UG - Why PS3 controllers suck!

I have never been a fan of Sony's use of the rechargeable (nonchangeable/nonreplaceable) battery in their controllers. I like being able to just use batteries. And please, no one spout off about some complete bullshit about how I can order batteries on eBay, etc. Anyways, here I am with a 3 year old controller that won't accept a charge. I contacted support and did all the troubleshooting and it is still just a dead controller. Now guess what, I hear that Sony only warranties these things for 90 days so after that I am SOL. Nice. Now lets compare cheap-ass Sony to some other awesome companies I have dealt with.
1. We received a Keurig as a Christmas gift 2 years ago. About 4 months into using it, it started acting up and wouldn't draw water all the time. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I contacted them through email asking for recommendations and the first email back from them was an order notification that a brand new one was on its way and I didn't even have to send the old one back. That is customer service.
2. I purchased an APC UPS three years ago this month. Last week I suffered a power outage during a snow storm and when I brought everything back online, my UPS kept shutting off and the battery wouldn't charge and the device wasn't even recognizing that a battery was installed. I sent an email to APC and after a few emails of troubleshooting, they sent me a replacement battery, free of charge. That is customer service.
Out of these three companies, guess which two have earned a customer for a long time and a customer that will recommend their products to everyone they know (spoiler: the answer is Keurig and APC). Even my Xbox which has died multiple times on me has been fixed by Microsoft for free, everytime.
Sony, since I am willing to bet that your quality will continue to suck, why don't you make products that at least let the end users put in new batteries?

UG - Apple iPad Review

Ok, I know the iPad has been out for a long time, but I was just handed one to screw around with for the next month. I am playing with it to see how I like tablets as I am considering the Xoom for myself and an iPad 2 for my mother. After playing with it for a few days, I have to say overall I like the idea of a tablet and the design. I still am not sure how much use a tablet would get with me, but I am looking to replace the laptop that sits in my family room and a tablet might do it for me.

Now, I am saying upfront that it is a nicely built device and it works well, but now I will go into my arguments of why I don't like it and I am talking both hardware and software.My biggest complaint of the iPad hardware wise is the weight. This thing weighs more than I expected and it does wear on me if I'm using it for a long time. Lets just say this isn't going to replace an eReader, not to mention reading on a backlit screen for too long sucks. My other hardware issue is that there is no front camera. I am waiting for iPad 2 for my mother just because I want her to have a front camera for using Skype. I know Apple's MO is to slowly release hardware upgrades and I hate that, but it works for them so screw me.

Now for the software, this thing is a big iTouch, that is it. I won't go into that any more as it has already been discussed. The keyboard is responsive, but I don't get how awesome everyone says it is. I don't like that it always shows the keys on the keyboard in uppercase. When I type passwords, I have to keep checking if the shift key is hit or not. Also, there is no predictive text and that requires me type out every single character. I think I would be much more efficient with less spelling errors if it had predictive text. I am also at a loss on how everyone raves about the market. I had a hard time just browsing for random applications so maybe I just need to play with it more to get it.

In closing, Apple made a whole new market with this thing and I am impressed by it. This almost has me convinced to buy a tablet, but I can say that it won't be an iPad for myself. I want ports, storage options, I want choices, etc. One example is I would like this to replace me having to carry my laptop on vacation, but I would like a way to transfer pictures off of a camera to a tablet to free up space on the camera's memory card. That will never be possible on an Apple tablet. It is likely that the Xoom will support USB devices in some way and it is likely that I would be able to transfer things to it. I also don't like that this tablet is portable, but to get most anything on it, I have to connect it to a computer - that sort of kills the mobility for me.

Update: I will give PG credit for thinking of this, but tablets need profiles. Tablets are more shared than phones and so now certain applications such as Facebook and syncing with your email doesn't really work all that well. I don't want my gmail coming to my phone and my tablet. And if my wife is using the tablet, she doesn't care about my email and she wants to launch the Facebook app under her. This also makes lots of widgets worthless. I guess we can just use it purely as a laptop and log in to the sites under different accounts and I can disable all sync stuff....I like the idea of profiles. Get the scientists working on the profile technology, chop chop.

Update2: After 3 weeks of use, I have figured out that for my purposes a tablet just doesn't cut it. I ended up going back to my laptop for everything and the iPad because a very expensive weather station. For my use, I will actually be going with a MacBook Air next. The instant on/instant off is awesome to me and combine that with the full functionality of a laptop, that makes it a fit for what I want to use it for.

