Open source is the future. I will talk more about it--later.

I thought about writing this about a year(or less) ago. And I think I did write a few pieces about it but I wasn't able to find it--I have so many text file on my hard disk drive so I didn't have enough time to check out everything.
So I will write a piece first.


You can click here to what I talked about 'open source' in my twitter.



Long ago, Microsoft as evil empire or something.

Not so long ago--or a few or a decades ago, people called Microsoft as evil empire so when people mention about the MS(Microsoft), they wrote as 'M$' or something.
When I saw that 'M$', I thought that's how abbreviation works--or slang in English. At the time, I haven't learn English so I might slightly messed up my memories.



But time has changed.

screenshot @ 1:50p.m. February 7, 2020: Number of Linux distros on Microsoft Store

You can find number of Linux in Windows 10's Microsoft Store like photo above. One of the most famous open source project is Linux. And Windows 10 support it.

So I think I can say Windows 10 started to support Linux (kind of...) natively.

screenshot @ February 7, 2020: Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10's Windows features.

You probably need update Windows 10 to see the Windows Subsystem for Linux from Windows features like photo above.

Microsoft shipped full Linux kernel about last May which I tweeted about it:

#Microsoft will ship a full #Linux #kernel in #Windows10 https://t.co/ayFmtQ4zrR
Microsoft knew how world--software will change--#Opensource is the #future--#FOSS Linux.
One of the reason why I said "End of #iPhone--#MacOS." https://t.co/YMvJGEHYjY

— Seong Ara (@thinklogically) May 9, 2019

It was still development stage, I think.



And that's not all.

If you are using Android smartphone, you can go to find bunch of free Microsoft apps in Google's play store. Android is open source and Microsoft made a lots of apps for it.
And number of Microsoft's Windows application like calculator made it to the open source.

github.com is software development platform. And I think it is very famous website for the 'open source software project'.
And you can find so many github project from Microsoft--you can click here to see it yourself.

I just found Microsoft has open source project website opensource.microsoft.com.


See. I am quite sure that I can say 'time has changed'.



* I will talk more about it later. I don't know when can I write more but hopefully soon.

Huawei doing just fine with so much pressure from the USA.

I wrote about this in another blog which I can't put link here because that's totally different blog.
But at least, I will summarize it.


Huawei leading the 5G markets.

Here is the news about Huawei leading the 5G markets:

• Despite issues, Huawei leads the 5G market with 50 commercial contracts @ June 25, 2019
• Huawei says two-thirds of 5G networks outside China now use its gear – TechCrunch @ June 26, 2019
• youtube video - How Huawei is defying odds despite US pressure @ June 25, 2019
• youtube video - Huawei sales booming! CEO: US can't crush us @ June 25, 2019

the Chinese telecom equipment supplier managed to secure 50 commercial contracts worldwide making it the biggest 5G equipment supplier in the world.
....
Nokia and Ericsson take the second and third place with 30 and 18 contracts, respectively.
Huawei is dominating the market due to its 2160 5G SEP patents whereas Nokia holds 1516.
It appears that despite the US ban on Huawei's 5G equipment, the company managed to maintain its leadership worldwide.

quoted from GSMArena.com news - Despite issues, Huawei leads the 5G market with 50 commercial contracts @ June 25, 2019


Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei recently said that company's expected revenue will decrease about $30 billions. You can read news like this - Huawei says U.S. ban hurting more than expected, to wipe $30 billion off revenue - Reuters @ June 17, 2019
So if there has no 'Huawei ban', they probably had more 5G contracts. Worst situation but Huawei is doing just fine.



Huawei P30 series reaches 10 millions sales.

Many people and medias were saying that smartphone sales will be brutal because U.S. chip makers and OS(Operating System) software company can't sell their products to the Huawei.
I surely agree with that.

But some media reported completely wrong information like this - Huawei price shock? Where can I buy that $130 P30 Pro you mentioned? @ May 27, 2019
I agree that secondhand price will be go down because of Huawei ban. But who want to sell their 1,000 dollars smartphone for 130 dollars?

They think Trump is the God that Huawei ban can destroy a company--easily destroy sold products...or something. Or they think Chinese products are all rubbish that they can get it for free.. Or something.

Huawei shipped over 10 million units of P30 series in 85 days - #MWC19

this smartphone series has now exceeded global shipment of 10 million units in just 85 days.

quoted(include photo) from Huawei Central - Huawei shipped over 10 million units of P30 series in 85 days @ June 27, 2019 by Deng Li



This is news from GSMArena.

....in just 85 days - that's two full months faster than the P20 phones. Also, it's a new 3-month sales record for Huawei phones.

And that's not all -

the Huawei P30 Pro received the "Best Smartphone" award from the European Hardware Awards. The SuperSpectrum and SuperZoom camera technologies were touted as major innovations by over 100 tech editors.

One more thing about smartwatch:

The company shipped 5 million units in the first three months of this year - according to an IDC report that's a growth of 282% year over year. Huawei is now a Top 3 smartwatch maker.

quoted from GSMArena.com news - Huawei P30 series reaches 10 million sales in 85 days @ June 27, 2019


That SuperSpectrum is what I previously wrote about--the 'dark sight' - Huawei P30 Pro has not only super zoom. Dark sight, too. @ June 6, 2019
Huawei P30 Pro can take photo in the dark area so it probably far better than any other better low light camera like P20 series, Mate 20 series and Google Pixel 3 series.

Xiaomi Mi 8 selfie vertical video upload resolution problem-to youtube. Orientation problem.

I didn't really try to recording video with my smartphone before. And especially use with selfie camera.

But nowadays I'm thinking about recording video because it seems to me that not many people (in my country) trying to read article from the internet--especially like my blog--because I don't lure people.

