GeekwithEnvy

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Product Review: Samsung Galaxy Rush

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There a are thousands of different smart phones available out there but if you’re looking to avoid a longterm contract but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone, that list starts to shrink. What makes the situation even worse is that the quality of phones that you end up with can be absolutely terrible. There is one phone however that seems to stand out from the rest and that’s the Samsung Galaxy Rush.

Samsung GalaxyRush Front View
Samsung GalaxyRush Front View (Credit:Samsung)

 

Design:

When this phone first arrived I was overall very impressed, it doesn’t feel like a toy. The Samsung Galaxy Rush is, as you would expect from the name, built a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S. There are the familiar navigation buttons on the bottom for Menu, Home, and Back. The only button not included in the phone’s navigation area is the search button. There is a power/lock button on the top right with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top left. On the left side of the device there is a volume control button and a slot for a MicroSD card. I was happy to see that the MicroSD card slot wasn’t hidden inside the phone somewhere next to the battery. On the bottom left of the device is a microphone and in the center is charger/accessory jack. The right side of the phone has a camera button.

The back of the Rush has a 3MP camera with flash that also records video. The camera lens is positioned right next to the external speaker. The back cover is made of plastic but it seems pretty durable and it doesn’t pick up fingerprints, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The front of the device has a front facing 1.3 MP camera, LED indicator, the earlier mentioned navigation keys and a 3.5″ touchscreen.

 

GalaxyRush2

Samsung GalaxyRush Side View
Samsung GalaxyRush Side View (Credit:Samsung)

Power/Memory:

This phone isn’t blazingly fast like many of the other high-end smartphones out there but it gets the job done with it’s 1GHz processor ( MSM8655, Qualcomm). This phone also features 2GB ROM/768MB RAM and supports a maximum MicroSD capacity of 32GB.

Display/Touch Interface:

The display is low resolution at just 320×240 pixels but it’s actually not that bad especially for the price point. The Samsung Galaxy Rush uses HVGA TFT as it’s main display technology. The touch screen does offer multi-touch capability and it works really well, typing on this phone wasn’t bad and you can use the on-screen keyboard in both vertical and horizontal mode.

 

OS Performance:

The Samsung Galaxy Rush comes with Android 4.0 and with it’s single core processor it actually move along quite well. The UI operates smoothly and web browsing isn’t half bad either. You can game on this phone without too many major issues, Angry birds will play just fine. If you’re used to higher-end phones you will notice the speed difference especially when upgrading, installing  and loading applications but for a budget phone this kills off most of the competition.

Battery Life / Other Features:

This phone operates off a 3.7 Volt, Lithium Ion, 1750mAh battery that promises to keep you up and running for 9 hours while in use, and up to 14 hours on standby. This phone also has many features that are considered standard for any smartphone including, Stereo Bluetooth capability, GPS, Wi-Fi, and an Accelerometer.

The Price and Verdict:

This phone ranges anywhere from $99 to $150 and operates on the Sprint network via Boost Mobile. Keep in mind that this phone can be bought and used without a contract and monthly bill should be very low. Upon closer inspection you can easily see where they went cheap in the design process but it’s nothing that’s detrimental to the phone overall. For the cost of the phone, I was quite surprised by it’s performance and responsiveness. Audio quality is good on the ear speaker but the outside loudspeaker isn’t very good, although it does get extremely loud (good for an alarm clock). The real winning feature of this phone is the fact that it runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it does so with minimal lag. The bottom line is, if you’re in the market for a budget phone, don’t want a contract, and just want something that resembles a halfway decent smart phone, then this phone is a good buy.

