View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Practice: When offered a seat by a younger person, you must accept
Here's the scenario: You've just stepped on a crowed bus or subway car in China. There is nowhere to sit. Suddenly a younger man or woman jumps up and offers their seat to you. You must accept.
Respect for your elders is a longstanding practice in China and one I am very happy to see being kept alive by the new generation.
Each new generation continues to be taught to respect their elders, whomever they are. Along with this is the common courtesy of offering your seat to an elderly person if none are available.
Conversely, if you are offered the seat, you must accept. It would be rude to decline.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Chinese Culture - #13: Your cup runith over
View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Custom: A guest's tea cup must always be full
As a house guest, you will always be offered tea, and you should always accept - even if you don't drink tea.
Tea and China are culturally intertwined and go back thousands of years. Tea has many mythical health benefits, legends and events around it. So, as such, its the most common beverage and the most offered item to a guest. Its like saying "Welcome to China, drink to your health."
But don't expect to be able to finish your tea.
A good host will ensure that you tea cup is always full. When you have had enough, just stop drinking. Don't feel as you must finish your cup. You won't be able to. Just let it still full and be comfortable in leaving it that way. Your host will then know you have had enough.
Chinese Custom: A guest's tea cup must always be full
As a house guest, you will always be offered tea, and you should always accept - even if you don't drink tea.
Tea and China are culturally intertwined and go back thousands of years. Tea has many mythical health benefits, legends and events around it. So, as such, its the most common beverage and the most offered item to a guest. Its like saying "Welcome to China, drink to your health."
But don't expect to be able to finish your tea.
A good host will ensure that you tea cup is always full. When you have had enough, just stop drinking. Don't feel as you must finish your cup. You won't be able to. Just let it still full and be comfortable in leaving it that way. Your host will then know you have had enough.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Samsung - Never Again
You know that feeling you get when you bite into something that's just not edible? Its slightly rotted or perhaps not yet ripe? Yeah, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth that makes you never want to try it again - even if the next time it will be ripe, fully cooked, in its prime.
That's what I got from Samsung and their Galaxy S Vibrant phone (aka Samsung Vibrant T959) - a bad taste in my mouth. Never want to try them again, for any product.
And here's why:
GPS - Guesstimate Positioning System
Right out of the Box, the GPS rarely worked. It would often never lock on your position, and when it did it would very often show you driving through someone's backyard or over water. It would lose its lock a lot and leave you with no idea how to get to your destination.
I had and HTC G1 previously and NEVER had any GPS problems. It was rock solid. I expected no less from Samsung.
GPS got only slightly better. About a month after I bought the phone, Samsung issued a patch (2.1update-1). Now the GPS always locked, or so it said, but it would take up to 5 minutes to get a lock. While it would not lose its lock, your position would go from an accuracy of a few feet to hundreds of feet. Google maps would often constantly recalculate your route because the GPS put you in a field somewhere.
Now after the Froyo 2.2 Update (more on that later), the GPS is slightly worse than post 2.1update-1. Now when you are stopped at a light, it will show your car turning around and going a few feet in the opposite direction. Google Navagation tries to reroute and suggests that your make a U-turn to get pointed the right direction again.
Update: The T-Mobile Support Form suggests downloading, installing and running the 'Samsung GPS Restore' app from the Android Market. Note that you need to have GPS on and be Outside when you run it.
It seems to have worked. It locked on to my position a lot faster than before and put me within 10' of where I was standing. We'll see if it works better with Google Navigate. Begs the question: Since this apps been out since November, why was it not incorporated in the 2.2 update?
Internal Level - Which Way is Up?
Again, Samsung's internal sensors are less than acceptable. Most all Android phones have an internal level, its used mostly to switch from portrait to landscape mode when you tilt the phone. The one in the Vibrant thinks its landscape most of the time. Lay the phone down, it goes into landscape; tilt it back in portrait mode and it goes to landscape; laying down flat in portrait mode and click on an app, it'll probably switch to landscape mode - again. It get it into portrait mode, you have to have the phone past 45 degrees in portrait mode, otherwise its landscape. Again, never had this problem with the G1
Compass - Oh you mean THAT North?
