Wifi Explorer quick review
WIFI Explorer
There are many ways to access your mobile device from a computer, here I present a quick review of “Wifi Explorer” , which is my app of choice for using to transfer files from mobile devices to my laptop or PC. Once you have purchased this app you can install it on multiple devices
Using Wifi Explorer is quite easy, once installed on your mobile device just launch the app and it will connect to your wifi network automatically.
Once it has connected it will inform of the next step to connect to your mobile device through this app.
This will normally be an IP address which you will enter into the address bar of your internet browser, enter the IP address into your browser and it will now connect to your mobile device…..
Here we are, now connected to my Asus Transformer, the layout should be familiar since it is almost like your Windows explorer. To the left is the main navigation panel, in the main window is the explorer looking at your files on your device, one click on any of the folders will open that folder to look at the contents… .. you can use the / mnt / sdcard / Screenshots/ to quickly go back up levels in the directory structure.
….here are some screenshots I took on the tablet. I want to download the screenshots onto the PC.
Click the download arrow next to the filename to quickly download a particular file only. If you want multiple files then click the checkboxes next to the filenames and they will be zipped and then transferred to you PC…
…here they are on the PC, they are automatically sent to the download folder. If you only chose one file then no zipping is involved, but it makes sense to compress multiple files before transferring to save time and space.
If you would like to copy files to your device then you can accomplish this by uploading the files ….
Click on the Select Files hyperlink and the Windows file selector will appear, select the files you would like transferred to your phone or tablet. The files you select will appear in the same window, if you are satisfied with the selection click on the Upload Files button and the files will be transferred to your device. You can also put a checkmark in the overwrite box to overwrite any files with the same name that already present on the device.
There you have it, simple file transfers from your mobile device to your PC or laptop. Of course there are a lot more options within the Wifi Explorer, but for this quick review we did not decide to go there, just keeping it simple, as this is what most people desire.
Android Photo and Image Editing app review
Photo Editor for Android
The Photo Editor for Android is a great app for manipulating your photos and slowly, more and more features are being added, making this an even more useful application for editing pictures.
This ongoing development of the app means you are not stuck with its current feature set, this makes your purchase of app, if you decide to do so, even more worthwhile.
What is also surprising is the size of the app, its quite small leaving only a small footprint on the precious space android has for apps. You are not getting something as power as Photoshop, but then the tablet and the apps that run on these devices were never meant to compete with full blown PC software.
Here’s the startup screen from where you decide where to load the picture you want to edit. The file browser, although new, and still in Beta works very, I have not run into an issue with it yet. The two other locations of stored pictures you should already be familiar with.
On the left you can see the available options for manipulating your pictures once they are loaded, and they are quite simple to use. These are simple to use and are not overburdened with a plethora of options and parameters like regular PC photo editing software.
Note: any operation performed on your pictures/images are not saved until you press the APPLY button, which can always be found at the top right of image you are working with. Whenever you choose an operation from the left panel your choices for preforming that operation are listed on the left once again replacing the previous options. Whenever you make a choice from those operations further options that can be used with the operation are listed underneath that option.
After loading a picture you can begin using the options in the left panel to edit your picture, here I am going to load a picture and CROP the image to a desired size and then add some text onto the picture.
Adding text is another new feature that was added recently, and since this is something I do quite a lot with picture for these articles, it only increased my satisfaction with this app and made it more useful to me. It also means my money was well spent.
Here I took a full screenshot of the apps main screen from my tablet, but I only wanted the 3 icons in the middle of the picture. So I tap the CROP button and the screen changes to offer a few more options that are relevant to the CROPing function and I now have a grid which I can shrink so as to leave only the 3 icons within the grid. When I am happy I will tap the APPLY button at the top right of the screen.
At that point the original picture is discarded and replaced with CROPPED image.
I have not messed with the other copping options that you can see on the screen, I am quite happy, so far with just using the grid to capture my images.
Next, after cropping the image I wanted to add some text, really as an example of what it can do, it will be useful and I will use it more in the future. So after hitting the APPLY button you will return to the main screen with the original starting options.
