Ecartman12's Blog

Plantronics BackBeat 216 Stereo Headphones with Mic Review

2012-06-26T21:51:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone it's Eric and in this article I will be reviewing the Plantronics BackBeat 216 Stereo Headphones with Mic. Now I would like to start off by giving a HUGE thanks to MobileFun for sending me these earphones to review. They also have a great range of iPad headphones
Now let's start off with the presentation.
The earphones come in a clamshell packaging which is nothing but trouble to get into. Once you get the box open the earphones are very nicely presented. Next to the earphones themselves there is a little pack containing the instructions.
Build Quality:
They are constructed entirely out of plastic which feels very light and very comfartable in the ear. The cable actually surprised me as it does not feel like the standard cables you get with many earphones. Instead the cable is constructed out of a shoe lace type material which feels very durable and it does not weigh the earphones down when they are in the ear. Now something that amazed me was that there were no different sized ear tips included. That is shocking when you take into consideration that the A Jays One earphones are in a similar price catagory whilst still containing different sized tips. This means that these earphones are not for everyone as they will not fit in every users ear kanel. For me these earphones were thankfully a perfect fit. They were very comfartable and they were so light that you will not feel them in your ear. So the build quality is great but good build is really nothing without good hardware so lets talk about the sound quality these earphones deliver.
Sound Quaity:
Now I tested these earphones with movies, music and games. For music these earphones are great but where they really shine is with vocals. The vocals are absolutley crisp and pin sharp. These earphones do lend themselves very nicely when it comes to music but morso games and movies. Using these earphones with movies and games is excellent. The sound is so clear with a decent amount of bass and base. Even at loud volumes the earphones did not hurt my ears as the sound is very warm. For gaming they are equally as good as they are for video playback. Coming back to the design, the earphones use rubber tips as opposed to silicone tips and I prefer rubber as they always stay secure wheras the silicone ones always tend to slide out of my ears. Aswell as the cable being tangle free the produced sound is all in ear, so you won't have to worry about people hearing your terrible taste in music. The earphones also have a built in control with microphone and it works great for both controling your media playback aswell as making and taking calls. The sound quality from the microphone is really clear and no problems from recipients who have been receiving calls from me.

Conclusion:
Overall the Plantronics BackBeat 216 Stereo Headphones with Mic are a fantastic set of earphones. The reason why this review is so short is because I really cannot fault them except the exclusion of different sized ear tips. These earphones will not fit in everyone's ears as I have let a few people try and some could not get on with it at all whereas others loved it. So I am very disappointed that Plantronics did not include different sized tips. The Plantronics BackBeat 216 Stereo Headphones with Mic will cost you £27.95 which is a reasonable price to pay for such high quality looking and performing earphones. a-Jays One In-Ear Earphones have. You can purchase the Plantronics BackBeat 216 Stereo Headphones with Mic from MobileFun by clicking this link.

Stay tuned for my video review.

Sony PS Vita 3G + WiFi Full Review

2012-06-14T23:34:00.000+01:00

I have been waiting for PS3 gaming on a handheld for years. Enter the PSVita. Now let's kick things off with the hardware. The PSVita is made entirely out of plastic, but dont let that put you off.It is constructed out of high quality plastic and when I first held it in my hands I had a feeling that I was holding bullet proof glass (NO JOKE). Now lets move on to the buttons. The d-pad and buttons are great. However the action buttons are quite small and for people with large hands this can proove to be an issue. Even I don't like them that much. They are very responsive don't get me wrong but I prefer the regular mushy buttons that were on the original PSP's not including the PSP Go of course which was worse on every level. Also the original PSP's buttons felt more like the buttons that were on the PS2 and 3 controllers. So I would of liked those to be on the Vita. Now lets talk about the software. Sony is DONE with the XMB and have replaced it with this applications interface. Now it is satysfing to flick between these screens here because the screen is so vibrant and responsive with it's capacitive touch screen but it looks like everything is painted on Smarties. It looks like this is more suited towards kids. Also the app interface does come with it's problems mainly due to launching applications which always come with few second load times whereas the XMB everything was pretty instant. In the XMB you could go to your videos, music and photos without having to wait for it to load but unfortunatley, that's not the case with the Vita's new interface. Sony should of atleast given us the option to switch between the two. You can also lock your PS Vita with a 4 digit code so no one can access it. Great if it falls into the wrong hands. That was a feature I wanted on the original PSP but it wasn't included. Also just look at how long the charger is. It is a 3 piece charger and at night I connected it to the PS Vita and for some reason it wasn't charging and I thought I broke it. But then I noticed that it fits in both ways. It is not a hard design choice and I don't know why Sony did that. The screen on the PSVita is 1 inch bigger than the 1st three PSP's and when you use this then you will not want to go back to any of the other PSP's screens. Not only because of it's bigger size but also because the screen is so vibrant and colourful. The Vita's front panel sports a highly reflective gloss finish which smudges and collects dust easily. However smudges can be removed with an occasional wipe, glare on the other hand is a constant problem. Indoors adjusting the position of the Vita is not a problem, however outdoors it is completley unusable. Making the screen brighter helps but it comes at the cost of battery life. Speaking of battery life. Sony quotes that you get 5 hours of play time and they don't live up to their promises. When I first took the PSVita out of the box and started using it Bluetooth was enabled and so was wifi (once you set it up) and with those settings on I got only 2 hours and 15 minutes. However when I disabled wifi and bluetooth I got 3 hours and 30 minutes. The PSVita's battery life is a problem. I know it has high specs but Sony knew about the dissapointment on the 3DS's battery life and they should of atleast strived to make the battery life better but it is infact worse. What also makes it harder to resolve the Vita's battery is that it is not user accessable. That means that unlike the 3DS you can't remove it and replace it with a higher rated battery. There is also the rear trackpad controls. So far it serves no use for the games. Using it is essential for games like Little Deviants but the control is awkward and I didn't enjoy using it. In my opinion I enjoyed using it for the smaller things like zooming in and out with your rifle by sliding the trackpad up and down. It is certainly not for everyone and to show it off as a highlight, developers need to start working on games that will take advantage of the touchpad otherwise it will just be completley ignored. And the front and rear cameras leave alot to be desired. Now you use the buttons on the Vita to play however the touchscreen is also thrown into the mix. And what this implies is that the touchscreen is meant to compliment the controls, not replace it. Developers are not going to be spending so much time to produce a game for an iPad like Uncharted and it is obvious that it is so much more fun to play with physical controls and not entirely on a touchscreen. Let's talk about aurgmented reality because the PSVita has a couple games that demonstrate it, the main one being Reality Fighters which is great fun and is freakishly satisfying to see yourself in the game. However the downfall is that it is not built in. The 3DS came with a ton of augmented reality content built in and they were great. However Sony are charging you to use augmented reality which I question when you take into account the PSVita's BIGGEST problem, and that is cost. The PS3 is even priced at the same range or you could pick up a 3DS that has much more titles currently available at a lower price tag. What's worse is that Sony have chosen expensive propriatary memory cards which add to the problem. The PSVita is high quality and premeum tech and retail price for the WiFi only model is £230. There is also a WIFI+3G model priced at £279. This includes a free 4GB memory card, and a PAYG SIM card, which when topped up with £5 of credit allows consumers to download a copy of launch game WipeOut 2048. As a further sweetener, Vodafone will offer anyone purchasing the console 250MB of data lasting up to 30 days with full 3G connectivity. The PSVita truly is a remarkable device. Albiet larger and heftier than it's predaccesor and the 3DS. Will I be getting one? I most certainly will. However I am going to wait for more titles to release and for a price drop. Also seeing homebrew on this in the future will be alot of fun. It would be great if an application was released for this where you could use the Vita as a wireless controller for your PC games. That would be awesome. If you must buy it now then there is plenty of fun to be had. But those who wait would benefit from a wider selection of games and software.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Mobile Phone Review

