• Exchange mail push notifications not working at times and sluggish speeds of the app
• Sluggish performance in general
• Terrible battery life

Upgrade the firmware to 2.2 Froyo. This is available via Samsung Kies now for all Australian providers of the Samsung Galaxy S. Install it on your PC and upgrade!!! To check what firmware you have currently go to Settings -> About Phone and you should see firmware version.

Now for the full story:

So I’ve had the Samsung Galaxy S for about 6 months now and as much as I wanted to write an early raving review about it, I knew it wouldn’t be doing the device any justice because of how immensely shithouse (for lack of a better description) I found it compared to everyone else who bought it did. I was coming from using an iPhone 3G for a year which I had no problems with until OS 4 came out. I think this made a difference in my perception of the Samsung.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but Apple’s device building quality = 10. Apple’s marketing ploys and tactics = 10. As soon as the new iPhone 3Gs/4 came out, the quality of user experience was lost on the iPhone 3G….A bit too much of a push from Apple for me to upgrade in my opinion. I wanted to sue Steve Jobs for ruining my product but then I realised you can never really own an Apple product. They more or less own you. The only way to get out of Apples product prison was to buy something that did what my iPhone did, with none of the handcuffs. So I switched to the Samsung Galaxy S.

Firstly I was running on Android 1.2. They have cute little names for Android builds like gingerbread, froyo etc. Don’t let the names fool you. Anything under 2.0 is absolute shit. They should rename them to Android 1.1 – Embryo, Android 1.2 – Autism, Android 1.8 – Parkinsons. Anyway I guess I should talk about the phone:

First Impressions (keep in mind this was running 1.2)

At first I thought, wow this is a bit longer than I thought it would be. It has a 4.0” display which is considerably larger than the iPhones so obviously the phone is a little bit longer as well. It manages to be convenient though as it is lighter than the iPhone and the display is gorrrgeeousss (imagine a gay man saying this). It was rich in colour and I was really happy with how great video and photos came out. After all it was boasting a 5mp camera and 720p shooting just like the iPhone 4.

During the first day of use I didn’t notice the lag you get at literally random times but what I did notice was the battery diminishes incredibly quickly. I didn’t think about it too much as I was playing with it a lot but later on I still had the issue. Also for those of you who sleep near your phone like I do, there is a sound the phone makes to notify you that the battery is fully charged….yeah… you can’t turn that off (I don’t think) and it goes off at about 3am daily. I’m used to it now so not a huge deal breaker personally.

Terrible things about the phone running 1.2

• Firstly I responded late to a few important emails due to auto-push notifications not actually meaning push in Android 1.gaytard.2. The exchange compatibility was appalling! I would have to keep manually resetting the connection to the mail server to get mail. Push would work for a little while and then stop. This worked pretty much flawlessly on the iPhone from the start.
• Battery life was pretty bad. I would unplug it from the charger at about 8am and it would be dead by 8pm after receiving maybe 3 SMS and 1 phone call on average.
• The number one for me is the lag. At times the phone would be quick and very responsive,  but in the middle of doing something like checking an email, the phone would just stop responding. You’d click on the button to return to home screen and nothing would happen, about 1 minute later the phone would make a couple of vibrating bumps and then you would have to force close the app. Sometimes it would be so bad I’d have to turn the phone off completely to bring it to working order again. Out of 10, I’d give myself a 2 for patience. The worst scenario I had was when I was in a cab trying to check an email for an address. The phone stopped responding while checking the mail and we missed the turn where I had to go. Then!!! I had to make a call to let me into a data centre as it was an emergency and I accidentally hit the maps button. That sent the phone into complete retard mode and I had to turn it off and on again. A highly stressful situation made 10x worse thanks to this phone.
• There were no officially provided updates for the phone on Virgin until very recently. This is crazy. I’ve had the phone for so many months and it was running like a drunk $2 hooker in heels would when she skimps out on her pimp. So many people have been complaining and Google had released 2.2 about 5 months ago if not longer so why did we have to wait so long since release date? Shame on you! Shame on all of you!

Tips that got the phone to be usable:

I got so sick of the Samsung that I switched back to the iPhone for about a month. When I got back from holiday I decided to plug the phone into the computer and finally there was an update ready to be installed. The update ran smoothly and I noticed the phone ran smoothly after the update too! It’s not completely 100% lag-free but lag-free enough for me to categorise it as a little better than usable. Here are further things I did to get the phone working a bit better after the update:

