Project.Zero
TECH: Upcoming Galaxy predicament…

The white Galaxy Note on the left, the Galaxy Nexus on the right

So I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do in the next couple of months in regards to some certain galaxies—Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note to be precise. They’re both upcoming devices from Samsung, both anticipated juggernauts in the Android world and they aren’t even released yet. I think I’m a little closer to a decision, though… I was thinking of buying the Galaxy Note outright and upgrading my Galaxy S II to the Galaxy Nexus so that I could have both (for no apparent reason other than that I’m crazy). So what is the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Nexus?

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GAMES: Rockstar releases the debut trailer for ‘Grand Theft Auto V’! My thoughts on it…

Because Grand Theft Auto is such a huge and respected franchise, I kinda want to give my opinion on the debut trailer for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V…and also because I think Grand Theft Auto IV is completely overrated.

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GAMES: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Collector’s Edition!

The Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Collector’s Edition! I’ve been waiting a long time to play this game. I wasn’t a big fan of the first game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and thought the series was overrated, but man, after playing the sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was my mind ever changed! I think this is the first game series where the sequel changed my opinion of it after I had set mind on the first title. If I don’t like the first game of the series, it’s most likely that I will not ever like said series. Didn’t like God of War, and no matter how good God of War 2 or God of War 3 were, I still don’t like the series. It’s happened before where I could like the first game but following iterations made me dislike the series, though (looking at you, Halo 2 lol). But to me, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was SO good that I quickly became a huge fan of this franchise, even if I still don’t like the first game all *too* much. It’s a good game, but the gameplay frustrated me at times. That was fixed in the sequel, though. Can’t wait to start Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception! But I want to share this Collector’s Edition with you, so I’m going to do that first lol

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GAMES: ‘Batman: Arkham City’ Early Preview of a Review lol

So I kind of did it again. I made a stupid-long comment on Facebook about a video game, this time being ‘Batman: Arkham City’. Great game, but still with some flaws. After making the comment, I thought I would maybe write a review of the game or something since I did beat it and want to talk to people about it. Now, I’m only just going to copy-and-paste the exact same comment I made about the game, this is not the actual review. This is just a preview; my initial thoughts of the game put down. I will write up the review later when I have time and after I completely beat the game 100%.

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TECH: (update) Samsung and Google will unveil the new Nexus Prime and Android OS 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich in less than one hour!

In less than one hour, the event to unveil the Nexus Prime will begin! While the Prime has the potential to be one of the greatest handsets ever, I still feel that there is a huge possibility that it won’t live up to expectations and end up being rather average.

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TECH: Samsung Galaxy S II Review

Okay, so let’s officially start this blog off with a review of something I have grown rather fond of: My Samsung Galaxy S II Android device. I’m gonna post some quick points about the phone so that you can get a gist for the good and the bad, but for a more in-depth review, be sure to read after the break!

The Good…
- absolutely stunning Super AMOLED Plus display with no PenTile matrix
- good whites and good blacks makes texts easy on the eyes for reading
- big 4.3” screen for those that like it
- screen protected with the super-tough Gorilla Glass
- despite its light weight, feels more sturdy and durable than previous Galaxy S
- a nice, simplistic body design that could be pleasing to the eye
- enough cannot be said about the Exynos system-on-chip
- very fast performance with little to no lag
- great for taking pictures; could maybe replace some point-and-shoots
- expandable memory up to 32GB
- solid battery life
- it runs Android, so there’s a lot of customization that can be done there
- Swype, for an alternative to typing, is now better
- Voice Talk powered by Vlingo good for use when wearing gloves
- is still one of the top Android devices despite being out for over half a year

The Bad…
- the resolution, and in turn the pixel density, is still too low for my liking
- big 4.3” screen for those that don’t like it
- plastic build quality may be off-putting for some
- earpiece quality could be better
- have to take out battery to access microSD
- stock headset/mic combo doesn’t allow for easy music control like iPhone’s
- no notification LED
- no dedicated camera button
- no ports for things such as HDMI
- leaving wifi on seems to drain battery quite quickly
- it runs Android, which may not be for everyone when it comes to a mobile OS
- some bloatware that the average user most likely will not use

In the end…
Despite some shortcomings, the Galaxy S II’s strengths far outshadow them and propelled the device to a status that is few matched and almost defied the logic of the hectic tech world. Almost nine months old and it’s still a top dog.

Read my full in-depth review of the Galaxy S II after the break!

