All about Google Android!

Android: Budget Droid

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:27:55 GMT

I remember the days when I used to get advice from my parents about how to spend my earnings and keep to a budget. Back in 2005, when I started earning, I didn’t plan a budget and so at the end of every month I’d remember what my parents said and realize they actually knew what they were talking about! After spending for 4 years, I have realized how important the advice of my parents was and I have finally learned what the word Budget means!

Everybody has their own way to budget their expenses but I guess, I do it in a smarter way. Yes! I just do it on my T-Mobile G1 using Budget Droid. Budget Droid is an app for the Android Platform that helps me to budget out my expenses even when I am on the go. If you have an Android powered device, you can grab the the application from Android Market.

My download and installation of Budget droid was fast and problem free. It has a simple user interface and there are mainly four areas in the app: Purchase, Budgets, History and News.

Purchase

The purchase tab in the application allows you to enter purchase details (transaction) of commodities with additional details. Before you use this section, you need to create different categories using the Budgets tab.

Budgets

The budgets tab allows you to create new categories and manage them. You can assign a maximum amount can be spend to each category.

History

The history tab displays a breakdown of your deposits, budget, amount spent and overall transaction history. This tab also allows adding a deposit or withdrawing from a deposit.

Export Transaction

Most importantly, using this application I can easily export a current month, last month or overall transactions to the SD card in CVV format.

Overall, the performance of the application is good and it has all the necessary options to budget your monthly expenses efficiently. I found the application very handy and I would recommend this to everyone who is looking for a budget management app.

Get SMS Popping on Android

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:54:53 GMT

If you are using an Android powered G1 smartphone then you’ll know that when you get an SMS you get a notification in the notification bar, LED or alert tone (depending on your settings) and to read the message you have to wake your mobile up from sleep, which is bit annoying. To make your life easier with the G1, you can install an application called SMS Popup from Android Market. The application is absolutely free and tremendously enhances the SMS text message notifications system for Android phones.

With SMS Popup you get instant visual notification even when the phone is in sleep or an application is running. That’s how it works on the iPhone and now with this app you can have the same on Android. You can also customize the behavior of SMS Popup. The main features available are:

You can customize the screen timeout from 10 sec to 10 minutes.
You can mark received text messages as “Read”.
You can also set how much portion of text should display.
By default, the message popup dialog box contains two options: Close and Reply. By customizing the application, you can have a Delete option as well.
You can also use other third party applications like Rings Extended to set a different notification ringtone.

SMS Popup is a handy and must-have application for Android powered handsets.

Google Android News Round-up

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:06:19 GMT

Google Android News Round-up

Over the last few weeks a lot of new things have happened in the Android industry so today I thought I’d report on some of the most happening news in my blog.

Vodafone HTC Magic Announced

Yesterday, HTC and Vodafone officially announced the HTC Magic, their second smartphone based on Google Android. The specifications include a 3.2” touch screen running at 320x480 HVGA resolutions. Unlike the T-Mobile G1, the HTC Magic doesn’t have any hardware keyboard; instead it has an on-screen keyboard to make the device slimmer than the G1. Initially the HTC Magic will be available in Europe through Vodafone.

You can take a look at the detailed specification info here.

Android Market Now Accepts Pay-For Applications

Android market is now moving to its second phase. Now registered Android developers can submit their applications as paid applications. At the initial stage, only US buyers will be able to purchase applications and they will be able to do so right from their Android phone.

Adobe Flash 10 for Google Android Platform

During an announcement at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Adobe announced that Flash 10 will be available for the Android platform by the end of this year. Flash 10 will be the first full-fledged Flash multimedia player for smartphones.

Apple Warned Google Not to Include Multitouch Feature in Android!?

We all know that G1, the first Android based phone has the capability of Multitouch but the feature has been disabled for some unknown reason. Now the latest news is that Apple had warned Google not to include the Multitouch feature in their Android devices. I really don’t have any idea why Apple did so but I guess it’s because of some patent thing.

