Technology

Pixel Watch – Two Weeks On

rmiles7721November 1, 2022Technology

So, I received the Pixel Watch back on October 13th and figured I would post an update on it.

I got the non-LTE version as I already have five lines on my mobile and don’t currently feel like I need the added capability that it provides. I’m never anywhere without my phone, and (I am assuming) also don’t need the extra drag on the battery that LTE would cause. I could be wrong about the battery usage, just making non-technical assumptions here.

Battery life on the pixel watch so far has been about what I expected. Not great. It does seem to charge a bit faster than my Galaxy Watch 4 Classic that I have been wearing for the last 14 months. I prefer to wear the watch at night for sleep tracking. With the Watch 4, I can get through the entire day and all night then charge before I go to work and end up somewhere around 50-75% before I leave the house. With the Pixel watch I am able to do the same, but it will be at full charge before I leave the house. I haven’t done any sort of real thorough testing but basically if I am travelling it’s an absolute must to carry a charge with me. It would be nice if someone could come out with a decent watch that would last several days between charging. The charger is also proprietary and I can’t use my Samsung charge for it (or vice versa) and weirdly enough can’t use my Pixel 7’s battery share feature to charge it either.

One thing I don’t like is that I have to use a third-party app to get all my data into Google Fit. Google chose to strictly use Fitbit for the Pixel Watch, which I guess makes sense as they own fitbit, but does that make Google Fit the red-headed stepchild now? I’m not adverse to using fitbit but I would like to use the same app for both of my watches as I am not using the Pixel exclusively. I am using FitToFit to get all of my stuff into Google Fit currently. Just one more app. I already use Health Sync to get my info from Samsung Health into Fit.

The large bezels don’t bother me as much as I was afraid they would. Google did an excellent job hiding them and as I use a black watch face they aren’t very noticeable.

As far as comfort is concerned it’s more comfortable to wear than the 4 Classic. It’s a much smaller watch than I am used to (comparison pic below) so I guess that’s part of it. The band fits nicely and there is more play (rubbery lol?) than the band that came with the Samsung Watch. I don’t even notice I am wearing it most of the time.

It’s a stylish watch and I really like it, however, it’s obvious at first glance that it’s a smart watch. Having worn watches from an early age I am used to having big old clunky things (I seem to remember having a Casio calculator watch at some point) and like big watches like the 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.

The band mechanism is neat and something I would like to see other watch makers offer, but it will never happen. Rather than use a normal watch band their bands go right up to the watch. You push a button and twist, and the band comes right off. Putting one back on is just as easy. The problem that causes is that you can’t use a regular watch band with it and Google did not release any sort of adapter. That’s only a matter of time though until someone releases one.

A couple of things I don’t like are that the Pixel Watch can’t do blood pressure (the Watch 4 can) and sleep tracking. I snore a little bit and with the Samsung it can record it for me using my phone. I am sure I could use another third-party sleep tracking app for this but that’s just one more app (and I already use 200+ as it is). There is also no automatic workout tracking either. While it will continue to monitor steps, you must go in and select when you are working out. That’s one thing I got used to and really like about the Watch 4 Classic.

I am concerned about the lack of ruggedness as well. As you can tell in the size comparison above my Watch 4 is pretty beat up. I work in the service industry and my phones and any wearables get a lot of abuse from it. The lack of raised bezels is the part that concerns me as well as a lack of water resistance. That means that as soon as I walk into one of the restaurants, I must remove my watch (if I remember) in case I end up washing dishes. I do most of my walking going through my restaurants daily and I would like to be able to track it. I have gotten it wet a few times (submersed) when I have forgotten to take it off and so far, no problems with it.

Even with the cons listed above I really like this watch and will keep on using it. The only things I have to compare both the Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch to is the Moto 360 which I wore for a couple of years until it finally died on me. Both of these are much faster and have better battery life than that one did.

Litestep is Still a Thing

rmiles7721July 6, 2016Technology

Wow. Who knew?

