Doom3 on xbox 360

I was delighted when a few months ago one of the backwards compatability updaters included Doom3. This has been one of my favourite games on the xbox and being able to play it again on the 360 was something I was looking forward to.

The game got a decent enough reception when it first came out but has never ranked up there with the xbox legends such as Halo. I don’t know why as today, a couple of years after it came out it can still hold its own with the best of them. Graphically, it is still amazing and at times is the equal of many 360 games I’ve played since. When I first got it I thought it was going to be one of these fast paced, shoot em up at every corner type of shooters with little or no time to take a breather but in actuality it is nothing like that. Sure, there are bits when it gets a bit hectic but these are nicely balanced by bits when you can take a breather and need to do a bit of searching to find items to help you on your way.

This nicely balanced pace is one of the game’s great stengths, it seems to know when to push it and also when to ease off. Snooping around levels after the fights is often a good idea as you can find ammo and health hidden below stairs or in various other cubbyholes…just another example of the way the game rewards the more patient gamer as opposed to those who like to get from A to B in the shortest possible time. It has a decent level of replayability too. This time around I have used different weapons, including the rather lethal chainsaw, which adds a different twist to the gameplay and a rather satisfying method of dispensing with those pesky aliens.

This game has some of the features that I consider essential for a pleasurable gaming experience. Number 1 – you can save  anywhere you want…Number 2 – good variety of levels with different tasks, weapons, enemies and scenery. It is spooky at times but not overwhelmingly so….I don’t like to be too scared! Some of the levels are quite clausterphobic, dank and unpleasant but feel just right…you never know what might be around the corner. It’s extremely atmospheric and looks just like how you would imagine a space station on Mars to be. Last but not least…it’s quite a long game so you feel you are getting your moneys worth. You’d be able to pick it up for around £20 new now which represents money very well spent.

PDF’s on a mobile device

We’ve got 3g and HSPDA now, high res screens, sat-nav, fast browsing, video and music playing at a high standard on our mobile devices but whether you are running a palm treo or TX or windows mobile device, even one with the latest and greatest specs, you are still going to struggle getting to make viewing pdf’s an experience anything other than frustrating and slow. Why is that? These devices have evolved so quickly and so well over the last few years it is surprising that they still don’t appear to be able to handle pdf’s as well as could be expected.

I’ve tried out various pdf type viewers down the years. My default choice has been Repligo for a while now and I still think it makes the best overall job of handling pdf’s but that is probably because it converts them to its own repligo format prior to transferring them to your device….in other words they are not actually pdfs’ when you use the Repligo viewer on your device.

My p3600 comes bundled with Adobe Reader. This is a truly miserable excuse for a pdf viewer which struggles to handle even relatively small, 100K pdf’s. There is constant lag as you try in vain to open the document to a size that is finally readable and in effect, the app is so slow it is almost unusable. On a previous device I had that ClearVue application which I thought was equally bad, well marginally less worse anyway. Another no-go app is PDF Mobile Reader which for some reason, refuses to open any file on a storage card…period….this is the app that got all the shockingly bad reviews at Handango and I can see why.

Opening and viewing pdf’s should be as painless and quick as opening word or excel documents. I’m not privvy to the technical reasons why this is not the case, doubtless there is some very valid reason, and frankly I’m not interested in the reasons why. PDF is increasing in popularity and more and more of files which you download from the internet, well the sort of files I need to make use of for work, are only available in this format and it would be good to finally get an app that is able to handle them in the same painless manner that our mobile devices are able to cope with the majority of other files.

T-Mobile USA bringing out new HTC Herald version

This looks like being the successor to the MDA Vario and is going through the approval process in the US. Not sure I like the blue colour though. It is a bit slimmer than the current version though and presumably will also be a bit lighter.

No idea of the specs but you would imagine it may well be a WM6 device. It would look even better in black or graphite or basically most other colours apart from blue…blue?
…for a phone?

bad software reviews at Handango

Check out these reviews of PDF reader by Orneta…doesn’t exactly make you want to dash over to Handango and download it, does it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such bad reviews before…

mind you, it’s had over 11 000 downloads ..

Call of Duty 4 confirmed?

According to this post from xbox360fanboy site, Activision have more or less confirmed there will be a sequel to 3.

