back from China again

So I did another trip to China... this time "only" 2 weeks. It was a really great trip (Chinese New Year is awesome) but as far as gadgets go, I kinda struck out... without even realizing it until now, actually.

The pic is from Huaqing Bei, Shenzhen's electronic district. I've mentioned it in my HA post from my first trip to China 2 years ago. It's a big area crammed with gadgets, lots of fakes & hacked systems. Last time I was there I *theoretically* could have picked up a nice R4 card for my DS Lite. So I went there this time, but I didn't have a lot of time to browse the gadgetry.... if I was alone, I probably could have spent 6 hours in there just going over stuff. But I can't fully geek out when I'm with girls, know what I'm saying?

I also visited Hong Kong for a day trip, Shenzhen is really close to HK. What's really stupid is that I FORGOT that the PS Vita launched in Japan already. So there were probably some in Hong Kong stores.... not sure I'd want a Japanese Vita, just not feeling so fanatical about the system the way I've been with the PSP. But it would have been nice to try one out & touch it in person if possible. You never know. I dunno. The Canadian launch is so close that it's a moot point at this time. But yeah, again, female company kept me from really getting to go gadget shopping the way I'd like to.

Speaking of the PS Vita, I'm just not as feverish about it as I've been with past consoles, even the 3DS. I counted the days until that launched.... I guess with the glasses-free 3D it felt really new. The Vita feels like more of the same. Sure 2 analogue sticks is a big deal... but there doesn't seem to be a great showcase for the control scheme... if only there was a new Star Wars Battlefront game with the launch. And speaking of, Sony's released a list of PSP-compatible titles and no Star Wars Battlefront game is on that list (yet). They could be compatible, but I doubt they are optimized to use the 2nd stick.

I'm sure I will be more psyched for the Vita next week....



later
don

Back from China again

So... I was in China again... spent almost 5 weeks there-- again-- and I got back about a week ago. Like last time, there was no way to access this blog, or anything Google-related. All blocked in mainland China. Oddly, I spent a total of around 2 weeks in Hong Kong, but I couldn't find much free wi-fi so I had no real internet access in HK... where I *can* access this blog or anything else online. Not blocked there.

The overall handheld scene isn't as vibrant as it was when I was there 2 years ago. I chalk it up to the general sad state we're in as far as handhelds, more than anything else. 2 years ago, the PSP was still fairly vibrant especially with hacking-- which was naturally big in China-- and it was very easy to get an R4 card for a DS Lite.

I did see "R4 for 3DS" in Beijing, but I was very suspicious about the actual quality of them. The problem is that the 3DS is region-locked, so even if there was an R4 for it, they would probably be Asia-3DS specific? I dunno. All I can say is, I saw these and had LITTLE confidence that they would work in my 3DS. And seeing how Super Mario 3D Land forces a firmware update on us (PSP-style) I wonder if they're already blocking these things.

Not that it was all about hacking & piracy. Last time, I was searching for a 16GB memory stick micro (M2) which I was happy to find for my PSPgo. This time around I had no major goal like that.

But last time, I had very little knowledge of mobile phones, and this time around, I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous (to myself)... I was *very* tempted to buy a phone in Hong Kong. They are about the same price/more expensive than Canadian prices, but the main key is that they're unlocked. Yes you pay $600.00-$700.00 (Cdn) for them, but there is no demand for a 3 year contract or other BS. Even if you go into a Canadian store with $700.00 cash, plunk it down & say, "I want to buy a phone, right now", the chances are that even then, they will NOT sell you a phone outright. You will STILL need to commit to at least 1 months service, which means you'll need to go through a credit check. You'll probably have to pay for an "activation fee" and other BS fees. All this even if they say the no-contract price for the phone is $599.99 or whatever. That STILL isn't the actual price you pay. How screwed up is the Canadian mobile phone market anyway? There should be laws.

Considering all this, you can see how it would be so tempting to walk into a reputable Hong Kong store, plunk down the $$$, and walk out then & there with a shiny new phone. But still, $600-$700 for a phone, I just couldn't do that. My little HTC Legend still does its job, and being unlocked I could actually use it with a cheap HK sim card.

