Remember The Milk

I have been using this on the iPhone previously and now on the HTC Hero. I paid for the Pro version a few months back as I wanted to keep using the iPhone application. You can trial it on the iPhone but it expires after a while unless you sign up for the $18 a year Pro version. There is also a nice version available for Android and I’m fairly sure but not 100% certain that it is free whether you are a Pro user or not.

The interface on both is quite nice although I think the Android version just edges it, changing existing todos is easier and quicker on Android whereas it is a bit too convoluted on the iPhone app. The best thing is that both version sync directly with the RTM website therefore it does not matter whether I enter new stuff on the website or either device as all three can be kept in sync via wifi. I’d love to get a version for the Palm Pre but the way things are going that would be unlikely so in the meantime will continue using Fliq Notes from MarkSpace.

Having said that, the website interface is not good and it took me ages to work my way around it, trying to fathom how to edit stuff. Adding new todos is easy enough and with the “smart” system in place you can enter new tasks quickly. For example, entering “Clean kitchen Friday” gets translated into a task for the next Friday with the date added.

[Via http://palmmac.wordpress.com]

Me VS Google

Aún recuerdo cuando tenía como homepage, por aquello del buscador en Internet, a páginas como Yahoo!, Altavista y Yupi. De repente, a finales de los 90, empezó la fiebre encabronada de un buscador cuya website cargaba en, prácticamente, nada y que encontraba lo que fuera en Internet. La website: una página en blanco, una barra para insertar palabras a buscar y seis letras en colorsitos agradables: Google.

Recuerdo muy bien que las primeras palabras  que busqué en Internet (gracias a un primo 6 años mayor que yo…¬¬) fueron en Yahoo! Yo estaba impresionado, pero cuando probé Google por primera vez, me agradó ver que cargaba y buscaba muchísimo más rápido que su competencia en ese momento. Todos empezamos a poner a Google como nuestro homepage y fuimos felices.

Han pasado alrededor de 10 años desde ese entonces y Google está mucho más cabrón: ahora no solo tiene el mejor motor de búsqueda en Internet (Bing that, motherfucker!), sino que también tiene un motor especializado en búsqueda de imágenes, un servidor de correo electrónico y mensajería instantánea, una herramienta de documentos (Google Docs) que en un futuro nos hará olvidarnos de MS Office, una aplicación para ver la Tierra (y nuestra casa) desde el espacio (Google Earth… ¿quién no se ha puesto a pendejear por unos cuantos minutos de ocio en esa cosa?), una aplicación para ver mapas de calles de cualquier ciudad en el mundo (mejorado con Google Street View, que implementa vistas de 360° desde la calle), una cosa que todo el mundo quiere para estar en onda pero que nadie entiende… (cof * cof* Güeiv* cof*), etcétera. Como ya se habrán dado cuenta, Google nos ofrece una amplia gama de productos y servicios bastante amigables y funcionales sin costo alguno. Entonces… ¿cuál es mi pedo con Google?

Ninguno.

Hasta hace un año o dos, no tenía ningún inconveniente con usar Google para todo: buscador, correo y hasta sustituto de Guia Roji, cuando me es/era necesario. El problema empezó con su lanzamiento de Google Chrome, la alternativa  Google como Internet Browser. Al principio, hubo ciertos aspectos y características de Google Chrome que simplemente no me llamaban la atención, pero con el tiempo, empecé a sentir algo que aún no puedo describir… algo muy parecido a la indignación. Es importante mencionarles que creo que cuando una empresa se expande de manera como lo ha hecho Google es una prueba irrefutable de que la empresa ha alcanzado el éxito y hasta más; si no me creen, chequen las referencias, rezos y alabanzas a “Diosito Google”. Yo mismo lo he llamado así un par de veces. Ahora Google está a punto de lanzar lo que muchos temían, esperaban y/o creían imposible: un Sistema Operativo de Google: Chrome OS.

Recuerdo que no hace mucho me preguntaba a mí mismo si era posible que Google hiciese algo más para competir con las grandes compañías de tecnología; mi respuesta llegó la semana pasada y tenía una sola palabra: GooglePhone.

Tal parece que mucho se ha especulado sobre la autenticidad de este lanzamiento, cosa que me causa risa… como si Google no pudiera o no se atreviera a dar un paso así de gigantesco. Según los “rumores” y varios artículos en internet, Google planea lanzar un servicio de telefonía móvil con llamadas ilimitadas y gratuitas utilizando recursos de un par de compañías pequeñas de telefonía, así como recursos de Google Voice. El teléfono celular promete ser uno de los más avanzados teléfonos inteligentes, además de tener un procesador 2 veces más rápido que el de un iPhone 3G. Obviamente, éste artefacto contaría con una de las versiones más recientes de Android. Estamos hablando de que, por primera vez, una compañía controlaría los 2 grandes rasgos de un teléfono celular: software y servicio telefónico. Por ahí leí también que es bastante probable que sean los de HTC los que se dediquen al desarrollo del hardware de los equipos celulares, lo que nos llevaría a hablar de procesadores Qualcomm (nada NADA malos). Obviamente, este servicio solo estaría disponible en Gringolandia… … … por el momento, ya que el plan de Google sería lanzarse a nivel mundial.

Dando por hecho que lo de GooglePhone sea verídico nos llevaría a decir que el lanzamiento de ese producto-servicio sería un éxito rotundo. Entonces viene la siguiente pregunta: ¿qué sigue para Google? ¿Automóviles con Android, 3G, reconocimiento de voz y radio-televisión por YouTube sin costo? ¿Computadoras portátiles y potentes a $100 dólares? ¿Un canal de televisión donde transmitan películas en HD? ¿QUÉ SIGUE?

En lo personal… simple y sencillamente no encuentro el por qué soy reacio a siquiera pensar en la posibilidad de probar Chrome OS. Probé Google Chrome y no me gustó. Comprendo lo de gustos diferentes, pero… ¿por qué me niego a unirme a la gigantesca cantidad de usuarios 100% Google? Creo que hay cosas que me gustan y cosas que no. Tal vez dentro de esas cosas que no me gustan, sea el hecho de que no me llama la atención la idea de que TODOS mis servicios y productos provengan de una sola compañía. Soy Windows user, uso Ubuntu como SO alterno, mi navegador es y seguirá siendo Firefox, estoy a punto de cambiarme a Movistar, mi internet lo provee Cablevisión.

Aún recuerdo cuando Google tan solo era el nuevo buscador que llegaba para quedarse por el simple hecho de no cargar tanto a la hora de ingresar la dirección Google.com, sin mencionar el motor de búsqueda de primera.

Alguien me dijo un día: “así hablan los viejos“, por lo que me callaré (soy MUY joven todavía) y me prepararé para la gigantesca ola de tecnología que se viene. Afortunados los que nacerán a partir del 2010, serán parte de una generación sin precedentes.

Que tengan un excelente inicio de semana.

