Yep! I'm fighting soon

My Cherry Mobile Breeze 2 Experience

Ok so I rarely buy any personal stuff but when my Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt gave up on me after a year of service I began searching for a replacement. I was sad I had to let go of my "best friend" but sooner or later it had to happen. Now, I rarely write any tech stuff cause I'm not much of a techie. Sure I can operate a computer and do some basic workarounds but when it comes to the more complicated stuff, I let the professionals handle that. My Fusion Bolt might still be able to live again if I bring it to a repair center soon enough but I'm thinking maybe I should let it rest for a bit.

Ok I guess I should move on to the Cherry Moble Breeze 2. Since I was very happy with the performance my Fusion Bolt gave me, I decided to buy another Cherry Mobile product. At first, I just wanted another Fusion Bolt but when I got to the Cherry Mobile page I saw a lot of new stuff, most particularly the Aura which was powered by ANdroid KitKat, the latest of the Android series. I searched high and low for a review of the Aura and just found a lot of blogs promoting the product and there weren't any real reviews of it.

Released in May, I was really hoping there'd be more blogs about the Aura. Now alongside the Aura, Cherry Mobile also released the Breeze 2. For some reason I kept ignoring it, just for the fact that the name "Aura" seemed more appealing than Breeze.

The price for the Aura seemed just right, barely breaking the 2000 peso mark. (And they did have a price drop which brought it down to below 2000!) I was sold on the idea of getting an Aura.

THe next step was calling some stores in my area and I was quite disappointed that they couldn't give me an answer if they had it in stock or not. (Maybe they were just trying to sell me their old stock, who knows right?)

Feeling down, I had to accept the fact that I may not be able to get an Aura any time soon.

That was until I had a chance to go to SM for a family dinner. I excused myself and just thought I'd pass by a Cherry Mobile store and see if they had it in stock. Lo and behold they had an AUra!

Although my initial excitement of owning one took over me, there was something aboutt he shape of the Aura that turned me off. First, It seemed taller and thinner than my Fusion Bolt, and I kinda got attached to my BOlt's size and shape already. Next, it was thicker probably by just a millimeter or so. The touch response was absolutely amazing though. Take note, we're talking about a 2000 peso gadget here. If it works well, it is amazing! Still, there was that issue about appearance.

I then asked about the Breeze 2, which was at the same price range and basically had the same specs. And they had it in stock too!

Fusion Breeze 2 Box front

Fusion Breeze 2 back view of box with specs

I wasn't as excited about the Breeze 2 as I was with the Aura but I gave it a try and basically had the same experience. Too bad they didn't have the accessories I need like the protective case and most definitely the screen protector. But since, it was almost the same dimension as my Fusion Bolt, I decided to go with the Breeze 2.

Fusion Breeze 2 and Fusion Bolt comparo

I then rejoined the family dinner and tried as hard as I could to keep my mind off my recent purchase. After dinner was done, I raced all the way home ignoring all speed limits and like a kid during christmas tore through the packaging and opened it up.

It connected immediately to my Wi-fi and started updating itself. It comes pre packaged with Google CHrome and Opera Mini so those are 2 browsers you won't have to worry about. Now I'm not much for games except for the occasional Candy Crush and Plants vs Zombies but I opted not to load those into my tablet for fear it'd eat up my time again.

I instead loaded it with the usual programs I had in my old FUsion Bolt. Namely Komiks, and an eBook reader. As you can see, the reason why my Fusion Bolt and I got along splendidly well was because I didn't demand too much from it. It basically served me as a reading companion and occasional gaming platform. The Breeze 2 will most probably serve me more as a reading companion for those long periods of waiting for my clients.

The basic specs that the Breeze 2 has are:

4.4 KitKat OS

Dual COre 1.5 GHz (For the tech savvy out there, is this almost the same as QuadCore?)

ROM 4GB 

RAM 512MB (This was almost a deal breaker for me because my Fusion Bolt came equipped with 1GB RAM)

7" TFT Capacitive 5 point touch screen

Front VGA and rear 2MP camera (Hah! As if I'd be using that!)

MIracast ready (Whatever that is)

and up to 32GB sd card

I'm pretty much a creature of habit so change is often hard for me to accept. Here are some niggles I had with my new Breeze 2.

It's definitely not what I've been used to. My Fusion Bolt has a rounded body form whereas the Breeze 2 is squarish. Removing the SD card from time to time to update it with new reading materials require me to shut down my new tablet for it to refresh. Icons are larger (especially on my KOmiks CBR app) which makes the thumbnails occupy a lot more space than what I had on my Fusion Bolt. I kinda end up misclicking it. My ebook reader also looks different than what I've been used to. I set my brightness level to the lowest setting but it seems like there's a slightly reflective film on my tab's screen that makes it a bit too bright. These are minor issues that haven't stopped me from enjoying it though.

