Samsung Galaxy Note Ice Cream Sandwich

Samsung Galaxy Note Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Richard on Mar 25, 2012

Ugghh, I’m kind of frustrated, but I knew this was going to happen. Samsung announced that they are going to delay the release of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Samsung Galaxy Note. I knew when I dropped down from Verizon, from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, to the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I would be on Gingerbread for a while. This is the frustrating part being part of the Android revolution. Hopefully Google steps in soon and starts telling carriers and phone makers how soon they have to start updating their devices. However, I doubt this will happen because this is the revolution of Android and why it’s considered “open source.” Anyway, I’ll be running Gingerbread on my Samsung Galaxy Note for at least another 3 – 6 months from this most. Oh well, I’m not too worried. I’ve already rooted the phone, installed a custom ROM, and fixed the MAJOR lag that Samsung released on this phone. Seriously, if this is going to be another Dell Streak...

How to Root Your AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note

Posted by Richard on Feb 29, 2012

This is a very easy way to root your Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T. 0. You may need Samsung USB drivers. To be on the safe side, I would download and install anyway. 1. Download Odin here. 2. Either download the rooted stock kernel here. Or, download the rooted overclocked kernel here. I personally recommend the overclocked kernel. The choice is yours. 3. Open Odin, click the box next to PDA, and browse for the Kernel you just downloaded. 4. Turn off/power down your Galaxy Note. 5. Hold the volume down button and power button at the same time to put your phone into download mode. Your phone may give you a warning about loading a custom OS. Click the volume up button to continue. 6. Connect your phone to your computer with the USB cable. 7. Odin should state that your phone is now connected. Once that happens, click the Start button and your phone will load the new kernel and your phone will be rooted! These kernels come pre-loaded with root access so this is currently the easiest...

Ditched Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Galaxy Note

Posted by Richard on Feb 29, 2012

I wrote a review back in January regarding my Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon. I loved the phone and I loved Ice Cream Sandwich. I don’t know what happened, but shortly after my review I started having major issues. My data connection kept going out even though I had full service. I’d have to wait for the connection to restore or turn airplane mode on and then off. I called Verizon and swapped the phone out for a replacement only to have the same issue. We had another Galaxy Nexus on the account with the same issues. Another major issue I was having ever since the beginning was having MAJOR difficulties transferring pictures and songs onto my phone. Often the files would just hang there and wouldn’t transfer. I saw the Samsung Galaxy Note come out on AT&T and I REALLY wanted this phone. It’s a massive 5.3″ display which isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a multimedia whore like me, then you should defiantly be looking at this phone! There...

Build Your Own Windows Home Server

Posted by Richard on Jan 9, 2012

I was in the market for purchasing a Windows Home Server. What is Windows Home Server? WHS is your own home personal server that will backup your laptops and desktops you have in your household. If they ever crash, you can easily recover your files. Also, the server acts as a media storage server so all your computers can easily access the same files. If you’re like me, you setup the home server to stream movies and music to a media extender such as the Western Digital Live TV. The Western Digital picks up all my movies I have downloaded on the server and I’m easily able to stream them to my TV. Sound complicated? It’s really not. Anyways, back to the building of Windows Home Server. At the end of 2010 HP announced it would no longer be building home servers. HP was one of Microsoft’s biggest partners in their Home Server product line. Now, just because HP dropped out, doesn’t mean you can’t still buy HP Home Servers. Those products are just going...

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Review

Posted by Richard on Jan 8, 2012

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon for almost a full month. I’m not going to right another review that many other tech blogs have already covered. Yes, we know this is the best Android phone on the market today. However, no phone is perfect. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is no different. First off, I’d like to tell you a few things I like about the phone. The 4.65″ display is absolutely gorgeous! I am an app hungry, media streamer, web browsing power user. No way could I still be walking around with a tiny 3.5″ screen, such as the iPhone. When I’m browsing the web on my phone, I need to be able to see what I’m doing on a big vibrant screen. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has that covered. NFC (near field communication). I love that the phone has an NFC chip in it. I doubt I will be using this on an everyday basis until payment by phone really takes off with retailers. However, the NFC chip is really cool, because I had someone look up a...

Retiring my HTC Thunderbolt for the Samsung Galaxy...

