The Samsung Galaxy Y was released in 2011. It has an ARMv6 832 MHz processor, 290 MB of RAM and 190 MB of ROM. It also comes equipped with a 2 GB Samsung micro SD card. As it runs on Android 2.3, I can install apps and games on the external SD card, which gives me plenty of extra space.
The nice bonus is that it came with the original box, which is in really good condition.
The phone is in really good condition and has only a few small scratches on the screen. It is not possible to take a screenshot straight away, so please forgive the photos of the screen. I'm too lazy.
I found some games that run on Android 2.6 and installed them. Finally, I had the opportunity to try a game that I had wanted to play for some time. I found out a few months ago that there is an Android version of Sola Rola. I knew it as an old-school J2ME game on Sony Ericcson phones, and I was really surprised by this version. Unfortunately, it is only compatible with Android 2.X, so I have been ...
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Some time ago, I released the Dailies application and then forgot all about it. I have published it on Google Play and set a very low price. This was the first paid app that I had ever released. Success has yet to appear. It has only been installed on three phones, all of which belong to the testers. So it has not been purchased at all.
The Dailies
web page also has a huge number of views. About ten a month, to be exact.
I'm still waiting for my first customer to buy the app.
However, I am using it myself and it's really funny to surprise someone by sending them a congratulations message on their X thousandth day anniversary of their birth.
But it seems that I am the only one interested...
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I have bought a DELL Wyse 5070 With Intel Celeron 4105 CPU @ 1.50GHz and 8GB of RAM for 900 CZK. It is quite good hardware, in really small case, with around 10W consumption in light load.
And why did I buy it?
I'm getting really frustrated with my current VPS provider. It's becoming increasingly expensive and doesn't even offer the basic functions I need.
For example, it is not possible to create a backup easily. The provider only offers default weekly backups, and then you have to pay 500 CZK to recover them. Each time. This is problematic if you need to experiment with something and then revert to your backup. That's 500 CZK for each try!
Prices are rising by tens of percent every year, so it's no longer worth it.
The biggest problem for me now is hosting HryProDva.cz, as they already require a lot of system resources and are running on an outdated operating system. The operating system is also based on the provider. They only provide their own operating system images for installation and do not introduce new versions of common systems very often. They also modify these media with ...
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Finally, I have an old game console. It's a GameGear handheld from SEGA. But to be precise, I've had that console for more than a year. I got it from a collector colleague who tried to racap it and ended up destroying it. I had no cartridge to test it for a long time, but I eventually got one and was ready to start the repair.
I really struggled to repair it because there were a lot of damaged parts caused by the new capacitors being soldered incorrectly. Even after fixing these, I was unable to get it working.
Then a colleague from work helped me. Now it works! It can only run on batteries as the power supply circuit is damaged. I am going to replace it later as I need to order a special chip for it.
Yes, the console has some issues. For example, the sound control wheel makes a lot of white noise when set, the display is not in the best condition and has more than a few dead pixels, and the cartridge must be positioned very carefully to make contact. However, the most important thing is that ...
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Today, I have something really interesting to show you. Some time ago, I received two tablets from a donor. The first was a relatively modern Surface 3, which I have written about. The second was a ThinkPad tablet.
It stayed on my table for a little longer than the Surface. It needed more care as the battery was almost dead and I was struggling to even boot it up.
So I had to take it apart and disconnect the battery. I short-circuited the input to fully discharge everything. Then I tried to simulate the battery using a laboratory power supply to at least prove that the rest of the tablet was working. This went fine; the tablet booted and worked well. The second step was to try to make it work without the battery. I thought it would work a bit like a mobile phone, which refuses to boot without a battery or with a dead battery. However, I was wrong. The problem I had with normal booting on a Micro USB charger was different. The tablet needs a relatively high current, but the charger I was testing only supplied 1A.
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As my son really likes playing with wooden trains, I decided to surprise him with a familiar one.
I found it on Printables.com and knew immediately that we both needed it. It's a really nice model that's easily recognisable compared to other wooden train STLs that can be found on the internet, and it's really easy to print. As I am lazy and wouldn't do the painting myself, I asked my colleague to print one for me on a multicolour printer, and it went really well!
