Review/Howto: CyanogenMod 6.0

I finally did it.  I rooted, and took the plunge.  This past week, Cyanogen release CM6.0, based on Android 2.2, aka Froyo.  What the heck is this rooting business about?  One of the nifty things about Android is the open source nature of the beast.  Since the source code is all out there, users are free to modify, remix & reload to their heart’s content.  Now, I’ll grant you that you’re not likely to find a lot of kernel hackers out there who really want to squeeze the last bit of performance out of their phone.  However, that’s not to say that there aren’t users who want to serve up the phone “their way,” be that simply changing the look & feel of the device, swapping out the kernel for one that underclocks the CPU to save battery, or even simply gaining more control over the device (especially true in carrier-subsidized devices).

Right now, CM6 is available for a handful of HTC devices, as well as the original Motorola Droid.  For a complete list, check the wiki to see if your phone can use CM6.  First up, you’ll need root access to your device, as you’re going to need to flash a custom recovery image onto your phone.  Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds.  Again, back to the wiki, look at the detailed directions for your device.  For some devices, like the Nexus One (what I’m using), you may want to grab the “Universal Androot” package.  It works for the N1, as well as a bunch of other devices, and is available from the developer’s site. And yes, Virginia, there is enough of the pages written in English that you’ll be able to figure it out.  If you’re a phone that’s not supported by the Universal Androot, you’re not sunk yet.  There’s either a manual process, which will be described on the wiki, linked above, OR if you have an HTC Evo, Desire, Incredible, Wildfire, Aria (aka Liberty) or Hero, you can use unrevoked.  It’s pretty painless.

My Home Screen

Warning: once you root, there may be no going back, especially if you do something like unlock the bootloader.  Officially speaking, once you unlock the bootloader (which isn’t always required), your warranty may be void.  I’m not responsible if you blow up your phone, start a small war, or your cat runs away.

Another warning: If you’re using a device that uses the HTC Sense UI, flashing CM6 will cause the UI to revert to the standard Android UI.

Got root?  Ok, now it’s onto the easy parts.  Install ROM Manager from the Android Market.  You can use the free version without any troubles.  Got that loaded?  Go ahead and flash the Clockworkmod Recovery to your phone.  ROM Manager should autodetect what type of phone you have, but it will ask for confirmation before it does anything.

Ready to roll?  Ok, grab the CM6 ROM image from a mirror.  While you’re at it, grab the latest Google Apps zip file for your phone type as well.  Stash those on your SD card.  Here we go.  First up, a full backup.  Back into ROM Manager, and “Reboot into Recovery”.  In the recovery?  Ok, now do a backup.  This is also called a “Nandroid Backup”.  What the heck is that?  Put simply, it’s a full backup of your current ROM image.  You want to do this.  REALLY.

Once you’re in the recovery menu, just do a backup.  Navigating the recovery menu uses the trackball to go up, down & select, and the power button acts as a “back button”. Your backup will take 3-5 minutes, and will require about 300-500 MB on your SD card.  Make sure you’ve got the space available!  For your reference, my Nexus One’s backup of the stock 2.2 image was 303MB.

HTC_IME Keyboard Portrait

All backed up?  Ok, let’s go.  Do a factory reset/wipe and wipe the cache as well.  Next, install a zip file from the SD card, specifically the CM6 ROM.  Repeat the steps to install the gapps image as well (if you’re planning on using the gapps, and you probably are).  All done?  Reboot.  Your phone will come up like it’s all brand new.

I’ve take some additional steps, going a bit further than just stock CM6.  I also added the HTC_IME Mod keyboard, which replaces the standard Android keyboard with the HTC Sense keyboard.  Once you get it installed, selecting it is as simple as doing a long press on a text field, and changing the input method to HTC_IME mod (assuming you’ve already turned the mod on in the system keyboard preferences!).

