Damien Saunders » Android

3 must try Android Apps to manage wifi

Damien — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:00:23 +0000

Managing wifi on your Android mobile phone can be a hassle, so at least there are now 3 good apps for you to use to make your wifi experience better.

Wifinder

Is the most technical looking of the 3 apps – turning it on was a bit of shock when compared to the user experience of the other 2 apps. WiFinder only has 1 button aptly labelled New Scan. You then press and hold on the WiFi SSID to see the more familar Android Wifi Connect.

There is a check box for ‘only show open Ap’ which in laymans term means ‘free wifi’. You’d use Wifinder to checkout the networks around you and determine if there is channel overlap causing interference in your wifi.

Get wifinder here

wi-sync

One of the first wifi managers, this still has some good features like being able to force 3G to stay off, connect over wifi when roaming and so on. Though I find that at the end of the day – being on an unlimited data plan I just leave my wifi on.

Get wi-sync here

WeFi Connect

WeFi Connect claimed to be building a socialnetwork or database of free wifi access points in every city … for all I know, it may still be trying to do that. Apparently, it sends data about the access point you are using back to the wefi connect central – so perhaps big brother could be watching you?

WeFi Connect has had a number of user experience updates over the past year … it now needs another as I suspect the icons and other graphics look a bit badly optimised for newer Android phones, so a lot of users might not like WeFi for this reason.

Get weFi Connect here

HOW TO: Keep your Wifi connection awake on Android

Damien — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:00:29 +0000

Most people reading this post also want to know how to change the Wifi on their Android phone – for battery saving reasons, wifi sleep policy is active when the phone screen is off / idle … but you can change this setting. I prefer to keep wifi on when the phone is plugged into the mains power, this means your news and rss clients will synced overnight when you’re sleeping.

How to Keep your Wifi Switched on in Android

From the home screen … go to System or Settings and select Wireless & networks.
Then select wi-fi settings then press Menu and choose Advanced.
Press Wi-Fi Sleep Policy and change to Never when plugged in

Android Markets – Going International – advice for developers, VCs & startups

Damien — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:00:09 +0000

Developing for Android? You need to look to the bigger picture … actually this applies to anyone developing apps for mobile phones. If you want your app to be used by people that don’t speak English you need to translate it and provide some support.

There are going to be many opportunities for startups and anyone with a business model to go ‘international’ or expand abroad should check these points are covered in the marketing and product development plans.

1. Copy and clone – build the local version that’s more popular than its bigger brother (defensive/beachhead)

This has worked well for some social networks and there are countries where the local version is more successful than its international version. A business model based on a copycat strategy needs to launch, grow and keep its users interested. One quick way is to make sure the website / app is still usable for people living abroad like the Americans in London or English living in Spain.

2. Copy the idea – but make it your own

There are lots of good apps out there dying to be copied – using local data information. If you business model involves global domination you need local datasources.

A wine guide app using content from an American website may have some relevance in the English speaking world, but it won’t help when choosing a wine … a simple example: Does a $20 wine equal a £10 wine?

3. Translation is just the first step think customer support

Translating your app or website is usually the first way to go international – but make sure the plan includes how to support your local users.

For example FAQ’s is simplified as SSS in Turkish

4. Remember to localise the user experience

It’s really upsetting to find out the user experience looks really crap when you change from English to Spanish, Italian or any other language.

5. Don’t expand abroad

The problem with the Internet, App Stores and mobile phones is that their users don’t respect territories for licences and agreements. So don’t go international if you are not prepared. You may also find your app is reliant on a social community that doesn’t exist. Check that you understand the take up of broadband, internet, 3G and mobile data services.

I’ll finish with this point … What’s the fun of finding out you can be the Mayor of all the places in a town if you’re the only one using location based apps? or more relevant – don’t go international and find out you don’t have a dataset.

Android Phones – product life cycle & how to choose

Damien — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:00:49 +0000

What with all the new Android phones, its time to look at the phones to not buy, unless you’re stuck for cash or just want your first touch phone. There are many terminal vendors and operators with Android phones to choose from HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorolla, T-mobile, Vodafone and Google (HTC).

