Over the past several weeks, many of you have been entertained by my op-ed, “Man On The Street” style of writing. I’ve had many people on Twitter positively comment on the subjects of my articles, and I’ve hopefully given many of you a good laugh, or at least a thought-provoking nodding of the head. Thank my buddy Cameron Wright (@cynikaloptimist on Twitter; follow this guy) for the inspirational nudge that I needed to even begin to write. But that’s why I do this: to give a different perspective on what’s going on in the world of Android. This platform that many of us have adopted and even treat as our own hellspawn, err, children, is constantly changing, evolving into something totally different from the first days of the G1, before pastries like “Cupcake” and “Donut” were on the tips of our tongues.
“Alright man, we dig what you’re saying. But what are you TELLING us?”
Simple. It’s time to expand a little bit. Make a small change, add some variety to the mix. Man can’t live on bread alone, and androiddose.com can’t live on op-ed pieces all day. So, as a way of saying “Thank You” for having a platform to voice the opinion of the layman (or woman), I’ve decided to accept the challenge brought before me and write a few more articles per week. No, I’m not going to be stuck to my laptop, trolling the Interwebs for any snippet of information I can write about 24/7. I have to make time for family, sleep, and Android After Dark (shameless plug). But I will be increasing the frequency of overall decent articles and postings about what’s happening in Android. Not much, a couple extra articles per week.
Hey, hey… Don’t cry. My op-ed column is here to stay, that’s guaranteed. In fact, I’m planning on writing an op-ed piece once a week. Wednesdays sound good, but you never know. I have two that I’m working on right now, just for your reading pleasure. So stay tuned over the next few weeks. I think you’ll all enjoy the new content, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or 20.
Back to the grindstone…
September 9th, 2010
Aaron
The cat is finally out of the bag! The successor to the worlds first Android powered device, the HTC G1 has finally been made official. Over the last several weeks we have seen pictures of the G2 and even a few hands-on comments, but Today T-Mobile has made the G2 official, In an early morning press release T-Mobile announced that they have partnered with HTC to offer the G2, Their first HSPA+ device. The phone will be the first phone designed specifically with T-Mobile’s HSPA+ high speed data network in mind, Touting 4G download speeds. The G2 will run Android 2.2 at launch featuring Voice Actions as well as other tightly integrated Google services. And the best news, Pre0rders in limited quantities will start later this month
Key Features:
- 3.7″ Screen
- Unique hinge design
- Full QWERTY KEyboard
- Qualcomm’s Smapdragon MSM7230 800MHz CPU (2nd Gen)
- 7 Home screens
- 720p HD Video Recording
- 4GB Internal Memory
- 8GB MicroSDHC card installed with support for 32GB
- 5 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash
- Dedicated customizable quick keys
- Pinch to Zoom capability
- Adobe Flash Player
- Virtual Keyboard will feature Swype Technology
Continue reading “T-Mobile makes the G2 Official – Get your Preorder on this month!” »
September 8th, 2010
Aaron
It is widely known that the Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate on Verizon’s network features Bing as the default search provider. While it isn’t clear if they actually intended it to be extremely difficult to switch to Google’s search or not, It is very clear that it isn’t customer friendly. Now to that end I have found a way to get it working and for those that are willing to lose the TouchWiz launcher your good to go… All you have to do is install Launcher Pro or ADW from the Android Market and Google search magically appears as you can see in the video below.
UPDATE: After testing this does not get to the heart of the problem, only the look of the search widget is changed it still pulls results from Bing
September 4th, 2010
Aaron
What is the Big Android BBQ? Have you been living under a rock? Do you have a pulse? Ok well for those that don’t know, The Big Android Barbecue is a grassroots event celebrating Android’s 2nd birthday and the launch of the HTC G1 on T-Mobile, The first Android powered mobile phone on the market. As the barbecue draws closer the community excitement is building at a feverish pace!
What started out as a simple back yard barbecue for Android friends has blossomed into the quintessential Android event put on by the community. From humble beginnings the Big Android BBQ has grown into a weekend long event with a full schedule ranging from a Pool Party to Laser Tag and much more. Friday night, Oct 1st will feature an informal pool party and bar crawl starting at the host hotel, the Staybridge Hotel & Suites. Saturday will feature “conference” sessions, where various workshops and panel discussion will take place as well as a Modders open forum/round table featuring Simon Walker from AndroidSpin, Chris Soyars and several other Team Douche members. Kyle, TheDroidGuy will have an informal session talking about how he uses Twitter and other social marketing strategies followed by the Android Alliance Summit, a town hall discussion regarding responsible Android blogging, reporting ethics and what you want from your community sites. Saturday evening will feature the 2 official laser tag matches, Samsung Service Center vs LG Sales Laser Tag game followed by the official Android vs. iPhone match. Sunday starts off with a scavenger hunt the morning before the barbecue and then of course the main event, a short Keynote and presentation start off the event then off to get some of Big Kevian and Ray Walters’ smoked BBQ while we get to know each other and have a great time! For the full schedule details including times and other information check out the schedule of events.
Starting out as a small grassroots event the Big Android BBQ has really started to gather steam, Not only has the community stepped up and made this the Android event outside of Google I/O to attend this has become and event the industry want to attend. The event has garnered support from major industry players, These companies have stepped up and said “Hey this is an event that we want to be a part of”.
The official sponsor list includes:
At this point there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 Tickets left so if you want to come to the BBQ you need to hurry!!! And Remember you get all the BBQ you can eat, All you can drink and a killer Android Barbecue T-Shirt!
If you are looking to carpool you can sign up as a rider or driver (I’m signed up as a driver), There is another contest giving away airfare for those still looking to fly. Discount coupon codes for flights on Continental are still available as well… Be sure to follow @androidbbq on twitter for the latest info as well as @androidswag and @thedroidguy
