The iPhone, the ultimate smartphone. The phone that revolutionised the category. I’ve owned each and every model since the initial release in 2007. Four years and five models later, iOS has flourished into the most recognisable mobile operating system in the world. But guess what, I’m bored of it.

Each year Apple has added hundreds of new features that makes the iPhone arguable the most feature rich phone on the planet. Thousands upon thousands of apps, notifications, the new iCloud, a fantastic camera, it seemingly has it all. Right in front of you though, it’s essentially a four year old operating system. It’s kept the same look and feel that was introduced back in 2007. It does everything so well, so cleanly, it’s become stagnant, complacent in my mind. I find myself opening the same few apps each day, checking the same things, looking at the same screens. This is in no way a bad thing to some, it’s a phone you can rely on to deliver in almost all aspects (battery life excluded). What I wanted though, was something fresh, something to work with, something different. I’d looked at Android phones, but to me they’re an alter-ego to the iPhone, the Dark Sonic to iOS’s squeaky clean image.

When Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) landed, I took note, it looked different, like a new challenge. The main problem was hardware, nothing noteworthy available. Then along came Nokia, and after their deal with Microsoft, the Lumia 800 was born from the ashes of the N9. It looked like a nice handset, built quality was great, the specs were up there with the best. Why not give it a go? Well I did.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be using my blog to post a diary of my usage, how life with Windows Phone compares to the Apple iPhone. Stay tuned.

If you’ve ever tried installing a new hard drive in one of these machines then you’ve probably already found it goes something like this. Step 1. Spend an age delicately removing that big ass glass panel and then screen, installing the new drive, putting it all back together (careful, no dust). Step 2. Coming to the stark realisation the hard drive fan is spinning like a mad man and your quiet and serene iMac has turned into something of a 90′s gaming PC. Time to take it all back apart again then.

The reasoning behind this oddity is the fact Apple started using the built in temperature sensor (that most hard drives contain) to monitor and adjust the fan speed accordingly. Now you may think, ok so if I replace the drive with the same make and model Apple used at the time then all will be ok? Wrong. I found out the hard way by buying an exact replica of the 2TB Seagate ST32000542AS drive Apple shipped as an upgrade option back in 2009. After installing this I still got the noisy fan syndrome, and this was because unless the drive is flashed with Apple’s custom firmware then the pins used for the temp sensor cable are infact pumping out hard drive rpm signals.

Is there any way around this? There must be something we can do!!? Well yes, there is. It’s a simple mod that will get your capacities up without that dreaded fan following suit.

1. I will assume you already know how to get into your iMac. You need a couple of suction cups to remove the glass panel without cracking it. The panel is held on by magnets around the perimeter of the machine. For a detailed guide in opening her up, then check this. NOTE: Unplug the power cord!

2. Once inside and the screen is removed (careful with the screen cables, especially the one in the top left!!) you will have access to everything and the hard drive is slap bang in the middle.

3. Here’s the clever part. We need to replace the current temp sensor cable going to the hard drive with an external temp sensor. Now there’s another drive in your iMac that is constantly getting monitored, and that’s your Optical drive. That uses an external temp sensor with the exact same plug on the end as the hard drive cable. Put two and two together and you realise we can buy a spare Optical drive sensor and stick it on the hard drive. Bingo.

4. The part number you need is 922-9229, I got mine from TheBookYard here in the UK. Google the part number and you should find a supplier in your locale. Check the picture above to see where I installed mine. It’s been working flawlessly for about a month now.

If you have any questions then use the contact page to get in touch.

After buying a new Seagate 2TB Hard Drive for my iMac, I went about the job of installing it. I was a bit worried when I heard you had to take the glass off the front, but it didn’t turn out to be much of a problem. What did turn out to be a problem was the fact the hard drive fan started spinning at maximum rpm as soon as the new drive was hooked up. I’d read beforehand that Apple use the temp sensor built into the hard drive to monitor and adjust fan levels. With this in mind I’d bought the exact model Seagate that Apple used back in 2009. Well it turns out that without being flashed with Apple’s own firmware, the drive uses the pin-outs for drive rpm and not temperature. Talk about annoying!

I’m not giving up hope just yet though. My next plan is to order a temp sensor used for the optical drive. In theory this can be swapped out for Apple’s own solution and your iMac will be back monitoring to its hearts content.

If you want to replace the WiFi Ribbon Cable inside your 2nd or 3rd generation iPod Touch then you will quickly learn that the cable is connected to the Logic Board with some sort of adhesive. This isn’t any glue though, it’s special conductive tape. The reason it’s special is that it only transfers the electrical signal down the Z-axis. It’s the only solution to replace the cable in your iPod Touch.

