Tag: microSD card

Ten Persistent Android Applications on my G1

I‘ve been using my Android phone (G1) for a little over 2 weeks. Since then, there have been several dozen apps downloaded and discarded by yours truly. In the post, I’ll do a brief rundown of several apps that have persisted throughout my numerous wipes (akin to reformatting and reinstalling in the Windows world).

All Apps Aren’t Equal

In the Android Market, Google doesn’t pre-screen apps to make sure they are only using data they need or that they aren’t masking some other nefarious activity. Just because it has a 5-star rating doesn’t automatically green-light it for your phone. Using CyanogenMod v. 5.0.8, the Android Market has a comments area where you can see a mix of useless and slightly useful comments. You can do your research on an Android app by:

  • looking at the comments which can provide some insights on if an App does what it claims to do well
  • visiting sites that cover Android Apps and checking out their reviews of Android apps
  • searching for information about the app via DuckDuckGo/Google/Bing
  • and checking the Android app out on Cyrket or AppBrain which are sites for viewing comments/ratings of apps.

When you’re installing an App, it’ll let you know what functions it will be accessing. See the images below:
Ndrive for Android permissions
Factbook for Android Permissions

That is the mapping application, Ndrive. Expectedly, it’s going to access my location, download maps to my microSD card, enable functionality that involves accessing my messages, calling, etc. Things you’d expect an app dealing with navigation to do.

The other application displayed is the Factbook app which is expectedly accessing the internet and while I’m not sure why it needs my location, I’m not too bothered by that. The point is: If you’re downloading a wallpaper app, I’d only expect to see it accessing my microSD card to deposit the images or check online for updates to the images, etc. If you see a metric ton of things being accessed that you don’t expect it to, feel free to hit “cancel”.

Earlier this week, there was some dust-up about a wallpaper app accessing more info than people felt it should. The moral lesson of the wild Android Market west is: keep your wits about you. 🙂

My Essential Android Applications Toolkit

This toolkit contains a healthy mix of free (go community! :P) and paid (supporting the developers) options. This list will be geared towards rooted G1 phones because that’s what I have: a rooted G1. These apps aren’t “essential” but I sure have installed them every single time I’ve wiped my G1. The apps on this list have demonstrated staying power so I think you might find them of use. 🙂

MyBackup Pro

One of the first things I do with new computers/phones is make sure I have a capable backup system on it. MyBackup Pro (Cyrket Overview) fit the bill from all online accounts/reviews. It backs up my data and apps like a champ to my microSD card.However, I have since discovered something very troubling about this application. This issue concerns the online backup aspect of this app, but it shouldn’t affect owners of new/unused Android phones. Basically, if your used Android phone has ever had MyBackup Pro + an email address + password associated with it, you have a privacy problem.

I bought a used G1 phone and the phone’s previous owner bought, installed & associated an email address + password with the MyBackup Pro app (discovered this after the fact). I bought the MyBackup Pro app for my ‘new’ used phone, installed and backed up to MyBackup Pro’s servers. Everytime I did this, I would get a “Backup success” message so I stupidly assumed that somehow, the App had “signed” me up for the online backup service. Then, when attempting to reset my password with the email address I used from the Android Market and kept getting an “account unrecognized” error message, I sent an email to MyBackup Pro representative. That’s when my tenuous hold on reality lost its grip. I’ve always wanted to write that. 😛

Basically, on a virgin installation on MyBackup Pro, new users are prompted to create a password and associate an email address with the application. If you weren’t the one who set up the MyBackup Pro application (which will happen if you’ve purchased a used Android phone from someone relatively savvy), you’re stuck with their password and if you’ve used your email address in corresponding with the previous owner, guess whose online backups can be accessed on MyBackup Pro’s servers? Yours.

My instinctive response was: change everything (my PIN, password and email address). First, the PIN is “hardcoded” and can’t be changed. According to the MyBackup Pro representative, the password couldn’t be changed either! Finally, the representative admitted that he could change my password manually and again, I cringed. I subscribe to the concept that a password should be known only by 1 person especially for something private & important? I mean, the app backs up SMS messages, call logs, calendar events, et cetera.

Short and sweet: Don’t use the online backup aspect of MyBackup Pro until there’s an easier way to reset/change passwords and change the associated email address. Back up your important data to your SD card and even more importantly, copy the backups to an external hard drive and keep them safer that way. To be clear, the MyBackup Pro representative I was in touch with was able to manually change my password, but I imagine that method won’t scale.

