ZTE Z740G Camera VS Iphone 4S Camera

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

Decided to do a test between the ZTE Z740G Camera and the iPhone 4S Camera.
My test was to set both cameras at their full setting and full resolution and take one long distance photograph of the Houston downtown skyline and one close up photo within downtown Houston. To see how the cameras handle the lighting and what would be in focus and out of focus. and to go head to head between two phones in total different budgets. The iPhone 4s was quite expensive when it was released, while the ZTE Z740G was very cheap. Less than 1/4 the price of the iPhone.
To be as fair as I could, I also picked the exact same point as the focus point, and rested the cameras on the same objects.
The photos came out at very similar angles.

 

From what I see, the iPhone pictures came out darker and more grainy looking, while the Android pictures came out brighter but slightly blurrier.

The distance Skyline photos I have to give to the Android ZTE Z740G. Though they aren’t much better, they aren’t dark and weirdly gloomy. yet the iPhone image allows a tad more zoom and a clearer focus.

The close up photos I have to give to the iPhone 4. Especially when you look at the windows of the building to the left. You see the details in the curtains and the depth of the window area between the glass and the curtains.

After some time, I realize there are a few more types of photographs i could have taken to better test the two phones. Issue with that is the review would get long and bloated with pictures. So i decided to take just two photos of some coins up close with each phone. and not use flash
Android ZTE Z740G

iPhone 4S

again one image comes out blurrier and brighter while the other comes in dark and slightly more focus yet grainy.

Truth is, neither has a good camera. and this whole test is only good if you are trying to pick between the ZTE or the iPhone 4. Other than that, it would be in your best interest to find something else to compare these two phones by.

The disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another drive that is online

Posted onAuthorTips Of TechLeave a comment

diskmanagementI figured out how to resolve the issue in Disk Management in computer management.

So you went to computer management and then to disk management and see your disk listed but there is no drive letter. but there is a disk number and an exclamation point next to it and under the drive number you see “offline”.
you wave your mouse over the exclamation and see this little tip bubble
“the disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another drive that is online”
How do you fix that?
You can try Microsoft’s tip to use cmd and :

In Disk Management, right-click the disk marked Missing or Offline.

Click Reactivate Disk. The disk should be marked Online after the disk is reactivated.

To reactivate a dynamic disk by using a command line

Open a command prompt and type diskpart.

At the DISKPART prompt, type list disk. Make note of the disk number of the missing or offline disk that you want to bring online. Missing disks are numbered M0, M1, M2, and so on, and offline disks are numbered 0, 1, 2, and so on.

At the DISKPART prompt, type select disk .

At the DISKPART prompt, type online.

This did not work for me at all.
What I did find however is if you put your mouse over the disk number (Disk 0,Disk1,Disk 2, etc.) and right click, you have the option to turn the drive to “online”.

and that resolved the issue.
After many failed attampts to search forums fo rthe help, this came as total accident while looking for more text and deeper search terms to help find how to turn the hard drive back online.

10 reasons people stick with Facebook

Posted onAuthorTruXter1 Comment

There are many reasons people do not leave Facebook or at least try other social websites. Such as Reddit or Google plus or even twitter. But the number one truth is, the deep down the most common is the #1 reason in this list.
I myself stayed for 8 long useless years but I did try other social websites instead of just Facebook alone. And ya know what? They all were fun. Especially during the boring times when no one posted updates to Facebook. Or during the constant bombardment of memes and no one actually talking. During the times of endless farmville and similar games invites.
I was always looking for a way out of Facebook. And well. Now that I am banned or suspended until I show them my i.d. (same thing for all I care, and yes they are requesting my i.d.) I feel less stressed out. I feel less fake. I feel less like I am trying to prove something.
I’m free really.

10. They use Facebook for specific reasons .
9. They somehow think Facebook is safer than other websites.
8. They believe Facebook is more than a chatsite because of very common features.
7. They have elder freinds who are hard to transplant to a new site and it would be hard to explain the privacy issues.
6. They have many pictures stored on Facebook.
5. They dont want to start their games over.
4. It is their home page.
3. They have already accepted so much privacy intrusion and don’t feel like giving up so much privacy to yet another website.
2. They can barely use Facebook and don’t want to learn a new site.
1. They don’t want to rebuild their fake freinds list again.

