Category: Phones

The Sims freeplay sucks!

Magnetic_dudGames

Some months ago I noticed a new game for my BlackBerry Z10: The Sims freeplay. Lots of enthusiastic reviews, console-grade quality, I was so excited. But I was in holiday, and I couldn’t download 700 megabytes over 3G.

Recently I remembered about it: now I’m at home, and with unlimited wifi I downloaded it.

It’s cool, it’s polished, I waste about one hour to create three Sims and then I run out of money. It’s ok, I’ll continue tomorrow, I tell to myself.

But the day after I’m just too busy at work I open it after a few days while I’m waiting at the post office.

Shock! All of my Sims are dying! I supposed that the game was pausing while it was closed! Well, not a big issue, I say. Just take a quick nap, a fast shower, watch some TV and some chit-chat between them.

WRONG! Now it works in real time! If you sleep, it takes 8 hours, if you want to watch tv, it takes 30 minutes; 2 hours to cook, and so on. And no, you can’t just give them a list of tasks to do while we are away! Moreover: the Sims aren’t self-sufficient! They need to go to pee? Even if they aren’t doing anything, they won’t go unless you tell them!

QSo, if you don’t play at this game for a single day, you have to waste three days to restore health levels… or you just PAY and continue playing!

Of course, with the big amount of RAM on the BlackBerry Z10 (four times as the iPhone 4S and twice as the iPhone 5s), it’s not a problem to leave the game running on the background forever and take a look every 5 minutes “hey, take a shower”, “hey wash your hands”, but in this way it becomes an addiction, it’s an unhealthy habit, it’s not a game!

I had three options:

  1. Leave it running on the background and dedicate my life to it
  2. Pay a couple of dollars EVERY TIME I play
  3. Uninstall it and leave an 1-star review

Guess what I did…

Is Apple wrong with the iPhone 5c?

Magnetic_dudApple

If today, wednesday 18th september 2013, we go on the Apple US page, we can see that we can preorder an iPhone 5c with home delivery for 20th september.

Every color, with every memory and carrier combination is still available. The possible combinations are 50, and only ten of them are delayed by a week.

It’s possible that Apple has imported from China so many iPhone 5c (millions?) in all possible variants to avoid preorder problems? And some reports are saying that production is low due to some problems with camera modules.

If you remember what happened with the iPhone 5, the waiting list was long, people had to wait until december! The new iPhone 5c has been announced last week and it’s not sold out yet? Usually Apple sells millions of units in preorders. Maybe there are too many colors and people want to see which one looks better in their hands? Or maybe because if you pay just $100 more you can get the 5s that has a much better quality?

Update 2017: Imho it was a failure, otherwise they would have made the 6c, 7c, and so on

How to know the IP address on BlackBerry 10

Magnetic_dudBlackBerry

retebb10If you want to know what is the IP address that is assigned on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone, just go in Settings, then tap on “About”, then select “Network” from the drop-down menu.

You will find the basic info, ip address on the Wi-Fi network and on the mobile network.

If you need more, go back on “Network Connections”, tap “Wi-Fi”, then “Advanced”

In the various tabs you will find also the gateway ip address, the dns servers, diagnostics, ping, traceroute and other advanced settings.

Confirmed! (Some) Nokia 1100 can be reprogrammed for evil purposes!

Magnetic_dudPhones

A month ago, PCWorld gave the news that some Nokia 1100, were sold for 25000 euro on the black market. This is because that phone, if was produced in a now-closed production plant in Bochum, Germany, was supposed to be able to spoof another number, and receive calls and sms from the spoofed number. This can be used to receive authentication codes from banks and steal money from “phished” accounts.

A month ago, this was just speculation, as nobody was understanding why someone will pay up to 25000 euro to get a phone from the year 2003. Today, in a Yahoo Tech news, has been announced that Ultrascan, a security firm, has managed to modify the firmware to spoof not only the IMEI, but also the IMSI, thus enabling the subscriber number spoofing! So, they managed to receive someone else’s SMS. Moreover, they noticed that in Morocco, another Nokia 1100 has been sold for 5500 euro. 😲

A 3d screen for the iPhone??

Magnetic_dudGadgets

Do you remember the 3d cellphones? Thanks to 3DeeShell, it will be possible to view a 3d image also on an iPhone. This solution is an obvious simple solution: a lenticular film to apply on the screen, in this case embedded in a protective cover. When you use compatible software (well, they are just 3 programs, and are not free), it will be possible to get a three-dimensional vision of the image.

w3deeshellhowto

Is on sale for $50, but, for now, is more a proof-of-concept than an useful thing. Apple will never support this unofficial add-on, and third-party programmers also won’t; pay $50 for viewing a dozen of 3d images…

Moreover, it looks like it is needing to remove it for using the touchscreen, and also to have a plain vision. Is a kind of “amateurish” solution.

But, the designers are feeling confident in their idea, and it looks like they are about to launch a similar film for notebooks.

Update 20th september 2010: looks like this idea was a total failure, the website (wazabee.net) has already been closed. Well, when the film is applied, the iPhone is unusable, and the supported apps were… just one… and not free!

3d cellphones are coming!

Magnetic_dudGadgets

Take a look to the new “WOOO” cellphone from au, Japanese mobile operator:

wooo

It has many awesome features:

  • Pivoting screen to show movies
  • DTV tuner with recording option
  • 5 megapixel camera
  • On-demand video, bluetooth audio streaming, microsd reader, “electronic wallet” feature, push mail, etc…

But, in Japan, this is “quite normal” features for a cellphone. 😎
The unique feature for this cellphone is the display!!! It is made by Hitachi, and it is an autostereoscopic 3d!! That means it can show 3d images without wearing any special glasses!!! 🙀
How it works? I saw a working example at the Shibuya NHK museum when i went to Japan in May 2008. 😜
Have you ever seen a lenticular image? That’s it, the concept is very similar, there is a pixel column that only the left eye can see, and another pixel column that only the right eye can see. The effect is spectacular!! That’s why it is named “WOOO” 😉
This opens great scenarios for gaming! The PSP will be outdated! 🎮

baseballcell
But… there is a small flaw in this system… if the head is slightly moving, the effect will vanish. The head must be stationary… it will be impossible to use this cellphone on a train or bus. However, at the Hitachi company, they know this defect, so this cellphone has a button to disable the 3d vision, and come back to the plain old 2d. 😁

2d3d
Stop! I know you are planning a trip to Japan to buy this phone! Unfortunately you can’t: it is sold contract-only and it will only work on the Japanese CDMA2000 standard from au… 😭