Samsung Galaxy S3 Review

So, we just got our hands on the new Samsung Galaxy S3 from AT&T, and it's a hot little number indeed. First off the general specs on this bad boy:

• 4G LTE
• 4.8" Super AMOLED screen (720x1280)
• 16GB Internal Storage
• 2GB RAM
• Dual-Core 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor
• 8MP Camera with 1080P video recording
• 1.9MP Front facing Camera
• Android 4.0

 I'm not going to bore you with a play by play of stuff you've probable already read, or probably know, I just want to speak on the major improvements that make this phone so good.


To begin, I have to start with something that always irked me about AT&T phones in the past. The fact that every phone that was not the iPhone always got shoved inside some gross looking orange and white AT&T box, even if they had the fancier boxes in Europe or what not, when they came stateside, it was always in a rinky-dink crappy looking box. Except for the iPhone, they always had the fancier packaging. Now I know this is a real nerd thing to complain about, but you know what, if we're paying big bucks for these phones, I would at least appreciate some more premium looking packaging to ease the pain of the bill. Anyways, they finally got it right!! The Galaxy S3 comes in a smooth all white affair, with a slipcase, it just screams premium, and I for one LOVE it!

So right off the bat we've got this HUGE screen, that's just plain awesome. The responsiveness of it, is right on par with the iPhone, and its just a thing of beauty to see. The size sounds large on paper, and it is almost 5 inches, but the way the phone is rounded at the edges really make this thing comfortable in my hands and pockets.

Next up, the camera, what used to be a sore spot for the Galaxy S2 owners is now right up there with again, the iPhone. It's fast, it takes great looking shots. Its a top notch camera for once, I'm talking near DSLR speed shots.

Then there's the 4G LTE, I don't live in an area with AT&T 4G yet, but it does seem faster than the old HSPA of the Galaxy S2.

The last bit I've just got to rant on, is the battery life, my old Galaxy S2 would sometimes die before midday, the S3, so far, can take a licking and keep going, I'm talking real world all day use here. It's about time!

So, if you're in the market for a new smartphone, the new king has arrived, run to your wireless provider and snatch up a Galaxy S3, its the best Android phone on the market today.

Ripping DVDs to MP4 Files for your iPad

This little article is for those like me, who have an abundance of DVDs and would like to get them in a digital format to enjoy on your various tablets, mobile phones and etc. The title of the article indicates it's only for iPad, but in truth this stuff is pretty universal, and the file you get can be used on a variety of devices, that being said, here's what you're going to need.

DVDShrink - an oldie, but a goodie. Used to rip the contents of the DVD. A quick google search should turn up what you need, I'd recommend sticking with the second or third result, and not the dvdshrink.org site, as it seems to be mostly Spam now.

Handbrake- from http://handbrake.fr/ This is what we will use to turn the multiple files we get from the DVD rip, into one nice and neat .Mp4 video file.

First we start with DVDShrink:

Open disc, let it anylze, then click Re-Author, and on the right side of the program under the DVD Browser tab, you will see basically a list of all the video content of the disc, look for the one that says Main Movie.

Drag it over to the left side. Then click on the Backup button. Create a target folder to dump the files into, and then wait 10-20 minutes depending on the speed of your computer, and then you're done.

When it’s all finished simply click ok to close the program, now unto Handbrake!

Handbrake: 

Start by selecting the type of device you want the movie file to play on, HB does a great job of auto selecting the correct resolutions and whatnot. Then select the source folder, which will be the output folder we chose in Dvdshrink.

Next select the destination folder, and give the output file a name, then click ok, simply click Start and you’re good to go. (another 10-20 minute wait)

The resulting mp4 file can then be copied to your tablet or phone via windows explorer, or imported into iTunes and synced to your IOS device, and enjoy!

Samsung Galaxy SII ICS Update Leak

It's happened, the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS has been leaked and is available for those adventurous among us. here

Pretty quick and painless a process. I've done it, and I've gotta say, so far, nothing too mind blowing. Understandably, this is because of Samsung's TouchWiz UI is still on top of it, but still I'm a little unimpressed. Aside from a few minor changes to the UI, in the way of lockscreen, and other minor changes, it still looks more or less like the Old Droid/TouchWiz interface we've all had for a while. Although the new multitask management, with thumbnails of the running apps is nice.

