The last time I was at this establishment I was a wreck. To say I was a shadow of my former self implies, in clichéd fashion, that there was a former self to be. I do not think I was anyone in those days, nor did I feel like I was anyone. I was not there. Now, I return, triumphantly it could be said, after a hiatus of two years, and I see mirrors of myself wandering the lichen laden concrete pathways. A lifestyle as hardy as the moss, that perpetuates despite increasingly tougher conditions.
After a two year break, following a near three year battle with mental illness, I am finally back at university. The completion of my studies, once a seemingly impossible dream, now seems ever more likely as, step by step, I somehow survive, even thrive, and grow more comfortable into the academic scene I left all those years ago as an anxious, panicked, depressive husk.
I was a slightly more mature student to begin with. Turning up with a spring in my step and a few years extra life experience over my colleagues. Now I feel like an old man, advanced only a couple of years in age, but decades in experience. But, back then, I could still have fun, I could socialise. Not out of any talent or necessity, but out of insecurity. I would drink not as a social exercise in fun, but out of an essential urge to be intoxicated. Alcoholism would have been a term I probably held in the back of my mind, but would pass over, merely claiming I was 'joining in' or 'enjoying the campus experience'. Of course, these lies are something most alcoholics tell themselves at some point. The hollow mental whisperings of denial that keep us on that easy path of never confronting the real issues, but simply masking them with the forgetful, heady airs, graces and feelings of booze.
I see, drifting among the towering stone structures, individuals finally cut free of their umbilical ties and whose first instinct seems to be to make noise, mess and their livers explode. Where once I would have joyfully joined, now I merely wince in pain and curse these people, not out of malice towards them, but out of projection. Out of a loathing not of them, but of me and the past that I consider such a mistake.
Do I envy their youth? Of course. Do I envy their lifestyle? Of course. Do I envy the freedom with which they can enjoy themselves free from the trappings of their own, ever mumbling, minds? Definitely. But at the same time I must accept we are different, them and I. We have different backgrounds, different experiences, different lives and different desires. I see their alcohol fueled social gatherings and their merriment and I feel slight envy, yes. I must also, though, reflect on the fact that I have had my time. It did not go well, and I wish I could have enjoyed it more. But I had my time to do what they are doing and now I must move on.
Now, instead of pondering when I shall have time to frequent the bar, I ponder when I shall have time to frequent the library. Instead of looking forward to meeting new people with whom to drink and make merry, I look forward to meeting new questions, new challenges, new areas of interest in my subject and hopefully those to share it with me.
My mind has been whirring away trying to work out what is a genuine insecurity. Am I now an old man? I stay in, I read, I chat to those important to me, I go to bed early, I wake up early, I cook good food, I eat healthily, I take care of myself - mostly in isolation. The kind of redundant tedium we would generally associate with middle age appears to be my lot at the moment. "Am I now an old man?" I ask myself. It has taken a while to come to a conclusion, but the answer is no. I am merely a much more experienced young one, with different needs to these youths who so immerse themselves in indulgence. I am here to indulge my mind, and enrich my life, not indulge my body and enlarge my liver.
Friday, 28 September 2012
Monday, 17 September 2012
The New iPhone 5 - 7 Changes That Will Blow Your Mind!
Well, it's FINALLY HERE! The latest and greatest from Apple's epic series of mobile telecommunication devices! Yes, people have queued, lined up, beaten each other to death, trampled each other, saw nothing wrong with this, and FINALLY get their hands on the greatest technological innovation since sliced bread and/or the iPhone 4! Forget the mass amounts of Chinese labourers working long hours for shit pay, because we are assured their conditions are 'improving' - maybe now that can take one two-minute break per eight years work and are allowed to visit a doctor if they feel like their life is as a redundant part of a production line...merely a cog in a huge industrial machine...and they are feeling suicidal WHO CARES!? Who cares about seven year old miners (minor miners!) on the African continent digging up rare ores and minerals to make circuitry so they can have enough money to not die for a week...THERE'S NO TIME FOR HUMANITY AND EMPATHY! THERE'S A NEW iPHONE AND I'VE GOT APPS AND SHIT TO DOWNLOAD!!!!
So here they are...The AMAZING tech innovations that Apple has blessed the world with like the benevolent Gods they are!
1) SAME APPROXIMATE SHAPE AS THE LAST ONE!
Now you don't have to worry that people won't think you have an iPhone! Apple really dropped the ball when they changed shape between iPhones 3 and 4 as many people couldn't recognise what it was! "Is that an iPhone? It doesn't look like one and appearance is EVERYTHING to me because I am shallow!" they would say! So, this time around Apple have kept the same basic shape! How fucking clever!
2) BIGGER SCREEN!
Yeah, Apple have GONE THERE! In an impressive move that has set the mobile telecommunications world into gasps of shock and jaw-droppery, Apple...HAVE MADE THE SCREEN BIGGER! Tired of having to look at things on a very small screen? Now, you just get a quite small screen! AMAZING! This is an unheard of move that nobody has ever done before. This new bigger screen has been redesigned to allow for a bit more eye-room, approximately half an inch, and is made of exactly the same stuff as the old screen! HOW INNOVATIVE! I've not seen so many people shit themselves at the sight of a slightly-bigger-screen so much since the launch of the Nintendo DSXL! (During which one man actually died of what medical professionals could only describe as delusion...) So, Apple! You have excelled yourselves! A bigger screen? How fucking clever!
3) NEW CONNECTOR!
Tired of that old, huge, 30-pin connector? Yeah, most companies were back in around 2008 and moved on to smaller ones...But Apple didn't! Like the great innovators they are! They waited...they waited a long time...they waited a disproportionate length of time during which they were happy to have such a difficult connection! But, that's only because they wanted to make sure they had the PERFECT connector! The new Lightning connector will be so much smaller you'll be left screaming "Where is that giant, cumbersome crevice in the base of my iPhone!?" Instead, you will now have a much smaller, arbitrarily different, proprietary connector...much like other phones have had for ages! But Apple's is better...because...APPLE! How fucking clever!
4) BETTER CAMERA!
Tired of having that shitty, old, 2004 tech, 5 Mega-pixel piece of junk with a terrible zoom? Now you can have a shitty, old, 2008 tech, 8 Mega-pixel piece of junk with a terrible zoom...IN HD!!!!! Yes, Apple have made the shitty cameras on their devices slightly less shitty, making sure you can take awful shots of things no one gives a fuck about and upload them to instagram in slightly less shitty quality! WHAT AN INNOVATION! Of course, we all know that 8 Mega-pixels is DEFINITELY better than 5 Mega-pixels, because 8 is a bigger number! And that's the end of that. How fucking clever!
5) THREE! COUNT THEM! THREE MICROPHONES!
Yes, I bet you're tired of your relatively decent call quality. Have you ever wanted a phone call with sound quality SO CLEAR it's like being with the other person!? WELL NOW that probably won't happen because I'm not sure if the tinny speakers can really do that BUT APPLE HAVE ADDED MORE FUCKING MICROPHONES! Yes, with two dedicated noise cancelling microphones, now Siri can hear you talk about how awesome you are because you have the new iPhone in even better quality...and not bring up search results for "How I know I'm a Dick..." by mistake after mishearing you. All that REALLY IMPORTANT stuff you say will sound even MORE IMPORTANT! Maybe...again, depends on the quality of the other speaker...HOW FUCKING CLEVER!
6) NEW TECHNOLOGY!
