Be Excellent To Each Other

MrsP's new HTC Tattoo arrived yesterday. Haven't had a proper play with it yet, but the Sense UI is very pretty. Very pretty phone all round really.

Joans, I've got a perfectly working version of Co-Pilot. The first one only worked for 2 weeks but this one's been going strong for a month or two. I'll track down the apk and map.

anyone tried Blapk Market? It's like a marketplace but it links to *yarrrr* versions of the apps.

Interesting, what's the state of piracy on Android? What do you need to do to get it working? On the iPhone you can pirate pretty much any app but you need to jailbreak the device, which is relative rare (less than 10% of the userbase, I've seen suggested). I imagine many more Android users have rooted devices...?

well if I download any apk and put it on my phone, I can run it with an app (from the marketplace!) called APKinstaller or something and it just works.

the only thing I had to do was go into my app settings and tell it to run non-marketplace apps.

no flashing or faffing.

Indeed. So... if I were a potential Android app dev, I should be concerned, right?

yeah - but given how easy it is even for a pro-app to crash a phone, I wouldn't expect too much in the way of sales either way. Marketplace is rubbishly laid out and the sorting is awful. It's like a barrier to sales.

Btw - I only found out the .apk thing because I tried to buy Robo Defense and couldn't because Marketplace didn't let me. Bit gash!

That would be great, thanks. I've still got my maps from the old version (assuming they will still work).
I haven't really tested this other one much to see if it's better or not.

Why bother? I see how teenagers may do it for the "cos I can and it makes me feel like a rebel" factor, but since apps cost on average a quid or two, why bother? Surely this is just piracy for the sake of it? Even if it is relatively easy to pirate apps on android (seemingly, easier than the iphone) it's still gotta be more faff than just buying them from the android market?

Yes, quite. I'm not asking as a consumer who wants to pirate things. I'm asking as an industry observer weighing the relative attractiveness of the iPhone and Android to developers.

Yep, that's cool, I was throwing that question out to the floor, not directing it purely at yourself. I'm just puzzled as to why anyone, employed, who can afford a swanky android phone in the first place, would bother pirating apps? Not accusing anyone of anything (Joans et al), just to be clear, I'm just being curious.

EDIT: Did I read somewhere t'other day that in Canada they're only just allowing people to purchase apps through android market? So, if in certain countries you couldn't obtain the paid-apps legitimately, then pirating would be your only option? Which I can understand.

I pretty much agree, however it might be worth noting that my G1 was free and costs less than £20 a month with enough free texts and minutes that I've never got near to using them all (and free Internet, of course). That's pretty damn cheap for any phone, let alone a "smart" one.
The most expensive app available (not counting stupid ones that cost $200 for a picture of a diamond) is $35, although I agree it is rare that they cost more than £2.
I'm not sure what point (if any) I'm trying to make, but, well, them's the facts

not if you download a shedload of apps in one file or if you have a webpage link to all the apk files on page (accessible via the phone).

especially as the majority of apps I've tried on my Hero have been gash, just not quite right or bugged.

I went through a bunch of RSS readers, Twitter clients and Facebook clients and I'm still not 100% satisfied with what I've settled on.

Not saying I'm pro-piracy but checking out mostly rubbish apps at a quid a pop would soon add up.

But you can trial them for up to a week (or is it two weeks?), then, if they are shit, get a full refund.

I thought it was 24 hours.

I honestly can't remember, I've never refunded one. Still, enough time to see if it's shit or not.

Is there a decent tethering app on the Android yet?

is there a 'task manager' on android? Say i want to close the browser app completely, what do I need to do?

Download one.

I use 'Advanced Task Killer Free'. Does the job nicely enough.

I thought Android handled things differently and didn't need such things but it clearly does.

HTC EVO 4G looks rather nice. Wide, but nice.

That's a monster of a phone.

That article says it's "Sprint's first 4G phone", but it's not 4G, it's EVDO. Odd.

Looks like the HTC Desire for me come august, unless a new contender enters the fray before then

What? It clearly says it's WiMAX.

I was ignoring that. We're calling WiMAX 4G now? Since when?

Since forever. The only current 4G technologies are WiMAX and LTE, at least how the term is commonly used.

(Actually neither of them are technically 4G, as there's some standard somewhere that demands a superhigh bitrate neither tech can currently manage. I think WiMAX is closer than LTE though. Aha, found a citation for that. However, most people just mean "high speed packet switched cell networks" when they say 4G, and both WiMAX and LTE do that.)

The defunct startup I worked for wrote one of the tools that Sprint used to create the Clearwire network, which is presumably what this device will be using for WiMAX data.

From your link



Well that's nice and definitive. I hate standards bodies.

4G sounds nice an' all, but I'd settle for a reliable 3G signal at the moment. Since moving the router downstairs and not bothering to set up a repeater, I can't get any sort of decent WiFi upstairs using my phone; relying on cellular data to access the internet is frustrating at best when the phone hops between GPRS, Edge and 3G between pages. I wouldn't mind if it'd let the page load before switching, but it doesn't, or can't.

I'm trying out SlideIT right now on my magic. Has anyone else tried using a gesture keyboard? I'm thinking already that this is far superior and tons faster than using the standard keyboard and given more practice I'm gonna be wicked fast at using this! Anyone else with experience care to comment?

Is the WiMAX patent still owned by Pipex, does anyone know?

Pretty sure you can't patent something that's a recognised standard. You can patent an implementation, of course.

This was back in 2004, so perhaps it wasn't a standard at that point.

just gave this a go. to be honest, it's a phenomenal find. well done, Pupil.

I've really struggled since I left my stylus WM6 phone. the regular on-screen keyboard for the HTC Hero is bleak and as such I rarely text anyone these days as it's just such a chore. I tried 'Better Keyboard' and it was a tad better but not the answer.

