Quick thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S

Today instead of an android app review I have an android device review. 

Deciding

My girlfriend received a fully paid Vodafone sim from her work calls but is allowed to use it for everything else as well, her iPhone 3G has also been stuffing up of late. So a new phone was required. At this moment in time and in Australia there is 3 l33t phones that should be purchased, the HTC Desire (of which I'm a happy owner) the Google Nexus One and finally the Samsung Galaxy S. 

The Purchase

Since the Desire is locked to Telstra and I already have one that was removed from the equation, being a sunday we were forced to head into the forsaken CBD to look at phones. Straight up we found the Galaxy S at Allphones for $849 outright, next I wanted to find the outright price of the Nexus One, after speaking to many a chump in the several vodafone shops I finally found someone who told me that the Nexus One was not in stores and only available online with a contract, so back to the Allphones we went. Then, get this, the unit there said he couldnt sell us the phone cos it was also had to be purchased on an optus contract, idiots. So I walked to stores down to the optus store and bought it unlocked from there. Also while I was buying the Galaxy S I heard some stupid storekeep inform some equally gullible iPhone purchaser  that the iPhone was the only device that allowed tethering and the only device with an app store. There is a consistent and alarming idiocracy present within phone stores, don't listen to them!! I beg of you, read forums and techie sites if you want something closer to the truth.

Setting up and copying Contacts from an iPhone to an Android device 

The first thing was to set the APN stuff up so the 3G internet would work. All the setup instructions can be found http://ausdroid.net/apns/

This worked without a hitch.

Next I had to bring the contacts across from the iPhone to the Galaxy S. This was very easy, since itunes syncs the iPhones contacts to windows contacts a simple "export all contacts" to .csv was required. this file can be imported into you google account under the contacts tab in gmail. Again, this worked without a hitch.

So anyone wanting to switch from iPhone to Android knows that it is a very easy process.

Thoughts on the device Galaxy S

A full review of the Galaxy S is redundant since there are dozens of well written detailed reviews. I just give my main thoughts on the unit, it is an excellent device, at the moment I can't split it from the Desire, overall the Desire has slightly better software with the seamless integration of all the HTC sense stuff which is definitely better than the Samsung Touchwiz skin. Hardware wise, the Galaxy S is better, the 4.0" Super AMOLED screen is easier to see in direct sunlight compared to the 3.7" AMOLED of the Desire, and 3D games run much smoother due to the GPU inherent within the Hummingbird CPU is superior to the current generation of Snapdragon CPUs within the Desire.

Apart from those differences the phones are very similar. If you unsure of which to go for, I would say it comes down to whether you wanna be with Telstra or Optus, the variations in pricing and coverage eclipse the differences better these devices. but you can't really go wrong between them, both are excellent feats of technology. Incredibly superior to any other smartphone on the market. 

That is all I wish to discuss at this time, I don't wish to evangelize further about android vs the world. please leave comments and questions about the devices for me to test.

Things still to try of the phone

Remove all the optus bloatware, this might be a pain and require rooting the device which I am not inclined to do.

Try out the music player with a full SD card of tunes

N.O.V.A. for the Desire

OK haven't done a proper post for couple weeks, guess I've been too involved in getting my podcast set up, I think its starting to take shape after 2 episodes. Put it out there for many people to listen, dunno if anyone will give it a chance.

I can see myself doing podcasts much more consistently than I am doing these blog posts since its way easier to talk than it is to type.

Well anyway, back to topic of this blog, an android app review.

Today, I shall choooooooooseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...........

N.O.V.A. or Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, a stupid name for a pretty sweet game, so this easily the best fps on a touchscreen device, a shameless Halo ripoff for mobiles that works surprisingly well

It has been out for about a year now on iPhone, but its awesome to see it on android devices now. Before I get into the game play I gotta say that one of the best things about this release is that another area where the iPhone once dominated is falling to android, high quality games, you see although android has had some cool gimmicky games from the start, it still lacks the top end 3D games which the iPhone possesses. Now that the gameloft suite has been released for android (most of the devices released in the last yr), we can see this hole being filled in on the android platform.

Day by day the list of features/apps (or whatever you'd like to call them) that are exclusive to the iPhone is diminishly, the landscape is looking more and more like that of the early 90s when Windows 3.0 popped up and stole all of Apples market share and pushed them in a niche market because Apple couldn't keep up with Microsoft. Of course, Microsoft is still the Dark Horse in this game, could it possibly come back and pwn up both Apple and Android, Great times to be a nerd.

Well onto the actual game play, its pretty weird controls at first, you use a joystick to go forward, back and to strafe, and swipe across to the screen to look around. Doesn't take long to get the hang of it. Then its onto the killing, the game plays basically like a shooter from the 64 or PSone era, pretty straight forward. Its less complex than say Goldeneye was, but the controls are the limiting factor here, they do a pretty good job for a touchscreen but can't be compared to a controller.

But this a mobile game, and hence is at its best when your out and about, i.e. on the train or bored on a lunch break with nothing to do and no one to talk to cos everyone in the place thinks your a loser who plays with phones and Google products all day and has to resort to blogs for any actual human contact and deep down inside you just wanna take out your anger upon everyone by ripping their hearts out with a gravity gun but Alas, such a device only exists in the world where you feel normal, so instead you ascend back to that place, if only for awhile.

Anyway, I strongly recommend this game, totally worth the 6USD.

New podcast coming Tuesday night starring Luke and I

Cnidoglanis Podcast Episode 2

Yo, check out my latest podcast episode ppl!

Pretty long but worth it

My Podcast is up

Ok my podcast has finally been set up, went and got a mixer the other day, already owned a microphone and borrowed on of jimmys, he reluctantly joined in on the first show.

