ellestra | Entries tagged with phone

I just updated to Lollipop and I don't like it. I liked all the previous versions of Android and I was very happy with KitKat when I got S5 but this update is all kinds of irritating. The worst part is white background on the notifications and settings and all the phone stuff (phone, contacts, messaging). It was so much better looking and easier on the eyes in black. It's the new Material Design thing that's supposed to give more freedom to designers and bring 3D looks but just looks bad and too bright. Also now screen uses up noticeably more battery. Luckily for me TouchWiz still uses transparent background for App Drawer.

Another deeply annoying thing - the app switcher (Overview) screen. The one when you can look at and close the open apps. You can still use it to close and switch between apps (although I like the old list version better then the new wheel one) but I can no longer go to the home screen by taping the background. It was so much more convenient when I could chose between any of the apps and the main screen in the same place. Why? Why would they remove that?

Samsung Apps updates for Lollipop are also not an improvement. As I mentioned before I used the Health app to track my movements and it just became much less useful. We get the attack of white background again and a lot of less, badly designed information. The screens are much more cluttered and I can no longer check how many steps I did in every 20 minute interval (the graph is smaller and without any scale and you cant move the check point). Also map tracker is pretty much usless now that it's no longer a real map. And a lot of cool statistics got lost too or switched to small pictures instead of something that you can touch, zoom and check at different points. But there whole bunch of stupid, useless awards. YAY! (I'm being sarcastic here).

I could install dark Materials but I would have to root the phone and there are some default things I want to keep so I'm contemplating going back to KitKat. Or I could try different launchers. But the fact that there are already options for darkening available shows I'm not the only one who hates this. As far as I can tell this is a very common complain.

Last year ended with snow in Europe and snow (even in Clifornia) and cold (blow -40 in some parts) in North America. It's going away now with rain - here the temperatures are to rise to 20^oC before it gets sunny and cold again - I think some forecast even say snow and/or minus temperatures during the day.

I finally upgraded my phone. I was postponing it because I didn't know if I was staying and if not I'd rather have European phone. But I have T-Mobile (GSM) so it works back home anyway and I'm almost certainly staying (my visa is still not processed even though there are only two weeks left but everyone assures me it'll make it - sometimes I wish I'd stayed in Europe and wouldn't have to care about things like that). So I replaced Galaxy S2 with S5.

I thought about other phones - LG or HTC, even Lumia with Windows 8 but in the end I decided to stick with Samsung. One reason is that I also have Samsung tablet so sticking with Android and Samsung ecosystem made sense but the main reasons were pretty much the same as when I was picking S2 - replaceable battery. I hope the stupid reviewers always criticising Samsung for lack of metal won't sway it's designers. Who cares for brushed aluminium look if you can change battery for new one on the go? Almost everyone puts their phones in plastic covers anyway. As always I also appreciate extra storage and the main advantages over iPhone - not using iTunes (still hate it - connecting as USB storge is where it's at) and micro USB (USB 3 charges so fast).

I got it during Thanksgiving - the old one kept freezing and they had a promotion. I'm annoyed with some of the TouchWiz stuff - like the stupid Magazine thing I can't get rid of - but I like others - I started using S Health and track my steps. It started out of curiosity - I always told my mum I'm so tired after I get from work because there is a lot of running in biology and now I have proof. I do over 6 km just at work. I think it was a little more in Poland - longer corridors. I usually do more than 10 000 steps without much effort - I only missed that mark when I was sick. And there is only 100 m from my door to bus stop so that doesn't add much.

I had a small issue with sound switching from headphones to speakers when I looked at home screen for no reason at all but there was software upgrade at the same time and it fixed it. Unfortunately it wasn't the software upgrade. No Lollipop for me yet. Poland always gets them first (even before Korea - somehow we became Samsung's test grounds) and USA is always last (maybe I really should've stayed closer to home).

Last year I've also been using laser hair removal - Tria Beauty (I have previous version). Buying it was cheaper than going for treatments and I could do them more often.

My hair grow very fast which is nice when you want to change bad haircut but it means the other body hair is longer (hair grows for certain amount of time before it falls off - the length it is is what it can reach in that time - for head it's years for other places months or weeks) and it's often gets pulled by clothes. It's also very dark so it's very visible and both of that means shaving only lasts few hours. Waxing also doesn't last weeks. Especially since my hair has tendency to break and those grow back even faster. And they all grow in so every time I would get goosebumps it felt like my legs were on fire (much worse than the waxing itself). I had to pull the hair one by one with needle.

Luckily for me, I'm a perfect subject for laser hair removal. My skin is pale and my hair is dark. There are people with with lighter skin and darker hair but I'm pretty much at the end of both spectrums. This is important because laser finds melanin. If you have it too much in your skin it will burn more than just hair (well it will burn skin instead of hair). If you have it too little in your hair it won't find the hair. The lighter the skin and darker the hair the better the results. So it's only suited for very specific group of people but luckily for me I'm one of them. And I say luckily because nothing else really worked before but this works great for me.

I have no rush, basically no redness, even at highest levels after using it - my skin really takes it well. I also almost don't tan - generally very depressing (my grandma always said "you should go out more child you look so pale" while my blond bother gets brown without trying during the same vacation trip) - but I don't really have to worry about not being able to use it even during summer. I have much, much less hair and the ones that are left are thinner (the thickest ones go away most efficiently - they were the darkest). The ones left are still pretty long but I can shave and have it last for a day or two. I finally understood why people do it. It was too much bother for too little result. I have only short weak hair left in my armpits and no longer have to worry about abscess (bikini area was especially bad).

If you are in the right skin and hair colour range I highly recommend it. They have range for skin and hair colours on the page but it's hard to judge your own. However, to unlock it and use it you have to scan your skin with it and it will only work if it detects it's light enough so if you are not sure you can try to see if it unlocks. It is awesome.

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May 2016

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