General Points on Buying a Phone

1. Why buy a phone on a contract

the total cost of ownership over a 18 month or 2 year contract will be expensive. Don’t buy a phone contract if you will definitely be wanting to buy the next best thing in 6 or 12 months. Always buy a phone outright & use your credit card to pay.

2. Phone Insurance

your home contents insurance will usually cover you for this or even the extras or add on packages from your bank. So there is no need to choose this

3. Operator ‘Lock Downs’

there is lots of conversation on the internet that Orange in the UK and Europe is replacing GTalk, Google Search etc with their own products Orange Messenger and in the case of search Microsoft Bing.

Google Android Phones – First Released in 2009

G1 – T-Mobile USA and UK / DE aka HTC Dream – end of product cycle

recommendation: do not buy. If you want a split screen/keyboard get Motorola Droid

HTC Magic or MyTouch3G – end of product cycle

ok to buy handset only, don’t buy on contract

HTC Hero – end of product cycle

ok to buy handset only, don’t by on contract

See HTC Legend aka HTC Hero 2

HTC Tattoo – end of product cycle

ok to buy handset only, don’t buy on contract

Motorola Droid – mid product life -

ok to buy handset, ok to buy on contract

Note: there are better handsets, but this is a good choice in the USA.

Google Android Phones – First Released in 2010

HTC Legend – new product

This may also be the HTC Hero 2

ok to buy handset, ok to buy contract

HTC Desire – new product

ok to buy handset, ok to buy contract

Google Nexus One – mid product cycle

ok to buy handset, ok to buy contract

note: This is also made by HTC and almost identical to HTC Desire (which is slightly ‘faster’).

Sony Ericsson X10 – new

ok to buy handset, ok to buy contract

Warning: first phone from this manufacturer, unknown how positive Sony Ericsson will support firmware updates, etc

HTC Evo – 4G

dont buy for use in the UK, check in Europe

HTC Incredibile

dont buy for use in the UK, check in Europe

Android Market would benefit Developer instead of Apple App Certification?

Damien — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:29:32 +0000

Develop apps for Android or develop mobile apps for Apple, some days its hard to figure out just what to do. On this website I’ve written a lot on Android phones and apps.

Around 6000 apps have been removed from the Apple store recently due to their erotic nature. It’s not that Android Market has no quality control – Adult or Erotic does not exist as a content category in Android Market but dating apps or other soft-porn apps so far have not shown huge growth (ahem) on Android.

Why Android Mobile Apps and Android Market should appeal to developers

As a platform, Android should appeal to developers because

Android Market provides a multi-country sales platform for apps and developers.
Sales of Android handsets are around 60,000 units a month and expected to grow
Major handset manufacturers are supporting the platform like HTC, Google (HTC), Motorola, Sony Ericsson
International Mobile Operators like T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange have all been keen to sell the phones (in fact it was Voda that took Android to the rest of the world with its ‘exclusive’ of the HTC Magic)
Android Market is not as rigorous at quality control or moderation as Apple. You can add an app to Android Market in 24 hours

Why Android Market didn’t take off yet!

So the conditions seemed right for Android and the Android Market – but what happened? Nothing went wrong – it was just a freak set of circumstances

App Store has a PC & Mac client for easier discovery when Android doesn’t. Android Market website doesn’t allow you to make purchases.
Apps and Content installation is tethered to iTunes – have you tried to mount an Android in Windows Vista and given up?
iPhone launched first with much hype – the Android ‘major’ promotional launch came late in 2009 with the Verizon Droid in the USA
App developers were tooled up and focused on making and selling apps only for iPhone
Purchase and payments for Apps using iTunes was already setup for many existing iPod users buying songs and videos
Mobile operating systems (Symbian, Java, Android, iPhone, Blackberry) all differed in how to develop for them
Adult content and many apps didn’t need to have a home on the Android thanks to the mobile internet and improvements in HTML standards
Finally – App Developers stuck in the maelstrom of certification, moderation and content restrictions via Apple wouldn’t have wanted to start a new app development!

