My new tab dream AND pet peeves

Watch "HTC EVO View 4G Hands-On" on YouTube

I currently have a Sprint Galaxy Tab, Gen 1, 7" tablet, and I LOVE IT!  When the Xoom came out, I initially fell in love with it, and looked at my SGT in spite, thinking "Why can't you be more like THAT tab?!".  I soon realized that I was simply craving the Honeycomb experience, and that as of now, in general, all tabs are just big phones that can't (out of the box) make calls.  Digging deeper into the analysis of my envy, I also realized that the size of the Xoom was just too much.  As they're advertised, you can walk around, watching movies, playing games with rich graphics, and browsing the internet with ease, all while narrowly missing hit by THAT BUS THAT'S COMING RIGHT AT YOU, LOOK OUT! (just in case you're out about town while reading this).  Distraction aside, the Xoom is a 10" tab that requires 2 hands at all times while using it.  Samsung recently announced their 8.9" and 10" tabs which are cool, but are also 2 hand tabs. 

I've decided that the 7" tab is the IDEAL size.  There are some situations where you'll need a second hand to accomplish your on screen goal, but not many.  This makes cheating death while playing with your device in traffic that much easier!  I read an article about when the HTC EVO VIEW 4G would be released, and watched the above video while realizing my dream tab is all that she offers.  As I stated before, as they are now, tabs are big phones.  It's pretty well known that there is NO phone out that Trumps the HTC EVO (which this post is being written on).  The EVO View 4g looks to be everything that the EVO 4g is plus key tab functionality (drool over the note taking capabilities in the above video as I did... *swoon*).  On top of that, it fits in the palm of your (gigantic Bigfoot) hand!  It will be released with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but is all prepped for 3.0 (Honeycomb), which is rumored to release for tabs not already running it late this summer (take that with a grain of salt, though).  In a nutshell, I WANNIT!

I ALSO got REALLY frustrated with the presenter in this video...  It was pretty obvious to me that this video was shot after lunch time, and that on his break, the unnamed presenter went to town on the KFC buffet, seeing as THERE'S GREASE ALL OVER THE TAB HE'S DEMO-ING!!

When I first started my career in EMR Implementation/support, I worked regionally, meaning I travelled to all of our hospitals in Northern California, teaching bitter doctors and nurses the new system they would be using to treat and track their patients from now on (if they weren't retiring due to the switch from paper to "this god damned computer").  As I put it to a prisoner in the Vallejo Emergency Department who asked what I did as he laid in his bed (on "vacation" away from jail cause he was "sick") watching me walk in circles while waiting for someone to need my assistance, "I walk around pointing at computer screens, and get paid to do so"

The first and most memorable advice I received was "Always have a pen or pencil handy as a pointing device, cause people don't like it when you touch their screens".  It made total sense to me, as I have slapped a COUNTLESS number of advancing fingers from my own screens, cause "I don't know if you picked any of your orphus' (body holes) today, and would appreciate it if you kept your insides off my screen, and to yourself!"  Which leads to my question;  What's your biggest pet peeve?  In general, or electronics wise, what lack of regard, or common sense REALLY pisses you off and what do you do when you see people do it (besides giving the "gas face" and boiling on the inside)?

Where are my damn cookies?!

I found this article after adding every single Android source I could find to Pulse.  It's the first descriptive list I've found of phones that will and will not receive an update to Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread. 

I've played with GB ports from other devices on my EVO, and to be honest, I don't much care for it due to the non descriptive settings, and over simplified overall layout, but there ARE people who swear by it, and you can't always (ever) judge an OS by its port, considering it was built for another device, so ya never know!

http://m.blogs.computerworld.com/18077/android_23_upgrade_list

AWESOME malware detection tool!

This tool is intended for anyone running a pre-Gingerbread OS, rooted or not.  It was recently discovered that certain apps installed malware which rooted the phones they were installed on, then proceeded to transmit personal information to the developer.  The apps were removed from the market, but if the apps are/were installed, your info could still be transmitting yer junk!  Leave it to the devs at XDA to come to the rescue!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977154

This tool will search your phone for a particular file created by the aforementioned dirty apps.  Click the link above for more info, and decide for yourself, but I DEFINITELY reccomend the installation and utilization of Droid DreamKiller!

