Mobi·gas·mic

Life Update

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:03:00 PDT

Professionally, I am an ace at what I do. I mean, I am someone who re-reads emails I sent out 2 years ago and challenges myself to find better ways to have communicated the same message. I am constantly striving to improve my craft. So, as you can imagine, I have little tolerance for foolishness. And in the past year my job, there had been a fair amount of that going on. Fictitious positions were being created to 'place-hold' people who had no discernible skill sets, and they were being paid good money for the pleasure. And, as usual when people have lots of free time on their hands they spend it finding ways to annoy and irk others. This, combined with a huge amount of thankless work which seemed to keep getting bigger and bigger made me finally hit a wall. I looked from all angles and realized that I couldn't stay with the company anymore. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that service company with about 40% of its staff in management may be a tad top heavy. So, I handed in my notice and resigned- I had no plan, no idea what I would do next, but I was so close to a nervous breakdown that Dean encouraged me to just take time to get to my mental ground zero.
After about 3 weeks of relaxing, regrouping and recovering I was ready to see what the job market looked like- I had a comfortable 6 months in cash to find something new, beyond that would involve dipping into savings. Last time I was on the hunt, it took a long time for me to get an offer. This time it took me 2 weeks on the market to get an offer from a company who's corporate culture I have admired from afar for a long while now. In fact, I had a choice of locations to choose from within their organization, and a few offers that I had to turn down! I start on Monday, and am extremely excited.
So, the lesson I have learned here is that there is no reward for being a martyr- I was smart enough to pump the breaks before I completely wore myself out and, by not doubting myself I got what I really wanted- to work for a great company, join inspiring leaders and the icing on the cake is making much more money for the pleasure. Nothing wrong with that at all! :)

App Snap: Plume 3.0

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:52:00 PDT

I got a hot tip today Plume (formerly Touituer) had been updated to 3.0 so I was eager to give it a shot. I've been on the hunt for a great Twitter experience on my tablet.
First impressions are good: it has themes, inline image prevew and a crop of other great features as well as an overall facelift. Time will tell if this is going to be my permanent Twitter replacement. More later...

Closet Addict

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:06:00 PDT

Hi. My name is Lulu and I'm a closet addict. Seriously. I've had some down time over the past few weeks (more on that in a later post) and I've been spending an inordinate amount of time getting my closet inventoried. My app of choice is PersonalCloset (http://sites.google.com/site/smarteasyapp/) , which is made by a fantastic team which has responded to issues and released several improvements over the last few months.
This app not only tracks what's in my closet but when I wore it, how often its in rotation and how much I spent on the purchase. Altogether I think it's a fantastic way to tame my addiction...or feed it, depending on how you look at it.

Droid Pro Update 4.7.3

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:38:00 PDT

Woke up this morning to the 4.7.3 for my Droid Pro. Its not ICS but I noticed that it helped with the issue I was having with the glitchy keyboard backlighting. On the downside, it did lose root so I need to figure out how to get rooted on this version.

Galaxy Tab 7.7 Car Dock

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:49:00 PDT

One of my favorite accessories on my Nexus One was the car mount. Unfortunately, the maps app on my Droid Pro is virtually unusable with its low memory issues so it stood to reason that I would lean toward using my Galaxy Tab 7.7 as my GPS. I decided to order the car dock and see how well it would all work out.

My dock arrived today and I decided to mount it to my windshield. There is no audio function on this one and I decided not attach the power cable as it would interrupt my Flexsmart. Once mounted, it holds tightly and securely and I love how it complements my car.

I highly recommend going the car mount route for 7-inch tabs. Unlike a 10-incher, which would get in the way, 7 inches is the perfect size for improved visibility and map view.