Anyway, after record video with front camera, I think video quality wasn't bad. Actually it was quite nicer than I expected.

So I tried to uploaded to youtube but video resolution was reduced to 480p.

I think it has some problem with vertical video resolution, Mi 8 recorded vertical mode in slight different(or proper) way--like photo with portrait setting. 

but as you can see, video quality isn't good because it's jut 480p video.

So I googled about it and it looks like nowadays youtube will recognise 1080p video very well if uploaded video file is 1080p.

I uploaded it again(and again) with different filename--because if it's same filename, it became duplicate video. But it was same 480p video.

And I realised that video is vertical video so I googled about it--with keyword like this - 'youtube vertical video quality'.

Last year, youtube properly work with vertical video--without black bars.

Xiaomi Mi 8 portrait video is like photo's--based on orientation info.

And it seems to me that if it's 1080p vertical video, youtube properly work. So why my video wasn't uploaded it as 1080p video.

So it must be problem with my video file.

And I remembering some playback issue with PotPlayer which is video player in Windows 10. Last time, it did rotate whole screen to play this vertical--portrait video.

Screenshot of vertical-portrait video's media information in VLC player.

As you can see in the photo.

Video resolution is 1920x1080. If it's portrait video, it should be 1080x1920, right?

So how this can play as portrait mode?

You can see next highlight item in the photo. Orientation is 'Bottom right'. I don't' know what it refer to the 'Bottom right' is but I know this orientation thing when I was trying to editing the photos.

Sometime, this orientation things make mess when I am trying to editing it or uploading it to photo sharing websites.

So I had to use open source software Shotcut for just export to mp4 file. After that, I can upload to 1080p which you can see from below:

I'm not quite sure where should I report this issue. Xiaomi Mi 8's video shouldn't record like that--don't use orientation setting or something. Or youtube should properly recognise orientation setting in video files.

Or I didn't use properly like need some setting in portrait video mode (there has no other settings though) or something.

Biggest mobile news in Korea is Xiaomi Mi 9 will launch in Korea very soon.

Xiaomi Mi 9 will launch in Korea very soon.

photos from Xiaomi Korea - facebook page

photo source: Xiaomi Korea - facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Xiaomikorea/posts/2466980393536012


I think this is the first photo that appear in online from Lotte Himart facebook page:

photos from lotte himart - facebook page

photo source: Hi-mart - facebook page https://www.facebook.com/himart/photos/a.497185556997055/2265694890146104/



Competition makes better for all of us.....

This is actually great news because Korea smartphone market became terrible for customers--because Samsung dominated market too long.--One of most expensive Samsung smartphone in the world.
No competition is terrible for consumer which led to slow innovation because company just charge more without any improvement.

That's why Huawei ban is terrible for whole world--see this Huawei P30 Pro has not only super zoom. Dark sight, too. @ June 6, 2019
You can see how much Huawei improved P30 Pro from previous P20 Pro.


I tweeted this before because people don't realise how important for having a competition.

Sadly. People were way and way too much #brainwashed. "If there was no #Apple to help show us the world, we would not see the beauty of this world."
Maybe I see world differently but #competition makes better for all of us. If you understand that very meaning, you will agree.. https://t.co/gPhhs7bnMA

— Seong Ara (@thinklogically) May 28, 2019

If you read  Huawei P30 Pro has not only super zoom. Dark sight, too. @ June 6, 2019, you realise that Huawei already leading the new smartphone camera technology--innovation--but people still believe iPhone or Galaxy was the best smartphone camera in the world.
In truth, even Xiaomi Mi 9--which is one of cheapest smartphone in the world, already taking better photos than Apple iPhone.


You can see the review from DxOMark: Xiaomi Mi 9 camera review - DxOMark @ February 20, 2019.
And you can read this: DxOMark: Xiaomi Mi 9 camera better than every iPhone @ February 20, 2019.


If you read about camera review of Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro and recent P30 and P30 Pro, you can find that video wasn't that great than iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S series.
But Xiaomi Mi 9 is not only good at photos and video footage, too.

It should also be noted that the Mi 9 scored the highest ever in DxOMark’s video tests. With a score of 99, the Mi 9 is the best smartphone you can buy for video footage, according to DxOMark.

quoted from DxOMark: Xiaomi Mi 9 camera better than every iPhone @ February 20, 2019

Now Galaxy S10 5G got one more point--100 than Mi 9 though.

Even if you don't put much stock into DxOMark scores for various reasons, it can't be denied that Xiaomi is offering the full package with the Mi 9. With a top-of-the-line camera, a state-of-the-art processor, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and many other high-end features, a Mi 9 gives you most everything you could want for hundreds less than the competition.

quoted from DxOMark: Xiaomi Mi 9 camera better than every iPhone @ February 20, 2019


Xiaomi Mi 9 will costs around USD $450 which is 6GB + 128GB version.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 in its base, 6GB/128GB tier will cost 2,999 yuan, just about $445. The 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB tiers cost 3,299 yuan and 3,999 yuan respectively.

quoted from Xiaomi Mi 9: Official specs, pricing, release date w/ Snapdragon 855, triple-camera, 20W wireless charging, $445 - 9to5Google @ February 20, 2019



Smartphone markets need more competitive price.

It can be much cheaper because there has 6GB + 64GB version.
Someone asked about price in Korea--in Xiaomi Korea's facebook page. Mi 9 wasn't released yet in Korea so I'm just guessing--I wrote it like this:

I think it probably cost around USD $420-ish. Or 420,000 won ~ 549,000 won for 6G 64G version--I'm just guessing.
If it's expensive than that, you can always buy from Aliexpress which you can buy it for USD $385-ish--without tax though.