Did you think Apple were going to include the same old shit in their phone? Did you think they'd have the same RAM, processors and antennae technology? OF COURSE NOT SILLY! THIS IS APPLE! Or any other manufacturer bringing out a new product...Yes! Thanks to the AMAZING AND UNIQUE INNOVATION at Apple, they have taken lots of components that other people not affiliated with Apple have made better. They have also, counter to common sense (presumably) improved their custom chipset to make it EVEN BETTER! They have, since the iPhone 4 been working on it!...AND PUT THEM IN THE IPHONE! This is...just...SERIOUSLY MARVEL AT THE GENIUS INVENTION OF THE APPLE GENIUSES! How fucking clever.
7) LUDICROUS PRICETAG!
Apple knows you! Apple knows! Apple knows you don't want to buy a reasonably priced phone that fits your budget, doesn't bankrupt you and still performs well doing all that stuff you love...like calling, texting and playing Angry Birds! APPLE KNOWS YOU WANT TO BUY STATUS WITH MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE SO YOU CAN LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE MORE MONEY THAN YOU HAVE! They know you want a mobile phone contract that contains things you don't use, for a price well above the odds, as well as having to pay a little bit extra for the phone...Because obviously price = STATUS! The more you pay for it, the better a person you must be to have all that money. So they have given you 24 month contracts of £35-40 with a £50-100 charge for the phone...Just for you, so you know people won't think you're poor, even though you are and are even more so now because you just got the new iPhone! Apple also knows that as a result of the blacklisting of your name due to County Court Judgments due to not being able to pay your last phone contract, Apple knows some people can't have phone contracts any more and need pay as you go...SO APPLE WILL SELL YOU THE iPHONE 5 FOR A LUDICROUS PRICE ANYWAY! So people still won't think you're poor...Good ol' Apple, looking out for you. How fucking clever.
Mind, meet blown!
So here they are...The AMAZING tech innovations that Apple has blessed the world with like the benevolent Gods they are!
1) SAME APPROXIMATE SHAPE AS THE LAST ONE!
Now you don't have to worry that people won't think you have an iPhone! Apple really dropped the ball when they changed shape between iPhones 3 and 4 as many people couldn't recognise what it was! "Is that an iPhone? It doesn't look like one and appearance is EVERYTHING to me because I am shallow!" they would say! So, this time around Apple have kept the same basic shape! How fucking clever!
2) BIGGER SCREEN!
Yeah, Apple have GONE THERE! In an impressive move that has set the mobile telecommunications world into gasps of shock and jaw-droppery, Apple...HAVE MADE THE SCREEN BIGGER! Tired of having to look at things on a very small screen? Now, you just get a quite small screen! AMAZING! This is an unheard of move that nobody has ever done before. This new bigger screen has been redesigned to allow for a bit more eye-room, approximately half an inch, and is made of exactly the same stuff as the old screen! HOW INNOVATIVE! I've not seen so many people shit themselves at the sight of a slightly-bigger-screen so much since the launch of the Nintendo DSXL! (During which one man actually died of what medical professionals could only describe as delusion...) So, Apple! You have excelled yourselves! A bigger screen? How fucking clever!
3) NEW CONNECTOR!
Tired of that old, huge, 30-pin connector? Yeah, most companies were back in around 2008 and moved on to smaller ones...But Apple didn't! Like the great innovators they are! They waited...they waited a long time...they waited a disproportionate length of time during which they were happy to have such a difficult connection! But, that's only because they wanted to make sure they had the PERFECT connector! The new Lightning connector will be so much smaller you'll be left screaming "Where is that giant, cumbersome crevice in the base of my iPhone!?" Instead, you will now have a much smaller, arbitrarily different, proprietary connector...much like other phones have had for ages! But Apple's is better...because...APPLE! How fucking clever!
4) BETTER CAMERA!
Tired of having that shitty, old, 2004 tech, 5 Mega-pixel piece of junk with a terrible zoom? Now you can have a shitty, old, 2008 tech, 8 Mega-pixel piece of junk with a terrible zoom...IN HD!!!!! Yes, Apple have made the shitty cameras on their devices slightly less shitty, making sure you can take awful shots of things no one gives a fuck about and upload them to instagram in slightly less shitty quality! WHAT AN INNOVATION! Of course, we all know that 8 Mega-pixels is DEFINITELY better than 5 Mega-pixels, because 8 is a bigger number! And that's the end of that. How fucking clever!
5) THREE! COUNT THEM! THREE MICROPHONES!
Yes, I bet you're tired of your relatively decent call quality. Have you ever wanted a phone call with sound quality SO CLEAR it's like being with the other person!? WELL NOW that probably won't happen because I'm not sure if the tinny speakers can really do that BUT APPLE HAVE ADDED MORE FUCKING MICROPHONES! Yes, with two dedicated noise cancelling microphones, now Siri can hear you talk about how awesome you are because you have the new iPhone in even better quality...and not bring up search results for "How I know I'm a Dick..." by mistake after mishearing you. All that REALLY IMPORTANT stuff you say will sound even MORE IMPORTANT! Maybe...again, depends on the quality of the other speaker...HOW FUCKING CLEVER!
6) NEW TECHNOLOGY!
Did you think Apple were going to include the same old shit in their phone? Did you think they'd have the same RAM, processors and antennae technology? OF COURSE NOT SILLY! THIS IS APPLE! Or any other manufacturer bringing out a new product...Yes! Thanks to the AMAZING AND UNIQUE INNOVATION at Apple, they have taken lots of components that other people not affiliated with Apple have made better. They have also, counter to common sense (presumably) improved their custom chipset to make it EVEN BETTER! They have, since the iPhone 4 been working on it!...AND PUT THEM IN THE IPHONE! This is...just...SERIOUSLY MARVEL AT THE GENIUS INVENTION OF THE APPLE GENIUSES! How fucking clever.
7) LUDICROUS PRICETAG!
Apple knows you! Apple knows! Apple knows you don't want to buy a reasonably priced phone that fits your budget, doesn't bankrupt you and still performs well doing all that stuff you love...like calling, texting and playing Angry Birds! APPLE KNOWS YOU WANT TO BUY STATUS WITH MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE SO YOU CAN LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE MORE MONEY THAN YOU HAVE! They know you want a mobile phone contract that contains things you don't use, for a price well above the odds, as well as having to pay a little bit extra for the phone...Because obviously price = STATUS! The more you pay for it, the better a person you must be to have all that money. So they have given you 24 month contracts of £35-40 with a £50-100 charge for the phone...Just for you, so you know people won't think you're poor, even though you are and are even more so now because you just got the new iPhone! Apple also knows that as a result of the blacklisting of your name due to County Court Judgments due to not being able to pay your last phone contract, Apple knows some people can't have phone contracts any more and need pay as you go...SO APPLE WILL SELL YOU THE iPHONE 5 FOR A LUDICROUS PRICE ANYWAY! So people still won't think you're poor...Good ol' Apple, looking out for you. How fucking clever.
Mind, meet blown!
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Slender - A Short Review
Slender.
Just the name of it sounds scary. Like a hideously withdrawn, stick-thin, pseudoscientific 'nutritionist' bint, with more bone than meat to her composition, about to tell you how to change your diet so you can be just as ghostly and soulless as her.
Slender.
Sounds like a brand of artificial sweetener that aforementioned nagging bint would recommend you use because sugar is bad for you.
Slender.
Like trying to say 'surrender' when you can't speak, because you haven't eaten properly for two weeks on the advice of someone with a PhD from the internet, and the mouth cancer your artificial sweetener caused!
SLENDER!
It sounds creepy!
For those who do not know, Slender (or Slender: The Eight Pages - as the current working title is) is a free, first person horror game currently in beta - From Parsec Productions. It first came to my attention by watching notoriously glorious, infamous, misogynistic viking and King of Sweden, Robbaz play it. I thought little of it at the time, but then, like Slenderman in the game, the game itself seemed to pop up and gaze at me wherever I turned.
