I had picked up a Vox for my wife at Futureshop while they were on sale for $179.99.  The rep I dealt with forewarned me that he had sold 9 of them and all 9 were returned.  I wasn’t too surprised given what I had read online but on the other hand it seemed that there were also a good number of people out there that were using the Vox without too many issues.

So I got the Kobo Vox home and handed it over to my wife and then the fun began.  Right out of the box upon powering it on you must connect it to a (your) wireless network.  If you do not have WiFi you will not be able to even use the Vox as an eReader, it will be useless to you.  Once we had connected the Vox to our WiFi it checked for updates and advised to download.  It didn’t give any other option so we proceeded.  The download failed after about 15 minutes and we couldn’t retry as it said it had ran out of storage space.  I suspect that the image it was downloading (firmware update) had taken up that space and the device wasn’t smart enough to overwrite it on retry.

We then connected the Vox to computer to see if we could access the data partition and delete that file but could not.  We performed a factory reset on the Vox and tried again.  The second attempt also failed with an error but this time we could retry and the third attempt was successful.  Once the update was installed we had to log into Kobo.  We kept getting a connection error and there was no way to skip the login.  We waited about half an hour and finally were able to login and then start using the Vox.  From the time my wife unboxed the Kobo Vox to actually being able to use it took 2 hours.

I can only imagine why so many people wouldn’t have bothered trying to get it to work and just returned it.  We really tested it out and installed flash and app managers, browsers, games, books, movies, music etc.  It’s performance is ok for the money you pay.  The speaker is not that loud, it’s kind of laggy when you’re typing or tapping the screen and requires tapping 2 or 3 times before it responds.  The status bar at the top of the screen would just stop working and the Kobo library application would error out and not display anything but errors.  From what I read online people who were experiencing the Library app issue were saying the only way to fix it was to perform a factory reset.  I actually figured out an easier way to fix that issue.  If you go to the getjar site and download/install the Kobo app it will resolve the issue.  You’ll then have two Kobo apps installed so just pick the one you installed and uninstall it.

After all the little issues and glitches we just decided to bring it back to Futureshop and exchange the Kobo Vox for the Acer Iconia 16GB 10.1 inch tablet which is an awesome device for $349.  Mind you our upgrade was almost twice the cost of the Vox but what you get for the money is outstanding.  The Iconia performs beautifully and right out of the box it’s fully functional and usable as fast as you can turn it on.

I’m pleasantly surprised at a couple of high end tablets that are now available in the $350 price range.  I’m sure they’ll give the higher priced tablets a run for their money.  IMHO if you’re going to start dropping $600 and up on a tablet you might as well buy a laptop which for the same amount of money is way more powerful has tons more storage and can do all the things a tablet can’t.

If you’re looking for just an eReader I would advise to get just an eReader.  If you’re looking for a tablet that you can also read on I recommend you get a real tablet.  For all that it appears to be, problems abound with the Kobo Vox.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2.1 running on it currently.  Just recently I started using the feature of adding an Asian language International keyboard so that I could edit the user dictionary and add custom words that aren’t in the default English dictionary.

Initially this feature worked splendidly.  I had added the Chinese Pinyin International keyboard and had been adding custom words to the user dictionary such as slang and other words and acronyms that typically don’t push through with the default dictionary.

After a day or two I noticed that those custom words I had added to the user dictionary weren’t being recognized anymore.  When I checked the “edit user dictionary” feature in settings I noticed that all the words were gone and I no longer had the “plus sign” (+) to add any words.  Nothing had changed on my iPhone over those couple of days so it struck me as odd.  I tried removing the International keyboards I had and re-adding them.  I still didn’t have the option to add custom words to the user dictionary. I also tried resetting the keyboard dictionary and still nothing.  No matter what settings I tried playing around with on the iPhone 4 I could not get the option back to add custom words to the user dictionary.

