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

pica-pic.com - vintage virtual handhelds

Now this is a neat site that Engadget posted about... this site has old handhelds in flash format, playable in a web browser! I've never heard of most of these, but I did have the Mickey & Donald Nintendo game along with the Donkey Kong II game I previously posted about.... wow, what a memory burn.


It's cool that I can play these little handhelds on my netbook... I guess that's about as much gaming as I'm likely to get on this thing...



Check out the site here:

www.pica-pic.com



later
don

HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones

I really like my PSPgo PSP-N270 Bluetooth headphone remote, it's good quality and compatible with all my BT devices, but it still needs a wired set of headphones. Sure, they don't have to be tethered to the device but they're still tethered to the remote... and they get in the way sometimes. I've been looking for a true wireless BT headphone solution for some time.

I saw the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones [listing at The Source] on sale at The Source... I tried to research them to see if there was any review information out there but all I could find was Marc Saltzmans' Youtube video (which I will post at the end of this review).... apparently The Source has a no-return policy on headphones, so I ended up taking a chance-- plopped down my $39-something (including tax) to try them out and give a review!





What's in the box:

• Headphones
• proprietary power adapter-to-USB cable
• 2 sets of rubber in-ear bud thingies
• instruction foldout
• nylon carrying pouch which feels really gross & smells funny

Product specifications (from the instruction foldout):

• Bluetooth V2.1+EDR
• Support profiles: Headset, Handsfree, A2DP, AVRCP
• Operative range: Class 2, 10 metres (approx. 30 feet)
• Battery: 170 mA rechargeable lithium
• Talk time: up to 9 hrs
• Music time: up to 8 hrs
• Standby time: up to 16 days

They have a really small form factor. They fold up nicely, I could see these being very pocketable and in that respect even more convenient than my PSPgo bluetooth remote... I usually clip that to my shirt and wrap the headphone cord around my neck. With these, just take them off & slip them in my pocket.





The yellow stripe separates the 2 parts of the "cup". The outer side has a bit of a soft rubber feel which is comfortable when touching, say, while operating the controls or whatever. The inside of the cup that faces your head is hard plastic, but it doesn't actually touch your ears so it doesn't affect comfort.

I thought the band that connects the ear pieces was just a regular cable, but it's not-- it's a stiff flexible band that pulls the ear pieces toward your head keeping them in your ears. This is the direction of the pressure when it's stretched as if wearing it:




Despite that squeezing, it's fairly comfortable and feels very secure on the head.

As mentioned, the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones come with 2 sets of (medium & large size) rubber in-ear buds that you place over the actual headphone speakers:





They are soft rubber, but they kinda stab into your ear canal... like if you take a single sheet of paper, it's soft & flexible, right? But if you roll it up into a tube and push the end against something, it's quite rigid. That's sort of how the tube part of the buds feel.

Even though the rubber buds do a fairly ok-to-good job of outside noise isolation, for some reason the audio quality through the headphones is not as good.... it is amplified though.

So I've been using these foam covers I got from the Dollar Store years ago, for my PSP-1001(!) headphones.



They feel a lot more comfortable, the audio quality seems a bit better but there is no outside noise isolation.

I like the stylish control buttons, they kinda remind me of the Sony Walkman logo...



The buttons are easy to press, and are very clicky. In fact, they are a bit too clicky-- it's good that they are tactile enough to know you pressed them without being able to see them, but as they're right up against your ears, the clicking of the button presses is quite loud. There's also a lot of travel to them-- as in you have to press down on them quite a bit to register a press-- so you can't just press them with an index finger alone, you need your thumb to pinch the headphone cup when you press a button.



The bluetooth light flashes very infrequently, it seems like every 10 seconds or so. I suppose that's good for those that don't necessarily want to be a big flashing beacon while walking down the street or whatever. The instructions say that when the battery is low, it will flash red once every 15 seconds... once every 15 seconds??? Like who's gonna even notice that?? Not that you can even see the light while wearing them... so it may be difficult to tell when the battery runs out before it's too late.

Hold down the POWER/PLAY/PAUSE button for 4 seconds to turn the headphones on/off. Hold it for 7 seconds to pair the headphones with a device. I've paired them with all 3 of my BT devices: my Toshiba NB-205 netbook, Sony PSPgo, and my HTC Legend Android smartphone.