So back to the review.  So, was it all worth it?  I’d have to say yes.  Absolutely.  There was certain a small amount of inconvenience, associated with backup & restore of data, re-creating accounts and sync mappings, as well as the little things like prefs for ringtones, etc.  That was far and away outweighed by the good stuff I got – better performance, enhanced feature set – especially the use of ADW.Launcher by default, and the enhanced power control widget.

HTC_IME Keyboard Landscape

Ok, so now suppose you want to go back to where you started, how do you undo all of this?  Simply boot back into the recovery image, do another factory reset/wipe, wipe the cache and then restore.  Reboot, and you’re back.

Android is still in many regards somewhat of a wild west affair with regard to software updates, especially given the open source nature of the OS.  Will there be bumps along the way?  Probably.  Are you the type wants a phone that “just works” and doesn’t like to tinker?  CM6 probably isn’t for you, nor is pretty much any custom ROM.

Review: Google Nexus One

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a trial of a Google Nexus One.  This is my first Android device, and I must say, so far, I’m mighty impressed.  We’ve all been reading about Android, Google’s Linux-based mobile device OS for what seems like forever now.  In those many articles, all the promise that the platform brings to the table, with all of the open-source goodness – now that Android’s been around for a while, how does it measure up?

For those who don’t know, I was a hardcore Symbian user for years, mostly S60 devices, though I had a fleeting stint using a Nokia 9300 (my only S80 device ever).  That’s what you get when you spend the better part of 10 years working at Nokia.  Nokia has historically done a very good job of producing smartphones – it’s been their bread & butter for years.  I had a brief stint using an N97, followed by a loaner of an N97 Mini from the Womworld guys, and I was never wowed, heck, never even liked S60 v5.  For me, the last great S60 was v3.  FP1 or FP2 were both good to me.  Heck, I still have an N85 that I use for my home line.

These days, it seems like everyone’s in iLove, going absolutely gaga over the iPhone, including the latest incarnation – the iPhone 4.  Deathgrip aside, I was never a huge fan of the iPhone.  I had a 3G for a day, and returned it.  Bad battery life (like in the 3-4 hour range), and the walled garden – don’t get me started about locking out developers – I maintain that it’s bad for business in the long run.

I got my Nexus One in the AT&T variant, so it’s got quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band (850/1900/2100) UMTS/HSDPA support, as well as the 802.11g WLAN, Bluetooth and GPS radios.  That’s a lot of RF in a small case.  Physically speaking, the Nexus One feels great in your hand.  There’s some sort of coating on the metal parts that’s just slightly tacky, not metallic at all.  It just feels great in your hands.  The RF performance on the Nexus One is very good in my experience.  I don’t notice any lower coverage than I saw with my prior Nokia E72.  All in all, very good.

Connectivity is where Android 2.2 really shines.  On my Nexus One, I’ve got my home Google Apps account sync’d, as well as my corporate Exchange ActiveSync.  The phone keeps track of where the different bits of data came from and only tries to sync the appropriate data to the various accounts.  It’s very well thought out and I didn’t wind up with lots of data duplication.  Further, Android 2.2 implements the much sought-after mobile hotspot feature.  If you’re unfamiliar, you use your WLAN radio to setup an Access Point, then connect WLAN devices to that AP, which shares your phone’s 3G (or even EDGE) wireless data connection.  Pretty slick.

On the ActiveSync front, the client is very good, and fairly complete, though a couple of what I consider to be key features aren’t there yet.

Working	Not Working
Email, Contact & Calendar Sync with Exchange 2007	GAL lookup for contacts
GAL lookup for email recipients	GAL lookup for meeting requests
Accept, Reject, Tentative meeting request responses
Create meeting requests

Rather than the App Store, Android uses the Android Market.  Same idea, essentially, though it seems that you need to do substantially less hoop-jumping to get your app in the Market.  While yes, Apple definitely has a wide margin of available apps, I’ve yet to be disappointed when I got searching for an Android app for a specific task.  This review focuses on the device itself, not the apps, so I’m not going to go too deep there, but suffice it to say that I’m happy with the app selection.

Overall, it’s a great device, and the future for Android is indeed bright.  Go make the jump, you won’t be disappointed.

