than being a middle button.

I have played first-person shooters and real-time strategy games with it and it works great.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth means one extra USB port for me.  Of course this is only applicable if the computer comes with inbuilt Bluetooth.  The connection was very easy when following the instructions.

When I was setting up Bluetooth on my current PC for the first time, a warning came up saying that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi can interfere with each other and cause disconnections.  After years of using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi I never knew about this.  It is definitely a topic to consider when choosing whether to use Bluetooth.  Luckily for me I have not had any issues of them interfering with each other.

One disadvantage with a Bluetooth mouse is, it takes longer for the mouse to connect to the PC.  On boot, the mouse takes several seconds before I can move the pointer on the login screen.

Batteries
The V470 uses two AA batteries which makes the mouse slightly heavier than my old optical mouse.  It is still very easy to pick up and shift thanks to the ergonomic shape.

There is an on/off switch to save batteries when the mouse is not being used.

There is an LED indicator that blinks blue when the mouse is connecting and blinks red when the batteries are low.  A pair of fully charged Typ.2,000mAh Eneloops lasted me about 2 months.  From my timings, the LED started flashing red at around 557 hours.  The mouse completely stopped working at around 560 hours.  These timings are not the most accurate since I do sometimes leave the timer running when the mouse is off, and sometimes I turn off the timer and forget to turn off the mouse.


Other Stuff
There is no visible light underneath.  It uses an infra-red laser.



Biases
Before this V470 I have been using a standard 2 button + scroll wheel optical Dell mouse for the past eight years.   The Dell mouse has started showing problems but eight years of service shows how good the Dell mouse was.

I have used Bluetooth connections since 2006 and in Wi-Fi environments.


Update 01/12/2012
I have encountered a strange problems with the mouse recently.  When the PC comes out of hibernation or stand by, sometimes the mouse movement is very laggy.  I have tried turning the mouse on and off, restarting the computer and re-registering the bluetooth connection it still lags badly.  The only solution I have found so far is I need to shutdown the PC completely and turn it back on.  Everything is good after a full shutdown.  Not sure if the problem is with the mouse or my PC.


Update 02/01/2013
In the past month the left button click has been problematic.  On some days holding down the left button does not work, so dragging just lets go and sometimes a single click becomes a double click. This happens on some days and other days it works fine.  I am not sure whether this is the start of the known issue stated here.  I am not prepared to open the mouse just yet, but it is annoying when I cannot drag and drop and double clicks are happening everywhere.



Update 12/03/2013
I am unsure if this is a problem with the mouse or my PC or Windows 7, but half the time when I bring the PC out of hibernation, the mouse would not work.  The easiest fix I found for this was to turn off and on the bluetooth radio on the PC.

A.T.A.C. vs Interceptor

The full name of this article is 5.11 Tactical A.T.A.C. 8" Side Zip vs Magnum Interceptor 8.0 SZ WP.

Left: A.T.A.C. - Right: Interceptor

Protection
Both boots offer good protection for the feet and provide good ankle support. I have (accidentally) kicked and been kicked on the feet and ankles and it sure helps to have either of these boots on.  The A.T.A.C.s have slightly more padding on the sides so it softens impact a little better.

Although these boots are not steel capped, they do help if someone steps on your toes.

I am unsure if this means better protection, but the sole of the A.T.A.C.s are much harder than the Interceptors.

Zips

The side zips on both boots save a lot of time when wearing and removing them. I do not know how long the zips will last but hopefully a very long time for myself since I do not actually use boots for rough duty.

In this department the A.T.A.C.s are better than the Interceptors. The zips on the A.T.A.C.s moves smoother and the velcro straps to hold the zippers in place are larger than the Interceptors.

A.T.A.C. Zip

Interceptor Zip

The A.T.A.C.s are slightly easier to wear than the Interceptors due to the open flap at the zip area. Of course the Interceptors have a closed flap probably to provide full waterproofing on the side. I am not sure if the non-waterproof Interceptors have an open flap, but I have seen that the waterproof version of the A.T.A.C. also has a sealed side area where the zip is.

Non-waterproof Open Flap

Waterproof Closed Flap

Waterproof

The Interceptors I bought have a waterproof/breathable membrane. I do not know if this is the same Sympatex Plus that Magnums had on the old Stealths, but so far they work just as well.

My A.T.A.C.s are not waterproof but there is a waterproof version which I guess work the same.

These come in very handy in the rain or just going through puddles of water.