Slaves to a device...

Remember this commercial?




For those of you that DON'T remember, this was Apple's very first commercial from 1984, proclaiming that the domination of the PC that was known at the time was ending, and that a revolution was coming!  That revolution was EXTREMELY successful, and without Apple, the Macintosh, and all of their products to follow, we DEFINITELY would be a boring buncha' users.

Flash forward to today...

Today it was released that AT&T as a carrier officially SUCKS.  Most of us already knew that, and weren't surprised.  What WAS surprising was that more than half of the 60,000 consumers polled said that the only reason they stayed with AT&T was because it was the only provider that carried the iPhone.

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Apple, or the iPhone, or any of their other products personally.  I've always felt that Apple's devices were just too easy, and simplified, without enough customization options for me, which for other people is perfect.  My computer knowledge started on an Apple IIe, munchin' numbers, racing they keyboard, selling lemonade, and roughing the long Oregon Trail, watching my whole family die along the way...  Poor lil' Zebadiah...

My point is this:  27 years ago, Apple started it's campaign to revolutionize the personal computer experience and today, we've become enslaved to a service provider we don't like because of the device we use.  What happened to our experimentalism?  There ARE other phones and carriers out there, guys, and though most of them may seem complicated, or "too much" they ALL have the basic functionality we're all used to and looking for, and who knows, after a lil' use you might learn something new!  Just because you know something well, doesn't mean that HAS to be the only device you use.  I know, I'm on a HUGE soap box, and it seems as though I'm HATIN' on the iPhone, but I'm not.  I would say the same about ANY phone and carrier...  If I felt that we were buying and using it simply to own "the cool".

Branch out, Coppertops!  Learn some junk!  I think you'd be happily surprised by what's out there, and what you can do!   I'm not even switch to Android.  That's just MY personal preference (at the moment).  'Tis the season to learn something new, and stop relying on what you already know.  That applies to more than just cell phones too!

That's just my 2 cents...  add your own!!  I wanna' hear what you think!

Andy Rubin live at "D"

Check it out!  Andy's talkin' everything Google at the "D" conference!  So far, he's previewed a Motorola Tab running Honeycomb...  and we JUST got Gingerbread!!

Google's Andy Rubin live from D: Dive Into Mobile

Update:  If you missed Engadget's live blogcast, here's the video, released just this morning!

I'm so proud! My 2nd attempt at a boot animation...

So I FINALLY figured out what Boot animations consist of, and it's basically just a bunch of .PNG images and a tiny text file telling the system how to play them...  While I was searching, I found a REALLY nice one, and added it to Virus Airbourne RC 4.7 (in beta, donate to Virus to get it too!) which I'm currently running...  I started thinking (and usually nothing good comes from THAT, but this time I got lucky...) and added my "web name" or "nickname" to it, and positioned it dead center in 111 images, and this is what I got out of it!!



It's about 1/4 speed from how it will be animated on my phone, but since I used Windows Movie Maker to put the images together, the minimum frame rates and speeds are theirs to control...

I'm gonna' try to get a video of the phone itself up, so I can share it in all it's glory once I add it to my phone.

Let me know what you think!

Gingerbread is HERE!!!!

FINALLY, after months of teasing, and half baked (get it?  :D) promises, Android version 2.3 AKA; Gingerbread is upon us!

First deployment will be on the Nexus S, which Best Buy has recently reopened their site to sell.