Review: Nokia N97 Mini

Recently, the nice folks at WOMWorld sent me an N97 Mini to review.  Thanks guys.  I received the Euro model, the RM-555, which supports UMTS on the 900, 1900 and 2100 Mhz bands, in addition to quad-band GSM and a 802.11g WLAN radio.  Living in the US, I’d have preferred to have looked at a US model that included the UMTS 850 Mhz band, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?  Right.  So, on to the show..

Physical Attributes

The device’s size is great.  Nice and small.  I had an N97 for a (very) short time not long after it came out, and I was not a fan of the form factor.  It felt almost like carrying around an old 9500.  What a brick that thing was.  Contrasted with this, I’d be totally satisfied with the form factor.  Obviously, thinner would be better, to a point, but I’m not unhappy with the thickness.  In terms of construction, there’s just enough metal to make it feel solid in your hands, like it’s not going to snap in half while you’re typing on it.

One problem I had with the layout – the position of the headphone jack.  On my train ride home from the office yesterday, I had my headphones plugged in while listening to some tunes.  Typing a couple of emails and texts was awkward.  It would have been better if the headphone jack had moved toward the top, but the camera assembly would then need to be relocated.  Typing on the keyboard wasn’t bad, took a bit of getting used to, but nothing ridiculous.

Software

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  S60 is really showing its age.  Yes, S60 v5 has some advances over v3, even FP2, but it’s still got a lot of the baggage that’s accompanied S60 devices over the years – mostly speed related.  This phone won’t win any UI races.  The device lacks any form of multi-touch capabilities, due to its use of a resistive touchscreen.  Yes, I’ve heard all the arguments about how you can use resistive screens while wearing gloves.  Frankly, I don’t often find myself trying to use my phone while wearing gloves.  I’d rather have a capacitive screen – much more responsive.

As it’s big brother does, the N97 Mini includes Ovi Maps, and is compatible with the new version of Ovi Maps that includes free navigation.  I love the free navigation concept, and expect others to follow suit.  That said, I much prefer using Google Maps.  I find it faster and more responsive than Ovi Maps overall, and think it’s much better at finding things in the area because of its hooks into the Google Search infrastructure.  I’d use something like Ovi Maps in my car for navigation, but I’ve owned a Garmin Nuvi for several years now, and I’m not quite ready to get rid of it.

For email, I’m using Mail for Exchange.  The latest version for S60 v5 does not include HTML mail support, something I miss from my E72.  I’m planning on trying out RoadSync on this phone as well, but since I already know that it doesn’t support network destinations (i.e. access point groups), I’ll be disappointed there as well, though I will get my HTML mail.

In the browser arena, as expected, I found the Nokia browser to be adequate, but not really as good as I’d like to see it.  I tried out Opera Mobile on the device, and was generally more pleased with its functionality, though I found it to be slightly less responsive than the stock Nokia browser.

Network

I ran a some speed tests from a variety of sites, using both AT&T 3G data as well as via the WLAN in my home.  Over the air, I saw download speeds ranging from 500 – 780 kbps.  Over the WLAN, I saw speeds around 1.2 Mbps.  On my Mac on the same WLAN, I see about 18 Mbps down and 4.2 Mbps up (I have 20/5 FiOS at home).  These performance numbers are consistent with my tests with other S60 phones, like the E71, E72 and my wife’s E75.  It’s also close to what my iPhone toting friends in the area see.

Conclusions

In summary, the N97 Mini is definitely a better choice than the bigger N97.  It’s more pocketable, and has the same features, with a better form factor.  If all you’re after is an S60 v5 touch device, you’d probably be better off with the 5800 Nav Edition, but if you can’t live without a qwerty keyboard, the N97 Mini is a winner.  Will I buy one?  Probably not – I’m satisfied with my E72.  Right now, Android 2.1 has ActiveSync that gets email and contacts.  If they add calender support to it, I’ll be on an Android device before too long.  Why?  Newer devices, more innovation, actual integration with Google Voice – something I actually use on a daily basis and more than one vendor really interested in using it.  Hopefully S60 can turn things around before my next phone purchase.  As a co-worker said the other day, the call quality on Nokia devices is better than anything else I’ve ever used.