So what do you think? Does Google need to appoint a Director or Head of Android Market to focus on sales, promotions and support for Apps to make it easier for customers? Do the Handset Manufacturers need to do more?

NewsRob best Android application for Google Reader

Damien Saunders — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:11:57 +0000

Newsrob is my favourite application for Android mobiles, it’s been covered in my 10 Best Android Apps list a few times. Newsrob integratess with your account for Google Reader (which allows you to manage and read all your RSS feeds). Newsrob recently turned 1 and celebrated by introducing a Pro version and an Adfunded Free Version.

What’s fantastic about Newsrob Pro

Newsrob Pro has a new feature that is great for any social media or mobile specialist. Newsrob Pro allows you to now share your articles with comments. In the free version you can only add it to your shared list.

The Newsrob Share with note is saved in the client until it next syncs with Google Reader.

Newsrob Free Version

The Adfunded Free Version is still the best Google Reader app. No features have been removed in the freeware version. The advertising is intrusive but you don’t notice this when you are on buses or the underground and ads only show on navigational menu pages. In the first image you can see the space that is ‘reserved’ for banner ads.

Newsrob has many helpful timesavers such as

Press the Star icon to indicate an article that is important to read again or print out at the office / home
Share by E-mail, Gmail to send that article straight to your colleagues
Offline sync / wifi download, so you can read articles anytime anywhere
Share Socially if you have Seesmic installed on your phone you can share the article you are reading there.

Foursquare Best Location Based Social Networking for Android UK Users

Damien — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:56:06 +0000

Android mobile owners in the UK will be pleased to know that location based social networking apps have begun to improve and increase in the number of users. In the past few weeks, top location based social networks such as Brightkite and Foursquare have really improved the quality and details of UK locations.

It is a problem of user experience that meant many of these services had few UK users and no UK points of interest. It has been a ‘crying-shame’ or an indictment of the mobile apps industry to focus ‘within’ their country of origin during launch, while leaving their websites and apps ready for for international users to signup and login. This meant potential users were really locked out (ie Twitter was pointless in the UK as there was no UK mobile operators)

After studying several of these location based services during the past 3 months – it appears that Foursquare is currently ahead of Brightkite in terms of users and engagement. Why is this?

1. Brightkite has fewer real people checking in

When a user is logged in, a key features is seeing other users that are around you. However users are more likely to find spammers and bots making autoposts. In the pic above, you can clearly see who are real users and who are bots.

2. Foursquare has more of my ‘friends’

Perhaps this was due to the amount of internet news and hype, but when I logged into Foursquare this week, I found more real ‘friends’ to add to Foursquare. So far I’ve found no friends via Brightkite.

3. Brightkite still has few London centric points of interest

With Brightkite you can check-in in the vacinity of your current location. Originally you had to be specific about your location before checking-in. This will be a critical change for Brightkite, which hopefully will make it easier for new users / would be users to try the app.

4. Foursquare makes more noise on Facebook and Twitter

The amount of cross posting to Facebook and Twitter can only help grow awareness. However this was the one feature I turned off recently, after realising my status and tweets were getting out of hand.

There are plenty of other location based social networking apps around … even specific ones such as Wefi the social community for wifi finding, which I have mentioned before. Plenty of these suffer the same problem – a lack of users due to the lack of any internationalised UK points of interest.

5. Memory Hog Brightkite causes phones to freeze

Brightkite seemingly randomly will steel your 3G network connection and take all available memory causing your phone to freeze. There seems no clear reason for this background data usage. After restarting the phone making sure the app was not running in the background, it still opened every few hours until it was deleted from the test phone.

Based on the current trend – location based social networks will need to get more local in the UK to attract more users. However it seems Foursquare is ahead so far.

So have you been using Foursquare or Brightkite? What’s your preference?