One of the very first posts of mine online from back in November ’99 was about Litestep, a replacement desktop shell for Windows that basically emulated a Linux desktop of the time. Apparently it’s still around. You can check out screenshots and download it at some of the links below. Talk about nostalgic. I may have to give it a spin.

http://www.litestep.net/

http://litestep-desktop.deviantart.com/

 

Gadget Blogs

rmiles7721October 20, 20081Technology

I run a tech site. It’s just a small blog where I will occasionally post news and videos and such. I have never intended for it to be one of the huge gadget blogs, don’t consider it a ‘contender’ or anything like that. I just enjoy writing. I also run a very specific site targeted toward HTPCs and home automation, two of my hobbies. As a result I surf tech sites a couple times a month looking for cool new gadgets or software that I might be able to use or that I might want to post about.

Gadget Advisor is a relatively new site but one I seem to be going back to on occasion for the news and gadgets. What got me hooked was an article on the Logitech Harmony universal remote. Being an HTPC freak I enjoy reading about stuff like that and I will sometimes get a severe case of gadget envy at the same time. I wouldn’t use the Harmony simply because I use my own hardware/software solution that incorporates my HA stuff but if it weren’t for that it’s a pretty cool remote.

(more…)

My Take on Google Chrome

rmiles7721September 5, 20086Technology

So I decided to check out Google Chrome and downloaded it the other day to check it out. I am back to using Flock again as of this morning but I am still not happy with it.

I really liked Chrome and probably could have come to use it as my default browser. As a matter of fact I had even set it as default until last night. It is faster than Firefox, Flock and IE 7 (and 8) on my system and used quite a bit less memory. I also like the way it compartmentalizes the tabs and memory usage. If one of them became non-responsive the rest were fine and I could kill the task without crashing down the other 25 tabs that I might have open at the same timr. I was very impressed with it. Using Flock, Firefox or IE for a couple of hours and a bunch of tabs and windows open I usually have to kill the whole process after a couple of hours and forget using iTunes and actually listening to music at the same time. WIth Chrome I was able to not only listen to iTunes but keep several different windows open and working at the same time.

So why the switch back to Flock?

I spent two and a half hours working on a post last night. Several thousand words. Shadowscope was apparently offline for 40 minutes or so for some reason so the last autosave Movabletype had done missed 3/4 of the post. I wasn’t aware of it because my connection was fine. Anyway, I went to publish the entry and of course got a DNS error. When I tried to go back to the previous page most of the entry was gone. I wanted to cry. With Firefox and Flock I can spend an hour or two working on an entry and if for some reason my draft isn’t saved on the server I can go back to the posting form and most or all of it will still be there. I have even used Task Manager to kill flock and when I reopened a new browser window it has saved my entered text. That in itself is worth sticking with to me.

I don’t even mind not having access to plugins. If Google would add in saving of text entered into forms I would switch back in a heartbeat. It’s just not worth losing two frigging hours of work.

I used to use Windows Live Writer to post blog entries but it’s too damn buggy, which is why I switched back to the MT interface in the first place.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

iPod Touch Free 2.0 Upgrade

rmiles7721July 29, 2008Technology

I came across the links over at Live Crunch. Personally I paid for the wife’s upgrade the day it came out but for those of you that want to save $10 here are a couple of links…

(Mirror 4) Download

(Mirror 5) Download

Go check out Live Crunch if you get the time…

There are some pretty cool additions to the software which includes the app store.

Related articles by Zemanta
Zemanta Pixie

…and so it begins

rmiles7721July 21, 2008Technology

Pete was on the cell phone a couple of days ago chatting with one of her friends as girls do when she dropped it in a bucket of water.

She was watering the plants out front.

And talking on the phone at the same time.

It was the wife’s phone since neither of us believe that the kids should have a cell phone.

oops.

