Reviewing the ZTE Awe from Virgin Mobile!

Paul

The Virgin Mobile ZTE AWE comes with a 1.2 ghz processor and the screen is really nice.   I did switch from the Kyocera Rise to this because of a flaw that would just make the screws come off and break apart.   I have had over a week to play around with the ZTE phone and I am quite impressed with the service.  I thought it would be good to at least talk about some of the obstacles you will need to overcome to switching and that way you could be ready when the time comes!

Pro and Con Time!

It got way more features then the Kyocera Rise and that is a definite plus in my book.   The Android system 4.1 and it is really snappy.   The system is easy to use and clean cut.   I really didn’t have any major problems with the phone.   Comes with a Front Facing Camera, another plus because now I can use Skype to talk to my friends and family and have video chats with them.  There seems to be several different Facetime apps for the Phone to make it easy for you and who ever you wanted to face to face. I personally like to use Skype for all my video chats.   The front Facing camera isn’t high resolutionbut is a 1.2 mega pixel camera.   So you won’t get the best quality but at least you get to see them.  Battery life is no issue with the phone even though I can still use my Ravpower Dynamo On the Go if I need that extra boost of battery life.

With it only be under 100$ phone from Virgin Mobile, you will want to take care of it as much and Walmart doesn’t seem to have the right cell phone covers that you will need to encase the phone in to prevent any damage.   I will say Amazon US has some great ZTE AWE Phone Cases that aren’t that expensive.  I happen to buy a universal Phone Belt Holster for the phone to keep it save and to keep from having any major damage.   The Screen is something else you would want to protect with some kind of universal screen protector.   I have heard people say that since this is really knew those types of accessories will not be coming out for a few more months so you will have to make due with what you can get.

Wifi Hotspot

With the ZTE AWE you can have a Wifi teether to your devices.   It seems to be locked, and I will find a way around this because I am already paying for the unlimited data and should not be required to pay an additional 15$ from Virgin Mobile.  If I figure out how to do it, you will be the first to know.   For right now the Bluetooth teethering seems to work just fine and gives you some tethering options.  Which works on both Kyocera Rise and This phone and probably every Virgin Mobile Android Phone.   Can’t be sure but it is a good bet!

Space

The Phone only comes with a 4 GB capacity and some of that is used for the Android System. The good news is you can add up to 32 GB Micro SD to the phone and increase the phone storage to 36 GB.  I had no problem using the old Micro SD card from the old phone and plopping it in the new phone.  Worked like a charm and give me no problems.

Screen

The Screen is a LED IPS touch screen and it is vivid when you need it to be.   I found the phone didn’t do well with the Auto Dimming feature when you were outside or inside but that is to be expected with price of the phone.   I found turning off that feature from time to time to increase my battery life and keeping it on Dim worked just fine for me.   Although this is a personal preference, some might not be able to see the screen as clearly so it is up to you!  Watching Netflix and other shows on the device isn’t a pain and can be quite nice for the change.   Even with the Soft Data Cap to worry about, you can still enjoy some great shows on the phone.

Battery Life

They Claim to have a 11.2 hours on the website but I found that to be doubtful to say the least.   I gotten 8 hours out of the phone on standby and about 5  to 6 hours using it regularly.  Since this is a new phone, the batteries will not be on the market for a few more months but at least there are battery extenders to help keep your phone running when you need to.  I am hoping they will start selling the high end batteries for this type of phone to extend it past 12 hours of use.   

Disclaimer — Some links on the post help support my blog and lets me review other products.   Most of the Links are either Virgin Mobile/Amazon affiliate links and they both help support my blog.

Squarespace goes down for 2 hours or so! Friday Nov 8, 2013

Paul

Squarespace fail whale!

Today at around 5:00 pm EST, my site went down. You would of saw that picture as you went to many sites who use squarespace for all their hosting needs.

 

 

Squarespace after the fact!

I didn’t get much response from them through twitter and through email. They said they were having technical difficulties was their response. Those were some trying times and Then Squarespace announces they have fixed the problem. I would much rather have a company be open about this then one who would try to sweep this under the rug. It is your turn to disclose what really happened Squarespace. We are waiting……

 

Top 4 Traits to have to be a leader!

Paul

Leadership Buffalo_Team Building Buffalo NY (21)

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. Jim Rohn

I have been seriously thinking about what a leader does and it has come to my attention there are five traits that are essential for any leader to lead and I will touch upon each and every one of these!

“A Leader leads by example!”

This one really talks about what each leader should do.   In my current working environment, we see people who are getting away with murder and this creates an environment that we don’t have to listen to the person who is in lead.   It is simply the fact that if they say one thing and then does something totally different with another person than why should we listen to the complaining.

Expecting Expectations!

If you don’t expect someone to give you some kind of expectations than you aren’t working.   Each place I have worked for and worked at their are defined expectations of what is required and what is needed.   I have seen this from other places but as of late, it has been quite difficult to understand or even grasp with my current working environment due to leadership.   If only leaders would be more proactive and try to convey all their expectations clearly and want you to succeed everyday your at work then it would make for an even better day!