In Korea, Samsung Galaxy S10 costs about USD $890. And Galaxy S10 plus costs about USD $976. You can compare this price with Amazon--I just saw about $680 for Galaxy S10 and $780 for S10 plus. Why do you think Samsung can charge this much--one of most expensive smartphone in world. Because there is no competition in Korea--that's why I said 'competition is better for all of us.'

In Korea, you can buy much cheaper price but that means you have to pay more for mobile carrier's plan. If you spend so much money to the mobile carrier's plan, you will get discount price for the phone. So it's not really the discount.

So Mi 9 costs less than half price of Samsung's.
So it will be good for the customer and good for the market, too. Because they cannot charge more for the brand-name.

Huawei P30 Pro has not only super zoom. Dark sight, too.

I heard about Huawei P30 Pro's super zoom capabilities. Because P30 Pro has periscope lens which can optically zoom in for 5x.
It isn't end there because it can do 50x zoom which isn't optical zoom though.

You can easily find article like this:

Seeing the Huawei P30 Pro 50x Zoom In Action Is Really Impressive @ April 1, 2019

or you can see super zoom in action from youtube video:

Huawei P30 Pro's 50X SuperZoom in Action! @ March 27, 2019

And then suddenly the US president Trump and his administration added Huawei to the entity list which means any U.S company is not allow to do business with Huawei. More simple term is "Huawei ban".

So I didn't have time to know more about Huawei P30 and P30 Pro.

And I just found this youtube video:

The Huawei P30 Pro Is The Low Light Camera King And It's Not Close by ben's gadget reviews.

P30 Pro can take photo in the pitch black--dark sight.

I took screenshot from the video:

Screenshot of youtuber ben's gadget reviews' P30 Pro pitch black dark shot.

As you can see, it was very dark alley. And P30 Pro can take a photo like that.

Screenshot of youtuber ben's gadget reviews' P30 Pro pitch black dark shot.

Here is the comparison shot--P30 Pro vs iPhone XS vs Galaxy S10 vs V40.

Screenshot of youtuber ben's gadget reviews' P30 Pro pitch black dark shot.

Same comparison shot but different location-indoor pitch black shot.

As you can see, P30 Pro made whole new concept of nighttime photography--with just smartphone.
I would say P30 Pro blows competition--Google's night sight, out of the water.
And I'd like to name the P30 Pro's night mode as 'dark sight'.


Here is interesting comments that I'd like to share:

Screenshot of youtuber ben's gadget reviews' P30 Pro pitch black dark shot video's comments.

jim kuan commented:
If Apple were to do this, they will make a huge deal out of it.  They will have convention style announcement and give it names like "Quantum Retina Night" technology of the future.  And Huawei just puts it in their phones and says, "oh, by the way, we got a camera that can shoot in dark." 

Anyway, when I saw that video, I tweeted about it like this:

I know @Huawei #P20Pro #nightmode can beat the #Pixel3XL which most of people believe best #lowlight in @Android #smartphone.
Now #P30Pro changed whole concept of #nightmode-it's #darksight
The Huawei P30 Pro Is The Low Light Camera King And It's Not Close https://t.co/Idmr5K9v2w

— Seong pill kon (@ungeekiness) June 5, 2019

You probably need more evidence. So I will put some more articles.

Huawei's P30 Pro has the best low-light camera, better even than Google’s Pixel Night Sight, and it sets a new benchmark for night photography.

quoted from Huawei's P30 Pro raises the bar for low-light photography @ April 1, 2019 by Vlad Savov

Very low light: No contest

The P30 Pros ability to shoot in the dark is downright amazing. In fact, the darker it gets, the more stunning the results compared to any other smartphone out there.

quoted from Huawei P30 Pro vs Pixel 3 XL: The ultimate low-light camera comparison @ April 2, 2019


Below one is the good example. Author tried to do the blind test but he couldn't...

Huawei ruined our comparison

The initial idea behind this article was to take the best smartphones available on the market in terms of photographic capabilities, take pictures in dimly lit environments or at night, and then have you vote to choose the best shot. However, Huawei managed to ruin the comparison: P30 Pro in most scenes is unbeatable and too easily recognizable.

quoted from Huawei P30 Pro ruined our night camera blind test @ April 24, 2019 by Luca Zaninello



Huawei sets new standards in mobile photography with P20 Pro--and P30 Pro, too.

Many people think that Google Pixel 3 XL's night sight is game changer. But Huawei P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro actually beat the Pixel 3 XL include night sight--which not many people know.


Here is the some of things you probably didn't know because people in your country don't use Chinese smartphone.

Marvelous! Huawei sets new standards in mobile photography with the Leica Triple Camera, and....

Overall, the P20 Pro offers the most comprehensive and flexible package, with the best image quality in terms of our comparison devices.....

The big advantage for the P20 Pro is its Leica Triple Camera, which blows the Mate 10 Pro and the competition out of the water.....

Huawei has set new standards for mobile photography with its Leica Triple Camera. The P20 Pro is the device against which all other smartphone cameras will now be compared.

quoted from NotebookCheck.net Reviews - Huawei P20 Pro Smartphone Review @ April 20, 2018 by Daniel Schmidt


I don't really bother to checking out DXOmark score because DSLR cameras and lenses weren't that reliable source to get to know the DSLR camera and lens.
But smartphone was quite simpler than DSLR or mirrorless camera. Because photographer's diversity of photographing chances and styles with variety combination of DSLR camera and lenses makes hard to justify the DXOmark score.


When the Huawei P20 Pro was reviewed, there has no match to any other smartphone.
You can read more details in the review.