The premise is quite simple. You, in some woods, with a flashlight. You find creepy hand drawn/written notes, and you are chased by what looks like a faceless version of that long armed waiter from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life "I wonder where that fish did go!?"
...That's it, pretty much. No deep, intense psychological tests and manipulation á la Silent Hill. No needless hordes of zombies á la Resident Evil. No immense plot, no sense of claustrophobia, no subtle trickery. Just you, in the dark, being followed.
I'm going to tell you something about so called 'scary' games. They don't scare me. I'm going to tell you something about Slender. It scares the living fuck out of me! It seems to tap in to a primal instinct to look for danger. You can't look at Slenderman - that's how he gets you...BUT YOU HAVE TO! You need to look around, you need to find the pages and part of you, a tiny, curious part of you knows he may be there - and dares you to look. You don't hear footsteps behind you, but you know he's there. He's everywhere. A tree pops into your peripheral vision and you give a little start thinking 'Oh God! I thought that was Slenderman!' - Your vision gets all interfered with when he's nearby. Like static on a television. But when that happens, you don't stop and run. You turn...You look. You have to...And you hope you don't see him, but know you will and when you do your heart races. I am not kidding. Play this, at night, alone and with the lights off.
What makes it creepier? Slenderman does not move. Slenderman does not run after you. Slenderman pursues you inactively. He is there, and he will get you. Like the grim spectre of death, he lingers and merely waits for the moment. He doesn't have to hunt you, you will go to him eventually. There is a creepy, horribly primal thing with this game. The simplicity of it and lack of characterisation is all the immersion you need. You feel the helplessness, you feel the hopelessness, you feel the fear as if you were actually in this situation. Or, at least, I did...and it's rare for me to do so for a 'scary' videogame.
So, if you like a good fear-based thrill, check out Slender - It is free, it is good, it is fun and it is, for me, genuinely quite scary.
Slender: The Eight Pages by Parsec Productions
Just the name of it sounds scary. Like a hideously withdrawn, stick-thin, pseudoscientific 'nutritionist' bint, with more bone than meat to her composition, about to tell you how to change your diet so you can be just as ghostly and soulless as her.
Slender.
Sounds like a brand of artificial sweetener that aforementioned nagging bint would recommend you use because sugar is bad for you.
Slender.
Like trying to say 'surrender' when you can't speak, because you haven't eaten properly for two weeks on the advice of someone with a PhD from the internet, and the mouth cancer your artificial sweetener caused!
SLENDER!
It sounds creepy!
For those who do not know, Slender (or Slender: The Eight Pages - as the current working title is) is a free, first person horror game currently in beta - From Parsec Productions. It first came to my attention by watching notoriously glorious, infamous, misogynistic viking and King of Sweden, Robbaz play it. I thought little of it at the time, but then, like Slenderman in the game, the game itself seemed to pop up and gaze at me wherever I turned.
The premise is quite simple. You, in some woods, with a flashlight. You find creepy hand drawn/written notes, and you are chased by what looks like a faceless version of that long armed waiter from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life "I wonder where that fish did go!?"
...That's it, pretty much. No deep, intense psychological tests and manipulation á la Silent Hill. No needless hordes of zombies á la Resident Evil. No immense plot, no sense of claustrophobia, no subtle trickery. Just you, in the dark, being followed.
I'm going to tell you something about so called 'scary' games. They don't scare me. I'm going to tell you something about Slender. It scares the living fuck out of me! It seems to tap in to a primal instinct to look for danger. You can't look at Slenderman - that's how he gets you...BUT YOU HAVE TO! You need to look around, you need to find the pages and part of you, a tiny, curious part of you knows he may be there - and dares you to look. You don't hear footsteps behind you, but you know he's there. He's everywhere. A tree pops into your peripheral vision and you give a little start thinking 'Oh God! I thought that was Slenderman!' - Your vision gets all interfered with when he's nearby. Like static on a television. But when that happens, you don't stop and run. You turn...You look. You have to...And you hope you don't see him, but know you will and when you do your heart races. I am not kidding. Play this, at night, alone and with the lights off.
What makes it creepier? Slenderman does not move. Slenderman does not run after you. Slenderman pursues you inactively. He is there, and he will get you. Like the grim spectre of death, he lingers and merely waits for the moment. He doesn't have to hunt you, you will go to him eventually. There is a creepy, horribly primal thing with this game. The simplicity of it and lack of characterisation is all the immersion you need. You feel the helplessness, you feel the hopelessness, you feel the fear as if you were actually in this situation. Or, at least, I did...and it's rare for me to do so for a 'scary' videogame.
So, if you like a good fear-based thrill, check out Slender - It is free, it is good, it is fun and it is, for me, genuinely quite scary.
Slender: The Eight Pages by Parsec Productions
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Phone Review: T-Mobile Vivacity
Those who know me know I absolutely abhor mobile telecommunications. The devices, the networks, the plans, the data - I can't stand the bloody things. But, owing to certain upcoming changes in my life, it rather became a necessity that I delve, once more, into the sordid and complicated world of PHONES! <insert scary and dramatic music>
The first problem I had was budget. I'm a pauper. Surprisingly, being opinionated on the internet doesn't earn you money and since people don't want to buy funny, original novels - choosing instead to buy Battle Royale with younger characters, an overdone fantasy setting made popular by a TV adaptation of the books that came first, or twisted, gender subversive BDSM-lite (I'm not bitter, honest!). So the upshot is that I'm broke as fuck. The problem with that is that I also need a semi-decent device! My life is about to get all kinds of busy and I need something I can keep by my side and have it be a communicator and organiser in one. In short, I needed a smartphone.
There are cheap smartphones on the market, but they're basically bricks running copies of Android so antiquated the screen settings only include black and white, or sepia. What is more, these tend to cost £20-30, which, for something that is barely functional, does not represent good value for money.
So, what do we do!?
Well, enter ZTE! ZTE are a Chinese telecomms manufacturer who seem to have really come into their own in Western markets in the smartphone era; mainly via offering their handsets as carrier-branded models to networks for cheaps. Thus, I got myself a T-Mobile Vivacity (Specs via GsmArena) (link to T-Mobile) - Which is basically a reskinned ZTE Crescent.
Appearance
The phone itself is designed to look like an iPhone (images in link) - So much so I consider it a complete rip off. This is not a ZTE thing, I think this is a T-Mobile thing, as the other branded reskin of it, the Orange San Francisco II - has a slightly different appearance. But, you can't complain that it looks too much like an iPhone. It's like moaning that your car looks a bit too much like an Aston Martin when it isn't one...It looks good - that's all that matters. The phone itself is also very light (around 120g), thanks in part to it being made of plastic. The plastic is sturdy enough, but if you're truly a vainglorious git, you may want to avoid it for status reasons and, it attracts fingerprints like nothing I've seen (well, since the piano black PSP). Also the buttons (on/off and a volume rocker) are neat, discrete and well placed.
Shall I give an arbitrary score? I think I shall. It is pretty, and it is functional - but expect little originality. A solid 7/10.
Display
One of the important things when it comes to getting a smartphone, the display on the Vivacity is actually one of the most surprising things about it. While I have seen much better, brighter screens, for the price-point, the Vivacity's screen is actually very good. Coming with a 3.5" TFT capacitive touchscreen, it is both bright and responsive. If you have large fingers, the keyboard may be a little fiddly when in portrait, however. As with the phone, the screen seems to be some kind of fingerprint magnet, so get yourself a protector that is less so, or expect to clean it a lot. But the tradeoff is you get a budget phone with a 480x800 screen that nets you approximately 267 ppi that will be great for any mobile entertainment needs. For the price you pay, having to give it a wipe on your jeans more often than not is hardly the end of the world (See Dec. 21st, 2012)
While not the greatest screen, it is bright, with excellent vivid colour, sharp pixels and an excellent resolution. This gets an 8/10.
