Amazon Order

Just ordered two more iPhone accessories from Amazon this morning; a Belkin case and some magnetic lenses, look forward to the reviews by early next week!

First thing is first

I bought an extra lighting cable on Amazon a while ago so the phone could charge in my car or whatever, and I mutilated the box that it came in. That poor box will be in the unboxing/initial impressions video coming later today. -- Nick

Changes are afoot over on Youtube

Huge changes are coming over on Youtube.com/TheNDChief so watch out for those in the coming days, and make sure that you keep a closer eye on my blog because things are about to pick up. -- Nick

IM BACK

School is slowing down, so expect the videos to come back into full swing. Sorry for the absent guys. Recording two videos last night...edited one...and am currently uploading it. Look for it! Nexus 4 Tempered Glass Screen Protector (Six Months Later)

IFA 2013

Many are waiting for the month of September in the tech world for a couple of different reasons. While gamers ages 9-90 are awaiting the release of Rockstar's franchise series five years in the making, AKA GTA V. On the other hand mobile tech reviewers have their eyes on an event that takes place in Germany just the week prior. That event is IFA 2013 where the Samsung Galaxy Note III is said to be released. Where am I putting my chips? It is hard to say, on one hand I may just be the biggest Rockstar fanboy that you will find, but take a look at IFA where a device that I have had my eye since the release of the Note 2. When the Note 2 dropped I had just invested my money into a brand spanking new Nexus 4, at that point I was so happy with the device, and I was so broke from the purchase that the Note had no chance of becoming my daily driver. However thanks to my close friend, I was able to play with the Note 2 for a couple of hours and fell in love with how it functioned. I become eligible for an update to my contract and my device in late October, hopefully the Note will land on the shelves and slide its rumored 5.7 OR 6.3" full HD screen into my pocket. Let's jump onto the rest of this, GTA V. A map bigger than any open world game Rockstar has ever made, development five years in the making, and not to mention some of the most outlandish storylines involving THREE main characters from all different walks of life. This is not only a game that I will set up a lawn chair outside of a GameStop for, it is worthy of my 150 bones for the full-blown collector's edition. Bottom line, I better start saving my dough now. September is going to be one expensive month...

The task at hand

The next task for my channel is not to bring a video that displays any sort of project, but to create my sort and concise channel trailer. All of the raw files are selected, now just the editing needs to be done..that should be fun. i will keep you updated.

June 10 was a wild day in the world of tech

From WWDC to E3, the day carried a hell of a lot of influence on the future of technology. Between xbox one announcements, and the next iteration of iOS, the world got its fill of information for one day. Starting with Apple, well I posted a video on my Youtube channel that gives the general run down of just how similar iOS features are to Android: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahPyDtbxRy8. Check that link out for a quick view of the issues Apple is going to run into with their next gen products. Microsoft did something that the world had been waiting on since the original announcement of the One a couple of weeks ago, and that was TALK ABOUT GAMING. From trailers to a bit of actual footage the One finally showed off that at its core it can actually do what consumers really want it to do. Titles along the lines of Nba 2k14, Forza 5, and Battlefield 4 were among the expected, but some exclusives caught the crowd off guard. Ryse and a new Halo being the main course. Sony was slotted just hours after the Microsoft portion and boy did they shine. No technical difficulties and NO RESTRICTIONS ON USED GAMES. NO CONSTANT INTERNET CONNECTION. AND NO CAMERA THAT IS ALWAYS ON AND CONNECTED TO HUNDREDS OF SERVERS. Sony took a step back and looked at what the world did not like about the One and decided to make it right. Coming from an Xbox fanboy, thank you from the bottom of my heart Sony, now maybe Microsoft will wake up and realize the crowd that they are spoonfeeding in your direction.

Heading into the summer

As the month of May ends, most break out the sun tan lotion and the board shorts expecting a "wild" summer. However for a mobile tech reviewer like myself it provides me with the opportunity to re-brand myself and make a promising product. Tons of new products are set to be released in the coming months and with that, I have the chance to provide coverage on all of those for you guys. My image that I am trying to create is a one-stop shop for all sorts of tech news with a specific focus on mobile technology. Remaining bias in my reviews is also a big key considering the war that continues to rage on between Android and Apple. Well then what is the point of this blog then? To lean on the videos and provide stories in writing, as well as behind the scenes and deeper follow-up coverage. Basically this blog will begin to play a much larger role in my reviewing experience. Bottom line being make sure you head on over to youtube.com/TheNDChief to stay up to date on all things tech, have a great day guys.