UG - Motorola Atrix 4G

I have to admit that I am in love with the concept of the Motorola Atrix 4G. Just look at these specs/features:

• Dual core 1GHz Tegra 
• 1 GB RAM
• 4" screen
• Android 2.2 (Wish this was 2.3)
• Battery: 1930 mAh
• Supports 48 GB memory
• Fingerprint login security
• Webtop when docked with laptop or full keyboard/monitor/mouse
• Webtop allows saving state
• Full Firefox in Webtop

If you haven't checked it out, go hit Google and see some of the demos of this thing, especially when it is docked in the laptop or HDMI/keyboard/mouse dock. I love the UI Motorola created for docking called Webtop. Somehow they got full Firefox running and the thing automatically saves state when you pull it out of the dock. 

I only have two concerns with this device. The first one is that it is for AT&T only right now, but I am hoping that changes, but I am not going to bag on one carrier or another, but AT&T doesn't do well in my area. My other concern has to do with Motorola continuing the trend of how this thing can be used. I don't want to buy this phone and all the accessories to find to out that future phones from Motorola won't support the dock concept. I hope these features get added to all their high end phones and that way I can upgrade without having to re-buy everything. Those are the only things that really hold me up about buying this, but I love the idea of this phone.

UG - iPhone on Verizon: Quick Thoughts

The blog sites and tech sites are running rampant with stories of the iPhone being announced for Verizon next week because Verizon is hosting a special event. Oddly enough, I wasn't invited, but I digress. You can go do a Google search to find all the articles and all the discussions about whether that is really being announced or not. I for one, don't buy it just yet because I can't imagine Steve Jobs stepping out of the spotlight for this announcement. Even if he is there, I still am surprised he didn't host it at Apple. But I am wondering if some other stories are showing that this could really be true. The past couple of days have also held stories about Verizon changing the time frame for new phones (20 months up from 12 months) and a 14 day return policy which is down from the original 30 day return policy. This makes me wonder if those are signs of an iPhone being released on Verizon. I believe that both companies are power hungry and love to throw their weight around. All you have to do to see that is go back to the time when the iPhone was first launched on AT&T and read the stories about how Verizon turned it down because they wouldn't meet Apple's demands. I can just picture these latest changes having to do with some strange demands from Apple. Who knows, I like to just throw things out there.

UG - Call of Duty: Black Ops

I've been playing this game since it first came out, but I had only been playing multiplayer and zombie modes up until last night when I finally beat the campaign mode. First, I know the two zombie modes get a lot of attention and they are entertaining, but I wouldn't consider it long lasting fun. It really just feels like a little break if you are either tired or frustrated with multiplayer (maybe you got owned 3 maps in a row). Both zombie modes are pretty fun, I do like the addition of the arcade mode. But it is just horde mode from Gears.

Multiplayer is, of course, where the game really shines. Multiplayer is fantastic. I would say it is better than Modern Warfare 2, but I think it really only feels better because I was ready for a new game and a change. Trying to look at them overall, I would say they are equal. Now the maps really do feel better to me. I find them to be a great mix of size and layout. The maps feel more intense to me. I can get into the action within a few turns after respawning. I also remember in MW2 that I could always find places to hide for a minute to be safe, but these maps have less spots and I find myself in more intense battles. One change I would like to see is that the RC car becomes less powerful, easy to kill, or a higher kill streak requirement. My main complaint for this is because that damn thing kills me every freaking time. I swear to all that is holy every time I hear an RC car followed by the stupid voice saying one has been spotted in my area, that damn things kills me.

Campaign mode feels like the offspring of a menage-a-trois involving Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed, and Fight Club. I had a blast playing it and the story wasn't too bad even though I didn't quite grasp some parts of the story, but I'm not the smartest peanut in the turd. The character you play has to be the most bad ass soldier ever. I got knocked out and captured and threatened to be killed a few too many times. It did offer about 4 hours of play time, but I did do the easy mode mainly because I wanted to beat it. I didn't buy this game for single player so I just wanted to get through it so I could see the story.

Overall, awesome game. I am even more impressed since I always had a bad impression from Treyarch. However, I think they have really outdone themselves. I am going to continue enjoying this game, especially since there is a growing concern that the next version of CoD could be a monthly pay model and at that point, I am most likely out.

