Sync Contacts problem in Froyo?
Symptom: No matter how you tried, you will not see Twitter and/or Facebook data in your contacts.
Cause: When you upgraded your Android to Froyo, you are likely to face this issue–missing Facebook and/or Twitter contact in your existed contacts. It’s somehow broken the bond between Contact & Facebook & Twitter.
Solution: Go to Settings | Applications | Manage Applications – find Twitter and/or Facebook, then tap Clear data. Restart once, check if you have Sync Contacts turn on for those apps. You should be good to go now. If you still find a problem, try Clear data in Contacts too. It will be a bit slow to recover this time since it will have to start from scratch again, but you will have everything in order again.
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This has been addressed by Motolora couple days ago before upcoming Droid X, which is named to be the best phone yet, is available.
I really don’t understand yet how Motolora decided to piss customers (or soon to be customers) like this. As Nexus One owner, I can do pretty much all I want with phone. However, I still use stock ROM, why? I don’t like any custom ROM over vanilla one. Nonetheless, I do push some edited libraries I like to my phone such as light_mahimahi and indeed superboot image which is for root access. Nothing is better than what you’ve done by yourself.
The way I see this is Motolora can just do the way Google did with Nexus One. You can unlock easily, but the consequence is no turning back and surely voiding warranty. That is software part of course—if your phone turned to a brick, that’s yours since you gave your consent before unlocking. However, if hardware failure happens, that should be covered. There is a rumor about eFuse being used in Droid X as well, but that ain’t confirmed. If it’s true, it would be the worst move ever. By the way, we all know that rooted phones are just a minority; custom ROM phones are even less, but these are groups of people who are willing to buy every single new phone or considering as pretty loyal customers. I guess that Motolora never learned when Palm, Inc pissed off all loyal customers then.
For me, the worst thing of this issue is Motolora is like the only company so far that has a physical keyboard which I really want. Milestone was my target. This issue gave me a big pause—since I was waiting for superboot image for it for a while now. However, with new Droid X, I guess Motolora will have no real advantage to other companies then.
Good bye, MOTO until you change your mind.
updated: (July 28, 2010) It seems like DroidX can be rooted pretty easy w/o breaking anything; what a good sign that is.
Popularity: 1% [?]
AT&T Nexus One to Froyo
It’s been a while after T-mobile one got Frozen Yogurt. However, it’s time to end since Google started pushing Froyo OTA update since last week. I got 2 OTA updates, but they both failed to complete the update. Why? because I rooted my EPE54B. Thus, OTA will not do the job nicely.
How? you can do all manual update =) As of now, Google released FRF85B. For whom you might not understand, all T-mobile and AT&T, which have their own build number, will have to same build, FRFxx. When Google first released Froyo to T-mobile Nexus One, it’s like FRF50. However, not it’s FRF85B which is official.
Update procedure: it will be 2 path for rooted N1 and unrooted N1.
1. For unrooted N1, EPE54B, you just grab images of your build below.
2. Rename the file to update.zip and copy to root directory of SD.
3. Reboot your N1 to recovery mode by holding volume down + power. You will get into HBoot/Fastboot mode.
4. Use volume up/down to select menu and power to select “recovery.” N1 will reboot again to /!\ page. That’s fine. Then, you have to get into recovery mode by holding power and press volume up.
5. You will see Android system recovery;you now can use your trackball to select any option. Choose apply sdcard:update.zip
6. Wait until reboot and have fun with Frozen Yogurt.
For rooted N1, you will have to take rougher route. You actually have many ways to do so. Custom ROM like Modaco or else, for example. However, I just prefer to have original ROM with root access. You can follow these steps to do so:
1. go back to original image.
2. update as unrooted N1 steps above
3. root FRF85B
For the first step, you need to download original image, here. Please check md5 too. Then you have to extract boot.img, recovery.img out to your android-sdk tools directory (c:\android-sdk\tools for me) Now you are ready to copy old image to replace superboot one by fastbooting. You have to get to Fastboot mode and check if it’s Fastbook USB which is indicated connection between N1 and computer.
c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot devices // to check if computer sees N1 c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot erase userdata c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot erase cacheThis 2 steps above are optional and if you use Amon_RA’s recovery, you will have to get into recovery mode to wipe those.
c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot flash boot boot.img c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot flash recovery recovery.img c:\android-sdk\tools> fastboot rebootThat would be all set for returning back to original image =) (well, not exactly true since we didn’t care about system.img and userdata.img which the update doesn’t bother.)
For the last step, download superboot image here. Then rename to update.zip and apply sdcard:update.zip in recovery mode like when you did with updating Froyo image.
Now you will be very happy AT&T Froyo Nexus One like I am.
Note: FRF85B root update.zip didn’t do the trick for me since it’s error while updating. If you face the same situation, just ask. You can do a manual way also =)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Apple iPad – too big or just the right size
First of all, how the hell Apple manages to get *4:3 IPS panel* at this time while no others even care to get one. Kudos to Apple for that.