Camera
Now a mainstay of mobile phones, much to the detriment of photographic quality everywhere, phone cameras are serious business, and when you buy from the low end of the market, you don't expect to get much bang for your pound. Even phones like Apple's flagship device have cameras so seemingly aged (despite them being quite new) you can often see the faint top-bar of the lens' zimmer frame in shots - and thus the popularity of filter apps such as that one everyone uses whose name escapes me but that basically takes grainy photos and then goes "No look, the graininess is just deliberate and intended to be artistic..." when it's not.
So, the Vivacity provides you with a bit of a shock when you first try out its modest, yet passable, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. Responsive and clear it will take good shots of you and your mates arsing around, or of inane things no one really cares about but that you think worthy of taking a photograph of. Really, if you want a good review of the photo clarity in the Vivacity, look elsewhere (Pocket-Lint review), this is of little importance to me. I have tried it out for a few shots and it is crisp, it is clear and it is functional. It is better than the camera on the iPhone 4, in my opinion, despite the iSight camera supposedly being 8 megapixel and the best thing since sliced bullshit marketing shtick. For your basic needs, the Vivacity has you covered, but if you want to take good photos DON'T TAKE THEM ON YOUR PHONE! GET A BLOODY CAMERA! Seriously, you can get a 14 megapixel camera for about £30-40 these days, which dwarfs the price you pay for a phone with a decent camera!
Ranting aside, the Vivacity also has a front facing, basic, VGA camera - while I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, it's probably grainier than a flour mill and as clear as mud - but that's not to fault the Vivacity, I think most front cameras I've seen are like that. It also has a camcorder function, but like with VGA, these tend to have the clarity of 70s straight-to-video blaxploitation films...In fact, if you want to record a parody or homage blaxploitation film...Phone camcorder! That's probably what they used for Black Dynamite or something...
The camera is not a selling point for me, but if you like that sort of thing the Vivacity brings you a 5 megapixel one that put the rest of the budget competition for shame (Most I saw were around 3.2 megapixel) - but that maybe doesn't compare to the big boys. As a result, another solid 7/10.
Sound and Call Quality
The Vivacity comes with your basic alert types. An innuendo-laden vibrate function and a loudspeaker for young people to play annoying, bland, senseless, lyrically and musically inferior pop songs on. With support for both MP3 and WAV ringtones, you can certainly get your fill of shit music on this device and the speaker, while not winning any awards, is of a pretty decent quality. The phone also comes with a 3.5mm jack so that people with two brain cells to rub together (of which there seems to be too few) can plug earphones or headphones into the device and not subject us to their ear-bleedingly piss poor and soulless music. The volume is excellent also, and I don't think I'll ever miss a call again, which is why I, in my misanthropic fervour, shall keep it on silent.
The call quality itself is pretty decent also. Again, comparing it with other devices I have used it is not better, nor no worse. The ear-speaker is clear and not muffled or tinny in any way, and no one has complained on the other end of my being distorted or muffled. It's a functional phone and thus the phone part of it is, not surprisingly and rather tautologically, the most functional. A very decent quality for a very low price.
Not much to talk about here. It work and it works well. A solid 7/10 again.
Memory
Now, if you want an area where budget smartphones come unstuck, you've found it. On the positive side, it comes with a MicroSD that can take up to a 32GB sized card. Plenty of memory for you to put bland pop tunes and silly games on. But with only 512MB internal memory, Apps 2 SD (or A2SD - which will transfer any apps - or parts of apps - to the SD card instead of the default install location on the internal memory) is a MUST! If you plan on being a heavy app user and can't find your way around moving apps to the SD card - you're going to have trouble with this device. If you can do that, however, getting yourself a 16 or 32GB memory card will easily solve your memory issues - indeed, the phone itself comes with a 2GB MicroSD, which should be enough to placate any basic user.
Frankly, it is easy to complain about the bad internal memory, but other devices around this price point don't fare much better and in the 'you get what you pay for' stakes, it is only really this and the plastic casing that stand out. This really is one of the only downsides to this phone, and one easily combated, as mentioned above, by getting yourself a decent SD card and A2SD. Still, it's noticeable and it does make a little extra work when you're downloading, thus the memory gets a decidedly average 5/10.
Operating System (and potential for fuckery)
The Vivacity comes preloaded with Android Gingerbread (2.3.5) which is perfectly functional and it comes loaded with little T-Mobile bloatware. However, with a good strength community on Modaco, due to this phone being an excellent device for the price-point, there are custom ROMs available (install at your own risk) that can debrand your front screen, give you all sorts of customisation or, as is the case with myself, for a small trade off of LED flash and front camera function, give you a very functional version of Android 4.0.4! Yeah, I'm not kidding. This, even with a paltry 512MB RAM, can run Ice Cream Sandwich quite well - indeed in my opinion this is running better than the preinstalled Gingerbread.
That's where this phone really shines. Messing around with its systems, rooting it, unlocking it, changing ROMs and settings and customising it...With a little bit of research, it is easy to make this device truly your own. Electronic-fuckery is strong in this one and it is one of the reasons I got the device. I knew I could unlock it free, and I knew I could update the ROM to something I wanted.
With Ice Cream Sandwich on mine, responsiveness is pretty good. The occasional freeze, but it did exactly the same with the original Gingerbread for me! But, as mentioned, there are good communities supporting this device (or its kin, the ZTE Crescent and Orange San Francisco II - all exactly the same device) so if you have any issues, it shouldn't be too difficult to get help.
The OS runs well on the device. Both original and other ROMS. I don't think there are any plans to upgrade the official OS, so if you don't know what you are doing, or don't want to lose front camera functionality, then you'll be stuck with Gingerbread. Not catastrophic by any means, as it is a good, functioning operating system with much support. But it is going to become fast outdated with the advent of 4.0 and that this budget device has a very workable solution in that regard is a credit to the modders.
While Android 2.3 is becoming outdated, the ease with which the Vivacity can be messed with, customised and upgraded, and the fact that it is so cheap making you less nervous about invalidating your warranty to do so, make this a solid, affordable option for an Android 4.0 device! It may not run perfect, but you can bet someone is working on optimising it further! As such, I have to give this a respectable 8/10.
Battery Life
When looking into this phone, battery life was one of the big issues that got flagged up, especially on T-Mobile's site itself. But as usual, when you get masses of reviews from laborious shitmunchers who expect to have everything turned on for no cost to power efficiency, you get a lot of stupid. With a bit of care you can extend the life of your 1500 mAh li-ion battery quite a bit.
Let's not excuse the fact, though, that if you are running this device with everything switched on, running an app, making calls etc. You probably won't get much more than a day's heavy use. Things like bluetooth, wifi, GPRS (all included - not bad for your money) will drain your battery and the screen seems to be quite power intensive on its own. Out of the box, this thing is going to go through juice like a thirsty me - SchlurpySchlurp.
But as mentioned, with a bit of management, you can make this go for three days without needing a charge. I've made a few calls, sent few texts, opened the browser for a bit and after about three days I'm down to just under half battery. I recommend finding a free power management app, that will monitor both power and performance and give you a quick interface with which to shut off your extraneous tasks. I believe you do have a default control panel to give you the ability to switch things off, but I am using NQ Mobile Booster and it is working well for me, and it is hardly any effort at all, since I have the widget on my front screen.
So, while the battery life is inexcusable, it is mainly the ignorance to the power management that leads to people having issues. Still, this has to be a sub-par 6/10.
App Playability
With access to the Android Store, or Android Play or Google Play or Play Play Store or whatever the hell it's called now - You have access to thousands of apps to help eat up your battery, steal your attention and distract you from the fact that you had to buy this device due to a grotesquely unfair capitalist system that is currently going to rot at the moment - leading to mass misery and resource wars...YAY APPS!
