Setting up (Vodafone) HTC Magic on Telecom XT

Google fodder: I have a Telecom XT SIM chip and setting the HTC Magic up to use the Telecom XT network for phone and Internet isn't hard if you know what the settings need to be.

Anyone using an HTC Magic sourced from Vodafone should be aware that this phone supports these frequencies: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA/UMTS 900 and 2100MHz.

Telecom XT does not do GSM at all. They have only WDCMA/UMTS 850MHz and 2100MHz. So the *only* frequency Vodafone NZ and Telecom XT have in common is WCDMA/UMTS 2100. Keep this in mind.

The only places this phone will work with Telecom XT are places where they provide coverage using WCDMA/UMTS 2100. Yes, Telecom XT do 2100 in many parts of the big cities, but (so I'm told) for the rest of the country they mainly use WCDMA/UMTS 850MHz. This phone can't do that flavour (WCDMA) of 850MHz at all. So coverage will be poor and this phone would not be a good choice for use with Telecom XT. This point can be confusing as Vodafone do use 850MHz to provide GSM coverage. But GSM isn't WCDMA/UMTS and Vodafone do not do WCDMA/UMTS on 850MHz. They are very different standards.  

Having said that, I'm on the North Shore in the Auckland region and have have had no trouble getting on the XT network anywhere that I live, work or play, but then I have been fairly Auckland-centric for the past several months. I have little doubt that were I to head out of the city I would soon find my HTC Magic would not work as it can't see the UMTS 850MHz. I keep repeating that as it can't be debated or argued about. That's just how it is.

Provided that is clear enough, onward...

Obviously, you need to turn your phone off, swap the SIMs and then power on. Once powered up, make sure the Wi-Fi is disabled as this appears to hinder the phone making a network connection to the telco. It will do it with Wi-Fi on, but you might have to try a few times. With WiFi off, it works first time, every time.

To turn Wi-Fi off:

1. Go to the Home screen, then press the MENU button
2. Touch the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu, then...
   
3. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
   
4. Touch "WiFi" to remove the green tick mark and turn Wi-Fi off.
5. Press the HOME button to return to the HOME screen.

To choose a network:

1. While on the HOME screen, press the MENU button, then tough the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu.
   
2. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
   
3. Touch "Mobile Networks", then...
4. Touch "Network Operators", then...
5. Touch "Telecom NZ" in the list. You should then see "Registered on the network" appear.
6. Press the HOME button to return to home.

You can now make and receive phone calls, but you still need to set up the data side of things. The "APNs". The gateways you need to talk to do data.

Setting up the APNs:

1. While on the HOME screen, press the MENU button, then tough the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu.
   
2. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
   
3. Touch "Mobile Networks", then...
4. Touch "Access Point Names"
5. You'll likely see a blank, black screen. Press the MENU button and and touch "New APN".
   

The list of APNs is on Geekzone here.

You can add each one. I did, but I set "Telecom Default" as the default.

You don't change most of the items in the basic template list, but you do set the descriptive name and the APN at the very least for the default.

Some translation is required. Where the Geekzone list says "Homepage", put the value into "Server" on your phone. Where it says "Proxy", put the IP address - if any. Where it says "Port", put the port number - usually "80". I did not specify a secure port or use the 8080 port value. The phone doesn't appear to have a field for it.

I'm not sure which of the other values work, but I was able to do internet data and that was all I really wanted to do.

I did try to send a PXT to my Vodafone number, but it didn't go, so I obviously don't have that part set up properly yet. I emailed it instead. No problem. But more fiddling around appears to be required to get MMS going.

[UPDATE: The MMS/PXT message did arrive after all, so that is working too. For that APN (Telecom MMS) I set the MMS proxy and port instead of the other proxy and port.]

Nexus One, 3G reception and CyanogenMod

Google Fodder: It's known that HTC (who make the Nexus One and Desire and many other Android-based phones) tend to put their antennae in the back of the phone and in the base.

But the back and base is where you tend to hold the phone, usually. In theory, I suppose, this keeps the antennae away from your head when talking, and more like down by your jaw or chin (depending on the head size).

The effect on reception appears to be negligible, unless you're already in an area with very marginal reception. Then it may make a difference.

