Chippy's Hiblue Lab » smartphones

Solved: Note to Reader, In Android

chippy — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:34:37 +0000

Many of us use Google Reader to read RSS feeds. It’s a tidy way to scan and archive a lot of news and it can be well organized into groups of different content. My go-to feed of the day is my ‘mobile-computing’ category (public here) and as I go through the items I tend to share ones I think I need to follow up on or that other people would be interested in. Each shared item ends up on my shared page and on an RSS feed that gets fed into the front page of UMPCPortal. I even use tags to generate specific RSS feeds for other places. I might use the tag ‘carrypad’ if I want the item to be linked with the Carrypad website for example. When you step outside Reader and get links thrown at you from email, twitter and just general browsing, you need to find another way to mark them. Either for reading later, sharing or creating an RSS feed. There’s Instapaper, Read it Later and Delicious but instead of using a separate service Google have their own called ‘note in reader’ which is a little applet that you can add to your desktop browser toolbar and it allows you to highlight any web page you want, regardless of whether it is in your feed or not. Conveniently it allows you to add a note and a tag which is just perfect for me. As I find an interesting page, I’ll note it to Google Reader and add a tag. I can’t think of a better way in which to share, annotate and route information to various sites, editors and followers (the tag-based RSS feeds can be fed into Twitter but I tend to import them into the great Lifestream plugin for WordPress.)

Post continues…

The other thing I love about keeping everything within Reader is being able to use offline tools for reading the content at a later date. There are plenty of offline Google Reader apps out there. I use NewsRob on Android most of the time.

The process is near perfect for me apart from one thing.

When I browse my tweets, emails and Facebook feeds it’s often on my phone. In fact, it’s becoming more often than not. I use an Android phone which, as a Google user, is about as integrated as it gets but can I find a ‘note in reader’ capability on the OS or in the list of 100,000 applications? No. Yes.

I did have the capability in an app called Paperdroid but since Google modified their authentication process back in June the damn thing has stopped working and it appears that the developer has abandoned the project.

I’ve looked at Pixelpipe too but no, despite over 100 sharing options, there’s nothing for Google Reader.

The solution lies in an Android application called Bookmarklet (via Wapreview, Android Market Link) which implements many common applets as items in the ‘share’ list. (you’ll need to enable ‘Google Reader’ in the application.) When you’re on a web page you want to share in Google Reader simply choose the ‘share page’ menu option (hidden under ’More’ on the standard browser) and look for Google Reader. Unfortunately the content of the page is not included in the share but the title and URL are. That’s enough to keep me going. Tag support and notes are included too which means I can route page shares to a/multiple RSS feeds and annotate as necessary. Until Google bring on board a native ‘note in Reader’ feature, the Bookmarklet app is just the ticket.

N82 Picture – Orchid

chippy — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:30:47 +0000

I’ve just passed the 2.5 year mark with the N82 and I’m still looking for something that can replace it. As reported many times here, on Carrypad and on the XperiaX10 blog, my Xperia X10 isn’t up to the same standards. I’ve been looking at the Motorola Droid XT720 and Nokia N8 as replacements but we’ll have to see about that soon. In the meantime, the N82 is doing a good job…

Click for full version. ISO 100, F2.8, 1/333s

Just how good is the X10 Camera, Arne?

chippy — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:53:29 +0000

Some people say that twitter friends are important influencers. This morning, Arne Hess threw a big one my way with a simple "I must admit that I’m deeply impressed by the SE Xperia X10 8 megapixel camera!" [source]

Wonderful. Just as I get over my desire for the Satio (plastic, not fantastic) and the Vivaz (Steve Litchfield wasn’t that impressed so I’m not impressed) out of my system, I now have to reconsider the Sony Ericsson X10 that I had previously discounted due to expensive price (around 500 Euro making it 150 Euro more than the Motorola Milestone) and a 1.6 version of Android (see how impressed JKK was when he upgraded to 2.1 on the Milestone/Droid)

