Ever been looking through your photos, looked at one and thought ” That’s a great shot, where the hell did I take that?”. Ever wanted a record of exactly where you went on your holiday and in exactly which place your took a photo?  Well geotagging your photos is what you need to do.  Basically longitude and latitude information is put into your photo’s EXIF information and many programs or picture hosting sites can read this information and display where you took the photo on a map.

Some cameras these days come with GPS built into them, but you probably don’t really want to have to upgrade you camera gear just to get GPS information, and it doesn’t help if you’ve got multiple cameras (doesn’t everyone have multiple cameras? ). You could spend the extra money and buy a separate data logger however the good thing is that most smartphones or tablets have a GPS built into it these days, and using the right software you can use your device to geotag with the equipment you already have.  While this article is  based on Android devices, all you need is the right data logger program on your iOS or Windows or other OS device to make use of the tutorial.

There’s two software components to the process of geotagging your photos. You need a program that will talk to the GPS on your device and log GPS position data at specific time periods, and then a program that will be able to read and match the time stamp on your photo’s EXIF information with the longitude and latitude at that time and then write this information into the photo’s EXIF data. One important thing to note is that for the most accurate data, the time on your device needs to exactly match the time on your camera. The best thing is that you don’t have to spend big dollars on these packages; all the applications I’m using here are free.

GPS Status and Toolbox

Before I go into the two packages, if you’re playing with the GPS on your Android device then one of the most useful utilities you can have is GPS Status and Toolbox. This little app shows you a graphical representation of which GPS satellites you can see and which ones you’re locked onto. It can also help in managing A-GPS data,a small file that can assist in getting faster satellite locks. If I’m having GPS issues, this is always the first app I reach for. You can click on any of the pictures to see bigger versions

Open GPS Tracker

Open GPS Tracker is the data logging app that needs to be loaded onto your Android Device. When you start recording, your latitude and longitude is logged into a file at certain time intervals. Depending on your circumstances, Open GPS has 4 different logging intervals.  So if you’re walking or working in a small area, you can probably get away with larger time intervals; if you were taking pictures while in  a moving car you would want shorter intervals. Shorter intervals will give you more accurate tracking of path, but do note that it will also have an impact on the battery life of your device.

• Fine : GPS updates every second after at least 5 meters movement
• Normal : GPS updates every 15 seconds after at least 10 meters movement
• Coarse : GPS updates every 30 seconds after at least 25 meters movement
• Global : Use GPS and WiFi signals to triangulate every 5 minutes after at least 500 meter movement

If there’s no signal for a specified time, an alarm will sound so you know that you’re not logging anymore.  There’s a plethora of other options as well, but for the purposes of geotagging, it’s really only the logging interval that’s the important one. You can see that Open GPS can also make use of Google Maps on your device to display your path live (warning: this may involve data download charges on your device).

Test Rig and Procedure

 So I had to take one of the boys somewhere, so always the opportunist, I set up the above rig.  My HTC Desire running Open GPS Tracker, Swann Freestyle HD  and its remote all “securely” attached via a sticky pad to my dash. It’s no Google Map mobile, but it’ll do All I needed to do was make sure my phone and camera are synchronised, set the time interval to normal (15 sec), start the GPS on my phone, open the app , start tracking and drive away.  At random intervals I used the remote to safely take a picture.

Here’s the final trip shown on a Google Map overlay. While you’re travelling along, you can also use the app to do things like take notes, voice recordings or mark spots with recorded co-ordinates for future reference.  You can see on the picture that there’s even an indication of the speed I was doing at each stage, keyed to the legend on the right. The app can also tell you how far you’ve travelled (15.89km), maximum speed (71.1 km/h), elapsed time (26min) and total elevation (242m), again not information used in geotagging but may be useful just the same for other purposes.  The important thing is that the app logged 93 waypoints, which is the important information needed for geotagging.

Open GPS can export the waypoints in a GPX file format, a standardised format for input and output of waypoint files. The files are stored locally and can be exported and then  transferred off from the phone via standard file transfer, or the app has the ability to export using other installed apps such as Gmail or Dropbox.

So the results of my little trip, 49 photos (basically taken at random, don’t expect any Peter Dombrovskis here) and a GPX file containing 93 waypoints.

GPicSync

GPicSync is another free, Open Source program that puts the GPS information into your pictures. It’s available for Windows, Linux, and OS X 10.5, supports both JPEG and RAW formats and it’s pretty easy to use. Point it at your picture folder, point it at your .GPX file and let it run. GPicSync will correlate the time stamps on your photos with the timestamps from the GPX file and then write the most relevant co-ordinates into the EXIF information for that photo. Once again GPicSync has the ability to do a whole lot more that’s outside the scope of this article.

Viewing

Here’s the details of one of my processed pictures. You can see that GPicSync has put in longitude, latitude and altitude.

Click on “View in Google Earth” in GPicSync and voila, a full picture of your trip and where each photo was taken. Click on the thumbnails and you’ll get a bigger thumbnail of the photo.  Cool huh !

If you zoom into the map, you’ll see what I mean about getting the correct time intervals.  Logging every 15 seconds has me driving through fences, backyards and houses.  If I wanted a more accurate path then I would have been better to use 1 second intervals (with the associated higher battery drain and larger output file).  It really depends on exactly how “accurate” you want the logging to be.

Here’s the photos being viewed in Picasa 3
And here as a Picasa Web picture via Google+

Many online photo-sharing websites now support geotagging, including Flickr and SmugMug. To me, being able to place and visualise a picture on a map gives my photo a bit more “relevance” both for myself and anyone else that views the photo.

Conclusion

Once you’ve set everything up and got a workflow going, it’s easy to geotag your photos.  No longer will you have to wonder where a photo was taken, or if that photo was in this city or that city.  Given that you’ve most likely already got GPS capability in your Android device, why pay more money for additional equipment and why not make use of it?

My only big disappointment? That I didn’t set this all up 1000s and 1000s of pictures earlier. I’ve got so many photos, including overseas holidays in Vietnam, Thailand, Ankar Wat, San Francisco… that don’t have geotagged information in them……guess I’ll just have to go back and retake them  :)

Final words/warnings

• Displaying live maps in Open GPS Tracker may incur data charges
• Using the GPS on your device will affect battery life
• Please do note that GPS positioning isn’t 100% accurate, and there will be some variation from your actual position
• If you are publishing geotagged photos on a public forum, be careful what you put up and what information you might be giving away!

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles, Digital Cameras and Gear, GPS

Tagged: Android, Geotagging, GPS

How to: Geotag your Photos with an Android Device originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 24, 2012 at 11:00 am.

This post brought to you by POWOW Messenger. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you enjoy texting your friends with your smartphone more than you do talking to them face to face? If you also happen to be an Android user, there’s a free app from Handmark called POWOW Messenger for Android that provides an impressive set of features to elevate your texting skills and enjoyment to the next level. The app really comes in handy when you want to text a group of your friends because you can send one text to a whole group and then keep the conversation going on one scrolling screen of messages instead of popping back and forth between individual conversations. To test this app, I installed POWOW on my Motorola Droid X.

After installing the app, you will receive a text message with a link that you have to click to activate POWOW. Once activated, you can create named groups of your friends. Doing this will create a special phone number for that group. The app will send a message to everyone in your group using that number.

POWOW has an easy to use interface that isn’t radically different than most stock messaging apps with a familiar speech bubble style. It has a few extra features that I don’t have on my iPhone though, like the ability to attach, ringtones, slideshows and audio in addition to pictures and video to a text message. It’s also easy to quickly sort your texts by individuals, groups and favorites.

Another nice feature is the ability to “mute” and blacklist people. If you mute them, you’ll still receive their text messages, but you won’t be notified that they are coming in. Messages from blacklisted people won’t even show up, which is a nice option to block out your crazy stalker ex-girlfriend.

Other features that POWOW provides are:

• ZipIt – Blacklist unwanted texters so you don’t see notifications or text messages from them OR “Mute” notifications message notifications for select contacts while retaining their messages in your history.

• PopUp Notifications: Instead of exiting an app or browser to see your new message, have it pop up right on your screen where you can decide whether to respond, ignore, delete, or call.

• Storage of Groups on Server: Quick retrieval of groups if you change phone or phone number.

• Favorites: Easily set your favorite contacts and filter messages without having to scroll through your entire history.

• Emoticons: Supports native emoticons (non-text) available for your Android device.

• Contact Pics: Import Facebook, Twitter, Google Contacts, and/or LinkedIn pics for use in your text conversations.

• Long Date/Short Date: Customize to show date/time in the fashion you prefer.

• Voice Text input capability: Utilize Google’s voice input technology to speak your texts rather than typing.

• Easy Delete: Single-press delete of individual messages within a thread or complete conversations.

• Call shortcuts: Access your phone capabilities and make calls through a single click.

You get all of this for free. The only catch is that you have to put up with ads at the bottom of the display. Some of the ads are annoying as they can sort of trick you into clicking them because they look like a special feature of the application. So just keep that in mind. If you get tired of ads, there’s an option where you can upgrade to POWOW Pro via an in-app purchase.

All in all, POWOW is a handy alternative for Android owning texting fanatics.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, SMS

POWOW Group Messaging for Android originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 21, 2012 at 1:33 pm.

Android on a stick anyone? The FXI Cotton Candy garnered a lot of attention and  is slowly starting to filter its way into the wild, but the Chinese market has just released a similar Android based thumb stick.  Not quite as highly specced and slightly larger, the MK802 runs a 1.5GHz A10 CPU,  512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage expandable via microSD or USB and runs Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The MK802 sports an HDMI port compared with the Cotton Candy’s HDMI plug, so you’ll also need a cable to connect this to your HDMI capable device.

And the “best” thing is that the MK802 is only $74 shipping including freight from Aliexpress in China. The bad news, it’s already on backorder expecting to be shipping again mid June.

I’ll probably wait for the first few reviews before I drop the hammer on this one as sometimes cheap Chinese products means well, cheap product but it certainly looks promising

Filed in categories: Android related, Geek Toys, News

Tagged: Android, Thumb Drive

Android Thumbstick MK802 – Cheap Candy originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

Asus announced the new Transformer TF300T tablet and B&H Photo now has them in stock. Priced at $399.00, this Android tablet offers the latest and greatest OS version (4.0 Ice Cream) along with a 1.2GHz Tegra 3 Quad-Core CPU, 10.1 1280 x 800 Resolution display, Micro HDMI Port & MicroSD Card Reader and 1GB internal memory & 32GB Flash Storage. If you’re interested in snapping one up, you better be fast because Asus tablets tend to be pretty popular. If I was in the market for an Android tablet, this is the one I’d buy. You can order and read more about this tablet at B&H Photo.

Filed in categories: Android related, News, Travel Gear

Tagged: Android, Tablet

Latest Asus Transformer Pad Tablet now Available at B&H Photo originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 23, 2012 at 10:30 am.

We posted news about the upsoming Sony SmartWatch back in January, but now it is actually shipping and we have more details. This $149.99 device connects to your Android smartphone and displays various pieces of information. You can order the SmartWatch at the Sony site.  The specs include:

• 1.3″ OLED display
• 128 x 128 pixels
• 65k colors (16 bit)
• Standard USB connector for charging
• Battery life: 3-4 days typical usage, up to 14 days on standby
• Bluetooth 3.0
• 36mm by 36mm by 8mm (12.8mm including Clip)
• 15.5 g (Watchband is 26g)

It’s kind of hard to tell from the limited information and pictures online, but it appears there is an adaptor to support USB charging, so the USB port may not be standard. It also appears there is only one button.

