Pixel 8 Pro First Impressions and Some Features I Like

My Best Pixel 8 Pro Features & Insights

I am in my 1st week using a Pixel 8 Pro and I want to share some of the best features and my impressions. This is not a review or anything of that nature, but just some insights I wanted to share.

The Pixel 8 Pro is 6.7 inches with rounded corners – just the right size to fit comfortably in my hand. The back is matte glass but feels like non-slippery plastic. I like it a lot.

To unlock my Pixel 8 Pro, I turned on both facial recognition and fingerprint unlock features. They both work seamlessly and save time, as I don’t need to keep trying to unlock it.

The Pixel 8 Pro camera system was redesigned and updated. I am a content creator and the main reason to buy a Pixel 8 Pro was its camera system. 5X optical zoom, GoPro-like image stabilization for video, 10-bit-HDR video, and the Audio Magic Eraser are some features worth mentioning.

Another video feature designed for content creators is coming in December: Video Boost. This feature automatically adjusts color, lighting, stabilization, and graininess, and Night Sight Video to make professional-quality videos from a smartphone.

The Pixel 8 Pro also offers enhanced macro capabilities in macro mode, which is a plus point for photography lovers who love macro photos. I have been testing lots of macro shots and the quality is mind-blowing for a smartphone.

Another unnecessary but fun feature l like is the to check the temperature of anything. I have been using this a lot just to show this feature to my friends.

There are many other features, but the ones I mentioned above are some of the most unique ones I can think of right now. I will link my Pixel Playlist below if you are interested in watching the videos:

Pixel Smartphone 101: Tips, Tricks, & The Basics

DE Shaving Accessory – Shaving Bowl (Vacuum Insulated)

Best Shaving Soap Bowl for Your Wet Shaving

Recently, I switched to a double edge safety razor from a disposable razor. Unlike a disposable razor, shaving with a safety razor required patience and lots of lather. Putting on shave foam from a tin can doesn’t work that well, as the lather is not thick.

I tried putting shave cream on my bristles but looked like a shaving bowl could make creating the foamy lather process much easier. So, I started looking for shave bowls online.

There are so many options at many different price ranges that I was genuinely surprised. After going through probably a hundred of them on Amazon, I decided on a stainless steel one that was vacuum insulated for heat retention.

However, I couldn’t make the lather heavy thick like I had seen on some videos on YouTube. This could have been due to my brush not being good enough, my new skills not being good enough to make a thick lather, or my stainless-steel bowl may not have been a good one.

I have some nice-looking shave bowls made of wood and I’ve been thinking of trying one of them. Because I review all these products on YouTube, buying more than one is not a waste for me.

To expedite publishing my DE shaving experience, I have bought 7 or 8 different types of razors and I’m reviewing them one by one. There are lots of people looking for safety razor shaving, and this is a new audience segment for me to target.

As I learn more and gain experience with safety razor shaving, I will provide more tips and review videos for viewers across the globe joining the safety razor club.

You can view all my videos in the link below:

Men's Shave Soap Bowl | GRUTTI Shaving Soap Bowl Review

Why I Bought My Surface 4 Intel Core i7 - 32GB Memory - 1TB SSD

Buying My New Laptop Microsoft Surface 4

I have been using my current laptop, an ASUS ZenBook Flip S UX370UA, for over 4 years. It still works and runs perfectly, but got notoriously slow for video editing. After researching a few other brands, I decided to go with Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4.

Other brands that came close on my list are Lenovo and Dell, but I found it hard to pick one that offered 32 Gig RAM with an i7 processor and 1 TB space. Lenovo had one that came very close, but it was bulky and the price was not reasonable.

I was thinking of bumping up my RAM power to 32GB RAM from my old Asus Zenbook’s 16GB RAM. I chose 32GB RAM and a 15-inch screen, so it's slightly bigger than my Asus Zenbook’s 13.5 inch.

