Mobile gadgets running Blackberry & Android OS'
Posts tagged Android
My HTC Desire HD received the Gingerbread update!
0277 days
So, yes, the update is here! The 2.3 version a.k.a Gingerbread is pushed to HTC Desire HD as promised. My version is 2.3.3 with 2.1 HTC Sense still on it. You can find it in Settings/ About Phone/ Software Updates. It’s 100 MB and it takes 2 minutes to download it over Wi-Fi. All the previous settings, applications, even application’s settings are kept.
I have to say I was a little worried about the whole update business, as there are so many ways in which you can brick your phone. Or you need to spend another 2 hours afterwards restoring everything because something went wrong? Who can you blame?
The main (aesthetics) improvements I spotted while browsing the phone were:
- the Notifications bar got a 2-tab line: first tab holds the usual notifications tab and the second is “Quick Settings”, which allows you to access Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the Wi-Fi hotspot, G.P.S, Mobile Network and all phone settings. I can think of at least 3 or 4 widget applications becoming obsolete.
- unlock the screen on the Weather/Clock widget and you’ll be presented with the usual animation (the wipers if it’s raining) but ALSO sound: the sound of rain and the sound of the wiper’s motor – quite neat! Also the clock movement is a bit laggy!
- the bottom bar containing the “Menu” button, the Phone button and the “Personalize” button is thinner and the whole design is crisper.
- inside the menu there’s a new bottom bar holding also “Favorite” and “Downloaded” applications tab. It’s a very good idea if you wanna have a faster access to the most important applications for you.
Of course, there are many more important updates coming with Gingerbread, but that should require more than a peek. You can find a complete list with the improvements here.
Looking forward to the power-saving improvements!
Picture courtesy of Christmas-Clip Art.
I had a play with an Atrix!
0306 days
Android on a Motorola: at its finest! I plan a short but comprehensive review!
3G Watchdog for Android – a “not-so-simple” data counter
2307 days
These days consuming data on the move is as natural as talking on the phone ten years ago. Most of the people I know have data-enabled phones or smartphones. We all use Twitter, Facebook (not me but that’s another story!), Y!M, GTalk, email, browsers and weather apps. In Romania they’ve introduced recently data service on prepaid SIMs, a first for big operators like Vodafone and Orange over here. I’m pretty sure nobody saw this “customer need” two years ago. A prepaid customer was a “necessary-evil” in the mobile equation, in which the monthly subscription (still) is King! Well, not anymore! Everybody can have data.
And with this “need”, a new set of problems appear; are we charged by KB? Or by 10 KB chunks? Are we paying a daily subscription for data-roaming? And if yes, how much (not that much, “just” 25€/day for 50 MB or so!)? All these questions lead us to a single reply: control. Data control.
Say… 3G Watchdog for Android. Like I said, a “not-so-simple” app, with a beautiful design and a very hand U.I. I learned from the description in the Market that it guards you against costly Internet over-charges, it monitors your 3G/EDGE/GPRS data consumption by showing an icon in the Status bar which is gradually turning from green to orange and red in according to your settings for the data usage. Personally, I already have extra two icons besides the standard ones in the Status bar and I don’t need another one – you can switch this one on or off in the app settings as you wish. One interesting feature is the ability to auto-disable the mobile data by using external apps used to monitor your energy consumption: APNdroid and/or Juice Defender, which also sports a link button in order to install this last app! Cool integration, huh?
Also, the application will predict your overall consumption based on your usage history, letting you know all the time if you’re gonna go over the allotment or not. You can choose a graph, a text based info or a table for that. Or all three of them complementing each other! It will also count the roaming usage, the billable vs measured consumption and can disregard the uploaded data if your operator won’t take that into account. (Multiple) SIM changes can be tracked.
Two widgets are also available; I personally don’t use them but if your budget is tight or your data plan is small, you should definitely reserve a spot for one of those.
On a more personal note, I had to seek support from Mr. Richard Gruet and I have to say I am impressed: he replied within 2 hours with clear explanations. This is what makes an app perfect: support.
This app is a must-have and it’s free! There’s also a Pro version with more features and carrying a small fee.
The perfect organizer combo – Pure Calendar + Astrid Tasks
0308 days
Time is flying. And while we can’t control that, we can always try to coordinate our actions as good as possible in order to be efficient. And while owning a smartphone enables you to organize your life better (providing there’s willingness to do that, of course!), out-of-the-box products don’t offer all the tools you need to be very efficient.
That’s why we have the Market and that’s why we have widgets. Widgets are small programs, simpler than the usual apps. They mirror certain functions and they perform certain actions on your homescreen. The best part is that they don’t require launching the app, allowing you to interact/modify information right there and right then.
In order to be up-to-date I use a nice combo I tested for quite sometime now: Pure Calendar widget and Astrid Task/To Do List. Together they fulfill my basic (maybe “advanced”?) needs in order to be as efficient as possible thru the day. I will mention a few important features for each of the two above and post screenshots and links if you want to find out more. I use this app review to point out Android enthusiasts towards interesting apps – it’s called American Help and it means YOU need to dig some more if you want more information! 
- support for corporate (Exchange), Touchdown and regular e-mail
- support for task applications, most notable being gTasks and Astrid
- various skins and themes
- easy task input
- simple U.I, big buttons, ease of use, all important fields in one screen
- syncs with Remember the Milk if you need it (which in turn syncs with Gmail)
- backups available, both Import and Export
All this Motorola Xoom business amounts to something…
0346 days
…like now! I mean, they talk about it for half a year now and no tablet yet. As this guy says, the Xoom is not ready for prime time! Being the first Honeycomb (OS optimized for tablet use) tablet, it’s understandable why. But we do get something out of it now and that is…media!
This guy has a rip of all the alarms, ringtones and U.I sounds found in the Xoom! They’re all .ogg files but that won’t be a problem if you run an Android powered device!
All-new Twitter client for Android
0347 days
On February 10th, we were hit with the 2.0 version of the official Twitter client. I’ve always liked the official client, its clean U.I and its simplicty so hard to come-by from the other competitors.
While the 1st version did the job for the average user, we, the hardcore users were left in the dark. I had some issues: lots of bugs, only one account supported, no “Reply to All” option when more than one user was mentioned in a tweet just to name a few. Also, at the time I was using Seesmic for Android, which provides a robust Twitter client (see a VS here), really clean and simple while packed with features. After trying the official version for a week or so, I settled for Seesmic – many features compared to the official version, just like I thought in the beginning.
So what does 2.0 brings? Lots of bug fixes (and introducing lots of others like inability to refresh automatically), @username auto-complete, threaded messages, improved searches, multi-account support, redesigned screens and my favorite “Reply To All” feature added.
So is it better? Yes, it is! A lot better! Yes! Would it be usable for a heavy-user? One requesting as many features as possible in the palm of his/her hands? Yes, it would. This version brings the desktop features in a cleaner, simpler form to your smartphone. Another nice thing is that the app is integrated in the OS, which means your system won’t be under strain when running it in the background. We all know how fast a battery can be depleted by a poorly implemented/designed app.
But I’m a step further now. So I won’t be using the 2.0 Twitter for Android version. And not because there is a better Twitter app out there. But because Tweetcaster has a nifty feature TFA doesn’t: filters. This app has a Pro version I actually use. While this app is not up to par with TWA or Seesmic for Android in terms of U.I, it sports the same many features and works as fast as those aforementioned.
I’ll write soon about Tweetcaster Pro because it’s one helluva Twitter app!
