IT Phone Home

I’m still enjoying my Note 5. As I indicated a couple of posts back, Sprint works great in Denver. Between the phone and the carrier, I get really fast, smooth internet. This is viewed on a big, beautiful screen. The Note 5 comes with a theme store already installed, and lately I’ve used a lovely winter scene as my backdrop.

I now have a better idea just why Sprint is so good in Denver. It uses what is called “carrier aggregation.” This is also known as LTE Advanced, and Sprint calls it LTE Plus. LTE 4G internet is provided via bands, somewhat like the wavelengths of radio stations. Those bands are becoming congested due to so many people having smart phones. The solution, until in-development technology leads to 5G, is to make “super stations.” This involves either combining bands, or doubling (or even tripling) a single band. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts, delivering very high data speeds. Sprint is adding this to other large markets around the country. ATT&T has been doing it too, with less publicity, and Verizon has their own technological advances in the works.

The catch is that only phones with the latest modems can access these aggregated bands. The HTC One M8 in 2014 was the first with the necessary modem, and Samsung also released some experimental versions of the Galaxy S4 and S5 with new modems the same year. But it was only in 2015 that the right phones became widely available. LG started the process with the G Flex 2, and continued with the G4 and V10. Samsung joined in with the S6 and my Note 5 (and the S6 Edge and S6 Edge Plus variants). HTC naturally also made the One M9 capable. Apple got in the game in September with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, which been found to have some of the fastest internet speeds ever recorded in the USA, when used in Denver on Sprint. More phones will have the necessary modems in 2016, but it remains to be seen if this will only be for high-end flagship models.

I’ve been surprised to see that carrier aggregation is getting very little attention on phone and service provider discussion websites. Mostly, I see the same tired arguments about iOS versus Android, or about whether Sprint and TMobile are improving rapidly enough. There’s a lack of understanding that, aside from the exceptions mentioned above, any phone released before 2015 is essentially obsolete. Sure, a consumer can save money by not upgrading their phone, but that upgrade is necessary for anyone who wants truly fast internet on their phone, going forward. If you go with a Samsung, at least the higher-end ones, you'll also enjoy wireless charging and Samsung Pay. I take advantage of both, and they only make me more pleased about my choice of the Note 5.

Plenty of people don’t care about their phone’s internet speed. I see customers at my job, who still use the iPhone 4 or 4S. They aren’t bothered by the tiny screen. It makes no sense to me, but it suits their occasional use of the phone. It’s fine for making calls, and fits easily in their pocket, so more power to them. But if you are one of those people who use their phone constantly, and wants the best experience possible, you owe it to yourself to get a 2015 or 2016 phone which can take advantage of the latest technology.

One other, unrelated matter. Sunwheels and Siegrunen has been out since the middle of October. Helion increased the print run, based on the strong pre-sales. Instead of the planned 750 copies, they had 1100 printed. By early December, only 300 were left, justifying their decision! I had intended to post more about the book’s release, but it sold really well without much promotion on this blog. The North American distributor ran out of copies, forcing me to wait to receive my personal copies by special shipment from the UK. It was a good problem to have, and I’m thankful to be in that situation. Now I really need to start getting more done on volume 2! Happy New Year to all!

Sunwheels Are Turning

I wrote the previous post a few days ago, but needed to prepare it for posting. This time, I'm just putting up a quick piece to let everyone know that Sunwheels and Siegrunen is now available.

It has been released in the UK, and the first customers already have their copy. The North American batch should arrive in a few weeks, after which the book will be available in the USA and Canada. But in the meantime, it can be ordered from Amazon UK and the Book Depository. 

Note to Self

I got the phone I didn’t originally expect to purchase. As I wrote over the summer, I’ve been actively researching smart phones since I got my Samsung Galaxy S4 in July 2013. The S4 is a great phone, though newer flagship models have better specifications. The S4 was a huge step up from anything I had used previously. However, already by the fall of 2013, I knew I wanted a phone with a bigger screen. 