There are alternatives to Facebook. You just have to find them.

First Week Review of Comcast Xfinity X1 cable and internet

Posted onAuthorTruXter2 Comments

I made the change back to Comcast.
I got two of the X1 boxes

I have had a week to test out the x1 boxes, here is my review of Xfinity’s X1 package.

Everything looks good. The colors are crisp. The black is a hard black, the colors are a vibrant and the whites are strong whites. You can read and see everything in the menus.
You can crank resolutions up to 1080p 16:9. but The signal is in no way 1080p. There is just no way. The images are not 1080p quality. Maybe slightly better than 720p. Which is still called 720p.
The menus on the X1 boxes are convoluted. There are barely any options or functionality. The menus load so slow. I have yet to find the channels I like, lord knows how the heck I am supposed to preprogram a show that I want to watch. You know, like on Direct tv, you find the title of the movie, highlight it and click. You get the menu … bam there it is.. Where is that option in X1? I just want my tv to automatically change to the channel when it is time. Should be simple right? All of the effort they put into looks, they could have put some into function.
but again. Did I tell you the menus load at a snail’s pace? I even tried this weird (far off in the menu) thing where you can test out options, which the menu “fast” option was off, I turned that on…  well that did squat for me. I understand the design theme with having everyone’s logo on the left for the channel but really, I bet that is what is slowing down the menu.

If you are looking for a specific channel call letters, good luck looking for the title of the channel (which is usually right under the logos), what is there is tiny. This feels more like “Hey we know you are too stupid to actually read these, so here are the pictures that represent your favorite channels”.

The truth is the X1 feels like it is a prototype for something I’ll probably have to pay to upgrade to later. or as if they did a random hat draw of crap that people like and said “Okay we will make it look like 50 of these 500 things, just make it pretty they will eat it up, so we can charge more”. Then, they did, and nothing is useful together. Or actually useful at all.

x1_ready_rebootSometimes the signal flakes out. I also get notices that the device is ready to reboot. Right when I turn the tv on. and I don’t think the X1 ever turns off. At all. Weird thing is I contacted Comcast about an issue and they asked me which cable box I was having an issue with, and I told him the bedroom, he said “hang on it is rebooting now” It rebooted….. This kind of creeped me out. Nilson family intrusion junk .
When the X1 wants to reboot, it takes about 5 minutes to complete. and nothing seems to work any faster or any better.

There is some sort of bundled thing in this box that allows me to “stream” movies. Why? Can we just call this “on demand? and not whatever they call it now? How cheesy is that? Why does the sales rep and the installer want to tell me how it is like netflix “and similar’ blah blah blah.. it is dumb, it feels like netflix menu on dial up…. I’ll have to check more into that. Right now it seems pointless.

Maybe that’s the big problem. Maybe it just needs to have a wifi adapter so it can connect to my modem, because the x1 built in modem is sucky. and might need more ram.

Then there is the low def and high def channel flip flop the x1 does.
Say I click on channel 11. Which is a local station here. Since channel 11 is in low def and there is a high def duplicate at 611, the tv automatically changes to channel 611.
Why not just make 11 high def and forget 611? or make all local stations only in the 600s or even how about this option… If the channel is in low def and in high def, the low def option disappears so that when I go back to the guide, and resume my channel flipping, I don’t have to scroll through all of the crap i scrolled through to to get to channel 11? Because just below 611 is about 200 channels in different languages that I don’t speak. Can I turn all of that off? even the channels I am not subscribed to, can I turn those off also? When that dang menu or narrative bubble pops up telling me I don’t pay for that channel, the fricken x1 locks up for what feels like an hour but is more like 2-3 seconds.

The x1 box does not turn off. I guess so they can count you as a viewer even when you are at work… or asleep.

