REVIEW: New PC Build 2013 "The Admiral Yamamojo-jojo" PART I

     Yes, this PC has that as a name. It's actually a funny story (to me, anyway). So, I was chatting with my good friend, who is well versed and acclimated in the "The Art of the PC," and I was trying to figure out what to call my nonexistent PC (At the time). After some thought, I was convinced that I was gonna go with "New Rig 2013," when the man dropped something insanely ridiculous and genius. I mean, Who can name anything after a WWII Admiral who was instrumental in taking over and controlling a land (and sea) mass area that was larger than any part of the world by 1941, AND the most diabolical villain on the Cartoon Network during the late 90s to early 00's? Obviously, this guy. So, as such, the name of this powerhouse shall be known, and forever known as the ADMIRAL YAMAMOJO-JOJO.

     So this is how it's gonna go down: This part is just a rundown of the build process, thoughts, and overall general performance (as if I'm just talking to the average person). Part II will be the more technical aspect with benchmarks and the like.. 

Be Proud.

AT A GLANCE: 

CPU: Intel Haswell Core i5-4670K Quad-Core @ 3.4Ghz (currently NOT OC'd)

      -CPU COOLER: Corsair H100i Liquid Cooler w/addtl. Corsair SP120 120mm fans

MOTHERBOARD: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX (LGA1150)

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (9-9-9-24-2N) (16GBs in use)

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 770 4GB @ 7010Mhz

STORAGE:

     SSD Boot: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB

     SSD 1: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB

     SSD 2: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB

     HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB @ 7200RPM w/ 6GB/s SATA interface 

PSU: SeaSonic X Series 850W

CASE: Corsair 650D ATX Mid 

MONITOR: LG 23EA83V IPS LED Monitor


THE BUILD: 

     Building a new machine was a long time coming, for me. My last build lasted me quite awhile, and while I was satisfied by the lifespan of the older rig, I was bummed to see it go. Another factor was the fact that I was waiting over the course of 3 months to even start building. Things out of my control were the main culprit of that, but it gave me a lot of time to do other things and appreciate the machines that Console Peasants use (PS3... The Last of Us... awesome).
     August rolls along, and the circumstances preventing me from investing on the parts dissolved; it was time to build the this monster. Ordering all these parts were a pain, to say the least. I had to input the build parts into PC Parts Picker so it could aggregate the cheapest prices. Easy enough, except for when the part wasn't available at the cheapest price, or you had a nazi bank that controls where you want to buy your parts. I mean, they even blocked my transactions from Newegg! After that SNAFU was taken care of, the parts started rolling in... it was definitely time to build, and what better way to show that than to do it through pics??

Most of the parts, minus the horrible Intl. Organization textbooks (why did I even enroll in this class!?)

The Corsair H100i with the Corsair SP120 replacement fans.

The Intel Haswell Core i5-4670K with Stock fan (obviously not being used)

The MSI GTX 770.. the beast of a GPU (and possibly one of two... still up in the air with that one, though)

The Samsung 840 PROs and the Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM drive... good choice but more on that later.

The four (of six) G.Skill Ripjaw RAM that I bought not too long before the last build busted on me. Remember, 16 of the 24GB are in current use... at least I have spares.

By far, the "Most Impressive" packaging award goes to the Seassonic PSU. That Crown Royal-like bag house the PSU, and that bag on the upper right holds the connection modules. It also feels well built. I'm very impressed by this PSU.. did I mention that this was 850W? I highly recommend this PSU.

 Another [mostly] impressive part is this Corsair 650D case. There is a ton of room cable management, clip-based door panels (no screwing or unscrewing doors), plenty of airflow, one 80mm fan, two 200mm fans (front and top vent), holes on top vent for various radiators, modular drive bays (that you can also move around, if you desire), easy-to-remove dust filters for easy cleaning, a modular SATA plug up top for non-external enclosed drives, fanspeed adjuster (not in use), two USB2 ports, two USB3 ports, and one Firewire port. This case is way more feature-packed, and larger than my last case (which also had a lot of room for management. I'm very impressed by it. 

Closer look...