The Nexus S' available specs (From Android Central):

• Operating System: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Display: 4-inch touchscreen
• Resolution: 800 x 480
• Processor: 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 Hummingbird
• RAM: 512 MB
• Internal Storage: 16 GB
• Battery: Lithium Ion 1500 mAh
• PC Connector: USB 2.0
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth: 2.1 + EDR
• Camera: 5 MP on the back + front-facing VGA camera
• Internet Calling Support: VOIP + SIP
• From what I understand, Google has gotten a bit savvy (greedy?) and excluded a micro SD card slot, so Network: Quad-Band GSM: 850/900/1800/1900, Tri-Band HSPA: 900/2100/1700
• US carrier: T-Mobileyou're stuck with only 16G (not that most will need more than that, but for those that do, expandable memory is always a plus).

BREAKING:  Android 2.3 to include keyboard controls for Playstation/other gaming?!?!

The Android SDK site has now been updated with the 2.3 download for developers.  Android central has an AWESOME list of all of the new features and toys to play with, available to devs.  To abbreviate, it consists of a New base Linux kernel version, New media framework, better Networking, and Dalvik runtime improvements.

Here's a lil' preview video released by Google, released Dec. 1st.



And here's the Android 2.3 User's Guide for a few more details you may be looking for.

That's about all I got for now, so here's every link I can find so far on the Gingerbread release!!

Android Central's report on the Nexus S site

XDA's report on the Gingerbread release

Android Central's list of toys for developers

Android Central's Nexus S back story

Android Central's Gingerbread release report

Forum discussions on Gingerbread:
XDA1
XDA2
Android Central

Need more input, Johnny 5?

Let me Google it for you!

Flashin' Fonts N junk...

Today I plan on experimenting with font flashing.  A developer by the code name Everevolv once posted a flashable font called 'Sony Sketch'.  It's the default for Everevolv's ROM, and my favorite font to date.  I use the .zip provided to flash Sketch over every ROM's default font.  Today I saw a font I really liked while watching 'Young Justice' with our kids, and I went searching...  I didn't find it, but I DID find these, and though I doubt any of them will look cool enough to replace Sketch as my favorite, it DID get the gears goin', and now I want to learn how to create a flashable font .zip to play with different font types...

I also plan on using THIS THREAD to learn how to create my own splash screen (image that shows just before the system boot animation while loading)...  I created an image that I'm using as my wallpaper, and would really like to play with it a bit more and possibly make it my splash screen when I start learning how to build ROMS! More on that later!

Follow this thread for updates if you too want to play with the fonts and stuff on your phone!

What's YOUR favorite font?  Would you like to use it as your Android device's font?

Green Friday

How many of you guys bought, or saw great deals on Android devices/accessories today?  Anything you might ask the big guy from the North Pole for?

I'm lookin' for a Galaxy or Archos tab in MY stocking!  What's on your Christmas wish list?

Let's learn TOGETHER!

My latest goal is to learn how to build a ROM, and Theme it, and not brick my, or anyone else's phone. I've been doing a TON of research on how to do this, and thought I'd share some of the resources I plan on using.  If you wanna' play too, here are the links!

1: dsixda's HTC Android Kitchen

Who is this kitchen for?

->Those who are brand new to "cooking" and want an easy place to start

->Those who just want to modify shipped ROMs or someone else's custom ROMs to their liking

->Those who are confused by all those scripts and complex commands required for building and extracting

2: How to theme a ROM

->To create themes, or to edit themes to your liking, you will need a working knowledge of android, adb, how to resign apk's, knowledge of your own O/S.

3: Evo Themes, Mods and More! (2.1+) The Playground

->This is a thread to help begin theming and moding the Evo to our likings. I only want to make this a friendly place to unite and create. No disrespect will be tolerated, no creations without proper credits as well, lets make creations and give fellowship.

These are just a few of the many I have and will be using, so stay tuned!  I'll be adding to this one as I find useful tools, and instructions!

If you have any helpful tips, tricks or tools, feel free to shoot 'em to me, and I'll try 'em out and put 'em up!

My new favorite Android pic!

My family and I are HUGE Star Wars fans (we don't dress up or go to conventions, or anything, just fans).  So when I saw this pic, it INSTANTLY became my new favorite.  Unfortunately the forum I found it on was old, and decrepit, so I couldn't find the artist's name.  The original had 2 other Jedi Droids on either side, but it kinda' looked like they were getting their asses kicked, so I blended them out, and tuned up the rest of the pic a bit.

