PSP: Race-Your-Heart-Games!

Here are few of racing games I tested and played in past two months aside from the famous Need For Speed series.

1). Gran Turismo for PSP

 image taken from amazon.com

Released not so long after the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for PS3, Gran Turismo (GT) Portable is definitely one of the best of driving simulation out there. Just like its console series, the graphic is top of the notch. Better than Need For Speed: Shift in terms of this game is trying to create 'a real simulation' while NFS is just a merely game.

Finishing the "Driving Challenge" mode could waste your hours, days, or even weeks to finish all challenges with the gold medals. It also could be stressful if you're not understand what are you doing inside the game. I repeat, it's more likely an insane mode of racing game because you should be perfect in braking, curving, accelerating or simply put everything to win a gold!

The race series is much easier. I never played the multiplayer since none of my friends have it in their PSP while I was on it. Other best part of this game is that it features around 800 cars! Cool huh?

2). Asphalt Urban GT 2

image taken from amazon.com

I remembered clearly the first time playing Asphalt is on my classic N-Gage Phone (Symbian Version) and it was kind of good or perhaps best racing genre mobile game in that era where java games were everywhere. After a while, I noticed Asphalt was still on the market when I saw my friends iPod Touch and there it was Asphalt Urban GT. So I recently try the GT2 Version and what can I say... this game is not interesting for me. The cars looked so a little cartoonish or rough while they try to make the environment real. 

But Asphalt has a few good points. Unlike Gran Turismo, they mostly prefer sports-car that can'be afforded by most of people who play the game *ouch*. Just name it.. Aston Martin, Lamborgini, Jaguar, Hummer, and so on.

Also they have this 'wanted level' similar to Need For Speed: Most Wanted. You could be chased by the police that only after you and ignore the other racers (WHAT?) and if you do knock out the police, you will get $1000 in the game. Ain't that bad? I only play for one race and after that I decide to quit the game. :) You might find yourself different from my opinion and of course that is fine.

3. Twisted Metal: Head On

 image taken from amazon.com

Okay, I notice that this is not a racing games. But it also features cars and wheels so I'll just put it on. At least this is better than Asphalt (IMO).

Head On is very much similar to others classic Twisted Metal with the same characters such as Mr. Grimm, Sweet Tooth, Twister, etc. The gameplay also the same. You need to destroy  all enemies in the certain stage. For example in Paris, Rome, and rooftops.

The boss fight is ridiculously difficult even in easy mode so you might want to play a tag-team with your friends. TM: Head On also feature the same 'move list' as its predecessor to launch actions such as freeze missile or summoning shield. This game could be quite fun or not depending whether you liked the console version or not.

@romeo_tango

Sony PSP Recommended Games - Part Deux

Okay, continuing my last post before I am going to give a few more titles for Sony PSP recommended games. Of course it is if you are in the same taste with me.

#3. Need for Speed : Shift

This latest NFS is good in graphic and improved gameplay. I still prefer the NFS: Most Wanted gameplay but Shift has better graphic and it might be a plus for some of you. I haven't tried Gran Turismo yet, but some of my friends already said that for PSP, the NFS rule out!

#4. Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines

The fact that the PSP 3000 have the limited edition of Assassin's Creed (AC):Bloodlines told us that this game is special. Yes indeed. If you played some of Prince of Persia (PoP) games also made by Ubisoft, you will notice a few resemblances between PoP and AC franchise which you could ram 'freely' in the town, climbing and walking in the dangerous spots. The differences in gameplay are that in AC, you should kill enemies silently in one strike while PoP offers you a more gung-ho experienced combat.

#5. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

Image from WikiPedia

This prologue of Final Fantasy VII main star is Zack Fair (of course there are also Sephiroth, Cloud and Aerith). The gameplay is changed into a faster action-RPG rather than slow-traditional RPG. The battle system is real time similar to Parasite Eve and the graphic is very smooth if not excellent. :) Put it here because I haven't finished the game yet to know the overall score. But the opening scene will obviously awe you.

#5.Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of The Lions

Image from Wikipedia

This is a remake from Final Fantasy Tactics in PSX. Same story, same characters, same gameplay. The plus side of it is that the events occured in the game now will be featured as  full motion video with subtitles. Also I notice that all the dialogue said in the game is using different sentences. They use more 'ancient' English than before.

#6. Warriors Orochi 2

Image courtesy of heroturko.org

Warriors Orochi 2 (WO 2) features around 96 characters (CMIIW) and that is quite a number for a game. Too bad this PSP version doesn't have the same graphic quality as in PS2 and of course couldn't match the first Warriors Orochi in PC (IMO the best). The gameplay is still similar with the first WO except that we could use Orochi from the very beginning. The new characters are what interest you want to play this game. They now have Sun Go Kong and San Zang from Chinese "Journey to The West epic", Yoshitsune and Benkei from Japanese history lessons and many more.

Okay than, since I need to go again right now.. I will continue this list later. :) 

Thanks.