Review: Nokia E72

My trusty E71 finally took a dive for the last time onto a nasty floor.  I was using a Nokia N85 for a bit as a stopgap.  Great phone, fantastic camera, but typing email with T9 drove me nuts.  The N85 is now hosting my home phone’s SIM.  But this review isn’t about the N85, so back to the topic at hand..

Between the N85 and the E72, I tried out the Blackberry 9700, which was lovely, as much as a Blackberry can be, but lacked some of the features I liked, such as a working SIP stack, and especially the ability to tell when my data is moving through the corporate network/BES, vs. WLAN, vs. carrier data that’s not via the BES – I found that utterly impossible on the BB 9700.  Otherwise, a nice phone.  But again, back to the topic at hand.

First, I’ll start with the physical attributes of the E72.  The E72 is a tiny bit wider than the E71, but is the tiniest bit lighter than the E71.  The E72 trades in a good bit of the metal housing for plastic, but gets new & improved features like a 3.5mm headphone jack, instead of the 2.5mm mess that’s on the E71.  Radios are mostly equivalent to the E71.  Mine is the US variant, the E72-2, so it’s a quad-band GSM/EDGE device, with works on UMTS 850/1900/2100 Mhz bands.  The 2100 Mhz band is a nice addition to the device, for users who travel abroad, as is the support for HSPA 7.2 Mbps.  The WLAN in the E72 is essentially the same as the E71 – 802.11b/g. The camera is a nice bump in the E72 as well – a 5MP cam, a step above the E71′s 3.2 MP cam, with a single LED flash.

My favorite part about the phone?  The messaging experience.  At work, one of our options is Exchange ActiveSync, so I’ve been a Mail for Exchange user for quite a while now, even with its deficiencies, like the lack of ability to sync folders other than the Inbox, HTML support, and lack of ability to create a meeting request from the phone.  The device works with Nokia’s Messaging service, which I’m not using at this time.  For my personal mail (hosted by Google Apps), I use the Google Gmail app, which works just as well on the E72 as it did on the E71.

Overall, the E72 is a worthy successor to the E71.  Right now, Amazon’s got it for $369.  If you’re going to buy, please consider using my link to it.

Tech Predictions for 2010

It’s that time of the year again kids.. For some reason, I didn’t do this last year.  Here we go, my 10 predictions for technology in 2010.

1. Netbooks – huge.

You thought 2009 was the year of the netbook?  You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid. 2010 will bring a whole new crop of them, this time with the Nvidia ION chipset, allowing you to watch HD content on your little netbook.  We’ve already started seeing better screen resolutions like 1366×768 (instead of the older 1024×600), giving you greater than 720p on the display.  This will continue, though I don’t think you’ll see 10″ screens grow much more in resolution.  Apple’s rumored to release something early in 2010, possibly called iSlate, which will be a hybrid netbook/tablet device.

2. Home Virtualization

In 2009, with VMware ESXi being free, geeks started doing bare-metal virtualization more and more, dumping host-os solutions like VMware Server in favor of better performance.  This trend will accelerate in 2010, and we’ll see someone introduce a virtualization product targeted at the so-called “pro-sumer”.  It will be interesting to see if it’s specifically marketed as such.  What’s it for?  Aggregation of lots of different home network services onto a single hardware platform.  Maybe it’s all a dream for us geeks, but I think something will pop in 2010.  Remember, everyone said the same thing about NAS, and now those are everywhere too.

3. Gigabit Ethernet for everyone

People will stop buying routers and switches for the home that are only 10/100 devices.  The driving forces?  NAS and 802.11n.  As people replace old computers with new, they come with shiny stuff like 802.11n wifi cards instead of crusty old 802.11g.  This means a jump from 54 Mbps to 300 Mbps.  Obviously, 300 Mbps > 100 Mbps, and nobody wants to have access to their data on the NAS to be that slow.