Granted, I've only had it on for less than a day here, there may be more to love once I start using it proper. But in the interim, if you've been waiting for AT&T to bring it out, or just want to try a slightly newer OS on your phone, check it out, its easy!

Diablo 3 Pre-Orders are a go

So pretty much one of the hottest games ever has finally gotten itself a sequel. Diablo III. I've got mine on lock, its about time ya'll do too! Best place to get yours is, of course at Amazon!

Diablo III: Standard Edition

$10 Amazon Gift Card for only $5

In case you haven't yet heard. Today only Amazon Local is selling $10 Gift Cards to Amazon.com for only $5. Go Go Go! http://local.amazon.com

Must have iPad Apps for the new owner

Just got yourself a new iPad? Have a gander at my selection of apps to get you started in the fun.

Flipboard - Makes your twitter feed, facebook and tons of other social media look like a magazine format, really really cool. (free)

GoodReader - .Pdf viewer/editor, great for work documents. ($5)

FlickStacker - If you are into Flickr at all, gives you better photo browsing. (free)

Dropbox - ONLY real quick way to share files between the pad and PC. (free)

Evernote - Again work related, but once you have the client on your pc, it makes sharing of emails, and documents really nice.

Credit card/banking apps - Any of your major credit cards have apps to check your balances, do transfers, and payments really easy.

Also the Numbers, Pages, and Keynote apps are kinda mandatory if you want to create Word and Excel type joints.

HBO Go, Showtime Anytime (if you subscribe to those) Full access to EVERY single episode of everyshow they ever had.

Lastly - Dolphin HD web browser, which has a nice incognito, no cookies or history option, for teh *ahems*

Games

Words with friends HD, and Scramble with friends are fast and fun to play.

MadPad HD - is a fun app where you record several video clips of sounds or whatever, and then you basically have like a drum machine to make beats with. ($3)

Skylanders, this generation's Pokemon?

Currently invading the shores of your children's imagination and wish lists everywhere. Skylanders, the new toy/video game from Activision, combines action figures with video-games for an exciting new experience. Skylanders is a toy brand and a video game, where the action figures that you buy, 'come to life' in the video game for you to play.



The whole system works like this, you buy the Starter Pack for your game system of choice, X360, PS3, Wii, or 3DS, which comes with the game, 3 figures, and a 'portal of power'. When you place one of the figures on the portal, it comes up on the video game for you to control. As you play through the game, the figure you use  levels up, gaining new abilities and treasure, which is saved unto the physical toy, which you can then take to play at say your friend's house and play with your exact customized creature. The game is multiplayer, and you and a friend can have your figures on the portal at the same time, and can play through all the levels together. There is a slew of different figures available for you to buy separately and collect, which makes the replay-ability of the game pretty huge.

Sklyanders was released in October of 2011 and went into 'sold-out' status for the Holiday season, and has maintained it even today. I've seen individual figures on Ebay and Amazon for upwards of $80-100, so the demand right now is at a high.

Due to high sales, Activision has already announced additional new figures due out later this year to expand the game even further, so expect your coffers to be emptied by your children's demands.

New iPad

So Apple finally unveils the next iteration of the tablet that changed the world; the new iPad, simply named as such. Many of the expected upgrades held true, while some didn't. Lets quickly run through the new features

• 'Retina' Display, means they've upped the resolution to 2048x1536 from 1024x768. What this means in reality, is that the detail of your pictures and movies will really show. 
• 5MP 'iSight' camera, will now shoot HD movies, and as expected look much better. Why they didn't just up it to the 8MP of the iPhone 4S, who knows?
• Voice dictation, nothing quite spectacular, but handy addition.
• Dual-core CPU, for the inevitable speed increase
• 4G LTE support
• Same 10 hour battery life (very impressive)

Main thing 'missing' would be Siri, but I expect Apple needs to set their exceedingly similar devices apart, to keep interest high, by segregating the feature sets. Either way, its not a big sticking point. So there it is, the main compelling point for those of us that just got the iPad 2 would be the new high res display. I personally use mine a lot of the time to show my photos, and with this upgrade, it would only look so much better.

Who's got their pre-orders in?

iPad 3/HD Announcement expected today

Big news for those antsey Apple-ites out there, you know who you are. Today around midday (EST), at Apple's event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the bloggersphere will explode as is normally the case with a new Apple product announcement.

