[REVIEW] Gadget Reviews PROBEX and Naughty By Nature Theme

[gadget945]

An “ILL” Marketing Lesson
With the upcoming contest giveaway of an HTC Touch Pro 2 with a custom theme of Naughty By Nature, aka NBN, made by our very own PROBEX, I just couldn’t resist writing something up. Having been with SPJ for a relatively short time, I would have to say that I’ve seen Probe’s work, used it personally, and have been impressed. If I had to put a single reason on my finding SPJ, it was because of the YouTube videos that had some wicked looking phones with some awesome looking graphics on them.

**By the way, at this time, I would like to note that there are no themes that are going to work, if there aren’t ROMs for them to run on. They’d be kinda boring without some kewl apps to go with them, or hacks to make it all work. I am not dismissing the work of others, but I’d like to celebrate Probex right now. Plus, the contest is next week, so I thought I’d get the word out about that.**

This is the first time I have ever heard of any real “advertisement” of Windows Mobile or HTC. This is the first time I’d ever heard of Naughty By Nature; I’ve lived a sheltered life with country and rock and never really ventured into rap or hip hop. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by both.

Vinnie Brown aka Vin Rock has done numerous interviews and has posted YouTube videos of the handset that is part of the giveaway. I saw screenies of the theme when it was still in its development stage on SPJ. I saw the interview on FoxBusiness and YouTube, and Vin has posted some on facebook, so has WindowsMobile. The one at pocketnow.com is by far the most informative and in-depth piece that I have seen so far.

Did you know that they found each other because of Dash’s video with the Jessica Alba theme? As a true marketing genius, Vin automatically hit on getting something like that done for NBN. He did his research, contacted Dash and then hooked up with Probe. Turns out Probe and Vin are fans of one another’s work.

"CROSS PROMOTION"

Vin is the kind of person that just is really passionate about the things that are important to him, that work for him, that make his life easier, more manageable. He really uses his WM phone, been with it since he first saw the 8125, he had a Treo at the time. He realized that the WM platform was truly a wonderful piece of technology, a pocket computer. Every time he sees someone with a WM phone, he talks to them about it, makes conversation about it. He’s probably one of the most well known advertisers that WM doesn’t have on the payroll.

Vin is working with Probe, life continues on, and one day Vin is on a plane and sees someone with an ATT Tilt. Turns out, it’s a Microsoft employee, who mentions by the way, that they aren’t allowed to have iPhones. (Who really wants one anyway?) So they get to talking, Vin tells him about the new theme that he’s developing, shows the rep some screenies of the theme. Then the techies take it one step further. The rep tells Vin that they (MS) will prolly want to do something with this, so they start emailing. I think they started sending emails before they landed.

How many times do the planets line up and everything just seems to fall into place? Boosting WM into the public eye like never before, same thing for HTC, and then promote NBN and the new album at the same time? How awesome is that? They don’t teach stuff like that in business school, or as they say, you can’t buy advertising like that.

Props gotta go out to Probex though, I really don’t have any idea how many hours went into something like this. I know that there have got to be hundreds, if not thousands of changes that need to be made. And to top it off, he didn’t have a TP2 to work with. Any ideas how hard it is to make a theme for a phone you don’t own? And to change all of it, and I mean ALL of it. Vin had to send him his personal HD so that Probe could do the theme. From what I’ve seen, it’s not like some themes that change the background color and a couple of the screens, it’s ALL done.

There are customizations throughout the theme. Every screen, bar, and button has been customized. It just looks soooo wicked! So many important and personal elements of NBN have been incorporated into this, the chain, “ill town”, pics and graphic, the font even, you name it – even the background of the dial pad is a custom color. Custom ANIMATED bootscreen with a hip hop hooray audio clip too. Of course, Probex’s icon is right there. I thought his Alienware theme was awesome, but comparing that is like comparing kindergarten crayola drawings to a doctoral thesis.

When you pair this awesome theme with all the apps that you can load onto the WM platform, the sky’s the limit on customizations. I still don’t understand why so many people like those other non-WM phones. I guess it’s because of the marketing. Folks don’t know what they don’t see. It’s hard to make an informed decision based solely on what your buddy has or what the TV is showing you. I have personally talked to several iPhone users and showed them what my TP can do, and they feel robbed.

