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Showing posts from 2010

New Google Groups

If you regularly use Google Reader like I do, the new Google Groups should look familiar. The Favorites feature allow you to drag and drop the groups that you most frequently use. This keeps the list clean unlike the previous version where all the groups are laid out like icons on a desktop. The settings page remain the same as the previous version. If you need to moderate messages, go to the settings of the group and select management tasks. This redesign didn't get to the news like the Google eBooks, chrome web store, Nexus S and gingerbread. The look and feel of Google products are really starting to come together. If only they could do something with the only thing that sticks out like a sore thumb -- Orkut.

Getting the phone number of your SIM card

If you need to know the phone number of a Sun Cellular SIM card, dial *99# from your phone and it will respond with the phone number. Thanks to suncelltweets for replying. The phone number can be stored in the SIM card and some phones are able to display that. For Globe on a Blackberry, it displayed Unknown number when you press the green phone key. I also tried this on Smart but it did not work. This seems like an operator specific feature and Sun has been able to provide that.

Android 2.1 Eclair on HTC Magic

Finally. I made the leap from official Android 1.5 with HTC Sense to a rooted 2.1 Eclair. The rumors said HTC was going to release an update in March, then May, then June and now September. I had enough of the waiting. Apps (Twitter, NY Times) that run only in 2.0+ were being released and I felt left out. Now, which ROM should I choose? The net pointed to Cyanogen as the most respected Android developer. I then started to read and reread the instructions on Cyanogen's wiki . You'll be asked to download a total of 9 files. I had done the Gold Card method before so I didn't need to do it again. The rooting and upgrade to 5.0.7 took a lot less time than expected. Everything went smoothly and I was able to boot into Eclair after about an hour of work. Everything was faster and more responsive than before. The look and feel was actually very nice. There were some things I missed like the Sense Gallery, the built-in Facebook-Contacts integration, the Sense calendar widget, th

My Android Apps

After more than a month of installing and uninstalling apps in my HTC Magic, I have the following recommendations. This doesn't include the native apps (People, Browser, Camera, etc.) Most Used NewsRob - syncs to Google Reader, for my daily news Aldiko - reading ebooks, in ePub format, used together with Calibre (desktop application) Seesmic - twitter client, better than Peep because it shows more tweets on the screen Facebook - you know this 3banana - used for storing notes that syncs with a web client Astrid gStrings Sometimes Used Google Maps Barcode Scanner - for checking barcode quality KeePassDroid - password keeper Evernote - this would have been most used if it had offline capability Foursquare - still testing this out, also on my blackberry GPS Status Abduction ActionPotato Robo Defense Advanced Task Killer Free Rarely Used Astro Google Translate Google Sky Map Gem Miner Frozen Bubble Fring CadreBible Graviturn Handcent SMS handyCalc Jewels

HTC Magic ROM Upgrade

I got the black HTC Magic from Smart last December. It came with the stock android 1.5 OS when it came out of the box with no Google integration and Android Market. I am pretty sure the average phone user will be turned off from what they see. There are absolutely no interesting applications included. I wouldn't be surprised why this was one of the slowest selling models in Smart. They started offering this unit for P3500 in Plan 3500. I believe it is now free under Plan 1800. Fortunately, an HTC Sense ROM upgrade was available at that time. The ROM was posted in the HTC website on November 10. Make sure you apply the Singapore/Philippines ROM and not the Malaysia/Indonesia/Vietnam one as that one does not have Market. My unit was apparently registered as a Malaysia model and I couldn’t download the Singapore/Philippines ROM. Communicating with HTC and Smart was not at all helpful and gave me canned responses. I couldn't download the Singapore/Philippines ROM ( update Dec