Category Archives: electronics

Promises Are Meant To Be Broken

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About a year and a half ago, I wrote about how I had made a vow that I would not replace our old TV with a new flat screen TV until it died.

Well, I broke my vow.

The old TV was a 32″ Toshiba tube TV.  I purchased it in early 1997 for around $800 from Best Buy.  At the time, I had been out of college for just under a year, and this was a great TV for my roommate and I.  Pretty much everybody else in our age group was sitting at a 27″ or lower.

We enjoyed the heck out of that TV, and our apartment was the de facto hangout place for our friends.  Not just because of the TV, but it made watching movies, watching TV, and most importantly, playing video games, a total blast.  We played a lot of Madden football (Madden ’98!) and NBA Live ’97.  Lots of great times!

At the years went on, we all grew up.  My roommate moved out and eventually to the other side of the state.  I ended up buying a condo in 1999.  The TV came with.  However, even within a couple of years, the TV was pretty average, and a few years after that when flat screen HD TVs started hitting the market, it was nothing at all special.

Except to me.  I still took great care of the TV, making sure to be very careful moving it, cleaning it regularly, and trying to make it last as long as possible.

Eventually, time passed up the TV, which was evident when HD programming was the norm and the once proud TV could, try as it might, no longer deliver the great picture, top resolution, and amazing viewing experience that it once was known for.

Still, I made the resolution that I would keep the TV until it died.  But, as I already said, I broke the vow.

Here’s why:

  1. When I wrote that article, the TV appeared to be going south – Around the time that I wrote that, there were some spots in the bottom corner of the TV which were different colors than elsewhere on the screen.  I thought the TV was about ready to go, but one day, it suddenly corrected itself and rarely reappeared.  I guess, yes, I had been actually hoping in a way that the TV would go.
  2. We found a great deal on a great TV – I always keep a look out for TV deals.  I have passed over many, many cheap TVs because they didn’t meet the top standard that I was hoping for, and I’d passed over a lot of high quality sets because I couldn’t find a price I was happy with.  Finally, I found one (another Toshiba, in fact) that was rated very highly by professionals and customers, and it was at a fantastic price.  Bottom line, we got a 50″ plasma TV for $450, which normally retailed for at least $650 elsewhere.
  3. We had the money for it – All of our credit cards are cash back reward cards.  We put the money in a discretionary fund with the sole purpose to purchase TVs and other electronic items.  We already purchased a small flat screen for our kitchen and a decent size TV for our bedroom over the last few years.  Last year we got checks totaling nearly $400, plus with money we had still in the account since the last purchase, we were more than able to cover the cost.
  4. Watching certain things just wasn’t fun anymore – When HD TV was first introduced, I was fine with watching shows in standard definition.  However, sporting events in particular got to be a lot less easy to watch as the feeds were changed to accommodate HD viewers.  This meant that our 32″ screen was essentially shrunk to about half that size as they would ‘letterbox’ the signal for standard defintion output.  When our Detroit Tigers were in the World Series last year, it was tough to read the score of the game, that’s how small the viewable screen size was.
  5. The old TV well exceeded it’s value – When I spent the $800 on the old TV, that was a ton of money, especially for someone who hadn’t cracked anywhere near even $30,000 a year in salary.  Still, getting sixteen years out of the TV, we definitely got the $50 per year that worked out to.  I realized that, although I did make that vow, that when I looked at how much value I had received from the TV compared to what I expected when I first purchased the set, I had come out way ahead.  That reduced the guilt that I felt from breaking my promise (though I still did get a little choked up when I pulled that plug for the last time).
  6. It was or would have cost us money – The cost of running a flat screen is a lot less, so while I might have only been spending $2-3 per month on electricity costs, even cutting that in half with a more efficient set will help offset a bit of those costs.  In addition, I could tell that the TV stand we have, though rated for a heavy set, was beginning to show a little sagging.  If it had gotten worse, chances are we would have had to replace or repair the stand, which was not something I wanted to do at all.  So, by getting rid of the old TV, we potentially saved the stand and will get many more years from that.

All in all, I don’t feel (very) guilty about the purchase, though I did struggle with taking something out of use that technically still did work. After all, the old TV did still function and did exactly what it was supposed to do.  It just didn’t do what TVs today are capable of, and that of course is just a sign of the advancement of technology.

Readers, be honest.  Did I do OK by breaking my vow or should I have held out a bit longer?

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How Much Do I Love My Samsung Galaxy S3?

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It’s been awhile since I talked about getting my new cell phone from work.  As you may remember, I chose to get the Samsung Galaxy GS3 over the Apple iPhone 4S, which was what was offered at the time.

I felt that the S3 offered a bigger screen, the same amount and quality of apps, and ran an OS (Android) which I’m more familiar since I’ve yet to become an Apple guy.