What we think we know:

• Higher resolution display 2048-x1536 pixels (with the infernal 'Retina' display monniker)
• Slightly thicker build, we'll be losing some of the thinness of the iPad 2
• Probably 1GB of Ram
• Better Camera (iPhone 4s quality)
• LTE support
• Siri along for the ride
• Faster processor (the inevitable incremental upgrade)

All this, and probable release date of a week or two after announcement. Will I be right? Come back later an I'll have the full rundown for you guys!

FREE Motorstorm RC Driving for PlayStation Vita

For those early adopters out there, lets hear a big hurray! As you'll be able to download the new game Motorstorm RC for PlayStation Vita starting tomorrow completely for free, courtesy of Scion, direct from the Playstation Store on your Vita. This is a sweet deal for those of us who jumped on the early Vita train, so get your Vitas ready for some free loving tomorow!

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

So Microsoft released a 'beta' for their newest iteration on Windows earlier this week. I find it interesting in itself their billing of this beta as a 'consumer preview'. This is a move probably designed to bring more awareness to the laymen out there interested in such stuff. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview can be found here.

I've tried the initial developer build and saw the potential, this build is worlds better than the first. A lot more functional apps, and a slightly better tile screen.

The new interface seems interesting, but I've got to ask, who exactly is this built for? The default UI is now a screen of 'tiles' that most certainly geared for the tablet users. But this is now your primary deskop, don't get me wrong, you can still get to the classic looking desktop, but the Start menu is now gone, and when you hit the 'Windows' button on your keyboard, it brings you back to the tile screen. This is all fine and good for tablets, as I can imagine quickly scrolling using your fingers, but for a classic mouse and keyboard user, which I'd dare say, amounts to a large chunk of the Windows user base, this is no good, very hard to scroll around using mouse and keyboard. Also, when you launch an app, say Mail for instance, the usage of screen space is ridiculous, on my 15" laptop screen, because of the layout, I can only see 7 emails at a time, a huge waste of space in my opinion.

Microsoft clearly is trying to stay relevant but at the expense of their bread and butter, as there is no way this will work in a corporate environment. Either way, if you've got a spare laptop or desktop to try it out on, I suggest you check it out yourself, download the iso, and let me know what you think.

February Game Purchases

Lets call out all the games the Early Adopter bought this month. I suppose as an experiment this should be interesting, having to publicly log my game purchases throughout the year, will this affect the amount I end up purchasing? Either way lets do it.

• Vita Wipeout 2048
• Vita Hot Shots Golf
• Vita Uncharted 
• PS Vita First Edition Bundle System
• PS Vita 16GB Memory Card
• Vita Fifa
• Vita Lumines
• Vita Ultimate Marvel v Capcom 3

So there she is, I suppose not too bad, kinda Vita heavy, but it was launch month, plus through the use of trade ins and giftcards, the hit on the old wallet wasn't too terrible.

Anyone else out there want to share, lets do some therapy ;)

To C.E. or not to C.E.

One of the latest 'incentives' to sell games by video game publishers aside is the infamous Collector's Edition. The usually have a special packaging, may or may not contain some plastic figure, statue, art-book, soundtrack or extra character and run you an extra $10-$20 on top of the normal $59.99.

The quality of said bonuses vary but the majority are 'worthwhile' if you are fan of the particular game. While some publishers merely throw a tin can with a code for redeemable mp3s or something (Demon's Souls, I'm looking at you) Others go a little further and have the nice cases, or a huge statue or figure (Skyrim's dragon statue, and Marvel v Capcom 3) Either way I must admit to being a sucker for steel-cases and statues. Being a 'Geek' I feel like a lot of us do, and the bonus figures and whatnot often look cool displayed on your desk or shelf. Nevertheless, I have been burned in the past, namely on that blasted Halo 3 CE that was half the cost of an Xbox, and only real draw was a scale Spartan Helmet, which you couldn't even wear.That particular rarity could be found littering the aisles of most major retailer for years after, and often at bargain basement prices.

Damn you Master Chief!

Bookends are now a trendy CE bonus

This is not to disway my fellow gamers from buying collectors editions, if you are a fan of the game, and have a little extra to spend, great. But one thing you should probably realize, is that they will probably not go anywhere in value, as they aren't 'Collectors' items in the true sense. And function mainly to grab a little extra cash from our pockets.