I gotta hand out some more props to Vin for his marketing genius, and WM for stepping up their game too. Vin says himself that they are using the mobile technology to reintroduce themselves. I think that his and Probe’s work are introducing WM to a whole new demographic that they would have never reached before. The fact that they are releasing a new album at the same time, that’s gotta be awesome. To get to go to LA is just a bonus, if you win the contest. Awesome phone, ill theme, and iller music to top it off, how much cooler is that?

Maybe this will become a new trend, themes for album releases, everyone running around with WM phones and PROBEX becoming famous and SPJ getting more famous too! I mean, think about the marketing for the new releases, a personalized theme for the group in question; techies listening to kinds of music they would have never listened to before, people getting interested in WM because of an artist having a customized theme, the possibilities are endless!


It is the link to the original interview on pocketnow.com

Code

http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=7732

Here's the link to the interview on FoxBusiness.com - Microsoft gets Naughty

Code

http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/24024195/microsoft-gets-naughty.htm#q=Naughty+By+Nature

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It is the link to the interview on facebook, posted by WindowsMobile

Code

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=105000371380&ref=nf

Here's one of the youtube videos, contest info, narrated by Vin himself

[iamdasht19]

wow very nice im liking how you got the interview in there with facts but also got up close and personal with vin from what he shared with the videos very well written imo keep em coming i love reading your work

[CYBER WEESJE]

+10 on that very good nice to read


GRTZ CYBER WEESJE
MODERATOR@SPJ

[MikeyD]

nice job girl.......i think we need to get you to inteview Vin and probex about the theme, an SPJ Exclusive.

[tlpalmer01]

dam gadget..that is very nice and easy to read...

[puertoblack2003]

nice job gadget..and well put together..you should be my editor and chief hhahahaha..but its nice to recognize someone for there hard work.

[iamdasht19]

that would be awesome and if you want i could get that started on by sending probey a message....

[gadget945]

“ Originally Posted by D/\SH ”

that would be awesome and if you want i could get that started on by sending probey a message....

Awesome, do I get a SPJ Press Pass?

“ Originally Posted by MikeyD ”

nice job girl.......i think we need to get you to inteview Vin and probex about the theme, an SPJ Exclusive.

LOL - so long as it's not in Cali, we're good.

“ Originally Posted by puertoblack2003 ”

nice job gadget..and well put together..you should be my editor and chief hhahahaha..but its nice to recognize someone for there hard work.

I am at your beck and call, you're the boss!

Thanks to all for the props, I do appreciate it. Purpose behind the write up was to try to generate more traffic for the site, can't do much, but I do what I can. With the hurt foot, I'm at my lappy all day and night. Hubby don't mind, since it's a very bad thing when I get bored.

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0823 --------

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0904 --------

Copied from my facebook page, how kewl is this???

Vinnie Brown

Today at 7:12pm

Wow Gadget!! That was a great piece!! Thanks. I think you really put things in perspective. All I am is a simple fan of windows mobile devices. I would think other wm users would get it but somehow people try to turn things into a negative. I appreciate your understanding of what I was trying to accomplish which is basically bring more awareness to Windows Mobile devices to the masses and give my Naughty fans something they would appreciate. Also, I really appreciate what Probex does. For the time and effort it takes to make a theme, those hours could easily equate to $20k to $30k per theme. Remember how much it used to cost for a website in the mid 90's? So that's why I always encourage Probex to expose his alien logo for branding purposes so he owns an international brand and fanbase to continue beyond what we do and or grow together.My mission started with Dash and smartphonejunkies so again, I thank you guys for lighting a huge spark in me! Probex is flying to L.A. so I'll get to meet him and in the future, I'll find a hot gig, maybe Vegas, that we could all hook up and meet personally.... I tried to post on your site but it said I was restricted so feel free to edit and post this message as a reply to the article... Peace! VinRock

[MikeyD]

“ Originally Posted by D/\SH ”

that would be awesome and if you want i could get that started on by sending probey a message....

sweet that'll work

“ Originally Posted by gadget945 ”

Awesome, do I get a SPJ Press Pass?



LOL - so long as it's not in Cali, we're good.


I am at your beck and call, you're the boss!