Conclusion: Game changer

We are used to every new smartphone camera generation being slightly better than the previous one, but looking at the images and test results from the P20 Pro, it seems Huawei has skipped one or two generations. The results are simply that good. The P20 Pro’s triple camera setup is the biggest innovation we have seen in mobile imaging for quite some time and is a real game changer.

quoted from Huawei P20 Pro camera review: Innovative technologies, outstanding results @ March 27, 2018 by Lars Rehm


You can find similar talking like this about people in your country don't use Huawei smartphone:

A majorly disappointing aspect of this entire test is just how unlikely it is for the US is ever to see a Huawei-made handset.

quoted from Pixel 3 Night Sight vs Mate 20 Pro Night Mode - 9to5Google @ December 3, 2018 by Damien Wilde
I will just quote some:

There isn't tons of detail but from what we had to work with initially, I think that Huawei seems to handle lighting a little better than the Pixel in my experience with both smartphones.....

Instantly with the Pixel and Night Sight, we see a greater level of detail, but it feels a little whitewashed overall.

As you can read this 'a little whitewashed overall', right?

The Pixel's eagerness to whiten up images in Night Sight is....

The Pixel tends to whiten up warmly lit scenes, which we feel does rob them of their ambience....

....it will handle incandescent lights better and preserve the vibe of the scene.

quoted from Night mode ON: Pixel 3 vs. Mate 20 Pro : Night Sight vs. Night mode @ November 23, 2018 by GSMArena team

You can read last part--"preserve the vibe of the scene".

Is this the reason why people trying to take photo of?
If you are familiar with computer, you will know the term wysiwyg--what you see is what you get. Whitening the scene wasn't that great way, right?

I'm not just making this up.
Here is the comment from Pixel 3 Night Sight vs Mate 20 Pro Night Mode - 9to5Google @ December 3, 2018

Screenshot of comments from Pixel 3 Night Sight vs Mate 20 Pro Night Mode - 9to5Google.

Skipper commented:

I use a Pixel 3, but one of its problems is photos look fake. Don't get me wrong, I love tinkering with instagram's filters, but come on, if you compare 3's photos with the 20pro, it's pretty obvious that 20pro is more realistic with 3 physical cameras capturing a "wider" aperture look, while Pixel's digital light enhancement is just that, "digitally enhanced", which mean "fake" look by tuning up highlights and shadows.

SF Media commented:

both are amazing..but the pixel is too bright for a night.

Anyway, Pixel 3's night sight probably improved a lot and Pixel 4 which wasn't come out yet, might be better.

But Huawei P30 Pro again made whole new concept of nighttime photography--with smartphone. And super-zoom, too.

Game changer phones which not many countries were available to buy. Because the U.S president Trump and his administration trying to destroying one private company--Huawei.

$150-ish Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Global Rom version already support widevine L1.

I don't watch Netflix or Amazon prime so I didn't know what this widevine thing is.

But I could find some question about it in Xiaomi MIUI Official Forum which currently merged with Mi Community.

Xiaomi flagship Mi 8 is still L3.

Mi 8 is Xiaomi flagship smartphone line--Mi series which was released last year and this year, Xiaomi released Mi 9.

So people are saying Mi 8 is Xiaomi's flagship smartphone but why Mi 8 don't support widevine L1 which is important because L1 device only support HD in Netflix and Amazon prime.

Screenshot of Xiaomi Mi 8's DRM Info 1/2

Screenshot of Xiaomi Mi 8's DRM Info 2/2

If you see the first screenshot, you can see the Mi 8's firmware version info. - 10.3.2.0 which is Miui global stable newest version.

And L3 from the second screenshot.

You can read about Widevine from Wikipeida

or I will just quote from important part from Widevine digital rights management explained @ December 11, 2017

Android devices support either L1 or L3 security levels, depending on hardware and software implementations, as does Chrome OS. 

If your device is only L3 compliant, you're capped at sub-HD resolutions. Only L1 secure devices.....play back HD or higher quality content...

Redmi Note 7 launched in Korea and it's widevine L1.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 was launched in Korea at April 15, 2019. And this model probably is same model like European version which had global version.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Korean version - Global Version.

After launched in Korea, I heard that Redmi Note 7 support widevine L1 from Xiaomi community in Korea. But I don't have a Redmi Note 7 to screenshot myself.

And I just bought it a few days ago so I did capture the screen.

Screenshot of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7's DRM Info 1/2

Screenshot of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7's DRM Info 2/2

You can see the Redmi Note 7's firmware version info. - 10.2.8.0 which is Miui global stable version.

And L1 from the second screenshot.

HD streaming isn't available yet in Netflix, probably.

I don't subscribe to Netflix so I don't know.

But some people are saying HD streaming wasn't available in Redmi Note 7 which suppose to work because it support widevine L1.
But I heard that you can download HD video files in Redmi Note 7.

I don't know much about this so you should ask about it to Netflix.

And you can check Netflix's help page about the "Using Netflix on your Android phone or tablet".

Huawei price shock? Where can I buy that $130 P30 Pro you mentioned?

Here is the article - Huawei Price Shock: Value Of Flagship $1150 P30 Pro Comes Crashing Down To $130 @ May 26, 2019
saying that it values $130. Because of Huawei ban.

On the same site, the Huawei P30 Pro, also in good condition, will now return just £100, less than $130. It has lost almost 90% of its value.


"Trade-in prices for the P20 Pro are now as low as £50," which quoted from U.K.'s Express newspaper--P20 Pro SHOCK as Huawei fans suffer most devastating news yet | Express.co.uk @ May 25, 2019

Quoted from Huawei Price Shock: Value Of Flagship $1150 P30 Pro Comes Crashing Down To $130 @ May 26, 2019

This newspaper screenshot the trade-in values from MusicMagpie websites.