I will now click on the text/image option, from the options that appear you will tap Add Text, from the dialog that appears you can enter some text into the box at the top of the dialog.
There are quite a few options for you to apply to the text you enter, when your finished tap OK and your text will be transferred onto your image.
You now have various handles at the four corners of your text to reduce or increase the size of the text, and the center handle projecting from the middle of the text can be used to rotate your text though 360 degrees until you are happy with angle. As before and throughout using this app, hit the APPLY button at the top right to apply your changes to the final image.
Here’s my finished picture with text rotated and pasted on top of the image.
When you are finished and ready to save your picture you can hit the SAVE button in the top right of the screen …..
…these are your familiar file locations for an Android device, but the option I like best here is the final option with 2 pictures which equates to OVERWRITE the original file with the new picture. This is a feature that I really like, 1) it save on space, 2) I will not be needing the original again, and lastly I do not have to do any typing ….lol Yep, I take my time saving options to the extreme.
There you have a quick review of a great android image editing application. Have fun and enjoy.
Stop spying on internet users
Stop the CISPA bill
Right now, over 100 Members of the US Congress are trying to sneak through a bill that would let them spy on every Internet user without a warrant. CISPA is their third attempt to rebrand their attack on global Internet freedom. Our massive outcry helped beat SOPA and PIPA, let's save the Internet again: Sign the petition
Out of Milk – review
Out of Milk review
Here's an app that everyone should have on their phone or tablet. This is a very convenient app for tracking your shopping list. Out of Milk features are:-
- Scan products directly into your Shopping Lists or Pantry Lists using our integrated Barcode Scanner.
- Synchronize your phone with the website and vice-versa (Requires Pro account).
- An auto complete database of previously entered items makes adding grocery items a breeze.
- The Pantry List's digital Spice Rack means you always know what spices are in your spice cabinet.
- The To-Do List lets you add and keep track of any other items on your daily list.
- Multiple Shopping Lists and To-Do Lists.
- Share your Shopping Lists and To-Do Lists by email or text message.
- Reorder your list items on the fly.
The shopping list is so easy to use, tap the Shopping basket button, then tap the plus button on the next screen to begin entering your items, the program will immediately begin to offer choices once you start to type, which can save a lot of typing. Reducing the amount of typing required from you is always a good idea on mobile devices.
Alternatively if you have the empty product in your hand, before you throw it in the trash can, grab your phone and scan the barcode, the app does a good job of finding the product and adding it to your shopping list. This is especially useful for those tricky items, like exactly which shampoo is the one I last used, it can be tricky to remember when you get to the store and you see an aisle full of different varieties of the same shampoo. With Out of Milk's barcode scan the EXACT match can be found and you can then know exactly which shampoo you require. Many times I came home with the wrong one because I did not exactly know the correct variety of shampoo I needed.
Tap on the three lined icon on the right of the product to drag and move it up or down the list. Tapping on an item in the list will reveal an option panel for doing other things with the item, Delete, Edit, move (which will move it into your Pantry list.
The Pantry lists also extremely useful to, it reduces the question of "do I have this at home" or " am I out of this", you can see right away that you have it and you do not need to purchase more. The number of times I keep bringing stuff home to find I already have some on the shelf, this feature removes the over purchasing and can save you money. You can create your own pantry categories, you are not stuck with the defaults provide, I created on for pasta, since I always have a good supply of these onhand and keeping track of which ones I need to replenish and those I do not need to purchase is great.
If we were to take this to the next level, it would be great to fire off the list of barcodes from our shopping list, to our local store and have them fulfill the order which we could pick up later.
How cool would that be!
Update: Out of Milk now includes Categories for your shopping list. Group your list into Groceries, Hardware, Clothing, Meat, Sundries etc ...see the blog here
Mobile Office Suite for Android – review
Kingsoft Office for Android
This app for Android is not new, in fact I purchased this last year, since that time it has become a FREE app. The developers are not stopping their progress with this software and it keeps evolving into a more rounded office suite with each update.
