Tag Archives: Electronic

Life in China: Apple I-Pad

Apple I-Pad

The Queen is NOT amused. In fact, I’m pretty down-right Pi**ed (pardon the language). After all the trouble I’ve had, I thought it pretty necessary to update all future China-Travelers to the dangers of buying/using Apple products here.

I don’t remember if I told you all this, but Lawrence the Laptop has had another revolt. He attempted going on strike via a broken LCD screen; I cut him off at the start via a nice HDMI connection to my television. Unfortunately, he laughed in my face and promptly refused to work without the HDMI connection. No need to get into it, it was a whole thing.

So last November, I bought an Ipad 2 during China’s version of Black Friday. I’ve had an I-Pod for several years, which lasted pretty well and I figured I’d give their tablet a try. YES, I checked and it is a legit Apple I-Pad; had it tested by the real Apple Company in Zhengzhou (it’s on the apple website as a legit seller).

WRONG! BAD! Stupid Olivia!

Here’s Why. . .

Price: 1800 RMB (approx. $300)

Review: The price was a little expensive for my tastes (almost all of Apple is), but I figured it was worth the bargain. Apple products in China tend to run a bit pricier than products in America. Go figure given that they are literally produced about 10 miles away in the city I live in. They have their own personal runway at the international airport they ship so many Apple products out of here. Yet we still get charge at least 50% again as much as American buyers. So, I had to wait until 11/11, China’s Black Friday shopping day to pick one up from Hong Kong.

Initial Purchase: Semi-Good; Semi-Problematic

Review: The first shipment I got was not too terrible. It came with the charger, a cover, a screen protector, and ear plugs, pretty sweet all together. The I-Pad itself was unmarked and undamaged, it seemed like everything would be okay.

It worked for about 2 hours, and then problems started. The swiping part of the screen wasn’t working. It would stall up, like the screen was locked. You could go up about half an inch and down about half an inch, but otherwise nothing was happening. Buttons wouldn’t click, etc. So we tried turning it on and off again (the answer to most issues), which revealed that the lock screen was not working either. Once again, I couldn’t swipe from the screen saver to the unlock screen. When I did finally get to the lock buttons, it froze and wouldn’t click them. Tried a hard reset and several other options, nothing worked.

So we called the seller and sent it back. They kept it for about two weeks and finally sent me a new version. This one seemed fine, so life moved on.

Use: Final Product

The final I-Pad I got worked fine soft-ware wise. Sometimes it would randomly shut down songs or the internet would stop working, and none of the VPNs like it at all. Otherwise, it was great and I was happy.

Hard-ware wise, the screen cracks like crazy. Literally, press to hard on the screen when punching a button and the whole screen cracked. I put on a super duper safety case on it intended for toddlers, took it off and the whole edges were broken. I asked the computer fix-it people and they said it sounds like I was sent a re-furbished model that had a cheap screen put on it. The screen supposedly should not have cracked like that, but they verified the computer was really apple so they think the screen was just replaced with a cheapo version.

I was not happy, especially knowing it takes 300 RMB to fix the screen. Furthermore, they admitted that if the top screen breaks the second lower screen there may be no fixing it at all?!? 0_0 Don’t you think that’s something they should have told me about before I bought the I-Pad? I did a ton of research into I-Pads, I asked questions, and this never came up.

ERROR: Blue Screen of Death

Anyways, along I go using my ipad for about 5 months, when suddenly the screen goes blue and the whole thing just shuts off. Black. Off, no charging, no connecting to the computer, no nothing. Reset doesn’t work. Plugging it in to the computer doesn’t work. It is dead as a doornail for no apparent good reason. No warning, that would be too nice. Just stops in the middle of a show. Takes with it my calendar, contacts, messages, photos, videos, notes, everything. So off I go to the computer store to have it fixed.
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Tags: Apple, China, computer, Electronic, Foreigner, I-Pad, Life in China, Living Abroad, problems, recommendation, Review, Travel

Comments 3 Comments
Categories China, Computer Issues

Life abroad: Vypr VPN

21 May

**I fixed the prices – I was doing it monthly, but I went back and re-calculated the price based on an annual purchase 🙂 Much cheaper that way!

Vypr VPN

A while back, I did a review of Astrill’s VPN service and quite a few of you were interested in learning more about other VPN services!

