Lifehacker recently asked its readers how they’ve fixed Android’s biggest annoyances. We’d like to go one step beyond that, and ask you how you’ve customized your Android device, to make it all your own. This could include custom launchers, screen organization, workflow, Tasker profiles, and the like.
CES 2011 wrapped up about a week past, and from the the look of things, there is some pretty sweet new tech on the horizon. There are tablets, smartphone/laptop combos, tablet/netbook combos, concept cars/bikes, connected TVs, WiFi-connected refrigerators, unifying cloud storage services, and much much more.
After the jump, I’ve listed three of the things I’m most looking forward to, as well as links to a few articles from folks who were at the event. Have a read, be tantalized and amazed — and let us know what you are most excited about in the world of tech and gadgets this year!
There’s a reason this year is being heralded as the year of the tablet — and there’s a reason that this tablet stole the entire show. Motorola’s Xoom tablet was the only one at the show using the new, optimized-for-tablets Android Honeycomb. It’s packing a 10.1 inch display, 1280×800 resolution, 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, and front and rear cameras. It’s ridiculously fast, can take 720p video, and will have 4G capability in the second quarter of the year.
There’s no word on the price of this beauty, but it ought to give the iPad — possibly even the iPad 2 — a serious run for its money. Just the fact that it has all that power, supports Flash, and is on a network other than AT&T (Verizon) might be enough to sway some users. It is unknown whether there will be a WiFi-only version or not, or if anyone outside of Verizon will get a hold of it — but I hope that Motorola would be smart enough not to limit themselves.
Motorola came to win at CES this year, and their smartphone offering is, in a word, awesome! I own an iPhone and an iPad, and I thoroughly enjoy them both, but the geek in me is loving what companies like this are doing with Android. The phone itself is beefy (the dual-core Tegra 2 chip and 1GB of ram make playing 1080p video and Flash a breeze), but the coolest thing about it is the dock — which turns it into a laptop.
Seriously.
The phone just plugs into the back of the 2.4 pound laptop dock, and voila! You get an 11.6 inch screen with a compressed keyboard, a trackpad, and webtop software that lets you surf the full-sized web, even picking up where you left off on the phone. You can also access the phone’s interface, and run its apps in full screen. According to LaptopMag, you can even run Citrix Receiver, which allows you to basically run full Windows right there on the machine.
Very cool!
Real Networks is coming out with a cloud service to combine all cloud services. Unifi will allow you to aggregate your multimedia files — or whatever files — that are on multiple devices and online services. This would allow you to keep just one central online media and file library to organize, manage, and access all of your stuff. Its incredibly convenient, especially as we are moving more and more to the cloud. The interface looks pretty good, too.
Apparently, Unifi will be open for public beta in a couple of months, and Real Networks plans to offer the standard freemium model: 2GB of storage for free, with paid plans that climb up to 100GB. iOS and Android apps should be available around the same time as the beta lanch, with Windows Mobile 7 and Blackberry apps to follow. It ought to be useful for Google Chrome OS when it finally goes live, as well.
So those are the things that really stood out to me in CES 2011, but there were many, many more — good, bad, and weird. Here are a few links:
cNet: http://ces.cnet.com/best-of-ces/
LaptopMag: http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/best-of-ces-2011.aspx#axzz1B4NBYH9c
enGadget: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/11/best-of-ces-2011/
What tech are you most looking forward to? Anything you definitely did not like?
If you own an Android or iOS device – at least one with a camera – you can now regale all of your friends with how insanely smart you are. The new version of Google Goggles has been ripping up the web in the past few days, as people buzz about the ridiculously fast barcode scanning of the Android client, print ad recognition in (popular) magazines and newspapers, and – perhaps most importantly – the ability to solve even the most difficult Sudoku puzzles in barely more than a blink.
Why would Google Goggles need the ability solve Sudoku? Frankly… who cares? As with many of the things in this world that don’t make you any smarter, it’s fun! If you don’t believe me, check out the cute promo video below, courtesy of the Google clan.
If you decide to test the new Goggles’ Sudoku prowess, make sure you get a clear shot of the puzzle without any of the extra bits you might find on, say, a webpage. If you don’t you will most likely be presented with search results over the solve puzzle button. I was never able to make it work with shots of my iPad app, either. Ahh well. It’s good to apply your brain sometimes, yes?
Happy puzzling!
Google Goggles Gets Faster, Smarter, and Solves Sudoku [Google Mobile Blog]
Last week, we looked at how to install non-Market apps onto your Android device. That’s only half the fun, though. One way to get even more functionality out of your Android device is by rooting it. If you root your device you can install additional apps, set up wireless tethering, and even install custom ROMs that change the way your device operates. Rooting can be frightening, though, as you can potentially brick your device. If you want an easy way to root your phone, check out z4root.
z4root differs from other rooting options in that it is an app that is installed on your phone, and run from there. Other rooting options typically require you to hook your device to a computer, and run the root via the computer. So, the first step is to get z4root onto your device. If need be, you can use the Sideload Wonder Machine to do so. Once installed, start the app on your device, hit the “root” button, and wait for the process to complete. When you’re done, reboot your device.
My experience with z4root wasn’t perfect – my device never gave me a confirmation message, and seemed stuck on the same screen. After 15 minutes, I finally just rebooted the phone, and, to my pleasant surprise, I had the Superuser account (an icon in my app list) on my phone, meaning that the root had worked.
Have you rooted your Android device? What method did you use?
z4root [via xdadevelopers forum]
The primary method of installing apps on your Android phone is via the Android Market. Last week, we talked about AppBrain, an app that helps you discover new Market apps. There’s a whole world outside the Market, though. How do you get those apps onto your phone, if your Android device doesn’t directly support the loading of non-Market apps? Enter the Sideload Wonder Machine. Read more
