New Year, New Tech Hotness

What a great way to usher in 2010....with the sort of tech toy that tells you in unambiguous terms you're now living in the 21st century.

Me want.

Turn-by-turn Google Maps Navigation outside the US

[UPDATE 2009-12-10: As of Dec 7th / 8th (depending on your time zone), Google disabled access to turn-by-turn GPS navigation at the server end for people not in the US. The software still works, but the back end won't give you the information. It won't work now no matter what you do, unless you're in the US.]


Google released v3.2.1 of Google Maps for Android on November 24th. It's for the US only. This version includes turn-by-turn audio and visual GPS navigation.

But within a few days, there were alternative android ROMs available that included a version of Google Maps with support for Navigation outside the US. I've tried it here in Auckland and it was perfect all the way from the North Shore to Titirangi and back. You want this.

Now, there is an app on the Android Market called "Nav Launcher".  It's only purpose is to help you download a modified version of Google Maps v3.2.1 that turns on GPS Navigation in a long list of countries. New Zealand included. Apparently you don't have to have a rooted phone to use it, either. I'd be interested to know how people get on.

So if you want to get over to the market and try this out, here is the QR code. Scan it off the screen with your phone and it will take you to the market and direct to the app. You'll need to have "Barcode Scanner" installed.....but surely everyone already has that installed? If not, get it. It's very useful.

Now I just need a little stand on the dash of my car to rest my phone in when I'm driving so I can hear the instructions, though I think the Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP stereo support in my HTC Magic may come in handy if I wear a headset.

Android and A2DP bluetooth support

I've been watching "Mad Men", right from season one, episode one, via Jetflicks on my HTC Magic android phone and really enjoying it. The only problem I have is my phone uses the same USB port for the headphones as it uses to charge the battery. I can either listen to the phone via headset OR charge it. If I want to do both, I have to use the phone's external speaker and annoy other people nearby who may not share my taste in TV programs enough to want to listen to it without seeing it.

The HTC Magic supports A2DP bluetooth and there is no physical reason why I can't listen to whatever I want over a set of stereo bluetooth headphones. It seemed to be the ideal solution. I went out and bought a pair of Sony DR-BT21 headphones. They work fine with the phone, but I can't get them to play any music / video via any media player. If the phone's Bluetooth is set to media-only mode (the support to enable this is partially there), I can't connect the phone to the headset. But re-enabling the phone audio allows the headset to connect to the phone.

A bit of Googling revealed why. Android in v1.6 (Donut) only supports HFP (Hands Free Profile) and HSP and doesn't support the A2DP bluetooth profile required to use this stereo bluetooth device. The HTC Magic phone supports it, the headset can do it......but the stock Android ROM loaded on vendor phones can't do it and won't until they are updated with software than can support it.

It is possible to load alternative versions of Android (Like Cyanogen) that do include A2DP support, but then you risk cutting yourself off from the standard support path for future software updates and at the same time expose yourself to Android without the default Google 'love' included with almost all Android phones. You'd have to add that yourself, which can be done, but it's more messing around. Besides, future updates will almost certainly include the missing A2DP support.

At this point, I'm not sure "Mad Men" is the compelling event to drive me off the standard path. Even adding the ability to make my phone a Wi-Fi access point (Cyanogen again) isn't enough. If I had a second phone to play with.....I'd be in like a robber's dog. Maybe that's the way to go.

UPDATE - 2009-11-18:  After several more attempts, I gave up trying to get the Sony headset to do media audio with my HTC Magic, so I tried it with my iPod Touch. The headphones worked and sounded great. I was asked to enter the PIN number. The next day (today) I tried them again with the HTC Magic....and they now work! It's full stereo, too.  NO IDEA why they now work....but they now work. Maybe activating them with the iPod Touch was enough to enable them to work with my android phone.
UPDATE 2 - 2009-11-18: I've just discovered the Meridian media player app respects the (AVRCP) jog, FF and REW buttons on the Sony bluetooth headset provided the app is in the foreground. I have 100% functionality now! Awesome.

If you find this post useful, please consider a small donation in NZ$ via PayPal in recognition of the effort that went into this post and others. Thanks! :-)

AndroBlogger v1.03 and Android phone

My new Android-running, HTC Magic phone has been getting a thorough thrashing from me since I got it 5 weeks ago. Since then, I've learned a fair bit about the device and the Android system that runs on it. I've downloaded dozens of apps that do a myriad of things. They have all been free apps so far because New Zealand doesn't yet have access to paid apps on the Android Market.

My favourite apps so far are: TwiDroid for Twitter; any app that accesses the camera (especially Handcent SMS and the Camcorder);

09-09-04 Update: I've also discovered you can include links to URLs in a post from AndroBlogger if you wrap the appropriate HTML around a link pasted into the draft post. I've created some templates in "One Note" which I can put into my clipboard (using Clipbot) and then paste each one as and when required. Ok, it's a hack.....but it works. :-)