Back to my old G1 again: After I calibrated the compass, it always knew which way was north - unless of course there was electromagnetic interference nearby. The Vibrant? Not so much. Calibrate the Compass and it finds North. The next day, North is West, or East, or sometimes even South. Forget about it completely if its even near a metal object. Recalibrate and try again.
Froyo 2.2 - You're gonna have to Work to get it!
For a baseline, I bought the G1 with Android 1.0, it was updated to 1.5 and then 1.6 all Over-the-Air (OTA) and all with no issues (even when I was in China on a different carrier - which kinda sucked because it cost me $35 USD for the update because China Mobile charges .01 RMB/KB (you do the math). But I digress)
I bought my Vibrant in Nov. 2010 with Android 2.1 installed (Eclair). Froyo had already been out for about 6 months, promised and missed repeatedly until January 21, 2011. You would think they'd have all the bugs out by now. You'd be wrong.
You would think, or at least I would, that after waiting 9 months for the Froyo update these pretty obvious bugs would have been worked out. Very dissapointing.
Unlocked - Oh! You want to USE that other Carrier?
There are two WONDERFUL things about T-Mobile that I really like:
We unlocked the Vibrant, took it to China, put in a China Mobile SIM. Nothing. No Service. Bars, but no carrier. Dead. (note that I had previously put in an AT&T SIM here in the states and it worked - thus verifying that the Vibrant was indeed unlocked, but no joy in China)
Finally after taking to the China Mobile store and having them fumble with it for a while (they didn't have nice things to say about the Vibrant), I tried this:
Setting -> Wireless and Network - > Mobile Networks -> Network Operators -> Search Now -> (select the correct network, in my case 'China Mobile')
Now, why the Vibrant couldn't do this automatically, as the G1 did, with the China Mobile SIM install, I have no idea. Must be just a dumb phone.
Physical Design Issues - You want answer the phone or turn it off?
Yeah, I got issues with how the phone is designed too. Who puts the usb port on the top of the phone anyway? If you want to dock your phone in portrait mode (all phones do that), you need to snake a usb cable off the back of the dock over top of the phone. That just looks stupid. You want to charge the phone, so you have to lay it on the table upside down to drape the cable off the table.
Same with the headphone jack - also on the top. There are reasons every other phone has its ports on the bottom: It docks better/cleaner; when your carrying the phone and listening to music you don't risk jamming the jack into a door/wall/person and breaking the phone/them; you don't pick up the phone upside down when it rings. Argh.
Then there's the power button. That should be on the top. The phone rings, you grab it and of course you squeeze the power button, so you hang up the call. You're in a call and want to adjust the volume, you squeeze the phone and hang up the call. Damn it, put the power button away from where every one grabs the phone! Really Stupid Design.
Conclusion
So, I hear you asking: Why did you buy the Samsung in the first place? Why didn't you just stick with HTC and get the G2? Or get the Nexus S?
The G2 is like carrying around a small brick, its just too heavy and the screen's too small.
The Nexus S is also a Samsung phone. It's basically V2 of the Vibrant. While its not got any 'Custom' Samsung GUI on it, its still got that 'off' taste.
Next time will not be a Samsung moment. HTC or nothing.
That's what I got from Samsung and their Galaxy S Vibrant phone (aka Samsung Vibrant T959) - a bad taste in my mouth. Never want to try them again, for any product.
And here's why:
GPS - Guesstimate Positioning System
Right out of the Box, the GPS rarely worked. It would often never lock on your position, and when it did it would very often show you driving through someone's backyard or over water. It would lose its lock a lot and leave you with no idea how to get to your destination.
I had and HTC G1 previously and NEVER had any GPS problems. It was rock solid. I expected no less from Samsung.
GPS got only slightly better. About a month after I bought the phone, Samsung issued a patch (2.1update-1). Now the GPS always locked, or so it said, but it would take up to 5 minutes to get a lock. While it would not lose its lock, your position would go from an accuracy of a few feet to hundreds of feet. Google maps would often constantly recalculate your route because the GPS put you in a field somewhere.
Now after the Froyo 2.2 Update (more on that later), the GPS is slightly worse than post 2.1update-1. Now when you are stopped at a light, it will show your car turning around and going a few feet in the opposite direction. Google Navagation tries to reroute and suggests that your make a U-turn to get pointed the right direction again.