But man, was I ever EVER tempted to pick up an HTC Evo 3D or Samsung Galaxy S2.

So, the other handheld issue of my trip is what handhelds did I actually take with me? I took a lot less than last time. Believe it or not, NO PSP, not even my PSPgo! I actually haven't taken that with me on trips at all this year (2011) which is the first time since getting a PSP in 2006 that I haven't brought one with me on a trip.

All I took with me was my netbook, and my HTC Legend phone. No PSPgo. No 3DS. The problem with the PSP (& PSPgo) is that the battery life is very short. My phone can play the same video content, has games (though not as robust as PSP ones), has my entire music collection, AND the battery life lasts like 9 hours. And it's smaller. And a phone. So my HTC Legend has become my go-to handheld because of size & versatility.

One annoying thing about the 3DS is the AC adapter is NOT universal. At least the PSP AC adapter can accept voltage from 120-240V. Pretty sure the 3DS AC adapter can't. And I wanted to pack light; I didn't want to bring my voltage converter--which doesn't even work that well-- so the only hope I had would be if I could buy a 3DS AC adapter in China/Hong Kong. Seemed like too much bother so the 3DS had to stay at home.

I did miss my 3DS a lot during those 4 1/2 weeks I was in China. I saw a guy playing a flame-red 3DS on a bus in Hong Kong, and I thought about how much I missed banging out a few (ok a lot of) sessions of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries.

So not long after coming back home, I bought a bunch of 3DS games. Super Mario 3D Land, Star Fox 64 3D, Street Fighter 3D... couldn't resist because Toys 'R Us had a sale where you buy 3 games & get 25% off. I also bought Kirby Mass Attack, and yesterday I picked up Asphalt 3D from EB Games for $10.00 new. And I still haven't picked up Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy which is my most anticipated 3DS game....

I also seemed to miss out the Hong Kong announcements of the PS Vita, not that I would have been allowed in or anything, it was probably just for press. I also wish my timing was closer to the PS Vita japan/Asia launch, I'm pretty sure I would've snagged one early there if I could have. Oh well, I just put my preorder in for one, the $300.00 bundle. Yeah I'm still nutty for handhelds.


later
don

Engadget Huaqiangbei article

Engadget posted a nice look into the gadget market Huaqiangbei, located in Shenzhen China. (check it out) It's a pretty amazing place for electronics & handheld addicts like me. I visited there 1.5 years ago, back in Dec 2009... and the Engadget article covers a lot of what my impression was of that place.

I think I mentioned in a previous post seeing a stack of memory stick pro duo cases on a desk with someone stuffing them with (presumably) fake flash memory chips. I always warn against buying memory stick pro duos off of eBay or anything that even looks like China; but seeing that in person seared an unforgettable visual image of my fears of fake memory sticks into my brain.

I didn't know anything about cellphones back when I was there, but I'm not sure if my knowledge now would be an advantage or just get me into more trouble....

One thing that is missing from the article is that Huaqiang bei is more than just that huge cellphone "mall"... there's lots of big areas with computers & of course gaming systems. And there are street-level storefronts that are totally legitimate, bright & upscale electronic affairs where you won't likely see killer deals but you'll be more assured that the product is genuine. And of course the Meizu store is very trendy cool.

Ohhhh... Stanley Cup Game 7 is starting. Go Canucks!


later
don

The PSP in China

For the first few weeks I didn't see any PSP stuff when I was in China. At first I was in the outskirts of Shenzhen, then toured around Shanghai a little, and spent a bit of time in Fujian province. Now I wasn't exactly in electronics areas... but even in the department stores there seemed to be not much PSP stuff, I saw a lot of cellphones, and a variety of cheap mp3/mp4 players. I even saw "mp5"(?) players... I'm not sure what that means.

But near the end of my trip, I did manage to see a bit of PSP stuff. Well, the consoles mainly. But it was in Huaqaing Bei and in Hong Kong where I really saw PSPs & UMD games.

I mentioned in Huaqaing Bei that there was a little shack where the owner was trying to activate a TIFF exploit of some sort on a PSP-3000. I'm not up on the latest exploits or custom firmwares, but I believe that there's currently only limited (custom) firmware ability on a PSP-3000.