Android Market 3 of the Best Games

Damien Saunders — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:43:01 +0000

Mobile Games for Android phones are now improving. The Android Market has a number of very good games that will help waste hours of your time. The 3 best and most popular Android mobile games are:

Robo Defense (free and premium)

best tower defense game on the Android. Why? because your enemies don’t have a set route to follow. Its kinda like a long rugby or gridiron playing field and you have to stop them from getting to the other end.

Jewels (free)

line them up, three or four in a row and the crystals burst. Bejeweled it ain’t but its damn good. I delete this after a couple of hours. Defintley cause’s RSI pain

Archipelago (free and premium)

you’re a WWII air fleet commander in the Pacific jumping from island to island. Tap and drag to divide your force and hopefully conquer and win the battle. This game is sooooooo frustrating! that you’ll have to delete it once you’ve been playing it for a few days.

10 things to do with your Android and a Barcode Scanner

Damien Saunders — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:30:07 +0000

There’s no better sound than the reassuring ‘Beep at the Checkout Register’. So now you have your own Android mobile phone …here’s a few barcode scanning things you can do at home or in the shops.

First you need the best Android Barcode Scanner – which now has integration with Google search on the mobile.

Add a book to your Amazon Wishlist – just snap the barcode and save to list
Catalogue your books at home using Anobiit from Anobii
Catalogue your CD’s with Kooaba
Look up reviews of that Wine you’ve just been drinking – Wine by the Bar is the perfect app for you
Compare prices for that Electrical Gadget – Scan the Barcode and search online for it
Create your own Barcode – After installing Barcode Scanner, open your Android Contacts .. everyone now has a 2D code
Look up tourist guides from 2D barcodes -
Find something new to put on your phone – Androlib.com will help you then turn on the barcode scanner and point it at the 2D code on the screen

To get the Barcode Scanner … go to Android Market on your phone or go to Androlib.com on your PC

DROID takes the Android to a new level

Damien Saunders — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:55:14 +0000

DROID sales in the USA and the robo-promotional ads from Verizon has boosted Android sales, so much so that hits on my blog have started to double since the new phone went on sale.

Stats are good – Top searchs on Best Apps are going to my posts for Top Android Apps and 2 top Android apps from Google.

Sony Ericsson's first Android phone

Damien Saunders — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:46:19 +0000

Sony Ericsson delivered a blow to Microsoft on Tuesday when it unveiled its latest Xperia handset, which unlike its Windows-powered predecessors is based on Google’s Android operating system.

Called X10, the flagship smartphone comes with a new Sony Ericsson-designed user interface that aggregates the user’s contacts and communications from the likes of Facebook and Twitter into a single address book.

The system is akin to HTC’s Sense interface, and Motorola’s Motoblur interface, both of which feature on the respective companies’ new Android phones.

“It’s time for Sony Ericsson to put more focus on the smartphone market and Android is a good platform for them to do this,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.

source: http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=450402&mail=128&C=0

Is Android Lagging Behind in Sales? Not Likely

Damien Saunders — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:10:11 +0000

Recently the blogosphere has gone a bit crazy, excuse my lack of hyperbole about the Android platform. Was this ‘Android’ supposed to do battle with the iPhone?

Just because no operators or manufacturers have openly commented about their smart phone sales figures doesn’t mean its bad news. Looking at the number of Android powered phones out now or due in the next 2 months shows a lot of promise

HTC Hero – some bloggers say it’s the best Android yet
G1 – the funny one with the flip out keyboard, still only with T-Mobile
Magic – Vodafone took this and the Android platform global
Tattoo – coming out again to Vodafone before xmas
Motorola DEXT – a lifesaver for Motorola – probably the phone that saves them. Reviewers go crazy about its Moto Blur interface

As well we know that Sony Ericsson have robot phones coming and the other manufacturers have been toying with this platform.

As far as smartphones go though – Nokia admitted recently they have lost some of their steam to Apple and have not being able to come up with a device that is just as iconic. Some sales figures for Q2 2009 still show Blackberry as the most popular Manufacturer.

So for Xmas will you want an Android?

10 Best Android Apps for your phone

Damien Saunders — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:14:41 +0000

Here’s a more up to date list featuring some of the best apps you must get on your Android phone. All of them are free in the Android Market. Some of them also have a freemium paid version. What’s good is that many of these you will use daily, but some of them will just sit on your phone and do what its supposed to do.