 

 

 

 

3D Graphics Becoming Less Important In Games

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Ever Since the humble beginnings of the video game, the industry has been striving to improve the quality of the graphics in them. Many techniques have been used over the years to try to achieve the most realistic looking games possible. Well before the 3D gaming world, artists were pushing the limits of 2D. One of the earlier techniques used was rotoscoping, this technique involves using actual live scenes and animating them frame by frame by tracing over filmed footage. Some games actually used clay models in their video games, one of the more notable uses of this technique was in the game ClayFighter.Joystick connected to 3D world

With advances in the hardware we use to play our games, software developers were able to take advantage of new technologies and push the limits of what was possible in a video game. Eventually, 3D games began to take over the industry and with their introduction people started to expect more and more. Again, it was a race to match reality, and in the process, pull end-users away from the competition.

Today, things seem to have changed a bit. Although we are still making strides toward the ultimate 3D gaming experience, we seem to have been somewhat delightfully distracted by a new wave a games that are just as amazing as their 3D counterparts, but instead of focusing on reality, they are acutely artistic and vibrant. These games are highly addictive and in some cases, surprisingly simple. We pay little attention to how “realistic” these games are, in fact we are hoping that they are far from realistic, as we anticipate being immersed into an unknown world that looks nothing like anything we have seen.

In some cases we do mimic reality but embrace the gameplay in favor of ultra-uber textures and cutting edge tessellation techniques . Take the popular game Minecraft for example, this game is hardly on the cutting edge for graphics but it’s game play is addictive and when you add in multiplayer capabilities, the game becomes even more enjoyable. I guess the best way to explain what todays gamer is looking for in a game is simply, good entertainment. Far too many times have games been produced where the main focus of the project is it’s look. Gameplay in these types of games is almost an afterthought and gamers pick up on this. We know what makes a good game and it’s not just the polygon count.

So what has made us refocus our attention to these other types of games? Mainly, the rise of mobile gaming, touch input and Facebook. Nothing has influenced gaming more in the last few years then these three factors. Our web browsers don’t really take advantage of our GPU and so instead developers produce relatively simple yet addicting games than run right on Facebook, and as I mentioned before when you add your friends into the mix, it becomes a winning combination. The mobile environment is suited perfectly for all kinds uniuqe games that rely on pure creativity instead of raw power to provide an entertaining experience. Games like Words with Friends and Draw Something are a big hit and yet are very simple, graphically speaking. Touch input challenges developers to create games that focus more on creativity and offer up distinctive gameplay.

Again, I believe we are focusing more on gameplay then ever before and it’s making for some really amazing games. Now, I am not saying that we can’t have the best of both worlds here, both graphically and content wise. There are already many titles that do an amazing job of combining both. Instead I am pointing out a trend among mainstream gamers that appears to be moving away from a focus on pure graphics capabilities. We seem to have shifted our attention to new methods of control and portability instead. It’s interesting to see how the gaming world is evolving, I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Handheld Gaming and Mobile Quietly Moving In

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Ever since the mid seventies we have had hand held gaming devices that we could bring with us anywhere and as with anything in technology, these little devices have changed a lot over the years.mobile gaming 3d concept - smart phone with gamepad

When I think back to the first handheld gaming experience I had, I remember playing Frogger on a Tiger electronic handheld gaming device. Not too long after, I got ahold of my first Nintendo GameBoy and it was one of my favorite gaming experiences. I am not alone in my love for the original Gameboy line up which included Tetris, Mario and although it was difficult to play, the original Castlevania. I also had the luxury of owning a Sega Game Gear which was somewhat ahead of it’s time.

Today we have handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PSVita, which are great ways to game but another strong competitor has started to move in to the handheld gaming territory, the cell phone. The cell phone over the years -as I have mentioned in earlier posts- has previously never been noted for it’s amazing gaming capabilities. Actually, many graphing calculators had better gaming than most of the cell phones on the market. Most early cell phones featured snake or Tetris which we saw again when the next generation of color LCD screen cell phones came out. These newer games usually ran on java and actually started to look a little better but let’s not kid ourselves,they mostly sucked.

Cell phones weren’t even close to being considered any type of competition for devices like the Gameboy, in fact they weren’t even in the same class, there were strictly handhelds and cell phones (mobile gaming). However, the lines have now basically been erased and the term “mobile” gaming encompasses both cell phones and handhelds.