UG - Mobile Games and Mobile Gaming Devices

First off, I must give credit to pg as him and I talked this out so some of the ideas are his as well. Whether he actually wants to claim credit for this crazy talk is up to him.

This started out as an Angry Birds for Android review, but as I started ranting it changed into what it is now. I will say Angry Birds is an entertaining game, drains my battery, but it is great time-killing game. However, I think at times the Android community goes crazy for anything that gets ported from the iPhone community and thinks it must be the greatest thing ever. I downloaded the game to see what all the talk was about and I have played it quite a bit since then. Like I admitted at the beginning, the game is fun. But, it is just a game where I slingshot birds around, this is nothing ground breaking, this isn't God of War. This thought path got me thinking about all the mobile game talk and the fights between Nintendo, Apple, and Sony.

There are lots of articles out there about mobile gaming and the iPhone is always at the center of the attention, mainly because it does sell a lot of games and Steve Jobs chants about it any chance he gets and always compares it to the PSP and Nintendo DS. While the numbers show the iPhone does sell lots of games, I would like to create new categories for these games. The iPhone (and Android and Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7 …) is really good at time-killing games. These are games I want to play while sitting on a toilet, or waiting in a doctor's office, or waiting for my plane to begin boarding, etc. The PSP and Nintendo DS games are different. These are more involved games that are long and draw the player in and really do have superior graphics and do require more controls. These are games I want to play at night while on my couch and my wife is watching a TV show, or while I am actually on a long flight, or while I am on a long road trip, or while I am visiting my in-laws, or getting a prostate exam (some doctors really like to take their time). Anyways, my point is that there are different game categories in my mind for the mobile arena. You sure as hell couldn't try to sell Angry Birds to a PS3 or Xbox 360 gamer.

Now, what I would really like to see is a mobile phone that by default would include the time-killing games, but let it also have the capability to do true mobile gaming. There have been rumors about a Sony upcoming phone that will include a PSP capability. This sounds awesome to me, but I immediately think of the issues like cost, controls, size, screen resolution, battery life, storage capacity, and all other reasons it shouldn't work. So pg and I were talking about some of this and sort of came up with what I would love to see in a device like this. BTW – there will be no image of what I am describing because I am not breaking out Gimp to mock this up. Please, use your imagination.

So first there is the phone and it is a touchscreen device, something in the 4” range and it runs the latest version of Android. It also needs to have some kick-ass hardware specs and screen resolution. It will need to include all the other normal things like front/rear camera, b/g/n wireless, and all the other tech in current devices.

For the PSP capability, I say go with a case for it. The phone will just slide into the case in landscape position. The case will include all the gaming controls (pg really wants two analog sticks) and it will hold a battery inside it to help with battery life while gaming. Sony and third party hardware makes can even sell different types of cases. Some cases can offer bigger batteries, or more storage, or a UMD reader (awesome idea pg), or theme them out, and anything else people can think of. People might complain about carrying something else with them, but the times I want to play a PSP would be when I was traveling with things already like luggage or at least some sort of bag that I am sure could handle the extra case.

This device could be marketed to both gamers and non-gamers. That is where the hardware and screen comes in outside of games. There are people who won't care about gaming, but will want the phone because it is one of the best hardware devices out there. And then gamers will want the phone because they will want real gaming. The phone can be sold separately or in a bundle with a case. I think this design can take care of most of the issues that could be presented by this except for the cost. In the end, the price will be high, but if it could truly be this great of a device and let me do it all, I will pay for it.

Update: This isn't what I was hoping for.

UG – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Most likely will include spoilers)

I was able to score another free rental from Dish Network, I guess they must sense my awesomeness. However, after watching this movie I am afraid that Dish might stop offering me free things since I am finding ways to waste them. I think I would have enjoyed this movie a lot more if I was gay (nothing wrong with that if you are). I mean Jake Gyllenhaal was prettier than the female star who supposedly had unmatched beauty. Hell, the slave ladies later in the movie were hotter than her and based on her acting skills/number of lines in the movie, they should have had one of the harem girls play the part. Also of note is that these Persians looked absolutely nothing like the Persians from 300, but to be honest, I can't say which image is better, both sort of bother me. The movie had some entertaining action, but I had trouble getting past my frustrations with how dumb the lead guy could be. How many times can the girl trick you? The one good thing about this movie is that it was so easy to follow and so predictable that I was able to put the finishing touches on my Android phone after installing a new ROM on it.