Update: The T-Mobile Support Form suggests downloading, installing and running the 'Samsung GPS Restore' app from the Android Market. Note that you need to have GPS on and be Outside when you run it.
It seems to have worked. It locked on to my position a lot faster than before and put me within 10' of where I was standing. We'll see if it works better with Google Navigate. Begs the question: Since this apps been out since November, why was it not incorporated in the 2.2 update?
Internal Level - Which Way is Up?
Again, Samsung's internal sensors are less than acceptable. Most all Android phones have an internal level, its used mostly to switch from portrait to landscape mode when you tilt the phone. The one in the Vibrant thinks its landscape most of the time. Lay the phone down, it goes into landscape; tilt it back in portrait mode and it goes to landscape; laying down flat in portrait mode and click on an app, it'll probably switch to landscape mode - again. It get it into portrait mode, you have to have the phone past 45 degrees in portrait mode, otherwise its landscape. Again, never had this problem with the G1
Compass - Oh you mean THAT North?
Back to my old G1 again: After I calibrated the compass, it always knew which way was north - unless of course there was electromagnetic interference nearby. The Vibrant? Not so much. Calibrate the Compass and it finds North. The next day, North is West, or East, or sometimes even South. Forget about it completely if its even near a metal object. Recalibrate and try again.
Froyo 2.2 - You're gonna have to Work to get it!
For a baseline, I bought the G1 with Android 1.0, it was updated to 1.5 and then 1.6 all Over-the-Air (OTA) and all with no issues (even when I was in China on a different carrier - which kinda sucked because it cost me $35 USD for the update because China Mobile charges .01 RMB/KB (you do the math). But I digress)
I bought my Vibrant in Nov. 2010 with Android 2.1 installed (Eclair). Froyo had already been out for about 6 months, promised and missed repeatedly until January 21, 2011. You would think they'd have all the bugs out by now. You'd be wrong.
- You don't get the update free OTA, you have to download it. How?
- Download Samsung Keis to your PC. There is NO Mac version
- On Windows 7 64bit it has to run under 32bit compatibility mode
- You MUST disable all Anti-Virus Software
- So you download Keis and install it
- Now connect your Vibrant to your PC and let it install all the drivers
- Now is a good time to back-up your phone - highly, Highly, HIGHLY Recommended!
- Now disconnect your phone.
- Now start Keis
- Now reconnect your phone via USB
- If you don't connect your Vibrant via USB right after you start Keis, it won't see your phone.
- If you are lucky, Keis will see your phone and download the software update.
- Do NOT turn off your phone - you will brick it
- Do NOT disconnect your phone - you will brick it.
- Do NOT turn off your PC - you will brick your phone
- Wait and Pray
- Software downloads
- Software installs
- Phone Reboots
BTW this reboot takes a loooooooong time. Don't despair, as long as the 'S' keeps shimmering, its not bricked. Just be patient and wait. - Now its safe to disconnect your phone
- AccuWeather App and Widget from Eclair - GONE
- Don't bother trying to load it back, the Market version sucks. Get WeatherBug instead.
- All your custom Icons on the Desktop - GONE
- Yup, no easy way to recover from this. You just gotta go find them and put them back on your Desktop.
- Avatar Movie now will not play. The DRM license is now not valid. Damn DRM.
- Tech support says to reboot your phone. That's doesn't work.
- Tech support also suggest doing a Hard-Reset. This wipes out everything on your phone back to Factory-New. Don't do that!
- Instead, you need to clear the DRM data and make it re-sync it from 'the cloud'. You need to have a 3GS or WiFi data connection to do this.
- Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> All -> DRM Protected Content Storage -> Clear Data
- Reboot phone (power off, power on)
- Files App -> external_sd -> Movie -> avatar.dcf. It will complain that the file is locked. Click Unlock.
- Wait about 5 mins
- Reboot phone
- Files App -> external_sd -> Movie -> avatar.dcf. Now it will say, file cannot be played.
- Wait about 5 mins
- Reboot phone - again
- Click on Avatar Icon in 'Applications'. It should play now, if not
- Wait 5 mins
- Reboot phone
- Try playing it from the Avatar icon again.