So far, I have to say I love it.  Here is my mini-review of the Samsung Galaxy S3 (aka Samsung Galaxy S III)

  • Service – The company provides service on the AT&T network, which is vastly superior to the Sprint network, where I was previously based.  Sprint has not yet rolled out 4G, let alone LTE, in our area, so the difference in download and data speeds is remarkable.  Not to mention, our house required a data booster to even work adequately with Sprint, but AT&T has so far given me no connection problems.
  • Screen – Oh, the screen.  I remember when my wife got her HTC phone after her Blackberry died (the phone I had the same model of).  I thought hers was so big.  Then, my S3 came and it’s practically double the screen viewing area.  I love it and it has great resolution and color depth as well.
  • Size – With the screen comes a phone that is much bigger across and up/down than the Blackberry I had.  But, it’s quite a bit thinner and doesn’t weigh any more (at least to the touch).  I typically don’t carrying things in my pocket, so I was afraid that the S3 would be hard to deal with, but so far it doesn’t bother me at all.
  • Applications – I love the applications that I can download and use so easily.  Pandora was available on the Blackberry but with the unwieldy interface (no touch screen), the slow service, and the spotty coverage, I barely used it or any streaming music coverage.  Now, when things get loud at work, it’s easy to pop in the buds and get some music.  I also love some of the standbys like Gas Buddy and Angry Birds :)
  • E-mail – Even though Blackberry was designed for the enterprise, it would constantly truncate e-mails.  Longer e-mails simply couldn’t be downloaded.  This was a point of major frustration for me.  This is no longer an issue with my S3.  E-mails come through right away, and more importantly, in full.
  • Swipe – I love that you can type or you can swipe between characters on the keypad.
  • Commercial – I love the commercial that aired all the time last month where everybody in the Apple line was talking about all the features that the new iPhone was going to have, only to hear that the S3 had even more built in.  There’s one guy that’s talking about the earphone jack getting moved to the bottom, and he motions that it blows his mind.  I’m not one to buy into marketing, but that kills me every time.

There are a few things I wish were a little bit better that are somewhat steps back:

  • Spell check – Blackberry had a built in spell checker that would (like Microsoft Word) keep words highlighted that might be spelled incorrectly.  With my S3, if you don’t correct the word immediately, it doesn’t keep it highlighted. I’ve yet to find a third party app that works to my satisfaction.
  • Touch keypad – Having the buttons on the Blackberry took a lot of room, but they made for faster and easier typing than the touchpad.  Even though the keys are ‘big’ since the screen is so big, I still make frequent mistakes, more so than with the buttons.  Hopefully this is something I can get used to.

All in all, there are a few minor issues but I suppose that’s going to happen with any piece of technology.  I don’t think anything is perfect when it comes to a gadget, especially when everybody just works to make their next product better than the competition and their old one.  I’m sure in two years or so, I’ll be sick of the S3 and itching for the next big thing.  Whatever that will be :)   Until then, the S3 is definitely for me!

Copyright 2013 Original content authorized only to appear on Money Beagle. Please subscribe via RSS, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or receive e-mail updates. Thank you for reading.

Here Wii Go Again

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It was six years ago when Nintendo revolutionized the video game console with the Wii, the first video game system to allow control by body movement versus the traditional limitation of the handheld controller.

I first saw one at a buddy’s house and I have to admit it was pretty slick.  At the time, it was the only system to incorporate the full body motion, so it had an edge, even though it was lacking in other areas such as resolution, HD compatibility, and overall game play (the graphics were still geared more toward ‘Mario’ and not your hi-resolution games).

Because Nintendo had a hold on this segment of the market, they controlled it and it showed, with the product constantly being back ordered for years.  Yes, multiple holiday seasons came and went with Nintendo Wii nowhere to be found.

I refused to give into any of the hype, waiting until it finally became available, which I think was in 2009!

Since then, the other video game manufacturers have stepped into the realm, most notably the Xbox 360 Kinect, which made it so you didn’t even have to hold a controller (a requirement of the Wii) to detect motion, instead relying on UV sensors.

Nintendo took six years but is finally releasing the followup console, the Wii U.  This will, as expected, take their gaming to HD compatibility.  They also upped the ante by including a screen on the controller itself, allowing for even more flexibility in game play.

As expected, the hype is huge.  I just wonder if the Wii U is going to be as popular and will be as scarce as its predecessor.

The original Wii was a great boon for eBay, as units were constantly bought up and re-sold at a higher price than the sticker value.  Nintendo refused to increase production, preferring instead to limit the output based on their capabilities, not wanting excess capacity once sales leveled off.  It was an interesting strategy, but they likely lost the interest of a lot of customers, or at least delayed the interest as many (like me) simply waited.