HTC ONE Event 2-19-13

HTC has finally taken the cover off of the ONE project and it has shown some incredible results; a phone packing a full HD screen 1.7 gHz quad-core processor, and not to mention a hefty 2 gb of RAM. The spec race is seemingly coming to a close as high-end specs like this are increasingly becoming the norm, knowing that HTC took this chance to make the hardware and OS as "consumer friendly" as possible. From the looks of it; it seems that they did their job with Sense 5.0 on top of the most intuitive Android version ever 4.1.2. The hardest task in the smartphone market is undoubtedly getting the device into the pocket of the consumer, starting with the foremost effort: getting enough devices ready to ship to meet the demand, yes I am looking at you Google and LG. HTC once again realized the task at hand and they are offering a $100 trade-in value for your current phone when you upgrade to the new HTC One. To drop in your email to get on the list of people considering trading in their device for a new HTC One, my email is already on the list, whether or not I am willing to go from a Nexus 4 to an HTC One, we will fight that battle when the device is ready to hit shelves. LINK FOR SIGN UP: http://www.htc.com/us/smartphones/htc-one/signup

IPHONE FINALE

This is the write-up for my 14 day iPhone challenge, and let me preface this by saying I still choose Android, but Apple really knocked my socks off. I can no longer throw dirt all over the iPhone because from top to bottom the iPhone gave me an all around great experience. Starting with battery life, perfect. With a rather timid ecosystem, the battery does not have very much to live up to, so with extremely heavy use you will make it through a whole day with ease. Software as a whole was smooth as shea butter, and it just felt well polished. Each application felt incredible, but that is because the devs do not have to cater to hundreds of devices, all there that they have to accomodate is the range of iPhones and iPads. Hardware had to be my favorite part of the challenge, the phone felt like a premium device, which is why it costs so much money. Regardless I was very pleased with how the phone felt in both my hand and in my pocket. Kudos Cupertino. All in all, this challenge did not force me into changing my OS, but it did allow me to appreciate what the "enemy" has/had to offer. No longer will I allow myself to immediately think "iPhones are garbage" to me they are just not a device I see myself using for an extended period of time, but to each his own.

Day 4

Going into the day I had one mission; kill the iPhone. I have been witnessing great battery life ever since I got the device in my hands. So naturally I decided to put it through hell, a day full of YouTube, Pandora, Words With Friends, and loads of texts. Mission accomplished. I got up around 6:40 and by about 8 the iPhone was stone dead. I didn't think I could kill the thing either, but aside from a murder mission, not too much to really update about regarding the challenge.

Day 3 Update

Now we are three days in, a decent amount of time to get the general feel of the device and so far I have to say that I've been not hating my time with an iPhone. Crazy right? Yes. I've touched on the battery life a couple of times already and tomorrow (day 4) will be the ultimate test. I am going to send it through a day full of pandora and YouTube, and I will be going in and out of dead zones at my prison...school. This will be a good test for how the battery will hold up. One other thing that I am absolutely smitten with that is seemingly exclusive to iOS; zero keyboard lag. On all of the Android devices that I have ever used there are been at least some extent of lag when typing, no matter the speed on the iPhone you will not see lag anywhere. Kudos to you Apple. Tomorrow will be a huge day because I will posting an update video summing everything together through four days of iOS. Make sure to tune into YouTube.com/TheNDChief to check it out.

Day 2

All in all the end of day two brings me to one big conclusion: battery life is freaking stellar. I removed it from the charger at around 7 am and with rather heavy usage I had still had around 65% at 7 pm. That is enough to put a smile on my face for the time being. Other than the battery life I do not have all that much to say right now. I miss the little things of Android, the dedicated search button, being able to swipe notifications away, things along that line. With two days down and twelve to go I have to say right now I am liking more things than not.

Day One

As day one comes to a close, there are some glaring differences between Android and iOS but that is no secret. As of right now I feel that the next two weeks will be full of me eating my own words. At the end of day one I notice two main things...
1) battery life is outstanding with moderate usage, but I'm sure as time goes on battery life will get worse as I use the phone more.

2)it feels like every application in the App Store is tailored to the iPhone. And obviously it is. With only really two devices to make apps for (the iPhone and the iPad) developers spend more time optimizing apps as opposed to just finishing it and submitting it to the store.

All in all, the next two weeks should be a very interesting experiment.