The apps they list are:

• All Events (from your calendar)
• Messaging
• Corporate e-mail (they specify Sony/Sony Ericsson Android phones only)
• Gmail Calendar notifications
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Music Player
• Call Handling (call, mute, reject, answer, send pre-defined SMS)
• Battery Strength
• Find Phone
• Weather
• More apps on the Android market.

This looks pretty intriguing to me, and had the advantage over the I’m Watch of actually existing. Of course, it is not going to work if you have an iPhone, but you still have the Pebble. What do you think, do you like this trend of wrist-bound computers?

Filed in categories: Android related, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Android, smart watch, Watches and Clocks

Sony SmartWatch: Now Shipping originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 17, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Today in London Sony announced the Xperia sola smartphone which is powered by Android version 2.3. That may cause your eyes to glaze over in boredom, but keep reading because they’ve added some “magic” to what might otherwise be just another Android smartphone.

The sola’s key features include:

NFC enabled and Xperia SmartTags in the box to enable quick app loading and easy content sharing
3.7” Reality Display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine gives razor sharp clarity
Powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast browsing
xLOUD and 3D surround sound audio technology for crisp and loud listening
Direct access to Sony Entertainment Network with pre-installed Video and Music Unlimited apps
Launches on Android platform 2.3, upgrade to Android 4.0 during summer 2012

Besides the NFC feature, there’s no real magic in that feature list. The magic is in the new touch technology:

A floating touch of magic
Making its smartphone debut exclusively on Xperia sola, Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers
navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without
actually having to touch thescreen. Once the desired link is found it can be highlighted and a simple tap
will load the page. Floating touch will evolve with new user functionality and applications through software
updates and engagement with developers.

Calum MacDougall, Head of XperiaMarketing for Sony Mobile Communications, commented; “Xperia sola
comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way
to browse the web and latest technology to show off. With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access
to the latest content through Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia sola is perfect for consumers looking for
ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone.”

I’m not convinced that browsing the web by hovering my finger over my phone’s display will be the next wave in mobile surfing, but you have to admit that it sounds cool. And in this time where all Android phones seem to be blending together in a blur of sameness, it’s nice to see some innovation. The sola will be available in Q2. The full press release that includes more info about the NFC SmartTag feature after the jump.

A floating touch of magic

Making its smartphone debut exclusively on Xperia sola, Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen. Once the desired link is found it can be highlighted and a simple tap will load the page. Floating touch will evolve with new user functionality and applications through software updates and engagement with developers.

Calum MacDougall, Head of Xperia Marketing for Sony Mobile Communications, commented; “Xperia sola comes with the power of Sony and a sense of magic with floating touch, giving consumers a fun new way to browse the web and latest technology to show off. With Xperia SmartTags out of the box and access to the latest content through Sony Entertainment Network, Xperia sola is perfect for consumers looking for ease of use and the best in entertainment in a smart and innovative smartphone.”

Simplify the everyday with SmartTags

Xperia sola is NFC enabled and comes with two NFC Xperia SmartTags in the box as standard to simplify consumers’ everyday smartphone experiences. By touching an NFC Android smartphone on a SmartTag, a pre-configured profile in the smartphone will launch. The two SmartTags included with Xperia sola can be personalized with up to 10 commands. Out of the box they are ready for the living room to turn on Wi-Fi™ and launches Google™ news and weather apps, or for the bedroom, which turns on the alarm and switches to silent mode. Xperia sola supports NFC pairing, allowing consumers to enjoy great connectivity with other NFC smartphones, applications and services by tapping their smartphones together.

Powerful entertainment anytime, anywhere

Xperia sola boasts razor sharp clarity with Reality Display powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine, xLOUD™ and 3D surround sound audio technology delivering crisp and loud sound, and a 1GHz dual-core processor for super fast performance. Xperia sola also comes with fast capture to take the camera from sleep to snap in a little over a second with a single key press.

Consumers can also access premium entertainment experiences with Sony Entertainment Network**, where they can watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters on Video Unlimited or listen to millions of songs*** through Music Unlimited.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, Smarphone

Xperia sola Android Smartphone from Sony has the Magic Touch originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 13, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Yeah, yeah, we know we need at least thirty minutes of exercise a day, but come on, it’s just so boring.  You know what would make it better?  That’s right–Zombies!  Zombies, Run! is an app for the iPhone/iPad/Android that casts you as a survivor in the zombie apocalypse.  You become Runner 5, and it’s your mission to brave the zombie wasteland and gather supplies for your fellow survivors.  The game delivers audio cues, news updates, radio transmissions, and zombie moans to you through your headphones as you workout.  As you run and take on more “missions”, the story of how the zombies came to be will also be revealed.

I heard about this a few days ago on NPR in an interview with the creator, Naomi Alderman.  She wanted to encourage exercise through gaming, and honestly, what’s a better motivation to run your butt off than a bunch of zombies after you?

The iPhone version is available now for $7.99 with the Android coming by Spring.  Also in the update queue will be integration with RunKeeper.

Filed in categories: Android related, Fitness, Sports, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Android, Apps, iOS, Running

Zombies!!! Run!!! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 3, 2012 at 10:00 am.

If I were to ask a group of our readers to name an Android smartphone with a built in keyboard, I would expect the majority of them to say a Motorola Droid. This wouldn’t be a surprise given the fact that the original Motorola Droid remains a popular phone to this day over 2yrs after it was first released. Motorola’s latest update to this popular keyboard slider is the Droid 4 for Verizon Wireless. Does the addition of a 4G radio and a faster 1.2Ghz processor make the Droid 4 a worthy successor to the Droid 3? Let’s take a look.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Before I begin, I will mention that I do not live in or very close to an area with 4G LTE coverage. I was only able to test the phone with a 3G connection.

Hardware Specs

OS: Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) OS
CPU: Dual core 1.2 GHz processor & 1 GB of LP DDR2 RAM
Memory Internal: 16GB
MicroSD slot supports up to 32GB (card not included)
Carrier: Verizon
Network: CCDMA 800, 1900 EVDO REV A/LTE B13 700
Display: 4” qHD (960×540) Display
Rear-facing Camera: 8.0 MP
Front-facing Camera: 1.3 MP
Bluetooth 4.0 LE
WiFi
Battery: Lithium Ion, 1785 mAH Li–Ion
Battery Standby 8.5 days, Talk Time (hours) Up to 12.5 hours
Dimensions: 2.8 (w) x 5.0 (h) x 0.5 (d) inches
Weight: 6.31 ounces

The Droid 4 is not a skinny phone like the Motorola Razr. That shouldn’t be a shocking revelation considering that it has a physical keyboard built into it. Here we see it next to an iPhone 4S to give you a little perspective on the size.

It’s almost twice as thick as an iPhone and slightly longer. I wasn’t able to get a picture of the Droid 4 next to an older version of the Droid, but it’s definitely larger.

Hardware Tour

This latest version of the Droid slider is a departure from the previous version’s boxy shape. The Droid 4 has tapered top and bottom edges, as well as bevelled sides, but it can’t be called sexy. It is a little boring in my opinion.

The case is made of plastic like the previous Droid 3. It’s a shame Motorola doesn’t bring back the metal case from the original Droid and Droid 2. In hand the phone feels chunky, but it’s not uncomfortable to use. Performing my ever popular Gadgeteer Squeeze test results in some perceived flexing, which is really just the top part of the phone slightly shifting due to the sliding keyboard mechanism.

The top surface of the phone has a 4″ display with a row of touch buttons below it. Above the display is the earphone, ambient light sensor and forward facing camera.

On the back side of the phone, you will find a thin-ish textured plastic battery cover and the 8MP camera lens / LED flash. See that little dot next on the right side of HD? That’s the unlock hole (is that a technical term?) for the battery cover.

In order to remove the cover, you have to use the included tool (or something similar) to depress a tab so that you can slide the cover off. It’s a pain in the rear to remove the cover, but you probably won’t be doing it very often anyway…

One big reason is that the battery in the Droid 4 is not user replaceable. Apparently (although I haven’t searched for one…) there is a replacement battery cover that allows you to charge the phone with an inductive charging mat. It’s too bad that Motorola didn’t include this feature out of the box. I think that would have given this phone a little extra pizzaz and geek appeal.

The 4G SIM card is located under a rubber flap. A microSD card slot is to the right of the SIM slot. But a microSD card has not been included with this phone.

The top edge of the phone has the power button, earphone jack and one of two microphones.

On the left side you’ll find a micro USB connector and an HDMI connector. An HDMI cable is not included with this phone.

Volume buttons are located on the right side.

Another microphone is located on the bottom edge.

Keyboard

The main selling point of the Droid 4 is the sliding keyboard. It is revealed by sliding the top part of the phone to the right. The mechanism feels sturdy and opens and closes with a satisfying click.

Although not shown, here, the keyboard has a backlight that will automatically come on when in a dark environment. This is one of the nicest keyboards that I’ve tried in a long while. The layout is roomy and the keys are nicely domed and have great tactile feedback. I love that it has a dedicated number row as well as dedicated arrow keys. The spacebar is even generously sized.

If you prefer a physical keyboard for texting or entering long emails, you’ll love this one.

Display

The display on this phone has been receiving some complaints given that the resolution is only 960×540 instead of 720p (1280 x 720). If you can live with a few less pixels, the screen is fine in my opinion. The only thing I don’t like about the display is that in some instances, text looks blurry when you scroll through lists. For example, when you’re in the Youtube app and are scrolling through a list of videos, text gets sort of pixelated and garbled looking as you are moving the list. I also notice this “problem” while scrolling through installed apps. As soon as you stop scrolling, things return to normal.

Although this display is not going to win any awards, the colors are good and it’s damn bright. I had no problems using it to surf webpages, read books in the Kindle ebook reader app, read emails in the Gmail app, play games and view images that I’d snapped with the camera.

Camera

Speaking of the camera, I was quite pleased with its performance.

Here are a few unedited images that I snapped. I especially like the close macro focusing.

I do wish the phone had a dedicated shutter button or the ability to use the down volume button to snap a picture though.

Making and Receiving Calls

Like I stated at the start of this review, I unfortunately do not live in an area with 4G coverage. So all my testing with this phone has been on the 3G network only. That said, I have had no issues making or receiving calls with the Droid 4. Calls are very clear with excellent volume. I’ve been told that my calls with this phone sound better than calls with my iPhone. I definitely noticed the difference as well. No complaints when using this phone as a … phone.

System Performance and Battery Life

It’s been a long time since any phone felt slow to me. The Droid 4 is an all round snappy performer. I’ve not noticed any lag in loading apps and other activities.

As far as battery life goes, I’ve not had the chance to conduct any serious tests. But I’ve been able to play a few games, shop the app market, read emails, ready ebooks, surf a bit, make some calls and send texts, without needing to recharge in the middle of the day.

Software and Operating System

I was disappointed that this brand new Android smartphone did not ship with the latest and greatest version of Android – 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). But instead, it has good “old” Gingerbread. Motorola / Verizon has said that this phone will be upgraded to ICS at some point though. You’ll just have to wait a bit.

The phone comes pre-loaded with a bunch of apps from both Verizon and Motorola.

