LG Dare

November 10th, 2008

So, my contract with T-Mobile just ended, and I switched over to Verizon.

Blackberry’s are a bit spendier on every other carrier, so I decided I wasn’t going to get one this time. I am testing The BlackBerry Theory ("once you go BlackBerry, you never go back"). I gotta say… I miss it already. But, that’s not what this entry is about.

I got an LG Dare, and so far, I have to say… I am not at all impressed. Maybe it’s just that I’ve been spoiled. But the point is.... I’m not impressed.

Section One: The Touch Screen
I’ve been spoiled by competent touch screen technology. The boyfriend has an iPhone that I play with from time to time, and I’ve got an iPod touch that I regularly access the internet and type on. I barely have to touch it to get it to register my keys. On the Dare… not so much. It’s slowed down my typing speed considerably to have to go back and hitting keys that it didn’t register that I hit.

Dragging leaves a bit to be desired as well. More often than not, the phone things I selected some option that is on the screen while I am trying to drag, instead of dragging. It’s a little counterproductive one may say.

Section Two: The Other Features
The “full feature” browser is a sad excuse for an HTML browser. I think I would have preferred a normal mobile browser, as navigating and using this one is a pain in the neck. Bah.

Uhm. So, I know there were other things I didn’t like about it but since I took the phone back a couple days ago, I’ve already forgotten about it. I started writing this on Friday and took the Dare back on Saturday.

I traded it in for a Voyager, and oddly enough, the Voyager (which has a full QWERTY keyboard on the inside) has a more responsive touch screen. The browser still sucks, but I like this phone a lot better.

Though, I just saw that RIM put out a touchscreen BlackBerry, and omg, I want it.

  Opinionated  Technology   permalink   2 comments   11:26 AM

Google Chrome

September 2nd, 2008

So, I downloaded the Google Chrome browser today.. I’ve only had a limited amount of time to play with it, but so far, I’d just like to say, wow. This thing is BLAZING fast. *love*

It’s a very simple, minimal looking browser. It’s kind of boring but in a good way I think.

The install was quick and painless, though I don’t recall it giving an option of choosing where to install.. the import features worked well and it grabbed all my stuff from Firefox, though it was kind of annoying that it made me close Firefox to do so.

The blank page shows a list of most visted sites, which is handy. Also, I like how the domain is black, and the rest of the URL is a lighter grey… minimize the spoof!

All in all, there are some features that I’d like to see added, but it’s a pretty solid beta, and I rather enjoy it.

  Opinionated  Technology   permalink   7 comments   03:24 PM

Sim City Societies

November 14th, 2007

So, I installed Sim City Societies today. Here are my initial thoughts.

One: It’s nice that getting power to my city isn’t so god damn annoying. My biggest turnoff about the older versions is I had to actually pay attention to where I was putting water pipes and power lines. Not my thing. I just want to generate power and assume it knows where it’s going. bam! Place some windmills, produce power, go start building.

Two: ... you know, I didn’t really get much further than that because the game crashes every five-ten minutes. Seriously. I didn’t even get to finish the tutorial. Lame to the MAX. The patch says it fixed the random crash bug. Yeah, it lied. Screw you patch!

Three: From what I could tell, it looks like it’d be fun.

I know a lot of people are complaining about how it’s fundamentally different from the traditional Sim City games, but since I was never overly fond of the other ones, I think that’s probably going to prove to be a good thing, for me at least. I just wish i could actually play it.

  Opinionated  Technology   permalink   3 comments   10:09 PM