The right side has a port for a proprietary power adapter-to-USB cable. There's no wall adapter, you can only charge via USB out of the box. I suppose I may need to get a USB wall adapter some time, but for now I'm using my PC to charge it. And don't lose that proprietary cable... or uh-oh!

The power port on the headphones has a flimsy rubber stopper to cover it, but it never seems to stay in. I also think it will break off after a short time. It feels cheap.





Connecting the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones to my devices was fairly easy. I did have a bit of a hiccup when first pairing it to my HTC Legend, which is odd because it's the easiest of my devices to deal with bluetooth headphones-- the PSPgo remote had no trouble pairing with it. But it wasn't a big deal at all and eventually the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones paired with it fine. The only issue I have now is the PLAY/PAUSE button doesn't work with the HTC Legend-- it worked ONCE, but since then it doesn't seem to any more. Odd.

I paired the headphones to my PSPgo, and all the button functions work well with it. Had no problems pairing it. Of course the PLAY/PAUSE and TRACK+/- buttons don't work in SensMe, but I think that's more a problem on the PSPgo end as the other remote has the same issue.

And when I need to re-connect the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones to my PSPgo after using it with another device like my phone, when I connect it it gives me this error:



But it still connects. Go figure. I have similar/worse problems with the PSPgo BT remote after using it with other devices also, so I also chalk it up to another PSPgo BT issue rather than the headphones.

I haven't used the MIC on the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones yet, so I can't comment on the quality of it or the phone functions. In his video, Marc Saltzman says something like "there's a MIC, but these are primarily headphones" which sounds like the MIC is probably nothing to write home about. Still, with it's placement it might be better than the PSPgo remote's MIC.... I haven't used that one either but I can't see it as being very effective. At least this one is close to your face.


So the sound quality of the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones.

Unfortunately, sound quality is mediocre.

They don't sound BAD necessarily, but I've been rocking my Creative EP-630 earbuds on my PSPgo Bluetooth remote, and those sound really good. They are my favourite earbuds, I have 2 pairs of them. Maybe I am spoiled since I rarely use average sounding earbuds anymore.

The audio from the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones is a bit muffled. Yes, bluetooth audio in general is not as good as through regular cables, but I'd say the PSPgo Bluetooth remote audio has better fidelity... but it also have a bit of background hiss, like Sony's Mega-Bass system used to. The HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones don't have any hiss at least. And using foam covers rather than the supplied rubber ear buds slightly improves the audio quality.... but again, at the cost of lack of noise isolation that the rubber buds provide.

The range is advertised as 10 metres, about 30 feet. With my PSPgo, I find that the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones do work at that range (with a some audio cut outs) but with my HTC Legend, the range is much much shorter. I'm not sure why, because my PSPgo remote also has the same range and it's the same with both the PSPgo and the HTC Legend.

I bought the HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones on sale for like $34.99... apparently their regular price is $70.00? $70.00 is way too much for these, but if you're looking for some affordable bluetooth headphones in the under-$50.00 range, there's not much selection in Canada. In the U.S. they seem to have much more choice like from Amazon.com or wherever, but here in Canada I've rarely (maybe never) seen bluetooth headphones for $35.00. Don't expect too much from them, but they're compact, easy to use, fairly comfortable (when using foam covers) and work as advertised.

If you only need one bluetooth headphone device, I might the PSPgo remote over these because it's pretty good and works surprisingly well with other devices like my HTC Legend... though I haven't tried it with an iPhone/iPod touch and can't guarantee it'll work with all devices. But for a budget set of bluetooth headphones, this isn't bad... not that we in Canada have much choice.

Marc Saltzman's HeadRush Adrenaline Bluetooth headphones video overview :






later
don

Torchlight on netbook... not so good

Meh... I just downloaded & installed Steam and the free demo for Torchlight on my netbook... I'd heard it runs on netbooks, and I'm not expecting it to be smooth as silk or anything, but it's pretty choppy & CPU intensive.... I don't think I can really enjoy playing a game this way.

I've strongly avoided PC gaming ever since I got my first PC in 1999.... I remember trying to install a few demos, like Aliens Vs. Predator & they really did not work very well... I think I had to take my PC back a couple times to the guy who built it.... so since then I have sworn off PC gaming & only do console gaming-- my credo has been "gaming for dedicated devices"...

