Sammy’s Wildfire Thoughts

Friday, August 20, 2010

image

Sammy at Palm Addicts recently had his hands on a HTC Wildfire and shared a few of his thoughts with us, a few of the key points are shown below

Even thought the Wildfire is a consumer related phone I still think it’s quick powerful, it does what I wanted to do and it’s fun to use at the same time.

battery life is very good, it’s lasted two days without a charge

the phone is indeed very light, much lighter than my iPhone and it has a nice plastic feel which I said yesterday it doesn’t feel as fragile as the iPhone

I especially like just how slim it is, and its lighter than my iPhone 4. I don’t get scared as much of accidentally dropping it, with my iPhone I am very protective. So I think the Wildfire is somewhat more robust.

Wildfire can be summed up in one word, fun/

If you want to read more, you can, his thoughts are on the links below:

Part 1 and Part 2

Update 23/08/2010:

Sammy has written some further thoughts – you can read them here.

Leave a Comment » | News | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Jon

HP WebOS Tablet rumoured to be here in Q1 2011

Thursday, August 12, 2010

It was rumoured yesterday that HP has announced to its employees that it aims to launch its WebOS tablet in Q1 2011. This would be one of three tablets reported to be on the way from HP, all running on different operating systems.

Going by the report from Engadget, Todd Bradley, Personal Systems Group VP at HP, let slip to employees at an all-hands meeting that the WebOS tablet is due by March of next year.

It is though that the project is known as Hurricane internally, but speculation suggests it will be called the PalmPad when announced officially seeing as HP has filed for the name as a trademark.

We now await news on the rumoured HP Slate (Windows 7) and HP Zeen (Android).

Via Electric Pig

Leave a Comment » | News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wardy

WaveSecure- 3 Month Free Trial with Clove Orders

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Wave_Secure 

Clove is now including a 3-Month subscription to WaveSecure with every order over £20. This ingenious software is compatible with Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Phone and Java and maximizes the chance of recovering your device (or wiping personal data) if it is lost or stolen.

Having tried WaveSecire on Android, I must say it works very well and is simple to use. This trial subscription gives you full access to all WaveSecure features for 3 months, giving you plenty of time to decide whether or not you need the software.

The full version of WaveSecure is $20 (about £13), a fee that will seem nominal once you’ve tested the range of features that the App offers.

Here’s a lost of the features that WaveSecure offers for Android. For more info on other supported platforms or to purchase the software, visit the WaveSecure Website:

Uninstall protection for Android

Want to prevent WaveSecure from being uninstalled on your Android phone? Now you can with WaveSecure UPA (Uninstall Protection Add-on). Once loaded, WaveSecure and WaveSecure UPA watch out for each other. If you uninstall WaveSecure UPA, the main WaveSecure app locks. If you remove the WaveSecure app, UPA kicks in to secure the device.
WaveSecure prompts you to load UPA from the Android Market once registration is complete. Users who do not have access to Android Market can get the latest UPA here.

WaveSecure backs up data on your Android phone

Back up your data for protection

Choose to back up data straight from your Android phone or remotely on the web. Important personal information such as SMS, contacts and call logs can be stored securely on the WaveSecure web site. In addition to keeping your data safe, you will be able to access them with a web browser. Anytime. Anywhere.

Don’t lose your photo and video memories. With WaveSecure for Android, you can back up and keep them safe, too.

WaveSecure restores your mobile data when needed

Restore your data when needed

WaveSecure lets you restore your SMS and contacts stored online to your phone. If you find that a hassle, trigger a restore of your backed up information from the WaveSecure web site. This will send your personal data wirelessly from our servers to your mobile.

WaveSecure locks and secures your Android phone

Lock and secure your Android phone

What happens when your Android phone is stolen? Don’t fret if you have WaveSecure. Our mobile security service will automatically lock your phone once it detects a SIM change. This prevents unauthorized use and makes the phone worthless to the thief.

