Category Archives: technical

3 Reasons to skip the Samsung 4.3 update

Ok, so there are lots of posts around the web about why you should not update your Samsung Galaxy/Note XX phone to 4.3, which Verizon pushed on me a few weeks ago.

  • Battery life now sucks.
  • Touchscreen response is much worse.
  • As of Android 4.3, USB Mass Storage device mode is no longer supported. You have to use some wierd Microsoft MTP or PTP – basically music device or picture device, that is slower, and requres extra software to be install on many (older or linux) computers.This part aparently has a a little bit of a technical explanaintion, relating to licensing fees on the FAT filesystem. Doesn’t matter. I still don’t like it.
  • If you ever want to go back to the stock (or older) versions, you can’t without a JTAG programmer (ie a piece of specialized hardware), or else you’ll “brick” your phone. And depending on the sources that you read, you might even “brick” your phone by rooting it (seems like it depends on if you change the OS version at the same time or not).

Arms Race

This is a sad commentary on our society.

Apple decided to put a water detection strip in their products – presumably because of people dropping their devices in water, and then asking Apple to repair them for free. But now, you can buy replacement strips on Amazon.
From the product description: “If you accidentally damage your warranty sticker, you would lose your warranty even without noticing it. This item can help you with this awkwawrd situation.”