@romeo_tango

Sony PSP Recommended Games

Well, it's been a while since last time I blogged. This time, enough with the BlackBerries and its company. I would like to share few recommended games for PSP.

#1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 / Winning Eleven 2010.

Image courtesy of konami.com

This soccer game franchise is very very very popular in Indonesia since its first showdown in PSX more than a decade ago. The newest PES 2010 give us a 'Become-a-Legend' feature which really consumed my days. Basically it will let you create a character that will be drafted in some league. After your first match, you will be received few offers from higher ranked clubs. In my case, English Premiere League and I then joined Middlebrook as my first club.

So the higher reputation the club has, the less chance you gonna play as the starting line-up at the few first games. Don't worry, they will give you chance most likely in 2nd half. So use it wisely and score as much as you can. After few matches, you will gain experience points that will added to your skill attributes. Also in this game, they have some footballer's peak curve which looked like this to show when will you reach maximum ability for your position.

Image taken from pesgaming.com

And as I described earlier, we will start as a youngster (17 years old) in some club and as we gained experience, our skills will increase and eventually reach the peak in some age. The game itself will be over when we already reach age 32. You could choose to retire or still play some game til' you reach 36 and the game will be forced to end. Nice isn't it? The gameplay itself is similar to the usual match with exceptions :

• We control only one player (ourself) in the field so don't go in frontline to often or you will be offsides for sure. You could ask for a ball by pressing L button.
• By default it uses 'become-a-legend' camera (a vertical view you will attack to north sides whether you are in the left side or right side of the field) but you could change the camera in gameplay to Normal mode just make sure that the camera tail to the ball and not you.
• If you were substituted (which you will), the camera is changed to Normal mode and you could change the game spectate speed to double. 

#2. Tekken 6:Bloodline Rebellion

Can't tell much about this legendary game. In my opinion, Tekken is already as famous as Street Fighter and even beat their predecessor much in the face "Virtua Fighter" which (cmiiw) was the first 3D fighting game in the arcade a decade ago.

So what's with this Tekken? What's new? Why I put it in the 2nd rank? Well, the graphic is kinda top of the line. The best graphic in PSP game for me right now is Final Fantasy VII : Crisis Core, but Tekken 6 isn't far from it. Aside from the new characters, continues storyline (which amazingly still focused in Mishima clan as you could guessed from the title of course - Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin, and Lars) there is a feature to custom a character using the money you got from winning rounds.

Image taken from www.shin-otaku.com

You could even transform few of the Tekken warriors into some hidden characters such as Cloud from Lars, Terry Bogard from .... uh I forgot. :| Anyway, it's kinda fun.

I'll continue this list sometime.Got to go right now.

Thanks.

@romeo_tango

BlackBerry Storm 9500/9530 Recommended Games

Okay, there are tons of java games out there and sometimes it is annoying to be misguided by the cover art of the games. The graphic usually shaddy and bad gameplay made me regret that I once installed the games.

So here, I will give you hints of good graphic quality and of course good gameplay for your BlackBerry Storm.

Super KO Boxing 2

This is basically a classic Super Punch Out for your BlackBerry. It has nice graphic and gameplay (see! I told ya). You simply swipe your finger to punch, jab, hook and dodge. Also, it has cool special uppercut moves (with special effect: FIRE) if you fill the gauge with the combos. Definitely 5 stars mobile game for me. Trust me this game is extremely difficult so you will spend much time punching. There are variants of enemy and long championship option.

ROAD MANIA

Okay next one is handling a traffic junction. You should avoid crashes by swiping to accelerate car, truck or motorcycle and tapping on them to make them stop for a few seconds. There are 9 streets (see right pic) you could choose of course each with their own junctions and conditions. This one also not easy but we're all grown ups arent we ;)

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

Similar to Road Mania, except this one we should land airplanes, jetplanes, chopper and air balloon to their designed lanes. There are 3 venue for this game the first one is to land the planes into mother ship, the second one is on the pic beside, and the last one is in the forest. Simply swipe the plane to the lane to create a path then they will automatically landed.

BERRY LABYRINTH

In this game, the goal is to put the silver ball into their designed pockets. How to play? The game will use the sophisticated accelerometer technology, you just simply tilt your Storm to move the ball. It also comes in Lite edition with levels limited only to 10.

So how was it? I already thought 4 will gonna fill up your Storm's 128MB Flash really quick so I'll stop now and will give you another hints after you upgrade to 256MB Storm 2 or 512MB Storm 3 (if any). And last part is, do you need to pay to get these games? The answer is YES. :)

Support the developer and buy the legit one okay?

Cheers.

@romeo_tango

Good BlackBerry Apps

It's been a while since the last time I reviewed applications for mobile phone. Okay, here are the apps I installed in my Storm currently.

OpenBeak

Between the famous UberTwitter and Twitter for BlackBerry, I choose this app because I need to tweet fast. You see, the moment we open this app, it will shows a pretty screen saying "what are you doing?" just like the picture below. Simply type and send to tweet. Fast right? It also has twitter standard features such as "See replies", "Friends Timeline", "Public Timeline", and also could upload pic to Posterous, Zannel, TwitPic, Twitgoo, or yfrog.