Encouraging feedback!

whether your the lowest person on the totem pole or the boss in a company you are constantly looking to be encouraged and defined by your peers.   So we all want some kind of encouragement and even feedback on how we are doing in the day to day grind.   Nothing says your a leader until you learn that you didn’t get where you are without the people who you lead to great success, no matter how low they are in the scale.  if only leaders would do this more often you would see how success comes in waves to everyone involve!

Get your Hands dirty!

This is also seems to be getting away from leaders they have not done some of these jobs that they claim they have in the past and have forgotten the small guy.   If you really want to make a difference in today’s economy, you should stop what you doing and do a job one of your employees are doing just so you can remember just how hard they are working and thus you can give them so great encouragement and feedback on what they are doing everyday of their lives.

These are just four of the many traits any leader should use to become even better at their job and to make their job and others a success by understanding their employees and what they do.  

 

First Look: The ZTE Awe from Virgin Mobile!

Paul1 Reply

I recently Switched!

With the Kyocera Rise that kept on fall apart, I decided I needed to invest in a better phone.   This seemed perfect for me.  5 MP camera and tethering capabilities if you add 15$ more.  I got this from Walmart but wanted to talk about the ZTE AWE just a few minutes and let people know I’ll be talking about this in more details.   I am quite impressed with screen size and other things.   The weight of the phone is less bulky and doesn’t weigh as much.   

I just got tired of having to tighten those darn screws into the phone on the Kyocera Rise even though this was a cheap phone to begin with, I didn’t want to have to have to worry about it.   So I opted for a little bit more money to get the Virgin Mobile US ZTE Awe (Virgin Mobile is one of the sponsors to my website, because I like their service and want others to know about them).   In the coming weeks I will be talking about it even more but wanted to show you what I gotten the last few days and give you something to look at and possibly get yourself.   

Display : Type: LCD (Color TFT/TFD) 

Resolution: 480 x 800 pixels,  4”   diagonal 

Processor: 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8630

Micro SD Card Size : 32 Gb capacity

Camera: 5 Mega Pixel with LED Flash 

Modes:    panorama, burst mode, interval mode, face detection, blink detection, smile detection, red-eye reduction

Front Facing: 1 Mega Pixel resolution

Video Capture : 720 HD

 

The End to all Games : Ender’s Game Review!

Paul

Ender’s Game

I was all set to go see the movie Ender’s Game!  I even talked about it in May that I wanted to go see this movie but I will say I wasn’t expecting this to blow me away!   I will say this before I get to far into this and spoil it for anyone.   If you haven’t seen the movie and you hate spoilers, please move on and do not read anymore.   I doubt I will be able to not spoil it the plot.   If you haven’t read the book, Ender’s Game and you have an Android, then you should read the book either before or after the movie.   It will help explain some of the things that was not touched on in the movie.   Some of the common questions that I had were quite obvious:

Did Petra Arkanian (Hailee Steinfeld) fall in love with Ender Wiggins(Asa Butterfield)?

The Backstory about Valentine (Abigail Breslin) and Peter (Jimmy ‘Jax’ Pinchak)?

As you can see this is answered in the books more or less, but I will not spoil some of these questions by answering them to my readers.    

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.”  —Orson Scott Card

As we start off the movie, that is the quote you see on the screen.   This quote is monumental to the book and movie, because you will see the conclusion of that quote from beginning to the end and understand just how hard it was for Ender to do what he did and see his agony when he discovers a very fatal secret that was kept from him and his team until the very end.   That I will not spoil because it is a key story plot that must be read or watched to fully understand the outcome of the full book or movie.   

Character Development

I couldn’t blog about this without at least touching on the characters a little and talking about them.  In the movie the development of Ender Wiggins and how he got where he got to was constantly changing and increasing in difficulty due to the need for him to be a leader.   This was about him and this battle with the bugs as some would say but it was also something that in the movie was never forced upon you and it kept my attention.   The details they used on the big screen were in essence almost exactly the same in the book.   I doubt I was the only one but I saw each chapter on the screen as it was playing and it was like a WOW moment when I realized that.   They created the movie almost like the book, chapter by chapter and I am impressed.

We had some big name actors Harrison Ford from Star Wars, Abigal Breslin from various films like “Definately, Maybe” and “Nim’s Island” and ofcourse Ben Kingsley who played in Iron Man 3.   Each one of them brought a unique presence to the movie and helped draw you into the story line.   I must say I was impressed with their abilities and how they made you believe they were who they said they were.

Graphics of Movie!

I must say they didn’t over do any of the CGI and I am quite curious how they actually did the Zero Gravity, and all that.   I cant’ wait to see the behind story of all that because it fascinates me and makes me wonder if it was some CGI and some actual weightlessness that they did to makes you believe they were actually in Zero Gravity and not on earth.   I won’t go any farther than that to try to not spoil it for anyone but it was very well done with the Graphics and the battle scenes were actually believable.   

Conclusion

I have talked about this as thoroughly as I could without giving any major plots away and it is rated PG-13 with minor violence and VERY little language.  So it is up to you who you will allow to go see this movie but I have to say if you read the book you won’t be surprised at anything that you see in the movie.   I do think this movie is a MUST “Go See” and the idea of boycotting this movie because of the Anti-Gay ideas of the Author is simply ridiculous because every writer who ever wrote anything has some view or idea that you may not like and it is hypocritical to think you can change who he was just by boycotting a good movie.