The model is really smooth and easy to assemble. I like it a lot. In fact, it has inspired me to try multicolour printing on my own Ender 3V2. It's a bit tricky with that printer to change the filament during printing because I've always had problems with the layers not connecting properly when I've switched filaments, but I like the model so much that I might try again just to make another car.
For now, I have found a magnet with a hole in the middle, which I have screwed to the front and back in the hope that it will connect with other cars.
This is the first finished ...
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Finally, I got rid of that stupid Motorola G05! It was the most useless mobile phone I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot of stupid phones.
For the first time, it seemed really good. The hardware parameters were quite good, and the promotional photographs taken with the phone camera were also quite good.
However, after a day or two, I realised that the phone was completely worthless. It cannot switch between any two apps, no matter how simple they are, without killing the one in the background. This meant that 2FA codes could not be entered, and the same applied to rewriting bank account numbers, etc.
So I placed my bet on a reliable device and bought the Redmi Note 9 Pro. It's an older phone, but it still has excellent specifications, and the most important thing is that it's still supported by LineageOS, so I have the latest version of Android, which is brilliant. I have successfully tested that all my banking apps work on Lineage OS, so there was no reason to choose anything other than the Redmi. I already have one for my secondary phone, so I knew what to expect.
So now, both of my everyday phones ...
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After a long time, I have finally found a good Android game! It's an arcade motocross bike game, and I think that if you're old enough to remember and enjoy Elasto Mania, you'll definitely like Moto X3M too.
There are various levels and terrain sets, as well as various unlockable bikes with different themes. Some reviews on Google Play complain about the amount of ads, but as I usually use my phone offline with the data connection turned off, I don't really care.
The game does not force you to make any transactions, and it is perfectly playable without spending a penny. Honestly, I haven't noticed any requests for payment. New bike skins are unlocked by completing levels and earning stars. Ultimately, you don't need any new bikes as they only differ in appearance, not performance.
The levels also contain a lot of dynamic elements affected by physics, so they are great fun. Sometimes you have to break or push something to keep going; sometimes you have to activate a mechanism or time your movements perfectly to fit between moving parts, and so on. These mechanics keep the game fun even after you ...
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I was just walking down the street when I saw a computer by the bin. At first glance, it didn't look complete, but on closer inspection, I saw that there were three motherboards stacked on top of each other, a really nice ASUS graphics card and an Acer tablet. I took it to the basement, photographed it and offered it to collectors. It took about ten minutes to sell everything, and I had to ship it the following week. The only thing I kept was the tablet. An Acer Iconia B1.
It was relatively clean; however, the cover was not in good condition, so I threw it away. I cleaned the tablet briefly just to make sure it was OK, and then plugged it in to charge. It immediately started charging and everything worked. The battery condition is quite good — it's at 93% after one day.
The device has a dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU and 8 GB of storage. of internal storage and 512 MB of RAM. The screen is Seven inches in size with a resolution of 600 x 1024 pixels. It came with Android 4.1 preinstalled and never received any updates.
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My first piece of official Google phones. The Nexus series is the predecessor to today's Pixel series, which it was transformed into in 2016. This is a series of phones whose design, development, and especially marketing involve Google, but which are manufactured and developed in collaboration with selected established manufacturers. Specifically, this model, the Nexus 5, was manufactured in collaboration with LG. The entire Nexus series was characterized mainly by its practically pure Android and high level of optimization.
The model I got my hands on was manufactured at the turn of 2013 and 2014. It is powered by a Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400 processor supplemented by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is more than generous considering when it was launched.
Considering its age, it also has a very good camera with a relatively large lens. The sensor with a stated resolution of 8MP can take very beautiful photos even by today's standards in good conditions, and can also cope with slight dimness.
Although it was released with Android 4.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), it can be upgraded to 6.0 (Marshmallow), which is the operating system running on my device.
The piece I received has a significant cosmetic issue. The power/lock ...
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