Just open their site and see for yourself. But for me, this app is important.

Image above is taken from orangatame.com

FourSquare

After Twitter, of course the most popular social networking tool is foursquare (just opinion, I won't install facebook in my BB anyway). 4sq for BlackBerry is useful to do.. 4sq things. 

Image above is taken from foursquare.com

Opera Mini 

We all need browser in our mobile phone nowadays. Opera knew that long before Microsoft realize it. And now Opera is the most popular mobile browser (another opinion which is most likely true) in the world. Of course I am still using the BlackBerry browser.... to download the Opera Mini. LOL... but I heard that OS6 browser will be amazing. Let's hope so. :)

CaptureIt 

Ever wanting to show some malicious bugs occured in your BlackBerry? CaptureIt is one of the solution. There are a lot of options to screen capture your phone just choose one and wisely. 

Image above taken from techmogul's web

GoogleMaps

Other important tool for a GPS-enabled BlackBerry (or without GPS also okay actually). The most fun feature in Gmap is Latitude. You could track your friend - of course with their permission - in the map in the whole world. Priceless! 

StopTilt

When first time holding Storm, I was very annoyed by its auto rotating screen. That's when I found this app. It will allow you to disable auto-rotation in specific screen. Useful but you should pay for it. I don't mind to pay around $4 (if i'm not mistaken) to buy this app. Perhaps you could find another free substitute and don't forget to tell me the name will ya ;)

I still have few apps installed in my BB such as GoogleSync, ForwardReplyEdit, CameraMute, Blink!, RadioOn, and QuickPull. You could find the use from its name right, so I won't take your time anymore. Cheers.

@romeo_tango

Got a New Toy Here! Treo 500v - Upgrade It To WM 6.1

Well, since my TyTN II is already passed away (flexible broken *sob*) so I was looking some simple smartphone out in the market and found this Treo 500v (codenamed Palm Otto). This is the only Treo produced using Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition - shipped with WM6.

This phone is very similar like any other Palm phones. It's beautiful, sleek and powerful. I might be kinda exaggerating, but I found that I like almost all of Palm's products. Okay, first when I tried the WM 6, it has a built-in Vodafone theme which is nice. Too bad I can't stand it and immediately browse for the ROM upgrade in the xda-developers. Why XDA-dev? Because if you search in Palm.com, you will be kinda shocked to know that this phone is not even listed in their product listing for unknown reasons. But still, this is a nice phone. 

Okay, here we go. To upgrade a phone, it always comes to this part : Read all the notes from the ROM developer to avoid bricking your phone and also read the comments from the earlier tester :).

From the caramba_sda :

Original Thread here.

NEW: my_rose WM6.1[en]v.3 Keyboard like the Treo 500 Vodafone
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=160

OLD:
Based on Microsoft's emulator v.6.1.4

Deleted:
•Office
•OneNote
•WindowsLive
•Catalog

Added:
•CHomeConfig
•ClockOnTop
•IntrudersMissedCallsSmsFix0.4
•Reboot
•AudioManager
•HTCSlidingPanel
•PhoneCanvas_2G
•VolumeControl
•tgetfile
•TopBarBattery(Vista)
•PPS=8Mb

Okay, now the fun part: 

1. Download the ROM from here
2. Format a MicroSD card to FAT16
3. Copy the .abi file
4. Press and hold down in the d-pad while powering the Treo
5. You will then see a red progress bar in the below Palm logo. Wait for almost 15 minutes and voila your Treo is updated.

Here are some screenshots from me :

The new splash image, cooler huh?

 It will show that it runs a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard in About screen
  

In my own experience, using WM6.1 is very very very very snappy. It boots much quicker and stable. Also if you prefer to use the newest version, you could download the WM 6.5.2 and WM 6.5.3 ROM from the same caramba_sda. I haven't tried it yet so I can't say anything about both of the ROM.  Of course thank him if you want to. :)

BlackBerry Storm 9500 Review

BlackBerry 9500 or codenamed with Storm was a splendid breakthrough from RIM. In my opinion, the Storm was one of the BlackBerry notable milestone since trackball. 

No I'm not exaggerating. Here are the reason why :

1. Storm is the first BlackBerry using touch screen and no hardware keyboard at all.
2. Storm is also the first 'multimedia' based BlackBerry as we could see it from the large display and storming audio.
3. Storm touch screen technology is also somewhat revolutional. It adopts the SureType into SurePress and also a mechanic on capacitive screen display which will make the user feels like clicking in a real button. Well, I am surely cannot explain the feeling perfectly using words, but trust me it works. Storm's virtual keyboard + clicking display is working really fine.
4. Have I mentioned that you could use a traditional 'abc' style keypad + qwerty + SurePress? Choose whichever suits you better. No pressure.
5. It has the best camera that BlackBerry ever embedded to its device -> 3,2 Mpx + Auto Focus.
6. It could record Video.