Foot Comfort
This is where the Interceptors and I would say Magnums in general are way ahead of the competition. The first time I tried on Magnum Stealth Waterproofs my feet felt good, but as I wore them more, it was clear that these boots were the most comfortable footwear I have ever worn in my whole life. Better than any cross-trainers or basketball boots. Don't try to play basketball in them(I have tried), but walking, running and standing around feels very comfortable in Magnums.

The Interceptor like the Stealths before it, are very comfortable and feel much nicer on the feet than the A.T.A.C.s. For me this is most evident when standing around. After about ten minutes my feet start to ache in A.T.A.C.s.  I can stand about one hour in the Interceptors before the aching starts.

I am happy to say that while walking or running in A.T.A.C.s, my feet feel fine.  Not as comfortable as the Interceptors but still OK.


Other Stuff
Both boots do not have any metallic hardware so no need to take them off to walk through airport scanners.

Both boots have non-slip oil resistant soles.

The Interceptors are slightly lighter than the A.T.A.C.s.  I am guessing this is due to the extra padding in the A.T.A.C.s


Biases
I am an office worker, so why on Earth do I have two combat/security boots?  Too much Rainbow Six led me to buy Magnum Stealth Waterproofs just for fun. When time came to dispose of them, I immediately looked to buy a new pair of Magnums. After a long time I could not find a shop nearby that stocked them, so I thought why not try a different brand and bought a pair of 5.11 Tactical A.T.A.C. 8" Side Zip boots.

After wearing the A.T.A.C.s for a while, it was clear not all combat/security boots are equal!  Back to searching for Magnums I go. When the opportunity came, I snapped up the Interceptors in a flash - good ol' Magnum comfort.

I only wear boots three to four days a week and I do not perform rough duties with them. As such I cannot say whether these boots are very durable. My old Stealths lasted me seven years under these conditions.

Next, I gotta try Magnums with the separate zipper thingy.

Tiger Temple

Tiger Temple (a.k.a Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery) in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

This is what you get to see:

and then there are these:

And finally I found some video worth shooting in full HD with the Powershot SX1.

You also get to pet the tigers.

Find more info at tigertemple.org.
It is a nice place to visit.

Strange Marks On A CD-R

I back up a lot of photos on CD-Rs. Recently while viewing some photos, I got some CRC errors. I looked at the underside of the CD and saw this!

I do not know what this is or what caused it, but it looked like some sort of stress pattern.  It cannot be wiped off.  Maybe it is due to the months of storage in a cardboard box in hot and humid weather.  Plain and simply I have no idea.

Checking through all my other photo CD-Rs,  there was only one other disc that looked like it was at the beginning stages of forming this pattern.  Both discs were TDK Inkjet Printable CD-R80.  The second disc still worked perfectly though.  I have other TDK CD-Rs that look fine and work fine too.

NOTE:  Even though other brands of CD-Rs have not shown this pattern,  some of them still die.  I have made it a point to have duplicates of everything.  I am seriously considering buying several external  hard disks for long term storage though.


Update: 31/05/2010
I needed to burn some stuff onto a CD.  So I opened up a new jewel cased TDK CD-R.  It had the same marks as well.  I proceeded to open ALL my TDK CD-Rs and ALL of them have the same marks.  Either I got a bad batch or TDK makes very bad inkjet printable CD-Rs. 

Look! A Three Headed Elephant!

A famous and very lucky pirate once said "Look behind you, a three headed monkey!". 

I have yet to see the three headed monkey that Guybrush was talking about.

But I was fortunate enough to go to a place called Erawan in Bangkok(at least I think it is still in Bangkok), where there is a big statue of a three headed elephant.  I am unsure whether Erawan is the name of the elephant or just the name of the place, but it was an impressive statue.

There is a museum inside the elephant itself but we did not have the time this time to visit inside.  Apart from being a tourist attraction it is also a place where people go to pray.

Being a big statue and very high up,  I just had to see what 20x zoom can do.

The statue is quite close to the main road as this shot shows.

Not quite full moon

This shot was taken without a tripod at full zoom.  The image stabiliser on the SX1 is amazing.

Big Red Ants

Canon PowerShot SX1 - brush turkey

The Canon PowerShot SX1  has to be THE BEST digital camera that runs on AA batteries!  It might be big and chunky but the photos it can take are amazing.  So under this caterogy I will list all the best photos I have taken so far with this whiz-bang-ultra-super camera.

Brush Turkey.