CyanogenMod v5.0.6 for the Nexus One allows the screen/display content to rotate through 360 degrees....so you can hold the phone completely upside down with the base at the top...and happily use the screen.  Yes, the buttons to touch are now at the top of the screen, but the phone isn't huge, so there is no real inconvenience in this.

I've just found that in a location where I get slow "G" throughput, by holding the phone upside down as described above, I was able to get "H"...and much faster throughput.

I'll have to play with it some more, but post this here in case anyone finds it useful.


For what it's worth, I've not seen any of the 3G reception issues with my Nexus One that have been reported in the US. The phone works perfectly for me.  

Android running on an Apple iPhone 2G

It had to come, I suppose. Yet another demonstration of the power of Open Source generally and the flxibility and versatility of the Linux and Android operating systems, in particular.

Android running on an iPhone. Thanks to MobileCrunch.

I'm off to check out OpeniBoot to see if it will work on my iPod Touch.  I'll probably make a donation, too, as David Wong is clearly doing some amazing work.(Update: I donated US$20).

OMG! Google's Nexus One

I've had my Nexus One for several days now. The bottom line is that it's an awesome device. I was going to use the word "phone" but decided not to. The Nexus One is a phone, of course, but it's a lot more than just a phone in the same way a bird is a lot more than its feathers.

I'm honestly not sure what word to use. It's my camera, camcorder, music, video, Internet, information, messaging,  communication, location-aware, multi-mediacreation / consumption,  personal computing device. Ish.

It's fast. It's light. It feels good. It looks good. You'd have to have one yourself if you used this for a few days and wanted something that was all of these things.

I do. This is it.

It's also the first Android phone I can easily do two-fat-thumb typing on a landscape soft keyboard with something like a 99% accuracy rate. Or I wouldn't even attempt this blog post on it. But it's OK. It works. It's actually easy.

I nave to say, Google's Nexus One and Android v2.1 take the whole android experience to a new level. A good one.

Wow.

Acer Liquid: The Verdict (after one week)

The Acer Liquid is a fast phone. By default its top speed is 768MHz though the CPU is capable of 1GHz. The Liquid's screen is large, auto-senses ambient light, and is very clear. It seems to resist fingerprints. Touch sensitivity is good (IMHO). The 480x800 resolution is a welcome improvement. The OS included is Android v1.6, aka Donut.

The GPS, Wifi and Mobile data (3G, 2G) and Bluetooth (phone and stereo media) all work as intended. Sensitivity to signal appears to be fine. I have not had any coverage issues relative to my other phone (HTC Magic).

The phone's default display has three home screens. Left-most is empty but for a media player widget that allows you to scroll through audio, video or images and select any for display or playback. You can dispose of it or put it back as you would any Android Widget. The centre screen has the Google Search widget up top and the usual Phone, Contacts, Browser, Maps, Messaging and Market apps down below. The right screen has the "Spinlets" widget (like a 'lazy Susan' for web bookmarks) with some Acer web sites preloaded you can scroll through and touch if you wish to go to those web pages.

The Acer software update tools work well. Acer Liquid uses a Windows-based tool for flashing new system images. These are *.BIN files downloadable from the Acer website. They include an entire phone image: recovery, boot, system and radio (baseband). There are different versions of the phone for different markets, the main differences being radio / baseband and language support. I have the UK version, compatible with Vodafone anywhere. There is also US version that would be compatible with Telecom XT and Telstra.

Phone's faster CPU makes sdcard access most impressive. Whereas my HTC Magic could read my Class 6 8GB Transcend sdcard at just under 5MB/second (megaBYTES/second)the Liquid was doing 9.6MB/second....almost twice as fast. This has big performance benefits for apps that use the sdcard, like the camera for saving or media playback apps.

The Liquid's 5 megapixel camera is, in my opinion, excellent. The pics are clear and well-focused. The light and other settings are adjustable or automatic. The video are higher resolution and have less "drag" than on a slower phone with a less-capable camera.

Data, MMS and TXT-ing work fine with Vodafone NZ when the APNs are set up exactly the same as for an HTC Magic.

