Android and Me » Christopher Earle

Camera Pro: High End Functions in an Android Camera

Christopher Earle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:53:14 +0000

One of the things that was surprising to many people was the simplicity of the camera in T-Mobile’s G1. The Android platform always seemed ideal for a really feature-rich camera, which isn’t what the G1 shipped with. Even the camera in the Cupcake OS release is a little weak.

Camera Pro is an app that replaces the built-in camera app that adds an incredible number of really useful features. The first is zoom. Camera Pro offers a sliding zoom level. The app uses digital zoom. With digital zoom, the camera doesn’t physically zoom. It crops the image to include only the image area included on the LCD. When zooming in, the camera actually crops a lower resolution image from the overall image that is seen by the camera. This process is seamless to the user, so appears to be a zoom function. In spite of its potential resolution problems, this zoom feature is outstanding, fast, and a very welcome addition to the G1.

The second higher end function is white balance. White balance adjusts for the varying color temperatures of different types of light. Incorrectly set white balance is the reason that many photographs taken under incandescent lights look yellow and others under fluorescent lights look blue. Although Auto is quite good, in some cases you may want to set manual white balance. Camera Pro supports white balance for Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight, Cloudy, Twilight and Shade.

Camera Pro also offers a number of compositional aids. Compositional aids are: Crosshairs, Circle, Golden Ratio, and a very cool function that uses the G1s accelerometer to correctly photograph straight horizons.

Although many of the filters are extreme, and as a result of limited usefulness, Camera Pro has a number of filters. The most useful ones are Mono and Sepia. In addition to these two filters, the following filters are supplied: Negative, Solarize, Pastel, Mosaic, Posterize, Whiteboard, Blackboard and Aqua.

Camera Pro can be set to replace the default camera app. It supports a number of other useful functions, like default image size and JPG quality. The default white balance and default filter can also be set from the app settings.

Camera Pro is a reasonable $1.99 in the Android Market and is a very good, very capable replacement for the default camera app.

A full list of features includes:

Digital Zoom(up to 4x)
Effect filters(b/w, sepia, aqua,…)
Whitebalance
Grid lines (using acceleroemeters, golden ration,…)
Stability, autofocus
Just tap screen for a snap shot
Sending photo via email/MMS

Camera Pro for Android
Version: 1.1
Developed By: Swiss Codemonkeys
Price: €1.49 ($2.08)
Filesize: 111KB

RepliGo Reader Brings PDF Viewer To Android

Christopher Earle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:00:58 +0000

One of the things that an Android based phone should do well is work as a document reader. Until recently, there were a number of Portable Document File (PDF) viewers available free, but none that did everything well. That changed with the release of RepliGo Reader from Cerience Corporation. Currently at version 1.3.0, RepliGo was the best reader for Android at 1.0.0 and has only improved on a good code base.

RepliGo works with most PDF files. If the PDF file was created using a digital process, such as using a text or Word file to create the file, RepliGo is good. In fact, it is very good. RepliGo allows you to see the original formatting of the document or switch to a view which is ideal for reading documents on the smaller screen of a cell phone. The only documents that don’t work well are documents that are scans of old books. In some cases, RepliGo can’t figure out what to do with poor quality 1-bit scans and simply displays gibberish on the screen. This is likely a problem that will go away as the product matures.

RepliGo integrates very nicely with the Android Gmail and default email application. Clicking “preview” on a PDF attachment brings the PDF up in RepliGo. Once the document is on your G1, RepliGo is fast and responsive. Downloading large PDFs to the memory card can take a long time, but RepliGo looks at the document in small pieces, which really improves performance.

RepliGo turns your G1 into a very powerful eBook and eDocument platform. With a large memory card, the number of documents that can be carried in your pocket is simply mind boggling. At the moment, I have close to 40 documents and books that are taking up very little space on an 8GB card.

I’ve bought very few higher priced apps from the Android Market. One was Docs to Go and the other is RepliGo. Both are outstanding and both are, in my view, two critical applications to being able to use an Android based phone as an ultra-portable computing platform. If you are looking for the best PDF reader available for Android, RepliGo is your app.

RepliGo Reader for Android
Version: 1.3
Developed By: Cerience Corporation
Price: $7.95
Filesize: 1.28MB

Lock 2.0 Reviewed For Android

Christopher Earle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:30:18 +0000

One of the criticisms of Android based devices that has often been leveled by corporate IT departments is security. With only pattern based security, by default, the number of possible pattern security combinations is fairly small. The chance of someone being able to replicate a default security pattern by watching an Android user unlock his or her phone is perceived by IT departments to be quite good.

