The Complete Guide to Android Magazine

Got lucky to receive $10 of "Zinio bucks" from my favorite magazine store www.zinio.com on Christmas day and I left no time browsing for magazines to buy using said bucks. While perusing the many titles available on the website, I stumbled upon two great Android magazines and bought it immediately. The total cost of the two mags is $14.75 so I added $1.88 for the purchase. Not bad for me considering the magazines are great reference for my blog and my passion to learn everything about Android.

The first magazine is "The Complete Guide for Android", packed with 160 pages of highly informative articles about Android, its history to current versions and many tips and tricks for maximizing the use of the Android OS.

The second one is the "Ultimate Guide to Android Tablets", presented in 110 pages of reviews of latest tablets, apps, tips and hidden secrets.

One thing that I found very informative with the magazines are the compilation of reviews of the current Android tablets and smartphones but I  found the tips and tricks not so comprehensive and covered only a few basic and advanced topics. Nevertheless, I hope that the publisher will feature more in the forthcoming issues.

These are digital magazines by the way and it can be accessed and read on Zinio Reader app for Android and Windows PCs.

Introducing Cherry Mobile Android Tablets for Christmas

Cherry Mobile has introduced three models of Android Tablets worth trying out. With its specs and pricing, I am tempted to acquire one to give as a Christmas gift to my son who is very fond of using the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Tab as a video game device. The devices are aptly named Cherry Pad, Cherry Pad Turbo and Supreme. Looking a the picture taken from a local newspaper where the ad was posted, I am kinda confused with the positioning of the specs and the pricing. I think there could be some mistake here on the layout and I'm gonna verify it with Cherry Mobile. To be sure I'll bring the newspaper ad. The one on the left named Cherry Pad with a tag price of P3,899 has  Android Gingerbread 2.3 and 1.2  Ghz processor while the one on the right with price tag of P6,899 has Android Froyo 2.2 and 800 Mhz processor. There must be something amiss here because the one with the higher specs has been priced low and the one with the lower specs has been priced high. We'll find it out.

The third item "Supreme" looks interesting with its Nvidia Tegra2 dual core 1 Ghz processor and upgradeable OS plus 3G. One thing left that we'll have to verify is the screen quality, if it's as good as the more expensive Samsung Galaxy's, they're in for a stiff competition with this one.

Update from Cherry Mobile:

The Corporate Communications Officer of Cherry Mobile has emailed me a while ago and sent word about my observation on the ad. Indeed there was a mistake on the placement of the specs and they extended their apologies for the error. Quoting from their email:

"Cherry Pad Turbo is the advanced version with the Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 7" touch panel, 1.2 ghz processor, dual camera with 2 MP main and 4GB internal storage features at Php6,899. On the other hand, Cherry Pad retails for Php3,899 and runs on the Android 2.2 Froyo technology."

So this is it folks, the confusion is settled and it's time to give this Cherry Pads a try. I want one.

Use your Samsung Galaxy Y as Access Point - The Video

As promised to our readers who are requesting for more information on the behavior of Samsung Galaxy Y when used as Internet Access Point, As I have mentioned in my replies to the comments. The Galaxy Y takes some time to load web pages upon successful connection of the laptop to the Access Point. I timed the loading time and it took about 3 minutes.

The video shows the activation of the packet data and the the portable wi-fi hotspot feature up to the connection of the laptop to the Galaxy Y. Notice that the loading of the web page is not instantaneous and you have to refresh the browser a few times before the page that you are visiting is loaded. The video also shows the peculiar behavior of the laptop's system tray showing the Wi-Fi indicator with no Internet Access but in fact it already has Internet access as shown by the loaded website. After a few more minutes, the no Internet sign is gone and the Wi-Fi indicator shows a clean white icon without the yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside.

The Access Point feature of the Samsung Galaxy Y behaves differently from regular Wi-Fi routers or access points wherein connection to the Internet is almost instantaneous the moment you connect to it. You just need to be a little patient.

Introducing Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

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The younger brother of the 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab P-1000 is born and it is slimmer and packs more punch than the first one. Samsung calls it the 7" Tablet Reloaded, but to me it's basically the same 7" tab that we used to love or hate depending on our own experiences. The only major upgrades that I see are the dualcore 1.2 Ghz processor, the Android Honeycomb 3.2 OS and the sleeker and more attractive body. The memory and the camera stays the same and I wonder why Samsung didn't choose to make us happier by upgrading the camera to 5.0 Megapixels. Also introduced in this younger sibling is the dual channel Wi-Fi and HSUPA data connectivity which Samsung boasts as super fast.