2012-03-20T17:44:00.004Z

Now I stated in my unboxing of the Galaxy Nexus that you could pick it up in either a 16GB or 32GB capacity. Well after further research it came to my attention that the 32GB version was cancelled and will not be released. So please keep that in mind when you purchase one of these handsets. On top of that you cannot expand the storage via micro sd cards either which is a let down. Now let's start with the build quality. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a very sleek mobile phone coming in at 135g in weight and 8.9mm thick. So the handset is very thin and very light which is astonishing when you take into consideration the gigantic 4.65 inch screen. Not only is the screen huge but it also runs at a fantastic resolution of 1280x720 Super Amoled HD. This is the highest resolution to ever come to a mobile phone (at the time of writing this review). The screen is even better than the retina display found on the iPhone and iPod Touch. So the screen is fantastic and where the screen really shines is when playing back media. I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos with this phone and the quality is fantastic. Even the lower quality videos were very clear on this screen so hats off to Samsung for making a fantastic screen. A screen has never given me the wow factor but the Galaxy Nexus was the first to have this effect on me. Now let's talk about the hardware. The hardware is probably the worst bit of the phone as the phone is made entirely out of cheap plastic. The phone looks more high quality than it feels. First impressions were that the front of the phone looks like high quality and premium plastic and the back looks like it has a very good textured feel to it although like I said earlier, it looks better than it feels. Now one of the reasons Samsung chose to make the phone entirely out of plastic is to keep it light weight which they have accomplished but coming from a user who has a phone made out of metal and high quality plastics will definitely notice the low quality materials used to construct this phone. Now let's talk about the software and that is Android 4.0 also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. The new OS runs like a dream. It has been heavily inspired by Android 3.0 Honeycomb which is an Android OS for tablets and it runs great on the Galaxy Nexus. The interface has so much icandy and much more stock android widgets and the whole interface has loads of finishing touches that really give the user a fantastic experience which is hard to put into words. Ice Cream Sandwich is a joy to use and it can not be explained. You will have to see it to believe it and that is why I made a first impressions video of the handset demonstrating ICS which you can find on my YouTube channel. It has a 5 megapixel camera which is capable of capturing 1080p video at 30FPS and both the photos and video capabilities really surprised me. The pictures have a surprisingly high amount of detail which is very impressive for a 5 megapixel camera. The HD video was fantastic. It has very smooth panning and focused very well on the subjects. The only downside with the HD video is that the focus takes a little long to kick in. So I was really impressed with the camera. What I was not really impressed with was the battery. The battery is a 1750mAh battery which sounds like a lot but what is taking up most of the battery is the screen and that is what can kill the battery for you very quickly. When I use the handset as my full time multimedia device it lasts 4-5 hours. If I use this every now and then to check my emails, play the odd game and watch a few videos then the battery will last about a day. There were even times however when the battery would be at 6% and then about 30 minutes later I would find the phone turned off. So the battery is really a problem with this handset and I really wish they would of put a bigger battery in this handset even at the expense of making the phone a little thicker. So overall the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is an absolutely fantastic device and I have far more likes than dislikes. The processor is 1.2Ghz dual core which is very fast and goes well with the fantastic screen. The screen is the winning feature for me as I can not get enough of it. I spent most of my time watching back videos on this phone as the screen is so beautiful and vibrant. This phone is much more well specified than Apple's latest handset the iPhone 4s and many apple fanboys have been disappointed with the 4s and have switched to the Galaxy Nexus. So the Galaxy Nexus is definitely an iPhone beater and I am sure you will be very happy with it. For those of you that used android in the past will be right at home with this handset, for those who have not used android before but are looking for their first android phone then I can highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. You can pick this up from Vodafone.co.uk free on contract for £41 a month.