Posted by Richard on Dec 16, 2011

This is a sad and a joyful day. Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt was the first 4G LTE smartphone that I had. I remember the blazing speeds of receiving 10 – 20 mbps! However, as of today, December 15, 2011, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has come out on Verizon. This is the first phone in America to have Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich). I am selling my HTC Thunderbolt on eBay (if you’re interested, hey let me know!) I will officially be getting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus tomorrow. I woke up at midnight last night to order online. I knew the Verizon stores would be sold out by the time I got off of work on December 15th. Therefore, I figured one more day of waiting isn’t going to hurt. Plus, I was guaranteed the phone then. I will no longer be downloading custom HTC Thunderbolt ROMs and posting reviews on my site. However, I will continue to offer support and guidance for all past discussions to the best of my knowledge. On top of that, I’m not sure how often I am...

How I Save My Precious Cell Phone Minutes

Posted by Richard on Nov 13, 2011

My cell phone provider is Verizon and I’m currently on the cheapest plan available for a family plan (700 minutes). The last few months we really had to crunch the minutes between two phones and one month we even went over by a few minutes. I also accepted a new paralegal position that will eventually allow me to work from home a couple times a week. With the new position, there may be times I need to be on the phone for an extended period of time. I really don’t want to have to keep checking my minutes every months. Also, if I upgrade to the next plan with more minutes, I want to say it’s an additional $20 or so a month. With all this happening at the same time I really thought it might be a good idea to get a home phone. When I say home phone, I don’t actually mean “home phone.” I could pay $20 for a basic Qwest land line that doesn’t even allow me to make free long distance calls, so I wanted to go with a cheap VOIP telephone service. When...

CyanogenMod 7.1.1 Stable ROM for HTC Thunderbolt

Posted by Richard on Oct 6, 2011

CyanogenMod is a VERY popular ROM that has been ported onto many Android phones. Since the spring of 2011 CyanogenMod has been in testing to get it successfully ported over to the HTC Thunderbolt. Now, it’s not officially listed on their site but the user that goes by the name of ‘slayher’ has been working on this and has finally released a ‘stable’ build. Which means there should be minimal bugs. The only bug that I’ve found so far is GPS lock is still not working out of the box. The fix takes about 15 minutes and I can successfully say that it works for me. I will post the fix a little further down in my post. CyanogenMod is not like the other ROMs that I’ve tested, posted, and reviewed here on WireValley.com. What’s different about CyanogenMod is that it does not have the Sense 3.0 or Motoblur software that you may be use to if you’ve owned a HTC or Motorola phone in the past. CyanogenMod is “smaller” size ROM since...

Android vs. Apple – Why Apple is For Zombies

Posted by Richard on Sep 21, 2011

If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, or have read past articles, then you know I’m not an Apple fan. I wanted to go in depth and explain why. I believe that you’ll find my points interesting, but I also praise Apple for their innovation. Without Apple developing the iPhone I don’t believe our phones would be the same today. We’d probably still be running around with basic phones or Blackberry handsets with that horrible web browsing experience. I too had the first iPhone, so I don’t want you to think I’ve never not owned an Apple product before. That would be very hypercritical. I’ve owned numerous iPods along with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (only for 3 weeks), and the iPad. The first iPhone didn’t even have apps that you could download. However, It was great phone that offered all touch screen, a great web browsing experience, and it allowed me to have my phone and iPod all in one. This was handy because when I was working out at the gym I didn’t have...

HTC Thunderbolt 1700mAh and 1800mAh Batteries

Posted by Richard on Sep 14, 2011

In regards to my post back in June, based on the extended batteries. I’m writing a follow up. I’ve been using the “cheap” aftermarket batteries that you can buy on eBay on two HTC Thunderbolts and I haven’t run into any issues. I’m not noticing an increase OR decrease in battery life vs. the OEM battery. I will say this though. Most batteries that are claiming to be extended, or have more mAh over the OEM battery are false. You can download a simple app from the market to tell you your battery’s mAh and my “extended 1700mAh” batteries are reading 1350mAh When I put in the extended battery it would read the full 2750mAh, so the apps do work. My guess is these “extended batteries” are just an original OEM mAh with a new sticker slapped on. But I’m okay with the cheap red batteries from eBay. The seller I bought from had like 30,000+ feedback and I got two batteries and a wall charge for like $15 – $20! With...