On pricing matters, this new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus just took over the pricing of the original one which is Php 23,990.00. The old one has been repriced to Php 20,990.00. A reduction of Php3,000.00 in the price tag.

How to Disable Message Notifications in Samsung Galaxy Y

Some of our readers tells me that they do not want the status bar from constantly reminding them about messages. They resort to deleting the messages but the status bar won't stop giving reminders to the point of becoming an annoyance to the device owner. To disable the notification, follow the following steps:

1. Go to the messages application and press menu button.

2. On the pop-up menu, choose "Settings".

3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and uncheck the "Display message notifications in Status bar" under Notification settings.

That's it. Your status bar will stop from bothering you with SMS message notifications.

Samsung Galaxy Y Out of Stock

Having had the time to go malling today, I dropped by at my favorite Samsung dealer in Robinson's Galleria in Ortigas and this is what I found out. It is currently out of stock due to very high demand. This just proves my prediction on the onset that the Samsung Galaxy Y will be Samsung's most saleable Android gadget in its class. With its very affordable price tag and superb features, surely anyone wishing for an entry level Android phone will grab it without much thinking.

While dropping by at my cellular line provider to pay my bill I also noticed in the ads on the store that the Samsung Galaxy Y is available free at Plan 349. I'm a bit disappointed here because I got my Samsung Galaxy Y from the same network at Plan 500. But even so, the privilege of being one of the first ones to adopt early a  popular device is worth the price.

Android App Review: Brain Challenge 3

I found this app from the Android Market while looking for some games to get myself entertained while on a long travel to our home province. I downloaded first the free version and checked out how the game play goes and I found it quite interesting.

The game consist of several aspects of brain function namely; logic, memory, focus,visual and math. Each function have several games designed to train and improve our brain's capacity and usage. Starting at zero, the objective is to pass all the challenges and as you hurdle each one of it, you gain a score in terms of percentage of your brains' capability. For example, upon passing the initial stage, depending on how well you performed on the challenge, you earn some thing like 10% or greater.

The initial stage of the games looks quite easy but there are some that are challenging which make it quite hard for you to achieve a perfect score. I particularly find the "encase" game under the visual  section challenging and entertaining. In this game, a polygon made up of thick black line shrinks and expands from slow to fast together with a thin blue line and your objective is to click when the blue line is inside the thick black line. I tell you it's very hard to catch the blue line inside the thick black line.

As you progress in the game, there is a stat section where you can see and evaluate your weakness and strength. With this game I was able to confirm one of my biggest weakness which is lack of focus and my strength which is logic. The in-game coach will tell you what aspect you need to improve and you can work and train on it by selecting the particular aspect from the main menu.

The free version lets you play for a very limited time so you may be compelled to buy the full version which cost around a dollar. It is available at the Samsung Apps portal. There are other games with the same name in the Android Market so if you do a search, type brain challenge 3: think again.

How to Switch Between Swype and Standard Keyboard in Samsung Galaxy Y

Are you one of those newbie Android users who got lost in switching back to the traditional keyboard while tinkering with Swype and/or accidentally pressing something on the screen? Before calling tech support or throwing the galaxy smartphone into the trash can, you can easily switch back to the traditional keyboard or choose whichever input method you prefer.

While in the compose new SMS or email, or while reading SMS/email, just press the screen for about 2 seconds and select "Input method" on the pop-up to choose between DioPen Chinese IM, Samsung keypad and Swype.

How to Stop Samsung Galaxy Y from Automatically Connecting to the Internet

This post  is in particular reply to a reader who sent me an email thru Kontactr asking me to help her with her Samsung Galaxy Y using up her Sun Cellular's prepaid load all the time. I wanted to reply to her email but unfortunately I made a wrong move in using Kontactr to enable my blog readers to contact me. Kontactr is a very handy tool in hiding my email address to spammers but is utterly useless for replying to legitimate emails as it provides no way for me to reply or to know the email address of the person who sent me a legitimate email. I will need to use other utility that will enable me to reply back to my readers who opts to contact me via email instead of posting a comment on the message board.

Anyhow, aside from this particular reader with an alias of TNA, many other readers have also sent their queries related to the issue of the Samsung Galaxy Y using up the prepaid load without the user knowing or in the case of postpaid ones the user incurs excessive data access charges without his/her knowledge.

