Many Motorola CLIQ users have been waiting nearly an ENTIRE YEAR for this upgrade.  I reviewed the CLIQ in November and December of last year. Getting here has been a long, annoying and frustrating.  The upgrade had more on-again/off-again action than Cher and Gregg Allman back in the day (and now I’ve REALLY dated myself…). 

However, the update has finally arrived.  You can get the update here; but there are a few hoops you have to jump through in order to get the update on your device.  Motorola makes you go through a 5 step process before you can actually get the software for your device.  While I am not going to recreate the process here, I will give you a few important tips in order to make the update work.

1. Most Moto CLIQ’s that I’ve seen have BLUR version 1.48 on them.  In order to install the latest version of Android for the CLIQ, your device must have BLUR version 1.61. Trying to flash the 2.15 version of BLUR over the 1.48 version will do nothing more than bring you to an error screen (device next to a triangle with an exclamation point in it), after the update package seems to execute without error.
2. BLUR version 1.61 is a Cupcake update that many seem to have missed.  If you don’t have BLUR 1.61, then you’ll need to do a Software Update check BEFORE you install Éclair (or BLUR 2.15) on your CLIQ.
3. Motorola makes you jump through a number of hoops (over and above getting and applying the 1.61 BLUR update) in order to flash your CLIQ.  There are 5 pages worth of instructions and "are you really sure you wanna do this" items that you have to read, click some sort of check box for and download links to wade through before you get to the software.

   I always get nervous when vendors do that because it usually tells me that they either didn’t want to release the item I’ve been waiting for, or that its problematic (or both).  Be careful when flashing.  They do indicate that you could brick your device…more than once.

I’ve downloaded and installed the update, though I did fall into the 1.48 vs. 1.61 version issue.  After I flashed the 1.61 update (and then letting BLUR get me back to where it wanted to get me), flashing the 2.15 version of BLUR was really very easy.

I’m in the process of evaluating the update and will have a write-up on it as a follow-up to my review in a week or so.

According to “Protect Your Bubble”, a cell phone insurance copy, a recent study they did from a poll of 3,000 users showed that:

Six out of 10 smart phone users check their phone BEFORE getting out of bed in the morning.

And for those who don’t have their mobile phones positioned safely beside them while sleeping, they are always within six metres of their handset day and night.

Incredibly, 57 per cent of Brits can’t get ready for the day ahead without first checking for text messages, emails and Facebook updates.

A staggering 88 per cent say checking their phones first thing has now become part of their morning routine, along with brushing their teeth, showering, having a cup of coffee and eating breakfast.

And 68 per cent say they feel more prepared for their working day if they have already checked their phones by the time they get up.

Interesting statistics.  It’s amazing to me of just how far mobile technology has gone.  From brick style cell phones all the way to the latest and greatest Smartphones, phones are now just like an extension of ourselves.  We have to have it.  It’s as essential in the business and networking world like having a car or even a bus pass.  From my own iPod Touch with wireless (which is near equivalent of an iPhone considering I use a VoIP provider), I’m able to conduct business anywhere and everywhere that is Wi-Fi enabled.  Of course, if I had an actual iPhone, then it expands to everywhere that has AT&T service coverage.  The study continues:

The study shows that 86 per cent of Brits are most concerned about text messages first thing in the morning, while four in 10 like to plan their working day by checking emails.

A third of people prefer to check Facebook to see what friends and family got up to overnight.

Using Twitter, checking diary reminders and reading newspaper websites are among the activities people like to carry out while tucked up in bed.

But all this bedtime gadgetry appears to have taken its toll on our literary habits. A third of smart phone users now say they are more likely to spend half an hour in bed at night checking their mobile phone than reading a good book.

It is sad when a good book is replaced by people checking their mobile phone – unless they are using it as an eBook reader…but I doubt it as most Smart phones have a pretty small screen size which is not conducive to a pleasurable reading experience.  It seems that people are very interested in talking about themselves and reading about others where they could potentially forget about all the dangers associated with social networking.  It’s important to remember that social networking is like posting on a bill board that can never be deleted.  So I sure hope people think before they do their status updates.  Back to the study:

At the end of a long day, 53 per cent of Brits choose to unwind in bed by texting loved ones, while 33 per cent like to go on social networking sites.