For modders, the phone is easily rooted and there is a maturing set of tools available, mainly through xda-developers and modaco.com with the latest and greatest being at Modaco. The number of alternate ROMs isn't large, but there are half a dozen of so Android v1.6 roms and about 3 (major) android 2.1 ROMs. All the Android 2.1 ROMs are based on a leaked pre-release image from an Acer LiquidE phone. The best of the Android v2.1 alternates are "eVilD" and LCR (Liquid Community Rom). But the basic Acer load is good enough that simply rooting it and installing all the cool extras is good enough. With Android v2.1 on the phone it is possible to install and run Google Earth for Android which supports ARM7 CPUs and Android 2.x only (so far). I'm also able to use all the Live Wallpapers, including the ones that require 3D acceleration.

Android v1.6 *shines* on the faster-than-most Acer Liquid. If you add one of the kernels, clocked to 896MHz or 1GHz from one of the modders, it runs even faster.

The phone has 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM. The RAM is half as much as a Nexus One (512MB), but a lot more than an HTC Magic 32B (192MB). Overall, it depends on your expectations. Mine are met.

Cons? A few.

The phone has no trackball or D-pad. This makes fine placements of the cursor difficult on small text. I'm used to getting the cursor close, then scrolling to the exact location with the trackball on an HTC Magic. With no such device, you have to either keep poking away until you get there or at least get on the same line just after, then del txt backward (and re-type it). No trackball can also make selecting text a bit hit or miss. Especially if the text you want is surrounded by other text. My finger tips are too fat sometimes and it gets fiddly.

The phone's internal app storage is - at most - 192MB. That is about 96MB less than an HTC Magic. That means you can install fewer apps before you fill up your phone. The Apps2sd mod, allowing apps to be stored on the sdcard instead of the phone's internal storage (root access required), isn't perfected yet on Liquid, though the devs are *very* close. perhaps this week. It's that close. But until then, my phone is down to about 20MB of free space for more apps, which equates to about 20-30 more apps. Then, if I want to install any more, I'll have to delete some. Having said that, I do already have over 100 apps installed and there are more than a few I don't use every day - or even every week. With the Android Market so easily accessible, I don't really need to have them on my phone when not using them, as I can install them any time, usually in seconds.

Summary

Overall the advantages of the Acer Liquid overwhelm any disadvantages. It's a HUGE step forward as an Android phone. The greater speed, higher screen resolution, more capable camera (still and video), plus 'advanced' video/graphics support...and generally good usability...make it a great phone (but for the reservations noted above). It's easily modded and root access is a 10 minute affair. The modding tools aren't mature yet, but they are close.

It's a good phone, too. The sound is good and the mic is good. Almost forgot about that! 

I bought a new Android phone: Acer Liquid A1

I've just bought a two month old Acer Liquid A1 thru TradeMe for NZ$580 (US$406 today) and I should receive it on Monday or Tuesday (01/03/2010 or 02/03/2010 - for readers months from now).  The Acer Liquid A1was released for sale in the UK on December 9th....so this phone is still very fresh.

The Liquid A1 is a perfect match for Vodafone or 2Degrees. It's got a Qualcomm i8250 "SnapDragon" 1GHz processor clocked at 768MHz because "It's nice and fast and gives better battery life".....I'm told. Overclocking it may be straightforward, but not worried if it isn't as this is still 50% faster than my existing phone. There is an active dev / hacker community on MoDaCo who have composed several ROMs abd Acer itself has already provided some updates via their web site.....so it looks like a going concern.

The only possible drawback at this point is the 256MB of RAM (versus 512MB for Nexus One).....but it is a definite step up from the 192MB on my Vodafone HTC Magic phones....and they run absolutely well enough to deserve respect in their own right.

But this phone is being upgraded to Android 2.1 for sure...and I will be able to run Google Earth on it as the i8250 is an ARM7 processor and the 800x480 screen resolution on the Liquid is the same as Droid or Nexus One.

So it's not quite a Nexus One......but it was about half the price if you buy on TradeMe or do the Google two-step and pay the GST/shipping on the import.

I'll write more about it when I get my hands on it. The specs on gsmarena show this is an Android phone that deserves respect.

iTunes Loses the Plot...Again.