I'm currently using the official OS 5.0.484 for Telkomsel and it seems that everything went well until today. I have no complains at all using this device.

Well, actually there was one complain. I couldn't stand the auto-rotate feature that Storm has. Everytime I hold it wrong, it will automatically rotate and that is very annoying. I solve it by buying StopTilt software from CrackBerry or you could get it at Mobihand or in BlackBerry App World for $4,99 and that was the best software for Storm so far. LOL. 

Other application that I installed are : Google Sync, Opera Mini, OpenBeak, SmartBBattery, Quick Pull, and Forward Reply Edit. I also found a few good games : Labyrinth LITE, Shotgun, CoinToss for Storm, Lights Out, Flight Path and SL Blackjack. 

Actually there are still many good software but all I installed above are the free one :) Except for the StopTilt of course. 

At the end I would really recommend this BlackBerry for you who :

1. Needs a BlackBerry!
2. Likes Touch Screen
3. Likes to watch videos on your handheld (big screen!)
4. Likes to be different from other crackberries. In Jakarta most of the BlackBerry are Bold series and Curve series
5. Likes a new thing. Yes the typing might be stressful for some people (not me!) and trust me all you need to do is more practicing and typing as many as you can.

In Jakarta, or more specifically in Indosat BlackBerry mailing lists, the Storm is said to be sold for only IDR 2,5 million (around USD 270 at this moment). It's cheaper than BlackBerry 9630, BlackBerry 8900 and slightly more expensive than BlackBerry 8520.

Hotspot Solution with Captive Portal

Last week I got this project to setup a hotspot for a new coffee shop in Kelapa Gading area. Setting up the wireless is easy, but with captive portal? That's new to me. Oh, captive portal is used so the users need to get a user and password before using the network. So I googled for a clue and found this site that list down a lot of wireless application: http://www.personaltelco.net/PortalSoftware. The list was actually very helping to make a start.

To make it short, I tried a few of them but I found it too complex for a simple WiFi setup. Another search brought me to Coova project (coova.org). I use the CoovaAP which is a firmware for a LinkSys Router and voila I finished the setup in no time.. well, it took me 3 days actually. LOL. The hardest part is because I'm trying to put the router behind another router which always failed. So I then switch the main router with the CoovaAP to solve the riddle.

Okay, here is how to use CoovaAP :

1. Test your LinkSys using the original firmware. Setup an 'usual' hotspot. If it works flawlessly, proceed to next step.
2. Download a CoovaAP firmware for your device here. I used a LinkSys WRT54GL so I downloaded this file.
3. Connect to your LinkSys router directly and choose Administration - Firmware Upgrade. Choose the firmware file and click upgrade and you are advised to do this with the router plugged to an UPS. 
4. Wait until the process finish. The router will then reboot and after the DMZ light turned off, you will be ready to setup the Coova. Open the http://192.168.1.1/ page. (You need to be in the same subnet. I need not to tell you this thing actually.)
5. Taken from the guide, you need to enable boot_wait in the System - Setting. This will help you if something go wrong with the router. OH that's right. Never forget to click Save Settings in every page after you make changes. You will then see a line like this "4 config changes pending" in the screen. Click it and Apply the changes.
6. After that, setup the router network first. Setup the LAN IP and the WAN IP (the default is DHCP).
7. You might want to try connect the wifi without any hotspot solution yet. If everything works fine proceed to Hotspot menu.
8. To simplify your life, just use the "Internal Hotspot". Yes, it means the software used is inside the router actually. Neat huh?
9. After that, you might want to choose how the users will be granted the access. Whether using a login or simply to accept the ToS. Save changes!
10. Then if you want to go for the first one, create a sample custom users using the link in the right of the option. Create an user 'user' and password '123'.
11. After that you could edit the portal page. Just click it and choose which part you want to customize.
12. Phew, here is the last one. Ensure the internet line is up (step 7) and the internet LED should be green. Test your connection using another wifi-enabled devices. Open any URLs and you will be redirected to CoovaAP login page. :) 

Congratulations! You now have just deployed a captive portal for hotspot.

BlackBerry Curve 8520 (Gemini) Running OS5

Well, my BlackBerry was shipped with 4.6.1 OS in it and I knew that it was kinda a step behind the new one (OS 5). So I immediately search the famous http://blackberry.bosen.net for the OS 5 installer. I downloaded the EastAsia - Telkomsel files and installed it in my PC. Ah don't forget to erase the 'vendor.xml' file if you want to install it.

After that you'll just simply followed the steps in the screen and waiting for the Loader finished the job. The upgrading process is much alike the same with the one in my previous article so I don't want to waste my time typing the same part. Just click and read it for yourself if you're not sure what you are doing here.