Three in 10 people like to play games on their smart phones when in bed, while 23 per cent are obsessed with checking emails until they’re on the point of drifting off.

Listening to music, watching films or videos and phoning friends and family are all things folk enjoy doing between the sheets late in the evening.

Interestingly, 13 per cent of professionals make a point of trying to send work emails on their phone or laptop late at night to look good.

Stephen Ebbett continues: "The funny thing is that Brits can’t bear to think they are missing anything – so although most people will go to bed around 11pm and wake at 6 or 7am they will still check the phone just before they go to sleep and as they wake up.

"Goodness knows what they think will happen on social networking sites and with friends and family while they are fast asleep.

"But the other thing iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android phones all have in common is their entertainment value – so whatever your location you can continue reading, playing games and communicating."

But has our fixation with our phones gone too far? A brave 44 per cent admit they are addicted to checking their mobile phones, while 54 per cent would get out of bed to hunt for their handset if they had forgotten to take it to bed.

Just like any other good thing, moderation is the key.  I think this is an age now where we have more goodies and toys than any other previous time and people could and would be experiencing withdrawal symptoms should they be separated from their communication device.  Personally, I’ve been offline and not using a computer for 6 months.  It was one of the hardest experiences in my life.  But that was with a desktop.  Imagine how much more one can be addicted to with a mobile device as it can go with you everywhere!

Do you have movies on your iPad, iPod Touch 4G, or iPhone 4G?  If so, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to watch it on the big screen TV in your living room?  Well, USBfever just launched a product that may just meet your needs!  This  device supports both audio and video transmission and works with regular non-jail broken devices.  You’ll be able to watch your media in 720p or 1080p HD.  This sounds like the perfect device also for presenting presentations from KeyNote on the iPad.  I’m wondering what more this little device can enable.

Over the past few days, I’ve had a few people ask me why I still use my Nexus One, as opposed to a newer or more advanced phone.  Yes, I could get a T-Mobile G2, T-Mo’s new HSPA+ device.  I could get a HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy S Variant (Vibrant, Fascinate, Epic or Captivate).  I could get a Droid Incredible, Droid X, or even hold out of any of the new WP7 devices that are supposed to make themselves available before the end of the year.  There’s no end to choices for advanced devices right now.

The Google Phone – The Nexus One	The T-Mobile G2 with Google

So again, why stick with a Nexus One?  The answer is really very simple – Here are just a few small reasons why:

Read More …

I am a huge fan of hidden object games. I have been enjoying them on my mobile devices ever since my early days with Windows Mobile and the Dell Axim.  I always felt, however, that the small screens on most mobile devices limited these games.  A larger screen, it seemed, would allow for a more complex level of difficulty due to the increased detail available to developers.  As such, I was pretty excited to dive into this genre an the iPad.  Unfortunately, the waters of this genre turned out to run much deeper than expected.  Every time I sat down to start writing this article, another entry was added.  So, I will go ahead and apologize in advance for the length and scope of this one, as well as the myriad of games which I was not able to include.  You can blame the developers for that.   So, without taking up anymore of your time, let’s get to the games.

Alice in Wonderland Hidden Objects: This was the first hidden objects game I tested out on the iPad, and I have to say I found this game from the developers at Warelex to be a bit of a mixed bag.  Unlike many of these games, there is not a plot tying the levels together, just a map tracing your route through 15 different levels (there are a few other secrets in there, which I have yet to find).  Although arrows guide you from one level to the next, there is no requirement that you complete them in any particular order.  I thought the graphics in the introductory screens and map were terrific, offering a slightly twisted take on the Alice in Wonderland characters and locations.