In Guangzhou, not only did I see some PSPs (not many UMD games though) I also saw PSP magazines.... man I wish I'd bought one as a souvenir.... at least one of these magazines appeared to be weekly(!)-- can you imagine a weekly PSP magazine? Wow. But what was more shocking was that I saw magazines dedicated to hacking the PSP. And these weren't just shady printed-out-of-someone's-basement type of underground magazines, these were glossy professionally printed mags. I don't read Chinese, but when they have M-33 printed in big bold english on the cover, you get the picture. Flipping through them, I saw "Chick-HEN" and I'm sure other references to modding PSPs.

So finally I'm in Hong Kong.... this is THE place to find electronics, right? And of course, I saw PSP stuff, even PSP UMD games. All through my trip I was searching for a PSP game: Macross. I kept coming up empty, no one knew what I was talking about. In Hong Kong, I came across one store, a great little toy shop at the airport that I *wished* I had more time to explore-- they had mecha toys, Godzilla toys ( just hitting all my buttons!) and PSP UMD games (as well as DS games)-- and the worker there at least knew of it. He said it was a "very old" game, and they don't carry it. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm in Hong Kong and I wanted to see if I could acquire a modded PSP. I know that it's probably fairly easy to DIY, just buy a Pandora's Battery & a cheap memory stick I suppose. But I did see some sweet looking PSPs. There were quite a few of the Carnival Colours, and I saw my fave, the pearl white PSP-3000. Oooooo. Do I need a 5th PSP? Sure don't-- but I can't help but be dazzled by it's beauty. The prices for PSPs overall in China and in Hong Kong were about the same as here, maybe a bit less. But I didn't have time to hit Hong Kong's electronics area, "Computer City", so no new PSP for me.

I was surprised to come across an HMV store in Hong Kong. And they sold PSP stuff, I bought Pixel Junk Monsters, a limited edition UMD version that comes with a little cellphone charm. I dunno, I bought it for the novelty value, and it was cheap. I also bought a Gundam game, which I haven't even played yet, again just to fill the mech-game hole left by not finding that Macross game, and it was fairly cheap, again novelty factor.

But one interesting thing about PSP sales in the big stores in Hong Kong is that if you want to buy a console, you must buy AT LEAST one game along with it. You can't go into the HMV (or other legitimate big store like Fortress) and just buy a PSP system alone. Why is that? I'm not sure, but I guess it's their way of combating buying a console just to hack it? That doesn't exactly make sense, but I can't think of any other reason....

So I'm in the HMV in Hong Kong, which looks like most other big HMVs I've been in like in Vancouver or something, and there's this kid, maybe a teen, who's talking english but he looks & sounds like he's from Dubai. He's talking with his dad & mom about buying a PSP, and he's looking at the models. The PSPgo is also displayed alongside the PSP-3000's, and he points & says, "that one isn't hackable, is it?" So this Dubai family is talking about which PSPs are hackable, and the kid gets on his cellphone to phone a friend to confirm which models are hackable "to put games on"! This seems like just an "average" family, yet they are aware of the hackable rep of the PSP.

All this makes me wonder whether all the panic from third-party game pubs & devs about PSP piracy is maybe justified. I know there's a considerable hacker scene here, but I still think that in North America the average PSP buyer is not aware of custom firmware. But just from my casual experiences in China they seem a lot more aware.

It's really interesting though, that the PSP is a little more higher-profile in China, I saw more people with PSPs than I usually see here in Canada. There was a bored street vendor playing a PSP-3000, I look over and say, "Monster Hunter 2!" and he nods. I saw a few guys playing some multiplayer game in AD-HOC, one had a PSP-1000, the other had a PSP-2000 I believe. Nobody's using the PSPgo, I did show it off to a guy in Guangzhou, and he was freaking out about how cool it was, but then he asked, "can you hack it?" and I had to let him down about that. Then his girlfriend came up, he showed it to her, and guess what her question was.

Her followup statement was, "buying the [digital download] games is too expensive"... Sony should really be paying attention to the overall motivations for custom firmware. Yes we all like free, but maybe the prices of games is also a factor, right?