Amon Ra Recovery v. 1.7.0

Short and sweet:Use this recovery image as your Swiss Army knife. I’ve detailed why I went with the Amon Ra recovery image over the Clockworkmod recovery image for my version of CyanogenMod. You can get into the console and also get into your microSD card while booted into the Amon Ra recovery image.

Google Voice

Short and sweet: Voicemail on steroids: faster, more accessible and it configures your voicemail settings on your phone automagically.

Google Voice recently became available for all US/Canada users to sign up for so there’s nothing stopping you from getting an extra voice number which accepts calls, can transcribe your voicemails (extremely beta feature so you’ll still need to listen to your voicemails, can email text messages sent to that number) to your designated email address, and much more. This is an invaluable service provided by Google.

Google Addons

Short and sweet:: This means you get to have Google’s apps like Gmail, Maps, etc tightly integrated with your phone. I didn’t do this once and my phone felt naked. Bare. Don’t let this happen to you. When flashing your Cyanogenmod ROM, make sure you have the Google Addons file downloaded and ready to flash as well. For the addons pack for Cyanogenmod ROM v 5.0.8 (ERE36B), here are the additional .apk files installed to your phone:

  • BugReport.apk
  • EnhancedGoogleSearchProvider.apk
  • GenieWidget.apk
  • Gmail.apk
  • GmailProvider.apk
  • GoogleApps.apk
  • GoogleBackupTransport.apk
  • GoogleCheckin.apk
  • GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
  • GooglePartnerSetup.apk
  • GoogleSettingsProvider.apk
  • GoogleSubscribedFeedsProvider.apk
  • gtalkservice.apk
  • LatinImeTutorial.apk
  • Maps.apk
  • MarketUpdater.apk
  • MediaUploader.apk
  • NetworkLocation.apk
  • PassionQuickOffice.apk
  • SetupWizard.apk
  • Street.apk
  • Talk.apk
  • TalkProvider.apk
  • Vending.apk
  • VoiceSearch.apk
  • YouTube.apk

Convinced yet? 🙂

Astro File Manager Pro

Short and sweet: I’ve always had a file manager on every single phone I’ve owned. For the Windows Mobile ecosystem, the file manager to beat was Resco’s Explorer. On the Nokia E71x, the best file manager was X-plore and now, with the Android phone, Astro File Manager has cornered this niche market.

There’s a free version of the Astro File Manager, but I always like supporting well-done and relatively inexpensive applications like the Astro File Manager. Astro File Manager Pro comes with goodies like an application manager (allowing you to uninstall apps), backup your .apk files for the apps, a way to visualize your SD card’s use and a handy process manager tool.

Astro File Manager

ColorDict Dictionary

Short and sweet:: Best free dictionary available for the Android system. For my needs thus far, the ColorDict app and free Dictionary addons available are more than adequate.

Make sure you get the following dictionaries databases:

  1. CMU’s American English spelling/pronunciation
  2. Wikipedia Addon: It’ll pull up info about the entered word from Wikipedia and if you aren’t connected to the internet, it doesn’t miss a beat in continuing to display info from the other dictionaries.
  3. English Thesaurus
  4. and English Wordnet: a free database of words maintained by Princeton
  5. For a listing of available dictionaries, fire up the ColorDict app and you can click on the button (lower left) that says “Download Dictionary data”

ColorDict dictionary app for Android

3banana Notes

Short and sweet:: If you need a dedicated “to-do” list sort of app, this isn’t it, but for my needs, creating notes about whatever whenever, 3banana notes hits all the right notes. 🙂

3banana notes is a simple but powerful application for creating notes with all sorts of data attached like images, gps coordinates, qr codes, etc. It’s also attached to the neat Compass application for Android so it’s a win-win situation. You can sign up for a Snaptic account or use your Google Account to sync any created notes. Snaptic’s products are simple and well done. I’ve got 4 of their products on my phone as of today. 🙂

3Banana notes for Android

Barcode Scanner

Short and sweet:: Barcode Scanner is the fastest way to scan a barcode or QR code and get what you want: If you use barcode scanning more for shopping and like a little more eyecandy, the ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner will be more your speed.

