2011, The year it was.

2011 : The year it was.

2011, one of the amazing years in my life. My life changed in 2011. Writing down a few important things that happened in the year.

Firstly, i became graduated, became an engineer, my passion for technology has reached a certified level.

The ambition to expertise in network field lived deep inside me, as trivandrum didnt give any hope for me, i moved to chennai with help from my brother and sister in search of a job.

But, God almighty had different plans for me. Got a job as network engineer in a company based in UK, it took me back to trivandrum.

It changed my life, entered the corporate world. My life changed. Too busy with work, no time for the rest of the things.

Only thing that kept me sane was the android device with me. Been doing all kinds of crazy stuff in the fone. Installing new roms, checking out performance scripts.

ROMs are less for Galaxy Ace compared to the availability for Nexus devices. Tried out almost all the roms available for the ace.

Started using custom roms when the official gingerbread update was late for the ace, the nerd inside me couldnt hold back from updating to the latest firmware. All the custom roms had the latest version of android underneath.

Started off with Coderom, installed it using Odin, the hard way. Then tried Coderom V2X- 2B. One of the most stable rom. Used the rom for a long time, a point of time came when the internal memory got filled and the OS got clogged with apps leading to a lot of FCs.

Then i gave thought of installing unofficial port of cyanogenmod 7.1,had to throw it as well as version 7.2 because of FCs. Then a savior came in the form of Jusada. His second ROM – Ice Cream Sunday 2. Pretty amazing ROM, fast than any roms, just the barebones of the operating system build over a stable cyanogenmod 7.2.

Then another important thing happened was the revival of the black beast to all its glory. After reading numerous amount of reviews, finally decided to invest on a 560 GTX graphics card, still there were plenty if choices, decided to get MSI GTX 560 twin frozr II edition, gave order for it along with a couple of 4 gigs corsair vengeance memory modules.

End result was me getting forced to move to 64-bit OS. And an awesomely beautiful rig to work upon.

Then all the games that got released was tested and enjoyed thoroughly on the beast. Cant select one game to be the best of 2011, if i have to, then it would be two titles.

1. Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 3. – For its engaging gameplay and smooth graphics.

2. Battlefield 3 : Best graphics in a game for the year 2011,also technically best game. Everything is perfect, only if it had a strong storyline to back it up.

Then Need for Speed : Run, a pretty good game, visually beautiful and engaging but too small for racing game.

Writing this post on last day of winter holidays, (perks of working in a company based on UK) on a Monday morning from hometown, using WordPress for android and swiftkey on my little ace. Back to normal work from tomorrow, hopefully i may find time to do some blogging.

Looking out in 2012.

More android works. Maybe a ROM of mine. Also, maybe a new Android device.

Looking forward for the launch of windows 8.

Gain more knowledge in the field of networking.

Read more books, not e-books but real physical books.

Official cyanogenmod release for my ace.

2012 will be the year of Ice Cream Sandwich.

Happy new year 2012 to all!!

Posted from WordPress for Android

Me and Android.

After a long wait I too got an Android Smartphone.Samsung Galaxy Ace has become my first android phone.

First impression was mind-blowing.Android OS market impressed with the endless amount of the apps available(but the malware attack did scare me a bit.)

Using the phone for more than a month had made me think.Android phone should have some basic hardware for the real android experience.
1. 1 Ghz processor – Some apps or games need 1 GHz for the smooth execution.

2. Internal Memory must be atleast 2 Gigs or above. From Android 2.2 apps can be stored in secondary memory(SD Card).But some apps like widgets or system applications cannot be moved onto SD card.One strange thing that I noticed is that even if the application is installed into the SD card a small amount of data will be stored in the internal memory.It wont be a huge matter but when the internal memory is limited (180mb for me) ,we cannot simply keep unused apps in the phone.
Now about the problem with low memory,when the internal memory goes less than 10% the low memory warning comes up.Some of the apps simply refuse to work,they just crash eg Gtalk. Then the inbox memory goes full and none of ur incoming messages gets delivered. The thing is all these problems are caused if ONE mb go less from the 10% mark.

3. The third factor in a good android experience is a good display,3.5 inch or more with good resolution is expected.If the display is a Super AMOLED,then it would be awesome.

4.A long lasting battery is a must.Android means connectivity,always synced with your mail accounts,Social networking sites etc So the battery gets drained if on edge,saves a lil bit in Wi-Fi while it finishes up quickly on 3G.

5.Android Version must be 2.2 in the present times,2.1 will be just OK.

