HTC Dream Day Two (and Three)

June 10th, 2009

Right off the bat, these HTC Dream posts are definitely not tech reviews, I’m merely sharing my ups and downs with my new smart phone. One thing is sure, I’ll be using it to try and see how I can code/design interfaces within the Android environment, if I can get wrap my head around the code…

That aside let’s cut to the chase… Early this morning, I expected the alarm to wake me up at 6:30am. It actually didn’t. Considering the boot time the phone needs to actually start up is a little long, I figured the alarm is only possible when the phone is actually on. So, that’s one thing I definitely will not use it for. Good thing I had my trusty iPod Touch setup to get me out of bed.

Battery-wise surprisingly, the lifespan is quite short. I’ve charged it to full and used it for phoning, emailing and whatnot and I noticed by noon the power was already way past halfway. I’m actually disappointed. I actually even switched off the “always on” function, which basically keeps it connected to the 3G network at all times. My theory, since it’s still new I’ll keep it plugged to the juice a couple minutes longer even when it reaches 100%.

Having said that…

I’m still having fun with it. Letting apps run in the background is a great thing to have, especially with social apps or browsing. It’s refreshing to use an Android tricked phone and having the iTouch (as we’ve affectionately started calling it) at the same time.

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HTC Dream - My First Day

June 8th, 2009

Today is the day I received my HTC Dream also known as the T-Mobile G1, Google Phone or just plain “gPhone “. The mobile device that is decked out with the Android platform. It is finally replacing my old cel-phone, the SonyEricsson K550i.

Yep, that’s right I got it in the mail today. The very day Apple has presented the iPhone 3G-S. But you should also know it’s only last week that it has come to Rogers here in Canada, unlike late last year in the US. I decided to order one.

Why did I get the Dream? Easy, I was thinking I already had the iPod Touch and I was involved in the odd WebKit or iPhone optimized website project here and there. So, I basically wanted to give designing interfaces for the Android a shot and just plain wanted to mess around and see how coding is going to be like for it.

First Day

It is my first day after all, I still need to import all my contacts and setup all my email accounts. However, I can tell it’s got a completely different feel to the iPhone or Touch in terms of interface and usage. The Dream has a menu button “externally” and since I have gotten used to playing around with my iPod Touch, which doesn’t have extra buttons except for home and sleep, I still have to get accustomed to extra button-pushes outside the touch screen.

One thing that jumps out at me right off the bat is the design for various Apps when I compare it to those on my iPod Touch. For instance, if I was to compare the Mail App on both devices I feel more at ease with the overall design of Mail on my Touch. But of course at this point I have to say it’s a matter of taste which interface you like the most, I personally have cosied up to the look of Apple’s apps and designs, so I need to get used to the feel of the Android Interface. I’d love to show some screen grabs at this time but my camera just gave up on me, so I’ll be leaving for the next journal entry.

So far I have downloaded the free apps on the Android Market e.g. Twit2go and some of the standard apps like the mobi-Opera and Meebo IM. Nothing really exciting yet since the Market currently is young compared to the huge AppStore. Then again I’d like to see more stuff on the Market. I definitely got some discovering to do!

I’m pretty much used to downloading beautifully designed Apps for my Touch as well as games, but I’m extremely curious to see what the limitations there are (or the lack thereof!) designing for an Android App.

Only one way to find out, I’ve got to get my hands dirty. Before that happens though, I need to get all my contacts in so I can also use it as a phone once in a while!

Synchin’ ships

Like with all Apple devices the synching of my calendar/contact/email-account through MobileMe is absolutely seemless and easy. That’s something I feel I really can’t live without, but I’m sure there’s going to be apps or functions in the Dream that will enable easy synching. I just haven’t figured it out yet…

New journeys lie ahead

I’m really excited stepping out of my comfort zone in things like mobile devices and the platforms running on them. I’ve heard lots of stories how difficult it is to use a phone tricked out with WinMo so I’ve stayed away from it, while swimming close to the shores of Apple. Now that I’ve heard lots of stories about the Android, I’m really stoked to see what’s up with it.

But for now I’ll need to get to know the phone and its functions well enough before I delve into the world of coding again…

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Time off and the flood of ideas

March 22nd, 2009

Just had a little time off from work. As with anyone working on projects at work, you gain new ideas, functions and gadgets you can use for your own personal project, like this blog for instance…

Since all my deadlines are a little further down the road, I thought I’d use this weekend to jump on my personal stuff, reopen and connect with my Twitter account. Gosh, the Twitter environment has really changed since I closed my account over one and a half years ago. There are so many new widgets that go well with it. I might need some time to look around…

I also started re-designing my blog again, after too many ideas I’ll just settle with simple, easy and clean.

Coming up for some fresh air sometimes can lead to a flood of new ideas, which in a way is exciting and depressing at the same time. Exciting simply because I feel a new found sensation of freedom to work on my personal stuff once again. Depressing due to the fact that I’m not really sure how long this period will last. However, I just need to run with it and see where it leads…

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Every Project You Receive Might be the Greatest You’ll Ever Have.