Lock 2.0 is a step in the direction of providing PIN based security for the Android based phones, including the T-Mobile G1 with Google. Although the current version of Lock 2.0 limits a user to a four digit numeric PIN, when properly shielded from view, it is more difficult for a casual observer to see a recognizable pattern.

Beyond simple security, Lock 2.0 is cool in the way the iPhone unlock mechanism is cool. In fact, it goes beyond the iPhone unlock mechanism and offers a good number of skins for both the slider mechanism and the battery level indicator. Downloading the skins is easy. Download the skins from the Lock 2.0 app and they are saved to your SD card as compressed .zip files. Installing the files from your card automatically unzips them and installs them in your phone’s memory.

The background of the unlock screen can be set to either be a battery indicator or any image on the SD card. The skins all come with very nice default images, but having the flexibility to select any image to match the slider is very nice.

Although still not strong security, it is a step up from the default Android security. In defense of the default security, unlocking the phone while driving is a breeze. Lock 2.0’s security is a little more difficult, and I personally wouldn’t want to unlock a phone with a strong password while driving.

Lock 2.0 is available as a free version and as a $1.99 donate version. I downloaded the free version and was so impressed by the look and feel that I turned right around and downloaded the $1.99 version, which was the source of these captures.

If you are looking for a fun, very cool way to unlock your phone that supports a large number of skins and available customizations, Lock 2.0 is for you. By combining this app with one of the desktop replacements, like aHome, Open Home or dxTop, almost every aspect of your Android based phone can be customized.

Lock 2.0 for Android
Version: 1.7
Developed By: Android Apps
Price: FREE or $1.99 for latest version
Filesize: 90.00KB

GDocs: Google Docs Text Editing & Spreadsheet Viewing

Christopher Earle — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:15:14 +0000

One of the frustrations of the G1 was its lack of an editing interface for Google Docs. A lot of people had figured that the T-Mobile G1 was “with Google” and would contain good integration with Google Docs. Until recently, that was not the case.

Poor support of Google Docs editing ended with the release of GDocs from WildArts. GDocs is a very respectable entry as an editor for Google Docs text documents. The current version is a beta, and doesn’t support the creation or editing of presentations, spreadsheets, and forms. However, it is very good at what it does in its present form: Create and edit text documents in your Google Docs account.

There are a number of features missing in the Android app. In fact, it is easier to list what features are supported in Android than to list the ones that still haven’t been implemented: GDocs allows you to edit existing text or to type new text. Things like bold, italics, underlining, numbered lists, or bulleted lists aren’t supported. If you think of GDocs as a notepad app that allows basic editing of existing text docs, the app is fascinating and useful.

GDocs allows you view only access to the documents on the server. You must download the document to your Android based phone to perform any edits. In common usage, the sync function seems reliable and robust, but there is an option to force synchronization if you need to quickly update a remote document. Documents that haven’t been downloaded to the handset are indicated by a blue bar next to the title. Documents that exist both on the server and on the local handset have a green bar.

GDocs allows for some potentially useful activities, like offering the ability to view, but not edit, spreadsheets and to view PDF files stored in your Google Docs account. You can view all of the documents that have been starred in your account, or only view documents that exist on the local handset and the server.

In short, GDocs is a very welcome addition that has started to offer some editing support of Google Docs for Android. As a free beta, I am very pleased with the new functionality and am really looking forward to seeing this app mature.

GDocs for Android
Version: 0.3.5
Developed By: WildArt
Price: FREE
Filesize: 136KB

Robo Defense: 120 Levels of Tower Defense Madness

Christopher Earle — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:21:18 +0000

People who know me well know that I am an absolute sucker for a good tower defense game. In fact, I’m a sucker for any tower defense game, quality isn’t important. Preventing the “enemy” from crossing the field is something that tend to get a little obsessive about.

I’ve played a number of excellent free tower defense games on my Android based T-Mobile G1. I’ve enjoyed them all, and after playing the free version of Robo Defense, I was eager to open my wallet and buy the paid version with its additional features.

Robo Defense from Lupis Labs is incredible. In addition to the open map with a single opening and exit, there are maps with three openings on one side and with three openings on the right and top, thus making planning your defense quite interesting.

Robo Defense offers 40 levels of difficulty with three levels of map difficulty. That ends up being a total of 120 levels. The game offers a number of “achievements,” such as completing a level without using guns, or another for not using rockets. There is even an achievement for completing a level without upgrading any towers.