Today I synced my iPod Touch with my Windows Vista PC...as I often do. It was the first time I had used iTunes or synced since my upgrade to iTunes v9.03 a couple of days ago. I accepted the license terms and then synced. Then I downloaded an app update from the Apple Store for an app I had already bought. (Click on the pics for full size)

At this point, the Apple Store demanded I authorise the PC or it would wipe out my songs and 45 apps. I thought this was a bit sad as I have already authorised this same PC twice...and this was to be the third time.

As usual......you have no real choice. You either do it or they screw you.

I have now used 4 of my 5 authorisations.....three of them on the same PC.

I availed my self of the iTunes Feedback option on the Help menu in iTunes. I fully expect to never hear a thing from anyone at Apple...but this is what I said:

Hi

I am now at 4 authorisations out of 5 and 3 of them are for the same computer. iTunes has - twice - after an upgrade required me to re-authorise the same computer.

There are several people on this Windows PC who own iPods and use iTunes, but my account is the only one that anyone can buy anything through. It is only ever used when I login to Windows and only for my iPod Touch.

The other two users never buy anything from Apple Store because one is a child and the other my wife and they only ever use externally-sourced mp3 ripped from CDs.

I all but stopped stopped buying music from the Apple Store when iTunes suddenly decided my $150 worth of songs was no longer mine...and wiped them off the PC and the iPod. 

This PC authorisation issue is just one annoyance. The menu on your web page here stops at iTunes v9.01....and I'm v9.03. That's the kind of thing that sees my songs wiped out...and the same PC authorised three times in two years.

I don't know what I expect you to do about it. What do you think you should do?

Your questionnaire below doesn't include the main reason I use iTunes: to backup my iPod and get files on and off it as there is not other way to do it.

Most of my music is ripped from CDs we buy. Buying online comes with too many restrictions about how I use it and too strings attached.

Anyway....that's my latest Apple Atrocity. I never have these issues with Android because Android doesn't impose these kinds of restriction on your in the first place! 

Seasoned Apple Survivors are very helpful and offer advice as to how to cope with the havoc this control-freak eco-system can wreak upon a person. I'm grateful to them. It's a big help. I was dumb enough to buy an Apple product, so I should be a big boy and live with the consequences. But I don't really have to. I do have other choices.

On a gut level, software like iTunes is telling me it's all about THEM......while Android on my phone and linux on my PCs does what I want and I make damn sure it's all about me.

Because I can. No one gets in my way the way Apple can. I'd rather thrive than survive.

UPDATE 20100503: I now use the "iSyncr" app for Android to sync my music and playlists from iTunes to my Android phone.  The good part here is that if iTunes decides to wipe out my music, I've already copied it from the sync folder on the phone to a music folder, so iTunes *can't* delete it. Again, looks like the best way to use iTunes is avoid using it with an iPhone or iPod.

Overclocking Hack not really....Explained

Michael Huang ("CoolBho3000"), author of "SetCPU" for Android, explains how and why the "overclocking" hack written by Eugene373 *looks* like its overclocking....but can't possibly be overclocking.

A ripping good yarn well worth reading.

If it is possible to overclock the HTC Magic the practical, stable solution has yet to be found. But it was fun there for a few days!

I've also discovered the "SuperD v1.8" ROM by benbuchacher and "Fasttest v2.3" by htcclay are VERY fast Android v1.6 ROMs. If they can just get the voice to work properly on out-going calls (bit me today - had to dump the ROM over it), these ROMs could be champion of champions.

htcclay has a new ROM out today. I'll check it and see if he's got the phone sorted.

Android / HTC Magic 'Must-Have': Amon_RA's Recovery v1.5.2G

Google Fodder: Before I rooted my phone the fear of the unknown was powerful.

What if I wrecked it? Could I ever put it back the way it was when I bought it? Could I BRICK my phone and render it dead, useless?

I didn't know anyone locally who had done it, so I took several months and worked out what applied to my phone...and what did not. There is a lot of old information out there. There is a lot of  "almost" information out there. It's almost right. This was made even more confusing for me by the fact the HTC G1 / Dream phone most of the relevent ROMs are developed for is almost entirely compatible with the HTC Magic 32B. They are both "32B" phones - but the Dream / G1 comes with an SPL of less capability (smaller system size possible) that matches the much smaller internal storage size of the G1 (96MB vs 295MB for the Magic). These differences require special measures for a G1 owner...but I didn't have to worry about at the SPL or related radio at all an HTC Magic owner. I was already there.

