Volcano.Newts.Org

You can Google for the specs but this new batwing fone appeared to be the best merger of the Sprint and Nextel. A cross between a Razr style and the iDen durability. It was enough I decided to replace my Sanyo SCP-7050.

The Sanyo was my first non Nextel CDMA phone for many years and I figured Nextel was being absorbed, I wasn't using Direct Connect any more and the first and only Bluetooth phone at the time, the i610, didn't play well in Hands Free mode with the Prius I would try a Japanese phone. Like the iDens 7050 was Mil spec for dust, vibration, etc. It was supposed to be faster for data and I traded off a larger more crisp display for one of the few sunlight readable displays out there.

The 7050 has been a great phone and works with the Prius and most other devices. The battery life is amazing with about two days normal use before charging even though I normally charge it every night. Even after 18 months of daily use the battery is not showing any signs of age. The audio was crisp and the display was bright and readable although not as good in the sun as the i600 was. The only real deficiency was the inability to transfer pictures with bluetooth except as part of a contact.

The GPS worked great with the Sprint Navigation which I used for one vacation and several smaller trips as well as checking traffic and stuff. It actually worked well for a small device.

And speaking of pictures it has no camera. NOt that the cameras are that good but everyone else has one and my plan includes it but I couldn't use it.

So now enter the Renegade V950. Bluetooth, rugged, GPS, nice display, flip and a 2 megapixel camera. It also does Sprint TV and radio and plays MP3s. Looks like it has everything and the reviews were good although several mentioned the battery life sucked although there is a larger battery available. It also has a micro SD chip and micro USB for pictures and music.

My first impressions are very favorable. It has a lot of features and the speaker quality for the MP3s is better than expected. The size is great and it feels very nice in the hand. Audio quality is good. The Cons include some problems downloading apps and it hung up once and had to have the battery removed (is there a reset sequence?).

Oh yeh, to the comment about the battery life sucking I would add "On Ice!". It has so many features it really does suck down the juice. I can't get a get a full day out of it with normal use where normal use is maybe 5 minutes talk, a dozen texts, some browsing for a couple minutes and maybe a picture. Add video and MP3 and watching TV and it is much worse. I have bluetooth and Direct Connect on which uses more power but still, it is not acceptable for normal use with the current battery.

Some more specific comparisons:

Feel: 950 feels nice although I like the 7050 as well. In general I prefer "real" handsets over smaller toy phones.

Browsing and Download Speed: The 950 is MUCH faster. 3G really is nice.

TV, Radio: The video quality kind of sucks but it works and with the free content it is fun. I like it.

Music: It plays your MP3s well and you can buy music very quickly and easily. It has a 2.5mm headset jack so you need an adaptor for normal headphones. This is a fail but I either use it with the speaker for convenience or bluetooth which works well.

more later...

This was maybe a half-dream. At the time I thought I was awake but now that I am really awake (at least I assume I am awake, if you are reading this then I really am awake) I realize that I was probably dreaming.

The dream was the mechanical design of my El Ninja electric motorcycle. In particular I came up with the idea of welding captive nuts to the ends of the box stock for the cross members. Also to separate the two frame members and perhaps make the top one a turn-buckle even.

And the amazing thing I think these are still good ideas in the light of day.

Now that the bike is in my garage I can finish stripping it. I also mounted the new sprocket and cleaned some things up. The big hurdle now is figuring out the lower frame and motor mount. Once there I just need to get a new chain and I should have all the parts. Oh and I should also get some new cotter pins. No sense re using the one on the axle.



Here's a pic show the difference between the new and the old rear sprockets:

My original design was to use 1" angle iron to make a cage to hold two layers of two batteries each. It would be made structural as it fills the place where the motor was which was also integral to the structure of the bike since there is no lower frame member. The Lectra is very similar to what I was thinking:

http://www.electricmotion.org/