Why I’m Passing Up the Droid Bionic

Posted by Richard on Sep 9, 2011

Sure the Droid Bionic is the latest and greatest phone on Verizon’s LTE network as of today. However, speculation is next month HTC will be releasing the HTC Vigor which is going to pack a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor. The Vigor will also include 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage– same as the Droid Bionic. I went to Verizon Wireless yesterday to play with the Droid Bionic and I really did like it. It was fast, no stuttering when doing fast multi-tasking, looked good with the glass and metal… BUT I don’t like the Motorola junk software that comes with the phone! I REALLY like HTC’s Sense UI that is loaded on my HTC Thunderbolt. I like being able to change my lock screen around with Sense 3.0 and with Sense 3.5 on the horizon, the Vigor will almost certainly come with Sense 3.5 or eventually be upgraded to it. Rumors have been fairly certain that this phone would be a 4G LTE device on Verizon’s network and today, that notion has been confirmed. So, you can...

Android has Changed my Music Listening Experience

Posted by Richard on Sep 9, 2011

I’m part of a “younger” generation who grew up with Napster and downloading MP3s. The iPod came out when I was in high school and downloading music became the future. I too changed with the times and started downloading more of my music and buying less physical CDs. Earlier this year Sony closed down a CD manufacturing plant in southern New Jersey which leaves them with one manufacturing plant left in the U.S. for Sony. Now as our cell phones get faster and more music streaming services are launched such as Pandora, Spotify, Slacker Radio, I Heart Radio, (some of which you can get for free), I find myself downloading less now. I never though that was possible but you can pretty much have any song on demand with services such as Spotify and play whole albums for a low monthly fee! I often find myself getting bored with the music that is currently on my phone. Therefore, I jump to services like Pandora and Spotify to just start playing music without having me do...

Droid Bionic Released. Price Slashed by $50

Posted by Richard on Sep 8, 2011

The Droid Bionic was released today and this is one phone that I’ve been patiently waiting for. I thought I would share that you can already get this phone for $50 cheaper than what Verizon is offering it for ($299). Amazon, through AmazonWireless.com, is offering the Droid Bionic for $249. Whether you’re a new custom or upgrading from an old phone, you can get the Bionic for this price. Now, you might think I would be purchasing this today, but after careful consideration I’m holding off on getting the Droid Bionic because: I’m content with my HTC Thunderbolt. The Bionic’s price is still too high. No custom ROMs. Personally, if you’re already running one of Verizon’s 4G LTE phones, but you’re like me and really want to get the Bionic, just hold off. You’re not going to be able to do anything more or less with the Bionic than you are with your HTC Thunderbolt, Droid Charge, or LG Revolution. Wait until the price drops on the...

Save Your Android Battery Life with 1 Easy App

Posted by Richard on Sep 4, 2011

There are many tutorials out there about how to save your Android battery life by turning off your bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, turning down your brightness, etc. Yes, yes, yes. We all know about these easy steps in reducing battery consumption. This little app that I’m about to show you is a “set it and forget it” type of app. This app only reduces your battery consumption when your phone is not being used. Even though this is a draw back, it still comes in really handy. My phone is in standby a majority of the day since I’m at work, in school, or even when my phone is just sitting by my side when I’m watching TV in the living room. With that being said, I introduce to you the app 2x Battery – Battery Saver. UPDATE: No idea what happened to this app, but it’s no longer in the Android Market. Here is another app that is similar – Juice Defender. The pictures below are still in regards to my first battery saving app, 2x Battery – Battery...

Download the New Android Market

Posted by Richard on Aug 24, 2011

Google has added the long-awaited +1 functionality to the Android Market; There’s a brand-new settings menu, as well as click-to-read explanations of app permissions (not developer customizable, unfortunately). There are also 2 brand-new Market icons to spruce things up a bit. The size in megabytes of each app, along with its latest update date, have been moved from the bottom of descriptions to the top of individual app pages. you can now use an optional custom PIN for purchases on your phone, instead of leaving your Google Checkout wide open for anyone that picks up your device? Download the new Android Market HERE. You do NOT have to be rooted in order to install the new market on your Android phone. Pics below of the new Android...

Older Posts >>

Facebook Like Box