- Yup, it sucks
- Android Market App is now an older version. Some people say 'Just Wait' it will update itself. So far, no dice
- All records of the apps you've download - GONE!
Luckily this is easy to fix and not as bad as it sounds - Reboot phone
You would think, or at least I would, that after waiting 9 months for the Froyo update these pretty obvious bugs would have been worked out. Very dissapointing.
Unlocked - Oh! You want to USE that other Carrier?
There are two WONDERFUL things about T-Mobile that I really like:
- Customer Service Center: They are always helpful, always pleasant, and easy to work with.
- They will unlock your phone, free, after you've been their customer for more than 45 days. AT&T takes an escalation to a supervisor, written request, arguing and an act of Congress. So we switched to T-Mobile.
We unlocked the Vibrant, took it to China, put in a China Mobile SIM. Nothing. No Service. Bars, but no carrier. Dead. (note that I had previously put in an AT&T SIM here in the states and it worked - thus verifying that the Vibrant was indeed unlocked, but no joy in China)
Finally after taking to the China Mobile store and having them fumble with it for a while (they didn't have nice things to say about the Vibrant), I tried this:
Setting -> Wireless and Network - > Mobile Networks -> Network Operators -> Search Now -> (select the correct network, in my case 'China Mobile')
Now, why the Vibrant couldn't do this automatically, as the G1 did, with the China Mobile SIM install, I have no idea. Must be just a dumb phone.
Physical Design Issues - You want answer the phone or turn it off?
Yeah, I got issues with how the phone is designed too. Who puts the usb port on the top of the phone anyway? If you want to dock your phone in portrait mode (all phones do that), you need to snake a usb cable off the back of the dock over top of the phone. That just looks stupid. You want to charge the phone, so you have to lay it on the table upside down to drape the cable off the table.
Same with the headphone jack - also on the top. There are reasons every other phone has its ports on the bottom: It docks better/cleaner; when your carrying the phone and listening to music you don't risk jamming the jack into a door/wall/person and breaking the phone/them; you don't pick up the phone upside down when it rings. Argh.
Then there's the power button. That should be on the top. The phone rings, you grab it and of course you squeeze the power button, so you hang up the call. You're in a call and want to adjust the volume, you squeeze the phone and hang up the call. Damn it, put the power button away from where every one grabs the phone! Really Stupid Design.
Conclusion
So, I hear you asking: Why did you buy the Samsung in the first place? Why didn't you just stick with HTC and get the G2? Or get the Nexus S?
The G2 is like carrying around a small brick, its just too heavy and the screen's too small.
The Nexus S is also a Samsung phone. It's basically V2 of the Vibrant. While its not got any 'Custom' Samsung GUI on it, its still got that 'off' taste.
Next time will not be a Samsung moment. HTC or nothing.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Chinese Culture - #12: And thou shall count to three
View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Practice: Offer three times before giving up
When offering a gift to a Chinese person, you must offer it at least three times - insisting more each time that the recipient accept the gift. Only after being rejected all three times are you free to stop. With some, you may continue the offer a few times more. But three is basically the minimum times to make the offer.
It is also best, if it is a gift, to offer it with both hands. It shows that you value the gift and the recipient,
Chinese are very independent and self-sufficient, and do not want to appear to be in need of anything. So they will always first refuse any gift. Keep offering it, at least three times, so show respect and how important they are to you - no matter what the gift.
Chinese Practice: Offer three times before giving up
When offering a gift to a Chinese person, you must offer it at least three times - insisting more each time that the recipient accept the gift. Only after being rejected all three times are you free to stop. With some, you may continue the offer a few times more. But three is basically the minimum times to make the offer.
It is also best, if it is a gift, to offer it with both hands. It shows that you value the gift and the recipient,
Chinese are very independent and self-sufficient, and do not want to appear to be in need of anything. So they will always first refuse any gift. Keep offering it, at least three times, so show respect and how important they are to you - no matter what the gift.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Chinese Culture - #11: Careful where you point that!