This issue occurs particularly when the user opts to install or configure their email and social networking accounts like Facebook, Tagged, Twitter and many other "Push-enabled" applications in their Samsung Galaxy Y smartphone. These apps constantly connect to the Internet in the background to fetch new data for the users without their knowledge so in effect, their prepaid loads gets consumed in the process. The same thing also happens with the postpaid subscribers. I personally had a very bad experience with this when my former telco charged me a whooping fourteen thousand pesos for a month's use of Internet access when in fact I never used my smartphone to browse via 3G. I was still unaware of the setting to turn off packet data access that time so I paid dearly for the ignorance. I just treated the experience as something like I have paid an enormous amount of tuition fee for learning how the telcos rips the subscribers by handing over phones with packet data access turned on by default. Before the subscriber realizes it, the telco have already generated large amounts in their favor to the disadvantage of the unwitting subscriber.

All the user or subscriber need to do is to turn off or disable "Use packet data". To do this, go to "Settings", choose or tap "Wireless and Networks", then tap "Mobile Networks"located at the bottom of the page or interface. At the "Mobile Networks" page tap to uncheck the "Use Packet Data" on top of the page. If the user wants to access the internet using 3g all he/she has to do is to check or tap again the "Use Packet Data" menu. There are some  readers who complained that despite unchecking the use Packet Data menu, said menu returns to its checked position everytime. I personally don't know or experienced said behavior so it's best to consult Samsung or the telco about the matter to have the issue resolved.

Best Movie Player for Samsung Galaxy Y

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The built-in movie player for the Samsung Galaxy Y is only good for watching videos taken by its camera. If you want to view movies and videos downloaded or converted from DVD's, you will need to have a third party video player, which luckily is abundant into the Android market for free. At first I tried the Mobo Video Player which is so far very popular in terms of landing at the top of the heap when doing a search for video players in the Android market. Said app failed miserably in my Samsung Galaxy Y as it keeps on freezing and making me stop it using the task manager almost all of the time. I am just trying to play flv or flash files downloaded from youtube and it cannot play it decently without having to freeze first.

In my exasperation and disappointment with the Mobo Video Player, I downloaded the MX Video player and took it for a spin. Boy I was so surprised by the performance. It was so awesome. The MX player let me enjoyed the videos in a breeze without any hang-up. It was just so cool that I am highly recommending it to everyone who has a Samsung Galaxy device. I'm yet to try this with my Samsung Galaxy tab and I'll tell you guys how it performs with the Galaxy Y's bigger brother.

Android App Review: Evernote

If there is one free app from the Android Market that is so useful and offers so many functionalities that cannot be found in others, the Evernote is one that I will vote for and highly recommend to my friends and peers.

Evernote is a great app for journal, note taking, capturing websites and photos. One thing that sets it apart from the others is its ability to synchronize across various devices that you own which include laptop and desktop PCs.

All the notes that you have jotted down in your Android Smartphone is automatically synced across all your devices with Evernote installed as soon as they are online. This is a great feature because regardless of what device you have at hand as long as it is online and Evernote is installed in it, you can rest assured that your notes, journals, captured web pages and photos with notes are accessible to you. This also works vice versa, from PC and Mac to the smartphone.

I have used this app in my project management work in the consultancy firm where I have been previously employed. Armed with my Samsung Galaxy Tab I can easily jot down the daily progress of our construction works. Together with Evernote’s integration with the camera of my Android tablet I am able to seamlessly take photos of the progress, put caption in it and transfer it into the weekly and monthly reports required of me by our client.

Evernote is also indispensable when it comes to making impromptu researches on the Internet to solve tasks that needs action while on the job. It has a cunning way of capturing and saving screenshots and links of websites visited and then reviewed in my office or home computer to finalize things.

I also use Evernote in my blogging activities. It is a great tool for capturing ideas while on the move hence I can make sure that whatever comes to my mind is easily retained complete with photos of things that I saw as inspiration. Countless drafts of my blog article ideas have been put on Evernote first before those were published.

Perhaps one of Evernote’s strongest point is its ability to let you create different notebooks for your various activities at work and at home. You can create as many notebooks as you want so you do not end up mixing your journals and get lost in the run up to accomplish things. This works great for prioritizing matters and tasks at hand.

I cannot think of any negative aspect with the Evernote so praises for the developers is in order for giving out this great app for free. While the free version’s powerful features and capabilities are generously given to us, I am very sure that the paid version has much more to offer.