Hijinks Inc.

Category: Android

  • Tablets Are the New Netbook

    Remember when the iPad was announced and people said “meh…”? And now, less than a year later, it’s a huge bread winner for Apple. Everyone else appears to be noticing as well, in the past few weeks more and more tablet rumors have popped up with the vast majority of big name players in the industry on board.

    Don’t believe me? Let’s review…

    • The long rumored Notion Ink Adam has pricing, and is expected to launch between November 2010 and January 2011.
    • HP confirmed internally a webOS tablet, then confirmed publicly both a Windows and webOS based tablets for 2011.
    • Bloomberg reported recently that RIM is working on a poorly named tablet, dubbed “BlackPad”, which is supposedly going to launch in November.
    • ASUS was quick to announce the Eee Pad, but it likely won’t ship until March of 2011.
    • LG has confirmed their own tablets are in the works, including a Windows 7 based model and Optimus, an Android tablet. Promised ship date is Q4 2010.
    • Kmart is selling a cheapo Android tablet and even though it has terrible specs they seem to be selling like hotcakes, with Kmart barely able to keep them in stock.
    • Acer teased an Android tablet back in May, but apparently put it on hold until it can ship with Android 3.0 Gingerbread.
    • Toshiba just shipped, and promptly sold out of, a limited run of its dual-screen Libretto tablet.
    • Also from Toshiba is a rumored Android tablet, hitting the streets in September or October.
    • And of course Google and Verizon are supposedly prepping a Chrome OS tablet of their for launch next yet.

    While I did go outside the scope of the past few weeks, you get the idea. I’m also probably leaving out a ton of other tablets, like the failed JooJoo tablet for example.

    This whole jumping on the tablet bandwagon seems to me to closely resemble when ASUS first launched the Eee PC and the netbook revolution took off, people were a little skeptical at first and then realized it was a great idea. Now I’m not saying tablets will kill off netbooks, but they seem to be the flavor of the month for the foreseeable future. And reportedly the iPad by itself has caused a decline in netbook sales for ASUS.

    Bottom line, I love the iPad, but I really am excited to see cheaper (and hopefully better) tablet solutions from companies besides Apple.

  • Android App Review: Tweetdeck Beta

    Publisher: Tweetdeck.com
    Platform: Android (2.0 or higher)
    Cost: Free!
    [Signup Link]
    Release Date: August 12, 2010
    Version Reviewed: 0.9.3

    With great fanfare, Tweetdeck announced the release of the public beta for their Tweetdeck Android app.  Tweetdeck has been working on the application for several months, and promised to “push the boundaries” of the Android app experience.  Have they delivered?  Read on to find out. (more…)

  • Android ROMs: Source or Tweaked Build?

    Android ROMs: Source or Tweaked Build?

    If you’ve got a rooted Android device, there may be several full ROM builds available for your device.  These ROMs are full system builds of Android with various customizations that often go above and beyond the stock Android experience.

    ROMs are generally built for one or more specific purposes.  Some ROMs (the famous CyanogenMod for example), are built with many extra features and options that go way above and beyond the base Android options.  Other ROMs are streamlined for speed, with overclocked kernels and many memory tweaks to optimize the device.

    Regardless of the ROM’s purpose, there are only two ways to build a ROM, from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source code, or by customizing an existing build of the OS for the device.  Read more about them after the break.

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  • Get the Official Android 2.2 Update for the Motorola Droid!

    Good news for the Motorola Droid users out there!  The official file for the Android 2.2 (FroYo) update has been located on Google’s servers by one of the early receivers.  This means you don’t have to wait for the file to be pushed to your device – you can download it and install it now!

    This is the official file directly from Google’s servers and is the exact file being pushed out to phones.  The install process is pretty easy and is outlined after the break. (more…)

  • Juice Up Your Battery Life!

    If there’s a consistent complaint among most Android phones, it’s the battery life. Especially as the screens get larger and higher-resolution, the battery life continues to shrink (I’m looking at you, Droid Incredible!). While there are some options for higher capacity batteries on the market, I’m going to go over some ways you can extend the life of the battery you’ve got.

    To discover where your battery issues lie, the first thing you need to do is see what’s eating up your battery. I recommend checking this after you’ve run your battery down most of the way on a normal day of use. To check your battery use, go to your Android Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Use. You should see a screen that looks something like mine. This screen will tell you how long your phone has been unplugged and what applications are using the most battery. Depending on how you use your phone, you can expect to see things like the Display and Phone calls toward the top of the list. If you have any installed applications using much more than 2-3% of your battery (depending on your usage), you might want to see if they have any settings that might reduce their impact. (more…)