I don’t know what Apple plan for iPad; some says to beat netbook to death; some says to beat tablet pc; some says to create new category; whatever that is, I know Apple will find the way to establish their products well, regardless how big market share would be. When I first saw iPad, my react is like, “hmm they really did that!? I love to buy one,” but when I got to specification and realized that it is 9” screen; it gave me a big pause, here. 9” is way to big to consider as on-the-go device and one-hand operation, I don’t know really how I’m going to use it if I have one.
Well, it’s iPhone OS. I’m not sure if that is a good choice for such a big device like this. If it were 7”, that would be awesome with iPhone OS. I guess I gotta tryout on this. The only reason why Apple use iPhone OS I see is the thinness since it runs on ARM CPU; I can’t imagine Apple uses such a low end stuff like Atom either. Imagine that Steve Jobs claimed that Apple works with Intel specifically to have such a powerful CPU package named Atom. Nah, it just never works out well.
God almighty huge on-screen keyboard! That looks good. I think it will beat any on-screen keyboard indeed and yet, it might beat Apple own real physical keyboard as well since I have no clue why the heck they have that uncomfortable, thin and no tactile feedback for bigass iMac.
On the couch, it will be one of the hell device out there—no arguement here. I would love to see how IdeaPad U1 goes too since it’s basically the same thing as iPad, just differrent OS, which Apple already proved their supremacy, while Lenovo is just newbie. However, I can’t see iPad being used anywhere else. We’ll see if my imagination is too short here.
In short, this is just one of million opinions on iPad. We’ll see how it’s going to change when iPad releases.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Lenovo Ideapad U1 – fantastic 2
It’s good to see new idea implemented. Now it’s Lenovo’s turn. The idea of having tablet and the base is not that new since always innovating introduced a while ago although they don’t do mass production as of yet [or can’t build enough.] However, Lenovo came up with a similar idea, but it seems to be much more practical. Instead of having 1 machine which can be separated into 2 pieces, they decided to have 2 separated machines that can be merged into 1 device. Really interesting!
A tablet part is running by 1GHz ARM processor, 16GB SSD, Wifi-n, 3G, resistive touch, webcam, and battery. It’s powered by Lenovo-customized version of Linux. A base part is another machine running by Core 2 processor, standard HDD, memory, HDMI, Wifi-n [another NIC for base!!], and battery which is operated by Windows 7. You might wonder if they can really run as 2 devices; They can! according to laptopmag.com. You can use your TV or monitor plug to HDMI for the base while playing with the tablet part somewhere else.
How do they work? There is some sort of synchronizing program when 2 parts are joined. You will not lose anything when running on each device. For example, you are browsing Google Reader on tablet part. When you merge it to the base, that page will show in Windows 7 too. Well, I’m looking forward to it!
Lenovo blog says it is believed to cost $999 as starting price point and will be available in April, 2010. Not too shabby.
More information:
Hand-on video @ laptopmag.com
A lot of pictures @ pocket-lint.com
Inside info @ Lenovo blog
Popularity: 1% [?]
Pandora is real now; so close!
well, I wish I had Pandora with me now. MWeston was showing/playing trying to make us want Pandora even more !!
Like someone in the community said, “take your damn time, but it’s better be damn good.”
Yeah, I can see that’s coming!! hold your breath, it’s so darn close now.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Palm Pixie: epic fail again
You may recall that Palm Pre is kinda sucess, but, in fact, it’s sorta fail. Being in NYC, I usually see any new device being used at all time. Few years ago, Palm Treo was the one. Every time Palm released the new one; yeah, there were tons of them everywhere. For Palm Pre, I honestly say that I haven’t seen one being used yet. The sale figure is just too minimal, esp. when Sprint decided to stick Pre with Simply Everything Plan *only*
Palm made news again! Palm Pixie, aka. stripped down version of Pre or Centro series of webOS. It looks badly similar to Palm Centro, but with webOS, it’s much much more interesting (or not?) At the very first, I was about to grab if Sprint doesn’t tie this tiny phone with any plan. Now I just see that it’s missing WiFi. WTH? My best bet would be like Sprint has something to do with it. They just want everyone to have this tying with data plan, so they can get $ more. No-go for me indeed. Why would I have to pay $30 for data while I’m paying $10 a month for data on my Treo and get the same thing. But if Palm won’t release either Pre or Pixie on GSM board + Wifi on board. Then PALM, this 4-letter, will fall out of the market pretty soon. Not to mention whether they are following App store’s policy from Apple or not.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Palm PRE – Will I get it?
I still work on this question after get my dirty hand on tireless Palm Pre at local Sprint Store. Yeah! Although most of Palm powered devices don’t have any much more attention than any other device on the shelf, Palm Pre is an exception. It, honestly, doesn’t seem like a product from the company with 4 characters like PALM that used to know. Almost all people would like to have hand on such a new flashy device like Palm Pre.