But as you can see from the photo, they were selling refurbished Huawei P20 Pro for £314.99 to £459.99.
So they can make £300 to £400 from cleaning the phone? Is this what people call it as "rip-off"?

Huawei price shock? Where can I buy that $130 P30 Pro or  £50 P20 Pro you mentioned?

If you can't see clearly, you can use this link--google photo link.


Trade-in company don't want to risk--because of Huawei ban. Sure, price will drop because of update issue.
But it doesn't mean secondhand price drop like £50. See above--in the photo. Even musicmagpie.co.uk sell £350 but buy £50?
Huawei P30 Pro return just £100, less than $130??

Do some research--you don't even need to be in UK to find out--> Just google with "second hand p20 pro in uk".

If price drop like that, people will buy it form there and sell to other country--that's why a lot of people carry iPhone to sell other country--several years ago.

If I can buy P30 Pro for $130, I will surely buy it --3 or 5 of them. And P20 Pro for £50, I will go to buy 3 or 5 of them.
And if I can't sell it in my country(because almost nobody use Huawei phone), that's okay. Because I can give to all my family and friends.


* Many times, ebay.com won't sell many Huawei smartphone--or Xiaomi smartphone. I know this because I did try to buy it from there. I think reason is not many people (in the USA), using Chinese smartphone. So I don't think it will impact rest of the world--I mean secondhand price of Huawei smartphone.

* Here is the list of link that I use in the photo:

• ebay - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=huawei+p20+pro&_sop=15
• musicmagpie - https://store.musicmagpie.co.uk/category/?keyword=huawei%20p20%20pro
• gumtree - https://www.gumtree.com/other-mobile-phones/uk/huawei+p20+pro
• gumtree - https://www.gumtree.com/search?featured_filter=false&urgent_filter=false&sort=date&search_scope=false&photos_filter=false&search_category=all&q=huawei+p30+pro&tq=&search_location=

Gameloft's new way to cheat customer - Asphalt 8 blueprint update.

I was very disappointed about how Gameloft update the game--last year, I think. So I didn't play like a year.

Recently I wasn't very interest to watch movie--which is one of my favourite thing, in my free time. So I'd like to try something else and I decided to try Asphalt 8 again.


Back to Asphalt 8.

I have quite number of cars so I can enjoy some TLE(Time-Limited Event) and MP(Multiplayer). And I can find quite number of new things like Blueprint, Porsche, new map-Patagonia and among other things.

It wasn't easy to familiar with Patagonia map because I don't have new car to try that in career mode or mastery challenge. So I had to do playing so long time in MP because in MP, I can choose the map.


Not bad, I thought.

Doing TLE, I don't have C, B, A and S class king anymore. I don't mind playing with second or third best car. So that's fine.
Actually I was quite surprised that D class king is Mazda RX8.

So at least, I don't have to buy other D class cars and upgrade it--which required credits farming for several hours--doing same thing over, over, , , , , , and over which makes me feel boring.


Anyway, I don't really try to get the cars I don't own because I don't want to do that credits farming.
But I do enjoy playing in multiplayer league(even in free race) so I thought about get good multiplayer cars.
I have some but it was lower rank car so it takes long time to finish the race.

So I try to learn about this Blueprint thing.



Asphalt 8 Exclusive deal.

Here is exclusive deal:

screenshot - Asphalt 8 Exclusive Deals

Exclusive deals.. It sounds very nice, right?
So even Asphalt 8 wikia said like this:

screenshot - Exclusive Deals | Asphalt Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

in addition to massive price drops in offers' prices, partially due to players' complaints.
- source FANDOM powered by Wikia website - Exclusive Deals | Asphalt Wiki

Massive price drop.
Why they can do massive price drop? It was extremely expensive in first place, right?

Some of items, it was slightly discounted for sure.

As you can see first photo, 5 of Extra Tank for 560 tokens. One extra tank price was 200 tokens. So it was really great price.



But not so fast....

See this Blueprint price. Just one Porsche 959 BP, Porsche Cayman GT4 BP for 150 tokens.

According to the Wikia website's Porsche 959 page:

The Porsche 959 costs 1,100 tokens to purchase, according to the game's internal data. Otherwise, the car must be assembled with 14 Porsche 959 BP cards.
....
For a limited time, it is possible to purchase Porsche 959 Full BP Pack, which contains all 14 Blueprints required to build the 959, at cost of 1,600 tokens, 500 tokens higher than the hidden purchase price.

You can even ignore game's internal data. Gameloft offered 1,600 tokens to 14 blueprints. So about 114.28 tokens for one bp card.
But this exclusive deal sell the car for 2,100 tokens. So this is 500 tokens higher than the limited time offer which is 500 tokens higher than game's internal data.


According to the Wikia website's Porsche Cayman GT4 page:

According to the game's internal data, the Porsche Cayman GT4 costs 2,500 tokens to purchase. To obtain normally, the car must be assembled after collecting 35 Common Porsche Cayman GT4 BP cards.

Unfortunately, this car don't have information like Porsche 959.
One bp card costs 150 tokens. This car need 35 cards to assembled car. So it will cost 5,250 tokens.

As you can see, Gameloft really try to sell twice the original price.

But what you have to know is that this original price was higher than previous cars and they don't perform better than that price.


Their car price was sky-rocketed--because every update, Gameloft did double and triple the cars and earn credits or tokens were not really increased.



Hide price and secretly double or triple the price.

You probably don't believe me. So I will show one more evidence.

I've got other special offer--this one actually made me realised all this.

screenshot - Asphalt 8 Special Offer: Mosler Super GT BP
Grants 10 cards. 1 will be a Blueprint card for the Mosler Super GT!