ZXing Barcode Scanner

If you search the Android Market for scanners, you’ll find that the Barcode Scanner app by ZXing and Shopsavvy are the 2 highest rated “barcode scanning” apps on the market. From barcode labels on any products to computer-generated QR codes, these apps are great for easily visiting a website/url, calling a number or downloading a .apk file (apk stands for android package). Frankly, you won’t go wrong with both apps on your phone. It won’t hurt a thing especially if storage is not a problem for you. Hence, I recommend an 8gb class 6 microSD card or a 16gb class 6 microSD card on Amazon.com.

Shopsavvy Barcode Scanner

PicSay Pro

Personally, I don’t use this too much because the camera on my G1 is pretty pathetic. However, with newer and better cameras shipping with cellphones these days, I think having an app that does neat tricks with photos is indispensible. This is a paid app and it cost less than $7.

Nimbuzz

Short and sweet: Nimbuzz is an all-in-one instant messaging application and voip client as well. I currently use it to keep in touch with contacts on the following networks: Skype, Facebook, Windows Live, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. I’ve used Nimbuzz with the Symbian S60 system (my Nokia E71x phone) and I’ve just been blown away at how much better the Android apps are compared to the S60 ecosystem. C’est la vie. 🙂 Get Nimbuzz now and as always, it helps to have a data connection because the app runs in the background to notify you of chats, incoming messages, etc.

Nimbuzz for Android

I had a hard time with not straying from the “persistent apps” theme, but I think that’s a good place to start from when attempting to figure out what apps are important or could be of frequent use to you. Cheers and I’d love your input on *your persistent Android apps.

If you’re curious about getting screenshots from your Android device, see this tutorial from DownloadSquad on getting that working. Here is my much shorter version:

  1. On Cyanogenmod v. 5.0.8, USB debugging was already enabled. However, you can enable USB debugging yourself by visiting: “Settings –> Applications –> Development –> check “USB Debugging”
  2. Install the latest JDK version from Sun Oracle.
  3. Download the Android SDK. It’s a zipped file that doesn’t need installation so just unzip to a directory of your choossing.
  4. Browse to the “Tools” folder of the unzipped Android SDK folder and doubleclick the ddms.bat file.
  5. On my notebook, I’ve added the Android SDK folder to the System Path on my computer so that all I need to when I want to fire up the debugging system is type “ddms” or “ddms.bat” into the “Search box” (on Windows 7) and click on the file when it pops up. Not that this won’t happen if the SDK was in an indexed folder, but you can skip a lot of typing this way. 🙂
  6. After clicking on the ddms.bat file, you should see the Dalvik Debug monitor window pop up. Navigate to “Device” and click “Device Screen Capture”.
  7. See the screen capture at the end.

Make a Screen Capture in Android

Installing Nokia Maps 3.0.1 on the Nokia E71x

  1. Update: it appears that using the Ovi Suite software, you do need to go to the trouble of downloading the older version 2.0 Ovi Maps .sis files. Follow the instructions on installing version 2 first and then, installing version 3 per the instructions in my post. When that succeeds, download & install the Ovi Suite (to your computer) . The Ovi Maps application on your Nokia E71x phones should now be detectable and updated by the Ovi Suite software! Let me know in the comments if you aren’t able to install Ovi Maps on your Nokia E71x phone. See the latest comment from SkyWorker that prompted a revision.

Wow! The visits to my posts on tweaking the Nokia E71x, some apps for the Nokia E71x and my recommended gear and more applications for the E71x are insane by my very modest standards. This blog is a labor of love and at most, I get ~ 15 visits daily (5 of which are from Bots). So, seeing something in the neighborhood of 60 visits/day is pretty huge and no Bots there! 😀 It tells me that this is a market that can be tapped into and by Jove, I aim to please! I’m on Twitter as @janetalkstech and make sure you subscribe to my blog here and keep track of my Nokia E71x related postings.