We likely would have used our Wii had it been more available and had we been able to get one prior to 2009.  As it was, by that time we had started our family, and the time to play games simply wasn’t there as it might have been in 2006 or 2007. As it stands today, there is even less time (with the addition of a second child), so even if the Wii U were made available without delays (unlikely from what I’ve been seeing), we wouldn’t be in the market.

Are you planning on getting a Wii U?  If you have an original Wii, share your experience on how you got it and when.

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Our Quirky Video Monitor: The Levana Safe ‘N See

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We are on our second baby video monitor.  Both have been purchased from Costco.  The first one was by a company named Lorax and it did pretty much everything we needed.  The issue was the connector was very poorly placed.  It was essentially a micro USB connector that stuck up out of the base.  This meant that you had to wiggle it on and place it exactly onto the base.  My wife noted right after we got it in February 2011 that it was ‘weird’.

Sure enough, the design caused the receptacle in the actual monitor unit to come loose and eventually break off within the unit.

Costco has a great return policy where most items can be returned indefinitely.  So, we took it back even though it had been 18 months.  They took it back no questions asked.

They don’t sell the monitors in the store, only online, so we went looking for a replacement.  Our biggest requirement is that it have two video cameras so that we can monitor both kids.

They no longer sell the Lorax, but the closest that they had with our price point was the Levana Safe N’ See monitor.

We ordered it and it came a few days later.

It’s definitely different.  Here are a few things we like and don’t like:

Pros

  • Temperature gauge – It actually shows the temperature in each room which is a nice feature.
  • Big screen – The screen is 3.5” diagonal which is pretty big.  The Lorax was probably 2”
  • Remote intercom – The Lorax had this as well but this also has the ability for us to ‘speak’ to our children from the monitor
  • Lights and music – You can also turn on a nightlight and start a lullaby to play in your babies room from the monitor unit
  • Price – It was the most economical unit available which included two cameras.

Cons

  • Pairing the second camera – The second camera must be paired to the base unit, as it is a closed circuit unit.  We followed the directions and it didn’t work.  One of the steps was to cover the light sensor of the camera, which tells it to start transmitting the pairing signal.  Even though I covered this completely, it wouldn’t work because I did it in the afternoon and some ambient light must have been getting through.  When I tried it again in the evening, it worked like a charm.  They should tell you to do this in a darkened room.
  • The video can’t be fully turned off – Both monitors have a feature where it will flip back and forth between the two cameras.  This doesn’t work though if you want the video off (and who doesn’t during the middle of the night?).  The only way to turn the video off is to set the ‘VOX’ which monitors the sound level and only turns on when it detects noise.  Unfortunately, when you activate VOX, it locks on one camera. Luckily we have a sound-only monitor so we can use this in one kids room, and set the other for the second kids room, but it seems silly.
  • Harder to hear – Most monitors we’ve seen are a little too good at picking up noise.  My in-laws have one that can pick up someone having a conversation across the street….through a closed window!  Ours are about 12’ from the kids beds and it is pretty muffled.
  • Out of the box battery issue – The monitor can be unplugged, so it has a rechargeable battery. It looks as if ours is defective, as the charging light never turns green, even though it’s plugged in all night.   I have to call them and see if they will send me a replacement.

All in all, it’s a pretty average unit, but for the price you can’t beat it.  A comparable two video system will cost you at least $100 more.  There’s nothing wrong with the Levana unit, it just has some features (and non-features) that you could tell were not engineered by parents that actually used the thing.   Considering our oldest is over three, I don’t expect that we’ll need the video for all that long, so I didn’t want to put much more into it.  And, since it was purchased at Costco, we have a warranty for as long as we need it.

Do you use video monitors for your kids?

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Rest Assured, PCs and Laptops Are NOT Going To Die

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I laugh every time I read articles about how tablet computing is spelling the end for the traditional desktop PC and even the laptop computer.

Admittedly, tablets are growing in popularity.  I actually bought one a few months back, an HP TouchPad, which as you may remember was introduced and promptly pulled from production about a week after it’s launch.  This dropped the price, and I was able to recently pick one up for $200.  While I like it, it’s never going to fully replace the PC and laptop that I also have at home.

But, that’s not why I say that PCs and laptops won’t die.

The reason is more simple:

Offices.

Many of you work in an office, right?  I do.

On every desk there is either a desktop computer or a docking station for a laptop.

There are many people that walk around with tablets, and I believe a few really progressive types have ditched their desktop or laptop, but I’d say that number is probably about 1%.

Our office has roughly 300 people, which means that 3 people have ditched their laptop or desktop.

Meaning that 297 have not and are still using them.

