Beijing Airport and the Firewall...

An 8 hour stopover in Beijing, not the first time, so I was aware that using things like Google, Facebook could be tricky. I installed NordVPN on my phone as well. In 2019 it allowed me to avoid the firewall and at least I could send some messages. But not so this time at the end of 2023...

By now, also NordVPN was blocked and I couldn't connect to any country. Didn't really think of a Plan B, thought it's just 8 hours, no problem. But then I saw my flight is getting delayed by an hour. Also no big deal, but would be nice to inform my sister who was going to pick me up. 

As Google and Facebook things don't work... I remembered that I still got a Yahoo mail address... But I need a SMS verification code to login - which I couldn't receive there...

Creating a new email address with some German providers ... No, even though these websites generally worked, the providers blocked China from creating new accounts.

Interestingly, despite the firewall I could still receive push messages like from WhatsApp, but of course answering them didn't work.

Then I thought that probably TikTok would work... Well, of course PlayStore doesn't work either.

Since I'm ironically still using a Huawei phone, I could use its specific app store. And then I saw Snapchat.. And I know that my sister uses it.

Installed it, luckily no email verification needed and as the app searched through my phone contacts, I could easily find her. 

Problem solved, but my sister was quite surprised to see me on Snapchat...^^

Pokémon GO Q&A: Important questions answered - Part 1

As a casual player or even beginner there are certainly situations you face and you would prefer having a proper answer. On this page, I try to answer a few of these.

Q: What happens if I each the limit of 300 Pokémon?
A: Either you have to buy more spots or you get rid of Pokémon you may have more than once.

Q: How to remove Pokémon and what happens if I do it?
A: If you have too many Pokémon you can send them away. Once a Pokémon is removed, you receive one BonBon of the Pokémon family you let go. Means, if you for example sent away a Bulbasaur, your Venusaur will benefit from it. Can be an efficient way to get BonBons.

Q: How long does it take to evolve to a stronger Pokémon?
A: It depends on the Pokémon. You can see the necessary level to evolve. Usually it's at level 25, 50 or 100! Depending on which Pokémon it can go fast, but if similar Pokémon don't appear often it can take months.

Q: Why is augmented reality not working?
A: Some devices are facing issues that if a new wild Pokémon appears, the camera for showing the real world cannot be used. In this case the following message appears: "We’re not detecting your phone’s orientation. Would you like to turn off AR Mode?” It means that your device may not have a gyroscope. Apparently an issue for many Huawei devices.

Q: What is the meaning of the blue aura around some Pokemon in the Pokedex?

A: It simply just means that the Pokémon was just caught recently and the blue aura is only highlighting it.

Q: Can I use the app in the train or bicycle?

A: Yes, you can, but you will get a warning message. Always a chance for a PokéStop at the next train station.
Although I would recommend it anyway near traffic, it also works from bicycle if you don't ride too fast. Tested on empty streets on the countryside.

Q: Can I use train rides to get more km for my eggs?
A: Usually quite quickly a warning message pops up not to use the app while driving. Also, the kilometer count for the eggs stops. However I had a few situations where I actually got some mileage, even if it was just for a few hundred meters.

Q: How to earn virtual money?
A: Go to gyms, defeat all the Pokémon (even if it take several attempts to get their CP down to 0) and then place on of your own Pokémon there. The longer it stays the more you earn. Once it's defeated it will be sent back to you. I don't exactly how it's calculated, but a few hours bring around 30 PokéCoins.

Is my phone listening to me?

I was aware that such situations exists that even your voice while having your phone in your pocket could be used to get information for personalized ads, but recently I was surprised by how far it went...

Annoyed by odd volume numbers...
It happened recently at work and (interestingly) with switched off WiFi and no mobile coverage at the place I was working. I was having the phone in the pocket while I talked to a colleague and he was telling me that he always gets annoyed by the volume settings on the radio if an uneven number is used. Either 12 or 14 is fine, but neither 13 nor 11! He claimed that many people where having this issue forcing them to correct the volume every time.

Although the conversation was in German, the following day Facebook suggested me a video about the exact thing in English where people discussed that in a car! Coincidence?

Talking about a certain software?
Or: Recently I had a job interview when I was asked about having experience with a certain software. A few days later Facebook suggested ads showing exactly that software and other products of that company. And I wasn't using any WiFi, I only had connection with via mobile data.

Apparently companies like Google and Facebook are denying such things. But secretly the situation could be different and it's definitely interesting.

What are your experiences? Let me if you had similar situations in the comments!

LG K5's battery problems and end...

My LG K5 or better probably the battery faced (or is still facing) a slow death while being on the travels. A look back on my only 10 months with that phone.

After four years with Samsung Galaxy S3 mini before this phone not even lasted one year. I can easily see, 'Of course, because it was free', but the issue is most likely related to the battery.

But from the beginning: As I got it seemed like a step forward for me on one side - since there was an Android 5 version installed from the beginning. But it had lots of downsides: The camera was worse than at the previous Samsung. And there was not even a proper music player pre-installed.

No chance of making a playlist or anything. I additionally added the Vanilla Music player for at least being able to let multiple run in a row.

And the phone storage was a big problem: I was always close on the space, even if I had put media files on a separate SD card - but I was really limited on the amounts of apps I could install.

It wasn't even possible to extend the app storage through an SD card. And then came the biggest issue: The battery.

First it was alright listening to music all day at work, but then it got rapidly less. I went to flight mode quite often to keep the battery alive. Especially WiFi and mobile data cost a lot of energy.

In March I reached a point where the battery went down to 0 within 15 minutes. I could only temporary start the phone again. And the charging process got weird: Sometimes it went quickly to 100% or it remained stuck at 0%. Often you need to put in on charger for an hour to be able to boot at all.

This situation confronted me with the situation: New battery for around AU$40 (if I find it) or switch to another phone.

And I find a good price for a Huawei Y7 the situation was easy to solve. Just migrating the data is a matter of patience. As the LINE backup went easily via bluetooth, WhatsApp needs to saved different as my current backup is not up-to-date and I also need to change the phone number since I cannot activate WhatsApp on new phone with a European number while being in Australia. Probably I will temporary switch...

Anyway, since the LG was free, it was alright. But now I already feel better using the new Huawei phone.