[Via http://bygeek.wordpress.com]

Max Factory: Fireball: Drossel Figma Instock Now!

Max Factory’s hit Figma: Drossel from Fireball is now available for order!

Price: $100 NZD

Arrival Date: On Hand: In Stock w/supplier

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Please check the “Information” post for shipping costs and payment methods.

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[Via http://hobbycollecting.wordpress.com]

My Samsung Galaxy internals...

Now, isn’t that lovely? How sweet does that look? I could be starting a new trend here….go nekkid with your smartphone, smartphone “porn”. What a marvelous sight, the Galaxy back with full frontal battery shot…a real treat for all you battery lovers out there. I’m able to show you this wonderous image as the replacement battery cover has still not arrived and thus this is the view I get every time I pick up the Galaxy up and turn it over. Check out that sim card slot and feel the quality.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to being able to slip that back cover on when it arrives….mmmmmm. Mind you, I have been half thinking of just sticking the current one on and sticking it down with Blu Tak, which I sort of ended up doing with the BlackBerry 8900 however I don’t think the Galaxy one would sit as well.

[Via http://palmmac.wordpress.com]

Android the #2 mobile platform in the US. Really?

I used to work in market research, so I’m always skeptical of data until I’ve understood how it was measured.  That’s why I was surprised with this headline from TechCrunch: “Apple And Android Now Make Up 75 Percent Of U.S. Smartphone Web Traffic“. More specifically, I was surprised how large Android was in this reported data.  I absolutely believe Android will grow in significance in the future; today is a different story.

To the casual reader, that title of the TechCrunch report, along with the accompanying pie charts suggested that the iPhone and Android accounted for 55 percent and 20 percent of the US smartphone market.  These results position the iPhone and Android in number one and two in US smartphone web traffic.

Digging a little deeper, AdMob clearly explains how they arrive at the data:

“The report is based on the ad requests we receive from our network of more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and iPhone and Android applications.”

I couldn’t find details that split the “15,000″ figure between mobile websites and mobile device-specific applications.   Mobile websites that serve information to any device seems like a logical way to measure mobile web traffic. On the other hand, iPhone and Android applications will definitely increase the web traffic counted in the iPhone and Android buckets accordingly. This is not to say that AdMob’s data or methodology is flawed.  Rather, it’s helpful to know what was actually measured and how.

I went back to the October 2008 results and found that over the past year, the number of mobile sites and applications has increased 150 percent from 6,000 to 15,000. I’d love to understand how the additional 9,000 “mobile sites and applications” added in 2009 split across mobile sites versus iPhone or Android applications. There has been an explosion in iPhone applications, so it’s not hard to assume that AdMob is tracking a higher percentage of iPhone applications in its data collection network in 2009 versus 2008.

Another factoid that surprised me, over the past year, the number of requests tracked by AdMob has increased 127 percent from 2.2 billion to 5 billion in the US. The mobile web is still in its infancy and it’ll be interesting to track the number of mobile request in a year. Oh, that and the percent of requests associated with Android phones!

Follow me on twitter at: SavioRodrigues

PS: I should state: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”

[Via http://saviorodrigues.wordpress.com]

The Great Mobile Debate

Once again, I am at the end of another mobile contract and it’s time to decide what to do.  I am currently with T-Mobile and enjoy the low-cost and high quality of service. But in IMHO, most of the phones T-Mobile offers are a little less than appealing.  So I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place… should I stick with the best price and a lame phone or choose a plan based on the phone I want?

The iPhone: 

I’ve been dreaming of owning an iPhone for the past two years.  I own an iPod Touch and love it.  I can do many of the things an iPhone does with the iTouch, but it’s still not the same. 

The iBeer iPhone App

I only have Web access where there is a WiFi connection and there’s no camera.  Furthermore, many of the sweet iPhone apps require the iPhone functionality.  What doesn’t excite me about the iPhone is the phone reception itself.  Almost everyone I know that has an iPhone consistently drops calls.  Still, I’m not a big phone talker so that’s not a deal-breaker.  The deal -breaker is that the iPhone is only offered through AT&T (formerly Cingular).  I had Cingular a few years ago and their customer service was a nightmare.  Their name was so badly tarnished that they had to switch names and hide behind the AT&T reputation.  Here’s hoping that Verizon Wireless gets an iPhone agreement in 2010

The Android

I have read positive reviews on the Android and the commercials are hot!  However to me, the Android is just a wanna-be iPhone. Also, the plans through Verizon are a bit pricey and I’m not sure that I want to want to pay that much when T-Mobile is so much more reasonable.  But I’m still open to the thought of going with the Android and being proven wrong about it being a wanna-be iPhone.

The Blackberry Curve

I think the Blackberry Curve is a solid device and T-Mobile has reasonably priced plans for it.  However, I’m not fan of the Web interface; it seems a bit slow and clunky. 

I have until February to figure out which direction to go in, and have plenty of time to stew on it.  So let the internal debate continue and hope for a moment of clarity on which phone/provider to choose.

[Via http://adamdince.wordpress.com]

Google Maps Navigation Comes to Older Android Phones

Google today launched its popular Google Maps Navigation (beta) for older devices that use Android OS version 1.6 or higher. It debuted as a free feature on Android 2.0 (Droid) handsets a few weeks ago and was received with much enthusiasm. Now devices such as the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the G1 will be able to use the Internet-connected navigation system that offers voice-based guidance and automatic routing. “This release also includes the new Layers feature, which lets you overlay geographical information on the map. View My Maps, transit lines, Wikipedia articles about places, and more,” Google notes on its blog. Since I don’t drive, this system isn’t of much use to me. But I have seen some friends use it, and it’s pretty darn good — enough so to cause a long-term migraine for others in the dedicated GPS business. (Related post: “With Maps Navigation, Google Fires Another Shot at Carriers”)

[Via http://gigaom.com]

Media companies and mobile: Asia envy

Add media and marketing executives to the long list of constituents who wish North American mobile systems were more like those in Asia.

Though the entertainment and advertising rarely are on the cutting edge when it comes to embracing new technologies, a group of muckety mucks at the Paley Center for Media International Council meeting in New York last week made it clear that the future of  media consumption is the mobile devices – at least the mobile device as used by consumers in countries such as Japan, Korea and even China.

“If you look at what’s happening in Japan and Korea the potential for mobile is huge,” says Nick Brien, president and CEO of Mediabrands, a media holding company and unit of Interpublic Group (IPG).’

“The future is here,” Brien adds. “And it is there.”

For a panel discussion on “Monetizing the Mobile Landscape,” Brien described mobile marketing initiatives launched by his company and its divisions that showed how marketers and entertainers alike could effectively using wireless handsets to build brands with consumers. He cited an example of a McDonald’s (MCD)-sponsored concert in Japan accessible only on wireless devices.

Reality, only better?