Of course, your basic stuff runs on the Vivacity with no issues. I've even had basic 3D games running on it. The problem comes with the fact that, with only 512MB of RAM, a reasonable 800MHz processsor and little by way of graphics processing, this device will not run the higher end games. But if you want to play higher end games, you're probably nerd savvy enough to know you'll need a device that can handle them and will avoid this anyway. But for your basic everyday use the Vivacity is a terrific piece of kit that can process any basic app and still give you a daily dose of Angry Birds on the bus/train/at your desk when you should be working. For basic use, the Vivacity is excellent, with the main problem coming (as described in the Memory section) with storing any apps you may want or need. Apps 2 SD is a must!
Overall, I'll give this another solid 7/10. It's no higher, because it can't run the high-end apps, but it's functional with basic, everyday apps that most people will want.
Other Stuff and Summary
As with most phones these days, this device comes with a lot of other functionality for your money. GPRS, bluetooth, WiFi (which can often go missing on budget devices), accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass, FM radio, music and video playback etc. etc. This is a budget phone that comes loaded with most of the things you expect from mid-to-high end devices - and they function like you would expect them to on mid-to-high end devices - Only you don't pay the mid-to-high end price.
The T-Mobile Vivacity/Orange San Francisco II/ZTE Crescent/Whatever you want to call it is never going to dazzle people. Value for money just is not important in a culture as vain and status-driven as ours. Where everyone needs the biggest, brightest screen, the newest device, the fastest processor, or even worse, just need something with an Apple motif on it. But if you are one of those people who don't buy into this status, and just need a functional phone, but maybe are looking into branching out into the smartphone market - This device is perfect for you, it truly is. This will do everything you need from it, and more, and to the same ability as a device that can cost up to three times as much. It is good looking, discrete, with a good screen, reasonable touch, and really is a big surprise for the price I paid. I was expecting much less and it is nice when such a device gives you a pleasant surprise. The 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and tiny internal memory are already outdated, soon to be damn near antiquated. But they do the job, and if you're looking for an entry level smartphone, you can do much, much worse and pay all the more for it.
And so let's move on to...
Price
This was a cheap device when it was released last November, costing around £100, and it was given decent enough reviews then, praising it for being a very functional entry level smartphone. A recent price drop to £69.99 made this phone one of the best options...But at the moment, from T-Mobile, for this handset as a pay-as-you-go it will cost you £49.99+£10 credit.
£59.99!
That's an amazing price when compared to anything else of the level and functionality of this phone, and that was the main reason I got it! Needing only a simple smartphone, and not wanting to spend too much I have been shocked and overjoyed by just how well the Vivacity works, and as mentioned a few times before, there is a huge online community of people who, owing to their passion for electroni-fuckery, and the cheap price of this device, are working on mods, fixes, customisations, OS upgrades, improvements etc. etc. It's truly an amazing device for the price.
Overall, in terms of functionality as an Android phone, I'd give this a solid 7/10. But when you take into account the price, it pushes it into 8 or 9/10 territory. At a time when even older devices made redundant by upgrades (iPhone 3G, Samsung Galaxy S and SII now) can cost a couple of hundred pounds, ZTE have provided an excellent and cheap device and T-Mobile have given a great deal on it. Keep in mind that Orange still sell the same phone, in their San Francisco II, for double that price! Anyone looking at upgrading an old PAYG dumbphone to a new smartphone should consider this device.
Alternatives
Virgin Mobile currently have the ZTE Kis for a similar price, with some very good deals on it. However, the Kis is inferior and the ease of unlocking the Vivacity means even if you really like Virgin's tariffs, you can get them on a better phone!
Various featurephones - Many networks will offer these for reasonable prices, but they come with custom operating systems that lack the punch of Android. Usually sold as being social media or music/video friendly, they will do nothing the Vivacity can do, and less.
Huawei Ascend G300 - The ONLY phone that made me hesitate about getting the Vivacity. Currently locked to Vodafone, the Huawei is considered by many to be the best low price Android smartphone out there. Currently around £99 locked to Voda, that exclusivity ends soon. Expect sim-free, unlocked prices to be a bit more, however. If you can get hold of one of these, unlocked, for the £99 price point, it's definitely worth it. But I suspect unlock prices will definitely be around £120-130 - which pushes this from the budget, to the mid-range for me and puts the Vivacity ahead of it. One of the other things to note is that, at the moment, unless your really like Vodafone, there is no easy, free unlock for the G300 - meaning you either have to take it to a shop/buy an unlock code/buy an unlock code from Vodafone - which will cost a further £10-20...It's a great phone, like I said, but it's not £59.99, is it? For those not willing to make a £100+ investment, the Vivacity is King.
Other Links
Review on CNet, including a good little video.
The first problem I had was budget. I'm a pauper. Surprisingly, being opinionated on the internet doesn't earn you money and since people don't want to buy funny, original novels - choosing instead to buy Battle Royale with younger characters, an overdone fantasy setting made popular by a TV adaptation of the books that came first, or twisted, gender subversive BDSM-lite (I'm not bitter, honest!). So the upshot is that I'm broke as fuck. The problem with that is that I also need a semi-decent device! My life is about to get all kinds of busy and I need something I can keep by my side and have it be a communicator and organiser in one. In short, I needed a smartphone.
There are cheap smartphones on the market, but they're basically bricks running copies of Android so antiquated the screen settings only include black and white, or sepia. What is more, these tend to cost £20-30, which, for something that is barely functional, does not represent good value for money.
So, what do we do!?
Well, enter ZTE! ZTE are a Chinese telecomms manufacturer who seem to have really come into their own in Western markets in the smartphone era; mainly via offering their handsets as carrier-branded models to networks for cheaps. Thus, I got myself a T-Mobile Vivacity (Specs via GsmArena) (link to T-Mobile) - Which is basically a reskinned ZTE Crescent.
Appearance
The phone itself is designed to look like an iPhone (images in link) - So much so I consider it a complete rip off. This is not a ZTE thing, I think this is a T-Mobile thing, as the other branded reskin of it, the Orange San Francisco II - has a slightly different appearance. But, you can't complain that it looks too much like an iPhone. It's like moaning that your car looks a bit too much like an Aston Martin when it isn't one...It looks good - that's all that matters. The phone itself is also very light (around 120g), thanks in part to it being made of plastic. The plastic is sturdy enough, but if you're truly a vainglorious git, you may want to avoid it for status reasons and, it attracts fingerprints like nothing I've seen (well, since the piano black PSP). Also the buttons (on/off and a volume rocker) are neat, discrete and well placed.
Shall I give an arbitrary score? I think I shall. It is pretty, and it is functional - but expect little originality. A solid 7/10.
Display
One of the important things when it comes to getting a smartphone, the display on the Vivacity is actually one of the most surprising things about it. While I have seen much better, brighter screens, for the price-point, the Vivacity's screen is actually very good. Coming with a 3.5" TFT capacitive touchscreen, it is both bright and responsive. If you have large fingers, the keyboard may be a little fiddly when in portrait, however. As with the phone, the screen seems to be some kind of fingerprint magnet, so get yourself a protector that is less so, or expect to clean it a lot. But the tradeoff is you get a budget phone with a 480x800 screen that nets you approximately 267 ppi that will be great for any mobile entertainment needs. For the price you pay, having to give it a wipe on your jeans more often than not is hardly the end of the world (See Dec. 21st, 2012)
While not the greatest screen, it is bright, with excellent vivid colour, sharp pixels and an excellent resolution. This gets an 8/10.
