Archive for the ‘Reviews’ category

A Long Overdue Thunderbolt Review-type-thing

June 23rd, 2011

Two months ago I said I would write something about the Thunderbolt..it was only supposed to be about two weeks but life happens I suppose. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to cave-in and buy the thing but I found a coupon for $50 off and thought, “well, this might be good!” I bought the phone only a few weeks after I decided to root my original DROID (which from now on will be referred to as OG, Original Gangsta) and install cyanogenmod 7. Being the happy owner of one of the best Android phones to ever come out I had high hopes for what was supposed to be Verizon’s new super flagship phone as well as the first phone to use their 4G LTE network. What I got from it was a mixed set of feelings that make me miss my OG sometimes.

Let me get this out of the way first, I like this phone a lot. It’s a great device, it’s fast, it’s sexy, it’s big..but it’s not perfect…far from it, and most of the reason is due to the crap software that is on it…let me explain.

The UI and Software

My OG ran stock vanilla Android (what devs call AOSP: Android Open Source Project). This basically means it’s the bare Android OS with no added UI tweaks and no added bloatware crap (with exception to some Verizon apps). This is the best way to run Android for the most part because it’s not using the CPU or RAM to run some fancy/ugly user interface over top of it, it’s not going to have built-in apps syncing crap in the background, it’s just plain ol’ vanilla ice cream (and I like vanilla ice cream). And it works! It doesn’t waste CPU (meaning it’s faster) and it doesn’t background sync unnecessary apps constantly (meaning battery savings) unless you install them. But of course, HTC and other companies want to change it to suit their own phones and needs.

This is a Screenshot from a Nexus 1 running AOSP 2.2

Now, the Thunderbolt (as with many HTC phones) doesn’t do AOSP Android, they use Sense UI, it’s their own user interface which they designed to put on mobile devices for a “sleek” and “unified” look.

This is Sense UI

While some people like the look (which I don’t think is terrible mind you) and the feel, I don’t like it, I hate it. There are several reasons I hate it actually the first and most important being that it’s clunky and slow to respond VERY often; it feels like my OG before I rooted it…this shouldn’t happen on a 1Ghz phone with 700+MB or RAM. So what I did to “fix” this was install ADW.Launcher and use that as my home app. It’s faster, and it looks and feels more like a stock phone now. Second, they package a whole mess of crap in with it; they have a “friendsteam” which gathers your Twitter and Facebook and whatnot into a widget on your screen and displays it and updates it for you; a weather widget (which is actually nice, but i should have a choice to remove it); and their own Facebook and Twitter syncing built in. This is stuff I’d like to install on my own and not have running in the background constantly asking me to log in and sync; if I want Twitter and FB, let me install them myself. They also use their own MMS app which is very slow compared to the AOSP app.

You might be thinking, “man, this is cool that it’s all built-in, why are you hating on this?” Because I like to be able to choose what to have installed on my device. Because of these built in apps (which mind you, aren’t really apps, they’re more like utilities) I have two Facebook apps, and two Twitter apps and it’s kinda dumb to waste space on stuff like that. I also find it annoying that they START UP WITH THE DEVICE…even when I DON’T USE THEM. What a waste of CPU and battery. Once CM7 is released for the phone (not Alpha-builds) that will be my savior. Verizon is also guilty of bundling tons of bloatware with this device. When I received the phone it was PACKED with tons and tons of useless crap..and you can’t remove this stuff! I’ve written about carriers loading bloatware onto phones before, this shit needs to stop with Android.

The Battery

Smartphones are notorious for having crummy batteries. My OG was actually pretty great before the last few months of using it. I used to get over a day with it and I was happy. When deciding on a new phone every review I read had the same complaint with regard to the Thunderbolt: The battery is terrible. Now, I’m never far from a power source, and I have around 4 or 5 micro-USB chargers from my older devices and ones that I found around the lab, so this wasn’t too much of an issue for me. My first day on the phone I got through the entire day of heavy use and texting without it dying, it got to about 5% by midnight (from 8am or so). The second day, same thing. On the third day that’s when it ended. Without using it too much I made it to about 2pm before it started dying on me, I charged it and it was low again by 9pm. Now I see what the complaints were about. I tried using task killers to kill unwanted tasks, I synced data less, I lowered brightness, nothing helped. I read around online and found the best way to get more mileage was to turn off 4G. I figured, I don’t need 4G all the time, so it’s fine, if I get more battery time out of it this is what needs to be done. After turning off 4G, I get through the day again. A few weeks ago an update was released that helped the 4G radio consume less power, so since then I’ve actually been able to leave 4G on and get through most of my day with it…so good on them for fixing that.