On the same panel, Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of the Americas and India for Qualcomm (QCOM), noted that Japan also benefits from consumers’ ability to use their cellphone as a wallet. NTT DoCoMo (DCM) since 2004 has offered a service called FeLiCa, that allows subscribers to pay for goods (or ride trains and enter office buildings) with a swipe of their phones.

Brien, Johnson and others in attendance at the council event felt that the combination of robust wireless networks, mobile payments systems and a simplified platform that gave media companies access to subscribers could quickly transform the way companies build relationships with customers.

Qualcomm’s Johnson talked about something her company is calling “augmented reality.”  Fix your mobile phone on a building, say, and, using mapping technology, the phone might be able to identify all the retailers in the building, and provide you with user-generated reviews of the restaurant – or just the reviews and rankings of people in your circle of friends. As you’re clicking through the reviews, the restaurant could send you coupon or other enticement to lure you into the eatery.

Of course, notes panelist Susan Whiting, vice chairman of the Nielsen Company, consumers will have to opt into this kind of service or marketers and mobile companies would quickly find themselves running into privacy issues – though she notes that younger consumers have a much different attitude about online privacy than older tech users.

Yet for all the talk about the great wireless applications in Japan, Korea and other Asian nations, a great deal of the action around smartphones and other new devices has shifted to the United States thanks to Apple’s (AAPL)  iPhone and now Google’s (GOOG) Android operating platform. In the second quarter, Nielsen says, one in four phones sold in the U.S. were smartphones.

The couch potato’s killer app: Mobile TV

Smartphone users are frequently online. Nielsen research from the third quarter of this year suggests that owners of Android phones, for example, will be more likely to use more of the data features on the device more often than if using other smartphones, suggesting that its users truly will use Andoid phones as pocket computers – not voice calling devices.

And video consumption on the small screen is getting to be a big deal: In the second quarter, Nielsen says, there were 15.3 million active mobile video viewers, or 7% of all U.S. mobile subscribers.

A few years ago pundits thought consumers would only watch tidbits (remember “Mobisodes”) on their mobile phones. Now people watch entire programs, even films, on their iPhones. Indeed, there’s anecdotal evidence that some people watch television or video programming on their mobile devices even when a large-screen television or computer screen is in the room. (Perhaps they are too lazy to look for the remote?)

The upshot: Asia may have a head start when it comes to mobile services, but never underestimate American couch potatoes’ ability to consume media – especially television – on whatever platform comes along.

[Via http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]

AppManager (update)

seit der Installation von cyanogen 4.2.5 funktionierte der AppManager nicht mehr :-/
Also habe ich ein Logfile erstellt und den Autor angeschrieben, der dann auch umgehend geantwortet und auch gleich eine Beta zum Testen mitgeschickt hat — jetzt funktioniert wieder alles wunderbar

Nach Aussage des Autors lag es weder an cyanogen noch am AppManager, sondern an einer Detail-Änderung in der Android 2.0 API…

Essential Android Applications

I don’t remember all of the great apps I have downloaded, but here is a rundown of the ones I find most useful. I intend to keep this post updated when I find cool new apps. If you know of an Android app, that is really cool, or that you can’t live without, please list it in the comments!

Linda – file manager
Google Voice (but only if you have a GV account – which I have invites) – look online for what this does, it basically allows you to control all your communication (we’ll see if Verizon blocks this – iPhone does – VRZN said they wouldn’t)
ACast – podcast aggregator
SavvyShoppper – comparison shop products by bar code
MissedCall – changes LED based on type of notification (SMS, VoiceMail); fully configurable
Barcode Scanner – read all sorts of different barcodes (including 2D)
MyTracks – not sure if it is relevant for you; good for running or hiking; keeps track of distance travelled, and speed, elevation gain etc; good for keeping track of workouts (From Google)
Scoreboard – for sports fans, gives you notifications of sports scores (From Google)
USA Today – news
Facebook – they have an official app
Twidroid – my favorite Twitter App (but I don’t use Twitter that much, so I may not be the person to endorse this).
Shazam – identify any song by “listening” to it; tells you song information
Pandora – internet radio
Layar – augmented reality puts information on top of the map (or streetview) with tons of different information; This is just the beginning of this sort of app, this sort of functionality will be huge in the future
Locale – change phone settings based on location; kind of buggy but when it works, it is great
3Banana – list manager (integrated with website to keep lists on phone and web)

Rumor: Google presentaria telefono celular en 2010

El rumor del dia de hoy en la blogosfera/Twitter es el probable nuevo telefono que esta planeando fabricar Google, basado obviamente en su sistema operativo open source Android.

Google Phone (rumor vaporware)

Originado por la gente de TechCrunch (que ultimamente ha hablado de demasiados rumores relacionados con el gigante de la informacion), aunque de momento esto es solo un rumor y deberemos esperar hasta que vaya apareciendo nueva informacion al respecto.

Via: Meneame | Alt1040

[ROM] T.A.G v1.6.1 (AOSP)-ADP1-r1 (Includes Simple Installation Guide)

This is T.A.G Mod version of 1.6 with a few Eclair 2.0 goodies and F.H.L’s simple installation guide.

Before we reveal the good stuff…

Disclaimer:

- T.A.G and F.H.L will not be held accountable for bricked devices, dead SD cards or any issues even remotely related to your Android from flashing this ROM so please do your research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM

- Please remember before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modifications so don’t blame anyone but yourself if you mess up your device.

F.H.L Installation Instructions:

1 – Perform a Backup e.g – Nandroid etc
2 – Download T.A.G’s ROM (Posted Below)
3.1 – If downloading directly using your Android Rename the ROM (using Astro or any other file manager) to “TAG” and copy or move to SDCard (NOT inside a folder on the SD or this will make it invisible upon recovery), once you’ve done that power off your device.
3.2 – If downloading from a PC Rename the ROM to “TAG”, Mount your phone and copy or move the ROM to phone SDCard from PC (Again NOT inside a folder on the SD or this will make it invisible upon recovery).
4 – Reboot into recovery mode (Press both Home+Power at the same time and release upon a screen appearing) ensuring you have either Cyanogen 1.4 (or higher) recovery or Amon_RA 1.2.3 (or higher) recovery installed
5 – WIPE EVERYTHING!!!! (unless your coming from previous T.A.G build then ignore this unless we say otherwise).
6 – Select “Apply sdcard:choose zip” and pick “TAG” from the list
7 – Reboot

NOTE: The first reboot takes a little longer then normal, this is normal and will only happen once after each flash.

CHANGELOG

v1.6.1 – updated 18/11/2009:

Includes but is not limited to:

- Stock 2.6.29 Mod Kernel
- Bluetooth, Obexd/Obexd/Obex-Client/Obex_Test@System/Bin enables Bluetooth file sharing/Recieving.
- Tweaked Build props/Framework For performance
- 2.0 Maps with Google Navigation included
- YouTube from 2.0
- Updated Most Icons for modern 2.0 look.
- I’m also aware it displays forceclose message upon start-up I’m working on it and hope to have it fixed next release for now though just click “Wait”

Download: http://www.4shared.com/file/154460518/7aeb520a/TAG-16-AOSP-ADP1_Signed.html

Please note: I’m limited to what i can organize at the moment, Will update and organize when resourses become available.

