Cherry Mobile Magnum HD: First Impressions

I've been reading about the Cherry Mobile Magnum HD since last year. Specifications-wise, it's nearly the same as HTC Desire HD, running on a 1Ghz Qualcomm Scorpion Processor and an Adreno 205 Graphics Processor (Qualcomm MSM8255 SoC - Snapdragon). Just last month, Cherry Mobile slashed off the prices of their Android products putting the Magnum at just PhP14,000 (also their tablet, Superion, is now only 14,000). At this price point, I guess it's one deal I can not pass. I now have an early Christmas and Birthday present for myself. :D

Playing "Pusoy Dos" on Android: Big Big Big 2

Pusoy Dos is one of the card games I grew up with. While it's far too easy to get a Texas Hold 'Em Poker game for my Android, Pusoy Dos or Big 2 Poker is not as common. One of the Pusoy Dos games that can be found on the Android Market is big Big Big 2 from 2-Person Studio. By far, I can say that it's the best that I've played on my Android phone.

2 Cool Ways To Take Screenshots on a Rooted Android Phone

Taking screenshots on an Android phone can sometimes be a pain. The most referenced way of doing this is using the DDMS or Dalvik Debug Monitor Server. This requires the installation of Android SDK on your computer which consequently requires the installation of Java Development Kit. While the method is intended for developers, it also works quite well for casual users.

With a rooted phone, I find 2 cool and easy (and best of all, free) ways to take screenshots. The first one makes use of a browser on your computer, and the second one is done on the phone itself.

Software Data Cable for Android

For all Android users who always misplace (that would be me) or doesn't want to carry their USB Data Cable, this is the application for us. Software Data Cable, by Proid Mobile, Inc., turns your Android device into a FTP server - a file server that can easily be accessed through a network. For Android devices, that would typically be through WiFi.

Qucs: Quite Universal Circuit Simulator

Qucs is an open source circuit simulator that is, quite universal. It can solve from DC and AC analysis, to circuit S-Parameters. It can also design matching networks and filters. It's not yet finished (here's the roadmap to what is already available and what the project aims to include), there are some quirks with the GUI, and it is hard to troubleshoot some error messages. But as it is, I already find it useful.

Just Another Day At Work: Prototype Antenna Testing

One of the exciting parts of work, doing actual field tests. Antenna is mounted at the side of a small multicab.

Building my pfSense Machine - Reviving my Old Desktop

For quite some time, I’ve wanted to have a second internet connection. We’ve been served by PLDT DSL for 7 years now and I can say that the connection is quite reliable, though, it also has down times. I’ve wanted to have a continuous internet connection even when one connection is down, a failover. I also wanted to distribute the load between two connections, to minimize slowdown when somebody is downloading a large file or watching some video in YouTube.

Just a week ago, we registered for that second internet connection, wi-tribe’s WiMAX network. We opted to try wi-tribe, as their nearest base station to our home is just a block away, or, roughly, just 30 meters away. I cannot yet say whether the connection will be reliable for the days to come, but so far, it’s providing a continuous connection at consistent speeds of 0.7Mbps to 1Mbps.