Galaxy Tab 7.7- Month One

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:00:00 PDT

I had 2 main concerns when I got my Galaxy Tab 7.7- connectivity and pen input. The connectivity issue was a big concern for me- I had already decided to get an AT&T sim card but I had no idea about what my connection options would be. As it turned out, a week after I got my Tab, I was able to get the sim card set up with only a minor snafu. If you are having similar issues, check out my post at XDA forums for a walk-through. I don't have 4G speeds on this, but so far not an issue as I mostly kept it off on my Evo View to preserve battery life.
Next was getting over the pen input that I had gotten used to with my Evo View. Turns out, that was easier to get over than I thought. I really haven't missed it much at all.
The things that I have been enjoying about my Tab have far exceeded the trade-offs. The screen is unbelievably crisp and clear and the size has made it so convenient for me to tote it around and use it for hours on end:

In almost every situation I reach for my Tab over my phone (except, of course, for calls). Today I ordered the car dock so that I can use it for in-car navigation. Unfortunately the GPS on my phone has a tendency to lock up- most like due to the low memory on the Droid Pro. I haven't found a phone worth upgrading to but my Tab makes the wait more bearable.

AppSnap: Another Use for Evernote

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:28:00 PST

I started using Evernote over 4 years ago now and have been extremely thrilled. Now that Seth is 4 years old I've found another way to reduce the clutter around the house. A lot of his 'artwork' from his daycare ends up on the fridge for a whole then relegated to a pile in his room. I recently decided to take pictures and store them in Evernote which would allow us to recycle (read: chuck out) a huge amount of the stack.

Galaxy Tab 7.7-Absolute Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:45:00 PST

After several days of false starts, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a Tab 7.7. I was going to get one from Negri Electronics but after the Engadget review they sold out within a few hours. I braved it on Ebay and got a brand new import that promised delivery by Friday. Yesterday my new Tab was home and I was excited to get it fired up.
The much discussed screen really can't be put into words. It is simply gorgeous! The other thing which really jumps out at you is how thin and light it is- I'm glad I picked up the case because I would feel nervous tossing this in my purse. So far, I'm in love.
My connectivity plan is still in the air. My game plan is to get an AT&T sim and do a tablet plan off-contract. We'll see how that goes. Here are a few shots- more later.

The Waiting Game.....times 2

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:02:00 PST

It feels like all I've been doing for the past 2 weeks has been refreshing my Google search of the Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7. I do have an action plan- if it ever comes out, I plan to get the Tab 7.7 in conjunction with the shared data plan.
On the phone front, I have high hopes for MWC. I went to Verizon to get a hands on with the Razr Maxx and it is just too large for my comfort. I also really like the keyboard and I am not at all willing to give that up. If there is a Droid Pro Maxx announced I'll be in seventh heaven!

Sirius-ly Surprising

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 PST

I was surprised to find my husband rocking Sirius radio in his Jeep the other day. I had bought him a radio and a 6-month subscription about 7 years ago but hadn't given it much thought since then. It seems that somewhere along the line, his little first-generation hardware has still kept the signal even though we haven't had an active account all this time. I guess sometimes there are perks to be an early adopter. And quite frankly, Sirius already got a couple of bucks from us- we lost a pretty penny on their stock back in the day!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:39:00 PST

Yay for 2012! So far, it's shaping up to be an awesome year! I've been overwhelmed by work lately as I led a hefty software transition- fortunately it went splendidly, and it seems that my life may soon return to the pace it was at 5 months go.

On the tech front I have had some minor flirtations with the Acer Iconia A100 and more recently with the Galaxy Tab 7+. I liked the Tab, but in the end I decided to wait for Verizon to release the 7.7 model to see if that is right for me. I really hope so- the non-functioning StylishGirl app is really bothering me more than I thought it would. I'm also convinced that my Evo View is slightly too heavy for my wrist....I know- tech girl problems.
As far as a phone, I really need a QWERTYBar to be released. I was surprised that nothing in that design came out of CES this year! Just more slabs yet again. So, I'm still in the market for a phone- I've had the same phone for a 14 months!! Not that I don't love my Droid Pro, but it has now slowed to a virtual crawl.
I'm excited to see what this year brings!