Needless to say the wife was not terribly impressed by this. We set it up with the blow dryer on it for 40 minutes or so but no go. It was on when it got dropped and it didn’t have the chance to dry out properly before it got turned on again so the circuit board is fried. A couple of the keys work but you can’t dial out, answer or make calls or do anything else useful.

Luckily I took insurance on her phone when I got it, and the same on mine. In general I believe that you shouldn’t take any type of extended warranty on any kind of electronics as it’s not worth it but with each phone upgrade we get the phones are more expensive and if you are in the middle of your contract and the phone dies you get to pay full retail rather than getting the deal that new folks do.

Luckily for us I took the insurance. It’s a $50 deductible and they have already shipped her new phone out. I did manage to back up her pictures and contacts using Bitpim rather than pay the extra $10 that Verizon rips you off with charges you for transferring the stuff to a new phone, so she won’t have to pay for it.

I still have a bit of phone envy for the new iPhone 3G but I am pretty sure that I won’t get one. AT&T doesn’t offer 3G where I live or work, the iPhone has useless GPS and no Bluetooth so it would just be an expensive MP3 player. What a waste. Maybe I’ll get an iPod Touch instead for Christmas or something. I’m leaning toward one of the touchscreen Blackberrys that’s supposed to be out before the end of the year though. I’ve really grown to like my Blackberry and while the HTML browser leaves a lot to be desired it’s still the best game in town. The only problem with upgrading is that I’ll have to upgrade my accessories as well. Cell phone holsters, extra battery, memory card, USB cable if it doesn’t come with it, the list goes on. The case or holster is particularly important for me. I would prefer to just keep the phone in my pocket but it gets such heavy usage at work that I have to wear it on my belt or hanging out of my pocket. The only issue with that is that I beat the crud out of my phones. My current case has paint all over it, scratches, grease and all sorts of other nasties.

Zemanta Pixie

Charter High-Speed

rmiles7721July 10, 2008Technology

I’ve been using Charter internet access ever since it became available out here in the boondocks a few years back. Prior to that I had DSL through Bellsouth. While I liked having a static IP address (which I had to pay extra for) Charter High Speed is certainly much faster than DSL ever was, at least for me.

One of the other things I liked about it is that in order to get Charter High-Speed I don’t have to have any of their other services. I do have cable of course, but they don’t force you. With DSL, the phone company said I would have to pay for a phone line in order to get DSL. What the heck is up with that? We have two cell phones here, why would I want or even need a land line?

Anyhow, they have this limited-time offer thing going on right now that I wish I were eligible for. You can get Charter High-Speed for $14.99 a month, try the first 30 days risk-free and when you sign up online you get a $25 Shell gas gift card. The 30 day risk-free thing is a 30 day window for cancellation just in case you aren’t happy with their service.

Some other benefits to being a Charter High Speed customer include:

  • Get the fastest and most reliable Internet speeds available- Get speeds up to 5Mbps to surf up to 90X faster than 56kbps dial- up and 3X as fast as 1.5Mbps DSL!

  • Automatic protection from viruses, hackers and spam – Charter High-Speed Security SuiteÆ has the fastest response to new virus threats and best virus detection.

  • 10 e-mail accounts – enough for the whole family plus 20MB of Web space.

  • Download in seconds, not minutes plus a reliable always-on, always-fast connection.

  • Exclusive content on charter.net- get your news, weather, local movie listings and more!

Go check out the web page if you get some time and see what I am talking about.

Sponsored by Charter

Zemanta Pixie

Cheap PDA Stuff

rmiles7721April 15, 2008Technology

I’ve got a thing for gadgets, specifically PDAs. I’m not sure what it is but I like the idea of being connected and being able to do my computing in the palm of my hand. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be though. I’ve gone from a Palm M100 to a Palm Vx, HP iPaq, Motorola Q9m, Samsung i730 and finally a Blackberry Pearl. My favorites are the Blackberry, the Moto Q and the Palm M100 believe it or not. My Palm’s were a much more intuitive and easier to use interface than any of the Microsoft WIndows CE offerings. The Windows Mobile gadgets also tend to lock up and once I combined them with my cell phone they really make a mess of things when they are having memory and lock-up issues and you are trying to use the phone at the same time. Not fun.