APPLICATIONS.

Apps are available in plenty or should I say infinite..? You will find an app for anything,from IM clients to an app to select the correct lens suitable for your DSLR.Here are few of the apps I use regularly.

1.Twitter Client- As I am an addict to microblogging, a twitter client will in be use 24/7 in my mobile,the number of apps for the sole purpose are plenty For eg Twidroyd,Seesmic,Twitter for android(official app),Plume,Tweetdeck,Hootsuite are some of the major apps available.Among these I will suggest Twidroyd.

2.E-mail Client – Gmail is available by default,also I have installed Yahoo mail app.

3.Facebook for Android – Another important app in the list,One major feature I missed in the app is the “Poke” button.;-)

4.Foursquare for Android – Another must have app for me.

5.Advanced task Killer – To kill the unwanted apps running in the background.

6.GReader – a feature rich substitute for Google reader.

7.Winamp for Android – Better than the default music player.

8.Moboplayer – the best video player in the market.

9.Games like Angry birds(3 versions),Fruit Ninja etc will always have space in my mobile.:-)

10.The default browser is good but I still rely on Opera for android.

Then the miscellaneous apps in use are Adobe Photoshop Express,Shush,App2Sd,CNN News, Dropbox,Flashlight,Compass,Evernote,Whatsapp,Ringdroid,Wordpress,Zedge,Zippo etc.

About ACE.

Samsung Galaxy ACE is a nice phone,the best looking and feature rich phone for the price.It comes with Android 2.2.If someone is about to buy a new phone I will surely suggest ACE if he is very tight on the price ,if  he could stretch his budget a bit I would suggest him to buy the Samsung Galaxy SL.Better specs for the a slightly more amount of money.

After using the device for a day,I understood one serious fact.The battery is pathetic.It wont last for even a day with my usage.Then desperate measures had to be implemented to save the battery,GPS/Edge/GPRS were turned off and used only when needed.The default touchwiz Interface was removed and various other interfaces like GO Launcher,Launcherpro was tested,In fact it seriously improved the performance of the battery.

The lack of Flash in the browser is also a negative related to the phone.

In whole Samsung Galaxy Ace is a good phone,only thing is that the battery could have been a better one.

PS.this blogpost was done on WordPress for android version 1.4.1 🙂 except for the Pics.

Confused:Galaxy S or Nexus S??

Android android android…..the future is really bright for android….we are reaching a situation where smartphone means an android device..[For mainstream people,Forget the  business magnets with blackberry and geeks with their iPhones]

VS

Google with support from Samsung comes out with the second Nexus device – Nexus S making it the flagship device for android.but looking back in the line we have the Galaxy S,the best android phone from the Samsung family,with all the specification enough to make a perfect device(slightly pricey though).

Lets do a small comparison between the two devices,Left its Nexus S and on right its Galaxy S,click the image to make it more readable.

Similarites

*both have S-AMOLED display. (the best in market also with good resolution)

*Same Connectivity.(3G,Edge,Wifi etc)

*16 GB of phone memory.

*5 Megapixel camera

*Cortex A8 1 Ghz Processor (Enough power to run most of the apps)

*Built in GPS with A-GPS support

*the same 1500 mAh battery (reviews(galaxy s) tells that on real life the battery is not enough to keep the mobile running for couple of days.)

Differences

*No gorilla Glass in Nexus S but it has Oleophobic surface with curved glass surface , no touchwiz inteface(samsung’s interface that some people felt irritating).

*No Swype input in Nexus S.

*Galaxy S has Bluetooth 3 (the next gen) while Nexus S got only Bluetooth 2.1 (a major drawback if u consider it as a long term investment).

*The main thing about Nexus S is that it features the New Android OS version 2.3 AKA Gingerbread(the very first phone to do so).While Galaxy S comes with 2.1 and can be upgraded to 2.2.

*Nexus S has a LED flash for camera while Galaxy S lacks it.

*Nexus S lacks memory card slot .So Nexus S users has to struggle with 16 GB, not more.

*Nexus S has a new technology called Near Field Communication,enabling devices to communicate each other within a range.

Conclusion

Galaxy S or Nexus S is the question,If Galaxy S gets the gingerbread update,its clearly is the winner,but Nexus S is not an inferior phone,the lack of features make it one.If Nexus S had Bluetooth version 3 and expandable memory,it would have clearly been the winner,but still Nexus has plus points like Camera flash making it slightly better than Galaxy S.

<p