Special Offer: Mosler Super GT BP for 1,850 tokens. I remember the some blueprints box so I searched it in Asphalt 8 wikia websites.
According to the Wikia website's Pro Boxes page:

Racer Construction Box - Grants 5 random Blueprint cards for 1,100 tokens.
Expert Construction Box - Grants 10 random Blueprint cards for 2,225 tokens.

Expert Construction Box cost 2,225 tokens so it was good price, I thought.
When I tried to upload this screen shot to that wikia website's Pro Boxes page, I found this explanation: Grants 10 cards. 1 will be a Blueprint card for the Mosler Super GT!
I was like 'what?'

10 random cards box costs for 1,850 tokens? If I want to spend that token, I will buy two of champion kit box which I will get 60 cards.

Again, I checked price from Wikia.

According to the Wikia website's Mosler Super GT page:

The Mosler Super GT has a buying price of 14,000 tokens. As of the Car Blueprints Update, the Mosler Super GT can be crafted after obtaining 18 Mosler Super GT BP cards.

This car previously sell with token. So I can exactly calculate. 18 blueprint cards for 14,000 tokens. So one blueprint card costs 777.7778 tokens.

That means 1,072 tokens for other 9 random cards. Champion kit box is 30 cards with at least 10 will be rare or legendry box only cost 950 tokens. Expert Kit box is 8 random cards and it only cost 200 tokens.



Here is the someone commented in Wikia website's Car Blueprints Update page:

After this update many cars that can be obtained by tokens or from events like EDD/R&D has been made into bp cars. So now let's say the Fenyr needs 14k tokens to buy when offer for a limited time. But now it's 20 legendary bps which means 20x2250=45000 tokens. Lol the price is more than tripled. Also if you are not very lucky then you can never get any legendary bps from credits boxes. So those cars has been made almost impossible to get.
12 days ago by A FANDOM user

What I see is... Gameloft make this blueprint for hide price so nobody knew exact price. And then secretly double and triple the price for saying 'Exclusive Deal', 'Great Deal', 'Special Offer'.
It actually means double and triple price deal.


I strongly suggest to check the Asphalt 8 wikia website before you buy those deals.

This is the reality---how Apple fanboy dominated this world. - Reality of web storage service.

I've got photos from friend--

screenshot from Best Of Quora facebook page

I didn't even read whole thing because I know the cost of web storage.

So I wrote in my facebook timeline:

This is the reality---how Apple fanboy dominated this world.
Do you know how much does it cost for 5giga byte storage for internet?
Do you know flickr.com even give you free for about 200 times more size--1 tera byte of hard disk? Of course, they will display the advertisement but it was soo small that you will not even notice it.
Are you living in stone age that you think 5 giga byte of storage were some kind of miracle size?
Go and learn how internet became nowadays.

It wasn't really unlimited storage. And it wasn't started like that.

I was quite strange that Google give unlimited storage because there has limit. What I know is it will reduce the size, that's why I've got only 15 giga byte which isn't free at first, if I'm not mistaken.

Google advertised when you buy the android phone, you will get 15 giga byte of web storage.
I thought that 15 giga byte of web storage was really big about 3 to 5(??) years ago. But actually it wasn't.
Because I'm sharing with all of my google services like email, google docs, drives, photos, videos and even here--my blog service.


See. Actually it wasn't big. Because each product has 3 to 5 giga byte which is almost same as any other service.
For example, wordpress which is same as blogger here, give 3 giga byte of storage. You can read details here-Adding Storage Space — Support — WordPress.com
Other example, dropbox which is same as google drive, give 2 giga byte of storage. You can read details here-How much does Dropbox cost? - Dropbox Help - Dropbox
Onedrive which is same as google drive, give 5 giga byte of storage. You can read details here-Microsoft OneDrive Plans


People--even internet technology news writer, actually don't know why google give 15 giga byte. And they think google gave it for free because it was big.


Some of us know 15 giga byte was actually not big. So does Google.



Unlimited storage but compressed image--that means image quality will loss.

So Google offer the unlimited storage with limited photo size. I probably confused about this but if I'm not mistaken, they reduce the size more than half size if it was even 13 mega pixel. That's why I choose upload photos with original quality. I choose that almost year ago, I think.


Google Photos: Unlimited storage for free, with a few gotchas @ June 1, 2015 By Todd Ogasawara

Google Photo gives you unlimited storage space if you are willing to limit photo resolution to 16 megapixels and video resolution to 1080p. You do have the option to store at higher resolutions, but the storage counts against your Google Drive quota.

But it's not only photo resolution. It will compressed image, too.

Choose the upload size of your photos and videos - Google Photos Help

Photos are compressed to save space. If a photo is larger than 16MP, it will be resized to 16MP.

Or if you can buy a Google Pixel phone, you will get unlimited storage without those limitation. You can read here - Google is giving free, unlimited original-quality photo and video backups with the Pixel phones @ Oct 4, 2016 by Lauren Goode




Wait a sec. So Google only offer that much!?

Facebook, almost everyone using nowadays, right?
I've never seen any limitation of photos. People kept uploading it, don't they?
Yes, reduced photo quality(like Google does or more) and size but they gave almost(??) unlimited size, don't they?

How about Instagram?
Do I heard any limitation about photo uploading?
Yes, reduced photo quality(it wasn't much, I think. More for the size, I guess) and size. But they gave almost(??) unlimited storage, don't they?


How about flickr.com which I mentioned very earlier.
Yes, they offer 1 tera byte of storage.



Do you think do I have to find out all the other websites about the offer? It's enough, right?


See the title of this article. "This is the reality--how Apple fanboy dominated this world."
That's why Quora.com who has best answer. And choose that--Apple fanatic side of story, for the best of quora.



P.S. Slightly different but almost same story - Illogical idea ruled internet--especially social networking sites. @ March 17, 2017 - my other blog.