August 16th, 2008

First off, as you read this keep in mind that I’ll be speaking from the point of view of a corporate & in-house designer. Since sometimes you can’t really get to choose “creative” projects to work on. You know, not those ones that you get all pumped and stoked about when you read the specs in a brief…

There are those projects where you believe (emphasize: believe) that it’s got no potential to become a portfolio piece, all creative juice goes stale and suddenly you have a heavy feeling in your gut as you begin to work on it. Hell yeah, I’ve been down that road a gazillion times.

It’s all in the mind..

Yes. Or at least that’s what I believe. For instance, after working on a huge project, learning new ideas from the senior designers and info architects, peeking the newest CSS work-arounds from the programmers.

All our mocks got sent of for sign-off and green lights. There comes that waiting period where I get placed on a project in which I’ll have to build two dozen ads in different sizes. For you sales folk those would be big boxes, skyscrapers.

Specs I received were basically to fit in stock images with a huge body of text. A very tedious and repetitive project. My mind kept wondering off to that one cool project that’s “so awesome, and it would look sweet in your portfolio.” At the same time thinking of having to create around some 12 ad units times 2, feels like having to climbing the Himalayas.

The Difficulty / The Challenge

It was exactly that challenging feeling that got me down and bored out of my mind. “Dude, seriously? 24 ads? ” I felt myself sinking deeper into my seat.  It got me thinking… What if this was the project I will be judged by down the ages? What if this were the last ever project I’ll ever work on?

So I sat up and popped on my iPod and started looking for the cleanest way to layout the text and best place to add the graphics. After that I looked for the fastest and most efficient way to replicate the look & feel on the rest of the 22 ads, keep in mind not all ads were to have the same text and graphics being that those were ad units to be shown in different provinces of Canada… Six days later, I finished. Man, a huge rock just fell off my shoulders. Although they didn’t really turn out to be the greatest ad units on earth, I could look back and say I gave what I had to complete those.

It was exactly that feeling of difficulty that gave me the drive to see the challenge in it. The challenge being able to overcome the procrastination and follow through. Or beating a tedious job simply by seeing it as my last shot that had to count.

If I was to overcome this simple yet repetitive project, how much effort will I be able to put into a project that really catches your passion and drive?

I’ll just come right out and say it. Boring/tough projects are a good way to build creative character, as corny as it sounds… Not sure if it’s true, but I sure feel that way. It’s exactly that feeling that usually gets me through.

Quick note right here. This post has been inspired by a chapter in Paul Arden’s It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be A truly life changing book.

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Need more than 24 hours…

July 20th, 2008

Great, seeing how depressing my journal looked like, I decided to throw in a quick post…

I’ve pretty much been stuck in front of some sort of monitor for many many hours on end. Sometimes I get the feeling 24 hours is not enough for everything I want/need to accomplish… There. I said it. I’ve been hearing that quote a million times, now I get to actually say with all honesty!

Yep, now it’s time to kick back and rest since my Time Capsule is backing up my entire drive…

Basically instead of dishing out for an iPhone, effectively giving a leg and an arm for it (on a monthly basis) I thought I’d invest in a new back-up drive. The last one I had was a basic 250gb external HDD firewire and backed up by Time Machine. Well, that one got fried by a split-second energy surge. Tried a couple of progs and apps to win back my old backups - 8 months worth to be exact.

All said and done, I didn’t experience any terrible file losses or lost documents in the few weeks I had to go without. I finally made up my mind and went and got myself the 500GB Time Capsule, which is backing up my files since this morning at 6am as we speak.

Second on my list would have been the MyBook 1TB Office Edition, actually. Actually had a difficult time getting one… No turning back now. Pretty happy with my Time Capsule so far. Now I can get to finally backup my MBPro at the same time.

Pretty important to have a major backup system like the Time Machine as a graphic designer though. Sometimes I overwrite files while working on them, busy beating the deadline. Some important assests get rasterized, cropped or deleted. Good thing I just need to “jump back in time” and pull it back out.

Speaking of lack for updates… I think I should go with twitter someday instead…

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Nope. No iPhone for me. Thanks Rogers.

June 27th, 2008

This being just a quick follow up to my previous iPhone entry.

With the prices Rogers has got up there, I don’t think the iPhone would make an impact as it did in other countries. Keep in mind taking the $60 plan still doesn’t include our beloved $6.95 access fee, as well as the caller ID needs to be activated extra. Although I admit it still is cheaper than the current data packages they have…

I’ll keep it real and tell you straight up: People won’t go nuts for the iPhone over here, Rogers…

</end frustration>

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July 11th, I’ll mark that one on my iCal

June 9th, 2008

Just heard the news about the new 3G iPhone hitting the international market, I’m pretty stoked. Guess all my previous whining and moaning has paid off.  The iPhone officially is going to be plugged by Rogers, and I’ll possibly be hanging around and grab one.

Excited? Possibly a little bit. BUT The fear in me still lingers… Is it actually safe to go with the first gen of the 3G? Am I better off with the Touch? Should I wait or should I run out and get me one hot off the shelf?