Samsung Galaxy Y Review

2012-03-06T11:07:00.007Z

For my regular readers, you will have already seen my unboxing and review of the Samsung Galaxy Y that was loaned to me by the very kind guys at Vodafone.co.uk. You can purchase this handset from them on Pay as you go for £100 or you can commit to a contract and get the handset free of charge by paying £10.50 a month.
Now lets start off with the hardware. The Samsung Galaxy Y is entirely made out of plastic which is not very durable but it feels solid in the hand and the back plate has a textured feel to it. However I do not think that it will survive a few feet drop so I would recommend that you get a case for it to be on the safe side. The handset sports a 3 inch (240x320) capacitive screen which has nice vivid colours however text is not very sharp and when watching videos you definitely notice the low quality of the screen. It also has three buttons at the bottom two of which are touch sensitive. The touch sensitive buttons act as the back and menu buttons and the button in the middle is a physical button which acts as the home button. The touch sensitive buttons aren't backlit neither do they have tactile feedback which is a real disappointment. It also sports a 2 megapixel camera which can also shoot video at 320x240. The video quality is awful and the microphone is equally as bad. The photos are alright for the occasional snap, but the photos are terrible indoors however outdoors they are acceptable.
Now lets talk about my experience with the handset. Now as soon as I started using the handset I thought it was really responsive. When swiping between screens and launching applications I was surprised at how responsive the handset was. The reason as to why that is is because the Galaxy Y has a 832MHz processor which is very surprising when you take into account the price. However things were not all responsive throughout the week I had it. When you start getting into the phone and installing applications you notice the phone starts to slow down and lag. Also since the screen is 3 inches not all the applications format well on it. Also some of the more simpler games like Racing Moto are not supported on this handset.
Now there is one major deal breaker with this phone for me and everyone else and that is the size of the screen. The screen is so small that even typing on the keyboard becomes a chore. I would like a minimum screen size of 3.2 inches because it is possible to access everything on the phone with ease however 3 inches for a screen is too small for my size hands. I gave the phone to my younger brother and he loved it. He has small size hands and he was having more fun with the phone than I was. Now please keep in mind that I have medium size hands and I was struggling so much with the screen and that took away all enjoyment for me. Now you might think that I am saying the phone sucks which it does not. You just have to keep this kind of stuff in mind when you purchase it, the phone is not for everyone. It is certainly not for me even though I have medium sized hands. For those of you that have large hands I would advise you to stay well away from the Galaxy Y because you will struggle with it just as much as I was. That being said the Galaxy Y is great as a phone. Call quality from the earpiece is not the best but I could certainly hear the person on the other end of the phone clearly. Outgoing call quality from the microphone is alright. Recipients of my calls said that I sounded a little blurry and muffled but they could still understand what I was saying. So as a phone this is more than acceptable, especially for the price.
So in conclusion could I recommend this phone? Well I can recommend it to those who are on a budget, have small hands and are not expecting much from the phone. Playing back your music on this is a decent experience, videos on the other hand is a completely different story altogether as the screen is such a small size and low resolution. If you gave your child the Galaxy Y as their first mobile phone then they will be really happy with it. Overall I would say instead of purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Y I would spend a little more and get the HTC Explorer that Vodafone also supply. I will definitely review the HTC Explorer in the future and I will let you know weather it is better than the Galaxy Y but the Explorer has a bigger and better screen, slightly improved camera and better build quality. But as the Galaxy Y stands it is still a decent phone but there are things that you will have to take into account before you make your final decision and purchase it.

Apple Reportedly Testing 8-inch iPad

2012-02-15T11:36:00.003Z

Looks like Apple are producing an 8-inch iPad. Apple is working with suppliers to test drive a new smaller version of the tablet that measures in at the smaller size and quite obviously, lower price. Looks like Apple heard the call of people who can't afford an iPad with it's base model recently selling for £399 and the top end 64GB WiFi + 3G model at a whopping £659. So it is good that Apple are at least thinking about those who can't afford an iPad for it's current price. That is very nice of them... or maybe not as it’s important to note that even if the rumors are true, and Apple is testing a smaller iPad, that doesn't necessarily mean that the tablet will ever see store shelves. Apple tests new products quite regularly, many of which never make it into customer’s hands. So we will have to see what happens. In March we should expect the release of the iPad 3. I will try my very best to get one in to review. Thanks for reading this post guys. Come back soon for more tech related reviews.