The Hardware Itself

This is where the phone really does come out. This phone has some weight to it (it’s heavier than my OG which was a brick) and it’s got that big bright screen. The screen makes it so easy to read things on and to watch videos, the rubberized back makes it easy to hold, the weight makes it feel like you’re not going to crush it in your hands. It is a nice, solid phone. It’s also fast when you need it to be. Playing games, running apps, downloading, it just runs fast (especially with ADW.Launcher). Of course Verizon’s network helps too, I get 4G everywhere in NYC, and the 4G speeds are really good (EVEN INDOORS! Take that WiMax!). I have plenty of space on the 32GB MicroSD card they give you and on the internal storage (8GB but only about 2.5 are available). The only complaints I have about the hardware and design: no dedicated camera button, I really miss this, but it’s fairly minor; the bluetooth volume is super low, I’ve read that it only does it with some headsets but my Jabra is so low I cannot use it; and the GPS takes forever to lock on, sometimes 5-10 minutes. Now, some of this is probably software-based so a fix may be in line (apparently there might be an update in the next month or so to address some of these issues as well as the random reboots caused by the last update) but until that fix is out these problems will remain.

Overall

So to sum this up in a few lines (TL;DR); I really like this phone a lot, it is a great phone by design. The 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and the large amount of RAM really make this phone fly with apps and games and with Verizon’s 4G it really is a speedy phone in all faces. However, the phone has many kinks due to some bad software that comes bundled with it and a broken update from HTC. Most of it’s issues are solely based on the software so hopefully we will see fixes for them in the future.

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Posted in Phones, Reviews

Tags: android cell phone Hardware htc reviews Technology thunderbolt

My Experience with an iPad

January 5th, 2011

Happy New Years to all!

Now that that’s out of the way I present an update! It’s been a fun 5 months, and I’ve been busy and I really have not had much to write about in with technology ranting or whatever, but I feel the need to actually write something now. It might be funny to see me write about it because of my February post on the iPad, but I am writing about my experience with my iPad. Now you might ask “you said you wouldn’t buy one!” Well, I didn’t buy it. I won it at work back in September (see!). So after 3-4 months of using it I felt I should write something about it, so here we go.

When I first got it, I was excited (who wouldn’t be) but I found out quickly that I really had no practical use for it. Everything I would want to do with it on the road (send/read email, calendars, Facebook/Twitter, etc.) I can do on my phone. And what’s more, I can do those on my phone from ANY location as opposed to anywhere with wifi (this iPad is wifi only). I began downloading and installing apps and games and found that while a lot of the iPhone versions of apps and games are free, iPad versions aren’t. I’m cheap, so I don’t buy apps. A lot of the apps I wanted for the iPad also had free counterparts for Android, so I might as well use my phone instead.

I did find it useful at home when I didn’t want to take out the 17-inch laptop. I can check Facebook and Twitter without an issue (and the apps are usually better than using my laptop anyway) and watching Youtube videos on the iPad is great actually, much better than the site! I also use it to play Scrabble with friends. All of these are just secondary things that are just helping push my laziness even more, nothing totally useful for me at least. There are two apps I found particularly useful though; VLC and Remote.

Everyone knows VLC (and if you don’t…you SHOULD), it plays any video file on the iPad without having to convert it, and you don’t even need to sync your computer and iPad, you just drag the video into the VLC list in iTunes and it’s done. I found this great to watch downloaded video’s and ripped DVDs while witting around, just put a pair of headphones on and you’re good to go. I like being able to hand off the iPad to someone to show them Archer or something.

Remote is an iTunes remote control program. I can control my home desktop iTunes from the iPad from anywhere I get my home wireless signal. This comes in handy when you want to listen to music while you’re cleaning, or cooking, or in the other room. You can raise the volume, change and search songs, make palylists, etc. I also found it can wake a sleeping computer up to connect to the iTunes library. The only thing is that iTunes needs to be running on the machine for it to work of course, a very minor issue I think. I found this extremely useful during a party when I just left the iPad out and asked people make playlisst and add whatever they wanted to hear to the list.