(update: Nov 21 – Cyrket.com has been offline for some time … but is now around again – but try www.androlib.com for these apps)

Subjectively, I’ve missed out the social network sites and the streaming music apps – I do that from home – or the in the case of music streaming … none of the apps currently work when your underground.

Do you want to disagree with what’s here or have your own list? Let me know …

1. WiSync

Manage your data sync settings for the Android – this is important if you are not on an unlimited data plan or you want things to only happen on wifi. WiSync allows you to control the background sync settings for your phone.

What I think is the WiSync should go a step further – I’d love to talk to them about how this can help when you travel. Already you can turn off any sync when not on wifi, but what about the option to allow sync on your home 3G network but not on any overseas 3G networks. Roaming settings are something to sync/think about too. It now also comes with ‘Locale plugin’ a feature I’ve not worked out what it is yet.

Get it here.

2. Wefi

Wefi is an app to manage the connection to wifi hotspots around you – it automatically shuffles through all the nearest hotspots to find out which ones are open and have internet access or need to go through a login process. This is good as many hotspots seem to be open, but when you connect, they don’t work. Team this up with Wisync and you got a killer combo.

I also suggest you go to your phone wifi settings and allow wifi to remain on when connected to the power supply. This way, any emails or other updates (news) are downloaded when you’re sleeping and your phone is charging.

Get it here.

3. Itube Status

Seems this has been removed

4. Twidroid

Twitter on your phone … its free and the most popular in the market. You can see why with all the features that are crammed in. I suggest you turn off the vibration and don’t set it to fetch all your tweets, or you’ll be playing with your phone constantly.

Get it here.

5. Barcode Scanner

Now the team at Google even love this app — combine the power of a barcode scanner with a Google search and you have a price check tool, an Amazon search solution or maybe you can use another app like Anobii and catalogue all your books.

Get it here

6. Advanced Task Manager

This app seems to have matured in its development and settled down in the last month. There probably are other ‘app killer’ apps around – but this has a great feature in that you can control what apps to kill. It used to have an auto kill all feature which ran every 2 hours, I’m glad to see that has gone as it usually meant my music or some other app would stop working just as I was in the middle of using it.

Get it here

7. NewsRob

NewsRob was one of the first apps I installed …NewsRob works with Google Reader as there is no official Google Reader Android app … its as configurable as you like in terms of how often to check, how many articles to store and settings for wifi / 3G network access.

It crashed on me once and sent an email back to the support team. The next morning I had an email from someone saying they were looking into my bug. I got a follow up email a few days later saying my problem would be fixed in the next release. Great service with a Smile.

Get it here:

Here’s two apps to show your friends

8. Compass

You can’t get lost with a compass on your phone (did’t you know it was magnetised) — right?

Now what does E 68 mean?

Get it here:

9. BeebPlayer (only in the UK)

Everyone’s favourite Granny had to have an Android app … its probably one of the best apps I’ve seen that was not made by the BBC’s iPlayer team. I guess history will tell if the app continues to work or be developed – or if the Beeb will turn off 3rd party access to its content.

Apparently this app only works with the Vodafone or 3 UK sims – but I’ve had success as well using this on O2.

10. Robo Defense Free

One last app that will give you days and days of fun … or months and months as it turns out. The free version has 10 difficulty settings but only one level … its also the most simple with only 3 towers and 3 upgrades. It’s by far the best executed tower defence strategy game.

Get it here:

There are a number of things I’d like to see better apps for … After rooting my phone with the Cyanogen build … I can …

- take screenshots

- use email from an Outlook Exchange app

I’ve noted few issues with the Android Market and I’ll blog about differences in app stores soon.

