Archive for November, 2010

Android App Review – SMS2PC

Greetings everyone and welcome back to the Android apps review section. This time around I will be taking a closer look at some of the products developed by Scott Straughan and in particular a very specific Android app I found very useful mainly his SMS2PC application.

If you are part of the group of people who enjoy sending lots of SMS messages then this one is for you. I am not quite part of that category, mainly because I’m often too lazy to type and would rather just give people a ring, but with this app I am part of a new religious sect which proclaims that SMS messages sent from your computer are the way to go.

Step one of the installing process is getting the SMS2PC application from the Android market and installing it on your smartphone. As soon as you have done that go to Scott Straughans page (http://scottastraughan.com) and download your client there – it can run on Windows, Linux and Mac as well so no compatibility issue should appear there. Once you’ve downloaded it go ahead and install it. If you are running a WiFi network the application will automatically sync up your Android powered smartphone with your computer and allow you to type the messages via your computer. This is one of the best features of the app as it doesn’t require any other steps you need to take. You just go ahead and run it without having to configure IPs or forward ports or any action from that point of view.

Once the application is running all the messages received on your smartphone will automatically be forwarded to your PC/Mac and will appear within the application. At this point the application works almost like an Instant Messenger service. You have the ability to configure any audio warnings the program will run when you receive an SMS.

If all the steps until this point seemed simple enough then wait until you hear about replying to messages or writing messages. To compose a new SMS just double click the icon of the program in the system tray, and you can either start typing their name (in order to filter your contact list), select the person to which you wish to send the SMS or type their phone number in manually.

The only drawbacks of the app is that it can lose connectivity every now and again and it will jam up if you leave your desktop on for longer periods of time but those can easily be fixed by a quick reboot of your smartphone. At the moment this messaging app will set you back a measly 3.95 US dollars but the developer announced that he will be dropping the price for this one to, wait for it, 0 dollars and 0 cents. That’s right! It will be free within a matter of weeks and he also said that the applications source code will be available for anyone willing to tinker with it. An update for the application will be hitting the market soon enough and it will allow Bluetooth connectivity and also will be bringing some fixes regarding the WiFi issues it can encounter in the previously mentioned lines.

All in all it’s a great application mainly because of its ease to use so even less experienced users will be able to get the full advantages it has to offer within minutes of getting it. If you think this still isn’t the right SMS app for you I do encourage you to take a look at reviews for this category of Android apps but I can assure you, once you tried it, you will not want to go back to anything else. Considering that the application will soon be free for download and moding I do suggest you show your support to the developer and check out some other apps on his website (was previously linked to) and give those a shot as well. Also don’t be cheap and pay the man his price because this one sure is worth its money. Until next time, I’ll be spamming away at my contact list.1

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November 30th, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android Apps

LG LU3000 Outlandish Performance – Android 2.2

Every now and again I do get the feeling that the Android world is harsh and unforgiving. Your company might have just released the fastest, most reliable device and within weeks or months the device you’ve spent so much time developing gets over run by the new kid on the block.

This seems to be the case with LG’s newest Android phone running the 2.2 Froyo version of the popular operating system. The LG LU 3000 has been released in Korea and already some videos featuring this device along with the Samsung Galaxy S and iPhone 4 have emerged on YouTube. The “new kid” packs quite the punch according to the video where it managed to outperform the two above mentioned devices when performing similar task. Internet pages were loaded lightning fast and YouTube videos were loaded within seconds.

Some might argue that the test wasn’t fair but once you take a closer look at the specs of this new device by LG, those arguments quickly become void. The LU 3000 has a 3.8 inch IPS WVGA display and has the capability of recording 1080p videos thanks to its 5 MP camera. Still staying on what you see is what you get, the display is a TFT capacitive screen which has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels with 16 million colors. Even after spending some time searching more information I still couldn’t find out how much internal memory is available but this can be either way increased with the addition of a 32 GB micro SD memory card. The video player that comes with the device is capable of rendering DivX, H263, H264, MP4 and WMV videos.

Considering it runs Android 2.2 Froyo it has Adobe Flash 10.1 support right out of the box. It’s powered by a TI OMAP 3630 1 GHz processor and I would hazard to guess that it has 512 MB of RAM as well considering the speed with which it has loaded said videos.

LG LU3000 VS Samsung Galaxy S VS iPhone 4

Probably the biggest issue I have with LG regarding this device is not it’s outlandish performance but rather that they have released it in Korea and no real word about what will happen to the rest of us. I can only hope it will get to Europe and the US as well and we might take a closer look at it then to check out if that legendary performance is truly delivered to the end user. On the other hand I fear that this phone is somehow coming to late from LG as the new generation dual-core processor powered units are well on their way and their performances will most likely make our simple 1 core processor smartphones look like a steam engine competing against a Formula 1 or IndyCar vehicle. Still, until the launch of said devices do enjoy your current generation devices.1

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November 30th, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News

Acer Liquid Metal Android Phone

Good news everyone, Acer is launching a new device! After the great announcements last week regarding their upcoming series of tablets and their new 4.8 inch smartphone, some more news flew around the internet.

Acer Liquid is their newest device on the Android phone lineup. The device was scheduled for launch in the UK in September, then in October again and now it’s been postponed a bit again. According to a variety of sources the device is already available in France with two different subscriptions with SFR. The US market can rejoice as well, as this device will most likely hit the shelves with subscriptions from T-Mobile and AT&T for these are the only two mobile telecommunications companies with GSM.