REVIEW: Sprint's LG Optimus S & Samsung Fumble- I mean Intercept

A few weeks back, my fiancée found "the perfect phone" at Best Buy.  It was pink, running Android, and had a slide out, physical keyboard.  It was reminiscent of the G1, which she LOVED.  I felt it was a little cheap feeling, but if she was happy with it, I was too...  The next day, she wasn't happy anymore.  It was a Samsung Intercept.  I think the only thing it had goin' for it was that it was running Android (and only Eclair at that, so it was more like GONE instead of going).  The phone felt lighter and emptier than my 2 1/2 year old's playskool phone, and had about the same functionality.  It was un-updatable, dropped calls like an iPhone without a bumper, and NONE of the Android features had a chance on it's radio/hardware.  Basically, I could have gotten a better phone out of a 25C claw machine

(theeee CLAAAAAAWWWWW).

I was talking to the homies at VirusROM yesterday, and they too complained about their significant others complaints about the phones, so (kinda' as a joke) I suggested that while my Fiancée was out with the kids, she make a quick stop at Best Buy to chuck the phone at one of their larger windows (would have done more damage to the phone than the window) to request that Samsung kindly shove their Instinct up their asses.  She didn't, but when she got home, I talked her into checking online to see if anything comparable was available so she could make an exchange.  She called to find out about what options she had available, and while she was explaining that the phone drops EVERY call, the call dropped...  We found a replacement, and the rest is history.

We got her the  LG Optimus S and it's AMAZINGLY better!

It's a tad bit smaller than an iPhone, but works just as well as my EVO (which we originally got her when I got mine, but it was a little too much powerhouse for her).  It's a pretty basic phone, with a 3.2 mp camera, 320X480 display, and a microSD slot to name a few (Here are the full specs from Phone Arena).  I REALLY like that even though it's small, the screen still rotates to landscape when turned to the side.  This widens the on screen keyboard a bit, and hopefully complaints about typing will cease.  It came with Sprint's new ID service  installed, which I THINK is a way to theme your phone with icons, backgroundds and apps based on what you like to do with it and what you're interested in.  I'll have more on that after I steal it, and play with it a bit.  It was pretty annoying that the phone asked for her to choose an ID pack before the phone was even activated, and before she even knew what ID was.  Luckily I read a few reviews, and sorta' knew we could skip it.  In a nutshell, the LG Optimus is the perfect phone for the person who wants a smartphone but doesn't necessarily need a mini super computer in their pocket like I do (plus, it's rootable, so I'll have something to play with if I get bored some day).  Once again, she's happy therefore all is right with the world...

Web 2.0 Summit 2010: Points of Control

There are so many different types of gatherings these days, put together by Companies and their CEOs it gets a little hard to keep track of.  Most of them are pretty boring, but every once in a while there's an announcement of a new product or service that WE as users care about.  The rest is all millionaires playing "big bank takes lil' bank" or "anything you can do, I can try to do too, but most likely won't succeed".

I wasn't really interested in the Web 2.0 Summit (mostly 'cause I ALWAYS have the lil' bank, and I didn't even know about it until this morning :D) until I read on Android Central that Google CEO Eric Schmidt was opening the conference, and president of Global Sales Operations and Business Development, Nikesh Arora would be speaking later in the day tomorrow.  Since we've all been waiting on pins and needles, conveniently placed on the edge of whatever seat we're on for Gingerbread, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Arora's involvement has me eager, to put it simply.

From what I understand, Web 2.0 is the conference where ALL of the tippy tops of ALL the biggest web/tech corporations get together, and decide what we ALL need, and how they can profit from it.  It's like that secret society that's gonna' run the world some day, but not so secret, and will still run the world some day...  The schedule is INTENSE, and includes speakers and presenters from Microsoft, American Express, Cisco, Yahoo, Zynga (poker chip stealing bastards...) and I Can Has Cheeeburger(?!  seriously?!).

