The Android Adventure
The Android Adventure
Colin Holland
7/26/2011 11:37 AM EDT
I feel that I am in that part of a nightmare where you stand on a narrow precipice and do not want to move in case it ends in disaster. I need your help to make sure I that make the right moves and my adventure is a success.I have been an Apple zealot since replacing an Amstrad 1512 PC with a PowerMac 7200 in 1995 - there have been personnel lapses, such as the Dell tower system in 1995 and the Sony Vaio in 2001 - the netbook before its time which was based on the low power Transmeta Crusoe TM5600 600 MHz processor.
In the late 1980s I remember, while on Whats new in Electronics magazine, we were issued with a Amstrad PPC-512 'portable' computer with NEC V30 processor running at 8MHz. The first time I took it on the road I realized that the power supply of 10 x C cell batteries only lasted about 15mins. At the same time the standard office desktop was an IBM PC - nobody every got fired for buying IBM!
My earliest personal computing experiences were with the Commodore Vic20 and a Zenith laptop but since the 7200 it has mostly been Macs for me. In my home office I can see the Mac Book Pro that this is being written on, while ignored on the shelves are a couple of older PowerBooks - a G3 and a G4. Another Mac Book Pro is linked to the TV in the bedroom and a Mac Mini to the TV in the lounge. That's not to mention the PowerPC based Mac Books on loan to my elderly neighbour and my brother.
True to the cause when it came to buying another portable device 9 months ago I also naturally went for an iPad. It has been well used but has one major problem in that it wont run Firefox and the content management system behind all the EE Times website requires this browser. Never the less it has been well used for video, music, web browsing, TV viewing and I have even given up fetching the paper version of The Times for its iPad variant.
So what is casing me angst? I have decided to try out an alternative device - a ViewSonic ViewPad 10s tablet that runs Android 2.2. There is a reason for this choice which will become public later this week but in the mean time I am anticipating the delivery of the device and plan to track my hands-on experiences and ask readers to suggest apps that are of use for electronics engineers especially or just for fun.
"The Android Adventure" blogs will appear regularly in the coming weeks as I get to grips with a new-to-me operating system and interface.
I wont be able to do this without you - the postman has just delivered the latest MacUser magazine with a cover story on the 100 apps you need now for iPhone, iPad and Mac and I am relying on the UBM Electronics readership to suggest apps for Android that are equally compelling for both work and leisure. You can either comment below of email me direct with suggestions.
Colin Holland
colin.holland@ubm.com
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MClayton
7/27/2011 2:19 AM EDT
My old MacSE with Excel 1.0 is still working.
But I have avoided all touchscreen things, phones, pads, whatever. If your blog turns up something interesting for Android pads apps, I may go for that. I am a Google fan.
By the way, Excel 1.0 on MacSE was 49K app.
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Jeff.Petro
7/27/2011 11:57 AM EDT
I find in quite laughable when the tablet/phone makers claim they are the best because they have 100,000 or more apps for their devices. In all honesty, I've never found more than maybe a dozen apps that fit the category called "not totally useless".
All (or most of) these devices come with a standard set of applications that will allow you to do the basics. Phone, text, email, browser, music player, navigator (if gps equipped), pdf, office type docs, etc. However, there are a few applications which are not standard that may be useful.
Scientific Calculator - the included one was too basic.
Conversion app - i.e. miles to kilometers, pints to litres
Weather Radar app - important for pilots & flying
Bubble Level/Inclinometer - Sometimes I require a level surface
ElectroDroid - a must have for anyone dealing with electronics
Barcode reader/Google Goggles - links are appearing in magazines & newpapers every day
Google Translate - Useful when travelling to foreign countries.
Google Earth & Sky - No pressing need, but nice to play with
Telnet client - I'm surprised it wasn't included.
Unified Remote - turned my phone into a bluetooth remote for my HTPC
Any now for the list of useless apps that have been loaded.
Games - everyone needs to kill time once and awhile.