New Camera brings new challenge

Hey guys I know that I have not updated this in a little while but I have some great news regarding the channel....NEW CAMERA. No longer will the videos seem like they were shot with a potato, but now they will be in HD goodness. I know you're excited. I picked up the camera last night in what was Black Friday/thanksgiving night hell, and I got it for a great deal and I could not be any happier right now. Obviously since it is a new piece of technology I had to shoot an unboxing video...so look for that to be up tonight. Also I have got a challenge that takes me so far out of my comfort zone...stay tuned to YouTube.com/TheNDChief to find out! Make sure you subscribe for awesome tech content! Later!

Too. Much. Tech.

Over the last few weeks there has been conference after conference showing off the newest tech from company after company. Samsung did their conference with the Note II, Apple showed off the iPad Mini, and now we have Microsoft and their Surface tablet line. I really liked the look of each one of those products, but sadly enough I do not have an unlimited supply of money... #TechBloggerProblems. Sadly enough my audience is no where strong enough to get that trending. Nonetheless I love all of ya.

Which is why I have really been putting my nose to the ground for you guys, attempting to put together a large list of videos for your viewing pleasure and so far, so good. I have a couple in the making and as a matter of fact I am editing one right now...and I am working on a new intro! The last few months have been great for my channelm with new subscribers and loads of views I could not be more thankful for you guys. There is no way that I could really show my thanks, but from a tech blogger's stance there are a couple ideas I have in mind. *Cough* Giveaway *Cough*

Right now I am uploading a video about the Apple Earpods...so head on over to youtube.com/thendchief and check it out!

Andy for Android Full REVIEW

I get asked all the time what my favorite Siri-like application is, and right now I would have to say that Andy for Android is sitting on top of the mountain. It is stacked with a growing list that seems to be update almost every other week, with features ranging from turning on my Wi-Fi to defining the speed of light, Andy has the upper hand over the large crop of Siri apps in the Google Play Store.

The Andy Full video will be posted on my Youtube channel, youtube.com/thendchief, make sure you go check that out and this is the full written review.

I have toyed around with no less than 30 different Siri apps and only ten have made the cut to be featured on my Youtube channel, but only one has been able to impress me the way that Andy has. With a list of features that take a few strong swipes to scroll through, Andy has had some serious thought behind it, and it shows.

There is of course a free version, as there seems to be with all paid apps now-a-days, but Andy Full truly separates itself from its free version. The free version will withhold some features that I have fallen in love with, like Long Answer. L.A. is where you can ask Andy a question, not only does it answer it properly, it will then provide you with links to news articles, videos, you-name-it.

Right now Andy is at the top of the Siri for Android hill because it truly is the total package, if you are looking for a Siri app be sure to check out Andy Full.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=andy2.xml&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImFuZHkyLnhtbCJd

Dead Trigger FREE

The ever sweeping game Dead Trigger has gone from zombie slayer to incredible deal all around. An incredibly smooth and goodlooking first-person-shooter that deserves to be checked out. I have been playing for just over three hours and from graphics to controls its been a blast. A video review will hopefully be up in the next two days.

Written Review of Samsung Skyrocket ICS

                The Skyrocket has been due for an update for quite some time, and now that it is, I couldn’t be much happier. Aside from some keyboard lag and no big UI changes, the update has left me feeling like I have a whole new device. NFC since I first used it on a friend’s Nexus has always felt like one of the coolest features, just being able to tap phones together and transmit info is so appealing to me.

                On the surface it doesn’t look like much has changed thanks to TouchWiz, however under the hood dramatic changes have been made. From the top to the bottom lag has been eliminated and I have once again fallen in love with my device.

                The only notable problem I have run into is battery life. When on LTE the battery life seems to get hit harder than ever before, but the device charges so much faster, like 70% in two hours fast. I wish the update had brought some other changes, but what are you going to do? That choice is left in the hands of Samsung and AT&T.

                Bottom line if you have a skyrocket go to Kies and update, you will not be disappointed. If you have yet to see my  full ICS tour check it out here: http://youtu.be/VseSFmpAxuw.

Google's Nexus 7 Tablet

Today at Google I/O the Nexus 7 tablet was announced being the cheapest Quad-Core Tablet to date. The first 7-inch tablet to pack a quad-core processor and to be only $200 is incredible. To see the full page of specs and videos visit this link: http://bit.ly/LtS6V6. I CANNOT wait to see this tablet in person.