Be prepared to experiment with the app, since it is not possible for me to detail or comment on every aspect of the application. Suffice to say that you will be able to accomplish the basic involved in office document creation, but you may have to think about what you are doing before finding the correct method.
When you first start the app you are presented with a list of starred documents and recent used documents from which you can begin using the app, or, you can create new documents by tapping on the Kingsoft logo in the top left of the app.
After tapping the logo you can create a new document and select the document type, or you can get a document from the cloud, either Google docs, box.net or dropbox. You can also create a new spreadsheet or word document, there are also other various option related to you documents that you can perform, including sharing the documents via email or the cloud.
This has to be one of the cleanest and elegant looking office versions that I have encountered, and I use this on a daily basis. I like the way that the toolbar swipes to the left or right to reveal more buttons and options. This was a good move on Kingsoft’s part, it's is far better than drop down/pop up menu's, mobile devices are not built for that type of interface, that's not to say it cannot be implemented that way, but that swiping left or right to reveal more options is a lot better and it also leaves the screen uncluttered.
The ‘W’ icon in the top left above this toolbar quickly removes the toolbar to give you more real estate to work with, this is really handy with smaller screens, it toggles between hiding or revealing the toolbar.
These thoughtful touches reveal some astute thinking from the developers, they are not just hacking this together, unlike other office apps that seems to want to follow the desktop metaphors, which do not work too well on mobile devices. This bodes well for the future of this office app for Android more elegant touches like these to the interface are really surely going to be appreciated by the users.
Another panel of icons above the toolbar on the top right enables quick movement to the relevant section of the toolbar, each icon is associated with a group of editing functions in the toolbar. Finally the ‘X’ will close the document you are working on.
I think these icons are superfluous to requirements, I mean using the toolbar is pretty intuitive and there are not that many functions on the toolbar at present that these quick access buttons are necessary. A quick swipe left or right easily reveals all the functions on the toolbar, so I think these extra buttons are not really needed. The only 2 functions on the top strip that are really needed are the quick ‘X’ exit document and the full screen button ‘W’, but those could quite easily fit onto the toolbar, the full screen button ‘W’ could easily be placed at the far left and the ‘X’ exit button could be placed on the far right. This would remove the top strip of buttons and free up more screen space without losing any functionality. Just some food for the developers to maybe think about.
Word Processing
You should be able to use the word processor pretty quickly, most things are self-explanatory, there is no spell checker as of yet, so be careful with your typing!
There is a word count feature available and it provides more than a simple word count.
One of the biggest gripes about using Android is cutting and copying, this app provides one of the best experiences I have had with Androids cutting and copying.
The handles that indicate that start and end of the selected text are a good size and are easily managed with your fingers, of course a Bluetooth mouse is even better for this sort of work, that said Kingsoft has found a good way to accomplish cutting and copying. A magnified window appears to aid you in the selection of the text….
…the Handles you will use to select the text in Kingsoft Office did not come across to well in the screen shot above, but do not worry, you will easily see them within the word processor. When you are finished you can decide what to do with your selected text from the popup option that will appear….
The documents you create with Kingsoft can be used within Microsoft Word, although the text always appears to be very small when transferred to Word, but that is easily fixed. The document I used for this also appear to be locked to prevent editing, but Microsoft will inform you of this and you can simply tell it you want to edit the document, no big deal.
Spreadsheets
Using the spreadsheet within Kingsoft apps is quite different from anything you will have used before, the touch interface requires a new way of thinking. If your frequently using Excel then using the Kingsofts spreadsheet will provide quite a learning curve, but persevere and you will be able to get want you want from the app.
Bear in mind this is not a sophisticated application like Excel and you will get along fine and also remember that this application is still evolving.
Opening your spreadsheets and creating them has been spoken about above and the same interface is used for your spreadsheet, so chose whatever applies.
Entering your data is straight forward, here I have input some data into cell and I now want to sum the cells with my keyed in data …formulas!