4. Android Cleans House

I admit it.  I like Google.  I love the idea of a common-source OS that’s open for mobile devices.  I’ve got serious technolust for something running Android right now.  I’m doing my best to be patient though.  I want to see the latest batch of devices, hopefully with 1 Ghz Snapdragon processors and Android 2.1 first.  After that, if it’s got AT&T 3G bands and wifi, I’m in.  I predict that people will finally start falling out of iLove with their iPhones, though certainly not in droves, and move to a more capable platform that does “more.”

5. Another new iPhone

As it’s older siblings before it, it will be buzzword compliant, but probably only with stuff that isn’t cutting edge.  You’ll get your 5MP camera (that I had on a phone 2 years ago), you’ll get HSPA – but won’t be able to use it.  What’s the big prediction here?  New headphones that use Bluetooth, sort of like the ones that Nokia sells.  They’ll be optional, and work with the 3GS, but I’d bet they won’t work with the 3G and certainly not the original iPhone.  Nothing earth shattering, but they’ll be Apple-branded, and tightly integrated with the device, so you’ll see stuff like song titles and caller id info on an OLED display, possibly color, using buddy icons from your address book.

6. Another iPod Shuffle down-size

Because they’re not small enough, right?  This time, it will be a single piece of hardware, integrated into the headphones.  It will also see a price cut to $49 for a 4GB model.  Just an incremental change in the end.

7. More gigantic technological misnomers

Like LED TVs.  I had a discussion with someone not long ago who insisted that these were not LCD TVs, and were in fact LED TVs.  He just couldn’t get past the idea that the display technology is largely the same, possibly some incremental changes, but the real change is in the backlight.  LCD TVs that were purchased a couple of years ago were certainly backlit using fluorescent bulbs.  These “LED” TVs use LED bulbs for the backlight.  That’s the limit of the changes.  These are not self-illuminating screens like OLED or AMOLED.  Now an AMOLED screen – that would be HUGE.  What will the misnomer be about?  Who knows?  It’s coming though.

8. A “major” newspaper will fail to make it to 2011

We’ve been talking for years about the impending death of the newspaper, in favor of Internet-based news channels.  I think back to our experience with the local paper earlier this year.  We subscribed purely for the reason of getting coupons.  We subscribed to the weekend package (so Friday – Sunday).  Total cost was about $10 a month.  The problem?  We only netted about $5-6 worth of coupons per month.  After 2 months, we canceled the subscription.  Ad revenues are already in the toilet for newspapers, and will only continue to decline.  Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee, Mr. Newspaper Man.

9. Compressed hydrogen will start moving.

Sure, Honda’s got their prototype Accord going in California.  But, we’re going to start seeing a real compressed hydrogen delivery network being built.  Hydrogen is arguably one of the most abundantly available elements on Earth.  The vehicles emit water vapor as their exhaust.  Not so bad, eh?  Please, don’t confuse me with a climate change fruit loop.  I don’t subscribe to cooking the books in order to support my points, as is the case in the climate change circle these days.  But surely a car that emits water vapor can only be a good thing, when compared to a gas or diesel vehicle.

10. A usable water-based fuel cell

This thing is the big dream.  You fill it up with water, and the hydrogen is used to power the device.  It’s completely sustainable, and free to “recharge.”

iPhones, and the desire to possess the new & shiny…

iPhone 3GS

Well kids, it’s that time of the year again.  iPhone season.  Last week, Apple announced their latest move in the iPhone marketplace – the iPhone 3GS.  The new member of the iPhone family is a small upgrade from the existing iPhone 3G that’s been beating the street for the past year.

What’s the new kid bring to the table relative to the existing 3G?

• HSDPA 7.2
• 3 MP auto-focus Camera
• Video Recording w/editing on the device
• Voice Control
• Slightly better battery life

Obviously, anyone would be happy with more battery life – though the additional capacity doesn’t amount to all that much.  Video recording is a nice addition as well.  Voice control is a neat toy, but isn’t used too much in general.  Phones that run S60 have had voice control features for years now.  Same goes for many other manufacturers as well.  Is the feature a killer app that’s used all the time?  Nope.