As it turned out, rooting the HTC Magic I got from Vodafone NZ, with an SPL of "Hboot 1.33.0004 (SAPP10000)", was ridiculously easy. It's almost designed to be rooted and doing so takes about 20 seconds once you know what you need to do. You can check the SPL on your phone by starting it in Fastboot mode:

1. Power off
2. Hold down the BACK button
3. While holding down BACK, press the Power / Call end button and release
4. Release the back button

Your phone should boot up into Fastboot mode showing you lots of system firmware details like the version of the Secondary Program Loader (SPL -> Hboot) and the radio.

I also learned it is impossible to brick the phone if you don't flash the radio and SPL. You can always get it going again as long as you have a system ROM to flash onto it.


You can even take a backup of someone else's "Factory Reset" ROM and install it on your phone.......just like the people who made your phone did when they manufactured it. The risk of doing any serious damage is virtually NIL.

You can also UN-do the rooting of your phone in about 60 seconds....putting your phone back to the way it was when you bought it.....or the way it was when you took your last backup of the 'stock' system prior to rooting it.

The most valuable tool for both rooting and UN-rooting your phone is a recovery image packed with very useful backup / restore and other system tools.

A Belgian developer known as "Amon_RA" on XDA has put together (building on the work of others) an almost perfect recovery image in his v1.5.2G for the HTC Magic 32B. Make sure you get the "G" as the "H" is for a Magic 32A and the "R" is for a Magic 32A from Rogers in Canada. Do not use anything but the "G" with an HTC Magic 32B phone.

Using this recovery you can:

- backup the current system system
- restore an entire system (all but the sdcard) from a list of previous backups
- partition your sdcard with scripts prompting you as to size and type.
- repair a damaged partition
- Toggle USB access from a PC on or off while in recovery state: great for getting files on / off your phone if is currently without a functioning system.
...several other, more esoteric things that are useful from time to time.

The basic steps for flashing a ROM or restoring from a backup are:

1. Backup current system.
2. Wipe system / dalvik cache (and ext partition if you're using APPs to SD).
3. Go to Partition SDcard and do a "repair sdcard"
4. Then you either Flash a new from from the sdcard OR do a restore.

Repeat as required. Flash 5 ROMs by lunchtime! What I have NOT covered here is how to get the recovery onto your phone - either temporarily as a kind of 'live' boot - or permanently. My purpose here is to describe how very useful this tool is.

You can get Amon_RA's recovery here. It's 4MB. (Magnet link for a bittorrent client):

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:020fdd92160739c8adb900174ccd7d179b8bc35e&dn=Android%3A+Amon-Ra%5C%5C%5C%27s+Recovery+for+Sapphire+%2832B%29&tr=http%3A%2F%2Ftracker.prq.to%2Fannounce

Here are some screenshots (sourced from XDA) of v1.5.1G. Get 1.5.2G as it fixes a bug with the restore of any backed up ext partitions.

Main menu

Backup menu

Video: "Fasttest" v2.3 (a Donut ROM) at 780MHz on my HTC Magic

2010-02-12 Update: The overclocking hack fooled even Android, but the processor output does not lie: It doesn't work. Here's why. All this showed was that a lean, fast ROM at 528MHz *looks* really fast...and so it is. That isn't so bad after all.

***************************************************************

I tried htcclay's "Fasttest" v2.3 ROM on  my testing phone with the Chris Soyars patched kernel allowing to be overclocked to 780MHz. It was so stable over a 24 hour period that I've installed it on my main phone as the primary system. This is a big move for me as my main phone almost always is running either the stock Android load that came with it, it the latest Cyanogen Mod. I need that phone working as perfectly as possible.

The main processor speed is only part of any computing device's overall performance. The Class6 sdcard takes more or less just as long to read and write as it ever did. The network sources of data dish it out as fast as they usually do - more or less....and so on.

The main things I've noticed about running at the higher clock rates are:

- more responsive user-interface
- soft keyboard more responsive
- the display renders more quickly - both on the main screen and in any app presenting a display - like the web browsers or YouTube app.
- the network - LAN or WAN - seems to be able to support faster throughput. This needs more testing.