I purchased a new camcorder

2012-02-15T11:04:00.004Z

Hello everyone it's Eric here with another update video. Now many of you saw in one of my previous posts that I said I purchased a Kodak Playsport ZX5. You may also remember that the camera froze and it would not reset even though I put the pin into the reset jack. So I sent the camcorder back to Amazon who had fantastic customer service and I opted for a replacement. Now this camera was working fine but eventually when I was reviewing more products I noticed the lack of optical zoom and having to constantly switch between auto and macro mode in order to improve the video quality was a nightmare (it made editing harder and longer too). Another problem that I discovered with this camera 6 months in is that the slot that the SD card clicks into had gotten damaged. Now take note I take really good care of my tech and I never dropped this once or banged it against a wall. But the SD card slot got faulty and when I closed the flap that covered the SD card slot it pushed the card into the slot and it was forced to stay there. (So I thought) In between recordings my camcorder would say no SD card and stop the recording of my videos. Enough was enough. I only owned this camera for 7 months and I contacted Amazon and opted for a refund. So then I was on the look out for a new camcorder only this time with optical zoom and better focus so I don't have to keep switching between modes. So after a few days of looking I finally purchased the Panasonic SD90. The SD90 is the camcorder I am using now and it is absolutely AMAZING. It has a viewfinder that you can manoeuvre into almost any position you want it and that alone made it easier for me to see what I am recording and the focus was absolutely FANTASTIC!!! I could bring my products closer to the camera and further away without having to change the focus modes. The Panasonic SD90 has fantastic focus capabilities. Another feature it has which is the icing on the cake is an external microphone input. That means that not only does the video quality look professional but now I can get any sort of external microphone that even movie studios use (Not that I would because that is an overkill). But that gives you an idea of how flexible and experimental I can be with my camcorder. I uploaded an unboxing of the camcorder and I recorded it with my HTC Desire S although I did not use any studio lights because I didn't own any at the time. So now I have a better camcorder, external microphone and studio lights. So I am all set to make product reviews etc. So that is my little story of my new camcorder that I purchased and why I did not keep using my previous one. The Kodak Playsport ZX5 is a great camcorder don't get me wrong. It just didn't suit my needs and I didn't want to get another one incase I experienced another problem. I needed a reliable camcorder that would not keep crashing or anything and if you guys are looking for the same, then I cannot recommend the Panasonic SD90 highly enough.

a-Jays One In-Ear Earphones Full Review

2012-02-06T10:30:00.013Z

Hi everyone it's me Ecartman12 and this time I will be reviewing the a-Jays One In-Ear Earphones. Now I would first like to start off by giving a HUGE thanks to MobileFun for sending me these earphones to review. I requested the product in the afternoon and I received it the next day. Absolutely fantastic delivery and customer service from MobileFun. They also have a great range of Samsung headphones. Now lets get on with the review. Now I am not the type of person who would purchase replacement earphones. I am into my music but I always used to think that earphones are earphones and I should just use the ones that come with my device. I used the Apple ones, which to be honest were alright but then I used HTC earphones that came with my HTC Desire S and despite them not being as comfortable as the Apple earphones they did produce a much clearer sound so I stuck with those for a few months. So up until that point I did not find the need to invest in newer earphones. That was until I was sent the a-Jays Earphones from MobileFun and I gotta tell you my opinion has changed 100%. The a-Jays One In-Ear Earphones are beautifully packaged and presented to you. The style that has been chosen to get into the box is a little unorthodox. What you are required to do is push something slimlined into a tab which is located on the back in which case I used the Apple earphones 3.5mm audio connector to push into the tab (as they weren't needed for anything else) and then push the bottom of the box upwards and then the case sleeve is released off the packaging, and then you are greeted with the instruction manual and once removed you are presented by the earphones which are placed in a rather striking position that looks really nice. And above the earphones there are four sets of different sized silicone tips which go onto both the earphones and these are essential as the tips that were pre-installed on the earphones did not fit my ears that well at all, so I switched to a tip which was the most comfortable for me. Now the earphones themselves are made of very good quality. They have a textured rubberised feel to them and once in your ears you barely notice they're there. A very nice touch is that the cables are flat and are tangle proof so you don't need to keep worrying about untangling your earphones before using them. You can just take them out, give them a quick stretch and then they are ready to use. At first I was a little sceptical about these as I thought they looked thin and would not last long but once I held them in my hand it was clear to me that these were very well constructed and they felt like they would last a really long time. Now lets talk about the actual sound quality of the earphones. The sound they produce is absolutely beautiful. The base is there but it is not giving your ears a thump which is great because I have tried earphones that are very high on base and after 10-15 minutes my ears start to hurt so I am glad that they have controlled the amount of base these earphones produce. The sound they produce is very warm therefore my ears do not hurt even after a lot of extensive use. When listening to music these earphones out perform the Apple and HTC earphones by hundreds of miles. The sound is so clear and the silicone tips help keep the sound contained in your ears so you will hear every bit of detail from the audio. Now something that many reviewers do not cover about these earphones is how they perform when watching back movies and playing games. In my opinion movies and games are very well suited with these earphones as the vocals are crystal clear and if you are watching a movie or playing a game with loads of action then you are in for a real treat as these earphones make you hear every bit of detail in the audio. One of the videos and games I used these earphones with is the Batman Arkham City Hugo Strange Trailer (the fight scene and vocals were absolutely pristine) and Batman Arkham City for PC. I was just amazed at what sound quality these earphones produce especially considering these only cost you around £19.95 from MobileFun. I have just been so so impressed with these earphones. There are even many times where I hear some extra detail in some music or video I am listening to and I think to myself, "HEY... I never heard this before with those HTC and Apple earphones." These earphones just put a smile on my face everytime I use them, and the fact that they are tangle proof means I don't have to bother untangling my earphones when I want to listen to some music. Also the comfort that you can achieve with these earphones are absolutely mindblowing. With the Apple and HTC earphones I had to constantly twist and turn the earphones to tighten them into my ears as they used to get quite loose when I was walking around. I don't have to do that with these earphones. I just put them into my ears and they sit in there very comfortably. As for Bad aspects the only little niggles I do have with the comfort is that the sound waves that come out of the silicon tips tend to make them move around in your ears very slightly and the silicon material gives you the impression that they are falling out when really they are not. That is just a minor issue but that does effect comfort a little. Another thing which I have a problem with is that when you are listening to music with the earphones and you are walking around, the cable that is connected to your device tends to bounce around back and forth on your chest and you do hear the cable moving back and forth through the earphones even when you are listening to very loud music. That is quite annoying. But that is all of my bad aspects. In conclusion these earphones are absolutely stunning and £19.95 is a very good price. I can't help but wonder, if these headphones produce absolutely stunning sound then what is the sound quality like on the Monster Beats By Dr Dre series that cost around about the £120 mark? How can it get better than this?? Well I will have to wait and find out, however I will not be purchasing any of those because as much as I like my music I am not willing to pay over £100 for some earphones considering that you can get the a-Jays for a lot less money and the sound quality you are getting is still amazing.
So that is my full review of the a-Jays One In-Ear Earphones. I think it is an absolutely fabulous purchase if you are currently stuck with cheap earphones that were included with your mobile phones. It is also worth noting that a-Jays have also produced earphones that are follow-ups to this one. As you can see the earphones I am reviewing have a number one in it's name but a-Jays have models up to four and they include more features like a handsfree function and they also include higher bass and base etc. So you can go up the range if you so wish. These are absolutely stunning earphones and highly recommended. You can purchase them from MobileFun by clicking this link