I like the blackberry as well. I’m not sure what benefits the bigger Blackberrys have over the Pearl other than more screen real estate though. That’s what I miss using it. A bigger screen and a touch screen interface. Eventually if Verizon ever gets the iPhone I may go that route. I like the iPod Touch that I gave the wife for Christmas and as long as I can sync my calendar and contacts with it I would be good to go.

Anyhow, I like to check out accessories to go with my PDA as well. Preferably cheap PDA accessories although I prefer the quality to be something I am willing to use. SFPlanet.com has plenty of Cheap PDA Accessories for my window shopping as well as when I get ready to order stuff. There’s nothing better than being able to find cool stuff for my phone/PDA than being able to find it while I’m sitting on my rear end 🙂

They’ve got some pretty neat stuff as well. Stuff that I haven’t seen in the local Verizon store either, like an official Mickey Mouse finger strap thing with a flashing LED that lights up when you get an incoming call. Sweet. I have a pen that does the same thing but Mickey is even cooler. I also found a Krusell leather case I want. It has the thing on the back that will fit on a swivel clip. I hate the belt clip on the back of my Verizon Case. It’s a decent quality case but when I asked if they had one with a swivel clip the dude told me that they pretty much quit using them because they break. That’s not an issue for me (well, not much anyway) but I like being able to clip it on to my pocket and get it off easy. The last couple of days I have just been carrying the phone in my pocket. It’s about a third smaller without the case and if I can’t have one I like I just won’t use it. I may just have to spend the $22 and but the Krusell case when I get paid, well, maybe in a couple of weeks. It may take all my extra money for the next few weeks to pay off the IRS 🙁

GPS Tracking

rmiles7721March 19, 20088Technology

Supposedly my Freedom Keychain GPS device that I picked up last year while I was still using my Samsung i760 will work with the Blackberry Pearl. I know the GPS device does work because I have gotten it to partner with my computer as well as my old cell phone, but for the life of me I can’t seem to get it to work with my Blackberry. It’s not a hugely important detail in the grand scheme of things, but I have spent several hours off and on over the last week trying to get the thing to sync up and just can’t do it. I am at a loss right now and seriously considering getting something else. The idea of having a GPS receiver and being able to use it with mapping programs is just really cool.

Something else that’s pretty cool are the devices that Land Air Sea produces. Their GPS Tracking Key is a small device that picks up signals from the DOF GPS satellites and records the location every second. It’s pretty cool that it can get your location within about eight feet. Eight Feet!

You download the data by plugging it into the USB port of a computer and using something like Google Earth you can see where someone or something has been. Since it’s small it’s easily concealable and the magnet is strong enough to be placed under a car. It’s also water resistant as well.

Last year the GPS Tracking Key helped to solve a murder. George Ford’s wife thought that he was having an affair and placed on in his car. Originally he had been charged with reckless endangerment but after getting the data from the GPS Tracking Key the Chenango County Police charged him with murder.

There’s other reasons to have something like this besides cheating husbands. Three words. Teens with cars. That’s enough to make me want tracking devices, cameras, all kinds of stuff on a car. I can also see where it would come in handy if you have a fleet of cars or trucks as well. The device records how fast you travel, the directions you are facing, how long you are stationary and the route you travel. Using just those four things you can extrapolate all kinds of other information as well. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Can You Hear Me Now?

rmiles7721March 8, 2008Technology

Fall Back. Spring Forward.

Or maybe it’s spring back and fall forward.

Doh!

I get it. Spring forward and Fall back.

I’m sure I must be brain dead or something. I’m riding home from drawer change tonight and it struck me. Spring Forward. Fall back. As in the seasons. I’m sure I already knew that but for some reason the play on words hit me as if I had just learned something. Working where I work must be steadily retarding my brain or something. Just give me another decade and I’ll be a gibbering drooling fool.