Like what I do? – Click Here To Donate Via PayPal/Credit Card

Follow me on twitter (click my name) – TheANDR0IDGuy

ScreenShots

Another daft purchase

It just goes on and on and on……will them madness ever stop? I sure hope not…..

It’s a Samsung i7500 which I bought off ebay a few days ago. These things are quite expensive but I paid under £200 for a brand new in the box locked to 02 version, or say the seller says anyway. So, why did I buy this one? God knows……….I think I have some semi-valid reasons (and some of the usual completely vacuous ones) which include the fact the camera is seemingly okay and has a flash, well better than the pap effort on the Hero anyway, it has 8gb of internal storage and I have a 8gb micro SD card lying around doing nothing so that equals 16gb of storage. I’ve never had that much before. Most important reason though is the OLED screen which is the device’s saving grace apparantly, from what I have read, and the thing is so slim it so wantable…well, by me anyway.

It won’t arrive for a few days yet though which gives me to time to investigate some of the problems I have read online about that this phone suffers from. One of the major ones is that the Samsung syncing software, through which updates and stuff can be downloaded, doesn’t recognise the phone. A not inconsideranle drawback which at the moment prevents any updating, if they ever issue any that is. Oh dear. Plus, it has some silly locking system whereby you have to hold the unlock button, which is badly placed too, for a few seconds to unlock the phone and many users have whinged about this. On the Hero, you just need to tap the unlock button normally in comparison. Others have whinged online about the poor battery but no doubt they have 3g, GPS and all those other battery draining features on all the time. I hope so anyway otherwise I’m dead in the water.

Crikey, this is starting to look like a real winner. Still, if it as disappointing as most seem to be making it out to be I can always flog it quickly and probably won’t lose too much. I just like the idea of a nice slim phone, with loads of software that I can transfer across from the Android marketPlace , and a good-ish camera phone.

Windows Mobile wird zum Loser der Saison

Mit dem Assimilieren klappt es nicht mehr so bei den Borg, zumindest nicht mobil. Fast ein Drittel des Marktanteils gingen voriges Quartal verloren. Oooh…

Eine Tüte Mitleid für Microsoft. Ein Minus von 28 Prozent in nur drei Monaten (Q3) im Vergleich zum Vorjahr sind ein herber Schlag für Windows Mobile. Noch drei solcher Quartale und das Smartphone-OS versinkt rechnerisch in der Bedeutungslosigkeit. Die Nutznießer dieses MS-Abwärtstrends sind einerseits Apple (von 12,9 auf 17,1 Prozent Marktanteil), andererseits RIM (von 16 auf 20,8) sowie Android (von 0 auf 3,9 Prozent). Marktführer Symbian verlor ebenfalls, und zwar 10 Prozent (von 49,7 auf 44,6). Marktbeobachter hätten hier mit mehr gerechnet, doch das Erfolgstrio des Marktes konnte vor allem Windows-Nutzer auf ihre Seite ziehen. Diese Zahlen meldeten übrigens die Marktbeobachter von Gartner. Die erwarten für die nahe Zukunft eine enorme Zunahme der Android-Zahlen, weshalb sich Microsoft etwas einfallen lassen sollte. Oder aufgeben. [Ralf]

[Cnet]

Samsung killt Symbian

Android rettet Motorola (vielleicht)

Android: Handys werden knapp

What my Droid did today

So there I sat staring at my computer screen. I had to get my expense reports done and I was absolutely dreading it. I don’t know why I dread paying a bill that someone else actually pays for but I do. Of Course I know that one main reason is that I never seem to have all of my travel receipts and sure enough, I was missing a hotel receipt. I sighed and looked down at my phone. “droid does huh” well lets see if you can get my receipt for me. Having recently seen the commercial for the super powered google vocie search I picked up my phone, pressed the search button (the magnifying glass) and clearly said “find my hotel receipts from the Intercontinental hotel in New Orleans Louisiana” The Microphone light up and the little searching circle spun. A moment later there in my results box was, well nothing helpful. Come on, did I really expect it to work? Slightly dejected I tried a new approach. This time I said “call the

Intercontinental hotel in New Orleans Louisiana” Mind you this number is not stored in my phone, but I figured what the heck let’s see what happens. A very short moment later on my screen I was surprised to see The Intercontinental hotel listed with the phone number sitting right there (and a map). I touched the number and it called them. I was amazed that this phone knew what I wanted but I figured it was just normal so I tested it again. This time I only said Intercontinental hotel New Orleans Louisiana” It came up with results but not the phone number. So by actually putting the word “call” in my voice search it knew I wanted the number. Oh and I thought afterwards, what if I was not sure if it was the right place. I did the search again this time I clicked on the map that came up. Four touches (touch map, OK for google maps, touch hotel name, touch street view) and 7 seconds (yes I timed it) later I was looking at a picture of the hotel! And that is what my Droid did today.

Dell Confirms Android Smart Phone, Specs Still Secret

Dell has, at long last, announced its intentions to get into the smartphone market. The first handset will be the Mini 3, about which Dell is saying nothing other than that it will run on Android. If we know Dell, it likely won’t matter, as there is sure to be a deluge of handsets, all with slightly different specifications.

What we do know is that Dell isn’t messing around with some tiny market, here. The Mini 3 will launch in China and Brazil, where the partner companies have a lot of customers: China Mobile serves half a billion people, and the Brazilian telco Claro has 42 million customers. And this is just the start: Dell states that it is planning to take over the rest of the world, too.

It’s a smart move on the part of Dell. Some time in the future laptops will be like desktops are today: specialized tools for the minority. Everyone else will likely be using some kind of phone-like computer. And this is the angle that should have Microsoft worried: Those phones aren’t going to be running Windows, nor even Windows mobile. When a company the size of Dell gets behind the free Android, saving on all those OS license fees, you know something is up.

Press release [Dell]

3D Level

ist eine Wasserwaage, die eine Kugel sowie zwei Rohre anzeigt, um die Lage des Phones im Raum darzustellen.

Abgesehen von der fehlenden Kalibrierungsmöglichkeit funktioniert das Tool wie beschrieben und ist optisch ansrprechend gemacht – man kann die Farbe des Wassers einstellen und ein Gitternetz einblenden lassen, so das die Messung leicht von der Hand geht; was im Vergleich zu anderen Waagen fehlt ist eine Wert-Anzeige, also “12 Grad Neigung” oder sowas – ich persönlich brauche das allerdings nicht, mir reicht “gerade/nicht gerade”

Siehe auch Bubble.

Android leaps to Tablets with Vega!

Here comes the Vega!