There's also a REALLY sweet map that I don't understand (but it's pretty and I can move it, that's my definition of SWEET).  Cross your fingers and hope we get some good news outta' Web 2.0!  Some new Google acquisitions would be awesome!  Wonder if they're bringing cookies...

I haven't even started yet...

...and already my eyes hurt...

Facebook for Android update: 11/12/10

Seems Facebook is still working hard on making a pretty good mobile app even better.  About an hour ago, Facebook for Android posted this update:

Personally, I rarely use the FB mobile app.  Unless I'm looking for something specific, uploading pics of some crazy food I just cooked or I'm too lazy to walk the 3 feet from the couch to my laptop to update my status, I tend to leave it alone, but it IS on my phone and easily accessible.  I know some people (I love you in spite of your addiction, BB :D) who damn near live on FB, and utilize the mobile app regularly, so for them, I'm positive V1.4.1 (aka/codenamed KATANA) is a welcomed upgrade.

2 thoughts on this:
1) did FB upgrade for Gingerbread compatibility?

and 2) There have been recent rumors of FB putting together their own mobile device.  With all the functionality their apps tend to provide, could this be another step?

What do you think?

Here's a shortcut to the download:

Market link | AppBrain Link

I JUST WANT SOME DAMN COOKIES!!!

Google continued their GB tease about 1/2 hour ago, with their tweet: "Our cafes are baking something sweet  http://twitpic.com/3682u2"

As I posted yesterday, the rumor was that the Gingerbread SDK was supposed to drop yesterday, and after many hours of sitting in front of Android Developer's website on my laptop clicking refresh, I realized that it wasn't gonna' happen.

Honestly, I can't explain why I'm so excited about the upgrade, besides the fact that I'll be practicing to become a developer with it.  The OTA (over the air upgrade) isn't supposed to push in the immediate future (manufacturers have to get their hands on it, and spin it to their liking first) , and even when it does, my EVO is rooted, so I'll have to wait for my favorite ROM developer to include it in an upcoming ROM which will be an even longer (but prob'ly not TOO long) wait...  Regardless, I WANNIT!!

More to come...

Seems he IS really hard to catch!

Lately, rumors have been flying all over the internet about Gingerbread (or Android, version 2.3)...  No one really knows what it will consist of, whether it will be a major upgrade, or just aesthetics upgrades with some bug fixes and small additions.  The biggest rumor so far was that the SDK (or code for the operating system) was supposed to drop TODAY for developers, and last I've read, that's still true(?).  I DO know that late last week, Adobe Flash 10.1 for android updated "to allow for future operating system functionality" which is a pretty big indicator that "Future Operating Systems" are just around the bend...  From other rumors, the official full release of Android 2.3 will first go to the brand new Samsung Nexus 2, and then to the rest of us in waterfall fashion (OH PLEASE let the EVO be #2...).  My guess is that late tonight or early tomorrow morning, the big Gingerbread man in front of Google's corporate offices will shoot 2.3 SDK waves from his candy coated bow tie, and bless us all with Gingerbread OS tastiness...

I've started my own developing endeavors with WAY too many books, and downloading in preparation for a long weekend (or month... or 2...) of learning, and building!  More to come on that later...

Wanna' know more?  Let me Google that for you!

I can't wait to ROOT my... LAND LINE?!

OK...  THIS is cool!  Android Central says this isn't the first, but it's the first I'VE seen, and I WANNIT!!  I'm a bit confused when companies choose to put the lil' i in front of their product name when they're not running iOS, but I guess I can look past that (Land Droid, or even HomePhone Droid would have been more appropriate, what would YOU have named it?).  Looks like the iHomePhone 2000 is running Android 1.5, as a G1 would, and it's got all the goodies you can imagine from any other 1.5 device, including WiFi for internet radio and YouTube apps, as well as a contact manager (I wonder if it will apply Google contacts with a sync?) and a 14 minute digital answering machine sounds like the MSRP is £99.99 (or $139.43)


Here are all the product videos I could scrape up...