Sound Hound (Music Identifier) - Hum a few bars or hold it up to the radio. Only used once.
Sonic Mosquito Repellant - Yeah it's gimmicky, but it also works on teenagers
Hey Tell - Push to talk. This has potential to become invaluable.
Swing by Swing Golf - uses gps to calculate distance to hole (but it still didn't help my game)
Smart phones have the ability to do whatever you need them to do but most of us don't know what we want them to do. I don't think any of us bought one with the intention of have a 'fart app' yet many people proudly show it off like it's the 'killer app'. The trick is to figure out what you need it to do and customize it accordingly. Have fun.
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Russ Klein
7/27/2011 1:02 PM EDT
Good Luck. According to a survey by ChangeWave, Microsoft's WP7 has a better user satisfaction than Android. The Microsoft products are still quite a ways behind Apple, though. As a long time apple user it will be interesting to see you thoughts on this.
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Patk0317
7/28/2011 2:52 PM EDT
I have been a PC guy until the iPod. Now I have an iPod touch, and iPad and am considering a MAC AIR. Having said that I also have a Galaxy phone, and still use a PC for work. The apps that I downloaded are almost the same as on my Apple products. GMail, Etrade, AA and United in case I need to change travel arrangements etc. The only game I have downloaded is Angry Birds. I can live without any of these, but the built in NAV app saved me when my GPS wouldn't charge last week ...
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RogerC
7/28/2011 3:54 PM EDT
Jeff Petro mentioned a scientific calculator. I recommend RealCalc as a good free choice. I like it because it has RPN along with hexadecimal, octal, and binary. It has good configurability, too.
If you are billing for your services you might check out Time Recording. There is a free reduced-feature edition, but the Pro edition costs only a bit more than $2.
AsciiTable comes in handy from time to time.
One app you will find conspicuously absent from your Android device is a notepad. I like AK Notepad (simple and free).
Kindle Reader and Moon+ Reader cover about all the eBook formats I care about.
Have fun!
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Jeff.Petro
8/2/2011 10:44 AM EDT
Coinceidentally, RealCalc is the the one I use
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outsourced_but_not_out
7/28/2011 10:40 PM EDT
FlightView - flight tracking for you or your loved ones.
I don't know if it exists for Android though as I have almost extinct now Palm Pre.
KeyRing or some other password vault could help sometimes.
StopWatch if you have kids who do sports or WeightWatch for those who don't.
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Ray.Abram
8/2/2011 1:42 AM EDT
Electro Droid: awesome all in 1 electroincs calculator
Wififofum: all in 1 wifi util
Pocket: all in 1 personal database for storing passwords, bank account numbers, etc...
Go Launcher: GUI replacement to make the phone GUI have more icon screens, cool screen chaning effects, alpha sorted app screen, themes
Google Googles: tells you what you camera is looking at, barcodes, street addresses etc
Adobe photo shp: good editor of pics
Fire Fox: excellent web browser, can sync you bookmarks with your PC
Mobo: excellent eBok reader
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Jeff.Petro
8/2/2011 10:49 AM EDT
Wififofum - Nice App. Thanks for suggesting/recommending it
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NSC
8/2/2011 4:16 AM EDT
Good luck. Also being an Apple Fanboy since 1986 (first used at Factron-Schlumberger pre-hard drive Mac) I have the full house (phone, pad, iMac, laptop and TV). But recently I purchased a Xoom (3.0 Honeycomb)for work reasons (Embedded Android). very capable and (as much as I hate to admit it) like having flash in the browser.
However I have already hit problems. Purchased the Microchip accessory board for Android but this requires v3.1. But non-US versions of the Xoom are stuck at 3.0 with Motorola giving no indication of if or when v3.1+ support will be available (or pitiful customer support).
This is not an Android per se, but highlights the always difficult problem of software platform compatibility with multiple hardware vendors.
This is where the Apple (locked-in) model is a benefit if you can overcome your dislike of iTunes.
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