A new twist. I'm at Yellowstone National Park

I know this is normally a blog on phones and tech, and it still is sort of. I am using all the tech I own just about on this trip. In fact I'm writing this on my new Gallaxy Tab 6. I have both my phones and all the goodies that go with them. I have my laptop and of corse I have my Canon camera. I planed this trip for months. Yellowstone has been on my bucket list as long as I've had one. Photographing the wildlife here has as well.

I arrived in West Yellowstone today and was planning on just seeing the town. That didn't workout so well. By noon I was in line to buy my pass into the park and then was heading to old faithful. I wasn't there to see it blow, I was there to pick up my walking stick madallion.I got 3 from there and I also picked one up from one of the many gift shops in town. On my way there I ran into a few Bison along the way. I couldn't really stop and get good photo's but I got a few pictures. (To me photos and pictures are not the same thing)

This morning I will be heading out to where the wolf pack has been seen hanging out. They have 18 new pups and I would love to get a few shots of them as well as the adualts. From what I hear even with my 600mm lens they will be far off. But I should be able to zoom in and still have some good photos. Over the next week or so I wll travel the park and see it in all its glorry, follow along with me as I check off things on my "Bucket list tour"

Battle of the ultra budget phones. Pt. 1 Umidigi A3

Okay you all know I have the S10+ and the note 10+. And I always have flagship phones on my hip. Many have asked me to review those phones, and I will... Someday. Today I'm starting a series of reviews on what I call ultra budget phones. These are phones that sell for under $150.00 usd. I will also be pitting them against each other to see which one gives you the best bang for your buck. Today it's the Umidigi A3.

The specs on this phone are as follows. 5.5" screen, dual SIM plus Micro SD slot, 12mp and 5mp rear shooters, 8mp front facing camera, rear mounted fingerprint scanner, 3300mAh battery, 2GB ram, 16 GB internal storage,MT6739 Quad core processor, 1440x720 screen res. running Android Pie 9.0.

Now this phone isn't going to blow you away. This is after all a Ultra Budget phone. This is what you get that kid that can't keep a hold of their phone or maybe you just can't afford them a high end or mid range phone. There is nothing wrong with keeping it real. This phone will do just about anything you would need it to do. Now it wont be a gaming phone, the processor just can't keep up. This phone will allow you to text,make calls and surf the web. Facebook and the like as well will do just fine.

This phone would also work just fine for the elderly that want a bit more than a flip phone. You can change the font size to fit their needs.There is lag of course, after all this phone is $80.00 but for the money you get more than what you pay for. (wait for part two to see one that you don't get your money's worth)

The fingerprint scanner works pretty well and is fairly fast. I've had no issues with it. It says it has 2D face unlock but as of yet I haven't tried it. There is a "Pro" version of this device and I will be doing a write-up on that phone and will test the face unlock then.

At the end of this three part post I will have a link to my YouTube channel where you can see this device and the other two in action.

Stop back in, leave a comment or question and I'll try to answer it.

Note 10+... A few things you may not know

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is an amazing phone, as a Note device should be. It has its short comings as all devices do, but all in all this is the phone to beat all phones. I'm not doing an un-boxing as every YouTuber on the planet has already done them. I'm here to talk about the things no one or very few are talking about.

Lets get started. First off the "Aura Glow" color is actually "Aura Glow Silver" I like so many others ordered this color because... well its fricking awesome! But no one that I have seen in the tech vlog world is calling it by its true color. Heres a picture of the label on the box mine came in. You will see it says "Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 256G SVR KIT.

So to suport this I also have the Galaxy Buds in Silver, pictured here with the white Buds that I got with the S10+.

They also do the color change, not as dynamic as the phone, but still a nice added touch.

Another feature (and I will do a video of this some day) is a feature where you can open apps from the lock screen by holding you finger/thumb on the fingerprint scanner and swiping over the app. I have it set to open Gmail and Gallery. You can set this up in the settings under lock screen the scroll to App Short cuts. Right now I haven't been using it as I just set it up but I will find this handy as those are two of the most used apps I have.

As you can see in the photo above the camera is full screen. As the phone is set from the factory the only shooting mode with this feature is the "Instagram" mode. But if you go into the camera app and hit the second icon from the right and choose "Full" the whole screen becomes your canvas.
I mean one of the reasons you buy a Note device is the screen size, and this one has the biggest screen on a Note device to date. So why not put that screen to use, after all its beautiful.

The back of this phone is like a mirror.. I mean just like a mirror. I took some pictures of the phone while at a park. I was at a table under some trees. Well you tell me what you think....

Stunning right? here is one of the S10+ under the same conditions

Now lets talk about the lack of a headphone jack. Well hell its gone and I doubt its coming back. I for one don't really mind so much I'm old and my hearing isn't pin point sharp anymore, so I can't tell the big sound difference between wireless and wired headphones. I'm not sure I ever could actually. I know some sound better than others. But if I have a set of wireless headphones that sound good I'm fine with that. I only use the wired headphones when I forget my Buds anyway and that has only happened once in the last few years. I normally give the wired headphones away that come with the device. I did however keep the USB type c ones that came with the Note 10+. As they are the only set like that I have. (Having a backup is never a bad idea).

