Samsung Ultra Touch GT-S8300T from 3 – why I’m sending it back
by John Radford on Feb.05, 2010, under Computers
Well, what a disappointment this phone has been. According to Samsung’s website this phone has a Standby time of up to 300 hours (12.5 days) dependant on network and provider. And according to Three’s (3) website a Standby Time of up to 160 hours (6.5 days) is quoted.
With virtually no use from a fully charged battery (half dozen short calls and as many text messages), this phone is battling to get 36 – 48 hours maximum before it NEEDS recharging. Infact, after 1 day’s use, on the 2nd day if I go out, then the phone will need to be charged first, otherwise it’ll run out sometime during the day – not very MOBILE. And I’m incredibly pissed off with 3’s service & support calls being routed to Mumbai in India – I live in Australia and support should be here too!
So, after multiple calls over the 3 weeks I’ve had this phone, I finally drove the 50kms round trip to Perth where the ’service centre’ is located, and after explaining everything to the people there, I’m told that 1 – 2 days battery standby is normal for this phone. When I got home I phoned support again and had that opinion confirmed.
I’d like to know how 160 hours standby translates into 48 hours with little use !! It is nothing less than misleading and deceptive advertising, and I informed them of such. I’ve also informed 3 that I will be cancelling the contract next week and returning the phone to them; I shall also be contacting Samsung – they may make great TV’s and PC monitors, but their Ultra Touch mobile phone SUCKS.
All the features in the world can’t make up for the fact that as mobile phone, it fails miserably – a mobile phone must have good connectivity and good Standby Time, if not, it’s little better than a glorified hi-tech paper weight.
Samsung Ultra Touch GT-S8300T – hmmm
by John Radford on Jan.30, 2010, under Computers
Well, I finally had delivery of my new Samsung Ultra Touch mobile phone from 3 on Monday last week, and have spent the past fortnight getting use to it.
It’s certainly not been a trouble-free move from both Nokia and Telstra; the latter being of concern as the 3 network is way behind Telstra in terms of network coverage and reception. I am experiencing regular ‘dropped calls’ and am keeping a log of them for 3, and if they can’t rectify the problem, then I may have to opt out of their contract and return to Telstra.
The Ultra Touch certainly is an interesting piece of technology with its large AMOLED screen and touch navigation. (continue reading…)
Bike is fixed – now with added ‘bling’
by John Radford on Jan.26, 2010, under Motorcycles
Dropped the Bike into RR Motorcycles on Wednesday last week, and picked it up Thursday with all the new bits fitted – thankyou RAC Insurance.
Apart from the new fairing, headlight, cowling brace, tank, indicator & mirror fitted under insurance; I’ve also fitted anodised (blue) clutch & brake levers, matching rear pegs (front ones are on back order), and headlight protector. Yesterday my Iridium tinted double-bubble windscreen arrived and doesn’t it look good 
parts are in !
by John Radford on Jan.14, 2010, under Motorcycles
title says it all; both fairing halves, cowling brace, headlight, indicator & tank have arrived. The bike will go into the shop for a couple of days next week, and come out nice n shiny with new bits fitted
Finally arrived – USB Mobile Broadband for my laptop
by John Radford on Jan.09, 2010, under Computers
Well, the USB mobile broadband dongle from ‘3′ finally arrived. I ordered this online on 21st Dec, admittedly not the best time to expect prompt deliveries, but I ordered other items from Hong Kong & UK over the same period which were delivered quicker than something from within Australia – why is that?
A 2003 IBM r40e is not a high-end laptop, but it is reliable, and will handle just about anything you need in the way of mobile computing. This unit was relatively cheap in 2003 when I bought it, only AUD$1,400.00. I bought a few extras for it over time to extend it’s capabilities such as a Minitar 802.1b wireless PCMCIA card, and a 3 port USB 2.0 PCMCIA card.
Last year I was finally able to rid the ‘craptop’ of it’s default Windows XP Home OS, replacing it with Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. After trying many Linux variations over the years, Jaunty was the first to actually run everything, and after installing ndiswrapper to contain the ‘windows’ wireless drivers for the Mintar card, wireless connections to my home network are faultless with networking available as soon as the desktop has loaded. I also recently tried 9.10 Karmic Koala, but graphics support seemed broken for the IBM, so I re-installed Jaunty (note: Karmic works great on my desktop PC).
After seeing a friends Toshiba laptop connect to the internet using a Virgin brand USB Broadband dongle running from a live Jaunty CD, I knew Ubuntu had got their wireless support RIGHT. (continue reading…)
PSB Toodyay Bushfire Relief Ride
by John Radford on Jan.04, 2010, under Environment, Humans, Motorcycles
Over the period of a few days, a few people from PSB (Perth Street Bikes) organised a charity ride to Toodyay for Sun 3rd Jan ‘10. The purpose of the ride was to raise some funds for immediate expenses by those effected by the bushfires on 29th Dec ‘09 which destroyed 37 homes in the Toodyay area. As Toodyay is a bit of a ‘Mecca’ for motorcylists, the ride was also to show support by the motorcycle community for the residents of one of WA’s most popular ride venues.
