Technically Brunette

Recently there has been allot of who-ha about this second life thing which is basically like an on-line version of Sims where you actually spend your own money and do various things to create on on-line life like you wish you really had.

Well i thought i’d try and see what all the fuss was about, so i created an account. After typing in a shit load of info in various pages and then clicking join i haven’t received an email notification of my joining and i am also unable to sign in…. hmmmm

So my over all rating… this really doesn’t even deserve a donkey fart.

After using the Samsung X20 for over a year now i have a few words to say about it. Well when i first got this notebook i was over the moon i had found a thin, light and rather attractive laptop which also managed to do what i required, which at that stage was not to much and it was to be my first laptop. This laptop came with a measly 256MB memory (which i upgraded) and shitty graphics but as i didn’t really do much but word process and crunch data i didn’t need much more.

I have now had this laptop for a bit over a year and i have to say i am extremely disappointed, but not so much with the computer itself but instead with how it is made. I do understand that laptops get a lot more wear then your standard computer and for this reason they do need to be well built. So when it comes to about 2 weeks before your 12month warranty you really don’t expect the entire thing to konk out. I just wish it was as easy as the entire thing konking out before the warranty expired as then i would have had no choice but to send it back. However instead this is what happened.

I do a fair bit of marketing material (ie; websites, CD’s, promotional material) so when it came to burning a CD about 2 weeks before your 12month warranty ran-out my computer decided that it just couldn’t do it, that is was too hard, and judging by the rings burnt into the CD, what ever was going on was not healthy. So being late at night i lost my temper, shut the computer down and went to bed, the next morning i turned it on again and thought i’d tackle the CD burning issue again so i tried burning another (this time it worked, however it was very slow). So i was content, until that evening when i attempted to play a CD and the CD drive decided to not exist! That’s right once i closed the CD drive with my CD inside it decided to shut down and send no signals to the laptop so my computer basically insisted on telling me that there was no CD in the drive, well it was actually telling me that there was no CD DRIVE. So after using the emergency realise hole i shut the computer down and started again (as this does more then often solve all your problems when running windows), sure enough it did exactly the same thing. My computer had totally rejected my CD Drive.

Now at this stage i should have returned the computer however i had 2 problems:

1. I bought it in Canberra and i was now living in Sydney
2. I had a major programing exam and i had no means of being able to code on another machine to prepare for the exam

So not wanting to fail my exam I contacted both the people i purchased the Laptop from and Samsung and explained my problems both said it was fine and that they would record the problems and we could sort it out after my exam.

Well that was a relief I could study, pass my exam and get the CD Drive replaced. If only it ended there, a few days later i unplugged my computer after it had been charging and brought it to my tute. Once at my tute i attempted to turn it on, it wasn’t going to happen, so i plugged it in and then switched it on, which worked. At this stage i thought that it some how hadn’t charged properly, well that was wish-full thinking. After taking my computer back it turned out the whole charging circuit was @#%&ed and it would cost me more then the Laptop was worth the fix it (as it had just passed the warranty). I thought it very funny that they were happy to replace the CD Drive outside the warranty but not this even though i did also contact them about this issue before warranty had expired.

So I now have a light notebook which is advertised as a “mobile adventure” which has to be plugged in to work…hmmm

My rating? well out of 5 beers:

I give it 4 empty and the warm, flat dregs in one.

Well after finally totally destroying my last mobile phone on a number of different occasions, including:

• Jumping in a pool with it tucked in my pants
• Allowing it to fall out of my bra while horse riding only to have it slightly mashed between my horses hoof and the gravel road
• Dropping it on an hourly basis
• throwing it on to the road at-lease once a week while hailing a taxi
• and yes even dropping it down the toilet

I decided although my phone was still technically working i could no longer cope with the screen blacking out on me every second SMS i wrote and the fact that the speakers had become extremely temperamental (especially on Mondays) and would occasionally konk out all together. Then there is the vibrating mechanism which would start out OK, only to slow its self down so produced a movement similar to those crazy beach balls with a sand bag in them. Needless to say the time had most defiantly come for me to get a new phone.

I had also decided that i had passed the age where i needed pre-paid and that i should move on to a plan, meaning i also had a wider choice of technology.

After cruising the shops and searching on-line i found myself falling in love with a very unexpected phone. See i have ALWAYS been a Nokia girl, they are practical, durable, have all the goodies of the time and also look pretty. But i fell for an LG!

That’s right an LG, the LG KG800 (AKA the LG Chocolate - no this is not why i got it) to be exact. This phone is honestly the most sexy phone i have laid eyes on, it’s orgasmic!

Now although i have read and heard mixed reviews from users, reviewers along with just general LG critics i have to say that i myself am extremely impressed with both the simplicity and how absolutely stunning of this phone.

So what is it i like about this phone, well to start with the mix of the slide phone in a simple one colour design (in my case white) along with the innovative touch-sensitive navigation keys under screen give it a very futuristic feel. The size of the phone (length, breath and width) is perfect for my hands, the phone sits both comfortably and stably in my hands while i operate it. I also love how intuitive user interface is even someone who has used Nokia for years can still easily write a SMS without any drama (something i am still yet to achieve with Ericson and Motorola) along with the wide variety of customisation options meaning i can truly make it MY PHONE and not have to deal with the “factory setting”. Then there are the added bonuses an MP3 player and fairly decent camera, oh and did i mention the fantastic sound quality?

Granted i have heard from a number of people, none of which are actually users of the phone them-self, that the touch screen causes allot of problems when you are talking on the phone. After using the phone i have to say that this is absolute bollocks as while you are on the phone you cannot hang up using the touch pad, you actually need to close the phone or press the disable button on the side of the phone, and i could not come up with any way the touch screen caused any problems during the call. To be honest the only problem i have found with the touch screen is when playing games (which frankly i am pretty sure i can deal with).

However now the real test comes will this phone last me the entire 2 years of my contract? Given my history with phones i took out a two year warranty, just in case. So let the test begin!