Note the lower drive bays are removable and you may either stack it like the pic depicts, or side by side. Of course, if you have 3 or less drives in use, you can completely remove the additional bay for more airflow from that massive front fan. ONE MAJOR FLAW of this case is that the USB3 ports are actually a straight passthrough and doesn't connect directly through the motherboard. Instead, I have to channel it out and connect it to the I/O jacks.. which sucks, for now. Yes, there is a passthrough attachment. No, I have not order it yet. The fact that I even have to order that kind of pisses me off. It's definitely more sensible to just have the USB board plug instead of mounting two extensions to a control panel. Lame.

The top vent, SATA port, and front panel.

Finally, I have the ASUS Maximus VI Hero motherboard..

The supplied accessories to said mobo..

..and finally the mobo itself. 

Of course, we can't talk about the mobo without mentioning the I/O that's onboard. A couple notes: A BIOS reset button is prominent (more than my past mobos). Optical output seems to be the standard today, but I wasn't too impressed by it (more on that, later). The HDMI port is a result of the emergence of much better onboard GPU solutions provided with Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPUs. Of course, I'm not using it (and for obvious reasons). Aside from the even four USB2 and four USB3 ports, don't let that analog audiojack array fool you. Yeah, at it's most basic, it runs with the typical AC97 audio drivers, but ASUS provided a dedicated audio processor directly to the board (Supreme FX). It used to be that manufacturers provide tiny soundcards that take up at least one PCIE x1 slot, but now it's built directly to the board.

     Now, I never fully documented my build process, but I do have more pics to explain some stuff: 

As a start, I removed the CPU from its protective case and (very carefully) placed it in the CPU slot. I did inspect the pins and got instantly scared when I saw that at least one pin was protruding out, abnormally. I grabbed my narrow-necked screwdriver, used the tiniest star-pointed head I had available and pushed the pin in very, VERY slightly. Let's just say that was successful. I set the CPU in place and locked the pin. I then proceeded to lock the RAM in place.

Removing the mobo from it's packaging, I made an inspection of the board and found a very non-impressive corner, bent up. This was a manufacturer screwup since the box itself was completely intact and not damaged. Bad QA... BAD! Anyway, this is as minor as it looks. It still held it's ground and I was able to snug a washer and screw in without screwing it up even more. 

Fast forward: the board is now mounted to the case. Notice the stupid USB3 passthroughs stick out the back of the case. >:(

The backplate is also impressive-looking. It fit like a glove :) Do note the 770 with it's two DVI-D, HDMI, and Displayport inputs.

Fast forward even more: This is the setup, all complete! Take note of the H100i all set into place and the giant 770 occupying it's PCIE slot. Other notes: i'm not the best cable manager, but I thought it was as good as its gonna get. 

The Yamamojo-jojo isn't complete without its racing stickers! Do note that the old (and rare) HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo still works! I just couldn't bring myself to depart with this dying technology, but it is showing its age and relevance (more on that in a bit).

SETUP/INITIAL RUN

     

     Building a comp takes time. I think that's a simple but effective enough description (short of comparing it to building a Lego set). Setting up is a different story. The Maximus VI carries the lastest UEFI builds available and I found it very easy to use. the drive controller was set to AHCI by default, and much of the settings that you would usually fiddle with prior to installing your OS was set on desirable presets. All I did was set up the boot order (to the 256GB SSD), and booted my Windows drive.

     I was initially having major issues with my board interfacing with my boot-formatted Windows flash drive. It was set up to be an MBR-based bootup drive through my Macbook's Disk Utility program, and it has worked on another build that I installed Windows with, in the past. It was driving me insane and I kept reformatting the drive to see if that fixed the problem. I finally decided to do it the old way and make a boot drive through the command prompt. I restarted my Macbook (being the only other computer I had available) and booted up Windows 7, run the proper commands, and rebuild the drive to boot Windows. Of course, this worked like a charm and I was installing in no time. I chose the 256GB Samsung SSD over setting up a RAID array with my 2 additional 128GB SSDs. I felt that I wasn't going to see that much of a boost, and I wanted to leave at least one of the drives for a future Hackintosh project that I want to do (we'll see how Mavericks play with other peoples Maximus VI boards). 

     The install only took 15 minutes to finish, and with the additional driver installations, I was ready to roll within the hour. After all the setting up, the bootup time from after POST was about 12 seconds and has stayed consistent since. Overall, I had a relatively smooth experience setting up. It definitely wasn't a perfect process, but it was far better than my last builds. 