So all in all, I do enjoy having the iPad but I still believe that it’s not something I need. It’s fun, it’s helpful, but for me it’s just not a real replacement for anything just yet. Maybe when I get a cable provider that utilizes it I will change my mind, but right now, not yet.

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Posted in Hardware, Life, Reviews

TUAW’s iPhone 4.0 Wish List has Some Stupid Wishes

January 12th, 2010

Yesterday I came across this post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW). I read through it and couldn’t help but laugh at some of the requests; not just because some are silly but because some phones already do this and iPhone users used to ask, “Why do I need that?!” I felt I should write my opinions on these requests. Mind you, I have never owned an iPhone, but I’ve witnessed countless people with them and have used them a good deal troubleshooting for people while at work, I also own an Android-powered DROID; just a disclaimer.

Before I even get into the list I come across this

This is the first of a series of letters to Apple on your behalf, telling the gang in Cupertino what would make their wonder-phone even more wondrous

And it even goes into a real letter to Apple.

Dear Apple,

While it’s clear the iPhone is the best smartphone on the market right now, you have a lot of competition creeping up. We want to help you blow them out of the water with the iPhone OS 4.0. Here are our suggestions:

Now, if you know Apple AT ALL you know that they really don’t listen to the user. TUAW certainly knows this since they write about Apple all the time. Apple’s idea of market research is “Steve said this was good, so it’s good.” This isn’t always the case of course; they brought back firewire to all of their laptops after omitting it on most for a time, but Apple really isn’t going to listen to you all that much. They will look at the market and see what other phones have that they missed, and probably include some of those. For instance, people use removable-media on their devices a lot, some people prefer it over internal media of course. Will Apple ever put a microSD card in their iPhone or iPod? Probably not. Why? Probably because it’s something else that could break that they don’t want to have to worry about, but it’s probably because they don’t want people to add more space to their devices without buying a whole new device.

Now to the list (please read the article if you’re going to ask questions or complain or whatever, I will only be posting the main idea of each item, not the description of the idea)

1. The lock screen needs to change

This one is nothing too crazy. The lock screen could change of course to show more information; a list of to-do’s, emails, whatever. So this one I really don’t have an issue with. Other phones do this a bit; on Android you get your notifications with an icon in the top menu bar as well as a different colored blinking LED on the front of the phone.

2. A new home screen. The iPhone is the smartest phone on the market. Make it smarter. Introduce a location-aware home screen.

This is another one that I really don’t have an issue with. I actually like this idea and wonder why more phones/devices don’t have it.

3. That new home screen? Let us access it by vertically swiping.

This one confused me a little bit. I can see the desire to have all of your feeds and shit within a simple swipe, but why? Do something like Android and use a drop down menu at the top. You select the top menu and slide it out, this way you don’t accidentally swipe vertically while you’re reading something and open your home screen. The mock-up looks nice:

Credit: Teehan+Lax

But it reminds me of the drop down in Android, just more refined.

4. Overhaul app navigation.

This is another one I really like. Tape the home button when on your app menu and it shows all of your homescreens in a nice “exposé” style manner.

This should be standard too. If hold my home button on my DROID it brings up my running programs and I can switch between them (more on multitasking later).

5. 85% of us want multitasking and 3rd party background apps

This is where I get a little annoyed with iPhone users. Now, multitasking is something that the Palm Pre does with WebOS, as well as Android phones, but the iPhone falls short here. It SHOULD have it, but iPhone users used to ask me “Who needs that?” or “Who cares about that?” Well, apparently 85% of the people polled care about it enough to respond to TUAW. This is a good demand…until I see the next line: “but not at the cost of battery life.” What? Really? You want to run multiple applications at once and not use battery life? What kind of engineering do you think Apple does? Come on now, be realistic!

6. Almost 80% of us want Flash, even if it’s a bad idea.

Again, a pretty good request. I want it on my DROID too. Apparently it’ll be out for Android before the iPhone though. Also, running Flash on anything MacOS related is a death sentence. They realize this in the post, but I’m just throwing it in there also.