Not happy with X1
Even the xr2 remote is dumb. The shape of the xr2. Sure the form is great in your hand, but the xr2 shape is kind of figure eight. Both ends feel exactly the same. If the room is dark and you need to turn down the volume… good luck. You’ll likely press the number 6. Why would comcast do this? Come on. Make one end feel different. And why did Comcast put the mute next to the power button? That’s just rude. I’ll put a sticker on the bottom at the back end. to prevent smashing wrong buttons in the dark,that should fix that. Prevent me from hitting the number 8 when I am trying to go to bed.

Maybe I will wait for x2 or x3 and pay for my upgrade and cross my fingers I don’t have to try and learn another piece of junk.

 

If you came here for the remote codes for your x1 box, and made it down this far, look here

Facebook has gone too far

Posted onAuthorTruXter3 Comments

*UPDATE* Facebook is definitely asking every single person for their identification, and making changes to your profile to match what you sent them
If you have a friend who had theirs changed but says they never sent their i.d., they are likely ashamed they sent it.
*end update*

facebooktoointrusive Facebook is now asking me to upload a copy of my Driver’s License to unlock my facebook page that I have kept for about 8 years now. Don’t they know that this is what killed Google Plus from the get go? Is the over intrusive nosy bodied “all up in yours” mentality that “This is my site you will not use my site without blah blah blah” Yeah I get that. You have your rules and you have your ways. but there is no way, ever on a rainy day in hell that I will upload my driver’s license to anyone on the internet. I value my privacy. Hence the use of the name I use. This name is well over 20 years. and I am known for this name with many people. I will not use my personal real name on a website. If the website requires I use my real name and verify myself by sending them a copy of my identification, then I am done with that website.

You will not get my driver’s license . You will not get my real name on a social media site.. It’s a fricken spam site. There is no damn way you will ever see me uploading that information to this random dude/female just so I can chat.

 

Until they release my account with an apology I will not be back and I will take my posts about their intrusiveness behavior to better social site. Such as Reddit and Twitter and wherever my friends from there will share them.

 

And if there is some weird way you see some other form of identification that I should use, no I will not. It’s just a chat site. Nothing more. No reason to verify myself other than by originating email.

Screenshot_2014-10-13-13-48-47

and here is a screenshot of the first computer I saw this come up on.

http://i.imgur.com/Om2zHWO.jpg

Here is what I get when I type in my password, the page I get redirected to

https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/?next

If that page does not do the same for you as it does for me, it looks like this

http://i.imgur.com/M1TVSOB.jpg

Here is the facebook page explaining why and what form of i.d. is acceptable
https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185

I saw this at work, I am seeing this at home. No I am not hijacked. No I am not honey potted.

This is really happening. This intrusive High risk step to make sure we all “know who we are connecting with”.

Facebook is way too vulnerable for me to give my information to them. There is no way in blue hell that I will send a copy of my identification to them. No damn way. Maybe if you sent me the I.D. of every person looking at my personal information, maybe. but that isn’t likely. So … Nope. Screw that.

 

And here is the email notification from Facebook

facebookintrusive

and my response to facebook asking for a copy of my I.D.
facebookasksformyi.d

I will be waiting for their response.

 

 My only guess is the spammers I busted in this post all banned together and reported me as spam in retaliation. and since I am easier to beat than actual spammers, Facebook  has pulled this crap.

Program xfinity x1 xr2 remote done easy

Posted onAuthorTruXter2 Comments

Program xfinity x1 xr2 remote done easy as I can make this.

IMG_20141013_011502I just had Comcast come and install my x1 boxes and xr2 remotes. The technician programmed one remote with 1 tv easily. The Comcast technician had a bit of trouble with the other remote.
The tv that the Comcast guy had trouble with is a spectra 32 inch tv.
I googled like crazy for a good while before I found the instructions I need for this remote. Since the instruction pamphlet only had 5 codes and I tried them all. I was worried. But here is how I got my xr2 remote to work with my spectra tv.