I’m still plodding through COD3 and have not really been enjoying it…mind you, I’m sure the poor sods who lived through it at the time didn’t much enjoy it either….so in that sense it is probably very realistic.

PDA 227 software store discount

…20% off all windows mobile and palm software in the pda 247 store for this weekend only using the code NEW247.

Halo 3 update at Bungie

These guys at Bungie sure like to tease everyone about the forthcoming release of Halo3. Thing is, nobody knows just how forthcoming "forthcoming" is. The 360 has been out for nearly a year and a half now and there is still no sign of an immediate release. It had better be good. The problem with issuing teasers and updates is that you are building yourself up for an almighty slagging if the game doesn’t lead up to the hype that you, Bungie, have created.
Halo 2 was a let down for me, certainly in comparison to the original game. it was far too self indulgent on Bungie’s part and had it been the first Halo game, I don’t think there would have been such a clamour for a follow up. Let’s hope Halo3 gets back to basics.

Bioshock release date delayed

I was disappointed to see this announcement of the release date slipping to late August. There seems to be an awful lot of delays with 360 games, I can’t recall the same thing happening the games for the original xbox. Tis a pity.

"Your task is to discover the secret behind a sinister genetic research
laboratory that has been spewing out gruesome mutants. You’ll need to
combine your shooting skills with problem-solving as you explore the
interactive environments, but the good news is that you’ll be able to
soup-up your own genetic skills by using some of the organic gloop
hanging around to your advantage. Talk about performance enhancing
substances…"

Orange SPV M700 reviewed

So you guys’n’gals dont’ believe me when I say this HTC p3600 is a jolly decent bit of kit? Well, have a look at this months PDA Essentials and this trusteddevices.com review and judge for yourself…it makes the treo 750v look like the over-priced and under-screened midget it is…

Friday Thoughts

This week, rather sadly, Alan Ball died unexpectedly at the relatively young age of 61. He was a top class footballer from the 60’s and 70’s and was part of England’s World Cup winning team of 1966. I was driving up to Dundee on the morning after it was announced and as usual was listening to Radio 5 Live who were devoting virtually the whole morning to covering the story. We seem to have this obsession in this country nowadays of having to show our collective grief…if somebody famous pops their clogs then it’s a cue for any Tom Dick or Harry to phone in and let the world know how distraught they are. Soon it turns into some macabre competition…let’s see who can be the most upset by the death of somebody they didn’t actually know…God knows what these people are like when somebody actually close to them dies…hopefully equally upset at the very least.

On a more cheeful note I feel there is much to look forward to on the palm front. The Palm o/s has been subjected to some terrible ribbings and derision over the past 6 months or so and at times I have been in the front row. Things are looking up though and there is a genuine belief now that by the end of this year we will have a new o/s…not only new but cutting edge and which may restore palm to the forefront of handheld/smartphone computing, assuming of course it’s not too late. It would be good to see the smile wiped off the face of some of these smug windows mobile users/ website owners who have been relatively happy to stick another knife into the currently lame duck that is Garnet.

Missing Sync for WM updated..

I thought that there was a new version of this app out now? Normally, when there is MarkSpace are very good and email existing customers with a download link…nothing so far though.

Spb Phone Suite released

Another new product for the already impressive set of WM5 applications offered by Spb.

Features

• Profiles
• Missed call notifications
• Unread SMS notifications
• Call filtering
• Reject & reply with SMS
• Photo speed dial
• Photos in call log
• Wireless manager
• Automatic profile
• Wireless settings in profiles
• Customizable Today plug-in

    They have also added a Today screen plugin feature to their RSS reader, Spb Insight.

p3600 charging cradle

I bought a charging cradle for the p3600 from expansys the other day. It is the "official" HTC cradle and it is finished in the same shiny black gloss as the phone itself. One or two things surprised me bearing in mind it cost £25 nearly.
It came in bubblewrap…no box. It also came by itself…there was no charger or sync cable with it.

It looks nice though and is well finished, it certainly has the air of something substantial, mind you it should for that price. It also has a slot for charging a 2nd battery. It is actually pretty compact too…some of the charging cradles I have bought off ebay in the past could have shovelled coal they have been so big. It also charges quickly.