Speaking of upgrades, towers can be upgraded and modified. Guns can be changed into anti-aircraft cannons, which can then themselves be upgraded. Rocket systems can be upgraded to surface to air missles (SAMs). SAMs can then be subsequently upgraded. Judicious use of the game’s slow towers, especially the upgraded slow towers, is a good way to keep fast moving aircraft positioned above upgraded SAM or rocket batteries.

If you are the type of player who wants to hurry the process along and get to building, Robo Defense offers a fast forward feature that runs the game at double speed. If the game is played entirely at normal speed, plan on 30 minutes per level. Even with the fast forward engaged, plan on 15 to 20 minutes per level.

With all of the available levels and achievements, a fantastic feature of Robo Defense is the ability to spend your points to upgrade your towers. I can’t imagine trying to play a level 21 map with level 1 towers. The strategy for upgrading towers will depend on how you play the game. Personally, I am a big fan of rockets, so I tend to upgrade explosions and rocket re-load over other tower upgrades.

My conclusion? This game is addictive, highly customizable, challenging, and incredibly fun. For $2.99, it is a great value that will provide many hours of challenging entertainment.

Robo Defense for Android
Version: 0.8.0
Developed By: Lupis Labs
Price: $2.99
Filesize: 3.03MB

Move Cache for Root Users

Christopher Earle — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:38:18 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks, a number of people have asked me how I’ve moved the cache for my browser, the cache for the Android Market, GMaps’s cache, my Street View cache, the cache for my gMail account and the cache for Steel to the SD card in my T-Mobile G1 with Google. The answer is easy, I use Move Cache for Root Users, by Costa Mikhael. The app is called TA Utility on the G1.

Move Cache for Root Users is available at no cost in the Android Market. As the title says, your phone must be rooted for this app to work. We have a fantastic guide here on for rooting your phone and installing Jesusfreke’s Android 1.5. I’m running it now, and I am very happy. I followed our procedure for rooting my phone, and it worked very well.

All changes can be reverted except for Steel.

One of the advantages of moving all of the caches on your phone to the SD card is that it creates more free space for apps. I gained 8-9MB of free space when I moved all caches to my SD card. The downside of moving the cache is that applications are a little slower. Not a lot, a little. Other than noticing a slight delay on the loading of my gMail cache, I’ve been very happy with the move.

Another thing that I’ve noticed, but haven’t been able to trace, since rooting my phone and moving the caches to the SD card is that incoming emails and SMS messages stop whatever music is playing. I speculate that this is due to bandwidth limitations to the SD card, but really haven’t had time to explore the cause. Be aware, though, that if you move your caches to the SD card, you might experience similar problems. If you regularly use your phone as an MP3 player, moving the cache might not be a good idea.

A backup option is available.

Using Move Cache for Root Users is simple. Touch the app entry on the app’s screen. The entry acts as a toggle. If the cache is in the phone’s memory, touching it will move the cache to the SD card. If the cache is already on the SD card, touching the entry will move the cache back to the phone’s memory.

Move Cache for Root Users also provides a handy way to back up SMS databases to the SD card. It can also backup your apps to the SD card.

Because of its requirement for root, Move Cache for Root Users isn’t for everyone. However, for people who want to create some extra free space in the phone’s built in memory, it’s a handy way to create enough room to install other apps.

Move Cache for Root Users for Android
Version: 1.4
Developed By: Costa Mikhael
Price: FREE Download Now
Filesize: 133KB

NubiNews: A High Performance News Aggregator

Christopher Earle — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:00:30 +0000

One of the many reasons people buy smart phones is to read the news. For news junkies, the T-Mobile Android G1 with Google is either a Godsend or a reason to develop another 12-step program for news addiction. As an unrepentant news junkie, one of the first things I did with my G1 was to add shortcuts to my favorite news sources.

Then I downloaded the NubiNews reader. NubiNews aggregates most of my favorite news sites into a single place. The stories load quickly and are very easy to read and scroll through. NubiNews articles are the full articles and are available with the original images and illustrations. It supports sites in English, Chinese and Japanese. English sites supported by the reader are as follows:

BBC
CNN
Fox News
Los Angeles Times
New York Daily News
The New York Times
Reuters
Yahoo! News
H1N1 Flu News Via Google
CNNMoney.com
Yahoo! Finance
Android Phone Fans
Engadget
Gizmodo
LinuxDevices
The Register
BBC Sports
Yahoo! Sports
BusinessWeek
Car and Driver
The Economist
The Weather Channel

The speed and responsiveness of the reader is really good. Before downloading the app, it would take me most of a 30 minute train ride to get through The New York Times. Because the articles load so quickly, I get through The New York Times, BBC and parts of The Economist or LinuxDevices.