Smudgy...

Komiks (my comic book reader)

Ebook reader

Battery life is awesome. Turning it on and off is quick. And Cherry Mobile sure has upped it's ante when it comes to product presentation. I won't go and compare it to Apple and Samsung tablets out there but for the budget conscious, this tablet (or these tablets) will do the job at the price that won't break the bank

All in all, I'm very happy with the Breeze 2 and maybe, just maybe I'll buy the Aura too just for the heck of it!

5 Tips for those who want to be writers

Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve actually posted anything here. For that I apologize, I’ve been so busy writing for others that I haven’t really found time to update my own blog.

Well it’s 2014 now and I found some time to write so here I am and I’m going to give out some tips again. In my years interacting with people and letting them in on the secret of making money on the side as a writer, I’ve always been asked the question. How do you become a writer?

Personally, I stumbled into writing as a serious hobby I could earn money off of. I’ve always been interested in writing and as I grew older I became more serious about it and eventually found my medium on the internet. I have now been writing for more than 10 years (let’s leave it at that cause if I tell you more I might end up sounding like an old fart).

So let’s get to it.

So you want to be a writer?

 

Good! That means you've just joined the many millions of people who think the same thing! But it takes a certain quality in a person to actually make that happen. And what's that?

Simple.

The follow-through.

You can wish all you want but if you don't actually start putting pen to paper, nothing's gonna happen.

 

I've probably repeated these 5 things to so many people asking me about what they need to do to become a writer so here it is.

 

1 - Live your life 

 

                Yes. Just because you're a writer doesn't mean you'll need to be stuck to your desk 24/7. Live your life. It doesn't have to involve crazy stunts (although I'm not stopping you) so you can get inspiration but it does help. Basically the more you experience, the more creative you'll be.

 

                The simple act of getting out of your house or tending your garden or whatever other interests you have can have a profound effect on your mind's creative abilities. Try it!

 

2 - Read

 

                Everyone needs a certain role model in life in order to achieve something and that's true for writing as well. But in order to become a good writer, you need to read. This is one of the best ways to learn writing styles, what works and what doesn't, new information about certain stuff etcetera etcetera. Just remember that reading stuff isn't supposed to lead to copying and pasting what they did and calling it your own. That's called plagiarism and that can kill your reputation as a writer dead on the spot!

 

                Read to learn. Read to get inspiration. Read so that you can take a different spin on what's already out there.

 

3 - Stick to a certain schedule

 

                Everyone thinks that being a writer means doing away with schedules and leading a bohemian lifestyle. Nothing could be further from the truth than that. Of course, if you choose to do just that, no one will be able to stop you but it can have a negative impact on your work.

 

                Writing is a job that requires your full attention because as you're living your life, you're taking in all these new information and processing it in your brain. You can't really do that if you're just lying in bed all day and stuck in a room.

 

                To be honest, I have a day job and it takes up the better part of my day. I took it because I needed some variety in my life and working is a great way to meet new and interesting people! But during that time all of the information I'm getting from talking to customers, getting to places, making deliveries and all that is a chance for me to interact and process new information. During that time, I don't write. I observe.

 

                After work hours, I switch on my active writer mode and write. And when I proofread my work, I sometimes find tidbits of information that is closely related to some of the interactions I've done during the day.

 

Note: try not to get a job that requires you to be confined in an office. Find a job that'll keep you active and provide lots of variety.

 

4 - Target specific dates for your blog entries

 

                This is a more technical aspect of the job as a writer. Targeting specific dates will help you enforce a personal schedule for writing. I make sure I have at least 6 hours to write every night and I have a personal quota of completing ten 500 word articles for different clients every day. For some that might be too much, but I found out the hard way that that is the number I'm comfortable with. Now my clients do the date targeting for me on when they'll publish my work but I too have set a target for myself, with them.

 

5 - KISS - Keep it short and simple

                This might seem contradictory to this post right now but yeah try to keep it short and simple so that you can get your message across instantly. Explaining about the KISS method is a lengthy discussion (ironically) but to get straight to the point, remember this:

 

You're a messenger, deliver the message and get out.

 

                Oh and proofread your work.

 

                Just remember, you don't have to be an English or Literary major to be a writer (but it sure helps to know the basics of composition and grammar!) nowadays. Anyone can be a writer as long as they have the right motivation and discipline to do so. Heck, I'm not the best writer in the world but I've been writing so many articles for clients that I've lost count of just how many I've made over the years! I'm far from perfect but I keep honing it and I'm glad to say I've earned enough from it to live a relatively comfortable life. Cheers!

 PS

I may have missed out some things so message me if you have an idea so we can discuss it :D