I have to ask though, when did this happen? Well, most of my personal experience comes from using devices like the original iPod and eventually the iPhone. The gaming  experience on the iPod in later versions, (iPod video) was also done quite well and this is when I began to see a future for gaming on these new devices.

Gaming on devices like the iPod and Samsung Galaxy, is extremely popular these days and it looks like these devices have started to take over mobile gaming. Just look at games like Angry Birds, what device would you say is most likely being used to play this game?

How we know things have changed-

When you look at the latest handheld devices like the Sony PS Vita, we see features that were previously only available on devices like the iPhone. 3G, GPS, front and rear facing cameras, and even motion sensors are all now standard components for handhelds. Another point to consider is that I see many more people with their phones in hand on a daily basis than any “gaming only” device and for good reason, we need the cell phone capability, it’s how we survive these days, so it only makes sense that we would prefer to game on them. An added bonus of developers getting their games on a cell phone OS is that you can reach an audience that would otherwise remain unreachable, a large group of people who would never buy a device like a Nintendo Gameboy but would definitely  own a cell phone. It’s all in the numbers and app purchases are huge, the amount of games sold on the App store is impressive and it shows where consumer attention is.

Mobile gaming has never been better than it is today and it’s largely due to the impact of these new cell phone devices. As history shows us, it takes competition to drive forward innovation and creativity. With the addition of all of these new ways to interact with your applications, like motion control and touch,we have seen changes in gaming that we haven’t seen in years and we can now interact with our games in a way we never would have thought  to be possible in a mobile form factor. Again, the mobile gaming space is not any different than any other in that it’s driven by competition and I would argue that without devices like the iPhone, mobile gaming may look quite different today. There has never been a better time to not only create a gaming app but any app, and it’s all thanks to the latest evolution of the mobile gaming space.

 

 

Minecraft: Pocket Edition Update

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MineCraft

 

Minecraft Pocket Edition, the mobile edition of the popular game, has been updated to version 0.3.3 for the iPad and iPod and has a few nice additions.

First, many well known bugs have been corrected in this update including the furnace, sapling and leaves bugs. Bow and arrow support also makes its way in along with skeletons and spiders.
The Pocket Edition of Minecraft is available for Android and iOS and if you haven’t played this version you should definitely give it a shot.
Build on, my friends!

Are Days of the Desktop Computer Numbered?

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Desktop ComputerAs I look around at so many smart phones and super light weight and thin laptops of today’s world, I can’t help but imagine the desktop computer fading out of the picture. For the longest time, it was said that laptops just don’t have enough power to do everything a desktop can.

Aside from making calls, mobile devices at best were used for mini-games, calculating a tip or text messaging. As our chips have become smaller and our wireless networks more advanced, we see our world becoming more connected while at the same time we become less connected, that is, in a wireless sense. I can do just about anything I need from my laptop and heck just about anything I need with my smart phone. Let’s not forget about the in between products like tablets, these things are great for handling day to day business and if I’m feeling bored at lunch I can open up my favorite game and update my achievements from anywhere.

To go even deeper, our devices look to become a nothing but a shell, a shell that connects to the cloud. The cloud won’t just be for storage either. Cloud computers may soon handle our processing needs. There is talk of cloud gaming in which our televisions connect to remote hardware to play our favorite titles. Cloud gaming would be a dream come true for developers who will no longer need to port from system to system or wonder how well the game will look and perform on a given machine. Why make thousands of small somewhat powerful devices when you can have everyone just plug into one massively powerful and connected “mega device”. It really can get hard to wrap your head around such a future.

There is however something that bothers me about this change. Perhaps it is the geek in me, but building my own machine is just the kind of weekend project I look forward to. Maybe there will be a market for custom built mobile devices with different CPU architectures for the same phones, a kind of a-la carte mobile experience for the uber geek in some of us or perhaps we focus our efforts elsewhere with the cloud. Mobile is guiding our future in computing faster than ever before and I can’t wait to see how this all evolves.