Thanks to all for the props, I do appreciate it. Purpose behind the write up was to try to generate more traffic for the site, can't do much, but I do what I can. With the hurt foot, I'm at my lappy all day and night. Hubby don't mind, since it's a very bad thing when I get bored.

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0823 --------

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0904 --------

Copied from my facebook page, how kewl is this???

Vinnie Brown

Today at 7:12pm

Wow Gadget!! That was a great piece!! Thanks. I think you really put things in perspective. All I am is a simple fan of windows mobile devices. I would think other wm users would get it but somehow people try to turn things into a negative. I appreciate your understanding of what I was trying to accomplish which is basically bring more awareness to Windows Mobile devices to the masses and give my Naughty fans something they would appreciate. Also, I really appreciate what Probex does. For the time and effort it takes to make a theme, those hours could easily equate to $20k to $30k per theme. Remember how much it used to cost for a website in the mid 90's? So that's why I always encourage Probex to expose his alien logo for branding purposes so he owns an international brand and fanbase to continue beyond what we do and or grow together.My mission started with Dash and smartphonejunkies so again, I thank you guys for lighting a huge spark in me! Probex is flying to L.A. so I'll get to meet him and in the future, I'll find a hot gig, maybe Vegas, that we could all hook up and meet personally.... I tried to post on your site but it said I was restricted so feel free to edit and post this message as a reply to the article... Peace! VinRock

that is awesome nice to get recognized like that

[gadget945]

“ Originally Posted by MikeyD ”

that is awesome nice to get recognized like that

I didn't do it for the recognition for myself, wanted the props for SPJ, trying to help push the traffic up!

[tlpalmer01]

nice job gadget...that is very cool....dont be so modest, u got a talent .....

[puertoblack2003]

“ Originally Posted by gadget945 ”

Awesome, do I get a SPJ Press Pass?



LOL - so long as it's not in Cali, we're good.


I am at your beck and call, you're the boss!

Thanks to all for the props, I do appreciate it. Purpose behind the write up was to try to generate more traffic for the site, can't do much, but I do what I can. With the hurt foot, I'm at my lappy all day and night. Hubby don't mind, since it's a very bad thing when I get bored.

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0823 --------

--------- New Post Merged on 9/7/2009 at 0904 --------

Copied from my facebook page, how kewl is this???

Vinnie Brown

Today at 7:12pm

Wow Gadget!! That was a great piece!! Thanks. I think you really put things in perspective. All I am is a simple fan of windows mobile devices. I would think other wm users would get it but somehow people try to turn things into a negative. I appreciate your understanding of what I was trying to accomplish which is basically bring more awareness to Windows Mobile devices to the masses and give my Naughty fans something they would appreciate. Also, I really appreciate what Probex does. For the time and effort it takes to make a theme, those hours could easily equate to $20k to $30k per theme. Remember how much it used to cost for a website in the mid 90's? So that's why I always encourage Probex to expose his alien logo for branding purposes so he owns an international brand and fanbase to continue beyond what we do and or grow together.My mission started with Dash and smartphonejunkies so again, I thank you guys for lighting a huge spark in me! Probex is flying to L.A. so I'll get to meet him and in the future, I'll find a hot gig, maybe Vegas, that we could all hook up and meet personally.... I tried to post on your site but it said I was restricted so feel free to edit and post this message as a reply to the article... Peace! VinRock

that's nice for vin to say..i think i mentioned that to probex because i see a potential for him to expand his skillz...i know there will be haterz but he has been recognized.

Thanks gadget..for your time for setting that review up, that is one step up for people to see that there's other website out there ...and to represent spj is one...

[iamdasht19]

damn nice nice pb and got to gt in touch with the cat and get his problems fixed too

[PROBEX]

Now I know I have been busy and I have been sick for a few days but I'm not sure how this got past me, I just was cleaning my facebook wall up a bit and saw this link from Gadget... "bows head in shame" sorry it took me so long to respond. Thanks so much for doing this it really does sum up the story [ so far... lol] really well but hopefully there is going to have to be a part 2 to this. Only time will tell but if everything keeps dropping into place who knows what else might happen. ;o) I would never have had any of these opportunities if it was not for all my family here on SPJ your knowledge and your support has been priceless to me. I can never say thanks enough to all you guys and girls. I'm glad that you helping me... has helped me... help drive some more traffic and awareness to this site.