My First Taste Of Jelly Bean

So I did it, I took the leap and rooted my HTC One X.
I'm sick of reading blogs about Jelly Bean coming soon, and how well it's performing on the Galaxy Nexus, I decided I had to try it for myself.

OK, so it's not the most stable, and there are still a couple of little faults here and there, but nothing I can't live with. 


Plus, I know once HTC pull their finger out and finally release Jelly Bean with Sense, I can soon enough flash my HOX back to stock and get the update OTA.

Initial thoughts... Superb. Galaxy S3, eat your heart out! 

The new Google Project Butter really make the quad core Tegra 3 chip work, but wow! It works well. Screen transitions are amazing, instant and as the name suggests. Buttery smooth.

The other feature I've been eagerly awaiting to get my hands on it Google Now. I still haven't managed to get my teeth into it just yet, all I have done is open the app, but as soon as I did, I was amazingly impressed that it displayed local delays across trains, and roads in my local area and asking if I wanted suggestions to alternatives. That's Impressive.

That's about it for now... Just wanted to share my initial experience with Jelly Bean. I'll create a full write-up on it over the coming days once I've managed to get my teeth in to it completely.



Massive thanks to TripNDroid for this update, head over to XDA if you want to try it for yourself.

The Power Of Social Media

It's 2012, and we are well in to what we call 'The Digital Age'. Gone are the days of using maps, typewriters, stopping and asking for directions and having photo's developed at the local Boots. Every thing we do can be done at home, (or out on the move) at the flick of a button, or in most cases, the touch of a screen.

Mobile phones are more like pocket size devices which have many features, one of which happens to make calls, camera's, GPS navigation, email and of course, Social Media. 

Why Social Media? What is it that has us addicted to (over) sharing where we are, what we are doing, what we are thinking and in some cases what we are eating? Because if you turn back the clocks some 10 years, to a time when social media didn't exist, I don't ever remember receiving phone calls from friends telling me 'I'm at the cinema about to watch Jurassic Park', or "I'm just in the back garden, chilling in the sun with a glass of beer". This was information we just didn't really share. So, back to the question, 'Why?' Well that's simple - because we can.

But social media isn't just about sharing photo's, information and whereabouts with your friends... oh no! Brands are using it too. Big brands use the power of social media to gauge online interaction with their brand, to see what people are saying, see what people want and in some cases, even to monitor complaints. Which is what this post is focused on.

In the last couple of month, I have used Social Media, particularly Twitter, a couple of times to rant about my dissatisfaction at service levels from a couple of brands, but I did it in such a way that I knew the brand would see it in the hope they would take action, resulting in me receiving almost £150's worth of compensation from the 2. After all, no brand wants bad press. The brand's in question were First Great Western Trains (@FGW), for their poor train service this month, resulting in me missing connections and being late to work 7 times in one month and SCS Sofa's (@SCSSofas) for not delivering our new sofa when stated. Both of these brands picked up on my complaint and handled it very efficiently and left me extremely satisfied with the result. #WellDone ;)

So here's my 'Quick & Simple Guide To Complaining Via Social Media'

Step 1. Google 'Brand name twitter account'.

Chances are, if said brand have an account, Google will know it, and display it... For those of you not familiar with Twitter ID's, they all start with an '@' symbol. For example, mine is @Lynden2883

Step 2. Tweet Your Disgust.

Create a Tweet, this doesn't have to be Shakespeare's greatest work, and remember you only have 140 characters (including spaces), and you HAVE to get the Twitter ID in there too (maybe even a hash-tag). Make it simple, and make it instant. It's no good waiting until you have calmed down, it has to be there and then.

e.g. Really p*ssed off with @BrandName today, completely #RuinedMyDay, #Thanks

Step 3. Wait For A Reply.

If said brand have a Social Media team worth their salt, they should get back to you, and usually within a couple of hours. In both my cases, it has been within minutes. After all, that's what they are paid to do.

Step 4. Be Brazen.

My Mum always told me, "If you don't ask, you don't get"... so be brazen. Once they've replied, tell them what would make it better, what would be ample compensation for your miss-fortune / inconvenience. Don't ask for something that's clearly not going to happen, like the winning lottery ticket, or £500. But something realistic that you know should be well within their power.

Step 5. Show Gratitude... 

This is something I think people often forget. We are all too quick to complain when things go wrong, but not so quick to give praise when something is handled right. OK, so they messed your order up, or ruined your day, but this wasn't the fault of the customer care / social media team who handled your enquiry, so show a little gratitude in the way they handled it. Sometimes a simple 'Received #GreatCustomerService from @BrandName today, #Thanks :)' goes a long way, and will ensure that team, keeps working the way they did. :)

1 important thing to remember... 'The World Is Watching'. Whether someone follows you or not, there is a high chance that other people will see your tweets, especially if you are using hash tags in there too, and the brands know this also. So they want to be fast, they want to handle your problem, and most importantly, they want to be seen doing so. So use this to your ADVANTAGE!!! 