I don’t know if this is a glitch in the current iOS as after doing some research I found some other people who have experienced this issue but with no resolution.  What I did is backed up my iPhone 4 and restored back to factory defaults and then tested the edit user dictionary feature and voila I could add custom words again.  I then restored my iPhone to the latest backup I had done and performed a full sync.  Once the sync was complete I added the Asian International keyboard and tested the edit user dictionary feature to add custom words.  Once again the feature to add custom words had disappeared.  At this point I figured it must be some sort of conflict with an application currently on my iPhone 4.  I started removing applications and syncing and testing. I removed all of the apps I could live without and still didn’t have any luck.  I didn’t try removing all of the apps as there are some I cannot live without so regardless even if they are causing the issue it’s a moot point.  The weird thing is that all of these applications were already on my iPhone 4 when I started using the “edit user dictionary” function.

My conclusion regarding this random issue is that an update went through for one of my applications currently on my iPhone 4 that is causing some sort of conflict.  I would surmise that over time with additional updates the edit user dictionary feature will just start working again and it will be resolved without further intervention from myself.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

In need of a new Bluetooth headset and after reading up on tons of different brands, models, specs etc. I finally decided upon the Sound ID 510 Bluetooth headset.  Sound ID itself as a company sounds pretty neat since it was founded by an ear doctor, presumably who would be better suited to design a tool for your ear.

The features of the Sound ID 510 definitely caught my attention as there are many.

• Earprint App
• Touch sensor volume/mute controls
• 3 microphones for noise reduction
• Comfortable earloops
• A2DP for music and more
• Pass thru mode
• Voice prompts
• Multi point, connect to two phones
• USB connectivity (micro USB for charging/upgrading)
• Long battery life

Initially the Earprint App was only available for the iPhone although it’s now available for Android and Blackberry.  The Sound ID 510 is the first Bluetooth headset with an App for the iPhone.  It’s a cool idea as you can customize the sound to your preference, get an update on your battery status, use it to find your headset and more.  The problem with the Earprint App is that it’s buggy.  It has a hard time finding your headset even when it’s on and paired to your phone.  You can even be on a phone call using your headset and the Earprint App can’t find your Sound ID 510.  I find quite often that I have to go through the whole process of turning off my headset and turning it back on so that Earprint finds it.  Hopefully this will be fixed in future updates.

The touch sensor volume controls on the Sound ID 510 work great, super easy to adjust the volume and you also have the ability to mute and un-mute calls by holding for 2 seconds on the touch control.  You will hear a voice prompt telling you the call is muted or un-muted.  I’ve read from others who have expressed that with touch volume controls accidentally swiping the volume up or down may be an issue.  It’s not, even if you did accidentally swipe the volume up or down it goes in such increments that it wouldn’t ruin your phone call.

The clarity of sound on the Sound ID 510 is fantastic both for the user and the person on the other end of the call.  The 3 microphones do a great job in reducing background noise and with the great sound it makes it easy to have conversations in places that would normally be difficult at best.  Here’s something interesting that I did notice and I’m not sure if it has to do with noise reduction but I’m pretty sure it does.  When I first started using my Sound ID 510 I thought it kept cutting out or dropping.  After a few phone calls and discussing what I was experiencing with the person on the other end I finally realized what was going on.  When you’re on a live call with the Sound ID 510 whichever person isn’t talking it’s like they’re not even there.  There is no line noise, no background noise, no person breathing etc.  Apparently for the person on the other end the experience is the same when you’re not talking.  Now that I know what’s happening I appreciate this feature but initially it’s so sudden from talking to nothing to talking to nothing.

The Sound ID 510 comes with 3 ear loops and an over the ear accessory if that’s your preference.  By default the Sound ID 510 is fitted with the mid-size ear loop right out of the box.  The ear loops are very comfortable although if you’re not used to having something in your ear it’s going to take a while to get used to it.  I started out using the mid-size ear loop and it felt like a good fit.  After wearing it for nine hours straight my ear was killing me.  I figured after a few days my ear would adjust but not so and therefore I have switched to the smallest of the ear loops and that’s working well for me.

A2DP is always a great feature to have, ring tones play on the headset, tones for whatsapp, SMS, emails all play on the headset although they don’t sound the exact same, it’s more of a tight, tinny sound.