Double tap on the cell where you would like the total to appear and the entry panel will appear …
You can enter data into the cell at this point or, tap the ‘T’ on the far left and this will reveal the extended entry panel …
…now tap the f(x) button and then select your function from the list that appears
Choose common functions and you will now find your SUM function which will give you the totals for the value’s you entered. Tap the SUM function and it will appear in your entry panel. Notice also that the cursor is placed within the brackets!
You can now use your finger to rubber band your selected data from the spreadsheet, much like you would with a mouse in Excel, only now you will use your finger to tap, hold and drag your finger over your data cells. When you are happy with your selection press enter and the formula is entered into your chosen cell. You could also have manually typed in the function and the cells needed for the totals.
More data can be selected from the spreadsheet to be included in your totals from other cells, just tap the area or rubber band the cells you need in to include……
....the totals for column C are combined with cells in G column and H column…..
….here’s the formula which will be contained in the your selected cell. The way Kingsoft have presented the formulas is nicely done, making it easy to read the the data included in your formula.
This app will load Excel files, though I did have anything complicated at hand to try, but the simple test file I created on my PC did load without any problems.
There is a Presentation creator included but it's something I never use, but having messed with it appears ok.
Hope you find this brief intro to Kingsofts Office suite for mobile useful.
Don’t forget that Kingsoft’s suite can open and read PDF files.
Update: Kingsoft office has just released another maintenance update for the app, bug fixes for Word and the file manager, plus cloud storage. More hard work from the developers as this app just keeps evolving. Check the changelog here
Epic 4G Touch Accessories review
Proguard Case with Force Holder
After much searching I finally decided upon a holster for my Epic 4g Touch, and the one I chose was The Proguard Case with Force Holder.
It is made with hard rubberized polycarbonate plastic material, the clip can swivel for horizontal or vertical positioning. This holster also comes with a case, which will slide into the holster with the phones screen on the inside. To his end the inside of the holster has a felt lining, which I guess could provide a clean swipe on the glass when using the holster, it will certainly prevent any scratching on the screen. The clip itself has a little hook on the bottom so that, for instance when clipped to a belt it will hook underneath the belt, providing a better chance of not slipping off to easily.
There is not much say about this other than it works great, is comfortable to wear, the phone just snaps into the case that came with the Holster and then it slides into the holster.
The backing on the case is a matte finish with grooved stripes, not shiny, so the grip on the case is really good.
Another interesting feature of the Force Holder is that the clip on the back can be locked with a metal clip to provide a standing case. This is a nice touch, the only problem is that your phone has to be face out and it cannot be inside a case. Also note you cannot slide the phone all the way to the bottom of the case because you cannot access the phones hard buttons. Other than that little design flaw the stand feature works quite well.
The phone cannot go into the Holster without a case as it is too loose, except when the phones screen is face out! It seems to fit just nice with the face out without a case, but with the phone screen facing inside it is very loose, not safe. I would not trust the Holster with only the phone inside, I would definitely still use the case, it fits into the Holster more securely this way.
That’s that little review done, what can I say, it’s a simple accessory and does not require a book on the subject.
The Body Glove
Before ordering the Holster above I had already purchased the Body Glove, chiefly because of the kickstand on the case.
Again there is not much to say about this accessory..
- Slim popout kickstand for vertical or horizontal viewing
- Hard shell with metallic soft touch paint finish for comfortable grip
- Features stylish wave pattern
- Felt lining for screen protection and cleaning
…it works as expected, it has a very sure grip and it snaps into the case. The kickstand is great in either vertical or the horizontal position. When the kickstand is not in use and locked you will not notice it as it fits very flush to the back of the case. It’s not too finicky to open the kickstand either.
A bonus here is that this case fits straight into the Force Holster I reviewed above. I love it when things like this happen! I think I now have the perfect combination here, not by design mind you, just good fortune.