HTC Sense 4.0 Features Leaked! Includes 50GB of DropBox Storage

2012-01-27T17:22:00.008Z

We finally have word that HTC have Sense 4.0 in the works. I absolutely love HTC Sense as you know if you watched my HTC Desire S videos. I loved HTC Sense 2.1 and for about a week or two now I have been using Sense 3.0 on my Desire S and it is a HUGE improvement and I absolutely LOVE IT!! Unfortunately Sense 4.0 will not come to the Desire S but it should be available for the HTC Sensation and Sensation XE and XL. But let's talk about it's features. Unfortunately there are no screenshots of Sense 4.0 so we will just have to use our imaginations and get a sense of what it is like. So one of the new features will be
Improved Lock screen and layout From current reports it seems that the outstanding lock screen on HTC Sense 3.0 has been revamped adding favorite contacts and notifications to the already awesome lock screen. So aswell as launching your camera from the lock screen you can also give your friend or relative etc a call and respond to some texts aswell. It has also been reported that HTC Sense 4.0 devices will not include onscreen keys like the Galaxy Nexus. HOORAAHHH! This means that part of the screen will not be taken up by a bloody great bar at the bottom and that means no wasted screen estate.
Beats Audio support for third party apps and improved email With Sense 4.0 the BeatsAudio sound enhancer seen on the Sensation XE and XL will be enabled so that third party music and video apps will benefit from it.
I know what your thinking: How on earth can HTC improve upon what is an already excellent email application? I have no problems or issues at all with the email application on Sense 3.0 but HTC can give it some colour I guess. The Email app has been given some colour and it looks like the best and most functional email client available for Android. Messages and emails come with a depth of field effect and read/unread messages are highlighted with colours instead of being greyed out. For those using Exchange, there’s a Smart Sync feature that will learn your usage habits and make sure that mail syncs don’t happen during times of the day when your phone is normally inactive. So the email application is already fantastic but adding some extra colour and some HTC'esc will just make it better.
DropBox increased to 50GB, new features for the Browser and new Guest Mode Now I don't use much DropBox but I do intend to in the future but for those of you that are interested DropBox integration is being increased to 50GB and the DropBox folder on the phone will be displayed as if it’s another physical drive on the phone which sounds awesome and will look even better. This sort of reminds me of HTC's photo app where you can pull in all of your photos from facebook and flicker and view them all as if they were on the device.
HTC's browser which is already awesome is now getting a few extra features that are set to come with a pair of bookmarking features Read Later and Watch Later. These sound self-explanatory so I won't cover them, but nothing to fancy on that front. I just hope that HTC will resolve the general issue with tabs on Android where all your tabs keep mysteriously disappearing when you.... well I don't know what it is I am doing. But I really hope that HTC will resolve this issue.
So that was the new feature set for HTC Sense 4.0. We may hear of more in the future and I hope HTC will do this but I doubt it. If they can manage to get a really stable version of Sense 4.0 on older devices like the HTC Desire series then that would be awesome. But I don't see that happening. But hey I can dream can I? So the big question, when will this new version of Sense come to HTC's mobile phones? My guess is they will release a new handset of the year (that has been rumored to include a quad core processor) that will include HTC Sense 4.0 right out of the box. I will watch out of anticipation as I am a big HTC fanboy. I am really excited for this new version of Sense. Sound off in the comments below. Are you guys looking forward to Sense 4.0? What would you like to see HTC bring to the table? I am very interested in your guys opinion.

PSVita Cloned Already! "UPDATED"

2012-01-27T10:39:00.006Z

Looks like China have already come out with a fake PSP. The Chinese clone is called the Yinlips YDPG18. This one is quite interesting though. It does not have dual analogue sticks as you can see in the photo but what it does have is the same 5 inch screen although I doubt it's capacitive and here is the kicker it runs Google Android. 1.2 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. Going deeper the clone is able to play NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, MAME and N64 roms as well as 3D PSX and Android games. On top of that, the clone also supports Flash 10 games. With the clone running Android, the list may be expanded. Maybe, it will get rooted and a custom ROM will be pushed for it.

UPDATE 01/27/12
People have been asking me which version of Android does the PSVita Rip off come with. Well the website lists Android 2.2/2.3 (that's Froyo/Gingerbread......either upgradable from one to the other, or Yinlips itself isn't sure which it ships with)
For connecting, it has HDMI and Wi-Fi, and inside is a single-core 1.2GHz processor, which isn't going to set the gaming world alight, especially with a mediocre 512MB of RAM. There's also a 5-megapixel rear camera, as well as a front-facer.