I've made this video to try to give some sense of what it feels like. At the same time, it shows what a faster clock speed can't address: slow ad sites keeping you waiting. I took a risk going to the NY Times as its servers are on the other side of the planet from New Zealand..but you can see the browser render the content instantly once it has been received.

Have a look. If you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see, let me know. This was what I could think of this afternoon while not thinking about too much. The power went out at work and we were all sent home for rest of the day. Unexpected holiday? Make an android video, of course! :-)

The first Android v2.1 ROM for HTC G1 / Magic 32B is out!

Kingklick is the first XDA dev to release a full Android v2.1 ROM for HTC G1 / Magic 32B that scales to 780MHz. Read about it and download it here.

I'm downloading it now and when I'm able this evening, I'll start seeding it on bittorrent.

Overclocking your HTC Magic 32B / HTC G1 / MyTouch3G to 550MHz

Google Fodder: These simple steps let you make the current version of Cayogen Mod (v4.2.14.1) do the normal range of CPU frequencies while making 550MHz the top speed instead of 528MHz.

I'm posting this here, with some admendments and more detail, as stuff tends to get lost in XDA's forums as the volume of activity is high.

From XDA-Developers (Thanks BoomBoomPow!):

How-to for Cyanogen Mod v4.2.14.1:
(These instructions assume you already have this version of CM running on your phone!)

1. Download Pershoot's kernel image (2.5MB - I'm also seeding it on bittorrent: "kernel-2629-dp_mem-xtra.zip"- Thanks Pershoot!) and place it in the root directory of  your SD card.

2. Download and Install CoolBHO's SetCPU app (from Android Market)

3. Create a plain text file called setcpu.txt and place it in the root directory of your SD card. This only text in it will be:

128000,245760,384000,550000

(SetCPU looks for a "setcpu.txt" in the root of the sdcard on startup or when you choose "Custom" from the bottom of the device settings menu)

4. Boot your phone into recovery (Home + Power) and flash Pershoot's kernel image. You should already have a decent recovery installed. I recommend Amon-RA's recovery. I'm seeding it here for HTC Magic 32B only. (For G1/Dream, go to the xda-developer forum for that phone).

5. Once you have booted your phone to the Home screen, open SetCPU. Allow the SU Request, and scroll down to Custom Frequency Config at the bottom of the device list if SetCPU hasn't already picked up the setcpu.txt. If it has, the version will be something like "SetCPU v.1.4.6 custom" as in the screenshot here.

6. Have fun!

I've done this on my phone and it works perfectly. Here is a screen shot. This solution allows for the usual set of frequencies to be available, except the top one is 22MHz faster than before, an improvement of 4.16% on the original top speed.

Every little bit helps!

At 550MHz, your phone will now be as fast as a Motorola Droid / Milestone....and you can use SetCPU's profiles to wind the speed back when you're not using your phone (in standby) or charging your battery (keep the heat down).

The additional speed doesn't seem to have any big impact on heat. It's only 4% over normal.

Android Multi-tasking on HTC Magic 32B

Playing a song, downloading a folder full of songs from my FTP server over 3G, and playing an mp4 video.....at the same time. Plus I'm using the GDE Home user interface to make it happen. It all looks pretty smooth to me. I'll try to think of some better tests. Here is my first cut:

Installing Google Maps 3.4.0 (hacked nav) on my HTC Magic

My HTC Magic is running Cyanogen Mod v4.2.14.1 (today). I wanted to install the new Google Maps 3.4.0 hacked for navigation outside the US and supporting multi-touch.

I got the file - "maps3.4.0-brut3-MT.apk" via this thread (also includes a different version for non-rooted phones) at xda-developers. I'm seeding it on bittorrent here. They offered several options and i went for Option 3 as this best suited the configuration of my phone (CM v4.2.14.1 on HTC Magic).

To use adb you need to have the Android SDK installed on your PC. The file to be installed on the phone would have to be in [android-sdk-folder]\tools.  Then, open a linux terminal on the PC and "cd" to [android-sdk-folder]\tools, then:

The instructions were as follows, but I had problems immediately. Read on.

