The Beanster Blog

I have an older model car and my iPhone 5S isn't recognized via the USB cable. So it came as no surprise that the Mi3 was not recognized as well. On my iPhone I can connect my Plantronics headset and my car at the same time and switch the audio target on the fly between the two this seems to be not possible with the Mi3. I have to go into Bluetooth settings and manually select the target which disconnects the other device. When connecting to a purely audio device like a bluetooth receiver the headset portion is retained and the media portion is switched. There is no easy way to switch the output. How can a modern device not be able to maintain multiple Bluetooth connections?

The screen on this device is very nice and crisp I have no complaints. I have to mention size again. After a little less than a week I am still bothered by the size of this device. I am sure I will get over this eventually. But yeah this is a big phone, my iPhone with a case fits in the standard car cup holder, the Mi3W without a case doesn’t fit my Ford’s cup holder. Here is the Mi3W with my iPhone 5S I never thought I would be saying this but I sort of miss the lightning cable connector. I do not miss the crappy quality of the cable but the reversible nature of the plug itself. Micro USB is still very practical but I cannot wait until they implement the reversible thing. Having used the iPhone 5 & 5S, I now feel that the earphone plug is better located in the bottom of the device it really does get in the way less. The Mi3W did not come with a pair of earbuds, I have been using my BOSE SIE2i with it. The MFB works to play/pause music or answer calls but the volume butto...

Today the Video Player icon has gone missing. I know the app is still on the device because the video I loaded still played on the default player. I have scoured all the folders and I have no idea where the icon went. Speaking of video, watching videos on this device is fantastic! The drawback of course is I cannot play iTunes purchases but since Google Play Movies are now available in the Philippines, I guess that is a wash. One thing the iPhone can do that this device can’t is Netflix. Now that’s a huge let down. Also this phantom icon has appeared and when I uninstalled it Google Search gets uninstalled too. Weird stuff for sure. Another thing that happened to me... I wanted to check on my yahoo password so I could link my Flickr account to Instagram on the Mi3W. When I opened up eWallet, my password was not being accepted. Upon checking I realized it was the default blank wallet. Both my wallets were gone. I suspect that the Mi3W cleanup I did last night nuked ...

While I appreciate the lengths that XiaoMi has gone to make their default MIUI skin very familiar to an iPhone user such as myself. I know this is nit-picking but we all know that the devil is in the details. Here are some details they hit and missed in my view… Music & audio playback, the default app doesn't display album art. All of my music has been tagged in iTunes and the album art is not recognized. This is annoying. The lock screen also displays only the barest of media information. Sometimes when you use another audio app it displays the wrong info namely the last tracked played on the default app or nothing which I think is sloppy execution. And here is a detail they did get right. Dynamic Weather Icon -The weather icon changes and displays current weather. ARE YOU LISTENING APPLE? IT IS POSSIBLE, DAMN YOU! I also like that the default alarm has the weather. One of the best things about Android is that you can change the default apps for most of the ...

Day 3 on my experiment of going full Android with the XIAOMI Mi3 XIAOMI PHILIPPINES is selling an additional 2,000 units of the Mi3 04-July-2014 at 11:00AM visit http://www.lazada.com.ph/mi/ . If you want to get one I suggest you create an account today and then start refreshing the lazada site 5 mins before the item goes on sale.  I am still struggling with the size of the device and there is still a sense of un-ease because I am using it without a case. Speaking of cases, the Mi3 Flip case is no longer marked "coming soon" but I still cannot order it from lazada. Odd. I have found that the plantronics [ Find MyHeadset ] app is not compatible (immediately crashes upon launch with no error messages). I also think that the iPhone handles media & calls better, one time I was playing a podcast using PocketCasts and a call came in but the podcast did not pause playback and I had an active call with a podcast playing. I am not sure if the person on the other line hear...

Ok. As I mentioned in my previous post I am embarking on a one (1) week Android only experiment. This post will focus on the apps I have purchased to make the switch from iPhone to Android. The experiment will last until Tuesday, June 8, 2014, at that point I will decide if I will stick to the Mi3W as my main device and use the iPhone 5S as a secondary. Right now the iPhone is in a drawer. PODCASTS - I am podcast fanatic, I think they are great and on my iPhone and Mac, I use the amazing [ DOWNCAST APP ]. I have tried about ten podcast apps in my previous flings with the Android platform and all of them have not been a good experience. Well that all changes with [ POCKETCASTS by shiftyjelly ] it is a paid app at 159.41PhP and it’s fast, slick and easy to use. However it does not support enhanced podcasts, I hope this functionality is added in the future. MUSIC – The Mi3W’s player does not display album art, so I am using Google Play Music to play local files. Let us go int...

My current main device is a 32Gb iPhone 5S. Mostly I have relegated Android OS for my secondary device (for work or just to mess around with the OS) and usually I get the cheap low spec devices. My past Android device history shows this. HTC Hero HTC ChaCha Samsung Galaxy Pocket Samsung Galaxy S Duos Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 Xiao Mi Mi3W - current Since [ Xiao Mi Philippines ] was offering their Mi3W at a very affordable price I decided to get one. The Mi3W is not a low-spec device [ mi.com ] the specs are actually pretty good. It has KitKat and MIUI which is the skin from Xiao Mi. photo from mi.com site Now with the rumors that Apple will finally be releasing a bigger screen iPhone I think this is a good time to start getting used to a wider device. I must admit that I am not comfortable holding the Mi3W and I rely heavily on Keeep (full-disclosure I sell Keeep) to handle the larger device. Text input is also done with two hands instead of one, which is not ideal. ...