• Mobile Hotspot with support for up to 8 Devices
• Verizon- Backup Assistant +, Visual Voice Mail, Verizon Video, VCAST Tones, VZ Navigator, My Verizon Mobile,  VideoSurf
• Motorola – MotoPrint, MotoActive, MotoCast
• Full Suite of Google Apps incl.: Google Maps with Street View, Places and Latitude; Google Talk with Video Chat; Gmail; Google Books; YouTube™; Google Calendar
• Photo Sharing: Facebook, Flickr, Picasa , Photobucket®
• Amazon Kindle reader
• Blockbuster video rental
• Netflix
• GoToMeeting
• Instant Message client for AIM, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo
• Trial games like Let’s Golf 2, Madden NFL 12
• NFL mobile
• QuickOffice MS Office document reader / editor
• Slacker music streamer
• Slingbox
• MOG Music

Ugh… Too much stuff that I will never use and would like to uninstall…

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, this phone might not be exciting. Thin. Or sexy. But it is the only 4G Android smartphone currently available that has a sliding keyboard. And the keyboard is a nice one at that. Most Android fans will probably overlook this model, but if you prefer entering data on a physical keyboard over tapping on a touch screen, the Motorola Droid 4 should make you happy.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Motorola Droid 4 Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

We first reported a prototype of the FXI Cotton Candy in November 2011, and a new updated version is now available for pre-order for $199 with limited availability in March 2012.

As a quick reminder, the Cotton Candy is a self contained USB memory stick sized computer device that allows users to connect to personal cloud services and apps by adding smart capabilites to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes, and other media that supports USB mass storage.  Running Android 4.0 ICS or Ubuntu, the stick includes a Quad Core Cortex A9 1.2GHz processor, 1GB DRAM with microSD (up to 64GB), HDMI out, WiFi 802.11g/b/n, and Bluetooth.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, Cloud, Linux

Try a Taste of FXI Cotton Candy originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 28, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Each day Amazon offers a paid Android application for free through their Appstore. Normally you would visit the Appstore through the dedicated Amazon Appstore app. But even if you don’t have an Android smartphone or tablet (yet), you can still take advantage of Amazon’s Free App of the Day. You don’t need to visit Amazon’s Appstore through an Android device to save the free apps, you can access them through your laptop or desktop’s browser.

Just go to Amazon and click Apps under the Appstore for Android heading in the left sidebar. From there you can search on different apps, but it also prominently displays the daily free app. Click the Get App button and it will be saved to your Amazon account which you can then access from all your Android devices.

On your Android device you can go into the Amazon Appstore app, click menu and then My Apps to view your all your saved Amazon apps. Nice! This way you can save all those freebie apps to install later.

Don’t have the Amazon Appstore app on your Android device and can’t find it in Google’s App Market? No worries. Go back to the Amazon Appstore on your laptop and type your smartphone’s number in the Get Started box in the upper right corner. You’ll receive a text message on that device with a link that you can tap to download the app. If you have a tablet or other Android device without a phone number, visit www.amazon.com/amazonappstoreapp via the device’s browser. Once installed, you type in your Amazon login info and you’re all set.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Amazon, Android, App, Quick Tips and Tricks

Quick Tips and Tricks – Save Amazon’s Free Android App of the Day for Later originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 14, 2012 at 5:28 pm.

Want to watch Television on your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android tablet ? Perhaps the Hauppauge Broadway is the solution for you. The Broadway connects between your TV source and home Wi-Fi network, converts the TV signal to be displayed on your mobile device, and sends the signal to your device via Wifi or the Internet.  The Broadway converts and compresses the live TV signal to Apple compatible h.264 video format or Flash when transmitted to Mac, PC or Android. It contains a tuner with support for cable and satellite set top boxes, ATSC over-the-air TV signals and unencrypted digital cable TV (clear QAM). You get full control of the TV channel selected via Broadway’s “IR-blaster” technology. In theory (and I’m guessing it would depend on link speeds and latency) you can also stream your favourite shows while abroad from your home to your tablet via the internet.

Available from the Hauppauge Store for $199.

Filed in categories: Android related, Audio, Video, TV Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Android, iPad, TV tuner

Hauppauge Broadway – Tellie on ya Tablet originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 7, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Amazon introduced their first Kindle device back in 2007 when the dedicated eBook reader population was made up almost exclusively by Sony’s Reader line of products. The eReader population has grown to include more brands than I can count and in the last 5 years, we’ve seen the technology in this category evolve from e-Ink devices to readers with color LCDs. After several popular e-Ink Kindles, Amazon’s first color device is the Kindle Fire. Although it may look and act like a tablet, Amazon does not want you to compare the Fire to an iPad or dedicated Android tablet. They say the Fire is just a content consumption device for books, magazines, music and video.  Of course telling people not to compare their device to other tablets, will cause them to do the opposite. I’m going to take a look at this already very popular device and let you know what I think.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Hardware Specifications

Processor: 1Ghz Texas Instruments OMAP 4 dual-core processor
Operating System: Android
Display: 7″ multi-touch 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors
On-device Storage: 8GB internal (approximately 6GB available for user content)
Battery Life: Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content
Charge Time: Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB
Connectivity: Wifi 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or enterprise networks with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks
USB Port: USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
Audio: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers
Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8
Size (in inches): 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm)
Weight: 14.6 ounces (413 grams)

Included in the Box

Kindle Fire
U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V)
Quick Start Guide

Let me start out by showing you how the compares to the iPad 2 as far as device size. For me personally, a 10 inch display like the iPad’s is the sweet spot when it comes to web browsing and magazine reading. The smaller 7 inch display of the Fire is definitely great for portability, but it feels cramped when I’m using it for web browsing and viewing magazines. That said, I find the screen size of the Fire to be just fine for reading books, watching full screen video and playing games.

The Kindle Fire has a very spartan design. It’s available only in Black and you’ll find no flashy chrome trim, LED status lights or menu buttons on this device. Actually it has only one button… a tiny power button located on the bottom edge.

The front of the device has the display with a narrow bezel around all the edges.

The display is crisp and clear, with colors that are bright and vibrant. It’s not Samsung brilliant, but it’s still very nice. The image above does not do it justice. It’s very difficult to photography glossy color LCDs like the Fire.

The back of the Fire is made of a soft rubber like material that attracts smudges and grease.

Along the top edge are two speakers. Don’t expect to be able to hear audio in noisy environments. Even at max volume, it’s not very loud. In a small room, it works fine though.

On the bottom edge you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB connector for charging and the power button. That’s it. No dedicated volume buttons, microphone and no camera. These omissions definitely restrict the Fire from being considered a full fledged tablet since you’ll be unable to use it for Skype calls and other video chat type applications. The omissions do not end with the microphone and camera though. The Fire also does not include a flash memory card slot for file expansion and it lacks Bluetooth connectivity as well. The lack of Bluetooth means you will not be able to connect a wireless Bluetooth keyboard or headphones. The lack of a flash card slot isn’t a deal breaker since Amazon gives you free file storage in the cloud for all their content and the built in 8GB of memory (6GB available for user content) enables you to store 80 apps, 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books directly on the device.

In hand the Fire feels really solid. It feels like a slab of Lucite with no flexing, creaking or cracking. It’s comfortable to hold in your hand because the edges are rounded and the back has a slight grip to it.

User Interface

The Kindle Fire is powered by the Android operating system, with a highly modified front end.

The home screen uses a familiar bookshelf motif that consists of multiple shelves. The top shelf is a carrousel / cover flow style stack of icons of the latest accessed apps, books, music, videos and webpages. You can flip through the icons by dragging your finger across the stack. I don’t really like flipping through the icons because frequently I’ll tap an icon and nothing will happen or it will flip to the next icon in sequence and launch that one instead. You can add your own icons to the bottom shelf, which is designated to hold your favorite apps, books and magazines. If you add more than 4 favorites, a new shelf will be created to add more. Then the whole home screen will scroll up and down.

At the top of the screen is a search box that will allow you to search the content on your device. As you type a book title or app name, you’ll see a list of matching items that filters as you continue to type the search criteria. The search feature will not drill down into books though. It will only allow you to find items based on titles, authors and artists.

Below the search box is a navigation bar that takes you to the 7 areas on the device: Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps and Web.

Like other Android devices, you can view your notifications by swiping down from the top left corner of the display. To access the volume slider and other hardware settings, you tap the little gear icon in the upper right corner.

You will also notice a Home icon and back arrow at the bottom of the display. This is a menu that isn’t static on the screen. You usually have to tap the screen to have it appear. I really prefer a dedicated home button (and volume buttons) of some sort on my devices.

Reading Books

Here we see the book area. You can view your library by cover art grid view…

Or display it as a list which shows the title and author. In list view it also shows a percentage of how much you’ve read for each book.

It would be great if there was a way to file books in named folders, but the only way to organize the book list is by author name, recently read or by title.

Notice the Device / Cloud button at the top of the display. You’ll find these buttons on the Books, Magazines and Apps pages. When you’re on the device tab, you’ll see the books, magazines and apps that have been installed directly on your device in the 8GB of built-in memory. The cloud on the other hand, is an online storage space for you to securely store and access all of your own personal content, from your own personal movies, mp3′s, documents, etc. You can access your “Cloud Drive” on Amazon from almost any device that can access the internet.

Your amazon account includes 5GB of free cloud storage. For $20 per year more, you get 20GB of storage space, plus unlimited space for your mp3 music files. If you need even more memory, there are additional paid plans.

Of course you can access Amazon’s store to browse and purchase books. You’ll need a WiFi connection though as the Fire does not include built in 3G connectivity like other Kindle devices.

I like the interface for the store a lot. It’s simple and easy to navigate. I always found the store on older (non-touch) Kindle’s to be a little tedious to use.

I love that you can download a free sample of a book that you’re interested in buying. The samples show up in your library with the rest of your books.

I found the book reading experience on the Kindle Fire to be enjoyable. I’m already very comfortable reading on devices with a color LCD as I do almost all my reading on an iPhone. I always switch the background to black and the letters to grey, but you can also have a white or sepia background.

When you’re reading there are no distractions on the screen. Just words.

To see the clock, you have to tap the center of the screen. Turning pages is accomplished by tapping the left or right side of the screen. You can select words or phrases for a definition. You’re also able to highlight and make annotations.

You can then view your notes and highlights for each book by clicking the menu button at the bottom of the display.

Reading Magazines

Reading magazines on a 7″ display isn’t a wonderful experience in my opinion because you can’t easily read the magazine pages as intended due to the screen size.

The Fire’s magazine reading interface does offer a solution to that problem by allowing you to toggle into a Text Mode. If you look at the image above on the Left, that’s the normal magazine page. In order to comfortably read the small text, I have to zoom in. But if I toggle to Text mode as seen above on the Right, the article text is reformatted in more of a book style. Pictures are still shown and you can even search text. However, you can’t annotate, highlight or bookmark pages in magazines.

FYI: turning the Fire into landscape view makes things worse. It shows 2 magazine pages side by side with even tinier text.

Listening to Music

The music player on the Fire isn’t overly fancy. It has the necessary features to get the job done. Just remember, that the max audio output from the built-in speakers is pretty low and the Fire does not have dedicated volume buttons. The music player has a volume slider right on the screen though.

You can use the music player to stream music stored in your cloud drive. But of course, you’ll need to have a wifi connection to do so.

Watching Video

The Fire comes with a free month of Amazon Prime service. Amazon Prime gives you free 2 day shipping on tons of products and unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost along with newer movies and TV shows that can be rented or purchased. For example, right now you can rent The Help for $1.99 for 48hrs. Or buy episodes of The Vampire Diaries for $1.99.

I did cartwheels (ok, not really…) when I saw that the original Star Trek episodes were available for free. I watched the very first episode, which I had somehow managed to have never seen. The episode streamed perfectly with no hiccups, pausing or stuttering.

It’s important to note that the Prime Instant Videos are streaming only. So you’ll need a Wifi connection to enjoy them. However, rented movies and purchased TV shows can be downloaded so that you can view them even when you’re offline.