Ice Cream Sandwich on Windows 7

2012-01-25T10:48:00.004Z

Are you still waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich to arrive to your device? Well in the meantime why not transform you Windows 7 PC or Laptop to Ice Cream Sandwich. The theme looks awesome and you can sort of get the feel of Ice Cream Sandwich on your Desktop without having to wait until your phone gets the update. Thanks to Lifehacker, all of the components are easily downloadable so you can actually pick and choose the bits you do and don't want.
Android ICS has a new font called Roboto, which you can get from Fontquirrel, another must have for the look. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

I am getting a new video camera

2011-05-09T15:49:00.006+01:00

Hey Guys! As you all know I use my iPod Touch 4th Generation to record my YouTube videos in 720p. The quality is acceptable but I am facing problems along the way which I will tell you right now. For some wierd reason whenever I record videos that are longer than 5 mins my computer can't copy my iPod Touch's videos that it's recorded. Now this has happened on my dad's laptop and my computer, so this leads me to believe that Apple have screwed up here. So to be on the safe side I only record 5 mins of video footage, that way I will be able to copy the video footage onto my computer without any problems. That is why you see so many jump cuts in my videos because I am forced to record little clips and then join them up in my editing software later. That gets annoying and I am not bothered to keep on doing that. That is also one of the reasons why I rush my YouTube videos most of the times. The other problem with the video recording on my iPod Touch is that it won't focus on things that I want to show you in the video. The iPod Touch 4 is quoted to support " Touch to focus" which it does not. Instead when you touch to focus it only changes the lighting of the video and does not focus which is really frustrating. There is just way too much preasure on my shoulders, so I am gonna get a new camera that can record upto 1080p HD video and it will also sport two focus modes: auto and macro. So this camera will be able to focus in on it's subject so I will be able to show you bits and details of what I am recording.
The picture above is the camera that I am purchasing. I am really looking forward to recieving this camera and recording my future videos with it. Ok guys, see ya!

Orange San Francisco

2011-03-15T18:07:00.002Z

Hey guys what's up? Its been sometime since I posted something on this blog hasn't it. Just giving you a little update. Just recently I got myself a new mobile phone and it is powered with googles android operating system and it is on the budget end of the market. It cost me £100 from Play.com and they threw in £10 free credit. Now this phone does have its flaws but because it is so cheap many people including me forgive it. It is also branded with a whole bunch of orange crud but it is pretty simple to debrand (just google it.) the phone has a 600mh processor and a 3.5 inch amoled capacative touch screen. I am just shocked that we get this sort of screen on this low priced device. Its great as a phone aswell and I have customized it to look like the more expensive HTC handsets out there. Anyway now that I have an android handset I will make some videos and tutorials with the android platform. So far I am really enjoying it. So far I am liking it more than apples ios. Anyway thanks guys for taking the time to read this post. So stay tuned for some videos of the Orange San Francisco. Also incase you were wondering I did write this blog post with the San Francisco. :)

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My thoughts on Ben 10 Alien Force Vilgax Attacks

2010-04-02T22:03:00.006+01:00

THIS IS IT, MY NEW GAME!

Ben 10 Alien Force Vilgax Attacks for the PSP came out on March 12th on UMD.
It came out in February 8th for the Playstation Network which was a few days after its original release. The game was supposed to come out in the UK at this February 5th but because they wanted people in the UK to reach a certain episode of Alien Force the owners or someone delayed the release of the game a month later at March 12th I pre-ordered the game sometime in January.
Here is something interesting, Amazon (which was where I Pre-Ordered the game) dispatched the game to me in the 11th of March but they dispatched it to me in the evening so the postman did not take it out of the post box because they have already done it a few hours ago. And 2 days later on Saturday I received the game. How great was that?!

Now here are my thoughts for the game. When I started playing the game there were a few things I noticed straight away: 1. your health and special attack power meter were small, and so was the omnitrix on the top left of the screen, it was so small, I could see which alien I was going to transform into but the side bar was just way to small. 2. The game is a 3rd person beat’em up and not a 3d sidescroller like the other two. There were quite a few things in the graphical department that showed this game was meant to be on the 360/Wii/PS2 versions because of their second analog stick, and because the PSP does not have a second anolog stick, platforming was very awkward, you could move the camera around by pressing the L shoulder button and moving the analog stick but doing that prevents you from moving your character. Level 2 was the worst level in the game because of the platforming and camera angle. The platforming was pretty much my only problem with this game, the platforming was the thing that prevented me from progressing further into the game, and there were many times where I was being pushed off of the platform that I had to jump on. So the platforming in this game is just broken. This game is harder than the other two Ben 10 games and this one unlike the other two gets frustrating; because of awkward platforming terrible camera, (the camera would only position itself by an inch the rest of the camera you have to move by yourself) long loading times (when you die trying to solve a puzzle the game takes too long to take you back to your checkpoint) and unalterable difficulty. The combat system was very limited aswell; there were not as many combos for each alien like there was with the other two games. The password system is bad aswell because when I wanted to play with cheats after I completed the game the cheat system does not always work and it doesn’t let you activate your cheat codes or deactivate them like the other two games, AND ONCE YOU’VE INSERTED YOUR CHEAT CODES THEY DON’T WORK!! THAT MEANS YOU WILL HAVE TO REINSERT THEM, then they will work for sure. Despite all of the games flaws there were many good things about the game such as the models of Ben’s aliens which looked great, they looked just like how they did on the cartoon series. What I also liked about the game was the fact that Ben smacks the omnitrix down when he transforms (you can’t move him when he hits the watch but that was still cool) what I would like to see next in the next game is Ben running and scrolling through his watch when we switch between alien forms and I would also like to see him smack the watch while running, that will truly make us feel like Ben Tennyson in the game.
Well that’s it for my review I give this game overall a 7/10 it was a great game but after completing it the first time there is not much reason to play it again accept for fun. There is no unlockable content and it would have been great if there was a master control cheat but apparently not. I hope the developers do that for the next Ben 10 game. Anyway thanks for taking your time to read this blog post guys I really appreciate it, I do not plan on doing a playthrough for this game, but someday when I am up to it I will start my Ben 10 Protector Of Earth playthrough for PSP. See ya guys and stay tuned for more blog posts, and hopefully they won’t be as long as this one. :)