View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Custom: Aim your fish to show respect
Fish is a delicacy in China. When having guests for dinner, you almost always need to serve fish when at all possible. And in China, the fish is cooked and server whole: head, fins, tail. A whole fish, to the Chinese, is like a Prime Rib or Porterhouse steak to Westerners. So when you are serving dinner to an honored guest, you want to use that fish to honor that guest.
How do you do that? You point the fish so that he is looking right at that person!
I've done, personally, many times. Make a point of being obvious that you are pointing the fish at your honored guest. Not only will they know what you are doing, and what you mean, but they'll truly will be honored by the gesture, and delighted that you know this custom.
Chinese Custom: Aim your fish to show respect
Fish is a delicacy in China. When having guests for dinner, you almost always need to serve fish when at all possible. And in China, the fish is cooked and server whole: head, fins, tail. A whole fish, to the Chinese, is like a Prime Rib or Porterhouse steak to Westerners. So when you are serving dinner to an honored guest, you want to use that fish to honor that guest.
How do you do that? You point the fish so that he is looking right at that person!
I've done, personally, many times. Make a point of being obvious that you are pointing the fish at your honored guest. Not only will they know what you are doing, and what you mean, but they'll truly will be honored by the gesture, and delighted that you know this custom.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Chinese Culture - #10: Its a curse
View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Curse: "May you live in interesting times"
Sounds kind of odd for a curse, huh? "May you live in interesting times". To Western Culture, most of see that as a pleasant wish to bestow on someone. Exciting things happening, new adventures, new opportunities. What could be more 'interesting'. To the Chinese, its a curse.
I think it comes from this: Chinese like calm, predictable life. They like that because their history is riff with turmoil. Warning clans and Emperors, battles with the Mongolians, Civil Wars. China has been occupied buy the Japanese, French, British, Spanish, just to name a few.
So, interesting times means change. Change means upheaval and turmoil. Turmoil means conflict. And with conflict comes suffering. And nobody likes to suffer.
So think about that next time someone gushing about how great it is to live in "interesting times" - there is something to be said for calm predictability.
Chinese Curse: "May you live in interesting times"
Sounds kind of odd for a curse, huh? "May you live in interesting times". To Western Culture, most of see that as a pleasant wish to bestow on someone. Exciting things happening, new adventures, new opportunities. What could be more 'interesting'. To the Chinese, its a curse.
I think it comes from this: Chinese like calm, predictable life. They like that because their history is riff with turmoil. Warning clans and Emperors, battles with the Mongolians, Civil Wars. China has been occupied buy the Japanese, French, British, Spanish, just to name a few.
So, interesting times means change. Change means upheaval and turmoil. Turmoil means conflict. And with conflict comes suffering. And nobody likes to suffer.
So think about that next time someone gushing about how great it is to live in "interesting times" - there is something to be said for calm predictability.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Chinese Culture - #9
View Chinese Culture - #1 for an explanation of this series.
Chinese Tradition: Eating Noodles on your Birthday
To me, a lessor origin for this is: You are what you eat. (No, not a noodle)
Let me explain.
Probably the most honored wish to bestow on a fellow Chinese person is the wish for them to have a Long Life. You see this on greeting cards, posters, gifts, wrappings. If you don't know what a symbol on a Chinese trinket says, you can guess its 'Long Life' and you'd be right most of the time.
So with noodles, the thought is that noodles are long. So to eat something long on your birthday, or better yet - be given something long to eat on your birthday, means that you are being wished to have a long life. Long noodles equals long life.
So, eat noodles on your birthday. The long spaghetti kind, not the macaroni style, and wish yourself a long life!
Chinese Tradition: Eating Noodles on your Birthday
To me, a lessor origin for this is: You are what you eat. (No, not a noodle)
Let me explain.
Probably the most honored wish to bestow on a fellow Chinese person is the wish for them to have a Long Life. You see this on greeting cards, posters, gifts, wrappings. If you don't know what a symbol on a Chinese trinket says, you can guess its 'Long Life' and you'd be right most of the time.
So with noodles, the thought is that noodles are long. So to eat something long on your birthday, or better yet - be given something long to eat on your birthday, means that you are being wished to have a long life. Long noodles equals long life.
So, eat noodles on your birthday. The long spaghetti kind, not the macaroni style, and wish yourself a long life!
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