View Full AlbumI won’t deny that it feels great in my hand. The rubberized texture on the back does help a lot, but I hate to say the qwerty keyboard is too small & too thin—like Centro which I couldn’t even type comfortably and correctly. When sliding the screen up, I almost lost how to control the device between keyboard and the screen. It’s like keyboard couldn’t do anything to control stuffs and screen is way too far. I wish Pre was taller, had larger screen and used only on-screen keyboard or make the keyboard like what we have on Treo! That would be much better, but with only $199, that’s tough decision! haha
On software side, webOS does give such a nice feeling. Although I hadn’t tried to get to know it much, I feel it has potential to be real successor for Palm OS day, but what I couldn’t figure out is where the zen of Palm. Ease of use? Well, let me tell you one thing, Calendar, and all PIM are only the reason why I still wait for Palm. However, when I made new event for calendar, I had no clue how to get out of that page to the day/week/month view. I have to get to main page, throw the card away and call calendar again. At least, one thing I can say is it’s not that intuitive like what I’m waiting for. Learning curve is definitely helping here, but it’s sad somehow losing all that feeling from this company. Other than not quite intuitive UI like what we have on iPhone, I don’t feel Palm Pre has the edge over iPhone much. Honestly, I don’t like iPhone much, but it still rule mobile’s world.
Time… is the factor here. This is only first time—10 mins perhaps. I might not know the OS and the phone enough to say that it’s worse than iPhone, but the smaller screen, below-par keyboard, not any notification besides screen doesn’t help Palm Pre cuts the edge over iPhone. We’ll see how 3rd generation of iPhone looks like. Then I definitely make a decision whether I will be Palm fanboy like old days or turn myself to be cool carrying iPhone.
I still wish webOS found the way to have PDA-style device on its own. I would buy it in matter of second for sure =)
Popularity: 2% [?]
Verizon Hub – VoIP Renamed
Well when I first saw the ads about Verizon Hub as “the Home Phone Reinvented.” I thought it was such a good idea integrated some sort of little computer into home phone. With a nice interface, that could really help technology grow exponentially into non-geek folks.
That’s really neat. I couldn’t wait figure out what is running behind. As a result, it comes with unknown processor, 128MB RAM (as storage??), 10/100 Ethernet, WLAN, support most video and audio codecs, and 7” (800×480) touch screen. On application layer, it has sort of gadget for weather, traffic, movies, traffic, calendar, contacts, tracking system w/map, and messaging (I assumed that it is e-mail?)
Yeah, sounds nice, but when it comes to the price and how to hook it up, that really kills the deal since it basically is VoIP phone and you need *your own* broadband to do so. $200 for device and $35 more a month for service. That is about $420 a year excluding all surcharges. If it really is home phone with DSL + access point, that would be fine. However, this thing uses up our internet. Nationwide free unlimited call is what you can find for free or much cheaper, e.g. Google Voice, or ~$15 for 4 months free US call with VoipBuster, $10 with T-mobile@home, etc, thus this is not counted. That’s just too much $ for Verizon to ask.
Briefly with this setup, I guess $15 or $19.99 for service charge would be an okay point, $25 maximum! For me, I would love to have Eee Top thing + T-mobile @Home over this any day, but hey! this would be nice replacement for Vonage-like users though. In the end, Verizon hub is just another toy with premium price basically, not any innovation or evolution as I expected. You still can’t make a phone call when blackout. If you want more info then jump to VerizonWireless.com/hub [This is not even on Verizon.com]
note: This setup costs $620 for first year + $420 more next year, while Eee Top 15” touch screen costs $600 + $120 a year for T-mobile @home. That’s 7” with limit vs 15” with almost anything
Popularity: 2% [?]
SmartQ Q5 – the most affordable MID in town!
I am not exactly sure how good it would be, but its official price tag is as low as I ever see—900 yuan (around $130) That price was on smartdevice.com.cn press release, so it should be reliable enough although it might hike up a bit when across the ocean to the US, but it should be under $200 anyway!
Look at the spec you’ll get from $130:-
- 4.3″ 800×480 capacitive touch screen
- SDHC support
- Wifi A/B/G/N
- Bluetooth with phone tethering support
- USB 2.0 host with full OTG driver stack and support for USB ethernet, 3g modems, and GPS. USB gamepads, as well
- Dimension: 120 * 74 * 14mm
- CPU: Samsung ARM11 S3C6410 667MHz
- 128MB DDR RAM
- browser: WebKit [here]
This ARM CPU has quite good feature, MPEG4 codec, h.264 codec, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 (datasheet) From the spec and price tag, I wonder how they can make this cheap. I hope it would be available pretty soon. I would give it a try indeed.
There are also applications for Q5 already; as far as I know, SDK will be available right after this product releases officially. It looks promising and it indeed makes MID much more interesting than “Intel” MID. I hope this would give a new low-cost trend for all MID in the future as well.
Check it out smartdevice.com.cn & more screenshot at mp4nation.net
Popularity: 13% [?]