Well, as it turned out being summer, the official Perth (Mt Lawley) temperature hit 39.9 C, which meant pretty everywhere else was tapping 43 – 44 C, and was a damned hot day for a ride. About 50 motorcyclists met up at the Caltex in Stratton for the ride, although several went on ahead in separate smaller groups (as did we).
Some of the bikes gathered at the Caltex Service Station (Stratton, WA) prior to the ride to Toodyay - photo courtesy 'Hammerhead' @ PSB
On arrival in Toodyay, several small fires could be seen still smouldering, and you could smell/taste the smoke & ash in the air. (continue reading…)
Upgrade PC graphics card nightmare
by John Radford on Dec.30, 2009, under Computers
I’d been thinking of upgrading the system graphics card to better cope with dual monitors, there was just to much lag and a few other little annoyances with the existing ASUS EAH3450 card – it would probably be ok running just one monitor, but running 2 seemed to be stretching it’s capabilities.
So, after the debarcle with upgrading the system memory, or rather not upgrading it, I ended up with a credit note at my local PC shop. Rather than just leave the credit note just sitting there doing nothing, I decided to cash it in with an additional $90 and grabbed a new Sapphire HD5770 card.
Well the card is great, but unfortunately the new ATI drivers didn’t get along with Hardy 8.04 LTS – the ATI Catalyst Control Center simply wouldn’t open, and as such I couldn’t make any adjustments, nor set the dual monitors to run as one big desktop. (continue reading…)
Insurance repairs approved (finally)
by John Radford on Dec.23, 2009, under Motorcycles
I’ve been a bit busy with things the past few weeks, so thought it was time for some updates.
So just before Christmas, the insurance finally decided to approve the repairs to my bike based on the 3rd quote; originally they wanted to ‘write the bike off’ – I had no intention of that happening, by the time it was finally approved I’d already put in another 2000 + kms. Final result is I’ll be getting new left and right fairing halves, new cowling brace, new headlight, new tank and a new left indicator - this won’t happen till early in the New Year, but at least it’s sorted.
I’d already replaced the front brake lever and rear brake pedal to get the bike going, plus a mountain of gaffer tape to hold headlight and fairing together, so it’ll be good to have the rest fixed properly. And to help protect against any future ‘offs’, I ‘ve fitted a R& G frame slider (only took a week from the UK). On top of that I’ve also got new anodised levers and pegs (front & rear) on their way – now all I have to do is clean the bike a bit more regularly (… maybe).
Once all is fixed, I’ll be raising my insurance cover so we won’t get into the debate of writing the bike off unless it’s genuinely totalled and un-ridable.
Albany Christmas Pageant ride
by John Radford on Dec.08, 2009, under Motorcycles
As a prelude to the 2010 Ulysses AGM being held in Albany (WA), the local Ulysses branch was asked to lead the 2009 Albany Christmas Pageant. To help bolster numbers, members from other WA branches made the trip to Albany for the 5th Dec.
Our group left the usual Armadale departure point at 8am on Saturday, making out way down Albany Hwy as far as North Bannister, before taking the Wandering Rd turn-off. From there we made our way to Narrogin, and then via Gt Southern Hwy through to Katannining and Cranbrook. Rejoining Albany Hwy, we made our way to Mt Barker, then Albany itself. After locating ‘Frenchman’s Bay Rifle Club’, where camping had been arranged for those not staying in hotels/motels, I made my way back to my brother’s place in Mt Barker to off-load some of my gear, and for a brief rest before the Pageant. (continue reading…)
Bike repairs – the ongoing drama
by John Radford on Dec.03, 2009, under Motorcycles
Insurance companies and bike shops are both a hassle when getting quotes to fix the bike.
First the bike shop quotes on items not absolutely necessary to repairs - i.e. the mirror doesn’t need replacing because of a few small scratches on the back, nor does the lower centre fairing section need replacing (I couldn’t see any damage to it), and surely the fuel tank can have a small dent repaired instead of replacing the whole tank @ a cost of $950.00 – but quoting for these items took the repair quote above write-off value despite me advising them of the insured value and that I didn’t want the bike writing off – weren’t they listening? (continue reading…)
-
Howdy. Welcome to charonred.com!
Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!
User Profile
John Radford
JohnnoI installed window tint for 23+ years, 11 of them self employed in my own mobile tinting service (MobiTint); installing film on cars, trucks, homes, high-rise buildings, cargo ships, etc-etc. But after a work related injury, I was forced to stop installation and decided to start an online DIY tint shop as a new business. Consequently I had to learn about computers and the Internet. This led to another business venture; I now also build websites, as well as host and maintain them for myself, non-profit groups and business', and led me to become a member of the Australian Web Industry Association. I'm also a 'hobby' builder of new computers for myself and friends. To get away from it all, I head to the hills or out bush on my TL1000S Suzuki and let loose for a few hours.
Contact Information
- On the web:
- Y!IM:
- charonred
- Email:
- charonred@yahoo.com.au
- Current Address:
- Huntingdale,
Western Australia
6110Australia