This one's a pretty cool Demo from iDect (I think):






This one's REALLY hard to understand, and the review is actually for his local electronic store's news ad, and phone looks completely different, but it IS an  iDect with the same product specs.  The dude has the same point I was making about the iProductName. (I wrote it first...lol)





And here are all the pics I could muster...

WTW?!

I ran across this commercial on Talk Android and immediately thought to myself "I bent my Wookie...".  I'm not really sure whether this commercial's purpose is to create some "white Apple splatters" (pay attention to the what the hooker princess(?) takes a bite of), show off some animation skills (the one thing done well in the video), or prove that crack heads can be creative too (which it also does pretty well, actually) but it ain't doin' NUTHIN' for the LG Optimus itself as I'm sure it was originally intended (maybe?).  The mash up of references range from Snow White, to Star Wars...  Yeah, that's what I said...  How many other references do YOU notice?

There's not much more than that I can say, so take a look for yourself, and watch the brain cells melt away...



If you can explain exactly what this commercial is supposed to accomplish for the phone, I'd appreciate it!

Virus Airbourne ROMs

Before my EVO, in my vocabulary "Flashing" was never really defined as a GOOD thing...  Usually it was used in this type of context: "Man, my girlfriend FLASHED on me last night 'cause she thought I was talkin' about a girl when I said I love Puddin'...  I just love chocolate puddin'!!" or "This old creepy dude in a trench coat was caught FLASHIN' women in SF.  That's NASTY"

But since I started learning Android in all it's glory and capability, and ROOTing, I have re-defined the word "FLASH" in my vocabulary (or at least added one positive definition).

Yesterday I flashed (or installed) the latest update to VirusROMs' Airbourne ROM (or Read Only Memory, or Software the phone runs on) and it's gorgeous!   I was lucky enough to be paying attention to the chat within the Virus ROMs forum when someone asked to be a beta tester for the next version up from VirusROM Airborne RC3.1 SENSELESS.  I "ACCIDENTALLY" downloaded the ROM from the link provided, and SOMEHOW, version RC3.3 ended up installed on my phone...  (I'm kidding, I doubt "XxXViRusXxX" would put the link in a community chat if he didn't want people to try it out)

I am TOTALLY in love!  It's only been a day, but the layout of everything from the custom LauncherPro dock/icons, to the animated 3D notification bar icons are the definition of aesthetically pleasing!  The ROM itself is clean and FAST!  Just about everything in this ROM is custom.  The "Vanilla" lock screen is something I've had a love/hate relationship with, and Virus fixed the hate part!

Ain't it purty?  (I flashed the Sony Sketch font to add a little of my OWN sexy!)

The lockscreen slide is a TINY bit choppy, but that's to be expected, as every ROM I've used that incorporated it was the same way.  The Home screens flow effortlessly from one to the other (which actually suprized me, considering there was so much going on with all of the customizations)

The ROM comes stock with eBuddy, a multiple IM client app (which I haven't had a chance to play with yet, but doubt it can compete to Trillian), an HDMI controller app (which I ALSO haven't played with, since I don't have a cord yet) and 'DSPManager' (sort of an EQ for all of the different types of outputs your phone has,  Headphones, Phone Speaker and Bluetooth Devices) as well as some other great apps.

Like I said, it's only been a day, and as far as battery usage, it's been 6.5 hours since I unplugged my phone, and with extremely high usage, I'm still at around 70%.  I've used the Stock HTC kernel with every ROM I've flashed, and it hasn't done me wrong yet.  I should also mention that Virus has created a BUNCH of themes (found below the ROM description HERE)that run over this ROM, and all of them are great looking!  I'm a fan of EVOlution, but this stock blue has me SPRUNG!

There's SOO much more to talk about, but 1) you should find out how beautiful it is on your own, 2) I'm still too N00bish to get into the kind of detail I want to about it, and 3) you've wasted enough time at work reading this...  GET BACK TO WORK!!  :D

Hope this has been helpful but if not, at least I got it off my chest...  WHEW!  What a relief...