Instructions for option 3:

adb remount

adb shell find /system /data -name \*google\*maps.apk\* -o -name Maps.apk -delete

adb uninstall com.google.android.apps.maps

adb install maps3.4.0-brut3-MT.apk 

The find command didn't work - presumably because it was intended for the file layout of the HTC G1, not the HTC Magic.

Instead, I did (in a  linux terminal - would be the same on Windows in a cmd prompt):

adb remount
adb shell find / -name Maps.apk

I found it in /system/app and deleted it.

I backed out to the linux command prompt and tried to again follow the instructions above:

adb remount
adb uninstall com.google.android.apps.maps

...but it came back with "FAILURE".

So I did "adb shell" in the linux terminal again to get a command prompt on the phone and entered:

adb remount
adb shell
# find / -name *maps.*

...and got:

/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/sd/dalvik-cache/system@framework@com.google.android.maps.jar@class es.dex
/data/dalvik-cache/system@framework@com.google.android.maps.jar@class es.dex

I deleted these one by one (though the last two were the same - in effect).

"rm /system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar"

...etc..

I then did:

steve@media:~/android-sdk-linux/tools$ adb install maps3.4.0-brut3-MT.apk998 KB/s (2719843 bytes in 2.659s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/maps3.4.0-brut3-MT.apk
Success
steve@media:~/android-sdk-linux/tools$

...and it installed the hacked maps successfully.

I've just tested it and multi-touch and Navigation (outside US) works fine...though my street is still "unnamed road".

"Earth Rotation" live wallpaper on my HTC Magic

The latest update to the "Earth Rotation" live wallpaper runs well on OpenEclair v1.0 running on my HTC Magic 32B. Amazingly, these animated wallpapers don't appear to have much, if any, impact on the phone's system performance.

...and I've sorted out how to make a much better quality video. Yay!   

"Starfield 3D" live wallpaper on my HTC Magic

[UPDATE 2010-10-07: The Starfield live wallpaper appears to have disappeared from the Android Market at some point. It can still be found via Google on various file download sites. If you need any help locating it, send me an email. TS]

OpenEclair v1.0 (Android v2.1) allows HTC "32B" (G1 and Magic) owners to use the new animated "Live Wallpapers" on their phones. These have become fully functional only in the past 4-5 days on the very latest Eclair ROMs from XDA.

Even better, users can also see and download new Live Wallpapers from the Android market. Below is a video of my first Live Wallpaper download - "Starfield 3D" - running on my HTC Magic seconds after install.

"Open Eclair" version of Android 2.1 appears

The source code for Android v2.1 ("Eclair") was released in early January and the people who like to play with such things have gone to work in a big way. One of the results has been the "Open Eclair" project.

Based at XDA, this project has now produced it's first major release ROM, v1.0, for the "32B" class of HTC Dream and Sapphire phones. These phones are marketed variously as "T-Mobile G1", "HTC Magic" (Google phone flavour - a 32B), and "T-Mobile MyTouch3G".  The HTC Magic 32A, sold by Rogers in Canada and in Hong Kong and Singapore, isn't completely firmware compatible with the 32B class (G1 and Magic/MyTouch) and any ROM for 32B requires some additional modifications in order to run on a 32A phone.

OpenEclair allows "32B" phone owners to access new Android v2.1 features like the "Live Wallpapers". The 3D Gallery is only partially functional due to incompatibitilies between the existing video drivers for 32B phones and the later version of video drivers written for different hardware. The driver source is not Open Source, so users will have to wait for the source to be come available, the drivers to be reverse-engineered, or for an Over the Air (OTA) update to the stock version of their phone systems at some point in the future. The video camera is also not functional, though a solution has been found for the still camera.

Overall, OpenEclair delivers "32B" phone owners an almost-complete set of Android v2.1 functionality on their phones today.

Nexus One Live Wallpaper on my HTC Magic

The latest modded Android v2.1 ROMs for HTC Magic are showing a lot of promise. This one, known as "xROM", is almost perfect. The video camera isn't working and the 3D Gallery isn't quite there yet - looking great, just no pics! - but it's very close to working.

Looking forward the next one! But here is the Nexus One live wallpaper running on my HTC Magic.