One of my employees in New Jersey had a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and besides its larger screen size, it had a better camera. The S4’s camera was decent, but the Note 3’s was very good. Two other employees got the Note 4 soon after it was released, a year ago. Both were very happy with it, and I started to consider getting a Note when I would finally be able to upgrade in the summer of 2015.

As indicated in my earlier post, I considered many other phones. These included Sony Xperia models, LG Flex and G varieties, and some of the newer Chinese products. I crossed the Note 5 off my list when the first reports in the spring of this year suggested that it would follow the example of the Galaxy S6 and not have a removable battery or micro-SD card support. It looked like LG might be my best bet for getting a large, high-quality screen, a good processor, a removable battery, and a micro-SD card.

I was first disappointed that the LG G Flex 2 had a smaller screen than the original G Flex. The latter had a monster 6” screen that was awesome for productivity, but was low in resolution by 2014 standards. The Flex 2 had better resolution, but “only” a 5.5” screen, while I wanted larger. This summer’s G4 also had a 5.5” screen, and while it was quite good, it wasn’t as good as Samsung’s flagship screen. The Flex 2 had a Snapdragon 810 processor, which has a reputation for overheating (something supposedly fixed in the re-launched version made available this fall). This led LG to take a small step back, and use a Snapdragon 808 in the G4. 

LG did put out rumors that a “super deluxe” big brother to the G4 would be released this fall. It was to have a 5.8” screen, metal build, and a Snapdragon 820 processor. This finally emerged at the start of October as the V10, and it seems quite intriguing. But the 820 isn’t finished with development yet, and so the V10 comes with the re-launched 810, which is hopefully past its heating problem.

Samsung avoided the whole Snapdragon overheating issue by using its own Exynos 7420 processor in the S6 and Note 5. This is the best processor commercially available at this writing. The 820 and the next Exynos will probably surpass its specifications, but that will be six months from now.

Samsung traditionally releases the new Note in October each year. Apple releases the new iPhones in September, which cuts into potential Note sales, especially since the 6+ and now 6S+ have become available. Samsung therefore decided to release the 2015 Note, the Note 5, in August. I tried out the Note 5 as soon as it appeared in phone stores, and found the internet was incredibly fast and smooth. Part of this was because the Note 5 was the first (or one of the first) phones to come with 4 GB of RAM. This will be more common in 2016, but the V10, which should be in stores in November, is the only other readily-available phone with it right now.

I read critic and customer reviews on the Note 5. These were mostly positive, and confirmed that my experience with playing with the Note 5 at phone stores wasn’t an aberration. The Note 5 is the most powerful phone currently available in terms of having a big, bright screen (5.7”), a great processor, and plenty of RAM to sustain them. Thus, I began to reconsider my earlier decision to avoid the Note 5. Then, one of my employees here in Colorado upgraded from her S4 to the Note 5, and adored her new phone. I used it a bit, to see if it performed as well as the sample ones available under optimal conditions in the stores. It gave the same great experience, so I was convinced that, after all, it was the right phone for me.

I set the process in motion, and a few days ago, I became the proud owner of a Note 5. It took a few days, because I had to wait for Sprint to get in the larger-storage 64 GB version (which mostly offsets the lack of a micro-SD card). I also had to wait for the specific color combination of Otter Box that I wanted (dark blue outer casing, with light blue inner frame). It didn’t hurt that Sprint had an offer to get a free Galaxy Tab 4 tablet with the Note 5. The Tab 4 is a small, slightly out-of-date tablet, but it works well as a basic web-browsing device, and is far better than the off-brand Supersonic tablet I got as an anniversary gift from my job.