I was really glad to have found a 16GB M2 (memory stick micro) for my PSPgo at the Sony Store in Hong Kong. As I'm buying it, my dad asks the cashier in Cantonese, "This isn't a fake, right?" to which she replied, (basically) "Umm, we're the Sony Store, we don't deal in fakes!".... so that was funny.



later
don

R4i

So I *THEORETICALLY* could have bought an R4i in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen has a high-tech district, Huaqiang Bei, that sells computers, parts, all sorts of electronics and I got a couple chances to explore it. I could have spent days there... there is so much to see! Computers of all types, but my targets were more of the handheld variety; namely PSP, DS & MP3 players/ PMP (personal media players)

I came across a bit of PSP stuff. There was one small alcove that sold PSP stuff, I asked, "how much" and the owner says, "which model: 1000, 2000, 3000..." the prices were a bit better than they are here, though these are Asian PSPs; 1/2/3003 I believe..... in this cramped little alcove the owner's attention was focused on a customer's PSP-3000, he kept trying to load a TIFF image, and would take the battery out & restart the PSP when it wouldn't crash. Obviously trying to activate some sort of exploit. But I'll talk more about the PSP in another post.

This is about the R4i for DS/DS Lite/DSi. It's entirely possible that I *COULD HAVE* bought one in Huaqiang Bei, at a little nook, where I *THEORETICALLY* haggled (with a lot of help from a Mandarin-speaking friend) a price of Y230 RMB for both the R4 & a 8GB Kingston Micro SD card. That's a bit over $30.00 CAD.

It's really more for novelty that I *HYPOTHETICALLY COULD HAVE* purchased this thing... one of my techy goals in China-- after all, this is where this stuff comes from, right? I don't know a lot about the Homebrew scene, but it does seem interesting.

The R4i is a way to play media like mp3 files or video (needs to be a specific codec) but its most common use is probably to play back up DS games stored on microSD card. *IF* I were to have bought one, I *might* say that it does this very well. It is interesting how small DS game files are, many seem to be only about 32MB!

*IN THEORY* The R4i makes playing a DS Lite very convenient-- having a significant part of your library accessible on one cart *COULD BE* really sweet. I have no idea how real it is though, there are a LOT of fakes in China.... but for $30.00, I guess it's worth the risk.

I really missed my DS Lite while I was away, I left it at home,and took the PSPgo because it does so much more. So I've been playing my DS Lite a lot the last few days.



later
don

My Toshiba NB200 netbook

One of my stalwart companions during my trip to China was my Toshiba NB200 -005 netbook. I bought it just before I left, and I have to say that after about only 2 months use, it has served me well.




Without it I wouldn't have been able to book a hotel in Hong Kong... and of course, it's been great for surfing the net & email. I loaded my photos onto it from my digital camera, and was able to send back live updates of my whereabouts.



The battery life has been as good as promised; I get about 8 hours of use from it on a charge. The adapter is able to accept North America's 120V up to 240V, so I didn't have much problem with China's 220V. Only the plug shape was much of a challenge, though I was lucky enough to have access to power strips that accepted our standard pronged devices. The PSPgo (and I'm sure the PSP K series too) adapter is also fine with 220V.



The 6 cell battery does stick out though. It makes finding a case that fits properly pretty difficult. I bought a thin 15" nylon laptop cover for it that's a bit too big, but it does the job. Plus it was only about $6.00 CAD-- got it in Shenzhen-- and I haven't seen netbook cases here in Canada for less than $24.00.....







I've only encountered minor issues with my NB200: Whenever I transferred photos from my camera to it, the next time I started it up again it would go into chkdisk & that was a bit annoying. I'm not sure why it does that each time I loaded it with pics (about a weeks worth) they were about maybe 80MB total. I've transferred about 6 GB of music onto it with no probs, so I don't know why it does that with the photos. It may be a BIOS setting I need to figure out. Not a big deal though.

Also, when I have USB devices connected, such as a flash drive or my PSPgo, I always disconnect them using the USB settings in Windows 7 Starter... and it gives me a "safe to remove device" message.... but they never seem to be truly stopped. I still see the light on the flash drive, and my PSP doesn't give me that disconnected message that I usually get when I do it in XP on my PC.