T-Mobile Revealed Top 10 UK Android Market Apps

A list of the most popular apps that the pommies are using was released. The rating is based on the total downloads of each app by T-Mobile G1 users in the UK.

The Weather Channel
MySpace Mobile
ShopSavvy
Daily Horoscope
Free Dictionary Org
Ringdroid
Backgrounds
Barcode Scanner
Save MMS
Compare Everywhere

The RC33 Update and Me

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:17:59 GMT

Just thought I’d post a quick blog to say that I have noticed the following changes on my G1 after the RC33 update:

Android Market is out of Beta.
In this update, the name of T-Mobile has been removed from the contribution list.
Now I am not able to open the in-call dialpad by a single tab. Instead I need to touch and drag it.
Now the default mail checking interval has changed to “15 minutes” instead of “never”.
Displays date and time according to my preference, like 24 hrs / AM PM.
Now when I launch Map on my G1, a welcome message says: “Select “Latitude” from the Menu and try out this new feature.” Clear Map is now in more.
Now I can see “Show dialpad” and “Hide dialpad” options in the in-call menu.
Now I can save pictures received as MMS

Well, I was expecting more from this update based on the rumors, but overall it’s not a huge ground breaking update, although there are a few cool advances I appreciate. And of course there are many internal bug fixes which make the G1 more stable and powerful.

Updating your G1 to RC33 Without the Wait!

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:13:43 GMT

Have you heard of the upcoming Android Firmware RC33 update? If you haven’t heard then let me tell you that this will be one of the most important firmware updates for the G1. Rumors are spreading all around the web that the update will be available between 2nd Feb and 15th Feb. Some of you might have come across some change logs. Well, the recent news is that the update is officially released and here are some details of the update:

Google Maps gets updated to include Google Latitude.
Ability to check for new software updates.
Report Comments in Android Market as spam.
Display “Update Available” for previously downloaded (installed) applications.
Save MMS Pictures.
Google Voice Search.

I was happy to get this update yesterday. Here’s how to manually update your G1. But proceed with Caution!!

Download this Zip file.
Rename the file to “update.zip”.
Connect your G1 via USB cable to your computer.
Mount the SD card to enable the file transfer.
Copy “update.zip” to the “root” directory in your G1’s MicroSD card.
Turn off your G1 and restart it by holding the Home+Key key until you see an icon popup after the T-Mobile G1 logo.
To see what’s going on during the update, hit the Alt+L key from the icon screen.
Press Alt+S to begin the update.
Follow the onscreen instructions and press Home+Back to finish.
After reboot, you will be ready to enjoy the update.

Thanks Mobile Crunch for the procedure.

Give More Power to Your G1!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:35:59 GMT

I like listening to music all the time. I’ve alwsys got it on in the background – used to drive my Mom nuts! I often use my G1 as an MP3 player, including when I’m dozing off to sleep. It plays until the battery is fully drained which is a bit of a pain because then I have to be up and rushing off to the office. I often don’t have time to charge it. It wouldn’t matter what device I use for listening to music at night, the result would be the same. But to some extent, the G1 offers a poor battery life compared to other smartphones of the same range. However, you can customize your G1 in order to achieve better battery life. Here are some tips:

Turn Off Everything

Respect your G1’s power! I mean to say, you need to turn off Wi-Fi, if you are not using it. Turn off Bluetooth if you are not using it as well because both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth keep searching for network access and devices and this process consumes a remarkable amount of the handset’s battery. And yes, don‘t forget to turn the GPS off as well.

Dim the Screen

Another thing in your G1 which eats lots of battery is its LCD. To save battery, you can reduce its brightness. Believe me, I have reduced the brightness to the minimum level and I don’t have any problems watching anything on the LCD.