GENERAL PERFORMANCE

      If you haven't noticed, the Yamamojo-jojo is ultimately a gaming rig. In reality, this computer was built to be capable of gaming... and gaming nicely. This may bear the same meaning, but I go with the second wording because I honestly don't have the time to play games. Still, it's always a better choice to have/build a computer with plenty of room to breathe, and that's one of the main reasons why I rather build a computer over buying one at Best Buy. By default, it is a fact that this rig is capable of doing basic computing tasks such as Office related tasks, browsing the internet, and A/V-related tasks. In fact, on of the first things I did after I finished setting up was watch 13 Assassins using Media Player Classic.

     My initial active visual outputs was a direct HDMI connection to my 40inch Sony HDTV, and was going to be my media display for movies and whatnot. My second input was a VGA (w/DVI converter) to my old 23in. Hp Monitor. It was an ideal setup for me for the first couple weeks. Two big factors caused a switch in the lineup: the first being the resolution of my Hp monitor. Its a modest 1680 x 1050 display resolution. I wanted a monitor that could at least do 1920 x 1080 (or 1080p, for those more familiar with the term) and have a DVI-D port by default. The second factor was that the VGA input prevented me from having a proper HDCP protocol, so it interfered with iTunes movies that are in full HD 1080p (which prevents playback on non-HDCP compliant inputs/displays). It was time for a change... and this was the result:

This is the LG 23EA85V IPS LED display. It outputs at 1920 x 1080 resolution @ 60hz, it carries a DVI-D, HDMI and Displayport input in the back, it's less than a inch thick, has a resolution sharpener, and has a bezel of only 1cm (with the exception of the bottom).

     If you ask me, I found the perfect display for my uses. No, it's not gaming specific like a BenQ MLG ( xXLeGiTqUiCkSCOPEzzXx [[MLG]] 1v1mEnUb .::1337::. ..damn, I hate MLG... so much.) monitor, but it's a definite step up from a 6 year old Hp monitor (I can't believe that its 6 years old!). While we're on video-related stuff**, it's worth briefly noting the immense graphic processing power of the GTX 770. It dominated my very processor-heavy Flight Simulator X with framerates between 60 - 140+ frames (at near max settings)! Of course, FSX runs optimally with a frame limiter, so its limited to 30fps, but I have never seen frames drop no lower than 29fps. Another game I run with mostly max settings is Digital Combat Simulator. This is a game that optimizes CPU and GPU processing, but is really memory-dependent. I was getting average framerates of 91fps with a low of 63 and a max of 137fps. This is using an A-10A on a random generated mission with Max ground and helo settings. The last game I benchmarked was Crysis 3. I had the game settings at max (and "Very High" is the new Ultra setting, for all you Crysis fans). The average framerate clocked in at 48fps with a 35 low and 61 high. 

      A noticeable but minor flaw is video playback performance. I'm not entirely sure if this is a card-related issue or a CPU issue, but from time to time, full screen playback on the Sony output gets slightly choppy. I never experienced that issue with my last build (with a GTX 560 ti), and it's not that bad, but its still noticeable and is note-worthy. Perhaps an update to that is in order, sometime down the line. 

     As for temperature and fan/cooler performance, I'm delightfully surprised by the performance.** You know you done something right when temperatures  slightly change (but never exceeds max) at load capacity, while playing a game, and the db output of your fans is softer than your Fat PS3 at idle conditions. Just imagine when I'm playing GTA V with that damn PS3. It produces way more noise and heat than the Yamamojo-jojo. It's glorious, to say the least. 

**More technical benchmarks and further insight to the tested titles will be on the next part (for all those wanting more technical stuff). 

FINAL THOUGHTS

     It's always a fun time for me when building season comes along.  Yeah, there will be those moments when I'm replacing parts with better parts, but when you're creating a full build, its a satisfying achievement. The great thing about computer building is that the level of performance is completely up to you. Building a comp with cheaper parts doesn't necessarily make the computer obsolete. You can actually thank the stagnate game developing community for that one, since they moved to this multi-platform developing model. Essentially developing a game that is designed to run on 8 year old hardware (such as the 360 and almost the PS3) gives PCs a lot of breathing space. While that window is now closing with the advent of the next generation of console gaming, you can see hardware such as the 6 year old Nvidia GeForce 8800s running todays games on decent settings that either still exceeds the image quality of console equivalent titles or matches them. Always feel satisfied about the builds you make and at what budget you want to invest in. For the performance-to-price ratio, (some $2200 total) the Admiral YAMAMOJO-JOJO is more than satisfying for my needs.  

