Shindroid 2.1

Ladies and gentlemen, this week, Shindroid 2.0 was demoted to Wi-Fi hotspot status. It’s been a good year, we texted and created Google+ Stories together. We managed company accounts on the go and crashed onto many a floor. Finally, Shiku’s Samsung Galaxy S II Plus, a.k.a. Shindroid 2.0 is no longer the one who is with me everywhere I go. I managed to render the camera completely useless and give the body a good beating from thinking I could live without a phone cover. I love my phones as slim as possible. Slim and light.

Enter Shindroid 2.1. The Samsung Galaxy S4. Again, y’all are busy ordering the S6 and I am fussing over a phone two generations down. My phone guy was wise enough to ask if I will ever catch up. My answer, eventually. I am not relinquishing the joy of moving from upgrade to upgrade any time soon. 🙂

Anyway, the difference was noticeable even before I took the phone out of the box. The more curved shape, the larger screen, the slimmer home button, the shiny finishing. The white accessories. Definitely an upgrade. My phone guy told me to buy it off Amazon as it would be cheaper and it was. My Amazon guy came through for me and let me into his account to buy the phone. Hehe. My guys trust me too much, I am telling you. Then there are my two guys who thought I should have bought sijui LG G3 and the other Sony Xperia Z2. I am telling you if I listened to the guys in my life 24/7, I would never do anything. That’s why I have now allocated each of them a specific role in my life. Sorry guys. Anyway, here’s the good stuff:

It’s faster and bigger

I noticed the difference immediately. It’s definitely the upgrade in CPU power. It’s Octa Core, 2.0 was Dual Core. From 8 GB to 16 GB device capacity and 1 GB to 2 GB RAM. I am not a fan of big phones/phablets. So that’s why 5’ is perfect for me. Makes my electronic reading all the better.

It’s KitKat

First of all, do not even tell me about Lollipop. I know enough to know that S4s are gradually getting the update or I can do it myself. I have to enjoy KitKat first. Remember what I told about experiencing the upgrades step by step? Yes. You will not believe this but prior to Shindroid 2.1, I did not that if you triple-tap Android Version in Settings, you trigger a window with an animation. If you tap on the window, it animates the dessert pic and displays the name. I was so excited, I started tapping on every other thing until Shindroid told me that I was 3 steps away from being a developer. I was scared and stopped. LOL. I am sorry, Android aficionados, turns out I do not explore my droids enough. 😀

The first two are KitKat, obviously. Double-tapping window 1 gives you 2. The third is Jellybean.

It’s better

The reason I dumped S II is because the camera is bust. It was 8 MP. This is 13 MP. It’s my fault that the camera is bust so I am looking for a cover which I should get as soon as yesterday. If you want to be my cover guy, you can also let me know. 😀

Also, it has an LED indicator for notifications. I love Air gesture, not particularly a fan of Air view though. Maybe I will see it become relevant some time in future.  I can now have the two apps I had on my wishlist, Google Camera and Cover Lock Screen (beta). The rest are still not available in my country. That message never gets less annoying. Ever.

All the same, I don’t like the miscroSIM inconvenience but I eventually have to get it cut first thing tomorrow. I guess all phones will only take microSIMs eventually? I still don’t like the Samsung apps that they like shoving down our throats save for one, S Health. Only that it won’t help me that much seeing as how it counts steps even when I am seated in a matatu. Hehe. Kenyan roads are that screwed up, not to mention our matatus.

Let’s see how much of a life companion Shindroid 2.1 will be. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the weekly whatnot I just had to tell you about.