Archive for October, 2008
Get a Black Rubber G1 Case for Cheap
Looking for an inexpensive case for your G1? Over at Amazon, they have a black rubberized case for less than $8. It’s a three piece case so that it can fit the counters of the G1, and of course it allows you to still open up the keyboard.
OTA Sync for Everything?
It is kind of surprising that we hadn’t stumbled across this earlier but apparently there is a well developed open source and free solution for Over The Air syncing of everything from Contacts to Calendar for nearly every device you own (okay maybe that’s stretching it). There are clients for both versions of Windows Mobile, a solution for iPhone, a plugin for Outlook and even an app on the Android Marketplace for the G1. Now you know I don’t like to tell you about something unless I’ve put it through the ringer myself a few times. Well this is a different case. › Continue reading
Don’t Forget to Contribute to the Wiki
Our stats are telling us that thousands of your are using the Wiki, which is great, but few are adding to it. Since some of you may not be familiar with how exactly to go about contributing, jsmccabe78 has posted an FAQ on the front page of the Wiki, that should help to answer your questions. Here’s a good one:
Why should I add to the wiki?
* Because we are obsessed with our devices and the only way to really progress is to share! And this is the place to do it!
The Shadow sections is packed with a ton of good info, but the G1 section is just in its infancy and especially needs some help. That said…don’t be shy…and contribute =D!
Android Marketplace is Exploding
If you make a habit of checking the Android Marketplace for new apps everyday (like I do) then you will notice that today MANY news came into the light. Keep in mind the G1 has only been on the open market for a week now, however the SDK has been available to developers for awhile now. Needless to say many needed apps have show up. Of these there are a few worth mentioning:
- Twidroid: A Twitter app for the G1. Nearly anything you can do on Twitter you can do from the app. The ability to upload photos is present but buggy. Worth the download.
- GPS Tracker: Real time GPS tracking/sharing. Why you should have this on your phone: because you can activate by SMS if you lose your G1 and find it in real time… very useful.
- Mem: Simon clone! Displays the number of colored/toned iterations you’ve memorized so far.
- Ringdroid: Create Ringtones on the fly with the music on your phone.
- SpellDial: what the dialer is missing, look up contacts as you press the T9 dialer keys.
- Tag ToDo: Decent and usable To Do manager. Supports tags/categories.
- Android File Manager: Who would have thought we would miss our File Explorer so much? Here it is in Android Style. Current functionality is limited to moving, copying, pasting, renaming and deleting.
- BudgetDroid: Not an account manager for your bank funds but more of a simple budget tracker. What’s great about that? Not having your personal finances on your phone but still being able to stay on budget. Simply create a budget amount for a category and enter what you spend and it tells you how much you have left for the month.
Run 96DPI on Your Shadow
If you run 96DPI on your Shadow, your screen will look to be higher resolution. The top and bottom bars will take up less space and you’ll see more icons on the screen at once - thus requiring you to scroll less…as shown above. Yes - technically things are smaller, but it’s like turning up the resolution on your computer monitor.
martint started a thread over in the forums that linked to this ZIP file that you need, plus has the following instructions to get 96DPI:
1) Run the WM6.1-131to96dpi cab file
2) When it asks for you to restart, do not restart.
3) Run CeleCMD, and click the “…” button.
4) Go to Menu, Browse Folder, and select the folder where you put the dpi.ccs file.
5) Now you will see the dpi file, and then go ahead and run it.
6) Wait for it go back to the homescreen and then reboot your phone.
Note that depending on what ROM you are running, you may run into some problems. Some people report a flawless installation, and some report that parts of the screen get messed up. That said, since it’s a CAB file, you can just uninstall it from the Settings menu, and everything goes back to normal, so it’s worth a try =D.
Saving Money with Windows Mobile
Having Windows Mobile on your Shadow has its advantages. Adam Lein over at pocketnow.com has put together a great article that talks about how you can save money using your Windows Mobile device - and in these tough economic times, he provides many smart ways that you can reduce the minutes you use, or get by without paying for a data connection (or how to get a data connection for free, temporarily). Good stuff, and worth a read.
Quick Look at the Android Marketplace
This video is for the App Lovers. This is a short and sweet tour of how the Android Marketplace works. It appears that User-Friendliness was high on the list of must haves for the designers of the interface. Good Job! Enjoy!
P.S. Have something you want to see in a video? Post it in the comments. Have a question? Go to the forums.
A Quick Look at the G1’s Music App
This video is for the Music Lovers. I take you on a short and sweet tour through the Music app on the G1. Got questions? Ask them in the forums or tell me what you want to see in the comments. Enjoy!
Video: A Quick Inside Look at the G1
In this video I address some of the more common questions that people have as well as giving a few pointers to make life easier once you get your G1. Apologies for the ‘one-sidedness’ of the video. Enjoy!