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First Actual Blog: What smartphone should YOU get? (it’s really a recycled Facebook post)

Okay! I think I got an idea for my first actual blog for this (I’m fairly new at this blogging crap, so cut me some slack while I think of better materials to write about -_-)

Anyway. The following is a comment I made on Facebook a few days ago. Ever since the new iPhone 4S reveal and the downage of RIM’s BlackBerry servers around a good chunk of the world, a lot of people have been asking me for my opinion on different mobile devices and what they should get. One day, I was bored and ended up giving an unnecessarily long comment about mobile devices to a couple of friends that asked. Since it was quite long and a couple of people did enjoy the comment, I’ve decided to copy-and-paste it here for others to get a look-see at it; hopefully it could help one of you out!

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My First Blog…I think

Well then. My first blog. At least, I think it is. Don’t recall having one before. Hm… Now that I’m kind of on the spot, I don’t really know what to say. Um… What’s “Sojoph” you ask? Even if you didn’t ask or didn’t even notice, I’m going to tell you anyway. It was something I randomly came up with while I was bored in class a long-ass time ago. I took the first two letters of my first, middle, and last name and put them together as I was doodling crap in my notebook.

Sou*********** Joe Pha********

(yeah, like I’d really tell you what my first name and last name are right now). How do you pronounce “Sojoph”? I have no idea.

I was never much of a blogger, but I do (occasionally) post walls of text on Facebook status updates or comments for almost no apparent reason at all lol I don’t talk too much in person, but give me a keyboard, and I’ll kill your eyes away. Those that know me know, especially on Facebook, that I tend to spam the living hell out of their walls with my many, many…many numerous posts of rather random things that may or may not even remotely interest them. In the slightest.

However, it is probably because of these random postings and my, quote-unquote, “gargantuan-sized status updates and comments” (thank you for that, Rin) that quite a number of friends and family have suggested to me that I should:

A) becomes a salesperson (which I cannot do due to the fact that I do not like dealing with frustrating customers),

B) become a professional reviewer (which I think would be a bad idea ‘cause I really do not think people give a crap about my opinions),

C) start my own blog (which I’ve never really considered before ‘cause I figured I wouldn’t have any clue on what to blog about…), or

D) shut the hell up.

I went with the popular choice E) none of the above—as opposed to D) ‘cause you know what? Make me—and continued to spam the crap out of Facebook, much to the dismay of most on my Facebook friends list lol But due to the persistence of some, I have decided to at least try Tumblr out (because I am a cheapo that will not pay to have, and maintain, my own site). So to those that actually enjoy my random, nonsensical comments, this is for you: my first attempt at a blog. Here, I will try to post most of my opinions and/or thoughts on a variety of subjects. What could you expect? Hm. Well…

Recently most of my thoughts have revolved around the tech world; namely mobile devices. I personally use an Android and BlackBerry device—the Samsung Galaxy S II and Bold 9900 respectively—and don’t particularly like using iPhones, but it doesn’t mean I hate ‘em. I may be a little bias against ‘em at times, which some people know, but I do try to remain objective whenever someone asks for my opinion on products.

Aside from that, I have a rather unhealthy love of video games lol Do I review ‘em? Sometimes, if I feel they’re worth it. Do I give my opinions of ‘em? Hells yes, all the time. Some of my friends may know that I can go on and on about some games (ie. Assassin’s Creed) and will continue to ramble and write essays on their status updates for no reason at all (sorry, Mel, if you are reading this lol). With ‘Batman: Arkham City’ coming out in just a couple of days, I think you can expect me to give an opinion about that within a week or so lol

I regularly head out with my friends to see any movies that may interest me in theatres. I…might give an opinion or two about some of ‘em. I don’t know *shrugs*

There’s other shit I occasionally like talking about, too. I might say a few things about a book I’m currently reading and enjoy, music I enjoy listening to, shows I like, something about a car that’s coming out soon or one I just saw (dude. Gotta love those Skylines, baby), a random manga chapter of something like Bleach or Naruto, or if the Leafs lose in the dying minutes of the 3rd period when they were leading by 5 goals. Anything that I am interested in. And trust me, I have interests in a lot of different things and I got opinions on all of ‘em. I’m an opinionative guy, and I like to voice those opinions even if people don’t read it. I don’t necessarily care, I just want to voice ‘em. And in case it might help someone with something, even better since I do like helping people. I think I have gone on long enough here. I thought this was going to be a rather short introduction, but it seems I just extended it to something exhaustive to read considering I gave nothing of value to the reader here lol So I will leave it at here, and for those that have taken the time to visit and read this, I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the random that is me and hope that you visit at least a few more times. If there are any spelling or huge grammatical errors, not my fault. I have a tendency of not proof-reading a damn thing I do lol

And hey. Welcome to Oblivion.

(o.O)-b
^ [that’s supposed to be something giving a thumbs up lol]