It has been some time since I last posted here and I want to just say that it is time to get back in the saddle and get this up and running again. We have the technology to rebuild it… we will make it faster, stronger… no wait, that was with the 6 million dollar man.
Oh well, with the new and improved site… I will be providing more consistent updates about content on items that are trending in the tech world. So, just wait and see what we have next.
Denny French
Just so every one knows, I do like MS products and really do think the Surface RT is a great product. But I am also open minded enough to be able to mention the faults as well as great they are…
Trying to connect my phone to my Surface RT…
No joy
It seems like it will not connect directly either with Bluetooth or the shared Internet on my Lumia 925…. I am guessing more troubleshooting is involved.
Rants continue, but I know this isn’t the full release and I am not sure which device is actually at fault.
I just want to say that the MS Surface RT is a great device and I feel that with the added known features that are being added in the next release (8.1) will further propel this device up the productivity ladder. However, I am going to say that on the the whole I like the product, I am just getting tired of the power issues I have started getting. So, I use the Surface RT for the better part of the day and need to put it on charge. After a while getting the juice, I go to use the tablet.
Nothing.
No display or modern interface…
I press the power button; once, twice, three times and no joy. I press the volume button with the power button and still nothing. I start randomly pressing the buttons in any order I can think of. Then out of the blue, it powers on… after I pull more of my hair out, and I really can’t afford to lose any more. The it operates like it should, until it happens again.
Now, I know I installed a prerelease OS upgrade and there will be issues, but this is pretty major and should be addressed as quickly as possible. Just very annoying when you have to wait to get a system up and running when it should already be on and waiting for your command.
My rant right now since it seems to be happening more regularly after charging after some heavy usage.
I’m out of here for now…
So, the other week my old first generation Windows Phone 7 device (HTC HD7) finally bit the dust. I had nursed it along for the past year. It was slow, but still worked as a decent phone. I like to think that I kept the device clean from extra photos and videos that I didn’t need by either deleting them or moving them from the phone to my home computer. However, like all good devices it was dying slowly. I thought that maybe if I increase the storage (memory) and install a custom ROM that would help. So, after much research I decided to take the plunge and purchased a 32 GB SD card that was compatible with my device and then looked for custom built ROM’s that I could install. After I got the items, I still debated and waited a bit. Then I finally bit the bullet and pulled the trigger to update my phone…
I started off my watching (intensively) the tutorials and videos that were out there showing how to update the storage. It seemed that with this particular model (as well as other model Windows Phones (WP)) that the storage was simply a SD card that was enclosed in the back case and wasn’t easily accessible with out minor surgery. This actually sounded harder than it was and within about 30 minutes or so my phone now had 32 GB of storage instead of 16 GB. Now the fun to put back the OS began. Like I stated, I found a custom ROM (from Deepshining) that I liked, it was based on WP7.8, was stable, and seemed pretty popular with many users in the XDA Developers community. I followed the directions to the tee and after short time later, my phone had new life breathed into it. I was happy again.
Now, about a year later and after a few more drops the hardware started to fail and I found it necessary to get a new phone, since I like the WP OS, I went with a Nokia Lumia 925 with WP8 installed, and haven’t been disappointed, a great phone. But now I had 2 good SD cards just sitting here not being used. I decided that it was time to reclaim these cards. Well, I put the 16 GB card in my computer to check it out, nothing… I think that I know this card worked, what is the matter. I try other systems and still get nothing. I then pull the 32 GB card from the HD7 and try it as well. Again, nothing. I immediately start Googling and Binging looking for solutions to try to revive these cards. I was on a mission and had a plan.
