Image via WikipediaQ: Should I use aftermarket toner cartridges? Or should I only use original manufacturer toner cartridges for my laser printer?

A: This is a tough question as the quality of aftermarket toner cartridges, i.e. "refills" or "remans" vary greatly from outfit to outfit. Please note, we're talking about laser printers, not ink jets. And I can only tell you what my personal experience is.

I have a Samsung all-in-one that takes a relatively small cartridge. The original Samsung carts are like $75-90 at Office Depot and such stores. The aftermarket ones are about $50 online through various vendors.

The Samsung one prints both text and pictures perfectly. There is a little banding but overall the result is acceptable.

The reman one prints text fine, but the picture printed is significantly darker and shows excessive banding.

So, if you print a lot of pictures, and care about print quality, then please use original toner carts. If you print mainly text, then it doesn't matter if you use original or reman.

Ink jets have the same concern.

Image via WikipediaQ: What are BRRIP and BDRIP files? 
A: BRRIP and BDRIP are basically Blu-Ray derived 720p XVID files that came from 1080p source.

Technically speaking, BRRIP came from 1080p MKV or H264 files, which came from BluRay, while BDRIP came straight from BluRay. However, they are still 720p XVID files.

If you want 1080p, get the source MKV or H264 files. BRRIP and BDRIP are better than regular encoded stuff from regular DVD, but not that much better.

To learn more: http://filesharefreak.com/2008/11/19/blu-ray-brrip-bdrip-two-new-xvid-hd-formats/

Old Game Review (posted in 2009)

Image via Wikipedia

(Editor's Note: Every once in a while I play a PC game, which I want to review, but could not put in my mobile game review site as it's not a mobile game, so I'll put it over here. )

Review of "Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet" (PC Game)

Women's Murder Club is a mystery series by bestselling author James Patterson about a group of women, some in law enforcement, some not, but all in San Francisco, solving a series of crimes, mostly murder, with a lot of twists and turns. Oberon Media and I-Play now let you assuming the role of Lindsay, the detective, Claire, the Medical Examiner, and Cindy, the reporter, by playing a series of minigames, mostly "find the objects", though there are also word games, puzzles, and more. It is a casual game, as the difficulty is not too high. I finished the game in a couple hours. Other than some questionable Chinese, and some oops in graphics, the game is pretty well done, but somewhat contrived and occasionally frustrating, as are all "hidden object" games.

The game starts using comic-style panels to kick things off, and to present information at the beginning of each "investigation". A person is jogging near the Marin Vista point, stopped to stretch, looked down, and saw a woman's body down below. Detective Lindsay Boxer was summoned to the scene, and the game starts.

Q: How about iPad 2 rumors, now that there's supposedly an Apple press event on iPad 2 on March 2, 2011 in San Francisco?

A: Mashable have a comprehensive list of iPad 2 rumors. I would assign different odds to them though.

3 models of iPad 2: I would give this only 50%. That should be only 2 models: 3G (dual CDMA/UMTS) and WiFi or WiFi only. I think next iPhone will be a "world phone", only one model to go around, and thus one iPad as well.

Why iPhone 4 CDMA and not iPad 2 CDMA? Because one less SKU you have to stock means easier to manage the supply and manufacturing. iPhone 4 CDMA is a rush job that both address the antenna-gate problem AND get Verizon on the map. They can't wait for iPhone "5". It's a temporary product.

Any other iPad 2 rumors? Hmmm...

HOME BUTTON ON THE SIDE: Possible, yes, and perhaps even NO home button altogether. That would certainly make the look ever CLEANER, almost edge to edge display. 50% possibility.

BETTER SPEAKERS: Very possible. There's supposedly an Apple patent that puts small speakers in each corner of the device, thus giving you a proper stereo based on device orientation. 75% possibility.

What other interesting iPad 2 rumors have you heard?

Related articles

• Who's Going To Host The iPad 2 Event? (And Other Big Questions) (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
• iPad 2 Could Be Delayed Until June (cultofmac.com)
• Apple invites media to March 2 event (consensus: iPad 2) (zdnet.com)
• iPad 2: what new features are you hoping for? (guardian.co.uk)
• Backstage: Sources: Is it iPad 1.5 or 2? Also, iPhone 5 And Fully Redesigned 2012 MacBook Pros (ilounge.com)

Q: Do you know of any iPhone 5 rumors?