Camera
Now a mainstay of mobile phones, much to the detriment of photographic quality everywhere, phone cameras are serious business, and when you buy from the low end of the market, you don't expect to get much bang for your pound. Even phones like Apple's flagship device have cameras so seemingly aged (despite them being quite new) you can often see the faint top-bar of the lens' zimmer frame in shots - and thus the popularity of filter apps such as that one everyone uses whose name escapes me but that basically takes grainy photos and then goes "No look, the graininess is just deliberate and intended to be artistic..." when it's not.
So, the Vivacity provides you with a bit of a shock when you first try out its modest, yet passable, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. Responsive and clear it will take good shots of you and your mates arsing around, or of inane things no one really cares about but that you think worthy of taking a photograph of. Really, if you want a good review of the photo clarity in the Vivacity, look elsewhere (Pocket-Lint review), this is of little importance to me. I have tried it out for a few shots and it is crisp, it is clear and it is functional. It is better than the camera on the iPhone 4, in my opinion, despite the iSight camera supposedly being 8 megapixel and the best thing since sliced bullshit marketing shtick. For your basic needs, the Vivacity has you covered, but if you want to take good photos DON'T TAKE THEM ON YOUR PHONE! GET A BLOODY CAMERA! Seriously, you can get a 14 megapixel camera for about £30-40 these days, which dwarfs the price you pay for a phone with a decent camera!
Ranting aside, the Vivacity also has a front facing, basic, VGA camera - while I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, it's probably grainier than a flour mill and as clear as mud - but that's not to fault the Vivacity, I think most front cameras I've seen are like that. It also has a camcorder function, but like with VGA, these tend to have the clarity of 70s straight-to-video blaxploitation films...In fact, if you want to record a parody or homage blaxploitation film...Phone camcorder! That's probably what they used for Black Dynamite or something...
The camera is not a selling point for me, but if you like that sort of thing the Vivacity brings you a 5 megapixel one that put the rest of the budget competition for shame (Most I saw were around 3.2 megapixel) - but that maybe doesn't compare to the big boys. As a result, another solid 7/10.
Sound and Call Quality
The Vivacity comes with your basic alert types. An innuendo-laden vibrate function and a loudspeaker for young people to play annoying, bland, senseless, lyrically and musically inferior pop songs on. With support for both MP3 and WAV ringtones, you can certainly get your fill of shit music on this device and the speaker, while not winning any awards, is of a pretty decent quality. The phone also comes with a 3.5mm jack so that people with two brain cells to rub together (of which there seems to be too few) can plug earphones or headphones into the device and not subject us to their ear-bleedingly piss poor and soulless music. The volume is excellent also, and I don't think I'll ever miss a call again, which is why I, in my misanthropic fervour, shall keep it on silent.
The call quality itself is pretty decent also. Again, comparing it with other devices I have used it is not better, nor no worse. The ear-speaker is clear and not muffled or tinny in any way, and no one has complained on the other end of my being distorted or muffled. It's a functional phone and thus the phone part of it is, not surprisingly and rather tautologically, the most functional. A very decent quality for a very low price.
Not much to talk about here. It work and it works well. A solid 7/10 again.
Memory
Now, if you want an area where budget smartphones come unstuck, you've found it. On the positive side, it comes with a MicroSD that can take up to a 32GB sized card. Plenty of memory for you to put bland pop tunes and silly games on. But with only 512MB internal memory, Apps 2 SD (or A2SD - which will transfer any apps - or parts of apps - to the SD card instead of the default install location on the internal memory) is a MUST! If you plan on being a heavy app user and can't find your way around moving apps to the SD card - you're going to have trouble with this device. If you can do that, however, getting yourself a 16 or 32GB memory card will easily solve your memory issues - indeed, the phone itself comes with a 2GB MicroSD, which should be enough to placate any basic user.
Frankly, it is easy to complain about the bad internal memory, but other devices around this price point don't fare much better and in the 'you get what you pay for' stakes, it is only really this and the plastic casing that stand out. This really is one of the only downsides to this phone, and one easily combated, as mentioned above, by getting yourself a decent SD card and A2SD. Still, it's noticeable and it does make a little extra work when you're downloading, thus the memory gets a decidedly average 5/10.
Operating System (and potential for fuckery)
The Vivacity comes preloaded with Android Gingerbread (2.3.5) which is perfectly functional and it comes loaded with little T-Mobile bloatware. However, with a good strength community on Modaco, due to this phone being an excellent device for the price-point, there are custom ROMs available (install at your own risk) that can debrand your front screen, give you all sorts of customisation or, as is the case with myself, for a small trade off of LED flash and front camera function, give you a very functional version of Android 4.0.4! Yeah, I'm not kidding. This, even with a paltry 512MB RAM, can run Ice Cream Sandwich quite well - indeed in my opinion this is running better than the preinstalled Gingerbread.
That's where this phone really shines. Messing around with its systems, rooting it, unlocking it, changing ROMs and settings and customising it...With a little bit of research, it is easy to make this device truly your own. Electronic-fuckery is strong in this one and it is one of the reasons I got the device. I knew I could unlock it free, and I knew I could update the ROM to something I wanted.
With Ice Cream Sandwich on mine, responsiveness is pretty good. The occasional freeze, but it did exactly the same with the original Gingerbread for me! But, as mentioned, there are good communities supporting this device (or its kin, the ZTE Crescent and Orange San Francisco II - all exactly the same device) so if you have any issues, it shouldn't be too difficult to get help.
The OS runs well on the device. Both original and other ROMS. I don't think there are any plans to upgrade the official OS, so if you don't know what you are doing, or don't want to lose front camera functionality, then you'll be stuck with Gingerbread. Not catastrophic by any means, as it is a good, functioning operating system with much support. But it is going to become fast outdated with the advent of 4.0 and that this budget device has a very workable solution in that regard is a credit to the modders.
While Android 2.3 is becoming outdated, the ease with which the Vivacity can be messed with, customised and upgraded, and the fact that it is so cheap making you less nervous about invalidating your warranty to do so, make this a solid, affordable option for an Android 4.0 device! It may not run perfect, but you can bet someone is working on optimising it further! As such, I have to give this a respectable 8/10.
Battery Life
When looking into this phone, battery life was one of the big issues that got flagged up, especially on T-Mobile's site itself. But as usual, when you get masses of reviews from laborious shitmunchers who expect to have everything turned on for no cost to power efficiency, you get a lot of stupid. With a bit of care you can extend the life of your 1500 mAh li-ion battery quite a bit.
Let's not excuse the fact, though, that if you are running this device with everything switched on, running an app, making calls etc. You probably won't get much more than a day's heavy use. Things like bluetooth, wifi, GPRS (all included - not bad for your money) will drain your battery and the screen seems to be quite power intensive on its own. Out of the box, this thing is going to go through juice like a thirsty me - SchlurpySchlurp.
But as mentioned, with a bit of management, you can make this go for three days without needing a charge. I've made a few calls, sent few texts, opened the browser for a bit and after about three days I'm down to just under half battery. I recommend finding a free power management app, that will monitor both power and performance and give you a quick interface with which to shut off your extraneous tasks. I believe you do have a default control panel to give you the ability to switch things off, but I am using NQ Mobile Booster and it is working well for me, and it is hardly any effort at all, since I have the widget on my front screen.
So, while the battery life is inexcusable, it is mainly the ignorance to the power management that leads to people having issues. Still, this has to be a sub-par 6/10.
App Playability
With access to the Android Store, or Android Play or Google Play or Play Play Store or whatever the hell it's called now - You have access to thousands of apps to help eat up your battery, steal your attention and distract you from the fact that you had to buy this device due to a grotesquely unfair capitalist system that is currently going to rot at the moment - leading to mass misery and resource wars...YAY APPS!