Okay, OS5 are having few changes. Here are some of them (please note that I'm using the 5.0.592. The other OS5 might have different changes too):

• The Media files is now not an 'app' but a folder. It contained the Video, Music Player, Ringtones, Voice Recorder, Camera and Video Camera apps in it.
• The SMS is now using BBM style.
• There are changes in the setting menu. Now it's using a bubble-dropdown style.
• No keyboard lock. If you hold the 'a' button, it will bring you to standby mode and to un-standby, you should press the above media button (it's in the middle / the play button). The old lock style could be enabled by using password lock.
• Enhanced Browser

Actually there are more to it but I thought that the ones I listed above is what the users will experience by himself. The other upgraded parts for example the security, memory management, which most likely will never be noticed by me if I haven't read about it. :)

BlackBerry Curve 8520 Review

I just bought TyTN II to replace my previous BlackBerry Pearl because I thought I need a more powerful device at that moment. But apparently my boss didn't agree with that so here I am, back using a BlackBerry which is fortunately is given for free. 

Curve 8520 FrontFace

Okay, this Curve 8520 (code name Gemini) has few improvements compare to the older model like Curve 8320. This are few notable ones that you could take for consideration when buying or upgrading to this 8520 :

• It's thinner than other Curve series
• The body is made from semi rubber material and plastic (very shiny plastic that will become oily in seconds you make a phone call)
• Trackpad! Of course. It's called modernization. :) Say goodbye to trackballs.
• Dedicated music keys which is useful... sometimes.. 
• A 256 MB Application Memory! This is huge and the most useful improvement.
• Theoritically up to 32GB microSD is possible
• A 512 MHz CPU Processor. Almost no hourglass (in my usage)
• A good battery lifetime. 

I have use this phone for almost a month and I felt satisfied using this BlackBerry EXCEPT for the lame qwerty-board that will make an audible sounds like "tik tik tik tik" when you press the keys so you will not be able to use the BlackBerry in the boring meeting. LOL. But seriously, if you don't need a GPS, good camera with auto focus and comvy type-board, go for this one. If not you might want consider the Bold 9700 (Onyx) though.

Back to the serious part again, I have an average of thousands of emails in numbers for a day, not too active in chatting, tweeting, sometimes browsing using the Opera Mini or WLAN and the battery is quite good actually. It will lasted for more than 15 hours a day in my usage. Compare to my old Pearl of course. I've been told and read that Bold 9700 has a longer battery lifetime. Perhaps due to the bigger capacity of the battery.

This Curve also available in CDMA network with code name "Aries" and official name Curve 8530. That's all I can say. :)

HTC Hero's Android 1.5 on Kaiser

Can't say much about this.

Let the pictures tell them :)

 The Home Screen

 The Menu

About Phone

Everyone Connect by Nokia - Preview

So finally the countdown ended few minutes ago and I bet everybody in the world is trying to open the site. Anyway, the point is that Nokia launched 3 new devices with new "Messaging Solutions" - said them. The 'new solutions' they offered are  :

Email

Get personal with everyone. The devices support up to 10 email accounts. Intelligent tab system makes it easy to flip between your different accounts.

Messaging

Keep in touch with friends and family. Multiple chat accounts means you can stay in touch with your loved ones whatever chat client they are using.

Social Networking

Be in sync with all your social networks. Type easy with full QWERTY keyboard and make posts instantly.

The devices launched are :

Nokia C3

Nokia C6

Nokia E5

Okay. Is it worth to wait? Yes if you are the Nokia fans.

Everyone Connect by Nokia - Teaser

I wonder what are Nokia up to with this in page?

Everyone Connect Teaser

My guess is that 'everyone connect' by any means social networking. Since BlackBerry already launched they MyBlackBerry Social Media in here, there is a slight chance that Nokia is on the same track. 

 my.blackberry.com Screenshot

There is also a speculation that the event is used by Nokia to grand launching their OVI Contacts which will act the same way as BlackBerry Messenger does.But who will know?

I'll just stop guessing and let's just wait in less than an hour to know what the Finnish are up to.

HTC TyTN II Review

Launched as the successor of HTC TyTN (Dopod 838 Pro), HTC TyTN II also known as :

• Qtek & HTC TyTN II / P4550
• Orange & HTC TyTN II
• T-Mobile MDA Vario III
• AT&T Tilt (8900, 8915, 8925)
• Vodafone Personal Assistant Compact V
• Vodafone v1615
• SFR v1615
• Swisscom Mobile Assistant XPA v1615
• O2 Xda Stellar
• EMobile Emonster S11HT

You could just click on the link to see the full specifications and the differences between the devices. 

HTC Kaiser or AT&T Tilt or or MDA Vario III) is a very powerful device. While the first TyTN offered only 64 RAM and 128 MB ROM, the TyTN II doubled it to 128 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM (accessible 145.24MB) which is very adequate. The factory default had it pre-installed with WM 6.0 and already support HSDPA and Wireless 802.11 b/g.

Design

Most of the qwerty equipped PDA phone always thick and bulk so also the TyTN II. The 19 mm thickness is 3 mm thinner than the first TyTN and yes I feel kinda uncomfortable having it in my pocket. But it's really not a big deal considering I even had O2 XDA Exec in my pocket once. The sliding mechanism is nice and solid but the tilting mechanism is not somewhat exciting for me. Slide is good, but tilt? Hmm.. haven't found the use of it until today.