Vega: Tablet-like device with Android

Seattle based Innovative Converged Devices will launch Vega in the first half of 2010.

VEGA

Vega will actually come in three sizes: 7, 11 and 15-inches. It will support connectivity via Wi-Fi as well as 3G, and be available at reportedly “low cost” (read: subsidized) from major carriers throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Read more on Mashable!

Samsung Galaxy MOD notes 2

Madoco  的 ROM 試了有一天多，感覺很一般。系統不定時出現很大的延遲， 差不多全體癱瘓個幾十秒也不是沒有…估計是 Kernel 正在進行記憶及 Swap 之間的資料交換。 Swap 建在 Class 4 的  SD 卡上，按Android 的內部資料流量來說應該還能應乎才對…也許 Embedded Linux 在處理器及資源的限制下，實在不應用到 Swap；同時也應驗了 GalaxHero ROM 作者對” Swap 是系統效能的殺手”的說法…

用上 Madoco 前還試刷了 Galaxo 及 GalaxHero, 為的就是試一下帶 compcache 的系統反應。不過沒有完全按指示，換成歐版的 II5 baseband。配合港版 ZHII4 的結果就是兩者都卡在開機畫面(似乎在bootloader卡死了吧..?)，邊玩 Dragon Age 邊等下，過了一個多小時還是不變…可惜。或許試過 Madoco 後再老老實實按 Steps 重刷一下。

未來希望有支援 compcache 的 ROM 發佈出來吧。畢竟 swap 到壓縮記憶體也鐵定比 SD 快，同時 compcache 主頁內的 Android 試用回響也好像很不錯，搞得我有點期待。

順帶一提，Madoco 跟 Nandroid 也許相性不太好，暫時也不知是 swap 問題還是 Customize 所致。 我是先裝 Madoco，以 nandroid backup 後剷掉刷GalaxHero/Galaxo， 然後剷掉再速試國人的完美港版，最後再 restore 那備份。結果是 Madoco 的備份有問題，起初估計跟完美港版的 bootloader 不兼容，故先以 Odin 完全地刷入官方港版，灌了無敵 recovery image 後再 restore 也不行。最後用上初期以官方 Rom 為 base 的 backup 才行。然後再以 recovery mode  刷入 Madoco。

還有，終於找到其他 Keyboard 替換內建的那個低能貨。用過 iPhone 的人去用 Android 內建的 Keyboard，不扔機子也鐵定氣死(如我)。 這兩個替換品分別是 Better Keyboard 及 AnysoftKeyboard。 前者功能可能是最強，操作及方便感也最貼近 iPhone 的，更有大量不同 Skin ；可惜本地 Market 下不到 ( 卻找到一大堆 Skin…莫明其妙)。後者則可從 Market 下載，功能及外型也不差 Better Keyboard 很多，免費開源又簡單，嫌煩的人最佳選擇也。也可惜 Lime 不能換別人的 Keyboard 用…他那跟內建的比也是五十步百步之流…-_-

Google adquire empresa de publicidade para telefonia móvel

Por: Miguel Helft

A Google mostra que a crise passou e voltaram a fazer aquisições, a nova moda do Google agora é investir em Mobile diante do sucesso do Android não poderia ser diferente.

Em um esforço por expandir o seu império na publicidade digital aos telefones celulares, o Google fechou acordo para adquirir a AdMob, uma empresa iniciante mas de crescimento muito rápido no segmento de publicidade para telefonia móvel, por US$ 750 milhões em ações, anunciaram as duas companhias.

A AdMob é uma das principais vendedoras de anúncios em formato banner para os aplicativos do Apple iPhone e para páginas de web criadas para exibição em celulares. A aquisição ajudaria a dar ao Google liderança antecipada no mercado de publicidade em celulares, que está em rápida expansão.

“O acordo demonstra que o Google está levando a sério sua ambição de se tornar participante de primeira importância no ecossistema da publicidade em celulares”, disse Neil Strother, analista da Forrester Research. “Isso coloca o Google em vantagem diante dos competidores”.

Strother e outros analistas afirmam que essa posição pode se provar tênue, no entanto. O negócio de publicidade para celulares, que por muito tempo foi alardeado como um dos mercados de maior potencial, continua embriônico. As vendas de publicidade para celulares movimentaram apenas US$ 160 milhões no ano passado, de acordo com o Kelsey Group, que faz pesquisa de mercado, e a vasta maioria desse montante foi dedicada a anúncios distribuídos via mensagens de texto.

Para referência, os anunciantes investiram mais de US$ 23 bilhões em publicidade na internet em 2008, de acordo com o Internet Advertising Bureau.

A crescente popularidade do iPhone e de outros aparelhos portáteis de alta potência garante que volume maior de anúncios venha a ser dirigido a eles, mas as previsões quanto ao crescimento desse setor variam fortemente.

“Vemos a telefonia móvel como uma grande oportunidade de crescimento para nós”, disse Susan Wojcicki, vice-presidente de administração de produtos no Google, em entrevista. “Vemos uma oportunidade de trabalhar com a AdMob a fim de realmente acelerar os nossos esforços em um segmento que está se provando importante para o Google”.

O Google já está em vantagem diante de seus rivais, Microsoft e Yahoo, em um dos segmentos da publicidade para aparelhos portáteis: anúncios vinculados a buscas. A aquisição da AdMob, cujos clientes publicitários incluem Procter & Gamble, Adidas e Land Rover, ajudará a empresa a expandir sua atuação à publicidade em formato convencional.

A transação realizada integralmente com ações é modesta para o Google, dado o valor de mercado de quase US$ 177 bilhões da companhia. Mas é a terceira maior que o grupo já realizou, atrás da aquisição da DoubleClick, uma empresa especializada em serviços publicitários, por US$ 3,1 bilhões, no ano passado, e do US$ 1,65 bilhão pago pelo YouTube em 2006.

Já que o negócio básico do Google, a venda de publicidade vinculada a buscas, está se desacelerando, a empresa está em busca de negócios que possam representar novas fontes de crescimento. Suas atenções estão concentradas em duas áreas, especialmente: a publicidade online convencional, um segmento em que a empresa ficou para trás de rivais como o Google, e a publicidade para celulares.

A ambiciosa incursão do Google ao mercado de telefonia móvel inclui aplicativos de busca e mapas para celulares e o sistema operacional Android, para celulares inteligentes. A AdMob também vende anúncios em formato banner veiculados em aplicativos para celulares inteligentes acionados pelo Android, e a aquisição pode ajudar o Google a lucrar com esse mercado em expansão.

A AdMob foi fundada por Omar Hamoui em 2006, enquanto ele fazia sua pós-graduação na Escola Wharton de Administração de Empresas, Universidade da Pensilvânia. A empresa é uma das poucas companhias iniciantes do setor de telefonia móvel que conseguiram superar as gigantes do setor e se estabeleceram como líderes nesse mercado emergente. Os analistas disseram que outras empresas, como a JumpTap, Millennial Media e Quattro Wireless, devem atrair o interesse de rivais do Google, como a Microsoft e Yahoo.