Apps

The Kindle Fire is powered by Android, but you will not be able to access the standard app market with this device. You’ll only be able to use Amazon’s own appstore, which is a bit of a bummer considering that Amazon’s appstore does not include all the apps that the app market has to offer.

Don’t get me wrong, Amazon offers a very good selection of apps and even offers a paid app for free each day. But I hate not having it all. I’m greedy. One example of an app that I’d like to install on the Fire which is not included in Amazon’s appstore is the official Gmail app.

The good news is that there’s an email app included on the Fire. I set it up to connect to my Gmail account. Yay right? Well… not really. The app is ok for reading and responding to messages.

In portrait mode you can thumb type.

Or kinda touch type on a very cramped keyboard when in landscape orientation. But here’s the bad news… you can’t connect to your gmail/google contacts. What is up with that? Grrrr…

Good news again… you can use the Fire’s web browser to access your Gmail and your contacts.

Web Browsing

Browsing my favorite sites on the Fire is an ok experience. It’s not nearly as comfortable as browsing on the iPad due to the screen size though. You can browse in tabbed mode as shown above.

Or full screen mode, which gives you a few extra lines per screen.

In landscape mode, it’s much easier to read the text, but you have to scroll more often.

Browsing on a small screen can also cause frustrations when tapping links when they are small and next to each other. A lot of times you’ll need to zoom in so that you can tap accurately. I don’t know how many times I tried to tap something and would end up tapping an adjacent link and then have to press the back button.

Book marks can be viewed by thumbnail or list.

One of the touted gee whiz features of the Fire is this new web page loading technology called Amazon Silk. According to Amazon, it’s supposed to be a revolutionary Cloud-Accelerated “Split Browser” that dramatically improves web page loading times. Unfortunately, I really haven’t noticed it being any quicker than surfing on my iPad. If anything, it actually feels SLOWER to me. I wanted to do some speed test with my favorite Speedtest app, but guess what? It’s not in the Amazon market and my attempts to sideload it failed.

Another weirdness I noticed is that some flash based sites like CNN’s video pages, prompted me to install the latest Flashplayer and thought the Fire was an OSX device. Of course trying to install it didn’t work.

I had the same issue with Hulu.com. Android fans always brag about being able to load flash enabled sites but it feels hit or miss to me. I never really notice the lack of flash on my iPad because I don’t visit many (any?) flash enabled sites.

Performance

Changing from screen to screen, app to app, loading books, magazines, etc, all feels snappy. The Kindle Fire has a dual core processor, so it’s not laggy by any means. The only lag I can really complain about is with the web browser. I’m not the only one complaining, so I’m hoping and expect Amazon will improve the tech behind Amazon Silk.

Battery Life

No complaints here at all. Battery life is great. I can get days and days of use out of the Fire before needing to charge. Granted, I don’t watch many videos or surf for long periods of time using this device.

Conclusion

The Kindle Fire is already a wildly popular device because of its sub $200 price tag and Amazon’s brand reputation. The reasons why I like the Fire are its price, compact size, nice display, snappy performance and good battery life. The reasons why I don’t like this device are the lack of 3G, Bluetooth, dedicated volume and menu buttons, laggy web browser and no access to Google’s app market or core apps (Gmail, Calendar, etc.). I understand that this is Amazon’s first “tablet” device, so I’m cutting them some slack and am hoping that that future models will address at least some of these deficiencies.

I don’t consider the Amazon Kindle Fire to be a real tablet.  But it will be many people’s first taste of Android and using a tablet style device. I think this device is causing ripples in the tablet market which will benefit all of us. Even an iPad fan like myself.

Filed in categories: Android related, eBook Readers and Gear, Featured Items, Reviews, Tablet Computers and Gear

Tagged: Android, ereader, Kindle, Tablet

Amazon Kindle Fire Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 31, 2012 at 11:10 am.

Sony has extended their Walkman product line with the Z Series Mobile Media Player.  This Android 2.3 powered Mobile Media Player has a 4.3” touch screen, runs on a dual core mobile processor, has built-in WiFi / Bluetooth, micro HDMI port, and has Sony’s S-Master MX audio technology to deliver a crisp audio experience.  It comes in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB, which you can pre-order for $249, $279, and $329, respectively.  Currently it only comes in black.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: Android, MP3 player, Sony

Sony Walkman Z Series Mobile Media Player originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 24, 2012 at 9:00 am.

There aren’t a lot of speaker docks designed specifically for Android smartphones because of the sheer number of different styles.  However, if you have an Android phone with microUSB and 3.5mm audio connectors, you can amplify your music with the speaker and control playback and volume with the included remote and the free SONR app.  The Universal Speaker Dock for Android from Digital Innovations works with most any Android phone.  (See the first link for a list of supported phones.)  The dock supports the phone in either landscape or portrait orientation, and it charges it, too.  The dock delivers 2.1 stereo sound with 6W from the two speakers and 10W from the subwoofer.  It’s $99.99 and can be purchased directly from Digital Innovations or from ThinkGeek.

Filed in categories: Android related, Audio, Video, TV Gear, News

Tagged: Android, Docking speakers

Speaker Dock with Remote for Android Phones originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 19, 2012 at 9:17 am.

Android fans have been eagerly waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus because it is the first device on the market powered by Android 4.0. Otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich, this new version of Android merges the tablet (Honeycomb) and smartphone (Gingerbread) versions of Google’s popular OS into one version that will be used across both types of devices. I was lucky enough to get my hands on this phone for a few days, so let’s take a look at one of Verizon’s latest Android smartphone.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Before I begin, I will mention that I do not live in or very close to an area with 4G LTE coverage. I was only able to test the phone with a 3G connection.

Hardware Specs

OS: Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
CPU: 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
Memory Internal: 32GB
Carrier: Verizon
Network: CDMA/PCS/1xEVDO Rev. A: 800/1900 MHz,LTE: 700 MHz
Data Speed: LTE, EVDO Rev. A
Display: HD Super AMOLED™ 4.65” contoured display, 1280×720 pixels
Rear-facing Camera: 5.0 MP
Front-facing Camera: 1.3 MP
Bluetooth
WiFi
Battery: Lithium Ion, 1850mAh
Battery Standby 150 hours (6.25 days), Talk Time (hours) Up to 12 hours
Dimensions: 5.33” x 2.67” x 0.37” inches
Weight: 5.1 ounces

As you can see from the image above, the Nexus is a big boy when you compare it to an iPhone 4S. Although it is a large device, it doesn’t feel or look out of place when used as a phone.

The Nexus has a gorgeous 1280×720 resolution display that is bright and crisp. It has vivid colors but isn’t cartoonish like other Samsung Android phones that we’ve seen in the past. The 4.65 inch display takes up almost the entire front surface of the phone. A strip at the bottom of the display is devoted to 3 (and sometimes 4) touch sensitive buttons. From Left to Right, the buttons are Back, Home and Task Switcher. When appropriate, a 4th button will appear on the Right that has three small vertical square blocks. This is the Menu button.

While the phone is in idle with the display turned off, there is a status LED that will slowly pulse when there’s a new email, text message or you’ve missed a call.

Above the display is the front facing camera.

The back of the Nexus has the camera lens and LED flash. It’s a little disappointing that Samsung opted to use a 5mp camera instead of an 8mp camera which seems to be the norm these days. That said, the camera captures decent pics and is crazy fast with no shutter lag whatsoever.

The back of the phone has a thin piece of flexible plastic that is easily removed to reveal the battery compartment and 4G LTE SIM card slot. In my short time with this phone, I found battery life to typical in that I would need to charge the phone once a day with light to normal use. It’s tough for me to offer concrete data about battery life since I’ve only been using this phone in an area with 3G and absolutely no 4G coverage. In my experience with other smartphones, I would say that the Nexus used power slightly quicker than HTC Rezound that I tested last.

You’ll notice that the Nexus does not have a microSD card slot. That’s a bit of a bummer, but the phone does have 32GB of storage, which makes the lack of a flash card slot less painful.

If you look closely at the side of the Nexus, you’ll see that the display is slightly curved. Samsung claims that this will make the phone more comfortable against your cheek when you’re on a call. Hmmm… I don’t know about you, but I’ve never noticed my flat phones as being uncomfortable against my face.

The Left side of the phone has the volume rocker button which has good tactile feedback and sticks up high enough that your thumb tip can easily find it when you’re on a phone call.

On the opposite side you’ll find the Power button and electrical contacts for an optional dock.

On the bottom edge is a micro USB connector for charging and connecting to your computer. You’ll also find the microphone and headphone jack.

I had a rude awakening when I plugged the Nexus into my iMac to transfer some files and found that the phone does not support the USB mass storage feature that I’ve been accustomed to using with every Android phone that I’ve owned over the years. At first I thought it was Android 4.0′s fault because it uses the MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) file transfer standard which is plug and play compatible with Windows machines, but not OS X machines.

In order to transfer files to and from the Nexus with my iMac, I had to install a special file manager app. Bleh! After a bit of research, I came to learn that it’s not exactly Android 4.0′s fault. Other 4.0 devices will support USB mass storage. The reason that the Galaxy Nexus does not support USB mass storage is because it does not include a microSD slot. As long as an Android 4.0 device has a removable flash card, it will support USB mass storage.

In hand, the Galaxy Nexus is comfortable to hold due to the rounded sides. Although the phone is light weight, it is solid and easily passes my patent pending gadgeteer squeeze test with no flexing, creaking or cracking. It’s a big phone though, so it’s not really pocket friendly.

Performance wise, this phone is very snappy. That shouldn’t come as a surprise since one of the best things about the Nexus is that it hasn’t been “polluted” with a lot of carrier bloatware and interface special sauce like HTC’s Sense and Motorola Blur.

Let’s take a look at a few of the new features that Android 4.0 offers.

The default lock screen isn’t too different, but you do have the option to use the front facing camera and your own face to unlock the phone. It’s kind of fun to play with and worked well for me. It falls back to a pattern matching unlock screen if the stored face isn’t recognized.

The app view scrolls left to right instead of up and down. In the image above you can see all the stock apps.

Here is the 2nd page of apps minus the Tiny Tower and Where’s My Water games that I installed. There are only two apps that have been added by Verizon and if you don’t want to see them you can actually disable them. Disabling does NOT uninstall them though, it just removes them from the app view. But, I was happy to see that Android 4.0 offers easier app removal now. Instead of having to go into the settings/applications area to uninstall an app, you can just tap and hold the icon for the uninstall option.

Also added to the app view are your available widgets. You can scroll through them just like you can your apps.

There is also a button in the top right corner for quick access to the App Market.

Here we see the dialer interface.

Your favorites dialing screen reminds me of the Windows 7 phone interface.

I didn’t have any issues using the Galaxy Nexus to make and receive calls. I’ve read that it can have problems with 3G connectivity, but I didn’t find that to be the case during the time I’ve been using the phone. In my area, 3G coverage is very good, so I rarely experience problems with dropped calls and the Nexus was no different in that regard. Call audio was clear and volume was very good even when I made calls from my basement with only 1 bar signal strength.

Browsing the web on the Nexus is a joy. My iPhone feels pretty cramped after using the Nexus! The browser feels pretty snappy too… even under 3G.

Another cool feature that I haven’t been able to test because I don’t know anyone else with a Nexus is the new Beam feature.  It will let you easily share contacts, websites, apps, maps, directions and YouTube videos with other people close by. The phone has NFC (near field communication) and when held near another NFC enabled Android 4.0 phone you can touch to beam and share. It kind of reminds me of the good old days when you could beam contacts and even apps back and forth to Palm OS devices.