Damien Saunders

2 must have Android Apps to manage wifi

Damien Saunders — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:30:05 +0000

Have you just got a new HTC Magic? or waiting for the HTC Hero to come out? Here are 2 must have apps to get for free from the Android Market to manage your wifi and data connections

Wefi – Manage your battery life and wi-fi connectivty

Turn it on to see if there are free networks around you – once its found somewhere, it will login if its free or tell you it needs a password. Turn it to off when you leave your home wifi and it wont look for other networks. Saves you battery and saves you time.

A new version of this was recently released – with a fresher user interface, which now looks a little busy. However it still does the job.

The developers claim the app will in the future download from the wefi.com website a list of the nearest wifi spots, but this feature is something they need – so long as it grows the list of international wifi hot spots

Wisync – Reduce your mobile internet usage when you dont have unlimited data

WiSync for the Google Android Phone is an application that automatically enable/disable syncing on WIFI (dis)connect. This will save you money for those without unlimited data plans. Also saves battery by preventing constant background syncing. Sync only when you turn WIFI on/off as you need

2 Must have Android Apps from Google

Damien Saunders — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:11:54 +0000

Looking for somewhere to go …. Maybe you need to waste some time or want to find something else to try on your Google Android G1 or HTC Magic.

Google obviously has embedded a lot things into the phone – but here are 2 apps that were not installed on the Android phone when you open the box.

Places Directory

Price FREE Downloads >250,000

updated — 21 Sept -- Even before augmented reality became a buzzword … Google Places Directory was already bringing Google Maps together with GPS / Location Based Services. The Places Directory is a search aggregator – easily find out the most talked about / blogged / reviewed Cafes in London. Trying to find a ‘Gas Station’ in Brixton might be a bit spurious – Gas Stations are not commonly found in the UK, but petrol stations are.

Places Directory is a great aggregator of content from Googles own directories, Wikitude, QYPE and food review sites etc. It’s still much better than the competition (think LAYAR) as its very quick and you dont have to join any new websites before you can use it.

Android Market - point your camera here

Voice Search

A new one, that I just found … and one to show your friends. Just speak and search Google. “Computer – take me to your leader”

Both apps are in the Android Market

Blow out the candles – Happy 1st Birthday Apple Apps Store

Damien Saunders — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:55:35 +0000

So its Happy Birthday to Apple and its App Store – 1 year old. Its created a new industry and probably will change the way everyone digests content – now that everything has an app or a widget you dont need to browse for it.

Except for Search – Apple and the Apps store has changed how mobile phone manufacturers think about content like Nokia, RIM and Sony Ericsson all launched (or launching) app stores in the past 3 months.

So its not just the billions of downloads of apps for everything from the weather to ‘where am i right now’ or the ‘find my lost phone’, there are all the people making apps now.

And I can’t forget Android Market which and the HTC Android phones which launched latter than the iPhone / iPod touch, but that means todays Apple iPhone developers, Java developers, etc can now go and convert their apps to Android. And they already ARE.

Android Market Best of Apps you must have

Damien Saunders — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:23:10 +0000

29 Sep 09: This is the better post to read: http://damiensaunders.com/2009/08/11/10-best-android-apps-for-your-phone/

Ok I’ve been using an HTC Magic for a few days now and I’m loving it … I’m so hooked I could almost get myself kicked out of the house, or have my ‘beautiful & precious’ phone smashed

Here’s what you too should try

there are so many free Apps in the Android Market that you can’t get bored. Given how much I use a phone and my focus on the mobiles and music, heres a choice selection

LAST.FM – its more a radio station here than the super Vodafone Last.fm Scrobbler (which you know I love)

NewsRob – it works with Google Reader – but I’m still not sure why there isn’t a GReader app?

Android-VNC-Viewer – once I got it working I loved it, but its a tiny screen, don’t use it for trying to control WinAmp or something, but its funny if you know how to use it to turn off windose

Toggle Wifi – its dead simple, but it still dont help if you then have to have a username or password for the wifi account

Barcode Scanner and Book Scanner – i love it … except when it goes beep in the bookshop (hehehe)

So whats missing?

a basic screenshot app like the s60 Symbian app
a VLC player for any videos
a WinVista fix as today you still can’t plug your droid phone into your Vista machine
a music store client that I’m happy to use