Of course, your basic stuff runs on the Vivacity with no issues. I've even had basic 3D games running on it. The problem comes with the fact that, with only 512MB of RAM, a reasonable 800MHz processsor and little by way of graphics processing, this device will not run the higher end games. But if you want to play higher end games, you're probably nerd savvy enough to know you'll need a device that can handle them and will avoid this anyway. But for your basic everyday use the Vivacity is a terrific piece of kit that can process any basic app and still give you a daily dose of Angry Birds on the bus/train/at your desk when you should be working. For basic use, the Vivacity is excellent, with the main problem coming (as described in the Memory section) with storing any apps you may want or need. Apps 2 SD is a must!
Overall, I'll give this another solid 7/10. It's no higher, because it can't run the high-end apps, but it's functional with basic, everyday apps that most people will want.
Other Stuff and Summary
As with most phones these days, this device comes with a lot of other functionality for your money. GPRS, bluetooth, WiFi (which can often go missing on budget devices), accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass, FM radio, music and video playback etc. etc. This is a budget phone that comes loaded with most of the things you expect from mid-to-high end devices - and they function like you would expect them to on mid-to-high end devices - Only you don't pay the mid-to-high end price.
The T-Mobile Vivacity/Orange San Francisco II/ZTE Crescent/Whatever you want to call it is never going to dazzle people. Value for money just is not important in a culture as vain and status-driven as ours. Where everyone needs the biggest, brightest screen, the newest device, the fastest processor, or even worse, just need something with an Apple motif on it. But if you are one of those people who don't buy into this status, and just need a functional phone, but maybe are looking into branching out into the smartphone market - This device is perfect for you, it truly is. This will do everything you need from it, and more, and to the same ability as a device that can cost up to three times as much. It is good looking, discrete, with a good screen, reasonable touch, and really is a big surprise for the price I paid. I was expecting much less and it is nice when such a device gives you a pleasant surprise. The 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and tiny internal memory are already outdated, soon to be damn near antiquated. But they do the job, and if you're looking for an entry level smartphone, you can do much, much worse and pay all the more for it.
And so let's move on to...
Price
This was a cheap device when it was released last November, costing around £100, and it was given decent enough reviews then, praising it for being a very functional entry level smartphone. A recent price drop to £69.99 made this phone one of the best options...But at the moment, from T-Mobile, for this handset as a pay-as-you-go it will cost you £49.99+£10 credit.
£59.99!
That's an amazing price when compared to anything else of the level and functionality of this phone, and that was the main reason I got it! Needing only a simple smartphone, and not wanting to spend too much I have been shocked and overjoyed by just how well the Vivacity works, and as mentioned a few times before, there is a huge online community of people who, owing to their passion for electroni-fuckery, and the cheap price of this device, are working on mods, fixes, customisations, OS upgrades, improvements etc. etc. It's truly an amazing device for the price.
Overall, in terms of functionality as an Android phone, I'd give this a solid 7/10. But when you take into account the price, it pushes it into 8 or 9/10 territory. At a time when even older devices made redundant by upgrades (iPhone 3G, Samsung Galaxy S and SII now) can cost a couple of hundred pounds, ZTE have provided an excellent and cheap device and T-Mobile have given a great deal on it. Keep in mind that Orange still sell the same phone, in their San Francisco II, for double that price! Anyone looking at upgrading an old PAYG dumbphone to a new smartphone should consider this device.
Alternatives
Virgin Mobile currently have the ZTE Kis for a similar price, with some very good deals on it. However, the Kis is inferior and the ease of unlocking the Vivacity means even if you really like Virgin's tariffs, you can get them on a better phone!
Various featurephones - Many networks will offer these for reasonable prices, but they come with custom operating systems that lack the punch of Android. Usually sold as being social media or music/video friendly, they will do nothing the Vivacity can do, and less.
Huawei Ascend G300 - The ONLY phone that made me hesitate about getting the Vivacity. Currently locked to Vodafone, the Huawei is considered by many to be the best low price Android smartphone out there. Currently around £99 locked to Voda, that exclusivity ends soon. Expect sim-free, unlocked prices to be a bit more, however. If you can get hold of one of these, unlocked, for the £99 price point, it's definitely worth it. But I suspect unlock prices will definitely be around £120-130 - which pushes this from the budget, to the mid-range for me and puts the Vivacity ahead of it. One of the other things to note is that, at the moment, unless your really like Vodafone, there is no easy, free unlock for the G300 - meaning you either have to take it to a shop/buy an unlock code/buy an unlock code from Vodafone - which will cost a further £10-20...It's a great phone, like I said, but it's not £59.99, is it? For those not willing to make a £100+ investment, the Vivacity is King.
Other Links
Review on CNet, including a good little video.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
On Reform of the House of Lords
Recently, there has been a mass of these 'Reforms' going through the UK's political elite, collected in their respective houses with the green or red leather benches. In terms of modern governmental practice, these reforms seem to be either one of two things. The first is the depriving of the public of necessary and previously workable services under the guise of 'austerity' - a sort of reverse Robin Hood scenario where the government rob from the poor to pay the rich, despite the rich having made the costly mistakes through gross financial mismanagement in the first place. The second kind of reform is one whereby it means little or nothing to no one and serves merely as a nonsensical distraction, to keep the public from getting truly up in arms about the first kind.
The currently proposed House of Lords reform is an example of the latter. People will argue that these reforms would be the greatest shake up of the House of Lords in living memory...but that's not exactly a difficult thing to do when the house of lords is only outdone in its anachronistic capability by the monarchy this country still recognises as its supreme authority. The abolition of hereditary peerships was supposed to be the biggest shake up in the Lords, making it less cliquey and elitist and yet it is, not surprisingly, still a who's who of elitist twats. This reform would be no different.
"Ah!" you say, "but we want to make it so that most peers are elected!" Oh brilliant! So now, instead of being able to blame an antiquated and unfair political system built upon lies and nepotism for the out-of-touch nature of the House of Lords - Now we can blame ourselves! YAY! Presumably, if elections to the Lords were to take place they would take place using the same ridiculous, redundant, false, farcical, two-party popularity contest we use to elect our public servants today. Now, there would be further need to boost party coffers as election campaigns for Lords needs take place as well as for MPs, and as if our outdated 'first past the post' political system were not nearly unrepresentative enough, now your Lords could all find themselves from the political party in favour at the time of their election, too...Potentially increasing the stranglehold that destructive, elitist wankers following bullshit, false ideologies in the guise of 'political parties' have on this country!
You might think this lack of support for these reforms means I prefer the old way of doing things. "Oh, you'd rather it stay just as it is!" You'd say with a knowing, condescending snort that makes me want to punch your smug face! NO! I don't like the system the way it is, but nor do I think it needs reform. As far as the House of Lords goes I think it needs complete demolition, along with the farce that is the House of Commons, and that inbred elitist demon-slug that is the monarchy. I think we need a completely new, more representative and barely existent political system in this country that lets people get on with their lives, does little to interfere and doesn't have a foreign policy susceptible to lobbying from companies that produce weapons, or need natural resources. I want a system that doesn't seek to take something so wonderful as the National Health Service, a system that is the envy of much of the world, and dismantle it into nothing short of a deconstructed cash cow on something so base as the whims of their own avarice. Reform is not going to achieve this. All it is going to achieve is distracting you from the fact you're being robbed blind, manipulated and treated like capital and not human beings. It's going to give you something to moan about over your coffee while you read whatever agenda laden newspaper you happen to prefer, but never actually do anything about it. An elected House of Lords is just another distracting sideshow to make you feel like you have any say, power or control. But you don't have any while you allow yourself to be so easily distracted and manipulated. You don't have any power while we continue this false left-right paradigm in politics. You don't have any control while politics is manipulated by the media - who shape your opinions subconsciously. Opinions you later claim are definitely your own. The only reform I would support is a reform of your consciousness. See the truth, learn from the past, be in the present and change the future.