I also took the opportunity to try a screen protector whilst shopping. I decided to get the Mirror Finish protector. They are a bit more expensive than regular screen protectors, but what the heck, I thought it would be fun. Apply the protector to the screen involves the usual prep to your phones screen, after that apply it like normal. How it’s look. Well you can certainly expect to get noticed with the mirror in full view from anywhere when the phone is off. I had a few bubbles after applying the screen protector, but like the instructions say, after 48hours most of them disappeared. The ones that remained must have been due to dust presence.
They are right though, it is like having a mirror when the phone is off, even when it’s on you can still see the mirror, you will have to focus on it though, rather than focusing your eye’s on the screen contents. Also be aware than the screen brightness takes a hit from the mirror film on the screen protector, the screen on the phone seems dimmed and you might have to increase the brightness. Increasing the brightness to overcome the mirror effect will also affect your battery, but, that’s a personal thing. It might not bother you that much.
When outside the mirror effect makes reading the screen a lot more challenging, especially on a sunny day, even with the brightness on ¾ setting it was tough to read the phones screen.
All in all I think I will have to reject the mirror screen protector, it is not going to work for me, nice gimmick though and for some it might not be so bothersome.
Leisure Suit Larry arrives in 2012 Q3
Leisure Suit Larry on mobile devices in HD
I’ve often wondered if any of the old point and click adventures would make it the Android platform and it looks like they will. Replay Games in particular is going to release the Leisure Suit Larry series of adventures. Not only are they re-creating the old games but they are working with the original creator of the games Al Lowe on those old series of adventures and possible new adventures too.
I hope the bawdy nature of original adventures manages to make it into the new games, since this was the main attraction in the original games. The politically correct nature of today’s entertainment may create some problems though, keep your finger crossed and we see how that pans out.
The touch screen devices are going to lend themselves well to this type of adventure and the resolution needed for high quality images are finally available to most mobile devices as well. I’m not sure how these games will work on mobile phone screens, if at all, but I’m looking forward to the tablet versions anyhow.
I hope these adventures aren’t tied into some online system, like Steam or worse in-game purchasing, I’ve had too many games that I cannot play without a connection! Since I paid for the game I would like to play it regardless of connectivity, there ought to be a law against this, and it probably will not be too long before someone sues a game company because of the fact that they cannot play without being connect to the internet. It’s only a matter of time.
The latest news about the arrival of the first adventure is 2012 Q3, as noted on Replay’s blog ….
“we’re “targeting” a Q3 launch but as I’ve told many members of the press, including Spike, G4, & Wired, we will not release a game that’s not ready. Been there, done that (we were forced to “make the quarter”) and it just does not work, period. Having said that, we’re working 12-18 hours days already and doing our best. No promise except it’s going to be a great, great game.”
Just wish I could sleep until the release date then wake and start playing ….lol
TF101 Asus Transformer upgrade to ICS
After a long stretch of broken release dates, at least 3 missed scheduled release dates, on Friday 24th Asus finally released the ICS upgrade for the TF101 Transformer. Fortunately the release proved no problems to install, not one hiccup during the OTA release, but, it just took awhile to install the release.
Always remember that upgrades of this nature will be ok to install and normally without any problems, the problems you encounter will mostly come from the apps that you use on the Android operating system. The developers are in the same boat as the users, without ICS for thier development they are not able to test thier apps in the real world, sure they have guidelines to follow that should guarantee the correct operation, but it's no substitute for a real ICS environment.
After an upgrade to firmware it's always good to go into the Android Market and check your apps to see if there are upgrades available. Immediately after this upgrade there was a Flash update and an update to Google+, if you did not get the update for Google+ you would have noticed the Google+ app reporting problems.
This is not comprehensive review, there is just too much to address, just about everything has changed in one way or another, so this is just a quick review of my experience so far and a quick outline of new features.
So what did the upgrade do for you, well what is immediately obvious is the completely different system that you now have, forget everything you knew before, everything is now competely different! In effect what you have is not unlike a completely new machine. Having become familiar with your Gingerbread operating system on the Transformer, you will now have to re-learn most everything. The apps will operate the same way, but underneath the hood is a new engine.
One very nice feature is the use of Folders on you home screens, this allows you to group similar apps together and thus unclutter your screens. Now you have one folder that will hold similar apps, like the screenshot below ....