Go on. Embrace the Power Of Social Media!

A Day of Fun, Laughter and.... Screams!?

Right, off the bat, I have to say that up until Saturday, I'd never been to a theme park, and mostly for the reason that the appeal has never really been there to do so. I've never really seen the enjoyment out of standing in queues for hours on end waiting to go on a ride which lasts (in some cases) seconds...
However, my girlfriend and her family are on the other hand, the complete opposite. Regular visits to Alton Towers each year, holiday's to Disney World in Florida, Portaventura... basically, anywhere there are rollorcoasters... they are there. In short, they are theme park mad.

So when the suggestion of going to Thorpe Park came up, I wasn't particularly excited about it, but figured we were going as a group, so whatever happened, it would be a good day. After all, it was more for Sal's Birthday, as the family couldn't make it the weekend of her birthday, so we decided to do something the weekend before.

As the weeks went by and the weekend got closer, I began to look up the rides, and expected to start to feel some kind of nerves building up, but they didn't. Even when doing my research on the rides I was to expect, I didn't get that sense of 'Oh my god!'... I did however, really start to look forward to the weekend. More so because Sal was getting excited and it was a weekend with her family, which is when I know she is at her happiest.

We were up early doors on Saturday to ensure we got the Thorpe Park first thing and didn't have to queue for the tickets too much. As we got closer, I could see the rides sticking out above the horizon... OMG! These were big... You could see Stealth for miles... and they only got bigger the closer you get.

Once we were parked, got the tickets and were actually in the park, it's then you start to see how big these rides actually are. They tower above everything. Just watching them put a huge smile on my face and gave me a sense of excitement. The sense of excitement I had been looking for over the last couple of weeks.

The crew arrived and we were soon heading off around the park looking for the first ride to go on... As I'd never been before and had no idea about rollor coasters, I was happy to follow everyone's lead and go on whatever they wanted to throw at me first. But still, I had no sense of nerves... nothing was telling me 'this isn't such a good idea'... The first ride we headed for was Nemesis, and as we joined the queue the voice over the speaker said the estimated queuing time was 60 minutes... "60 minutes?... That's a lifetime"... But it wasn't... you stand there (luckily in the sun) chatting away, wandering through the landscaped queuing areas, ducking un-necessarily as the rollor coasters fly by, and actually find that time flies by almost as quick as the people on the ride only a mere couple of feet above your head.

It was only when we got to the very end of the queue, and I was strapped in, that the feeling of fear hit me... and boy did it hit me! Ha! I wasn't panicking, and wanting to get off, but that sense of butterflies that I'd been expecting (and forgotten about) suddenly hit me. By this time tho, it was far to late... We were off... 

The floor below me disappeared, and the coaster was off, ducking and diving through the trees even before we reached the climb to the first and major drop, almost preparing you for what was to come. my legs suspended below me, I decided the best thing was to just relax, and go with it, and boy... was it fun. OK... so it only lasted a minute, tops.. but wow.. the feeling was amazing.

This was the point where I realised why people happily queue for hours to go on a ride that lasts seconds... It was amazing.

Following Nemesis, we headed for Stealth... 0 - 80 in 2 seconds, then up to a height with a view which can only be described as 'breath taking', and then diving back down to the ground again and back into the finish. Must have been all of 10 seconds, but had to be the best rush I've ever experienced in my life. It all happened that fast that I can't exactly remember what was going through my head as we launched, but whatever it was, I must have screamed it, because when I got off, my throat was sore... That deep down sore you get following a night of partying, shouting and screaming. I loved it so much, I was ready to get to the back of the 1hr queue and go back on it again... But the day was drawing fast, and there were more rides to hit.

Next was Saw. We queued for 2 hours in the baking sun chatting away and having a laugh. Over this time, the ride broke down twice, and we contemplated walking away, but the ride was back up and running within 10 minutes max, and we were relieved we didn't walk off. After all, by this point, we'd been queuing for well over an hour. Saw was a different experience all together. I guess they had tried to encompass that feeling of fear, taken from the Saw movies. It was a very good ride, and had plenty of drops, twists and turns. But I spent more time trying to figure out where I was and what was happening to me, than actually enjoying it. So, I guess, it wasn't my favourite.

I think the only disappointment of the day was that Swarm broke down toward the end of the day, and we never got to go on it... But I'll be back, and that'll be the first coaster I make a B-line for :) 

Needless to say, I now have the bug and will be investing in some Merlin passes over the next couple of month's. With Thorpe Park only a 20 minute drive away from where I live, I'd be mad not to. But I'm also keen to now visit Alton Towers... I hear they have even more, bigger and better rides which I just have to experience.