The currently proposed House of Lords reform is an example of the latter. People will argue that these reforms would be the greatest shake up of the House of Lords in living memory...but that's not exactly a difficult thing to do when the house of lords is only outdone in its anachronistic capability by the monarchy this country still recognises as its supreme authority. The abolition of hereditary peerships was supposed to be the biggest shake up in the Lords, making it less cliquey and elitist and yet it is, not surprisingly, still a who's who of elitist twats. This reform would be no different.
"Ah!" you say, "but we want to make it so that most peers are elected!" Oh brilliant! So now, instead of being able to blame an antiquated and unfair political system built upon lies and nepotism for the out-of-touch nature of the House of Lords - Now we can blame ourselves! YAY! Presumably, if elections to the Lords were to take place they would take place using the same ridiculous, redundant, false, farcical, two-party popularity contest we use to elect our public servants today. Now, there would be further need to boost party coffers as election campaigns for Lords needs take place as well as for MPs, and as if our outdated 'first past the post' political system were not nearly unrepresentative enough, now your Lords could all find themselves from the political party in favour at the time of their election, too...Potentially increasing the stranglehold that destructive, elitist wankers following bullshit, false ideologies in the guise of 'political parties' have on this country!
You might think this lack of support for these reforms means I prefer the old way of doing things. "Oh, you'd rather it stay just as it is!" You'd say with a knowing, condescending snort that makes me want to punch your smug face! NO! I don't like the system the way it is, but nor do I think it needs reform. As far as the House of Lords goes I think it needs complete demolition, along with the farce that is the House of Commons, and that inbred elitist demon-slug that is the monarchy. I think we need a completely new, more representative and barely existent political system in this country that lets people get on with their lives, does little to interfere and doesn't have a foreign policy susceptible to lobbying from companies that produce weapons, or need natural resources. I want a system that doesn't seek to take something so wonderful as the National Health Service, a system that is the envy of much of the world, and dismantle it into nothing short of a deconstructed cash cow on something so base as the whims of their own avarice. Reform is not going to achieve this. All it is going to achieve is distracting you from the fact you're being robbed blind, manipulated and treated like capital and not human beings. It's going to give you something to moan about over your coffee while you read whatever agenda laden newspaper you happen to prefer, but never actually do anything about it. An elected House of Lords is just another distracting sideshow to make you feel like you have any say, power or control. But you don't have any while you allow yourself to be so easily distracted and manipulated. You don't have any power while we continue this false left-right paradigm in politics. You don't have any control while politics is manipulated by the media - who shape your opinions subconsciously. Opinions you later claim are definitely your own. The only reform I would support is a reform of your consciousness. See the truth, learn from the past, be in the present and change the future.
Friday, 6 July 2012
Human Civilisation in a Nutshell...
...Still fighting each other over the thoughts of those who claim to be in contact with omnipotent, invisible sky people or shiny rocks and the artificially prescribed values thereof.
~Old Posts~ Make Sports, Not War
Being, as I am, a simple man I do quite enjoy sports. Not so much playing them, alas my passion for that was killed many years ago. But watching them.
It is while enjoying the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 that I wondered if sports could not be used to solve international disputes.
You see, war, well war is a terrible thing. Hideously, grotesquely expensive not just in terms of actually monetary wealth but in terms of life as well. And not just human life either, let us consider that ‘collateral damage’ must also include animal life too. It makes you wonder why, instead of investing massive amounts on weapons, the technology of killing, the science of killing, the psychology of killing and invading. Why do we not, instead, invest all that money in sports?
I don’t think it is too farfetched an idea, indeed both methods of international dispute resolution are as redundant and futile as the other. But sports, like military training, pits one group or team against another. Sports training, like military training, has a great deal of emphasis on discipline and hierarchy. Sports training, like military training requires the participant to be physically fit and mentally sharp. They are essentially one and them same thing. Except one can be fun, and one most certainly isn’t unless there is something dreadfully wrong with you.
What is more, there is less dehumanisation involved in sport. When you are on the pitch/field/area of play the atmosphere may well be hostile, passions may flare, sparks may ignite little battles, but once time is called you can all be friends again and go share a drink and a meal. Unlike with war whereby, if you are the victorious party, you will presumably have very few people to go share a drink and a meal with. Indeed you may very well not have anywhere to go to get a meal, because you’ve bombed it.
It is while enjoying the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 that I wondered if sports could not be used to solve international disputes.
You see, war, well war is a terrible thing. Hideously, grotesquely expensive not just in terms of actually monetary wealth but in terms of life as well. And not just human life either, let us consider that ‘collateral damage’ must also include animal life too. It makes you wonder why, instead of investing massive amounts on weapons, the technology of killing, the science of killing, the psychology of killing and invading. Why do we not, instead, invest all that money in sports?
I don’t think it is too farfetched an idea, indeed both methods of international dispute resolution are as redundant and futile as the other. But sports, like military training, pits one group or team against another. Sports training, like military training, has a great deal of emphasis on discipline and hierarchy. Sports training, like military training requires the participant to be physically fit and mentally sharp. They are essentially one and them same thing. Except one can be fun, and one most certainly isn’t unless there is something dreadfully wrong with you.
What is more, there is less dehumanisation involved in sport. When you are on the pitch/field/area of play the atmosphere may well be hostile, passions may flare, sparks may ignite little battles, but once time is called you can all be friends again and go share a drink and a meal. Unlike with war whereby, if you are the victorious party, you will presumably have very few people to go share a drink and a meal with. Indeed you may very well not have anywhere to go to get a meal, because you’ve bombed it.
I stress again, both methods are strikingly similar in many ways, and both are as redundant as each other in regards to settling scores. All that is proven when one army is victorious over the other is that one army had better weapons, tactics and/or numbers than the other. All that is settled in sports is that one team had better players, tactics and or training than the other…See how similar it is? If anything sports is a much fairer way of solving disputes but maybe that’s where the problem is.
I’m missing the rugby to write this piece. If it seems at times my thoughts are distracted or being interrupted then that is the reason. But, I just think sport was an evolution. I think sport was mankind evolving a way of conflict so that rather than have blood spilling all over the place and families torn apart by bereavement and destruction of land, homes and habitats - Instead there’s just an hour or so of fun, followed by a friendly handshake and resolution as one team proves itself victorious over the other in the spirit of fairness. I think it’s time we started demanding this. No more war, just sports!
And another thing. If we invested all that money that goes to war in sports the populations in the Western world would be easily able to solve their obesity crisis. I mean, I would gladly sign up for two years compulsory service if all it meant was two years playing football, cricket, rugby etc. and the possibility of playing in an international match for my country and her allies…A lot of men and women would gladly sign up for that! Hell, they’d do it gladly to save them a fortune on gym subscriptions! Our children would be raised in a happier, healthier world where they are taught that even the most serious issues in the world are trivial when there is fun to be had in their resolution. There shall always be conflict, and disagreement. That is a fact. But to say that, as a result, there must always be war is to be completely blind to any other possible solutions or resolution methods. Make sports, not war. That’s the answer.
And another thing. If we invested all that money that goes to war in sports the populations in the Western world would be easily able to solve their obesity crisis. I mean, I would gladly sign up for two years compulsory service if all it meant was two years playing football, cricket, rugby etc. and the possibility of playing in an international match for my country and her allies…A lot of men and women would gladly sign up for that! Hell, they’d do it gladly to save them a fortune on gym subscriptions! Our children would be raised in a happier, healthier world where they are taught that even the most serious issues in the world are trivial when there is fun to be had in their resolution. There shall always be conflict, and disagreement. That is a fact. But to say that, as a result, there must always be war is to be completely blind to any other possible solutions or resolution methods. Make sports, not war. That’s the answer.
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