Pass thru mode I’ve tested to so how it works although I’ve never actually made use of this feature yet.  I would surmise it may be good for eavesdropping, lol.  Basically when you’re not on a call you can enable Pass thru mode which is a amplified setting to hear what’s going on around you.  You can choose from focused or surround mode.

Voice prompts on the Sound ID 510 are helpful during pairing, connection status, voice dialing, muting, end of call etc.  They can be a little annoying when your battery starts getting low on your headset or your Sound ID 510 just randomly disconnects/reconnects multiple times for no reason even when your phone is two feet away from it.

Multi Point is great especially if you have a Bluetooth enabled vehicle or two phones for whatever reason.  I haven’t used this feature yet.

The fact that the Sound ID 510 uses Micro USB to the headset and standard USB for charging or updating is awesome. I’m surprised that not all Bluetooth headsets are like this although in the future it would sense that they will be.

The battery life on the Sound ID 510 is average, I mean how much life can you get out of a battery that small anyways.  In one day I can easily talk up to five hours on my iPhone so I have killed my Sound ID 510 in less than a day.  This is where the USB cable comes in handy because if I’m not near a USB wall adapter or a computer I’m probably dead.

The Sound ID 510 is packaged quite nicely.  In the box you’ll find the headset of course, a little box with two additional ear loops (small, large) and the over the ear loop which is clear plastic and very slim.  A cube USB wall adapter (black) with fold down prongs for easy transport.  A short USB cable (6-8inches) for charging, upgrading.  A neat soft rubber holster with pocket clip for putting your Sound ID 510 in while you’re not using it.

Conclusion:  I really love the Sound ID 510 and think it’s a great Bluetooth headset with a fantastic inventory of features and accessories.  I use the Sound ID 510 with my iPhone 4 and would definitely recommend it.  It’s hard to get in Canada, I could only find it for sale at two places; Best Buy for your typical big box store inflated price of $129.99 and SIG Electronics online for $89.99 which is where I purchased mine.

The Sound ID 510 can definitely benefit from two things.  A firmware update so that the headset maintains a better connection to your phone.  I have found that repairing can help but doesn’t totally eliminate random disconnects at close range.  An Earprint App update so it works properly.  When you can get into it, it works fine.  The problem is getting the app to find your Sound ID 510.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

When I originally set up this modem after upgrading to the 25Mbps Extreme plus service there was no documentation included with the device stating the default IP address, user name or password to login to it.  As I figured out there are actually two accounts that you can use to log into the Rogers N Gateway – SMCD3GN.

1. Default IP address: 192.168.0.1
2. User name: cusadmin – Password: password
3. User name: rogcesadmin – Password: wra8uje

Ironically the one Rogers technician I talked to didn’t even know about the second login and took the information down for future reference.

In terms of which account you should use I recommend using only the rogcesadmin account as all device features/settings are available using this account.  For instance if you want to use the SMCD3GN as just a modem (bridge mode) you’ll need to log in as the rogcesadmin to disable all commercial gateway functions.  See screenshot below.  If you do disable all commercial gateway functions on the SMCD3GN I recommend disabling the wireless on it first. If you don’t, you’ll notice that you’ll always see the default SSID for the SMCD3GN available although it’s useless and cannot be connected to. Please note that once you disable all commerical gateway functions on the SMCD3GN it will reboot and you can no longer login to the modem and will need to perform a reset by pressing the reset button on the back of the SMCD3GN for 30 seconds.  This will of course reset it to factory defaults allowing you to login as well as enabling the router/wireless capabilities.

Disable All commercial gateway functions

What’s interesting about the SMCD3GN is that on Rogers website for this device they state: “Enhanced wireless range delivers maximum signal strength anywhere in the home.”  I can tell you right now, that is an incorrect statement.  If you live in an apartment or your residence is only 1 floor of a house you’ll be fine.  If you live in a multi-floored residence (typical house) the SMCD3GN performs poorly for signal strength and network speeds.  There’s no external antenna on the SMCD3GN so that’s one clue as to the extent of it’s wireless strength but test results posted below will show just how weak the signal strength of the SMCD3GN really is.