So, what else have I discovered about my new Nokia E71x since I’ve had it? Well, here goes:

  1. The question  is not if your phone will get scuffed up, it’s when. Get a Otterbox case for E71x now or see the black beauty get scarred.
  2. Google Maps will not work without a data connection. If you obtained a Nokia E71x without signing up for a data connection AND you are able to use Google Maps, guess what? You are making a data counter at AT & T very happy. I’m dreading my phone bill because I didn’t realize that Google Maps didn’t work with Wifi and I had been playing rather heavily with tracking myself via Google Maps. Oy vey. Painful and expensive lesson learned.
  3. Nokia Maps 3.0 (now Ovi Maps) works on your Nokia E71x device. The road to getting it installed is painful, but it can be done. The best part about it? Nokia Maps 3.0 will work on your device without needing a data connection. For driving directions to work, you will need to purchase a license from Nokia. You don’t need Wifi connection for the turn-by-turn directions to work. Here’s I went through to get it working on my device:
    1. Download Nokia Maps 2.0 and 3.0 onto your computer using the files (Nokia_Maps_2.0_0701_3.2_u.sis> and Nokia_Maps_3.0_0302_3.2_u.sis which are actually for 6650 device, but apparently works on the E71x) from this website (here originally at http://tamale.pwnij.com/e71x/). FIRST, make sure your microSD card is in your phone. We will be dealing with a lot of data so check yourself. SECOND, install Nokia Maps 2.0 on your device via the Nokia PC Suite software and run Nokia Maps 2.0 once. Reboot your device after the install successfully completes. Ensure you are doing the installation using your USB cord. THEN, install Nokia Maps 3.0 onto your device through PC Suite and run it once as well. At this point, you may run into the “low memory” message and all that is needed is for you to go to your C:/ or E:/ drive and delete the Cities/ folder and a ‘qf’ file.
    2. If you don’t know what C:/ or E:/ drive means, I strongly recommend you get an AT & T data plan. If you do, thumbs up. Keep reading.
    3. After deleting the Cities/ folder (if you had a problem starting up Nokia Maps 3.0 in the first place), then start up Nokia Maps 3.0 again. Success! Restart your device to ‘clear its head’.
    4. Visit Nokia’s website and download two files: (i)Nokia Map loader for downloading the maps (ii) Nokia Map Updater for updating the Nokia Maps software. Hint: your device selection is the E71 in order to access the Nokia Maps Updater software.
    5. Connect your Nokia E71x phone to the computer in Mass Storage PC Suite mode and start up Nokia Maps Updater software. It should detect your device and prompt you to update your Nokia Maps 3.0 software to Nokia Maps 3.0.1. If you get this far, you’re looking mighty fine. 😀
    6. Then, fire up the Nokia Maps Uploader software (Hint: do the actual map downloading at a time when your network is least congested. I did the download at ~ 2am so that about 1.4GB didn’t take 2 years to download).I opted to download the entire US maps to my device. I’m hoping you realize that you must already have your microSD card (8GB or more) in your device because the US maps are ~ 1.4GB in size.
    7. When the download is done, exit and you are free to fire up the Nokia Maps software. In my experience, it takes a couple of minutes to get a GPS fix, but I’m not complaining because it’s free, right? You get what you pay for. In this case, I hear AT & T’s Navigator software is quite good, but again, I am averse to paying for convenience. lol.
    8. PS: Based on comments, I’m putting up a link to this site that points directly to the maps files for Ovi Maps 3.0 that reside on Nokia’s servers (in case the Map Loader software is not working as it should).
  4. Games:- Handango is pretty pathetic in its selection of games for the Nokia E71x device. However, I discovered that Gameloft has a mobile site and as I write, I’ve got Prince of Persia on my device!  However, their online payment system has hiccups. Something I’ve also discovered is that Handango is like an aggregator which makes resolving issues more complicated than it needs to if you need a refund issued. So, I’m trying to hunt down the actual game developers for the applications I purchase and get them from their website directly if they have an option to purchase online from them!.
  5. Thus far, all my paid downloads have been for useful applications like the Handy Converter and the Handy Expense tracker, Merriam Webster 3rd International Unabridged Dictionary with a Sound module, a paid KJV bible (along with 2 free readers from Olive Tree Bible Software and Mobipocket E-Book Reader), Call Recorder, Mobiola Screen Capture software, Twittix, X-plore, Quickoffice Premier 6, Adobe Reader LE 2.5 and Emoze Pro.
  6. Lastly, my entire series of Nokia E71x posts will not be complete without mentioning the guys at Nokia Experts who have been a key factor in getting me started on my way to emancipating myself from AT & T’s shackles. Go visit them and encourage them to keep posting more Nokia E71x tips and tricks!!

PS: Check my series of posts on Tweaking the Nokia E71x phone, more apps for the Nokia phone, recommended accessories and yet more applications for the Nokia E71x phone. Cheers!