A little problem with Android Ice Cream Sandwich handset

 

The fourth Google handset Samsung Galaxy Nexus (after HTC Dream, Nexus One, Nexus S) had been officially on sale here in Hong Kong from 15 December 2011, yet we do not recommend jumping to the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) system now.  Here is why:

In ICS, the four physical buttons (Home, Menu, Back, Search) are not mandatory now.  As a matter of fact, Galaxy Nexus only have power and volume buttons.  This brings some major problems to some everyday-use apps.  We try to explain in simple wordings.

 

In the system development kit before ICS, there had been a function which let the programmers to program some response to react to the pressing of the menu button, such as popping up special options.  However, in ICS, Google killed the function.  This brings compatibility issues on quite a number of apps on the market.

We recommend users to wait until Google does something on 4.1, or the app developers to update their code.  Either way, we won’t be using an ICS handset until maybe Feburary 2012.

A late review of Google Nexus S

We have bought a new Google Nexus S a couple of weeks ago (Yes, slooooooow).  Nexus S is manifactured by Samsung.  As an fan of the Android system, we compare a lot of different Android handsets.

ROM issues
Google phones feature the latest updates of the Android operating system.  Take our Nexus S as example, the phone was version 2.3.3 when unboxing, and with wi-fi turned on, we receive the 2.3.4 update thru remote update in no time.

With the new 2.3.4 fireware, the most notable change is the capability of voice chat and video chat of the stock Google Talk app.  With a stable connection (preferably wi-fi), we managed to set up a video chat seamlessly.

As a centralised ROM, we however are forced to have some unusable apps which are impossible to remove without rooting.  For example, we can't really use Google Voice without a US number; and Navigation simply won't work with our local destination.  Besides, Google Voice Search only supports searching – those speech-to-email, speech-to-SMS, speech-to-navigate functions simply don’t work.

Oh, and the stock camera is too basic to use.  We needed to use other apps from Market to take pictures.

Basic ROM
As a phone by Google, Nexus S does not have any customization on the ROM, so you won’t be getting fancy layout widgets popping up News, Weather or Stock prices or the like the time you turn on your phone.  This is ideal for advanced user and developers to make their own ideal layout of design.

Users dreaming of making a lot of customization on their own will find this handset fascinating, but users who want to turn on and use the phone right away might find Nexus S not so attractive. 

Thickness
As this is a 4th quarter model from 2010, the design is rather thick in this today’s standard.  Holding a Nexus S is more or less like holding a Galaxy S – you will feel the difference if you hold the 2011 machines – HTC Sensation is less thick than it, let alone those ultra slim ones like LG Optimus Black or Samsung Galaxy S II.

Basic Specs
With a Hummingbird CPU at 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 4-inch 800x480 display, Nexus S is subpar at today’s standard.  The phone has no expandability on Micro-SD card, it just have 16G internal storage space.  A NFC chip is also featured but it is of no use in our city yet.

Screen Protector issue
You may notice that the monitor is a bit curved, making it a nightmare to apply a screen protector.  What we did for a perfect screen protector costs us $0.  Here’s how:
1) using your own finger nails to peel off the text on their original film with the Nexus S logo on it
2) cut of the small handle on top and bottom of the film

On pricing
We bought this Nexus S at around US$360 (early July 2011), and we find this handset appropriated priced.  For slighty more budget, you may consider alternatives like LG Optimus Black, which is significantly slimmer and less heavy.

Tips and Tricks for Samsung Galaxy Tab

We’ve been testing Samsung Galaxy Tab for a few months, here are some practical tricks that are not covered in the very limited printed documentations inside the box.  Geektechpost.com

Hotkey: Screen Capture
To make a screen capture of the device, press and hold the back button, and press the Power button once.  If successful, you will hear a camera shutter sound, and the toast message of “Screen Captured. Saved as image file.”

You can find the screen capture file at the folder called ScreenCapture under the root directory, with the file name “SCYYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png”.  For example, “SC20110203-040506.png” means it is captured at 4:05:06 am, on 3 February 2011.

Note: This might not work on certain apps which have designated special function on the Back button.

Geektechpost.com

Hotkey: Task Explorer

By pressing and holding the Home button, you will see the eight recently used apps, as long as a Task Manager function.  This is especially good to close unwanted apps on the fly.

 

Hotkey: Force power off
If something get unresponsive (for example you use Browser, Music player, several IMs simultaneously), and you can’t just end it by any normal mean, just press and hold the Power button for 7.5 seconds.  The power will be off and you can reboot afterwards.

Geektechpost.com

Save energy, save the Earth
Like every other device, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can consume a significant portion of battery even when idle.  Turn them off when not in use. 

 

How to change input method
A new user in Android handset might wonder how to change the input method (on-screen keyboard) during input. 

While most users might opt to use the default Swype keyboard or Samsung keyboard, users in East Asian countries usually need to switch input method several times a day.

Tap and hold the blank field and until you see the popup menu enabling you to choose input method.

MobFox vs AdMob

Early last month the CEO of MobFox (Julian Zehetmayr) sent to selected Android Developers an email inviting us to join their network, and we decided to give it a try in some of our Android Apps, and we are still using it.

 

 

If a click can only generate $0.03 per click, we tend to evade them – it’s better to display house ads than low-paid ads – at least they might download your free app and your potentially profit will be way more than 3 cents.  By default, their eCPM control function is off, and you will risk your program display low quality apps.

Turning the eCPM control is easy – just send them a notice by click a few simple buttons.  We are currently setting the minimum display threshold to $0.036.

As MobFox also supports backfill of advertisements, you don’t need to worry that no ads to display.  Simply put the AdMob or InMobi Site ID and you will get money generated from both side.  You don’t get to set the display rate though.  Out of my calculation, they are refreshing the ads at a 60-second rate.

Indeed we do enjoy a higher eCPM in MobFox than AdMob, but not as high as they claimed on their front page (it’s nowhere near triple eCPM – 200% at most).  Contrary to the widespread belief of a way higher CPC in ad revenue, in some territorial apps I only enjoy limited success (especially those in China.)   So it is really a territorial thing – it works well in Europe and perhaps America.  Just don’t use it in your Apps targeting Asia!

If you have something to ask, please do ask us.

We are planning to develop iOS apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.  We will definitely implement MobFox on apps that targets European users.

We also enrolled their affiliate program, if you like our content, please feel free to go to this URL to sign up: http://www.mobfox.com/. Thank you!

Google Checkout... so we can finally sell paid apps, now what?

OK, so we can sell paid apps in Android Market now.  Our apps are now selling live now.  But, alas, here's a problem - we cannot withdraw the fund accumulated in Google Checkout yet.

Hopefully they can resolve the problem before the payout date.  After all, it does not feel good to accumulate a sum of money in Google Checkout - unfortunately most online payments are prefer Paypal.

In the pic they say "Please revisit this page in the future to provide bank account information".  In the future? There's no concrete date!  If Google sees this please do something