Once you get into each of the levels, however, the Alice in Wonderland theme dissolves into a series of more or less unrelated garden scenes, each of which (obviously) contains a list of items for you to discover within the image.  Again, however, while the graphics were outstanding, these items bore no little to no connection to the Alice in Wonderland theme suggested by the title.  As I understand it, however, some of the secret games did relate to the Alice in Wonderland theme, though they were simply too difficult to find within the game.

If you are not familiar with hidden object games, this one offers a nice place to get acquainted with the genre, as it allows you to focus exclusively on finding objects, without getting distracted by other forms of mini-games or plots.  We will save those complexities for a bit later.

Alice in Wonderland Hidden Objects is a universal app available for all iOS devices from Waralex and costs $0.99, or a Lite version is available for free.

Cassandra’s Journey: The Legacy of Nostradamus: This hidden object game started with an interesting story line.  You play Cassandra, the granddaughter of a fortune teller, yearning to take over the “family business.”  To do that, however, you will need to enlist the help of the ghost of Nostradamus and find your grandmother’s lost ring.

Although the game features a variety of different puzzles and mini-games, I did not find that it held my attention in the same way as many of the other games in this genre.  For one thing, the games were all just too easy, allowing you to complete the game extremely quickly.  Unlike many hidden object/puzzle games, the complexity and difficulty level did not increase significantly as you progressed through the game.  Additionally, there was a real disconnect between the plot and the mini games.  The plot seemed to exist as a mean to shove you along from one game to the next; and other than unlocking new levels, the mini games did not seems to relate to or significantly advance the plot.  Finally, with respect to the plot, I found the writing to be simply sub-standard.  While the idea behind the story was sound, it was simply not well told throughout the game.  This game would have been better had the developers abandoned the idea of a plot, and released this game as a simple collection of unrelated puzzles.

Cassandra’s Journey is a universal app available for all iOS devices from Avallon Alliance for $3.99. 

Mumbo Jumbo Premium Casual Games: To paraphrase (badly), they developed the best of apps, they developed the worst of apps.  The first game I played from Mumbo Jumbo was Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials.  This quickly became one of my favorite hidden object games.  For starters, the plot is fantastic, a time bending mystery in which you must unravel the events leading up to the death of Nathanial Hawthorne (the famous writer).  I have to say that Mumbo Jumbo really impressed me with this one. 

Not only were the graphics exceptional, but the plot was also original and engaging.  Even the mini-games did a remarkable job of working with and furthering the plot, rather than simply existing despite the plot.  This was a really impressive game.

In fact, I liked Salem Witch Trials so much, I immediately set out to review Mumbo Jumbo’s other hidden object game Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate.  Shockingly, for two games released by the same developer within weeks of one another, I could not have had a more completely opposite reaction.  Although I did enjoy the similar quality of graphics, the plot on this one was as flimsy as an invertebrate’s spine.  As near as I could tell, it involved the search for immortality…and relics for a museum. 

The whole plot really just felt like a cheap excuse to string you from one puzzle to the next.  Ultimately, I got stuck when it wanted me to use an object which I had not yet found…and could not go back to get.  This one is pretty much as bad as Salem Witch Trials was good.

The other problem I had with these games, regardless of how good or bad they were was the pricing.  Both cost $9.99, which is incredibly expensive in a world of games which typically cost under $5.  To top it off, there are a number of extras in each game, which will also cost you a pretty penny.  Additional content, strategy guides, and even hints will all cost extra.  I found it to be a bit annoying that this content (with the exception of hints) could not be unlocked by progressing through the games.   This pricing structure is severely out of sync with the rest of the games in this genre.

Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials and Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate are both developed by MumboJumbo, and are each available from the iTunes app store for $9.99 (plus the additional cost of in-game purchases).

G5 Entertainment: What impressed me the most about G5’s catalog of games in this genre was the way they effectively maintained diversity throughout their games without sacrificing quality.   So far, they have four games in the hidden object genre: Mushroom Age, Paranormal Agency, The Mystery of the Crystal Portal, and Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold.  While these games all featured a similar goal (finding hidden objects and solving the puzzles), they featured a variety of approaches to the genre. 