If you're tech-savvy, I'm posting a dedicated entry with all sorts of benchmarks and further insight to the gaming benchmarks that I mentioned here.

REVIEW: Jaybird Bluebuds X Bluetooth Wireless Earphones

    Again, this will be a quick tech-related review of awesome stuff. So I was on a mission, early last weekend. That mission was to find a decent wireless speaker set for my Bluetooth/AirPlay-related devices. The ultimate reason was to have a pair of speakers and not rely on things such as my computer or TV for my sounds, as well as something small to have while working out. My earphones (a pair of Apple EarPods and Beats earphones) are all that I have, short of blasting my tunes directly from devices, which are either not loud, or very taxing on the battery life. I ain't got no time for that! I then remembered the last time my dad was on-island and he picked up a pair of Jaybird Bluebuds X since the audio jack for his Moto Razr Maxx broke. He had no other means to listen to music while working out than using a wireless set. I can see why he chose this. In a nutshell, these are an excellent set of earphones. They're not exactly perfect, but the Bluebuds X definitely exceeds expectations in what you would find in a Bluetooth headset.

DESIGN

     As you can see, the best description I can give is "minimum." That's what these earphones are. It's a simple ear-set that is designed to wrap around your head for minimum travel while being active. The particular beauty of the Bluebuds X is wearability. You can either wear them in a more traditional under ear style, with the cord in front or back of you, or if you're like me, you can wear this over-the-ear and snug the cord (with two provided clips) to wrap around the back of your head.

     The styles of wear is all possible with the provided ear pieces as pictured above. The starters guide specifically instructs users to use the under-ear method first since it would be easier to figure out the right combo and how your pieces conform to the shape of your ears. The ear canal pieces fit the earphones in a very snug fashion. As long as you don't keep swapping ear pieces, they should hold fine. Not that there was a universal head for those ear pieces, but try not to lose them. You're not going to able to substitute Beats ear pieces with these (or any non-Jaybird ear pieces), as well. Luckily, these earphones come with a snazzy case, so leaving these in said case is a good idea... just sayin'. Overall, the design is pretty nice, at best. There can be comfort issues, but you will get used to it.. meaning you'll overcome the issues as you figure out the position of your outer-ear pieces.

Other notes: Apparently, the Bluebuds are pre-treated with liquid repellent. While that's great, results may vary, depending on how much activity you undertake. Make sure you either apply your own treatment or face your mic/button set away from you, so your sweaty head won't leak sweat into the mic piece. This is a known issue, and that has happened to my dad. Luckily, Jaybirds have an excellent warranty and design-to-supply system. They are sending my dad another pair and there have been updates to the design to further resist the earphones from water intrusion.

PERFORMANCE
     
     Performance may be another "results may vary" situation. The bad news is that the devices suffers from Bluetooth sound commpression... on ANDROID devices. Yep.. So naturally, I would try it on my HTC One, having the fancy Beats hardware onboard. After pairing the devices, I run up Rhapsody and play Lose Yourself to Dance by Daft Punk. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of treble, and you can hear the compression. This confused me since the HTC One is carrying the most recent Bluetooth standard (4) that you would find in iDevices, and other Android devices such as the Galaxy S4. I go ahead and run up the vanilla music player and try another song... still had compression and high treble.  I then ran Winamp Pro and started messing with the EQ (10 band EQ, mind you) to see if I can reduce (or eliminate) the infidelities I was experiencing and that didn't turn out well. I then paired the earphones to the Nexus 7 (2013 model... review coming soon), ran up Rhapsody and played the same exact song. Now, the Nexus 7 has a Bluetooth standard version that is absolutely brand new. Knowing this, I thought that the infidelities I was hearing on my HTC was just coming from that phone. Well, the compression wasn't as bad as the One, but it was still noticeable.

