More Cowbell!

G1 with Eclair ROM

If you following my tweets, last Monday I have bricked my G1 in order to update my SPL to HardSPL. I did not read thru the guide and ended up bricked my G1. Luckily my ubuntu box recognized my phone and revived it.

The reason that I want to update to HardSPL is , now every other dev rom beside cyanogen, need the HardSPL. I have always want to try Eclair (the nexus rom) and yesterday it is a success.

Simple step.

1. Update Radio

2. Update SPL

3. Flash the rom.

First boot take almost up to 10 minutes (remember to wipe data+cache+dalvik). The Nexus boot screen is sweet. And it fast. yeah FAST. No Force Close yet. Now I can add multiple GMail account, having Live Wallpaper and much more. Here are some screenshot I take earlier

You can do that by read this guide over at XDA -> here

[Android Apps] Radio Songs by me. yeah me.

Finally I got all things working. Now my first app for android, Radio Songs.
So What is Radio Songs?
Radio Songs is the apps that inform you the current songs that play on AMP Radio Network (Malaysia) such as Hitz FM, MY FM, Era FM and so on. Curious what songs play on the radio, fire up Radio Songs from your Android and select the radio station. It will display the current song, name and iamge of the artist.
Radio Songs is now on Android
Yes, you heard it right, Radios Songs is now on Android. Download the apk files below. Develop in 1.5 (SDK) and should be working on 1.6 (because I am using it)
Changes
Version 1.1 (Download here -> Radio Songs 1.1) - 24 November 2009
- Added splash screen
- Added artist image from Last FM (almost 95% correct preview)
Version 1.0 - 23 November 2009
- Initial release
Donation : Well, I do this on my leisure time. If I put this on Market, it will cost me USD25 just to be listed on Android Market, and I don’t think I will make profit from it. For initial release, there is no ads in my apps. If you like my apps why dont you buy me a Prosperity Burger or Teh Tarik by donating to my PayPal account. Thanks.

Extended Battery (2300 mah) for HTC Dream

HTC Dream or you might called it G1 is a great phone. All great google apps are packed in a phone. GMail, Google Maps, Google Contacts, Google Calendar and much more. With the background services is on, it would replace your notebook anyday.

The depressed part from all the experience above is the battery. With background services is on 3G, loaded with apps like Facebook, twidroid, GMail, Contacts, SMSBackup, Email, max usage is 4 hours. With the same apps without the background services is off, lucky if I survived 6 hours.

Seido battery always top on search result for “HTC G1 replacement battery” on google, but it quite pricey. USD50++. So i dig into amazon and found this link. I read the comments and 2 out of 6 people gave it 5 star. With price only USD20, this is a steal. I texted my friend who his friend is a airport manager at California, and asked him to buy this battery.

1 week later it arrived. Plug it in and to my suprised it still have over 50% charged. Like other battery, first time charged will take 8 hour plus. The result is awesome.

With the apps running on my background

1. twidroid (15 minutes interval)
2. Facebook (15 minutes interval)
3. K9-Mail (15 minutes interval)
4. Google Mail, Contacts, Calendar
5. iMusic (occasionally 3 downloads per day)
6. Music (4 to 5 songs per play)
7. Screen brightness to the max


it would stay one whole day without a re-charged. Great isn’t it?. Recommended it.

How to sold your soul to Google. Getting a G1 phone.

Everyone , I mean everyone now should by now have a Gmail account. Use calendar, contacts and everything related to google. To complete that, I bought HTC Dream aka Google G1 Phone. w00t.

Got this phone from my officemate who is a runner and can get any sort of rare phone here in Johor Bahru. Then I ask him to find me a G1 phone. After 1 week of searching, he texted me that HTC Dream is now in his hand. Whoa!

With money only to spare on my roadtax fees, gamble up to take the phone. Risking it to find a buyer to buy my Nokia E71. First impression, wow. A very responsive touch screen phone with bonus hardware keyboard. It’s used phone, I don’t mind the scratch here and there. Just want to try the Android OS. I must say this is an awesome phone to have.

The firmware on the phone is 1.1 , no on-screen keyboard and the cupcake update. After browsing and testing the phone, I am sold.

Reaching home with wifi connection always on, the phone prompts for System Update. Cupcake!!!1 Download it and apply it, wahh. on-screen keyboard, better performance, new google maps. I’m just hooked.

Android Market is the answer for android apps. Too many apps to browse, maybe not many as AppStore for iPhone. Here are some of the list apps I have downloaded so far

1. Barcode Scanner - useful if browsing market thru desktop browser, point to the QR bar code, instantly installed the apps.
2. twidroid - a free and awesome twitter client
3. Battery Widget - a smart battery widget , using 1 x 1 space and very informative
4. Soccer Livescore - apps for live soccer highlights
5. Babler Lite for Facebook - third party facebook apps. waiting for official one from facebook itself
6. Compass - compass using the accelerometer
7. Metal Detector - it detect real metal. wow
8. Weather Bug - useful enough to display current temperature on notification area
9. Google Sky Map - this is the best app. launch it, it will detect your current position and display all the star, act as mirror and you know now that Jupiter is near the moon right now
10. aTrackDog - a version tracking software

Bonus

1. Facebook Sync - sync picture profile with your contacts , need to polish more on the algo, cause only sync with name (may want to cross check with emails and phone in phonebook)
2. Recovery Flasher - one click root, yes, I have rooted my phone
3. CM-Updater - an OTA custom firmware update by Cyanogen. fail two times already. but surely will try again until custom rom is in my HTC Dream phone.

Any readers out there want to share their experince with HTC Dream especially android os. Want to meet within Johor Bahru to exchange talk on android. I stumble a car here in Johor Bahru with car decal ‘Android on Board’. So if you reading this, come share your thought on android or we can create a mini user group for android user.