Tilted TyTN II

The QWERTY buttons are also nice. It has good tactile feedback and enough key size for me. 

 English QWERTY Layout

In front side, it has a packed 8 buttons which are : Green Button, Red Buttton (why they always come in these colors anyway?), Start Men, Internet Explorer, Messaging, OK and two softkeys. There is a front camera for video calling in the upper left of the front side.

Front Face

There are also scroll wheels in the upper right side of the body. Along with PTT and OK button. In the lower left side of body there is a Camera button. The back cover is made from semi rubberized material which looks like scratch-resistant to me. Also you could see there is GPS antenna beside the camera.

 GPS Receiver and Camera

Functions

It's a Windows Mobile 6.0 and able to do so many things. Just you name it. Here are TyTN II in actions. (This is using WM 6.5 by TPC Elite, see my other posts to know more about it).

The nice-add-in Weather Widget

Playing "Planet Hulk" AVI Video

iGO GPS Navigation

Yes as you could see in the picture, notice that it's not a screenshot but a shot taken with digital camera, the display is crisp and bright. I am only using 50% of it's brightness. It is very nice isn't it? Too bad its only a QVGA and not VGA.

Another pluses are with the vast amount of ROM it has, I could install tons of games and applications. and not forget to mention that this is one of the first Windows Phone that came with a decent camera 3,15 MP AND Auto Focus! Yay!

Overall, this device is the best 'old' Windows Mobile out there I believe. The 'old' here means that the screen is still using resistive touch screen while the 'new' ones are coming with capacitive touch screen (finger friendly).

Part 3: Screenshots of the New WM

Heh, okay here we go. These are the screen of your new OS :) Enjoy!

The Famous HTC Manilla layout :

The Moto UI layout :

The Titanium Skins :

I personally prefer the HTC Manilla.

All functions and widgets tested working well.

Have fun! :)

Part 2: ROM Upgrading in HTC TyTN II - Flashing ROM

Okay, this one is very easy.

Whenever you want to install a new cooked ROM, you should know and understand their requirements. But just like I said in the first part, I really want to make things simpler for you.

The TPCElite ROM, need HardSPL 3.3.4 and RadioROM 1.70.18.02 . So download them all and tell me if you done with it.

Already? Okay. So we will do the upgrade SPL first :

1. Sync your device
2. Go to the HardSPL 3.3.4 folder and double click the KaiserCustomRUU.exe
3. Watch and pray.
4. Done? Okay.

It should boot normally to your 'whatever' version of WM you have.

Then, we shall proceed to upgrading the ROM (finally). The steps are much alike the same from now on :

1. Sync your device
2. Go to the ROM's folder and double click the KaiserCustomRUU.exe
3. Watch and pray this one will might take more than 10 minutes.
4. After it completes, mine was taking around 10 minutes to start. But it will be much faster after the first boot.
5. Done? Okay now you have a new WM 6.5! But we're not finished yet.

The last part is the RadioROM. Yes it will be used since we have already download it. Basically the RadioROM is providing a 'driver' like for the new OS to recognize the sound driver, camera driver, radio driver and since the TPCElite Team said they ROM need the 1.70.18.02 version of Radio, we'll just obey them and install it now then.

The steps are (yes, this is a copy paste instructions. Sorry for that)

1. Sync your device
2. Go to the RadioROM folder and double click the KaiserCustomRUU.exe
3. Watch and pray.
4. Done? Okay.

After done with everything, boot to your new OS, check and test everything. If no problem occured then we are finished. Congratulations!

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible if you bricked your phone using this guide. Well, I encounter nothing dangerous with this guide so I just thought I'd like to share. But once again, DWYOR.

Part 1: ROM Upgrading in HTC TyTN II - Hard SPL

Well, it's been quite a time for me since the last time using the Pocket PC Phone (will be Windows Phone later). I finally choose HTC Kaiser from many options of Windows Phone out there. Actually I prefer XDA Flame, but when I held it in my hand, I immediately changed mind because it is too big for me. HTC Kaiser really has very nice built. Yes it is rather tick, but not thicker than the first Tytn / HTC Hermes and has good sliding mechanism.

It arrived at my hands still in default-outdated-wm 6.0 so the first thing in my mind was flashing and upgrading. So yesterday I browsed the famous xdadevelopers forum and spinned my head because there are so many ROMs for this HTC Kaiser and I read almost all of them (only WM6.5 and WM6.1 part) so I could choose carefully.