As I work way to many hours for a man my age I haven't had the time or energy to really put the camera through its paces, but I plan on doing that over the next few weeks. My plan is to start doing video vlogs on tech and photography. I would love to see you come checkout my channel when it gets up and running.

I will have more on the Note 10+ as time permits so check back in a few days and see what is up with me.
Thanks for stopping in, leave a comment or a question and I'll see if i can get you the answers.

My time with the Galaxy S10+

So here I am with the new hotness the Samsung Galaxy S10+. I have had it since the 6th of March but didn't set it up until the next day. Now it is the 10th of the month so here is what I have to say so far.

The phone is zippy and just beautiful. The "Hole punch" screen is the best I've seen so far. The camera has been a pure joy to use and with the new features it has I'm liking a lot. Here are a few of the many photos I have taken so far. Now note that these are being downloaded from Google photos so the quality wont be the same as they are straight from the phone.

Okay those I was able to take from my phone... because I'm clever like that. I have a 3 shot sample of the rear camera set on its default settings as I was heading see my Granddaughter for her 7th birthday, So here are said photos.

Three cameras, three photos. I'm not going to bore you with the specs on each camera. There are SO MANY videos out there with that its mind blowing. I'm here to show you how things look from your average day to day use. If you are a phone whore like me you know all that crap already, and if you're not you most likely don't want/need to know.

Now as far as performance I'll post a screenshot from the Antutu benchmark test I ran, but really in real world testing is where you should base your opinion of your device. (BTW this phone pretty much leaves all the others in the dust in real world running as well. You can search YouTube if you don't trust me, but really who doesn't trust the Duck...really?)

The in the screen fingerprint scanner has had an update since I first got the phone with that and changing the animation to .5 it is now as snappy as the Oneplus 6T I have. the main difference is that I don't have that bright ass light blinding me in low light. The ultrasonic sensor needs no light and works with the screen off. I have noticed that when doing it with the screen off the time to wake is a little slower. I'm hoping that with the next update that will get better, but its not a deal breaker for sure.

I'm hearing rumors that there will be a "Night mode" coming to the camera soon and that would be the icing on the cake for me.


Okay for now that is all I'm going to talk about but there will be a much more in depth review as I get more hands on time with the device. I will compare it to the Note 9 and the S9 soon, and maybe the Oneplus 6T as well. I will not compare it to any device I do not own.... That would be silly. But if asked I will give my opinion on if I feel this phone is better than another phone even if I haven't own/used said phone. But please take that with a grain of salt...because it would be just my opinion.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment or question for me.

Photo update/ a few things I've picked up lately.

So most of you who picked on which one you liked and which phone took said photo..... Were wrong. Most of you picked the OnePlus 6T's photo thinking it was the note 9. But let me tell you something about your choice. It was the one that was the furthest away from the true color of the actual subject. Sorry but it's true. When I look at the photos side by side I'm actually disappointed in the photo quality of the 6T. Now if I look only at the photo it has taken it looks fine. Because I have nothing to compare it to. Now I still love that phone and I take it with me everywhere I go (as I do my note 9 and s9). But folks, it's not the best camera out there, but it gets the job done well.

Now here's a few things I've picked up lately.

I just had to get this color s pen. I used Samsung rewards for the purchase so out of pocket was less than $3 USD. I wish we had the option for that color phone as well without having to fork out full price. Dang it anyway.

Now as I'm sure you all know the OnePlus 6T has no headphone jack. (Not a real fan of that, but I do have a few Bluetooth headset). So you need a dongle to hook up wired headsets, OnePlus sends one with the device thankfully. Now I know myself well enough to know I will miss place that damn thing sooner or later, so I ordered a two pack off of Amazon.

I thought it was a little steep, but as it's my first time needing them I went ahead and ordered them. I'm actually pleased with what I've gotten.
They are of better quality than what was shipped in the box and they are a little longer as well.

Now I have a new case coming for the 6T and I ordered a pair of USB type C cables as I have given my grandson my S8 and looks like I'm short a cable. I will update on those sometime next week as they won't arrive until Tuesday. So until then thanks for reading. And happy teching.

Photo test part 2

Okay yesterday I did a little test of three phone's cameras. Today I'm continuing that with the selfie cameras. Again I'll be using the Samsung S9, the note 9 and the OnePlus 6T. The photos won't be in this order (or will they). Please leave your guess which is which and which you prefer in the comments.

Let's see how we do on this test....

A three way camera test.

I'm posting three photos, I would like you my few readers to tell me which phone too which photo. For this test I used the Samsung Galaxy S9, the Samsung note 9 and the OnePlus 6T. I will add them in no particular order, but I will know which is which. Please leave you guess in the comments please.

Okay, to make this a little easier top photo is number one..(I'm sure you can figure out the other two numbers.)

Also which photo you liked the best would be a big help.