“Suspeito que o mercado esteja maduro para uma consolidação”, disse Noah Elkin, analista da eMarketer.

A AdMob recebeu US$ 47 milhões em capital da Sequoia Capital, Acel Partners e outros investidores, e tem cerca de 140 funcionários. Em entrevista, Hamoui, que serve como presidente-executivo da companhia, se recusou a revelar o faturamento da empresa mas disse que suas vendas haviam mais que dobrado nos últimos 12 meses. O Google anunciou que esperava concluir a aquisição nos próximos meses. O negócio deve ser revisado pelas autoridades regulatórias, mas Wojcicki afirmou que não prevê problemas para a aprovação.

“Acreditamos que a publicidade em celulares é um segmento muito competitivo, não vemos grandes motivos para preocupação regulatória”, ela disse. Críticos da rápida expansão do Google, porém, afirmam esperar que o acordo passe por rigorosa revisão.

“Chegamos a um ponto na evolução do Google em que as agências regulatórias de Washington e os comitês do Congresso precisam observar com mais atenção o domínio que a companhia exerce sobre os serviços de internet¿, disse Marc Rotenberg, diretor executivo do Centro pela Privacidade na Informação Eletrônica, que combateu a aquisição da DoubleClick pelo Google.

Tradução: Paulo Migliacci ME

Incremento: Rafael Rubie Loth.

www.plenosistemas.com.br

HTC Droid Eris Photo Gallery - Android Central

HTC Droid Eris Photo Gallery | Android Central.

To my eyes this looks a lot nicer than the Moto Droid, less of a clunker plus it has that nice soft touch material that adds so much to a device in terms of feel. I love the soft back on my Palm Pre. The Droid has the physical keyboard but reports suggest the keys are a bit flat. I can get by with an onscreen keyboard and I wouldn’t not buy a device ever just because it doesn’t have that qwerty. Having said that, I still think the Treo 680 form factor is my favourite and preferred shape. I can do with a smaller screen if the keyboard is top notch, as long as it has a touch screen. I don’t honestly know if there is an Android phone in the offing in that form factor but if so, great.

I think this looks like a much more viable option than the HTC HD2, or whatever it is called, over which the WM fanboys are working themselves up into a lather. Thing is, all HTC phones are starting to look alike, not just looks wise but OS wise too. Would you honestly know, if you didn’t spot the Start icon on the HD2, that it was running Windows Mobile? They’re slapping their Sense UI on everything that moves it seems and to be honest, I think it is over rated. They do some nice eye candy stuff but hand on heart, do HTC actually do anything that is like really innovative? They take other people’s stuff and make it a bit better but without introducing anything that is technically brand new.

AndroidCentral also have an interesting post comparing the browser speeds of the Droid with the iPhone 3GS and I was a bit surprised to see that the latter is quite a bit quicker.

ePub cada día más rey.

Cuando empecé el proyecto de Libuku.com los ebook eran un concepto relativamente nuevo y había un claro problema con los formatos de los ebook. Sin embargo, en estos 2 últimos años, la cosa se ha clarificado y ya hay un claro vencedor: el ePub.

El formato ePub ya es leído por la mayoría de teléfonos móviles de última generación (aplicación para Android, para iPhone y para Windows Mobile) y en los lectores de ebook, tan sólo el Kindle de Amazon se resiste a soportarlo.

Todo ésto es una buena noticia ya que el formato ePub, es un estándar abierto, fácil de implementar por tiendas y lectores de ebook, gratuito y libre, por eso desde aquí le deseamos, ¡larga vida al ePub!

三叔銀河機械人‧之二

自上次 Samsung Galaxy 怨言分拆的一點 Review…

=========================灰燼的分隔線=========================
講一下三叔同步軟件既7事

• UI 外表好靚, 但係用 performance 換返黎既! 唔該套 library 唔惦就唔好玩呢家野啦.
• 出個 drive browsing list 都要成十來秒…CLS.
• 過相個 part 有得做 batch resize. 但係低能到不行. e.g. 揀 800×600, 結果係直度既相強行拉闊晒!
• 白痴到極 #angry3
• 話有得用藍牙連接又係呃_人, 隻電話本身都唔受駁, 簡直誤導人
• 轉戲個度好, build in convertor叫方便
• 其他功能睇到想做一站式處理, 但係操作反應好慢, 無心機搞(我只係要同步….同步呀!!!)

如果知部機配套係甘6+1, 真係唔貪個 display 同相機.
家陣好似貪果盆中計 feel, 好想囉返去加錢換 Hero 算 -___-

關於 Android 的不滿

• IP跟AP/hotspot 的設定分開設定. 呢個又係不明所以既設計. iPhone 係 set once and forget, Android 重要人去到邊就手動改一次 ip config. 做成自動 profile 真係甘難? Windows都 _ 左十幾年重係甘, 點解新出世既 android 又係甘架? 重有 VPN 去鬼左邊呢? 甘都要靠 3rd party 搭救??
• 打電話個版面都唔爽, 似乎無推到最高priority執行, 呢個唔知邊個既錯.
  一部 Smartphone 搞甘多花臣得黎, 都唔好忘記電話本質, 係要打得出收得到先得架. 打電話按個掣都要等一陣, 簡直係倒退.

其實好多功能同操作經歷, 都係被 iPhone 的方便同體貼性寵壞.
iphone 出左甘耐亦多用戶認同其操作方式, 設計上自有其過人之處. 後來者唔比佢好, 或者以佢作起跑點競爭, 真係好難理解. 或者部份開發者完全不認同 apple 的心思吧…

L'influenza, Dan Brown e il mio Android versus iPhone 3G s, “open” contro “close”: which is the best?

iPhone contro Android! Thx to www.androidiani.com

Pubblico il post del “ritorno” complice una fastidiosa influenza coadiuvata da quello che prometteva essere un ottimo thriller: “Il simbolo perduto”.

Arrivando a pagina 261 ed avendo (che delusione!) in gran parte già scoperto l’intero meccanismo che faceva “girare” l’ultimo libro di Dan Brown, ho ceduto alle lusinghe degli amici che reclamavano un ritorno ai post “tecnologici” in materia di smartphone; a proposito, un ringraziamento a Paolo, amico ed assiduo lettore del blog.

 

Per inciso: non scriverò recensioni del libro e l’assassino è il commissario. (Scherzo! Ma fatemi sapere a che pagina lo scoprite…).

 

Recentemente mi è stato fornito in uso come utenza aziendale un iPhone 3g s con un firmware nuovo fiammante e quale occasione migliore dunque per fare un confronto tra i due dispositivi?

 

Ottobre è stato il mese dell’aggiornamento di Android denominato Donut; tra gli elementi migliorativi che ho apprezzato di più, emerge senz’altro l’aumentata velocità di prestazione del sistema (che a mio parere rimane però il vulnus di questo OS) e l’ottimizzazione del sistema dell’Android Market.