The one motto I try to live by, is that if something says that it's a Collector's Edition, then it's probably not. As these things are something that's intrinsically natural in and of itself. That misprinted baseball card, or low print run comic book that becomes famous for something later on down the road are things that become valuable or a collector's item, not a video game direct from a manufacturer with a sticker slapped on it that says so.

So long as we realize this, though, and don't mind parting with the extra scratch, go for it. At least I do from time to time.

EA's SSX Out tomorrow

For those of us who are, I guess 'old-school' now, tomorrow marks a pretty awesome day. EA is relaunching one of their best games from the PS2 era. SSX.

The demo is out now on PS3 and X360. I recently downloaded it this past weekend, and I gotta say, it was a blast. Jumping out of a helicopter, gliding down the the mountain top using a squirrel suit, then shredding down the mountain, taking ramps, going through tunnels and half pipes, all the while busting out some cool looking tricks. This game is gonna have legs, so I plan on snatching it up tomorrow.

My top 10 Apps

Part of the fun of owning an iPad or iPhone or even an Anroid phone or tablet aside from having some cool looking technology in your hands is discovering a new App. In that spirit; I want to share with you all, what the 10 apps that I use most often, or a just plain fun. Some of these I'm sure you will all recognize, but maybe there's one or two that are new to you.

Skype - The free video phone app, has been around for many years, and is well known enough that you can install it on your grandparents new laptop and they can probably use it. Free

Dropbox - Free service that make sharing files between computers, tablets and smartphones an easy experience. I'd mark this down as a must have App. Free

Goodreader - The best PDF reader available for your iPad. Gives you the ablity to annotate PDFs and save your markups. Also it's text searching is without a doubt invaluable. $4.99

Netflix - Need I say more? Netflix on your portable device, view all their streaming content quick and easliy. Free

Dolphin HD - Until recently this was the only way you could get the tabbed browsing on              your iPad. Still it's a pretty quick webrowser that also has gesture functionality. Free

Flipboard - Fantastic free App that takes webpages, twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and more, and presents it in a magazine like fashion, complete with pictures. It can take a boring looking tweets and make you look at them in a whole new fashion.

HBO Go - If you are an HBO subscriber, this app is a must have. Every single HBO series, every single episode. Free

Scramble with Friends - The newest in the 'with Friends' series, is a fun timed finding words game, where you go round by round against a friend, scrambling to find the most words in 2 minutes. Try it once, you'll be hooked. Free version is Ad Supported.

Words with Friends HD - The iPad version of the Alec Baldwin favorite. Makes use of the iPad's bigger screen space, and looks much better. $2.99 or Free version Ad Supported

Voxer - Walkie Talkie App that allows you to send instant messages, text, photo, or voice to one or a group of friends. Free

Keurig Vue

The popular single cup coffee brewer, Keurig is set to release an all new system the Keurig Vue. This new system is offering the ability to brew bigger sizes and more of a variety of drinks. Keurig says that this new brewer will offer the ability to brew larger sizes of cups/mugs with the full strength and flavor of a smaller cup.

We've had the Keurig B-70 since last year, and have loved it. There's a large variety of different flavors available as well as Iced Coffee and Hot Cocoa drink K-Cups. Now that Dunkin' Donuts has jumped unto the K-Cup, our brewer has certainly gotten a workout.

But that's where the catch is, apparently, Keurig has chose to forgo the K-Cup format with this new system, and  has introduced the Vue Pack. Meaning that the new Vue, is incompatible with your stockpile of K-Cups. Potentially a dangerous move by Keurig, segmenting your audience is generally never a good thing, but if the Vue Packs actually offer the variety in strength and drinks that they state, then only time will tell how consumers react.

Any other K-Cup drinkers out there care to share their opinion?

Vita Week: The game deals

According to the adscan for the 2/19 Target ad, they'll buy 2 get 1 free on all PS Vita games. From 2/19-2/25, the lowest priced game rings up free when you buy 3!

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315488

This is perfect timing for the retail release of the Vita, time to stock up adopters!

Vita Week: PlayStation Vita - Unboxing pics

PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle (Front)

Figure since I didn't go a proper video, that I'd at least post up some pics of the unboxing. I present for your viewing pleasure the Vita First Edition Bundle unboxing, in all it's glory.

Side

Side

Back

Bowser was astonished at the size of the box, it really knocked him back.