Android App of the Day: iSyncr

Every app has a pre-amble - the reason I bought it. I cut to the chase below, but here is the pre-amble for iSyncr: I have an iPod Touch and I have a few songs on it that I have bought and can only listen to on my iPod Touch. That gets to be a tiresome....pulling out the iPod to listen to the handful of songs there sourced from iTunes, then pulling out my HTC Magic android phone to listen to the 100-ish songs there ripped from the CDs in my private music collection.

Why not just put them all on the iPod? Well, I guess I could, but then my iPod Touch won't let me delete any of the songs unless I go home and sync with the single PC on the planet that is allowed to host my iTunes library.

Whereas, my android phone lets me delete, on the spot, any song I don't want on the phone right now. Even better, the "AndFTP" app on my android phone let's me access (via FTP over the Intenret) my entire music collection at home. I can upload / download any song I like.

I haven't bought many songs on iTunes lately simply because they are locked in my iPod and I don't always have it with me. My phone caries the vast majority of my music.  I'm also a bit down on my iPod since iTunes blew away well over $100 worth of songs two weeks AFTER I had apparently successfully transferred my iTunes to a new PC. One day working / syncing fine....then next, I synced and all paid songs were gone. I went to download them again (worked for apps), but it wouldn't let me and told me I would have to buy them again.

No thanks. Already stung me once.  C'ain't trust dat.

Cutting to the chase:  Thanks to iSyncr, that's changed.

Now I don't have to trust iTunes because the iSyncr app let's me transfer the songs (or podcasts or videos) in any iTunes playlist  from my iTunes onto my android phone. Songs come across as *.mp4 files. Now I can safely buy more music via iTunes and be able to listen to them when I want or do something as simple as just delete them from the device (my phone) anywhere, anytime.

The iSyncr app is two things: a tutorial and a Windows program. You step through the app and  connect your phone to your Windows PC. The app places a Windows program called "iSyncr.exe" in the root of your sdcard. When your sdcard is then mounted on Windows, you run this program on your Windows PC from the sdcard. (I haven't tried copying the app to the PC. I'm thinking it won't work if I do that, but will try it.)

iSyncr.exe starts up iTunes and presents you with a window (seen, right, in the screenshot of the tutorial on the phone) allowing you to select which playlist(s) you want to copy to your phone. It also offers you the option of deleting all songs not on the playlist(s) from your phone, so you can use it exactly like iTunes if you want to. I just wanted to add the iTunes songs to the ones already there, so I didn't choose that option.

It worked as advertised. The four songs I have reluctantly bought via iTunes since iTunes ate my music were transferred to my HTC Magic (as *.mp4 files) and they play properly and sound great on my phone. The songs I sync'd over came with the artwork they picked up from iTunes, so that's another plus. You can see that in the first screenshot above of Anna Nalick's "Breathe (2a.m.)".

For anyone with an android phone who has bought music through the Apple Store, iSyncr is a must-have app. Even the smallest, cheapest iPod can now give android owners access to the iTunes music collection.....if you want to think of it that way.

I am.  This app might sell a few iPods to owners of Android phones. Win / Win. iSyncr is a paid app, but worth every penny of the $2-$3....I don't remember how little it was. :-)

The iSyncr FAQ is here.
   

Cheap, Low-spec Android phones out of China

I saw this "The Robot" android phone on Trademe and Googled it. I found it wholesaling on Chinavasion.com for NZ$250-ish (US$170-ish). That's cheap.

The specs are pretty mediocre, with a slowish processor (Samsung 400Mhz), 2.8" screen, no 3G, and only two GSM frequencies (900/1800).  This phone is useless in North America and is targeted for Rest of World (ROW). Almost all web sites talking it up use the same boilerplate text.

The phone will do what it says. In NZ, you can make calls on Vodafone or   2degrees. Telecom's XT network simply will not work as the phone can't even do either UMTS 850 or 2100. On a compatible carrier, you can surf the net via 2G/GPRS only. You can use it like a mini-netbook computer (slowly). I'm tempted to buy one just to see how good (or bad) it really is.

The only mention of an app market urges phone buyers to go to the And App Store. This isn't the Android Market, but if millions of people with cheap phones go there looking for apps, it may well grow quickly.

"The Robot" is just one example. There are others.

Fascinating to see this happening. Feels a bit like the early PC days.....an open platform growing like a weed in every nook and cranny.