P.S. (at April 3, 2019): I found this question at quora.com - Why does Google offer unlimited storage for photos via Google Photos app? What's in it for Google?
So many answers include what I mentioned here.
Interesting thing is nobody talked about facebook or instagram. Because I'm sure they know about the websites and very likely using the websites. But they don't even know facebook and instagram gave unlimited photo storage like Google does--I'm sure some of their friends uploaded thousands and thousands of photos.

Asphalt 8 - Possible short cut for Ipenema Showdown map. Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe cup.

This recent Rio update was came out with new map-Rio de Janeiro.

It's still early to tell this is fastest route.

I played it for Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe cup in Asphalt 8 Time-limited event.

And my car rank was 1058--upgrade to 5223, pro to 3124.

Elite tune up was max for top speed (273.3 km/h) and nitro (45.1km/h). You can see all this in the youtube video below.

I didn't use any booster and finished at 1:16:395.

So if you use double booster and upgrade a bit for top speed, you probably can finish less than 1:10:000 for the Mid-tech cards.

Screenshot of Asphalt 8 TLE, Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe cup

Asphalt 8's RnD is hard and expensive. But you can do it only for rewards. @ October 18, 2015

I wrote this at Asphalt Wikia website which also has free blogging system.

RnD is hard and expensive. But you can do it only for rewards. @ October 18, 2015, personal blog at Asphalt Wikia website.

I didn't played it quite while because of this horrible lag--video recorded and uploaded at youtube: Asphalt 8 - Summer's Over update with huge lag huge lag starting after cave(set time frame around 1:27 - 1:48) so you can skip to the that part, if you'd like to see the lag.

I had an accident and then I was in hospital for awhile so I started play it again. And this recent Enduro Update(also call the 2016 Hot Summer Update)--Enduro double down challenge and R&D (Research & Development) series, I'd like to talk about.
So before do this, I'd like to explain this first.


P.S. All the links are detail information about the Asphalt 8 game terms from Asphalt Wikia page. So if you'd like to know more, you can click to read details.



---------------------
Quite number of people in google+'s Asphalt 8 communities said that R&D was quite doable within 15 days. But what you have to realised is that many of people in that communities were mostly pro-ish player. Of course, they will never say such thing. But what I see is they mostly achieve within top 1,000 (even 300 or 500) in TLE(Time-Limited Event). If I'm not mistaken, about a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand(in Android) people are playing that TLE. So top 1,000 out of 200,000+ players. Was I wrong to call it pro-ish player?


Not only that, you have to maxed out and almost pro-ish car to win the car. And other hard part is every 3 hours to refill the key to play.

You can see the maxed out cost from here, as you can see 2.5 million credits needed. And you need number of S class cards, Mid-Tech and V10 engine cards. And more credits for pro upgrade.


It is so hard that quite number of people saying that they spent 1,000+ tokens to win the car and couldn't sleep because every 3 hours to play the R&D.


So am I have chance to win? I think not. So I planned to not play it at first. But R&D is there so I tried it with just first upgrade(cheapest upgrade part) and it was quite doable, I felt. So I only played it for rewards and not spending any credits and pro cards.


So what I'd like to suggest is playing it only for rewards. So don't upgrade it and have a good sleep. And play it only when you want to play it.

Lamborghini Huracán cheapest Upgrades with two free upgrades from R&D

I only spent first upgrade--because it's always cheap, so total 38,450 credits. Other two upgrade was from R&D rewards--I tried to spent my other S Class upgrade but it wasn't possible. And zero pro upgrade.



And I played it only during the day. And two or three days, I played only 2 or 3 times only.

R&D test 15 only with max 1-2-1-2(2 of upgrades from R&D rewards)

But as you can see, I am in Test 15.


But I think this test is my final stage (or maybe one or two more test) with those upgrades because many times(more than half of times), I failed to finish first which is main objective.

R&D test 015, many times failed like this with max 1-2-1-2

I can't catch up beginning part and then they crashed in front of me so I couldn't get out of from it. And then those ai cars are so fast that one or two mistakes made me loose the first position and then I couldn't catch up.


Of course, I might use double booster(Nitro Starter and Tuning Kit) all the time but I don't want to wasting my credits for rubbish car.

I am using the boosters when I have remains from the TLE.


If you do it like me, you can get quite bunch of tokens, S Class cards and a few Mid-Tech Cards.


So you can play it in the mood of relax. Not pressure to win the car.

It's more enjoyable for me.


Thank you.


p.s. I did that test for 4+ days. And I passed that test but I can't beat that ai in test 16 so that's end of it for me.

Anyway, I'm trying to do in Windows now and I did upgrade it to 1-3-1-1. But I don't think I can pass test 16 but hopefully it wasn't that hard in test 15.

Gameloft has some insignificant rules for Asphlat 8....

Last year or before last year, I've been played Asphalt 8: Airborne quite seriously.
That's why I even bought Google Nexus Player.

Asphalt 8: Airborne, played in 27 inch led monitor (hdmi) which connected to Nexus Player
with wired Xbox360 game controller

And during that time, I did write something in Wikia blog about the Asphalt 8 game--User blog: Visually in Wikia.

And they are still doing same thing so I have to keep it here.

You can read recent comment from Asphalt 8: Airborne - Asphalt Wiki - Wikia page
and one hot discussion topic is--Asphalt 8: Airborne is dead.

You will read many people complaining about the extremely expensive car price, max out and pro-ing price.

Originally I wrote here: Gameloft has some insignificant rule for.... @ August 31, 2015

---
Someone asked "Why are all the new cars faster than the old ones?" in Gameloft's forum.

So I replied

I think new car(or update) problem come from something else.