7. We love that you introduced landscape mode across virtually all apps in iPhone OS 3.0, but 70% of us want the ability to selectively turn it off.

Okay, this really isn’t built into the phone? Android has it built in already…why didn’t Apple? I don’t know. But it’s actually a legit request also.

8. When we leave an app, we want it to remember where we were.

This one is part of the whole multitasking thing. When multitasking comes, this better be in it, or you’re doing it wrong! (Yes, Android for the most part has this, and I believe WebOS does as well.)

9. 65% of us want the ability to remove Apple-branded apps.

This next one is a fair request, but it just won’t happen. Apple doesn’t care…really. They don’t want you to remove their apps on the iPhone because, well, it’s their apps. There are ways apparently to hid the app from your screen, but not to remove them. These apps are so small what should it matter? This is what you’re getting with a brand; the device and the apps to come with it. Same on most devices.

10. 60% of us want a universal “documents” folder.

Okay, fair again, but a question is why doesn’t it do this anyway? “We realize this breaks the sandboxing model that prevents one app from blowing away data belonging to another one, but we have every confidence you can make it work.” Yeah, and when an app comes out that removes all of your pictures and documents who are you going to blame for allowing this? Thought so.

11. Better Support for Codecs and Add-ons.

This one is basically asking to allow WMV and AVI stuff to run. I suppose this is another valid request. Next!

12. The iPhone is a hard drive with a screen, so….[Give us Disk mode in the OS. 50% of us want to use our iPhone as an external USB/Wi-Fi hard drive.]

One of my favorites. I wonder why Apple doesn’t allow this. Maybe it’s because they don’t want people to be able to remove their apps so easily, or copy some over, or maybe it’s because they want their users to use iTunes. You know, one of their most popular pieces of software. It’s all about controlling the environment the phone runs with. You can use other programs to add songs, and documents and pictures, but adding apps is all iTunes. There is really no third party app vendor, is there? You’re stuck with iTunes, like it or not.

So that’s really my $.02 on this blog entry. It’s probably biased, but it’s me being honest. I like the iPhone. I think it’s a great device, but it does have some stupid flaws that can easily be fixed (as well as being a shitty phone). Unfortunately these requests might fall on deaf ears, Steve Jobs is not going to listen much, he’s going to make you listen.

Fixing or adding any of these features to the iPhone will still not help if you’re sitting on a shitty network. I’ll keep m DROID and use an iPod Touch (or my 6th Gen iPod Classic). I’ll at least be able to do everything I can on an iPhone while actually being able to make phone calls.
There will most likely be a part 2 from this article, so I may just have to wager in on that one as well.

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Posted in Rant, Reviews, Software

Tags: cell phone iphone tuaw

Cell Phone Fussing

January 7th, 2010

I love technology, obviously. I love my computers, my iPod, my PSP, televisions, and I love my cell phone. I’ve had a cellular phone since my junior year in high school around 2002. My parents and I had a plan with Cingular (remember them?) and we used our phones in normal emergency cases or cases where we needed to ask something ASAP. Minutes were scarce, and texting was totally out of the question, it was $0.25/text or something, and texting on my original phone; a Nokia 5120, you remember…the phone that EVERYONE had, was a real pain anyway.

Hi, remember me?

Finally in 2004 or so we got fed up with Cingular’s shitty service (me being in NY for school also made this easier as we needed some method of communication) and the lack of minutes, etc., I decided to drop my grandmothers Cingular plan (she got it for us) and pay for my own Verizon Wireless family plan. It cost a bit more, but we got nice new LG vx4500s, 700 minutes, and a MUCH better network. It was a big step. That was 5 1/2 years ago and after 5 different phones I’m still with Big Red. I have come to upgrade many things with my plan and demand much more from them, but not much else has changed.

My phones with verizon

There is a progression of my Verizon phones. “But you said 5, that’s only 3!” You’re right, and I’m sure you knew I wasn’t going to write about my cell phones since 2002 without a reason, right?

Right.