The Liquid itself looks really good in the pictures released by Acer along with the specs of this new Android phone. It will be featuring a 3.6 inch capacitive display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It will be running Android 2.2 Froyo with the Breeze UI overlaying it. The network technology will allow it to work on GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 as well as UMTS 900, 1900 and 2100. Display wise it will be a TFT capable of displaying up to 16 million colors and looking at some larger pictures featuring the handset I would go out on a limb and call it pretty.

Acer Liquid will be a middle weight when coming to this category, by weighing in at 135 grams (4.76 oz) which should give it a nice heavy feel and which already betrays some of the components. The battery door will be made of stainless steel and the handset does look very well built, giving of a feel of high quality to it. The camera will be a 5 MP cam with LED flash, auto focus, image stabilizer, face detection, smile detection and geo tagging. It will have the ability to record videos at 1280 x 720 (720p HD) at 30 frames per second.

Moving under the hood of the newest model out for us mortals, we find a Qualcomm MSM 7230 800 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 512 MB of ROM. Storage hasn’t been announced yet but you will have the ability to extend it via a 32 GB micro SD or SDHC memory card. Battery life is expected to be around 11 hours talk time in 2G and 8 hours talk time in 3G while standby is 550 hours in 3G. Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n will also be available.

So far so good, the device was officially announced on the 29th of October and it should be hitting the market in the following weeks according to some Android webpages. Considering that the phone is already out in France and some pictures with the device having the AT&T logo on them are out, it’s only a matter of time. Until next time.1

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November 30th, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone

Rumored Android Smartphones

Time to enter an area which gathers its life force from rumors and leaked pictures. Time to enter the zone where we hear about the latest and newest additions to the world of Android cell phones.


This time around I’ll try to cover 2 leaked phones which I did find very interesting. The list emerges with the first few images featuring LG’s newest product, the LG Star. This device has been lurking around for a while now and thanks to a few pages and a few Google searches some interesting results came up, sharing some light on this smartphone by LG. First of all the LG Star will be featuring a pretty large screen but with no information available regarding that I’d go out on a limb an call it around 4 inches.

First shots show a pretty clean design and considering that LG stuck for a long while rather in the mid-range smartphone class it’s rather interesting seeing them step it up a bit with this new device. Actually claiming they are “stepping up a little” would be rather incorrect as the device outperforms even the Samsung Galaxy S according to the pictures published. It has an HDMI port on top and is equipped with a 5 MP camera.           No other details have been given up by the user who posted these pictures so I can’t give you any more here neither. The only thing which has been rumored is that it will be running on the Tegra 2 processor, so the results in the performance department are not that surprising as this device will outperform most devices out on the market at the moment.

Our second hero in this “rumored Android smartphone” class is the Dell Smoke. Some images are out with it but unlike the Star there are some bits of information regarding the more detailed specs. At a first glance it does seem to be more of a business type model (somehow it reminds me of the Motorola Droid Pro which got reviewed some time ago) because of its specs. These include, but again be weary for these are leaked bits of info on it because I couldn’t be 100 percent sure of them, an MSM7230 Qualcomm processor with 800 MHz, 512 MB of ROM and 256 MB of RAM. Storage is standard for this category as well and it will allow for a micro SD card being added later on of up to 32 GB of storage. Standby time is around 570 hours but no info if this is on 2G or 3G and 6 hours of talk time, but again same issue. It will feature a full QWERTY front facing keyboard and a 2.8 inch QVGA display, so resolution will be 240 x 320 with 256K colors. If this will be coming out any time soon I can’t say for sure but it will have a tough fight facing off against the Motorola Droid Pro which has already proved it’s build quality, speed and efficiency so we will see.

I will try to keep you dear readers posted if anything new comes out regarding these devices. Until then, enjoy your rumor kettles and hope they do come out until the holidays.1

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November 30th, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News

Free Android app – Dolphin browser HD

There are quite a few browsers for you Android phone out there and at a given point I will try to give you guys and girls a review of the top Android browsers available. This time I will be taking a closer look at the Dolphin browser which has just seen an update and some improvements in order to run on the latest Android OS the 2.3 version.

First things first, this Android app is free so no need to reach for your wallet there. Starting off as a first impression is the general look and feel of the browser. It sort of reminds me of when I first ran Mozilla’s Firefox on my PC and what can I say, I am still using it so there you go. The general test to try out your browsers speed and connectivity is to go to http://acid3.acidtests.org/ which will give you a rating based on how quickly the pages is loaded and other such things. The Dolphin browser will score over 90 if your handset will help it along of course.

The best thing about the device is actually the number of settings you get to play around with once you start tinkering a bit with it. Dolphin lets you set your bookmarks and helps you organize them, it can clear your history when you do decide to close the browser as well as clear the cache. Besides looking good and working well the browser had a couple of facilities I did enjoy a lot mainly that of being able to download Youtube videos and save them to your SD card – seen something you like and want to keep it around ? Download it!

Web pages do get loaded really swiftly and displayed very well and with a zoom here and a tap there, the browser allows you  to quickly navigate even the most intensely populated pages. It truly is a great browser and for the time being I am not switching just yet but I am giving it a couple of days to see if I do still like the general feel of it even after a longer period of using it.

The Dolphin browser has been out for a while now and the only drawback I would say would be the fact that it is available only for the devices with Android 2.0 and higher, but still thinking that most carriers are updating their devices to the newer versions of Android I don’t think you will be facing this problem for too long. Until then, enjoy your browsing experience.1

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November 29th, 2010 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android Apps
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