Bottom left tiny button says “set up”
Press and hold the set up button until the all power button lights up and then turns green.
Once that happens
Start tapping the channel up button.
Took me about 30-35 presses of the channel up button before the remote went through the codes and found a suitable remote code for my spectra tv. Some tvs probably take less or more.
When the xr2 finds the right code the tv will shut off. At that moment do not press the channel up button again. In fact do not press any button except the set up button. Just press the set up button one time. After that just press the all power button. The tv should come back on. Test the xr2 remote by turning the volume up and down and power the tv off and back on.

You should be good.
If the code doesn’t work right start over. There may be another code built in made for your tv.

Cricket’s ZTE Sonata 4G One Month Review

Posted onAuthorTech Review Man8 Comments

My one month review of the Sonata 4G from ZTE from Cricket. Aka z740g

Battery – 1785 mAh
Processor – 1.4 GHz Dual-Core Qualcomm® MSM8230
RAM – 1 GB
ROM – 4 GB
Camera – 5 MP (backside only, No front camera)
Resolution – 480×800
OS – Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)

Preface
So Cricket’s parent company got sold to AT&T and everyone who was on Cricket’s CDMA signal has to switch over to AT&T’s GSM phones. I was on the edge about moving from my Samsung Galaxy Admire II. I knew that we still had 5 months before we would have to make the switch, decided to just go right ahead and not wait until the last minute. I made the change.For more on the Cricket AT&T AIO Merger.
I shopped for the best processor, lowest cost, most storage fastest boot/reboot.

My budget (this is the budget tech review website so deal with it) was to spend between $80-$150. My total cost was $75.78 that covered the phone and my first month on the Cricket/AT&T GSM network.
First app I noticed was a task manager that none of my previous Android phones had, without me having to root the Sonata. Next thing I found is I can move apps to the SD to save storage space on the phone, and yes completely without having to root the phone.

Camera
Disappointing that I didn’t notice there was no front facing camera. but if you need a selfie, you can do a shelfie. Just set the timer (click the gear in camera mode you will see it) and set the camera to 3,5,10 seconds and back up and pose. When done, crop the image.This works well with my case that came with a stand. but again, it takes a whole lot of pictures before you get one decent photo. A BUNCH OF PHOTOS.
Screenshot_2014-09-24-21-51-56
There was much more to learn. So I had to dig into the camera and see what it is capable of.
First 10 photos came out very poor.
I even tried a few of my best tricks. Like hold the phone braced firmly against a tree or a wall or rested on a table. Still blurry.
I tried a few changes in the setting but everything by default was set up to the best settings.
The zoom… the zoom was like the first issue of android. A slider bar at the bottom of the screen. No pinch zoom.
The video camera shoots at very high resolution and the slider zoom feature is great. but clunkier and has a bad focus rate as compared to pinch zoom cell phone cameras.
Do not shoot video footage of concerts. The audio is horrendous. The audio/noise filters (maybe???) seem to try too hard to cancel noise and you are left with what sounds like a concert in a wind storm. Here is a comparison of the Sonata ZTE Z740G camera verses iPhone 4s camera.

Actual phone function
Sounds are clear. When people speak you hear everything they say and no one ever asks you to repeat yourself. No chop in audio at all.

Video play back
This phone has the clearest video I have seen as of yet. Loads all sorts of sites and I didn’t have to load any apps to the phone. No plugins needed. Just right out of the box loading every video on Reddit and Facebook I would stumble into. There is a download button on one of the video players . This lets you watch and download a lot of different videos.

Web Browser
Web browser on the ZTE Sonata is frustratingly jumpy. Pages keep loading and jumping all over the place. I suggest you install Opera or Opera mini. Either will be fine and solve this jumping issue. Forget all of the other cell phone web browser. Opera is the king of cell phone web browsers.

Video Games
Have not yet found a game that will make this phone stutter. Every game plays well.

Video display
The screen frustrates me. You have only one angle to view from. Move too high up and you lose visibility. Move too far right and the screen gets white and fonts are hard to read. Move left and screen gets super dark.