A: There are a ton of iPhone 5 rumors. Here are a few interesting ones.

Bigger screen: virtually certain

iPhone 4 has a relatively small screen, at 3.5 inch diagonal. Many Android phones have larger screens, up to 4.3 inch diagonal. The Dell Streak 5, in fact, has a 5 inch screen, though that is technically a small tablet. It is believed that Apple will go up to 4 inch screen, but keep the pixel density of the "Retina Display".

Better camera: virtually certain

iPhone 4's camera is only 5 MP, and 720p video. Android phones already have 8MP cameras. It will not surprise me if the next iPhone go up to 1080p video and at least match 8MP camera, if not leapfrog that to 10 or 12MP camera. They may even upgrade the front-camera to SVGA.

Dual Core CPU: virtually certain

Everybody in Android world is already going dual core. Will Apple leapfrog them and go quad core? Unlikely as battery life is still a concern. Dual core is still quite good.

Physical Keyboard: you must be kidding

There's a rumor out of Taiwan that iPhone may get a physical keyboard. It must be a joke, as it's completely against Apple's UI design. Not that long ago, there's a report that Apple is trying to remove ALL the buttons from iPad and iPhone, and use multi-finger (more than two) gestures. Why would they then give you a physical keyboard on an iPhone? If they do, it'd be an optional accessory, not a part of the phone.

Remember, Apple's trend is smaller, slimmer, lighter. Adding a physical keyboard is completely against that ethos.

Smaller version of iPhone: unlikely

There are a lot of rumors about an "iPhone Nano", a smaller and more affordable iPhone. Different news have different ideas. However, it makes no sense.

Apple products are for the elite and trickle down as a status symbol. It was always held as a PREMIUM product. It's like the Mercedes or BMW of the mobile phone world. Why would they go DOWN in status and start making low-end phones?  That would be like BMW starting making subcompacts (that's why BMW's subcompact, the Mini, is a separate brand altogether).

What other interesting "next iPhone" rumors have you heard?

Image via WikipediaQ: What can you tell me about 3G, UMTS, W-CDMA, HSPA, GSM, CDMA, LTE, and all that?

A: Oh, boy, that's a long story.

First, 3G is a generic term used by marketing. ITU, the standards body, calls it IMT-2000. That is the FORMAL definition of "3G".

Within IMT-2000 there are 2 "families", 3GPP, and 3GPP2. 3GPP means "3rd Generation Partnership Project". The two families are working on different but competing standards.

Within the 3GPP camp, the overall term is UMTS, or "Universal Mobile Telecommunication System" but it is sometimes called 3GSM, as it is derived from GSM (a 2G standard). However UMTS is the official term used by 3GPP to describe the RADIO technology. The overall tech scheme is W-CDMA, or wideband code division multiple access. It is a way to push multiple pieces of data simultaneously over multiple frequencies (sometimes called "spread spectrum"). 


Within UMTS, there are various technologies and "releases" introduced over time to improve the standard. HSPA, or High Speed Packet Access. Within HSPA, there are two versions, Uplink, and Downlink. So you get HSPUA and HSPDA. Later revision updated that to HSPA+, and even within HSPA+ there are 3 versions, 14, 21, and 42 (refering to downlink speeds).

Within the 3GPP2 family, there is CDMA2000 and its variations / releases, which would be 1xRT, EV-DO (and its variations), and later, SV-DO.

Any way, onto 4G.  ITU approved the next generation, 4G, standard as IMT-Advanced.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a 3GPP standard trying to push beyond their UMTS (3G technology) by adopting some newer technology to make it "4G". It is not fully compliant with IMT-Advanced. LTE-Advanced, the next version, will be fully compliant.

WiMAX is a completely different technology. It stands for "Worldwide International standard for Microwave Access", and is based on Microwave transceivers. It can be used as broadband access in a cellphone. It is not fully compliant with IMT-Advanced as well, but next version should be.