My new PSP games

2010-03-14T08:28:00.003Z

Hey guys! I have been getting a few PSP games recently and 2 weeks ago I got X-men Origins Wolverine (PSP) I played the game before and thought that I would get it because it seemed really fun at the time. Now after playing through the levels of the game it get's repetitive and boring, but not so boring to the extent that it is not playable. The PSP version has more blood sprays than the PS2 and Wii versions which is great for PSP owners. The cutscenes are also so great in the PSP version, they have been ripped from the 360/PS3/PC versions minis the blood and gore which is a shame, it is obvious that they wanted to make this game for teenagers so they could make more money out of it, which is a shame because if they did what they did with God Of War COO for PSP then this would be the ultimate marvel superhero portable game.
Guess how long it took me to beat this game, 5hrs 12hrs 1 day? NO! It took me 3hrs to complete this game! Which is just embarrassing God Of War COO had way more to offer and that game was longer. This just proves that the developers did a quick job with this superhero title, so I give this game overall a 6/10 This game does have replay value, I personally like replaying the two boss battles with Victor Creed (Sabretooth) it's so much fun throwing him at the table and the wine cupboards or whatever you call that thing, and it feels satisfying throwing him at the car's windshield.
After playing the game I put it away and I pick it up again about a week later and then the game is fun again.

So that's X-Men Origins Wolverine.
Okay stay tuned for my new blog post and I will be giving my thoughts on a new game.

Assassins Creed Bloodlines Review

2010-02-18T15:10:00.008Z

Well well well, I completed the game in fact I beat it about a month ago. Sorry for the late review.

This game is really good but is very very VERY SHORT! The game only took me 3-4 hours to complete and the story was rushed as hell! I hated what happened to Altiar at the end, this game does continue where the first Assassin's Creed left off however you don't see Desmen Miles the 2 scientists or the Animus, but you only see the Animus when you pause the game or when you want to select a memory block which is disappointing. The gameplay was great but you feel really stiff while fighting, running, and climbing. Their are a number of glitches that occur in the game and they appear frequently. The graphics are not polished enough at certain areas of the game, and in Assassin's Creed the more realism that is in the game the funner it is, but there is not much realism in this game so therefor the game is not as pleasurable as it has been on it's console counter parts but for a portable this is good enough. (Bosses are ridiculously easy). Now for some positives, it feels great to have Assassin's Creed on a portable and this game is close enough to what you will get on a PSP system. The game's free play in this game is fun, but climbing in this game is not as good as the Assassin's Creed for 360 PS3 and PC. But for a portable this game is great and for the price I got it for I should not complain. This game is great I give it overall a 7/10. For a PSP game this is amazing. If you want this game like I did I would recommend playing £10 for this game tops. But that's just me so don't say that that is preposterous.

So thanks guys for reading this post stay tuned for more blog posts and I will see ya later.

I GOT ASSASSINS CREED BLOODLINES (PSP)

2010-02-01T09:34:00.010Z

Hey Guys!! I got this game I have not played it yet I want to complete assassins creed 1 first and then play assassins creed bloodlines because bloodlines continues 1 month after assassins creed. The gameplay looks good for a portable and the overall price I got it for £2.73 (DON'T ASK ME HOW I GOT IT FOR THAT PRICE)

When I play this game I will update this post and let you know what I think of it.

EDIT:

I LOVE THIS GAME!! The game's missions are a step up from the first Assassin's Creed, but freeplay is not as good as the first Assassin's Creed because the game feels dull, there are not much people walking by and you don't here the civilians scream or cry for help. The timing in the combat is different, and you get used to it eventually and the counter attacks are a whole lot of fun. At first the camera works great but then later on you will find yourself chase someone and you have a certain amount of time to reach them and then the camera really let's you down. You press the (LEFT) shoulder button to center the camera and if you hold the (LEFT) shoulder button and press the action buttons you will be able to rotate the camera, this is both good and bad, because when you move the camera and the camera goes through a wall, you will see a glitch which effects the gameplay hideously and all of a sudden you will not be able to see Altair (Which is the character you play as) but that can be solved when you move out of the room. The graphics are dull and that makes the gameplay dull and shallow. Even with all of those flaws I really enjoyed this game. I am past more than 50% of the game and will give you my overall score and review when I complete the game. Thanks for taking your time to read this post guys, more videos are on the way.

See ya! :)

I have a new game for my psp!

2010-01-25T10:33:00.003Z

Hey Guys! I know this game is very old but it was on a deal and I ended up getting it for free. I got Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories. It is nowhere close to as good as liberty city stories because in vice city stories there are noticeable lags and the overall gameplay is the same and I liked the Tony guy in Liberty City Stories better, this guy you play as is so so annoying, and the graphics are not as good as LCS.
I have not completed the whole game yet. The good thing about the game is the combat system, I like it so much! Sure the combat has some problems but it is more fun than LCS, so that's 1 positive thing about the game, the rest is all the same, and the lock on has some problems when you are locking on to someone close-by. Overall I give this game so far a 6/10 I give liberty city 9/10. In Vice City there is a new story but the overall gameplay is the same.

Thanks for reading this post.

Austen we have a problem

2009-12-05T19:18:00.004Z

Hey guys I am sorry but my thoughts on the psp go video will be delayed because I just noticed that the video takes over 3gigs in space (YouTube only allow abot 2gigs per video) so I am going to shrink the video and it will be uploaded within the next 2 days. So sorry guys.

