Wednesday High Brow

HAPPY HUMP DAY EVERYONE!

Nokia Lumia 920 : When NERDS and SEX collide!

Like a kid pushing his way through the Sears catalog just before Christmas, I could not have been more excited fro the arrival of the new Windows 8 Phone. I had been a lucky beta tester with Windows 8 on my laptop during the Spring on 2012. I love it from top to bottom. I am a sucker fro something completely new. When I had read that Windows planned to turn the computing world on it's head, I thought it was a risk to big to take. Apple was on this amazing rise and the boys over at Google were plotting to take over the world. What on Earth could come from Redmond? And then, Windows 8 happened. Microsoft was not asking us to relearn the computer...they were telling us we had no choice. Very exciting. After spending the better part of 2012 using Windows 8 beta, I must say...I was totally sold. Live Tiles. New UI. Beautiful colors. Sure, I had to learn some new things but it was totally worth it. Then when I heard that this same UI was coming to market in the form of a smartphone-I was in sheer HEAVEN! I had glanced over Nokia's Windows 7 phone. It was a beauty. However, I never had the chance to physically touch one. The Nokia Lumia 920 would be the showpiece of Microsoft's first serious foray into the smartphone business. Had the Iphone finally met it's match? As a recovering Iphone user, I give a resounding YES! The Nokia Lumia 920 is a solid phone. Heavy to hold and premium all the way. It fits nicely in my pocket and in one hand. The new OS does take some getting used to. While the Nokia comes with a tutorial to download, I found it much more enticing to explore this phone blindly. New gestures must be learned. Live Tiles now replace the need to constantly open apps for the latest content. The Live Tiles are customizable to the size of your liking. Never before have you been able to design your home screen. Unlike the Iphone and Android powered phones, apps no longer just sit on your screen. They actually come alive. The Nokia Lumia 920 is constantly updating itself and each dedicated Live Tile will keep you in the know all day long. News, weather, FaceBook, Twitter, and so much more,constantly update themselves right before your eyes. It could easily be said that the Nokia Lumia 920 is the first fully integrated FaceBook phone. FaceBook seems to be integrated into almost every facet of the OS. I find myself updating Facebook and reading people's posts without actually ever opening my FaceBook app. It's impressive and the Iphone and Androids can't do that. BING is also tied effortlessly into the OS. There is a dedicated virtual search button on the phone that will take you straight to BING. There you can type, speak, or play music and wait for BING to respond. It's very effective and almost makes you forget about Google. The Nokia has a brilliant virtual keyboard that not only corrects yours spelling but it predicts what you are saying. I have found this to be very useful when in a hurry. There is also a Talk to Text feature that is very good. The Nokia Lumia 920 is in a league all to itself because Nokia has dedicated many of it's own apps to this OS. For those of you who are familiar with SPOTIFY, there is NOKIA MUSIC. It does the same thing as SPOTIFY and more...for free. It will allow you to download the music that you have searched for playback when not connected to the internet. NOKIA DRIVE delivers, for free, turn by turn navigation that is also available without WiFi. NOKIA CITY LENS offers augmented reality at it's best. Launch the app and hold the phone up to the street you are on and see a list of businesses appear on your screen. Pretty cool app for finding new a fun places to eat and drink. There are many more really cool Nokia apps that can only be acquired if you have this Nokia. It's a huge selling point over the other Windows 8 Phone from HTC. Perhaps the most anticipated feature of the New Nokia Lumia 920 is the 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss Camera. I love taking pictures. However, I am not a very good photographer. This camera changes all of that. Major reviews of this camera has stated that it's the best camera on any smartphone available currently. I have taken pictures in the dark and they show up like daytime. It's magnificent. And now Nokia has released a camera app called, BLINK. It complements the camera by taking several bursts of pictures so you can choose the best image. I'm sure I have left out many features of this phone as there are just so many of them. I will continue to update this post as I continue to use my Nokia Lumia 920. I would like to state that I have owned 4 Iphones, 1 Android powered device, and 1 WebOS phone. I have had a lot of experience with different OS's and I like to think of myself as being qualified to write a fair review. If you would like to know more please don't hesitate to comment with your questions about this phone and I will be glad to answer. Also note that I still have my Iphone and randomly compare activities between the two devices. THE BOTTOM LINE: Nokia and Microsoft have delivered the first true smartphone. Let the OS wars begin.

Slap it on my face.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have sat at home on a weekend with my hair hidden under a baseball cap and a thick clay mask slathered all over my face. Sometimes it was in vein and other times it was just a practice in silliness. Most of the masks that I have used came from the drug store aisle and always promised me a tighter feel. My motto is: The tighter,the better. So as a guy who takes grooming very seriously, I treated myself to a clay mask that was designed just for guys. Anthony Logistics Warm Clay Mask. Let me just tell you...it was Heaven. I have never used a mask that was red so I had to get used to the odd color. It was almost as though I had coated my face with a terracotta pot. So with my face now covered from forehead to chin, I could feel the burn. Yes, I said burn. Not an acid peel burn but a nice slow burn. It was as if it was slowly making love to my skin. Once the heat settled in the tightening began. Let me tell you, this mask is tight. You want to be careful about making expressions because the mask will crack and puppies will probably die because of it. All kidding aside, the mask is unlike any i have ever tried before. It is a little hotter than warm and you can feel it degrease your oily skin. I left it on for about 10 minutes and then rinsed it off using a warm face cloth. Afterwards, my face had a nice glow to it. There was no shine and I had the peace of mind that this was achieved without the use of harsh chemicals. I'm not sure how often guys want to sit at home and wear a face mask but I'm telling you if you have an extra 10 minutes...DO THIS ONE. I woke up this morning and my skin still felt really good. I can easily see myself to committing to this regimen twice a week in the future. ANTHONY LOGISTICS DEEP PORE CLEANSING CLAY

WHAT DO YOU THINK?