E71 HSDPA Speed

HSDPA 7.2 is a nice addition, vs. HSDPA 3.6 on the 3G.  However, consider that most AT&T HSDPA customers never see 3.6 Mbps download speed, does 7.2 Mbps really matter?  Check out the screenshot on the right from my Nokia E71, which also supports HSDPA 3.6.  This is fairly representative of the mobile speed tests I’ve done on the device.  In the past, I have seen as high as 1 Mbps, but have never come anywhere near close to 3.6 mbps.

Upgrades from the 3G?  Certainly, but marginal, at best.  All of the other iPhone 3.0 OS features are also present on the iPhone 3G as well.

Has this stopped a torrent of iPhone 3G customers who seemingly cannot go on living without the shiny new iPhone 3GS?  Nope.  There’s a gaggle of people signing a Twitter petition in what will be a vain attempt to get AT&T to repeat last year’s exception to AT&T’s standard policy regarding pre-term upgrades for existing users under contract.  Kids, think about this.  Last year, with the move from the iPhone to the iPhone 3G, AT&T changed the game.  The original iPhone used a $20/month data plan that also gave 200 texts.  Contrast that with the iPhone 3G, which carried a $30/month data plan and included no texts at all.  If you wanted to add those 200 texts back, that’s another $5/month.  Effectively, the customer had to cough up an extra $180 a year to maintain the same level of service when they moved from iPhone to iPhone 3G.  This increased revenue level allowed AT&T to make an exception to the upgrade policy, allowing users that were only half way through their contract to upgrade with no additional cost above what a new customer would pay.

Still don’t get it?  When you buy a phone from a carrier, you’re getting it at a lower price because of your commitment to a contract term of 1, 2, or sometimes even 3 years, though 3 year deals aren’t common in the US.  The carrier is partially subsidizing the cost of the device because you’re locking yourself in for a period of time.  For original iPhone customers, only being a half way through the contract, AT&T had not fully recouped the subsidy provided on the iPhone.  However, since allowing those original iPhone customers would result in an additional $360 above and beyond current revenue levels, it was financially feasible to allow the early upgrades.  It was even in the best interest of AT&T Wireless.  The fact that customers benefitted from the move was secondary – don’t confuse it with good will from AT&T.

So here we are, another year later.  The iPhone 3GS comes at an even lower price tag than before, but uses the exact same plans as the current 3G models.  This time around, there is no benefit to AT&T in allowing early upgrades at no additional costs, so they’re not.  This year, there are 3 levels of iPhone cost:

• Fully Subsidized – $99 for the 8GB 3G, $199 for the 16GB 3GS, $299 for the 32GB 3GS, comes with a 2-year contract.
• Partly Subsidized – Early Upgraders (12-18 months into contract) are eligible to upgrade for a $200 premium above the fully subsidized cost.
• No Subsidy – If you’re less than 12 months into your contract, you can upgrade, but face a $400 premium above the fully subsidized cost.

Herein lay the source of angst for the twittioners.  Kids, get this through your heads.  Your phone company is not your friend, and you’re their friend either.  You’re their customer – who sends them money in return for services.  You’ve agreed to be bound by the terms of a contract.  You cannot alter the terms of the deal just because you want the new, shiny toy.

Connecticut, Land of a Thousand Dead Spots…

I’ve lost count of how many trips I’ve taken on the Acela Express.  99% of the time, it’s been heading south to DC.  But on those rare occasions that I take it to head north, it’s always incredibly frustrating.

The state of Connecticut seems to be the land of a thousand dead spots.  I’m forever dropping calls, my laptop’s 3G connection doesn’t stay up for the whole trip either.  Going south, the only spot I lose signal totally is the tunnel you pass through at Baltimore.  Being underground, this is not unexpected.

But on a clear, sunny day, riding the rails through Connecticut, it is a big ball of suck.