All in all, I like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus quite a bit. If I were in the market for an Android phone right now, it would be the one I would probably buy even though it lacks a microSD card and I would have to deal with the annoying lack of the USB mass storage feature. Except for those 2 things, I love the huge display, snappy performance and quick camera. It’s definitely the phone to have right now due to the latest version of the OS and pure Android goodness.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Smartphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 13, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Disclaimer 1: Rooting can have a difference connotation down here in Australia and I’m not sure if it means the same thing in other countries. This article has nothing to do with the Aussie colloquial term  

I literally fell into being an Android fanboi. After a raft of Sharp data organisers, Palm devices and then Windows Mobile PDA and phones, I quickly needed to get a new phone. I don’t turn my phones over quickly, I’m not a “must have the latest” kinda person as long as the device is still doing the job (can I really call myself a Gadgeteer? ). My intention was a new Winmob phone ( V6.5  at the time)  but all the Winmob phones offered by my carrier were too big  (4.3″ screen) and because of that I ended up with an Android based Froyo HTC Desire (3.7″ screen) not because of  the Android but because of the size.  Like all good Gadgeteers from there my research began as Android was new to me at the time (does this redeem me?).  Well you can’t research Android without coming across rooting your device so I thought I’d put this quick article together about what exactly is rooting and why would you do it ?

Disclaimer 2: Rooting will generally void any manufacturer warranty and can potentially brick your device. If you are not comfortable with the procedure and not willing to take the risk then please do not attempt. 

The term rooting comes from the old Unix days where the Super User account (SU) had root access to all the files, i.e. access to the files from the root directory up, so basically administrator rights in Windows terms. On a standard Android device you’ll only have access to some files, which limits your control over a number of variables and functions. The procedure for rooting an Android device can be as easy as downloading and running an app on your device or may be be a multi-stepped process.  For all those Apple folks out there this is the equivalent of Jailbreaking your Apple device (or at least as close as a comparison as you can get when you talk Apple v Android ).

This article is not intended as a how-to tutorial but as a list of some of the advantages you can get from rooting your Android device.

Remove OEM Bloatware:

Many manufacturers and carriers will have customised ROMs on their devices. These often include applications that THEY think would be useful to you or are useful to them by say pushing traffic through them.  These applications may take up valuable storage space, or stay active in memory using up valuable resources.  The apps are normally written into the protected areas and can’t be uninstalled as they are system apps.   To the left is a picture of the typical bloatware found on an Australian Telstra Android phone ( in this case they’re actually only shortcuts ). Rooting gives you the ability to remove or freeze these.

Backup and Restore your Entire System:

Backup programs for non-rooted devices only have access to user accessible areas of apps and data.   Having root access will give you access to all areas on your device and allow you to make  ”bare metal” rebuild images.  Where is this useful ?  Let’s say a manufacturer ships out an Over The Air (OTA) system update to you that makes your device unusable. If you have a “bare metal” image then you can just go back to your last working version and not apply the system update until it’s stable.

Run Custom Roms:

Since the release of the Nexus G1, the Android ROM community has grown and grown and there’s a plethora of “cooks” out there baking custom ROMs for almost all Android Devices. Alternate ROMs can be anything from hacked OEM ROMs to ROMs built from the ground up.  These ROMs will typically incorporate things that will speed up your device and add functionality not found in the OEM ROMs.  Of course the ability to backup and restore your entire system means that you can easily try different ROMs and easily go back to the one you like the best or even go back to the OEM one if that’s the one you prefer. Cyanogen is probably one of the popular alternate ROMs out there, in fact the founder of Cyanogen was employed by Samsung based on this project. The most active alternative ROM site is XDA-Developers where you can find multiple ROM options for the more commonly available devices.

More screen real estate:

With smaller-screen devices you are constrained to the standard screen estate given to you by the manufacturer.  Especially on the 7″ tablets (which kind of straddles the phone/tablet size), the icons are normally too big which leads to excessive scrolling to find that app you want. By changing the LCD density, you can get more real estate on the screen.  Conversely as you get a bit older you might want to make those icons bigger

Speed and Battery:

Many developers will tweak the kernel to dramatically improve performance .  Processors can be overclocked or underclocked and unnecessary processes can be eliminated. These changes result in better performance and better battery life.

Keep up to date with versions:

Most manufacturers are notorious for developing a product, releasing it and then dropping all support after the next model’s released.  By using customised ROMs you can update to the latest version of Android OS before they are officially released (if it ever is) . Especially useful if you have an older device that isn’t supported by the manufacturer but is by the development community.

More memory:

Root will allow you to move and manipulate the partitions where system and data resides.  Manufacturers will set the partition limits to best suit them at time of manufacture. You can push some functions and applications to the external card storage of your device.  Older phones were notorious for running out of memory after you’d installed a number of  apps. While later versions of Android did this automatically, root gives you complete control. Rooting will also allow you to freeze unnecessary processes.

Take screen shots: 

Everyone likes to show off their artistic abilities by showing off their home screens or show off their high score in Angry Birds .  While some manufacturers do give you the ability to take screen shots, most don’t.  Want to post an error on your screen or similar ?  Screen shots can be useful.

Change boot screens:  

Don’t like the boot animation that comes up when you turn your phone on (often almost an advertisement)? Root will allow you to change and personalise even down to this level.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles

Tagged: Android, rooting

Rooting your Android device…advantages? (…it’s not a bad thing) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 6, 2012 at 9:00 am.

The JXD S7100 is a 7 inch Android 2.2 device with built in gaming controllers. Install Mame or another gaming emulator and this would make a great little gaming device. It’s available from isharegifts.com for $139.99. There’s a video on their site showing it in action and it does support English and other languages.

Filed in categories: Android related, Gaming Gear, News

Tagged: Android, Gaming

JXD S7100 – Android Powered Gaming Device originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 24, 2011 at 11:45 am.

Should Amazon be worried that ARCHOS has just announced a 7 inch Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet for $199? If I were faced with a buying decision between the Kindle Fire and this new ARCHOS 70b Internet Tablet, I would pick the ARCHOS due to the specs alone. The processor is faster than the Fire’s at 1.2Ghz, it has an HDMI out port, a SD card slot and the full app market. It won’t be in stores till January, but that’s just a hop, skip and a jump away. Which tablet would you choose between the two? Full press release after the jump.

ARCHOS Unveils the ARCHOS 70b Internet Tablet, the First Android Honeycomb Tablet Under $200

DENVER, CO – (December 20, 2011) – ARCHOS, an award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced today the upcoming availability of the first android 3.2 ‘’Honeycomb’’ tablet under $200, the ARCHOS 70b internet tablet. The new ARCHOS 70b IT is an enhanced version of the ARCHOS 70 IT Gen 8 that features an upgraded capacitive touch screen and a powerful processor at 1.2 GHz.

The ARCHOS 70b internet tablet runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb, Google’s full suite of mobile applications with Android MarketTM, giving users access to over 300,000 applications such as games, books, social media and news. With Honeycomb, users will have faster and smoother transitions between different applications, and more intuitive navigation to and from home screens.

Very slim and light, the newest version of the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet Gen 8, offers the best performances in terms of portability, immediate internet access, multimedia, apps and affordability.  This new version has a higher resolution capacitive screen (1024 x 600) for vibrant colors and crisp clarity and has doubled the RAM to 512 MB for a smoother web experience and more efficient multi-tasking.

This connected mobile device with a sublime user interface, 3D Graphics accelerator and Wi-Fi connectivity, also comes with a full pack of connected apps such as a web browser and email application, HDMI output and Micro SD connectivity.

With this enhanced Android tablet, users will benefit from:

•    An affordable price starting at $199 for 8GB
•    Smoother multi-tasking and a faster web experience thanks to the upgraded RAM
•    Brighter colors with a high resolution capacitive screen
•    Android 3.2 Honeycomb, the Android version designed for a tablet
•    Access to a full array of apps with the Android Market and its 300,000 apps such as news, eMagazines, eBooks, social media, games and more
•    A full multimedia experience with upgraded multimedia ARCHOS apps for video and music
•    HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android experience on their TV including all the pre-loaded apps, video playback, 3D games, photos and all the Android Market apps

Availability & Price The ARCHOS 70b internet tablet will be available in stores starting in January with the recommended retail price of $199.

About ARCHOS ARCHOS, pioneer in the portable audio and video player market, and now specializing in Android Tablets, has repeatedly revolutionized the market for consumer electronics since 1988. Today, ARCHOS offers Android Internet Tablets, Tablet PCs and MP3/MP4 players. In 2000, ARCHOS launched the Jukebox 6000, the first MP3 player combined with a hard disk. Then in 2003 ARCHOS introduced the first portable multimedia players with TV recording. In 2006 Wi-Fi is implemented and then touch screens in 2007. In 2008, ARCHOS launched the first generation Internet Tablets, and then the first ever Android powered tablets in 2009. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. ARCHOS is quoted on Compartment C of Eurolist, Euronext Paris, ISIN CodeFR0000182479. Website: www.archos.com.

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ARCHOS.EntertainmentYourWay Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ARCHOS_US

Filed in categories: Android related, News, Tablet Computers and Gear

Tagged: Android, Tablet

ARCHOS Unveils the First Android Honeycomb Tablet under $200 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 20, 2011 at 12:54 pm.

When it comes to Android powered smartphones, it seems like there is a new phone released every month or so. At this point, there isn’t a lot that can be added to a smartphone to make it different than every other smartphone on the market. There are only so many cores you can add to the processor to make it faster, so much memory you can add for apps, and so many megapixels you can add for better pictures. The HTC Rezound from Verizon Wireless finds another way to stand out by offering a better audio experience with their Beats Audio technology and included Monster Beats Audio headphones. Let’s see if it improves your music listening experience while still performing well as a phone.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Hardware Specs

Operating System: Android Gingerbread + HTC Sense
Processor: Qualcomm® MSM8660 1.5 GHz, Qualcomm MDM9600
Internal memory: 16 GB onboard memory, 1 GB DDR2 RAM
Network: LTE 700MHz (band 13); CDMA 800/1900MHz
Display: 4.3″ super LCD screen, 1280 x 720, HD 720p
Memory card: 16 GB microSD™ pre-installed
Camera: 8 MP with auto focus, f/2.2, 28mm wide-angle lens, 2 x LED flash; 2 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recorder
Bluetooth v3.0
Battery: Rechargeable lithium–ion battery 1620 mAh Usage: 404 minutes (typical), Standby: 261 hours (typical)
Dimensions: 5.08” x 2.58” x .54”
Weight: 6oz

Package Contents

HTC Rezound smartphone
Monster Beats Audio headphones with 5 different sized ear tips
Headphones pouch
AC adapter with USB micro cable

Let me start out by comparing the HTC Rezound to an iPhone 4S so you can get an idea of how large it is. This phone is a handful, but it’s not uncomfortable to hold or use as a phone. It’s about the same size as my original Motorola Droid X, so it’s not crazy huge… The back is nicely rounded, so it feels good in your hand.

The Rezound has a large 4.3 inch capacitive display with no physical buttons on the face of the device. At the top there is a status LED and the front facing 2MP camera.

The display is gorgeous without looking cartoony like Samsung phones. With 1280 x 720 pixels, this is the first 720p phone.

Below the display are 4 touch sensitive buttons for Home, Menu, Back and Search. These touch buttons have a red backlight when you’re in a dim area, and they have haptic feedback, which will cause the device to vibrate when touched. This is a setting that can be turned off if desired. I always turn off the haptic feedback on my devices because I fear that it negatively affects battery life. I’m not sure how much it really does though…

The back of the phone has the 8MP camera lens and dual LED flash.