     Thinking that these earphones were shit, sound-wise, I paired them with my 5th gen iPod Touch to see how it sounded with an iOS device... It. Was. Perfect. The earphones sounded excellent. I was mad confused, yet super excited that these earphones were not shit. I then tested them on my Macbook Pro Retina and it sounded fine on that, as well! I would like to try it on another platform, but until that happens, I'm gonna have to conclude that while the earphones are still tolerable (with a little tweaking on the EQ bands), they only sound good on an iOS device. There's really no other way to explain this. It's unfortunate because my daily driver is the HTC One and Nexus 7. At least I found a use for the iPod, again. It's one thing to run with in-ear earphones with a long wire and having them fall out whenever your ear canal gets sweaty (or if you're nasty like that, earwax seeping), but I think I would be more annoyed by the compression and high amounts of treble blasting in my ears. I already have Tinnitus.. I don't need another high-tone pitch going through my head.

And before you Android-only folks get all butthurt over it, Yes, I have disabled the Phone band and strictly selected the media band when I paired the earphones. I got nearly the same results on one high-end Android phone and one of Google's flagship tablets. There is something wrong with Android and these earphones. Hopefully Jaybird or Google can fix this issue.

     So again, I think Jaybird designed these earphones predominately for iOS devices. Aside from the high-fidelity output you receive with these when paired with an iOS device, it also brings up a separate battery bar next to the Bluetooth symbol. These earphones are said to have a battery life of 8 hours. That's pretty damn good for something with a tiny power source stuffed inside. I was heavily using these earphones on Sunday from about 9:45am to 6:30pm, that evening. The battery life only drop to half! Either I have a super secret battery inside, or the battery is just super efficient. Of course, I didn't have them on and blasting for that long, but the earphone use was way more than what I'm typically used to (which I can average about only 2 hours a day). The point being? 8 hours is more than enough. I was trying to kill the battery and I failed; battery life is good, so don't worry about it!

As soon as I turned the earphones on, it automatically paired with my iPod. Notice the little battery indicator next to the Bluetooth symbol.

Other notes: The wear performance is phenomenal! The other day, I ran about 2 miles in these and they never moved out of place... at all! I'm also in the middle of an ab/arm challenge. It never moved unless I accidentally hit it with my hand. The wire can be worn extremely close to your head, and I highly recommend that you do that, along with wearing it over-the-ear style to maximize comfort and function. 

CONCLUSION

The Bluebuds X is simply just an amazing set of earphones to have. Personally, it supplements my Beats because I still carry them around in my bag. You can never have enough earphones on you if you have the means to store them (I rather not have them in my pocket... but that's me). This is even more apparent  with my Android devices since the Bluebuds sound like shit on them, so having the Beats on me is a good idea. 

If you're active, I highly recommend these. This is a perfect blend of high-fidelity and compact, rolled into one. Get it, get it, GET IT!

Ready.... GO!

REVIEW: iOS 7

     So a couple things before I begin: yes, iOS 7 actually releases next week Wednesday. Yes, I got it a whole week early. Yes, it's a legit final build. Yes, yes. Another thing to keep in mind is that this review will be based on a 5th Generation iPod Touch 32GB model, so I can't comment on certain aspects that you would otherwise find on the iPhone. If you iDevice users haven't noticed, the experience may vary with whatever hardware you're using, and this is no different. This will be a quick review (with tons of visuals!), and I may follow up in a couple months to see how it's been holding up.

So, this is iOS 7 at first glance:

Simply put, this is the most significant change to the Vanilla OS since the introduction of the iPhone... or is it? Visually, I'll give it to Phil Schiller and go with that consensus. Function-wise? Not so much. Does it make it bad? Absolutely not! The change are still significant for the average user; that is, a user who uses their device for what it is (as opposed to jailbreaking the device).

VISUAL

Visually, its beautiful and a welcomed makeover from the past builds. The theme of iOS 7 is obviously flat and colorful, and Jony Ive sure hit his mark. It's very colorful and dynamic to whatever wallpaper you choose to use. Jony also made use of in-your-face sliding. "wat?" you may ask? Well, the first thing that happens when you unlock you device is that every thing slides in front of you in a rather elegant fashion. tap on app such as the Clock or Calendar and the screen zooms into the app. Hit the Home button, and you zoom back out into the Home Screen. Another visual "ooooh" is the use of Parallax on the Home Screen. Essentially, your icons and such act as if it was hovering over your background. It's very subtle, and only noticeable if you have the right background. This is NOT innovative. I had a parallax effect on my Jailbroken iPhone well before the idea was implemented by Apple. Lets not forget that the Android camp also has apps (although, not really good apps) that replicate that effect, as well. It's something that's just a non-factor in the functionality department.