I performed speed tests in 4 different spots in my house.  I tested using a laptop with an Intel wireless AGN wireless card on N mode.  My SMCD3GN  device is located at the front of my house on the second floor. I performed my first set of tests using the SMCD3GN N wireless and the second test using my NTI WF-2406 N wireless router with the SMCD3GN in bridge mode.  On both tests I used the same wireless channel, encryption methods and server.  There was no other network traffic during both sets of tests.  The following screenshots tell the story.

SMCD3GN - 5 feet - Speed test

NTI WF-2406 - 5 feet - Speed test

SMCD3GN - 30 feet - Speed test - Direct line of sight (horizontal)

NTI WF-2406 - 30 feet - Speed test - Direct line of sight (horizontal)

SMCD3GN - 40 feet - Speed test - 1st floor of house (back)

NTI WF-2406 - 40 feet - Speed test - 1st floor of house (back)

SMCD3GN - 60 feet - Speed test - Basement of house (back)

NTI WF-2406 - 60 feet - Speed test - Basement of house (back)

As you can see even at 30 feet the Rogers N Gateway – SMCD3GN is really starting to struggle and that’s direct line of sight with zero interference. As far as I’m concerned the N wireless capabilities of the SMCD3GN are pretty weak at best. You can get better signal strength from a cheap wireless G router. As a modem the SMCD3GN does exactly as it’s supposed to and performs admirably. I haven’t had to reset the modem yet for any performance related issues and I’ve been using it for over a month now.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

The successful sales coincided with the release of the iPhone 3GS and gave me an idea.  At the time my fiance had the 8GB black iPhone 3G, it was in decent condition but had a scratch on the screen and scuffs on the back.  We were still able to sell it for $300 cash.  I had a 16GB black iPhone 3G which was in perfect condition, no scratches or scuffs and we sold that for $400 cash.  We sold both iPhones with their original accessories and boxes.  What I find funny is that we sold those 2 iPhones for $100 more then what we paid for them brand new.  They were both a year old when we sold them.

Having sold both of our iPhone 3G’s we upgraded to two new 16GB iPhone 3GS for only $199 each.  If the resale value holds steady generation after generation we should be able to sell our existing iPhones for double what we paid for them once it’s time to upgrade to the next model.

It’s amazing what people will pay for a used iPhone.  I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Apple iPhone probably has the highest resale value of any mobile/smart phone on the market.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After trying to unsuccessfully Boot the machine a few times I was now getting coloured blocks and random characters on the screen.  I thought it might be the video card so I swapped in a known good video card but had the same issue.  The motherboard had 3 PCI-E slots so I tried all 3 slots and still the same issue.  I tested all the system memory which all passed and ran diagnostics on the hard drive which also passed.

Trying a different tact I booted into PE and could access the hard drive and see the current Windows installation on it.  I initiated and successfully ran a system restore from PE and still I had the same issue.  I ran a chkdsk /r which completed fine and yet again I was stuck with the same issue.  As a last resort I ran a repair installation of Windows and the first time it rebooted it just hung after POST with the coloured blocks and random characters.

At this point I was a little baffled but kept going with my troubleshooting and cloned the hard drive which was successful.  I disconnected the original hard drive and worked off the clone.  Doing this I was able to complete the repair install boot into Windows and replace a few drivers.  In the end it was the original WD Raptor hard drive which was causing the no Boot issue but displayed very strange symptoms that don’t typically occur for hard drive failure.  Once I cloned everything to a new Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive the system was up and running with no issues.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

Before trying this out I had thought surfing the web through a tethered iPhone might be slow…not so.  I was able to surf the web with ease downloading large files and loading graphic intensive web pages without a problem.  I did run a speed test to see what kind of bandwidth I was getting.  Download speeds maxed out at 333 KBps and upload speeds at 40 KBps.  That’s fairly quick with a 1MB download taking 3 seconds and a 1MB upload taking a fair bit longer at 25 seconds.

