The only good thing I've found so far

I have been using/wearing a Samsung Gear2 smart watch. It worked great, only needing charging every three to four days, and the version of Samsung health could measure pulse, blood oxygen and a few other things.

Along comes update on phone. Now Gear2 doesn't work, not because of hardware, but because of software. The new Samsung Health does a 'check version' on the watch, and blocks it from connecting. I email Samsung about why they're using software to block the watch. They said internet security reason. What?  The watch didn't connect to the internet, just phone.  I called bullshit, and pretty much told them so, but in polite language.  They replied with a snarky comment about watch being 'obsolete'.  THEN WHY THE F**K IS IS LISTED IN THE ACCESSORIES!

(deep breath)

Samsung suggest I get one their new smart watches, as the prices of $399 to $499. Uhh, no. I told them I don't buy items that have deliberate obsolescence built it, as you can't change the battery if it stops charging.

Dilemma: What to do.

Solution: Either buy one of my old model smart watch, that had has different OS flashed on it, and can be used with the OS makers own health software, or go in search of an 'old' model that is still compatible with the new phone.

I chose option two. at 1/4 the price of the new ones. I miss a great many features and abilities I had on my old watch. Like being able to choose a photo background AND what display of watch. Can't do that, so picked the least eye-bending color.

The only good thing I have found so far, it's great at reminding me to get up and walk around.

The Great Phone Re-Contracting!

Alan's phone was dying, it was also a waste of money to spend on portable Wifi devices, and Wing ‘s phone and my devices were out of contract.

Went to Telstra Shop in Garden City, and it was quiet. Got seen to right away. Wing's phone had ownership changed to me, canceled the portable Wifi devices, gave Alan my Galaxy S7, and so he and Wing signed up under the BYO plans. I got the Galaxy S9. By doing this, we have decreased total Telstra billing a month by almost $160.

Galaxy S9. Not too thrilled with it, but that could just be teething pains/getting used to a different set up. So far 11 of my tried and true apps and tools no longer function. ADW, and LauncherX Pro, were two of them that I used to customize my phone. You can make these tiny 'folders' (bubble) and label it, and add what apps you want in it (example A folder called "Astronomy" and all my astronomy apps go into it), but it's SMALL, even at the lowest resolution. It would be great if you could elongate the folder and make the app icons more visible. The Edge app is good but could be better. App Edge only allows 10 apps, or People Edge 10 people. No scrolling it up or down like I did with app on the S7.  Also, the Favorites bar on the bottom, you're restricted to 5 icons only. No more scrolling left or right. I don't know what bright spark at Samsung thought making these thing NON scrollable was a good thing, should be flogged.... or at least demoted.

Smart Switch was a semi-failure, as it did NOT transfer all data as it was supposed to have done. So if you get one, back up your app settings and data, even if you have to copy and paste.  I lost ALL my bird spotting records from my trip to Broome. 

On the positive side, what they've done with the camera and camera controls is amazing. I'm trying to get accustomed to pressing the power button twice to bring up the camera, rather than the home button twice.  This is causing me problems because of the scaphoid fracture I got 3 years ago. My thumb doesn't always press fast enough.  Put camera icon on the screen, problem solved.

Bixby: This reminds me of that excellent Assistant App I had with my S5 and S7, before Google bought it, took what parts they wanted from it, and the original programmers shut it down.  Been playing around with it, and it's not too shabby.

More later when I’ve had it more than one day.

Surface Pro installations Checklist

Photoshop and Bridge.. Check.
DxO Photolab.. Check.
Google NIK Collection... Check
My old tried and true LViewPro image viewer.. Check.
Mailwasher.. Check.
Google Chrome.. Check.
Trillian.. Check
yLaunch.. Check.
VLC.. Check
That pretty much does the whole installation and set up.  Now, it's the tweaking that needs o be done. The loathsome nannyware that refuses to let me save txt files in certain areas, or the whining about not being the Administrator when I am.  Got the bluetooth pen and mouse set up, too. Wing  Told me that On1PhotoRaw 2018 works on his surface pro, so installed it on mine, also. Had to reset the activations as we wanted to make sure we didn't exceed the number of seats activated. You can have 5 running at one time, but if you need more, you deactivate on one computer, and activate on the other. Easy peasy!

I Tech, therefore I am.

During our Albany trip, Wing  saw first hand the issues I had been having with my Sony laptop. It works great once it's in Windows, but not joking, (and no, not asking for tech advice (been there, done that, it is what it is)  can take up to 15 minutes before I can do anything with the computer.  But once in there, it works great..most of the time. But not only that, when traveling by plane, weight matters. That laptop is heavy, taking up 3.4kgs, and I need that for the tripod.

He took us to Hardly Normal, and after some comparing different makes and models,  for trips, I will be using an i7 Surface Pro.  Spent a few hours setting it up last night. 

One of the issues I have with the surface pro is the itty bitty menus. Because it has such a high DPI, programs are scaled to fit.  My choices were to use the magnifier, which annoyingly follows my mouse cursor around, or to find another way.

NERDZ ROOL! I did a bit of internet searching and found how, with a registry edit, and a simple manifest file, I can have all the programs scaled to an actual readable size.  I also tweaked the registry to get rid of those 'short cut arrows'. Never liked them from way back.

Updating the tech

Got mobile broadband for the netbook, and ordered the 9 cell battery. Other than those two items, it's completely set up and online.

I lugged the netbook around in my usual small backpack, and there was no sore neck, burning shoulders or headache afterward, so as much as I like my "Acer Racer","Mini-Me" will be the one to travel with me.