Category: Technology

Published on by Nayar

Review: Awei A780BL Bluetooth Headset

The Unboxing

The box doesn’t feel cheap at all. When you open the box, you get the Bluetooth headphones first. Underneath, you’ll find a micro-usb cable, aux cable and a manual thrown in.

The Sound

The bass isn’t impressive in any way but I find it adequate. I’d say it’s very balanced and does it’s job.

The Microphone

Oh dear it sucks. Everyone complained about a loud static noise in the mic during remote work meetings. But they could understand when I talk though. Weird.

The Comfort

First time wearing your headset is a real pain as it really presses on your head. I tried to stretch my previous Bluedio headset by hands and that’s how I broke it. I stretch the AWEI headset using its box itself everyday for 2 weeks before it became somewhat comfortable.

The Cons

  1. First worlds problems? I cannot connect the headset to both my laptop and mobile phone. If i get a call e.g. i’ll have to disconnect it from my laptop and connect to my phone manually. My previous Bluedio T2 didn’t have this issue.
  2. If you shake the headset, the right cup has some parts moving in it. It’ll not be possible to wear this while you workout e.g.

Conclusion

For the price of Rs 1500 in Mauritius (saw it being sold at Rs 1000 too), I think it’s an okay headset. Not great but also not bad. In times where international ecommerce websites are slow to ship, I’m okay with it.

Published on by Nayar

Was Corona Virus predicted in these PS4 games?

Amidst the corona virus lockdown, I’ve been playing games on my PlayStation 4 after “work from home”. If I were to believe in conspiracy theories, I could have easily said that the corona virus’s COVID-19  was predicted in these games: Life is Strange: Season 2 and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. LOL xD

Life Is Strange™_20200403194908
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE DEFINITIVE EXPERIENCE_20200402180408

The effects of the confinement is starting to affect my morale now. Getting a huge burnout. Next I’ll be playing Ex-Deus: Mankind Divided and continuing Life is strange in parallel. Hope my brain will come back to me. How are you dealing with the confinement?

Published on by Nayar

Playing with Mouse and Keyboard on the PlayStation 4

Why? Because my DualShock 4 seems to be on the verge of breaking. At first, it would refuse to stay in an OFF state. Today, while playing Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain, my R1 button remained in a pressed state. After pressing the button hard a few times, it seems to have returned to normal. But till when?

Let’s try the MK220 Wireless Mouse and Keyboard from Logitech.

I tried loading MGS V. Mouse and Keyboard Not Detected 🙁

METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE DEFINITIVE EXPERIENCE_20200328135651

Next I tried War Thunder, which is basically a PC game ported in PS4. The menu and cursor were fully functional with Mouse and Keyboard combo but in the battle, only the mouse can be used to point and left click to shoot. Moving the tank or zooming in was not possible.

Next I tried War Face. Mouse and Keyboard was useless for both the menu and game-play.

Have you ever managed to play a game using mouse and keyboard on the PS4?

Published on by Nayar

[Review] Metal Gear Solid 5: The Definitive Experience (PS4)

Price

The game is actually priced at £15.99 but I actually paid £ 5.79 during a sale  on PlayStation Store. In Mauritius rupees, it would be around Rs 280 which is a good price.

 

Graphics

The graphics are excellent on the PS4. A real treat to the eyes.

 

Gameplay

Excessive crouching

After playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, there was some things which annoyed me. e.g.

Snake, the protagonist, crouches too much even when there are no enemies around. Just walk near a wall or something and he just crouches so I have to press X to make him stand up again. Call it first world problems but I think Tomb Raider nailed the fight mode better.

No jump!

Like really. Snake cannot jump unless the terrain provides the option to. Sometimes a rock is really small and snake cannot climb it. You have to find a red carpet-like route in the mountains to climb higher.

Silencers are not permanent

In Tomb Raider games, bow and arrows are OP. Unfortunately there are no bow and arrows in MGS V. Only some guns come with silencers and the effect wears off. After shooting few people, your gun becomes loud again. Gotta calculate the risks before engaging enemies.

The AI!

At first, the enemies seemed really dumb. You could just run besides them and they won’t notice. But later in the game, their vision sharpens as you create more havoc. They adapt to your play style.

Overall

Where this games shines is in the small details. Just google metal gear solid hidden tricks and so on. You’ll be amazed by the amount of features present in the game. I used to play it as a shooter game and it worked fine. But after discovering the real stealth tactics, it got even more amazing. I’d totally recommend anyone to try the game.

Published on by Nayar

Deleting Windows 10 from my Dual-Boot Laptop to leave Linux Only

There is no point in having Windows 10 installed alongside my Linux OS (KDE Neon) anymore for me. I thus deleted the Windows partition from my SSD boot drive leaving more space for my Linux OS and apps.

But why? Gaming is the reason

I recently purchased a PlayStation 4 for gaming. I get a minimum of 30FPS with 1080p on my TV for every game. No more having to tweak games settings so as to have a “playable” FPS as on PC.

PUBG can be played on my Huawei Y9 very conveniently in case I’m on the move. My laptop can handle some RTS games quite well and steam is bringing quite some games to Linux now. I recently purchased Tomb Raider (2013) game for $ 2.99 during a promotion. After finding this, there is really no point in having Windows 10 anymore.

I know that the Linux drivers may sometimes have a slight performance disadvantage; my laptop has an NVIDIA GEFORCE 940MX. But yeah, I decided to vote with my money. By buying more games from Steam on Linux platform, more games will come to Linux eventually. With that better driver from the manufacturers.