How Nexus One changed my mobile life
Posted by tr
I have been using mobile phones for many years, but I just used it, not being influenced by it, until I got this one: Nexus One.
The most application that I use on N1 is Email. Android 2.X supports Exchange accounts. This is really a must have for my office emails. How can I access my office mails without a handy client, using web access? Come on, buddy, you must be kidding me.
The N1 Email client is just good enough for me: synchronization with my office email account, compose a quick reply on the fly. All are done transparently with some settings that are not those that can only be done by a veteran geek. This is good.
Also, it synchronizes my contacts, both in gmail.com and in my Exchange directory. This saves me a lot of time wondering where I should put my new contacts.
Of course, it has some fallbacks. First of all, it does not support a customized signature saying "Sent from my N1". You know how much I envy when I read a message with a "Sent from my iPhone" or "Sent from my Blackberry" signature? I wish I could do that on my N1 and I am willing to pay for this simple feature! (p.s. I had done a search in Android Market and find this application which seems to fit my requirement: Touchdown. It will cost me $20 so I will keep on evaluating for another 29 days!)
Another frequently used application is my Twidroid (an Tweet-like client but connected to BT group's own chat server running Status.net). With this application, I can stay tuned and online chatting with my buddies and get a catch on what is going on and share my findings.
There are also some other applications that I use almost equally often: Gmail, GTalk, Maps, Handcent SMS, 3banana, Camera.
These applications themselves are fully functional but the best part of it is that they are fully integated.
When I was in Zhangjiajie joining the company's vacation, I opened 3banana and created a note and quickly wrote down my comments, opened up the camera to take a shot of the scenes that I would like to share, and then sync to my 3banana server, and finally, share it with my BT friends with Twidroid! If I were not not using an N1, I could only have done this many, many hours later and will be much more troublesome.
Another example. I used to keep two calendars: one for my office and another for my personal activities. This approach is not so good. Why should I keep two calendars when I am only available for one thing at one particular time slot?
With N1, I can seamlessly synchronize my calendar events with my Google Calendar (on web) and with the help of a simple standalone program running on my notebook, I can synchronize my calendar with my Outlook too! This has removed my last headache in combing two calendars.
Now I can accpet an appointment initiated from my colleagues in Outlook and after synchronization, within a few minutes, my N1 will show this event too; or I can create my home/personal events at home in my desktop's Thunderbird application and after a few minutes, this entry will show up in my N1 and later (after synchronization) in my Outlook Calendar as well.
This is really fitting my needs.
Mobile phones was considered to be a tool only. But this tool is now getting stronger and changing my life style.
Before N1, I can hardly imagine that an old man as I am, an absolute non Gen-Y people, could adopt to these new stuffs so quickly and readily. I mean, I know these applications exist but I am not using them because a simple task is very much torn apart and will take my much intervene to make it happen.
N1 makes it cooler.
An Android application with map
Posted by tr
I had read a few tutorials on how to develop an Android appication with map display. Today I had actually built one. I would like to summarize the key points/steps in making this application work.
1. First of all, get an Android Map API Key from Google.
This actually involves two steps.
Firstly, you will have to create a key store to sign your Android application. This is quite easy and straightforward.
Secondly, apply an Android Map Key from Google: http://code.google.com/intl/zh-CN/android/maps-api-signup.html. To make this work, you have to know where is your key store file is located (as created in the above step) and also have the JDK tool named keytool. From the command line, type:
keytool -list -keystore the-path-to-your-key-store-file
It will prompt you to enter the password to the key store and will generate a MD5 finger print for this particular key store file. Copy this MD5 finger print to the above URI and Google will give you the Android Map API Key immediately. It is strongly suggested to save this Key information.
2. Create an Android application.
Note: It must be created with target set to: "Google APIs". You should not set the application target to "Android x.x" or it will not be running properly.
Note: The target of the AVD that runs the map application must also be set to "Google APIs".
The coding of the application is actually quite simple. There are only two points to be highlighted:
1. The application must be granted ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION and ACCESS_INTERNET permissions;
2. The mapview controll used in the view must be provided with the API key generated in Step 1. It will look something like this:
<com.google.android.maps.MapView android:id="@+id/myMapView" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:enabled="true" android:clickable="true" android:apiKey="your api key here" />
With these settings, the map application can eventually run successfully. However, in my implementation, the map shown in my AVD is only grids, no actuall maps at all. But in real machine (mine is Nexus One), the application is running correctly.
Now an era is over (or just began?)
Posted by tr
Google.cn is now redirected to google.com.hk. It is a clear message from Google, which I quote:
On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn.
...
Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
--Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html
The motivation for this move is straightforward:
The cyber attacks from China on those Gmail accounts, and the non-negotiable legal requirement for self-censorship to operate in China.
The result is also clear:
We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced—it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China.
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Is Google.cn really going to pull out China?
Posted by tr
A BTer just said in The group that Google wiil no later than today to announce it's decision to pull out its China operation. I am keeping a view on it.
Nevertheless, it will mark a giant milestone in China's Internet (or, to be more precise, Intranet) history.
I do solemnly declare…
Posted by tr
The rumor came about a few days ago: Google will pull out its China operation and the site dedicated for China.
Well, the final result is not out yet. But I would like to make my personal statement here:
I am trying very, very hard not to trigger the G-point of the f*cking GFW and thus my blog is full of techniques, books, my lifes, movies, musics, travels, etc.
Strictly, no political stuffs.
Yet, I am still becoming the victim of this f*cking censorship: my personal server was blocked because GFW blocked access to port 80. I can try another port, say 1984 or 1989. But fewer people will be able to do that just to get access to my site.
I have to transfer all my files and web service to outside of the wall.
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Now, since the censorship is actually hurting a used-to-be "good" people. I decided to be evil.
And now, coupling with the declaration from Google, I hereby make the following statements:
- If Google pulls out of China - you know what I mean - I will stop my blog composition in Chinese and will solely compose my blog in English;
- As I have already been hurt by trying to be good, I will be evil in your (the GFW's) eyes. I am already hurt, you can't hurt me further.
Google Nexus One手机使用感受——综合篇
Posted by tr
一个产品，可以如何改变我的生活呢？之前的我，一直对这个问题持否定的态度：一个产品对我而言，只是一个产品，我找到它的功能，然后在需要用的时候用其中的某个（些）功能。我从来没有想过这样的一种可能性：一个产品以其本身的特性、功能修改了我工作、生活的方式。任何这样的产品，都会被我称为“革命性”（Revolutionary）的。
我很愿意将Google Android Phone（特别的，是指我现在所使用的Nexus One）称为“革命性”的。
如今有了N1，我的工作方式有了很大的一些不同。
每天我都要花费将近两个小时在路上去上班或者回家。这两个小时原本是我脱离网络的时刻。回到家后，我也很少打开我的笔记本。现在不一样了。
和前令狐就Android的使用进行了一番简短的讨论，得出的结论是，我和他使用Android手机的模式不完全一样，或者说完全不一样。
Google Nexus One手机使用感受——软件篇
Posted by tr
应观众要求，先放一张王道：
Google Nexus One真机
N1上我没有装太多的软件。更多的时候还是用内置的软件。以下我仅根据我的使用感受对系统软件和我安装的软件做个简单的介绍。所有的外装程序都是免费的。