Recently ITU gave in to phone carriers and relaxed the definition of "4G", allowing even 3G-derived technology such as HSPA+ to be called "4G" as long as it delivers significant speed increase over normal 3G data transmission rates. 

Hope that clears things up somewhat.

Q: What do you think will be in Apple's iPad 2 and iPhone 5?
A: Here's my predictions:

iPad 2 -- just a SD slot and dual-system CDMA/GSM 3G modem built-in. Maybe a dual-core CPU

iPhone "5" -- I think it's going to be 4S, not 5. It'll be dual system CDMA/GSM, and dual-core CPU. LTE will be for 2012 model. THAT will be iPhone 5.

To be honest, I cribbed half of the info from engadget.

Image via CrunchBaseQ: Now that Verizon has the iPhone 4, what do you think Sprint and T-Mobile's upcoming announcements in February 2011 would be about?

A: The Sprint announcement will likely be the first Windows Phone 7 for Sprint 4G

And the T-Mobile announcement will likely be about their Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant 4G, which is actually capable of reaching HSPA+21 (the G2 and the MyTouch 4G are actually just HSPA+14 devices, twice as fast as regular HSPA 7 Mbps)

Why neither will have the iPhone? Because if they did, they'd be sharing the stage with Verizon.

Why Sprint and Windows Phone 7? Because so far WP7 devices are ONLY available on AT&T and T-Mobile (even the Dell Revue). Verizon don't need WP7 device since it is getting the iPhone 4. So it must be Sprint.

Why T-Mobile and their 4G? Because they need to announce something that'll lead the market, and HSPA+21 device will beat just about everything else on the market.

UPDATE: Turns out Sprint's event is for the Kyocera split-screen Android phone. Hmmm... And it's not even 4G!

Related articles

• Sprint, T-Mobile both plan special events, iPhone unlikely (electronista.com)

Dkf

Q: Can you recommend a good password manager?

A: I like Keepass which is free, can automatically fill forms,  and if you have Android phone you can use same data file on KeePassDroid

Here's a summary of my Android App Reviews and Tips for 2010 folks. Enjoy.


Android App Reviews

32 different free Home Launcher Replacement Apps compared

Over a dozen different free browser replacements for Android compared

155 different free live wallpapers reviewed and compared

11 different free camera apps reviewed and compared

5 AVI players for Android compared

Juice Defender and similar battery saver apps compared

Android Wallpaper Utilities Compared

Over 20 Android Soft keyboards compared

Android Ringtone utilities compared


Android Games

Android Air Traffic Control Games Compared

Android Tower Defense Type Games Sampled

Android Tilt Sensor Games Sampled: Abduction, Graviturn, Labyrinth, My Paper Airplane, Raging Thunder/Wave Blazer
Tilt left/right, Tilt full 2D, Tilt 2D for full movement in 3D space

Android 3D Games Sampled: Tank Recon 3D, Asphalt 5, Winds of Steel, Steel Forge
Tanks, hovercrafts, cars, or planes

Game Reviews 1: Space Trader, Chinese Chess, Bubble Defense, Astro Commander (missile defense)

Game Reviews 2: Tank Warrior, Radio Ball 3D, Flick Defense, NetHack (for Android)

Game Reviews 3: Droplets 2, Crossfire, Guns n' Glory, Starfighter

Game Reviews 4: Panzer Panic, Pokanoid (Poke and Arkanoid?!), Fruit Pirate, Pacific Wings (i.e. 1942)

Steambirds Strategy Guide


Android Tips and Knowledge

Eight Things to Try on an Android Phone

Cupcake, Donut... What are all those codenames any way?

7 Weirdest Android Phones of 2010

Myth of Exploding Droid 2 has been busted

Android App Starter Kit

How to Make Your Slow Android Phone Fast Again

More interesting apps for Android


Other Cell Phone Info

When 4G is not really 4G: LTE and 4G explained

Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7 microSD card issues FAQ

Why You Can't Use iPhone on Verizon's network



Older reviews (needs update)

Android Task Switchers / Alternative Launchers compared

GPS Speedometers and loggers compared for android

Android OS Task Killers: only useful on older phones


Any way, Happy New Year!