Install Power Manager

Power Manger is a third party application which can be installed on your G1 to gain more battery life. This application is totally free and you can grab it from Google Market. Power Manager adds new power settings to the phone and allows you to quickly view and change them. It’s a really great application.
The pointers above helped me to use my G1 for 2+ days after a 100% charge and I am sure these settings will significantly improve yours G1 battery life too. Please let me know if you have any other tips which I‘ve not included above.

Hands on ShopSavvy, Scan Barcodes and Compare Products

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:30:47 GMT

Hi folks. After trying out Skype Lite which I mentioned in my last blog, I installed ShopSavvy on my G1, a well known shopping application available for the Android platform. First of all, let me give you a basic idea what this application does. ShopSavvy can be installed on your Android Phone (G1) and can be used as a shopping assistant. It’s a barcode scanning application which uses the handset’s built-in camera to scan barcodes of any product. The application is totally free on Android Market and takes just few minutes to install.
When you launch the application you will be welcomed with five options.

The first option, Search for a Product, does the main task of scanning. The second option, Wish Lists, organizes the products you’ve scanned into variety of Wish Lists which can be saved and used later. The third option, Price Alerts, notifies you whenever a product’s price drops within your range. The ShopSavvy servers monitor the price of products and alert you via email as soon as the product is available within your range. The History option lets you access all the products you have previously scanned.

Now let’s talk about the real use of this application. We do purchasing occasionally and most of the products have barcodes printed on the box. The barcode contains the information about the product and can be read by a barcode scanning device, (a barcode scanner). A typical barcode scanner has a lesser kind of light which needs to be placed right on the barcode and the device just reads the product information,i.e. product model no., name, description and price. The ShopSavvy application does the same thing but in a bit different way. Start the application and tap on the first option, Search for a Product. You will see a red line on your screen which needs to be placed right on the barcode and that’s it! The applications reads the data of the product and lets you know the best prices of the product on the web as well as in local stores. And thus, you’ll come to know where you can get the best deal of products.

I tried scanning some barcodes which I found on some PC peripheral boxes and it worked with only two or three barcodes like a Nikon digital camera, ViewSonic monitor and Adobe CS3. The application can’t fetch information for all products because they're not ALL in the ShopSavvy database. Even so, when a product is in their database it's just awesome. It's free and you can have it on your G1 and then whenever you are in a store and have Wi-Fi access, you can check to see if you're getting a good deal or not.

Hands on Skype Lite Beta, Not Impressive!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:43 GMT

Hi folks and welcome back to tkArena. Last week I successfully turned my G1 to a working state and since then I’ve installed many applications on it. Last Friday I installed the Beta version of Skype Lite and I’ve spent some time working with it. In this blog I will highlight some of the points which don’t impress me.

The installation process was very smooth and quick. After the installation I launched Skype Lite and signed in with my existing ID. My contact list appeared in less than a minute and I could clearly see who was online and who was offline. Till that point, everything was fine and dandy. I could chat with people in the similar way to the way I do on a desktop computer. The text was delivered properly and reached me in just couple of seconds. The thing which disappointed me is that when you sign in to Skype you are then at home screen and at that point you just can’t see any notification of incoming messages. That means you have to be in the chat window to see any incoming messages. If you are at your home screen and someone sends you a message, it goes to the event section of Skype which can only be seen after the application is started. Don’t you think that’s disappointing?

If you have used GTalk on a G1 you may better understand what I am talking about. Unlike Skype, GTalk notifies you of any incoming message in the notification bar, no matter what you are doing on your G1. You just need to sign in.

I know that this is just a Beta release and it stills needs lots of improvements. Currently it has only basic features and limited options. For example, it doesn’t allow you to swap between multiple chat windows. This is the first beta version, so I hope the next version of Skype Lite will have all the missing features.

My G1 is Up and Running

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:48:04 GMT

Hi folks, welcome back to tkArena. In my last blog post, I told you guys about the problems I was facing with my G1. It was locked and I was neither able to complete the Google setup process nor able to skip it. After digging deep into the internet, I have found the following solutions which could have made it workable:

Buy an unlock code over Internet.