Its pretty all over the show cos we were configured the hardware and software as we were going.

Next show should be on Tuesday provided Luke and Luan don't chuck a beeny and fail to show up.

Anyway give the show a listen, leave a comment here, and subscribe to the feed!

I should do some more android app/game reviews soon!

Podcasting with Stephen and hopefully with Luke

Tried something different out last night, Went on Stephen's podcast remotely via gmail video chat. Its worked out ok but I think the 0.5second delay introduced by this method was a bit off putting, furthermore the sound come out poor becuase my voice was being recorded via laptop speakers into another microphone, not the most ideal way but we didn't have a choice, either way its worth a listen mainly to hear what the two live cast members were saying, 

http://araballzingski.podbean.com/2010/07/12/a-reasonable-podcast-ep-9-screw-you-foxtel/

My grand plans of creating my own show are starting to come together, I have found someone who would like to do the show with me, was surprised how many people kept turning it down. I want to do a show this week if possible.

Stay Tuned!!!!!

Ebay app

Ok next review,

This one is an app not a game, its the official ebay app. Just come out for australia despite being aorund for a few months in US. Its a solid program allowing you to log into you account, search and buy stuff all via the app. Its pretty cool. Way better than the mobile site.

Speaking of mobile sites, google just released the new mobile youtube site, m.youtube.com, apparently if you have a device running android 2.2 you can watch you videos in HQ, which makes it better than the youtube app, I can see a trend with google stuff, they want as many things as possible to be completely browser based using new stlyes of coding such as html5. Google chat in gmail is a good example of this. there is a desktop program for mac and windows, but recently updates to the browser version have made it superior, allowing excellent voice and video chat to work.

Well got to keep this short, Port and Collingwood game about to start, no football tomorow, got a bye, probably wouldn't have played anyway because of the busted wrist. It harsh weather in Perth atm, wanna get a podcast going with mates but none have taken up the offer!!

New theme, Snesoid

Ok found a new theme, Android game and app reviews!

Let it begin.............

So a quick background, I have a HTC desire running android 2.1 eclair (want froyo already!!!!!), look up the specs if you want.

So the first game I wanna review is snesoid, Most people will either know what this game is, or have an idea, it naturally is in the title SNESoid, yes, its a super nintendo emulator, the most popular of all emulators currently on android, made by yongzh who makes an assload of other emulators for all the 16bit and lower nintendo and sega systems both console and handheld.

This is one of the first games I got for this phone, maybe I should stop calling it a game as an emulator is closer to a program I guess, but FU Im sticking with game. Like all emus this one needs ROMs, which are easy to find, TORRENTS!!!!!!! When you fire snesoid you just find the folder with your roms in and load it up, some of the default setting suck a bit of dick, like having the Dpad on the top left of the screen, I find this stupid both Dpad and buttons should be located on the bottom, you'll also want to enable transparency in the settings as many snes games use this. Thats about it, of course this and most games work better if you have a phone with a slide out keyboard which you can use as the gamepad, i.e. the motorola droid or galaxy s Pro, but Ive played a fair few games with just the touchscreen and you get used to it.

I've found the best games to play are rpgs like FF6 and chrono trigger, these games don't require as must action gameplay so they work good with the touchscreen. I've personally been playing through chrono trigger for a while, just playing a few hours here and there, wikid game.

The thing with snesoid and so many other emulators is that they posses many many great games, games that have stood the test of time and brought so much to the gaming world. They are also the games that most of the crappy native games on android and iphone try copy off. So look into emulators I say!!!!

Check out snesoid in the android market, plus many other great emulators by yongzh, there is also talk around the net that he is creating a n64 and Ps1 emualtor, WIN!!!!

A theme for the blog?

I've had a bit of feedback from certain readers about this blog, of the <10>

So the big question becomes, what should I focus on? I can do most topics, as this blog is mainly something I use to pass time and practice my writing, which so far has yielded little improvements.

I'll put some topics on here that can be commented upon

-gaming

-tech

-rants

-diary style

-What If

-Scientific theorys

Cos no one really reads this yet, so I shall have to ask people for their opinions.

I want to get a podcast going for something to do as well, enjoyed doing it with my brother and just need some a consistent cast, solo podcasts can't be fun.

Busted wrist and World Cup quarter finals

Haven't done a post in a few days, my bad. Played footy again today after 2 weeks off with a wrist injury. Went ok for 3qtrs, until BANG!! Stuffed it up again, probably season over now. Pretty annoying. Need to do something else to stop getting fat, or I could give up fast food and using my deep fryer, or just get fat. Probably do the latter. Maybe play some more soccer because its harder to get injured.

Speaking of soccer, 3rd qtr final just finished in world cup, argentina got messed up something bad by Germany. They were favourites for the cup before today, but got found out bigtime. In hindsight it looks like Argentina never played a top side before today. There exit follows the big defeat of Brazil to Holland, of which I was very happy about. The European teams are coming good now. I expect Spain to win tonight as well. Gonna miss having these high quality games on most nights when the world cup ends.

Had Mark over the other night, Showed him the power of android. He has a Motorola Cliq, a slightly older android phone, but its still plenty powerful, he was most exited about sega megadrive emulators. Luke is the last one who needs to get into the uber phone scene. He's just lagging because of his contract, at least he's not an iN00b. I suggest that he listens in on monday nights ARA podcast were the latest android deals in Australia will be discussed, the scene is heating up with prices drops for the the Desire, Vodafone releasing the Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy S showing up on some carriers, plus the overdue arrival of the Motorola Droid Milestone. Good times ahead!!