I haven’t really gathered much infos on how much I’d have to dish out aside from the cash I’d have to save for the iPhone alone — I can only hope Rogers will go easy on us. ‘Dunno.

At the moment I’ve got a little more “pressing” issues in my life. Such as my wisdom teeth growing vertically and now have to be surgically taken out. Let this be a lesson to all you folks out there. Go to the dentist often. I know I am.

Now they’re groing in a strange way, which is a “growing” concern for me. Having been told what kind of side effects have if I’d have to leave the tooth/teeth in there versus taking it/them out. I’ve got more on my hands to think about other than the iPhone.

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Didn’t know online ads were THAT interesting

May 7th, 2008

Before I ever built one, I thought ad units were annoying, boring, nuisance for users/visitors and for some designers to make them was a hairy thing to handle…

It’s been a year since I’ve made my first ever real ad unit (Sky Scraper) - and I never knew how much thought and work is put into an ad.

Behind the Scene

It’s quite a small space and a short period of time to work with, you’ll receive a “novel” of a copy to place (I’m just kidding my copywriting brethren, I still love you!), you have the imagery or materials to include and you basically should have only less than 2 seconds to really capture the users attention - and how many times have you been really intrigued by an ad unit…. and I mean REALLY intrigued? And I don’t mean those Apple ads with the Mac and PC guy going through their usual conversation like the ad on the tele. There’s no copy to read on it so that’s cheating, just playing, I love it.

Wax-on Wax-off

It is a challenge working on an ad that really has to hit the mark while maintaining the target deadline. In that small confined space creativity gets stifled really quick - But I can tell you one thing, after working on an ad, working on a site layout suddenly isn’t as difficult as it seemed initially… It seemed like sort of a creative warm-up or exercise.

Ever since creating my first online advertisement, I browse yahoo!, MSN or CNN (or the other news websites for that matter) I actually enjoy watching and analyzing the art work and finesse other designers have in placing the copy that has been handed to them together with the images and graphics they are supplied with.

Having said that, ads are little inspiring creative snacks on the side, for me when they are well done!

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iPhone to hit Mexico? When can we in the T-dot (officially) get one?

March 31st, 2008

After going through my feeds, I stumble upon a post on 9to5mac… Yes sir, iPhone apparently is coming to Mexico.

Okay, when the iPhone went European, I told myself “it’s alright… good, when we finally get the iPhone, we won’t be having as many bugs as the first gens.” When it continued moving deeper into Europe, I still kept up my shaky wall of denial. Now that it’s reaching the Mexican market my hope is starting to dwindle and I don’t think we’ll be seeing the iPhone anytime soon over here.

Seeing that Rogers will be supplier of the phone, I have the feeling that its data package is going to burn a hole right through my pocket and singe my leg and/or butt cheek.

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Early morning creative bursts

March 30th, 2008

I’ve recently read an article in an old Computer Arts mag (October 2007 issue) that was lying around. It was mainly about how other graphic designers keep their ideas and creativity fresh in the corporate world, as well as getting through a rough day of nine-to-five.

I was actually glad to read that another designer also chose to get up early in the morning to work on personal artworks and projects. And I’m not talking about deciding to or not to get out of bed at 6 a.m. I’m talking about 04:00 hours. The time some people come home from a night out. Or the time bakers in the old world are already awake and baking the nth batch of fresh bread.

Up until this day, every time I mention that to people around me they’d think I’m a little desperate and should re-schedule my time, since “If you love something, you’ll always find time for it.” Yup it’s true, but hey sometimes your battery is just drained at the end of a long and fruitful day. And guess what, I found the time!

Going all the way back, the first time I tried hopping out of bed at four in the morning was back in my school days, just to get some homework done. And then of course I stopped after leaving school — A couple of months back though, I got up to hit the road for a couple rounds of jogging. I was standing at the front door, that’s when I noticed the world around me was just silent, streets were empty and I only could hear a bird or two twittering in the distance. You could say the atmosphere was like past midnight and your standing in the dark, in the middle of the living room.

After that I just had to try out working on a few projects, since I was desperately looking for time to work on some artworks. Getting through a long day and coming home, the only thing you sometimes want to do is just get to some video gaming or you end up watching some reality show you’d usually hate to watch.

That one morning I got down to some work on personal sites and ideas I had swimming in my head. And guess what? As if everything just happened magically, new ideas started emerging - they weren’t the greatest but I was thinking about the projects and artworks in front of me. Not that I’m saying the pieces I was working on turned out to be some kick-ass portfolio piece. But what really happened is I was actually was able to work on some personal stuff for the first time in a long while and I had the time to experiment and play. Something I haven’t done in ages.

I’m not really sure if it was a fluke, oddly enough on those days I got up early to work on my stuff, the ideas at the office came easier.

Let’s just say waking up early and being “creative” is like the warm-up before you get to the actual work-out. Instead of jumping in to warm-up-mode at 8:58a.m. when you enter the office, you’re actually already run-in and ready to tackle the problems of the day.

Yes, of course if you don’t go to bed early enough and you pull something off like that, you are bound to be really burnt out at the end of the day. Trust me I’ve been down that road once too many, but that’s not something Redbull can’t fix…

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