The soft touch plastic cover is easily removed to access the battery compartment and 16GB microSD card which is included with the phone.

Removing the 1620 mAh battery reveals the 4G LTE SIM card. Since 4G has not yet made it to bustling metropolis of Columbus, Indiana, I have not been able to test 4G performance with this phone. Of course, it works just fine on 3G too.

The left side has the charge port which looks like a proprietary connector, but it’s really an ordinary micro USB connector.

The opposite side has a volume rocker switch. This switch is narrow and flush with the casing and has very little tactile feedback.

The same goes for the power switch on the top of the phone. 50% of the time I have to press this button 2 times for it to turn the device on or off because I either pressed in the wrong area or not hard enough. Grrr…

I love the large bright crystal clear display on this phone, but the rest of the physical design is nothing special in my opinion. It doesn’t look much different than other Android smartphones currently available. Black shiny plastic. Yay… But it feels solid and doesn’t have any issues with flexing or cracking when I try to crush it in my super human gadgeteer grip of steel, otherwise known as the gadgeteer squeeze test.

Camera

If you read The Gadgeteer, you will know that I’m a big fan of the iPhone’s camera. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I switched back to the iPhone from the Droid X months ago. Well guess what? I am really impressed by the HTC Rezound’s camera!

The camera app has a lot of features including a collection of effects that are applied in real time so that you can see what you’re going to get before you snap the picture. Unfortunately the screen capture feature doesn’t show this.

Here are a few sample images:

The camera actually captures better macro shots than the iPhone and can focus at a slightly closer distance. Dim shots do seem to have a bit of a yellow cast though. But all in all, this phone has a really nice 8MP camera.

Music

The main selling point for the Rezound is the special Beats Audio technology that enhances audio through the included Monster Beats earbuds.

If you use the included Monster Beats earbuds, you will a notice significant boost in bass and over-all fullness of the sound. If you’re not a big fan of in-ear type earbuds (like me), you’ll be happy to know that using your favorite buds will also sound great.

I listened to the same song on a Motorola Droid X and the HTC Rezound with stock Apple earbuds (don’t kill me…) and the Monster Beats earbuds. The Rezound with the Monster Beats earbuds sounded great and very good with the Apple earbuds, too. The Droid X sounded anemic in comparison, even with the Monster Beats earbuds. Whatever special sauce has been added with the Beats Technology, is a great improvement.

Included Software and other HTC Sense Interface Goodies

The Rezound includes HTC’s ever popular Sense UI enhancements.

Some of the extras includes cool lock screen styles. The default is shown above. To unlock, you just push the ring at the bottom of the display upwards. But, if you want to unlock the phone and go right into your favorite app, you can drag the icon into the ring. Nifty.

The notification screen has a horizontal scrolling bar with apps recently opened so that you can access them easily. There’s also a quick-settings tab that can be accessed from this screen too, which is a nice touch.

The app view has some nice touches as well. There are buttons at the bottom to access frequent apps, your downloaded apps, and Verizon’s own apps.

The animated weather app, which is powered by Accuweather.com, has a nice helping of eye candy.

Also included are a handy task manager task killer, Footprints, Hot Pursuit racing game (demo), Let’s Golf 2 golf game (demo), Polaris Office (Microsoft Excel and Word document editor), Scan barcode scanner / price checker app, and Slacker Radio music streaming app.

But can it make phone calls?

Do people still use their smartphones to call people these days? If you prefer talking over texting, the Rezound has no problems making and receiving calls… at least on the 3G network which I tested.

One cool feature that I like is that you can use the number pad to either enter part of a phone number or use it to spell the first or last name of someone you want to call. As you type on the number pad, your list of contacts will filter based on matches.

Of the handful of calls that I placed, they sounded clear on both sides of the connection and I had no problems with reception or dropped calls and was very happy with the audio quality / volume.

Battery Life

Since I’m not in an area with 4G reception of any kind, my experiences with battery life probably aren’t very useful. All I can say is that with normal use of a few calls, some video recording, text messages, some game play, music listening through headphones and surfing, I’m getting 1-2 days between charges. It doesn’t seem better or worse than what I remembered of my Droid X. Charging often is just a tradeoff that we have to deal with when we use smartphones.

Conclusion

I didn’t think I’d care all that much about the HTC Rezound, but I am surprised at just how much I like it and wish I didn’t have to return it to my Verizon rep. My two favorite things about it are the display and the camera. Better audio through headphones is a plus too. If I were looking to switch back to Android from my iPhone, I would definitely consider this phone. Go check it out at your local Verzion store and let me know what you think of it.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Verizon HTC Rezound Smartphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 12, 2011 at 11:00 am.

When Motorola burst onto the Android scene with the original Droid (a.k.a. Milestone), the company quickly ramped up to one of the more noteworthy smartphone makers. Then, over the course of a couple of years, their reputation dropped as their phones became less and less innovative, and less and less competitive against the likes of Samsung.

A bright spot was the 2011 CES, where Motorola’s booth, with the Xoom, the Atrix, and the Droid Bionic, was among the stars of the show. But, production delays for the Bionic, lackluster performance by the Xoom, and mediocre sales of the Atrix all undercut Moto’s momentum.

That downward trend could just very well be cut short with the resurrection of one of Motorola’s most hallowed of product brands: the Razr.

If you weren’t hiding under a rock between 2003 and 2007, you probably saw more Motorola Razr clamshell-style feature phones than any other mobile device, at least in the U.S. It was, by any metric, a blockbuster product line. With the release of the Droid Razr, Motorola is quite obviously trying to capitalize on that brand recognition. But, is the Droid Razr worthy of that name?

HARDWARE

The very first thing you’ll notice about the Droid Razr (hereafter “Razr”) is that it’s thin. Crazy thin. Like, “that can’t be an actual, functioning phone” thin. But, amazingly, it is. Except for the hump at the top, a trademark of the Droid family, the phone is 7.1 mm thick.

In comparison to things you might have around your house, the Razr is about the same thickness as:

• a stack of 4 US quarters
• 3 SD cards
• 6 CD-Rs

In fact, here’s a list of smartphones that are thinner:

Now, with that thinness comes some compromises. The first, and probably the biggest, is the Razr’s non-removable 1780 mAh Li-Ion battery. Yep…the back doesn’t even come off (well, it’s not supposed to, anyway).

Also, the entire phone isn’t 7.1 mm thick. As mentioned, the hump at the top is actually about 12 mm (~1/2 an inch). But, that thickness is excused when you realize it houses the 8MP back camera, LED flash, and speaker on the rear (see below), the headphone jack and micro-USB micro-HDMI ports on top (see below), and the front-facing 1.3MP camera, earphone, LED indicator, and proximity sensor on the front. At least Motorola was smart enough not to require the use of a silly headphone jack dongle like HP did with the Palm Veer.

The Razr sports a 4.3″ qHD (540×960) Super AMOLED Advanced display, which is pretty excellent. It’s not quite as crisp as Samsung’s latest AMOLED displays, but it’s really very close. You have to have pretty great vision to discern the very minor pixelation I was able to notice when looking for it. In daily use, however, I never had a complaint.

However, the Razr has a rather wide bezel on the sides of the display, making the overall package 2.7 inches wide and 5.2 inches tall. This makes for a rather large object in one’s pocket, which can be noticeable even though it’s so thin. But, at just under 4.5 ounces, it’s incredibly light and easy to forget it’s there. Despite that lightness, the Razr feels incredibly sturdy. Perhaps that’s because the back is a structural component and not a flimsy piece of plastic meant to be taken off regularly, or maybe because it’s built with Kevlar and Gorilla Glass. Regardless of the reason, there’s no discernible flex in the phone…it feels rock solid like most of Moto’s stuff does.

Other than the ports mentioned, under a door on the left-hand edge are microSD (16 GB supplied) and LTE SIM card slots. On the right edge are the power button (which is so small and nearly flush as to be difficult to find by feel alone) and an unfortunately tiny volume toggle. All told, the Razr is one amazingly handsome phone. The slight tapering at the top and bottom, along with the semi-exotic materials and incredible thinness, make this a real beauty to behold.

Internally, the user is treated to some top-drawer silicon:  a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage (separate from the microSD card), a full 1GB of RAM, and all the typical sensors and wireless connectivity (including Verizon’s so-fast-it’s-silly 4G LTE) you’ve come to expect in a flagship smartphone.

SOFTWARE

As of this writing, the Droid Razr comes with Android Gingerbread 2.3.5, but Motorola has promised vociferously that it will get Ice Cream Sandwich / Android 4.0 at some point. So, it’s future-proof, but how far off that future may be is anyone’s guess.

Motorola has also included its latest suite of UI customizations and value-added apps, which they’re no longer calling by a specific name (e.g., MotoBlur). So, I’ll just refer to it as the Moto UI. Motorola has certainly learned from its past mistakes. Where MotoBlur was a case study in terribleness, the latest Moto UI is very, very functional, if still a little less interesting to look at than HTC’s Sense or Samsung’s TouchWiz UIs.

In fact, the more I used the Razr, the more I started to appreciate the little things Moto is getting right. Many of the customizations they’ve added to the Android OS are compelling and add real value. For example, Moto includes on-board a really good automatic profile manager called “Smart Actions.” Smart Actions lets you set up profiles consisting of time of day, location, events (e.g., getting docked), and so on that, when activated, cause the phone to automatically do something.

The easiest example is the first one I set up:  every night at 9pm, the phone gets turned down to 0% brightness and all ringers and vibration are turned off. Then, at 6am, it gets restored to 50% brightness and max ringer/notification volume + vibration. I could, for example, add a location qualifier to that to say only change the settings if I’m at home, so that’s very cool. Sure, there are lots of 3rd-party apps that do the same thing, but having it already on-board is appreciated.

Another value-added UI enhancement is the ability to discard individual notifications from the notification shade. Stock Android (prior to 4.0) and other OEM UIs all offer only mass-dismissal of notifications, which is pretty silly — sometimes, you’d like to keep just one to get back to later on. With Moto’s UI, you can do that.

Also, unlike HTC, which only shows up to 8 recently-used apps when long-pressing the Home button, the Razr will show you up to 20. Nice. So, in a nutshell, whereas Motorola used to have a real disadvantage when it came to comparing their Android UI modifications to those of Samsung and HTC, I would say it’s no longer much of an issue. Yes, some of the menus are a little bland — the Settings icons are all still monochrome (seriously, Moto, you can’t afford color icons?), for example — but functionally, I’d put the Moto UI up there with any of them.

One piece of software that the Razr offers (along with the Bionic, Droid Atrix, and Photon) is Motorola’s innovative Webtop app. See below for more on that as part of the discussion of the Lapdock 100 laptop-style smartphone dock.

Other than that, Moto and Verizon have pre-loaded the Razr with a metric ton of 3rd-party apps. Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, GoToMeeting, Let’s Golf 2 Demo, Madden NFL 12 Demo, MotoACTV, MotoPRINT, My Verizon, Netflix, NFL Mobile, Pandora, QuickOffice, Slacker, VCAST, and many other apps constitute a considerable “bloatware” load on the Razr. Sure, some of these are things I’d otherwise download, but I’d prefer most of them not being there to begin with.

USABILITY

For me, apart from app availability (not an issue on Android), four factors determine a phone’s usability: size, speed, stability, and battery life. I’ve discussed the size and, unless you wear pants with tiny pockets, it’s largely a non-issue.