Battery life
Ehh nothing special. battery drains just as fast as all of my other phones. You get around 8 hours of battery life if you don’t touch your Sonata. Play any games or browse Reddit or Facebook, you’ll be on the charger in under an hour, completely drained in 2 hours.

Resources
Not understanding this. The ZTE Sonata seems to not handle resources very well. I don’t see anything lagging or stuttering, but looking at the task manager, the Sonata seems to always be using more than half of it’s R.A.M., even if I go through the task manager tabs to disable applications.

Reception

The phone picks up a great signal and nearly never is without a signal. but this is AT&T so we are looking at dropped calls seemingly for no reason what-so-ever.

Function
Along with dropped calls, there is a constant need to reboot. Called Cricket and they told me to just pull the sim card out and replace it. Me being a person who has been on AT&T (who owns Cricket now) a few times, I know better than to do this. You will wear out that sim card pretty quick. The main trick is to get you to do a full shut down and take the battery out for a few seconds (go ahead and leave it out for about a minute) and replace the battery then reboot. This does it for you nearly every single time. No logic in taking the sim card out at all.

Final overall
IMHO this is a decent phone. Looks and feels like a strange knock off of the Samsung Galaxy Admire II.
ZTE_Sonata
The back button is in an unusual (sort of stupid) spot, unless you are left handed. In fact a few things about this phone would be beneficial to lefties. Like the power connector. If you are right handed and use the phone for wide screen while on the charger, the cable points straight up. So you are battling the power chord.
App shortcuts keep disappearing. Constantly. but they might just be the apps that have been moved to the sd card. and this could be during updates.

Review score of ZTE Sonata:
Cost: 10/10
Camera: 3/10
Display: 3/10
Video Playback: 10/10
Battery life: 7/10
Resource life: 5/10

Total Score of the ZTE Sonata: 6/10

 

 

**update**

Programs are crashing left and right. This thing loses wifi constantly. I get notifications of apps closing like every 20 minutes. I just turn the thing off when I am at work so I am not looking at phone every 3 minutes. There was an update about the same time the Starbucks app updated and everything crashed so I think it is an overall issue with the phone and whatever default programs are on it, one of them updated and is causing complications with other apps. because it isn’t just the Starbucks app crashing.

The camera is a bit better than I expected, there are tons of settings in the menu area, from iso to saturation to contrast setting. This camera is great really.
Dark settings ISO 1600
Bright settings ISO 60
Turn everything in the “image” section down to 1/3 or a tad bit less. Adjust accordingly with location and lighting.
sonata_camera_settings
Default image save file type is .png

Facebook without the Facebook app

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

operaSo you have seen the warnings on the news and the internet about how intrusive Facebook can be with their new apps.
I get upset knowing that they can do this and people will install the applications anyway. What I am most bothered by is the fact that you need so many applications to use just one website. What I used to do with just one app, now requires three Facebook apps. No. I refuse and will not do this.
There is an alternative to using the Facebook app if you want to use Facebook on your mobile device.and a good alternative to Facebook app at that.

I use opera browser for Facebook. android version | Iphone Version
Also if you registered your phone number to Facebook, then go into setting (here)and you can get a text message feature added to your account so that you can send messages to Facebook via text message. once that is activated, send a text to Facebook saying “on”.
facebooknotifications
This way you get notifications when you get another text message.
when that becomes too much, send a message to Facebook saying “off” and it will turn notifications back off.

As you see in this image you can add shortcuts to the Opera browser that look just like the apps. just hit the pluss button next to the navigation bar to add the page to your favorites/bookmarks and your icon will be placed on the front page of your Opera install.

Opera works better than your default browser and ten fold better than chrome or Firefox.

Scam Text MSg from 18025850004

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

Never ever respond to these text messages.

Your Updated Prescription Benefits Information. Status: Approved BIN: 900020 PCN:CLAIMNE Group:10035 PLANID:MIMNE MEMBER#:21513305 Present previous Information to pharmacist for immediate service U.S. RxCard Customer Service 866-250-8102 Call Customer Service to request cards to be mailed

If you get this message, Don’t text back to them,Don’t call them. All you do is confirm yourself.