Manca a mio parere (ma penso arriverà con i prossimi upgrade del sistema) una funzione di ricerca a 360° più simile a quella che si trova oggi sull’iPhone che comprende una ricerca tra l’altro nei contatti e nel calendario.

Si sente però già parlare di un successivo aggiornamento denominato, tanto per rimanere in tema di dolci: Eclair (da misya.info: Gli èclair sono pasticcini di pasta choux, riempiti di crema e glassati).

Esso rappresenterebbe uno degli upgrade più importanti (non a caso è la versione 2.0) traghettando l’Android anche verso un market più aziendale. Tra le caratteristiche più importanti compaiono:

• Supporto a Microsoft Exchange
• Supporto al multitouch (attacco verso il mondo Apple?)
• Nuove icone

• Supporto per più risoluzioni video
• Nuovo browser
• Miglioramento nelle Google Maps
• miglioramento nelle funzionalità della fotocamera
• miglioramento della tastiera virtuale
• miglioramento del Bluetooth

• Una nuova barra degli urls per il browser
• Un widget di Youtube (more social!)
• Nuove funzionalità per i contatti

Dal canto suo l’iPhone non sta a guardare e devo dire che dai primi dispositivi sono stati fatti dei miglioramenti notevoli.

Rilevo con piacere che:

• è presente oramai una integrazione al 100% con il mondo della grande G (calendario, contatti e posta funzionano alla grande)
• funzione di ricerca efficace ed efficiente
• velocità nelle esecuzioni delle apps
• velocità nell’accensione del dispositivo
• interfaccia telefonica pressochè perfetta
• integrazione col mondo social ottima
• app store migliorato e presenza di una funzione Genius che propone applicativi in base a quelli già prescelti ed installati

 

Le key words sono dunque: velocità e facilità. Questo mi piace veramente un sacco dell’iPhone.

 

Ma come utente aziendale devo fare altre considerazioni che mi allontanano dal mondo Apple.

La mia personalissima Black list:

• Gestione non ottimale con Gmail

  Per chi come me ha centralizzato tutti gli account su Gmail, diventa imprescindibile lavorare con i filtri e le labels che Google offre. Android in questo è cintura nera! L’iPhone infatti non offre a livello di grafica e organizzazione la stessa modularità nella gestione della posta e, ripeto per chi la usa per lavoro, inizia a diventare un neo non da poco.

• Uso della batteria! Anche qui, facendo un paragone con il mio HTC G1, con gli stessi tipi di utilizzi, l’iPhone non convince. La batteria del mio telefonino Android dura il doppio rispetto al cellulare targato Apple. Praticamente siete sempre costretti a viaggiare con cavo e caricatore. Problemi dunque di ingombro e peso.
• Accessori. Mi permetto di evidenziare questo elemento a mio parere scandaloso. Ho sempre utilizzato come mp3 player i dispositivi Apple, dalla classica “mattonella” all’Ipod touch. Ho sempre avuto modo di apprezzare l’interscambiabilità dei vari accessori. Oggi con l’iPhone no e, cercherò di spiegarmi meglio.

  Utilizzavo scambiando i vari player, una presa da auto per carica batterie con USB e una base (tipo radiosveglia) che permetteva di ricaricare i dispositivi ed utilizzarli come sveglia. Similarmente in auto ho una centralina che mi permetteva il collegamento all’autoradio dell’Ipod di turno, ricaricandolo.

  Con l’iPhone no. Appare un avviso che gentilmente ci informa che l’accessorio non è originale.

• Apps in background.

  A differenza dell’Android, per gli iPhone non è possibile far girare in background le applicazioni e non è possibile utilizzare le schermate a guisa di desktop come l’OS di Google ci ha abituato.

  Solo un programma alla volta dunque, con l’esclusione (ovvia) del telefono e dell’interfaccia mail e messaggi.

   

 

Per quanto riguarda l’Android, l’unico neo rimane la lentezza nel boot iniziale e la poca reattività dell’interfaccia telefonica. Molto dipende dalle apps installate ma non si può non installare i software disponibili nel market, che ad oggi hanno una varietà (ed una gratuità) non comune.

La mia scelta, per un uso misto professionale e privato, rimane sempre l’Android, nonostante, lo confesso, la velocità e la reattività del dispositivo mi ha affascinato non poco.

 

A voi i commenti!

Android in 2010

Next year, dubbed “the year of Android” by many pundits, may not be as Android focused as the major phone manufacturers pipelines may have us believe.

Looking at consumer demand and trends, it looks increasingly likely that Android will gain significant market share next year. However, even with Android 2.0 devices starting to surface, consumer perception is that it is still the poor man’s iPhone OS.

However far this may be from the truth – and it is far from the truth – Android does appear to have a public image problem.

There are two reasons. The first is that there is a missing link for many consumers, myself included as an owner of a G1: the lack of a single environment from which any Android phone can be managed from a PC or Mac. It is widely acknowledged that one of the iPhone’s major strengths is iTunes and there is currently no Android equivalent to manage the transfer of music, podcasts, videos and application.

Of course, the true Google way of solving this problem would be to offer users cloud-based online music  storage that allows tunes to be streamed to your home and to your phone as well as downloaded. With a nice interface to sync with your phone, further development of the Google Discover Music service and a bit more of a holistic approach to phone/desktop integration, Google would be well on their way to a solution.

The second cause of this image problem is web browsing. Archos aside, we’re still waiting for an Android phone to match the iPhone’s ability to pretend to be a desktop browser. It’s not just rendering speed and screen size, it’s usability. The iPhone OS and Safari combine beautifully to provide a browsing experience that doesn’t have much downside compared to desktop browsing.  Google need to take their excellent Chrome browser and port it – with multi-touch and slick rendering – to Android. Advances are being made, but the bar has been set high by Apple.

If Google and the AOSP team can solve these problems, Android will be a competitor in 2010 and beyond, but until then – regardless of the virtues of open application development – Android will always be playing catch-up to Apple in the average consumer’s eyes.

Sony Xperia X10, mobile phone porn !

Well this is a beautifull handset, the Sony Xperia X10 has been officially announced and is expected in the first half of 2010.

If your looking for an alternative to the iPhone then this is a great contender. It’s Sony’s first handset running on the Google Android OS and they have done an outstanding job of skinning and customizing it. With exclusive applications like Mediascape and Timescape Sony has really put a lot into making sure the user experience is unlike any other Android device.

Aside from the stunning UI the handset has some other impressive credentials. a 1GHz CPU to make sure the great OS runs smoothly and without lag. A 4″ touch scratch resistant screen. An 8.1MP camera with 16x digital zoom, geo tagging, auto and touch focus, Image stabilizer, flash, face and smile recognition and of course video recording.

This sounds like it could be a great new phone, and I’m very excited, although there has been no announcement so far in regards to pricing I’m sure it will be available on some well priced plans.