Buying this tape (3M 9703) is very expensive, and you in no way need a whole roll of it. I searched on eBay and have found one seller in the UK selling 20cm strips. That seller just so happens to be me! GO GET YOU SOME TAPE

Once you’re sorted for tape there are numerous videos on YouTube describing the fix, but I found this one probably the most in depth. While it doesn’t have any instructions on opening the case, it does explicitly describe the taping process.

The intricacy of this fix mustn’t be under estimated, you must take your time and prepare the surfaces thoroughly before applying the new tape.

The Atari Lynx was initially released in 1989, and was the first ever colour screened portable gaming system. The original design was HUGE, but in 1991 Atari saw fit to re-release the handheld, much in the same way Sony and Microsoft do nowadays (Slim models). The result was the Lynx II, a more streamlined version of the 16-bit beast. Hardware wise not much had changed, the screen was a bit clearer, the headphone jack was now stereo, and you could save your batteries by turning off the backlight. The heart of it was the same, but it still wasn’t enough to keep pace with Nintendo. The technically inferior (but cheaper) Gameboy was fast outselling the poor old Lynx.

Back in the day I was merely 10 years old while this battle for portable supremacy took place. Santa Claus had got me a Master System II for Christmas, and that was all I was getting! I remember seeing the Lynx for sale in the Special Reserve catalogues. I never really paid much attention as it seemed pricey, and I was just a kid.

Twenty years later, I’m (physically) no longer a child. But I do have the spare cash I once craved. Now I tend to think back to gadgets I couldn’t afford when I was younger, and load up my best friend, eBay. I did this a couple of weeks back, and through the post came a boxed Atari Lynx II: Batman Returns Edition. Not only did it come with one of the hardest games ever (Batman Returns), it also had the classic California Games, and the addictive puzzle game, Klax. Onwards with the review.

Hardware

Let me just start by saying the Lynx II is massive. I was shocked when I took it out of the box, I’d never actually seen one in real life before. Holding it in my hands I immediately thought to myself, I bet this has a lot of unused space inside it (the Apple in me). In these modern days we’re so used to the display dominating the hardware. Back in the 90′s it was get what you’re given. Taking it in hand you feel two rubber grips at the rear. If we turn it round you’ll notice what looks like a place to secure a neck strap. The battery slot is located near the bottom and takes 6xAA cells. It’s quite awkward to get the batteries in, you have to place one at either end of the chamber, then squeeze one in the middle to complete the row. In it’s day this was a well made bit of kit, nowadays though, it’s looks prehistoric.

Controls

The d-pad is big, flat and very clicky. It is surprisingly useable though. If you notice in the pictures, there are two sets of A & B buttons on the right hand side. This was one of the clever features of the Lynx. You could flip the screen 180 degrees (even during gameplay!) so left handers could hold it with the d-pad on right. I don’t think I’ve seen this feature on any other portable to date. Elsewhere, there are six buttons next to the screen, On, Off, Backlight, Option 1, Pause and Option 2. Various two button combinations also offer extra functions, for instance, pushing Pause & Option 2 flips the screen.

Gaming

The cartridges, as with most handhelds on the market, slot into the upper rear of the Lynx. There were variations of cartridge design, but all three of my games are the modern type with a curved top. I stuck Batman in for a quick blast and immediately struggled to focus in on the screen, after a tweak of the brightness dial I managed to get a decent balance of colour and visibility. It would’ve been nice to have a contrast adjustment as the colours look very washed out. Of course this could be due to the age of the device, but I can’t imagine it was that much better when new. If you’re used to playing a PSP or DS you’ll probably take one look at this screen and sigh.

Games load immediately, as you’d expect being cartridge based.  What’s funny is not seeing any sort of Home Menu. Since the original PlayStation days we’ve been greeted by a nice front end menu. None of that here, you’re straight into the game. It was clear straight away what reviews have mentioned about Batman Returns. This has to be one of the most unrewarding games I’ve ever played. I still haven’t made it to the second level, it’s just too difficult. I gave up fairly quickly with that and swapped it out for Klax, a highly addictive puzzle game. This immediately got my attention as the game used a portrait aspect, so you hold the Lynx vertically to play. It felt weird at first, as it’s slightly uncomfortable, but you get used to it. Klax is a very cool game, I’m surprised we haven’t seen it re-made to be honest. The final game in my library was California Games. I used to own this on the Sega Master System and would spend hours playing the kick up game. After a few minutes playing on the Lynx I got frustrated by it all. Was I a better gamer back then? Or did I just not know any better?!