Hurray for Honeycomb

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:52:00 PST

I had all but abandoned any hope of my View getting Honeycomb so you can imagine my surprise on Wednesday night when I suddenly had an available update to 3.2! I was hesitant to go ahead with it until I noted that it promised I would not lose my data. I applied the update and in a few minutes was enjoying the best that Honeycomb had to offer. The layout is still taking me a bit to get used to- my muscle memory makes my eye flicker to the top right of my screen to check the time.
All the apps I had still work with 2 notable exceptions: HBO Go will not even launch now bit that's fine since I could never get it to actually play videos. The most painful loss is StylishGirl, where I have meticulously and lovingly logged months of outfits only to have it force close on startup.
But, on the bright side, a good number of apps have slicker tablet versions I can now enjoy. Aesthetically I'm finding that I enjoy the overall look of HC. And the scribe pen which could previously only scribble notes can now interact with all aspects of the device. So thank you Sprint and HTC for a pleasant Christmas gift!

AppSnap: Next Issue

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:53:00 PST

Last month I wrote about some of the gaps between the iPad and the Evo View. I was especially bummed about the lack of support for the People Magazine digital edition. Then yesterday I stumbled upon NextIssue which is in beta but works fantastically already.

I was thrilled to find that, like the iPad version, I could parlay our print subscription into a free digital edition. Once I entered my number, I was able to get the current issue and I get an email reminding me when a new issue is available. But the best surprise by far was that this app supports all the 'bonus' content. The People app has a good amount of interactive content that makes the reading experience even better.

Acer Iconia A100: A brief affair...

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:51:00 PST

I've had a somewhat unhealthy fixation on Honeycomb for a while now- and eventually just flicking through at my local Best Buy wasn't cutting it. Over the Thanksgiving shopping period I noticed the Acer Iconia had dropped to as low as $189. I didn't act quickly enough to snag one at that price, but I did find one at Gamestop.com for $240 and convinced myself it was worth my while.
The first thing I noticed was how light it is compared to my Evo View. Not that my View is a brick, but I definitely noticed how heavy it was next to the Acer. The body was slick and had an interesting shape. When I turned it on, I spent the first few moments playing with Honeycomb. I didn't like the stock launcher as it wasted a lot of space allowing for the rotation from landscape to portrait. So, after downloading Launcherpro I felt more at home. More exploration led me to realize that Honeycomb is not that much different from Gingerbread on a tablet. In fact, there is a certain uniformity that Honeycomb is missing- everything in Gingerbread happens in the status bar, but in Honeycomb you need to go right for the clock, go left for the task switcher, remember which icon is used to go back.
In the end, the thing that annoyed me the most about the Iconia was the home button. In portrait orientation things were fine, but hold it in landscape and your fingers inevitable brush by the button dumping you right back on the home page. If there is already a home button as part of the OS, please tell me why there is a need for another physical button? I bundled the Iconia back up, but because I wasn't quite sure what the Gamestop return policy is I decided to go to a local store to return it. My first try was unsuccessful but the manager did point me to a store that stocked the Iconia and would probably take a return. So, I was able to return the Iconia, less shipping cost, and finally was able to put my Honeycomb curiosity to rest.

AppSnap: MVideoPlayer

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:01:00 PST

My video player of choice is mvideoplayer. Great features and presents my videos in a great interface. Added bonus- the app let's you look up the selected video in IMDB.

Operation Admiral Fail: Mission Accomplished!

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:42:00 PST

Just stopped by the Sprint store where they refunded my Admiral purchase with no questions asked. As an added bonus today I got an email from Verizon in response to my email and they added back my $5 text plan! Hurray!

Operation Admiral Fail: Phase 1 Complete

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:02:00 PST

Last night was a cold and rainy night as I navigated my way back to my local Verizon store. I was pleased that it only took about 20 minutes for them to port my number back from Sprint. The only real downside is that in my haste I seem to have lost my $5 text message plan. Next phase is tonight when I head to the Sprint store and return the Admiral.
Side note: I have never been so happy to hold my Droid Pro as I was last night when the re-activation was complete!