You might have already read that I’ve got an N82 which was, after I’ve repaired the control key, going to continue to be my #1. The problem is that 1) The Xenon flash is starting to fail. We’re up to about 20% pre-flash / flash fail rate now (I must have run 5000 photos or more through it so I’m not surprised) and the two batteries I have aren’t giving me more than 4-6hr battery life even on GSM with no services running. With the delay to the Dell Mini 5 (which was to be my uber-phone in working situations) it now means I have at least 3 months ahead of me without a reliable smartphone and that’s not acceptable.

I’m still looking at the Milestone and at 360 Euro, it’s an absolute bargain now but if the X10 is going to get 2.1 and has top-class photography (based on all my criteria) then I’m willing to give it a shot at 20 Euro per month. But then, there’s the Nokia N8 and LG GW990 to think of. If they feed in at the end of the year I don’t want to be stuck with the X10 and 20 Euro per month.

Maybe I should just get a Nokia 6710 Navigator , LG Electronics GW620 (loving the look of the 5-row keyboard on that) or Android 2.1-based Samsung Galaxy Spica to keep me going over the summer. At 250 Euro, these are all bargains.

..and down again. Satio story ends.

chippy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:15:23 +0000

As promised, I took a trip into my local O2 store and as usual, they wouldn’t get a Satio out for me to try. Last time I was a potential customer. This time i’m a customer. I don’t know what’s worse.

Anyway, after trotting over to the T-Mobile store and connecting to my Mifi to the display Satio, I had a good play. The camera is, as I have already discovered, very very impressive. The ‘best pic’ function is good too. Web browsing seemed average and I was a bit disapointed with the speaker but overall, the feature set is very very impressive.

I didn’t buy one though.

The big problem is that it feels like it fell out of a Christmas cracker. The plastic is cheap and it looks like the ‘silver’ will rub off within weeks. I literally couldn’t handle it any more and walked out of the shop knowing that the Satio is NOT for me.

Sometimes I feel I’m a little bit too careful when choosing a phone but when it’s the most used peice of electronics i’m likely to buy for the next year or two, I don’t mind being a bit picky.

It looks like I’ve exhausted all phones from my ‘toplist’ now so there’s only one thing to do…wait.

Satio Firmware Upgrade puts it Back On Top.

chippy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:41:31 +0000

I’ve written about the SE Satio and how it could be the perfect upgrade from the N82 for me. I’ve also written about why it’s not the perfect upgrade for me.
Today, the SE Satio goes back onto the top of the list after news about a firmware upgrade broke at the end of last week. The new features look great. Especially that boost to video recording and direct upload to YouTube.

Support for WVGA video recording – The already great video recording will be enhanced to fit the wide screen format and hence resolution is also slightly increased to 864 * 480 pixles. (the preset size will still be VGA, user has to change to get WVGA)
Upload of pictures to Facebook – It will be possible to upload pictures directly from the picture menu you have on the home screen or from the Media UI.
Youtube video uploading – It will be possible to upload videos to Youtube directly from the Media UI.
Conversational messaging – “Conversations” will be nicely integrated in the messaging menu in order to easily find and inspire to more conversations with your friends.
DLNA support – The new software will support DLNA media server for easy transfer of audio and still pictures. (Note that video is not supported)
UI improvements – On top of above, several minor UI improvements have been done in order to optimize the user experience.
The Facebook application that is now available on PlayNow for free download will be included in the sw.

Owners are reporting that the device is now faster and smoother too.

The best news, and the news that has put the Satio back on top of the list though comes from Satio owner ‘tpagpuss‘ who has Gravity, Ovi Maps and Opera Mobile 10.5 running on it after modifying the phone to accept Nokia software. He also linked me to some great low-light pics taken with the flash proving that it’s at least as good as the N82. It actually looks better than my two-year old N82 to me. Finally, I found this blog from another Satio owner who says “Shooting Pictures on the Go hasn’t been this much Fun since i got my beloved N82 some Years ago ” He’s posted a nice gallery of pics taken with the Satio here.