....notice the the circular folders, inside them are all my office related apps, you can even rename the circle to something meaningful to you. Next to the Office folder are my utilities, File explorer, fast reboot and other similar apps. Welcome to the uncluttered screens of Googles Ice Creams Sandwich. Group your games into folders, Arcade, Strategy, Puzzles etc....
to begin grouping apps simply tap and hold an app icon and drag it onto another app and release and a folder has now been created containing the two apps. Drag other apps onto the newly ccreated folder to add them to the folder.
I have one more thing that has really improved and now provides a great useful feature where as before it only displayed information. The status bar at the bottom right of the display. Inbuilt into the display are now quick toggle buttons to disable or enable your devices features like Bluetooth, Wireless, Screen Rotation and others ....
... notice in the screenshot above you are also provided with a snapsot of your system and app alerts! This is now one seriously powerful feature, calendar appointments are there, messages too, tap the clog wheel at the top right to get to your settings, immediate access to your sound level and brightness is provided from this panel too.
Tappping your screen and holding (long tap) does not do what it used to do, in ICS it only provides access to adding wallpapers, to add apps to your screen you need to tap the Apps icon in the top right of your screen, it looks like six little dots. When you enter the next screen you will see all your apps, tap and hold the app you need and your screens will appear where you can drop, release the app icon. At the top of you app list you will see Apps and Widgets, tap to select which you would like to see listed.
Enjoy Ice Cream Sandwich, it's a whole new world you are about to experience and remember in the future all mobile devices will be using this operating system, your tablets, phones and even smart TV's.
Moving forward with the Asus Transformer we will be seeing more updates from Asus as there are still a few issues that need to be resolved with thier ICS for the TF101. None of the issues are game stopppers though, what has been released so far is fine for everyday use.
The problems, and this might not be everything, just the things I have encountered, HDMI appears to be broken, it was always a bit flakey under Gingerbread, but for now it is really broke. When I tried to use it it competely reset my machine!
The browsers appeared to have a little hiccup before resolving URL's, it will eventually find the page you are trying to reach, but the delay can sometimes make you think it has frozen.
The battery seems a little suspect, sometimes it does not recognize it's own battery readings.
However, like I said none of these is a show stopper, and will not really stop you from enjoying this experience with ICS from Asus.
Flashing the Epic Touch 4G and leaked ICS Rom FB17 with FB15 modem
Epic Touch 4G and ICS Rom FB17
Over the weekend a new leaked ICS ROM for the Sprint Epic Touch 4G appeared, numbered at FB09, before I could even think about getting this rom onto my phone another leaked rom appeared.
This rom was numbered FB17, around the same time it appeared that Calkulin had been working on a rom numbered FB15 with new modem in tow.
Since there was a big jumped in the number sequence I decided to install the FB17 rom and later install the FB15 modem if needed.
The procedure for installing the rom is pretty painless, QBKing77 form ACS has a youtube video detailing the procedure for installing the FB17 rom here
Have a good look at the video’s before proceeding and don’t come to me if it all ends in tears. All I did was follow the instructions from the intrepid developers. Make sure you back up any data you need!
I did find that data on my SDcard had remained intact, pictures, cover art for music and even previous apps were still on the internal Sdcard after the installation!
So, what’s all the fuss about ……to begin with everything about ICS is slicker, things are more seamless and it’s Google’s intention to solidify the Android experience across all devices.
I am not about to cover everything about ICS here, but just to give my overall impressions and highlight some of the improvements and possible failures that are present in ICS. Bearing in mind that this is also still a Beta, meaning that by the time the final version is ready for release a lot of changes can occur.
To start
One of the firsts things I usually do is go to the Android market, this will initiate a google account request, you could use any other app that requires a Google account, email, google+ etc, the main point being is to generate the account and get the phone sync’d with the account.