Oh wait, I already am.

Can it get any worse?

So here it is about 10:30. Or 8:30. Shit, it’s 11:30 and I have to get up at 5 am. So does that mean I’m getting up at 6 or 4? Can’t I just call in and forget this shit.

Why can’t the government just let Mr. Sun and Mr Earth’s rotation take care of time. They seem to have done a pretty fucking good job of it prior to our meddling. Now you have 482 different time zones (unless you are smart and live in Arizona) and they change twice a year. What the fuck?

So I need to be in bed. It’s midnight now and I am not going to be worth a crap in the morning.

The girls are in South Carolina tonight. I suppose I’ll sleep on the couch as I usually do. If I happen to be off I will sleep in the bed but I am so afraid that I will oversleep when the wife isn’t here that I crash in the living room.

On an entirely different note (pun not intended but well used) I love music. I hate earphones though, thus the reason I don’t have an iPod. The earbuds are fucking irritating and headphones are almost as bad. That’s one of the reasons I gave the Marine my Jabra Bluetooth earpiece. I tried it for a couple of weeks two different times and I just hate it. I love the quality of the music with headphones but I always feel like I’m missing something with them on. I also can’t do like the wife does and only keep one in her ear while she’s pretending to pay attention with the other one (the deaf one). I am not easily fooled.

Wait a minute. Actually I guess I am, but I digress.

When I bought the Blackberry last month (did I tell you I’m selling my Samsung i760 on eBay?) it came with a set of earbuds. These are kind of nice. They are heavy. Damn, they actually have metal in them and aren’t some cheap ass piece of crap plastic junk that I’m going to tear up in two days. I set them aside. Since there’s no one in the house but me and I don’t want to hear the yipping of the dog as I kick him through the house I figured I would try them out tonight. Very nice. I also like the media player that comes with the Blackberry as well. The only problem I have is that it won’t let me hide shit from it, so along with every fucking song on my SD card I also get 2 seconds dings and pings and assorted whoops in between songs. I don’t want that shit going off when I’m listening to music. Can’t they fix this shit?

Speaking of eBay, the auction on my phone should have been complete several days ago but they killed the first one. AND charged me $27 bucks for it. “KEYWORD SPAMMING” Here’s a keyword for you. Two, actually. FUCK YOU.

I had it listed as a Samsung i760, almost new. Hell, I have used eBay for about seven years now, but I am not on there very often and I don’t know anything about keyword spamming. It IS almost new you bunch of shitheads. They fucking waited until six days into the auction when it was up to at least the amount I really want for the phone, THEN they cancel the fucking thing. Bullshit. So I have about three bids right now and it’s only going for $250 right now. If’n you are looking for a Windows Mobile 6 phone, head your happy ass on over and bid. Just because I hate the fucking thing doesn’t mean that you will. I understand it’s supposed to be a pretty good phone but after three months of usage I hate it.

Now the Blackberry Pearl this thing’s the shit. It had better be for $450. It’s not the perfect phone by any means but it’s pretty cool. I think someone needs to ship me their iPhone and let me use it for a couple of months so that I can see if I like it or not. You go into the Verizon place (or wherever the fuck you shop) and they have these stickers on the screens and very few working models around so you can’t really tell how much of a pain in the ass it is going to be to use or if you are going to like it or not. And these geeks that write the call phone reviews are all fucking retards anyway. What the fuck do they know and how many times have they had to try and cover two different shifts with people that have called in in three different stores while they are driving somewhere anyway. With a cup of coffee in one hand and a smoke in the other. Now THAT’s the test of a goddamned phone! If I can call out and answer while playing with myself at 80mph that’s the phone I need and don’t give me any of that hands free bullshit. The same thing applies to hands free devices that does to earbuds and head phones and retards that look like they are talking to themselves in the car need to be run off the road anyway.

Well, now that it really is late I have to hit the sack.