I’m enormously pleased with my Note 5 thus far. It truly is, as many reviews have stated, a beast of a phone. Besides being large and powerful, as I indicated above, it supports fast charging. With a cord, it charges incredibly quickly using its own wall socket plug, or the special car charger I bought. But it is also one of the only phones capable of high-speed wireless charging on Samsung’s wireless charging pad. This was another factor that led to my choosing the Note 5. The lack of a removable battery no longer bothers me, and the fixed battery gives great life anyway due to optimizing features built into the hardware and software. My opinion could certainly change with time, but at this moment I highly recommend the Note 5 if you can afford it. I’m paying a lot, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, since I feel I have the current best of the best.

One tangential point is that I stayed with Sprint. I was a free agent, and could have gone with any company. Verizon is usually considered the best provider, but Sprint is their equal in Denver, as Rootmetrics testing shows. Sprint tests their new processes first in Denver, and perfected LTE in the spring of this year. They have since been rolling it out to the rest of the country, and should be a solid choice in most urban and suburban areas by early 2016.

On a different “note,” Sunwheels and Siegrunen is at the printers, and should be available any day now. I’ll post an update when I get word that the release has become official. In the meantime, sample pages can be seen here.

Are You With Me Doctor?

Katy tried, I was halfway crucified
I was on the other side of no tomorrow
You walked in and my life began again
Just when I'd spent the last piaster I could borrow

All night long, we would sing that stupid song
And every word we sang, I knew was true

Are you with me Dr. Wu
Are you really just a shadow
Of the man that I once knew
Are you crazy are you high
Or just an ordinary guy
Have you done all you can do
Are you with me doctor?

Don't seem right, I've been strung out here all night
I've been waiting for the taste, you said you'd bring to me
Biscayne Bay where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day
I went searching for the song, you used to sing to me

Katy lies, You could see it in her eyes
But imagine my surprise when I saw you

Are you with me Dr. Wu
Are you really just a shadow
Of the man that I once knew
She is lovely yes she's sly
And you're an ordinary guy
Has she finally got to you
Can you hear me doctor?

Are you with me doctor?
Can you hear me doctor?
Are you with me doctor?
Can you hear me doctor?

Are you with me doctor?
Can you hear me doctor?
Are you with me doctor?

Doctor Wu is one of my favorite Steely Dan songs. I’m not that fond of the Katy Lied album overall, but I can listen to Doctor Wu over and over again. It’s a treat both musically and lyrically. It’s always fun to try to decipher what Steely Dan songs are really about, and Walter Becker and Donald Fagen aren’t really interested in clarifying things. They seem to actually enjoy throwing people off the right trail, and I don’t take most of their commentary on lyrical interpretation at face value.

The internet is full of listener opinions on the meaning of the song Doctor Wu. There’s general agreement that the real Dr. Jing Nuan Wu is being referenced. He was a Chinese-born herbalist who may have helped Becker and/or Fagen cope with their drug addiction. I don’t know that Fagen was ever really a junkie, and Becker’s addiction lasted years past Katy Lied’s 1975 release. Still, they may have known him, or known of him. But I think the guy in the song is fictional.

Here’s my take, for what it’s worth. The narrator is a junkie. Katy is the narcotics addiction. Doctor Wu is the narrator’s dealer. At the start of the song, the narrator’s just used the last bits of his stash, and is desperate for more. Then his dealer arrives, and they get high together. The dealer has never been seen to really use before.

There’s a gorgeous saxophone solo by Phil Woods as a bridge between the verses. It’s actually a metaphorical drug trip. Follow the link and listen to it. It soars as the pair first feel the effects, and then dies out as the drug gradually wears off.

The narrator wakes up and Doctor Wu is gone. He’s supposed to return, but doesn’t, so the narrator has to out and search the back alleys of Miami for him. The narrator finally finds his dealer, and realizes the dealer is now a junkie too. Katy got to him. To make the connection clear, the saxophone returns as the song ends, closing this sad, yet beautiful vignette. As with other Steely Dan songs, it’s like a RaymondCarver story has been set to music.

One last bit of trivia; For anyone who wonders if Katy really lied, that’s a katydid on the album cover…