The price of NubiNews is outstanding. It is free. For news junkies who read a number of different news sources, NubiNews is an excellent reader at an excellent price. One of the highest compliments that I can pay an app is to simply say that it works. NubiNews works consistently and quickly, every time, and for every news source.

NubiNews Reader for Android
Version: 2.8
Developed By: NubiNews
Price: FREE
Filesize: 337KB

Two Months of Use: A Retrospective Review of the T-Mobile G1

Christopher Earle — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:23:37 +0000

Deciding to switch from BlackBerry to the Android based G1 was not an easy decision. The reliability of the BlackBerry network, the familiar BlackBerry interface, and the library of apps that I’d come to rely on were all things that kept me from making a quick decision on the G1. After two months of use, I am a convert.

Here is a confession: I am a smart phone addict. My job as a writer requires me to be in constant contact with a large group of people. Being out of contact for more than a half a day is simply not an option. The G1 has performed beautifully. By setting up my Gmail account to poll other email accounts, I get email messages very shortly after they were sent. The G1’s email interface and full keyboard(I was a Pearl user) are superb.

As a writer, research is a big part of my job. Android’s browser simply works. With the exception of Flash based sites, the browser is fast and very functional. Researching on the train or on a park bench is now a reality. T-Mobile’s 3G network is faster than AT&T and side by side tests with iPhones consistently favor the G1. With the improvements to the browser in Cupcake, I believe that the G1 is simply one of the best hand-held web browsing solutions available.

For people who enjoy customizing the look of their phone, the available after market home screen replacements are incredible. The themes available for aHome, dxTop, and Open Home are fantastic. With the addition of downloadable font and icon packs, the possibilities are endless.

The Open Source nature of the G1 also is appealing. I run a rooted G1 with Jesusfreke’s Android 1.5. This won’t appeal to everyone, but the ability to control the OS version is very appealing to me. By rooting my phone and moving various caches to the SD card, I’ve not only improved the overall performance of the phone, I’ve opened up more space for apps.

Now for the bad. The Android Market isn’t as complete as the marketplace for the iPhone. I’ve managed to find most of the tools I need. When I couldn’t, the app somehow managed to appear at a later date. As Android captures more of the market, the financial incentive for developers to write apps for Android increases. We will see far more apps for the G1 in the near future.

Even though there are fewer apps for Android than iPhone, there are still an incredible array of apps. After two months, I’ve found everything I need. I’ve even found things that I didn’t know I needed until after I’d installed them.

Do I recommend the G1 to people who are interested in a smart-phone? Absolutely. As the Android operating system matures and is used on newer hardware platforms, a strong contender will simply become stronger. Although I still like my BlackBerry, the person I gave it to is simply envious of the G1 that replaced it. Even my wife, a dedicated Luddite, is thinking about swapping her BlackBerry for a G2.

Still don’t have an Android phone? Amazon has the G1 on sale for $97.99…

T-Mobile G1. My dream phone.

[Photo via Flickr]

Ecorio: Track Your Carbon Footprint

Christopher Earle — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:00:27 +0000

Over the past few years, many people have become interested in tracking the amount of CO2 they personally create. For some, CO2 estimates help with making lifestyle changes. For others, the estimates of CO2 output helps in figuring out what carbon offsets to buy.

If you are interested in tracking your real time carbon dioxide output, the Ecorio is a fascinating app for your T-Mobile G1 with Google.

Ecorio is free in the Android Market. It is one of the few apps developed for the environmentalist community.

Automatic Real Time Trip Tracking

Ecorio is a download and forget type of app. In the setup, you set your primary transportation type. Once set, Ecorio periodically checks, using GPS, your location. If you have moved from your initial location, it will calculate the approximate amount of CO2 generated by your primary mode of transportation. Primary modes of transportation can be bicycle, public transportation, or one of a wide range of car makes and models.

If you are one of the many people who use multiple modes of transportation, it is easy to go back in to the day’s trips and re-define the mode of transportation. Although the carbon dioxide emissions are only an estimate, they are a fairly close estimate.