Conclusion

In it’s day I can imagine the Lynx being an absolute powerhouse. 16-bit architecture, colour screen, portable. It had a lot going for it. In modern days though, this is little more than a collectors item. Since writing this review I have placed everything back in the box and put it on display with my other retro consoles. I think this is one generation too far back, and that’s where I’ll leave it.

The wait is over, the much vaunted successor to the DS family is here and available in the UK. I snapped one up at launch after leaving it fairly late with the pre-order. I went for the Aqua Blue model, I just really liked the two-tone colour scheme, which is strange because I’d usually just go for plain black. After looking at the list of launch titles I couldn’t really see anything that interested me a great deal, so I went Nintendo, and got Pilotwings Resort. This was talked about as having the best usage of the ’3Dness’, as well as being a classic Nintendo IP.

The hardware itself is very nice, the Aqua finish is lovely and shimmers in the light. The lid sports two cameras, which enables the taking of 3D photographs. I was surprised by how thick the unit was. I haven’t had a DS since owning a DS lite about a year ago, and I remember that being fairly thin. Obviously all the technical wizardry and enhanced capabilities packed into the 3DS have made it grow a bit. I was especially pleased by the inclusion of a charging dock, I didn’t expect that, it was a welcome addition. I suspect it’ll be something Nintendo will ditch in a few months in order to get the price down (remember when iPods came with docks?).

On Inspection

The right side of the unit has the 3D Depth slider and a WiFi on/off switch. The left side sports a Volume slider and the SD card slot. Nintendo supply you with a 2GB card already in the slot. This is plenty for the time being, especially given the fact the eShop hasn’t been launched yet (and won’t be until the end of May!!). Up front you’ll find a centralised headphone socket. Turning to the rear we have a charging port, cartridge slot, stylus bay, infra red port and lastly the Left/Right Trigger buttons. The cartridge slot accepts both DS and 3DS games, gone is the extra slot to support GBA titles.

One thing that instantly stood out about the 3DS is that it’s absolutely plastered in LEDs! I counted five, and keep expecting more to crop up! We have the Power/Notification indicator (blue), Charge indicator (orange/green), WiFi indicator (orange), 3D indicator (green) and a lovely (lilac) Camera indicator.

Opening up the unit and you immediately feel the quality of the hinge design Nintendo have honed over the years, it’s smooth, precise and clicks into place nicely once fully open. The top screen is now wider and has a higher resolution than the older DS handhelds. (400×240 vs 256×192). This still isn’t very impressive in my opinion, games suffer from aliasing issues simply because the screen resolution is so low you can pick out each individual pixel. It’s no retina display, that’s for sure. There’s a 0.3mp (insanely bad) front facing camera for taking mugshots. I do wish Nintendo would up the quality of the cameras, I mean, a 1.3mp sensor can’t cost that much more! Can it? The lower display is a 3″ resistive touchscreen panel, also with a bumped up resolution (320×240).

Controls

The control scheme is the same as what’s gone before with the older DS systems, but with one major addition, the Circle Pad. Before you think this is a true analogue stick, it isn’t. Think of it as a cross between the almost useless PSP analogue nub and an Xbox 360 thumbstick. It has similar movement characteristics to the PSP nub, but with the lovely concave grip of the 360 pad. It is very useable indeed, and works flawlessly with Pilotwings. There’s also a new Home button (what doesn’t have one of these nowadays?) pushing this takes you back to the DS Menu from wherever you are.

3D Screen

When I first booted up Pilotwings Resort I felt a bit sick, I really did. I was having a hard time focusing on the screen. I instantly noticed what all the reports had been saying, if you move the unit even a centimetre from your direct line of sight then you’ll lose the 3D effect and experience major ghosting. My eyes got sore after about 5 minutes of playing, and 10 minutes later I was beginning to get a headache. Not a good start. I didn’t touch it until the next day when I thought I’d give my rested eyes another drubbing. I’d played about with the 3D slider the night before, but this time I seemed to find the sweet spot. I was playing Pilotwings for about an hour with no real pains. Out of interest, the slider it roughly halfway on mine, any more and I start straining my eyes.

The effect really is rather nice, and with a game like Pilotwings it’s really beneficial. It actually aids in calculating distances to rings, balloons etc, and also gives a good perspective for landing your craft. You genuinely appreciate that added dimension.

Software

The launch lineup wasn’t the strongest, the usual mix of rushed titles with a couple of first party games thrown in. The two games that stand out for me are Pilotwings and Street Fighter IV. I went for Pilotwings because I already own Street Fighter on my 360. There’s quite a bit to mess around with even if you don’t buy a game though. The first thing I did was went to setup a Mii character, this is basically essential. I then went into Mii Plaza to turn on StreetPass. There’s a built in game called Face Raiders, a 3D Camera app (quality is terrible) an MP3/AAC player and even a built in Pedometer tracker that earns you coins for walking. I had loads of fun playing with the AR Cards, seeing a dragon come out of your desk is crazy, the effects are rather brilliant!