SlideIT felt good right from the off.

These things never recognise Peoww as a word tho!

OK then. I'm pretty sure you don't officially recognise something as a standard if someone holds a patent on it...

Also, there doesn't appear to be a single thing about Pipex holding any IP related to WiMAX whatsoever on the entire internet. I checked all of it.

Right, I'm getting an HTC Desire soonish - has anyone any idea what the different providers are like in terms of updates? I won't accept a branded phone so I need to know what the dealio is there - apparently T'Mobile don't have branded ones, which is in their favour.

But then, being an HTC it will have SenseUI, so - Google update android - HTC take a while to update Sense accordingly. That I can live with. I'm not then prepared to wait while my mobile provider fucks it up to their standards and slaps their shitty logo on everything, before piping it on to me.

Can I just update android when I want, using a downloaded update, like a PC based OS or does it need to be pushed onto the handset by my provider?

Also, Gaywood - Cwmbran mobile phone shop stories - got any?

Nope. My last few phones were bought online, because you generally get better prices. Before then I'd have used one of my mates working at CPW but none of them work there any more.

I'd use the web if I were you. Look into cashback deals from http://www.quidco.com/ too.

The latter, I'm afraid.

Thanks lads. How about if I buy the phone seperate? Provider X may never have that phone in their range even if it works on their network. If you need to have a provider willing to update your phone and do so in a reasonable timeframe, is there any point in buying one outright without a provider?

If I can get the offer from the T-Mobile website in their store today, I'm having a Desire.

Why didn't you just order it from the website? And if you're in town, want to do lunch?

My mate got a Desire for free just this morning.

I want to at least get a feel of the thing before I pay for one, and as it transpired I didn't make it to Cwmbran. I'm in Caerleon tonight for the duration of the Newcastle-Forest game if you want to come along, think we might be in the Bull Inn.

Lunch we can do another day this week, I think Dom and Miranda might be coming up at some point, Mars and I are off all week.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20001 ... droidAtlas

sounds like a positive move.

Buying an HTC Desire, step by step.:

1: Search nearest T'Mobile shop - it's in Newport

2: Phone shop - none in 'till after Easter.

3: Look at CPW to see if they can match the deal, they can't - £20 monthly fee with same trimmings cost an extra £100 for the phone over the £100 I'm prepared to pay. (So long has I've got unlimited net, 100 texts and minutes is more than I'll ever get through in a month)

4: Buy phone on T'Mobile site. Here in 48 hours, according to that.

5: Get a call from T'Mobile saying my card is still registered to my Cardiff address and the phone will have to be sent there. Curse my bank and their crappy change of address procedures.

6: Tell T'Mobile that it's fine to pick it up from my old address as my mates live there. Bet told that if they're out, it'll just go to the depot. Means a day's delay. I can live with that. No, wait, My wife has a redirect on with Royal Mail and her name is bloody similar to mine. Only exact matches are supposed to be redirectable, but it's the luck of the draw in practice. Most things take about a month and a half to get redirected anyway, so I wonder why we bother as we see the guys more often than that anyhow. At this rate, O2 will have the bloody thing out before I get it from T'Mobile.

7: Tell T'Mobile it needs to come to where I live now. They insist on my card address matching.

8: Log onto internet banking and select 'change address online' - it's a form to print and post. That's already not worked the other month. I can clean out all my accounts and send the cash elsewhere in two clicks online, but not change my address. WTF.

9: Phone bank - apparently I'm not registered for phone banking despite being registered for internet banking, so they can't change my address. Can I change it in branch, same day? "Dunno"

10: Get in car and drive to bank in time to get it changed over and home before 5pm delivery cut-off deadline for two days hence.

11: Change address in bank but they say it's on 'half the systems' and may/may not be sorted today or tomorrow. Maybe. Me telling them of address change weeks and weeks ago neither here nor there apparently. Mutter something about data protection act and them not having my correct details despite notification being a breach.

12: Go home, phone T'Mobile - HUZZAH! Payment processed! Cool, new phone on Thursday!

13: Facepalm as am told, once payment has gone through, that they are out of stock. WTFF.

14: Watch HTC Dream unboxings on Youtube and play with self halfheartedly.

15: Moan about it on internet.

Review to follow.

further to Pupil's ace shout for SlideIT (which has become completely essential now), I've also checked out the following;

Advanced Task Manager - another task-killing app but also has a one-touch widget (1x1) that kills everything (apart from any exceptions you make).

VolumeWidget - set three volume profiles and access them via a home-screen widget (2x1). Pretty decent.

Trap! - ace Qix clone.

I was woken up at 8 this morning by some kid from T'Mobile - it's on the way, but tomorrow being a wank holiday I'm getting it Saturday. In and of itself that's fine, but my brain keeps thinking it's coming tomorrow because I read earlier in the week they send them next day delivery by 1pm.

Nice one Blucey, glad that was useful for you too. I'm waiting to see what swype is like on android when it comes out soon before I purchase either but I'm getting pretty fast with SlideIT in just a week so I'm really impressed so far.

I can also heartily endorse newsrob for anyone who uses google reader; it's much faster and the ability to cache all unread articles to the sd card has been a godsend this week when I was on a plane to Spain.

So then - Android - PC connectivity - up to much?

I'd imagine there's some proprietary HTC gubbins that's almost as bad as your Nokia or Sony efforts, but maybe there's a google client or somesuch. How do you eat yours?

Personally, I've always got on fine with drag/drop for files and writing my phone numbers down on a bit of paper as backup.

Good job, because that's all you'll get.

Cool, I'd sooner have nuts and bolts that works than fluff and chintz that doesn't.

/edit Or iTunes.