There’s a universal feeling that battery life isn’t that good but i’m betting that it’s going to beat my N82 which needs charging every 5 hours under my usage conditions. Two batteries is normal for me.

Priority for me: Top-quality camera – Check
Opera Mobile 10.5 – Check
Ovi Maps – Check
Google Maps – Check
Gravity – Check
Faster, better screen than my N82 – Check
One or Two-handed operation – Check

The only thing I’m missing on my list is Ovi Store.

The risk remains that Nokia will come out with a Satio-beater next week but in this day and age that risk is always there. I have no doubt that the Satio will be an old phone in just a month or two. This afternoon I will wander down to the O2 store to see what they can do. I’m a new customer with them since last week and haven’t taken a data or voice plan yet so I’m expecting some flexibility on the price. I’m hoping for flat data over two sim cards and the phone for under 50 Euros per month.

Check back later or follow my tweets to see how I get on.

Tweet-Walk for Droid, N900, HD2 info in Bonn.

chippy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:38:53 +0000

There’s nothing more fun than walking from mobile phone shop to mobile phone shop trying to work out what exactly is going on in the market. For a start it’s shocking to hear the differences in opinion between shops of the same ‘brand’ and secondly, none of them have a clue what’s going on with their own websites let along what’s happening in the market. Questions about the Motorola Milestone today were met with that millisecond pause that tells you that what comes out of their mouth is going to be bullshit!

What I did discover is the following (that will only be of interest to Germans, that can read English. (note-to-self: Maybe widening your niche area might result in more visitors!)

As I went from shop to shop I tweeted my findings:

Vodafone and 02 have confirmation that the Droid / Milestone is coming. I’m a Vodafone customer who’s contract finishes in Feb so this is interesting to me but there’s something even more interesting.

O2 have an interesting ‘transparent’ system where they’ve separated the phones and contracts into different products. A phone is free and costs 5,10,15 or 20 per month over 2 years. It allows them to sell voice and data services on a month-by-month basis. You can combine multiple products in different ways which benefits someone like me who rarely makes a voice call but is connected to the data channel for most of the day. I’ve been offered a Motorola Milestone/Droid for 20 Euro per month / 24 months (480 Euros) I can then add a 0 Euro per month voice contract. (0,15 Euros per call/sms) and then (and this is the cool part) add a 300MB or 5GB HSPA (in Bonn) contract on for 10 or 25 Euro per month. (Actually they are both flat rate data but throttle down to GPRS after the limit is reached.) For 45 Euro per month I get a Droid and 5GB of lovely 7.2mbps data. Vodafone, you’ve got about 5 days to offer me something else because apparently the Milestone/Droid will be here next week.

Other updates: Amazon have one weeks exclusivity on the Nkia N900 in Germany. Nokia shop gets it one week later. (Should be under 2 weeks)

I didn’t get a chance to talk to the T-Mobile people about the HTC HD2. It’s coming soon and it looks like it will be exclusive to T-Mobile for a while as no-one else knew anything about it. The T-Mobile shop was rammed full so I left. Maybe I’ll check them out again later.

I spotted the Omnia Pro B7610 in a few shops and spoke to one person about why it took too long to reach the shelves in Germany. ‘Germany is a different place’ he said. ‘Everyone else is casual about faults but it’s different in Germany.’ I had to laugh out loud because it’s so true. The Germans are the best quality control testers in the world!

It’s funny how a walk around the shops results in a different conclusion to browsing the web. There’s an extra special element of excitement that can catch you unaware. Right now I’m seriously thinking about the Milestone for next week. If I get it I’ll start a sub-blog droid-milestone.carrypad.com My only worry is that I will end up with a QWERTZ keyboard.