The touchpad is nice & big, but sometimes it is unresponsive for a second or 2. And the chiclet style keyboard is nice, but it takes getting used to.



It has a HDD protection feature where it parks the drive if it feels a sharp movement, like it's going to fall or whatever. It's a bit sensitive, but better safe than sorry. And you can set it so it doesn't show the warning message each time, so it doesn't interfere with your activity.




I upped the ram to 2GB, replacing the 1GB it came with. That made it run much smoother. Windows 7 Starter is not that great; you get the annoyingly different-just-for-the-sake-of-being-different style of Vista *without* the cool features of the full version of Windows 7. The worst of both worlds? Nice. And just before I left I saw a couple netbooks that had the full Windows 7 on it-- not Starter. Though they seemed like they would be bogged down once you loaded it with real-life necessary software like antivirus, firewall, etc. But this one is ok enough for my humble needs. It's fairly easy to replace the RAM, but I think you need a special screwdriver to access the hard drive.

At about 3lbs, it does add a considerable weight to my backpack.... maybe I'm being a wimp, but when you're running for a train outside of Shanghai, trust me, you notice these things. But it is nice and small, a bit less than the size of an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. I have Photoshop 7 loaded on it, I use that to edit my photos, and it works fine. I use Firefox and have multiple tabs open and it seems to work ok, it's not as fast as a full PC, but it can handle the essentials.

That's the thing about netbooks, they are all pretty much the same-- they all have almost the exact same specs, so I guess it comes down to personal preference. My Toshiba NB200 is not a bad choice, it's basic but it works for me.



later
don

Back from China

Alright, I hope that whoever reads this blog didn't get too bored with me being gone..... but I just got back from China last night.

One of the things I discovered shortly after entering the country is that you can't access blog sites like this one from inside there. So I wasn't able to update this blog as I'd like to have, which is a bit vexing, because there are tons of gadget stories to tell from China.

I spent some time in the south, and a few days in Hong Kong. As a Handheld Addict, of course I had a few goals when traveling. One was to try & find a 16GB (or larger) Memory Stick Micro (M2).... that wasn't fake. For some reason I cannot find 16GB M2s anywhere in Canada.

So I was searching the cities I went to as best I could, but I only found 2 & 4GB M2 sticks... the same as available here in Canada.

By the end of the trip I finally struck gold in Hong Kong. I was at Harbour City mall, a huge mall there, and I came across this place that had a Sandisk 16GB M2 stick for about $598 HK dollars.

The exchange rate is about:

$1.00 Canadian dollar= $7.00 HK dollar. So it worked out to about $85.00 CAD. Not bad. But I was very concerned about it being fake.... so I held off & looked around some more. And a few stores down, I found a Sony Store (I think they're called Sony Style now) and asked about a 16GB M2, not really hopeful about it because I was in previous Sony Stores in China and they only had 4GB M2 sticks. But the store in HK *did* have a 16GB M2 in stock! I wasn't even sure if Sony made a 16GB M2 stick. It was the same price as the Sandisk one at that other place, and since it's a Sony store, it should be real, right? I hope so. So now my PSPgo is kitted out with an additional 15GB of storage which I'll make good use of once I actually get home.

Speaking of fakes..... ok, we all know China is is famous for knockoffs, and I'm sure you've seen the many fake PSPs out there, like the one pic posted in this entry.

But I was surprised how many fake PSPs there were that were clearly *NOT* PSPs, but they had the PSP and Sony logo all over them. I haven't seen pics of those on the internet as much... I'd have loved to take pics of them but my camera is too big to hide..... it was kinda shocking, if someone knew next to nothing about PSPs, because of the logos, they almost look legit. I even saw some fake PSPgos that were the size of a PSP-1000K model! Bizarre.

I took my PSPgo with me for the trip, and it served me well. Some long train trips, one overnight, and being able to get some Twisted Metal: Head On time in sure helped my sanity. The good thing about most gadget power adapters like the PSP is that they accept the foreign electrical voltage, so I had no problem plugging it in and charging it with China's 240V.... no problem other than finding the right plug shape that is.....




later
don