Bograma

Google Music updated to 4.1.512!

Bograma — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:15:27 +0000

It looks like Google decided to release a new (albeit small) update of its rocking Google Music for Android!
This one brings some bugs fixes, hopefully some I encountered along the way in the last 3 months.
If you’re not in the U.S, you can still get it by searching for the term in the title followed by .apk and follow the instructions. Of course, by now you should’ve managed to use a proxy, in order to make it work outside U.S. If now, search the web or ask me!

Tablets: the specs war; it’s nothing!

Bograma — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:38:25 +0000

Yes, the experts are teaching us the importance of specs; it has x MB of RAM, this and that screen resolution, so and so MP for the camera, but really, once you get a hold of the damn thing, it’s not working. Not properly, I mean!
And that’s why none are a match for the iPad – that one just works! And this will not change until the big players realize that they can’t fool us, they only fool themselves with these crappy, sub par products.

Android’s own Ice Cream Sandwich – we’re getting there fast!

Bograma — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:23:17 +0000

You know what they say: it depends to whom you’re talking to. For them, it’s a fragmentation issue. Since the beginning Google wasn’t able to steer the O.E.M manufacturers into the right direction, a.k.a “release-phones-with-the-latest-OS”. Like this guy said, it’s only business; you want the latest OS, get a new phone!

And then, there’s the rest of us (me included!) looking at this from a positive point of view. Ice Cream Sandwich was launched less than 2 months ago, 3 days before the Galaxy Nexus took off and it’s already close to 1% in “market” share. Well, more like 0,6%, but that was a few days ago!:-) It’s also important to note that there are three versions out there and they are split on only two devices: Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the last year’s hit, Samsung Nexus S, which is not even completely updated yet! Even so, that’s a huge leap in a very short time!

Again, let’s look at the chart above and think positive: Froyo (2.2) and Gingerbread (2.3) make up the most of today’s Android OS phones out there: ~85%.

Fragmentation? Fahgettaboudit!

via Android Central and Android Pit

Galaxy Nexus tip: never trust a commercial!

Bograma — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:46:54 +0000

Ever since I started taking notice on the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, I loved the default Live wallpaper, the one pictured above! I even put the ripped version on my old Desire HD.
Guess what? Although I got the Galaxy Nexus from Vodafone Romania (same picture), there’s no favorite Live wallpaper baked in the OS. Not this one. There are others. But not the one I like.
Other than that, great build!

The Ocean Marketing fiasco

Bograma — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:49:04 +0000

At first I thought this was a bad joke! Paul Cristoforo is the President of a PR company hired to handle communications in regards to a special game controller for disabled customers. Reading all the reports makes me wonder about a single thing: how was this guy able to survive in the business for so long?

http://feedproxy.google.com /~r/Venturebeat /~3/8K6g1l8t0z4/

and

http://knowyourmeme.com /memes/events/paul -christoforo -ocean-marketing-emails

Christ!

One strategy for all? Unlikely.

Bograma — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:10:47 +0000

This guy wants less Android models on the market, in the consumer’s interest.
There is only one problem with this idea: taking into account geeks represent maybe 5% of the total pool of buyers, taking Android in that direction is not working. Apple created its market and demand, Android just barged in at some point and took hold of the consumer market for smartphone replacing older OS’s like Symbian. Maybe BlackBerry will be next…
Anyway, today situation is a consumer created scenario. Consumer pressure is what makes producers to launch countless variations of the same model. Apple just refused to go with the flow and decided to do things differently. Some consumers followed. Just some.

Read It Later – a must have for any news junkie

Bograma — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:34:16 +0000

Too many times we’re interested in reading the news. As so many times we do it on the go, while attending to other, more important things we need to do.

While I can always “favorite” the items in Google Reader and read it at some point in the future but it’s not gonna offline it for you, which means you can’t read it at some point in the future without an Internet connection. And that’s the strength of Read It Later: it’s downloading the link’s content for future, offline reading, while getting rid of the ads, related stories and other junk interfering with the act of reading.

The most awesome part is the integration into more than 250 smartphone apps, the support for almost all known browsers in the world and the seamless synchronization between them.

There’s a free version with a limited number of items you can save (which served me just fine!) and a Pro version, if you want to save more items and support the developer.

Here.

Dropbox updated and optimized for Ice Cream Sandwich

Bograma — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:59:57 +0000

Looks like ICS is getting traction among the developers! Some are rushing to launch new versions compatible with ICS – hell, Dropbox for Android was long over-due anyway!

Here are some of the improvements:

•Favorites: quick offline access to files

•Bulk upload photos and videos

•Rename files and folders

•Single-tap access to all file and folder actions

•Improved gallery view

•Upload from and export to local storage

•Numerous bug fixes and stability improvements

Grab it directly from here:

http://db.tt/ZAfACYmq

Source: Dropbox Forums

Still not getting the ropes with the updates, Google?

Bograma — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:17:27 +0000

It’s been years now since Google updates our phones from one version to another. The operators, too! And they still manage to screw-up our phones.

Nexus S and ICS this time.

Free unlimited SMS? Not without hidden costs.

Bograma — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:10:32 +0000

Just yesterday, while reading the news, I found out about an Android application that will allow you to send free SMS. It’s called JaxtrSMS and it works. Just like the description brags it allows you to send worldwide SMS’, even coming from your number, not some shoddy service over the Internet. It uses data and some complain that 5 MB/day is a bit much when you’re not sending many SMSes.

I registered with my name and mobile number and I’ve tried it a few times on various numbers. By the time I pressed the “Back” button to exit the app the SMS was delivered! JaxtrSMS is a bit slow, its blue background comes a bit hard down on my eyes, especially when the writing is pale white. Your recipient’s replies are coming into the SMS Inbox as usual.

What I really found out afterwards is what pisses me off: the application will send a separate SMS or add ads to your initial SMS urging the recipient of your message to signup for the free service! And I can’t find a disclaimer letting you know about this when you sign-up for the service. I used to use a service like this more than 10 years ago and paid for it. The free portions also contained an ad, but it was the link to the service, 20 chars or so.

Of course, I unistalled the app right away.

It is a nice option but not for me. And the fact that it’s coming from Sabeer Bhatia, founder of Hotmail, makes no difference; in my eyes it’s still spam.