In September I was eligible for a new phone on my “new every two” offer. Psyched, I took to the interwebs and researched phones that I would love to have vibrate in my pocket when people decided to call me. I looked far and wide, and read review after review of phones. I went to the store and used the many phones offered, and used friends’ phones as benchmarking. I came to 2 conclusions while doing this:

I wanted a phone with a touch screen. I don’t know why, I think it’s the “new thing” but I wanted a touch screen dammit.
I wanted a full QWERTY keyboard. I do a shit-ton of texting now, and this became mandatory now. I didn’t know if a software keyboard would be alright for me, so I wanted a REAL keyboard.

With those in mind I nixed my previous idea of obtaining the LG Dare (a rather pretty touch screen phone, but NO keyboard) and instead opted for the new LG touch screen phone, the LG enV Touch (vx1100). I used the voyager for a little while from a friend, and I kinda liked it. When I started to test out the enV Touch I wanted it badly. It was everything I needed, beautiful screen, nice tactile keyboard, and even an HTML browser; which came in handy when I opted to get the unlimited data plan for it.

After using the phone for about a month I started noticing weird issues where the phone would turn itself off randomly, or reset to default screens or just not receive calls (it wouldn’t ring, it would just say I had a missed call). Verizon told me it was defective and sent me a new phone, free of charge of course, since it was still within 30 days from purchase. The second phone was even worse! It was to the point where I didn’t get ANY phone calls on it for days, and I would only text because that was truly the ONLY reliable means to contact me. Mind you, when the phone worked it was actually a great phone and texting device. But I got fed up and called Verizon about it.

Fuck you enV Touch

Now here is the side note, during my time owning the phone, Verizon came out with the DROID, Motorola’s Android-based smart phone. Reading reviews and playing with the system, I really really wanted this phone. I’ve become increasing interested in getting all of these mobile applications and using my phone for other things besides texting, calling, and occasionally searching Google for a place to eat. The issue was that I couldn’t upgrade because I just did, but if you have proper cause (which I’ll explain in a minute) you can get an early upgrade for your device without any penalty. I had to figure out a way to make my shitty phone turn into a DROID, and quickly.

I called Verizon and stated my issues about the phone. I informed the woman that this was my second one in 2 months, and I do not want just a refurb that is going to end up doing the same damn thing. I informed her that I have actually read reviews on THEIR OWN WEBSITE about people returning their phones 5 times in 3 months and still having the same issue. So I tell her I want a different phone, no bullshit. Finally she tells me, “This falls under our 2 in 90 rule [or some shit]. If you return a phone 2 times the next time you return it you get a choice of a different phone from a matrix.”

Woah. Wat?

Apparently some phones can only allow you to get some other phones when you exchange them. Usually these “matrix phones” are refurb or pre-used pieces of shit or other phones “similar” to the current one (like the LG Chocolate Touch). I say “No, I want to choose my own phone like I was upgrading.” I inform the woman of my current status with them; I’m up-to-date on my payments, never missed a payment in 5 years, etc. After being on hold for a few moments the woman comes back and tells me that because of my continued loyalty to them they will give me a phone exchange for ANY phone they have at the store! All I have to do is pay the price difference of the phones and renew my 2-year contract. Fine. Signed, sealed, done!

I arrive at my store and to my amazement, it’s not a phone exchange (meaning I’d have to give my enV touch back in exchange for the DROID) it’s an early upgrade. I keep my enV Touch (which is not really a plus, but whatever) and get the DROID at the upgrade price. After paying my $300 + taxes I walk out of the store with the DROID.

DROID, bitches!

Review of the DROID (Kinda)

So after having the phone for a bit now I’ve come to really love this phone more and more. Just a quick review (because this really isn’t a review blog) should suffice.

The screen on this phone is BEAUTIFUL. It’s huge, bright, responsive, and just amazing. The Android interface is actually very intuitive and easy to work with. The apps for it are pretty good; I wish some of them were a bit more refined with some things (the facebook app sometimes loads the browser for some things, which I think is a bit weird, but that’s not the phone’s fault, it’s the app).

It comes with a pre-installed 16GB microSD card. This is enough space for plenty of apps and music and if you need more go buy a 32GB card! I love that it uses microSD as storage instead of non-removable internal storage.

It’s one of the few android phones with a real keyboard. The keyboard is very flat, so it’s a bit tough to get used to typing on, but it functions very nicely. Even when not using the real keyboard the virtual one is surprisingly responsive and easy to type on, much better than the one on the enV Touch.