FUNCTION

Apple has always been known for its ease-of-use and has been a selling point for many who buy an iDevice. That transition to the iOS 7 landscape is no different. Many of their in-house apps have gone through the Jony Ive Treatment with all the zooms and flatness, but it fits in with a lot of the [visual] changes done to apps such as Photos and Calendar.

At the least level of Organization, the Photos app can be arranged by Year, and then categorize onward and onward until its broken down by pictures taken from the day of the week. The traditional Album that has been used for as far as I can remember may also be utilized if you're keeping it OG, but the overhaul may be something worth checking out. Other notes for the Photo app: it does have an extensive editing suite built in and should be used in conjunction with the Camera app since its feature-less to begin with.. but more on that in a bit.

The Calendar app also received an overhaul of sorts. Now lets be real, the changes are mostly cosmetic and visual, but that's typically what a calendar is, right? It functions the same as the old calendar app, but it's done in such a fluid way, that's easy for the eyes. No one should have a hard time navigating through it.

Year View..

...and onto Month view...

...but omg! It goes into Week & Day view! Wow!

But wait! If you rotate your device, it does this!

Perhaps I'm not as blown away about a calendar as I'm supposed to be? Well, there's only so much you can do with such an app, and I think Apple hit their mark. Kudos, I guess.

NOTIFICATION AND CONTROL PANEL

Notifications remains largely intact. In a nutshell, it lists the day, the weather, what's on your schedule, stocks, and earthly reminders (such as "Your day starts early tomorrow. There are 2 events scheduled, and the first one starts at 8 AM."... thanks, I didn't know that). Notifications are tabbed with events happening Today, All events, and events that you may have missed, such as phone calls, FaceTime, and texts. 

A much more significant addition to [vanilla] iOS is the Control Panel. Accessible by swipe up from the bottom of the screen, he Control Panel are a series of quick options where you can either turn on Airplane Mode, enable/disable WiFi or Bluetooth, adjust brightness, etc, etc. There are also quick options to turn on your light, access your clock or calculator, as well as your camera. You can control your music from that panel, and you can enable Air Drop for file sharing and the like. This is an excellent addition to iOS, out the box... it's just unfortunate that it took this long for Apple to include this feature considering that this is the norm on Android-based devices, as well as the Jailbreak realm. In fact, the format of such is similar to the Jailbreak app Auxo.. very suspect. Regardless, its here and it's good to have.

Other notes regarding both is that both features are accessible on the lockscreen... which is great!

APP SWITCHER

Another nice change made to an existing feature is App Switcher. This is the one system that the average user refuses to get onboard, I swear! Incoming mini rant: I can understand going to Apple Store or some other retailer, double tapping the Home button and find every app installed running... it's a demo unit! Alright.. I just don't understand when someone comes up to me, crying that their battery is dying faster than before, only for me to double tap the Home button and find every damn app running! Android users are also notorious of this, though their tasking system is a little more liberal with running apps in the background (as in you try and quit the app, and you find it running again a minute later). iOS users have no excuse since as soon as you quit the app via App Switcher, you completely quit the app! iOS 7 just made this feature a lot more prominent and easier to use. Double tap the Home button and you find the home screen zooming out to see what other apps you have running. Swipe left or right to the app you want to quit/switch to and you either tap the window to go to said app, or swipe up to quit the app. It sure beats pressing, holding until it starts jiggling and clicking the little red stop circles. Ultimately, it's something that you should get into the habit of using! No excuses!

This... USE IT!

MUSIC APP / ITUNES RADIO

Speaking of music, the music app is much, MUCH better. The default search menu is now Artist, instead of Albums. I guess that's a personal preference, but it's just more logical to start with the artists, right? Anyway, tapping on an artist lists the songs you have, categorized by album (see? logical). Coverflow has also received an overhaul, and I think it's much better. The entire screen is filled up with album covers. pinching the screen zooms the albums in and out, and tapping the album brings the songlist up for your choosing. Finally, Apple has utilized it's rumored Pandora clone and has iTunes Radio ready for access. For those obtaining music legit, it's a good way to discover new songs within the iTunes Store ecosystem. Other than that, if you're already invested in Pandora, Spotify, or Rhapsody (my source), than iTunes Radio may be something to pass, though when it comes to music, redundancy is a good thing. 