• For battery life I installed an app from the android market called Juice Defender. This app controls things things like data transfer, 3G, screen brightness and allows you to schedule when you need data on and things like that. I have found it to increase battery life substantially. I can now use the phone for a full day easily. Sometimes even overnight and throughout the next morning with average use. The less I use the phone the more drastic Juice defender helps to keep the phone going.
• I noticed that push notifications were working a lot better but the email app that comes native to Android ran slower than it did before. I then noticed that there is an email app in the Samsung set of apps as well and decided to try it out. This app is great! It updates the inbox straight away and it’s quick to retrieve emails to read. The only issue is that you can’t select multiple emails and mark them as read or delete them. This is not a major issue for me though as I want to read every single email that comes into my inbox for the day. The app is called Samsung email. Be sure to get rid of your exchange account from the native app first though.
• A cool way of sharing apps with friends is to set up a dropbox account and share it with your friends. This way you can get the dropbox app for android and access this shared folder between each other. At the moment I am doing this with a friend of mine who fills up this folder with all the cool apps he finds. I then go through the list and download any new ones he has put in there. It saves me from having to hunt down these apps myself
• There are apps which are known as lag fixes and these are apparently effective against the lag issues on the Samsung Galaxy S. I say apparently because I don’t use it as you have to root the phone to do so

Conclusion:

The Samsung Galaxy S has great potential. Its hardware specifications are out there with the best handset devices out to date, but the letdown of this product is its reliance on the relatively young and generic OS Android. I compare the Samsung with the iPhone but this isn’t a fair comparison because Apple only need to product test a small set of devices for their OS. The Samsung is using a pre-built OS and modifying it to fit the functionality of the phone. Naturally, getting the balance of OS and hardware correct will take some time and I think once they get it right, the phone will exceed the iPhone. I bet you Apple fan boys will say… Yeah but the Apple iPhone 4 just works and by the time Samsung get it right there’ll be a new iPhone. Well that’s fine because there will also be a new Samsung and ever-advancing updates to Android…. Plus Steve Jobs is going to die soon and once that happens Apple might start making umbrellas and kitchen appliances so go to hell you arseholes. Also I have an iMac and was gifted an iPad. I hate myself as much as I hate you Apple fan boys.

It all started when I saw that I was developing a slight belly after drinking a lot of beer and sitting on office chairs all day. My idea to turn this around was to go back to my days of working out and martial arts. My attempt to restart my healthier life schedule made me depressed as I realised the retreat of any progress I had previously made but a bit of motivation from my friends and my lovely dog that persuades me to take her for exceedingly long walks everyday has made me fitter than ever.

Today, on the way home from indoor cricket, I realised I was getting too fit. I was one iPod shuffle away from being the douche who wakes up at 4am for a protein shake and a quick jog before starting a joyful morning. This had to stop as I was missing the couch potato, laid back attitude I had on everything. I even started watching the news and reading newspapers!  Anyway… on the car ride home from cricket, I thought to myself… what’s the easiest way to become a couch potato again? And then it hit me…. A cinewheel couch!

Have you noticed how uncomfortable regular wheelchairs look? I have used a wheelchair at times and the only thing that I don’t like about them is that they’re too basic for my extravagant taste in practicality. So without further adieu, I introduce to you the cinewheel couch:

You are looking at a couch designed as a mode of transport while providing the comfort of home.  Is there a better way to get out there and see the world but still maintain a laid-back lifestyle? Surely not! It’s the perfect mixture of a cinema couch and a wheelchair.

Some specs:

• Electronic joystick control which means you won’t have to push yourself around!
• Cup holders for your drinks complemented with a fridge to store your refills at the perfect temperature
• Optional dolby surround sound speakers with built-in subwoofer for that doof doof on your back
• Titanium wheels with shock absorbers to take on any terrain but still feel like you’re on a cloud
• Italian leather
• Optional reading light
• Optional Air conditioning
• Optional game controller holder for the hardcore gamer
• Ideally the couch would travel at a cruise speed of 80 km/h but I don’t think this would be safe

I feel that this amazing product will not only be a competitor for all wheelchairs on the market but segues as well. I mean how convenient is a segue compared to the cinewheel couch when you have to stand to go everywhere and you have very little resources at your fingertips?

Let me know if you’re interested in helping me develop a prototype because I’m not sure how to get the wheels on the couch and provide a safe shock absorber solution. Thanks.

I can safely say that I am not alone. I have spoken to others who have said they too follow similar impulses when it comes to shopping, whether it is handbags, clothing or other paraphernalia (each to their own) but there are a few big questions yet to be answered for me and these are:

• Why do we make multiple purchases of the same thing?
• Are social trends making us feel obligated to make these purchases?
• Have stores developed a genius subliminal marketing system?

It’s very hard to say. I for one am a firm believer that JB HiFi use surreptitious subliminal marketing in order to convince consumers that they must buy a product from the shelf before leaving the store. I have tested the water on this theory several times by walking into a JB HiFi with the full intention of just looking and walking back out but have never succeeded.  I believe it’s a factor of subtle hypnosis from the display TVs; earnest stares from the security at the exit; and the populated, well-organised structure of the DVDs, Blu-Rays, Games and CDs.  I am virtually helpless.

