Henry Lubong's Journal » verizon http://henry.lubong.com This blog is about my life's journey... Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:28:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Pre-Ordered The Droid Incredible From Verizon http://henry.lubong.com/2010/04/19/pre-ordered-the-droid-incredible-from-verizon/ http://henry.lubong.com/2010/04/19/pre-ordered-the-droid-incredible-from-verizon/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:27:16 +0000 Henry Lubong http://henry.lubong.com/?p=896 I just pulled the trigger on the new, the hottest, the best Droid yet, the smartest and sexiest 3G phone in the planet of earth, the HTC Droid Incredible!

I was waiting for the Nexus but it’s still MIA (and I’m glad it’s not available yet). Verizon is still courting Steve Jobs for the iPhone and I definitely would not wait on that. Then the smartphone god blessed us with the new Droid Incredible. If you haven’t heard or been living in the cave, today is the day where you can pre-order the Droid Incredible from Verizon. Pre-orders will be delivered on April 29 and so you know (or so Verizon says), it is in limited quantity. I paid for mine for only $199.01 including tax and discounts. Here’s the rundown:

Original price of the phone: $529.99
Special price with 2-year contract: $299.99
New Every Two Plan Discount: $100.00
Online Discount: $50.00
Subtotal: $149.99

CA Tax: $49.02 (based on the original price)
Total price of the phone: $199.01

Go to Engadget for a very nice review of the Droid Incredible. Once I get my hands on mine, I’ll also post my own review. For now, I just wanted to say that there are three things that made me jumped on the Incredible. First is the the company that makes it – HTC is known for making high quality mobile devices. Second, the Incredible is equipped with 8 megapixels camera, which I highly desire for my photo blogging. Not only that, this camera is supposedly more responsive and does auto focus very well.  And last but not the least, HTC’s very own next generation Sense UI that makes the Droid 2.1 OS experience better and more complete.

Oh and one last thing, did I already mention that the Droid Incredible is superior to the Motorola Droid, the Nexus One, the Palm Pre and (yes you, you too can’t escape) the iPhone :)

]]> http://henry.lubong.com/2010/04/19/pre-ordered-the-droid-incredible-from-verizon/feed/ 0 Blackberry Storm After Two Months http://henry.lubong.com/2009/04/29/blackberry-storm-after-two-months/ http://henry.lubong.com/2009/04/29/blackberry-storm-after-two-months/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:06:26 +0000 Henry Lubong http://henry.lubong.com/?p=425 So I picked the Storm over Omnia. It’s been two months now since I purchased this phone. It’s enough hands-on time to give my personal review about this phone. Why the Storm? First of all, I wanted to try the RIM’s OS. Secondly, the storm looks slickier than the Omnia. Lastly, I don’t want to get tied with the proprietary port and cable of the Samsung Omnia. Do I regret purchasing the Storm over the Omnia? Maybe not when compared ot the Omnia. But if you ask me if I have any regrets purchasing the Storm, yes I do, a little.

When I received the phone, it came with 4.7.0.75 version of the OS. This is an updated version which was supposed to fix some of the initial bugs when the first batches were first released. In the course of two months, a few beta updates were leaked out that fixed more bugs and made the phone better and faster. The most noticeable fix was for the quick response of the accelerometer (it orients the phone in landscape or portrait mode). Recently, RIM announced the latest official OS update of the Storm 9530, the 4.7.0.122. It was for Bell Mobility customers but would also work with Verizon Wireless. I currently have it on my phone.

To get a better view of this phone I will list my likes and dislikes.

Likes:

  • slick black device
  • easy email integration
  • nice button layout
  • fast accelerometer
  • usable browser
  • 3G connection cut out right away when app is closed (compare that with WinMo devices)
  • contact list
  • phone dialer (i like the big buttons)
  • decent video/photo resolution
  • good voice quality and an okay speaker
  • huge community of Blackberry users
  • RIM is frequently releasing updates for this phone (I had to wait a year to get some bug fixes on my old WinMo phone)

Dislikes:

  • SurePress Touch Screen!!! If it wasn’t for this most annoying feature of the phone, I’d give the Storm a grade of 100%. I will never get used to it and unfortunately I have to interact with the touch screen to use the phone. I always mistype words and typing is painfully slow!

If I get a better touch screen, I will keep this phone oherwise iPhone will be my next mobile phone when they come to Verizon.