The internet is a wonderful, beautiful place full of friends, libraries, travelers, and fellow photographers. It is also a dark and scary place full of perverts, hackers, and identity thieves. Personally, I want to be able to access the first group while putting myself at less of a risk of the second group! Wouldn’t you agree? 🙂

I’ve now tried a few VPN programs here and there, and I wanted to keep you updated on my findings.

VYPR

I had heard about VyprVPN before, since quite a few people at my institution like to use the program instead of Astrill. If any of you have been following my updates and the news, you would know that Astrill has been off and on recently. I’ve had a lot of problems where it doesn’t work on my IPad, and it is frequently stopped working on my computer as well. I have days where it is not operating and right now, about once a day I have to turn it off and re-boot the program. Plus, they recently had to put out a warning that a government in Asia had seized their servers in an investigation. While that doesn’t affect me, a lot of users weren’t happy that they were that vulnerable.

So when I recently was given the opportunity to test out VyprVPN, I thought I’d give it a try. The people I know who use it gave it pretty good references through last year, and now here I’ll give you info on my experiences with it. 🙂

In interest of comparing this with Astrill, I’ve used the same 2+ people on several devices as my basis for both.

Price: $100/year (billed annually).

Review: There is a basic plan ($80/yr) that has almost all the features (minus: the Firewall, some cloud storage, other protocols), but it only allows for 1 simultaneous connection. Given that my family has two people online most of the time, 1 connection wouldn’t be enough. So I need to get the VyprVpnPro system at $100/yr. It comes with everything I need, and includes 2 simultaneous connections. You would definitely want to buy it annually, the price almost doubles if you do it monthly.

You can start with a 3-day free trial, and cancel it if you don’t like it. I like this process, because it lets me see if it will really work before I hand over that much money.

If you do decide Vypr is for you, go through this link for an extra 50% off your first month 🙂

Installation: Easy (very)

Review: There were no problems with Installation, it downloaded smoothly and started right up. One small confusing thing is that the website for Vypr is called GoldenFrog, so go to http://www.goldenfrog.com to set up an account. You’ll start by setting up the account and getting your username and password. Then you need to download the program.

Download process is easy, just double click to open the installation program and walk through the steps. Unlike with Astrill, there were no problems with the Proxy Settings on my computer, the instant I downloaded it, it went to work!

Use: Easy (pretty much)

Thankfully, the interface of the program is pretty easy to use. If you have a techno-dummy on your hands, they can use this without too much trouble.

When I turn on my computer, I open the program from my desktop. You can set it up to start automatically if you want. The box will look like this:

Untitled picture

If you want to just connect right away, just click the blue connect button. If you want to change locations, click the exclamation mark looking blue button.

The little gear in the top right corner is where you can change the protocols.

That’s all there is to it! Just click connect and then close the program when you’re done.

Access: Scattered

First, let me say that this part may be unfair to Vypr. Many people in my school swear by Vypr; they claim that it is tons better than Astrill and works great for them. At least 2 other people though have had the same problem I have – none of the servers connect on our computers.

The technology is easy to use but works sporadically and is highly unreliable for me – remember others say it works fine in the same building. Their website says that if Vypr is not working with a US connection, try hooking in to Netherlands or Hong Kong. I’ve had a lot of problems with Vypr’s connections in the US, so I tend to rely on the Netherlands or Hong Kong system. However, that is still very sketchy in regards to successful connections. Plus, there are several websites that require that you be connected to the US for them to work, such as Hulu.

So far, on my Apple Products, Vypr is more reliable than Astrill. However, Astrill is more reliable on my Windows Laptop. It’s kind of a toss-up there. I have not attempted either on a Mac, but I would presume that Astrill is less reliable on a Mac as well.

Customer Service: Good

Actually, I haven’t really had a reason to talk to their technical support. I have asked questions of my account manager though, and he was incredibly personable and friendly. Vypr has been very gracious when I speak with them, and I haven’t had any problems on that front!

Conclusion: This service isn’t great on my Windows laptop, I have a hard time getting a connection, even through Hong Kong or Netherlands. On the other hand, it’s been pretty stable on my Ipad, so there’s that. Other users have conflicting experiences. Some swear by it and others say it’s not working much.

The program is expensive, more than some competitors, but if it works on your Mac when other programs don’t that might be worth the cost. I don’t have any problems with turning it on and off, it’s incredibly easy to use. I like that I can change servers as often as I want! I also like that there is a program no matter what device I use. There aren’t any add-ons you have to pay for or consider which is pretty sweet; they just come with the program.