But I'm so in love with my NB205 netbook right now... most of the posts on Handheld Addict the last few months have been done on this thing, including finding & resizing (with Photoshop 7) any images. I know that the Atom N280 processor is pretty puny in power, and that "integrated graphics" is another term for "sucks real bad" (if you haven't experienced it trust me) but doggone it, I'd love to do some gaming on this little beauty. So I've been looking for something that'll run decently, but no luck yet.

I took a bite on Torchlight because Steam is having a sale this weekend, the full game is only $5.00 US! It's regular $20.00... great deal! But I'm glad I only downloaded the free demo because I think I may just uninstall it & Steam because I don't think my NB205 can really handle it.... oh well...... I think I may play a bit more & see how I feel about it tomorrow...

A little bummed out...



later
don

watching streaming video on netbook

Man.... some video streams are really bad to play on my netbook (Toshiba NB205) .... basically all the Joystiq family of vids; Engadget, etc. playback choppy as hell & max out my CPU. I'm not sure if it's Viddler or Tubemogel (whatever the hell those are) I just see their URLs show up when I'm watching vids on Joystiq.

Youtube plays fairly well. Vids on IGN & Gamespot can be choppy & CPU intensive but I resize my Firefox window to just fit the video & not show the banner ads and that seems to help.

But Engadget/Joystiq.... always choppy & bloated. It's just annoying.

UPDATE: I installed Flash 11.5 or something, and vids from Joystiq sites seem to play better now, though they still push the CPU near max levels.... I guess I gotta remember that netbooks aren't as powerful as full-size PCs or laptops...



later
don

CES 2010

So I've spent the last few days fixated on whatever news out of CES 2010 I could glean from websites like engadget..... I have to admit I was checking that one as much as I could.

As much as the hype over tablets and 3D TVs captured most of the attention, I'm kinda disappointed in the overall showing at CES. Not a lot of news about mp3/digital media players... sure, I'm always looking for a PSP replacement on that front, but since 2006 when I first got a PSP(-1001), I still haven't found one. And not much to challenge this year either. I guess the focus is more on cellphones (which I don't use) that pack in that kind of media functionality perhaps diminishing the variety of mp3/video players the last few years.

I was also interested in what the next gen of netbooks was going to bring us. Answer in short: Not much. Netbooks by their nature are "meant" to be underpowered and limited so as not to "compete" with laptops. But really, the only big reveal was the new Intel N450 processor which replaces the old standard N270/N280 Atom processors. I get the feeling that the N450 is not going to be all that much faster, but it should be less power hungry, extending the battery time of netbooks by a bit. We'll have to see how it works out in real-world situations. It's kinda perverse of me to be hoping that companies would reveal new tech that would make my barely-3-month-old Toshiba NB205 obsolete. But other than the N450, there's not a lot of difference between the immediate next-gen & the current/old-gen. If I had to buy a netbook today, I'd probably hold out for a N450, but honestly, there are probably some deals to be had from N280 netbook clearance sales, and I kinda doubt there'd be much of a practical performance difference between them.



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

Toshiba NB 200 netbook

Yesterday I got a Toshiba NB-200-005 netbook.... posting this entry from it.

The keyboard is a "chiclet" style, similar to Mac or Sony ones. It takes some getting used to, but I'm surprised how comfortable it feels. I was really torn between the Toshiba NB 200 & a Asus 1005HA netbook.... The Asus has a *really* good feeling keyboard, closer to a regular keyboard than any netbook I've tried. But I was really concerned about all the power adapter issues I read about with those models. I'm taking a trip to China.... and these power adapters are so proprietary... if it conked out on me, I'd spend a couple months lugging around dead weight. So I went with the NB-200. If I was at home, I might've risked it. Still, this one is pretty nice.

It has a "USB sleep & charge" feature that allows it to charge a device hooked up to USB even if the netbook is asleep or turned off. That will come in very handy for my PSPgo. I'm thinking that the only gadgets I'll be taking with me on my trip to China (beside my camera & shaver of course) is the NB-200, PSPgo, & maybe my Sandisk E280 mp3 player. NB-200's 6 cell battery promises "9 hours of life", while I doubt it's quite that good, it does seem close; I haven't charged it since yesterday, and have been using it for hours each day....

It's running Windows 7 Starter Edition, I was very wary about not having XP; in fact I considered it a plus that the Asus 1005HA had that. But windows 7 seems alright for now.... haven't had any major problems with it, still trying to find my way around....

I've never really used a laptop or netbook much before so this is kinda cool.


later
don