I don't know why. But GL has some insignificant rules for new car which is it must be extremely expensive to buy and to maxing and proing(??) the car.

That's the reason all new car must be better than old car, I think.

Gameloft has some insignificant rules for new car must be extremely expensive to buy, to max out and pro the car.


People are saying that mastery challenge can easily farm credits so it's not a big deal.

But 1+ or 2+ millions credits(buy, max out and pro) for D class car is nothing? I didn't think so.


---
Someone commented that player can get free (D or C class) upgrades from win streak which involves continuously winning in Multiplayer.


But in reality, (of course, except pro racer who probably easily obtain win streak) 20 upgrades to save a million (or half million) credits that means 20 multiply by 9 win streaks(D class would be 7). 180 games(D class would be 140 games) that you have to continuously win.

And unfortunately, you can't expect all the win streak will give you the C upgrade (or D upgrade). Because that randomness sometimes go crazy--like keep give you the 1x Nitro Starter. That makes 200+ games. Possibly 250+ games continuously win--I mean within 3rd place.

And if you are bump with triple booster, you will loose win streak easily. So sometimes, you have to do it all over again.



Of course, you can level up cheaper one with credits and only expensive one to get free C (or D) upgrade.

But as you can see, it takes so much effort to do the kept winning. And not many people can win all the time(of course, you can race with triple booster but that's painfully expensive especially extra tank.)

-- commented at August 31, 2015.



P.S. This is what happens when multinational company trying to make money from pretending to 'free game' which is hot trend in Andorid and iPhone.
This 'free app' (especially pretending one) business is quite big issue.
I'm not sure when will I talk about it. But I will write.....someday.

Nexus 7 2013 Marshmallow, won't allow to install app--apk file.

If you are looking for solution in forums, they will probably ask 'why you need install app without Google play store' or 'are you trying to install cracked app--illegally unlocked copyright version app'.

I tell you why I need this.
I bought secondhand Nexus 7 2013 (second generation) tablet for my sister so I don't want to do all the things like google log-in process and wasting my limited internet resources (I don't have unlimited internet access.) for downloading apps and sync the app data,
for just testing the tablet.

I just wanted to install some apps like movie play app, photo viewer app, music player app, camera app and some 3d-ish game app or copy some video file so I can check whether this secondhand tablet will work properly or not.

So I just need to install two to four apps to testing the tablet.


Here is the tablet's version info:
Nexus 7 and Android 6.0.1

Screenshot of Settings -> About tablet in Nexus 7

check 'Unknown Sources' in settings for install apk files

If you searched web for 'how to install app (apk file) in Nexus 7', you will find solution like this
Settings -> Security -> turn on 'Unknown sources'

Screenshot of Settings -> Security in Nexus 7

but this doesn't work. Because tablet still don't allow to installing the app.

Screenshot of Settings -> Storage -> Internal Storage

Screenshot of Settings -> Storage in Nexus 7

'Explore' to install the apk file.
But you will get message like this:
'Cannot open file'.

When you trying to install the apk file, you will get error message like this.

How to transfer apk file in Nexus 7.

Many of Android smartphone and tablet probably will have MicroSD memory card slot so most cases you can copy files easily. And not only that.
They will probably have USB-OTG function which you can simply put the usb memory card to the smartphone or tablet via USB-OTG cable.

But Nexus 7 don't have memory card slot. So what you can do is send file via bluetooth or NFC. Or use internet or connect PC with usb cable.

But it looked like apk file won't allow to do transfer via bluetooth or NFC. So you can do it via internet or connect PC with usb cable.


So I use send-anywhere websites to transfer apk file:

trying to send file via send-anywhere.com

and then use download app to install apk file but I've got same error 'Cannot open file'.

'Downloads' app to install apk file but same error - can't open file

I can transfer to the apk file but can't install it.




Only way to install the app is use android app development tool ADB.

I already install the Android Development Tool on my PC and this article became quite long so I will not explain how to get and use the tool.

You can follow one of these articles:

• The Easiest Way to Install Android's ADB and Fastboot Tools on Any OS
• How to Install and Use ADB, the Android Debug Bridge Utility
• [TOOL] [WINDOWS] ADB, Fastboot and Drivers - 15 seconds ADB Installer v1.4.3

You don't need install whole Android Development Tool to get ADB file. You can find only ADB file and Android USB Driver for Windows(or possibly your system already have it).


You need to turn on 'USB debugging' option in 'Developer Options'. That means it must turn on 'Developer Options' via clicking 7 times in Settings -> About tablet -> Build Number.
* detail guide is here How to enable developer settings on Android 4.2 | Android Central


Connect tablet to PC and then Window+R to type 'cmd' to enter 'Command Prompt' console mode.

install apk file in Nexus 7 via ADB tools - Windows

Make things easier, copy the apk file in the same directory as ADB file is in, and change apk filename short like this because Windows Command Prompt won't easy to handle long filename.
For example here is 'adb install es.apk'.

Finally, install the apk file via ADB from PC.

So install the File Explorer app like ES File Explorer should be better choice. Because this app will allow to install apk file like this:

install app from ES File Explorer in Nexus 7

install app from ES File Explorer in Nexus 7

installed app from ES File Explorer in Nexus 7

If you need more detail guide about use ADB, you can do similar like this: [GUIDE] How to install APK Files on your Nexus Player | xda-developers forum
This guide is for Nexus Player but most of Android smartphone and tablets were all the same.




P.S. I'm quite confusing because I did this(install apk files) many times with variety of Android smartphone and tablet. Most of times, I just sent apk file via bluetooth and installed easily with turn on 'Unknown sources'.
So this is probably Marshmallow problem. Or Google probably blocked 'Unknown sources' option.