Conclusion

In the future we’re promised a Web Browser (the icon is already there) and the new Nintendo eShop. These will be added via firmware upgrades. I really think the eShop should have been ready for launch, they’re crazy for not making that happen. When it does arrive we’re promised some classic games, including some old Game Gear titles, ace! I am also looking forward to the remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I never played the N64 original, and would like to see what the fuss is all about.

It’s hard to know what to make of the 3DS at the moment. It’s a fantastic piece of technology, 3D without any glasses is no mean feat. But a part of me feels it’s a tad gimmicky? Could it be the fact none of the launch titles have used 3D with any real value? Could well be. I think I will refrain from judging until the next wave of games fall in. If 3D continues to be of no real value to the gaming experience then I can see myself saving my eyesight and using it as a more powerful DS.

Until then though, it’s up, up and away ….

Was meant to do this last night but stumbled into a problem. I needed to update to Official Firmware 6.35 before running this new HEN. Well you need your PSP to be holding a fair amount of charge before it’ll let you update the Firmware. Mine was completely dead. Couldn’t find the charger anywhere so I hooked it up to USB and let it charge overnight.

Anyway, got round to installing the Firmware update earlier tonight. Incase you’re wondering, once you download the Firmware files (Google it!) you need to create a folder on your Memory Stick (within the directory ../PSP/GAME/). Call this folder UPDATE and drag the Firmware file into it. It should then be visible and ready to run from the XMB. Go to the Memory Card option under the Game menu. DO NOT do what some people do and go online to update! This will update you to the very latest Firmware and leave you bummed.

Once all that was done, it was simply a matter of dragging the 635PROUPDATE folder into ../PSP/GAME directory. You then run that from your PSP and follow the instructions. If you want to put PSP ISO files on it they need to go in a folder named ISO in the ROOT of your Memory card.

To get PSX titles (EBOOT.PBP files) to play. You have put them in a suitably named folder within the ..PSP/GAME/ directory. I chose folder names without spaces, as I seemed to have problems whenever I used a space.

Now off to enjoy to classic Resident Evil Directors Cut! Oh the nostalgiagasm!

Incase you wondered, I’ve been running firmware 6.20 on my PSP-3000 for some time now. Alongside that I’m using the 6.20 HEN (Homebrew Enabler) TN-C. This has the benefits of  allowing me to run backup games straight from the Memory Stick. It’s great not having to carry UMD’s around with me all the time!

Anyway, one of the major drawbacks of the 6.20 HEN is it won’t allow unsigned PSX games to be run on the PSP. It’s fine with titles bought from the PSN Store, but if you want to backup your PSone collection and get it on your PSP, you’re outta luck. In step Coldbird and Virtuous Flame, with their latest release of CFW-6.35 PRO. They promise PSX support, even for non PSN content. It also works with all PSP models. Result.

I’m off to do some testing.

Was looking into getting myself a Psion Teklogix NetBook Pro earlier today, but there weren’t any decent ones on eBay. I was googling about for a bit and noticed someone had made a version of Linux available for it. This immediately got my attention and I looked further into it. Seems the release was some years ago now, and it never ran very well. Still doesn’t stop me wanting to do it though!

The main stumbling block at the moment, I can’t really afford it! Good ones go for well over £100 online, and after forking out the best part of £350 for a Google CR-48, things are a bit tight. What I do own though, is a fully boxed Psion Series 5mx (pictured above), fully boxed with Leather case etc! Turns out there was also a version of Linux made for this model.

Over at OpenPsion they have all the old files needed, dating back to 2006. There’s also a handful of apps like Firefox to run on it. I think this could be an interesting Saturday night. Time to bust out the 5mx!

Spotted another Google notebook on eBay while I was at work earlier. Seems it was a one-day auction, obviously lowering any risk of it getting pulled. I stuck it straight on my watch list, it finished tonight at 9:50pm GMT. Went in with a max bid of $550 but didn’t get pushed anywhere near that. Won it for $465, which converts to around £289. Not bad at all! The shipping was another £35 on top of that, mind. I’ve emailed the seller asking him to mark it as a gift (trying to avoid a massive customs charge).

Already been looking at guides into dual booting these things with Chrome OS and Ubuntu. I found this excellent walkthrough over at chromium.org. Looks like it’s fairly involved, but I love getting my hands dirty. Just have to wait for the thing to get shipped now. Hopefully I’ll get my hands on it by next weekend. Wonder if there’s anything I can do with the 2-years free 3G access? Doubt it.