A few days go by, I see a lot of sites discussing this same situation, how to revive or recover the SD card after it was in WP device. Lots of the sites just didn’t work. I even consulted with an acquaintance from Microsoft and he indicated that the card is no longer usable. WP7 uses the Secure lock in the Secure Digital card by locking the card to the hardware. I felt defeat, I had two cards that were good and I couldn’t use either one… I then found that if you could find some older Nokia devices that were running the Symbian OS, they could unlock the card and reformat it. I tried a few times to see if any one had theses devices. I was willing to ship to Europe to try it out. No answer from anyone in regards to this. Well, I didn’t give up and after a few more days I found a great forum post in the XDA Developers forms.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1337781&page=5
This post had a step by step instructions on how to use your phone to unlock the SD card. I downloaded all the items (needed several little programs and a new blank ROM). After putting the blank ROM on the phone and running the other listed steps, my original 16 GB card now is usable again. So, I immediately did the same with the 32 GB card. Now, I have 2 good cards that I can use for storage. The 16 GB card is going to my wife’s Samsung Galaxy S4 for her storage, she fills up her 8 GB with apps, pics, and videos very fast. With the 16GB card she should be good for a while longer. The 32 GB card is going to my Microsoft Surface RT device, while I got the 32 GB device and haven’t ran into issues with drive space, I have some videos and files that I don’t need on the main storage and will move them off to the SD card. While I primarily use the cloud for different devices, the ability to have the SD card in the tablet is invaluable.
So, now I am yet again a happy camper… I have a new WP8 phone that is a wonderful device, my wife will have more storage in her Android phone, and my Surface RT tablet will be boosted a bit for storage.
Signing off for now
The Denster.
So, been out of the loop for a short time, but tonight I will be doing a post on my experiences with the Microsoft Surface RT and reimaging it. Also, will have some information about my new Nokia Lumia 925 I had to get since my old phone died a quick death. So, check back later.
As many people know, I am a big Microsoft fan. I just like their products and they normally seem to just work for me. Even the “horrible” Vista worked with very little problems (or at least ones that weren’t really Vista’s issues). Now, I have been using the Microsoft Surface RT tablet since it came out and for the most part I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with it. And I had waited patiently for the update for Windows RT 8.1.. When it came out, I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the community to test and report to Microsoft any issues. Well, here are the list of issues I have noticed so far.
The largest issue I have found has been the Wi-Fi just losing the connection. I have read a few blogs and forums that describe this issue as well. While, some people say they have to wait for hours to get it to reconnect, I just do a system restart and it works for a while again. This was very frustrating as I am using SkyDrive to do some work and last night I had to keep restarting the tablet. I plan on checking my router and network connections again at the house, but since my wife who was on her laptop didn’t experience any dropped connections it was limited to the tablet.
The second issue I have noticed is that sometimes it will not come out of sleep mode. The screen just stays black and I normally just press and hold the power button to do a hard reset. Even then, it doesn’t always work and I normally press and hold the volume down keys along with the power button. This does seem to work as well. I notice that it happens more after it has been on charge for some time. This is mainly a annoyance since a few times I have been wanting to use the tablet to do a quick look up or research something.
The final issue I have experienced is that the screen will sometimes start jittering, shaking, or seem to not function with the keyboard (I have the touch cover) connected. To correct this, I just press the power button to put the tablet to “sleep”, then press it again to “wake” it up. Again, this is happening more since the update to Win RT 8.1 preview.
Now, before anyone goes off on this rant, I know that I downloaded the public preview/beta and will have bugs. I am just expressing the bugs I have found.
All for now…
So, now I have gotten the site set up, I am going to start writing some opinion reviews on various products, services, items, or just any random rant about things. I am going to try to stay on the positive side, but will post negative reviews as well. The first one will be tomorrow and will be something small, but it is used all the time. So until tomorrow, adios.
The Denster
Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone
Now, it is pretty much known that I am not a big fan of Apple and I hated (and liked) the commercials that compared Apple products to Microsoft Windows. Especially when the facts were correct. Here we go with more commercials comparing Microsoft to Apple with the Apple products going down… Oh well, every company has their fans and reading some of the comments on the YouTube video Apple fans are still very diehard. Can’t just admit that there “could” be products out there that are actually better than what they have.
This is a great website (from Microsoft) that shows the differences for the iPad and other systems.
Compare Windows tablets to Apple iPad
Okay, just read this and it grinds my gears… why would a company who sold me a product be responsible for helping recover the item if it is stolen???
I feel that we take full responsibility when it comes to the theft of our own items. After we purchase the device it is ours, not the companies.
Just my $.02…
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