Skinner for treo 680 updated/launched

it’s one of the two anyway…customise your treo 680 even further with Skinner.

You can create your own themes using the supplied desktop application. Every time I install one of these skinning type apps it always seems to be lead to resetting and other troubles so I personally shy away from them now, however Skinner of course may well be the most stable palm app in the history of the platform for all I know.

excellent new site…MorningPapers

Got a nice email from Sheldon Strickland…what a great name and with a moniker like that it is  no surprise that he has put together a very entertaining site focussed on palm and mac stuff. There is some top class ranting going on down there…keep it up laddy!!

WM launcher tip…sort of

A lot of you, who always seem well clued up on these sort of things, probably know this already but…..I use SPB Mobile Shell on the p3600 and it lists under the programmes button everything that is on your device and also folders for things like Games. You might not use some of these apps, I certainly don’t, and if so you can remove them by going into the File Browser-Windows-Start Menu-Programmes and then removing the ones that are not needed. I "cut" and then put them into a new folder in the Start Menu called "unused programmes" so you know where they are if needed again.

This makes it easier to tab through the SPB Menu when looking for apps.

Alarming situation

PDA 247 have been running an interesting sort of "Life in the Day" series of articles of late on their home page whereby readers try and give an idea of their typical pda/smartphone useage. These sort of things are always quite useful, I find, as often you can pick up tips from other users about things they do that you don’t but perhaps should…

Anyway, one thing has come across that has surprised me….and that is the amount of people who use their treo or TyTn or whatever to wake them up in the morning. I’ve never dreamt of using a device for this purpose as I always switch them fully off prior to heading for Snoozeland….I’m not sure some of them would have been reliable enough to be trusted anyway.

They are also running a competition with some attractive prizes to celebrate their 5th anniversary earlier this year…an excellent site with some of the best reviews and forums around.

Here Today screen…gone tomorrow

This Today screen thing can be a real boon and at the same time frustrating. Calling it a "Today" screen on my devices is certainly apt because it will probably look different "Tomorrow". I just cannot stop tinkering with it…adding plugins here and then taking them away 2 hours later and just when I think it looks good and everything is working well….I feel the  need to change it for no justifiable reason or download some new software trial that has a plugin so I have to try and accomodate that too.

The problem with the Today screen is that it invites full on tinkering. When you switch on a windows mobile device it is there staring at you saying and sometimes demanding "make me pretty". It’s not like the palm o/s where you spend most time in the launcher screen and if you don’t install any fancy dan launchers then there’s not much to change.

With the Today screen on a windows mobile phone and the variety of today screen plugins available you can mess about to your hearts content…the main problem being there’s inevitably not enough room to accomodate all the plugins so you have to tailor it in conjunction with any customisable buttons on the device to provide access to as many of your important and most oft used apps as possible. And that dear readers, let me tell you, takes skill and a fair degree of daring…how far can you push it before everything grinds to a halt as you slowly choke the Today screen to a standstill…sucking, like a blood thirsty vampire, any available memory out in rapacious fashion.

No Zune phone…what a shame

According to this post there will not be a Zune phone…hope the windows geeks aren’t too upset about this bit of diappointing, nay shocking, news. I wonder why not? After all, it’s not as if the music Zune has been a huge commercial failure…what’s that?…it has?!

" it looks like Microsoft isn’t planning on taking their eye off the
Windows Mobile ball anytime soon. When recently asked about the "Zune
Phone," Steve Ballmer replied:

 

"It’s not a concept you’ll ever get from us.
We’re in the Windows Mobile business. We can put Zune into Windows
Mobile, we can put Xbox into Windows Mobile. We can pour everything in"

 

oh where art thou Toshiba?

Still no sign of those pesky new Toshiba phones unfortunately. They are meant to run WM6 which should give them a possible advantage as there ain’t too many WM6 phones out there at the moment. The one with the slider, on the right, looks remarkably like the XDA Orbit does it not?

The one with the keyboard looks nice and has a super screen apparantly, super hi-res or whatever it is called. It also looks a bit slimmer than the HTC TyTanicus which makes it even more appealing.

Updated 26th April

Clove now have the G500 model in stock…the slider one…for £346 approx.