If you were reading the same thread as me, you might encounter the same dizziness as I so I would like to help you with this post (I hope this could simplify the things) :

1. First, to upgrade ROM, you need a HardSPL. Get it here. (Sorry it is in Rapidshare. It's not mine though.)
2. Extract the file and copy these JumpSPL1.56-KAIS.exe, JumpSPL1.93-KAIS.exe and JumpSPL1.94-KAIS.exe to the phone memory (NOT in the Storage Card!)
3. Sync your phone.
4. Open the file explorer and run the JumpSPL1.56-KAIS.exe, if it's not working, reboot and run the JumpSPL1.93-KAIS.exe or the last one JumpSPL1.94-KAIS.exe.
5. After your phone showed a three colour screen, unplug the USB and wait for 30 seconds.
6. Uncheck the "Allow USB Connection in ActiveSync"
7. Plug the USB and wait for the upgrade process (it usually takes less than 1 minutes).
8. Your phone should boot normally. 

To ensure that the HardSPL already been installed in your device, press power button + camera and then reset with stylus. Hold it until the screen shows the same screen as before. Only if you had noticed it earlier, there are .HARD in the numbers shown right now (previously mine was .0000). This means that we are indeed successful and can move on to next step.

Before we begin upgrading / changing the ROM, please read this threads to decide which one you'd like to use :

• Official ROM from HTC and AT&T
• Unofficial ROM

Confuse eh? Okay just choose the one I picked. This one is called TPCElite ROM and had a quite impressive display if you read in the thread.

The one I downloaded have Titanium, Manila and also "Moto" layout for the Today screen. Just see the screenshot in the thread link or in this part 3.

After you agree with me, download the ROM here :

• TPC V11 Mega Edition loaded with Manilla, Moto Home and TPCHome (Titanium) HERE or HERE (mirror)
• TPC V11 Mega Edition Manilla Only HERE or HERE (mirror)
• TPC cHome Style without widgets HERE
  

All the links above are not mine btw so I'm not taking any credits for it. Say thanks in the thread if you'd like to.

Okay. Let's move on to the part 2.

Sound Suddenly Stops in Linux? [Troubleshoot]

Ever experiencing this issue? My soundcard suddenly stopped working but it was still detected by the Kernel. Here's how to solve it very quick and I was using OpenSuse 11.1 but this should work for another Linux.

1. Delete the /etc/modprobe.d/sound or just move it to another place to be safe.
2. Type alsaconf and just followed the instructions on your screen. Here what was shown in mine :

Screen 1

Screen 2

Screen 3

Screen 4
3. After the steps above, your system should tell you these lines :
"Now ALSA is ready to use. For adjustment of volumes, use your favorite mixer. Have a lot of fun!"
4. You could test your configuration using this command speaker-test -c6 -twav as root.

That's all. HTH :)

An Otterbox.. Finally!

After a while searching for the second-hand OtterBox for Pearl 8100 I finally gave up and ordered it online in their site directly (www.otterbox.com). There was one offering before, but the person wanted to sell his OtterBox for IDR 400,000  (around $42) while the new one in the OtterBox.com is only $24.95 (they discounted it from $49) so I rejected the offer and decided to buy it online. I then asked their sales support team whether they shipped to Indonesia and how much for the shipping fee which was kinda surprising for me because it's only $7.05 cheap. Yeah, it's quite cheap compares to my previous online shopping. That time I bought two silicon cases for only less than $5 for Nokia E61 and Nokia 7390 and the total fee I should pay to the mediator-service along with tax etc, was around $20!

Anyway, after waiting with jumpy feelings for 5 days (the scheduled was originally for 6 days), the OtterBox finally arrived in my hand. Anyway, here is the tracking records if you would like to see the route :)

Yes, it came earlier one days which is good for an "international economy" package. After opening the FedEx envelope, the box itself is already half-destroyed. Perhaps due to its long journey. I immediately checked up inside and found the Otterbox, a yellow one, and awed by its sturdy built.

The same in the complete review here, I agree that the Defender Series really add some bulk to the beautiful  Pearl, but it is a good bulk. Here is the pic I took this morning.

Front Face

Back Side

And to add the final touch for this article, this is the video demo of what Otterbox Defender will do to your BlackBerry.

Things You Should Know About Google Buzz

Well, it looks like that the Google wants to be the public enemy afterall. They launched Google Nexus One, an Android based smartphone which head-to-head directly with the Apple's iPhone not to forget the super-search-engine, which at this point of time is the best compares to Yahoo oneSearch and Bing. And they're not stopping yet.

Last week, Google Mail, enabled Buzz feature in your inbox. This is a social media from Google. Who are they challenging? Of course the famous social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

These are the points why I said that they are challenging their predecessor :

1. It is simple. To buzz you just simply type in the text area given in the Buzz. (Twitter-like mode)
2. You also could share photos in Picasa or Flicker and of course sharing the links to various sites. (Facebook-like mode)
3. Integrated with your Gmail accounts. (meme Yahoo-like mode)

But of course its totally different from the others. Google is well known for its innovation, not because their plagiarism. Here are the good points from Buzz :

1. Simple public / private posts by choosing from drop-down menu besides the text area.
2. Easy to comment on your friends buzz.
3. There's more than 140 characters to post.
4. Auto following your contacts
5. Integrated with your Gmail which I always open everyday.
6. Integration with Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader, Google Talk status and also Twitter.