Motorola Admiral Tried...and Tanked

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:20:00 PST

On Friday afternoon I popped my Droid Pro on my work charger, figuring I would give it a quick boost before the long evening planned. After over an hour I took it off and noticed that the battery had not gotten a boost. But I had no time to investigate further and wrote off the incident as a fluke. But by Saturday morning my battery was at 20% after an overnight charge- I knew I had a problem on my hands. My immediate emotion was anger- it was just too much of a coincidence that I had passed the 1 year mark on my Droid Pro and suddenly almost to the day the phone had its first malfunction. So, I did some research and decided to port my Verizon account over to Sprint and pick up the Motorola Admiral. So on Saturday afternoon I went to my local Sprint store (and with the same agent that sold me my HTC View) I picked up the Admiral and moved my number over.
When I first spent some time with the Admiral I was impressed with the screen resolution. It wasn't the night and day difference that I thought it would be but it was enough to feel that I had upgraded. However, a few swipes in and I noticed that the screen was very finicky- it would select when I meant to swipe all the time. I switched screen protectors but the issue persisted. Next, I realized that the camera had no way to mute the shutter sound. This is a big annoyance to me as I take photos of all my receipts while in my office and do not need it to sound like I'm having a photo session behind closed doors.
Then the little glitches started- Launcher pro refreshes every single time I return to the homescreen, no matter what settings I have it configured to. The screen resolution is challenging for a number of apps (especially homescreen replacements) leaving me with overlapping or weird letterboxing. And finally this morning I had 2 spontaneous reboots for no apparent reason at all.
Now I've decided the aggravation is just not worth it. When I planned to sell the Droid Pro I popped in to Verizon to have them look at it and they were able to clean out the charging ports and that resolved the charging issue. Now, I just have to convince them to port me back over, and hope that I can bypass the ETF fees from Verizon and not generate any from Sprint. More details later!

Netflix Redesign

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:47:00 PST

I am in love with the new look of Netflix for Android! It’s sleeker and makes my tablet look more media-centric. Navigation is much easier and on a single screen you get a great snapshot of all your recent Netflix activity.

Greener Grass....Tablet Edition

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:00:00 PST

I've spent some time today with our iPad (better known now as Dean's iPad). Size asides, there are some definite pros and cons when I compare it to my Evo View.Here are some of the things that jumped out at me today:

1. Hulu:

I don't have a Hulu plus subscription but with DroidLu I don't need one to enjoy Hulu on my View. No such offering to be found on the ipad.

2. People Magazine

This one stings- the iPad app for People Magazine looks absolutely stunning. It's free and ties in our print subscriptions.

3. Photobucket:

Again, the Photobucket app for iPad is gorgeous while the Android app is not size optimized for the larger screen.

4. Widgets

I am definitely a widget-holic. This dates back to my Windows Mobile days (when they were known as plugins). I can't imagine not being able to have my mini-apps right on my homescreen. I was surprised that the iOS 5 version of widgets is restricted to notifications.

5. HTC Scribe Pen

I love my scribe pen so much I ordered a second one. Hands down, this is one of my favorite things about my View.