Two Cool Shadow Camera Tricks
The Shadow has two hidden camera features that aren’t turned on by default - panorama, and burst (which does 30 shots), both of which can be switched on via some easy registry work. Thanks to phatman81 for posting the thread about this. Here’s what to do:
1. Use a registry editor to go to HKLM/Software/HTC/Camera. Here you will see a bunch of folders. The P# folders are what you need.
2. The P6 (burst) and P8 (panorama) folders are disabled by default. To enable them, go into the folder and change the “Enabled” value from 0 to 1.
And that’ll do it! Now you’ll see the options for these two in the camera app. Depending on which ROM you are running, the panorama function may not work, or it may be difficult to use because of screen orientation issues.
P.S. I found this over in the Tweaking Your Shadow via the Registry wiki entry.
Exclusive: G1 Unboxing by Mike Benton
Here it is! The Unboxing of the G1 by yours truly. Watch as the G1 is unboxed before your very eyes! See it compared to the Shadow and some other common devices that you might find laying around. This phone is easy to fall in love with. More videos will come later this week. When you get your G1 be sure to connect it to your Amazon account so you can download MP3’s on the fly. Also be sure to download TuneWiki and SplashPlay. With these two apps you can learn the words to the songs you download as well as the chords so you can play them on your Guitar (and other instruments). Enjoy the Video and tell me what you want to learn more about in the comments.
G1’s ‘Kill Switch’ Explained
Let’s say that some miscreant had snuck some malicious code into a developer’s application. Let us also say that you installed that application on your Shadow awhile ago and forgot all about it. How will you know if there is bad code? Aside from a few anti-virus apps out there there isn’t a standard central body that can determine the evilness of an application. That’s where the kill switch comes into play.
According to ITWorld the ‘Kill Switch’ is a good thing. For now think of it as a free anti-virus for the apps you download via the Android Marketplace. While there is still a possibility of some shadiness hiding in the shadows, for now it doesn’t appear that Google or T-Mobile have unrestricted access to all the content on your G1. Stay tuned as we look deeper into the issue.
Welcome to the New AllShadow.com!
Well, here it is guys (and gals). Simple, fresh, clean, with a pitch of “bad ass” with the black and red color scheme that you chose. The header emphasizes what we’re all about: the Shadow, G1, and Shadow II.
Our new redesign represents the fantastic community that has made this site a success, plus our decision to expand coverage to future T-Mobile smartphones like the G1 (Mike just got his, and is working on the first video - look for it tomorrow! =D). Both the main site and the forums have received the face lift, and you won’t notice a change in our great store for quite some time.
In addition to the redesign, we’ve also added a new Applications forum for the G1, as we expect everyone to have a lot to talk about when it comes to apps on Android.
So…whadaya think?
Rotate Your Screen for Better Web Viewing
The portrait screen on the Shadow is great for most applications, but for desktop-like internet browsing on Skyfire or looking at documents, having the ability to go landscape can really help the view.
Over in the forums, ShadowMike has put together this CAB file that will allow you to switch your screen to landscape. Just download the CAB, transfer it to your device, and run the CAB from your device.
Now, in order for the program to run, you must launch the program each time. The CAB automatically adds a new entry to your shortcut list (Start>Settings>Shortcut Key), so be sure to set it up for a long or short press for quick access.
Review Round Up On The G1
There are a few reviews trickling in from some big sites around the web about the G1. While there is some disparity between reviews, there is some general consensus on the overall usability of the device. Adam Z Lein at pocketnow put together a list of issues from the different reviews out there that you might find useful. The most comprehensive review is from a favorite blog of mine, Matthew Miller’s blog on ZDNet. Overall, most of the complaints are fixable, as in the dev team, a developer or one of our own forum monkeys could fix the issue.
Coming from the Shadow expect a few things to bug you slightly right off the bat:
- No Outlook Syncing…yet
- Dialing does not use full Smart Filtering
- Browser controls are inconvenient
- The Red end call button does not behave like on a Windows Mobile phone.
- No A2DP Stereo Bluetooth support…yet
- No video recording capability…at this time
- Cannot store applications on the Storage Card…at this point
- Popular document types are FUBARed right now (PDF, Office, etc) Although there is word of an Office Applicationcoming soon. Right now they are filtered through Google’s HTML conversion.
This list is not comprehensive and is only from the point of view of a Shadow owner. Does this mean the G1 is going to crash and burn like the Hindenburg? Hardly. Android has a lot going for it and many people are excited about the possibilities. Patches will be released and updates will be available OTA (Over The Air). Developers will continue pushing new applications and hackers and modders will get their hands very dirty in the code.
Our own G1 will be here very soon, so expect some videos from the AllShadow point of view on what we can do and the potential of our new toy. Meanwhile, if you have specific questions about the G1, that you can’t find an answer to, that you would like to see covered in the video please post them in the comments.
Image Source: ZDNet