Rogers is currently allowing customers with data plans of 1GB or more to enjoy tethering at no extra charge until December 31, 2009.  Any data used while tethered will go against the data plan total.  Whether Rogers decides to introduce an additional charge for tethering in 2010 will remain to be seen.

It’s nice to have your own private network that can be extended to a desktop or laptop no matter where you go.  The only downfall I see from a software side is that the Cellular Network Data Usage statistics on the iPhone don’t reflect the data used while the iPhone is tethered.  If you’re only tethering to check some emails or quickly check on some information there’s not much to worry about.  If you use tethering extensively as a daily means to access the internet you could easily go beyond the limits of your data plan and end up with a hefty bill.  For those on a 6GB data plan like myself it would take a fair amount of web surfing and downloading to chew up the entire data plan.  I think it would be good to exercise a certain amount of caution as it would otherwise be tedious to keep track of data used while tethered.

It is possible through checking the Local Area Connection status in Windows to see how many bytes have been sent and received and then calculate that into Megabytes to see how much data has been used at the end of your session.  That would have to be noted somewhere each time so you know if you’re getting close to using up all your allowed data transfer for the month.

Overall I think it’s a great feature that works well and is hassle free.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

After removing one of the two memory sticks in the system it would now POST and Boot normally with video display.  Upon trying to run some other tests it became apparent that the optical drive was not working.  Pushing the button would not release the tray.  Using the emergency release hole to pop the tray open and completely removing the optical drive it became visible why there was a grinding noise when the system was powered on and why the tray would not pop open normally.  The aluminum top of the optical drive was pushed in.  I took the optical drive apart and reshaped the aluminum back to how it should be.

Curious as to how the optical drive could have ended up like that I did a closer visual inspection of the laptop.  I could see when looking on an angle that the keyboard appeared caved in.  I went a step further and removed the keyboard bezel and keyboard.  Once I did that I knew what happened.  Someone using the laptop had gotten angry or otherwise vindictive and smashed their right fist on laptop.  This caused the keyboard to cave in and the chassis and optical drive to bend in as well.

Lucky for this person after a bit of work the laptop is back in working order, but it’s going to cost them.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

There are even worse violators of electronic waste in our city of Ottawa and those are private computer stores.  Computer stores that offer technical service and repairs are always going to end up with dead or failing computer parts.  The more common parts are: processors, memory, motherboards, hard drives, video cards, sound cards, network cards, power supplies and cabling.  If these computer stores end up with all these components which they do as no customer wants dead components back what could they be doing instead of sending them to the landfill?

In Ottawa we actually have a business called Computer Recyclers which accepts all computer hardware (anything that will fit in a desktop) to be recycled properly at no charge.  This keeps hazardous materials out of our landfills which is better for everyone.

I know of computer stores in Ottawa that charge their customers a recycling or “Environmental fee” to recycle their old components but then just throw it in the garbage.  They were originally only charging to cover the cost of gas to make trips to Computer Recyclers to have all the old components recycled but instead were too lazy and just threw it all in the garbage.  Quite a disgusting and unethical practice if you ask me.

Both businesses and consumers should be making better choices and the effort to properly recycle end of life electronics.  Would you take your old computer components and bury them in your back yard?  Of course not, so it doesn’t make much sense to bury it in the earth elsewhere.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site

Recently I saw that the OCZ ATV flash drive comes with a cap holder attached via a small chain.  The cap holder is made from a soft and pliable rubber so has grip.  You slide the USB cap onto the rubber holder and since the cap holder is attached to the USB drive nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

I thought that was a neat idea so I decided to fashion my own USB cap holder.  I have a little dongle at the end of my USB drive which is supposed to be for the lanyard that came with it.  Instead I have reassigned it’s use for my USB cap holder.  I needed an inexpensive piece of soft pliable rubber that I could cut to the correct size.  Who knew that a universal toilet flapper could ever suit such a purpose as preventing the loss of a USB flash drive cap.  The type of rubber worked perfectly for my little project and now my USB cap will never go missing again.

Add to your favourite social bookmarking site