32GB of RAM costs $2849.99 (SALE saves CAD $300) before taxes. 16GB of RAM costs $2149.99 (SALE saves CAD $200) before taxes. These are Intel Core i7 processors. So, I paid $700 more just to get higher RAM and in the world of video editing this can make a big difference.

So far, everything has been going smooth with my new Surface 4. This is a sleek, skinny laptop that shows it is high end and performance-wise I can feel the difference in extra RAM power. I converted to Windows 11 from Windows 10 and it runs even better now.

My expectation is that my Surface 4 will serve me at least 5 years and anything beyond that is a bonus. What I have noticed is that these days computer and phone manufacturers make products in such a way that they don’t break but get so slow that it’s no longer usable – forcing consumers to buy new ones.

I am sharing my Surface 4 experience on my YouTube Channel here:

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 | Tips, Tricks, & The Basics

Two Best Brain Training Apps

Brain Game Apps

First Published Date: August 3, 2015

Today, I am not here to argue for or against brain training games – whether they are effective or not. The Stanford University Center on Longevity and the Berlin Max Planck Institute for Human Development released a statement in the past signed by 70 scientists mentioning there is no proof that brain games improve cognitive performance or prevent cognitive slowing and brain disease. You can read a lengthy article here on this. On the other hand, if you visit brain training app websites, they have various reports by scientists showing that brain games work. So, I wouldn’t worry or argue about who is right or who is wrong. The reason I play these games is because of the challenges they present and I find it a good way to entertain myself.

Today, I will talk about 2 games I find very exhilarating and they are the best two apps I came across.

Peak: Peak games focus on improving language skills, mental agility, problem solving, focus and memory. You can let the app know your profession and it will show you how you are doing compared to others in the same line of work. Peak is designed by neuroscientists and cognitive scientists from Yale, Princeton, and U. of Cambridge. Peak is a highly engaging game with great sound and eye-catching aesthetics. What I like about Peak is that anyone who has the basic knowledge of how to read can play this game. This game comes in both a free and a paid version and I play the free version sometimes.

Elevate: Apple selected Elevate as app of the year for 2014 and I can see why. Elevate takes a different approach than other brain games focusing on reading comprehension, grammatical errors, vocabulary, mathematics, and so on. What I noticed about Peak is that this is not a game for someone with basic reading knowledge, as it is highly engaging in grammar, mathematics, reading, writing and listening comprehension, etc. This games comes in both a free and a paid version and I have the paid version and try to play it regularly, as each daily session is short and I can finish them very fast.

There are so many other brain training apps out there. You can install a few of them and try it for a few days to see which ones you like most.

Mobilicity Customers: Time to Run From Rogers

Mobilicity – Now That’s Not Smart

First Published Date: June 29, 2015

Although the government keeps praising the recent Rogers-Mobilicity deal as a big WIN for Canadians, most of the Mobilicity customers would view it otherwise. There is a lot of talk about the “Spectrum” swap to make Wind Mobile nation’s fourth carrier to compete with the big three brothers. But for those 150,000 Mobilicity customers it’s a deal to gobble them up by the same giant they wanted to get rid of in the first place.

The drive behind Rogers buying Mobilicity is not because Rogers’ interest in Mobilicity’s existing clients, but because of the spectrum it can gets hands on. Regardless what the government says, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that this deal means more control in Rogers’ hand and less competition.

If you need an example of what happens to those great monthly affordable plans after a big company buying a small competitor, you don’t need to look further than Telus buying Public Mobile. The affordable plans Public Mobile used to offer are all gone since the takeover and the same thing is bound to happen with Mobilicity very shortly.

When Mobilicity customers signed up with this small player offering affordable plans (although with a terrible signal), their main intention was to escape from a big brother and save some money. Some of the customers could not even afford to have a plan with a big brother and they had some relief subscribing to a new company which is not a part of the big brothers that have been monopolizing and terrorizing Canadian mobile markets ever since.

So what now? These unfortunate and stranded 150,000 subscribers are back to where they started and will be eaten alive by the same giant they were running away from. The only option that seems to remain open now is to run – again.