Paranormal Agency, for example, is the only game which features a timer, along with penalties for taking too many missed guesses (there is an untimed mode for more relaxed play). 

The Mystery of the Crystal Portal and Treasure Seekers (above), on the other hand, feature a unique approach to the genre.  Rather than simply searching for a list of objects, you must first find a receptacle.  Each receptacle will show you the objects which must be placed within it.  Not only do you have to find the objects in question, but drag them to the correct receptacle. 

In addition to the variety of approaches to gameplay, I was also impressed by the different plots featured in the games.  From the mind-bending, time traveling adventures of Mushroom Age (above) to the Ghostbusters-esque Paranormal Agency, I think G5 Entertainment has done a spectacular job of publishing only the best written games, which really makes an incredible difference in this (and any) genre of games.

Overall, I found that the games published by G5 for the iPad were really consistently superior.  I have played dozens of hidden object games on numerous platforms, and those published by G5 rank among my all time favorites…especially Mushroom Age, which has been enthralling my children for months.

All four games cost $4.99 for the iPad and $2.99 on the iPhone or iPod Touch.  A free version of each is also available.  I thought this was a bit on the expensive side for the iPad version, especially since there was no significant difference between the iPhone and iPad versions to justify the difference in price, along with the fact that games in this genre really do not have any replay value once you have finished the story.  Still, the games are engaging enough that even with a $4.99 price tag, you will never really feel like you overpaid for any of these games.

Laura Jones Series: If the Laura Jones duology from Astar-Nevosoft looks familiar, well, that is because they are familiar.  Nevosoft, one of the companies behind this series is also the same company behind G5’s Mushroom Age game.  So, you can imagine that the graphics are of the same quality, although I found the plot to be a bit less consistent on these than on Mushroom Age and some of the other G5 games.  That is not to say, however, that the Laura Jones games lack for creativity.    Both Laura Jones and the Gates of Good and Evil and its recent follow-up, Laura Jones and the Secret Legacy of Nikola Tesla offer  fantastic gameplay with extremely creative and varied puzzles. 

How many other games in this genre feature a puzzle in which you must correctly replace one character’s piercings after they were accidentally knocked off.   While I thought the sequel was a bit better than the original, both were solid and enjoyable games, which held my interest and provided challenging mini-games along the way, even if the mini games did not always mesh seamlessly with the plot of the games.   Most importantly, both games allow you to go back and replay any levels or mini-games which you have already completed.  This feature was noticeably absent in many of the games reviewed for this article.

Both games are available in the iTunes App store for $4.99 ($2.99 on the iPhone or iPod Touch).  Again, I did not really understand the difference in pricing since there is no significant difference between the two versions other than the screen resolution.  So, it would have been nice if these had been universal apps.  There is also a free version of each, which guides you through the first few levels of each game, giving you a good taste of what is yet to come.

Little Things: This is the point in the roundup where we take a complete 360.  With Little Things, developer KlickTock has eschewed everything which is extraneous to the gameplay itself.  No fancy graphics, no plots, no variety of puzzles.  Just you and a screen full of objects.  Well…not quite.  You see, the point of Little Things is that the objects filling your screen or composed of, well, smaller objects (hence, Little Things).  Each puzzle consists of a selection of Little Things, formed into the shape of one of the object puzzles.   Of course, as you progress through the game, you will unlock new and more complicated object puzzles to solve. 

Little Things costs $4.99, though a free version is also available.  It is not currently available for the iPad.

I was thoroughly impressed by many of the games available in this genre for the iPad.  across the board, they featured exceptional graphics, and a myriad of creative mini-games.  I did find some of the writing was a bit inconsistent, but most of the games featured very good plots and stories, even if the execution was not always as good as expected.   I was a bit disappointed by the pricing structure of some of the games in this genre, particularly those which cost almost double the price of their iPhone counterparts.  Nonetheless, if you are looking for a great distraction with a some significant entertainment value, then the games in this genre will certainly deliver.