Choose to display a message on the device to prompt the the finder to return the device. If you want, you can sound an alarm remotely to warn the thieft and increase the chances of recovering your phone, too.

WaveSecure tracks and locates your Android mobile remotely

Track and locate your mobile

Once WaveSecure detects the insertion of a new SIM card, your buddy will get a SMS alert so you can contact the person who has found or stolen your device.

In addition, WaveSecure lets you track the current location of your phone and even plot them out on a map.

WaveSecure wipes data on your Android phone remotely

Wipe your data

Pulled out all the stops and still not able to recover your lost phone? You can still opt to protect your privacy. Trigger a remote wipe from WaveSecure site to delete all private data on your Android phone. Contacts, messages, photos, videos including those on your removable media card can be deleted, too.

Leave a Comment » | News, Special Offer, Technical Guides/Advice | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wardy

doubleTwist – An app you can’t live without

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Like the majority of people I have used iTunes for many years now and have often carried an iPod and a smartphone around – which to be quite honest was at times a real pain. Why did I need to carry two devices about?!

When I switched to using a HTC Desire I was keen to find a solution that allowed me to easily store my iTunes library on microSD card and play the stored music from the Desire. I had heard about doubleTwist and tried it out – I have never looked back since. My iTunes library syncs perfectly with the software and then to my device. No longer do I carry an iPod and a smartphone, everything is integrated.

So why didn’t I tell you about this before? Well to be honest I just hadn’t got round too it and I know that often people have a system that works and are reluctant to change. But, I did recently read an article by Elliott Yinger at www.androidguys.com who had a similar issue to me and explained doubleTwist and how it worked so perfectly that I am compelled to share it, because if you have an iTunes library and have wanted to get it to your Android smartphone then there is without doubt no better application than this, especially as it is FREE.

Elliott’s full article can be read HERE, but some of the highlights and key points are as follows:

I compared my iTunes to the dregs of media player society: Cell phone music players. Though I tried as hard as I could to use the players on my last two Android-less phones, they left a bur in my boot, instead of a beat.

iTunes does not work on Android, as is common knowledge. Thankfully, Android developers put their heads together, and decided to copy all the functionality of iTunes, and call it doubleTwist… this app is pure genius.

On your PC, you download their media player and it then mirrors your iTunes player. From there, you can load up playlists, podcasts, or pictures to your Android phone, just like it was an iPod. They also have an array of other devices they support: cameras, Blackberries, etc.

The player on the phone is splendid.  It has a clean interface and is smooth like butter on my HTC Evo.  You can sort you music by artist, albums, songs, or playlists.

There are a few minor downsides that I can see to doubleTwist.  The first, being, that it works rather slowly when first initializing and copying your iTunes library.  This isn’t a bad issue, since most of your time will be spent using the phone version, which works quickly.  The second, being a rather elitist issue, is having to download Internet Explorer 8 to use the Android Market.  Lastly, my podcasts did not import, so I had to sign up for them again and re-download.

This love affair is complete with the fact that it automatically checks your iTunes for updates to playlists and the like.  I am going to have to give this my Android Essential rating, because a good music player is essential to enjoying your super phone.  The app is currently free and in its “beta” stage.  I would definitely drop my Five dollar a week budget on this once they take it out of beta.

You can download the desktop version of doubleTwist HERE and the Android application from Android Marketplace or byscanning this barcode.

Source: Android Guys

Leave a Comment » | Article, News | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jon

The Pros & Cons of Android Rooting

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

android-logo This is a useful article from Talk Android about ‘rooting’ an Android device. You’ve probably seen the term ‘rooting’ used often on the internet but may not know exactly what it means. This article explains what rooting is and talks about the advantages and disadvantages of rooting your device.

In posting this device, we are not advising that you do or don’t root your device. One disadvantage that the article doesn’t list is that rooting your device will void the warranty, so if you do root it and it goes wrong, you will be responsible for any costs to repair the device and in the worst case scenario, may need to replace it completely.