My thoughts on the PSP Go video announcement

2009-12-04T17:30:00.000Z

Hey guys! Sorry that I have not wrote a post on my blog for sometime but I was busy. I am just letting you know that I am going to upload a video on the Psp Go, I am just going to share my thoughts about it and tell you if it would be neccesary to buy it (but at the end of the day it is your choice) And in the video when I said that the pspgo did not sell as much consoles as the dsi did in the first week, I forgot but really it was in the first 2 days, so when you watch the video just keep in mind that the dsi and pspgo sold that much consoles in the first 2 days. So tomorrow I will upload the video.

Thanks for reading this post and stay tuned for tomorrow.

Batman Arkham Asylum PC DEMO

2009-11-02T09:04:00.000Z

Hey guys! I have not done a video in a while, and I thought I would make up by doing a playthrough on batman arkham asylum DEMO. The game is awsome from what I have played, I may in fact get the game when it comes out.
I am useing fraps and fraps just makes the videos so large!! Almost 4 gigs JUST FOR 6 MINUITES!!!! So I am trying my best to try and get it to work but I doubt that it will. So sorry.
PS: I have really been busy lately so I could not make videos for some time. I will have to think about my next videos, so sorry for makeing you guys wait so long.

I HAVE HACKED MY PSP 3000!!!!!

2009-06-25T19:40:00.000+01:00

I will not be able to help you but I am able to play iso and cso files, and play emulators on my psp. Here is the link, do what notepad says. My firmware has now been changed from (5.03) to (5.03 m33) Have fun.

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1955679/6976998/

I will be gone for a month or 2.

2009-06-15T11:47:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, I will be gone for a month or 2 on youtube, so don't expect me to upload any videos, I am so sorry but I will not be on youtube. Please stay subscribed, and I will be back soon...

PS: It is a family thing so I can't be on youtube for some time, (SO SORRY)

This is ecartman12 signing out.

God Of War Chains Of Olympus PSP (MY 6th PSP GAME!)

2009-06-10T16:37:00.000+01:00

Hey guys! Today in the mail, I recieved God Of War Chains Of Olympus (PSP) I heard that it is a very short game, but I heard alot of good reviews from it anyway so I thought that I should go ahead and purchase it. The game is great, but I agree that the game is too short. I beat the game in 4 hours, and the replay value goes downhill after you have beat the game once, nothing is encouraging you to play the game again, so the game is worth a rent I would say, not worth to keep. So the game is getting boring and I had just got it today. I can imagine how boring it might get in a weeks time. But the feel and the camera and everything about this game made me feel like I was playing a CGI movie, from start to finish, the graphics were amazing the blood that gushes out is mind blowing, the graphics are gorgeous, the sound quality and the music is just like a movie that we wath on tv, and listening to the game with microphones in your ear plus a sound adjuster with the microphones is outstanding. This game is excellent (Lacks replay value) but overall an outstanding game. I give this game a 8/10. It is one of those games that you should at least play on one occasion, playing this game once will make you feel satisfied.

(Which PSP game do I like best out of my collection?) Star Wars The Force Unleashed. Star Wars TFU I never get bored at, it is the best game I have ever played for psp, there are other great games for PSP but TFU I think is the best PSP game so far.

Ok guys, thanks for reading this post, stay tuned for more posts in the future. See ya!

Terminator Salvation Movie Review

2009-06-04T12:09:00.000+01:00

[QUICK DISCLAIMER. THIS POST HAS MINIMAL SPOILERS, NOT MANY, BUT A FEW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]

Hey guys! Today I went to the cinema and watched Terminator Salvation.
Set in 2018 John Connor is the man who leads the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. There are also some new charictors who are in this movie.One that you know of is Markus Wright who is played by (Sam Worthington) who's story is pretty deep. The action in this movie is different, due to flying helicopters,people/machines fight with guns, hit with guns and the terminators use their hands and much more... John Connor who is played by (Christian Bale) does a amazing role as usuall, he takes his charictor seriously and delivers. So do the rest of the actors who play their own roles. Kyle Reese is also in this movie who is supposed to be John Connor's father.So the acting is great, the action is great, but does this movie deliver? Well the movie is slow in the first half, but the second half is excellent.
The answer is YES, you should go see this movie in the cinema to get the full experience, otherwise you will not be convinced if you watch it at home on dvd or blu ray (Unless you have a big screen projector and surround sound)but the overall movie is great (it is 12a so don't expect any blood) So stop reading this post and go watch the movie.

This is the video where Christian Bale goes ballistic on set of Terminator Salvation movie

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4446413/Christian-Bale-goes-ballistic-on-set-of-Terminator-Salvation-movie.html

On the news a few days ago, he gets an interview and the person that interviews him, says what have you learned from your little outcast. Watch the interview below

Here is the little interview I had seen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8079220.stm

I have 3 new demo's for my PSP, that I have downloaded from the Playstation Store.

2009-06-02T13:05:00.000+01:00

They are God Of War Chains Of Olympus (PSP) Resistance Retribution (PSP) Rock Band Unplugged (PSP) God Of War (PSP) is a really good demo. There are some graphical stuff that have not been added, but other than that it is great. Check my Latest videos on my youtube channel for the God Of War (PSP) demo videos.

Resistance Retribution (PSP) I have not played all of the demo because it is too hard and I am not that good with the controls, so not much to say about that, except the graphics are amazing and the lock on with your gun is great.

Rock Band Unplugged (PSP) Is not much for a demo but I was so flabbergasted to see that THE MIDDLE song was in the demo, because that is the greatest song I have ever listened too. Too bad

that you can only play half of the song, plus there were 2 more songs for me too play aswell but I am not a fan of those songs, but soon I will post a video about all of the songs in the demo version of Rock Band (PSP)