Thursday, October 26, 2017

LG K5 and double SIM config

The LG K5 has a slot for a second SIM card. Here are the things you need to check!

With two cards you should decide which SIM card you want to use for which service. Sometimes in regions with multiple countries it could make sense to divide the service depending on what the costs are.

In the European Union for example it seems no longer necessary since all providers should allow mobile (data) roaming now with the same conditions as in the country from where this SIM card's origin is.

But in other cases: Go to 'Settings', 'SIM cards' and you will see the overview with both of your SIM cards. Decide now which you want to use for 'Mobile data', 'Calls' and 'SMS messages'.

You can even set unused cards to 'inactive' if you are currently in a country where it does not make sense to use your SIM.

That's pretty much it. 

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Google knows flight delay earlier than airline!

An interesting scenario: You booked a flight, just checked the last email and you find out through Google that your flight is delayed! What the...?

It was too risky not to go to the airport since I haven't received a confirmation from the airline yet. Also: At the website of the airline
the flight was still listed as usual. 

So I went to the airport and... Google was right. The Google Mail entry was accurate. But why? I tried to research it a bit and it seems that Google probably has access to various databases and may gathered the information through other channels.

Another interesting point I read was that some internal emails from the airline may could have forwarded through Gmail causing Google could have get the information through there.

Anyway, it's an interesting scenario. So if you see this information on your account you can assume that there's some truth behind it, but it should be more safe to look for the confirmed delay...

Monday, October 16, 2017

No chance for Xbox in Japan!

I've been to Japan a few times now and it's every time really impressive how much support their own consoles get in comparison to US rivals from Microsoft...

The numbers speak for themselves: More than 5 million sold PS4 in Japan and only around 80.000 XboxOne! I somewhere read a statistic that even more PS3 are sold than XboxOne's during one of the recent months.

Old games and consoles from their own brands are also still popular and sold in Japan. You see so many stores with still lots of PS1 and PS2 games! Or even older Sega and Nintendo consoles + games. One example of a store in Akihabara in Tokyo is a great example of the situation: Just one shelf with Xbox360, XboxOne and Xbox games and multiple shelves just for old PS1 or PS2 games.

The situation for Microsoft is tough in country of videogames and that shows really how tough it really is!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

One Piece: Grand Cruise - My first VR experience!

This new One Piece game is planned to be released in 2018. But if you are in Tokyo and go to the Tokyo Tower you can already play a trial version...

In the Tokyo Tower are a few floors dedicated to One Piece which is why this theme park is called 'Tokyo One Piece Tower'. It has so many attractions related to the anime and it's a must for every fan. Interestingly they also offer visitors to play a trial of the new PS4 Virtual Reality game 'Grand Cruise'.

Once you got the VR glasses and the controller you are told only to use one certain button which is enough to go through the trial. Other players doing the same with you as several seats were prepared. I think there were always eight players at once.

At the beginning you sit on the Thousand Sunny a DenDen Mushi is talking to you before Luffy appears just in front of you. It felt so real.

Then you can select to go in either the kitchen where Chopper and Sanji were or.... in the bed room of Nami and Nico Robin. For some reason Nami approaches you way too close.. ;)

Following that the crew gets attacked by a marine ship. It's yours and the other players job to shoot down all the canons coming from the other ship. You aim with your controller and push the button to shoot - at best early enough.



Luffy and Sanji also show their attacks to block the canons from the opponents easily afterwards. There was also a competition among the players which were divided in teams to check how scored the most.

It was really fun - I actually went there actually twice. Could be an interesting game next year once its full version is released.

But anyway, if you are in Tokyo the next time, you should check it out, not only because of the VR, also for the whole theme park itself.