One thing that surprised me was it’s feel. Yeah, the feeling of the phone. What do I mean? It doesn’t feel like a piece of plastic that’s going to fall apart in your hand if you squeeze it. It’s heavy, sturdy, and just really solidly build. You could probably bludgeon someone to death with it, that’s how it feels.

Its also a very quick phone. Apps are pretty fast to load, websites load nicely (over wifi and Verizon’s network). It doesn’t feel laggy that much at all.

I know there are a lot more things to talk about with this phone, but I’m not going to go into it too much. I’m sure I’ll blog more about how much this thing kicks ass, and how much I prefer AndroidOS to the iPhone’s OS, but that’s going to be for later.

So, fuck the iPhone and AT&T, give me my DROID!

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Posted in Hardware, Rant, Reviews

Tags: cell phone DROID Hardware phone reviews VZW

Computer Repair is ever complete without…

August 6th, 2009

TESTING!

When I am given a computer to repair by a customer (or anyone to be exact!) I do my best to be quick with the job as well as do it RIGHT. I test everything about the computer that I changed/fixed/replaced. I do not want people bringing their computers back to me for the same issue, it doesn’t make sense for someone to have to bring their machine back after I just fixed it. Unless it’s something totally different.

Why am I writing about this now?

My MacBook Pro iSight seemed to stop working randomly one day. I tried to use it and it didn’t work. System profiler didn’t show it, something was wrong. I brought it to Tekserve first. They claimed that it was hardware but since I had a small dent on my computer (no joke) they wouldn’t cover the warranty because Apple would deny it. I found another place in the city which I was told would take laptops in almost any condition as long as the condition wasn’t the cause of the issue and repair it under Applecare. Sure enough they replaced my logic board and my iSight worked again. I got my computer back in 2 days time.

I get home I try to use my DVD drive and find it doesn’t work. System profiler acts weird saying it works sometimes….then it doesn’t….whatever. I open the laptop and re-seat the cable. It loads a DVD but when I start doing reading from the drive it loses it. Something is obviously broken. I take it back and explain to them the issue. They take it and call me 2 days later saying they cannot reproduce the issue and it seems to work fine. I say, well, if you say it’s working fine, I’ll come by to get it. I get my laptop home and sure enough, same issue. I bring it back the next day. They claim they put a DVD in it and it read it so they deemed it as fine. Really? You did exactly what I told you I did and didn’t think to read from the drive?

After a conversation I tell them to replace the drive ASAP; meaning get the part and call me when it comes in so you can install it right then and there because I’m tired of not having my laptop. They install it and tell me to come back because it’s fixed! GREAT! I go and ask “Do you have a disc I can boot from?” He hands me a Leopard install disc and sure enough the disc does not load at all. Mr. Tech then tells me “Oh you have a third-party boot software (rEFIt), it’s probably the issue. It wasn’t hardware, it was YOUR software.” I then need to explain to him that it was fine until they replaced my logic board. I also ask “did you replace the ribbon cable also?” to which I never get a straight answer for (No). The tech doesn’t believe me, so I uninstall rEFIt on the spot and boot. The disc gets loaded, oh my god! He then gets a smug look on his face and says “It was obviously the software, see it’s loading.” After waiting 15 minutes, it doesn’t load. This was about the time where I wanted to shove the guy’s face into a wall; he finally takes my advice and boots from an external drive, HIS DRIVE, and goes into system profiler. The drive is no where to be found. Thank you. Hardware failure.

Now, I am told that they need to send it to Apple for repair. Why? All you need to do is replace the god damn ribbon cable, and if that doesn’t work, the logic board is bad. It’s not difficult to diagnose!

So, after 4 trips to this place I lost my laptop for at least a week now all because the tech’s didn’t test the repair properly. If you install a new optical drive, or if a user says “something is wrong with my optical drive,” what should you do? Should you pop a disc in and say “Oh it showed up, it’s obviously not broken at all?”

NO!

You put in a disc, read from it, install something, burn a disc, ANYTHING THAT TESTS THE DRIVES OVERALL PERFORMANCE! NOT THE EJECT MECHANISM! NOT THE [does the disc load, software?] MECHANISM!

What have we all learned (except Digital Society apparently)? Test your repairs!