Regarding speed, this phone feels VERY fast. I never once noticed anything I’d call significant hesitation or lagginess. The TI OMAP 4430 that runs the apps and the 300mhz PowerVR SGX 540, which pushes the pixels, combine to provide a really smooth experience. Rendering is fast, scrolling is fast, and downloading is fast, especially when doing so via Verizon’s 4G LTE (where I often see download speeds in excess of 15 mbps).

Stability has been excellent…in the short time I’ve used the phone (about a week), I’ve not had a single reset, force close, or other noteworthy hiccup.

Finally, battery life. With a non-removable battery, you have to wonder if this will be the issue that sours the whole thing. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how good it is. A couple of times, I’ve gone a full 24 hours on a single charge in a Wi-Fi environment. Plus, it seems that Verizon has gotten its 4G power settings tweaked, as I was able to get a full day’s use on cellular/LTE every day I had the phone outside of Wi-Fi environments. So, all told, unless I was in an area with no Wi-Fi and really poor cellular reception, I’d trust the Razr to make it through a day without any trouble. Of course, YMMV.

WEBTOP & THE LAPDOCK 100

Like I discussed in my review of the Motorola Droid Bionic and HD Dock, the Webtop concept really appeals to me. I love the concept of being able to take my desktop work state with me inside my phone between sit-down computing sessions.

The Razr has two Webtop accessories available for it: the HD Dock (which hooks up to a TV or monitor via HDMI) and the Lapdock 100, a laptop-style portable keyboard dock (shown above). The Lapdock 100 costs ~$250 and consists of a 1366×768 display, a QWERTY keyboard, an extra battery, and a cable to connect the phone.

Below is my video review of the Lapdock 100.

SUMMARY

The Motorola Droid Razr on Verizon is a powerful, compelling, beautiful package with hardly any significant trade-offs. If a Verizon customer was wanting a top-drawer smartphone, he could do much, much worse than by picking up a Razr. Even at the premium price of $300, I would have no hesitation at all about recommending it to friends and family.

The Lapdock 100, however, is not quite as excellent. It’s a little too thick and heavy for what it does, and does slowly. But, for less than what a typical netbook costs, it might make a decent backup device for someone who’s constantly running between locations. I could see a student using it to take notes in class, for example.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

Verizon Motorola Droid Razr and Lapdock 100 Combo Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 5, 2011 at 11:00 am.

I’m sure there’s more e-doodlers out there than me , and Artist Hardware’s Sensu Artist Brush looks pretty cool for doodling and painting on the go on your capacitive screen device.

Now fully funded on  Kickstarter  ( funding requested $7,500, funding recieved $68,823 !!! ) , the Sensu is a capacitive brush device that gives you the feel of a real artist’s brush . Traditional synthetic brush hair is infused with conductive properties to make this work on your iPad or Android Tablet ( or any other device with a capacitive screen ) .  Made for portability,  when closed the brush is 4 1/2″ ( 114mm ) in length and when the protective cap is posted  is 7 1/8″ ( 181mm ). There’s also a useful rubber tip on the other end that can be used for  everyday operation of your tablet or as a pencil/stylus.  Made of chrome-plated brass, silicon and rubber this looks like a really nice product for the more artistic among us

Check out their Kickstarter page for some video showing its use

Set to be released next year, the brush will sell for $34.95

Filed in categories: Android related, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News, Tablet Computers and Gear

Tagged: Android, Drawing, iPad, Stylus

Sensu Artist Brush for Capacitive Screens originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm.

Why carry around that big screen notebook or tablet or on the other hand have to put up with a small smartphone-sized screen when you can run Android on almost any device with a USB  or HDMI port and a screen?  The Cotton Candy from FXI Tech is a prototype USB-sized stick that allows a user to take their Android OS with them anywhere and have single and secure access to all their applications, including cloud services.

Powered by an ARM Cotrex A9 1.2 processor and fitted out with Wifi 802.11/g/b/n, Bluetooth, 1GB DRAM, and up to 64 GB microSD storage, the stick also includes HDMI output and  runs Android 2.3. It can also support Unbuntu as well as a virtualised client for Windows, Linux and Mac.

When hooked up and plugged in it runs Android (or other OS ) applications in a secure window, essentially creating a dumb terminal. Benefits touted by FXI include consumer friendly access to the Cloud, extending the life of consumer hardware, consistent experience across all screens, and  consolidation of personal digital data.

So carry it to your hotel room, whip it out of your pocket, and plug it into the 42″ LCD and voila, big screen Android (though for a TV you will have to carry a bluetooth keyboard, and mouse, and some form of USB power).

Interesting concept , maybe a bit impractical for television connection at the moment given what additional gear you’d have to carry with you , but perhaps a look into the future where everyone carries their personal computer on their keyring ?

FXI’s CEO expects to see mass release in the second half of 2012 for about $200. See more information at FXI Tech

Filed in categories: Android related, Geek Toys

Tagged: Android, USB

FXI Technology Cotton Candy – Sweet Android on a Stick originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 21, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

Want to introduce your kids to the tablet world but you’re not quite willing to hand them your expensive iPad?  Check out the Nabi Kids Tablet, a Toys “R” Us exclusive.  This 7 inch capacitive multi-touch tablet runs on Android OS (not sure which version) and sports a Duo Core 1.1GHz processor.  The Nabi is pre-loaded with lots of apps, games, learning materials and ebooks that are geared to kids.  There’s also a “Mommy Mode”, which will let mom’s enjoy the full-featured Android tablet.  It’s priced at $199.99 direct from Toys “R” Us.

Filed in categories: Android related, Kid Gadgets, News

Tagged: Android, Tablet

Nabi Tablet – A tablet for your kids originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 15, 2011 at 9:00 am.

HTC’s latest 4G Android smartphone is the HTC Rezound, which includes special multimedia features like Beats Audio Technology that offers enhanced bass, clarity and midrange audio that you can enjoy through the included pair of Beats headphones.

The 4.3-inch true HD 720p super LCD display will allow you to enjoy movies using the HTC Watch app which uses progressive download technology to watch videos without waiting for them to finish downloading.

The HTC Rezound will be available beginning Nov. 14 at Verizon Wireless and at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Full press release after the jump.

HTC AND VERIZON WIRELESS UNVEIL HTC REZOUND™, FIRST SMARTPHONE IN THE U.S. TO FEATURE BEATS AUDIO™

HTC Rezound breaks new ground with introduction of advanced audio and high-definition visual experience

New York City – November 3, 2011 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile devices, and Verizon Wireless today announced the HTC Rezound™, the only phone in the United States with Beats Audio™ integration. A result of the recent partnership between HTC and Beats, the HTC Rezound delivers a powerful entertainment experience with unparalleled audio and multimedia capabilities highlighted by a 4.3-inch true HD 720p display. The HTC Rezound, a premium designed smartphone that includes the latest HTC Sense experience and access to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, will be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless on Nov. 14.

“HTC is dedicated to delivering the latest in sight and sound innovation and we’re excited to be introducing the first U.S. smartphone featuring Beats Audio technology,” said Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corporation. “Paired with Verizon Wireless’ blazing-fast 4G LTE network and a robust multimedia experience, the HTC Rezound enables customers to enjoy their favorite music and entertainment on-the-go like never before.”

The HTC Rezound enables customers to hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning by Beats that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs. Unique to HTC, the HTC Rezound also includes new lightweight Beats headphones, created exclusively to integrate with the Beats’ audio profile on the device.  Hands-free calling is easy with the built-in microphone and the on-cable remote to pause, advance or rewind and answer a call mid-track.

“HTC fully recognizes the destruction to audio caused by the digital revolution. They embrace our vision to repair this ecosystem and bring the feeling from the recording studio to the smartphone,“ said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Beats By Dr. Dre. “This is only the beginning of our plan to fix how music is delivered.”

Lightning-fast mobile entertainment

The HTC Rezound is the first HTC smartphone to feature a true HD 720p display and is perfect for enjoying high-quality entertainment on the 4.3-inch super LCD screen. HTC Watch puts an entire library of the latest premium movies and TV shows right at your fingertips. Using a wireless connection, HTC Watch uses progressive download technology on the HTC Rezound which makes it possible to watch videos without waiting for them to finish downloading. Customers can rent or purchase videos through HTC Watch and enjoy content on up to five different HTC devices. The HTC Rezound features Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) connectivity, so customers can watch content from the device on an HDTV, including 5.1 surround sound and SRS WOW™ HD surround to take advantage of a home theater setup. Equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, the HTC Rezound offers a speedy mobile experience even for the most demanding media enthusiast.

“HTC Rezound combines sleek design, innovative entertainment features and the power of Verizon Wireless’ network to create a multi-media phone that consumers have been waiting for,” said Jeff Dietel, vice president of marketing for Verizon Wireless.  “4G LTE speeds take mobile entertainment to a new level, providing customers with advanced functionality in a phone they can count on for everyday use.”

Advanced multimedia features

The HTC Rezound boasts an 8-megapixel camera featuring autofocus, dual LED flash, a f/2.2 and 28mm wide-angle lens with BSI sensor to fit more of the scene into every shot and for better low-light performance. The enhanced camera features available through HTC Sense offer new scenes and effects such as panoramic mode for capturing life on a grand scale or action burst scene for the perfect action shot.

For self-portraits or video conversations, the HTC Rezound also features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. With a 1080p camcorder, the HTC Rezound enables customers to record a perfect moment with stunning clarity and incredible stereo sound, perfect for sharing on YouTube or Facebook. Customers can also wirelessly send their media to a compatible TV for looking at videos or pictures with friends and family using Digital Living Network Alliance® (DLNA).

HTC Sense

Featuring the latest version of HTC Sense, the HTC Rezound enables people to create a unique and intuitive user experience that matches their personal preference and lifestyle.  A customizable active lockscreen experience transforms the lockscreen into a real-time window to the most important information and content, such as social updates, photos, weather or stock updates that are viewed by simply turning on the display.  In addition, the new active lockscreen becomes a customizable gateway that lets people quickly jump to the most used features, like making a phone call, sending an email, taking a picture or anything else with the same quick gesture usually used to unlock the phone.

HTC Sense also delivers a new group messaging experience simplifying group and multimedia messaging so people can stay up-to-date on the latest conversations quickly and easily. People can view recent status updates from popular social networks in one place using FriendStream™, as well as sync their contact list with all email accounts and social networks for smooth integration.

“HTC and Beats have been important partners to Best Buy over the years and we are thrilled to help them bring the HTC Rezound on the Verizon Wireless network to consumers,” said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. “This is going to be a big holiday for smartphones and people will be looking for new and different features. The HTC Rezound, with HTC’s mobile expertise and audio excellence from Beats, will be a great option for our customers.”

Additional features

• Mobile Hotspot capability: share 4G connection with up to ten Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• Operating System: Android 2.3™ (Gingerbread) with latest HTC Sense – An upgrade to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will available in early 2012
• Internal Memory: 16 GB on-board memory, 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• Memory Card: 16 GB MicroSD™ pre-installed
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth®: 3.0 – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access and object push for vCard and vCalendar
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Battery: 1,620 mAh
• Special Features: HDMI (through MHL), G-sensor, Light sensor, Compass, Proximity sensor, MicroUSB, USIM/CSIM/ISIM, audio jack and Wireless Charging capable
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM8660 1.5GHz, Qualcomm® MDM9600
• Dimensions: 129 x 65.5 x 13.65 mm

Availability

The HTC Rezound will be available beginning Nov. 14 at Verizon Wireless and at Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers who purchase the HTC Rezound will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data. Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/Rezound to sign up for more information.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative devices that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

About Beats Electronics LLC

Established in 2006, Beats Electronics is the brainchild of legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine, who set out to develop a new type of headphone with the capability to reproduce the full spectrum of sound that musical artists and producers hear in professional recording studios. For more information, please visit http://beatsbydre.com.