Help in Finding Carpools & Public Transportation Routes

Ecorio has a couple of very useful features for trip planning. For short trips, it links to Google Maps to find the best public transportation route.

Ecorio also ties in to ZimRide, a carpooling community with over 300,000 users. ZimRide allows you to either search for an existing ride or post any trips you are planning. This is a good way to share gas costs on long trips or to look for a ride between cities. A test of a trip from Denver, CO to Seattle, WA produced a good number of possible carpools on a number of different dates.

Inspiration and Offsets

Ecorio is also a social networking site. Using the “inspiration” feature shows short posts from Ecorio users and a map of where they are located.

If you want to offset your carbon emissions, Ecorio offers a number of certified carbon offset projects, including the Chicago Climate Exchange. Offsets can be purchased from your phone. The cost of the offset will depend on the project currently being supported by Ecorio.

Conclusion

Ecorio is an interesting app that helps you to understand your personal impact on carbon dioxide output. It offers some interesting features for reducing the impact, including helping you to locate public transportation routes and carpools. Its links to ZimRide make it the only Android app that can potentially help you get between cities. Supporting certified carbon offset projects makes it a breeze to offset unavoidable CO2 output.

Ecorio is an outstanding application for people interested in learning about, and dealing with, personal carbon dioxide emissions.

Ecorio for Android
Version: 1.0.0
Developed By: Ecorio, Inc.
Price: FREE
Filesize: 1.35MB

Steel: G1 Web Browsing Without the Clutter

Christopher Earle — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:00:38 +0000

The native web browser for the T-Mobile G1 with Google is good. In fact, it is very good. However, some features, like the zoom buttons, get in the way of reading the text on web pages. Steel solves this and adds gesture based browser tools and a larger area for web browsing. In addition, Steel adds a soft keyboard for many common browsing tasks.

If you are looking for a clean, simple web browser with a solid gesture based interface and a soft keyboard, Steel is your browser.

Hidden Commands Require Some Practice

The Steel interface is clean and simple. The browser opens blank. To load a web page, users must touch the bubble on the lower right side of the screen. The bubble will bring up the URL bar and a bar at the bottom of the screen. The plus (+) to the left of the URL field adds a bookmark for the current page. Selecting the URL field brings up a very functional soft keyboard. The icon to the right of the URL field either re-loads the page or stops the page from loading, depending on whether the page has finished loading or is in the process of loading.

The navigation bar of Steel.

The lower navigation bar has page forward and back buttons, a view bookmarks button, and a button that allows for the selection of available windows.

The power of the browser lies in the features aren’t visible until you long touch the screen, links, or an image. Although this is similar in some ways to the native browser, Steel pops up a translucent context sensitive pie menu instead of the native context menus. This allows you to continue to view content while executing other commands.

Long touching anywhere on the web page brings up a context sensitive pie menu that allows you to zoom in and out of the page and re-load the current page. Using the context menus takes some practice. Instead of lifting your finger and pressing the selection, you must slide your finger to the desired command. At first this seems strange, but after a few minutes it really improves the web browsing experience.

Long touching an image brings up a pie menu with share, save, copy, open, and zoom functions. These work in much the same way as the native browser.

Long touching a link will bring up a context sensitive pie menu with the option to zoom, open, copy, or share the URL.

The Menu Key

The pie menu with zoom controls.

Pressing the menu key brings up a number of useful setting to customize your browsing experience. The virtual keyboard can be turned on and off, the color of the virtual keys can be set to light or dark, the menu bar and lower navigation bar can be set to always visible, and the browser’s default full screen mode can be turned off. In addition, the location of the control bubble can be set to be more convenient for left handed users and the screen can be set to auto-rotate when the physical keyboard is opened. One of the nice features of the Steel soft keyboard is that the phone will vibrate each time a soft key is pressed. This function can be turned off, if desired.

Other standard web functions can be set up via the menu button. This includes setting the start page, enabling or disabling java script, and setting the user agent and cache mode. The menu button also allows for the clearing of saved form data, passwords, history and cookies.

Conclusion

Although a number of the features of Steel are expected to be in the Cupcake release of Android, their present implementation in Steel is very good. If you are looking for a good, simple browser that doesn’t get in the way of the web content, Steel is a fantastic app.

Update: According to the dev’s blog, a new release is on the way that supports Cupcake.

Steel for Android
Version: 0.0.19
Developed By: kolbysoft
Price: FREE
Filesize: 189KB

Steel offers an alternative to the default Android browser.

Android and Me » Christopher Earle

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