When I used my existing account I was asked if you want to import contacts from Google+, I answered no to this question but it still installed all people I had in my Circles, and I mean ALL of them. If took me sometime to go through the contacts and remove all those I did not need! Darned annoying to say the least, it then had the nerve to not delete them because I had removed too many in one go! Struth man.
Here’s the system information after the installation note the build number and kernel version change, you will also note that I did indeed need to install the FB15 modem. The reason for changing was the phone did not have Wifi after the FB17 installation, and I was using the EK02 modem prior to this.
The phone was also running rather hot, to hot, so I decided to install the FB15 modem, after installing the new modem the phone ran cooler and Wifi did work. I cannot say whether my connections are any better because of the newer modem, I haven’t had time to go into that, I took some samples with SPeedtest.net before switching, so I will have a basis for comparison later.
I did not like the TW launcher so that was the first thing to fix, go to settings, Applications | choose ALL and locate the TwLauncher, tap it, scroll down to defaults and uncheck it/clear it. Once you leave this screen and go back to the home screen it will ask you for a Launcher to use, choose Launcher and make sure to CHECK the box that says use as default. When you have done this the TouchWiz home screen is gone.
From this point onwards you will find things a lot different than you are used to, just preserver and you will be ok. Just so you know, all my apps that I have re-installed have worked so far without any problems. No Forced Closes so far, good news.
Here’s the new launcher and home screen, putting apps on your screen is handled differently now, click on the center icon at the bottom of the screen to get to your apps, then long press the app you need and the screen will appear were you can drop the app.
The biggest difference I have noticed so far and one that will take some getting used to is the stock browser. While pages render faster and better, this app seems to have had a major overhaul, nothing appears to be as it was and it will take some adjustment before you get used to it. At this point I am going to be using the stock browser, I will not install another until I find that it is lacking in an area or feature.
If you’re wondering the weather app on the screenshot above I reviewed here….
The Google search bar on the home screenshot appears to be un-removable! It’s present on every screen. Maybe someone can figure out how to get rid of it, but I could not at this time. Shame as it cramps the space for your other widgets.
The Browser
Notice the changes in bookmarking local bookmarks or global, I guess bookmarks will be saved from Chrome and downloaded here for you to use. Bookmarks that follow you around is a nice touch. I figure local means bookmarks on the device only.
This stock browser has tabs now, circled above on the right and it can save pages for reading later, so if you’re in an area with no coverage, elevators or subways you can browse your saved pages. Circled on the left is the working Wifi.
Here you can see me adding another tab, first tap on the previous screenshots tabbed icon, you will then arrive here, tap the PLUS icon above, you will switch back to the browser, locate the page you need to go to. If you need to keep this page but visit another website, tap the tab icon and you will arrive at the screen above, swipe right to re-visit previous pages or tap the plus icon to go to another page. They made this very easy to use and navigate, excellent.
I could spend a lot of time just commenting on the browser, it’s a whole new deal, there are a lot more options and preferences too, too many to go into here.
Moving along….. my music was stored on the external SDcard, obviously! The album art was on the internal SDcard, as you can see below all this was preserved from the previous installation….
I was worried about this getting messed up, but, as you can see everything worked out just great. I have nothing to say about the music player, I mean, it plays the music, nuff said.
Crapware and running services.
The good news here is that the carrier junk services can be disabled and it appears that the system honors the disable button. Cool, all the crud can be disabled and this will leave you will a lean running device.
…all disabled apps will appear at the bottom of the ALL apps list …
We can only hope that this nice feature makes it into the final release, in my opinion we should have the ability to decided what does and does not run on the system, providing it is a non-critical service.
Camera …This appears to be working fine, single shot and panorama, when you get into camera mode tap on the cog wheel icon to get the settings for the camera …
Choose your camera shooting mode …
My attempts at using this camera feature produced visible joints in the picture, I guess I didn’t get the sweeping motion correct, but it does work. Terrific stuff.