All in all, if I could figure out how to make the connection work more often, I would really like this system. Maybe y’all have some tips?

This is my experience with Vyprvpn, anyone want to throw in their opinion of ExpressVPN to give a comparison? How have you done with Apple Products here? Windows? Android?

Tags: computer, Electronic, Living Abroad, Safety, Teaching Abroad, VPN, Vyper, VyperVpn, vyprvpn

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Computer Issues, Life, Teaching

Life In #China: Astrill VPN

5 Jan

Astrill VPN

Life abroad has many, many benefits for foreigners to reap – great food, cheaper cost of living, easy travel. It also comes with slow internet speed in many places (just too many people online at once), and lots of online threats (the sheer technological ability of the people even in my student body is mind-boggling.) This is why I always work with a VPN (virtual private network), in fact I use one in the US too.

I like the security a VPN offers from those with bad intentions towards my laptop.

A VPN can satisfy the need for speed and security for me- the internet system here at my university is A. slow as heck (yes my VPN makes my laptop faster here for some reason) and B. filled with hackers and viruses waiting for me to seek them out. A VPN can help keep you fast and safe. Sometimes. Depending on which VPN you choose.

I just hate the feeling that I’m that at risk to viruses, and I’d been using a VPN in the States to help combat malware and data theft. I didn’t want to travel abroad and leave myself at risk to scams or bad people sneaking into my computer. I’ve heard good things about VyperVPN which runs at about $80/year for 1 device or $100/year for 2 device. Another one recommended to be was ExpressVPN which runs at about $100/year for 1 device and 1 phone/ipad. However, after some consideration, I decided to run with Astrill, recommended to me for its price and easy usability.

After more than 5 months as an Astrill user, I thought I would offer you a report on how it’s going.

Price: $70/year + $60/year for use on 5 devices (covers my whole family, phones, laptops, iPad, and more).

Review: The price was one of the lower ends of the group, especially if you want a family plan. Honestly, I’m still paying a surprising amount, but it isn’t too terrible. I get StealthVPN (a safer option) free if I tweet an ad for Astrill every month, which is nice. One problem I ran into is that I attempted to pay Astrill in August, only to find out in October that despite having a confirmation number, the bill was unpaid. I tried a second time only to find out the same again. Their payment system kid of sucks. Conversely, they didn’t shut off my program for any of the mess though, so that was a plus.

Installation: Easy (sort of)

Review: Installation is pretty easy. You set up an account with username and password and then download the program. It’s all fairly straightforward. There was a problem with my first installation because it screwed up the Proxy Settings on my computer so that NOTHING worked. I took it to the resident tech expert and he fixed it in about a second. Something about DNS servers not responding. Not ashamed to admit I don’t know what went wrong, just that it was easily fixed.

Use: Easy

The program is extremely easy to use as long as it is working. It automatically signs you in, you pick your server from a drop down list, and it connects you right up. If you want to see what server is the fastest, go to Help-> Test Speed and just test all the servers. I recommend using a server from the USA if you want to access all US websites. Remember that if you want to use websites not available in the US like Youku or Tudou you need to use a Chinese server.

Access: Scattered and Bumpy

The technology is easy to use but works sporadically and is highly unreliable. Unfortunately, they failed to tell me until after I paid that Astrill rarely works on Apple Products right now. Something about IOS 7 and IOS 8 not being compatible. Astrill keeps dropping off on my iPad and often fails to work at all. On my laptop, it is often extremely slow, even if I use multiple different servers or if the speed test says it is fast. I have had repeated days when it simply didn’t work at all. I also got a pretty snotty email about a week ago on CHRISTMAS EVE!?! telling me that they “detected suspicious movement” and were freezing my account. Given that this was my only way to contact my family in America (one of the reasons I had Astrill), I was not impressed. Upon responding to them, I was told that I was changing servers too many times. 0_0 well duh! I purchased a product that now rarely works and only then if I test out several different servers. I wasn’t amused. That said, when it works it does pretty good. I don’t really have any trouble accessing Facebook or Youtube videos when it is working. It helps if you have a fast internet connection cause Astrill can slow you down. My mom’s internet connection is pretty week and Astrill OFTEN stops working at all for her regardless of the server chosen. Continue reading →