About Verizon Wireless 
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 107.7 million total wireless connections, including 90.7 million retail customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with nearly 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Filed in categories: Android related, News

Tagged: Android, Smartphone

HTC Announces the HTC Rezound, the First Phone in the U.S. to Feature Beats Technology originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 6, 2011 at 9:23 pm.

Way, way back in early January at CES 2011, Motorola’s booth largely stole the show by featuring three massively exciting new products. While the DROID Bionic, a powerful Android smartphone headed for Verizon (hence the “DROID” moniker), was one of those products, it was largely overshadowed by the Atrix (an Android smartphone for AT&T that featured an innovative dock system) and the XOOM Android tablet. Since then, both the Atrix and the XOOM came out to mixed reviews and so-so sales, but the word from Moto was that the Bionic was getting retooled before a full launch.

So now, after nearly 9 months of waiting, the DROID Bionic is finally available. It features a dual-core, 1 GHz OMAP CPU from Texas Instruments, 16GB of internal storage (for apps, photos, music, files, etc.), a 4G LTE radio (on Verizon’s blisteringly fast network), and a high-res 4.3″ screen. Full specs are available at Motorola’s website.

LOOK & FEEL
At 2.6″ wide by 5″ tall by .43″ thick, the Bionic is a big, substantial phone with Motorola’s now-familiar design aesthetic: edges and chrome. It has distinct angles on all sides that make it a little less hand-friendly than, say, some of Samsung’s devices. The Bionic’s edges and chrome accents make it a very masculine device, something Motorola has fully embraced with the entire DROID line.

On top, you have a power button and a headset jack. On the front of the device is the display, front-facing camera, and necessary audio openings. On the left edge, the two ports — micro-USB and micro-HDMI — are in a familiar spot for use with Motorola’s selection of docks. While other manufacturers seem to be moving to MHL ports, which adds HDMI output to what is essentially a microUSB port, Motorola is opting for dock compatibility. I’m not sure there’s a significant advantage to either approach. Personally, though, I’m not a fan of charging ports being placed on the lower half of the sides on any phone, as it makes it a challenge to hold when plugged in.

On the right edge is a rather small volume rocker, and there’s nothing on the bottom edge.

The back of the Bionic is surprisingly busy. In addition to several logos, there are stereo speaker grills, with the top one forming part of a rather handsome camera & flash module. Also, there are what appear to be two additional mics, for stereo audio recording when capturing video, but also for dual-input noise cancellation during phone calls. Cool.

Removing the back cover reveals a wafer-thin 1735 mAh battery, the microSDHC slot (a 16GB card is included), and the 4G LTE SIM slot, which is accessible only after removing both the battery and the microSDHC card.

As a package, the Bionic is a good-looking device that should appeal to anyone who is normally attracted to the DROID line. It feels very solid with minimal plasticy-ness.

PERFORMANCE

The device feels every bit as snappy in use as you’d expect a phone rocking a 1 GHz dual-core processor should. With one exception, there’s absolutely no detectable lag or hesitation in normal use.

The only time when I felt the Bionic could use a bit more horsepower was when I was using it in Webtop mode…more on that below.

DISPLAY

The 4.3″ LCD looks good to me, with excellent pixel density and good color and contrast. Sure, it’s not nearly as bright or contrasty as Samsung’s SuperAMOLED+ displays, but it seems in line with other top-shelf LCD screens (e.g., those on HTCs high-end phones). Off-angle viewing results in only minimal brightness drop-off and no color shift. On the multi-touch test, it supports at least 10 simultaneous contacts; after that, I ran out of fingers.

Some reviews have complained about the “pentile” display technology used in the Bionic’s screen (Google it if you’re curious). Personally, I don’t see the issue, so I suspect it’s not something most people are going to notice, let alone find troubling enough to consider returning the phone over.

SOFTWARE

The user interface (UI) layer Motorola offers on its Android phones used to be called Motoblur, but then they said they weren’t calling it that anymore, yet failed to say what it’s now called. So, I’ll just call it Motoblur, and it’s falling behind the UI overlays of its two main competitors. Both HTC’s Sense 3.0 and Samsung’s TouchWiz offer more customizability and an overall richer experience than Motoblur does. For example, Motoblur offers just 5 home screens whereas HTC Sense has 7. Samsung TouchWiz is the most flexible, letting the user decide how many home screens he wants, from 1 to 7. Also, both Sense and TouchWiz include color icons in the Settings menu, whereas Motoblur is monochromatic. It’s not a huge deal, but disappointing in comparison.

Motorola includes 33 different widgets as part of Motoblur, more than TouchWiz and with enough variety to likely entice a new user to start exploring widgets. But, compared to the aesthetic appeal of some of HTC’s widgets (e.g., weather), most of Motorola’s look a little uninspired. Motoblur does have a couple of features neither Sense nor TouchWiz offer (e.g., the app launcher rotates in landscape view), but inconsistencies largely undermine many of these benefits (e.g., the home screens do NOT rotate to landscape). One highlight is the “Recent Apps” launcher (reached by long-pressing the Home button), which shows a full page of app icons — far more than either Sense (8 apps) or TouchWiz (6 apps). Perhaps the most useful unique feature that Motoblur has is the ability to clear individual notifications…something that Palm’s webOS had and is very handy if you want to use your notifications as a sort of on-phone to-do list.

Other standard apps are fine. Mail, browser, etc. are all pretty functional but, like most OEM apps, generally not best in class.

TETHERING

For sharing the Bionic’s incredibly fast Verizon LTE 4G data connection, it offers both Wi-Fi Hotspot capability and USB tethering. The Hotspot function wasn’t authorized on my review unit, so I can’t say how well that works. However, the tethering worked fine. Sometimes it took a while — up to a minute — for my laptop to get attached to the LTE network once tethering was enabled. But, once attached, it maintained a reliable connection until I untethered the phone. Handily, the included My Data Usage widget provides your total data consumed right on a home screen (it also drops you into the useful My Verizon Mobile app, which provides all kinds of account details and controls).

CAMERA & VIDEO

The main (rear) camera is OK. It will make passable 8MP images, but certainly not as impressively as that the cameras on the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy S II. Photo effects include black & white, negative, sepia, solarize (a weird color remapping), and red-, green-, and blue-tinting (think festive monochrome). Several “scene” modes to choose from. In addition to the default “single shot” mode, it also offers an auto-panorama mode and a multi-shot mode, the latter of which takes 6 rapid-fire photos over the span of about a second (I found this difficult to time correctly as the phone didn’t seem to want to start taking the pictures right when I tapped the shutter button).

While full-featured, the camera did have its irritations. Perhaps most aggravating was that the camera was laggy at times…it could be unresponsive for a moment, which is frustrating, especially for a phone with this much raw horsepower. Also, you have to dig into the menu to change flash mode; three taps is too much if you need to do it quickly. Finally, the digital zoom function “zooms” slowly and does not provide instantaneous feedback, so you have to guess where the slider should be, wait for the zoom to move there, and then guess again if you wanted the framing to be wider or narrower.

Sample photos

Click the thumbnails to see the full-size, original pictures.

Video recording is similarly full-featured, offering a huge variety of options. Video can be recorded in 1080p, 720p, 720×480, VGA, CIF (352×288), and QVGA. Video effects include the same options as still photos above. The phone even offers different presets for capturing sound via the “audio scenes” option: everyday, outdoors, concert, narrative, and subject. And, of course, you can turn the LED on to illuminate nearby subjects (for when you want to film that remake of “The Blair Witch Project”). Video quality is borderline acceptable; I would hesitate to use this for any video that I really care about. Particularly annoying is the little modulation the image does when it refocuses every few seconds. Weird.

Here’s a sample video clip taken in my back yard. Please note that the rustling sound is caused by the base I had the phone on rubbing against the table. Also note that the video is in portrait mode, but that, unlike HTC’s camcorder app, the Motorola video recorder app isn’t smart enough to encode orientation into the video file, so players don’t know to rotate it correctly.

Switching between front and rear cameras as well as between still and video modes are easily done via two little toggles near the on-screen shutter button. It would’ve been nice to have a physical shutter button on the Bionic, but it’s likely not a deal-breaker for most people.

HD STATION

The HD Station dock is for hooking the Bionic up to a larger display. It can run a slideshow, mirror the screen, or run in Webtop mode, where it behaves more like a traditional PC.

Physically, HD Station looks like a normal landscape charging dock, but is lousy with ports on the rear. There, it has three USB ports (e.g., for keyboard, mouse, and a flash drive), a micro-HDMI jack, a power socket, and a headphone audio jack. It also comes with a rather slick-looking remote control. Also included is a wall-wart power adapter with an extra-long cord (nice, Moto!). But not included is a micro-HDMI-to-HDMI cable, so you’ll need to pick one of those up on your own.

Mirror Mode does exactly what it sounds like: mirrors the device’s display out via the micro-HDMI port to any HDMI-equipped monitor or television. This is perfect if you want to show other people media files or presentations, or for games where you don’t need to see where your fingers are on the screen (e.g., driving games).

The Webtop App turns the Bionic into something akin to a desktop computer, if you plug a mouse and keyboard into the HD Station’s USB ports. A lot was written about this when the first Webtop-capable phone — the Atrix — came out, and I really do think it could be a big deal if Motorola works out some of the limitations and bugs. Overall, it works pretty well, but with two limitations. First, it’s pretty slow…slow to load webpages, slow to respond to movements of large amounts of screen contents (e.g., dragging windows), and slow to respond to mouse clicks. That last one was especially aggravating when trying to play the included demo of Let’s Golf 2…I kept missing the ideal swing spot because it lagged in registering my mouse clicks. The other limitation is, apparently, memory. On more than one occasion, trying to load a script-intensive webpage (e.g., Google+) resulted in the Webtop app complaining of low memory and then automatically closing the browser (Firefox). Needless to say, in a top-drawer Android phone targeting business professionals, memory shouldn’t be an issue.

That all said, I really do think the whole Webtop concept has a lot going for it. If Motorola can improve performance and reliability, both of which may just be limitations of today’s hardware, then docking may take on a hugely expansive role in the smartphone space.

BATTERY LIFE

So far, battery life has been very good. I’ve not turned 4G off and have easily gone a whole day of moderate/typical use. But, if you’re really good at draining batteries, there are extended batteries available.

CONCLUSIONS

The Motorola DROID Bionic is one heck of a powerful phone, but not without its compromises. The display is wonderfully high-res, but lacking in saturation and contrast. The phone is snappy and responsive when used in phone mode, but can be laggy when docked in Webtop mode. The cameras are functional, but not superlative. Motoblur isn’t very exciting, but it doesn’t seem to tax the processor much. The LTE radio offers crazy-fast downloads where Verizon’s 4G network is available, but the battery can be taxed if used heavily.

Arguably, this is the best 4G phone running Android on Verizon’s 4G network. Sure, the DROID Reveal might be a bit sexier, but it’s not available yet. Ultimately, the DROID Bionic is a powerful phone that is likely to be enjoyable to use for quite some time. Whether or not it will be upgraded to run Ice Cream Sandwich is still up in the air, but among Android phones currently available, the Bionic has to be near the top of the list for consideration. In that sense, it should help any new owner avoid the inevitable buyer’s remorse for longer than usual.

Filed in categories: Android related, Reviews

Tagged: Android, Dock

Motorola DROID Bionic and HD Station Dock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 18, 2011 at 11:30 am.