]]> http://henry.lubong.com/2009/04/29/blackberry-storm-after-two-months/feed/ 1 How To Enable GPS On HTC XV6800 http://henry.lubong.com/2009/02/07/how-to-enable-gps-on-htc-xv6800/ http://henry.lubong.com/2009/02/07/how-to-enable-gps-on-htc-xv6800/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:12:49 +0000 Henry Lubong http://henry.lubong.com/?p=370 As you know (or if you don’t know), Verizon locks the GPS on your device so you can’t use it with third party apps like Google Maps or Live Search. Why do they do this? Greed! The only app that works with the GPS in your phone is the VZ Navigator. What a surprise huh. Of course it’s not free. Verizon charges $10 / month for this service.

There are some smart people out there that hacked the phone and was able to unlock the GPS via a ROM update. This not a Verizon approved update so the people that installs it do it at their own risk. I personally updated my phone with one of these custom ROMs and it did wonderful thing to my phone. Last year Verizon released two updates to the XV6800 phone, which also upgrades the phone to Windows Mobile 6.1. Everyone hoped that this updates would unlock their GPS but once again we were disappointed. But don’t worry, a fix has came out to work with these updates

So enough with the rant and let’s get on how to enable the GPS on your phone using the latest ROM update from Verizon. Please note that this instruction is for phone updated with the latest build from Verizon and not a custom ROM build.

Instructions:

  1. First, download the ROM update from Personal Communication Devices website. Either the MR1 Upgrade or the MR2 Upgrade will work. I personally installed the MR2 because that’s the latest build.MR2 Upgrade – http://www.pcdphones.com/downloads/XV6800_MR2_Software_Upgrade_File.zipQWERTY keyboard fix (optional) – http://www.pcdphones.com/downloads/XV6800%20QWERTY%20Keyboard%20Fix%201-9-08.zip
  2. The upgrade download is a zip file that contains the ROM build file and the instructions on how to update your phone. Unzip it and follow the instructions. It is as simple as connecting your phone to your PC via USB cable and running the exe file. Wait ’til it finishes updating your phone. You’ll see a progress bar on your PC and your phone. Once it’s done, the phone will automatically reset and go through the setup process.
  3. After updating your phone with the new software, download the file that will enable the GPS on your phone. You can download the file from here – http://rapidshare.com/files/165096506/Valhalla_Legends_GPSServer.cab. But before installing this file, make sure to follow #4 asnd #5 first.
  4. On your phone, navigate to Start -> Settings. Under the Personal tab, click on Phone . Click on the Services tab at the bottom. Highlight Location Setting and click Get Settings. Make sure that LOCATION ON is selected.
  5. Navigate to Start -> Settings. Under the System tab, click on External GPS.
    In the Programs tab, set the GPS program port to COM4.
    In the Hardware tab, set the GPS hardware port to (None) and Baud rate to 4800.
    In the Access tab, make sure that Manage GPS automatically (recommended) is checked.
  6. Now install the Valhalla_Legends_GPSServer.cab file. Make sure to install it on your Device and NOT the Storage card or else it will not work. Soft reset the phone after installing the software.
  7. You should now have an unlock and working GPS. Now try it with Google Maps.

If you have a custom ROM, you can follow the instruction on this site – http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=VerizonAGPSFix.

]]> http://henry.lubong.com/2009/02/07/how-to-enable-gps-on-htc-xv6800/feed/ 21 New $29.99 Unlimited Data Plan From Verizon http://henry.lubong.com/2008/05/03/new-2999-unlimited-data-plan-from-verizon/ http://henry.lubong.com/2008/05/03/new-2999-unlimited-data-plan-from-verizon/#comments Sat, 03 May 2008 20:21:44 +0000 Henry Lubong http://henry.lubong.com/?p=149 I just learned about this new data plan from Verizon. I currently pay $44.99/month for their unlimited data plan for my HTC XV6800. I only use it for checking emails and sports news and sometimes watching tv through my mobile sling player. With the $29.99 a month plan, you lose access to corporate email, over-the-air sync of your address book and tethering. I currently don’t do any of those. I might need to tether when I’m traveling but it’s not a necessity at this time.

Now, this new plan may not show up in your online account features list. You might see two plans listed which are, $44.99/mo unlimited data plan and $24.99/mo 10MB data plan. I suggest that you call the customer service and ask them about it. When I called, the rep didn’t know what I was talking about and he insisted that they only have the $24.99 one. Ask them to look it up or get the manager because this plan exists. It’s been available for the Blackberry and they are just now incorporating this plan to other Smartphones and Windows Mobile phones. If you think about it, a $15 savings a month is a lot when accumulated in a year.

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