After a week using the Buzz, I found that this is a very good one and really promising. There's also been a rumor that it will then integrated with Google Waves which I actually never used (have you?) and will not be a surprise if YouTube also in the Buzz.

But Google Buzz also have the darksides. One of them is that you could edit your Buzz anytime you want so this things http://bit.ly/bpEkie might be happened in your lifetime. Just use it wisely Buzzers!

The Famous BlackBerry Messenger

Before using BlackBerry, I thought that people asking each others PIN (BlackBerry's PIN) was kinda tawdry and always feel that feeling whenever hearing people asking each others PIN (please, not that ATM pin!).

But after using BlackBerry for a while now I notice that few reasons why BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is kinda famous. Here are the points :

• BlackBerry is still on the hype. No matter what kind of new Apple variants been developed or what Androids been assembled, people are still craving for this BlackBerry.IMO, this is due because of BlackBerry have a dedicated internet lines to their server which make BlackBerry is reliable. For me, of course because of the battery lifetime. 13 hours while pushing around 1500 emails and chatting, Twittering while also making a phone calls is a new record for me. (try that in your non-BlackBerry phone and let me know the result)
• It is by default the only BlackBerry's 'Chat' client so even if you don't like it, it is in the BlackBerry handset by default
• Running multiple applications at the same time will drain your battery fast so I found a few people disable their Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger in the handset and let the BBM do the talking. Well yes, of course there are people who deleted their BBM for the sake of 3MB but it is so rare in my circle-of-friends. Btw, the 3MB is very important in BlackBerry.
• BBM have a Delivery and Read Receipt. For an Instant Messaging, this is kinda neat.
• BBM Groups is more than just conference. You'll always connected with all of your friends at once unless their battery is dead of course. You also could easily share calendars event and pictures in the group.
• Exclusive for BlackBerry handset or in other words you will never run this application in the PC or let alone another handset.

That's all. Just suddenly feels the urge to write down something again about BlackBerry. :)

Starcraft in Nokia N900 Maemo

When I first read about it, I cannot believe that it is possible. But as we all know.. seeing is believing.

Watch this :

and also this one is his siblings,



Cool isn't it?
Can't wait to have one :)

BIS Lite and Twitter Part 2

We have discussed about updating Twitter from Google Talk earlier and now I will share my idea of using  BIS Lite (Emails and Chat) to get Twitter updates.

Why am I doing this while you could just simply pay for full BlackBerry Internet Service? Well, it is very simple. I spend most of my days sitting in front of computer. Perhaps around 10-12 hours a day so it will be such a waste if I pay IDR 180,000 for BIS by Telkomsel. BIS Lite is already proven useful for me.

Nowadays, I get informations mostly from Twitter. Here are few useful tweeter fellows that you might want to follow :

• TMCPoldaMetro -> Jakarta's traffic information
• OKEZ0NE -> One of the biggest news portal in Indonesia
• kompasdotcom -> Biggest Newspaper in Indonesia
  
• BlackBerry -> RIM's official Twitter
• fp_pnp -> Forumponsel.com buying and selling Twitter. Never missed what you want to buy!
  
• GilaPromoDotCom -> Informations about promotions, discounts, sale and whatsoever
• jobsinindonesia -> do you want to work here? :)
• GamepadMagazine -> a Jakarta Gamer's Twitter
  
• ID_ARSENAL -> the official Arsenal FC - Indonesia supporter's Twitter
• engadget -> its Engadget.com
• boygeniusreport -> We're lucky that it's not about this boy, but it tweets about boy toys!

Okay, that was few of them on my list. Can you see how much information you'll get from Twitter? That's why I like to use it more than any social networking sites. Back to topic, to receive Twitter updates, we will use another third party helps. I always wonder why this third party is everywhere and the best part is they serve us for free! (horray for that.. for now...)

Here is the howtos :

1. We will use the service by tweetbymail. 
2. Simply just register your account
3. Go to setting
4. Click tab Updates and in "Sending updates to" type your email address and click "Set Updates"
5. And to get all your @replies click tab Trackings, type your email address and click "Set Trackings"
6. You should check your inbox because I use @live.com and @gmail.com and both of them filter the @twmail.com as spam or junk.
7. Done.

Enjoy :)

Blackberry Pearl 8100 Themes

By default, I never like the BB_Dimension_Zen in Pearl screen and in the first hour that Pearl in my hands I already have the thoughts of finding a nice theme. Then I browse a few BlackBerry theme sites and found none I like until I remember a famous Chinese forums which also have a BlackBerry sub-forum and I visited them, search all posts related to Pearl and found these two decent themes.

First one is Bold Theme for BlackBerry Pearl

This one is very nice and you could get it here.

The second one is Storm replica which I don't really like it, but better than anything else out there. Here is the screenshots :

 Home  Screen

Icon Screen

This Storm replicas is available here.

Both of the above links are alx and cod files so you could download from PC and install it via Desktop Manager. All credits of course for the creator and the uploader which I don't even know the names.