Bowser figures that he'll try to be helpful with this unboxing

Inside the box, is the actual Vita in it's retail packaging

Underneath the Vita box is the 4GB memory card, a package of AR Cards, and the Lil Deviants game.

Vita box opened, sparse contents within, mainly a welcome paper, the USB and Power cord, as well as the AC adapter where they plug into.

 Sexy untouched PlayStation Vita

 Closeup of the analog and dpad

Closeup of the second analog and buttons

Vita Week: PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle

Finally here, after almost a year of waiting. The PlayStation Vita: First Edition Bundle. What's in the box you ask? It's the 3G/WiFi Vita Model with an exclusive carrying case, Lil Deviants game, and a 4GB memory card, plus the ultimate in early adopter bonus, getting the system a whole week ahead of the general public. I must say, that's a mighty nice bonus.

The first thing you'll notice about this little beauty is the size of the screen, a full 5" OLED screen, its a massive and beautiful sight to behold. Next, once you've got your hands on it, is the weight, not too light, not too heavy, but somehow right in the middle, it feels substantial while not being too overwhelming as to tire your hands.

The dual analog sticks feel like real, albeit small joysticks, not a sliding little nub like the PSP or Nintendo 3DS, feels great, and well overdue on a portable console.  The shoulder buttons feel good, with enough give to let you know it is registering your presses. The D-pad is a little spongy, but I think I live that, as it feels as if it will be perfect for fighting games, not too stiff.

The buttons are a tad small, smaller than the PSP, but I gladly give that up to make way for the size of the screen. Only the PlayStation button, Select and Start feel a little hard to press, as they are recessed into the system itself and makes it so that you have to press 'into' the button to let it register.

The touch screen interface is very responsive, think iPhone, as there is no lag as some other devices have shown. All in all, this is a very sexy piece of hardware, the only fault I can give it, is that it is a lint, and fingerprint magnet, I can barely touched it, and boom, fingerprints.

So far, I've only played Wipeout, but wow, those graphics are awesome, you will not be disappointed when you turn it on. A serious step up in graphics from the PSP, and these are just the launch games, can't wait to see what the next year or two have in store.

Speaking of the PSP, I've been successful in transferring my savegames I backed up onto my PC to the Vita, a very easy process once you've downloaded the Content Management software.
I was very afraid that I'd lose my saves from my old PSP-3000 once I moved onto the Vita.


You can find those instructions over here at PlayStation's manual site for the system.
So those are just my initial impressions, I'll be sure to put up some more stuff soon.

Vita Week: The Games

For those that don't know, Sony has unvieled a brand new and exciting portable game console; The PlayStation Vita. Featuring dual analog sticks, 5" OLED touchscreen, as well as an industry first Rear Touchscreen. Very exciting stuff for a geek like me. The official release date for the system is February 22nd, but if you are an early adopter, you can opt to purchase the First Edition Bundle of the system, which nets you a 4GB memory card, an exclusive carrying case, and most importantly, early release of the system on February 15th.

So the PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle comes out tomorrow Feb. 15th, and I am very excited to get my hands on my system tomorrow. Amazon was nice enough to ship me the games, memory card, and screen protectors I'd preordered a little early, so I figured I'd through up some quick picks of the goods.

What we've got here is Wipeout 2048, HotShots Golf: World Invitational, a 16GB Memory card, and the Sony Screen Protectors. 

So, first off the boxes on the games look like some sort of mini Bluray box, skinny and tiny enough to fit more or less in the palm of your hand and inside a little sparse, having only the game and a slip of paper with an activation code.

 

Honestly, I must admit, that I miss having a physical instruction manual in my games, as it seems that all the Vita games will now have solely in-game manuals. The games are now cartridge type games, instead of the UMD disc based games of the Sony PSP. This move will probably give the system a little bit better battery life than its predecessor.

The other striking move by Sony, is the use of a new proprietary memory card type designed solely for the Vita. Opting not to use Sony Memory Sticks, or even the ubiquitous SD cards. This is probably designed to combat the rampant pirating that afflicted the Sony PSP. These memory cards are mighty tiny, and seem like they could be easy to lose, if you have a few of them knocking about.

So, I've got my games, and memory card ready to go, I am eagerly awaiting tomorrow to get my system, I've never held the actual unit yet, as I like to save the surprise and not try any of the demo units, so as to experience all to myself.

So stay tuned, the update will be up tomorrow!