[from TechEBlog]

video on the other side

T-Mobile Android ‘Pulse’ – Part.2

Android PC-Suite
Now there’s a novel name for Android’s Synchronisation software, where have I heard the name ‘PC Suite’ before? obviously not a trade name otherwise that huge Finish company would have something to say
Ok, so, out of the box of the ‘T-Mobile Pulse’ is one of those mini-CDs, with quite a selection on it, including a ‘User Guide’ PDF, which is the norm now, rather than a hard copy. Anyway, back to Synchronisation… The Android PC Suite, as far as I can first see, isn’t a suite as such, rather just a way of synchronising the Calendar and Contacts with Microsoft Outlook.

 

There’s

got root? (AKA gPhone (ie Android G1) rooting goodness)

thought i may as well type up my experience of rooting my gPhone -to inform, enlighten and mebbe even educate anyone thinking of doing the same.
this is not a ‘how to’, but a ‘this is how i did it’. there are a few different ways of rooting and modding, but this is how i did mine.

before i start i want to make clear that anyone undertaking such a risk commitment does so at their own risk and is nothing to do with me. i am not responsible for bricked phones, delusions of grandeur, the current economic downturn or global warming.

ok, ass well and truly covered, i shall begin.

a bit of background- the reason that i decided to root my gPhone was as follows- as well as generally loving tinkering around with such shit, a couple of months back an official OTA Android update borked my phone (read previous posts) and it looked like the only way out was a factory reset (ie wipe everything and hope for the best)… some ’solution’ huh? so, as addressed before in a few posts, the official Google ’support’ was laughable and i was relying on the community for answers. which is pretty much how it goes when rooting. the major drawback that puts people off (aside from numpties bricking their phone cos they don’t know what they’re doing) is the ‘oh it’s nothing to do with us anymore’ reaction when Google (or whomever) realise that you have shunned their stock builds for something shinier. so yeah, losing official support- “oh no, how will i cope?” </sarcasm>
so with that decision made, the main problem lay in the catch 22 that i needed to back up my important stuff (contacts, texts, etc) before i would wipe my phone, BUT i couldn’t get to said stuff until i rooted my phone (which involves a wipe) because the daft-ass privileges on the gPhone mean that you can’t even READ the onboard storage (and therefore copy anything off it)…

so yeah, a bit stuck. until, after much much research and going-in-circles, i stumbled across an app called ‘instant root’[1]. this app utilises an exploit in the bluetooth stack that can give a user root privileges WITHOUT HAVING TO REFLASH YOUR PHONE. now this is major w00t, as i could then copy my texts database from my phone to be replaced after the ensuing shenanigans.
(yes, i was skeptical about a one-click app giving root, but it did indeed work. it says in the readme that it will only last until the next update, but it did exactly what i needed, so i was happy. also, apparently this exploit has been closed in donut (v1.6) so it may not work from now on)

so, i have my texts database copied to my memory card[2], my bookmarks backed up using ‘bookmark backup and restore’[3] and my contacts backed up with a free beta version of Sprite Backup[4] NOT using gmail sync. gmail sync appears to only sync one way. i turned it on (having never used it before now) to back up my contacts and instead of copying my phone contacts to my gmail it started removing any contacts that weren’t in my gmail… not much damn use if you ask me!

with everything backed up, and me having (temporary) root privileges, the fun can begin. i hooked my gPhone up to my computer via a USB cable to transfer the stuff i’ll need, and so i can grab screengrabs (using DDMS) for this post. i transferred the apk installer for a program called ‘flashrec’[5] (allows you to flash a bootloader recovery screen that will allow you to flash a new rom) and a rom image for the Cyanogen Mod[6].

now follows the notes/screengrabs that i took as doing it.

installing flashrec from my sdcard using appmanager.
the time is 16:59.

backing up my recovery image. so far so good

now flashing the new recovery image.
the time is 17:01.

it’s done.

turning my phone off, then rebooting to the bootloader by holding down the home button as i boot back up.
the time is 17:02.

shit. i get an error when making a nandroid backup.

quick google around and no joy.
decided to reboot phone as normal, and check my sdcard for a) space and b) corruption.
the time is 17:16.

sdcard seems to have enough space and doesn’t say it’s corrupted.
to be on the safe side, freed up some space. now have about 150mb free.
made sure there’s plenty of space on my phone too. have around 20mb free
now reinstalling flashrec.

ok, rebooted back to bootloader screen, performing nandroid backup
the time is 17:24.

backup complete! must not have been enough free space.
the time is 17:26

performed ‘wipe data / factory reset’. nearly shed a tear.
selected ‘apply any update from sd’ then chose the CM recovery image zip
is now happily unpacking/installing away
the time is 17:27.

‘install from sdcard complete’
the time is 17:29.

rebooting now, hopefully to Cyanogen goodness.

after a few tense minutes staring at the G1 bootscreen i am greeted by the cyanogen one. so far so good.

and eventually the google set up / sign in to account screen
the time is 17:34

phone finishes booting up into my new Cyanogen-flavored Android OS.
the time is 17:36
total time spent rooting (not including time spent figuring out the nandroid error): 16 mins

 

so there you have it. my experience of rooting my gPhone. i’ll spare you the hours spent putting my texts, contacts, bookmarks, apps etc back on there.

[1] ‘Instant Root’, an app by neilandtheresa, removed from android market, so just google it.
[2] texts and mms database located at /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db, mms attachments stored in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/app_parts
[3] Androlib page for Bookmark Backup and Restore
[4] sprite backup no longer in beta, paid app available in the market or google and you may find the apk for the beta (note don’t use beta one, you want beta two) (different backup file format)
[5] google it.
[6] www.cyanogenmod.com – custom builds of the Android OS, utilising the features released in dev branches (ie gets new features before the official builds) basically full of root goodness

HTC Hero vs. Samsung Moment: initial thoughts

I just had a chance to play with both phones side-by-side, and here’s my take:

I was dead set on buying the Moment because of the faster processor, hardware keyboard, and AMOLED screen. I’m not so certain anymore.

The keyboard was nice, but not fantastic. Coming from a Q9h, the layout is slightly different. Dedicated function key for smilies? Really? The slide mechanism seemed decent, but already a bit loose. Having used a Samsung slider before, I’m baised against them.

The error correction on the Hero seems much better than vanilla Android, at least on a “quick brown fox” test.

I was expecting the screen to blow me away, and it really didn’t. I played a couple videos on both phones and honestly much of the time I preferred the Hero. The colors seemed more vivid.

Processing power: 800MHz… that’s 2 times the power of the first computer that I had. And the phone still lagged. What?!

Call quality: I called home and my dad said both were equally ok. The earpiece on the Moment is signifincantly louder.

LED alerts… I can’t believe the Moment doesn’t have them! What good is a battery-saving screen if I have to turn the phone on whenever I am away.