Borrow a T-Mobile data service activated SIM card from someone and complete the Google setup process.

In the beginning I thought that my mobile was locked to T-Mobile and I needed to unlock it but when I asked my boss to buy an unlock code, he told me that as far as he knows, the phone is unlocked and it should work with any GSM carrier. His statement left confused but I found confirmation on a website called globalunlock.com. The website is a pioneer provider of unlocking codes for smartphones including the T-Mobile G1. To make sure that my phone was unlocked or not, I clicked on the live chat section of the website a representative told me that if anyone tries to insert any SIM card other than T-Mobile’s, the G1 will display an error message something like : “Wrong SIM” or “Invalid SIM”. If anyone receives such an error message it means their phone is LOCKED! And if you don’t get that type of error message it means that the phone is unlocked and ready to use. In my case, I tried inserting about 7 different SIM cards but I never received any “Wrong SIM” error messages. So that’s how I was able to confirm that my G1 is unlocked and I just need to complete the Google setup process.

I tried completing the process several times but every time the phone displays an error message that there is some problem connecting to the Google server. The SIM I was trying is GPRS activated so it should have work. I also tried configuring APN setting but it didn’t work and customer support also sucked.

At last, I walked into a Vodafone shop and asked for a pre-paid GSM connection and I asked them to activate the GPRS/ Data service on the new SIM card. They handed me the SIM and I inserted it into my G1. It failed connecting to the server – again! I asked the Vodafone guys to configure the APN for me or else I wouldn’t take the connection. Turns out they were set wrong but as soon as they fixed that, I restarted the phone, entered my Gmail ID and password, clicked on Sign in, and it worked!! I was very happy and excited to see the home screen of my G1. Here it is how it looks:

I Got My Hands on a T-Mobile G1!

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:33:18 GMT

Last week, when my boss came back from abroad he brought with him an Android phone for me! Yes, T-Mobile’s G1, a white one. I was very happy to know that I finally had my hands on the phone I was waiting for for so long but in no time at all my happiness was ripped away. I was handed the phone and he said, play around with it and write some interesting content on it. I took the phone and ran to my cubical in excitement. The first thing I did was to show the phone to my colleague Jai, the person who got an iPhone a few months ago. He rarely allows me to touch his phone. He wanted to touch the T-Mobile G1 but I didn’t let him!

So I switched on the phone to see what Android really looks like. After booting, I got a message “No SIM Card” so I grabbed the iPhone from Jai’s table (without him seeing) and took out his SIM card and inserted it into the G1 and switched it on. After booting, the phone asked me either to create a Google account or enter my existing Google ID to setup the phone soI entered my Google ID and password and tapped on the sign-in button. I waited for several minutes and was finally greeted with an error message “There is a problem communicating with the Google Servers. This could be a temporary problem or your SIM card may not be provisioned for data services. If it continues, call Customer care”. Soon I realized that I need a T-Mobile data transfer activated SIM to setup my phone but unfortunately, in the country where I am located, there is no T-Mobile service.

What a disappointment – to finally have an Android phone in my hot hand but not able to use it. I told my boss that the phone he gave me is not activated and he promised me that the he’ll fix the issue soon. But I didn’t give up and start digging the Internet to find out a solution for unlocking the restriction imposed by T-Mobile. I have found many ways to unlock the phone and the most well known way to do it is to buy an unlock code. Another way is to borrow the SIM card of a friend who has a T-Mobile SIM with the data service activated. Neither of those options suited me. It looked hopeless.

Then I thought of connecting my device to a Wi-Fi network so that the phone can get a data transfer service, but it was no use! Each time I press the Home button on the phone, it gives an option to setup the APN for the phone. So I called my service provider and asked them the details of the APN setting for my existing SIM card. They gave me the details and I replaced the existing T-Mobile’s APN values with the new one but still I couldn’t setup the phone!. After several fruitless efforts I finally put the precious phone in the drawer, for now. If you know any way tounlock the phone, please post itin the comment section of this post.