New Coverflow.

Playing from Coverflow

iTunes Radio

iTunes Top 100: Alternative station

CAMERA APP

Another feature overhaul that Apple was babbling about is the Camera app. How hyped is it? Very. How functional is it compared to its competitors? Well, at least it works. For iPod Touch's case, it does its job well for a low-end 5mp camera. For the app itself, there is a visual overhaul. the top has options for turning the flash on, HDR, and switching cameras. On the bottom we have the album access and giant shutter button (though should be using the Vol Up button to snap photos (again, opinions, lol). A new addition to the app is the filter option. There are nine different filters to choose for your Instagram photography needs. Finally and speaking of Instagram freaks, there is a "Square" format mode in addition to the usual Photo, Video, Panoramic modes. Rejoice InstaGERMERS. Missing from the option set is the Rule of Thirds Grid option (which found its way to the regular Settings menu). The camera app is big fat "MEH" for me. It does what it says it does, and nothing more. Again, make sure you discover the Edit tool in the Photo app to fine tune your pics. I also think that my iPod may be the reason that it may lack features, considering that iOS 7 seems to have been developed with the upcoming 5C and 5S in mind. Those two devices may make better use with a more capable camera. Other than that, if you're already using apps such as Camera+, stick with that since it's feature-packed and it works fine with iOS 7. 

le Camera

Filter options

...and for you Instagurrmers...

FINAL THOUGHTS

iOS 7 has built itself over a series of variables. The bad reception of iOS 6, and the management shuffle that placed Jony Ives at the helm of development of iOS 7 seems to be the biggest variable of how the OS came to be. In the visual aspect, iOS 7 is a tour de force. It's beautiful and the flow is excellent, and the likes of Samsung and HTC can't take that away from Apple. When you dig deeper, you'll begin to notice that much of the features has either remain intact, or there has been subtle and blatant ripoffs. In an industry where "innovation" is starting to become tacky and useless (Samsung, I'm looking at you.), there isn't that much room for new things. Apple's target still seems to be the clueless, average customer who just wants their device to work, and while the Android market share is dominating Apple (and Microsoft), Apple is maintaining their share with one lineup of phones over the course of the past 5 years (iphone 1 - 5). There is still a market of consumers who still just want a phone that "works." iOS 7 is just another essential cog in the wheel to maintain that mindset. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but it works for them. As it stands I think iOS 7 is wonderful. Unless you're jailbroken (or unless someone creates an untethered jailbreak for 7), update to 7 as soon as it drops (which is 3 days from now).

Other pics:

Settings menu

New lockscreen with music playing. Note the bottom bar is for Control Panel access along with the camera.

Swiping to unlock slides you over to the new key pad screen.

Parallax-friendly wallpaper.. notice the additional battery indicator next to the Bluetooth symbol? That's the battery indicator for my next review: the Jay Bird Bluebuds X. :) 

TINY UPDATE! ...followed by new Review!

     So, I been thinking about what I should do with this blog. My intent was to start blogging more personal thoughts about life in general. I been sort of doing that, but it was really opinion pieces and my thoughts about it. I'm talking more in line with how I blogged my last post... I was real content with doing that but then I realized that I lost my place; my vision of this blog and why I do it. This is Thoughts, Rants, and Reviews! I'm going to keep it as such.

     While I would like to dump personal stuff, it'll really just turn this blog into an open journal (or diary for you ladies). I think compromising with some rare posts (such as the Summer 2013 series) can be healthy, but I don't think I'll be digressing that much.

     On that note, I have a lot of upcoming reviews and maybe a thought or two coming up. It'll be a variety of items I have acquired over the course of this month.


It should go in the order of the following (not including any Thought or Rant entries that may or may not show up):

1. iOS 7

2. Jaybird Bluebuds X Bluetooth earphones

3. New PC Build 2013 ("The Admiral Yamamojo-jojo)

4. ASUS/Google Nexus 7 2013

5. Oakley Pit Boss II (yes, I am)

6.  CH flight set (Fighterstick USB, Pro Throttle, Pro Pedals)

7. GTA V (TBP early October)

8. Sony Playstation 4 (TBP late November)

9. Battlefield 4 PC/PS4 (TBP late November)

..and without further delay, I present the review for iOS7!