The fact remains that while tablet computing is great for people on the go, and it is great for apps and browsing, many people at spend eight hours (or more) per day at work cannot achieve the same productivity on a tablet as you can with a desktop or laptop.

At least not without paying significantly more.

Yes, you can purchase better keyboards and likely can get external mice and bigger displays for a tablet that can bring the efficiency that tablet computing can’t offer when it comes to word processing or working with spreadsheets, but at that point, a fully loaded desktop or laptop is still much cheaper.

And most businesses are still about making money, and one way of doing that is to keep costs down.

I’m sure there are companies out there that may consider loading up their employees with tablets and ditching the desktops and laptops altogether, but either they are going to pay a bundle in ‘extras’ to make sure that their employees can work more efficiently, or they will see a drop in productivity.

My guess is that number would probably rival the 1% or so tying back to the people in our office who have ditched their PC / laptop altogether.

In other words, there is no direct threat to shut down operations for companies in the desktop and laptop business.  Not that I can see.

Now, if I’m an investor, I do see limited growth in those areas.  I might not be buying up thousands of shares of Dell as would have been a good idea in the 1990’s, but if I already owned them, I wouldn’t be worried about them heading to zero, either.

What do you think?  Will tablets take over the world or will desktops and laptops be around for the foreseeable future?

Disclosure: I own no stock of any company mentioned here.

 

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Why I’ll Hold Off On A New Phone For Now

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We have been customers of Sprint cell phone service for quite some time now.  My wife and I last renewed in August 2010 when we both got new Blackberries.

This was, of course, within days of the world deciding that they hated Blackberries and weren’t going to buy them anymore.  Everybody officially switched to either iPhone or Android based machines within days.

But, I digress.

Sprint’s program basically gives you their ‘best pricing’ on phones if you sign a two year agreement.  Two months shy of the end of your agreement, they once again offer you the best pricing they have, so that you’ll extend with them.   I guess they figure that those last couple of months are the time that you’ll use to start shopping around, so they entice you with a good deal and try to keep your wandering eyes off other carriers.

June 1st was the day that Sprint said I was eligible, so I looked around to see what the deals were.

What I noticed were:

  • They have definitely cut back on the deals – I’ve never gotten cutting edge phones, but I’ve always been able to snag a phone somewhere in the middle of the pack for relatively cheap.  After discounts and promotions and such, I’ve gotten the phones for free or paid around $50 at the high end.  The mid-range phones I see nowadays will likely cost $150.
  • It will increase my plan cost – Shortly around the time we renewed in 2010, Sprint started charging an extra $10 per month for 4G capable phones.  I guess they didn’t hear too much squawking, because they then switched this to $10 per month for all smartphones.  If you already had a smartphone prior to this, which we did with our Blackberries, you didn’t have to pay.  But, as soon as you activated any other smartphone, the $10/month per line kicked in.  This hit us when my wife’s Blackberry died last summer and we had to replace it.
  • I’m still warranty covered – My phone has never had any problems, so I’m still covered under my Squaretrade warranty until my actual two year agreement.  I believe if I were to get a new phone, I could get another Squaretrade and transfer my unused time to covering that phone, but the way I look at it, the two months I have left are bonus time….I could get $350 from the warranty plus the $150 discount from Sprint.
  • My work has offered to get me a smartphone.  They don’t do reimbursements, but they’ve recently offered to provide a phone.  Even though this would save money, I’m hesitant because I don’t know what security/monitoring I would be ‘agreeing’ to, plus I feel that this obligates you to be available 24×7.  Oh, and it’s on the AT&T network.  Which is pretty awful around here.
  • The unknown – Sprint’s 4G coverage is a joke, yet they are apparently upgrading it.  Still, the lack of upgrades is puzzling though they keep promising better days ahead.  I guess I’d like to see it before I believe it, as cell phone companies tend to oversell things and underdeliver on them down the road.

I guess long and short, I see myself as in a pretty good spot.  I could upgrade at any time, though right now I am fine with the Blackberry.  When my wife’s phone died, we actually used the Squaretrade money and bought an off-the-floor model from the Sprint store, which was a slightly higher price, but kept us from having to extend her contract, meaning that we have the flexibility to renew or switch carriers, or look for the best deal, pretty much at any point.

I’ve never been one to rush out and get the latest and greatest cell phone, pretty much because I can’t stand spending that kind of money on things that are designed to become obsolete way before the contract extends that you sign up for (I similarly dislike spending money on computers and such, but at least you’re not locked into a two year anything when buying a PC, laptop, or tablet).  So, for now, I’m in absolutely no hurry!

UPDATE: I ended up taking advantage of the offer from my employer to get a work provided cell phone, so I no longer have to deal with Sprint, though my wife is still stuck on the Sprint plan.

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