My personal advice would be to avoid rooting your device if you are a novice to this kind of thing. However, if you really are keen on having a go at rooting, try it on an older device/one that you’re not bothered about breaking to begin with. The last thing you want to do is to brick your brand new HTC Desire as part of an experiment!

From TalkAndroid:

What is rooting?

Before we get started, I want to explain what “rooting” is.  When you root your phone, you gain “superuser” privileges to the Android operating system. When you are using a stock device, you have the equivalent of “guest” privileges. If you are familiar with any Linux operating system, you know that the superuser privilege allows you to gain access to administrative rights. This level of access gets you down to the nitty gritty of the OS with no restrictions, lets you make changes to the system, and run scripts that would normally be blocked with a standard user account. As long as they are not encrypted, that is… such as the case of the Droid X, which has an encrypted bootloader. With superuser privileges on an Android phone, you can install programs that need complete access to the OS – such as ROM installers (like ROM Manager), theme modifiers (such as Metamorph), and simple apps like DroCap2, which takes screenshots from the device without having to plug it in to your computer.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Leave a Comment » | Article, News | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wardy

Asus EeePad now set to have Android?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Asus EeePad, set to launch in early 2011, will now apparently come with Android instead of the stripped down version of Windows 7 that was initially suggested. These are early reports so as of yet it is unclear as to which version of Android it will run, although it would be surprising if it was anything less than 2.2 FroYo. Given that there will be both a 7-inch and 10-inch version it would make sense for Asus to go for 3.0 Gingerbread if it can. Either way its good news and its nice to see another big company jumping aboard the Android train. Could 2011 be gearing up to be the biggest year for Android yet?

Via Gizmodo

Leave a Comment » | News | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clove

Androlib Revamp

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Androlib

For those of you who haven’t heard of Androlib, it is essentially an encyclopaedia of Android Apps that is more effective for discovering and browsing apps than the Android marketplace itself. This week Androlib has launched a new look to its website, as well as some new features.

According to Androlib statistics, there are now approximately 85,000 Apps available for Android, totalling 1 billion downloads to date.

The new version of Androlib has an advanced search feature, enabling you to find Apps by keywords, category, pricing, minimum rating and estimated number of downloads. The site will also recommend similar apps to those that you are browsing – a feature that the Android Marketplace itself is crying out for.

There’s also a scoreboard available now, as well as a video section. enabling you to filter your search based on the following criteria; Most Rated Apps, Most Rated Developers, Top Developer Ratings and Top Developer Downloads.

At the moment, the App market is one of the only true advantages that the iPhone OS can claim over Android. However, with the number of developers constantly growing and support from sites such as Androlib, it won’t be too long before the Android App store is on a par with Apple’s.

via TechCrunch

2 Comments | News, Technical Guides/Advice | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wardy

Samsung Galaxy S Vs. HTC Desire

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Pocket-Lint have done this head-to-head of the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S. Both devices have been mightily popular with Clove and our customers and this is a good comparison of the two. We’d like to know which device you prefer and why if you have tried the two? Which one would you choose given the choice?

Pocket-Lint’s head-to-head:

Form Factor

Winner: Desire
    119 x 60 x 11.9mm; 135g
Loser: Galaxy S
    122 x 64 x 9.9mm; 118g

The first thing that’s going to hit you when you make the spend is what your new phone looks and feels like. It’s important to you and, let’s face it, it’s important to all the friends you want to impress. While the Galaxy S certainly has a larger surface area, through the use of plastic over metal and glass, it’s actually considerably lighter than the Desire. It’s also much thinner. On the down side, what that means is the Galaxy has a less premium feel.

There’s a strange connection in the human gadget brain that says “nice and heavy equals quality item”, and there is the danger that the feather-light plastic Samsung won’t hit that spot. So, given that the Desire is no bother in your pocket as it stands, we’re handing this category over to HTC. Your personal preferences may beg to differ, but give these two mobiles to the unknowing observer and they’ll tell you that the Desire is the better phone according to their forms.

Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments | News, Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clove

Motorola FlipOut Teaser

Monday, July 12, 2010

Have you seen the Motorola FlipOut yet?  Its a funky Android smartphone that will certainly appeal to many.

Not a bad specification device, you can find out more about it here, but this promotional video gives you a good idea of what it is like.

Leave a Comment » | News | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Jon

10 Most Useful Android Apps

Monday, July 12, 2010

android_for_evernote

I’ve now been using Android for over a year so I think its about time I put together a list of the Android Apps that I have found to be the most useful so far. I’m not big on games, so the list is made up of productivity apps and those that do the most to improve day-to-day usage. All of them are free apart from Klaxon, which has a demo version available if you want to try before you buy. I’ve linked each App to its profile on Androlib and past blog posts where possible.

1. WordPress – The WordPress app has just had an update released and is better than ever for Android. You get pretty much the same functionality as the full online version. You are able to view comments, posts, pages and stats. You can setup multiple blogs to post to and have the ability to add photos and videos to a post. It comes in very handy if you are away from a computer for a few days but still have access to the internet on your device and will be even better once Android tablets become available.

2. Google Maps Navigation – This is essentially Google’s own satellite navigation software and works quite well considering its free. You can give it spoken directions provided you are using Android 1.6 or higher. You can find all the demo videos you need here.

3. WiFi Buddy – I recently upgraded my HTC Hero from Android 1.5 to 2.1. On Android 1.5, you have the option to sleep the WiFi connection when the screen turns off. By default, on 2.1 you are only given the option to sleep the connection after 15 mins, never when plugged in, or Never, which isn’t great if you want to save on battery. With WiFi buddy you can edit the setting so that the Wifi sleeps when the screen turns off. It also provides more detailed WiFi settings than the defaults in Android.

4. Evernote – Blog Post Probably the best note-taking App around. Once you create a note using your phone, it is uploaded to an online account and therefore backed-up for future use. You are able to take written notes, a photo note or voice note. See the Android pictured above with the Evernote elephant.

5. BBC News There are a few BBC News apps available, but I find this version by Jim Blackler the best. You are given a variety of feeds to choose from, including World News, UK News, Front Page and Most Popular.

6. Swype – Blog Post Swype has only recently been released for Android and is now available to download and install for free. It is a new form of text input and having tried and tested it I can say that it is just as quick, if not quicker, than traditional touch text input on a touchscreen device. You will need Android 1.6 or higher for it to work. It will be coming as a standard input option one new devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S, but you are able to download it for older handsets, completely free.

7. Klaxon Alarm – This is my preferred alarm clock application available for Android. Although there are other free Apps, I have found them to be not as reliable as Klaxon. The premium version (which is only about £1.50) allows you to set multiple alarms, use music files as ringtones and has a good snooze feature. It can also display a desk clock, which displays your phones charge as a percentage when charging.

8. NetCounter – Blog Post This is a very simplistic app and not particularly pretty, but does exactly what you need it to and is a must have if you have a data limit on your tariff. NetCounter displays the amount of data your phone has used for both 3G and WiFi connections. You can also configure it to alert you once a certain amount of data has been used, helping you to avoid any extra chargers for going over your data limit.

9. Lookout – Another new app on the scene. Lookout offers three great features; Virus scanner, Data Backup and Phone locator. See my blog post for advice on configuration and the apps features. 

10. RingDroid – This isn’t an essential app, but useful for editing music files to use as a ringtone. Perfect if you like the chorus from a song that has a long intro.

N.B: Another App that I have come across that may be useful to some is Locale 2, which allows you to change the language on your device.

If you’ve got any suggestions for useful Apps, please post them in the comments to this post.

1 Comment | News, Technical Guides/Advice | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wardy

« Previous Entries