A Plan on Every Carrier

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:18:00 PST

As of the end of last month our household had 4 plans- 1 AT&T plan from my Blackberry days (kept it to have the unlimited data), 1 add-on (family plan) for Dean's phone, 1 Verizon plan for my Droid Pro and 1 Sprint plan for my HTC Evo View 4G. Needless to say, it was becoming quite expensive. 2 weeks ago or so I decided to take some drastic steps to cut our costs- When Dean got his iPhone 4 I had him switch to my old number to take my data plan. It turns out that with his job discount he is eligible for a 25% rate reduction so with the plan in his name we can take advantage of that. We killed off his old number since there was now no need for it.
Since Dean moved to the iPhone we have been using WhatsApp for messaging instead of texting. With that change I was able to drop my texting plan to 250 from unlimited, saving about $15.
After careful consideration I dropped to the $19.99 3G only plan for my Evo View from the $44.99 plan that included 4G. And that's when the fun ended. With the slower 3G data suddenly I wasn't having as much fun streaming video or doing anything data-centric outside my Wifi zones.
So yesterday I decided to add my Sprint 4G plan back to my View. After all, with all the other cost savings I could definitely feel good about that expenditure. Today, just as I was about to hit the button I saw the news that Sprint had changed its plans. For the same amount of money, I could now get a 3G/4G plan and there is an in-between plan of $34.99 for 3GB of data. So, I flipped the switch and am very pleased! We're down to a reasonable 3 plans and 1 of them is only $20 a month and it includes 4G. Winning!

A Year with the Droid Pro

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:56:00 PST

I noticed a most shocking thing yesterday as I looked at my calendar: I've been using the same phone for a year! This may not seem like much but its a huge feat for me- I've hit pretty close to 9 months here or there, but never the full year.
I've been generally happy with my Droid Pro. The only real gripe I have is with the amount of memory. Every so often it slows down to the point where I need to manually kill apps using SystemPanel. My minor annoyance is that since the Gingerbread update my keyboard light has developed a mind of its own.
But besides that my Droid Pro has really been a champ. I took it to London in January and was able to unlock it and pop a local sim card. In August I took it with me on our family vacation to the Dominican Republic. There I mainly used it as my camera.
Will I be upgrading? You know, I really haven't seen anything that I feel is a compelling step up. My next phone will be a QWERTYBar Android phone with a large memory boost and a drop-in dock like the Nexus One had. Perhaps when the Ice Cream Sandwich phones start rolling out, I'll encounter one I like. Until then, I guess I'll have some more time with my Droid Pro.

App Snap: ChannelCaster

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:39:00 PST

http://market.android.com/details?id=com.handmark.mpp.gateway

Kindle vs Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:54:00 PST

When they announced the new Kindle a few weeks ago I was taken with the idea of having an e-reader without a keyboard- I usually push my purchases to my Kindle so I don't really do any typing.
I popped into my local BestBuy yesterday and got to get my hands on the new Kindle. Verdict: not a fan. I'm not exactly sure what rubbed me the wrong way: maybe it was the blockier footprint, or the color which I found jarring compared to the darker shade of my existing Kindle.
In the end I decided that I am content with my Kindle keyboard- it has longer battery life and I know I'm happy with it. As they say, if it ain't broke...

My Hierarchy of Tablet Needs

noreply@blogger.com (LuluGirl) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:12:00 PDT

Last March I wrote a blog post about my hierarchy of smartphone needs. I would have to say that my list has not changed much for smartphone needs:
A. QWERTYBar
B. Homescreen Widgets
C. Active App Development
D. LED Notifications
E. Battery Life

In recent months my use has shifted slightly- I am using my Evo View a lot more for media consumption and games. My Droid Pro is where I take my calls, text, IM and generally do the socializing that requires data entry. I am generally happy with my Evo View- my opinion improved greatly after I was able to drop from the $45 monthly data plan down to to $20. In general my biggest gripes are the weight, lack of HBO Go and lack of Hulu Plus. Not huge deal-breakers but annoying nonetheless.These niggles have got me thinking about my hierarchy of tablet needs which are:

A. Portability: Most important thing a tablet must do to be useful to me is fit in my purse. For this reason the 7-8 inch is the max screen size. I'd like it to be as light as possible- I'm learning that from my use of the Evo View!
B. Battery Life: while I can imagine carrying around a spare smartphone battery, I would definitely not tote a tablet battery in my bag.
C. Connectivity: Even though I am mostly covered by Wifi at work and at home, there is something about the freedom in being able to connect anywhere.
D. App Compatibility: even though Honeycomb has been wheting my appetite for a while I just think that its not worth it if all apps won't run on it. I want a tablet that can run all the shiny new apps-especially the media-themed ones (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go).