Battery …. It’s too early to tell about the battery, more time is needed to gather data about this ICS rom and battery performance. However, with the inclusion of the ability to enable/disable running services we have a greater degree of control of this aspect of the batteries performance. Updated: The battery does appear to be draining quickly, more so than using Gingerbread
Contacts .... there is a little problem to be resolved with the contacts in that the favorites is not working yet and grouping contacts does not appear to work either. Neither of these should stop you from enjoying the ICS experience
In conclusion …. this is an impressive leaked Rom almost perfect I think, nothing I have tried has given any problems so far, except for the contacts. I have to say this must be near release candidate. The experience of using it has been very pleasant, of course there are some niggling things, but I guess that is due to the fact that ICS is so different from Gingerbread and that is the source of the niggles, nothing else.
The other problem is I have is the manufacturers goofing around with themes UI’s, which, inevitably become a source of aggravation to anyone using a phone. The addition of the all this manufacturer/carrier crud and theming eventually only leads to issues later with phone upgrades.
The themes should be left to the marketplace and users should be directed there to get their themes, launchers and UI’s.
This would leave the devices free of encumbrances and help with timelier update’s and upgrades, instead of the mess the manufacturers are in at the present. This is especially relevant considering the amount of devices the manufacturers are realising.
Failing the above the users should have the option of deciding which features, themes, UI’s to use on their phones, and this can be done during the initialization of the phone.
Have fun…….
Update on Issues:
Sound: Messages sometimes do not play notification sounds
Battery: The battery seems to drain quickly, can just about do a day before charging
Contacts: Favorites is not working, grouping contacts is not working
Ebooks for PageBurst from Elsevier for Android phones
Another nail in the coffin of bookstores appeared from Elsevier. The Beta of their Pageburst app for Android has appeared, I know it’s only Beta, but it’s pretty much complete from the quick look I had at the software. If you did not know, this has been available for IPhone and IPad’s for a while now, thus limiting the damage somewhat, but with the deluge of cheaper and cheaper tablets the effect will be more pronounced this coming year.
In case you are not aware Elsevier is a leading provider of science and health information, and serving more than 30 million scientists, students and health and information professionals worldwide. Since their main publishing audience is academic or scientific the name might not as well-known as other publishers, but, this is a global publishing company.
For students and faculty members this is good news as there appears to have been a lot of request for an Android version. The phone compatibility list is a little limited at present, compromising of , Samsung Galaxy, Samsung Galaxy S2, Google Nexus S, HTC Incredible 2, Motorola Droid, HTC Evo 4G, and Motorola Atrix 2.
Tablet the beta has been tested with are, Transformer Prime, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Acer Iconia A500, Asus Transformer, Lenova Ideapad K1 and Toshiba Thrive.
Android version support is 2.3 through to 3.2 Honeycomb.
The app will not work on Amazon’s Kindle or the B&N Nook, which must have been deliberate, the why is a matter for someone else to figure out.
To start using the app you will have to use your Vital Store account or register for a new one, just provide your name, an email address and a security question. You can sign up here and when you 1st login you will have nothing but an empty shelf with no books. You will need an activation code which will then populate your shelf with the book you purchased.
Once your code activates a book you can download the book onto your device…..
Once the title is on your device it is fully searchable in a variety of ways, and notes can be made and cross referenced to the book, you can also highlight text from the book and share your notes and highlights.
Since students are always looking to save on the costs of course materials the Ebooks should be a blessing, add to this the portability of the Ebooks and this medium becomes a no brainer. There can also be quite a few books that are required for students and having them on a mobile device is another great idea as this eliminates the need to tote around six or seven heavy book titles.
You cannot blame the publishers for wanting to push Ebooks, doing so completely wipes out any cost associated with publishing a hard copy of the books, no printing costs, no paper mills, drastically reduced labor costs involved in the publishing of titles, no shipping cost, the material goes straight from the authors hand to release to public (more or less). It’s Eco-friendly saving millions of tree’s.
Downside is the unemployment involved in the transition anything or anyone currently involved with the production of books will be out of work. Bookstores will start closing, you can already see this now.
Look for Pageburst coming soon, no-one is committing to an official launch of the app for Android so just keep a look out on the market. Students will more than likely be aware of this through their academic sources.