I can’t just blame the stores here. I know I am a sucker for anything new and anything technology. I was recently taking some photos of my electrical goods to put in my digital photo frame so I could cherish my electrical friends. Here are some I’d like to share with you to demonstrate my nonsense impulse buys:

Damage done from JB HiFi:

Watching Whales in 1080p floating about in the Ocean

How awesome are whales?

This is my Sony Bravia 40” XBR which set me back $3000. It is such a lovely TV and do not regret the purchase at all. A combination of the FULL HD 1080p goodness and the astonishing things that animals do makes me watch ‘The Planet Earth’ Documentary over and over again.

PS3 Games and Blu-Ray Discs purchased on impulse

These are the games and blu-ray discs I have. At around $100 a game I have spent poo bags worth of money here especially considering I play one game on average for about 2 hours before never touching it again. I played Ninja Gaiden for about 30 minutes before it got too hard so I chucked a hissy fit, never to return to it again.

Amplifier, PS3, DVD Player

And here is an amplifier, playstation 3 and DVD player. The amplifier is around 300 years old but still goes hard with the surround sound for my room. I think I bought this with my first Civic Video pay cheque.  I had another 2 DVD players but gave these to friends who had no idea what a DVD player was in 2004. Needless to say – I asked if they had heard of TVs before I gave it to them.

LG LCD TV

This is another TV purchase. It’s actually quite a good quality TV for its time. I’d estimate I bought this in 1989 but I am probably wrong.

iPod nano 4th Generation, iPod Video, iPhone 3G

The iPods I got from JB HiFi but the iPhone was from Virgin. Regardless why do I have 3 music players?….

wait a minute…

MD Player - Japan's cool kid's device

Oh no another! it’s another music player! This one I got from Japan because all the cool kids in Japan had one. I came back with it to Australia and no one knew what it bloody was so I just put it away and haven’t used it since.

Birthday Present - Recommend for cricket.

This TV I got for one of my birthdays from my parents from Clive Peters. It is a 50” Hitachi Plasma which is great for watching cricket but Deal or No Deal leaves slight burning on the screen if you watch it for too long (I don’t care, it’s a crap show anyway).  Thanks for helping out with my addiction to electrical goods. My family is very encouraging. I told my brother not to buy me alcohol because I drink too much and so for Christmas (a few weeks later) he buys me a great big bottle of Vodka.

Panasonic DVD Recorder

Oh I forgot, this DVD recorder is also from JB Hifi. I bought this specifically for when Sri Lanka was playing cricket at one time and I couldn’t watch the games because I had to work and they were on at ridiculous times.

Ok now onto computer gear:

D-Link Wired and Wireless Routers

Not only do I need the internet through Ethernet connection, but I also need wireless because I’m too damn lazy to walk a few steps to a desktop computer as opposed to my laptop which lives on the floor of various rooms in the house.

Dell XPS M1330

Speaking of which, here is the laptop. It is dead at the moment and needs a hardware replacement from Mr. Dell. Note to self:  Call Mr. Dell about this.

My non-discriminating desktop PC

Here is my computer made up of parts from various brands because I’m no fan boy of anything. This computer runs both Ubuntu and Windows XP. It uses a Microsoft mouse but an Apple Keyboard. Everything plays well with a 1950s creative web cam and a set of Logitech speakers as well as a Samsung monitor. I had 2 of these monitors but one has decided to change colour settings and I can’t get it back. This is incredibly annoying when they sit side-by-side so I have removed it and put it in a dark room. I will deal with it later.

Hammy Down Computer

Here is the hammy down computer which I gave to my parents. It is a pretty good PC but now it has been fed to the lions so they can check their emails and download all sorts of nasty plagues off the internet without knowing.

Media PC

This is a media PC which I use to stream movies from the other computers to my TVs. I have used this twice in my entire life although I’m not sure why because it sounds like a pretty neat thing to have. I guess it’s just easier using a DVD player or watching it on the other computers itself.

On top of it is a hard drive caddie for IDE hard drives. I bought that a long time ago for swapping Linux ISOs at LAN parties with other friends enrolled in IT at QUT…. I usually got really drunk before the game playing began and couldn’t see what was on the screen to participate.

Oh I (again) almost forgot. Every computer needs a printer:

Printer and unused digital photo frame

Well that’s about all of the significant purchases that I’ve made on impulse. There are surely more that I have either broken, thrown out or have lost along the way.  

I will leave you with this pretty hip controller I found in the store room. I don’t really know if it’s mine. I don’t remember it being mine at any point in my life, so it probably isn’t mine:

Chinese controller for a magical console

It seems like it’s from China. Yeah I’m going to confirm that this isn’t mine. I love how there are 2 ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons. It’s as if they didn’t want to take up any more of the alphabet and make it A,B,C and D buttons. Saying ‘the top A button’ or the ‘A Red’ button is much more convenient guys!  I also like how the ‘A black’ button doesn’t really fit snugly in the white placeholder. It gives it personality.